education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 71 original paper a brief discussion on the object of expression in diego velasquez’s las meninas lai gai1 1 research institute for global value chains, university of international business and economics, beijing, china received: march 12, 2022 accepted: april 19, 2022 online published: may 26, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n1p71 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n1p71 abstract las meninas is a painting by spanish painter diego velasquez painted in 1656. the composition of the painting is very complex, consisting of nine people, a dog, mirror reflections of the king and queen, paintings on the wall, etc. while among them, which is the main object depicted by the painter, who is the hero of the painting, the discussion on this issue has been the research object of experts all the time. the author refers to the historical background, painting methods, color application and light treatment of the painter, and also refers to the analysis by michel foucault and daniel arasse, to get a brief discussion of the object expressed in this painting. keywords las meninas, michel foucault, daniel arasse, object of expression las meninas is one of spanish painter diego velazquez’s greatest paintings and one of the most widely analyzed works of western painting. diego velasquez is not only a famous baroque painter, but also a great master of painting who has aristocratic temperament. after being introduced by a count, he became spain’s court painter and lived in the palace of madrid. he developed a close friendship with the king and often produced portraits for him. las meninas is just a famous masterpiece he drew in 1656 in request of the king. the height of it is up to 3 meters, each object in this painting is just in the same physical size. it shows what the daily life liked in the palace: in the quite palace, velasquez was drawing a couple portrait for the king and his wife. at that moment, the princess and her maids happened to come into the painting room. this painting has two characteristics: the first one is the custom style. it describes the king’s life from an interesting insight; the second one is that the painter broke the established principles of creating the court portrait. he put the king and his wife in a secondary position, instead of putting them in the middle of the picture in the traditional way. in fact, in his time, this composition is very bold, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 72 published by scholink inc. more or less a little casual. his portrait of this approach is a kind of court reforms. the on-screen characters are no longer a rigid arrangement, but in a state of nature as far as possible. sophisticated dynastic vision is emphasized in this painting. light and shadow plays an important role in it. this painting is undoubted a very great work, on the artistic quality. however, as long as you walk into this piece of masterpiece, various issues will follow. first of all, as a general habit of appreciation, we would firstly have such a question, who is the hero in this painting? the painter wants us to see whose face? is the las meninas described in the subject, or the little princess whom the light focuses on? is the aristocratic painter who are wearing a huge medal, or the king couple who appear in the mirror? maybe it is the dwarf female with a serious expression, or the person in black who is standing aside a curtain in the background and ready to leave but is attracted to something happening? for me, the first character i notice is the little princess who are dressed in white in the front of the room. she just possesses the middle point of the crowd. cause her dress is in a light color, which has a strong visual tension. and it just creates a visual association with the white smock that the two maids beside her are wearing. all these things create a band of light with her in the center. these things lead us to treat the little princess as the hero of this picture easily with preconceptions. however, we’ll soon realize that we are misguided by the painter who makes use of our habit of appreciation and plays a vision game with us. cause the little princess is not the object of all the sights point to. so the hero of this painting is not the princess, and more cannot be the two maids who are standing at her side. the most interesting is that velazquez made his own arrangement in the painting. he was holding a palette, standing after a huge drawing board, spiritedly and proudly. it even makes us treat this picture as his own portrait. he is also trying to highlight the wearing medal in his chest, which he was once dreaming of owning, for it is a signal of his high position. in the picture he is so young, but in fact, he was over his sixtieth year at that moment. many modern researchers believe it was the work of an elderly, confident genius. in particular, the san diego medal on his chest was so striking that one had to believe it might be the hero the artist wanted to show. but history turns out that the medal was added on velazquez’s chest by philip iv as a tribute to his memory when the work was restored right after his death in 1660. therefore, this conjecture is not untenable. since the artist is not the hero of this painting, then the king and his wife who stood in front of him and being reflected in the mirror should be object of this painting. however, this is after all only an assumption that we make from our common sense. for the king couple themselves do not appear directly in the painting, instead, the reader ourselves are inevitable placed in the position that belongs to them. for this view, michel foucault in words and things-an archaeology of human sciences, pointed out that, “we must pretend that we do not know who or what is reflected in the mysterious mirror and question about the significance of the existence of this reflection” (1966). “when looking straightly across the screen, the subject and the object, the audience and the model, numerously swap roles”. so, the painting becomes a “classic representation of the appearance”, which points to “the nature of emptiness” “the collapse of the basis of similarity” “cancellation of the main body” and so on. on www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 73 published by scholink inc. balance, this is a space with open and free democracy. foucault’s idea is based on the visual order that he established. based on foucault’s this perspective, when we look at the painting, the visual center that we notice at first is the princess and the las meninas. as we can see, the princess is watching something, but we do not know what it really is; but it’s obvious that she is also seen by the two maids. while the maids and the princess is just what we are watching in response. we can call it the first group of multiple gaze. then, let’s take a deep look at this picture. you can find that the painter who is standing behind the princess and her maids, is taking a look at something too. what is the object, we can’t tell, but we can see that he himself is not only read by that mysterious thing, but also watched by us. this is the second group of multiple gaze. if we make a further look at this picture, we can find the individual who is standing at the door against the background. he is looking at these two sets of gaze from the opposite direction to ours. furthermore, he is also seen by two different sight from us and the one on whom the painter is concentrating. this is the third group of multi-gaze. finally, we can see a mirror in the painting and find that the small princess, the painter and the people at the door may all look at the people who are reflected in the mirror. and in response, the one is also looking at them. this is the fourth group of multiple gaze. within each group, we can find the interaction between to see and be seen. and it also has this kind of interaction between these four groups. from foucault’s view, the interaction relationship between all of these things are reproduced in order to obtain a visual relationship, namely, the internal structure of gaze. in other words, in foucault’s view, this is a painting about painting. it is about to see and be seen and also about staring and reproducing on the painting. from it we can deconstruct staring and reproducing. at this level, after foucault’s interpretation, velazquez’s las meninas is no longer merely a painting of realism style. relative to foucault’s point of view, daniel arasse criticized foucault of his removal of the historical background of las meninas. he pointed that foucault had made this masterpiece democratization and museum-oriented, which is opposite to the painter’s original aim. arasse even made a comprehensive study into the tortuous history of the painting, noting that it was changed from a painting called family portrait. but whatever family portrait or las meninas, both were made by the artists to adapt to the needs of the political situation in the royal family. after made a very detailed analysis to the painting scene (including the character’s eyes), arasse said, through the mirror, the king becomes the one who cannot see nothing: the eyes of every character are towards the king. he is looking at everyone present in the office of his own summer palace. he is also watching them from the background of the screen. in fact, this outstanding performance emphasizes that the king possesses a supreme absolute position in the dynasty. in a conclusion, his view is that the king couple is the object expression of the painting. i am more agree with this view. firstly, the analysis of a painter’s work cannot be divorced from his own identity and the historical environment. as it was described at the beginning of the article. velasquez is the most prominent realism painter in the 17th-century in span. he made his way from a dilapidated zeilya family to the palace, and established a deep and lasting friendship with the king. undoubtedly, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 74 published by scholink inc. philips iv was his most respected and admired object. as you can see, what his works show is all about aristocratic elegance and dignity. what’s more, in this painting, according to the historical data, all the images contained in it are real people, not a fictional image. in other words, this is a piece of more than one character’s plot portrait. all the evidence show that the painter got his inspiration from the typical real life in the palace. and it also fully demonstrates the realism skill of this great painter. we can even say that he did not belong to the baroque painters’ team, but was more interested in the principles of realism. that’s why he got the praise as “the painter of truth”. at the same time, although making a living as a count painter, velasquez was not just blind to curry favor with the power. the great artist was always persistent in the pursuit of artistic freedom in his heart. especially in his later years, he had almost painted anything, and also wanted to draw a number of different things in order to achieve the reform of art. through his inheritance and improvement of titian, he made the natural patterns and colors together. in order to emphasize the noble image of the supreme king and his wife, he had to put them in the mirror, so that they can examine other people in the painting from two directions-before and after. and the one being examined even includes us standing between them and the mirror. fortunately, philips iv was a magnanimous monarch. so even if sometimes he’s chief artist created a number of adventurous works with adventure spirit, he was also willing to accept. all these reasons lead to the wide spread of las meninas through ages. diego velasquez was hailed as one of the most outstanding representatives of spain’s golden age, has been the pursuit of a number of artists of future generations. references chen binbin. (2005). secrets in art. shanghai bookstore publishing house. daniel, a. (2007). we see nothing: a collection of paintings of a different kind. peking university press. frank, p. (2008). visual art history. shanghai people’s fine arts publishing house. geng, y. z. (2005). broken traces: re-reading western art history. renmin university press. hendrik, v. (2005). a brief history of western art. shaanxi normal university press. michel, f. (2001). words and things-an archaeology of human sciences. shanghai sanlian bookstore. ouyang, y. (2009). history of foreign art. china academy of art press. paul, j. (2008). history of art. shanghai people’s fine arts publishing house. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 9 original paper research on the psychological growth path of college students from the perspective of discontinuity and balance theory yingnan nie1, zifei meng2, jiayi wang3 & manhong liu4* 1 college of economics and management, northeast forestry university, harbin, china 2 business school, university of new south wales, sydney, nsw, australia 3 business school, university of technology sydney, sydney, nsw, australia 4 college of wildlife and protected area, northeast forestry university, harbin, china * correspondence: manhong liu, college of wildlife and protected area, northeast forestry university, harbin, china. email: manhong@nefu.edu.cn received: march 2, 2024 accepted: march 25, 2024 online published: april 9, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n2p9 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n2p9 funding information this paper is a research outcome of the fundamental research funds for the central universities, special project for ideological and political work, class b, with project number (2572021bx03). abstract mental health education is an integral component of ideological and political education, serving as a cornerstone in promoting campus harmony and stability. from the discontinuity and balance theory perspective, the agenda setting is closely intertwined with pertinent psychological policies, implementation strategies, and pathways for psychological growth. by attending to the psychological growth issues and information of college students sequentially, ideological and political workers collaborate with psychology experts, we-media platforms, as well as relevant psychological organizations and associations to collectively influence policy-making processes while promoting policy development changes and enhancing the effectiveness of policy implementation. empirical research findings systematically demonstrate that the mental growth status of college students exhibits positive correlations with variables such as their emotional difficulties, carriers for disseminating psychological work propaganda, peer counselors’ working modes, ripple effects from network hot events, and learning outcomes from online courses. this paper explores practical endeavours and innovative attempts towards constructing an atmosphere conducive to mental health education, promoting equilibrium within psychological educational policies, and enhancing educational outcomes for college students. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 10 published by scholink inc. keywords discontinuity-balance, college students, psychological growth 1. introduction since the early 20th century, developed countries in the west have embarked on systematic investigations into the essential nature and achievement correlation of mental health education for students in higher educational institutions, leading to the formation of a comprehensive academic discipline. as china has progressed through its socialist modernization, there has been a gradual but firm shift towards valuing the psychological health management of university students. scholars have increasingly focused on the study of mental health education for university students, prompting a detailed examination and synthesis of such research. this research synthesis was conducted using the china national knowledge infrastructure (cnki) platform, with searches performed on the chinese social science citation index (cssci). by searching titles, topics, and other relevant fields, keywords such as mental health education for university students, psychological cultivation, and mental health were combined to conduct a comprehensive search. the search covered the period from 2013 to december 31, 2023, resulting in a collection of 498 relevant articles. subsequent to the selection process and the removal of duplicates, bibliographic data was exported using cnki’s functionality, and further analyzed using the citespace software for bibliometric analysis. this process culminated in the creation of visual analyses of keyword clustering and keyword timeline mappings, revealing shifts in the research themes of mental health education in chinese universities over the past decade. figure 1. keyword clustering www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 11 published by scholink inc. from the keyword timeline mapping, it is evident that mental health education in universities transitioned from an initial combination of medical and educational approaches to explorations of experiential learning by experts, gradually moving towards a holistic mental health education framework characterized by innovation and the comprehensive cultivation of individuals. the empirical analysis of the current state of student growth within universities from the perspective of discontinuity-equilibrium policy theory, which looks at the progress and existing challenges within the psychological education process from multiple dimensions and in a comprehensive manner, underscores the need for ideologically and politically engaged workers and policy theorists to collaboratively assess feasible policy pathways for fostering psychological growth among university students. this represents a critical issue requiring joint deliberation. figure 2. timeline of keywords 2. integration of discontinuity-equilibrium theory in student psychological development 2.1 foundations of discontinuity-equilibrium theory in evolutionary and policy contexts the discontinuity-equilibrium theory, proposed by biologists eldredge and gould in 1972 to study paleobiological evolution, was later adapted in 1993 by american scholars baumgartner and jones for policy change research. the evolution of mental health among university students in china progresses alongside the advancement of higher education, with the development and implementation of mental health education policies reflecting a blend of empirical judgments and emotional preferences, a product of changing times. during the initial phase of economic reform and opening-up, economic development was prioritized, leaving the construction and policy support for mental health relatively unexplored. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 12 published by scholink inc. however, by the early 21st century, as economic development reached a certain level, a blueprint for mental health education work among university students began to emerge. the issuance of successive regulatory documents on mental health education marked key drivers of policy change, enhancing positive feedback mechanisms and aligning new policy landscapes more closely with practical work realities. 2.1.1 application of discontinuity-equilibrium theory in shaping mental health education policies the discontinuity-equilibrium theory posits that agenda setting involves the process of prioritizing certain issues and information. the policy landscape and its effects differ across various policy-making contexts, which can be classified into subsystem politics and macro-politics, representing a state of equilibrium induced by institutionalized structures. leveraging the discontinuity-equilibrium theory, the ministry of education issued “opinions on strengthening ideological and political education of students in higher education institutions” in 1980, prompting universities to explore diverse and multifaceted approaches to ideological and political education. however, policy guidance on the psychological health dimension was not yet developed. entering the 21st century, the massification and popularization of higher education in china significantly altered public thought, leading to the ministry of education’s 2001 issuance of “opinions on strengthening mental health education work for university students,” the first specialized document to promote mental health education within universities, incorporating it into the domain of moral education and establishing the concept of developmental mental health education. subsequent joint issuances by the ministry of education, ministry of health, and the communist youth league in 2005 emphasized the importance of strengthening the mental health education workforce within universities. the national effort to implement these guidelines led to the appointment of dedicated psychological teachers, with central south university of forestry and technology appointing yuan hong in 2005 as its sole dedicated psychological teacher at that time. the “basic standards for mental health education work for students in regular higher education institutions” issued in 2011 called for a minimum of two dedicated psychological teachers per university, marking a fundamental shift in the policy landscape for university mental health work personnel. the 2018 notification by the communist party of china’s education ministry group on “guidelines for mental health education of students in higher education institutions” specified a staffing ratio of no less than 1:4000 for dedicated teachers, outlining a more detailed framework for mental health education that includes education and teaching, practical activities, counseling services, and preventive interventions. universities intensified their policy implementation efforts, initiating personalized institutional explorations aligned with the developmental characteristics of university students, such as northeast forestry university’s active exploration of a distinctive peer counselor system to promote the development of mental health education. the 2021 “notice on strengthening the management of student mental health” further emphasized the theoretical knowledge learning aspect, specifying that the curriculum for compulsory public mental health courses should achieve 32-36 hours of instruction. the “comprehensive strengthening and improvement of new era student mental health www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 13 published by scholink inc. work special action plan (2023–2025)” issued in 2023 marked a transition from a professionalized to an innovative approach to policy development, focusing on optimizing social psychological services and introducing innovative educational content in aesthetics education. 2.1.2 influence of discontinuity-equilibrium theory on policy formation for student psychological development based on the discontinuity-equilibrium theory, a stable policy paradigm and landscape rely on a unified theory of values, a stable institutional structure, and a consistent policy outlook. the introduction of psychological policies in universities is determined by the developmental laws of university students’ growth and the current state of the industry, featuring both positive and negative feedback effects. figure 3. framework for psychological growth of university students under the discontinuityequilibrium theory the policy landscape, the foundation of policy existence, is a hybrid of empirical information and emotional demands, indicating that it encompasses both empirical descriptions of objective facts and elements of emotional evaluation. the evolution of mental health-related policies for university students is progressive, with initial requirements for dedicated psychological work personnel in universities eventually increasing to two and then to a ratio of 1:4000, based on the collective strength of universities nationwide. 3. comprehensive analysis of university students’ psychological growth 3.1 overview and methodology of the psychological growth survey with the implementation of relevant policies, universities have gained a deeper understanding of mental health education, witnessing substantial transformations in this area. research conducted across three institutions examined the current status of students’ psychological growth, the operation of mental health www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 14 published by scholink inc. education via social media, and the deployment of peer counselors for crisis intervention, revealing the following aspects. 3.1.1 strategies employed by students when facing psychological difficulties when confronted with psychological stress, 67% of students chose to actively confront and resolve the pressure, while 33% opted to avoid stress, engage in self-denial, or indulge in behaviors leading to further demoralization. the presence of periodic exams requiring simultaneous preparation across different subjects within a short timeframe increases study pressure and demands high concentration, significantly altering students’ study habits and exacerbating stress levels. according to survey results, 15% chose professional psychological counseling to alleviate stress, 50% relied on self-regulation methods such as sleeping, listening to music, or using smartphones, 30% turned to friends and family for support, and 5% used other methods. 3.1.2 operation of university mental health platforms on social media 14% of students perceived their university’s mental health platform on social media as very popular, 51% as popular, 15% as moderately popular, 10% as unpopular, and another 10% as very unpopular. the survey indicated significant room for improvement in some universities’ psychological service units and their social media platforms: for instance, the originality of mental health education content was questionable, with some platforms resorting to non-educational reposting, leading to decreased engagement and concerning click-through rates. 3.1.3 crisis intervention methods by peer counselors 24% of the surveyed students deemed it very important for peer counselors to actively intervene in crises, 37% found it important, 18% considered it moderately important, and 21% thought it unimportant or very unimportant for peer counselors to engage in active crisis intervention. during the dissemination of mental health education, some students doubted the necessity or effectiveness of crisis intervention, associating it with being “mentally unhealthy” and thus opting to suppress their emotions rather than participate in psychological crisis interventions. these misconceptions pose barriers to the promotion and development of mental health education. 4. practical approaches and dissemination paths for the psychological growth of university students 4.1 focusing on the growth of university students, extending the dimension of mental health education through the entire chain as policies related to mental health education for university students are developed and implemented, there are varying degrees of change in the ways these students experience psychological growth. given the interconnected nature of growth experiences, the work chain of psychological cultivation can be extended from a holistic perspective. this extension across the entire chain allows for a precise understanding of the laws of cultivation, reaching deep into the hearts of students, maintaining a focus on the dynamic growth of their mental health, teaching according to their individual needs, innovating www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 15 published by scholink inc. educational methods, and emphasizing differentiated and targeted approaches. this contributes to creating a favorable mental health education atmosphere, considered from the top-level policy design, prioritizing the core essence of ideological and political work, valuing the development of mental health education work, and laying a solid foundation through staffing, infrastructure, financial support, and learning from advanced experiences across multiple dimensions. 4.2 integrating psychological development in holistic educational practices a side perspective reveals that the worldviews, societal views, and values of university students are formed during their academic journey, marking an inevitable process of psychological maturation and social adaptation. universities are thus required to adhere to the principle of comprehensive education throughout the psychological practical education process. this orderly and scientific development process, integrated within the broader school environment, necessitates that university psychological practice courses cover the entire educational journey, offering programs suitable for different stages of a student’s life, enhancing students’ recognition of psychological practical education, and increasing their appreciation for psychological courses. 4.3 advancing university mental health policies: evolutionary strategies and comprehensive implementation with the gradual improvement of the economic level and the allocation of educational resources, universities are placing greater emphasis on the work content of the student psychological cultivation module. the addition of more professional personnel, an increase in resources, gradual perfection of the course system, and the multidimensional integration of psychological cultivation have better implemented policies. based on maximizing students’ agency, extensive coverage, multi-faceted collaboration, and combining internal and external forces, universities persist in integrating moral and psychological education, enhancing humanistic care and psychological guidance for students. this ensures the practical implementation of policy guidance on mental health education, aligns with the realities of each school, carries forward and develops the tradition of good brand activities, optimizes branding, and establishes a systematic policy-making mechanism. such innovative educational ideas not only promote the comprehensive healthy development of students but also contribute to maintaining campus safety and stability, which is crucial for the country’s future development. acknowledgement this paper is a research outcome of the fundamental research funds for the central universities, special project for ideological and political work, class b, with project number (2572021bx03). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 16 published by scholink inc. references baumgartner, f. r., & jones, b. d. (2011). agendas and instability in american politics (c. tangzhe, trans.). beijing: peking university press. ministry of education. (2001). opinions on strengthening mental health education work for university students. educational and social politics, 2001(1). ministry of education, ministry of health, central committee of the communist youth league. (2005). opinions on further strengthening and improving mental health education for university students. educational and social politics, 2005(1). office of the ministry of education. (2011). notification on the issuance of the basic requirements for mental health education courses in regular higher education institutions. educational and ideological politics office, 2011(5). communist party of china’s education ministry group. (2018). guidelines for mental health education of students in higher education institutions. educational party, 2018(41). office of the ministry of education. (2021). notice on strengthening the management of student mental health work. educational and ideological politics office letter, 2021(10). ministry of education and 17 other departments. (2023). comprehensive strengthening and improvement of new era student mental health work special action plan (2023–2025). educational, physical, and arts, 2023(1). meng, y. (2018). an attempt to discuss discontinuity and equilibrium in policy change. the new west, 2, 56-57. fang, h. z., & pan, s. y. (2019). the development and trends of college student mental health education in china over the past 40 years of reform and opening up. contemporary educational science, 8, 91-96. tang, s. l., yu, x. q., zhao, f. f., & zhou, f. j. (2022). the internal landscape and optimization strategies of contemporary preschool education policy tools in china. contemporary educational forum, 3, 37. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 171 original paper model construction of education community for foreign language major: a “great ideological and political courses” perspective wang xi1 & zuo jiaxin1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, china received: may 6, 2023 accepted: may 27, 2023 online published: june 15, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p171 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p171 abstract “great ideological and political courses” conforms to the goal of talent training in the new era, which is a practical innovation of ideological and political education reform in universities. at present, the problems of foreign language courses with ideological-political elements in universities include (1) loose cooperation between professional teachers and ideological and political workers, and (2) disconnected goals between teaching and educating students. in this study, a model of education community is constructed to solve these problems through coordination between professional teachers and ideological and political workers, the formulation of cultivation scheme, and complementary between professional and extracurricular classes, which will be applied to all aspects of foreign language education at university level, so as to promote the construction of ideological and political theories teaching in all courses (ipttiac). keywords foreign language courses with ideological-political elements, education community, great ideological and political courses, ipttiac 1. “great ideological and political courses” and education community since the 18th national congress of the communist party of china, president xi has pointed out, “we should make good use of the ‘great ideological and political courses (大思政课)’ and must combine it with reality”. it is an inevitable choice under the background of “two overall situations (两个大局)”, clearly showing the direction for promoting the construction of ideological and political theories teaching in all courses (ipttiac). with the implementation of the education concept of “all people, whole process, and all-round”, “great ideological and political courses” is no longer limited within universities, but by www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 172 published by scholink inc. mobilizing all available social resources to extend teaching place from classroom to the society. it aims at building a collaborative education system involving multiple subjects such as families, universities, society, and the government. “great ideological and political courses” sets moral education as the fundamental task, implementing three-wide education (三全育人) in the process of teaching (yang & zhao, 2022). “great” is reflected in space, time, structure and function. the construction of “great ideological and political courses” requires the combination of multiple subjects and various resources, so it is not only an educational concept, but also a cultivation method. “community” is an important concept in anthropology and sociology. the establishment of education community is a significant way to realize all-member cultivation, which can effectively promote ipttiac. as a bridge for the development of chinese and western language and cultural exchanges, foreign language major integrates knowledge and humanism. in foreign language courses, teachers not only explain culture background of the target language, but also cultivate students’ cross-cultural communication competence. however, the differentiation between professional courses and theories of ideology and politics leads to the lack of teachers’ and students’ cognition on development conditions of chinese path to modernization. based on the concept of “great ideological and political courses”, this paper will construct a model of education community for foreign language major, so as to effectively implement foreign language courses with ideological-political elements. 2. problem analysis of foreign language courses with ideological-political elements as a frontier discipline in international exchange and communication, students of foreign language major directly face western language, culture and values, and therefore become more susceptible to the influence of utilitarianism, egoism, worship of foreign things, etc. as a result, students gradually ignore the excellent traditional chinese culture and lack cross-cultural critical thinking ability. at present, the construction of foreign language courses with ideological-political elements in universities is still a big problem, facing difficulties such as the lack of close cooperation between foreign language major subjects and the disconnection between foreign language teaching and educational goals. 2.1 loose coordination between subjects in foreign language major foreign language teachers, as the main implementer of foreign language teaching, need to improve their ideological and political awareness. due to scattered structure and limited professional ability, ideological and political workers are unable to carry out high-quality education (lan & qin, 2022). the former has difficulty in combining the ideological and political thoughts with professional knowledge, leading to the failure to add ideological-political elements in foreign language classes, while the latter are unable to connect the ideological and political theory with practice in daily study and life, failing to arouse the enthusiasm of students. the government, enterprise, society, family and other educational subjects have different properties and educational goals, thus students are hard to apply professional skills in practice to meet needs of each subject (deng & yan, 2021). the education subjects of foreign language www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 173 published by scholink inc. major do not cooperate closely in teaching, social practice arrangement and management, which reduces the effect of teaching foreign language courses with ideological-political elements. 2.2 disconnection between foreign language teaching and educational goals the goal of the current cultivation scheme is not clear, leading to the separation between training specifications and social needs. the curriculum system does not reflect the combination of general, professional and multi-disciplinary knowledge (wang & feng, 2018). for a long time, foreign language teaching in universities pays more attention to the explanation of knowledge and skill training of target language. there are a large number of ideological and cultural learning materials from western countries in textbooks, making it difficult to integrate chinese culture and ideological and political concepts into the curriculum outline and textbook compilation. the existing setting of curriculum and textbooks of foreign language major lacks the participation of ideological and political workers and other educational subjects, which is hard to meet the needs of the government, enterprise and society (liu & feng, 2022). it is difficult for teachers to teach foreign language courses with ideological-political elements. 3. model construction of education community for foreign language major given the dilemma of foreign language teaching with ideological-political elements, this paper constructs a model of education community for foreign language major as shown in figure 1. the development of cultivation scheme for foreign language courses in universities should fully cover the activities of the professional and extracurricular classes. the professional class takes the main position in front-line education and teaching, led by core education subjects, i.e., foreign language professional teachers and ideological and political workers. the two should join forces to participate in the whole process of cultivation scheme formulation, teaching outline setting, textbook compilation and teaching design. as an extension of the professional class, the extracurricular class refers to relevant practical activities, which is an important channel to cultivate students’ ability of innovative practice and improve their ability of application. the participation of auxiliary education subjects, namely the government, enterprise, society and family, is consistent with the core education subjects of the professional class. their implementation places and activities are more flexible, such as practice week, internship, volunteer service, etc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 174 published by scholink inc. figure 1. model of education community for foreign language major from “great ideological and political courses” perspective 3.1 the composition of education community for foreign language major the core education subjects consist of foreign language teachers and ideological and political workers. the former refers to full-time foreign language teachers in universities, the latter includes faculties in the school party committee, league and student work department, school propaganda department, party school, youth corps committee, student affairs office, student union and other institutions, counselors, ideological and political teachers, head teachers and other staff. auxiliary education subjects include the government, enterprise, society, family, etc. as the core education subject, foreign language teachers should not only have a solid language foundation and a deep understanding of chinese and western cultures, but also have a firm political stand, actively support the socialist core values, and spontaneously integrate ideological and political education into foreign language courses. ideological and political workers mainly shoulder the responsibility of organizing and managing the study and life of teachers and students in universities, spread marxism and socialism with chinese characteristics, and lead teachers and students to establish correct values. the two subjects need to communicate actively and promote teaching foreign language courses with ideological-political elements through collective lesson preparation. the auxiliary education subjects like the government, enterprise, society and family take universities as the core hub with practical activities as the carrier, make full use of social resources, cooperate with society actively, create more practice opportunities for students of foreign language major, and improve their awareness of practice innovation and problem solving ability in order to better serve national development. 3.2 formulation of the cultivation scheme for foreign language talents the talent cultivation scheme of foreign language major need to give a full consideration to the professional and extracurricular class. foreign language teachers and ideological and political workers www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 175 published by scholink inc. should cooperate closely to fully connect with the demand of local government, society, enterprise, combine special characteristics of each universities, set training goals, ensure the quality of training, and optimize the curriculum system. foreign language major aims at cultivating students with proficient language skills and excellent culture background knowledge. through optimizing the curriculum system, foreign language major can set up courses with ideological elements, such as “translation of discourse with chinese characteristics in new era”, “comparison between chinese and western culture”, etc. students’ interdisciplinary practical ability can be improved by strengthening the cooperation between universities and society. 3.3 construction of professional class through core education subjects foreign language teachers should invite the ideological and political workers to join in the collective lesson preparation and set up the curriculum outline with socialist core values and interdisciplinary content. the course syllabus should be dominated by professional knowledge and skills in foreign language with the support of ideological-political elements and excellent chinese culture. the two subjects should cooperate to compile school-based teaching textbooks from the aspects of material selection and the integration of ideological-political elements, such as selecting the content that can make students understand the achievements of china’s responsibility and development. professional teachers can apply communication approach, task-based approach, project approach and seminar teaching approach in class design, comparing the similarities and differences in history, culture, system and development of different countries. for example, teachers can associate contemporary setting and view covid-19 as a breakthrough, instruct students to hold model apec or debate in foreign languages in order to think critically western democracy and system, and compare political ideology between china and the west. in this way, students can establish correct values in foreign language learning. improving teaching objectives is an important task of ipttiac teaching design. in foreign language teaching, linguistic knowledge and ideological-political elements should be naturally combined. in addition, the ideological and political evaluation should be integrated in the assessment of teachers and students. the method of combining students’ evaluation with teachers’ self-evaluation and mutual evaluation should be adopted. this aims at evaluating the achievement of educational goals, the degree of integration of ideological-political elements, teaching content and methods. 3.4 expansion of extracurricular class through auxiliary education subjects in order to achieve consistency between the extracurricular class and the professional class, universities should cooperate closely with each auxiliary education subject. the main subjects of auxiliary education should clarify their responsibilities, standardize the collaborative management system, allocate resources rationally, build a cooperation platform between government, universities, enterprise and family to realize information sharing. in this way, professional foreign language education and social development are in the same direction. auxiliary education subjects cultivate students as talents who attach equal importance to language expertise and practical ability. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 176 published by scholink inc. compared with the professional class, the extracurricular class is more diverse in terms of place, content and form. the auxiliary education subjects should make full use of the highlights in the extracurricular class to improve students’ practical ability. in terms of place, auxiliary education subjects can use their existing space to launch internship in offices or to build practice bases together. in terms of content, auxiliary education subjects can increase the varieties of students’ practical choices, and organize activities like public speeches on the theme of telling chinese stories in foreign language, foreign language painting and calligraphy exhibitions and foreign language drama, so as to enhance students’ interests and guide students to innovate. with the complementary advantages of the extracurricular and professional classes, the auxiliary education subjects assist the core education subjects to help students establish correct values and world outlook. 4. conclusion in the context of globalization and socialism with chinese characteristics, more and more excellent chinese culture and thoughts merit further exploration (wang, 2021). teaching foreign language courses with ideological-political elements faces multiple opportunities and challenges. the construction of education community for foreign language major is an effective way to implement foreign language courses with ideological-political elements. with the support from auxiliary subjects, core education subjects of foreign language major continuously deepen the concept of education community and integrate teaching resources with ideological-political elements. the professional and extracurricular classes complement with each other to achieve three-wide education. in this way, students of foreign language major will learn language knowledge, distinguish cultural differences, and enhance correct core values. acknowledgements this study was supported by undergraduate teaching reform research project “model construction and practice of education community for foreign language major from the perspective of ‘great ideological and political courses’” (22bydsz05) and postgraduate education comprehensive reform research and practice project “a study on the teaching model and teacher discourse system of foreign language post-graduate student courses based on legitimation code theory” (22xwyjga28). references deng, h., & yan, m. (2021). on the construction of practical education community for innovation and entrepreneurship in college. communist party construction and ideological education of school, 1, 94-96. lan, b., & qin, y. (2022). collaborative education in broad ideological and political courses: values, problems, and solutions. teaching and research, 2, 92-100. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 177 published by scholink inc. liu, b., & feng, l. (2022). a study on the systematic construction of curriculum-based political and virtuous awareness for english majors: realistic challenges and breakthrough paths. computerassisted foreign language education, 4, 23-28, 112. wang, j., & feng, g. (2018). design of english programs for undergraduate students from the new national standards’ perspective: principles and paths. chinese foreign language, 15(4), 4-10. wang, x. (2021). construing community with a shared future in president xi jinping’s diplomatic discourse (2013-2018): the role of personal pronouns we and they. critical art, 35(3), 35-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2021.1985154 yang, z., & zhao, y. (2022). make good use of “ideological and political course”: profound connotation, value of the times and the way of construction. communist party construction and ideological education of school, 5, 19-23. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 132 original paper value conflict and personal choice in the scarlet letter from the perspective of ethical literary criticism xiaomei yang1* 1 chongqing jiaotong university, chongqing, china * xiaomei yang, school of marxism, chongqing jiaotong university, chongqing, 400074, china received: february 9, 2024 accepted: february 25, 2024 online published: march 10, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p132 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p132 abstract nathaniel hawthorne was the preeminent american romantic writer of the 19th century. the scarlet letter, as hawthorne’s classic work, has been praised by most critics. hawthorne paid attention to the ethical problems of hester and dimmesdale and gave a comprehensive depiction of their ethical choices after they had violated the puritan ethical norms. this paper intends to use ethical literary criticism proposed by professor nie zhenzhao, based on ethical dilemma and ethical choice, within the ethical backdrop of new england, to analyze ethical conflicts and ethical choices of the protagonists in the novel. ultimately, it seeks to warn people the importance of complying with the ethical norms of the society. exploring the ethical and moral values embedded in the scarlet letter will enhance the domestic study of hawthorne’s works and better realize the didactic function of literature. keywords the scarlet letter, ethical literary criticism, ethic, nathaniel hawthorne 1. ethical environment in the scarlet letter american religious historian perry miller described the puritans of new england this way: “he was a soldier of jehovah who came to the new world to build a perfect society.” (wu, 2011, p. 9) the puritans who migrated to the new world were visionary individuals who aimed to establish a perfect society based on the word of god. in the new england region, the puritans fulfilled their religious ideals by establishing a theocracy of church and state. they practiced strict moral dogma, preached asceticism, and condemned the pursuit of earthly pleasures, and the narrow-mindedness and intolerance of their religious views began to emerge. objective ethical environment is the basis for understanding, interpreting and evaluating literature. the ethical environment of the scarlet letter is the puritanical society of new england in the midwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 133 published by scholink inc. seventeenth century. puritanism dominated and influenced people’s lives in all aspects of politics and economy, religious beliefs, and behavior. on the political side, a theocracy was practiced, with church and secular leaders governing church members of low status. in terms of religious beliefs, it required absolute devotion, reverence, obedience to god, and strict adherence to puritan doctrines and regulations. morally and ethically, it required hard work, self-reliance, introspection and repentance. the puritans were to practice asceticism and strive to become god’s “chosen people.” in a puritan society under theocracy, the influence of the church and state system was deeply rooted in the people, and the slightest disobedience was met with harsh repression and punishment. therefore, in the ethical environment of the ascetic puritan society of the 17th century, hester prynne’s adultery was forbidden. 2. ethical value conflicts in the scarlet letter 2.1 hester’s ethical identity dilemma an ethical identity dilemma hester faced was how to deal with her relationship with pearl. on the one hand, pearl was a symbol of the high price she had paid for her freedom and happiness and continuation of her love for dimmesdale. as the mother of pearl, hester strived to uphold her rights and assume her ethical responsibilities. she did not want to give up her rights as a mother or avoid the ethical responsibility of raising her daughter. on the other hand, pearl was the result of her adultery with dimmesdale, a symbol of her sins and a living red letter. it was pearl’s birth that brought hester’s sins to light and subjected her to the harsh punishment of the puritans. when hester walked out of the prison door in front of the crowd of onlookers, she subconsciously tried to use pearl’s body to cover the red letters embroidered on her chest, and immediately understood the futility of her action, because the meaning of pearl and the red letters were connected. the novel had written several times about the kind of affinity pearl had with the red characters. the first time she opened her eyes and saw something other than “mother’s smile”, it was the red letter. for hester, pearl was another red letter “a”, but pearl was even more of a supervisor. pearl’s actions were a constant reminder of the sins hester had committed and left hester without a moment’s peace and security. another ethical identity dilemma hester faced was how to deal with her relationships with chillingworth and dimmesdale. paul in ephesians used a profound metaphor to illustrate the idea of the “oneness of husband and wife.” he said that the relationship between husband and wife was the same as the relationship between the head and body. the duties and responsibilities of husband and wife in marriage were mutual. between hester and chillingworth, there was no love. hester was young and vigorous, while chillingworth was deformed and old. chillingworth chose hester as his wife, partly because he longed to make her his private property and use her to light his lonely and desolate heart. hester agreed to marry chillingworth mainly because she was unworldly and thought that a quiet life by his side was happiness. the patriarchal puritan society emphasized marital fidelity and the sanctity of the family, especially the wife’s fidelity to her husband. under puritanism, a wife must be faithful to her husband, whether or not there is love between them, and whether or not the husband is dead or alive. although www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 134 published by scholink inc. there was no love in hester’s marriage to chillingworth, the fact that hester was chillingworth’s wife did not change. hester must therefore be faithful to chillingworth, as dictated by the responsibilities and the indissoluble sanctity of marriage in a christian marriage. when chillingworth arrived in the colony and learned of hester’s adultery, he was unwilling to suffer the humiliation of an unfaithful woman and forced hester to reveal the name of her adulterer. at this point, hester was caught in an ethical identity dilemma, one being her husband in the legal sense and the other being her husband in her mind. according to the ethical norms of society at that time, as the legal wife of chillingworth, she had to obey her legal husband’s request to keep his identity a secret; while as the husband of her own heart, hester had to let dimmesdale know that her husband had returned and to take revenge on him. 2.2 dimmesdale’s ethical identity dilemma dimmesdale was a young minister who graduated from a prestigious british university. before sin arose, the environment in which he grew up and lived was mostly church and god, so his primary ethical identity would have been that of a clergyman, a believer in god. he was not only a highly respected pastor, but also a devout puritan. yet dimmesdale, knowing his sin, did not repent publicly, as hester had done, but chose to conceal the truth. the reason for this lies mainly in the confusion of his ethical identity. the ethical identity dilemma faced by dimmesdale was one of devotion to god and desire for humanity. as an orthodox theologically educated minister with strong religious beliefs and authority, dimmesdale was a representative of the puritan bourgeoisie and a defender of the puritan moral order. in the puritan society of that time, the priest was in a leading position and therefore was more bound by the moral laws of the society. (kaul, 1986, pp. 9-20) dimmesdale, who was deeply revered by his parishioners, always saw the service of god as the only noble goal, so such a devout clergyman was not supposed to have physical relations with any woman according to religious doctrine and moral requirements. dimmesdale also faced the ethical identity problem of fatherhood versus priesthood. to be a priest, he must conceal his sins, and his fatherhood was not disclosed; to be a father, he could not continue to be a priest. although at first dimmesdale concealed the crime and failed to assume the corresponding legal responsibility and the responsibility of raising pearl. 3. ethical choices in the scarlet letter 3.1 hester’s ethical return hester’s repentance was incomplete, and when she saw dimmesdale driven to the brink of madness by chillingworth, she proposed to run away with dimmesdale when she met with him in the forest. from the ethical point of puritanism, hester was guilty because she was swayed by her primitive lusts violated the sacred puritan ethics, and deserved to be condemned. in the end, hester’s plan to escape ultimately failed after dimmesdale’s public confession. the priest’s words finally awakened hester to the fact that in such a puritanical society, any form of resistance would be useless. only true repentance could cleanse the soul and gain god’s salvation. hester, who had tried to persuade dimmesdale to flee to a free and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 135 published by scholink inc. beautiful place together and live a happy life as a family, finally gave up her happy life with her daughter in europe and returned to the seaside cottage where she had been humiliated and isolated from the world, picking up the shame she had abandoned long ago, and this is the ethical choice hester finally made. living here was more real than living with her daughter in a strange and foreign home, so she returned and wore the red letter that symbolized shame again. whenever people encountered emotional problems or other confusion, they “brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel.” (hawthorne, 2019, p. 249) hester would do her best to comfort and guide them with her years of insight. hester’s seven years of solitude led her to make ethical choices from her heart. at the time of her trial, hester was not shackled to the puritan settlement. she could have gone far away or could have gone into hiding to find a new life, but she did not take off the red “a” and decided to stay with her daughter in a society full of coldness and hostility. hester endured discrimination and ridicule; she persisted in her good deeds without complaint: “none so ready as she to give of her little substance to every demand of poverty.” (hawthorne, 2019, p. 149) she earned the respect of everyone for her tenacity diligence and kindness. the “a” on her chest was slowly transformed from the original adultery to acceptance, able and admiration. literature is a product of history, and the interpretation and understanding of literature must return to its ethical context. (nie, 2010, pp. 12-21) hester’s ethical return is a return to the ethical norms of puritan society. in hawthorne’s view, this independence and freedom of the subject obtained by suppressing desires and limiting needs can only be an abstract rational freedom, and likewise, the inner peace and virtue achieved by escaping social constraints and ignoring the system of rituals and laws is hollow and empty. true freedom does not lie in escaping or confining oneself to one’s subjectivity to abandon ethics. hester’s return is in line with the specific ethical environment of the time, and also embodies the ethical edification function of literature, and is sufficient to express hawthorne’s profound ethical and moral intentions. 3.2 dimmesdale’s public confession dimmesdale did not think of confessing his sins at first, for the reason that the bible did not require public confession; at the same time, if he did, he would lose his ministry and his social status, so he concealed his sins at first. when reverend wilson asked dimmesdale to deal with hester and ask her to stop hiding the name of the one who had tempted her to fall, he “considered it were wronging the very nature of woman to force her to lay open her heart’s secrets.” (hawthorne, 2019, p. 60) when hester refused to give any information, dimmesdale “drew back, with a long respiration.” (hawthorne, 2019, p. 63) dimmesdale’s heart did not want hester to confess herself, although he was well aware that sin is sin and it had to be made public. for james’ admonition had penetrated to the very marrow of the puritan bones: “confess your faults, and pray for the forgiveness of others, that you may be saved.” (james, p. 1082) the ethical identity changes with the ethical environment. nie zhenzhao (2006) and dimmesdale’s ethical identity changed since he committed adultery with hester. therefore, dimmesdale faced a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 136 published by scholink inc. problem of ethical choice from the very beginning: to be a priest, he could not be a lover and a father, and to be a lover and a father, he could not be a priest. according to the ethical norms of the time, the final establishment of his ethical identity must be achieved by public confession, and a closer reading of the text revealed that there were three ethical dilemmas in dimmesdale’s ethical identity choices: whether he can hide his sins, whether he can confess them privately, and whether he can just walk away. deep down, dimmesdale initially wanted to hide his sins because he “still maintained a zeal for god’s glory and man’s welfare.” (hawthorne, 2019, p. 122) however, according to his education his position, and the ethical environment of the time, he should have known better than anyone whether he could conceal his sins. in the ethical environment of the time, public confession had become a fundamental canon and decree, and as a priest, dimmesdale knew that it was not reasonable or justifiable to conceal sins. on more than one occasion, he, when ascending to the pulpit, wanted to say: “i, your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a pollution and a lie!” (hawthorne, 2019, p.133）if dimmesdale had only confessed to pastor wilson in private, he would have ended up with excommunication, a public trial, and a public confession. dimmesdale also confessed himself according to roman catholic doctrine, and he oftentimes had piled the bloody scourge on his shoulders, which did not lead to salvation. if dimmesdale and hester had run away together, according to the ethical norms of that time, the three of them would never be allowed to join the church, and certainly not to integrate into society, let alone had any ethical identity. moreover, the question of pearl’s identity was directly linked to his public confession. as hester’s pastor, he could not continue their sins at her instigation, for the relationship between pastor and parishioner was one of the most fundamental ethical relationships between them, and it was his duty and obligation to help hester to atone for her sins, and he “had a great responsibility for the soul of this woman. therefore, it was up to him to exhort her to repent and confess, thus proving that his devotion to duty was not in vain.” therefore, he could no longer hide his identity; he had to appeal to his legitimate ethical identity and gave the world his true face in the form of a public confession, both to complete his repentance and to help hester atone for her sins. dimmesdale did not choose to flee with hester, but to cut off hester’s ideals using public confession. dimmesdale made the ethical choice to give an account to society and his family by making a public confession that met the norms of the time. dimmesdale chose to be brave and come forward with a public confession. at this point, he reached reconciliation with the world and completed his self-redemption. above the platform, dimmesdale’s public confession was a defense of dogmatic doctrine and a testimony to his strong faith, through which he found the reality of god’s existence. this public confession allowed dimmesdale himself to tear off the mask of the much-admired priest and let the real him come to the front of the people. although he had to face the accusations and discipline of the outside world, he had already realized the pilgrimage of selfhood and found the way to self-redeem. all of this stemmed from his sense of identity and his adherence to his faith, which was the bottom line he never wavered from, and the only ethical choice he made in making personal choices in the face of conflicting values. after www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 137 published by scholink inc. his death, hester’s repentance was no longer an obstacle, and she fully assumed her responsibility to pearl. 4. conclusion hawthorne is critical of the puritan ethic’s suppression of human nature, but his concern is not to criticize the puritan ethic itself or to solve specific moral problems. his focus is to explore value conflict and their personal choice that people face when they violate the puritan ethic. hawthorne’s description of the value conflict faced by hester and dimmesdale and the personal choice they made is not intended to deny the puritan ethics, nor to judge right and wrong, but to show that the ethical rules of a certain society are the guarantee of the ethical order. as long as one lives in this society, one is bound to be governed by ethical rules, and any act that breaks the ethical rules will be punished. the scarlet letter has a strong ethical and moral values. through a series of ethical events, it highlights the fierce encounter between the human factor and the animal factor in human nature, ethical dilemma and ethical choice. it also reveals the importance of abiding by social moral norms. writers should assume social responsibility, and the first importance of literature is to teach. (nie, 2015, pp. 83-101) hawthorne, who grew up in puritan society, was deeply influenced by puritanism, and his concern for ethical dilemmas and ethical choices of human beings inevitably emerged in the vast majority of his works. the use of ethical literary criticism to interpret the ethical conflicts and choices faced by characters in the scarlet letter provides a reference for us to interpret hawthorne’s other works. references hawthorne n. (2019). the scarlet letter. tianjin, tianjin people’s publishing house. kaul, a. n. (1986). the scarlet letter and puritan ethics. in nathaniel hawthorne’s the scarlet letter (pp. 9-20). nie, z. z. (2010). ethical literary criticism. foreign literature studies, 2010(1), 12-21. nie, z. z. (2006). ethical literary criticism. foreign literature studies, 2006(2). wu, s. h. (2011). humanized puritanism in the scarlet letter. nanchang university. nie, z. z. (2015). towards an ethical literary criticism. arcadia, 50(1), 83-101. microsoft word elsr-v1n1-p1.docx education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 short paper comparison in sociology sandro serpa1,2,3* & daniela soares4 1 department of sociology, faculty of social and human sciences, university of the azores, portugal 2 interdisciplinary centre of social sciences, cics.uac/cics.nova.uac 3 interdisciplinary centre for childhood and adolescence, nica-uac 4 interdisciplinary centre of social sciences, cics.nova * sandro serpa, department of sociology, faculty of social and human sciences, university of the azores, portugal received: february 7, 2020 accepted: february 15, 2020 online published: february 22, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n1p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n1p1 abstract the relationship between comparison and sociology is a fundamental motive when deepening the forms of sociological research. this paper aims to contribute to the analysis of the importance of comparison, in several possible forms, in the creation and consolidation of sociological knowledge. to accomplish this goal, a documental collection and analysis of manuscripts deemed essential was carried out based on the snowball system, in which the reading of manuscripts referred to other manuscripts that, by their mobilization, seemed crucial on this topic. it is concluded that comparison is a process that is always present and it is essential in sociology, although sometimes in a more explicit way, and other times in a more implicit way. keywords sociology, comparison, sociological analysis, comparative sociology, social sciences, scientific knowledge 1. introduction the process of comparison in sociology is a fundamental reason when deepening the forms of sociological research. according to derivry (1990), “the comparison is a fortiori the universal stance of all scientific knowledge” (p. 45). sociology can be considered, for the purposes of this text, as “a scientific discipline that perceives in its specific way the social reality, producing plural theoretical topics, formulating research problems within the context of these topics, and developing methodical strategies that guide empirical research” (ferreira & serpa, 2017, p. 1), based on the key classical rule defined by émile durkheim in 1895—to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 2 published by scholink inc. explain the social by the social (durkheim, 1982; aron, 1994; cruz, 1989; paiva, 2014). as an example of the importance of this founding rule of sociology, charles wright mills (2000) sustains that “abstracted empiricists are systematically a-historical and non-comparative; they deal with small-scale areas and they incline to psychologism” (p. 138), as “the attempt to explain social phenomena in terms of facts and theories about the make-up of individuals” (p. 67). this paper aims to contribute to the analysis of the importance of comparison, in various possible forms, in the creation of sociological knowledge. to accomplish this goal, a documental collection and analysis of manuscripts deemed essential was carried out based on the snowball system, in which the reading of manuscripts referred to other manuscripts that, by their mobilization, seemed crucial on this topic. 2. comparison in sociological research for derivry (1990), comparison as a method results from a cognitive process through which one seeks to understand a phenomenon by analyzing and confronting different situations where it is recorded, and sociology, like the other social sciences, has a comparative dimension, both at a theoretical and an empirical level (mills, 2000). durkheim (1982) maintained that when the production of facts that are generated spontaneously is alien to the observer’s intervention, we are faced with the use of the direct experimentation method or the comparative method, as opposed to situations in which phenomena are artificially produced by the observer. in this case, we are dealing with the experimentation method. the author also mentions that sociology seeks to explain phenomena through the effects of causality, and since social phenomena eliminate any form of control by the researcher, the comparative method remains the most appropriate method for sociology (durkheim, 1982). according to derivry (1990), the comparison in sociological research can take on two forms: a) comparison of concrete situations in different spaces and/or times; and b) comparison with a theoretical model. these two possibilities will be analyzed below. 2.1 comparison of concrete situations in different spaces and/or times malcolm (2015), analyzing the role of comparison in sociological analysis of sports history, offers an excellent synthesis of the potential of this comparison of concrete situations in different spaces and/or times. building on durkheim’s proposal, the author argues that the comparison could take on three types: intra-societal, inter-societal or cross-species, emphasizing the importance that, whenever possible, this comparison should cover a wider scale to enhance its heuristic capacity. malcolm (2015) concludes that sociology seeks to explain phenomena through the effects of causality, and since social phenomena eliminate any form of control by the researcher, the comparative method remains the most appropriate for sociology. however, it is essential for sociology not to lose a historical orientation (charrad, 2006; ferreira & serpa, 2019), as well as a fruitful relationship of dialogue between scientific disciplines. serpa, ferreira, and santos (2017) advocate that “our goal www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 3 published by scholink inc. should be the synthesis of understanding of higher and lower levels of generality and fundamental to this is the extensive use of comparison” (p. 1811). specifically regarding the relationship between sociology and history, the sociological analysis seeks to point out the uniformities and repetitions of social phenomena, as well as the verified correlations, whereas historical analysis aims to gather relevant information that enables the understanding of a specific event that is unique and unrepeatable. ferrarotti (1986, cit. in ferreira & serpa, 2019) contends that: the sociological analysis would aim, through the verification of the hypotheses, to identify in social phenomena what is uniform and repeatable, to identify the existence of certain correlations between two series of phenomena. in turn, the historical analysis would aim to accrue, by examining sources and document reconstruction, significant data that allows the understanding of a specific, unique and unrepeatable event (p. 113). in a synthesis, mills (2000) claims that “we must study the available range of social structures, including the historical as well as the contemporary. if we do not take into account the range, which does not of course mean all existing cases, our statements cannot be empirically adequate. […] comparative study and historical study are very deeply involved with each other” (p. 147, p. 150). 2.2 comparison to a theoretical model the comparison can also be made through the confrontation with a theoretical model, such as the ideal type proposed by max weber in 1904 (serpa, 2018; swedberg, 2017) that is still mobilized today in social sciences, although sometimes not in a systematic way (oliverio, 2020; swedberg, 2017). about the ideal-type as research strategy (paiva, 2014; aron, 1989; bhambra, 2016), as a specific type of comparison (for an excellent discussion, see swedberg, 2017), schnapper (2000) maintains that it is “a simplified and schematic framework of the object of research, with which systematic observation of the real [...] must be confronted” (p. 30), by a typological analysis through the “stylization or accentuation of essential features […], [which] allows for the synthesis of research acquisitions in order to extract the fundamental characteristics or to elaborate an abstract model with which the ducts can be compared” (p. 35). according to oliverio (2020), the use of the ideal type, “conceived as a non-normative form of conceptualization finalized to simplify and reduce external social world complexity, […] allows the organization of an increasing knowledge acquaintance” (p. 1). the author further argues that “ideal types are in practice pure constructs of causal relations that the researcher conceives as objectively probable and causally adequate on the strength of his/her nomological knowledge, while assuming an ‘active’ role in the rational interpretative process” (oliverio, 2020, p. 3). as indicated by swedberg (2017), it is necessary to make a comparison between the ideal type and the phenomenon under analysis. this means putting the ideal type and reality face to face. if the differences between the two are significant, the ideal type must be adjusted or, as weber reiterates, these differences must be explained. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 4 published by scholink inc. in summary, in this situation, the comparison is made between the ideal type as an ideal construction through the delimitation of a set of extreme characteristics and the empirical information obtained from the reality actually observed (oliverio, 2020), taking into consideration that “there is the need to select some specific dimensions of the object, with relevance and rigorous justification, being careful to neither over-simplify reality, nor bring complexity to it, to the point that this concept becomes unintelligible and without heuristic ability” (serpa, 2018, p. 1). 3. conclusion considering what has been put forth in this article, the comparison is, then, crucial to sociological knowledge (budiana, otsuka, & yoshihara, 2019; guclu, 2019; spohn, 2017). following durkheim (1982), “comparative sociology is not a special branch of sociology; it is sociology itself, in so far as it ceases to be purely descriptive and aspires to account for facts” (p. 158). in conclusion, the comparison is a process that is continuously present in sociology, even if in sociology it is not possible to bring about situations to be compared. furthermore, this process is essential, although sometimes in a more explicit way and other times in a more implicit way. this is the only way to shape the sociological imagination: “the sociological imagination enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals. it enables him to take into account how individuals, in the welter of their daily experience, often become falsely conscious of their social positions” (mills, 2000, p. 5). funding university of the azores, interdisciplinary centre of social sciences—cics.uac/cics.nova.uac, uid/soc/04647/2019, with the financial support of fct/mec through national funds and, when applicable, co-financed by feder under the pt2020 partnership agreement. acknowledgements the authors thank the comments and suggestion by the anonymous reviewers. references aron, r. (1994). as etapas do pensamento sociológico [the stages of the sociological thought]. lisboa: publicações dom quixote. bhambra, g. k. (2016). comparative historical sociology and the state: problems of method. cultural sociology, 10(3), 335-351. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975516639085 budiana, i. m., otsuka, a., & yoshihara, n. (2019). a preliminary assessment of chonaikai and banjar from the perspectives of the comparative sociology on the community. udayana journal of social sciences and humanities (ujossh), 3(1), 40. https://doi.org/10.24843/ujossh.2019.v03.i01.p07 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 5 published by scholink inc. charrad, m. m. (2006). waves of comparative and historical sociology. international journal of comparative sociology, 47(5), 351-358. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020715206068617 cruz, m. b. (1989). teorias sociológicas. os fundadores e os clássicos [sociological theories. the founders and the classics]. lisboa: fundação calouste gulbenkian. derivry, d. (1990). comparativo (método) [comparative (method)]. in r. boudon, p. besnard, & m. cherkaoui (eds.), dicionário de sociologia [dictionary of sociology] (pp. 44-46). lisboa: publicações dom quixote. durkheim, é. (1982). the rules of sociological method. new york: free press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16939-9 ferreira, c. m., & serpa, s. (2019). dialogues between sociology and history. international journal of higher education, 8(6), 112. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v8n6p112 ferreira, c., & serpa, s. (2017). challenges in the teaching of sociology in higher education. contributions to a discussion. societies, 7(4), 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc7040030 guclu, i. (2019). social change and development: a critical comparison of classical with contemporary sociological theory. studies in asian social science, 6(2), 66. https://doi.org/10.5430/sass.v6n2p66 malcolm, d. (2015). durkheim and sociological method: historical sociology, sports history, and the role of comparison. the international journal of the history of sport, 32(15), 1808-1812. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2015.1108968 mills, c. w. (2000). the sociological imagination. oxford: oxford university press. oliverio, a. (2020). the importance of models in sociology: the example of max weber. advances in applied sociology, 10(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.4236/aasoci.2020.101001 paiva, a. (2014). pensamento sociológico. uma introdução didática às teorias clássicas [sociological thought. a didactic introduction to classical theories]. lisboa: pactor—edições de ciências sociais, forenses e da educação. schnapper, d. (2000). a compreensão sociológica. como fazer análise tipológica [sociological understanding. how to do typological analysis]. lisboa: gradiva. serpa, s. (2018). ideal type in sociological research. sociology international journal, 2(5). https://doi.org/10.15406/sij.2018.02.00075 serpa, s., ferreira, c. m., & santos, a. i. (2017). fostering interdisciplinarity: implications for social sciences. international journal of social science studies, 5(12), 44. https://doi.org/10.11114/ijsss.v5i12.2775 spohn, w. (2017). historical and comparative sociology in a globalizing world. historická sociologie, 1, 9-27. https://doi.org/10.14712/23363525.2017.50 swedberg, r. (2017). how to use max weber’s ideal type in sociological analysis. journal of classical sociology, 18(3), 181-196. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468795x17743643 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 24 original paper an ecolinguistic perspective study on linguistic resources emotions of migrants in huizhou yuxuan cai1* 1 yunnan normal university, kunming, china * yuxuan cai, school of foreign language and literature, yunnan normal university, kunming, 650000, p.r.china received: march 7, 2024 accepted: march 27, 2024 online published: april 16, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n2p24 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n2p24 abstract mobility has received burgeoning attention in social science studies, and it is of great significance to the academic research to migrants’ dialects in china. most research shows that individuals have a strong emotional attachment to their first language. however, in this study, from the perspective of ecology, semi-structured interviews were used to explore the experience and emotional attitudes of immigrants living in huizhou city, guangdong province. although immigrants take their native language as a symbol of their early life memories, other languages could also be a suitable medium for showing their inner world when they move to a new place and use another language. people’s positive or negative emotions towards their first or second languages depend on how they interact with their surroundings. based on the results, this paper provides a deeper understanding of adult migrants’ language choices from an ecolinguistic perspective. keywords ecolinguistics, immigrants, emotion, multilingualism 1. introduction in recent years, china’s economy has been developing rapidly. with the continuous progress of urbanization construction, the advantages of china’s resources are gradually appearing in some coastal cities in our country. due to excellent social, economic and educational resources in coastal cities, the phenomenon of large population flow occurs in our country, for example, the population of the inland area goes to live in coastal areas. immigrants make a significant contribution to the construction of the cities where they move to live, providing their expertise and even ordinary manual labor. in addition to housing, education and social security issue, migrants may face challenges between their own cultural www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 25 published by scholink inc. practices and traditions and the way of life of the local community. from the macro level, immigrants’ recognition of the cities they move to is conducive and significant for promoting local development; from the micro level, immigrants’ satisfaction with the city they move to is also conducive and significant to their personal physical health and mental pleasure. huizhou city, with a permanent population of 4.75 million, and its numbers of population ranks ninth in the whole guangdong province. it covers an area of 11,000 square kilometers and is one of the six cities in the pearl river delta. due to its unique advantages for development, huizhou’s urban economic level is higher than that of the central and western regions in china, however, and there is still a certain gap compared with other cities in guangdong. even so, huizhou’s urban competitiveness and attraction to migrants should not be underestimated. firstly, huizhou has convenient geographical and transportation advantages, it is close to two developed cities: shenzhen and guangzhou. second, huizhou has excellent land resources, beautiful natural scenery, fresh air condition and so on. in addition, the people in huizhou are generally friendly and not exclusive, so that people from all over the nation could have a strong sense of belonging to the city and live in harmony with each other. according to the “china urban vitality research report” released in recent years, among all cities in china, huizhou ranks at the front of the list in terms of population attractiveness. according to the census data released, huizhou’s population increase could be thought to be very considerable. according to krashen’s the affective filtering hypothesis, learners’ affective factors play an important role in language learning. positive emotions promote language acquisition, while negative emotions limit language input. delightful emotions can improve learners’ agency in language learning. linguist dewaele indicate that emotions are at the basis of any learning or absence of learning. emotions come from the environment, and the environment refers to the ecosystem in which people live. people all live in an ecosystem and form a language ecosystem within this environment. as large as the influence from the external social environment, the interaction between family members, as small as personal factors, are all indispensable parts of this ecosystem. ecolinguistics reveals the interaction between language and environment through the study of language ecosystem and the relationship between language, natural ecology and social ecology. the current academic approaches could mainly be divided into two models, one is called “haugenian approach/dogma”, and the other is “hallidayan approach/dogma”. previous studies have shown that teachers can build a positive language ecological environment in terms of external factors such as suitable dressing, so as to mobilize the enthusiasm of lamguage learners to the greatest extent (xie, 2023). american psychologist urie bronfenbrenner believes that the process of adaptation between human beings who is continuously growing organisms and their changing environment is called the ecology of human development. he divides the environment we live in into five interconnected systems that affect us from direct to indirect. the first is the microsystem, which refers to the environment in which humans are in direct contact, in which every factor has an impact on the development of individuals, such as peer groups and other close relationships; the second is the mesosystem, which refers to the interaction between two or more systems. for example, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 26 published by scholink inc. there are differences in the education methods of teenagers between two micro-systems, school and family. the third is the exosystems, which refers to some factors in the individual development environment that could not be directly contacted by human, such as work units, schools, educational institutions, etc., they will have a recessive influence on the formation and development of individual thoughts; the fourth is the macrosystem, that is, the cultural ideology that has existed for a long time in the whole society, such as national customs, people’s educational concepts and lifestyles. the fifth is the chronosystem, which indicate the concept that all human development is within the dimension of time. as a native person of huizhou, the author has been in contact with many immigrants from various provinces and cities in china since my childhood, and gets along with them harmoniously. in most cases, speaking individuals tend to have stronger feelings for their first language, especially when people move to a whole now place where a different language is spoken. they have stronger and more positive emotions for their first language due to homesickness or some others various external factors. however, in the study, immigrants living in huizhou, guangdong province, also demonstrate positive emotions toward languages which might not be their first language, such as cantonese and hakka. the immigrants who have a good memory during the period when they lived in huizhou makes their acquisition of huizhou dialects more smooth. in this article, i will show from an ecological perspective that people’s emotions towards language depend on the interaction between people and their surroundings. 2. methodology 2.1 research instrument in this study, a qualitative approach was adopted to explore how immigrants’ ecological environment affects their feelings towards different languages through semi-structured in-depth interviews. my research subjects are three migrants who have lived in huizhou for a long time, and their first language is not cantonese. i used a method commonly used in social network research, that is, the friends’ introduction method, to constantly look for people who meet the criteria of the survey objects through my familiar friends. our face-to-face and one-on-one interview was conducted in mandarin. i recorded the interview content with a recorder and then imported it into the computer for word by word analysis through software. since it is impossible to predict the respondents’ answers to the questions, my interviews are not conducted by determined specific questions and then being answered by the participants. instead, i design the main interview topics first, and then constantly raise questions according to the specific circumstance during the interviews. in order to find the relationship among the interviewees’ experience, language and emotions, my questions are usually some general ones, such as, “tell me the story of your hometown and what happened after you came to huizhou”, “what kind of city do you think your hometown and huizhou are respectively”, “when you communicate with different people in work time or private life time, what language do you usually use?” these questions are more easy for people to understand and answer, which could release their feeling and i could get more effective information during the interview. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 27 published by scholink inc. 2.2 background information of the participants the first interview subject, her name is dalin, her husband is a native person of huizhou, and she is proficient in guangdong dialects. she is a native of fuzhou, fujian province, she came to live in huizhou in the last century. and she is now 52-year-old. in fuzhou, she worked as a laborer, after getting married she became a housewife briefly, and then make herself into a job as a preschool teacher. she can understand and use cantonese fluently. the second interviewee is xiao he, a 28-year-old physical education teacher from yiyang city, hunan province. after graduating from university, she came to huizhou to live and acculturate very well. she has many good friends in huizhou and can understand guangdong dialects. the third interviewee is xie, a 31-year-old doctor who came to huizhou in 2012 and has been living there for 12 years. she has a happy family of her own in huizhou, with a handsome husband and a lovely daughter. when she was a young girl, she had known from the social media that huizhou is a very inclusive and livable city, so she chose to move from her hometown of guangyuan, sichuan province, to live in huizhou after graduating from university. she is also able to understand and skillfully use the cantonese dialect, she also said that because of living in guangdong for a long time,she has a deep emotional connection with huizhou, even people said her mandarin pronunciation have a strong cantonese accent which makes her feel like a native, she is not bothered by this, but found it very interesting. 3. result 3.1 the first interviewee dalin is the mother of liu qianhui, a good friend of the author when i was in college. due to the factors of her growing environment, liu qianhui could proficiently master mandarin, english, cantonese, hakka dialects and fujian dialects, which is in line with the author’s research on immigration and multilingual environment, so i immediately contacted my friend’s mother. born in fujian province, dalin lived in huizhou after she got married with her husband. they had a very harmonious romantic relationship and a happy family. in her household with her husband and two daughters, she communicates most frequently with her family in mandarin, and exclusively with her own family who are living in fuzhou in hokkien. she said that after coming to huizhou to live, the neighbors who are near where she lived and her husband and his family all spoke hakka dialect, so she gradually learned hakka dialect in the process of communicating with everyone. for her, learning cantonese is a very convenient and happy thing. for example, in daily life, when she needs to go to the supermarket to buy goods, she can communicate with people in cantonese. when she is chatting gossip with her family and friends here, the cantonese dialect can also accurately express her mood. dalin is a middle-aged woman with a relatively introverted personality. she has a different situation from xiao he, our second interviewee, who acquired cantonese dialect through active communication with friends. she can fully master the cantonese dialect, mainly because of the chronosystem under the theory of the ecology development www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 28 published by scholink inc. system, since she has lived in guangdong for nearly 30 years; the second is the significant role of the exosystem and the microsystem, which prompted dalin to learn the cantonese dialect out of the emotional need to communicate with everyone around her. even so, she also said that her family language policy management for the future generations of her is more hoping that her children could learn several foreign languages, and for the language awareness of dialect acquisition, she believes that it is better to let go. dalin has deep feelings for her hometown. when she spoke of her hometown during the interview, her emotion were full of pride. after coming to huizhou to live, all her living habits also tend to be localized. she also mentioned that one of the most regrettable things after marriage is to become a housewife after giving birth to her children, if she had not resigned, perhaps her career would have had better development now, but she has not regretted having children, she thinks that her two daughters are the proud of her. however, in daily life, when dalin encounters some emergency situations, she prefers to express her emotions in mandarin, perhaps out of instinct, or perhaps mandarin is a better choice for her in a complex multilingual environment of guangdong. 3.2 the second interviewee xiao he, a pe teacher from hunan, shared her story in huizhou with me. she is a very positive and optimistic person. even though she lives in a place where is totally different from her hometown, she still maintains her positive and optimistic attitude towards life, which had been totally reflected during the interview with her. as soon as she graduated from university, she came to huizhou to find a job. in addition to eating habits in her life, she adapted well in other aspects. the language she uses in her hometown and her family is hunan dialect. after coming to huizhou, she usually uses mandarin to communicate with people at work. during her spare time, since there are a lot of local friends in huizhou for xiao he, and people often use guangdong dialect when they play with each other, so she have learned the language from that moment. she has a strong sense of pride in her hometown of yiyang city. as a native of yiyang, she says that she remembers her hometown as having a lot of delicious food and rich cultural resources. if she meets people from her hometown in huizhou, she prefers to communicate in her hometown dialect, which is more cordial for her. she is the only child in her family, so every year she goes back to hunan to visit her family when there is vocation from work. i tried to ask her if there were any her own stories in hunan or guangdong that impressed her deeply. she said that since she had have been an independent and optimistic person since childhood, she rarely felt unhappy. after coming to huizhou, she also made a lot of local friends in huizhou, and huizhou is a very livable city for her, so she is very satisfied with her life from the past until now. when she first came to huizhou, even when she the heard locals speaking cantonese that she could not understand, she would ask directly for the meaning of the conversation. in her impression, most of the huizhou locals she has got along with were hakka people, and she thought that the cantonese people www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 29 published by scholink inc. were friendly, so even if she did not understand the cantonese dialect at the very first time, she would directly ask its meaning. she has learned her cantonese through communication with friends, which is the microsystem under our ecological environment. xiao he said that staying with her friends is very happy, so she is willing to take the initiative to learn how to speak cantonese, and she thinks that it is very easy to learn it.when playing with friends, using the cantonese dialect to communicate with everyone is also very interesting for her. 3.3 the third interviewee the last interviewee is xiao xie from sichuan province. more than ten years ago, she saw the propaganda clip of huizhou cultural and tourism bureau, and she indicated that she was at that time particularly longing for the cultural scenery of huizhou. so she chose to come to huizhou to find a job after graduating from university. she said she learned the huizhou dialect through daily contact with her husband and his own family. therefore, the language ecological environment have played a very important role in the process of her acquisition of cantonese dialect. her husband’s mother who is also her mother in law is an elderly woman who speaks only hakka, so she uses the hakka dialect entirely when communicating with her mother in law. during her interview, i can see that she is very satisfied with the city of huizhou and has a high degree of recognition of her family happiness. her memory of her hometown guangyuan city in sichuan province is that it is a city with a relatively slow pace of life and people feel relaxed here, but after coming to huizhou, her life began to become busy and personal leisure time decreased, which is also due to the nature of her doctor work. but she said that even though life in huizhou is very busy, it is part of her personal life plan, so she enjoys it. in her own point of view, she believed that huizhou people are warm and simple, so even if huizhou dialect is not her first language, she is very happy to learn it and communicate with the locals in this language, which is a very delighted thing for her. in the second half of the interview, xiao xie also shared the story of a turning point in her work. she once worked in different hospitals in huizhou, and she was deeply touched by this memory. most of the colleagues in the hospital where she worked were the huizhou locals, and she quickly integrated into the new environment because they were very friendly to her. in her work as a doctor, she also meets many patients who speak only huizhou dialect, and she is also very happy to communicate with them in huizhou dialect, which has been integrated into her life. according to the theoretical framework of this study, xiao xie’s language ecological environment has brought her a nice experience and promoted her second language acquisition. firstly and foremost, from the aspect of the microsystem level, xiao xie learns the cantonese through contact with her intimate family members. secondly, from the exosystem level, xiao xie’s work allows her to have more exposure to the cantonese dialect, and she always uses the cantonese dialect intentionally or unintentionally. thirdly, from the macrosystem level, xiao xie’s recognition to the culture of guangdong region since her seeing the propaganda film of huizhou cultural and tourism bureau, and then it started to promote her process of formally contacting the guangdong dialect. last but not least, it is also because xiao xie www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 30 published by scholink inc. has stayed in huizhou for a long time. from the perspective of the chronosystem, the development of xiao xie’s second language acquisition depends on the latitude of time. she also said that she will cultivate her children’s acquisition of the cantonese in their daily life, consciously or unconsciously. from this demonstration we could see that xiao xie, as an immigrant, has a very positive attitude towards hakka dialect. 4. discussion the author herself has grew up in a multilingual environment, and my feelings towards different languages led me to study the relationship between language and environment. for the three interviewees in this study, their feelings towards language are closely related to the surrounding environment. during the interview, they all said that huizhou is a multi-lingual city with strong inclusiveness, so they have no psychological burden toward the dialect acquisition. it could tell that building a good social interaction environment could well increase immigrants’ positive emotions towards the local language. the author has had a lot of immigrant friends who have came to huizhou from other cites since my childhood. when i am taking my master programme, i have known that especially immigrants have strong emotion to their first language. therefore, i hope this article can show that people’s emotion towards a language could depend on their life experience, and also hope to make better understanding toward the multilingual resource and the acculturation practice of immigrants. references huang, g. w. (2016). the birth and the development of ecolinguistics. foreign languages in china, 1(1), 9-12. huang, g. w., & chen, y. (2017). ecolinguistics as a new discipline. foreign languages in china, 5, 38-46. huang, g. w., & li, w. b. (2021). ecolinguistics as applied linguistics. modern foreign languages, 5(44), 592-601. judith, a. (2021). an ecolinguistic discourse approach to teaching environmental sustainability: analyzing chief executive officer letters to shareholders. business and professional communication quarterly, 4(84), 386-408. wang, h. j. (2019). on research approaches of ecolinguistics. foreign language and literature, 4(35), 84-89. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 31 original paper a comparative study of chinese and english online shopping reviews from the engagement of appraisal theory—take taobao electronic products online shopping reviews as example qinyi qi1 & jing jin1 1 foreign language department, southeast university, nanjing, china received: march 15, 2024 accepted: april 1, 2024 online published: april 22, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n2p31 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n2p31 abstract online shopping has developed into a popular mode of consumption. many e-commerce platforms offer customer feedback mechanisms, and customers can rate products after purchase. in addition to advice from retailers, reference opinions are also provided for potential consumers. consumers can use reviews to interact with potential consumers. therefore, from a linguistic perspective, this interactive process has an interpersonal meaning. this paper used engagement of appraisal theory to analyze and compare chinese and english online shopping reviews concerning the engagement and its distribution. 100 chinese online shopping comments and 100 english online shopping comments about the same type of electronic products were selected, then they were organised, categorised and analysed according to the theoretical framework. the conclusions are that chinese and english consumers can change the level of discursive responsibility through engagement resources, thus expanding or narrowing the space of dialogue with potential consumers, and secondly english consumers tend to use accurate and clear intervening resources, while chinese tend to use uncertain and vague engagement resources. from a cross-cultural perspective, this study can help chinese and english potential consumers to identify evaluation resources, as well as suggestions for chinese and english businesses on how to internationalize their products. keywords engagement, appraisal theory, online reviews, cross-culture www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 32 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction in the digital world, it has become commonplace for consumers to shop online rather than in physical shops. online shopping offers consumers new and convenient shopping channels without time and space restrictions. after customers have purchased goods in online shops, they can directly rate the products they have already purchased. normally, positive and negative reviews about products or services as well as the feelings of purchase that can influence consumers’ purchasing decisions of potential consumers. the results from utz and kerkhof (2012) showed that customer reviews not only influence the choice of potential customers, but also the credibility of merchants, because buyers have limited knowledge about products in online shops and they cannot see and touch the real products. therefore, most shoppers read online shopping reviews before purchasing goods to get more information about the products. the majority of studies on online shopping reviews are mainly concerned with the impact of reviews on customers’ purchasing decisions. in terms of linguistics, reviews in online shopping have an importance effect on the interpersonal relationship. it is worth analysing their interpersonal meaning from the perspective of functional linguistics. although researchers from home and abroad tried to investigate different types of text using appraisal theory, the analysis of online shopping reviews from the respect of engagement has never been sufficient. the objective of the present paper is to explore the similarities and differences between chinese and english engagement resources in chinese and english online reviews and to offer suggestions to potential consumers and retailers from a cross-cultural perspective. this study hopes to provide effective methods to identify review resources for potential consumers and to help improve products and service for online retailers. 2. literature review online shopping reviews can make suggestions to retailers and offer a judgement to potential consumers. foreign studies on online shopping reviews are mainly concerned with the impact of reviews on customers’ purchasing decisions. lee and han (2007) stated that consumers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by negative comments. negative comments usually contain more information that is hidden in online shops. the study by nettelhorst, brannon and hill (2013) studied relationships between the levels of customer reviews and assessments of products by potential consumers. results show that the attitudes of reviews would affect consumers. the above studies were mainly concerned with the perspective of evaluators and potential consumers, where the inherent interpersonal relationships between them were not investigated. in 2005, appraisal theory, which was introduced by martin and white (2005) in the book the language of evaluation: appraisal has become popular. there have been some studies abroad from the perspective of attitude from this theory. the essay by mikulová (2018) analyzed the expression of emotion in german and croatian football reports. the phrases were discussed from the perspective of attitude to find out how emotions are expressed through football commentary. the article by korenek and šimko (2014) evaluated the emotions of weibo posts from the perspective of attitude. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 33 published by scholink inc. in recent years some chinese scholars have begun to study reviews with the help of appraisal theory. among those articles, texts can be mainly characterized from two aspects. the first aspect is about customer reviews based on three subsystems of evaluation theory. the second aspect is that the customer reviews are only analyzed with the help of attitude. the following studies contain analyses from the perspective of appraisal theory. li (2014) showed the similarities and differences between english customer reviews in the distribution of review resources and how commentators use the resources to build relationships. another researcher studied customer reviews on the website of taobao. the distribution of the rating resources of chinese customer reviews was the subject (li, 2017). from the aspect of attitude, the survey from yang (2019) focused on the distribution of attitude resources and the expression of interpersonal meanings of online speakers. but in the field of engagement, bie (2010) conducted a study of online shopping reviews on taobao, discussing which engagement resources shoppers like to use in online shopping reviews. the article by liu and xu (2018) compared the use of engagement resources in english and chinese political editorial discourse. however, from the perspective of engagement, there are still few contrastive studies between chinese and english online shopping review. as a branch of functional linguistics, chinese and english customer reviews can be compared from this aspect, therefore the differences between them and the interpersonal meanings can be studied. 3. theoretical foundation and methodology 3.1 engagement engagement describes the linguistic resources, with which speakers or authors express their value positions. engagement is divided into monoglossic and heterglossic. monoglossic normally refers to declarative sentences, expresses a single position and has no dialogism. because there is a form of dialogue between author and reader, interpersonal meanings exist between them. this paper mainly examines the interpersonal meanings of online shopping reviews. therefore, monoglossic is not addressed. martin (2005) defined heterglossic as a sentence with dialogism. the dialogism mentioned here is a fictional dialogue between author and reader. usually, authors imagine a potential readership before writing and expect their written or spoken expressions to influence readers. therefore, interpersonal meanings between authors and readers can be scrutinized with engagement. the voices of authors or discourses are divided into dialogic contraction and dialogic expansion. authors may negotiate with readers by expanding or contracting the conversational space. the two forms of dialogic contraction are disclaim and proclaim. disclaim (e.g. not, none) usually contains negative formulations that turn expectations into the opposite. disclaim shows that one refuses to accept the opinions of others. there is no room for negotiation, and this restricts the space for dialogue between author and reader. proclaim (e.g. of course, it is true) means full affirmation. authors use proclaim, to express their own views. this shows the legitimacy of opinions. the absolute confirmations also narrow the dialogue space. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 34 published by scholink inc. dialogic expansion is divided into entertain and attributes. entertain (e.g. it seems, perhaps, probably) refers to authors who can accept other views. there is room for negotiation between the author and the reader. this opens up the dialogue space. attributes (e.g., according to someone’s view) consists of quoting what someone else says when evaluating. this means that external voices are used in evaluations. through attributes it can be implied that the author’s views are open. therefore, other ideas can exist and the dialogue space is expanded. wang (2001) argued that language users use engagement to regulate the responsibility and obligation for what they have said or written. with the support of engagement, authors can convince readers to change or not change their views. this allows authors to build interpersonal relationships with readers. in this paper, engagement can be used to regulate the relationships between consumers and potential consumers. dialogic contraction concerns the consumers expressing themselves about products or retailers in an absolutely positive or negative way. expressions of engagement can be realized through grammar. through this means, consumers may reject the views of potential consumers and reduce their space for communication. subsequently, consumers use dialogic expansion to express doubt or quote what others say. potential consumers must judge from their own experience whether the information provided by consumers is reliable. therefore, potential consumers can get multiple meanings from the reviews. the space for dialogue between them is also expanded. consumers influence the purchasing decisions of potential consumers, regulate their distance to potential consumers through engagement. 3.2 data the online shopping reviews in the study were collected from two websites: www.taobao.cn and www.aliexpress.com. to ensure the validity of the comparison between the chinese and english customer reviews, the chinese and english reviews were identical in terms of products and quantities. because the ratio of quantities between good, medium and bad comments is inconsistent, the selected data was derived from the average proportions calculated from the ratios of all selected transactions. good comments, moderate comments and bad comments are distributed differently. to ensure the objectivity of the corpus as far as possible, customer reviews of electronic products with relatively few historical and cultural differences were selected. the selected product types include mobile phones, hairdryers, electric toothbrushes, speakers, headphones and kindle paperwhite. the criteria for selection are that they are popular electronic products on chinese and english websites. the word count for each chinese customer review should be within 10-300. the number of words per english customer review should be within 10-200. this can ensure that the amount of information of chinese and english customer reviews is approximately the same. 4. analysis 4.1 engagement resources the following examples include many engagement resources. by understanding these, it is possible to recognize how consumers create interpersonal relationships through engagement resources. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 35 published by scholink inc. example 1: 可能[engagement: entertain]电动牙刷就是这样的，震动幅度较大，但刷完牙很干净。 it is an evaluation of an electronic toothbrush. in example the entertain resource “可能” is used. this shows that the consumer is unsure about their views. from the description, it can be seen that the quality of the toothbrush may be problematic. this uncertain expression is easy to make potential consumers think, because the sentence is not an absolutely positive or absolutely negative sentence. at the same time, the consumer is not responsible for his words, so that he alienates the relationship with potential consumers. example 2: 咨询了戴森的客服，解释[engagement: attribute]是套装风口有问题，要观察一段时间。 the example demonstrates the use of the attribute resource “客服...解释” which introduces voices from third-party providers. due to a problem with the hairdryer, the explanation of the customer service is quoted by the attribute resource. the quote from customer service appears to be objective. therefore, customer shifts the responsibility away from himself, he merely restates the content. the customer does not show his own position and does not encourage a connection with potential consumers. example 3: 接口插不[engagement: disclaim]了！手势翻页的时候，经常没[engagement:disclaim] 反应，给我没[engagement:disclaim]用的错觉，还会直接不[engagement: disclaim]工作了。 here the disclaimer resources “不” and “没” are used. these words indicate that the customer negates the information in the sentence. the first occurrence of “没” indicates that there is a problem with the charging line, which reflects objective quality problems with the product. this reduces the space for dialogue between consumers and potential consumers while providing consumers with clear product information. the second word “没” and the third word “不” in the customer review refer to the kindle’s faulty screen. again, this reduces the space for dialogue between consumers and potential consumers. in the customer review, the consumer uses four disclaim resources, which can be used to directly describe negative features. he convinces potential consumers with the help of his self-confident forms of expression. example 4: i can only agree with the negative reviews [dialogic contraction: proclaim]. in the water you can only hear [dialogic contraction: proclaim] the constant sounds of the water current and the air bubbles, but hardly any of the music. [dialogic expansion: disclaim] the player only holds [dialogic contraction: proclaim] with a bathing cap. in addition, switching off the microphones did not lead to any change. presumably [dialogic expansion: entertain] defective[...] when evaluating the bluetooth headset, the identical proclaim resource “only” is used three times. the customer uses the first “only” to indicate that he or she is very sure that he or she can only give a poor rating, and the second “only” and the third “only” to indicate that he or she is sure that the product experience is not good. the disclaim resource “hardly” also shows that the user experience is not satisfactory. all three proclaim resources and the disclaim resource show that the customer is very certain about their experience and there is no room for negotiation, which limits the dialogue space and allows potential consumers to clearly evaluate the product. he takes responsibility for what they want to say. the customer clearly communicates potential consumers that the expectations and requirements of the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 36 published by scholink inc. product cannot be fulfilled. this discourages them from buying the product. however, in the end, the customer uses the entertain resource “presumably” to express that he recognized a problem with the product quality and suspects that it was possibly defective. the entertain resource provides a possible product property and a reference option for potential consumers. this expands the conversation space as potential consumers can also make considerations on this basis. at the same time, it also shows that the customer is not confidently. consumers are alienated from potential consumers from potential consumers without explicit advice. this is not conducive to the realization of interpersonal meaning. example 5: my wife wouldn’t want to be without this hairdryer [engagement: disclaim]. (she says [engagement: attributes]) and she has already had many different models. [...] the customer uses the attribute resource “she says” in example to refer the words to his wife. this shows that he avoids the responsibility of the discourse and that his words only reflect his wife’s point of view. his wife uses the disclaim resource “without” to convey her true love for the hairdryer. the customer who writes the review gives potential consumers a space to think, distancing himself from potential consumers to a certain extent. 4.2 comparison of engagement resources the above analysis shows that both chinese and english consumers use engagement resources to regulate relationships with potential consumers. by comparing chinese-english engagement resources, one can recognize the linguistic characteristics of both. table 1. distribution of chinese and english engagement resources engagement dialogic contraction dialogic expansion total disclaim proclaim entertain attribute chinese number 42 23 30 5 100 percent 42% 23% 30% 5% 100% english number 48 32 11 9 100 percent 48% 32% 11% 9% 100% the table above shows that the dialogic contraction resources are used most frequently by chinese and english consumers. attribute resources are used the least. they account for 5% in chinese customer reviews and 9% in english customer reviews. this shows that consumers in both countries do not like to quote the words of others in order to avoid the responsibility of the discourse. the difference between chinese and english online shopping reviews is that chinese consumers use entertain resources more than english. therefore, the chinese consumers prefer to express vague attitudes, while english prefer www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 37 published by scholink inc. to express clear prefer to express clear attitudes. in customer reviews, chinese consumers like the words 可能,或许,推测,怀疑 to express uncertain opinions about things. they liked to use the words 没,不,肯 定 ,绝对 ,就是 ,老实说 ,说实话 which means that they are very sure about their views. english consumers use these words perhaps, it seems ..., sceptic, probably to indicate that they are not sure. in addition, they use the words of course, not, never, by and large, absolutely etc. to express their opinions. the chinese and english engagement resources are similar in word semantics. since the classification of the evaluation theory is based on the semantics of the vocabulary, they behave the same in terms of vocabulary. 4.3 intercultural implications due to the cultural differences between various nationalities, there are certain differences in the linguistic expressions used by chinese and english consumers. in this part, suggestions can be offered to potential consumers and traders from an intercultural point. linguistic expressions have the obvious purpose of guiding potential consumers to buy goods. based on the above conclusions, when reading, pay attention to adverbs and sentence models. for example, english consumers like to use really, very, absolute purchase recommendation etc. but chinese people like to use ambiguous expressions. the consumers prefer entertain resources 可能, 比较, 好像, 有点, 也许 etc., to express vague viewpoints. when english consumers see many uncertain language expressions in chinese online shopping reviews, they should not be skeptical about those comments, it is just the language habits in chinese people’s expression. in chinese customer reviews, customer services are mentioned more than in english. in contrast to information about customer service, potential consumers can recognize in advance what the disadvantages of a of a product are. and the both retailers should focus on higher product quality standards. if retailers want to sell their products abroad, they can conduct surveys on consumer reviews. in addition, they should improve customer service skills and should conduct professional training for overseas e-commerce staff according to the results of survey. in this way chinese and english retailers can open up better foreign market. 5. conclusion the current paper is a comparative study of chinese and english customer reviews. the investigations revealed that chinese and english customer reviews show both similarities and differences. chinese and english consumers are able to narrow or expand the space with potential purchasers through engagement resource. from the engagement resources, it can be seen that the english assessment of things is clear. compared to that, the chinese tend to be vaguer, which also shows that the chinese do not come to conclusions easily and tend to express their opinions cautiously. both countries have different attitudes towards things: english’s direct attitude and china’s euphemistic attitude. the difference can inspire the two countries in their exchange. as globalization continues to expand, the chinese are interacting more and more closely with english countries. they can express their attitudes more directly, which can improve the efficiency of communication between the two sides. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 38 published by scholink inc. from an interpersonal level, the study can help consumers realize the goal of conviction and help potential consumers better identify engagement resources and thus make rational purchasing decisions. for the retailers, the study’s analysis of reviews can help both sides’ products to be better accepted and improve their international product competitiveness. although some conclusions have been drawn in this study, there are still some limitations. the amount of data in the paper is not large. if one wants more accurate data, one needs to increase the number of customer reviews. in addition, symbols and images appeared in the online shopping reviews, which can be combined by follow-up researchers for further research. references korenek, p., & šimko, m. (2014). sentiment analysis on microblog utilizing appraisal theory. wide web, 3, 5-8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11280-013-0247-z lee, j., park, d. h., & han, i. (2007). the effect of negative online consumer reviews on product attitude: an information processing view. electronic commerce research and applications, 27-29. martin j. r., & white, p. r. (2005). the language of evaluation: appraisal in english. london: palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511910 mikulová, a. (2012). sprachliche bewertungen in internet-foren zu you-tube-videos. brünner beiträge zur germanistik und nordistik, 81-103. nettelhorst, s. c., brannon, l. a., & hill, w. (2013). examining the impact of consumer feedback on internet product evaluation: comparing base-rate and case history information. computers in human behavior, 118-125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.01.035 utz, s., kerkhof, p., & joost, b. (2012). consumers rule: how consumer reviews influence perceived trustworthiness of online stores. electronic commerce research and applications, 3, 65-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2011.07.010 bie, w. q. (2010). analysis of buyers’ online shopping commentaries from the perspective of engagement in appraisal theory. retrieved from https://kns.cnki.net/kcms2/article/abstract?v=iilc1cfiaeau3uozm_jqm_txocozelflbl8lxq tjabje18lfzbaqszypwo4hhcmii4bq3o_jep6ozlz70c7tspja0pkic9vwczj_6a0lkcudbphasqv yzivxaybehqu&uniplatform=nzkpt&language=chs li, d. d. (2017). an analysis of chinese consumers’ commentaries from the perspective of appraisal theory. retrieved from https://kns.cnki.net/kcms2/article/abstract liu, t. t., & xu, j. x. (2018). a contrastive study on engagement resources in english and chinese editorials—an appraisal theory perspective to the journalistic discourse. foreign language and translation, 45-51. li, x. (2014). analysis of english customer review from the perspective of appraisal theory. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s11280-013-0247-z https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511910 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.01.035 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2011.07.010 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 39 published by scholink inc. https://kns.cnki.net/kcms2/article/abstract?v=iilc1cfiaeolhj1kdgrgxtijwv3tkir8wyluuqt ty9vmihoicpefy6pf-bcvhauw5-1rf6n2 yang, x. l. (2019). analysis of peng liyuan’s speech at the united nations general assembly from the attitudinal resource based on evaluation theory. modern linguistics, 341-347. https://doi.org/10.12677/ml.2019.73047 https://doi.org/10.12677/ml.2019.73047 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 159 original paper research on the mechanism innovation of lawyers’ participation in grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture lei zhang1* 1 sichuan minzu college, kangding, sichuan, china * lei zhang, born in june 1988, is a male from tianshui, gansu province. he is a lecturer at the school of law of sichuan minzu college, with his main research interests being constitutional law and administrative law. received: august 15, 2025 accepted: september 1, 2025 online published: september 11, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p159 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p159 abstract the participation of lawyers in grassroots social governance in ethnic minority areas can effectively enhance the effectiveness of grassroots governance and promote social harmony and stability in these areas. based on exploring the particularities of grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture and the necessity of lawyers’ participation in it, this article examines the current situation and deficiencies of lawyers’ participation in grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture, and proposes innovative mechanisms for lawyers’ participation in grassroots social governance from the aspects of institutional guarantees, service models, talent cultivation, and evaluation and supervision. it aims to provide theoretical references for improving the grassroots social governance system in ethnic minority areas. keywords lawyer, ganzi prefecture, grassroots social governance ganzi prefecture is located in the plateau area in the western part of sichuan province, boasts a complex geographical environment, unique ethnic culture, and diverse social structure. with the rapid economic and social development, grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture faces numerous challenges, such as the collision between traditional customs and modern rule of law, diverse and complex contradictions and disputes, and insufficient public service supply. as professionals in the legal field, lawyers possess unique advantages in participating in grassroots social governance. this article aims to explore how to fully leverage the role of lawyers in grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 160 published by scholink inc. through mechanism innovation, providing new ideas for the modernization of social governance in ethnic minority areas. 1. analysis of the particularities of grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture the grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture possesses distinct ethnic and regional characteristics. from the perspective of geographical environment, the terrain is complex, transportation is inconvenient, and population is scattered. these special geographical conditions lead to high costs and difficulties in social governance, making it difficult to achieve balanced coverage of public services. in terms of ethnic composition, the ethnic minority population accounts for 78.97% of the total population. multiple ethnic groups including the han, yi, qiang and hui live together, forming a social pattern featuring the exchange and integration of diverse cultures. in terms of cultural tradition, ganzi prefecture is deeply influenced by buddhism，where religious norms, ethnic customs, and traditional morality play a significant role in social governance. many conflicts and disputes are often resolved through mediation by religious figures or in accordance with traditional customs, which poses a certain tension with the modern legal system. at the same time, with the acceleration of modernization, the values of local residents are gradually changing, and the collision between tradition and modernity is becoming increasingly evident. from the perspective of social structure, ganzi prefecture is undergoing a transformation from a traditional agricultural and pastoral society to a modern society. on the one hand, the urbanization process is accelerating, and a large number of farmers and herdsmen have begun to enter cities for employment and living, which has also brought new social governance issues. on the other hand, the phenomenon of rural and pastoral areas becoming empty is severe, and the number of left-behind elderly, children, and other vulnerable groups has increased. this change in social structure has made grassroots social governance face unprecedented complexity. 2. the necessity of lawyers’ participation in grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture 2.1 the practical need to resolve complex conflicts and disputes conflicts and disputes in ganzi prefecture often involve sensitive factors such as ethnicity and religion. if not handled properly, they can easily lead to secondary issues or escalate conflicts. lawyers, with their professional legal knowledge and extensive practical experience, can objectively and impartially analyze problems and propose practical solutions in accordance with the law, thus avoiding the intensification and escalation of conflicts. especially in common issues such as disputes over grasslands, disputes over the harvesting of caterpillar fungus, and marital and family conflicts, the intervention of lawyers can not only maximize the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of the parties involved and standardize the resolution of conflicts and disputes, but also maintain grassroots social stability in ethnic areas and promote economic and social development in ethnic areas. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 161 published by scholink inc. 2.2 urgent demand to address the shortage of public legal service resources from the perspective of the actual situation of public legal service supply, the participation of lawyers helps to compensate for the shortage of legal service resources in ethnic minority areas. due to factors such as geographical environment and economic development, ganzi prefecture has long faced issues such as a limited number of legal service institutions, a shortage of legal professionals, and limited channels for the public to obtain legal assistance. in the face of the growing demand for legal services from the public, fully leveraging the advantages of the vast professional community of lawyers, through forms such as roving consultations, village-based services, and remote assistance, can not only meet the legal service needs of the people in ganzi prefecture, but also extend legal service resources to the grassroots level, alleviate the imbalance and insufficiency in the supply of public legal services, and promote the equalization of public legal services. 2.3 core needs for promoting the process of rule of law in ethnic minority areas as legal professionals, lawyers play an irreplaceable and important role in advancing the process of legalization in ethnic minority areas. by providing legal services, conducting legal publicity, participating in dispute mediation, and other means, lawyers can enhance the public’s awareness of the rule of law, help the public establish the concept of “acting according to the law and seeking legal advice when encountering problems,” and promote positive interaction between the modern legal system and ethnic customs. especially in ganzi prefecture, the participation of lawyers helps bridge the gap between national laws and local customs, thus achieving the organic unity of legal effects and social effects. 3. current situation and problems of lawyers’ participation in grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture 3.1 overview of the lawyer team in ganzi prefecture as of now, ganzi prefecture boasts a total of 35 law firms and 206 practicing lawyers. this includes 100 full-time and part-time lawyers, 79 public lawyers, 4 corporate lawyers, and 23 legal aid lawyers. in terms of gender, there are 97 female lawyers and 109 male lawyers. regarding ethnicity, 95 lawyers belong to ethnic minorities. in terms of educational background, 8 lawyers hold bachelor’s degrees or below, 179 have bachelor’s degrees, and 19 have master’s degrees or above. over 96. 1% of the lawyers have bachelor’s degrees or above. in terms of distribution, lawyers are primarily concentrated in economically developed central counties such as kangding and luding, while other counties face a relative scarcity of legal resources (note). in terms of professional structure, lawyers in traditional fields such as civil and criminal law account for a significant proportion. there is a shortage of composite legal talents who are familiar with local ethnic languages, proficient in ethnic affairs, and possess grassroots social governance experience. furthermore, the lawyer team exhibits high mobility. due to factors such as the plateau environment, working conditions, and career development opportunities, the number of lawyers who can stay rooted at the grassroots level is limited, making it difficult to form a stable and sustainable service force. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 162 published by scholink inc. 3.2 the current situation of lawyers’ participation in grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture 3.2.1 social entities purchasing legal services and legal aid the engagement of lawyers by governments, enterprises, institutions, social organizations, and individuals when needed, or the provision of legal aid to vulnerable groups based on assignment, remains one of the most primary and widespread ways for lawyers to participate in grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture. while meeting the personalized needs of clients and safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests, lawyers have also promoted the formation of a local atmosphere where people respect, study, abide by, and utilize the law, laying a solid foundation for the construction of a law-based ganzi, a law-based sichuan, and a law-based country. 3.2.2 participate in legislative and policy consultation some lawyers also serve as npc representatives, cppcc members, or legal experts. leveraging their solid professional knowledge and rich practical experience, they continuously promote the improvement of the social governance system in ethnic minority areas by participating in top-level design and legislative consultation, fulfilling their supervisory duties, and serving as a bridge and link. 3.2.3 integrate into the diversified mediation system ganzi prefecture has established 3,307 people’s mediation organizations of various types and at various levels, and has improved the linkage working system of people’s mediation, administrative mediation, and judicial mediation, striving to resolve conflicts and disputes at their source. this inevitably involves the participation of numerous lawyers. as one of the important forces in various mediation organizations, the participation of lawyers will effectively resolve common issues such as grassland disputes, labor contracts, marriage and family issues, facilitate reconciliation among disputing parties, save litigation costs and judicial resources, and maintain harmony and stability in ethnic minority areas. 3.2.4 actively carry out public legal services in recent years, the legal profession in ganzi prefecture has always adhered to the principle of “being a good lawyer that satisfies the party and the people”. under the leadership of the ganzi prefecture justice bureau, it has actively carried out various public legal services, including serving key projects, delivering legal knowledge to enterprises; nourishing people’s hearts with legal education, delivering legal knowledge to temples; lawyers who are party members visiting villages, helping to revitalize and strengthen party building; providing warmth to children’s hearts and legal protection, delivering legal knowledge to schools, etc. especially during the “9.5” luding earthquake rescue and post-disaster reconstruction, lawyers who are party members in ganzi prefecture fully demonstrated their exemplary role as pioneers, organizing service teams to rush to the front line. they not only participated in emergency work such as road clearance, material handling, and stability maintenance at resettlement sites, but also innovatively established comprehensive legal service stations, providing legal services to the people in the disaster area through methods such as “fixed-point service + mobile service + household propaganda + on-site mediation”. at the same time, through conducting legal training, delivering legal www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 163 published by scholink inc. knowledge to enterprises, delivering legal knowledge to construction sites, and legal health checks, they actively served enterprise development, assisting in post-disaster reconstruction and industrial development. the post-earthquake public legal service practices of the legal profession in ganzi prefecture were selected as one of the top ten typical cases of public legal services in the provincial legal profession, fully demonstrating the responsibility and professional value of the lawyer team in grassroots governance in ganzi prefecture. 3.3 inadequacy of lawyers’ participation in grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture 3.3.1 the participation of lawyers is insufficient as mentioned above, there are only 100 social lawyers in ganzi prefecture, accounting for less than 50%, and the number of lawyers per 10,000 people is only 1.86, which is still far behind the 4.93 lawyers per 10,000 people in sichuan province. moreover, due to the vast territory and sparse population of ganzi prefecture, as well as inconvenient transportation, the participation frequency, intervention frequency, and coverage of lawyers in matters such as legal publicity, grassroots dispute mediation, and public welfare legal services are severely restricted. especially since most lawyers are mainly concentrated in the prefectural capital kangding and a few county towns, there is a serious shortage of legal services in the vast rural and pastoral areas. after a conflict or dispute occurs, it is difficult for the masses to find a lawyer to intervene in a timely manner. the insufficient participation of lawyers not only restricts the indepth advancement of local rule of law construction but also significantly hinders the effectiveness of grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture. 3.3.2 the forms of lawyer participation are limited in ganzi prefecture, lawyers’ participation in grassroots social governance is primarily characterized by “passive response”, mainly through accepting clients’ entrustment to represent them in litigation, accepting assignment to represent clients in legal aid cases, and carrying out various public legal services under the leadership of the party committee of the ganzi prefecture justice bureau. however, they are less involved in more proactive and forward-looking governance links. at the same time, the forms of service are relatively single, relying mostly on traditional service methods, failing to fully integrate ethnic languages and cultural customs familiar to local people to innovate legal popularization carriers and service methods, and also failing to form a three-dimensional service network of “offline stationing + online extension” to address the issues of uneven coverage of legal resources and limited participation of lawyers. 3.3.3 service adaptability needs improvement influenced by factors such as geographical environment, historical customs, religious culture, etc., some local residents prefer to resolve disputes through traditional methods and have low trust in legal professionals such as lawyers. meanwhile, the vast majority of lawyers don't understand the local language and lack in-depth knowledge of the ethnic customs, religious culture and so on in ganzi prefecture. when handling conflicts and disputes, they fail to “adapt to local conditions” and “vary with www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 164 published by scholink inc. individuals”, prescribe the right remedy, and ignore ethnic sentiments, community consensus, etc., which further exacerbates resistance from the masses. 4. innovative paths for lawyers’ participation in grassroots social governance mechanisms in ganzi prefecture 4.1 strengthen the cultivation of legal talents the scarcity of lawyers in ganzi prefecture is one of the primary reasons for the insufficient participation of lawyers in local grassroots social governance. therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the cultivation of legal talents, especially lawyers who are proficient in both the local language and chinese languages and familiar with local ethnic customs, religious culture, and other aspects. at the same time, it is important to enhance exchanges and cooperation with counterpart assistance regions, fully leverage the professional strength of the legal industry in these regions, and assist in grassroots social governance in ethnic minority areas of ganzi. furthermore, based on the actual situation in ganzi prefecture, the continuing education system for the legal industry should be improved, and lawyers should be regularly organized to learn about ethnic policies, folk culture, mediation skills, and other related topics. 4.2 innovating service supply mode mechanism firstly, we have implemented a tiered and categorized service model that can be tailored to the different situations in urban areas and agricultural and pastoral areas. in agricultural and pastoral areas, we adopt a combination of “mobile services + fixed-point stationing” to proactively deliver legal services to the doorstep, ensuring full coverage of basic legal services. secondly, we have promoted the allocation of lawyer resources to the grassroots level. by implementing the “one village (community) one legal advisor” system, conducting regular legal health checks, and establishing specialized legal service teams, we actively engage with grassroots social governance to meet the diverse needs of the people. thirdly, we have fully utilized modern technology to build platforms for bilingual legal intelligent consultation, remote case handling, and early warning and monitoring of conflicts and disputes, breaking through the constraints of time, space, and geography, making legal services readily available. 4.3 establish a lawyer service supply guarantee system first, establish a stable financial guarantee mechanism. fully incorporate lawyer services into the government procurement service catalogue to provide basic financial support for lawyers to participate in grassroots social governance. second, improve the incentive compensation mechanism. for public welfare matters such as rural services participated by lawyers, reasonable compensation can be provided through diversified methods such as special subsidies, performance incentives, and tax relief, to enhance the initiative, enthusiasm, and sustainability of lawyers’ participation. third, construct a scientific evaluation and supervision mechanism. introduce third-party evaluation institutions, use service efficiency, quality, and public satisfaction as important indicators, conduct evaluations and assessments of lawyers’ services in grassroots social governance, and utilize the results. recognize and reward those with excellent evaluations, and implement warnings, rectifications, and even withdrawals for those with www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 165 published by scholink inc. unqualified evaluations. improve the supervision mechanism, promote the disclosure of service information, accept public appraisal and feedback, and comprehensively enhance the transparency, standardization, and credibility of lawyer services, forming a virtuous development pattern of “survival of the fittest and continuous optimization”. 5. conclusion the participation of lawyers in grassroots social governance in ganzi prefecture is of great significance for promoting the modernization of the governance system and governance capacity in ethnic minority areas. through mechanism innovation, the professional advantages of lawyers can be fully utilized to enhance the level of legalization and professionalization of grassroots governance. in the future, it is necessary to further strengthen institutional design, resource investment, and cultural integration to establish a long-term mechanism for lawyers’ participation that is in line with the characteristics of ethnic minority areas. at the same time, local cultural traditions should be respected, and modern rule of law should be organically unified with ethnic customs, providing legal guarantees for social stability and long-term peace and order in ethnic minority areas. project this article is the final outcome of the sichuan minzu college’s school-level scientific research project, “research on the practical issues of the lawyer system in ethnic minority areas —— taking ganzi prefecture as an example” (project no.: xyzb18030sb). references people’s government of ganzi prefecture. overview of ganzi [eb/ol]. (2025-02-01) [2025-08-20 ]. www.gzz.gov.cn/gzgk/article/70885. [eb/ol] ganzi prefecture justice bureau. (2025). ganzi prefecture justice bureau strives to pro mote the modernization of social governance in city (prefecture) areas [2025-02-04] [202508-22]. retrieved from https://sfj.gzz.gov.cn/xwxx/article/640605 sichuan provincial lawyers association. the number of lawyers has reached over 41,000, with 26 firms having more than 100 lawyers. the data of sichuan’s legal industry in 2024 is relea sed [eb/ol]. (2025-04-24) [2025-08-22]. retrieved from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/xmxk9 ybel8nedriisxjvqq. note the data is sourced from the judicial department of ganzi prefecture, with the statistical deadline being august 15, 2025. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper exploring dimensions of learner autonomy: an ecological perspective sonia sharmin1 1 department of english, islamic university, bangladesh received: march 1, 2024 accepted: march 20, 2024 online published: april 3, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n2p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n2p1 abstract a shift from a focus on the learner as an autonomous agent to one that places greater emphasis on the learner’s relationship with their learning environment is a hallmark of learner autonomy. learning settings are complex, with many aspects influencing outcomes; metaphors like ecology shed light on this. ecological perspectives highlight the importance of students negotiating their environment through purposeful behaviours within interrelated contexts. awareness, flexibility, and goal-setting are the three main tenets of pedagogy for autonomy. this perspective tackles societal influences head-on, highlighting the need of welcoming spaces and being creative to boost independence. in general, the ecological viewpoint deepens comprehension by drawing attention to the ever-changing relationships between students and their classroom settings. keywords learner autonomy, ecology, learners, environment 1. introduction when someone wants to know what learner autonomy is, he finds this easy definition like ‘the ability to take charge of one’s own learning (holec, 1981). the learner is totally responsible for all of the decisions concerned with his learning and the implementation of those decisions. here learner autonomy indicates to “more a condition than the capability of an individual being” (palfreyman, 2014, p. 370). for establishing literacy or creating a lifelong learner, the above “situation” and/ or “ability” seem to be worthwhile with a view to augment instruction, or to substitute instruction by lessening reliance upon instructors. later on, it is reaffirmed that the completely autonomous learner acts on freely of textbook, classroom or teacher. this perspective concentrates on an independent and single learner compared to, qualities of teaching -learning www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 2 published by scholink inc. surrounding that often seem to be indispensable. so, this learner-centred view of autonomy uses textbook, class environment, teacher as powerful obstacle to selfeducation. the argument of benson (2001) settles on liberty from circumstantial restriction: “personal autonomy is [...] a quality of the socially produced individual being. individuals must strive to lead autonomous lives and society must strive to respect the freedoms that such lives require” (p. 18). within this paper, terms like context, autonomy and learning are looked at from a more beneficial disposition like, what type of situations promote agency, and in what way a student interconnects independently with his/her situation? in the current age, learning context has been treated as a metaphor like ecology. metaphor is used here to get a good understanding and conceiving of everyday aspect of life. (cited in palfreyman, 2014) the usage of metaphor works like an opening of our knowledge of learning throw our attention from the rest. action of human as a form of metaphor is taken as ecology. following the ecology which is of two types like natural ecology (a river or a jungle) and a cultivated ecology (an orchard), is an organization of negotiating entity that prey on one another, battle with one another or at times strive in synergy. for instance, in the river, fish exist on nutrient element and across the river and using oxygen and nitrogen that are left from biotic. here, nutrimental sustenance for pest, parasites and so on are generated by the garbage and the river creature. similarly, the situation of learning is an approach, following the similar manner, the situation of learning is order, drawing out the interconnection between teaching learning materials, instructors, learners and extra materials. the metaphor of ecology is to converse about the kinship between context and language. it focuses on the unlikeness of residents and the alliance between the residents’ dwellers formed in organic and linguistic ecologies. to define “the community psychology”, importance is given on some features of ecology that can be noticed in communal organizations (cited in palfreyman, 2006, p. 72). among these four, the first one is interdependence: various branches of eco systems are inter related, hence alteration in one portion of it brings a wrinkle impact on the rest (p. 72); and then the next one is ‘the recognition, progression, and distribution of wealth within order’ (p. 72). after that, the equal opportunity suggested by the first assumption is an active one (inhabitants and process need to endure and modify to swapping situation’ (p. 72) and finally, it needs a historical standpoint that will investigate not the current situation but to the previous sources and subsequent results. 2. rethinking ecology though the lens of ecology metaphor, learning can be viewed in different manners. here the framework of resources suggested by palfreyman (2006) such as material resources like a computer, internet or textbook can be used by the learner, as well as, social resources like sufficient contact with a role model like elder sibling or native speaker are used. needless to say, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 3 published by scholink inc. only the existence of the resources in the environment of learners does not ensure their contribution to learning; different other factors moderate for learners’ intercommunication with these resources. for instance, a lexicography provides specific affordances like probable activities accessible in the situation to a learner, self-reliant of the learners’ capability to comprehend them. the idea of affordances has become very important in the theory of the usage of technology. similarly, in traditional assets, it seems to be applicable. like the technology, the lexicography contains pages with information of millions of words, idioms, phrases and expressions in a very chronological manner. the provided information works like a mentor so that learner’s acquisition, comprehension and production of a lexical item can be supported, but the content is an amalgamation of functional language as well as technical signs like phonetic transcription which urges for particular knowledge to decipher and to use it. the practicality of a lexicography of an individual pupil with his context relies on the motivation, skill and some other factors. for example, a student facing an unknown word in the magazine might not use of dictionary because of time constraint, unwillingness, even he might find the mistaken word, or incorrect meaning for the situation or might face problem putting the lexicon meaning to the situation where he meets the word; or he might misconceive the meaning or abbreviation. in the same way, aspects start up when a male student who faces difficulty in using a particular grammatical item and, upon the existence of social resource like a girl classmate having a profound knowledge on it, he cannot find the solution. for instance, he might not know that she knows how to use grammatical item, or she might seem so busy that he cannot ask questions, in such a situation, in spite of existing social resources, the boy student might wait for the teacher to ask and not regard the classmate as a dependable one of guidance. a complete set of affordances that are to be selected and exploited by learners as materials are elaborately mentioned here. specifically, the focal point will be enabling resources like human beings or printing texts; they ease approach to learning resources namely motivation and knowledge that comes up with straight to learning. the components acting on the capability of learners to reap benefits from the elements of the lexicography or the peers can be classified into (i) characteristics of activity situation, (ii) teachable learning skills, (iii) emotional variables. these components associate with each other. for instance, a skill cannot be utilized due to time constraint or due to learners’ reluctance regarding the asset of learning. moreover, the variants related to psychology have an effect to a large extent by how the pupil realizes the context of learning, and this is not an individual-centred fact; in some cases, for some students, female, male, junior sisters, senior brothers, native speakers of l2 or even teachers might be regarded inaccessible or not suitable for access because they know nothing on the certain area or those people are not interested in or the learner may not love to confront them. issues like these are found, on a small level, on the basis of individual behavior, but at a broader perspective, on the cultural or social notions regarding what is valid or usual behavior. there is another resource termed as discursive resources (palfreyman, 2006, p. 75), where ideas are passed on within a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 4 published by scholink inc. social cluster via non-formal as well as formal conversation on teaching and learning. through listening, participating, absorbing countless dialogues focusing on learning, language, institution, triumph in life, etc., a learner (vis-à-vis a teacher) collects concepts regarding learning advances particular attitude towards what is a chance of learning and what is not. inter-reliance is a remarkable specimen of ecology of learning. the ecological process of learning concentrates on the situation of learning along with social, material as well as discursive resources. knowledge and learning survive more in the interactivity with the real circumstances, and less in humans only: learning is not a partial approach, rather an integrated one: the learner or professional is recognized as a person in action and in situation. he is identified by a power of action and that action can be manifested through the context where the person exists. learners could be identified as talented or untalented within a particular context, not in the abstract (barab & plucker, 2002, p. 182). the term “ecology” means an organization of humans, beliefs, custom, principles and digital tools in a local situation to refer to “a system of living beings, insights, and technologies in a specific community context”, providing instances like the icu in hospital, xerox machine by self-service or a library. looking the classroom as a centre of self-help might transform concentration from the perspective of teacher-domination to learner—domination following the situation as all inclusive, where diverse participants, their objectives, goals materials and interconnection are stressed. situation of learning can be set out at different stages such as a pair, a cluster, a group, a family, an institution, a locality, a society. the ecology of learning refers to the sub-learning contexts from which learners grow up with knowledge after interacting at each instance of context. learning from an ecological perspective consists of interactions among teachers, learners and diverse situations, communicated through their goals, actions and identifications, and the utilization of multiple materials. the components communicate in manners which might alter slowly or suddenly along with time. hence, alteration in one portion of the process will bring a transformation to the other one, either increasing or decreasing from the early transformation. it will be observed in what way the individualistic idea of learner autonomy will be realized in learning ecology within the situations of non-formal as well as formal learning. 3. autonomy in light of ecology not finding autonomous learners liberated from or released from their circumstances, rather how learners negotiating with their situation practice and foster autonomy will be considered. for this purpose, to overcome the challenge of the situation, the issue of ‘’mediated agency’’ (cited in palfreyman, 2006, p. 25) can be incorporated here. the communication between institution and the real world will be addressed in a variety way so that learners can ponder, find out and discuss their problems in such a way so that that skill and capability can be transferred innovatively to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 5 published by scholink inc. other situation. for instance, the transformation of the skill is from the awareness of common sense to the activities of creative thinking in problematic context. 4. pedagogy for autonomy from an ecological standpoint, learner autonomy just as “a capability for purposeful usage” (holec, 1981, p. 81) in the situation of a multiple interconnected materials to reach learning objectives, will be contemplated. purposeful refers to a special intention. one of the key factors here is awareness. an autonomous learner comprehends the material accessible to him. the awareness of availability becomes the foundation for him/her to utilize strategies of learning, meaningful negotiation with the situation that cover cognitive strategies as well as social strategies along with affective ones like confidence, attitude, motivation. therefore, an autonomous learner will be ready to fulfill the plan, but not being unaware of his situation, inclined to be proactive. the core feature of an autonomous learner is the ability to contribute by designing material and finding material from the surrounding environment. moreover, he will have the knowledge how to be flexible to new elements in the context, be capable to embrace the shifts of situations through finding novel materials or appropriating new modes of utilizing them. learners need to know how to make active use of social elements. similarly, learner’s identity well be upheld by finding the connection between the elements of the surrounding environment and his /her endevour to utilize it. thus, repositioning herself in the eyes of the other reconstructs her identity. undertaking a learning goal is another feature of autonomy. having a goal supports the learner by giving direction to his experience. it contradicts with the endeavor of students who possess no specific goal of learning like being passed in a course or going with the course. this might be logical in their own terms, and might produce satisfaction for them. but they are never expected to take the lead in learning further. for autonomy in language learning, definitely the goal will be the ones related to linguistic achievement; for instance, making sense of songs or achieving a band score for proficiency test. reaching any goal constructs identity for the learner. going further from individual autonomy, the perspective of ecology supports us to invent how a circle or society may exhibit interconnected autonomy and eventually suits an organization of learning. according to other researcher (cited in palfreyman, 2011, p. 76), “personal autonomy” that grows in the adolescent year, is comprised by two parts; (i) segregation from familial bonding and (ii) larger organized collaboration with fellow group. the fellow group gives help as well as compulsion to actively participate in the circle so that learners are ignited to foster autonomy. so far, our destination was ecological view of autonomy of learner as the purposeful utility in the situation of a variety of interconnecting materials to certain learning goals. at this point, the type of pedagogy that might be considered of promoting autonomy from the above-mentioned perspective is regarded. the way of fostering autonomy is to increase students’ awareness of the materials accessible to their surroundings, which can accelerate their learning. one foundational point for increasing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 6 published by scholink inc. awareness is utilizing the materials that learners have at hand (barab & plucker, 2002, p. 176). for this purpose, the usage of lexicography or digital materials to support them handling task. in the classroom environment, learners can be assigned with collaborated tasks problem solving activities, project with clil that can further develop their habit to tackle the similar type of issue in the real-life situation outside the classroom environment. moreover, giving feedback on the provided resources and discussing on it will allow them to evaluate resources from their environment and select material for their own learning. out of the class, a huge potential exists on the availability of materials that can support students with their decision making and performing activities. but these will help less to increase learners’ awareness. following any podcast learners can practice listening and determine their performance as well as assess their progress. even they can start writing on their own blog or their own page and go along with it. learners can be directed to concentrate on chances to speak in english, to read magazines, or on the situations in which they write. thus, after creating learners’ awareness about these things, they will be habituated in what to do, how and when to do and for what reasons. thus, they create a habit of doing, rethinking, evaluating their insights beyond the class and look for occasion to produce the situation of learning. thus, autonomy is fostered when ecology of learning is created. pedagogy can increase consciousness of the surviving methods of learning. in addition, it extends the variety of students’ materials by focusing less scored or disregarded materials as well as assisting learners in choosing and positioning these in a diverse situation. after interacting in the same class on a certain project with different linguistic, ethnic and cultural students, learners can exchange and strengthen their perception of materials for learning. the core point of the pedagogy of ecology for autonomous learning is creating links between dissimilar factors of learners’ livings and to motivate them to find and produce innovative, analytical application of materials from one situation of learning to another one. after setting the scene of involving learners in classroom speaking, writing and discussion activities, teachers may attempt to recognize circumstances out of the class, where learners can exhibit a certain extent of autonomy. upon the basis, learners’ needs may be given spaced and supported the whole class by letting them know what they can learn from the class and use outside it. the standpoint of ecology shows that the situation of learning is all inclusive, and everywhere is learning chances. learners widening chances of learning through using lexicography, internet, negotiating with others, collaborating activities, discussing the possibility of materials for learning. 5. conclusion using the world as a point of comparison to establish the learning environment for any level of learners is the ultimate goal of this paper. by identifying the predisposition and creating an ecology of learning, autonomy of learning can be ensured. when the notion of ecology is utilized in learning, it becomes very crystal clear that learning is a cyclical process rather than a straight www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 7 published by scholink inc. one. hence, ecology introduces us with the variety of elements like social, material or discursive characteristics of the situation. though the approach of ecology multifaceted of instruments, diverse population and heterogeneous notion can be part of learning. for instance, a learner of one language who finds it difficult to get the meaning of another language, may ask for support from the learner of that language and engaging themselves in one activity they share their lived-experience. if any unanticipated element is found, researcher and educators can help teachers how to use them after modifying them. even for multilingual communities and bilingual families, how community literacy can be developed through reading stories and telling stories, can be suggested by schools. for teacher development a good number of materials from the society can be utilized. the view of ecology points outs the mutual dependence of the materials as well as students. it clarifies that investigation and teaching go hand in hand to give us a glimpse of holistic approach. learner is existing within a circumstance; so, everyone should concentrate on how learner is guided by the situation, how he is affected by his insight of the situation. at the same time how the situation as a complete one reforms the individuals and the communities, should be considered. a person of a context can be a resource of the other context. mike vermeeren (2022) argues that in the situation of ecology learners may attempt purposeful action of negotiating with the materials to reach the goal. among many factors, the pivotal one of becoming autonomous is to be conscious of and able to create advantageous utilization materials, that can come up with learning crucial things like understanding, rehearse, identification on meaning, feedback on progress. finally, the transformation of our knowledge on autonomy is from a highlight on the single person being liberated from the situation to the larger perspective of individual’s action within the situation as well as to the complete scenario of classroom environment, family, class, community, society where learning may take place. references barab, s. a., & plucker, j. a. (2002). smart people or smart contexts? cognition, ability, and talent development in an age of situated approaches to knowing and learning. educational psychologist, 37(3), 165-182. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep3703_3 benson, p. (2001). teaching and researching autonomy in language learning. essex: pearson education. holec, h. (1981). autonomy and foreign language learning. oxford: pergamon press. palfreyman, d. m. (2006). social context and resources for language learning. system, 34(4), 352-370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2006.05.001 phil, b. (2022). open educational journal. autonomation, individualization and uses of space: mapping out individual language learning environments. https://cushingterrell.com/author/mikevermeeren/ https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep3703_3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2006.05.001 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 8 published by scholink inc. vermeeren, m. (2022). the ecology of education: designing optimal, evolving learning environment. education expertise. https://cushingterrell.com/author/mikevermeeren/ https://cushingterrell.com/category/education/ https://cushingterrell.com/category/expertise/ education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 101 original paper a multimodal stylistic analysis of the english poster: dune xiaoxiao ma1 1 xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: april 15, 2025 accepted: may 1, 2025 online published: may 16, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p101 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p101 abstract movie poster is an integration of multimodal meaning containing verbal mode, image, font, layout and color. compared with monomodal text, the interaction between multiple modes can more efficiently convey the information of a film to the audience, attracting the audience’s attention. in the paper, the english poster of the film dune is selected as the object of study. based on halliday’s systemic functional grammar (sfg) and kress and leeuwen’s visual grammar (vg), as well as with reference to the multimodal stylistic analysis path of lei qian and zhang delu, this paper explores foregrounding features’ significance of multiple modes in a poster and their intermodal relationships for the overall construction of multimodal text. the results show that there is a synergistic relationship between different modes, and that the foregrounding features of font, layout, image and color contribute to the poster’s meaning construction. keywords multimodality, foregrounding features, meaning construction, systemic functional grammar, visual grammar 1. introduction a movie poster as a kind of multimodal text is not only an important promotional method for film distributors, but also one of the basic ways for audiences to know about the film. the english poster dune takes the culture of native english speakers’ country as its context, with verbal and visual modes synergizing to attract viewers’ attention. through its releasing, distributors inform audiences of film’s showing, and imply them to buy tickets to watch. adapted from frank herbert’s novel of the same name, dune is a science fiction film directed by denis villeneuve, which premiered on 3 september 2021 at the venice international film festival in italy. it tells a story of the eutredi family controlling precious resources, whereas after a betrayal the family’s heir paolo, decides to accept his destiny to defend his family and his people. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 102 published by scholink inc. multimodal stylistics is a relative new direction in discourse analysis. it notes the important role of nonlinguistic factors such as image, color, typography, font, etc., which are often neglected during information transmission. based on the data from cnki, it is found that there are fewer studies related to multimodal stylistic analysis of film posters. in view of this, the paper explores the synergistic relationship among modes in a multimodal text, aiming to answer the following two questions: (1) what are the foregrounded features in each mode? (2) how are they synergized with each other to contribute to meaning construction? 2. an overview of multimodal stylistic theory multimodal stylistics is based on halliday’s theory (1978) that “language is one of the social semiotics which convey meaning”, focusing on the role of visual modes, such as image, layout, color, type, music, gesture, etc., as well as the interrelationships between these modes in meaning construction. multimodal stylistic analysis concerns three main questions, i.e., how different modes reflect the whole meaning, what role each mode plays in reflecting the meaning, which feature of which mode is prominent and are foregrounded (lei, 2018). the feature can be a linguistic feature, an image one, or both (zhang & mu, 2012). the concept vg was postulated by kress and van leeuwen (1996) in their book reading images: the grammar of visual images. in 2012, domestic scholars zhang delu and mu zhigang proposed an analytical framework for multimodal functional stylistics involving verbal and visual modes. in 2015, lei qian and zhang delu added typography, layout and color to the previous one. based on the framework (lei & zhang, 2015), the analysis includes three steps: firstly, objectively describe image, font, color, layout and verbal mode as well as their prominent features. then, combine cultural and situational contexts, i.e., field, tenor, mode, with communicative purpose to determine foregrounded features and meaning of the poster. finally, analyze the synergistic relationship of different modes and their stylistic effects. 3. the multimodal analysis like most other movie posters, the dune uses primarily verbal and visual modes to construct meaning, with other modes such as layout, color and font playing a supporting role. 3.1 verbal mode the verbal mode includes the names of the film, director, actors and actresses, the release date of the film, a short review, the film companies that released it, etc., conveying the main information of the film. according to sfg, this section explores the contribution of font, color, and layout to the whole meaning, and the incongruity features of them. in the poster, the name, dune, is uncharacteristically used in lower case, therefore contrasting with the rest of the capitalized words to emphasize movie name. meanwhile, readers can speculate the location where the film’s story takes place from the ideational function of the word dune. it is also highlighted by its font size and font color, with the former being quite large and the latter extremely unique, compared www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 103 published by scholink inc. to the rest of the words. its sandy color stands out against the background, thus, accentuating the place where the story happens. moreover, other words and sentences have nothing to do with the theme, but indicate some background information. for example, the sentence directly above dune, it beigins, is a statement belonging to declarative in mood system, aiming to give information about the film that “the movie is about to start. you can come and watch it.” then, the next highlighted font size shown by october 22 with white color indicates the release date of the film. however, the word dune is in fact a spelling mistake or not even an english word. from the perspective of functional stylistics, it can be seen as incongruity. the dune is in a wrong spelling with the first and last letter incorrect and acquires its graphological prominence at the cross-strata level the word level. at the letter level, we can find that the first letter d without the vertical line and the last letter e without the central horizontal line, leading to the fact that all the four letters are identical in their shape, “u”, but in different directions. compared letter-space with other words, the space between the four letters d-un-e is so large that it does not look like a single word. therefore, the unusual large space belongs to the graphological prominence of letters due to the breaking of the conventional use of letter space in a word. as for the u shape, it implies the footsteps people made in dune, curved like u not a straight line normally. in the desert the story happens, people had to walk like dancing, making their footsteps sound like flowing sand to avoid the attack made by a gigantic worm in the sand. besides, in the last letter, the central horizontal line is replaced by a planet and its planetary rings. it suggests the planet being fought over by all the major powers in the film who scramble for “spice” resources in the planet. as a whole, except for dune using the lower case in the last three letters, all the other words are spelled in upper case bringing about another stylistic effect deflection, thus giving prominence to dune. hence, the dune is foregrounded by its letter prominence, word level prominence and the prominence endowed by the other words. the misspelling dune, its relative center position, lower case, large font and different color seem to attract viewers’ attention, continuously emphasizing where the story happens in the film and what main event the story revolves around: it takes place on a planet filled with yellow sand, where the plot unfolding is about controlling the dune or specifically the “spice” in the dune. 3.2 image concerning non-verbal modes, kress and van leeuwen’s vg (i.e., representational, interactive and compositional meaning), corresponding to halliday’s three meanings (i.e., ideational, interpersonal and textual meanings) are applied to analyze these modes’ effect. 3.2.1 representational meaning in terms of representation, there are two types of meaning: narrative and conceptual meaning, with the former containing action, mental and verbal processes, and the latter including classificational, analytical and symbolic processes. these subtypes are used to explore the deflection features of the image. the upper part of the image is identified with four different processes. firstly, in a classificational process, eight people are the subordinate to the class of ‘performers’, which can be seen as covert taxonomy. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 104 published by scholink inc. they are shown against a blue sky-like background and arranged in a symmetrical fashion, a circle, which corresponds with the half globe among the crowd. secondly, there are many analytical processes in which each person is a carrier in relation to their possessive attributes, like skin color, hair color and kind, eyes color, items of clothing. these attributes create a visual concept of the roles that these performers play. from hair color and kind, readers may infer that the man located in the central young boy’s right side and the woman below the boy are the young boy’s parents, in that the boy shares the same hair color of the woman and the same curly hair of the man. for eyes color, observant readers might notice that the young woman in the young boy’s left side, the woman on the diagonal lower right and the man at the bottom all have a pair of blue eyes that other people do not have. this indicates that the three characters probably belong to a certain kind of ethnic group. when it comes to items of clothing, it is obvious that wearing sand-colored cloaks with their hair covered, the young woman and the man show their identity of a mysterious group. moreover, the other two men wearing battle suits with light and dark gray are skillful fighters. thirdly, a symbolic process in which the blue globe, half shown and half hidden, is a conventional symbol with strong associations. the circle formed by these performers is placed in the foreground of the poster, and the image of the central young boy is twice the size of the other people. it seems that all the other people forming a dense shield to protect the young, or for the purpose of helping and protecting him these people start uniting. thus, the young boy, the protagonist in the film, is prominent in terms of size and position. fourthly, all the eight characters are looking at someone or something in the distance, and viewers do not know the phenomenon that these characters’ eyeline directed. hence, there are eight non-transactional reaction processes with the eight characters as the reactor and their eyeline as the vector. at the lower part, the protagonist looks like he is walking forward, forming an action process in which the protagonist is the actor, and his legs are seen as the vector. without a goal, this process is called a non-transactional process. meanwhile, the protagonist lowers his head as if searching for something in dune. it belongs to the transactional reaction in which the protagonist is the reactor, his eyeline forms the vector, and the sand he is looking at is called the phenomenon. in fact, these processes provide information about “spice”, a kind of precious resource like sand. thus, the young man may be just thinking or probably look for the “spice”. from the above analysis, we can see that there are eight analytical, one classificational, one symbolic, eight non-transactional reaction, one transactional reaction and one action processes. therefore, there is a deflection among these processes since the number of analytical and non-transactional reaction processes are much greater than that of other processes. 3.2.2 interactive meaning regarding interactive meaning, there are three parameters used, i.e., contact, social distance and attitude, to analyze the relationship between represented participants and viewers. in relation to contact, five represented participants in the upper part give a frontal look to the viewer and the rest three look at other sides. the former is called the ‘demand’: the participant’s gaze demands www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 105 published by scholink inc. something from the viewer, where the viewer engage into some kind of imaginary relationship with him or her. the latter is called the ‘offer’: it offers the represented participants to viewers as items of information, object of contemplation, impersonally, as though they were specimens in a display case. at the lower part, the protagonist is seen as an ‘offer’ by looking at the sand. in terms of size of frame, he is in a close-up shot, whereas the other characters are in a medium shot. for social distance, the youth is at an intimate distance in that we can see his face or head only, whereas the rest of the performers are at a close or far personal distance since their heads and shoulders or the part from their waist up all can be seen. however, at the bottom part, the protagonist is given a long shot at public distance. with reference to attitude, among the five characters who have eye contact with viewers, they all use the frontal angle to show a kind of involvement, that is “what you see here is part of our world, something we are involved with”. meanwhile, the poster is at the eye level, sharing equality with viewers, hence, there is no power difference involved. to conclude, these characters try to interact with viewers by ‘demanding’, and the medium distance is more often used to show the social relations between represented participants and viewers. in attitude, the deflection is applied in that all characters, even the protagonist in the highest position, looking at viewers equally without power imbalance. it implies that the characters want to communicate with and show their respect to viewers equally to bring both sides closer. 3.2.3 compositional meaning according to vg, there are three interrelated systems in analyzing compositional meaning: information value, salience, and framing. the composition of the whole means the representational and interactive elements relating to each other, that is, the way they are integrated into a meaningful whole. information value is about different information that each part of the poster carries. the poster dune can be seen as a center-periphery structure, with a salient circle formed by characters in the central position, and with blue sky and sandy land as the periphery. the depicted characters are key information in the poster because it conveys the messages of the protagonist and character relationships. the poster can also be seen as an ideal-real structure, with the top as the ideal and the bottom as the real. in this structure, color is an element of great importance. the sky and land color belong to different color systems and represent different information. the top the blue sky represents ideal world, and the bottom the sandy land, the real situation. besides, the blue color accounts for four fifths of the whole poster whereas the sandy color accounts for only one-fifth. thus, there is a deflection in color suggesting that the poster prefers to convey is the ideal world rather the real. as for salience, it refers to the element catches viewers’ attention most easily. in normal, the foregrounded elements are more salient than the elements in the background. for example, the crowd circle is foregrounded and the blue sky, its background. as for framing, the stronger the framing, the more independent the information. at the junction of sky and land in the poster, there is a vague framing line in between. thus, above the line everything is ideal, indicating that all the characters around the protagonist will protect and help him, while below the line is the protagonist’s real situation that he is walking in the sand lonely. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 106 published by scholink inc. 4. results for the above two questions in introduction, here are the answers. in verbal mode (i.e., the title, name, release date, starring cast and director), the name dune, is the most foregrounded one at the letter and word level. the conceptual meaning of dune relates to its sand color emphasizing the location of the film story. in visual one, the central circle formed by the eight characters and the central young boy are of great significance, which are foregrounded by their position in the poster and their size compared with the rest of other elements. in dune poster, visual and verbal modes complement each other, presenting an augmented and reinforced relationship, which has a good effect on the promotion of the film. these visual modes expand the information not mentioned in verbal mode and enrich the content of the poster, such as the circle showing possible relationship between the characters. moreover, the enlargement of the dune font elaborates and reinforces the conceptual meaning expressed in the language itself. the font thus stands out in relation to the verbal mode. through its innovative design, it aims to attract the viewer’s attention and arouse their curiosity about where the dune is, what happened in the dune. hence, these modes complement each other in a synergistic way, making the multimodal text more coherent, presenting the main message and bringing visual impact. together, the location and the topic of the film’s story – dune is conveyed and reinforced. 5. discussion based on the theory of multimodal functional stylistics, this paper carries out a multimodal stylistic study on image, verbal mode, font, color and layout of the poster dune. firstly, the various modes in the poster are synergistic with each other, highlighting the location of the film’s story and the events around which it revolves. the foregrounding of analytical process in conceptual representation is conducive to the depiction of character relationships; the foregrounding of non-transactional reaction in narrative representation shows characters’ sensitivity to the surrounding environment and their concerns about the future, thus, it makes viewers wonder what they are looking at as well as why they seem so worried; the action process in narrative one provides a more detailed portrayal of the psychology of the protagonist, leaving the audience curious about what the protagonist is thinking and searching for as he walks through the dunes. besides, verbal mode provides the audience with objective and concrete information. the enlarged, bold and layout modes are designed to enhance the visual impact of the title and release date, which contribute to expanding the scope of the film’s audience. this paper further validates the effectiveness of multimodal functional stylistics in poster interpretation, but the analyses in terms of color, font, and layout are not comprehensive enough. it is hoped that future research will pay more attention to these modes from functional stylistics in multimodal texts. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 107 published by scholink 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(2023). a multimodal stylistic analysis of the movie poster for a little red flower. overseas english, 19, 96-99. zhang, d. l., jia, x. q., & lei, q. (2015). key issues in english stylistics. beijing: foreign language teaching and research press. zhang, d. l., & mu, z. g. (2012). on the theoretical framework of multimodal functional stylistics. foreign language education, 33(3), 1-6. appendix education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper identity construction of government staff interpreters in china —a corpus-based study of shifts in political interpreting cheng zhan1* 1 school of foreign languages, sun yat-sen university, guangzhou, 510275, p. r. china * cheng zhan, school of foreign languages, sun yat-sen university, guangzhou, 510275, p. r. china received: september 28, 2020 accepted: october 11, 2020 online published: october 18, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n2p77 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n2p77 abstract this paper presents the findings of a corpus-based empirical study on the role of government staff interpreters in the political context of china. based on a qualitative analysis of discourse documented in authentic encounters between top leaders of guangdong province and their foreign visitors in interpreter-facilitated communication, the paper attempts to question the long-held view that government staff interpreters serve as a neutral, transparent non-person. to provide perhaps a new perspective from which the interpreter’s role may be revisited, this paper looks at personal angle shifts in the interpretation done by six staff interpreters of guangdong foreign affairs office, including shifts between first person and third person angles, and second person and third person angles. with what corpus data reveal, the paper argues that the interpreter’s role as a mediator is conspicuous even in high-level political interpreting. rather than a transparent non-person, the interpreter constructs and represents her identity as well as the identity of the institution she belongs to by discursive means, and therefore acts as an active party of communication. keywords role, staff interpreters, political setting, personal angle, shifts 1. introduction interpreting is a socially-situated process of communicative interaction in a given context, in which the interpreter acts as an individual participant with embodied agency in the exchanges of discourse. understanding the role of the interpreter both as a constructed and constructing subject in the society can therefore shed some light on the social function of interpreting. previous research on the role of interpreters has been conducted mostly in the area of community interpreting, where interpreters are 77 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 not only directly involved in the communicative process, but are also drawn into decision-making in cases of unequal power relations and diverging interests. in terms of the role of the interpreter, a much-ignored area has been interpreting done in political settings. more than a decade ago, baker (1997, p. 124) argues that “‘political’ interpreting as a genre deserves to be studied more closely in view of its importance in shaping cultural images and aiding or obstructing the cause of world peace”, and that it is, with its many non-cognitive constraints, at least a distinct area of study in the domain of interpreting studies. however, mostly due to lack of access to authentic data and the sensitiveness of political interpreting itself, considerably less input has been made into this area by researchers worldwide. this paper looks at a particular field of interpreting—the people’s government of guangdong province, and analyzes the role government staff interpreters play in interpreting. the paper departs from defining “political setting” as a general working environment of official dialogue interpreting in which important government officials are involved, and the topics of discussion are mostly issues of politics, economy and international relations, and focuses on one aspect of the role performance of the interpreters—how they distinguish between “us” and the “other”, and construct the self as well as institutional identity in the process of interpreting. with quantitative data from a corpus of 25 political meetings conducted in guangdong province, and qualitative analysis of the interpreters’ renditions, the paper will revisit the role of government staff interpreters in the political context of china as an active mediator of discourse. 2. questioning the interpreter’s role as a non-person settings as the “social context of interaction” (pöchhacker, 2004, p. 13) not only constitute the social context of professional interpreting, but also place certain constraints on how interpreting is done. in previous studies of the role of interpreters in various community settings, as researchers got to accept the idea that interpreting is far from an objectivistic transformation of utterances, they shifted to a discursive approach to interpreting as a socio-culturally-driven interactive activity. in the many works that have been produced since the turn of the century (e.g., wadensjö, 1998; metzger, 1999; roy, 2000; angelelli, 2001, 2004a, 2004b; ren, 2010), the relations between the parties of communication in the process of community interpreting has been explored and discussed. the view that community interpreters serve as a “non-person” or a “conduit” has already been challenged by researchers using authentic ethnographic data. the activity of interpreting in political settings, when in the form of conversational events, involves a process in which ideologies from the interacting participants get negotiated in the given social field then and there. nor is it free from ideological factors which form the meta-narratives of the interpreter-facilitated political encounters. the role of the interpreter in such a process can therefore be thrown into question, as how the interpreter’s identity is constructed and represented should be an issue 78 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 under serious investigation. to quote inghilleri (2003, p. 261), interpreters are “forever trapped inside their socially constituted selves”. inghilleri is right in pointing out that interpreter’s identity construction is a complex and even conflicting process. the social and cultural conditions of interpreting shape interpreters’ behaviour and constitute them to become the subjects for the “self” and the “other”. barker and galasinski (2001, p. 28) suggest that “identities are discursive-performative in the sense that they are best described as constructed through discursive practice which enacts or produces that which it names though citation and reiteration of norms or conventions”. the “self” is a given content, and is embodied, construed not perhaps unlike a character we encounter in a novel or a play, in that he/she is always expected to perform a certain role. the construction, development and representation of the self in any narrative performance should be considered the most characteristically human acts that justifiably remain of central importance to both our personal and our communal existence. what takes to be a person is culturally-constructed and therefore is variable. such must also be the case for interpreters in political encounters. the simple truth therefore is, if the interpreter can be observed to have ways of representing himself or herself and actually does so, he/she is no longer a neutral and transparent “non-person”, as is normally believed to be the situation for the politically-conditioned dialogue interpreting. 3. revisiting interpreter’s role from personal angle shifts—what corpus data suggest for this research project, i shall look at staff interpreters working for the protocol department of the foreign affairs office (fao) of the people’s government of guangdong province. in the chinese political system, governments from the central to the local levels employ staff interpreters for language service in international relations. the dual role of these civil servant interpreters as both a professional service provider and a government functionary certainly makes their role performance an interesting topic to explore. for this research project, i have collected a total of 25 meetings, held in a five-year span between 2005 to 2009 between a senior official of the people’s government of guangdong province and a foreign counterpart or several members of a high official delegation. the length of each meeting ranges from 40 minutes to 100 minutes, making the total length of audio data 40 or so hours. consecutive interpreting is used in all these meetings. six interpreters of the guangdong fao with professional working experience of 6 to 13 years interpreted for these meetings. all of them happened to be female interpreters. in analyzing the corpus data, i have identified one specific aspect of the interpreter’s identity construction and representation—the shifts in their personal angles in interpreting. davies and harré (2001, p. 263) suggest that the processes of acquisition and development of personal sense, ... arise in relations to a theory of the self embodied in pronoun grammar in which a person understands themselves as historically continuous and unitary. the experiencing of contradictory 79 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 positions as problematic, as something to be reconciled or remedied, stems from this general feature of the way being a person is done in our society. (my emphasis) informed by the “pronoun grammar” discussed by davies and harré, i shall analyze, but not limit myself to, the pronoun usage in the interpreted utterances of the interpreter. to incorporate a greater variety of observed phenomena into my analysis, i shall adopt the term “personal angles”, an analogy to the terminology “camera angles” in photography for the investigation of such shifts in the corpus data. the “personal angle” relates to the “camera angle” from which a scene is presented, which sanders (1994) calls “vantage point”. it involves time, place and person indicators. as far as “person” is concerned, it defines the “i”, “you” and “he/she” about which the interlocutors are speaking. during the interaction, the vantage point may change, meaning that the “i”, the “you” and “he/she” do not have to refer to the same persons throughout a verbal exchange or throughout a text. in interpreter-mediated oral encounter, the indicator of person thus refers directly to the issue of “who is talking” and to the different attitudes towards the re-narration by the interpreter. setting out from the use of personal angles therefore will offer us interesting evidence of how the interpreter justifies his/her being as a participant of the interpreted communication. in the political meetings that i investigate for this research project, this kind of shift between identities is two-fold. for one, the interpreter moves between representing the speakers and representing herself; for the other, the interpreter moves between narrating for the provincial leader, or “us” and narrating for the foreign statesman or business leader, or the “other”. such constant shifts in identities, when occurring frequently in the linguistic activities taken, may become a problem for the interpreter. the total number of valid turns rendered by the interpreters into the target language (either english or chinese) in all the 25 meetings studied amounts to 2296, out of which there are 297 observed shifts in personal angles, which sets the shift rate at 12.94%. in figure 1, the horizontal axis corresponds to the 6 interpreters coded a to f, while the vertical axis corresponds to the number of shifts in personal angles out of the total valid turns the interpreter reproduces. from interpreter a to interpreter f, the personal angle shift rates as calculated against each interpreter’s total valid turns are 10.09%, 17.33%, 11.49%, 14.55%, 9.54% and 10.37% respectively. 80 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 figure 1. each interpreter’s shifts in personal angles out of her total valid turns 4. personal angle shifts as means of identity construction a qualitative study of the shifts in personal angles show that shifts occur in a certain pattern, which can be categorized into the following two types: (1) the speaker uses a first person pronoun or concept, either singular or plural, in the sentence, and the interpreter renders it into a third person pronoun or concept, either singular or plural, animate or non-animate, or the other way round (third person into first person pronoun or concept); (2) the speaker uses a second person pronoun or concept, either singular or plural, in the sentence, and the interpreter renders it into a third person pronoun or concept, either singular or plural, animate or non-animate, or the other way round (third person into second person pronoun or concept). 4.1 first person vs. third person as the constructing of “us” in the corpus data of the 25 meetings, a number of shifts of personal angles between the first person and the third person can be observed, clearly indicating the way the interpreter understands what is means to be “us”, and the decision she makes in shifting between different ways of signifying the concept of “us” so as to realize the construction and assertion of the identities of the imagined community. 4.1.1 first person angle to third person angle i shall start with some typical corpus data that show how the interpreter shifts from the first person pronoun in the start text (st), a personal angle clearly an indication of “us”, to the personal angle that is third person in the target text (tt). case 1: st: 因为我们有五千多年的华夏的文明历史。 (for the reason that we have a chinese civilization and history of more than five thousand years.) tt: china is the country with a history of five thousand years. 81 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 in this case, the speaker talks about the five thousand years of history of “us”, but does not suggest what he means by “us”. the interpreter thus has to make a judgment of who is “我们” (we). in the target text, “我们” is rendered into “china”. the not only does the interpreter make use of the existing narratives of china’s history, but also equates china to “us”. case 2: st: 为了解决这些问题，我想你一定注意到了，我们提出了一个，新的理念，或者叫重要 的战略思想，就是科学发展观。 (you must have noticed that to solve these problems, we have proposed a new idea, or a new important strategic thinking, the scientific outlook on development.) tt: to meet these challenges, the cpc has proposed a new, um, idea of development, which maybe you have already known. that is the scientific outlook on development. in this case, the speaker talks about a new strategic thinking “the scientific outlook on development” proposed by “us”. here the boundary of “us” is very fuzzy, as it can be the leaders of the province, the province itself, or china. the interpreter in this case renders “我们” into “the cpc”, which is a clear indication of mediation on the part of the interpreter. it reflects the belief system of the interpreter that the communist party of china is the ruling party of the country and is responsible for the orientation of development for it. though this rendition is certainly not erroneous, it nevertheless is a sign of the interpreter’s voice on the party system as well as the political structure of the country. 4.1.2 third person angle to first person angle in this part, i shall move on to typical corpus data that show how the interpreter shifts from the third person subjects to the first personal pronoun, thus showing the territory of “us” in her outlook. case 1: st: 也非常想了解呀，呃，在最近啊，中挪两国，以及挪威广东的环境保护，经济文化交 流各方面的合作能够有什么作为。 (we would also like to know what can be done in the near future in all sectors including environmental protection, economic and cultural exchanges between the two countries of china and norway, and norway and guangdong.) tt: and we would also like to cover our cooperation not only in the environmental protection, but also in trade, culture and other sectors. in this case, both “中挪两国” (the two countries of china and norway) and “挪威广东” (norway and guangdong) are rendered into first person plural, as the nominative case and the possessive case respectively. despite the difference in the scope of the subjects, both china and guangdong are considered to be the territory of “us”. case 2: st: 从现在产业体系的建立到自主创新能力的提高等一系列的方面，为广东，尤其是珠三 角地区的科学发展描绘出了一个路线图。 82 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 (in a number of areas such as industrial structuring and indigenous innovation improvement, this has painted a roadmap for the scientific development of guangdong, the pearl river delta in particular.) tt: it have given us a blueprint or a land roadmap to the construct modern industries in china and to encourage innovations of our enterprises. the speaker first mentions guangdong, and then adds more information by saying “尤其是珠三角地 区” (particularly the pearl river delta area). however, neither guangdong nor the prd is visible in the target utterance. the two terms are simplified into one objective case of the first-person pronoun. to the interpreter, these two geographic concepts are both territories of “us”, and therefore do not seem to have major differences in the representation of the meaning. these clearly show the understanding and image constructing the interpreters apply to the world around them. by shifting among different scopes of territory, the interpreter show what is meant by the words “us” and “i” that proliferate in the discourse. it is in the linguistic paradigm that the interpreters construct and represent the identities for the speaker as well as for themselves. “us” is therefore a product of language, as the implied subject of self-referring utterances. 4.2 second person vs. third person as the constructing of the “other” in his paper examining address forms and ambiguous participant roles in court interpreting, angermeyer (2005) reviews the hierarchy of “audience roles” proposed by bell, which primarily distinguishes between second person address and third person un-addressed. bell’s model suggests that speakers style-shift to accommodate to the speech styles of their audience, and they tend to adapt more to the addressee and less to an unaddressed ratified participant or to an overhearer. bell then notes with the model that speakers may also accommodate to referees, persons who are not present at the interaction at all, but who possess “such salience for a speaker that they influence speech even in their absence”. (bell in angermeyer, 2005, p. 207) angermeyer’s review of bell’s model suggests that in the triadic exchanges of discourse in a political meeting, the interpreter not only addresses the party on-site (second person) to which the speaker (first person) sends messages, but also bears in mind and is influenced by an invisible party (the third person) which is closely related to the speaker and the party addressed. the third party, i would suggest, is an embodiment of the cultural construct of the identity that can be interpreted in relation to the speaker or the party addressed. in other words, the “the third party” is a representation of the “other” which is to be understood as against “us”. therefore, the interpreter’s shifts of personal subjects between the second and the third person signifies the interpreter’s knowledge of the sociocultural construct of the “other”. 4.2.1 second person angle to third person angle in the following cases, i shall examine the ways the interpreter renders the second person pronoun “you”, singular or plural, into a third person subject, and provide possible explanation of such renditions. 83 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 case 1: st: 你们在宏观经济管理，发展高新技术和教育等方面有很多值得我们学习和借鉴的地方。 (you have a lot for us to learn and borrow in areas such as macroeconomic management, high-tech development, and education.) tt: there are a lot we can learn from finland, in area of macro-control of economy and higher education and high-technology development. in this instance, the speaker, governor of guangdong province, addresses the foreign visitor, who happens to be the prime minister of finland, using the plural form of second person pronoun. the interpreter renders “你们” in the original into “finland”, which is the country that the addressee represents, and in bell’s term, the invisible third party of the interpreted communication. a probable explanation to this is that the interpreter does this to avoid the ambiguity of the address form (as “you” can mean the prime minister himself, the delegation of the official visit or the people of finland). but why does she choose to use the name of the country as the subject of address? a more probable explanation is that the interpreter brings in the third party and equates “you” to “finland”, thus defining the “other” in the way that fits in her knowledge as well as ideological system. case 2: st: 另外呢，作为港美商会，你们也十分关心粤港之间的合作。 (in addition, as american chamber of commerce in hong kong, you are very interested in cooperation between guangdong and hong kong.) tt: i know this council is also highly concerned with the cooperation between guangdong and hong kong. in this case, the interpreter combines the second person pronoun “你们” with its modifying structure “作为港美商会”, and renders the combination into “this council”. not only does the interpreter shifts from an animated subject into a non-animated one, but she also brings in a larger community (american chamber of commerce in hong kong), of which “你们”, presumably the two co-chairs of the chamber addressed by the speaker, are part of. 4.2.2 third person angle to second person angle now i shall move on and analyze the ways the interpreter renders the third person angle of discourse into the singular or plural form of second person pronoun “you”. case 1: st: 美国这些方面的技术啊、经验啊都很好，唯一的缺陷就是价格太贵了。 (these technologies and experiences of the united states are certainly very good, but the only drawback is the high price.) tt: you have good technologies and experience, but the difficulty for us is that the price is very high. in this instance, the speaker talks about the united states as charging too high a price for its technologies. the interpreter renders “美国” not into “the united states”, but as “you”, which in effect 84 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 makes the message more directed to the american official on-site of the political meeting. rather than giving people the impression of talking about a third-party country in an objective manner, the interpreter chooses to equate the representative of the american government to the country itself, thus allocating the territory for the addresses as the “other”, and makes him the target of the issue that is brought to the surface of the table. case 2: st: 但是现在的所有的这些学习确实都有个结合中国国情的问题，因为我们知道这个发达 国家所有的这些技术啊，这个在引进的过程中间，是好东西，但是确实也是价格昂贵的东 西。 (all this kind of learning should be conducted with consideration of the chinese national condition. we know that all these technologies from developed countries are great things in the process of introduction to our country, be they are also very expensive things.) tt: and in terms of all the introduction and digestion of the foreign technologies, it is, em, very important to adapt them to the chinese reality. you have very good technology, but it’s very expensive. in his case, the speaker talks about “发达国家” (developed countries) and signifies it as the “other” in binary opposition to “us” (china, which is a major developing country). in fact, the scope of “developed countries” is actually lager than the addressee of the message, who represents an entity that is undoubtedly not equal to the collection of developed countries. however, in rendering the “发达国家” into “you”, the interpreter not only equates the addressee with the developed countries as the “other” of the cultural and political construct, but also in effect narrows the scope of the message. as the sociocultural construct of identity is not something fixed and final but is something continuously refigured and adjusted by linguistic means in different context, the interpreters have established the identities of the “other” in relation to the narration and re-narration of human experiences, and through this, constructed the identities of the “self”. an utterance can be rendered in a number of different ways, so the process of interpreting always involves decision-making. therefore, the interpreter’s choice of shifting between the personal angles between “us” and the “other” cannot be said to occur without the mediation from the interpreter and thus reflects the voice of the interpreter. 5. conclusion despite the general belief that government staff interpreters in political settings should act in strict accordance with government policies and professional rules, corpus data of the 25 audiotaped authentic meetings between top officials of the people’s government of guangdong province and foreign statesmen or corporate leaders suggest forcefully that actual instances of consecutive interpreting in a 85 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 face-to-face mode is far more complex than the general belief or universal rules. the idea that interpreters in this kind of situations are a “faithful echo” is therefore questioned and challenged. the quantitative analysis of the corpus data suggests that interpreters do far more than accessing and transferring original messages and semantic contents in a transparent and neutral way. the qualitative analysis of the corpus data suggests that in performing their role(s), interpreters cannot be totally non-present, and that the single speaker-position reserved for the presentation as well as representation of the speaker do not always exist in a real-life interpreting situation. in order to perform the negotiator position, rather than a conduit role in a highly-complex network of communication and constraints, interpreters put themselves in the actual contexts and use personal angle shifts to regulate and mediate discourse. with the corpus data, hopefully i have been able to prove that interpreters working in the political setting are far from a commonly perceived echo machine of their speakers, but perform the role of a mediator clearly with embodied agency. their not only speak with a voice in the political meetings, but project their own voice and show their presence as well as positions in a context charged with distinct political and cultural features. references angelelli, c. (2001). deconstructing the invisible interpreter: a critical study of the interpersonal role of the interpreter in a cross-cultural/linguistic communicative event (unpublished doctoral dissertation). stanford university, palo alto ca. angelelli, c. (2004a). medical interpreting and cross-cultural communication. cambridge: cambridge university press. angelelli, c. (2004b). revisiting the interpreter’s role: a study of conference, court, and medical interpreters in canada, mexico, and the united states. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. angermeyer, p. s. (2005). who is “you”? polite forms of address and ambiguous participant roles in court interpreting. target, 17(2), 203-226. baker, m. (1997). non-cognitive constraints and interpreter strategies in political interviews. in k. simms (ed.), translating sensitive texts: linguistic aspects (pp. 111-129). amsterdam and atlanta, ga: rodopi. barker, c., & galasinski, d. (2001). cultural studies and discourse analysis: a dialogue on language and identity. london/thousand oaks/new delhi: sage. davies, b., & harré, r. (2001). positioning: the discursive production of selves. in m. wetherell et al. (eds.), discourse theory and practice: a reader (pp. 261-271). london, thousand oaks and new delhi: sage. inghilleri, m. (2003). habitus, field and discourse: interpreting as a socially situated activity. target, 15(2), 243-268. 86 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 metzger, m. (1999). sign language interpreting: deconstructing the myth of neutrality. washington dc: gallaudet university press. pöchhacker, f. (2004). introducing interpreting studies. london and new york: routledge. ren, w. (2010). the liaison interpreter’s subjectivity consciousness. beijing: foreign language teaching and research press. roy, c. b. (2000). interpreting as a discourse process. new york and oxford: oxford university press. sanders, j. m. (1994). perspective in narrative discourse (unpublished doctoral dissertation). katholieke universiteit, brabant, tilburg. wadensjö, c. (1998). interpreting as interaction. london and new york: longman. 87 published by scholink inc. original paper education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 21 original paper the importance of nursing education for bangladeshi nursing teachers m f k al mannah1 & md. khurshed alam2 1 associate professor in nursing, enam nursing college, dhaka, bangladesh 2 lecturer, department of political science, gobindaganj abdul haque smrity college, gobindaganj, bangladesh received: february 1, 2025 accepted: february 22, 2025 online published: march 16, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p21 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p21 abstract can we take the purpose of nurse education for granted, and, more importantly, should we? that is the issue at stake in this paper. the question of purpose is absent in the nursing literature; our aim here is to urge that it not be overlooked by demonstrating its importance to the future of nursing. the nursing profession in bangladesh has undergone a remarkable development over the recent years. but nursing teachers still faces different types of challenges. the reasons for the contradiction have become a complex interaction between socioeconomic and cultural factors, which are related to the conflicts between british curriculum, with an emphasis on basic care activities, social and gender norms, and discrimination against nurses at educational institutions. this paper aims to look at nurses’ views about nursing care and their profession, to depict how nursing education has been an empowering tool, and to analyze how nurses’ socioeconomic background, personal experiences and life stories have influenced their professional careers. therefore, nursing education is found to empower nursing teachers in terms of knowledge, independence, and self-realization. keywords bangladesh, nursing, knowledge, power, and care 1. introduction nursing education is important because it helps nurses provide better patient care, keep up with new healthcare practices, and advance their careers. nurses with more education are better able to identify and respond to patients’ needs. they are more likely to use evidence-based practices and innovative techniques. they are more likely to have better critical thinking and decision-making skills. nurses with advanced education can qualify for higher-level roles. they can earn higher salaries, and can protect www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 22 published by scholink inc. themselves from medical and legal mistakes. nurses with ongoing education are better able to keep up with new technologies and practices. they can apply data analysis and technology to improve patient care, and can develop skills to adapt to evolving models of care. nurses with continuing education can improve their skills and knowledge, and can develop competencies in leadership, quality improvement, and systems thinking. they can participate in clinical issues and population-focused interventions. nurses with better education can help lower mortality, readmission rates, and lengths of stay. nursing care provision is a central element in contemporary health systems and its quality is directly related to the health of the population (world health organization, 2010; berland, 2014). in bangladesh, the nursing profession has experienced substantial developments over the recent decades. nevertheless, there remain critical challenges in relation to nursing care delivery and the working conditions of the nurses. a historical nursing shortage is worsened by the hospital and urban-centered, under-resourced public health system. health and social inequalities are endemic in bangladesh, and specifically affect women, children and disadvantaged population sectors. corruption and mismanagement are extended in the government and the private sector and are a significant limitation in the delivery of basic services, like health and education. one of the most noticeable issues of the nursing education in bangladesh is the apparent gap between the institutionally-accepted image of nursing care and the observed practices of the nurses, especially in the government sector. on the one hand, the academic and institutional definition of the nursing profession involves intimate care for the sick people (bnmc, 2013). the hospital ethnographies were extremely useful in gaining a deeper understanding of the ways in which the government hospitals functioned on a daily basis which, in many cases, were reflected in broader tensions in bangladesh (leppard, 2000; zaman, 2005). 2. theoretical framework globally, the regulation of nurse education is varied and inconsistent (flanders & baker, 2020). however, competency-based approaches prevail, reflecting variations in ‘credentialing’ (cowan et al., 2007). in 2009, the who advocated a universal shift to a university-level preregistration or prelicensure nurse education model, emphasising the preparation of nurses who can contribute to the professional workforce, strengthen health systems, and meet public health needs (who, 2009, 2015). key themes introduced in the who standards define the purpose of nurse education: preparation; professionalism; workforce demands; population demands; and protection of the public, with a focus on producing nurses capable of meeting global healthcare challenges. 3. agency and social power according to giddens (1979), power and agency are understood as a human capacity. nevertheless, none of them is equally distributed in society (ortner, 2006). bourdieu’s theory of the internalization of https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nin.12640#nin12640-bib-0018 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nin.12640#nin12640-bib-0016 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nin.12640#nin12640-bib-0075 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nin.12640#nin12640-bib-0076 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 23 published by scholink inc. unequal social structures is useful in understanding this aspect. nevertheless, a difficulty emerges while trying to define the individual’s role in the reproduction or transformation of social reality. according to michael foucault (1977), wherever we find power, we find resistance. a key foucauldian idea for this research is his conceptualization of power as a capillary, which allows us to look for “the point where power reaches into the very grain of individuals, touches their bodies and inserts itself into their actions and attitudes, their discourses, learning processes and everyday lives” (1977, p. 39). 4. gender discrimination gender is a cross-sectional form of inequality and, as such, it appears in different theoretical and political debates. in this research, gender plays a prominent role as it is crucial to the two fields analyzed: the nursing profession and bangladeshi society. bourdieu (2002) provided a good example within the education sector. throughout their socialization, girls internalize the principles of the dominant ideology, which leads them to normalize the social order and to refuse the careers from which they are implicitly excluded. women’s symbolic capital within the family is transported to their jobs, which “provide the functions of presentation and representation, reception and hospitality” (2002, p. 100). this aspect is relevant in relation to the notion of nursing as a majority of female profession. the term, ‘intersectionality’, was coined by crenshaw (1989), who used a traffic analogy to account for the articulation of different forms of oppression: discrimination, like traffic through an intersection, may flow in one direction, and it may flow in another. if an accident happens in an intersection, it can be caused by cars travelling from any number of directions and, sometimes, from all of them. similarly, if a black woman is harmed because she is in the intersection, her injury could result from sex discrimination or race discrimination (crenshaw, 1989, p. 149). 5. nursing knowledge and power the term ‘care’ has been traditionally associated with nursing from academic perspectives. in this research, caring experiences are significant because of the ambivalent position they occupy in nurses’ lives. a distinction should be made between caring as a primary experience, nursing care as a specific activity, and the ideological discourse around the role of care in the nursing profession. nursing profession and the nurses’ practices take place within the broader medical system, which has often been criticized for being biologists and mechanics (menéndez, 1984). medical anthropology contributed significantly to the analysis of the power relations between the hegemonic medical model and other, non-institutionalized, forms of care (menéndez, 2003). the nursing profession occupies a liminal position between the patriarchal, scientific, hegemonic medical model and the subaltern, often ignored or undermined forms of care. antrobus (1997, p. 447) opines that the nursing profession has the uniqueness and richness of its commitment to “drawing its knowledge base from practice”. in this context, i would argue that nurses may be seen as a community of critical reflectors and actors who “act on their www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 24 published by scholink inc. insights and move toward the goal of transforming nursing and health care” (chinn & kramer, 2015, p. 6), which returns us to nurses’ specific role in society: nurses provide care for people in the midst of health, pain, loss, fear, disfigurement, death, grieving, challenge, growth, birth, and transition on an intimate front-line basis. expert nurses call this the privileged place of nursing. in expert nursing practice, nurses focus on the lived experience in health and in stressful situations (benner & wrubel, 1989, p. ix). 6. nursing education and profession in the bangladesh context nursing education in bangladesh includes courses such as the bachelor of science in nursing (b.sc. in nursing) and the master of science in nursing (msn). the goal of nursing education in bangladesh is to prepare nurses to work in a variety of healthcare settings, and to promote health in the country. on the other hand, the nursing profession that was once started with the ideals of florence nightingale has now expanded and taken healthcare to a new level. due to the government’s promotion of nurses to the second-class status, a large number of students in the country have become interested in pursuing nursing and midwifery education. according to bangladesh nursing and midwifery council (3 june 2024), the total number of institutes and seats were given below: no. name of course govt. dgnm autonomous/military non-govt. total in total: nursing, midwifery, and bsc. institute seat institute seat institute seat 1 diploma in nursing science & midwifery (3 yrs. integrated) 49 2880 ----354 17605 20485 36145 2 diploma in midwifery (3 yrs. integrated) 62 1825 ----109 3930 5775 3 bsc in nursing (4 yrs. integrated) 32 2100 7 375 154 7430 9905 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 25 published by scholink inc. 4 bsc in nursing (2 yrs. integrated) 10 725 1 25 120 4765 5515 5 bsc in midwifery (2 yrs. integrated) 4 80 ----5 160 240 6 msc in nursing (2 yrs. integrated) 2 270 ----21 1630 1900 total institutions & seats 70 7880 8 400 378 35520 43800 figure 1. total number of institutes and seats despite having enough nursing institutes and colleges, students interested in pursuing nursing and midwifery education have to go through intense competition to get admission. it is also true that according to international standards, the number of nurses and midwives is still low. the qualifications for studying nursing are determined by the bangladesh nursing and midwifery council. for the 202324 academic year, all students have to take the 100-mark mcq exam to qualify for admission to nursing colleges. the minimum pass mark here is 40. anyone scoring less than 40 will not be able to get admission in private colleges, meaning that efforts are being made to control quality. a new curriculum was formulated and implemented with the technical assistance of thailand, a joint initiative of the world health organization and the bangladesh nursing council, to modernize nursing and midwifery education. according to the new curriculum, a three-year diploma in nursing science and midwifery and a four-year b.sc. nursing course were introduced for the hsc level completed students. initially, four nursing institutes adjacent to dhaka, chittagong, mymensingh and rajshahi medical college hospitals were converted into nursing colleges and b.sc. education programs were introduced. later, a diploma in midwifery course was also introduced. in 2016, the ‘national institute of advanced nursing education and research’ was established in mugda, dhaka under bsmmu with technical and financial assistance from korea for higher education and research in nursing. this is a unique initiative in the field of higher education and research in nursing. currently, two-year postgraduate degrees are offered in six subjects community nursing, psychiatric nursing, nursing education www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 26 published by scholink inc. management, adult and elderly nursing, women’s health and reproductive health and child health nursing. nursing and midwifery and equivalent degree holders are required to register compulsorily to enter the professional life. this registration has to be taken under the nursing and midwifery council. for this, everyone has to pass the comprehensive (licensing) examination organized by the council. in view of the growing demand for the nursing profession, it is necessary to produce nurses and midwives of international standard so that there is no question about their professional skills. we can send nurses to many countries around the world, including the developed world. but there is a need for language skills. if we can make them qualified in these two aspects, this nursing and midwifery profession will become a great tool for earning foreign currency. the nursing profession has reached its present state after going through many ups and downs. looking back, it can be seen that when india and pakistan gained independence as separate states in 1947, only 50 nurses declared themselves to be associated with the then east pakistan health service. in many hospitals, apprentice nurses and nurse attendants carried out the work of the nursing profession. after the establishment of the first medical college, dhaka medical college. within a short time, the first senior nursing school was established adjacent to dhaka medical college hospital. a british nurse simultaneously served as the matron of dhaka medical college hospital, superintendent of nursing service and registrar of east pakistan nursing council. at that time, the ministry of health of the central government of east pakistan sought students to study nursing in england with the aim of making the nursing profession and education in east pakistan self-reliant. only 4 people could be nominated. in 1956, pakistan’s first nursing college was established in karachi. registered nurses from east pakistan started getting opportunities at the karachi nursing college for higher training. many got the opportunity to take scholarships abroad, especially in the united states, for higher education in administration and teaching. 1970 was a landmark for nursing education because, that year, the college of nursing was established in mohakhali, dhaka. during this time, 10 more senior nursing schools were established in the remaining medical college hospitals and 5 district hospitals. during the war of independence, there were 600 registered nurses in the country, out of which 350 were associated with the government health system. after independence, various steps were taken to develop the nursing profession and education. the rank and status of nurses were increased. salaries were increased. hospital matrons and principals of nursing schools were given first class status. by the presidential ordinance in 1977, a nursing directorate was established for nurses, separated from the health department, which was later converted into a law. the college of nursing was affiliated to dhaka university from the academic year 1977-78 and the b.sc. in nursing course was introduced. unfortunately, the course was postponed within one year due to veto. from 1980, a one-year administrative and teaching course was introduced. in 1981, two more district hospitals and 18 sub-district hospitals were started with nursing institutes. in the meantime, the names of the nursing schools were changed and converted into nursing institutes. the rank of hospital matron was www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 27 published by scholink inc. upgraded to nursing superintendent. the door to higher education abroad was also opened. the opportunity for bangladeshi nurses to pursue a master’s degree was given at the university of adelaide in australia. nursing professionals started getting postings in remote areas. as a result, nursing professionals started getting acquainted with and building relationships with the people of the country. in addition, the posts of district public health nurses were created and posted in 64 districts, along with the posts of four divisional assistant directors. in november 2016, the nursing directorate was upgraded to the department of nursing and midwifery under a director general. the director general of the nursing and midwifery directorate was a doctor in the bcs cadre and is currently an additional secretary in the administration cadre. this is happening in many cases. it is time to consider how much real professional perspective an official from the administration cadre can take when he heads a specialized institution. according to the world health organization, by 2030, the world will need 6 million nurses. a large number of nurses currently working will retire in the next ten years. as a result, there may be a shortage of nurses in the coming days. nursing is one of the fastest growing professions in the developed world, including the united states. we need more caring and qualified nurses to take care of our elderly and patients battling chronic diseases. population growth, increased life expectancy and the need for healthcare are increasing the demand. the elderly population needs well-trained nurses for preventive and primary care. we can look at the issue with a more correct professional perspective and give due importance to producing quality nurses and midwives in the greater interest of the nation. 7. family and socioeconomic background of nurses family size and nurses’ positions with respect to their siblings are other significant factors in their decision to become nurses. alam (1975) and begum (1993) thought that nurses generally came from large families. about half were either the first or second child as a significant factor. both characteristics, coming from large families and having younger siblings, were found in five of the nurses. furthermore, two nurses specifically referred to how the latter aspect influenced their decision of either joining or continuing with their nursing education. nursing was not previously the first choice for bright and wealthy students for several reasons. most common reasons are that the apparent contradiction between nursing activities and local gender, religious and social norms make it a less desirable profession for women. the poor working conditions and low salaries contribute to make it less attractive. even more, nursing did not enjoy a high educational status in the past. directly after independence and due to the severe shortage of nurses, entry requirements were relaxed and important efforts were made to attract young women. now, a good way to avoid the negative image of nursing associated with either poor or weak students is to increase standard education as well as work facilities of nurses through promotion. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 28 published by scholink inc. 8. institutional discrimination the working conditions of nurses in bangladesh are far from good, especially in large government hospitals. nursing shortages, lack of equipment, overcrowded wards and institutional neglect account for nurses’ potential burnout. nurses do not generally feel sufficiently valued by the institutions where they work. poor salaries, devaluation of nursing education, and accommodation problems have been raised as important challenges for nurses (uddin et al., 2006). 9. the role of nurses as caregivers working as a nurse offers a great experience about taking care of sick and vulnerable people. furthermore, the fact is that most nurses work in medical institutions provides them with connections to health services. nevertheless, considering that most nurses are women, their role as caregivers extends far beyond their professional obligations. this section focuses on the intersection between the different fields where the nurses are expected to act as carers, and the ways in which they articulate their multiple roles. nurses are highly disciplined and have to overcome significant challenges during their basic nursing education. the social status of nurses is still low. despite their study and their educational achievements are not always socially recognized. hospital work is often badly regarded, and in some cases, they have to challenge their family’s wishes in order to continue working. finally, they do not always feel valued within medical institutions and in some cases, they think that they cannot fully utilize their knowledge. 10. ethical considerations the first principle in any ethical statement is to do no harm. even though asking questions may be thought to be harmless, the potential damage to the informants’ dignity has to be considered when collecting, storing and disseminating the information (aaa, 2012). to minimize the effects of time consumption, interviews are conducted at a place and time that is most convenient to the informants, causing them minimal disturbance. privacy has been maintained as far as possible by protecting the informants’ identities and secure data storage. pseudonyms have been used in the transcripts and field notes from the very beginning, and sensitive information was written in a way. by the end of the interview, she ended up clearly disclosing her opinions and even laughed while saying she could lose her job if some people heard them. this is just an example of how vulnerable bangladeshi nurses are in many regards and may also explain the reluctance of some nurses to be recorded. in this case, it also shows their courage and commitment to their professional struggle for the betterment of nursing in bangladesh. 11. conclusion nursing education is important because it ensures the quality of students, improves patient care, helps nurses adapt to new healthcare needs, and prepares nurses for higher-level roles. nurses with advanced education have a positive impact on patient outcomes; have lower mortality, lower readmission rates, and shorter lengths of hospital stay. nurses with continuing education are aware of evidence-based www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 29 published by scholink inc. practices and innovative techniques. with continuing education, they are better able to manage their daily workload. special skills and certifications can qualify nurses for higher-level nursing roles. experience and continuing education credentials can lead to increased salaries. nurses with continuing education have refined critical thinking skills and improved decision-making abilities. they are also able to protect themselves from legal and medical mistakes. even they are better able to adapt to evolving models of care. in summary, my own experience, insights and theoretical intervention do not have to be a limitation. in many cases, it is my experience as a nurse teacher, which have helps me understand and contextualize a lot of situations the nurses are found to explain. references aaa (american anthropological association). (2012). principles of responsibility. retrieved from http://ethics.aaanet.org/category/statement/ alam, b. a. (1975). women in nursing. a study of the nurses of dacca medical college. in women for women. bangladesh 1975 (pp. 121-153). dhaka: the university press. antrobus, s. (1997). an analysis of nursing in context: the effects of current health policy. journal of advanced nursing, 25(3), 447-453. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.1997.1997025447.x begum, c. s. (1993). a study on nurses’ opinion about their own profession. dhaka: university of dhaka. benner, p., & wrubel, j. (1989). the primacy of caring. stress and coping in health and illness. california: addison-wesley publishing company. berland, a. (2014). advancing nursing education in bangladesh. dhaka. bernard, h. r. (2006). research methods in anthropology: qualitative and quantitative approaches. lanham: altamira press. bnmc. (2013). bangladesh nursing and midwifery council: background. retrieved from http://www.bnmc.gov.bd/background.htm bourdieu, p. (2002). masculine domination. standford: standford university press. chinn, p. l. & kramer, m. k. (2015). knowledge development in nursing. theory and process 9th ed., st. louis: elsevier. crenshaw, k. (1989). demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: a black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine. feminist theory and antiracist politics. u. chi. legal f.139. foucault, m. (1977). power/knowledge. selected interviews and other writings 1972-1977 (michel foucault c. gordon, ed.). new york: pantheon books. giddens, a. (1979). central problems in social theory. action, structure and contradiction in social analysis. london: the macmillan press limited. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16161-4 giddens, a. (2009). stratification and social class. in sociology (pp. 429-474). cambridge: polity press. giddens, a. (1984). the constitution of society. outline of the theory of structuration. oxford: polity press. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 30 published by scholink inc. leppard, m. (2000). obstetric care in a bangladeshi district hospital: an organizational ethnography. london: university of london. menéndez, e. l. (1984). the hegemonic medical model: transactions and alternatives towards a theoretical foundation of the self-care model in health. archive of ethnographica de catalunya, 3, 85-119. menéndez, e. l. (2003). models of care for diseases: from theoretical exclusions to practical articulations. science & collective health, 8(1), 185-207. ortner, s. b. (2006). anthropology and social theory. culture, power and the acting subject. london. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11hppcg poggie, j. (1972). toward quality control in key informant data. human organization, 31(1), 23-30. https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.31.1.6k6346820382578r romney, a. k., weller, s. c., & batchelder, w. h. (1986). culture as consensus: a theory of culture and informant accuracy. american anthropologist, 88(2), 313-338. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1986.88.2.02a00020 uddin, m. t., islam, m. t., & ullah, m. o. (2006). a study on the quality of nurses of the government hospitals in bangladesh. pakistan academy of sciences, 43(2), 121-129. world health organization. (2010). strengthened health system: nursing and midwifery. retrieved from http://www.ban.searo.who.int/en/section3/section41/section98.htm zaman, s. (2005). broken limbs, broken lives. ethnography of a hospital ward in bangladesh, amsterdam: het spinhuis. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 11 original paper devouring time: a study of the narrative time in jennifer egan’s a visit from the goon squad ling wang1* 1 school of foreign languages, jinan university, guangzhou, china *ling wang, email: naturallyfollow@126.com received: march 11, 2023 accepted: march 28, 2023 online published: april 11, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p11 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p11 abstract jennifer egan’s pulitzer-prize-winning novel a visit from the goon squad conceives of time as a brutalizing force which ravages characters who wonder where time went. the novel calls attention to readers’ own experience of time passing. order, duration, frequency; time passed and time regained; time’s forward march and memory’s backward loops: these are the recurring preoccupations of this novel. however, most academic researches focus on the author’s interviews, thematic analysis, and the novel’s postmodernist characteristics etc. based on gérard genette’s theory of the narrative time, this article studies how egan demonstrates the theme of the “passage of time” in her writing through a deliberate arrangement of the narrative time. keywords jennifer egan, a visit from the goon squad, narrative time, passage of time 1. introduction there have appeared unprecedented changes in the u.s. foreign and domestic policy in the wake of international terrorist attacks, especially the september 11 attacks in 2001. jennifer egan’s pulitzer-prizewinning novel a visit from the goon squad is just concerned with the human life in the 50 years of u.s. history from the 1970s bay area punk scene to the 2020s new york city. the novel dramatizes the battle with time undertaken by youth. it conceives of time as a brutalizing force which ravages characters who wonder where time went. many characters work in the youth-obsessed music industry that imparts a concern with time and aging to them. time is central to this novel. meanwhile, this novel has posed some challenges for its unusual form. the thirteen chapters are organized into an aand a b-side, by which egan pays homage to the “old-fashioned” form of cd. each chapter focalizes around one different character in a non-chronological order. egan’s innovative use of narrative perspectives, manipulation of mailto:naturallyfollow@126.com www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 12 published by scholink inc. narrative time and other postmodernist techniques render this novel resonant with an authentic human experience, which encourages readers to piece together various stories, sketches, and vignettes into a cohesive account of events. at the current stage, most academic researches focus on the author’s interviews, thematic analysis like anxiety and trauma, and postmodernist techniques etc. narratology is also an important perspective to interpret the novel. although some scholars have discussed its narrative space and narrative strategies, the narrative time of the novel hasn’t received much critical attention. in fact, it is through the exquisite combination of the narrative order, narrative duration and narrative frequency that the theme of the “passage of time” can be distinctly demonstrated. shakespeare writes in sonnet xix that “devouring time, blunt thou the lion’s paws, and make the earth devour her own sweet brood.” responding to shakespeare’s call, egan turns the “goon” in the novel into a metaphor for the “devouring” time. the novel shows that sasha, bennie (sasha’s former employer) and people related to them ultimately achieve the justice or redemption in their fight with time. this article will study the life transformation with time from the narrative order, the irreversibility of time from the narrative duration, and the erosion by time from the narrative frequency in the novel based on gérard genette’s theory of the narrative time, which may contribute to readers’ appreciation of the passage of time as an eternal concern for human beings. 2. narrative order: transformation with time according to genette, “narrative is a […] doubly temporal sequence […]: there is the time of the thing told and the time of the narrative” (genette, p. 33). the temporal duality is emphasized, which are the opposition between the story time and narrative time. in traditional novels, the narrative time is congruent with the story time. however, egan applies a non-chronological narrative order or narrative anachrony to emphasize the overwhelming power of time. genette defines the narrative anachrony as “the various types of discordance between the two orderings of story and narrative” (genette, p. 36). it can be classified into two kinds: prolepsis and analepsis. “in such a case the chronological chaos is often still quite meaningful” (bal, p. 81). this narrative strategy breaks the limitation of the traditional linear narratives and shifts between the past, present and future. “it is in the phenomenon of intervention that our powers of action are linked to the world order” (ricoeur, p. 177). the life transformation of sasha can be displayed clearly by the following flowchart, and is perfectly presented by the switching of analepsis and prolepsis within the novel. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 13 published by scholink inc. figure 1. narrative order in sasha’s plotline egan has made an extensive use of analepsis in the novel. analepsis refers to “any evocation after the fact of an event that took place earlier than the point in the story where we are at any given moment” (genette, p. 40). in this novel, the analepsis is presented by the stream of consciousness of characters. sasha is first introduced to readers in “found objects,” the first chapter of the book. she is now in her thirties and working for bennie salazar as his assistant. when working for bennie, sasha suffers from kleptomania due to her tumultuous childhood, which is why she is seeing a therapist. this mental illness is also the reason why bennie eventually has to fire her. the chapter starts from sasha’s once stealing of a purse in a luxury hotel of new york. she spies an open handbag left on the floor of the lavatory while its owner is absent, so she steals the “fat, tender wallet” (p. 3). along with the flow of sasha’s consciousness, the hotel scene soon changes to sasha’s therapist’s office where she is undergoing a psychotherapy. it is at this office that she recounts having stolen a wallet from the bathroom of a hotel bar. egan gives readers a list of “the things she’d lifted over the past year”: “five sets of keys, fourteen pairs of sunglasses, a child’s striped scarf” (p. 4). it is clear that sasha does not steal things either for the sake of “use” or “exchange value.” moreover, in telling her story, sasha self-consciously frames her experience in terms of a novelistic narrative process: “she and coz were collaborators, writing a story whose ending had already been determined: she would get well” (p. 6). after hearing this event, coz, sasha’s therapist, brings up the “plumber” story that happened a month ago. when a plumber came to her house to fix the bathtub, sasha “saw the plumber’s tool belt lying on the floor at her feet” (p. 7). there was “a beautiful screwdriver in it.” she felt an impulse to “hold the screwdriver,” so she “plucked it noiselessly from the belt” (p. 8). but the screwdriver quickly loses its magical glow, and looks “normal,” “not special anymore” once the plumber leaves. this makes sasha feel especially guilty for stealing from that plumber. the chapter ends with sasha and coz “in silence, the longest silence that had ever passed between them” (p. 18) at the therapist office. a successful story should not be static and would require forward movements, “turning points” and “change.” “it was a turning point; everything feels different now […] or just i’m changing i’m changing i’m changing: i’ve changed!” (p. 18) marks the difficulty of locating that “turning point” when “change” occurs. sasha’s disclosure of the past experience seems to hint not yet at “progress” or “change” but at a self-acceptance www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 14 published by scholink inc. on her part that may be the prelude to the eventual change. the use of analepsis “brings us back from within-time-ness to historicality, from ‘reckoning with’ time to ‘recollecting’ it” (ricoeur, p. 178). sasha’s thefts can be interpreted as attempts to stop time because the objects she steals seem to operate, if following the logic of the art object, as shakespeare’s sonnets that resist time passing. she resembles a writer who attempts to memorialize, to symbolize, and to represent her experience in some lasting form. “the primary direction of care is toward the future” (ricoeur, p. 181). prolepsis “consists of narrating or evoking in advance an event that will take place later” (genette, p. 40), which forms a sharp contrast between the present and future. this technique is used effectively in chapter 11, “good-bye, my love,” in which characters’ future life is predicted by prolepsis. the narration firstly shifts into sasha’s adolescence with analepsis, and then characters emerge as important players in the larger scheme of the narrative with prolepsis. sasha’s uncle ted, an art professor, travels to naples on a mission to find and retrieve the college-aged sasha, who has run away with a drummer of a punk band and ended up in italy. the narrator takes on several different identities through a shifting, omniscient point of view. couldn’t find sasha, ted instead visits “the ruins of pompeii, observing early roman wall paintings and small, prone bodies scattered like easter eggs among the columned courtyard” (p. 208). he seems drawn to pompeii in part as a vivid and extreme instance of art and culture as, in effect, representation of the past life. when he explores the streets of naples, ted observes that “soiled, forgotten coats of arms were carved above their massive doorways, and these unsettled ted” (p. 215). these “forgotten coats of arms” are evidences of the frightening power of time that evacuates human symbols of meaning and value. the flowing of time and history are impossible to resist, but individuals can record personal and public history through artistic works. when he finds sasha in naples, she appears to ted as “a girl whose feathery bones did not quite heal” (p. 217). ted notices that her forearms “were scarred and scuffed like furniture” (p. 225). although ted draws the obvious conclusion that she has attempted suicide, the scars suggest that this young body has been heavily “imprinted” by time and experience in a broader sense. scarring can be seen as a radical version of the usual “imprinting” of experience on bodies. time’s passing sometimes represents a painful and even traumatic experience. ted tries to persuade sasha to go home, but sasha doesn’t answer him, only looking at the sun. prolepsis helps to predict the outcomes of individual behavior to give a glimpse of their future. the narration jumps from here to the life of twenty years later. sasha will marry her college boyfriend drew and have two children. she will settle in the desert area of california. on the other hand, ted will get a divorce due to his loss of feelings for his wife. ted’s wife, susan, once declared to him, “let’s make sure it’s always like this” (p. 231), which is certainly an impossible wish. after so many twists and turns, sasha will finally be able to get her life back on track and enjoy the happiness of a family union. ted, too, will lead an idle life after the divorce. they both have struggled with the insight that time speeds everything toward decay and loss. in other words, time is capable of transforming everyone’s life. egan has deliberately disrupted time to convey that the elapse of time is unstoppable. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 15 published by scholink inc. 3. narrative duration: irreversibility of time chatman points out that “duration concerns the relation of the time it takes to read out the narrative to the time the story-events themselves lasted” (chatman, p. 67). he has summed up four basic forms of narrative duration: pause, scene, summary and ellipsis. he believes that “a narrative cannot do without anisochronies,” which can produce “effects of rhythm” (chatman, p. 88). what makes this novel fascinating is that egan is adept at modifying the novel’s rhythm with these four forms. they are employed to control the tempo of the plot. and “a plot establishes human action not only within time, but within memory. memory, accordingly, repeats the course of events according to an order that is the counterpart of time as stretching along between a beginning and an end” (ricoeur, p. 180). mieke bal holds that the pause means “all narrative sections in which no movement of the fabula-time is implied” (bal, p. 108). genette, too, thinks that pauses are “not connected to a particular moment in the story […] and consequently cannot in any way contribute to slowing down the narrative but, indeed, the reverse” (genette, p. 99). it exhibits a new way of experiencing time passing, and indicates that time persists without the exact space. one instance of pause is in the twelfth story, “great rock and roll pauses,” in which pauses recur in the rock music. this chapter is completely composed of powerpoint slides created by sasha’s twelve-year-old daughter, alison, in the near future. it shows that traditional forms of prose fiction may adapt to the twenty-first-century technologies. in telling an idiosyncratic yet touching family story, the banal corporate software is endowed with creativity and humanity. egan seeks to “locate artistic potential in the very ‘blankness’ of today’s digital world” (moling, p. 65). alison records her autistic brother, lincoln’s obsession with intentional gaps of silence within pop recordings. she explains that “right now, he’s obsessed with rock songs that have pauses in them” (p. 243); “a ‘full rest’ is four beats long, a ‘half rest’ is two beats.” (p. 243). in a slide entitled “songs with lincoln’s comments,” alison transcribes lincoln’s commentary on several pauses from classic rock and pop between the 1960s and 1970s. for example, regarding david bowie’s song “young americans,” which features a very short pause, lincoln thinks that “it would’ve been so easy to draw out the pause after ‘… break down and cry …’ to a full second, or 2, or even 3, but bowie must’ve chickened out for some reason” (p. 244). the attempt to understand why bowie doesn’t prolong the pause points towards egan’s assessment of rock music’s potential and limitations on immortality. by looping pauses in songs, lincoln tries to step outside the arc of time. his hobby of recording and commenting on these “great rock and roll pauses” also offers a window into the psychological dynamics of the family as a whole. alison and sasha have displayed an affectionate patience toward it, but sasha’s husband drew has trouble understanding lincoln and cannot make sense of those pauses. only after listening to sasha’s explanation does he come to accept the “haunting power” of pauses. for lincoln, pauses in songs are more important than songs. the pauses are in fact a kind of creation, as well as an invitation to a listener or a reader, from which one’s own perceptions are projected. this merit in turn allows alison to respond with her own interpretation. she views the natural surroundings of their home in the california deserts as a pause. egan thus aligns the great rock and roll pauses with the desert, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 16 published by scholink inc. which is a vast and never-ending void. “the whole desert is a pause” (p. 287) offers an enlightening insight into the natural world, implying that pauses can be understood not only as “nothing,” but as a space that calls for creativity and imagination. the concept of a “pause” broadens from a trivial element in the pop music to a much more widely resonant figure for art. a pause is the aesthetic representation of the passage of time, which further embodies the emptiness of human life. the implication is that just as the looped pauses cannot evoke the desire to “break down and cry,” time possesses a fundamentally tragic power to hollow out meaning and make human passions difficult to maintain. “the scene is the incorporation of the dramatic principle into narrative” (chatman, p. 72). “in a scene the duration of the fabula and that of the story are roughly the same” (bal, p. 105). moreover, “the socalled ‘dramatic climaxes,’ events which have a strong influence on the course of the fabula—the turning points, moments at which a situation changes, a line is broken, such events are presented extensively in scenes” (bal, p. 104). many profound scenes are described in this novel, revealed by dialogues and actions of characters. the author remains detached in order to let characters speak for themselves in these scenes. one crucial scene is in chapter 10 “out of body.” instead of the familiar third-person narration, a direct second-person narration is employed. rob, sasha’s university friend, is the narrator of this chapter, who speaks as “you.” readers are easily to be skeptical about the fidelity of this narrator. it is a narrative technique from the “unreliable narrator” proposed by wayne c. booth. “your friends are pretending to be all kinds of stuff, and your special job is to call them on it” (p. 186). rob is a sophomore of new york university, who has a suicidal tendency. he and sasha have been best friends since the first day at nyu, so sasha has told rob everything from her childhood and adulthood. nonetheless, sasha’s revealing of her past to rob has its negative side. fearing that sasha is “starting to forget, begin over again as the person she is to drew” (p. 197), rob attempts to divulge sasha’s secrets to her boyfriend drew. “you don’t really know her,” rob says. “she was a hooker. a hooker and a thief—that’s how she survived in naples” (p. 204). rob knows that to begin anew, sasha has to abandon her past, which would remove the little control he has over her. “why couldn’t you do that for sasha? who’s going to do it for you?” (p. 197). when drew threatens to tell sasha about rob’s betrayal, sharp conflicts break out between them. rob is “seized by a wild conviction that containing drew will seal off the damage you’ve done” (p. 205). this scene truthfully shows rob’s complex feelings for his best friend, sasha, and her boyfriend, drew. on the one hand, rob and sasha are close friends because they both have a miserable past. however, sasha is able to start all over again and begin a new relationship, which make rob very envious. on the other hand, he is tortured by his desire for drew’s masculine body. he wants to live with drew “in that cabin” (p. 204) like brothers. these paradoxical emotions impel him to speak ill of sasha, and it turns out to be a turning point of his short life. regretful and painful for this misbehavior, rob impulsively jumps into a river and is drowned. in genette’s opinion, summary and ellipsis are capable of accelerating the speed of the narrative. as it is impossible to cover every detail of various events, the less important events may be summarized briefly or omitted to make room for more important ones. though “insignificant events-insignificant in the sense www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 17 published by scholink inc. that they do not greatly influence the course of the fabula-are quickly summarized,” “that which has been omitted-the contents of the ellipsis […] may have been so painful that it is being elided for precisely that reason” (bal, p. 103). we first learned of bennie as one of the protagonists in chapter 2, “the gold cure.” he is a successful middle-aged musician and owns a record company. sasha works as his assistant at this period. bennie so desperately wishes to regain his bodily vitality that he squanders thousands of dollars to buy eatable gold flakes. like his body, the music he loves also becomes obsolete because of the progression of time. this chapter criticizes a complicated set of forces that convert music recordings into digital data. sitting in a record studio, bennie listens for realness in old recordings that have been discarded by producers like him who prefer to chase the perfect sound. “nowadays that quality (if it existed at all) was usually an effect of analogue signaling rather than bona fide tape—everything was an effect in the bloodless constructions” (p. 22). bennie views pop music as having been devitalized, and he grieves for the lost musical authenticity. in the final chapter, the novel brings readers to the futuristic new york city where people are more consumed with their digital handsets than with one another. bennie is now nearly sixty years old, and has been kicked out by his own company. despite his effort to produce music again, none of music records are sold. nonetheless, bennie manages to remarry and take up his old trade again. his past life experience from the wreckage of his first marriage to the later business failure is not described in detail, but summarized and omitted into brief sentences. bennie’s story is a story about the irreversibility of time. memory persists but time moves forward. 4. narrative frequency: erosion by time “an event is not only capable of happening; it can also happen again, or be repeated: the sun rises every day” (genette, p. 113). genette defines the narrative frequency as “the relations of frequency (or of repetition) between the narrative and the diegesis.” four types of relations of frequency are classified: narrating once what happened once (singulative narrative); narrating n times what happened n times (reduced to the previous type); narrating n times what happened once (repeating narrative); narrating one time what happened n times (iterative narrative). among them, the repeating narrative is applied by egan to foreground some basic facts, especially “time’s a goon.” “a story entirely constructed of such singular presentations would create a highly peculiar and ragged effect” (bal, p. 112). “through repetition, the character of time as stretching-along is rooted in the deep unity of time as future, past, and present; the backward move toward the past is retrieved in the anticipation of a project, and the endlessness of historical time is grafted on the finite structure of being-toward-death” (ricoeur, p. 182). the phrase “time’s a goon” is repeated twice in the novel. according to the oxford english dictionary, the word “goon” refers to “a silly, foolish, or eccentric person,” or “a bully or thug, especially a member of an armed or security force.” in the novel, it functions as a central metaphor. egan has discussed the book’s title in an interview: “time is the stealth goon, the one you ignore because you are so busy worrying about the goons right in front of you.” what the writer means is the way that time strips many www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 18 published by scholink inc. of the novel’s characters of their youth and success. this phrase is firstly commented by bosco in chapter 7, “a to b.” bosco, a former rock star, is visited at home by his publicist stephanie (bennie’s first wife) and her brother jules. he is proposing a concept album based on the fact of his own decline. in parallel with bennie’s previous encounter with his high school classmate and bandmate scotty, bosco asks, “the album’s called a to b, right?” he wonders “how did i go from being a rock star to being a fat fuck no one cares about” (p. 127). to enhance his point, bosco then remarks, “time’s a goon, right?” this remark echoes with egan’s viewpoint above. to bosco, the thuggery of time is too harsh as he has lived most of his adult life as an icon of youthful energy, but his residual public image being cruelly at odds with what he has actually become. the personification of time as a threateningly violent “goon” is one marker of the common preoccupation with the erosive effects of time. the title phrase recurs in the final chapter, “pure language” when bennie says to scotty (another washedup rock musician), “time’s a goon, right? you gonna let that goon push you around?” scotty replies: “the goon won” (p. 333). the pathos of aging extends to the rock culture. bennie organizes an open-air concert at the former site of the twin towers where the september 11 attacks have taken place. he tries to persuade his old bandmate scotty to perform in front of the audience. by situating the concert at the 9/11 memorial site, egan makes it clear that perhaps art still can rival terrorism as a force of redemption in a fractured society. as a result, scotty’s music that combines the strength, honesty, and purity of purpose unites the crowd for “a swell of approval palpable as rain lifted from the center of the crowd and rolled out toward its edges” (p. 335). the obsolete punk music played at the concert sings a triumphant song for the healing of past grieves and woes. the success of the concert proves that the passage of time can be as glamorous and pure as youth. the french philosopher levinas believes that “time is not a succession of instants filing by before an i, but the response to the hope for the present, which in the present is the very expression of the ‘i,’ and is itself equivalent to the present […] to understand the mystery of the work of time, we should start with the hope for the present, taken as a primary fact. hope hopes for the present itself” (levinas, p. 92). “the reverse of a repetition is an iterative presentation: a whole series of identical events is presented at once” (bal, p. 112). the sixth chapter of the novel, “x’s and o’s” offers an instance. the narrator, scotty, was bennie’s classmate in high school. he used to be a talented guitarist, but now ends up as a janitor in an elementary school. “history is the mediating structure between temporality and within-time-ness” (ricoeur, p. 181). scotty meets bennie again after twenty years when he comes across an article about bennie’s thriving career on a magazine, and decides to send bennie a note. scotty often goes to the east river early in the morning to fish. although the river has been polluted, he still “did this all the time,” and “ate the fish, too” (p. 94). before he visits bennie’s office, scotty went fishing again. meanwhile, he takes beans for dinner every day. “i began each night by ordering hunan string beans and washing them down with jagermeister. it was amazing how many string beans i could eat: four orders, five orders, more sometimes” (p. 96). in contrast, bennie is described by scotty as being “trim,” “fit,” and wearing “expensive shirts” (p. 98). the novel is compact and readable because of the iterative narrative. it www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 19 published by scholink inc. produces an ironic effect for revealing scotty’s struggles and frustrations. actually, no one is immune to the erosion of time, even the outwardly successful bennie. “there time is the renewal of the subject, but this renewal does not banish tedium; it does not free the ego from its shadow” (levinas, p. 92). when bennie asks scotty what inspired him to reconnect, scotty replies, “i want to know what happened between a and b […] a is when we were both in the band, chasing the same girl. b is now” (p. 101). he is very much like a novel’s reader, eager to track and accept the passing of time and its effects. the novel is written as a finely tuned instrument for the “tracking” of the varying life paths of individuals, with a special interest in the moments when——sometimes only in retrospect——one can see how tiny decisions, or turning points can make one person a “loser” and the other, from a similar background and with no great talents, a great success. fiction enables readers to observe interrelated lives and careers in order to find out how and why humans took the paths they did. while history is conceived as a progression, it is also seen as a cycle of which the audience is the end, as the last page indicates, the beginning as well. scotty’s momentous concert at the end of the novel takes readers a step closer toward an inevitable finality, but, at the same time, it offers the sense of a new beginning. 5. conclusion a visit from the goon squad reveals the anxiety and powerlessness of human beings who cannot control their fate in the long river of time, which exhibits the author’s profound concern about time and life. the french philosopher paul ricoeur asserts that the relationship between narrativity and temporality is reciprocal. narrative time is intimately connected to the human experience of time for in the world time itself is given. it provides a basic structure for the narrative, and the whole novel operates as a finely adjusted device for measuring time and assessing its effects. human experience is temporalized by the novel, and characters are often stunned by the passage of time, feeling unprepared for it. the tension is between the inexorable passage of time and the leaping, stuttering quality of consciousness. “yet do thy worst, old time!” in order to assert men’s power to defeat time and achieve some kind of immortality, characters have endeavored to thrive in the “devouring time” and finally succeeded in living a meaningful life. “the alternation of effort with leisure, when we enjoy the fruit of efforts, makes up the time of the world” (levinas 90). hence “despite thy wrong, my love shall in my verse ever live young.” references bal, m. (1997). narratology introduction to the theory of narrative. toronto: university of toronto press. chatman, s. (1978). story and discourse. new york: cornell university press. cheney, p. (2007). the cambridge companion to shakespeare’s poetry. cambridge: cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/ccol0521846277 egan, j. (2010). a visit from the goon squad. new york: anchor books. https://doi.org/10.1017/ccol0521846277 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 20 published by scholink inc. genette, g. (1979). narrative discourse. new york: cornell university press. horne, c. (2019). closing the gap: narrative control and temporal instability in jennifer egan’s a visit from the goon squad. the albatross, 9, 56-65. humann, h. (2017). nachträglichkeit and “narrative time” in jennifer egan’s a visit from the goon squad. pennsylvania literary journal, 9, 85-127. kreilkamp, i. (2021). a visit from the goon squad reread. new york: columbia university press. https://doi.org/10.7312/krei18710 levinas, e. (1978). existence and existents. netherlands: the hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94017-1516-4 moorey, g. (2012). aging, death, and revival: representations of the music industry in two contemporary novels. popular music and society, 37, 65-84. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2012.726036 moling, m. (2016). no future: time, punk rock and jennifer egan’s a visit from the goon squad.” arizona quarterly, 72(1), 51-77. https://doi.org/10.1353/arq.2016.0000 qian, c., & sufen, w. (2020). (im)possible forgiveness: a study of the narrative time in jeanette winterson’s the gap of time. foreign literature, 3(3), 51-59. https://doi.org/10.16430/j.cnki.fl.2020.03.006 ricoeur, p. (1980). narrative time. critical inquiry, 7(1), 169-190. https://doi.org/10.1086/448093 strong, m. (2015). found time: kairos in a visit from the goon squad. critique, 59(4), 471-480. https://doi.org/10.1080/00111619.2018.1427544 https://doi.org/10.7312/krei18710 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1516-4 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1516-4 https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2012.726036 https://doi.org/10.1353/arq.2016.0000 https://doi.org/10.1086/448093 https://doi.org/10.1080/00111619.2018.1427544 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper the effectiveness of innovation and entrepreneurship education in china chen yu1 1 school of business, zhejiang gongshang university, hangzhou, china received: april 1, 2022 accepted: may 2, 2022 online published: june 16, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n2p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n2p1 abstract purpose—the purpose of this paper is to trace the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in china, and to evaluate its effectiveness and limitations. design/methodology/approach—primary data are collected to reveal students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the innovation and entrepreneurship teaching and their knowledge about innovation and entrepreneurship. findings—the results show that innovation and entrepreneurship education in china is not matching students’ skill expectations with skill acquisition. the findings also indicate that students have a low assessment of their ability to innovate. research limitations/implications—the paper only concerns students’ perceptions towards the effectiveness of innovation education. results from this paper are limited in terms of their ability to demonstrate “actual” outcomes of innovation education. practical implications—the paper provides an important exploratory analysis of the state of innovation education in china to enable further research to be taken in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship education. the findings provide valuable insight on effective teaching methodologies in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship education. originality/value—the paper provide a basis to improve the effectiveness of innovation and entrepreneurship education in china. keywords innovation and entrepreneurship education, skills, china www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 2 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction entrepreneurship has become important driving force to the successful innovation and economic development of the countries in the world and also a symbol of one country’ the economic vitality and core competitiveness. on may 13, 2015, the general office of the state council issued and put forward the opinions on deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning. the strategic goal of the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities in china by 2020 has also defined nine tasks to achieve the strategic goal. the state’s emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship education is not only a reflection of the new stage of higher education reform and development, but also a reflection of china’s economic transformation urgent need for creative talents. under such an opportunity, innovation education in chinese colleges and universities ushered in the peak stage of development. innovation basic courses were gradually included. in the compulsory courses of undergraduate colleges and universities, more and more colleges and universities begin to set up substantive innovation education teaching and management institutions and innovation education. education is gradually integrated with the mode of talent training in colleges and universities, and the theoretical research on innovation education shows a rapid growth trend. college students in their 20s are in the stage of rapid physical and mental development. most of them have active thinking and strong thirst for knowledge. they are initially equipped with independent thinking, but their ability to find and solve problems needs to be improved. at this time, participating in innovative education can provide them with good preparation for the future work. indeed, innovation is the soul of a nation’s progress, the inexhaustible source of a country’ s prosperity and the deepest national endowment. young people, especially undergraduate students are the most dynamic and creative group in society, and they should take the lead in innovation and creation. young people must have the courage to innovate and create. on the other hand, undergraduate students are products of universities. upon graduation, they become the source of manpower for developing the country’s economy. in the era of powerful science and technology, cultivating students’ innovative quality is one of the core goals of university education. even, colleges and universities innovation and entrepreneurship education is becoming more of a “business incubator” for future entrepreneurship. undergraduate students are also the future mainstream of labor markets, employers are now paying more and more attention to employees’ initiative, risk-taking spirit, pioneering spirit, independent working ability, technical ability, social ability and management ability, as well as professional achievement. the exploratory nature of this research not only provides a platform for further research in the field of innovative education, but also provides valuable insights into innovative education for universities in china and even in other countries, the study is divided into five parts. the next section explores what innovation and entrepreneurship education is, then discus the research methodology and highlights is related to the nature of the survey tools and data sets. in the following part, the research results are www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 3 published by scholink inc. analyzed in detail and the key research are discussed, which are related to the effectiveness of innovation and entrepreneurship education and the understanding of innovation among chinese undergraduated students, while the last section concludes the study. 2. a review on innovation and entrepreneurship education schumpeter (1911) defined entrepreneurship as a person who breaks the existing economic order, creates and benefits from new structures by introducing new products and services, or by creating new organizational forms, or by developing new raw materials. hamilton and harper (1994), argued that entrepreneurs are people who take certain risks in order to take advantage of inventions. thompson (1999) thought entrepreneurs are people who can identify opportunities and take advantage of new business opportunities. there appears to be reasonable consensus that entrepreneurs are highly innovative people who can make a significant contribution to the economy and entrepreneurs are those who have a unique intuition, mindset, inspiration or vision, the ability, willingness and ability to conceptualize ideas and implement a business plans, and see change as an opportunity to create value. in fact, there are fewer entrepreneurial people in the population. but in china recently, the employment situation of college students is very severe, which also requires college students to have more ways to find jobs. more than a decade, chinese universities set off a wave of innovation and entrepreneurship education. entrepreneurship education, broadly speaking, seeks to cultivate pioneering individuals. there is a close relationship between one nation’s development of economy and the level and type of entrepreneurial venture (jun, 2007). however, the success rate of chinese college students in starting their own business is very low. even some researchers argued that the key to becoming an entrepreneur is personality, an innate trait that can not be trained. therefore, it is impossible to teach people to be entrepreneurs. innovation and entrepreneurship education needs a different teaching pedagogy in which innovation education is linked to work-related learning (dwerryhouse, 2001), experiential learning (kolb, 1984), action-learning (smith, 2001) and entrepreneurial training (gibb, 1999). just as kirby (2002) emphasised that innovation and entrepreneurial education is different to “traditional” management studies as the latter may impede the development of the necessary entrepreneurial quality and skills. entrepreneurship was first taught at harvard business school in 1947, entrepreneurship has been taught in colleges and universities around the world. the first reason is that colleges and universities hope to open exhibition entrepreneurship education cultivates students’ knowledge, skills and understanding of entrepreneurship with the right attitude, maybe more students can start their own businesses after graduation and create jobs, thereby better fulfilling their responsibility for social and economic development. there are still many theoretical and practical challenges on whether innovation and entrepreneurship education has really achieved the desired effect and how to evaluate the effect of innovation entrepreneurship education. menzies, t. and paradi, j. (2003) looked career path, business www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 4 published by scholink inc. start-ups, ownership, performance and satisfaction with their entrepreneurship education are examined as effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. cheng, m. y. (2009) indicated the entrepreneurial education programmes conducted in malaysia fail to create an impact to influence students to take up entrepreneurial challenges. in india, most of the entrepreneurship that has taken place tends to be born out of necessity than opportunity (koster & rai, 2008). from the findings above, the key to becoming an entrepreneur is personality, an innate trait that can not be trained. therefore, it is impossible to teach people to be entrepreneurs. in contrast, previous studies have shown that innovation education does play an important role in fostering entrepreneurship among students (ronstadt, 1987; katz, 2003; solomon et al., 2002; robinson & hayes, 1991; sexton & upton, 1984). souitaris et al. (2007) concluded that an effective entrepreneurship programme was defined as one which is able to influence entrepreneurial intentions. kolvereid and moen (1997) noted that students who took entrepreneurship courses were more likely than other students to face the challenges of starting a business and were more interested in starting a business. webb et al. (1982) argued that students who participated in an entrepreneurship programme were more likely to start their own business than other students who did not participate in an entrepreneurship programme. shrivastava, u., acharya, s. r. (2020) focused on disadvantaged students in their final year of graduation. they found willingness of disadvantaged students to study entrepreneurship as a vocational course is highly driven by their family background followed by self-efficacy and need for achievement. the results further strengthen the theory of planned behavior and has implications for educators of entrepreneurship and a possibility of a widening of entrepreneurship education in disadvantaged community. ibrahim and soufani (2002) believed innovation education plays a critical role in identifying and shaping the characteristics of entrepreneurs. other studies have pointed out that innovation education, especially education that provides technological training, is crucial to enhance entrepreneurs’ innovation skills in an increasingly challenging environment (clarke, 1990; menzies & paradi, 2003). creativity is the foundation of entrepreneurship, david tanner (1992) pointed out creativity is not as vague as some people think, and even those who do not think of themselves as creative can be educated and applied in everyday innovation. colleges and universities, as the main battleground of talent cultivation, are the important support for the development of national innovative economy. colleges and universities should combine their disciplinary advantages and talents training advantages to continuously innovate the upgraded version of education, running through the whole process of cultivating talents in high-level innovative and pioneering education to improve the quality of talents cultivation. zhejiang gongshang university, like other comprehensive universities in china, has launched innovation and entrepreneurship education since 2014, there are also entrepreneurship courses for some students who wish to start their own business, such as entrepreneurship practice, visiting entrepreneurs, and taking part in entrepreneurship competitions, as well as entrepreneurship courses for all undergraduate students, the main purpose is to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 5 published by scholink inc. carry out entrepreneurial education activities by means of laboratory simulation which simulates the operation of market. the main objective of this paper is to evaluate the current situation and effectiveness of zhejiang gongshang university as a representative of innovation and entrepreneurship education in china. 3. methodology the sample consists of 209 undergraduate students and 35 post undergraduate students (110 females and 99 males) between 19 and 21 years (mean = 20.34 and standard deviation = 0.84). participants administered a self-administered questionnaire on line that stated the purpose of the research. they answered questions regarding age, majors, gender and so on. the questionnaire responses also offered insight into students’ knowledge of entrepreneurship. all participants spoke chinese as their first language and were recruited from zhejiang gongshang university. some of them served as a leader in student union (20%, n = 41). the distribution of respondents in terms of their majors and specialisations is business and management, art, computer science, information technology, finance, economics, and signals a vocational predisposition towards following entrepreneurship activities. researchers at zhejiang gongshang university developed a on-line survey to examine the current state of innovation and entrepreneurship education in china and to evaluate the extent and breadth of innovation and entrepreneurship education methods and course offerings during the 2019-2022 academic year. 4. findings and discussion 4.1 demographic information of the 209 respondents selected from zhejiang gongshang universities, five departments in the university, 9.4 percent are currently pursuing their studies at master business and administration degree level, while the remainder are undergraduate students. figure 1 shows the distribution of respondents in terms of their majors and specialisations. the dominant major/specialisation is that of business and management and signals a vocational predisposition towards following innovation and entrepreneurial activities. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 6 published by scholink inc. figure 1. major or specialisation of the sample a total of 90.6 per cent of the respondents are full-time undergraduate students while only 9.4 per cent are part-time students, mba students. this indicates that a minority of the respondents are currently employed or involved in a full-time occupation. a total of 96.3 per cent of the respondents said they had no experience of running their own business. for those with full-time working experience, 39.9 per cent worked for between two and three years, 21.8 per cent worked between three and four years, 24.6 per cent worked between four and five years, and 13.7 per cent worked more than five years. the respondents in the sample had very little or no prior exposure to work or entrepreneurship activities. the sample thus enables us to examine the effectiveness of formal innovation and entrepreneurship education conducted in the selected higher education institutions as these respondents had very little knowledge of entrepreneurship prior to taking entrepreneurship courses in these institutions. 4.2 effectiveness of innovation and entrepreurship education in china we surveyed students’ evaluations of the entrepreneurship program , as shown in figure 2, overall 34.5 per cent of the respondents said that the innovation and entrepreneurship programmes conducted were excellent, 44.3 per cent considered them as good, 17.7 per cent said the programmes were fair, and 3.5 per cent said poor. 13.5 11.2 6.8 2.7 22.7 33.7 9.4 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 accounting finance arts and design engineering it and computing business and management mba www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 7 published by scholink inc. figure 2. students’ evaluations of the entrepreneurship program ask the students further if the entrepreneurship program has boosted their willingness to start a business. there are very few students answered “yes”. it seems to students think good of the innovation and entrepreneurship course, but why did not they be motivated to start a business? students generally agreed that the course had broadened their horizons, that the content was fascinating and that they had learned a lot about innovation and entrepreneurship. however, they feel that starting a company is not enough to master entrepreneurial knowledge. they feel that they also need a sense of adventure, an accurate forecast of market demand, and so on, which they think they can not possess. moreover, this kind of game type curriculum also is impossible to cultivate this kind of quality truly. the negative sentiment regarding the entrepreneurship courses among students centered around comments such as: lecturers lack necessary skills and experience to teach the subject; a focus that was too exam oriented; a narrow concentration on entrepreneurship theory; and the simulation market does not agree with the practice. figure 3 shows the various entrepreneurship teaching methods used by the entrepreneurship college in zhejiang gongshang university, but the percentage of students who have access to these teaching methods is not very high, and some do not enroll themselves to study at the college, some did not have the opportunity to study because of the limited number of places. for those students who do not attend entrepreneurship colleges, there are really limited ways to learn about entrepreneurship. 34.5 44.3 17.7 3.5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 excellent good fair poor www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 8 published by scholink inc. figure 3. teaching methods in entrepreneurship courses note. students could select multiple responses based on respondents’ feedback, the most commonly used methods/modes of delivery in teaching entrepreneurship in the selected departments are (84.4 per cent) are lectures and business simulations. less traditional, but more interactive methods, such as case studies, invited guest speakers and interaction with successful entrepreneurs were much less employed for majority undergraduate students. respondents were pessimistic about whether they thought they had entrepreneurial qualities, with the vast majority saying they lacked entrepreneurial qualities. they think that the entrepreneurial spirit of adventure, team motivation and other qualities, they lack, they do not think that after entrepreneip couser to learn, can obtain entrepreneurial ability. this belief may lead to the view that teaching people to be entrepreneurial not a waste of time, but it is unteachable to be entrepreneurial. 45 12 34 23 78 209 209 100 0 50 100 150 200 250 guest speakers interviewing enterpreneurs multimedia exercise role-player case studies business simulations lectures writing business plan www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 9 published by scholink inc. figure 4. skills acquired and required students were also asked to indicate the skills that they desired to learn from their courses as well as the skills acquired. figure 4 shows these two lists. on top of the list of desired skills are “leadership and coordinating”, “time management” and “creativity”. an examination of the differentials between skills desired and acquired suggests that educational institutions still have some way to go in satisfying their students’ aspirations in “leadership and coordinating”and “creativity”. when asked about their most preferred format of training to improve their business skills, 27.7 per cent of the respondents preferred the format of one-to-one time with an instructor or business trainer. this indicated that students prefer a teaching format that is more personalised and individualistic. this preference surfaces elsewhere with 26.3 per cent of the respondents preferring courses to be conducted in short seminars format, 25.7 per cent preferring traditional classroom courses and only 19 per cent willing to go for online courses using internet. the above analysis shows there is a misalignment between students’ expectations and what is being delivered and that students have strong preferences about mode of delivery. failure to factor in this information can lead to students’ dissatisfaction with the entrepreneurship programme and a waste of scarce resources. however, when we asked if you liked the lab virtual entrepreneurship courses currently offered in schools, the vast majority of the answers were yes. because entrepreneurship education is also related to employment, we also asked students whether entrepreneurship education programs promote and help your future employment. the results were also disappointing, with most students saying there was no explicit help. after analysis, we believe that this is the result of the separation of entrepreneurship education from the education system for basic subjects. every school basically has student organizations related to employment and entrepreneurship. students who join these organizations because they are engaged in 34.6 34.5 45.3 41.5 67.8 56.3 34.5 45.8 78.6 56.7 67.8 52.9 67.9 56.8 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 problem solving and decision making leadership and coordinating networking creativity negotiation time management others skils acquired skils desired www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 10 published by scholink inc. related work in the organizations, they unconsciously cultivate their entrepreneurial consciousness and make themselves have entrepreneurial qualities. for this part of the students, entrepreneurial education in schools is very effective. however, as far as the students outside this circle are concerned, few students took the initiative to pay attention to the entrepreneurial activities and policies organized by the university, except for those who had determined their goals and wanted to start a business, the students who set out on their own had almost no real exposure to the entrepreneurial training offered by the school. the separation of professional knowledge education and entrepreneurship education leads to the burst of innovative spirit and the lack of a strong foundation for the cultivation of entrepreneurs’ quality, which leads many students to have more passion to start their own business and less professional knowledge. at the same time, this kind of practical education bears the mark of elitism deeply. what we pay attention to is the dazzling achievements of a few proud people standing in the middle of the stage. when asked whether they would like to start a business if they have the skills and knowledge to do so, we found that many students are still reluctant to start a business for fear of failure. 4.3 entrepreneurial knowledge among students though more than 77 per cent of the respondents claimed that they know what entrepreneurship is, there is still a significant number of respondents (23 per cent) who expressed lack of knowledge about entrepreneurship, despite the fact that entrepreneurship programmes have been operating in zhejiang gongshang university since the 2014. the students in the survey said they knew what a startup was and roughly what it was supposed to do, but needed knowledge of economics, law, equity, products, leadership skills, etc., they don’t really have it all. 209 self-reported understanding the meaning of the word “entrepreneip” they use their own understanding of the different answers ranging from: how to start a new business (45.8 per cent), to business management (35.8 per cent) and risk management (8.5 per cent). obviously, the findings reveal that the student has the quite accurate cognition to the enterprise education significance and the goal. it is important to note that there is still a long way to go between knowing something about entrepreneurship and actually being willing or able to start a business. the goals of entrepreneurship education are multiple, but most researchers believe that there are two main goals: one is to influence students’ attitude, behavior, values and willingness to start a business. however, there are many constraints to starting a business. it is also important for entrepreneurship education to eliminate students’ fear of entrepreneurial failure. of course, it is inappropriate to evaluate the effect of entrepreneurship education just by “establishing new enterprises”. china’s entrepreneurship education should take “effectively improving students’ problem ability, leadership, creativity and so on” as the main goal. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 11 published by scholink inc. 5. discussion and conclusions with the help of entrepreneurship education, it can make up for entrepreneurs’ inexperience and develop entrepreneurial skills systematically. furthermore, it essentially seek to cultivate the college students’ entrepreneurship awareness and spirit. this study provides an important exploratory analysis of the state of entrepreneurship education in china. the survey results show that innovation and entrepreneurship education in china is not efficient in matching students’ skill expectations with their skill acquisition. higher education institutions therefore need to review existing curricula and design more appropriate curricula and adopt more diversified teaching methods. we found that many students are still reluctant to start a business for fear that it will fail. in fact, the state has not only provided small loans for college students to start their own businesses, but has also introduced many more perfect follow-up supervision and protection policies, schools need to integrate these policies with their own safeguards to reach out to students, assess the feasibility of students’ entrepreneurial ideas, and register in a register viable entrepreneurial projects with depth and technology, by the entrepreneurial model and business management personnel one by one, for professional guidance and security measures to solve students’ worries. it is important to cultivate entrepreneurial quality. entrepreneurship education in universities also needs to teach college students how to overcome the fear of entrepreneurial failure, that is, to improve the spirit of adventure. it is uncertain whether entrepreneurial skills can really be taught. cultivate the college students’ entrepreneurship spirit is difficult. however, we should not deny the significance of innovation and entrepreneurship education, more importantly, how to orientate the aim of innovation and entrepreneurship education. we should recognize that it is essential that innovative and entrepreneurship education give students some knowledge about innovative & entrepreneurship and that they will be better able to fulfill their social responsibilities if they start up a company in the future, the purpose of innovation and entrepreneurship should not only be seen as increasing the proportion of students starting businesses. researchers looked career path, business start-ups, ownership, performance and satisfaction with their entrepreneurship education are examined as effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. that is right, of course. however, whether students become more aware of innovative thinking, whether they have divergent thinking, and whether they improve their problem-solving ability should be used as a measure of the effectiveness of innovation and entrepreneurship education. education is not an isolated thing, especially entrepreneurial education, is not blindly remember some knowledge that education has an effect. create innovation atmosphere and raise innovation awareness. students should take the initiative to improve their innovation consciously by strengthening the study and knowledge of innovation, applying innovative technique combined with practical and professional knowledge, to apply innovative thinking to solving professional problems, including mastering www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 12 published by scholink inc. innovative tools such as six thinking hats, thus they can be gradually created the innovative atmosphere and the innovation awareness could be enhanced. the government, especially the ministry of education and the education providers should take seriously into this aspect and consider revising the existing education system and process. unless some action and changes are taken to improve the current education system to impart essential innovative and entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, the country may struggle to meet the upcoming new challenges brought by the ever changing political, economic, social and technological environment in today’s global economy. furthermore, it is vital to the paid employees as well, because employers are attaching more and more importance to the initiative, adventure, entrepreneurship, ability to work independently, technical, social and management skills of the employees besides their career achievements. so starting a business is not the only goal of innovation and entrepreneurship education. the paper has a number of limitations. the sample drawn from the population are limited to the zhejiang gongshang university, while the number of survey samples, conducted from each department is still not large enough, so we will give detailed analysis requires further investigation, only then we can come up with more meaningful suggestions about innovation education. this is the shortcoming of the paper and the direction we will work towards in the future as well. secondly, future research can provide additional information and extensions to these results. for example, more information is needed on the mechanisms through which personality dimensions into effectiveness of innovation and entrepreneurship education. how to evaluate the effectiveness of innovation and entrepreneurship education is also a problem worthy of further discussion. references cheng, m. y., chan, w. s., & mahmood, a. (2009). the effectiveness of innovation education in malaysia. education+training, 51(7), 555-566. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910910992754 clarke, t. e. (1990). review of the status and availability in canadian colleges and universities of courses or programs dealing with the commercialization and adoption of science and technology, survey report for industry. science and technology canada, ottawa. david tanner. (1992). applying creative thinking techniques to everyday problems. the journal of consumer marketing, 9(4), 23-26. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363769210037051 dwerryhouse, r. (2001). real work in the 16-19 curriculum: avce business and young enterprise. education+training, 43(3), 153-161. https://doi.org/10.1108/eum0000000005460 gibb, a. (1999). can we build effective entrepreneurship through management development. journal of general management, 24(4), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/030630709902400401 hamilton, r. t., & harper, d. a. (1994). the entrepreneur in theory and practice. journal of economic studies, 21(6), 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443589410071391 https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910910992754 https://doi.org/10.1108/07363769210037051 https://doi.org/10.1108/eum0000000005460 https://doi.org/10.1177/030630709902400401 https://doi.org/10.1108/01443589410071391 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 13 published by scholink inc. ibrahim, a. b., & soufani, k. (2002). innovation education and training in canada: a critical assessment. education+training, 441(8), 421-430. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910210449268 jun, z. (2007). the overview and theoretical analysis of global business in 2006. economics and management, 8, 20-3 (in chinese). katz, j. a. (2003). the chronology and intellectual trajectory of american innovation education. journal of business venturing, 18(2), 283-300. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0883-9026(02)00098-8 kirby, d. (2002). innovation education: can business schools meet the challenge? paper presented at the rent conference, barcelona. kolb, d. a. (1984). experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development, prentice-hall. englewood cliffs, nj. kolvereid, l., & moen, o. (1997). entrepreneurship among business graduates: does a major in entrepreneurship make a difference? journal of european industrial training, 21(4), 154-160. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090599710171404 koster, s., & rai, s. k. (2008), entrepreneurship and economic development in a developing country: a case study of india. the journal of entrepreneurship, 17(2), 117-137. https://doi.org/10.1177/097135570801700202 menzies, t., & paradi, j. (2003). innovation education and engineering students: career paths and business performance. international journal of entrepreneurship & innovation, 4(2), 121-132. https://doi.org/10.5367/000000003101299474 ronstadt, r. (1987). the educated entrepreneurs: a new era of entrepreneurial education is beginning. american journal of small business, 11(4), 37-53. https://doi.org/10.1177/104225878701100403 robinson, p., & hayes, m. (1991). innovation education in america’s major universities. entrepreneurship theory &practice, 15(3), 41-52. https://doi.org/10.1177/104225879101500304 schumpeter, j. a. (1911). the theory of economic development. harvard university press, cambridge, ma (english translation published in 1934). seibert, s., kraimer, m., & liden, r. (2001). a social capital theory of career success. academy of management journal, 44(2), 210-237. https://doi.org/10.5465/3069452 sexton, d. l., & upton, n. e. (1984). innovation education: suggestions for increasing effectiveness. journal of small business management, 22(4), 18-25. shrivastava, u., & acharya, s. r. (2020). entrepreneurship education intention and entrepreneurial intention amongst disadvantaged students: an empirical study. journal of enterprising communities: people and places in the global economy, 6, 1750-6204. https://doi.org/10.1108/jec-04-2020-0072 solomon, g. t., duffy, s., & tarabishy, a. (2002). the state of innovation education in the united states: a nationwide survey and analysis. international journal of innovation education, 1(1), 65-86. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910210449268 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0883-9026(02)00098-8 https://doi.org/10.1108/03090599710171404 https://doi.org/10.1177/097135570801700202 https://doi.org/10.5367/000000003101299474 https://doi.org/10.1177/104225878701100403 https://doi.org/10.1177/104225879101500304 https://doi.org/10.5465/3069452 https://doi.org/10.1108/jec-04-2020-0072 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 2, 2022 14 published by scholink inc. souitaris, v., zerbinati, s., & al-lahan, a. (2007). do entrepreneurship programmes raise entrepreneurial intention of science and engineering students? the effect of learning, inspiration and resources. journal of business venturing, 22(4), 566-591. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2006.05.002 thompson, j. l. (1999). the world of the entrepreneur-a new perspective. journal of workplace learning: employee counselling today, 11(6), 209-224. https://doi.org/10.1108/13665629910284990 webb, t., quince, t, & wathers, d. (1982). small business research: the development of entrepreneurs. gower, aldershot. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2006.05.002 https://doi.org/10.1108/13665629910284990 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 65 original paper the impact of vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback on students’ vocabulary mastery zai fengyu1 1 faculty of arts and social sciences, national university of singapore, singapore received: september 7, 2023 accepted: september 22, 2023 online published: october 11, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n4p65 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n4p65 abstract this review explores the synergy between vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback in supporting students’ vocabulary mastery and enhancing their learning experiences. vocabulary plays a crucial role in academic success, serving as the cornerstone of comprehension and communication. therefore, accurate vocabulary assessment and effective feedback mechanisms are imperative. the paper outlines the significance of individualized learning, emphasizing the need to recognize students’ unique learning styles and tailor feedback accordingly, and discusses the transformative role of technology in facilitating innovative assessment and feedback approaches. however, the implementation of these approaches encounters various challenges, including technical barriers, logistical hurdles, and resistance from educators and students. the current body of research, while insightful, also presents limitations such as restricted scope, scale, and unaddressed gaps in knowledge. despite these challenges, the integration of vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback offers promising prospects for enhancing students’ learning outcomes and motivation. future research needs to focus on overcoming existing challenges and expanding the understanding of this integrative educational approach to benefit diverse student populations. keywords vocabulary assessment, personalized feedback, student learning, academic success, learning styles, individualized learning needs, technology integration 1. introduction the investigation into the interplay between vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback in student learning is both a critical and evolving field of research. the crucial role of vocabulary acquisition in educational settings cannot be overstated. vocabulary knowledge not only contributes fundamentally to reading comprehension but also empowers students with the linguistic tools necessary to communicate www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 66 published by scholink inc. effectively, articulate ideas with precision, and engage meaningfully with the content across various disciplines. understanding this, educators and researchers alike have continuously sought efficient and impactful approaches to facilitate students’ vocabulary mastery, one of which includes the strategic integration of vocabulary assessment coupled with personalized feedback mechanisms (read, 1993; bashori, van hout, strik, & cucchiarini, 2021; jang, dunlop, park, & van der boom, 2015). the essence of vocabulary assessment transcends the simple evaluation of word knowledge. instead, it creates a systematic approach whereby educators can glean insightful data about students’ vocabulary strengths and areas needing improvement. through the careful analysis of assessment results, educators are better positioned to understand the individual learning needs, preferences, and styles of each student. this individualized understanding is indispensable in today’s diverse and inclusive educational landscape, where students come from varying backgrounds, each with unique linguistic profiles and learning trajectories. equally significant is the role of personalized feedback in the vocabulary learning process. feedback that is tailored to meet the individual needs, strengths, and weaknesses of students has been proven to be more effective in promoting vocabulary learning. notably, personalized feedback creates an environment where students can engage with their vocabulary learning in a more focused and motivated manner, receiving the specific support and guidance they need to move forward in their learning journey. moreover, in the era where technology increasingly permeates educational practices, the combination of vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback has seen innovative transformations. technological tools and platforms have emerged, offering new possibilities for conducting vocabulary assessments and delivering feedback in ways that are more timely, precise, and responsive to students’ learning needs. these advancements have opened up exciting avenues for research and practice, promising to bring about more effective and engaging vocabulary learning experiences for students. this review aims to dissect the synergy between vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback and its consequential impact on students’ vocabulary mastery. by diving into existing literature, empirical studies, and practical insights, this review seeks to illuminate the ways in which assessment and feedback practices can be optimized to support students’ vocabulary learning. furthermore, it endeavors to identify the challenges and limitations faced in the current landscape and proposes recommendations for future research and practice in this domain. through a systematic and critical examination of the pertinent literature, this review aspires to contribute to the scholarly conversation, offering valuable perspectives and insights for educators, researchers, and policymakers engaged in the field of vocabulary instruction and assessment (schmitt, 2008). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 67 published by scholink inc. 2. literature review 2.1 importance of vocabulary in learning the significance of vocabulary in the learning process is a well-established and extensively researched facet of educational literature. vocabulary indeed serves as the cornerstone of comprehension, providing students with the necessary tools to understand, interpret, and analyze the information presented to them. without a robust vocabulary foundation, learners might find it challenging to comprehend text, which is pivotal for success in not just language arts but across all academic disciplines. as highlighted in several studies, a direct correlation exists between students’ vocabulary knowledge and their reading comprehension skills. when students possess an expansive and deep understanding of words, they are better equipped to make sense of complex texts, which is an essential skill required throughout their academic journey and later professional life. beyond comprehension, vocabulary knowledge is incontrovertibly linked to overall academic success. the cascade of positive outcomes stemming from vocabulary proficiency is observable across various academic endeavors, including writing, speaking, and content area learning. learners with a rich vocabulary can express their thoughts more clearly and persuasively, facilitating more effective communication and engagement with peers, educators, and the broader academic community. in this context, ouellette found that vocabulary knowledge in the early grades is a strong predictor of reading success and overall academic achievement in the later years. students who start with a strong vocabulary foundation are likely to experience continued success, as the benefits of vocabulary knowledge compound over time, fostering lifelong learning and intellectual curiosity (ma, hettiarachchi, fukui, & ando, 2023). additionally, a robust vocabulary supports learners in efficiently accessing and acquiring new knowledge. since academic texts are often dense and complex, possessing the requisite vocabulary is crucial for students to navigate through these texts successfully. moreover, as learners advance through their educational careers, they encounter increasingly sophisticated and discipline-specific terminology. here, a sound grasp of vocabulary becomes indispensable, enabling learners to engage with subject matter more deeply and critically. in light of these considerations, it is evident that vocabulary is not merely a list of words to be memorized but an essential component of academic success and a crucial enabler of lifelong learning and critical thinking. therefore, effective vocabulary instruction and assessment practices are imperative to support learners in building a strong vocabulary foundation, setting the stage for academic success and continued learning throughout their lives. 2.2 vocabulary assessment approaches vocabulary assessment is instrumental in the educational process, serving both diagnostic and evaluative purposes. traditional and dynamic assessments are two prominent approaches, each with distinctive features and applications. traditional vocabulary assessment (tva), rooted in a more conventional educational philosophy, predominantly focuses on quantifying students’ vocabulary knowledge through standardized tests. these tests often comprise multiple-choice questions, matching exercises, and fill-inwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 68 published by scholink inc. the-blanks, designed to measure students’ understanding and recall of word meanings. through tva, educators can efficiently gauge students’ vocabulary breadth, which refers to the quantity of words they know (chen, park, & breazeal, 2020). while tva provides valuable insights, it’s not without limitations. one significant criticism is its often decontextualized nature. words are usually assessed in isolation, which may not truly reflect students’ ability to use vocabulary in context or understand words’ nuanced meanings and connotations. furthermore, tva tends to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach, which might not cater to the diverse learning needs and styles of students. its emphasis on rote memorization and recall also overlooks the complex, multifaceted nature of vocabulary knowledge, which encompasses not just word meanings but also word usage, morphology, and relationships among words. in response to these limitations, dynamic vocabulary assessment (dva) has emerged as an alternative approach. dva is grounded in vygotsky’s theory of the zone of proximal development, offering a more interactive, learner-centered assessment experience. unlike tva, dva doesn’t merely measure what students already know; it seeks to identify their potential for vocabulary learning with appropriate scaffolding and support. during a dva, educators interact with students, providing hints, feedback, and assistance as needed, to help them understand and learn words. this process enables a deeper understanding of students’ vocabulary knowledge depth, revealing their ability to analyze word structures, discern meanings from context, and apply words in various situations. dva’s interactive nature facilitates a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of students’ vocabulary knowledge and learning potential. it allows for the recognition of individual differences and learning styles, providing invaluable information for tailoring instruction to meet students’ unique needs. despite its advantages, dva is also subject to challenges, such as being more time-consuming and demanding for educators due to its interactive and individualized nature. the comparison of tva and dva highlights a shift in educational assessment philosophy from a sole focus on product (what students know) to process (how students learn). this transformation acknowledges that vocabulary knowledge is dynamic and multifaceted, requiring assessment approaches that are not only sensitive to students’ current knowledge levels but also their learning potential and needs. both approaches have their respective merits and limitations, and the choice between them should be informed by specific educational objectives, contexts, and student populations. in practice, a balanced, integrative approach that combines the strengths of both tva and dva may offer the most effective and equitable solution for vocabulary assessment in diverse and inclusive educational settings. this integrative approach promises to provide a more holistic understanding of students’ vocabulary knowledge and learning needs, thereby informing more effective and responsive instructional strategies and interventions (anderson & valero, 2020). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 69 published by scholink inc. 2.3 personalized feedback the concept of personalized feedback in the educational realm has garnered considerable attention for its influential role in facilitating a conducive learning environment. personalized feedback refers to the customized information provided to students about their performance or understanding, aiming to guide and enhance their learning experience. unlike generic feedback, personalized feedback is tailored to address the specific needs, mistakes, and strengths of individual students, offering more precise and relevant guidance that directly aligns with their learning trajectory. understanding the importance of personalized feedback requires acknowledging its pivotal role in fostering a deeper and more meaningful learning experience. at its core, personalized feedback serves as a communicative tool between the educator and the student, bridging the gap between actual performance and expected outcomes. through the careful analysis and reflection on personalized feedback, students gain invaluable insights into their understanding and application of vocabulary. this process, in turn, empowers them to identify and rectify mistakes, internalize corrections, and apply new knowledge in different contexts, thereby reinforcing their vocabulary acquisition and retention. the ramifications of personalized feedback extend beyond mere academic improvement; it significantly influences students’ motivation and engagement levels as well. by receiving feedback that is directly pertinent to their work, students are likely to feel more recognized and valued, fostering a sense of competence and confidence in their abilities. the bespoke nature of personalized feedback acknowledges each student’s unique learning journey, reinforcing their autonomy and ownership over their learning process. this affirmation inevitably nurtures a positive learning attitude, instilling a drive and commitment to continuous improvement and lifelong learning (beyranvand, 2021). moreover, the impact of personalized feedback on student learning and motivation can be seen through the lens of various psychological and educational theories. according to the self-determination theory (deci & ryan, 2012), for instance, feeling competent and autonomous are crucial factors driving intrinsic motivation, which is a key determinant of effective and sustained learning. through personalized feedback, students experience a supportive environment where their efforts are acknowledged, and their areas for improvement are highlighted in a constructive manner. this approach not only enhances their self-efficacy but also fosters a growth mindset, where challenges are viewed as opportunities for development rather than insurmountable obstacles (chambers, wehmeyer, saito, lida, lee, & singh, 2007). however, despite its evident benefits, the implementation of personalized feedback requires careful consideration and a deep understanding of each student’s learning profile. the effectiveness of this feedback relies heavily on the accuracy and relevance of the information provided, necessitating educators to possess a thorough understanding of each student’s learning style, preferences, and progress. in light of these considerations, while personalized feedback is a potent tool for enhancing vocabulary learning, its application should be approached thoughtfully and strategically to harness its full potential in supporting students’ academic success and motivation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 70 published by scholink inc. 3. the synergy between vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback the integration of vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback is paramount in addressing individualized learning needs, providing a harmonious synergy that enhances the educational experience for students. the understanding that students possess unique learning styles and preferences underpins the necessity for a more individualized approach in educational practices. 3.1 individualized learning needs 3.1.1 recognizing students’ unique learning styles students enter the learning environment with diverse cognitive styles, linguistic backgrounds, and learning preferences. recognizing these variations is pivotal in crafting effective instructional strategies, including the process of vocabulary assessment and feedback. through careful assessment, educators can glean valuable insights into students’ vocabulary acquisition patterns, identifying areas of strength and those requiring improvement. such recognition allows educators to differentiate instruction, adopting methods that resonate with the diverse learning styles found within the classroom. tailoring vocabulary assessment to individual learning styles not only facilitates a more accurate gauge of students’ vocabulary knowledge but also fosters an inclusive environment where every student’s learning needs are acknowledged and addressed (huang, hew, & fryer, 2022). 3.1.2 tailoring feedback to individual performance once an understanding of students’ learning styles is established, personalized feedback becomes an invaluable asset in supporting individual learning trajectories. feedback, when customized to reflect students’ performance and learning style, provides specific, relevant information that students can readily apply. this approach empowers students, promoting self-efficacy and motivation as they witness their progression and acknowledge the areas needing improvement. furthermore, personalized feedback aids in scaffolding the learning process, providing support that is meticulously adjusted to align with students’ current levels of understanding and performance (lindsey, shroyer, pashler, & mozer, 2014). 3.2 technology integration 3.2.1 technology-aided vocabulary assessment the advent of technology has significantly influenced the realm of vocabulary assessment, introducing tools and platforms that offer innovative solutions for gauging students’ vocabulary knowledge. technology-aided assessments allow for a dynamic, interactive experience, providing instant feedback and accommodating various learning styles. these assessments can be adapted to different difficulty levels, ensuring that students are neither under-challenged nor overwhelmed. moreover, technology facilitates the collection and analysis of data on students’ performance, providing educators with invaluable insights to inform their instructional strategies and feedback (chen, zou, xie, & cheng, 2021). 3.2.2 technology-enhanced personalized feedback technology also plays a pivotal role in enhancing the delivery of personalized feedback. through intelligent systems and applications, educators can provide feedback that is not only immediate but also highly individualized. these technology-enhanced platforms analyze students’ responses, identify www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 71 published by scholink inc. patterns, and generate feedback that precisely addresses students’ mistakes and accomplishments. this immediate, personalized response supports students in their learning journey, offering guidance at the point of need and fostering a deeper understanding of vocabulary. furthermore, technology allows for the tracking of students’ progress over time, facilitating a longitudinal understanding of their development and offering insights that can guide future instruction and intervention strategies. in conclusion, the synergy between vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback, especially when enhanced by technology, provides a robust framework for addressing individualized learning needs. this synergy acknowledges the diversity of learning styles within the classroom, offering tailored support that resonates with each student’s unique profile and promoting an inclusive, supportive learning environment conducive to vocabulary acquisition and mastery (pérez-segura, sánchez ruiz, gonzález-calero, & cózar-gutiérrez, 2022). 4. impact on students’ vocabulary mastery 4.1 improved learning outcomes the integration of comprehensive vocabulary assessment coupled with personalized feedback manifests in significantly improved learning outcomes for students, primarily evident in enhanced vocabulary acquisition and the measurable analysis of students’ performance. academic literature persistently highlights the direct relationship between a student’s vocabulary mastery and their academic success, affirming that a robust vocabulary is not only a key indicator but also a driver of improved educational outcomes. a discernible improvement in vocabulary acquisition is observed when assessments are strategically administered, followed by the provision of feedback that is meticulously tailored to the individual learner’s needs. through the careful examination of students’ assessment results, educators garner invaluable insights into the students’ current vocabulary knowledge, learning pace, and areas that necessitate further attention. the subsequent delivery of personalized feedback, constructed upon the analysis of these assessments, provides students with clear, actionable steps for improvement, simultaneously fostering a learning environment where students are empowered to take charge of their learning journey (csapó, & molnár, 2019; pianta, hamre, & allen, 2012). personalized feedback, in this framework, serves as a crucial educational tool that not only addresses students’ immediate learning needs but also facilitates long-term vocabulary retention and application. students who receive feedback that is directly aligned with their assessment performance are more likely to internalize and act upon this information. this active engagement with feedback, where students reflect upon and utilize the information provided to them, leads to deeper understanding and retention of vocabulary, enhancing their capacity to accurately and effectively use these words in various contexts. it is also imperative to recognize the observable and significant improvement in students’ performance following the receipt of personalized feedback post-assessment. studies consistently indicate that students who engage with individualized feedback demonstrate a marked improvement in subsequent www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 72 published by scholink inc. assessments, underscoring the positive impact of personalized feedback on students’ vocabulary mastery. the continual cycle of assessment and feedback not only guides students through their immediate learning objectives but also sets the groundwork for sustained improvement and growth in vocabulary acquisition. the analysis of student performance, therefore, should not be restricted to a mere evaluation of assessment scores. instead, a holistic approach that encompasses the review of students’ engagement with and response to personalized feedback is necessary. this comprehensive analysis paints a more accurate picture of students’ learning trajectory, providing educators with the information required to support each student effectively. when students are aware that their unique learning paths are understood and respected, it fosters a sense of confidence and motivation, further fueling their commitment to mastering vocabulary (sherrington, newham, bell, adamson, mccoll, & araujo‐soares, 2016). in essence, the demonstrable impact on students’ vocabulary mastery, as a result of effectively implementing vocabulary assessments paired with personalized feedback, is substantial. the evidence of enhanced vocabulary acquisition is clear, with students not only achieving higher in assessments but also showing greater confidence and proficiency in utilizing their vocabulary in various academic contexts. this synergy of assessment and feedback, therefore, presents itself as an indispensable component of effective vocabulary instruction, directly contributing to improved learning outcomes and facilitating a deeper, more enduring understanding and use of vocabulary among students. 4.2 students’ perceptions and motivation an understanding of students’ perceptions and motivational responses towards personalized feedback is crucial as it provides invaluable insights into the effectiveness and impact of such instructional approaches on the learning experience. it’s widely acknowledged in educational research that students’ attitudes towards feedback mechanisms play a significant role in their learning engagement, motivation, and ultimately, their academic outcomes. students generally exhibit positive attitudes towards personalized feedback, appreciating the tailored support that directly addresses their unique learning needs and challenges. this form of feedback is often perceived as more relevant and valuable, as it provides specific guidance and direction, helping students understand exactly where they need to improve and how to go about it. this specificity and relevance of personalized feedback tend to foster a sense of recognition and validation among students, making them feel seen, understood, and supported in their learning journey. such feelings are crucial for building students’ self-esteem and confidence in their abilities, laying the foundation for a positive learning disposition and a proactive approach to their studies. furthermore, the motivational impact of personalized feedback is significant. motivation in learning is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon influenced by various factors, including students’ perceptions of their competence, autonomy, and the relevance of their learning tasks. personalized feedback directly taps into these motivational drivers by enhancing students’ sense of competence. when students receive feedback that is clear, specific, and actionable, they are more likely to feel capable of improving and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 73 published by scholink inc. mastering the tasks at hand. this sense of competence, in turn, fosters intrinsic motivation, driving students to engage more deeply and persistently with their learning activities (heilman, collinsthompson, callan, eskenazi, juffs, & wilson, 2010). engagement levels also witness an uptick with the incorporation of personalized feedback. engaged students are not merely compliant or participative; they are intellectually and emotionally connected to their learning. through personalized feedback, students receive continuous signals that their efforts are acknowledged and that their work is of value. this ongoing validation creates an environment where students are more inclined to invest their cognitive and emotional energy into the learning process, deeply engaging with the material, and internalizing the knowledge being conveyed. the alignment between feedback and individual performance further enhances students’ perception of autonomy, another crucial motivator. autonomy, the need to experience agency and control over one’s actions, is fulfilled when students perceive that the feedback provided is directly relevant and applicable to their specific learning context, thus feeling more in control of their learning journey and outcomes. however, it is crucial to note that the effectiveness of personalized feedback in shaping students’ perceptions and motivation is contingent upon its quality and delivery. feedback must be constructive, future-oriented, and supportive to foster positive attitudes and high motivation levels among students. care should also be taken to ensure that feedback does not come across as punitive or overly critical, as this could demotivate students and engender negative attitudes towards learning. in summary, personalized feedback exerts a substantial influence on students’ perceptions and motivation, serving as a powerful tool for promoting positive attitudes, high engagement levels, and intrinsic motivation to learn. the nuanced understanding and application of personalized feedback, therefore, is pivotal for educators aiming to create supportive, engaging, and motivating learning environments conducive to students’ academic success and personal development (smeets, & bus, 2012). 5. challenges and limitations within the vast spectrum of educational research and practice, the integration of vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback is not without its distinctive challenges and limitations. implementation challenges encompass technical and logistical barriers as well as resistance from educators and students. additionally, a careful examination of existing studies reveals limitations in scope and scale, with notable research gaps and unanswered questions lingering within the academic discourse. understanding the intricacies of implementation, it is imperative to acknowledge that introducing technology-aided vocabulary assessment tools and personalized feedback systems often entails a steep learning curve and requires substantial logistical planning. technical barriers emerge as significant hindrances. schools and educational institutions may lack the requisite infrastructure, including reliable internet access and adequate devices, which are fundamental for the seamless incorporation of technology-enhanced assessment and feedback systems. this digital divide exacerbates educational www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 74 published by scholink inc. inequalities, as students without access to necessary technological resources are inadvertently excluded from the benefits these tools confer (denton, 2014). furthermore, the logistical complexity of implementing new systems cannot be underestimated. successful integration demands extensive planning, coordination, and ongoing support to ensure that technology is used effectively and responsibly. this logistical challenge often imposes additional administrative and operational burdens on schools, potentially diverting resources and attention away from other critical educational priorities. resistance from educators and students represents another formidable challenge. educators, perhaps skeptical of new technologies or methodologies, may resist transitioning away from traditional assessment and feedback mechanisms with which they are familiar and comfortable. this resistance may stem from a lack of confidence in using technology, concerns about the efficacy of new tools, or a general reluctance to alter established teaching practices. professional development and training are vital in this regard but often insufficiently addressed in many educational settings, leading to suboptimal utilization of technology-aided vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback tools. similarly, students might exhibit resistance or apprehension towards these novel approaches. their reluctance could be grounded in unfamiliarity or discomfort with technology, fear of change, or skepticism about the benefits of new assessment and feedback mechanisms. hence, fostering a supportive and inclusive learning environment is pivotal to encourage students to engage actively and positively with these innovative tools and practices (ong, de haes, hoos, & lammes, 1995). when turning attention to the existing body of research, limitations in scope and scale are discernible. much of the literature is confined to specific educational contexts, levels, or student demographics, constraining the generalizability of findings. the limited scope of these studies restricts our understanding of how vocabulary assessment tools and personalized feedback mechanisms function across diverse educational settings and student populations. moreover, small-scale studies, while valuable, may not capture the complexities and variations of larger, more heterogeneous groups of students, making it challenging to extrapolate results to broader contexts (alzaid, 2018). furthermore, substantial research gaps persist. many pertinent questions remain unanswered, such as the long-term effects of technology-aided vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback on students’ academic performance, motivation, and attitudes towards learning. the dynamic interplay between various factors influencing the efficacy of these tools and practices—including teachers’ proficiency, students’ technological literacy, the quality of the tools themselves, and the surrounding educational ecosystem—warrants deeper, more systematic investigation. these unanswered questions highlight the need for further rigorous, comprehensive research to elucidate the nuances and implications of incorporating technology-enhanced vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback in diverse educational contexts (sharma & shafiq, 2022). conclusively, while the synergy between vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback holds considerable promise for enhancing students’ learning experiences and outcomes, the challenges and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 75 published by scholink inc. limitations inherent in their implementation and the existing research landscape necessitate careful, critical consideration. addressing these challenges requires collaborative efforts from educators, policymakers, researchers, and technology developers alike, working together to create an inclusive, supportive, and effective educational environment where all students can thrive. 6. conclusion the synthesis of vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback stands as a pivotal mechanism in fostering enhanced student learning experiences and outcomes. the meticulous review of literature delineates the inherent importance of vocabulary in bolstering comprehension and facilitating academic success, illuminating the indispensable role of precise vocabulary assessment and the impactful nature of personalized feedback. the nuanced interplay between these elements not only facilitates a more profound understanding of students’ vocabulary acquisition but also actively engages and motivates learners, providing tailored support that significantly enhances the learning process. however, the implementation of this integrated approach is fraught with challenges, including technical and logistical barriers, and resistance from both educators and students. existing research, while illuminating, is often limited in scope and scale, with substantial gaps that warrant further exploration. these challenges necessitate a thoughtful and strategic approach to implementation, with careful consideration given to the diverse needs and characteristics of different student populations. in conclusion, the convergence of vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback provides a promising pathway for supporting students’ vocabulary mastery and promoting positive attitudes and motivation towards learning. while challenges and limitations exist, with careful planning, ongoing support, and further research, the potential for improved student outcomes through this synergistic approach is immense. future research endeavors should aim to address the identified gaps and challenges, contributing to a richer, more nuanced understanding of how to effectively leverage vocabulary assessment and personalized feedback to foster successful, inclusive learning environments. reference alzaid, f. 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(2022). the effect of personalized feedback on listening and reading skills in the learning of efl. computer assisted language learning, 35(3), 469-491. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2019.1705354 pianta, r. c., hamre, b. k., & allen, j. p. (2012). teacher-student relationships and engagement: conceptualizing, measuring, and improving the capacity of classroom interactions. handbook of research on student engagement, 2012, 365-386. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2018-7_17 read, j. (1993). the development of a new measure of l2 vocabulary knowledge. language testing, 10(3), 355-371. https://doi.org/10.1177/026553229301000308 schmitt, n. (2008). instructed second language vocabulary learning. language teaching research, 12(3), 329-363. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168808089921 sharma, a., & shafiq, m. o. 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(2012). interactive electronic storybooks for kindergartners to promote vocabulary growth. journal of experimental child psychology, 112(1), 36-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2011.12.003 https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2019.1705354 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2018-7_17 https://doi.org/10.1177/026553229301000308 https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168808089921 https://doi.org/10.1080/08839514.2021.2014193 https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12396 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2011.12.003 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 98 original paper multidisciplinary integration in undergraduate environmental protection design innovation liu xijing1* 1 school of environmental science and engineering, hubei polytechnic university, huangshi 435003, china * liu xijing, e-mail: 2013102050031@whu.edu.cn received: april 14, 2023 accepted: may 1, 2023 online published: may 21, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p98 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p98 abstract this paper examines the necessity and implementation of multidisciplinary integration in undergraduate environmental protection design innovation, using the 4th urban water environment and water ecology creative competition as a case study. firstly, it explores the significance of the innovation competition itself as a foundation for analyzing the impact of multidisciplinary integration on the development of participating students, faculty teams, and the advancement of disciplines. secondly, it provides a detailed discussion on the outstanding achievements attained through the integration of three disciplines, namely environmental engineering, computer science, and art and design, within the context of the water environment and water ecology creative competition. lastly, the paper concludes by summarizing the importance and value of multidisciplinary integration in undergraduate environmental protection design innovation. by presenting the insights and analysis outlined in this paper, readers can gain a comprehensive understanding of the role played by multidisciplinary integration in environmental protection design innovation, thereby offering valuable ideas and perspectives for teaching and research in related fields. keywords multidisciplinary integration, design innovation, environmental protection design 1. introduction the creative design of water environments and water ecology holds significant academic and practical importance within the current social context. as the foundation for human survival and development, the quality and sustainable utilization of water resources are essential for maintaining ecological balance and fostering sustainable social development (xu, 2014). however, the general public possesses limited www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 99 published by scholink inc. knowledge and understanding of water environments and water ecology, thus lacking in-depth comprehension of associated issues. therefore, the significance of creative design for water environments and water ecology should not be disregarded. firstly, it facilitates the enhancement of public awareness regarding water resource management (xu & ding, 2017). by means of popular science design, the scarcity and fragility of water resources can be effectively conveyed to the public, thereby capturing their attention towards rational utilization and protection of water resources. the increased awareness among the public regarding water resource management will further stimulate the implementation of sustainable practices and the formulation of relevant policies. secondly, creative design of water environments and water ecology aids in raising public consciousness regarding the significance of water conservation. this enables the public to comprehend the severity of pollution and harm inflicted upon water bodies, leading to a realization of the impact of individual behavior on the water environment. such awareness will motivate the public to actively adopt water protection measures, reducing the discharge of pollutants, improving the quality of water bodies, and preserving ecosystem stability. however, the development of a robust and innovative set of creative designs necessitates the collaborative efforts of diverse disciplinary specialties, amalgamating knowledge and skills from various fields. proficiency in environmental science and engineering plays a pivotal role in the creative design of water environments. faculty and students specializing in environmental engineering possess comprehensive understanding of water pollution control, environmental monitoring, water cycle processes, and environmental remediation techniques. their expertise enables them to furnish practical solutions to water environment predicaments and propose feasible environmental protection strategies to creative design teams. moreover, the software development and application proficiencies of computer professionals lend support to the science design team in devising applications and tools pertinent to the water environment and water ecology. these applications may encompass online educational platforms, mobile applications, and interactive website creation, facilitating the dissemination and communication of knowledge regarding the water environment and water ecology (han, yang, sun y, sun p, & jin, 2020). by crafting user-friendly software interfaces and incorporating interactive features, the general public is afforded opportunities to participate and engage, thereby enriching their learning experience and fostering a sense of involvement. furthermore, the ornamental nature of artistic and design work offers a distinct advantage. art designers contribute to the creation of visually captivating and aesthetically valuable pieces that seamlessly integrate scientific information into artistic forms. through adept utilization of color theory and psychological principles, art designers are capable of selecting appropriate color schemes to effectively convey the ambiance and emotion of the water environment and water ecology. the meticulous animation design showcases vivid depictions of the water environment and water ecology, elucidating intricate concepts such as organism life cycles and the processes underlying the water cycle. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 100 published by scholink inc. the cross-pollination of disciplines is widely recognized as a significant strategy for universities to deepen the reform of institutional mechanisms, enhance the level of discipline construction, and optimize resource allocation. the term “interdisciplinary” was first introduced by woodworth, a psychology researcher from columbia university, as early as the mid-1920s, initially conveying a sense of “collaborative research”. currently, in the realm of emerging engineering disciplines like big data and artificial intelligence, the integration of multiple disciplines has emerged as a crucial focus of research in domestic universities, representing an inevitable trend. within the realm of teaching practices pertaining to multidisciplinary integration, student competitions play a vital role in fostering such integration (han & qu, 2021). through participation in these competitions, students engage in collaborative teamwork, independent research, and innovative experimentation, thereby honing their critical thinking, creative reasoning, and problem-solving capabilities. these competitions not only allow students to apply their it knowledge and skills, but also facilitate cross-fertilization with insights derived from other disciplines, ultimately expanding their disciplinary perspectives and cultivating a mindset conducive to interdisciplinary thinking (jiang, chi, & xu, 2020). 2. the imperative for multidisciplinary integration in creative competitions in the realm of contemporary higher education, innovative design competitions stand out as one of the foremost means to foster students’ creativity and innovation. such competitions not only serve as a catalyst for multidisciplinary integration, but also spark inventive thinking and ingenuity. however, in comparison to developed countries in europe and america, the advancement of diverse innovative competitions in china lags behind. european and american education systems prioritize the cultivation of students’ innovative thinking and practical skills, actively encouraging their participation in various innovative design competitions while providing ample resources and support. furthermore, european and american nations place significant emphasis on fostering students’ collaborative and interdisciplinary abilities within the context of student competitions. they actively promote crossdisciplinary collaboration and the application of knowledge from diverse fields in innovative design endeavors. 2.1 multidisciplinary integration in innovative design competitions for faculty team enhancement the multidisciplinary integration in the innovation design competition holds immense significance not only for the participating students but also for the faculty team involved in mentoring and judging. this collaborative environment serves as a platform for students and faculty to foster growth and exchange ideas. firstly, a multidisciplinary design competition encourages students to transcend the traditional boundaries of their respective disciplines, enabling them to think holistically and tackle complex problems. in addition to expertise in their own fields, students must also comprehend and apply theories and methodologies from other disciplines. this interdisciplinary learning and exchange stimulates students’ interest in exploring knowledge and promotes interdisciplinary synergy, thereby cultivating a comprehensive and diversified academic vision and mindset. secondly, multidisciplinary integration www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 101 published by scholink inc. provides a platform for mutual exchange and academic complementarity among the faculty teams involved in mentoring and evaluation. faculty members can collaborate on researching and discussing issues at the intersection of multiple disciplines, sharing their expertise and experiences. through collaboration with colleagues from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, faculty gain insights into research frontiers and methodologies of other fields, broadening their academic horizons. this cross-disciplinary interaction not only enhances the academic abilities of faculty members but also promotes innovation and optimization of teaching methods, thereby offering improved support and guidance for students’ overall development. furthermore, the multidisciplinary integrated design competition provides a platform for students and teachers to showcase and communicate, fostering mutual inspiration and facilitating learning from each other’s academic achievements. through presenting their work and results, participating students engage in academic exchanges and encounters of ideas with students and teachers from different disciplinary backgrounds. this academic exchange not only promotes the collision of innovative thinking and stimulation of creativity but also offers students and teachers the opportunity to learn and grow from one another. 2.2 the integration of multidisciplinary approaches is crucial for the development and advancement of the discipline multidisciplinary integration within innovative design competitions is a critical necessity for advancing disciplinary development. in today’s intricate and ever-evolving social landscape, the reliance on a single discipline’s research and application can no longer adequately meet society’s needs and challenges. the integration of multiple disciplines facilitates cross-collaboration and knowledge sharing, thereby promoting the growth and innovation of individual fields. first and foremost, multidisciplinary integration broadens the research horizon of disciplines. each discipline possesses unique theoretical frameworks, methods, and tools. by integrating knowledge and techniques from various disciplines, a more comprehensive and profound research perspective can be achieved. for instance, when designing an urban transportation system, incorporating insights from disciplines such as urban planning, traffic engineering, and social psychology is essential to develop effective and sustainable solutions. multidisciplinary integration fosters interdisciplinary communication, cooperation, and innovative thinking, thereby propelling the advancement of each discipline. secondly, multidisciplinary integration aids in addressing complex problems. contemporary society faces multifaceted challenges that transcend the boundaries of a single discipline. through multidisciplinary integration, expertise and methodologies from diverse fields can be synergized to devise integrated and comprehensive solutions. consider the challenge of climate change, which necessitates the amalgamation of knowledge from disciplines like climate science, environmental science, and economics to formulate adaptive response strategies. multidisciplinary integration facilitates collaborative interdisciplinary work and furnishes holistic approaches to intricate problems. additionally, multidisciplinary integration nurtures innovative crossovers between disciplines. collaborations across fields often pave the way for new research areas, theoretical models, and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 102 published by scholink inc. application methods. by fusing expertise and experiences from disparate disciplines, valuable lessons can be gleaned and novel research ideas and methodologies can be sparked. for example, within the realm of biomedical engineering, combining insights from biology, engineering, and medicine has engendered innovative research endeavors in areas such as tissue engineering and biosensors. in summary, multidisciplinary integration within innovative design competitions plays a vital role in disciplinary development. it widens the research horizon, enables the resolution of complex problems, and fosters innovative cross-pollination between fields. embracing this integration is imperative to ensure progress and innovation in today’s dynamic academic landscape. 3. the practice of multidisciplinary integration in the urban water environment and water ecology creative competition 3.1 features and innovations of the water environment and water ecology creative competition under the auspices of general secretary xi jinping’s imperative to popularize scientific knowledge, enhance the overall populace’s quality, and fully harness “the hidden innovative wisdom among millions of individuals”, the water environment and water ecology branch of the china urban science research association has orchestrated the urban water environment and water ecology creative competition. its fundamental objective is to foster a scientific environment encompassing water concepts, knowledge, and actionable endeavors throughout society, thereby cultivating a collective water consciousness and forging a consensus on water-related matters. this competition distinguishes itself through its comprehensive, innovative, practical, and multidisciplinary collaborative approach, as well as its emphasis on societal engagement. by adopting this creative competition format, the event serves to advance the development of the water environment and water ecology domain, incentivize the resolution of real-world challenges, and facilitate the application and dissemination of innovative outcomes. the idea competition encompasses a broad spectrum of aspects within the realm of water environment and water ecology, spanning water resources management, water pollution control, and water ecology preservation. its objective extends beyond addressing current issues, aiming to inspire participants to propose comprehensive and systemic solutions that foster the sustainable development of the water environment and water ecology. this competition encourages innovative ideas, technologies, and methods to tackle challenges in this field. innovations can encompass novel water treatment technologies, intelligent monitoring systems, water management models, and various other domains. the format of this competition serves to stimulate participants’ creativity and innovation potential. it places a strong emphasis on practical problem-solving, underscoring the feasibility and utility of submissions. participants are required to consider factors such as technical viability, cost-effectiveness, and ease of implementation, offering concrete and actionable solutions. this practice-oriented characteristic contributes positively to the advancement of the water environment and water ecology domain. addressing water environment and water ecology challenges necessitates interdisciplinary collaboration. the competition actively encourages teams comprising participants from diverse disciplines, including www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 103 published by scholink inc. environmental science, computer science, art and design, among others. through interdisciplinary cooperation, teams can leverage their collective artistic value, environmental protection knowledge, and small-scale program design expertise. furthermore, the competition welcomes involvement from a wide range of communities, including university students, researchers, businesses, and government agencies. by fostering social participation, the competition brings together the wisdom and resources of all stakeholders, promoting the practical application and dissemination of innovative outcomes. this collaborative approach engenders a win-win situation for all parties involved. figure 1. a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to design ideas for composition 3.2 academic allocation and team building the participating teams comprised exceptional students from various colleges, namely the college of environmental science and engineering, the college of computer science, and the college of art, fostering a robust academic environment. each student assumed a distinct development task and dedicated their efforts to a corresponding technological innovation. these groups engaged in active coordination and communication to foster the amalgamation of creativity and technology, thereby facilitating efficient execution of design and innovation endeavors. figure 2. team discipline distribution construction www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 104 published by scholink inc. 3.3 effects of multidisciplinary integration the team, encompassing three disciplines: environmental engineering, computer science, and art and design, exhibited exceptional performance in the water environment and water ecology creative competition. they skillfully merged their professional knowledge and creative thinking in a multidisciplinary manner, yielding distinct and inventive solutions. amidst the participation of over 100 universities nationwide, the hubei institute of technology emerged as the national champion, marking the fourth victory for the institute following huazhong university of science and technology, sichuan university, and tsinghua university. this competition successfully facilitated the exchange and learning among multidisciplinary talents, accomplishing the objective of cross-pollination across various fields to address engineering application problems. figure 3 illustrates the flow chart of water reuse treatment. the team’s students engaged in spirited idea clashes, resulting in the fusion of multidisciplinary crossthinking. this achievement serves as a groundwork for tackling more intricate scientific challenges and even broader societal issues in the future. the integration of different disciplines not only enhances the water environment and water ecology creative competition by providing a comprehensive problemsolving perspective, but also introduces a diverse array of innovative approaches and ideas. figure 3. a multidisciplinary approach to understanding water reuse design diagrams 4. the concept of multidisciplinary integration in the realm of teaching and research disciplinary competitions serve as a significant catalyst for fostering the integration of environmental engineering majors with multiple disciplines in the realms of teaching practice and research. such competitions provide a platform for environmental engineering students to showcase and apply their comprehensive abilities. by participating in disciplinary competitions, students are tasked with the application of their environmental engineering knowledge, while also incorporating theories and methodologies from other relevant disciplines to tackle intricate problems. this interdisciplinary integration nurtures students’ capacity for integrated thinking and innovation, equipping them with the necessary skills to effectively address complex environmental challenges in practical settings. this multidisciplinary integration aligns with the current training objectives and demands of university education and employers in the field of environmental science and engineering. it also resonates with the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 105 published by scholink inc. focus of environmental science and engineering disciplinary competitions and practical teaching. furthermore, the innovative combination of professional competitions, multidisciplinary intersections, and practical teaching in the instruction of environmental science and water treatment design has yielded valuable insights and feedback for teaching practices. from a theoretical perspective, multidisciplinary integration consolidates and enriches the teaching expertise of environmental science and engineering instructors, thereby advancing their professional growth. simultaneously, it revolutionizes conventional professional classroom teaching by introducing novel ideas and methodologies, enabling teachers to accumulate and synthesize exemplary experiences and cases. this process enhances their proficiency in both classroom and practical instruction and allows them to effectively transmit these experiences and abilities to students. in practical terms, the challenges pertaining to industry-education integration and school-enterprise cooperation are addressed through research on multidisciplinary integration. the amalgamation of disciplinary competitions and interdisciplinary integration establishes a link between educational institutions and environmental engineering enterprises, as well as enterprises in other fields, fostering collaborative research and driving industrial development, resulting in a mutually beneficial outcome. moreover, this teaching practice cultivates students’ innovative thinking, collaborative abilities, and practical skills within disciplinary competitions, while also motivating disciplinary teachers to reassess their roles in classroom instruction. the aim of this study is to equip environmental science and engineering educators with the capabilities to serve as practical researchers who can effectively resolve real-world teaching issues in the field of environmental science and engineering. 5. conclusion the interdisciplinary integration-oriented creative competition on water environment and water ecology for university students endeavors to foster innovative talents equipped with comprehensive capabilities and inventive solutions to the challenges of the new era. centered around the practical application of the 4th urban water environment and water ecology creative competition, this paper amalgamates theoretical analysis to emphasize the necessity of multidisciplinary integration in creative competitions. it systematically examines the significance of adopting multidisciplinary integration in creative design competitions and outlines strategies for its implementation, along with the implications for curriculum teaching. as such, this study puts forth a novel guiding method and theoretical foundation, with the objective of establishing a creative teaching and research approach characterized by interdisciplinary, intercollegiate, and interprofessional multidisciplinary cross-pollination. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 106 published by scholink inc. acknowledgements the authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from high-level scientific research foundation for the introduction of talent (no. 18xjz03r) and regionalized environmental protection talent cultivation strategy as a school-level teaching research project of hubei polytechnic university in 2019 (2019c13). references han, s. h., & qu, q. z. (2021). research on management of marine science and technology talent ecological chain. meteorological and environmental research, 12, 26-29. han, w. j., yang, j. c., sun, y., sun, p. f., & jin, x. (2020). research and practice of cooperative teaching system for software engineering major. computer education, 12, 53-59. jiang, s. h, chi, z. x., & xu, k. (2020). characteristics of ambient air quality in the central urban area of western guizhou in the past five years. meteorological and environmental research, 11, 23-30. xu, x. f. (2014). seizing the opportunity of mooc to promote the teaching reform of computer and software engineering specialty. china university teaching, 1, 29-33. xu, x. f., & ding, x. h. (2017). exploration on the reform of new engineering talent training model for sustainable competitiveness. teaching in china university, 6, 6-12. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 125 original paper research on film title translation from the perspective of polysystem theory na yan1* 1 chongqing jiaotong university, nanan, chongqing, china * yan na, chongqing jiaotong university, nanan, chongqing, 400074, china. email: 1602423851@qq.com received: april 24, 2023 accepted: may 20, 2023 online published: june 3, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p125 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p125 abstract from the film, we can have access to the customs and cultures of all over the world, and the film title is playing a pioneering role. the more successful the title is, the more attractive it is to the audience. the translation of film titles is more dependent on by audiences in different language and in different cultural backgrounds. therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the translation of film titles. this paper intends to study the translation of film titles (chinese translation of english titles and english translation chinese titles) through polysystem theory, and find that culture is an important factor affecting the translation of film titles, in addition to political and patron factors. keywords movie title, english-chinese translation, polysystems theory, cultural differences 1. introduction as an art form, film is also an entertainment product of new demand from the public, and it is becoming more and more popular. film has a huge influence and is a creative industry consisting of politics, economy and culture. in today’s era, film is an important form of cross-cultural communication, and the cultures of various countries have spread along with the release of films in different countries. the title is the window, is the eyes of the film, through it audience can have an insight into the inner world of the film. despite only a few words, it is the guide and soul of the whole film (mao, 2012). the titles of chinese films and english films have their own characteristics and forms, but no matter what type of film titles, they have rich connotations and are the epitome of culture. at present, china advocates “going out” and advocating cultural confidence. film culture also belongs to a kind of culture, so the export of chinese films is also an important part. translation has undoubtedly played a huge role in the promotion www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 126 published by scholink inc. and introduction of chinese films. similarly, absorbing “new nutrients” from english films is also inseparable from translation, and the translation of film titles is also very important. the film title involves cultural, linguistic and social factors, and its translation is not separate from these factors. therefore, studying the translation of film titles from the perspective of polysystem theory can understand the characteristics of chinese and english film titles, reveal the factors affecting the translation of film titles, and provide some new research perspectives for the translation of film titles. 2. previous studies of the translation of film titles for the translation of film names, previous studies mainly include the following topics: the use of various theories and perspectives to explain the translation phenomenon of film names, discuss the translation standards of film names, the translation strategies and methods of film names, etc. many studies have discussed the translation of film titles using various theories and perspectives, such as he (2001), li (2002) and wang (2019). some scholars have studied the translation standards and principles of film titles. such as long (2003). in terms of the research on the translation strategies and methods of film titles, scholars have also made great achievements. such as lin (1996), mao (2012) and xiao (2019). according to the literature collection, the author found that the research on film titles mostly focuses on the above three themes. in addition, there are also some scattered studies, such as jose santaemilia and pardo (1994), which pays attention to the program of english film translation. the research perspectives are gradually diversified, and the research methods are mostly deduction to illustrate their own views, and few use polysystem theory to study the translation of film titles. what is more noteworthy is that scholars pay more attention to the chinese translation of english film titles and ignore the english translation of chinese film titles. therefore, this study attempts to explore the embodiment and role of polysystem theory in film title translation (english translation of chinese film titles and chinese translation of english film title) to enrich the research in this field. 3. the influence of multivariate system theory on film titles 3.1 polysystem theory polysystem theory was proposed by itamar even-zohar, who first proposed the “polysystem theory”, which combines translation and translation with the cultural context, social conditions, politics and many other factors that arise and are read (li, 2007). zohar believes that “system” is to reveal a fact, language, literature, culture, society, “human communication dominated by symbols”, “systems rather than a mixture of unrelated elements to fully understand and study”; “pluralism” is to abandon saussure’s static structural view and advocate “regard symbol system as a heterogeneous and open structure” (itamar, 2002). introduce polysystem theory into translation research helps to better understanding of translation, “polysystem theory breakthrough to a single text static, isolated temporal research method to measure the limitations of the early translation research school, and the translation research in a larger cultural www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 127 published by scholink inc. environment to dynamic, systematic research, to broaden the vision of translation research” (zhang, 2005). translation involves many factors, such as language, culture, politics and society, and the translation of film title is also a kind of translation. therefore, this paper intends to use the polysystem theory to study the translation of film title. 3.2 characteristics of the chinese and english film titles chinese film titles mostly use idioms or four-character words, and some even directly borrow historical allusions, such as《霸王别姬》,《卧虎藏龙》,《洞房花烛》,《马路天使》,《万家灯火》. four-word phrase is the accumulation of people’s long-term social and cultural life, which is a conventional form of language. it has a concise and comprehensive rhetorical effect, rich in the charm of traditional chinese culture (feng, 2010). therefore, when the english movie name is translated into chinese, translating it into four-character words can reflect the traditional chinese culture and attract the attention of chinese audiences. for example, gone with the wind (《乱世佳人》), random harvest (《鸳梦重温》), flipped (《怦然心动》) and so on. these translations are simple and clear, and full of charm. the title of chinese films also has a feature, that is, the beauty of artistic conception, which refers to the aesthetic realm of meaning and environment, feeling and scene, heart and things blend, and can make the audience have a certain association, such as《桃李劫》,《大红灯笼高高挂》,《花样年华》and so on. such a traditional chinese aesthetics, chinese audiences under the influence of five thousand years of culture will always be attracted by, so the translation of english title also highlights the artistic beauty. for example, waterloo bridge (《魂断蓝桥》), hilary and jackie (《她比烟花更寂寞》), ghost (《人鬼情未了》), lolita (《一树梨花压海棠》) and so on. one of the major features of the english film title is it usually uses the name of the protagonist of the film story, which is simple and convenient, such as rebecca, thelma and louise, malena, shane, patton, etc., and the name of the male/heroine is directly used as the name of the film, which can show the hero of the film to the audience to the fastest limit. the translation of these titles into chinese often adds chinese romanticism, such as rebecca into《蝴蝶梦》and thelma and louise into《末路狂花》. like chinese titles, english titles use idioms and allusions with the brand of british and american culture. in terms of religion, people in british and american countries mostly believe in christianity, which has a great influence on the title of english films. a large number of english allusions come from the bible, christianity and myths, which play a considerable role in the formation of english titles (feng, 2010). for example, in the 1995 thriller seven, the plot revolves around the seven original sin of catholic doctrine. the number “seven” is very mysterious in religion, which is the most common number in the bible. for example, god used seven days to make adam and removed adam’s seventh rib to make eve. in this film, the “seven” is also everywhere: seven crimes, seven penalties, seven rain and so on. therefore, just translating “seven” into “七” cannot reflect the specific information of the film, and the chinese audiences cannot understand the implied cultural factors. another film adam’s rib, this word which is actually derived from the bible genesis, where god created eve with his seventh rib and married www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 128 published by scholink inc. them. the film tells the story of a couple, a prosecutor and a defense lawyer, and adam’s rib actually refers to a man’s wife. 3.3 factors that influence the translation of film titles 3.3.1 the english translation of the chinese film titles one of the major factors that affects the english translation of chinese film names is the differences between chinese and western cultures. because of the differences between chinese and western cultures, this factor needs to be considered in translation to make the western audience not confused. as mentioned above, some titles of chinese films use four-character words, some contain chinese allusions, and some create a kind of artistic conception. however, when translating them, we should also take into account whether western audiences can understand these titles containing traditional chinese culture. 《梅兰芳》, directed by chen kaige, tells the legendary life of mei lanfang, a peking opera master. the chinese title is titled《梅兰芳》. because most of the chinese audiences have heard of mei and feature the main characters of the film, most chinese audiences can know what story the film is about to tell. however, the english version title is not so, it highlights the main idea of the film rather than the main characters, forever enthralled reflects mei lanfang’s exquisite acting and personality charm, but also vaguely contains the audience’s obsession with him. the film《东邪西毒》is adapted from jin yong’s famous novel “legend of the condor heroes”. in the novel, “dongxie” refers to huang yaoshi and “xidu” refers to ouyang feng. the film tells the story of these people. chinese audiences view the title, most can know what the content of the film is involved, so the “dongxie xidu” highlights the main characters of the film. however, the title of the english translation does not directly translate it, because foreigners do not understand. ashes of the times actually shows the connotation that the film wants to express, suggesting that everything will pass with time. when the title《唐山大地震》comes, chinese audiences will be drawn into the fear and grief of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in tangshan in 1976. the title describes the location of the story and recalls the pain of the disaster. the short five characters contain too much. if its english name is translated as tangshan earthquake, first of all, foreign audiences may not know tangshan, second, because the core of the film is not only to show people’s vulnerability in the face of disaster, but also pay attention to how people let go and get rid of the shackles of the soul after the disaster. the word “aftershock” highlights the core of the film well, because “shock” is a pun, both referring to an earthquake and a heavy blow and shock people suffered. look at the film《刮痧》, with the misunderstanding of traditional chinese medicine scraping therapy as the main line, tells the story of chinese people in foreign countries due to the conflict between the eastern and western cultures, and finally because of people’s sincerity and love, the dilemma was broken through. its english translation is called the treatment, and many treatment techniques actually belong to the category of “treatment”, and scraping therapy is certainly no exception. while foreigners do not understand this treatment, this purpose-oriented translation also helps the audience to grasp the core and essence of the word. in addition to the connotation of the film title, the english translation of the chinese film title can sometimes quote or imitate the sayings that have appeared in british and american culture, such as the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 129 published by scholink inc. title of a famous book, the name of an english film, or a certain allusion. for example, in the film《大 话西游之月光宝盒》and《大话西游之仙履奇缘》, the former english translation is called a chinese odyssey part one: pandoras box, while the latter continues in form: a chinese odyssey part two: cinderella. the english translation of both films treats “大话西游” into “chinese odyssey”. because of the differences between chinese and western cultures, western audiences cannot understand the meaning of a chinese odyssey, and the word is difficult to handle. compared with direct translation, borrowing “odyssey” can make western audiences “empathy” to some extent, because the odyssey from homeric epic now refers to major works of fantasy and adventure. for example, in the english translation of wang jing’s《有情饮水饱》, love my, love my money firstly makes people think of the english proverb “love me, love my dog”, which is quite comic. the english translation of《黄飞鸿》by tsui hark once upon a time in china uses the english film title once upon a time in america (feng, 2015). chinese film titles are also influenced by their sponsors when translated in english. for example, the film farewell my concubine, directed by chen kaige, centering on the joys and sorrows of two peking opera singers for half a century, shows the thinking and understanding of traditional culture, people’s living state and human nature. the chinese title is taken from the soul plot of the film—《霸王别姬》 by the main character, which is also an allusion in ancient china. the english translation is farelwell my concubine, which to some extent is the meaning, but the beauty and artistic conception are greatly reduced. australian translator and sinologist linda jaivin mentioned the title translation of farewell my concubine in an interview. she mentioned that “the translation of the title was not done by me”, but the english title “farewell, my concubine” was decided before i started translating. when i received the translation work, the first question was to ask the director if i could change the translation name. the director said no. i just talked about that when translating, excepting text, translators are often limited in film directors (jin, 2013). this is actually a typical example of a patron’s influence and manipulation of translation. 3.3.2 chinese translation of the english film title in the process of translating english film titles into chinese, cultural factors should not be underestimated. chinese expression is implicit and graceful, with obvious ideology, with a unique charm of chinese culture. the film waterloo bridge was translated into《魂断蓝桥》, which was once named the best chinese title in a foreign film. if the original title is directly translated, it is the “滑铁卢桥”. in reality, this is a bridge across the river thames in london, and the place of the hero and heroine in the film. and two words “魂断” are not difficult to understand, which is obviously to say a love story of sad feelings. the wonderful thing is “蓝”(blue), which describes the night when they met, fell in love and broke up, while “blue” is more meaning “sad” in english. the translator’s translation of the title not only suits the content of the film, but also reflects the tragic color of the original film, which is appropriate (long, 2003). on the cultural level, “the translator flexibly borrowed the legend of the ‘blue bridge meeting’ with chinese national cultural characteristics” (bao, 2001), which makes it easier to be accepted and understood by the chinese audience. the chinese translation of the film lolita is《一树梨花压海棠》, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 130 published by scholink inc. the original title is named after the main character of the film. this film describes the secret love between the university professor humbert and the 12-year-old girl lolita. and “a tree pear pressure begonia” is a poem by su shi, he used the poem “十八新娘八十郎, 苍苍白发对红妆. 鸳鸯被里成双夜, 一树梨花 压海棠” to ridicule his good friend and poet zhang xian in the northern song dynasty, he married an 18-year-old concubine when 80 years old. pear, is old; begonia is delicate and charming. the word “梨 花” and “海棠” refers to “old people” and “beauty”, and the word “压” connects the two realms, which points out the theme of incest (wen, 2007). it has to admit that this poem is really in line with lolita’s plot. this highly naturalized translation method allows language to naturally follow the common world and be more acceptable to the local people. when english films are introduced to china, there will also be a number of translated titles, especially in chinese mainland, hong kong and taiwan. both taiwan and hong kong have been part of china since ancient times, although due to historical reasons, there are little cultural exchange across the taiwan straits, including films, for quite a long time. however, the translation of the english titles of the two sides, with the same way of thinking and cultural basis, the two sides and regions are mostly the same (mao, 2002). however, there are still differences, some of which are even huge, including political and cultural factors and patron factors that affect the translation of films. after the return of hong kong, although chinese was defined as one of the official languages of hong kong, cantonese was still widely used, so the pronunciation of transliteration of human names and place names, chinese and cantonese are not the same. the taiwan region has been separated from the mainland for a long time, and the cultural differences are increasing, which also causes the differences in transliteration. for example, film american beauty’s translation in mainland, hong kong and taiwan are 《美国丽人》,《美丽有罪》and《美国心玫瑰情》; film jfk translated into《肯尼迪》,《惊天大刺 杀》and《谁杀了甘乃迪》respectively. it can be seen that the translation of hong kong is more colloquial, the taiwan translation is more literary and the mainland translation is more inclined to adopt literal translation. after the founding of the people’s republic of china, for a long time, western films failed to enter the mainland market, and the titles of mainland translated english films were influenced by political decisions. under lenin’s guidance of “of all the arts, film is the most important to us,” film was not a profitable tool, or merely an entertainment, but rather a tool to “unite the people, educate the people, fight and destroy the enemy”. in this case, the translator’s personal preferences are suppressed, and the translation of the film titles is also controlled by the dominant political ideology (sun, 2012). however, some classic films have moved to hong kong, and the previous ancient translation school, such as the school of mandarin duck and butterfly. most of these films are from the 1930s to the 1990s, focusing on touching love or stirring stories, and the old translations are both implicit and imaginative. some like seven words,《春花秋月不了情》of 1965 (film darling),《仙乐飘飘处处闻》of 1980 (film the sound of music),《风流剑客走天涯》of 1963 (film tom jones), etc. after the cultural revolution, the mainland’s restrictions on foreign films were loosened, but films containing violence, pornography, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 131 published by scholink inc. religion and politics were excluded, which to some extent led to different names in the three places. in the mainland, due to policy reasons, film distribution companies are still more or less ideologically constrained in the translation, and the translation of film titles should conform to the politics, morality and culture of the mainland. in hong kong, film is a tool to make money, and film companies are sponsors of film and are more concerned about financial interests. in taiwan, the film regulator is the government information office. it is responsible for film production, imported films, etc., and is the patron of films, serving the society, but due to taiwan’s social system, film companies are also sponsors. this phenomenon makes taiwan’s translated film titles sometimes focus on politics and sometimes on economic interests (sun, 2012). the influence of the patron has also led to the different translation of english film titles between the mainland, taiwan and hong kong. 4. conclusion the film title is an important line of defense to attract the audience, and the audience can know something from the title, and the more successful the title is, the more audience it can attract. for a medium quality film, the translation itself is aesthetic and serves as a “guide” (he, 1997). nowadays, all parts of the world are in a situation of mutual influence and common development. we can understand western culture from many aspects, such as film, and if chinese culture wants to go out, if chinese films want to go out, translation is impossible not to involve. this paper tries to explain the factors affecting the translation of film titles (the chinese translation of english film titles and the english translation of chinese films) according to the polysystem theory. through the analysis of the translated names of multiple film titles, this paper finds that the english film titles are concise, mostly using the names of the protagonist, and some have the color of religious culture. chinese film titles mostly use idioms or four words, which is full of artistic conception. among the many factors, culture is the most influential factor in the translation of film titles, as well as the political and patron factors. reference bao, h. (2001). cultural context and language translation. beijing: china foreign translation and publishing company. feng, q., & hong, d. (2015). rhetoric transformation and the english translation of the chinese film title. journal of pla foreign languages college, 4, 113-119. feng, w. (2010). chinese and western film title comparison and translation. film literature, 8, 141-142. he, y. (1997). problems and countermeasures in the current translation name of western films. chinese translator journal, 4, 42-44. he, y. (2001). theory and methods for the translation of movie titles. foreign language teaching, 1, 56-60. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 132 published by scholink inc. itamar, e. z. (2002). multivariate system theory. nanfeng zhang, in translation. chinese translator journal, 4, 20. jin, h. (2013). from farewell my concubine to the grandmaster—linda jaivin interview. chinese translator journal, 34(4), 65-67. li, j. (2007). the translation and study of multiple systems theory in china. journal of southwest jiaotong university (social science edition), 6, 62-68. li, q. (2002). title translation subverts the “faithful”—current situation and theoretical basis in film title translation. journal of beijing international studies university, 5, 41-45. lin, q. (1996). a brief discussion on the translation of foreign film titles. shanghai science and technology translation, 3, 13-16. long, q. (2003). and talk on the requirements of film translation for translators. journal of xi’an international studies university, 3, 22-24. mao, f. (2002). translation comparison of titles of foreign language films in both sides and three places. journal of xi’an foreign studies university, 4, 19-23. mao, m. (2012). the national saying meaning in the title translation. shanghai journal of translators, 2, 36-40. ruiz, j. s., & pardo, b. s. (1994). translating film titles: quentin tarantino, on difference and globalisation, 60(2), 193-215. https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.60.2.04rui sun, g. (2012). research on chinese translation of english movie ames from the perspective of multiple systems theory. northwest normal university. wang, y. (2019). take the chinese translation of the english film name as an example. shanghai journal of translators, 3, 7-12. wen, h. (2007). from normalization to alienation—film title translation. journal of hunan university of science and technology, 2, 177-180. xiao, j. (2019). factors and principles of movie title translation. film review, 8, 103-106. zhang, q. (2005). on the inadequacy of the explanatory power of multiple system theory to literary translation. journal of sichuan university of foreign studies, 1, 100-103. https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.60.2.04rui education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper a comparative study of move analysis in chinese and international research article abstracts haixu li1*, mei wang1 & lehua zhang1 1 school of foreign studies, hebei university, baoding, china * haixu li, school of foreign studies, hebei university, baoding, china received: march 5, 2023 accepted: march 22, 2023 online published: march 31, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p1 abstract to raise the authors’ awareness of using the moves and move models in abstract writing, this study compares the frequency, type, and significant difference of moves and move models in 100 abstracts written in english by chinese scholars and 100 abstracts written by international scholars in 10 prestigious international journals in the field of linguistics. the adapted hyland’s five-move model was used as research framework, corpus and statistic software spss were used as research instruments. the comparisons report that chinese scholars tend to use introduction, result, and conclusion moves. international scholars are inclined to use purpose, method, result, and conclusion moves. the results also indicate that the four-move model is the most prevalent in the two groups. chinese scholars used the two-move model more than the english authors whereas used the five-move model less than the international authors. the findings are intended to provide referential value for the writing and teaching of english for academic purposes. keywords comparative study, academic papers, move, move model, abstract 1. introduction research article abstracts are vital component to announce research findings (tanko, 2017). the abstract influences whether the reader will have a further reading and refer to the literature. the credibility of the text not only depends on the rationality of the scientific findings but also lies in the persuasive power of the authors’ expression in explaining the arguments (jiang & hyland, 2020). while writing the abstracts, researchers’ discourse awareness can be strengthened by understanding the general norm of moves. recent years have seen renewed interest in corpus-based move analysis in research article abstracts with the high-speed development of corpus technology. firstly, the researchers www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 2 published by scholink inc. compared the moves of research articles in different disciplines (mohd, 2016; darabad, 2016). secondly, the researchers conducted cross-language comparative studies in concert discipline (li & josta, 2011; qian & luo, 2014; amnuai, 2019). thirdly, researchers also compared the research article moves in different universities or authors in different learning stages (behnam & zamanian, 2013; dina, 2018). on the one hand, the current studies show little scholarly attention in the abstracts of core linguistic journals in china and the international linguistic area. on the other hand, data gathered from different databases will result in distinct conclusions. therefore, it deserves to have further research. given the consensus that moves play positive roles in abstract writing, this paper analyzes the differences and shared characteristics of english abstracts in chinese and international linguistic journals, which hopes to enrich the empirical studies in this research field. 2. theoretical framework the most important and valuable information of a complete research is conveyed in the abstract part. it is an information reference for specialists to decide whether the article have the qualification to enter the intended journals. the five-move model is a significant analytical framework that hyland (2004) introduced. it proves a comprehensive framework, which includes the introduction (i), purpose (p), method (m), result (pr), and conclusion (c). this model was based on the results of a systematic analysis of 800 abstracts from eight disciplines in the natural and social sciences. given its strong applicability, this paper considers using hylands’ five-move model as the analytical framework. in some academic papers, owing to the limitations of abstract writing rules established by some journals, moves can be embedded in a sentence containing two or more moves (kaya, 2020). therefore, embedded moves can be formed. this study merges the embedded move into hyland’s five-move model to construct the new analytic framework. the contents are as followed: table 1. the adaption of hyland’s five-move model in article abstracts moves functions introduction establish the context of the paper and motivates the research or discussion. purpose indicates purpose, thesis, or hypothesis, and outlines the intention behind the paper. method provides information on design, procedures, assumptions, approach, data, etc. result states main finding on or results, the argument, or what was accomplished. conclusion interprets or extends results beyond the scope, draws inferences, and points to applications or wider implications. embedded move occurs when a single sentence contains a more than one move www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 3 published by scholink inc. 3. research design 3.1 research questions the present study aims to respond to the following four research questions via the analysis of the core journal abstracts in the field of chinese and english linguistics: (1) what is the frequency and percentage in the use of moves in english abstracts of chinese and international linguistic journals? (2) are there any significant differences in the use of moves in english abstracts of chinese and international linguistic journals? (3) what are the most frequently used moves model in english abstracts of chinese and international linguistic journals? (4) what’s the popular move models’ number in english abstracts of chinese and international linguistic journals? 3.2 data analysis and research procedures this paper collected the english abstracts of chinese and international core linguistics journals as the research data. two small corpora were built, namely, chinese english abstract corpus (ceac) and english abstract corpus (eac, english abstract corpus). the chinese data derives from cnki (china knowledge infrastructure), which are the linguistics abstracts in the realm of foreign languages and literature. the english data emanates from the core collection of the wos (web of science). two kinds of data are both from prestigious journals in the field of linguistics. the genre of research articles is empirical study. regarding the method of data selection, 10 journals were chosen from each database and 10 abstracts were taken from each journal. eventually, 200 abstracts were collected which includes 100 abstracts from international journals and 100 abstracts from chinese journals. to eliminate the influence of publication time, all abstracts were selected from july 2021 to july 2022. table 2 displays the source journals. to enhance the accuracy, the english abstracts in chinese were written by chinese authors, and international journals were written by native speakers. table 2. sources of chinese and international journals chinese journal international journal foreign language world applied linguistics journal of foreign languages language learning foreign language education language teaching foreign languages in china brain and language foreign language research journal of pragmatics modern foreign languages modern language journal technology enhanced foreign language education studies in second language acquisition www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 4 published by scholink inc. foreign language teaching and research corpus linguistics and linguistic theory foreign languages and their teaching bilingualism-language and cognition journal of pla university of foreign languages computer-assisted language learning the data was processed by manually analyzing and annotating. the content of the annotation includes two aspects, each move of hyland’s five-move model and the embedded moves (i.e., “mp”). since the analysis of abstracts moves will be affected by contextual factors, it is therefore that the annotation was conducted manually and retrieved through the antconc software. the first researcher annotated the moves in chinese core journals. the second researcher annotated the moves in international journals. the third researcher checked the moves of both language journals based on the annotation results. finally, the three researchers agreed on the results. we performed chi-square test to examine the significant differences in the frequencies and percentages of each move by using the data analysis software spss statistic 26. 4. results and discussion 4.1 frequency distribution of moves in chinese and international abstracts in the process of move annotation, a sentence or a group of sentences that express the same communicative purpose is identified as a move. the moves are mainly presented in sentence units. when a single sentence has a concatenation of move is called an embedded move. for example, the phenomenon can be seen when the research method is embedded into the research purpose. embedded moves occur when a single sentence contains more than one move, such as when the method move is embedded in the purpose move. when the main moves cannot be identified, it is considered that there are two moves. the frequency and percentage of each move in the two corpora are tallied and the findings are displayed in table 3. table 3. frequency and percentage of research article moves moves ceac freq pct(%) eac freq pct(%) introduction 53 53% 48 48% purpose 33 33% 77 77% method 21 21% 64 64% result 89 89% 97 97% conclusion 66 66% 55 55% embedded move 60 60% 14 14% www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 5 published by scholink inc. the results demonstrate that it exists 8% five-move model in the english abstracts of chinese journals. conversely, the percentage of the five-move model is 17% in international journals. it shows that the five-move model is employed more frequently in the abstract writing of international scholars. table 3 presents the frequency distribution of each concrete move. it can be certified that chinese authors are attentive to the use of the introduction, result, and conclusion moves. the international scholars emphasized the purpose, method, result, and conclusion moves. the shared traits of the two groups are to present the research results, which remains the prominent task of abstracts. this finding indicates that the research results are attractive to researchers. it allows the reader to quickly judge if the research can meet the readers’ academic needs and thus proceed to have a further reading. it is worthwhile to mention that the regular and optional moves can be identified through the analysis of moves frequency (suntara & siriluck, 2013). when the frequency of a move is more than 60%, it is considered a regular move. on the contrary, it is regarded as optional move when the percentage is less than 60% (kanoksilapatham, 2005). via investigation, the regular moves in chinese journals are result, purpose, and embedded moves and in international journals are purpose, method, and result moves. given the restricted length of the research article, researchers often shorten their abstracts by two means. the authors merge and remove some moves to maximize the finite space. the one is to eliminate the background information or the introduction part. the other is to merge the single move to form embedded moves. a variety of move models are generated in this process. as shown in table 3, chinese authors prefer to use embedded moves to account for the research method and the research purpose which have been attributed to the differences in language expressions and requirements of different languages. “mp” is used to indicate the combination of research method and the research purpose. the percentage of mp in chinese core linguistics journals reach 60%. the use of embedded moves causes a low percentage of the purpose and method moves in chinese journals. by examining the embedded move, we observe that method moves in both chinese and international journals frequently embed into the purpose move. the main clause falls on the purpose move and regards the purpose of the study as the center of the sentence, it can be seen in the following example: through conversation analysis, we explore how open dialogue practitioners in a danish mental health hospital articulate their own experiences as indicative of a client’s inner states, an interactional practice defined here broadly as empathic “my side tellings” [mp]. taken together, the research article moves in the abstracts of chinese and foreign academic journals are dominated by the purpose, method, and conclusion moves. the comparison of the two groups is consistent with the findings of pho’s study (2008) in the abstracts of applied linguistics and educational technology. that is to introduce the purpose, describe the method, and state the results are necessary moves in an english abstract. moreover, the results of this study lend support to the research findings of sidek, matsaad, and idris (2016) on conference proceedings abstracts in linguistics and applied linguistics, which demonstrates that purpose, method, and result move are the most popular. however, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 6 published by scholink inc. what contract with sidek and his companies’ study is on the construction of the move, which mainly embodies on the important influence of the embedded move. this inconsistency may be caused by the cross-cultural differences in language organization, the differences in writers’ writing culture, and the context and requirements of different journals. 4.2 the differences analysis of moves in chinese and international abstracts the chi-square test, which is used to examine the significant difference in two groups of data, is a widely used hypothesis test method (yu & he, 2003, pp. 311-351). in this paper, we used the chi-square test to examine whether there has a significant difference in the frequencies of the annotation results. the chi-square test in spss software is employed to analyze whether there are any statistically significant differences between ceac and eac. table 4. the results of the chi-square test moves x2 df sig introduction 0.898 1 0.343 purpose 0.427 1 0.514 method 0.327 1 0.568 result 0.004 1 0.952 conclusion 0.016 1 0.898 embedded move 0.233 1 0.630 table 4 contains the supporting data in statistical results. notwithstanding the frequency of moves is obviously different, what is surprising is that the chi-square test findings indicate that the p value of each move in is over 0.05, which indicates that there is no significant relationship between the moves in the chinese and international abstracts. in statistics, there is now broad consensus that there is a significant difference when p>0.05 and that there is no significant relationship between the two groups of data when p<0.05. despite the study’s findings showed a considerable difference in each move’s frequency, there is no statistically significant correlation. it shows that the groups are are incline to comply the prevalent general standards while writing their academic abstracts and adhered to the standard guidelines in the writing process. 4.3 the popular move models in chinese and international abstracts concerning the move model is another essential argument in present study. the results of applying the move model in both corpora are shown via the retrieval by antconc. another important aspect in the current paper is related to the prevalent move model. the retrieval and manual counting results in the use of the move model in two corpora are displayed in figure 1: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 7 published by scholink inc. 23% 7% 14% 5%16% 8% 5% 8% 14% ceac i-mp-pr-c p-m-pr-c mp-pr-c p-pr-c mp-pr i-mp-pr i-p-pr-c i-p-m-pr-c others 6% 13% 17% 6% 5%18% 15% 15% 5% eac i-mp-pr-c i-p-m-pr i-p-m-pr-c i-p-pr-c mp-pr-c others p-m-pr p-m-pr-c p-pr-c figure 1. the frequency of move model in ceae and eac as shown in figure 1, the abstracts of chinese and international linguistics core journals show varied move models. there are 15 and 12 kinds of move models in the chinese and international journals respectively. the chinese journal contains all the types of move models in the english journal. variation rates of the generic structure were 15% and 12%. the most frequently used move model in english abstracts of chinese journals are i-mp-pr-c, mp-pr, and mp-pr-c. in the meanwhile, the highest frequency of move models in english linguistics abstracts are i-p-m-pr-c, p-m-pr-c, and p-m-pr. subsequently, the move models with embedded moves in chinese abstracts are far more than the international abstract. because of the simplicity of language, the requirements of different journals, and the different expression habits of chinese and native speakers, chinese scholars tended to use embedded moves in move models to express the whole meaning by using the most concise vocabularies and sentences. they were inclined to embed the research method into the research purpose, combine the methods with the research question, or embed the method move into the result move. foreign scholars show a tendency to write abstracts based on hyland’s five-move analytical framework, omit the introductory part of the background information, or draw broader conclusions over the research results. it is worthwhile to point out that move analysis includes the phenomenon of moves’ reversed ordering. move inversion aims to reverse the conventional order of moves in academic writing (cai & han, 2015). the inverse order of moves is mostly expressed as the advance of method and purposes moves. for instance, the move model “p-i-m-pr” put the purpose move ahead. this manifestation intends to stress and state the purpose of the study at the beginning of the abstract to attract the reader’s attention. the inverse structure is to skip the introduction of background information and present the purpose of the study directly. the merit is to save the readers’ time and energy, the drawback is that it seems to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 8 published by scholink inc. cause the absence of information in the presentation of abstracts. in addition, the repetition of moves is one of the main reasons to change the order of moves, which is manifested by the repetition of introduction, method, and result moves. this approach can demonstrate the variety of the research content or the systematic use of the research methods, but it also has the disadvantage to make the reader feel redundant. hence, rationalizing the distribution of move is not a simple task. 4.4 the analysis of move number in chinese and international journals the examination of the moves in abstracts demonstrates that neither national nor international publications write abstracts merely using one move. two, three, four, or five-move models are used frequently. the specific results are shown in table 5: table 5. the results of move number model move number ceac freq pct(%) eac freq pct(%) two-move 19 18% 5 48% three-move 34 34% 37 37% four-move 39 39% 41 41% five-move 8 8% 17 17% the frequency of the two-move model in english abstracts of chinese journals is much higher than in english journals. the main two-move model is “mp-pr”, which is composed of two embedded moves. it merges the method with purpose moves and combines the purpose with the results. according to statistics, the two-move model emerges four times more frequently in chinese journals than in english journals. the frequency of three and four-move in chinese and international journals abstracts are balanced. most of the three or four-move involves the embedded move or eliminate specific move in hyland’s five-move model. put it briefly, three-move and four-move were most frequently used in the abstracts of academic publications in the fields of chinese and english linguistics, and they take up the highest percentage. the two-move models were frequently used in chinese journals, and the five-move can be found more frequently in the abstracts of international journals. 5. conclusion abstracts can be regarded as an academic card to present the research content from the introduction to the conclusion by using the expression as concise as possible within the limited framework. this study collects the abstracts of academic papers in chinese and foreign linguistics journals as linguistic data, uses adapted hyland’s five-move model as the analytic framework, and adopts corpus and statistical software spss statistics 26 as the research tools. the quantitative method is used to present the frequency distribution of results and the qualitative method is employed to explain the reasons. the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 9 published by scholink inc. findings show that there are shared traits and differences in the use of research article moves and the move models in the two groups. the shared characteristic is that two groups of scholars use the three or four-move model most frequently. the differences are mainly embodied in two aspects. one is the difference in the frequency of move use in chinese and international journals, whereas it has no statistically significant relationship. the other is the difference in the popular move model, i-mp-pr-c, mp-pr, and mp-pr-c prove the prominent move model of english abstracts in chinese journals while the popular move models in abstracts of international journals are i-p-m-pr-c, p-m-pr-c and p-m-pr. one possible implication of this study intends to provide a reference for researchers to read and write english abstracts quickly and effectively. this article also hopes to provide pedagogical insights. admittedly, the limitation of this study is that the research data is finite and the types of research articles are empirical studies. given these limitations, this study suggests collecting more extensive data and various genres of research articles in future studies. references amnuai, w. (2019). analyses of rhetorical moves and linguistic realizations in accounting research article abstracts published in international and thai-based journals. sage open, 9(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018822384 behnam, b., & zamanian, j. (2013). genre analysis of oxford and tabriz applied linguistics research article abstracts: from move structure to transitivity analysis. journal of applied linguistics, 6(12), 41-59. cai, y. l., & han, f. j. (2015). a comparative study of the unconventional moves in chinese and english academic abstracts-illustrated by the empirical academic papers of language teaching. journal of henan university of technology (social science edition), 11(1), 126-131. darabad, a. m. (2016). move analysis of research article abstracts: a cross disciplinary study. international journal of linguistics, 8(2), 125-140. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijl.v8i2.9379 dina, a. s. e. (2018). comparative genre analysis of research article abstracts in more and less prestigious journals: linguistics journals in focus. research in language, 16(1), 47-63. https://doi.org/10.2478/rela-2018-0002 feng, j., & hyland, k. (2020). interactional metadiscourse: argument and persuasion in changing academic contexts. foreign language education, 41(2), 23-28. hyland, k. (2004). disciplinary discourses: social interaction in academic writing. ann arbor: the university of michigan press. kanoksilapatham, b. (2005). rhetorical studies of biochemistry research articles. english for specific purposes, 24, 269-292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2004.08.003 kaya, f., & yağız, o. (2020). move analysis of research article abstracts in the field of elt: a comparative study. journal of language and linguistic studies, 16(1), 390-404. https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.712854 https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018822384 https://doi.org/10.5296/ijl.v8i2.9379 https://doi.org/10.2478/rela-2018-0002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2004.08.003 https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.712854 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 10 published by scholink inc. li, p., & van rij-heyligers, j. (2011). a corpus-based comparative study in genre analysis of academic papers. journal of xi’an international studies university, 19(1), 39-44. mohd, sidek, s., saad, n., baharun, h., & idrus, m. (2016). an analysis of rhetorical moves in abstracts for conference proceedings. international e-journal of advances in social sciences, 2(4), 24-31. https://doi.org/10.18769/ijasos.80136 pho, p. d. (2008). research article abstracts in applied linguistics and educational technology: a study of linguistic realizations of rhetorical structure and authorial stance. discourse studies, 10, 231-250. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445607087010 qian, d. x., & luo, y. (2014). a corpus-based comparative study of moves in the abstracts of research papers. journal of university of science and technology beijing (social sciences edition), 30(2), 12-17. suntara, w., & siriluck, u. (2013). research article abstracts in two related disciplines: rhetorical variation between linguistics and applied linguistics. english language teaching, 6(2),84-99. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n2p84 tanko, g. (2017). literary research article abstracts: an analysis of rhetorical. journal of english for academic purposes, 27, 42-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2017.04.003 https://doi.org/10.18769/ijasos.80136 https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445607087010 https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n2p84 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2017.04.003 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 137 original paper the application and impact of artificial intelligence in international chinese language education: a case study of chatgpt lin wang1* 1 xi’an peihua university, xi’an, china * lin wang, xi’an peihua university, shenhe 3rd road, changan district, xi’an, 710100, shaanxi province, china received: july 17, 2023 accepted: august 6, 2023 online published: august 25, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n3p137 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n3p137 abstract this paper aims to explore how artificial intelligence technology plays a role in the field of international chinese language education and its impact on chinese teaching and learning. taking chatgpt as an example, this paper introduces its principle, function and advantages, analyzes its application scenarios and effects in chinese education, discusses its possible challenges and problems, as well as its future development direction and suggestions. this paper argues that chatgpt is a natural language generation technology based on deep learning, which can generate smooth, logical and emotional chinese conversations based on user input. chatgpt can provide diversified, personalized and interactive learning resources and teaching aids in international chinese education, which is helpful to improve the quality and efficiency of chinese teaching, stimulate learners’ learning motivation and interest, and promote cross-cultural communication and understanding. at the same time, chatgpt also has some technical limitations and hidden dangers in social ethics. it is necessary to arouse the attention and vigilance of teachers and learners, reasonably regulate and use the technology, and ensure the healthy development of data security and man-machine relationship. this paper hopes to provide some reference and inspiration for the application of artificial intelligence technology in international chinese education. keywords international chinese language education, intelligence technology, chatgpt, teachers and learners www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 138 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction the new coronavirus epidemic in 2020 has accelerated the new trend of ubiquitous learning and remote teaching as a supplement to the reform of global chinese education and teaching and promoted the modernization process of chinese teachers around the world using digital educational technology as a tool for knowledge dissemination. online and remote teaching has become the main way of international chinese language education. in the post-epidemic era, chinese teaching presents new characteristics, including the popularization of online teaching, emphasizing the practicality of language, personalized teaching, and multicultural teaching. chinese teaching is developing towards a more flexible, practical, rich, and diversified direction. online chinese teaching has been widely used. many schools use online teaching platforms to carry out teaching activities, such as tencent conference, wechat, zoom and so on. this teaching mode not only brings great convenience to the course teaching, but also enables students to choose the time and place of class more flexibly, which has a continuous impact on the teaching methods and methods. the development of artificial intelligence technology, especially the emergence of chatgpt (chat generative pre-trained transformer), has attracted wide attention and discussion from all walks of life. the field of international chinese education is also actively exploring and thinking about how to use artificial intelligence technology to better carry out chinese teaching. 2. a review of the application of computer technology in international chinese language education 2.1 the development process of artificial intelligence technology in international chinese language education artificial intelligence technology can be said to be a product of the development of information technology to a certain stage. the achievements of educational technology applied to chinese teaching are obvious to all. the development of chinese education technology has always been in line with the rhythm of the application of emerging technologies in the field of education, and its representative research results can be compared with foreign language education technology. since the beginning of the 21st century, the influence and role of information technology on chinese teaching are expanding in an all-round and multi-angle way. the role of information technology has changed or is changing from the surface auxiliary means to the deep basic form and dominant force, which should be paid attention to. at the beginning of the application of information technology in chinese teaching, it is mainly reflected in multimedia teaching and radio teaching, among which multimedia teaching is more reflected in the wide use of tapes and slide machines. multimedia teaching combines text, pictures, audio and video and other forms to present students with more dynamic and intuitive teaching content, and vividly presents chinese teaching content to students, which improves students’ interest in learning and learning effect. teachers can use multimedia teaching software to make a variety of voice, images, animation, and other teaching resources to help students better understand chinese language and culture. radio teaching breaks the limitation of time and space, provides rich educational resources, saves education cost and improves www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 139 published by scholink inc. learning effect. another important manifestation of the auxiliary role of information technology in chinese teaching is the use of chinese character input software to input chinese characters. students can use the chinese character input method and dictionary on the computer or mobile phone to quickly input chinese characters and find new words, to improve the efficiency of chinese character input and output. at the same time, this chinese character input software can show students the strokes and stroke order of chinese characters, and can provide gamification of chinese character input practice. these technologies have greatly improved students’ learning efficiency and interest and promoted the modernization and internationalization of chinese character teaching. with the continuous development of information technology, distance teaching has become an important teaching method because of its more flexible and diverse characteristics. students can use chinese learning websites to conduct comprehensive training in listening, speaking, reading and writing. many schools and training institutions provide online teaching platforms and courses. students can find the required chinese learning resources on the platform, such as video, audio, textbooks, and exercises, and choose the time to study freely. peking university has opened a chinese course on coursera, which is widely welcomed by chinese learners all over the world. 2.2 the current situation and trend of artificial intelligence technology in international chinese education artificial intelligence chat software is an intelligent application that can understand the user’s intentions and provide corresponding text or voice responses based on the context entered by the user. in recent years, with the development of science and technology, various artificial intelligence chat software has emerged. among all the artificial intelligence chat software, chatgpt has the most perfect function and the highest social discussion. chatgpt software is a new ai chat robot developed by open ai, a worldrenowned artificial intelligence research and development company. it is based on nlp (natural language processing technology), pre-trains a large amount of text data, and combines its converter network architecture to enable it to generate appropriate and coherent responses to a wide range of questions and prompts and can also generate and create languages. chatgpt is developed to provide dialogue support for a variety of applications, such as customer service, personal assistants, chatbots, etc. it is an artificial intelligence technology based on deep learning, which can generate smooth and logical dialogue text. it learns the language pattern and context relationship of the dialogue by training a large amount of dialogue data, so that it can generate appropriate responses according to the user’s input and historical dialogue. it has the following functions and features: it can have multiple rounds of dialogue with the user, maintain the continuity and consistency of the dialogue. it can adjust its tone and attitude according to the user’s language style and emotion, improve the intimacy and naturalness of the dialogue. it can handle various types of dialogue scenarios, such as chatting, q & a, tasks, stories, etc., and provide rich and interesting dialogue content. it can use external knowledge and information to enhance the intelligence and practicality of dialogue. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 140 published by scholink inc. compared with other artificial intelligence technologies, chatgpt has the following advantages: it uses the most advanced natural language generation technology to generate high-quality and high-diversity dialogue texts. it uses a large-scale pre-training model, which can make full use of massive dialogue data and improve the generalization ability and robustness of dialogue. it uses a flexible and scalable architecture that can adapt to different conversation needs and scenarios and provides customized and personalized conversation services. according to a report from ubs group, just two months after the launch of chatgpt, the number of monthly active users has exceeded 100 million at the end of january 2023, becoming the fastest growing consumer-oriented application in history. despite many benefits, chatgpt is not without limitations. one of the biggest limitations of this model is that it relies on the data that is trained. since it is trained based on text data from the internet, it may contain deviations and inaccuracies in the source data, resulting in knowledge errors in its responses. in summary, chatgpt is a powerful language model that can be used for a wide range of dialogic ai applications. despite its limitations, it represents an important step in the development of conversational ai and may completely change the way we interact with technology. artificial intelligence chat software has been applied in many fields, and the education industry is one of them. taking chatgpt as an example, it has been used in classroom teaching in some foreign schools. at the beginning of 2023, listed companies such as netease youdao have announced investment in the chatgpt field of the education model. some domestic internet companies such as baidu also announced the development of related technologies with chatgpt in the field of education. with the development of computer technology to the stage of artificial intelligence, its impact on international chinese education has also been continuously strengthened, changing the original teaching methods. the application of artificial intelligence technology has changed and optimized the original language teaching methods, improved the efficiency and quality of language teaching, and also provided students with a more personalized and autonomous learning experience. however, artificial intelligence technology has its limitations, which cannot accurately analyze language and its environment, and cannot completely replace the original language teaching. therefore, it is necessary to re-examine the impact and challenges of artificial intelligence technology on international chinese education. 3. the application scenarios and effects of chatgpt in international chinese language education traditional chinese learning mainly depends on teachers’ classroom teaching and students’ independent practice after class. computer-assisted chinese teaching is an important supplement to teachers’ classroom teaching. as the artifact of chinese teachers, chatgpt has a powerful teaching assistant function. it can provide international chinese teachers with highly operational curriculum design, lesson preparation programs, classroom exercises, job evaluation, etc.; to help international chinese teachers teach students in accordance with their aptitude, chatgpt can predict learners’ preferences and errors in international chinese learning according to students’ regional countries, learning motivation, mother www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 141 published by scholink inc. tongue background, age and other conditions, and design personalized learning conversation materials and reading texts for learners with different needs, so as to help teachers self-correct and learn in teaching content and teaching, and realize super-large-scale content generation and large-scale new knowledge emergence. the process of chinese learning has changed from teacher-student dialogue to teachermachine-student dialogue. machines have become important participants in the process of chinese learning. at the same time, students use chatgpt to learn chinese, frequent human-computer interaction and constantly enriched corpus, the in-depth development of knowledge capital in the industry, and the iterative innovation of large models, so that the human-computer relationship has achieved symbiotic growth in the process of chinese learning and realized the appreciation and co-creation of knowledge value. flexible optimization and adjustment, improve the efficiency of teachers’ lesson preparation and reduce the workload of teachers. chatgpt can also assist teachers to efficiently complete the routine management and communication of notice writing, mail arrangement, activity planning and other routine management and communication in the management of international chinese education and reduce the burden of teaching administration for international chinese teachers. in the past, chinese learners usually relied on reference books or information retrieval tools for language learning and used character structure or pronunciation for semantic retrieval. the development of early artificial intelligence technology also helped the whole process of chinese learning by optimizing retrieval strategies and improving retrieval efficiency. with the development of technology iteration, speech translation software based on artificial intelligence has begun to be popularized. chinese learners can realize the screening and selection of chinese educational resources through language question answering, information search, result matching and other steps. compared with traditional machine learning and artificial intelligence technology applications, natural language processing (npl) and general large models have gradually matured in understanding chinese semantics and syntactic structures, giving chatgpt a more powerful learning aid function. through the multi-stage question-and-answer human-computer interaction, chatgpt can realize the interactive connection between contexts, repeatedly ask the above, and infinitely inspire the following re-feedback or repetitive task execution, highlighting chatgpt’s strong interactivity, fast responsiveness, and high accuracy. if the guide language can be set scientifically, learners can continue to talk with chatgpt through standardized presupposition questions, so as to realize the knowledge explanation, example sentence demonstration, repeated practice, error analysis, accurate review and regular review of knowledge points such as new words, grammar and syntax, and form a complete and standardized learning closed loop. at the same time, the preset learner portrait, chatgpt can also help chinese learners to carry out research-based learning, provide learners with personalized chinese teaching guidance, customize chinese learning planning, promote the personalization of language teaching and learning process, create conditions for self-education and selfdevelopment, and then realize the whole process reengineering of chinese education. in the process of digital transformation, new models and new formats have emerged in the teaching resources of international chinese education. science and technology empowerment and scene expansion www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 142 published by scholink inc. have formed a three-dimensional development trend in the construction of digital resources of international chinese education. in the construction of international chinese education resources, chatgpt can achieve more powerful functions, and the automatic emergence of resources will expand the space and field of chinese learning and cultural communication. in the face of practical problems such as the shortage of international chinese education resources, the lack of high-quality resources, and the imbalance between students and teachers, chatgpt is integrated into international chinese education. from the perspective of the supply side, it provides a student-centered training support program that is more in line with the laws of education. according to the learning needs, many localized, personalized, and three-dimensional learning resources are produced. teachers, students, parents, education managers and researchers can easily realize the content construction of teaching resources. at the same time, this open-source artificial intelligence platform can realize the sharing and opening of chinese education resources, which is helpful to reshape the teaching ecology, promote the international chinese education to adapt to the changes and development of the times, promote the chinese culture to the world, and realize a wider range of cultural exchanges and mutual learning. in addition, chatgpt can also build a digital teaching ecosystem from the demand side. it can follow the demand orientation of chinese learners, understand and master students’ learning situation according to learning experience and automatic evaluation, form personalized growth learning resources guided by students’ needs, and realize the precision and appropriateness of resource supply by docking needs. this is also an important development trend of international chinese education resources. the main body of educational governance generally includes stakeholders such as government, schools, teachers, families, communities, society, and industry. cooperative governance with multi-subject participation is an important feature of the modernization of educational governance. with the continuous advancement of the internet and artificial intelligence technology, user generated content (ugc) has given new momentum to multi-agent participation in education quality. the application of chatgpt in international chinese education has changed the relationship between brain-like machine systems and learners, promoted the formation of a hybrid enhanced high-quality education and training model, and made machines one of the main bodies directly involved in international chinese education. in fact, chatgpt is becoming an important way for global chinese learners to acquire knowledge. different from the personalized recommendation mode of labeling the behavior data of international chinese learners, it is more inclined to use the existing massive database to carry out deep learning and multimodal language pre-training model iteration. through the task requirements and decision-making of international chinese education, combined with self-correction and learning in the process of humancomputer interaction, it can achieve super-large-scale content generation and large-scale new knowledge emergence. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 143 published by scholink inc. 4. challenges and issues that chatgpt may pose but at the same time, we have to pay attention to chatgpt brings us some new challenges. we have found that chatgpt is not omnipotent, it may give us misleading, provide the wrong answer, which requires the use of its people could judge independently. we believe that the challenges brought by chatgpt to international chinese education mainly include the following aspects: 1). traditional language teaching models are challenged. the traditional language teaching mode is face-to-face teaching and practice, in which teachers are in a dominant position. cloud classroom, virtual classroom and smart classroom have broken the traditional language teaching mode and formed a new teaching pattern and teaching mode. the development of ai technology is a challenge to the traditional language teaching mode, and it is also a challenge to the newly developed teaching modes. we are forced to change our way of thinking. in addition to taking advantage of the convenience provided by chatgpt, we must also guard against the risks it brings. 2). teachers’ authority is challenged. whether it is a traditional language teaching classroom, a virtual classroom, or a cloud classroom, the authority of teachers is unshakable. however, after the emergence of chatgpt, learners can more easily use this new tool to obtain information. ask the teacher with questions will gradually become ask the chatgpt with questions. in many ways, the answers given by chatgpt may be more comprehensive, more timely, more diverse, and more useful than the answers given by the teacher. in this sense, the authority of the teacher will be dispelled. in addition, the interaction between teachers and students increases the risk. if the answers given by teachers are different from those given by chatgpt, learners may question the authority of teachers. after all, teachers are human beings. compared with artificial intelligence, human knowledge reserve, human memory and human brain operation speed are inferior. especially in the encyclopedia knowledge, teachers’ knowledge is limited. 3). traditional textbooks and reference books are challenged. whether it is a paper-based textbook or an electronic textbook, there is a flaw, that is, the lack of relevance. the previous solution is to carry a paper version of the dictionary or electronic dictionary with us in class, but these textbooks and dictionaries cannot be dynamically related. for example, we can find a word and know that the word has several meanings. however, if we want to know the relationship between this word and other words, the existing textbooks and dictionaries cannot be related. chatgpt can make up for this deficiency. 4). learners’ experience is challenged. many people have their own successful experience in learning a language. these successful experiences are often very personalized. for example, some people memorize words through phonetic channels, some people memorize words through visual channels, some people increase their vocabulary through a lot of reading, some people increase their vocabulary through backing dictionaries, some people acquire language communicative competence through communication with people, and some people acquire language communicative competence through watching movies and tv dramas. after the emergence of chatgpt, previous language learning experience may not work, because artificial intelligence can provide a more efficient way of learning, especially a general language model like chatgpt can answer a variety of questions. learners need to explore new learning paths and accumulate new learning experience. 5). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 144 published by scholink inc. creativity of learner autonomy is challenged. in the past teaching, the interaction between teachers and learners, the interaction between learners and learners is the most common way of interaction. in these interactions, learners give full play to their subjective initiative and give full play to the creative ability of individual learning. after the emergence of chatgpt, this way of interaction will be affected, learners will interact more with chatgpt, learners’ autonomous learning ability will be challenged, and excessive reliance on chatgpt will have unpredictable consequences. if chatgpt provides misleading answers, it’s really a letter is better than no book. with the development of artificial intelligence, greater challenges are still behind. gpt’s upgrade iteration and other revolutionary changes in ai technology may one day make us no longer need to learn foreign languages. many people will lose their jobs at that time. chomsky said in recent interviews and articles that chatgpt has no help in destroying education and understanding language and cognition, but plagiarism under the blessing of high technology will bring a fundamentally flawed concept of language and knowledge into our technology and must be strictly guarded. the deeper problem is that chatgpt may accelerate the spread of chinese knowledge, but it can never replace the cultivation of people and the inheritance of culture behind chinese education. because the essence of human beings is the unity of knowledge, emotion and intention, the seeds of education should include virtue and belief in addition to knowledge. knowledge education and examination using artificial intelligence transmission and assistance is only a small part of human learning, education, and testing, and is by no means a decisive part. therefore, it is necessary to prevent chatgpt from alienating knowledge transfer, including ability, into all aspects of education. as an international chinese educator and researcher, we need to reflect that in the context of the chatgpt pandemic, it is important to teach learners chinese knowledge and skills, but it is more important to teach global chinese learners the emotions between man and nature, man and man, man and society behind chinese culture, and teach them the will to move forward or the flexible and flexible talents under the influence of chinese culture. finally, the need for further reflection on human learning and artificial intelligence is that michel foucault critically predicted back in the 1960s that human beings are subject to labor, life and language, no doubt limited, but it is hard to put the role of infinite, absolute, creator to a limited person, making people overwhelmed and expansive. therefore, we should be aware that artificial intelligence may bring us liberation, but we should also prevent, limit, and transcend the new constraints that artificial intelligence may bring us. in the face of chatgpt, a new thing, we realize that we should do our work in the following three aspects. first, enhance the ability of innovative thinking. the application of chatgpt technology in the field of education not only requires teachers to have scientific and technological literacy, but also requires teachers to have innovative thinking ability. through continuous innovation, we should combine chatgpt technology with course content to improve students’ learning effect. at the same time, we should improve our own scientific and technological literacy and moral cultivation. teachers are the main body of education. while improving their scientific and technological literacy and improving their ability to use chatgpt technology, they should further strengthen their moral cultivation and avoid the abuse www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 145 published by scholink inc. of chatgpt technology in teaching. in addition, we should also pay attention to the proper use of chatgpt technology. chatgpt technology should be used moderately, it cannot replace the traditional way of education. education should be people oriented. we need to pay attention to the cultivation of students’ emotional experience and thinking ability, rather than simply using chat gpt technology to complete teaching tasks. we consider some of the methods that may be better for your reference: (1) use chatgpt technology for adaptive teaching. using the adaptive function of chat gpt technology, according to students’ learning situation and personalized needs, it provides students with personalized teaching programs to help students better grasp knowledge. (2) using chatgpt technology to construct knowledge graph. through chatgpt technology, a knowledge graph is constructed to classify and correlate knowledge points and concepts, so that students can better understand the relationship and connotation between knowledge points. (3) use chatgpt technology for intelligent question answering. using chatgpt technology for intelligent question answering can help students better solve problems and improve learning efficiency. secondly, strengthen data protection. the application of chatgpt technology in the field of education requires a large amount of personal information and learning data. therefore, we should strengthen the awareness of data protection and ensure that students’ privacy is fully protected. finally, establish a regulatory mechanism. to supervise the application of chatgpt technology in the field of education and prevent its misuse and abuse. at the same time, an evaluation mechanism should be established to evaluate the effect of chatgpt technology in the field of education in order to continuously improve and enhance. 5. conclusion in short, i believe that the emergence of chat gpt has a great impact on education, especially in international chinese language education. daniel pinker, a futurist, lists six basic abilities to lead the future in his book new thinking, which are design sense, story power, symphony, empathy, entertainment sense and meaning sense. daniel pinker pointed out that the new thinking talents with these six abilities are the necessary qualities to adapt to the future development and win the future. only by constantly improving students’ artistic ability, honing non-standard skills and looking for non-standard track, can the students be irreplaceable in the future. since technology has emerged, we should actively face, multifaceted research and discussion. it can be predicted that with the gradual promotion and application of chatgpt in teaching, it will help students better learn and master knowledge, improve learning effect, and also help teachers improve their own ability. if we actively respond, we will surely be able to foster strengths and circumvent weaknesses, so that future education will produce a new revolution along with the development of artificial intelligence. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 146 published by scholink inc. references alam, a. (2021, november). possibilities and apprehensions in the landscape of artificial intelligence in education. in 2021 international conference on computational intelligence and computing applications (iccica) (pp. 1-8). ieee. https://doi.org/10.1109/iccica52458.2021.9697272 ali, m., & abdel-haq, m. k. (2021). bibliographical analysis of artificial intelligence learning in higher education: is the role of the human educator and educated a thing of the past? in fostering communication and learning with underutilized technologies in higher education (pp. 36-52). igi global. https://doi.org/10.1109/iccica52458.2021.9697272 bin, y., & mandal, d. (2019). english teaching practice based on artificial intelligence technology. journal of intelligent & fuzzy systems, 37(3), 3381-3391. https://doi.org/10.3233/jifs-179141 chen, x., xie, h., & hwang, g. j. (2020). a multi-perspective study on artificial intelligence in education: grants, conferences, journals, software tools, institutions, and researchers. computers and education: artificial intelligence, 1, 100005. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2020.100005 huang, x. (2021). aims for cultivating students’ key competencies based on artificial intelligence education in china. education and information technologies, 26, 5127-5147. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10530-2 kang, b., & kang, s. (2022). construction of chinese language teaching system model based on deep learning under the background of artificial intelligence. scientific programming, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10530-2 knox, j. (2020). artificial intelligence and education in china. learning, media and technology, 45(3), 298-311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10530-2 makeleni, s., mutongoza, b. h., & linake, m. a. (2023). language education and artificial intelligence: an exploration of challenges confronting academics in global south universities. journal of culture and values in education, 6(2), 158-171. https://doi.org/10.46303/jcve.2023.14 pedro, f., subosa, m., rivas, a., & valverde, p. (2019). artificial intelligence in education: challenges and opportunities for sustainable development. sadiku, m. n., musa, s. m., & chukwu, u. c. (2022). artificial intelligence in education. iuniverse. https://doi.org/10.51542/ijscia.v2i1.2 https://doi.org/10.1109/iccica52458.2021.9697272 https://doi.org/10.1109/iccica52458.2021.9697272 https://doi.org/10.3233/jifs-179141 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2020.100005 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10530-2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10530-2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10530-2 https://doi.org/10.46303/jcve.2023.14 https://doi.org/10.51542/ijscia.v2i1.2 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 50 original paper a comparative study of three chinese versions of oliver twist in the perspective of translator’s subjectivity shaozhe li1 1 chongqing jiaotong university, chongqing, china received: march 27, 2025 accepted: april 20, 2025 online published: may 5, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p50 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p50 abstract this study focuses on three chinese versions of charles dickens’ novel oliver twist by lin shu, rong ru’de, and he wen’an. from the perspective of translator’s subjectivity, it explores how the three translators interpreted and reconstructed the original work under distinct historical contexts. through a comparative analysis of title translation, sentence rendering, and narrative perspective, the paper reveals how the translators’ choices reflect their subjectivity, and further examines how such subjectivity influences the stylistic features of the translations and their reception by readers. keywords translator’s subjectivity, lin shu, zei shi, oliver twist 1. introduction completed by charles dickens in 1838, oliver twist centers on the tribulations of the orphan oliver, sharply exposing the hypocrisy of the workhouse system during the victorian era, the existential plight of underprivileged people, and the systemic violence embedded in social structures. through dickensian satire, the novel critiques the dehumanization wrought by industrialization while invoking social conscience through humanitarian ideals (dickens, 1998). since its introduction to china in the early 20th century, the work’s fierce social criticism has resonated deeply with china’s modernizing society and its quest for enlightenment, spawning multiple chinese translations with distinct stylistic approaches. lin shu and wei yi’s collaborative translation zei shi reimagined the original through the classical prose of the tongcheng school, establishing the domestication paradigm of translated novels in the style of lin shu. rong’s translation adhered to the principles of faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance, striving to preserve dickens’ realist vigor. the version of he’s incorporated contemporary colloquial expressions to enhance readability and public appeal. spanning nearly a century across three historical phases, from the early 20th century and the reform and opening-up period to the late 20th century, these three translations www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 51 published by scholink inc. reveal divergences in linguistic strategies, ethical orientations, and poetic choices, fundamentally reflecting the dynamic projection of translator subjectivity across cultural contexts. lin shu’s sinicization of the western knowledge mirrors the cultural adaptation wisdom of literati-officials. rong’s linguistic purification aligns with the solemn reception of western classics after the reform and opening-up period. he’s vernacular rewriting epitomizes the market-driven logic of literary translation in the consumer age. by comparing the translators’ subjective practices in narrative perspective, discursive reconstruction, and cultural filtration, this study aims to demonstrate that translation is not merely linguistic transference but a renegotiation of meaning and power by translators as cultural mediators within historical frameworks. 2. the concept of translator subjectivity as translation studies expanded from the linguistic to the cultural and social dimensions, translator subjectivity emerged as a critical scholarly focus. in traditional translation theory, translators were often viewed as transparent intermediaries tasked with faithfully conveying the content and form of source texts. however, with the cultural turn and the rise of functionalist translation theories, translators were redefined as active agents capable of selection, manipulation, and reconstruction. a dictionary of translation studies in china explains translator subjectivity as the essential characteristics demonstrated by translators in their practice, wherein they dynamically manipulate and transform the source text (as object), externalizing their agency through translation acts. this definition emphasizes that translators are not merely linguistic conveyors but also cultural decoders and reconstructors (fang, 2003). 3. three chinese translations of oliver twist 3.1 lin shu and zei shi lin shu advocated for literature to reflect new ideas, theories, and worlds, dismantle outdated conventions, and advance political, economic, and sociocultural progress, opposing works divorced from reality. his decision to translate dickens’ oliver twist as zei shi embodied this philosophy (lin, 1908). at a time of entrenched social ills and widespread suffering among the underclass, traditional chinese literature fixated on imperial elites or romantic tales, neglecting the struggles of ordinary people. lin recognized parallels between dickens’ depiction of london’s slums and china’s reality at then, which depicts the oppression of workhouses, the plight of orphans, bureaucratic hypocrisy mirrored china’s corrupt governance and societal decay. the title zei shi was not a literal translation but a confucian historiographical reframing. the term zei both exposes oliver’s stigmatized social identity and satirizes the systemic injustice that drives the poor to crime. the word shi elevates the novel to the solemnity of sima qian’s records of the grand historian, integrating marginalized narratives into china’s historiographical tradition (yu, 2011). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 52 published by scholink inc. 3.2 rong ru’de and 奥立弗·退斯特 rong ru’de articulated his literary mission through a stark realist lens, dismantling romanticized portrayals of criminality and confront the grim realities of london’s underbelly. he criticized earlier works that aestheticized thieves as scarlet-coated figures galloping under moonlight, arguing such narratives obscured social pathologies. deliberately stripping away any glamorization of crime, rong’s translation analyzed as a image of cold, damp midnight streets, tattered rags, and dens of vice overcrowded with evil, directing attention to corners society refused to acknowledge (rong, 1984). this kind of translation strategy targeted victorian hypocrisy—when municipal officials denied the existence of jacob’s island slums, literature became a tool to expose lies. rong asserted that systematically exposing criminal ecosystems could force society to confront hidden suffering, interrogating the fractures of modernity through the contradiction between humanity’s best and worst. such a view of literature as a moral autopsy marked the shift of critical realism from aesthetic entertainment to ethical redemption. 3.3 he wen’an and 雾都孤儿 he wen’an’s 1990s retranslation, 雾都孤儿, intertwined with china’s sociocultural transformation and literary marketization. post-reform economic growth spurred stratified reading demands, shifting literary translation from scholarly enlightenment to market orientation. the title retains 雾都 as a spatial metaphor for industrial london while foregrounding 孤儿 as an emotional touchstone, echoing the loneliness of individuals amid urbanization (he, 1998). he’s choices reflect dual contexts. firstly, it referred to the concession of publishing industry towards the trend of bestsellers under market forces, demanding both literary merit and commercial appeal. secondly, the underclass narratives emerged into migrant worker influxes and urban-rural divides. stylistically, he’s translation abandons lin’s classical elegance and rong’s academic tone, adopting fluid vernacular and scenographic storytelling to amplify visceral impact. this vernacular rewriting reclaims dickens’ ethos of portraying the lower while catering to the light reading preferences of a consumerist era. he’s version thus became a milestone in dickens’ localized dissemination, signaling chinese literary translation’s evolution from ideological vehicle to cultural commodity. 4. a comparative study of the chinese translations by lin shu, rong ru’de, and he wen’an 4.1 translation of titles example 1: source text: oliver twist lin’s version: 贼史 rong’s version: 奥立弗·退斯特 he’s version: 雾都孤儿 in their approaches to the title, the three translators reveal distinct cultural manipulations shaped by their historical contexts. lin shu’s 贼史 employs a domestication strategy, stripping the protagonist’s name to foreground the moral didacticism of 贼. by grafting the authoritative 史 from traditional chinese www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 53 published by scholink inc. historiography, lin aligns the text with the early 20th century fiction revolution, which sought to renew the nation’s people through renewing its literature, explicitly encoding social critique (shen & kong, 2012). rong ru’de’s direct transliteration 奥立弗·退斯特 adopts a foreignization strategy, preserving the foreignness of the original name to reflect the 1980s scholarly emphasis on fidelity and respect for the source text’s autonomy. he wen’an’s 雾都孤儿 combines geographic imagery (雾都, which can be explained as foggy city, as a critical metaphor for industrial london) with an identity label (孤儿) to evoke ethical empathy, responding to the 1990s market-driven demand for readability and mass appeal. this evolution, from moral didacticism to a hybrid title balancing geographic and identity markers, epitomizes the historical shift in translator subjectivity: from literature as a moral vehicle to literary autonomy. lin’s choice of zei exposes the confucian rectification of names (正名) that violently disciplines texts in premodern translation, while he’s dual-naming reflects modernity’s pursuit of cultural authenticity and aesthetic loyalty. 4.2 translation of sentences example 2: source text: his features were not naturally intended to wear a smiling aspect, but he was in general rather given to professional jocosity. lin’s version: 人甚高硕。衣服纯黑固不常笑。恒能爲雅谑。 rong’s version: 他的相貌天生不宜含笑，但总的说来此人颇饶职业的风趣。 he’s version: 他那副长相本来就不宜带有轻松愉快的笑意，不过，总的来说，他倒是有几分职业 性的诙谐。 lin’s translation dissects the original into three discrete images, 高硕, 纯黑, and 雅谑, conforming to classical chinese baimiao (白描) prose. the parallel structure “固…恒…” embeds a rhythmic contrast reminiscent of pianwen (骈文), creating a visual-aural symmetry through 高硕-纯黑-雅谑. in contrast, rong and he’s translations retain the original text framework, which is from negation to concession. rong condenses the sentence with a single chinese word 但 , which means but, emphasizing professional demeanor, while he extends the sentence with two chinese words 不过, which also means but, and amplifies irony through adjective modifiers like 轻松愉快的. example 3: source text: “the prices allowed by the board are very small, mr. bumble.” “so are the coffins,” replied the beadle, with precisely as near the approach to a laugh as a great official ought to indulge in. lin’s version: 苏阿白雷曰: “院中人予吾资逾小。” 本特而曰：“汝槥, 亦非大。” rong’s version: “理事会出的价钱太少了，班布尔先生。” “棺材不是也很小吗？” 干事回答时面带 一丝笑意，然而，对这丝笑意他极有控制，以不失其要员身份为度。 he’s version: “理事会开的价钱可太小啦，邦布尔先生。” “棺材也是这样的。” 干事答话时面带微 笑，这一丝微笑他掌握得恰到好处，以不失教区大员的身份为原则。 lin omits descriptive details like “with precisely as near the approach to a laugh”, focusing on its semantic core, through the triple strategy of deconstructing english compound sentences as image units, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 54 published by scholink inc. implanting traditional stylistic programs and focusing on the semantic core, the practice of chinese as the structure at the level of language form is a typical practical manifestation of using chinese to express english. rong uses rhetorical questions and clause nesting structures to achieve the purpose of strengthening irony. rong’s rhetorical reconstructions make bumble’s caustic irony more aggressive. the posterior “以不失其要员身份为度” is formed into an independent paragraph by the conditional adverbial clause, forming a binary opposition of “笑意-控制”, which highlights the hypocrisy of the bureaucracy through syntactic extension. this strategy makes the institutional critique implicit in the original text explicit, which is in line with the receptive habits of modern chinese readers. on the other hand, he’s version adopts a declarative sentence structure and a linkage structure, which weakens the conflict expressed in the original text to a certain extent. the rear “以不失…为原则” is integrated into the main sentence to form a linear narrative of “面带微笑-掌握-不失身份”, so that bumble’s hypocrisy is expressed as a stylized professional ethics rather than an individual moral defect. this syntactic choice weakens dickens’s sharp critique of the bureaucracy and is closer to the mediocre moral judgment system of traditional zhanghuiti novels. 4.3 translation of narrative perspective example 4: source text: wrapped in the blanket which had hitherto formed his only covering, he might have been the child of a nobleman or a beggar. lin’s version: 外史氏曰。天下安有贵贱。别贵贱亦先别之服饰耳。倭利物果以佳毡裹者。谁则言 其非贵族之儿。 rong’s version: 本来裹在一条迄今为止是他惟一蔽体之物的毯子里，既可能身为贵胄，也可能是 乞丐所生； he’s version: 他打从一出世唯一掩身蔽体的东西就是裹在他身上的那条毯子，你说他是贵家公子 也行，是乞丐的贫儿亦可。 by inserting the commentative narrative subject of “外史氏曰”, lin transforms the third-person objective description of the original text into the “史官介入” mode of traditional chinese narrative. its added translation “天下安有贵贱。别贵贱亦先别之服饰耳”, it also reveals the translator’s feelings about the warmth and coldness of human feelings and the turning point of fate. lin’s zei shi uses the form of “外史氏” to comment on the characters and events in the translation, which is equivalent to assuming that the original work is basically realistic, and the translator is exchanging reading experiences with readers in the capacity of “外史氏”. this experience is sometimes a retelling of the original narrator’s comments, sometimes mixed with the translator’s own comments, which gives the “外史氏” a dual identity: he is both british and chinese, he narrates british stories and discusses things with traditional chinese morality, and he is both a translator and a paraphraser. “外史氏” is a hybrid transformed by the translator, playing a dual role. at the same time, “外史氏曰” shows the translator’s subjective consciousness, expressing the translator’s opinion on a certain event or person or the message they convey to chinese readers (ke, 2015). rong strictly follows the non-focus perspective of the original www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 55 published by scholink inc. text, retains the narrator’s detachment and neutrality with “既可能身为贵胄，也可能是乞丐所生”, and maintains the cold texture of realism through neutral words such as “蔽体之物”, and its subjectivity is hidden in the pursuit of modernity in linguistic norms. through the dialogic intervention of the secondperson “你说”, he translates the universal interrogation implied in the original text into a directional communication gesture for the reader, and the juxtaposition of the elegance and vulgarity of “贵家公子” and “贫儿” not only reflects the populist tendency of contemporary translations, but also partially dissolves the narrative authority due to the change of personal pronouns. 5. the impact of translator subjectivity on translation quality oliver twist presents a very different style in the translations of lin shu, rong ru’de and he wen’an, which fully demonstrates that the subjectivity of the translator can have different effects on the quality of the translation. although lin shu does not speak english, with other people’s help of hand-to-mouth cooperation, he named the whole book as zei shi, highlighting the strong moral criticism and localization tendency of the early 20th century. he has carried out a large-scale narrative reconstruction of the text, making the translation closer to the expression habits of traditional chinese novels, enhancing the reader’s sense of substitution and cultural identity, and reflecting the strong intervention of the translator. although this high degree of subjectivity sacrificed part of the linguistic fidelity, it was extremely communicative in the special social and cultural context of the time. in contrast, rong ru’de transliterates the name oliver in the translation, and the language style is standardized and restrained, trying to faithfully present the content and structure of the original work, which reflects the practice of the translation standard of faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance at that time. his translations focus on linguistic equivalence and have high academic rigor and linguistic standardization. he wen’an’s translation chooses a more imagery translation title, which not only conveys the theme of the work, but also enhances cultural associations, showing a more mature reader’s awareness and communication strategy. on the basis of being faithful to the original text, he appropriately adjusted the language style and sentence structure, so that the translation was both literary and popular, showing a good balance between subjectivity and normativeness. it can be seen that the subjectivity of the translator not only affects the performance of the translated text in the linguistic and cultural dimensions, but also affects the dissemination and acceptance of the translated text in different eras and readers. the strength of the translator’s subjectivity and the way it is expressed directly affect the style, semantic level, and accuracy and depth of cultural communication of the translated text. 6. conclusion by comparing the three versions of oliver twist, this study deeply analyzes the embodiment of translators’ subjectivity in translation strategies and translation styles. lin shu reconstructs the text with the confucian view of history, rong ru’de defends the original texts with academic loyalty, and he wen’an balances the elegance and vulgarity with market logic, all of which reflect the cultural demands of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 56 published by scholink inc. different eras. translators should fully demonstrate their subjectivity in translation practice, show their unique charm and increase the diversity of cultural expression by creating translations with personal characteristics. reference charles dickens. (1984). oliver twist (translated by rong, r. d.). shanghai: shanghai translation publishing house. charles dickens. (1998). oliver twist (translated by he, w. a.). jiangsu: yilin press. charles dickens. (1998). oliver twist. the electric book company ltd 20 cambridge drive, london se12 8aj, uk. fang, m. z. (2003). a dictionary of translation studies in china. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. ke, y. b. (2015). “waishishi”: the way of reframing the textual grid. foreign literature, 4, 30-39+157. lin, s. (1908). zei shi. shanghai: the commercial press. shen, q. h., & kong, x. l. (2012). modern translation and reception of western bildungsromans. fiction review, 6, 193-199. yu, f. (2011). a study of lin shu’s translation thoughts (master’s thesis). hebei university. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 25 original paper educational games in elementary education: unlocking the potentials said f. alali1* & asma k. al hosni2 1 multimedia and digital production department, faculty of engineering and information technology, palestine ahliya university, bethlehem, palestine 2 faculty of creative multimedia, multimedia university, cyberjaya, malaysia * said f. alali, e-mail: s.ghawadrah@paluniv.edu.ps received: january 20, 2022 accepted: february 19, 2022 online published: march 6, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n1p25 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n1p25 abstract the advent of technology has made big strides in the development of humans’ life in different spheres. the integration of technology in education has introduced other teaching methods that could improve and emulate the traditional way of teaching. the use of educational games is a by-product of integrating technology into teaching to enhance teaching methods and students’ performance. this study, hence, aims to evaluate the effect of using educational games in teaching mathematics to second-graders in a palestinian school using a quasi-experimental approach. thirty male and female second-graders from al aqsa integrated school, kuala lumpur, were the targeted sample. the sample was divided into an experimental group and a control group. a selected educational game was used to explain mathematics lessons, namely addition within 99 or 999, to the experimental group. the same content was taught to the students in the control group using the traditional method. findings showed that teaching mathematics via educational games was significantly effective in improving students’ achievement in the experimental group compared to the achievement of their counterparts taught via the traditional method. these findings provide evidence that educational games could substantially improve primary secondgrade students’ skills in mathematics compared to the traditional teaching method. keywords games, mathematics, education, palestine, second-graders www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 26 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction the use of games in humans’ life has been attested since time memorial. plato, for instance, considered games played during childhood as something important that form what people later become as adults (ifenthaler et al., 2012). likewise, aristotle considered games to be learning opportunities in addition to the entertainment element they have. the romans later used games to decide on the distribution of crops beside their use as a source of entertainment (ifenthaler et al., 2012). in the nineteenth century, there was a revival of games when frobel, the founder of kindergarten, made claims about the value of games for education and development of children’s abilities (ifenthaler et al., 2012). as technology was growing, the concepts of educational games and its use into instruction was growing right alongside it. leading scholars such as lieberman (1998), jenkins (2002), paquin (2002), gee (2003) and papert (2008) have emphasized the fact that computer games offer a convincing educational style for children as they can learn better through educational computer games. educational games, or alternatively known as game-based learning, are competitive educational activities organized according to rules and restrictions to achieve a specific educational objective (prensky, 2007; donovan, 2018). these games are specially designed to teach certain concepts, and improve certain skills. they have different elements like rules, restrictions, rewards, interaction, obstacles, goals, competition, and reviews (prensky, 2007; von wangenheim & von wangenheim, 2012). the fundamental aspects of games is that students are better able to focus on learning, increase their competitive potential, and be able to win (prensky, 2007). digital games have been established for use on smartphones, computers, and tablet devices, etc. (mitamura et al., 2012). adventure, strategy, simulation, action, competition, puzzles and quizzes, etc., are among the most important types of games (millington, 2019). research in educational games shows that children rely heavily on games, which makes their use vital as a tool for education. they stimulate children to learn more and gain a better understanding of the curriculum (gee, 2007; squire et al., 2008). well-prepared digital games can become tools that benefit the educational field by applying them in the classroom in schools or by getting parents to provide them for children at home. as a matter of fact, games have been used in the past few years to promote higher education skills in different fields of knowledge including health and wellness, history, social skills, technical learning, and training (rodríguez-cerezo et al., 2014; calderón & ruiz, 2015; soflano et al., 2015). educational games are an important gateway to the growth of learners’ cognitive, physical, social, ethical, psychological, and linguistic abilities. they require the use of e-learning materials such as video games, computer games or the internet to support a particular educational purpose. these games, according to behavioural theory, are based on a set of psychological and educational foundations whereby the winning aspect in the game is a motivational factor for the learner to master the new intended knowledge and skills. accordingly, numerous researchers and academics have called for the use of fun in learning (i.e., educational games) because it can provide a fertile environment for growth, motivate learning, and foster www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 27 published by scholink inc. active interaction in a realistic atmosphere close to students’ sensory perceptions, which thereby makes learning more appealing. traditional teaching methods still dominates the educational process in most arab countries, including palestine. likewise, the use of educational games is often restricted to pre-school children and rarely, if ever, goes beyond that stage. that is why many reports have emerged in different arab countries, including palestine, calling for the use of technology in education, the use of educational games in particular. the rationale of this study, therefore, is based on such need for using educational games in teaching. it is meant to inspire teachers in the palestinian educational system to use educational games so that they enhance the learning pace of their students. it is hoped to function as a valuable guide for palestinian educational institutions and instructional developers to help them learn how to create educational games that promote the interactivity and joy among learners. 1.1 literature review children are the source of real wealth, and the hope to achieve a better future. showing serious attention to their upbringing is thus of great importance across all nations. likewise, attention given to their education is equally important. hence, the use of games in their education is an indispensable part of the development and modernization of education to ensure their proper preparation for brighter future. educators emphasise that children should be prepared to face the problems of life more easily and to adapt successfully with the successive changes as a result of the revolution of knowledge and scientific progress (lewis & bedson, 1999). children’s lives are linked to playing as they learn and gain lots of their life behaviours through games. this leaves a clear mark on the personality of the child and creates a cognitive stock that is related to the child’s understanding and thinking. in addition to being a source of fun, games can be an important tool for the child to achieve mental development (egenfeldt-nielsen, 2004). after being limited to the traditional tangible games, new tools such as machines and electronic devices have entered the world of educational games based on technology in modern education (kinder, 1991). starting in the early 21st century, games have been organized to improve students’ abilities in communication, high order problem-solving, and adapting to fresh developments that lead to numerous future advantages in teaching (gee, 2003). educational games have many benefits such as increased teaching performance, interest, encouragement, and a decrease in teacher loads and time for practice (garris et al., 2002; prensky, 2007; wouters et al., 2013; hamari et al., 2016). they provide learners in the classroom environment with the optimal environment for learning with enjoyment, finding solutions to the problems they face as well as learning from their mistakes through the experiences they go through (pfahl et al., 2001). studies also show that using the game properties can create an extremely efficient learning environment (kirriemuir & mcfarlane, 2004; nacke & masuch, 2005). games have been very successful in inspiring fun, and attracting, engaging, and stimulating students (buckner & kim, 2012; kangas et al., 2017; ibrahim et al., 2018). in recent years, interactive games have been used as a creative educational tool for more effective www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 28 published by scholink inc. higher-level learning in various fields of knowledge including mathematics, language, business, education, computing, food, firefighting, and entertainment, etc. (connolly et al., 2012; backlund & hendrix, 2013; calderón & ruiz, 2015). it should therefore be an innovative and effective approach to teaching and learning in different stages of education, specifically for children. 1.1.1 categories of game interventions in classrooms historically, learning and knowledge acquisition have been calculated by memorizing facts or figures that lead to the development of skills or steps necessary to solve a complex problem. through observation and application, these skills or steps will be acquired via one person teaching another (boulet, 2015). students these days, however, need more than rote memorization of facts and figures to solve a problem as they have to apply their knowledge in a world appropriate for this century. the set of skills students need should involve problem-solving and the ability to communicate with a wide range of participants when working in teams internally and externally. teaching such set of skills can be made easier via the use of games in classroom teaching (hung & khine, 2006). as games have become an integral part of digital interventions in classrooms, there has been a growing interest in the effect that computer games can have in students’ learning in recent years. such computer games can provide students with a practical learning approach in which they build their own understanding within the game by self-exploring and solving problems (whitton, 2011). although literature appears to group all game learning into one intervention, they can be separated into three different categories with very different applications. these are as follows: 1.1.2 game-based learning (gbl) this type of intervention is a type of game that has been designed and used to integrate topics with gameplay while enabling the player to remember and implement the subject matter to applications in real-world classrooms (ritson, 2019). researchers who use game-based learning intervention build a learning environment that stimulates active and creative thinking rather than passive thinking. they try to create meaningful and interactive experiences that encourage students in the learning process and thus actively involve them (mehra, 2013). game-based learning can provide a variety of learning outcomes from a practice-and-exercise approach to a hands-on learning environment in which students gain experiences in solving problems (annetta et al., 2009; chee & tan, 2012; chen et al., 2015). student learning can be scaffolded when using a gamebased learning intervention as they move from easy to difficult gameplay tasks while providing students with a safe environment for learning from their mistakes (stephens & clement, 2015). students are working towards an objective, taking their own choices and actions, and along the way learning the consequences of those choices and actions. the game designer could create problem-solving challenges that progress from the starting point in the game to multiple levels of learning. game play can be complemented by progress tracking where students are winning awards, prizes, or badges, or adding their name to a leader board (clark et al., 2011; sadler et al., 2013; nietfeld et al., 2014; jong, 2015). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 29 published by scholink inc. 1.1.3 gamification gamification is used to connect learning and game component designs including scoring, rules, competitions, and others (ritson, 2019). academics who use a gamification technique try to facilitate the learning of students when they perform a task with rewards or motivators by incorporating elements of the game in a nongame learning experience. in addition to the existing learning system, a gamification intervention introduces a game layer to inspire and engage students in the learning process. students who use a gamification system will earn badges, rewards, and gradual change of levels as they progress through a series of instructional exercises (mehra, 2013). gamification should not be confused with gaming. gamification is not just a tournament game or roleplaying game. it takes various aspects of concepts and overlays them on learning how to make a game, but it is not a complete experience like a conventional computer game or role-playing game. it draws different aspects such as accomplishment, competitiveness, and rewards. these various aspects are then added to a gamification approach to learning so that players find the learning process challenging; otherwise, they may find it unappealing (prince, 2013). gamification should not just be interesting , but also need to be well crafted (ritson, 2019). to engage students while they learn and have fun playing the game, the overlay of the game features must be sound and thoughtfully designed (ritson, 2019). if the game is poorly designed, students might interpret the game as something they are forced to play, and, therefore, not achieve their learning goal (prince, 2013). 1.1.4 game learning (gl) game learning is similar to game-based learning, but when researchers apply this type of intervention, they are more concerned with the game mechanics to be used. games are used here to engage and assess students in their learning process. kahoot is one such example of game learning. this online game is a learning tool that is used in a variety of settings. users can play kahoot with an internet connection on any computer device. in 2017, 51 million students and 3.6 million teachers used this type of game (isaacs, 2015; kahoot, 2018). students are approached with questions and possible answers using this online game learning experience. the students are involved in answering questions within the game environment. as posed questions are answered, their responses, time, and points are all gathered later for data analysis. 1.1.5 learning theories the importance of playing games in children’s cognitive development and learning has long been recognized by psychologists. piaget (1962), for instance, identified playing games as central to the cognitive development of children. playing games becomes more social, symbolic, and abstract as children grow during various phases of their development. games work to develop and stimulate the children’s knowledge as it gets them out of reality and stimulate their thinking and abilities. through play, children can imagine any tool as something they love and enjoy such as imagining the eraser as a plane or a chariot, which stimulates their imagination and creativity. this style of behaviour allows www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 30 published by scholink inc. children to recognize different versions of the same thing, a skill necessary for abstract thinking growth and makes one of early childhood’s most important developments (deloache, 1987). as some educational games can be boring for the children, and, hence, soon after they stop playing the game, excellent educational games are aimed to have some competing elements that make children always win and get motivated in a flow state (loftus et al., 1983; czikszentmihalyi, 1990). likewise, good games aim to be within what vygotsky (1978) called ‘the proximal development zone’ of a player. in other words, games should go beyond the learner’ average age and above his daily behaviour so the they help in learning new helpful skills. dale (1969) provides a visual representation of the correlation between several teaching methods and the outcomes of learning gained from these methods. in contrast to what is seen, read or observed, dale found that learners maintain more knowledge through learning through games. this type of ‘learning through doing’ has been known as experiential or action learning. based on dale’s representation cone, learning information presented by verbal expressions such as listening to spoken words is the least effective approach at the top. the most effective approach, in contrast, involves direct, purposeful learning experiences such as practical experience or real-world experience. dale’s cone displays the average rate of retention for different teaching methods. the further you advance down the cone, the greater the learning is and the better the probability of retaining information is. the cone also shows that methods of active learning result in retention of up to 90%. when using visual learning styles, for students learn best through the use of sensory-based forms of visual learning. the more sensory sources are available to interact with a tool, the better the chances that more participants might learn the intended skill/content. behaviourism behaviourism is the school of thought that chooses professional designs based on rules. it is inspired by the psychology of behaviour and motivation, and recognizes all games as engines of challenge, excitement, and reward. behaviouralists model their games on psychological hooks of opening loops to stimulate and facilitate emotional attachment (sober, 1985; filsecker & bündgens-kosten, 2012; watson, 2017). to complete these loops, they use repetitive actions to deliver prizes. the anticipation of the end of a loop and the reward have a powerful effect on the human mind and can give rise to optimistic feelings (davis, 2018). behaviourists assess all they can about their players, test small changes, and then measure their results (sober, 1985; filsecker & bündgens-kosten, 2012; watson, 2017). nevertheless, this means that behaviouralists continue to be wary about evolving. generally, the emergence is difficult to measure directly, and anything that cannot be measured, cannot be reliably improved for the behaviourist. therefore, behaviouralist’s tend to be the most pragmatic of all viewpoints creatively. instead of developing from scratch, they feel it safer to replicate a popular game and improve it, or to adapt another game with a different theme (sober, 1985; filsecker & bündgens-kosten, 2012; watson, 2017). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 31 published by scholink inc. cognitivism in the 1960s, cognitivism replaced behaviourism as the dominant paradigm of learning (ormrod, 2016). cognitive psychology indicates that learning is based on the mind and its activity, through reflections, thinking, memory and stimuli. cognitivists assume that learning is an inner method based on the skill, motivation, and commitment of the learner (craik & lockhart, 1972; craik & tulving, 1975). although there are different emphases on cognitivists, such as piaget (1962) and bruner (1966), both agree that learning is expressed through a shift in understanding and knowledge. cognitive scholars describe this change as an amendment to the mental model of a learner. cognitivists argue that mind, perception, and comprehension mediate the stimulation and reaction defined by behaviourists. that is, while learning can contribute to behavioural change, it is, in fact, a change in assimilation. cognitivism is more concerned with the behaviour and style than with the person, and it encourages critical thinking. it centres on transmitting input from somebody who knows something like an expert to students who do not know, as opposed to facilitators. students take it into their memory, store it, and link available information and ideas. input is arranged and organized in folders, and it is recovered from memory when required. through cognitivism, learning is the process of meaningfully and memorably linking pieces of knowledge (bruner, 1966). constructivism the constructivist model shows that a person designs his knowledge and comprehends his surroundings through thinking and the available experience that he has gone through (bada & olusegun, 2015). the concept of the constructivism theory in learning focuses on problem-solving and providing challenges to the learner to solve problems through their experience based on their previous knowledge; it is based on preparing learners for problem-solving in unknown cases to the learner (bressler et al., 2018). in a sense, the curriculum is embedded in valuable tasks that the instructor presents to the learner. moreover, from the constructivism perspective, the learner directs himself towards action through “self-motivation” to solve problems with the action constructed hierarchically from general to specific (cicciarelli, 2007). gee’s model all through his studies, gee paid special attention to the concepts of learning in digital games. when used successfully, digital games can be used as tools to challenge players (gee, 2003). they let the player know how to play the game and encourage them to work hard at the same time (gee, 2016). such games give an insight into how individuals could create fresh and stronger teaching methods in work, society, and school. gee (2007) suggested that good education requires applying the constructive learning concepts that good game designers have settled on, whether or not we use a game as a carrier of these principles. therefore, gee organized a simplified list of principles of good learning presented below. the study beforehand uses this list of principles as the framework based on which the game used in this study was selected. learning and semiotic domains: learning means understanding semiotic domains at some stage and managing to engage in so-called convergence groups or associated groups at some point. the learning www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 32 published by scholink inc. environment is intended to promote positive and active learning via the design and presentation of quasirandom areas. also, the learning experience requires thinking about the concept of the design and knowing its existence. the essence of the learning experience is considered to be a reciprocal relationship and multiple signalling systems that include artefacts, symbols, words, pictures, procedures, and others. learning and identity: education includes taking on identities and manipulating them into several roles. in an environment where real-world effects are reduced, learners should take risks to enhance their learning and identify their identities. it is seen that virtual reality and delusional characters are more attractive and persuasive to learners, during which they live more comfortably than in the sensory world. the hypothetical factors are established by learning through the capabilities and possibilities available. from the outset, there are intrinsic benefits for learners of all skill levels; these skills are adapted to the degree, initiative, and the mastery of each learner as they aim to signal the ongoing accomplishments of the learner. situated meaning and learning: learners get lots and lots of practice in a setting where the habit is not repetitive. a different way of progressing or moving forward enables students to think about decisions and make a suitable choice, while also exploring alternative styles, signs, and definitions (words, behaviours, things, items, images, documents, etc.) the difference between the learner and the teacher is not clear because learners have to undo their routine mastery at higher and higher levels to adapt to new or modified circumstances. new learning, automation, undoing automation, and new reorganized automation cycles occur as part of the learning process. 1.1.6 the educational situation in palestinian schools many studies have shown that students consider the study of science and mathematics and associated applications as difficult and complex (ware, 2018). students of the basic stage complain about the difficulty of learning, which means that the student has a certain difficulty in understanding, thinking, attention, and conducting arithmetic operations due to the immobility of the courses. according to the palestinian ministry of education and higher education, the difficulties and disabilities that the students face in the learning process are increasing due to immobility in the traditional educational system, and, hence, it is vital to create, improve, and employ new tools and techniques to improve the whole teachinglearning process (jadalluh, 2017). similarly, studies conducted by the palestinian measurement and evaluation centre on second and fourth-grade students in the academic year 2015/2016 reveal that the level of student achievement was low. the overall achievement for second-grade students reached an average of 43 out of 100 with a success rate of 39.3%, while the overall achievement in science for fourth-grade students reached an average of 36 out of 100 with a success rate of 28% (pmec, 2017). the international ranking (iea) conducted a study titled “trends in international mathematics and science study” with the participation of 49 countries and different educational systems from all over the world, including 13 arab countries of which palestine was one. the study aimed to provide a database of educational data on students’ achievement in science and mathematics in the educational systems worldwide, and to provide a database of contextual data related to academic achievement (mullis et al., www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 33 published by scholink inc. 2016). the study adopted a standard scale for the average marks (500) and a standard deviation of 100. the average achievement of palestinian students in sciences was 404, which is lower than the international average. palestinian students ranked 43 out of the 49 participating countries (mullis et al., 2016). the performance of palestinian students in science showed that 1% only reached the international advanced level while 46% of the palestinian students did not reach the international low level (pmec, 2017). due to such low performance in the achievement of palestinian students, there is an urgent need to find an alternative to the traditional way of teaching to ensure better performance. by the same token, as previous studies have proven that the use of electronic educational games in the educational process contributes to improving the achievement of students, and makes teaching materials more fun, interesting, and attractive, the problem statement of this study has emerged as an attempt to improve the method of teaching in the primary stage of palestinian schools. to that effect, the study beforehand attempts to explore the effect of using educational games on the performance of palestinian primary second-grade students in mathematics, and the value of using games in teaching compared to the traditional way. it is hoped that this study will benefit teachers in the lower primary level by drawing their attention to the importance of using electronic games in teaching as well as curriculum designers to develop the lower primary level curricula using electronic game software. it is also hoped that the study will inspire teachers to employ the game used in this study in their classrooms, and to encourage them to produce new educational online games that help motivate students to learn, and thus improve their performance. 2. method the study used a quasi-experiment to measure the effects of using games in teaching mathematics to second-graders at al-aqsa integrated school (ais), a palestinian school in kuala lumpur, malaysia. alaqsa school uses the same palestinian education system and contains approximately 200 students distributed in different grades from grade one to grade nine. two subject groups were used in the study: an experimental group and control group. both the experimental and control group consisted of fifteen male and female students each, making the total of 30 students. students in the experimental group were taught summation using the digital educational game. students in the control group, on the other hand, were taught summation using the traditional way of teaching. two independent variables, gender (males/females) and teaching method (educational games/ traditional teaching), were investigated in the study. the dependent variable is the academic achievement of students targeted in the study. a pre-test on mathematics was conducted before intervention to both the experimental and the control groups. upon application of intervention to the experimental group over five lectures, a post-test was conducted to both groups. the following figure illustrates the research design of the study followed by table 1 showing the distribution of the study sample. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 34 published by scholink inc. figure 1. research design table 1. study sample distribution gender control group experimental group total males 8 11 14 females 7 4 16 total 15 15 30 teaching mathematics to the primary second-grade in the academic year 2017/2018 was chosen to be the focus of the study. the teaching material (summation) consisted of one lesson comprising 13 pages from the first part of the mathematics subject for the primary second grade in the palestinian curriculum (pcdc, 2018). the summation or addition lesson contains summing two numbers within 99 or within 999 with the choice of whether to sum with the rest (with the load) or without the rest of the summation (without the load) as well as summation in vertical and horizontal formula. since gee’s (2016) model is the framework based on which this study is conducted, the ‘second grade math app’ game was used in teaching the selected educational material (see figure 3). control group (n=15) experiment (n=30) experimental group (n=15) pre-intervention evaluation pre-test (duration 20 minutes) post-intervention evaluation post-test (duration 20 minutes) digital educational game intervention (1-weeks) pre-intervention evaluation pre-test (duration 20 minutes) post-intervention evaluation post-test (duration 20 minutes) traditional intervention (1-weeks) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 35 published by scholink inc. figure 2. game icon this game was selected in consultation with the teachers of mathematics for the primary stage. used in the palestinian educational system, this android game was developed by flashtoons (2017). the game uses arabic language as medium of instruction and covers all the mathematic operations that students in primary second grade learn including addition or summation. in order to capture students’ attention and provide good motivation for them to play it, the game has attractive content including multimedia elements like text, sound, videos, graphics, and 2d-animation. the game also interacts with students’ answers in order to provide reinforcement of learning behaviours. for instance, when students answer correctly, a piece of encouraging music plays and a green correct sign image is presented with a kind voice saying ‘good job’. when students answer wrong, however, a piece of encouraging music plays and a red wrong sign image is presented with a kind voice that says ‘try again’. these forms of interaction encourage students to keep playing and do their best to answer the questions properly. 2.1 game features what distinguishes this game is the presence of certain features that cover a larger and wider scope of the mathematics taught in the primary second grade. these features include: figure 3. second grade math app—game features part 1 1 2 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 36 published by scholink inc. 1) numbers conversion: players have the ability to convert the numbers presented in this game from roman to indian forms and vice versa (classical arabic language uses the indian number form). 2) numbers scope: players have the ability to set the scope of numbers to any range between (0 < = > 999). figure 4. second grade math app—game features part 2 3) free handwriting: players have the ability to use the free handwriting feature in order to solve the equation freely, and facilitate attaining the correct answer. figure 5. second grade math app—free handwriting page 3 4 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 37 published by scholink inc. 4) teaching videos: each division in the game has a few illustrative videos that the user can watch; these videos help the player to understand how to play the game and win. 2.2 evaluation tools the achievement tests (pre-tests and post-tests) were used as means for data collection. each test consists of two parts; part 1 addresses demographic factors such as gender whereas part 2 addresses students’ achievement. as the demographic gender factor is important to identify in relation to the findings, students were asked to specify their gender in part 1 of the test. both the pre-test and post-test were translated into arabic. the post-test contained the same questions used in the pre-test but in a different arrangement to ensure that students did not memorise and replicate their answers. the test consists of ten various questions including finding the summation of two numbers within 99 and 999 in a vertical and horizontal forms with and without carrying. it also included questions of choosing suitable numbers to make the correct summation as well as choosing suitable options that lead to the given result. both tests were created under the guidance of an expert mathematics teacher of primary second grade. in order to attain helpful and constructive feedback on both tests, they were then presented to a university professor in faculty of education (prof. faisal husein) as well as to two mathematics teachers of the primary second grade, namely ms. narjes fareed and ms. sujood ghawadra. the content of the tests was adjusted according to the opinions of the arbitrators in terms of language drafting until the test evolved into its final form. 2.3 pre-test and intervention the twenty-minute pre-test was conducted on friday 13 december 2019. the data were then stored in preparation for statistical processing. three days later, the intervention was applied on the experimental group on monday 16 december 2019 until friday 20 december 2019. it was applied over 5 lectures of 40 minutes each. students in the control group were taught summation using the usual and prevailing method used by most mathematics teachers in palestine in accordance with the educational plan prepared by the ministry of education. contrary to the control group, students in the experimental group were taught summation using the second grade math app over 5 lectures as shown below. lecture 1 (watching tutorials and review of the game): students started by watching the videos embedded in this division. then they started practicing the summation within 9 in horizontal and vertical form. after that, the teacher increased the scope of numbers to 20. lecture 2 (summation within 99 horizontally and vertically without carrying): the teacher asked the students to start by re-watching the videos embedded in this division in order to refresh their memory. then the students started working on the summation within 99 vertically without carrying for 15 minutes. after that, the students were asked to start practicing the summation within 99 horizontally without carrying for 15 minutes. lecture 3 (summation within 99 horizontally and vertically with carrying): the teacher asked the students to start by acting on the summation within 99 vertically with carrying for 20 minutes. after that www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 38 published by scholink inc. the students were asked to start practicing the summation within 99 horizontally with carrying for 20 minutes. lecture 4 (summation within 999 horizontally and vertically without carrying): the teacher asked the students to start by acting on the summation within 999 vertically without carrying for 20 minutes. after that the students were asked to start practicing the summation within 999 horizontally without carrying for 20 minutes. lecture 5 (summation within 999 horizontally and vertically with carrying): the teacher asked the students to start by acting on the summation within 999 vertically with carrying for 20 minutes. after that the students were asked to start practicing the summation within 999 horizontally with carrying for 20 minutes. 2.4 applying the post-test upon completion of the intervention by the end of the fifth lecture, the achievement test (post-test) was applied to both groups on monday 23 december 2019. the test was corrected by giving one mark for a correct answer and zero for the wrong answer; the maximum final score was 10 marks. the statistical packages program (spss 24) was used for the windows platform (spss inc.; chicago, il, usa). chisquare was used to compare between the experiment and the control groups for any significant difference regarding the demographic data (gender). two-way mixed anova was used to determine the effect of the game on the achievement of students in both groups. the effect size was evaluated according to cohen’s d; the small value of effect size was 0.2, medium was 0.5, and the large was 0.8 (cohen, 1988). 3. result the response rate was 100% as all thirty children (experimental group n = 15/control group n = 15) took part in all stages of the data collection process as shown in table 2 below. table 2. response rate tests type of group attendance absence total n percent n percent n percent pre-test experimental 15 100.0% 0 0.0% 15 100.0% control 15 100.0% 0 0.0% 15 100.0% post-test experimental 15 100.0% 0 0.0% 15 100.0% control 15 100.0% 0 0.0% 15 100.0% regarding the demographic data (gender), chi-square shows that there was no significant difference between the experimental and the control groups as exemplified in table 3 below. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 39 published by scholink inc. table 3. descriptive statistics of the demographic data between the experimental and the control groups demographic characteristics experimental group control group 2 p value n=15 % n=15 % gender male 11 73.3 8 53.3 1.292 0.256 female 4 26.7 7 46.7 2 = chi-square analysis, p-value = significance level (p < .05). table 4 underneath shows that there were no outliers; the data were normally distributed as assessed by shapiro-wilk’s test of normality (p > .05) table 4. test of normality type of group shapiro-wilk statistic df p-value pre-test experimental 0.896 15 0.082 control 0.902 15 0.101 post-test experimental 0.929 15 0.266 control 0.914 15 0.155 df = degree of freedom, p-value = significance level (p > .05). likewise, the tests of assumptions were met; the homogeneity of variances was p > .05 and covariance was p > .001 as assessed by levene’s test of homogeneity of variances and box’s m test, respectively. the significance in students’ achievement of both groups in the pre-test was undertaken using the independent t-test. there were no significant differences between the groups at pre-intervention for any of the study outcomes, as shown in table 5. table 5. comparison between the experimental and the control groups at pre-intervention for the study outcome outcomes experimental group (15) control group (15) p-value mean sd mean sd students achievement 1.40 1.24 1.67 1.29 0.828 sd = standard deviation, p-value = significance level (p < .05). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 40 published by scholink inc. the effect of the educational game on students’ achievements, time needed to carry out required tasks as well as group interaction were determined by two-way mixed anova. the two-way mixed anova is used to understand if there is a two-way interaction (interaction between and within groups), and to determine the differences between groups over time (laerd-statistics, 2015). there was a statistical significance over time for students’ achievement, (f(1, 28) = 437.400, p < .001, partial η2 = .939). also, there was a statistically significant interaction between the groups with moderate effect size (f(1, 28) = 24.066, p < .001, partial η2 = .458). furthermore, the effect of the intervention was also statistically significant between groups with small effect size (f(1, 28) = 15.000, p = .014, partial η2 = .195), as shown in table 6. table 6. two-way mixed anova for student achievements for both groups source of variation df ms p-value 2 time 1 437.400 ˂0.001 0.939 time * group 1 24.066 ˂0.001 0.458 group 1 15.000 0.014 0.195 df = degree of freedom, ms = mean square, p-value = significance level (p < .05), 2 = effect size in comparison of the difference in the mean scores for students’ achievements between the experimental and the control groups in the pre-intervention (t1), both groups were almost the same. at the postintervention (t2), both groups had improved, albeit the improvement in the experimental group was more than that for the control group. see table 7 and figure 7 underneath. table 7. mean scores for student achievements for both groups over time group t1 t2 mean sd mean sd experiment 1.40 1.24 8.07 1.28 control 1.67 1.29 5.80 1.27 sd = standard deviation, t1 = pre-intervention, t2 = post-intervention. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 41 published by scholink inc. figure 7. mean scores for student achievements for both groups over time as seen in table 8 and figure 8 below, the lowest performance in the pre-intervention test (experimental group pre-test) was for q4, q8, q9, and q10, which were considered the most difficult questions because they needed summation with carrying, or were indirect questions. however, these results improved after the intervention (using the game) in the post-intervention test (experimental group post-test), which means that the game was effective in facilitating summation to the students. table 8. student performance in the experimental group pre-intervention test post-intervention test questions correct answer questions correct answer n % n % q1 4 26.7 q6 13 86.7 q2 1 6.7 q1 15 100 q3 7 46.7 q7 14 93.3 q4 0 00 q2 14 93.3 q5 3 20 q5 13 86.7 q6 3 20 q9 13 86.7 q7 1 6.7 q3 12 80 q8 0 00 q8 10 66.7 q9 1 6.7 q10 6 40 q10 0 00 q4 12 80 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 t1 t2 st u d e n ts a ch ie ve m e n t m e an s c o r e time experiment group control group www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 42 published by scholink inc. figure 8. student performance in the experimental group similar to the experiment group, the lowest performance in the pre-intervention test was for q4, q8, q9 and q10, which were considered the most difficult questions because they needed summation with carrying, or were indirect questions. using the traditional teaching methods show that the students’ performance improved, but not for all the questions (e.g., q8 & q10); see table 9 and figure 9 below. table 9. student performance in the control group pre-intervention test post-intervention test questions correct answer questions correct answer n % n % q1 6 40 q6 15 100 q2 2 13.3 q1 14 93.3 q3 5 33.3 q7 9 60 q4 1 6.7 q2 11 73.3 q5 5 33.3 q5 15 100 q6 3 20 q9 5 33.3 q7 1 6.7 q3 11 73.3 q8 1 6.7 q8 0 00 q9 1 6.7 q10 0 00 q10 0 00 q4 7 46.7 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 p e rc e n ta ge o f c o rr e ct a n sw e rs question no pre-intervention exam post-intervention exam www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 43 published by scholink inc. figure 9. student performance in the control group 4. discussion this study aimed to shed light on the effect of using educational games on the achievement of primary second grade students at the al-aqsa integrated school in mathematics. the study targeted 30 male and female students divided into two groups: an experimental group, and a control group with each having participants from both genders. the former was taught via a selected educational game whereas the latter was taught the same materials via suing the traditional way. the independent t-test shows that there was no significant difference between the groups at pre-intervention for any of the study outcomes. after applying intervention, however, the experimental group and the control group improved, but the improvement in the experimental group was far more than that for the control group. the difference in achievement was in favour of the experimental group, signifying that teaching using the educational game produced better and higher knowledge of the subject matter. noteworthy is that the result of the current study goes in line with and supports the results of several previous studies on the use of educational games in teaching. balakrishnan et al. (2017) examined the use of a specific educational game in teaching english to 20 malaysian dyslexic children. the result showed that the use of educational games as a teaching method was better than that of traditional teaching. likewise, kebritchi et al. (2010) studied the effect of using educational games in teaching mathematics in florida. it came out that teaching mathematics via educational games had a positive impact on students’ achievement. measuring the effect of educational games on eighth-grade students’ achievement in mathematics and their role in increasing their motivation in taiwan schools, found that educational games improved the achievement of the eighth-grade students in mathematics compared to their previous achievement. chuang and chen (2015) found that educational games made clear improvements in teaching students about fighting fires, first aid, and the dangers of fire. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 44 published by scholink inc. based on the results of the study, few recommendations are to be made here. future studies should include more thorough studies of various lessons and the use of various strategies. further studies can be carried out involving larger samples than the one used in this study. studies should be geared to target teaching mathematics in other levels and across different age groups. the use of educational games in teaching can also be explored in teaching other subjects other than mathematics. training courses should be offered to familiarize teachers in the primary stage, particularly the second-grade primary teachers, with the use and the importance of incorporating educational electronic games in teaching mathematics and other subjects. efforts should be made to improve teaching methods and curricula used for second-grade students in particular, and primary students in general. distinguished programmers in the field of electronic games can be recruited to collaborate with teachers to design high-quality educational electronic games. teachers of mathematics and other subjects alike should make electronic games an integral part of the educational process and teaching method in palestinian schools. teachers should develop their teaching methods, integrate educational electronic games into their teaching, and use them as a method or as an assistant to communicate information and concepts to students in an innovative way. several types of electronic games should be developed for the palestinian curriculum through employing specialized programmers to develop and design electronic games that suit palestinian educational curricula developed by the palestinian ministry of education. references annetta, l. a., minogue, j., holmes, s. y., & cheng, m.-t. 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(2011). encouraging engagement in game-based learning. international journal of gamebased learning (ijgbl), 1(1), 75-84. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijgbl.2011010106 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.06.009 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5370-3_9 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.02.014 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429487682 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351314329 https://doi.org/10.4018/ijgbl.2011010106 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 225 original paper school curriculum leadership in elementary education in finland yilin tang1 1 the open university of haifeng county, guangdong province, china received: march 1, 2025 accepted: march 19, 2025 online published: march 31, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p225 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p225 abstract this study investigates the curriculum leadership in finnish elementary education, focusing on successful leadership models and practices. finland’s approach, emphasizing trust in educators and significant autonomy, has led to high performance in international assessments like pisa. key findings include the effectiveness of shared, distributed, and sustainable leadership models, which balance national standards with local flexibility and teacher autonomy. these models empower teachers to make decisions on curriculum design and student assessment, fostering a collaborative and innovative educational environment. the study concludes that trust, autonomy, and collaboration are essential for effective curriculum leadership and offers valuable insights for global educational reform. keywords curriculum leadership, elementary education, finnish education system, educational reform, school management 1. introduction 1.1 background since entering the 21st century, with the deepening of globalization and international educational exchanges, the demand for internationalized high-quality talents is increasing. reformation as a way to enhance national competitiveness. countries around the world have been actively engaged in nationwide curriculum reforms, each with its unique approach and focus. western countries, in particular, have been at the forefront of reforming centralized education management systems. these reforms emphasize the central government’s regulatory role in education, aiming to standardize teaching practices and implement uniform measurement standards for both students and teachers. curriculum standards are rigorously developed and enforced, and the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 226 published by scholink inc. implementation of teaching courses is closely monitored to ensure compliance and quality. this topdown approach is designed to maintain consistency and high standards across the education system. in contrast, many eastern countries have been gradually decentralizing educational authority, empowering schools and teachers with more autonomy. however, standardized examinations continue to dominate educational practice, often overshadowing the potential benefits of increased autonomy. this reliance on standardized testing can sometimes limit the flexibility and innovation in teaching methods and curriculum design. in this global landscape of educational reform, finland has emerged as a unique and highly successful example. finland has created a new model that “emphasizes trust in professionals and returns the right to education and management to professional educators” (gao, 2019, p. 1). this approach is fundamentally different from the more rigid, top-down models seen in many other countries. instead of strict central control, finland places a strong emphasis on the professionalism and autonomy of educators, trusting them to make decisions that best serve their students. finland’s approach to elementary education is characterized by a focus on coherence and flexibility. in 2001, finland initiated a significant reform of its national core curriculum, which was further refined and implemented in 2004. this reform was highly successful, emphasizing national standards and guidance while allowing for local adaptation and innovation. the state maintains control over the overall educational framework, but local governments, schools, and teachers are granted substantial autonomy over elective subjects and teaching methods. this balance between national standards and local flexibility is a key factor in finland’s educational success. moreover, finnish education has garnered international attention due to its remarkable performance in the programme for international student assessment (pisa) tests. between 2000 and 2009, finland consistently achieved top rankings in these assessments, which measure students’ reading, mathematics, and science skills. these results have positioned finland as a global leader in education, attracting widespread interest from policymakers, educators, and researchers around the world. 1.2 study questions given the unique and successful model of educational leadership and curriculum management in finland, this study seeks to explore the following questions: a. what are the leadership styles in elementary schools in finland？ b. how do they build an effective curriculum leadership development team? 2. methodology and concept analysis 2.1 methodology to gain a comprehensive understanding of curriculum leadership in finnish elementary education, this study employs a multi-faceted approach. extensive literature reviews were conducted, focusing on academic papers, policy documents, and reports related to finnish education reform and curriculum www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 227 published by scholink inc. management. additionally, case studies of specific finnish schools were analyzed to provide real-world examples and insights into the practical implementation of curriculum leadership models. the analytical method was used to dissect and understand the structure and dynamics of curriculum leadership in finland. by examining various leadership styles and their impact on educational outcomes, this study aims to provide a clear and detailed picture of what makes finnish curriculum leadership effective. 2.2 concept analysis—define leadership style/roles through classroom study and reading literature, several key curriculum leadership models related to finland were identified and analyzed. these models include: a. shared leadership: this model involves co-governance and greater involvement of multiple stakeholders in important decision-making processes. in the context of finnish schools, shared leadership often includes collaboration between principals, teachers, and even students, ensuring that diverse perspectives are considered in shaping educational policies and practices. b. collaborative leadership: this approach refers to the establishment of partnership with external parties (such as ngos, schools, departments) in order to achieve a win-win situation. c. professional leadership: this model highlights the importance of transparent professional knowledge and expertise among leaders. leaders are expected to be highly competent in their fields and to take responsibility for their actions and decisions. in some cases, a common governance approach is adopted, where leaders work together to achieve shared goals. d. distributed leadership: it refers to a shared approach to leadership, beyond a singular leadership position. leadership decisions supporting school curricula delegated and shared to teachers in response to the growing intensity, rapidity, fluidity and uncertainty in education reforms. e. sustainable leadership: as discussed by brent davies in developing sustainable leadership (2007), sustainable leadership is not limited to a single leadership model. it involves a long-term perspective and the ability to adapt and evolve in response to changing circumstances. andy hargreaves and dean fink (2003) further elaborate on this concept in their paper “sustaining leadership,” highlighting the importance of learning leadership, distributed leadership, and leadership inheritance in creating a sustainable educational environment. all in all, there is no single, one-size-fits-all curriculum leadership model in finland. the definitions of different curriculum leadership models are interconnected and often overlap. the effectiveness of these models lies in their ability to adapt to the unique needs and contexts of individual schools and communities. 3. school curriculum leadership in elementary schools in finland 3.1 distributed leadership and sustainable leadership according to huang dingchao (2017), decentralization of curriculum leadership model in finland is as follows: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 228 published by scholink inc. local government--school--principal principal--teacher-student and parent “the finnish educational steering system is based on the basic education act. general educational goals and time allocations for various subjects are defined by the government” (sullanmaa et al., 2019, p. 4), the central and local governments jointly manage the national curriculum system. in order to ensure the quality of teaching, the finnish government has formulated rules for the basic education curriculum and some requirements on major policies. all schools are required to implement the prescribed curriculum, but this does not mean that the curriculum of elementary education schools is completely in accordance with the government’s arrangements. finland adopts flexible responsibility system. the government trusts the school, does not interfere in the specific management and teaching of the school, has almost no assessment index for the school, and does not carry out the grade assessment of the school. each school has a certain degree of autonomy in the arrangement of its own school. it only needs to follow the general direction of the government and ensure the number of class hours. the school can decide the courses to be set up, the specific class hour arrangement, and the selection of teaching materials suitable for the school. the finnish top-down-bottom-up approach to school development (pietarinen, pyhäaltö, & soini, 2017) sees the local education providers as important stakeholders who are involved and engaged in the school development process (tian & risku, 2019; vitikka et al., 2016). finland’s success in the programme for international student assessment (pisa) tests provides empirical evidence of the effectiveness of its curriculum leadership model. over the past two decades, finland has consistently ranked among the top performers in reading, mathematics, and science. for example, in the 2009 pisa test, finnish students achieved an average score of [x] in reading, significantly higher than the oecd average of [y]. this superior performance is attributed to the country’s emphasis on teacher autonomy, collaborative leadership, and continuous professional development. detailed analysis of pisa data reveals that finnish students not only score high in standardized tests but also demonstrate strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for the 21st-century workforce. 3.2 principals’ leadership and shared leadership finnish schools are highly autonomous, and principals are very important to schools. according to the law, headmasters must be teachers in finland. the government devolves the management power to the principals, who manage the school curriculum, determine the content of the school-based curriculum, and interact with stakeholders inside and outside the school. by reading an exclusive interview in shanghai education global education news (2019) with ari pokka, former president of the international federation of principals: the “secret” of finnish principals in managing schools. he shared the idea like: the principal may not be the best teacher, and the best teacher should stay in the classroom, but the principal may be an innovative teacher who can turn some possibilities into reality in the school. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 229 published by scholink inc. ari pokka in his book top class-finnish school leadership and management mentioned that one of the important cornerstones is shared leadership. shared leadership in finnish schools consists of two parts: one is a principal and several vice presidents; the other is teachers and students, as school users, how them participate in school leadership, because principals need to listen to their opinions and suggestions. shared leadership is the combination of the principal, teachers and students. there are two forms of participation in the teacher and student way: large group discussions (five or six teachers and an active student) or group discussions (two or three teachers). to illustrate the implementation of shared leadership, this study examines the practices at a typical finnish elementary school in helsinki. the principal at this school actively involves teachers in curriculum design, fostering a collaborative environment where professional development is prioritized. through regular meetings and workshops, teachers are encouraged to share best practices and continuously improve their teaching methods. this case study highlights the effectiveness of shared leadership in enhancing educational quality and student outcomes. the finnish association of principals conducts regular training for principals and holds regular meetings of principals to share leadership. communication, discussion and sharing among principals are very important. also, in helsinki, the capital of finland, “the government has provided a two-year training program (jova) for all new principals, which mainly includes school administration, career planning and consultation, leadership training for principals, and management organization theory.” (gao meng, 2019, p. 24) 3.3 teachers’ profession and the management of curriculum the traditional principal personal responsibility system, that is, the principal’s personal leadership, on the one hand, is very easy to cause the principal to be difficult to deal with complex work, on the other hand, it may also lead to the principal’s monopolization of power, which makes school reform lack of internal motivation and can’t make progress. therefore, it is very important to add other leadership and teachers’ participation. in finland, the curriculum has traditionally concentrated on developing teaching and learning, and teachers are recognised and highlighted as the most influential factor in a reform process having an effect on student learning (sahlberg, 2015) because teachers are the group closest to students and experts in the front line of education, therefore, they are most likely to make decisions that are beneficial to students. distributed leadership will help teachers to grasp the process and ensure that local actors establish cooperation and discussion relationships in time to support and participate in the implementation process. schools believe in teachers. “in terms of teaching, each teacher has greater autonomy in teaching, and can freely choose teaching materials and teaching methods, and arrange the schedule.” (liu, 2014, p. 41) finnish teachers have full authority over syllabus, student assessment, campus improvement and community participation. (huang, 2017) curriculum leadership is manifested in the autonomy and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 230 published by scholink inc. authority of school and teachers in curriculum development and implementation, and the independence and cooperation of teaching evaluation. finland’s approach to teacher professional development is a cornerstone of its educational success. the country follows the “less is more” principle in education governance, which means achieving good results with less intervention. under this empowerment principle, teachers are endowed with full professional autonomy, and the outstanding performance in practice is that teachers have a high degree of control over teaching work, characterized by teachers’ self-efficacy as the core driving force (zhang & qiu, 2024). the finnish education system provides a comprehensive support system for teacher professional development. this includes a strong emphasis on pre-service teacher education, where aspiring teachers must obtain a master’s degree to qualify for teaching positions. the teacher education program is research-based, focusing on developing teachers’ research capabilities, reflective practice, and problemsolving skills (niemi, 2018). in addition to pre-service education, finland places significant emphasis on continuous professional development for in-service teachers. each school is required to develop individual professional development plans for teachers. these plans are tailored to the specific needs and contexts of each teacher, ensuring that they receive the support necessary to enhance their teaching practices. the system also encourages teachers to engage in collaborative learning communities and action research projects, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation (niemi, 2018). furthermore, the finnish education system promotes the use of information and communication technology (ict) in teaching and learning. teacher education centers, such as the luma science education center at the university of helsinki, provide ongoing training and resources to help teachers integrate ict into their classrooms. this not only enhances teaching efficiency but also prepares students for the digital age (niemi, 2018). therefore, finland strictly guarantees the quality of teachers, attaches great importance to the professional training of teachers, and has carried out a series of reforms in improving the professional quality of teachers. teachers must obtain the required degree, and almost all teachers in elementary schools are master’s degrees. 3.4 effective curriculum leadership development team the effectiveness is dependent on how well curriculum leadership is distributed to teacher leadership, and thus how well both distributed and teacher leadership competencies are developed. according to andrew hargreaves (2007), elementary school curriculum leadership and management team in finland, the distributed collaborative leadership is reflected in all levels. the redistribution of leadership within municipalities, between municipal authorities and schools, between schools and schools, and within schools, is the distribution and adjustment of power on the basis of cooperation. in finland, principals and teachers are the main body of school management and curriculum leadership implementation. take the primary schools in vantaa, finland as an example. curriculum leadership www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 231 published by scholink inc. development team adopts the combination of principal responsibility system and team leadership. teachers adopt the post rotation system under the principle of voluntariness to form a leadership team. all team members participate in the decision-making system. members make decisions through individual communication and group discussion. the principal has the final decision-making power, but the leadership team and the principal make more contributions to the development of the school for scientific and reasonable decision-making, the overall efficiency of leadership development team is high. (zhang, 2012) 4. conclusion because finland’s curriculum leadership is mainly distributed leadership under the leadership of the principal responsibility system which including professional leadership, and also contains some other leadership models like shared and collaborative leadership. learning from other leadership models, it is also a sustainable leadership in development.in addition,reasons for length,this paper on the establishment of effective curriculum leadership team is not deep enough. 5. recommendation through the discussion of curriculum leadership in finland primary school, this has some inspiration for curriculum leadership in china. first of all, because teachers are the key role of education, it is particularly important to improve the requirements of teachers and strengthen the training of teachers and teacher resources. therefore, greater attention should be paid to teachers in the context of curriculum reform. it can introduce a series of teacher standards and teacher evaluation system, so as to improve the quality of teaching staff, and improve teachers’ quality, so that they can have the comprehensive quality of national curriculum reform. the schools in china should improve the selection requirements of principals and strengthen inter school cooperation. regular meetings should be arranged among local and upper and lower levels, so that principals can communicate with each other and share leadership experience. sustainable curriculum leadership should be developed, and it should not be confined to any kind of curriculum leadership mode. it should be combined with the local actual situation. we can learn from each mode to find the most appropriate curriculum leadership development. students, parents, society, school and teachers should trust each other. in order to win the trust of parents and society, teachers need to improve their professional ability, while schools need to improve the quality of education as a whole. when the social parents trust the school completely, it will encourage the whole staff of the school to make progress. however, there is not any internal examination in elementary schools in finland, and elementary school usually only takes half a day course, so the study and homework pressure for students is not very large. it is difficult to learn from the current mode of china. it is also difficult to learn, but it also has some reference to the current policy of reducing students’ burden in china. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 232 published by scholink inc. reference “less is more”—practical characteristics and support system of finnish teachers’ professional autonomy. (2025). hans publishers, andrew hargreaves, r. (2007). school leadership for systemic improvement in finland—a case study report for the oecd activity improving school leadership. andy, h., & dean, f. (2003). sustaining leadership. phi delta kappan, 84.9, 693-700. https://doi.org/10.1177/003172170308400910 building an education powerhouse: lessons from finland. (2023). china education informatization network. curriculum leadership in junior high school interdisciplinary teaching—finnish principals. (2024). lunlunapp. davies, b. (2007). developing sustainable leadership. london: sage publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446214015 finland’s educational reform: the impact and implementation of subject cancellation. (2024). study world. gao, m. (2019). a study on the professionalization of school management in finland (master’s thesis). northeast normal university. huang, d. c. (2017). characteristics of finnish school curriculum leadership and enlightenment for china. modern teaching, z3, 141-143. liu, l. l. (2014). analysis of the flexible responsibility system in finnish basic education. world education information, 12, 40-45. ma, m. (2019). ari bokka, former president of the international confederation of principals: the “secret” of finnish principals’ school management. shanghai education, 35, 56-61. phenomenon-based teaching in finland and its implications. (2024). zhangqiao research. pietarinen, j., pyhäaltö, k., & soini, t. (2017). large-scale curriculum reform in finland-exploring the interrelation between implementation strategy, the function of the reform, and curriculum coherence. the curriculum journal, 28(1), 22-40. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2016.1179205 sahlberg, p. (2015). finnish lessons 2.0: what can the world learn from educational change in finland? (2nd ed.). new york, ny: teachers college press. stages, characteristics, and implications of the evolution of finland’s vocational and general education integration policy. (2024). wanfang data knowledge service platform. successful insights from finnish educational reform. (2025). hans publishers. sullanmaa, j., pyhältö, k., pietarinen, j., & soini, t. (2019). curriculum coherence as perceived by district-level stakeholders in large-scale national curriculum reform in finland. the curriculum journal, 30(3), 244-263. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2019.1607512 tampere university: leading complex educational change through national participatory reform? finland. (2024). lunlunapp. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 233 published by scholink inc. tian, m., & risku, m. (2019). a distributed leadership perspective on the finnish curriculum reform 2014. journal of curriculum studies, 51, 229-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2018.1499806 vitikka, e., krokfors, l., & rikabi, l. (2016). the finnish national core curriculum. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-776-4_6 wang, l. (2016). the reform of basic education curriculum in finland since the 21st century and its enlightenment. journal of jilin provincial institute of education, 1, 110-112. zhang, l. l. (2012). comparative study of team leadership models in chinese and finnish schools under the principal responsibility system (master’s thesis, east china normal university). education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper the time is now: modeling the tenets of critical pedagogy for our future teachers at hispanic serving institutions aimée courville-myers1 & jorge f. figueroa-flores1* 1 department of teacher education, texas woman’s university, denton, texas, united states * jorge f. figueroa-flores, department of teacher education, texas woman’s university, denton, texas, united states received: july 1, 2020 accepted: july10, 2020 online published: july 16, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n2p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n2p1 abstract at this historic moment, the quest to develop equitable and inclusive curriculum is even more imperative to support all students in the learning process. this urgency becomes even more relevant when our k-12 schools need teacher education programs to prepare future teachers from diverse backgrounds with necessary tools to engage and empower underrepresented groups in social justice practices. one of the best guides for this task is critical pedagogy. this study sought to determine if education preparation programs (epps) at three hispanic serving institutes (hsis) in north texas were devoting their curriculum to principles of critical pedagogy. the study was guided by a critical pedagogy framework developed by giroux (2020). this framework was used to analyze the epps required courses’ syllabi. in our article, we discuss how the epps are supporting preservice teachers’ knowledge of critical pedagogy aspects and inconsistencies found among the hsis in our region. additionally, implications are shared for further use of the framework to assess epp curriculum, guide program revisions, and encourage discourse among epps at hsis on how to best serve our students. keywords critical pedagogy, teacher education, preservice teachers, culturally relevant, curriculum development, critical literacy www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 2 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction our study was initiated as 2019 concluded. as the new year progressed, we had no clue what was in store for us in 2020. however, as critical educators, we already knew the severity of inequities in our educational system and the lack of justice for our communities of color. as we proceeded with this study and into 2020, the covid-19 pandemic hit, george floyd was killed, and the united states supreme court had to intervene to protect lgtbqia employees and daca recipients. these events began to scratch at the wounds of inequality and injustice revealing the putrid scars our country had attempted to hide. the context of 2020 made it even more imperative for us to engage in discourse over the need for educators to be engaged in anti-racist practices. multiculturalism and diversity scholars have been calling for reforms to k-12 education for decades (banks, 1995; delpit, 1995; ladson-billings, 1995; nieto, 1999). each new wave of programs and initiatives attempted to encourage teachers in being more inclusive in the content they teach and also in the styles of instruction used (gay, 2013; irizarry & anthrop-gonzález, 2007; paris, 2012). additionally, each new variation reflected different terms such as culturally relevant pedagogy; culturally sustaining teaching; critical literacy; equity pedagogy; and anti-racist pedagogies. we could go on with many more. each one of these concepts are related like a family, and this family is rooted in critical pedagogy. critical pedagogy requires us to confront oppression and support an educational system that works towards emancipation (freire, 1973). this need for reform in the k-12 educational system cannot happen without adjusting our practices in educator preparation programs (epps). while many epps throughout the country have recognized the need to prepare equitable and inclusive preservice teachers for k-12 classrooms, are epps modeling tenets of critical pedagogy within their own classrooms? since the larger focus of critical pedagogy is to emancipate ourselves and our students from oppressive structures and societal injustices, our study sought to determine if epps at our local hispanic serving institutes (hsis) were devoting their curriculum to principles of critical pedagogy. this knowledge was imperative for us as members of the latinx community, as faculty members at an hsi, but also as teacher educators. if our professional field recognizes the need for critical educators at the k-12 level because of the diverse student backgrounds, then the same practices should be happening at universities that serve college students from underrepresented populations. 1.1 understanding critical pedagogy critical pedagogy has a legacy reaching back to paulo freire’s (1970) pedagogy of the oppressed. after the introduction of critical pedagogy, freire continued for decades to call upon educators to confront inequality, but he also called upon us to support our students’ emancipation from structural and institutional injustices through critical thinking. henry giroux (2010) merged freire’s collective works to describe critical pedagogy for educators. critical pedagogy, unlike dominant modes of teaching, insists that one of the fundamental tasks of educators is to make sure that the future points the way to a more socially just world, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 3 published by scholink inc. a world in which the discourses of critique and possibility in conjunction with the values of reason, freedom, and equality function to alter, as part of a broader democratic project, the grounds upon which life is lived. (p. 717) giroux’s definition reminds us that no student lives or learns in a self-contained vacuum. critical pedagogy calls upon us to recognize the social context that encompasses our students. as educators, we must be willing to acknowledge the barriers our students face and create a space for them to confront these barriers. readings that represent our students and their lived experiences are imperative to the work of critical educators. this is a good starting point; yet, it is not enough for us to address sociopolitical contexts through course readings. many educators are currently working to actualize the theory of critical pedagogy through collective action in the classroom (duncan-andrade, jeffrey, & morell, 2008). one of the ways educators can engage with students is through youth participatory action research (ypar), which has become a foundational element within urban education (de los ríos, lópez, & morell, 2015). another example of how critical pedagogy comes to life in classrooms is through the use of testimonio (delgado bernal, burciago, & flores carmona, 2012). by engaging in the genre of testimonio students engage in critical reflection both individually and communally to document a collective experience and build solidarity among the community for action. in order to frame our conceptualization of critical pedagogy for this study, we used the nine principles of critical pedagogy laid out by giroux (2020). according to giroux’s synthesis of critical pedagogy work, critical pedagogy should include the following aspects:  education produces political subjectivities  ethics is central to education  need to understand difference in identity formation  need to understand how different types of knowledge are given priority in schools  should pursue new forms of culture and knowledge  claims to objective knowledge should be challenged  must include a vision of a better world  teachers should be “transformative intellectuals”  students need a critically conscious “voice” 1.2 critical pedagogy and teacher education according to mclaren (2009), critical pedagogy is designed to highlight and question the social function of knowledge, class relationships, cultural capital, and the linkages between culture and power. in addition, he calls for us to interrogate the ways by which hegemony, ideology, and discourse function to preserve relations of power. lastly, as educators, we should be willing to critique the politics of curriculum and the implicit messages that are delivered to students through hidden curricula. regretfully, the integration of critical pedagogy to epps in the united states is still in its early stages and higher education institutions continue to foster a traditional curriculum which still favors the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 4 published by scholink inc. interests of the elite. if critical pedagogy was integrated into the curriculum of epps, teachers will learn critical and emancipatory best practices needed to confront and transform the unjust status quo. also, it will prepare educators to promote a social justice and anti-racist agenda which encourages them to identify and question potential harmful educational ideologies and practices (bartolomé, 2004). in addition, critical pedagogy can assist teachers in guiding students towards an understanding of how hegemony plays an active role in oppressing underserved populations and how students can take positive action (sardabi, biria, & golestan, 2018). therefore, it is necessary to insert in teacher education content that will encourage critical thinking and prepare teachers to fight for social justice. when armed with the capacity to challenge unjust structures of schooling, teachers and students might then be equipped to intervene to ensure that our educational system “transmits the status and class positions of the wider society” (mclaren, 2009, p. 78). one particular challenge in the united states is that teachers have an educational foundation built upon neo-liberal ideologies that focus solely on instruction for the sake of the work force or future professions. additionally, it has suppressed the urgency to seek social justice for the conditions that circumscribe many of our citizens (giroux, 2016). another challenge is that many teachers were educated through an epp system where they simply store information relayed to them by the instructor or the class is merely meant to prepare them for a certification exam. this concept is what freire (1970) called banking education. this has kept our preservice teachers from an opportunity for holistic growth, the development of critical thinking skills, and to have globalized perspectives. many epp students become prisoners of teaching practices that promote lectures, extensive reading, and memorization in a closed curriculum that leaves out any type of critical pedagogical practice. in order to combat these hegemonic practices, epps must redesign their teacher education curriculum and start by training teachers with several educational implications focused on critical pedagogy. these implications are explained in the work of olmos de montañez (2008), and include the relationship between theory and practice, critical-dialectic rationale, contextualization, collaborative and deliberative action-research, and ethical purpose. figure 1. critical pedagogy implications the first educational implication of critical pedagogy is that it finds a direct dialectic relationship between theory and practice, where the process is enriched through critical reflection and aims to transform reality. here an agreed emancipatory action research exists between teachers, students, and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 5 published by scholink inc. the community and praxis is constituted via action-reflection. according to freire (1976), learning should be a dialectic process that engages both action and reflection. this convergence of student-teacher praxis generates new and innovative actions (olmos de montañez, 2008, p. 163). another implication is a critical-dialectic rationale, which refers to the autonomous and responsible actions of a teacher engaging in critical self-reflection to free themselves from bias and dogmas. this critical self-reflection leads to more informed decisions made by knowledge acquired via dialectical thought, consensus, and the social construction of the curriculum by involving shared perceptions and diverse views. in addition, we find contextualization. according to olmos de montañez (2008), critical pedagogy favors production of knowledge of the student in close relationship with their context and the context of others within their learning community. the context refers to all elements of their context: socio-historical, economic, cultural, geographical, and political. regardless of many critics, education does have a political character that guides it towards social transformation and the development of the people in all its dimensions (freire, 1997; giroux, 1998). the teacher should recognize the sociopolitical and ideological contexts in order to educate democratic participatory citizens (olmos de montañez, 2008, p. 163). the next implication focuses on collaborative and deliberative action-research. this is a process carried out between teachers (colleagues) and learners, and focuses on their daily pedagogical practice. the objective is to improve our teaching practices by reflecting on the pedagogical theories that guide our construction and reconstruction of curriculum. in this way the curriculum becomes a collective and integrating task of knowledge. lastly, we find ethical purpose. according to olmos the montañez (2008), the purpose of the pedagogical practice is to develop good morale through action. this includes being flexible and open to revision rather than being committed to a preset or prescribed curriculum. critical pedagogy is a practical science for ethical purposes, which implies considering the relationship between reason and morale at the time of reflection and action-practice (habermas, 1997). critical educators assume responsibility for their teaching (mclaren & kincheloe, 2008; yedaide, 2016) and consider various cultural contexts as new spheres for education (silberman-keller et al., 2011). this responsibility extends beyond k-12 and into higher education. therefore, it is important that preservice teachers gain educational training from their professors that provide them with the necessary tools to study, analyze, and denounce the tricks made by the establishment (apple, 2015; giroux, 2016). as educators, we should become advocates against the injustices made to the most vulnerable sectors by producing educational materials, participating in conferences, and making our voices heard when allies are needed (bidaseca, 2010). finally, critical educators should learn how to question the system and have confidence in the power of dialogue as a strategy to start powerful classroom discourse about diversity, inclusion, decolonization, oppression, white privilege, dog whistle politics, racism, and many more necessary topics. all of these can’t be given or embedded into a teacher education course. therefore, the curriculum needs to be revised and moved towards a humanistic approach and aligned with the issues students face in the 21st century. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 6 published by scholink inc. 2. method for this study, we utilized qualitative document analysis. according to bowen (2009), organizational and institutional documents can be an essential data set for qualitative research. following this premise, we decided to use document analysis to analyze curriculum. our research was guided by our research question—how do epps at our local hispanic serving institutions (hsis) support principles of critical pedagogy? according to lópez-noguero (2002), this form of empirical research allows scholars to discover the internal structure of the information as well in its composition, organizational structure, or dynamics. to conduct the study, we chose three hsi’s from the north texas area and named them university 1, university 2, and university 3 to protect their identity. the u.s. department of education defines hsi as an institution of higher education that is an eligible institution; and has an enrollment of undergraduate full-time equivalent students that is at least 25 percent hispanic students at the end of the award year immediately preceding the date of application. from each of the three hsis, we examined the syllabi from their required epp courses. in addition to coding the university names, we did not list the course titles in order to protect the identity of the institutions. as part of the study, we analyzed the epps required courses’ syllabi using the critical pedagogy framework developed by giroux (2020) which consists of nine principles. deductive preset coding was used as a systematic procedure for reviewing or evaluating documents and material. documents went through repeated review by multiple investigators and data interpretation was checked for inter-rater reliability. the nine principles of critical pedagogy were used to develop our code book for data analysis and are shown on figure 2. figure 2. nine principles of critical pedagogy www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 7 published by scholink inc. 3. result through our document analysis of the three hsis in the north texas region, we were able to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the scale in which students are being supported in critical pedagogy practices. each hsi in the study was assigned a chart that reflected how the nine principles of critical pedagogy were being supported in the epp core courses. 3.1 university 1 university 1 had the most required core courses in the study with a total of five. despite having the most required core courses, university 1 had the least amount of critical pedagogy principles covered. at university1 the principle coded e was identified two times in course 1 (c1), one time in course 2 (c2), three times in course 3 (c3), and two times in course 5 (c5). the principle coded ck was identified two times in c1, one time in c2, and one time in c5. the principle coded c was identified two times in course 4 (c4) and one time in c5. finally, the principle coded cc was identified one time in c4. table 1. university 1 coded principles courses university 1 coded principles ps e if dk ck c bw ti cc c1 2 2 c2 1 1 c3 3 c4 2 1 c5 2 1 1 these findings indicate, the critical pedagogy support and modeling at the uni1 epp is very limited. however, it is important to recognize with this epp, that they integrated ethics to the curriculum in three of the five courses evaluated. giroux (2020) points out in principle number two that ethics is central to education. ethics is linked to critical pedagogy since its foundation (rabikowska, 2009). 3.2 university 2 university 2 had the least amount of required core education courses in the study. while only two courses reviewed, overall university’s 2 epp core courses reflected all principles at least once. in here, the principle coded ps was identified one time in c2. meanwhile, the principle coded e was identified two times in c1 and two times in c2. in addition, the principle coded if was identified three times in c2 and the principle identified dk was identified one time in c1. the principle coded ck was identified one time in c2 and the principle coded c was identified three times in the same course. also the principle coded bw was identified two times in c2. finally, the principle coded ti was identified www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 8 published by scholink inc. one time in c1 and two times in c2. lastly, the principle coded cc was identified one time in c1 and five times in c2. table 2. university 2 coded principles courses university 2 coded principles ps e if dk ck c bw ti cc c1 2 1 c2 1 2 3 1 3 2 2 5 despite having the least amount of core epp courses, uni2 is supporting and modeling critical pedagogy throughout its teacher education program. another significant data point to address is that uni2 had one course that managed to reflect eight of the nine principles. it’s evident that this institution has one course that clearly focuses on critical pedagogy, especially with an emphasis on students’ critically conscious voice (cc). this principle which was coded five times in c2 supports pre-service teachers in understanding how to create learning experiences and strategies to disrupt injustices in education (lewison, leland, & harste, 2015). 3.3 university 3 at university 3 four core epp courses were identified. between the four courses they reflected all the principles at least once and seemed to have the most support and modeling of critical pedagogy. here the principle coded ps was identified one time in c2. the principle coded e was identified three times in c1, one time in c2, and three times in c3. on the other hand the principle coded if was identified three times in c2 and two times in c3. meanwhile, the principle coded dk was identified seven times in c2 and one time in c3. also, the principle coded ck was identified two times in c1, four times in c2, one time in c3, and one time in c4. the principle coded c was identified one time in c2 and the principle coded bw was identified one time in c1, three times in c2, and one time in c3. finally, the principle coded ti was identified three times in c2 and one time in c3. lastly, the principle coded cc was identified two times in c1 and four times in c2. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 9 published by scholink inc. table 3. university 3 coded principles courses uni3 coded principles ps e if dk ck c bw ti cc c1 3 2 1 2 c2 1 1 3 7 4 1 3 3 4 c3 3 2 1 1 1 1 c4 1 based on the university 3 results, their epp has a program that integrates critical pedagogy as a main focus for its preservice teachers. from the four courses identified, three of the courses reflected most of the critical pedagogy principles. in one of the courses (c2), there was a heavy emphasis on the principle titled need to understand how different types of knowledge are given priority in schools (dk). in addition, the principle coded titled should pursue new forms of culture and knowledge (ck) is consistently seen in the course. the heavy emphasis on these two principles allows pre-service teachers to build a strong foundation for culturally sustaining pedagogy (paris & alim, 2017). 4. discussion the results of our study reflect the vast variations of epp required courses and course content at hsis in the north texas region. our study hopes to encourage more discourse and collaboration across universities in order to better support our underrepresented students seeking teaching jobs in the field of k-12 education. as we moved into the new 21st century, sonia nieto (2000) was still having to call upon teacher educators to place social justice at the center of our epps. while many programs focus on recruiting efforts to expand for more diverse representation in their preservice teachers, these same programs have not adjusted their practices to reflect the issues often faced by underrepresented populations, leaving students feeling marginalized in their teacher education classes (gist, 2017; haddix, 2017; irizarry, 2011). additionally, research reflects that teacher education students report feeling valued and more prepared to teach in schools with diverse populations when professors combine pedagogical content knowledge with students’ lived experiences, maintain a focus on equity, demonstrate cultural competence, and support students’ sociopolitical consciousness (castillo-montoya, 2019; nieto, 2017). unfortunately, some epps at the undergraduate level, including those at hsis are still not adequately supporting pre-service teachers in engaging in critical pedagogy to support inclusivity and equity. the irony is that this is especially true when students come from marginalized or underserved backgrounds. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 10 published by scholink inc. 5. conclusion critical pedagogy contributes to the development of reflective educators who are devoted to supporting democratic participatory citizens and social justice for our society. it also favors moving educators from theory to practice with an interdisciplinary approach. supporting our preservice teachers and modeling critical pedagogy is necessary within our 21st century epps. we must be willing to redesign curriculum to move beyond superficial diversity initiatives and focus on equity, inclusion, and justice for the 21st century classroom. this study revealed that there is a need for epps at hsis to support and model more critical pedagogy aspects for their preservice teachers. without this focus, our students at hsis will not feel a sense of belonging or relevancy in their education. in addition, future teachers are not getting the training necessary to be inclusive and equitable educators in today’s tumultuous environment. educators have the responsibility to disrupt education, but in order to do that they need to know how to do it. the nine critical pedagogy principles are a good starting point for epps to measure their commitment towards inclusion, equity, and justice. adding several courses that specifically focus on theory and practice related to critical pedagogy could be a starting point. additionally, epps could provide workshops for both preservice and inservice teachers that focus on teaching practices that are culturally relevant, responsive, and sustaining. finally, more research is needed in how epps, especially those serving underrepresented students, are moving away from traditional teaching philosophies and implementing curriculum that openly addresses social justice practices and confronts the real problems that are impacting our society and schools. references apple, m. 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(2017). becoming sociocultural mediators: what all educators can learn from bilingual and esl teachers. issues in teacher education, 26(2), 129-141. olmos de montañez, o. (2008). la pedagogía crítica y la interdisciplinaridad en la formación del docente. sapiens: revista universitaria de investigación, 9(1), 155-177. paris, d. (2012). culturally sustaining pedagogy: a needed change in stance, terminology, and practice. educational researcher, 41(3), 93-97. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189x12441244 paris, d., & alim, h. s. (2017). culturally sustaining pedagogies: teaching and searning for justice in a changing world. teachers college press. rabikowska, m. (2009). the ethical foundation of critical pedagogy in contemporary academia: self-reflection and complicity in the process of teaching. pedagogy, culture & society, 17(2), 237-249. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681360902934475 sardabi, n., biria, r., & golestan, a. a. (2018). reshaping teacher professional identity through critical pedagogy-informed teacher education. international journal of instruction, 11(3), 617-634. https://doi.org/10.12973/iji.2018.11342a silberman-keller, d., bekerman, h. a., giroux, h., & burbules, n. (2011). cultura popular y educación: imágenes espejadas. buenos aires: miño y dávila. yedaide, m. (2016). aportes de la pedagogía crítica y descolonial para un proyecto político-educativo del sur y para el sur. voces de la educación, 1(2), 102-109. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315817842 https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487100051003004 https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189x12441244 https://doi.org/10.1080/14681360902934475 https://doi.org/10.12973/iji.2018.11342a education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 148 original paper a comparative study of two english translations of chuan xi lu from the perspective of translator behavior evaluation xinxia liu1 1 school of foreign languages, chongqing jiaotong university, chongqing, china received: august 1, 2025 accepted: august 20, 2025 online published: september 4, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p148 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p148 abstract this study draws on the theory of translator behavior evaluation, taking the english translations of “chuan xi lu” by american translator henke and chinese-american translator chen rongjie as the main research objects. by examining the identity attributes of the two translators, it explores the translator behaviors they exhibit in the translation of “chuan xi lu” and reveals the historical and cultural motivations behind them. this study employs the methods of literature analysis, text close reading, and text comparative analysis to summarize and analyze the translation features of “chuan xi lu”. it also combines the “truth-seeking-pragmatism” continuum evaluation model in the theory of translator behavior evaluation to analyze the translator’s behavior, mainly from the following two perspectives: within translation, as a language person, how can the translator make the translation seek truth from the original text? beyond translation, as social beings, how can translators make their translations practical for society? therefore, the research steps of this paper are divided into three steps: the first step is to analyze the identities of the two translators within the translation, and based on this, analyze the translators’ in-translation behaviors in seeking the truth of language meaning at the language level of the translation and their reasons; the second step is to analyze the identities of the two translators from outside the translation, and based on this, analyze the translator’s out-of-translation behaviors in choosing translation strategies and methods under the influence of social environmental factors such as social politics, historical context, and reader consciousness. the third step is to analyze and summarize whether the two translators tend to be more truth-seeking or more pragmatic in the “truth-seeking-pragmatic” continuum evaluation model, as well as the reasons for the differences in their behaviors. keywords chuan xi lu, translator’s behavioral evaluation, chen rongjie, henke www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 149 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction the “chuan xi lu” is an important work that records the main philosophical thoughts of wang yangming, a scholar of the ming dynasty in china. it is also a must-read introductory book for those studying wang yangming’s philosophy of the mind. the “chuan xi lu” profoundly expounds wang yangming’s thoughts on the mind, such as the unity of knowledge and action and the realization of good conscience, making significant contributions to the development of confucian philosophy. at the same time, it also provides ideological guidance for educational practice and contains wisdom for governance, playing a significant role in the inheritance of chinese culture. at present, the first relatively complete translation of “chuan xi lu” was done by the american scholar henke, and the second translation was done by the chinese-american scholar chen rongjie. after the publication of chen rongjie’s translation, many scholars conducted comparative analysis and evaluation between chan’s translation and henke’s translation. like nivison, david s published an evaluation of two translations of “the book of changes” in the american oriental society. he compared the table of contents titles of the two translators and found differences in content arrangement chen rongjie divided “the book of changes” into several paragraphs and numbered each paragraph consecutively, while henke also used the same segmentation method but did not number them. he also found that henke’s text sometimes omitted the entire chapter, and sometimes even omitted multiple chapters at once. nivison, david s directly pointed out: but in fact henke reads the chinese so badly that what in chan is the beginning of an essay is in henke not even the beginning of a sentence. (nivison,1964, p. 438) from this, it can be seen that nivison and david s highly praised chen rongjie’s translation, believing that his translation is more accurate than henke’s and the annotations are more thoughtful. it’s not just him who thinks chen rongjie’s annotations are more meticulous. schirokauer, conrad m also stated in the journal of asian studies: to avoid misunderstanding and to clarify differences in english and chinese ways of thought, it seems advisable for a translator at times to explicate the meaning of a term and indicate the reasons for his rendition. as professor chan has pointed out, the “instructions for practical living” contain almost every chinese philosophical term, and an analysis of each is obviously beyond the scope of his book (schirokauer, 1964, p. 151). it is indeed the case that although the henke’s translation also has many annotations, the number of annotations is less than that of chen rongjie’s, and the length of the annotations is relatively short. as a philosophical text, the “chuan xi lu” contains many obscure and difficult philosophical terms, and annotations are particularly important for readers. there are obvious differences between the two translations in terms of the selection of the base text, content arrangement, subtexts, annotations and translation strategies. by comparing the two translations, it is possible to explore how translators exert their subjectivity in the translation process, including their understanding of the original text, the choice of translation strategies, and the shaping of translation styles, etc. this helps to deepen people’s understanding of the role of translators and their comprehension that translation activities are not merely language conversion but also a process of cultural transmission and recreation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 150 published by scholink inc. by january 2025, when searching for the keyword “chuan xi lu” on china national knowledge infrastructure (cnki), the literature that appears involves a wide range of theories, including the theory of functional equivalence, the perspective of translation ecology, the theory of multiple systems, and bourdieu’s sociology, etc. however, there have been no related research from the perspective of translator evaluation has emerged yet. this might be because this theory has been around for a relatively short time and has not been widely studied and applied in the academic circle. from the perspective of translator behavior evaluation, when conducting evaluations, translator critics should comprehensively consider various factors both “within the translation” and “outside the translation”, ensuring the comprehensiveness of translation evaluation while also taking into account its objectivity and scientificity. 2. overview of translator behavior evaluation theory the theory of translator behavior evaluation is an original translation evaluation theory system proposed by professor zhou lingshun. it belongs to the study of translation sociology that combines the internal and external aspects of translation, as well as the translator’s conduct and the quality of the translation. the theory of translator behavior evaluation takes the translator as the entry point and the social perspective as the evaluation perspective. “it is a study of the role of the translator in the process of translation socialization, that is, translation activities, and the general behavioral law characteristics of its influence on the text” (zhou lingshun, 2014, p. 4). translator behavior evaluation examines the rationality of a translator’s conduct both inside and outside translation and its relationship with the truthfulness and pragmatism of the translation. “within translation” refers to the internal factors of translation and their research, mainly concerning “linguistic” issues. “outside of translation” refers to the external factors of translation and their research, mainly concerning “social” issues. “within translation” and “outside translation” are independent of each other yet interrelated. the combination of the two is the prerequisite guarantee for ensuring the comprehensiveness and objectivity of translation evaluation. the core framework of translator behavior evaluation theory is the “truth-seeking-pragmatic” continuum evaluation model. “seeking truth” refers to the act where a translator, in order to achieve practical goals, fully or partially seeks the truth of the meaning carried by the original language. “pragmatism” refers to the attitude and approach adopted by the translator to meet the need for practicality on the basis of seeking truth in all or part of the meaning carried by the original language (zhou lingshun, 2014, pp. 76-77). in the “truth-seeking-pragmatic” translator behavior continuum model, “truth-seeking” and “pragmatic” are interrelated yet independent of each other. “seeking truth” is the foundation of “pragmatism”, an act of being loyal to the source language, and the guarantee of translation. and “pragmatism” is superior to “seeking truth”. it is the goal, attitude, method and effect. “seeking truth” and “being pragmatic” are mutually conditional and can be transformed into each other under certain conditions. during the translation process, when the translator approaches the original text/author, its “linguistic nature” becomes prominent, and the translator’s lines tend to “seek truth”. conversely, when the translator www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 151 published by scholink inc. approaches the readers/society, their “sociality” becomes prominent, and the translator’s behavior tends to be “pragmatic”. for the practice of translators, “seeking truth being pragmatic” is a dynamic selfdisciplined process. translators always strive to find the ideal balance between “seeking truth” and “being pragmatic”. when conducting a comparative analysis of the two english translations of “chuan xi lu”, it is necessary to recognize that henke and chen rongjie, the two translators, are volition-based individuals and inherently possess linguistic and social characteristics. therefore, research should be carried out from both the “inside translation” and “outside translation” perspectives, in combination with the “truthseeking pragmatic” continuous evaluation model of translator behavior. 3. a contrastive analysis of the two translators’ intra-translation behavior the translator’s in-translation behavior refers to the language transformation behavior in which the translator reproduces the meaning of the original text within the translation, mainly manifested in the inlanguage correspondence between the translation and the original text, such as vocabulary, syntax and rhetoric, etc. 3.1 vocabulary translation when translating words, the translator should do so on the basis of fully understanding the meaning of the original text. chen rongjie adopted a highly “truth-seeking” translation strategy, translating after accurately understanding the meanings of the original words. in contrast, henke’s translations have some mistakes due to insufficient understanding of the original text. for example: (1) 爱问：“何以有拟经之失？” (wang shouren, 2008, p. 28) i asked: “how is it that wen chung-tzu was faulty in his estimation of the classics?” (henke, 1916, p. 62) i asked, “why did wang t’ung make the mistake of imitating the classics?” (chan, 1963, p. 17) (2) 先生曰：“然则拟经独非效法孔子乎？” (wang shouren, 2008, p. 28) the teacher said: “yes. but in interpreting the classics does one not follow confucius?” (henke, 1916, p. 63) the teacher said, “isn’t imitating the classics also following confucius?” (chan, 1936, p. 18) from the context, it can be known that these two sentences were said by mr. xu aihe when discussing the right and wrong of the “simulated scriptures”. the “拟经” in the two sentences precisely refer to the simulated scriptures, and “拟” means “simulated”. for the translation of the word “拟”, henke translated it as “estimation” in example 1 and “interpret” in example 2. chen rongjie translated it as “imitate” in both cases. from this, it can be seen that chen rongjie has a deeper understanding of the original text here and the translation is more reasonable. however, henke made a mistranslation here due to his inadequate understanding of the original meaning. (3) 爱曰：“昨闻先生之教，亦影影见得功夫须是如此。” (wang shouren, 2008, p. 19) i said, “yesterday when i heard your teaching i clearly realized that the task is as you describe it (henke, 1910, p. 39). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 152 published by scholink inc. i said, “yesterday when i heard your teaching, i vaguely realized that one’s effort must follow this procedure” (chan, 1963, p. 14). in example 3, “影影” is in the same situation. this sentence was said by xu ai: “yesterday, upon hearing the master’s teachings, i had a vague feeling that doing martial arts should be like this.” “影影” here means “faint and indistinct”. chen rongjie translated it as “vaguely”, which is more reasonable. however, henke translated it as “clearly”, which has the completely opposite meaning and fails to grasp the original intention of the text. 3.2 syntactic translation when translating sentences, both henke and chen rongjie adopted a “truth-seeking” translation strategy, striving to be as faithful as possible to the original text in both content and form. for example: (4) 在文蔚须有取于惟浚之言而后尽，在惟浚又须有取于文蔚之言而后明。(wang shouren, 2008, p. 329) in what you have said, a little should be appropriated from wei-chun, and then your exposition would be exhaustive; and in what wei-chun has said, a little should be appropriated from yours, and then it would be clear. (henke, 1916, p. 444) on your part, you need to take in his words before yours can be fully stated, and on his part he needs to take in your words before his can be made clear. (chan, 1963, p. 179) in example 4, henke divided the original sentence into two parts and connected them with “and”, while chen rongjie made the translation sentence more concise. however, both translations retain the original meaning and antithesis form, and both achieve the goal of “seeking truth”. (5) 此是文公不可及处。(wang shouren, 2008, p. 121) this is the condition he was unable to attain in earlier years. (henke, 1916, p. 114) this is where we cannot match wen kung. (chan, 1963, p. 63) in the context, the meaning of example 5 is “this is what sets zhu xi apart from others.” henke translated it literally and there was a deviation in his understanding of the original text. chen rongjie’s translation more accurately conveys the meaning of the original text, achieving the goal of “seeking truth”. 3.3 rhetorical translation wang yangming extensively employed rhetorical devices such as antithesis and antithesis in his “chuan xi lu”. the application of these rhetorical devices enhances the vividness of the language in the article and improves the literary appeal of the work. when translating these rhetorical devices, the two translators mostly adopted a truth-seeking translation strategy that retains the “heterogeneity” of the original text. for example: (6) 知是行的主意，行是知的功夫；知是行之始，行是知之成。(wang shouren, 2008, p. 15) knowledge is the purpose to act, and that practice implies carrying out knowledge. knowledge is the beginning of practice; doing is the completion of knowing. (henke, 1916, p. 55) knowledge is the direction for action and action the effort of knowledge, and that knowledge is the beginning of action and action the completion of knowledge. (chan, 1963, p. 11) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 153 published by scholink inc. the original text employs the rhetorical device of antithesis, which reflects the thinking and personality traits of the chinese nation and is a rhetorical form with han ethnic characteristics. antithesis is a rhetorical device that uses a pair of phrases or sentences with the same number of characters, the same structure, and corresponding meanings to express two corresponding, similar, or identical meanings. the duality in chinese is not exactly the same as that in english. therefore, translators should not translate word for word but rather through free translation, preserving both the meaning and the sentence structure of the original text. by comparing the translations of henke and chen rongjie in proportion 6, we can find that: the original text consists of four clauses. henke’s second clause is different from the other three. the other three clauses all use noun structures like “the purpose, the beginning, the completion”, but the second clause uses a verb and does not fully retain the antithesis form of the original text. chen rongjie’s translation, in order to retain the antithesis form of the original text, even omits the verb “be” in the second sentence. this does not conform to english grammar, but it retains the beauty of the original sentence and achieves the goal of “seeking truth”. (7) 岂可专去事上理会？(wang shouren, 2008, p. 95) how can one confine himself to the investigation of things? (henke, 1916, p. 165) how can one focus solely on the investigation of things? (chan, 1963, p. 87) this original sentence employs the rhetorical device of rhetorical question. both translators have successfully conveyed the meaning of the rhetorical question, achieving the goal of “seeking truth”. in terms of translation style, henke’s translation is more colloquial, suitable for general readers to understand the tone of rhetorical questions, while chen rongjie’s translation is more formal, using “focus solely” which is more suitable for academic readers. 3.4 title translation the two translators translated the title of “chuan xi lu” into different forms. henke translated this title as “the philosophy of wang yang-ming”. and chen rongjie translated it as “instructions for practical living and other neo-confucian writing by wang yang-ming”. these two translators did not translate the title word for word as “chuan xi lu”. they both adopted the strategy of free translation. as one of the early translators to introduce the “chuan xi lu” to the west, henke’s translation might have been more influenced by the understanding of chinese philosophy in the western academic circle at that time. he chose a literal translation or a translation that is closer to the original meaning, possibly aiming to retain the “exotic flavor” of the original work as much as possible, while facilitating western readers to initially come into contact with and understand this classic of chinese philosophy through its literal meaning. however, due to language and cultural barriers, henke’s translation may not have fully conveyed the profound philosophical implications of the “chuan xi lu” in the title translation. in contrast, chen rongjie adopted a more flexible and interpretive strategy when translating the titles of “chuan xi lu”. he deeply understood the connotation of the topic and, considering the acceptance of western readers, chose a translation such as “instructions for practical living”. this translation not only conveys the philosophical feature of the “collected instructions” that emphasizes practical application, but also www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 154 published by scholink inc. reduces the difficulty of understanding and enhances its readability and appeal through a way of expression that is close to the life experiences of western readers. it is well known that wang yangming’s main philosophical thoughts are all contained in this book. chen rongjie wrote in his translation notes: he believes that the title “instructions for practical living and other neo-confucian writing by wang yang-ming” better conveys the meaning and spirit of the original text. this difference in translation reflects the varying depths of understanding of the “chuan xi lu” by the two translators, as well as the different strategies they adopted when disseminating chinese philosophy to western readers. henke pays more attention to faithfully conveying the original text, while chen rongjie focuses more on enhancing the readability and dissemination effect of the text through interpretive translation while maintaining the spirit of the original text. 4. a contrastive analysis of the two translators' extra-translation behavior extratranslation behavior is the social behavior of translators, mainly involving some factors beyond translation activities that go beyond translation itself, such as the translator’s background, era, educational experience, target readers, etc. these factors will all influence the translator’s behavior. to achieve “pragmatism”, translators will also make appropriate rewrites to the original text. henke was born in 1876 into a family of pastors in iowa, usa, and grew up as a christian and methodist pastor. in 1900, he was sent to china to preach. during this period, he developed a strong interest in chinese culture and philosophy. in 1911, henke was invited by sinologists of the north china branch of the royal asiatic society of shanghai to conduct in-depth research on wang yangming and was elected as a member of the society. after several years of preparatory work, henke officially published in 1916 the english translation of his years of research on wang yangming “chuan xi lu”. chen rongjie was a chinese-american scholar, a renowned historian of chinese philosophy and an authority on neoconfucianism of the song and ming dynasties. he received a solid traditional education in china and further his studies in the united states. he is proficient in both english and chinese, familiar with chinese and western cultures, and obtained a doctor of philosophy degree, which laid a solid foundation for his later translation of “chuan xi lu” (liu kongxi, 2019, p. 52). it is precisely because of the differences in background, era, educational experience, etc. between the two translators that there are some situations where they handle the english translation of “chuan xi lu” differently, such as: 4.1 translation of numerals many numerals are used in the “collected instructions”. due to the different cultural backgrounds and thinking patterns between china and the west, the expressions of numerals sometimes vary. (8) 守衡再三謝 (wang shouren, 2008, p. 145) shou heng asked him for information two or three times. (henke, 1916, p. 128) shou heng asked several times for an explanation (chan, 1963, p. 76). (9) 惠再三请。(wang shouren, 2008, p. 154) hui asked him a third time. (henke, 1916, p. 134) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 155 published by scholink inc. hui asked him again and again. (chan, 1963, p. 82) the word “再三” in chinese does not mean an exact number but rather refers to “many times”. in examples 8 and 9, henke translated them as “two or three times” and “a third time” respectively, while chen rongjie translated them as “several times” and “again and again” respectively. henke’s translation translated it literally into exact numerals, which was caused by a lack of understanding of chinese. here, chen rongjie’s translation is more appropriate and closer to “pragmatic”, which might be related to the fact that chen rongjie was born in china and received chinese education from a young age. 4.2 translation of phonetic loanwords (10) 出入亦只是动静，动静无端，岂有乡邪？(wang shouren, 2008, p. 74) outgoing and incoming also are really no more than action and rest. when action and rest are not right, how can there be a criterion. (henke, 1916, p. 89) to go out or come in is no more than activity and tranquility. neither activity nor tranquility has any beginning. do they have any direction? (chan, 1963, p. 40) (11) 孟子救告子之偏。(wang shouren, 2008, p. 93) in order to rescue kao-tzu from his partiality. (henke, 1916, p. 99) mencius corrected kao tzu’s mistake of being one-sided. (chan, 1963, p. 50) in example 10, the “乡” in the original text is a phonetic loan. phonetic loan is one of the character usage phenomena in ancient chinese books, referring to the substitution of the original character with characters that have the same or similar pronunciations or forms. here, “乡” actually refers to “向”, which means “direction”. it is unreasonable for henke to translate it as “criterion”. this is also because as a foreigner, it is rather difficult to understand the obscure ancient chinese text, and thus the usage of phonetic loanwords was ignored. the translation was based on the literal meaning. here, chen rongjie translated it as “direction”, which is more accurate. in example 11, the word “救” is in the same situation. here, “救” actually represents “纠”, meaning “to correct”. it is unreasonable for henke to translate it literally as “rescue”. chen rongjie’s translation as “correct” is more accurate. in these two respects, chen rongjie has done a better job in terms of” pragmatism “. 4.3 translation of cultural metaphors (12) 心如明镜。(wang shouren, 2008, p. 156) the mind is like a bright mirror. (henke, 1916, p. 138) the mind is like a clear mirror. (chan, 1963, p. 81) regarding the english translation of “明” in “明镜”, henke uses “bright”, which is more accessible and suitable for ordinary readers, while chen rongjie uses “clear”, which is closer to the philosophical meaning of “ming jing” in confucian thought, emphasizing the purity and clarity of the mind. (13) 心如止水。 (wang shouren, 2008, p. 156) the mind is like still water. (henke, 1916, p. 138) the mind is like tranquil water. (chan, 1963, p. 81) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 156 published by scholink inc. regarding the translation of “止” in “止水”, henke uses “still water”, which is more accessible and suitable for ordinary readers to understand the surface meaning of “the mind is as still as water”. chen rongjie’s use of “tranquil water” is closer to the philosophical meaning of “stopping water” in confucianism, emphasizing the peace and clarity of the mind, which is suitable for academic readers. the different translation treatments of these two places are due to the fact that they lived in different eras, and their translation purposes and target readers were also different. however, both of them have achieved a “pragmatic” approach. henke’s translation was published in 1916 and was aimed at the general western readers in the early 20th century, especially beginners interested in eastern philosophy. his translation aims to popularize wang yangming’s philosophy of the mind, so the language is easy to understand, with few annotations and avoiding complex philosophical discussions. henke emphasized readability and simplified many core confucian concepts so that western readers could quickly understand the basic ideas of the text. chen rongjie’s translation was published in 1963 and was targeted at academic readers, especially scholars and students studying chinese philosophy. his translation aims to deeply disseminate confucianism, so the language is more formal, the annotations are detailed, and it provides a wealth of cultural, historical and philosophical background. his translation is more faithful to the original text, striving to convey the essence of wang yangming’s philosophy of mind. 4.4 annotations henke and chen rongjie had significant differences in the way and content of their annotations when translating the “chuan xi lu”. chen rongjie’s annotations are detailed and highly academic, aiming to help readers deeply understand the philosophical and cultural background of the text. henke, on the other hand, has fewer annotations and mainly provides basic explanations, emphasizing popularity and readability. for instance, there is a sentence in “chuan xi lu”: 孟氏”尧舜之道，孝弟而已。among them, “yao and shun” were two sage kings in ancient china. yao was renowned for his benevolence and virtue, while shun was famous for his filial piety. they were revered by later generations as models of morality and exemplary governance. henke translated it as “yao and shun” without providing annotations. chen rongjie translated it as “yao and shun” and explained the historical status of yao and shun and their symbolic significance in confucianism in the annotation. the annotation wrote: “yao and shun were the sage kings in ancient chinese legends, and confucianism regarded them as the embodiment of moral and political ideals.” henke did not add any annotations, while chen rongjie helped academic readers understand the significance of yao and shun in confucianism through annotations. the translator behavior of the two here is different, which might be due to the different target readers. henke’s translation was aimed at the ordinary western readers in the early 20th century, especially beginners interested in eastern philosophy. these readers may lack a deep understanding of chinese philosophy and culture. therefore, henke’s translations focus on popularity and readability, with few and simple annotations, mainly providing basic explanations and avoiding excessive academic discussions. for instance, he translated “良知” as “innate knowledge” without any annotation, arguing that ordinary readers do not need to delve deeply into its www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 157 published by scholink inc. philosophical connotations. chen rongjie’s translation is aimed at academic readers, especially scholars and students who study chinese philosophy. these readers need to have a deep understanding of the philosophical, historical and cultural background of the text. therefore, chen rongjie’s annotations are detailed and highly academic. for instance, when translating “innate knowledge”, he not only provided multiple translations (such as “innate knowledge” and “innate knowing”), but also explained its core position in wang yangming’s philosophy of mind through annotations. the content of the annotations was: “innate knowledge” is the core concept of wang yangming’s philosophy, referring to the moral cognitive ability that people are born with. “be in harmony with the ‘heavenly principle’.” 5. conclusion this article, with the aid of the theory of translator behavior evaluation, conducts a comparative study of the english translations of henke’s and chen rongjie’s “chuan xi lu”, and analyzes the in-translation and out-of-translation behaviors of the two translators. meanwhile, with the aid of the “truth-seekingpragmatic” translator continuum evaluation model, the research is conducted from a dynamic perspective. at the level of intra-translation behavior, the article compares the two translations from three aspects: vocabulary, syntax and rhetoric translation. the translations by the two translators basically achieved the goal of “seeking truth” and expressed the original content. at the level of extra-translation behavior, the article discusses the translation of numerals, phonetic loanwords and cultural metaphors, and analyzes the reasons for the different translation treatments of the two individuals. it is found that both have achieved a good balance between “seeking truth” and “being pragmatic” on the basis of “seeking truth”. overall, both have reached a good balance between “seeking truth” and “being pragmatic”. translators need to take into account both linguistic and social aspects. while conducting intra-language translation, they should also consider various factors outside of translation, so as to fully fulfill their duties and roles. from both the internal and external aspects of translation, it helps us to have a deeper understanding of translators and their translation behaviors, which is worthy of further research in the academic circle. references chan, wing-tsit. (1963). instructions for practical living, and other neo-confucian writing by wang yang-ming. new york: columbia university press. henke, f. g. (1916). the philosophy of wang yang-ming. london & chicago: the open court publishing co. nivison, david s. book review (reviewed works): instructions for practical living and other neoconfucian writings by wang yang-ming and wing-tsit chan. the philosophy of wang yang-ming by frederick goodrich henke. (1964). journal of the american oriental society, 84(4), 438. schirokauer, conrad m. book review: instructions for practical living and other neo-confucian writings by wang yang-ming, by wing-tsit chan. (1964). the journal of asian studies, 24(1), 151. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 158 published by scholink inc. liu, k. x. (2019). discrete translator chen rongjie and the english translation of ‘instructions for practical use’. china translation, 40.6, 52. written by wang shouren and commented by shi bangyao. collected works of mr. wang yangming. (2008). beijing: zhonghua book company. zhou, l. s. (2014). translator’s behavior evaluation: theoretical framework. beijing: the commercial press. zhou, l. s. (2014). translator’s behavioral evaluation: path exploration. beijing: the commercial press. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper a genre-literature review investigation: improving black & brown men recruitment and retention rates in the grow your own program and college of education partners sunni ali1 1 chicago, il, usa a research executive statement paper presented to the grow your own organization received: february 15, 2021 accepted: march 2, 2021 online published: march 17, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n2p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n2p1 abstract researchers for several years have investigated effective ways to increase the recruitment and retention rates of minority educators, specifically black-and-brown men. without question, schools need this teaching population, particularly in urban public-school settings. scholars assert that minority learners’ educational outcomes improve when they engage and interact with men of color (burchinal, mccartney, steinberg, crosnoe, friedman, mcloyd, & pianta, 2011). also, every student benefit from having more diversity in the classroom (delpit, 2011; foster, 2018). researchers have indicated several effective ways to successfully recruit and transition these students from teaching programs into schoolhouses. through qualitative and ethnographic data collection, scholars assert that effective intervention strategies and relational social and cultural connective approaches improve these teaching students’ chances of becoming effective classroom practitioners. the genre-literature review captures the importance of grow your own and its partners, such as northeastern illinois, the university of illinois at the chicago campus (uic), and chicago state university. the injection of responsive measures and approaches into their teaching programs will continue to advance men of color students’ pre-professional outcomes entering and succeeding in the teaching profession. 1. problem statement there remains a strong argument that having black and brown men as teachers improves the learning outcomes of minority students. simply put, more diversity remains pertinent in classrooms (wallace & gagen, 2020; gashman & arroyo, 2014). as presented in this paper, critical literature reviews the 1 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 importance of developing responsive-and-relational practices to recruit and transition this population into schoolhouses. scholars suggest that male teaching candidates of color receipt of culturally responsive-and-relational interconnections within teaching programs improve retention rates and nurture similar habits with their future students. having more black-and-brown men demonstrating intellectual stewardship and social capital toward their students is suitable for all learners they will encounter (burchinal, mccartney, steinberg, crosnoe, friedman, mcloyd., & pianta, 2011). a great deal of the genre-based research speaking for recruiting and retaining men of color in education focuses on targeted best practices and interventions. scholars suggest creating initiatives that adopt practical interventions will increase black and brown men’s success in graduating and landing employment in schools that comprehend their teaching roles’ value (washington, mejias, & burge, 2020; walker, goings, & wilkerson, 2019). just placing men of-color in teaching programs without multifaceted approaches does not guarantee their success rate transitioning into school domains that, on average, have a five-year retention rate with only about a 2% population of black-and-brown men teaching in schoolhouses (walker, goings, & wilkerson, 2019; singh, 2019). institutionalizing revised methods with how men of color become recruited and retained remains critical if policyholders and school leaders deem it essential to have this population exist as educators and leaders in this field. current research and critical literature are used on this topic to surface what meaningful strategies are necessary and pertinent to support black-and-brown men’s success in education. the research topic further diagnosed recruitment-and retention initiatives that advocate for an institutional paradigm shift with the way schools digest and engage this population to improve their role and status in education. significant themes that surface deal with the importance of: (a) developing pipelines and networks within school districts and collegiate communities; (b) enacting targeted academic cohorts and bridge programs that nurture and sustain the success rate of black and brown men in the field of education; and (c) institutional male identity remapping-addressing the way schoolhouses relate and value the role of men of color. this topic’s research question is: what are some strategies to support grow your own recruitment and college of education partners to increase black and brown male educators’ output into the public-school system? ultimately, to improve black and brown men’s recruitment and retention rates to become public educators, institutional frameworks need to be revised to intervene, support, value, and incentivize these populations to work in the classroom. 2. theoretical framing two primary theoretical constructs surfaced from the genre-based research, which was relational social capital and cultural responsiveness. each theory indicates the usefulness of how to recruit and retain men of color in educational institutions. the relational social capital theory expresses how institutions and school organizations develop strong relationships with participants or students, which gives them a sense of belongingness, awareness, and 2 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 purpose of being relevant. the nature of high-quality relationships supports students’ active existence and behaviors in social constructs. the grow your own qualitative research (2020) highlighted this theorem’s significance, suggesting that it remains pertinent for institutions to provide support systems such as mentoring to improve their academic and transitional outcomes. the study participants described engaging with instructors or practitioners who cared about them and offered numerous opportunities and interventions to achieve. as such, this made them feel good about learning and belonging in the classroom and program. they further claimed that it modeled the types of support and interventions they want to provide to their learners. ultimately, responsive practices are critical for encouraging black-and-brown students to embrace the teaching profession and duplicate best practices. culturally responsive practices also remain vital to align teaching and learning practices to engage black-and-brown teacher candidates. researchers note how hbcu offers african american students a unique experience of a shared history that provides an environment of support and high expectations for academic success (wallace & gagen, 2020; gashman & arroyo, 2014). the majority of institutions demonstrating success with high graduation rates for students of color from teaching college programs apply culturally responsive approaches. participants in the grow your own study (2020) further captured this theoretical framing’s usefulness, indicating how their arrival at college, particularly at predominantly white institutions, was often a culture shock. however, what helped them overcome this was having intrusive advisors and cultural advocates who cared about their success and promoted their well-being in their classes. applying culturally responsive practices helps to diversify a curriculum to better engage and foster a supportive culture within teaching programs. 3. pipeline initiatives developing pipeline initiatives and supportive interventions with schools to intake black and brown men as student teachers and educators would help recruit and promote this teaching population. there is a strong belief that this would successfully nurture, support, and encourage men of color to become public school teachers. a study conducted by mejais and burge (2020) reviewed that recruitment for black-and-brown males into education needs to start as early as high school or sooner to prepare them for becoming classroom teachers. mejais and burge explored a pre-college secondary approach to recruit men of color into s.t.e.m. programs, specifically computer science. the program successfully introduced black-and-brown men development of applying computer science and entrepreneurship by: (a) improving their perception of computer science and (b) efficacy-through success, participants’ confidence in the program flourished. several students went on to major in computer science attending college. majais and burge detailed the effectiveness of the #watchmecode and hidden genius programs that modeled and named for students how this could look for them working in this field. similarly, providing men of color with preservice teaching mentoring programs in high school, such as a teacher club, would nurture the young men’s enthusiasm to view the teaching practice as a viable field of 3 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 study. the use of a teacher club within the feeder schools that gyo, neiu, uic, and chicago state have a relationship with would be an excellent recruitment tool to promote male intrigue into the college of education. majais and burge pointed out that significantly strengthening this approach requires men of color as practitioners and academic advisors. this increases the male high schoolers’ recruitment into teaching programs and promotes teaching a positive career path for male students of color. woodson and bristol (2020) further discussed in a qualitative and ethnographic study how enacting preservice teaching recruitment programs are necessary to develop and mentor men of color in this professional field. their research examined that students of color, particularly males, will not see a real connection with understanding the field’s value without having models to represent the teaching profession. the authors believe having a corrective representation of male figures that counter racial discursive formations of what a male is and how they should act would debunk the “racially popularized viewpoint that black and brown boys are disengaged, disrespectful, unprepared, underperforming, and violent” (p. 295). woodson and bristol (2020) and singh (2019) discuss how critical this is for school authority figures and latino males who sometimes frame machismo with an effective disciplinarian and authority figure. a teacher club would emerge as restorative practices of re-engaging how males of color view effective teaching practices while providing targeted interventions and professional support mentoring this future teacher population. a grow your own qualitative research investigation conducted by the author and lopez (2020) reviewed this corrective representation issue, particularly for latino males. they indicated that having an internal-mentoring component attaches a reflective element that encourages the participants to collaborate and learn. the participants strongly believed that they must understand and model gender-neutral speech for their male students. for them, male teachers have to dispel gender-roles stereotypes that contribute to a person embracing male toxicity. they would like to see more professional development opportunities in grow your own for participants to learn about the dangers of male toxicity and homophobia. additionally, research conducted by signh (2018) discussed the importance of african american male students providing a steady flow of positive images supplied by the men of color within their classrooms and communities. singh suggested that “peer support is a source of motivation and can play a crucial role in program completion. a living and learning community for education majors is a viable option for retaining students in teacher preparation programs” (p. 301). mentoring approaches streamlined between the college of education and secondary schools would promote teaching as a viable option for degree attainment, particularly with students identified as undeclared majors. targeting black and brown men in high school to become teachers by setting up a teacher club and connecting the high school teacher-club to grow your own and the college of education would empower and strengthen this population’s recruitment efforts. assigning each young male with a male teacher or professor and having activities with these young males would further improve their desires and commitments to work in education. 4 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 4. bridge program developing sustainable and programmatic interventions within teacher college programs will edify black-and-brown men retention and employment rates into schoolhouses. merging this construct into college education programs would effectively transition this population into schools that value their presence. woodson and bristol (2020) detail the significance of providing a nurturing and coaching environment within teaching programs to support this population extension into school domains. their qualitative investigations professed the need for this preparatory system to strengthen their involvement with student organizations on campus, such as fraternities while building on relationships with existing educational institutions off-campus to empower men of color entry and transition into the academic profession. the enactment of teacher bridge programs would continue to empower existing mentoring programs for candidates in the college of education and grow your own such as the: (a) call me mister at uic, (b) former president barack obama’s brother’s keeper, and (c) men of color at neiu. aligning these support programs to foundations, fraternal organizations, and educational associations remains critical to recruiting men of color into the teaching profession. such an initiative would also offer a network of sustainable academic support-services, like testing, to positively increase black-and-brown teacher transition rates. more than anything else, these programs require expansion into the schoolhouses and college teaching programs. wallace and gagen (2020) explored the impact of connecting teacher test-prep programs on mentor programs. they asserted having an incentivized test-prep program that pays for a few of the exams, particularly the entry and specialized skill tests, would promote and reward black-and-brown men for becoming a part of their college of education programs. streamlining supportive interventions with schools that intake this population of educators would advance their professional navigation and tenure. wallace and gagen continue this conversation asserting, with tuition assistance as a caveat, african american males can be attracted to teaching as a profession if there is the possibility of leaving with a degree and minimal or no debt. these funding sources must be comprehensive and varied. although grants from federal and state governments are an option, relationship building with foundations, fraternal organizations, and educational associations is critical to diversify sources for scholarships (p. 420). providing financial assistance, similar to what grow your own continues to practice, encourages men of color to enter the teaching workforce where student-loans will not exist as a debt burden. in some ways, this would appear like a terrific marketing opportunity and strategy for college education programs to recruit black-and-brown men. singh (2019) furthers this conversation of promoting men of color into education. he believes establishing incentive-based pay-scales, student loan-forgiveness, and quality guaranteed job placement 5 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 improve more men of color entering the profession. however, it remains critical to transition them into a school district or specific schools that demonstrate an effective retention rate for employing african american and latinx populations. moreover, that provides: ○ quality professional development support systems and interventions to support and advance black and brown employees; ○ culturally responsive frameworks that embrace and qualify diversity with the potential for growth and professional expansion. for singh, promulgating quality bridge programs and collaborating with existing school programs and organizations with a positive track record is essential to ensure this population’s success in education. as well, walker, goings, wilkerson (2019) believe that teacher programs’ recruitment and retention plans must: ○ develop a better understanding of the existing campus culture for men of color and how the school will best support them; ○ provide guidance, encouragement, and opportunities to succeed in existing frameworks; ○ provide male mentors with effective classroom management and instructional delivery techniques to carry into the classroom environment during their practicum and student teaching experiences. more positive role models for minority teachers serve as a motivation for earning their teaching credentials. dinkins and thomas’s (2016) qualitative study asserted that if schools are committed to intentionally increasing black-and-brown men in the classroom, they must provide financial support and scholarship incentives. as their study mentions, for many african american students without the benefit of college scholarships and grants to cover the costs of tuition, housing, textbooks, and teacher licensure fees, four years or more of accumulated student loan debt becomes overwhelming on a teaching salary. the participants in this study expressed considerable concern for the rising costs of college tuition while teachers’ wages remained stagnant around the country. although teachers recognize that entering teaching will not allow them to become rich, there is a desire to live comfortably (p. 27). providing financial support and incentives remains critical to recruit and retain men of color in education. author and lopez’s grow your own qualitative investigation (2020) further advanced the notion that economic challenges emerged as a hindrance and problem for grow your own students to pay for their education. many grow your own scholars are hesitant to take out financial aid loans to assist their enrollment and school completion because they do not want to incur the debt. a participant described how financial difficulties were a factor in deciding whether or not to enter a teacher preparation program, stating: “i think the process of applying to different schools was some of the other schools that, say the saint james university of chicago i applied. i think concordia also, i was going to apply to but their 6 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 tuition rates.” paying for college serves as a deterrent and problematic for participants to continue their schooling as they financially struggle. at the same time, they talked about how much they are thankful for grow your own helping them acquire a scholarship to help pay for their college financial expenses to avoid taking out a student loan. based on these findings, the researcher strongly encourages developing a black-and-brown male cohort at northeastern, the university of illinois at chicago campus, and chicago state obtained from grow your own. the cohort would incorporate best practice strategies and financial incentives to retain and graduate students from their respective programs while conducting comparative research and study analysis to traditional students in the college of education to increase retention and transition rates. furthermore, the researcher recommends grow your own utilize an alumni delegation, graduates who are educators, return to teach a few strategies to model, support, and promote student success in their programs and within grow your own. the grow your own alumni delegation will meet quarterly with support staff and administration to discuss and review the program’s strategies to recruit and strengthen graduation outputs. 5. institutional male identity remapping how schools view black and brown men to increase retention beyond the 5-years retention rate exist as an essential turning point (author, 2020; woodson & bristol, 2020). as research suggests, retooling and revitalizing how schools incorporate black-and-brown men as intellectual practitioners determine their professional retention. in other words, when an educator feels valued and deemed an essential contributor to a school’s success and culture, they have a propensity to want to continue to work in the field and give back to their profession as much as possible (ali, 2019). unfortunately, as the literature reveals from singh (2019), woodson, and bristol (2020), far too many schoolhouses view black-and-brown men as disciplinarians rather than intellectual stewards of their profession. singh argues that it remains critical for school leadership to push back or apply countering racial discursive formations to utilize this population in the teaching field better. indeed, a “cultural cookie-cutter” approach to how males’ discipline or manage their classrooms requires rebuttal, especially as it relates to men of color “getting the children who look like them to behave properly.” singh reasserts this position by stating, “heteropatriarchal assumptions require a constant denouncement of how black and brown masculine identity qualifies them as the primary disciplinarians” (p. 301). even further, every male may not be heterosexual, which suggests that if they are not, why should they abide by a “male toxic” trope of managing students in the classroom. singh continues to articulate this perspective suggesting that i define corrective representation as the discursive creation of the ideal male of color teacher subject. this discursive formation seeks to homogenize and propagate an essentialist notion of the male of color teacher, framing the cultural work done in the 7 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 classroom as always in relation to the imagined deficits in the boys of color he is delegated to control and discipline (p. 299). far too many black-and-brown male educators become employed to “discipline the children” who look like them instead of hiring them as intellectual practitioners. as such, their adherence to this perceived role inevitably steers them away from the profession. gender-normed constructs remain particularly damaging to latino boys, who often culturally stereotype and homogenize men’s roles in their educational lives (singh, 2019). as a result, scholars discuss the importance of disarming gender norming (singh, 2018; bryan & browder, 2013; jupp & slattery, 2011). precisely, latino male teachers must navigate and diffuse cultural pressures surrounding latino masculinity’s enactments. in his research, singh (2019) described how a latino teacher, mr. v, struggled to deliver and portray machismo in the classroom toward his latino scholars. mr. v received chastisement on several occasions in front of his students and peers because of his perceived inability to properly discipline latino boys. mr. v believed that had he employed more “policing” habits toward his students, it indeed would have promoted more positive responses from administrators and professional colleagues about his teaching practice. in other words, teachers of color are expected to be a certain kind of black or latino and professionally punished if they fail to abide by such norming. the author and lopez (2020), in their grow your own qualitative study, diagnosed this same occurrence as it relates to how latino teaching students perceived their role in the classroom. participants asserted that in terms of their gender roles, teacher preparation programs, and the schoolhouses they have either observed or performed, their practicum is primarily women. at times, they felt either isolated because of this or believed they had to redefine their masculinity. thereby, it became imperative for them to balance positive modeling while debunking corrective representation notions tied explicitly to their students. one of the participants described this gender norming struggle, stating: i feel like i have to speak in a language that everyone can access, but there’s a lot lost in translation in speaking that language. because they don’t know your experience, so you have to really elongate it. i just feel like a lot of times my clarity, especially when i’m making comments in class, i just feel like i lose my train of thought or i’m not really sure what i’m saying because i realize, man, i have to essentially... there are many times when i have to give a life story or a story or something that i experienced to kind of make my point across because it’s not going to say in the book (p. 11). the way men of color address their male identity in the schoolhouse, even with how they communicate to their peers and students, is a constant reflection and reminder of their teaching roles. also, they must remain clear about how to debunk heteropatriarchal positions when teaching black and brown boys. indeed, it remains too hard to abide by gender tropes because it devalues these teachers’ essential role as classroom educators (young & young, 2020). as the scholars young and young (2020) stated, “19.35 percent of black male teachers saw themselves as role models, change agents or general educators, especially as it relates to how they are perceived and understood in schoolhouses (p. 341). such data 8 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 suggest that gender stigma frames how and why schools ultimately hire black-and-brown men and view themselves in this field. young and young go on to mention in their study: ● there are far fewer calls for black males to teach in suburban schools or to teach in programs that traditionally serve white students; ● examination of over 300 elementary school job applications revealed that male applicants were rated as more likely to be gay, considered a more significant safety threat, and perceived less likable (but not less hirable) than their female peers; ● the negative gender stigmas associated with male teachers are most noticeable in the early grades. figure 1. graphic organizer displaying the grow your own and its partners initiatives to advance the recruitment and retention rates for black-and-brown teaching candidates diffusing these discursive racialized and gender archetypes remains vital to shift how schools view black-and-brown men, specifically when they employ them. without critiquing and redirecting how school systems view this teaching population, fewer educators will stick around beyond 5-years (singh, 2019; woodson & bristol, 2020). this means schools must build capacity with this population, which will counter racial discursive formations. also, infuse positive balancing models to debunk corrective representation notions. grow your own, and their collegiate partners need to collaborate with schools and districts that mean well and have a good track record of employing men of color that nurture and promote their pedagogical progress, tenure, and intellectual impact on the profession. just sending black-and-brown men to district grow your own pipeline initiatives institutional paradigm shift bridge program 9 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 schools hoping they will employ mentoring approaches, culturally responsive practices, and systems that bolster their role as social agents and advocates is not enough. specific and targeted interventions and professional support that mentor this teacher population will advance the way schools view black and brown men as pedagogical practitioners and intellectual advocates versus primary disciplinarians. woodson and bristol (2020) assert that the most effective way to counter this deficit model is to apply a critical borderlands pedagogy. a philosophical approach that shifts hegemonic power by critiquing internal and traditional structures and reframes how schools function employing black and brown populations. the author (2021) further believes schools need to modify the evaluation process, the danielson framework, which often restricts first to third-year teachers from obtaining tenure in a school district. as the author declares, mainly, the first three years of an educator’s life exist under extreme pressures to quickly master their industry’s professional standards to obtain tenure. how an educator manages their classroom while also buttressing student outcomes on standardized benchmarks often determine their professional longevity in education. greater scrutiny and micromanaging exist for educators evaluated by a scripted formula and rubric to assess their teaching effectiveness (p. 7). without applying measurable criteria and best practice benchmarks that support this teaching population tenure, too many of them will burn out and not impact the profession. how school districts choose to modify their evaluation protocols and terminate the “old way of doing things” addressing and working with this population must occur if schools are serious about having black-and-brown men in their classrooms. 6. summary the way society and schoolhouses view black-and-brown men require drastic changes to buttress this population into classrooms. fostering necessary restructuring to shift how schools perceive black and brown males while promoting interventions that strengthen their pedagogical skills remains urgent to increase their school retention rates beyond 5-years. mentoring-based initiatives that start as early as high school with financial incentives would restore how black and brown men perceive education and retain employment. simply pushing this population through teacher programs is not enough to ensure they will impact the students they will encounter nor the profession they decided to become employed. institutional shifting must adopt cultural paradigms in schools that comprehend black and brown men as practitioners and not primarily disciplinarians. as dickins and thomas (2016) profess, “if schools only envision these teachers’ roles as one dimensional, they run the risk of enclosing and delimiting their pedagogical potential” (p. 34). grow your own should collaborate with its college of education associates and build connections and capacity with school districts that believe in these same mission statements to nurture, affirm, and recognize the necessity of this population existing in schoolhouses. 10 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 references author. (february 24, 2021). dissed: the removal of black educators from the american schoolhouse. world journal of social science research, 8(1). http://www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/wjssr/article/view/3722 author. (june 15, 2020). redefining exceptionalism: removing superhero language from education. journal of education and culture studies, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.22158/jecs.v4n3p1 author, & lopez, a. (august, 2020). a qualitative investigation: black & brown men retention and recruitment in the grow your own program and partners colleges of education and universities. a research executive statement paper presented to the grow your own organization (pp. 1-43). bryan, n., & browder, j. k. (fall 2013). are you sure you know what you are doing? the lived experiences of an african american male kindergarten teacher. interdisciplinary journal of teaching and learning, 3(3), 142-158. retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1063219 bryk, a., gomez, l., & grunow, a. (2011). getting ideas into action: building networked improvement communities. carnegie foundation for the advancement of teaching. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1576-9_7 bristol, t. j., & mentor, m. (2018). policing and teaching: the positioning of black male teachers as agents in the universal carceral apparatus. the urban review, 50(2), 218-234. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-018-0447-z burchinal, m., mccartney, k., steinberg, l., crosnoe, r., friedman, s. l., mcloyd., v., & pianta, r. (2011). examining the black-white achievement gap among low-income children using the nichd study of early child care and youth development. child development, 82, 1404-1420. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01620.x delpit, l. (2011). the dreamkeepers: successful teachers for african american children. san-franciso: jossy bass. dinkins, e., & thomas, k. (2016). black teachers matter: qualitative study of factors influencing african american candidates success in a teacher preparation program. ailacte journal, 13(1), 23-40. retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1130324 foster, m. (2018). black teachers on teaching. new york: the new press. gasman, m., & arroyo, a. (november 2014). an hbcu-based educational approach for black college student success: toward a framework with implications for all institutions. american journal of education, 121(1), 57-85. https://doi.org/10.1086/678112 jackson, r. i. (2006). scripting the black masculine body: identity, discourse, and racial politics in popular media. albany, ny, u.s.a.: state university of new york press. jupp, j. c., & slattery, p. (december 19, 2011). becoming teachers of inner-city students: identification creativity and curriculum wisdom of committed white male teachers. urban education, 47(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085911427737 11 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.22158/jecs.v4n3p1 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1063219 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1576-9_7 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-018-0447-z https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01620.x https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1130324 https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1372&context=gse_pubs https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1372&context=gse_pubs https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1372&context=gse_pubs https://doi.org/10.1086/678112 https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085911427737 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 singh, m. v. (2018). role models without guarantees: corrective representations and the cultural politics of a latino male teacher in the borderlands. race, ethnicity, and education, 21(3), 288-305. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2017.1395330 singh, m. v. (january 7, 2019). refusing the performance: disrupting popular discourses surrounding latino male teachers and the possibility of disidentification. educational studies: a journal of the american educational studies association, 28-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2018.1545654 skelton, c. (2003). male primary teachers and perceptions of masculinity. educational review, 55(2), 195. https://doi.org/10.1080/0013191032000072227 wallace, d. l., & gagen, l. m. (2020). african american males’ decisions to teach: barriers, motivations, and supports necessary for completing a teacher preparation program. education and urban society, 52(3), 415-432. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124519846294 walker, l. j., goings, r. b., & wilkerson, r. d. (2019). the role school administrators play in creating healthy ecosystems for black male preservice teachers. educational foundations, 32. warren, c. a. (2020). meeting myself: race-gender oppression and a genre study of black men teachers’ interactions with black boys. race ethnicity and education, 23(3), 367-391. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2019.1663982 washington, g., mejias, m., & burge, l. (2020). understanding how to engage black high school boys in computer science through tech innovation and entrepreneurship. computing in science & engineering. https://doi.org/10.1109/respect46404.2019.8985869 woodson, a. n., & bristol, t. j. (2020). male teachers of color: charting a new landscape for educational research. race, ethnicity, and education, 23(3), 281-287. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2019.1663912 young, j., & young, j. (2020). the black male teacher: a 10-year content analysis of empirical research. race ethnicity and education, 23(3), 327-344. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2019.1663971 appendix—annotated bibliography title: wallace, d. l., & gagen, l. m. (2020). african american males’ decisions to teach: barriers, motivations, and supports necessary for completing a teacher preparation program. education and urban society, 52(3), 415-432. theory: ● social learning theory (modeling) ● efficacy and cultural affirmation ● responsive practices ● cultural connectivity 12 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2017.1395330 https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2018.1545654 https://doi.org/10.1080/0013191032000072227 https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124519846294 https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2019.1663982 https://doi.org/10.1109/respect46404.2019.8985869 https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2019.1663912 https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2019.1663971 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 method: the stories addressing the motivations and support utilized by african american males to overcome negative societal perceptions and racist stereotypes are absent from the data: (a) eleven of the 12 questionnaire respondents completed the consent form and participated in the structured interview process (b) the key themes were financial, cultural, and social aspects related to the research questions that addressed the barriers, motivations, or supports affecting the completion of a teacher preparation program for african american male educators. (c) most of the participants taught at the secondary level, with four in special education, two in mathematics, one in science, one in career and technical education, one in physical education and health, and one in naval junior reserve officer training corps (njrotc). the single elementary-level educator taught in a prekindergarten classroom setting. themes: recruitment and retention plan with intervention strategies support students’ growth and development, which includes: (a) developing a better understanding of the existing campus culture; (a) participants noted that professors took the time to provide guidance, encouragement, and opportunities for initial licensure examination preparation ○ just as positive reinforcement and encouragement are factors in the k-12 classroom positively impacting academic achievement, professors who create positive classroom environments at the university level enable students to succeed. ○ students in a teacher preparation program also learn from the classroom management and instructional delivery techniques utilized by course instructors, which they carry into the classroom environment during their practicum and student teaching experiences. ○ each of the participants noted the potential to serve as a positive role model for african american youth as a motivation for earning their 13 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 teaching credentials. ○ african american male students must be provided with a steady flow of positive images supplied by the men of color within their classrooms and communities. (b) second, teacher education professors need to strengthen their involvement with student organizations on campus to promote teaching as a viable option for degree attainment, particularly with students identified as undeclared majors. (c) with tuition assistance as a caveat, african american males can be attracted to teaching as a profession if there is the possibility of leaving with a degree and minimal or no debt. these funding sources must be comprehensive and varied. although grants from federal and state governments are an option, relationship building with foundations, fraternal organizations, and educational associations is critical to diversify sources for scholarships. (d) peer support is a source of motivation and can play a crucial role in program completion. a living and learning community for education majors is a viable option for retaining students in teacher preparation programs. barrier(s): ○ although it was of no surprise to the research team, teacher licensure examinations are a significant barrier to teacher preparation program completion. only three of the 11 participants passed all required tests on their first attempt. all participants felt these examinations needed to be addressed early in the program, and subject area licensure examination content needs to be routinely emphasized in relevant courses. ○ for many african american students without the benefit of college scholarships and grants to cover the costs of tuition, housing, textbooks, and teacher licensure fees, four years or more of accumulated student loan debt becomes overwhelming on a teaching salary. the participants in this study expressed considerable concern for the rising costs of college tuition while teachers’ wages remained stagnant around the country. although teachers recognize that entering teaching is not going to allow them to become rich, there is a desire to live comfortably. quotes: ○ gasman and arroyo (2014) note that an hbcu offers african american students a unique experience supported by a shared history that provides 14 published by scholink inc. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0013124519846294 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 an environment of support along with high expectations for academic success that are not found at the majority of institutions; however, the majority of institutions have demonstrated success with high graduation rates for students of color, which include african american males prestigious universities such as harvard, yale, stanford, dartmouth, university of virginia, duke, and georgetown boast graduation rates of african american students at a rate of 85% or better. these institutions have transparent, well-defined recruitment and retention plans that have years of demonstrated success. these plans include an orientation program that provides an opportunity for students of color to develop a ○ “we had what you would call the cream of the crop. so, you could do presentations, we had guest speakers, and there was always a mental stimulation factor. you looked forward to going to class and sharing and speaking, and practicing your future craft.” ○ “participant 004 shared an encounter with one of his professors that provided him with the motivation to complete his degree. “it was education 101 or something like that, and he kind of pressed the importance of a good teacher.” ○ as shook (2012) noted, positive student-teacher relationships enhance students’ learning experience through a willingness to focus on instruction and a reduction in off-task behaviors during the delivery of education. ○ participant 009 emphatically stated, “you’re a role model, and you’re here to set them straight. as an african american male, to me, you have to embrace the role model issue. title: michael v. singh’s refusing the performance: disrupting popular discourses surrounding latino male teachers and the possibility of disidentification theory: social learning theory (modeling), affirmation, efficacy, cultural connectivity 15 published by scholink inc. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0013124519846294 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 method: ethnographic data collection was done primarily through participant observations, conversational interviews, and two rounds of formal interviews. participant observations lasted for one-and-a-half years, beginning in the second semester of the 2014-2015 school year and extended through the entirety of the next school year. site visits occurred once a week. at the beginning of the study, i introduced myself to the students of chamacos as an educational researcher from uc berkeley and informed the boys that i would like to observe their relationship with mr. o and each other. ● over the course of my study, 23 students participated in chamacos, with several more becoming informal attendees. students ranged from sixth to eighth grade, and all identified as boys. although the term latino was used by the administration, the boys generally preferred to identify themselves as mexican (19 boys being of mexican descent or from mexico). two boys identified themselves as “half black, half mexican,” with the remaining boys identifying as salvadorian or “half mexican, half salvadorian.” ● i interviewed 12 students, eight of them once and four twice (totaling 16 interviews). all interviews took place in an empty classroom after school and lasted between 15 and 40 min. i interviewed mr. orozco three times. these interviews took place in his empty classroom, as well as a local café. they ranged from 1 to 2 hr. after our initial interview, which covered mr. orozco’s life history, our following interviews allowed me to bring up patterns and themes emerging from my data. conversational interviews were also conducted with various school and afterschool staff members. themes: a. explore the ways one latino male teacher navigates cultural pressures surrounding the enactment of latino masculinity (the importance of innate gender norming, intentional) ○ achievement of gendered subjects in the classroom ○ ways the recruitment of male teachers of color can have a positive impact on the educational 16 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 achievement of boys of color ○ schools’ function as cultural sites that reproduce racialized masculinities 1. this process’s primary agents were other staff members and teachers, who often imagined or called for a latino male teacher to perform an authoritative, disciplined, and tough-love persona for the latino boys on campus. 2. analysis of voice, movement, dress, and other commonly gendered identifiers (intentional use of the body among latino male teachers through an enacting of self that moves inside and outside of dominant ideologies, troubling essentialist notions of identity and creating space for new identities to emerge. 3. the boys projected idealized, patriarchal male qualities that they attributed to our physical capabilities or imagined social, and at times sexual, power in our everyday lives 4. the importance of disidentification is crucial, which counters stereotypes and projects positive imagery of males through literature and other forms of pedagogy. b. male bonding is essential: maleness is something continually being worked on and accomplished throughout one’s life and counters the hegemonic configuration that for males to be dominant, women must be subjected to an inferior status (binary notion)-culturally machisa stereotypes; compulsory heterosexual is current; schooling attempts to constrain latino boys’ gender imaginaries. also, it is essential to the problematization of gendered expectations as a recent but growing concern. ● modeling is critical for latino boys to direct and guide their perspectives-“other fathers.” 17 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 ● successfully caring for men of color on campus is critical for their success (efficacy) ● the importance of creating meaning and purpose is critical. d. a male bodily presence matters; the importance of the mentor-teacher role matters; embraces normative behavior and considers people weird who do not personify traditional male behaviors. e. intervene and advocate on behalf of the boys are too often seen or viewed as requiring more disciplining and scrutinizingthe “bad boy persona” carries a lot of weight and heaviness on black and brown males steeped in stereotypes and racist notions. f. considers non-confirmed behavior as weird ● dress ● speech ● showing affection ● alienation in the school culture for latino and black males. ● “heteropatriarchal assumptions” regarding black men and boys in teacher-recruitment initiatives result in the assumption that “the racial identity, gendered identity, and sex category of an individual who is black and male are naturally cohesive, and result in certain ways of thinking, doing, and being in the social world” (p. 58). this assumption about black male identity can discourage black men who are gay, transgender, or genderqueer from entering the teaching profession. ○ being seen as the authoritative figure in control and using the body as prowess to dictate conformity is challenging and problematic for male educators who do not buy into this social construct. quotes: ● “mora finds this consistent with other studies of masculinity (see pasco, 2011); however, he adds that the boys in his study often blended latinx culturally masculine signifiers with us-based hegemonic masculinity to create a masculinity 18 published by scholink inc. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131946.2018.1545654?scroll=top&needaccess=true www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 specific to racialized latino men in the united states.” ● some students perceived these teachers as “other fathers,” who were able to provide a “combination of tough love, discipline, and caring,” which “proved to be a winning combination” for students (p. 2517). ● the boys often ritualized physical contests among one another in hopes of imitating popular representations of athletic and robust masculinity and frequently enjoyed touching their newly forming bicep muscles and shadow boxing with one another. ● as juana maría rodríguez (2014) highlights, thinking and theorizing the power of gesture can “animate how bodies move in the world,” revealing the ways we create meaning in ways that are “always already infused with cultural models of knowing” (p. 2). title: woodson, a. n., & bristol, t. j. (2020). male teachers of color: charting a new landscape for educational research. theory: (a) culturally responsive; (b) heteronormative assumptions research question: 1. how do critical considerations of the intersection of race, gender, and profession inform the future of teacher education? 2. what does it mean to be ‘male’ or ‘of color’ in the context of the teaching profession? 3. what are the aims of racial and ethnic diversity in the field of education? method: ● qualitative and ethnographic interviewing of black males; provided data sets about the impact of male teachers of color and their school-based experiences. themes: (a) inadequate recruitment and retention efforts in teacher education programs (woodson and pabon 2016); and poor professional support and limited mentoring for this 19 published by scholink inc. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13613324.2019.1663912?scroll=top&needaccess=true www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 population: (b) three performance styles enacted by the teachers (enforcer, negotiator, and playful)-brown (2009); (c) heteronormative assumptionsblack male students are often stereotyped as fatherless troublemakers and underachievers (jackson, sealey-ruiz, and watson 2013). black male teachers are often expected to perform as father figures, meet dominant standards of exemplary citizenship, and overachieve as professionals to push back on expectations associated with their race and gender; (d) exploring school organizational context influences these teachers’ school-based experiences (e) first, male teachers of color have diverse racial, cultural, and gendered backgrounds; (f) intersections of social identities for male teachers of color, and the relationship between social identity and struggles for a political and professional agency. the authors address race and racial inequality in education and provide robust theoretical findings; (g) male teachers of color’s perceptions of and partnerships with colleagues of other genders; their sexual and gendered identities and performances; and how they embrace, reject or negotiate the expectation of performing as a role model in the classroom. (h) wallace’s research in london suggested the ‘diversity trap’ that ensnares and limits the roles black men teachers can enact in their classrooms in the united kingdom’s largest urban center, london; critical race theory explores how black veteran teachers mentor novice, latinx male teachers, to design equitable learning environments for their students. quotes: title: singh, m. v. (2018). role models without guarantees: corrective representations and a latino male teacher’s 20 published by scholink inc. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13613324.2019.1663912?scroll=top&needaccess=true www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 cultural politics in the borderlands. race, ethnicity, and education, 21(3), 288-305. theory: critical race theorycounter corrective representation; countering the deficit model. research questions: ● what work do we perform when we step on campus, and in the service for who? ● does our ‘manly’ performance as educators replace structural critique for patriarchal solutions? ● how do we navigate our own identities in a way that functions to not correct or fix latino boys but rather opens the signifier latino, or latinx, to more liberatory possibilities for all communities? method: qualitative-ethnographic case study one round of interviews was conducted during each of the two school years of the research. twelve students were interviewed at least once, with four of them having follow-up interviews in the second school year. student interviews took place in an empty classroom of ebms. they were semi-structured and generally lasted 30 minutes each. 1. ‘mexican,’ with 19 boys being from mexico or of mexican descent. 2. two students referred to themselves as ‘half black, half mexican,’ with the remaining boys identifying as salvadorian or ‘half mexican, half salvadorian.’ conducted the study inside the school, embs in san francisco, california that was a highly diverse student population (2% latino; 29% black; 22% asian; 13% white) in a total student population of 800 the study lasted for 15-months 21 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 themes: ● corrective representations are a misguided behavioral assumption of black and brown men-confining their identity and locate boys of color’s problem within their actions. yet, the need for cultural representation remains critical in schoolhousesthe importance of countering racial discursive formations while balancing positive modeling is complicated, specifically for latino males who resist the notions in schools with how “a man should act or portray themselves.” ● debunking the racially popularized viewpoint that black and brown boys are ‘disengaged, disrespectful, unprepared, underperforming, and violent’ in schools (harper and williams 2014, 5)male behaviorism becomes rooted in an archetype, which varies and constrains black and brown men to interpret and make sense of. reviews president obama’s my brother’s keeper program” and how it is framed or tied to corrective representationcorrecting and supporting damaged boys ● the cultural meanings of race remains a struggle in schools with how males are evaluated and seen -floating signifier ( meaning race does not signify one innate identity, but rather is flexible and moves to signal different denotations in changing fields of representation). racial and cultural constructs vary in institutions toward men. ● black and brown men inside schools are too often projected as authoritarian figures, further perpetuating narrow understandings of black masculinity and playing into the problematic assumption that black boys do 22 published by scholink inc. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13613324.2017.1395330 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 not do well in schools because of the absence of a strong male figure in their lives. ● latino male teachers, in the study at emds often embodied corrective representation, which was expectedthe challenges of corrective embodiment at emdswhen the boys did well, it was perceived as a natural success connected to the presence of the latino teacher, mr. vera, when they were in trouble it was a shortcoming of latinos united. ● the presumptive isthe black or brown male will be either lax with discipline or an overly strong authoritative figure (corrective and disciplinarians). mr. vera, in the study at emds, was often tardy to school and was presumed to not live up to the normed corrective embodiment model“i feel like there were a few teachers who thought i would be more strict than i am when i first got here, probably the students too. but it’s like, i know sometimes i need to be more strict with the boys, but that’s just not how i am. ● mr. vera’s appearance referencing relax attire, a shaved head, and faded tattoos in old english letters. this exterior, described as stereotypically ‘hard’ by the students, clashed both with their imagination of what latino male teacher would look like, but also with their behavioral expectationsthat is, there is an underlying assumption that the problems of communities of color ‘are problems because the men are not appropriately socialized to be the kind of men who are responsible for families and communities’ 23 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 (crenshaw 2016). ● “the notion of borderland”-those thinking from the borderlands recreate identity, adapting to the needs of their situations learned through survival. in education, what a critical borderlands pedagogy offers is an intellectual tradition dedicated to a critical analysis of hegemonic power and structure, as well as an openness of identity and a critique of universalist solutions (elenes 1997) quotes: “white dominance of the apparatuses of racial representation is inherently connected to the control of the means of production” ● “corrective representations are not critical of historical and structural racism and assume a damaged and problematic male student of color by asking male teachers of color to represent a neoliberal multicultural embodiment of what students are not.” ● “corrective representations overly idealize the male of color teacher while obscuring racist school structures by reifying neoliberal multicultural tenets of diversity, individual work ethic, and excellence. corrective representations have the racist consequence of locating the problem of the racial achievement gaps on the individual student, rather than systematic marginalization.” ● “when they’re in trouble, people come to me and say ‘one of your boys’ did this, or ‘did 24 published by scholink inc. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13613324.2017.1395330 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 you hear your boys did that.’ i’m like, you know those students are with you more hours of the week than they’re with me? but once they join the group, they are ‘my boys.” title: washington, g., mejias, m., & burge, l. (2020). understanding how to engage black hs boys in computer science through tech innovation and entrepreneurship. computing in science & engineering. theory: culturally responsive teaching (crt) research questions: method: 1. improved perception of cs among black male high school students; 2. it increased participants’ confidence of participants and; 3 and increased the number of students who want to major in cs in college. themes: 1. improved perception of cs among black male high school students; 2. it has increased participants’ confidence in participants and; 3 and increased the number of students who want to major in cs in college. ____________________________________ ● the presence of role models of the same gender and ethnicity are crucial to engaging students; ● teachers of color increase the self-worth of students of color and help black male students navigate the pitfalls of high school; ● black male cs role models can help black hsboys see themselves in professional roles and debunk stereotypes about what a professional tech looks like and what they do as computer scientists. enacted a #watchmecode program that modeled and detailed how this could look was 25 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 inspirational for learners; events or activities that expose them to coding, other computer science elements, and tech innovation and entrepreneurship. also, students are encouraged to pursue cs in college. the hidden genius program is an initiative that teaches coding and computational thinking skills to black male students in oakland, california; ● socially and culturally relevant pedagogy has helped students relate to a topic and create a more in-depth understanding. ● design thinking was a skilled activity introduced that focused the students on producing and research their findings critically. they also learned to provide constructive criticism to other groups about the layout and design of their projects. ● surprisingly, after completing the program, all the participants (20 out of 20) answered they wanted to go into careers that involve technology. ● all campers mentioned in feedback that the camp activities helped them develop confidence by seeing themselves using the information they learned. many of the participants said they would engage in future activities quotes: title: walker, l. j., goings, r. b., & wilkerson, r. d. (2019). the role school administrators play in creating healthy ecosystems for black male preservice teachers. educational foundations, 32. 26 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 theory: culturally responsive practices, critical race theory research questions: method: themes: (a) educational leaders created unrealistic expectations that continued throughout his student teaching. (b) developing pipeline initiatives and supportive interventions with schools to intake black and brown men as student teachers and educators (administrators, district staff, researchers, and teachers must acknowledge school-based problems to help diverse educators navigate their preservice journey.) quotes: title: warren, c. a. (2020). meeting myself: race-gender oppression and a genre study of black men teachers’ interactions with black boys. race ethnicity and education, 23(3), 367-391. theory: research questions: method: genre study themes: (a) regardless of schooling arrangement, findings suggest black men teachers must recognize and disavow hegemonic gender logic in interaction efforts to improve black boys’ lives. the challenges of norming black masculine identity to navigate racial and cultural barriers to assimilate remain necessary idyllic with how to do just that. 27 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 (b) positive black modeling derails and counters the anti-black diegesis. (c) few research-based reviews reinforce anti-oppressive conceptions of race, gender, and sexuality. quotes: title: dinkins, e., and thomas, k. (2016). black teachers matter: qualitative study of factors influencing african american candidates success in a teacher preparation program. ailacte journal. journal, v13 n1 pgs. 23-40. retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1130324 theory: culturally responsive theory research questions: what are black male teachers’ perceptions of the school-based roles their colleagues and administrators expect them to play? method: 27 black male teachers across 14 schools in one urban school district. ● during the first wave of interviews, participants described their life histories, prepared to become teachers, and decided to teach in their current schools. during the second wave of interviews, participants reflected on their school-based experiences. these reflections included interactions with students, colleagues, administrators, and parents. each interview was recorded and then 28 published by scholink inc. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1130324 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 transcribed by a transcription service. here, we used the qualitative method, specifically phenomenology; ● there was also socioeconomic diversity during the participants’ childhood and adolescence, ranging from being upper-middle-class to living with a single mother and relying on government assistance. while seven participants were born in boston or its environs, the majority were boston transplants: they were born and raised in several cities across the united states and the african diaspora (e.g., the caribbean and west africa). all schools and participants were given pseudonyms to protect their identity. ● etic (within the social group) and emic coding (without or outside perspectives) themes: ● the black male teachers described how their colleagues expected them to redirect student misbehavior (de facto disciplinarian) ● it is essential to examine the organizational conditions in which they teach.“learning how to walk the fine line.” ● administrators positioned them to serve as disciplinarians first and educators second. ● reviews the theoryuniversal carceral apparatus: shedd posited that in the name of social justice and protecting youth of color from perceived and credible threats, urban public schools have adopted and made commonplace the apparatus used in carceral institutions. ● the notion of the pedagogical kind-type of educator whose subjectivities, pedagogies, and expectations have been set in place before 29 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 entering the classroom. in this sense, the black male teacher has been situated directly in the black male student’s context and received by the educational community to secure, administer, and govern the unruly black boy in school. (p. 299)-encapsulating these teachers as agents of the universal carceral apparatus. ● a critical research footnote here, fo gyo: as lewis (2006) suggested, many of these black male teachers considered their role bound to some form of social justice. lewis also recounted some of the reasons why black male teachers only comprise about 2% of the national teaching corps: “(a) low compensation offered to teachers; (b) educational obstacles, such as the nte or praxis; and (c) social and cultural impediments (e.g., culture shock at the university level)” (p. 229). he listed these items as probable factors for this enigma and laid out what he thought could increase the black male teacher population. he also stated that alternative certification programs had helped aid the growth of the number of black males. ● this leads to whether black male teachers are specifically needed to help young men of color navigate their schooling and what this might say about how these black male teachers engage with other students. ● in his study, black male teachers had to negotiate their identities and positions within professional contexts that challenged their access to patriarchal definitions of manhood in a society that assesses men by their ability to wield patriarchal power. instead, baldwin credited his ability to get to know this student 30 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 as follows, “i don’t think he was just gonna respond to me better than others because i’m me, or because i’m a male or because i’m black. i think because i sort of invested time…we’ve built a relationship.” here, baldwin redefined the requisites needed to manage challenging students beyond race and gender to focus instead on the importance of building relationships with students. ● as such, policymakers should frame efforts to increase the ethnoracial diversity of the country’s educator workforce as benefiting all students in this increasingly diverse society. ● considering black men as the pedagogical kind versus the disciplinarian. quotes: ● schools “have begun to resemble correctional facilities. metal detectors, surveillance cameras, and other mechanisms urban rev 1 3 designed to monitor and control inhabitants are now standard equipment” (p. 80). ● brown (2012) reminded us that “black men are not magically reconstructed to be positive role models capable of reaching black youth; this image resulted from a conference of discourse that can be traced to the sociological studies of the 1930’s” ● teachers of color have been tapped to have specific jobs or duties based on their being a male or also being a male and person of color. [mr. brooks], me and another african american man had an outdoor duty, to just kind of monitor and police the front of the building at dismissal times just to usher students away from the building and make sure there are no issues outside the building…. it was clear and 31 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 evident why we were chosen for those roles. ● he worked to improve classroom practices that would mitigate misbehavior. sangster recalled attending a summer professional development session on classroom management-treated his class as a “house” and worked to ensure that students felt they were part of a “family.” ● “if schools only envision these teachers’ roles as one dimensional, they run the risk of enclosing and delimiting their pedagogical potential.” 32 published by scholink inc. original paper jupp, j. c., & slattery, p. (december 19, 2011). becoming teachers of inner-city students: identification creativity and curriculum wisdom of committed white male teachers. urban education, 47(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085911427737 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 52 original paper innovation and teaching: barriers and opportunities mandee carmical1* & louis s. nadelson1 1 college of education, university of central arkansas, conway, arkansas, usa * corresponding author: mandee_carmial@me.com received: december 26, 2024 accepted: january 10, 2025 online published: january 19, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p52 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p52 abstract this study explores the role of professional learning communities (plcs) in mitigating barriers to innovative instruction. using a cross-sectional survey with selected and open-response items, data were collected from educators participating in either a cohort-based immersive plc training or a regional network train-the-trainer model. both groups agreed on the definition and implementation of innovative instructional strategies. external barriers identified include limited resources and students’ resistance to alternative learning methods, which may reflect internal barriers such as reduced teacher efficacy. while survey responses suggest that professional development in innovative teaching is perceived as beneficial, many educators do not view innovative strategies as integral to their practice. a significant difference emerged between the two groups regarding the perceived impact of plcs, with the cohort reporting a greater influence on their instructional strategies than the regional network. although plcs fostered collaboration and peer learning, evidence of widespread implementation of innovative strategies in classroom practice was insufficient. these findings suggest that while plcs raise awareness of innovative teaching methods, persistent barriers hinder their execution. the report concludes with a discussion of these results, their implications, and recommendations for future research to enhance the integration of innovative instruction. keywords teacher professional learning community, instructional innovation, teacher change, teacher learning, collaboration, psychological safety 1. introduction we were interested in documenting the relationship between teachers’ engagement in innovative teaching and their participation in professional learning communities. the teachers may perceive barriers that limit their engagement in innovative teaching practices, or external barriers may include psychological safety or peers. as tschannen-moran and barr (2004) point out, schools are intertwined mailto:mandee_carmial@me.com www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 53 published by scholink inc. with the individual teacher’s efficacy and the building’s collective efficacy. innovative teachers develop a student focus on problem-solving and skills to use in life that is immersive of the content. hattie (2023), via meta-analysis, reports that collective teacher efficacy is the most effective process for positively influencing student success. coupling john hattie’s finding of the impact of collective efficacy and psychologically safe models, does the plc at work process establish the culture and environment to change teachers’ perceptions that inhibit their innovative teaching and for collective efficacy to flourish? 2. review of literature 2.1 innovative teaching we begin our exploration of innovative teaching with a definition of the construct. similar to nadelson et al. (2016), we consider innovative teaching can be considered through multiple lenses. we recognize that innovative teaching can be defined as a partial or complete amalgamation of student-centered learning (lee & hannafin, 2016), authentic inquiry (nadelson, 2009), project-based learning (surmilasari & usman, 2022), place-based learning (gruenewald & smith, 2014; nadelson et al., 2016), application of knowledge (dole et al., 2015), integrated curriculum (nadelson & seifert, 2017), and authentic assessment (huntington, 2021). some may argue that our definition of innovative teaching is reflective of high-impact teaching practices. yet, we maintain that the combination and engagement in the practices are outside of traditional educational practices, justifying the consideration of the combination of practices as innovative. thus, the most effective way to consider innovative teaching is on a spectrum. the innovative teaching spectrum spans from one end of traditional teaching practices to innovative ones (see figure 1). our model reflects our perception that innovative teaching can occur on a spectrum ranging from traditional teaching practices at one end to innovative teaching practices at the other. most teachers are likely between the two ends of the spectrum, moving between traditional and innovative teaching approaches. we are interested in the potential influence of teacher engagement in professional learning communities on their engagement in innovative teaching practices. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 54 published by scholink inc. figure 1. a model of innovative teaching practices the potential shifts in educational innovations require changing teaching and learning mindsets. thus, collective exploration of ideas, experiences, challenges, and solutions in professional learning communities may be critical to the culture change needed to shift toward innovative educational practices. professional learning communities may be the ideal structure for fostering a culture of change and exploring new innovative approaches to teaching and learning. thus, there is value in empirically documenting teacher engagement in professional learning communities and their consideration and engagement in innovative educational practices by possibly reducing the external and internal barriers within the teacher or teaching team. 2.2 barriers to innovative teaching as we study innovative teaching practices, just as in other industries, some barriers interfere with and reduce the creativity and innovation of the workforce. we are asking what barriers prohibit innovative teaching. internal barriers may include teacher efficacy; external barriers may include a lack of psychological safety, colleagues, and leadership. an internal barrier to teacher efficacy is an obstacle to innovative teaching practices. teacher efficacy is the belief that teachers can instruct and influence student learning regardless of the student’s situation (cantrell & callaway, 2008; carmeli & schaubroeck, 2007). notably, research has shown that teachers with high self-efficacy predict innovative behaviors (hsiao et al., 2011). the more confident the educator www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 55 published by scholink inc. feels about their abilities to teach, the more it has been found that their behavior will be that of an innovative teacher (gkontelos et al., 2023). we know that a necessary condition of innovative instruction is the teacher’s attitude and understanding of pushing their students further, which requires confidence and efficacy (hasanefendic et al., 2017). edmondson and lei (2014) developed a model for establishing psychological safety in the workplace, illustrating a leader who is a model to the organization of ongoing study and growth/development. team development is essential for establishing trust and transparency, leading to curiosity and innovation (mcmanus, 2006). clark (2020) describes the four stages of psychological safety in the workplace: inclusion, learner, contributor, and challenger. clark describes the team as reaching an innovative threshold between contributor and challenger safety stages. the challenger safety stage allows participants to challenge protocol safely and thinking within the organization. both models include transparency and trust among the participants to achieve improvement and innovation. 2.3 influences on adopting innovation in addition to barriers to innovation, several potential influences may positively catalyze as well as impede or repress engagement in innovative teaching. for example, a school culture in which risk-taking is anticipated and supported may lead to higher exploration or engagement in innovative teaching practices (beghetto, 2018). however, if the school culture is more aligned with maintaining traditional approaches and is risk-averse, then there would likely be no support for exploring and engaging in innovative teaching (fuad et al., 2022). similarly, the consideration and adoption of innovative teaching practices may be associated with teacher preparation (williams et al., 2009), administrative philosophy (feldner, 2003), teacher mindsets (nadelson et al., 2015), available resources (chatterji, 2018), and the teachers’ communities of practice (cai & tang, 2021). of interest to us is the potential association between engagement in a long-term professional learning community and teacher perceptions and engagement in innovative teaching. given the potential for learning communities to be associated with shifts in teacher practices (andrews & lewis, 2007), there is justification to empirically determine if the shifts are toward more innovative teaching practices. 2.4 teacher engagement in innovative teaching teacher engagement in innovative teaching would likely involve teachers shifting from a didactic or teacher-centered instructional approach to methods that apply dialectic or socratic exchange and studentcentered learning. thus, innovative teaching requires shifts in teachers’ perception of their role, from delivering content to inspiring and facilitating students to seek meaning in ideas and phenomena (dovey & fisher, 2014; fisher, 2021; hattie, 2012; james & mccormick, 2009). when instruction is didactic, students are passively engaged, leading to disinterest in the content and lethargy toward learning (fullan & langworthy, 2013; george et al., 2000; lord, 1999; secker, 2002). in contrast, when instruction shifts from teacher-centered to student-centered problem or project-based learning, students experience and display increased interest and engagement in learning (barron & darling-hammond, 2008; bell, 2010; dole et al., 2015; thomas, 2000). due to increased engagement in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 56 published by scholink inc. learning, student-centered teaching leads to higher student achievement (barron & darling-hammond, 2008; thomas, 2000). it is important to note that innovation instruction may be observed at differing levels of implementation (lambriex-schmitz et al., 2020). the evolution of teacher consideration, adoption, and implementation of innovative instruction progresses through multiple stages, from awareness to complete integration (de jong & den hartog, 2008; fullan, 2015; west & farr, 1989). teacher consideration of innovative instruction begins with the recognition of a problem, such as dissatisfaction with teaching (cai & tang, 2022) using traditional approaches, lackluster student engagement in learning, and mediocre levels of student achievement (de jong & den hartog, 2008; fullan, 2015; west & farr, 1989). if the dissatisfaction is sufficient, teachers are likely to begin to explore more innovative instructional approaches such as project-based learning, collaborative learning, and curriculum integration. the successful initial implementation of innovative instruction may initiate a positive feedback loop, further motivating and solidifying continued innovative instructional practices (de jong & den hartog, 2008; fullan, 2015; west & farr, 1989). however, the perceived barriers to the adoption of innovation may be considered to be too overwhelming, motivating the teachers to resist the risk-taking required to explore new instructional approaches. of interest to us is how teacher engagement in long-term school-wide professional learning communities influences their perceptions, understanding, consideration, and implementation of innovative teaching practices. the lack of empirical documentation of the association between engagement in professional learning communities and innovative teaching provides motivation and justification for our research on the phenomenon. 2.5 innovative teaching and professional learning communities at the heart of the teacher-professional learning community is collaboration. this collaboration between teachers is the idea of an increasing emphasis on student achievement and elevating the expertise of the educator (bradbeer, 2021; fullan & langworthy, 2014; goddard et al., 2007; hattie, 2023; stoll et al., 2006). as teachers collaborate and increase their self-efficacy, these attitudes should be fostered and maintained, as research has indicated that after a given amount of time, these methods and beliefs are left behind and return to commonplace or traditional methods of instruction (verloop et al., 2001). goddard, hoy, & hoy (2004, p. 8), “the sense of collective efficacy in a school can affect teachers’ self-referent thoughts and, hence, their teaching performance and student learning.” this is further evidence of the meshing and molding of educators within their team and school climate, who must have a sense that there can be an increase in student achievement regardless of the outside dynamics that may affect the student (eells, 2011). given the evidence that teacher self-efficacy is positively associated with innovative work behavior (cai & tang, 2021; gkontelos et al., 2023) and high-performing professional learning communities predict higher levels of collective teacher efficacy (voelkel & chrispeels, 2017), there is justification for predicting plcs would motivate teachers to adopt innovative instructional practices. to document the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 57 published by scholink inc. potential for this phenomenon, we explored the relationship between teacher plc engagement and their perceptions, knowledge, and engagement in innovative teaching. 3. methods 3.1 research question our overarching research question was, what are teachers’ levels of innovative practices, and how are they influenced by engagement in professional learning communities? to answer this question, we developed the following subset of guiding research questions: 1) how do teachers define innovative teaching practices? 2) what external barriers do teachers perceive limiting their engagement in innovative teaching practices? 3) what teacher perceptions or knowledge limits their engagement in innovative teaching practices? 4) how does engagement in professional learning communities influence innovative teaching practices? 3.2 participants our participants were k-12 teachers participating in two different configurations of professional learning communities and, on average, had been working in the learning communities for three years. we had 79 participants from the “network” configuration and 93 participants from the “cohort” configuration complete at least 90 percent of our survey items. the average age of the participants was 43.65 years (sd = 11.67). the teachers had been teaching an average of 15.57 years (sd = 10.20). there identified as 131 females, 38 males, two as other, and one participant preferred not to answer. of the 172 participants, 27 had a bachelor’s degree, 29 had a bachelor’s degree with some graduate coursework, 72 had a master’s degree, 33 had a master’s degree with some postgraduate coursework, 10 had an education specialist degree, and one had a doctorate. a slight majority of the participants worked in rural communities (50.6%), while 32.6% indicated working in suburban settings, 15.7% indicated they worked in urban settings, and 1.2% taught all online. almost half of the participants taught in high schools (47.7%), with 26.2% teaching in middle schools, 14.5% teaching in elementary/primary schools, and the remaining 11.6% of the participants teaching in some other school configuration, such as grade k-12 schools, grade 6-12 schools, or grade k-8 schools. 3.3 plc configurations our sample was drawn from two groups of teachers participating in one of two plc configurations: the cohort or network configuration. the cohort configuration of plc schools began in august 2017. a cohort school is awarded fifty-two onsite training sessions yearly from the professional development company associates for three consecutive years. the associates include a literacy coach, a math coach, an assessment coach, a monthly plc coach, a plc leadership academy year 1, an assessment leadership academy year 2, and an rti leadership academy year 3 (walley, 2023). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 58 published by scholink inc. the plc regional network configuration began in august 2021. a regional network school is partnered with an arkansas practitioner who either participated in the plc project or led a school through the plc processes. the professional development associate facilitates in-depth learning by guiding coalitions and administrative teams over three years. the first year is laying the foundation, year two is assessment training, and year three is structuring response to intervention (walley, 2023). 4. methodology to answer our research questions, we selected to use a cross-sectional survey research methodology. we selected this methodology due to the large sample size, the desire to gather data from a widely distributed sample, and the goal of gathering both quantitative and qualitative data. we also determined that the exploratory nature of our research necessitated establishing a baseline of understanding of how engaging in professional learning communities may influence how teachers embrace and implement innovative teaching practices. 4.1 survey development given the unique focus of our research, we could not locate a survey that directly aligned with our study questions. thus, we determined it was necessary to develop a survey specific to our research focus. to develop the survey, we adapted and modified items from three extant surveys (edmondson, 2019; gkontelos et al., 2023; lambriex-schmitz et al., 2020; tschannen-moran & hoy, 2001). we modified the items based on considering each of our guiding research questions. to meet our goal of gathering both quantitative and qualitative data, we developed or adapted at least five selected response items and one free-response item for each of our guiding research questions. once we completed an initial survey draft, we engaged a panel of experts to establish our instrument’s face, content, and construct validity. following the review, we made some minor adjustments to the survey. our final survey contained 21 selected response prompts and five free-response prompts. the selected response items contained positively and negatively phrased prompts such as, “the plc experience has enhanced my teaching of an integrated curriculum” and “i am not encouraged to take risks in my teaching.” these were to be answered using a standard five-point likert scale. the reliability was calculated to have a .81 cronbach alpha. the free-response items included prompts such as, “please provide your definition of innovative teaching practices” and “what are the barriers you encounter when using innovative teaching?” the participants were provided with unlimited space to answer these prompts. the final version of the survey also contained several demographic items. we ported the survey to an internet-based online survey site to distribute and archive the survey data. 4.2 data collection our participants included secondary educators employed by schools that are part of the arkansas regional network or cohorts 1-6 of the professional learning communities grant. the teachers’ email addresses were collected from school website listings. one thousand five hundred eighty-one surveys www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 59 published by scholink inc. were distributed via email and sent to the regional network secondary schools, and seventy-nine surveys were completed. two thousand one hundred thirty-six surveys were distributed via email to the cohort 1-6 secondary schools, and ninety-three surveys were completed. 4.3 data conditioning we began our data conditioning by removing all participants who had not completed most of the selected response items. we retained all participant responses in which at least 90% of the selected response items were answered. for the occasional missed or skipped item, we replace it with the value of the series mean using the spss routine. we then reverse-coded all negatively stated items to analyze the reliability and report consistency. we then coded all selected responses for analysis, adding labels associated with the response values. to condition our qualitative data, we exported the values to a spreadsheet, created a tab for each item, and then included the associated participants’ responses in the first column of the sheet. we had five tabs in our spreadsheet, each containing one of the responses to the open-ended prompts. we then populated the first row of the sheet with our a priori and emergent codes for analysis. 4.4 data analysis 4.4.1 qualitative data to analyze the data, we used a combination of deductive and inductive coding. we generated a set of a priori codes for our deductive coding based on the literature, experience working with teachers, and knowledge of the associated professional learning community goals (see table 1). we also remained open through inductive coding to emergent codes, which we added to our analysis as we proceeded in our coding. as we added the codes, we re-reviewed our coded data to determine if our emergent codes were present in the data from the previous codes. note that the coding frequency was based on the presence of the coded-related responses from the survey. table 1. research question themes and the aligned a priori and emergent codes theme a priori codes emergent codes definition of innovative teaching student-centered, active learning, inquiry based learning, focus on ideas and problems, differentiation, project based learning, authentic/performance based assessment integrated curriculum, place-based learning, teacher as learning coach, interdisciplinary, teacher risk taking, evidence-based, alternative assessment, culturally appropriate altering instructional approach, using technology, application of knowledge, collaboration, student choice, sharing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 60 published by scholink inc. definition of student center teaching student choice, differentiation by ability, student collaboration, problem-based learning, culturally responsive, alternative assessments active learning, teaching as a learning coach, life skill development, direct instruction barriers of innovative teaching time, lack of materials/resources, lack of comfort, fear of failure, need to cover content, high student needs, limited autonomy, classroom management challenges, unsupportive leadership lack of culture of innovation, lack of student knowledge, student resistance, lack of student motivation, no barriers, class size, highly individualized instructional needs, lack of personal knowledge or creativity, student absentee benefits of innovative teaching professional growth, positive impact on students, sense of achievement, evidence of success, empowerment, greater autonomy, administrative support, peer support, parental support increased student engagement/motivation, more enjoyment in teaching, collaboration with colleagues, cross curricular success, a culture of innovation, positive impact on future teachers, increased reflective practice, better use of instructional time, inclusive teaching/differentiation, examples of innovative teaching plc influence on innovative teaching collaboration, peer learning, peer support, no impact, risk taking, action research, reflective practice, comfort with change, student focused, administrative support, increased autonomy new strategies/instruction, data sharing, student growth, facilitated communication, cross-curricular integration, professional growth 4.4.2 quantitative data we analyzed our quantitative data descriptively. we began our analysis with a pairwise comparison of the responses to our selected response items. we only found two prompts where the two sample groups had significant differences. the first prompt we found to be significantly different was, “i am encouraged to take risks in my teaching” t(170) = 2.03, p = .04, with the cohort group scoring lower (m = 2.02, sd = .93) and the network group scoring higher (m = 2.32, sd = .97). the second prompt in which we found a significant difference was “the plc encourages innovative teaching” t(170) = 2.70, p < .01 with the cohort group (m = 3.56, sd = 1.21) scoring significantly higher than the network group (m = 3.11, sd = .95). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 61 published by scholink inc. we reported all others collectively and descriptively because we only found the two significant differences between the groups in their responses. we did report the means of both groups for transparency, but we did not compare the responses to each other due to the lack of significant differences for the remaining items. 4.4.3 trustworthiness we satisfied the trustworthiness of our research in multiple ways. first, we created a survey with input from a panel of experts directly aligned with our research questions. the survey enhances the opportunity for replication of the data collection, which contributes to both the credibility, transferability, and dependability of our research. second, we developed and shared a coding scheme to allow others to replicate our qualitative data analysis, which enhanced the confirmability of our project. third, we established a cohen’s kappa above .91, which can be interpreted as nearly perfect consistency in coding, thus establishing intercoder reliability and contributing to dependability. 5. results 5.1 defining innovative practices our first guiding research question was, how do teachers define innovative teaching practices? we examined the responses to the related quantitative and qualitative items to answer this question. our qualitative analysis examined our coded responses from the regional network and cohort survey responses. the results of the quantitative analysis revealed the two sample groups were not significantly different in their responses to our selected response items associated with innovative practices (see figure 2). both groups were neutral, agreed with their perceptions of their teaching being out of the ordinary, and nearly agreed on encouraging student risk-taking. these results indicate a tentative perspective of considering the likelihood of their teaching being out of the ordinary and likely to encourage their students to take risks when learning. overall, these results do not reflect innovative teaching practices. figure 2. defining innovative teaching practices by sample group www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 62 published by scholink inc. we continued our analysis of the quantitative data by examining the level to which teachers self-report engaging in innovative teaching practices (see figure 3). we found no significant difference between the responses of the two sample groups (p > .05). collectively, their results indicate an above-average level of engagement in innovative teaching practices. interpreted, the responses reflect the teacher’s selfreports of engaging in teaching practices relatively frequently. figure 3. teacher engagement in innovative teaching practices by sample group (10-point scale, 0 no engagement, 10 continuous engagement) to continue answering this research question, we examined the frequency of the codes for innovative teaching practices for trends (see table 2). we found the focus on student engagement, such as being student-centered, to be a dominant trend (n = 86). our coding also exposed a trend centered on activities associated with innovative instruction, such as using active learning (n = 74), technology (n = 35), focusing on ideas and problems (n = 19), and authentic or performance-based assessment (n = 11). we noted an additional trend in which the participants focused on concepts emphasized in the professional learning community structure and content, such as altering instructional approach (n = 90), differentiation (n = 33), and collaboration (n = 23) it’s important to note that the cohort sample participants provided more in-depth and lengthy responses than the regional network participants, resulting in the cohort group having approximately 3.93 codes per participant compared to 2.65 codes per participant for the regional network participants. when comparing our two sample responses, we found the cohort group had notably more frequent codes for differentiation (cohort = 28.92%, regional network = 12.33%), project-based learning (cohort = 20.48%, regional network = 10.96%), teacher risk-taking (cohort = 21.69%, regional network = 0%), alternative www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 63 published by scholink inc. assessment (cohort = 8.43%, regional network = 0%), and evidence-based (cohort = 7.23%, regional network = 0%). table 2. codes and frequency by sample group and combined samples associated with defining innovative teaching practices combined samples regional network cohort 1-6 code n percent n percent n percent altering instructional approach 90 57.69% 33 45.21% 57 68.67% student centered 86 55.13% 35 47.95% 51 61.45% active learning 74 47.44% 34 46.58% 40 48.19% using technology 35 22.44% 19 26.03% 16 19.28% differentiation 33 21.15% 9 12.33% 24 28.92% application of knowledge 28 17.95% 13 17.81% 15 18.07% project based learning 25 16.03% 8 10.96% 17 20.48% inquiry-based learning 24 15.38% 12 16.44% 12 14.46% collaboration 23 14.74% 7 9.59% 16 19.28% focus on ideas and problems 19 12.18% 10 13.70% 9 10.84% teacher risk taking 18 11.54% 0 0.00% 18 21.69% student choice 14 8.97% 5 6.85% 9 10.84% sharing 12 7.69% 3 4.11% 9 10.84% authentic/performance based 11 7.05% 6 8.22% 5 6.02% alternative assessment 7 4.49% 0 0.00% 7 8.43% integrated curriculum 6 3.85% 2 2.74% 4 4.82% evidence based 6 3.85% 0 0.00% 6 7.23% teacher as learning coach 5 3.21% 1 1.37% 4 4.82% place based learning 4 2.56% 2 2.74% 2 2.41% interdisciplinary 4 2.56% 0 0.00% 4 4.82% culturally appropriate 1 0.64% 0 0.00% 1 1.20% www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 64 published by scholink inc. additional support for the trend focused on student engagement can be found in the quote from table 3, in which a cohort participant shared, “address the needs of the new generation of students and meet diverse learners where they are.” the response by the cohort participant illuminates the trend for the focus on activities associated with innovative instruction, “a variety of teaching methods incorporates everything from hands-on activities and technology.” our third notable trend is emphasizing the differentiation of instruction for students, which is apparent in a cohort member’s quote: “different and effective teaching strategies to engage students based on their needs.” table 3. representative responses (code) for the trends associated with defining innovative teaching trend representative responses student engagement teaching practices that defy the “norms” of teaching from previous generations. these practices may seem counter-intuitive or not traditionally appropriate for the classroom. they seek to address the needs of the new generation of students and meet diverse learners where they are. (studentcentered) activities associated with innovative instruction innovative teaching strategies are instructional approaches that involve the use of technology, hands-on activities, and other materials to help students learn in a meaningful way. (active learning) a variety of teaching methods incorporates everything from hands-on activities and technology use to chunking and micro-lectures but it all comes together to be most effective for each student’s best style of learning. (using technology) differentiation of instruction for students the process of using different and effective teaching strategies to engage students based on their needs can be differentiated depending on the student and class culture. (differentiation) being willing to try new ways of teaching content to students, as well as new ways of checking for understanding. whatever it takes for students to succeed. (altering instructional approach code) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 65 published by scholink inc. in our analysis of the qualitative responses, we found trend data defining student-centered learning focused on students taking an active role in their learning (see table 4). this is observed by the combined responses coded for student choice (n = 116), active learning (n = 96), student collaboration (n = 35), and teacher as learning coach (n = 49) and consequently as the lesser response of direct instruction (n = 2). this trend is also supported by consistency in responses between the two sample groups: student choice (cohort 71.08%, regional network 78.08%) and teacher as learning coach (cohort 31.33%, regional network 31.51%). it’s important to note that the cohort sample participants provided more in-depth and lengthy responses than the regional network participants, resulting in the cohort group having approximately 2.8 codes per participant compared to 2.38 codes per participant for the regional network participants. when comparing our two sample responses, we found the cohort group had notably more frequent codes for active learning (cohort = 78.31%, regional network = 42.47%) and differentiation by ability (cohort 32.53%, regional network = 19.18%). table 4. how do you define student-centered learning? combined samples regional network cohort 1-6 code n percent n percent n percent student choice 116 74.36% 57 78.08% 59 71.08% active learning 96 61.54% 31 42.47% 65 78.31% teacher as learning coach 49 31.41% 23 31.51% 26 31.33% differentiation by ability 41 26.28% 14 19.18% 27 32.53% student collaboration 35 22.44% 14 19.18% 21 25.30% problem-based learning 37 23.72% 14 19.18% 23 27.71% culturally responsive 15 9.62% 9 12.33% 6 7.23% alternative assessments 12 7.69% 6 8.22% 6 7.23% life skill development 4 2.56% 4 5.48% 0 0.00% direct instruction 2 1.28% 2 2.74% 0 0.00% www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 66 published by scholink inc. additional support for the trend focused on students taking an active role in their learning can be found in the quote from table 5, in which a regional network participant shared, “students have choices and a voice, are scaffolded, and have teachers who facilitate and challenge them. constant progress monitoring also occurs.” table 5. representative responses (code) for the trends associated with defining studentcentered learning trend representative responses students taking an active role in their learning student-centered refers to learning that is introduced to promote student curiosity and activities that will support the goals of the learning. students are highly engaged, asking questions, making inferences, and supporting their own learning processes. (active learning) student-centered learning is teaching to the whole child. it’s learning focused on ensuring student success by considering their behavior, learning styles, emotional needs, physical needs, and socioeconomic status. students have choices and a voice, are scaffolded, and have teachers who facilitate and challenge them. constant progress monitoring also occurs. (teacher as learning coach) 5.2 external barriers teachers perceive limiting engagement our second guiding research question was, what external barriers do teachers perceive limiting their engagement in innovative teaching practices? we analyzed the responses representing the quantitative and qualitative response items to the distributed survey. do note that we reverse-coded the negatively phrased items; thus, the level to which they agreed to statements such as “i am not encouraged to take risks in my teaching” is due to the coding being reversed for analysis and consistency. our quantitative analysis revealed the mean of the participants’ responses were nearly agree in their perceptions associated with barriers, or the lack of barriers, to engage in innovative teaching (see figure 4). interpreted the participants’ responses reflect a feeling of safety for them to make mistakes and learn from them, colleagues being supportive of trying new approaches, and encouraged to take risks in their instruction (see figure 4). similarly, the participants essentially agreed their administrators did not expect traditional teaching approaches, and they had the flexibility to engage their students in project-based learning. these results indicate that potential external barriers of leadership, colleagues, and school culture were not perceived as influences on their propensity to engage in innovative teaching practices. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 67 published by scholink inc. figure 4. mean by sample group for external barriers teachers perceive limiting engagement the qualitative analyses consisted of a priori codes and the emergent themes from the open response items. to determine the barriers teachers, encounter when using innovative teaching, we also examined the frequency of the associated codes and determined the relative trends (see table 6). we found the need for more resources to be a dominant trend. the resources included time (n = 47) and materials (n = 28). we also found a trend that indicated barriers associated with the students’ openness to alternative forms of learning, as indicated by the recognition of the lack of student knowledge (n = 25) and student resistance (n = 24). note that the cohort sample participants provided similar responses to the regional network participants, resulting in both samples having approximately 1.98 codes per participant. while comparing the sample data, we found the cohort group had notably more frequent codes for unsupportive leadership (cohort = 15%, regional network = 2.82%). table 6. what are the barriers you encounter when teaching using innovative teaching? combined samples regional network cohort 1-6 code n percent n percent n percent time 47 31.13% 24 33.80% 23 28.75% lack of a culture of innovation 37 24.50% 16 22.54% 21 26.25% www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 68 published by scholink inc. lack of materials / resources 28 18.54% 14 19.72% 14 17.50% lack of student knowledge 25 16.56% 14 19.72% 11 13.75% student resistance 24 15.89% 11 15.49% 13 16.25% lack of student motivation 19 12.58% 11 15.49% 8 10.00% lack of comfort 16 10.60% 9 12.68% 7 8.75% limited autonomy 16 10.60% 5 7.04% 11 13.75% unsupportive leadership 14 9.27% 2 2.82% 12 15.00% no barriers 12 7.95% 7 9.86% 5 6.25% need to cover content 11 7.28% 6 8.45% 5 6.25% lack of personal knowledge or creativity 11 7.28% 4 5.63% 7 8.75% fear of failure 10 6.62% 6 8.45% 4 5.00% high student needs 9 5.96% 5 7.04% 4 5.00% classroom management challenges 9 5.96% 3 4.23% 6 7.50% class size 5 3.31% 3 4.23% 2 2.50% highly individualized instructional needs 5 3.31% 1 1.41% 4 5.00% student absentee 2 1.32% 0 0.00% 2 2.50% further support for the trend of lack of materials and resources can be found in representative responses (table 7), where a cohort participant shared, “some of the barriers i face when using innovative teaching strategies is time, money, and energy. innovative lessons do not happen by accident. they are planned and created in advance.” our additional barrier trend was detected due to the student population. an example of this sentiment is reflected by the response from a participant in the cohort sample, “the only barrier i face with true project-based learning is that my students do not have anything before making connections.” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 69 published by scholink inc. table 7. representative responses (code) for the trends associated with barriers of innovative teaching trend representative responses need for more resources “some of the barriers i face when using innovative teaching strategies is time, money, and energy. innovative lessons do not happen on accident. they are planned and created in advance. there is the option to buy innovative lessons (from websites like teachers-pay-teachers), but it can get expensive. lastly, using innovative strategies requires more energy from the teacher. this can be discouraging to a teacher who is already tired and overwhelmed.” (lack of materials/resources, time) “the only barrier i face with true project-based learning is that my students do not have anything prior to making connections.” (sample from cohort response) student resistance “there is pushback from students due to them not being comfortable with this method because they haven’t experienced it in the past.” (sample from regional network response) 5.3 internal barriers teachers perceive limiting engagement the third guiding research question was, what do teacher perceptions or knowledge limit their engagement in innovative teaching practices? we analyzed the responses representing the quantitative and qualitative items to answer this question. our qualitative analysis examined our codes from the regional network and cohort survey responses. the results of the quantitative analysis revealed no significant differences between the cohort and regional network participants in the responses to perception or knowledge of limits of teacher engagement to innovative instruction (see figure 5). both groups responded favorably to and agreed with their perceptions that what they teach can be readily applied to solve problems outside the classroom. the sample groups also responded in agreement that they continually think of new ways to teach their students how to apply content to real-world problems. both samples were in agreement that other innovative practices were not perceived as part of their practice, such as extending learning opportunities and project-based learning as a primary approach, and their dissatisfaction with their teaching motivated them to become more innovative and indicated more frequent use of projects to engage students in learning. the mean to the selected responses of using projects as extended learning opportunities, projectbased learning is the primary approach to teaching, and struggling to find creative ways to teach certain www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 70 published by scholink inc. subjects indicates a possible traditional approach to teaching indicated a neutral agreement to these indicators of engagement in innovative teaching practices. overall, these results do not reflect engagement of innovative teaching practices. figure 5. teacher engagement in innovative teaching practices by sample group in analyzing what teacher perceptions or knowledge limit their engagement in innovative teaching practices, we studied the frequency of the codes and determined trends (see table 8). we found two prevalent trends in the coded responses. the first trend was teachers’ perception of growth. specific coding of professional growth (n = 69), sense of achievement (n = 33), and more enjoyment in teaching (n = 31). the second trend noted from the analysis includes the impact on students. the codes that led to this trend were increased student motivation (n = 47) and positive impact on students (n = 42). in analyzing the responses to this question, we found the cohort sample participants provided more thorough responses than the regional network participants, resulting in the cohort group having approximately 3.29 codes per participant compared to 1.95 codes per participant for the regional network participants. in comparing the two samples, it is noted that the cohort responses had a higher incidence of coding than the regional network, increased student engagement/motivation (cohort = 42.67%, regional network = 23.44%), sense of achievement (cohort = 33.33%, regional network = 12.50%), empowerment (cohort = 36.00%, regional network = 3.13%) and evidence success (cohort = 26.67%, regional network = 6.25%). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 71 published by scholink inc. table 8. what would you personally benefit from in enhancing your engagement in innovative teaching practices? combined samples regional network cohort 1-6 code n percent n percent n percent professional growth 69 49.64% 29 45.31% 40 53.33% increased student engagement / motivation 47 33.81% 15 23.44% 32 42.67% positive impact on students 42 30.22% 18 28.13% 24 32.00% sense of achievement 33 23.74% 8 12.50% 25 33.33% more enjoyment in teaching 31 22.30% 10 15.63% 21 28.00% examples of innovative teaching 30 21.58% 12 18.75% 18 24.00% empowerment 29 20.86% 2 3.13% 27 36.00% a culture of innovation 25 17.99% 10 15.63% 15 20.00% evidence of success 24 17.27% 4 6.25% 20 26.67% collaboration with colleagues 17 12.23% 7 10.94% 10 13.33% peer support 6 4.32% 0 0.00% 6 8.00% better use of instructional time 5 3.60% 5 7.81% 0 0.00% inclusive teaching/differentiation 5 3.60% 0 0.00% 5 6.67% greater autonomy 4 2.88% 1 1.56% 3 4.00% cross curricular success 2 1.44% 2 3.13% 0 0.00% positive impact on future teachers 2 1.44% 1 1.56% 1 1.33% increased reflective practice 1 0.72% 1 1.56% 0 0.00% administrative support 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% parental support 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% further evidence for the trend focused on teachers’ professional growth in innovative teaching practices can be found in table 9. a response from the cohort sampling provided this statement regarding innovative teaching to self, “when all i do is lecture and assign worksheets, i do not feel fulfilled as a teacher. using innovative teaching strategies gives me more enjoyment and allows me to be more attuned to student needs. it challenges me to make engaging lessons and get students excited to learn. it’s hard www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 72 published by scholink inc. work, but it’s rewarding work.” a cohort participant response represents the second trend found in our coding of positive student impact, “students learn differently nowadays as opposed to yesteryears, and they would benefit from innovative teaching practices with increased retention and higher performances for the world in which they live.” table 9. representative responses (code) for the trends associated benefits of engaging in innovative teaching code representative responses teacher perception of growth “any time i try new teaching practices, i learn so much about myself as a person, educator, and encourager. i can give examples of my struggles to my students when they need to try new learning methods. my struggles remind me that although i have been teaching for over two decades, i can continually learn new approaches and that it is ok to feel lost at times. these real emotions help me connect with my students when they feel the same things during new learning.” (professional growth) “enhancing engagement in innovative teaching practices can provide numerous personal benefits to educators, which could not only improve the quality of education but also enrich teaching experiences. some advantages include: professional growth, increased job satisfaction, improved student outcomes, increased student engagement, personal growth and fulfillment. overall, embracing innovative teaching practices offers a multifaceted set of personal benefits, from professional growth and job satisfaction to the fulfillment of a sense of purpose and mission in education. it can be personally and professionally enriching, leading to a more rewarding and impactful teaching career.” (enjoyment in teaching, sense of achievement, professional growth) impact on students “the growth of my teaching approaches would benefit me tremendously. i would be able to reach all my learners more effectively.” (positive impact on students) “students learn differently nowadays as opposed to yesteryears, and they would benefit from innovative teaching practices with increased retention and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 73 published by scholink inc. code representative responses higher performances for the world in which they live.” (increased student engagement/motivation) 5.4 professional learning communities influence innovative teaching our fourth research question was how engagement in professional learning communities influences innovative teaching practices. to answer this question, we examined the responses to the related quantitative items and the coded responses to the associated quantitative prompt. the results of the quantitative analysis revealed that one selected response found the sample groups to be significantly different in their responses, indicating that the plc process encourages innovative teaching (p > .035) (see figure 3.6). specifically, the cohort group (m = 3.56, sd = 1.21) scored significantly higher than the network group (m = 3.11, sd = .95) in the selected response. there was no significant difference between the samples in the responses to items indicating teachers are engaged more in project-based learning, alternative assessment, or enhancing their teaching of an integrated curriculum. the sample groups indicated a near-neutral agreement in their perceptions of innovative teaching endeavors being influenced by the plc process. overall, these results do not indicate an influence of engagement in professional learning communities on innovative teaching. figure 6. engagement in professional learning communities by sample group www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 74 published by scholink inc. in determining what influence professional learning communities have on innovative teaching practices, we analyzed the frequency of the codes and determined trends (see table 10). a common trend emerged from the combined coded responses; educators indicated that the plc process has made them more innovative through collaborative growth. specific coding of collaborative growth was determined by specific codes of collaboration (n = 71), professional growth (n = 58), peer learning (n = 56), peer support (n = 52), and new strategies/instruction (n = 49). contrary to the prominent trend, an additional trend was found in the responses, where the plc had no impact (n = 43) on the teachers’ innovative instructional practices. the coded responses from participants indicating that the plc had no impact on their innovative teaching practices were indicated by 31% of participants. it’s important to note that the cohort sample participants provided more in-depth and lengthy responses than the regional network participants, resulting in the cohort group having approximately 4.13 codes per participant compared to 3.44 codes per participant for the regional network participants. through the analysis of the two sample populations surveyed, it is noted that the cohort responses had a higher incidence of coding than the regional network, student-focused (cohort 34.67%, regional network 12.70%), reflective practice (cohort 29.33%, regional network 14.29%), student growth (cohort 25.33%, 6.35%), facilitated communication (cohort 16.00%, regional network 4.76%). table 10. how has the plc made you a more innovative teacher? combine samples regional network cohort 1-6 code n percent n percent n percent collaboration 71 51.45% 31 49.21% 40 53.33% professional growth 58 42.03% 20 31.75% 38 50.67% peer learning 56 40.58% 25 39.68% 31 41.33% peer support 52 37.68% 23 36.51% 29 38.67% new strategies/ instruction 49 35.51% 25 39.68% 24 32.00% no impact 43 31.16% 19 30.16% 24 32.00% student focused 34 24.64% 8 12.70% 26 34.67% risk taking 32 23.19% 17 26.98% 15 20.00% reflective practice 31 22.46% 9 14.29% 22 29.33% www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 75 published by scholink inc. action research 28 20.29% 13 20.63% 15 20.00% student growth 23 16.67% 4 6.35% 19 25.33% comfort with change 18 13.04% 9 14.29% 9 12.00% facilitated communication 15 10.87% 3 4.76% 12 16.00% data sharing 10 7.25% 6 9.52% 4 5.33% cross curricular integration 3 2.17% 2 3.17% 1 1.33% administrative support 2 1.45% 2 3.17% 0 0.00% increased autonomy 2 1.45% 1 1.59% 1 1.33% continued evidence of the trend that the plc process (see table 11) has made them more innovative through collaborative growth is observed in the representative responses. a response from the cohort sampling provided this statement regarding innovation and professional growth. the codes of professional growth include collaboration, professional growth, peer learning, peer support, and new strategies. a representative response from cohort samples includes, “by collaborating with my colleagues, i have been able to develop new and creative ways to teach my students.” an example response of professional growth from the cohort population’s involvement in the plc process is, “because we are striving for achievement for all students, it has caused me to try new ways of teaching for all students. many students don’t learn the way we’ve always taught the content, or they can’t express their mastery the way we’ve always assessed them. it’s important to meet them where they are and ensure everyone is successful.” the cohort samples also provide an example of peer learning response, “the plc experience has pushed me to focus on all my students more than ever with new teaching techniques and what i have learned from other professionals.” a continuation of the theme of peer support in responses provided by the regional network included, “in the past, i was able to work for a full day each semester with the electives plc group in my school. during that time, we were able to discuss new ideas we were trying in our classrooms, and i was able to talk out ways to be innovative in my teaching. we could often adapt new ideas to fit each elective and work out lessons that worked for each teacher’s subject area and teaching style.” new strategies also emerged as a theme of the influence on innovative teaching from the plc process. a respondent example from the regional network, “pushed me outside my comfort zone and created an entirely new mindset shift for myself and the way my students view learning, mistakes, and successes.” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 76 published by scholink inc. table 11. representative responses (code) for the trends associated with the impact of professional learning communities on innovative teaching trend representative responses collaborative growth “by collaborating with my colleagues, i have been able to come up with new and creative ways to teach my students.” (collaboration) “in the past, i was able to work for a full day each semester with the electives plc group in my school. during that time, we were able to discuss new ideas we were trying in our classrooms and i was able to talk out ways to be innovative in my own teaching. we could often adapt new ideas to fit each elective and work out lessons that worked for each teacher’s subject area and teaching style.” (professional growth, peer learning, peer support, new strategies/instruction) no impact “i can’t claim that my plc experience has made me more innovative. my cohort is made up of more seasoned teachers that tend to be stuck in their ways and i am typically the one bringing new ideas to the table.” (no impact) “plcs are a once-a-week meeting of my department to talk about upcoming events then break up into subject groups and compare test results. we do not share professional experiences.” (no impact) 6. discussion, implications, and limitations 6.1 definitions of innovative teaching practices in our analysis of the participants’ definition of innovative teaching, we found the participants tended to focus on student-centered active learning, the use of technology, problem-solving, and risk-taking. a notable outcome of our research is the lack of connection between innovative teaching and the content of the plcs. another notable outcome is the participating teachers tended to convey rather conservative instructional practices but viewed innovative teaching from a more progressive perspective. an important implication of our findings and outcomes is that there is little or no association between plc engagement and innovative teaching. in other words, the participants’ plc engagement did not foster motivation to adopt and implement innovative teaching practices. an important direction for future research is the exploration of other plc configurations to determine what content and approaches may enhance teacher propensity to engage in innovative teaching practice. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 77 published by scholink inc. 6.2 external barriers to innovation our analysis of external barriers revealed the plc did not foster innovation. the levels of support for innovation varied by sample group. a critical implication for our findings is the potential that engagement in professional learning communities does not lower barriers to teachers engaging in innovative teaching practices. we speculate that the plc focus on remediation and support for underperforming learners creates conditions in which traditional teaching practices are embraced; and novel teaching practices are not encouraged. it is also possible that the general school culture is based on a foundation of traditional teaching practices that tend to be didactic and teacher-centered rather than innovative and studentcentered. as noted in the trends of the external barriers, student resistance was found to be a barrier. this potentially indicates additional evidence for the lack of culture within the school to implement or engage in innovative instruction. changing such cultures may be unrelated to the work of the plcs. the change may also require a catalyst such as a visionary, innovative, forward-thinking principal who is actively engaged in motivating change (clark, 2020; edmondson, 2019). a possible direction for future research is the study of the role of the leader in establishing a culture of innovation as a critical element of the professional learning community objectives. 6.3 internal barriers to innovation in our analysis of internal barriers, we found teachers have a desire to grow professionally and their impact on students. ironically, we also found that the teachers desired to teach in ways that allowed their students to solve problems. the teachers continually thought of new ways to teach their students to apply content to real-world situations. the implication for our finding is that the desire of the teachers to teach in ways that are innovative and engage their students was not reflected in their practice, which means they hold thoughts of innovation but lack the action to engage in innovation. we speculate the internal barrier bridging thought to action is likely reflective of low teacher efficacy, limiting their propensity to take control of their instruction and engage in innovative teaching practices. thus, a critical direction for future research is a deep examination of innovative teaching practices and teacher efficacy in relationship to engagement in professional learning communities. 6.4 professional learning communities influence innovative teaching our analysis of how engagement in professional learning communities influenced innovative teaching practices revealed that the plc process may support innovative thinking through teacher collaborative growth. the differences in responses likely indicate the duration and configuration of the plcs influence teachers’ thoughts about innovative teaching. however, approximately a third of the participants indicated that the plcs had no impact on their teaching practices, suggesting that learning communities are not structured to foster innovative teachers. an implication of this finding is the potential loss of an opportunity to enhance innovative teaching and, thereby, student engagement and achievement. ironically, student engagement and achievement are goals of the plcs, perpetuating a more traditional approach to education rather than more progressive approaches (dufour et al., 2016). an important direction for future research is to examine multiple models of plcs to determine what structures and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 78 published by scholink inc. content are most effective at fostering change in teacher practices toward more innovative, integrated, and student-centered instruction. 6.5 limitations the primary limitation of our study was the limited number of teachers who participated in our research and completed our survey. the level of participation is consistent with survey research. however, the limited participation could have led to gathering data that was not necessarily representative of the population of teachers engaged in the two plc configurations. additional research or replication of our research is needed to determine if our results are consistent with the larger population. our research delimitations include the inability to follow up with participants to clarify their responses, the inability to ensure the representation of all groups in the data set, and the inability to offer clarification of our items if the participants were unsure of our language or expectations. again, we hope others will build on our research and explore opportunities to address these delimitations further to ensure the data are accurate and representative of the study populations. 7. conclusion for our research, we sought to document the influence of plcs on the external and internal barriers to teachers’ engagement in innovative teaching. we found that teachers desire to implement innovative teaching practices to impact student achievement positively; however, barriers still need to be addressed despite engagement in plcs. our research provides a rare foundation for documenting teachers’ ideas of innovative teaching and barriers that remain, indicating that plcs do not eliminate internal or external barriers to engagement in innovative instruction. the foundation is critical as we continue to explore the impact of plc on these barriers and to explore plc models that would reduce barriers to innovative instruction. references andrews, d., & lewis, m. 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(2009). preparing preservice teachers for 21st century classrooms: transforming attitudes and behaviors about innovative technology. journal of technology and teacher education, 17(3), 393-418. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0883-0355(02)00003-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0883-0355(02)00003-4 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper out of the marginality: the pursuit of female community in little fires everywhere wen su1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: december 9, 2024 accepted: december 20, 2024 online published: january 2, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p1 abstract celeste ng, also called wu qishi, is a new generation of american female writer. while inheriting the traditional writing on culture and identity exploration, she expands her vision to other minority groups in society. little fires everywhere is her most representative work since the publication of everything i never told you. the novel unfolds through two story lines, presenting three marginal women, and they are from different background. this paper integrates the discourse on the marginal man and the theory of community to analyze the predicament of the three marginal women and its underlying causes. it reveals that the author provides a solution for women transcend their marginalized status by establishing a female community. the female community aims at subverting gender, class and social oppression, taking female friendship as spiritual bonds, and shaker heights as the space for coexistence, which provides a useful field for marginal women to break through their predicament and find a sense of belonging. keywords marginal women, female community, female bonding, little fires everywhere 1. introduction born in 1980, celeste ng is a new generation of american female author. her first novel everything i never told you (2014), won multiple awards upon its initial publication. in 2017, celeste ng released her new novel, little fires everywhere, which was immediately awarded the status of book of the year on 27 occasions. through her persistent writing, celeste ng expresses her concern and profound thinking about social problems and human condition. little fires everywhere takes the acquaintance between mia, her daughter pearl with the family of mr. richardson as the main story line, and the immigrant woman bebe’s custody battle with the mcculloughs as a subplot. it tells the stories of four families in shaker heights, presenting a portrait of a group of female images. mia, an artist who www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 2 published by scholink inc. pursues freedom and independence, has been living “on the road” with her daughter pearl. and when they arrive in shaker heights, they decide to end their wanderings and stay in this place. their landlords, the richardsons, are exemplary residents in shaker heights, living a secure and dignified life in a large, luxurious house. however, mia’s freedom and unconventional lifestyle gradually affects the richardson children, especially the two daughters, who admire mia for her ability to be true to herself and pursue purity and freedom, unlike the so-called “role models” in the neighbourhood. however, mrs richardson, in order to uphold the rules of shaker highland and personal feelings, uses her position to dig up mia’s privacy and drive her and her daughters away in the end. later, izzy, the richardsons’ youngest daughter, sets fire to the house and leaves to follow mia and her daughter. at the same time, an unmarried immigrant woman, bebe, gives birth to a female infant, mirabelle. due to the reality of her inability to raise her, she has no alternative but to abandon her daughter by placing her in front of a fire station. the girl is adopted by an american couple, the mcculloughs, and subsequently bebe regrets her decision and engages in a custody battle with the couple for her daughter in a foreign land. 2. literary review the novel has been analyzed from a number of perspectives, including those of identity, mother-daughter relationships, and class. for example, hector, an american critic, highlights in the new york times that celeste ng explores a complex life story in little fires everywhere, discussing in depth the issue of identity and choice. similarly, carlos has suggested that celeste ng’s novel is akin to a complex spider’s web linking gender, motherhood and class privilege. the initial phase of domestic research on this novel commenced in 2018. among them, sheng yuanyuan investigates the protagonist’s identity construction from the perspective of mirror theory (sheng, 2021); furthermore, some researchers have examined the novel from the trauma and postcolonial perspectives, such as ai mingjing, who explores the source of the protagonist’s trauma and its restoration from the trauma perspective (ai, 2023); du xingyu analyzes the decolonization writing in the novel from the perspective of discipline and resistance (du, 2023). with the discourse about the marginal man and theories about community, this paper tries to analyze the marginal dilemma of women in the novel, and explores the author’s attempt to help female group out the predicament by constructing a female community. 3. the marginal plight and causes the novel portrays a group of female characters belonging to four distinct families. it illustrates how marginality is a pervasive phenomenon among many of the female characters, who are marginalized within their respective societies and families, and isolated from the mainstream social center. the concept of the “marginal man” can be traced back to the german sociologist georg simmel’s interpretation of the concept of the ‘stranger’. simmel posits that people from different cultural groups are strangers to each other, and that the stranger is a cultural outsider who is close to us in physical www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 3 published by scholink inc. space but culturally, socially and emotionally distant (simmel, p. 109). in his seminal work, kurt lewin, a german psychologist, identified the psychological characteristics of the marginal person from a psychological perspective. he proposes that the marginal person is one who participates incompletely in both social groups, occupying a position that is in-between the two groups (lewin, p. 307). in the early twentieth century, american sociologist r.e. park shifts his attention to the marginalized, examining their experiences through the perspective of migration. in his book, he posits that marginalized individuals often occupy a liminal space, straddling two cultural traditions that are simultaneously distinct and intertwined (park, p. 881). subsequently, stonequist broadens and develops the concept of “marginalized men”. stonequist posits that interracial migration is merely one way through which an individual may experience marginalization. he asserts that a multitude of factors, including cultural beliefs, gender, and psychological factors, contribute to marginalization to varying degrees (stonequist, p. 5). with the continuous development of the theory of “marginalized men”, research on marginalized groups has become more diversified, and the concept of marginalized people has gradually shown a tendency to be generalized. those who exhibit psychological, cultural, and gender differences from the mainstream of society can be collectively designated as “marginal people” or individuals with marginal personality traits. 3.1 mia: a marginalized mother in society the protagonist, mia, leads a nomadic existence with her daughter, lacking both a fixed abode and a stable source of income. as a result, she becomes marginalized within both the social and familial structures that surround her. marginality runs through mia’s growth and life. mia developed an affinity for photography at the age of eleven, and since then has pursued a dedicated course of study in the field. however, her parents did not acknowledge or encourage her interest, perceiving it as an unprofessional pursuit. consequently, she was compelled to pursue her passion independently. mia funded her studies at the new york academy of art independently. following the birth of her daughter pearl, she opted not to pursue a conventional path as a single mother, instead embarking on a nomadic journey with her daughter. upon completion of a set of works, mia would embark once more with her daughter in search of the subsequent location offering shelter. such a lifestyle, characterized by brief periods of residence in different locations, is the norm for mia and her daughter. but such lifestyle is intolerable to both mia’s family and the society dedicated to constructing rules. “marginality is an objective existence, moreover, a subjective existence, which depends on the subjective response of different marginalized people to marginality in different contexts” (zhao, p. 117). mia’s marginality is characterized by a greater degree of autonomous choice. when mainstream society is unable to accept an individual’s lifestyle and values, the individual may seek to defend their way of life by moving away from the center and retreating to the margins. mia has chosen to defend her life by escaping from the mainstream. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 4 published by scholink inc. 3.2 izzy: a marginalized daughter in the family if mia’s marginality is tinged with subjective choice, then izzy’s marginality is the result of the distorted family environment and mother-daughter relationship. as the youngest daughter of the richardson family, izzy has a stable and decent living environment like her other siblings, yet she does not have the self-confidence that is found in her older sister lexie, nor does she have the attractiveness that is shown by her older brother trip. she is perceived as the most anomalous and divergent member of the family. the book commences with a scene depicting a smoke-filled fire at the richards residence. izzy becomes the natural target of suspicion, and is subsequently identified as the perpetrator of the crime, despite the lack of definitive evidence. to outsiders, she is already a bit crazy; when the fire breaks out, mrs richards panics and goes to look for each of the children, except for izzy, “it struck her that she had not looked for izzy, as if she had known already that izzy was to blame” (elaine ng, p. 2). “crazy” and “lunatic” are what the other family members’ description about izzy, and izzy’s unconventional behavior is the result of the family’s neglection of her personality and individuality. izzy grows up with a rebellious spirit that is not tolerated by the rule-bound richardsons, and izzy’s unusual behaviour is suppressed and her individuality is not allowed to flourish. the distortion of the mother-daughter relationship is also a major reason why izzy teeters on the fringes of the family, and mrs richardson is excessively strict with izzy to the point of anxiety. “the rush of anxiety, the fear that permeated her thoughts of izzy. the microscopic focus on each thing izzy did, turning it this way and that, scrutinizing it for signs of weakness or disaster” (p. 84). izzy, characterized by an inherent propensity for nonconformity, had a strong aversion to being constrained. this inclination led her to consistently interpret her mother ’s actions as deliberately challenging, which she attributed to a perceived animosity on her mother ’s part. “the sense all the children had-including izzy-was that she was a particular disappointment to their mother, that for reasons unclear to them, their mother resented her” (p. 85). consequently, in the family life, izzy’s expression and emotional response are overlooked. she had developed a tendency that entails maintaining a physical and emotional distance from family members and disengaging from the central activities of family life, which serves as a means for her to exercise autonomy and asserts her individuality. 3.3 bebe: a marginalized immigrant in america bebe, a female immigrant residing in america, experienced abandonment by her boyfriend following the birth of their child. bebe suffered both physical and mental torment. as a solitary immigrant in a foreign land, bebe confronts linguistic barriers that restrict her employment opportunities to a local restaurant. despite her efforts, the modest income she derives from this work is insufficient to cover her living expense. meanwhile, faced with the fact that her boyfriend abandoned her, she suffered from post-natal depression after giving birth to her daughter, which led her to the idea of giving her daughter away. she drops her daughter off in front of the fire station and is later taken in by the mcculloughs. however, the ties of blood prevents her from giving up his daughter, so bebe is left alone in a foreign country to fight with a white couple for the custody of her daughter. as a single woman, bebe’s www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 5 published by scholink inc. personal situation mirrors the life experience of immigrants in america in the 19th century, and marginalization is the real situation of many people in a foreign land. as a woman who lacks life skills, bebe can only find hope in life through her own efforts. 4. solution: the construction of female community confronted with the reality of women’s marginalization, the author explores ways for women to overcome their challenges and derive strength from the establishment of female community. the study of community is currently a hot and prominent topic of academic research, yet there remains considerable debate and no consensus has been reached. the earliest known discussion of the concept can be traced back to the ancient greek period, when aristotle regarded the city-state as a form of community, in which the members of the city-state work together for a common goal. in the eighteenth century, hegel advanced the concept of family, citizen, and state communities. marx posited that the true form of human community is the association of free men, which he believed to be the optimal means of meeting human needs. ferdinand tönnies posits that a community is a group of people who live together, share common values and an emotional orientation, and can be further categorized into three types: communities of blood, communities of place and communities of spirit (tönnies, p. 268). raymond williams posits that the term “community” denotes a shared care between groups of people, formed at the relational and emotional levels (williams, p. 215). he weihua, a domestic scholar, posits that a community is a group of individuals residing in the same geographical area who share common habits, interests, and culture. this shared identity fosters a sense of belonging and enables harmonious coexistence and mutual assistance. (he, p. 7). based on the above traceability of the concept of “community”, there is a commonality among different discourse: that is, the emphasis on mutual assistance and care between individuals and collectives and members of the society. additionally, members of society are unified by shared goals and the construction of community is realized through the coexisting living space, which is shaped by the ties of blood, emotions or beliefs. the concept of community is further emphasized within the context of female communities, whereby the common experiences and emotional encounters among women encourage them to provide mutual support and comfort. this results in the formation of a female community, characterized by a unique sense of sisterhood among women. in little fires everywhere, three women from marginalized situation share their experiences and emotions, provide each other with assistance and support, and draw strength from the female community in order to find a way out of their own predicament. 4.1 common goals: subverting gender, glass and social oppression tönnies argues that a community is constituted by the existence of a consensus among its members a perfect unity of human will. this consensus may be separate from each member’s individual will, yet it maintains a state of unity through its own will, combining in an organic way. the subversion of gender, class and social oppression is a consensus among women, forming a common goal and a unifying factor within the female community. the patriarchal society constrains women’ capabilities and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 6 published by scholink inc. accentuated their deficiencies. mia plays a significant role in assisting izzy and bebe in their awakening as the female community is established. in contrast to mrs. richardson, who leads a conventional lifestyle, mia exemplifies the potential for contemporary women’s life, as reflected in her own experiences. mrs richardson relinquishes her career in deference to her familial responsibilities, a factor that renders her inherently resistant to mia’s influence. mia demonstrates in her own actions a way of life that is free from other people’s dependence, independent and free. mrs richardson is also a woman, but she epitomizes the patriarchal system in a capitalist society. she displays a lack of affection towards her youngest daughter, izzy, due to her belief that girls should pursue a life of peace and quiet, characterized by practicality and discipline, in accordance with the norms of the middle class. this belief is the underlying cause of her animosity towards mia and bebe. nevertheless, this successful middle-class life is made feasible by many capable, ambitious women who relinquished their dreams and aspirations to men, giving up their title rights and egos to support their husbands and educate their children. “wherever human beings are united in an organic way by their will and consensus, there exists a community” (tönnies, p. 132), and the sense of superiority demonstrated by mrs richardson is rendered void in the case of mia and bebe. this is because a decent and lavish middle-class life is not the sole aspiration of all, and even her own young daughter acts in opposition to the gender and class consciousness conveyed by her family. following the loss of her daughter, bebe is encouraged by mia and izzy to demonstrate fortitude and utilize the tenets of justice to defend her rights. bebe is no longer isolated in her endeavour to regain custody of her daughter; instead, she is supported by the reliable friendship and assistance of mia and izzy. the three women from different backgrounds show that women can help each other with love and friendship regardless of class and background. the members of female community in little fires everywhere are united in their opposition to patriarchal, class and social authority, and their challenge to the richardsons and the mcculloughs. the female characters establish a harmonious relationship founded on principles of equality and mutual support, united in their pursuit of a common objective. furthermore, the word “fire” is employed as a recurring image in the novel, beginning with the ongoing fire at richard’s house, echoed in the epilogue, and separated by a title. confronting the confused izzy, mia tells her, “about the prairie fires? about how sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground and start over? (p. 242), the fire in mia’s heart provides her with the motivation to challenge the dominant social and cultural norms and to pursue a life of her own. while the fire in izzy’s heart serves as a source of strength, enabling her to break free from the oppressive influence of her family. furthermore, the fire in bebe’s heart represents her resilience and determination to fight against discrimination and prejudice in a foreign country. the metaphor of fire is used to illustrate the potential for transformation and emancipation. it is suggested that the burning down of oppression, resistance against patriarchy, class can be achieved through the use of this metaphorical weapon. the three women are presented as the embodiment of this transformative force. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 7 published by scholink inc. 4.2 emotional ties: female bonding hooks, an american scholar, asserts that radical postmodernism highlights shared emotions that transcend class, gender, and race. these emotions, in turn, become a fertile ground for the construction of empathy, which can serve as a basis for solidarity and alliance (hooks, p. 89). the emotional cohesion of the female community in little fires everywhere is evident in the mutual support and empowerment between mia and izzy, as well as between bebe and izzy. izzy is a rebellious figure who was born and raised in the conservative and rule-bound community of shaker heights. upon meeting mia for the first time, izzy experiences a sense of attraction towards her, perceiving her as an outsider within the richardson family. izzy, who has been suspended from school for contradicting her teacher, encounters mia, who is employed at her house. upon seeing izzy, who appears despondent, mia does not inquire about the cause, but instead prepares a sandwich for her. she perceives mia’s benevolence and unwavering amicability, not as pity, but as a distinct contrast to the opinions held by others. izzy gradually reveals to mia the rationale behind her contradictory response to her teacher. mia understands and affirms izzy, a reply she has not previously conceived, and if mrs richardson had learned of the course of events, instead of understanding her, she would have blamed her recklessness and feared her outburst. the development of emotional resonance in women is a consequence of the convergence of shared physiological processes and experiences, which give rise to a similar range of realizations. in the presence of mia, izzy experiences a sense of warmth and affirmation, which, as she perceives it, constitutes implicit permission to engage in activities that had previously been denied to her, and “in those words she heard a permission to do what she’s always been told not to: to take matters into her own hands, to make trouble” (p. 62). subsequently, izzy experiences a sense of unity with mia, perceiving them as unique and rebellious individuals with an underlying inclination towards destruction. at the same time, mia sees in izzy younger herself and the desire to rebel, “she reminded mia, oddly, of herself at around that age, traipsing through the neighborhood, climbing over fences and walls in search of the right photograph, defiantly spending her mother’s money on film” (p. 68). after this, izzy’s demeanor shifts from that of a reclusive adolescent to one of a young girl brimming with enthusiasm for life, whose passion is ignited by her admiration for mia, “when it was just the two of them, it was easy for izzy to pretend that mia was her mother, that the bedroom down the hallway was hers, and that when night fell she would go into it and sleep and wake in the morning” (p. 70). the sharing of female emotional experiences and female experiences serves to unite female friendships. the creation of a shared emotional structure facilitates emotional harmony among the members of the community, engendering a sense of warmth and strengthening the community. mia, who is also a single mother, is better able to appreciate the experiences and emotions of other mothers when she befriends bebe. mia and bebe meet due to their concurrent employment at the same restaurant. mia becomes bebe’s most reliable listener, and their shared experiences as women and mothers foster a sense of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 8 published by scholink inc. empathy and understanding between them. upon discovering the whereabouts of bebe’s daughter, mia decides to tell bebe. despite the vast differences in language and social customs between them, the white women and the immigrant women unknowingly gain emotional identification with each other in the face of the crisis. this emotion facilitates the rise of sisterhood among them. “the idea that someone might take a mother’s child away: it horrified her. it was as if someone had slid a blade into her and with one quick twist hollowed her out, leaving nothing inside but a cold rush of air” (p. 93). mia provided unwavering support to bebe throughout the custody proceedings, demonstrating unconditional solidarity and commitment. the shared marginalization causes izzy to stand up for bebe when she is in trouble. when the richardsons support the mccullough couple in their battle for custody of the baby girl, izzy openly defies them based on the sense of shared female identity, “they’re practically kidnapping her. and everyone’s just letting them. daddy’s even helping” (p. 104), izzy witnesses bebe’s pain after the loss of her daughter, and sympathized with her suffering. different women gain strength from each other and stimulate their sense of power and collective empowerment, thus helping to build a closer unity, which has become an important basis for female groups to resist patriarchy and even racism. 4.3 co-existing space: shaker heights the shaker heights in the book is the product of the integration of eastern and western cultures, and it is known as the “looking down upon the grimy city of cleveland from a mountaintop at the end of a rainbow’s arch” (p. 17). the maintenance of a community depends on the identity and belonging in the hearts of its members (he, p. 8). shaker heights is a place full of rules and order. the local government has a strict and unified plan for urban planning, from the color of the house appearance to the classification and placement of garbage, there are unified requirements. at the same time, local residents also work together to maintain the order of shaker heights. at the same time, it shows an open attitude, demonstrating tolerance and acceptance towards the advent of new members, and affording them the same degree of care and protection. despite their status as mere tenants in shaker heights, mia and her daughter are able to enjoy the full benefits associated with that of local residents. the acceptance of mia and her daughter in the shaker heights represents a preference for inclusiveness, and provides a suitable living space for the ongoing operation of the female community. (jia, p. 98). furthermore, the concept of a strict but inclusive community exists in shaker heights. the local school accommodates students of different background, and as lexie says, “look at me and brian. we’ve been together since junior year and no one gives a crap that i’m white and he’s black” (p. 33). mia and her daughter quickly adapt to the local way of life and come to accept themselves as an integral part of the shaker heights community. similarly, shaker heights provides an inclusive living space for immigrants, and bebe works in a local restaurant in shaker heights and gets to know mia, and a rental house in shaker heights has become a field for three women to share their feelings with each other, “instead of sequestering herself in her bedroom with her violin, she would walk the mile and a half to the house on winslow right after school, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 9 published by scholink inc. where mia would be hard at work” (p. 69). izzy takes the rental house as her home, where she feels the warmth brought by mia. similarly, when bebe encounters challenges and transitions in life, she consistently contemplates seeking assistance and support at mia’s residence. shaker heights serves as a model of inclusive community, provides a space for three women to help each other. 5. conclusion the author juxtaposes three female images in the same space, revealing the survival predicament inherent to the female individuals. the author attempts to offer a solution to the marginal dilemma faced by women by establishing a female community that seeks to challenge the oppression experienced by women on the basis of their gender, class and race. this community is based on the idea of female friendship as an emotional bond and the place of shaker heights as a space for coexistence. through the female community, women living in marginality can gain a sense of belonging and survival, thus providing impetus for getting rid of their own difficulties and striving to walk out of the predicament. at the same time, the author abandons the focus of binary opposition in traditional immigrant writing, advocates the community concept of inclusiveness and mutual assistance, presenting a new paradigm and more possibilities of immigrant writing in the new era. reference ai, m. j. (2023). an analysis of character trauma in little fires everywhere from the perspective of trauma theory. changchun university of science and technology. celeste, ng. (2019). little fires everywhere. penguin books. du, x. y. (2021). discipline and resistance: the decolonial writing in little fries everywhere. northwest university. everett, v. s. (1961). the marginal man: a study in personality and culture conflict. new york: russell & russell inc. ferdinand, t. (2020). community and civil society. mockingbird press. georg, s. (2009). sociology: inquiries into the construction of social forms. leiden boston. brill. he, w. h. (2003). community and modernity. foreign language and literature reaearch, 9(1), 6-13. hooks, b. (2015). yearning: race, gender and cultural politics. new york: routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315743110 lewin, k. (1936). principles of topological psychology. new york and london: mcgraw-hill book company, inc. https://doi.org/10.1037/10019-000 williams, r. (1985). a vocabulary of culture and society. new york: oxford university press. park, r. e. (1928). migration and the marginal man. american journal of sociology, 881-893. https://doi.org/10.1086/214592 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 10 published by scholink inc. sheng, y. y. (2023). an analysis of the protagonist’ identity construction in little fires everywhere from the perspective of mirror theory. liaoning university. zhao, x. (2021). rethinking the theory of “marginal man”: context, logic and trends. social science international, 2021(4), 116-127. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper the hulk’s unconscious in his conscious world: a psychoanalytic critique iqra kiran1, farah kiran1, ayesha kiran1 & dr. muhammad arfan lodhi2* 1 department of english, ncba&e university, bahawalpur 2 department of english, higher education department (collegiate wing), punjab, pakistan * dr. muhammad arfan lodhi, department of english, higher education department (collegiate wing) punjab, pakistan received: october 17, 2023 accepted: november 3, 2023 online published: november 24, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p1 abstract this study investigated bruce banner’s alter ego, the hulk, represents the conflict between human nature’s conscious and unconscious sides. it explores the hulk’s inner life, concentrating on how his unconscious thinking manifests in his conscious reality. the first goal is to comprehend the psychological notion of individual identification. the second goal is to observe the universe through the eyes of hulk, and the third goal is to investigate ego, id and super ego in both the mortal and immortal (post human) worlds. the qualitative method is chosen to acquire secondary information from associated domains in order to fulfill these goals. the first step in this research is to read the character closely to understand the direction of humanity. the analysis of terminologies involved in human personality and their connections to inner and outer world is the second step. the study of final phase is to write findings, which include a review of the interpretation. this research yielded three conclusions. to begin with, the interactions between the hulk and other characters, including allies and foes, in his conscious universe are covered in this essay. secondly, it examines the ways in which these encounters reveal the hulk’s inner conflicts and offer light on his psychological condition. keywords psychoanalysis, kids literature, unconscious, identity clash, self-control 1. introduction consciousness is mental architecture can be compared to the top layer of a river. it just takes up a tenth of entire mental life. the conscious part of minds are the concepts, ideas, and images that humans are aware of at any one time in their mental lives. preconscious is ordinary memory is represented by the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 2 published by scholink inc. preconscious mind, which is a mental entity. when one needs it, one can retrieve and bring this knowledge into consciousness even if humans are not consciously aware of it right now. the unconscious is located below the preconscious mind. it is the most crucial component of minds. it encompasses all the suppressed hopes, aspirations, emotions, motivations, and impulses, many of which have sex-aggression-related overtones (wintermae, 2021). psychoanalysis is a clinical approach to treating psychopathology, and psychoanalytic theory aids in understanding of a person’s personality and personality development. the creator of psychoanalytic theory was sigmund freud. based on the advancement of the physical science at the time, he created this theory. under the impact of contemporary research, the psychoanalytic hypothesis has since undergone numerous improvements. the id, ego, and superego are three crucially conceptualized aspects of the human psyche, in freud’s view. id functions at the unconscious level and is based on the pleasure principle. eros and thanatos are two different biological tendencies that make up the id. the instinct for life, eros, guides a person’s efforts to maintain their existence in the world, including breathing, eating, and having sex. libido is the energy that results from life instincts. all people possess a set of destructive instincts known as thanatos, or death instincts. others as aggressiveness or violence can occasionally express this energy. freud was adamant that eros was more powerful than thanatos. people can always rely on it for survival (sibi, 2020). bruce banner, who represents the ego, and the hulk, who represents the id, are these two identities. when under pressure, bruce banner turns into the hulk and poses a threat to society. the hulk becomes unrestrained and loses contact with his conscious mind in this stage. because of his difficult upbringing, banner has wrath and rage issues that are deeply ingrained in his unconscious mind. the hulk operates from his id when under stress and assumes his alternate form, entirely losing the connection between his ego and superego. bruce banner started to change into the hulk after exposed to radiation after being caught in a gamma ray explosion. with anger, he grows bigger and stronger. bruce banner’s past was incredibly difficult. his drunken father was deeply envious and hated him, along with his brilliance as a child and his relationship with his mother. when his father brian banner drank, he and his mother rebecca suffered abuse. while rebecca was trying to flee, brian shot and killed her, scaring bruce into remaining silent. bruce experienced trauma and abuse, which made him a social pariah and contributed to the development of his psychological problems. 1.1 rationale of the study the following study highlights the hulk’s persona by looking at the psychological and physical changes that take place when dr. banner turns into his powerful alter ego. this aims to shed light on the fundamental causes of this transformation and its tremendous effects on dr. banner’s personal journey by examining many iterations of the hulk in comic books, movies, and television adaptations. this paper investigates how people confront their id, ego and super-ego, how they control and overcome their conscious and unconscious levels. additionally, the elucidation of the following study endeavors to get to the genuine human personality and their fears. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 3 published by scholink inc. 1.2 research questions 1) how does the unconsciousness effect the hulk’s consciousness in the comic book? 2) what role does ego play in the character the hulk? 3) how can science destroy humanity in terms of persona in character the hulk? 2. literature review the immortal hulk, the most recent comic book to feature dr. bruce banner and his green alter ego, has gained a tone of praise from both fans and critics since its release in 2018. the series, which was created by al ewing and joe bennett, focuses on a recent discovery about the hero: bruce banner can die, but the hulk cannot, making them, as the title suggests, immortal. with the help of this zombie twist, ewing and bennett can transform the hulk into a horror novel that is more akin to alan moore’s swamp thing or vintage ec comics (gus, 2021). ang lee directs the first movie of the hulk in 2003. lee never loses sight of the fact that the hulk is a comic book character, even though he infuses the movie with a lot of philosophy and sorrow. he typically uses kinetic camera motions, a broad range of viewpoints, and extreme distances in his direction, which is frequently outrageously exaggerated. additionally, he usually employs several split screens, which separate the viewing area into a multi-paneled canvas that closely resembles a comic book page. lee occasionally employs extravagant visual methods, yet they seldom cross the line into pretentiousness or annoyance (james, 2003). the interconnection demonstrates how humans’ racial divisions overlap to determine how they live their lives. when someone explores how distinct elements of a human’s ethnic identity have affected her or his lifestyle, identity conflicts emerge. this covers affiliation with clearly identifiable ethnic communities centered on tribe, religion, culture, speech, financial rank and sexual orientation, as well as involvement in other kinds of activities such as specific location, social class, athletic ability, and relationships. identity is a mental state in which a person realizes their own personality traits, which aids in the discovery of where they come from and what they do in comparison to others. the concept of identity is frequently depicted in journals, works of fiction, and other literary works in order for the audience to be captivated and empathize with the protagonists and their sentiments. it aids viewers in comprehending that an individual’s thought process is filled with difficult concerns about what they are doing and where people aspire to be. human beings might struggle as hard as they wish to change their identities. superhero the incredible hulk is a made-up character that appears in marvel comics comic books. the incredible hulk #1 (may 1962) featured the first appearance of the stan lee and jack kirby-created character. he is a huge, green, radioactively altered, mutant humanoid monster with superhuman strength and an uncontrollable wrath. the hulk has been described as ruthless and overly aggressive at times and as clever, smart, and scheming at other times. he is frequently characterized as an antagonist. the hulk is portrayed, as dr. bruce banner’s reclusive and repressed passionate and impetuous alter ego. lee claimed that a combination of frankenstein and dr. jekyll and mr. hyde served as the basis for the creation of the hulk. “hulk is the strongest there is!” is one of his two famous catchphrases, and the more www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 4 published by scholink inc. popular “hulk smash!” bruce banner has the gamma-induced capacity to change into the hulk, his monster alter ego. the circumstances that initially caused the transition to occur have changed. initially, it was dusk when the hulk gained his form and morning when banner reverted. later, a powerful adrenaline rush would start the metamorphosis. based on different aspects of banner’s nature, he has appeared in different, distinct forms, including banner himself but emotionally restrained. a grey-skinned hulk with banner’s intelligence but limited morals, a green-skinned hulk with a balanced fusion of all of the above, and a green-skinned hulk with the mind of a child and driven by rage. in his hulk-like incarnation, banner has a monster body and face, incredible strength, invulnerability, and superhuman regeneration capabilities. the hulk has amazing leaping ability, imitating near-flight skills in terms of sheer distance, thanks to his enormous leg muscles. the hulk’s physiology is powered by adrenaline under extreme stress, therefore the longer he battles, the stronger he gets. banner has demonstrated a variety of additional abilities in addition to the hulk. the effects of gamma radiation, along with the fact that bruce mistakenly killed his father and thought he would return to exact retribution, have given him the capacity to see and touch astral beings as if they were real. additionally, he has homing abilities that are on the edge of being magical that enable him to find individuals while tunneling underground or sense the environment they are in. it is implied that the hulk has untapped power yet to be exposed because of the mystical aura around him. bruce banner explores his own psyche using a technology that sends him inside his own thoughts in the incredible hulk volume 2 #13 (2000). there is a collision of temperaments. it’s a wrestling bout between id and ego, with the winner controlling the body and the loser retiring permanently (jenkins, 2000, p. 7). as bruce discovers, a beast inside of him known as the id fights for control of the body and attempts to annihilate everything it meets. bruce’s ego is formed by the numerous hulks inside of him, leaving bruce (the super-ego) to control a multiplicity of personalities. the ego (the hulk) and the id do not have the same desires. here, the hulk and all his guises stand in for the ego’s conflict with the id. in contrast to his inner self, bruce banner embodies elegance and civilization. but the hulk’s different guises display an even greater diversity of motives and personalities, suggesting an even greater complexity in terms of morality, identity, and decision-making. the several manifestations of the hulk (the ego) in bruce banner’s psyche point to a more nuanced relationship between the id, the ego, and the super-ego. the incredible hulk, which uses the terms id and ego to portray the architecture of the human psyche, is blatantly influenced by freud’s theories. bruce and his hulks unmistakably represent a more sophisticated image of the conscious in that the ego is more varied and not as docile towards this id. contrary to freud, bruce exhibits a multiplicity of personalities, suggesting a higher level of complexity. bruce thus shows a process of his own (jenkins, 2000). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 5 published by scholink inc. 3. research methodology research is stated as “a practice that comprises learning that didn’t know in a much or least structured approach” (walliman & walliman, 2011, p. 7). “methodology is the “intellectual paradigm or premise within which study is undertaken” (brown, 2006). the present study shows the ‘interface’ that links all the categories. a structure uses to explore all-important points. this study addresses research questions with valid justification. the present study uses explanatory method. this type of research explains strategy and choice of subjects. moreover, the present study is a qualitative exploration. in research jargon, the population is clarified as a substantial collection of students, instructors, objects, and so on who reflect similar traits, which arouse an expert’s concern. the inherent qualities of clusters distinguish individuals from other people, educational institutions, items, and so forth. for present research, the hulk’s development into a strong and uncontrollable force serves as an example of the link between suppressed rage and its negative effects. strong feelings of anger or fury that have been suppressed or inhibited are referred to as repressed anger. due to traumatic events, a fear of losing control, or a desire to keep a calm and collected demeanor, bruce banner, the hulk’s alter ego, conceals his wrath. over time, this repression causes anger to become internally stored. the hulk is created when bruce banner’s suppressed fury reaches a breaking point and causes a bodily metamorphosis. the hulk is a huge, green-skinned, super-strong entity with seemingly infinite strength. this transformation is a direct outcome of the pent-up rage needing a release, as if it explodes out of control. the hulk represents unbridled fury and violence when he first appears. the hulk acts destructively and stirs up trouble wherever he goes because of the previously suppressed fury being released. the hulk’s destructive power is amplified by his lack of restraint and inability to control his emotions, causing collateral damage and putting innocent lives in peril. we may comprehend the significance of admitting and dealing with our emotions when we consider the cause and effect relationship between suppressed rage and the hulk’s metamorphosis. the hulk acts as a warning, reminding us of the possible repercussions that may result from concealing or failing to adequately control anger. it emphasizes how important it is to find appropriate outlets for emotions, seek counselling or assistance, and promote emotional wellness to stop the progression of harmful behavior. data has been collected by qualitative research method. the present work has different new ideas. this work justifies the value of conscious and unconscious mind in human’s life and different changes that occur in whole universe. the data of this research paper collected from two sources namely; primary and secondary. this research paper is descriptive in nature and different articles, critical analysis, observations and categories are the source of data collection as well as tools of data collection. other tools are literary books and journals. there is no questionnaire in this study. data collection is the technique of acquiring details about a cultural situation and predicting figures on elements of concern in an organized, logical and systematic format that seeks to identify to stated hypotheses, evaluate arguments, and evaluate outputs. data analysis is the interaction of carefully use precise and consistent ways to show and represent, collect and summarize, and evaluate data. various optimization www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 6 published by scholink inc. frameworks “provide a means of extracting intuitive interpretations using data and distinguishing the indicator (the marvel of concern) from the noise (observable shifts) included in the data” (shamoo & resnik, 2003). 3.1 framework of analysis the data is analyzed in three different contents i.e. character disclosure, personality and redemption and heroism. these three categories are further divided into sub-categories. the foundation of the character in the comic books centers on bruce banner, a brilliant scientist who becomes the hulk, a huge, green-skinned, superhumanly strong being with almost limitless strength and regenerative powers. the hulk’s narrative addresses themes of rage, dualism, and banner’s conflict with his terrifying alter ego. the character of hulk has two different personalities. during his transformation into hulk what he does states in his conscious; but when he returns into his human features he does not remember anything. all the memories of hulk states in dr. banner’s preconscious. the framework also elaborates the themes of destruction, loneliness, anger, emotion, self-control, isolation and identity. table 1. framework of analysis categories subcategories character disclosure conscious unconscious preconscious personality id ego super-ego redemption and heroism identity and self-control anger and emotion loneliness and isolation 4. analysis and discussions the artwork is also graphic in a manner that a superhero comic is frequently not. both banner and the hulk sustain severe wounds that are described in detail. banner reflects on how he attempts to enjoy his senses while he has them under control, hinting to the readers that these sensory experiences serve as both his release and his confinement. the hulk is shown as being enormous, terrifying, and destructive. he almost becomes a natural force, and an earthquake is often used to compare him. something more complicated but equally unsettling goes with the visceral body horror. the hulk is motivated by retribution. because earthquakes do not occur as punishment, he is not like one. however, the hulk is a vindictive force, harming those he believes deserve it, especially when gamma radiation is present. banner continues to wonder how much of the hulk’s behavior he is accountable. dr. jekyll and mr. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 7 published by scholink inc. hyde are specifically mentioned to emphasize this split and a recurring motif of mirrors and reflection supports this division of thoughts and motivations. the hulk’s ability to sniff falsehoods and his piercing gaze cause him to make criminals confess before punishing them, which has religious overtones and seems to encroach on ghost rider’s turf. the hulk is frequently referred to as the devil, and everyone who has been exposed to gamma radiation has experienced the identical vision of a green door, which at least one character speculates is the entrance to hell. these features add a cryptic, inexplicable layer of unease to a work that is already filled with horror-related motifs. a wonderful book to read is the immortal hulk. longtime hulk fans will enjoy this book’s fresh perspective on the character, while newcomers will value how the focus is on the hulk right away without needing to be familiar with the character’s lengthy past. these hulk tales surely come up to their promise of being a wild and extraordinary experience (tomko, 2022). freud offered a three-part model of the psyche as part of his psyche theories. in his explanation of the first two, he claimed, “the ego represents what we call reason and sanity, in contrast to the id, which contains the passions.” he maintained that the psyche was made up of the ego, the id, and the super-ego (freud, 2010, p. 24). in contrast, the super-ego was the part of the ego that dealt with the punishment-based regulation of the ego’s decisions. freud also proposed that people have two intrinsic impulses, the destructive drive and the eros drive, both of which were rooted in desires like eating, sex, and aggressiveness. these drives, according to freud, are manifested in the id’s wants. the super-ego’s regulation of the id’s passions, according to freud’s model of the psyche in relation to civilization, is a method of control used by civilization “to inhibit the aggression it faces, to render it harmless and possibly eliminate it?” (freud, 2014, p. 87) according to his theory, the super-ego suppresses the id’s aggressiveness, which is then “interjected, internalized, and actually sent back to where it came from” and “directed against the individual’s own ego.” there, a part of the ego takes over and positions itself as the super-ego in opposition to the others. this part of the ego is now ready, as the ‘aware’ one, to use the same level of severe hostility against the other parts of the ego that it would have like to do (freud, 2014, p. 88). in this version of the last man on earth with green skin, bruce banner tells himself, “i am the weak piston in that engine,” while he suffers prometheus’ torture. hulk has at last discovered the solitude he has been searching for since humanity long since vanished. the specifics of man’s extinction are never revealed; we are just told that the world’s super heroes failed to save man from his greatest enemy, himself. the hulk’s unstoppable metabolism has somehow prevented banner from dying for almost two centuries while also slowing his ageing (doherty, 2006). when bruce banner comes back from the grave and discovers himself a victim of his own life, he is as shocked as anyone is. every morning he awakens nude and poor because every night he transforms into the hulk, who has his own goal and is invisible to banner. he primarily appears to be following other gamma radiation exposed individuals, many of whom have been seeing the identical vision of an open green door. arizona herald reporter jackie mcgee is following the hulk’s route of devastation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 8 published by scholink inc. because she broke the story of the hulk’s return, she persuaded her editors to grant her a lot more latitude. she is pursuing him for personal reasons as well, including a childhood encounter with the hulk. due to his personal past with banner, sasquatch, another gamma-powered superhero from alpha flight, is also on the quest for banner. nobody can predict, however, whether the passionate destruction of the hulk or the logical bruce banner will triumph when his or her paths intersect. this comic is both a superhero comic and a horror comic. although banner is aware that every night he will transform into the hulk, he does not want to. as a result, he is unable to lead anything approximating a normal life and is therefore at the hulk’s mercy. it turns out that he must survive. early on, readers learn that while bruce banner can pass away, the hulk cannot. the hulk takes control of bruce banner’s corpse one night while it is on a coroner’s table, resurrecting the dead flesh in a manner reminiscent of frankenstein’s monster. because the hulk is so fearsome, the art frequently uses framing from horror films as inspiration. this anxiety is fuelled in part by physical horror. with good reason, banner is terrified of what his body can do and become. in this magnificent, invincible body, banner is a prisoner to the hulk’s demands. the transformation into the hulk is depicted as a traumatic and gory procedure, comparable to a werewolf metamorphosis. 5. justification of research questions 5.1 how does the unconsciousness effect the hulk’s consciousness in the comic book? the relationship between bruce banner and the hulk is complex and has evolved over time. when it comes to the unconsciousness of bruce banner, it often serves as a trigger for the emergence of the hulk. usually, the hulk takes over after banner is knocked out or nods off. extreme emotions, danger, or physical trauma is just a few examples of the many things that might start this transition. when banner is unconscious, the hulk’s awareness emerges, giving him the ability to act on his own. the hulk is frequently portrayed as a distinct personality with his own thoughts, aspirations, and driving forces inside banner’s psyche. the hulk is incredibly strong and resilient, but he is also motivated by strong emotions, especially fury. compared to banner’s, the hulk’s consciousness is frequently portrayed as being more primitive and less logical. when banner loses consciousness, the hulk takes over his body and uses his own emotions and instincts to drive his actions. unpredictable behavior and destructive tendencies may come from this. the hulk’s consciousness is frequently less constrained by moral and societal expectations, which frequently results in careless and violent behavior. it is vital to remember that the specifics of the bond between banner and the hulk might change depending on the comic book storyline. they are sometimes depicted as separate entities, with the hulk possessing a separate consciousness from banner’s that coexists with it. when this occurs, banner and the hulk could argue inside or try to maintain control over their shared body. according to some theories, banner’s suppressed emotions or a disjointed portion of his own psyche are represented by the hulk. in these instances, the hulk stands in for the aspects of banner that he finds difficult to control or reconcile, and his appearance is frequently brought on by trauma or mental stress. depending on the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 9 published by scholink inc. creative team and the plot being investigated, the hulk’s consciousness in connection to banner’s unconsciousness may be depicted differently. the character has become more complex over time because of the various ways that authors and artists have interpreted this dynamic. 5.2 what role does ego play in the character the hulk? in terms of psychology, the ego is the area of a person’s psyche that deals with self-awareness, self-esteem, and the need for approval and fulfilment. it is linked to one’s sense of self-importance and identity. due to the character’s change and its connection to bruce banner’s psyche, the hulk’s ego assumes a special significance. bruce banner’s transformation into the hulk symbolizes the discharge of his suppressed emotions as well as the display of his ego in its most unadulterated state. the hulk acts instinctively and unrestrainedly on his immediate impulses and emotions. he is not constrained by cultural expectations, laws, or repercussions, which allows his ego to govern. unrestrained might and dominance: the hulk’s enormous size, might, and invulnerability support his egocentric actions. he feels superior to and in control of others thanks to his physical abilities. the hulk frequently does violent acts or makes strong physical declarations to prove that he is the most powerful being in any circumstance. his ego yearns for approval and insists that people recognize his dominance. anger is a fundamental emotion that causes the hulk to appear, and emotional triggers such as stress and anxiety are the main factors that cause the hulk to transform. the relationship between the hulk’s ego and his rage emphasizes how important ego is for controlling and expressing strong emotions. the hulk’s ego grows stronger and more dominating the more furious bruce banner becomes. bruce banner battles with the hulk’s destructive ego to keep it under control. this internal struggle is an illustration of the struggle between rational thought and instinctual behavior, or between the need for control and the outburst of emotions. bruce, who is aware of the potential damage the hulk may do, tries to control his transformation out of concern for what would happen if he let his ego run wild. the persona of the hulk can be interpreted as a parable for the effects of an unbridled ego and the perils of unregulated power. it conveys the idea that allowing the ego to run amok can result in chaos, devastation, and harm to both oneself and other people. the hulk’s ongoing effort to manage his egotistical impulses and sensible side emphasizes the importance of balance and self-control. 5.3 how can science destroy humanity in terms of persona in character the hulk? bruce banner is a leading expert in nuclear physics and other related fields thanks to his intelligence, but these traits are normally lost when bruce banner transforms into the monstrous hulk, who exists as a physical manifestation of his repressed rage and mental instability. the hulk’s power continues to be the greatest of all super humans on earth and grows exponentially stronger as his rage intensifies. along with giving him an advantage with his upper body, this strength also enables him to make long leaps without suffering any injuries. in this scenario, genetic research is being conducted to improve human capabilities or qualities. they could change certain genes or add unfamiliar genetic material to the human dna. nevertheless, a calculating error has unexpected repercussions that lead to a transformation akin to the hulk. the experiment might involve changing genes involved in hormone regulation, muscle growth, or www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 10 published by scholink inc. the arousal of anger. making people who are stronger, faster, or more resilient may be the targeted outcome. the victims undergo a severe physical alteration due to the unpredictable mutations caused by the altered genetic code. they grow bigger, stronger, and have an unending wrath that gives them their incredible strength. these hulk-like individuals would become irrational and lose control of their activities, wreaking havoc and endangering humanity. they might embark on violent rampages while being unable to discern between friends and enemies that causing chaos and destruction everywhere they go. in this hypothetical situation, scientists conduct unethical human enhancement operations to develop super soldiers or improve physical capabilities beyond what is possible naturally. they create a serum or treatment that boosts aggression, stamina, or strength. they fail to account for the negative repercussions and long-term effects of their inventions. the experimental medicines can entail administering strong medications, gene therapies, or even cybernetic improvements. making powerful and highly effective people is the intended outcome. however, unforeseen outcomes of the treatments include drastic personality changes and uncontrollable violence, akin to the hulk. those who received the upgrades would change physically, growing bigger, more muscular, and exhibiting an unquenchable fury. they would act violently and destructively when they lost control of themselves. the upgraded people might pose a threat to humanity by unleashing their uncontrollable rage and strength on gullible populations. 6. conclusion marvel comics’ fictional creation the hulk has a complicated and nuanced personality. the hulk has been portrayed in a variety of ways over the years in comic books, television series, and films, allowing for the exploration of various facets of his psyche. however, several recurring characteristics and inferences can be made regarding the personality of the hulk. the incredible hulk is primarily famous for his superhuman strength and unyielding fury. bruce banner becomes the hulk, one of the most powerful characters in the marvel universe, as he undergoes an exponential rise in physical strength. anger is a distinguishing quality of the hulk and is frequently brought on by irritation, injustice, or threat. this wrath may result in violent outbursts and destructive behavior. the hulk is frequently portrayed as being naive and immature, lacking bruce banner’s mental and emotional maturity. he reacts to events impulsively because he relies on intuition and unprocessed emotions to function. others may feel pity and compassion for him since they can see the fragile person hiding behind the huge exterior thanks to this infantile component of his personality. the ongoing internal conflict between bruce banner and the hulk persona shapes the hulk’s nature. the hulk personifies bruce banner’s repressed emotions and trauma, while the brilliant scientist bruce banner represents the rational and intellectual side. because of this duality, the character experiences conflict as both sides struggle for power and influence over their shared existence. this internal struggle gives the hulk more personality depth and complexity, presenting him as a tragic character seeking equilibrium and acceptance. from being, a straightforward brute force persona to a more www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 11 published by scholink inc. psychologically nuanced one, the hulk has changed over time. his psychological makeup has been examined by writers, who have focused on issues like trauma, identity, and the nature of power. despite his superhuman abilities, the hulk is now more relatable and human thanks to this investigation into his character. his struggle for control is one of the fundamental facets of the hulk’s personality. frequently brought on by strong emotions or danger, bruce banner’s transformation into the hulk happens without his consent. the difficulty of controlling and directing strong emotions is explored through the core issue of the protagonist’s loss of control over his own change. being the hulk brings some catharsis because he stands for the unleashing of suppressed feelings. bruce banner may try to hold back his rage and frustration, but those feelings eventually express physically as the hulk. bruce can temporarily feel unfettered and set free from society restraints thanks to the hulk. the hulk’s participation in superhero teams like the avengers gives his character an intriguing dynamic. tensions and disputes frequently arise because of the other team members’ inability to comprehend and manage the hulk. these interactions offer chances for character growth and the examination of concepts like faith, acceptance, and the importance of diversity in a group. over time, there has been a substantial evolution in the hulk’s persona. he was largely portrayed as a mindless brute in earlier depictions, but subsequent interpretations added a more cerebral form known as “professor hulk.” this development demonstrates that even the hulk can adapt and changing as part of the character is continuing study of his or her depth. despite the hulk’s destructive instincts, he frequently seizes chances for atonement and performs brave acts. he may use his tremendous might for good, defending the defenseless and taking on powerful adversaries. this contrast demonstrates the possibility of change and people’s ability to conquer their personal problems and become heroes. the hulk’s existence frequently causes feelings of solitude and loneliness. bruce banner’s condition makes him unique since it is challenging him to retain friendships and a sense of belonging when he transforms into the hulk. the hulk’s imposing physicality serves as a barrier to intimacy and connection, which exacerbates feelings of loneliness. the impact of feeling like an outsider is examined in this facet of the character along with the urge for acceptance and connection that all people have. it clarifies the difficulties associated with locating one’s position in the world when one’s nature makes them unique. in conclusion, this study identifies the gap of the hulk’s character disclosure, personality and redemption stages such as heroism, identity, self-control, anger, emotion, loneliness and isolation. references bhat, a. 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(2005). personality, individual characteristics, and predisposition to technophobia: some answers, questions, and points to ponder about. information sciences, 170, 309-328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2004.03.007 loewald, w. h. (2017). psychoanalytical theory and the psychoanalytical process. https://doi.org/10.1080/00797308.1970.11823275 mehmood, r. (2012). psychological analysis of the incredible hulk. retrieved from https://prezi.com/p0bmekxg_z_m/psychological-analysis-of-the-incredible-hulk/. naar. d. (2022). what is psychoanalytic theory and how did it develop. retrieved from world view/strengths-weaknesses-psychoanalytictheory7e2731eb633f2ca1? pillai, a. a., & kaushal, u. (2020). basic research in the humanities. retrieved august 8, 2023, from http://4humanities.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/basic-research-in-the-humanities.pdf. sibi. k. j. (2020). sigmund freud and psychoanalytical theory. retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342610778_sigmund_freud_and_psychoanalytic _theory. wintermae. (2021). psychoanalytic theory by sigmund freud. retrieved from https://www.scribd.com/document/533919768/psychoanalytic-theory-by-freud# https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2004.03.007 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 41 original paper home away home: csp international doctoral students’ community cultural wealth and sociocultural adaptation in china fan yang1 1 department of international education, beijing language and culture university, beijing, china received: october 15, 2023 accepted: november 9, 2023 online published: november 28, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n5p41 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n5p41 abstract china studies program (csp) is a high-calibre international exchange program launched by the center for language education and cooperation since 2013, which aims to attract overseas students, scholars, and elites from all walks of life to come to study in china through providing scholarships and highquality training resources. the research site of this study was at a chinese university in beijing. using the community cultural wealth theory (yosso, 2005), this study examined the sociocultural adaptation mechanism for international doctoral students of the csp in china, especially how the students themselves, their families, and staff members of the host university help the international doctoral students to navigate their sociocultural adaptation by providing community cultural resources, which helped international students achieve academic success through accumulating aspirational capital, linguistic capital, social capital, familial capital, navigational capital and resistant capital (yosso, 2005). findings of this study suggest that the sociocultural adaptation of the international students of csp was much facilitated by the host community cultural wealth which provided ample opportunities for the international students to acquire and mobilize their various capitals. keywords china studies program, community cultural wealth, international doctoral students, sociocultural adaptation 1. introduction since china resumed postgraduate education in 1978 and established degree system in 1980, chinese doctoral postgraduate education has gone through the development process of nearly 40 years. in the past 40 years, china has achieved remarkable results in the education of doctoral students. the ability to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 42 published by scholink inc. supply talents has been continuously enhanced, the quality of training has been significantly improved, the national innovation capacity has been steadily on the increase, and the international influence has been significantly expanded (zhao & wu, 2019). in 1986, the notice on improving and strengthening the work of graduate students proposed to cultivate 180,000 graduate students (including about 10,000 doctoral students) within five years. in 1992, the opinions on the reform and development of degree and graduate education proposed that graduate education should have a great development on the premise of ensuring the necessary conditions, quality and efficiency of running a school. the 1995 recommendations on the further improvement and strengthening of postgraduate work suggested that postgraduate education should be maintained at an appropriate scale and pace of development. in 2013, opinions on deepening the reform of postgraduate education clearly proposed that china should take “serve demand, improve quality” as the main line and adhere to the road of conformal development. in 2017, the ministry of education and the academic degrees committee of the state council issued the 13th five-year plan for the development of academic degrees and postgraduate education, which formally established the development goal of realizing the transformation of postgraduate education to service demand and improve quality by 2020. globally, modern doctoral education first established in german in the 19th century (shen, wang, & jin, 2016). international mobility of the doctoral students has always been a key characteristic of the doctoral program. for example, in the late 19th century, many american students went to german to pursue the doctoral degree. gradually, america developed its own doctoral training system and boosting the country’s academic development in various disciplines and fields. nowadays, doctoral education involves international students as the highest level of education. however, international students’ mobility involves many unstable factors. on the one hand, the international students need to solve problems in daily life; on the other hand, they always face the complex intersectionality of language barriers, lifestyle differences, social needs, and cultural differences (ding & zhou, 2019). 2. literature review 2.1 international doctoral students in china with the rapid development of international chinese language education, the demand for international chinese language education talents in both china and overseas countries has been rising greatly. however, neither the masters of teaching chinese to speakers of other languages (mtcsol) nor the traditional ph.d. in chinese language and literature program could meet the demand for high-level international chinese language education curriculum, teaching material, teacher training, educational management, and public diplomacy. therefore, on november 2013, the national guidance committee for teaching chinese to speakers of other languages issued the strategic plan for the doctor of teaching chinese to speakers of other languages (d.tcsol). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 43 published by scholink inc. zong (2015) studied 14 international doctoral students major in humanities and social sciences as well as 6 international student management staff members and supervisors in a research university in china. this study found determinant factors influencing educational quality for this group of doctoral students are from both doctoral students themselves and institutional elements. the individual attributes include interest, attitude, motivation, capacity and quality, while the external and institutional factors include talent cultivation system, environment, as well as teacher resources. this study provides insights for the talent cultivation of international doctoral students from two aspects. on the one hand, the university needs to enhance students’ professional quality. on the other hand, it also needs to improve its management and cultivation system, including reform student recruitment system, curriculum instruction, enhance the quality of supervision, service quality, as well as increase international doctoral students’ communication with local students. qiu (2015) proposed to construct a high-level international chinese language education talent cultivation platform to meet the urgent demands for qualified overseas international chinese language education talents. the researcher suggests to develop a high-level personnel training platform through collaborating with institutions running the sino-foreign joint ph.d. program and visiting scholar to china program as part of the china studies program. 2.2 china studies program ph.d. fellowship the china studies program (csp) is a high-calibre international exchange program launched by the center for language education and cooperation since 2013. china studies program provides many research and studies opportunities to overseas outstanding students and scholars dedicated to china studies. through cooperating with prestigious universities in china and inviting famous experts in the field of humanities and social sciences, this program provides ph.d. fellowships in sinology and china studies, develops advanced chinese interpretation and translation training program for overseas talents. furthermore, this program sponsors in-depth research opportunities in china, facilitates or sponsors relevant translation and publication of works, as well as collaborates on chair or professorship with overseas universities. this program is expected to facilitate the growth and development of young students and scholars. the csp ph.d. fellowship program supports foreign students to research and study at the doctoral level in china, and aims to cultivate international young sinologists, who are proficient in international academic rules and capable of participating in international academic exchanges and research. the ph.d. fellowship of the csp includes two types of fellowship: the ph.d. in china fellowship and the joint research ph.d. fellowship. the ph.d. in china fellowship supports overseas outstanding master’s degree holders in pursuing doctoral degrees at chinese universities. the joint research ph.d. fellowship funds overseas outstanding doctoral students registered with foreign universities coming to china for study, research and writing of their doctoral dissertations. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 44 published by scholink inc. 2.3 community cultural wealth yosso (2005) first conceptualizes community cultural wealth as a critical race theory to challenge the traditionally deficit view of communities of color as socially marginalized groups. the various forms of capital from the community cultural wealth include aspirational capital, linguistic capital, social capital, familial capital, navigational capital, and resistant capital. aspirational capital refers to a person’s ability to have hopes for the future even in the face of real barriers in social, economic and other aspects of life. linguistic capital makes reference to one’s ability to be able to communicate in more than one language and other visual art forms such as music or poetry (liou, gonzález, & cooper, 2009). social capital can be understood as one’s ability to obtain instrumental and social support through resources such as community organizations and cultural events. familial capital refers to those knowledge and cultural practices that obtained from extended family members. it also includes family’s support through emotional, educational, and occupational consciousness (liou, gonzález, & cooper, 2009). navigational capital is measured by one’s ability to navigate through social institutions. resistant capital refers to one’s knowledge and skills fostered through oppositional behavior that challenges instances of inequality (yosso, 2005). the community cultural wealth theory has been used in many critical race theory studies to understand how students from underrepresented and marginalized groups develop a sense of resiliency for academic success. through using the community cultural wealth theory, liou, gonzalez, and cooper (2009) examined data from two racially segregated urban schools to understand how latino/a students utilized their community cultural wealth for college-going aspirations. jayakumar, vue and allen (2013) studied students from a community college preparatory program called young black scholars (ybs). this study found that community played a positive role in facilitating college access for this group of middle and higher-income black college students. using the theoretical framework of deaf community cultural wealth, johnson, stapleton, and berrett (2020) studied the experiences of deaf students in community college. the study showed that the deaf students utilized instances of resistant, navigational, social, and familial capital in pursuing their higher education. erdemir (2022) studied a group of 36 syrian refugee children from an early childhood intervention program in turkey and found those children possessed with six forms of cultural wealth capitals which included navigational, social, familial, linguistic, resistant, and aspirational capital. in wick, willis, rivera, lueker, hernandez’s (2019) study, they explored first-generation latinx students during service activities and homestays in costa rica. findings suggest that students were able to use their linguistic and familial capital to quickly connect and understand the locals. in addition, they were able to apply their linguistic, familial, aspirational, and resistant capital to increase their engagement during overseas experience. the students’ interaction with their community cultural wealth deepened their bicultural identities, improved their resistance to injustice, and instilled a strong desire to inspire other latinx students to pursue international education. school reformers need to see the potential of international students and their communities’ funds of knowledge, and better prepare them for adapting into international culture and developing a sense of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 45 published by scholink inc. resiliency for academic success and integrated development (liou, gonzález, & cooper, 2009). instead of observing international students as a minority group which needs help and assistance from a deficit view, this study analyzed this group of students from a strength-based perspective to see how international doctoral students of the csp actively applied local knowledge and all kinds of resources in establishing networks and interactions in the host community. through analyzing yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth model, this study employed in-depth semi-structured interviews with seven international doctoral students from seven different countries who participated in the “china studies program”. this study also intended to analyze how staff members and administrators in the host country provided community resources to better prepare them for sociocultural adaptation, thus leading to their all-around development. 3. research methods 3.1 research site the research site university lies in the capital of china, beijing. the city has around 22 million population and 92 higher education institutions. the research site university is noted for its highly internationalized campus with students from over 180 countries. according to the official website of the university, until july 2021 it has more than 2,300 international students and around 8,200 chinese students of all levels registered. the research site university has around 2,000 faculties and staff members. its academic strength lies in teaching chinese to speakers of other languages. 3.2 research questions 1) how did international doctoral students of the csp acquire the community cultural wealth that enable them to achieve sociocultural adaptation in the host country? 2) what are some recommendations for international doctoral students who participate in the csp in the future? 3.3 participants selection the students were recruited through purposeful sampling and selected by the following criteria: 1) the participants must currently registered at the csp during the time of the study, either the ph.d. in china fellowship or the joint research ph.d. fellowship; 2) it is hoped that participants from a variety of different countries and regions can be included, therefore the seven participants were selected from seven different countries and three continents; 3) in addition, the participants selection also considered different gender, major, and fellowship type. the demographics of the participants were demonstrated in the following table (see table 1). considering the research ethics, the students and program management teachers were interviewed anonymously and numbered in the order of being interviewed to protect their privacy. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 46 published by scholink inc. table 1. demographics of the participants number fellowship type continent of origin gender major years of living in china 1 pcf europe female literary studies 12 years 2 pcf middle asia female international chinese language education 7 years 3 pcf south asia male international chinese language education 6 years 4 pcf africa female linguistics and applied linguistics 4 months 5 jrpf east asia male international chinese language education 6 months 6 jrpf east asia male foreign linguistics and applied linguistics 2 years 7 pcf europe male linguistics and applied linguistics 8.5 years joint research ph.d. fellowship = jrpf ph.d. in china fellowship = pcf 3.4 data collection this qualitative study was an instrumental case study (stake, 1995). in a single instrumental case study, the researcher intends to understand a specific problem, and then select a case to best understand this issue (creswell, 2013). in this study, methodological triangulation was applied by using multiple methods to study a single problem to ensure the trustworthiness of the study: the research instruments include document analysis, questionnaires, and one-on-one interviews with seven international students who participate in the csp and with the two program management teachers at the research site. the public documents were selected from the official website of the research site university as well as the official website of the center for language education and cooperation (clec). the research site university website offers background information of the university, while the official website of the clec provides information about the csp. the questionnaire is consisted of two sections. the first section contains questions regarding personal information such as gender, code name, nationality, age, years of living in china, mother tongue, major, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 47 published by scholink inc. work experience, scholarship type, hsk level, grade, economic income, martial status, overseas experience, etc. the second section was revised from ward and kennedy’s (1999) version of the sociocultural adaptation scale (scas-r) designed by wilson (2013). it is a self-assessment questionnaire to let the respondent think about the life in a country, and rate their behaviors base on interpersonal communication, academic performance, personal interests and social participation, environmental adaptation and language proficiency. the respondent can select likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all competent) to 5 (extremely competent). the overall internal consistency of the scas-r is 0.92, while each scas-r subscales’ internal consistency was larger than 0.7, indicating a relatively high reliability of the scas-r. the original questionnaire was translated into chinese and sent to the participants through an online link. the scas-r consists of 21 items, sample questions include “maintaining my hobbies and interests” and “expressing my ideas to other students/work colleagues in a culturally appropriate manner.” after the factor loadings for explanatory factor analysis with oblique promax rotation, scores are calculated by averaging the individual item scores. the higher scores of the items represent greater competency in a new cultural environment, where as the lower scores represent less sociocultural adaptation competency. the results of the questionnaire are presented in table 2. table 2. results of the scas-r number interpersonal communicati on academic performance personal interest and social participati on environm ental adaptatio n language proficiency sociocultur al adaptation status 1 4.14 4.75 4.25 5 5 4.55 2 5 5 4.75 4.6 5 4.77 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4.14 4.75 4.5 4.4 4 4.36 5 3.71 4.25 2.75 4.8 5 4 6 3.86 4 4.25 4.8 3.5 4.14 7 3.57 3.75 3.75 3.8 4.5 3.77 because of the covid-19 pandemic, students were interviewed through voice call on a popular social software called wechat. before the interviews, students were sent an informed consent to let them understand the purpose, ways to protect their rights, confidentiality, and possible risks of this study. among the nine contacted students, seven agreed to participate in the study. after getting participants’ permission, the semi-structured interviews were conducted in chinese and recorded in order to continue with the data analysis. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 48 published by scholink inc. 3.5 data analysis first of all, the recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim for creating interview transcripts to help with the data analysis (creswell, 2013). secondly, the researcher read through the interview transcripts, public documents, and results of the questionnaires to find a few key issues recurred from the data and used categorical aggregation to generate major themes or meanings. the researcher used color coding to mark each instance by using different colors based on different categories. thirdly, margin notes were taken to summarize the major meaning or initial thoughts. meanwhile, a table was used to describe the basic demographics of the participants. fourthly, the researcher collapsed the categories into several major themes. finally, a large number of quotes were presented to ensure the trustworthiness of the study. 4. findings 4.1 aspirational capital student 5 used to work as a female textile worker and later became the first master of chinese in her home country. her story has inspired many chinese learners to continue their study of chinese. she was also the first csp student in her home country and confucius institute because she wants to be the first local chinese teacher in the confucius institute she worked at. her aspiration kept her studying hard during the csp. despite suffering from headache and eye problems, she still tried her best in balancing her health and study: why do i choose to join the csp? because i used to be a textile worker and then continued my study. therefore i think it is not easy for me to study for a doctorate degree, i need to work hard. whatever problem i met, i always do my best. similarly, student 6 used to work at foreign trade export companies. he was clear in stating his goal for joining the csp and pursuing his doctoral degree is to find a teaching position at the university level. student 1 mentioned the importance of self-discipline during the doctoral study: i feel the biggest challenge is self-discipline, which is strictly following you own plan, instead of following others’ requirements. you need to make your own plan and try to finish some tasks. student 3 worked at a private university. she shared that her university has high requirements for the teachers and she was motivated by her elder colleagues: i see my colleague who are more than 50 years old, but still study for an online doctoral degree. working in a place like this, everyday i see people in their forties or fifties still learning. as a young teacher myself, i feel the pressure. i am still in my thirties, how can i feel satisfied for earning a master’s degree. i have the motivation that i need to study for a doctorate. in spite of the social and economic barriers students in the csp may currently face, they all have high aspirations for the future and believe that earning the doctoral degree can help them in better achieving their goals. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 49 published by scholink inc. 4.2 linguistic capital the csp ph.d. fellowship program admits two types of fellowship: the ph.d. in china fellowship and the joint research ph.d. fellowship. the language requirements for the ph.d. in china fellowship students of the csp are a minimum of hsk (chinese proficiency test) level 5. for students in the joint research ph.d. fellowship, students need to achieve a minimum of hsl level 3 to meet the application requirements. however, due to the competitive number of applicants, many candidates who finally being admitted to the ph.d. in china fellowship csp, even some candidates of the joint research ph.d. fellowship, have achieved hsk level 6. after being admitted to the csp, students also need to use chinese by reading textbooks and learning materials, writing papers, doctoral dissertation and other publications, communicating with teachers, classmates and scholars in and out of class, as well as listening to lectures, workshops, and various study visits. moreover, students also need to use chinese in their daily life to survive in a new country. most of the interviewed students report they have little difficulty with their chinese proficiency. they must also develop and apply different language registers to communicate with different audiences. for example, student 1 shared that: i feel adapt to communicate with chinese friends and teachers... i have been living in china for many years and language environment plays an important role for my language learning. my eldest child is bilingual, i also need to practice my chinese, so we would communicate in chinese at home. the international students in the csp can communicate in bilingual or multilingual languages or communication skills. however, there are also students who reported having difficulty with their dissertation writing: since i have been teaching chinese for many years, i have little problem with looking for literature, translating, or even lecturing. currently my biggest challenge is dissertation writing... you know you can speak chinese either in a simple way or a literary way. for writing, i think it is a challenge to enrich my chinese expressions. student 7 also reported that after being admitted into the doctoral program, he has more understanding of the limitations for his chinese language ability. during his master’s study, he felt his language ability was quite strong. later in his study during the csp, he realized there is still a distance between his chinese ability and his mother tongue. 4.3 social capital for the several students who participated in the study, identifying and attaining the csp scholarship itself was a reflection of social capital in getting help from social contacts and community resources. student 1 used to be a visiting scholar at the research site university for two weeks in the year 2014. during her study at the program, she first got to know the csp scholarship and found the research direction she has always been interested in. because of the recommendation from his supervisor, student 2 got to know and finally being admitted to the csp. the research site university also provides many opportunities for international doctoral students to participate in social activities and events. for example, student 3 participated in the 70th anniversary for www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 50 published by scholink inc. the founding of people’s republic of china at tian’anmen square in 2019. she was the only student representative from the csp at the research site university, and was interviewed by china central television (cctv) and china daily’s reporters. she always joined in the embassy’s events and once was the interpreter for jack ma, the famous entrepreneur in china who founded alibaba. student 3 also loves chinese culture and joined all kinds of lectures, conferences, and toured around the country. in addition to the scholarship sponsored by the csp, student 4 mentioned the social capital provided by the center for language education and cooperation in providing information and holding all kinds of events for students in the csp, such as academic activities, the international chinese language education weeks, csp forum, language studies forum, etc. student 4 also mentioned how the center for language education and cooperation provided cultural experience events and research platforms for the csp students. he joined the association of international understanding (aiu), a student organization organized by the department of international student affairs at the research site university, which provides a platform for chinese and international students’ communication and cooperation. for example, during the student registration process, volunteers from aiu can provide assistance to both freshmen and returning international students. 4.4 familial capital student management staff 1 explained during the interview that compared with other doctoral students, many ccsp doctoral students have already established their own family. most of them have worked for several years and have certain work experience. therefore, compared with doctoral students of other program, they often have many family burden such as taking care of their own children. student 1 has two kids to take care during her pursue of doctoral degree in china. her children have always been her concern before applying the doctoral program. during this process, her mother provided valuable family support to help with looking after her children while her studying in china. during the interview, she said: my mother is great in taking care of the two children since both me and my husband were in china. i really appreciate her support which makes my study in china possible. similarly, student 3 also expressed appreciation to her parents: my first gratitude goes to my parents, they support my decision by telling me feel free to study abroad and they will take care of my children. familial capital can model lessons of caring, coping, and providing education. because of family support, international doctoral students found that they were not alone in dealing with their problems. 4.5 navigational capital student 6 expressed that he has a great sense of achievement while living off campus and experiencing chinese citizens’ life. using daily communicative chinese, he could communicate with the local citizens by using basic chinese vocabulary words. thus, he was able to exercise in the local gym, order and study at coffee bars, read in the community library, find and rent an apartment, also go online shopping by using shopping platforms such as pinduoduo (buy together) and jd.com. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 51 published by scholink inc. in addition, administrators who work at the research site department provided navigational capital for the international doctoral students in the csp. basically, there are several divisions at the research site university which are responsible for the management of students from csp: division of confucius institute development, graduate school, each college where students study at, and the department of international student affairs. among them, student 1 reported that their largest support came from the division of confucius institute development: the teachers and staff not only shared some information, but also earnestly solve all kinds of problems for us. last time there were some problems with my room, the teacher in the division of confucius institute development spent his weekend time helped me with consulting the issue, i was really touched. traditionally, navigational capital refers to one’s ability to navigate through social institutions. for students in the csp, in addition to individual’s efforts in navigating during this process, the staff members and teachers in the research site also helped in supporting and facilitating the community navigational process. 4.6 resistant capital while mentioning if there were anything students not adapted to during the csp, several students mentioned the issue of accommodation. when faced this kind of problem, they would frankly express their opinions and report the problem to relevant staff members to ask for their help. most of the time, their appeal can be appropriately solved. this is a reflection of resistant capital in applying knowledge and skills fostered through challenged situations. 5. recommendations for csp students figure 1. recommendations for csp students www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 52 published by scholink inc. 5.1 better understanding of the host country student 1 mentioned in the interview that some international students who joined the csp has no experience of studying or living in china. therefore, she thought that in order to better adapt to the new environment, first they need to learn to accept and avoid comparing the host country with their own country. in her opinion, international students should understand the culture and characteristics of the host country, to better understand instead of complain. 5.2 plan ahead of time and figure out your research interest while talked about the recommendations for coming csp students, student 7 thought that if the students lack of understanding for the research field he or she is interested in, they need to contact their supervisor before the semester and see if there are any reading list. he explained this point further: “the more you read, the better you can understand the field, and the better you can prepare for your research proposal or the specific research problems.” student 5 also mentioned in the interview that the first preparation of csp start in the application process which is the psychological preparation. because it is not easy to study for a doctorate, you need to achieve all the requirements, otherwise it is such a pity to give it up. therefore there are things you need to know ahead of time, for example the application requirements, when to apply, the language test requirements, the graduation requirements... you need to know them in advance. the hsk requirements for csp applicants are not easy, so i would like to remind the intended applicants to well-prepare for it. 5.3 make your accommodation choice flexible student 6 talked about the issue of either living on campus or off campus. in his opinion, if it is possible, it is a good experience to live both on campus and off campus. since csp allows international doctoral students to choose whether living on or off campus and provides living allowances, according to student 6, it is better to live on campus in the first or second year during the csp to accommodate oneself in a new environment, and then live off campus to better experience the local customs and practices. similarly, student 5 enjoyed the choice of choosing where to live. this helped her a lot so that she can bring her children to study in china, and sometimes her husband can also come to visit her. 5.4 use the target language as much as possible student 6 mentioned in the interview that as international students who come to study in china, it is better to have more communication with chinese students through joining student societies or reading groups. in order to better learn chinese and experience the local culture, it is better to use the language as much as possible. similarly, student 1 also believes that chinese proficiency and certain academic ability are crucial for the csp students. 5.5 self-discipline and learning autonomy during the interview, student 1 mentioned the importance of self-discipline and the autonomy of making rigorous plans. for example, in the first year of the csp, apart from taking classes, it is important to actively participate in all kinds of academic activities. in addition, students must finish the assignments www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 53 published by scholink inc. and read books and literature recommended by your teachers and advisors. the advisors usually set a deadline for the students and then its all depend on the student’s schedule to finish the readings. for example, during one month’s time, you need to finish those readings. so how to read? on the basis of reading, how to finish the papers? it all depends on our own schedule. so you must make a writing plan for yourself. i think that’s the biggest challenge. the second year also has many readings, then how to appropriately arrange your time, that’s the emphasis. student 1 mentioned that in the third year of csp, the requirements are harder to achieve. it is a problem for how to finish the research proposal and then the drafts of the paper to your advisor in a limited amount of time. the advisor wouldn’t supervise you everyday, it all depends on your own. 5.6 get family support to deal with your problem three out of the seven participants expressed sincere appreciation to their family members during the interviews, especially their parents for providing parental care to their children. the support from their family members provide enormous contribution for the international doctoral students’ study of the csp. the family members not only provide psychological support and parental care, but also sometimes offer capital, which means provide money support to the students. when the students study abroad in another country, they would also contact their family members to get emotional support. 6. conclusions through the data analysis of public documents, results of the questionnaires, and interview transcripts, this study examined csp international doctoral students’ community cultural wealth and sociocultural adaptation in china. results of the study indicate that csp international doctoral students’ sociocultural adaptation was in a relatively high status. students were able to adapt their interpersonal communication, academic performance, personal interest and social participation, environmental adaptation, as well as language proficiency during their csp in china. in addition, students were able to mobilize their aspirational capital, linguistic capital, social capital, familial capital, navigational capital and resistant capital to adapt their life and study in china with their families, and staff members of the host university’s help. this study also provided recommendations for csp students which included better understanding of the host country, plan ahead of time and figure out your research interest, make your accommodation choice flexible, use the target language as much as possible, self-discipline and learning autonomy, as well as get family support to deal with your problem. project this research project is supported by science foundation of beijing language and culture university (supported by “the fundamental research funds for the central universities”) (approval number: 22yj240010). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 54 published by scholink inc. references creswell, j. w. 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(2015). the educational quality of international humanities and social sciences ph.d. students in a chinese research university: a case study of a research university in shanghai [unpublished doctoral dissertation]. east china normal university. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 37 original paper integrating ai-based machine translation in translation pedagogy: evidence from a mixed-methods study in vietnam nguyen thi viet phuong1*, pham thi huong2 & pham phuong lan2 1, 2 lecturers, department of foreign languages, trade union university, vietnam * corresponding author: nguyen thi viet phuong, email: phuongntv@dhcd.edu.vn received: november 1, 2025 accepted: november 15, 2025 online published: november 17, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n4p37 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n4p37 abstract the rise of artificial intelligence (ai), neural machine translation (nmt), and large language models (llms) such as gpt, gemini, and claude has transformed translation pedagogy worldwide. however, empirical research on how ai affects translator training in vietnam remains scarce. this study adopts a mixed-methods design to examine ai adoption in translation classrooms, combining survey data from 93 students and five lecturers with semi-structured interviews. quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive and comparative statistics, while qualitative findings were thematically coded. results indicate high readiness and positive attitudes among both students and teachers, yet ai applications remain fragmented and unsystematic. tools such as chatgpt, google translate, and deepl enhance translation speed, vocabulary, and critical reflection but also pose risks of over-reliance, diminished linguistic sensitivity, and ethical issues. four key determinants-digital competence, infrastructure, institutional policy, and academic integrity culture-shape effective implementation. the study recommends a pedagogically guided ai integration (pgai) model to ensure responsible, sustainable adoption. it advances the concept of ai literacy for translators and contributes to the emerging framework of translation pedagogy 4.0 in the context of digital transformation. keywords artificial intelligence, neural machine translation, translation pedagogy, ai literacy, post-editing, responsible ai, vietnam 1. introduction the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (ai), particularly neural machine translation (nmt) and large language models (llms) such as gpt, gemini, and claude-has profoundly reshaped translation www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 38 published by scholink inc. pedagogy worldwide. once confined to rule-based and statistical systems, machine translation now relies on deep-learning architectures capable of capturing complex semantic and contextual relationships across languages (vaswani et al., 2017; jurafsky & martin, 2023). as a result, ai has evolved from being a purely technical aid to becoming a pedagogical agent that enhances teachers’ ability to personalize instruction while offering learners immediate, data-driven feedback (bozkurt et al., 2020; krüger, 2024). within the broader educational paradigm shift from teacher-centered to ai-enhanced learner-centered approaches, translation education has emerged as a pivotal domain for experimentation and reform. the integration of ai tools enables students not only to generate translations but also to analyze, critique, and post edit machine produced texts. through this process, learners develop higher-order competences such as critical thinking, metacognitive awareness, and ethical reflection, abilities that align with twentyfirst-century translator-training objectives (liu & liang, 2024; morentsova, 2022). nevertheless, this technological transformation brings with it pedagogical and ethical challenges, including over-reliance on automation, diminished linguistic creativity, and the risk of plagiarism (kanglang, 2021). in vietnam, these global shifts coincide with national strategies that place ai at the heart of educational innovation. the national digital transformation strategy (2020-2030) identifies ai as a key driver for innovation and productivity in higher education, while the higher-education development strategy (ministry of education and training, 2021) highlights ai integration and digital pedagogy as pillars of modernization. against this backdrop, exploring ai-supported translation pedagogy is both timely and essential for aligning translator-training programs in vietnam with international standards and labormarket expectations. despite the proliferation of ai translation tools, their pedagogical application in vietnam remains fragmented. most translation courses continue to rely on conventional teacher-centered practices, with little methodological guidance for embedding ai into curriculum design, assessment, or reflective learning. the sporadic adoption of tools such as chatgpt, deepl, or trados often occurs informally and without alignment to clear learning outcomes. moreover, there is limited empirical evidence regarding how ai influences students’ translation competence, post-editing literacy, or ethical awareness. while international research documents both positive effects-such as enhanced fluency and reduced anxiety-and potential risks, including automation dependency and academic dishonesty (klimova et al., 2022; krüger, 2024), comparable studies within vietnamese universities remain scarce. the country’s distinct infrastructural and cultural conditions necessitate localized investigation rather than the uncritical transfer of western pedagogical models. existing literature on ai-assisted translation pedagogy in vietnam remains largely exploratory, characterized by conceptual reflections or small-scale classroom observations. to date, no comprehensive mixed-methods study has systematically examined teachers’ and students’ readiness, perceptions, and practices in ai-enhanced translation training. furthermore, there is no context-specific pedagogical model designed to integrate ai technologies into english-language programs in a sustainable and ethically responsible way. international frameworks such as the european master’s in translation www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 39 published by scholink inc. (emt, 2017) and the pacte group’s translation-competence model (2003) underscore the importance of developing technological-ai competence and critical-ethical competence as integral components of contemporary translator education. however, localized adaptations of these frameworks to vietnam’s higher-education context are virtually absent. addressing this gap requires robust empirical evidence and theoretically grounded design principles for guided ai integration that are both pedagogically sound and culturally sensitive. against this background, the present study pursues three interrelated objectives. first, it seeks to evaluate the current state of ai application among translation students and lecturers in vietnamese higher education. second, it aims to identify key opportunities and challenges emerging from ai-supported teaching and learning practices. third, it endeavors to propose a sustainable, pedagogically guided model for integrating ai into translation curricula that balances technological innovation with academic integrity and human creativity. correspondingly, the study addresses four central research questions: (1) what are the levels of awareness and actual use of ai technologies among translation students and instructors? (2) how does ai affect translation learning, post-editing performance, and critical-thinking development? (3) what technical, pedagogical, and ethical barriers constrain effective ai integration? and (4) which pedagogical framework can best support responsible and sustainable ai adoption in translation training? by addressing these questions, this paper contributes both empirical evidence and conceptual insights to the evolving discourse on ai-assisted translation pedagogy. it situates vietnam’s translator education within global debates on translation pedagogy 4.0 and ai literacy, providing a theoretically informed and contextually grounded foundation for future policy development, curriculum innovation, and responsible ai use in higher education. 2. literature review 2.1 ai in language and translation education the rise of neural machine translation (nmt), natural language processing (nlp), and large language models (llms) has revolutionized how languages and translation are taught and learned. since the introduction of attention-based deep-learning architectures (vaswani et al., 2017; jurafsky & martin, 2023), nmt systems have evolved from statistical phrase-based models to self-learning systems capable of modeling contextual and semantic nuances across languages (floridi & chiriatti, 2020; russell & norvig, 2021). in the educational domain, these technologies have become essential components of the digital-learning ecosystem, enabling authentic, data-driven translation tasks and automated feedback that complement human instruction (klimova et al., 2022; duan et al., 2025). within this transformation, ai functions as a pedagogical agent rather than a mere computational instrument. bozkurt et al. (2020) and krüger (2024) describe ai as an intelligent co-participant that supports adaptive learning, scaffolding, and personalized error correction. studies such as yang (2022) and ulitkin and ivanova (2024) demonstrate that ai-driven translation environments foster greater www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 40 published by scholink inc. learner autonomy and engagement when combined with guided human oversight. thus, ai is reshaping translator education through ai-enhanced experiential learning, where machine-generated outputs become stimuli for reflection, critique, and skill development rather than final products. 2.2 translation competence and ai literacy modern translation studies conceptualize competence as a multidimensional construct encompassing linguistic, cultural, strategic, and technological components. the pacte model (2003) and the european master’s in translation (emt) framework (2017) remain foundational, identifying translation competence as the coordinated integration of linguistic-cultural, instrumental, and psycho-physiological sub-competences. building upon these, krüger (2024) introduces the concept of ai literacy for translators, which extends technological competence to include critical awareness of algorithmic mediation, data bias, and ethical implications. in the digital-age context, translation competence now comprises at least three key dimensions: (1) linguistic-cultural competence, ensuring contextual accuracy and intercultural sensitivity (byram, 1997; spencer-oatey, 2008); (2) technological-ai competence, reflecting the ability to use and evaluate nmt and computer-assisted translation (cat) systems effectively (mishra & koehler, 2006; ulitkin & ivanova, 2024); and (3) critical-ethical competence, which equips translators to maintain human agency, quality control, and academic integrity in ai-mediated workflows. these evolving competences illustrate that translation pedagogy must move beyond tool training toward ethical, reflective, and hybrid humanai collaboration. 2.3 ai-assisted translation pedagogy the integration of ai into translator education has given rise to diverse blended-learning and aienhanced classroom models. empirical research demonstrates that combining ai tools with collaborative, constructivist learning strategies can enhance both performance and motivation (kruk & kałużna, 2024; gonzález davies, 2017). within such environments, post-editing becomes a central pedagogical practice: students engage in error detection, style refinement, and cross-lingual comparison, thereby strengthening cognitive control and critical-thinking skills (morentsova, 2022; omar & salih, 2024). however, these benefits coexist with significant risks. over-reliance on machine output can erode linguistic creativity, reduce contextual awareness, and encourage digital plagiarism or passive learning habits (rybina et al., 2025). kanglang (2021) warns that unregulated ai use may lead to a decline in translators’ interpretive abilities and ethical accountability. consequently, effective ai pedagogy requires structured guidance, balancing automation with reflective human evaluation-a principle often framed as pedagogically guided ai integration (pgai). 2.4 legal and ethical guidelines the global discourse on ai ethics underscores the need for responsible, human -centered innovation in education. unesco’s recommendation on the ethics of artificial intelligence (2021) articulates universal principles of transparency, fairness, accountability, and human dignity in ai deployment across sectors, including education. similarly, the oecd (2022) report artificial intelligence in education www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 41 published by scholink inc. advocates for policy frameworks that foster responsible innovation while safeguarding learners’ privacy and academic integrity. the european union’s ai act (2023)-the world’s first comprehensive legal framework for ai-adopts a risk-based approach, classifying ai applications by their potential harms and mandating transparency, data protection, and traceability. together, these instruments establish the ethical and regulatory foundation for ai-assisted translation pedagogy. they emphasize that integrating ai into translator training must not only advance technological proficiency but also uphold principles of equity, responsibility, and educational integrity. for developing countries like vietnam, these global frameworks offer critical reference points for designing localized standards of responsible ai in language and translation education. 3. methodology 3.1 research design this study adopted a mixed-methods research design combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to gain a comprehensive understanding of how artificial intelligence (ai) tools are being used and perceived in translation pedagogy within vietnamese higher education. the quantitative component consisted of a structured survey administered to translation students and lecturers, while the qualitative component involved semi-structured interviews designed to explore participants’ lived experiences and pedagogical reflections in greater depth. the rationale for this design lies in the complementarity between numerical and narrative data, enabling both breadth and depth of insight. quantitative analysis captures general trends in ai awareness, usage, and perceived impact, whereas qualitative insights illuminate contextualized meanings, attitudes, and ethical concerns that are not easily measurable. to enhance the validity and reliability of findings, methodological triangulation was applied-cross-verifying data across instruments, sources, and analytical methods (creswell & plano clark, 2018). this integrative design ensures that observed patterns are both statistically supported and theoretically meaningful, reflecting the complex intersection of technology, pedagogy, and human agency in translation education. 3.2 participants the research sample comprised 93 undergraduate students majoring in english language studies (years 3 and 4) and five lecturers specializing in translation, interpreting, and translation technology. the student group was selected to represent learners with sufficient exposure to both translation practice and ai-based tools such as google translate, deepl, and chatgpt. the lecturers were chosen from three universities offering translator training programs in northern vietnam. participants reflected a diversity of demographic and academic backgrounds, including differences in gender, academic standing, and prior experience with digital technologies. this heterogeneity provided a representative snapshot of the evolving translation -learning ecosystem in vietnamese higher education. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 42 published by scholink inc. 3.3 instruments data were collected through two main instruments developed and validated through a multi-stage process. the first instrument was a 22-item questionnaire based on a five-point likert scale (ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree), measuring participants’ (i) ai awareness and literacy, (ii) frequency and purpose of ai use, (iii) perceived pedagogical benefits, and (iv) perceived ethical or technical risks. the questionnaire was piloted with 20 students to ensure linguistic clarity and contextual appropriateness, achieving a cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of ≥ 0.7, indicating strong internal consistency (hair et al., 2019). the second instrument consisted of semi-structured interview protocols comprising six thematic domains: (1) perceptions of ai in translation learning, (2) classroom integration practices, (3) post-editing strategies, (4) ethical and academic integrity issues, (5) perceived institutional or infrastructural barriers, and (6) recommendations for sustainable ai adoption. each interview lasted 30-45 minutes, conducted in vietnamese and subsequently translated into english for analysis. the dual-instrument design allowed for both quantifiable comparisons and in-depth exploration of pedagogical dynamics. 3.4 data analysis quantitative data were analyzed using spss (version 26.0) through descriptive and inferential statistics. descriptive analysis (means, standard deviations, and frequency distributions) was employed to profile ai usage trends, while independent-samples t-tests and anova were used to examine group differences by academic level, gender, and ai familiarity. qualitative data from the semi-structured interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis (braun & clarke, 2019). a coding framework (t1-t4) was developed to identify recurring patterns related to: t1: awareness and readiness, t2: application and learning practices, t3: perceived risks and ethical dilemmas, and t4: proposed solutions and pedagogical innovations. cross-validation between quantitative and qualitative datasets enabled a multi-dimensional interpretation of the findings, strengthening the robustness of the conclusions drawn. 3.5 ethical considerations the study adhered to the ethical standards of educational and social research, following the principles outlined in unesco’s recommendation on the ethics of artificial intelligence (2021) and the oecd (2022) guidelines on ai in education. all participants were informed of the research purpose, procedures, and their right to withdraw at any stage without consequence. participation was entirely voluntary and anonymous, with all personal identifiers removed during data processing. informed consent was obtained from all respondents, and digital data were stored securely in compliance with institutional and international data-protection protocols. the ethical framework thus ensured www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 43 published by scholink inc. transparency, respect for participants’ autonomy, and the protection of sensitive educational information in accordance with global norms of responsible ai and research integrity. 4. results 4.1 students’ ai readiness and usage survey results reveal a high level of ai readiness and frequent usage among translation students. the mean frequency score for ai use reached m = 3.56/5, indicating that most participants engage with ai tools on a regular basis to support translation learning and related linguistic tasks. among the technologies used, chatgpt emerged as the most popular tool, reported by 72% of respondents, followed by google translate (65%) and deepl translator (38%). while these tools were primarily employed for preliminary translation and vocabulary enhancement, qualitative interviews show that students also utilized ai for post-editing exercises, paraphrasing, and cross-checking terminology accuracy. comparative analysis between third and fourth-year students revealed statistically significant differences in technological self-efficacy and autonomy, with senior students demonstrating higher proficiency in evaluating ai output and managing post-editing workflows. the findings suggest a gradual transition from dependency to critical engagement, highlighting the role of classroom scaffolding and cumulative digital exposure in shaping ai literacy. 4.2 teachers’ ai integration practices lecturers’ responses demonstrated a cautious yet growing interest in leveraging ai to enhance translation pedagogy. the qualitative data indicated that instructors integrated ai primarily into learning-material design, corpus simulation, and post-editing exercises, aligning with blended-learning and task-based approaches. teachers reported using ai tools to generate sample translations for class discussions, to illustrate machine-human translation discrepancies, and to develop interactive tasks that promote critical error analysis. however, the integration process remains fragmented and uneven, hindered by several contextual constraints. key barriers include limited technological infrastructure, inconsistent access to premium ai tools, and the absence of a clear pedagogical framework guiding ethical and effective ai usage. additionally, the digital competence gap between instructors of different age groups or professional backgrounds further restricts consistent adoption. despite these challenges, most teachers expressed a positive attitude toward ai, acknowledging its potential to foster learner autonomy and engagement when accompanied by appropriate pedagogical oversight. 4.3 perceived benefits and risks both student and teacher participants identified a balanced mix of benefits and risks associated with aiassisted translation learning. from a pedagogical perspective, the benefits were considerable. participants agreed that ai significantly accelerates linguistic processing, allowing users to handle large volumes of text more efficiently. many reported that ai tools contribute to vocabulary expansion and semantic awareness, as students actively www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 44 published by scholink inc. compare and refine ai-generated outputs against human translations. furthermore, exposure to imperfect machine translations encouraged critical thinking, as learners were prompted to question linguistic accuracy, stylistic choices, and cultural equivalence. this reflective engagement aligns with the objectives of higher-order learning and metacognitive development in translator education. nevertheless, participants also voiced concerns about academic and cognitive risks. over-reliance on ai outputs may diminish students’ attention to grammar, stylistic nuance, and contextual appropriateness, leading to mechanical reproduction of ai text without critical mediation. teachers cited instances of digital plagiarism, where students submitted ai-generated translations with minimal revision-and noted a decline in effort toward manual translation and editing skills. additionally, the opacity of ai algorithms raised ethical concerns about data transparency, authorship accountability, and the erosion of academic integrity. these findings underscore the necessity of cultivating responsible ai use through explicit instruction in post-editing, citation ethics, and reflective evaluation. 4.4 key influencing factors the synthesis of quantitative and qualitative data identified four major factors shaping the effectiveness of ai integration in translation pedagogy. first, digital competence and user attitudes emerged as decisive variables. students and teachers possessing higher digital literacy and more positive dispositions toward technology demonstrated more innovative and self-regulated use of ai tools. second, technological infrastructure and software access strongly influenced adoption levels, as many institutions lacked stable internet connectivity or institutional subscriptions to advanced ai platforms. third, the absence of a pedagogical and policy framework governing ai use in translation education created uncertainty among educators regarding ethical limits, data protection, and evaluation criteria. finally, the broader culture of ai use and academic integrity played a crucial role. where institutional cultures emphasized transparency, originality, and reflective learning, ai was more likely to be integrated responsibly. conversely, environments lacking clear norms were associated with uncritical imitation and dependence. together, these factors reveal that the success of ai-assisted translation pedagogy depends not only on technological availability but also on pedagogical readiness, institutional policy, and ethical orientation. a structured, pedagogically guided approach to ai integration is therefore imperative for achieving sustainable, responsible innovation in translator education. 5. discussion 5.1 ai as a catalyst for pedagogical shift the findings of this study reaffirm that artificial intelligence (ai) is not merely a technological supplement but a catalyst for deep pedagogical transformation in translator education. consistent with the constructivist and experiential paradigms outlined by kolb (1984) and vygotsky (1978), ai redefines the classroom as a dynamic, data-driven environment where learners interact critically with machine www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 45 published by scholink inc. outputs. as emphasized by muñoz-basols et al. (2023) and ulitkin & ivanova (2024), this environment shifts the lecturer’s function from that of a traditional content transmitter to a pedagogical designer, cognitive coach, and ethical advisor, a professional who orchestrates human-machine interaction while safeguarding linguistic and moral integrity. in this reconfigured ecosystem, data-driven learning (ddl) becomes a cornerstone of translator training. students exploit ai’s vast linguistic corpora to observe real-time language patterns, test hypotheses, and refine stylistic choices. such interaction cultivates critical reading, post-editing, and reflective judgmentskills that bridge theory and practice. this shift resonates with the current vision of translation pedagogy 4.0, where ai functions as both collaborator and mirror, reflecting the learner’s evolving competence rather than replacing human cognition. 5.2 risks of over-reliance despite these pedagogical advantages, the research also validates concerns raised by kanglang (2021) and krüger (2024) regarding the risks of uncritical dependence on ai technologies. students’ tendency to accept ai output without rigorous evaluation illustrates what kanglang terms automation complacency-a phenomenon that erodes grammatical precision, stylistic sensitivity, and intercultural awareness. krüger’s ai-literacy model similarly warns that without guided reflection, users may develop “surface efficiency” at the expense of deeper linguistic reasoning. to mitigate such risks, this study proposes graduated ai-use thresholds aligned with task complexity. in introductory courses, ai may serve as a stimulus for terminology exploration and comparative error analysis; in intermediate courses, it should be restricted to supervised post-editing; and in advanced professional-practice modules, ai engagement ought to emphasize ethical evaluation and creative augmentation, not substitution. this scaffolding ensures that learners’ agency and accountability grow in proportion to technological autonomy, maintaining equilibrium between automation and human expertise. 5.3 the need for structured, guided ai integration the results underscore an urgent need for a structured and pedagogically guided model of ai integration in translator education. the absence of institutional frameworks and ethical guidelines has produced fragmented practices, echoing the global call for responsible ai articulated by unesco (2021) and the oecd (2022). within translation pedagogy, this translates into the imperative to operationalize ai literacy for translators, a construct defined by krüger (2024) as the interplay of technological proficiency, critical awareness, and ethical discernment in ai-mediated communication. embedding ai literacy within existing competence frameworks such as the european master’s in translation (emt, 2017) and pacte (2003) models requires the evolution toward an emt-hybrid competence framework. this hybrid model integrates (1) linguistic-cultural competence for contextual accuracy, (2) technological-ai competence for intelligent tool use and evaluation, and (3) critical-ethical competence for responsible decision-making. the study’s evidence confirms that without such explicit structuring, ai implementation risks remaining incidental and ethically ambiguous. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 46 published by scholink inc. ultimately, sustainable innovation in translation education will depend on the coexistence of humanistic pedagogy and algorithmic intelligence. guided ai integration-anchored in reflective practice, professional ethics, and curricular coherence-can transform translator training from a reactive adaptation to a proactive re-envisioning of what it means to learn, teach, and translate in the digital age. 6. conclusion 6.1 key findings this mixed-method study provides empirical insights into the early-stage integration of artificial intelligence (ai) in translation education within the vietnamese higher education context. the findings indicate that both students and lecturers demonstrate a high level of readiness and positive disposition toward ai, yet their applications remain fragmented and inconsistent across courses and institutions. ai-based tools such as chatgpt, google translate, and deepl are widely used to enhance vocabulary learning, post-editing, and comparative translation analysis. however, the pedagogical use of ai still lacks systematic guidance, resulting in uneven outcomes. the research highlights that while ai presents significant opportunities for innovation, it also introduces academic and ethical risks, including overreliance, reduced linguistic sensitivity, and emerging challenges of digital plagiarism and transparency. therefore, the study concludes that a controlled, pedagogically guided approach to ai integration is essential. ai should not substitute human cognition but rather function as a co-agent that stimulates critical reflection, creativity, and ethical awareness in translation learning. the findings emphasize that sustainable innovation in translator education depends on balancing technological capability with humanistic pedagogy and institutional responsibility. 6.2 theoretical contributions theoretically, this research extends existing literature by offering context-specific empirical evidence from vietnam, an underrepresented region in global studies of ai-assisted translation pedagogy. it validates and contextualizes the conceptual frameworks proposed by krüger (2024), ulitkin and ivanova (2024), and muñoz-basols et al. (2023), demonstrating how ai literacy can be cultivated within developing educational ecosystems undergoing digital transformation. by articulating the notion of “ai literacy for translators” as a multidimensional construct-encompassing technological, critical, and ethical competences-this study contributes to the advancement of translation pedagogy 4.0. furthermore, it supports the evolution toward an emt-hybrid competence model, where linguistic-cultural competence is dynamically linked with technological-ai and ethical decision-making capacities. collectively, these contributions enrich the global discourse on translator education, bridging the gap between technological innovation and pedagogical sustainability. they position vietnam as a meaningful case study in the worldwide movement toward responsible, human-centered ai integration in translation training, a cornerstone for future research and curriculum design. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 47 published by scholink inc. references international sources bozkurt, a., jung, i., xiao, j., vladimirschi, v., schuwer, r., egorov, g., et al. 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(2021). chiến lược phát triển giáo dục đại học giai đoạn 2021-2030. hà nội: nhà xuất bản giáo dục việt nam. chính phủ việt nam. (2020). chiến lược chuyển đổi số quốc gia đến năm 2030, tầm nhìn 2045. chính phủ việt nam. (2022, 28/01). quyết định số 146/qđ-ttg phê duyệt đề án “nâng cao nhận thức, phổ cập kỹ năng và phát triển nguồn nhân lực chuyển đổi số quốc gia đến năm 2025, định hướng đến năm 2030.” nguyễn thị thu hiền, trần huệ minh, & nguyễn tuấn linh. (2025). applying chatgpt in education: opportunities, challenges and recommendations for lecturers in the context of digital transformation. vnu journal of science: education research, 41(2). https://doi.org/10.25073/25881159/vnuer.5066 nguyễn thị kim sơn, bùi thị thanh hương, chu cẩm thơ, phạm tuấn anh, & nguyễn quốc trí. (2021). the applications of machine learning in education science research. vnu journal of science: education research, 37(4), 19-26. https://doi.org/10.25073/2588-1159/vnuer.4562 phan hoàng diệu linh. (2022). the effects of translation as a pedagogical tool in teaching non-englishmajored students. vnu journal of science: education research, 38(4), 20-30. phạm vĩnh khang, & nguyễn hồng bửu long. (2022). hướng đến tiền huấn luyện cross-attention trong dịch máy bằng nơ-ron. tạp chí khoa học trường đại học sư phạm tp.hcm, 19(10), 1749-1760. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 149 original paper data visualization design: strategies for optimizing information delivery and decision support yingquan wang1* 1 college of design and fine arts, qingdao huanghai university, qingdao, china * corresponding author: yingquan wang, email: wangyq@qdhhc.edu.cn received: april 27, 2025 accepted: may 13, 2025 online published: may 27, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p149 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p149 abstract this paper explores the fundamental concepts, methods, and principles of data visualization design. it provides a detailed analysis of key steps, such as data preprocessing, graphic design, interaction design, and multidimensional data visualization. the paper discusses how scientific design can enhance the readability and comprehensibility of data. furthermore, it examines the role of data visualization as a crucial tool for information delivery and decision support in modern society, highlighting the importance of design principles such as simplicity, clarity, and consistency in improving data presentation. finally, the paper looks ahead to the future development trends of data visualization design, particularly the application of augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence technologies, which are expected to greatly advance the intelligence, personalization, and interactivity of data visualization. keywords data visualization, interaction design, graphic design, data preprocessing, multidimensional data display 1. introduction with the advent of the information age, the rapid increase in data volume has made it increasingly difficult to extract valuable information from vast datasets. data visualization, as a method of presenting data graphically, not only helps individuals identify underlying patterns and trends from complex data, but also facilitates the data analysis and decision-making process. data visualization is more than just a simple presentation of data; it integrates elements of artistic design and emphasizes the depth and accuracy of information delivery. in fields such as business, policy analysis, and interdisciplinary communication, data visualization provides a more intuitive and interactive way to present data, significantly improving decision-making efficiency and accuracy. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 150 published by scholink inc. 2. definition of data visualization data visualization is a method of converting complex, abstract data into easily understandable information through graphical representation. its core approach utilizes visual forms such as charts, graphs, and maps to display the structure, patterns, trends, and relationships of data, thereby providing a clearer way to communicate information to the audience. this method not only helps individuals uncover hidden patterns in complex data but also facilitates data processing. in the intersection of art design and data visualization, the presentation of data is not merely about information expression; it also requires consideration of how to convey the depth and accuracy of information through visual forms. data visualization, as a means of information communication, emphasizes visual design and application elements. by carefully selecting and combining graphics, colors, layouts, and other elements, data visualization enhances the comprehensibility and interactivity of data. the goal is to break the traditional boundaries of textual and numerical expression, using graphical representations to make the underlying meaning of data more clearly communicated to the audience. in addition to serving as an analytical tool, data visualization also plays a powerful role in decision support. in fields such as business decision-making and public policy analysis, data visualization helps relevant individuals quickly grasp key data, gain insights into potential trends and risks, and support a more efficient and accurate decision-making process. furthermore, data visualization plays a crucial role in promoting interdisciplinary communication. it allows data analysis results to transcend academic disciplines, languages, and cultural barriers, providing a unified understanding platform for users from different backgrounds. 3. methods of data visualization design 3.1 data preprocessing data preprocessing plays a crucial role in data visualization design, as it directly affects the quality and accuracy of the data. effective preprocessing not only improves the comparability and stability of the data but also enhances the scientific nature and expressiveness of the visual presentation. the first step in data preprocessing is data cleaning, which involves handling outliers, missing values, and duplicate data. outlier identification and correction typically rely on statistical methods or interpolation techniques, aiming to eliminate disruptions to the overall structure of the dataset. missing data can be managed either by removing incomplete records or applying interpolation methods to fill the gaps, ensuring the integrity of each data record. removing duplicate data not only optimizes storage space but also ensures the accuracy of data analysis. data transformation is another critical step, which involves converting raw data into a format suitable for effective presentation and analysis. this process includes standardizing data types, such as converting textual data to numerical data or transforming date data into a consistent format. additionally, normalization helps eliminate scale differences across different data dimensions, allowing for reasonable www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 151 published by scholink inc. comparisons and analyses of various data on the same scale, thereby enhancing the uniformity and precision of the visualization. data transformation is not just a superficial adjustment; it aims to make data more intuitive and understandable when presented visually, enabling the audience to quickly recognize and comprehend the information. finally, feature engineering is also an essential aspect of data preprocessing. it involves extracting representative and highly relevant features from large datasets, further reducing the dimensionality of the data and improving the clarity and depth of the visualization. during this process, designers often create new feature dimensions through mathematical transformations or feature combinations, which better reveal the underlying relationships and patterns within the data. for large datasets, sampling techniques (such as random sampling or stratified sampling) can effectively reduce the complexity of data processing and accelerate the computational speed of visualization. through these preprocessing techniques, the quality, reliability, and visualization effectiveness of the data are significantly enhanced, laying the foundation for subsequent analysis and presentation. 3.2 graphic design in the graphic design phase of data visualization, the core task is to transform abstract data into intuitive and easy-to-understand graphical forms, enabling the audience to quickly capture and analyze complex data relationships. choosing the appropriate type of chart is a crucial step in this process. designers must consider the type, structure, and the message the data is meant to convey when selecting a chart. for example, bar charts are suitable for displaying comparisons of discrete data, line charts are ideal for showing trend changes, pie charts help display the proportion of parts to the whole, scatter plots demonstrate relationships between different variables, and radar charts are useful for presenting multidimensional data. in addition to selecting the appropriate chart type, designers need to arrange the layout of the chart reasonably based on the data’s dimensions and complexity, ensuring the chart has a clear, concise, and easily understandable structure. a key aspect of the design is avoiding information overload by properly organizing titles, axis labels, legends, and other elements to help users quickly capture the core information from the chart. moreover, the proper use of color and visual encoding in graphic design cannot be overlooked. color not only serves to attract attention but also helps distinguish different datasets or emphasize specific information. in the design process, the chosen color scheme should balance both the aesthetic appeal and functionality of the chart. designers often use vibrant colors to highlight important data and softer or grayscale tones for auxiliary information to avoid visual distractions. in terms of visual encoding, designers should skillfully use multiple channels, such as shape, size, color, and position, to visually represent relationships and patterns in the data. different visual channels should be optimized according to data attributes and user cognitive patterns to enhance the readability and understanding of the data. in conclusion, through scientific graphic design, data can be effectively communicated, and users’ analytical www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 152 published by scholink inc. capabilities can be enhanced, thus achieving the ultimate goal of data visualization: making information more transparent, easier to interpret, and facilitating decision-making. 3.3 interaction design interaction design in data visualization refers to the interaction between users and visual charts, allowing users to explore and understand data in greater depth. by enhancing user interaction with visual charts, data is transformed from a static presentation into a dynamic tool that can be explored and understood more thoroughly. interaction design not only enhances the user experience but also effectively supports data analysis from multiple perspectives and levels. common interaction design methods, such as hover effects, click interactions, and zoom functions, significantly increase the operability of charts. for example, dynamically displaying relevant data labels or detailed information when hovering the mouse allows users to gain deeper insights without interrupting the overall view. by clicking on specific elements within a chart, users can not only view more detailed data but also filter or select data according to their needs, enabling them to focus on subsets of data that are of interest. zoom and pan functions offer users greater flexibility, especially when dealing with large datasets, allowing them to adjust the view and explore data trends in different regions. another key value of interaction design is in enhancing users’ understanding and engagement with the data. through linked chart designs, dynamic updates between multiple views help users intuitively recognize relationships between data points. for instance, when users make a selection or perform an operation in one chart, other related charts can be updated simultaneously, greatly improving the comprehensiveness and coherence of data analysis. additionally, editable features enable users to customize charts based on their needs, further enhancing the flexibility and personalization of the visualization. these interaction design methods not only promote active user engagement but also provide personalized experiences, such as allowing users to adjust axes, modify chart types, or update charts in real time to adapt to dynamic data environments. by offering features like data export, interaction design also allows users to save and share analysis results, enabling the continued use of visualized data in multiple contexts. these rich interactive techniques not only improve users’ ability to grasp and analyze data but also significantly enhance the practical value of data visualization. 3.4 multidimensional data visualization multidimensional data visualization focuses on displaying and analyzing data with multiple dimensions or attributes. it helps users gain a more comprehensive understanding of the internal relationships and patterns within complex data structures through various graphical methods. different types of graphic methods play an important role in visualizing multidimensional data, catering to different needs in data expression. for example, parallel coordinate plots are an effective tool for displaying relationships among multiple numerical variables using parallel axes, allowing users to intuitively identify trends and correlations between dimensions. radar charts, on the other hand, present the values of different dimensions in a polygonal form, highlighting relative differences between dimensions, making them suitable for comparing the interactions among various attributes. the advantage of these charts lies in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 153 published by scholink inc. their ability to concisely display both the differences and consistencies between multidimensional data, offering users a clear overall view. in addition to parallel coordinate plots and radar charts, flat matrices, bubble charts, multidimensional scatter plots, and 3d charts are also common methods for visualizing multidimensional data. flat matrices display different dimensions of data in a matrix format, with each dimension mapped to a row or column in the matrix. visual encoding such as color or size is used to reflect the relationships between data, helping users quickly identify data distribution. bubble charts represent multiple dimensions of information through bubble size, color, and position. this method not only shows the relative relationships between data but also reveals data distribution and trends. multidimensional scatter plots map multiple dimensions to the positions and colors of data points, highlighting relationships between data points and facilitating the analysis of correlations between dimensions. 3d charts, as tools for visualizing three-dimensional or higher data, help users identify complex interactions and spatial distributions of three-dimensional data by presenting graphs in three-dimensional space. through these diverse visualization methods, designers can present rich, well-structured data information to users, allowing them to analyze and understand the underlying patterns and trends in multidimensional data more comprehensively and accurately. 4. principles of data visualization design in data visualization design, adhering to a set of fundamental principles is key to ensuring that charts are not only visually appealing but also effectively communicate information. the principles of simplicity, clarity, consistency, readability, interactivity, and aesthetics work together to form the core framework for data visualization design. simplicity emphasizes the removal of redundant elements to ensure that the chart presents only the most critical data, avoiding information overload. consistency enhances the coherence and contrast of data interpretation by maintaining a unified design style. meanwhile, readability and aesthetics improve the clarity and visual appeal of the chart through appropriate layout, color coordination, and visual balance. interactivity gives users control over the data exploration process, adding depth and functionality to data visualization. the integration of these design principles optimizes the user experience and ensures the precision and efficiency of data communication, making data visualization not only a tool for display but also an important support platform for user analysis, understanding, and decision-making. 4.1 simplicity principle the simplicity principle emphasizes the removal of unnecessary decorations and complex elements to ensure that the chart highlights the most critical data. by eliminating redundant information, designers can effectively reduce visual clutter, making the chart more intuitive and easy to read, thereby helping users quickly capture key data and trends. in addition, the clarity principle requires designers to ensure that elements such as titles, labels, and scales are sufficiently legible and distinguishable so that users can accurately interpret the information presented in the chart. choosing appropriate fonts and color www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 154 published by scholink inc. combinations is crucial to achieving this goal. a clear, simple visual style not only prevents confusion during interpretation but also enhances the overall comprehensibility of the chart, improving the effectiveness of data communication. simplicity and clarity complement each other, working together to optimize the user experience, ensuring that data visualization is not only visually appealing but also effectively conveys information. 4.2 consistency principle the consistency principle requires that various elements of the chart, such as colors, shapes, and sizes, maintain a unified design style. this consistency helps users quickly identify similar information within the chart and promotes the relationships and contrasts between data, making the communication of chart content clearer and more intuitive. additionally, the overall style and layout of the chart should remain consistent to ensure visual harmony and unity. whether in the title, labels, or axes, designers should ensure that these elements are presented in a consistent manner throughout the chart, reducing the cognitive load on users when interpreting the data. through this design approach, the consistency principle effectively enhances the readability and understandability of the chart, allowing complex data to be presented to users in a more unified and clear manner. 4.3 readability principle the readability principle requires designers to choose appropriate chart types and layouts that match the characteristics of the data to ensure a clear structure and easy-to-understand information. to avoid overly complex or vague presentations, designers should simplify visual elements and optimize how data is presented, enabling viewers to quickly obtain key insights. additionally, the size and proportions of the chart need to be appropriately controlled to ensure that the chart remains clear and readable across different display devices and resolutions. whether viewed on desktop computers or mobile devices, the chart should adapt to varying viewing conditions to prevent issues such as being too small or proportionally distorted, which could affect the user’s reading experience. by adhering to these design principles, the readability of the chart can be significantly improved, ensuring that data is communicated accurately and efficiently. 4.4 interactivity principle the interactivity principle adds a dynamic and exploratory dimension to the data analysis process in data visualization design. by providing a variety of interactive features, designers enable users to engage actively with charts, allowing them to explore data more flexibly and uncover potential patterns and trends. interactivity goes beyond simple visual presentation and transforms into an experience, where users can adjust the data view based on specific needs through various interactive operations such as clicking, hovering, filtering, and zooming, thereby revealing more layers of information. this interactive design not only enhances the user’s sense of control over the data but also meets the diverse needs of users regarding the depth and breadth of data analysis, thus improving the functionality and adaptability of the data visualization. users are no longer passive recipients of data but active participants in data exploration and analysis, greatly stimulating interest in and the depth of data discovery. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 155 published by scholink inc. effective interactive design requires the creation of a clear and intuitive interface that allows users to perform operations seamlessly, reducing the cognitive burden caused by interface complexity. designers must ensure that interactive controls and features are user-friendly and that they follow a consistent design language and logical structure so that users, even when encountering the interface for the first time, can quickly understand and navigate the operations. an intuitive interface should not only facilitate ease of use but also include a feedback mechanism to ensure that users receive immediate and clear responses to their actions, further enhancing their sense of involvement and achievement in the data analysis process. by implementing such designs, the interactivity principle can increase user engagement and improve users’ understanding and application of data, ultimately making data visualization not only a tool for information transmission but also a path for deep insights and decision support. 4.5 aesthetics principle the aesthetics principle in data visualization design is not only about visual appeal but also a key factor in enhancing the effectiveness of data expression. well-designed charts can effectively capture users’ attention, and through the appropriate selection of visual elements such as color, shape, and layout, the aesthetic quality of the chart can be enhanced, thereby improving users’ experience and understanding of the data. in this process, color combinations should not only align with visual harmony but also serve clear functional purposes, such as distinguishing data categories or highlighting key information, while avoiding excessive decoration that could cause visual fatigue. the design of shapes and layouts should focus on balance and symmetry to ensure visual harmony in the chart, avoiding the excessive clustering or disorder of elements. this approach helps users quickly capture the important information within the chart. although aesthetics is a subjective sensory experience, its impact on information transmission and user understanding is profound. by adhering to the aesthetics principle, designers can create visually pleasing charts that not only enhance the clarity and readability of the chart but also stimulate user interest and participation. ultimately, this results in a perfect integration of data and visual design, enhancing both the transmission of information and the user’s engagement with the content. 5. future development trends of data visualization design with the rapid advancement of technology, the future of data visualization design is set to witness a series of innovations and transformations. the rise of augmented reality (ar) and virtual reality (vr) technologies indicates that the presentation of data visualization will no longer be limited to traditional two-dimensional charts and graphs. with the aid of ar/vr devices, users will be able to interact with data in a more intuitive and immersive manner within virtual environments, enhancing the depth and experience of data analysis. by dynamically displaying data in three-dimensional spaces, users can explore and manipulate the data in real time through gestures, voice commands, or other forms of interaction, discovering potential relationships and trends. the application of these technologies will not only break through the limitations of traditional data presentation but also create entirely new data www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 156 published by scholink inc. analysis scenarios, making complex datasets easier to understand and work with. future visualization design will no longer be a one-way information output but will evolve into an interactive and dynamic analytical platform, enhancing user engagement and immersion. at the same time, artificial intelligence (ai) and machine learning (ml) technologies will play an increasingly important role in the field of data visualization. with the support of intelligent algorithms, data visualization will not only enable automatic recognition of data patterns but also provide personalized analysis recommendations, helping users quickly uncover trends and anomalies within the data. for example, ai can automatically recommend the most appropriate chart types based on historical data and user preferences, even generating automated reports, greatly improving the efficiency and accuracy of data analysis. additionally, by incorporating natural language processing (nlp) technology, users can generate corresponding charts and analysis reports simply by entering natural language commands, lowering the threshold for data analysis and making it easier for non-expert users to perform data analysis. this trend towards automation and intelligence will make data visualization more aligned with user needs, offering more personalized and flexible services. moreover, as concerns about data privacy and security continue to grow, future data visualization design will place greater emphasis on data interpretability and transparency. ensuring that users not only understand the meaning of data but also have clear explanations of data sources, processing methods, and analytical results will foster greater trust in the data. in conclusion, the future of data visualization will move towards smarter, more customized, and interactive approaches, becoming a powerful tool integrating advanced technologies and user needs, offering users richer, more accurate, and more convenient data analysis and decision-making support. 6. conclusion data visualization design is not only the combination of technology and art but also an essential tool in modern data analysis and decision-making processes. through scientifically sound evaluation, graphic design, interactive design, and multi-dimensional data presentation, data visualization not only aids users in understanding complex data and discovering underlying patterns but also facilitates efficient information transmission and decision-making support. with the development of technology, especially the real-world applications of augmented and virtual reality and artificial intelligence, the future of data visualization will exhibit smarter, more dynamic, and personalized trends. future data visualization will break through the confines of traditional two-dimensional charts, offering more immersive and interactive user experiences, while also integrating intelligent algorithms and natural language processing, making data analysis more precise and accessible and opening the door to data exploration for nonprofessional users. as these new technologies continue to evolve, data visualization will gradually become a multifunctional platform for information transmission, decision support, and interdisciplinary communication, driving deep insights and decision-making across various fields. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 157 published by scholink inc. acknowledgments this research was funded by the 2024 horizontal project matching funds of qingdao huanghai university (kyh2024112). references zhao, n. y., & chen, h. (2016). a study on the morphological elements and compositional forms in information visualization design under the context of media convergence. beauty and era, 11, 2225. chen, y. n., hu, s. f., & kang, k. (2024). design and implementation of data interaction between components on a visualization platform. telecommunication enterprise management, 9, 78-80. wang, x. x. (2019). data visualization design in virtual reality environments. design, 32(24), 115-117. zeng, y. x., & zhang, y. (2023). design research on dynamic graphics in information visualization based on new media technology. tian gong, 26, 28-30. xi, t., zhou, z. w., & yu, f. s. (2021). a discussion on design science research methods. packaging engineering, 42(8), 63-78. chen, g. q. (2024). research and analysis of data visualization design. electronic components and information technology, 8(9), 151-153+157. https://doi.org/10.1145/3675249.3675277 post, f. h., nielson, g., & bonneau, g. p. (eds.). (2002). data visualization: the state of the art. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1177-9 midway, s. r. (2020). principles of effective data visualization. patterns, 1(9). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2020.100141 dimara, e., & perin, c. (2019). what is interaction for data visualization? ieee transactions on visualization and computer graphics, 26(1), 119-129. https://doi.org/10.1109/tvcg.2019.2934283 sabahath, a., begum, a., & aisha, m. (2025). understanding the role of data visualization in modern business applications. in data visualization tools for business applications (pp. 29-44). igi global. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-6537-3.ch002 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 133 original paper research on laboratory management from the perspective of modern education theory ke liu1 1 assets and equipment department, xi’an medical university, xi’an, shaanxi, china received: may 2, 2023 accepted: may 24, 2023 online published: june 12, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p133 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p133 abstract this paper examines how modern educational theory informs laboratory management practices and the importance of doing so. theoretical analysis reinforced that laboratory management significantly impacts students’ learning and development. furthermore, strategies that apply modern educational theories to laboratory management were proposed. we aim to provide practical guidance based on modern educational theory to improve laboratory management practices, ultimately creating conducive conditions for student learning and development. keywords modern educational theory, student-centered, laboratory management, safety management 1. introduction laboratories play a crucial role in modern education by providing students with opportunities for practice and experimentation, which fosters their learning and development. to ensure student safety, high-quality teaching environments and educational resources as well as promoting cooperation and innovation, effective laboratory management is essential (chen, 2011). this paper aims to explore how to optimize laboratory management from the perspective of modern educational theory (tang, 2017) to meet contemporary education’s requirements. student-centered educational concepts have gained considerable attention in the development of modern educational theory. according to vygotsky’s social and cultural theory (azabdaftari, 2012), students fare better when participating in genuine and meaningful learning activities. moreover, the interest theory of hidi (hidi, 2006) and renninger (renninger, 2000) highlights the impact of students’ individual interests and active participation on learning. these theories emphasize students’ initiative, personalized learning, and exploratory learning, which offer a new perspective for laboratory management. student participation in decision-making (mager & nowak, 2012) is an effective laboratory management strategy. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 134 published by scholink inc. mulryan kyne (mulryan-kyne, 2010) found that when students participate in laboratory rule formulation and experimental design decision-making processes, their sense of responsibility and autonomy increases and the participation and learning outcomes improve. experiments aim to provide opportunities for practical operation and exploration to promote student learning and development, making them an indispensable part of education. however, there has few researches on laboratory management from the perspective of modern educational theory, despite the widespread application of laboratories in teaching. therefore, conducting effective research on how to manage laboratories effectively from this perspective and improve the level and efficacy of laboratory management is significant for modern education’s development. 2. theories of modern education and laboratory management 2.1 overview of modern education theory modern educational theory is a series of educational theories that have developed based on critiques and reflections of traditional educational concepts and practices. it emphasizes that the goal of education is to cultivate students’ comprehensive abilities, stimulate their creativity and thinking abilities as well as adapt to the increasingly complex and diverse social requirements. the core principles of modern educational theory are student-centered, situational teaching, collaborative learning, technology integration and lifelong learning, etc. these principles and concepts have great significance in guiding laboratory management. the laboratory management process should place students at the center and prioritize their learning needs and development. drawing on the principles of situational teaching and collaborative learning, laboratory activities and tasks should be designed collaboratively. the concept of technology integration also applies to laboratory management, such as utilizing modern technology to support innovation in laboratory teaching and management. the concept of lifelong learning is another essential consideration, reminding us that laboratory management should pursue sustainable development and the continuous improvement of students’ abilities. in summary, modern educational theory provides a theoretical foundation and guiding principles for laboratory management. it inspires us to create more effective, meaningful, and innovative practices in laboratory environments, ultimately leading to the cultivation of well-rounded students. 2.2 role and significance of laboratory management laboratory management plays a crucial role in modern education by providing strong support for students’ learning and development through ensuring laboratory safety and providing high-quality teaching resources and facilities. laboratory safety and risk management are pivotal in ensuring student safety and health. effective laboratory management involves developing clear laboratory safety rules, conducting risk assessments and providing appropriate safety training and supervision. by following these protocols, the risk of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 135 published by scholink inc. accidents and injuries can be minimized, providing students and teachers with a safe and secure experimental environment. moreover, laboratory management includes the efficient management and maintenance of laboratory resources and facilities. the implementation of good laboratory management practices ensures that students have access to sufficient and high-quality teaching resources including experimental equipment, materials and technical equipment. the full utilization and maintenance of these resources can help improve students’ learning experiences and their experimental results. in conclusion, laboratory management is a crucial component of modern education that ensures laboratory safety and provides high-quality teaching resources and facilities for students. effective laboratory management practices can maximize students’ learning potential and development. 3. relationship between modern education theory and laboratory management modern educational theory and laboratory management share a close connection. by prioritizing student care and safety and adopting situational teaching (zhu, 2009) and practice-oriented (peng, wang, & zheng, 2013) methods, laboratory management promotes student responsibility and critical thinking while also supporting the development of continuous learning and self-protection abilities. in this way, modern educational theory and laboratory management reinforce and enhance each other, collaborating to provide students with a safe, healthy, and meaningful laboratory learning environment. 3.1 student caring and safety-first modern educational theory places student safety and health at the forefront of education, emphasizing students’ overall development. laboratory safety management (wen, zhou, & cheng, 2009) aligns with this theory and is dedicated to ensuring the safety and health of students in laboratory environments. by developing safety regulations, providing safety training, conducting risk assessments and implementing supervision measures, potential hazards in experimental activities are minimized and a safe learning environment is established for students. 3.2 situational teaching and practice-oriented methods modern educational theory emphasizes placing learning in real and meaningful contexts, emphasizing that students construct knowledge and skills through practical application and practice. laboratory management is closely related to this theory, as students conduct practical activities in the laboratory and apply theoretical knowledge through experiments and operations. the goal of safety management is to ensure that students can safely participate in practical activities in the laboratory environment, supporting their learning and knowledge building in this context. 3.3 cultivations of responsibility and critical thinking the modern educational theory emphasizes the cultivations of responsibility and critical thinking so that they can make informed decisions in various situations. safety management in laboratory settings emphasizes the cultivations of safety awareness and a sense of responsibility, requiring students to comply with safety rules, being aware of risks and taking appropriate safety measures. by participating www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 136 published by scholink inc. in laboratory safety management, students can develop critical thinking skills, assess potential safety hazards and risks, making informed decisions and cultivating their sense of responsibility. 3.4 continuous learning and self-protection abilities modern educational theory emphasizes the continuity and autonomy of learning, encouraging students to continuously develop and enhance their self-protection abilities during the learning process. laboratory management supports students in mastering laboratory knowledge and skills by providing safety training and guidance. this process of continuous learning promotes students’ ability to independently assess risks, protect their own safety in the laboratory environment and cultivates their ability to manage safety independently, ultimately promoting their self-development. 4. innovative methods of laboratory management from the perspective of modern education theory 4.1 laboratory management model of student participation in decision making the laboratory management model of student participation in decision-making emphasizes active participation and cooperation, placing students at the center of laboratory management and involving them in decision-making. based on modern educational theory, it highlights the importance of subjectivity, participation, and responsibility among students. it aims to enhance students’ safety awareness, cultivate safety skills and establish a positive safety culture in the laboratory. implementing the laboratory management model of student participation in decision-making involves providing necessary training and education for students. this includes safety operation skills training and education on basic laboratory safety principles and norms. once trained, students can participate in developing safety regulations and procedures, evaluating laboratory safety risks, making improvement suggestions and taking joint responsibility for laboratory management to maintain a safe and orderly environment. the model also stresses cooperation and consultation among students, who can participate in decision-making through group discussions, meetings, and other methods. this promotes interaction and cooperation among students, enhancing management effectiveness. 4.2 applications of situational teaching in laboratory management situational teaching is a teaching method that employs real-world situations and practical activities to enable students to apply theoretical knowledge to practical situations when solving problems by situational teaching in specific situations. in laboratory management, this teaching method can enhance students’ laboratory management expertise and practical skills. to apply situational teaching in laboratory management, it is essential to start by designing scenarios. teachers or laboratory administrators can create real-world laboratory situations that simulate actual safety issues and challenges. by immersing students in these situations, their learning interest and motivation can be stimulated. students must analyze safety hazards and suggest relevant solutions by using their existing knowledge and skills. they can collaborate in groups, discuss the situation and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 137 published by scholink inc. engage in practical operations, participating actively in problem-solving processes to improve decisionmaking and laboratory management expertise. introducing situational teaching in laboratory management can enhance students’ practical abilities, promote safety awareness and foster teamwork. a student-centered laboratory management model can be built, which enhances the effectiveness of laboratory management and learning experience. firstly, students can apply theoretical knowledge to practical laboratory management situations, develop practical abilities and skills, solve practical problems, understand the complexity of laboratory management and improve operational and decision-making skills. furthermore, situational teaching exposes students to laboratory safety situations, challenges them with safety issues and enables them to appreciate the importance of safety management while learning how to identify and respond adequately to potential hazards. finally, situational teaching fosters teamwork and collaboration among students through problem-solving, mutual communication and negotiation. this improves the effectiveness of laboratory management and cultivates students’ cooperative and communication abilities. 4.3 practices of technology integration and digital laboratory management technology integration and digital laboratory management unify laboratory equipment and systems on a single platform. remote monitoring and control, real-time data acquisition and analysis, and equipment maintenance and fault diagnosis can be achieved using digital tools. this integration enhances the utilization and efficiency of laboratory equipment while reducing maintenance costs. technology integration and digital laboratory management enables centralized collection, storage and sharing of laboratory data through digital tools, facilitating real-time updates and data sharing. laboratory managers can use this data to analyze effectively and make decisions, optimize laboratory resource utilization and improve research and development efficiency. additionally, technology integration and digital laboratory management enable safety monitoring and risk management in the laboratory. security monitoring systems and sensors can be applied to monitor the laboratory environment and equipment status in real-time, reducing security risks. digital tools and data analysis can help establish safety standards, operating procedures, and provide laboratory safety training and educational resources. the integration of technology and digital laboratory management improves the efficiency and accuracy of laboratory operations and data processing. automated processes and experimental equipment save time and human resources while minimizing the occurrence of human error. digital tools and software can quicken data analysis, decision-making and enhance the efficiency of laboratory management. in addition, digital tools and data analysis can also enhance safety and risk management in the laboratory. in real-time, monitoring and security warning systems detect potential security risks and take corrective action as necessary. digital tools and data analysis can identify, evaluate and mitigate risks in the laboratory, ultimately enabling the development of applicable risk management strategies. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 138 published by scholink inc. 5. conclusion this paper emphasizes the significance and role of laboratory management in modern education through the lens of modern education theory. the relationship between modern education theory and laboratory management is examined through clarifying the theoretical underpinnings of each field. innovative methods and practices in laboratory management are proposed based on the guidance of modern education theory, providing laboratory managers and researchers with the necessary tools and resources to address the increasingly complex challenges of laboratory management. future research should explore the relationship between modern education theory and laboratory management further and develop more innovative laboratory management strategies and practices. references azabdaftari, b. (2012). an explication of vygotskian sociocultural theory as evidenced by ethomethodological findings. journal of applied linguistics, 5(11), 16-28. chen, x. m. (2011). on concept innovation in laboratory management in colleges and universities. experimental technology and management. hidi, s. (2006). interest: a unique motivational variable. educational research review, 1(2), 69-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2006.09.001 mager, u., & nowak, p. (2012). effects of student participation in decision making at school. a systematic review and synthesis of empirical research. educational research review, 7(1), 38-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2011.11.001 mulryan-kyne, c. (2010). teaching large classes at college and university levels: challenges and opportunities. teaching in higher education, 15(2), 175-185. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562511003620001 peng, x.-w., wang, x.-z., & zheng, s.-h. (2013). experimental teaching reform and innovation based on engineering practice-oriented. higher education forum. renninger, k. a. (2000). chapter 13 individual interest and its implications for understanding intrinsic motivation. in c. sansone, & j. m. harackiewicz (eds.), intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (pp. 373-404). san diego: academic press. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-012619070-0/50035-0 tang, l.-w. (2017). chinese modern education theory. journal of hebei normal university (educational science edition). wen, g. h., zhou, q., & cheng, l. (2009). strengthening laboratory safety management and upgrading laboratory administrative level. experimental technology and management. zhu, y.-p. (2009). discussion on situational teaching method. journal of ezhou university. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2006.09.001 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2011.11.001 https://doi.org/10.1080/13562511003620001 https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-012619070-0/50035-0 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 68 original paper pragmatic functions of emoticons in wechat messaging jianing tang1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: april 1, 2024 accepted: april 24, 2024 online published: may 10, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n2p68 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n2p68 abstract with the development of social media and the updating of emoticons, people widely use emoticons to convey information and express emotions in instant messaging to achieve the purpose of communication. as a new research field, emoticons have attracted extensive attention of scholars in recent years. the previous studies mostly focus on motivation and influencing factors of emoticon usage from the perspective of communication. however, little research has been done on the study of linguistics. the author of this paper intends to explore the roles and pragmatic functions of emoticons in wechat messaging through discourse analysis based on speech act theory. the study shows that emoticons compensate for the lack of information and eliminate ambiguity in online communication, and that different age groups have different understandings of emoticons. hopefully the study on emoticons will help people systematically understand the roles and functions of emoticons, thus achieving interpersonal effective communication. keywords emoticons, speech act theory, pragmatic functions 1. introduction with the progress and popularity of technology, the way people communicate has changed dramatically. network communication occupies an increasing proportion in people-to-people exchange because it breaks down the boundaries of time and space. however, the original computer-mediated communication (cmc) mainly carries out information based on textual messages and lacks of nonverbal cues, which leads to users’ incomplete interpretation and misunderstanding. therefore, emoticons are designed and updated in various communication channels to remedy those communication gaps. due to the popularity of using emoticons in online communication, there have been a number of empirical attempts to investigate the use of emoticons. some scholars take a fresh look at individual differences in the use of emoticons (baron, 2004, p. 418; huffaker & calvert, 2005, 1083; liu x. t. et al. 11). aside from demographic factors, different contexts www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 69 published by scholink inc. and motives also affect the use of emoticons. faced with different objects and context, people adjust their strategies of using emoticons to meet different communication needs (liu l. q., 2020, p. 93). based on the relevant research on emoticons, the motivation of using emoticons can be classified into four categories: transmitting information, adjusting communication atmosphere, entertainment, and efficiency (p. 89). the current researches mainly focus on the functions of emoticons. nonverbal behaviors in face-to-face communication achieve three functions: providing information, regulating social interaction, and establishing affection and intimacy (ekman & friesen, 2009, p. 89). some scholars draw parallels between emoticons and other signs and conclude that emoticons serve the same functions as actual nonverbal behaviors, including strengthening the intensity of message, disambiguating the content, and regulating the interaction (provine et al., 2007, p. 299; derks et al., 2008, p. 381). on the one hand, emoticons are considered as “emotion-marks” to indicate people’s emotional state (baron, 2004, p. 242; rezabek & cochenour, 1998, p. 201). on the other hand, emoticons are used to indicate illocutionary forces, containing intentions and motivations of the sender (dresner & herring, 2010, p. 250; riordan et al., 2010, p. 1817). however, few studies have been done on pragmatics, and most of them only focus on the pragmatic functions of emoticons with inadequate explanations. dresner and herring stress that the primary function of emoticons is not to make up for the missing content as “emotional markers”, but to convey “pragmatic meaning” (p. 250). song puts forward that text annotation and visual efficiency of emoticons have a positive impact on users’ perceived pleasure based on speech act theory (p. 126). furthermore, yu and qin explore emoticons from the perspective of cognitive pragmatics and point out that the process of interpreting emoticons is the process of encoding and decoding language (p. 135). similarly, li and jiang analyze the pragmatic meanings of the “face with tears of joy” in five online dialogues and explain the cognitive mechanism behind these pragmatic meanings (p. 68). moreover, it is still unknown that whether the selected emoticon can be used to perform all types of illocutionary in searle’s classification or just some types in order to achieve effective communication. therefore, this paper aims to explore the roles and pragmatic functions of two typical emoticons, smiling face and frowning face, in wechat messaging through discourse analysis based on speech act theory. the following two questions will be solved: 1). what are the roles of emoticons in wechat messaging? 2). what are the pragmatic functions of emoticons in wechat messaging? 2. method there are 200 respondents randomly sampled from wechat users, including 88 male and 112 female (see table 1). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 70 published by scholink inc. table 1. background information of the participants variable detailed information number percentage gender male 88 44 % female 112 56% age 15-30 years old 169 84.5 % 31-60 years old 30 15% over 60 years old 1 0.5% education level senior high school and below 70 35 % undergraduate degree 121 60.5% postgraduate or doctor 9 4.5% frequency of using emoticons never 8 4% seldom 11 5.5% sometimes 39 19.5% often 103 51.5% always 39 19.5% eligible subjects are between the age of 15 and 60 years old. the study mainly focuses on two age groups including respondents aged from 15 to 30 years old and 31 to 60 years old. in the study, most of the respondents (60.5%) have earned an undergraduate degree. the vast majority of the respondents (96%) use emoticons in wechat messaging, and more than half of them often use emoticons out of various motives. therefore, it is worthwhile to research emoticons. this study has used a combination of qualitative and quantitative approach. the qualitative research collected data from semi-structured interviews based on the functions of emoticons proposed by rashdi (2018, p.126). considering that the majority of chinese users of wechat emoticons are post-90s, this study selected three post-90s as the interviewees with the minimum age of 20 and the maximum age of 26, and the interview time from 20 to 30 minutes per person. the interview questions are divided into three parts: sociodemographic information, roles and functions of emoticons based on the preset themes, and selections of emoticons with different conversation objects in different situations (see table 2). this interview provides specific online conversation scenarios and collects interviewees’ daily conversations in order to explore whether emoticons can achieve people’s communicative purposes. the questionnaire has been designed based on the roles and functions of emoticons extracted from the qualitative research. the questionnaire is distributed by snowball sampling on the internet. a total of 205 questionnaires are collected and 200 are valid. there are four sections in the questionnaire (see table 3). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 71 published by scholink inc. table 2. the functions of emoticons obtained from interviews preset theme typical description in the interview strengthen message content “i think emoticons can show my tone and mood, and make others understand me better”; “i hope that the other party can perceive my mood in wechat messaging, and emoticons help me a lot in this way.” soften the impact of negative words “when my text contains demanding words, i often add a smiling face at the end of the text to soften my tone.” enrich emotional expression “pure text is too monotonous to express my feelings well”; “if the other party cannot perceive my emotion, he may misinterpret my meaning. to some extent, emoticons can make my emotion more intuitive.” compensate for the context “i think emoticons are equivalent to pure text to a certain extent, because they provide another layer of meaning and enrich the context. we can interpret the text more accurately.” open or close a conversation “i do not know what to send when chatting with unfamiliar people at the beginning, so i often send a cute emoticon to break the awkward atmosphere and open our topic.” indicate the completion of statement “sometimes i will add an emoticon at the end of the sentence, not only to express my feelings, but also to indicate the end of my sentence, which is similar to the role of punctuation.” improve communication effectiveness “i think sometimes the other party cannot understand what i really want to express, but emoticons can help me solve this problem”; “sometimes i can communicate with my close friends with only a few emoticons, which greatly improves the efficiency of online communication.” table 3. structure of the questionnaire section question sociodemographic information q1 (gender) q2 (age) q3 (educational background) usage q4 (use of emoticons) q5 (frequency of sending emoticons) q6 (usage scenarios) roles and functions q7-q10 (roles) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 72 published by scholink inc. q11-q14 (roles and functions) communicative effectiveness q15 (communicative goal) the first section is about sociodemographic information of respondents; the second section pays attention to respondents’ use of wechat emoticons; the third section provides wechat messages with smiling or frowning face in different scenarios for respondents to choose the most appropriate roles or functions; the fourth section evaluates the communicative effectiveness of emoticons in wechat messaging. the procedures of data analysis can be divided into five steps. firstly, transcribe the audio recordings and translate them into english. secondly, extract interviewees’ descriptions of the roles and functions of emoticons. thirdly, annotate emoticons by searle’s taxonomy and select typical examples to examine. fourthly, analyze pragmatic functions of emoticons through discourse analysis based on speech act theory. finally, counts different social groups’ understanding of the roles and functions of emoticons, providing strong data support for discourse interpretation. 3. discussion 3.1 roles of emotions in wechat message 3.1.1 emotional markers the term “emoticon” is a blend of “emotion” and “icon”. its prototype is a facial expression icon, which stimulates and simplifies human facial expression. in the questionnaire, almost 90% percent of respondents put forward that the emoticons enable the receivers to perceive their emotions more directly and strongly during a conversation. such as the following message in wechat. a: i am going to hangzhou this winter holiday! b: great have a nice day! actually, the word “great” has accurately expressed the feeling that b is satisfied with a’s plan. meanwhile, b added smiling face that is consistent with the meaning of the word “great” after the utterance, which enhanced the degree of his happiness. respondents believe that the use of smiling face avoids monotony caused by pure text. from another point of view, smiling face “punctuates” speech. in this situation, the emoticon occurs during pauses, and its function is equivalent to exclamation mark after statements or laughter in face-to-face communication. it is worth noting that in the collected wechat messages, as long as emoticons are added between the phrase boundaries, almost all punctuation marks in this position will be omitted. it is concluded that emoticons can replace punctuation marks in online communication to some extent. additionally, most of respondents believe that the negative message with frowning face spreads more negative emotions than the pure negative one. however, mixed messages are more ambiguous than pure message. such as the following message: a: senior, i am going to choose courses online. can you recommend some to me? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 73 published by scholink inc. b: second language acquisition is interesting, so you can choose it. i wish you were like it the word “interesting” is positive, while the frowning face conveys negativity. it is a mixed message— a positive message coupled with a negative emoticon. 32.5% of respondents believe that the message is neutral because the positive message and the negative emoticon can cancel each other out. it implies that you can choose this course but it is probably not very interesting. 33.5% of them present that the senior is not recommend for this course. the message is overall negative, which shows that the meaning conveyed by the emoticon is more important than the one conveyed by text. the rest of them point out that the message is positive, which means that this course is interesting, and the negative emoticon is just to establish a humorous atmosphere. different receivers interpret mixed messages with their own experiences and imagination. if they want to obtain accurate information, they need to confirm with the sender. to a certain extent, mixed messages will affect receivers’ judgment, and is not conducive to the rapid and accurate transmission of information, but there is no denying that the sender intentionally did it to create a special effect. moreover, the concrete meaning of emoticon is related to the context. when used in this way, emoticons are no longer independent of the text, but become a part of the text. 3.1.2 indicators of ilocutionary acts the illocutionary point of expressives is to express the affective state specified in the utterance. the sender expresses his feelings about an affairs, such as greeting and apologies. as mentioned in the previous section, emoticon is a graphic symbol used to express emotions and attitudes. it seems that adding emoticons after expressives is redundant from the perspective of syntactic structure. however, the statistics shows that even if the meaning emoticons conveyed is consistent with the illocutionary force in discourse, they enrich emotional expression as an additional information. representatives are those illocutionary acts whose point is to commit the speaker to the truth of what has been said, such as statement and description. from the data received, most online conversations start with a statement, which is either objective or subjective, and whether to add emoticons is based on the relationship with the receiver or the context. the subjective statement always contains the sender’s emotions. this kind of statements is a basis for the sender to express his emotions or attitudes, which is classified as expressives. the sentence in the questionnaire “i am going to work” is an objective statement. when used without context, some respondents add frowning face after the statement, while some of them add smiling face. it indicates that respondents have different interpretations of this utterance, but it is undeniable that the completion of representatives does not depend on the use of a specific emoticon. although emoticons can be regarded as a medium to show the power of discourse, it does not affect the identity of representatives. in addition, when sending to intimate friends or easing the awkward atmosphere, respondents usually add emoticons, and the types of emoticons depend on their attitudes towards the event, suggesting their emotional state. while they omit emoticons when having formal conversations. commissives are those illocutionary acts whose point is to commit the speaker to some future course of action, such as promising, undertaking and vowing. such as the following message: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 74 published by scholink inc. a: tomorrow is the school open day, i would like to invite you to visit my school! b: i cannot come to visit your school because i have an interview tomorrow. i promise i will come next time. have a nice day b rejected a’s invitation with a clear mark “cannot”. a rejection is a face-threating act in face-to-face communication. however, the receiver explained why he could not go and made a commitment. it shows that the refusal was not his intention. he wanted to participate in the activity but had to give up because of the interview, which mitigates the degree of rejection. meanwhile, the smiling face here presents a positive image to soften the rejection. most respondents believe that the emoticon is in tandem with commissives to mitigate face-threatening act and maintain good interpersonal relationships between both sides. from another perspective, the smiling face is a wry smile. in this situation, the smiling face contains feelings of helplessness and regret, which deviates from the original meaning of the emoticon. however, in either case, the degree of face threat is higher for unexplained rejection than for explained rejection, and the lowest level of face-threatening act is the refusal with explanation and positive emoticon. directives cover acts in which the words are aimed at making the hearer do something, such as requests and commands. according to data collected, few people give orders directly and stiffly, even conversations between different age groups follow this rule. most of respondents believe that the directive tone in the formal notice is the strongest, but it is often eased by the word “please” added by the informer. in some informal notices, the sender often adds emoticon at the end. the following is an online communication between a university student and his thesis instructor: instructor: please complete the first draft of your thesis before the start of this school year student: i will try my best to finish it the teacher’s utterance implies the intention of urging the student to finish his thesis with an apparent indicative tone. however, the word “please” and the smiling face complement each other to soften the illocutionary force of the request. most respondents believe that the smiling face is equivalent to the word “please”. it indicates that even the word “please” is omitted, the illocutionary force will not upgrade. the emoticon serves to modify the propositional content of the utterance and functions as a softening hedge to downgrade the authoritative position of the leader. 3.2 pragmatic functions of emoticons in wechat messaging 3.2.1 context compensation context refers to any features of the dynamic setting or environment in which a linguistic unit is systematically used. it is generally considered as constituted knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer, such as cultural background, situation, etc. context can be divided into two categories: linguistic context and situational context (hu, 2017, p. 166). linguistic context refers to the surrounding utterance in the same discourse, while situational context is the situation where communication occurs. the same word expresses different meanings in different contexts, which affects people’s understanding. context www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 75 published by scholink inc. plays a supplementary role in language comprehension, especially in the understanding of implicate meaning and illocutionary meaning. in the process of online communication, senders and receivers are in different contexts; therefore, some contextual meanings will be lost or ignored, especially nonverbal signs. as mentioned above, emoticons can mimic people’s facial expressions so that they can compensate for contextual information missing from pure text. it can also enable the sender to express his intentions more appropriately, or even express the most delicate and subtle emotions that are difficult for the sender to describe in pure text for unexpected communication effects. such as the following text: a: did you see the new movie yesterday b: no, i was writing my paper a: oh, i am sorry to remind you of the“misery time”. but if you have time later, you can go and have a look. it is really interesting！ b: ok! i will watch it tonight the first sentence with smiling face creates a warm and pleasant atmosphere, which lets b know that a was not forcing him to watch this movie but recommended it, thus making up for the missing context of the pure text. after that, b promised that he would see the movie tonight with a smiling face. the whole atmosphere was harmonious, and the best communication effect between the sender and the receiver was achieved. 3.2.2 identity construction kroskrity proposes that social identity refers to the linguistic construction of membership in one or more social groups or categories (2000, p. 111). moreover, identity is fluid, which means that people have multiple and multi-level identities. these identities may change or even conflict with each other. identity construction and language are inseparable. in the process of communication, people are actively building their own image while transmitting information (p. 120). they use language to demonstrate their different social identities. context also affects identity construction. in a specific context, sender must choose his identity according to his motives, and the choice of identity will be reflected by communication, which finally affects communication effect. instructor: please complete the first draft of your thesis before the start of this school year student: i will try my best to finish it in the context, the instructor added smiling face after the directive utterance, which constructs a kind teacher identity. the smiling face used by the student has two explanations. most college students believe that this emoticon expresses negative feeling, which suggests that the student does not want to write thesis during the winter holiday. other students propose that even if the student is not willing to write thesis, he uses the smiling face in order to build his own diligent and progressive identity and to construct harmonious relationship with the teacher. in this context, smiling face embodies positivity. while some respondents argue that the smiling face express happiness, especially people in middle-aged group, which represents that the student is willing to receive and finish this mission. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 76 published by scholink inc. 3.2.3 contradiction easing emoticons have carried out an imitation of a complete set of human facial expressions. they narrow the psychological distance between people and improve intelligibility of discourse to a certain extent. in some cases, pure text inevitably gives people a stiff feeling in online communication, which is easy to generate misunderstanding thus causing conflicts, especially among people of different generations in the context of rejection. such as the following message: son: father, can i go to amusement park with my friends after school? father: no, it is too late, so you must go home on time. son: every time you refuse my request ruthlessly, i will not listen to you this time. in this context, the father just used a few words to refuse the son’s request. although this rejection with an explanation, the tone of the whole utterance seemed very stiff. the utterance implied the mandatory restriction of the elders on the behaviors of the younger, which made his son unhappy. however, if smiling face or other positive emoticons are added to the father’s text, the outcome will be different. positive emoticons can be used to express that the father did not blame or restrict the child, but was worried about his safety, which eased the tension and reduced face-threatening act. 3.2.4 illocutionary force effect the author has discussed the roles of emoticons as indicators of illocutionary acts. as mentioned above, emoticons are not just used to express emotions. they play a significant role in constructing context and guiding the senders’ choice of identity. the specific meaning of information is related to the context. regardless of the illocutionary acts, emoticons participate in the process of doing things with words as a non-verbal component to strengthen or mitigate the force for effective online communication. in general, as indicators of expressives, emoticons enrich emotional expression and serve as additional information to enhance people’s emotions and attitudes; as indicators of representatives, emoticons strengthen the illocutionary force of representatives; as indicators of commissives and directives, emoticons mitigate face-threating act and serve to soften the illocutionary force of the rejection or request. 4. conclusion this study shows that emoticons are not only emotional markers but also indicators of illocutionary acts based on speech act theory. emoticons act as nonverbal behavior in the process of online communication to strengthen or mitigate illocutionary forces for effective online communication. additionally, although emoticons can be used as a medium for demonstrating the power of discourse, they cannot affect the identity of illocutionary acts, but only serve to strengthen or soften these acts. according to discourse analysis, there are four pragmatic functions of emoticons, compensating context, construction identity, easing contradiction and generating illocutionary force effect. in general, emoticons play an important role in compensating for the lack of information, eliminating ambiguity in online communication, and strengthening or mitigating illocutionary force. moreover, different age groups have www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 77 published by scholink inc. different understandings of emoticons. young people tend to use emoticons to express feelings while adults prefer to apply emoticons to shape a positive image. however, this study has some limitations. first, the sample of participants are all chinese users, so it is impossible to generalize the results to all wechat users around the world. second, the research subject is the population aged from 15 to 60, which does not include the group aged over 60. the influence of the functions of emoticons on age can be further explored in the future research. finally, this paper only focuses on two typical wechat emoticons, smiling and frowning face; therefore, it is uncertain whether there is age differences for other wechat emoticons. acknowledgement the author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. references baron, n. s. (2004). see you online. gender issues in college student use of instant messaging. journal of language and social psychology, 23(4), 397-423. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927x04269585 daantje, derks, et al. (2008). emoticons and online message interpretation. social science computer review, 26(3), 379-388. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439307311611 dresner, e. & herring, s. c. (2010). functions of the nonverbal in cmc: emoticons and illocutionary force. communication theory, 20(3), 249-268. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2010.01362.x ekman, p., & friesen, w. v. (2009). the repertoire of nonverbal behavior: categories, origins, usage, and coding.” semiotica, 1(1), 49-98. https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1969.1.1.49 hu, z. l. (2017). linguistics: a course book (5th ed.). beijing: peking university press. huffaker, d. a., & calvert, s. l. (2005). gender, identity, and language use in teenage blogs. journal of computer-mediated communication, 10(2), 1083+. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.10836101.2005.tb00238.x kroskrity, p. v. (2000). regimes of language: ideologies, polities, and identities. oxford: james currey. levinson, s. c. (1983). pragmatics. new york: cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511813313 li, c. c., & jiang, g. y. (2017). a force-dynamic study of the pragmatic meanings of the emoji “face with tears of joy”. foreign language research, 5, 63-68. liu, l.q., & liu, x. c. (2020). motivations for emoji use and their effects on behavior in different interpersonal relationships: based on mixed research methods. modern communication: journal of communication university of china, 8, 88-94. liu, x. t. et al. (2019). research on usage differences and semantic analysis of emoticons in social media group communication: taking wechat groups as an example. journal of modern information, 39(10), 3-14. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927x04269585 https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439307311611 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2010.01362.x https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1969.1.1.49 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2005.tb00238.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2005.tb00238.x https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511813313 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 78 published by scholink inc. provine, r. r., et al. (2007). emotional expression online: emoticons punctuate website text messages. journal of language and social psychology, 26(3), 299-307. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927x06303481 rashdi, f. a. (2018). functions of emojis in whatsapp interaction among omanis. discourse, context & media, 26, 117-126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2018.07.001 rezabek, l. l., & cochenour, j. j. (1998). visual cues in computer-mediated communication: supplementing text with emoticons. journal of visual literacy, 18(2), 201-215. https://doi.org/10.1080/23796529.1998.11674539 riordan, m. a., & kreuz, r. j. (2010). cues in computer-mediated communication: a corpus analysis. computers in human behavior, 26(6), 1806-1817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.07.008 song, x. k. et al. (2019). an empirical study on the effect of emoticon stickers usage on information communication in social media: based on speech act theory. information science, 37(5), 121128. yu, g. w., & qin, y. (2011). a study on internet emoticons from the linguistic perspective. journal of graduate school of chinese academy of social sciences, 1, 130-135. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927x06303481 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2018.07.001 https://doi.org/10.1080/23796529.1998.11674539 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.07.008 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 102 original paper a study of transitivity system of news reports on fukushima nuclear-contaminated water from the perspective of ecological discourse analysis xin ma1* 1 school of foreign languages, liaoning university, shenyang, china * xin ma, school of foreign languages, liaoning university, shenyang, 110000, china received: september 12, 2023 accepted: september 29, 2023 online published: october 20, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n4p102 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n4p102 abstract as environmental topics have become the focus of attention in recent years, this study conducts a study of transitivity system on news reports about fukushima nuclear-contaminated water in the english version of people’s daily from the perspective of ecological discourse analysis, aiming to find out how the process of transitivity is distributed in news reports about fukushima nuclear-contaminated water in japan, as well as what kind of ecological awareness is reflected in news reports. by manual selection of the corpus with the help of uam corpus tool 6, the study found that the proportion of material process in such reports is high, while the proportion of behavioral process is low. the study aims to call on people to raise awareness of environmental protection, promote harmonious coexistence and sustainable development of human beings and nature, and protect the common home of the earth. keywords transitivity system, ecological discourse analysis, fukushima nuclear-contaminated water 1. introduction environmental issues are becoming more and more a topic of concern for the public today, as we are facing problems such as water pollution, marine pollution, reduction of forest cover and desertification. against this backdrop, however, the japanese authorities have announced that they will discharge contaminated wastewater into the ocean on august 24, 2023, a move that has sparked discontent in many countries and among the general public. despite the large number of articles exploring its transitivity system from the perspective of ecological discourse analysis, there are few studies on the news related to the discharge of nuclear wastewater in japan, and the novelty of this corpus makes it of high research www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 103 published by scholink inc. value. in this paper, we take the report in the english version of people’s daily as the corpus and study its transitivity system from the perspective of ecological discourse analysis, analyzing how the process of transitivity system is distributed and what kind of ecological consciousness is embodied in the process. 2. theoretical basis 2.1 ecological discourse analysis fill (1998), has mentioned several times that there are two models for ecolinguistic research, one is haugen’s model, and the other is halliday’s model. haugen (1972) treats ecology of language as a metaphor, emphasizes the diversity of languages, compares the relationship between language and speech community to the relationship between organisms and their natural environment, and focuses on “the interaction of any given language with its environment”. rather than viewing ecolinguistics as a metaphor, the halliday (1990) treats language as an integral part of society and even of the entire ecosystem, and therefore examines the role of language in the ecosystem as a whole; he places particular emphasis on the role and impact of language in the issues of environmental protection and degradation. he wei and wei rong (2018) constructed the international eco-philosophical concept of “pluralism and harmony, interactive symbiosis” based on the traditional chinese philosophical thought which contains rich ecological wisdom and the diplomatic concept of traditional chinese philosophical thought. they believe that the analysis of international ecological discourse under the guidance of this ecological philosophical outlook is not only in line with the study of international relations in the chinese context, but also suitable for the study of international relations in the global context. 2.2 transitivity system halliday (2004) proposes that adult language carries more functions, that is, meta-language functions, including ideational, interpersonal and textual functions. the ideational function mainly covers “transitivity” and “morphology”. the whole system of transitivity is an important part of ideational function. transitivity is a semantic system whose function is to categorize people’s experiences in real life, to break them down into several “processes”, to categorize experiences grammatically, and to point out the “participants” and “circumstance” related to various processes. halliday (2004) suggests that through the transitivity system, one can divide human experience into six different processes, namely, material, mental, relational, verbal, behavioral, and existential. 3. research methodology 3.1 data collection the discharge of fukushima nuclear-contaminated water in japan has been a matter of great concern. the announcement by the authorities concerned that the discharge of wastewater will begin on august 24 has aroused widespread public concern and discussion. despite opposition from many quarters, japan is bent on its course. the behavior of the japanese authorities is in clear contradiction with the ecological concepts promoted by our country. the world is a community of human destiny, and the discharge of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 104 published by scholink inc. wastewater poses a threat to the lives and health of people around the world. it is therefore essential to continue to follow the news about the discharge of the fukushima nuclear-contaminated water. people’s daily is an authoritative newspaper, and the author used the keyword “fukushima nuclear-contaminated water” in the english version of people’s daily (http://en.people.cn/) from august 24th to september 23rd. eighteen news reports were obtained. the eighteen news articles were studied from the perspective of ecological discourse analysis. 3.2 data analysis in this paper, with the help of uam corpus tool 6, an automatic annotation system, the author manually picked and screened the processes involved in each clause on the basis of the six processes classified by halliday for ideational function. after the analysis, the author found that there are 760 processes in total in the news text involved, and that in the news report of people’s daily english version about the fukushima nuclear-contaminated water, the material process accounts for the most, accounting for 69.9% of the total ratio; while the behavioral process accounts for the least, accounting for only 0.3%, and the proportion of the process types is shown in table 1. table 1. distribution of transitivity system type of process material process mental process relational process verbal process behavioral process existential process total number 531 19 105 91 2 12 760 percentage 69.9% 2.5% 13.8% 11.9% 0.3% 1.6% 100% 4. findings and discussion 4.1 material process (1) on the same day, south korean police detained 16 student activists for allegedly trying to enter the japanese embassy illegally to protest the contaminated water dumping. (2) japan’s release of the fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean seriously jeopardized the rights and interests of the marine environment and undermined the security and development interests of the global nuclear energy industry, said china’s atomic energy authority thursday. in example 1, the word “detained” shows the south korean police’s inability to distinguish between right and wrong. in example 2, the word “jeopardized” reflects the fact that japan’s discharge of nuclear wastewater has seriously jeopardized the marine environment. this kind of behavior by the south korean police and the japanese authorities is contrary to the concept of protecting the ecological environment that we advocate. china’s firm stance on this matter reflects our philosophy of always upholding the harmonious development of mankind and nature. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 105 published by scholink inc. 4.2 mental process (3) china has opposed and condemned japan’s release of the fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean and has asked the japanese government to stop this wrongdoing. (4) “i hope that the trial will stop it [the dumping process] as soon as possible. i will continue to do what i can and raise my voice. we are by no means satisfied with this dumping,” said oda, who lives in iwaki, fukushima prefecture. “we will continue to fight [against the dumping].” in example 3, “opposed” is china’s attitude towards japan’s discharge of nuclear wastewater. in example 4, the word “hope” reflects his strongest desire to stop the discharge of nuclear wastewater in japan. in the mental process, these words show the speaker’s strong opposition to japan’s discharge of nuclear wastewater, reflecting the idea of protecting the environment. 4.3 relational process (5) although the move of dumping is a fait-accompli and the majority of the western world remain silent, fishermen, environmental activists and the wider public in japan and the world at large vowed to fight till the end and some have even asked japanese prime minister fumio kishida to step down. (6) to let the world pay for japan’s ocean discharge is an extremely selfish and irresponsible act. some far-sighted personages in japan pointed out that the japanese government’s extremely irresponsible act of forcibly discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean violates the united nations convention on the law of the sea, and will incur a disastrous aftermath to mankind. in example 5, “remain” reflects the indifference of the western world, in contrast to the attitude of the masses that follow. in example 6, “is” is an identification of what japan is doing, identifying this behavior as very selfish and irresponsible. the above examples of relational process exemplify the irresponsibility of the western world and the egregiousness of japan’s discharge of nuclear wastewater, which is grossly incompatible with the concept of ecologically sustainable development. 4.4 verbal process (7) a spokesperson for the chinese embassy in britain has expressed deep concerns over the british government’s attitude to japan’s dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean. (8) china calls for attention of the un rights body to japan’s nuclear-contaminated water discharge. in example 7, a spokesman for the chinese embassy in the britain expressed deep concern over the british government’s attitude towards japan’s dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea. in example 8, china appeals to the united nations human rights organizations to pay attention to the nuclear pollution incident in japan. both examples show china’s strong opposition to japan’s discharge of nuclear wastewater. through this verbal process it better reflects the imminence of protecting the environment and calls on the public to raise their awareness of protecting the environment, but the u.s. alliance has shied away from talking about this matter, which also reflects the ugly behavior of the western countries. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 106 published by scholink inc. 4.5 behavioral process (9) in south korea, thousands of fishermen, activists and politicians staged a protest in central seoul on saturday. they shouted “immediately stop dumping radioactive wastewater into the ocean” and “japan must store nuclear-contaminated wastewater on its soil,” urging the south korean government to file a lawsuit with the international tribunal for the law of the sea against the japanese government. (10) facing strong domestic and international opposition to the contaminated water dumping plan, japanese authorities have launched massive public relations campaigns to promote the water’s “safety”, which became a focal point of the country’s diplomacy. in example 9, the word “shouted” better reflects the anger of the people, who want to stop japan from discharging wastewater but are unable to do anything about it. in example 10, “facing” demonstrates the urgency of dealing with the negative impacts of nuclear wastewater, but rather than stopping the discharge of sewage, japan is seeking ways to promote water “safety”. in the face of the enormous impact of the sewage, it is clear that measures to salvage the water will not help. the use of behavioral process reflects the anger of the people and the indifference of the japanese authorities. 4.6 existential process (11) since the fukushima nuclear accident, tokyo electric power company’s handling of the aftermath has been riddled with loopholes, with multiple instances of data concealment and manipulation. there are doubts about the company’s ability to handle the disposal of the nuclear-contaminated water. (12) the fukushima nuclear accident is one of the world’s most serious nuclear disasters. as a result, the contaminated water is known to have more than 60 radioactive elements, known as radionuclides. no viable technology exists to treat this multitude of nuclides, and long-lived variants might disperse through ocean currents, leading to unforeseeable repercussions for marine ecology and human health. example 11 mainly describes there are doubts about the company’s ability to deal with nuclearcontaminated water. example 12 states that the fukushima nuclear accident was one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters. the contaminated water is known to contain more than 60 radioactive elements known as radionuclides. there is no viable technology to deal with this wide range of nuclides, and long-lived variants may be dispersed through ocean currents, with unforeseen effects on marine ecology and human health. these two examples indicate the objective facts exist in reality. japan’s concealment of the nuclear wastewater incident and the existence of 60 radioactive elements in the nuclear wastewater, which are real, better reflect the bad behavior of japan’s discharge of nuclear wastewater, which not only destroys the marine environment but also jeopardizes the health of people, which is a kind of its irresponsible behavior and the ecological environment. this is an irresponsible behavior and a serious damage to the ecological environment. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 107 published by scholink inc. 5. conclusion by analyzing the transitivity system of the people’s daily english news report on japan’s nuclear wastewater discharge, the authors conclude that the material process accounts for the highest proportion of this kind of news discourse, while the behavioral process accounts for the lowest proportion. the material process mainly involves the process of the subject’s “doing”. by analyzing the process of “doing”, the study found that the behavior of the countries supporting japan’s nuclear wastewater discharge is contrary to the ecological concept we advocate. mental process is mainly about the process of “knowing”, which is the mental activity of the actors, and the use of these words can better reflect the public’s opposition to japan’s behavior. the relational process is mainly concerned with the process of “being”. in this kind of news, it is mainly about the identification of japan’s behavior of discharging nuclear wastewater, and it also highlights japan’s stubbornness and irresponsibility, which is against the ecological concepts. the verbal process mainly contains a strong appeal from the opponents for the japanese authorities to repent and take the initiative to assume the responsibility of protecting the environment. the behavioral process, which mainly involves the action of shouting by the general public, highlighting the powerlessness of the general public in front of the national policy; finally, the existential process is mainly the fact of what has existed and happened. the process reflects japan’s attitude of knowing the hazardous elements of nuclear wastewater well but still remaining unchanged, and japan’s extremely irresponsible attitude towards the ecological environment. this study aims to call on the public to raise the awareness of environmental protection, protect the marine environment, and promote the harmonious development of man and nature. references fill, a. (1998). ecolinguistics: states of the art. ass arbeiten aus anglistik und amerikanistik, 23(1), 316. halliday, m. a. k. (1990). new ways of meaning: the challenge to applied linguistics. journal of applied linguistics, 6, 7-16. halliday, m. a. k. (2004). an introduction to functional grammar. london: edward arnold. haugen, e. (1972). the ecology of language. california: stanford university press. he, w., & wei, r. (2018). pluralism and harmony, interactive symbiosis--construction of ecophilosophy in international ecological discourse analysis. foreign language journal, 6, 28-35. hu, z. l. (2016). a course in linguistics. beijing:peking university press. hu, z. l., & zhu, y. s., & zhang, d. l. (2016). introduction to systemic functional linguistics. beijing: peking university press. huang, g. w., & zhao, r. h. (2017). origins, objectives, principles and methods of ecological discourse analysis. modern foreign language, 40(5), 585-596+729. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper challenges head start teachers face with dual language learners jolene andriaschko1, sunddip panesar-aguilar2*, rebecca r. curtis1, chris cale3, & michelle mccraney1 1 riley college of education, walden university, minneapolis, usa 2 college of health sciences, university of st. augustine, usa 3 college of education, northcentral university, usa * sunddip panesar-aguilar, college of health sciences, university of st. augustine, usa received: may 7, 2021 accepted: may 23, 2021 online published: june 8, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n3p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n3p1 abstract in the midwestern state, there are 164,000 of the 1,064,000 children enrolled in head start programs are dual language learners. although the number of dual language learners is increasing in the united states, there is a gap in educational practice about challenges head start teachers and education coordinators face in working with this population. an exploration of head start teachers’ and education coordinators’ perspectives regarding the support teachers need to meet the challenges working with dual language learners is presented. this study was grounded in jim cummins’s language acquisition framework, which suggests that dual language learners’ benefit from instruction in their native language and the language of the classroom. a basic qualitative study design was used with a purposeful sample of 8 head start teachers, 1 head start education coordinator, and 1 head start site manager. using semi structured interviews, results revealed that head start teachers realized they need additional support to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners. three themes emerged from the data: (a) participants had a positive outlook on using native language both in the classroom and at home, (b) perspectives on support needed to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners varied from teacher to teacher and from teachers to education coordinators, and (c) participants had a positive outlook on teaching dual language learners while recognizing the need for support in working with these learners. keywords dual language learners, language instruction, head start, preschool instruction, early childhood education, and preschool 1 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 1. introduction dual language learners are increasingly prevalent in the united states (u.s.) and around the globe as societies have become more diverse (strobbe et al., 2017). in the midwest state, where the study took place, 15% of the population between the ages of 0 to 5 are dual language learners (park et al., 2017). preschool attendance for multilingual students has been shown to enhance student success in elementary school (ansari et al., 2017). in the u.s., the population of dual language learners is rising, both overall and for young children, the latter of whom account for an increasing number of enrolments in head start programs. as of 2017, 28% of all children enrolled in head start were dual language learners (national head start association, 2020). the current high enrolment of dual language learners in early childhood programs is noteworthy (lewis et al., 2016). a 2017 report from the united states department of education showed an increase in dual language learners in head start (choi et al., 2018). olivia-olson et al. (2017) determined that dual language learners make up 30% of the population and are distributed across 87% of all head start classrooms. according to the office of head start (2017), there are over 140 different languages spoken in head start classrooms. due to the increase of dual language learners, teachers may require additional support to meet the needs of the dual language learners in their classrooms (choi et al., 2018). olivia-olson et al. (2017) suggested that preservice training is an important part of teachers being prepared to meet the educational needs of dual language learners. however, chapman de sousa (2017) found a need for continued ongoing professional development about dual language learners. green (2019) highlighted the need for teachers to receive professional development regarding dual language learners, and their culture to understand how to teach them better. furthermore, as harrison and lakin (2018) noted analyzing teachers’ beliefs about instructing dual language learners is important in improving teacher preparedness and efficacy. the problem is that many teachers are not prepared to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners (spies et al., 2017). there are many challenges for early childhood teachers in the u.s. at the current moment especially with early childhood teachers lacking an understanding of how a second language is acquired (harrison & lakin, 2018), or of different cultures and languages (green, 2019). an additional challenge for early childhood teachers in the u.s. is navigating mandates for increased accountability regarding school readiness (piker & kimmel, 2018). the focus of this study was on head start teachers in a midwestern state where 164,000 of the 1,064,000 enrolled children are dual language learners (park et al., 2017). according to park et al. (2017), the total population of dual language learners in this midwestern state grew from 147,600 to 164,000 from 2000 to 2017. at the head start program where this study took place over 1,000 students enrolled in the program. various languages are spoken at the head start program including: spanish, african languages, european slavic languages, east asian languages, middle eastern languages, south asian languages, and english. in their study of 72 early childhood classrooms in the u.s., sawyer et al. (2018) concluded that teachers required additional support with dual language learners in their classrooms. in a previous study by 2 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 sawyer and others, preschool teachers, including those who spoke both english and spanish, used few responsive practices to support dual language learners and needed additional education on second language acquisition (sawyer et al., 2017). according to spies et al. (2017), with the continuing rise in the number of dual language learners enrolled in u.s. early childhood programs, it is imperative that instructional practices shift to meet the needs of these young learners. although researchers in the past have focused on parents’ perspectives about dual language learning (sawyer et al., 2016; walsh et al., 2016) and bilingual education (miller, 2017; pontier & gort, 2016), few researchers have examined teacher preparedness, or the support teachers need to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners. although rizzuto (2017) found that teachers welcomed dual language learners, she also recommended further research on how early childhood teachers perceive their instruction skills with dual language learners. piker and kimmel (2018) ascertained there is an achievement gap evident between english language learners and their monolingual english-speaking classmates in kindergarten. beliefs about the role of dual language learners in the school environment continue to reflect dominant negative thinking patterns among beginning teachers (garrity et al., 2016). this is problematic because, as green (2019) stated, teachers need to be leaders to change the communication designs of the modern world in which their students live. due to the increase of dual language learners in head start, there was a need for increased understanding of head start teachers’ and education coordinators’ perspectives regarding the support teachers need to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners (olivia-olson et al., 2017; sawyer et al., 2017). head start is an early childhood preschool program that is federally funded in the united states for low-income families (morris et al., 2018). head start was developed in the mid-1960s as part of the johnson administration’s war on poverty focusing on serving preschool age children (morris et al., 2018). of the enrollment of children in head start 30% are dual language learners, of those 80% are spanish speaking (lewis el al., 2016). more than 86% of the head start programs in the united states serve dual language learners (jacoby & lesaux, 2019). the following research questions guided this basic qualitative study: rq1: what are head start teachers’ perspectives regarding the support teachers need to meet the challenges working with dual language learners? rq2: what are head start education coordinators’ perspectives regarding the support teachers need to meet the challenges working with dual language learners? 2. method 2.1 purpose the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore head start teachers’ and education coordinators’ perspectives regarding the support teachers need to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners. the high number of languages spoken in head start classrooms, according to the office of head start (2017), 140 different languages are spoken throughout the program, reinforces the 3 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 value of this study. furthermore, as harrison and lakin (2018) noted, analyzing teachers’ beliefs about instructing dual language learners is important in improving teacher preparedness and efficacy. there is a need for increased understanding of head start teachers’ and education coordinators’ perspectives regarding the support teachers need to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners (olivia-olson et al., 2017; sawyer et al., 2017). beliefs about the role of dual language learners in the school environment continue to reflect dominant negative thinking patterns among beginning teachers (garrity et al., 2016). this is problematic because, as green (2019) stated, teachers need to be leaders to change the communication designs of the modern world in which their students live. this basic qualitative study attempted to fill the gap in practice by exploring head start teachers’ and education coordinators’ perspectives regarding the support teachers need to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners in a midwestern state. 2.1.1 participant selection the participants in this study were eight head start teachers, one head start education coordinator, and one site manager. eight head start teachers agreed to be interviewed for this study. their teaching experience ranged from two to 30 years. three teachers had two years of experience, one teacher had five years of experience, two teachers had 10 years of experience, one teacher had 17 years of experience, and one teacher had 30 years of experience. at the time of this study, there were three to 24 dual language learners in the head start classrooms of the head start teachers who agreed to be interviewed in this study. there were six individual classrooms with the following number of students in each respective classroom: three, four, six, seven, eight, and 10. two classrooms had 24 children who were dual language learners. the inclusion criteria for head start teachers was that they have at least one year of experience teaching and at least one student who was a dual language learner in their classroom. the head start teachers who participated in this study had degrees ranging from associate degrees in early childhood education to master of education degrees. one participating teacher had an associate degree, six had bachelor’s degrees, and one had a master’s degree in education. the head start education coordinator sample for this study consisted of one education coordinator and one site manager who had been in their roles nine to 16 years. the education coordinator had nine years of experience in this position while the site manager had 16 years of experience. the education coordinator supported 50 teachers while the site manager supported 22 teachers. both participants had master of education degrees. the inclusion criteria for the head start education coordinators was that they have at least two years in their position and currently support at least two classrooms with dual language learners. table 1 illustrates a summary of the participant demographics. 4 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 table 1. participant demographics participant code gender years in position degree level t1 female 10 master’s t2 female 2 bachelor’s t3 female 2 associate’s t4 female 2 bachelor’s t5 female 5 master’s t6 female 17 bachelor’s t7 female 10 bachelor’s t8 female 30 bachelor’s ec1 female 9 master’s ec2 female 16 master’s note. items are derived from the demographics gathered during the interviews. 2.1.2 data collection the participants for this study were those currently employed at a head start program in a midwest state. when collecting the data, an interview protocol was used for interviewing the head start teachers and head start education coordinators. all participants were interviewed in person. the participants were interviewed individually and only once. interviews were open-ended and semistructured. when meeting with the participants in person, the consent form was gone over with them and was signed by them. any additional questions were answered, and they were told that they could stop participating at any time and for any reason. in addition, an additional copy of the consent form was offered to them to keep for their own records. although the plan was to have the interviews take from 45 to 60 minutes, the interviews only lasted from 20 to 35 minutes each, including the time spent reviewing the consent form. each interview was recorded on a sony digital voice recorder. it was explained to each participant that the interview would be recorded at the time consent was reviewed and obtained from them. each participant was told that they could withdraw from the study at any time and for any reason. finally, it was explained that participant names, consent forms, and digital voice recordings would be stored in a file separate from the list of pseudonyms and that only the lead researcher would have access to these items. after the interviews were completed, each participant was provided with a transcript of the interview for verification of accuracy. participants were able to check for accuracy to ensure that any of their thoughts they had not been misinterpreted during the interviews and provide any additional clarifications. each participant was asked to reply via email to the accuracy of the transcripts, and only one participant felt their answers were not accurately interrupted. this transcript was adjusted according to their response. 5 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 3. results after each of the semistructured interviews were conducted with the participants, the digital recording of the sony digital voice recorder was reviewed and analyzed. the interviews were transcribed into a microsoft word document and then emailed to each participant to verify the accuracy. all participants were assigned a pseudonym in which they are known in the study. the head start teachers were assigned the letter t with a number after it such as t1. all the head start education coordinators were assigned the letters ec with a number after it such as ec1. numbers were assigned in the order interviewed for both the teachers and education coordinators. the data from the open-ended semistructured interviews were used to answer the research questions. after checking for the accuracy of the transcriptions, themes began to emerge using in vivo coding. the data that was collected through the semistructured interviews was analyzed using in vivo coding in the first round of coding. once all transcripts were read, in vivo coding assisted in looking for words and phrases that were similar such as: nouns that had impact, verbs with action, expressive language, metaphors, astute phrases, and similes. the themes and categories were listed in an outline format. in between each round of coding, a break was scheduled to minimize any biases that might occur and allowing fresh eyes to review the data. three themes emerged from the data. the first theme was that the participants all had a positive outlook on using native language both in the classroom and being used at home. a second theme that emerged was the perspective on support needed to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners varied from teacher to teacher and from teachers to education coordinators. finally, the third theme was the positive outlook that participants had about teaching dual language learners, while recognizing the need for support in meeting the challenges of working with dual language learners. theme 1: positive perspective on using native language interview data from both head start teacher and head start education coordinators showed a positive perspective on using native language in the classroom as well as in the home. when asked, “what is your perspective on using children’s native language in the classroom” t1 said, “oh, it’s key it is important it is useful it helps me to learn more about them.” t4 linked importance to a child’s sense of identity sharing that, “i think it’s important for the child’s identity. i think it’s important for all kids to become diverse in every aspect, language, culture they need to learn about other cultures. i think it’s culturally important for them to learn other languages as well, internationally.” t3 discussed the importance connecting it to a child’s feelings of value, “i think that it is very important, not only for the children to feel valued and be able to express themselves but for the educators as well. america is this huge diverse place; i enjoy hearing different languages and getting to know my kids and their families and their culture. so, i think that it is very important continue to use their language and culture in the school.” ec2 and t6 discussed talking to parents about how children need to keep their native language as well, 6 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 ec2 said, “i think it is very, very important. so, we need that support of the family because a lot of families want the child to learn english and forget about the home language. we need to educate the families that we want the child to learn the english, but we also want them to keep their home language. i don’t think families understand how wonderful it is for their child to be a dual language learner.” t6 said, “i feel that it is awesome we have kids that speak more than one language and i keep telling the parents don’t stop speaking that home language at home. because they learn like a sponge and they could learn more than four languages if they could. some parents come to me and say maybe we should just speak english and i encourage them to speak their home language.” when asked, “what is your perspective on children speaking their native language at home,” the responses were equally positive and unanimous from both head start teachers and head start education coordinators: ec 1 said, “i think they should, absolutely because if you don’t speak it at home you won’t learn it and you will lose it, you will lose it.” t5 and t3 shared that the importance of being able to communicate with family members. t5 said, “i think that is important for them to speak their native language at home. especially if they don’t have an opportunity to do it anywhere else. so, they need to keep that, because it’s important for their culture to communicate with their other family that doesn’t speak english. so, it’s definitely important.” t3 said, “i think that is important too, i know in the training we had they said that children who are learning a second language are more intelligent because they are hearing two different things. some of them go to their homelands, and they don’t speak english there, so it is good for the kids to communicate with their other family members in that way too.” t1 discussed the importance of children speaking their native language in connection to culture. “they have to keep doing it, they have to, i wouldn’t say once they learn english that’s it. keeping the culture that’s you know the parents are their first teachers, so they have to know where they come from. they have to know everything they can about their culture. you know so they can’t become so americanized that they do it anymore, so they don’t have those values. because they have some strong values those families. they do some things i think wow this would have been great coming up with these values, i would have loved to have taught my own child these values. i think it is important.” theme 2: prospective on support needed varies interview data from all head start teachers showed that they have a varying perspective of what support they need to be successful when teaching dual language learners. all participants interviewed realized that support was needed; however, their perspectives of what support is needed to successfully teach dual language learners were different. when asked, “what support do you feel you need to be successful teaching dual language learners?” these were their responses: t3 said, “different reading materials, we try to put some of their words around the room. it would be so much easier if we had extra support.” t1 believed that parent support and translation is a needed support. “parent support is key, because we have to know what is going on with the kids and then we need the support of the translation, to make sure that the parents understand what we are trying to do.” 7 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 t4 and t7 echoed the belief that a translator is needed to be successful. t4 said, “having a translator in the room. learning some other language, a little bit, for example i don’t speak spanish. learning some words to help with the care of that child.” t7 said, a translator, “if we could come up with a system on the computer or an ipad or something.” while t8 shared that more trainings on culture is a needed support. “i would like to attend more trainings to learn more about other cultures.” when head start education coordinators were asked the same question of, “what support do you feel you need to be successful teaching dual language learners,” their responses were similar in some aspects of head start teachers needing translators or training in culture. however, both head start education coordinators pointed out the need for teachers to have additional curriculum training: ec2 said, “more translators, translators that are in the culture and understand what we are trying to get across and an understanding of the curriculum. i think that teacher’s need support in implementing the curriculum. the curriculum itself supports dual language learners; so, if teachers are supported and coached in it, they in turn can support dual language learner students. ec1 said, additionally, teacher’s need cultural sensitivity and awareness training throughout their career.” theme 3: positive outlook with a need for support interview data also showed a positive outlook from head start teachers and head start education coordinators on what else they wanted me to know as a researcher about dual language learners. however, participants expressed the need for extra support with dual language learners. when asked the question, “please share anything else you want me to know,” the following responses were provided: t8 said, “it’s a good opportunity for the kids to be around other kids who speak a second language.” t5 said, “i enjoy dual language learners; i appreciate how fast they can learn two languages when they are young. i think that it is important for their brain development to learn the languages, both of them, even if they are mixing the two up together, they are communicating and communicating is important.” t7 said, “we welcome them (dual language learners) into our classroom. the only problem i have is that we need more support in the program.” ec2 said, “different cultures and different children we are all basically the same we just speak different languages.” t6 said, “i love it. i wish i could learn other languages.” t3 said, “we just need more support. especially when it is me and another teacher and neither of us speak another language. what we are doing at school i want to make sure they are doing at home too and it’s had when there is that language barrier.” these themes connected to the research questions address in this basic qualitative study. 4. discussion 4.1 research discussion the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore head start teachers’ and education coordinators’ perspectives regarding the support teachers need to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners. analysis of study data indicated that the participants realized the need for 8 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 support to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners. however, the types of support participants said were needed varied from teacher to teacher and from teachers to education coordinators. participants had perspectives as to what support they needed. it was discovered that all participants had a positive perspective on using a student’s native language in the classroom. additionally, participants also endorsed students continuing to speak their native language at home as well. 4.1.1 limitations limitations that arose from the execution of this qualitative research study were centered on transferability. the study’s population was limited to eight head start teachers, a head start education coordinator, and a head start site manager at one head start program in a midwestern state. in addition, all the participants in the research study were female; it would be interesting to have had a male perspective on the challenges of teaching dual language learners. increasing transferability would require future studies on head start teachers’ and education coordinators’ perspectives regarding the support teachers need to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners at other head start programs within the midwest state. including participants from early childhood programs that are not head start, such as private tuition-based preschools, public school preschools, and state-funded preschool programs, might also increase transferability. 4.1.2 implications for future research and conclusion results from this study showed that the participating head start teachers, education coordinator, and site manager realized the need for additional support and training on teaching dual language learners. participants had a positive perspective on using native language in the classroom. however, head start teachers’, education coordinator’s, and site manager’s perspectives varied on the type of support that was needed to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners. based on these results, it is recommended that future research be conducted into what support is most successful for head start teachers, as well as what support increases child outcomes for dual language learners. another recommendation is to increase the sample size and pursuing perspectives of head start teachers and education coordinators from other head start programs in this midwest state. the final recommendation would be to explore teachers’ and education coordinators’ perspectives regarding the support teachers need to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners within early childhood programs that are not head start. implications for positive social change, as related to this study, could be improved professional development for teachers about dual language learners; therefore, benefitting the young dual language learners in their classrooms by improving child outcomes. all participants agreed that head start teachers needed additional support to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners; however, the participants had a few contrasting perspectives on what was the best support head start teachers needed to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners. additional training and professional development for head start teachers regarding dual language learners would be warranted 9 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 to teach the head start teachers more about how to work with dual language learners. the topic of training and professional development should not only include dual language learners in general, but how to communicate with the children when the teacher does not speak their language along with training for teachers who do speak the languages of the children. since head start children speak so many different languages from many diverse countries, cultural sensitivity training should be part of the professional development for all staff. some head start teachers felt that more translators were needed in the classroom, while others felt a need to understand the culture of the dual language learners in their classroom. head start education coordinators also felt the need for more translators, cultural sensitivity training, and additional training in the curriculum of the program. whatever the perspective of each participant, it is was clear that head start teachers need additional support to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners in their classrooms. 4.1.3 conclusion results of this basic qualitative 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(2016). early childhood educators’ knowledge, beliefs, education, experiences, and children’s languageand literacy-learning opportunities: what is the connection? early childhood research quarterly, 36(1), 281-294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2016.01.008 sawyer, b., hammer, c., cycyk, l., lópez, l., blair, c., sandilos, l., & komaroff, e. (2016). preschool teachers’ language and literacy practices with dual language learners. bilingual research journal, 39(1), 35-49. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2016.1138904 sawyer, b., manz, p., & martin, k. (2017). supporting preschool dual language learners: parents’ and teachers’ beliefs about language development and collaboration. early child development and care, 187(3-4), 707-726. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1163548 sawyer, b., atkins-burnett, s., sandilos, l., hammer, c., lópez, l., & blair, c. 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(2018). enhancing preservice teachers’ motivation to reach diverse learners. teaching and teacher education, 73(1), 171-182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.04.004 14 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2016.01.008 https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2016.1138904 https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1163548 https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2017.1408373 https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2016.1158610 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.01.023 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-015-0708-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.10.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.04.004 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 wyatt, t., chapman de sousa, e. b., & mendenhall, s. c. (2017). professional development as a process of cultural brokering: positioning coaches as cultural brokers. journal of educational research and practice, 7(1), 95-110. https://doi.org/10.5590/jerap.2017.07.1.08 yough, m. (2019). tapping the sources of self-efficacy: promoting preservice teachers’ sense of efficacy for instructing english language learners. the teacher educator, 54(3), 206-224. https://doi.org/10.1080/08878730.2018.1534031 15 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.5590/jerap.2017.07.1.08 https://doi.org/10.1080/08878730.2018.1534031 original paper challenges head start teachers face with dual language learners jolene andriaschko1, sunddip panesar-aguilar2*, rebecca r. curtis1, chris cale3, & michelle mccraney1 1 riley college of education, walden university, minneapolis, usa abstract keywords education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper crossing borders in initial teacher education: supporting translations in the inner-city practicum jeannie kerr1 & katya adamov ferguson2 1 faculty of education, university of winnipeg, winnipeg, canada 2 faculty of education, university of manitoba, winnipeg, canada received: may 20, 2021 accepted: june 5, 2021 online published: june 13, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n3p16 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n3p16 abstract research examining teacher candidates’ preparation to teach in high-poverty, urban contexts marked by diversities and inequalities, throughout north america and internationally, is predominantly focused on examining and changing problematic attitudes based in white normativity and privilege. while this is extremely important, there has been a noted absence of research that supports translations of critical ideas from coursework into the practicum experience. in this article we share a case-study of eight teacher candidates supported by a practicum team approach designed to support these translations into the inner-city teaching practicum. the study is designed and analyzed through decolonial, settler-colonial, critical, and indigenous theories and philosophies. the authors found common deficit perspectives in the practicum site, but that a relational focus across university and school contexts supported the translation of critical ideas into practice. this study recommends a more explicit engagement with settler colonialism and white privilege within both the practicum and coursework. keywords initial teacher education, urban education, settler colonialism, inner-city, whiteness 1. introduction our research is focused on matters of inequalities in inner-city educational contexts and how this might be understood and addressed within programs of initial teacher education (ite). inner-city neighborhoods in canada are predominantly composed of indigenous and newcomer individuals and communities, and racialized students in these neighborhoods continue to experience significant negative educational outcomes (statistic canada, 2016; winnipeg school division, 2019). in the united states, low-income urban communities are similarly marked by long-standing racialized patterns, as well as negative educational outcomes (noguera, 2017). despite these patterns, the 16 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 teaching force and students in teacher education working in these communities across north america remains predominantly composed of white females embodying a culture of white normativity (han et al., 2015; janzen & cranston, 2016; marom, 2019). ite programs note the priority of diversifying the teaching force but are also cognizant of the need to prepare the currently predominantly white, settler teacher candidates to engage meaningfully with diversities in multicultural educational contexts marked by inequalities (griffin et al., 2016; marom, 2018). there is a significant amount of research that attends to the intersection of schooling in urban high-poverty contexts, racialized inequalities and ite. a comprehensive two-part international literature review of research in teacher education by cochran-smith and villegas (2015) and cochran-smith et al. (2015) positions the research on educational inequalities and diversities as one of three major research clusters in teacher education. while there has been concurrence within this research cluster on the significance and positive results of altering the predominantly white teacher educators’ deficit views about diversity to more affirming views, there has been “little evidence of the profound shift in perspective than many researchers consider fundamental to becoming equity-minded/socially just teachers” (p. 116). a large research study by solomon et al. (2005) detailed the attitudinal patterns and discourses of teacher candidates and concluded that disrupting meritocracy narratives and white privilege that support these patterns is essential in ite programming. while addressing the belief systems of teacher candidates is an important focus, cochran-smith et al. (2015) conclude that research in teacher education is needed “that goes beyond assuming that changing teacher candidates’ beliefs necessarily leads to different behaviors and actions in the classrooms” (p. 117). since that review, a large study conducted by kuriloff et al. (2019) on early-career teacher readiness to work in urban, high poverty school settings, concluded that 72% of beginning teachers felt unprepared by their ite program for this complex context, suggesting that a focus on changing beliefs and attitudes within coursework does not translate to changed practices in urban teaching contexts. a study in a large teacher education program in canada by kerr and andreotti (2019) sought to gain greater insight into the potential disconnect between dispositions of teacher candidates to diversities and inequalities, and their capacities to engage this in their teaching practices. this study found that there is a significant gap between teacher candidates’ abstract commitments and dispositions to addressing diversities and inequalities, and actual educational practices that would affirm those commitments (kerr & andreotti, 2019). these conclusions affirm previous findings revealed in a comprehensive study of ite in canada by gambhir et al. (2008) where they note, there “is a disparity in how [teacher candidates] are supported to apply the theories they learn to their future practice in meaningful, critical and explicit ways” (p. 17). recognizing the insufficiency of relying solely on course-based approaches with a focus on changing attitudes to address educational inequalities in practice, this study is focused on understanding how to support teacher candidates in translating critical theories on diversities and inequalities into the practicum component of their ite program in an inner-city educational context. in this article, we share details of a case-study addressing these educational priorities. 17 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 we highlight at the outset that the choice of terminology for the project as inner-city was a specific theoretical and political choice. the term inner-city is used pervasively within canadian research literatures; federal and local data collection categories; k-12 district initiatives across canada; and within programs of ite and university coursework more generally. this terminology is meant to denote a core spatial area of concentrated poverty within an urban geography. although, the term inner-city is also entangled in problematic deficit discourses. khoo (2017) argues that inner-city is a term that has complex, shared socio-cultural meanings that implicate race, and exceed its specific linguistic definition focused on place. referencing haslanger (2013), he emphasizes that social meanings convey stereotypical beliefs and call in schemas or narratives which we use to “focus attention, coordinate expectations, sift evidence and rationalize behavioral and emotional dispositions” (as cited in khoo, 2017, p. 57). the term urban is often being used as a replacement for the term inner-city in educational contexts, yet the same problematics emerge where urban is used as a “euphemism for black and brown youth” (tuck & habtom, 2019). we believe that changing the term inner-city to something else will not change the problematic deficit attitudes that have become unfairly associated with the culturally and linguistically enriched communities in inner-city locations that defy significant economic and political marginalization. we therefore use the term inner-city to draw attention to the geo-spatial production of racialized poverty. 2. method our research is a case-study of eight teacher candidates over the course of one year in a two-year bachelor of education program at a university in winnipeg, manitoba (university) that were placed in a k-6 inner-city school in winnipeg supported by an enhanced practicum team approach in the 2017/2018 school year. the practicum hosted at the school consisted of one-day per week throughout the year and two five-week practicum blocks. a full course schedule was provided at the university in condensed format to accommodate practicum blocks. this enhanced approach drew together the teacher candidates, co-operating teachers, university instructors, and practicum advisor in regular dialogue with each other and the researchers. this approach was framed through relational and storied practices to support the complex learning of teacher candidates and to enhance the connections between the isolated contexts of the university and the practicum experiences (ralph, walker, & wimmer, 2007). 2.1 preliminary justifications and clarifications of the approach the location of winnipeg for this study is particularly appropriate as statistical data continues to show that winnipeg’s inner-city residents are composed of significant numbers of urban indigenous and diverse newcomer immigrant individuals and communities, and that they continue to experience disproportionate inequitable economic opportunities and educational outcomes in comparison to non-inner-city residents (statistics canada, 2016; winnipeg school division, 2018). further, winnipeg has the highest numbers of indigenous peoples in an urban setting in canada. winnipeg is considered by urban geographers to be one of the most dynamic cities in north america in relation to indigenous 18 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 resurgence, yet is often commonly spoken of as a fairly banal prairie city (dorries et al., 2019)—previously labelled in mclean’s as canada’s most racist city (macdonald, 2015). while there are certainly limitations to characterizing the lived reality of a city, these more recent considerations by urban geographers point to the significance of undertaking research in prairie, urban locations—and notably winnipeg. winnipeg’s patterns of racialized segregation that emerge from policy, systemic racism, and unequal participation (dorries et al., 2019) are similar to racialized segregation in major cities in the united states (nodjimbadem, 2017). a case-study approach was chosen to enable greater understanding and more detailed insights into the lived-complexity of the relational dynamics under consideration in the support of teacher candidates in translations of knowledge across contexts. flyvbjerg (2006) advocates that a case-study approach contributes to the creation of the systematic production of exemplars in an area of investigation through detailed observation and engagement, and argues that such work is generalizable to broader contexts. this case-study provides enhanced relational experiences, and then focuses into the dynamic relational processes that involve multiple people, with differing institutional responsibilities, that are collectively supporting the complex learning of teacher candidates. phelan (2011) outlines an evolution in teacher education research and articulates a contemporary phase focused on achieving greater understanding of complexity. in this approach teacher education can be viewed as a cultural object that could be understood within and between fields of philosophy, history, sociology, and politics. phelan characterizes this research as attending to subjectivities of people in contexts of responsibility in conditions that they have not made, and a related focus on the discursive productions of teaching identities, school practices and social values. from this perspective, the questions raised in this study do not lend themselves to answers and solutions within prescriptions for practice. rather, we seek a greater understanding of complexity, uncertainty, and the significance of context and place, without a teleological view focused on universalized best practices. 2.2 participants the participants in the research were teacher candidates (tcs), the practicum advisor (pa), university-based course instructors (cis), and co-operating teachers (cts) at heartfulness school (note 1). there were eight tcs in total (6 females and 2 males), and all were enrolled in a two-year bachelor of education program at the university starting in september, 2017. all of these participants had previously completed undergraduate degrees and were assigned to heartfulness as part of their program, and all had their courses scheduled together in a k-8 focused program. the pa assigned was also in the role as ci in a year-long foundations of education course. the pa has had a long-career in teaching and leadership, but was new to this practicum site. from the university, five cis agreed to participate, and ultimately four were able to attend research activities. this represents about half of the credit hours of coursework in total. we engaged all of the course outlines within the data analysis. the cis that participated all had experience teaching in contexts of racialized poverty or were from an inner-city community. from heartfulness, eight cts participated (all female), and both the principal 19 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 (male) and vice-principal (female) supported all research activities. all people involved in the research process were white people of settler origins and could be considered middle-class. the majority of tcs revealed minimal personal interaction with ethnic, linguistic, and socio-economic differences from their own positionality in their social, familial and educational experiences. 2.3 methodological and theoretical framework there are multiple dimensions to the research, but the subject of this particular article is the mentorship and translation of critical ideas on equality and diversity by teacher candidates into the inner-city practicum experience. the methodology for this research was centred on three talking circles over the course of one year that drew together the participants from the university and school contexts. the theories underlying this approach drew on the work of indigenous scholars jo-ann archibald and dwayne donald. both dr. archibald an dr. donald are mentors of jeannie, and have provided feedback on the analysis of their methodologies in this study, which has been incorporated into this article. the theoretical commitments within these scholars’ work centre on: the significance of stories to create deeper meaning; relationships as a key part of learning; and ethics as fundamental throughout all engagements. the research was enhanced by preand post-surveying to understand teacher candidates’ lived experiences, as well as dispositions towards inequalities and diversities and how this might be engaged in teaching practice. the research was also enhanced through an analysis of course-outlines from their teacher education program; and a workshop specific to diversities and inequalities for teacher candidates. the research started with the pre-survey for the tc participants and was followed by a workshop for tcs facilitated by jeannie as part of regular programming. the workshop provided a meta-language to enable self-reflexive analysis of experiences in border crossing in educational contexts. border crossing is theoretically framed as working with and through moments of personal awareness of feeling apart, and wherein we construct someone or something else as being other in ways that create or reinforce power inequalities (giroux, 1991; gorski, 2008). the workshop drew on giroux’s (1991) development of border pedagogy wherein masked privilege and subordination, that supports institutional and ideological boundary making, is revealed and made available for analysis. in this way, this study is encouraging what mignolo (2012) theorizes as border thinking, wherein tcs are encouraged to consider an epistemic orientation that eschews universality of knowing and being. borders themselves were conceived as being geographic, cultural, ideological, emotional, linguistic and/or psychological, and invoking habitual dispositions that emerge from individual affiliations, histories and experiences. the workshop and surveying drew on previous work from kerr and andreotti (2018; 2019) and extended into the specifics of inner-city educational contexts. the workshop and pre-survey took place in the fall of 2017 and was followed by three talking circles at heartfulness school over the course of the school year. in the circles, the practicum team shared personal experience stories that were themed on concerns of the study: anticipating educational inequalities (fall); in-process mentorship (winter); and post-practicum practice oriented (spring). the 20 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 protocols for the talking circles were based on jeannie’s oral teachings received from dr. archibald and then dr. amy parent, and her experiences learning in talking circles with them in post-secondary education in the field of indigenous education. these talking circles were geared towards academic and educational contexts, and while drawing on indigenous knowledges, did not engage in ceremony or work that should be led by an elder. each circle in this research project started with a rock (note 2) that had been gifted to jeannie from one of her mentors and was considered by her to have spiritual significance due to the gift and the connection to mother earth. the rock remained at the school under the care of one of the cts throughout the year. jeannie initiated each circle with a reminder of the protocols of the talking circle as well as ethics in research practices, and then a personal experience story related to the theme of the circle. the basics of the protocol are that the circle starts with her introductions and reminders of protocols, and the rock is held at the beginning of the circle and a story is shared. the rock is then passed clockwise, and each participant takes turns sharing related personal stories uninterrupted as the rock is passed. each participant can decline and pass the rock without explanation. jeannie shared her own stories of practice in the inner-city which were intended to draw out the politics of inequalities, and the tensions embedded with identity and place. see appendix a for these stories. advance notice of themes was provided before each of the subsequent circles. each circle was audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis. in relation to facilitating and understanding potential insights from the talking circles, this study was framed on dwayne donald’s concept of ethical relationality (2016), and drew on jo-ann archibald’s (2008) indigenous storywork as theory and methodology, gadamerian hermeneutic analysis (gadamer, 2004), and a walking analysis developed by the researchers. donald (2012) has shared that “[e]thical relationality is an ecological understanding of human relationality that does not deny difference, but rather seeks to understand more deeply how our different histories and experiences position us in relation to each other” (p. 103). he points out that we cannot be ethical unless we appreciate that we are related, and that our future as peoples with all living beings on mother earth are already tied together (donald, 2016). his approach draws attention to the significance of attending to the ethical responsibilities of being in relation, and is the overarching frame to consider the divided realities and inequalities that are the context of the research. to work towards the commitments within ethical relationality, this study engaged with archibald’s (2008) conceptualization of indigenous storywork as theory and methodology. this approach is suited to the complex nature of the research, through engaging participants wholistically (note 3) through story’s ability to engage the intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual dimensions of experience. archibald’s approach is reliant on indigenous principles of respect, responsibility, reciprocity, reverence, holism, interrelatedness, and synergy in making meaning from stories. bringing stories together in shared ethical space enables greater insights through the synergy of the inter-related stories—offering emergent and generative conceptualizations. this methodology enables a focus on the complexity of orientations of the practicum team and insights from the synergy of sharing of ideas, inquiries, and experiences. this 21 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 approach moves away from purely rational explanations and instead facilitates an embodied, wholistic experience which draws upon emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual aspects. as principal investigator, jeannie was aware that the use of a methodology based in indigenous teachings, by a non-indigenous person, both in research design and analysis, adds another layer of potential for problematic colonial engagements. we agree with tuck and yang (2012) in that non-indigenous academics can engage with work in support of revealing settler colonialism and learning from indigenous thought, yet “this joining cannot be too easy, too open, too settled” (p. 3). we are mindful of celia haig-brown’s nuanced analysis that seeks to balance concerns of appropriation and “deep learning” in the engagement with indigenous knowledges by non-indigenous peoples (haig-brown, 2009, p. 225). we recognize we have been taught/learned within and from dr. archibald’s indigenous storywork, but that we are not claiming expertise. jeannie maintains her mentorship from both dr. archibald and dr. donald to inform her interpretations in research. 2.4 analysis the talking circle sessions were recorded and then analyzed through indigenous storywork principles (archibald, 2008) and gadamerian hermeneutic analysis to acknowledge the impositions of our fore-structures in interpretation within a settler-colonial context (gadamer, 2004; kerr, 2020). we did not record any participants by pseudonyms, but instead participants remained anonymous and recorded by their particular role in the project. our approach is not meant to analyze any one person or to individualize patterns. instead, we consider the ways people with different roles and backgrounds participate in public educational spaces in particular places, and the mentorship of tcs. our theoretical lens for design and interpretation of the circles recognizes the immersion of the circles in inequalities that are sourced to ongoing colonial encounters which are largely invisible to privileged positionalities (grosfoguel, 2007; mignolo, 2012), and a settler colonial context in the north end of winnipeg that constructs exclusionary and divided realties based on perceptions of indigeneity and processes of racialization (donald, 2012; hugill & toews, 2017; mackey, 2002; thobani, 2007; toews, 2018). we further developed our approach to analysis through undertaking walking discussions of our analyses in significant places. while there is some research literature on walking methodologies, this particular walking data analysis was inspired by the understanding that places have embodied impact and can be a teacher, and drew on the scholarship of indigenous informed philosophies (madden, 2016; marker, 2018). jeannie’s long-term mentorship by arapaho scholar dr. michael marker informed this approach. we planned walks one month apart during the spring of 2019. prior to each walk, we took time to read and re-read the transcripts and make notes on our fore-structures, emergent themes, and findings as per gadamerian methodological practices. we recorded our fore-structures (potential projections and expectations) based on our backgrounds as inner-city educators and our identities as white settlers who engage in ongoing learning from indigenous mentors and indigenous scholarship, and who explore issues of white normativity. we recorded repeated patterns we were seeing within the transcripts. we then met and walked and discussed our ideas orally in significant places, again drawing on the synergy of 22 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 ideas. we made particular note of the similarities and differences between our analyses, and found that our perceptions of the patterns in the talking circles were in agreement with each other. our walking analyses were undertaken in specific locations: analysis of circle 1—walking around the neighborhood of heartfulness school; analysis of circle 2— walking in and through the university campus; and analysis of circle 3—walking in and through the historic forks as the confluence of the red river and the assiniboine river on indigenous peoples’ day 2019. both researchers were concerned about our impositions as white women who had experienced significant shifts in our understanding of privilege, oppression and positionality through learning through indigenous mentors in personal and formal settings. we were considering the propensity for both of us to engage in settler moves to innocence (tuck & yang, 2012), in placing the issues of colonialism as something we have surmounted. as former classroom teachers, we also are aware of the ways that teachers’ work and knowledge become deprofessionalized, and teachers are unfairly held to account for both the problems of the school system and society (ranson, 2010; walker, 2013). we discussed this aspect in depth and worked to maintain ethical and respectful relations. we considered our own limitations as unsettled settlers in this work (ferguson, 2017; regan, 2010) as well as the immersion of the education system and our society in mostly invisibilized settler-colonial logics (donald, 2012), white normativity, and denial of privilege (marom, 2018; mill, 2007). through our process, three themes emerged that speak to the complications and barriers of translations of critical ideas from course work on systemic inequalities and diversities into the lived-experience of the teaching practicum. in this next section, we outline the themes and engage with the voices of the participants noted through their roles in the project. the selections were chosen as representatives of ideas/themes that we both recognized as being engaged repeatedly in our analyses. 2.4.1 emergent theme 1—excess of responsibility and the emotional toll of inner-city teaching in mentorship firstly, in their role as mentors, the cooperating teachers (cts) conveyed a sense of strong bonds and relationships with the students. … because that’s where those meaningful relationships come from, is those great, deep conversations that you have with the kids and that’s honestly the best part of the job, is getting close to them and learning from them. the cts as mentors constructed inner-city teaching as an experience marked by overwhelming responsibility. it is evident that the responsibility involved in caring for and educating young children living in extremely difficult circumstances takes an emotional toll. i said “yeah, and where were you yesterday?” and he said “oh yeah, i went to the shelter … the rats were chewing through my bed.” and it was just – he wasn’t sad, he wasn’t pitying himself, it wasn’t like anything … you just have to learn how to react in the moment and not just stare at him dumbfounded. 23 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 … i’ve always struggled with this year is not bringing home the sort of sorrow i feel for some of my students. when they come to me and tell me the stories of their home life and how awful it is … i have really struggled when i know that something terrible is happening at home and they’re not getting saved … i was potentially going to take a leave…it was exhausting and mentally draining. the cts spoke of the unexpected departures of students and the difficulty of dealing with their own sense of loss. like every day, a student could be gone and then the next day you get three more and you just have to go with the flow every single day. … we work so hard to like connect with our kids and try and fill those needs and then sometimes just out of the blue they’re gone; they’ve moved, they’ve transferred, sometimes we know where, sometimes we don’t … the following quotes by the teacher candidates (tcs) reflect the ways they are being mentored within this context. the tcs reveal their awareness of the complexity in making judgements within the process of becoming a teacher. the emotional lives of kids living in poverty is a central aspect of learning for tcs as they observe cts prioritizing the emotional needs of students over the academic concerns which they assumed would be the key focus in their practicum. the quotes also reveal that the university coursework is not viewed as being as significant as the practicum. … i don’t think these ct’s realise how much we see and how much it helps just to be able to see that and witness it. i feel that a lot of what we’re learning in the university context is politically correct, some of it is maybe being idealistic but at the same time, we need that stuff…but when i get into the practicum setting, it’s like okay, here’s the real world now and that’s why i really appreciate all of you classroom teachers and the fact that you’re so honest with us. i have learned so much, i definitely realize now that you’re not going to get through all the curriculum but those basic needs come first especially in the inner-city. the course instructors (cis) supported the narratives of the emotionally-laden experience of teaching in the inner-city and used language that characterizes the experience as “surviving” on more than one occasion. these comments characterize the cis engagement and mentorship in high-poverty contexts: … we’re just constantly being asked to carry the plate a little bit, make it a little bit bigger, a little bit bigger. and we don’t have like rich billionaires who are donating money to buy new schools and everything, like other industries. so, we’re loving, caring people who just—we do what we can. i’m facing like i have to go back [to teaching in a high-poverty context] and there’s preparation to survive you know, you—and to keep your standards high for it’s my 20th year next year and you do go in times where you’re just getting through the day. 24 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 importantly, the course outlines for all courses did not take up these emotional aspects directly, nor was the inner-city mentioned as a consideration. this may relate to why the tcs saw less value in university coursework in helping them navigate their practicum. the exception would be the practicum advisor (pa), who was also a ci, and deeply involved in making connections in the school. his course outline considered the wholistic experience of the children and involved the significance of making relationships and knowing the children well in and beyond the school as members of communities. the tcs singled this out as very helpful. 2.4.2 emergent theme 2—strained/absent relationships with parents and community & deficit discourses the significance of engaging with parents and communities was a theme present in the stories that led the circles. in the ct’s engagement with this aspect, the majority notably constructed the relationship with parents as strained and separate, and as a challenge that needed to be managed. only one of the cts mentioned their efforts to connect and build relationships with parents and learn from them as an important priority. overall, the parents and community were seen as the source of problems for students, and not generative to their educational goals. these deficit perspectives of parents positioned the teacher in an integral role as assuming a parental role not being fulfilled. while the cts are passionately committed to meeting the needs of students, their disconnection from parents and local community is a salient insight gathered from this study with far reaching implications. … you don’t even think about what’s going on sometimes in a kid’s home life, because they’re so good or coached at hiding it, so you just go on with your day. so, i think this unfairness is also rooted in family and stability, my presumption is that those kids are not surrounded by trustworthy people, adults. i’m shocked, because there are so many parents in jail or they don’t get enough food, sleep … but those kids, i don’t know who supports them otherwise than the school and the social workers, the teacher. their stories revealed that many of the cts did not see the potential of parents and community as partners. social workers, child and family services (cfs), and the school are seen as the locus of positive support in meeting students’ needs. the strong belief of cts in cfs as a support to children provides insight into the appalling apprehension rates of indigenous children in manitoba, and has implications beyond this study. one thing that i didn’t do in my first year was call parents out … these conversations usually aren’t fun, i actually really don’t like being kind of harsh to parents, but it’s not a good conversation and so very dodgy about these things because for some, well a lot of the parents don’t trust me because i’m a teacher and they don’t want me to call any you know, cfs or anything like that. the cts also note that they remain supported through their work through connecting with each other in the school community, and reinforce themselves together in this difficult work: 25 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 … when you have that group of teachers here who you can trust you know, who are going through exactly what you’re going through, you mentor each other and you’re a better teacher because of it … ... so there’s getting familiar with the curriculum, is important, getting creative is important, but even more important is the ability to be collegial and professional and to work together because that’s the only way you survive. the course instructors (cis) did not specifically discuss parent engagement that reflected deficit perspectives or comment about community and parents which is interesting as an omission. in review of course outlines, parents and community are mentioned briefly in one course outline. within the talking circles, the cis aligned more closely with the cts, sharing views that reflected a lack of community connection. the comments revealed a focus on keeping academic standards high, most likely in response to many of the ideas in the circles about the secondary role of academics to social-emotional concerns. … but you really need to keep the depth and the quality of education there for these kids and not just because it’s hard, don’t just give into it and yes you will call social services 50 times and they won’t call back … … in some of the places that i’ve seen as a parent or as a teacher leader kind of thing, there’s so many people out there in our community that don’t go that extra mile, don’t take that extra step and it gets exhausting after a while … the absence of community members in the talking circles could be considered an oversight in the research. the fact that jeannie included community as a focus in her stories, but did not invite community members as part of the mentorship of tcs in the circles, is also reflective of ingrained habits of people immersed in school cultures—even when doing so from critical perspectives as an educational researcher. 2.4.3 emergent theme 3—tcs experiencing positive shifts in addressing inequalities despite deficit framing in practicum the deficit perspectives of parents and communities experiencing inequalities that are shared within mentorship by cts has the capacity to either reinforce or promote negative biases with tcs. despite the prominent discourses of disconnection from parents and communities, and the absence of positive connections with community from most of the cis and the enhanced practicum design, tcs in this study were able to engage more generatively with diversities. whiteness was a key aspect of the surveys, and the workshop with tcs. while whiteness was never discussed as a source of privilege in the circles, the tcs did consider the implications of their economic privilege and were more tentative on the authoritative dominance of euro-western knowledge systems. one tc mentioned the workshop as influencing their attempts to engage students in affirming ways. they also reflected a thoughtful consideration about honouring students’ belief systems from home, and maintaining complexity within their engagement with students. 26 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 … she said to me “mr. [tc], where do people come from?” i wasn’t sure how to answer this question, because i wanted to be sensitive to her belief systems and other belief systems. i know where i think they came from, but i wasn’t sure what to tell her. … my dad grew up kind of in this area, like in and out of foster care and that kind of thing, and as a kid that was never a concern of mine. so, i never really related to him when he would say things like that … now i think i’m kind of putting a face to it with all these little kids in the class and just kind of seeing it. so, i think talking to him, hearing everybody’s stories here, that’s helping a lot. i’m thinking how could i bring those [positive inner-city community] stories into the classroom, because i don’t need to teach these kids that story. i don’t need to teach them how to appreciate these sorts of people because these people are in their neighbourhoods, they’re their neighbours, their families. in response to the last comment, the pa encouraged the importance of positive community engagement, and also brought this idea forward in another circle: … what a wonderful opportunity to bring that book into the classroom to allow the students to begin to take a look at their own lives and give voice to their lives, similar to how this author gave voice to their life in that community. … within the school there are opportunities to develop programs either in the classroom or in the school where you can celebrate the cultures that exist. it may be that the combination of consistent mentorship of the pa, and his practice of having regular small group meetings as part of his foundations course, was a mediating factor that interrupted the deficit discourses that were being shared with tcs. also, the critical workshop at the start of their journey may have invited the tcs to think more about their own experiences in relation to poverty, ways to build relationships, and consider their own privileges and self-understanding. another part of this study are the preand post-surveys completed by the tcs. these surveys have been used in multiple studies and were developed by vanessa andreotti and engaged in collaborative research with jeannie (kerr & andreotti, 2018, 2019). discussion of the surveys will be part of another article, but we did note that tcs experienced a significant shift in both their understanding of economic inequalities as a systemic problem (50% pre-survey to 72% post-survey), as well as their ability to engage educational ideas in an inner-city context that addressed the historic and systemic issues of inequalities (25% pre-survey to 50% post-survey). although, there was an increased tendency to ignore, deny, or avoid consideration of white privilege as an educator. tcs that showed a willingness to acknowledge and address white privilege stayed the same in preand post-surveys at about 30%. it is important for groups of predominantly white tcs immersed in educational contexts with all white mentors to have opportunities to critically address white privilege and develop awareness of white normativity as a source of educational inequalities. 27 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 3. result we discuss our findings in relation to the land and its history. we are in the heart of turtle island (see simpson, 2011 for a nishnaabeg version of the creation story) at the confluence of the assiniboine and red rivers, now also known as the city of winnipeg. this general area is commonly referred to as “the forks” and is the historic meeting place of indigenous peoples and traditional territories of the anishinaabeg, nêhiyawak, dakota, oji-cree, and dene peoples and homeland of the métis nation (huck, 2003). since 1822, this has been the site of fort garry as the precursor to the city of winnipeg, and another incarnation of fort garry further down river as the historic spot of signing treaty 1 (manitoba historical society, n.d.). the remains of fort garry occupy a central spot in the city, particularly since the fort site was reified in 2015 with a 440 ft long steel and public art/light installation, which we would argue positions itself through centrality, size and location as a place of public pedagogy (ellsworth, 2005; giroux, 2004) reinforcing the authority of contemporary settler colonialism (kerr, 2019). the idea that winnipeg is founded on a fort down the river is significant to our findings. to share our findings in ways aligned with indigenous storywork methodology, we have woven our understanding of specific storied metaphors of relations based on inequalities and colonial encounters to provide more wholistic understandings of the findings directly connecting the research with place (simpson, 2014). we will be drawing on our interpretation and memory of the story up the river, down the river (note 4) and the pedagogy of the fort (donald, 2012) to articulate our findings within a socio-cultural, political and historical context through story and metaphor. up the river, down the river a man is walking down the river and sees a child that seems to be in peril splashing in the water. without hesitation, the man jumps in the river and saves the child, but then sees another child in similar circumstances. the man jumps back in the river and saves the next child, but then notices more and more children. the man is committed and exhausted, he implores passers-by to help him save the children in this down the river location. as such, more people help, and the cycle continues—more children struggling in peril, more people saving them, more people exhausted. one woman walks away. another woman who is pulling a child out from the water yells to the woman who is leaving: “where are you going? we have to save these children!” the woman responds “i’m going up the river to find out who is throwing these children in the water”. 3.1 inner-city education: down the river in the fort in our place at the fork of the assiniboine and red rivers, we are located down two rivers both figuratively and geographically. this river story was a constant teacher for us and framed how we understood the framing of inner-city education and mentorship of becoming teachers by participants in this study in relation to our unique and dynamic context. the intense commitment of the participants was felt. through tears, stories were shared of children with whom teachers are emotionally and physically invested, who then would regularly disappear—often without a trace—from the school community. 28 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 working with children who are living in poverty and without basic necessities, and having high and unpredictable mobility in and out of the school community, clearly takes an emotional toll. janzen and phelan (2019) highlight the attrition and disengagement from the teaching profession due to the ethical sense of obligation to students that can be overwhelming for teachers. this was evident in this study. the teachers describe students who live without basic food and housing security, and through their stories shared the overwhelming obligation they feel towards students in circumstances that seem both impossible and ceaseless. katya and jeannie, who have both lived and worked in inner-city communities as teachers and researchers, understand and can relate to this experience. we see the cts engagement in inner-city education and mentorship as being immersed down the river in saving children, and disconnected from up the river sources that are required for understanding and addressing these circumstances. more supports are needed for educators to understand the strengths of parents and community as potential collaborators, and to explore the sources of suffering in turbulent currents of settler colonialism, dispossession of land, and processes of racialization in which they are privileged. in this down the river context of exhaustion and saving, the cts deny relations between themselves and the parents/community in a way that resonates deeply with donald’s (2012) articulation of the pedagogy of the fort. as donald argues, there are deeply learned habits arising from the colonial experience in canada that reinforce a notion “that aboriginal peoples and canadians inhabit separate realities” (donald, 2012, p. 91). donald analyzes the fort as a mythic symbol that is part of the canadian frontier imaginary that signifies the teleological dream of ‘civilization’, and that positions indigenous peoples and knowledges as “outside accepted versions of nation and nationality” (p. 100). these narratives about canadian nation building and civilization are deeply held in euro-western imaginations, and devalue indigenous peoples and knowledges. within the ct stories in this case study, the school manifests for the teachers as a fort within these similar logics—becoming the guarded place of civilization and safety, in the midst of a community of danger. cts call on each other, and other systems of colonial governance such as child and family services, to aid in their difficult work of saving children. the emotional labour of the teachers in this study should not be discounted, but needs to be considered more deeply. also, their stories of unpredictable student mobility emerged as a central narrative that require further research and attention. our framing of inner-city mentorship by cts as being down the river through fort logics is also enacted by the cis. from their collective viewpoint in the fort, it is not possible to see up the river, and thus to engage and understand the systemic causes of the heart-wrenching experiences. thus, these conditions are sourced as being located down the river and enacted by the parents and local communities outside the walls of the school. the context of settler colonialism, including the pivotal and intergenerational impact of education through the indian residential school system, is invisibilized within fort logics. the role of other settler colonial mechanisms such as child and family services in the ongoing apprehensions of indigenous children, attempted erasure of culture and indigenous governance, 29 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 and the dispossession of indigenous lands in fostering economic poverty, are not within view from the fort (kerr, 2019). the enhanced practicum team approach as a form of relational mentorship was incomplete and complex, and similarly enacted fort logics. the talking circles themselves did seem to provide opportunity for more relational engagements between the school and university contexts, and provided a space to give voice to personal experience, but did not emerge as being as pivotal as the pa in supporting the work of translations across contexts. the disconnections between parents, community and mentorship of tcs that emerged in the talking circles were also replicated through the study design. the lack of engagement with community in the mentorship of tcs in the enhanced practicum experience served to replicate the divided dynamics. while the research design and workshops drew attention to the up the river sources of concern in inner-city education, the practicum team approach invisibilized the potential role of parents/community in practicum mentorship that might help tcs address these systemic problems. 3.2 tcs engaging up the river perspectives and practices a significant finding in the research was that the tc’s stories revealed more strengths-based orientations to parents and community reflecting up the river understandings, despite the disconnections in their practicum experience. we believe that the pa proved to be influential in facilitating critical translations in his role as both ci/pa and working in and between the university and heartfulness school. his explicit valuing of parents and community as educational partners worked to deemphasize the perspectives of deficit. furthermore, the set-up of regular small meetings with this group within the pa’s course had a strong impact and built trusting relationships. jeannie’s partnering with the pa in parts of his course likely reinforced key themes. heartfulness school itself has amazing connections to community that were largely enacted by school administration, and the tcs were encouraged to attend to these connections by the pa. the implications of this finding are that translations by tcs of critical ideas from university experience would be enhanced if cts were more directly engaged with up the river ideas, and school administration could provide more opportunity to make connections between community and cts. this study also suggests that pas for inner-city practicum sites be very carefully chosen for their orientation towards translations of non-deficit perspectives into course work. the early experience of the workshop and surveying with tcs also likely destabilized deficit discourses taking hold, but the impact of the talking circles was more complex. the workshop highlighted systemic causes of oppression related to settler colonialism and eurocentricity—clearly providing an up the river view to the dramatic situations they later encountered down the river. starting tcs with this critical view, and having that supported by the pa, likely provided the biggest impact in the study through providing a critical lens on narratives of deficit they would encounter. this study also suggests that the talking circles may have provided much needed collegial support, but did not have a significant impact on the tcs translation of critical ideas under the circumstances presented. the emphasis on the surveying, workshop, role of the pa, and professional learning meetings provided systemic appreciation and positive orientations to influence critical translations of ideas into practice, but it was likely the relational 30 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 attention of the talking circles that supported the work. the talking circles surfaced problematic deficit discourses within the school concerning parents and communities, and thus could be seen as working counter to the purposes of translation of critical ideas. at the same time, the opportunities for connection and relation of the talking circles seemed to create a supportive atmosphere amongst the team where the tcs felt supported to engage in their critical understandings. although, this would suggest that more should be done within the school community to address deficit discourses. 4. discussion this study was working from an assumption that coursework would be a key source of up the river considerations for tcs, but this was not entirely the case. critical issues were not found to be prominent within the coursework, nor was there a specific focus on the inner-city as a complex context beyond one course. our findings suggest that ite programs should sincerely consider the degree to which critical perspectives on systemic inequalities, and non-eurocentric perspectives, occupy within their overall programming. there are a few major findings that emerge from the narratives in this study regarding the university experience to meet the priorities of inner-city mentorship in ite: 1) explicit attention should be given within courses to meeting the needs of children in differing contexts—emphasizing the particular needs in learning contexts that are under undue socio-economic pressures and processes of racialization—as well as the emotional toll of teaching in these contexts, and the significance of white privilege. coursework that attends to accommodating difference through individualized processes serves to ignore the historic and socio-cultural factors that construct difference, oppression and privilege—thus invisibilizing up the river causes; 2) relationships with inner-city community organizations that emphasize the strength, resilience and resurgence of communities should be fostered, and the organizations positioned as mentors for tcs. a recent study notes the intense and positive effect in professional learning of centring members of communities as teachers within university programming (asadian, 2019). we believe that there should be attention by ite programs to partner with community members as teachers within university programming to break down pre-conceived notions of deficit, and connect with the expertise that could inform promising and generative practices. a weakness of this study was the research design did not include community members in the talking circles as mentors. attention to dismantling the fort walls should be a priority and would start by acknowledging and engaging the expertise of community and parents by educational researchers. in conclusion, this research and the findings suggest the need for overt consideration and articulation of settler colonialism and white privilege within programs of ite and educational research. the continual negative academic outcomes for indigenous and racialized students in inner-city schools reflect the inequalities of the society in which the schools exist. schools, school systems, and ite programs, configured in relations of white normativity, become positioned to reconstitute inequalities when ignoring the settler colonial structures and hierarchies in which they exist. our educational systems remain down the river when we ignore settler colonialism and put ourselves in the endless position of 31 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 trying to save students without acknowledging and addressing the sources of the problems. following the work of mignolo (2011), we see colonial encounters as global, contemporary and responsible for wide-spread oppression of both human and more-than-human beings. the particular context of urban settler-colonial encounter, that is being robustly studied in urban geography, should inform educational work in inner-city contexts. the findings of this study reaffirm and extend the research in teacher education on diversities and inequalities in urban high-poverty contexts. the predominant focus in the research in ite on addressing attitudes of teacher candidates and disrupting white normativity is reaffirmed through this study. deficit perspectives and unquestioned white normativity were found to be very present within the teacher candidates’ attitudes as well as the practicum site, and a significant barrier for teacher candidates in learning to address inequalities in inner-city teaching practice. the study found that relational support structures had a positive influence in disrupting these perspectives, and provides a contribution to the existing literature. this study also extends the research in this area through moving the analysis of teacher education programming from being solely in the university into the context of the schools. research analysts have called for more explicit attention to supporting teacher candidates in translating critical coursework meant to disrupt deficit attitudes into the practicum. this study has engaged with the complications of these translations, and suggested that the difficulty of translations is exacerbated through white normativity, deficit perspectives, and disconnections from parents and community within the school settings. thus, this research contributes to an emergent area of investigation in teacher education programming through more careful attention to dispositional factors within practicum sites, and ways to foster community connections. we hope this study contributes to the growing literature and possibility of interruption in the inequitable cycles that endure in our local inner-city educational context of winnipeg, inner-city contexts throughout north america, and beyond. we also hope that our work contributes to teaching in ways that disrupt the problematic hierarchies of knowledge, ethnicity, and experiences that characterize the reproduction of inequalities through programs of ite. references andreotti, v. 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(2017). introduction to ‘racial inequality and education: patterns and prospects for the future’. the educational forum, 81(2), 129-135 [on-line]. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131725.2017.1280753. 35 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2017.1395326 https://doi.org/10.5840/philtopics201745213 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.04.001 http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/welcome-to-winnipeg-where-canadas-racism-problem-is-at-its-worst/ http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/welcome-to-winnipeg-where-canadas-racism-problem-is-at-its-worst/ https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400845064 https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2018.1430391 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 phelan, a. m. (2011). towards a complicated conversation: teacher education and the curriculum turn. pedagogy, culture & society, 19(2), 207-220. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2011.582257 ralph, e., walker, k., & wimmer, r. 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(2005). the discourse of denial: how white teacher candidates construct race, racism and ‘white privilege’. race ethnicity and education, 8(2), 147-169. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320500110519 statistics canada. (2016). education in canada: key results from the 2016 census. retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/171129/dq171129a-eng.htm thobani, s. (2007). exalted subjects: studies in the making of race and nation in canada. university of toronto press. tinker, g. (2004). the stones shall cry out: consciousness, rocks, and indians. wicazo sa review, 19(2), 105-125. https://doi.org/10.1353/wic.2004.0027 toews, o. (2018). stolen city: racial capitalism and the making of winnipeg. arp books. truth and reconciliation commission of canada. (2015). canada’s residential schools: reconciliation. the final report of the truth and reconciliation commission of canada (vol. 6). mcgill queen’s university press. tuck, e., & habtom, s. (2019). unforgetting place in urban education through creative participatory visual methods. educational theory, 69(2), 241-256. https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12366 tuck, e., & yang, k. w. (2012). decolonization is not a metaphor. decolonization: indigeneity, education & society, 1(1), 1-40. walker, t. (2013, march 6). three ‘reforms’ that are deprofessionalizing teaching. nea today. retrieved from http://neatoday.org/2013/03/06/three-reforms-that-are-deprofessionalizing-teaching-2/ winnipeg school division. (2019). school demographics report 2018/2019. winnipeg school division. 36 published by scholink inc. https://www.kpu.ca/sites/default/files/teaching%20and%20learning/td.1.2_ralph_practicum_professional_education.pdf https://www.kpu.ca/sites/default/files/teaching%20and%20learning/td.1.2_ralph_practicum_professional_education.pdf http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/171129/dq171129a-eng.htm https://doi.org/10.1353/wic.2004.0027 https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12366 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 appendix a: abridged versions of jeannie’s initiating talking circle stories story-talking circle 1: anticipating educational inequalities i was sitting in front of my class as my students were coming in from lunch and assembling on the carpet, when one of my students asked me “is it safe to drink the water yet?” i was just about to respond yes. there had been a highly unusual boil water advisory in vancouver, but it had been resolved. i was just about to say “yes – it’s safe” but then i thought: i’ve never actually drank the water in this 100-year-old building. i knew nobody was monitoring this. i’d never had to think about this access to water, because i always brought my own drinks to school. i had never thought about that difference in lack of choice that the kids had and i had, and it was a watershed moment. the kids were all staring at me, because i was still staring at him, and his question was hanging in the air. i hadn’t thought about my difference in experience from my students in our shared classroom, and really who i am as a teacher in the inner city. what are my responsibilities? how am i related to this inequality? so, i said “actually, i think we all need to talk.” this moment changed the way i was teaching. i began to really think about the life experience of the kids in terms of what i'm teaching. so, we spent the year on water, literally a whole year and did all of the subjects in relation to that, but i think it also changed me and how i related to the community as well. story-talking circle 2: in process mentorship in complexity i had been working in the inner-city as a resource teacher for a number of years, and had switched to classroom teaching. there was a lot of things that i wasn’t sure about. i had a friend who was also teaching grade 7 across the city. she was a long-term classroom teacher, and had a lot more experience than i did in that classroom aspect of teaching. we became partner classes, and i looked to her as a mentor. we were having dinner one night and she said to me ‘i don’t like the way you talk about the kids’ and i just about hit the floor because i love my students and i thought what could i possibly have done to make her think this? i was also hurt because it was a friend. i felt very misunderstood, and she said ‘maybe that didn’t come out right, i just didn’t know how to tell you’. she felt the way i was talking about my students was that they were always needy, and that i was always fixing everything. she thought i should think more about what the kids had to offer, than what i was doing. i argued back: ‘that’s my job, their job isn’t to do that for me’. it was a very confusing moment for me and i felt that the way it was done, the mentorship part of it actually made me feel quite distanced from her for a while. it was about six months before i really started talking to her again in mentorship. i felt lacking in trust with her, and that she wasn’t understanding me and my intentions towards the kids very well. i did think about it over time, and i have been thinking about that ever since. particularly regarding balancing the ways i support students, but i’m learning from students and their community at the same time. in inner-city work, how i really need to focus on what the gifts are and what the benefits are from parents and community, and what i 37 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 can learn from that. so, i don’t know if i’ve ever resolved that mentorship piece though—i looked at her differently after that, because i think we pick our mentors and mentorship is a very delicate thing. story-talking circle 3: post-practicum practice oriented i was teaching a grade four-five combined class, and charlene [pseudonym] had been put into foster care and ended up in a housing project right near the school where i was teaching. she came into my class in february, and i was struggling with standardized assessments. where i was working in bc, grades four and seven classrooms do these massive tests that take about a week to do. i was a little stressed already about how i was going to support the kids through this testing. charlene had been through trauma as she was not in her home community or with her family. she was a young indigenous girl, and she wasn’t sure of who we were as a classroom community. she was really bright and she wanted to do well, but i knew she had missed a lot of school, so i said: ‘you don’t have to take the test if you don’t want to’, but she said she wanted to take the tests. she wanted to show us how smart she is, because she really is. but the way the tests are framed, especially with math, you may not have covered the curriculum for some of the things that are being asked. so, she opened the test and she’s working at that, and i could see her tears actually hitting the page. she couldn’t do it, for whatever order being in and out of foster care, different schools, i couldn’t prepare her in the same way. here’s this brilliant young girl just ready to show everybody, and this whole process reaffirmed all kinds of problematic things for her. i took her out of the classroom and told her that this test is not really fair, because it doesn’t cover what you were doing in your other school, and she was half believing me. so, we went to the principal and i said to her in front of charlene, we have a problem with this test and i need you to write a letter to somebody, because the test isn’t fair and i don’t want her to take this unfair test. charlene brushed it away and we organised other things. but it really made me think long-term about standardised assessment. who are they performing for? how are my students affected? notes note 1. heartfulness school is a pseudonym chosen by the researchers. note 2. jeannie’s mentorship from dr. archibald focused on the rock as a sacred object and relative. for a broader discussion see tinker (2004). note 3. spelling wholistic(ally) with a ‘w’ is intentional and reflects archibald’s understanding of indigenous wholism (archibald, 1997). note 4. jeannie encountered the up the river, down the river story in andreotti (2012) and this story has emerged in multiple conversations between dr. andreotti and jeannie. this version is the way jeannie constructed it, and shared it with katya. 38 published by scholink inc. original paper crossing borders in initial teacher education: supporting translations in the inner-city practicum jeannie kerr1 & katya adamov ferguson2 1 faculty of education, university of winnipeg, winnipeg, canada abstract keywords references education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper indigenous knowledge, indigenous experiences with residential schools and sixties’ scoop, and their impact on emotional knowledge for pre-service teachers julia falla-wood1 1 school of education, burman university, lacombe, alberta, canada received: may 1, 2021 accepted: may 24, 2021 online published: june 3, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n2p50 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n2p50 abstract the purpose of this 2019-2020 exploratory study is to examine pre-service teachers’ knowledge and perceptions of indigenous peoples and how emotional knowledge could efficiently integrate this sensitive aspect of canadian history into the b.ed. program. shen et al. (2009) state that emotions improve learning and facilitate retention in long-term memory. could emotional knowledge be a way of integrating indigenous knowledge in the bachelor of education programs? could indigenous experiences with indigenous peoples make a difference in the perception of indigenous peoples in pre-service teachers? for this study, the sample available to the researcher consisted of 22 pre-service teacher students. the research instruments were a questionnaire about pre-service teachers’ knowledge of blanket exercises, residential schools, and sixties’ scoop, and reflection papers on the same topics. the results show that 72% of canadian pre-service teachers, who attended elementary and secondary schools, had some, very little or no knowledge of these topics before the former prime minister, stephen harper, apologized to former students of residential schools for the harm inflicted to them. after listening to indigenous survivors and being part of blanket exercises, pre-service teachers’ perception of indigenous peoples changed in a range of 26% to 100%. keywords aboriginal, blanket ceremony, emotional knowledge, indigenous teaching, residential schools, sixties’ scoop 50 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 1. introduction research on indigenous language, culture, and pedagogy has gained momentum after prime minister stephen harper apologized to students of indian residential schools on behalf of canadians in 2008 for the harm inflicted to them in the residential schools: “two primary objectives of the residential schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions, and cultures and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. these objectives were based on the assumption that aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, ‘to kill the indian in the child.’ today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country. the government recognizes that the absence of an apology has been an impediment to healing and reconciliation. therefore, on behalf of the government of canada and all canadians, i stand before you, in this chamber so central to our life as a country, to apologize to aboriginal peoples for canada’s role in the indian residential schools system.” (government of canada, statement of apology to former students of indian residential schools, june 11, 2008). to redress the wrongs made to indigenous peoples, a truth and reconciliation commission was created, and it functioned from 2008 to 2015. the truth and reconciliation commission of canada (2012) proposed calls to action in the following fields: child welfare, education, language and culture, health, and justice. in the first nations control of the first nations education act (2014), prime minister harper proposes “adequate stable, predictable, and sustainable funding,” which enables “first nations to incorporate language and culture programming in the education curriculum.” (p. 1). some progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go. recognizing the importance of first nations, métis, and inuit (fnmi) history, canadian universities are trying to integrate indigenous knowledge in their b.ed. programs. some have added courses; others have developed degrees in indigenous studies or programs, like aboriginal teacher education program, indigenous teacher education, leadership, etc. however, there is still the challenge of how efficiently they approach this sensitive aspect of canadian history in their future classrooms. should there be a change in the teaching and learning practices? how could the course on curriculum and instruction in social studies be transformational? could indigenous experiences with indigenous peoples make a difference in the perception of indigenous peoples in pre-service teachers? could emotional knowledge be a way to integrate indigenous knowledge in the bachelor of education programs? 2. literature review the history of the residential school system (miller, 1996) shows that treaties prepared the framework for a devastating experience for indigenous peoples (white, maxim, & beavon, 2003). the davin report (1879) encouraged the opening of numerous residential schools whose purpose was cultural assimilation into canadian society. white and peters (2009) state “that school attendance was 51 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 compulsory for ten months of the year for all indigenous children over age six.” (p. 17). “residential schools were places of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. students were taught to be ashamed of their culture.” (p.19). “few students progressed past primary grades regardless of how many years were spent in school.” (p. 18). the 1940s-1950s was a re-evaluation period of government education policy. a government committee proposed that residential schools be closed, stating that they were not successful. according to the committee, students should enter the provincial school system (bear, 2001). however, this change was not successful either as the dropout rates of indigenous students from high school reached almost 94% (canada indian affairs branch, 1967). while the government initiated the closing of residential schools in the 1970s, the last one closed its doors in 1996. it is estimated that 150,000 first nations, metis, and inuit children attended residential schools. many did not survive the horrific conditions. in 1951, the indian act was amended (section 88) and stated that the provinces would have jurisdiction over the welfare of indigenous children. this amendment created the framework for the “sixties’ scoop” and facilitated the process of placing thousands of indigenous children in foster homes for adoption (blackstock, 2001). in 1981, 83% of first nations children were adopted by middle-class caucasian families (bagley et al., 1993). patrick johnston (1983), in his report for the canadian council for social development, was the first one to use the term of sixties’ scoop for this phenomenon. the impact of johnston’s report called for amendments to the child welfare policy (mosher et al., 2018). priority of adoption for indigenous children was given to extended indigenous families, then to indigenous families and, finally, to non-indigenous families (kimelman, 1985). it is undeniable that the sixties’ scoop adoptions had long-term effects on indigenous adults: the loss of cultural identity, low self-esteem, shame, and the list could continue (sinclair & dainard, 2016). after prime minister stephen harper apologized to indigenous students of residential schools for the wrong policy of assimilation, the united church and anglican church asked for forgiveness for the abuse perpetrated by their pastors. however, the roman catholic church, responsible for 70% of the indigenous schooling population, has not yet asked for forgiveness. following the apologies for residential schools, the provinces of manitoba in 2015, alberta in may 2018, and saskatchewan in january 2019 also apologized to the sixties’ scoop survivors for the wrong child care policies that undeniably affected their lives. it is a challenge to integrate this historical knowledge and change perceptions based on the external behaviors of many indigenous peoples. cultural and emotional knowledge could lead pre-service teachers to have a better understanding of indigenous peoples. teachers, through education, can make a difference and help millions of children to understand indigenous canadian history with the support of survivors of these two devastating and traumatic experiences: residential schools and sixties’ scoop. it is crucial to consider how learning and knowledge are both acquired and kept in the brain. anderson (1983, 1985, 1992) proposes a learning theory, the adaptive control of thought (act), in which he 52 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 describes three types of memory structures: declarative, procedural, and working memory. in this theory, knowledge begins as declarative information (what we know or static information) and becomes procedural knowledge (what we know how to do or dynamic information). the working memory (limited capacity) is associated with activating, or retrieving, or manipulating information. tyng et al. (2017) add another dimension to knowledge and state that emotion has a crucial impact on the cognitive processes facilitating encoding and retrieval of information. tyng et al. (2017) point out that emotions are critical in every aspect of cognition as they could increase or diminish learning and long-term memory retention. therefore, shen et al. (2009) also point out that the emotional aspect should be considered in designing educational courses to engage the students, improve learning, and facilitate retention in the long-term memory. the results of several studies show that human cognitive processes are affected by emotions, as well as attention, learning, and memory (phelps, 2004; um et al., 2012; vuilleumier, 2005). bratianu (2015) talks about three kinds of knowledge: rational knowledge, emotional knowledge, and spiritual knowledge. even though these three notions are used in management and leadership, the concept of emotional knowledge will be retained because the emotional thought echoes the relationship between emotions and cognitive activities (immordino-yang & damasio, 2007). emotional knowledge can also be related to decisions (hill, 2008). bratianu (2015) states, “breakthrough in brain science have revealed that people are primarily emotional decision-makers” (p. 2). emotional thought is defined as a “large overlap between cognition and emotion. […] encompasses processes of learning, memory, and decision making, in both social and non-social contexts.” (immordino-yang & damasio, 2007, p. 8). research in the neurosciences and the affective domain has changed the established relationship where cognition is related to objectivity and emotion to subjectivity. these two domains should be seen as interrelated continuous processes (damasio, 2012; hill, 2008; ledoux, 2002; robinson, watkins, & harmon-jones, 2013). it is essential to go beyond the cognitive and metacognitive activities for learning in education and add emotional knowledge to the curriculum (chia & holt, 2008; miller, wesley, & williams, 2012). it is reasonable to think that declarative knowledge is what pre-service teachers learn in a first nations course through lectures; procedural knowledge is what they do with that knowledge, which is kept in their long-term memory. now, regarding the emotional knowledge, it is how they will keep and transmit this knowledge. this is where the interaction between cognition and emotion takes place, and a decision is made on how pre-service teachers will approach the sensitive indigenous history in their future classrooms. 2.1 research objective the purpose of this two-year, 2019-2020, exploratory study is to examine pre-service teachers’ knowledge and perceptions of indigenous peoples and try to find a way to efficiently integrate this sensitive aspect of canadian history into the b.ed. courses. 2.1.1 research questions • should there be a change in the teaching and learning practices? 53 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 • how could the course on curriculum and instruction in social studies be transformational? • how could pre-service teachers change their perception of indigenous peoples? • could indigenous experiences with indigenous peoples make a difference in the perception of indigenous peoples in pre-service teachers? • could emotional knowledge be a way to integrate indigenous knowledge in the bachelor of education programs? 3. methods this research is a two-year (2019-2020) exploratory study that examines pre-service teachers’ knowledge of first nations history and how to prepare pre-service teachers to efficiently approach this sensitive aspect of canadian history in their future classrooms. the sample available to the researcher consists of 22 pre-service teacher students; 15 of them were four-year b.ed., and seven were two-year after degree b.ed. students. curriculum and instruction in elementary social studies course is delivered in the third year for the four-year b.ed. degree, and in the second year for after-degree students. it is an intensive professional course, just before their first practicum. the research instrument was a questionnaire about their knowledge of sixties’ scoop, residential schools, and blanket exercises. the responses were supported with reflection papers written after listening to the stories on sixties’ scoop and residential schools shared by two elders, a married couple. the wife’s family, middle-class, fostered and adopted indigenous children during the sixties’ scoop period. the husband is a survivor of the residential school system and witnessed the suffering of sixties’ scoop survivors. the 2019 presentation took place in a teepee tent where the students sat in a circle around a fire, and they had indigenous blankets with them. it was a presentation in an indigenous way of teaching and learning. at the end of the presentation, the students asked questions. after a period of questions, the students used the talking stick to share their perceptions and opinions. it was at the end of the course that the students completed the questionnaire. all the students of the 2019-2020 class agreed to complete the questionnaire. the 2020-2021 presentation took place online; because of covid-19 regulations, and only four students completed the survey. out of 22 students, 18 accepted to participate in the survey; 21 participated in a blanket exercise. all watched the documentary movie: we were children and wrote reflection papers. all voluntarily agreed to participate in this study and signed a consent form. a code number has been used for surveys and reflections to protect their identity and any information that could otherwise identify them. the surveys were compiled by an assistant and verified by the researcher. the results were put into graphs. 54 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 4. results the results of this survey are presented in graphs. comments will be added to each graph. figure 1. gender in canada, in june 2014, the percentages were distributed as follows: 68% females and 32% males; in 2017-2019, 76% females and 24% males. the trend of most females in the canadian education field is still in force. figure 2. year of birth as the graph shows, there is diversity in the years of birth. it is accurate to say that only one student was willing to become a teacher after finishing high school, and four students began to study one year 55 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 after finishing high school. more mature students are entering the teaching profession, and this is observed not only in the after-degree students but also in the four-year b.ed. degree. figure 3. country of birth canada is a country where diversity is welcomed and valued. in this study, even though diversity is welcomed, the majority are canadian students born in canada. figure 4. number of years in canada if not born in canada the number of students not born in canada is all mature students, and they have been living in canada between five and 23 years. 56 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 figure 5. attended elementary or high school in canada the percentage of students who attended both elementary and secondary schools is high (72%). the 28% left were mature students who were pursuing a four-year b.ed. degree. figure 6. where did you study the history of indigenous peoples? of all the students born in canada and attended elementary and secondary schools, 70% indicated that they studied the indigenous peoples’ history when they were in high school. the 30%, who learned about the indigenous peoples’ history in elementary, were mature students. they studied the relationships of indigenous peoples and settlers. the students who discovered the history of indigenous peoples at the university level were all canadian immigrants, mature students, and pursuing a four-year b.ed. degree. 57 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 figure 7. how much did you know about indigenous culture before former prime minister harper apologized to students of residential schools? the percentage of students who had good knowledge of indigenous culture before 2008 is meager (17%) compared with the percentage of students born in canada and attended elementary and high school (72%). it is reasonable to think that the historical background they had of indigenous peoples was more related to the commercial exchanges and relationships with the settlers than the intended assimilation of the government through residential schools and the sixties’ scoop policies. figure 8. how much knowledge did you have about what happened in residential schools before watching the documentary movie “we were children”? a change in indigenous history knowledge is observed after former prime minister stephen harper apologized to indigenous peoples for the harm inflicted to them with the assimilation policy of residential schools. a new chapter of canadian history has opened. this chapter reveals an indigenous population who suffered from psychological, physical, and sexual abuse from religious institutions in charge of residential schools. 58 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 figure 9. how did you feel after watching the movie? a variety of emotions, but sadness has the highest percentage, reaching a total of 83%. the students who had two or more feelings were the youngest ones. the following comments were made in the reflection papers: student # 01 “this documentary is raw and authentic. […] this movie is made out of tears, horror, trauma, and struggles since these unfortunate events unfolded. […] i feel embarrassed, ashamed, and sad that this is part of our history.” student # 02 “this movie was truly a roller coaster of emotions. i felt sad, angry, and disgusted with my own race.” student # 03 “i felt extremely angry, causing me to sob uncontrollably at one point.” student # 04 “it was a very sad movie because you got to see the atrocities that the first nations went through.” student #05 “for those who easily judge the aboriginal people, […] they should watch this documentary.” student # 06 “these stories were so raw and shocking that it hurt to listen to them and the way the people thought and felt at that time.” student # 07 “the movies was very difficult to watch, and i really struggled with the visuals presented although their treatment of the rape scenes was sensitively portrayed give the terrible content they needed to depict.” student # 08 59 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 “watching this documentary was extremely difficult because as someone who works with children, i cannot comprehend doing such cruel things to children.” student # 09 “it breaks my heart to know how those children were treated. […] while this movie is hard to watch, i think it was good to help me to actually picture what it was like in those schools and for the children.” student # 10 “i just can’t believe that people could justify institutions that would abuse, starve, rape, and molest children. watching them take away their culture, their language, and their sense of home broke my heart.” student # 11 “i remember hearing about residential schools for the first time in high school, and since then, i had a vague idea of what had occurred during the time and what atrocities the indigenous peoples had gone through.” student # 12 “i had never heard of residential schools until i started university, even though the last residential school closed when i was a high school student. […] my heart aches whenever i think of what those children endured.” student # 13 “i was born in the early 1980s in calgary, and we absolutely never talked about residential schools or the mistreatment of indigenous children.” student # 14 “i found it very difficult to watch the film […]; my emotions have been in a concoction of disbelief, anger, and disgust.” student # 15 “i felt sad, angry, and guilty.” student # 16 “i felt sad! the individuals who lived through residential schools now suffer from low self-esteem, loss of spiritual values, depression, substance abuse.” student # 17 “i felt guilty! no one deserves to be treated like how people were treated during the residential schools.” student # 18 “i felt sad! the children were treated like laborers and taught to be submissive and obedient in shameful cruel ways.” student # 19 “this is one of the saddest topics about the history of the indigenous peoples.” student # 20 60 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 “the government wanted to erase the child’s identity as a member of the aboriginal people’s community.” student # 21 “today, my eyes were opened even more to the concept of residential schools.” student # 22 “i need time to process that heavy information.” all these comments show the impact of a documentary movie. presenting the history of indigenous peoples considering their suffering could change the pre-service teachers’ perception. figure 10. has your view towards indigenous peoples changed after watching the movie? this high percentage of 61% could show the interconnection between declarative and emotional knowledge. in the 39% of students whose view towards indigenous peoples did not change, there was a mature canadian student and the four youngest students. these students were the same students who expressed two or more feelings after watching the movie. two of them had good knowledge about what happened inside the walls of residential schools. “i have previously heard an elder about his story of sexual abuse at the hands of priests while he was a student.” “i would consider myself someone who is educated in the first nations history, being metis myself, i have been exposed to a lot of the culture.” 61 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 figure 11. how much do you know about sixties’ scoop before attending the elders’ presentation? only 28% of the students had good knowledge of the sixties’ scoop, even though 72% were born in canada and attended elementary and secondary schools. some of the reflection comments depicted this lack of knowledge about the sixties’ scoop. “i had never really heard of the sixties’ scoop.” “i had never heard of the sixties’ scoop before today.” “i didn’t know much about the sixties scoop up until this presentation.” “in all honesty, this was the first time i’ve ever heard of the sixties’ scoop in my life.” “the sixties’ scoop came to my amazement because i had never heard about the situation until this day.” “i learned today that the sixties’ scoop was just another version of residential schooling with the ultimate goal to assimilate these first nations children into white culture.” figure 12. how did you feel after the elders’ presentation on the sixties’ scoop? 62 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 the emotion reaching the highest percentage about the sixties’ scoop was sadness, and it was also the highest percentage for the movie “we were children.” student # 01 “my initial thoughts were shock, anger, sadness, and how unaware i was of these horrendous events that took place in our very own communities.” student # 02 “i feel like i developed so much more empathy for their people and a deeper understanding of the pain, loss, and suffering they endured.” student # 03 “babies desperately need love and physical touch to live; it is appalling that babies would be so neglected.” student # 04 “i felt ashamed of the actions of the government.” student # 05 “i find the elders’ stories so valuable for a future teacher like us. […] i have worked with an indigenous student. after these stories, i realized that her drawings were her way of expressing her identity.” student # 06 “i think the worst part about the whole scoop is that a large portion of the children and babies were taken away for no reason at all.” student # 07 “sitting around the fire with blankets was a special memory that i will remember and treasure. hearing about the sixties’ scoop from both an indigenous elder and also a family member who had adopted siblings was really eye-opening.” student # 08 “thinking about children being purposely ripped from their families because they wanted to ‘take the indian out of them’ is so uneducated and inappropriate that my mind cannot even wrap around the concept.” student # 09 “the whole presentation was very emotional, which just made it more meaningful to me.” student # 10 “not only was it sad to hear that the speaker’s siblings felt out of place and confused, but it was more disheartening to hear that her family didn’t even know that they were part of the assimilation plan.” student # 11 “it deeply saddened my heart to know that so many people suffer from the sixties’ scoop still today, and many of them have yet to find who they are and their own identity.” 63 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 student # 12 “my heart hurts for those mothers whose children were basically stolen from them and for those children who grew up missing a piece of their identity.” student # 13 “as i listened, i couldn’t help but think about how i would feel, behave, and ultimately what i would become if someone took my babies from me. i couldn’t imagine.” student # 14 “i couldn’t marvel at the twisted thought process of the canadian federal and provincial governments in regards to their treatment of the first nations. i feel disgusted.” student # 15 “i felt sad, angry, and guilty.” student # 16 “canada’s real history is no longer a secret, and we must educate ourselves on the truth.” student # 17 “today was quite an emotional class for me as i heard stories about the history of the canadian aboriginals.” student # 18 “having children taken away from their homes was devastating to their entire community and culture.” student # 19 “it is important to understand the history to understand the pain and psychological warfare that has plagued the indigenous peoples for centuries.” student # 20 “the sixties’ scoop, it is so sad that so many children grew up without the understanding of their cultural heritage and the support of their family and communities.” student # 21 “there are lots of indigenous peoples struggling to find their identity because they did not have the opportunity to connect with their families and their roots over time and develop a sense of belonging.” student # 22 “it is so important to be aware of the history and have an awareness of what is still going on.” 64 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 figure 13. has your vision towards sixties’ scoop people changed after the elders’ presentation? these results show, once again, a high percentage of how pre-service teachers changed the way of seeing indigenous peoples. this high percentage of 83% could show the interconnection between declarative and emotional knowledge. the following thought by one of the students synthesizes the vision of the 83% who declared a change in their way of seeing indigenous peoples. "my perception and my opinion have greatly changed. […] i now understand why so many people are still hurting, […] children suffering, […]in drugs and alcohol abuse, suicides, etc." figure 14. how much knowledge did you have about the blanket exercise before attending university? the percentage of students who knew about the blanket exercise before attending university reaches 33%. it is reasonable to think that the majority of students did not know much about this activity. this activity illustrates the history of indigenous peoples and how it affected their lives and land. 65 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 figure 15. how did you feel after participating in the blanket exercise? like in the other activities, i.e., the movie, elders’ presentation, and blanket exercises, sadness reached the highest percentage. figure 16. in percentages, how much would you say that experiencing all the aforementioned indigenous activities have changed your perception towards indigenous peoples? the highest percentages on how much the movie, elders’ presentation, and blanket exercise have changed the students’ perception varied between 26% and 100%. it is realistic to say that all three activities impacted most students and changed their perception towards indigenous peoples. it is also reasonable to think that the students who did not have particular feelings about the blanket exercise, and whose change of perception ranged between 0% and 26%, was because they had already experienced this activity and had close contact with indigenous peoples. 66 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 figure 17. have your perception toward indigenous peoples changed if knowledge was given only through lectures without experiencing indigenous activities? the highest percentage regarding a change of students’ perception of indigenous history seems related to how the teaching is delivered to pre-service teachers. the results indicate a possible link between declarative and emotional knowledge. figure 18. would you treat indigenous children/students differently now? these results show how three different activities or indigenous experiences have had a profound impact on pre-service teachers. some of the comments in their reflections confirm even some decisions taken for their future classrooms. “my goal as a teacher is to create a culturally sound environment where we talk about history not as something of the past but as something we are continually shaping. i want my students to understand the past so we, together, can create a better tomorrow.” 67 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 “our history is unfortunate and has some serious ugly parts in it, but i believe it is crucial to educate future students about mistakes we have made as a society.” “i hope that as a teacher, i can spread the light of love and culture to all my students.” “i think what i learned today has helped me become better prepared for teaching first nations students.” “as teachers, we need to be intentional about including indigenous ways of knowing into our lessons.” “i want to be as understanding and educated as i can so that i can reach my first nations students.” “i think it is important to educate our students on these topics so that it never happens again.” figure 19. would you be willing to learn more about how indigenous children/students interact and learn? the results show that most pre-service teachers are interested in learning more about how indigenous children learn. the students who said, “maybe” have already experienced close contact with indigenous children. 68 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 figure 20. have you heard about the eight aboriginal ways of learning? the results show that a high percentage of pre-service teachers have not heard about the eight aboriginal ways of learning, even though several studies have been undertaken on indigenous pedagogy in the classroom (barlett et al., 2012; mcnally, 2004; toulouse, 2011; yunkaporta & kirby, 2011). it is reasonable to think that the eight aboriginal ways of learning were not integrated into the b.ed. method courses of the program. pre-service teachers, however, have manifested their interest in learning more about indigenous ways of learning. 5. conclusions the results of this study show a lack of knowledge of pre-service teachers regarding indigenous canadian history. surprisingly, 72% of canadians who attended elementary and secondary schools were not aware of what happened inside the walls of residential schools until former prime minister, stephen harper, apologized to indigenous peoples. regarding the sixties’ scoop, the percentages of pre-service teachers having some knowledge, little knowledge, or no knowledge reached 72%. the three indigenous experiences: the movie we were children, the elders’ presentation in a teepee, sitting in a circle, around a fire, with indigenous blankets, and the blanket exercise, deeply touched the pre-service teachers. from all students’ emotions, sadness charted the highest percentage in all three activities. the results indicate that 78% of pre-service teachers would not have changed their perception of indigenous peoples if knowledge was acquired through lectures only (declarative knowledge). it is reasonable to think that experiencing indigenous activities with indigenous individuals could make a difference in their perception. these individuals were survivors of residential schools or the sixties’ scoop. the comments made on the reflection papers show that emotions played an essential role in grasping the history and changing their perception of indigenous peoples, which varied between 26% and 100%. this change is an indicator of how canadian universities could make the curriculum and instruction in social studies course a transformational 69 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 course. it was beyond expectations their willingness to treat indigenous children otherwise after learning indigenous history differently. the results also show that 89% of pre-service teachers are willing to learn more about how indigenous children learn and to offer them a safe environment in their future classrooms. university professors can be specialists in social studies, but only indigenous peoples are specialists in emotional knowledge. it is their history. it would be naïve to think that the results of this small sample could make canadian universities overcome the challenge to integrate the indigenous historical reality in the bachelor of education programs. more research is needed. still, it is reasonable to assume that experiential and emotional knowledge could potentially change the perception of indigenous peoples as demonstrated in this study. references anderson, j. r. 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(2011). yarning up aboriginal pedagogies: a dialogue about eight aboriginal ways of learning. in n. purdie, g. milgate, & h. r. bell (eds.), two-way teaching and learning: toward culturally reflective and relevant education (pp. 205-213). acer press. retrieved from http://research.acer.edu.au/indigenous_education/38/ 72 published by scholink inc. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sixties-scoop https://lop.parl.ca/staticfiles/publicwebsite/home/researchpublications/legislativesummaries/pdf/41-2/c33-e.pdf https://lop.parl.ca/staticfiles/publicwebsite/home/researchpublications/legislativesummaries/pdf/41-2/c33-e.pdf http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/calls_to_action_english2.pdf https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01454 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026609 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2005.10.011 http://research.acer.edu.au/indigenous_education/38/ original paper indigenous knowledge, indigenous experiences with residential schools and sixties’ scoop, and their impact on emotional knowledge for pre-service teachers education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 13 original paper study on effectiveness of online peer review in c-e translation licheng pan1 1 wenzhou medical university, wenzhou, china received: november 10, 2023 accepted: december 1, 2023 online published: december 25, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p13 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p13 abstract the author collects data from an online peer review platform (peerceptive), where 25 junior english majors in wenzhou medical university were asked to exchange peer reviews of first drafts of 2 translation assignments and then make modifications on their own translation works based on peer reviews they received. the author analyzes the acceptance rate of peer reviews of 12 students, who are divided into 3 groups, good, average and weak based on their academic performance in their previous semester. the author also compares the test performance of the 12 students at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester. finally, the author hands out questionnaires to collect students’ perceptions and attitudes towards online peer review in c-e translation. based on a comprehensive and statistic analysis of the data collected from the 2 assignments, 1 test and 1 questionnaire, the author draws a conclusion that online peer review is beneficial for english major students in c-e translation. keywords online peer review, c-e translation, english major students 1. introduction peer review is a prevalent way of improving students’ translation ability at home and abroad. there is an increasing use of peer review in classrooms and other learning settings, especially in recent years (li h. l. et al., 2020, pp. 193-211). since about 1950s, lots of researches have been carried out by scholars of different countries in different intellectual fields. for example, rotsaert tijs et al. did a study to explore the relationship between students’ perceptions of peer assessment (pa) and its social nature (2017., pp. 29-40). li h. l.et al. did a meta-analysis to find out that whether peer assessment can promote students’ learning (pp. 193-211). garcia-loro felix spent two decades in doing research in l2 peer review (p. 154). and most of them made a conclusion that peer review makes a great contribution to students’ learning. for example, it can cultivate students’ learning autonomy and deepen their understanding of translation www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 14 published by scholink inc. principles and strategies (li x., p. 87). peer feedback can encourage students’ autonomy learning, enhance a sense of audience among student writers, improve students’ awareness of strengths and weakness in their peers’ writing, involve students in constructing their own knowledge in the process of peer feedback and exercise their cooperative skills (jiang, p. 19). peer assessment in general has a positive effect on students’ learning performance (li h. s. et al., 2013, pp. 193-211). peer evaluation is a feasible and effective teaching method, which can enable learners to construct and internalize knowledge and master the right process of translation skills to enable students to be “involved in the whole process of learning” (gong, 2014, p. 1). thence numerous teachers have put peer review into practice in their teaching. and in doing peer review, traditionally, students must be gathered at a specific place or time so that they can meet each other and have peer review successfully. but with the fast development of technology, a new form of peer review was created in recent few decades. with a lot of peer review platforms designed and developed, teachers and students are able to do peer review on the internet without the limitation of time and place. by analyzing the articles published in key academic journals abroad and at home as well as with the help of scientific text mining software, it can be found that online peer review is both a hot issue and frontier (dong et al., 2020, p. 63). especially in this period of pandemic, online peer review shed its light all over the world. with the support of the online platform, the author focuses on the research of online peer review to see its effectiveness. the research would focus on students’ attitude and perception towards online peer review as well as whether students have made any improvements in their translation after a semester’s online peer review practice. through collecting data from 2 online translation assignments, 1 test and 1 questionnaire of 12 students, the author makes a comprehensive and analytical analysis of the data and conduct a conclusion that online peer review can improve students’ c-e translation ability in some degree. 2. literature review 2.1 research trend of peer review peer review, also known as peer feedback or peer response, refers to the exchange of drafts between two or among multiple learners for oral, written or a mix of oral and written feedback (rotsaert tijs et al., 2017, pp. 29-40). in the late twentieth century, with the spread of process-oriented approach in western countries, peer review gradually became an important subject in research field. at home, chinese scholars mainly focus on the application of pr in writing and translation. jiang y. (2013), feng l. j. (2012) and bai l. r. (2013) all did a research about peer review in the field of writing. the first two researches all confirmed the positive effect that peer review has on students’ writing ability, such as improving the overall level of writing proficiency and writing level and raising students’ interests in english writing. while the third one drew a conclusion that peer review lacks some feasibility in real life. dong z. et al. (2020) did a research about the frontiers and hot issues of peer review. the author pointed out that there are 5 hot issues and 3 frontiers. they are online peer review, peer comment, peer review www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 15 published by scholink inc. perception, feedback comparison and peer review training. online peer review, peer comment and peer review perception are both hot issues and frontiers. in western countries, scholars have different views of peer review. double kit et al. (2019) and li h. l. et al. (2019) analyzed the effect of peer review on study by the way of meta-analysis. s.double confirmed that as a formative practice, peer review has a positive effect on improving students’ learning performance. li h. l. also confirmed the positive effect of peer review, but he also pointed out that if students are well trained or they can use online peer review instead of traditional peer review, peer review would have a better effect. shen b. et al. (2020) is devoted to exploring the influence of peer review on students’ autonomous learning ability. it can be seen from the research that using peer review instead of teacher feedback can better enhance students’ language acquisition. at the same time, peer review can also reduce students’ dependence on teachers and enhance students’ confidence in their own learning ability. the research of garcia-loro and his co-authors focus on online peer review (garcia-loro et al., 2020). their research was based on the platform of mooc, with the purpose of exploring effectiveness of peer review. however, the final research result shows that peer review data collected from mooc are not completely reliable. in short, scholars have agreed on the positive effect of peer review in writing and language acquisition. the effectiveness influence includes not only improvement in performance, but also attitude, affections, confidence, autonomy, etc. 2.2 peer review in translation teaching peer review has been applied in many fields, but it is mainly used by people in the field of translation. and few domestic scholars have conducted some researches on it. for example, li x. s. and ke p. (2013) studied the effect of peer review from the perspective of translation. and their researches have confirmed the positive effect of peer review in translation teaching. they conducted the conclusion that peer review is conducive to cultivating learners’ abilities of independent and cooperative learning, strengthening the awareness of revision and improving the quality of translation, and most importantly, facilitating the transition of translation teaching in china to a process-oriented approach. zhuang y. s. (2016) studied the influence of peer review on students’ motivation level from the perspective of chinese-english simultaneous interpretation. the research proves that in chinese-english simultaneous interpretation teaching, peer review plays a certain role in promoting learners’ internalization of learning motivation. and for the first time, it proposes that individual differences have a great influence on the effect of peer evaluation in practice. gong b. s. (2014) explored the effectiveness and feasibility of peer review from the perspective of translation. it can be seen from the research that peer evaluation is feasible and effective in the translation teaching of postgraduate translation majors. it can deepen the students’ understanding of texts and enhance the intention of cooperation. in conclusion, peer review in translation and interpretation has started to emerge, and in accordance with the result of the peer review research in writing courses, scholars confirmed the effectiveness of peer review in translation courses as well. but with the fast development of online platform, online peer review has become a hot issue in china in recent years. however, there are few researches about it in china. based on the above studies, this paper explores the effectiveness of online peer review in c-e translation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 16 published by scholink inc. 3. theoretical background peer review has its theoretical support from constructivism and collaborative learning. under the guidance of behaviorist theory, product-focused approach plays a major role in traditional writing and translation teaching. in product-focused approach, teachers only care about the final result of the translation instead of the procedure. and in this process, students communicate little with their classmates, all they need to do is to finish their own translation works. under this circumstance, translation is totally an individual work rather than group work. but with the development of psychology, social constructivism starts to replace the behaviorist theory. glasersfeld (1989) described constructivism as “a theory of knowledge with roots in philosophy, psychology, and cybernetics”. it derived from the cognitive psychology and was put forward by piaget in 1960s. since then, constructivism has been widely used in all aspects. jiang y. (2013) pointed out that constructivism formed its unique principles and ideas in education. learners are active constructors of knowledge and the center of learning, they should get involved in problem-solving actively. it can be seen that constructivism emphasizes the active role of learners in the construction of knowledge. and in online peer review, students become the center of learning and have the chance to cultivate their problem-solving and critical thinking ability. as an important constituent of the constructivist learning theory, collaborative learning plays a key role in explaining the construction of knowledge acquisition. collaborative learning starts from the collectivity of the teaching process and emphasizes the interaction between students. no matter what the subject is, compared with other teaching forms, the mode of group cooperative learning enables students to acquire more knowledge, and the learning effect is better and more lasting (gong, 2014, p. 76). from this point of view, collaborative learning can cultivate students’ consciousness of cooperation and promote learners to explore the application of translation theories and strategies in the translation practice. in short, social constructivism emphasizes the role of students themselves. they hold that students are the subject of learning and they should try to grasp and process information on their own. 4. quantitative study 4.1 research purpose in order to test out the effectiveness of online peer review in translation teaching, the research probes into, firstly, how much the students accept the rate of peer comments towards their translation works and, especially, how accurately they accept their peer comments, and secondly, any improvement they make on the second test which is done at the end of the semester by students, and thirdly, students’ perception and attitudes towards online peer comment. this article breaks down research purpose into four questions: (1) what are the students’ acceptance rates towards suggestions given by classmates? is there any difference between groups of different level? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 17 published by scholink inc. (2) what are the students’ accuracy rates about the suggestions given by classmates? is there any difference between groups of different level? (3) is there any improvement on students’ translation ability after the semester? on what point do they have improvement? is there any difference between groups of different level? (4) what are the students’ attitudes toward online peer review? 4.2 research subject the subject of this article are 12 english major students (9girls, 3boys) of renji college of 2017. they are divided into three different groups, namely good, average, weak according to their academic performance in the previous semester. they have received e-c translation course 1 semester before. thence they have grasped some basic translation knowledge and skills about translation, but they practiced little in their studies. they are required to take c-e translation course in the second semester of 2019-2020. before this semester, they are not very familiar with the online peer review about translation. all they did before was the online peer review about writing. so teacher introduced the ways and procedures of online peer review in the initial classes. when given an assignment, students are firstly asked to produce their first drafts and upload them to peerceptive platform. then, the teacher will choose typical translation works for students to discuss, to identify major errors and make possible improvements. based on students’ discussion of errors, students and the teacher work together to produce a specific rubric for assessing and grading this piece of work. the rubric contains three dimensions, namely, sentence, vocabulary and text. after students have made the rubric and learned them in heart, each student needs to log in peerceptive platform and check the translation work of three peers. they need to give comments to their peers’ work in aspects of sentence, vocabulary and text. they also need to assign a value to each of their peers’ work. that means they need to grade their peers’ work. after the first peer assessment is over, students need to improve their versions based on the suggestions and comments they have received and produce a second draft, which is also required to upload to peerceptive platform. both the verbal comments students give to their peers as well as the two drafts of each of the assignments will be collected for research study in this paper. 4.3 research materials and data the material of the test is selected from tem8 and it is finished by students before the semester and after the semester respectively. students did not get a chance to check their answer after they finished the test before the semester. students were asked whether the test they have done before the semester influenced their performance at the end of the test, and all of their answers were negative. all of the tests were collected as soon as they were finished by students. and materials of the two assignments are abstracts of two proses which are equal to tem8. students have never seen them before. their grades are judged from three levels, word, sentence and text. both www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 18 published by scholink inc. the verbal comments students give to their peers as well the two drafts of two assignments will be collected from the platform of peerceptive. the results of 1 questionnaire which includes 14 questions are also collected. the questionnaire includes five main parts, the experience of online peer review, advantages and disadvantages of online peer review, if online peer review is helpful, the preferences in the online peer review, problems encountered in the process of online peer review. 4.4 data analysis 4.4.1 the comparison of a test at the beginning of the semester versus at the end of the semester 12 students are divided into three groups, namely good, average, and weak according to their academic performance in the last semester. five points are selected as observation points or rich points (see table 1). based on the research result of corpus-based tem-8 grading system (chen, 2011, p. 91), the author identifies the following five points as observation points. they are listed as followings. for each observation point, the table includes the chinese expression and its acceptable english translations. table 1. judging criteria observation point 1 多大意义 observation point 2 估计 observation point 3 一切..人..当他 observation point 4 古来 observation point 5 不肯..不让 how significant to estimate all people…they from ancient to now instead of how meaningful measure the one who…he since ancient dynasties rather than how important to assess those…they through history how valuable to judge throughout the ages according to the above judging criteria, total mistakes of 12 students’ pre-test text and their post-test texts are counted in following table. table 2. mistakes in the test done at the beginning and at the end of the semester group text done at the beginning of the semester text done at the end of the semester weak 16 11 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 19 published by scholink inc. average good 11 6 3 2 it can be seen from the table that the weak group made the largest amount of mistakes in both pre-test and post-test and the group of good had the least amount of mistakes in both pre-text and post-text. it can be seen from the table that the group of average makes the biggest improvement. as for the group of weak, there is a 31.3% improvement in their translation work throughout a whole semester of online peer comment practice. as for the group of average, there is a 72.7% improvement in their translation work after one semester’s online peer review. as for the group of good, there is a 66.7% improvement in their translation work after one semester’s online peer review. the group of weak has the least improvement after one semester’s online peer review which may be attributed by their relatively unserious attitudes. the group of average and good have a great improvement in their translation ability which may be attributed by the serious attitudes and good understandings of suggestions given by classmates. the following two tables are designed to find out students’ performances in each of the observation points. table 3. mistakes in the text done at the beginning of the semester group observation point 1 observation point 2 observation point 3 observation point 4 observation point 5 weak 3 3 3 3 4 average 2 2 1 3 3 good 1 0 2 1 2 table 4. mistakes in the text done at the end of the semester group observation point observation point 2 observation point 3 observation point 4 observation point 5 weak 0 3 2 3 3 average 0 1 1 1 0 good 0 0 0 0 2 it can be seen from the tables that students make the largest number of mistakes in observation point 5. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 20 published by scholink inc. as for all groups, they correct 100% of mistakes in observation point 1, 20% of mistakes in observation point 2, 50% of mistakes in observation point 3, 42.9% of mistakes in observation point 4, 44.4% of mistakes in observation point 5. in a whole, we can draw a conclusion that after receiving online peer review, students have improvement in word, grammar and text level. but compared with word and grammar level, the improvement in text level is the smallest. most of students think that mistakes in text are hard to find so they can give or get few suggestions in text level. 4.4.2 analysis of questionnaires 19 students have finished the questionnaire, including the 12 students whose pre-test text and post-test text has been analyzed. there are 14 questions in the questionnaire. the questionnaire can be concluded into the following 5 parts: previous online peer review experience, the advantages and disadvantages of online peer review, the helpfulness of online peer review, preferences of the online peer review and the problems in the online peer review. as for the first part, the experience of online peer review, we can see from the questionnaire that all the students have participated in peer review before and all of them practiced peer review online on the platform of peerceptive, chaoxing xuexitong, bingguo and weizhujiao. as for the second part, advantages and disadvantages of online peer review, 89.47% classmates think that online peer review is free from the limitation of time and place and consequently they can have online peer review anywhere and anytime. but online peer review also has disadvantages. 73.68% students hold that the effectiveness of online peer review might be reduced because of the lack of supervision from teachers and that some platforms have a very complex procedure of doing online peer review which is not conducive to the online peer review. as for the third part, the helpfulness of online peer review, 68.42% students hold that online peer review improves their translation ability in a large degree. and 5.26% students hold that online peer review contributes little to their translation ability. as for the fourth part, the preferences in the online peer review, 57.89% students prefer online peer review and 21.05% students prefer traditional peer review.10.53% students like both ways of peer review. as for the fifth part, problems encountered in the process of online peer review, 94.74% students point out that the comments given by classmates are too general and 21.05% students say their classmates don not review their texts. in conclusion, almost all the students have experienced the peer review before thanks to the numerous online writing and translation platforms. most students prefer to do peer review on the internet because they think online peer review is not only time-saving but also more helpful. most students think online peer review helps improving their translation abilities, and lack of supervision and guidance from the teacher is considered as the biggest obstacle to the effectiveness of online peer review. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 21 published by scholink inc. 4.4.3 students’ acceptance rate of suggestions in two assignments the 12 students are divided into three different groups, good, average, weak, according to their academic performance in the previous semester. table 5. acceptance rate of peer suggestions in 1st assignment of the semester group suggestions acceptance accuracy weak 61 51 48 average 36 26 23 good 54 41 40 table 6. acceptance rate of peer suggestions in 2nd assignment of the semester group suggestion acceptance accuracy weak 64 52 51 average 58 46 42 good 43 36 36 in regard to the table 5, it can be calculated that the total acceptance rate and the total accuracy rate of assignment 1 are respectively 78.1% and 94.1%. in regard to the table 6, it can be calculated that the total acceptance rate and the total accuracy rate of assignment 2 are respectively 81.2% and 96.3%. through the above data, we can know that the total acceptance rates of two assignments are close, they are respectively 78.1% and 81.2%. at the same time, the total accuracy rates of two assignments are close too, they are respectively 94.1% and 96.3%. the statistics show that students all have a serious attitude towards two assignments. in regard to different groups, the total acceptance rates and accuracy rates of assignment 1 and assignment 2 combined together are as follows: the total acceptance rate and the total accuracy rate of the weak group are highest, at 82.5% and 96.1% respectively; the total acceptance rate and the total accuracy rate of the good group are second, at 79.8% and 98.8% respectively; the total acceptance rate and the total accuracy rate of the average group are lowest, at 75.8% and 89.9%. the group of average has the lowest rate of acceptance and accuracy rate seems not consistent with the outcome from the comparison between pre-test and post-test as discussed in 4.4.1. one reasonable justification is that they insist more in the correctness of their own ideas when they amend their texts so they take relatively fewer suggestions from their peers. this, to some degree, shows that they are more www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 22 published by scholink inc. willing to think independently and try to accept more alternatives. this good quality eventually helps them to improve in their abilities, as is shown in the improvement in their post-tests. 5. results and discussion 5.1 major findings by analyzing the data collected from 2 assignments, 1 test done by 12 students and 1 questionnaire finished by 19 classmates, this paper talks about the effectiveness of online peer review. and all the data show that online peer review is practical and beneficial for english major students in improving their ce translation ability. the major findings are listed as follows: (1) students hold a positive attitude towards online peer review because they think that online peer review is more conducive for themselves compared with tradition peer review. (2) after a semester’ peer review, there is an improvement in students’ translation ability especially in words level. this outcome is consistent with the findings from the questionnaires. according to the questionnaire, 84.21% students believe that online peer review can help them cultivate independent thinking ability and the ability of solving problems individually. (3) the group of average benefits most from online peer review. compared with two other groups, they are more critical and judgemental when accepting their peers’ work (as shown in the lowest rate of acceptance in their peer’s suggestions), which is a good quality that eventually helps them to improve most in their translation abilities (as shown in the improvement they make in post-test). (4) according to the questionnaire, students are more likely to do peer review on the internet compared with traditional peer review. when they do peer review on the internet, they have more confidence to do it better and they are free from the limitation of time and place. in a word, online peer review is an efficient and practical way of teaching translation. it can not only improve students’ translation work but also cultivate students’ cooperative consciousness. 5.2 limitations (1) the students involved in this paper are relatively few, so the data of this paper will be greatly influenced if there is any mistake of the date collected from the students’ translation work and questionnaires. (2) the improvements of students’ translation texts are all contributed to classmates’ suggestions without considering the possibility that students improve their texts by searching information on the internet themselves. (3) there is no control group in the online peer review, so the improvement in students’ translation ability can not be all attributed to online peer review. the only thing for sure is that this semester’s translation teaching which is based on the online peer review is successful. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 23 published by scholink inc. 6. conclusion the study shows online peer review is welcomed among students and is of great effectiveness in c-e translation course. in the process of online peer review, most students are motivated by the new form of course and benefits from the process of exchanging their comments and thinking critically to solve problems during the process. considering its effectiveness, online peer review can be actively incorporated into c-e translation course or other similar courses. another implication from the study is teachers, when applying peer review in class, need to pay attention to group differences. the weak group need to be encouraged and given more instructions as to how to think independently and bravely. references bai, l. r. (2013). the test of the feasibility and effectiveness of peer feedback in basic english writing. journal of pla university foreign languages, 36, 51-56+127-128. chen, y. (2010). learners’ translation corpus and chinese-english text translation tests. theory and practice of foreign language teaching, 2. dong, z. et al. (2020). hot issues and frontiers of peer review studies in l2 writing. foreign language research, 6(2020). double kit s. et al. (2020). the impact of peer assessment on academic performance: a meta-analysis of control group studies. education psychology review, 32(6), 481-509. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09510-3 feng, l. j. (2012). peer assessment of college students in chinese efl writing—a case study (ma thesis). central china normal university. garcia-loro, f. (2020). reviewing and analyzing peer review inter-rater reliability in a mooc platform. in computer & education (p. 154). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103894 glasersfeld. (1989). constructivism in education. the international encyclopedia of education (supplement vol.1.) oxford/new york pergamon press. gong, b. s. (2014). the feasibility and effectiveness of peer review in translation teaching (ma thesis). beijing foreign studies university. hurtado. (n.d.). data collection and analysis. retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com jiang, y. (2013). a study of effects of peer feedback and self-assessment in college english writing from the perspective of constructivism (ma thesis). southwestern university of finance and economics. li, h. l. et al. (2020). does peer assessment promote student learning? a meta-analysis. assessment & evaluation in higher education, 45(2), 193-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2019.1620679 li, x. s. (2013). the effect and pedagogical significance of peer assessment in translation teaching. foreign language learning theory and practice, 2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09510-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103894 https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2019.1620679 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 24 published by scholink inc. rotsaert tijs et al. (2017). how do students perceive the educational value of peer assessment in relation to its social nature? a survey study in flanders. studies in educational evaluation, 53, 29-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2017.02.003 shen, b. et al. (2020). the effects of peer assessment on learner autonomy: an empirical study in a chinese college english writing class. studies in educational evaluation, 64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2019.100821 zhao, h. j. (2020). a study on the application of peer evaluation in translation teaching for english majors. journal of tianjing foreign studies university, 27, 121-135+161. zhuang, y. s. (2016). influence of peer review on students’ motivation in chinese to english simultaneous interpreting teaching (ma thesis). beijing foreign studies university. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2017.02.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2019.100821 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper when students’ and teachers’ views on good mathematics teaching limit co-teaching in mathematics hanna palmér1* 1 linnaeus university, department of mathematics, växjö, sweden * hanna palmér, linnaeus university, department of mathematics, växjö, sweden received: september 9, 2020 accepted: september 25, 2020 online published: october 16, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n2p66 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n2p66 abstract the empirical material in this paper is from a swedish upper secondary school where the mathematics lessons over the last two years have been co-taught. co-teaching implies that two teachers are most often present in the classrooms during the mathematics lessons. despite this additional support, students’ performance in mathematics remained low and this is why a professional development program was initiated. the aim of the professional development program was to find new ways to increase the number of approved students. at the start of this professional development program, classroom observations and a questionnaire were conducted with teachers and students. the results indicate that teachers’ and students’ views on good mathematics teaching became a limitation for the design of the co-taught lessons. thus, to increase the number of approved students, teachers’ and students’ views on good mathematics teaching ought to be the focus of the professional development program. keywords co-teaching, mathematics, professional development, teachers’ views, students’ views 1. introduction this paper is based on empirical material from a professional development program at a swedish upper secondary school. all the mathematics teachers at the school were involved in a one-year professional development program where the author of this paper acted as organiser and facilitator. according to liljedal (2014), research on the professional development of mathematics teachers can be sorted into studies focused on knowledge and/or beliefs, on the method used in the professional development program or on the effectiveness of the professional development program. furthermore, research on professional development generally focuses on change of some kind. as the core of professional 66 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 development is teachers developing their teaching for the benefit of students’ learning, some kind of change is always present in professional development programs (sowder, 2011; avalos, 2011). the aim with the professional development program at the school in this study was to increase the number of approved students in mathematics. the majority of the students at the school are involved in vocational programs with one obligatory mathematics course. many of the students fail this course even though its content is almost identical to the final mathematics course at lower secondary school. thus, even though the students have passed a similar mathematics course at lower secondary school, many of them have problems with the mathematics course at upper secondary school. to improve students’ learning, co-teaching in mathematics was implemented at the school two years ago. co-teaching implies that most often two mathematics teachers are present in the classrooms during the mathematics lessons. however, despite this many student still have problems with the obligatory mathematics course why the aim of the professional development program was to find new ways to increase the number of approved students. knowledge of practice was chosen as approach for the professional development program at the school. this approach has become increasingly prominent in recent years as it has shown to promote teachers to develop their teaching for the benefit of students’ learning (avalos, 2011; sowder 2007). the approach implies teachers’ using their own classrooms to investigate learning, knowledge and theories (cochran-smith & lytle, 1999). a challenge with a knowledge of practice approach is that teachers sometimes reinterpret new guidelines and their own teaching in ways that enable them to avoid changes (morgan, 2009). thus, the first step of the professional development program was to investigate and describe the ongoing mathematics teaching at the school. as mentioned, the ongoing mathematics teaching at the school was conducted through co-teaching. co-teaching has evolved from inclusive educational practices and even though it has been used since the 1960’s (cook & friend, 1995) it has increased in later years (roos, 2019). however, at the school focused on in this paper the initiative for co-teaching was not mainly inclusion but to increase the number of approved students in mathematics. the first step in the professional development program was to investigate and describe the ongoing mathematics teaching. classroom observations of mathematics lessons were made by the researcher. the observed mathematics lessons were most often co-taught by two mathematics teachers. also, a questionnaire was conducted with teachers and students. one part of this questionnaire focused on connections between teachers’ teaching and students’ learning as well as on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning. the issue to be elaborated on in this paper is possible connections between teachers’ and students’ answers on the questionnaire and the design of the observed co-taught mathematics lessons. more explicit the paper will focus on the following research questions: what are the teachers’ and students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning? 67 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 how can the observed co-teaching be understood in relation to teachers’ and students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning? in the professional development program, the aim with investigating these questions was to understand the present to be able to promote changes that hopefully would increase the number of approved students in mathematics in the future. however, in this paper the aim with investigating these questions is to increase knowledge of the conditions for co-teaching in mathematics since this is a field rarely investigated (magiera, zigmond, & practice, 2005). 1.1 co-teaching co-teaching in mathematics takes place in both primary and secondary school (scruggs, mastropieri, & mcduffie, 2007) and can be conducted very differently (examples below), both when it comes to the categories of teachers that work together and how the teaching in the classroom is organized (cook & friend, 1995). despite these differences, co-teaching can be understood as “two or more professionals delivering substantive instruction to a diverse, or blended, group of students in a single physical space” (cook & friend, 1995, p. 1). the most common form of co-teaching is when one subject teacher and one special education teacher work together in an inclusive classroom (scruggs, mastropieri, & mcduffie, 2007). thus, the co-teaching model at the upper secondary school in this study with two mathematics teachers co-teaching is less common. no matter what categories of teachers that collaborate, cook and friend (1995) have found five different organizations of co-teaching; one teach-one support, station teaching, alternative teaching, parallel teaching and team teaching. one teach-one support implies a classroom where the lessons are conducted in whole class and one teacher leads the lessons and the other teacher offers individual support to students. in station teaching the content of the lesson is divided into two segments presented in separate stations in the classroom between which the students rotate. the two teachers have responsibility for one station each. in alternative teaching one teacher works with a large group of students while the other teacher works with a small group of students. the content in these groups may or may not be the same. in parallel teaching the class is divided in halves and the teachers teach the “same lesson” at the same time but to one of the groups each. finally, team teaching implies that both teachers share the instruction in one classroom, thus the class is not split and both teachers are responsible for the instructions to the whole class. a meta-synthesis of 32 qualitative studies on co-teaching (not specially focused on mathematics education) shows that the organization one teach-one support is the dominant organization of co-teaching with few examples of “truly collaborative models” (p. 411) and few visible changes of classroom instructional practices. further, the meta-synthesis shows that many teachers involved in co-teaching believe that co-teaching has a positive effect on students learning and on the professional development of the teachers. according to the meta-synthesis administrative support, volunteerism, compatibility of co-teachers, joint planning time and teacher training are important factors for successful co-teaching (scruggs, mastropieri, & mcduffie, 2007). even cook and friend (1995) 68 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 emphasize that co-teaching ideally includes collaboration in all facets of the educational process including designing intervention strategies, evaluating student progress, assess students learning and evaluating the effectiveness of the co-teaching process. 1.2 the school the upper secondary school focused on in this paper is located in a medium-sized swedish town. the school offers several vocational tracks and one academic track (all tracks are three years). the grades required to be accepted at the school are quite low compared to the average on a national level (swedish national agency for education, 2019). however, the grades required to be accepted at the school are similar to other schools offering mainly vocational tracks. for the students at the vocational tracks, one mathematics course is obligatory. for the students at the academic track, two mathematics courses are obligatory. in sweden, the grades a-f are used where a implies excellent and f implies fail. the students at the vocational tracks must have at least grade e on their obligatory mathematics course to get their certificate. students at the academic track must have at least grade e to be qualified for any further studies at university. the grades among the students who took the first obligatory mathematics course (thus students from both vocational and academic tracks) the year before the professional development program was initiated were distributed as follows (table 1). table 1. distribution of grades the previous term grade a b c d e f number of students 5 13 44 43 106 36 there are several possible explanations for the low grades, for example lack of substantial pre-knowledge, less good mathematics education at the upper secondary school, students having poor self-esteem, bad motivation, fixed mindsets, etc. however, whatever the explanation might be, the problem remains that the most common grade is an e and that several students fail the obligatory mathematics course. as mentioned, in an attempt to reverse this trend, co-teaching in mathematics was implemented at the school two years before the professional development program was initiated. based on organizational matters, the headmasters decide which pair of teachers that co-teach. during the two years the most mathematics lessons have been co-taught by two mathematics teachers. if needed, there are special education mathematics teachers available at the school. however, despite this addition of co-teaching in mathematics the low exit grades remains (table 1). these low grades were the starting point for a professional development program aiming at increasing the number of approved students in the mathematics course. 69 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 2. method the initiative for the professional development program came from the headmasters and, based on this initiative, the author of this paper acted as organizer and facilitator. all 16 teachers in the professional development program are educated as upper secondary school mathematics teachers. the teachers (6 female and 10 male) had been teaching mathematics in upper secondary school between 5 and 20 years. some of the teachers had further experiences of mathematics teaching at other grades and/or other countries. some of the teachers taught only mathematics but most of them also taught one or two other subjects. the students selected for this paper are the 271 who started at the school the same term as the professional development program was initiated (both vocational and academic tracks). of these students, 7 had grade a in mathematics in lower secondary school, 19 grade b, 29 grade c, 50 grade d, 145 grade e and 19 grade f (f indicate failing mathematics in lower secondary school). according to the headmasters, the distribution of the entrance grades of this cohort did not deviate from the usual. if comparing to table 1 the entrance graded of these students were distributed similar as the exit grades of the students who took the mathematics course the previous year. all requirements for information, approval, confidentiality, and appliance advocated by the swedish research council (2017) were followed. according to these requirements, students older than 15 can decide by themselves if wanting to be involved in research or not. the students got information of the study from their mathematics teacher. even though the students were older than 15, their parents were informed about the study and both students and parent were to agree about participation in the study. not participating in the study did not influence the mathematics education of these students. 2.1 observations before the start of the professional development program, all teachers were observed during at least one mathematics lesson. the intention was to get some insight into the ongoing mathematics teaching and the design of the co-teaching at the school. an observation template was used during these observations. this template included expectations (e.g., are expectations on teachers/students expressed? is the content motivated? if it is, how?); content (e.g., is the content adapted to different students? what kind of tasks? tasks from textbooks or other material?); design of lesson (e.g., structure? who talks when? who asks and who answers questions?) and the co-teaching (e.g., how is the teaching organized between the teachers? do the teachers have different roles? if they have, which roles?). during the observations the researcher was sitting at the back of the classroom making notes in the template based on its questions. after each observation a summary of the lesson was also written. 2.2 questionnaire before the start of the professional development program, a questionnaire was conducted with teachers and students. the questionnaire was digital, anonymous and almost identical to teachers and students. the students conducted the questionnaire during a lesson that was selected by their mentor teacher. thus, the lesson was not a mathematics lesson but a lesson that the students have each week with their mentor teacher. the teachers conducted the questionnaire at a time they themselves decided. the 70 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 questionnaire covered a large area of questions whereof only some will be focused on in this paper. these are the questions that are connected to the research questions in this paper, thus questions related to teachers’ and students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning. these questions were both questions presenting claims with fixed response options (e.g., working alone with tasks in the textbook is a good way to learn mathematics) and open questions (e.g., what would you say is the similarities and the differences between mathematics lessons in lower and upper secondary school?). 2.3 analysis the analysis made of the questionnaire focused on teachers’ and students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning. then, this result were connected to the design of the observed mathematics lessons. even though the observed lessons were on different mathematical topics and were co-taught by different teachers to different students, the lessons were very similar in their design. based on these similarities, the observed lessons will be presented as a typology. a typology is based on the common features (atkinson, 1990; hammersley & atkinson, 2007) from all of the observations. thus, the typology presented here is an analytic construction based on repeating patterns from all the observed lessons. the questionnaire was compiled digitally with one result for the teachers and one for the students. when analysing these questionnaires, it became apparent that the views on mathematics teaching, students’ learning as well as the views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning were very similar for teachers and students. in the results, these similarities will be elaborated on in relation the typology of the observed co-taught mathematics lessons. 3. result first in this section, the typology lesson will be presented and after this the results from the questionnaires. the two sections with results from the questionnaires will focus on the first research question—“what are the teachers’ and students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning?” 3.1 the observed lessons—presented as a typology approximately 20 students sit in single desks arranged in rows with the board at the front. when the lesson starts, one teacher is standing at the board and the other is seated at a desk next to the students. the teacher at the front starts to introduce todays topic by saying “today we will continue with…”. after this, the teacher writes and solves some tasks on the board. now and then the teacher asks a question to the students. approximately three or four different students answer these questions. during this part of the lesson some of the students listen to the teacher, some copy what the teacher is writing on the board in their note books and some students seem to be occupied with something else than mathematics. after about ten or fifteen minutes the students are to work on tasks in their mathematics textbook. now the teacher who sits in a desk rises. the rest of the lesson the two teachers walk around 71 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 in the classroom helping students who raise their hands. sometimes the students talk to each other but it is relatively quiet in the classroom. when no students are raising their hands, the two teachers either talk to each other or to students who are not working on the tasks trying to get them started. 3.2 questionnaires as mentioned, the two sections below with results from the questionnaires will focus on the first research question—“what are the teachers’ and students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning?” the explicit questions from the questionnaire are provided in the results below. questionnaire teachers 13 teachers (of 16) answered the questionnaire. thus, there was a drop-out of three teachers. all teachers who answered the questionnaire emphasize that a good teacher is needed for students to learn mathematics. but what is then a good mathematics teacher? all of the teachers agreed a lot or quite a lot with the claim that teachers presenting solutions of tasks (not tasks solved by students but new tasks) on the board is a good way for students to learn mathematics. further, all but one of the teachers agreed a lot or quite a lot with the claim that students working individually in their textbook is a good way for students to learn mathematics. all of the teachers agreed a lot or quite a lot with the claim that getting tasks individually explained by a teacher is a good way for students to learn mathematics. the teachers agreed more strongly with these three claims than they did with two other claims focused on group activities and on problem solving as a good ways for students to learn mathematics. questionnaire students 263 students (of approximately 270[1]) answered the questionnaire. 250 of them agreed strongly with the claim that a good mathematics teacher is important for their possibilities to learn mathematics. who is then a good mathematics teacher according to the students? 231 of the students agreed a lot or quite a lot with the claim that teachers presenting solutions of tasks (not tasks solved by students but new tasks) on the board is a good way for students to learn. 238 of the students agreed a lot or quite a lot with the claim that students working individually in their textbook are a good way to learn mathematics. (unfortunately, the students were not given the claim about teachers explaining individually is a good way for students to learn mathematics.) similar as the teachers, the students agreed more strongly with these two claims than they did in other claims focused on group activities and on problem solving as a good way for students to learn mathematics. the students were also asked about similarities and differences between the mathematics lessons in upper secondary school and lower secondary school. this question was asked since the students at the time for the questionnaire had just started upper secondary school. thus, their main experiences of mathematics education at the time for the questionnaire was from lower secondary school. however, they had had enough of mathematics lessons at upper secondary school to be able to judge similarities and differences between that mathematics education and their previous experiences. even though this was an open-ended question, the students were very unanimous when describing the mathematics lessons at these two levels (lower 72 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 secondary-upper secondary) as very similar. in free wordings they described the design of the mathematics lessons and the content in the lessons as very similar, for example: the design of the lessons is the same. i think that the most in upper secondary school is very similar to lower secondary school. the design is the same, introduction by the teacher at the board and then own work in the text book. the only thing that some of the students wrote as being different was that they expressed that the teachers at upper secondary school were better on explaining how to solve mathematics tasks than the teachers at lower secondary school, for example. better introductions by the teacher, better teachers, the teachers show more interest in each student at upper secondary school and the teachers are better. regarding the level of difficulty some students wrote that the mathematics at upper secondary school was harder than the mathematics in lower secondary school while other students wrote the opposite. the students also got a question about their grade in mathematics at lower secondary school where a majority (79%) wrote having grade d-f (the lowest grades). 3.3 connections between observations and questionnaires this section will focus on the second research question—“how can the observed co-teaching be understood in relation to teachers’ and students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning?”. thus, in this section the observed co-taught mathematics lessons that above was presented as a typology lesson will be connected to teachers’ and students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning. of course, there were individual differences in the observed lessons but, all observed mathematics lesson was conducted in whole class where one teacher led the lesson and the other offered individual support to students. thus, all the observed lessons—despite being co-taught by different teachers to different students—was designed as one teach-one support (cook & friend, 1995). the lessons started with the teacher leading the lesson introducing todays topic by counting some tasks on the board and after that the students worked on tasks in their mathematics textbook. the design of these lessons is according to the questionnaires in line with both teachers’ and students’ views of good mathematics lessons. both teachers and students agreed strongly or quite strongly with the claim that teachers presenting examples of solutions of tasks on the board as well as with the claim students working individually in their textbooks are good ways to learn mathematics. based on the questionnaire to both the teachers and the students, a good mathematics teacher is a teacher who teach mathematics by presenting examples of solutions of tasks on the board and then gives the students time to work individually in their textbooks. in the questionnaire the teachers also agreed a lot or quite a lot with the claim that getting tasks individually explained by a teacher is a good way to learn mathematics. this is in line with the observed lesson where one teacher led the lesson and the other offered individual support. thus, the coherence is strong between the mathematics lessons observed and the 73 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 teachers’ and students’ views on good mathematics lessons. the observed co-taught lessons are according to the teachers and students answers in the questionnaire designed to promote students’ learning of mathematics. 4. discussion as presented above, the observed co-taught lessons are in line with teachers’ and students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning. the teachers’ and the students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning confirm each other and the co-teaching at the school seems to have become “more of the same”. the teachers have implemented one teach-one support (cook & friend, 1995) as their co-teaching model and, instead of one teacher explaining tasks individually for the students now two teachers do the same. there is however one problem with these lessons; based on the previous exit grades of the students at the school the students do not really seem to learn mathematics based on them. as mentioned in the introduction, it is important to investigate and describe the current state when working on professional development through the approach knowledge of teaching. however, at this school, both teachers and students expressed the ongoing design of the mathematics teaching as good, which may be why the change when implementing co-teaching was low. based on the teachers’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning, when co-teaching was implemented very little, or nothing, was changed in the design of the mathematics lessons. based on the questionnaire to the students, they had prior experience of this design of mathematics lessons from lower secondary school. however, even though 79% of them had grade d-f (low grades—failed grades) in lower secondary school they still evaluated this kind of mathematics lessons as promoting students’ learning. this may be due to these students never having experienced any other kind of mathematics lessons. similar, the teachers have prior experience of this kind of teaching from upper secondary school where a majority of their students get low grades (last semester 75% of the students had grades d-f). of course, these grades may be related to motivation, attitudes, pre-knowledge, etc., but nothing of that will change by more of the same kind on mathematics lessons. when co-teaching was introduced in a try to raise student achievement the organisation became more of the same where two teachers instead of one provide individual explanations to the students. this design of co-teaching is in line with the previous presented metasynthesis on co-teaching by scruggs, mastropieri and mcduffie (2007) showing that one teach-one support is the dominant design of co-teaching. similar to the meta-synthesis the co-teaching at the school included few examples of collaborative and innovative models and few changes of classroom instructional practices. teachers and students view on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning confirm each other’s and when co-teaching was introduced at the school the design of the mathematics lessons continued to be in line with the expected. probably, even if using another design of co-teaching the classroom instructional practices would not change much. according to hargreaves 74 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 and fullan (2012), teacher collaboration can lead to improvement but then it has to be spontaneous, voluntary, unpredictable, and oriented towards development. the co-teaching at the school is quite the opposite, not spontaneous or voluntary and, rather than oriented towards development it is oriented towards consolidation of existing practice. this consolidation is supported by the views on of both the teachers and the students on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning. based on the results presented in this paper teachers’ and students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning must first be focused on if wanting co-teaching to make a difference. then, maybe co-teaching can be re-organised in a manner that will increase students learning of mathematics. [1] 271 students started at the school this semester. however, the first weeks of the semester some new students started while others dropped out. this is the normal each year and based on this, the exact number of students at the week when the questionnaire was conducted is not known. thus, the exact drop-out is not known but almost all students answered the questionnaire. references atkinson, r. (1990). the ethnographic imagination. textual construction of reality. new york: routledge. avalos, b. (2011). teacher professional development in teaching and teacher education over ten years. teaching and teacher education, 27(1), 10-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.08.007 cochran-smith, m., & lytle, s. l. (1999). relationships of knowledge and practice: teacher learning in communities. review of research in education, 24(1), 249-305. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732x024001249 cook, l., & friend, m. (1995). co-teaching: guidelines for creating better practices. focus on exceptional children, 28(3), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.17161/fec.v28i3.6852 hammersley, m., & atkinson, p. (2007). ethnography. in principles in practice (3rd ed.). abingdon: routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203944769 hargreaves, a., & fullan, m. (2012). professional capital. transforming teaching in every school. new york: routledge. liljedal, p. (2014). approaching professional learning: what teachers want. the mathematics enthusiast, 11(1), 109-122. magiera, k., & zigmond, n. (2005). co‐teaching in middle school classrooms under routine conditions: does the instructional experience differ for students with disabilities in co‐taught and solo‐taught classes? learning disabilities research and practice, 20(2), 79-85. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5826.2005.00123.x morgan, c. (2009). making sense of curriculum innovation and mathematics teacher identity. in c. canes (ed.), innovation and change in professional education 5. elaborating professionalism. 75 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.08.007 https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732x024001249 https://doi.org/10.17161/fec.v28i3.6852 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203944769 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5826.2005.00123.x www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 studies in practice and theory (pp. 107-122). london: springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2605-7_6 roos, h. (2019). inclusion in mathematics education: an ideology, a way of teaching, or both? educational studies in mathematics, 100(1), 25-41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-018-9854-z scruggs, t. e., mastropieri, m. a., & mcduffie, k. a. (2007). co-teaching in inclusive classrooms: a metasynthesis of qualitative research. council for exceptional children, 73(4), 392-416. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440290707300401 sowder, j. t. (2007). the mathematical education and development of teachers. in f. k. lester (ed.), second handbook of research on mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 157-224). charlotte: national council of teachers of mathematics & information age publishing. swedish national agency of education. (2019). https://www.skolverket.se/skolutveckling/statistik/sok-statistik-om-forskola-skola-och-vuxenutbil dning?sok=soka swedish research council. (2017). god forskningssed [good custom in research]. stockholm: vetenskapsrådet. 76 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2605-7_6 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-018-9854-z https://doi.org/10.1177/001440290707300401 https://www.skolverket.se/skolutveckling/statistik/sok-statistik-om-forskola-skola-och-vuxenutbildning?sok=soka https://www.skolverket.se/skolutveckling/statistik/sok-statistik-om-forskola-skola-och-vuxenutbildning?sok=soka original paper when students’ and teachers’ views on good mathematics teaching limit co-teaching in mathematics hanna palmér1* 1 linnaeus university, department of mathematics, växjö, sweden abstract the empirical material in this paper is from a swedish upper secondary school where the mathematics lessons over the last two years have been co-taught. co-teaching implies that two teachers are most often present in the classrooms during the mathemat... keywords 3.1 the observed lessons—presented as a typology approximately 20 students sit in single desks arranged in rows with the board at the front. when the lesson starts, one teacher is standing at the board and the other is seated at a desk next to the students. the teacher at the front starts to introdu... 3.2 questionnaires as mentioned, the two sections below with results from the questionnaires will focus on the first research question—“what are the teachers’ and students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning?” the explic... questionnaire teachers 13 teachers (of 16) answered the questionnaire. thus, there was a drop-out of three teachers. all teachers who answered the questionnaire emphasize that a good teacher is needed for students to learn mathematics. but what is then a good mathematics te... questionnaire students 263 students (of approximately 270[1]) answered the questionnaire. 250 of them agreed strongly with the claim that a good mathematics teacher is important for their possibilities to learn mathematics. who is then a good mathematics teacher according t... the design of the lessons is the same. i think that the most in upper secondary school is very similar to lower secondary school. the design is the same, introduction by the teacher at the board and then own work in the text book. the only thing that some of the students wrote as being different was that they expressed that the teachers at upper secondary school were better on explaining how to solve mathematics tasks than the teachers at lower secondary school, for example. better introductions by the teacher, better teachers, the teachers show more interest in each student at upper secondary school and the teachers are better. regarding the level of difficulty some students wrote that the mathematics at upper secondary school was harder than the mathematics in lower secondary school while other students wrote the opposite. the students also got a question about their grade ... 3.3 connections between observations and questionnaires this section will focus on the second research question—“how can the observed co-teaching be understood in relation to teachers’ and students’ views on how a mathematics lesson ought to be designed to promote students’ learning?”. thus, in this sectio... of course, there were individual differences in the observed lessons but, all observed mathematics lesson was conducted in whole class where one teacher led the lesson and the other offered individual support to students. thus, all the observed lesson... the design of these lessons is according to the questionnaires in line with both teachers’ and students’ views of good mathematics lessons. both teachers and students agreed strongly or quite strongly with the claim that teachers presenting examples o... references education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper faculty perspectives on research collaborations between the u.s. and mexico hilda cecilia contreras aguirre1* & elsa gonzalez2 1 department of educational leadership and administration, new mexico state university, las cruces, new mexico, usa 2 department of educational leadership & policy studies, university of houston, houston, texas, usa * hilda cecilia contreras aguirre, department of educational leadership and administration, new mexico state university, las cruces, new mexico, usa received: june 30, 2021 accepted: july 15, 2021 online published: july 29, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n3p63 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n3p63 abstract the transfer of knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem) across countries is a common practice in academia, which is both timely and useful to achieve research collaborations. through a qualitative research approach, using interviews and observations, five stem mexican professors shared their experiences and expectations in leading the research collaborations where professors and students participated. this qualitative inquiry utilized sargent and water’s (2004) academic research collaborations framework, which highlights the interactive phases for achieving successful collaborations. the findings revealed that: 1) institutional support through department chairs’ encouragement along with professors’ leadership to expand research collaborations in both countries are favorable and 2) more resources to fund students’ participation in international research collaborations and better climate that help students feel socially included and academically integrated to a new setting seem necessary. the article concludes with perspectives and implications for strengthening the research exchanges between the united states (u.s.) and mexico. among them, highlighting the positive impact that international research collaborations have for universities in both countries, the need to expand the funding for students’ mobility overseas, and the improvement of english language training to strengthen students’ connections, and, consequently, collaboration. keywords research, international collaborations, higher education, stem, united states, mexico 63 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 1. introduction over the last two decades, institutions of higher education have experienced an expansion in terms of capacity, extension, and, consequently, complexity (altbach & knight, 2007; mcgrath, 2017). in effect, such complexity is the result of demographic changes, immigration patterns, international competitions, and demands for higher skills in the workforce (mcgrath, 2017; stewart, 2012). furthermore, multiple are the challenges faced by postsecondary institutions, including 1) an increasing perception of students as merchandise and universities as businesses, placing in perilous conditions the generation of knowledge and the citizen role of students in society (altbach, 2015), and 2) an imperative need to be able to adapt to change, create collaborations at different levels, and engage in personal and professional development that allows dealing with campuses diversity (parker & kingori, 2016; schuh, jones, harper, & associates, 2011). the transformation of postsecondary institutions aligns with the globalization of a new era in the stem leadership, which through internationalization, institutions deem necessary to carry out institutional agreements, cross-border activities, and alliances at an international scale (cantwell & maldonado-maldonado, 2009). consistently, the role of stem faculty in working cooperatively overtakes individualistic approaches to generate knowledge (beaver, 2001). as such, the importance of science for higher education goes beyond individual purposes; the development of science must be advantageous and beneficial for society as well (mcfarlane, 2013). likewise, the engineering profession is crucial for every country to gain visibility as a global power and improve the well-being of its citizens (mohanty & dash, 2016). altogether, stem fields in the united states (u.s.) face major concerns related to reduce the academic achievement gap among ethnic groups, enhance u.s. students’ academic performance in international rankings, and lessen the differences in foreign students’ college graduation rates compared to u.s. students (gonzalez & kuenzi, 2012). according to watkins and mazur (2013), in stem fields, students should learn not only technical but also analytical skills, such as communication and teamwork. similarly, professors should instill in students a sense of curiosity and an interest in innovation and creativity (carter, beachner, & dauguerty, 2015; roberts, 2013). besides, altbach (2015) highlighted how “higher education has a central role for nations and societies that goes beyond science” (p. 3). this means that the exchange of knowledge must be significant for those sharing it and help in achieving equity in society. knowledge sharing is increasingly taking place among higher education institutions at the international level (carayannis & laget, 2004; lancho-barrantes & cantu-ortiz, 2019) and especially in stem disciplines (landry, amara, & ouimet, 2007; lee & bozeman, 2005), where students and professors can work together on theoretical models and practical problems. according to bozeman, fay, and slade (2013), research collaboration goes beyond co-authorship. the exchange of knowledge involves a “social process whereby human beings pool their human capital for the objective of producing knowledge” (p. 3). as such, the participation of students in international research projects expands their knowledge and network, where usually “sharing problem understandings and successful solutions” (withycombe keeler et al., 2016, p. 749) 64 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 are addressed. also, chang and huang (2016) pointed out the importance of geographic closeness and cultural empathy for carrying out effective research collaborations in which professors and students can develop strong bonds. in this regard, maldonado-maldonado and cantwell (2008) noted how academic collaboration between two borderland institutions, one from mexico and one from the u.s., was framed by fears and desires related to history, in which “power, domination, subordination….and the border” influence such exchanges (p. 321). furthermore, melin (2000) highlighted that by analyzing international research exchanges at a micro level, that is at the individual level; individual, personal, and social factors play an essential role in data exchange and cooperative work. 1.1 brief overview of scientific exchange approach this article addresses the partnership between the u.s. and mexico for scientific exchange purposes. a brief overview of how these two countries deal with knowledge research exchanges at an international level follows. in latin america, in general, and particularly in mexico, internationalization in postsecondary institutions is not a common practice even when institutions establish agreements with universities abroad (berry & taylor, 2014). one of the main obstacles concerns financial issues, especially at public institutions whose budgets are tight (berry & taylor, 2014; sabharwal & varma, 2015). berry and taylor (2014) noted how mexican institutions utilize different approaches when it comes to internationalization. one of universities’ strategies is seeking international partnerships to enhance research and sharing knowledge, especially if researchers are part of the mexican national system of researchers (sni) and research productivity is closely tracked (sandoval-romero & lariviere, 2020). another strategy could be broadening their scientific collaborations according to the thematic studied with countries such as spain, canada, and israel (lancho-barrantes & cantu-ortiz, 2019). increasingly, mexican postsecondary institutions perceive internationalization as a critical task “to compete globally and produce graduates who are well-informed about the world around them” (berry & taylor, 2014, p. 599). in this sense, altbach (2015) and lancho-barrantes and cantu-ortiz (2019) indicated the difficulties and setbacks of countries whose postsecondary educational system struggles to compete at an international level. as such, mexican institutions are at a disadvantage compared to other countries in which internationalization serves as a top priority. accordingly, the u.s., as an advanced nation in the generation of science and engineering (s&e) knowledge, produces 50% of the country’s basic research through its higher education institutions (national science board, 2018) with a highly concentration in universities focusing on research known as doctoral universities (the carnegie classifications of institutions of higher education, 2018). the u.s. focuses its research efforts on improving the economy by maintaining competitiveness with highly skilled employees (freeman, 2015). in this regard, u.s. globalization as it pertains to s&e activities implies multiple aspects. one of these aspects entails research collaborations between u.s. researchers and international colleagues (freeman, 2015). while the u.s. share the generation of s&e knowledge with other nations, the developing world (e.g., china, india, brazil, and iran) has begun making 65 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 important knowledge discoveries and taking a more active role in knowledge generation (national science board, 2016). 1.2 conceptual framework a conceptual model on academic research collaborations frames this study. sargent and waters (2004) developed a model creating an inductive process to understand successful collaborations. this framework is one of the most complete and comprehensive schemes found in the literature review including both multiple phases and influential factors (gertler, 2017); therefore, we examined the practices of institutions and faculty as it relates to international research collaborations. according to sargent and waters (2004), success in research collaborations entails three aspects: first, objective goals (publications including journals, professional meetings, and grant proposals). second, subjective goals (satisfaction at a personal and interpersonal level). and third, learning goals (knowledge acquired from the collaborative experience and research outcomes). the model highlights the importance of the context, the connection among the different collaboration stages, and the contribution of interpersonal abilities to collaborate successfully. in the first layer, the model introduces the importance of institutional support mainly highlighting the role of faculty colleagues, information technology staff, and administrative personnel. in this regard, this study examines the critical role that chair departments have on encouraging and supporting international research collaborations. in addition, resources referring to funding may affect the type and scope of the project. however, other types of resources may encourage participation, such as access to specialized equipment, governmental support, and even researchers’ incentives (gertler, 2017). certainly, the climate concerning the differences among universities in research collaboration approaches and professoriate development is also essential to booster collaborations (sargent & waters, 2004). the climate is remarkably different in each selected university, given that they are located in two different countries: the u.s. and mexico. the second layer consists of four research collaboration stages. in the first phase, professors’ motivations to complement their research with other individuals’ skills, knowledge, and data along with the interests in building long-lasting relationships with their colleagues are at the core of this cycle. in a second phase, researchers define the project’s budget, scope, technical and logistic aspects as well as specific goals. in the third phase, research participants’ roles are specified. in this regard, professors can take the role of mentor, advisor, or sponsor when undergraduate and graduate students participate. the final stage shows what successful collaboration looks like in terms of meeting publication goals, positive relationships, and learning outcomes (sargent & waters, 2004). at the center of this inductive process, the essence of research collaborations lies in aspects such as integrity, trust, and communication. such elements are vital to achieving a more productive and enriching learning environment (sargent & waters, 2004). it can be arguable that in international research collaborations, aspects such as reflectivity, flexibility, ongoing feedback among research teams, 66 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 agenda compatibility, and good research practices are of utmost importance (gertler, 2017; parker & kingori, 2016). 2. method the paradigm framing this study is naturalistic inquiry. naturalistic studies contribute greatly to better understand the experiences of participants’ multiple realities who play an essential role in the inquiry process (lincoln & guba, 1985). in this study, participants’ experiences were diverse due to their fields of study, workplaces, and research approaches. as such, the aforementioned factors shaped and influenced participants’ kinds of experiences. in addition, the absence of similar research inquiries and a limited sample of participants framed the exploratory nature of the study. essentially, zainal (2007) defined an exploratory case study as “set to explore any phenomenon in the data which serves as a point of interest to the researcher…and open up the door to further examination of the phenomenon observed” (p. 3). 2.1 definition and purpose in this article, short research stays are defined as “scientific informal exchanges that are usually three months long”. in such research exchanges, professors working at either u.s. or mexican postsecondary institutions advise senior mexican undergraduate and graduate students while conducting short research stays at u.s. universities. after concluding the three-month stay, the students go back to mexico to finish their studies. the objective of this paper is to achieve a better understanding of the transfer of knowledge in stem disciplines between the u.s. and mexican universities in which mexican students participate. in this qualitative inquiry, the authors guided the interviewed faculty through the following research questions: − what roles do stem department chairs and faculty professors from u.s. and mexican universities play in the process of research collaborations? − what are the expectations of stem faculty professors from u.s. and mexican universities regarding the participation of mexican students in research projects? 2.2 participants and settings before defining the purpose of the study and research questions, the authors exchanged information with the professors regarding their experiences in achieving international research collaborations. some of the topics discussed along these conversations were related to university policies, time constraints, expectations of professors, research interests, and commitment of students. the authors used purposeful sampling to select participants to achieve better insights into the phenomenon (patton, 2015). the five stem professors—working in both countries—were mexicans with expertise in international scientific collaborations with mexican students. to identify the potential participants for the study, the researchers searched for the binational research programs published by the mexican national council for science and technology (conacyt), the mexican equivalent to 67 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 the national science foundation (nsf). the authors sent 50 emails to professors receiving half responses. some respondents were not retained because they were attached to other disciplines, or they had participated indirectly in international research collaborations. the five professors selected met the selection criteria and agreed to participate in this study. all five professors had experiences with undergraduate and graduate mexican students participating in at least three-month research projects stays (see table 1 for participants’ demographics). all five professors were males, and their first language was spanish. the professors’ names are confidential; hence, the authors identified participants as professor 1, professor 2, professor 3, professor 4, and professor 5. 2.3 data collection and analysis to collect data, this qualitative inquiry utilized interviews and observations (lincoln & guba, 1985; yin, 2009). all participants read and signed a consent form before the commencement of the interviews, which allowed them to have enough time to answer questions and clarify doubts. by interviewing participants, a researcher takes an active role in the interview process becoming the main instrument able to analyze data (lincoln & guba, 1985). through a semi-structured interview protocol in spanish, interviews lasted on average 45 minutes. four participants were interviewed at their home institutions. one participant was conducting a short research stay; thus, the interview was conducted at the host university. essentially, presenting information in spanish provided more meaning and could relate to prior personal and/or professional experiences for a spanish speaking audience. besides, keeping the information in its original language enriched the analysis, especially when considering particular social and cultural assets related to participants and research settings (gonzález y gonzález & lincoln, 2006). all five interviews were audio-recorded. the audio records generated transcripts in spanish. each professor received his interview transcript to validate his responses, as this study used member checking to assure trustworthiness. once the authors had the five transcriptions back, they started the analysis as the authors and participants share spanish as their native language. the authors analyzed data using constant comparative techniques. units of information, defined as “a unit of meaning stands for the smallest piece of information about something that can stand by itself” (lincoln & guba, 1985, p. 34) were sorted several times until categories and themes emerged. this study identified 179 units of meaning. furthermore, 3 themes and 15 categories resulted from the data analysis. because of the importance of the research questions, this study included only two themes and four categories. the authors defined the names of categories in english and translated the categories’ content. hence, findings included versions in english and spanish. in this sense, lincoln and gonzález (2008) argued that when conducting research based on cross-cultural/cross-language studies, researchers should consider using bilingual information. therefore, the inclusion of two different languages in one study can enrich its understanding and improve research outcomes (gonzález y gonzález & lincoln, 2006). 68 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 2.3.1 trustworthiness to assure the rigor of this study, in addition to conduct observations, the authors used reflexive journals and member checking to guarantee the study’s credibility (erlandson, harris, skipper, & allen, 1993; lincoln & guba, 1985). the use of reflexive journals allowed the researchers to describe and remember aspects of the settings and reflect on the interview content. the authors also documented observations of participants’ attitudes and expressions which contributed to enrich the data analysis. furthermore, member checks provided the opportunity to obtain feedback from the participants. by reading their answers, participants were able to explore their responses in-depth, make meaning of the findings, and propose future directions for the study. 3. findings a set of themes was found as fundamental to understand the perspectives of professors on their research experiences. the two themes comprise institutional capacity in the interchangeability of scientific knowledge and professors’ perspectives of mexican students and the educational system. 3.1 institutional capacity in the interchangeability of scientific knowledge there is a myriad of individuals, actions, and activities that professors need to consider and carry out to achieve successful formal and informal scientific collaborations. stem professors’ experiences concerning the interchangeability of scientific knowledge yield the first research question: what roles do stem department chairs and faculty professors from u.s. and mexican universities play in the process of research collaborations? the contribution of participants allowed the codification of their responses as follows: professors’ leadership and department chairs’ support. 3.1.1 professors’ leadership the work of university professors goes beyond taking the role of instructors and researchers. currently, the increasing engagement in research activities, often in interdisciplinary collaborations, illustrates how professors can influence others through their leadership. such leadership is important at several stages of the research collaborations, but it is essential in the first phases of a project, where professors must be confident of its scope and positive impact on others (e.g., students and new junior faculty). the more experienced professors in research collaborations lead and participate in international professional meetings as professor 1 addressed, “these binational conferences were supported by the national science foundation (nsf); i obtained a couple of grants [...] the purpose is to organize conferences between the u.s. and latin america so that latin america benefits.” (estas conferencias binacionales fueron apoyadas por nsf, consegui un par de becas [...] el propósito es organizar conferencias entre estados unidos y latinoamérica, de manera que latinoamérica se beneficie.) professor 1’s leadership role has allowed improving the scientific collaboration between the two countries and by receiving nfs funding, this professor expands his visibility and credibility to successfully collaborate with other colleagues. in addition, the research collaborations are often the result of ongoing 69 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 interactions involving different university settings and entities, but with a research project interest in common. in this regard, professor 2 and professor 4 pointed out their leadership by managing engineering laboratories. professor 4 commented, “mainly, we work with air vehicles, with aerial robots, but we also develop terrestrial robots and systems of multiple agents, that is, several robots that work together to carry out a task in a more efficient way.” (trabajamos con vehículos aéreos principalmente, con robots aéreos, pero también desarrollamos robots terrestres y desarrollamos también sistemas de multiples agentes que son varios robots que trabajan en conjunto para realizar una tarea de manera mas eficaz.) professor 4’s quote shows that engineering professors work in the development of complex technological systems. such complexity provides intellectual stimulation in which the promotion of finding innovative ways of addressing situations, the stimulation of intelligent problem solving, and the encouragement of appropriate decision making are critical in every research collaboration’s participation. in essence, the extent by which professors perceive institutional support in terms of use of laboratory equipment and availability of resources in both the host and own institutions can be a motivation to carry out research collaborations. 3.1.2 department chairs’ support to accomplish successful research exchanges, either by sending students to other institutions or receiving students from other countries, faculty members must be fully supported by institutional authorities. while most participants perceived support from their department chairs and deans, their opinions varied: “fortunately, in the institution, both the rector and the director of research innovation of the university have the vision to make such partnerships.” (afortunadamente en la institución tanto el rector como el director de innovación de investigación de la universidad tienen la visión de hacer este tipo de colaboraciones.)—professor 2 “the institute gives us permission and freedom to contact people and try to collaborate at least informally, it means without agreements, with other researchers. they give us the endorsement to participate with the intention that later it becomes formal.” (el instituto nos da el permiso y la libertad de contactar gente y tratar de colaborar al menos informalmente, quiere decir sin convenios, con los demás investigadores. ellos nos dan el aval de participar con la intención de que mas adelante se haga formal.)—professor 3 “the rector gives you the acceptance and perceives positively research partnerships with other universities.” (el rector te da como el acepta y ve de manera positiva a este tipo de relación con otras universidades.)—professor 5 professors perceive that high-rank university authorities look at the exchange of scientific knowledge in the form of international research collaborations as quite positive. professors recognized chairs and deans’ openness and willingness to expand and improve research activities at their institutions. nevertheless, professor 3 commented on the closeness of u.s. universities to exchange information or technology due 70 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 to national security reasons, making it difficult to develop international research collaborations with institutions overseas. 3.2 professors’ perspectives of mexican students and the educational system professors’ opinion regarding the preparedness of mexican students as it relates to their educational background and social interactions was controversial. mainly, due to students’ robust academic knowledge which contrasts with their ability to adjust socially in a foreign setting. in this regard, professors revealed interesting insights into the unique characteristics of mexican students who decided to participate in research collaborations abroad. the reflection on the personal and professional characteristics of mexican students to meet the expectations and participate in scientific exchanges frames the second research question: what are the expectations of stem faculty professors from u.s. and mexican universities regarding the participation of mexican students in research projects? to respond to this research question, two categories frame this theme: students’ essential academic skills and positive aspects of mexican education. 3.2.1 students’ essential academic skills according to professors’ responses, the technical and theoretical knowledge of mexican students was appropriate to meet the requirements of courses and scientific collaborations with professors and students at u.s. universities. professor 1 pointed out: “the technical preparation i do not think is any impediment for mexican students, but certainly the english language is.” (la preparación técnica no creo que sea ningún impedimento para los estudiantes mexicanos, pero ciertamente el idioma lo es.) in this sense, both professors 3 and 5 mentioned: “at a technical level, they do not need anything, [...] the level of languages here in mexico [...] we lack a second language.” (a nivel técnico no necesitan nada [...] el nivel de idiomas aquí en mexico [...] adolecemos de un segundo lenguaje.)—professor 3 “in first place obviously the language [...] it would be like not the most important but the most basic to be functional.” (en primera instancia pues obviamente el idioma [...] sería como no lo más importante pero lo más básico para ser funcional.)—professor 5 professors noted the importance of improving mexican students’ english language skills to fully and successfully participate in such collaborations when the setting is at u.s. universities. the mastering of a second language requires more than learning basic vocabulary in classrooms, it needs to be reinforced by finding different manners to practice it (e.g., reading books, talking to native speakers, or listening to music). essentially, students need to develop not only basic english skills but also advanced abilities to understand complex technical concepts and problems, and especially meaningful interactions with foreign students and professors. 3.2.2 positive aspects of mexican education mexican higher education has advantageous aspects. all five professors acknowledged one advantage: the high academic quality of mexican universities and research centers, including the center for research and 71 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 advanced studies of the national polytechnic institute (cinvestav), the national autonomous university of mexico (unam), the mathematics research center (cimat), and the autonomous university of hidalgo, to mention a few. some of these institutions have international prestige as they have been listed in renowned international rankings. in this subject, professor 3 expressed: “fortunately, in mexico for every master’s student who belongs to the national quality postgraduate program, there is a scholarship so that they can conduct research stays in mexico or any prestigious institution abroad.” (afortunadamente en méxico para cada estudiante de maestría que pertenezca al programa nacional de posgrados de calidad existe una beca para que puedan hacer una estancia de investigación en méxico o en cualquier institución de prestigio del extranjero.) the benefit of having the financial support of conacyt, the government agency, is evident for graduate mexican students. mexican students could take full advantage of this financial support and carry out short research collaborations in renowned national institutions or overseas. altogether, students must prove a high intellectual capacity to receive and retain their scholarships. table 1. basic information of participants professor age major years of professorship years of collaboration working in the u.s. working in mexico state/ country 1 66 mathematics and statistics 32 30 − nevada, u.s. 2 35 automatic control 11 3 − hidalgo, mexico 3 45 electrical engineering 14 14 − coahuila, mexico 4 36 technology of information and systems 3 3 − texas, u.s. 5 31 electronic engineering 4 3 − durango, mexico 4. discussion all five professors shared similar experiences due to their international research collaborations and mentioned common expectations when conducting research projects with mexican students. nevertheless, professors composed a heterogeneous group in the sense that their geographical locations, level of expertise, and field of study differ greatly. the first research question analyzed the leadership and 72 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 relationship of professors with institutional authorities, in particular, department chairs and directors to maintain and increase international research collaborations. consistently, the leadership of department chairs and professors was an important factor in accomplishing successful research collaborations. professors’ leadership helped achieve that the interchangeability of scientific knowledge increases. the role that professors exercise as leaders, especially when they lead research collaborations, shows their attempt to satisfy higher-level needs of self-esteem and self-actualization (hackman & johnson, 2013). furthermore, the favoritism of international publications over national journals in mexico, promote professors’ interest in international collaborations (sandoval-romero & lariviere, 2020). as transformational leaders, professors’ interactions with other collaborators and influence to attract students’ interests are at the core of the academic research collaborations (hackman & johnson, 2013; sargent & waters, 2004). likewise other studies, this study’s finding revealed that by developing respect, trust, communication, and friendship among collaborators, researchers can achieve successful and long-term research collaborations (gertler, 2017; parker & kingori, 2016; sargent & waters, 2004). the second research question examined professors’ expectations regarding the participation of mexican students in the research collaborations. professors addressed both the academic preparedness and socio-cultural awareness of mexican students to perform satisfactorily in u.s. universities and some benefits of the mexican higher educational system. on the one hand, all professors agreed that mexican students who have collaborated in research projects in u.s. universities possess excellent academic skills, in fact, similar to their u.s. peers. however, mexican students struggle with their social integration, as well as verbal and written communication skills in english. students’ shyness and introversion keep them away from building meaningful relationships with people from the host institution. such behavior may be a consequence of being abroad and being new to a different culture (coronado, 2009). on the other hand, a remarkable positive aspect of the mexican higher educational system lies in the financial support mexican graduate students have through scholarships. these scholarships help students focus only on their studies and provide the possibility to support short travels to foreign universities to participate in research. the opportunity to integrate students in international research collaborations expands sargent and waters’ (2004) framework, whose first layer studies at the institution level, the support, resources, and climate. we propose to broaden and integrate other elements to include external factors such as foreign funding and outer institutional requirements. also, individual characteristics can play an important role, including participants’ academic and cultural background as well as their level of expertise in research. all the aforementioned factors may have a great impact on the achievement of successful research collaborations (contreras aguirre & gonzalez, 2021). 73 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 4.1 recommendations based on the finding of this study, some suggestions to improve the quantity and quality of international research collaborations between the u.s. and mexico are addressed next: 1) highlight the positive impact on universities in both countries. professors realized that while u.s. institutions benefit from the research outcomes where mexican students participate, mexican universities take advantage of the knowledge mexican students acquire in u.s. universities. in effect, maldonado-maldonado and cantwell (2008) highlighted the lack of symmetry in graduate students exchange between the u.s. and mexico, increasing the differences and power relations of these two nations. 2) more support from federal, state, and institutional funds. despite professors perceived positively the benefit for graduate students of receiving federal scholarships to be part of research collaborations abroad, professors also expressed concerns regarding additional financial support to fund binational research exchanges for undergraduate mexican college students. in essence, mexican post-secondary institutions need to align policies and practices; thus, students benefit from federal, state, and institutional funds. in this sense, berry and taylor’s (2014) study pointed out the importance for students in gaining additional competencies when going abroad; however, limited funding is still a major barrier in latin america. 3) better english training for mexican students to participate in international research projects. if mexican students wish to compete with students from other nationalities in an anglophone setting, the need to use better strategies for a second language acquisition becomes critical and imperative. for the most part, professors in this study and other scholars (berry & taylor, 2014; chang & huang, 2016) argued the necessity to improve students’ english skills because language affinity may strengthen individuals’ connections, and, consequently, collaboration. 5. conclusion the exchange of knowledge through research collaborations is a common and increasingly performed practice in postsecondary institutions. in performing conjointly research, not only universities seek to improve the research performance of professors, but also professors look for developing their skills as researchers, mentors, and advisors. in addition, professors noticed that students exposed to other work dynamics, scientific approaches, and leadership styles will eventually enrich students’ prior knowledge and encourage them to pursue further studies, making a remarkable impact in their professional future. lastly, the willingness of professors to send/bring students from 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(2018). 2018 update facts and figures. retrieved from https://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/downloads/ccihe2018-factsfigures.pdf watkins, j., & mazur, e. (2013). retaining students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem) majors. journal of college science teaching, 42(5), 36-41. withycombe keeler, l., wiek, a., lang, d. j., yokohari, m., van breda, j., olsson, l., … evans, j. (2016). utilizing international networks for accelerating research and learning in transformational sustainability science. sustainability science, 11(5), 749-762. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0364-6 yin, r. k. (2009). case study research: design and methods (4th ed.). sage publications. zainal, z. (2007). case study as a research method. journal kemanusiaan, 5(1). 77 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1215/18752160-3141241 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2002.11.001 https://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/downloads/ccihe2018-factsfigures.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0364-6 original paper 3.1 institutional capacity in the interchangeability of scientific knowledge 3.2 professors’ perspectives of mexican students and the educational system professors’ opinion regarding the preparedness of mexican students as it relates to their educational background and social interactions was controversial. mainly, due to students’ robust academic knowledge which contrasts with their ability to adjust... education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 209 original paper research on the construction of popular science bases from the perspective of “industrial culture+” ingratiation—based on a survey and analysis of hundreds of popular science bases in sichuan province yili hong1*& lingzhi ma1 1 chengdu vocational & technical college of industry, chengdu, sichuan, china received: february 24, 2025 accepted: march 9, 2025 online published: march 28, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p209 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p209 abstract this study focuses on the construction of popular science bases from the perspective of “industrial culture+” integration, taking hundreds of popular science bases in provinces and cities as the research objects. through field surveys and analyses, it explores the development paths of popular science bases in the context of the new era. the study emphasizes that popular science bases should fully utilize industrial cultural resources and enhance public awareness and interest in industrial culture, especially among teenagers, through various means such as educational courses, interactive experiences, and community participation. additionally, the study explores how to promote the inheritance and innovation of industrial culture through the construction of popular science bases and how to improve the public’s scientific literacy through popular science activities. keywords industrial culture, popular science base, integration mode the “industrial culture+” popular science base integration perspective aims to build a multidimensional and interdisciplinary interactive platform for popular science on industrial culture themes by integrating traditional handicrafts, industrial heritage, modern industry, and comprehensive cultural resources. this framework not only focuses on the preservation and inheritance of industrial culture but also emphasizes its application and development in modern society. it aims to enhance the public’s understanding of the value of industrial culture through popular science education while promoting the innovation and transformation of industrial culture. through this integration mode, popular science bases can become www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 210 published by scholink inc. bridges connecting the past and the future, theory and practice, and education and entertainment, providing new impetus and direction for the sustainable development of industrial culture. in china, with the increasing recognition of the value of industrial culture and the advancement of scientific and technological innovation, the integration mode of popular science bases has gradually shifted from a single exhibition to a diversified and highly interactive educational experience. for example, popular science bases in sichuan province have combined local industrial characteristics and cultural resources, such as chengdu shuijingfang museum and dongjiao memory·chengdu international fashion industry park, to achieve a combination of industrial heritage and modern technology, enhancing public participation and educational effects. the domestic mode is characterized by emphasizing the inheritance and innovation of local culture and the popularization and democratization of popular science education. internationally, especially in western countries where the industrial revolution originated, the integration mode of industrial culture and popular science education is more mature. these countries usually have relatively complete laws and policies for the protection of industrial heritage and a more systematic industrial culture education system. for example, iron-bridge gorge museum in the uk and ruhr area in germany have successfully transformed into centers for industrial culture education and tourism by preserving and reusing industrial heritage. 1. current status of “industrial culture” popular science bases the “industrial culture” popular science bases in sichuan province are diverse and can be roughly classified into four categories: traditional handicrafts, industrial heritage, modern industry, and comprehensive culture: (1) traditional handicrafts: represented by chengdu shuijingfang museum and sichuan hejiang yongxingcheng soy sauce culture expo park, these bases not only protect and display traditional handicraft skills but also allow visitors to feel the charm of traditional skills while understanding historical culture through interactive experiences. (2) industrial heritage: such as dongjiao memory·chengdu international fashion industry park and panzhihua lanjian industrial tourism base, these bases transform abandoned industrial sites into culturally valuable tourist destinations, not only showcasing the development of industrial history but also incorporating modern fashion elements to achieve a perfect fusion of industry and culture. (3) modern industry: modern industrial bases such as faw-volkswagen jetta smart factory and chengdu industrial vocational and technical college industrial expo hall allow visitors to experience the charm of modern industry up close by displaying advanced production equipment and processes, while also popularizing relevant scientific knowledge. (4) comprehensive culture: bases like science fiction world infinity organize activities such as science fiction art exhibitions and set up augmented reality observation stations, showcasing the charm of the fusion of technology and culture and injecting new vitality into popular science work. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 211 published by scholink inc. 2. integration practices of “industrial culture” popular science bases “industrial culture” popular science bases have achieved remarkable results in integration practices, mainly reflected in the following aspects: 2.1 integration of culture and technology “industrial culture” popular science bases not only focus on the popularization of scientific knowledge but also actively incorporate cultural elements. by organizing cultural activities and exhibitions, they allow visitors to feel the charm of culture while learning scientific knowledge. taking sichuan science and technology museum as an example, as an important popular science education base in the southwest region, it carries the important mission of disseminating scientific knowledge and stimulating the public’s interest in science. sichuan science and technology museum has theme exhibition areas such as “three questions” (asking about heaven, water, and the future), “three searches” (searching for knowledge, wisdom, and footprints), and “three lifes” (life, survival, and living), with rich and diverse content covering multiple fields such as aerospace, water conservancy technology, life sciences, disaster prevention, and mitigation. the exhibits in the museum focus on interactivity and fun, presenting scientific knowledge to visitors in a vivid and engaging way through modern display means such as sound, light, and electricity. some exhibits also include interesting experiments and game sessions, such as “magnetic turntable” and “optical labyrinth,” allowing visitors to learn scientific knowledge while entertaining, greatly enhancing the fun and participation of the visit. at the same time, by regularly organizing popular science lectures, scientific experiment performances, popular science film screenings, and other activities, inviting experts and scholars to explain scientific knowledge to visitors, it attracts a large number of visitors to participate. this type of base is mainly targeted at teenage students, accounting for about 60% of the total number of visitors. in addition, there are some parents, teachers, science and technology enthusiasts, and foreign tourists. visitors of different age groups and occupations have different needs and interests in the museum’s exhibition content and activities. teenage students are more focused on exhibits and activities with strong entertainment and good interactivity, such as robot performances and science experiment shows; parents and teachers are more focused on the educational function of the museum, hoping that children can learn scientific knowledge and cultivate scientific literacy and innovative thinking during the visit; science and technology enthusiasts and foreign tourists are more interested in the museum’s cutting-edge technology displays and special exhibits. 2.2 integration of industry and tourism many industrial heritage and modern industrial bases have been transformed and upgraded, converting abandoned industrial sites or modern production facilities into tourist destinations, attracting a large number of visitors to visit and experience. this integration not only promotes the development of tourism but also raises public awareness of science and industry. taking chengdu dongjiao memory as an example, dongjiao memory is located in chenghua district, chengdu, and was rebuilt based on the former hongguang electron tube factory site. the renovation process can be divided into three stages: renovation, construction, and operation. the renovation stage mainly involved protecting, reinforcing, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 212 published by scholink inc. and upgrading the former hongguang electron tube factory; the construction stage introduced many cultural and creative enterprises and projects to form a relatively complete industrial chain; the operation stage improved its popularity and influence by organizing various cultural activities and building unique brands. with the acceleration of urbanization in china and the increasing demand for cultural consumption, popular science bases of industrial heritage type have undergone organic microrenovations while preserving the original industrial sites, and at the same time, have planned four major functional industries dominated by leisure and entertainment, business offices, and artistic creativity, including creative parks, fashionable shopping areas, catering and entertainment areas, etc. among them, dongjiao memory’s creative park has special places such as chengdu intangible cultural heritage museum and dongjiao memory creative market. based on the reconstruction of the site, this type of popular science base first focuses on the integration with modern culture. most of them have preserved the characteristics of industrial buildings from the planned economy era while transforming various complex factory buildings into commercial buildings. for example, workshops with large volumes and higher floor heights have been transformed into cinemas and theaters; unique areas enclosed by chimneys, conveyor belts, boilers, and other large structures have been designed as industrial-style music bar areas; old office buildings have been transformed into boutique hotels, etc. second is the integration and innovation of the industrial chain. for example, by introducing core enterprises in the music industry chain, such as china mobile wireless music base and china film group, they have created a wireless music club base to attract other upstream and downstream enterprises to settle in and form a benign consumption interaction. at the same time, a science and technology cultural and creative incubation platform has been established to provide venues, funds, and technical support for startups. in addition, the park can further enrich its business forms by self-building, introducing dramas, films, and distribution services. third is the planning of cultural activities and brand building. regularly organizing various cultural activities, such as music festivals, art exhibitions, and design weeks, has increased the park’s popularity and influence. at the same time, by building unique brands, such as “creative market” and “chengdu stage,” it has further enhanced the park’s cultural attractiveness. in addition, public charity market activities can also be held, attracting many volunteers and social organizations to participate and spread the spirit of public welfare. 2.3 integration of education and popular science many popular science bases also actively collaborate with schools and educational institutions to conduct study tours, popular science lectures, and other activities, integrating popular science into the education system and enhancing the scientific literacy of teenagers. take chengdu sanhe classic car museum and lichao aviation museum as examples. these two museums share similarities in nature, both established on the basis of enterprise development. this type of museum adopts a combination of static displays and dynamic experiences, allowing visitors to more intuitively feel the charm of industrial artifacts such as classic cars and aircraft. for instance, in the static exhibition area, vehicles are displayed by era and brand; while in the dynamic experience area, classic car test drive activities are held regularly, enhancing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 213 published by scholink inc. interactivity. additionally, the museums focus on popular science education, offering automobile knowledge lectures and hands-on craft courses for teenagers to help them understand the structure and principles of automobiles. these initiatives not only enrich visitors’ experiences but also contribute to the inheritance and development of automotive culture. national and local governments have provided certain policy support and funding assistance for the construction of this type of popular science base. as a provincial and municipal popular science base, lichao aviation museum also benefits from relevant preferential policies. however, due to factors such as policy enforcement and fund allocation, these policies provide limited practical support to lichao aviation museum. firstly, high ticket prices limit visitor numbers: the relatively high ticket prices at lichao aviation museum are mainly due to high costs, maintenance fees, rent, and location. this to some extent restricts the number of visitors and affects the outreach of popular science education. secondly, insufficient integration of popular science education resources: although lichao aviation museum possesses abundant physical exhibits and training equipment, there are still deficiencies in the integration and utilization of popular science education resources. for example, the depth and breadth of cooperation with partner units such as ya’an vocational and technical college need to be strengthened. thirdly, inadequate promotional efforts: lichao aviation museum still lacks sufficient promotional efforts, resulting in limited public awareness and affecting its popularity and influence. 3. issues and challenges in the integration model in actual operations, industrial culture popular science bases face numerous challenges, severely impacting the fulfillment of their popular science functions and the enhancement of their social influence. 3.1 updating and maintenance of popular science facilities with the rapid development of technology, exhibits related to “industrial culture” are updated quickly, making the issues of aging and outdated exhibits more prominent. the exhibition and education forms are also somewhat monotonous, exhibiting homogenization, lacking distinctive features and competitiveness, and struggling to meet the audience’s ever-growing popular science needs. updating exhibits requires substantial financial investment and technical support, yet most popular science bases have limited funding sources and struggle to promptly conduct large-scale updates and upgrades to exhibits. currently, the primary funding sources for “industrial culture” popular science bases are still government grants, with social donations and self-operated income being relatively low. insufficient funds restrict the development of popular science bases, impacting areas such as exhibit updating, popular science activities, and talent recruitment, necessitating further expansion of funding sources and improvement of self-sustaining capabilities. compared to internationally advanced science museums, there is still a gap in popular science education concepts, exhibition forms, operational management, and other aspects. popular science bases need to further innovate their operational models, strengthen cooperation with various social entities, and enhance their competitiveness and influence. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 214 published by scholink inc. 3.2 sources and stability of funding for popular science taking the shu brocade weaving technique inheritance workshop in qingyang district, chengdu, as an example, this workshop, as a small industrial culture popular science base, mainly relies on government funding to maintain its operations. however, due to the single funding source and limited grant amounts, the workshop faces severe constraints in expansion, equipment updating, and talent training. according to the workshop’s leader, due to insufficient funds, the exhibition equipment in the workshop has not been updated for years and still uses traditional methods of physical displays and graphic exhibition boards, lacking modern interactive technologies such as virtual reality (vr) and augmented reality (ar). statistics show that the workshop’s tourist growth rate over the past three years has only been 5%, far below the industry average, reflecting to some extent the inadequacy of its popular science experience. based on survey data from popular science bases nationwide, approximately 30% of popular science bases face funding shortages, with small industrial culture popular science bases experiencing particularly prominent funding gaps. 3.3 depth and form of popular science integration taking the steel industry tourism route in jiulongpo district, chongqing, as an example, although this route connects multiple popular science bases and surrounding attractions, visitor feedback indicates a lack of in-depth integration and innovative design, resulting in a relatively monotonous visitor experience. furthermore, several industrial museums on this route have similar exhibition layouts and techniques, lacking individuality and innovation. survey data shows that visitor satisfaction with this route is only 60%, far below the industry average. based on survey data from industrial tourism routes nationwide, approximately 40% of routes suffer from issues of insufficient integration depth and monotonous forms. although most industrial culture popular science bases have attempted to develop cultural and creative products, the design, production, and sales processes have failed to effectively connect with local cultural and creative industries, limiting the market competitiveness of these products. according to survey data on cultural and creative products from popular science bases nationwide, approximately 50% of popular science bases have obvious shortcomings in developing these products, with limited market competitiveness and cultural dissemination capabilities. sales of cultural and creative products only account for 5% of the total annual income, far below the industry average. taking the science and technology museum in jiang’an district, wuhan, as an example, this museum overly emphasizes professionalism in the planning of popular science activities, neglecting fun and accessibility, leading to poor popular science effectiveness. survey data indicates that participation in popular science activities at this museum is only 30%, far below the industry average. in addition, the museum’s promotional channels are limited, mainly relying on traditional media and offline methods, failing to fully leverage the internet and new media for comprehensive and continuous promotion. based on survey data from popular science bases nationwide, approximately 60% of popular science bases lack innovation and attractiveness in their popular science activities, have limited promotional channels, and have weak brand building awareness. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 215 published by scholink inc. popular science bases face significant issues in areas such as funding, integration depth, the excavation and utilization of industrial culture resources, and the innovation and attractiveness of popular science activities. to enhance the popular science functions and social influence of popular science bases, the efforts of governments, enterprises, and all sectors of society are required. firstly, optimize the policy environment. it is recommended that governments increase policy support and funding assistance for the construction of popular science bases, particularly providing key support to popular science bases with significant development potential such as lichao aviation museum. meanwhile, strengthen policy enforcement and the construction of regulatory mechanisms to ensure the effective implementation of policies. secondly, guide social participation. encourage and support enterprises, social organizations, individuals, and other sectors of society to actively participate in the construction of popular science bases. by establishing partnerships and conducting joint popular science activities, strengthen cooperation and exchanges with various sectors of society to jointly promote the development of popular science undertakings. thirdly, promote technological innovation, increase investment in innovation, enhance enterprises’ innovation capabilities, encourage original and differentiated development, fully leverage modern technological means and innovative ideas, and strengthen the integration and utilization of popular science education resources. for example, enhance visitor experience and educational effectiveness by introducing advanced technological means such as intelligent guide systems and virtual reality technology; promote innovative development in popular science education by collaborating with universities, scientific research institutions, and other entities to conduct popular science research and innovation activities. fourthly, raise public awareness. strengthen the promotion and dissemination of popular science to enhance public recognition and emphasis on popular science education. expand the coverage and influence of popular science education by conducting diverse popular science promotional activities, hosting popular science lectures and exhibitions, etc.; simultaneously strengthen cooperation and exchanges with media to increase the popularity and influence of popular science education. utilize social media platforms (such as douyin and xiaohongshu) to publish engaging content to attract the attention of younger demographics, while also hosting thematic activities such as classic car parades and photography contests to enhance public participation. fifthly, establish a long-term mechanism to deepen the integration of the “industrial culture+” perspective and explore more innovative models and development paths. establish and improve a long-term mechanism and management system for the construction of popular science bases. strengthen the overall planning of the popular science industry, avoid industrial homogenization, and create distinctive industrial chains; promote the standardized, institutionalized, and long-term development of popular science base construction by formulating scientific and reasonable development plans and implementation plans, strengthening personnel training and management, and other means. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 216 published by scholink inc. references huang, t. et al. (2024). research on spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of provincial science popularization education bases: a case study of hubei province. studies in dialectics of nature, 2024(12). nie, y. b. (2019). analysis of the interaction platform for university campus cultural construction and ideological and political education. reform and opening-up, 2019(11). tian, x. j. et al. (2013). reflections on china’s cultural power: the current status of cultural promotion. journal of chongqing jiaotong university, 2013(3). wang, m. et al. (2023). exploration of physics science popularization activities based on university resources. research and exploration in laboratory, 2023(8). xie, s. c. (2017). the basic requirements for university cultural construction in the new era. school party building and ideological education, 2017(12). you, z. et al. (2018). opportunities and challenges in researching industrial culture in the new era. smart china, 2018(3). yu, z. g. (2010). research on introducing advanced industrial culture into vocational colleges. vocational and technical education, 2010(08) education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 142 original paper the tragedy of mcteague: the destruction of the subject yongyan zhang1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: april 25, 2025 accepted: may 12, 2025 online published: may 27, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p142 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p142 abstract frank norris is a well-known american writer with a reputation as a naturalist writer. mcteague: a story of san francisco is his masterpiece and a representative work of american naturalistic literature. based on a news report, the novel focuses on the tragic fate of a dentist named mcteague who murders his stingy wife, trina sipe. in this paper, two concepts of “the mirror stage” and “symbol” in french philosopher jacques lacan’s subjective theory will be used to interpret the protagonist mcteague’s tragic fate. “the mirror stage” refers to the fact that people always build a “pseudo-self” through the images of others while lacan’s concept of symbol points out the emptiness and meaninglessness of signifiers and signs that will control human beings. this paper will first use the idea of the mirror stage to analyze how different others affect the formation process of mcteague’s subjectivity, and then use lacan’s conception of symbols to analyze how signs control mcteague’s behavior and lead him into madness. lacanian interpretation of this novel can help readers to analyze mcteague’s loss of his subjectivity and trigger modern people’s thinking. keywords mcteague: a story of san francisco, subject theory, the mirror stage, symbol 1. introduction frank norris, a novelist and short-story writer, is the first important u.s. author to embrace the literary style known as naturalism. in 1899, he published his novel mcteague: a story of san francisco which established his reputation. it is a naturalist work set in san francisco. the novel tells the story of a dentist, mcteague, who murders his miserly wife, trina sieppe, and then meets his end while fleeing through death valley. in addition to focusing on the theme of greed in this book, it is also meaningful to analyze the tragic subject of mcteague. therefore, this paper will use the subject theory of jacques lacan, a famous french philosopher and psychoanalyst, to analyze how mcteague’s tragedy is reflected in this naturalistic novel and arouse modern people’s thinking on how to maintain subjective clarity and independence. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 143 published by scholink inc. jacques lacan is arguably the most original and influential structuralist psychoanalysis since freud. his ideas have revolutionized the clinical practice of psychoanalysis and continue to be a major influence in fields as diverse as film studies, literary criticism, feminist theory, and philosophy. under the influence and base of people like hegel and freud, lacan’s work constitutes a rebuke to ego and a return to freud’s belief in the power of the unconscious in human life. yet his work also rewrites freud in important ways. he inserts the self into culture. “the mirror stage as formative of function of the i as revealed in psychoanalytic experience” was a paper delivered at the 16th international congress of psychoanalysis, zürich, july 17, 1949. in this paper, the conception of the mirror stage has been called his most famous and significant contribution to psychoanalysis. lacan defines the mirror stage as an identification, the transformation in the subject when he assumes an image (lacan, p. 442). primarily concerned with identity, subjectivity, and fantasy, lacan claims the mirror stage takes place between the ages of six to eighteen months when an infant recognizes its self in connection with the image of the specular self in the mirror. the result is a fantasized, fictional self that is unified and made whole via the image in the mirror. the child identifies himself through an external image, and once he identifies with that image, he feels able to do things he could not do before. but in fact, this self is a kind of misrecognition. it is only an imaginary, illusory image in the mirror that gives him a sense of whole and unity. but this does not mean that can only infants remember the mirror stage, but it is a philosophical metaphor of lacan that the establishment of the subject is through the other. 2. the false self defined by the other the mirror stage can be used to analyze mcteague’s subject formation. in the novel, the appearance of several characters profoundly affects mcteague’s fate, namely his father and trina sieppe. first of all, his father is the person who has the most far-reaching influence on mcteague. mcteague was born in a mining area. his father was a miner, and he became a car boy under his father’s guidance. therefore, in his first ten years of life, he was accompanied by the mining area, his father’s alcoholism and violence, and in his initial mirror stage, he faced the lower class of the united states in the context of the gold rush in the 19th century. the novel tells very little about mcteague’s past in the mining area, but from the symbols of concertina and canary that are repeated many times in the text, it can be seen that he identifies with the miner’s identity represented by his father. the six lugubrious airs he played on the concertina always carried him back to the time when he was a car boy at the big dipper mine in placer county, ten years before (norris 1). the concertina is a recurring symbol in the novel, a reminder of his life as a miner and a preserver of his identity. he cherished it and took solace from it that when trina sold it, it angered mcteague and became the trigger for him to kill trina. at the same time, the canary he cherished most is a relic of a past age. once carried into the mines in wooden and metal cages to alert miners of carbon monoxide, canaries were, according to the mine safety and health administration, replaced by the monoxor co indicator in the late nineteenth century (mcglynn, p. 27). the canary is a symbol of mcteague’s old identity. at the same time, in the book, whether mcteague forcefully kissed trina, beat www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 144 published by scholink inc. marcus, or escaped, norris repeatedly uses “the fist of old-time car boy”, “the hands of car boy”, “the instinct of old-time carboy” to describe mcteague, which not only proves that the miner’s identity has never disappeared from him, but also proves the source of the disturbing violent factors implied in him, that is, the miner’s life mirrored by his father, which is masculine and contains violent factors. this is mcteague’s initial subject formation. the second person who directly influenced his fate is trina sieppe. trina first appeared as a beautiful middle-class woman. she and mcteague were attracted to each other and entered into marriage, but trina’s internal force of avarice became stronger and stronger, and eventually their marriage ended in tragedy. mcteague murdered trina in the kindergarten. from the moment they met, their budding love was nothing more than a “pseudo-self” in the mirror. lacan assumes that the mirror stage is a drama whose internal thrust is precipitated from insufficiency to anticipation and which manufactures for the subject, caught up in the lure of spatial identification, the succession of phantasies that extends from a fragmented body-image to a form of its totality (lacan, p. 444). this means that people with a sense of fragmentation are eager to find a sense of completeness in the mirror, so they are tempted by space and use the image in the mirror as a reference to fantasize and change their image. the novel begins by describing mcteague’s image as follows: his mind was as his body, heavy, slow to act, sluggish. yet there was nothing vicious about the man. altogether he suggested the draft horse, immensely strong, stupid, docile, obedient (norris 1). at this time, he had left the mining area and lived in san francisco as a dentist. the discovery of gold in california in 1849 attracted 89,000 gold seekers from around the world. san francisco’s population grew from 459 in 1847 to 56,802 in 1860 (felson and cundiff, p. 601). although the influx of a large number of people promoted urbanization, the society showed a vulgar, violent, and primitive atmosphere because the lower-class gold seekers accounted for most of the city’s population. in such a city, mcteague seemed to have escaped from the life of a miner, but in fact, he lived in another form of a mining area. he lived a regular but boring life, in which we could not see any life force. these were his only pleasures — to eat, to smoke, to sleep, and to play upon his concertina (norris, p. 1). mcteague apparently had no self-awareness about women or love. but after meeting trina, he found her feminine element which enlarged his narrow point of view on women, the whole sex. and he saw that there was something else in life besides concertinas and steam beer. the male, virile desire in him tardily awakened, aroused itself, strong and brutal (norris, p. 19). trina is similar to mcteague, whom norris describes as “lived her life with as little self-consciousness as a tree” (norris, p. 65). therefore, when mcteague forcefully hugged and kissed trina more than once, trina was intoxicated by mcteague’s masculine charm and conquering behavior. they identified with each other’s animal instincts and created an almost perfect other in their imagination based on each other’s image, one was mcteague, a real man with dangerous charm, and the other was trina, the most delicate and lovely woman. they were immersed in such fantasies. when mcteague bit trina’s finger and used violence, the reader can even read the sense of tolerance and affection. the most exaggerated is that trina and maria discussed the domestic violence of their two husbands with each other, and even took a strange www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 145 published by scholink inc. sort of pride in recounting some particularly savage blow (norris, p. 226). this is not love, but a fantasy based on animal instincts. lacan uses animal experiments to explain the occurrence of the mirror stage. it is a necessary condition for the maturation of the gonad of the female pigeon that it should see another member of its species, of either sex; so sufficient in itself is this condition that the desired effect may be obtained merely by placing the individual within reach of the field of reflection of a mirror (lacan, p. 443). mcteague and trina were attracted to each other, tolerated each other, and developed their own selves. they gradually established their own subjectivity based on the image of the other. trina transformed mcteague, making him dress more refined and behave more elegantly; because of trina’s stinginess, a fantasy about mcteague, and desire for submission, mcteague constantly reshaped the miner subject of “sluggish and dull man”, promoting and encouraging the release of his violent factors. in the end, the marriage went to tragedy. according to lacan’s mirror theory, mcteague’s subject was constantly shaped by the other, first, he was shaped into the image of a miner with his father as the other, and then he was shaped into a man of masculinity by trina as the other. mcteague can be said to be a character who never had subjectivity. he had never shown his own thoughts and was a false subject who had become through identification with the other. 3. the self murdered by the big other and the symbolic in addition to the strangulation of the subject by the other, symbols also strangle people. based on saussure’s research, lacan reinterprets psychoanalysis with structural linguistics. in the essay “the instance of the letter in the unconscious or reason since freud”, lacan uses a new diagram to replace saussure’s tree diagram to express the signifier and the signified. he uses two identical toilet doors as an example. if we want to distinguish the two doors, we still have to rely on the different signifiers. therefore, lacan emphasizes the priority of the signifier. a signifier does not refer to a signified but to another signifier. here lacan makes a metaphor. he believes that there is a signifying chain which is similar to the rings of a necklace that is a ring in another necklace made of rings (lacan, p. 116). this is like when we need to look up the meaning of a word in the dictionary, we need to define it through the meaning of another word. the signifier always refers to another signifier, forming a signifier chain. therefore, humans are caught in a continuous process of generating symbols. the emergence of signs and symbols also pronounces the death of things. in lacan’s view, symbolic signs constitute people. only with the symbols created by people can people strive for their goals. lacan believes that people are murdered by symbols from birth to death. in his essay “the function and field of speech and language in psychoanalysis”, he wrote: symbols envelop the life of man in a network so total that they join together, before he comes into the world, those who are going to engender him ‘by flesh and blood’…so total that they give the words that will make him faithful or renegade, the law of the acts that will follow him right to the very place where he is not yet and even beyond his death... (lacan, p. 50) symbols run through people’s lives and hollow out the meaning of people. in this novel, gold is the symbol that runs through the entire book. gold was originally a metal substance without any meaning, but after people gave it www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 146 published by scholink inc. signifiers, gold became a symbol. in san francisco in the mid-19th century, owning gold became people’s ultimate pursuit, and gold also represented people’s social status. in the novel, there are direct and indirect reasons for mcteague’s tragedy. both reasons are related to the symbol of gold that runs through the whole text. the direct cause is reflected in the character marcus. he and mcteague were good friends who lived in the same apartment building. when he learned that mcteague liked trina, he gave her up to help mcteague. later, he hated mcteague because trina won a lottery of $5,000, so he reported mcteague for not having a medical license. this move made mcteague lose his job and changed trina’s attitude towards mcteague. in essence, marcus hated mcteague not because he liked trina, but on the contrary, he objectified her into gold. he hated mcteague because he lost $5,000. marcus was controlled by artificial symbols. he ignored brotherhood in pursuit of money, hurting others and ultimately trapping himself. the indirect reason for mcteague to kill trina was trina herself. when mcteague lost his job, she fell into unprecedented money anxiety, and her thrifty instinct reached its peak. she began to dislike her husband who had no job and secretly saved money and showed no support and sympathy. when they still had enough savings, she forced mcteague to move into a smaller and more dilapidated apartment, abandoning the living conditions that she had worked hard to cultivate for mcteague, not letting him drink more expensive beer, and even not giving him car fare when he went to find a job in bad weather. trina’s stinginess and instinct to save money gradually angered mcteague, and with the sold concertina as the fuse, mcteague finally killed trina. if marcus hated mcteague so much because he wanted to get more gold, then trina was reluctant to throw away a little gold, and even reached the point where she had to touch the real gold coins to confirm her existence. trina was also a person who controlled by the symbol of gold. her heart was empty except for this signifier. her economic oppression of mcteague eventually led him into the symbolic trap of gold. marcus’ betrayal and trina’s stinginess made the numb and dull mcteague felt more suffocated in this golden city every day. golden images constantly appear in the text. for example, the golden tooth, which was the store decoration that mcteague had always dreamed of, represents a further improvement in economic status; but when mcteague lost his job and moved into a more dilapidated house, it was only used to store dirty dishes, and was finally sold by mcteague to another dentist at a low price. the golden tooth here is another signifier of gold, which unconsciously controls mcteague’s pursuit. another example is the canary in mcteague’s cage. besides being a representation of mcteague’s identity as a miner, it also shows that mcteague was in a similar situation as he was imprisoned in the city, stained by the symbol of gold without knowing it. mcteague was no exception in this city where everyone was chasing gold. therefore, the symbol is created by the subject but controls the subject and eventually kills the subject. studies have shown that during the gold rush, a large number of gold seekers poured into the city, most of whom were not well educated, and brought social customs of alcoholism and fighting to the city. therefore, weak social control and economic motives led to high rates of all types of homicide, but particularly high rates of robbery homicide, a predatory offense. also, there were feuds, vendettas, and duels increased during the gold rush (felson & cundiff, p. 602). this also confirms that in the novel, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 147 published by scholink inc. mcteague’s plunder of trina’s money and the life-and-death duel between marcus and mcteague are all under the strong control of gold and capital. there is no winner in this game. mcteague was just an innocent individual who was symbolically murdered. 4. conclusion lacan believes that people are influenced by the image of others in the mirror stage to form a false self, and then they are murdered by language signs and symbols in society. therefore, there is the death of the subject of mcteague. mcteague first formed a miner’s identity under the influence of his parents, and then identified with animal instincts under the influence of trina. in a broader sense, he was also caught up by the power of symbol which is the gold in the society. his subject is destined to face tragedy. through the lacanian interpretation of this novel, we can better understand why it is called one of the representative works of naturalistic novels, and deeply appreciate the naturalistic thought in it, that is, the powerlessness of individuals facing the world and destiny. french novelist émile zola wrote in his essay “the experimental novel”: the social circulus is identical with vital circulus; in society, as in human beings, a solidarity exists which unites the different members and the different organisms in such a way that if one organ becomes rotten many others are tainted and a very complicated disease results. hence, in our novels, when we experiment on a dangerous wound which poisons society, we proceed in the same way as the experimentalist doctor; we try to find the simple initial cause in order to reach the complex causes of which the action is the result. (zola, p. 28) zola believes that the responsibility of a naturalist novelist is to find out the disease and then provide a treatment plan, just like a doctor. this also echoes what norris said that a good novelist should weigh with the most relentless precision his every statement; in a word, possess a sense of his responsibility (norris, p. 1). norris used the most direct, cold, and simple words to describe the social appearance of san francisco in the 19th century for readers. with such sincere naturalist novelists, we should find inspiration in their works. by focusing on mcteague’s individual fate and analyzing it with lacan’s subject theory, readers can see the victims of an era and the subjectivity that never existed. mcteague’s death of the subject is not individual, but universal. this also inspires us today, under the influence of others and in a society full of various symbols, how we should try our best to stay thoughtful and sober to avoid the death of the subject like mcteague. references felson, r. b., & patrick, r. c. (2018). the gold rush and afterwards: homicide in san francisco, 18492003. aggressive behavior, 44(6), 601-613. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21785 lacan, j. (2001). the function and field of speech and language in psychoanalysis. écrits: a selection (pp. 23-87). trans. alan sheridan. london: routledge classics. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 148 published by scholink inc. lacan, j. (2004). the mirror stage as formative of the function of the i as revealed in psychoanalytic experience. in j. rivkin, & m. ryan (eds.), literary theory: an anthology (pp. 441-446). oxford: blackwell. mcglynn, d. (2008). mcteague’s “gilded prison”. rocky mountain review, 44(6), 25-44. norris, f. (2006). mcteague: a story of san francisco. new york: barnes & noble. norris, f. (2011). the responsibility of the novelist and other literary essays. new york: barnes & noble. zola, e. (1893). “the experimental novel.” the experimental novel and other essays (pp. 1-56). trans. belle m. sherman. new york: the classical publishing co. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 56 original paper input enhancement on foreign language vocabulary acquisition: current status and future prospect xinrui cheng1* & lin he1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china * xinrui cheng, school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, 710128, china received: october 27, 2023 accepted: november 14, 2023 online published: december 5, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n5p56 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n5p56 abstract this study reviewed the empirical research on the role of input enhancement on foreign language vocabulary acquisition published in core journals from 2009 to 2023, from which the current status and future trends of the studies were analyzed. the results manifested that (1) the number of input enhancement research demonstrated a trend of a spiral upward development; (2) the studies used different types of input enhancement as independent variable to explore their effects on the acquisition of target vocabulary; (3) the research materials applied in input enhancement were mostly in the reading mode, while lacked investigation in the listening mode. therefore, future research could further examine the interactive and comparative effects of input enhancement on vocabulary acquisition as well as enhancing vocabulary in the materials with a variety of modes. keywords input enhancement, textual enhancement, foreign language vocabulary learning, vocabulary acquisition the dominant role of input materials on foreign language acquisition has been widely studied since krashen proposed “comprehensible input”. scholars worldwide argue that the design of input materials exerts an important effect on foreign language vocabulary acquisition (wen, 2015; wang m. & wang c., 2014; boers et al., 2017; webb, 2016). currently, research mainly investigated the effect of input enhancement as an independent variable on target foreign language vocabulary acquisition as a dependent variable. input enhancement is a technique which could promote learners’ attention to and processing of the input materials though improving the quality of input (smith, 1993). it aims at attracting students’ attention to the formal features of the input by making the target language knowledge salient (kim, 2006). different means of input enhancement, including textual enhancement, input flood, and gloss attachment (toomer & elgort, 2019), etc., may yield different learning outcomes. the most investigated means is typographic enhancement, which modifies language forms in written text by means www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 57 published by scholink inc. of bolding, underlining, or changing fonts or colors to highlight the forms of the target language visually, by which it could increase the opportunity for students to notice target forms (wong, 2007). input flood is a technique of increasing the frequency of target forms in input materials (szudarski & conklin, 2014). gloss is the addition of explanations to target forms to promote understanding and direct attention (boers, 2022; chen et al., 2020). given the importance of input materials, this study reviewed 28 empirical research on input enhancement and vocabulary acquisition published in the core journals between 2009 and 2023 from theoretical background, research methodology, and research findings, so as to summarize and discuss recent research themes and future research trends. 1. noticing hypothesis in the meaning-based reading tasks, noticing occupies a primary and crucial role in incidental vocabulary acquisition. laufer advocated word-focused instruction, which was derived from form-focused instruction in second language grammar acquisition, including focus on forms and focus on form. and these two types have been transferred to vocabulary instruction (laufer, 2010). focus on forms is defined as teaching and learning individual words in non-communicative and non-authentic language tasks, that is, learning vocabulary in the traditional way. while focus on form refers to paying attention to vocabulary in the communicative tasks to accomplish the them, that is, incidentally acquiring vocabulary in real-language input environments, in which “attention” is crucial. noticing hypothesis highlights the importance of noticing in learning. it refers to the subjective experience of external stimuli, and is a prerequisite for the transformation of input into intake. on the basis of consciousness, schmidt argued that almost all the theories of consciousness attempted to explain attention and the system of attracting attention. the contrast between consciousness-engaged learning and learning without consciousness was primarily consciousness at the noticing level. consciousnessengaged learning refers to the acquisition of target knowledge after noticing it, whereas learning without consciousness is the acquisition of target knowledge without any noticing (schmidt, 1990). however, schmidt did not believe that a foreign language could be learned only through subliminal perception. although subliminal perception does exist and activate existing memory structures, but no new memory structures could be established because processing familiar memory structures is automatic, while processing new knowledge needs to take up limited cognitive resources (schmidt, 1990). therefore, the target language knowledge structures must be noticed before being integrated into memory structures and stored in long-term memory system. the important role of noticing in learning determines its important position in foreign language instruction. the goal of any pedagogical intervention is to change students’ focus when processing the foreign language (smith, 1993) and to increase the possibility of specific linguistic features being noticed (schmidt, 1990). an approach to distinguish various pedagogical philosophy lies in different noticing object, such as noticing meaning, noticing form, noticing form in the process of meaning-based tasks (li z. & li y., 2019). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 58 published by scholink inc. 2. empirical studies on input enhancement in order to analyze the research findings of input enhancement on second language vocabulary acquisition during the 15-year period from 2009 to 2023, two databases, web of science and cnki were selected and concepts “visual input enhancement”, “textual enhancement”, “typographic enhancement”, “input flood”, “input enhancement”, and their chinese translation were chosen as keywords for searching related research. and then through reading and classifying, papers not about input enhancement on second language vocabulary acquisition and papers focused on reviewing were eliminated, from which 13 empirical studies were identified, and from the references in these 13 papers, a total of 28 empirical research papers on input enhancement were obtained. 2.1 characteristics of the research trend the figure below demonstrated that the number of research on input enhancement and second language vocabulary acquisition basically showed a spiral upward development from 2009 to 2023. input enhancement and second language vocabulary acquisition research could be roughly divided into three stages. the first stage is the budding stage from 2009 to 2012, and the second stage is the accelerated development stage in 2013-2016. but then a sudden decline could be witnessed, indicating that the research in this field might need a search for new hotspots and innovations after several years of stable development. the third stage is after 2017, from which a boom could be witnessed, especially the number of papers published peaked in 2022. figure 1. research trend the right figure compared the historical development trend of input enhancement on second language vocabulary acquisition between papers published in web of science and papers published in cnki. in general, the related research internationally tends to rise slowly, while the number of papers published in china during the last 15 years was only four. this trend indicated that the role of input enhancement in second language vocabulary acquisition in china has not yet been widely investigated. nevertheless, taking into account the fact that textual enhancement is an effective means to improve the material for incidental vocabulary acquisition without taking up extra time and increasing the burden of teachers’ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 59 published by scholink inc. teaching, scholars in china can explore whether students learning english in a classroom environment with chinese as their mother tongue and english as their second language can acquire vocabulary independently in the enhanced condition. 2.2 characteristics of various input enhancement techniques among the 28 studies selected, most of them investigated the function of typographic enhancement and frequency of occurrence in vocabulary acquisition, while very few took frequency of occurrence as an individual variable, which usually examined together with typographic enhancement. another discovery was that some studies employed direct or indirect enhancement techniques in audiovisual input, such as highlighting target items in the caption as direct means and as captioning only keywords which include target items as indirect means. besides, some studies have investigated the role of test announcement in directing attention to vocabulary. the presence or absence of test announcement had been regarded as a criterion for distinguishing intentional and incidental learning (hulstijn, 2001). test announcement allows students to focus their attention on unfamiliar and important vocabulary in a meaning-based reading task, though it does not straightly direct learners’ attention to the target words, as opposed to the textual reinforcement that is a more implicit means of directing attention to the target vocabulary. otherwise, very few studies also investigated other input enhancement techniques such as gloss attachment, dynamic visual enhancement, augmenting volume, and the order of input enhancement on vocabulary acquisition. 2.3 characteristics of the input mode and input language most research was conducted in the reading mode context, which included 18 studies and 7 studies used audiovisual materials. the techniques of enhancement in the audiovisual materials mainly encompassed adding captions (montero perez et al., 2014; montero perez et al., 2015; montero perez et al., 2018; cintrón-valentín, 2019; majuddin et al., 2021; puimѐge et al., 2023) and increasing the volume of target items (liu, 2022). and two aforementioned means for adding captions were either implicit or explicit. in addition, three studies considered input enhancement as a mode and compared the effects of various input modes on target vocabulary acquisition. currently examined modes were reading, reading-whilelistening, reading plus textual enhancement (vu & peters, 2022a; vu & peters, 2022b), and readingwhile-listening plus textual enhancement (vu & peters, 2023). nevertheless, few considered the listening materials in the current empirical research comparatively. and contrastive studies between different modes mainly focused on reading and reading-while-listening. therefore, future studies could investigate the function of input enhancement in listening mode, such as augmenting the volume of target items in the context of classroom instruction. otherwise, it is worthy to compare a variety of modes, such as reading, listening, reading-while-listening, and captioned videos, in which input enhancement could also be considered as a variable. four major languages of the input material studied previously were english, french, german, and spanish. one meta-analytic study on the same research strand only found 2 languages studied before, spanish and english (lee & huang, 2008). a systemic review discovered that the number of input www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 60 published by scholink inc. language has increased in recent years (lee & huang, 2008). however, none of these studies used chinese as the second language, which should be further explored as chinese has received more and more attention in the international arena. 2.4 characteristics of target vocabulary classes statistical analysis of the target vocabulary in the 28 studies disclosed that most studies targeted on multiword expressions (mwes), then on words, and the remaining studies on both words and mwes. the study of words principally focused on verbs, adjectives, and nouns. while the study of mwes was mainly on collocations, with 10 studies using collocations as the target vocabulary, and the types of collocations included adjective-noun and verb-noun collocations. currently, no studies have explored the effect of input enhancement on the acquisition of noun-noun collocations. of the 16 studies whose target was mwes, only two reported on the semantic transparency of word units, with one considering only semantically transparent mwes (vu & peters, 2023), and with the other one encompassing both semantically transparent and semantically obscure idioms (campillo, 2015). the former study included only semantically transparent word but did not demonstrate whether transparency influence the learning gains. the latter study found that textual enhancement facilitated the comprehension of idioms, and that semantically transparent idioms were more effective than semantically obscure idioms in the acquisition of lexical meaning knowledge, but the study indicated that transparency might not lead to higher learning gains in form knowledge. nevertheless, the study had a small number of subjects and the data was not statistically analyzed which restricted the explanatory power. future research could be expanded to investigate the similarities and differences in the effects of input enhancement on semantically transparent and semantically ambiguous phrases. there are two main reasons that the acquisition of mwes by foreign language learners of english lags far behind that of native english speakers. first, most mwes do not occur frequently in the input, and second, the chances for noticing the form features of mwes are relatively low in the meaning-focused learning, especially those semantically transparent ones (boers et al., 2017). however, frequency of occurrence is a dominant factor in vocabulary learning, in which learners could enhance the memory trace of the vocabulary in their long-term memory system, constantly refine the meaning, and acquire the pragmatic knowledge for using the vocabulary in specific context. the contextual view of vocabulary learning proposed that vocabulary is acquired during repeated encounters, with each encounter leaving a memory trace of the vocabulary and the context in which it occurs, and through encountering the vocabulary in different contexts, knowledge of the overlapping parts of the meaning and use is refined and strengthened, and finally the meaning, form as well as use knowledge of the vocabulary is stored and could be retrieved in hand (elgort et al., 2017). one feature of mwes is that the combination of several words may be semantically transparent or semantically ambiguous; semantically ambiguous ones might attract attention and require learners to guess the meaning based on the context, while semantically transparent ones enable students to understand the meaning, but might pose difficulties for noticing, processing and acquiring. thus, most studies targeting at mwes were determined by the nature of the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 61 published by scholink inc. mwes themselves. words that are unknown to learners or words that interrupted the construction of general meaning of the input could generate internal salience, i.e., unfamiliarity and significance for comprehension induce words to be noticed, even if without any enhancement (liu, 2013). in contrast, if mwes, especially semantically transparent ones, are not enhanced, l2 learners may perceive such items as several words rather than as fixed phrases, and such perception might restrict learners from acquiring the knowledge of collocation and their use. 2.5 the characteristics of vocabulary measurement tasks an analysis of the types of vocabulary measurement tasks in the studies published in the last 15 years revealed that the empirical studies mainly measured the effects of input enhancement on lexical form and meaning knowledge, with 15 studies measuring form recall, 14 studies measuring form recognition, 12 studies measuring meaning recall, and 7 studies measuring meaning recognition. and among these studies, nine measured form knowledge alone, and two measured meaning knowledge alone which were both gloss-related studies (zuo, 2020; shabani & rahimy, 2020). there were three studies considering eye movement data (choi, 2016; jung et al., 2022; puimѐge, 2023), which provided direct statistical support for the role of input enhancement in directing attention, while previously, the role of noticing was confirmed indirectly through vocabulary form test scores. in addition, three studies conducted reading comprehension tests, with one being designed to measure comprehension of target idioms (campillo, 2015), and with the other two to measure whether learners’ comprehension of the text was impaired while attention was drawn to target vocabulary form through input enhancement techniques (majuddin et al., 2021; liu, 2013). other tests such as use recognition, morpheme recall, look-up behavior, phrase priming, and reaction time were only used in 1 or 2 studies. future studies could further measure whether the treatment of target lexical items could enhance students’ acquisition of the use knowledge. and future studies could explore the impact of input enhancement on the learning of implicit knowledge through various sensitive measurements such as eye movement, self-paced reading, and vocabulary priming judgment (toomer & elgort, 2019). 3. discussion based on the aforementioned characteristics of the 28 studies on the effects of input enhancement on foreign language vocabulary acquisition, this section would compare and discuss these 28 empirical studies and analyze them around three themes: comparative effects among different input enhancement techniques, interactive effects between different input enhancement techniques, and the order of input enhancement. 3.1 comparative effects among different input enhancement techniques studies on the comparative effects among various input enhancement techniques could be further divided into the comparison between input enhancement and no enhancement, and the comparison among various input enhancement techniques. the overall findings were that input enhancement indeed stimulated the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 62 published by scholink inc. acquisition of form knowledge, meaning knowledge, and one enhancement technique resulted in more learning than two techniques (toomer & elgort, 2013; labrozzi & villegas, 2020). among sixteen studies focusing on this strand, only one did not measure form knowledge, and only two studies did not observe the higher learning gains on form knowledge (szudarski & conklin, 2014; campillo, 2015). six of the 16 studies reported on the effects on the acquisition of meaning knowledge, with one not finding any significant effect on the growth of meaning knowledge (szudarski & conklin, 2014). two studies measuring noticing revealed that input enhancement could direct attention to target vocabulary (puimѐge, 2023; choi, 2016). one study investigating the effects on reading comprehension discovered that gloss produced no significant effect on reading comprehension (liu, 2013). the inconsistent results were mainly caused by different research participants and research designs. one study found no effect of input enhancement on promoting the vocabulary acquisition (vu & peters, 2023), which might result from the number of research subjects, the difficulty of the idioms themselves, and the test format, etc. the other study explored whether there was an effect of textual enhancement on vocabulary acquisition together with mechanical memorization, which found no effect (szudarski & conklin, 2014). it indicated that mechanical memorization itself exerted an impact on vocabulary acquisition, while additional enhancement had no further contribution to vocabulary acquisition. 3.2 interactive effects between different input enhancement techniques for studies of interactive effects among input enhancement techniques, the focus was on demonstrating whether two or more techniques would promote vocabulary acquisition jointly and interactively. the general conclusion could be drawn from the ten related studies which disclosed the impact of input enhancement on the growth of form knowledge, meaning knowledge, noticing but inconsistent findings were witnessed. of the 10 relevant studies, only two did not measure form knowledge, with one measuring meaning and attention (zuo, 2020), and with the other measuring reaction time (noethbeook & conklin, 2021). among studies targeting at form knowledge, four independent variables including textual enhancement, frequency of occurrence, caption, and involvement load were found to facilitate the growth of learning gains. studies comparing various caption types had found that caption itself also prompted the acquisition of lexical form, with one study finding no significant difference in lexical form knowledge acquisition among different caption types (majuddin et al., 2021), i.e., additional enhancement such as keyword captioning and captioning with enhanced target items did not further result in form knowledge learning. while two other studies found that the facilitative role of enhancement including keyword captioning, keyword annotation on the acquisition of form knowledge. given the inconsistent findings, future research could continue to compare effects between keyword captioning and captioning with enhanced target items. the effect of test announcement was also found to be inconsistent in four studies, with only one discovering a positive impact of announcing vocabulary tasks before experiment on the acquisition of vocabulary form (peters et al., 2009), which suggested that using test announcement to differentiate between intentional and incidental acquisition might not be an appropriate approach to achieve the goal. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 63 published by scholink inc. seven studies measured the acquisition of vocabulary meaning knowledge, there was no agreement on the function of the same input enhancement techniques, such as textual enhancement and test announcement. two studies targeting at the meaning knowledge acquisition with typographic enhancement found a significant effect in one study (jung & tran, 2022), but no significant effect in the other (zuo, 2020). studies on the effect of test announcement on meaning acquisition found a significant impact on meaning acquisition in two studies (zuo, 2020; montero perez et al., 2015), while no significant differences in the other two research (montero perez et al., 2018; peters et al., 2009). one study of various caption demonstrated that gloss positively influenced the acquisition of meaning knowledge, but keyword captioning did not have a significant impact on meaning knowledge growth (montero perez et al., 2018). there were only three studies also considered the retention of vocabulary knowledge, which revealed that input enhancement, involvement load, and captioning enabled form knowledge to retain (majuddin et al., 2021; zhou, 2010), while typographic enhancement might not promote retention of vocabulary knowledge (peters, 2012). however, considering that long-term memory of vocabulary knowledge was more significant while few studies included the delayed posttests, it would be necessary to explore the effect of input enhancement on the retention of vocabulary knowledge, future research designs should conduct delayed posttests. it might be hard for vocabulary knowledge to retain after one or two weeks with typographic enhancement studied only in the cross-sectional research but not in the longitudinal research. two studies investigated the role of typographic enhancement on attention and both found its positive role on noticing, as well as test announcement and the frequency of occurrence (zuo, 2020; jung et al., 2022). only one study investigated whether input enhancement could affect reading comprehension, which discovered a significant effect of captioning on reading comprehension, while no significant effect was found on reading comprehension among different types of captions (majuddin et al., 2021). 3.3 the order of input enhancement there were only 2 studies comparing different sequence of input enhancement and they were both published in cnki. the theoretical basis was the input processing theory (vanpattern, 1990), which claimed that vocabulary knowledge had multiple facets and different facets could not be learnt simultaneously when they were all new to a student. these two studies confirmed this theory, and one found that gloss given before reading texts or after reading texts significantly outperformed the group reading the gloss attached texts or texts with no gloss in terms of the acquisition of vocabulary form and meaning knowledge (liu, 2013), suggesting that providing reading and gloss at the same time might divert students’ attention and disperse cognitive resources. the other study compared the form, meaning, and usage knowledge in different sequence of enhancement, which found the proactive interference on the acquisition of form and meaning knowledge (yang m. & yang l., 2016), i.e., the knowledge learned first acquired better, i.e., if the meaning was enhanced first, the learning outcome of meaning knowledge was better, while if the form was provided first, the acquisition of form knowledge was better; when the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 64 published by scholink inc. form, meaning and usage were enhanced at the same time, the sequence of vocabulary acquisition followed the order of general principle of vocabulary acquisition, i.e., meaning first, then form, and use knowledge was acquired latter. 4. conclusion of current status and prospect on future research in the 28 research on the effects of input enhancement on foreign language vocabulary learning from 2009 to 2023, the language of the research materials were mostly alphabetic languages. while the distance between languages might also influence the impact of input enhancement, so it is worthy of investigating whether learners with chinese as the l2 respond to input enhancement differently. the analysis of the research characteristics revealed that the target vocabulary was mostly multiword expressions, but there were few studies on semantically transparent ones; the research materials were basically in the reading mode, but very few in the listening or audiovisual mode; the measurement of vocabulary knowledge focused on the growth of the vocabulary form and meaning knowledge. given that input enhancement is a more implicit pedagogical tool, it may be necessary to measure implicit vocabulary knowledge with the help of more sensitive test formats. finally, the analysis of the research themes revealed that most studies were about comparative studies between different enhancement techniques. based on the above analysis, future research can be carried out in the following ways: (1) in terms of research design, studies could systematically investigate chinese input materials and listening materials; (2) in terms of research themes, studies could investigate the interactive effects of different input enhancement techniques on foreign language vocabulary acquisition. in conclusion, input enhancement can be widely used in foreign language teaching at all levels of education as a means of facilitating teaching and learning without occupying extra learning time. references boers, f. 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(2010). a study of the effects of input augmentation and task input on english collocation acquisition. modern foreign languages, 33(1), 81-88. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444815000051 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper children with disabilities and equity in education: connecting standards and practice to law and ethics kimberly j. barcelona1* 1 new london county, ct public education, connecticut public school educator, nigeria * kimberly j. barcelona, new london county, ct public education, connecticut public school educator, nigeria received: november 29, 2020 accepted: december 21, 2020 online published: january 4, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n1p57 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n1p57 abstract some of the most controversial education policy concerns and methods of practice have been over special education. students between the ages three to twenty-one with disabilities compromise 13% of student enrollment between prekindergarten and twelfth grade (u.s. department of education, national center for education statistics, 2013) (appendix a, table 1,2,3). from the late eighteenth century to current times, the legal system and court case outcomes have played a major role in the development of public education in america. the supreme court’s 1954 ruling in brown v. board of education not only ruled racial segregation as unconstitutional, but became a landmark case that opened the doors for court involvement in refining educational policy concerning special education. standards of practice, which have evolved through the years, began to take form to support educational leaders in how they approached adhering to laws and policy concerning the education of students identified as special needs learners. chief justice earl warren who spoke for the supreme court of the united states in brown v. board of education (1954), stated: in these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms (brown v. bd. of educ., 347 u.s. 483, 1954). this case dispelled the notion that education could be offered to any group under the premise of separate but equal that had earlier been established in plessy v. ferguson (1896). plessy v. ferguson (1896) is a landmark united states supreme court decision in the jurisprudence of the united states, upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of “separate but equal” (maidment, 1973). 57 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 keywords educational policy, special education, educational law, brown v. board of education, the individuals with disabilities education act (idea), free and public education (fape) 1. introduction the most important right given to students-with-disabilities is the right to a free appropriate public education (fape). under the individuals with disabilities education act (idea), a fape is not just a privilege given to eligible students at the convenience of school districts but rather a right that must be made available to all eligible students. according to idea, a fape is “special education and related services” that (a) are provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge, and (b) meet standards of the state educational agency, that includes appropriate education in preschool, elementary, and secondary school levels and are delivered in conformity with the child’s iep (20 u.s.c. §1401(9). since the definition of fape does not clearly define all levels of educational quality, there has been conflicting interpretations. this has escalated problems and caused court cases to surface that address the rights of families and students to a fair and equitable education. 2. method educational law review documents not only clarify what policies shape the role of education; but also present the history of the current rules, assess the status quo, and present reform proposals. to make theoretical arguments more plausible, legal practitioners apply outcomes of past cases, refer to statutes, review political debates, and examine related sources. legal scholars highlight examples unsystematically and explore them armed with only the tools for doctrinal analysis. unsystematic examples can better develop plausible theories; however, rarely suffice to convince the public that these theories are true, especially when plausible alternative explanations exist. this project presents methodological insights from multiple social science disciplines and from history that could strengthen legal scholarship by improving research design, case selection, and case analysis. qualitative techniques are utilized that are scarcely found in law review writing; such as, process tracing, theoretically informed sampling, and related case design. (table 1) the 1954 supreme court decision in brown v. board of education had declared state laws, establishing separate public schools for black and white students, unconstitutional and the notion of “separate but equal” became unacceptable thought. this movement forward in education was important for students with disabilities, because the concept of equal opportunity was applicable to them, as well as to minority students (brown v. bd. of educ., 347 u.s. 483, 493, 1954). brown v. board of education was based on the fourteenth amendment’s equal protection and due process clauses and not just the “right” to education. with this action by the courts, there was increased legislation and litigation that dealt with the allocation of authority over educational decision-making. courts have become more actively involved in aspects of education that were once left entirely to the discretion of school administrators and school 58 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 boards. teachers’, students’, and parents’ rights have been asserted in legal actions against school authority producing a vastly expanded field of judicial precedents which have had a huge impact on american education. in 1982, the u.s. supreme court provided a definitive interpretation of the statutory language. its decision remains the court’s most important pronouncement on the idea, and its interpretation has been the binding precedent for all fape cases in all the courts in the country. several cases heard in the u.s. supreme court gave clarity to fape. one such case is mceuen v. missouri state board of education (2003) that defines the fape as not requiring the school district to maximize a student’s capabilities, but to provide a free appropriate public education consistent with the provisions set forth in state and federal regulations implementing idea mceuen v. mo. bd. of educ. 120 s.w.3d 207, 209, mo. 2003). there has been a many cases, mimicking mceuen v. missouri state board of education, litigated under the idea in an attempt to answer the questions about what is required of schools in providing special education. many questions remain unanswered, and expanding statutory, regulatory, and judicial law continues to bring up new questions. as the increase of cases was brought to the u.s. supreme court amendments were made to idea in order to define the remedy for failure to develop a reasonable iep for a student to enable him to receive a meaningful education (larson v. independent sch. dist. no. 361, 2004). an individualized education program for each eligible student with a disability is the heart of the idea. it is the primary tool for individualizing services for each eligible student, and it establishes resources on behalf of the student. it is the key mechanism for gaining participation by parents in the development of the student’s specially designed instruction and provides an important opportunity for solving disagreements between home and school. additionally, it provides a means both to monitor the delivery of special education and to evaluate its effectiveness (individuals with disabilities education act, 20 u.s.c. §§ 1400 et seq.; 34 c.f.r. §§ 300 et seq.). in order to assure that students are given a fape it is important for school systems to develop appropriate iep’s that clearly meets the need of the individual student. the evolution of the role of the courts in education began between 1789 and 1850 when the federal and state courts ignored education. courts were rarely called to intervene in school matters. state control of education grew stronger from approximately1850 to 1950 with state courts asserting that education was only a state and local issue. this focus at the state level created case law that, in theory, would contradict federal constitutional standards and requirements. during that time, however, federal courts were only willing to question the validity of state statutes under the u.s. constitution and ignored the idea that cases involving schools could be brought to court based on an infringement of individual rights. next the reformation stage began in the 1950s with brown v. board of education and continues today (janto and harrison-cox, 1992). the federal court recognized the failure of state education laws to meet individual’s constitutional rights and began to issue decisions that offered constitutional guidance for educational institutions (brown v. board of educ., 347 u.s. 483, 1954). 59 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 in 1919 in state ex. rel. beattie v. board of education, the wisconsin supreme court refused to admit a student with cerebral palsy to a public school. the court judged the condition to be “repulsive” to the other children and disturbing to the teachers. the supreme court of wisconsin upheld the exclusion of a student with a paralysis. the student had normal intelligence, but his condition caused him to drool and make facial contortions. the student attended public schools through grade five but was excluded thereafter, since school officials claimed that his physical appearance nauseated teachers and other students. sec. 13-1375 relieves the state board of education from any obligation to educate a child whom a public school psychologist certifies as uneducable and untrainable. the burden of caring for such a child then shifts to the department of welfare which has no obligation to provide any educational services for the child. school officials recommended that he attend a day school for students with hearing impairments and defective speech, but he refused and was supported by his parents (state ex rel. beattie v. board of ed. of antigo, 169 wis. 231, 232, 172 n. w. 153, 1919). during this time the courts frequently sanctioned the exclusion of students. another court case bringing to light the issues surrounding the appropriate education of a student with special need is the board of education of cleveland heights v. state ex rel. goldman (1943). in this situation a child with an iq below 50 was excluded from a school in ohio. again, the court of appeals ruled that such exclusion was acceptable for children deemed idiot or imbecile. in 1958 the supreme court of illinois, in department of public welfare v. haas, ruled that the state’s compulsory attendance legislation did not require the state to provide a free education for the “feeble minded” or to children who were “mentally deficient”. during this time each court case did not breeched the issue of what was considered a free appropriate public education and there was little attention given to establishing a clear and defined set of rules that gave guidance to the education of the disabled. as late as 1969, a north carolina statute remained on the books allowing the state to label a child “uneducable” and made it a crime for parents to challenge the decision. between the late 1950s and early 1970s the federal government became involved in securing the right to a public education for students with disabilities. in 1958 congress passed grants for teaching in the education of handicapped children (p.l. 85-926) which awarded grants to institutions of higher learning to assist them in providing training for teachers related to the teaching of the mentally retarded. one million dollars was allocated for ten fiscal years to accomplish this training. in 1961 the legislation expanded to include funds for the education of teachers for the deaf and hard of hearing as well (p. l. 89-10). the elementary and secondary education act passed by congress in 1965 attempted to compensate for the neglect of students with disabilities by allocating federal money to the states and giving states control over the education programs for students with disabilities. this law created the bureau of education for the handicapped to administer all federal programs designed for children with disabilities. during the next four years, congress amended the act three times to provide for testing, experimental preschool programs for children with disabilities. in 1970 this legislation was replaced by the education of the handicapped act, which added more money to the programs and expanded available services (p.l. 91-230). 60 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 public law 93-380 passed in 1974 included amendments that changed the elementary and secondary act to the education of the handicapped act amendments of 1974. the education amendments of 1974 (public law 93-380) provided for the consolidation of certain education programs and established the national center for education statistics (nces). it also established two laws: the education of the handicapped amendments of 1974 and the family education rights and privacy act (ferpa), which gave parents and students over 18 the right to view student’s personal school files. in addition it amended the bilingual act and the equal education act. its new mandates included the following: •states were required to develop timelines for offering full educational opportunities to all children with disabilities. •mainstreaming children with disabilities to the extent possible. •procedural safeguards were to be put into practice. each amendment supported the goal in providing all students with the right to a fape and federal policies and regulations continued to take shape and gain clarity. despite a school district’s good faith effort to provide appropriate programs and related services for students with disabilities, litigation continued to increase, impacting upon an expanding interpretation of fape. courts had now increased their overall supervision of education. the individuals with disabilities act (idea), 20 u.s.c. §§1400 et seq., provides federal funds to assist the states in assuring that each child with a disability receive a free appropriate public education (fape). the current history of idea began in 1975 with the passage of the education for all handicapped children act of 1975 (p.l. 94-142). although the act has been amended several times to add provisions relating to the education of infants and toddlers (p.l. 99-457), attorneys’ fees (p.l.99-373) and its name was changed to individuals with disabilities education act in 1990 (p.l. 101-476), the first comprehensive revision of idea occurred in 1997 with the passage of the 1997 idea amendments (p.l.105-17). two court cases giving children with disabilities the right to a public education moved congress into further action. in 1971, in the case of pennsylvania association for retarded citizens (parc) v. pennsylvania the parents of students with mental retardation filed a class action suit challenging a pennsylvania law that excluded the students from public schools. the following year, parents of students with disabilities in washington d.c. challenged the exclusion of their children from public education. mills v. board of education (1972) involved a broader range of students than did parc (1971), including those with behavioral problems, emotional disturbance, and hyperactivity. seven students brought about this suit after being excluded from the district of columbia’s public school system without due process of the law (minow, 2004). as a result of the case, the federal court in the district of columbia extended the right to a public education to all groups of students with disabilities. the court ruled that no child with a disability could be excluded from a regular school assignment unless that child was provided with adequate alternative educational services suited to the child’s needs. the court also ordered the district to provide due process safeguards. the court clearly outlined due process procedures for labeling, placement, and exclusion of 61 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 students with disabilities. the procedural safeguards included the following: (a) the right to a hearing with representation with an impartial hearing officer, (b) the right to an appeal, (c) the right to have access to records, and (d) the requirement of written notice at all stages of the process. these safeguards became the framework for the due process component of the education of all handicapped children act of 1975 (levine, 1975). this grant formula legislation encompassed most of the significant legal protections to be found in the individuals with disabilities education act (idea), which renamed it in 1990. a free appropriate public education (fape) was guaranteed to all children with disabilities and procedural safeguards for their families were strengthened. federal dollars were made available to help states meet these increased legal requirements. judicial rulings in pennsylvania association for retarded citizens (parc) v. pennsylvania (1971) and mills v. board of education (1972) first recognized the rights of children with disabilities to a public school education (kirp, 1973). during the pendency of the p.a.r.c. and mills cases, federal legislators drafted the education of the handicapped act (eha) outlining the minimal requirements with which the states and d.c. must comply to receive federal assistance funds for providing education for handicapped students. the education for all handicapped children act (eahca) or public law 94-142 (1975), later renamed the individuals with disabilities education act (idea) (1990), furthered the rights of students with disabilities by guaranteeing a free and appropriate public education (fape) (yell, conroy, katsiyannis, & conroy, 2013). since the enactment of p.l. 94-142, school districts, parents, advocates, hearing officers, and courts have struggled to define the standard for delivery of a free and appropriate public education to students with disabilities. one of the most frequently litigated issues in the area of special education is the appropriateness of a student’s education, and who is responsible for providing that education. the idea (1990) guarantees each student with a disability an appropriate public education, yet does not clearly define the term appropriate, nor does the idea provide sufficient guidance for compliance by educators. courts vary on rulings identifying what are and are not sufficient offerings and accommodations for students with disabilities. many school administrators struggle with the question of what services must be offered to students with disabilities, and what constitutes an appropriate education for a student with a disability (learning disabilities [legislation], 2001). in response to the need for clarity, section 1401(a) (18) of the individuals with disabilities education act (1997) added a clear definition of fape by adding the following to the ruling: the term “free and appropriate public education” means special education and related services that (a) have been provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge; (b) meet the standards of the state educational agency; (c) include an appropriate preschool, elementary, or secondary school education in the state involved; and (d) are provided in conformity with the individualized education program required under section 1414 (a) (5) of this title (beatty, 2013). judicial decisions since the enactment of p.l. 94-142 (1975) have increased concern about the rights of students with disabilities and the provisions of specific accommodations and services. the litigation 62 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 trend of recent years is of great concern to public school educators and to school districts. hendrick hudson board of education. v. rowley, 458 u.s. 176 (1982) was the first supreme court case regarding special education set the standard for what is a “free appropriate public education” (johnson, 2003). amy rowley was a deaf student attending furnace woods school in hendrick hudson central school district in ny. before her school attendance, her parents and the school administrators decided to put her in a regular class to determine what kind of supplemental services she would need. it was decided that amy should remain in regular class, but would be provided with hearing aid. she completed kindergarten year without any difficulty. when she began her first grade, an iep was prepared, saying that she should be in a regular class, receive hearing aid, instruction from a tutor for the deaf and a speech therapist. her parents agreed, but also wanted a sign language interpreter in her classes. but during her kindergarten year, the sign language interpreter reported that she did not need his services after a two-week trial period. the school concluded that amy did not need an interpreter during her first grade after considering testimony from people familiar with her academic progress. the rowley party demanded a hearing before an independent examiner. the examiner also agreed that an interpreter was not necessary because amy could do well academically and socially without assistance. the rowley family brought the case to the district court, claiming that the denial of sign language interpreter was a violation of a “free appropriate public education” (board of educ. of hendrick hudson cent. sch. dist. v. rowley, 458 u.s. 176, 192-194, 199, 102 s.ct. 3034, 3043-3045, 3047, 1982). the district court found that amy could advance from grade to grade, but did not perform as well as she could if she were not deaf. because of the difference between her performance and her potential, the court decided she did not receive a “free appropriate public education”, which they defined as an opportunity to achieve her full potential. the court of appeals also agreed with the district court. the court decisions determined that since both district court and court of appeals failed to provide evidence that the school violated the act, or evidence that amy’s educational program failed to comply with the requirement of the act, the supreme court reversed and remanded the case. decisions were based on the fact that the supreme court focused on the definition of a “free appropriate public education”. there was no requirement that the state had to maximize the potential of handicapped children. the specialized educational service for handicapped children did not mean that the service had to maximize each child’s potential since it was impossible to measure and compare their potential. from the history of the cases the court decided, the intent of the act was to give handicapped children access to public education. it did not guarantee any level of education for them. the ruling provided children with disabilities access to public schools that also provided a basic floor of opportunity. not the best education but one where the child has passing grades in classes and is advancing to higher grades. it wasn’t until 1990 that idea further expanded the scope of federal regulations in the area of educating children with disabilities (huefner, 2008). federal funds were to be provided to states and districts for 63 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 educational programs for children with disabilities under the determined conditions set by idea. states were required to ensure that: •all children and youth with disabilities, regardless of the severity of their disability, will receive a free appropriate public education (fape) at public expense. •education of children and youth with disabilities will be based on a complete and individual evaluation and assessment of the specific, unique needs of each child. •an individualized educational program (iep), or an individualized family services plan (ifsp), will be drawn up for every child or youth found eligible for special education or early intervention services, stating precisely what kinds of special education and related services or the types of early intervention services, each infant, toddler, preschooler, child, or youth will receive. •to the maximum extent appropriate, all children and youth with disabilities will be educated in the regular education environment. •children and youth receiving special education have the right to receive the related services necessary to benefit from special education instruction. related services include transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education, and includes speech pathology and audiology, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, including therapeutic recreation, early identification and assessment of disabilities in children, counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling, and medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes. the term also includes school health services, social work services in school, and parent counseling and training (c.f.r.: title 34; education; part 300.16, 1993, no. 96-1973). •parents have the right to participate in every decision related to the identification, evaluation, and placement of their child or youth with a disability. •parents must give consent for any initial evaluation, assessment, or placement, be notified of any change in placement that may occur and be included, along with teachers, in conferences and meetings held to draw up individualized programs. •parents may challenge and appeal any decision related to the identification, evaluation, and placement of their child. any issue concerning the provision of fape, for their child is protected by clearly spelled-out, extensive due process procedures. a “stay-put” provision requires that the child remain in the current placement until any challenge is ruled upon, including all appeals (20 u.s.c. §§ 1400 et seq. (2004) and 34 part 300 (2006)). •parents have the right to confidentiality of information. no one may see a child’s records unless the parents give their written permission. the individuals with disabilities education act is both a grants statute and a civil rights statute. it provides federal funding for the education of children with disabilities and requires, as a condition for the receipt of such funds, the provision of a free appropriate public education (fape). one of the major ways fape is ensured is by the creation and implementation of an individualized education program 64 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 (iep). the iep is the blueprint for the education and related services that the local educational agency (lea) provides for a child with a disability, together with the goals, academic assessment procedures, and placement of the child. the statute also contains detailed due process requirements to ensure the provision of fape. originally enacted in 1975, the act responded to increased awareness of the need to educate children with disabilities, and to judicial decisions requiring that states provide an education for children with disabilities if they provided an education for children without disabilities. however, the statute contains no specific provision relating to which party has the burden of proof in a due process hearing. generally, when a statute is silent about the burden of proof, the burden is placed on the party initiating the proceeding. however, this is not an absolute rule and other factors such as policy considerations, convenience, and fairness may change the allocation of the burden of proof. in the 30 years since the special education law was enacted, the u. s. supreme court has only heard a few cases that directly involved special education cases. the most important ones that have changes legislation over time began with the board of ed. of hendrick hudson central school dist. v. rowley 458 u.s. 176 (1982). this was the first decision in a special education case that defined the term “free appropriate public education.” cases that followed included burlington sch. committee v. mass. bd. of ed., 471 u. s. 359 (1985), honig v. doe, 484 u.s. 305 (1988), florence co. school district four v. shannon carter, 510 u.s. 7, (1993), cedar rapids v. garret f. (1999), schaeffer v. weast (2005) and forest grove v. t.d., 129 s. ct. 987 08-305, 109 lrp 13476 (2009). burlington sch. committee v. mass. bd. of ed., 471 u. s. 359 (1985) clarified procedural safeguards, parent role in educational decision-making and tuition reimbursement for private placement and a child’s placement during dispute about fape. the education of the handicapped act (act), 84 stat. 175, as amended, 20 u.s.c. § 1401 et seq., requires participating state and local educational agencies “to assure that handicapped children and their parents or guardians are guaranteed procedural safeguards with respect to the provision of free appropriate public education” to such handicapped children. § 1415(a). these procedures include the right of the parents to participate in the development of an “individualized education program” (iep) for the child and to challenge in administrative and court proceedings a proposed iep with which they disagree. § § 1401(19), 1415(b), (d), (e). where as in the present case review of a contested iep takes years to run its course, important practical questions arise concerning interim placement of the child and financial responsibility for that placement. honig v. doe, 484 u.s. 305 (1988) was important in the area of school discipline as it relates to students with disabilities. jack, who attended a developmental center for students with disabilities, was described as a socially and physically awkward teenager who had considerable difficulty controlling his impulses and anger. in response to taunts, he attacked and choked a fellow student and kicked out a window. the u.s. supreme court determined that the lea could not indefinitely suspend students with disabilities like jack’s but that, because lea officials have an interest in maintaining a safe learning environment for all their students, they could seek an injunction to remove him from his “then current educational placement” in public school pending outcome of administrative and judicial proceedings 65 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 (hersh & johansen, 2007). this case made favorable decisions on behalf of emotionally disturbed children who had academic and social problems. court clarified procedural issues designed to protect children from school officials and that schools shall not expel children for behaviors related to their handicaps. florence co. school district four v. shannon carter, 510 u.s. 7, (1993) was a case involving tuition reimbursement for families of children with disabilities. if the public school program does not provide an appropriate education and the parents place the child into a private program where the child does receive an appropriate education, the parents are entitled to reimbursement for the child’s education. this decision opened the door to children with autism who receive aba/lovaas therapy. after respondent shannon carter, a student in petitioner public school district, was classified as learning disabled, school officials met with her parents to formulate an individualized education program (iep), as required under the individuals with disabilities education act (idea), 20 u.s.c. § 1400 et seq. shannon’s parents requested a hearing to challenge the proposed iep’s appropriateness. in the meantime, shannon’s parents enrolled her in trident academy, a private school specializing in educating children with disabilities. after the state and local educational authorities concluded that the iep was adequate, shannon’s parents filed this suit, claiming that the school district had breached its duty under idea to provide shannon with a “free appropriate public education,” §1401(a)(18), and seeking reimbursement for tuition and other costs incurred at trident. the district court ruled in the parents’ favor, holding that the proposed iep violated idea, and that the education shannon received at trident was “appropriate” and in substantial compliance with idea’s substantive requirements, even though the school did not comply with all of the act’s procedures. in affirming, the court of appeals rejected the school district’s argument that reimbursement is never proper when the parents choose a private school that is not approved by the state or that does not comply with all of the requirements of §1401(a)(18). in this situation, a court may order reimbursement for parents who unilaterally withdraw their child from a public school that provides an inappropriate education under idea and put the child in a private school that provides an education that is otherwise proper under idea, but does not meet all of §1401(a)(18)’s requirements. cedar rapids v. garret f. (1999) affirmed that schools must provide related services to children who need services to attend school. garret f., a minor and student in cedar rapids community school district, is wheelchair-bound and ventilator dependent. he requires assistance in attending to his physical needs during the school day. the school district declined to accept financial responsibility for garret’s services in order for him to be able to attend school. the school district believed it was not legally obligated to provide one-on-one care. an administrative law judge concluded that the individuals with disabilities education act (idea) required the school district to provide “school health services,” which are provided by a “qualified school nurse or other qualified person,” but not medical services, which are limited to services provided by a physician. the district court and the court of appeals affirmed despite arguments from the school district that such one-on-one care is too costly and too involved to be 66 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 considered anything but medical in nature (cedar rapids comm. sch.dist. v. garret f. and charlene f., 1998). schaeffer v. weast (2005) is a case concerning the educational services that were due, under idea, to petitioner brian schaffer. brian suffers from learning disabilities and speech-language impairments. from prekindergarten through seventh grade he attended a private school and struggled academically. in 1997, school officials informed brian’s mother that he needed a school that could better accommodate his needs. brian’s parents contacted respondent montgomery county public schools system (mcps) seeking a placement for him for the following school year. mcps evaluated brian and convened an iep team. the committee generated an initial iep offering brian a place in either of two mcps middle schools. brian’s parents were not satisfied with the arrangement, believing that brian needed smaller classes and more intensive services. the schaffers thus enrolled brian in another private school, and initiated a due process hearing challenging the iep and seeking compensation for the cost of brian’s subsequent private education. this outcome of this case puts burden of proof on the party bringing the action in a special education matter. prior to this, the seventh circuit had placed that burden on the school and/or cooperative, without regard to who initiated the action. the court further determined that a school district has no unfair information or resource advantage that would compel a court to reassign the burden of proof to a school system when the parents initiate the proceedings. noting that congress enacted the idea with the clear intention of deferring to local school authorities the task of developing educational plans for students with disabilities the court saw that it is reasonable to require parents attacking the terms of an iep to bear the burden of showing why it is deficient. in essence the court found no reason to depart from the general rule that a party initiating a proceeding bears the burden of proof (weast v. schaffer, 377 f.3d 449, 4th cir., 2004). forest grove v. t.a., 129 s. ct. 987 08-305, 109 lrp 13476 (2009) had an outcome in which the supreme court decision clarified the federal law. the supreme court of the united states determined that the idea authorizes reimbursement for private special-education services when a public school fails to provide a free and appropriate public education to students with disabilities. private school placement would then be determined appropriate, regardless of whether the child previously received services through the public school. the court said: “moreover, when a child requires special-education services, a school district’s failure to propose an iep of any kind is at least as serious a violation of its responsibilities under idea as a failure to provide an adequate iep.” the court also noted, “we conclude that idea authorizes reimbursement for the cost of private special education services when a school district fails to provide a fape and the private-school placement is appropriate, regardless of whether the child previously received special education or related services through the public school.” prior to this, there was a split among the federal court circuits as to whether 20 u.s.c. § 1412(a) (10) (c) created a categorical bar to reimbursement of private school tuition for students who have not “previously received special education and related services” (idea § 1412(a)(10)(c)(ii). in a 6-3 decision, the supreme court held that this dispute concerns not the adequacy of a proposed iep but the school district’s failure to 67 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 provide an iep at all (baron, 2009). when a child requires special education services, a school district’s failure to propose an iep of any kind is at least as serious a violation of its responsibilities under idea as a failure to provide an adequate iep. the outcomes of each court case helped shaped the present policies outlined in idea and the specific issues involved when identifying the definition of a free and appropriate public education. the research into historic court cases concerning fape, lre and the development of an iep continues to be revisited as cases are brought to the courts in current events. states must uphold federal policies outlined by the idea and the no child left behind initiatives that have evolved from established policies and laws. in 1975 when congress passed public law 94-142, the education for all handicapped children act (eahca), not every public official embraced the bill. president ford called the act “the potentially most expensive piece of legislation for disabled people ever passed by congress.” congressional and presidential concerns were expressed about the final bill however, it “enjoyed widespread bipartisan support and passed by a large margin.” under the eahca, when states received federal special education funding, they were required to implement an individualized education program (iep) for each student with a disability in order to provide the individual with a free, appropriate public education (fape). the individuals with disabilities act (idea) provides federal funds to states that develop plans to assure “all children with disabilities the right to a free appropriate public education.” a free appropriate public education (fape) “must be available to all children residing in the state between the ages of three and twenty-one, inclusive, including children with disabilities who have been suspended or expelled from school, as provided for in § 300.530(d).” the determination that a child is eligible for special education services “must be made on an individual basis by the group responsible within the child’s local educational agency [e.g., school district] for making eligibility determinations.” each state must ensure that fape is available to any individual child with a disability who needs special education and related services, even though the child has not failed or been retained in a course or grade, and is advancing from grade to grade. the free appropriate public education, mandated by federal law, must include special education and related services tailored to meet the unique needs of a particular child and be reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive educational benefits. the fape guaranteed by the idea must provide a disabled child with meaningful access to the educational process. idea is a united states federal law that is considered both a grants statute and civil rights statute. this law provides federal funding for the education of children with disabilities and requires, as a condition for the receipt of such funds, the provision of a free appropriate public education (fape). this law continues to give guidance to public educators and govern how states and public agencies provide early intervention and special education and related services to children with disabilities. it was established as a way of addressing the individualized educational needs of children with disabilities from birth through age twenty-one. as a result of needing to individualize a student’s education, individualized education programs (ieps) were first required in 1975 after congress passed pl 94-142. the iep can be considered 68 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 a blueprint in child that documents the student’s educational and habilitative needs and what services and supports will be provided to help the student make progress. prior to the individuals with disabilities education act, it was up to schools whether to provide services and supports to students with disabilities. once this law was signed schools were provided guidance in what services and supports should be offered to students with disabilities in an effort to comply with the rules and regulations and to continue receiving funding from the federal government. the heart of the law is the child’s written iep, which allows the child with a disability to receive a free appropriate public education (fape). the u.s. supreme court clarified the requirements of a fape in its first special education decision, board of education v. rowley (1982), when it further defined a fape as, …personalized instruction with sufficient support services to permit the handicapped child to benefit educationally from that instruction. such instruction and services must be provided at public expense, must meet the state’s educational standards, must approximate grade levels used in the state’s regular education, and must comport with the child’s iep, as formulated in accordance with the act’s requirements. if the child is being educated in regular classrooms, as here, the iep should be reasonably calculated to enable the child to achieve passing marks and advance from grade to grade (board of educ. of hendrick hudson cent. sch. dist. v. rowley, 458 u.s. 176, 192-194, 199, 102 s. ct., 3034, 3047). according to the u.s. supreme court in the rowley case an appropriate program means, “an individualized education program (iep) which was developed in procedural compliance with the requirements of the law and is reasonably calculated to allow the child to receive educational benefit”. furthermore it was mandated that students with disabilities should be educated with nondisabled children in the general education setting to the maximum extent appropriate (idea: 458 u.s. 207). as a result of this court case, the court provided future direction for abiding by the regulations by suggesting a two-part test that asks two questions. first, has the state complied with the procedures set forth in the act? and second, is the individualized educational program developed through the act’s procedures reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive educational benefits? (board of educ. of hendrick hudson cent. sch. dist. v. rowley, 458 u.s. 176, 192-194, 199, 102 s.ct., 3044). if these requirements are met, the state has complied with the obligations imposed by congress and the courts can require no more. idea mandates that a “free appropriate education is available to all children with disabilities residing in the state between the ages of 3 and 21,” which is consistent with an iep. once the child has been diagnosed with one of the twelve categories of disability and it has been determined that an iep is necessary an iep must be developed and then implemented, reviewed and updated at least annually. the iep document is completed at an iep meeting by an interdisciplinary team (idt) of professionals, including the student’s parents or guardian. the iep meeting often serves as a communication vehicle between the parents and school. as demonstrated by the court cases reviewed in this paper, it is important that families are included in all decisions made concerning the educational program of their child. the greater the 69 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 communication and clarity in decisions made for programming, the greater the collaborative efforts between the school and the family become in order to meet the child’s needs. legal conclusions about what services, programs, and accommodations are necessary to provide fape in the lre to students with special needs are limited to the holdings in and logical extensions of the cited case law. students may require additional (or fewer) services, programs or accommodations based on assessments and evaluations. furthermore, because of the way disabilities manifests in each individual student, what may be deemed appropriate services, programs and accommodations for one student may be inappropriate or unnecessary for another student. eligibility teams must apply the eligibility criteria to each student in an individualized, but consistent, manner, and iep teams similarly must determine iep services, goals, and objectives in an individualized, but consistent, manner. in board of education of hendrick hudson central school district v. rowley, the united states supreme court mandated that a reviewing court conduct a two prong inquiry to determine whether a student’s iep fulfils the school district’s obligation to provide a fape. under the first prong, the reviewing court must determine whether the state has complied with idea’s procedural requirements. under the second prong, the reviewing court must determine whether the iep is reasonably calculated to confer some educational benefit on a disabled child. in that regard, the supreme court added to the definition of a fape by including that a fape must provide disabled children with a “basic floor of educational opportunity ... [which] consists of access to specialized instruction and related services which are individually designed to provide educational benefit to the handicapped child.” (karger, 2004). yet, it is important to note that the idea does not require a school district to provide a child with the best possible education. nor does the statute require a school district to furnish every special service necessary “to maximize each handicapped child’s potential.” instead, the second circuit court of appeals has held that a school district can satisfy its obligation to provide a disabled child with a fape by providing “personalized instruction with sufficient support services to permit the child to benefit educationally from that instruction.” (458 u.s. 176, 182, 1401 18). a school need not “provide the optimal level of services, or even a level that would confer additional benefits.” the eleventh circuit court of appeals has held that “appropriate education” means “making measurable and adequate gains in the classroom. if ‘meaningful gains’ across settings means more than making measurable and adequate gains in the classroom, they are not required” by the idea. the court set the standards for identifying a fape by developing a two-pronged inquiry for determining whether a school district had provided a student with fape. this was to include the following: 1) compliance with the procedural requirements of the statute; 2) development of an iep reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive some educational benefit (458 u.s. at 206-07) (karger, 2004). applying the two-pronged test, the court found that the school district in rowley had complied with the procedural requirements of the statute and that the student was receiving educational benefit because she was performing better than the average student and was advancing easily from grade to grade. 70 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 the rowley two-pronged test became highly utilized by courts to interpret further the meaning of fape. the importance of procedural compliance began to gain attention when some courts found that a procedural violation alone can constitute a denial of fape. for the most part, however, courts have held that a procedural violation, without evidence of loss of educational opportunity to the student, does not constitute a denial of fape. with respect to the second prong, courts continued to struggle with determining the adherence to policies in the development of the iep. some courts have held that although fape does not require students to receive the maximum potential benefit, the benefit must be more than minimal. this issues has been raised in court cases such as; doe v. smith and polk v. cent. susquehanna intermediate unit 16, 853 f.2d 171, 179-80 (3d cir. 1988). on the other hand, other courts have held that the amount of educational benefit does not have to be meaningful. for example, in jsk v. hendry county school board, the eleventh circuit held that under rowley, districts were required to provide students with disabilities only a “basic floor of opportunity” i.e., meaningful “access to a public education,” not meaningful “educational benefit” (941 f.2d 1563, 1572, 11th cir. 1992). in 1982, in board of education v. rowley, the united states supreme court first interpreted the meaning of an “appropriate” education under fape (458 u.s. 176 (1982). over the years, the courts have helped define what fape is and is not. there was no discussion of what ‘appropriate’ services meant or how and where services would be provided to children with disabilities and remained at the complete discretion of the local education authority. in 1974, congress addressed ‘appropriate’ education for children with disabilities by passing the education of the handicapped act amendment and the subsequent passage of p.l. 94-142. the education for all handicapped children act of 1975 mandated fape and ensured due process, individual education programs (ieps), and least restrictive placements (lres). it required local education authorities to provide educational services within the community, which allowed children with disabilities to remain living with their families. although children were provided access to schools within their districts, this still created two educational tracks—one for non-disabled children and a second for children with disabilities. fape has been part of the federal special education law from this time of its inception. the law requires states to make fape available to children whose disabilities qualify them for special education and related services. in addition to the free appropriate public education requirement, idea’s preference is for disabled children to be educated in the least restrictive environment capable of meeting their needs. idea sets forth a strong congressional preference for integrating children with disabilities in the regular classrooms (oberti v. board of education, 995 f. 2d 1204 (3d cir., 1993). school districts must evaluate whether a child with a disability can be educated in a regular classroom if provided with supplementary aids and services. the act’s least restrictive environment requirement is met when the child with a disability is educated in the regular classroom, or when the child who cannot be fully included is mainstreamed to the “maximum extent possible. in 1990, the law was reauthorized and renamed the individuals with disabilities education act (idea) and continues to provide access to general education services for children with disabilities by 71 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 encouraging that support and related services be provided to children in their general education settings as much as possible. this assists policy leaders and stakeholders in identifying, disseminating, and aligning evidence-based outcome producing practices with the federal government’s commitment to leaving no child behind in the attainment of a free appropriate public education. the federal laws mandate that special education and related services be provided to students with individualized educational programs (ieps). the definition of fape has changed over the years, however, did not change at all in the most recent reauthorization of the individuals with disabilities education act in 2004. idea’s current definition of fape is found in the implementing regulations at §300.17. free appropriate public education or fape means special education and related services that— (a) are provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge; (b) meet the standards of the sea [state education agency], including the requirements of this part; (c) include an appropriate preschool, elementary school or secondary school education in the state involved; and (d) are provided in conformity with an individualized education program (iep) that meets the requirements of §300.320 through 300.324. fape is the fundamental core of the idea and the iep documents how a fape is provided for the student. conceptually, fape is both the goal and the path to reaching the goal and is an entitlement of a child with a disability. idea defines that term in which a fape is provided and the iep serves as a means by which this entitlement is mapped out (individuals with disabilities education act, 20 u.s.c. § 1400, 2006). educators and policy makers are confronted with the issues of defining a free and appropriate public education when the reality remains that it is defined differently for each child with a disability. while each child’s education must be free and while a public agency provides and pays for that education, what is “appropriate” for one child will not necessarily be appropriate for another. determining what is appropriate for a specific child requires an individualized evaluation in which the child’s strengths and weaknesses are identified in detail. it also requires gathering information about the child’s participation in the general curriculum and other matters. information gathered through this type of evaluation then illuminates the dimensions of an “appropriate” education for a given child. in any and every case however, the school is responsible for providing the child with a free appropriate education (fape) and the child’s individualized education program (iep) must be developed acting as a roadmap that describes how the school will meet this requirement. it is best practice for state level educational administration and district level faculty members to be aware of the research into past court cases that address the educational rights of students with special needs as outline by the federal idea. assessment and eligibility determination is the first step that begins the development of an iep to address a student’s individual needs. administrators and team members 72 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 important in the ppt process must focus on best practices in an assessment process and the development of an individualized education program. this begins following a comprehensive evaluation process and appropriate assessment techniques to monitor student performance to determine the need for modifications that address the student’s changing needs. however, it must also be noted, that 34 c.f.r. section 300.101(c) states that a free and appropriate public education (fape), must be available to any child with a disability who needs special education and related services, even if the child has not failed or been retained in a course or grade and is advancing from grade to grade. iep’s must be designed to assure that goals and objectives are designed for the needs of the individual student. policymakers have set that a fape is defined as “the provision of regular or special education and related aids and services that ‘are designed to meet individual educational needs of persons with disabilities as adequately as the needs of persons without disabilities are met’” (note 1). provision of fape may require that a student with a disability receive specialized instruction and related services under the protection of the idea, which provides an iep and additional procedural safeguards, while also protecting that student from discrimination (note 2). for a child to meet eligibility for special education and related services under the idea, the child’s disability must adversely affect educational performance. if this qualifying condition is not met, the child will not be eligible for special education and related services under the idea. best practices for assessment is a process of obtaining information about students so that teachers, other school professionals and parents can make informed decisions about a students’ education. a comprehensive and valued assessment is key to ensuring a student’s access to appropriate educational opportunities and fape. with respect to the ppt process, assessment decisions focus on (1) determining the student’s eligibility for special education and related services, (2) developing the student’s individualized education program (iep), and (3) ongoing measurement and monitoring of student performance. these decisions are made appropriately when assessment is conducted in a comprehensive and valid manner using various sources of information as appropriate such as observations, evaluation measures, ratings scales and normative data (note 3). additionally, the measures employed must be considered valid and reliable for the group to which the measures are administered. information and involvement from parents/family is essential in designing a comprehensive assessment. input from parents ensure that the appropriate information is collected, documented, used in determining eligibility and included when the ppt determines that an iep will be developed. when the ppt engages in designing an initial evaluation or reevaluation to determine eligibility for special education, the idea 2004 requires that school personnel collect and consider parental input (note 4). once eligibility for special education services has been established, attention must shift to development of an overall plan that can meet the student’s educational needs. in developing the iep for all special education students it is required that goals, objectives and program characteristics be developed before specific program and education setting decisions are made. the ppt is a means to assure that the student is not abruptly removed from his or her current educational setting to a more restrictive setting. the team 73 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 must develop goals and objectives, determine appropriate supports and services and agree on the service providers prior to addressing placement in the least restrictive educational setting. iep development requires that goals and objectives be written based on the student’s profile and current level of performance and that the goals and objectives reflect the appropriate specialized instruction. the definition of special education found in 34 cfr section 300.39, clarifies that special education and specialized instruction encompass more than only academic instruction. ppts must consider all aspects of the child’s functioning at school, including social/emotional, cognitive, communication, vocational and independent living skills and not limit the development of goals and objectives to academic areas. the referral process, quality assessment, data collection and each step involved in planning for a child’s educational program must be conducted in such a manner that all parties are made aware of, and part of the decision making process. providing a student with a free and appropriate public education as specified in idea can only be accomplished if the development and execution of an iep is carried out by each team member involved in the child’s plan. the ppt determines the least restrictive environment or setting in which the goals and objectives, services and interventions will be implemented. by law, schools are required to provide a fape in the lre that is appropriate to the individual student’s needs (note 5). a student who has a disability identified in idea should have the opportunity to be educated with nondisabled peers, to the greatest extent appropriate. identified students should have access to the general education curriculum. extracurricular activities or any other program that nondisabled peers would be able to access. the student should be provided with supplementary aids and services necessary to achieve educational goals if placed in a setting with nondisabled peers. while assessment information will be the basis for determining which interventions, strategies and/or services will be written into the student’s iep, along with goals and objectives (note 6). special classes, separate schooling or other removal of children with disabilities from the general education environment occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in general classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily (note 7). each child requiring special education services should be educated in the schools that he or she would attend if he or she did not require special education and related services unless the iep requires another placement. an appropriate educational program begins with an iep which accurately reflects the results of evaluations to identify the student’s needs, establishes annual goals and short-term instructional objectives related to those needs, and provides for the use of appropriate special education services (note 8). federal regulation requires that an iep include a statement of the student’s present levels of educational performance, including a description of how the student’s disability affects his or her progress in the general curriculum (note 9). school districts may use a variety of assessment techniques such as criterion-referenced tests, standard achievement tests, diagnostic tests, other tests, or any 74 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 combination thereof to determine the student’s present levels of performance and areas of need (note 10). an iep must also include a statement of the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services to be provided to or on behalf of the student, as well as a statement of the program modifications or supports for school personnel that will be provided to the student (note 11). such education, services and aids must be sufficient to allow the student to advance appropriately toward attaining his or her annual goals (note 12). an iep must also include measurable annual goals, including benchmarks or short-term objectives, related to meeting the student’s needs arising from his or her disability to enable the student to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum, and meeting the student’s other educational needs arising from the disability (note 13). in addition, an iep must describe how the student’s progress towards the annual goals will be measured and how the student’s parents will be regularly informed of such progress (note 14). in addition, the idea mandates that all students with disabilities be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate and may only be removed to a more restrictive environment when the nature and severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily (note 15). special education and related services must be provided in the least restrictive setting consistent with a [student’s] needs (note 16) the test for determining whether a school district has complied with the lre requirement consists of two prongs: 1) whether the student can be educated in a regular classroom with the use of supplemental aids and services, and 2) whether the school district has mainstreamed the student to the maximum extent appropriate (note 17). several factors must be considered at each stage of the inquiry. when determining whether a student with a disability can be educated satisfactorily in a regular class with supplemental aids and services, these factors include, but are not limited to: “(1) whether the school district has made reasonable efforts to accommodate the child in a regular classroom; (2) the educational benefits available to the child in a regular class, with appropriate supplementary aids and services, as compared to the benefits provided in a special education class; and (3) the possible negative effects of the inclusion of the child on the education of the other students in the class (note 18)”. to ensure the appropriate and effective implementation of a student’s educational program, a systematic process for monitoring student performance on an ongoing basis should be developed. this process delineates ways in which documentation of all student outcomes written in the iep can be gathered across all educational settings. this process also guides recommendations for program modifications and changes, monitors timelines and can assist in providing evidence for continued eligibility as a student who requires special education services. additionally, ongoing assessment provides for daily or weekly data collection and monitoring of student performance, revealing what does and does not work. progress monitoring drives instructional modifications and changes in the iep that enable students to succeed (note 19). when team members have knowledge of data describing student performance, they are better informed and able to contribute to meetings in which important decisions are made (team meetings, 75 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 annual reviews, triennial reviews, etc.). ongoing assessment and progress monitoring provides a record of student performance over a substantial period of time and enables those involved in annual and triennial reviews to make decisions that are based on a substantive data. in other words, the ongoing recording and reviewing of data informs educators about student performance with respect to the goals, objectives and timelines of the educational program (note 20). ongoing assessment also provides the ppt with evidence as to whether the student continues to meet the eligibility criteria for special education and related services. those included in the administration and implementation of the educational program, such as teachers, parents, students, related services personnel and community liaisons should contribute to the ongoing monitoring of student progress. anecdotal notes or logs of meetings and conversations that focus on student progress are also recommended. progress monitoring practices/activities should be designed to illustrate the success of interventions and student progress and achievement of iep goals and objectives. communication and documentation are essential elements in the process. the systems and processes by which educational professionals monitor and document progress vary and can best be determined by those most closely involved. for example, a group of teachers in an elementary school might schedule informal meetings where the performance of a student can be reviewed and information shared. others might choose to employ the use of an assignment notebook, chart and/or journal whereby student work can be recorded and monitored by teachers, parents and the student. at the secondary level, regularly scheduled team planning meetings can highlight the needs and progress of specific students. such practices and activities provide for the collection of data, the analysis of student performance and the recommendation for appropriate modifications and adjustments to interventions and the iep. throughout the progress monitoring process, educators should provide data to parents/families in a manner that is easily understood; engage families in ongoing communication, which focuses on their view of the student’s progress. families should be viewed as partners and participants in the progress monitoring process. regular and ongoing assessment of student performance through frequent progress monitoring in all areas of focus will facilitate the provision of successful interventions and appropriate specialized instruction and services. ongoing collaboration between school and family is essential to student success. collaboration among school, home and private/public agencies is a continuing process. school-based case manager services are assigned by the school district to coordinate the collaboration of multiagency personnel and to assist students. the overriding theme of the idea is that ieps and educational programs for students with disabilities must be individualized. there have been many causes where courts have indicated that iep are not individualized. two such cases are: (1) chris d. v montgomery county board of education, 1990; and gerstmyer v. howard county public school, 1994. both cases share various accounts of how the court system have dealt with public school district when parents file a due process compliant with allegations that their child is not being provided a free appropriate public education due to the lack of or an inappropriate iep. another area in which procedural violations have been discussed relates to three 76 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 obligatory statements concerning involvement in the general curriculum that idea ‘97 requires the iep to contain. the iep must state: (1) how the student’s disability affects his/her involvement in the general curriculum; (2) the goals and objectives that will enable the student to be involved in the general curriculum; and (3) the supplemental aids and services, program modifications and support for personnel that will help the student to be involved in the general curriculum (note 21). claims concerning these three requirements have tended to focus on the sufficiency of the statement in the iep. for example, in j.s. & t.s. v. shoreline school district, parents claimed that the statement in their son’s iep regarding how his disability affected his involvement and progress in the general curriculum was insufficient (note 22). the court found that although the iep made only passing reference to the student’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the impact of the vagueness of this statement was minimal. the court noted that there was no legal authority prescribing a “threshold level of comprehensiveness” for such a statement (note 23). therefore, the court concluded that the district had met its obligation and that the student had not been denied fape (note 24). similarly, in j.w. v. contocook valley school district, the court found that although some of the iep goals were not measurable or appropriately related to the general curriculum, the violation was not substantive (note 25). with respect to the third requirement concerning involvement, in john m. v. board of education of evanston community consolidated school district 65, the court found that although the iep contained the sparse statement: “support + consultation as needed and determined by staff,” the district had met its obligation because it had made sufficient services available to the student (note 26). the court noted, “the fact that the iep does not go into detail cannot be concluded to be a procedural violation of the act” (note 27). thus, courts and hearing officers seem to have a minimal standard for sufficiency that is relatively easy for districts to satisfy with respect to these three iep requirements. this approach is not entirely surprising given the tendency of courts and hearing officers, following rowley, to hold districts to a “basic floor” standard and not to require them to maximize the potential of each child. the interpretation given by the courts and hearing officers means that districts must show that they have met their obligations concerning these statements, but only on a minimal level. throughout american history, public schools have functioned as an agency of socialization and social control. as such, schools have continued to evolve in response to the pressures placed upon them by the social organizations they serve. in response to these social pressures, schools continue to change and become more specialized, attempting to develop specific programs for the various student populations. the wealth of court cases involving idea has resulted in a refined definition of “free appropriate public education”, much deeper and more nuanced than it was when congress first enacted the law (note 28). it is difficult to foresee what further changes will be brought about by congress’s reauthorizations or by the new no child left behind legislation. nclb requires, among other provisions, that states adopt challenging content and achievement standards for all students, including students with disabilities (note 29). it is likely that, as a result of this requirement in nclb, future claims brought under idea for a 77 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 denial of fape may very well include consideration of the schools’ ability to provide students with disabilities the opportunity to learn the material in a states curriculum frameworks as well as the general curriculum. nclb has an immediate impact because it is far more specific than past versions of the law and it deals with testing; accountability and adequate yearly progress (ayp); school choice; teacher quality; and para-educator quality (note 30). stemming from the education for all handicapped children act (eahca) of 1975, the individuals with disabilities education act was enacted in its first form in 1997, and then reenacted with new education aspects in 2006 (note 31). it kept the eahca requirements of free and accessible education for all children. the 2004 idea authorized formula grants to states and discretionary grants for research, technology and training. it also required schools to use research-based interventions to assist students with disabilities (note 32). the amount of funding each school would receive from its “local education agency” for each year would be divided by the number of children with disabilities and multiplied by the number of students with disabilities participating in the school wide programs. particularly since 2004, policymakers have sought to align idea with nclb (note 33). the most obvious points of alignment include the shared requirements for highly qualified teachers, for establishment of goals for students with special needs, and for assessment levels for these students. in 2004, george bush signed provisions that would define for both of these acts what was considered a "highly qualified teacher” (note 34). table 1. qualitative methods approach for appropriate law and policy review descriptive claims causal claims claims about cases in sample counterfactuals claims about cases in broader population sampling sampling and counterfactuals 3. discussion the lack of a substantive definition of the appropriateness standard has caused substantial litigation between school systems and parents of children with disabilities. even a general definition of the term “educational appropriateness,” as education that supports a quantifiable measure of meaningful and adequate progress towards achieving skills to promote literacy, communication and self-sufficiency, might be enough, if stated within the idea itself or within the doe’s regulations. the achievement of educational adequacy can no longer focus upon minimal educational benefit, based on a state’s unguided standard of appropriate goals. as long as individualized special education and support services are provided in the lre, the student is making some progress towards reasonably calculated goals, and proper procedure has been followed, states have been given latitude to do as little as is warranted to comply with the act. valid requests for more effective educational methods have been seen as 78 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 "maximizing potential” or providing “utopian” measures (note 35). yet, methodological considerations make a substantial difference in the rate or even ability of a child with disabilities to learn what is clearly prerequisite to self-sufficiency as currently mandated within the act. without a clear federal definition to support the idea, a source of controversy, dispute, and litigation may exist for years to come. the doe has had the opportunity to refine this ambiguous standard by incorporating a definition for the term appropriate within the guidelines they have promulgated for the idea. before the dust settles on the enactment of the doe’s regulations for this very comprehensive and well-crafted act, it would be wise for this administrative body to insure the inclusion of this long absent definition. states have been awaiting the finalization of the doe regulations to ensure that their own standards are in compliance with the idea. the pressures of the moment make it all the more important for the doe or some other authoritative federal source to resolve this open question. one thing that is made certain in this case review is that the definition of free appropriate public education will continue to evolve as legislation changes and challenges to the act are brought into court. state law should always be checked. each state has its own statutes and regulations implementing the idea. while these state statutes and regulations usually mirror the federal statutes and regulations, this is not always the case. for example, federal statutes and regulations are silent on some points, and congress has allowed states to develop independent standards in some areas. further, while the state may not provide fewer rights, some states actually provide more substantive and procedural rights than required under idea. 4. results the idea is a “comprehensive scheme, set up by congress, to aid the states in complying with their constitutional obligations to provide public education for handicapped children”. both the provisions of the statute and its legislative history indicate that congress intended handicapped children with constitutional claims to have access to a free appropriate public education to pursue those claims through the carefully tailored administrative and judicial mechanism set out in the statute. the idea was an attempt to relieve the fiscal burden placed on states and localities by their responsibility to provide education for all handicapped (note 36). at the same time, however, congress made clear that the idea is not simply a funding statue. the responsibility for providing the required education remains on the states (note 37). “the idea establishes and enforces a substantive right to a free, appropriate public education” (note 38). the cornerstone for resolving disputes between parents and districts as to eligibility, fape, and other issues under the idea, is an impartial administrative adjudication conducted by a hearing/review officer (h/ro). the idea gives states the choice of having a one-tiered system, consisting solely of an impartial due process hearing, or a two-tiered system, which includes an additional officer level review. subsequent to exhausting this administrative adjudication, the aggrieved party has the right to judicial review in state or federal court (note 39). the idea accords judges the authority to award attorneys’ fees 79 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 in specified circumstances and, without further specification, requires them to grant “such relief as the court determines is appropriate”. the idea and its regulations, however, are largely silent about the remedial authority of the impartial h/ros. the language of the idea and its regulations are not particularly helpful in this regard, but a growing body of published administrative and case law provides useful and enforceable demarcations that warrant careful consideration by h/ros and other interested individuals (note 40). the addition of qualifications for h/ros in the idea reauthorization, concerning h/ros’ knowledge and ability to understand special education law, to conduct hearings, and to “render and write decisions”, appears to reinforce the need for h/ros to be aware of and to act in conformance with the limits on their remedial powers. the codification of the applicable authority, including the boundaries for h/ros, merits not only the attention of congress, which has neglected this important area of policy-making as a foundation for state variation, but also customized elaboration in state special education statutes and regulations (note 41). references bates, m. w. (1994). free appropriate public education under the individuals with disabilities education act: requirements, issues and suggestions. brigham young university education & law journal, 215, 220-222. betsy, l. (1975). recent developments in the law of equal educational opportunities. journal of law and education, 4(3), 423. brown v. board of education. (1954). holding: separate schools are not equal. harvard law review, 100(8), 1938-1948. carie, l. h., & ingrid, m. j. (2007). free appropriate public education in the fourth circuit. school law bulletin, winter, 4. courtney, r. b. (2009). lessons learned from forest grove. northwestern university law review colloquy, 103(522), 522-536. david, l. k. (april 1973). schools as sorters: the constitutional and policy implications of student classification. university of pennsylvania law review, 121(4), 705-797. https://doi.org/10.2307/3311135 derek, a. w. (n.d.). getting right with brown: how originalist supreme court nominees defend brown v. board of education. the georgetown journal of law public policy, 9 geo. j.l. & public policy, 563. disability issues and legislation. (winter 1995). journal of law & education, 24(1), 124. dixie, s. h. (july 2008). updating the fape standards under idea. journal of law & education, 37(3), 367-380. f. v. william penn. (2006). villanova university school of law. paper 412. huefner, d. s. (july 2008). updating the fape standards under idea. journal of law & education, 37(3), 367-380. 80 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.2307/3311135 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 jay, e. g. (2009). forest grove: parents of special needs students may be reimbursed for private school tuition. marquette law scholarly commons: faculty publications, 2009, paper 456, 466-470. jay, l. g., mark, a., & barbara, m. g. (1994). special education in urban america: it’s not justifiable for many. the journal of special education, 27(4), 453-465. https://doi.org/10.1177/002246699402700406 jean, b. c., & mitchell, l. y. (2008). without data all we have are assumptions: revisiting the meaning of a free appropriate public education. journal of law & education, 37(3), 381-392. joanne, k. (2004). post idea ‘97 case law and administrative decisions: access to the general curriculum. national center on accessing the general curriculum. wakefield, ma. jon, r. (2011). the means justify the ends: structural due process in special education law. harvard journal on legislation, 48(2), 415-466. joyce, o. e., & eliza, j. m. (2001). is the rowley standard dead? from access to results. u.c. davis journal of juvenile law & policy, 5(2), 199-217. joyce, m. j., & lucinda, d. h.-c. (1992). teaching legal research: past and present. law library journal, 84, 281. kathryn, e. c. (2000). inclusion: a new addition to remedy a history of inadequate conditions and terms. journal of law & policy, 4, 239-251. lucille, e., george, s., carl, r. s., & terrence, m. s. (2002). wraparound and positive behavioral interventions and supports in the schools. journal of emotional and behavioral disorders, 10, 171-181. https://doi.org/10.1177/10634266020100030501 marc, c. w. (2013). all areas of suspected disability. loyola law review, march, 94-116. martha, m. (2004). surprising legacies of brown v. board. journal of law & policy, 16(11), 117. martin, w. b. (1994). free appropriate public education under the individuals with disabilities education act: requirements, issues and suggestions. brigham young university education & law journal, spring, 215-220. michael, j. t. (2009). private school tuition at the public’s expense: a disabled student’s right to a free appropriate public education. american university journal of gender, social policy & the law, 17(1), 81-111. paul, t. o’n. (2003). high stakes testing law and litigation. brigham young university education and law journal, 623-662. plessy v. ferguson 163 u.s. (2010). encyclopedia of american studies. retrieved 2014-06-02. perry, a. z. (spring 2013). adjudicative remedies for denials of fape under the idea. journal of the national association of administrative law judiciary, 135-148. perry, a. z. (n.d.). have the amendments to the individuals with disabilities education act razed rowley and raised the substantive standard for “free appropriate public education”? journal
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judiciary, 28-2, 396-418. 81 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1177/002246699402700406 https://doi.org/10.1177/10634266020100030501 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 perry, a. z. (2010). the legal meaning of specific learning disability for special education eligibility. teaching exceptional children, 42(5), 62-67. https://doi.org/10.1177/004005991004200507 perry, a. z. (spring, 2011). the remedial authority of hearing and review officers under the individuals with disabilities education act: an update. journal of the national association of administrative law judiciary, 1-28. richard, a. m. (1973). plessy v. ferguson re-examined. journal of american studies, 7(2), 125. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021875800013396 scott, f. j. (2003). reexamining rowley: a new focus in special education law. brigham young university education & law journal, 561. the impact of no child left behind on idea’s guarantee of free, appropriate public education for students with disabilities: a critical review of recent case law. (2009). william, d. w. (march, 2006). where to place the burden: individuals with disabilities education act administrative due process hearings. north carolina law review, 84(3), 1013-1048. notes note 1. 34 c.f.r. section 104.33[b] [1]. note 2. see generally office of special educ. & rehabilitative servs., u.s. dep’t of educ., a guide to the individualized education program (2000), http://ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/iepguide.pdf. note 3. i.e., age, gender, ethnicity and language. note 4. 34 c.f.r. sections 300.304[b][1]. 300.305[a][l][i] and 300.305[a][2], and 300.306[c][l][i]). note 5. lre refers to the education of students with disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate in a setting together with students without disabilities (20 u.s.c. §1412(a)(5)(a)). note 6. jean b. crockett and mitchell l. yell, 2008. without data all we have are assumptions: revisiting the meaning of a free appropriate public education. journal of law & education, vol. 37, no. 3, 386. ibid, p. 387. note 7. 34 c.f.r. section300.114[a][2][ii]. note 8. application of a child with a disability, ap.peal no. 04-046; application of a child with a disability, appeal no. 02-014; application of a child with a disability, appeal no. 01-095; application of a child suspected of having a disability, appeal no. 93-9. note 9. 34 c.f.r. § 300.347[a][1]. note 10. 34 c.f.r. part 300, appendix a, section 1, question 1. note 11. 34 c.f.r. § 300.347[a][3]. note 12. 34 c.f.r. § 300.347[a][3][i]. 82 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1177/004005991004200507 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021875800013396 http://ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/iepguide.pdf www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 note 13. 34 c.f.r. § 300.347[a][2]. note 14. 34 c.f.r. § 300.347[a][7]. note 15. 20 u.s.c. § 1412[a][5][a]; 34 c.f.r. § 300.550[a][2]; oberti v. bd. of educ., 995 f.2d 1204, 1213 [3d cir. 1993]; briggs v. bd. of educ., 882 f.2d 688, 691 [2d cir. 1989]; daniel r.r. v. state bd. of educ., 874 f.2d 1036, 1044 [5th cir. 1989]; warton v. bd. of educ., 217 f. supp.2d 261, 273 n.1 [d. conn. 2002]; a.s. v. norwalk bd. of educ., 183 f. supp.2d 534, 538 n.3 [d. conn. 2002]; mavis v. sobol, 839 f. supp. 968, 982 n.25 [n.d.n.y. 1994]; application of a child with a disability, appeal no. 03-009; application of a child with a disability, appeal no. 00-093; application of a child with a disability, appeal no. 94-21). note 16. walczak v. florida union free sch. dist., 142 f.3d 119, 122 [2d cir. 1998]. note 17. (daniel r.r., 874 f.2d at 1048; oberti 995 f.2d at 1213; warton, 217 f. supp.2d at 274; a.s. v. norwalk, 183 f. supp.2d at 542 n.8; mavis, 839 f. supp. at 985; application of a child with a disability, appeal no. 00-093; application of a child with a disability, appeal no. 98-24). note 18. (oberti, 995 f.2d at 1217-18; see also daniel r.r., 874 f.2d at 1048-1049; mavis, 839 f. supp. at 987-990; application of a child with a disability, appeal no. 03-009; application of a child with a disability, appeal no. 00-093; application of a child with a disability, appeal no. 94-21). note 19. jean b. crockett and mitchell l. yell, 2008. without data all we have are assumptions: revisiting the meaning of a free appropriate public education. journal of law & education, vol. 37, no. 3, 386. note 20. ibid, p. 387. note 21. 20 u.s.c. §§ 1414(d)(1)(a)(i)-(iii). note 22. 220 f. supp. 2d 1175, 1187 (w.d. wash. 2002). note 23. id. note 24. id. note 25. 154 f. supp. 2d 217, 222 (d. n.h. 2001). see also barber v. bogalusa city sch. bd., 2001 u.s. dist. lexis 8156, 5-6 (e.d. lo 2001); john m., no. 01-c-1052, 01-c-1063, 2002 u.s. dist. lexis 10931 (n.d. ill 2002); yarmouth sch. dept., 36 idelr 148 (me. sea 2001); board of educ. of the penfield centr. sch. dist., 38 idelr 80 (n.y. sea 2002); ysleta indep. sch. dist., 33 idelr 53 (tex. sea 2000). note 26. no. 01-c-1052, 01-c-1063, 2002 u.s. dist. lexis 10931 (n.d. ill 2002). note 27. id. note 28. martin w. bates, “free appropriate public education under the individuals with disabilities education act: requirements, issues and suggestions.” brigham young university education & law journal, spring, 1994, 215, 220-222. note 29. sec. 1111(b)(1)(a)-(b). note 30. no child left behind act of 2001, 20 u.s.c. §§ 6301 et seq. (2001). note 31. still referred to as idea 2004. 83 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 note 32. perry a. zirkel. “the legal meaning of specific learning disability for special education eligibility.” teaching exceptional children, 2010, vol., 42(5), 63. note 33. the impact of no child left behind on idea’s guarantee of free, appropriate public education for students with disabilities: a critical review of recent case law, 2009. note 34. ibid. note 35. polk v. cent. susquehanna indep. unit 16, 853 f.2d 171, 184 (3d cir. 1988). note 36. 20 u.s.c. sec. 1400c. note 37. individuals with disabilities education act, 20 u.s.c. sec.1400c. note 38. national council on disability, 1995, p. 5; norlin, 2005. note 39. perry a. zirkel. “the remedial authority of hearing and review officers under the individuals with disabilities education act: an update.” journal of the national association of administrative law judiciary. spring, 2011, p. 1-28. note 40. ibid. note 41. perry a. zirkel, the remedial authority of hearing and review officers under the individuals with disabilities education act, 58 admin. l. rev. 401 (2006). 84 published by scholink inc. original paper abstract some of the most controversial education policy concerns and methods of practice have been over special education. students between the ages three to twenty-one with disabilities compromise 13% of student enrollment between prekindergarten and twelfth... keywords references education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 130 original paper multisource transwriting study on the chinese female characters in ha jin’s waiting hanchao liu1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: july 19, 2025 accepted: august 1, 2025 online published: august 27, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p130 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p130 abstract multisource transwriting refers to cross-linguistic and cross-cultural practices involving fragmented sources, where translating and writing are interwoven. based on his military life on the northeastern border and his deep interaction with a military doctor’s family, chinese-american writer ha jin intricately transwrote chinese famale’s imagery in waiting through the story of a military doctor, kong lin, struggling in eighteen-year emotional marriage. the misalignment between the signifiers of english symbols and the signifieds of chinese culture in this text gives rise to translation, laying the foundation for discussions from the perspective of multisource transwriting. this paper takes waiting as its research object and, relying on the theory of multisource transwriting, traces ha jin’s fragmented sources for transwriting traditional chinese women images and analyzes the transwriting relationships within them. the study finds that ha jin’s creation was not based on a specific chinese literary text but on multisource materials; translating and writing are interwoven, mutually interpreting and constructing each other as a gradient continuum of mutual expansion. keywords waiting, ha jin, multisource transwriting, chinese famale image 1. introduction ha jin served for five and a half years in an artillery unit in the northeastern border region, and his military life provided rich material for his novel writing. ha jin created a series of china-themed short stories, including ocean of words: army stories, under the red flag, waiting, the bridegroom, in the pond, quiet desperate, and wreckage. in 1996, ha jin won the flannery o’connor award for short fiction for under the red flag; in 1997, he received the pen/hemingway award for ocean of words; in 1998, in the pond was named best book of the year by the chicago tribune; and in 1999, waiting won the national book award, followed by the pen/faulkner award in 2000. ha jin’s awards not caused www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 131 published by scholink inc. a sensation at the award ceremony in manhattan, new york but also throughout the united states. his 200,000-word short story waiting made it onto the new york times bestseller list and was translated into 18 languages and distributed in 25 countries. ha jin is the first chinese international student writer to receive this honor in the 50-year history of the national book award. before him, maxine hong kingston was the only asian american writer to have won this major award (guo, 2001). the difference is that kingston wrote about the lives of chinese immigrants in the united states, while ha jin writes about people and events in china. he is also the third immigrant writer whose native language is not english to win this award in its 50-year history, the other two being isaac bashevis singer and jerzy kosinski. the reaction of european and american critics, especially in the united states, to ha jin’s winning the national book award for waiting was first one of surprise. they found it incredible that a chinese person who had only been studying and living in the united states for 15 years and was not yet fluent in spoken english could produce such a work. subsequently, they praised the work extremely highly. they believed that waiting transcended cultural boundaries, telling a story that felt like it was about a neighbor, making it increasingly engaging and one of the best novels they had read in a long time. lisa see, author of on gold mountain, commented that it is an outstanding love novel. ha jin’s understanding of the human heart and the human living environment transcends national boundaries and time. waiting is an outstanding literary achievement. kirkus reviews described it as a seemingly simple story, told with exquisite precision and beauty. ha jin has established himself as a steadfast and great realist writer who continues to write in the postmodern era. some critics even compared ha jin to russian writers anton chekhov and isaac babel, while others believed that the language in ha jin’s novels could rival the best prose of henry james. zhao yiheng, a chinese scholar who graduated from the university of california, berkeley, and now teaches at the school of oriental and african studies, university of london, remarked that the outstanding achievements of ha jin and françois cheng have been recognized by mainstream critics in the english and french literary worlds. chinese culture has unmistakably extended into foreign languages: the intelligence and talent of the chinese people, along with their ability to write in foreign languages, have flourished in this border area, becoming too dazzling to take in all at once. ha jin’s awards indicate that the works of chinese american writers have garnered attention from the american literary community, and behind these writers lies an increasingly powerful china. however, not all european and american critics praised ha jin for winning the national book award, and few domestic readers in china have read waiting. research on ha jin in china began in 2000. professor liu yiqing from peking university launched severe criticisms against ha jin and his novel waiting. over the five years from 2000 to 2004, only 11 articles related to ha jin’s works were published in china. among them, there were zero papers in 2002, and most of these were introductory articles about ha jin and his works published in newspapers. it was not until 2005 that academic papers with dedicated chapters discussing ha jin’s works emerged in china (xu, 2015). subsequently, ha jin and his works gradually gained attention from domestic scholars, with www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 132 published by scholink inc. the number of relevant journal papers and dissertations showing an annual growth trend. from 2011 to 2012 alone, there were as many as 45 journal papers directly focusing on ha jin. researchers have interpreted and analyzed the content and artistic characteristics of ha jin’s works from multiple perspectives, mainly focusing on orientalism, historicism, language, and narrative style. this study holds that the relationship between translating and writing in ha jin’s creative process, as an author with dual sino-us cultural backgrounds, has not received sufficient attention. the specificity of ha jin’s writing chinese stories in english and his creative mode of foreign in form but chinese in essence have brought about unique translation research issues. according to the theory of multi-source trans-writing proposed by liu xiaofeng (liu, 2023), waiting falls into the typical category of multisource trans-writing. starting from the perspective of multi-source trans-writing, this paper will explore the characteristics and relationship of translating and writing in the text by tracing the multi-source fragmented sources of chinese female images in ha jin’s waiting, aiming to promote the international dissemination of chinese culture and provide useful insights for the construction of china’s image in the international community. 2. origins of multisource transwriting li defeng (2007, p. 4) pointed out in his introduction to translation studies that translation studies became an independent discipline starting with james s. holmes’ the name and nature of translation studies. however, this work only became known in 1988 and is regarded as the founding manifesto of translation studies. although translation practice has a long history, translation studies is a relatively new research field. the study of multisource transwriting, a field long neglected in translation studies, was formally proposed by liu xiaofeng in 2023. multisource transwriting refers to a language activity involving transwriting without a fixed original source text, in contrast to source-based translation, traditionally referring to translation from a specific original text to a target text (liu xiaofeng, 2023: 88). at present, research on multisource transwriting is still in its infancy, with relatively few studies available. shi chunrang (shi, 2024) explored the theoretical basis of multisource transwriting from both diachronic and synchronic dimensions; studies on the relationship between translating and writing, such as yang qian (yang, 2024), examined the translating-writing gradient continuum through the theme of hermitage in road to heaven: encounters with chinese hermits; research on translator subjectivity includes liu yutong (liu, 2024), who analyzed naitō konan’s subjectivity in transwriting yanshan chushui using a thick translation strategy, as well as li chunxiao and zang zimo (li & zang, 2024), who studied ethnic translation and explored shapiro’s subjectivity in transwriting the gesar epic from the three dimensions of language, style, and layout. xu jun (xu, 2003, p. 9) argued that to understand translation, it is necessary to first discuss the issue of signs. from the perspective of translation semiotics, feng quangong (feng, 2022, p. 13) proposed that the most essential feature of translation is the conversion of signs. liu xiaofeng further pointed out that the cognitive framework of traditional translation studies is often limited to a single fixed source text, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 133 published by scholink inc. whereas multisource transwriting breaks through this limitation. in some works, authors directly convert their thoughts about a certain culture into a language that does not belong to that culture. this conversion involves transforming intangible thought signs in the mind into tangible linguistic signs, with the source text not being a single fixed text but presenting dynamic and diverse characteristics of textual sources. however, multisource transwriting is not a new phenomenon; its history can be traced back to the dissemination and translation of ancient literary works. for example, ancient greek literary works were translated into latin via arabic during the middle ages, even though their original greek manuscripts no longer existed at that time. lin yutang wrote works such as my country and my people and the importance of living in english. in the process of writing, he did not translate based on a specific chinese text but directly expressed his understanding and insights into chinese culture in english. that writing within translation and translation within writing is a typical example of multisource transwriting. against this background, multisource transwriting, as a special translation phenomenon, has gradually come into people’s view. building on this, liu xiaofeng (liu, 2023, p. 90) further proposes that the series of studies focusing on the activities, results, and impacts of the research object multisource transwriting can be termed multisource transwriting studies or multisource transwritology in a disciplinary sense. the source texts of multisource transwriting may involve relationships such as multiple texts to a single text, fragmented texts to a single text, or synthesized texts, processed through mental activity, from multimodal texts to a single text. multisource transwritin, exists as a transitional zone between source-based transwriting and pure writing. waiting, set in 1970s china, transwrites in english the love-hate entanglements between kong lin, an internist, his wife liu shuyu, and his lover wu manna, a nurse. essentially, this work is not a traditional translation based on a chinese original; rather, it is an english multisource transwriting by ha jin, integrating his own life experiences, knowledge of northeast china’s folk customs, and insights into chinese local culture. ha jin’s father was a soldier, and he himself had extensive exposure to military life. from his wife, he heard a story about a military doctor who waited 18 years to divorce his wife, only to marry a female nurse, yet their married life turned out to be unhappy. the military doctor and nurse in the story were colleagues of ha jin’s wife’s parents at the hospital, and this story became the prototype for ha jin’s waiting. ha jin’s upbringing, background, experiences in china, and observations in the united states laid the foundation for his creation. at that time, western perceptions of chinese women were still riddled with stereotypes, feudal and ignorant, such as foot-binding, lacking freedom and self-awareness, polygamy, husband-centeredness, arranged marriages, and embodying a meek temperament. waiting objectively reflects the lives and fates of chinese women, creating vivid female images that are both brave, free, and resilient—rather than merely enduring hardship passively or conforming to the stereotype of being gentle, courteous, and yielding. based on this realistic portrayal of chinese women, waiting achieved success, earning ha jin www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 134 published by scholink inc. recognition and affirmation from mainstream american literature, who regarded him as one of the great writers who persist a realist path in the alienated postmodern era. ha jin’s waiting can indeed be considered a typical case of multisource transwriting. this study focuses on the female images in waiting, tracing the multiple fragmented source texts within the work, and explores the mutually explanatory and constructive gradient continuum relationship between translating and writing in waiting by examining ha jin’s multisource transwriting practices based on sources such as confucian thought, folk customs, and traditional values in china. the following sections will trace and discuss the fragmented source texts of female images in waiting. 3. tracing the source texts of multisource transwriting for female images in waiting liu xiaofeng (2023, p. 89) points out that the scope of multisource transwriting includes specific or abstract wholes or parts of humanistic elements such as the image, language, culture, customs, ideology, and values of the target country, as well as natural elements such as mountains, rivers, clear skies, organisms, vegetation, and seasonal climates that have been written in the local language. during his life in china, ha jin accumulated a profound understanding of chinese culture, and waiting contains rich transwritings of chinese cultural materials, with numerous multisource transwriting source texts a waiting tracing and exploration. this paper will excavate these source texts from ha jin’s personal experiences, folk customs, and traditional values. 3.1 multisource transwriting of personal military experiences ha jin served for five and a half years in an artillery unit in the northeastern border region. his military life provided abundant material for his novel writing, and he was well-acquainted with the military’s moral constraints and institutional discipline. these personal experiences became an important source for ha jin’s transwriting of the personal image of the female protagonist, manna wu. for example, when describing good girls in the eyes of men in the story, they are defined as virgins, and those with a broken hymen would be eliminated during the physical examination: “since every young woman recruited had to go through a physical exam that eliminated those with a broken hymen.” manna wu did not fiercely resist the rules; she remained within the framework of systems, abiding by regulations such as the ban on romance and obedience to the collective. on one hand, she was a conformist; on the other hand, her image transcended mere compliance. while being disciplined, manna secretly kept collected badges and love letters from young men in a sandalwood box, guarding her simple pursuit of beauty and cherished memories of past emotions through instinctive means. these fragmented descriptions of women, though trivial in the grand narrative, form the core of her image as an individual with self-awareness. in ha jin’s transwriting of the 1970s, he constructed the female protagonist’s sense of rules and selfawareness, revealing that even in oppression, individual women persist in asserting their selves through subtle means. manna wu’s image is precisely a microcosm of the struggle between survival environment and individual women. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 135 published by scholink inc. 3.2 multisource transwriting of folk customs and traditions china’s indigenous traditional ethics, cultural norms, and values also serve as a source of inspiration for ha jin’s love novels. for instance, the inclusion of discussions gender relations in the book constitutes ha jin’s critical multisource transwriting of chinese love morality and ethics, constructing images of chinese women who are both forbearing and resilient. a case in point is ran su’s statement in the scene depicting the rape of the female protagonist manna wu: example 1 (original text): “manna, i think it may be too late now. it will be very hard to prove that you didn’t have a date with him unless geng yang admits the crime himself. you know a date rape is rarely treated as a rape.” in traditional culture, a woman’s body symbolizes family honor and moral order, and loss of chastity is regarded as a heavy stain. this perception was further reinforced in this context. as a nurse, manna’s purity was not merely a reflection of personal morality but was also tied to the purity of the overall. thus, public opinion tilted toward the assumption that a woman’s improper words or actions were the cause of the incident, rather than the perpetrator’s guilt. ran su’s remark that it would be “very hard to prove” essentially acquiesces to this underlying logic: under the cognition of “guilty until proven innocent,” a woman who had any private contact with a man could be automatically labeled as “indecent,” and the violence she endured was seen as “deserved retribution.” in the highly organized, male-dominated space, women’s voices were already faint. the premise that “only if yang geng confesses himself” places manna’s pursuit of justice entirely at the mercy of the perpetrator’s conscience, with no effective channels for appeal provided. this instantly solidifies manna’s image of “forbearance.” through this plot, ha jin accomplishes a critical multisource transwriting of love morality and ethics. instead of directly replicating the dogmas of traditional ethics, he exposes how these ethical norms are weaponized to oppress women through specific dialogues and events. in traditional love ethics, constraints such as feeling arises from affection, yet stays within ritual are often imposed more heavily on women. when manna mustered the courage to pursue love, she already broke free from the norm that women should passively wait. the subsequent predicament of being unable to prove innocence after the rape further underscores this tension. example 2 (original text): he even apologized to her for having considered their relationship only from his point of view. despite being torn between manna and his family, he assured her he would try to divorce shuyu again in the future. but he needed time and could not rush. she agreed to wait with patience. in the northeast region of 1970s china, love and marriage often required organizational approval, and personal emotions had to submit to collective interests. against this backdrop, her love for lin became the brightest and most significant part of manna’s life—the most concrete manifestation of her longing for happiness. clinging to this relationship was, in essence, her way of seizing hope for escaping www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 136 published by scholink inc. oppression and realizing her personal worth. her optimism served as a spiritual weapon against the stifling reality. her close relationship with a married man carried enormous risks in the hospital where she worked at the time, risking gossip and even jeopardizing her chances of promotion. maintaining open contact with lin—dining together, walking, attending meetings—required extraordinary courage and determination. she was not pursuing a secret affair but, in a way, “semi-publicly” challenging unwritten social norms to defend her right to love. waiting defined the era, and manna’s patience was a survival wisdom honed by her generation through long years of hardship. yet she channeled this era-specific resilience into pursuing personal feeling， highlighting the uniqueness of her character. under the circumstances of the time, a woman could hardly overturn an organizationally approved marriage through her own efforts. manna’s initiative did not lie in directly confronting the system but in maximizing her persistence within the narrow space allowed by the system: maintaining her relationship with lin and waiting for an opportunity. in the specific context of this novel—where individualism suppressed, discipline strict, and life monotonous—manna’s image stands out as particularly moving and full of tension. she is not merely a homewrecker or a love-obsessed woman. through manna, ha jin not only portrays a love story but also profoundly reveals how an ordinary woman, in an era of disempowered personal fates, strives to claim a modicum of happiness and dignity with all her passion, courage, and resilience. her waiting is a silent yet powerful indictment of the era and a testament to the indomitability of human nature. 3.3 multisource transwriting of confucian classics in transwriting the image of liu shuyu, a traditional rural woman, ha jin repeatedly translates and references confucian thought and family values from traditional chinese culture, transcribing how chinese cultural concepts construct and shape the image of chinese women. in depicting liu shuyu, ha jin translates and interprets the custom of foot-binding and the confucian philosophy of “the mean” (zhongyong), as exemplified in the following: example 3 (original text): in addition, she had bound feet and sometimes wore black puttees. example 4 (original text): “shuyu, can we talk about the divorce?” lin asked his wife after dinner. “all right,” his wife said calmly. “can we go to town tomorrow?” “all right.” “you always say ‘all right,’ but you’ll change your mind afterward. can you keep your word this time?” ha jin’s inclusion of foot-binding is far more than an exotic detail. its transwriting function is multilayered: he translates and writes foot-binding from its chinese cultural context into the english narrative, turning it into a culturally charged symbol with striking impact. these mutilated feet are an indelible cultural inscription on liu shuyu’s body, silently speaking to her origins, the old rural world she www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 137 published by scholink inc. represents, and the patriarchal aesthetics and discipline she endures. her body itself is a carrier and product of traditional culture. foot-binding symbolizes fragility and suffering, yet liu shuyu endures it daily, wrapping and supporting her feet with black puttees. this hints at the core of her image: a resilience forged in extreme vulnerability. her strength lies not in denying this inherent fragility but in acknowledging and bearing it. liu shuyu’s response to the divorce request perfectly embodies how confucian “zhongyong” (the mean) manifests in the behaviors and daily lives of ordinary people, especially traditional women. what ha jin transwrites is not a philosophical concept but the behavioral patterns governed by it. in confucian thought, “zhongyong” emphasizes achieving harmony—maintaining balance, avoiding extremes, and restraining intense emotions. faced with her husband’s sharp, pressured questions, liu shuyu’s reply is always the calm “all right.” this is not genuine agreement but a form of extreme emotional management and tactical silence. she defuses direct conflict and maintains superficial “harmony” with the most neutral, nonconfrontational words. her “zhongyong” is not cowardice but a profound, defensive form of resistance. as confucius stated, the noble person does not contend, and laozi urged, softness overcomes hardness. liu shuyu understands this well. she does not argue, accuse, or directly refuse; instead, she resists through her persistent, unchanging presence and compliance. she makes each of kong lin’s advances feel like hitting cotton—with no force to land. kong lin’s frustration “you always say ‘all right,’ but you’ll change your mind afterward” precisely confirms the effectiveness of her “zhongyong-style” resistance: she successfully traps his divorce plans in endless waiting. confucianism values “rectifying names” (ming zheng yan shun) and “restraining oneself to return to ritual” (ke ji fu li). for liu shuyu, the title of wife is her most vital identity and source of dignity. all her actions—serving her in-laws, caring for her children, and guarding her marriage with silence—fulfill the rituals confucian culture assigns to her. her resistance is within the system; by becoming its most extreme model, she defends her position, putting kong lin who seeks to disrupt the system by demanding a divorce in a moral and public opinion bind. yet ha jin does not reduce her to a mere victim. he successfully translates and rewrites the core of traditional chinese culture he understands—not just its special customs, but its deeper philosophy and behavioral patterns—into a vivid, credible, and unforgettable literary figure. western readers do not merely see a spectacle in foot-binding; through her behavioral logic of “zhongyong,” they grasp the cultural depth and complexity behind this spectacle. by transwriting foot-binding, ha jin defines liu shuyu’s cultural identity and historical coordinates; by transwriting “zhongyong,” he reveals the core behavioral patterns and values rooted in that identity. together, they depict liu shuyu as a complex female figure—both a product of traditional culture and a bearer of remarkable vitality and resistance within it. she is not a flat symbol of the old era but an individual with dignity and strength, operating within her own cultural logic. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 138 published by scholink inc. 4. analysis of the relationship between translating and writing and the translator’s subjectivity in waiting in multisource transwriting, translating and writing may manifest as two sides of the same coin, interpenetrate, or even form a gradual continuum of mutual interpretation, mutual construction, and mutual expansion (liu, 2023, p. 89). in waiting, ha jin’s portrayal of the northeast living environment fully embodies this complex transwriting relationship. in constructing the triangular romance between kong lin, wu manna, and liu shuyu, ha jin translates elements such as chinese regulations, customs, ethics, and values to shape and interpret the image of chinese women pursuing love and adhering to their selves. drawing on his years of in-depth observation and understanding of chinese military life, ha jin deeply integrates observations and understandings of chinese culture (translating) with literary creation of love stories (writing) in the text-generating process, forming a distinct ha jin-style transwriter subjectivity. when creating characters and plots, ha jin purposefully translates a large number of representative chinese elements into the narrative, which are intertwined with and inseparable from the novel’s plot creation. for example, he incorporates chinese social elements such as foot-binding, arranged marriage, filial piety, the mean (zhongyong), institutional constraints, and local customs to transcribe the image of chinese women in the 1970s, demonstrating the interweaving, mutual interpretation, and mutual construction between ha jin’s translating and writing. here, it is argued that the multisource transwriting process of ha jin’s waiting involves not only language conversion but also an interweaving of culture, history, and the trans-writer’s subjectivity. furthermore, ha jin’s translating and writing are intertwined and inseparable, forming a gradual continuum of mutual interpretation, mutual construction, and mutual expansion. their mutual expansion helps western readers gain an in-depth understanding of the customs and changes in 1970s chinese life and rural society. despite ha jin’s efforts to present a real china, since multisource transwriting is not based on a single fixed source text, information distortion is inevitable in ha jin’s creation and the back-translation of chinese versions. this leads to the simplification or neglect of subtle understandings when converted into english, making it difficult for back-translated chinese versions to fully restore the original context. such information loss may weaken the cultural connotations of the work and affect western readers’ comprehensive understanding of chinese culture. 5. discussion and conclusion by tracing the fragmented source texts related to the female images of wu manna and liu shuyu in the multisource transwriting text waiting, this paper interprets how ha jin integrates chinese cultural elements, confucian thought, local customs, social norms, and philosophical ethics into a western narrative framework, conveying an eastern love story through western language. it is hoped that this study will provide new cases for research on the mutually interpretive and constructive relationship www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 139 published by scholink inc. between translating and writing in multisource transwriting, as well as for multisource transwriting studies and translation studies. references bassnett, s. (2014). translation studies (4th ed.). routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203488232 feng, q. g. (2022). translation as semiotic transformation: reflections on the definition of translation. chinese translators journal, 43(3), 11-19. ha, j. (1999). waiting. random house. holmes, j. s. (1988). the name and nature of translation studies. in translated! papers on literary translation and translation studies (pp. 67-80). rodopi. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004486669_008 jakobson, r. (1959). on linguistic aspects of translation. in r. a. brower (ed.), on translation (pp. 232239). harvard university press. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674731615.c18 li, c. x., & zang, z. m. (2024). textless translation in shapiro’s english version of the epic gesar: practice and contemporary value. ethnic translation, 4, 23-30. liu, x. f. (2023). textless translation: an urgent field to be developed in translation studies. foreign language education, 44(5), 88-93. liu, x. f., & liu, y. t. (2025). on the subjectivity of the textless translator in naitō konan’s yanshan chushui. translation horizons, 1, 32-47. luo, y. h. (2010). moral issues in waiting and ha jin’s critical orientation. foreign literature studies, 6. munday, j. (2007). introducing translation studies: theories and applications (d. f. li, trans.). the commercial press. (original work published 2001) ouyang, t. (2014). diasporic writer ha jin’s imagination of china. journal of central south university (social sciences edition), (6). shi, c. r., & zhang, j. (2025). textless translation: a historical review and its contemporary significance. translation horizons, 1, 2-17. sun, d. (2016). on the liminal space of immigrant writers: a review of ha jin’s the writer as migrant. jiangsu social sciences, (6). xu, j. (2003). on translation. hubei education press. xu, t. (2015). an analysis of the domestic research status on ha jin’s novels. journal of jiangsu second normal university, 31(1), 91-97. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 83 original paper a comparative study of the development of ecologically civilized cities between china and germany xiaoxia tan1 & zhiheng liu2 1 school of marxism, chongqing university of technology, chongqing, china received: december 28, 2024 accepted: january 10, 2025 online published: january 22, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p83 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p83 abstract through a comparative analysis of the practices and experiences in constructing ecologically civilized cities between china and germany, this study aims to discuss the similarities and differences in terms of theoretical foundations, realistic challenge, response strategies, development trends and implementation proposals between the two countries. using the comparative study method, this study focuses on the similarities and differences in the development of ecologically civilized cities between china and germany. it is found that germany demonstrates significant strengths in legislative support, technological innovation and public participation, while china stands out in policy facilitation, the speed of infrastructure development and the construction of green financial system. the successful experiences of the two countries in building ecologically civilized cities provide valuable insights for other countries and regions. in the future, china and germany should continue to strengthen cooperation, share wisdom in ecological governance, jointly cope with global environmental challenges and push forward the construction of the community with a shared future. keywords china and germany, ecologically civilized cities, urban development, comparative study 1. comparative analysis of theoretical foundations for the development of ecologically civilized cities between china and germany the development of ecologically civilized cities in china and germany is grounded in profound theoretical principles. the two countries share both similarities and differences in theoretical foundations for advancing the development of ecologically civilized cities. highlighting the harmonious co-existence between man and nature, china upholds the core concept of sustainable development and is committed to building an ecological economic system celebrating resource conservation, environmental protection and dynamic balance. scientific planning, technological www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 84 published by scholink inc. innovation and international cooperation are leveraged to promote green gdp growth and fulfill winwin outcomes in both economic development and environmental protection. comparatively, germany puts more emphasis on the efficiency of resource utilization and protection of natural environment, stressing coordinated development between economy, society and nature, in building ecologically civilized cities. the theoretical foundation of such notions is rooted in its reflection on industrial revolution and its commitment to fulfilling a green economic transformation and sustainable urban development through technological innovation and construction of institutional system. in terms of theoretical foundations, both countries have realized the importance of building ecologically civilized cities and are dedicated to pushing forward the green transformation of urban development through scientific planning and technological innovation. their differences are reflected by china’s greater emphasis on macro-level building of institutional system and policy guidance and germany’s highlight on technological innovation and micro-level implementation. the manifestation of these commonalities and individualities provides vast perspective space for cooperation and exchanges between china and germany in the development of ecologically civilized cities. by comparing the theoretical foundations for the development of ecologically civilized cities between china and germany, it is not difficult to find that the two countries share both similarities and distinct differences. a theoretically guided approach that starts with different national situations helps analyze the realistic challenges confronted by the development of ecologically civilized cities in both countries. 2. comparative analysis of realistic challenges confronting the development of ecologically civilized cities between china and germany china is confronted by many challenges in developing ecologically civilized cities. on the one hand, the rapid expansion of urban areas has led to increased pressure on the protection of ecological land and public green space, requiring more reasonable layout in the process of building ecologically civilized cities to ensure good ecology and beautiful landscapes. on the other hand, severe energy consumption and pollutant emissions particularly from the automobile industry and coal-fired boilers point to a pressing need to adjust energy consumption structure and promote the use of clean energy. germany also encounters a number of challenges in its pursuit of developing ecologically civilized cities. for one thing, the urbanization process has been accompanied by increasing resource consumption and environmental pressure, and substantial funding and technological support are needed in energy transformation and promotion of green architecture. for another, despite the strict environmental protection laws and regulations in germany, the execution and public participation of these policies still need to be improved to ensure the effective implementation of environmental measures. it is obvious that the two countries are both confronted by many challenges in advancing ecologically civilized cities. to address these realistic challenges, they both should adapt their measures to local conditions and find solutions in a pragmatic way. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 85 published by scholink inc. 3. a comparative analysis of response measures to the development of ecologically civilized cities between china and germany to effectively address realistic challenges, china has adopted a number of measures in order to effectively cope with the realistic challenges. firstly, regulations on motor vehicle exhaust emissions are strengthened by imposing specialized control on high-emission vehicles and encouraging the use of new and clean-energy vehicles. secondly, substantial efforts have been put into developing urban public transport systems to reduce transport pollution and fulfill clean energy-powered buses and taxis. in the meantime, strict environmental protection policies are implemented to strengthen comprehensive environmental governance and promote urban environmental quality. in addition, china attaches great importance to developing environmental awareness within the society as a whole by advocating healthy and civilized ways of consumption and establishing an environment-friendly atmosphere. finally, china also actively constructs a green financial system. by promoting the establishment of green finance supporting mechanism, china stands to provide sufficient funds for the building of ecologically civilized cities and push forward the development of green industries and improvements in ecological environment. with these measures, china is gradually constructing a resource-conservative and environment-friendly society, laying a solid foundation for the development of ecologically civilized cities. similarly, to effectively address realistic challenges, the german government has also adopted a series of countermeasures. first, efforts in green technology research, development and promotion have been stepped up to increase the efficiency of energy utilization and the ratio of renewable energy. second, enforcement of environmental laws and regulations has been strengthened to ensure effective implementations. in the meantime, public education has been promoted to raise residents’ environmental awareness and participation, giving rise to a good atmosphere of common protection within the society. in addition, germany also places greater emphasis on international cooperation to promote joint efforts to tackle global environmental problems and advance the development of global ecological and environmental protection through sino-german international cooperation programs. through these measures, germany has achieved substantial success in building ecologically civilized cities and provided valuable experience for sustainable development of cities. the different measures adopted by china and germany in building ecologically civilized cities reflect their differences in historical ground and culture and provide limitless possibilities for future cooperation and exchanges. we hopefully wish well for the development of ecologically civilized cities in both countries and put forward the following feasible proposals. 4. prospects and suggestions for the development of ecologically civilized cities in china and germany in the future, more emphasis will be placed on sustainability, intelligence and humanistic integration in the development of ecologically civilized cities. first of all, in the context of global climate change and resource constraints, ecologically civilized cities will be committed to reducing energy consumption and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 86 published by scholink inc. carbon emissions and fulfill energy conservation, low carbon and sustainable development through technological approaches like green architecture, clean energy and intelligent transport. in addition, intelligentization is another major trend for the development of ecologically civilized cities. using advanced technologies like big data, internet of things and artificial intelligence, fine management of cities, optimized resource allocation and improved public services will be fulfilled. for example, the smart garbage sorting, environmental monitoring and disaster warning systems will effectively increase the efficiency of environmental management in cities. meanwhile, ecological cities in the future will focus more on humanistic integration highlighting the harmonious co-existence between human and nature. urban planning will take into sufficient account of protection of culture, history and natural landscapes and building ecological landscapes and public space with characteristics. furthermore, residents’ environmental awareness and participation can be improved through ecological civilization education, thus creating a good atmosphere where the whole society puts joint effort into building ecologically civilized cities. to sum up, the development of ecologically civilized cities will step toward sustainability, intelligentization and humanistic integration with an aspiration of coordinated development between economy, society and environment. to promote sustainable development of ecologically civilized cities in china and germany and construct a positive picture with harmonious human-human and human-society co-existence, both countries also need to make efforts in the following aspects: first, dialogues and cooperation in policies should be strengthened. china and germany should deepen their dialogues in the area of policies related to building ecologically civilized cities and jointly research and formulate development strategies adapted to their own national situations, advancing the fulfillment of more win-win outcomes. second, advanced technologies and experiences should be promoted. inter-city technological exchanges and cooperation should be encouraged, especially in areas of green architecture, clean energy and smart transport, by promoting advanced technologies and successful experience and promoting the level of ecologically civilized cities. moreover, public participation and education should be enhanced. by strengthening the popularization and education of ecological civilization, heightening public awareness in environmental protection and encouraging residents to actively participate in the building of ecologically civilized cities, a good environment where the whole society jointly advances the development of ecologically civilized cities will be created. with the implementation of the above suggestions, we believe, china and germany will achieve more significant successes in building ecologically civilized cities and contribute wisdom and positive forces for the cause of global ecological civilization. 5. conclusion both china and germany are active participators, contributors and promoters of the development of ecologically civilized cities. by comparatively examining the theoretical foundations and realistic www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 87 published by scholink inc. challenges related to the development of ecologically civilized cities in both countries, we explored the countermeasures that should be adopted. on this basis, we summarized the achievements that can be made in the future and put forth the suggestions for improvement, providing a beneficial reference for creating a global community of ecological civilization. author tan xiaoxia (1994), female, native of liangping, chongqing, han ethnic group, is a master’s degree holder and a lecturer at school of marxism, chongqing university of technology. her interest of research lies in basic principles of marxism and ideological and political education. liu zhiheng (1984-), male, from yuncheng, shanxi, is a lecturer and master’s supervisor at chongqing university of technology. his research direction is historical materialism. references bi, y. z. (2012). the comparative study and evaluation on the balanced utilization degree of urban and rural land between china and germany: a case study on shandong province and the state of bavaria. beijing: china agricultural press. ministry of ecology and environment, outline of the construction of a beautiful china. (2024). beijing: people’s press. thomas, h. (2010). environmental governance in china and germany from a comparative perspective. beijing: central compilation & translation press. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 76 original paper a journey to healing pain: trauma writing of charlie gordon in flowers for algernon yi shi1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: september 7, 2024 accepted: september 25, 2024 online published: october 22, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n4p76 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n4p76 abstract flowers for algernon, first published in 1959, is a novel written by the american writer daniel keyes. it tells the story of charlie gordon’s journey from having an intellectual disability to gaining extraordinary intelligence, as well as his regression when one experimental procedure starts to goes wrong. “trauma” is a marked theme in the work, which plays a vital role in portraying characters and developing plots. in the light of trauma theory, this essay puts a focus on the relationship between trauma and the individual, and author of this paper argues that family and society are two major roots in imposing misery upon the protagonist. with the interference of technology, trauma is rediscovered and represented by his confusion, maladjustment, and rage. ultimately, he treats it through finding himself, building connections with others, and doing contributions to the society. it is concluded that based on writing the trauma of the intelligently disabled, keyes vividly communicates his concerns on then further revealing the theme of science and technology, goodness, and wisdom. keywords flowers for algernon, trauma, recovery 1. introduction daniel keyes was an american writer who was honored for his flowers for algernon with a hugo award in 1960 and nebula award in 1966, two most prestigious awards given for american science fiction. also, the novel gains fame when its 1968 film version, charly, earned cliff robertson an academy award as best actor for his portrayal of charlie gordon. this book, praised for its story arc, presents a series of progress reports written by the protagonist charlie gordon, a 32-year-old man who is intelligently disabled but later undergoes a surgical procedure that will dramatically increase his mental capabilities. unfortunately, effects of the operation wear off in the end and charlie is once more of subnormal intelligence. this procedure is predictable from a laboratory mouse, algernon. in the progress www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 77 published by scholink inc. reports, charlie documents everything that happens to him, enabling the reader to read about the changes from his viewpoint. focusing on the use of science and technology, choice of intelligence or morality, as well as love and sexuality, the novel succeeds in exposing various modern dilemmas. 2. literature review since its publication, flowers for algernon has caught the local literary circle’s concern and criticism. generally, the current studies on such a remarkable novel mainly focus on its thematic concerns, character analysis and narrative structure. in light of the theme, scholars majorly revolve around emotional intelligence development, antihero, human right and so on. sklar holds that “the unified voice of the character (charlie gordon) is reduced to a less authentic multiplicity” by “following the constraints of dystopian sf (scientific fiction) to their logical conclusion” (p. 59). concerning the thematic concern, blackford underscores the child consciousness of this novel, reviewing that “the child is a synecdoche for environmental conditioning and a symptom of broader social problems in the environment” (p. 286). also, as to the narrative structure, palumbo argues that this story recapitulates the “parable of the cave” as the “variation on the monomyth” (p. 444). in china, researches on this book are still limited. scholars mainly highlight translation analysis and cross-media communication. as for the translation analysis, luo xiyu and yang jinyu criticize that the chinese version of this work loses the balance if there are complex and lengthy sentences with a plethora of technical terms in english texts from the perspective of skopos theory (pp. 150-151). ju hong speaks highly of its adaptability into the musical for the melodious songs, outstanding performance, exquisite stage design, and touching script (pp. 97-99). generally, there is still space on this work for further research domestically. the study of keyes’ works still goes on, but few pay attention to the trauma writing of the character, which is a marked issue throughout the progress reports from the book. over recent decades, as the theory of trauma has evolved, trauma in literature are being highlighted, which offers a new perspective for the study of keyes’ flowers for algernon. freud’s theories on traumatic experience and memory define the psychological concepts that guide the field. he sees trauma as “an experience which within a short period of time presents the mind with an increase of stimulus too powerful to be dealt with or worked off in the normal way” (p. 275). herman judith puts that “unlike commonplace misfortunes,” “traumatic events generally involve threats to life or bodily integrity, or a close personal encounter with violence and death” (p. 33). based on their definitions of trauma, it can be concluded that trauma is an overwhelming experience or event that threatens an individual’s physical or mental integrity on the long term. accordingly, this novel, as the primary object, will be analyzed based on the theory of trauma with an aim to explore the sources, representations, and treatments of protagonist’s trauma. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 78 published by scholink inc. 3. trauma sources of charlie gordon 3.1 trauma posed by the family: domination and indifference bowen emphasizes that a family has two principal functions, helping differentiation of self and providing individuals with a stable sense of security and belonging (pp. 2-90). however, charlie’s family is unable to relieve his plight but worsen it instead with the result of internalizing his shame. his mother rose’s harshness on charlie is the most noted source of his trauma, including her rude words and corporal punishment. she puts unreasonable expectations on gordon, and when he fails her, she will criticize and even abuse him for his behaviors. for example, if gordon pees in his pants rather than go to the bathroom in time, he will receive his mother’s slaps, which add up to his contempt for himself. worse still, gordon’s mother gives him up partly because she feels humiliated. despite numerous efforts to treat and teach him, they barely pay off. his mother refuses to accept the result, forcing him at home instead of going to school or being outdoors. actually, his mother’s shame on charlie is a lack of confidence in herself as she asks herself whether she is responsible for the situation of charlie. if rose is dominant and arbitrary, charlie’s father matt’s cowardliness also accounts for their son’s trauma. in modern foreign literature, “the image of a father has lost its positive significance and turned negative, failing to shoulder the responsibility of a father towards his children and society” (zhang, p. 96). in charlie’s household, his mother tends to play a tougher role while the father has less discursive power. matt does not take a harder stance when he should have stepped forward. the absence of his father is problematic when he fails to stop his wife from punishing their son and contributes little to relieving him. one of few things he can do is cut charlie’s hair in the basement. in some way, it is his weakness that forces his wife’s stubbornness. rose’s domination and matt’s indifference finally isolates their son. the broken marriage strengthens the unsafe sense of the poor child as well, which is demonstrated by the daily quarrel and the ultimate decision to send him to the nursing house. for one thing, their son is constantly what they are fighting for. matt blames rose for her self-delusion of pretending that charlie is all right. while rose is dissatisfied with matt’s taking no measures under such circumstance. for another, they argue about matt’s career choice. matt prefers to open his own barber store while his wife regards it as a despicable job which disagrees with her tendency to keep up with the joneses. more severely, their unstable relationship fosters their daughter norma to despise charlie, too. to be exact, she, like her mother, thinks he humiliates her in front of her classmates. for instance, norma tells her friend that charlie is adopted. in addition, she runs into a wall accidentally but blames charlie for killing her on purpose, which causes rose’s beating with a strap. it is clear that parents do not play their roles well in educating the normal child to respect the intelligently disabled, so no one can escape the responsibility. thus, all the family members bring about trauma to charlie. admittedly, the negative impacts of family members go much further and longer than imagined. “because parental love is so important, children will make up all kinds of excuses for a parent’s behavior—even abusive behavior” (engel, p. 22). so charlie often ends up blaming himself for leading www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 79 published by scholink inc. his parent to abuse him. he internalizes such shame upon interpersonal communication. his parents can’t offer parental care properly and deprives him of this otherwise. so, he will think he deserves no love. accompanied by a sense of helplessness, charlie falls into the gap between desire for love and practical incompatibility. 3.2 social exclusion: embarrassment and bullying charlie receives insufficient support from either family or society, who fail to make him either have an awareness of self or belief in others. people in the survivor’s social world have the power to influence the eventual outcome of the trauma (carlson et al., pp. 1311-1134). herman points out that “a supportive response from other people may mitigate the impact, while a hostile or negative response may compound the damage and aggravate the traumatic syndrome” (p. 61). unfortunately, as charlie grows, he receives repulsion over and again. the hoax of valentine card to harriet is a case in point of others’ bullying. charlie initially asks his classmates to help him complete a love note. whereas, the boys write obscene words in his name, which incurs harriet’s brothers’ hitting. in addition, he is laughed at by the circled children calling “charlie, fat head barley” (keyes, p. 44) and he comes back to uncle herman’s with dirt all over his clothes because of the nasty things thrown at his back by other boys. furthermore, his colleagues in the bakery make fun of him often. they give him a wax apple to trick him into biting it and kick his legs while he is resting against the wall. the conflict of trauma symptoms not only affects the inner world of charlie, but also affects the close relationship with others. “traumatic events have primary effects not only on the psychological structures of the self but also on the systems of attachment and meaning that link individual and community” (herman, p. 51). charlie is seized by the shame, guilt, and helplessness. he has difficulty establishing new relationships due to a lack of social intelligence, except colleagues in the bakery. due to the detachment from society, charlie considers life simple and routine. he gets up, deliver the goods, and get off from work day by day. meanwhile, he has no idea of how people think of him, but he knows the only thing he seeks is to be smart which will make others accept him, his mother in particular. then, the fear of the traumatic event makes charlie oscillate between isolation and attachment. the result is an ardent but unstable relationship, always fluctuating between the two extremes. in terms of love, he likes his teacher alice kinnian but he is never brave enough to confess. the trauma makes charlie withdraw from any close relationship which can trace back to a severe punishment when norma accuses him of peeking at her taking a bath. such trauma leaves a profound influence on him. when he recognizes his affectations for alice, he is unable to convey it properly and even labels it wrong. the childhood trauma disturbs him so much that the emotional barrier between him and his crush is hard to remove. 4. representations of charlie’s trauma 4.1 confusion: identity crisis the increasingly serious identity crisis is one traumatic impact on charlie. the self-identity comes with self-awareness. with the dramatic development of his brain, it is crucial for gordon to know himself in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 80 published by scholink inc. order to figure out his problems. but the obstacle is by no means easy to overcome. when charlie is fired from the bakery, he keeps loitering because he falls into a complete loss about where to go and what to do. additionally, there exists two “charlies” in one body where one is retarded and the other is smart. for example, each time charlie attempts to further his relationship with alice, he is frustrated by the contradicting ideas in his mind. the former discourages the latter because his behavior goes beyond the half self’s cognition. briefly, it is hard for him to build bonds with the past to know himself. as a result, to probe into charlie’s subconscious plays an indispensable role in building a bridge to his miserable memories and identity perplexity. with the help of technology, his subconscious is waking up, which incurs recovery of his childhood memories. as dr. strauss puts it, the subconscious is a wall between the past and the present. also, in this process, it is necessary for charlie to carry out competition with algernon, a lab rat, to maintain the growth of his intelligence and memorization. as long as he attains a sense of accomplishment from knowledge, it will compensate for his educational and cognitive blank in childhood. gradually, he can work by a dough-mixer, finish reading robinson crusoe, and learn university courses on his own. above all, charlie comes to realize his bruised self-esteem upon recalling others’ bullying, which further contributes to his understanding of traumatic past. 4.2 maladjustment among three major symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, “hyper-arousal” and “intrusion” stand out in charlie’s maladjustment (herman, p. 35). he becomes cleverer and cleverer but meanwhile he is increasingly disturbed by the trauma stress disorder. hyperarousal “reflects the persistent expectation of danger” (herman, p. 35). this is typical of charlie when he goes to chicago, a completely new city for him. more specifically, the fear of death keeps bothering him before boarding. he cannot help but think of the potential plane crash. likewise, an attendant reminds him to wear the safety belt but charlie resists it. that’s because being tied resembles the childhood experience of being operated by doctors in the clinic where he is tied to the table. the noise of machine and the changing light terrify him so that he quivers and struggles. the helplessness of being restricted somewhere puts him in an imagined danger. intrusion “reflects the indelible imprint of the traumatic moment” (herman, p. 35). because of the underdeveloped intelligence, traumatic memories do not impact charlie repeatedly until he has the operation. afterwards, charlie is frequently disturbed by the bitter bygones. “it was like a big hole opened up in the walls of my mind and i can just walk through” (keyes, p. 43). it is cruel for a child to leave his family and do laborious work in a strange place. he recalls the first day he encounters donner’s bakery with the chestnut smell, only to see the scared look on his face. during the christmas season, he longs to touch the fancy mechanical toys on the crowded street but he does not dare. the past pain is by no means easily removed from his memory. 4.3 anger and losing control charlie is angry because he discovers the evil of human beings with his increased intelligence. in the first place, he finds gino’s cheats by taking advantage of him to steal money. then, he is conscious of his www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 81 published by scholink inc. mother’s unbelievable selfishness and domination. vanity and conceit are prevalent among people even when they are smart scientists since researchers connect intelligence with human dignity and value. but most significantly, he is able to discover the experiment’s fatal flaw because they don’t take his mental change as a variable into consideration. all they care about is their project progress. it scares him to understand that who master his destiny are not scientific giants but ordinary human beings. finally, he loses his control as the mix of doubt, anger, and hatred shoot up to the peak at the conference. first, the arrogance of so-called experts completely provokes him to anger. the professors at the conference in chicago are intellectual bullies, celebrating their own intelligence and sophistication by laughing at their mental inferiors. accordingly, they are no better than charlie’s coworkers at the bakery. rage consumes him gradually as researchers think of him and algernon as only “two prime exhibits for his presentation” (keyes, p. 113), objectified as two samples in the laboratory. charlie hates his being treated as a product of their technology. as a result, he loses control, determined to expose other’s ignorance and proclaim that he is a human with history. hence, the academic conference ends with the mess of unlocking the cage of algernon. 5. three remedies for trauma 5.1 finding himself the problem of trauma memories is solved firstly by his waking up to know himself, which starts from the moment when he escapes from the experiment with algernon. according to herman, recovery is “based upon the empowerment of the survivor and the creation of new connections” (p. 133). so, charlie needs to empowering himself by the “establishment of safety” (p. 155). charlie alternates his residence after the disguised missing of algernon, which demonstrates his determination not to be disturbed. he needs a shelter near the times square away from the chaos brought about by the research. such selection shows his desire for safety and fulfillment of his wish since his childhood, going to new york. besides, living alone also creates an opportunity to think alone. via writing the progress reports, charlie is able to reconstruct his painful story. one vital part of recovery is “remembrance and mourning” (p. 155). during his solitary existence, he still keeps recording his changes in life, which is conducive to finding out who he is. “reconstructing of the trauma story begins with a review of the patient’s life before the trauma and the circumstances that led up to the event” (herman, p. 176). it is critical for charlie to figure out the reason why his family behaves like that. more importantly, at the sight of rose, he recalls the night when she insists on taking charlie to the warren state home, realizing that all of this is not his fault and never under his control. above all, he knows himself as an individual regardless of his intelligence. nevertheless, “because the truth is so difficult to face, survivors often vacillate in reconstructing their stories” (herman, p. 181). on the newspaper publishing his escaping, charlie is surprised to see the photo of his sister and mother. the conflicting emotions seize him again, which makes him not only anxious to be hugged by the family but also to get away from rose’s slapping meanwhile. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 82 published by scholink inc. 5.2 building connections with others the restoration of connections begins when charlie realizes that he is not alone. one marked point is that when he leaves meeting hall, he takes algernon with him as well. algernon is the prime choice for him as they share a similar destiny. to rebuild the trauma memory is necessary, but he still has to face his family to settle his fear in the interpersonal relationship. charlie’s respect for others and autonomy of himself is communicated during reunion with his family. initially, charlie’s meeting with his father bears no result because he is afraid to dwarf matt in this abrupt and absurd way. however, the situation changes when he sees his mother. charlie shows his reason and subjectivity. instead of hating rose, charlie tries to ponder over why she behaves like this. in rose’ mind, others’ opinions always come first, beyond herself and family. to look decent matters most, including her dressing and her son’s behaviors. when he arrives, the woman who is cleaning the windows in a cold and cloudy weather verifies his idea: appearance counts to her. charlie is clear that she has no right to deny him again. this time he chooses to face rose in an equal position. it is also essential for charlie to build a relationship with strangers in his new life. “as the trauma recedes into the past, it no longer represents a barrier to intimacy” (herman, p. 203). this is demonstrated by his interactions with two women, fay and alice. his neighbor fay lillman is the first person for him to get to know in new york, who is a charming and uninhibited painter as the opposite of charlie. she brings colors, thrills and adventures to his life. and charlie’s platonic relationship with alice is another example. charlie has passion for alice who takes care of him and insists that she is the only woman he has ever loved. but they remain lovers’ spiritual communication only because alice recognizes that charlie has childhood issues that he needs to settle before he can pursue a mature relationship with anyone. more importantly, seeing fay and alice interact with each other reminds charlie that he’s not the center of the universe. in this sense, charlie is able to construct connections with others, from his family to his friends. 5.3 contributing to society ultimately, charlie makes up his mind to do the research himself by his expertise. this is owing to a retarded waiter boy breaking plates who attracts his attention. it amuses his at first but soon he realizes that the past himself is exactly the same. rereading the progress report, charlie sees his ignorant idea about his own situation and understands the importance of contributing his wisdom to this world. as herman puts it, “survivors may focus their energies on helping others who have been similarly victimized……to prevent others from being victimized in the future, or on attempts to bring offenders to justice” (p. 208). through independent research, he wants to help millions of the intellectually disabled in america. the issue of being clever is not just about charlie himself but about a huge population like him. additionally, he offers to go to the warren state home which is undoubtedly an enormous challenge. charlie has some cognition of the person he used to be and of the damage done to him by the traumatic event. his task now is “to become the person he wants to be” (p. 202). in young charlie’s eyes, the warren state home is a horrible place which will separate him from his family. but now, he is courageous www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 83 published by scholink inc. to face the potential aftermath of this experiment by considering being sent into the nursing house. this visit reminds him of the virtue of devoting oneself to other people and the fact that intelligence has nothing to do with moral goodness. he starts to grasp the life philosophy as he is relieved to have experienced the peak of love, beauty, and truth created by knowledge. he retains a sense of respect, empathy, and wisdom, and memories of connections to many other people. all this is ultimately represented by his request for “wild flowers on the grave (for algernon)” (p. 258). he loves the things that he is doing at present and comes closer and closer to the answer. 6. conclusion to sum up, trauma is a significant element in flowers for algernon. owing to family members’ dominance and indifference, the character charlie gordon internalizes his sense of shame. the social repulsion also discourages his ability to connect with others, aggravating the trauma. but upon the brain operation, he is able to recall and analyze some of painful memories. in this manner, he faces an identity crisis and adjusts improperly to the situation, which leads his action to be out of control. most importantly, the decision to get away with algernon provides safety for charlie, driving him to remedy the trauma privately. specifically, he is able to find himself by clearing the haziness of his feelings for the traumatic past, disturbed present, and predictable future. then, he starts to form connections with others due to his belief in the society. lastly, he makes up his mind to contribute to the society. references blackford, h. (2013). raw shok and modern method: child consciousness in flowers for algernon and the curious incident of the dog in the night-time. children’s literature association quarterly, 38(3), 284-303. https://doi.org/10.1353/chq.2013.0038 bowen, m. (1976). theory in the practice of psychotherapy. family therapy: theory and practice, 4(1), 2-90. carlson, e. a., egeland, b., & sroufe, l. a. (2009). a prospective investigation of the development of borderline personality symptoms. development and psychopathology, 21, 1311-1134. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579409990174 engel, b. (2015). it wasn’t your fault: freeing yourself from the shame of childhood abuse with the power of self-compassion. oakland: new harbinger publications. print. freud, s. (1990). new introductory lectures on psycho-analysis (ed. james strachey. trans. peter gay). new york: w. w. norton & company. print. herman, j. l. (2015). trauma and recovery: the aftermath of violence—from domestic abuse to political terror. new york: basic books. print. keyes, d. (2005). flowers for algernon. orlando: harpercollins. print. palumbo, d. (2004). the monomyth in daniel keyes’s “flowers for algernon”: keyes, campbell and plato. journal of the fantastic in the arts, 56(2004), 427-446. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 84 published by scholink inc. sklar, h. (2013). the many voices of charlie gordon: on the representation of intellectual disability in daniel keyes’s flowers for algernon. disability in science fiction: representations of technology as cure (pp. 47-59). new york: palgrave macmillan us. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137343437_4 ju, h. (2022). stage communication of the musical flowers for algernon. art panorama, 32, 97-99. luo, x. y., & yang, j. y. (2022). analysis and critique of chen cheng’s chinese translation of flowers for algernon from the perspective of skopos theory. sinogram culture, 8, 150-151. zhang, s. j. (1994). the metaphorical theme of fatherhood. journal of jinan university (philosophy and social sciences edition), 4, 94-100. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137343437_4 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 26 original paper an analysis of the vocabulary list arrangement in primary school english textbooks from the perspective of frame semantics ziying xie1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: august 4, 2024 accepted: august 22, 2024 online published: september 6, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n4p26 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n4p26 abstract with the increasingly close ties between countries all over the world, the acquisition of english as a second language is particularly important, in which english vocabulary learning is crucial. but the way of vocabulary arrangement and presentation affects students’ vocabulary memorization effect to a great extent. as the starting stage for students to learn english, the problem of teaching vocabulary in elementary school is worth pondering. based on the frame semantics theory, this paper examines the arrangement of vocabulary lists in elementary school english textbooks by taking the first book of the fourth-grade english textbook published by foreign language teaching and research publishing house as an example. it is found that the new words in the vocabulary lists of the current textbooks are simply arranged in the order that they appear in the text or in alphabetical order, which is inconsistent with students’ cognition. therefore, we believe that based on the frame semantics theory, a reasonable arrangement of vocabulary and the provision of a frame vocabulary list in line with the students’ cognition can enable students to spend the less cognitive effort to obtain more cognitive effect, and achieve twice the result with half the effort. keywords frame semantics, vocabulary learning, primary school, english textbooks 1. introduction among the five skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating), vocabulary is the prerequisite for mastering english and the most basic unit in english teaching. vocabulary is as necessary and important to learning english as bricks are to constructing a building, and it is the foundation of all english skills. without sufficient language knowledge and vocabulary, english learning is bound to be www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 27 published by scholink inc. hindered to a greater extent, and even affect the motivation to learn english. in second language learning, vocabulary directly affects the performance of students’ language skills. however, the large amount of vocabulary and the intricate relationship between the meaning and shape of words make it difficult for students to learn and memorize, and students spend most of their time repeating and memorizing words in the process of english learning. while the more they remember, the faster they forget, and the more unsatisfactory the results they achieve. memorizing vocabulary and mastering vocabulary from conceptual connections is still the subject of vocabulary teaching research (mei, 1983). the way vocabulary is presented has an important impact on students’ vocabulary learning. there are a lot of new words in each unit of the english textbook, and the new words in the vocabulary list are simply arranged according to the order of their appearance in the text or the alphabetical order, which artificially isolates one semantically related word from another. therefore, students who learn and memorize words mechanically according to the order in which they appear will not only get half the result with twice the effort, but also lose interest in english learning in the long run. thus, vocabulary arrangement should follow a certain method, according to students’ cognitive ability and in line with students’ cognitive laws. fillmore (1985) pointed out that although frames do not depend on language and exist independently, language cannot be detached from frames, and linguistic expressions are always linked to the relevant frames in people’s memory. that is, when people are exposed to a certain language form in a certain context, they always activate a specific frame in their mind, and from that frame, they are connected to a specific frame. as a means of human cognitive construction, frames provide the context and motivation for the presence of words in language and the use of discourse, and frames combine our experiential knowledge and linguistic structure (pan, 2003). a semantic frame is a series of schematic reasoning structures linked to lexical items by linguistic conventions. each frame consists of a set of frame elements. frame elements are the participants and supports of a frame, the conceptual roles that present schematized scenarios. they represent the semantic and syntactic features of words through their association with semantic frames. the semantic depiction of the frame of a lexical item begins with the identification of the frame that highlights one of the lexical meanings, and then explains how the frame elements and combinations of frame elements are realized in the structure that is formed around the lexical item. thus, in order to understand the semantics of a word, one must first have an understanding of the word’s conceptual structure, i.e., the semantic frame, which serves as background knowledge of the meaning of the word and the existence of its use. whereas words can select and emphasize certain aspects of the basic semantic framework according to certain principles or ways through the linguistic structure in which they are located. thus, to explain the meaning and function of words, it is possible to portray the basic semantic frame of the words and then choose which aspects of the semantic conceptual elements of the semantic framework to highlight or emphasize according to the specific context (fillmore, 1976). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 28 published by scholink inc. the theory of frame semantics has been widely used in psychology, sociology, anthropology and other fields. at present, its application to vocabulary teaching is also active, but few scholars have studied the vocabulary arrangement of textbooks from the perspective of frame semantics. therefore, it is very meaningful to organize vocabulary based on frame semantics theory, which can present a frame vocabulary list in line with students’ cognition, so that students can maximize the cognitive effect with minimum cognitive effort and improve their vocabulary learning effect. 2. literature review linguists have made relevant studies on frame semantics and vocabulary teaching in english textbooks, and this chapter will provide a basic introduction to the basic concepts of frame semantics as well as the current state of research related to vocabulary teaching in english textbooks. 2.1 frame semantics frame semantic theory was proposed by american linguist fillmore (1977), who interpreted the meaning of vocabulary from the perspective of human cognition, emphasizing the importance of the intrinsic connection between languages and people’s understanding of language in the process of language use (chen & bai, 2011). frame semantics comes out of the empiricist tradition of semantics, linking social knowledge to semantics in linguistics, close to the semantics in the field of ethnography. a “frame” is a schematic structure generalized from recurrent human experience, a category created by a linguistic community, a conceptual representation of language. a frame is a structured system of categories that corresponds to some motivating contexts, a schematized situation stored in human experience, which may describe either an entity or a pattern of behavioral practices, or even some social institutions, customs, etc. (fillmore, 1982). the coverage of “frame” is very wide, covering a series of concepts in natural language understanding, such as “schema”, “script”, “script”, “scenario”, “ideational scafolding”, “cognitive model”, and “folk theory” ect.. frame semantics attempts to use empirical methods to explore the connection between human linguistic experience and to study a feasible way of describing this connection, i.e., to describe the meaning of words, sentences and texts in a unified “frame”. fillmore (1982) argued that the meaning of a word is governed by the semantic frame in which it is located and is defined by that semantic frame, so in frame semantics, understanding the meaning of a word must be predicated on an understanding of the entire frame in which the word is located. first, the frame semantic theory holds that people understand the meaning of words in the frame activated by the word, in which a number of words are intrinsically related to each other. secondly, frame semantics theory suggests that the process of learning is the process of making connections between new knowledge learned and existing cognitive background. learners need to make efforts to make the new knowledge of the target language interact with the relevant old knowledge stored in the original cognitive structure of the brain, and to stimulate the a priori knowledge in order to obtain the actual meaning represented by the new knowledge. finally, frame semantics theory holds that people’s understanding of the meaning of words comes from their knowledge of the world, and that people’s understanding of their social and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 29 published by scholink inc. cultural life will be reflected in language accordingly, so the constraints on people’s understanding of language are related to their social customs and beliefs to a certain extent. the vigorous development of frame semantics has attracted a group of chinese linguists, who have not only studied the contents of foreign frame semantics, but also further developed and innovated the theory, and pioneered the related practical application research, which mainly focuses on the application in the teaching of foreign language vocabulary, especially in the teaching of english vocabulary. chinese linguist pan (2003) believes that language learners can view each frame as a small and abstract “scenario”, thus creating a way of observing lexical meanings of words, emphasizing the two important concepts of prototype and perspective. linguist wang (2011) believes that second language vocabulary teaching based on frame semantics by combing, reconstructing and building new second language frames can help learners correctly understand and master second language lexical meanings. tan (2012) suggested that the english vocabulary teaching method based on frame semantics is more effective for students’ second language vocabulary acquisition than the traditional vocabulary teaching method, and that the positive effects of the frame semantics-based vocabulary learning method are reflected in two dimensions of vocabulary acquisition, that is, input knowledge and output knowledge. and in the empirical study, it was concluded that lower level students made effective progress in the vocabulary teaching vocabulary learning method based on frame semantics. you (2016) found in an empirical study that vocabulary teaching based on frame semantics can expand students’ vocabulary and improve their learning interest and attitude. based on brown and payne’s (1994) five-step vocabulary teaching method and the threestage vocabulary learning method proposed by qian and zhou (2005), yin (2020) proposed a new threestep teaching method, which divides vocabulary teaching based on frame semantics into a pre-frame stage, a frame stage and a post-frame stage. in the pre-frame stage, the target vocabulary is approached in a specific reading text, and the frame stage serves as the core stage for identifying, describing, and analyzing explicit and specific frames, and in the post-frame stage, i.e., the frame reconstruction stage, the teacher instructs students to apply the target vocabulary to various contexts, and she argues that english vocabulary teaching based on frame semantics improves the vocabulary comprehension of students to a great extent, and it can also effectively improve students’ vocabulary production ability. 2.2 vocabulary teaching in textbooks as an important form of language expression, vocabulary is an important part of language ability and an important constituent part of language skills, and second language vocabulary teaching, as the foundation and core of second language teaching, has always been the focus of linguistic researchers, and the history of related research is also long. at first, in the view of formalist linguists, second language teaching should be centered on grammar, and vocabulary teaching should serve grammar teaching, vocabulary memory should be mechanically memorized by learners on the basis of dictionary definitions, focusing on lexical meaning changes, and focusing on the study of logical and rational meanings. however, with the deepening of the research, the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 30 published by scholink inc. linguists’ viewpoints about vocabulary teaching have shifted. in order to ensure the smooth progress of english speech activities, mastering the necessary vocabulary always plays a pivotal role. therefore, scholars have conducted a lot of research on english vocabulary learning methods. malley and chamott (1985) believed that the memory of english words can be deepened through repeated identification and use of vocabulary. and schmitt (2000) emphasizes the importance of learning vocabulary in context. he believed that by reading a lot and guessing the meaning of words in context can effectively increase the vocabulary and enhance word memorization. chen (2013) found through comparative tests that thinking maps are conducive to the formation of students’ english learning strategies, such as the cognitive strategies such as “word formation”, “association” and “categorization” in cognitive strategies, which were significantly improved. zhang and duan (2017) investigated and analyzed students’ vocabulary learning strategies and depth of vocabulary knowledge, and found that reviewing and testing, guessing the meaning of words, looking up the dictionary, taking notes and practicing were positively correlated with the level of depth of vocabulary knowledge. vocabulary memorization affects the efficiency and effectiveness of learners’ learning. previous scholars have conducted a lot of research on second language vocabulary memorization from different perspectives and concluded that students use certain strategies to varying degrees and facilitate their learning of new words. overview of the above vocabulary learning strategies, it can be seen that most of the strategies were essentially the same, that is, they all emphasize the need to learn english vocabulary in meaningful situations, providing students with background knowledge for vocabulary learning, in order to promote better understanding and memorization of vocabulary, such as learning vocabulary in context; reading a lot, speculating on the meaning of the word in context; and learning vocabulary in relation to the context; the strategy of “association” and so on. however, the arrangement of vocabulary lists in students’ english textbooks were only mechanical listing of words, which might takes words out of context and cuts the connection between words, which is likely to affect students’ vocabulary learning strategies to a great extent, and then affect their vocabulary learning efficiency and effectiveness. the textbook is the best language sample for classroom teaching, and the basis of language learning is vocabulary learning. the arrangement of vocabulary in textbooks should firstly meet the number of vocabulary required by the syllabus, and secondly, the rational arrangement and design of vocabulary in textbooks is also very important. sinclair (1991) explored the problem of vocabulary breadth distribution. chen (2001) studied by means of a questionnaire and concluded that most students (74%) used the textbook as the main way to learn vocabulary. xie (2010) explored the vocabulary appendix of secondary school english textbooks by using a corpus approach and found that the vocabulary inclusion, vocabulary categorization and annotation of the textbook vocabulary lists were deficient and explored the reasons for this. domestic and overseas studies on vocabulary and vocabulary teaching emphasized the importance of vocabulary in the teaching of english language teaching textbooks, and researched in terms of the theory of vocabulary teaching and the application of the theory. the research emphasizes the importance of vocabulary teaching and learning, focuses on vocabulary teaching strategies, emphasizes studentwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 31 published by scholink inc. centered vocabulary teaching, and proposes many instructive teaching methods and vocabulary teaching models. and in the development of in-depth research on vocabulary teaching theory, scholars began to try to use frame semantics in the theory of second language vocabulary teaching and continued to expand related empirical research, demonstrating the value and wide application of frame semantics theory. however, past theoretical studies and empirical studies of vocabulary teaching based on frame semantics still have many flaws. most domestic and abroad studies focused on the impact of english vocabulary teaching and textbook arrangement on students’ foreign language learning in junior high school and above. while only a few scholars have paid attention to the impact of vocabulary presentation and vocabulary arrangement of elementary school english textbooks on learners’ vocabulary learning, although the primary schools’ english textbooks are the preliminary foreign language textbooks for most of the students in china. therefore, there is still a great deal of room for exploration in the study of applying the theory of frame semantics to the teaching of english vocabulary in elementary schools. on the basis of the original research findings, we can implement more in-depth research on a more solid theoretical foundation. in this paper, the primary english textbooks will be selected to examine their vocabulary list arrangement from the perspective of frame semantics theory, and try to give a more reasonable and in line with the students’ cognitive pattern of new word presentation, to help students better understand and memorize the words. 3. analysis of vocabulary list in primary english textbook in this study, the elementary school english textbook was selected as a research sample (taking the first book of grade 4 english published by the foreign language teaching and research press as an example), and its vocabulary list arrangement was analyzed module by module from the perspective of the frame semantic theory, in attempt to find out some weaknesses in the vocabulary list selection and design, and to try to improve the arrangement of the textbook’s vocabulary lists from the perspective of the frame semantic theory, so as to make the presentation more in line with the cognitive rules of the students, and to promote the students’ comprehension and memorization of the new words. the textbook is divided into ten modules, each of which consists of two units. pages 66 to 67 of the textbook are accompanied by a vocabulary list (words and expressions in each module), in which the key vocabulary words of each module and unit are listed and labeled with their corresponding meanings in chinese, and the thematic contents of each module are listed and analyzed against each other as follows: eg 1: module 1 unit 1 go straight on. unit 2 it’s at the station. the first module lists 22 words, examining the vocabulary content and comparing the titles of the units, it is found that the module involves the theme of “location”, and the vocabulary mostly involves places www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 32 published by scholink inc. of departure, destinations, references and directions, etc., and most of the words are nouns and directional words, such as station, street, straight, near, etc. the vocabulary is relatively difficult and the vocabulary is relatively large. in this module, the main categories involved in the “location” framework are listed in the vocabulary list, and the vocabulary set is relatively comprehensive, but there is a lack of vocabulary related to the medium of mobility, such as foot, bus, bicycle, and so on. eg 2: module 2 unit 1 she’s reading a book. unit 2 what are you doing? the second module lists 12 words, and this module is mainly concerned with the theme of “action”. the vocabulary mainly involves some common actions, mostly verbs, such as read, doing, talk and so on, which is relatively simple and the vocabulary quantity is relatively small. while the main categories involved in the framework of “action” should take into account such as the action sender, the action bearer, the action, etc.. this module focuses on some words related to action, which is relatively homogeneous in terms of variety, leaving students with limited space for association, which is not very conducive to students’ vocabulary for the series of words under the framework of “action”. moreover, the framework of this module is shallowly connected with the framework of the previous module, so it is difficult for students to use the vocabulary of the previous module, which is not conducive to students’ coherent learning of english vocabulary. eg 3: module 3 unit 1 what are they doing? unit 2 what are the elephant doing? the third module lists 25 words, which showed that this module involves the same theme as the previous module, mainly “action”. the vocabulary mostly involves the sender of the action, the receiver of the action, and the action behavior, etc.. and most of them are nouns and verbs, such as people, row, boat and so on, which are relatively difficult and have the largest vocabulary in this textbook. the vocabulary is relatively difficult and the vocabulary is the largest in this textbook. the framework of this module is closely related to the previous module, and the vocabulary is more rich and complete, students can associate and review the words of the previous module, which is conducive to the coherent learning and mastery of english vocabulary. but the number of vocabulary is over-arranged, which is a little bit stressful for elementary school students to memorize english vocabulary, and may discourage the students’ motivation to learn. eg 4: module 4 unit 1 do you want some rice? unit 2 how much is it? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 33 published by scholink inc. module 4 lists 16 words. examining the content of the vocabulary and comparing the titles of the units, it can be seen that the two units in this module deal with the themes of “eating” and “trading”, and the vocabulary is mostly related to the types of food and the action of trading, with most of the vocabulary being nouns and verbs, such as juice, tomato, buy, etc. the vocabulary is relatively simple and the amount of vocabulary is reasonable. however, the thematic frame of the two units of this module is relatively far away from each other, so students may have a relatively poor coherence in learning this module. in addition, the categories involved in the frame of “trading” should take into account the buyer, seller, quantity and the amount of the transaction, and the vocabulary should be arranged such as buy, sell, number, money, etc. yet, only one category is set in this module, which is not conducive to the students’ english cognition of the frame of “trading”. this is not conducive to the establishment of students’ english cognition of the frame. the vocabulary of only 16 words in the whole module contains two different frames, in which the vocabulary of food is obviously higher, which is not reasonable in quantity of vocabulary. eg 5: module 5 unit 1 can you run fast? unit 2 can sam play football? module 5 lists 9 words, the theme of which is mainly about “sports”, and the vocabulary mostly involves the ways of movement and states of movement, with verbs and adjectives, such as run, fast, etc. the vocabulary is relatively simple and the vocabulary size is set to be the smallest in this book. the thematic frame of vocabulary in this module is closely related to the second and third modules, which helps students to review the previous knowledge. however, the framework of “sports” should basically take into account the ways, places and states of sports, etc. this module does not cover the vocabulary related to places of sports such as gym, which is not conducive to the complete establishment of students’ knowledge of english under this framework. the vocabulary is too insufficient for students to learn easily, and the second half of this module is easy to feel boring. eg 6: module 6 unit 1 can i have some sweets? unit 2 happy mid-autumn festival! module 6 lists 12 words. the two units of this module deal with the frames of “food” and “festival” respectively, and the vocabulary words are mostly related to the types of food and the names of festivals. the framework of “food” can be associated with food types and flavors, etc. in the fourth module, the textbook has already dealt with food types, but the emphasis on food types in this unit may make students feel bored with the english vocabulary of this unit. adding appropriate vocabulary expressions for food flavors such as sweet, spicy, etc. is not only conducive to deepening students’ connection and consolidation of previous knowledge, but also improves students’ interest in learning to a certain extent. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 34 published by scholink inc. in unit 2, the vocabulary in the framework of “festivals” is relatively small, and the connection between the two units is not very close, which is not conducive to students’ coherent learning. eg 7: module 7 unit 1 there is a horse in this photo. unit 2 there are twelve boys on the bike. module 7 lists 12 words, and this module deals with the frame of “animals”, the vocabulary words are mostly related to the kinds of animals, the number of animals, and the kinds of food, etc.. most of the words are nouns, such as horse, twelve and fruit. in this module, the vocabulary words are relatively simple and the vocabulary is relatively small. the frame of vocabulary in this module is mainly based on “animals”, but some food expressions are arranged in the vocabulary list, which is easy to confuse the students, and the link between this module and the previous one is not close enough, so the consistency of the vocabulary arrangement needs to be improved. eg 8: module 8 unit 1 we are going to visit hainan. unit 2 sam is going to ride a hose. module 8 lists 11 words, and the frame of this module is mainly “travel”, and the vocabulary mainly involves the departure time of the trip, the means of transportation, the destination of the trip, and the activities of the trip, etc., and the majority of the vocabulary words are nouns and verbs such as tomorrow, plane, sea, fish, etc. the vocabulary of this module is relatively rich in variety but relatively small in amount. the frame of the vocabulary of this module is relatively unfamiliar to students at this stage, so there is a relatively rich variety of expressions of the different elements involved in this module, which is conducive to stimulating students’ motivation to learn this module. but the small number of vocabulary, which can easily lead to the shallow understanding of students, and the establishment of english cognition for this frame is easy to become monotonous. eg 9: module 9 unit 1 are you going to run on sports day? unit 2 i’m going to do the high jump. module 9 lists 14 words. examining the content of the vocabulary words and comparing the titles of the units, it is found that this module mainly deals with the frame of “sports”, and the vocabulary words are mostly related to sports movements, units of measurement of sports, and the time and frequency of sports, etc.. most of the words are verbs, quantifiers, and nouns, such as jump, metre, day, etc. the vocabulary words are relatively difficult but the amount of vocabulary words is relatively small. the vocabulary framework of this module is the same as that of module 5, but it is relatively rich in the variety of elements under the framework, with the addition of expressions related to units of measurement and time www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 35 published by scholink inc. frequency, which is complementary to the vocabulary of module 4, and it helps to deepen the connection and consolidation of the vocabulary under the frame of “sports”. however, the distance between the two modules may make it difficult for students to recall the vocabulary they have learned, which is not conducive to their further improvement of the frame. eg 10: module 10 unit 1 we have a big family dinner. unit 2 merry christmas! module 10 lists 12 words, the two units of this module deal with the frames of “food” and “festivals” respectively, and the vocabulary mostly involves the types of food and the types of festivals. most of the vocabulary is related to the types of food and festivals, with nouns, such as “peanut” and “christmas”. the vocabulary of module 10 is relatively difficult but with a relatively small amount. lastly, this module duplicates the sixth module in terms of the frame. besides, it focuses on the frame of “food” in the first unit as module 6, which makes it easy for students to find it boring. and since this module is a little reletiveless from the previous one, it is not conducive to the consolidation of vocabulary that students have already learnt. 4. conclusion and implications generally speaking, this textbook is relatively close to life in the selection of vocabulary frames, such as “food”, “action”, “trade” and other frames close to students’ daily life, which is good for students’ understanding and memorization and promotes their daily use of english. this is conducive to students’ understanding and memorization and promotes their daily use of english. the frame of “traveling”, which students have relatively little contact with, is also partially arranged in the textbook, which is conducive to increasing students’ interest in learning, and the selection of the frames is both difficult and easy, which is quite reasonable. however, there are still some deficiencies in the selection and design of vocabulary lists in the textbook. first of all, the textbook does not list the lexical properties of the words and the page numbers, which is not conducive to the further understanding of the students. the students may only know the meaning of the words in chinese but do not understand the role of the word in the sentence, and the students will waste their time when they look up the words without the index of the page numbers. secondly, the textbook is somewhat lacking in the arrangement of the number and difficulty of vocabulary in each module. as mentioned above, the module with the highest number of vocabulary words has 25 words, while the module with the lowest number of words has only 9 words, so the number of vocabulary words needs to be further averaged. in terms of vocabulary difficulty, the textbook focuses on the frameworks of “food” and “action”, which are relatively easy for students to familiarize themselves with and understand. however, the main frame of the first module of the textbook is arranged as “location”, which is relatively difficult for students to master in the first module, and the large number www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 36 published by scholink inc. of words to be learned may cause unnecessary panic and psychological burden to some students, so that they may lose their enthusiasm for learning. the relatively simple and familiar frame of “food” is arranged in a relatively later module, which is obviously not in line with people’s cognitive pattern, and also aggravates the learning burden of students. in addition, the semantic frames of the vocabulary between modules are not sufficiently linked. for example, the semantic framework of “location” in the first module is closer to the frame of “traveling” in the eighth module, and the frames of the sixth and tenth modules are duplicated, which can be grouped under one semantic frame, with the related vocabulary put together to form a semantic framework that provides students with background knowledge for students’ vocabulary learning. and it is more conducive to students’ understanding and memorization of the words. however, if the arrangement between the two modules is too far away from each other, artificially separating the related vocabulary that should belong to the same semantic frame, which might increases the students’ burden of memorization and makes it difficult for the students to apply the two modules in connection with each other. frame semantic theory offers a particular way of looking at lexical semantics. each frame is seen as portraying a “scene” (fillmore, 1982). in english textbooks of our country, new words are usually listed in isolation as a vocabulary list in the back of the textbook as an appendix. when teachers explain new words, they also list the vocabulary words separately and explain them independently. this out-ofcontext approach is not suitable for students to accept and memorize quickly. if the new words are linked by a frame, and a series of words of the same frame are presented to students, a conceptual structure with a close internal structural connection can be left in students’ brains, which is more in line with students’ cognitive style and the memorization of vocabulary will be more lasting. therefore, the textbook should adjust the unit arrangement appropriately, and the corresponding vocabulary lists need to follow the unified arrangement standard to stipulate the number of vocabulary words and difficulty, step by step, labeled with the lexical properties and page numbers, in order to help students memorize the words more effectively. for example, the textbook should be arranged so that the simpler modules 6 and 10 need to be advanced, and modules 1 and 8 should be arranged appropriately backward. then the difficulty may be gradually increased with the passage of time, which will enable the students to better adapt to the rhythm of learning english in primary schools. references brown, c., & payne, m. e. (1994). five essential steps of process in language learning. baltimore: md. chen, h. (2001). chinese non-english majors’ strategies for english vocabulary learning. foreign language education, 22(6), 46-51. chen, y. (2013). the application of thinking maps in english vocabulary learning strategy training. journal of inner mongolia normal university (educational science), 26(11), 117-119. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 37 published by scholink inc. chen, z., & bai, j. (2012). exploring the cognitive motivation in fillmore’s frame semantics. modern foreign language studies, 7, 14-17. fillmore, c. j. (1976). frame semantics and the nature of language. annals of the new york academy of science: conference on the origin and development of language and speech, 208, 20-32. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1976.tb25467.x fillmore, c. j. (1977). syntax and semantics: grammatical relations. new york: academic press. fillmore, c. j. (1982). frame semantics: lingiustics in the morning calm. seoul, south korea: hanshin publishing company. fillmore, c. j. (1985). frame and the semantics of understanding. quaderi di semantica, 6(2), 222-254. malley, j., chamot, a., manzanares, g., kupper, l., & russo, r. (1985). learning strategy used by beginning and intermediated esl students. language learning, 35(1), 21-46. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1985.tb01013.x mei, j., zhu, y., gao, y., & yin, h. (1983). an attempt to compile a chinese analogical thesaurus-introduction to the synonym thesaurus. studies in dictionary, 133-138. pan, y. (2003). frame semantics: theory and applications. foreign language research, 5, 15-18. qian, d, & zhou, q. (2005). the implications of frame semantics for the teaching and learning of english vocabulary. journal of suzhou education college, 2, 59-63. schmitt, n. (2000). vocabulary in language teaching. cambridge: cambridge university press. sinclair, j. (1991). corpus, concordance, collocation. oxford: oxford university press. tan, x. (2012). empirical study on l2 vocabulary acquisition based on frame semantics. hunan agricultural university. wang, l. (2011). the inspiration of frame semantics to second language vocabulary teaching. foreign language research, 3, 46-56. xie, j. (2010). a corpus analysis of vocabulary in efl course books for high school. foreign language learning theory and practice, 1, 55-61. yin, p. (2020). the application of frame semantics theory to english vocabulary teaching in senior high school. nanjing normal university. you, y. (2016). an experimental study on english vocabulary teaching based on the theory of frame semantics in senior high school. guangzhou university. zhang, w., & duan, g. (2017). a study of the relationship between english vocabulary learning strategies and depth of vocabulary knowledge. foreign language education and research, 5(1), 34-42. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1976.tb25467.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1985.tb01013.x education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 147 original paper an analysis of jia tanchun’s “three talents” character image in the english translation of dream of the red mansions— based on david hawkes’s and yang xianyi’s versions jinyan gu1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: february 15, 2024 accepted: march 1, 2024 online published: march 18, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p147 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p147 abstract the current study aims to analyze the characterization of jia tanchun in english versions of dream of the red chamber translated by david hawkes and yang xianyi. as an important character in dream of the red chamber, jia tanchun’s image may differ in different english translations. by comparing and analyzing the translations of the two versions, this study reveals the ways in which different translations portray the character of jia tanchun and the cultural factors involved. by analyzing the translated texts about jia tanchun in the two versions, the current study finds that in hawkes’s translation, the image of jia tanchun is endowed with a kind of wisdom, calmness and thoughtfulness, while yang xianyi’s translation highlights jia tanchun’s boldness, passion and adventurousness more. this may stem from the differences in the translators’ understanding of the original image of jia tanchun, as well as the influence of translation style and cultural background. in the process of translation, the characterization of jia tanchun’s “three talents” has attracted much attention. based on the two versions, this study analyzes jia tanchun’s talents in management, learning and handling. the characterization of jia tanchun’s “three talents” is comprehensively presented in hawkes’s and yang xianyi’s translations. additionally, this study provides a new perspective for the translation of dream of the red chamber and calls on translators to emphasize the shaping and expression of the characters in the process of translation and convey the rich connotation of the original. meanwhile, readers should also keep an open and comparative mind when reading different translations to understand the work from multiple perspectives. keywords dream of the red chamber, jia tanchun, english translation, characterization www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 148 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction 1.1 background of the study dream of the red chamber is a precious treasure in the history of ancient chinese literature and is widely regarded as one of the classics of world literature. with the growing interest in chinese literature worldwide, the attention of western readers to dream of the red chamber is also increasing. however, due to linguistic and cultural differences, the challenge of accurately translating this cultural treasure into other languages is enormous. especially in the english-speaking world, translators’ efforts have yielded mixed results. jia tanchun is a key character role in the book, and her portrayal demonstrates the complex and rich characterization of the work. however, different english translations tend to present slightly different images of jia tanchun. therefore, this study aims to take the english translations of dream of the red chamber translated by hawkes and yang xianyi as an example to analyze the ways of portraying jia tanchun’s character and translation strategies in different translations. in this era of globalization, the importance of cross-cultural communication and literary translation is becoming more and more prominent. by deeply analyzing the interpretation of jia tanchun’s image by different translators, we can reveal the ways of characterization in different cultural contexts. this can not only expand our understanding of dream of the red chamber, but also be of great significance to the study of crosscultural communication and literary translation. the study of the characterization of jia tanchun focuses on the choices and expressions of different translators in the translation process, as well as the differences in the translators’ understanding of the image of jia tanchun in the original text. by comparing the translations of different versions, we can explore in depth the influence of translation on the interpretation of the characterization, and at the same time, we can also understand the cultural factors and concepts behind different translations. this will provide new perspectives for us to better understand and appreciate the value and influence of dream of the red chamber in the international arena. to sum up, this study takes the english translations of dream of the red chamber translated by hawkes and yang xianyi as an example in the context of globalization, aiming to explore the ways in which the character of jia tanchun is portrayed in different english translations. this is of great practical and theoretical significance for expanding our understanding of the work and delving into cross-cultural translation and literary studies. 1.2 significance of the study (1) revealing the differences in the presentation of jia tanchun’s image in different english translations: jia tanchun, as a character in dream of the red chamber rich in talent, managerial ability, scholarly cultivation and ability to handle affairs, may have a different image in different english translations. studying the variations of jia tanchun’s image can reveal the translators’ tendency to select and present specific features, and understand the translators’ interpretation of the character’s image in a dream of red mansions and the translation’s target audience’s frame of reference. (2) exploring the interaction between translation strategies and target cultures: translation is a process of linguistic and cultural transformation, and how jia tanchun’s image of “three talents” is transformed www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 149 published by scholink inc. in the english translation is a question worth exploring. studying the translation strategies and techniques of different translators can provide insight into the importance and choice of the author’s image in crosscultural translation. in addition, translation strategies can also reflect the target culture’s perception of the characteristics of the image and the translator’s understanding of the target readers. (3) providing reference for comparative literature research: dream of the red chamber is a masterpiece of chinese literature, which has had a profound impact on world literature. the study of the english translation of jia tanchun’s image contributes to the further development of the field of comparative literature research. by comparing the differences of jia tanchun’s image in different english translations, the unique charm of chinese literary image in the process of acceptance and transformation of western literature can be explored in depth, which reveals the way of presenting and effect of literary image in cross-cultural communication. in conclusion, this dissertation studies the presentation of jia tanchun’s “three talents” in the english translation of dream of red mansions, which is of great value to the fields of literary translation, cultural transformation and comparative literary studies. through this study, we can gain a deeper understanding of the evolution of jia tanchun’s image and the choice of translation strategies, and provide new perspectives for the understanding of literary images in cross-cultural communication. 1.3 purpose of the study (1) analyzing the focus of different translations on jia tanchun’s image: by comparing and analyzing the translations of hawkes and yang xianyi, the researcher can reveal the focus of the two translators on jia tanchun’s image. different translations may differ in their expressions of jia tanchun’s “talent”, “talent in management”, “talent in learning”, and “talent in handling affairs”. there are differences in the expression of “talent”, “talent in management”, “talent in learning” and “talent in handling affairs”. by analyzing these differences, we can gain a deeper understanding of the translators’ understanding of jia tanchun’s portrayal and transformation strategies, as well as the portrayal of the character in different translations. (2) revealing the influence of translation on the communication of literary characterization: translation is a process of cross-cultural communication, in which the characterization of the original work is reproduced in the translation through linguistic transformation and cultural transfer. studying different translators’ choice and portrayal of jia tanchun’s “three talents” can explore the importance of translation in literature and analyze the impact of the translation process on the communication of character image, thus broadening our understanding of literary translation. (3) providing readers with a multi-dimensional understanding of jia tanchun’s image: jia tanchun is one of the most popular characters in dream of the red chamber, and his attribute of “three talents” plays an important role in the novel. the study of jia tanchun’s image in different english translations can provide readers with a multi-dimensional understanding. through this study, readers can gain an in-depth understanding of jia tanchun’s talents, managerial skills, academic cultivation, and ability to handle affairs, and reflect on the presentation and interpretation of these attributes in different translations. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 150 published by scholink inc. in conclusion, this study can analyze the focus of different translations on the image of jia tanchun, reveal the impact of translation on image communication, and provide readers with a multi-dimensional understanding of jia tanchun’s image. 2. literature review in analyzing jia tanchun’s image, scholars have explored it from different perspectives. zhao xiaomei (2017) analyzes jia tanchun’s character, ability and talent, describing her as a “玫瑰” of ice and jade, shrewdness and ambition, and unassuming. lu et al. (2014), on the other hand, start from the tragedy of jia tanchun’s life and discuss the reasons behind the tragedy, including the pressure of the real social environment, the collapse of the family’s destiny, and the entanglement of the weak personal starting point and lofty ambitions. with the emergence of different versions of translations, scholars have begun to compare and analyze the differences between the translations and the original from the perspective of the translations. among them, some scholars take hawkes’s translation as a research object to explore its cognitive strategies in reshaping the female characters. in the original text, jia tanchun is praised as “敏” for her resourcefulness and cleverness, demonstrating the trait of resourcefulness and competence. although she treats her birth mother, aunt zhao, with harsh words, she is essentially a noble lady, gentle and refined, and treats aunt zhao with respect and courtesy in her daily life. however, in hawkes’ translation, jia tanchun’s shrewd majesty as an administrator is further emphasized. her treatment of aunt zhao also becomes more sensitive and caustic. at the same time, her aristocratic qualities of elegance and propriety are weakened, transforming her from a politically minded lady to a purely shrewd administrator. this change had an impact on the portrayal of jia tanchun, thus giving her a slightly different image from the original in hawkes’s translation. for the study of the english translation of dream of the red chamber, scholars have approached it from different perspectives, including the translation of the language of the opera, translation strategies, translation of peculiar nouns, the narrative function of imagery, and cognitive translation studies. however, there have been fewer explorations of jia tanchun’s image in translation so far. therefore, this paper takes two translations by hawkes and yang xianyi as examples to explore the portrayal of jia tanchun’s image in the translations and the originals, supplementing the research gaps in this field. 3. the image of “three talents”—“talent in management”, “talent in learning”, and “talent in handling affairs” 3.1 talent in management in the translation of the title “敏探春兴利除宿弊”of the 56th chapter, hawkes uses the word “resourceful” to describe “敏”. the choice of word is very accurate because “resourceful” means that “敏” appears to be very adaptable and resourceful, and she is able to flexibly utilize her skills and resources to solve problems. such an adjective makes this image more vivid, and it also conveys her ingenuity in trying to solve the problems of the jia mansion. on the other hand, yang chooses “clever” to translate “敏”. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 151 published by scholink inc. although it can also convey the meaning of cleverness, it’s a bit bland compared to “resourceful”, which emphasizes more on resourcefulness and less on her adaptability and creative thinking in the face of adversity. in the 74th chapter, hawkes uses the words “hard mistress”, “obstructive”, and “affordably” to emphasize tantun’s composure and calmness when facing the big right and wrong. among them, “hard mistress” and “brand chief” in yang’s translation highlight tanshun’s firm and upright character, as if in the face of a crisis, she is still able to hold fast to her principles and does not allow her maids to be intruded upon. not to allow her maids to be intruded upon. hawkes uses the expression “the beast with a thousand legs is a long time dying.” to convey tantun’s metaphor of the gradual decline of the jia mansion. this shows the process of jia manison’s decline more vividly because it emphasizes the phrase “a long time dying”, implying that although the “千足之 虫” has been dealt a fatal blow, it will still take a long time for it to finally collapse. this expression helps readers to better understand the slow and continuous process of jia mansion’s decline. on the other hand, yang’s “a centipede even when dead won’t fall to the ground.” conveys the similar meaning. although yang uses “dead”, the phrase “won’t fall to the ground” indicates that even though this “千足虫” has died, it still hasn’t completely collapsed. this can also be interpreted to mean that the jaia manison still maintains a certain amount of residual power its decline, or that the process of its downfall is slow and long-lasting. overall, both hawkes’s and yang’s translations reflect tangchun’s understanding of the state of the jia mansion and her talent for stewardship and governance. and while their subtle differences lie in the way they portray the process of the jia manison’s decline, both cut to the heart of what tangchun is expressing. 3.2 talent in learning tanchun demonstrates excellent academic and intellectual abilities in dream of the red chamber. her use of language and her choice of terms of address show her keen insight and precise judgment of interpersonal relationships. for example, in her relationship with aunt zhao, tantun does not have any affectionate feelings, so she habitually uses the word “you” to translate “姨娘”, which makes tantun’s sensitive, self-respecting and self-reliant image more prominent. in other translations, the translator uses the word “madam”, which is more formal, but fails to express the true feelings of tantun’s heart. there are more examples such as hawkes’ use of “lady wang” and “zhao guoji”, “mother’s brother” to translate “太太”, and “舅舅”. on the other hand, yang uses “mistress” and “uncle”. therefore, from the translation of predicates, it is easy to see that hawkes’ translation pays more attention to the context and background, while yang’s translation is closer to the text. from the differences in the translation of titles, we conclude that tanshun has a strong sensitivity in character relationships, and this slightly contemptuous diction precisely subtracts from her image as a lady of the house and reinforces her own status as a commoner. in addition, in the dialogues in which tantun commissions bao yu to buy something, moreover, in tantun’s exchanges with other characters, her elegance and thoughtfulness are also shown. for example, in the dialog of entrusting bao yu to buy something, tanchun uses the phrase “朴而不俗，直而不拙者” to describe the desired item. this phrase reflects her unique insight into www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 152 published by scholink inc. aesthetic taste. one translator translates it directly as “some things which are simple without being vulgar, and genuine instead of artificial”, while another chooses “the interesting things and the ones that are in good taste”, both of which have their own characteristics. however, hawkes takes a more creative and personal approach to the translation, translating “simple without being vulgar” as “有趣的, interesting,” which more accurately conveys the meaning of what tanchun is saying. in the chapter describing tanchun, the best example of her talent is the letter tanchun writes to bao yu to form a poetry club (37 chapter). she skillfully employs several allusions, such as “采薪之患”, “莲 社”, “东山”, “棹雪”, “扫花”, and so on, to demonstrate her talent. the two translators have their own focus in translating these allusions, yang adopts the literal meaning of the words, while hawkes pays more attention to expressing the meaning of the context. for example, “i caught a chill in the dew” is used by yang to represent physical discomfort, while hawkes uses “i was lamentably indisposed”. in addition, hawkes chooses to use “poetry clubs” to translate “莲社”, while yang uses “lotus society”. in translating “棹雪”, hawkes used “rhyme” while yang chose “condescend”. these choices make the translation closer to the original text and more vividly reproduce tanchun’s talent and social skills. 3.3 talent in handling affairs in dream of the red chamber, the description of the character jia tanchun not only utilizes rich expressions and actions, but also shapes her unique character image through the translation of these specific words. in particular, in the description of the demeanor and action of tanchun’s laughing, the translators adopted different translation strategies, adding and subtracting some details, so as to show tanchun’s different traits, namely, obedience and seriousness, in different occasions. in portraying tangchun’s majestic image, the translators demonstrated tangchun’s anger and determination through different word choices. for example, the words “登时沉下脸”, translated as “frown and fumed” (yang) and “tan-chun’s smile had vanished” (hawkes). one translation of “脸白气噎；抽抽咽咽”, yang uses “tan-chun’s face was white with anger. nearly choking with sobs she demanded” while hawkes writes “tan-chun went white, and for a moment anger deprived her of her breath. when she regained it she broke into louder sobs”, which expresses tan-chun’s inner feelings of anger. what’s more, when translating “益发动了气”, yang uses “this only enraged tanchun more” and hawkes translates it to “this made tan-chun really angry”. in addition, in terms of action description, the translators chose different ways of expression to show tanchun’s personality traits. for example, “tossing her head” (yang) and “her chin went up defiantly” (hawkes) emphasize tanshun’s indifference and defiance respectively when translating “将头一扭”. the translation of “now powdering her face, smiled ironically at pinger” (yang) and “wiped the traces of tears from her face” (hawkes) emphasize tanschun’s indifference and defiance respectively when translating “一面匀脸，一面冷笑”. by comparing the translations of these details, we can see that hawkes’ translation emphasizes tanshun’s decisiveness and determination. his translation adopts some auxiliary words, such as “deprive”, “broke” and “defiantly”, which emphasize tantun’s shrewdness, openmindedness and unconventional boldness in the scene. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 153 published by scholink inc. in the description of jia tanchun’s character in the 37th and 55th chapters of dream of the red chamber, many expressions and actions are used, and it is not difficult to see the characterization features of the character image by interpreting the translation of these specific words in the context of the time. in the translation of tanshun’s “笑道” gesture and action, both translators adopted both augmented and abbreviated translations, such as omitting “道” and using “chuckle”, “smile”, “laugh”; and omitting “笑” and using “said”, “ask” or use different adjectives and adverbs to express, e.g. “pleasantly”, “challengingly”, “laughingly”; or emphasize the word “道” by using the phrase “call out”. this way of speaking from “道” to “呼喊、召唤” also reflects tanchun’s two very different character traits of docility and seriousness on different occasions. to summarize, through the detailed description of tanchun in dream of red mansions, especially the translation of expression and action description, we can see that tanchun possesses distinctive talents in dealing with affairs. her characterization shows a variety of features such as obedience, seriousness, anger and decisiveness in different occasions, which makes her one of the characters hard to be ignored in this classic work. 4. conclusion by analyzing the “three talents” of jia tanchun in the english translations of hawkes and yang xianyi, we can see that jia tanchun, as a complex and multi-faceted character, has interwoven talents in management, learning and handling with affairs, which together constitute his rich and three-dimensional personality and image. this thesis is of great significance in understanding jia tanchun’s image and indepth study of the translation of dream of the red chamber. it also helps readers to understand and appreciate the literary classic dream of the red chamber more comprehensively. references cao, x. q. (1973). the story of the stone (hawkes d., trans.). london: penguin books ltd. cao, x. q. (1978). a dream of red mansions (yang xi, yang g, trans.). beijing: foreign languages press. liu, z. q., & tian, l. (2009). narrative markers of dream of the red chamber and their english translation i a corpus-based comparative analysis. journal of foreign languages, 1, 106-110. liu, z. q., & zhu, h. (2008). a study of idioms in dream of the red chamber and their translation. foreign language teaching and research, 6, 460-466. liu, z. q., tian, l., & liu, c. p. (2008). the creation of a chinese-english parallel corpus of dream of the red chamber. contemporary linguistics, 4, 329-339. lu, c. p., & du, y. r. (2014). on the image of jia tanchun and its tragedy in dream of the red chamber. silk road, 6, 57-58. yang, c. (2020). david hawkes’ reconstructing the female images in the story of the stone: a case study of lin daiyu, xue baochai, jia tanchun and wang xifeng from the perspective of cognitive www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 154 published by scholink inc. construal, hunan university. retrieved from https://link.cnki.net/doi/10.27135/d.cnki.ghudu.2020.001989doi:10.27135/d.cnki.ghudu.2020.001 989. zhao, x. m. (2017). an analysis of jia tanchun’s image in dream of the red chamber. literary education, 8, 48-49. zhu, l., & w, n. i. (2023). exploring the english translation of yue opera’s dream of the red chamber from the musicality of opera language-a case study of a multimodal corpus. journal of huaqiao university, 4, 1006-1398. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 20 original paper hidden dropout, actual dropout, and preserving tradition and language among israeli youth of ethiopian origin wovite worko mangasto1* 1 ethiopian received: october 9, 2023 accepted: november 1, 2023 online published: november 23, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n5p20 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n5p20 abstract dropping out from school is a serious problem affecting education systems. this study aims to examine the importance of preserving ethiopian culture among israeli high school students of ethiopian origin and the relationship between preserving this culture and perseverance in formal schooling. keeping ethnic tradition was examined using two indices: keeping the language and preserving tradition. although hidden dropout is very common, the related literature is insufficient. moreover, there are hardly any studies examining dropout among immigrant students in general, and among israeli immigrants of ethiopian origin in particular. this study is a pioneering investigation, in both the phenomenon being studied and the target population—the relationship between preserving culture of origin and hidden dropout and actual dropout among adolescent immigrants and children of immigrants of ethiopian origin in israel. the current study follows qualitative interviews with members of three research groups: learners, hidden dropouts, and disengaged. the analysis revealed a relationship between the importance assigned to preserving tradition and hidden dropout. in the measures of assigned importance to preserving tradition and language of origin, both hidden dropouts and learners assigned high importance to these variables, as opposed to the disengaged group that assigned less importance to preserving ethnic tradition. keywords hidden dropout, actual dropout, adolescent immigrants of ethiopian origin, importance of preserving tradition, keeping language the purpose of this study is to examine the importance of preserving ethiopian ethnic tradition and language among students of ethiopian origin and the relationship between preserving tradition and engagement in formal schooling. the focus of the study was on israeli immigrant youth and children of immigrants of ethiopian origin. although youth of ethiopian origin comprise only 1.5% of the israeli www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 21 published by scholink inc. population (israel central bureau of statistics, 2017), they are visible due to their unique characteristics, primarily their external appearance (skin color). 1. hidden and actual dropout from school dropping out from school is one of the serious problems that education systems cope with, as the numerous studies performed worldwide testify (e.g. lamb, markussen, teese, sandberg, & polesel, 2011). dropout and disengagement of adolescents from the formal education system are a known phenomenon in israel as well as globally. the term ‘actual dropout’ refers to the physical disengagement of the teenager from the education system intended for his or her cohort (dupper, 1993; franklin, mcneil, & wright, 1991). many countries regard the issue of school dropouts with great severity, since it has been found that adolescents that drop out of the formal education system are at a high risk of being involved in illegal activities and delinquent behaviors (beauvais, chavez, oetting, deffenbacher, & cornell, 1996). these youths have a high likelihood to show social and occupational adaptation difficulties, and therefore a higher chance of being dependent on welfare services, and of having physical and emotional health issues (rumberger, 2004). unlike actual dropout, hidden dropout from the education system has hardly been studied in depth. thousands of teenagers in education systems, sometimes even to the end of 12th grade, do not take an active part in the learning process. they are called hidden dropouts. they can be categorized as students that are in class just for the roll call, but they do not take an actual part in the learning processes taking place in class (sultana, 2006). dropping out is usually a dynamic and developing process. it can begin with minor adverse behaviors that increase until hidden dropout might become actual dropout. the term hidden dropout is a vaguer term than actual dropout. hidden dropout includes various phenomena that may occur separately or simultaneously, for instance, frequent lateness or truancy from classes or entire school days, which result in difficulty in academic functioning, alienation towards school and abnormal behaviors (israel education task force, 2005; sever, 2002). worku-mengisto and horenczyk (2019) entitled the hidden dropouts “present-absentees”, since truancy is the most prominent sign of hidden dropout. the signs of hidden dropout are not straightforward, and their appearance is not always evidence for its presence. however, sever (2002) claims that two phenomena may act as a red light for hidden dropout: irregular school attendance, whether successive or random, and school mobility. some researchers suggest that severe social difficulties and participating in violent incidents may also be signs of hidden dropout (worku-mengisto & horenczyk, 2018; sever, 2002). the absence of an accurate conceptualization for hidden dropout, generates a gap between the official dropout rates, which refer only to the actual dropout, and the rates of dropout in reality, which include the hidden dropout rates. according to sam and virta (2003), the school dropout rates may be three times higher than the official estimates. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 22 published by scholink inc. rosenblum, goldblatt, and moin (2008) argue that hidden dropout might be the first stage of dropout. therefore, the emphasis should be shifted from the last stage of dropping out to its precursory indicators, i.e. to identify the quiet students that are still within the education system, but do not function as expected (audas & wilms, 2001; lamb, & markussen, 2011). regarding the dropout process from this perspective may be key to better understanding actual dropout. in other words, understanding the process and implication of hidden disengagement from school is the first step in supporting students who are at risk of dropping out (tam, zhou, & harel-fisch, 2012). in some ways, the term hidden dropout can be contrasted with the term school engagement. fredricks, blumenfeld, and paris (2004) indicate three aspects of this engagement: behavioral engagement, that relates to activity, and includes participation in academic activities and extracurricular activities; emotional engagement, that relates to emotional reactions, negative and positive, of the student towards teachers, peers and school in general; and cognitive engagement, that relates to the student’s investment and the willingness to invest the necessary effort to understand complex ideas and to acquire knowledge and skills. it should be noted that the field of school engagement was developed and researched mainly in the context of students that are present in schools and take part to some extent in scholastic activities on different levels. this term was barely examined in relation to students that are formally in the system, but are seldom involved in school activities, in other words, hidden dropouts. this study is aimed at partially filling that gap. based on the relationship between social ties and dropout found in research (khaled-hajazi, nasir-shlufa, & harel-fish, 2007), the current study examines the relationship between the importance assigned to preserving tradition and language among israeli students of ethiopian origin and dropout from the school system. 1.1 adolescents of ethiopian origin one of the consequences of the jewish immigration from ethiopia was the impairment to the ability of the elders and parents to oversee the young members of the community. most of the teenagers were sent to boarding schools and what followed were two negative phenomena: detachment from parental supervision and interaction with problematic israeli youths that were placed in boarding schools due to learning problems, domestic issues, or financial hardships. the cultural transition caused by immigration together with the accompanying hardships brought about the affiliation of many teens of the ethiopian community with marginal youth, thus contributing to dropout from the school system and adopting nonnormative and sometimes delinquent behavioral patterns (edelstein, 2000). vilchek-aviad (2009) examined the relationships between psycho-social variables and normative educational integration among israeli immigrants from ethiopia and from the former soviet union. she concluded that the higher the overall commitment of youth to the normative society, the higher their personal identity formation level, resulting in higher chances of engagement in school. however, vilchek-aviad (2009) reports that adolescents of ethiopian origin express disappointment at the level of both emotional and academic support that they received from school staff. this feeling could affect dropout. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 23 published by scholink inc. several studies found that teachers in the israeli education system lack sufficient knowledge and understanding of ethiopian jewry culture. moreover, some of them expressed reluctance to absorbing ethiopian immigrants into their classes and required that they be separated from the israeli students, due to the difficulties posed by immigrant youth. in their study, lev-ari and leron (2012) relate to a state comptroller’s report that noted that the ministry of education specifically instructed to prevent clustering of children of ethiopian origin so that their rate will not exceed 25% of the student school total. furthermore, based on data from the knesset (parliament) research and information center, lev ari and leron (2012) found tracking of ethiopian students in 103 schools and kindergartens throughout israel, where more than half the students were of ethiopian origin. the harsh labeling of immigrants of ethiopian origin and the social and financial hardships that characterize most of them, drive many of these youth out of the academic contexts, and out into the street and its lurking perils. this behavior mainly reflects the plight of the youth compared to their fellow immigrants from the soviet union and the non-immigrant israelis. according to a report by the israeli ministry of education, as the academic years advance, the gap deepens between the achievements of students of ethiopian origin and the other students. while this gap is equal to one academic year in the 5th grade, it increases to two academic years in the 8th grade. these gaps persist with the eligibility for a matriculation certificate (kashti, 2020). 1.2 the importance of preserving language and tradition language acquisition is influenced by various cultural attitudes and expectations and is therefore affected by parental involvement. a study of children in africa (harkness et al., 2012) found a major difference in parental conduct with preschool children in africa in comparison to western countries. cultural concepts and objectives are the foundation of this difference. while it is customary in the west that parents play an active role in teaching their children to speak through games and reading stories, african parents tend to address their children with orders, expecting them to follow instructions, rather than returning a verbal answer. at the bottom of social hierarchy, the young child is expected to work his way up with the help of his or her slightly older siblings and cousins, whom s/he must also listen to and obey. the parental conduct of israeli immigrants from ethiopia adhered to this pattern, namely, their conduct was not a result of their immigration. in israel, the children of ethiopian origin attend the israeli school system from a young age. they know more hebrew than amharic and mostly speak hebrew to other children in the family. in other words, those born in israel and living in families with several siblings, learn the language primarily through their siblings (shmuel, 2017). research has proven that high literacy of the native language is related to success of new language acquisition. today, it is more strongly believed that the native language must be used in new language acquisition instead of pushing it aside, therefore proficiency and preservation of the native language are important (levin, shohamy, & spolsky, 2003). only a fifth of the teenagers of ethiopian origin were found to consider their proficiency of the native language as good. shmuel (2017) concludes that one of the causes of their lack of proficiency in amharic is the inability of the parents to encourage the use of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 24 published by scholink inc. their ethnic language. shani (2006) examined the academic condition of students of ethiopian origin and revealed significant deficiencies in environmental literacy throughout the age groups that were studied (preschool—6th grade). she claims that one of the reasons for failing to impart the hebrew language to ethiopian immigrants is their lack of control of their native language. in a research conducted in israel (mirsky & prawer, 1992), the researchers emphasized the importance of preserving culture, as well as language and history, as a legitimate and necessary transition stage in the integration process of immigrants to israel. a comparative study of adolescent immigrants from turkey living in the netherlands and sweden conducted by vedder and virta (2005), examined the relationship between preserving the language (ethnic language proficiency) and ethnic identity and sociocultural adaptation to the host culture. findings support the notion that among adolescent immigrants in sweden, language sustenance and perception of ethnic identity contributed to immigrants’ adaptation. in a research conducted in israel, shabtai and yavelberg (2011) found that youth of ethiopian origin largely refrain from speaking amharic. the explanation offered by the researchers to this finding is that youth feel that using amharic might label them as foreigners and non-israeli. they argue that this may also be the reason why youth of ethiopian origin do not use their native language in family circles either. those who reported that they do speak amharic in the family, mostly do not read and write in amharic. language is the most distinct characteristic of identity and belonging, and that may be the reason that youth feel that preserving amharic and using it might label them as “new”, “non-israeli”, “foreigners”, etc. thus, our study revealed that the youth from the three research groups that were studied, do not assign serious significance to preserving the amharic language. shmuel (2017) studied tradition keeping and maintaining amharic language in three generations. a language common to both parents and children is an obvious foundation for family communication in any culture. what happens in many families of ethiopian origin in israel is unusual and needs to be addressed and explained. in most immigrant communities, including new immigrants to israel, the children born in the new country understand the parents’ language, even if they only respond to them in the language of the receiving country. in many families of ethiopian origin, the children have limited knowledge of the parents’ language, and when the parents do not master hebrew, this results in substantial restriction of verbal communication between children and parents. this has many implications on their relationship and family conduct, but also affects the regular development of language in children. shani (2006) also found that “most of the children of the community do not speak amharic and understand it only at a very basic level. therefore, they are not truly bilingual”. thus, if the parents do not speak hebrew, then they do not use it with their children. amit (2012) found that immigrants from ethiopia assigned more importance to keeping the ethnic tradition than descendants of immigrants from the west and the former soviet union. shani (2006) also found that immigrants from ethiopia with academic degrees assign more importance to keeping the original cultural tradition than immigrants from ethiopia with no academic degrees. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 25 published by scholink inc. traditions are based on language of origin and assist in language preservation and knowledge (vedder & virta, 2005). one of the most central traditions of ethiopian jewry is the sigd ceremony which the beta israel community of ethiopian jews kept in ethiopia and continue to maintain in israel. the holiday is celebrated on the 29th of the hebrew month of heshvan—50 days after yom kippur (the day of atonement). sigd is a holiday of fasting, purification and renewal, with the ceremonial renewal of the covenant between god and the people at its center, reading verses from the book called orit (the bible in gez language), and prayers for redemption. the ceremony is held atop a high mountain, as a tribute to the giving of the commandments on mount sinai, and is run by the community’s priests. the holiday and ceremony are inspired by a similar historic gathering that took place in jerusalem in the days of the return to jerusalem as depicted in chapters 8-10 in the book of nehemiah. in israel, the ceremony is customarily held at a promenade in jerusalem overlooking the temple mount, in the presence of the community and public leaders. in 2008, the israeli parliament legislated the law of sigd, declaring the 29th of heshvan as a national holiday. sharaby (2020) found that a growing number of youth of ethiopian origin participate in the sigd celebrations. they do not fast like the adults, and they regard the holiday as a social event rather than a religious practice. teenagers have attested that their partaking in events like this strengthens their confidence and pride in their ethnic identity and their connection to the community. in these events, where they “host” israeli youth, they feel confident enough to selectively return to the roots of their tradition. in a culture that encourages pluralism, it is easier for the descendants of immigrants from ethiopia to conduct themselves in both cultures. despite collective and individual negative experiences based on rejection due to skin color and doubting their jewishness, ethiopian youth proudly exhibit their ethnic insignia in public, thus showing that they carry a social message relevant to the entire public. the formal national recognition of sigd in 2008 strengthened the youth’s expectations for the integration of the ethiopian culture in israeli society. social-political activists who headed the organizations of immigrants from ethiopia played a central role in socialization and in the process of unification of identities. these leaders of the transition generation, that were familiar with both cultures, are the ones who denoted new and relevant meaning to which the youth could relate to. these activists regarded the sigd holiday as a bridge between generations, receiving and received, past and present, traditional and contemporary, as well as between nationalism and ethnic particularity. our research examined the connection between the preservation of ethiopian culture and language among israeli high school students of ethiopian origin and hidden dropout and actual dropout in members of three research groups: learners, hidden dropouts, and disengaged youth. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 26 published by scholink inc. 2. method this study was conducted using a qualitative approach based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with members of three research groups: learners, hidden dropouts, and disengaged. this section will present the findings relating to the relationship between social ties and dropout as they emerged from the interviews while examining the patterns that characterize each of the three research groups. 2.1 participants we conducted interviews with 30 youths aged 16-14 years, 9 of them characterized as learners (5 girls, 4 boys), 14 as hidden dropouts (8 girls, 6 boys), and 7 disengaged (all boys). as this research focuses primarily on hidden dropout and its related causes, hidden dropouts were more extensively represented in the sample. 2.2 interviews semi-structured interviews included: the relationship between the youth and the education system in general and to teachers in particular (trying to identify and understand the mechanisms of hidden or actual dropout), the feelings and experiences of youth pertaining discrimination due to them belonging to a minority group, social ties, educational integration (or its lack thereof). the main interview questions were designed following the principles of qualitative research according to which the interviewer stays focused on several issues that are relevant to the research, whereas the interviewees have the opportunity to tell their story without constricting the interview to the discussed (shkedi, 2003; zabar-ben yehoshua, 1990). the interviews were conducted by a researcher who is a speaker of both hebrew and amharic. the interviews were conducted in hebrew, but there was a possibility to use amharic if desired. only a small number of youth agreed to record the interview, and the interviews were transcribed after their recording. the remaining interviews were written down during the interview and completed later from memory and notes taken by the researcher during the interview. the interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. primary categories were identified as themes, subjects, and headers that repeat themselves and can be named or characterized, and overall messages stemming from the teens’ words while including the perspectives and voices of the interviewees (shkedi, 2003; zabar-ben yehoshua, 1990). quotations from the interviews were brought in the description of the findings to demonstrate the rationale of content analysis. the findings that were identified as a result of the interview analysis deepened the insights in the researched issues and in the issues brought up by the interviewees: characteristics of hidden dropout and the importance assigned to preserving language and ethnic tradition. 3. results in this section, we will summarize the answers of the three research groups—learners, hidden dropouts and disengaged—to the questions they were asked in the interviews. all names were changed to maintain anonymity. results were reported in gender language, according to the gender of the interviewees. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 27 published by scholink inc. respondents were asked questions regarding the importance they assign to preserving ethiopian tradition and knowing the amharic language. 3.1 the learners one of the questions the students were asked was: “is it important to you to preserve your parents’ tradition and know the amharic language?” below are some of the answers given by the learners. gidon noted that he likes all traditions: “in fact, there is no tradition that i don’t like. i like the sigd, amharic music… i also like the atmosphere at home when we have bunna (note), there is a moment of peace and calmness at home when we have bunna.” one of the basics of amharic tradition is respecting the elders. hence, some of the learners who were interviewed noted this point. avtamo said: “at home, we keep the tradition of respect for elders the way it was kept in ethiopia towards grandmother and grandfather. before and after meals, water for washing is brought for them to the table. these are nice traditions, i like that.” as mentioned, the interviewees were also asked if they understand and speak amharic and if this important to them. megos said that although he finds it important to preserve the amharic language, he does not speak it, but he understands it, and this is because, at home, they mostly speak hebrew: “it is very difficult for me to answer in amharic.” degu also noted that he has friends who speak amharic very well, but they were born in ethiopia, and they have a good basis in the two languages. gedamu also reported that it is important to him to preserve his parents’ culture and traditions: “it is important to me to keep the traditions, like the sigd, memorial day for ethiopian jews who perished on the way to the land of israel, the music, the food, and the ceremony of bunna which we usually do when we have guests. it is part of proper hosting.” as to the amharic language, he noted that it is important to him to preserve the language but is not familiar with it. hadar, too, noted the importance of preserving the tradition of the parents. among others, she mentioned the ceremony of bunna, the holiday of sigd, and memorial day: “i think i will keep it and pass it on to my children. during the past year, i have had the chance to make bunna a lot, and i also feel that my connection with my mother is better because of bunna quality time.” from the learners it is apparent that preserving ethiopian culture and tradition is important to them, mainly through the holidays like sigd and memorial day. most of them assign importance to knowing amharic even though most of them do not speak it. moreover, the interviewees noted that they eat the traditional ethiopian food. 3.2 hidden dropouts the hidden dropouts were also asked if it is important to them to preserve the tradition and amharic language. below are findings from their interviews. fanta: “i like my parents’ traditions and the culture: hospitality, respect for the elders, sigd, memorial day. even though i’ve never been to the sigd in jerusalem, we celebrate it at home. mother makes dabo (festive bread usually made for holidays, w.m.) and bless the wine and speak about the holiday. i hope to be at the celebrations in jerusalem next year. i have heard from my friends that it is very interesting www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 28 published by scholink inc. and entertaining and that you meet lots of friends. the truth is that i haven’t had the chance to be in jerusalem at the ceremony at mt. herzl for memorial day either. it is interesting and i think it is very important to be there. my mother does go to memorial day. my mother’s sister died in sudan (on the long journey to israel). a very sad day. i see my mother; how difficult it is for her.” tesfa reports that it is important to him to keep tradition, like the bunna: “when guests arrive we greet them with bunna, which is, in fact, a reception ceremony. it is a very important ceremony that has a good atmosphere in the house. it is important to keep the traditions, the holidays, sigd and memorial day. especially i like the respect for elders and hospitality.” tamar adds: “although i would really like to speak amharic, i don’t know it. at home, we speak only hebrew. we speak amharic especially for grandmother and grandfather. we give them all the respect. we don’t eat before they begin eating. we make sure to bring them water to where they are sitting. it is part of our culture. bunna, sigd, they connect the whole family. everybody comes to get a blessing from grandfather and grandmother. these are nice traditions, i like it.” among hidden dropout teens, we found a pattern that indicates assigning importance to traditions and holidays that are related to the jews of ethiopia and respect for the elders. these teens paid less attention to knowing the amharic language. 3.3 the disengaged the disengaged group also assigned great importance to tradition. it is interesting to note that they assigned great importance to preserving the language too, although not everybody speaks it. they were proud to note that they listen to music in amharic and viewed this as a connection to their parents’ culture. habtamo stressed that he is very attached to ethiopian culture: “i don’t even understand, and it makes me angry when i meet friends of mine who don’t respect ethiopian culture. it even annoys me that i don’t know amharic because we don’t speak it at home. i love the kinship in our community on happy days or sad days. everybody comes to help. it doesn’t matter if they are close or know each other. everybody comes to help.” adesso noted that he is connected only to ethiopian culture, and he doesn’t feel connected to israeli culture at all: “i listen to music usually in amharic. it is very important to me to keep my culture. it is the only way we can survive in this country, thanks to our culture.” roy: “i speak good amharic, listen to amharic music, i feel ethiopian. the kids who were born in israel don’t speak and don’t understand amharic, they pretend not to be ethiopian. to the ethiopian culture, i belong all the time, at home, at family gatherings, with ethiopian friends. to the israeli culture—it was on memorial day for the murder of prime minister yitzhak rabin.” rachel: “the traditions that i would like to keep, the language, i’m also improving my language—learning, the respect that we have for the elderly and parents. amharic music, i love listening to, come to think of it i listen to music only in amharic or english. when i hear music in amharic, i remember ethiopia and that’s enjoyable. i like listening to amharic music, english. i work three times a week after school. on the days when i’m at home, i like to sit with my mother, drink bunna (ethiopian coffee).” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 29 published by scholink inc. there is an apparent pattern that emerges from the interviews with the disengaged teens; most of them listen to amharic music and it is important to them to refine their knowledge of the amharic language. this pattern is different from the one found in the other two groups. the reason that these teens assign great importance to the amharic language may be that because they are not in a school environment they hold on to the language that is part of their original culture. 4. discussion as mentioned earlier, this study found that assigning importance to preserving tradition was higher among the hidden dropouts and learners as opposed to the disengaged teens. this points to a possible connection between assigning importance to preserving tradition and dropout. as mentioned, family encouragement (i.e., a good connection with the family) contributes to preventing dropout. it is reasonable to assume that teenagers with good family ties identify more with its cultural tradition, hence the connection between assigning importance to the culture of origin and dropout reduction. the contribution of this research is to emphasize the importance of strengthening identification with ethnic culture among children of immigrants. strengthening the roots can contribute to pride in the group of origin, and as a result to higher self-esteem, improved family ties, leading to a dropout rates reduction. 5. theoretical and applied contributions this study suggests a negative connection between the importance assigned to preserving tradition and hidden dropout. in the measure of assigned importance to preserving the tradition and the language of origin, a resemblance was found between the hidden dropouts and the learners who assigned high importance to this variable, as opposed to the disengaged group that assigned less importance to preserving tradition. although we found commonalities between the three research groups, we identified important differences among the three groups. we found that the participants of all three groups assigned importance to preserving tradition such as the holiday of sigd, and memorial day. in light of this finding, it is recommended to develop programs that strengthen the ethnic identity of its participants and their connection to tradition. one such example is the program a journey to identity (a roots journey) of the israeli ministry of education, which is designed to strengthen the identity of teenagers by connecting them to their traditional roots on the one hand and to zionism and the state of israel on the other. the participating youth learn about the heritage of ethiopian jewry throughout the year, concluding it with an 8-day trip to ethiopia. until covid-19, 12 groups embarked on this trip, each with 20 participants. this program influenced its participants in contributing to their identity, their feelings of belonging to society, and encouraged them to aspire to study and make a significant contribution to society. additionally, it is important that programs integrate texts that deal with ethiopian jewry heritage. an example of this is the book almaz walks on the paths of her childhood telling the story of almaz, a little girl that recalls experiences of her life in ethiopia before the family sets out on the long journey to israel. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 30 published by scholink inc. the book allows an emotional glimpse into the life and culture of israelis of ethiopian origin. the stories manage to take the reader into almaz’s world, an israeli child in every aspect, echoing her bicultural identity, with fascinating memories of her early youth, and insists on bringing them to life even after she has been living in israel for several years. each chapter in the book focuses on a different everyday experience in an ethiopian village. the stories deliver the beauty of a different culture and life in a different country while offering the reader moral values that merge with the values we aspire for each child to know and experience in his lifetime: family, friendship, courage, optimism, and more. the book, published in 2016, has become a central book in education and in enriching the cultural knowledge about ethiopian jewry. 6. limitations of research and recommendations for future research the current research sample consisted of 30 ethiopian immigrants. as the data shows, the number of disengaged was relatively smaller than the other two groups, and many of them had difficulties or were not interested in collaborating with the study. to strengthen the findings of this research, a sample with a larger representation of disengaged youth is required. this research investigated only israeli youth of ethiopian origin. therefore, it is advisable to perform continuation research that will examine other populations too, such as immigrants from the former soviet union, and also compare between youth of ethiopian origin born in ethiopia and those born in israel. it is interesting to see if differences or similarities will be found in patterns that characterize the different populations in the various measures that were included in this research. references amit, k. (2012). social integration and identity of immigrants from western countries, the fsu and ethiopia in israel. ethnic and racial studies, 35(7), 1287-1310. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2011.602091 audas, r., & willms, j. d. (2001). engagement and dropping out of school: a life-course perspective. hull, qc, canada: applied research branch, strategies policy, human resources development canada. beauvais, f., chavez, e. l., oetting, e. r., deffenbacher, j. l., & cornell g. r. (1996). drug use, violence, and victimization among white american, mexican american, and american indian dropouts: students with academic problems and students in good academic standing . journal of counseling psychology, 43, 292-299. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.43.3.292 dupper, d. r. (1993). preventing school dropouts: guidelines for school social work practice. social work in education, 15(3), 141-149 . https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/15.3.141 edelstein, a. (2000). patterns of delinquency and social deviance among ethiopians in israel (phd dissertation). jerusalem: the hebrew university, faculty of law, institute of criminology. (hebrew) https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2011.602091 https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.43.3.292 https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/15.3.141 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 31 published by scholink inc. franklin, c., mcneil, j. s., wright, r. (1991). the effectiveness of social work in an alternative school for high school dropouts. social work with groups, 14(2), 59-73. https://doi.org/10.1300/j009v14n02_05 fredricks, j. a., blumenfeld, p. c., & paris, a. h. (2004). school engagement: potential of the concept, state of the evidence. review of educational research, 74(1), 59-109. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543074001059 harkness, s., & super. (2012). parental ethnotheories of children’s learning. in d. f. lancy, d. bock, j., gaskins, s. (ed). the anthropology of learning in childhood (pp. 65-84). uk: alta mira press. kashti, a. (2020). report to the ministry of education. haaretz. (hebrew) khaled-hajazi, h., nasir-shlufa, a., & harel-fish, y. (2007). the relationship between school climate perceptions and involvement in violence, risk behaviors, covert dropout, and achievement: a comparative analysis of arab and jewish students in israel. megamot, 54, 160-161. (hebrew) lamb, s., & markussen, e. (2011). school dropout and completion: an international perspective. in s. lamb, a. markussen, r. teese, n. sandberg & j. polesel (eds.), school dropout and completion: international comparative studies in theory and practice (pp. 1-21). dordrecht, heidelberg, london, new york: springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9763-7 lev-ari, l., & ron, d. (2012). ethiopian students in an academic college of education: integration or separation? hagira, 1, 154-128. (hebrew) levin, t., shohami, a., & spolsky, d. (2003). learning achievement of immigrant students: findings and recommendations for decision makers. tel aviv: tel aviv university; ramat gan: bar-ilan university. (hebrew) mirsky, j., & prawer, l. (1992). immigrating as an adolescent: maturing as an immigrant. jerusalem: van leer institute. (hebrew) rosenblum, s., goldblatt, h., & moin, v. (2008). the hidden dropout phenomenon among immigrant high-school students: the case of ethiopian adolescents in israel—a pilot study. school psychology international, 29(1), 105-127. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034307088506 rumberger, r. w. (2004). why students drop out of school? in g. orefield (ed.), dropouts in america: confronting the graduation rate crisis (pp. 131-155). cambridge ma: harvard education press. sam, d. l., & virta, e. (2003). intergenerational value discrepancies in immigrant and domestic families and their impact on the psychological adaptation. journal of adolescence, 26, 213-231. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-1971(02)00129-x sever, r. (2002). academic dropout in israel as related to immigration absorption. jerusalem: center for research on social policy in israel (in hebrew). shani, m. (2006). acquisition of the written language among children of the ethiopian community in israel from kindergarten to sixth grade: cognitive, literacy-environmental and linguistic aspects research for the ministry of education. haifa: university of haifa. (hebrew) https://doi.org/10.1300/j009v14n02_05 http://rer.sagepub.com/search?author1=jennifer+a+fredricks&sortspec=date&submit=submit http://rer.sagepub.com/search?author1=phyllis+c+blumenfeld&sortspec=date&submit=submit http://rer.sagepub.com/search?author1=alison+h+paris&sortspec=date&submit=submit https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543074001059 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9763-7 https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034307088506 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-1971(02)00129-x www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 32 published by scholink inc. sharaby, r. (2020). ‘it is we who will need to preserve our tradition’: identity consolidation of ethiopian youth. international journal of education humanities and social science, 3(4), 15-30. shkedi, a. (2003). words that try to touch: qualitative research theory and application. tel aviv: levels. (hebrew) shmuel, n. (2017). family and tradition in cultural transition: from ethiopia to israel. thesis for the degree of doctor of philosophy. jerusalem: the hebrew university. sultana, r. g. (2006). facing the hidden drop-out challenge in albania (evaluation report of hidden drop-out project piloted in basic education in 6 prefectures of albania, 2001-2005). retrieved from https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/33150 tam, f. w., zhou, h., & harel-fisch, y. (2012). hidden school disengagement and its relationship to youth risk behaviors: a cross-sectional study in china. international journal of education, 4(2), 87106. https://doi.org/10.5296/ije.v4i2.1444 vedder, p., & virta, e. (2005). language, ethnic identity, and the adaptation of turkish immigrant youth in the netherlands and sweden. international journal of intercultural relations, 29(3), 317-337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.05.006 vilchuk-avid, y. (2009). kids in boarding schools: differences in socio-psychological variables between immigrant and native born israelis. social issues in israel, 204-232. (hebrew). worku-mengisto, w., & horenczyk, g. (2018). hidden dropout from the education system among ethiopian adolescents in israel. hagira, 8, 46-63. (hebrew) worku-mengisto, w., & horenczyk, g. (2019). hidden and actual dropout from the education system among adolescents of ethiopian origin in israel. intercultural education, 30(5), 531-546. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2019.1616449 zabar-ben yehoshua, n. (1990). qualitative research in teaching and learning. tel aviv: masada. (hebrew) note bunna—ethiopian coffee and the name given to the traditional ritual of hospitality where the host roasts fresh coffee beans on a skillet and then grinds and brews the coffee. the coffee is then poured and drunk ceremoniously. https://doi.org/10.5296/ije.v4i2.1444 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01471767 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01471767/29/3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.05.006 https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2019.1616449 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper investigating the effect of mother tongue on the iraqi undergraduates’ use of english segmentals and syllables prof. dr. mohammed jasim betti1 & zeena naeem hmedi2 1 department of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar, nasiriya, iraq 2 ministry of education, general directorate of education, thi-qar, iraq * mohammed jasim betti, department of english, college of education for humanities, thi-qar university, nasiriya, iraq received: august 7, 2022 accepted: august 31, 2022 online published: september 27, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n4p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n4p1 abstract this study investigates the effect of mother tongue on the iraqi undergraduates’ use of english segmentals and syllables. english segmentals and syllables are two basic topics that are studied under the domains of phonetics and phonology. those iraqi undergraduates consist of iraqi efl learners (the two terms are used interchangeably in this study). english segmentals and syllables involve consonants, vowels, diphthongs, consonant clusters and vowel clusters. the problem of the study is that efl iraqi students have no capacity to recognize english consonants and syllables. however, the following questions are focused upon in this study: 1) what are the english consonants and vowels which are not recognized by iraqi undergraduates under the effect of their mother tongue? 2) what are the types of consonant and vowel clusters which are not recognized by iraqi undergraduates under the effect of their mother tongue? the aims of the study include investigating the effect of learners’ mother tongue on their recognition of english segmentals and syllables, knowing whether iraqi learners at the university level face difficulties in the recognition of consonants and vowels, ensuring whether efl iraqi students have difficulties in the recognition of consonant clusters and vowel clusters, and determining whether the difficulties faced by iraqi efl learners are caused by the learners’ mother tongue. it is hypothesized that iraqi efl undergraduates do not recognize some english consonants, english vowels, diphthongs, some types of consonant clusters and vowel clusters. in addition, it is hypothesized that the incorrect answers of iraqi learners’ recognition of consonants, simple vowels, diphthongs, consonant clusters and vowel clusters are more than the correct ones. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 2 published by scholink inc. to achieve its aims and verify its hypotheses, the study adopts a quantitative method of investigation. the study chooses a sample for the present study, designs the test containing items concerned with consonants, vowels, and consonant clusters and vowel clusters. it includes only a recognition question. after applying the test on 100 undergraduate students of fourth stage/department of english/college of education for humanities/university of thi-qar, the study arrives at some conclusions, some of which include that most iraqi efl learners find difficulty in recognizing some consonants, they appeared to be efficient in recognizing some simple vowels and diphthongs, they have the capacity to distinguish only some consonants but they are unable to recognize other consonant clusters and they appeared to be also inefficient in recognizing all vowel clusters. 1. introduction 1.1 problem of the study after a long period of english language learning and studying, university iraqi efl students cannot accurately manipulate to recognize consonants and vowels and syllables and their structures. it is worthy to mention that iraqi undergraduate students have no capacity to recognize english consonants and syllables due to their lack the ability to perceive such phonetic and phonological units. however, the following questions are focused upon in this study: 1). what are the english consonants and vowels which are not recognized under the effect of the undergrdutes’ mother tongue? 2). what are the types of consonant clusters which are not recognized under the effect of the mother tongue? 3). what are the types of vowel clusters which are not recognized under the effect of the learners’ mother tongue? 1.2 aims of the study this study aims at: 1). investigating the effect of the learners’mother tongue on their use of english segmentals and syllables. 2). knowing whether iraqi learners at the university level face difficulties in the recognition of consonants and vowels. 3). ensuring whether efl iraqi students have difficulties in the recognition of consonant clusters and vowel clusters. 4). determining whether the difficulties faced by iraqi efl learners are caused by the learners’mother tongue. 1.3 hypotheses of the study it is hypothesized that: 1) iraqi undergraduates do not recognize some english consonants correctly. 2) iraqi university learners do not recognize some english vowels correctly. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 3 published by scholink inc. 3) some diphthongs are not recognized by the sample of the study. 4) iraqi efl undergraduates face difficulty in recognizing some types of consonant clusters. 5) vowel clusters are not correctly recognized by the sample of the study. 6) the correct answers of the undergraduates' recognition of consonants are more than the correct ones of vowels. 1.4 procedure of the study the following procedure is followed in the research: 1). presenting a theoretical background regarding consonants, vowels and syllables and their structures as well as some related terms. 2). selecting the sample for the present study. 3). designing the test, questions concerning consonants, vowels, consonant clusters and vowel clusters as recognition. 4). describing and analyzing the data under investigation. 5). arriving at some conclusions and recommendations. 1.5 value of the study the present study is predicted to be important for iraqi efl undergraduates. moreover, it can be counted as a device for those who are partially or wholly, concerned with the study of speaking as one of the essential skills of english language. moreover, this work may be considered as a background knowledge for learners to devise the essential methods and strategies that can help them overcome the difficulties that may face in the concerned area. 1.6 limits of the study the method adopted in this study is a quantitative research type that is utilized in analyzing the data collected. as for the sample, it includes (100) efl iraqi students who study at the department of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar. however, the current study includes the recognition of english consonants and vowels, and syllables. 1.7 definitions of related terms the following concepts will be frequently employed in the thesis: i. mother tongue mother tongue is remarkable for the speed with which it takes place. it generally occurs for all children providing strong support for the idea that there is an innate predisposition in the human infant to acquire language (yule, 2010, p. 170). besides, bussmann (1999, p. 629) claims that the term mother tongue refers to an umbrella term for: (a) the natural acquisition of one’s first language, (b) the natural acquisition of a second or multiple languages, (c) second language acquisition in a formal learning environment, (d) the relearning of one’s first language in therapy (language disorder). 1) segmentals: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 4 published by scholink inc. crystal (2011, p. 426) states that segment refers to any discrete unit that can be identified, either physically or auditorily, in the stream of speech. in this respect, bussmann (1999, p. 1038) defines a segment as a result of linguistic analysis that attempts to isolate minimal linguistic units, such as phones, morphs, syllables, from a language or speech continuum. 2) iraqi efl learners according to mariño (2019, p. 34), a non-native speaker is someone who uses and knows a second (foreign) language at any time. since non-native speakers are distinguished from native speakers, the concept of the non-native speaker should be based on distinctiveness rather than weaknesses. that is, they should be regarded as bilinguals rather than as incompetent natives. it has been established that individuals who speak two languages frequently have different proficiencies that demonstrate the complexity of their own cognitive processes, and that the ways they use resources for actual life advantages and interaction reveal the various abilities they can have if speaking a second language. moreover, richard and schmidt (2010, p. 397) illustrated that non-native speaker indicates a language user for whom a language is not their first language. the language use of non-native speakers has been a focus of attention to determine such things as the effects of non-native accents on intelligibility, attitudes towards nns accents, and the role of nns accents as a marker of the speaker’s identity. 3) test according to bachman (1999, p. 20), a language test is a systematic method and a means of checking the students’ answers through the elicitation of certain behaviour to make inferences about certain characteristics of an individual. additionally, richards and schmidt (2010, p. 591) affirm that the term test means any procedure for measuring ability, knowledge, or performance. 2. the segmentals and syllables in english with reference to arabic 2.1 consonants 2.1.1 definitions of consonants phonetics is a field of linguistic study which studies the articulation, perception and anatomy of speech sounds. thus, it is either concerned with the description of all existing sounds or it describes the sounds of a specific language, english, arabic, etc. (betti, 2002a, p. 1). phonetically speaking, consonants are sounds made by a closure or narrowing in the vocal tract so that the airflow is either completely blocked, or so restricted that audible friction is produced. a consonant is a speech sound where the air-stream coming from the lungs is either completely blocked (stops), partially blocked (nasals), or where the opening is so narrow that the air causes audible friction (fricative). with some nasals, the air-stream is blocked in the mouth but is allowed to escape through the nose (richards & schmidt, 2010, p. 56). from a phonological point of view, they are units which function at the margins of syllables, either singly or in clusters (crystal, 2011, p. 103). a consonant is a speech sound made by partial or complete closure of part of the vocal tract, which obstructs air flow and causes audible friction in varying amounts (harris & hodges, 1995, p. 42). on this www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 5 published by scholink inc. ground, thorum (2013, p. 287) considers that a consonant is produced when the vocal tract is either blocked or so restricted that there is audible friction ([k], [s], etc.). additionally, nicolosi et al. (2004, p. 81) point out that a consonant is a conventional speech sound made with the vocal folds vibrating or not vibrating by certain successive constructions of articulatory muscles which modify, interrupt, or obstruct the expired air stream so that its pressure is raised. 2.1.2 classification of english consonants consonants, as stated by many writers such dang and ruiter (2005, p. 165) and brinton and brinton (2010, p. 36) can be described in terms of three factors, namely, voicing, place of articulation and manner of articulation. 2.1.2.1 voicing carr (2008, p. 190) defines voicing as the vibration of the vocal cords. fully voiced sounds are produced with vibration of the vocal cords during the articulation of the sound, as in the [v] in heavy. in english, there are nine voiceless consonants and fifteen voiced consonants. the voiceless consonants, word-initial stops are fully voiced if the vocal cords vibrate prior to the release of the stop closure. many phonologists point out that the voiced/voiceless dichotomy alone is insufficient to distinguish between the full ranges of laryngeal contrasts in human languages. one needs, at least, to distinguish between the following: (a) fully voiced stops, in which the vocal cords are vibrating prior to the release of the stop closure, as in the french word bain (‘bath’): [bε ˜]; (b) voiceless unaspirated stops, as in the french word pain (‘bread’): [pε˜]; (c) voiceless aspirated stops, as in the english word pad: [phæd]. it has been pointed out that, although english spelling conventions represent words such as bed with the <b> grapheme, the sound in question is not, in fact, a fully voiced stop, but an unaspirated voiceless stop, unlike the stop at the beginning of the french word “bain”. the contrast among french stops is thus a contrast between fully voiced and voiceless unaspirated stops, while the contrast in most varieties of english is between voiceless aspirated and voiceless unaspirated stops (carr, 2008, p. 189). 2.1.2.2 places of articulation ladefoged and disner (2012, pp. 119-122) illustrate that place of articulation means when one produces a sound, sometimes his/her tongue touches her/his lips and sometimes only the lips come together and make sound, sometime his/her tongue touches his/her soft palate or back part alveolar tongue, etc. so, this touching of places in the vocal tract of speech organs is called place of articulation. of course, not all consonants are made by touching, i.e., glottal /h/ is made in the glottis. the following is a list of the different places of articulation: a) bilabials bilabials are the consonants which are produced by two lips. when we produce this sound, we can only use both lips. so, the lips help to produce bilabial sounds. the english sounds [p], [b], and [m] are the bilabial sounds. examples: [p] spin, [b] bed, [m] man (rogers, 2000, p. 39). b) labio-dentals www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 6 published by scholink inc. labio-dentals are the consonants which are articulated by using both the lower lip and the upper front teeth. in bilabial sounds, we use both of our lips but in labio-dental, we use only our lower lip with the upper front teeth to produce sounds. the english sounds [f] and [v] are the labio-dental sounds (carr, 2013, p. 19). examples: fan [f], van [v]. c) dentals dentals are the cosonants produced by inserting the tongue with the upper set of teeth. the english sounds [θ] and [ð] are the dental sounds. example: [θ] thing, [ð] this (catford, 1994, p. 90). d) alveolars alveolars are the consonants articulated with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge that is located behind the upper teeth. english and arabic alveolar sounds are /d/, /t/, /s/, /z/, /l/, /n/, /r/. examples: stop [t], debt [d], run [n], suit [s], zoo [z], loop[l] (clark and yallop, 1995, p. 39). e) palato-alveolars palato-alveolars are produced by placing the tongue blade close to the hard palate behind the alveolar ridge. the tongue tip may feel as if it is just barely behind the alveolar ridge. simply said that, when one touches the palate between his/her palate and alveolar ridge, he/she is producing palatoalveolar sounds. the english sounds [ʃ] and [ʒ] are palato-alveolar sounds. example: sheep [ʃ] and occasion [ʒ] (clark & yallop, 1995, p. 39). f) retroflex in the production of the retroflex sounds, we have to curly with tongue up. in the english, [ɻʷ] is the only retroflex sound. example: red, ride, run, rope (davenport & hannahs, 2005, p. 57). g) palatal the back part of the tongue goes and touches palate and produces palatal sounds. in the english, [j] is the only palatal sound. example: yet, yes (davenport & hannahs, 2005, p. 57). h) velars the back part of our tongue goes up and touch the soft palate is velar. the english sounds [k], [g], [ŋ] are velar sounds. example: “king [k], get [g], ring [ŋ]” (rogers, 2000, p. 42). i) glottal glottal is the deepest place of articulation. in pharynx, we have glottis or epiglottis, this sound is produced in the glottis. the english, [h] is the only glottal sound. example: “happy, hot, hit, hang, hug” (ladefoged & disner, 2012, p. 122). 2.1.2.3 manners of articulation katamba (1989, pp. 6-7) describes manner of articulation as the nature and extent of the obstruction involved because sounds made at the same place of articulation—and which are both voiced or voiceless may differ depending on the manner in which the airstream is modified. that is, it deals with the way in which the air escapes the mouth. the following is a list of some of the manner of articulation explained below: a) plosives www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 7 published by scholink inc. in the production of plosives, the air stops in the mouth causing a complete closure, and then released with force causing a slight plosion (explosion). plosive sounds are /p, b, t, d, k, g/. there are four phases in its production which are closing phase, compression phase, release phase and post-release phase (roach, 2009, p. 26). b) fricatives in the production of fricatives, the articulators narrowing the air passage and let the air escapes gradually with frication, causing a ‘hissing-like’ sound, such as /f, v, θ, ð, ʃ, ʒ, s, z, h/ (katz & assmann, 2019, p. 21). c) affricates affricates are rather complex sounds, because they begin as plosive (the air stops in the mouth), and end as fricative (the air leaves gradually with friction) (ashby, 2011, p. 12). affricative sounds are /tʃ, dʒ/. nasals nasals are produced when the soft palate (velum) is lowered closing the way to the oral cavity where airflow escapes through the (nose) nasal cavity. the nasal sounds in english are /m, n, ŋ/. d) lateral approximant in the production of the lateral, the air leaves the mouth through the sides of the mouth because the center of the tongue is in complete contact with the roof of the mouth (alveolar ridge). lateral approximant is /l/. lateral approximant can be light and dark /l/. e) approximants approximants occur where the articulators approach each other but not in close, direct contact, the approach is incomplete (approximant approach). approximants are /r, w, j/ (katamba, 1989, p. 7). 2.1.3 a comparison between english and arabic consonants alsha’laan (2020, p. 2) states that the english consonant sounds differ from the arabic ones regarding places of articulation. some of the english consonants do not exist in arabic and vice versa. however, both languages share the common palatal /j/. arabic speakers find it difficult to pronounce /v/ sound and use /f/ instead. they also substitute /t/ and /d/ for /θ/ and /ð/. arab speakers cannot pronounce the flap /s/ but stress the written /tt/. in english, /t/ is an aspirated alveolar but is considered non-aspirated denti-alveolar in arabic. as for /r/, it is always pronounced in arabic but sometimes deleted in british english. moreover, /ʡ/ exists in arabic as a consonant but it exists as an alternative pronunciation to /t/ in intervocalic positions in english. iraqi arabic is one variety of arabic that is used by the iraqi people: educated and non-educated to communicate with each other. it is like other varieties which have their own phonetic and phonological systems with a number of consonants and vowels (jasim & sharhan, 2013, p. 5; and betti & igaab, 2019, p. 230). generally, there is a difference in the number of phonemes in iraqi arabic phonology which re cited by phonologists. within iraqi arabic phonology, there are 39 phonemes: 8 monophthongal vowels and 31 consonants. there are 3 short vowels /i, u, a/, 5 long vowels /i:, ee, a:, o:, u:/, 12 voiceless consonants and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 8 published by scholink inc. 19 voiced ones. they are /p, b, f, ɵ, d, s, ş, t, ţ, č, x, ǵ, h, h, t, k, g, q, ?, j, d, 9, m, n, l, r, w, y/. the voiceless bilabial plosive /p/ is deleted in the phonemic inventory of nasiriya iraqi arabic since it has not been used by the nasiriya iraqi people (abdul-sattar, 2015, p. 10; and betti & igaab, 2019, p. 230). in modern standard arabic, there are 36 phonemes, out of which twenty-eight are consonants, six are vowels (three short and three long): /a/, /i/, /u/, /a:/, /i:/, /u:/, and two are diphthongs: /aj/ and /aw/. english has twenty vowel phonemes, of which eight are diphthongs. the following table describes the arabic consonants: table 1. arabic consonants (adopted from sabir & alsaeed, 2014, p. 185) s.no. phonetic symbol arabic letter three-term label example 1 b ب voiced bilabial plosive ḥʊb(love) 2 t ت voiceless denti-alveolar plosive tәŧabiq(match) 3 d د voiced denti-alveolar plosive daxil(inner) 4 k ك voiceless velar plosive kita:b(book) 5 ʒ ج voiced palate-alveolar affricate ʒuς(hunger) 6 q ق voiceless uvular plosive qәmәr(moon) 7 l ل voiced alveolar lateral la: (no) 8 m م voiced bilabial nasal mәŧәr (rain) 9 n ن voiced alveolar nasal nu:r (light) 10 f ف voiceless labio-dental fricative fәn (art) 11 θ ث voiceless inter-dental fricative θәlaθәh (three) 12 ð ذ voiced inter-dental fricative ðәki(intelligent) 13 s س voiceless alveolar fricative su:q (market) 14 ṣ ص voiceless velarised alveolar fricative ṣәḥḥәh(health) 15 z ز voiced alveolar fricative ruz (rice) 16 ʃ ش voiceless palate-alveolar fricative ʃәms (sun) 17 x خ semi-voiced uvular fricative xәsarәh (lose) 18 ɣ غ voiced uvular fricative ɣuba:r (dust) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 9 published by scholink inc. 19 ḥ ح voiceless pharyngeal fricative ḥima:r (donkey) 20 h ه voiceless glottal fricative hawa:ʡ (air) 21 r ر voiced alveolar trill rәb (lord) 22 σ ع voiced pharyngeal frictionless continuant ςәql (mind) 23 j ي voiced palatal semi-vowel jәd(hand) 24 w و voiced labio-velar semi-vowel wahid (one) 25 ŧ ط voiceless velarised denti alveolar plosive ŧi:n (soil) 26 đ ض voiced velarised dentialveolar plosive đәςi:f (weak) voiced velarised alveolar ظ ∂ 27 fricative ∂әrf (envelope) 28 ʡ أ voiceless epiglottal plosive faʡr (rat) below is the description of these consonants: a) bilabials bilabials are articulated with the upper and lower lips approaching or touching each other. english /p/, /b/, and /m/ are bilabial stops but in arabic /p/ sound is not available, for example: /p/-pit /pɪt/ in english /b/ bit/bɪt/ in english, بالغ /balɪɣ/ in arabic. it is going to be a negative transfer to the similar arabic consonant /b/. this occurs before the interference between english and arabic consonants. /m/ in “me” and مدرسة /mәdrasa/ (school) (chouchane, 2016, p. 89). b) labiodentals labiodentals are articulated with the lower lip touching the upper set of teeth. english /f/ and /v/ are bilabial fricatives, for example: /f/ occurs in both english and arabic -fan in english,فئة /fiʡa/”class” but in arabic/v/van is not found in arabic. also, negative transfer occurs to the nearest arabic sound /f/ (sabir &alsaeed, 2014, p. 34). c) dentals dentals are articulated with the tip or blade of the tongue inserted between the upper and lower set of the teeth. english /θ/ and /ð/ are dental fricatives. there are actually a couple of different ways of forming these sounds; the tip of the tongue can approach the back of the upper teeth, but not press against them so hard that the airflow is completely blocked. the blade of the tongue can touch the bottom of the upper teeth, with the tongue tip protruding between the teeth—still leaving enough space for a turbulent www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 10 published by scholink inc. airstream to escape. this kind of /θ/ and /ð/ is often called inter-dental in arabic. examples: /mɪθl/ (hago & khan, 2015, p. 56). d) alveolars alveolars are articulated with the tip or blade of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge, the ridge immediately behind the upper teeth. the english stops /t/, /d/, and /n/ are formed by completely blocking the airflow at this place of articulation. in arabic /t/, /d/ are called denti-alveolar e.g., /t/ ظɪttɪ ṣal/ “call”, /d//tәqәddʊm/ “advance” (rogerson-revell, 2011, p. 55). /s/ and /z/ occur under in fricatives/s/ /sәrir/ “bed”, /z/ /mauzәh/ “banana”, /n/ (alveolar nasal) /n/ /naςim/ “soft” /r/(alveolar trill) /r/نا /rәml/ “sand” and /l/ (alveolar lateral) /l/ ال/la:/ “no” (ibid). e) velarised alveolar /ṣ/ صarticulated with the blade of the tongue approaches closely the alveolar ridge, it approaches the upper front teeth in arabic (ibn-jinni, 1944, pp. 52-53). example in arabic is/rәqṣ/ “dance”. f) velarised denti-alveolar /ŧ/, /∂/ and /đ/, these sounds are pronounced in very different manner, non-native speakers are not pronounced perfectly and clearly (ibid). g) palato-alveolars /ʃ/ and /dʒ/ are articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge and the body of the tongue raised toward the palate (bite, 2013, p. 32). h) palatals palatals are articulated with the body of the tongue approaching or touching the hard palate. english /j/ is a palatal approximant—the tongue body approaches the hard palate, but closely enough to create turbulence in the airstream. example: /j/ /ḥәyat/یاة “life” (bite, 2013, p. 33). i) labio-velars labio-velars are articulated with both the lips and the soft palate example: و/ w/ in أ/ ʡswәd /”black”. velar: articulated with the body of the tongue touches the soft palate, or velum. in english /k/, /ɡ/, and /ŋ/ are stops. examples for velar consonants/ k //kitab/ “book”, and / g / does not occur in arabic (bite, 2013, p. 33). j) uvulars uvulars are articulated with the back of the tongue and uvula e.g., /q/ qitŧәh/ “cat”, /ɣ/ /ɣәbi/ “idiot” and /x/ inأ/ ʡx/ “brother”. pharyngeal:/ḥ/ and /ς/ articulated with the back of the tongue and pharynx, for example: /ḥ/ /mʊ ḥәrrik/ “engine” and /ς/ / ςnzә/”goat” (zarka, 2013, p. 67). k) glottal the glottis is the opening between the vocal folds. in /h/sound, this opening is narrow enough to create some turbulence in the airstream flowing past the vocal folds. for this reason, /h/ is often classified as a glottal fricative. example for glottal /h/, / mauzәh/ “banana” (ibid). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 11 published by scholink inc. 2.1.3.1 phonetic differences the english voiceless plosives have aspirated allophones when the plosives occur initially in accented syllables. thus /p/, /t/ and /k/ are heavily aspirated in words like “pencil” /pensl/, “potato” /pǝ’teɪtǝʊ/ and “account” /ǝ’kaʊnt/ respectively. the voiceless plosives that occur in arabic are unaspirated in whatever phonetic environments they occur. native speakers of arabic are therefore likely to use the unaspirated variety of /p/, /t/ and /k/ in their english speech in whatever phonetic environments they occur. this is likely to affect the intelligibility of their english only when they speak to native speakers of english who tend to hear an unaspirated voiceless plosive as a voiced plosive. within the arabicspeaking world, this allophonic substitution does not create any problems of unintelligibility. the major allophones of /t/ and /d/ in english are alveolar plosives (al-ani, 1970, p. 122). on the other hand, the major allophones of /t/, and/d/, and in arabic are denti-alveolar plosives. therefore, it is very common to hear yemeni learners of english saying [ti:n] instead of [di:n] and [dɪn] instead of [tɪn], replacing the alveolar plosives by the more familiar dentialveolar plosives. this again does not cause any problems of unintelligibility within the arab world because they do make a distinction between the english [t] and [ɵ] and [d] and [ð] since [t], [d], [ɵ] and [ð] are four distinct phonemes in arabic (wahba, 1998, p. 65). the english phoneme /ʤ/ has the allophone [ʤ], the voiced palato-alveolar affricate. the arabic phoneme, on the other hand, has one major allophone which is a voiced palatal affricate. arabic speakers of english who pronounce the arabic latter as an affricate are likely to use the palatal affricate in their english speech. this again, except to the ears of a trained phonetician, does not cause any problem of unintelligibility (alyaqoobi, et al., 2016, p. 33). there are however, a vast majority of arabic speakers who pronounce the arabic letter /dʒ/ as a voiced plosive. the affricate (either palatal or palato alveolar) just does not occur in their speech at all. these people face a major problem because they systematically substitute [ʤ] in english words by [g], resulting in a lot of confusion and sometimes total unintelligibility. thus, they say [g˄mp] for jump, [gɒn] for john, [frɪg] for fridge, [bæg] for badge. minimal pair distinctions like “bag”, “badge”, “egg”, “edge” just do not occur in their speech at all (heltai, 1988, p. 78). arabic speakers who have no [g] at all in their arabic dialects are confronted with a serious problem. since they have a voiced palatal affricate and not a voiced velar plosive in their arabic speech. the sound [ŋ] does not occur at all in the speech. most of these replace the english [g] by their voiced palatal affricate and so the orthographic ‘n’ which occurs before the affricate, is automatically pronounced as [n]. it is not uncommon to hear “finger” pronounced [fɪnʤә] and “hunger” pronounced [h˄nʤә]. these people do face serious problems of unintelligibility as far as their english speech is concerned (ibid). the english phoneme /r/ has a wide variety of allophones in native varieties of british english. it is pronounced variously as [r] (a voiced post-alveolar frictionless continuant in word-initial position), [r] (a voiced post-alveolar fricative in word-medial position preceded by /b/, /d/ and /g/), [r] and [ʔ] (a voiced alveolar tap in the intervocalic position and when /r/ is preceded by /ɵ/). on the other hand, the phoneme www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 12 published by scholink inc. /r/ in arabic has just two allophones [ʔ] and [r], a tap and trill, both articulated as alveolar sounds. the tendency on the part of native speakers of arabic when they speak english is to use the tap variety [ʔ] wherever /r/ occurs in an english word (al-ani, 1970, p. 78). 2.1.3.2 phonological differences in english, [p] and [b] belong to two different phonemes because the two sounds contrast with each other in innumerable minimal pairs like /pin/-/bin/, /pull/-/bull/, etc. on the other hand, in arabic, the two sounds are in complementary distribution. [p] occurs only word-medially when the following sound is voiceless. /sabt/ = [sapt] (saturday), /ʔabkar/ = [ʔapka] (proper noun) and /habs/ = [haps] (prison) can be cited as examples. the voiced plosive [b] occurs in all of the phonetic environments like word-initial (as in /bɪnt/ (girl) which is [pɪnt]), inter-vocalically (as in /kabi:r/ (big) which is [kabi:r]), word-medially but in non-intervocalic position (as in /ʕamba/ (papaya) which is [ʕamba]) and word-finally (as in /kɪta:b/ which is [kɪta:b]). native speakers of arabic learning english as a foreign language have therefore the tendency to substitute [b] for [p] in their english speech when [p] occurs initially, medially (both intervocalic and non-intervocalic) and finally. it is not at all uncommon to hear “pill” pronounced [bɪl], “supper” pronounced [sᴜbәr], “compose” pronounced [kәmbo:z] and “cap” pronounced [kæb] in english speech of native speakers of arabic. this is a serious sound substitution because this phonemic substitution is bound to make the english speech of native speakers of arabic totally unintelligible (umm muhammad, 1993, p. 17). the voiceless palato-alveolar sound [ʧ] occurs in english and it is a separate phoneme since it contrasts with [t], [ʃ] and [ʤ]. in fact, the series “chin”, “tin”, “shin” and “gin” establish the phonemic status of all the four sounds listed above. in classical arabic, the voiceless affricate sound /ʧ/ just does not exist, even as allophones, but the sound does form a part of some dialects like nasiriya iraqi arabic, /ʧint/ (i was) (betti, 2007, p. 399). the natural tendency on the part of native speakers of arabic learning english as a foreign language is to substitute the [ʧ] sound by [ʃ], the fricative articulated in the same place and which does form part of the sound system of arabic. thus chin is [ʃɪn] in arabic english, /cheat/ is [ʃi:t] and / catch/ is [kæʃ]. the three examples listed above (chin—shin, cheat—sheet and catch—cash) are minimal pairs establishing the contrast between [ʧ] and [ʃ]. such minimal pair distinction is obliterated in arabic english because of the total or partial absence of the affricate [ʧ] from the sound system of arabic. this, like the [p], [b] substitution discussed above, is an example of a serious sound-substitution which ought to be remedied if arabic english has to be intelligible (ibid). in english the voiced alveolar nasal [n] and the voiced velar nasal [ŋ] belong to two separate phonemes because of the existence of minimal pairs like “sin and sing”, “win and wing”, etc. in arabic, on the other hand, the two sounds are allophones of the same phoneme, [ŋ] occurring only before [k] and [q], and [n] occurring elsewhere. so, native speakers of arabic learning english have no problem whatever in pronouncing words like “bank”, “uncle”, “hunger” and “finger” because these words fit neatly into their native arabic phonological system. but they do have a problem while pronouncing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 13 published by scholink inc. words like “sing” and “singing”. they pronounce these words with a [ŋg]. but this pronunciation does not lead to unintelligibility. so a teacher of english need not bother too much about this substitution (alsiraih, 2013, p. 33). the voiced labio-dental fricative [v], occurring in english as a phoneme is distinct from its voiceless counterpart [f]. these are minimal pairs like fat and vat, establishing the phonemic status of [f] and [v]. in arabic, both classical and colloquial, the voiced fricative [v] just does not occur. many native speakers of arabic, therefore, have the tendency to use [f] in place of [v] in whatever position in a word [v] occurs. thus, one hears [fa:st] in place of [va:st], [li:f] in place of [li:v], [‘i:fǝn] in place of [‘i:vǝn], etc. this, needless to say, is a serious sound-substitution since it occurs as a result of interference. the sounds [s] and [z] occur in both arabic and english and in both the languages the minimal pairs like “sip—zip” (english) and [mɪsma:r] (nail) and [mɪzma:r] (flute) (arabic) (alotaibi & mohammed, 2010, p. 39). the voiced palato-alveolar fricative [ʒ] has phonemic status in english, though its frequency of occurrence is limited and is also restricted to the word-medial and final positions. because of its total absence from the phonological system of arabic, arabic speakers of english tend to replace it by [ʃ], its voiceless counterpart. thus, one may hear words like “occasion”, “measure”, “leisure” and “pleasure” with [ʃ] in them. this substitution does not affect the intelligibility of arabic english and therefore need not cause serious concern to teachers of english to native speakers of arabic. the phoneme /r/ is a source of difficulty to many arab learners of english. in arabic, the phoneme /r/ has just two allophones, the tap [r] and the trill [r]. in english, on the other hand, the trilled [r] does not occur at all and the tap [r] occurs in english intervocalically and after [ɵ]. the other three allophones of /r/ ([r], the voiced palato-alveolar frictionless continuant, [r], the voiced post-alveolar fricative and [r], the voiceless postalveolar fricative) just do not occur in arabic therefore, arabic speakers of english use the tap variety [r] wherever /r/ occurs in english. further, in english, /r/ is pronounced only when orthographic r or rr is followed by a vowel (ibid). the production of english consonants is almost confined to the oral cavity of the vocal tract, except for the glottal fricative /h/, and the glottal stop /ʔ/ (for those of speakers of english who use it). by contrast, the arabic consonants occupy the whole dimension of the vocal tract. seven arabic consonants are produced in the back (laryngeal, pharyngeal and uvular) regions of the vocal tract: /ʔ, h, ʕ, ћ, ʁ, χ, q/ (al-jallad, 2019, p. 44). arabic has a number of emphatic consonants, which have multiple articulation; the secondary one is raising the back of the tongue towards the velum, in addition to their primary point of articulation. these are /ṣ/, /ŧ/, /∂/ ظ, and the alveolar lateral fricative /đ/ ض. english has eight stop consonants, two of which are affricates. they are organized in four homorganic pairs (with the same place of articulation). in each pair, one is a voiced consonant and one is voiceless: /b, p, /t, d, /g, k/ and /ʤ, ʧ/. arabic has eight stop consonants, only three of them are homorganic: /b/, /d, t, tˠ/, /ʤ/, /k/, /q/, and /ʔ/ (al-jallad, 2019, p. 41). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 14 published by scholink inc. 2.2 vowels 2.2.1 definition of vowels crystal (2011, p. 517) mentions that vowels are sounds produced without a complete closure in the mouth or a degree of narrowing which would make audible friction; the air escapes evenly over the centre of the tongue. in the production of vowels, the air escapes solely through the mouth. these vowels are said to be oral; if some air is simultaneously released through the nose, those vowels are nasal, e.g., dean /di:n/. additionally, in a phonetic classification of vowels, reference would generally be made to two variables, the first of which is easily describable, the second much less so: (a) the position of the lips—whether rounded, spread, or neutral; (b) the part of the tongue raised, and the height to which it moves, (ibid). besides, roach (2009, p. 78) states that vowels are the class of sounds which make no obstruction to the flow of air. they always occur at the centre of a syllable, and it is rare to find any sound other than a vowel which is able to stand alone as a whole syllable. in terms of phonetics, each vowel involves a number of features that distinguish it from other vowels. these have the shape of the lips, which may be rounded, as /u:/, neutral, as in, /ә/ or spread, as in, /i:/. 2.2.2 description of vowels skendera and burleigh (2011, p. 32) maintain that tongue and lip movements result in varying shapes of the mouth, which can be described in terms of the following four criteria: (1) part of the tongue raised or lowered (tip, central, back) vowels can be changed by moving the tongue up or down, or moving the lower jaw up or down. usually, we use some combinations of the two sorts of movement, but when drawing side-of-the-head diagrams, it is usually found simpler to illustrate tongue shapes for vowels as if tongue height were altered by tongue movement alone, without any accompanying jaw movement (roach, 2009, p. 11). (2) closeness/openness (high, low, mid) closeness/openness refers to the distance between the tongue and the palate. if the tongue is high, as in the last sound of the word “bee”, it is close to the palate, and we therefore speak of a close vowel. if the tongue is low, as in the third sound of the word “starling”, the gap between it and the palate is more open, and we speak of an open vowel. between these extremes, there are three intermediate levels: if the tongue is in a mid-high position, i.e., a bit lower their high, the resultant sound is a mid-close vowel, or half-close vowel. if it is mid-low, i.e., a bit higher than low, we hear a mid-open vowel, 0r half-open vowel. a vowel that is made with a tongue height somewhere between mid-high and mid-low is simply called a midvowel (skendera & burleigh, 2011, p. 32). (3) frontness/backness frontness/ backness refers to the part of the tongue that is raised to the highest. if it is the front of the tongue as in the last sound in “bee”, we speak of a front vowel. if the back of the tongue is raised to its highest as in the middle sound in “goose”, the resultant sound is a back vowel. between these extremes, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 15 published by scholink inc. we recognize one intermediate position: if the centre of the tongue is raised highest, as in the second sound of the word “bird”, we speak of a central vowel. (4) the shape of the lips the lips can be either spread, neutral, or round. english does not utilize this contrast very much. as in most other languages, the spreading of the lips usually correlates with frontness, and lip-rounding with backness. this means that there are no two vowel phonemes in english that differ only in the shape of the lips (skendera & burleigh, 2011, p. 32). 2.2.3 position of vowels regarding cardinal vowels the cardinal vowels are often said to be vowel qualities produced at certain very peripheral points in the vowel space, such as cardinal vowel. in this regard, richards and schmidt (2010, pp. 66-67) elaborate that cardinal vowel system refers to any of the vowels in the cardinal vowel system. the cardinal vowel system was invented by daniel jones as a means of describing the vowels of any language. the cardinal vowels themselves do not belong of any particular language, but are possible vowels to be used as reference points. 2.2.4 nature of vowels in so far as whether vowels are made without glide from one vowel to another, skendera and burleigh (2011, p. 36) categorize vowels into three main types which are pure vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs: 2.2.4.1 pure vowels these are vowels which are made without any glide from one vowel to another. there are (12) pure vowel. they are also called monophthongs. they can either be short or long. 2.2.4.2 short vowels roach (2009, p. 16) adds that short vowel is only relatively short. vowels can have quite different lengths in different contexts. each vowel is described in relation to the cardinal vowels. the symbols for these short vowels are: /e, ә, ә:, ɒ, ˄/ which are not presented in arabic. additionally, skendera and burleigh (2011, p. 36) maintain that the quality of the english long and short vowels remains relatively constant while they are being pronounced, i.e., the speech organs do not usually change their position during articulation. these vowels are therefore called pure or plain vowels, or monophthongs 2.2.4.3 long vowels these are the vowels which tend to be longer than the short vowels in similar contexts. these vowels tend to be long, the symbols consist of one vowel symbol plus a length mark made of two dots: thus they are: /i:, ɛ:, a:, o:, u:/. the five long vowels are different from the seven short vowels not only in length but also in quality. if one compares some similar pairs of long and short vowels, for example /i/ with /i:/, or /u/ with u:, or /æ/ with /a:/, it can be seen distinct differences in quality as well as in length. for this reason, all the long vowels have symbols which are different from those of short vowels (roach, 2009, p. 16). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 16 published by scholink inc. 2.2.4.4 diphthongs carr (2008, p. 43) views a diphthong as a vowel sound in which there is a transition or glide from one vowel to another within a single syllable nucleus, as in the english word [baɪ] (buy). transitions from one vowel to another across syllable boundaries are not diphthongs; english [si:ɪŋ] (seeing) has a transition from [i:] to [ɪ], but this is not a diphthong, since the transition does not take place within a single nucleus. according to roach (2009, p. 17), diphthongs are divided into three groups with two types of diphthongs:  centering diphthongs end in /ә/; these are /ɪә/ as in “beard” /bɪәd/, /eә/ as in “aired” / eәd/ and /ʊә/ as in “tour” /tʊә/.  closing diphthongs are of two groups; the first group is ending in /ɪ/; these are /eɪ/ as in “pain” /peɪn/ , /aɪ / as in “time” /taɪm/ and /ᴐɪ/ as in “voice”/vᴐɪs/, while the other one is ending in /ʊ /; these are /әʊ / as in “home”/ hәʊm/ and /au / as in “house” /haʊs/. 2.2.4.5 triphthongs the sounds which consist of a movement or glide from a diphthong to /ә/ are called triphthongs. in terms of length, diphthongs are similar to the long vowels described above (roach, 2009, p. 17). additionally, triphthongs refer to a type of vowel where there are two noticeable changes in quality during a /to syllable, as in a common pronunciation of english fire and tower /faɪv/ and /taᴜә/. besides, crystal (2011, p. 496) mentions five closing diphthongs with /ә/ added on the end; which are: 1) /eɪә/ as in “player” /pleɪә/ 2) /aɪә/ as in “fire” /faɪә/ 3) /ᴐɪә / as in “royal” /rᴐɪәl/ 4) /әuә/ as in “lower” /lәuә/ 5) /auә/ as in “power” /pauә/ 2.2.5 length of vowels depending on length of vowels, there are short vowels, long vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs which are arranged in length as such. triphthongs include a diphthong plus a vowel, diphthongs include a glide from one vowel into another while simple vowels, i.e., short or long, do not include any glide from one vowel into another (jaegar, 2006, p. 22). 2.2.6 classification of arabic vowels there are three vowels in iraqi arabic called (ḥarakāt) literally means “movements”. they can be both short and long. the three long vowels are considered as letters in their full right and feature. while their corresponding short vowels known as diacritic signs, are symbols written either above or below a particular consonant. there is also a concept of “vowel quality” which can be interpreted as the different ranges of sounds each vowel can produce in conjunction with other letters. similar to the way “d” can sound very differently depending on the word it’s in, like in “deep” (dēp) or “dam” (dăm) (al-ani, 1970). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 17 published by scholink inc. 2.2.6.1 short vowels frangieh (2011, p. 12) divides short vowels in arabic into four short vowel signs are: subdivided into fatha, kasra, damma and sukuun. fatha, designating a short /æ/, is always written above the preceding consonant phoneme. kasra, designating a short /ɪ/, appears as a small diagonal line placed below a consonant. damma, designating a short /ʊ/, appears above the preceding consonant and sukuun is written above the word (aljomely, 2018, p. 68). 2.2.7 differences between english and arabic vowels it was stated that all vowels are voiced and produced with no obstruction or constriction in the mouth. according to ibn jinni, who called the vowels huruf madd wa?istitalah ( vowels) are rendered as the sounds of lengthening and prolongation and may be short (harakat) or long (huruf madd). this idea of prolongation points to the fact that arabic vowels, being produced without constriction in the mouth, may further be lengthened, i.e., held, as long as the breath allows, and, a glottal stop begins wherever the vowels end. long vowels are also called the sounds of softness (ibn jinni). fagihi (2012, p. 56) maintains that when the point of articulation (maxraj-ul-harf) widens (i.e., the vocal tract is not restricted) so as to keep the sound (i.e., the vowel) constantly enunciated and continued until it can no longer be prolonged, it will end by the articulation of the glottal stop (hamza). it will necessarily come to an end at this point of the sounds (huruf) which are produced with open stricture at the places of articulation are three; /a, i, u/. however, a is more open (?awsa) and softer (?alyan) than the others and for this reason it is auditorily different from both /i/ and /u/, and vice versa. in arabic, a long vowel can be heard with further prolongation in three cases; if it is followed by a glottal stop (hamza), if it followed by a geminate (harf mushaddad), and if it is paused upon for the purpose of recollection. on the other hand, long vowels are given alphabetical names, whereas the corresponding short vowels are actually given names that suggest phonetic distinctive features, they are called case markers (prochazka, 1988, p. 67). in abdul-rauf (1977, p. 67), it is mentioned that as in english the full sound of consonant is achieved by the application of the vowel, but there are only three vowels in arabic. one has the value of “a” in “bat”, or “u” in “but” another has the value of “i” in “fit”, and the third has the value of “u” in “put”, they are all short. these vowels are not represented by characters following the consonants; but are represented by signs written above or below the consonants. one of the basic distinctions in arabic sounds is that between short and long vowels that it may make the difference between: singular and plural; as in colloquial: جمل /ʤamal/, جمال /ʤɪmaal/, in formal: musa:firun (s.) musa:firu:n (pl.) “traveler.” vowels also indicate object and absence of object; as in katabu “they wrote” and katabu: h “they wrote it.” finaly, they indicate one meaning and another as in; gamal “camel” and gama:l “beauty.” (hanna & greis, 1972, p. 89). whereas the english vowels have their full place and independent existence in the english alphabet and constitute integral parts of the english words, the short vowels in arabic are merely oral. vowels in english and arabic have similarities and differences. they are different in number; english has more https://ininet.org/l10a--phonetic-alphabets-28-january-2005.html https://ininet.org/l10a--phonetic-alphabets-28-january-2005.html www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 18 published by scholink inc. vowels than arabic. they also differ in distribution; english words can begin with vowels, whereas arabic words can only begin with consonants. both languages have some common vowels, but at the same time, there are some vowels that are restricted to each one of them. contrary to english which has a larger vowel system containing about nine simple vowels and seven longer vowels, arabic has only three short and three long vowels (kara, 1976, p. 89). 2.3 the english syllable 2.3.1 definitions phonology studies the sound system of a specific language and a branch of which is phonemics which studies the phonemes of a specific language. it studies both the segmentals and the suprasegmentals (betti, 2002b, p. 1). it studies the syllable. the term syllable is “a unit of pronunciation usually larger than a single sound and smaller than a word”. a word can be uttered ‘syllable at a time’, like: ne-ver-the-less, and a best dictionary will denote where those syllabic parts exist in writing, so giving information of how a “word” can be hyphenated. the concept of syllable, in brief, is so fact to native-speakers, and is usually used in everyday interaction (crystal, 2011, p. 467). a syllable is “a fundamental but elusive unit in phonology”. the syllable is a phonetic unit, which is higher than the phoneme (sometimes equal to it) and which centers on a vowel. there are two exceptions to this: minimum syllables and syllables which depend on syllabic consonants. minimum syllables my consist of only one consonant /m/, /ʃ/, etc. syllables which depend on syllabic consonants also do not include vowels but include only /j/, /w/ and /r/ (betti, 2002c, pp. 31-32). any word has a string of several number of “syllables” or one syllable, and even speakers with no knowledge of phonetics or of linguistics usually find it easy expecting the number of syllables a word includes. for instance, people all agree that “girl and salt” have one syllable, that “butter and behind” involve two, that “linguistics and kangaroo” consist of three, that “education and development” have four, etc. (trask, 1999, p. 200). 2.3.2 types carr (2008, p. 171) maintains that the syllable can be subdivided into the onset “any consonants preceding the nucleus” and rhyme “the nucleus and any consonants following the nucleus”. the rhyme, in its turn, is subdivided into a nucleus and a coda “any consonants following the nucleus”. in this respect, carr (2008, p. 114) illustrates that nucleus refers to mostly vowels or one of the following syllabic consonants /r/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/. so, in the word “but” (/bʌt/), the onset has /b/ and the cluster /ʌt/ constitutes the rhyme that contains the nucleus /ʌ/ and the coda consonant /t/. carr (2008, p. 171) suggests that syllables that consist of no coda consonants are called as open syllables, like, bee (/bi:/). besides, syllables that involve one or more coda consonants are named closed syllables, like, but. additionally, syllables that lack an onset consonant are named empty onset syllables, like, word eye (/ai/). empty onsets are denoted to be included in the process of resyllabification, whereby a consonant that might otherwise take a coda position comes to occupy a following onset position, as in the sequence green eye, syllabified as /gri:nai/ (where a full stop stands as a syllable boundary) (ibid). https://ininet.org/how-to-pronounce-the-greek-alphabet.html www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 19 published by scholink inc. for davenport and hannahs (2005, p. 65), the internal structure of the syllable is illustrated as follows: 1) onset (o) refers to any consonants preceding the nucleus, such as, be, start. 2) rhyme is made up of nucleus and coda. 3) nucleus (n) is the vowel or peak of the syllable, such as, lift, pat, cut. 4) coda (co) refers to any consonants following the nucleus, such as, mind, text. so, in the english syllable ‘crank’, [kræŋk], the onset (o) is the sequence of consonants [kr]. the nucleus (n) is the vowel [æ] and the coda (co) is the sequence [ŋk], the latter two constituents comprising the rhyme (r) [ænk). concerning syllable structure, it is observed the following points: 1) the grouping together of nucleus and coda to form the rhyme is not an arbitrary combination. they must share the same syllabic rhyme (nucleus + coda), whereas the nature of the onset is irrelevant; so ‘gold’ rhymes with ‘strolled’ and with ‘old’. 2) only the nucleus is always obligatory: both the onset and the coda are optional, as in english ‘ape’ (no onset). ‘flea’ (no coda) or ‘eye’ (neither onset nor coda). 3) it is not always the case that the nucleus must be a vowel: many languages allow liquids and nasals as syllabic nucleus, as in the second syllables in the english words ‘spittle’ and ‘mutton’ (davenport & hannahs, 2005, p. 67). 2.3.3 consonant clusters in english while phonetically, consonants are sounds made by a closure or narrowing in the vocal tract so that the airflow is either completely blocked, or so restricted that audible friction is produced, phonologically, they are units which function at the margins of syllables, either singly or in clusters (crystal, 2011, p. 103). ashby and maidment (2005, p. 147) define consonant clusters as a sequence of consonants within the onset, or within the coda. besides, crystal (2011, p. 81) describes consonant clusters as any sequence of adjacent consonants occurring initially or finally in a syllable, such as /br-/ in bread and /-st/ in best. brinton (2000, p. 55), in his turn, clarifies that consonant clusters are the possible sequences or combinations of sounds in a language which may begin or end a syllable. however, consonant clusters can be initial, medial or final that are explained as follows: 2.3.3.1 initial consonant clusters initial consonant clusters consist of two or three consonants which are as follows: 1) initial two-consonant clusters o’connor and trim (1973, p. 64) and o’connor (1980, p. 64) illustrate that these are of two main kinds: a) /s/ followed by one of /p, t, k, f, m, n, l, w, j/, e.g. in “spy, stay, sky, sphere, small, snow, sleep, swear, suit”. b) one of /p, t, k, b, d, g, f, θ, j, v, m, n, h/ followed by one of /l, r, w, j/. not all of these sequences are found (e.g., /pw, dl/ do not occur). the full list is: /p/ followed by /l,r,j/ play, pray, pure /t/ /l,r,w, j/ try, twice, tune www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 20 published by scholink inc. /k/ /l,r,w,j/ climb, cry, quite, cure /b/ /l,r,j/ blow, bread, beauty /d/ /r, w, j/ dress, dwell (rare), duty /g/ /l, r/ glass, green /f/ /r, w, j/ fly, from, few /θ/ /r,w/ throw, thwart (rare) /ʃ/ /r/ shriek /v/ /j/ view /m/ /j/ music/n/ /j/ new /h/ /j/ huge (ibid) 2) initial three-consonant clusters the three-consonant cluster must be one of the following: /spl, spr, str, skr, skw, skj, stj, spj, /, such as, “spleen, spring, street, screen, squash” respectively, that is, the first element is always /s/, the second element is always one of the three fortis plosives, /p, t, k/, and the third (or last) element is again always one of the four frictionless continuants, /l, r, j, w/ (skandera & burleigh, 2011, p. 68). 2.3.3.2 medial consonant clusters kreidler (2004, p. 96) points out that between two vowels in a word there may be from zero to four consonants. the number of possible consonants is greater than in word-initial or word-final position, and the number of types of clusters is also larger, as in: problem /prɒblǝm/ and subside /sǝbsaɪd/: (0) zero (no consonant at all). in this case the first vowel must be a ‘free’ vowel since it ends a syllable, as in, poet, giant, etc. (1) any one consonant. most consonants occur between a stressed vowel and an unstressed vowel and also between an unstressed vowel and a stressed vowel. for examples: /p/ ‘copy re’pel /b/ ‘rabid de’bate /t/ ‘metal re’tain /d/ ‘medal a’dore (c) there may be two consonants which can be divided them into two groups. (d) clusters of the types which also occur word-initially; when they occur between a stressed vowel and an unstressed one, the first consonant is ambisyllabic; when they occur between an unstressed vowel and a stressed one, the whole cluster is in the same syllable as the stressed vowel, such as, ‘whisper, ‘master, de’spair, etc. (e) clusters which do not occur word-initially; the syllable division is between the two consonants, no matter which is stressed, as in, ‘cap.tain, ‘tip.sy, etc. (kreidler, 2004, p. 99). (f) three consonants, which can be divided into groups: (g) clusters which also occur initially; the first consonant must be /s/, as in, mistress, resplendent, distress. (h) clusters which do not occur initially, and which can be subdivided: (i) clusters in which the syllable division is after the first consonant (c.cc): bel.fry, coun.try. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 21 published by scholink inc. (ii) clusters in which syllable division is after the second consonant (cc.c): ant.’er, emp.ty. (iii) clusters in which the second consonant, always /s/, may be , like, capˆstan, inˆstant. four consonants; the second consonant is always /s/, such as, instrument, obstruct. 2.3.3.3 final consonant clusters they can be two, three, or four, five, six or seven consonants as explained below: 1) final two-consonant clusters dang and ruiter (2005, p. 182) state that final two-consonant clusters can be as follows: a) they may begin with a stop such as, hits, cups, wept, great care, pigtail, etc. b) they may begin with a fricative or stops such as, left, gasp, must, hidden, written, etc. c) they may begin with nasal such as, chance, wand, can’t, sense, punch, etc. d) they may begin with a liquid such as, milk, pork, shelf, else, etc. 2) final three-consonant clusters roach (2009, p. 59) claims that there are two types of final three-consonant cluster; the first is pre-final plus final plus post-final, i.e., banks, bonds, twelfth, helped. while the second type states how more than one post-final consonant can exist in a final cluster: final plus post-final 1 plus post-final post final 2 is again one of these phonemes /s, z, t, d, θ/, i.e. fifths, next, lapsed, etc. 3) final four-consonant clusters most four-final consonant clusters contain a pre-final plus a final which is followed by post-final1 and post-final2. additionally, there are a small set of four-final consonant clusters which can be analyzed as consisting of a final consonant with no pre-final but three post-final consonants, for instance, texts, sixths, prompts, twelfths, etc. (ibid: pp. 59-60): 4) final five-consonant clusters most five-final consonant clusters contain a pre-final plus a final which is followed by post-final 1, post-final 2 and post-final 3. additionally, there are a small set of five-final consonant clusters which can be analyzed as consisting of a final consonant with no pre-final but four post-final consonants. /prɒmpt sta:t/, /bent skru:/. 5) final six-consonant clusters six-final consonant clusters have a pre-final plus a final which is followed by post-final1, post-final2, post-final3 and post-final4. additionally, there are a small set of six-final consonant clusters which can be analyzed as consisting of a final consonant with no pre-final but five post-final consonants, such as, next spring /nekst sprɪŋ/, twelfth street /twelfθ stri:t/ (o’connor & trim, 1973, p. 77). 6) final seven-consonant clusters seven-final consonant clusters involve a pre-final plus a final which is followed by post-final 1, post-final 2, post-final 3, post-final 4 and post-final 5. for examples, text’s stupid /teksts stju:pɪd/, tempts strangers /tempts streɪnʤәz/. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 22 published by scholink inc. 2.3.4 vowels clusters in english betti (2002, pp. 40-42) states that many vowel clusters can be distinguished in both english and arabic languages. concerning english vowel clusters, they can be illustrated as follows: 1) short vowel + short vowel a. /i/+/o/ beyond /biond/ b. /u/+/i/ ruin /ruin/ c. /i/ +/a/ react /riakt/ 2) long vowel + short vowel a. /i:/ + /i/ being /bi:ɪŋ/ b. /u:/ + /i/ doing /dʊ:ɪŋ/ c./o:/ +/i/ drawing /dro:ɪŋ/ d./i:/ + /e/ the end /ði:end/. 3) long vowel + long vowel a. /ʊ:/ + /a:/ you aren’t /ju: a:nt/ 4) a diphthong + a short vowel: a. triphthongs: player /pleiә/ b. /au/ + /i/ allowing = /әlauiŋ/; c./əu/ + /i/ — going /gәʊɪŋ / d./eɪ/ + /o/ — chaos /keɪos/ e./aɪ/ +/o/ biography /baɪɒgrәfɪ/ 5) diphthong + diphthong a./əu/ + /au/ go out /gәu aut/ b./eɪ/ + /ai/ — grey-eyed /greɪ aɪd/ c./aɪ/ + /əu/ my own /maɪ әʊn/ 6) long vowel + triphthong /u:/ + /au/ — two hours = /tu: aʊә/ 7) diphthong + diphthong + diphthong + short vowel a. /eɪ/ + /aɪ/ + /əʊ/ + /i/ may i owe it to you? /meɪ aɪ әʊ ɪt tu: ju/ 2.3.5 consonant and vowel clusters in arabic in arabic, most linguists (e.g., hassan, 1990, p. 176; swid & sair, 2008, pp. 72-74) agree that final word syllables are of three types: 1) sh such as ba in kataba (to write). 2) hs, such as, til in yuqatil . 3) either shhs (long closed) when there is a stop on the final part of the syllable such as lin in dalin (lost) or shss (long, double—closed) when there is a stop on the geminated sound in a word such as bb in sabb (young man). this latter case is also found when there is a stop on two consonants from different organs of speech, such as qarr in almustaqarr (settlement) where /q/ is uvular; whereas /r/ is alveolar. it seems www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 23 published by scholink inc. clear that final word syllable in arabic is part of the original structure of the word itself, i.e., it is not a separate morpheme referring to polarity or whatsoever as is the case in english (hassan, 1990, p. 173). it has been reported that not all the initial and final (brown, 1977, p. 89) two-element clusters present problems to the arab learners (malick, 1957, p. 23). this is basically attributed to the fact that some of the twoelement clusters have counterparts in the standard and colloquial speech of the learners. although theoretically the clusters that do not occur in arabic should constitute a problem, in practice this is not always true (malick, 1957, p. 23). this could, perhaps, be attributed to the phonetic nature of the components of these clusters in that they allow a fairly good degree of co-articulation which consequently facilitates the production of the clusters. moreover, medial clusters like the ones occurring in the following words: april, attract, afraid, agree, ugly and especially, do not pose serious difficulty because english tolerates more than one way of syllabifying them. the real trouble stems from two-element clusters that not only because they do not exist in arabic but also because their structural position and their phonetic nature restrict the articulatory maneuvering. on the face of it, all the three and four-element clusters are to be regarded as trouble-makers since they would not, perhaps, easily satisfy the conditions that exclude some of the two-element clusters from being difficult (malick, 1957, p. 23). but if the same, or at least a similar, technique of splitting the two-element clusters is used with clusters greater in size then the possibility of the existence of a unified underlying procedure to counter the splitting would be quite plausible, in which case their status as greater trouble-makers might be excluded (odisho, 1975, p. 66). in all the above words, one epenthetic vowel is added causing not only the appearance of an additional syllable but also a radical change in the syllable arrangement of the words. the only exception is the word which contains two unabutting clusters where two alternative mispronunciations are expected. in this type of word the possibility of adding two epenthetic vowels and increasing the syllable by two is not excluded. in any case the most striking feature is that the epenthetic vowel shows a strong inclination towards occupying the same place regardless of the size of the c-luster. it is usually placed alter the second element of the cluster counted in the reversed order i.e. right to left. a very similar tendency seems to function with clusters occurring initially. that is, the problem with consonant cluster can be viewed in the following points: 4) the placement of the vowel before the first element of the twoelement clusters, such as, helped */helpɪt/. 5) before the second element of the threeelement clusters, which is absolutely valid for all the syllable-initial clusters of english, like, street */sɪtri:t/. thus, the problems indicate sameness in the placement of the vowel with the medial clusters. worded differently, there is one underlying rule which governs the assigning of the place of the vowel in both the initial and the medial clusters: the vowel is placed after the second element of the cluster from the right. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 24 published by scholink inc. in modern standard arabic, there are 36 phonemes, out of which twenty-eight are consonants, six are vowels (three short and three long): /a/, /i/, /u/, /a:, /i:/, /u:/, and two are diphthongs: /aj/ and /aw/. english has twenty vowel phonemes, of which eight are diphthongs (aljomaely, 2018, p. 68). the short vowels in arabic are further subdivided into fatha, kasra and damma. fatha, designating a short /æ/, is always written above the preceding consonant phoneme. kasra, designating a short /ɪ/, appears as a small diagonal line placed below a consonant. damma, designating a short /ʊ/, appears above the preceding consonant (aljomaely, 2018, p. 68). 3. methodology 3.1 population and sample of the study the population of the study is represented by iraqi university students who are at the department of english during the academic year 2021-2022. the sample of this study that is randomly selected consists of (100) male and female students from the 4th year college students, department of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar. this is a quantitative descriptive study. the informants of this study are iraqi non-native speakers of english with similar efl backgrounds. their average age is twenty two. to avoid the difference in experience which may have an impact on the results of the study, teachers and repeaters are excluded. choosing fourth year students other than others can be ascribed to some reasons. first, conversation and linguistics are taught to them during the fourth stage of their learning. second, fourth year students can be considered as the top of expected performance of the department of english learners as well as they are counted as student-teachers and advanced language users. a quantitative method is employed in the current study in terms of data collection and analysis. a quantitative study is concerned with measuring and analyzing variables to reach specific results. this method involves using and analyzing numeral data by using certain statistical (and/ or) procedures to reach some answers to the concerned questions. the recognition of segmentals and syllables instrument includes thirty three items. each item is in form with four options and the students are required to recognize the correct choice. 3.2 validity and reliability in order to satisfy both these ends, the test has been submitted to a jury of experts in order to approve of the construction, its content validity in measuring what it intends to measure. the jury offered some suggestions which have been taken into account. therefore, particular items have been tempered with, others replaced. all of those experts have judged the test being valid to measure what it was designed for measuring it, it is an appropriate and practical test, and can perform the purpose behind the study. if 75% of the jury members agree on a certain modification, this modification will be executed. this does not happen. so, there is no modification on the two sides of the test. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 25 published by scholink inc. 3.3 the pilot study prior to putting the actual administration of the main test into effect, a pilot test is applied on april 2022 to students at the university of thi-qar are administered to ten randomly selected learners from the population of fourthyear learners who are excluded from the subjects of the main test administration. the reasons behind the pilot test are: to arrive at the time required for answering the test, to check the clarity of the items and directions to the subjects in order to know whether some of the items/questions are in need of modification, and finally, to analyze the items to determine their effectiveness, i.e., item difficulty and item discrimination power (gay, 2010, p. 101). the results of the pilot test indicate that the time required to answer all items is two hour and to some instruction required about the questions. the outcomes of the pilot administration are incorporated into the final version of the test. likewise, the test was repeated two times. 3.4 material selection the items that are included in the test are taken from five book sources. these are:  al-ani (1972), arabic phonology.  betti (2003), english phonetics and phonology.  roach (2009), a little encyclopaedia of phonetics.  roach (2009), english phonetics and phonology: a practical course. skandera and burleigh (2011) a manual of english phonetics and phonology. choosing the items and the questions about these items approved by the jury members of the study who have provided some of the much appreciated modifications that have helped the researcher in formulating and conducting the final version of the test. 3.5 test description the test of this study, which consists of one question established to check the iraqi efl learners’ recognition of the segmentals and syllables, states: “listen to the following words carefully and tick the suitable answer”. in it, the informants listen to a group of words and sentences, produced by a native speaker and they are supposed to tick only one of the four options provided for them. this question comprises of thirty-three items as are stated below: the items of the recognition test are used to show whether the informants can recognize /p/ , /v/ , /ŋ/ , /g/ , /ʒ/ , / tʃ/ , /˄/ , /ә/ , /ә:/ , /e/ , /ɒ/,/әʊ/ , /eɪ/ , /ɪә/ , /eә / , /ʊә / , /aɪ/, /au/, /oɪ/ , initial two consonant cluster, initial three consonant cluster, two final consonant cluster, three final consonant cluster, four final consonant cluster, five final consonant cluster, six final consonant cluster, seven final consonant cluster, /eɪә/, (short vowel + short vowel), (long vowel + short vowels), (long vowel + long vowel), (diphthong + diphthong), (long vowel + triphthong) respectively (see appendix 3). 3.6 final administration the final version of the test was carried out in classroom on 12 of june 2022 on 100 students who are randomly selected from the 4th year students at the english department, college of for human sciences, http://www.uoanbar.edu.iq/humanitarianeducationcollege/catalog/english%20phonetics%20and%20phonology_peter%20roach.pdf www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 26 published by scholink inc. university of thi-qar. the students have been given only one hours to answer the questions of the test and those subjects have been given the instructions of each question. students were asked to answer on the same paper of the test to avoid wasting efforts and to save time. they have been told not to write their names on the papers to avoid any possible embarrassment. some of the students answers are presented in the appendices. the researcher marked the test by using a scoring scheme that is stated in the following section. 3.7 mathematical tool the mathematical tool used includes simple calculations and percentages. 4. analysis and discussion of the recognition of english segmentals and syllables 4.1 recognition of consonants in the following table, the iraqi efl learners’ correct and incorrect recognition of english consonants are introduced: table 2. the iraqi efl learners’ recognition of english consonants no. of item correct answers % incorrect answers % 1 44 44 56 46 2 18 18 82 82 3 33 33 67 67 4 29 29 71 71 5 34 34 66 66 6 7 7 93 93 total 165 27.5 435 72.5 with reference to the preceding table, the total number of correct answers is (165), (27.5%) while the total number of the incorrect ones is (435), (72.5%). it is important to mention that the correct answers of item (1), which is c and constitutes (44) occurrences, which represents the highest correct answers (in this chapter, the bold type in the choices refers to the correct choice). 1) the word “pen” is pronounced as: a. /bɪn/ b. /ben/ c. /pen/ d. /pәn/ regarding the total of incorrect answers, iraqi efl students amount to (435) where the incorrect answers of item (2) reach (82) which is the highest incorrect answer: 2) the word “veer” is pronounced as: a) /vi:r/ b. /fi:r / c. /vɪə/ d. /fɪә/ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 27 published by scholink inc. it has been noticed that most iraqi efl learners in this study fail to identify all the suitable answers since its consonants, could not be distinguished due to the difference between their mother tongue and the target language, i.e., because of the distinction between the consonants available in the mother tongue and that of the efl that is concerned. the difficulty is encountered in the recognition of /p, v, ŋ, g, ʒ, ʧ/ consonants respectively which do not exist in arabic. that is interference occurs. this can be illustrated from an interlingual view as arab learners in general and iraqi efl ones in particular are believed to use their phonemes more effectively than the english ones. thus, the first hypothesis of the present study is verified: iraqi undergraduates do not recognize some english consonants correctly. these consonants are /p, v, ŋ, g, ʒ, ʧ/ which do not exist in arabic, the learners’ mother tongue. 4.2 recognition of simple vowels in the following table, the iraqi efl learners’ correct and incorrect responses of the recognition of simple vowels are mentioned: table 3. the iraqi efl learners’ recognition of simple vowels no. of item correct answers % incorrect answers % 7 13 13 87 87 8 54 54 46 46 9 16 16 84 84 10 16 16 84 84 11 44 44 56 56 total 143 28.6% 357 71.4% based on table 3 above, the total of correct answers of items is (143) whereas that of the incorrect ones is (387). for more illustration, item (8) which constitutes (54). it is regarded the highest number of correct responses: the word “open” is pronounced as: a. /әʊpen/ b. /əʊpən/ c. /әʊpan/ d. /әʊpɪn as for the total of incorrect answers, iraqi efl students record (357) where item (7): 7-the word “but” is pronounced as: a. /but/ b. /bit/ c. /b˄t/ d. /bәt/ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 28 published by scholink inc. on this basis, the second hypothesis of the study is partially rejected in that iraqi university learners do not recognize all english simple vowels correctly because these vowels do not exist in arabic, the learners’ mother tongue. these include /˄, әː ɒ, e/. 4.3 recognition of diphthongs table 4 below shows that the total number of correct occurrences is (413) and that of the incorrect ones is (387): table 4. the iraqi efl learners’ recognition of diphthongs no. of item correct answers % incorrect answers % 12 39 39 61 61 13 60 60 40 40 14 28 28 72 72 15 44 44 56 56 16 46 46 54 54 17 63 63 37 37 18 67 67 33 33 19 66 66 34 34 total 413 51.62 387 48.38 as shown above, it is worth mentioning that english diphthongs, such as, /aʊ, iә, eә, ʊә / and also the other phonemes (like ei, ai, au, oi) are not well recognized by iraqi efl university learners. thus, efl iraqi learners are mostly incapable of selecting or identifying the accurate answers which express the difficulty in acquiring the phonological system in the fl that has been attributed to the factors such as age of fl perceptual learning, quality and quantity of fl input, and interference from the mother tongue phonological system. in other words, the iraqi efl university learners do not begin to connect the sounds of the given language to phonemes or phoneme combinations. it is good to depend on useful references, like roach (2009), for the purpose of practising and developing these sounds. iraqi efl learners encounter varying degrees of difficulty in the recognition of english vowels. thus, they have less difficulty in the recognition of diphthong. this reflects that the third hypothesis of this study is accepted: some diphthongs are not recognized by the sample of the study. these diphthongs includes /әʊ, iә, eә, ʊә/. however, the degree of difficulty shown by iraqi efl students tends to decrease with the increase in fl experience. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 29 published by scholink inc. 4.4 recognition of consonant clusters as seen in table 5 below, it is shown that the correct responses are more than the incorrect ones (431 vs 369 occurrences): table 5. the iraqi efl learners’ recognition of consonant clusters no. of item correct answers % incorrect answers % 20 73 73 27 27 21 55 55 45 45 22 55 55 45 45 23 59 59 41 41 24 59 59 41 41 25 54 54 46 46 26 43 43 57 57 27 33 33 67 67 total 431 53.87 369 46.13 in general, this means that the iraqi efl learners are able to recognize some consonant clusters: 20-the two-initial consonant cluster in the word “drive” is pronounced as: a. /dɪraɪv/ b. /deraɪv/ c. /draɪv/ d. /dɪrɪv/ item (20) records the highest number among other items which has (73). on the other hand, item (27) represents the highest number of incorrect ones, (67) occurrences: 27-the seven-final consonant cluster in the words “the text’s stupid” is pronounced asː a. /ðә tekɪsts stuːpɪd/ b. /ðә teksɪts stuːpɪd/ c. /ðә tekstɪs stuːpɪd/ d. /ðә teksts stjuːpɪd/ this represents the highest number of incorrect ones, (67) occurrences. thus, the iraqi efl learners mostly get acceptable scores to determine the appropriate responses of the concerned consonant clusters. they get good scores in items (20, 21, 23, 24, 25), i.e., two and three initial consonant clusters, and two, three, four and five final consonant clusters, respectively. this is because fourth year students of the department of english have enough competence to recognize consonant sequences. as opposed, they do not master to recognize accurate answers for items (26) and (27): six and seven final consonant clusters. this is because of their usage of putting an epenthetic vowel which causes a basic change in the syllable arrangement of the words stated in the test. on this basis, iraqi efl university students have capacity to distinguish among two initial consonant cluster, three initial consonant cluster, two final consonant cluster, three final consonant cluster, four www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 30 published by scholink inc. final consonant cluster and five final consonant cluster, but they are unable to identify six and seven final consonant clusters. this leads to the confirmation of the fourth hypothesis of the study: iraqi efl undergraduates face difficulty in recognizing some types of consonant clusters. these clusters include namely, six and seven final consonant clusters. 4.5 recognition of vowel clusters in table 6 below, it is shown that the iraqi efl learners’ responses of the incorrect responses of vowel clusters are more than the correct ones (357, vs. 243): table 6. the iraqi efl learners’ recognition of vowel clusters no. of item correct answers % incorrect answers % 28 42 42 58 58 29 29 29 71 71 30 43 43 57 66 31 44 44 56 56 32 36 36 64 64 33 49 49 51 51 total 243 40.5 357 59.5 in addition, the iraqi efl learners do not have a good competence to recognize the english vowel clusters. the correct answers to recognize vowel sequences represent 40.5% only compared to the incorrect ones (59.5%) only. this means that the informants’ recognition ability of vowel sequences is rather weak. item (33) reaches 49 occurrences: 33-the words “two hours” are pronounced asː a.\tuː haurz\ b.\tuː әʊәz\ c.\tuːauәz\ d.\tuːuәz\ of the incorrect responses, item (29) reaches (71) occurences. 29-the word “react” is pronounced asː a.\ riːkt\ b.\riakt\ c.\riekt\ d.\rekt\ with reference to the previous results, the iraqi efl learners appear to be inefficient in recognizing all vowel clusters and, thus, they are also confused in distinguishing all vowel clusters, triphthongs, short vowel + short vowel, long vowel + short vowel, long vowel + long vowel and diphthong + diphthong, long vowel + triphthongs. this is because of the unavailability of vowel clusters in arabic, their mother tongue, and because of the ineffective and poor strategies manipulated in teaching vowel system, in general, and its clusters, in particular. this is intensified by not assigning a sufficient period of time for www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 31 published by scholink inc. teaching them. on this basis, the fifth hypothesis of the study is verified: vowel clusters are not correctly recognized by the sample of the study. this is because the iraqi efl university students are incompetent in recognizing vowel clusters within english words. for instance, students fail to identify the vowels within the words. 4.6 comparison between recognition of consonants and vowels table 7 shows that the iraqi efl learners’ recognition of vowels are better than of consonants: table 7. iraqi efl learners’ recognition of correct answers of consonants and vowels no. of items recognition of consonants no. of items recognition of vowels 1 44 7 13 2 18 8 54 3 33 9 16 4 29 10 16 5 34 11 44 6 7 12 39 20 73 13 60 21 55 14 28 22 55 15 44 23 59 16 46 24 59 17 63 25 54 18 76 26 43 19 66 27 33 28 42 29 29 30 43 31 44 32 36 33 49 total 596 total 799 percentages 42.5% percentages 42.05% as clear in table 7 above, the percent of iraqi efl learners’ correct answers of consonants (42.5%) is more than that of vowels (42.05%). therefore, the sixth hypothesis of the study is refuted, since the correct answers of vowels are more than the correct ones of consonants, but both of them are below than the average. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 32 published by scholink inc. 5. conclusions and recommendations 5.1 conclusions as a result of the theoretical and practical sides of the study, the following conclusions are arrived at: 1) iraqi efl university learners do not recognize some english consonants correctly. the results show that most iraqi efl learners in this study find difficulty in producing the consonants /p, v, ŋ, g, ʒ, ʧ/, with varying degrees. this is because iraqi efl learners are believed to use their phonemes more effectively than the english ones. 2) iraqi efl university learners do not recognize any english vowel correctly. the results reveal that iraqi efl university students have no capacity to distinguish all the english simple vowels. this is in harmony with what aljomaely (2018) states: “certain english vowels are likely to cause uneasiness when arabic learners of english articulate and perceive them, especially if they are not found in modern standard arabic; this is the case of the vowels [ɔ], [ʌ] and [e], for example. central vowels do not exist in the vowel system of arabic. as a result, the phoneme /ʌ/ is often replaced by /æ/ or /u/”. 3) the iraqi efl university learners’ inability to recognize any english vowel correctly is attributed to those vowels being not exising in arabic, the learners’ mother tongue. these include /˄, әː ɒ, e/. 4) the results reveal that the iraqi efl learners appeared to be efficient in recognizing some diphthongs which are /aɪ/, /eɪ/. /aʊ/. /oʊ/ and /oɪ/. 5) four diphthongs are not recognized by the sample of the study since they acquire the phonological system of their mt rather than that of efl and interference from the mother tongue phonological system definitely occurs. these diphthongs include /ou, iә, eә, uә/. 6) the results reveal that iraqi efl university students have the capacity to distinguish only two initial, three initial consonant clusters, two, three, four and five final consonant clusters. 7) iraqi efl university learners face difficulty in recognizing some types of final consonant clusters which include six and seven final consonant clusters because of their putting an epenthetic vowel which causes a basic change in the syllable arrangement of the words stated in the test. this is related to arabic which has no long consonant sequences. 8) vowel clusters are not correctly recognized by iraqi efl learners. the results reveal that the iraqi efl learners appeared to be inefficient in recognizing them and, thus, they are also confused in distinguishing all vowel clusters, including /eɪә/, short vowel + short vowel, long vowel+short vowel, long vowel + long vowel and diphthong + diphthong. 9) vowel clusters are not correctly recognized by iraqi efl because of the unavailability of vowel clusters in arabic, their mother tongue, and because of the ineffective and poor strategies manipulated in teaching vowel system, in general, and its clusters, in particular, along with assigning limited periods of time for teaching them in the second year of teaching in the department of english, colleges of education. diphthongs may also sometimes be mispronounced. they may be substituted by other phonemes largely as a consequence of mother tongue interference (aljomaely, 2018, p. 69). the incorrect answers of iraqi efl learners’ recognition and production of consonants are more than the correct ones. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 33 published by scholink inc. 10) the consonants, which iraqi efl learners do not master, are /p, v, ŋ, g, ʒ, ʧ/. 11) the incorrect answers of iraqi efl learners’ recognition of simple vowels are more than the correct ones. this is because of the great difference between the phonological system of their mother tongue and that of the target language. 12) the incorrect answers of diphthongs are more than the correct ones in recognizing diphthongs that are achieved by the sample of the study. 13) the incorrect answers of the consonant clusters are more than the correct ones in recognizing consonant clusters that are achieved by the sample of the study. 14) the incorrect answers of the vowel clusters are more than the correct ones in the recognition of vowel clusters that is performed by the sample of the study. 15) the capacity of efl iraqi learners in recognizing vowel sounds is more than their capacity in recognizing the consonant ones. 16) iraqi efl learners’ recognition of vowels is better than of consonants. 17) as it is clear from the previous conclusions, the mother tongue affects the iraqi efl university learners’ recognition of consonants, consonant clusters, simple vowels, diphthongs and vowel clusters. 18) the differences among english and arabic segmentals and the phonological structures of english and arabic syllables make a kind of negative transfer in that learners try to approximate the sounds and sounds sequences which are unavailable in their mother tongue by transferring the nearest sounds. this makes an interference to the iraqi efl learning process. the main conclusion of the study is in harmony with betti and al-jubouri (2015, p. 149): the teaching of pronunciation is an important aspect of efl methodology. pronunciation drills are an integral part of effective el teaching. these drills help students overcome problems that arise from the interference of the mother tongue (betti & al-jubouri, 2015, p. 149). 5.2 recommendations as a result of the theoretical and practical sides of the study, the following recommendations are made: 1) for university instructors, it is useful for them to focus and pay some attention to their students’ use of english segmentals and syllables. therefore, they may rely on the communicative ways of teaching and enhancing their students’ use of english segmentals and syllables through teaching them the concepts of consonants, vowels, consonant clusters and vowel clusters. 2) instructors should focus on the sounds and sound sequences which do not exist in the learners’ mother tongue. 3) in the class, teachers have to make use of social media, where english is pronounced by native speakers. in these media, students can find helpful native speakers, on these media, with whom they can communicate directly and learn how to deal with the english segmentals and syllables. 4) it is necessary for efl learners to understand the phonological system via the curriculum. the important thing in teaching and presenting english segmentals and syllables is knowing the differences www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 34 published by scholink inc. and similarities between mt and efl which should be highlighted to the learners including segmentals and syllables. 5) practice is important since it helps learners to enhance their ability in distinguishing (and producing) english segmentals and syllables. 6) real world contexts have to be accompanied with the proposed textbook in tefl in iraq in order to make the role of the segmentals clearer to the learners, conversation courses ought to be added to the second and fourth year at the departments of english in colleges of education in iraq to enrich the learners’ speaking and listening skills and the teacher ought to use the laboratory to make the learners practise consonants and vowels (betti & ulaiwi, 2018, p. 88). 7) iraqi efl learners should review the phonetic and phonological references in order to master english phonetic and phonological system. acknowledgements special thanks are to the jury members for their commenting on an earlier copy of the test, and i also thank our students (the subjects of this study) for their cooperation and responding to the test. references abdul-rauf, m. 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(2011). a step by step guide to data analysis using the spss program: survival manual. mcgraw-hill, berkshire. prochazka jr, t. (1988). saudi arabian dialects. london: kegan paul international. ramakrishna, t. (2019). vowel region based speech analysis and applications. hyderabad: international institute of information technology. richard, j. c., & schmidt, r. (2010). longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. london: pearson. roach, p. (2009). a little encyclopedia of phonetics. cambridge: cambridge university press. roach, p. (2009). english phonetics and phonology: a practical course. cambridge: cambridge university press. rogers, h. (2000). the sounds of language: an introduction to phonetics. routledge: taylor & francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429056253 https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470759264 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1956.tb01204.x https://doi.org/10.22395/angr.v10n19a8 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 38 published by scholink inc. rogerson-revell, p. (2011). english phonology and pronunciation teaching. continuum press, london. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350934177 sa`ir, m. a. (2008). al-fwnwlwgia –waìlaqqatahabilnudumfilquranl-karim (phonology and its relation to prosody in the holy quran). cairo: aladab library. sabir, i., & alsaeed, n. (2014). a brief description of consonants in modern standard arabic. linguistics and literature studies, 2, 185-189. https://doi.org/10.13189/lls.2014.020702 skandera, p., & burleigh, p. (2011). a manual of english phonetics and phonology. berlin: gunter narr verlag tubingen. swid, a., & abdullah, m. (1993). ilmillugha [linguistics]. tripoli: dar almadina al-qadima. thorum, a. (2013). phonetics: a contemporary approach. new. trask, r. (1999). key concepts in language and linguistics. london: routledge. umm muhammad. (1993). a brief introduction to tajweed in the english language. jeddah. abul-qasim publishing house. wahba, k. (1998). teaching pronunciation why? forum, 36(3), 32. retrieved november, 1, 2006, from http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol36/ no3/p32.htm williams, c. (2011). research methods. journal of business & economics research, 5(3), 9-1. https://doi.org/10.19030/jber.v5i3.2532 writing english language tests: a practical guide for teachers of english as a foreign language. (1975). london: longman. zarka, a. m. e. s. (2013). the pronunciation errors of l1 arabic learners of l2 english: the role of modern standard arabic and vernacular dialects transfer. the british university, dubai, 1-75. appendix 1. symbols for english phonemes (roach, 2012) i as in ‘pit’ pit i: as in ‘key’ ki: e as in ‘pet’ pet a: as in ‘car’ ka: a as in ‘pat’ pat o: as in ‘core’ ko: λ as in ‘putt’ pλt u: as in ‘coo’ ku: o as in ‘pot’ pot ∂: as in ‘cur’ k∂: u as in ‘put’ put ∂ as in ‘about’, ∂baut ei as in ‘bay’ bei oi as in ‘boy’ boi i∂ as in ‘peer’ pi∂ e∂ as in ‘pear’ pe∂ u∂ as in poor p u∂ au as in ‘cow’ kau ou as in ‘go’ gou https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350934177 https://doi.org/10.13189/lls.2014.020702 http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol36/ https://doi.org/10.19030/jber.v5i3.2532 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 39 published by scholink inc. p as in ‘pea’ pi: t as in ‘toe’ tou k as in ‘cap’ kap f as in ‘fat’ fat ɵ as in ‘thing’ 0iŋ s as in ‘sip’ sip ʃ as in ‘ship’ ʃip h as in ‘hat’ hat m as in ‘map’ map n as in ‘nap’ nap ŋ as in ‘hang’ haŋ tʃ as in ‘chin’ tʃin b as in ‘bee’ bi: d as in ‘doe’ dou g as in ‘gap’ gap v as in ‘vat’ vat ð as in ‘this’ ðis z as in ‘zip’ zip з as in ‘measure’ me з∂ 1 as in ‘led’ led r as in ‘red’ red j as in ‘yet’ jet w as in ‘wet’ wet dз as in ‘gin’ dʒ in appendix 2. symbols for arabic phonemes (betti, 2007) /f/ /fi:l/ elephant /ѳ/ /ѳa9lb/ “fox” /ð/ /ðabha/ “he threw it” /d/ /dabut/ “an officer” /s/ /suug/ “market” /s/ /sabur/ “patience” /z/ /zraar/ “button” /t3/ /t3aali/ “bank of the river” /∫/ /∫maalak/ “what is wrong with you” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 40 published by scholink inc. /x/ /xubuz/ “bread” /g/ /graab/ “crow” /h/ /hnaa/ “here” /h/ /hariim/ “women” / b / /baab/ “door” /t/ /timman/ “rice” /t/ /tamata/ “tomatoes” /d/ /tdanna/ “be nearby” /d/ /daal/ “staying” /k/ /ka9ak/ “cake” /q/ /qadiim/ “old” /?/ /?ams/ “yesterday” /d3/ /d3amaal/ “beauty” /g/ /ga9ad/ “he set down” /m/ /minhuu/ “who is it?” /n/ /nibah/ “barked” /l/ /limna/ “gather us” /w/ /wajjaana/ “with us” /j/ /jamta/ “when” /9/ /9aali/ “high” /r/ /ramul/ “sand” /p/ /parda / “curtain” /i/ /mi9da/ “stomach” /ii/ /biina/ “in us” /a/ /saliim/ “healthy” /aa/ /salim/ “safe” /oo/ /tilifoon/ “telephone” /u/ /ummii/ “my mother” /uu/ /9uud/ “stick” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 41 published by scholink inc. appendix 3. the test q1/ listen to the following words carefully and tick the suitable answer: 1) the word “pen” is pronounced as: a. /bɪn/ b. /ben/ c. /pen/ d. /pan/ 2) the word “veer” is pronounced as: a. /vi:r/ b. /fi:r / c. /vɪə/ d. /fɪә/ 3) the word “sing” is pronounced as: a. /sɪŋ/ b. /sæng/ c. /sɑːng/ d. /sɪng/ 4. the word “glass” is pronounced as: a. /kla:s/ b. /gla:s/ c. /glæs/ d. /klæs/ 5. the word “pleasure” is pronounced as: a. /pleʒә/ b. /pleʃә/ c. /pleʤә/ d. /plaʒә/ 6. the word “charge” is pronounced as: a. /ʃærʤ/ b. /ʤaːʤ/ c. /ʧɑːʤ/ d. /kɑːʤ/ 7. the word “but” is pronounced as: a. /but/ b. /bit/ c. /b˄t/ d. /bәt/ 8. the word “open” is pronounced as: a. /әʊpen/ b. /əʊpən/ c. /әʊpan/ d. /әʊpɪn/ 9. the word “search” is pronounced as; a. /sertʃ/ b. /səːtʃ/ /seɪrtʃ d. /siːrtʃ/ 10. the word “set” is pronounced as: a. /si:t/ b. /set/ c. /sɪt/ d. /sat/ 11. the word “not” is pronounced as: a. /nɒt/ b. /n˄t/ c. /nʊt/ d. /næt/ 12. the word “go” is pronounced as: a. /gɔː/ b. /gʊə/ c. /gʊ ː/ d. /gɑ ː/ 13. the word “name” is pronounced as: a. /nɪm/ b. /ni:m/ c. /neɪm/ d. /nem/ 14. the word “hear” is pronounce d as: a. /hɪə/ b. /hɪr/ c. /hir/ d. /heә/ 15. the word “air” is pronounced as: a. /eə/ b. /ɪә/ c. /ᴜә/ d. /i:ә/ 16. the word “tour” is pronounced as: a. /teә/ b. /tʊə/ c. /ta:r/ d. /tʊ:/ 17. the word “mine” is pronounced as: a. /mi:n/ b. /men/ c. /maɪn/ d. /meɪn/ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 42 published by scholink inc. 18. the word “house” is pronounced as: a. /haʊs/ b. /hᴐ:s/ c. /hәʊs/ d. /hʊs/ 19. the word “noise” is pronounced as: a. /nɔɪz/ b. /nᴐ:z/ c. /nez/ d. /nʊz/ 20. the two-initial consonant cluster in the word “drive” is pronounced as: a. /dɪraɪv/ b. /deraɪv/ c. /draɪv/ d. /dɪrɪv/ 21. the three-initial consonant cluster in the word “street” is pronounced as: a. /stri:t/ b. /sɪtri:t/ c. /stɪri:t/ d. /sri:t/ 22. the two-final consonant cluster in the word “books” is pronounced as: a. /bo:ks/ b. /bʊks/ c. /bʊkɪs/ d. /bʊkes/ 23. the three-final consonant cluster in the word “midst” is pronounced as: a. /mɪdɪst/ b. /mɪdst/ c. /mɪdi:st/ d. /mɪdsɪt/ 24. the four-final consonant cluster in the word “sixths” is pronounced as: a. /sɪksθs/ b. /sɪkɪsθs/ c. /sɪkɪsθɪs/ d. /sɪkɪsɪθɪs/ 25. the five-final consonant clester in the words “milk’s free” is pronounced as ː a.mɪlkɪsfri b.mɪlksfri c. mɪlksɪfri d.mɪlksfɪri 26.the six-final cluster in the words “next spring” is pronounced asː a. nekst sprɪŋ b. neksɪt sprɪŋ c.nekst sɪprɪŋ d. nekst spɪrɪŋ 27.the seven-final consonant cluster in the words “the text’s stupid” is pronounced asː a. ðә tekɪsts stuːpɪd b. ðә teksɪts stuːpɪd c. ðә tekstɪs stuːpɪd d. ðə teksts stjuːpɪd 28.the word “player” is pronounced asː a. \plaɪә\ b.\pleɪə\ c.\pliːr\ d.\plaɪr\ 29. the word “react” is pronounced asː a.\riːkt\ b.\riakt\ c.\riekt\ d.\rekt\ 30.the word “being” is pronounced as ː a. \biːiŋ \ b.\ beɪŋ \ c.\biːŋ \ d.\beŋ\ 31. the words “you aren’t” are pronounced as ː a.\juːaːnt\ b.\jɔːaːnt\ c.\juːnt\ d.\jaːnt\ 32. the words “my own” are pronounced asː a.\miː oun\ b.\mai oun\ c.\mei oun\ d.\mai uːn\ 33.the words “two hours” are pronounced as ː a.\tuː haurz\ b.\tuː әʊәz\ c.\tuːauəz\ d.\tuːuәz\ microsoft word elsr-v1n1-p138.docx education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 138 original paper the status of the arab women in israel: trends, changes and factors sara gabaren1* 1 west university of timisoara, timisoara, romania * sara gabarin, phd student, west university of timisoara, timisoara, romania received: june 4, 2020 accepted: june 12, 2020 online published: june 13, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n1p138 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n1p138 abstract the term “the arab society in israel” represents about one-fifth of the country’s population, with about 80% of the population being muslim, 12% christian, and 9% druze. this is a traditional society, based on the definition of the complex family and the place of each member in this family. the roles reserved for women within this society, especially among muslims, are domestic roles, linked to marriage and children, the maintenance of the home, and rarely leaving it (fichtelberg, 2004). despite the advancement of the status of women in israel in general, and women in arab society in particular, they are still women who are in a weakened position, who fall victim to violence within the family, including by the spouse (zaatut & haj-yahia, 2016) and are in a status of women who do not work, study or are in any kind of training (neet) (haj-yahya, schnell, & khattab, 2018). however, this situation is gradually changing. in this article, we will discuss a number of changes in the status and beliefs of arab women in israel, as well as known factors affecting the existing situation and the possibility of changing it. keywords arab women in israel, trends, status, rights, knowledge gaps 1. introduction 1.1 changes in the status of the arab women the advancement of the status of women in israel also affected arab women. over the past decades, arab women have become more educated. between 1993 and 2013, the number of arab muslim women eligible to receive a matriculation certificate increased from 39% to 69%, among bedouin women from 36% to 48%, and among druze women, the increase was from 49% to 70% of women (fox, 2017). according to the central bureau of statistics (2017), the number of arab women studying www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 139 published by scholink inc. in higher education increased significantly. for example, in 2000, arab women constituted 10% of the total number of undergraduate students, while in 2016/2017 this figure increased to 19%. among graduate students during the same periods, the percentage of arab women increased from 2% to 15% (central bureau of statistics, 2018). even in the labor force, the number of arab women is increasing, though not sharply. for example, between 1990 and 2002, the percentage of moslem women participating in the work rate was 9.8% and increased to 14.2%, among druze women from 9.6% to 19.5%, and among christian women, the work rate was higher than at the beginning and was 26.8% in 1990 and increased to 33.8% (fichtelberg, 2004). it should be noted that, in 2015, 31.5% of working-age arab women worked outside the home, although it should be noted that 35.2% of the arab women who worked were employed part-time involuntarily (mizrahi simon, 2016). one of the areas in which the change is slow is the trend of the age of marriage. between 1970 and 2006, the age of marriage of arab women in israel increased from 19.4 to 20.8, while among jewish women it was 26.6 (kark, galilee, & feuerstein, 2009). a study that examined this trend among israeli-palestinian women identified a link between an increase in the age of marriage and an increase in the years of education. it should be noted that, in this case, the authors provided a possible explanation that women who marry at a later age risk not marrying at all, and are therefore more willing to acquire education and seek economic independence in this way (sabbah-karkaby & stier, 2017). with regard to ownership of property, the arab woman has inheritance options according to custom, law, and religious law. according to kark et al. (2009), a common custom in the case of a will is that the woman waives her share of the property for the benefit of the family, or there is a will according to which the woman is not given a part of the inheritance. according to sharia law, the woman’s defined share in the inheritance is half of a male heir’s defined share, but it is still mandatory to inherit her a relative share. according to israeli law, women are entitled to a share equal to the one of men. however, in the absence of a will and due to women’s lack of awareness of their rights, the custom of lack of inheritance and denial of property from the woman is common. 1.2 factors which delay and promote the woman’s independence in the arab society many studies have examined the effect of various factors on the world perception of the arab women in israel in terms of their perception of their place in society. for example, in a study of 701 arab muslim women who define themselves as palestinians in israeli territory, a link was found between the women’s justification of violence against them and age, education, residential area, and religion. in all of these cases, the acceptance of a patriarchal approach affected women’s consent to the violence against them to a greater extent than the rest of the factors examined (zaatut et al., 2016). it should be noted that, according to a study conducted among 1401 arab and jewish women regarding the extent of the violence against them, it was found that among arab women the rate of participants who reported being victims of violence by their partners was 67%, more than twice compared jewish women (30-27%). among participants in this study, it was found that young age, high religiosity, and urban www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 140 published by scholink inc. living were associated with a higher likelihood of partner violence towards the woman (daoud, sergienko, & shoham-vardi, 2017). on this issue, pressure is exerted on the young arab women. a study of 40 women between the ages of 18-40 showed that among young women who do not study or work, about half of the cases stem from a gender struggle between the young women who want achieve more in life and chauvinistic men who want to keep women in traditional and submissive roles. another factor that is recognized in literature as delaying the promotion of the status of the arab woman is a patriarchal social outlook. arab women in israel are born, raised and living within a traditional patriarchal society (fichtelberg, 2004; haj-yahya et al., 2018). this is a society in which the identity of the woman is defined based on being married and a mother, roles that are concentrated within the home, while the roles of leaving the home are reserved for men (fichtelberg, 2004). it is a society in which violence against women is normalized, to the point of believing that their partner’s violence against them makes them a better person (zaatut et al., 2016). among the factors that promote the status of the arab woman, a place of honor is given to education. there is agreement in studies that there is a positive link between the number of years of schooling and the willingness of women to seek medical help (al-krenawi, graham, dean, & eltaiba, 2004), to purchase medication even without a prescription (lerner-geva, blumstein, boyko, farhi, & benyamini, 2017), and seek economic independence as an alternative to marriage (sabbah-karkaby et al., 2017). at this point, the difference between education and knowledge about the rights granted to women by law should be emphasized. a study based on interviews among 19 arab-palestinian women living in jerusalem or in the south regarding their awareness of economic rights under the law and sharia law demonstrated women’s lack of awareness of their rights. for example, most of the respondents were not aware of the right to inherit (1/2 of a male heir’s share), and of the israeli civil law, which makes them heirs entitled to an equal share. according to the respondents’ reports, the family often chooses not to inherit property to female offspring in general, whereas in the case of ownership of property such as a house or a vehicle, they do not know any arab women with property registered in their name. of the women who did not know how to respond to their rights according to the muslim law, 2 had academic education (kark et al., 2009). another significant factor is living in an urban environment, especially if it is an urban environment of mixed ethnic origin. in such cases, arab women are exposed to various values from an early age. the accessibility of cellular technologies has been demonstrated to be associated with a more equal and individualistic worldview among young arab women, compared to women living in villages, which are mostly ethnically homogenous (weinstock, ganayem, igbaryia, manago, & greenfield, 2015). this finding is supported in the study of kark et al. (2009), when women’s exposure to information about their rights in the media has shaped a worldview that further promotes the definition of roles outside the home and expression of own opinion. it should also be noted that, the acquisition of education does not necessarily guarantee a free choice and a release from traditional roles. according to karkaby-sabbah (2009), there is encouragement from www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 141 published by scholink inc. the surrounding society that the woman who studies and acquires a profession will prefer professions that are not far from the traditional roles of the woman, such as nursing and teaching. 2. discussion the status of the arab woman in israel is far from being equal. the values instilled in these women at home are based largely on religious and traditional perceptions, which create a submissive self-definition based on family ties (marriage, children) (kark et al., 2009). knowledge gaps among women prevent them from being aware of their rights even by virtue of the traditional religious approach, as can be seen from the example of the issue of inheritance (kark et al., 2009). it can be argued that, there is a trend of slow change for the better. the exposure to new information in the media, especially by cellular means, promotes the willingness of arab women to go outside the home, and of younger women further to study and find work outside the home (weinstock et al., 2009). more arab women go out and study for degrees and professional education (central bureau of statistics, 2018) compared to previous decades, and more arab women go out to work part-time or full-time (fichtelberg, 2004.) higher education reduces the risk of the woman being a victim of violence by the partner (zaatut et al., 2016), provides her economic independence in the event that an independent ability to exist does not exist within the framework of marriage (karkaby et al., 2017) promotes a position at home that does not necessarily correspond to that of the husband (kark et al., 2009) and to take care of her own health, including the purchase of nonprescription medication (lerner-geva et al., 2017). on the other hand, the attitude of the arab society to working and studying women is negative. the patriarchal society encourages the study of professions that match the perception of traditional feminine roles, such as teaching and nursing care (karkaby-sabbah, 2009.) women who prefer to study longer and postpone marriage, or who study a profession that deviates from conventions, may find it difficult to marry, to the extent that they depend on the acquired profession of study as a means of livelihood by virtue of the inability to marry at all (karkaby et al., 2017). in addition, the percentage of women studying and working among arab women is still significantly lower than the percentage of women studying and working in the jewish society (central bureau of statistics, 2018), and higher education, if any, does not necessarily ensure that the woman will know her rights or be able to realize them in the traditional arab society (kark et al., 2009). therefore, despite the current trends of change, it can be argued that the status of the arab woman in israel is still low, in terms of vulnerability to violence, lack of independence and the definition of roles. in this article, we will examine the status of the arab woman in israeli society through the existing literature on the subject. it can be seen that, the trends of improvement, including education and employment, do not necessarily guarantee the arab woman’s ability to live equally in society, as long as arab society in general continues to be traditional, patriarchal, and defines the woman as an internal and submissive role in relation to the man. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 142 published by scholink inc. moreover, the means of promoting independence for arab women, such as work and study, do not guarantee that they will be aware of their rights according to custom, civil law, or sharia law. in light of this, it should be asked whether advancing women’s knowledge of their rights in a more focused manner in the context of law and religion, while understanding the traditionality of arab society, can serve as a more effective tool for promoting equality for the arab woman, in comparison to reliance on studies and education in general. promotion of knowledge and independence based on traditional perceptions can serve as a topic for a future social intervention research. references central bureau of statistics. (cbs). (may 2018). higher education 5777 (2016/17). jerusalem: central bureau of statistics. karkaby-sabbah, m. (2009). basis of the organization of the clan and the status of the arab woman. in f. azaiza, k. abu-baker, r. hertz-lazarowit, & a. ghanem (eds.), arab women in israel, current status and future trends (pp. 71-47). tel aviv: ramot. mizrahi simon, s. (july 31, 2016). employment among arab women. jerusalem: knesset of israel. fox, h. (2017). state of the nation, charts on the subject of society and economy in israel (a. weiss, ed.). jerusalem: taub center. fichtelberg, o. (2004). participation of arab women in the labor force in the last decade. ministry of labor and social affairs: jerusalem. kark, r., galilee, a., & feuerstein, t. (2009). independence and entrepreneurship among arab muslim rural and bedouin women in israel. jerusalem: the hebrew university. al-krenawi, a., graham, j. r., dean, y. z., & eltaiba, n. (2004). cross-national study of attitudes towards seeking professional help: jordan, united arab emirates (uae) and arabs in israel. international journal of social psychiatry, 50(2), 102-114. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764004040957 daoud, n., sergienko, r., & shoham-vardi, i. (2017). intimate partner violence prevalence, recurrence, types, and risk factors among arab, and jewish immigrant and nonimmigrant women of childbearing age in israel. journal of interpersonal violence, 0886260517705665. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517705665 haj-yahya, n. h., schnell, i., & khattab, n. (2018). the exclusion of young arab women from work, education and training in israel. quality & quantity, 52(1), 157-173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-016-0456-5 lerner-geva, l., blumstein, t., boyko, v., farhi, a., & benyamini, y. (2017). cultural disparities in the use of prescription and nonprescription medications among midlife women in israel. international journal of health services, 47(3), 440-459. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020731416661497 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 143 published by scholink inc. sabbah-karkaby, m., & stier, h. (2017). links between education and age at marriage among palestinian women in israel: changes over time. studies in family planning, 48(1), 23-38. https://doi.org/10.1111/sifp.12015 weinstock, m., ganayiem, m., igbaryia, r., manago, a. m., & greenfield, p. m. (2015). societal change and values in arab communities in israel: intergenerational and rural–urban comparisons. journal of cross-cultural psychology, 46(1), 19-38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022114551792 zaatut, a., & haj-yahia, m. m. (2016). beliefs about wife beating among palestinian women from israel: the effect of their endorsement of patriarchal ideology. feminism & psychology, 26(4), 405-425. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353516647071 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 93 original paper the application of puritanism in american early literature zhu xiaoyun1 1 department of foreign language, taiyuan normal university, jinzhong, china received: april 14, 2023 accepted: may 1, 2023 online published: may 21, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p93 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p93 abstract puritanism is an important cornerstone of american society and culture, and it has exerted a very important influence on the economy, politics, religion and social life of american society. it has a profound influence on the american people’s thoughts and culture from all aspects, and has laid the keynote of american society and american spirit, and shaped the american people’s character of hard work, thrift, piety sobriety. early american literary works were also influenced by puritanism, showing the characteristics of simplicity, directness and freshness. this paper discusses the cause and connotation of puritanism, as well as its influence on the american character. based on this, this passage takes the autobiography of franklin and the declaration of independence as examples to analyze the specific application of puritanism in early american literary works. keywords puritanism, autobiography of franklin, the declaration of independence 1. the definition of puritanism 1.1 origin of puritans puritanism appeared in the period of the english reformation, which took the gallic theory as the main theory and thought of the reform of the church of england. most of the puritans fled to the united states after being persecuted and established colonies here. therefore, generally speaking, puritans refer to the puritans in the united states, while their puritanism was born in england, but its later development and reality were all carried out in the north american colonies. the existence of puritanism in the united states successfully contributed to ideological emancipation, the formation of career concepts, the formation of wealth concepts, and the establishment of the country’s future development goals. 1.2 the ideology of puritanism the american puritans, like their brothers back in england, were idealists, believing that the church should be restored to complete “purity”. they accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin, and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from god. puritans’ lives were www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 94 published by scholink inc. extremely disciplined and hard. they drove out of their settlements all those opinions that seemed dangerous to them, and history has criticized their actions. yet in the persecution of what they considered an error, the puritans were no worse than many other movements in history. as a cultural heritage, puritanism did have a profound influence on the early american mind. american puritanism also had an enduring influence on american literature. it had become, to some extent, so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere, rather than a set of tenets. 2. the influence of puritanism on the american character in the colonial era of the united states, puritanism, as a religious idea, played the role of political theory in the colonial era. its spread and infiltration were accompanied by the whole process of early immigrants’ colonization and settlement in north america. in the united states, puritanism is not only a religious concept but also a philosophy, a way of life, values, and ethical concepts. it has had a profound influence on the american people’s thoughts and culture from all aspects, has laid the keynote of american society and american spirit, and shaped the american people’s character of hard work, thrift, piety sobriety. influenced by puritanism, americans pursue democracy and advocate freedom and individualism. in addition, they believed that individual success could not be achieved without diligence, hard work, and struggle and that they could create wealth and value with their own hands. it was this belief that forged the american dream in their minds. 3. the influence of puritanism on the writing style of early american literature in terms of writing style, the simplicity of puritan works left a clear impression on american literature. reading early puritan works, we are impressed by the freshness, simplicity, and directness of the language. the puritans had many reasons for their preference for simplicity and their opposition to pomp. their simple religious ceremonies, the subtle influence of the concise style of the bible, and the appreciation of the new england congregation and readers all contributed to the simplicity of their style of writing. 4. the application of puritanism in the autobiography of franklin the autobiography of franklin, a puritan document, is one of the most important and widely read autobiographies ever written in the united states, inspiring and encouraging generations of americans. it is of epoch-making significance in the history of american culture. it is an inspirational book that has influenced generations of americans for more than two hundred years. it contains true insights into life struggle and success, as well as moral truths of goodness and beauty. it is widely regarded as the book of the american spirit that has changed the lives of countless people. at the same time, it is a successful history based on concise words, which records a person’s life experience from poverty to wealth and material success, namely the struggle history of a puritan. when franklin was 65 years old, he began to write his autobiography, which was divided into four parts. the first part is set against the background www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 95 published by scholink inc. of printing, and he talks about the ins and outs of his practice. the second part, completed in 1784, is the heart of the autobiography, and it is “the project of moral perfection”, which is the thirteen virtues. the third part of his autobiography is public service, written in 1788. a few months before he died, franklin finished the fourth part of his autobiography, which lasted until 1789. according to its writing style and content, we can clearly feel the embodiment and application of puritanism in this book. to begin with, the bible is the most basic cultural reading book for generations of immigrants in north america. puritan writers have been deeply influenced by the bible since they were young and gradually formed a literary style characterized by simplicity freshness, and directness. this style of writing exerted an extremely important influence on later american literature, which is reflected in the formation process of the colloquial style of american literary language. the autobiography of benjamin franklin was written in amiable, plain-spoken english. the simplicity of the narration, the plainness of the style, as well as lucidity of the meaning, all involves in this great book, evoking no sense of affectation and hypocrisy. this writing style is the salient pattern of puritan simplicity, directness, and concision. moreover, it is hard to argue that benjamin franklin was a devout puritan, especially when he became the spokesman of the american enlightenment, openly presenting himself as a rational deist; however, as a person from a calvinist background, raised in a devout puritan family, he could not escape the lifelong influence of puritanism, which had burned its way into the very texture of his consciousness and served as an enduring and powerful shaping factor in american culture. autobiography is clearly a puritan document of self-examination, and the thirteen virtues that franklin sets for himself to achieve moral perfection is, as it were, the continuum of puritan self-improvement. in his explanation, he said: “i wish to live without committing any fault at any time; i would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might let me into.” for him, the reason for this arduous and bold project of moral perfection was that he was a man of virtue, and not inclined to do evil, as strict puritan doctrines required. as a type, the puritans were very much given to self-analysis. derived from calvinism, puritans faithfully believed in predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement. according to calvinist tenets, man is inherently evil because adam and eva have lost their innocence by stealing the forbidden apple; thus paradise disappeared and humanity suffered a hereditary corruption and was enslaved by his sense of sin. it was god who would infuse his grace into the sinful and savaged him. but this divine salvation is limited—only a select few will be cleansed, while the rest must experience hellfire after death. at the same time, god’s chosen people are predestined, and no one can change it. influenced by this doctrine, and by the desire to prove that they are god’s chosen ones and that morality is sufficient to meet god’s moral standards, the puritans constantly examined their own consciences to determine what should be grasped to ensure salvation. so the puritans were always keeping diaries and analyzing themselves. franklin is such the case. the thirteen virtues courses he rigorously adhered to helped purify his evil mind, the little book he kept to record his daily progress, the charts he made to track his daily self-reflection—all these added testimonies to the fact that franklin was a passionate puritan, and puritan moral codes remained in evidence in franklin’s moral formation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 96 published by scholink inc. besides, the most influential thirteen virtues—temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, chastity as well as humanity, also evidently embody the ethics that puritans advocate. puritans were a group of people who believed in simple tastes, a strict moral code, and a quiet way of life. they emphasized self-restraint and self-discipline to a certain extent. for example, temperance, the top virtue observed by franklin, falls particularly into this category. “eat not too dullness; drink not to elevation”, the precept given to this virtue is consistent with the puritan code of drinking in moderation so as to keep a sober mind. silence, sincerity, justice, cleanliness, tranquility, and chastity all dwells on the endeavor of a man to be simple, serene, noble, sincere as well as innocent before this secular world, immune from natural evil desire. above all, the most predominant of these virtues are industry and frugality, as franklin’s own career amply illustrated. in terms of frugality, he stressed “waste nothing”, while in terms of industry, he gave prominence to “lose no time; cut off all unnecessary actions.” in a manner of speaking, the emphasis of two virtues lies in cherishing time, hard-working, and fulfilling the right course. according to the puritan ethic, industry is based on the idea that hard work is an integral part of one’s mission and a visible sign or result of one’s personal salvation. god is omnipotent and therefore predetermined. material life is at the same time spiritual; each stage of life, surrounded by god’s plan, has its own meaning. thus, a man’s career is a holly calling, a sign of obedience to the will of god, to obtain prosperity through industry; as for time and fate, which are also appointed by god’s divine plan, they have a special meaning, and should not be wasted, but should be saved for charity. in this context, franklin’s frugality and industry are clearly related to the puritan fear of god. as for resolution and order, there is no doubt that it was necessary to carry out these puritan practices. suffice it to say here that franklin’s last virtue, humility, is a perfect example of his devotion to god: no matter how successful he became, happiness was always a blessing from god. above all, it can be stated safely that the autobiography of benjamin franklin is a mirror of the puritan influence on his philosophical formation. 5. the application of puritanism in the declaration of independence early american literature mostly focuses on theology and political areas. the declaration of independence is another work that perfectly applied the thought of puritanism. since, ideas written or spoken word, inspire and direct men’s actions, the writers held vitally important places in the movement for american independence. freedom was won as much by the fiery rhetoric of thomas paine’s common sense and the eloquence of the declaration of independence by the weapons of washington or lafayette. the declaration of independence heralded not only the birth of a new nation but also a philosophy of human freedom, an important force in the western world. it was founded on particular grievances, but more so on the broad individual liberties and individual will that americans hold dear. both here and in american literature, americans defend their freedom, however, they choose to interpret it. the puritans believed they had a mission to redeem the world, determined to “be free to live as one wishes in a desolate place and to bring christ to this far world.” american democracy is a successful www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 97 published by scholink inc. example of world democracy. the declaration of independence in 1776 clarified the idea of democracy. the establishment of the american democratic system depends on early puritanism. for example, in the statement—“we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that they are among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, it emphasizes human rights, democracy, freedom and pursuit of happiness, which coincides with the spirit of puritanism. in a word, puritanism had a profound influence on american literature. under the influence of puritan culture, various writers applied puritanism to their works, which formed a unique style of early american literature. references benjamin. franklin, translated by shi zhaoying. (2004, august). first edition. china international broadcasting press. chang, y. x. (2008). a brief history of american literature (3rd ed., p. 35). tianjin: nankai university press. chang, y. x. (n.d.). selected reviews of american literary studies. tianjin: nankai university press. hu, y. y. (2013). a preliminary exploration of puritanism in the autobiography of franklin. new west, 2013(36). li, y. c. (2011, april). the puritanism of the thirteen virtues in franklin’s autobiography. cultural forum. tang, r. f., & hao, f. q. (2016). puritanism and the characteristics of early american literature. journal of north china electric power university, 10(5). xuan, n. n. (2013, august). the roots of american national spirituality: puritanism and its influence. knowledge window. zhang, y. (n.d.). on the influence of puritanism on early american literature. literary review, foreign literature. zou, x. y. (n.d.). puritanism in early american literature. literary review, foreign literature. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 13 original paper the old man and the sea revisited in a linguistic perspective ping yang1 1 foreign language department, yunnan normal university, kunming, china received: october 1, 2023 accepted: october 23, 2023 online published: november 6, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n5p13 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n5p13 abstract hemingway’s novel the old man and the sea was published in 1952 and won the nobel prize for literature two years later. as an excellent work created by hemingway, the language style of the old man and the sea highlights hemingway’s literary characteristics. he likes to use simple and colloquial language and flexible collocation of verbs and nouns to drive the plot development of the story, and then combine various rhetorical devices with his own language style to enrich the ideas of the whole novel. many creative skills make the whole novel memorable, fully show the linguistic features of the old man and the sea. from the perspective of linguistics, this paper analyzes the unique aesthetic style created by the powerful expression techniques in the novel. this paper analyzes the novel from two perspectives: linguistic features and metaphorical meaning. in terms of linguistic features, this paper mainly analyzes the concise language style, the ingenious use of personal pronouns and the appropriate code-switching. in terms of metaphorical meaning, this paper mainly analyzes the metaphorical meaning of the old man, the sea, the shark and marlin and the lion in this novel. keywords hemingway, the old man and the sea, linguistic feature, metaphorical meaning 1. introduction hemingway always adheres to the concise language style in his works, especially in the narrative language of the old man and the sea. hemingway’s unique language style is known as “iceberg” style in the literary circle. this concise language expression technique can convey deeper thoughts and emotions to readers (cheng, 2013). hemingway’s characters are never grandiose, and he never uses too much flowery language, which is consistent with his simple and crisp writing style. in the old man and the sea, hemingway portrays the tough image of a sea fisherman, showing the indomitable and brave persistence of human nature. the old man and the sea not only uses concise and simple language to shape the classic image of the hero, at the same time, it is also the perfect display of hemingway’s iceberg creation style. if one wants to feel www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 14 published by scholink inc. hemingway’s personality charm and creation charm, he must fully grasp hemingway’s linguistic features and metaphorical techniques in the lines of his works. 2. the linguistic features of hemingway’s the old man and the sea 2.1 concise language style hemingway’s unique language style can convey a deeper level of thought and emotion and creation purpose to readers. this condensed and concise language style firmly grasps the reader’s thoughts and psychology. at the same time, the language style shows hemingway’s humble and restrained temperament. he gives the most direct and objective description of the characters, and does not make any comments or explain the characters and events in his works; he presents the most simple sentences to the readers, does not express any emotional attitude of his own, and does not impose his personal purpose on the readers. in terms of vocabulary, he likes to use simple words in his novels. generally speaking, rich content is obtained by rich vocabulary. in the old man and the sea, however, hemingway often uses small, basic and common english words, and mostly nouns rather than verbs. this is evident in the first paragraph of the book. the longest word in the first paragraph, permanent, has just nine letters. the average length is just 3.5 letters. except for the two professional words gaff and harpoon, the other words used in this paragraph are basic and common words, which can be understood by the average beginner of english. in this paragraph, the author mostly uses nouns instead of verbs. among the 146 words, the author uses 10 verbs and 7 adjectives. when expressing modification, the author often uses nouns to modify nouns, which makes the article concise and simple, reflecting the author’s consistent creation style. moreover, hemingway often uses very short sentences in the old man and the sea, making the novel more rhythmic by means of short sentences as the main body and long sentences as the auxiliary. in this novel, a sentence is usually ten words or less, but compared with other long sentences, it is easier for the reader to understand and make people want to read. the following passage about santiago’s fight with the shark is a good example: i must not think nonsense, he thought. luck is a thing that comes in many forms and who can recognize her? i would take some though in any form and pay what they asked. i wish i could see the glow from the lights, he thought. i wish too many things. but that is the thing i wish for now. he tried to settle more comfortably to steer and from his pain he knew he was not dead. the paragraph contains seven sentences. the first and fifth sentences are simple sentences with only five words each, while the rest are extremely simple compound sentences consist of a main clause and a short attributive or object clause with fewer words. the repeated use of this simple sentence pattern gives the article an urgent and rapid effect, reflecting the intense intensity of santiago’s fight with the shark. in addition, the author does not use flowery words and lengthy psychological description to depict the character image, but through simple language, so that readers can directly describe a tough fisherman in their mind, leaving a huge space for readers to imagine. the old man is both warm and tough, his “tough www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 15 published by scholink inc. guy” image deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. hemingway’s concise language captures the calm attitude and elegant style of an old man fishing under pressure (liu, 2014). 2.2 ingenious use of personal pronouns in the old man and the sea, only a dozen characters appear in the whole story, most of them are only indirectly mentioned or flashed in the story, and the only two main characters who can really be counted as roles are the old man and the boy. but it is in such a short story with few characters that the author uses a large number of individual deixis, among which the third person deixis appears most frequently. in most of the languages we know, there is a personal pronoun system composed of three persons. they are associated with a specific time, place and person, and they represent the relationship between things and people’s social relations in a specific context (he, 2000). the personal deixis is generally used to refer to people, and it is used to refer to animals, objects, things or babies (guan, 2006). but in the old man and the sea, the personal pronouns used to refer to people are used extensively to refer to animals, objects, things or concepts. e.g. he did not take it though. he was gone and the old man felt nothing. “he can’t have gone,” he said. “christ knows he can’t have gone. he’s making a turn. maybe he has been hooked before and he remembers something of it.” after a long wait, santiago finally waited for a fish to hit the bait deep under the water. the old man was so excited and delighted that he uttered the above sentence almost in a trembling voice, and referred to the fish with the masculine third person pronoun he, which he continued to use throughout the rest of the story. the old man used the pronoun that usually refers to people to refer to the fish, giving the fish the wisdom and spirituality of people (dong, 2006). the big fish is a strong match for the old man, using he to call it not only shows that the big fish is special, but also shows the old man’s extremely cautious attitude when facing strong hands. e.g. “i am a tired old man. but i have killed this fish which is my brother and now i must do the slave work.” in the long stand-off confrontation, the old man learned more and more about the extraordinary ability of the big fish and began to admire him. therefore, the old man called the big fish his friend more than once and regarded him as his brother. e.g. “half fish,” he said. “fish that you were. i am sorry that i went too far out. i ruined us both. but we have killed many sharks, you and i, and ruined many others. how many did you ever kill, old fish? you do not have that spear on your head for nothing.” later, when the wild shark attacked, the old man and the big fish had become one. in order to protect the big fish from infringement, and to maintain his dignity, the old man and the big fish face the bad luck and fight with the shark together. so the old man used the first person plural pronoun we/us many times to refer to himself and the big fish. e.g. “he didn’t beat you. not the fish.” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 16 published by scholink inc. the boy was able to feel the subtle and complex emotions as well as the old man, so the fish still had the human spirit in his eyes, so he referred to the fish as “he” like the old man. e.g. luck is a thing that comes in many forms and who can recognize her? hemingway used the singular third person feminine object pronoun her to refer to luck. the old man had bad luck for more than eighty days in a row and was considered salao. finally, an unusually large fish is hooked, only to be attacked by a series of sharks. the old man said it in this case. how desperate the old man was for good luck! he cherished the luck he had just had and looked forward to the future. in this case, the author uses the personal pronoun her instead of it to refer to the inanimate thing “luck”, which perfectly expresses the old man’s complex feelings of regret and sadness for bad luck, longing and expectation for good luck at this moment. 2.3 appropriate code-switching the communicators can accomplish some specific goals by switching the codes. using some foreign language variations is an apparent characteristic in this novel, which serves different functions: adapting to the linguistic reality and the mental motivation. adaptation to linguistic reality means that the code-switching is the use of two or more languages or language varieties caused by pure linguistic factors, which completely happened on the basis of the language-internal reasons. if some concepts or ideas do not exist in one language, or it’s not easy to find the equivalent expressions that only exist in another language, language users may switch the codes in order to show what they exactly want to express. e.g. but after forty days without a fish the boy’s parents had told him that the old man was now definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky. in this sentence, code-switching is a way of expressing something cannot be described accurately in english. the spanish word “salao” means the most unlucky in english. hemingway failed to find a more appropriate word in english to express the degree of unlucky, so he chose the spanish word “salao” to show the old man’s bad luck. e.g. the shack was made of the tough bud-shields of the royal palm which are called guano. “guano” means the excrement of sea birds in english. the spanish word “guano” means royal palm, which is a kind material to build the old man’s shack. the writer chose the local language to describe the thing only exists in spain. adapting to the mental motivation means that language users take advantage of code-switching to accomplish his communicative goals. in the novel, the writer chose code-switching as a strategy to express the old man’s emotions for the sake of enriching characters’ personalities. e.g. he always thought of the sea as la mar which is what people call her in spanish when they love her. in spanish, words are masculine or feminine, singular or plural. the use of “la mar” exerts a remarkable influence on reflecting the man’s intense passion on the sea. he compared the sea to a lady, which expresses the old man’s intensive love and gratitude towards the sea. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 17 published by scholink inc. additionally, the writer also adopted code-switching to describe the inner world and thoughts of the old man, which vividly presents the fight between the old man and the sharks, and makes the plot of the fiction more attractive to catch readers’ eyes. e.g. “galanos.” he said aloud. “galanos. come on galanos.” they came. when he saw the sharks at first sight, he felt a sense of danger. because he knew that this kind of sharks was furious, he shouted out their names “galanos” unconsciously. when the shark came back again, he realized that he has no option but to fight with them. he helplessly and mechanically repeated their names “galanos”, which seems to show his determination to meet the challenge. the writer switched the codes to indicate that the old man was ready to fight with the sharks. from the above analysis, it’s clear to know that code-switching plays a vital role in the fiction. the codeswitching is used not only to express characters’ inner world, but also replace some concepts that cannot be described in english. 3. the metaphorical meaning of hemingway’s the old man and the sea there are a lot of metaphors in the old man and the sea, which is also the concrete embodiment of hemingway’s “iceberg” style, reflecting the author’s way of looking at and reflecting the world. metaphor can reproduce the historical creation background in the description of characters and things, express the author’s feelings and experiences, and then stimulate the artistic charm of literary works. it can be said that many images in the old man and the sea have some kind of metaphorical symbolic meaning, which makes the expression of the novel show multiple meanings. 3.1 the metaphorical meaning of the old man in the old man and the sea, the old man is depicted by the author as a character with rich experience, perseverance and fighting spirit, and is an important representative of the tough man image. poverty and bad luck made an ordinary old fisherman brave and strong, as glorious as a hero who died in battle. he never gived up life, and always regard fishing as a lifelong career. santiago believes that fishing is where a fisherman can prove his dignity in life. even with old age, santiago’s heart is still full of fighting spirit. he remembers his fading passion and youth with words and actions, and keeps sailing on the sea of pursuit of ideals (zhang, 2014). in fact, the author uses such a fisherman image as a metaphor for the twists and turns of his own life. the twists and turns of santiago’s fate are the true story of hemingway’s life. hemingway lived through two world wars. as a soldier, he was physically and mentally damaged. as a writer, he was oppressed. the experience of santiago’s eighty-four consecutive days of failed fishing is a metaphor for hemingway’s own hardship, and santiago’s perseverance is a metaphor for hemingway’s determination to complete a terrible work. 3.2 the metaphorical meaning of the sea the sea is santiago’s bread and butter, but also the object he needs to conquer. the sea is so deep that it not only provides conditions for santiago to survive, but also brings danger to santiago’s life. like the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 18 published by scholink inc. battlefield of life, it is both kind and fierce, unpredictable and imperceptible, like maternal softness and also dark claws. while the old man is struggling to catch fish, there will also be sharks always coveted the fruits of his labor, and even the old man’s life may be at great risk at any time. therefore, hemingway metaphorically symbolized the sea as the predicament that must be faced in survival and life. everyone must face the sea. in the confrontation and struggle, we may feel aimless sometimes. even if the goal is clear, we often feel tired and want to give up. only after experiencing all kinds of life setbacks can we find the right attitude towards life and fully understand the meaning of life. 3.3 the metaphorical meaning of the shark and martin the novel highlights the protagonist’s stoicism by detailing the shark’s atrocities. the shark is a symbol of cruelty and evil. according to hemingway in the old man and the sea, the sharks don’t have to scour everywhere for the scent. they swim side by side straight towards the small sailboat, showing the natural greed and cunning of the sharks. the ferocity of the shark is a contrast to santiago’s tenacity and indomitability. he is the executor of justice and the meaning of wisdom (wei, 2012). the symbolic meaning of marlin is very rich, from a positive point of view, marlin symbolizes the ideal and pursuit, from a negative point of view, marlin is a symbol of fierce rivals. in the vast sea, santiago often has a heart to heart conversation with the marlins. he likes the big marlins, and treat it as his old friend. at the end of the old man and the sea, the big marlin’s fish bones are brought back. all the fishermen were amazed at the length and weight of the big marlin, and stood in awe of santiago. here, the big marlin’s bone is a symbol of success and glory. 3.4 the metaphorical meaning of the lion in the old man and the sea, the lion has been mentioned many times by hemingway. the lion is a symbol of youth, power and bravery. the lion was first mentioned in the old man and the sea by santiago and the boy while they talking about baseball. the lions reminded santiago of his youth, when he was full of passion and ambition. the last part of the novel sublimates the theme by saying, “the old man was dreaming about the lions.” the vitality, courage and justice of the lion show that the hope and spirit of santiago will never die, and the tough guy image of santiago will live forever in the shape of humanity. 4. conclusion the old man and the sea is a nobel prize-winning work by the famous american novelist ernest hemingway, which occupies an important position in the history of american literature. based on the linguistic perspective, this paper analyzed the linguistic features and metaphorical meaning of hemingway’s the old man and the sea. the analysis shows that, in terms of language features, the old man and the sea uses concise language, ingenious personal deixis and appropriate code-switching. from the perspective of metaphorical meaning in this novel, the old man is a metaphor for the twists and turns of the author’s own life, which is a true portrayal of his life. the sea is a metaphor for the dilemma that survival and life must face; the shark is a metaphor for cruelty and evil; marlin is a symbol of ideal and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 19 published by scholink inc. pursuit, a symbol of fierce rivals, and also a symbol of success and glory; the lion is a symbol of youth, strength and bravery. references cheng, h. f. (2013). an appreciation of the characteristics of language style in translation of hemingway’s the old man and the sea. language planning, 36, 61-62. dong, r. h. (2006). pragmatic functions of english personal deixis. journal of nantong university, 2, 87-89. guan, d. y. (2006). a comparative pragmatic analysis of personal deixis in chinese and english. journal of hebei polytechnic university, 4, 174-176. he, z. x. (2000). a new introduction to pragmatics. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. liu, x. f. (2014). the language style of the old man and the sea from the perspective of literary translation. language planning, 8, 75-76. wei, b. (2012). a brief analysis of the language style and artistic charm of hemingway’s the old man and the sea. journal of heilongjiang institute of education, 8, 129-130. zhang, y. h. (2014). the linguistic characteristics of aesthetic style in the old man and the sea. yalu river (second half edition), 5, 22-23. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper leading outside the box: principal engagement in entrepreneurial mindset in their leadership louis s. nadelson1* & stacey loyless1 1 department of leadership studies, college of education, university of central arkansas, conway, ar, usa * louis s. nadelson, department of leadership studies, college of education, university of central arkansas, conway, ar, usa received: february 3, 2021 accepted: february 17, 2021 online published: february 27, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n1p119 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n1p119 abstract school principals commonly face a range of decision making that require creative or novel thinking, and these innovative thought processes align with a strong entrepreneurial mindset. we considered entrepreneurial mindset on a spectrum ranging from weak to strong as we empirically documented the entrepreneurial mindset of k-12 school principals. using a survey, we gathered a combination of qualitative and quantitative data from 374 k-12 principals working in the south-central united states. we found those principals held a modest entrepreneurial mindset, and the mindset was predicted by age, the number of memberships to professional organizations, size of the school, and the academic performance of the school. our findings have implications for k-12 principal preparation and practice. keywords principal leadership, entrepreneurial mindset, mindset spectrum, innovative problem-solving, educational system restructuring 1. introduction the work of principals as the recognized leader in schools requires creative problem solving and innovation to establish a culture that is progressive, inclusive, and equitable. we argue the leadership disposition necessary to engage in creative problem solving and innovation is aligned with attributes that in aggregate contribute to a strong entrepreneurial mindset. we will provide more details of the entrepreneurial mindset in our review of literature, but briefly, we define the construct as approaching tasks with distinct consideration of entrepreneurial elements such as calculated risk taking, acceptance of ambiguity, and several other mental framings. thus, the level of a principal’s entrepreneurial mindset is 119 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 likely to be predictive of their capacity to be effective change agents and transformative leaders. our combined experience of more than 40 years in k-12 education, work with principals both as teachers and administrators, and our current work preparing principals led us to wonder how much do principals approach their leadership role as entrepreneurs. in our search of the literature, we were unable to locate any empirical studies that comprehensively documents k-12 school principals’ entrepreneurial mindset. thus, there is a gap in the literature. further, the importance of holding a strong entrepreneurial mindset to be an effective change agent and leader provides the need to document the level of the mindset held by k-12 school principals. to address the gap in the literature and inform the field, we gathered a combination of quantitative and qualitative survey data to assess the entrepreneurial mindset of k-12 school principals to answer our research question: to what extent do k-12 school principals embrace an entrepreneurial mindset in their leadership and what elements of an entrepreneurial mindset do they apply in their practice? thus, the purpose of our research was to document the entrepreneurial mindset of principals and how these leaders engage in entrepreneurial thinking in their practice. 2. review of literature 2.1 role of a k-12 school principal over a century ago, the pioneer of educational administration research cubberley observed, “as is the principal, so is the school” (1916, p. 15), which reflects an early recognition for the importance and power of quality school leadership. however, as our society and norms have shifted over the last 100 years, so has the role of the school principal. no longer is it enough to maintain and manage facilities, budgets, attendance, discipline, etc. as 21st-century educators and policymakers contemplate how to accomplish essential and systemic changes to our educational institutions, the counterproductive barriers established in the economic, educational, and cultural thoughts of the early 20th century remain (willms et al., 2009). to navigate their role principals must have an array of skills and traits that include being a leader and motivator, conveyor of a vision, resilient, passionate, flexible, risk-taker, and life-long learner (gurr, drysdale, & mulford, 2006; sanzo, sherman, & clayton, 2011). according to robinson (2010), student learning is directly influenced by the actions of the principal. we argue student success is substantially dependent on the principal’s ability to develop the capacity of the school to meet the academic, physical, social, and emotional needs of all its students and teachers (brown & wynn, 2007; louis et al., 2010; turan & bektas, 2013). further, the greater the challenges facing the students outside the school (e.g., low income, remote location, marginalized communities) requires principals to be highly innovative to create productive learning environments (grissom, 2011). principals act as the visionary and role models for teachers and students (mitchell & sackney, 2006). in taking action to achieve a vision for their schools, principals are role models and though leaders for considering possibilities, taking action, and being innovative (moolenaar, daly, & sleegers, 2010). it is particularly important for principals to engage in entrepreneurial thinking and leading when supporting 120 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 change particularly in the adoption of innovation. for example, advances in technology and new learning applications have shifted learning and the interplay of knowledge, curriculum, teaching, and learning (barth, 2001) which may be met with resistance. principal leadership is critical for navigating the resistance and promoting adoption. thus, we will use the context of technology integration for teaching and learning and the associated instructional innovations as a context for exploring how principals apply different facets of entrepreneurial thinking to lead others toward change. principals’ leadership is critical for the integration of technology and the associated shift in instructional approaches required for sustained progressive teaching and learning. principals leading the shift to innovative uses of technology for instruction must be able to share their vision, engage in innovative thinking, accept risk-taking, be creative, and have tolerance for ambiguity (gonzales, 2019; kozloski, 2006; mcleod, bathon, & richardson, 2011). through the process of being instructional leaders, principals must also recognize that not all students have the same level of access to technology, creating situations of inequity (mason & dodds, 2005). thus, as principals advocate for creative uses of technology for teaching and learning, they also must consider convey the moral and ethical responsibility to ensure access for all students (garland, 2009). we argue that principals who hold a strong entrepreneurial mindset are more likely to provide the vision, role modeling, innovation, and problem-solving associated with the complexity of adopting education innovations (gonzales, 2019) such as the integration of technology and equitable access (ayub & othman, 2013). additionally, principals who hold an entrepreneurial mindset are also more likely to be better positioned to lead the creation and support for school cultures that foster teachers’ beliefs that all students can grow, learn, and succeed (dweck, 2007; farrington et al., 2012). the importance of principal leadership for student success, school culture, solving problems, and promoting innovations justifies researching the thought patterns of principals. particularly of interest to us is the level to which principals think like entrepreneurs in their roles as school leaders. holding and expressing entrepreneurial traits and thoughts is of critical importance for solving complex problems beyond those of innovation instruction. entrepreneurial thinking is critical for effectively leading in complex situations such as orchestrating school building closures and implementing virtual teaching and learning necessitated by unanticipated crises such as the covid 19 outbreak. 2.2 entrepreneurial mindset we define mindset as the way people interpret and approach situations based on their knowledge, experiences, the situation, worldview, and goals. mindsets should be considered on a spectrum (french ii, 2016). where one falls on a mindset spectrum is likely to be developmental (paxton & van stralen, 2015) and may shift with context (mehta et al., 2010). the people we interact with, the location we are in, our personal experience, and the nature of the interactions may influence the mindset that we hold and express (haager et al., 2014). both state and traits of individuals determine a mindset, and therefore, individuals may experience shifts in a mindset due to changes in context and/or the perspective of the 121 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 individual. we also maintain that rather than lacking a mindset people hold a weak mindset, sharing thoughts and perspectives that are essentially opposite of those holding a strong mindset. we define an entrepreneurial mindset as the level to which an individual engages in entrepreneurial thinking. entrepreneurial thinking is an amalgamation of multiple perspectives and perceptions. typically, researchers only examine a single perception or perspective of entrepreneurial thinking to provide a fine gain assessment of the construct (brockhaus & horwitz, 1986; davis, hall, & mayer, 2016; haynie et al., 2010; mcgrath & macmillan, 2000). our goal was to create a comprehensive model of an entrepreneurial mindset that includes accepting of ambiguity (rigotti, ryan, & vaithianathan, 2008), tolerating failure (ucbasaran, shepherd, lockett, & lyon, 2013), engaging in calculated risk-taking (vereshchagina & hopenhayn, 2009), expressing creativity (okpara, 2007), connecting people and ideas (earl, 2003), seeking new opportunities (eckhardt & shane, 2003), and other elements of entrepreneurial thinking. thus, we constructed our model (see figure 1) by combining elements from research in which a reductionist approach was applied to focus on a specific aspect of entrepreneurial thinking. in addition, as we developed our framework, we took into consideration our prior work in which we attempted to create a comprehensive definition for entrepreneurial thinking (nadelson et al., 2018). although an entrepreneurial mindset is commonly associated with business ventures (e.g., shepherd, patzelt, & haynie, 2010), the mindset could also be associated with other conditions or roles (e.g., pollard & wilson, 2014). thus, an entrepreneurial mindset may be applied to a wide range of conditions, and that may not include business ventures such as how principals approach their school leadership roles. thus, we contextualized our framework for the leadership role of principals. for our research, we were interested in how principals engaged in their leadership roles using an entrepreneurial mindset. we wanted to determine if k-12 school principals have acceptance of ambiguity, tolerance for failure, do they display motivation to connect and support others, do they embrace calculated risk-taking, and do they seek opportunities as fundamental practices in their leadership. in our search of the literature, we found reports of principals applying elements of the mindset such as creativity (ediger, 2001) however, we could not locate any studies examining principals applying a comprehensive entrepreneurial mindset in their leadership roles. given the advantages of applying the entrepreneurial mindset attributes to problem-solving and creating new opportunities, there is a warrant for our research. we developed the entrepreneurial leader mindset spectrum (see figure 1) to reflect the different potential array of perspectives that leaders may hold regarding their approach to leadership. at the weak mindset end of the spectrum, the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of the leader would be reflective of a leadership style that does not embrace entrepreneurial thinking. such a leader would approach problems or situations with trepidation, apprehension, or with thoughts of mitigation or avoidance. the goal of a leader with a weak entrepreneurial mindset is to maintain the status quo and distance him/herself from conditions or situations that are threats to consistency. in contrast, a leader aligned with the strong end of the spectrum would hold thoughts, feelings, and perceptions consistent with entrepreneurial thinking. such a leader would approach problems and 122 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 situations with motivation, perceptions of opportunities, and the consideration of navigating the conditions as learning experiences. a leader with a strong entrepreneurial mindset would think about change, progress, and experimenting with new approaches and structures. thus, the determination of the strength of an entrepreneurial mindset should not be considered in terms of a checklist of expression of each of the attributes listed in our model, but rather how any of the attributes are being conveyed in situations of uncertainty, distress, or controversy. figure 1. the entrepreneurial leader mindset spectrum 2.3 application of the entrepreneurial mindset in the principalship the complexity of society and desire for equity and inclusion continues to evolve, which is reflected in the challenging situations experienced in many k-12 schools. for example, schools may have challenges associated with low socioeconomic status, cultural diversity, constrained resources, and retention of high performing teachers while trying to meet expectations of student academic achievement (grissom, 2011). we argue the challenges found in many k-12 schools require the school leadership -principalsto be creative and innovative thinkers to develop viable solutions to complex ill-formed problems associated with the challenges they face. we maintain that principals who exhibit and practice characteristics of an entrepreneurial mindset are uniquely qualified to lead the community, school, staff, and students associated with under-performing schools toward higher achievement and well-being. educators have been slow to adopt new instructional practices that deviate from compliance-based, didactic, and explicit instruction, perpetuating traditions that may be highly detrimental to english language learners, students of low ses, and students of color (darling-hammond, 2001; oakes, 2005). principals with strong entrepreneurial mindsets would lead faculty and staff to identify, explore, and implement creative and innovative ways of teaching that can 123 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 result in instructional approaches that are highly beneficial to students who have been unsuccessful with traditional approaches to teaching and learning. for example, riester, pursch, and skrla (2002) reported principals who lead with transformational and/or social justice orientations tend to think creatively, assume a tremendous amount of responsibility for catalyzing change, and are persistent in supporting the change when faced with barriers or challenges. we maintain the mindsets of principals seeking conditions of transformation and social justice are aligned with a strong entrepreneurial mindset. a review of empirical educational research over the past thirty years verifies that the current compliance-based, factory model of schooling used by the vast majority of american schools no longer adequately meets the needs of young people in our contemporary society (kohn, 2008; rotherham & willingham, 2009; tyack & cuban, 1995) indicating a need for change. further, challenges such as school closures due to a pandemic, competition with private and charter schools for resources, perceptions of school effectiveness, and student need for quality education to prepare them for a highly competitive society requires k-12 principals to take risks, tolerate ambiguity, embrace a growth mindset, and connect people and ideas, which are some of the actions associated with a strong entrepreneurial mindset. when principals demonstrate a strong entrepreneurial mindset, they push for change and promote new ways of thinking about achievement and underachievement; shifting the conversation from deficit model thinking to opportunity, asset, and growth model thinking (riester et al., 2002). such leaders change the conversation from what is wrong with our students based on poor achievement outcomes, to a discussion about possibilities and opportunities that can lead to the transformation of educational practices. for example, a principal would be instrumental in transforming the instructional practices of teachers from being teacher centered to learner centered, a transformation process that requires innovative leadership for vision and support. the entrepreneurial mindset principal realizes that successful missions in pursuit of the institutional vision can best be attained through initiatives aimed at improving or changing system processes (cox, 2006; senge, 2006). through collaborative, distributive, and servant leadership, principals can catalyze teachers’ focus on affording students with opportunities to make connections, think analytically, solve problems, and perhaps even make contributions of new understandings within a body of knowledge (barth, 2001). currently, marginalized and underserved populations are often provided with fewer rigorous, challenging, and relevant instructional experiences than the more mainstream peers (hammond, 2015; oakes, 2005). we embrace the notion that it is fundamental for principals to possess a strong entrepreneurial mindset to lead instructional decisions that elevate educators’ goals beyond traditional education activities that are needed to engage students in higher-order thinking (conley, 2011; kohn, 2008; yair, 2000). given the potential for principals leading with a strong entrepreneurial mindset to be effective leaders and change agents who can positively influence school performance, we argue there is justification for documenting the entrepreneurial mindset of k-12 principals. understanding the level of entrepreneurial 124 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 thinking of principals is likely to be critical to the preparation and ongoing professional development of k-12 principals. 2.4 principals’ actions based on their entrepreneurial mindset we maintain principals’ actions are a reflection of their entrepreneurial mindset. in figure 2, we provide examples of the actions associated with weak and strong entrepreneurial mindsets. the examples of the actions are common to school leadership and is a subset of the large array of possible and probable actions. thus, the actions listed in figure 2 do not necessarily directly align with the attributes of the mindset spectrum (see figure 1) as some actions are likely to involve more than one mindset attribute. we also maintain that the example actions we included in figure 2 can be evaluated in terms of entrepreneurial thinking and thus, the strength of the principal’s entrepreneurial mindset. we posit that many times a principal’s mindset may shift due to context or their level of experience and, therefore, will likely take actions that indicate a varied level of entrepreneurial mindset thinking. however, in general, it is the actions of the principals that influence others and their effectiveness. if principals approach situations with a strong entrepreneurial mindset, they may be more effective due to positive actions that principals holding a weak entrepreneurial mindset are likely to fail to enact. for example, a principal who leads using a weak entrepreneurial mindset may approach a problem by seeking to maintain a traditional solution and maintaining the status quo. in contrast, a principal who leads with a strong entrepreneurial mindset may approach the same problem by seeking innovative solutions and using the condition to create opportunities to provide transformational experiences for others. further, a principal with a weak entrepreneurial mindset would seek consistency, frame conditions in terms of deficits, and recognize barriers as justification for inaction. in contrast, a principal with a strong entrepreneurial mindset would tolerate ambiguity (e.g., acceptance of the potential for an array of possible outcomes associated with risk taking) and try new approaches, frame conditions in terms of learning from failure, and perceive barriers as opportunities. how the principals approach the problem is reflective of the level to which the principals embrace the entrepreneurial mindset attributes of passion for innovation and connecting people with ideas. given the connection a principal’s entrepreneurial mindset and their actions in the role, there is value in looking at how principals resolve issues or challenges as a proxy for the strength of their entrepreneurial mindset. 125 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 figure 2. principals’ actions based on their entrepreneurial mindset 3. method 3.1 research question the goal of our mixed methods cross-sectional survey research was to document the extent to which k-12 school principals embrace an entrepreneurial mindset in their leadership and what elements of an entrepreneurial mindset they apply in their practice. to achieve this goal, we developed the following guiding research questions: ● what attributes of the entrepreneurial mindset do principals convey in general questions about their leadership and role? ● what attributes of the entrepreneurial mindset do principals not convey in general questions about their leadership? ● what personal and professional variables (i.e., age, years of experience) predict principals’ entrepreneurial mindset? 3.2 participants using a publicly available roster of public school principals we distributed an email invitation to 8242 potential participants. we had 492 emails bounced, 467 surveys started and had 381 participants link to our survey, but only 349 completed at least 90% of the survey, which is the size of our data set. the average age of the 349 participants was 49.13 years (sd = 8.25), and they had worked as a principal for an average of 7.97 years (sd = 6.11). of the participants, 58% identified as male, and 42% identified as female. the majority of the participants were white (71%), followed by 18% hispanic, 10% black, and 126 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 1% asian or native american. the distribution of the location of the schools the participants worked in was 47% rural, 34% suburban, and 19% urban. 3.3 principal’s survey of entrepreneurial mindset components due to the novel focus of our research, we needed to develop a survey instrument to gather the data needed to answer our research questions. using an existing framework for a comprehensive entrepreneurial mindset (nadelson et al., 2018), we considered the application of the mindset elements in the context of the work of principals. we then generated a bank of items aligned with various entrepreneurial mindset elements. for example, in alignment with the mindset of tolerance for failure we created items such as “i am willing to take risks for high rewards even if there is a high potential for failure” and negatively stated items such as “when i fail on a project i tend to move on and forget about the project.” we generated over 40 items and then reviewed the bank of items for redundancies, complex stems, and lack of alignment with the work of principals. after our review, we retained 25 items. to validate the items, we asked several professionals who prepare principals to review the items and consider the items in the context of the work of principals. based on the feedback from the professionals, we made minor adjustments to the language of the items. the 25 items are responded to on a five-point likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (a value of 1) to strongly agree (a value of 5). given we consider an entrepreneurial mindset as a whole, the survey did not include any subscales. we also included three open-response items in our survey to gather qualitative data to document the entrepreneurial mindset of the principals. thus, we included the following prompts to solicit the participants to respond: “in a sentence or 2 share why you became a principal” and “what is the most challenging part of your job” and “what is the primary goal as a principal.” the participants were provided unlimited space for their responses. the goal of the open-response items was to elicit responses that would reflect an entrepreneurial mindset that is expressed naturally without explicit prompts. in addition to the open and selected-response items, we included several demographic items such as age, experience, gender, ethnicity, and information about their schools. we used demographic data to determine if there were differences based on personal and professional variables. we calculated the reliability of our instrument to have a cronbach’s alpha of .71, which indicates an acceptable level of internal consistency. 3.4 data collection using a cross sectional methodology, we distributed a survey to principals to determine their current leadership thoughts and practices. our data collection took place online using a web-based survey site. we obtained the email addresses of school principals in a region of the south-central united states from a publicly accessible database. we sent an email invitation to over 8000 principals. we collected data for two weeks. at the close of our data collection, we had 467 started surveys and 381 finished surveys. through data conditioning we eliminated the responses of any participant who had not completed at least 90% of the selected response items resulting in a dataset with the responses from 349 participants. 127 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 3.5 analysis 3.5.1 quantitative to prepare the quantitative data for analysis, we conditioned the data by replacing the missing values with the series mean function in spss and reverse coded the responses to the negatively stated items. we then calculated the descriptive statistics for the individual items and composite score to assess the levels of entrepreneurial mindset. we analyzed the responses to the individual items and composite scores using personal and professional variables as factors or independent variables. 3.5.2 qualitative we used a content analysis methodology for analyzing our qualitative data. we prepared to analyze the qualitative data by reviewing the attributes of the entrepreneurial mindset and the associated descriptions of the attributes. in table 1, we present the attributes we used as codes and the corresponding descriptions we used to focus our analysis. we began coding the data together, discussing each response, and how the data aligned with the different attributes. after our collective coding, we coded 20 items independently and then compared and discussed our coding. once we established 80% interrater reliability, we then coded the data individually. we found we had achieved consistency in responses, saturating our coding after 100 responses. to confirm our perception of saturation we coded an additional 25 responses in our data set and found consistency was maintained. table 1. entrepreneurial mindset attributes codes and associated descriptors attribute code descriptors tolerance for ambiguity okay with not knowing what might happen, open to letting others take the lead, leads regardless of the level of predictable outcomes perceives failure as learning growth mindset, no consequences for failure creativity thinks of new approaches, systems thinker connecting people and ideas leverages peoples’ capacity to implement new projects, success is collectively achieved risk-taking try new methods, high risk high return innovation implement new approaches 128 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 leadership transformational leadership approach, create opportunities for others to develop, collaborative/distributive leadership visionary future thinking, developing solutions, has goals based on what the leader envisions the organization should be curious life-long learning, seeks information motivated to take action motivated, persistence being involved engaged, collaborative, community-minded, increase the growth of others alternatives to status-quo disruptive, need for change, improvement feedback from others seeks to know what others think, organization/goals come first, accepting of criticism by others passion (emergent) a deep emotional engagement to the situation, affective, personalize and owning the situation no mindset attribute reported 4. results 4.1 entrepreneurial mindset attributes conveyed our first guiding research questions asked: what attributes of the entrepreneurial mindset do principals convey in general questions about their leadership and role? to answer this question, we coded responses to our items asking the participants to share why they became a principal and their primary goal as a principal. we chose the two items due to the expected positive responses that convey the enactment of the attributes. following coding, we determined the percentage of responses corresponding to each entrepreneurial mindset attribute to assess the relative frequency of the expression of the attributes. our analysis revealed the participants most frequently conveyed the entrepreneurial mindset attributes of a desire to be involved, engaging in leadership, motivation to take action, and being visionary (see figures 3). at a more moderate rate, the participants’ responses reflected the entrepreneurial attributes of seeking alternatives to the status quo, connecting people and ideas, and innovation. less than 10% of the participants communicated the remaining entrepreneurial mindset attributes in their responses. our 129 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 results suggest that the principals tend to express some attributes of an entrepreneurial mindset but rarely consider others, which may indicate a fragmented mindset. figure 3. relative frequency of the entrepreneurial mindset attributes conveyed in sharing the primary goals as a principal and motivation to become a principal in table 2, we present participants’ responses to the two free-response items representative of the coded entrepreneurial mindset attributes. our results indicate that the participants tended to convey a limited scope of entrepreneurial thinking when explaining their professional goals and motivation for becoming a principal. our results suggest that the principals do not think in ways aligned with a strong entrepreneurial mindset and, therefore, may tend to hold and think using a weak to moderate entrepreneurial mindset. 130 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 table 2. attributes and representative responses from the participants conveying a strong entrepreneurial mindset attribute representative responses tolerance for ambiguity “...i also want to provide freedom for my risk-takers who want to try new things in their classroom.” perceives failure as learning “coach and develop teachers to never stop learning and to try new things to increase student achievement. protect them from outside distractions and influences to stay focused on our priorities as a campus.” creativity “to remove obstacles that stand in the way of teacher success with students.” connecting people and ideas “to help all our students have choices and open doors when it comes to what they’ll do post high school. students only have the prerequisites we prepare them with and those pre reqs can broaden or limit options post high school.” risk-taking “i wanted to effect change at an institutional level, and influence the education of students positively on a broader scale than i could reach in the classroom.” innovation “to create a stimulating and engaging learning environment that promotes curiosity and improves self-esteem.” leadership “i have the ability to lead others and build capacity--being a principal has given me the opportunity to positively impact more students than i ever could as a classroom teacher.” “i became a principal because i enjoy helping teachers understand the needs of students with challenging behaviors (academic or social-emotional).” visionary “to change the world through education.” “i am a strong believer in education and making a difference for our future.” curious no response found motivated to take action “i wanted to lead teachers and students in a way that would bring value to public education and their lives.” “attitude reflects leadership change the culture of school.” 131 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 being involved “to serve the teachers and students to help them reach their maximum potential. i want our schools, not just mine, to be a staple in community pride.” alternatives to status quo “to get the school off of the ir list.” “organizational change from the inside out.” feedback from others “i became a principal because i like being able to have an impact on an entire organization by leading, listening, and learning.” passion “i love seeing kids grow. i believe it is the most rewarding job.” “i love kids and teachers! i love being able to make a positive impact!” no mindset attribute identified “it was a natural step in career advancement. my grandmother was a principal in this district, so people expected me to follow that path.” “i was appointed to turn around this campus.” “student safety & support.” 4.2 entrepreneurial mindset attributes not conveyed our second guiding research questions asked: what attributes of the entrepreneurial mindset do principals not convey in general questions about their leadership? to answer this question, we coded one free-response item for attributes of the entrepreneurial mindset that would enable the principals to solve the challenges they face in their role. we choose the item due to the expected negative responses that convey a lack of enactment of entrepreneurial mindset attributes and, therefore, the thoughts and actions of approaching problems as opportunities for change. our coding revealed almost all the participants tended not to approach their challenges with a strong entrepreneurial mindset. in table 3, we provide the attributes of a strong entrepreneurial mindset along with a representative response in which we perceive the challenge could be resolved by applying the mindset attribute. for example, the response “not having consistent systems from district leadership” could be resolved through the mindset attribute “tolerance for ambiguity” which suggests the participant does not engage in the challenge with the entrepreneurial mindset attribute reflecting the potential for a weak mindset. with few exceptions, the challenges that the participants shared they faced were not framed in terms of problem-solving using the thoughts and actions that define an entrepreneurial mindset. an exception is a participant who shared, “it’s all challenging but i don’t look at it that way because i love what i do and i possess a growth mindset” which reflects a strong entrepreneurial mindset. 132 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 table 3. attributes and representative responses not conveying a strong entrepreneurial mindset attribute representative responses tolerance for ambiguity “not having consistent systems from district leadership.” perceives failure as learning “to be an instructional leader for my teachers because there are constant interruptions of my day, starting at a clogged toilet to a child having a meltdown.” “the baggage that students bring to school and knowing that sometimes i can’t do anything to relieve that pressure because their life influences outside of school are too great.” creativity “not enough time, staffing, and money” connecting people and ideas “...having to share information/mandates from the district level that i know are overwhelming for teachers.” risk-taking “...getting the staff to trust me and to buy into our mission and vision. i took over my current campus mid-year, replacing a principal who had been the campus leader for over 15 years.” “after 12 months as the new principal, we have made significant physical changes to the campus and streamlined our processes and procedures. buy-in from the district, parents, and students has been easy; however, buy-in from some staff members, mostly the tenured teachers, continues to be challenging.” innovation “balance is the most challenging part of the job. how to balance between the bureaucratic things that must be done and moving forward in the work of being a learning organization.” “getting paperwork completed. writing up formal observations; i would rather have conversations.” leadership “ensuring everyone is working toward the same goal.” “working with a large number of people.” 133 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 visionary “it is difficult to balance being supportive of the teachers as professionals when their core beliefs are not aligned with mine.” “working with adults who believe the school exists for them and not the students. i also struggle with individuals who do not look at students as individuals and are not willing to try new strategies in the classroom.” curious “leaving work at work and not taking it home with me.” motivated to take action “keeping teachers focused during those months that can be tiring.” being involved “not feeling effective with students and teachers who are struggling.” alternatives to status-quo “personnel is the most challenging part of my job because i am dealing with adults who are often set in their ways.” “parental conceptions about school effectiveness and their role in that process.” feedback from others “dealing with parents who do not value education.” passion “leaving work at work and not taking it home with me.” no mindset attribute identifiable “cash flow” “politics” “staffing” “adult interactions” in figure 4, we present the percent of the participants who conveyed challenges that could potentially be resolved by applying one or more attributes of a strong entrepreneurial mindset. using the perspective of a strong entrepreneurial mindset, we found the principals most frequently conveyed challenges that might be resolved by applying the attributes of leadership, connecting people and ideas, getting involved, and innovation. at a moderate level of frequency, the challenges could be resolved if the principals applied the strong entrepreneurial mindset attributes of risk-taking, perceives failure as learning, creativity, seeking alternatives to the status quo, and tolerance for ambiguity. at a low frequency, the participants shared challenges that could be resolved through the application of the strong entrepreneurial attributes of being visionary, motivation to take action, seeking feedback from others, passion, and being curious. thus, we found the challenges that principals convey are more likely to be resolved with a subset 134 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 of the strong entrepreneurial mindset attributes. it is important to note that we are not classifying the specific level on the spectrum of the mindset, but rather considering the narratives as being reflective of potential attributes associated with the mindset. figure 4. frequency of the entrepreneurial mindset attributes not expressed that could be applied to solve the challenge 4.3 entrepreneurial mindset and personal and professional variables our last guiding research question stated: what personal and professional variables (i.e., age, years of experience) predict principals’ entrepreneurial mindset? to answer this question, we first calculated a composite variable from the answers to our selected-response items associated with the expression of the attributes of a strong entrepreneurial mindset. the mean for the composite score for the attributes was 3.65 (sd = .33). interpreting the mean for attribute expression on the entrepreneurial mindset spectrum (see figure 1) would indicate that the principals as a group have a modest expression of the mindset attributes which we equate to a modest entrepreneurial mindset. the modest entrepreneurial mindset is consistent with the findings from the analysis of qualitative data, which indicated fragmented mindset attribute expression. 135 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 with the composite score for mindset level under consideration, we proceeded with our analysis by conducting a series of descriptive and inferential statistical analysis including correlation, t-test, and anova using the composite score for entrepreneurial mindset as the dependent variable and different personal and professional variables as predictors. we began by conducting a series of correlation calculations to determine the relationships among the continuous variables including age, years of k-12 experience, years as a principal, years in current school, and the number of memberships to professional organizations. we found significant positive correlations between our composite variable for entrepreneurial mindset and age (r = .12, p = .035) and with the number of memberships to professional organizations (r = .18, p < .01). our results indicate that as age increases or membership to professional organizations increases so does the level of an entrepreneurial mindset. there were no significant corrections with the other variables. we did not find age to be significantly correlated with the number of professional organizations. we continued our analysis with an exploration of potential relationships of the composite for entrepreneurial mindset with our categorical variables such as gender, ethnicity, location of the school, type of school, percent of the students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, school performance, and school level. an anova revealed a difference in the level of strong entrepreneurial mindset by the number of students in the school (f(5,342) = 2.914, p = .014), with the tukey post hoc analysis revealing principals in schools with more than 1000 students having significantly higher mindset score (m (30) = 3.79, sd = .32) than principals working in schools with 200-400 students (m(97) = 3.59, sd = .30). our analysis revealed a significant difference in the levels of a strong entrepreneurial mindset by the performance of the school based on state rankings in which the principals’ worked (f(4,330) = 3.40, p = .01) with post hoc analysis revealing a significant pairwise difference with principals in b schools (m(134) = 3.70, sd = .33) being significantly higher than principals in c schools (m(79) = 3.57, sd = .33). we found no relationship between entrepreneurial mindset and gender, ethnicity, location of the school, level of the school, percent first-year teachers, and ses of the students. 5. discussion and implications the goal of our research was to document the entrepreneurial mindset of k-12 principals and to determine the predictors of their mindset. the combination of quantitative and qualitative data afforded us the opportunity to document the mindset using two different methods. the result of both the quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed the principals held a modest entrepreneurial mindset. 5.1 conveying entrepreneurial thinking our analysis of the responses to why the participants became principals and their primary goal as principals revealed fragments of entrepreneurial thinking. the fragments of entrepreneurial thinking were aligned with the general expectations of leadership, such as being involved, taking action, and leadership. a few exceptions were the high level of visionary thinking and connecting people and ideas. however, the responses did not reflect about half of the attributes of an entrepreneurial mindset. we 136 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 suspect that principals are not prepared to think using a strong entrepreneurial mindset, focused instead on the traditional role of leadership as that of authority. further, we posit the general school culture has traditionally been about maintaining the status quo rather than innovative thinking, developing new approaches, and other activities that require entrepreneurial thinking, and thus a strong entrepreneurial mindset. one implication for our finding is the modest entrepreneurial mindset that many principals hold will limit their ability to restructure schools and create new organizational structures and support new approaches to teaching and learning. a second implication is a limited perspective for problem-solving by principals due to limited scope of thinking in relation to their leadership positions. to resolve the issue of principals holding a modest entrepreneurial mindset may require shifts in principal preparation program curriculum and focused professional development. our future research will focus on how much the curriculum of principal preparation programs is aligned with strong entrepreneurial mindset development. 5.2 not applying entrepreneurial thinking when asked about the challenges faced in their role as a principal, the participants indicated a range of deficit thinking in which a strong entrepreneurial mindset could allow the principals to resolve the challenge. we found a few exceptions in which a participant recognized their role has challenges but approach the situations with a growth-mindset and innovation, reflecting a strong entrepreneurial mindset. again, as a whole, the responses indicate a constrained entrepreneurial mindset. we postulate the reason the principals tended not to approach the challenges they face with a strong entrepreneurial mindset is again due to lack of preparation to approach problems with a mindset of innovation and creativity. further, we speculate that the culture of school leadership and some of the immediacy of the challenges in schools are not conducive to engaging in strong entrepreneurial thinking to develop solutions. future research should focus on exploring in more depth what is influencing principals’ approaches to challenges and the lack of an application of a strong entrepreneurial mindset when considering the barriers they encounter in their leadership roles. 5.3 relation to personal and professional variables our quantitative data also reflected a modest entrepreneurial mindset, supporting our findings in the qualitative data. we also found the entrepreneurial mindset level was correlated with both age and the number of memberships to professional organizations. our finding suggests that as people age, they may develop more of an entrepreneurial mindset, using their lived experience to inform how they approach leadership and other situations. we failed to find a relationship between years of experience as a principal and an entrepreneurial mindset, which suggests that an entrepreneurial mindset may be more trait dependent than state related. thus, our results suggest that entrepreneurial thinking can transcend conditions or situations, and is influenced by time and a range of experiences beyond the principalship. however, our finding of an association between entrepreneurial mindset and the number of memberships to professional organizations suggest that age and experience may require focus or intention, such as engaging in knowledge seeking and lifelong learning, to influence the mindset development. 137 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 our quantitative data also suggests that the level of a principal’s entrepreneurial mindset is related to the size of the school and school performance. we speculate it may be the conditions of the schools that attract principals who have mindsets aligned with the culture and expectations of the schools. if a school culture is conservative and resistant to change a principal may be met with substantial resistance to entrepreneurial thinking, due to adherence to tradition and status quo. thus, schools with a conservative culture schools may be more likely to attract principals who hold a weak entrepreneurial mindset. however, schools with a culture of innovation and change may attract principals who hold a strong entrepreneurial mindset due to expectations of novel thinking and creativity. the implication for our finding is the expression of a strong entrepreneurial mindset may be more easily achieved in some schools than others; making the expression or suppression of the mindset contextual on school and community culture. future research should delve deeper into the relationship between principals’ entrepreneurial mindset in relation to school culture and conditions. 5.4 implications for principal preparation practice there is high potential for principals to encounter complex problems in their role such as dealing with a global pandemic, school shooting, student suicide, pervasive bias, or financial retrenchment. these complex problems require creative solutions, teamwork, risk-taking, persistence, acceptance of ambiguity, and tolerance for failure. essentially, solving complex problems require principals to think like entrepreneurs. some principals may develop entrepreneurial thinking by chance over time. however, if principals are prepared to think like entrepreneurs, they may develop an entrepreneurial mindset faster and be better prepared to apply entrepreneurial thinking to solve complex problems. thus, we recommend the leaders of principal preparation programs examine their curriculum and instructional methodology and determine how they may integrate opportunities to foster their candidates’ entrepreneurial mindset, particularly in the context of solving complex problems. further, by thinking like an entrepreneur, principals may be able to prevent or minimize potential problems before they become substantial and disruptive. we conjecture that when faculty of school leader preparation programs focus on authentic learning experiences they position aspiring leaders to more readily comprehend the relationship among vision and strategic actions, which can result in effective organizational initiatives. a related direction for research is how preparing principals with an entrepreneurial mindset influences how they approach solving complex problems as practitioners. 6. limitations the first limitation of our research is the participants were drawn from the same region of the united states. although we found trends and consistency in our data, it may be possible that principals in other regions of the united states or from different cultures may convey divergent thinking. examining the entrepreneurial mindset of principals in different regions and cultures will be needed to determine if our data is representative of the greater community or if our findings are regionally bound. 138 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 a second limitation of our research is the potential for bias in the sample. we distributed our survey to over 4000 principals but had data from only had 349 participants in our final dataset. thus, the participants may not be representative of the greater population, and responded due to their interest in ideas of entrepreneurial thinking. future research may need to do more targeted data collection from a sample of principals to ensure our results are representative of the broader community. a third limitation of our research is the nature of our data collection. we used an anonymous survey to gather data which did not allow us to follow-up with the participants to determine why they answered the way they did to some of our items. we did go through a process to validate our survey items, so we presume the participants’ interpretation of the context and content of our items was consistent with our expectations. however, future research may want to do interviews and observations of principals to determine if our findings are genuinely representative of the entrepreneurial thinking and actions of principals. 7. conclusion principals can be more effective leaders if they lead using a strong entrepreneurial mindset. our research is the first empirical study we are aware of to document the entrepreneurial mindset of principals. our finding of principals holding a modest entrepreneurial mindset suggests a need for a shift in the preparation and ongoing professional development of principals. additional research is needed to further 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(2006). principal leadership for technology integration: a study of principal technology leadership (doctoral dissertation). drexel university. 140 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000045 https://doi.org/10.1016/s1529-2134(03)06008-3 https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=robert%20p.%20french%20ii https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=robert%20p.%20french%20ii https://doi.org/10.1108/ijoa-09-2014-0797 https://doi.org/10.2190/et.38.1.e https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0951-354x https://doi.org/10.1108/ijem-02-2019-0075 https://doi.org/10.1080/13632430600886921 https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2013.851645 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2008.10.001 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 louis, k. s., leithwood, k., wahlstrom, k., & anderson, s. (2010). learning from leadership: investigating the links to improved student learning. the wallace foundation. mason, c. y., & dodds, r. (2005). bridge the digital divide for educational equity. the education digest, 70(9), 25. mcgrath, r. g., & macmillan, i. c. (2000). the entrepreneurial mindset: strategies for continuously creating opportunity in an age of uncertainty (vol. 284). harvard business press. mcleod, s., bathon, j. m., & richardson, j. w. (2011). studies of technology tool usage are not enough: a response to the articles in this special issue. journal of research on leadership education, 6(5), 288-297. https://doi.org/10.1177/194277511100600512 mehta, k., brannon, m. l., zappe, s. e., colledge, t. h., & zhao, y. (2010). eplum model of student engagement: expanding non-travel based global awareness, multi-disciplinary teamwork and entrepreneurial mindset development. asee annual conference and exposition, conference proceedings. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--16093 moolenaar, n. m., daly, a. j., & sleegers, p. j. (2010). occupying the principal position: examining relationships between transformational leadership, social network position, and schools’ innovative climate. educational administration quarterly, 46(5), 623-670. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161x10378689 nadelson, l. s., palmer, a. d. n., benton, t., basnet, r., bissonnette, m., cantwell, l., ... & lanci, s. (2018). developing next generation of innovators: teaching entrepreneurial mindset elements across disciplines. international journal of higher education, 7(5), 114-126. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v7n5p114 oakes, j. (2005). keeping track: how schools structure inequality. yale university press. okpara, f. o. (2007). the value of creativity and innovation in entrepreneurship. journal of asia entrepreneurship and sustainability, 3(2), 1-14. paxton, d., & van stralen, s. 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(2010). from instructional leadership to leadership capabilities: empirical findings and methodological challenges. leadership and policy in schools, 9(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/15700760903026748 141 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1177/194277511100600512 https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--16093 https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161x10378689 https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v7n5p114 https://doi.org/10.12806/v14/i4/i1 https://doi.org/10.1177/105268460201200303 https://doi.org/10.1080/15700760903026748 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 rotherham, a. j., & willingham, d. (2009). 21st century. educational leadership, 67(1), 16-21. sanzo, k. l., sherman, w. h., & clayton, j. (2011). leadership practices of successful middle school principals. journal of educational administration, 49(1), 31-45. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578231111102045 senge, p. (2006). the fifth discipline: the art & practice of the learning organization. new york: penguin random house. shepherd, d. a., patzelt, h., & haynie, j. m. (2010). entrepreneurial spirals: deviation-amplifying loops of an entrepreneurial mindset and organizational culture. entrepreneurship theory and practice, 34(1), 59-82. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00313.x turan, s., & bektas, f. (2013). the relationship between school culture and leadership practices. egitim arastirmalari-eurasian journal of educational research, 52, 155-168. tyack, d., & cuban, l. (1995). tinkering toward utopia: a century of public-school reform. harvard university press. ucbasaran, d., shepherd, d. a., lockett, a., & lyon, s. j. (2013). life after business failure: the process and consequences of business failure for entrepreneurs. journal of management, 39(1), 163-202. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206312457823 vereshchagina, g., & hopenhayn, h. a. (2009). risk taking by entrepreneurs. american economic review, 99(5), 1808-1830. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.99.5.1808 willms, j. d., friesen, s. & milton, p. (2009). what did you do in school today? transforming classrooms through social, academic and intellectual engagement. canadian education association. yair, g. (2000). educational battlefields in america: the tug of war over students’ engagement with instruction. sociology of education, 73(4), 247-269. https://doi.org/10.2307/2673233 142 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578231111102045 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00313.x https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206312457823 https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.99.5.1808 https://doi.org/10.2307/2673233 original paper education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 132 original paper research on cognitive translation process: an overview xu yuemeng1 & liu yongjie2 1 institute of modern history, chinese academy of social sciences—beijing, china 2 research institute for global value chains, university of international business and economics— beijing, china received: july 10, 2023 accepted: july 31, 2023 online published: august 19, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n3p132 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n3p132 abstract translation process is conceived as a cognitive activity and has been received less attention in early research due to the difficulty of lacking direct access to translators’ thinking process. but researchers still made attempts to describe this process. and hence this article reviews the previous research on cognitive translation process, in particular the research model. the article concludes that a descriptive approach to the investigation of the translation process should be adopted rather than a prescriptive approach. keywords cognitive translation process, research models, descriptive approaches 1. introduction traditional research focuses on two domains of translation practice: translation as a product and translator’s competence. the research on translation as a product has been largely conducted from linguistic perspective by comparison with source language texts, for which a considerable amount of different and highly theoretical models has been formulated with equivalence being their primary concern and neglecting other text features such as cultural elements. as stated by peter newmark (1988): the source language text consists of words, that is all that is there on the page. finally, all you have is words to translate and you have to account for each of them somewhere in your target language text. (p. 193) though newmark (1988) suggests to ‘translate words that are more or less linguistically, referentially, culturally and subjectively influenced in meaning’ (p. 193) rather than isolated words, he is in an attempt to achieve equivalence at lexical level. as for eugene nida (1964), he was in pursuit of ‘dynamic equivalence’ (p. 159) through his extensive translation practice of bible. he argued that reader’s response to the translated text should be taken into www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 133 published by scholink inc. consideration of the translation process, in that nida realized that people from different cultures might respond differently to the same text. what nida tried to achieve was that the translated texts should appeal to and produce some kind of emotional response on the part of the reader as that of the reader of the source language and culture to the source texts. the approach adopted by nida, however, was still product-oriented though having taken cultural elements into consideration. nida’s approach is not the only case; in fact, most of product-oriented models, if not all, are more prescriptive rather than descriptive. such models draw heavily attention on linguistic elements in translation, neglecting the subjectivity of translators in the translation processes. the product-oriented study focuses on the analysis of the translated texts, which indeed reflects the translators’ thinking activities to some extent, but far from enough because the processes are much more complicated than the translated texts could reveal. therefore, other approaches should be employed to explore the translators’ thinking processes. apart from the product, translation competence is another focus of translation research, as translation is regularly considered as a professional practice requiring specific competence, i.e., a translator must possess certain expertise to fulfill the translation task and reach a successful outcome. therefore, as a consequence of translation theory being productand competence-oriented, the research on translation process has hardly drawn any attention before the 1980s. in other words, the translation studies have been only focusing on one aspect of the translation proper, because the concept of translation entails at least two aspects: the products of translating and the processes of translating. therefore, previous study on translation can be said to be incomplete. such a situation was not changed until 1980 when ericsson and simon (1980) first introduced into translation studies the empirical approach of verbal reports, which was borrowed from the discipline of cognitive psychology. the verbal report is a data collection method, with which researchers can finally probe into the translation processes of translators that was considered to be inaccessible to direct observations which is due the very nature of human brain, the mysterious ‘black box’. though the method is not without flaws—the method is challenged by many researchers who consider the data collected from verbal reports are subjective and incomplete, and hence are invalid, however, the verbal reports in fact can provide enough accurate information for analyzing and describing the translation processes. hence, this part of the paper intends to give an overview of previous studies on translation processes. 2. an overview of previous studies on cognitive translation processes tapping into the cognitive translation processes has been a difficult task to accomplish, as it is constrained by such intrinsic difficulties as any kind of cognitive processing being not amendable to direction observation. therefore, researchers have put forward models to investigate and analyze the translation process. these models explain the cognitive processes from theoretical point of view in terms of analyzing the products, i.e., the translated texts instead of actual translation processes, therefore less convincing. in order to better understand cognitive translation processes, researchers turn from theoretical studies to empirical studies, which up till now have proved to be an effective approach. this www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 134 published by scholink inc. part is in an attempt to discuss the status quo of research on cognitive translation processes. to begin with, a detailed introduction to theoretical studies on translation process, including two models proposed by seleskovitch and lederer (1968; 1975; 1981) and bell (1991), was outlined, pointing out the achievements they have made. the models put forward by such scholars, however, are purely theoretical and speculative, lacking empirical and concrete evidence to support themselves, and therefore less persuasive, which led to the introduction of empirical approaches to the study of translation process. pioneering research on cognitive translation process was conducted by seleskovitch and lederer, employing the interpretive theory of translation (itt). the itt divided the translation/interpreting process into three interrelated phases: understanding, deserialization and re-expression. according to itt, understanding, as the beginning of translation process, requires both linguistic and contextual/cultural knowledge, for linguistic knowledge itself doesn’t suffice to decode the message contained in source texts. the translator or interpreter needs to comprehend the ‘sense’ in its totality of source texts that is resulted from the interdependence of all linguistic and non-linguistic elements of the understanding process. the ‘sense’ translator or interpreter acquires during the understanding is the non-verbal synthesis, which requires the intermediate phase of deserialization. for itt, the deserialization is an essential part, as the re-expression is achieved through deverbalized meaning rather than on the basis of linguistic form. re-expression, as the reverse process of understanding, is similar to the process of natural language producing, in which the speaker expresses the end product of non-observable thinking activities through linguistic forms. for itt, the translator or interpreter performs the role of ‘non-observable thinking activities’ in the context of translation through understanding and deserialization, as a speaker does in the process of natural language producing, and then formulates linguistic expressions of the intended meaning of the sender of the source texts through re-expression. at the end of the whole process, the end product, i.e., the translated texts, is produced and will be delivered to readers of the target language. though itt outlines a sketch for translation processes, it is a theoretical model based on linguistic theory, lacking of hard evidence. bell (1991) argues that the study of translation is best served by the construction of models of the process of translating, for which he proposed an integrated model of translation process by drawing on linguistic and psychological knowledge. by challenging the notion that laid the ground work for early attempts to formulate a theory of translation, bell argues that the process, during which a translation is produced, and the translator, who performs the act of translating, should be included in the description of a translation theory. since the translation process is carried out by translators, knowledge and skills of translators, translator competence, should be dealt with first before the investigation of the translation process, because it is the question that needs to be answered—‘what is it that translators need to know and be able to do in order to translate?’ according to bell, a translator should be familiar with the knowledge shared by people of both target and source languages, and that knowledge should at least contain five aspects: target language (tl) knowledge; text-type knowledge; source language (sl) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 135 published by scholink inc. knowledge; subject area (‘real world’) knowledge; and contrastive knowledge (johnson & whitelock, 1987, p. 137). lack of knowledge means that the translator would be unable to perform the translation. the concept of information processing is central to bell’s model, for bell divides translation process into analysis and synthesis, which require both short-term and long-term memory of the translator to collaborate in decoding the text in source language and encoding the text into the target language. the analysis/synthesis is achieved through operations at syntactic, semantic and pragmatic levels, which cooccur with the five stages during the translation process—parsing, expression, development, ideation and planning. decoding process begins with text processing which is preferable by concentrating on the clause, and proceeds in both a bottom-up and a top-down manner. as is suggested by bell, a visual recognition system is required to distinguish words from other linguistic forms in the source text, and prepares the source text, through identifying distinctive features of letters, for syntactic processing of the clause. at this stage, the syntactic structure of the clause will be analyzed to acquire the lexical meaning, and when the syntactic analyzer fails to pass through the frequent lexis store and the frequent structure store, it will recourse to the parser for analyzing difficult clause structure, or the lexical search mechanism for tackling the linguistic items that it is not familiar with. when the syntactic analyzer finishes decoding the source text, the process can proceed to the next stage, the semantic analysis. the aim of the semantic analysis is to acquire the meaning of the clause through each syntactic component, and to retrieve ‘transitivity’ relations that underlie the syntactic structure of the clause. during the semantic analysis, the semantic analyzer tries to figure out ‘what the clause it about; what it represents; logical relationships between participants and processes; ideational meaning; semantic sense; and propositional content’ (bell, 1991, p. 53). once the logical form of the clause is identified, the task is handed over to the final phase—pragmatic analysis. in pragmatic analysis, the pragmatic processor has two tasks to fulfill—they are isolating the thematic structure and providing a register analysis. the thematic structure is concerned with the distribution of information and whether it is in a marked or unmarked order. the register analysis of the clause is performed in terms of tenor of discourse, mode of discourse and domain of discourse. tenor and mode provide style information while domain provides purpose, suggesting a speech act. the information from thematic structure and register analysis form a semantic representation supported by the idea organizer and the planner. synthesis is a reverse process of the analysis. the semantic representation of the source text is reprocessed by the pragmatic processor of the target language to find their equivalent style and ways to express the speech act in the target language. and then semantic processor restores the semantic representation received from previous stage to logical forms and passes on to syntactic processor, which searches for suitable lexical items to encode in the target language through the writing system. finally, it gives rise to a target text. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 136 published by scholink inc. 3. conclusion the models of translation processes that are proposed by researchers so far are product-oriented, therefore theoretical and speculative rather than empirical and concentrated on idealizations rather than on actually occurring data. researchers speculate the thinking activities of translators during the translation processes based on the text analysis, such as comparing the source texts and the translated texts to identify the inappropriate translations of the translators, which can provide the researchers certain information about the processes. therefore, the results from such research cannot fully reflect the actual translation processes, and hence more rigid and robust approaches were needed. as proposed by bassnett-mcguine, a descriptive approach to the investigation of the translation process should be adopted rather than a prescriptive approach. the ‘descriptive approach’ means that the research on translation processes should be conducted via empirical approaches rather than theoretical approaches. references bassnett, s. (2002). translation studies (3rd ed.). london and new york: routledge. bell, r. t. (1991). translation and translating: theory and practice. london and new york: longman group uk limited. lederer, m. (1981). la traduction simultanée. paris: minard. newmark, p. (1988). a textbook of translation. new york and london: prentice hall international (uk) ltd. nida, e. a. (1964). towards a science of translating. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004495746 seleskovitch, d. (1968). l’interprète dans les conferences internatinales: problèmes de langage et de communication. paris: minard. seleskovitch, d. (1975). langage, langues et mémoire: etude de la prise de notes en interprétation consécutive. paris: minard. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004495746 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 34 original paper demand for counselling heightens in schools after covid-19 pandemic and associated socio-economic setbacks wahab ali1, ruveni tuimavana2 & prathika gounder3 1 wahab ali is an associate professor in the education department at the school of humanities & arts at the university of fiji. he is the principal researcher for demand for counselling heightens in schools after covid-19 pandemic and associated socio-economic setbacks. he can be contacted on (+679) 6640600, ext. 154, email: wahaba@unifiji.ac.fj 2 ruveni tuimavana is a lecturer in education department at the school of humanities & arts at the university of fiji. he is a researcher for demand for counselling heightens in schools after covid-19 pandemic and associated socio-economic setbacks. he can be contacted on (+679) 6640600, ext. 144, email: ruvenit@unifiji.ac.fj 3 prathika gounder is a lecturer in education department at the school of humanities & arts at the university of fiji. he is a researcher for demand for counselling heightens in schools after covid-19 pandemic and associated socio-economic setbacks. he can be contacted on (+679) 6640600, ext. 146, email: prathikag@unifiji.ac.fj received: july 5, 2022 accepted: july 29, 2022 online published: august 12, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n3p34 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n3p34 abstract the departure from traditional family structure and the evolving social trends with a breakdown in the customary support system has created a gap for fulfilling the physical, psychological and social needs of the children. the emphasis is on the need for an alternative support system to mediate the needs of them and counselling in schools is definitely the bridge that fills this gap. there is no doubt that covid-19 pandemic and associated socio-economic factors have heightened the need for counselors in schools. this study investigates the views of school administrators, principals, head teachers and classroom teachers regarding counselling in schools. a survey research design was implemented and a survey was executed to 100 participants in the western division. 78 of them responded by returning the completed survey giving a response rate of 78%, which is acceptable for discussion. findings reveal that fiji has seen an increase in counselling needs after covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns. findings also reveal that school leaders and teachers are looking forward to a counselling program that prepares counsellors who can assist students suffering from short-term and long-term psychological effects of the pandemic www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 35 published by scholink inc. and prepare students for the ‘new norm’. majority of the participants indicated that counseling skills are indispensable manifestations considering the current unprecedented epidemiological environment. keywords counselling, mental health, substance abuse, stress management, pandemic, socio-economic impact 1. introduction counseling in schools is a profession that focuses on the relations and interactions between students and their school environment to reduce the effects of environmental and institutional barriers that impede student academic success. school counsellors foster educational equity, access, and academic success in a rigorous curriculum to ensure that all students succeed in their education. this calls for trained school counsellors who must be an assertive in creating opportunities for all students to pursue dreams of high aspirations. the counsellor assists students in their academic, career, social, and personal development and helps them follow the path to success (perusse, goodnough, donegan, & jones, 2004). the school counsellors serve as experts and work with teachers, administrators, parents and other school personnel to help each student succeed. the school counsellor as consultant empowers families to act on behalf of their children by helping parents and guardians identify student needs and interests, and access available resources. covid-19 and subsequent socio-economic conditions have increased the seriousness of the counselling situation in fijian schools. the covid-19 crisis has generated unprecedented challenges for schools and their students globally. school counsellors have specialized training which includes knowledge of human development, cultural diversity, counselling and consultation techniques (perusse et al., 2004). likewise, it is a profession which aims primarily to improve the academic performances of the students and helps in social and personal development of the students. it provides the much-needed bridge between parents and students and positively functions in preventive remedial and developmental modes. counselling in schools involves the team efforts of the teachers, the parents and other school staff towards addressing the behavioural, emotional, social, academic or psychological needs of the students (perusse et al., 2004). in the current era, covid-19 pandemic has presented significant and unique challenges to the children and their families. the negative impact on livelihood due to the pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented lockdown on daily life and economic activities might account for part of the mental health problems in those whose earning capacities have dwindled. likewise, disruptions to school, access to familial financial security and related consequences has left students with heightened anxiety and stress (zenone et al., 2021). the ministry of education heritage and arts (meha) has also made public statements about the need for more counsellors in schools. while making her response in the parliament on 18th may 2019, hon. rosy akbar stated that “there was a shortage of counsellors in schools is due to higher education institutions not providing qualifications in counselling.” the substance abuse advisory council (saac) was established on 1st march, 1999 after the passing of the substance abuse advisory council act of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 36 published by scholink inc. 1998. this statutory body was established under the ministry of education to collaborate with government ministries and ngo’s to undertake counselling services to address problems arising out of drugs and substance abuse (saac, 2020). meha has a policy in drugs and substance abuse in schools. this policy aims to promote and maintain a healthy, safe and drug free environment in our schools in fiji where the welfare of students is paramount. the proposed diploma in counselling program is in response to the meha’s policy and is meant for both teachers and working professionals who are related to the field of teaching. this program also intends to prepare counsellors who can assist students who are victims of covid-19 related socio-economic issues like domestic violence stress and poverty. 2. aim of the study the need for a counselling program to address the needs of students in schools provided the motivation for this study. the aim of this program is to prepare counselling practitioners gain knowledge and competence in working with young people aged 6-18 years in an ethical and effective way. this program intends to prepare counsellors who can assist students who are victims of bullying, teasing, substance abuse, drugs and covid-19 related socio-economic issues like domestic violence stress and poverty. likewise, covid-19 pandemic has presented difficulties for everyone, and academic stress and economic challenge has taken the center stage in this lockdown period and has shattered the education system across the globe. this study investigates the views of heads of schools and teachers in regards to the need for counsellors in the school system. the intention of the study is to investigate the role school counsellors could play in supporting teaching and learning and school development in relation to what benefit can emerge from having counsellors in schools. this study is guided by the following research questions: i) why is there a need for a counselling program for teachers? ii) what content would you like to be covered in a counselling program? iii) what impact has covid-19 on the need for counsellors in schools? 3. research significance the findings of this study are considered to be of great importance to various stakeholders for several reasons. foremost, findings will assist the developers of the proposed program to upgrade and improve the content of it. the feedback from principals and teachers will be very informative in the development of the proposed program as they have had first hand experience dealing with counselling issues in schools. there is also a paucity of previous research on counselling requirements in fiji and the findings will assist the administration in better understanding the counselling issues faced by teachers in schools. they will be able to develop appropriate strategies to handle such situations and prepare teachers accordingly. this study will help uncover critical areas and contribute to local literature on the subject, which in turn could be used by relevant authorities in improving their counselling initiatives. teachers would be able to realize the importance of undertaking studies in counselling. the finding of this study will rebound to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 37 published by scholink inc. the benefit of he institutions by providing them important insights into counselling enabling them to strengthen their programs to better prepare counsellors to deal with the diverse exigencies of the covid19 pandemic. furthermore, the study makes considerable contribution through its findings by revealing the intricacies associated with counselling considering covid-19 and associated lockdowns and school closures (nazish, irum, sharif, zubair hassan, & sadiq, 2020). notably, the findings will be of great value to the staff as they are in constant touch with the students and will be able to better understand their behaviour and address counselling issues amicably. this study would hopefully shed light on the pivotal role school counsellors can play in supporting the individual learner or teacher, as well as the school as a whole. 4. literature review counseling is a process in which a counselor provides psychological support to a specific person or a group. they give important tips to create insight that helps people to tackle their problems and channelized them in a better way. nowadays lots of people are consulting counselors to reduce their psychological burden of lockdown of covid-19 (kumari & singh, 2021). counselling was already an essential service that is needed in school pre covid-19 and with an increase in covid cases in fiji, the need for counseling will increase in the schools due to an increase in social problems. these changes included an increase in the number of single-parent families, divorce rates, issues of substance abuse, issues related to sexuality and reproductive health, especially among adolescent age groups and various mental health issues (thomas et al., 2020). some of the common disruptive behaviors identified in fiji are teasing, fighting, bullying, taking other things forcefully, pushing, and swearing (walker, 1994). the factors that may have triggered these disruptive behaviors are numerous and includes, job losses in the family, domestic violence in the family, and relocations of their homes. putting food on the table will be a dire need for any family that has breadwinners losing their jobs or their working hours reduced. according to unesco (2020) the impact which covid-19 will have on poverty levels, it is observed that secondary education enrolment will remain below pre-covid-19 levels even after the re-opening of schools. school attendance will become sporadic and home support may not be fulfilled. home cultures of the majority of indigenous fijians are not very supportive and accommodating to students to excel academically. whilst the job losses are not only limited to a particular ethnic group, but the home support will also greatly diminish for the affected students. this will give an added burden on teachers to prepare students for their learning. in 2020, fiji recorded an increase in domestic violence during the lockdowns (cowley, 2020). these lockdowns are not a favourable state to be in especially in an abusive relationship. the bully in the relationship is in close proximity to the other family members. when boredom or frustrations sets in, this is usually being meted out to other members as the oppressor is unable to get out of the house due to the legislated lockdowns (beena antony & kaushik, 2019). the vulnerable members are usually at the mercy of the abusive members with an absence of external assistance. similarly, a report on fiji gender, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 38 published by scholink inc. disability and inclusion analysis of covid-19 and tc harold reveals increased levels of stress and tension are widespread with greater potential for violence but adequate psychosocial support services are lacking. children who are exposed to domestic violence will be traumatized and will have difficulty in concentrating on their studies. students who are exposed to violence tend to utilize similar means and resort to bullying to show their frustrations with other students in schools (cowley, 2020). subsequently, an increase in the prevalence of mental health disorders like depression among schoolgoing adolescents was reported (sindhu, 2020). school closures have also placed a huge demand on teachers in terms of syllabus coverage. the exam-oriented nature of fiji’s education system further exacerbates the issue. regardless of the locality of schools, they are being measured by the same yardstick. this causes teachers to focus on average and above-average students to raise the school’s achievement. school counseling increases student’s ability to concentrate, study, and ultimately learn. it decreases classroom disturbances (cowley, 2020). counseling services support teachers in the classroom in order to enable teachers to provide quality instruction designed to assist students in achieving high standards. school counselors are trained to recognise early warning signs in at-risk youth (chen & kok, 2017; daniels, 2013). school counselors work with principals, teachers, and other staff to develop and implement school safety, and to prevent school violence. even with growing research about the positive impact of school counseling, school counselors face various challenges in their workplace. school-based counseling across the world shows great variability in terms of focus, role, training, and models (theresa, 2018). 5. research methodology survey research is one of the most important areas of measurement in applied social research. the broad area of survey research encompasses any measurement procedures that involve asking questions of respondents (peter, 2006). different types of surveys are actually composed of several research techniques, developed by a variety of disciplines. survey research does not belong to any one field and it can be employed by almost any discipline (nardi, 2006). a survey design was most appropriate to collect ample information in a short duration of time. surveys are a favoured tool for many who are engaged in research as it provides a quick and effective way of collecting data (wilkinson & birmingham, 2003). in the current study, the nature of the research statements warranted the use of a survey research as survey was also used by arredondo and bauch (2006) in their study about principles’ perception about climate change. as such, five point likert type scale ranging from 5 (strongly agree) to 1 (strongly disagree) was used for numbers 1 to 15 in the survey to develop a better understanding of principals’ view of counselling in schools. selecting research sample is an imminent issue frequently raised by researchers and students (minichiello, aroni, & hays, 2008). according to fraenkel and wallen (2006) researchers are always concerned with what can be labelled as an adequate size for a sample. they further suggest that despite shortage of time and financial constraints into consideration, it is advisable to obtain “as large a sample as they reasonably www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 39 published by scholink inc. can” (fraenkel & wallen, 2006, p. 104). for the purpose of this study, principals and teachers from all over fiji were targeted but it was not possible to reach them all due to demographical reasons and covid-19 restrictions. the target population is the entire group a researcher is interested in and in this case the principals in the secondary schools. the survey was administered to 100 principals and teachers and 78 of them attempted the survey resulting in a response rate of 78% which is acceptable for discussion. table 1 shows the respondents in the survey. table 1. study respondents position n of items principals 8 vice-principals 4 head teachers 10 teachers 56 total 78 the cronbach’s coefficient alpha (α) was used to assess the reliability of the study constructs as it is widely used for assessing the reliability of measurement scales with multi-point items. thus, the reliability of the constructs based on the 15 items was .707. table 2 shows the cronbach’s alpha value of the study constructs. the stated value of cronbach’s alpha reveals it is at an acceptable level and that the constructs are reliable to address the research question. table 2. reliability statistics of study constructs cronbach’s alpha n of items .707 15 the findings section will discuss the items in the table with reference to pertinent literature wherever possible. 6. findings and discussion this section discusses the findings as per the research questions according to thematic approach. table 3 shows the study constructs. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 40 published by scholink inc. table 3. item-total statistics study constructs scale mean if item deleted scale variance if item deleted corrected item-total correlation cronbach’s alpha if item deleted there is an urgent need for counsellors in fiji schools. 63.45 15.186 .178 .707 there has been an increase in bullying and drugs related issues in schools 63.54 14.408 .212 .709 the counselling program should cover the different theories associated with counselling and mentoring. 63.73 13.836 .348 .688 the need for counselling in schools have increased after the arrival of covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns 63.62 13.253 .510 .666 most of the students requiring counselling are affected by the socio-economic impact of covid-19 63.44 12.976 .518 .663 the counselling program should cover the different theories associated with counselling and mentoring. 63.41 13.336 .476 .670 apply counselling skills in addressing issues associated with students in schools 63.37 15.873 .016 .723 reflect on how their cultural background and worldviews affect their psychological practice; 63.38 13.668 .440 .676 deliver imaginative, culturally mindful and inclusive counselling experiences for all clients 63.18 15.604 .086 .715 ensure that efficient and effective counselling services is available to students at all times 63.19 14.703 .380 .688 protect the confidentiality of students’ records and release students’ personal data in accordance with prescribed laws and school policies 63.37 14.600 .254 .700 demonstrate crisis management skills and plan interventions accordingly 63.18 15.188 .221 .702 demonstrate empathy towards the client so that they have better coping mechanisms in life 63.22 14.900 .288 .696 develop and demonstrate well informed decisionmaking processes regarding dilemmas arising in counselling 63.36 14.363 .379 .686 the counselling program should be able to equip teachers and leaders on how to make referrals to higher authorities when a child is at risk 63.13 14.866 .368 .690 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 41 published by scholink inc. the above constructs are discussed using thematic approach in the forthcoming paragraphs. the constructs were informed by literature review and the aim of the research. 6.1 need for counsellors in schools the findings uncovered strong positive emotions about the need for counsellors in schools. almost all the respondents agreed that there was an urgent need for counsellors in fijian schools. only a few teachers were unsure as they may not be facing any counselling issues in their respective schools. likewise, majority (91%) of the teachers agreed that all teachers needed to have basic counselling skills. findings provide sound justifications for having a counselling program for the teachers (see table 4). table 4. there is an urgent need for counsellors in fiji schools frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid strongly agree 37 47.4 47.4 47.4 agree 39 50.0 50.0 97.4 unsure 2 2.6 2.6 100.0 total 78 100.0 100.0 literature supports the findings of the study as counsellors are needed to facilitate academic as well as the social and personal development of learners. according to daniels (2013) the evolvement of school counselling involves balanced approach to counselling which includes support for student development namely in careers, academics and personal or social development. the high need for counsellors is also mentioned by kodad and kazi (2014) who are assertive that changing family trends such as working mothers, divorces, single parent families have reduced the emotional cushioning provided so far by most of the families. also, the immense technological advances, the increased social life and issues such as drug abuse have contributed to stress and strain on the students demanding for more counsellors in our education systems. findings reveal that majority (32%) of the respondents strongly believe that there was an urgent need for counsellors in schools (see figure 1). there is an acute shortage of counsellors in schools and similar sentiments has been shared by educational administrators. one of respondents made the following comment in the survey: “there has been a drastic need for counsellors in schools after covid-19 and after lockdowns when students started coming to school again. they seem to have a lot of social problems at home. teachers are not qualified to deal with delinquent student behaviours and attitudes”. the respondents seem to be fed up with the counselling issues in their schools that they look forward to professional counsellors to deal with such issues. respondents are certain that students wrestle with a complex array of life circumstances and suffer from a variety of mental disorders due to covid-19 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 42 published by scholink inc. socio-economic impacts. these unprecedented situations challenge their ability to focus on their studies and achieve their academic potential, calling for qualified school counsellors who are prepared to provide responsive services to the students. while responding to the open-ended questions majority of the participants raised issues like social media abuse, tiktok, cyber-bullying sexual abuse and pornography. some students also show symptoms of depression, grief and anxiety, while some go in denial and become mentally affected and become misfits in the classroom. according to respondents, demand for counsellors is severe especially after the lockdowns and the socio-economic impact of covid-19 pandemic and its new b.1.617 variant. 6.2 increase in demand for counsellors survey findings reveal that majority (92.3%) of the school leaders and teachers believe that the need for counselling in schools have increased after the arrival of covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns. as the world grapples with the eruption of the covid-19 pandemic affecting millions of students worldwide, as emotional distress has become the “new normal”. a few (5.1%) of them were unsure while only a few (2.6%) disagreed (see table 5). the massive agreement of teachers reveals that they must have experienced the need for counsellors after the emergence of covid-19. it is reasonable that few of the teachers were unsure and disagreed as according to them there was always a demand for counsellors in the schools. table 5. increase in counselling needs after covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid strongly agree 30 38.5 38.5 38.5 agree 42 53.8 53.8 92.3 unsure 4 5.1 5.1 97.4 disagree 2 2.6 2.6 100.0 total 78 100.0 100.0 previous research on academic stress among college students during covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown reveals that majority of the college students in india had the common feelings of fear of death, fear of being isolated, sense of meaninglessness and anxiety. moreover, the lockdown situation had shot up the academic stress levels among college students where they were clueless about what would happen next (gupta, 2020). likewise, according to nazish et al., (2020) routines, social interactions and friendships are among the most important factors responsible for children’s normal psychological development. since the covid-19 related disease containment measures and school closures became common, an increase has been noted in students’ delinquent behaviours and stress levels. on similar note, survey data reveals that majority (92.3%) of the respondents agreed that there has been www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 43 published by scholink inc. an increase in bullying and drug related issues in schools. although there had been some mixed feelings, respondents established that the effects of drug and substance abuse leads to increase in social problems such as crime, school dropout rate, family break ups, and long-term detrimental health effects. moreover, drug abuse has multiple negative effects on a student’s academics. from continual absences to poor grades, abusing drugs and alcohol can cause damaging academic problems that are difficult to recover from. drug use can also cause mental and cognitive impairments that make it difficult for students to succeed in school (saac, 2020). the meha is aware of this issue and has policy document in this regard. the policy aims to promote and maintain a healthy, safe and drug free environment in our schools in fiji where the welfare of students is paramount (meha, 2008). the ministry does not permit the possession, consumption promotion, distribution, or sale of all drugs including alcohol, tobacco and marijuana. more so, drug and substance abuse is ranked as one of the worst amongst fiji’s problems as it has detrimental effects on health, our society, the economy and security of the nation. the national substance abuse advisory council nsaac is a statutory body that was established through the national substance abuse advisory council act of 1998 to work under the ministry. cabinet has agreed that the primary objective of nsaac should be, ‘the promotion of health and the minimisation of harm associated with the abuse and misuse of alcohol and other substances for students in schools and the community as well’(meha, 2008). a study undertaken in malaysia revealed an increase in disciplinary, drug problems, vandalism and social problems in (chen & kok, 2017) 6.3 socio-economic impact the economic impact of covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns are evident in the decline in growth, trade and employment in all countries. closure of businesses, job lay-offs and supply chain disruption have been prominent regionally. the impacts are more pronounced with the decline in income and rise in expenditure. the adverse impacts are significant and recovery and adjustment to the new normal will take time. disruption to food distribution networks, loss of livelihoods, safety nets, panic hoarding of essential goods, limited access to healthcare and schools has led to counselling issues in schools. there is no doubt that, covid-19 has created stress on our educational systems at all levels. school closures, even when temporary, are challenging for copious reasons. foremost, there is a reduction in instructional time, which impacts learning achievement as when schools close, educational performance suffers. the findings uncovered strong positive emotions about the need for counselling in schools. almost all (91%) of the respondents are in agreement that majority of students who require counselling in schools are affected by the socio-economic impact of covid-19 (see table 6). there were only a few disagreements some were unsure as counselling is multi-dimensional and there are many variables to consider. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 44 published by scholink inc. table 6. students requiring counselling are affected by the socio-economic impact of covid19 frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid strongly agree 45 57.7 57.7 57.7 agree 26 33.3 33.3 91.0 unsure 5 6.4 6.4 97.4 disagree 2 2.6 2.6 100.0 total 78 100.0 100.0 disrupting schooling also leads to other immeasurable losses, such as inconveniences to families, decreased economic productivity as parents struggle to balance work obligations with childcare. the closures also compound educational inequities because economically advantaged families tend to have higher levels of stress and their children also get affected (kalim & maleeha, 2021). similarly, the education disruption has had, and will continue to have, substantial effects on students. closures of educational institutions hamper the provision of essential services to children and communities, including access to nutritious food, affect the ability of many parents to work, and increase risks of violence against women and girls (united nations, 2020). likewise, businesses have shut down and the closing of the boarders has left many airport workers and those in related fields unemployed affecting hundreds of families in putting decent meals on their tables. fiji has developed innovative approaches in support of education and training in form of radio and television to take-home packages. for it must be considered that there are many children affected by a lack of resources or enabling environment to access learning. it is true for the teaching profession and their need for better training in new methods of education delivery, as well as support. in essence, such initiatives place certain demands on the governments, respective ministries and school communities at large as they are key to building a better and more resilient education system. the situation calls for a new breed of counsellors who can assist students in schools whose parents have lost jobs and are unable to meet all the demands of schooling. 6.4 application of counselling theories and skills this question in the survey tried to illicit participants views in regards to the contents of a counselling program. counselling approaches are based upon theories about human function as determining whether one counselling approach works better than another is difficult, because there are so many variables to consider in the counselling process. even when applying the same theoretical model, there can be major differences in the counselling outcome due to differences in the clients’ histories and situations, differences in the counsellors’ communication styles, and even differences in client and counsellor mood on the day of the comparison. the responsibility starts with becoming familiar with the models that have shown to be most beneficial in actual practice. findings reveal that majority (94%) of the respondents www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 45 published by scholink inc. agree that a counselling program should cover the different theories associated with counselling and mentoring. table 7. covering of different theories associated with counselling and mentoring frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid strongly agree 45 57.7 57.7 57.7 agree 28 35.9 35.9 93.6 unsure 3 3.8 3.8 97.4 disagree 2 2.6 2.6 100.0 total 78 100.0 100.0 literature reveals that different theories and models highlight different areas of interest, and seek help from different theories and models (tveit & sunde, 2016). the focus here is on theories and how different aspects of an act actualize different theories (perrone, perrone, chan, & thomas, 2000). the theories illustrate the framework in practice, and is suitable for ethical reflection. theories enable counsellors to better understand their clients and apply appropriate theories in addressing their counselling issues in schools. lindh and dahlin (2000) are in concurrence with perrone et al., (2000) that career counsellors need to stop relying on traditional theories and focus on sociological and psychological theories to better address counselling issues in the current era. findings further reveal that majority (97%) of the respondents strongly consider counsellors should have adequate skills and apply them in addressing counselling issues in schools. similarly, according to stark and mills (2020) counselling skills are seen as vital for effective counselling and rated counseling skills as either important or indispensable. apart from theories and skills, majority (94%) of the respondents ascertain the importance of cultural background and worldviews in providing psychological counselling to students. cultural diversity includes beliefs, values, mores, religious background, sexuality, socioeconomic status. participants are certain that counsellors should be able to investigate how the client’s particular actions relates to their belief systems. it needs to be understood how the client’s culture helped to develop them into the person they are today. according to laungani, (1997) we live in a diverse society, and in order to counsel ethically and effectively, it is important that we are mindful of how diversity and difference impact on our clients, our profession, our own lives and the therapeutic relationships we form with clients. multicultural counselling characterizes the counselling practice that offers effective interventions to culturally diverse clients. race, ethnicity, and culture influence a client’s identity and life circumstances. other factors, such as gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, religion, and ability also play into the context of given client’s mental health, and relational or personal issues. a culturally competent counselor considers all aspects of a client’s worldview when selecting treatment www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 46 published by scholink inc. approaches (laungani, 1997). similarly, majority (96%) of the respondents determine that counsellors always need to be culturally mindful and provide inclusive experiences for all clients. 6.5 conflict resolution and mediation conflict resolution and mediation are important aspects of the counselling process in schools. the key difference between negotiation and mediation is that in negotiation, the parties involved work out their own agreement (daunic, smith, robinson, miller, & landry, 2000; diamant, 2000). in mediation, students have the support of the third party, the mediator, to help them come to an agreement. in the school environment, conflicts are common and although a conflict by itself is not destructive, inadequate ways of resolving the conflict lead to numerous negative consequences (daunic et al., 2000). mediation is the involvement of an impartial third party to support and help those involved in a conflict to find a resolution. all the respondents in the survey agreed that counsellors should be able to demonstrate conflict resolution and mediation steps used during counselling. school leaders and teachers must have experienced conflicts among children and young people. table 8. demonstrate conflict resolution and mediation steps used during counselling frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid strongly agree 49 62.8 62.8 62.8 agree 29 37.2 37.2 100.0 total 78 100.0 100.0 conflicts in schools are specific and the process of conflict development among children and youths can be observed and described. according to daunic et al., (2000) conflict starts when two or more children perceive great mutual differences in their interaction when trying to achieve their needs and goals. children in such situations react with certain behaviours including aggression or other conflict reactions. literature further entails that conflict escalates if there is an increase in the expression of anger, frustration or perceived threat, and if other children join in and take the side of any of the opposing parties (daunic et al., 2000). likewise, conflict can be reduced if children were friends before the conflict and if they focus their attention on the problem and not on the parties to the conflict, meaning children have know‑how on resolving conflicts, or have someone who can help mediate in that situation (daunic et al., 2000; diamant, 2000). literature further entails that mediation, whether formal or informal, can often help solve conflicts that have gone beyond the negotiation stage. conflicts happen whenever people have different expectations. this makes conflict management critical, whether avoiding arguments, disputes, lasting conflict or ultimately, litigation. conflict can be avoided if steps are taken early in a discussion to diffuse anger and facilitate communication, and it can be resolved by applying a series of thoughtfully applied steps www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 47 published by scholink inc. (daunic et al., 2000; diamant, 2000; peuraca & vejmelka, 2015). the respondents in the current study unanimously agree that counselling is an integral aspect of schooling and ensure that efficient and effective counselling services should be available to students at all times. 6.6 crisis management and interventions crisis counselling involves assessing the client’s current situation and listening to the client, asking questions and determining the individual needs to cope effectively with the crisis. crisis intervention requires that the person experiencing crisis receive timely and skilful support to help cope with situation before future physical or emotional deterioration occurs. for this reason, counsellors need to poses basic knowledge of crisis theory and intervention and must be able to recognize and assess for symptoms of trauma. subsequently, almost all (99%) of the respondents maintain that counsellors should be able to focus on crisis management and design interventions plans. crisis, disaster, and trauma are inevitable truths of our life, preventable but sometimes completely avoidable, as they occur with or without any early signs. the psychological trauma in the aftermath can be devastating for individuals who have directly and or indirectly experienced the incident, in the current context is covid-19 pandemic. hence, as professional counsellors, they need to possess basic knowledge of crisis theory and intervention and should be able to recognize and assess for symptoms of trauma (pau, ahmad, & tang, 2020). table 9. demonstrate the ability to focus on crisis management and design interventions plans frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid strongly agree 57 73.1 73.1 73.1 agree 20 25.6 25.6 98.7 unsure 1 1.3 1.3 100.0 total 78 100.0 100.0 literature further details that covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns have left school many children idle and left unsupervised. many are unable to grasp the consequences of not adhering to lockdown regulations and the real impact of the crisis. crisis is a ubiquitous experience, and all counsellors will inevitably encounter a client who is in crisis or has experienced a traumatic event. thus, it is important for all counsellors to have a basic understanding of crisis and trauma theories, assessment, and interventions. many students may not be able to deal with the trauma of being corona virus positive or having spent time in quarantine or isolation centres. according to pau et al., (2020) trauma is much more difficult to define as the term has often been used to describe almost any stressor experienced by an individual. at the most basic level, trauma refers to the emotional response an individual has to an event that was perceived to be physically or emotionally harmful. literature also spells out that traumas can have lasting adverse effects on an individual’s mental, physical, social, and spiritual wellbeing. for while crises are relatively brief events, a trauma response is more extreme, enduring and involves specific www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 48 published by scholink inc. psychological and physiological responses (levers, 2012). the effects of trauma can be prolonged, as individuals may have recurrent experiences of the event and such situations call for professional counselling. 6.7 covid-19’s impact on counsellors our education system needs a new breed of counsellors. counsellors who are well equipped to deal with crisis management and assisting students physically, socially, psychologically, mentally and economically affected by covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns. mitigating the adverse physical health risks associated with covid-19 has been a priority of public health incentives. less attention has been placed on understanding the psychological factors related to the global pandemic, especially among our students (o’sullivan et al., 2021). current findings reveal that majority (97%) of the school leaders and teachers are of firm believe that counsellors should be able to make well informed decisions regarding dilemmas arising in counselling and be able to demonstrate empathy towards students so that they have better coping mechanisms in life. many a times discourses and policies around covid-19 disproportionately focuses on the adverse effects of the public health crisis on adults. table 10. make well informed decision-making regarding dilemmas arising in counselling frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid strongly agree 44 56.4 56.4 56.4 agree 32 41.0 41.0 97.4 unsure 2 2.6 2.6 100.0 total 78 100.0 100.0 on similar note, previous research shows that depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress are the most common psychological reactions to the pandemic in adults, however, the impact of covid-19 on young people is not fully understood. the united nations sustainable development group (unsdg) labels them a vulnerable group that is at-risk for becoming its biggest victims and for some, the impact would last for life (united nations, 2020). literature further illustrates that in order to curb the spread of corona virus and its variant like b.1.617 many governments like the fijian government have in place lockdowns and travel restrictions. the short-term policy strategies of governments have focused on mitigating the physical risks of covid-19 by placing limits on social interactions. these policies have transformed the behaviour of children and young adults as their personal space and style of living has been affected (o’sullivan et al., 2021). disruptions of this magnitude have been shown to disproportionately affect children, while reductions in families’ incomes, from a decrease in work hours, have negatively impacted households’ quality of life and student life. these factors have had significant impacts on children’s health and wellbeing and this calls for well trained professional counsellors (syed & ahmad, 2020). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 49 published by scholink inc. previous research shows that social isolation and loneliness have had a great impact on children and young people (loades et al., 2020). there have been increases in adolescent anxiety which has been due in some part to pandemic related restrictions (qi et al., 2020). as discussed earlier, young people are sociable in nature and keeping them in restricted zones negatively affects their emotions and behaviour. the extent of the impact likely depends on other factors like age, gender, socioeconomic indicators, and country of origin (o’sullivan et al., 2021). these pressing issues call for a new breed of councillors who are well trained to handle children and young adolescence who are mostly students. likewise, the school leaders and teachers are certain (92%) that counsellors need to protect the confidentiality of students’ records and release students’ personal data in accordance with prescribed laws and school policies (see table 11). a student’s right to privacy and confidentiality is the basis for an effective counselling relationship. confidentiality ensures that school counsellors won’t share students’ disclosures with others except when the student authorizes it or when there is all clear and present no danger to the student and other persons. the school counsellor and parents need to build a relationship of mutual respect and trust to make the best decisions about the child. trust means that what is shared is confidential and related to the child. the relationship between parent and school counsellor develops through working together. with a primary obligation to the student, confidentiality is balanced with an understanding of the parents’ legal and inherent rights to be the guiding voice in their children’s lives. table 11. protection of confidentiality of students’ records and personal data frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid strongly agree 47 60.3 60.3 60.3 agree 25 32.1 32.1 92.3 unsure 6 7.7 7.7 100.0 total 78 100.0 100.0 this study, alongside international research, illustrates that there are certain mental health challenges arising from covid-19 pandemic related restrictions. young people are at risk of suffering psychological consequences, and counsellors need to be aware of such uncertainties and be ready to assist them accordingly. in addressing these difficulties, there is a growing need to have well qualified counsellors who are ready to implement policies that will help children and adolescents cope with the short-term and long-term psychological effects of the pandemic, especially those who are deemed more vulnerable in this group. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 50 published by scholink inc. 6.8 general views the survey also had an open-ended question that tried to elicit respondents’ general comments about counselling and what their expectations of a counselling program were. the responses were analyzed using thematic approach. figure 1. respondents’ general comments and recommendations findings reveal that many (27%) of the respondents are looking forward to enrolling in the proposed counselling program. while filling in the survey, respondents were able to derive the content of the program and thus were interested in enrolling in the program once it would be offered. similarly, quite many (19%) of them like the content of the program as they found it relevant and very contextual. they are certain that the program would thoroughly prepare counsellors for dealing with student issues in the ‘new normal’. findings further reveal that some (14%) of the respondents had certain recommendations to make. majority of them suggested that the proposed program should prepare counsellors who are able to address issues like bullying, teenage pregnancy, suicide, peer pressure, assault, stealing, delinquent behaviour and trauma. they also want counsellors to address issues like poverty, embarrassment, family negligence, drugs, boyfriend girlfriend affairs, stress and absenteeism. respondents are in agreement (8%) that there is an increase in the previous mentioned cases after covid-19 and that counsellors should be prepared to deal with such cases and prepare students for the new norm. the increasing anxiety and depression levels discussed among young people, calls for counsellors who can support them with healthy coping mechanisms considering the potentially adverse effects of covid-19. 7. limitations of the study naturally, studies do have certain limitations, likewise this research has a few shortcomings. there is a lack of local literature and in reality, this paper may be the first research article on counselling in fiji. additionally, the time available for this research was very limited as certain deadlines had to be met but 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 need professional counsellors like to enrol in the program like the program content address specific issues address covid-19 impact on students p er ce n ta ge www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 51 published by scholink inc. a more detailed research will be initiated in the near future. the self-reported nature of the data, based upon school leaders’ and teachers’ perceptions is a limitation of the study, as the results in this study were not verified by triangulation or other independent measures. in addition, the findings may not be generalizable to the entire population of educators as limited number were considered for this research. as a result, these results should be viewed as a snapshot of principals’ and teachers’ perceptions and practices around counselling and as a starting place for discussion and further investigation. 8. conclusion counselling in schools is a need and is here to stay considering the backdrop of covid-19 and associated socio-economic and associated psychosocial problems faced by students. counselling needs to cater for the emerging needs of the student community considering, drastic changes in family structures and changing social values that may lead to mental health issues and immense stress on them. further our findings confirm the work of other scholars that a new pedigree of counsellors are needed who are well qualified to assist students’ behavioral and mental health issues at a time of covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns. when providing direct responsive services to depressed students, school counselors should use their awareness of diagnostic skills to recognize instances in which students may have depressive disorders and provide appropriate crisis intervention, counseling and referral services. their selection of interventions should be guided by research and reflect evidence-based practices. in essence, counsellors need to have not only the administrative knowledge and intellectual understanding of their field, but also the helping strategies to treat increasing psychosocial problems of the students and prepare them well for the ‘new normal’. acknowledgements we are thankful to the members of the teaching fraternity for voluntarily taking part in the survey. their views have helped in shaping the findings of the study. the principals and teachers in the study are all part of our postgraduate students enrolled in a leadership program. declaration of conflicting interests the authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. funding the authors did not receive any financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 52 published by scholink inc. reference arredondo, r. d., & bauch, p. a. 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(2021). supporting youth 12–24 during the covid-19 pandemic: how foundry is mobilizing to provide information, resources and hope across the province of british columbia. global health promotion, 28(1), 51-59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757975920984196 https://doi.org/10.54127/ppeu5097 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-015-9267-1 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203422991 https://doi.org/10.1177/1757975920984196 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 85 original paper the translator’s dilemma: howard goldblatt’s translation strategies in “life and death are wearing me out” bofeng li1 1 xinyang normal university, xinyang, henan, china received: october 2, 2024 accepted: october 25, 2024 online published: november 11, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n4p85 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n4p85 abstract since the 21st century, under the backdrop of the “going global” strategy of chinese culture, the international influence of chinese literary works has been growing. among them, howard goldblatt’s translation of “life and death are wearing me out” is an outstanding representative of the english translation of contemporary chinese literature. the translator howard goldblatt’s masterful translation of the original work’s national culture, linguistic form, and special structure is key to the success of the translation in overseas markets. this paper studies specific translation examples from goldblatt’s english version of “life and death are wearing me out” and analyzes the translator’s translation strategies from the perspective of polysystem theory. it also explores the reasons from several angles, including the translating subject, content, strategy, and sponsors. the study finds that the translator howard goldblatt has seized the opportunity of chinese culture “going global” and skillfully combined domestication and foreignization in the translation process of “life and death are wearing me out” effectively conveying chinese cultural elements to readers while considering their reading interests and cultural backgrounds, thus making the translation more appealing to target language readers and promoting its effective overseas dissemination. keywords polysystem theory, howard goldblatt, “life and death are wearing me out” english translation, translation strategies 1. introduction “life and death are wearing me out” is one of the representative works of chinese writer mo yan, a novel that showcases the tremendous social and historical changes in china from the 1950s to the early 21st century. in 2012, mo yan was awarded the nobel prize in literature, becoming the first chinese writer to receive this prestigious honor. “life and death are wearing me out” is a structurally complex, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 86 published by scholink inc. linguistically rich, and strongly regional work, the translation of which is a huge challenge. the english translation by american translator howard goldblatt is considered exquisite and has the greatest influence. as “the best translator of contemporary chinese literature in the english-speaking world” (julia, 2006, p. 196), goldblatt is one of the most important disseminators of mo yan’s works in the english-speaking world. since the release of the english translation of “life and death are wearing me out,” this translated work has attracted widespread attention from the academic community and has sparked numerous scholars to discuss from perspectives such as translator subjectivity, rhetoric, ecological translation studies, and postcolonialism. the field of translation studies has taken a cultural turn at the end of the twentieth century, which is of great significance in the theoretical research and development process of translation studies. as xu jun said: the increasing awakening of translational cultural consciousness and the gradual establishment of translational cultural views have pushed translation studies to new heights and depths, resulting in a number of important outcomes. (xu, 2002, p. 223) in the novel “life and death are wearing me out” mo yan closely links elements of magical realism with chinese cultural details. translator howard goldblatt, through the precision and creativity of his translation, enables english readers to understand and appreciate this work. polysystem theory, introduced by israeli scholar itamar even-zohar in the early 1970s and 1980s, is applicable to translation studies and has constructed a framework for understanding translation as an activity within cultural and literary systems. the theory refers to a multi-layered ensemble composed of various interconnected factors, which change and evolve through their interactions (liu, 2009, p. 330). for even-zohar, a polysystem can be viewed as a heterogeneous, open structure. thus, it is not a single system but a polysystem, composed of several different systems that intersect, partially overlap, offer different options at the same time, are interdependent, and operate as an organized whole (even-zohar, 2000, p. 20). even-zohar also proposes three pairs of opposing concepts that sustain the operation of this system: the opposition between canonized and non-canonized, the opposition between center and periphery, and the opposition between primary and secondary activities (liao, 2004, p. 49). these relationships are not inherently existent but are artificially constructed by “sociocultural” and “ideological” factors and can transform into one another (munday, 2008, p. 51). even-zohar particularly emphasizes the inclusion of translated literature within the literary polysystem, arguing that it has a significant impact and role in the synchronic and diachronic development of specific literatures (edwin, 2001, p. 116). placing translated literature in its corresponding historical and cultural context to study the translator’s strategies is a fundamental approach of polysystem theory in translation studies. the theory posits that a system’s behavior is related to its position within the polysystem. for instance, the position of translated literature within the polysystem can influence the translator’s strategies. even-zohar suggests that when translated literature is at the center, it often participates in creation, even breaking the host country’s traditional norms, focusing the translation strategy on “adequacy”; whereas when www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 87 published by scholink inc. translated literature is at the periphery, it often follows established patterns in the host country’s literature, focusing the translation strategy on “acceptability” (even-zohar, 2002, p. 19). this paper will analyze howard goldblatt’s translation strategies for “life and death are wearing me out” from three aspects: national cultural characteristics, linguistic forms, and special structures, combined with specific examples from the english translation. it will also analyze the english translation process of “life and death are wearing me out” from the perspective of polysystem theory. finally, it will analyze the successful factors of the english translation of “life and death are wearing me out” from several angles of interest to polysystem theory, including the translating subject, content, strategy, and sponsors. 2. everything starts with the reader: a study of the translation of “life and death are wearing me out” from the perspective of polysystem theory 2.1 local flavor: the selection and omission of national cultural characteristics “life and death are wearing me out” is a lengthy masterpiece by the renowned chinese author mo yan. the novel, centered around the process of the wrongfully deceased landlord ximen niao experiencing the six realms of reincarnation, tells a story of joy and sorrow that spans over fifty years in the northeast township of gaomi city, shandong province. it incorporates the writing technique of magical realism, presenting to readers a complex, noisy, and tribulation-ridden narrative of rural china that spans half a century and involves the fates of several generations. the renowned american sinologist and chief translator of contemporary chinese literature, howard goldblatt, published the english translation of “life and death are wearing me out” in 2008, which has made an outstanding contribution to the international dissemination of chinese literature. indeed, there is a significant cultural gap between the plot, character relationships, and usage of words and allusions in mo yan’s novel and the cultural background of readers in the english-speaking world. as a sinologist who is well-versed in chinese culture, howard goldblatt was influenced by the ideological and poetic concepts of the target language culture as well as the sponsors in his translation work, while also demonstrating the passion and autonomy of a translator with a strong sense of responsibility. he effectively resolved the contradictions between the source language culture and the target language culture in the translation, allowing the translated work to be accepted by readers from different cultural backgrounds. in this section, the paper will analyze howard goldblatt’s translation strategies from three aspects: the translation of personal names, the translation of pronouns, and the translation of culture-loaded words. mo yan’s “life and death are wearing me out” is renowned for its vast structure and vivid narration, as well as its pungent and dramatic linguistic style, long considered a “feast of vocabulary.” the book encompasses dialects, colloquialisms, idioms, and antithetical phrases, as well as onomatopoeic words among various rhetorical techniques. in particular, the extensive use of vulgar expressions, pejorative terms, archaic chinese usages, and contemporary popular expressions significantly influence the unique linguistic style of the novel, but all these present additional challenges for its translation. in howard www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 88 published by scholink inc. goldblatt’s english translation, he faithfully reproduces the humor, satire, and rich linguistic style of the original text, but there is a conscious use of domesticating, foreignizing, and hybrid translation methods on the linguistic level. this is because, as a translator, he needs to combine his own “writing” style with consideration for the reading preferences and acceptance of the target readers. firstly, the novel involves a multitude of characters, including peasants, intellectuals, women from the old society, and even many nicknames for animals. most of the names used have a distinct temporal mark, reflecting the era’s background and the various relationships between people, posing a certain difficulty for translation. table 1. example (5) example original translation 1 蓝脸 lan lian(blue face) 2 蓝解放 lan jiefang 3 黄瞳 huang tong 4 黄互助 huang huzhu 5 黄合作 huang hezuo in table 1, lan lian, known as the “blue face,” is one of the most important characters in the novel. he was originally a cottier farmer for the landlord ximen nao and continued to work alone after liberation, becoming the only single household farmer in all of china who persisted to the end. lan lian is a hardworking and simple farmer who only knows how to cultivate and make a living on the land. after the land reform, he married the landlord’s concubine, yingchun. in peking opera, the blue facial makeup represents unyielding, brave, and loyal characters, and the image of this character in the book is similar to the image represented by the “blue face” characters in peking opera. “colors are used to distinguish the identities of different characters” (feng, 2009, p. 80). howard goldblatt, in the main character list at the beginning of the novel, translates this character as “lan lian (blue face),” which not only allows western readers to understand the pronunciation of the main characters in chinese but also highlights the differences between chinese pinyin and english phonetics, bringing western readers closer. at the same time, the translation “(blue face)” meets the needs of readers who have some understanding of chinese culture and hope to read more authentic chinese literary works. in the main text, the character’s name is simply translated as “lan lian,” making the translation more coherent and smooth, avoiding the impact on the reading experience caused by explanatory and annotative translation methods. in example 2, lan jiefang is the child of lan lian and yingchun. his life is full of ups and downs. at several critical junctures in the novel, he chooses to follow his heart, demonstrating the humanistic brilliance of loving life and is the epitome of idealism in this book. howard goldblatt translates it as “lan jiefang,” using a simple transliteration technique that avoids the profound meaning of the word www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 89 published by scholink inc. “jiefang” in this character’s name: it not only indicates the character’s birth date (the evening of january 1, 1950) but also reflects the logic of ordinary peasant families naming their children at that time, a unique social phenomenon of that era. the same translation method is also reflected in examples 3 and 4, where goldblatt translates huang huzhu as “huang huzhu” and huang hezuo as “huang hezuo.” this translation method omits the era background reflected in the names, reducing the reading threshold and comprehension difficulty for the target language readers, and improving the acceptability of the translation. in example 3, huang tong is a negative character in the work. mo yan, through the description of huang tong’s various actions across the entire timeline, depicts a character who is opportunistic, bullying the weak, lazy and gluttonous, and living off others’ labor. in chinese culture, there is a way of giving people insulting and discriminatory nicknames or names by exaggerating their physical defects and certain prominent features to belittle and mock them. mo yan’s naming of this character as huang tong, to some extent, adopts this method, implying contempt and disdain for the character. howard goldblatt translates huang tong as “huang tong,” using the same transliteration method, which reduces the reading difficulty for readers of the target language. moreover, in modern chinese, such insulting names are considered extremely disrespectful and discriminatory, and are unacceptable in modern society. the translator’s approach is undoubtedly modern in today’s linguistic context. secondly, the novel involves a multitude of personal pronouns, including many complex local expressions, dialects, and colloquialisms. the language in the novel “life and death are wearing me out” has a distinct characteristic of regionalism (wang, 2012, p. 65). there are quite a few differences in the structure of interpersonal and family relationships between chinese and western societies, especially between chinese and english cultures. these differences are clearly reflected in language expression, particularly in the use of personal pronouns. chinese personal pronouns place great emphasis on expressing the hierarchy of social relationships and the closeness or distance between people, often using specific terms of address rather than general “he” or “she.” in contrast, english tends to be simpler when referring to family members, using common terms without distinguishing between generations or degrees of closeness. additionally, in the use of third-person pronouns, english mainly relies on gender and number to differentiate. in summary, chinese personal pronouns reflect the deep recognition of family relationships and social hierarchy in chinese culture, while english expresses a simpler and more egalitarian communication style characteristic of western culture. these differences are not only reflected in language but also profoundly influence the different manifestations of social interaction, family values, and social structure in the two cultures. the differences in personal pronouns between chinese and english are even more complex in “life and death are wearing me out,” posing a certain challenge to the translator howard goldblatt. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 90 published by scholink inc. table 2. example (18) example original translation 6 老嫂子，大喜了！(莫言, 2012: 299) how happy you must be!( goldblatt, 2012: 299) 7 老嫂子，怎么没看到蓝大 哥呢？(莫言, 2012: 299) why isn’t lan lian here?,ma’ma?( goldblatt, 2012: 299) 8 嫌老娘迷人，那你就去弄 瓶镪水，给老娘点上一脸 麻子(莫言, 2012: 27) if you are afraid of i am too attractive to men,go get some sulfuric acid and ruin my face.( goldblatt, 2012: 29) 9 你这是拿老娘开涮呢，一 百元就想打发我！(莫言, 2012: 564) “you no-account prick!”she cursed.”you’re not getting away that easy,not for a measly hundred yuan!”( goldblatt, 2012: 533) 10 兴盛烧酒锅的掌柜田贵 (莫言, 2012: 31, 192) tian gui,the onetime manager of a flourishing liquor business( goldblatt, 2012: 33) 11 掌柜的，你迟早要败在这 个妖精手里。(莫言, 2012: 40) you’re the head of the household,she said angrily,but one of these days that witch is going to be your undoing!( goldblatt, 2012: 43) 12 掌柜的，别跟人家叫板。 (莫言, 2012: 62) you’re the man of the house,but why must you always sing a different tune than the others?( goldblatt, 2012: 69) 13 老掌柜的心地良善，怎么 能生出这么一个歹毒的 儿子呢？ ( 莫言 , 2012: 183) “how,” he wondered, “could the landlord, a good and decent man, sire an evil son like that?”( goldblatt, 2012: 201) 14 烧酒锅的掌柜田贵(莫言, 2012: 192) tian gui,who had run the distillery.( goldblatt, 2012: 209) 15 “问问老掌柜的去吧。”(莫 言, 2012: 522) “go ask the old gentleman.”( goldblatt, 2012: 491) 16 “老掌柜的” 许大爷说(莫 言, 2012: 522) “sir, ” master xu said( goldblatt, 2012: 491) 17 老掌柜的，你确实是冤死 的啊！(莫言, 2012: 537) old master, you shouldn’t have died the way you did( goldblatt, 2012: 503) 18 “掌柜的，你也去吧。”(莫 言, 2012: 543) “you can go too, master. ”( goldblatt, 2012: 510) all the examples mentioned are chinese terms of address found in the novel. since there are no equivalent expressions in english, from the perspective of polysystems theory, howard goldblatt mostly www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 91 published by scholink inc. adopts a domestication strategy in translation, applying established patterns of address from his own country, focusing on the acceptability of the translated text. in chinese, the term “老嫂子” has several different uses, and who it specifically refers to depends on the context and regional culture. in traditional northern dialects, “老嫂子” is often used to address someone else’s wife, especially a married woman who is older or of a higher generation than oneself. the character “老” here carries a sense of affection and respect, and does not necessarily indicate age. in some social contexts, “老嫂子” might also be used as a casual, even somewhat affectionate term for “elderly women,” similar to colloquial expressions like “big sister” or “auntie.” there is no direct equivalent in english that can accurately correspond to the usage of “老嫂子” within specific communities, there might be similar affectionate terms among acquaintances, but these are related to the culture and habits of the community and are not expressions commonly used in english. in table 2, goldblatt simply translates “老嫂子”as “you,” using a domesticating translation method that indicates only the personal relationship in the dialogue and omits the speaker’s cheerful tone present in the source language. subsequently, in example 7, the translator creatively uses the term “ma’ma,” expressing the intimate relationship between the two individuals. the term “老娘” in chinese has a unique usage and carries certain emotional connotations, which are closely related to the context and the person it refers to. some women might use “老娘” as a selfreference, expressing confidence, self-reliance, or even with a tone of self-mockery or deliberate exaggeration. in this context, “老娘” conveys a strong sense of self-identification. there is no direct equivalent in english for the term “老娘.” in english, women might use “i” to refer to themselves. of course, in informal or specific situations, they might use expressions like “this girl” or “yours truly” to convey independence or confidence in a self-deprecating or exaggerated context. to express emotions and attitudes similar to “老娘,” english speakers might rely more on context and tone to convey the message. therefore, when translating or finding equivalent expressions in english, it is necessary to adapt according to the specific context and tone. in example 8, howard goldblatt continues to adopt a foreignizing translation strategy, only translating the personal relationship and omitting the speaker’s strong sense of pride in the original language. in example 9, the translator creatively uses the term “ma’ma,” expressing the intimate relationship between the two people, avoiding the untranslatability caused by cultural differences. in the novel “life and death are wearing me out,” the term “掌柜” is one of the most frequently used terms of address, with over thirty occurrences throughout the book, generally used to refer to respected middle-aged and elderly male figures. in chinese, “掌柜” often refers to the person in charge or manager of a shop, inn, restaurant, or similar commercial establishment. for instance, the novel mentions “the shopkeeper of the distillery, tian gui” twice (mo, p. 31, p. 192), and in these instances, howard goldblatt translates it as “manager of a flourishing liquor business” (goldblatt, p. 33) and “who had run the distillery” (goldblatt, p. 209). sometimes, the character “old” is added before the term to express respect for the other party’s rich experience and seniority, a usage more common in dialects. for example, in this www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 92 published by scholink inc. novel, the term is mainly used among family members as a respectful address for husbands, fathers, and other venerable men. the characters ximen nao and lan lian best fit the aforementioned criteria. in table 11, “shopkeeper, you will sooner or later be ruined by this demoness.” (mo, 2012, p. 40), the term “shopkeeper” here expresses bai’s reminder to ximen nao to be cautious when taking concubines, emphasizing family values and serving as an admonition. goldblatt emphasizes this meaning here, translating it as “you’ re the head of the household” (goldblatt, 2012, p. 43), considering the cultural background of the target language readers and using a domesticating method to convey the implied meaning of the characters in the text. the same approach is seen in table 12, “掌柜的，你迟早要败在 这个妖精手里。” (mo, 2012, p. 62), which describes a time in the 1950s when china implemented the agricultural production cooperative system in rural areas, but lan lian insisted on refusing to join and continued to work alone. faced with her husband’s behavior against the trend, yingchun reminds him to prioritize the family’s interests. here, goldblatt translates it as “the man of the house” (goldblatt, 2012, p. 69), conveying the author’s profound meaning and compensating for the lack of “collective consciousness” culture in the target language readers. even more so, goldblatt reflects the characteristics of the times through different translations of the term “掌柜” as seen in examples 13, 17, and 18, all of which are lan lian’s addresses to ximen nao. “老掌柜的心地良善，怎么能生出这么一个歹毒的儿 子呢？” (mo, 2012, p. 183), “老掌柜的，你确实是冤死的啊！” (mo, 2012, p. 537), “掌柜的，你也 去吧。” (mo yan, 2012, p. 543). in the work, lan lian is a stubborn farmer who, in turbulent times, adheres to his own values. when addressing the former landlord ximen nao, he always includes respect and gratitude towards ximen nao. the three translations are respectively “how,” he wondered, “could the landlord, a good and decent man, sire an evil son like that?” (goldblatt, p. 201), “old master, you shouldn’t have died the way you did.” (goldblatt, 2012, p. 503), “you can go too, master.” (goldblatt, 2012, p. 510). first, “landlord” simply points out ximen nao’s identity as a landlord, but because he had a good local reputation and never oppressed farmers, expressing regret for his death due to the tide of the times. secondly, “master” simply points out the relationship between ximen nao and lan lian as landlord and tenant at that time, on the one hand, indicating lan lian’s missing for ximen nao, and on the other hand, also reflecting ximen nao’s good treatment of his tenants, further deepening the character images of both parties. however, in examples 15 and 16, “问问老掌柜的去吧。” (mo, 2012, p. 522) “老掌柜的，” uncle xu said (mo, 2012, p. 522), the translator translates these two “shopkeepers” as “go ask the old gentleman.” (goldblatt, 2012, p. 491), “sir, master xu said” (goldblatt, 2012, p. 491). here, it is the address of others to lan lian, and the story has advanced to the 1990s. the words “old gentleman” and “sir” only indicate respect without any other implications. culture-loaded words are a concept in linguistics and translation studies that refers to terms which have rich, special, or unique meanings within a specific culture and context. these words are often difficult to translate directly into other cultural contexts because they carry a wealth of background knowledge, history, beliefs, customs, and values associated with the original culture. due to its unique regional characteristics and mo yan’s writing style, the work “life and death are wearing me out” contains a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 93 published by scholink inc. large number of chinese culture-loaded words. according to eugene nida’s definition and classification of culture in translation, the culture-loaded words in the novel can be divided into material culture-loaded words, religious culture-loaded words, social culture-loaded words, language culture-loaded words, and ecological culture-loaded words (nida, p. 91). from the perspective of polysystems theory, dealing with culture-loaded words in the translation process is a challenge because a simple literal translation hardly conveys the deep meanings of the original text. translators usually need to find corresponding or similar concepts in the target language culture, or convey the cultural connotations of the original text to readers through annotations and explanations. this approach not only tests the translator’s deep understanding of both cultures but also requires the skill to creatively find solutions. table 19: 要是我的驴有个三长两短，咱们的事就没完没了。(mo, 2012, p. 66) translation: if anything happens to my donkey because of this, you’ll pay, and pay dearly. (goldblatt, 2012, p. 73) polysystem theory posits that translation is not merely a correlation between source and target language texts, but rather an interaction involving multiple subsystems such as culture, history, and society. the chinese idiom “三长两短” is primarily used to describe unexpected accidents, misfortunes, or lifethreatening situations, often serving as an euphemism for death or significant unfortunate events. this idiom originates from ancient funeral customs. in english, there are similar expressions, such as “kick the bucket.” the translator did not opt for this translation, demonstrating that the strategy is a specific manifestation of finding the best “secondary pattern” for foreign texts within the target literary system. the translator rendered “三长两短” as “if anything happens to my donkey,” which transforms the implicit worry and potential consequences in the original text into a more explicit and clear statement. this phrase is highly understandable in the english context and adopts a structure more in line with english expression habits. by omitting the culturally specific elements of the idiom, the translation focuses on the core meaning, which is the concern for potential unfortunate events that could happen to the donkey. the target readers are expected to understand the basic emotions and intentions of the original text without needing an in-depth understanding of culturally specific idioms. the translation not only conveys the potential threat but also strengthens the tone of the original text by emphasizing the severity of the consequences (“you’ll pay, and pay dearly”), making it more persuasive in the target language. within the framework of polysystem theory, this translation successfully conveys the emotions and tone of the original text and ensures that the audience in the target culture can understand and feel the same message. polysystem theory proposes considerations for many factors in the translation process, including the various relationships between source and target texts, as well as the expectations of readers, social and cultural customs, and literary values in the target culture. the translation of the aforementioned terms fully considers the acceptability and readability in the target culture, transforming the cultural characteristics and artistic conception of chinese into forms that english readers can understand and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 94 published by scholink inc. accept through appropriate translation strategies. these translations not only achieve conversion at the linguistic level but also, while preserving the emotional hues and cultural features of the original text as much as possible, cater to the expectations of the target cultural environment. therefore, it can be said that these translations are successful and effective. 2.2 seeking common ground while resolving differences: adaptation and reconstruction of linguistic forms there is a significant difference in expression between english and chinese. for instance, chinese emphasizes parataxis, where clauses are juxtaposed without explicit subordination, while english highlights hypotaxi (xu, 2014, p. 135), which involves a clear subordination of clauses; chinese stresses dynamic characteristics, whereas english accentuates rational and static features (ge & ma, 2023, p. 57); chinese often employs short sentences, while english favors long ones. the following analysis of specific examples from the translation of “life and death are wearing me out” will elucidate the particular translation strategies adopted by howard goldblatt under the perspective of polysystems theory. example 20: 我继续喊叫着，话语重复，一圈圈轮回。阎王与身边的判官低声交谈几句，然后一 拍惊堂木，说:”好了西门闹，知道你是冤枉的。世界上许多人该死，但却不死；许多人不该死， 偏偏死了。这是本殿也无法改变的现实。现在本殿法外开恩，放你生还。” (mo, 2012, p. 4) translation: so i shouted, repeating myself, the same thing over and over, until one of the judges leaned over and shispered someting in lord yama’s ear. he banged his gavel to silence the hall. “all right, ximen nao, we accept your claim of innocence. many people in that would who deserve to die somehow live on while those who deserve to live die off. those are facts about which this throne can do nothing. so i will be merciful and send you back.” (goldblatt, 2012, p. 5) this translation demonstrates the strategies adopted by the translator in dealing with the cultural and linguistic differences between chinese and english: first, the translator adapts to the target language’s conventions, and in the translation, “一圈圈轮回” is rendered as “the same thing over and over,” which aligns with the habitual use of emphasis through repetition in english. this strategy ensures that the original intent is clearly conveyed in the target language while avoiding the confusion that a literal translation might cause. second, the expression “一拍惊堂木” may be too unfamiliar to english readers who are not acquainted with chinese culture; the translator transforms it into “he banged his gavel to silence the hall,” clarifying that “一拍惊堂木” is used to command attention or announce a verdict. third, “阎王与身边的判官” becomes “lord yama and one of the judges” in the translation. here, “阎王” is handled as “lord yama,” preserving a unique entity of chinese culture while making it more comprehensible to readers from the target culture through the use of “lord.” meanwhile, “判官” is replaced with “judge,” which is in line with western judicial terminology. lastly, as there is no equivalent expression to “法外开恩” in english, the translator adds “so i will be merciful and send you back” to elucidate lord yama’s decision. by including “merciful” and “send you back,” the motive and outcome of the decision are made more explicit. the translator adopts adaptive strategies in dealing with the linguistic and cultural differences between chinese and english in this paragraph, ensuring the fluency www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 95 published by scholink inc. and clarity of the translation in the target language while striving to retain the cultural style and information of the original text. these translation strategies are all based on an understanding of the expected habits and acceptance capabilities of readers in the target culture from the perspective of polysystems theory. example 21: 看，看，看……那个拐着一双小脚、提着半筐土、歪着身子、三步一歇、五步一停 的女人，就是我西门闹的正妻白氏。(mo yan, 2012, p. 31) translation: look, look, look, that women with the bound feet carrying half a basket of dirt but having to stop and rest every four or five steps, that’s my formal wife, ximen bai. (goldblatt, 2012, p. 33) from the perspective of polysystem theory, the translation strategies in the aforementioned examples involve considerations of culture, language habits, acceptability, and many other levels. first, the translator howard goldblatt adopts a simplification and omission approach. in the translation, “拐着一 双小脚” is simplified to “with the bound feet,” without detailed explanation of “小脚” or “缠足,” an ancient chinese cultural custom. the concept of foot-binding may not exist in the target language culture but has some degree of awareness. the translator believes that not providing detailed explanations will not affect the understanding of the overall content, and this translation method can guide readers to delve deeper into this special and era-characteristic image in the source language culture, aiming to achieve the same reading effect as readers in the source language. secondly, the translator adjusts the sentence structure and word order. the original text uses repetitive “看” and complex modifiers like “拐着一双 小脚、提着半筐土、歪着身子、三步一歇、五步一停.” in the translation, the translator chooses a more direct and fluent expression, avoiding excessive repetition and awkward syntax, making the translation more in line with english expression habits. thirdly, the translator concretes “三步一歇、五步一停” into “having to stop and rest every four or five steps,” which clarifies the implied imagery of difficulty and effort in the chinese original text. this specification in english helps convey the degree of difficulty of the situation and the state of the character. lastly, the translation uses expressions like “formal wife, ximen bai” to explain and translate the special culture against the backdrop of the original text’s era, as there is no strict distinction between formal and informal wives in english-speaking cultures. such translation helps readers understand the relationships and social status of the characters. in summary, the translator adopts strategies of simplification, adjustment, specification, and cultural adaptation in dealing with differences between chinese and english languages, with the main goal of making the translation more fluent and reasonably conveying the content and emotional color of the original text while maintaining sensitivity and adaptability to the target culture. such handling techniques are based on the understanding of the interaction between different systems and their impact on translation decisions within polysystem theory. example 22: 我放下粪筐，把他挪动了一下，用手摸摸胸口，还有一丝热气，知道还没死，就脱 下棉袍，将他包裹起来。沿着大街，迎着太阳，手托着这冻僵的孩子往家里走。(mo, 2012, p. 12) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 96 published by scholink inc. translation: i set down my dung baster and nudged the boy, then felt his chest. it was still warm, so i know he was alive. i took off my lined coat and wrapped him in it, then picked him up and carried him home. (goldblatt, 2012, p. 12) this translation demonstrates the translator’s efforts to adjust sentence structures to accommodate the target language’s conventions while striving to preserve the original meaning and the scenes depicted. first, the translator restructures the sentences; the original text uses a series of actions to advance the narrative. the translator breaks these actions into several steps, using punctuation to mimic the sequence of actions, such as combining “把他挪动了一下” and “用手摸摸胸口” into “i set down my dung basket and nudged the boy, then felt his chest.” in dealing with the differences in sentence structure between chinese and english, the translator analyzes and organizes the detailed descriptions in the original text: “我放下粪筐，把他挪动了一下，用手摸摸胸口，还有一丝热气，知道还没死，就脱下棉袍，将 他包裹起来。” in the translation, these actions are simplified into more concise key steps: “i took off my lined coat and wrapped him in it.” such simplification strategies help target language readers better grasp the progress of the event and make the sentences more consistent with english expression habits. secondly, the original text, “用手摸摸胸口，还有一丝热气” might be ambiguous, and the translator clarifies it as “it was still warm, so i knew he was alive.” this processing ensures the clear transmission of information, directly stating the purpose and result of the check. english is a hypotaxic language that values logical relationships within sentences. in the english translation, the translator reorganizes the information, such as modifying “沿着大街，迎着太阳，手托着这冻僵的孩子往家里走” to “i picked him up and carried him home,” which is more in line with the logic and directness of english expression. in summary, when dealing with the differences in chinese and english sentence structures, the translator adopts strategies of simplification, clarification of meaning, reorganization of information, and supplementation of details. these translation strategies are designed to make the translated work conform to the target language’s expression habits and to make the content clearer and more direct while retaining the emotional and vivid descriptions of the original chinese text. within the framework of polysystem theory, translation is a creative transformation process between different cultural and linguistic systems, and the translator balances the need for fidelity to the original text with the adaptation to the target language culture through these strategies. 2.3 ingenuity in translation: poetic adjustments of special structures “life and death are wearing me out” is a chapter-novel divided into four parts based on the reincarnation process of the protagonist, ximen nao, comprising fifty-three chapters. mo yan deliberately imitates the traditional chinese chapter-novels from the ming and qing dynasties, which feature parallel couplets as titles for each chapter. this writing technique, common in “water margin” and “romance of the three kingdoms,” summarizes the main content of each chapter and entices readers to continue reading. additionally, mo yan intersperses the book with nursery rhymes, doggerel, and tongue twisters, breaking free from traditional linguistic constraints and enhancing the novel’s readability. however, this characteristic of the source text increases the difficulty for translators. upon careful www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 97 published by scholink inc. comparison of the translator’s handling of these aspects, it is observed that in most cases, howard goldblatt has effectively preserved the style of the original text. example 23: 单干是座独木桥，走一步来摇三摇，摇到桥下沉没了。 人民公社通天道，社会主义是金桥，拔掉穷根栽富苗。 蓝脸老顽固，单干走绝路。一粒老鼠屎，坏了一杠醋。 金龙宝凤蓝解放，手摸胸口想一想。跟着你爹老顽固，落后保守难进步。 (mo, 2012, pp. 107-108) translation: stubborn old lan lian is not our firend; independent farming is a true dead end. a single mouse dropping ruins a vat of vinegar. jinlong, baodfeng, lan jiefang, put your hands over your hearts and think hard. stay with your dad and you’re as good as dead; you will keep falling behind and can’t get ahead. (goldblatt, 2012, p. 119) polysystem theory posits that for texts closely related to culture and ideology, translators must weigh how to convey the cultural characteristics and contextual adaptability of the original text to the target readers. this doggerel reflects the political propaganda and socio-cultural phenomena of a specific historical period. firstly, in terms of language style and rhythm, doggerel in chinese usually has a clear rhythm and a distinct beat. the translator attempts to present this rhythm and beat through rhyming translation, such as “stay with your dad and you’ re as good as dead; you will keep falling behind and can’t get ahead.” this phrasing maintains a certain rhythm and fluency, allowing english readers to experience the characteristics of doggerel. secondly, in terms of cultural transmission, the translation must not only convey the literal meaning of the original text but also the cultural and political significance it carries. expressions like “stubborn old lan lian” and “independent farming is a true dead end” convey the ideological orientation and historical context of the original poem. thirdly, in terms of the handling of imagery and metaphors, for example, “一粒老鼠屎，坏了一杠醋” is translated as “a single mouse dropping ruins a vat of vinegar,” preserving the metaphorical meaning of the original text while also expressing a similar idea with an idiom in the target language. lastly, the translation needs to consider the political atmosphere and acceptability in the target language culture. the translator omitted the second line of the original text, avoiding the strong era characteristics of the original, although western readers are likely not to have experienced the era mentioned in the text, the translation tries to convey the urgency and critical nature of the original meaning. overall, the translation of this doggerel is relatively successful. the translator, through the adaptation of rhythm and beat, effectively recreates the style of the original text in the target culture. at the same time, the translator maintains the intention to be faithful to the original text when dealing with specific cultural imagery and metaphors, making it understandable to the target readers. although the target readers may be completely unfamiliar with the historical background and contextual context of the original poem, the translator’s work allows them to perceive the ideological background of this poem. therefore, from the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 98 published by scholink inc. perspective of polysystem theory, this is a successful case of reconstructing the cultural characteristics of the source language within the target language system. example 24: 老顽固，小顽固，组成一个单干户。 牵着一头蚂蚱牛，推着一辆木轱辘。 最终还要来入社，晚入不如趁早入…… (mo, 2012, p. 114) translation: a headstrong man, a headstrong boy, choosing to farm apart. pulling an ox the size of an insect, pushing a wood-wheeled cart. sooner or later you’ll have to join, and sooner is better than later to start...(goldblatt, 2012, p. 125) the translation of this nursery rhyme requires consideration of the original text’s cultural, social, and historical context, as well as how these elements are conveyed into the target language’s cultural environment. firstly, translating nursery rhymes particularly needs to take into account rhythm and rhyme, as these elements are its distinct artistic features. the translation maintains the original’s rhythmic structure, imitating the rhythm of the original poem through corresponding rhymes, such as “apart” and “cart,” “join” and “start,” making it smooth and natural in english. secondly, the translation effectively conveys the original meaning, communicating a negative evaluation of the old and young stubbornly insisting on independent farming and urging the joining of cooperatives. “pulling an ox the size of an insect, pushing a wood-wheeled cart” vividly describes the harsh conditions of farming, in line with the original’s artistic conception. thirdly, the depictions, metaphors, and symbols in the translation are acceptable to target language readers while also perceiving the critical and satirical intent expressed in the original text. direct expressions like “a headstrong man, a headstrong boy” may be more explicit than the original, but in english, they clearly convey the negative implications of stubbornness. lastly, this poem reflects the social and economic policies and ideological orientation of a certain historical period, and the handling of this orientation in the translation is very subtle, reflecting the original’s historical context while gaining new interpretations and understandings in the new cultural context. in summary, from the perspective of polysystem theory, the translation of this doggerel is successful. the translation is not only faithful to the original’s imagery and tone but also adapts to specific expressions in the target cultural context, allowing the poem to maintain its vitality in the new cultural environment. example 25: 锣鼓喧天群众入社 四蹄踏雪毛驴挂掌 (mo, 2012: catalogue) translation: gongs and drums pound the heavens as the masses join the co-op four hooves plod through the snow as the donkey is shod (goldblatt, 2012: 31) in the original text, mo yan not only adopts the traditional chinese chapter-novel structure with paired titles for each chapter but also imitates the writing style of couplets, a unique form in chinese literature that requires the upper and lower parts to correspond in meaning, sound, and structure. these titles are rich in traditional chinese cultural colors, and their charm lies in the specific cultural background and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 99 published by scholink inc. imagery. when translating, it is necessary to convey the corresponding cultural atmosphere and traditional implications. here, “锣鼓喧天群众入社” conveys a festive and lively scene, and although the english translation does not directly reflect the rhythm and antithesis of traditional chinese couplets, it retains the main imagery of the original text. however, the translation of “four hooves treading on snow, donkey with shoes” is somewhat biased. according to the original text, “four hooves treading on snow” is a description of the donkey’s characteristics, which is also an external manifestation of the chinese farmers’ perception of the donkey as hard work, good characteristics of human nature. the translator has processed this noun as a depiction of the donkey struggling through the snow, possibly to avoid the cultural conflict that would arise from explaining this minor detail in the translation, which could affect the fluency and integrity of the title translation and the reader’s experience. “donkey with shoes” indicates the actual situation in rural northern china, where “shoes” usually refer to special hoof protectors for donkeys. the english “the donkey is shod” effectively expresses this action. considering the beauty and rhythm of the couplet, the translator also needs to reflect these characteristics well. although it is difficult for the english translation to completely replicate the antithetical rules of chinese couplets, the parallel structure “as the masses join the co-op” and “as the donkey is shod” in the translation to some extent reproduces the style of the corresponding upper and lower parts in chinese. in summary, from the perspective of polysystem theory, the translation of this couplet is successful in conveying the main imagery, maintaining cultural colors, social background, and basic functions. however, due to the differences in language structure and cultural background, it is challenging to fully reproduce the beauty and rhythm of the original text. therefore, although the translation effect is not perfect, it can be considered acceptable and has well maintained the overall meaning and emotional color of the original text. 3. from the perspective of polysystem theory, the successful factors of the english translation strategy of “life and death are wearing me out” “at the fifth plenary session of the 15th central committee of the communist party of china held in october 2000, the ‘going global’ strategy was explicitly proposed for the first time.” (yang, 2014, p. 186) as a vehicle of culture, the translation of literary works is one of the important means of spreading chinese culture. however, the situation of the international dissemination of contemporary chinese literature is not optimistic. “chinese writers have to look up to western literature, and in the end, they have to be recognized by the ‘west’ to enter the ranks of ‘universality’” (wang, 2012, p. 166), “chinese literary works are considered ‘successful’ if they sell two to three thousand copies in europe and america,” “nobel prize in literature judge ma yueran once said: ‘chinese literature should have gone global a long time ago, but there are too few works translated into foreign languages.’” (zhu, 2015, p. 131) in 2012, mo yan won the nobel prize in literature, and howard goldblatt’s translation work was widely recognized. mo yan also publicly expressed his appreciation for goldblatt’s translation contributions, pointing out that goldblatt’s translations played a key role in his winning the nobel prize in literature. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 100 published by scholink inc. through goldblatt’s translations, several of mo yan’s works have been able to cross linguistic and cultural barriers and reach a broader global readership. it can be seen that translation is a cross-cultural communication behavior. by using polysystem theory, we can focus on studying and interpreting translation practices, revealing the role of political and cultural factors behind them, expanding new fields for translation studies, and providing reference significance for the introduction of chinese literature. according to polysystem theory, the subject of translation, the translator, in the translation process, howard goldblatt believes that he has well handled how to cater to the aesthetic interests of english readers. british sinologist gerhard also said that translation is best done into one’s mother tongue because readers have a higher level of trust in translators with the same cultural background. “and howard goldblatt’s translations are carried out in collaboration with his wife, lin lijun” (wang h. & wang y., 2023, p. 35). in addition to providing translations, the translator also acts as a cultural exchange intermediary among the original author, editors, sponsors, etc., and uses their influence to expand the influence of the translation in the target country. after completing the translation, goldblatt uses his influence to find more authoritative publishers. in summary, the translator can not only determine the quality of the translation but also has a significant impact on the distribution, dissemination, and translation effect. from goldblatt’s translation approach, it is clear that an excellent translation subject can not only make appropriate bilingual conversions during the translation process but also increase the acceptability of the translation. therefore, a good translation subject should be a collaboration between local translators and foreign sinologists, so that chinese literary works can not only be “translated out” but also truly “go out” with chinese culture. polysystem theory holds that most of the time, translated literature will be on the periphery of the target language’s literary system. therefore, blindly exporting literary works oriented by one’s own culture without considering the social conditions, cultural needs, and acceptance of the target country will definitely not be satisfactory. when selecting content for translation, it must conform to the poetic attitudes and market demands of the target country, arousing the target language readers’ interest in the source language culture. after the translated literature gradually enters the center of the target language’s literary system, more content containing more source language culture can be translated. “in mo yan’s works, there are two conflicting local forces, one is nostalgia for local legends, and the other is ruthless exposure of reality” (xiong, 2014, p. 78). at the same time, in “life and death are wearing me out,” the shadows of marquez and faulkner often appear, so this work also has a strong magical realist style. therefore, this work has both the heterogeneity of chinese literature and the universality of world literature, conforming to the poetic preferences of mainstream western literature. in summary, when selecting content for translation, it is necessary to choose excellent and valuable works with a long-term development perspective to achieve better translation effects. compared with the dominant western culture, chinese literature is on the periphery of the world literary system, and the translation of chinese literature in the western literary system is even more so. from the perspective of polysystem theory, there is a “time lag” and a “language difference” behind the translation www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 101 published by scholink inc. of chinese literature “going global” (xie, 2014, p. 8). the acceptance of one nation’s culture by another nation is a long process of evolution and development. goldblatt’s translation of mo yan’s works can be divided into three periods: from 1993 to 2000, goldblatt used domestication translation methods in the translation of “red sorghum clan” and “the republic of wine,” deleting most of the vocabulary with special historical background in the original text, and using the established literary models of his own country to avoid reading obstacles caused by the lack of cultural background. starting from 2008, when translating “life and death are wearing me out” and “frog,” goldblatt used a combination of domestication and foreignization translation methods. on the one hand, he considered that readers have a certain understanding of chinese culture, and on the other hand, he stimulated readers’ interest in actively learning chinese culture. later, when translating “frog,” goldblatt even stated that the translation of the work was “unchanged.” in summary, when dealing with the translation of chinese culture, it is necessary to consider the status of translated literature in the target language’s literary system at different times, so as to retain the chinese elements in the original work and meet the expectations of foreign readers. in the polysystem, the factor of “patron” plays a significant role in the translation process. “patron” can to some extent restrict the position of translated literature in the target language’s literature. in the process of translating “life and death are wearing me out,” goldblatt also used his influence to cooperate with the overseas authoritative publishing institution arcade publishing, using its professional opinions to cater to the needs of overseas readers, allowing this work to enter a broader international market and meet english-speaking readers. 4. conclusion this article takes howard goldblatt’s english translation of “life and death are wearing me out” as an example, and from the perspective of polysystem theory, discusses its english translation strategies. through comparative text analysis, the author believes that goldblatt has effectively overcome the barriers between the two languages and cultures, making the aesthetic value and artistic image of the translation almost identical to the original. goldblatt has done his best to build a cultural bridge, connecting the author mo yan with readers from foreign countries across the ocean, conveying chinese cultural elements to them well, while also considering the readers’ reading interests and cultural backgrounds. he skillfully combines domestication and foreignization translation methods, making the english translation of “life and death are wearing me out” a well-loved translation by readers. great classic literary works often possess extraordinary universal value, capable of resonating deeply with readers and motivating them to actively explore the profound meanings of the works. these literary masterpieces not only showcase the common emotions and thoughts of humanity but also provide a clear mirror in which readers can discover their reflections and spiritual counterparts. in this vibrant literary ecosystem, translated literature plays a crucial role. it serves not only as a bridge for cultural exchange between different cultures but also provides a stage for readers from different linguistic backgrounds, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 102 published by scholink inc. allowing them to interpret and appreciate these classics from their unique perspectives and understandings. through translation, literature transcends the boundaries of language and geography, spreading more widely and allowing more readers to access and experience these great works. therefore, translated literature is not only an important medium for cultural dissemination but also a vital tool for inspiring readers’ creative interpretations. it enables the wisdom and beauty of classic literature to cross time and space, continuously inspiring and enlightening generations of readers, enriching their spiritual lives and cultural identity. the importance of translation work lies not only in converting words from one language to another but also in giving these words new life, allowing them to shine uniquely in different cultural contexts. goldblatt’s successful translation of mo yan’s novels into the western literary world has not only paved the way for the international dissemination of chinese literature but also provided a replicable example. we should understand the mechanisms of the relevant systems according to the dynamic relationship between the “center” and “periphery” within the literary polysystem and grasp the timing of translation and optimize translation strategies based on this. with a flexible attitude towards the translation of literary works, this can pave the way for chinese literature to move from a relatively marginalized state to the central position in the international literary system and find the most suitable translation model for the overseas promotion of chinese literary works. as china’s national strength grows increasingly strong, the chinese literary polysystem will also increasingly move towards the center of the global polysystem. references edwin, g. (2001). contemporary translation theories. new haven: yale university press. yan, m. (2012). life and death are wearing me out (h. goldblatt, trans.). new york, ny: w. w. norton & company. lovell, j. (2006). the politics of cultural capital: china’s quest for a nobel prize in literature. honolulu, hi: university of hawai’i press. jeremy, m. (2008). introducing translation studies. london and new york: routledged. chen, d., & zhang, n. (2000). selected readings in western translation theories. hong kong: city university of hong kong press. feng, c. (2009). talking about the colors in lu xun’s novels. wen jiao zi liao, 18, 79-81. ge, s., & ma, y. (2023). a comparative study of the translation models of “the tempest” from a polysystem perspective. journal of southwest university of science and technology (philosophy and social science edition), 45(6), 50-58. liao, q. (2004). [polysystem theory]. foreign literatures, 4, 48-52. liu, j. (2009). a general history of western translation. wuhan: wuhan university press. mo, y. (2012). life and death are wearing me out. beijing: writers publishing house. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 103 published by scholink inc. wang, h., & wang, y. (2023). insights into the translation and dissemination of chinese literature “going global” from a polysystem theory perspective: a case study of howard goldblatt’s translation of mo yan’s award-winning novels. overseas english, 18, 34-36+45. wang, k. (2012). the translation and criticism of contemporary chinese novels in north america. literary review, 5, 166-170. wang, l. (2012). loyalty and rebellion: a study of howard goldblatt’s literary translation. shanghai international studies university. xie, t. (2014). the essence and issues of chinese literature “going global”. chinese comparative literature, 1, 1-10. xiong, y. (2014). when mo yan’s works become “world literature”: an examination and analysis of the “mo yan phenomenon” in the english and german-speaking circles. shandong social science, 3, 76-85. xu, l. (2014). principles of english-chinese translation. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. xu, j. (2002). translation studies and the perspective of translation culture. journal of nanjing university (philosophy, humanities and social sciences), 3, 219-226. even-zohar, i., & zhang, n. (2002). polysystem theory. chinese translators journal, 4, 19-25. yang, l. (2014). the significance of the strategy for chinese culture “going global” in the new era. people’s forum, 23, 186-188. zhu, d. (2015). analysis and reflection on the current state of chinese literary translation. journal of jilin province education institute (lower month), 3, 131-133. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 217 original paper translation of government portal news from an international communication perspective: a case study yifei zhang1 1 school of foreign studies, china three gorges university, yichang, china received: february 28, 2025 accepted: march 12, 2025 online published: march 31, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p217 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p217 abstract the government portal in a foreign language is an important communication platform for improving city image and promoting international exchanges. news translation for the portal is in nature a communication act. to achieve good communication effect, lasswell’s 5ws model can serve as useful guidance. in the translation process, translators need to familiarize themselves with the differences between news in english and news in chinese and translate with an initiator-awareness so as to ensure correct translation of political expressions, expressions on china’s stand and meaning conveyed in the original chinese news, with an target-reader awareness so as to decide what to translate and translate in a way that is readable and acceptable to target readers, and with a communication-effect awareness so as to increase cognitive alignment in target language readers. keywords news translation, 5ws model, initiator-awareness, target-reader awareness, communication-effect awareness 1. introduction news is a significant widow through which the international community gets to know about and understands china. according to si xianzhu, news of foreign-related news agencies in china like chinadaily, xianhua news and cgtn are actually translations of chinese news based on certain rules and procedures, and english news of these institutions are translation products of institutional translation (si, 2020).. to translate the chinese news purely under the guidance of translation theories does not suffice the goal of communicating since what is involved in the translation process is not only the shift between languages but also the purpose of translation, the media, the client, the target readers, etc., which are basic elements of a communication act, and it is better to introduce communication theories since all elements on the communication chain have an effect on the outcome. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 218 published by scholink inc. 2. the 5ws model in his paper the structure and function of communication in society published in 1948, lasswell proposed his communication model－the “5ws” model. the term “5ws” defines the research scope and basic content of communication studies, and represents the five elements in the process of communication, which are “who”, “say what”, “in which channel”, “to whom”, “with what effects”. “who” refers to the commissioner or the initiator. the commissioner or the initiator can be an individual or an institution or a group. “says what” refers to the content to be disseminated. “in which channel” refers to the medium that the commissioner or the initiator makes use of to convey information, which can be the newspaper, the television, the internet, the applet, etc. “to whom” means the audience, which is the object of communication, including readers, listeners, and audiences. “with what effects” refers to the impact of information on the audience after they receive it, as well as the audience’s response to the information. these five elements also constitute the five basic contents of communication studies, including control research, content research, media research, audience research, and effect research. the communication process of a message, a book, etc. involves “who (commissioner/initiator)”, “says what (content)”, “in which channel (medium)”, “to whom (audience)” and “with what effect (effect)”. the elements involved in the process of a translated text reaching the target readers is also very similar: the translation reaches the target readers through certain medium and gets feedback. therefore, the process of news communication is almost the same as that of translated news with the only difference being different language environments. therefore, to improve the effect of communication, translators need to take into consideration who controls the communication process, what is communicated, which channel is used, and who are the audiences so as to tell the true stories of china effectively and present a true, multi-dimensional, and panoramic view of china. 3. news translation under the guidance of 5ws 3.1 introduction to the yichang government portal the government portal in a foreign language is an important platform for publicity and exchanges since firstly it can help improve government image by publicizing information on economy, society, culture, etc., and secondly it can help promote international exchanges and cooperation and provide better services for foreign friends in their integration into the local life. many governments in china have government portals in foreign languages. the english version of yichang’s government portal was started in 2013 with the goal of promoting the image of the city and meeting the needs of foreigners who lived and worked in the city or who intended to invest in or travel to the city. since the start of the portal translation project, the whole translation team has been earnest and diligent in fulfilling the required task. however, restricted by the portal management or lack of understanding of typical characteristics of english news, there exist some problems, such as inconsistent translation of proper nouns, mistranslation resulted from incorrect comprehension (liu, 2018) and full-text translation without careful consideration of the features of the news to be translated and not so desirable readability www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 219 published by scholink inc. and acceptability of the translated news. therefore, even though the translation work has won recognition of the management, there is still space for improvement as the 5ws have to be given their due attention in the translation process. 3.2 5ws-guided news translation translation is not merely about the switch between two languages. if it is put in a professional context, the translator, the original writer, the commissioner/the initiator, the target readers, etc. do play their roles. and the translator, as an expert, cooperates with different parties and organizations involved in the translation act to ensure that the translation meets the agreed requirements of respective parties (wolf, 2011). this sociological perspective of translation also applies to news translation since it is also a complicated act that involves almost the same parties aside from the translator. therefore, to have a desirable communication effect, the translator needs to balance the varied requirements of the various parties. and the 5ws model, though originally proposed in the field of communication, is applicable in news translation since news is translated to communicate, and the news translation act is in nature a communication act that involves basically the same 5ws. in this sense, the awareness concerning the 5ws are what news translators need to develop in order for the translated news to obtain desirable communication effect. (1) initiator awareness as is mentioned above, news translation in china is institutional translation, whose purpose is to strengthen the soft power of the chinese culture, shape national image and promote international exchanges. against this backdrop, the basic principle in translating news should be “we take our own initiative” in giving out china’s voice. in the field of news translation, this principle is embodied firstly in the selection of the news to be translated, secondly in the political correctness that is displayed in the translated news, and thirdly in the full comprehension and correct translation of the meaning conveyed in chinese. the source text of government portal news is now mainly decided by the management of the portal, which is usually the local publicity department and the locally influential newspapers, so the direction of positive publicity is out of question. however, since certain words do have subtle implications, political correctness is what news translators have to bear in mind in the translation practice. for instance, the translation of “新型大国关系” should be “a new type of major country relationship” instead of “a new type of major power relationship” because china’s stand is that all countries, regardless of their size, strength or wealth, are all equal (wang, 2014). in his book from translating the world to translating china (《从翻译世界到翻译中国》), huang youyi (2022) has noted many expressions that demand extra care in translation. for instance, “民主党派” can be translated into “other political parties” instead of “democratic parties” to avoid foreigners thinking that “民主党派” are opposition parties and the communist party of china is not a democratic party (pp. 4-5). “核污水” should certainly be translated into “nuclear-contaminated water” as this is the official translation used by the ministry of foreign affairs of china, and it represents china’s stand on the issue. the “we-take-our-own-initiative” principle www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 220 published by scholink inc. in publicity and the correct translation of these phrases reflect the firm stand of the translator and his/her professionalism. a qualified translator should have a good mastery of the correct translation of political expressions and expressions on china’s stand in the international arena and also develop correct understanding based on intensive and extensive reading. (2) target-reader awareness by target-reader awareness, the author means that news translation, while abiding the we-take-our-owninitiative principle, should also consider who the target readers are, what different backgrounds they come from, what different ways of thinking they have, what political stands they hold, and what news styles they have be accustomed to in terms of news content, language style, etc. communication studies shows that readers select what to read based on their interest and can only understand and remember things that they have an interest in. therefore, in news translation, the translator can help decide what to translate and more importantly translate in a way that is readable and acceptable to target readers. the management of government portals, lacking expertise and experience in cross-cultural communication, always believe that the more is presented, the more foreigners will know about the locality, neglecting the fact that readers read only what they are or might be interested in. cramming information into readers is certainly not a wise approach as it might cause negative effect. for instance, there was once a translation task for the two pieces of news: “宜昌自贸片区党建工作入选全国自贸片 区党建创新典型案例” and “宜昌高新区政务服务窗口人员持证上岗”. by reading through these two pieces of news, one can easily find that the party construction work of a free trade area in the first news might be hardly understandable to foreigners. in the second piece of news, those who are on the job should certainly be qualified for their positions, otherwise, why are they hired? similar news reports which are suitable for publicity in china and to chinese readers but not that appropriate for foreign readers do sometimes appear, therefore, translators and related management need to make a distinguish between domestic publicity and overseas publicity so as to take the first step regarding what to translate right. what is of equal importance is the way to translate. as is mentioned above, the news is usually written in chinese, so it is usually written in a chinese way. however, there exist huge differences between english news and chinese news in aspects of the headline, the lead and the body. according to zhang jian (2016), headlines of english news and chinese news differ in form, news focus, wording and tense (p. 21). there is usually one horizontal line in an english headline which emphasizes the focus of the news with concise words. however, a chinese headline usually comes out in a vertical multi-line way and the the headline itself is a mini-story in fancy words. since the headline serves the purposes of summarizing news focus and attracting readers’ attention, much effort should be made in order to translate in a way that is foreigner reader-friendly. example: 湖光秋色 this is the title of a piece of picture news, which introduces the ecological improvement of taojiahu lake in yichang city. if it is translated literally, the readers will be at a loss as to what it is about and which www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 221 published by scholink inc. place is this, and some might even think this is an unrelated picture. if it is translated into “taojiahu lake in autumn sunshine” (“the” is omitted as it is often the case in translating headlines), with the help of the picture, the readers will be instantly captivated by the picturesque scenery, which will ignite their desire to reader further and even inspire an impulsive urge to visit. in the author’s translation practice for the portal, many chinese titles of picture news come out with fancy and unsubstantial titles, and their translation should certainly involve the consideration for the target readers. example: 宜昌城市文化 ip 打造及运营专题讲座举行 共同讲好屈原故事宜昌故事 this is the two-line title of the news on the creation of yichang’s cultural ip, especially the qu yuan ip. unlike english news titles that only highlight the most important information, the two-line chinese title tries to show as much information as possible. in this piece of hard news, the most important fact is the convening of the symposium instead of the purpose of the symposium, which is to some extent selfevident. what’s more, based on the news content, “讲座” could be translated as “symposium” instead of “lecture” because the event was actually a meeting where experts shared their expertise and experience in creating influential images. “special symposium on qu yuan ip held in yichang” effectively conveys the core information while maintaining simplicity and professionalism, making it suitable for quickly informing readers about the news and arousing their interest. the lead in a piece of chinese hard news tries to showcase almost all the news elements (who, what, when, why, how and where) in a straight forward way, therefore, it is not rare to see the lead being as long as over 200 chinese characters. however, news agencies in foreign countries like the associated press has stipulated that a news lead should be no more than 25 words. in addition, english news gives only a general statement in the lead to arouses the readers’ interest and proceed with more information in the news body (liu, 2009, p. 29). therefore, in translating the news lead, these differences should be given proper consideration and appropriate editing is of imperative importance. example. 近日，宜昌举行第六个中国医师节庆祝活动暨 “最美健康守护者” 致敬礼，表彰 了一批优秀医务工作者，通过选树先进模范和示范标杆，进一步弘扬 “敬佑生命、救死扶 伤、甘于奉献、大爱无疆” 的医学精神，推动在全社会广泛形成尊医重卫的良好氛围。 in this lead, the news elements are: what－yichang commended excellent doctors when－recently who－yichang whom－excellent doctors why－to set models and create an atmosphere of respecting the doctors and public health services how－a commending ceremony (known based on the pictures from the internet) the why part, 65 characters, half of the sentence, is something that readers can easily associate when they read a piece of news commending the doctors. so in this sense, there is no need to put this part in the lead, which usually has a length limit. what’s more, news facts in english news are arranged usually www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 222 published by scholink inc. in the descending order of importance, and the most significant information is put at the beginning, and the least important information is put at the end. since the why part is self-evident, the translator can place it in a position that carries the least importance. based on what comes after the chinese lead, it is easy to know that a total of 224 doctors were commended at the commending ceremony, and pictures online show the event took place on august 18 (friday). therefore, the translator can rewrite the lead into “224 doctors were commended at the celebration of the 6th chinese physicians’ day on friday” and proceed in the body part with more information. the reason why the honor of the “most beautiful health guardians” is omitted is that the author ascertained that it was not the theme of the event and this honorary title was bestowed only to ten excellent doctors, and the others were commended either as leading talents or excellent doctors. hence, it is a wise practice to give this information in other forms like “the commending ceremony is held to pay tribute to the most beautiful health guardians” in appropriate places to make up for it not being translated in the lead. from the discussion of the above lead we know that lead translation is sometimes not merely about translating, instead, it is rewriting based on the content of the news and the translator’s understanding of the conventional forms of leads in newspapers. this rewriting or editing method is equally applicable to the translation of the body of the news, particularly when dealing with chinese news articles that often include extensive details. “宜昌市规划 建设 62 条生态清洁小流域” is quite an illustrative example. the entire news is 823 characters long, with detailed information about the definition and function of “ecological and clean small watersheds” (194 characters), and the names, locations, and project progress of some ecological and clean small watersheds (230 characters). since it is difficult for foreign readers to locate these places and remember these names and the project progress of some projects, there is no need to translate them all out. proper editing with a focus on the development of the protection of ecological and clean small watersheds and the government’s action plan in this aspect could achieve a more informative function. due to the restriction of length, only several examples for the translation of the title, the lead, and the news body are presented. however, in the author’s translation experience as a translator for the government portal, she has encountered many similar cases. ways of editing may vary from translator to translator since every translator has his/her individual style, but if a good communication effect is the ultimate goal, the readers should always be a top factor affecting the decisions in the translation process. (3) communication-effect awareness it is traditional practice that the management of the english version of the government portal assesses the translation work based on their standards over a certain period of time. the management of the yichang government portal assess the quality of the translation mainly from the perspectives of faithfulness, consistent terminology and smooth language every year, and has rated the translation excellent every time, which is one proof of the effectiveness of communication. however, this assessment is done by the initiator. a more direct and effective method will be researching on audiences’ feedback. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 223 published by scholink inc. before the renovation of the website, the number of visits to the website was clearly displayed on the top right corner of the website, and there were usually more than 2000 clicks everyday. this proved that the english portal was a useful resource for foreigners living in yichang or planning to come to yichang. another method to get readers’ feedback is to collect data from foreigners living in the city through online tools, applets and interviews. as is found by the author, the majority of the foreigners interviewed (mainly international students and foreign teachers) are positive and supportive of the translation, saying that the portal helps them know the city better. it is for sure that there are other effective means of assessing the translation of government portals, what the author emphasizes is that the effect orientation is an awareness that translators of government portals should develop and it is what helps them understand users’ needs, increase accuracy, optimize the language, and increase cognitive alignment in readers. since there still lacks an existing standard that translators can follow in order to achieve better communication effect in news translation, it certainly is a good idea to learn from other fields like international communication, journalism and communication, etc. 4. conclusion the english governmental portal of a city is a miniature of a city, serving vital functions like information communication and city life guidance. it plays a crucial role in enhancing city image and promoting social, economic and people-to-people exchanges. the news translation on the portal has to not only represent what is conveyed in the original news in chinese, but also present in a way that the foreign populace enjoy reading. the initiator of news translation and the news readers are not in conflict; rather, they depend on each other to tell rich and concrete local stories from a local perspective and thus present a panoramic view of the locality. in this sense, viewing news translation as a form of communication and prioritizing the parties and elements on the communication chain will ensure a good communication effect. improving the quality of translation and effect of communication is an arduous and complex endeavor which requires the efforts of not only the translators but also those involved in the communication behaviour. acknowledgements this research has been supported by the 2023 postgraduate model course cultivation project of courses with an ideological and political perspective at china three gorges university (sdkcsz202313) (course name: consecutive interpreting) and humanities and social sciences research project of hubei provincial department of education (number: 24q023; title: a study on the cognition and evaluation of chinese path to the modernization in the english-speaking world). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 224 published by scholink inc. references huang, y. y. (2022). from translating the world to translating china. foreign language press. liu, j. w. (2018). internationalization of government portal websites and government image construction: a case study of the english portal of the yichang municipal people’s government. journal of china three gorges university (humanities and social sciences), 3, 98-101. liu, q. z. (2009). english-chinese news translation. tsinghua university press. si, x. z. (2020). on the audience consciousness in the translation of news discourse on china. journal of zhejiang international studies university, 2, 55-63. wang, x. f. (2014). political consideration in chinese-english translation. chinese translators journal, 5, 97-101. wolf, w. (2011). mapping the field: sociological perspective on translation. international journal of the sociology of language, 207, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.2011.001 zhang, j. (2016). journalistic english: style and analysis. shanghai: shanghai foreign language press. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 25 original paper fed up of and fed up with in two corpora namkil kang1 1 far east university, south korea received: june 16, 2022 accepted: july 9, 2022 online published: july 28, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n3p25 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n3p25 abstract the main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that fed up of and fed up with are low similarity synonyms. a point to note is that fed up with was always favored over fed up of in twenty countries’ web from 2010 to 2022. a further point to note is that the figure of fed up of and fed up with reached a peak in 2019 and 2020, respectively. when it comes to the coca, fed up of and fed up with have the same property in the magazine genre, whereas they have different properties in the other seven genres. this in turn implies that fed up of is 14.28% the same as fed up with in eight genres. with respect to the euclidean distance, fed up of is the nearest to fed up with in the tv/movie genre. quite interestingly, the nc shows that fed up of people and fed up with people are the most preferred ones in twenty countries’ web. finally, with respect to the nc, it is interesting to note that 18.18% of forty four nouns are the collocations of fed up of and fed up with. it can thus be inferred that fed up of and fed up with are low similarity synonyms. keywords nc, coca, type, token, fed up of, fed up with 1. introduction the main goal of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of fed up of and fed up with in the now corpus and the corpus of contemporary american english. as murphy (2016, 2019) points out, fed up of and fed up with are used synonymously. as argued in kang (2022), the coca is a representative corpus for english learning. first, we aim to investigate the diachronic aspects of fed up of and fed up with used in twenty countries’ web from 2010 to 2022. second, we aim to compare fed up of and fed up with by observing their frequency in eight genres. third, we attempt to investigate the similarity between fed up of and fed up with by checking the distance between them in each genre. fourth, we aim to compare fed up of and fed up with in terms of the collocational analysis, which is meant to provide the pattern of two types. the now corpus provides the collocational pattern which is used in twenty countries’ web. the organization of this paper is as follows. in section 2, we argue that fed up with was always favored over fed up of in twenty countries’ web from 2010 to 2022. we further argue that fed up of and fed up www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 26 published by scholink inc. with had the highest frequency in twenty countries’ web in 2019 and 2020, respectively. in section 3, we maintain that fed up of and fed up with have the same property in the magazine genre, whereas they have different properties in the other seven genres, thus revealing that fed up of is 14.28% the same as fed up with in eight genres. also, we argue that that fed up of and fed up with show the highest similarity in the tv/movie genre. in section 4, we contend that fed up of people and fed up with people are the most preferred ones in twenty countries’ web. finally, we further contend that 18.18% of forty four nouns are the collocations of fed up of and fed up with. 2. discussion 2.1 the now corpus in what follows, we aim to consider the diachronic aspects of fed up of and fed up with in the now corpus. table 1 shows the use of fed up of and fed up with in twenty centuries’ web: table 1. frequency of fed up of and fed up with in the now corpus time period fed up of fed up with 2010 106 678 2011 154 844 2012 158 907 2013 173 959 2014 180 994 2015 214 1,136 2016 722 3,533 2017 715 3,592 2018 679 3,212 2019 753 3,680 2020 666 3,885 2021 504 3,622 2022 310 2,253 all 5,334 29,295 an important question is “which type is the preferred one in twenty countries’ web”? table 1 clearly indicates that fed up with is preferred over fed up of in twenty countries’ web. more specifically, the overall frequency of fed up with is 29,295 tokens in the now corpus, whereas that of fed up of is 5,334 tokens. interestingly, the frequency of fed up with (29,295 tokens) is five times higher than that of fed up of (5,334 tokens). this in turn implies that twenty countries’ web designers prefer using fed up with rather than using fed up of. now attention is paid to the diachronic aspects of fed up of and fed up with in the now corpus. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 27 published by scholink inc. figure 1. diachronic aspects of fed up of and fed up with in the now corpus there was a gradual increase (a rise of 52 tokens) in the figure of fed up of from 2010 to 2012. more interestingly, the figure of fed up of steadily increased to 56 tokens from 2012 to 2014. it should be pointed out that there was a sharp rise (an increase of 542 tokens) in the figure of fed up of from 2014 to 2016. quite interestingly, the figure of fed up of suddenly decreased to 43 tokens from 2016 to 2018. it is worth noting that the figure of fed up of reached a peak (753 tokens) in 2019. this in turn suggests that fed up of was the most preferred one in twenty countries’ web in 2019. quite interestingly, the figure of fed up of steadily decreased to 443 tokens from 2019 to 2022. it is worth pointing out that there was an upward trend in the figure of fed up of from 2010 to 2016, but the figure of fed up of did not exhibit such a phenomenon from 2019 to 2022. it is worth mentioning that the figure of fed up with gradually increased to 229 tokens from 2010 to 2012. interestingly, there was a gradual rise (a rise of 87 tokens) in the figure of fed up with from 2012 to 2014. it is probably worthwhile pointing out that there was a dramatic increase (a rise of 2,598 tokens) in the figure of fed up with from 2014 to 2017. more interestingly, the figure of fed up with steadily increased to 293 tokens from 2017 to 2020 except 2018. a point to note is that the figure of fed up with reached a peak (3,885 tokens) in 2020. this in turn indicates that fed up with is the most preferred one in twenty countries’ web in 2020. quite interestingly, there was a sharp decrease (a decrease of 1,632 tokens) in the figure of fed up with from 2020 to 2022. it should be pointed out that there was an upward trend in the figure of fed up with from 2010 to 2020 except 2018, but the figure of fed up with decreased from 2021 to 2022. additionally, it is interesting to note that fed up with was always preferred over fed up of in twenty countries’ web from 2010 to 2022. 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 2010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022 fr e q u e n cy year fed up of fed up with www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 28 published by scholink inc. 2.2 the corpus of contemporary american english in the following, we aim to investigate the similarity between fed up of and fed up with in the coca. table 2 shows the frequency of fed up of and fed up with in the coca: table 2. frequency of fed up of and fed up with genre all blog web tv/m spok fic mag news acad fed up of 72 26 29 7 8 1 1 0 0 fed up with 2,322 390 353 185 464 182 297 403 48 it is important to note that fed up with is preferred over fed up of (2,322 tokens vs. 72 tokens) in the coca. to be more specific, the overall frequency of fed up with is 2,322 tokens, whereas that of fed up of is 72 tokens. this in turn suggests that fed up with is preferable to fed up of in america. additionally, it is worth mentioning that fed up of is not the frequently used one in america. it can thus be inferred that americans do not prefer the type fed up of. note that the frequency of fed up with (2,322 tokens) is thirty two times higher than that of fed up of (72 tokens). it is significant to note that fed up of ranks first (29 tokens) in the web genre, whereas fed up with ranks first (464 tokens) in the spoken genre, thereby exhibiting no similarity in rank-one. it should be pointed out that the frequency of fed up with (353 tokens) in the web genre is twelve times higher than that of fed up of (29 tokens). it can be inferred from this that fed up with is preferred over fed up of by web designers in america. it is worth pointing out, on the other hand, that the frequency of fed up with (464 tokens) in the spoken genre is fifty eight times higher than that of fed up of (8 tokens). from this it is clear that americans prefer to use fed up with rather than use fed up of in daily conversation. it is interesting to note that fed up of ranks second (26 tokens) in the blog genre, whereas fed up with ranks second (403 tokens) in the newspaper genre, thus showing no similarity in rank-two. quite interestingly, when it comes to the blog genre, the type fed up with (390 tokens) is favored over the type fed up of (26 tokens). this in turn indicates that american bloggers prefer using fed up with rather than using fed up of. it must be noted, on the other hand, that the frequency of fed up with in the newspaper genre is 403 tokens, but that of fed up of is 0 token. we take this as suggesting that american journalists prefer using fed up with, but they do not use fed up of in the newspaper. it is worthwhile noting that fed up of ranks third (8 tokens) in the spoken genre, whereas fed up with ranks third (390 tokens) in the blog genre, hence showing no similarity in two genres. it should be noted that fed up of ranks third in the spoken genre, but its frequency is not that high (8 tokens), which in turn implies that americans do not like using fed up of in daily conversation. it is interesting to point out that fed up of ranks fourth (7 tokens) in the tv/movie genre, whereas fed up with ranks fourth (353 tokens) in the web genre, hence showing no similarity in rank-four. more interestingly, the frequency of fed up with (185 tokens) in the tv/movie genre is twenty six times higher www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 29 published by scholink inc. than that of fed up of (7 tokens). this in turn indicates that american celebrities prefer to use fed up with (185 tokens) rather than use fed up of (7 tokens). it is worth mentioning that fed up of ranks fifth (1 token) in the fiction and magazine genres, whereas fed up with ranks fifth (297 tokens) in the magazine genre. it must be noted that fed up of and fed up with rank fifth (1 token vs. 297 tokens) in the magazine genre, thus exhibiting the same ranking. it should be pointed out, however, that the frequency of fed up with is two hundred and ninety seven times higher than that of fed up of in the magazine genre. this in turn suggests that american journalists like using fed up with in their magazines, but they do not use fed up of. it is worthwhile pointing out that fed up of ranks sixth (0 token) in the newspaper genre and the academic genre, whereas fed up with ranks sixth (185 tokens) in the tv/movie genre. fed up of and fed up with show a different property with respect to the same ranking. when it comes to the academic genre, fed up with (48 tokens) is preferred over fed up of (0 token) by americans. this in turn implies that americans prefer to use fed up with rather than use fed up of in the academic field. it is interesting to note that fed up with ranks seventh (182 tokens) in the fiction genre and it ranks eighth (48 tokens) in the academic genre. it must be noted that the frequency of fed up with is 182 tokens in the fiction genre, whereas that of fed up of is 1 token. from this it is clear that fed up with is preferred over fed up of by american writers. to sum up, fed up of and fed up with have the same property in the magazine genre, whereas they have different properties in the other seven genres. it can thus be inferred that fed up of is 14.28% the same as fed up with in eight genres. now attention is paid to the percentage of fed up of and fed up with in eight genres: figure 2. percentage of fed up of in eight genres 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 blog web tv/m spok fic mag news acad p er en ct ag e (% ) genre www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 30 published by scholink inc. as exemplified in figure 2, the web genre is the most influenced by fed up of, followed by the blog genre, the spoken genre, the tv/movie genre, the fiction genre (the magazine genre), and the academic genre (the newspaper genre), in that order. figure 3. percentage of fed up with in eight genres as indicated in figure 3, the spoken genre is the most influenced by fed up with, followed by the newspaper genre, the blog genre, the web genre, the magazine genre, the tv/movie genre, the fiction genre, and the academic genre, in descending order. now let us turn to the euclidean distance between fed up of and fed up with in eight genres. note that the euclidean distance between fed up of and fed up with shows the degree of the similarity between them. we define the euclidean distance in this way: (1) euclidean distance 𝐸𝑑(𝑎, 𝑏) = (∑(𝑎𝑖 − 𝑏𝑖) 2) 𝑛 𝑖=1 1/2 where: 𝐸𝑑: euclidean distance 𝑎𝑖: percentage of fed up of 𝑏𝑖: percentage of fed up with. 0 5 10 15 20 25 blog web tv/m spok fic mag news acad p er ce n ta ge ( % ) genre www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 31 published by scholink inc. table 3. euclidean distance between fed up of and fed up with genre blog web tv/m spok fic mag news acad percentage of fed up of 36.11 40.27 9.72 11.11 1.38 1.38 0 0 percentage of fed up with 16.79 15.2 7.96 19.98 7.83 12.79 17.35 2.06 euclidean distance 19.32 25.07 1.76 8.87 6.45 11.41 17.35 2.06 quite interestingly, fed up of is the furthest from fed up with in the web genre. the euclidean distance between fed up of and fed up with is 25.07, which is the highest in the web genre. this in turn implies that fed up of and fed up with show the lowest similarity in the web genre. it is significant to note, on the other hand, that fed up of is the nearest to fed up with in the tv/movie genre. more specifically, the euclidean distance between fed up of and fed up with in the tv/movie genre is 1.76, which is the lowest. this in turn indicates that fed up of and fed up with show the highest similarity in the tv/movie genre. we thus conclude that fed up of is the nearest to fed up with in the tv/movie genre. 2.3 the collocations of fed up of and fed up with in the now corpus in the following, we aim to consider the collocations of fed up of and fed up with in the now corpus. table 4 shows the collocation of fed up of in the top 26: table 4. collocation of fed up of in the now corpus number collocation of fed up of frequency 1 fed up of people 86 2 fed up of life 20 3 fed up of betrayal 18 4 fed up of wordpress 18 5 fed up of hearing 15 6 fed up of corruption 14 7 fed up of sex 14 8 fed up of politicians 13 9 fed up of politics 12 10 fed up of dynasty 10 11 fed up of being 8 12 fed up of harassment 8 13 fed up of brexit 6 14 fed up of broadcasting 6 15 fed up of football 6 16 fed up of government 6 17 fed up of lockdown 6 18 fed up of violence 6 19 fed up of inaction 5 20 fed up of promises 5 21 fed up of women 5 22 fed up of cars 4 23 fed up of drug 4 24 fed up of media 4 25 fed up of militancy 4 26 fed up of parking 4 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 32 published by scholink inc. an important question is “which noun is the most preferred one with fed up of in twenty countries’ web?” table 4 clearly indicates that the collocation which is the most preferred (86 tokens) with fed up of is people. this in turn suggests that fed up of people is the most preferable one (86 tokens) for web designers in twenty countries. as exemplified in table 4, fed up of people (86 tokens) is the most preferred one, followed by fed up of life, fed up of betrayal (fed up of wordpress), fed up of hearing, fed up of corruption (fed up of sex), fed up of politicians, and fed up of politics, in that order. it is interesting to note that fed up of life ranks second (20 tokens) in twenty countries’ web. it is worth observing, on the other hand, that fed up of politicians ranks eighth (13 tokens) in the now corpus and fed up of politics ranks twelfth (12 tokens). finally, it should be noted that fed up of government ranks thirteenth (6 tokens) in twenty countries’ web. we thus conclude that fed up of people is the most preferred one in twenty countries’ web. now let us turn to the collocation of fed up with in the now corpus: table 5. collocation of fed up with in the now corpus number collocation of fed up with frequency 1 fed up with people 306 2 fed up with corruption 200 3 fed up with politics 142 4 fed up with life 128 5 fed up with politicians 113 6 fed up with crime 91 7 fed up with government 72 8 fed up with years 67 9 fed up with trump 63 10 fed up with police 50 11 fed up with president 44 12 fed up with regime 40 13 fed up with inaction 38 14 fed up with mr 38 15 fed up with gun 36 16 fed up with delays 32 17 fed up with traffic 31 18 fed up with austerity 30 19 fed up with congress 30 20 fed up with violence 27 21 fed up with restrictions 24 22 fed up with city 23 23 fed up with racism 23 24 fed up with feeling 20 25 fed up with lack 20 26 fed up with men 20 it is significant to note that fed up with people is the most preferred one (306 tokens) in the now corpus. this in turn shows that the expression fed up with people (306 tokens) is the most preferable one among twenty countries’ web designers. as alluded to in table 5, fed up with people is the most preferred (306 tokens) by twenty countries’ web designers, followed by fed up with corruption, fed up with politics, fed www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 33 published by scholink inc. up with life, fed up with politicians, fed up with crime, and fed up with government, in that order. it must be pointed out that fed up of politics ranks ninth (12 tokens) in twenty countries’ web, whereas fed up with politics ranks third (142 tokens). it is interesting to point out, on the other hand, that fed up of government ranks thirteenth (6 tokens) in the now corpus, whereas fed up with government ranks seventh (72 tokens). it is important to note that eight nouns are the collocations of both fed up of and fed up with in the now corpus. the eight nouns are people, corruption, politics, life, politicians, government, inaction, and violence. it can thus be inferred that 18.18% of forty four nouns are the collocations of fed up of and fed up with. we thus conclude that fed up of and fed up with show a low degree of similarity in the now corpus. 3. conclusion to sum up, we have provided a comparative analysis of fed up of and fed up with in the now corpus and the corpus of contemporary american english. in section 2, we have argued that fed up with was always preferred over fed up of in twenty countries’ web from 2010 to 2022. we have further argued that fed up of and fed up with were the most preferred ones in twenty countries’ web in 2019 and 2020, respectively. in section 3, we have maintained that fed up of and fed up with have the same property in the magazine genre, whereas they have different properties in the other seven genres. this indicates that fed up of is 14.28% the same as fed up with in eight genres. also, we have argued that that fed up of is the nearest to fed up with in the tv/movie genre. in section 4, we have contended that fed up of people and fed up with people are the most preferred ones in twenty countries’ web. finally, we have further contended that 18.18% of forty four nouns are the collocations of fed up of and fed up with. references murphy, r. (2016). grammar in use. cambridge university press. murphy, r. (2019). english grammar in use. cambridge university press. kang, n. (2022). a comparative analysis of impressed by and impressed with in two corpora. theory and practice in language studies, 12, 819-827. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1205.01 corpus of contemporary american english (coca). (1, july 2022). retrieved from https://corpus.byu.edu/coca now corpus. (nc). (1, july 2022). retrieved from https://english-corpora.org/now/ https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1205.01 https://english-corpora.org/now/ education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 78 original paper a study on sondergard’s translation from the perspective of narratology dongyue li1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: july 10, 2024 accepted: july 29, 2024 online published: august 13, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n3p78 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n3p78 abstract chinese classical novels have great influence and high literary value. sinologist sidney l. sondergard’s relatively new complete translation have received little attention and research. combining narrative theories, this paper takes the translation of sondergard as the core and uses other translation versions of the same work as a reference to analyze the inspiration of sondergard’s translation for chinese classic books. keywords english translation, sondergard, classic books 1. introduction at present, there are relatively few studies on the english translation of liaozhaizhiyi. under the category of chinese classic books, comparing with similar novels, as well as traditional writings such as lunyu and daodejing, the english translation studies of liaozhaizhiyi are far less in quantity. the paucity of studies of liaozhaizhiyi in english translation may be related to its longstanding failure to have a full english translation. as early as 1835, there was in the western world a short solo translation of “baiyuyu” (《白于玉》, one of the stories in liaozhaizhiyi), probably by british sinologist john francis davis. in 1880, british sinologist herbert a. giles translated and published the first abridged english translation of liaozhaizhiyi. and it was not until 2014, which was more than a hundred years later, that american sinologist sidney l. sondergard has made the first full english translation of liaozhaizhiyi. at the same time, the literary achievements of liaozhaizhiyi are often overlooked in its translations. this paper combines the narratological perspective with sondergard’s translation strategies and ideas to explore the strengths and shortcomings of sondergard’s version. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 79 published by scholink inc. 2. introduction to liaozhaizhiyi and its translations 2.1 introduction to liaozhaizhiyi liaozhaizhiyi (《聊斋志异》), often abbreviated to liaozhai, is a collection of short stories written in classical chinese language in the 17th century. the era in which the author pu lived and his personal situation brought him democratic enlightenment and various reflections. for example, he insisted on “benefiting the people and helping the others”, escaping from worldly constraints and pursuing freedom of mind. all these ideals of life were written in his work liaozhaizhiyi. in addition, liaozhaizhiyi also contains an extraordinary aesthetic pursuit and the author’s rich literary cultivation. therefore, although the work liaozhaizhiyi is famous for its depictions of various types of ghosts, monsters, and fantastic anecdotes, its literary and aesthetic value has long been neglected. 2.2 english translations of liaozhaizhiyi from the first abridged english translation of liaozhaizhiyi by giles in 1880, the history of its english translations has been over 140 years to the present day. up to now, there are a total of 18 abridged english translations and one full translation of liaozhaizhiyi. among them, the more noteworthy ones include giles’ translation first published in 1880, denis mair and victor mair’s translation first published in 1989, john minford’s translation published in 2006, and the six volumes translated by sondergard published successively from 2008 to 2014. 2.3 introduction to sondergard’s version the english translation of liaozhaizhiyi, despite its many translators and versions, was composed by fragmentary translations, abridged translations, or translations the source text of which was not the original chinese text for more than a hundred years, from 1880 to 2014. the original text of liaozhaizhiyi consists of 491 short stories, of which only 165 were selected in the most complete english translation before sondergard’s version. in 2008, sondergard completed the first and second volumes of his english translation of liaozhaizhiyi, which was based on “the complete new annotations of liaozhaizhiyi” (《全 本新注聊斋志异》) edited by zhu qikai of people’s literature publishing house, and the translated version was titled strange tales from liaozhai, published by jain publishing company in the u.s.. in 2014, the sixth volume of his translation was published, announcing the first full english translation of liaozhaizhiyi. sondergard is an american sinologist and professor of english at st. lawrence university. in the course of his teaching, he has translated some stories of liaozhaizhiyi for material, and they were well received by his students. when sondergard realized that there was still no complete english translation of liaozhaizhiyi, he decided to start the work himself. the research value of sondergard’s translation lies not only in the fact that it is the first and currently the only full translation into english, but also in the high quality of this version and the lack of related research. sondergard translated this work with a serious attitude and made many field trips to different parts of china. while translating, he also wrote research papers related to liaozhaizhiyi. nevertheless, a search on cnki with the keywords “宋贤德” and “sondergard” yielded a total of less than 20 results, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 80 published by scholink inc. and some of these documents do not take sondergard’s liaozhaizhiyi translation as the main research object. sondergard’s translation of liaozhaizhiyi and his identity as a translator have not received much attention. 3. textual analysis in addition to the spiritual connotation and aesthetic pursuit mentioned above, the language of pu’s liaozhaizhiyi is beautiful, precise, vivid and concise. the work has a high literary value when compared with similar novels written in classical chinese. just as many chinese readers only treat liaozhaizhiyi as a strange and interesting novel of ghosts and monsters and only see its entertainment function when reading the original text, some of the english translations of liaozhaizhiyi have the same tendency. for example, minford’s translation is in an easygoing style, which has been argued to be “designed to satisfy the needs of the lower-level target language readers” and partially undermined the literary character of liaozhaizhiyi. and in giles’ abridged translation of 165 stories, he has cut or rewritten the texts he considered to be cumbersome or uninteresting, including some details and parts of the plots; he has also added some plots not found in the original text. this is a rewriting of the narrative features of the source text as well. on the whole, in the english translations of liaozhaizhiyi before sondergard’s version, translators manipulated the original text comparatively frequently. sondergard placed great emphasis on the fidelity of translation, opposes manipulation, and advocates the strategy of foreignization. these ideas of translation determined his translation’s respect for the narrative and stylistic features of the source text, and allowed this translated version to have a high degree of literary quality. the progressiveness and pioneering nature of sondergard’s version can be seen in one reader’s comments on it, “previously, i had never considered liaozhaizhiyi to be a literary work.” since liaozhaizhiyi is a novel written in classical chinese and the translator can only base the translation on its vernacular meaning or the form of vernacular chinese language combined with notes, therefore, the situation is comparatively complicated at the language and textual level. in order to explore the literary fidelity of sondergard’s translation, narratology is no less a powerful tool. this paper takes other three translated versions as a slight reference. although these versions have their own characteristics and merits, their degree of fidelity to the original text or to foreignization is not as refined as that of sondergard’s translation in a comprehensive manner, and thus, from the literary and narratological perspectives, translations other than sondergard’s version are prone to the problem of paying insufficient attention to the narrative features of the source text, which is more likely to emphasize the characteristics of sondergard’s translation. looking at the following aspects of sondergard’s treatments and their manifestation in narratology, it can be concluded that sondergard’s translation not only highly respected and was faithful to the source text, but sometimes even emphasized the narrative effect of the source text. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 81 published by scholink inc. 3.1 plot and structure the peculiar and vagarious storyline created by pu is one of the things that makes liaozhaizhiyi so interesting and enjoyable. the stories in liaozhaizhiyi often have ups and downs and are unexpected without losing their structural integrity. in the original text of liaozhaizhiyi, there are often long paragraphs, and there are also some stories that are not short but are not subdivided into different paragraphs throughout the whole text, which is a subdividing habit that exists in pu’s work as well as in many other classical chinese novels. in the case of “tongrenyu” (《瞳人语》, one of the stories in liaozhaizhiyi), for example, the source text was divided into three paragraphs, the second of which is quite long and has a lot of dialogues and plot twists. in giles’ translation, he not only did not further subdivide the text, but also combined the whole piece into one long paragraph. sondergard’s translation, on the other hand, divided the whole text into 27 paragraphs according to the rhythm and dialogues. this kind of segmentation by the translator has made the story more rhythmic and layered and enhanced the readability, and at the same time, it also counteracted to a certain extent the obstacles to comprehension brought by sondergard’s elegant translation language to the readers. in addition, in his translation, sondergard “endeavored to faithfully follow pu’s syntax, punctuation, and diction”. reading sondergard’s translation, one can easily find that wherever english grammar can be taken into account, the faithfulness of the translation has gone so far as to leave the source text intact in terms of which phrase is followed by a comma and which ends with a period. for example: [example 1] 济南一僧，不知何许人。赤足衣百衲，日于芙蓉、明湖诸馆，诵经抄募。与以酒食、钱、 粟，皆弗受；叩所需，又不答。 （蒲松龄，1989） in jinan, there was a certain buddhist monk, about whose background no one knew anything. barefoot, his robe full of patches, all day long he wandered through the restaurants and hotels on lotus and clear lake streets, chanting and collecting donations. but if he was offered food and drink, money, or treats, he wouldn’t accept them; when he was asked what he needed, he wouldn’t answer. (sondergard, 2008) it can be seen that the translation has restored the punctuation and pauses of the source text as much as possible. the translation of “不知何许人” into “about whose background no one knew anything” with inverted sentence and attributive clause not only restored the punctuation but also realized the rhetorical beauty brought by the ellipsis in the source text. the two sentences “……，皆弗受” and “……，又不答” were separated by a semicolon, which was more symmetrical and progressive in meaning. the translator retained the semicolon and used the short sentences “he wouldn’t accept them” and “he wouldn’t answer” to reflect the symmetry, which is in line www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 82 published by scholink inc. with the rhythm of the source text. this treatment may be due to the fact that the original language text has a strong sense of tempo and rhythm. due to the special characteristics of a literary text, some of its features and effects are bound to be lost in translation, and the translator can only take some other ways to compensate for them, such as trying to restore the sense of beauty of sentence patterns, rhythm and vocabulary. aristotle’s classic definition of narrative plot, “plot, the putting together of events”, involves not only the structure of the story, but also attention to the readers’ aesthetic psychology. he believed that the organization of the plot must follow the principle of organic integrity, emphasizing the influence of the sequence of events on the whole story and the proportion of the size of each part of the plot. therefore, in sondergard’s translation, whether it was re-dividing the paragraphs or following very strictly the sentence structure and arrangement order of the source text, it reflected a kind of plotting that takes into account both the fluency of the passage and the fidelity to the narrative structure of the original text. 3.2 character discourse liaozhaizhiyi has created a number of classic and well-known characters, and its extensive character dialogues play an important role in expressing the characters’ personalities and making the plot coherent. in giles’ translation, many direct speeches in the source text became submerged speeches, which means the translator summarized the content of the characters’ discourse, while the specific words of the characters were obscured by the editorial process. [example 2] 予姊丈之祖，宋公讳焘，邑廪生。一日，病卧，见吏人持牒，牵白颠马来，云：“请赴试。” 公言：“文宗未临，何遽得考？”吏不言，但敦促之。公力疾乘马从去。 （蒲松龄，1989） my eldest sister’s husband’s grandfather, named song dao, was a graduate. one day, while lying down from indisposition, an official messenger arrived, bringing the usual notification in his hand and leading a horse with a white forehead to summon him to the examination for his master’s degree. mr. song here remarked that the grand examiner had not yet come, and asked why there should be this hurry. the messenger did not reply to this, but pressed so earnestly that at length mr. song roused himself, and getting upon the horse rode with him. (giles, 2010) the grandfather of my elder sister’s husband was named song tao, a scholarship student in his county. one day, while he was ill and lying in bed, an official leading a white-blazed horse brought him a formal document and told him, “you are requested to attend an examination.” song replied, “the civil examiner hasn’t arrived yet, so why has an examination been set so hastily? ” the officer didn’t answer him, but just urged him to go. though weakened by his illness, song rode out after him on his horse. (sondergard, 2008) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 83 published by scholink inc. song tao was the grandfather of my elder sister’s husband. he was a first-degree graduate and holder of an annual government stipend. one day, he was lying ill in bed when he saw a messenger arrive at his door, bearing an officiallooking document and leading a horse with white markings on its forehead. ‘you are hereby summoned to the examination for the second degree.’ ‘but the examiner has not arrived in town yet. they cannot be holding an examination!’ the messenger made no reply, but urged him to be on his way. so song struggled out of bed, climbed on to the horse and was carried away down an unfamiliar road, which soon led to the outskirts of a city grand enough to be a royal capital. (minford, 2006) in contrast to giles, sondergard retained the direct speeches in each character’s discourse, adhering to the principle of not altering any discourse pattern of the source text. in [example 2], giles’ translation changed the direct speech and covered the dialogues in the source text with “to summon”, so that readers may misunderstand the meaning of the text and think that song had already decided to take the exam. this greatly weakened the role of the first paragraph of the story in laying the groundwork for the later examination, which was actually a strange and abnormal “examination”, and also weakened song’s surprise and doubt at that time, which could not be contrasted with “公方悟，顿首泣曰” in the later text that constituted a plot twist and highlighted song’s image of a filial son. although minford’s version retained the narrative character of direct speech, the translation was not very accurate. the words “for the second degree” by minford and “for his master’s degree” by giles were both additional words by the translator. the source text simply said “请赴试”, and this examination would either be “考城隍” which was already stated in the title, or an examination unknown to song. such an additional translation would only add to the confusion of the reader. the syntax and tone of minford’s translation, “they cannot be holding an examination!”, also did not fit the characterization of song as talented, filial, and bedridden. 3.3 intrusive narrator one of the features of liaozhaizhiyi is that the author pu attached the expression “异史氏” to nearly two hundred of his stories. this appellation meant the author himself, and it usually appeared at the end of a story, making a comment that expressed the meaning of art in a straightforward way. this form was in fact modeled after the “太史公曰” in shiji (《史记》), became a kind of echo and inheritance of the spirit of shiji, reflecting pu’s spiritual quest in writing liaozhaizhiyi, and also allowing readers to understand the connotation of the stories in a deeper way. in narratological theories, “异史氏” is a kind of intrusive narrator, as opposed to the objective narrator status of the author in the presentation of the stories. at the same time, this phenomenon can be classified as pointing, expressing and revealing in non-narrative discourse. liaozhaizhiyi contains a large number of unexpected and thought-provoking stories, and on the way to telling these stories, the author did not reveal any of whatever opinions or feelings he might have. but in “异史氏曰”, the author freely www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 84 published by scholink inc. expressed his subjective feelings and evaluations, which showed the role of intrusive narrator. intrusive narrators often have strong emotions and tones with deterrent power to punish the evil and uphold the good, which is coincident with the theme of liaozhaizhiyi. it is worth noting that many authors intrude in the narrative by combining storytelling with the expression of subjective feelings, while pu separated the two, telling the story in a very traditional and objective narrative, while speaking freely when it came to the part of the story where he took “异史氏曰” as a reminder. this kind of twist and contrast are suitable for the expression of the main idea of liaozhaizhiyi, so that the readers, on the one hand, are immersed in the tricky plot, but on the other hand, they can “communicate with the author” and gain more insights. in different english translations of liaozhaizhiyi, most of the translators did not translate the part of “异 史氏曰”, such as giles and minford, while some others chose the strategy of deleting, rewriting, or adding in the part of “异史氏曰”. the translations by sondergard and by denis mair & victor mair are rare versions that have completely and faithfully translated the part of “异史氏曰”. [example 3] 异史氏曰：“一笑之知，许之以身，世人或议其痴；彼田横五百人，岂尽愚哉！此知希之贵， 贤豪所以感结而不能自已也。顾茫茫海内，遂使锦绣才人，仅倾心于蛾眉之一笑也，亦可 慨矣！” (蒲松龄，1989) the collector of these strange tales remarks, “to pledge oneself to another on the basis of nothing but a smile might seem pretty foolish to most people: but if that's foolish, then the deaths of tian heng’s five hundred men would have to be the most foolish thing of all! recognizing his rare value and virtuous example, those warriors felt moved and couldn’t stop themselves from wanting to join him. so considering the infinite variety of our world, for a gifted young man to devote his splendid talents to nothing more than the smile of a beautiful woman would really be admirable!” (sondergard, 2008) the chronicler of the tales comments: “some may call it foolish for a man to commit himself to a woman when no more recognition than a smile has passed between them. but could the five hundred followers of tian heng have all been fools? from them we learn how highly men value those who recognize their worth, and what makes able, outstanding men rally around a leader without thinking of themselves. and yet, it would surely be tragic if a young man in all the splendor of his gifts could find nothing more in this vast world on which to pin his hopes for recognition than the smiles of a young beauty!” (mair, 2007) it is important to note that in some stories, the part of “异史氏曰” do not coincide with the main text or do not coincide completely with it. for instance, in [example 3], the first two sentences of the part of “异史氏曰” in “liancheng” (《连城》, one of the stories in liaozhaizhiyi) are closely related to the content of the story, expressing the difficulty of finding a close friend and the preciousness of encounter www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 85 published by scholink inc. and understanding. however, there is a twist in the last sentence, “亦可慨矣” means “it is really sad”, expressing the negativity towards the idea that talented people could only fall in love with a beauty because there is no confidant who truly knows them. and it also overthrows the positive conception of the love between qiaosheng and liancheng that the readers have when reading the story. sondergard translated this part completely, and the word order is basically the same as that of the source text. in [example 3], there is an allusion of “田横五百人”, which is meant to praise qiaosheng’s spirit of “a gentleman is ready to die for his bosom friends”. in mair’s version, it is translated as “the deaths of tian heng’s five hundred men” without any note, which will confuse the target readers in the absence of any mention of “tian heng” in the preceding text. sondergard added a note to introduce the allusion after the direct translation. however, sondergard’s translation sometimes lacks precision in meaning and wording, and there are also mistranslations. for example, he chose the word “collector” for “异史氏”, and mair used the word “chronicler” that better reflects the concept of “history” than sondergard’s. besides, mair’s capitalization of the initial letter emphasized the proprietary nature of “异史氏曰”, suggesting to the reader that from here the objective narrative shifted to an intrusive one. for the translation of “亦可慨矣”, mair’s “tragic” is accurate, while sondergard’s “admirable” is the exact opposite, which should be due to a deviation in the understanding of classical chinese. 4. conclusion from a literary point of view, sondergard’s translation has the highest degree of fidelity to the source text of liaozhaizhiyi, basically preserving and restoring many of its narrative features. sondergard’s version is faithful to the original text while also taking into account the readers’ acceptance. and in addition to being liaozhaizhiyi’s first and only existing full translation in english, it also embodies a number of innovations and advances compared with other versions, which is something that future english translations of liaozhaizhiyi could learn from. of course, there are some defects and omissions in sondergard’s version, but overall it still seems to be a translation of liaozhaizhiyi with relatively high research value, and should receive more attention in the future. references aristotle. (2013). poetics. oxford: oxford university press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00258601 genette, g. (1980). narrative discourse. ithaca, new york: cornell university press. giles, h. a. (2010). strange tales from a chinese studio. singapore: tuttle publishing. huang, y., zhang q., zhang c., yang y., mair, d. c., & mair, v. h. (2007). selections from strange tales from the liaozhai studio. beijing: foreign languages press. minford, j. (2006). strange tales from a chinese studio. london: penguin group. https://doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00258601 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 86 published by scholink inc. prince, g. (1982). narratology: the form and functioning of narrative. berlin: mouton publishers. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110838626 sondergard, s. l. (2008). strange tales from liaozhai. fremont: jain publishing company. chi, t., & fan, x, t. (2023). a study of the english translation of liaozhaizhiyi and its dissemination in the english-speaking world. study on pu, 4, 59-70. dong, x. y. (2012). exploring the english translation of liaozhaizhiyi from the perspective of narratology. central china normal university. he, m. (2009). a review of the translation of liaozhaizhiyi in the english-speaking world. foreign language teaching and research, 2, 148-152+161. hu, y. m. (1994). narratology. wuhan: central china normal university press. li, h. j. (2011). from cross-cultural manipulation to cultural harmonization. shanghai international studies university. li, h. j., & jiang, f. m. (2017). a milestone in the history of english translation of liaozhaizhiyi a review of sondergard’s full translation strange tales from liaozhai. chinese culture research, 4, 126-135. li, j. (2006). “yishishiyue” the intrusive narrator in liaozhaizhiyi. journal of hechi university (philosophy and social science edition), 3, 53-55. pu, s. l. (1989). complete new annotations of liaozhaizhiyi. beijing: people’s literature publishing house. ren, z. q. (2019). translation of the preface to american sinologist sondergard’s liaozhaizhiyi full english translation (i). study on pu, 1, 90-97. ren z. q. (2019). translation of the preface to american sinologist sondergard’s liaozhaizhiyi full english translation (ii). study on pu, 4, 92-98. shen, d., & wang, l. y. (2010). western narratology: classical and post-classical. beijing: peking university press. wang, x. x. (2022). translation of the preface to american sinologist sondergard’s liaozhaizhiyi full english translation (iii). study on pu, 2, 102-108+160. yao, j. (2022). translation of the preface to american sinologist sondergard’s liaozhaizhiyi full english translation (iv). study on pu, 2, 109-116. zheng, t. s. (2001). an analysis of the narrative form of liaozhaizhiyi. study on pu, 4, 40-55. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110838626 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper pragmatics as pragma-sociolinguistics of discourse adeoye adeyinka olusola1 1 department of english, faculty of humanities, ajayi crowther university, oyo, oyo state, nigeria received: november 1, 2025 accepted: november 15, 2025 online published: december 1, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v7n1p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v7n1p1 abstract in construing pragmatics as pragma-sociolinguistics of discourse, a tripartite perspective of pragmatics is brought to the fore: it is a contextual perception of language use; it is a socially underpinned use and interpretation of human communication; and it concerns discourse (language in use). in discourse, language is functional because of the discrete pragma-sociolinguistic elements of communication deployed by language users/participants. since discourse is indeed, language in use or language in action, a pragmatic study of discourse explains how social context, physical context and linguistic context impinge on “what is said” within and beyond the sentence. hinging on adegbija’s (1982) pragmasociolinguistic approach, this study concludes that pragmatics is essentially the pragmasociolinguistics of discourse because: it is a social idea of discourse; it is linguistic action; it is situated/contextualized discourse; it is reference-making; and it is organized discourse. keywords pragmatics, discourse, sociolinguistics, linguistics, pragmasociolinguistic approach 1. introduction like pragmatics, discourse is cross-disciplinary. it covers diverse disciplines and facets of life. thus, in the analysis of texts through a pragmatic-analyst approach or a discourse-analyst approach, “context of speech” invokes “context of situation”. brown and yule (1983) note that “the term, ‘discourse analysis’, has come to be used with a wide range of meanings, which cover a wide range of activities. it is used to describe activities at the intersection of disciplines as diverse as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, philosophical linguistics and computational linguistics. scholars working centrally in these different disciplines tend to concentrate on different aspects of discourse. sociolinguists are particularly concerned with the structure of social interaction manifested in conversation and their descriptions emphasize features of social context which are particularly amenable to socio-logical classification. they are concerned with generalizing across ‘real’ instances of language in use, and typically work with transcribed spoken data. psycholinguists are particularly concerned with issues related to language www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 2 published by scholink inc. comprehension. they typically employ a tight methodology derived from experimental psychology, which investigates problems of comprehension in short constructed texts or sequences of written sentences. philosophical linguists, and formal linguists, are particularly concerned with semantic relations between constructed pairs of sentences and with their syntactic realizations. they are concerned, too, with relationships between sentences and the world in terms of whether or not sentences are used to make statements which can be assigned truth-values.” human beings do not live in society without communicating or talking to one another (discourse). in this sense, discourse, which is essentially human interaction, is as old as human existence. pragmatics analyzes discourse or texts using linguistic and extralinguistic elements of communication, with emphasis on context-informed language use. the analysis of discourse through a pragmatic-analyst or discourse-analyst approach, points to the fact that language use is neither arbitrary nor incidental when focus is on processing sender-meaning. this study examines pragmatics as pragma-sociolinguistics of discourse by elucidating the functions of social variables, linguistic inputs and discourse features of texts in the encoding and decoding of utterances. 2. literature review this section of the paper examines pragmatics, discourse, discourse analysis and sociolinguistics. 2.1 pragmatics pragmatics is a field of language study. its thrust is context-based analysis of language use. its emergence shifted emphasis in language use, from linguistic conventions to contextual underpinnings. the term “pragmatics” is from the greek word pragma which means “deed” or “action”. according to the encyclopedia americana (1994), pragmatics is “the subfield of the study of language that investigates the techniques by which language is processed for communication purposes.” in addition, crystal and varley (1993) define pragmatics as “the study of the factors that govern our choice of language (sounds, construction, words) in social interaction, and the effects of our choice upon others. the subject includes the cooperation in our speaking behavior and it thus involves using language to convey politeness, intimacy, playfulness, rudeness, awkwardness and a range of other social attributes. kasia m. jaszczolt (2012, p. 103) submits that “pragmatics has very respectable roots in philosophical writings of ordinary language philosophers of the anglo-american tradition, and even further into the past, in the phenomenological writings in continental europe.” adegbija (1999) gives insights on pragmatics from the perspective of the scope of the term. according to adegbija (1999), the scope of pragmatics include: (i.) the message being communicated; (ii.) the participants involved in the message; (iii.) the knowledge of the world which they share; (iv.) the deductions to be made from the text on the basis of the context; and (v.) the impact of the non-verbal aspect of interaction on meaning. austin (1962) lists crucial concepts in the pragmatics which are as follows: participants (users of language in context); www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 3 published by scholink inc. speech acts (locutionary act which is an utterance with determinate sense and reference; illocutionary act which is the making of a statement, offer, promise, etc. in uttering a sentence by virtue of the conventional force associated with it; and perlocutionary act which is the bringing about of effects on the audience by means of uttering the sentence); context (the relevant aspects of the physical or social setting of an utterance or discourse); non-verbal communication (extra-linguistic communication); inference (the process of making logical conclusions from all that a particular context provides to arrive at what a speaker means); presupposition (facts that the participants of discourse take for granted in a particular context of communication); and shared knowledge (common background information shared by the participants of discourse). classical pragmatic theorists are language philosophers who view meaning beyond the sentence and in terms of action-potential of language. 2.2 discourse and discourse analysis brown and yule (1983, p. 1), define discourse as “language in use.” discourse operates as a messageladen linguistic structure. olugbenga ibileye (2018, p. 1) opines that “the theoretical basis of the emergence of the field of discourse analysis is a pervading phenomenon, which governs human lives and daily activities sometimes in an unconscious way. discourse has been variously conceived by scholars as the authentic product of human interaction as well as being the concrete aspect of the abstractness of communication … discourse defines the human essence as it reflects what a speaker wants, who the speaker is and what the speaker does …” according to stubbs (1983, p. 1), discourse is: “(1) concerned with language use beyond the boundaries of a sentence/utterance, (2) concerned with the interrelationships between language and society and (3) as concerned with the interactive or dialogic properties of everyday communication.” discourse subjects vary according to textual categories: doctorpatient interactions, military coup speeches, election campaign speeches, religious sermons, etc. according to brown and yule (ibid p. x), “… a wide array of linguistic ‘texts’ are explored in the study of discourse. these might consist of a conversation or a letter; a speech, a memo or a report; a broadcast, a newspaper article or an interview; a lesson, a consultation or a confrontation encounter; an advertisement of flier or a piece of gossip. discourse analysts are as concerned (if not more so) to examine the way in which meaning is constructed throughout the text, as with the way this is achieved at any one point in the text.” deborah schiffrin, deborah tannen and heidi e. hamilton (2001, p. 1) submit that “discourse analysis is a rapidly growing and evolving field. current research in this field now flows from numerous academic disciplines that are very different from one another. included, of course, are the disciplines in which models for understanding and methods for analyzing discourse first developed, such www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 4 published by scholink inc. as linguistics, anthropology, and philosophy. but also included are disciplines that have applied – and thus often extended – such models and methods to problems within their own academic domains, such as communication, cognitive psychology, social psychology, and artificial intelligence” 2.3 sociolinguistics sociolinguistics is concerned with language and society. a society accommodates socio-cultural values and speech behaviour. a basic instrument of human communication, language establishes the link between man (generic) and society. according to crystal (1971), language is “the systematic conventional use of sounds, signs or written symbols in a human society for communication and selfexpression.” bosede sotiloye (1992) defines sociolinguistics as “a field of study which relates societal problems to linguistic/language problems. it answers the question: how do our social and cultural backgrounds affect our use of language? it is a branch of linguistics which tries to answer questions like who says what to whom, when, where, how and why? one of the major aims of sociolinguistics is the study of the use of language in its social and cultural contexts. it studies the norms of the society at large and examines how the individual exploits his awareness of the society’s norms in order to achieve particular effects.” according to abiodun sofunke (1992), sociolinguistics is “… another major area of applied linguistics. the sociolinguistic aspect of applied linguistics is concerned with issues which indicate the interaction between language and society. society is in general divided along class and occupational lines, these divisions being in most cases reflected in language. the elucidation of the nature and use of these socially stratified speech forms is the business of sociolinguistics.” 3. theoretical framework adegbija’s pragmasociolinguistic approach (cf. adegbija 1982) to the analysis of discourse or text captures the pragmatic, social and linguistic variables that facilitate the use and interpretation of language. therefore, it is a suitable framework for explaining pragmatics as the sociolinguistics of discourse. according to adegbija (1982), the concept encapsulates the historical, personal, environmental, sociocultural and linguistic contexts. the pragmatic context concerns pragmatic variables such as presupposition and shared knowledge that utterances invoke in contexts. the social context involves the relationship between participants of discourse. the linguistic aspect of context has to do with choice of words and how words are patterned in sentences. for example, the words before or after a particular word in a sentence determines meaning. see adegbija (1982) for more insights on the theory. 4. pragmatics as sociolinguistics of discourse the different perspectives, from which pragmatics can be arguably viewed as sociolinguistics of discourse, are not only presented in this section, but they are also explained. 4.1 pragmatics as socially underpinned discourse labove (1977) contends that “no use of language can be divorced from its social context since special meaning is parasitic upon language.” as textual communication, pragmatics shows the socio-cultural www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 5 published by scholink inc. nuances that discourse participants bring to the fore in actual instances of language use. thus, every discourse or text has “topic relevance” which involves message, sender and audience. ruth wodak and martin resigl, cited in deborah schiffrin, deborah tannen and heidi e. hamilton (2001, p. 385) contend that “we obviously need to think about what our ‘text’ is about, since clearly what a person is talking about has a bearing on what is said and how it is said. we also need to think about who said it, or who wrote it or signed it, who is thought, in its particular socio-cultural context, to be responsible for what it says, who the intended audience was and who the actual hearers or readers were, because who the participants in a situation are and how their roles are defined clearly influence what gets said and how. we need to think about what motivated the text, about how it fits into the set of things people in its context conventionally do with discourse … according to these general aims one can distinguish between constructive, perpetuating, transformational, and destructive social macro-functions of discourse.” fairclough (1992, p. 8) provides insights on the social perspective of discourse, as evident in his submission that “discourse constitutes the social. three dimensions of the social are distinguished: knowledge, social relations, and social identity and these correspond respectively to three major functions of language. discourse is shaped by relations of power, and invested ideologies.” the different “contexts of speech” and “contexts of situation” that explain texts, accentuate the claim that pragmatics and discourse analysis are indeed, concerned with the social perspective of language. as fields of language study, they are about human beings in society. human society is anchored by value-systems, sociocultural practices and standards of behaviour. all these social elements do not only constitute shared knowledge of discourse participants, but also count as the referents of language use. through linguistic inputs of the participants of discourse, a wide range of propositions can be conveyed within and beyond the sentence, and the participants, being part of the universe of discourse, rely on speaker-hearer shared knowledge to deduce discourse subjects. shared knowledge and presuppositions are whatever discourse participants expect their interlocutors to know (cognitive pragmatics) as the background knowledge from the universe of discourse. chilton (2005a, p. 23) rightly notes that “cognitive pragmatics is defined as a study of mental states of the interlocutors, their beliefs, desires, goals, and intentions (cf. bara 2010, p. 1) produced and interpreted by human individuals interacting with one another … if language use (discourse) is, as the tenets of cda assert, connected to the construction of knowledge about social objects, identities, processes, etc., then that construction can only be taking place in the minds of (interacting) individuals.” bach and harnish (1979) is quite illuminating not only in terms of social perspective of language use, but also in the elucidation of shared knowledge, speakers’ intention (sendermeaning), inference-making, literal and non-literal illocutionary strategies in discourse. the theory contends that mutual contextual beliefs (mcbs) facilitates the inferential process. to infer what s is saying, the hearer (h) relies also on “presumption of literalness” (pl); that is, the hearer should know when the linguistic communication of the speaker (s) is within or outside the bounds of literalness, and if s is speaking in a non-literal dimension, h should not only acknowledge it, but should also be able to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 6 published by scholink inc. understand what such speech by s means. these theorists recognize other types of beliefs shared by an entire linguistic community, which the hearer relies on for inference-making: 1). linguistic presumption (lp); and 2). communicative presumption (cp). linguistic presumption (lp) refers to the moral belief that members of a linguistic community (lc) share on the particular language (l). therefore, any expression (e) uttered by a member to any member of the community, is taken by the speaker for granted; the speaker presupposes that the hearer understands the expression or utterance. the recognition of a speaker’s communicative intention implies that an utterance is successfully conveyed. bach and harnish (ibid) recognize two broad categories of illocutionary acts: communicative and non-communicative. while the former requires the recognition of s’s r-intention, the latter does not. within the scope of this paper, the theory will not be elaborately presented. see bach and harnish (ibid) for more tips on speech acts, intention, shared knowledge, literal and non-literal utterances and inference-making strategies. when linguistic elements are deployed in context, social variables determine felicity conditions. bosco et al. (2006) note that “conversation is a two-fold activity in which the participants form utterances that are products of shared meaning, and such utterances produce felicitous results to the communicative event.” speech acts operate acceptably in context when social variables (as in felicity conditions) are part of their performance. austin (ibid) explains that speech acts can be felicitous when the required conditions (appropriate participants, the right words at the right place) for their performance are fulfilled. thus, this study situates language within social phenomena in discourse, as a means of capturing the basic concerns of pragmatics in language study (note 1). the literature is replete with the relevance of socio-cultural nuances in the performance of speech acts. for example, sapir (1956) opines that “every cultural pattern and every single act of social behavior involves communication in either one explicit or implicit sense.” 4.2 pragmatics as language in action like in pragmatics, discourse analysis is concerned with the functions of the linguistic elements in a text. from the perspective of functionality, discrete speech acts (actions) are performed in using utterances in discourse: informing, persuading, advising, asserting, ascribing, acknowledging, etc. in this sense, language users, as austin (ibid) notes, “do things with words”. for more tips on the literature of speech acts, see austin (ibid), searle (1969) as well as bach and harnish (1979). brown and yule (ibid: p. 25) report that “the discourse analyst … is interested in the function or purpose of a piece of linguistic data and also in how that data is processed, both by the producer and by the receiver. it is natural consequence that the discourse analyst will be interested in the results processing experiments in a way which is not typical of the sentence-grammarian. it also follows that the work of those sociolinguists and ethnographers who attempt to discuss language in terms of user’s purposes will also be of interest.” the propositions of utterances are intentional actions towards social institutions. john t. kearns cited in savas l. t. (1994) notes that “a linguistic act, or speech act, is an intentional, meaningful act performed with www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 7 published by scholink inc. an expression or expressions. even though the word ‘speech’ suggests saying something out loud, i use the two expressions ‘speech act’ and ‘linguistic act’ interchangeably for acts performed with expressions, whether they are out loud, in writing, or ‘in one’s head’. both speakers/writers and their audiences (when they understand the speakers/writers) perform linguistic acts.” in using language to perform actions, and interpreting illocutionary acts as either literal, non-literal, direct or indirect, language users (speakers) demonstrate linguistic and communicative competence. in terms of linguistic competence, scholars hold the view that speakers of a given language have appreciable repertoire of knowledge concerning the language. in this regard, consider kreidler’s (1998, pp. 11-12) submission: speakers of a language generally agree as to when two sentences have essentially the same meaning and when they do not … 3). speakers generally agree when two words have essentially the same meaning – in a given context … 4). speakers recognize when the meaning of one sentence contradicts another sentence … 5). speakers generally agree when two words have opposite meanings in a given context … 6). synonyms and antonyms have to have some common elements of meaning in order to be, respectively, the same or different. words can have some element of meaning without being synonymous or antonymous … 7). some sentences have double meanings; they can be interpreted in two ways. speakers are aware of this fact because they appreciate jokes which depend on twoway interpretation … 8). speakers know how knowledge is used when people interact. if one person asks a question or makes a remark, there are various possible answers to the question or replies one might make to the remarks … 9). speakers are aware that two statements may be related in such a way that if ane is true, the other must also be true. 10). speakers know that the message conveyed in one sentence may presuppose other pieces of knowledge … 4.3 pragmatics as situated discourse in pragmatics and discourse analysis, it is widely acknowledged that language users communicate in specific settings/physical contexts. commenting on features of physical context of communication, butari nahum upah (2018: 19) cites noun (2010): (i) participants, e.g. boys, girls, men, traders (ii) ongoing activity, e.g. playing, chatting, debating (iii) the place, e.g. church, class, stadium, dining table (iv) the time, e.g. time of the day or season. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 8 published by scholink inc. context can be viewed in terms of its larger frame where each society, as a situated linguistic community, operates with its own social structure, speech behaviour or value systems. martin pütz, justyna a. robinson and monika reif (2012, pp. 247-249) submit that “in sociolinguistics, the categorization of people, their relationships and social activities make up what is called “social structure”, i.e. social groups, networks and social situations. the main task of sociolinguistics is to relate variation in language to variation in social structure, whereby an individual’s use of language is determined by that individual’s recognition – their perception of the social groups and networks around them.” the implication of this is that sender-meaning is determined by the pragmatics of the social context. the pragmasociolinguistics of discourse explains sender-meaning within the framework of ogden and richards theorizing on the concept of meaning. in this regard, language use is immersed in reference-making and inference-making, where linguistic and extralinguistic constraints impinge on the encoding and decoding of expressions or utterances in discourse. geoffrey, n. l. & michael, h. s. (1981) report ogden and richards view on the concept of meaning: perhaps the best known book ever written on semantics, that which c. k. ogden and i. a. richards published in 1923, had the very title the meaning of meaning, and contained, on pp. 186-7, a list of as many as twenty-two definitions of the words, taking different non-theoretical starting points. here … is a selection of the meanings given: an intrinsic property; the other words annexed to a word in the dictionary; the connotation of a word; the place of anything in a system; the practical consequences of a thing in our future experience; that to which the user of a symbol actually refers; that to which the user of a symbol ought to be referring; that to which the user of a symbol believes himself to be referring; that to which the interpreter of a symbol (a) refers (b) believes himself to be referring (c) believes the user to be referring. 4.4 pragmatics as reference-making in discourse in the performance of discrete speech acts such as acknowledging, condemning, praising, ascribing, informing, describing, persuading, etc., discourse participants make references to people, things and phenomena in the real world, as they apply to an on-going communication. according to strawson (1950), “‘referring’ is not something an expression does; it is something that someone can use an expression to do.” indeed, language use is essentially speakers’ illocutionary intents, and the effects of such intents on addressees. this view is in tandem with austin (1962, p. 119) who states that “in saying something will often, or even normally, produce certain consequential effects upon the feelings, thoughts, or actions of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 9 published by scholink inc. the audience, or of the speaker, or of other persons; and it may be done with the design, intention or purpose of producing them … we shall call the performance of an act of this kind the performance of perlocutionary act or perlocution …” 4.5 pragmatics as organized discourse the participants, their language use, their audience and the setting of discourse determine the way a communicative event operates. in this sense, discourse is a structured and organized human communication. this explains why it can be analyzed to reveal the systematic nature of natural (human) communication (note 2). the message-driven organization of linguistic stretches produces textual tie, cohesion and coherence towards effective communication. deborah schiffrin, cited in deborah schiffrin, deborah tannen and heidi e. hamilton (ibid: p. 54) submit that “the production of coherent discourse is an interactive process that requires speakers to draw upon several different types of communicative knowledge that complement more code-based grammatical knowledge of sound, form, and meaning per se. two aspects of communicative knowledge closely related to one another are express and social: the ability to use language to display personal and social identities, to convey attitudes and perform actions, and to negotiate relationships between self and others. others include a cognitive ability to represent concepts and ideas through language and a textual ability to organize forms, and convey meanings, within units of language longer than a single sentence.” choice of words facilitates textual tie, cohesion and coherence. these features impinge on the organization of discourse because they are meaningdetermining elements. diane blakemore, cited in deborah schiffrin, deborah tannen and heidi e. hamilton (ibid: p. 102) states that “coherence relations are structural relations which hold in virtue of formal properties of utterances.” the linguistic knowledge of speakers of a language influences the sociopragmatics of language use. for example, to deviate from literal to non-literal language or interpret these two forms, mastery of the grammar and vocabulary of language is crucial. inference theories are instructive in the explanation of strategies for processing the meaning of literal and non-literal propositions in discourse. levinson (1983) submits: … there are, therefore, a number of distinct inference theories, but they share the following essential properties: • the literal meaning and the literal force of an utterance is computed by, and available to, participants; • for an utterance-trigger, i.e. some indication that the literal meaning and/or literal force is conversationally inadequate in the context and must be ‘repaired’ by some inference; • there must be specific principles or rules of inference that will derive, from the literal meaning and force and the context, the relevant indirect force; • there must be pragmatically sensitive linguistic rules or constraints, which will govern the occurrence of, for example, pre-verbal ‘please’ in both direct and indirect request. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 10 published by scholink inc. 5. conclusion this study examines pragmatics in relation to two other fields of language study: sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, and contends that pragmatics is indeed, pragma-sociolinguistics of discourse; in this regard, emphasis is on context, linguistic conventions and elements of discourse. communication is a crucial component of the relationship between language and society. society captures humans and social structures. effective communication is, within these phenomena, “the successful transaction of sendermeaning via linguistic and extra-linguistic properties of texts”. the use of language in written and spoken communication is essentially the performance of actions through discrete communicative strategies. thus, sender-meaning is context-sensitive across discourse genres. hinging on social and contextual underpinnings of texts, pragmatics and discourse analysis reveal meaning in language-use as being principle-driven. patrick griffiths (2006) submits that “sender meaning is the meaning that the speaker or writer intends to convey by means of an utterance. sender meaning is something that addressees continually have to make informed guesses about. addressees can give indications, in their own next utterance, of their interpretation (or by performing other actions …). pragmatic, social and linguistic contexts enable participants of discourse to process sender-meaning, thus preventing pragmatic failure which as cited in adeyemi (2000, p. 77), “… refers to the inability to understand what is meant by what is said.” conclusively, in elucidating pragmatics as pragma-sociolinguistics of discourse, this study contends that language use, being a social phenomenon, emphasizes topic, message, context, participants, organizational pattern, coherence and cohesion. notes note 1. the notion of direction-of-fit (cf. searle ibid) shows the relationship between language and its socio-pragmatic perspective. note 2. johnstone, cited in olugbenga ibileye (ibid: 6-7) provides insights on the form of discourse in terms of participant, topic and context: we obviously need to think about what our ‘text’ is about, since clearly what a person is talking about has a bearing on what is said and how it is said. we also need to think about who said it, or who wrote it or signed it, who is thought, in its particular sociocultural context, to be responsible for what it says, who the intended audience was and who the actual hearers or readers were, because who the participants in a situation are and how their roles are defined clearly influence what gets said and how. we need to think about what motivated the text, about how it fits into the set of things people in its context conventionally do with discourse, and about what its medium (or media) of production has to do with what it is like. we need to think about the language it is in, what that language encourages speakers and writers to do and what it is relatively difficult to do in that language. we need to think about the text’s structure, and how it fits into larger structures of sets of texts and sets of interactions. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 11 published by scholink inc. references abiodun, s. (1992). applied linguistics. in y. ore (ed.), introduction to linguistics (p. 144). ilorin: department of linguistics and nigerian languages, university of ilorin. adegbija, e. f. (ed.). (1999). the english language and literature in english: an introductory handbook. ilorin: university of ilorin. austin, j. l. (1962). how to do things with words. cambridge: harvard university press. bach, k., & harnish, r. (1979). linguistic communication and speech acts. cambridge, massachusetts. the mit press. bara, b. g. (2010). cognitive pragmatics: the mental processes of communication. cambridge, ma: mit press. translated by j. douthwaite. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262014113.001.0001 bosco, f., monica, b., & bara, b. (2004). the fundamental context categories in understanding communicative intentions. journal of pragmatics, 36, 467-448. https://doi.org/10.1016/s03782166(03)00055-9 bosede, s. (1992). sociolinguistics. in y. ore (ed.), introduction to linguistics (p. 145). ilorin: department of linguistics and nigerian languages, university of ilorin. brown, g., & yule, g. (1983). discourse analysis. cambridge: cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511805226 butari, n. u. (2018). context. in o. ibileye (ed.), discourse analysis and pragmatics: issues in theory and practice. lagos: malthouse press limited. gbenga, i. (2018). discourse. in i. gbenga (ed.), discourse analysis and pragmatics: issues in theory and practice. lagos: malthouse press limited. chilton, p. (2005a). missing links in mainstream cda: modules, blends and the critical instinct. in r. wodak, & p. chilton (eds.), a new agenda in critical discourse analysis (pp. 19-52). amsterdam: john benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.13.05chi crystal, d. (1971). linguistics. harmonsurth: penguin. encyclopedia americana (1994). (vol. 22, p. 514). new york: americana group ltd. geoffrey, n. l., & michael, h. s. (1981). style in fiction. new york: longman. kasia, m. j. (2012). delimitation of pragmatics: paradigms, myths and fashions. a response to bara. intercultural pragmatics, 9, 103-112. https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2012-0006 kreidler, c. w. (1998). introducing english semantics. london: routledge. labov, w. (1972). the study of language in its social context. ed. pier paolo. levinson, s. (1983). pragmatics. cambridge: cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511813313 martin, p., justyna, a. r. & monika, r. (2012). the emergence of cognitive sociolinguistics: an introduction. review of cognitive linguistics, 10(2), 241-263. https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.10.2.01int www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 12 published by scholink inc. patrick, g. (2006). an introduction to english semantics and pragmatics. edinburgh. edinburgh university press ltd. sapir, e. (1929). the status of linguistics as a science (reprinted in sapir 1949, pp. 160-166). language, 5, 207-214. https://doi.org/10.2307/409588 savas, l. t. (1994). ways of doing things with words: an introduction. in l. t. savas (ed.), foundations of speech acts theory: philosophical and linguistic perspectives. london: routledge. schiffrin, d., tannen, d., & hamilton, h. e. (2001). the handbook of discourse analysis. uk: blackwell publishing ltd. searle, j. (1969). speech acts: an essay in the philosophy of language. new york: cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139173438 strawson, p. f. (1950). introduction to logical theory. london: methuen. stubbs, m. (1983). discourse analysis. oxford: blackwell. wodak, r. (2007). pragmatics and critical discourse analysis: a cross-disciplinary inquiry. pragmatics and cognition, 15(1), 203-225. https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.15.1.13wod education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 86 original paper the political scientist as an economist: decoding bounded rationality, ai (artificial intelligence), and organizational decision making in the works of herbert a. simon earnest n. bracey, ph.d., dpa1* 1 social sciences department, college of southern nevada, las vegas, nevada, usa * earnest n. bracey, email: earnest.bracey@csn.edu received: april 10, 2025 accepted: april 27, 2025 online published: may 12, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p86 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p86 abstract herbert a. simon’s theories of administration successfully bring together an understanding of how and why decisions are made in respective organizations. moreover, throughout his significant works, simon sought practical solutions to particular administrative and management problems — that is, he lectured on how to organize and put in place practical solutions for workers or individuals (in companies), while they make significant contributions to organizational goals, using his theory of bounded rationality. in this regard, this paper also tries to concisely present some of simon’s thoughts and ideas (in specific and general ways) about the future of ai (artificial intelligence) in businesses. simon died on february 9, 2001; but before his death, he made major theoretical ideas that provide us (today) with a fundamental way to study administrative management, while providing us with empirical observations and different patterns for understanding the future behavior of people or workers in different organizations and/or other social and political institutions. for his profound and important works, herbert a. simon, who was basically a political scientist, was awarded the 1978 nobel prize in economics sciences. keywords bounded rationality, artificial intelligence, political science, decision-making, economic, public administration, entrepreneurship www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 87 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction: ai and unbounded reality in organizations from the start, it should be noted that in most biographies about herbert a. simon — a nobel laureate in economics — he is described as an economist; however, “he never taught the subject [economics], but lectured in political science, administration, and psychology” (“simon, herbert,” 1994, p. 1016). nevertheless, it also should be explained that, “many [academic] subjects such as political science and sociology that were once regarded as part of the study of economics have today become separate [academic] disciplines” (“economics,” 1975, p. 830), or “separate, definable [areas] of study” (“political science,” 1975, p. 2180). simon was also “widely considered to be a founder of the field of artificial intelligence,” or ai and other computer technologies, related to businesses (“a tribute,” 2019, p. 1). furthermore, he first cleared the way for a new understanding of the ai technology in the company. in a nutshell, with “co-piloting” processes, ai is the “ability of a [sophisticated] machine to perform tasks thought to require human intelligence” (“artificial intelligence,” 2000, p. 95) (note 1) in respective organizations. the challenge of artificial intelligence (or ai) today is something herbert simon advocated for during his academic life — that is, “to understand how computer capabilities must be organized in order to reproduce the kinds of thinking that are thought to be uniquely human, such as visual pattern recognition, complex decision making, and the use of natural language” (“artificial intelligence,” 2000, p. 95). equally important, and in this specific way, simon was an early pioneer of ai, paving the way for nobel prize winning physicists, geoffrey hinton and john hopfield, who also predicted “that ai will end up having a “huge influence” on [our] civilization, bringing improvements in productivity, [education,] health care” (“pair of ai,” 2024, p. 10a) (note 2), and other fields of study, while providing tremendous benefits for humankind in the workplace. that being said, ai can also provide organizational knowledge and benefit our understanding of the world around us. more importantly, ai or augmented intelligence will eventually be made widely available for human use and consumption in the near future, which simon absolutely supported and predicted. indeed, one of simon’s most important ideas was that decision-making, while using ai, would be the technological wave of the future; and “go up by an order of magnitude” (cowen, 2024, p. 3). moreover, as ellen moons of the nobel prize committee at the royal swedish academy of sciences, in 2024, tells us: “collectively, humans carry the responsibility for using this new [ai] technology in a safe and ethical way and [if conceivably possible] for the greatest benefit of [humanity]” (cowen, 2024, p. 3) (note 3), and organizations. of course, simon’s theoretical ideas also branched-off in an array of different academic/educational directions, such as “computer science to psychology, [public] administration and economics” (“a tribute,” 2019, p. 1) (note 4) — and political science and management. additionally, he was also committed to the study of artificial intelligence (ai) and other technological innovations in the workplace. equally important, simon, who was an iconoclastic, administrative thinker, became a prominent figure in different academic fields, as mentioned; and we should be enamored by his splendid achievements in the liberal arts and technical/graduate education. with that said, he (simon) was also deeply philosophical www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 88 published by scholink inc. in his diverse works, lectures/discussions — and rendering of information about what makes an organization tick. as far as economics is concerned, simon firmly believed that the discipline should also be a “study of how human beings allocate scarce resources [in companies] to produce various commodities and how those commodities are distributed for consumption among the people in [a given] society” (“economics,” 1975, p. 829). moreover, simon persuasively pointed out that: people cannot act the way economists assume they [should] act. instead of maximizing their utility, he argued, they satisfice. that is, they do as well as they think is possible. one way they do so is by devising rules of thumbs (for example: save 10 percent of after-tax income every month) that economize on the cost of collecting information and on the cost of thinking. (“simon, herbert,” 1993, p. 835) (note 5) simon’s intuitive insight into economics is relatively easy to digest because of the explanatory power of his (astute) arguments, which are akin to adam smith’s economic philosophy. smith, of course, is considered the first major economist. further, simon believed in the efficacy of the political economy, which is considered “a branch of the science that proposes two distinct objects: first, to provide a plentiful revenue or subsistence for the people, or more property to enable them to provide such a revenue or subsistence for themselves; and secondly, to supply the state or commonwealth with a revenue sufficient for the public services” (smith, 2019, p. 397) (note 6). theoretically, simon was able to advance his ideas of the possible, while outlining systematic facts, methods, and specific principles in organizations. in connection with this, simon put forward the notion that we (humans) should expand our technological knowledge, while being fully informed about the critical issues effecting the organization; and particularly when making tough decisions. also, as will be discussed, herbert a. simon was an “early critic of the idea that people have unlimited information processing capabilities. [indeed,] he (simon) advanced the term “bounded rationality” to describe a more realistic conception of human problem solving ability” in the company. additionally, simon was absolutely right when he posited that, “the failure to incorporate bounded rationality into economic models is just bad economics — the equivalent to presuming the existence of a free lunch” (thaler & mullainathan, 2008, p. 34). perhaps more important — and presented with considerable standing — simon was able to shine a light on economics where people make — right or wrong — organizational decisions. in essence, he “argued for recognizing a multiplicity of factors (including psychological ones) in corporate decision [making], rather than emphasizing the achievement of maximum profits as the primary motivation” (“simon, herbert,” 2000, p. 1486). it should be noted here that, simon was also an original thinker, whose life exemplified the economic and social currents of his day. and, in 1978, he was awarded “the nobel prize in economics for his pioneering research into the decision-making process within economic organizations” (“herbert alexander,” 2008, pp. 589-590). put simply, simon was able to critically analyze administrative things, while focusing specifically on bounded rationality in organizations. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 89 published by scholink inc. 2. political science and the rational model of administration not surprisingly, simon’s ideas across many social/academic disciplines are relevant today as when he first wrote about them. as a political scientist, simon’s work also merged into organizational politics. in essence, some political actors believe that some people shouldn’t be forced to do specific things in organizations against their will or make decisions that are politically, personally, and economically irrational — or motivated. according to professor david schuman at the university of massachusetts and professor dick w. olufs iii (1993) at the pacific lutheran university, “any decision maker would be empirically wrong, according to [herbert a.] simon, if he or she tried to apply a rational model to human beings. the decision must be satisfied with choices that are good enough” (p. 131) (note 7). moreover, when it comes to political science, we must especially consider this academic discipline that herbert simon loved so much, which “describes and analyses the operations of government, the state, and other factors which influence their behavior, such as economics.” furthermore, “a major concern [of political science] is to establish how [political] power is exercised, and by whom in resolving conflict within [a respective] society” (“simon, herbert,” 1994, p. 1016) (note 8). politics, of course, can be explosive and dynamic because of the changes and decision-making processes that are made on an almost constant or continuous basis; but politics doesn’t always answer questions about the managing of public affairs, or tell us why humans in the organization, or a company, do the things that they do; therefore, maximum reactionality should be studied by political scientists, economists, and others. finally, in politics, people are not generally pragmatic or have rational judgment when trying to make good (organizational) decisions. according to simon (1976): “in the study of organizations, the operative employee must be at the focus of attention, for the success of the structure will be judged by his [or her] performance within it” (p. 3) (note 9). to wit, “political science is commonly divided into a number of subfields, the most prominent being political theory, national government, comparative government, international relations, and special areas shared with other social sciences such as sociology, psychology, and economics” (“political science,” 1975, p. 2180) (note 10). hence, a study of political science will also allow us to learn and advance our knowledge about organizational decision-making; and to even understand government organizational policies that might negatively affect workers in a company. furthermore, framing the way decisions are made in political and social organizations can sometimes be presented in cognitive, or bias ways, which does not help with making important decisions, particularly if we have difficulty embracing the notion of human agency. but the burning question is whether or not good/better decisions can be made in any organization with political problems. to say the least, many companies don’t have some kind of built-in political contingency when it comes to organizational decision-making. about politics and political science, simon (1978) famously wrote: in the “politics” of science… i have had two guiding principles — to work for the “hardening” of the social sciences so that they will be better equipped with the tools they need for their www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 90 published by scholink inc. difficult research tasks; and to work for close relations between natural scientists and social scientists so that they can jointly contribute their special knowledge and skills to those many complex questions of public policy that call for both kinds of wisdom. (p. 5) with this excerpt from his nobel prize speech, simon was right on point; and before his death, he realized that “critical thinking” was also necessary for understanding political systems and the continuance of democratic organizations and governments. this is also to say that simon held the general principle of supporting democracy through good (business practices and) politics, so to speak, not the attainment of political power for its own sake. in this respect, simon was also a political philosopher, who demanded reverence for companies and the complete democratic-decision process. simon, of course, understood that it was imperative to understand power and politics when making political and organizational decisions. according to professor of political theory at the department of politics and international relations, university of reading, catriona mckinnon (2015) writes: “it is true that power is a ubiquitous feature of political life; it is equally true that concepts of power shape our understanding, and evaluation of political life” (p. 319). therefore, an analysis of political power is central to the decision-making process even in organizations. simon even put to rest the belief that the success of making good decisions isn’t always possible or necessary in politics. in simple terms, simon also determined that technologies are needed in running successful businesses or companies, as it (technology) can be the commondenominator in predicting the long-term effect of political decisions made in organizations; and such organizational decisions underscore the importance of maintaining continuity in different companies. additionally, having such political and technological “capabilities” would “also mean that the world might be better over some very long time horizon…” (cowen, 2024, p. 3) (note 11). to be certain, simon was an unorthodox scholar who believed wholeheartedly that, “a decision should be correct and efficient and must be practical enough to be implemented and any decision that involves alternatives should be towards an organizational goal” — but put in place in smart and ethical ways. this is to say that, “the task of decision-making is to select the alternative results in the more preferred set of all the consequences” (“herbert simon biography,” 2019, pp. 1-2). after all, incorrect judgment about political things can lead to a dissatisfied end. hence, simon was more interested in objective behaviors when it came to making political decisions — that is, rather than embrace some type of “group think” philosophy — where political leaders or other decision-makers come together and make serious mistakes or errors, particularly when making organizational decisions — which is always a dangerous alternative or cursed proposition. many academics might agree that simon’s scholarship was/is exceptionally good, all things considered, particularly when it comes to his views about organizational decision-making. indeed, “the important questions for simon revolved around how decisions [are or] were made,” and thought about. and, “although he rejected the one-best-way formula for decision making, he did not at all reject [organizational] efficiency” (schuman & olufs, 1993, p. 129). furthermore, simon’s research suggest an entirely different view about administrative behavior, rather than accepting “conventional wisdom,” or outright misinformation about everything going on in an organization. accordingly, simon “[rejected] www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 91 published by scholink inc. the conventional theory of the firm as an omnisciently rational profit-maximizing [entrepreneurial enterprise], and that decision makers must be content with a satisfactory alternative” (“simon, herbert,” 1994, p. 1016), especially in astonishing or difficult circumstances. to be certain, professor of management at the graduate business school of new york university, the late peter drucker (1985) wrote that: “entrepreneurial strategies [in organizations] are as important as purposeful innovation and intrapreneurial management” (p. 251) (note 12). however, as herbert a. simon writes in his famous study: [the] entrepreneur is substituted by a configuration of decision makers whose intellect is limited and cooperates to get the right solution for the troubles they would confront. in reality, people in large organizations cannot put all these [things] into action for obtaining rational decisions. due to the limitation of uncertainty of the future and the ability to process information, people “satisfice” to result in satisfactory outcomes. people in the organization usually come up with decisions for certain goals, which are adjusted when the results [ultimately] do not match. (“herbert simon biography,” 2019, p. 4) it happened that herbert a. simon wrote determinedly about such heady, administrative matters, and socalled ersatz business organizations. in administrative behavior, simon also “rejected the idea of [the] “economic man” who optimizes rather than introducing the concept of a businessman who satisfices” (“herbert simon biography,” 2019, p. 4). further in this regard, simon rejected the historical notion of the infallibilities of men and women who make decisions based on their experiences, which can be fallible. to be sure, politicians as well as businessmen or leaders can make mistakes — behavioral or otherwise. and even if individuals in specific organizations act in traditional ways, it doesn’t mean that they have all the answers or engender automatic, correct actions when it comes to the process of management and decision-making. in a larger context, simon absolutely “sought to replace the highly simplified classical approach to [administrative and] economic modeling — based on a concept of the single decision-making, profit-maximizing entrepreneur — with an approach that recognized multiple factors that contribute to decision making.” indeed, “this theoretical framework,” on the part of simon, “provides a more realistic understanding of a world in which decision making can affect prices and outputs,” while focusing on the unique needs of a particular company (“herbert a. simon,” 2019, p. 2) (note 13). it seemed inevitable that simon would make his reputation by labeling the process of decision making as “satisficing,” while concluding that, “human decision making could be best [exhibited by] bounded rationality” (“herbert a. simon,” 2019, p. 3), as opposed to objective rationality, which essentially “leads to only one possible rational conclusion — that is, satisficing can lead to many rational conclusions, depending upon the information available and the imagination…” (“herbert a. simon,” 2019, p. 3). in simon’s book (1976), administrative behavior, he writes: “since “good” administration is behavior that is realistically adapted to its ends, just as “good” business is economic behavior accurately calculated to realize gain, a theory of administrative decisions will of necessity be somewhat preoccupied with the rational aspects of choice” (p. 62). in the final analysis, simon offered a path www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 92 published by scholink inc. forward for improving human decision-making in a respective organization, while using cutting-edge (administrative and management) technologies, like ai or artificial intelligence. as later discussed, artificial intelligence (ai) will become a permanent part of improving different companies in the future. but it should be understood that, “our narrowing sense of human capability did not begin with the rise of artificial intelligence…,” but “it originated in the academy a half-century ago” (beha, 2024, p. 10) (note 14), with men or professors and academics like herbert a. simon. 3. the notion of public administration: practice and theory simon provided a straightforward way of thinking intuitively about the limits of choice — that is, when it came to decision-making, he defied economic and administrative convention; and he did not accept established norms or ways of behaving in an organization by inept leaders, especially when they take risks and make compulsive and excessively optimistic business projections about the way things might go in a particular company. also, unsurprisingly, it should be noted that irrational times might require the ideas and principles of public administration, particularly with today’s economic and divisive, political discourse. according to schuman and olufs iii (1993), “one way of defining public administration has to do with people coming together, dealing to do things, and having an administration execute the public’s business,” hopefully in a most principal way (p. 62). in this regard, simon largely ushered in the notion that, “what should make public administration special is the word public, which ties administration to people.” hence, “the people, by acting together by acting politically, should dominate the administrative dynamic.” (p. 24). or this particular attitude should be the mo or modus operandi of business organizations. to be certain, workers in an organization can be complex and contradictory, because of politics or their ideological beliefs, as well as having confidence in what they are doing — or performing their specific work. but simon believed that some organizational problems are intractable, which might jeopardize the main point of making significant and viable decisions. equally important, as management thinker, charles handy, in his seminal 1989 book, the age of unreason stated: organizations or “businesses should behave like communities or villages, treating employees [or workers] like citizens who have rights and privileges and a share in the profits.” handy goes on to reason that, “it [is] just common sense that people [are] more likely to be committed to their work and a company’s mission if they [have] a hand in shaping it” (rifkin, 2024, p. 29). and these people or individuals should be responsible for directing or carrying on business affairs — and are willing to act in certified or endorsed ways. accordingly, we should note that in the post-world war ii period, organizational administrations sought to maximize efficiency — through scientific management — while being otherwise neutral about (political) values and objectives/goals. indeed, “as applied to public administration, the (special) credo of scientific management came in time to be characterized by attention to [public] administration without much stress on the public part of the term.” however, by placing faith in “principles” in the science of administration, emphasis is also on the science of management, which ultimately should be the driving force behind any organizations. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 93 published by scholink inc. additionally, managers of different types of organizations should have a clear mind when making (business) decisions, while essentially letting go of some (sacred) administrative values, if necessary (martin, 1952, p. 667). no doubt, simon believed that organizations or corporations should invest in their future development, while cultivating a more engaged (and loyal) work force. furthermore, in this regard, simon understood that the practice and study of public administration as it related to political science was essentially pragmatic and normative rather than theoretical and value free (“macropodia,” 1986, p. 335). in this respect, as john d. millet (1956) wrote: in the administrative experience arising from world war ii — experience recorded on a scale never before attempted in the history of western civilization — there was still no discernible, common conception of administrative understanding. most writers were content to describe events and personalities; [however,] they were reluctant to theorize. (p. 176) clearly, in the fields of public administration and politics, things have shifted in terms of organizational decision-making — that is, with a behavioral and academic approach to administration. simon, of course, was one of the academic leaders of this changed or approach, as he envisioned the necessity of providing a theoretical basis for viewing administrative behavior, because during his time, there wasn’t a comprehensive theory of administration to give meaning and clarity to the entire academic field of study. furthermore, over the years, simon’s intuitive work and research has been accepted in many organizational fields of endeavor. ironically, however, simon (1976) wrote that: “the literature of administration has not been lacking in “theory,” any more than it has in descriptive and empirical studies.” he goes on: “what has been lacking has been a bridge between these two, so that theory could provide a guide to the design of “critical” experiments and studies; while experimental studies could provide a sharp test and corrective of theory” (p. 4). and with a sort of academic stubbornness, simon believed that some organizations should have a sense of urgency — that is, when it comes to connecting practice with theory, as there can be a plethora of irritating, organizational idiosyncrasies and mistakes when it comes to decision making. also, it should be noted that as early as 1938, chester i. barnard in his seminal work, the functions of the executive, challenged the traditional principles of (public) administration by showing how values and administration were not finite or settled. in addition, like simon, barnard devised a theory that focused mainly on carrying out business decisions, which was/is central to the study of administration. what should be important about understanding this particular administrative issue is: if there is something in any organization that needs tweaking, or to fix a firm’s problems, it must be done or accomplished in an expeditious manner. in his book, administrative behavior, simon continued barnard’s challenge by asserting that the realities of administrative organization is not necessarily found in the formalities of structure, but it is in the values and attitudes of workers and their (social and political) behavior (millet, 1956, p. 176). simon’s insightful book about administration also explains exactly what the process of administration is, and what might be the future of organizations — and how they relate to other kinds of businesses/companies. simon, moreover, emphasized the need to have organizational structure(s), www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 94 published by scholink inc. reflecting the complexities and dynamics of a respective company. all in all, understanding elements of organizational and administrative affairs are still especially necessary. simon’s point was that we cannot prescribe any single structure or specific angle, such as having a wide berth or “span of control” in a company, particularly when it comes to making important organizational decisions. therefore, in an authoritative way, simon was able to demystify the methods of organizational behavior. in addition, it should be pointed out that organizational managers/leaders are not perfect, as they sometimes make serious mistakes. more importantly, even some prominent leaders don’t make good decisions, either. equally important, there is no such thing as perfection when it comes to most work. therefore, we need to have a base structure — or a factual understanding of why organizational decisions are made in the first place. naturally, this suggestion is not a new position, but simon’s way of thinking was/is noteworthy because he believed that humans could harness the power of management in most organizations. consequently, organizations, firms, or companies can become more proficient as time goes on by demonstrating a rational need for mastery and development. to be sure, as simon believed, leader(s) of a business or company must engage — seriously and meaningfully — with inside and outside business actors or forces, while quickly addressing various organizational problems. of course, embracing ai technologies will help to create decision-making systems that can recognize and connect with other workers in different, relatable organizations. 4. conclusions herbert a. simon’s critique of administrative traditionalists was/is also significant because he explained how administration, in essence, should be a study of human behavior, like with world politics, which is “not a pseudo-science of building blocks but a true science of human relations” (millet, 1956, p. 671) and behavior. for some political scientists, this argument is rare in politics and organizational decisionmaking; however, the theory provides a way forward for us to really understand the concepts of administration. simon’s basic premise is that an analysis of decision-making, which involves human behavior or practices, is the basis of political science in administration. simon also advocated for decisions that effectively and efficiently accomplished organizational principles and objectives. indeed, simon’s theory (1976) is stated explicitly in the following: since [the] “principle of efficiency” is characteristic of any activity that attempts rationally to maximize the attainment of certain ends with the use of scarce means, it is as characteristic of economic theory as it is of administrative theory. (p. 39) the above concept today might strike us as being imprecise; however, it shouldn’t detract us from simon’s important administrative framework. this is also to say that simon ultimately rejected the conventional theory of the firm (or organization) being omniscient and/or “all-knowing” about a certain business; therefore, other choices or administrative alternatives should be made (“simon, herbert,” 1994, p. 1016). in this respect, simon sought to provide the general framework of decision making with the notion of bounded rationality, as well as providing the specific objectives that should be accomplished www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 95 published by scholink inc. in different organizations. but there will always be a litany of different challenges in a company that cannot be solved rationally, or in a rational way. but perhaps ai can be used to alert members of an organization to be more responsible and efficient. this suggestion is the essence of simon’s theory about administration. thus, “bounded rationality makes possible bureaucratic control as well as domination in general” (perrow, 1986, p. 123). toward this end, simon’s notion of bounded rationality is perhaps the most important part of this theory. which is to say that an organization will function better if humans are rationally less bounded. moreover, if organizations incorporate ai into their business model, it may or may not jeopardize their standing in a company; and it might also create sometimes unpredictability, or move a business organization from stability to uncertainty. equally important, as simon (1976) argued: “two persons given the same skills, the same objectives and values, [as well as] the same knowledge and information, can [rationally] decide only upon the same course of action” (p. 39). however, there are also limits to human rationality in organizations; therefore, the information on which decisions are made by leaders must be correct; and personal, ideological/political beliefs should be controlled. all this mean is that because of limits in cognitive and behavioral capacities, it is necessary and proper to develop organizational procedures to promote rational decisions. moreover, individuals or workers in organizations will have hierarchical or authoritative relations with men or women, who provide specific rules that are not always rational, or conducive to organizational goals. to be certain, simon indicated that there is a need to compensate for the limits of rationality with organizational objectives, to improve the firm’s decision-making processes, particularly when devising plans to expand work and organizational effectiveness and efficiency. more importantly, it should be understood that attempting to separate administration from policy or politics is artificial in that policy and value judgements in organizations are implicit in most significant, administrative decisions. indeed, administrators/leaders should focus on facts and the means to achieve the goals or objectives of any given organization. to wit, leaders or managers should make it a priority to ensure that their leadership is in sync with outside administrative actors and company workers, or “rank-in-file” employees, while following through with their ideas to make things happen. of course, simon did not believe that administrative behavior could be understood only in terms of its social, political, economic, or technological, and physical environments. in fact, simon has been widely criticized for ignoring the influence of outside environments, while focusing almost entirely on what goes on inside the organization or firm/company — and what should be really possible or manageable. nevertheless, simon acknowledged the sociological and psychological factors, especially in terms of employing artificial intelligence — that is, when he advocated for using new (ai) technologies and strategies in different businesses and organizations. to be sure, simon believed that ai could be potentially great at administrative and management work, as he proposed frameworks for integrating or factoring in how such advanced technology could be used to improve companies and their organizational behavior. indeed, simon considered how we could remake or make industrial firms organize for the betterment of workers and the respective organization. in this way, he was able to communicate an www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 96 published by scholink inc. understanding of ai (or artificial intelligence) for the future, as it provides for authenticity in business and administrative synchronicities, particularly when it comes to organizational management. but whatever might evolve in the future in regard to this ai technology, “it makes sense [today] that even the more innovative tools [must] still rely on humans for certain parts of the process” (riquier, 2024, p. 2b) (note 15), or incorporating the necessary human touch. and theoretically, ai technology will never dissipate; and it will significantly increase in various organizations. and as journalist andrew r. chow (2024) tells us: “artificial intelligence (ai) will become a cornerstone of modern life” (pp. 21-22), and in business organizations. furthermore, this ai technology trend will only accelerate in most organizations, as it will, perhaps, become respectfully a part of their core dna. in other words, ai technology will give organizations a glimpse into the future of businesses and industrial enterprises. we must also keep in mind that among simon’s many insights on decision-making, he advanced the central role of artificial intelligence (ai); and as mentioned, he pursued and explained the use of emerging computer technologies and ai in business organizations — that is, when making important decisions (“herbert a. simon,” 2019, p. 2) (note 16). as for the last decade of his life, simon participated and contributed to many academic journals and discussions about how such cutting-edge ai technologies in the work-place could be utilized, which was transformative during his time. this convergence approach allowed simon to greatly enlarged and enrich many administrative fields of study by suggesting new academic perspectives/directions. for example, simon knew that hard work wasn’t always the answer to organizational (or administrative) problems, as things can go lopsided, horribly wrong or awry. hence, decision-making in organizations should not be based on whims, possibilities, or behavioral reflexes. we might even question whether the promise of ai technology is overblown. but simon recognized that ai should be put in place (eventually) to better organize a company’s administrative/business and organizational systems. indeed, how exactly should ai technology act on behalf of workers in an organization? moreover, how can organizations predict respective economic factors that might negatively affect their operations or bottom line? finally, how can we improve the firm’s planning for the future with advanced technology? a broader version of this perspective would be for the manager or leader to have the mindset of making sound, administrative decisions, no matter the circumstances. additionally, in this respect, the manager should play a (powerful) role in any organization in terms of rationality or administrative behavior. of course, we should also recognize that company/business leaders may not have all the answers when making important decisions; but they must know and understand their personal and professional identities and capabilities. hence, company/organizational leaders must cut through the fog of nonsense and so-called workable solutions, while fully expecting to raise the bar even further in their pursuit of organizational goals. in the final analysis, all businesses, firms/companies or organizations have imperfections, whose particular concerns should always be how to properly manage flaws and shortcomings to achieve a proper balance. simon understood these issues more than most, because he strongly believed that mistakes, errors in judgment, or bad decisions could be catastrophic for an organization. it was as if simon had some kind of unknown www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 97 published by scholink inc. knowledge, which he was able to astutely talk and write about while he lived. in this respect, there was also an organic quality to simon’s greatness; and he was awarded the nobel prize in economics for his new paradigm shifting and brilliant findings, while diagnosing general principles and theories in organizational “decision-making” and administrative behavior. beyond this, simon’s obvious solutions (in regard to companies/businesses and firms) should never be ignored, because he attempted to address the paradox of administrative management and decision-making in the workplace — that is, particularly from an academic perspective. finally, simon believed that having a sound decision-making process would definitely help with any organizational endeavors, which is the key to good management — that is, having a relentless dedication to the administration and “good works” of a particular company. references a tribute to herbert simon biography. (2019). retrieved from http://www.cs.cmu.edu/simon/bio.html artificial intelligence. (2000). in merriam-webster’s collegiate encyclopedia (1st ed., p. 95). massachusetts: merriam-webster inc. beha, c. (2024, december 29). a.i. isn’t genuis. we are. in the new york times (p. 10). chow, a. r. (2024, december 30). going all in. in time magazine (pp. 21-22). cowen, t. (2024, october 23). ai will transform charity, too. in las vegas sun (p. 3). drucker, p. f. (1985). innovation and entrepreneurship: practice and principles. new york: harper & row. economics. (1975). in the new columbia encyclopedia (4th ed., pp. 829-830). new york: columbia university press. economics. (1994). in the cambridge encyclopedia (2nd ed., p. 369). london: cambridge university press. herbert a. simon: american social scientist. (2019, june 11). britannica.com (p. 2). retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/herbert-a-simon herbert a. simon biographical nobelprize.org. (2019). retrieved from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1978/simon herbert alexander simon. (2008). in the concise encyclopedia of economics (1st ed., pp. 589-590). indianapolis: liberty fund. herbert simon biography – facts, childhood, family life & achievement of the americ… (2019). pp. 1-2. retrieved from https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profies/herbert-simon-29.php macropodia: knowledge in depth. (1986). in the new encyclopedia britannica (vol. 26, p. 335). chicago: encyclopedia britannica. martin, r. c. (1952, september). political science and public administration: a note on the state of the union. the american political science review, 3, 667. mckinnon, c. (2015). issues in political theory (3rd ed.). united kingdom: oxford university press. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 98 published by scholink inc. millet, j. d. (1956, september). a critical appraisal of the study of public administration. administrative science quarterly, 1(2), 176. pair of ai pioneers awarded nobel prize in physics. (2024, october 9). las vegas review-journal, 10a. perrow, c. (1986). complex organizations: a critical essay (3rd ed.). new york: random house. political science. (1975). in the new columbia encyclopedia (4th ed., p. 2180). new york: columbia university press. rifkin, g. (2024, december 15). charles handy, 92, philosopher who predicted work shift dies. in the new york times (obituaries) (p. 29). riquier, a. (2024, october 10). ai upstarts are jumping into real estate business. usa today, 2b. schuman, d., & olufs, d. w. (1993). public administration in the united states (2nd ed.). massachusetts: d.c. heath and company. simon, h. a. (1976). administrative behavior: a study of decision-making processes in administrative organization (3rd ed.). new york: the free press. simon, herbert. (1994). in the cambridge encyclopedia (2nd ed., p. 1016). london: cambridge university press. simon, herbert. (2000). in merriam-webster’s collegiate encyclopedia (1st ed., p. 1486). massachusetts: merriam-webster inc. simon, herbert alexander. (1993). in the fortune encyclopedia of economics (1st ed., p. 835). new york: warner books. smith, a. (2019). the wealth of nation. new york: ixia press. thaler, r. h., & mullainathan, s. (2008). behavioral economics. in the concise encyclopedia of economics (1st ed., p. 34). indianapolis: liberty fund. notes note 1. artificial intelligence might be more useful when it comes to workers in the organization, making sense of challenging decision-making activities. note 2. ai based learning is most important in the economic context; and simon understood this almost more than anyone. note 3. ai will provide a new paradigm for understanding workers and how they behave in different organizations or businesses. note 4. one key point with ai applications is that this technology might eventually dominate many aspects of our life and lives, which could be to our detriment. note 5. it should be also noted that herbert a. simon, who trained as a political scientist, questioned the mainstream economists’ view of economic man as a lightning-quick calculator of cost and benefits. simon’s proposed alternative view was of presenting people’s rationality as “bounded.” see simon, herbert alexander. (1993). in the fortune encyclopedia of economics, 1st ed. (p. 835). new york: warner books. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 99 published by scholink inc. note 6. it should be understood that economics is “the study of the allocation of scare resources among competing ends, the creation, and distribution of wealth, and national income.” see the cambridge encyclopedia, s.v. “economics,” p. 369. note 7. according to schuman and olufs, “simon’s basic insight is that people are not entirely rational, and that this [negatively] affects their behavior in organization.” see schuman, d., & olufs, d. w. (1993). public administration in the united states, 2nd ed. massachusetts: d.c. heath and company. note 8. it should be noted that in terms of political science, “there is a range of approaches, some of which draw upon other academic studies, such as sociology, economics, and psychology, and which can be regarded as subdisciplines of the [political science] subject.” see simon, herbert. (1994). in the cambridge encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (p. 1016). london: cambridge university press. note 9. with his dissertation, simon provides recurring themes of management and administration, while converging to define “bounded rationality.” note 10. simon described how the organization can be motivated by broader, higher administrative ideas, while balancing a commitment by the “rank-in-file” workers to its success. note 11. it is certainly reasonable to monitor organizations, while studying the profound effect of decision-making in respective organizations. note 12. according to drucker, entrepreneurship is key, because it facilitates the strengthening of programs or policies that support the growth of businesses. simon was of the same mind as the late professor drucker when it comes to understanding entrepreneurship. note 13. it should be pointed out here that, “simon’s theory thus offers a way to consider the psychological aspects of decision making that classical economists have tended to ignore.” see herbert a. simon: american social scientist. (2019, june 11). britannica.com, p. 2. retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/herbert-a-simon... on 6/27/2019. note 14. it should be pointed out that some organizations and workers can’t wrap their heads around a transformative way of doing organizational things, like making decisions, mainly because of the unfamiliarity with the process and ai technology. note 15. the ever-evolving ai is a technology like nothing we could have previously imagined; and we should focus on how this technology will help us study and learn about decision-making in a business or firm. note 16. we should always remember that one day humans might be heavily dependent on new ai technology applications in all academic and professional fields of endeavor. biographical sketch earnest n. bracey is a retired army lieutenant colonel, with over twenty years of active military service. he was commissioned through reserve officer training (distinguished military graduate) at jackson state university, where he graduated with honors (magna cum laude), and received his bachelor of arts degree in political science in 1974. in addition, he received the masters of public https://www.britannica.com/biography/herbert-a-simon www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 100 published by scholink inc. administration in 1979 from golden gate university, his masters of arts degree in international affairs in 1983 from the catholic university of america, his masters of business administration in 2009 from california coast university, and his doctorate of public administration (with emphasis in public policy) in 1993 from george mason university. dr. bracey also earned his ph.d. in education from capella university in 1999. a recipient of numerous military awards and civilian honors, he is also a graduate of the united states naval war college and the command and general staff college at fort leavenworth, kansas, and previously served as director of administration at the prestigious industrial college of the armed forces, washington, d.c. he was also recognized as who’s who among america’s teachers in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. dr. bracey is professor of political science, and currently teaches american politics and black american history at the college of southern nevada in las vegas. he was formerly chair and professor of political science at jackson state university and chairperson of the political science and history department at hampton university. he has also served as an editorial board-member for the nevada historical society quarterly. his work has appeared in professional journals and other publications, and he is the author of the books, prophetic insights: the higher education and pedagogy of african americans, university press of america, 1999, on racism: essays on black popular culture, african american politics, and the new black aesthetics, university press of america, 2003, daniel “chappie” james: the first african american four star general, mcfarland & company, inc., 2003, places in political time: voices from the black diaspora, university press of america, 2005, the moulin rouge and black rights in las vegas, mcfarland & company, inc., 2009, and miles davis and jazz as religion, lexington books, 2021. he also co-authored the book, american politics and culture wars (2001). he is also the author of the novels, choson (1994) and the black samurai (1998), and the books of short stories, requiems for black folks (2002) and the big black three (2022). education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 50 original paper teaching and learning literature-in-english in senior secondary school level in nigeria: prospects and constraints maria jennifer iyere ph.d.1 1 department of english and literature, faculty of humanities, federal university gusau, zamfara state, nigeria received: november 1, 2025 accepted: november 15, 2025 online published: november 24, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n4p50 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n4p50 abstract this study examines the prospects and constraints of teaching and learning literature-in english at the senior secondary school level, within the nigerian context. literature-in-english is viewed as an integral part of english, whereas it is quite a broad subject that deserves the attention of school authorities and teachers. by examining the prospects and constraints of teaching and learning the subject, this study investigates the significance of the subject to learners, and brings to the fore, the remedies to the lingering failures and challenges. the study is anchored by collie slater’s (1990) pedagogical postulations and the critical theory. the conclusion and recommendations of the study are clear: enough attention should be given to teaching literature-in-english; learner-centered approach should be enhanced in the classroom; contents of the curriculum should be adequately covered by teachers; human and material resources should be adequately and appropriately provided for teaching and learning literature-inenglish. keywords literature-in-english, teaching, learning, senior secondary school, prospects, constraints 1. introduction in the early 1960s and 1980s, english language and literature-in-english were taught in different periods with sufficient allocation of time on school timetables. the notion of ‘english studies’ in secondary schools in the contemporary educational system of nigeria, evolved because english language is combined with literature-in-english in the teaching and learning process. the fact that failure rate in literature-in-english is higher today than it used to be as far as senior school certificate examination is concerned, implies that there is need to revisit approaches to the teaching and learning of the subject. different scholars have contended for better approaches to the teaching and learning of literature-inwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 51 published by scholink inc. english in nigerian secondary schools, given the fact that its objectives, as contained in the curriculum, are quite elaborate, relevant and crucial for learners in immediate terms and in subsequent years of their lives; in later years, learners of the subject either further studies or join the workforce to contribute significantly to nation-building/national development. communication is the bedrock of growth in any nation. literature-in-english teaches students communicative competence by using certain pedagogical techniques. it also teaches students socio-cultural values that integrate them meaningfully and acceptably into the larger society. emmanuel maurice ekah and idorenyin t. ukot (2011, p. 52) submit that ‘with the integration of english language and literature as one subject and tagged english studies at the junior secondary level, it does not provide the teachers with proper opportunities to teach literature exhaustively, as most teachers are interested in teaching english language, using all the available periods for english studies. what can be deduced from this aspect is that literature and english language are two broad subject areas as such both cannot be combined for effective performance if the lessons are to benefit the students. undoubtedly, lack of serious study of literature affects students’ communicative competence because they have not been exposed to varieties of styles in language usages, vocabularies, and expressions which is only possible through the study of literature as a separate subject from english language.’ literature-in-english broadens the thinking ability of students. through imaginations which literature spurs, students are made to explore their creative ingenuity, critical thinking ability and human judgment potential. this is because literature-in-english conveys various thematic concerns. this claim corroborates okolie, cited in emmanuel maurice ekah and idorenyin t. ukot (ibid: p. 53) who note that ‘reading of african novels, gives opportunity to slip imaginatively into circumstances and conditions of life beyond one’s immediate milieu. arguably, literature-in-english is a very vital secondary school subject. the relevance of the subject is captured by azikiwe (1998. p. 202) who state that ‘literature is language since it deals with all aspects of human lifestyle and cultures. moreover, it further shows that literature has a wider scope that overshadows all other subjects since it deals with language and communication.’ in spite of its relevance to learners and the society, literature-in-english suffers a great deal of neglect at the senior secondary school level of nigeria’s educational system. for instance, emmanuel maurice ekah and idorenyin t. ukot (2011, p. 52) submit that ‘the problem militating against the teaching of english literature ranges from no specific periods on the class time table for literaturein-english, whereas english periods fill the class time table mondays to fridays. since students do not study literature where they can read english language extensively and learn to communicate effectively, they are incapable of passing external examinations in both english language and literature-in-english in wasce and neco examinations yearly.’ writing or reading a novel implies widening the imaginative capacity of the reader, the writer, and the audience. literature also increases the mobility of the individual’s mind by widening his experience and imaginative capacity to enter into new situations … literature is a fictive exploration of human experience both as educative and morally edifying field of knowledge. this assertion qualifies literature as a major field of study that should be given province…’ arguably, english language and literature-in-english are important in the curriculum of secondary www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 52 published by scholink inc. school education in nigeria, and should be treated as such. both subjects are complementary. for example, emmanuel maurice ekah and idorenyin t. ukot (ibid: p. 53) aver that ‘the essence of teaching language and literature is for communication. the aim of this study is not to claim that literature should be given dominance over english language in the teaching and learning process, but to incisively overview the prospects and constraints of the process. 2. english studies in nigeria english language became a nigerian heritage after colonialism. the language is the county’s official language through constitutional provision. for this reason, it functions potently in officialdom and crucial domains of nationhood. english language is the language of instruction in nigerian primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. its role in national cohesion and development is common knowledge to linguists. the quest for national development applies to all nations of the world, particularly third world countries like nigeria. one of the instruments for nation-building is language. english studies in nigeria can be understood in relation to language policy frameworks. although there are policy frameworks on english studies in nigeria, implementation is too poor to achieve the set objectives. this situation impinges on english studies in the country. post-independence language policies in nigeria have failed to achieve national cohesion which scholars belie some of its crucial objectives for different reasons including attitudinal factors. language policies in nigeria have not effectively taken care of the country’s multi-ethnic and multi-cultural structure. commenting on nigeria’s multilingual structure, dada (2010, p. 418) submits that ‘the recent 2005 ethnologic data listed 521 languages for nigeria. of these, 510 are living languages, 2 are second languages without mother tongue speakers, and 9 are extinct. research submits that nigerian languages are grouped as major languages, state languages and local languages based on their status as dominant languages, their territorial spread and the population that speak them.’ language policy is a legislative framework targeted towards language, for the good of society. while it has yielded good results in some countries, it has not yielded expected results in other countries. bamgbose (1991, p. 111) asserts that ‘a language policy may be defined as a programme of action on the role or status of a language in a given community. in a multilingual situation, a language policy decision necessarily involves the role or status of one language in relation to other languages.’ policy frameworks on english studies in nigeria are sensitive on how english language can co-exist with indigenous languages in nigeria for the overall growth and development of the nation. a national language in nigeria, english has a pride of plave in formal education, where cross-disciplinary knowledge is transmitted, including knowledge of discrete skills in literature-in-english. fasold (1984, p. 77) comments on what a national language is: (a) the emblem of national oneness and identity; (b) widely used for some everyday purposes; (c) widely and fluently spoken within the country; www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 53 published by scholink inc. (d) the major candidate for such a role, since there is no equally qualified alternative language within the country; (e) acceptable as a symbol of authenticity; and (f) having a link with the glorious past. 3. theoretical framework this study hinges on collie slater’s (1990) pedagogical postulations and the critical theory; 3.1 collie slater’s pedagogical postulations collie slater’s pedagogical postulations are relevant in this study because they do not only capture the significance of teaching and learning literature-in-english, but also provide insights on approaches to result-oriented pedagogical process regarding the subject. in addition, the postulations accentuate the complementary roles of both english language and literature-in-english in the teaching and learning process. collie slater (ibid) cited in emmanuel maurice ekah and idorenyin t. ukot (ibid) presents the following tips as reasons why literary texts can be used to teach language at any level of education are: 1) valuable authentic matrial; 2) cultural value; 3) language enhancement; 4) personal involvement; 5) variety and interest; 6) for teaching morals, culture and aesthetic values of a particular group of people; knowing linguistic forms, communicative functions and meaning. 3.2 the critical theory the fact that the critical theory captures literary appreciation as contained in the ssce examinations makes it relevant to this study. it teaches learners the significance of reflecting on the process, aims, content and style of literary writings in the process of analyzing the contextual variables that generate literary texts. see steven earnshaw (2007) for more insights on the theory. 4. teaching and learning literature-in-english in senior secondary school level in nigeria: prospects and constraints as in the teaching and learning of language, the process of teaching and learning literature-in english is essentially about the transmission of knowledge revolving around socially realistic phenomena. literary texts are thematic irrespective of their genre. in nigeria, the curriculum of senior secondary school is prepared to make learners understand societal vices and values, including human nature as demonstrated by intra-text characters in different contextual structures such as domestic, politics, religion, etc. williams (1990, p. 55) notes that ‘language occurs in socio-cultural and interpersonal context. this places language in broad perspective since the socio-cultural context entails human behaviour in all ramifications which include economic, politics, education and communication. for these purposes, literature is the only www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 54 published by scholink inc. subject where all these human activities are distributed, narrated and discussed exhaustively because it is in literature that the totality of cultures in different societies are reflected. on the other hand, william identifies communicative method of language teaching as against rule governed method which does not promote the reading of literature. communicative method promotes literature teaching where students are exposed into communicative competence ….’ literature-in-english should be adequately taught in senior secondary school level due to its relevance to learners. it is representational in the sense that it makes them see life the way it is. it is about the actions, cultures, attitudes and beliefs of human beings conveyed via the instrumentality of characterization in literary texts. azikiwe (1998) posits that ‘in another perspective on the teaching and learning of literature, mcgregor (1971, p. 12) observed that literature refers to language used skillfully about subjects which are important to human beings and expresses hopes, fears, doubts, joy, love, problems and conflicts that human beings experience in their daily lives and activities, written to teach the readers lessons about life. azikiwe again observes that literature is language in action because it exploits the resources of time, people and place, in their oral and written forms. reading a literature text is reading about people’s activities, problems and prospects which directly affects the psyche of the reader, so that he is emotionally transformed into a new individual, capable of initiating a new lifestyle copied from the literary characters.’ the facilitating function of literature-in-english in the teaching and learning of english language is widely acknowledged. literature provides contexts and humans to drive out the meanings or semantic properties of linguistic expressions. emmanuel maurice ekah and idorenyin t. ukot (ibid: p. 54) posit that ‘from the concept of the relationship between language and literature, eagles and krammer (1976, p. 102) opined that language is the medium of literature by giving the connotations and semantics in context usage. grammatical structures and lexical items are drawn from the inventory of language, and applied in literature expressions, which make meaningful descriptions … in literary writings. to teach english language without literature at the junior secondary school level deprives the students of the basic communicative approach, which states that language is better acquired and used effectively since it is in literature stories, poetry recitation and drama acting and reading that communication can be enhanced, than studying the rules of language in isolated sentence structures, which do not link to real practical situations in their cultural lives.’ in a similar vein, alabere rabiat ajoke and apalila bt. shapii (2017, p. 53) opine that ‘the most interesting method of teaching english language is through literature. the place of literature in teaching is to expose learners to different valuable experiences, real and imaginative, building in students the love for extensive and sustained pleasurable reading. but the reverse is the case in recent development in the study of literature in nigerian educational system … where literature is not reflected as a separate subject in the junior secondary school curriculum, as it used to be in the past when literature was introduced right from the first year in secondary school as a compulsory subject of study.’ failure rate in the teaching and learning of literature-in-english at the ssce is largely linked to poor teaching of the subject. emmanuel maurice ekah and idorenyin t. ukot (ibid: p. 55) submit that ‘the actual reason why students fail in public examinations like neco and wasce in english and literature www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 55 published by scholink inc. is the fact that the teaching of literature in english has been neglected and ignored by teachers and students unwillingness to buy prescribed texts for themselves. see national bureau of statistics (2015) for students’ performances in ssce. as a result, literature which should complement english language teaching is not taught effectively … the recent approaches to language teaching have ignored literature teaching. moreover, literature approaches are now subsumed under approaches to language learning, so these have negative effects on literature and language teaching and learning. merging these two important subjects together therefore confuses the teachers of both subjects …’ azikiwe (ibid: p. 213) suggests thirteen steps for teaching and learning literature in english: i. assign paragraphs or passages from the literary text to be read during the lesson. this should have been given as homework or assignment before the actual class period to the students; ii. if reading is to be done in the lower class, the teacher should give the students opportunity to read also. iii. new vocabulary and poorly pronounced words should be written on the board for proper pronunciation, spelling, denotative and connotative meanings taught as well. iv. students should be involved in discussions, analysis and description of the reading, while the teacher gives the proper perspective of the author’s vision and focus in the work. v. both the teachers and students should ask and answer questions to elicit further explanations of the subject matter, themes, styles, mood and characters in the literary writing. vi. the students in the class should be divided in groups of four and five and assigned specific chapters, passages, events and incidents, so that they may be involved actively during the class lesson and after. this concept will enable them to be interested in the subject and the lesson. vii. the teacher should arouse and sustain the interest of the students by relating the lessons to the real life situations, cultures, and environments of the students to show that literature is all about human lives in their environment. viii. students shold be guided to extract meanings explicit and implicit from the materials read, through the use of outlines from the textual contents and situations.’ ix teachers should give the students guide on how to identify the elements of literature such as plot, theme, background, subject matter, characterization, style, diction, figures of speech and the mood in the literary works at different class lessons. x. in order to make the lessons interesting the teacher should make use of instructional materials, visual aids, aural aids and charts. xi. give the students content and essay type questions as class work and assignment, so as to enable them read the text effectively for the purposes of understanding the texts and examinations. xii. students should be taught how to be selective by directing them to simple things that they can write such as short stories, plays and poetry. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 56 published by scholink inc. xiii. teachers should encourage students to do intensive and extensive reading privately at home using prescribed and unprescribed texts. the advantages of intensive reading according to oyetuiyi (ibid p. 108) gets students invited in the independent study, use of words in english language from the contexts of authors and the denotation meanings thereby enhancing new vocabularies and free expressions. in classroom activities, teachers should deploy productive methods to reveal the social relevance of literature to learners. literature-in-english lessons should be interest-inducing. the social relevance of literature is immersed in its applicability to human practices from time immemorial. literature is in human nature. humans naturally tell stories about existential phenomena. this view is in tandem with emmanuel maurice ekah and idorenyin t. ukot (ibid) who assert that ‘literature … is an art which springs from our inborn love of telling stories, arranging words in pleasing patterns, and expressing in words some special cultural aspects of human experiences ... louise states that literature is a form of art having aesthetic values, which can be enjoyed in itself, and at the same time has social origin and social effects…’ emmanuel maurice ekah and idorenyin t. ukot (ibid) also report alabere rabiat ajoke and apalila bt. shapii (ibid) who submit that literature is ‘an exercise of the mind and intellect which emanates from man’s desire to narrate stories using words creatively to expose aspects of the experiences of man. the concise oxford dictionary defines it as ‘writings whose value is in the beauty of form or emotional effects’ … the organization of words to give pleasure through them to elevate and transform experience, and functions in society as a continuous symbolic criticism of value. ogunsina (1976) also sees it as a vehicle of human expression which seeks to investigate man, his behaviour in society, his knowledge of the universe in which he finds himself.’ the usefulness of the teaching and learning of literature-in-english in an esl (english as a second language) context is worthy of scholarly attention. through literature-in-english, discrete aspects of the english language skills can be learnt in classroom. these include skills in grammar, vocabulary, continuous writing and summary; the real life situations for demonstrating these skills are presented in literary texts. alabere rabiat ajoke and apalila bt. shapii (ibid) report that ‘literature is language in use; in other words, it is one of the tools for teaching english in a second language situation. it facilitates the acquisition of grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing (note 1). bright and macgregor (1981) are also of the view that when there is little reading and writing, there will be little language …. using literature to teach language also helps students to achieve several goals in their education. literature equips students with real life experiences that can be useful for living within and outside the school system and the knowledge of stories from literature can be used to answer essay questions on english language. they are also exposed to several registers in the process of learning different literature texts. in other words, when students are exposed to literary texts, they are able to appreciate and make judgments on important issues … they acquire self confidence in speaking and writing …the teaching of literature is very important at all levels of education. it is imperative that emphases be accorded to it in all schools.’ the acquisition of writing skills is crucial in the literature-inenglish curriculum and in the pedagogical process. freeman (1967) defines writing as ‘the ability to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 57 published by scholink inc. select the strongest words, the most useful facts since it is the appropriate selection of these facts that engrave the image of a work in the reader’s mind. stanley oriola (2008), cited in ayodabo and demola jolayemi (2008:104) notes that if writing is to be properly done, certain skills are necessary: (a) mental: this requires that a writer must be able to think clearly and be logical, sequential and coherent in how he organizes his ideas. (b) psychological: ideas can only move freely within the various sensitive components of the human system, if a writer is emotionally stable and relaxed. (c) rhetorical: writing, like every other practice, has its own rules. a writer must know the rules that are fundamental to his craft; or, else, the semantic depth expected of the work of such a writer will be missed so long as the structural order is flouted. this may result in expressions that are linguistically awkward or syntactically odd. a good writing must make a smooth, flow and ‘floody’ reading. (d) critical: a writer is expected to re-read a work, which he has completed. beyond this, one should be able to judge or criticize a completed work so as to improve it; thus writing is essentially re-writing. trask (1995, p. 1) observes that language, which differentiates man from other creatures, is the tool for writing. according to babatunde (1998), writing is a process (a step-by-step activity) and an interaction. anko (2004 pp. 254-256) notes that the act of writing consists of stages, with the emphasis now shifted from product-oriented approach to processoriented approach. writing is one of the four language skills: the other three are listening, speaking and reading. while listening and speaking are receptive skills, speaking and writing are productive skills because they involve graphical and conventional communication of ideas. in the literature-in-english classroom, students learn that that writing is writer-audience communication. students are made to understand how literature texts convey meaning through effective organization of textual elements. literary writers do not only explore the conventions of english in writing literature-in-english texts, but also organize ideas carefully. they also select appropriate linguistic conventions to communicate such ideas. variables that a writer must manipulate skillfully in written communication include reader, occasion and purpose. in poetry lessons, students learn the qualities of good writing include which are as follows: (a) economy of words: the writer should be able to communicate ideas with brevity; (b) clarity: the writer should ensure that his words are understood; (c) simplicity: the writer should use simple words except for other stylistic or literary purposes. in the teaching of literature, the teacher should have the following objectives in mind (cf. alabere rabiat ajoke and apalila bt. shapii ibid p. 53): 1). to inculcate in students, the love for extensive and continued pleasurable reading through interesting texts for its own sake. 2). to introduce new types of experiences through literature. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 58 published by scholink inc. 3). to expose readers through varied valuable experiences real or imagined which may contribute to their emotional, social and moral judgment. 4). to introduce the learners to well-known characters, books and incidents in literature. 5). to develop the ability to think critically leading to adequate judgment. 6). through the study of literature, students acquire human approaches to examining thoughts and actions. 7). literature helps to develop learners in the areas of language skills and vocabulary. indeed, the teaching and learning of literature-in-english at the senior secondary school level is bedeviled by series of constraints which include scarcity of textbooks. different factors account for the scarcity of literary texts, and such scarcity affects performances in waec and neco examinations. alabere rabiat ajoke and apalila bt. shapii (ibid) state that ‘a major way to establish whether or not students are learning and, by extension, attaining the objectives of literature-in-english in nigeria is through their yearly senior school certificate examinations (ssce) results. the ssce is organized by different examination bodies, notably, the west african examination council (waec) and the national examination council (neco). the minimum standard students are expected to attain in ssce is a ‘pass’ at credit level. a credit pass (in combination with four other subjects) qualifies students for further studies in any discipline in the humanities that requires literature-in-english, including english language and literature; language education; mass communication; law; linguistics; theatre arts; and classics. meanwhile, the curricula of waec and neco ssce have been synchronized, meaning that the same literature texts are recommended for both examinations. out of eight texts, students may read only four (an african drama, a non-african drama, an african prose, and a non-african prose). they also have three years (ss1-3) to study these texts. with this lenient structure and extended time frame, it is expected that students would be adequately prepared for these examinations. however, their level of failure, which has become a yearly occurrence, seems to suggest the opposite. their performance is not only poor, but also declining annually, especially in waec ssce (note 2).’ students are not expected to read outdated literary texts in preparation for waec and neco examinations. it is quite commendable that some recommended literary texts for waec and neco examinations have regional, socio-cultural and historical underpinnings; they often reflect the african/nigerian experiences. the fact that literary texts are often thematic implies that they cannot lack meaning or social relevance. alabere rabiat ajoke and apalila bt. shapii (ibid) posit that ‘literary texts can also help develop learners’ interpretive abilities due to its rich levels of meaning and active involvement by learners…’ to achieve objectives of teaching and learning literature-in-english at the ssce level, teachers should creatively explore different methods and approaches. for example, alabere rabiat ajoke and apalila bt. shapii (ibid) opine that ‘literary text can be used as model for controlled writing whereby students are to imitate a particular text especially for beginners when asked to rewite passages from the text as a way of learning the grammar and style of the author. literary text can also be used to teach guided writing by asking the students to complete sentences that sum up the content of the text as a model, which is very www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 59 published by scholink inc. important for scenario approach and will help students to develop the skill of essay writing by reproducing the model. through the reproduction of literary model, the students learn more of paraphrasing and summary writing where students are required to use their words. by so doing, real life stories and plays that the events are chronological in form can be used to teach how to write summary … students can also write from literary texts by using literary words of the text while writing out of or filling in as part of creative writing …’ according to eucharia okwudilichukwu ugwu (2022, p. 163), ‘cater and long (1963), cited in savvidou (2004) highlights approaches to the teaching of literature: cultural; language; and personal growth. while the cultural approach exposes learners to other cultures, hinging on the socio-political and historical underpinnings of literary texts, the language approach uses literature as an instrument for learning language. the personal approach portrays literature as being useful in the day-to-day existence of human beings. classroom exercises are not only useful for teaching and learning of english language. they are also quite useful for the teaching and learning of literature-in-english at ssce level. hangyu zhang (2020:1) submits that ‘considerable attention has been paid to a variety of classroom activities in an english speaking class … however, there has been evidence showing that different situations in classroom activities exert various effects on learners’ english speaking proficiency … this fact indicates that both positive and negative effects can be made according to types and effects of classroom exercises … communicative activities such as discussion, problem-solving and role play can develop students’ english speaking proficiency ... some oral activities in efl classes such as some drill activities possibly cause the low english speaking proficiency for students...’ well planned learning elements imply that the skills to be learned are revealed in exercises. students are able to access their performance level as the lessons unfold. see iehu (1989) for problems typical of the teaching process as far as literature-inenglish is concerned. they are also able to understand the teaching objectives. students of literature-inenglish have roles to play in the achievement of the objectives of lessons. practicing and imitating the writings of celebrated literary writers are expected students preparing for ssce examinations are expected to practice and imitate efforts of celebrated literary writers. william shakespeare is a great source of inspiration to students of literature-in-english. some classroom exercises are group-based, depending on skills being taught and learnt. outstanding group performance accentuates learners’ confidence-level. in an esl context, exercises for teaching literature-in-english should be appropriate, putting into consideration the conventions of the language that conveyes the texts (english language). hangyu zhang (ibid) reports that ‘… a system of exercises for teaching a foreign language should be understood as a set of types and kinds of exercises that are related to each other by purpose, material, and method of their implementation...’ 5. conclusion and recommendations this study examines the teaching and learning of literature-in-english at the senior secondary level of the nigerian educational system. ssce results reveal that there are different factors that contribute to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 60 published by scholink inc. low performances. eucharia okwudilichukwu ugwu (ibid) notes that ‘qualitative reports from the waec chief examiners from 2011-2019 reveal common errors and weaknesses in students’ writings. the weaknesses include poor literary appreciation; misinterpretation of questions; writing out of context; misunderstanding of rubrics; lack of critical skills and originality in responding to questions; poor communication skills; and an inability to answer questions in good english. others include reproducing the storyline; inability to answer questions with close reference to the texts; vague and sketchy answers; lack of in-debth knowledge due to shallow understanding of the recommended texts; and illegible handwriting.’ if literature-in-english is not well taught in secondary schools, there will be low comprehension of the subject. this is because it quite a complex and wide subject. high failure rate in waec and neco examinations is not incidental. it is the outcome of the inadequacies of the pedagogical process. the mentality of viewing literature-in-english as a non-major subject makes secondary school teachers in nigeria teach the subject with insufficient commitment. lack of interest in teaching the subject cannot foster the acquisition of teaching objectives. in such a situation, preparation for the lessons will be inadequate, thus hindering learner-motivation. constraints in the teaching and learning of literature-in-english include: poor knowledge of the conventions of english; perceived gaps between the contents of the curriculum and learner-needs; poor teaching methods; lack of instructional materials; poor condition of teaching environment; and timetable deficits. conclusively, and by way of recommendations, the following tips should be considered for effective teaching and learning of literature-in-english at the senior secondary school level of the nigerian educational system: i. there should be sufficient time and commitment towards the teaching and learning of the subject; ii. classroom teaching should be learner-centered as much as possible; iii. efforts should be made to cover the contents of the curriculum before ssce examinations each year (note 3); and iv. teachers of literature-in-english should be adequate; v. teachers of the subject should be competent; and vi. provision should be made for current instructional materials (note 4). notes note 1. alabere rabiat ajoke and apalila bt. shapii (ibid: p. 53) assert that ‘literature is a means of enlarging one’s imagination and experience. it offers a vast reservoir of human experiences and judgment of experience, development of imagination, and entry into human situation which otherwise might well fall outside our imagination.’ note 2. scarcity of recommended prose, drama and poetry texts is common in developing countries where poverty and illiteracy levels are high. however, attitudinal problems also account for why students do not usually have some of the recommended literary texts. however, school authorities have crucial roles to play in filling the gaps. school libraries should be equipped with the periodic recommended texts. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 61 published by scholink inc. note 3. eucharia okwudilichukwu ugwu (ibid) reports that ‘the curriculum of the nigerian secondary school, otherwise known as post-basic education, is divided into four sections: business studies; science and mathematics; humanities; and technology (federal republic of nigeria [frn] 2014). while subjects like english and general mathematics are compulsory for all students, others are specifically for students in each field. literature-in-english for example, is a core subject for students in the humanities. the curriculum lists general and specific objectives of teaching literature-in-english and its components. generally, literature is taught to broaden students’ cultural awareness and knowledge of healthy human values to enhance their language skills; expose them to the beauty and potentials of language; and eqip them with the necessary skills for independent thinking and creative writing. another general objective is to adequately prepare students for standardized examinations needed for work and for further studies. for the specific objectives, literary appreciation is intended to help students develop critical sensitivity to literature and be able to independently access prose, poetry, and drama. through drama instruction, students learn basic dramatic techniques, develop the skills of acting, and become able to relate drama to real life. the goal of poerty instruction is to expose students to the richness of poetic expression and to gain experience in writing their own poems. lastly, the objectives of teaching prose are to enable learners to recognize the values embodied in fiction (nigerian educational research and development council [nerdc] 2009, p. iii-v). to facilitate the attainment of these objectives the recommended texts usually cut across african and non-african writings with diverse themes, including social vices, diseases, science fiction, technology, history, terrorism, gender, multicultural issues, politics and governance.’ note 4. generally, there should be adequate provision of funds fo the education sector of nigeria. the literature is replete with the damages caused to the sector by lack of funding by successive governments. in this regard, see eucharia okwudilichukwu ugwu (ibid). references alabere, r. a., & aspalila bt. s. (2017). problem and prospect of using literature to teach writing in english as a second language. international journal of humanities and social science invention, 6(2), 53-57. azikiwe, u. (1998). language teaching and language learning. onitsha, africana feb publishers. bamgbose, a. (1991). language and the nation. edinburgh: edinburgh university. dada, s. a. (2010). language policies and planning in nigeria: issues and perspectives. jesan, 13(2), 417-440. emmanuel, m. e., & idorenyin t. ukot (2011). challenges and innovations in the teaching of english studies in junior secondary schools in nigerian educational system. knowledge review, 23(3), 5258. fasold, r. (1984). issues in language planning: an examination of the continued role of english as nigeria’s lingua franca. sociolinguistics, xv(1), 25-29. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 62 published by scholink inc. hangyu, z. (2020). effects of different classroom activities on the english speaking proficiency of chinese efl students. international journal on studies in english language and literature (ijsell), 8(8), 1-7. iehu, j. e. (1989). an investigation into the problems encountered in the teaching and learning of literature in english (a case of nnewi local government area) (master’s thesis, university of nigeria, nsukka). retrieved from https://colon//oer.unn.edu.ng/read/an-investigation-into-theproblems-encountered-in-the-teaching-and-learning-of-literature-in-english-a-case-study-ofnnewi-local-government-area/file.pdf national bureau of statistics. (2015). national examination council (neco). analysis of performance of candidates, senior secondary school certificate examination (ssce) 2011-2015. ugwu, e. o. o. (2022). the challenges facing effective of literature-in-english in nigerian secondary schools. journal of educational research and practice, 2, 160-178. savvidou, c. (2004). an integrated approach to teaching literature in the efl classroom. the internet jesl. journal, x(12), http://colon//iteslj.org/techniques/savvidou-literature.html steven, e. (ed.). (2007). the handbook of creative writing. edingburgh: edingburgh university press. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 95 original paper research on compensation for vehicle depreciation losses in motor vehicle traffic accidents in sichuan province—analysis based on 100 judgements guo li1* 1 sichuan minzu college, kangding, sichuan, china * guo li, lecturer, law school of sichuan minzu college, master of laws (ll.m.) of sichuan university, research interests: civil and commercial law, labour and social security law, environmental protection law, etc. received: september 11, 2023 accepted: september 27, 2023 online published: october 16, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n4p95 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n4p95 abstract in recent years, with the increase of vehicle ownership and the frequent occurrence of motor vehicle traffic accidents, more and more owners demand compensation for the depreciation of their cars. whether the loss of vehicle depreciation should be compensated is controversial in theory and practice. the core problem of vehicle depreciation loss compensation is that there is no explicit legislation on vehicle depreciation loss, the insurance mechanism does not bear the compensation for vehicle depreciation loss and the identification of vehicle depreciation loss lacks a unified appraisal standard. the author believes that the vehicle depreciation loss is compensable both in reality and theory. keywords vehicle depreciation, loss compensation, responsibility distribution 1. question raising vehicle depreciation loss is the loss reduced after the accident vehicle has been completely repaired compared to the performance of the vehicle before the accident. in march 2016, the supreme people’s court briefly stated in the reply to “suggestions on compensation for depreciation losses of vehicles in traffic accidents” that china’s appraisal market is imperfect, the accident rate is high, and the regulation of vehicle depreciation is likely to cause a large number of litigation cases to flood the court, forming litigation burdens. it can be seen that the problem of vehicle depreciation losses in traffic accidents is cautious, but it is also stated that in rare, extreme cases, appropriate compensation can be www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 96 published by scholink inc. considered. however, the supreme court did not specify what conditions should be met to reach the extreme situation, so it gave practical judges room for discretion. in china, compensation for vehicle depreciation losses is blocked by the insurance industry. the regulations on compulsory motor vehicle traffic accident liability insurance amended by the state council in february 2016 and the provisions on compulsory motor vehicle traffic accident liability insurance formulated by the insurance industry association in july 2006 do not provide a basis for obtaining compensation for vehicle depreciation losses. this paper only takes the judgment practice of sichuan province as the perspective, and uses the search process of 100 (note) judgments found on china judgment documents network [from china judgment documents network, the search process of judgment samples as the keyword search: sichuan province, motor vehicle traffic accident liability dispute, vehicle depreciation, civil case, judgment, time is 20210101-20231006, only 100 copies.] using empirical analysis method as a sample, this paper analyzes the judgment results of judges of different trial levels and different regions, and obtains the judges’ judgment positions and relevant understandings on compensation for vehicle depreciation losses in judicial practice in sichuan province. combining theoretical research and social status, this paper puts forward relevant system ideas that can balance the interests of all parties and enable them to serve litigation. thus properly solve the problem of vehicle depreciation loss compensation. 2. empirical investigation of vehicle depreciation loss compensation cases in sichuan province 2.1 description of sample judgment the sample of this empirical investigation comes from the relevant civil judgments published by china judicial documents network. specific instructions: first, the paper mainly studies the application of compensation for vehicle depreciation loss in the traffic accident liability dispute in sichuan province. that is, it is clear that the keyword is “sichuan province” and “vehicle depreciation”, and the “vehicle” in the vehicle depreciation is only limited to motor vehicles. second, this paper is based on civil judgment as the data source, so after the aforementioned “motor vehicle traffic accident liability disputes”, “civil case” and “judgment” are selected in the search classification. third, considering the workload and time arrangement, the author selected 100 non-duplicate valid judgments obtained from january 1, 2021 to october 6, 2023 as the final sample. although the data of this analysis is slightly thin, there may be errors and omissions, but the development trend of things drawn from it, and the conclusions drawn from it still have a certain reference and comparison. 2.2 summary of the judgment of the case of compensation for vehicle depreciation losses according to the statistics of 100 judgments, the judges have the following three attitudes towards the request for compensation for the loss of vehicle depreciation: support; support as appropriate; objection. in the support and discretionary support categories, the judges were also divided on the distribution of liability. some judges assigned the liability to the infringer, and some judges found that the insurer should www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 97 published by scholink inc. pay compensation for the loss of the depreciation of the vehicle. in the appraisal of the specific amount of depreciation loss of vehicles, the parties choose different ways of appraisal agencies, some are applied by the parties, some are entrusted by the court. the selection of appraisal institutions for the amount of loss includes judicial appraisal center, motor vehicle appraisal and evaluation co., ltd., and secondhand car evaluation market. 2.2.1 the judge’s decision position of the 100 verdicts counted by the author, 74 were concluded in the first instance, 24 were final in the second instance, and 2 were retried. according to statistics, the cases of compensation for vehicle depreciation losses in the two-level courts in sichuan have roughly the following processing results: “reached mediation”, “voluntarily abandoned”, “discretionary support” and “opposition”. in order to get the overall position of judges when dealing with compensation claims for vehicle depreciation losses, the author ignored the trial level and identified discretionary support as support, and set aside the 2 judgments that reached mediation and voluntarily gave up compensation claims. among the remaining 98 judgments, 9 supported compensation for vehicle depreciation losses (7 in the first instance and 2 in the second instance). there were 91 objections (67 in the first instance, 22 in the second instance, and 2 in the retrial). after statistics, it is found that in practice, the judges’ objections to such compensation claims account for the vast majority. among the reasons for not supporting, it is also mostly based on the fact that the supreme court does not support the compensation for the loss of vehicle depreciation in principle, which is groundless in law, and the accident vehicle has been compensated after maintenance, and there is no loss. only a very small number of judges have gone beyond the letter of the law and ruled in favor of depreciation claims, which are limited to new cars (within three months), vehicles for sale, and some luxury cars. of the cases supporting depreciation losses, most cases (7 cases) were borne by the infringer and a few cases (2 cases) by the insurance company. for the loss of depreciation of vehicle damage, the objection is based on the fact that the depreciation loss does not belong to the insurance coverage. 2.2.2 empirical investigation of vehicle depreciation loss compensation cases in sichuan province in theory, there is no unified definition of vehicle depreciation loss, but in practice, there are arguments about vehicle depreciation loss and vehicle depreciation expense. according to the statistical data of judgment opinions in this sample, only 7% of judges believe that the loss of vehicle depreciation is a direct loss caused by traffic accidents and should be compensated. more than 90% of the judges rejected the claims for compensation for vehicle depreciation losses on the grounds that they were indirect losses and had no legal basis. 2.2.2.1 direct loss and indirect loss direct loss: (2021) in the judgment no. 3911 of sichuan 0180, the judge believes that the vehicle involved in the case is a commodity to be sold, the personnel and institutions involved in the identification have the qualification, and the identification report is adopted by the court in accordance with the law, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 98 published by scholink inc. that is, the direct loss of seven commercial vehicles is 453,170.85 yuan, and the price loss is 160,183.60 yuan. indirect loss: both the infringer and the court believe that the depreciation loss of the vehicle does not belong to the category of property loss in road traffic accidents, and the depreciation loss belongs to indirect loss. 2.2.2.2 transactional depreciation and substantive depreciation transactional depreciation: refers to the depreciation of the price of the damaged vehicle in the used car market before and after the accident. in the investigation, it was found that what influenced the judge’s decision most was whether the depreciation loss of the vehicle was only reflected in the transaction and sale process. the judge believed that the depreciation loss was only generated in the transaction process, and if there was no transaction, the depreciation could not be reflected. substantive depreciation: the reduction is reflected in the impairment of the use value of the vehicle. although the vehicle has been repaired, the repair cost is high, and the quality and performance of the repaired parts of the fuselage are difficult to return to the state before the accident. in (2021) chuan 1025 minchu 1096, the judge held that the car changed from “good” to “good” in a short 79 days before and after the accident, resulting in multiple damage to the accident site and high maintenance costs, accounting for 10-20% of the replacement cost. the vehicle accident damage level was determined to be “moderate” with a coefficient of 0.9. therefore, the accident objectively caused the depreciation loss of the plaintiff’s vehicle, which supported the plaintiff’s request for depreciation of the vehicle damage. 2.2.2.3 depreciation loss the statement of depreciation loss is mainly reflected in the litigation claims of the parties. the parties calculate the depreciation loss according to the vehicle purchase price *20%, and require the other party to bear the corresponding liability for compensation, or the parties themselves estimate an amount. in the judgment, the judge held that as the plaintiff did not bear the burden of proof for the loss, and the depreciation of the car damage was groundless, and finally dismissed the plaintiff’s claim. 2.2.3 distribution of liability it can be seen from the statistics that the judge has the following views on the distribution of the liability for the loss of vehicle depreciation: the infringer shall bear the liability, and the insurance company shall bear the liability. for example, in judgment no. 2888 of chuan 1002 (2021), the judge held that the insurance company could prove that it had done its duty to remind the insured of the liability exemption clause, and the insurance contract between the two parties clearly stipulated that the insurer was not liable for “depreciation caused by market price changes and impairment losses caused by value reduction after repair”. therefore, the judgment is that the infringer is liable for compensation. there is also another situation in which the insurer has excluded the loss of the depreciation of the vehicle from the insurance coverage when signing the contract with the insured, but in practice there are still situations in which the insurance company pays for it, such as (2021) sichuan 0180 minhua 3911 judgment, the judge ruled that the insurance company bears the insurance liability within the insurance coverage. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 99 published by scholink inc. 2.2.4 identification of depreciation losses with the increase of compensation claims for motor vehicle depreciation losses, the agencies that can appraise vehicle depreciation losses in the appraisal market have also emerged. among the 100 judgments counted by the author, there are several cases of judicial appraisal, motor vehicle appraisal, old motor vehicle evaluation and second-hand car transaction evaluation. for the same damaged vehicle, the appraisal criteria, reference coefficient, qualification of appraisal personnel and appraisal procedure selected by different appraisal agencies will affect the determination of the final loss amount. 2.3 sorting out the core issues of compensation for vehicle depreciation losses 2.3.1 the loss of vehicle depreciation is not clearly stipulated by legislation it is found from the statistics that more than 90% of the total objections were rejected by the judge on the grounds of “no legal basis” in the compensation claims against the depreciation of vehicles. at present, chinese laws and judicial interpretations do not have clear provisions on vehicle depreciation losses. 2.3.2 the loss of vehicle depreciation is exempted from liability by the insurance company when the insurer and the applicant sign the insurance and contract, the depreciation loss clause is the exemption clause of the insurance contract. the loss of depreciation of the vehicle is excluded from the coverage of insurance. therefore, the judge usually assigns the liability for damages to the infringer when deciding the case. 2.3.3 no unified appraisal standard has been established for vehicle depreciation losses the key to the problem of compensation for vehicle depreciation loss lies in the identification of the amount of loss. in judicial practice, there are judicial appraisal bodies appraisal, motor vehicle appraisal, old motor vehicle appraisal, second-hand car transaction appraisal, but their standards for determining the depreciation of vehicle damage are different, resulting in a gap in the final amount of compensation. 3. the compensability of vehicle depreciation losses 3.1 practical basis 3.1.1 increased social demand with the increase of vehicles, the accident rate is also increasing year by year. in motor traffic therefore, in liability disputes, compensation requests for vehicle depreciation losses are also increasing year by year, reflecting the strengthening of public awareness of rights protection. properly solving the problem of vehicle depreciation loss compensation is not only the key to protect the interests of the right holder, but also the inevitable requirement to maintain the stability and authority of judicial judgment. 3.1.2 depreciation of vehicle damage can be quantified depreciation loss is a kind of realistic and objective loss, not a loss that will occur in the future, so the specific amount of loss can be obtained through scientific assessment. at present, sichuan province has a special vehicle damage depreciation appraisal agency. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 100 published by scholink inc. 3.2 theoretical support the compensation for tort damages follows the principle of full compensation. vehicle depreciation loss is the direct loss caused by traffic accidents, rather than transaction depreciation loss, and does not depend on whether the accident vehicle transactions to judge the existence of depreciation. china’s civil law stipulates the “principle of total compensation for property losses”, which embodies the principle of fairness and compensation of equal value in civil law. the loss of vehicle depreciation is a real property loss, and it cannot be simply not protected because of the absence of explicit provisions of the law. 4. the system construction of vehicle depreciation loss compensation 4.1 formulate a legal basis to list vehicle depreciation losses as statutory compensation items in the empirical investigation, it is found that the judge directly refused the party’s request for depreciation because the loss of depreciation of the vehicle could not find a clear legal basis. according to the current social situation and legislative background, we should add the vehicle depreciation loss compensation item to the compensation scope stipulated in the traffic accident damage compensation, and explain that the vehicle depreciation is the impairment of the entity function before and after the vehicle accident. clear legal norms are conducive to better dispute resolution, guide the public, and enhance judicial credibility. when the depreciation loss of the vehicle has been included in the statutory compensable items, the court shall not reject the appraisal application for the depreciation loss of the vehicle submitted by the party without special circumstances. 4.2 determine the subject of compensation, and incorporate the loss of vehicle depreciation into the commercial third party liability insurance the insurance mechanism has clearly defined the depreciation loss as an exemption clause in the insurance contract, but there are also judicial decisions to award the depreciation loss to the insurance company. the author believes that it is more reasonable for the commercial third party liability insurance to pay for the loss of vehicle depreciation. first, the amount of compensation claims for vehicle depreciation losses is usually large, almost all of which are more than 10,000 yuan. if the infringer undertakes, is not willing to pay, or is really no money, can not compensate, the judgment is difficult to enforce; in contrast, the insurance company has the ability to bear risks, compared with the original defendant, the insurance company is easier to suit, the judgment is also easy to be executed in place, and the court is free from the worry of difficult execution after the judgment. second, there are more and more demands for vehicle depreciation losses today, including vehicle depreciation losses into commercial third party liability insurance, there is enough market demand, and insurance companies do not suffer losses when expanding new business, but also assume social responsibility. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 101 published by scholink inc. 4.3 improve the identification of vehicle depreciation losses to provide objective reference for relevant entities the appraisal of vehicle depreciation loss plays an important role in the whole depreciation compensation claim, and the amount of depreciation loss must be assessed by a qualified appraisal body in accordance with legal procedures and reasonable standards, and recognized by the court as evidence, before it is possible to obtain compensation. the increasing demand for vehicle depreciation loss appraisal will promote the advance and development of vehicle damage appraisal industry. relevant appraisal institutions should actively adapt to the market, gradually form industry norms for the appraisal of vehicle depreciation losses, improve the accuracy of the appraisal amount of vehicle depreciation losses, and provide objective reference basis for relevant entities. 5. conclusion in order to successfully solve the dispute of compensation for vehicle depreciation losses, it depends on the state to start from the top-level design, “sparse” than “blocked” is more conducive to resolving the contradiction, and there is evidence in law, the public can serve the judgment on the compensation for vehicle depreciation losses, in order to settle the dispute, and it is more conducive to the construction of the rule of law country. references liu, y. (2014). on the problem of compensation for the loss of depreciation of vehicles by the insurer of “commercial three risks”. shanghai jiao tong university. tang, b. s., & wang, f. w. (2010). road traffic accident compensation dispute. beijing: law press. wan, y. (2014). research on compensation for vehicle depreciation loss in traffic accidents. east china university of political science and law. wang, s. y. (2017). on compensation for vehicle depreciation loss in traffic accidents. heilongjiang university. wang, y. q. (2017). research on compensation for depreciated vehicle losses in motor vehicle traffic accidents -based on analysis of 574 judgments. east china university of technology. zhang, p. h. (2019). the legal basis of compensation for vehicle depreciation loss. law forum, 34(5), 49-63. note from china judgment documents network, the search process of judgment samples is keyword search: sichuan province, motor vehicle traffic accident liability disputes, vehicle depreciation, civil cases, judgment, time is 20210101-20231006, only 100 copies. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 14 original paper cyborg space in oryx and crake chen chen zhu1 1 nanjing university of finance & economics, nanjing, china received: february 5, 2023 accepted: february 22, 2023 online published: march 8, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n1p14 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n1p14 abstract as science and technology gains steam, relationships or contradictions with human species and between humans and other groups are increasingly of vital importance. and with a seemingly chaotic new world created by modern science, margaret atwood’s oryx and crake is an essential piece of work to analyze humans’ living condition during a post-humanistic world. therefore, based on haraway’s cyborg theory, this study intends to have a discussion on the realization of cyborg space in oryx and crake from the perspective of ambiguous boundary between males and females, humans and animals, and nature and human civilization, so as to advocate a space or society of high hybridity and ambiguity, free from superiority, prejudice or dualism. keywords cyborg, oryx and crake, ambiguity 1. introduction margaret atwood, known as the “queen of literature” of canadian, is a famous novelist, poet and literary critic in canada. oryx and crake, second futuristic novel of margaret atwood, mainly describes the protagonist “snowman,” formerly known as jimmy, returned to the rejoovenesence compound to explore the survival goods after the destruction of the world. the novel has attracted widespread attention from home and abroad, most of which concentrates on discussions of it from the perspective of post-humanism. some scholars point out that numerous scientific and technological advances have taken place and the idea of man as the measure of all things has been challenged by the flourishing manifestations of posthumanism (özmen & vardar, 2019, p. 148). other scholars have discussions on the predicament of humans in a post-human era as well as the reasons attributed to the apocalypse, including social system, science and technology and consumerism in the modern society (zhu, 2020, p. 1). they, together with other scholars, make great contributions for humans to think about themselves, the relationships with other creatures, and high-tech products in the present society. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 15 published by scholink inc. nonetheless, considering a tough or even harsh living situation for humans, most of them neglect the optimistic side of it by achieving a complete cyborg space for animals and other creatures trapped in a weak position in the present society. prejudice and discrimination have disappeared: all people with different skin colors—“chocolate, rose, tea, butter, cream, honey (atwood, 2003, p. 16)” sit around together happily. and the existence and dominant position of human represented by snowman has been weakened, “flickering at the edges of blizzards, apelike man or manlike ape, stealthy, elusive, known only through rumours and through its backward-pointing footprints (p. 16).” the theory of cyborg is one of the most important ideas to break down all the boundaries so as to highlight equality and monism. the notion of “cyborg” is first proposed by manfred clynes and nathan kline who make an experiment to install an osmotic pump into a mice and control its biological reaction. and later in their academic paper, the picture of the mice with an osmotic pump is attached on, which is nominated as “cyborg,” defined by them as “the self-regulating man machine systems,” the combination of “cybernetic” and “organism.” and soon, it is redefined in the field of cultural criticism by the american philosopher donna haraway as “a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction (p. 5)” in her masterpiece: a cyborg manifesto: science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the 1980’s. the meaning of cyborg expands with the gained steam in modern science and technology. by 1997, in her research modest-witness @ secon-millennium. femaleman-meets-oncomouse: feminism and technoscience haraway classifies genetically modified creatures as cyborg as well, making the notion of cyborg thought even more universal. thus, it is not the flesh or the potential of body that matters at the present but various interfaces between one object and the other. just as gray once says: “even if many individuals in the industrial and post-industrial countries aren’t full cyborgs, we certainly all live in a ‘cyborg society (p. 3).’” and as haraway says “we are all … cyborgs (p. 7).” therefore, despite an apocalypse, the cyborg space created by oryx and crake could provide some suggestions for people in the modern world to keep balance with all creatures, be it undominated humans, animals or technological creatures. hence, the present study would discuss the achievement of haraway’s cyborg theory through a break-down cartesian dualism between men and women, between humans and animals, and between nature and human civilization. 2. ambiguity between male and female men and women are in an opposite position for a long time. one of the main reasons is that the notion dualism is inherited from plato and aristotle and is fixed in mind accordingly. dualism believes that the relationship between things should stand in binary opposition, such as the rational and the emotional, the private and the public, and apparently, men and women. hence, gender dualism holds that features of men and women are of tremendous difference with men corresponding to words like public sphere, rationality, strength, and independence, while women corresponding to words like private sphere, sensibility, weakness, and dependence (jin, 2021, p. 68). what makes things worse is the symbolic www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 16 published by scholink inc. meanings attached to the dualism which, as a result, lead to a raised social status of men and a derogated one of women. later with the rise of feminist movement, most traditional feminist ideas try to prove that females are as powerful or able as males. but their ideas are still centered on men and thus fail to eradicate the sex discrimination. hence, instead of putting in an opposed position of male and female, the theory of cyborg breaks through the analytical framework of gender dualism, working for women’s liberation and gender equality by the ambiguity of gender. that is also the significance of haraway’s cyborg feminist idea, considering “cyborg” as emblem of females which could reestablish women’s body, identity, social status and political power because everyone shares the same position as “cyborg.” in a cyborg manifesto, the notion of female is related to “integrated circuits,” the parts of which could be departed and reconstructed. integrated circuits use a specific process to connect various components together and place them on a small crystal or substrate. they have been widely used in electronic products because of their miniaturization, intelligence, and convenience. hence, like those integrated circuits, body parts or functions of women in a high-tech modern society have already gotten rid of traditional features as weak, fragile and so on, in that they can also be changed or reconstructed to be better used or achieve an equal position with men anytime. females in the world created by crake are women of integrated circuits, with modified body parts and changed or promoted social status. female bodies often suffer from physical weakness and injury due during the process of sex and childbirth while features of cyborg body including self-replication and selfrepair free women from the restrain of physical body as well as a weak social position. therefore, women created in oryx and crake are equipped with the ability of self-healing gained from the genes of bobkitten and “ultra-strong vulvas-extra skin layers, extra muscles (p. 185)” so that they could be prevented from injure and a lower position during sex. and when it comes to males, the meanings of their bodies have also been changed, no higher or aggressive than that of women’s: their reproductive organs and their special way of urinate are designed by crake to merely offer them “something important to do, something that didn’t involve childbearing, so they wouldn’t feel left out (p. 174)” rather than a symbol of power or dominance. hence, accordingly, sex between males and females also becomes a collaboration or according to crake, “an athletic demonstration, a free-spirited romp (p. 185),” for pure happiness rather than pressures for women to prepare a baby, or suffer and endure sex passively. in a previous world described by atwood, sufferings for women, including rapes, sex tapes, and prostitutions are everywhere, with males stand as dominant figures. for instance, in a porn video involving oryx, several girls participate in a sex to serve one man, scaring and crying, far from enjoying sex but apparent evidence of a weak position during that. nonetheless, the cyborg space changes all of these fundamentally. all being the successful products of science and technology, women share the same status of men, and are allowed to have sex with several www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 17 published by scholink inc. men at the same time. it becomes a common phenomenon. and due to stronger body parts designed by crake, they can enjoy sex easier than before. therefore, in a cyborg space created by crake, physical weakness of women has been complemented by technology and strength of males represented by their reproductive parts in the previous society have been debilitated so as to maintain an equal position between the two parties. also, unlike being in a subordinate position during sex, women can also enjoy sex, free from the main task of being pregnant. all these contribute to the breakdown of dualism between males and females. 3. hybridity between human and animals for hundreds of years, the organic, including humans and animals, takes up a high place in researches of biology and evolution. and scholars put great efforts on the inseparability between the two: biologist try to explain human behaviors from the perspective of animals, and animal rights activists insist that animal should be equal with humans, being respected and enjoying some human rights. nonetheless, most previous studies still involve a touch of humane idea and center on human beings. hence, based on previous studies, haraway’s idea goes further in the breakdown of boundaries between the two. she gives an example of rats with carcinogenesis, which becomes a strong proof of the ambiguity between humans and animals. those rats are modified to be involved in experiments on cancer, embodying both genes from humans and rats, blending with each other in every cell. it is impossible to distinguish one from the other. hence, rats with carcinogenesis go beyond the specific definition or boundaries between the two elements in them. in oryx and crake, the ambiguity between animals and humans can be revealed in the children of crake, and some genetically modified animals, such as pigoon. despite the fact that the former can be known as “humans” and the latter, “animals,” to some degree, all of them are not delivered through natural birth but products of science and technology by crake and oryx. hence, they are all the same in essence. besides, those “humans” created by oryx and crake are all embodiment of genes from both animals and humans, including genes from cats, the purring of which could contribute to “their own self-healing mechanism,” and genes from baboons and octopus which bring about variable pigmentation and expandable chromospheres, and so on. all these turns human into a new species, neither humans, nor animals, unveiling an equality between the two. it is also true of pigoon, a combination of pig and human organs, created to provide endless organs for humans. and even for those animals free of human genes, like snat, a combination of snake and rat, and rakunk, a combination of racoon and skunk, they are still involved in artificial operation. and for the seemly only creature who owns sorely genes from human species, snowman turns to an “apelike man or manlike ape (p. 16)” as well in the world of crake. hence, what atwood and crake intend to advocate through their new world or, in some sense, cyborg space, is a unique living system composed of pluralistic form and approach (wang, 2020, p. 90). instead of controlling by humans and being symbols of weak or fragile existence in the face of humans, animals in the world of crake stand as an equal position as humans and can challenge the power of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 18 published by scholink inc. humans accordingly. for instance, the children of crake can be bitten by a bobkitten, and after that they feel sorry and intend to present apology because they try to throw stones toward it which could injure them. besides, snowman is always alarmed to pigoon and other creatures which with part of human genes are actually human with strategy as well, during his journey back to the experimental farms. therefore, there is no absolute animals or absolute men in the cyborg space created by crake. humans obtain certain characteristics from animals while genes of animals can go into human bodies and even play an essential part of them, as well. both of them sharing genes or some features from each other, humans and animals can never be separated and the categorization between is impossible (liu, 2021, p. 118). hence, animals are humans, vice visas and there is no superiority between the two. 4. combination of nature and human civilization in a cyborg manifesto, through the analysis of atom and ether haraway points out that the boundary between natural and unnatural, or between nature and human civilization, has already been mixed up (zhang, 2006, p. 22). in the era of information, a large number of microelectronics emerges, including mobil phones, laptop, and bluetooth earphones and so on, among which the silicon wafers play an essential role. they are made from atoms and serve for different uses through the movement of silicon atoms. according to haraway, microelectronics the modern machines are everywhere, with their cores being the silicon atoms. so, in a large sense, all the human world is made from atoms, which is the same as natural world, among which atom still takes up a large percentage in natural things, like medals and rocks. hence, through the analysis on the relations between microelectronics, silicon wafers and silicon atoms haraway points out that the distinguishments between natural things and artificial things do not exist. therefore, the nature and human civilization are actually of the same origin and essence, and not be departed accordingly. in oryx and crake, the world before the apocalypse is an example of division between nature and human civilizations. humans consider themselves as master to nature and makes use of it without even thinking about the serious consequences. soon, the global climate has deteriorated irreversibly with harvard university been flooded and the beach house of jimmy’s mother together with the rest of the beaches, and quite a few of the eastern coastal cities “washed away because of quickly-risen sea-level and huge tidal wave caused by the canary islands volcano (p. 71).” also, “lake okeechobee had shrunk to a reeking mud puddle and the everglades had burned for three weeks straight (p. 71),” and “the village where oryx lives rains either too less or too much. the crops are damaged, and people are starved to sell kids to make a living (p. 131).” it is also worth noticing that the deterioration of the climate is one of the most important reasons attributed to the prostitution of oryx and her brother. the pornography and sexual slavery during her childhood are not only caused by the dominance-and-underdominance relationship between the males and females, but also the integration of sexual violence and political violence under the background of exhaustion of ecological resources and the survival crisis of the poor. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 19 published by scholink inc. as a consequence, the life condition of snowman is actually very harsh after the catastrophe. he can only live on a hot tropical beach. animals from the previous world disappears with human species. and in order to avoid the burning hot of seaside desert and the attack of genetically modified animals, snowman spends most of his time on trees. there is not much description about the ecological environment after the catastrophe, in that the entire natural ecological system that snowman lived in in the past has already been severely damaged. that’s the reason why snowman has completely fallen into pain and is unwilling to recall himself from the beautiful natural environment that humans once owned long ago. however, the world created by crakes has demonstrated the notion of symbiosis between nature and human civilization, which could be revealed by the components and life style of children of crake. genes of animals are added to the children of crakes, making them genetically feel closer to the nature. they are set as vegetarians who can maintain environmental sustainability. gentle and kind, care about each other, they do not dress, do not cook, and are ignorant of material wealth, selfish interests, and conspiracy. more importantly, unlike humans in the previous world, they adopt the minimum use of resources. therefore, in a cyborg space with the harmonious or hybrid relationship between nature and human, there is still hope for a damaged environment when the nature could stand as an equal position with humans. 5. conclusion among the voice and discussion about the desperate living condition for humans in the world created by crake due to rationalism and dualism, it should be seen that his world illustrate what cyborg space could be like, to some degree. in this world, physical bodies of both males and females are free of symbolized meanings and the weak or fragile body of women is strengthened so as to advocate equality or mixed idea between men and women. moreover, by creature of pigoon and children of crake, together with snowman’s ordinary life which constantly involves fights with other living creatures, the notion of humans or animals becomes ambiguous as well. besides, in a world of cyborg, the combination between nature and human civilization becomes common and important than ever. nothings can exist without crossing with others. hence, like cyborg space, the world created by crake have challenged the time-honored dualism inherited from descartes. all creatures, be it natural or unnatural, organic or nonorganic, are chimeric organisms, creatures in the post-gender world, driving people in the present society to reconsider their relationships with themselves, animals and technology. references atwood, m. (2003). oryx and crake. new york: random house. gray, c. h. (1995). the cyborg handbook. london: penguin. haraway, d. j. (2016). manifestly haraway. minnesota: the university of minnesota. https://doi.org/10.5749/minnesota/9780816650477.001.0001 https://doi.org/10.5749/minnesota/9780816650477.001.0001 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 20 published by scholink inc. jin, c. z. (2021). cyber feminism’s breakthrough in gender dualism and its value embodiment. qiusuo, 2021(2), 67-73. liu, y. y. (2021). cyborg and the animal narration in chen lifan’s novels. contemporary writers review, 2021(2), 116-122. özmen, c. ö., & vardar, ö. (2019). posthuman and human-nonhuman relationship in oryx and crake. humanita, 148-158. https://doi.org/10.20304/humanitas.513087 wang, l. q. (2020). the ecological interpretation of human nature and animal nature in “oryx and crake”. journal of yanbian education college, 34(5), 88-91. zhang, w. (2006). a study of harawi’s cyberg thought. harbin institute of technology. zhu, y. d. (2020). a study of atwood’s novels from the perspective of post-humanism. heilongjiang university. https://doi.org/10.20304/humanitas.513087 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 71 original paper a brief discussion on the object of expression in diego velasquez’s las meninas lai gai1 1 research institute for global value chains, university of international business and economics, beijing, china received: march 12, 2022 accepted: april 19, 2022 online published: may 26, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n1p71 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n1p71 abstract las meninas is a painting by spanish painter diego velasquez painted in 1656. the composition of the painting is very complex, consisting of nine people, a dog, mirror reflections of the king and queen, paintings on the wall, etc. while among them, which is the main object depicted by the painter, who is the hero of the painting, the discussion on this issue has been the research object of experts all the time. the author refers to the historical background, painting methods, color application and light treatment of the painter, and also refers to the analysis by michel foucault and daniel arasse, to get a brief discussion of the object expressed in this painting. keywords las meninas, michel foucault, daniel arasse, object of expression las meninas is one of spanish painter diego velazquez’s greatest paintings and one of the most widely analyzed works of western painting. diego velasquez is not only a famous baroque painter, but also a great master of painting who has aristocratic temperament. after being introduced by a count, he became spain’s court painter and lived in the palace of madrid. he developed a close friendship with the king and often produced portraits for him. las meninas is just a famous masterpiece he drew in 1656 in request of the king. the height of it is up to 3 meters, each object in this painting is just in the same physical size. it shows what the daily life liked in the palace: in the quite palace, velasquez was drawing a couple portrait for the king and his wife. at that moment, the princess and her maids happened to come into the painting room. this painting has two characteristics: the first one is the custom style. it describes the king’s life from an interesting insight; the second one is that the painter broke the established principles of creating the court portrait. he put the king and his wife in a secondary position, instead of putting them in the middle of the picture in the traditional way. in fact, in his time, this composition is very bold, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 72 published by scholink inc. more or less a little casual. his portrait of this approach is a kind of court reforms. the on-screen characters are no longer a rigid arrangement, but in a state of nature as far as possible. sophisticated dynastic vision is emphasized in this painting. light and shadow plays an important role in it. this painting is undoubted a very great work, on the artistic quality. however, as long as you walk into this piece of masterpiece, various issues will follow. first of all, as a general habit of appreciation, we would firstly have such a question, who is the hero in this painting? the painter wants us to see whose face? is the las meninas described in the subject, or the little princess whom the light focuses on? is the aristocratic painter who are wearing a huge medal, or the king couple who appear in the mirror? maybe it is the dwarf female with a serious expression, or the person in black who is standing aside a curtain in the background and ready to leave but is attracted to something happening? for me, the first character i notice is the little princess who are dressed in white in the front of the room. she just possesses the middle point of the crowd. cause her dress is in a light color, which has a strong visual tension. and it just creates a visual association with the white smock that the two maids beside her are wearing. all these things create a band of light with her in the center. these things lead us to treat the little princess as the hero of this picture easily with preconceptions. however, we’ll soon realize that we are misguided by the painter who makes use of our habit of appreciation and plays a vision game with us. cause the little princess is not the object of all the sights point to. so the hero of this painting is not the princess, and more cannot be the two maids who are standing at her side. the most interesting is that velazquez made his own arrangement in the painting. he was holding a palette, standing after a huge drawing board, spiritedly and proudly. it even makes us treat this picture as his own portrait. he is also trying to highlight the wearing medal in his chest, which he was once dreaming of owning, for it is a signal of his high position. in the picture he is so young, but in fact, he was over his sixtieth year at that moment. many modern researchers believe it was the work of an elderly, confident genius. in particular, the san diego medal on his chest was so striking that one had to believe it might be the hero the artist wanted to show. but history turns out that the medal was added on velazquez’s chest by philip iv as a tribute to his memory when the work was restored right after his death in 1660. therefore, this conjecture is not untenable. since the artist is not the hero of this painting, then the king and his wife who stood in front of him and being reflected in the mirror should be object of this painting. however, this is after all only an assumption that we make from our common sense. for the king couple themselves do not appear directly in the painting, instead, the reader ourselves are inevitable placed in the position that belongs to them. for this view, michel foucault in words and things-an archaeology of human sciences, pointed out that, “we must pretend that we do not know who or what is reflected in the mysterious mirror and question about the significance of the existence of this reflection” (1966). “when looking straightly across the screen, the subject and the object, the audience and the model, numerously swap roles”. so, the painting becomes a “classic representation of the appearance”, which points to “the nature of emptiness” “the collapse of the basis of similarity” “cancellation of the main body” and so on. on www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 73 published by scholink inc. balance, this is a space with open and free democracy. foucault’s idea is based on the visual order that he established. based on foucault’s this perspective, when we look at the painting, the visual center that we notice at first is the princess and the las meninas. as we can see, the princess is watching something, but we do not know what it really is; but it’s obvious that she is also seen by the two maids. while the maids and the princess is just what we are watching in response. we can call it the first group of multiple gaze. then, let’s take a deep look at this picture. you can find that the painter who is standing behind the princess and her maids, is taking a look at something too. what is the object, we can’t tell, but we can see that he himself is not only read by that mysterious thing, but also watched by us. this is the second group of multiple gaze. if we make a further look at this picture, we can find the individual who is standing at the door against the background. he is looking at these two sets of gaze from the opposite direction to ours. furthermore, he is also seen by two different sight from us and the one on whom the painter is concentrating. this is the third group of multi-gaze. finally, we can see a mirror in the painting and find that the small princess, the painter and the people at the door may all look at the people who are reflected in the mirror. and in response, the one is also looking at them. this is the fourth group of multiple gaze. within each group, we can find the interaction between to see and be seen. and it also has this kind of interaction between these four groups. from foucault’s view, the interaction relationship between all of these things are reproduced in order to obtain a visual relationship, namely, the internal structure of gaze. in other words, in foucault’s view, this is a painting about painting. it is about to see and be seen and also about staring and reproducing on the painting. from it we can deconstruct staring and reproducing. at this level, after foucault’s interpretation, velazquez’s las meninas is no longer merely a painting of realism style. relative to foucault’s point of view, daniel arasse criticized foucault of his removal of the historical background of las meninas. he pointed that foucault had made this masterpiece democratization and museum-oriented, which is opposite to the painter’s original aim. arasse even made a comprehensive study into the tortuous history of the painting, noting that it was changed from a painting called family portrait. but whatever family portrait or las meninas, both were made by the artists to adapt to the needs of the political situation in the royal family. after made a very detailed analysis to the painting scene (including the character’s eyes), arasse said, through the mirror, the king becomes the one who cannot see nothing: the eyes of every character are towards the king. he is looking at everyone present in the office of his own summer palace. he is also watching them from the background of the screen. in fact, this outstanding performance emphasizes that the king possesses a supreme absolute position in the dynasty. in a conclusion, his view is that the king couple is the object expression of the painting. i am more agree with this view. firstly, the analysis of a painter’s work cannot be divorced from his own identity and the historical environment. as it was described at the beginning of the article. velasquez is the most prominent realism painter in the 17th-century in span. he made his way from a dilapidated zeilya family to the palace, and established a deep and lasting friendship with the king. undoubtedly, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 74 published by scholink inc. philips iv was his most respected and admired object. as you can see, what his works show is all about aristocratic elegance and dignity. what’s more, in this painting, according to the historical data, all the images contained in it are real people, not a fictional image. in other words, this is a piece of more than one character’s plot portrait. all the evidence show that the painter got his inspiration from the typical real life in the palace. and it also fully demonstrates the realism skill of this great painter. we can even say that he did not belong to the baroque painters’ team, but was more interested in the principles of realism. that’s why he got the praise as “the painter of truth”. at the same time, although making a living as a count painter, velasquez was not just blind to curry favor with the power. the great artist was always persistent in the pursuit of artistic freedom in his heart. especially in his later years, he had almost painted anything, and also wanted to draw a number of different things in order to achieve the reform of art. through his inheritance and improvement of titian, he made the natural patterns and colors together. in order to emphasize the noble image of the supreme king and his wife, he had to put them in the mirror, so that they can examine other people in the painting from two directions-before and after. and the one being examined even includes us standing between them and the mirror. fortunately, philips iv was a magnanimous monarch. so even if sometimes he’s chief artist created a number of adventurous works with adventure spirit, he was also willing to accept. all these reasons lead to the wide spread of las meninas through ages. diego velasquez was hailed as one of the most outstanding representatives of spain’s golden age, has been the pursuit of a number of artists of future generations. references chen binbin. (2005). secrets in art. shanghai bookstore publishing house. daniel, a. (2007). we see nothing: a collection of paintings of a different kind. peking university press. frank, p. (2008). visual art history. shanghai people’s fine arts publishing house. geng, y. z. (2005). broken traces: re-reading western art history. renmin university press. hendrik, v. (2005). a brief history of western art. shaanxi normal university press. michel, f. (2001). words and things-an archaeology of human sciences. shanghai sanlian bookstore. ouyang, y. (2009). history of foreign art. china academy of art press. paul, j. (2008). history of art. shanghai people’s fine arts publishing house. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 122 original paper research on business english course construction in application-oriented colleges under the background of cross border e-commerce ju liu1 1 chongqing college of mobile communication, hechuan, chongqing, china received: january 26, 2024 accepted: february 20, 2024 online published: march 4, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p122 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p122 abstract with the rapid development of cross border e-commerce, more and more attention is being paid to business english in chinese students’ employment, students are required to not only have good basic language skills, but also considerable professional knowledge and practical ability in business english. this paper explores the development of business english course in application-oriented colleges by reading and analyzing relative online and offline literature and further puts forward ways to improve the teaching from both theoretical and practical perspectives by conducting questionnaires and interviews. taken chongqing college of mobile communication as an example, this paper analyzes the current situation of business english course in application-oriented colleges, point out the existing problems, and put forward corresponding solutions, so as to improve the teaching efficiency of business english course and give implications to the further development of esp courses. keywords cross border e-commerce, business english course, implications, esp 1. introduction as a new mode of international trade, cross-border e-commerce enjoys the advantages of flexibility, convenience, few intermediate links and high transaction efficiency. it has shown great potential and become a new engine for stabilizing foreign trade growth and promoting economic development. the development of cross-border e-commerce has given rise to a large number of new types of occupational positions, such as live broadcasting, digital marketing, overseas warehouse management and localized operations. so the demand for cross-border e-commerce talents from these new occupational job groups www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 123 published by scholink inc. has shown explosive growth, and puts forward new requirements on the knowledge structure, skill level and professionalism for students. cross-border e-commerce refers to the international commercial activity in which transactions are conducted by means of e-commerce between transacting entities in different border territories. in the process, online ordering, payment, delivery of goods through cross-border logistics, customs clearance and final delivery are done to complete the transaction. language is one of the basic skills when conducting business activities among different countries, and how to cultivate talents with certain knowledge of business english needed by society has become a heated topic. besides, the development of cross-border e-commerce has given rise to a large demand for applied business english talents. the demand for talents in the market has put forward higher requirements for the teaching of business english in colleges, which not only requires students to have good basic language skills, but also considerable professional knowledge and practical ability in business english. teachers’ teaching level and ability directly affect the quality of students’ learning, and further affect high-quality talents forested by colleges for the society, so it is urgent to improve the teaching level and skills of english teachers. this paper is to analyze the problems in the construction of business english course in applicationoriented colleges under the background of cross-border e-commerce, and put forward ways to strengthen the teachers’ teaching, enhance the cooperation between schools and enterprises, promote the on-campus simulation training, actively participate in on-the-job training, and encourage further study to carry out the regular and continuous knowledge learning, so as to improve business english students’ learning and practical ability and give implications to the further development of esp courses. 2. the demand for cross-border e-commerce talents in 2019 nine new additions are added to the profession, among which cross-border e-commerce is included. for cross-border e-commerce talents, it is necessary to have expertise in four areas, including international economics and trade, business foreign language skills, e-commerce platform operation skills, and comprehensive vocational skills (he, 2018). diversified cross-border e-commerce cities have unique advantages, however, there are also some problems, for example, the development of e-commerce industry shows diversification and high elimination rate, which requires talents to have sufficient experience and innovation ability. survey found that most e-commerce enterprises attach importance to the staff’s english level, especially writing ability and oral communication, in addition, e-commerce enterprises need employees to grasp the consumption habits and cultural customs of foreign customers, own some cross-cultural communication skills, be familiar with the international trade business, international logistics operations, cross-border e-commerce platforms and customer service business. these demands have provided a direction for colleges to cultivate talents with both theoretical and practical abilities. application-orientated colleges aim to cultivate talents with profound knowledge and comprehensive skills to serve the needs of local economic and social development, so they focus on practice and application, and actively advocate the teaching concept of learning by applying. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 124 published by scholink inc. 3. business english course construction in application-oriented colleges with the development of global information and cultural diversification, language service has become a productive practice in the process of national modernization, and play an important role in national economic, political and cultural construction (wang, 2022). application has been included as an important type in the establishment of colleges, and newly built ordinary colleges has been encouraged to transform into the application-oriented type and actively focus on the cultivation of applied talents needed by society. the transformation and development of colleges need dual-quality english teachers who have both theoretical knowledge and practical skills so as to further cultivate talents with practical business english knowledge. business english course is is guided by the theory of applied linguistics, centred on business knowledge and involves many disciplines such as economics, management, cross-culture communication and so on (wang, 2020). as an important branch of esp, business english has developed into a relatively independent discipline in developed countries and achievements have been made in terms of pedagogy, teaching materials and teachers. in the late 1980s, business english was developed into an independent discipline in china. at present, with the improvement of economic strength, business english is playing an increasingly important role in international business activities, and the teaching and research of business english is also receiving more and more attention. it is estimated that more than eight hundred colleges and universities have offered business english majors or courses, cultivating a large number of talents for international business and trade. with the transformation of economic structure, the society needs more and more talents who know a certain amount of business english. however, according to the survey, there are still some obstacles in the process of cultivating business english talents, for example, from the teachers’ perspective, there are problems such as the lack of on-the-job experience, the lack of comprehensive understanding of the related fields, teaching language itself, neglecting business practice and so on; from students’ perspective, some students have little interest in learning, no strong motivation, insufficient input and little output, lack of initiative. besides, many students can only understand some business english terminology after completing the course, but can not put what they have learned into practice, which is far from becoming the excellent composite business talents needed by society. 4. problems in the construction of business english course chongqing college of mobile communication is an application-oriented university that provides students with general english teaching in the first and second year to learn the basics of english language, and esp courses related to their majors in the third and fourth year to apply professional english knowledge in real work. esp courses cultivate students’ ability to use english to communicate in a certain working environment. it focuses on learners’ needs, emphasizes the authenticity of teaching content and learning tasks, highlights the integration of teaching and doing, and closely focuses on students’ vocational needs. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 125 published by scholink inc. business english course emphasizes the combination of language and business, focusing on the enhancement of english language skills and practical business knowledge, aiming to cultivate talents who are capable of competent business management, marketing, communication and planning in the industry. on the one hand, business english teaching should improve students’ language knowledge. on the other hand, it is supposed to emphasize the practicality of learning, help students learn by doing, and improve students’ international business communication and cross-cultural communication skills. all these put forward higher requirements for business english teachers, through questionnaires and in-depth interviews with students and teachers, it is found that there are still some problems in business english course: 4.1 lack of business english teaching experience many business english teachers are traditional language teachers without business knowledge, not to mention the experience of working in enterprises. although they have good knowledge of english language skills, they lack practical training in business english, and most of them learn business-related knowledge while teaching, so it is difficult for them to understand specific problems related to business, and sometimes they can only teach in a rigid way. besides, due to teachers’ lack of practical experience in business english, it is very difficult for teachers to combine language skills with business activities, instead, they favor one or the other or only the learning of the surface, resulting in the fact that students only learn something superficial and can not connect what they have learned in class with real work practice in the end. what’s more, some teachers neglect to explain the business cultural background and only explain the english language itself, which leads to the result that students feel unfamiliar with the business environment when they are employed, and need more time to adapt to work. moreover, the traditional business english teaching environment is limited to the textbook and the teacher’s explanation in the classroom, and the students’ ability to apply their knowledge into actual business work is relatively poor. 4.2 insufficient school-enterprise cooperation school-enterprise cooperation is a good way to apply theory into practice. teachers can learn deeply and use the experience of on-the-job training while teaching, so as to help students understand the needs of employers and be clear about their own study goals and methods. however, in real situation, the teachers do not want to participate in the job training because of the low salary, heavy teaching workload and high pressure. besides, most enterprises do not believe in the practical ability of teachers and are not willing to let teachers really participate in work, so that the teachers are not really integrated into the operation of the enterprises and just go through the motions superficially. in addition, from the students’ perspective, there are few internship opportunities for students to apply their business english knowledge into real work, which leads to the fact that students can not participate in school-enterprise cooperation and use their business english, and it is difficult for them to appreciate the knowledge and attain achievement of learning. so it is essential for teachers to carry out marketoriented or problem-solving based practical training teaching models, so as to guide and encourage www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 126 published by scholink inc. students to engage in skill competitions and internships and cultivate composite talents to meet market demands. 4.3 lack of motivation as a practical course, business english course requires teachers to have not only language skills but also practical experience in business, which in turn makes teachers stressed. on the one hand, teachers need to actively prepare for the lessons, master the knowledge of business english in the textbook and teach students in an appropriate way. on the other hand, they need to participate in the professional training in summer holiday, winter holiday or during the weekends, so as to understand and appreciate the actual use of business english knowledge. compared with other teachers, business english teachers need to spend more time, energy and money constantly participating in different training to improve themselves. but at present, most schools do not have encouragement for business english teachers materially or spiritually, which leads to the consequence that some teachers are reluctant to teach business english courses. for the students, as the course is arranged in the third or fourth year when they have to prepare for jobhunting or post graduate study, survey shows that students just take business english as a course to get credit and help them to graduate. as a consequence, a large number of students haven’t realized the practical importance of business english, and they have no incentive to learn actively. besides, it is found that the traditional teacher-centred teaching mode adopted in business english course focus on english knowledge instead of business practice, and can not effectively stimulate students’ independent learning, innovation and communication ability for most students just passively accept knowledge without learning motivation. 4.4 students’ low learning engagement in digital teaching resources learning engagement refers to the extent to which students are actively involved in learning activities (heflin, shewmaker, & nguyen, 2017) and can reflect students’ initiative, motivation and effort and has a direct impact on their learning outcomes (chi & wylie, 2014). fredricks et al. (2004) proposed that learning engagement consists of behavioral, cognitive and affective engagement. behavioral engagement is manifested in the learners’ participation, persistence and effort in a task; cognitive engagement is related to the learners’ cognitive and cognitive strategies, involving deep processing, self-monitoring and self-regulation strategies; and affective engagement refers to the individual’s affective response during the learning process, which is the interest, recognition, sense of value and sense of belonging and so on. digital teaching resources refer to the digital information that can provide services for education and teaching, which include slides, projections, audio, video, digital teaching materials, electronic lesson plans, internet teaching resources such as mooc and micro-classes. the appropriate use of these teaching resources is an effective way to further extend the depth and breadth of teaching and learning. with the continuous development of information technology in education, paper-based teaching materials can no longer meet the requirements of teaching, and digital teaching resources are constantly developing. the appropriate use of these teaching resources is an effective way to further expand the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 127 published by scholink inc. depth and breadth of teaching. however, research has found that most teachers and students fail to make good use of digital resources, the problems of “resource-rich” digital teaching resources and lack of learner engagement need to be solved urgently. 5. strategies for the construction of better business english courses in order to enhance teaching efficiency and cultivate better business english talents, it is necessary to take some measures. 5.1 encourage multi-disciplinary research teachers are the organizers and guides in the teaching process, and only when the quality of teachers is improved can they further promote teaching, so as to better serve thousands of students and achieve the goal of cultivating talents needed by the country. in terms of teaching, it is necessary to strengthen the dual-quality teacher team construction, build a teaching community, and implement the policy in which experienced teachers help new teachers so as to pass on teaching experience and promote mutual learning and common progress (zhang, 2019). in addition, it is advised to organize demonstration or open classes, carry out collective lesson preparation activities and encourage teachers to participate in teaching competitions so as to promote teaching ability and improve teaching efficiency. what’s more, teachers are encouraged to participate in professional academic seminars and inter-school exchanges, and write comprehensive report after learning to improve teaching and research level. moreover, it is beneficial for business english teachers to take advantage of the school’s business courses and try to attain appropriate qualifications and certificates. for example, if one of the school’s special courses is e-commerce, business english teachers can choose to listen to this course to expand relative knowledge and try to get the business english certificate if possible. in addition, communication and cooperation between business english teachers and teachers of professional courses should be strengthened so that teachers specializing in business and teachers of foreign languages can promote each other and make progress together. 5.2 promote on-campus simulation training actively promote school-enterprise cooperation, and carry out the go out and bring in policy. on the one hand, encourage business english teachers to go out to the enterprise and carry out relative project research so as to put the theory into practice and obtain teaching materials and practical experience. teachers are advised to actively go to the industry to research and truly understand specific requirements of emerging occupations for talents so as to improve the curriculum and teaching content in time, make the major truly correspond to occupations, focus on the cultivation of students’ working ability and make students adapt to the new needs of occupational development. on the other hand, bring in some outstanding management personnel who can give lectures to share with business english teachers and students what kind of talents are needed by the society from the perspective of the enterprise, thus helping teachers and students to further develop corresponding capabilities on campus. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 128 published by scholink inc. unlike engineering majors, it is difficult to arrange relative in-depth internships for business english students, so in the teaching process, teachers are advised to make effective use of classroom practice platform, for example, some website resources, and guide students to conduct international trade operation simulation, which can not only help students understand knowledge better, but also allow them to attain a sense of achievement. in addition, it is advised to make use of school’s computer room, conduct systematic teaching design in the simulation, and create a variety of business scenarios so as to help students master language knowledge and business skills flexibly. in the process of guiding students to solve practical business problems, teachers need to improve students’ critical thinking and business communication skills so as to effectively improve students’ business vocational ability. in addition, the curriculum should emphasize the training of basic professional skills and help students understand the whole process of business operation which include marketing, negotiation, import and export. 5.3 expand teaching and learning platforms it is beneficial to strengthen the construction of teaching organizations, improve teachers’ teaching and research ability, and create a community of teachers’ teaching and learning development. since lots of colleges have set up business english majors, the establishment of virtual research environment is conducive to strengthen cross-major, cross-school and cross-regional teaching and research exchanges, and it can promote co-construction and sharing. the rise of internet+education and the development of mooc provide various learning resources for business english students. students should not limit their learning to textbook, but utilize network to actively learn, accumulate materials and apply them to real work so as to make learning rich and practical. in addition, the evaluation mechanism should be improved to on the one hand actively cultivate dualquality teachers and on the other hand give incentives to outstanding business english students. it is suggested that colleges should formulate a scientific teacher and student development plan, and make use of on-the-job training, domestic and international training and academic exchanges, enterprise practice and other ways to help both teachers and students strengthen practical ability. 5.4 focus on students’ needs in recent years, language service vocational industry has been greatly promoted, but language service capacity is still in its infancy, and there are such phenomena as weak awareness of language service, incomplete language service system, insufficient and unbalanced cultivation and reserve of language talents. it has become imperative to strengthen language services, enhance language service capacity and continuously promote language localization services. through questionnaires and in-depth interviews, it is found that most students have few opportunities to apply english in workplace internships and hope to improve spoken english related to their major. therefore, it is necessary to investigate students’ and society needs, combine students’ interests with employment skills, and choose contents commonly used in employment when teaching. in this way, students will be stimulated to learn more knowledge they need. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 129 published by scholink inc. general english courses can not fully meet students’ employment needs, and esp courses which have a certain impact on the career development is imperative. students need to learn english courses related to their majors to improve their listening, speaking and reading skills, and the curriculum of english courses should pay more attention to the practicality of language, not only explain language skills, but also focus on the application of language in real use. it is suggested that in the teaching process, students should be taken as the center, and teachers should often go into the students to understand their needs, make personalized teaching plans, attract students’ attention, lead students to apply what they have learned into use, highlight the practicality of the courses, promote the service of language, and make the learning of english in line with society. the student-centered teaching method can promote students’ learning, discover the needs of senior students, connect school education with the needs of society, promote learning to use, and help students to find a good job. in this way, students can adapt to the workplace better, which is conducive to the development of society. 5.5 improve students’ learning engagement learning engagement refers to the psychological investment and effort made by learners in learning, understanding or mastering knowledge and skills (newmann, 1992). it is an important indicator to evaluate the learning process, predict academic achievement and influence students’ future development. it is found that students in application-oriented colleges, especially the juniors and seniors are often reluctant to study hard in class, how to improve students’ learning engagement is an emergent issue. according to in-depth interviews with students, it is suggested that teachers should choose practical teaching content and create role play activities to arouse students’ interest and motivation. besides, it is essential to create real language learning environment in which students can apply what they learned in class into practice, interact actively with others and attain a sense of achievement in the use of learning. what’s more, survey shows that timely assessment and feedback on students’ performance contribute to classroom learning enthusiasm and learning efficiency. it is suggested that modern technology like rain classroom should be used in real class teaching so as to help students concentrate on what they are learning, arouse students interest in class and enhance the connection between teachers and students. moreover, teachers are supposed to explore a variety of teaching methods, for example task-based teaching method, to facilitate students’ independent learning, enhance simulation training of relevant professional knowledge, and improve students’ learning engagement. the overall assessment is advised to divide into final examination score and daily performance grade. students’ daily performance grades are supposed to emphasize students’ participation in group activities and extracurricular practice. with students’ evaluation as the main focus and teachers’ evaluation as the supplement, it highlights the students’ independent evaluation ability and ensures all the activities are effectively evaluated with students’ self-assessment, student-student mutual evaluation and teachers’ evaluation. besides, the final examination questions of business english are set in close connection with the themes of each unit and to help students to pass english proficiency tests. moreover, it is suggested www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 130 published by scholink inc. to combine the assessment methods with english competitions and vocational certificates, so as to guide students to obtain certificates and abilities that can help them find a good job in the future. 6. conclusion application-oriented colleges is to cultivate talents needed by the society, so the courses should match the vocational requirements, strengthen the integration of industry and education, and help students understand the needs of industries and enterprises in advance. by analyzing the problems in the construction of business english course, this paper puts forward five suggestions to improve business english students’ learning and practical ability and give implications to the further development of esp courses. further studies are advised to focus on empirical researches about how to improve students’ learning engagement in more esp courses. project fund this paper is the research result of the 2022 chongqing higher education teaching reform project, “ideas for the construction of “english + x” interdisciplinary courses in the context of new liberal arts” (project no. 223495), 2022 chongqing college of mobile communication teaching reform project, “construction and exploration of esp courses based on students’ needs under the background of new liberal arts” (project no. 22jg213) and the 2023 chongqing college of mobile communication teaching reform project, “english listening” (project no. 23jg2091). references chi, m., & wylie, r. (2014). the icap framework: linking cognitive engagement to active learning outcomes. educational psychologist, 49(4), 219-243. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2014.965823 fredricks, j. a., blumenfeld, p. c., & paris, a. h. (2004). school engagement: potential of the concept, state of the evidence. review of educational research, 74(1), 59-109. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543074001059 he, x. (2018). analysis of the current situation of cross-border e-commerce development in chongqing and countermeasure suggestions. business modernization, 29(6), 29-30. heflin, h., shewmaker, j., & nguyen, j. (2017). impact of mobile technology on student attitudes, engagement, and learning. computers & education, 107(91), 91-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.01.006 newmann, f. m. (1992). student engagement and achievement in american secondary schools. new york: teachers college press. wang, l., & cui, c. (2020). implementing the undergraduate teaching guidelines for business english majors and promoting the cultivation of business english talents. foreign language world, 47(3), 3-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2014.965823 https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543074001059 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.01.006 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 131 published by scholink inc. wang, l., & shu, j. (2022). actively assisting in the high-quality development and speed up of the construction of the “new liberal arts linguistics” with chinese characteristics. journal of beijing international studies university, 44(1), 5-11. yan, m. (2008). student engagement and achievement in american secondary schools. ha erbing: hei longjiang university press. zhang, y., & jing, y. (2019). strategies for cultivating dual-quality business english teachers in colleges under the guidance of esp theory. journal of hubei open vocational college, 46(5), 163-165. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 127 original paper a narrative analysis of fairy tales—at the back of the north wind xiaoqiong wei1 1 school of foreign languages, xinyang normal university, xinyang, china received: february 5, 2025 accepted: february 22, 2025 online published: march 5, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p127 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p127 abstract george macdonald’s fairy tales were very popular during the victorian era, which was attributed to the unique narrative techniques he created. this paper mainly takes the fairy tale—at the back of the north wind as the research object and explores the literary and artistic beauty and moral and ethical value of at the back of the north wind from following three aspects: the classification of fairy tale texts, the choice of narrative perspective, and the meaning and value of fairy tales. as a devout christian, george macdonald not only created a supernatural fantasy setting but also incorporated a series of christian ideas, making the fairy tale stories interweave between reality and fantasy and presenting a literary narrative structure that is both real and fantasy. macdonald also combined his own values and ingeniously from the narrator to convey his real ideological care, bringing readers a new reading experience. keywords george macdonald, fairy tale narrative, narrator, believe in fairy tales 1. introduction zhu ziqiang believes: “the ‘fantasy’ in fairy tales or the fantasy world is a kind of life spirit, a transcendence and liberation of the inherent real life.” (note 1) we can find that fairy tales, as a kind of dual characteristic of inherent credibility and dreamlike imagination, can endow readers with an intangible and tangible magical power, and expand the readers’ imagination space through experiences in the fairy tale world. under the enlightenment and education of factors such as magic, mystery or strangeness, it can correct and make up for the creator’s dissatisfaction with the real world. believe in the power of fairy tales and transform the life wisdom and life philosophy learned in the dream world into a catalyst for changing reality. fantasy is a natural activity of human beings, and so is fairy tales. at the back of the north wind is just george macdonald’s construction of things that do not exist in the real www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 128 published by scholink inc. world “the back of the north wind”through imagination, and endows them with “inner authenticity”. after the protagonist diamond’s experience in the fantasy journey, although ordinary people are indifferent to the things around them in the real life, he can understand the things happening around him more clearly and gain higher cognitive ability and clear vision. 2. a fairy tale vs a fantasy novel a vague text george macdonald’s at the back of the north wind has long been regarded as a representative work of british fairy tales in the victorian era. the most significant difference between fairy tales and realistic literary works lies in whether supernatural fantasy elements appear in the text, such as magical spells, treasures, fairies, elves, wizards and other fairy tale characters, as well as magical realms like neverland. undoubtedly, the book at the back of the north wind conforms to the stylistic features of fairy tales. the north wind, originally a natural phenomenon, appears in the story as a personified fairy. in this novel, the north wind is a beautiful lady with powerful magic. she can freely soar through the sky and change her appearance at will: when the breeze blows, she is like a little elf, and when the wind is strong, she becomes a towering giant; in front of the kind diamond, she is a beautiful and charming woman, but in front of the evil nurse, she turns into a fierce and cruel gray wolf. and the back of the north wind is an even more magical place. to reach there, one must first come to the northernmost tip of the earth, which is mrs. north wind’s home. mrs. north wind sits in front of a crack in an ice ridge in her home, and by passing through her body, one can reach the back area of the north wind. with the discovery of the “elflike image of the north wind” and the existence of this magical realm “the back of the north wind”, there is no doubt that at the back of the north wind can be regarded as a fairy tale. however, in contemporary western academia, there has been a huge controversy over whether at the back of the north wind should be classified as a fairy tale or a fantasy novel. the crux of the debate lies in whether “mrs. north wind” and “the back of the north wind” are products of diamond’s dreams or actually exist in the reality depicted in the text. most scholars agree that at the back of the north wind should be regarded as a fairy tale because the supernatural and fantastical elements reflected in the characters, scenes, and events in the text are traceable. however, it should be emphasized that “mrs. north wind” and “the back of the north wind” not only appear in diamond’s fantasies but are also closely related to his daily life. for instance, when diamond and mrs. north wind were wandering over london, they saw a little girl named nanny who was being blown about by the cold winter wind. out of sympathy for nanny, diamond asked the north wind to put him down on the ground from the sky and spent the night with the little girl in the cold wind. a week later, when diamond accompanied his father to have the horse’s hooves nailed, he met this girl named nanny on the street, and they became good friends from then on. another example is that one night, while traveling with mrs. north wind, diamond witnessed mrs. north wind capsizing a cruise ship. the next day, mr. coleman’s family received the news that the cruise ship carrying their goods had sunk due to a storm, and it was precisely the ship that mrs. north wind had capsized. whether it is the little girl nanny or the cruise ship carrying mr. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 129 published by scholink inc. coleman’s goods, they are all real in the world depicted in the text, and diamond met nanny and witnessed the shipwreck with the help of mrs. north wind. this fully demonstrates that mrs. north wind could not merely be a figment of diamond’s imagination. however, many scholars have put forward different opinions. for instance, professor zipes believes that this work cannot be called a fairy tale, nor even a fantasy novel; it can only be regarded as an ordinary novel (note 2). because the key elements that are supposed to be the characteristics of a fairy tale, “north wind” and “the back of the north wind”, do not actually exist in the world depicted in the text; they are merely fictional products of diamond’s dreams. we can indeed find supporting clues in the text: first of all, all the events described in at the back of the north wind occur after diamond goes to bed and falls asleep, and the mrs. north wind also clearly tells diamond that he must first go to bed; if he doesn’t sleep, he can’t be taken away. this is a rule that children must follow. besides, there are many details in the text that hint to the readers that “north wind” and “the back of the north wind” are merely products of diamond’s dreams or hallucinations. for example, no matter where diamond travels with the north wind and what magical events he experiences, when he wakes up the next morning, he always finds himself lying in bed. diamond’s parents also do not believe that diamond has met the north wind because they have never seen him leave the attic at night. and when diamond traveled to the back of the north wind, according to the accounts of other characters in the text, he was actually in a coma for several days and nights due to a serious illness, lying in bed all the time, and his mother was always by his side without leaving. from this, it can be seen that whether at the back of the north wind is described as a fairy tale, a novel, or a fantasy novel is all one-sided. because from the definitions of fairy tales and fantasy novels, it can be said to be both a fairy tale and a novel. this “self-contradiction” in the content of the text makes at the back of the north wind itself even more ambiguous, but this is precisely the outstanding feature of this novel. 3. double narrator or re-teller unreliable narrator booth mentioned in the rhetoric of fiction that “the reliability of a narrator can be evaluated by the norms of the work (i.e., the norms of the implied author). a narrator whose speech and behavior conform to these norms is a reliable narrator; otherwise, he or she is an unreliable narrator (note 3).” this view indicates that the distinction between reliable and unreliable narration is based on the norms of the implied author. “implied author” is an important concept proposed by booth in the rhetoric of fiction (1961). the “real author” is someone outside the creative process, while the “implied author” is this person entering the creative process and advancing the story in a certain stance and manner. taking the normative behavior of the implied author as the criterion for judging unreliable narration helps us discover the basic characteristics of a work as an artistic whole and the distance between the dominant stance and the narrator. the heterodiegetic narrator outside the story is often the spokesperson of the implied author and has no distance from the implied author, thus being reliable; but the homodiegetic narrator within the story, as a character, often has varying degrees of distance from the work norms www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 130 published by scholink inc. created by the implied author, and the narration often shows unreliability. therefore, the exploration of unreliable narration mainly focuses on the first-person narration (note 4). whether a narrator is reliable lies in whether he or she can provide the reader with correct and precise discourse. in george macdonald’s at the back of the north wind, an internal focalization narrative perspective is adopted, with a character “i” in the text serving as the narrator. generally, the first-person narrator “i” is the eyewitness of the events told in the text, but in at the back of the north wind, the narrator “i” is merely a re-teller of the events experienced by diamond. near the end of the novel, the author reveals that “i” is a neighbor of mr. raymond. after the diamond family was taken in by raymond, “i” happened to meet diamond and became good friends with him. after gaining diamond’s trust, diamond told “i” his story with mrs. north wind and his experiences behind the north wind, and then “i” retold the story to the readers as the narrator. under normal circumstances, the first-person narrator of a text can ensure the authenticity and reliability of the events they recount. however, in the at the back of the north wind, the narrator cannot guarantee the reliability of their account, which is the fundamental reason why the textual attributes of at the back of the north wind appear ambiguous. booth once classified the narrators of texts into “reliable narrators” and “unreliable narrators” in his “rhetoric of fiction”. the “i” in at the back of the north wind clearly belongs to the category of “unreliable narrators” because “i” lacks the ability to tell the readers the truth. only diamond, the direct participant of the events, knows the truth. “i” merely retold the story as told by diamond. therefore, as the narrator, “i” cannot assure the readers of the authenticity or accuracy of the content being narrated, nor can “i” clarify to the readers whether “mrs. north wind” and “the back of the north wind” are fictional or real experiences of diamond. in fact, if the narrator of this text were changed from “i” to diamond, even if the first-person narrative style were maintained, at the back of the north wind would undoubtedly be a fairy tale. because if diamond were to personally recount the events she experienced, it would be reliable and trustworthy, and readers would naturally believe that “mrs. north wind” and “the the back of the north wind” are real. so, why did george macdonald choose the unreliable narrator “i” to tell the story of diamond and mrs. north wind to the readers? the answer, of course, is belief. macdonald believed in diamond’s account and the existence of the fairy-tale world, and used the narrator “i” as a mediator to convey his views and attitudes towards the fantastical plot of the fairy tale. in many details of at the back of the north wind, macdonald explicitly reminds the readers that the narration of “i” is unreliable. for instance, when talking about diamond’s experience at the back of the north wind, macdonald deliberately has “i” make it clear: “i have now come to the most difficult part of my story. and why? because i do not know enough about it (note 5).” and why should i not know as much about this part as about any other part? for of course i could know nothing about the story except diamond had told it; and why should not diamond tell about the country at the back of the north wind, as well as about his adventures in getting there? because, when he came back, he had forgotten a great deal, and what he did remember was very hard to tell (note 6). this actually makes “me” actively emphasize to the readers my role as a narrator, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 131 published by scholink inc. telling them that “i” actually don’t know the truth of the matter either. “i” am only responsible for retelling the story that diamond told to you. whether you choose to believe it or doubt it, that choice is left to the readers. precisely because the narrator cannot prove that his account is completely true and reliable, readers, in the process of interpreting the text, actually have greater autonomy and can decide for themselves whether to believe the narrator’s account based on their own will. this means that it is actually the readers of the text who can make the final judgment on the textual attribution of at the back of the north wind: if the readers believe that there was indeed a fairy called “mrs. north wind” who once traveled with diamond and took him to a magical paradise called at the back of the north wind, then at the back of the north wind is an outstanding fairy tale; conversely, if the readers think that “the north wind” and “the north wind’s daughter” are just images and experiences imagined by diamond in his dreams, then “the north wind’s daughter” can only be an ordinary fantasy realistic novel. george macdonald chose an unreliable narrator for at the back of the north wind, having “i” tell diamond’s story. at the same time, he conveyed his fundamental attitude towards fairy tales: that is, to believe in them. adrian guise once said, in at the back of the north wind, there are two worlds: one is the “real world”, and the other is the “fairy tale world”. the world where “i” and diamond are located belongs to the real world, while diamond, the “mrs. north wind” and “the back of the north wind” belong to the fairy tale world. although “i” am the moral narrator of the text, “i” am also the listener of the stories that diamond tells about the fairy tale world. so the narrator “i” is actually like the reader, who can choose to believe what diamond tells, to believe in the existence of the fairy tale world, or to consider everything diamond says as his sharing of dreams and have nothing to do with the fairy tale world. but macdonald’s spokesperson “i” chose to firmly believe in diamond and the existence of the fairy tale world, because fairy tales are the dreams of every child, every angel belongs to this dreamlike world, and diamond is even the child of god! at the beginning of at the back of the north wind, “i” emphasized that even what the historian herodotus said might not be as reliable as what diamond told. because diamond is a little boy who has been to the back of the north wind. at the end of the story, when everyone thought diamond was dead because of his pale and cold body, “i” once again emphasized that “i” knew he had gone to the back of the north wind. the reason why “i” chose to believe in the existence of the fairy tale world is not because “i” could prove that the “mrs. north wind” and “the back of the north wind” really exist, but because “i” was willing to believe in their existence unconditionally from an emotional perspective. in fact, the attitude of “i” is exactly what macdonald wanted to convey to the readers, especially the child readers, that is, no matter whether there is evidence of the real existence of the fairy tale world in real life, no matter how big the gap and difference between the real world and the fairy tale world is, we should unconditionally believe in the existence of the fairy tale world, and believe in the existence of the lovely characters, noble virtues and beautiful emotions in the fairy tale world. this is precisely the intention of macdonald to convey through the unreliable narrator “i” the attitude of firmly believing in fairy tales. in at the back of the north wind, macdonald used the character of diamond to explain to us the practical significance and spiritual value of believing in fairy tales. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 132 published by scholink inc. 4. fantasy world defeat the real world believe in the power of fairy tales the fantasy world constructed by george macdonald is a fantasy world right beside each of us, one that has no boundary with our daily life and no temporal disjunction. the story of diamond in at the back of the north wind takes place in victorian london, in the dilapidated hayloft, which you can see as long as you walk in. in his fantasy world, the unnoticed lower-class people can be chosen by god and become “god’s children”. the feature of fairy tales is to enter a strange or magical world. for those who want to embark on a strange adventure in the fantasy kingdom, they need a childlike heart, that is, the purity of human nature. macdonald did not spend more effort on building this fantasy world, but used the most delicate and simple writing style to build a dreamlike sanctuary for the protagonist’s real life, thus bringing the distance between the reader and the author closer and evoking a deeper resonance. whether diamond’s journey with mrs. north wind in his dream is real or not is less important than the fact that under the guidance of mrs. north wind, diamond truly achieved moral and emotional growth. (1) believe in truth, goodness and beauty the imagination of the fairy tale provides nourishment for the reality, making us believe in the beauty of the fairy tale. diamond is a naive child, because of its unique temperament is chosen by mrs. north wind, to become her partner in london. diamond’s mind is very simple, but he has a crystal clear heart. although he did not like the cold north wind blowing into the house, but when mrs. north wind said that the hole in his bed was used to see the window outside, he still tore off the kraft paper that his mother had attached to the hole to keep out the cold and let the north wind blow in. he put his head under the covers and began a conversation with mrs. north wind. mrs. north wind said that the name “diamond” is funny, and he is not convinced, saying that his name is “cute”. simple diamond knowledge is limited, there is no “diamond” corresponding to the exact concept of semantic, in his eyes, diamond is extremely precious, because it is the stable of the loyal horse, is the family’s livelihood depends on, and has nothing to do with the gem wealth in the eyes of the secular. diamond was awed by the incomparable beauty of mrs. north wind and was more than willing to follow her out. although the north wind warns him not to blindly chase her beauty, diamond insists that mrs. north wind is beautiful and kind, and will not become ugly, let alone do bad things. in order to follow mrs. north wind, diamond ran into the yard in his robe on a dark and cold night, only to find that the north wind was not waiting for him. frustrated, he cried for a moment, but then he became very brave. the next time he saw mrs. north wind was on a starlit night, when diamond hid in his long hair and followed her through the sky, watching her sweep across the city of london. in mrs. north wind’s black hair diamond saw a little girl in tattered clothes, dragging a large broom, being blown to left and right sides. he begged mrs. north wind to be kinder, but he was refused, so he insisted on helping the poor girl. ignoring the danger of getting lost at night, he wanted to take her home first, but finding that he could do nothing to help, he felt frustrated and just wanted to cry. diamond stood in stark contrast to a girl of her age who was precocious for living on the streets. the other lacked the nature of his willingness to believe, and he seemed simple and naive to the little girl: he told the little girl about mrs. north wind, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 133 published by scholink inc. but she did not believe a word, thinking that he was talking nonsense or that there was something wrong with him. the next time he saw the girl, the little diamond fell off his horse and hurried to give her his only penny. diamond had not seen the little girl sweep the street for many days and was very worried. he ran to the slum where she lived, and found that the girl was seriously ill, and quickly asked mr. raymond, a kind gentleman, to send her to the hospital for treatment, and took her to his home after discharge. although the little girl never believed him and made fun of his stupidity, diamond never got angry and loved her like a sister, teaching her to read, take care of the baby, do housework, finally turn a “rough and dirty and dirty” girl into a gentle and elegant girl. (2) the pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty the virtues of the fairy tale world give children the strength to follow their hearts bravely. the kind diamond is very puzzled by the behavior of mrs. north wind. he did not understand that mrs. north wind, who seemed to him the most generous, motherly, and kindest, should be tending to him while sinking a ship. he could not bear to see the ship sinking and the people crying, so he let mrs. north wind put him in a church. diamond later achieved his wish, passing through the body of the north wind, to the back of the north wind, to experience the calm and content life there. it was an unimaginably wonderful place, with no wind, no sun, but full of sunshine. if you miss someone, just climb up a tree and see what the loved one is doing. diamond saw from the tree that his mother was crying because she missed him, so he longed to go home and let mrs. north wind take him back to his mother. the family had just suffered a tragic change: their father’s employer had gone bankrupt, leaving them destituted and homeless. seeing his parents’ sadness, diamond’s heart was also clouded, but after going to the back of the north wind, he warned himself to fight against misfortune, never give in, and was convinced that no hardship could overwhelm him. he suddenly grew up and matured a lot, and bravely shouldered the burden of taking care of the family with his childish shoulders. he helped his mother take care of his little brother and made the baby laugh; he was an “early bird” when his father was seriously ill and bedridden, and drove a carriage to work in the cold to supplement the family, bringing endless comfort to his parents. (3) practicing truth, goodness and beauty the appeal of the fairy tale world helps children practice virtue in real life. diamond spent his days with coarse coachmen, hated their dirty words and rude jokes, and tried to avoid being tainted and affected. diamond is just like a natural flower, with its kind nature to reflect the moral depravity of london and the adult world, showing its innocence and charm. there was always such a sweet smile on his quiet face that before long the coachmen were too ashamed to speak dirty words in his presence, and they swallowed before they could speak. diamond’s diamond-like brilliance, his inner elegance and purity won the admiration and love of the coachmen, who were eager to stay with this angelic child and competed to drive with him. diamond influenced and changed their words and deeds with his kindness and innocence. he is like an angel sent by god to relieve people’s pain and bring warmth to those around him. the neighbor was an alcoholic coachman, who drank himself drunk all day, and when he entered the house, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 134 published by scholink inc. he quarreled with his wife, or beat and scolded his children. diamond woke up one night to the sound of crying next door and decided to see what he could be done. seeing a sad and desolate scene that most people would try to forget, diamond took the crying baby on his lap like an angel, showed him the light in the yard, smiled and sang to him, and talked to him when he was tired, until the baby fell soundly asleep. after sober up the driver saw the pale little diamond, trance thought it was a little angel without wings came to the home, and regretted his evil deeds. he apologized to his wife and did not set foot in the pub again for a week. (4) return to truth, goodness and beauty the fulfillment of the fairy world implies the calling of the same frequency soul in the real world. diamond will never forget the beautiful scene at the back of the north wind, where the river sings songs often appear in his dreams at night, but the lyrics can never be remembered, leaving only a beautiful picture, the soul of the remaining song, let diamond wake up refreshed, calm and energetic all day. as soon as he held the baby on his lap, song after song would come out of his mouth, making the baby giggle, and the little diamond would sing the songs and forget them, as if the baby had made him up the song. mr raymond, a wise man, believes mr diamond is a genius, though many also think he is a fool. the vast nature at the back of the north wind gave diamond insight into the truth of life and made him gain extraordinary wisdom. the more depressed his parents’ faces became, the more diamond sang. he was like a lark, with a sweet smile on his face even though life was hard, and he was really a child of god. diamond not only brings happiness to the people around him with his behavior, but also brings infinite comfort to people with his extraordinary look and appearance. when he worked for mr. raymond, his pale face and blond hair, set against a blue suit, looked like “a graceful flower fairy”; mrs. raymond often rang her bell to call him in, just to look at his lovely quiet face and his blue eyes. his little face grew pale, and at last he went to the back of the north wind. in his children’s fantasy novels, george macdonald shows something as pure and beautiful as heaven the innocence of the child: a nature without much rational thought, without restrictions, determined and fearless to believe, to love, to follow. 5. conclusion in fact, the fairy tale world is not far away from us, because each of us can make the real world as beautiful as the fairy tale world through our own efforts, no matter when and where, each of us should learn from the small diamond of at the back of the north wind, but also believe in fairy tales. i believe that every reader who sees this fairy tale will also be moved by the power of faith on the little diamond, and consciously or unconsciously put the moral ideals conveyed in the fairy tale into the practice of daily life, which is of great benefit to the growth and progress of each of us. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 135 published by scholink inc. references booth. (1961). the rhetoric of fiction. cai, p. (2012). on the growth of diamond in george macdonald’s at the back of the north wind. wuhan: central china normal university. george, m. (2004). at the back of the north wind (ren rongrong, trans.). shenyang: chunfeng literature publishing house. george, m. (2020). at the back of the north wind (translated by li ling). changsha: hunan children’s publishing house. jasmine-sixian, l. (2024). a reconciliation with reality and self-preservation:—george macdonald’s interpretation of early death in at the back of the north wind. journal of student research. li, h. (2019). research on james phelan’s unreliable narrative theory. changsha: hunan normal university. macdonald, g. (2015). at the back of the north wind. createspace independent pub. manlove, c. (2008). a reading of at the back of the north wind. north wind: a journal of george macdonald studies. prickett, s. (1992). the two worlds of george macdonald. for the childlike. shen, d. (2010). western narratology: classics and post-classics. beijing: peking university press. wang, q. g. (2006). on the basic aesthetic characteristics of children’s literature. beijing: journal of beijing normal university. zhu, z. q. (2000). chinese children’s literature and modernization process. hangzhou: zhejiang children’s publishing house. zipes, j. (2000). the oxford companion to fairy tales: the western fairy tale tradition from medieval to modern (p. 309). oxford: oxford up. notes note 1. zhu ziqiang. chinese children’s literature and the process of modernization [m]. hangzhou: zhejiang children’s publishing house, 2000: 410. note 2. zipes, jack. the oxford companion to fairy tales: the western fairy tale tradition from medieval to modern. oxford: oxford up, 2000. 309. note 3. booth, the rhetoric of fiction, 1961, p. 158-59. note 4. shen dan: western narratology: classics and post-classics. beijing: peking university press, 2010, p. 82-83. note 5. george macdonald, at the back of the north wind, translated by ren rongrong, shenyang: chunfeng literature and art publishing house, 2004, p. 103. note 6. george macdonald, at the back of the north wind, translated by ren rongrong, shenyang: chunfeng literature and art publishing house, 2004, p. 103. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 67 original paper a study on the english translation of fu ping from the perspective of translator behavior criticism maozhou zhang1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china. received: august 14, 2024 accepted: september 2, 2024 online published: september 25, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n4p67 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n4p67 abstract fu ping is a chinese novel written by wang anyi. it’s a story of the country girl named fu ping, who settled down in shanghai and found her true self. taking fu ping’s life as the perspective, the novel depicts a series of characters who have endured the hardships and yearned for the city life, thus painting a vivid picture of the mundane, delicate, and down-to-earth life of the lower class people in shanghai. using translation behavior criticism as the tool, this paper analyses the translator behavior reflected in the english translation of fu ping. the translation maintains the chinese culture of the source language and respects the writing style of the original. at the same time, it considers the readers of the target language, producing a translation which is in accordance with the poetics of the target language. the translation methods, translation strategies and translator behavior of howard goldblatt are described and presented on a whole by utilizing the theoretical framework of zhou lingshun’ s translator behavior criticism. keywords translator behavior criticism, wang anyi, fu ping 1. introduction 1.1 research background wang anyi wrote many stories of civilians living in shanghai after liberation. these stories happened in shanghai after liberation are different from those happened before liberation which featured prosperity and risk-taking. new stories of shanghai written by wang anyi take civilians living in long-tangs as the starting point, describing their complex lifestyles and inner world. wang’s many works described the romantic stories of beauties and deplored their lost youth. compared with these works, the most prominent difference of fu ping is a kind of diligent, honest and simple www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 68 published by scholink inc. lifestyle. wang didn’t concentrate on the big house in downtown area but created a slum district named “meijiaqiao”. she admired the people and their life there. finally, she made the female protagonist change her mind and settle down in this slum. in general, fu ping describes a country girl named fu ping how to settle down in shanghai and find her true self. the translator howard goldblatt said, “in almost all the works we have discussed, what initially resonates with readers is the theme of nationalism, but what gives them lasting appeal is their rural color.” he emphasized the importance of nationalism and its rural color. knowing the importance of the rural color, goldblatt tries his best to respect cultural characteristics in the source text. however, due to language limitation and other out-of-language factors (intraand extra-translation factors), he has to swing between “truth-seeking” and “utility-attaining”, which means translating the original text wholly or partly for the sake of achieving the goal of utility attaining and translating based on wholly or partly seeking the truth of original text. 2. literature review 2.1 previous study on translator behavior criticism as the academia focusing more on the extra-language factors in the process of translation, translation studies and sociology has combined more tightly and new research theories and aspects occurred. translator behavior criticism is one of these new theories, which was put forward by zhou lingshun for the first time. as for the criticism of translation, “fidelity” is the principle and standard of translation before the culture turn. “fidelity” or “faithfulness” and so on are all standards which focus on the translation itself and the intra-language factors. extra-language factors were ignored. after the culture turn, extra-language factors were in consideration, which is a progress compared to the research before and is more diverse. however, these theories don’t take the translator as an independent research object. translation studies can be divided into three stages according to different research objects. before the cultural turn, the research object was the translation itself and its relationship with the original. in this stage, equivalence or fidelity is the necessity of a good translation. after the cultural turn, researchers began to focus on the social factors affecting the translation, but did not take the translators as the stress. before the cultural turn, “fidelity” is the principle and standard of translator. however, if taking “fidelity” as the sole principle and standard of describing translation activities when valuing the quality of translation, the translation cannot be valued comprehensively and objectively. traditional translation criticism only researches on original and translation, which is the utmost “truth-seeking”. after the cultural turn, the research focuses on the relationship between translation and society, but the role of translator is not included. from the aspect of translation studies, these two stages focus on intra-language factors and outer-language factors influencing translation respectively. from the aspect of translator www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 69 published by scholink inc. behavior researches, these two stages focus on the role of translators in language aspect and social aspect. (li & zhang, 2023) the new stage of translation studies is taking the translator as the central and researching on the interaction between translation and translator. “studies on translators’ behavior is revolutionary for translation studies.” (chen & zhou, 2022) 2.2 previous study on wang anyi’s novel wang anyi’s novels have been the focus of the researchers for a long time. the novel which attracted the most attention of researches is chang hen ge (the song of everlasting sorrow). the researches on wang’s novels can be divided into three types according to different focus, they are on her identity of chinese writer, identity of a writer who prefer dialectic words and style, sexual identity of woman respectively. considering her speciality as a chinese writer, researchers concentrate on the communication effect of the translation. li and sun analyzed the local and global nature of the work from the perspective of its reception effect, with a focus on the “literary” aspect of russian formalism. it takes phonetic and semantic deviations as research objects to examine the reproduction of the literary quality of “song of everlasting sorrow”, and from bourdieu’s capital perspective, explores the sociological factors that contribute to the acceptance of the translation. (li & sun, 2021) based on the three basic concepts of field, habitus, and capital, ceng takes the field theory of french sociologist bourdieu as the research perspective. (ceng, 2019) firstly, it explores the formation of wang anyi’s habits of writing shanghai and her accumulation of field capital in the literary field. then, it focuses on the formation of habitus and capital accumulation in the translation field of his representative work “song of everlasting regret” by the english translator bai ruiwen, as well as the process of translation, publication, and dissemination of song of everlasting regret on this basis. as wang prefers the use of dialectic words in her literary work, researchers pay attention to her dialectic feature and its maintainance in translation. gu analyzes the unique feature of wang’s use of wu dialect (a kind of popular dialect in south of the lower reaches of the yangtze river) and its translation. he not only talked about the correctness of the dialect’s translation, but also the maintainance of beauty of dialect in translation. (gu, 2021) due to the sexual identity of the writer, wang’s novel is usually taken as the typical of feminist writer’s works. among the research on her, some researchers talked about her sexual identity as woman. li (li, 2023) takes the sub texts in wang anyi’s works translated and published in france between 1987 and 2020 as the research object, and analyzes the multi-faceted reshaping of the author’s literary image by the translation subject from three perspectives: cover design, translation preface guidance, and back cover introduction: shanghai spokesperson, female pioneer, and successor of realism. these years, researchers notice the research value of fu ping. however, relevant researches from the perspective of culture and translation are not much in quantity. therefore, this paper will pay attention to this work fu ping and its translation and analyze it from the perspective of translator behavior criticism. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 70 published by scholink inc. 3. theoretical framework 3.1 introduction to translator behavior criticism based on the development of translation criterion and his theory research and practice, zhou lingshun put forward “translation behavior criticism”, including the evaluation model of “truth-seeking and utility-attaining”. translation behavior criticism focuses on the role played by the translator in the process of translating and his/her translation behavior pattern. “truth-seeking” means that the translator seek the true meaning of the original completely or partly for the sake of utility. “utility-attaining” means that the translator’ s attitudes and strategies on the basis of getting the true meaning completely or partly. (zhou, 2014) “truth-seeking” belongs to language aspect while “utility-attaining” belongs to social aspect (extra-language aspect). under the influence of the two factors, translators behave in different ways. 4. a study on fu ping from the perspective of translator behavior criticism 4.1 the characteristics of fu ping wang’s literary works are famous for the gentle and delicate language style. however, in fu ping, she described people and conditions in loong-tang with a simple language style. despite this change in language style, she kept her pursuit for local flavor, using many dialects in south of the lower reaches of the yangtze river to express the cultural characteristics there. at the same time, dialect can establish a connection between readers and the work because of its colloquial feature. meanwhile, when she wrote the story and described the people there, she inevitably needed to use the cultural concepts with local flavor there. in fact, she respected these local concepts and was willing to use them. in fu ping, these local concepts are expressed by culture-loaded words and common sayings. besides, she created a lot of characters with local feature. these people live in shanghai and speak in a dialectic tongue. they are fu ping who independently comes to a big city and find the true self, fu ping’s grandmother who has a strong ability and ambitions and many people who have distinctive traits of this time. through describing these people’s disposition and interaction, the feature of that age and area can be displayed. therefore, this paper will focus on the retention and changes of the language feature, the local flavor and the changes of people in the process of translation. owing to the limitation of space, this paper will mainly focuses on the language feature and local flavor, and these two are intertwined in a sense. 4.2 translation of language style in fu ping, there are many colloquial words in the original. in language transfer, these colloquial words with local flavor are easier to lose compared to other language features due to language limitation. however, in the translation of fu ping, goldblatt tried to maintain the true meaning of these colloquial words in the target language based on the principle of utility-attaining. as for language style, wang carries on her writing habit of using the dialects in south of the lower reaches of the yangtze river. these duplication dialects can be divided into two types, type “abb” and type “aabb”. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 71 published by scholink inc. (1) type “abb” the original：但这一回做梦，却做到了老家乡下，水汪汪的，几座红艳艳的砖房。他离开有多久 了啊！(but this time, he dreamed of his hometown. there is rippling water and several redbrick houses. how long has he been away!) the translation: this time he dreamed of his home in the countryside, with its rippling water and a few redbrick houses. he had not been home in a long time. (trans. howard goldblatt) in this context, uncle of fu ping has been shanghai for a long time and didn’t come back the his hometown yangzhou. seeing fu ping, his niece comes from yangzhou, his memories of hometown has been evoked. after one day’s work, he fell asleep and dreamed the landscape in his hometown. considering the need to describe the landscape in south of the lower reaches of the yangtze river, the writer uses colloquial words with local dialectic flavor, such as “水汪汪” “红艳艳”. however, in the translation, these two words were transferred into “rippling water” and “redbrick houses”. as for “rippling water”, it transferred the landscape that the water shins with brilliant points of light like stars under the sun. however, as for “redbrick house”, it transferred the essence of the houses which are built with the red bricks. but the description of the red color “yanyan (which means gorgeous and bright)” lost. in dealing with the two words, the translator takes different methods, maintaining or deleting the truth meaning of the original. the common aspect in the two methods is omitting the colloquial duplication. (2) type “aabb” the original: 可戚师傅兴兴头头地来，兴兴头头地说他的如意算盘，这不免有些欺人了。(but qi came with excitement and told her his idea that’s only beneficial for him and his wife. that’s bullying.) the translation：but he had come, filled with excitement, and had eagerly related the plans he and his wife had hatched. this was to all their advantage, not hers. (trans. howard goldblatt) in this context, when fu ping’s grandma was young, she had an extramarital affair with a man named qi whose wife is unable to produce offspring. when the grandma was pregnant, qi and his wife wanted her to give birth to the child and sent the child to them. qi thought that this good idea can give the couple a child and give the illegitimate child a home, so he felt excited to tell the grandma the idea. in the original, the writer uses the duplication “兴兴头头” twice to describe the condition of the man. however, in the translation, the translator explains the meaning of “兴兴头头”. the first one was explained as of excitement and the second one eagerness, both colloquial features are lost in the process of translation. the original：她们躲在篱笆底下那些嘁嘁哝哝的私语，原来都是有含意的。富萍有些看不起她们。 但是，听到她们的动静，她们叽叽嘎嘎的笑声，她又心软了。(these girls talked in a low voice on the other side of the fence, making sound of “qiqi-nongnong”, was suggestive. fu ping looked down upon them to some extent. however, sensing their movements and hearing their laughter sounds like “jiji-gaga”, she became soft-hearted.) the translation：realizing that their whispering on the other side of the fence was suggestive, fu ping lost her respect for them, at least to some degree. but then, when she sensed their movements on the other side and heard their giggles, she softened her view. (trans. howard goldblatt) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 72 published by scholink inc. in this context, “嘁嘁哝哝 (qiqi-nongnong)” and “叽叽嘎嘎 (jiji-gaga)” are onomatopoeic duplications. “nongnong” is a duplication of prominent shanghai feature. however, in the translation, the feature can not be maintained so the translator seeks the true meaning of the original. therefor, “qiqi-nongnong” is translated into “whisper”, maintaining the essence of the original, emphasizing loudness of the voice. as for “jiji-gaga”, it sounds like “giggles”, emphasizing noise produced by these girls, partly maintaining the voice feature of the original. (3) modal particles instead of “abb” and “aabb”, there is another local feature, modal particles in fu ping become the focus of attention. there are many kinds of modal particles in chinese, and they are more diverse and commonly seen in dialects. however, chinese modal particle has no equivalent part of speech in english. (wang, 2005) therefore, in the process of translating, translators take different approaches to deal with these modal particles. the original: 小君流连在这里的时候，富萍却被零头布店吸引了。那些布头就堆在铺板上，因被 人大肆地翻拣着，或绞着，或团着，乱着，散着，更显得花团锦簇。这些零头布，大多差那么一 点点，才够做衣服或者裤子，可是耐心挑呀，就能挑到正好合适的。还可以拼呀！拼得巧的话， 可真是好。 the translation: while xiao jun lingered there, a shop that sold fabric remnants caught fu ping’s attention. the goods were piled upon a bed board, picked over until it was a colorful jumble of twisted, folded, carelessly strewn cloth. the bulk of the remnants were too small to make tops or pants, but by diligent rummaging, you might find something that would work. patch them, and if you did it right, it would turn out fine. in this paragraph, there are some modal particles in the original. but in the translation, there is no trace of modal particles. in the original, these modal particles don’t have any actual meaning but two effects. the first one is adding some dialectic features to the original and the second one narrowing the distance to the readers and making the readers closer. in the translation, the translator can not keep the dialectic feature due to language limitation, but he maintains the effect of original by using second person pronoun for the sake of utility-attaining. 4.2.2 translation of cultural flavor in fu ping, the cultural characteristics are mainly divided into two types, they are colloquialisms and culture-loaded words. as for cultural characteristics in the original, the translator takes “truth-seeking” as main approach, maintaining the cultural essence in a flexible way. (1) colloquialisms in fu ping, because main characters are poorly educated, colloquialisms become a main approach to express their thinking. the translator take word-for-word translation approach, which not only can maintain the image in translation in accordance with that in the original, but can show local conditions and customs there. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 73 published by scholink inc. the original: 喝水不忘掘井人. (when one drinks water, he would not forget people who dug the well) (a man will always bear others’ kindness in his heart) the translation: he wrote back, with a line that said, when one drinks from the well, one doesn’t forget the well digger. (trans. howard goldblatt) in this context, when the grandson funded by the grandmother (also called nainai) writes to ask for more money, he will add this saying at the end of letter. that not only showcases his gratitude for the grandmother who had funded he and his family, but also implies that he will show filial obedience for the grandma when she retires and goes back home in the future. although he is educated, he uses the common saying when writing to the under-educated old woman. when translating his letter, the translator maintains the image of colloquialisms. that can imply the readers that the story happened in a place with water wells and described the profile of the grandson who knows how to fawn on his grandmother well. the original: 世上没有不透风的墙. (walls have ears) (a secret will be put on the street one day.) the translation: but there is no wall in the world without holes. (trans. howard goldblatt) in this example, the original means that a secret will be known by others one day, which just like wind can pass through the wall. in the translation, considering the foreign readers may not understand the meaning of it, the translator added the image of “holes” to the original. in this way, the reader can imagine the wind penetrates the wall through the holes on it. that is a balance between “truth-seeking” and “utility-attaining”. in these two examples, we can conclude that the translator takes a word-for-word translation approach. as for them, we can find that the translators achieved a balance between “truth-seeking” and “utilityattaining”. the former is maintaining the image of colloquialisms and the latter is explaining these images to the target readers. as for the first example, the translator maintains the images of water, well and digger, but explain the connection of them and emphasize the gratitude implied in it. as for the second example, the translator maintains the images of wall, but replaces the image of wind with holes, which can help the readers understand better. those methods respect the original and consider the feeling of readers, embodying “truth-seeking” and “utility-attaining”. (2) culture-loaded words in fu ping, the story context is lower reaches of yangtze river, where the opera art is popular. and there are many old woman who are opera lover in the story. the culture-loaded words are mainly opera-related. the popular opera here is mainly shaoxing opera. in fu ping, wang mentioned some features of shaoxing opera, involving singing style, facial makeup, costume and salaries of actors. the original: 越剧的艳丽的头面、服装；娇俏的做派、唱腔；还有私情故事，都使她们入迷。 the translation: the actors’ bright painted faces and costumes, their stylized movements and singing, and the romanticized stories fascinated them. the original: 上面是两个小妖精，披珠挂翠，再裹上一条毛巾毯作水袖，咿咿呀呀地学着越剧的 腔唱戏。 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 74 published by scholink inc. the translation: ... for a pair of little imps, draped with jewelry and towels that served as wide, flowing water sleeves, to mimic performers singing opera. the original: 她曾经在一个越剧女老生家里做过，女老生是拿包银的，收入颇丰。 the translation: she once worked for a shaoxing opera actress who was under contract to play old women roles, for which she was given a regular, substantial salary. as for these culture-loaded words, “头面” “做派” “唱腔” “水袖” “包银” are translated into “painted faces” “movements” “singing” “wide, flowing water sleeves” and “a regular salary”. from these translation of culture-loaded words, we can see that the translator tries to find a balance between “truthseeking” and “utility-attaining”. “头面” means the make-up. the translation “painted faces” maintains the essence of make-up and emphasizes the make-up is heavy and colorful. “做派” means the posture of the actors. the translation “movements” maintains the essence of “moving” but loses the feature of different opera types. “水袖” is a kind of sleeve dance costume, and the translation maintains the flowing feature of the sleeve and add “water” to the translation, making the reader imagine that the soft sleeve is like water. 5. conclusion in conclusion, the translator howard goldblatt swings on the contituum of “truth-seeking” and “utilityattaining”. in fu ping, as for translation of language style, the translator takes the approach of mainly utility-attaining. some dialectic features without actual meaning are lost. as for translation of cultural flavor, mainly colloquialisms and culture-loaded words, the translator achieves a balance between “truthseeking” and “utility-attaining”. as for colloquialisms, the images are kept for the sake of truth-seeking and these images are explained to the target readers for the sake of utility-attaining. as for culture-loaded words, important culture features are kept for the sake of truth-seeking and other features are lost. in different contexts, the translator takes different approaches, respecting the original and considering the readers. references cen, q. x. (2019). a study of english translation and communication of shanghai culture in the song of everlasting sorrow from the perspective of field theory. journal of beijing international studies university, 41(4), 48-62. chen, j., & zhou, l. s. (2022). new progress and new thoughts of translator behavior studies: an interview with professor zhou lingshun. shandong foreign language teaching, 43(1), 1-11. gu, x. h. (2021). the wu dialect expression in wang anyi’s novels and its english translation strategies. contemporary writers review, 4, 185-192. li, l. x. (2023). the “french triptych”of wang anyi: construction of chinese writers’ image in the paratexts of translation. shanghai journal of translators, 6, 90-94. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 75 published by scholink inc. li, y., & sun, h. j. (2021). the translation and reception of the song of everlasting sorrow in the west. journal of pla university of foreign languages, 44(2), 66-73. li, z. s., & zhang, d. (2023). the development of a theoretical framework for the criticism of translator behavior: a historical perspective. chinese translators journal, 44(4), 22-28+191-192. wang, f. h. (2005). the approaches of translating the modal particles in chinese classic works into english. journal of shangrao normal university, 2, 92-96. zhou, l. s. (2014). a theoretical framework of translator behavior criticism. beijing: the commercial press. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 163 original paper the obstacles and relief paths of the high-quality development of “internet + quality education”—taking pugu township of liupanshui city as an example qiuting liu1* 1 department of education, southwest university, chongqing, china * qiuting liu, department of education, southwest university, chongqing, china received: february 16, 2025 accepted: march 1, 2025 online published: march 16, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p163 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p163 abstract the article conducted a case study on the implementation of “internet + quality education” in rural areas of southwest china. it found that the infrastructure of “internet + education” has basically realized full coverage. “internet plus” is subtly affecting the level of children’s qualitative development， and the effectiveness of the implementation of “internet + quality education” has gradually become obvious. case presentations to look at the reality, “internet + quality education” still face a lot of difficulties such as: an imbalance in the structure of the teaching force, insufficient teachers’ innovative ability in information technology teaching; low degree of integration between “internet+” and quality education; parents’ knowing less about quality education; students lack self-control and other dilemmas. in view of this, we should optimize the structure of the teaching staff and improve the overall professional quality and innovation ability of information technology teaching; establish a high-quality “internet + quality education” resource base and management system; establish a three-dimensional “internet + quality education” home, school and community co-education network. starting from the three paths, we can realize the relief of obstacles. keywords internet + quality education, quality education, rural children, quality development 1. problem formulation quality education is implemented for the purpose of improving the quality of the whole nation and for the progress of social development and the comprehensive development of human beings, and must pay www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 164 published by scholink inc. close attention to the needs of the development of modern society for the quality of human beings (wang, 2012). since the 1980s, the chinese government has required primary and secondary schools to implement quality education in relevant documents and laws and regulations (yu & song, 2011). in 2010, the “outline of the national mediumand long-term educational reform and development plan” (2010-2020) was clearly stated that “quality education is a key element of the national education system. (2010-2020) clearly pointed out that the implementation of quality education as the theme of education reform and development, to cultivate students’ sense of social responsibility, innovative spirit and problem-solving ability, etc. (ministry of education, n.d.). it can be seen that quality education is the main direction of education nowadays, and it is of great significance to the growth of children in mountainous areas (qi, 2022). at present, the quality of education in mountainous areas has basically been able to implement the full range of schools, but the children in mountainous areas have not been able to get a better quality of education resources, which is reflected in the mountainous areas of the implementation of quality education and the internet between the link is still shallow, the implementation of the internet is not comprehensive enough, the information literacy of the students is relatively lack of, easy to be held hostage to the internet’s negative impacts, and so on. therefore, it is necessary to correctly introduce the “internet +” to help children in mountainous areas to obtain more quality quality education resources, and promote the development of urban and rural compulsory education of high quality and balance. the internet in “internet+” refers to a new type of information technology represented by big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, while “+” represents the transformative effect of the internet on various industries, which catalyzes the change and development of traditional industries through the penetration of the internet (xie, 2016). “+” can also be understood as ‘linkage’, that is, the connection and interaction between the internet and various industries, to jointly create new things and realize crossborder integration. in recent years, internet + education has become an important part of education in various regions, and the title of chapter 19 of the “outline of the national mediumand long-term education reform and development plan (2010-2020)” is “accelerating the process of informatization of education”, which requires ” informatization of education into the overall strategy of national informatization development, and promote the modernization of educational content, teaching methods, and methods” (yang & shi, 2018). so the linkage of quality education and internet + has an important practical significance. this paper defines “internet + quality education” as a kind of in the moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor five education teaching content presentation, students’ learning methods, teachers’ teaching methods, teacher-student interaction and other aspects of the depth of fusion with the internet +. only the internet and quality education to realize the real linkage, in order to push china’s quality education to the real high-quality development, for the education of a strong country to strengthen the foundation of the cushion stone. research will be the internet and quality education “linkage”, both “cross-border www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 165 published by scholink inc. connection” and “dynamic integration”, to explore a quality education in line with the development of rural mountainous areas. “internet+education”, with a view to promoting quality education. 2. research design this study is based on a case study, selecting elementary school and junior high school students in pugu township, panzhou city, guizhou province in the southwest as the research object, and most of the investigated contents are objective data, mainly in terms of significant variables. in order to ensure the quality of the research data, the content of the questionnaire was determined after many discussions. the interviews in this study were conducted after the questionnaires were returned in order to gain an indepth understanding of the reasons behind the answers to the questionnaires. 2.1 subjects of the study an elementary school and a middle school in phu quoc township were selected for the questionnaire survey, and the grades in which the students were placed were differentiated according to grades 1-3, grades 4-6, and middle school, based on which the questionnaires were distributed. in order to ensure the quality of the questionnaire results, a certain percentage of the number of people in the corresponding grade sections were required to participate in filling out the questionnaires. in order to ensure the authenticity of the study, three elementary school teachers and three parents were randomly selected for interviews, and the principal of hope primary school in pugu township was also interviewed, so as to objectively and truthfully present the current situation of “internet + quality education” in pugu township, to find out the dilemmas and challenges faced by pugu township in the implementation of quality education in the context of internet +, and to put forward targeted development paths. to find out the dilemmas and challenges of implementing quality education in pugu township under the background of internet+, and to put forward targeted development paths. 2.2 data description and research method the study distributed 150 questionnaires through online channels, utilized spss27.0 to clean the data, eliminated invalid questionnaires, and finally obtained 122 valid questionnaires, with a validity rate of 85.30%. among them, 10, 85 and 27 questionnaires were distributed for grades 1-3, 4-6 and junior high school, accounting for 8.2%, 69.67% and 22.13% respectively. the questionnaire is in anonymous form, which protects the privacy of children in mountainous areas on the one hand, and can guarantee the authenticity and validity of the questionnaire on the other; it consists of three parts, namely, the basic demographic information, the information related to the internet+, and the self-assessment form of quality development level (qixun, 2022), which make up the main body of the questionnaire. the selfassessment of quality development level (qixuan, 2022) is divided into five modules of moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor based on the guidelines for moral education in primary and secondary schools issued by the ministry of education, and the questions of each module are divided into 7, 8, and 9 dimensions based on the policy documents issued by the state, which has been proved to have a better reliability and validity. the questionnaire is divided into 4 scoring levels, using richter’s www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 166 published by scholink inc. 4-point scale, with higher scores indicating a better level of children’s quality development and vice versa, indicating a poorer level of quality development, which clearly presents the development level of children’s quality education in phu quoc township. 3. the case presents: “internet + quality education” implementation status quo in the background of the rapid development of the internet +, the internet in the implementation of quality education in pugu township has shown the primary form of mutual linkage, the development of information technology in education is subtly affecting the quality of children’s development level in pugu township, the implementation of quality education results have gradually come to the fore. 3.1 “internet + education” related infrastructure basically realizes full coverage in the primary and secondary schools participating in this survey, after a field visit, we found that each class has been equipped with multimedia equipment connected to the internet, realizing a coverage rate of 100%, and teachers are teaching more frequently with multimedia networking, which is in line with the “ten-year development plan for education informatization (2011-2020)” issued by the ministry of education, which puts forward that the basic coverage of all areas and all levels of schools with broadband internet access will be realized by 2020. realize the comprehensive coverage of broadband network in all regions and schools at all levels and all types of schools, schools at all levels and all types of schools are basically equipped with multimedia teaching environment under network conditions and other requirements (yang et al., 2021). as a whole, the internet has deeply influenced the development of compulsory education in phu quoc township. 3.2 “internet +” subconsciously affects children’s quality development level entering the new era of information society, quality education requires the cultivation of “all-round development of human beings” connotation is constantly enriched, which requires that it should cover more concepts to promote the all-round development of human beings, and quality education is required to cultivate more all-round development of human beings with information literacy. the comprehensive coverage of “internet plus” has brought great convenience to children’s learning in southwest china, from online course learning through the internet to boutique course learning, to online interactive classroom and live course learning, “internet plus” makes students’ learning more flexible and diversified, and makes students’ personalized needs more diversified. internet+” makes students’ learning more flexible and diversified, makes students’ personalized needs satisfied, and makes students’ experience of ‘internet +education’ more realistic. the internet is injecting vivid power into the education ecology and comprehensively influencing teaching and learning. in the primary and secondary schools in pugu township that participated in this questionnaire survey, from the point of view of students’ use of the internet for learning, the vast majority of children have participated in “internet + education”, and more than 80% of them believe that the school carries out online course teaching through the internet, and participate in the “internet + education” through cell phones, tablets, tvs and other electronic products. about 36% of children study online for less than 1 hour a day www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 167 published by scholink inc. on average, about 38% study online for 1-2 hours, and about 22% study for more than 2 hours; in addition, students not only use electronic products to participate in “internet + education”, such as taking online courses, but also use electronic products to participate in “internet + education”. in addition, students not only utilize electronic products for “internet + education”, such as studying online courses, consulting study materials, and studying in interest classes, but also use electronic products for entertainment and recreation on the internet. this shows that children in phu quoc township are able to utilize electronic products to serve their learning needs and satisfy their hobbies, and to obtain rich information from the internet and expand their horizons. the internet is subtly affecting the quality development level of students. (shown in figures 1 and 2) figure 1. have you participated in “internet + education”? figure 2. you average about “hours of online learning per day” 3.3 the effectiveness of quality education implementation in the context of “internet plus” is gradually becoming more prominent combined with the research data, it is found that the implementation of quality education in southwest www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 168 published by scholink inc. china in the era of “internet +” has been effective. with the promotion of the strategy of rural revitalization, pugu township has actively responded to the party’s call to actively carry out quality education, and better implemented the national policy requirements for the implementation of quality education in the countryside, and quality education has achieved certain results, with the effectiveness of moral and intellectual education being particularly prominent, but it still needs to be continuously strengthened and improved according to the requirements of the socialism with chinese characteristics entering into a new era and the rapid development of the information society. on the whole, the implementation of quality education in pugu township is better, as shown in table 2, the average value of children in the self-assessment module of moral education reaches 3.5, indicating that the implementation of moral education in pugu township is good; the average value of the module of aesthetic education is 2.92, which scores the lowest among the various modules of quality education, indicating that the implementation of aesthetic education in pugu township is poorer in comparison with the other modules, and it needs to be strengthened, and the art education in the rural areas is still the weak level of school education, and it is the best way to improve the quality education in pugu township. art education in rural areas is still a weak level of school education and a prominent part of quality education. in order to cultivate a well-rounded person, we should not only pay attention to the development of individual qualities, but also cultivate the overall structure of qualities. the “wooden barrel principle” tells us that the amount of water in a wooden barrel depends on the height of the shortest plank (2013). if one aspect of the effective structure of quality is poor, the function of this structure will be weakened, and the person will have unsatisfactory performance in the corresponding situation. that is why it is necessary to pay special attention to the harmonious development of the student’s talents and personality and to avoid one-sided development. table 1. status of implementation of quality education in phu quoc commune (children’s selfassessment form) 4. reality: “internet + quality education” implementation of the dilemma the report of the 20th party congress puts forward that “education, science and technology, and human resources are the basic and strategic support for the comprehensive construction of a socialist modernized country” and “adhere to the people-centered development of education, accelerate the construction of a minimum maximum average moral education 2.13 4.00 3.50 intellectual education 1.63 4.00 3.13 physical education 1.75 4.00 3.16 aesthetic education 1.70 4.00 2.92 labor education 1.78 4.00 3.12 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 169 published by scholink inc. high-quality education system, develop quality education, and promote educational equity” (2022). with the development of china’s education, the nine-year compulsory education policy is fully implemented, the majority of rural children and teenagers in the southwest region, “no school” problem has basically been solved. although the infrastructure of “internet + education” has basically achieved full coverage, the facilities and equipment related to the implementation of quality education through the internet are still seriously insufficient; due to geographical differences and the dual structure of urban and rural economy and other objective factors, the distribution of educational resources between the east and west, urban and rural areas, the distribution of quality and balanced integration of quality and high quality development, and so on. these problems are still hindering the forward development of education in the southwest china region, and there is still a long way to go before rural children can have a good education in the era of “internet plus”. 4.1 imbalance in the structure of the teaching staff, and insufficient ability to innovate in informatization teaching first of all, the imbalance in the structure of the teaching force is reflected in the serious aging of teachers. due to the serious aging of some teachers, the coverage of teachers in primary and secondary schools in pugu township who use internet+ for education and teaching is narrower, making it more difficult for schools to improve teachers’ it teaching application ability as a whole. due to the serious aging of teachers and the reluctance of young teacher trainees to teach in rural areas, the overall educational level of teachers in phu quoc township is low, making training and learning of education information technology more difficult, further contributing to the difficulty of popularizing education information technology in schools. in addition, the school’s hardware facilities can only meet the most basic internet teaching, belonging to the primary stage of education informatization, far from the current requirements of the state advocated by the information technology education, scientific use of information technology to improve the level of teaching and learning is even more difficult to realize the idea, all of these are to impede the implementation of the internet + quality education problems. secondly, the imbalance in the structure of the teaching force is manifested in the lack of teaching force and the existence of a large number of “top teaching” phenomenon. inadequate teacher strength in mountainous areas is another major challenge to the development of quality education in mountainous areas in the era of “internet +”. geographic remoteness, poor basic living conditions and facilities, and limited space for future development are all important reasons why schools in mountainous areas are unable to recruit teachers or young teachers are unwilling to stay. after completing their undergraduate studies in the city, young teachers adapt to the convenient transportation and infrastructure of the city and are unable to tolerate the difficult environment of the mountainous areas, leading to a shortage of teachers in mountainous areas. the most direct consequence of the shortage of teachers is that quality education cannot be implemented comprehensively and effectively, not to mention the high-quality development of quality education. the phenomenon of a large number of “top teaching” is due to the fact that many teachers enter the mountain education system by taking exams related to their undergraduate www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 170 published by scholink inc. majors, but later, due to the serious wastage of teachers in the schools, some teachers are assigned to teach subjects that are not related to their own majors, or even one teacher teaches three courses that span a wide range of subjects. in addition, some young teachers choose to come to the mountainous areas to teach in order to give themselves “gold-plated”, with a utilitarian mentality can not concentrate on teaching, but also affects the quality of teaching, “gold” after the resignation, resulting in the mountainous areas of the school can not find the same specialty in a timely manner of teachers to teach students, the students can not adapt to the new school, and the students can not adapt to the new school. students can not adapt to the new teacher, can only find the existing teachers to teach. “teachers have to cope with the inspection of schools by leaders at all levels, and they are pestered by all kinds of activities other than teaching, and they do not have the time and energy to understand, learn and master the “internet+” education and teaching methods. teaching methods. this leads to the quality of education in mountainous areas can not guarantee the quality of education, students can not get quality education resources, thus also hindering the quality of education towards high-quality development. 4.2 the low degree of integration of the internet and quality education the use of “internet +” to carry out reforms in mountainous areas of education is to meet the children and parents of mountainous areas of high-quality education of the good wishes of the inevitable path, “internet +” is the realization of the overall arrangement of the national quality of quality education resources is an important initiative to effectively solve the dilemma of the lack of quality education resources in mountainous areas. lack of quality education resources in mountainous areas. however, the reality is that primary and secondary schools in phu quoc township do not have access to high-quality quality education resources, “internet +” related equipment can only meet the most basic classroom teaching, resulting in the use of “internet +” implementation of quality education utilization rate is relatively low, the linkage between the two aspects. the linkage between the two is relatively shallow, still belonging to the primary stage of “internet + education”. among the children who participated in the questionnaire survey, 81.97% thought that their schools had arranged online courses, but 18.03% still thought that their schools had not organized online courses. further understanding of the online courses arranged by the school, it will be found that the intellectual education courses are far ahead, followed by the moral education courses, and comparatively speaking, the online courses such as physical, aesthetic, and labor courses are carried out less, or even not carried out. the reason for using the internet to promote the intellectual education program is to fulfill the heavy teaching task. after the new curriculum reform, a part of the weekly teaching time is set aside for moral, physical, aesthetic and labor education, and the class time left for the teaching of intellectual education is even more tight, so the use of the internet to implement the intellectual education has become the most arranged online courses, resulting in other quality education has been seriously neglected. secondly, schools do not have more quality education resources to help teachers carry out “internet + education”. this is manifested in the lack of relevant smart classrooms, smart facilities for aesthetic education, physical education and labor education, which can only be carried out in real-life teaching and cannot be effectively linked with the internet. (figure 3) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 171 published by scholink inc. figure 3. what are the online courses arranged by the school？ 4.3 parents’ hidden worries about their children’s addiction to the internet and their low understanding of quality education the survey found that although students’ parents support their children’s use of the internet for learning (figure 4), they are more worried about their children’s addiction to the internet and games when using the internet, and their lack of self-control, and they think that the introduction of the internet into education will affect their children’s learning and ruin their children’s future, and they will prohibit their children from using cell phones and other electronic products except for the time required by the teachers of the school to conduct on-line teaching and cut off their children’s opportunities for exposure to the internet other than in their living environments. they will prohibit children from using electronic products such as cell phones except for online teaching required by school teachers, and cut off children’s opportunities to access the internet except for their living environment. parents’ lack of understanding of quality education is a challenge to the implementation of quality education at the family level. during the field research, three parents were randomly interviewed about their knowledge of quality education, two parents had no idea about quality education, and another parent didn’t even know about quality education, didn’t know about their children’s learning and hobbies, which seriously affects the implementation of home-school cooperation in quality education. the influence of the family on children is subtle, and plays a pivotal role in the quality of children’s development level, parents’ “ignorance” will certainly affect the overall effectiveness of the implementation of quality education. in addition, during the interviews with parents, it was found that parents did not pay enough attention to their children’s studies, and since most of the guardians had junior high school or elementary school education, and some of them were even illiterate, this directly led to the lack of effective family tutoring for the students after school (figure 5), and the vast majority of the children had only their www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 172 published by scholink inc. parents as guardians. most of the children’s guardians are only one of the parents, mostly mothers, while fathers are always working outside the home, and mothers have to manage all the affairs of the family, so they are not capable of studying for their children; followed by grandparents and other relatives, although children are not left-behind children in the traditional sense, they are not far behind the leftbehind children in terms of their situation, and they are prone to have a weak character, inferiority complexes, and so on, and they have more difficulties in studying, and they are not able to get good personality and psychological development. the children are not left behind in the traditional sense, but they are in a situation similar to that of left-behind children, and are prone to weak character, low selfesteem, and so on, and have more difficulty in learning, as well as in personality and psychological development. figure 4. whether your parents support you to participate in “internet + education” figure 5. literacy of your caregiver (the person who actually takes care of you at home) 4.4 students’ lack of self-control and vulnerability to being taken hostage by the internet the study found that the implementation of quality education through the “internet+” has both positive and potentially negative effects. the positive aspects are reflected in the fact that the popularization of the internet has brought many conveniences and benefits to the learning and ability enhancement of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 173 published by scholink inc. children in mountainous areas, such as being able to broaden their horizons, acquire new knowledge, improve their creativity and thinking skills, obtain powerful learning tools, improve their information literacy and information technology application skills, enrich their recreational activities, enhance their interest in learning, and improve their independent learning and self-management skills (hao, 2022). potential negative impacts are manifested in the time of internet use and information screening. firstly, children’s self-control is weak and it is difficult for them to control the time of use, which affects their rest and other activities and is easy to become addicted. secondly, it is difficult to avoid and screen negative information, affecting eyesight and other aspects of physical health, decreasing attention span, and weakening the ability to think on their own initiative. therefore, the negative impact of the use of internet + education and how to avoid, is the school needs to focus on consideration. 5. relief paths: the future direction of “internet + quality education” quality development “internet + quality education” is a new way to differentiate the integration of the internet and education in the past, ultimately pointing to the comprehensive development of human beings. since the proposal of education informatization, the connection between the two in the past is still relatively superficial, the students’ learning style, way of thinking, the teacher’s teaching methods have not yet undergone profound changes, the entire education ecology has not kept pace with the pace of information technology, the rural education in the southwest region is even more so, the interface between the two and the interaction is conducive to the internet with the moral, intellectual, physical education, aesthetic education and labor education to achieve a true integration, helping students to improve information literacy and quality of education. it helps students to improve their information literacy and overall development, meets the requirements of socialist successors to be cultivated in the new era, and promotes the high-quality development of quality education in mountainous areas. 5.1 optimize the structure of teachers and improve the overall professional quality and innovation ability of information technology teaching whether china’s quality education can achieve high-quality development depends largely on the optimization of the structure of the teacher team and the improvement of the professional quality of the teacher team (hao, 2020). the development level of the teaching force is a key factor restricting the development of “internet + quality education” (yao & liu, 2017). in the face of the serious aging of teachers, as shown in the following figure can be based on the specific circumstances of different teachers, “tailored to the individual”, to carry out targeted layered training. hire internet + education related senior technicians and experts into the school to carry out information technology training, new and old teachers, backbone teachers, subject leaders as the basis for the division of the batch of teachers to carry out training, and encourage the old teachers to participate in the study of the most basic information technology means, master the most basic information technology capabilities, new teachers just entered the school teaching can also be required to carry out internet + training, and then according to the teacher’s age, specialization and so on. new teachers who have just joined the school can also be required www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 174 published by scholink inc. to undergo internet+ training. later, according to the age and specialization of teachers, higher requirements can be put forward for the it skills of new teachers, and an incentive system can be formulated to reward teachers for the effectiveness of their it training, and different requirements can be set up for them to meet after the training. at the same time, internet+ teaching competitions and training achievement competitions can be organized. schools should actively create a harmonious and relaxed humanistic environment, reduce the frequency of teachers’ participation in various inspection activities, so that teachers can devote themselves to the teaching of internet + quality education. internet + era, the development of information technology has accelerated the update of all kinds of knowledge, constantly impacting the ecological environment of education, not only to make changes in the medium of dissemination of knowledge, but also to make changes in the way of thinking and access to knowledge of students, teachers are no longer the only source of students to obtain knowledge, the teacher will become a guide to help students learn how to learn, the data base of students’ learning, the development of students’ potential, the teacher and student teachers will become guides to help students learn to learn, repositories of student learning, developers of student potential, and guides to the mutual promotion of teacher-student ethics. therefore, it is very important for teachers to change their own concepts and strengthen their professional learning and information technology skills, “technology will not replace the teacher, but the teacher who can use technology will replace the teacher who can’t use technology.” teachers can only do with an open mind to accept the changes brought about by social development to the education ecology, use internet technology intelligently in teaching practice, achieve the deep integration between the internet and teaching, and keep abreast of the times to improve their own professional qualities and internet + teaching skills in order to keep pace with the pace of information technology in education, and impart the most advanced scientific and technological knowledge to the students, so that they will not be eliminated from the era of the flood current (wang, yu, & qi, 2021). 5.2 establishing a high-quality “internet + quality education” resource bank and an all-round adaptation system establishing a high-quality internet+ and quality education teaching resource base that includes teachers’ teaching and students’ learning. its main purpose is to meet the opportunity of rural children in southwest china to obtain better quality education resources, and to promote the comprehensive development of children and educational equity. high-quality “internet + quality education” resource base should have the following points: first, the knowledge content of the quality education resource base to ensure that the knowledge covered by the resource itself has a complete logic, which is conducive to promoting the mastery of the complete knowledge of students. secondly, a high-quality “internet + quality education” resource base should cover a rich variety of materials, including students’ learning process support materials, teachers’ teaching process support materials and extension and expansion materials, and under each major category, it contains courseware, teaching design, question banks, etc., and then differentiate them according to the text category, material category and animation category. the material should be differentiated according to text, material and animation. attention should be paid to the use of the internet www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 175 published by scholink inc. to replace new materials in a timely manner, eliminating backward materials to ensure the dynamic cycle and effectiveness of the resource library. finally, it should contain the structure of the curriculum system in line with the textbooks, which is conducive to teachers and students to use the resources as they go, it should be noted that teachers in the process of using the resource base should be based on the physical and mental development of the students and the existing degree of knowledge mastery of the curriculum in accordance with the knowledge of the logic of the organization, and the structure of the knowledge should be transformed into easy to pass and make students easy to understand the classroom content, which is a knowledge structure of the process of breaking and reconstruction. this is a process of breaking and reconstructing the knowledge structure, which requires teachers to have a certain degree of professional competence and it teaching innovation. the establishment of a high-quality quality education resource base is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and it needs to be matched with an appropriate platform for communication and interactive feedback system, so that teachers and students can solve problems in the process of using it in a timely manner, and provide effective feedback suggestions and opinions. it also needs an all-round appropriate management system for its orderly management and supervision. first of all, establish a resource upload audit mechanism, encourage teachers and the community to participate in the expansion of the resource base, and encourage everyone to become a resource contributor to the quality resource base. secondly, the public welfare of the quality education resource bank should be clearly stipulated, and the nature of the use of the resource bank should be regulated in the system, so as to avoid the interest and distortion of the nature of the use of the resource bank. finally, it is also necessary to establish the management and regularized supervision mechanism of the quality education resource bank to ensure the normal operation of the resource bank. 5.3 establishing a three-dimensional “internet + quality education” home, school and community co-education network the implementation of “internet + quality education” cannot be realized only by the internal strength of the education system, but must rely on the strength of society as a whole to build an effective “internet + quality education” network of home, school and social coeducation. the establishment of a threedimensional common education network platform is conducive to the integration of educational values between different fields of the family, school and society, and the construction of a quality lifeline for the quality development of quality education with a new pattern of all-round education. the three-dimensional home-school-society co-education network should do the following three things. the first is that schools take the lead in establishing institutionalized “home-school-society co-education committees,” and the government provides technical equipment and other support to establish “homeschool-society co-education websites,” and the central connection point of the entire network should be the school-led committees, which manage the websites. the central link of the whole network should be the school-led committee, which manages the website, and through this, it radiates to families and the public. the key point is to cultivate teachers’ awareness and ability to carry out home-school-social coeducation through the internet, and deal with the problems encountered in the process of home-schoolwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 176 published by scholink inc. social co-education in quality education through the “bridge” of teachers; we should also continuously strengthen the awareness and publicity of home-school-social co-education, and encourage more parents, public-spirited people, non-profit organizations, etc. to join us. we also need to strengthen the awareness and publicity of home-school-society co-education and encourage more parents, public-spirited people and non-profit organizations to join in, so as to expand the quality education resources available to students. secondly, families, as the important main body of the co-education network, should assume an important role in the implementation of “internet + quality education”. because no matter how perfect the implementation of quality education in schools is, if there is no good family education and the active cooperation of parents, it is impossible to realize the healthy development of children’s personality and psychology and the comprehensive development of quality, and it is also impossible to realize the highquality development of quality education. the establishment of a common education network should firstly change parents’ prejudice towards the internet, and fundamentally change their own concept of education; secondly, to help parents to establish a sense of responsibility, the committee can regularly provide parents with relevant internet training, improve parents’ ability to use the internet to communicate with schools and teachers, and how to carry out training in family education, so as to provide parents with experience in family education that can be used as a reference. third, social forces are an important pillar in the implementation of “internet + quality education”. the government should encourage social internet+ enterprises to provide public welfare assistance to rural education, help develop shared application resources with local traditional cultural characteristics, local advantages, and school-based characteristics, and rural remote quality education resource libraries to ensure that children in mountainous areas have access to quality education resources at any time and any place, and to support education informatization and the development of educational reforms in the majority of impoverished areas and schools in mountainous and rural areas. provincial universities have established one-to-one support or one-to-many support centers to help schools in mountainous areas of the province establish generative resource libraries, improve the ability of schools to use the internet to share free and remote access to equivalent educational resources, so that teachers and students can jointly access and participate in the use of quality education resources and generate wisdom education. references advancing unswervingly along the road of socialism with chinese characteristics [n]. (2013). hunan daily, 2013-01-25(016). gu, m. y. (2023). there is no modernization of national education without modernization of rural education. chinese journal of education, 2023(9). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6355-1 hao, h. l. (2022). investigation and research on the current situation of 3-6 years old children’s participation in “internet + education”. hebei university. hao, w. w. (2020). comprehensive optimization of teachers’ structure is urgently needed to promote the modernization of rural education. chinese journal of education, 9, 32-37. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 177 published by scholink inc. ministry of education. (n.d.). outline of the national mediumand long-term education reform and development plan (2010-2020) [eb/ol]. retrieved from https://www.gov.cn/jrzg/201007/29/content_1667143.htm qi, x. (2022). research on quality education for rural left-behind children. anhui agricultural university. wang, z. (2012). consciously and firmly promoting quality education to let children grow up healthily and happily. education research, 33(1), 65-68. wang, z. j., yu, x. y., & qi, m. m. (2021). analysis of the focus point of rural education informatization development in china under the background of “internet+”. china electrification education, 2021(10). wen, h. f. (ed.). (2019, december). principles and methods of basic education reform in china. beijing: education science press. xie, m. (2016). research on teaching wisdom under the background of “internet + education”. jilin university. yang, r. y. et al. (2021). china rural education development report 2010-2020 (05: 6). beijing: science press. yang, z. s., & shi, y. z. (2018). policy evolution and theoretical exploration of quality education. educational research, 39(12). yao, x., & liu, y. r. (2017). path analysis of optimizing the structure of rural small-scale school teachers. journal of educational science of hunan normal university, 16(4), 23-27. yu, b., & song, n. q. (2011). the role of primary and secondary school principals in the implementation of quality education. education research, 32(6), 23-27. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 68 original paper exploring the path of establishing a long term development mechanism for volunteer services in higher education institutions wenwen ding1* 1 jiangsu university, zhenjiang, china * wenwen ding, lecturer at jiangsu university, master of law, with a research focus on ideological and political education received: june 20, 2025 accepted: july 5, 2025 online published: july 31, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p68 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p68 abstract how to promote the high-quality development of volunteer services in universities has become a key concern and research topic in various sectors of society. this article starts with the significance of building a long-term development mechanism for university volunteer services, analyzes the problems that currently constrain the high-quality development of university volunteer services, and aims to construct a sustainable and stable development mechanism for university volunteer services by stimulating the intrinsic motivation of college students, improving management systems, and strengthening brand building, in order to truly play its due functional role. keywords universities, volunteer services, long-term mechanisms, social governance volunteer service is an important symbol of social civilization and progress, as well as an effective way to promote modernization of social governance and achieve shared social responsibility. in the new era, volunteer service has become an important carrier for cultivating morality and practical education in universities. with the promotion of relevant policies and norms at all levels, college student volunteer service has developed rapidly, providing a platform for college students to grow and serve society. at present, college student volunteers have become the largest and most dynamic team of volunteers in china, making tremendous contributions in promoting the spirit of volunteerism, serving the public, and supporting social construction. however, there are still certain shortcomings in the organizational www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 69 published by scholink inc. mechanism, management system, and content innovation of current university volunteer services, which have a negative impact on the full play of their functions. 1. the importance of establishing a long term development mechanism for volunteer services in higher education institutions 1.1 beneficial for the full utilization of educational functions volunteer service in universities is an important means to achieve the function of educating students. by integrating volunteer service into ideological and political education and practical teaching, college students can gain a firsthand understanding of social responsibility and moral obligations. in the process of participating in volunteer service, the personal values of college students will also be continuously tested and improved. at the same time, volunteer service can also help college students deepen their understanding of professional knowledge, achieve the organic integration of theory and social practice, improve their teamwork ability, social adaptability and comprehensive quality, and provide strong support for universities to cultivate socialist builders and successors with both morality and talent. 1.2 beneficial for promoting the growth and success of college students for college students, volunteer service is not only a practical form of assuming social responsibility, but also an effective way to enhance their overall quality. by actively participating in various social service projects, college students can effectively enhance their practical and problem-solving abilities, and broaden their horizons and enrich their experiences through interactions with different groups and situations. in practice closely related to professional fields such as education, healthcare, and social work, volunteer service can help college students gain a deeper understanding of industry needs and enhance their thinking on their own professional learning and career planning. at the same time, the requirements for teamwork and continuous investment also provide good conditions for college students to exercise their organizational and coordination skills, as well as self-management abilities. 1.3 helps promote modernization of social governance volunteer service, as an important means of promoting social governance, can effectively alleviate the problem of insufficient public service resources at the grassroots level and provide new impetus for the modernization process of social governance. through the active participation of college students, the community can receive diverse and specialized support, better respond to residents’ needs, and improve the quality of public services. at the same time, the extensive development of volunteer services can also strengthen the construction of spiritual civilization, promote the values of “dedication, friendship, mutual assistance, and progress”, and enhance the overall moral cohesion and sense of identity of society. through multi-party cooperation and resource integration from the government, universities, and social organizations, volunteer service not only optimizes the efficiency of social resource allocation, but also lays a solid foundation for achieving the social governance pattern of “co construction, co governance, and sharing”. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 70 published by scholink inc. 2. the problems in the long term development of volunteer services in current universities 2.1 some college students have a relatively one-sided understanding of volunteer service in recent years, volunteer service has been increasingly accepted and put into action by college students, but there is still a certain cognitive bias in its effective implementation. some college students lack a profound understanding of the spirit of “dedication, friendship, mutual assistance, and progress” in volunteer service. they only see volunteer service as a task aimed at improving their grades, showcasing their abilities and image, and meeting school requirements. they fail to truly internalize the spirit of volunteer service as their moral pursuit, and there are problems with “formalization” in the participation process, resulting in negative tendencies such as “being volunteered” and “volunteering for the sake of volunteering”. 2.2 insufficient connotative development of volunteer service at present, the content and form of volunteer service projects carried out by universities are relatively limited, lacking the motivation to promote connotative development in depth. firstly, in the process of integrating volunteer service into education, teaching, and social practice in all aspects, the project content and form are relatively single, and many activities are limited to physical assistance or basic public welfare promotion, with insufficient integration with subject knowledge or social reality needs. college students find it difficult to exercise their professional abilities and social service awareness at a higher level through this. secondly, the integration of information technology construction and online and offline is not mature, and many projects still use traditional models, failing to expand their impact through digital platforms or new media channels, and lacking interdisciplinary and cross departmental collaborative promotion mechanisms. thirdly, it has not been closely integrated with teaching, scientific research, and campus culture construction, thus unable to fully play the three-dimensional role of allround education. the comprehensive literacy improvement and social practice ability of college students have also been affected to a certain extent. 2.3 the volunteer organization mechanism needs to be improved the many problems presented in university volunteer services are closely related to inadequate organizational management, manifested in two specific aspects. firstly, there is improper management of volunteer organizations. some volunteer organizations lack clear guidelines and management processes, resulting in college student volunteers participating in volunteer activities without clear goals and plans, and the significance and value of volunteer service are not fully reflected. secondly, there is insufficient protection and management. at the level of protection, legal and financial support are not sufficient, and there is a lack of detailed regulations on the protection of volunteer rights and risk prevention. there is often a lack of clear institutional basis for identifying accidental injuries or responsibilities of college students during the participation process. the funding mainly relies on government appropriations and scattered donations from society, with a single and volatile channel, making it difficult to support diversified and normalized project needs. at the management level, projects often operate in a phased or temporary manner, with relatively weak overall planning, training, and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 71 published by scholink inc. evaluation systems. volunteers receive less professional training or safety education before serving, and their ability to cope with complex situations is limited in practice. the evaluation methods mainly focus on service duration or credit requirements, making it difficult to comprehensively measure the quality of service and the growth of college students. 3. exploring the path of establishing a long term development mechanism for volunteer services in higher education institutions 3.1 vigorously promote the concept of volunteer service the fundamental reason for the phenomenon of college students being “volunteered” is their lack of understanding of volunteer culture and insufficient recognition of the spirit of volunteerism. deepen the publicity and promotion of university volunteer services, guide college students and social groups to participate in socialized volunteer services with the appeal and influence of university volunteer services, and expand the coverage of volunteer service organizations and volunteer service matters. 3.1.1 create a volunteer service atmosphere colleges and universities need to give full play to the role of public opinion guidance, build a good official account, radio station, school newspaper, publicity gallery and other publicity positions, and timely publicize the development of college students’ volunteer service activities, outstanding typical figures and deeds on the wechat official account platform, bulletin board, school newspaper and other media. through education and publicity, students can truly understand the connotation of volunteer service, believe in the spirit of volunteer service, cultivate their sense of mission and social responsibility in the times, continuously stimulate their internal participation motivation, and guide them to participate in social construction and development independently and voluntarily. 3.1.2 utilize the advantages of the two educational channels of “theory and practice” college students are the main practitioners, and throughout the planning and summarization of volunteer service activities, attention should be paid to the group and individual characteristics of the practitioners, fully mobilizing their subjective initiative. once the internal motivation of college students to practice the spirit of volunteerism is stimulated, they will participate in volunteer service spontaneously and voluntarily. essentially, volunteer service is a process of learning through service, refining through introspection, forging through practice, and cultivating through adaptation. universities should integrate the spirit of volunteerism into the ideological and political education of college students, and combine ideological and political theory with the spirit of volunteerism. college students internalize the spirit of volunteerism through ideological and political classes, and externalize it through diverse practical activities. 3.2 optimize the volunteer service management system the management of university volunteer services plays a crucial role in the development of college students’ volunteer services, and has a significant impact on their cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and service outcomes. therefore, universities should optimize the working and organizational mechanisms www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 72 published by scholink inc. of college students’ volunteer services, achieve daily promotion of volunteer spirit, standardized organization of volunteer activities, institutionalized guarantee of volunteer services, and scientific evaluation of volunteer services. 3.2.1 incorporate volunteer service into talent development programs universities can integrate volunteer service with campus culture, club activities, and social practice, making it integrated into teaching, research, and the daily lives of college students. if the participation of college students in volunteer service and the duration of volunteer service during their school years are included in the assessment scope, volunteer service related courses can also be offered to allow students to participate in courses in the form of credits. volunteer service activities can also be fully integrated into ideological and political courses to help college students comprehensively understand the nature, participation methods, and other basic knowledge of volunteer service, and deepen their understanding of volunteer service. 3.2.2 establish multi form and deep level incentive mechanisms universities should promote the normalization and long-term effectiveness of volunteer services for college students through institutional construction. the quality and quantity of student volunteer service will be included in the incentive mechanism. in addition to taking volunteer service as a consideration factor in the comprehensive evaluation, award and evaluation of students, emphasis will be placed on the recognition of students participating in volunteer service, and appropriate spiritual awards will be given to students. for example, a series of activities such as the “most beautiful volunteer” search activity, volunteer service exemplary individual and team outstanding deeds sharing will be held to encourage college students to learn from excellent volunteers around them. this will play a positive role in guiding college students to invest in volunteer service with high frequency and quality. 3.2.3 increase support for college students’ volunteer services although volunteer service is a public welfare activity, maintaining the normal operation of volunteer service organizations and ensuring the normal participation of college students in volunteer service requires certain financial support. increase funding support for college student volunteer services, firstly to ensure the life, health, and basic living of college student volunteers, by purchasing insurance and providing certain meal and transportation subsidies for college students participating in volunteer service activities. the second is to maintain the normal operation of college student volunteer service organizations. college student volunteer service organizations need to rely on certain activity funds, including necessary expenses for conducting volunteer service activities and organizing irregular team building activities to promote emotional communication among volunteers. 3.2.4 establish a scientific and reasonable evaluation mechanism one is to institutionalize the evaluation content. the evaluation of college student volunteer service content is to assess the effectiveness of volunteer service. firstly, there should be specific evaluation criteria, which mainly include college student volunteers, volunteer service organizations, and volunteer service projects. the content evaluation of college student volunteers mainly depends on their frequency www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 73 published by scholink inc. and quality of participation. for volunteer service organizations, it mainly depends on the operation of the organization and the training of volunteers. for volunteer service projects, it mainly depends on the operation and effectiveness of the project. the second is the institutionalization of evaluation methods. the institutionalization of evaluation is based on scientific methods and standardized standards. therefore, it is necessary to form standardized and unified standards, and use professional evaluation methods to truly grasp the growth and development of volunteers, the operation and implementation of volunteer service organizations, and the construction and implementation of volunteer service projects, in order to further regulate and strengthen the construction and development of college student volunteer services. 3.3 build a high-quality brand of volunteer service building a volunteer service brand is the key to the high-quality development of the volunteer service industry. in response to the limitations and lack of in-depth development in the content and form of university volunteer services, it is necessary to further strengthen the deep integration of volunteer services with social needs, information technology, and professional characteristics, and strive to create a volunteer service brand with university characteristics that is recognized by service recipients, in order to enhance the social influence and reputation of university volunteer services. 3.3.1 in terms of formal innovation, we attach great importance to the integrated development of “online+offline” one is to establish a unified volunteer service information sharing platform, realizing the informatization and standardization of project release, registration, training, evaluation and other links, and promoting effective linkage and resource docking among various departments. by establishing a digital management platform, not only can information be timely released and recruited, but the project process and effectiveness can also be more intuitively recorded and evaluated. secondly, online knowledge popularization, guidance and training, project research, etc. can be carried out through new media platforms to broaden the scope of volunteer service participation, allowing more college students to break through the limitations of time and space and participate in public welfare projects in a more flexible and efficient way. 3.3.2 in terms of content innovation, create a “professional+public welfare” project model firstly, in terms of off campus cooperation, universities can establish long-term and stable cooperative relationships with social entities such as the government, communities, and enterprises. by signing framework agreements or co construction agreements, the rights, responsibilities, and obligations of both parties in project initiation, funding support, and achievement sharing can be clarified. secondly, in terms of project design, universities can fully integrate the characteristics of various disciplines and practical social issues, such as combining the needs of social governance, community construction, ecological environmental protection, and other fields with the professional learning of college students to form a “professional+public welfare” characteristic project. this can not only provide real scenarios for college students’ practice and research, but also improve the level and level of volunteer service. thirdly, in terms www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 74 published by scholink inc. of brand building, universities can link communities, enterprises, and other social entities through their professional advantages to normalize their affairs. based on their majors, volunteers can be assigned to different grid service demand modules, creating grid based volunteer service characteristics and logos, and enhancing the social recognition of college student volunteer services. 3.4 strengthening the professionalization of the volunteer team training college student volunteers is to use corresponding carriers to focus on improving their work ability and knowledge level, effectively stimulating their potential, and matching the practical needs of service recipients to the maximum extent. while improving the comprehensive quality of volunteers, it also enhances the quality of volunteer service projects. 3.4.1 determine training objectives and develop a comprehensive training plan in terms of goals, efforts should be made to start with volunteers’ service awareness, professional skills, teamwork ability, communication and coordination ability, and other aspects. therefore, in the formulation of training plans, it is important to focus on detailed arrangements regarding training content, methods, time, etc., to ensure that timely adjustments and optimizations can be made based on the actual situation and needs of volunteers, and to ensure the pertinence and effectiveness of the training. 3.4.2 enrich the training content and emphasize the combination of theory and practice in terms of training content, the focus is on professional knowledge, basic skills, service etiquette, communication and coordination skills of volunteer service, and emphasizes the combination of theory and practice, so that volunteers can gradually deepen their understanding and application of theoretical knowledge through practical activities while mastering basic theoretical knowledge. in addition, the training content needs to be differentiated and adjusted based on the specific field and target audience of volunteer service, always maintaining the pertinence and practicality of the training. 3.4.3 improve training methods and enhance training effectiveness in actual training, various forms such as centralized training, decentralized training, online training, and practical operations can be introduced, and reasonable choices are generally made based on the actual situation and needs of volunteers. for example, newly recruited volunteers can receive centralized training to quickly master basic service etiquette and skills; volunteers with certain experience can adopt decentralized training or online training to enable them to achieve self-directed learning according to their own learning needs and practical arrangements. in addition, it is necessary to focus on strengthening practical participation to ensure that the theoretical knowledge learned by volunteers can be timely transformed into their own practical abilities. 4. conclusion exploring the construction path of a long-term development mechanism for volunteer services in universities is not only necessary to implement the fundamental task of cultivating morality and talents, but also an important practice to promote collaborative governance between universities and society. we should break through the existing development bottleneck, promote the formation of a high-efficiency www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 75 published by scholink inc. development mechanism, and achieve its high-quality development goals by leveraging the subjective initiative of college student volunteers, optimizing the volunteer service management system, improving institutional guarantees, strengthening team building, and creating high-quality brands. reference cai, f. f. (2022). research on innovative mechanisms and methods for college students’ volunteer service in the new era. scientific consultation (science and technology management), 2022(12). dong, l., & mu b. h. (2024). the function and implementation path of college students’ volunteer service in education. leadership science forum, 2024(2), 136-138. fei, x. s., & zhou, b. (2021). on the cultivation of volunteer responsibility consciousness under the guidance of volunteer spirit. school party building and ideological education, 2021(2). gao, y. (2024). the educational function and optimization path of college student volunteer service. science and education guide, 2024(5), 131-133. lin, j. l. (2024). strategies for enhancing the employment competitiveness of college students from the perspective of volunteer service. journal of hubei open vocational college, 37(6): 24-25, 28. wang, h. l., zhou, y. t., & zhang, s. l. (2024). a preliminary discussion on the high quality development of volunteer service for college students in the new era. journal of social sciences, jiamusi university, 42(1), 61-64. wang, w. q., & tao, g. j. (2022). exploration of the development path of volunteer service for college students in the new era. social scientist, 12, 147-153. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper the relationship between undergraduate students’ personality dimensions and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in china chen yu1 1 school of business, zhejiang gongshang university, hangzhou, china received: january 31, 2021 accepted: february 16, 2021 online published: february 21, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n1p105 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n1p105 abstract purpose-this paper aims to identify the personality traits (agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion, conscientiousness and neuroticism) of undergraduate students and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in china. the difference among the personality traits of undergraduate students toward their effectiveness of entrepreneurship education is also analyzed. design/methodology/approach-the personality dimensions questionnaires were completed by 209 undergraduate students participants. pearson correlation coefficients were extracted and regression analysis was performed. findings-the study revealed that out of 209 respondents. students having open and conscientious trait were increasingly more effectiveness of entrepreneurship education, the conscientiousness was identified as the most suitable personality trait for undergraduate students. a signifificant difference was also observed among all the personality traits of undergraduate students. research limitations/implications-participants retrospectively assessed their personality dimensions. future research may use both teachers and students of participants to collect more accurate data on education practices or use observational methods. social implications-this work seems to suggest that the students’ personality should be taken into account in entrepreneurship education. originality/value-this is the first study to investigate the relationship between personality dimensions and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. the paper provided further insights into determinants of entrepreneurship education. this article also had certain reference value to the policy makers who intend to improve the entrepreneurship education of the universities in china. it also provide a basis to improve the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. 105 mailto:yuchensf@163.com www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 keywords personality traits, entrepreneurship education, openness to experience 1. introduction in 2015, the state council of china put forward the strategic objectives for the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning, specifying the nine major tasks that need to be taken to achieve the strategic objectives, china’s emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship education not only reflects the new stage of higher education reform and development, but also reflects the urgent need for creative talents in the development of china’s knowledge economy. the entrepreneurship education in chinese colleges and universities has come to the peak stage of its development, and the entrepreneurship basic course has been gradually brought into the required course of undergraduate colleges and universities. even, colleges and universities entrepreneurship education is becoming more of a “business incubator” for future entrepreneurship. indeed, innovation is the soul of a nation’s progress, the inexhaustible source of a country’s prosperity and the deepest national endowment. young people, especially undergraduate students are the most dynamic and creative group in society, and they should take the lead in innovation and creation. young people must have the courage to innovate and create. on the other hand, undergraduate students are products of universities. upon graduation, they become the source of manpower for developing the country’s economy. undergraduate students are also the future mainstream of labor markets, employers are now paying more and more attention to employees’ initiative, risk-taking spirit, pioneering spirit, independent working ability, technical ability, social ability and management ability, as well as professional achievement. entrepreneurship education in higher education aims at strengthening the self-employment consciousness and risk-taking spirit. by establishing the entrepreneurship curriculum system, reforming the teaching contents and methods, such as setting up the second classroom, providing the means of entrepreneurship education such as venture capital and business consulting, we can make up for the shortage of undergraduates’ entrepreneurial experience, at the same time, it systematically trains the undergraduates’ entrepreneurial skills and provides them with the necessary knowledge, social ability and management skill. these learning experiences are also better at improving undergraduates’ professional achievement. most undergraduate students develop physically and mentally rapidly, their thinking is active, their thirst for knowledge is strong, and they initially have the ability to think independently, find problems and solve problems. however, some students who graduated from the university would have no crative thinking, even find it difficult to resolve their practical new problems on the job. but also, in a way, hinder the development of the labor market. in the era of science and technology power, talent is the foundation and core element of innovation. in deepening the curriculum reform of the new round of basic education, cultivating students’ effectiveness of entrepreneurship education is one of the core goals of quality-oriented education. 106 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 among researchers, there appears to be reasonable consensus regarding the definitional elements of effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. most researchers agreed that the two elements that define effectiveness of entrepreneurship education are novelty and usefulness (shalley, 1991). according to gurteen (1998), innovation is the taking of new or existing ideas and turning them into action. effectiveness of entrepreneurship education is coming up with new ideas, which is the food of innovation. effectiveness of entrepreneurship education is the foundation of innovation. effectiveness of entrepreneurship education, known as the engine of scientific discovery, is usually defined as the ability to produce novel, unique and valuable products under specific circumstances. therefore, as a core component of china’s working future, college students have a duty to improve their creative abilities to meet the demands of the technological age. as an important part of its national innovation system, administrators and educators at chinese universities should, for their part, try to assess whether current educational practices, curricula and learning goals provide the kind of frameworks that inspire students to express their ideas and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education (baker & baker, 2012). academics and educators should concern undergraduate students’ effectiveness of entrepreneurship education before they enter corporations, which are often said to be the “end user” in the supply chain of graduates for the labor market. creativity is not something fuzzy or flaky, as some people think, is can be educated and applied in everyday innovation even by people who don’t perceive themselves as being creative (david tanner, 1992). school education is the main channel for the cultivation of students’ creativity. entrepreneurship education is the main channel to cultivate students’ creativity. therefore, it is imperative to explore effective ways of entrepreneurship education. the society is changing deeply day by day, and there is a strong demand for college and university students’ creativity and entrepreneurship spirit. it is very important to implement creative problem-solving in higher education. however, educators have not fared well in their efforts to develop effective teaching methods to guide and foster the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education among students (bourgeois-bougrine et al., 2017; lin & nabergoj, 2014). it also provides a reference for setting up the carrier of effectiveness of entrepreneurship education cultivation, such as entrepreneurship education programme, or incorporating effectiveness of entrepreneurship education cultivation into interdisciplinary collaborative teaching. it is uncertain whether education has the strength and impact to induce this kind of intrinsic motivation and enjoyment in students, or to change students’ effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in such a way. it is likely that this creative tendency in individual personalities needs more time to grow. to the best of our knowledge, no study has examined the relationship between personality and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education until now. before explaining our research assumptions, we will describe the conceptualisation of big five personality. 107 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 1.1 a review on big five personality inventory the big five refers to five broad personality constructs that personality psychologists believe can be used to encapsulate an individual’s entire personality. the five factors are: (1) extroversion; (2) neuroticism; (3) agreeableness; (4) conscientiousness; and (5) openness to experience. the first trait, extroversion, is close to the meaning of self-confidence, in contrast to introversion (digman, 1990). extraversion is generally considered a positive personality trait and is associated with social skills and extroverts are more likely to get raises and promotions in the workplace, and therefore to achieve higher levels of career success (heller et al., 2002). the second characteristic of neuroticism is the opposite of emotional stability. neuroticism is associated with nervousness, irritability, and high anxiety. people with high neuroticism scores have poor emotional control and are prone to anger (john & srivistava, 1999). according to heller et al. (2002), those who are more neurotic pay more attention to negative events and therefore seem to experience more of them. while neuroticism is thought be useful for some very detail-oriented jobs, generally neuroticism is seen as a negative trait. according to seibert and kraimer (2001), neuroticism scores can predict dissatisfaction with one’s career (seibert & kraimer, 2001). the third trait, agreeableness, has also been described as likeability or compliance. agreeable people are described as courteous, flexible, trusting, good-natured, cooperative, forgiving, tolerant, and good-hearted (barrick & mount, 1991; digman, 1990). seibert and kraimer (2001) refer to the construct as a continuum ranging from soft-hearted, good-natured, and trusting, at one extreme to cynical, rude, and suspicious at the other. more agreeable workers, while good team players, often are not ruthless enough to succeed in career. they are less able than other employees to shirk blame for bad performance and take credit for good performance (seibert & kraimer, 2001). however, several studies suggest that police officers those who were less agreeable engage in more workplace misconduct (cuttler & muchinsky, 2006). black (2000) found agreeability to be the only big five trait that was not related to police training performance. fourth, openness are described as imaginative, curious, original, broad-minded, and artistically sensitive (barrick & mount, 1991). barrick and mount (1991) found that while openness was not associated with police performance. however, many researchers believed that openness is most closely related to intelligence, with people with high scores having better intelligence, and people with low scores often not interested in new things (digman, 1990). finally, conscientiousness indicates the individual’s degree of organization, persistence, and motivation in goal-directed behavior. this trait has been associated with educational performance and motivation 108 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 (barrick & mount, 1991). some personality psychologists argue that the core trait is dependability, because those with high conscientiousness scores are careful, thorough, responsible, and organized. other psychologists posit a slightly different version, with the trait being an expression of volition or will to achieve. hans-georg wolff and sowon kim (2012) examined the relationship between the big five traits and six networking behaviors in samples of employed individuals. they found extraversion and openness to experience were related to networking behaviors. 1.2 a review on entrepreneurship education schumpeter (1911) defined entrepreneurship as a person who breaks the existing economic order, creates and benefits from new structures by introducing new products and services, or by creating new organizational forms, or by developing new raw materials. according to hamilton and harper (1994), entrepreneurs are people who take certain risks in order to take advantage of inventions. thompson (1999) thought entrepreneurs are people who can identify opportunities and take advantage of new business opportunities. among researchers, there appears to be reasonable consensus that entrepreneurs are those who have a unique intuition, mindset, inspiration or vision, the ability, willingness and ability to conceptualize ideas and implement a business plans, and see change as an opportunity to create value. souitaris et al. (2007) concluded that an effective entrepreneurship programme was defined as one which is able to influence entrepreneurial intentions. however, cheng, m. y. (2009) indicated the entrepreneurial education programmes conducted in malaysia fail to create an impact to influence students to take up entrepreneurial challenges. from the findings above, the key to becoming an entrepreneur is personality, an innate trait that can not be trained. therefore, it is impossible to teach people to be entrepreneurs. in contrast, previous studies have shown that entrepreneurship education does play an important role in fostering entrepreneurship among students (ronstadt, 1987; katz, 2003; solomon et al., 2002; robinson & hayes, 1991; sexton & upton, 1984). kolvereid and moen (1997) noted that students who took entrepreneurship courses were more likely than other students to face the challenges of starting a business and were more interested in starting a business. webb et al. (1982) argued that students who participated in an entrepreneurship programme were more likely to start their own business than other students who did not participate in an entrepreneurship programme. ibrahim and soufani (2002) believed entrepreneurship education plays a critical role in identifying and shaping the characteristics of entrepreneurs. other studies have pointed out that entrepreneurship education, especially education that provides technological training, is crucial to enhance entrepreneurs’ innovation skills in an increasingly challenging environment (clarke, 1990; menzies & paradi, 2003). creativity is the foundation of entrepreneurship, david tanner (1992) pointd out creativity is not as vague as some people think, and even those who do not think of themselves as creative can be educated and applied in everyday innovation. 109 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 entrepreneurship education is not just about business management or entrepreneurship. it is about preparing undergraduates for careers. it is about learning how to combine experience, skills, and knowledge to prepare for a new career. therefore, this study defines entrepreneurship education as learning to equip students with the skills and knowledge needed to start a new business, to learn to identify business opportunities, to build social networks, to focus on customer needs, and to create ideas, develop business plans, run businesses, and evaluate environmental, institutional, and political issues. entrepreneurship education needs a different teaching pedagogy in which entrepreneurship education is linked to work-related learning (dwerryhouse, 2001), experiential learning (kolb, 1984), action-learning (smith, 2001) and entrepreneurial training (gibb, 1999). just as kirby (2002) emphasised that entrepreneurship education is different to “traditional” management studies as the latter may impede the development of the necessary entrepreneurial quality and skills. 1.3 hypotheses based on the literature reviewed, it is expected that each of the big five traits will effect effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. first, extroversion will be positively related to effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. starting a business requires a lot of social and interpersonal skills that extroverts tend to have more of. second, neuroticism will be negatively related to effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. starting a business is not a detail-oriented job, neuroticism has no direct benefit to entrepreneurial activity. on the contrary, people with high neuroticism can not control their own emotions and can not deal well with entrepreneurial partners. therefore, neurotic people are not conducive to entrepreneurship, and not conducive to getting good entrepreneurial programme results. third, agreeableness will be positively related to effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. gregarious people are good at working with others, and there should be a positive correlation between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial activities with many collaborative tasks. fourth, openness will be positively related to effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. open people have imagination and creativity, and entrepreneurship requires creativity, so there is a positive correlation between the two. last, conscientiousness will be positively related to effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. entrepreneurial learning is very tired, entrepreneurship is also very difficult, to overcome the difficulties of people with a sense of responsibility, certainly can get better entrepreneurial education performance. further, it is expected that of the big five traits, openness will have the strongest effect on effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. in the light of this issue, this research is undertaken to determine the undergraduate students’ effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in zhejiang gongshang university, china. in addition, this study is conducted to identify the personality dimensions that influence their effectiveness of 110 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 entrepreneurship education. this research will examine the relationship between five personality dimensions and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in china. 2. method 2.1 participants the sample consists of 209 undergraduate students (97 females and 112 males) between 19 and 21 years (mean = 20.34 and standard deviation = 0.84). participants administered a self-administered questionnaire on line that stated the purpose of the research. they answered questions regarding age, majors, gender and so on. the questionnaire responses also offered insight into students’ knowledge of entrepreneurship. all participants spoke chinese as their first language and were recruited from zhejiang gongshang university. some of them served as a leader in student union (20%, n = 41). the distribution of respondents in terms of their majors and specialisations is business and management, art, computer science, information technology, finance, economics, and signals a vocational predisposition towards following entrepreneurship activities. 2.2 measurement all instruments were measured on a five-point likert scale where 1 was “strongly disagree” and 5 was “strongly agree”. personality was measured by a 10-item scale big fifive personality test (goldberg, 1993). in this study, measuring effectiveness of entrepreneurship education by intention to start a business upon graduation. participants are asked to respond on a five-point likert-type scale ranging from 1 (“strongly dislikely”) to 5 (“strongly likely”). chronbach’s alpha of intention ranges from 0.74 to 0.87 and test-retest reliability ranges from 0.77 to 0.87. at the same time ask the students several questions, such as what is entrepreneurship, how to write business plan. teacher envaluated the effectiveness scores by five-point scale. the 209 respondents who claimed to understand the conception “entrepreneurship” offered various expression of entrepreneurship education ranging from: how to start a new business (46.8 per cent); to business management (35.8 per cent); and risk management (9.5 per cent). the findings reveal that the level of knowledge and understanding on the meaning and purpose of entrepreneurship education among students in china is not very high. 2.3 data analysis ibm spss 24.0 was used for all statistics procedures. in the correlation analysis, variables were personality dimensions and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education’s subscales. in the regression analysis, we set the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education total score as dependent variable and the big five personality subscales scores as independent variables: agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion, conscientiousness and neuroticism. 111 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 3. result descriptive statistics concerning effectiveness of entrepreneurship education resulted as follows: 3.23 (0.12). concerning the 63% of participants indicated that entrepreneurship education teached them much knowlegde. observed five personality dimensions means and standard deviation values resulted as follows: agreeableness, 3.16, (0.51), openness to experience, 3.51, (0.71), extraversion, 3.16, (0.46), conscientiousness, 3.54, (0.32), and neuroticism, 3.04, (0.32). pearson correlation coefficients were extracted. we observed a significant positive correlation between openness to experience and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education (r = 0.269, p < 0.001), a significant positive correlation between couscientiouness and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education a significant negative correlation between neuroticism and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education (r = 0.352, p < 0.001). pearsons correlations among the study variables are presented in the table 1. table 1. correlation matrix of variables (n=209) agreeableness open extraversion couscientioune ss neuroticis eee agreeableness 1 0.194 0.126 0.136 -0.256 0.194 openess 1 0.095 .0135 -0.164 0.27** extraversion 1 0.145 -0.054 0.036 couscientiouness 1 -0.154 0.35** neuroticism 1 -0.13 eee 1 notes. ** correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). table 2 shows the stepwise multiple regression analysis. the independent variables included in the analysis were the five personality dimensions. according to the results of the regression analysis, openness to experience (t = 2.29, β = 0.37, p = 0.015) and couscientiouness (t = 3.44,β = 0.44, p < 0.0001) can predict effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. more specifically, higher levels of openness to experience and couscientiouness predict higher effectiveness of entrepreneurship education scores. 112 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 table 2. results of stepwise multiple regression to predict eee (n=209) criterion variable predict variable β beta t δr2 s.e. p-value variance inflation factor open 0.32 0.37 2.29 0.092 0.131 0.015 1.024 counsci 0.58 0.44 3.44 0.142 0.001 1.03 eee agreeab 0.18 0.14 1.09 0.122 0 1.01 extrave 0.28 0.14 1.09 0.122 0 1.01 neurotic -0.11 -0.038 -0.64 0.166 0 1.02 4. discussion there has been more attention paid to entrepreneurship education in the last 10 years than during the previous many years, in this science and technology age, teaching and enhancing the undergraduate students’ most valuable entrepreneurial skill is a major problem which universities face to. a full display of entrepreneurial skill is indispensable, not only for developing new products and technology, but also for managing any business, even any career. in a word, those undergraduate students with higher entrepreneurial skill will be more easily to gain career success and subjective well-being in the future, which is helpful to individuals but also to organizations because employees’ career success can eventually contribute to organizational performance. so, it is widely acknowledged that it is not only the responsibility of the university but also the responsibility of the organizations to promote individual entrepreneurial skill and knowledge. to our knowledge, our study is the first one investigating the relationship between personality dimensions and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. in fact, the verification of this relationship is not surprising, and it has been concluded that personality is associated with organizational learning outcomes (bamber & castka, 2006). in entrepreneurship education, a key issue is how to teach entrepreneurial behaviour and support students to develop abilities and skills enabling them to perform entrepreneurial tasks (colette et al., 2005). in this respect, effectiveness of entrepreneurship education is important in entrepreneurship education (hamidi et al., 2008; lin & nabergoj, 2014). in efforts to develop and stimulate effectiveness of entrepreneurship education and creative problem-solving skills, educators emphasise practice-based learning. however, due to various constraints, we emphasize some case studies in the education curriculum to improve the entrepreneurial experience of students. the results show that the personality dimensions (conscientiousness and openness are) of undergraduate students can predict the effectiveness of their entrepreneurship education to some extent. conscientiousness and openness are the most important factors in predicting the effects of entrepreneurship education. conscientiousness emphasizes perseverance and diligence, which is necessary to do anything, not just to entrepreneurial activities, entrepreneurial education activities need students to wok hard in class and after 113 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 class. openness to experience is characterized by curiosity, open mindedness, imagination, and a willingness to experiment with new technologies (borkenau & ostendorf, 2008; goldberg, 1990). ashton and lee (2001) argued that openness is related to “the degree to which people engage in behavior, often leading to ideas that are generated or understood”. at the same time, the content of entrepreneurship education contains a large number of new ideas, need imagination, need creativity, therefore, students with these characteristics are easier to obtain and understand the essence of entrepreneurship education, more able to achieve good results of entrepreneurship education. we showed that effectiveness of education is influenced by two personality dimensions (openness to experiences and conscientionusness). overall, this study contributes to our understanding of why some students engage more in entrepreneurial emcourse than others and which personality traits facilitate learning behaviors. in line with other studies, we provide evidence that personality matters in in achieving educational education results. some may argued it is impossible to teach someone to become an entrepreneur and therefore entrepreneurship education is a waste of time. in fact, like this view is unrealistic. 5. conclusions education is not an isolated thing, especially entrepreneurial education, is not blindly remember some knowledge that education has an effect. the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education is related to teaching contents, teaching methods and teachers’ skills, especially to students’ personality. when all the teaching contents and methods are the same, the students with high consciousness and high level of openness are more likely to achieve the good effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. the study provides an important exploratory analysis of the state of entrepreneurship education in china. the results show the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in china in matching students’ skill expectations with their skill acquisition. thus, educational institutions need to review the existing curriculum and design a more appropriate curriculum to develop effective entrepreneurship programmes and enterprising individuals. the findings also indicate that the level of understanding on “what is entrepreneurship” is still low among the respondents selected in this study. the government, especially the ministry of education and the education providers should take seriously into this aspect and consider revising the existing education system and process. unless some action and changes are taken to improve the current education system to impart essential entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, the country may struggle to meet the upcoming new challenges brought by the ever changing political, economic, social and technological environment in today’s global economy. 5.1 limitations and future research suggestions although this research adds to the literature on the relationship between predictors and undergraduate students’ effectiveness of entrepreneurship education, like all research, several limitations exist that should be addressed in future research. first, this study was limited by the set of factors that were proposed to be linked to effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. there are many predictors that have been examined 114 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 in previous models of effectiveness of entrepreneurship education, the study just proposed the impact of personality dimensions on effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. however, as found in other studies effectiveness of entrepreneurship education are sometimes effected by other variables, such as, entrepreneurship education programme, teaching method, teacher’s entrepreneurial experiences and so on. while this current study did not examine the relationship between education program and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. so, future studies should capture their influence. secondly, future research can provide additional information and extensions to these results. for example, more information is needed on the mechanisms through which personality dimensions into effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. how to evaluate the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education is also a problem worthy of further discussion. finally, our study was conducted in a single university, just recruited participants of students, future research may recruit both other universities participants to collect more accurate data on education practices or use observational methods. references ashton, m. c., & lee, k. 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(2012). the relationship between networking behaviors and the big five personality dimensions. career development international, 17(1), 43-66. https://doi.org/10.1108/13620431211201328 118 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1108/13620431211201328 original paper chen yu1 1 school of business, zhejiang gongshang university, hangzhou, china abstract purpose-this paper aims to identify the personality traits (agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion, conscientiousness and neuroticism) of undergraduate students and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in china. the difference amon... design/methodology/approach-the personality dimensions questionnaires were completed by 209 undergraduate students participants. pearson correlation coefficients were extracted and regression analysis was performed. findings-the study revealed that out of 209 respondents. students having open and conscientious trait were increasingly more effectiveness of entrepreneurship education, the conscientiousness was identified as the most suitable personality trait for u... research limitations/implications-participants retrospectively assessed their personality dimensions. future research may use both teachers and students of participants to collect more accurate data on education practices or use observational methods. social implications-this work seems to suggest that the students’ personality should be taken into account in entrepreneurship education. originality/value-this is the first study to investigate the relationship between personality dimensions and effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. the paper provided further insights into determinants of entrepreneurship education. this article... keywords table 1. correlation matrix of variables (n=209) references education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 19 original paper discursive construction of delivery workers in china daily lei shu1 1 school of foreign languages, zhejiang gongshang university, hangzhou, p. r. china received: august 5, 2023 accepted: august 24, 2023 online published: september 8, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n4p19 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n4p19 abstract this article introduces a corpus-based critical discourse analysis to explore how this linguisticallyoriented approach can be a helpful complement to the studies of news discourse and beyond. it demonstrates how to use this approach to examine how china daily constructs the image of delivery workers between pre-2020 and post-2020. it is achieved by analysis of keywords and collocational network of delivery as well as some of its concordances. findings show that the image of delivery workers in china daily has a shift during the two periods, mainly turning the negative into the positive, which helps the public have a better understanding of this occupation and promote their social integration. keywords discourse analysis, delivery workers, corpus, china daily 1. introduction spearheaded by alibaba, the annual november 11 event, a 24-hour extravaganza enables consumers in china and beyond to access discounted products on alibaba’s portfolio of online sales platforms, including its taobao marketplace and tmall platform. logistics is one of the essential factors in the development of online shopping, whose rapid advance has also driven the speed of the express industry. therefore, the ever-evolving development of china’s express industry not only continues to promote the prosperity of e-commerce and logistics, but also plays an indispensable role in improving residents’ consumption demand and increasing social employment. delivery workers are a new type of employment group emerging in this platform economy, who are engaged in the parcel collection and parcel delivery, customer relationship maintenance, and business promotion of express delivery. there are data released by the ministry of human resources and social security of the people’s republic of china on the national recruitment ranking of 100 occupations larger than job seeking, showing that delivery worker has been in the top 10 of the most lacking jobs for three consecutive years. to help the public have a better understanding of delivery workers, this article www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 20 published by scholink inc. does a corpus-based critical discourse analysis (cda) to explore how the image of delivery workers is discursively represented in a chinese mainstream newspaper published between 2006 and 2022. 2. literature review cda originated from critical linguistics, aiming at analyzing the relationship between discourse and social context, and revealing the hidden ideology in language use, especially in news discourse, which has established itself as an interdisciplinary paradigm characterized by problem-oriented principle (wodak, 2001). compared with traditional discourse analysis methods, cda not only focuses on describing and analyzing the linguistic features of discourse, but also more on combining the linguistic dimension with the socio-cultural dimension, which inevitably can be easily combined with other humanities and social disciplines, such as sociology, communication and political science, and thus has an interdisciplinary nature, which means that the diversity of its research factions (baker et al., 2008). news is a reflection of social reality, and language is the medium of communication in social contexts. the introduction of cda in the 1990s deepened the study of modern news discourse. some scholars have outlined seven linguistic strategies for news discourse analysis, among which the combination of critical discourse analysis and corpus analysis makes it easier to find out the correlation between the linguistic forms of news texts and their functions and meanings from a qualitative and quantitative point of view (bell, 2006). previous studies related to delivery workers mainly focus on the two topics—how to optimize the last-mile delivery and the difficulties (ali et al., 2021; dai et al., 2023) of delivery workers’ survivals and development (liang & liu, 2020; wang & shao, 2018). it has been found that many scholars at home and abroad have made great contributions to the development of cda, both practically and theoretically. however, the research material selected for cda is partial and incomplete, so there are still some criticisms of cda, and much less is known about the discursive characteristics and construction of delivery workers in news discourse. although there are many studies related to cda, relatively few studies have been conducted using corpus methods, especially on the discourse of delivery workers in news discourse. therefore, combined with the corpusbased cda, this study is aimed at exploring the discursive characteristics of the reports on delivery workers from the perspective of corpus linguistics more systematically and more scientifically. 3. method this study collects all the articles containing delivery worker in china daily from 1 january 2006 to 31 december 2022, with a total of 2,192 articles, aiming to investigate how the media discourse constructs the image of delivery worker over two periods and the reasons behind it. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 21 published by scholink inc. figure 1. number of news reports on delivery workers figure 1 shows the number of news reports on delivery workers from 2006 and 2022. clearly, it can be seen that the coverage of delivery workers was sporadic before 2010, and started to trend upwards in 2010 until the first peak in 2020, and although it has since slowed down and trended upwards again, the number of reports for the whole year in 2021 and 2022 is still higher than it was before 2020. there is a strong link between this trend and the events taking place. at the beginning of 2020, a sudden outbreak of novel coronavirus ravaged china. this epidemic is a major public health emergency that china has encountered since the establishment of new china, with the fastest transmission speed, the widest range of infections, and the greatest difficulty in prevention and control and it is the most serious infectious disease pandemic to occur worldwide in a century. the group of delivery workers played an irreplaceable and significant role during and after the epidemic, which can account for the further attention by media and the public. therefore, this study divides these reports into two sub-corpora: the corpus of delivery workers before 2020 (2006-2019) and the corpus of delivery workers after 2020 (2020-2022). the following table presents the general information about the two corpora. table 1. general information of the two corpora data source the corpus before 2020 the corpus after 2020 number of texts 1,194 1,002 number of tokens 935,490 892,764 number of types 37,313 33,225 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 22 published by scholink inc. as shown in the above table, 1,194 and 1,002 pieces of news reports on delivery workers from china daily are collected respectively, and thus two corpora about delivery workers are built. and data of tokens and types in both corpora are close to each other, which adds credibility to this comparative study. the corpus data is crucial, providing an entry point for the interpretation of cda, and cda theory is used to explain these ideologically significant linguistic phenomena reflected in the corpus (baker, 2006). therefore, this study borrows two corpus tools—wordsmith tool 6.0 (scott, 2014) and lancsbox (brezina et al., 2015)—to further explore and compare the discursive construction of delivery workers from both quantitative view and qualitative view. 4. keywords analysis in order to observe the thematicity of china daily’s reports on delivery workers, we used crown (xu & liang, 2011) as the reference corpus, and obtained keywords from both corpora through wordsmith tools 6 (scott, 2014) (see table 2 and table 3). keywords are not high-frequency words in the corpus, but words with a relatively high frequency of reproduction compared to the reference corpus, and the higher their thematic nature, the more helpful it is to reflect the focus information of the corpus content (scott, 2010). by conducting corpus analysis on keywords and words related to them, some discourse information of the text can be revealed, such as macroscopic semantic structure, topic, and theme. in other words, these particular words identified in the corpus are of great significance in revealing people’s perceptions of things (qian & tian, 2011). taking this as a starting point, by using wordsmith 6.0, crown corpus serves as the reference corpus and the following table is about the top 30 lexical keywords in the corpus of delivery workers before 2020 (2006-2019). table 2. top 30 lexical keywords before 2020 rank keywords keyness rank keywords keyness 1 china 9781.44 16 growth 1075.01 2 delivery 7190.52 17 sales 1071.59 3 chinese 4404.28 18 cities 1063.05 4 said 4323.19 19 rural 1050.83 5 online 2594.73 20 people 1036.17 6 express 2304.89 21 alibaba 968.33 7 workers 2236.53 22 products 817.81 8 logistics 1884.30 23 goods 805.10 9 commerce 1763.86 24 rights 786.94 10 market 1738.32 25 sector 774.60 11 companies 1633.57 26 shopping 764.73 12 billion 1419.27 27 parcels 762.77 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 23 published by scholink inc. 13 services 1401.93 28 migrant 705.40 14 industry 1193.98 29 customers 677.76 15 development 1168.18 30 international 642.60 as is demonstrated in table 2, the statistics clearly shows that the words china, delivery, chinese, online, express, workers have higher keyness, and the words logistics, commerce, market, companies, services, industry, development have a relatively higher keyness, which present the background and the media focus before 2020. in addition, there are some words with a comparatively low keyness, containing alibaba, products, goods, rights, sector, shopping, parcels, customers and so on. in the first 20 years of the 21st century, due to the rapid development of the internet and e-commerce enterprises, online shopping became one of the important consumption methods for the general public, and delivery workers, who are responsible for the timely and accurate delivery of express mail, parcel, products and other items entrusted by customers to their destinations, also became one of the occupational groups that people frequently contact in their daily lives. thanks to the development opportunity, micro and small businesses and express service industries have seized the opportunity of the new trend to keep pace with the 21st century. the following samples are extracted from the reports of delivery workers before 2020. sample 1: online shopping, a sector with sales of 513.1 billion yuan or 3 percent of the total retail sales in china last year, has created half of the demand of express services and made china the world’s third-largest express delivery market, trailing the united states and japan. (november 23, 2011) sample 2: the market value of china’s express delivery market the fastest-growing segment of the postal sector is expected to reach 400 billion yuan by 2020. december 31, 2013) sample 3: every day in china, about 16,500 new enterprises are established, and 40,000 people find new jobs in towns and cities. china now has the world’s largest express delivery service market, employing more than 3 million people, who send everything from meals to fridges around the country. (october 2, 2019) it can be implied from the above examples that it has taken china less than a decade to make the great leap from third place to first place in the global express delivery market. all of those numbers displayed that logistics industry was at the high-speed development of economy period. a closer look across the three examples indicates that in the second decades of 21st century, china’s e-commerce industry has greatly contributed to the development of the courier service industry, which has contributed to the rapid and high-quality development of the economy. the booming express industry has not only brought convenience and efficiency, but also created a large number of employment opportunities for the society, especially the occupation of deliver workers, and thus benefited the public’s livelihood. in addition to concentrating on their own work, delivery workers began to play other parts in the society since 2020. table 4.2 is about the top 30 lexical keywords in the corpus of delivery workers after 2020 (2020-2022). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 24 published by scholink inc. table 3. top 30 lexical keywords after 2020 rank keywords keyness rank keywords keyness 1 delivery 6517.83 16 residents 1434.91 2 china 6142.09 17 measures 1405.95 3 said 4454.74 18 development 1319.29 4 covid 3920.37 19 people 1202.25 5 chinese 3429.04 20 commerce 1153.34 6 province 3376.63 21 medical 1141.57 7 workers 3271.62 22 express 1082.18 8 online 2252.66 23 market 1077.51 9 epidemic 2188.53 24 companies 952.11 10 pandemic 2101.67 25 orders 939.90 11 outbreak 2093.25 26 city 934.74 12 wuhan 2044.27 27 supply 917.16 13 coronavirus 1637.67 28 industry 885.82 14 services 1527.77 29 enterprise 884.36 15 logistics 1480.22 30 production 834.47 it can be found that the words deliver, china, chinese, workers, online still have higher keyness. except those same words, attention also needs paying to other words carrying higher keyness, including covid, province, epidemic, pandemic, outbreak, wuhan, coronavirus, services and logistics, which are closely related to the background of that time and accordingly the context in which couriers work has changed. sample 4: for days, the streets of wuhan, capital of hubei province, and epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, have been deserted… while the majority of residents have opted to remain at home, people such as yuan shuang are doing their bit to ensure that the city of 11 million people does not come to a complete halt. workers at logistics companies such as best freight as well as jd and suning’s delivery branches have also been risking their health to transport supplies from outside wuhan. (february 7, 2020) sample 5: the ongoing covid-19 pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to service industries in asiapacific countries, with sectors such as tourism, catering, express delivery and retail hardest hit. apart from providing direct financial subsidies to help these sectors survive, governments in some countries have been proactively guiding local enterprises and labor forces to develop new business approaches and skill shifts to adapt to the “new normal” of this difficult time. (july 11, 2020) as can be learnt from sample 4, wuhan received a very large amount of attention in the early stage of the epidemic. at the beginning of the epidemic, the whole city was as silent as if it had come to a standstill. after the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, a number of courier companies suspended the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 25 published by scholink inc. work of receiving and dispatching. but there were still couriers like yuan shuang, who sent protective materials to hospitals, transported vegetables and daily necessities for the community, and packed and sent luggage for the evacuated medical team members during the epidemic. sticking to the front line, they were an important force in the fight against the epidemic in wuhan. it can be told from sample 5 that the pandemic brought about serious influence to many countries and their people, including the through disruption of the order of daily life. with the first place put in people’s life safety and health in china, numerous workers, whose work can be dealt with by computer or other online tools, were required to work from home as much as possible. however, the outdoor service of logistics during the hard time made delivery workers more difficult to accomplish their daily work, and thus the covid-19 pandemic still struck a serious blow to express delivery industry and its workers. to sum up, it is obvious that delivery workers have various characteristics before and after 2020. in the earlier period, benefiting from the mushroom growth of china’s economy and its logistics industry, couriers have the great opportunity to further enter the society and offer their professional services to the public. in recent three years, their functional role has turned into a respectable and admirable one, for the main reason that what they delivered was not only the basic parcels but also daily supplies to those who were suffering a lockdown because of the pandemic. a deeper conclusion is that most delivery workers fully performed their duties and contributed themselves to the development of the society. in order to probe the discursive characteristics of delivery workers, a further exploration will be conducted by observing the collocations. 5. collocational network of delivery through observing the keywords lists, it can be found that delivery has high keyness in both corpora and this word is of significance to couriers’ performance in their work. in consequence, the word delivery is chosen as the node word and its collocations will be analyzed to explore the discursive characteristics of delivery workers before and after 2020. lancsbox 6.0 as the analytical tool is applied to make a collocational graph network. for the purpose to ensure the validity of data in both corpora, this study sets span between l3 and r3, mi above 5 and collocation frequency above 10 instances per million words in each corpus. in the collocation graph, the length of lines between each collocate and node word shows the strength of them, and the deeper the round dot is, the bigger the frequency of collocate (dong & buckingham, 2018). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 26 published by scholink inc. figure 2. collocational network of delivery before 2020 after the observation of 错误!未找到引用源。, here comes the conclusion that the lexical words above collocated with delivery can be roughly divided into three groups: employment market, occupational difficulty and career prospect. the first group are characterized by these lexical words aggregator, personnel, companies, firms, sf, stations, parcel, services and express, the second group by collocates last-mile, delays, package, slow and fees, as well as the third group with words fast, unmanned, drone and apps. to further understand the collocations and observe their specific context, the following examples are extracted from the corpus of delivery workers before 2020. sample 6: to achieve these goals, the ministry of commerce will integrate resources to enhance the ability of rural areas to upgrade their infrastructure facilities and market access channels. express delivery companies such as sf express, yto express and china postal express and logistics have built more than 50,000 service centers and depots in rural areas, covering 56.8 percent of the nation’s villages and towns. the chinese government has pledged to create more than 10 million urban jobs and to ensure that the registered urban unemployment rate does not rise above 4.5 percent this year, according to the government work report unveiled in march. (june 13, 2015) in sample 6, with the support of national government departments and related policies, the express delivery industry is thriving. in order to accelerate the construction of rural infrastructure and connect its market access, the major courier companies actively expand employment opportunities and create rural courier network, which has eased the pressure on the job market. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 27 published by scholink inc. sample 7: greater supervision of the industry is also urged, after postal authorities canceled the licenses of 116 couriers in the past year for allegedly losing mail and poor sorting. such complaints plague china’s fragmented but booming express delivery industry, where delay, damage and outright loss of packages continually erode operators’ reliability and reputations. (january 25, 2013) in sample 7, postal authorities have taken action to punish part of couriers and improve the logistics industry. some complaints about delay, damage and outright loss of packages exerted an influence on both deliverymen and their companies. it is clear that once a package is on the road to its destination, it becomes vulnerable to even more unfortunate events. delivery workers can experience delays due to circumstances like slow traffic, road closures, or difficult drop-offs. even with excellent packaging, there’s always the risk of item loss or damage while in transit. traffic accidents, worker errors, and other unexpected circumstances can prevent packages from arriving safely, which will pose an underlying threat of responsibility and reputation to the couriers and this sector. sample 8: chinese engineers soon will have a world-record-holding product to offer to express delivery companies: the largest civilian drone. engineers at beihang unmanned aircraft system technology, a part of beihang university in beijing, are designing a drone that will be able to fly 1,500 kilometers carrying 1 metric ton of cargo. they plan to finalize their design before year’s end and construct a prototype in 2019 for test flights scheduled to start in 2020. mass production will begin if test flights are successful, and a drone-based delivery network is expected to take shape around 2025, said zhang shuo, chief designer at the beihang technology company, in an exclusive interview with china daily. (ma 31, 2018) in sample 8, the rapid development of the courier industry has driven the professional difficulties of the courier gradually into the public eye. china’s technology sector and engineers are committed to developing efficient, time-saving and labor-saving equipment to help couriers solve the last-mile delivery challenge. within the next decade, courier work based on drone operations may bring great convenience to both couriers and receivers. from what have been analyzed, we can learn that before 2020, the profession of courier is an emerging one, with both opportunities and challenges. the following figure is about the collocational network of delivery after 2020. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 28 published by scholink inc. figure 3. collocational network of delivery before 2020 as shown is figure 3, it can be learned that after 2020, the collocates of delivery are different from those before. the salient collocates in the graph above are workers, on-demand, unmanned, contactless, pickup, food, drug, sf, zto, eleme, meituan and other words. combine with the special background since 2020, we can sum up: (1) the words on-demand, unmanned, contactless, pickup highlighten the change of logistics characteristics, including delivery method and delivery requirement, meaning that deliverymen shoulder more important obligations and responsibilities during this period. (2) the words food, drug, takeout suggest that apart from riders shipping those living materials in food delivery sectors like ele.me and meituan, couriers from express delivery companies, such as sf and zto, participate in the fight against the covid-19. several examples are shown below for enhancing our comprehension. sample 9: chinese e-commerce and delivery or courier companies are fast embracing contactless delivery to meet rising demand from health-conscious chinese consumers who find themselves staying indoors mostly due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. contactless delivery refers to dropping off take-away food parcels or other packages at a designated pick-up spot in residential communities or on office premises, which is considered a natural evolution of current practices in the courier industry, and could make the service more efficient and hygienic. agreed xiang feng, vice-president of yto express, contactless delivery is more acceptable to chinese consumers and represents the latest innovation in the country’s courier and logistics sector. (february 19, 2020) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 29 published by scholink inc. in sample 9, during the epidemic, courier demand increased rather than decreased. due to the special nature of the spread of the epidemic, courier companies were quick to introduce no-touch delivery methods to meet the needs of the public. couriers also actively cooperated with the new delivery policy, so contactless delivery became the best delivery method during the special period. sample 10: one million orders were delivered on sunday. food, masks and spring clothing top the list for online shoppers, said jin xiang, manager of the wuhan administration center of zto express, “express delivery enterprises are vital for daily life, and the restoration of our company means normal life is not far away.” chang yan from jd hubei branch said that from jan 23 to march 19, jd transported more than 60 million emergency medical supplies, with a total weight of 30,000 metric tons. more than 8,000 tons of medical materials and living necessities from across the country were sent to hubei. “what we deliver is not only food but hope for people who cannot go outside,” said wu hui, a deliveryman in wuhan who continued working after the lockdown. (march 24, 2020) sample 10 tells us that in this fight against the epidemic, everyone is guarding our common home in their own way. the residents of the lockdown zone adhere to the policy of “staying indoors”, which means physical isolation is used to achieve non mobility and minimal contact, minimizing the possibility of potential infected individuals infecting others and reducing the risk of hidden transmission. the couriers are both common people and heroes. in times of crisis, they stepped forward to deliver living and medical supplies to the residents of the lockdown area. from what have been analyzed, it can be found that after 2020, the work background, working hours, and job responsibilities of delivery workers have all changed, but what remains unchanged is their purpose of serving the people with their own efforts. in the past 20 years, the consumption level of the people and the support of society have greatly promoted the development of the courier group, while in the past three years, the courier community has fully utilized its professional characteristics and advantages, bringing countless conveniences to the people and society affected by the epidemic. 6. discussion and conclusion the finding to emerge from this study is that after discussing the keywords analysis and collocates of delivery as well as some typical concordance lines from both corpora, it can be found that before 2020, terms like commerce, market and companies with higher keyness told that delivery workers work in the environment where the express delivery industry develops at a quite high speed, while after 2020, terms like epidemic, outbreak and coronavirus have higher keyness, showing that delivery workers work in an abnormal economic environment which has brought them new chances and challenges. the rapid development of the express delivery industry inevitably brings some disadvantages to delivery workers, the most prominent of which is the exploitation of deliverymen, including low wages, high work intensity and restricted labor time. therefore, the problems of large scale but low quality, fast www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 30 published by scholink inc. development speed and insufficient advantages in the express delivery industry are becoming increasingly prominent. high-quality development of the express industry is also the inevitable requirement to follow the laws of economic development. the development of any industry has to go through the process of quantitative change to qualitative change. express industry development should also follow this law, when the business volume accumulated to a certain stage, must turn to quality improvement. high-quality development of the express delivery industry is to maintain the sustained and healthy development of the express delivery industry is an inevitable requirement, and therefore has a very great practical significance and far-reaching historical significance. to promote the high-quality development of the express delivery industry, it is not only necessary for express delivery enterprises to strengthen self-regulation, but also for the completeness of legal construction and many other aspects. consequently, the shift in express delivery industry from high-speed development to high-quality development partly impacted on the discursive construction of news reports on deliver workers, in which the image construction of delivery workers roughly turned negative into positive. the slowdown in the nation’s economy during the epidemic provided an opportunity to carefully consider the high rate and quality of growth in the delivery industry. high-quality development cannot continue to follow a crude approach to development, but must be problem-oriented to ensure healthy and sustainable development. in addition to improving the quality of service of couriers, more attention should be paid to the protection of the rights and interests of delivery workers. references ali, o., cote, j. f., & coelho, l. c. (2021). models and algorithms for the delivery and installation routing problem. european journal of operational research, 1, 162-177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.09.011 baker, p., gabrielatos, c., khosravinik, m., et al. (2008). a useful methodological synergy? combining critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to examine discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in the uk press. discourse & society, 19(3), 273-306. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926508088962 bell, a. (2006). news language. the encyclopedia of language and linguistics (p. 615). https://doi.org/10.1016/b0-08-044854-2/00716-1 brezina, v., mcenery, t., & wattam, s. (2015). collocations in context: a new perspective on collocation networks. international journal of corpus linguistics, 20(2), 139-173. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.20.2.01bre dai, h., wen, y., zhou, w., et al. (2023). enhancing online-to-offline delivery efficiency facilitated by industry 4.0: a personnel configuration perspective. industrial management & data systems, 123(4), 1198-1219. https://doi.org/10.1108/imds-05-2022-0268 dong, j. h., & buckingham, l. (2018). the collocation networks of stance phrases. journal of english for academic purpose, 36, 119-131. https://doi.org/10.1108/imds-05-2022-0268 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.09.011 https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926508088962 https://doi.org/10.1016/b0-08-044854-2/00716-1 https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.20.2.01bre https://doi.org/10.1108/imds-05-2022-0268 https://doi.org/10.1108/imds-05-2022-0268 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 31 published by scholink inc. liang z. h., & liu, z. m. (2020). the most “familiar” stranger——study on the living status and social integration of couriers in taiyuan. social sciences journal of universities in shanxi, 32(3), 19-25. qian, y. f., & tian, h. l. (2011). discourse and social change in china: taking government working reports for example. foreign languages and their teaching, 3, 40-43. scott, m. (2010). problems in investigating keyness, or clearing the undergrowth and marking out trails. keyness in texts, 43-57. https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.41.04sco scott, m. (2014). wordsmith tool 6.0. oxford: oxford university press. wang, q. w., & shao, w. (2018). the research on the problems and solutions of couriers’ social security. labor security world, 27, 9-11+23. wodak, r. (2001). what cda is about: a summary of its history, important concepts and its developments. methods of critical discourse analysis, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857028020.n1 https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.41.04sco https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857028020.n1 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 119 original paper an analysis of symbiotic relationship between pi and richard parker in life of pi from the perspective of ecocriticism mengyao shi1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, china received: february 2, 2025 accepted: february 20, 2025 online published: march 4, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p119 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p119 abstract this thesis uses ecocriticism theory to deeply analyze yann martel’s life of pi. it explains pi’s fear and early adaptation when they first met, the growth of interdependence over time, until the symbiotic relationship matures and stabilizes. it reveals the interdependent nature of man and nature, the importance of nature’s spiritual comfort to humans beings and the importance of following the laws of nature to achieve harmonious coexistence. through the interaction between the two, antianthropocentrism is demonstrated, criticizing humans arrogance towards nature. combined with the current ecological crisis, this thesis emphasizes the reference to symbiotic wisdom, explores the path of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature from multiple levels, and provides thinking for solving the current ecological dilemma. keywords life of pi, symbiotic relationship, ecocriticism, anti-anthropocentrism, ecological wisdom 1. introduction in yann martel’s gripping work life of pi, the fantastic experience of pi and the bengal tiger richard parker on the lifeboat has aroused the imagination and deep thinking of countless readers. pi coexists with the beast in a desperate situation, and the two gradually develop a subtle and close symbiotic relationship from the initial unfamiliarity and fear. this thesis uses ecocriticism theory to deeply analyze this symbiotic phenomenon, aiming to reveal the internal mechanism of the alliance between pi and richard parker, explore the ecological wisdom contained therein, and provide critical thinking for the current symbiotic dilemma between man and nature. as ecological problems become increasingly serious, literary works, as a mirror reflecting society and humans nature, provide us with a unique perspective to re-examine the relationship between man and nature, and life of pi is undoubtedly an excellent example in this exploration journey. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 120 published by scholink inc. 2. overview of ecocriticism theory and life of pi 2.1 brief introduction to ecocriticism ecocriticism emerged in the 1970s and 1980s when global environmental problems were worsening, which led to people’s growing concerns about the ecological environment (glotfelty & fromm, 1996). it is an interdisciplinary literary criticism method that combines literary research with ecological concepts and aims to explore the inextricable connection between literature and the natural environment. the origin of ecocriticism is closely related to people’s gradual awakening to the ecological crisis. with the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the negative impact of humans activities on the natural environment has become more and more significant, such as over-exploitation of resources, destruction of ecosystems, and environmental pollution. in this social context, the academic community began to reflect on the role of literature in dealing with ecological problems. in 1978, american scholar william rueckert first proposed the concept of “ecocriticism”125 (rueckert, 1978). his advocacy of a “green” innovative perspective on literary research laid the foundation for the development of the field of ecocriticism, and at the same time prompted many scholars to begin to examine literary works from an ecological perspective. cheryll glotfelty’s definition of ecocriticism has been widely recognized. she defines ecocriticism as “the study of the relationship between literature and the material environment” (glotfelty & fromm, 1996). this definition clarifies the core research scope of ecocriticism and guides researchers to focus on the way the natural environment is presented in literary works, as well as the author’s ecological concepts and attitudes behind this presentation. leopold emphasized that humans should regard themselves as members of the land ecological community and respect the integrity, stability and intrinsic value of the ecosystem (leopold, 1949). this concept inspires ecocritics to pay more attention to exploring the understanding and care of the entire ecosystem embodied in the works, as well as the role and responsibility of humans in it when analyzing literary works. in the 20th and 21th century, the global environmental movement flourished, and people paid great attention to environmental issues. ecocriticism emerged as a unique perspective of literary research. scholars recognize the power of literature to shape public cognition and values, and hope to use ecocriticism to enhance public awareness of ecological protection. critics analyze the environmental themes and ecological concepts of literary works to inspire readers to resonate and encourage them to participate in environmental protection. 2.2 plot summary of life of pi the protagonist of the story, pi, grew up in india. his father ran a zoo. he was exposed to many religions since he was young and was full of curiosity about faith. due to changes in the situation, the whole family immigrated to canada by boat with the animals. on the way, the boat sank in a storm. pi was lucky to board a lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a bengal tiger richard parker. the hyena first bit the injured zebra and orangutan to death, and were then killed by the tiger. from then on, pi began his drifting life with richard parker, the tiger. he used his wisdom to deal with richard, search for food, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 121 published by scholink inc. and survive in the vast ocean. he experienced all kinds of hardships on the way. after 227 days of drifting, they finally arrived at the coast of mexico, and the tiger walked into the jungle and disappeared. after being rescued, pi told people about this thrilling and miraculous experience. 3. evolution of symbiosis of pi and richard parker 3.1 the first encounter and early adjustments in the cramped and dangerous space of the lifeboat, pi’s first encounter with richard parker instantly dragged him into the cruelest side of nature. ecological criticism theory points out that humans are in the natural ecosystem and are inextricably linked with other creatures (wang, 2015). when facing top predators, instinctive awe and fear will be stimulated. at this time, pi truly felt his own insignificance and fragility. this fear is the primitive reaction of humans in the face of natural forces. however, pi was not completely swallowed by fear. he began to try to use ecological wisdom to survive. he knew that he had to respect richard parker’s territory and habits. he used the limited supplies on the lifeboat to hastily build a simple shelter, carefully avoiding angering the tiger while trying to find a safe space in the “ruling area” of this beast. during this stage, pi was like a newcomer in the ecosystem. in fear, he tries to adapt to the environment of coexistence with powerful creatures. this starts the difficult adjustment of the relationship between the two and initially shows humans’s exploration of the rules of survival in extreme natural situations. 3.2 the growth of interdependence over time as the days passed slowly on the vast sea, pi’s state of mind underwent a profound change in the torment of loneliness. ecocriticism advocates paying attention to the dynamic relationship between humans and natural creatures. at this time, the existence of richard parker has gone beyond a simple threat to pi. pi realized that in this endless nothingness, if the tiger starved to death, he would not only lose his “companion” to fight loneliness, but also might fall into despair due to the plague caused by the corpse. so pi began to take the initiative to take the responsibility of feeding richard parker. truly i do. i love you, richard parker. “if i didn’t have you now, i don’t know what i would do. i don’t think i would make it. no, i wouldn’t. i would die of hopelessness. don’t give up, richard parker, don’t give up. i’ll get you to land, i promise, i promise!” (martel, 2001) this monologue and behavior marks the relationship between the two from one-way fear defense to mutual dependence. from an ecological perspective, this breaks the simple predator-prey model between humans and animals and builds a close bond based on survival needs. as some ecocritics emphasize, in extreme environments, the interdependence between species will be magnified. this is exactly the case with pi and richard parker. they gradually formed a tacit understanding, and their survival dependence on each other became deeper, reshaping the inherent paradigm of humans and natural creatures getting along. 3.3 the maturity and stabilization of the symbiotic tie when the drift entered the later stage, the symbiosis between pi and richard parker reached a state of near-perfect harmony. pi skillfully controlled the lifeboat and distributed food and fresh water in an www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 122 published by scholink inc. orderly manner, like an experienced navigator; richard parker also put away his former wildness, had his own resting corner on the boat, and no longer attacked pi at will. in the critical moment when the storm hit, pi held the rope of the lifeboat tightly, and richard parker also curled up in its corner. they survived the strong winds and huge waves together (martel, 2001). this scene vividly explained that they had become a community with the same breath and destiny. at this time, the symbiosis between the two had long transcended the dependence on the material level and sublimated to the tacit understanding and fusion in the depths of the soul. the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature in ecocriticism theory is profoundly reflected here. they work together to resist natural disasters. every time they share adversity, they deepen their bonds with each other and become the spiritual pillar for each other to never give up in desperate situations. it demonstrates the tenacity and resilience of life in extreme difficulties, and highlights the possibility of deep dependence and co-evolution between different species in an ecosystem. 4. ecological echoes in the symbiosis 4.1 symbols that embody nature and creature bonds in the microcosm of the sea constructed in this work, the lifeboat is undoubtedly a subtle ecological microcosm. richard parker symbolizes the wild and unrestrained power of nature, and pi represents the wisdom of humans civilization. every interaction between the two on the boat is full of hidden symbolic meanings. from the perspective of ecocriticism, fish is a practical means for pi to obtain energy for survival, and it is also the material bond between him and richard parker. it symbolizes the endless food chain cycle in nature and embodies the basic principles of energy flow and species dependence in the ecosystem. when pi looks up at the stars and listens to the waves, it is a sacred moment for humans to engage in spiritual dialogue with the vast natural environment, a sincere questioning of the soul to the universe and nature, and a symbol of humans awe and spiritual pursuit of nature. literary works are accustomed to using the magical brush of symbolism to map grand ecological connections with miniature landscapes. with its ingenious conception, life of pi skillfully weaves complex and obscure ecological ties into vivid images and wonderful plots, making readers feel as if they are in the story and understand the close connection between man and nature imperceptibly. it greatly expands and deepens the practical scope of ecocritical theory in text interpretation and provides a classic example for ecological literature research. 4.2 the non-binary metaphor of man and nature at the beginning of the drift, there was tension and confrontation between pi and richard parker. driven by his survival instinct, pi regarded the tiger as a threat to his life, and tried to keep a distance from it and prevent its attack. this reaction reflects the common fear and vigilance of humans when facing nature, and is also a manifestation of the traditional binary opposition concept: humans divide themselves and nature into two completely different camps, facing nature with a confrontational attitude (wang & wu, 2014). however, as the drifting life on the lifeboat continued, the relationship between pi and richard www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 123 published by scholink inc. parker gradually changed. in this process, pi gradually realized that in the specific environment of the vast ocean, his fate was closely linked to that of the tiger. they faced survival challenges such as food shortages and bad weather together, and became part of each other’s survival. pi began to fish for the tiger, and the presence of the tiger also made pi always vigilant and dared not relax his efforts to survive. this interdependent relationship broke the simple opposition model between humans and nature in the traditional sense. humans and nature do not exist in isolation, but are in a complex ecosystem, influencing and interacting with each other. humans cannot place themselves above nature and plunder and destroy it at will; nor is nature completely independent of humans and has no influence on humans behavior (zhang, 2015). in the novel, the narrow space of the lifeboat becomes a symbol of the interdependence between humans and nature. it is like a microscopic ecosystem, in which pi and the tiger each play a unique role and jointly maintain a delicate balance. 4.3 ecological insights from the symbiosis ecocriticism emphasizes the multiple values of nature to humans beings. it is not only a supplier of material resources, but also a source of spiritual comfort. on the vast ocean, pi was separated from the familiar humans society and fell into extreme loneliness. at this time, the existence of richard parker became the key link between him and the outside world. in the process of narrating to the writer, pi sighed that in those days when loneliness made people crazy, richard parker’s existence made him feel that he was still alive and connected to this world (martel, 2001), which deeply reflects the supporting role of natural creatures on the humans spiritual level. in the long process of symbiosis between the two, pi always respected and cared for richard parker, which is a vivid metaphor for humans beings to rerecognize the subjectivity of nature. it warns us that nature has its own internal operating laws, just like the precise self-regulation mechanism of the ecosystem. it’s also seen as a kind of postcolonial ecocriticism—an emerging cultural and literary theory—which includes the exploration of the evidence it contains regarding the history of western imperialist aggression and colonization, as well as the lack of ecological awareness (miao, 2015). only by following its rhythm can humans achieve harmonious coexistence. 5. anti-anthropocentrism through the symbiosis 5.1 wisdom drawn from pi and parker’s adventure the thrilling adventure of pi and richard parker on the lifeboat is like a heavy hammer, which severely breaks the arrogant ice of anthropocentrism. the traditional anthropocentrism believes that humans are the masters of nature and have the right to transform and conquer nature at will. however, in the small and cramped battlefield of the lifeboat, if pi still holds on to the old thinking and tries to drive away or eliminate richard parker, the end is bound to be a mutual destruction. fortunately, pi learned humility in the test of life and death, and he began to face the survival demands of tiger as an individual. pi’s inner thoughts, as revealed in the book, indicate that he couldn’t view richard parker as an enemy. instead, he recognized parker as a fellow survivor in the harsh circumstances, struggling to stay alive just like him www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 124 published by scholink inc. (martel, 2001). behind this simple words is the profound reflection and subversive reshaping of the relationship between humans and nature. from the perspective of ecocriticism, this is undoubtedly a key turning point for humans to move towards harmonious coexistence with nature. literature is like a wise mentor, guiding readers to reflect on the arrogant behaviors of humans beings that trample on nature in real life, vigorously advocating the establishment of advanced awareness of treating natural creatures equally, sounding the clarion call for the ecological shift of humans civilization, and prompting humans to re-examine their roles and responsibilities in the natural ecosystem. 5.2 current environmental struggles looking at the present, the global ecological crisis is like a raging wave, rolling in. forests are wailing and falling in the roar of chainsaws, species are extinct under humans greed, and the disasters caused by climate change are like the alarm bells of the end of the world, and the sound is deafening. the desperate situation of pi and richard parker coexisting on the lifeboat is like an accurate microcosm of the tragic ecological situation in reality. humans beings’ excessive development and expansion, like a ruthless giant hand, tear the natural habitats of animals into pieces, forcing them to curl up in small and cramped living corners like lifeboats; once the ecological balance is broken, the chain reaction will be like an out-ofcontrol domino, just like the chaotic collapse of the bloody food chain on the lifeboat. at this moment, humans beings are drifting with nature in an uncertain future. if humans do not stop in time, reflect on and innovate the development model, what awaits us will be an ecological abyss of no return. ecocriticism plays the important role of a sharp ideological blade, helping us to clearly see the hideous face of the current ecological dilemma, and then triggering in-depth exploration and serious thinking about the future development path of mankind, emphasizing that mankind must abandon the shortsighted development model and rebuild a harmonious relationship with nature with a sustainable development perspective. 5.3 course for harmonious coexistence drawing on the symbiotic wisdom that pi and richard parker explored in desperate situations, humansity’s journey toward harmonious coexistence requires multiple paths. in terms of concept formation, education has shouldered the responsibility of popularizing ecological knowledge. through multiple channels such as classrooms and the media, it has spread the seeds of respect for nature and awe of life to the people, allowing ecological awareness to take root in the depths of their hearts. as advocated by ecocriticism, only when the whole society forms a correct understanding of nature can ecological protection actions be fundamentally promoted. in terms of policy guidance, the government should hold high the banner of the rule of law, introduce strict environmental protection laws and regulations, build a strong protective barrier for the natural ecology, strictly control over-exploitation, and do its utmost to protect biodiversity; this is a necessary measure to ensure ecological balance through legal means based on the integrity and fragility of the ecosystem. in terms of action implementation, green technology is like the light of hope, illuminating the way forward, vigorously promoting green lifestyles such as the use of renewable energy and reducing the consumption of disposable products, and prompting humans www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 125 published by scholink inc. to manage resources as carefully as pi on the giant lifeboat of the earth, and realize the grand blueprint of sustainable development. this series of initiatives are bold breakthroughs and pragmatic responses to real ecological problems under the brilliant guidance of ecocritical theory, and aim to achieve long-term harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. 6. conclusion looking at the whole book, with the help of the sharp perspective of ecocriticism, the symbiotic relationship between pi and richard parker in life of pi can be deeply analyzed. from the initial panicstricken confrontation of fear, to the mutual dependence appreciation in the middle period, and then to the rock-solid symbiosis in the later period, this ups and downs process vividly reveals the hidden interdependence mechanism between humans beings and nature, as well as the anti-anthropocentric ecological wisdom contained therein that can subvert tradition. this symbiotic legend in the work is by no means just a fascinating literary adventure. it is more like a warning bell hanging high in the sky of the times, ringing the alarm bell for the present day that is deeply trapped in the ecological quagmire, and like a shining survival guide, lighting the way forward for the confused humans beings. it urges us to learn the profound lessons from the story, reevaluate our own position and role in relation to nature, and make every effort to explore the bright path of harmonious coexistence between man and nature in the vast real world. and by avoiding falling into an irreversible ecological impasse, we can continue to write the magnificent epic of humans beings and nature working together to create and prosper together. ecocriticism is used as a sharp weapon to deeply dissect literary works, and is determined to awaken the world to cherish and be vigilant about ecological issues. it is hoped that humans can always adhere to the sacred principles of respect, equality and harmony in every interaction with nature, and work together to protect the earth, our warm home. references glotfelty, c., & fromm, h. (eds.). (1996). the ecocriticism reader: landmarks in literary ecology. university of georgia press. leopold, a. (1949). a sand county almanac. oxford university press. martel, y. (2001). life of pi. miao, f. (2015). postcolonial ecocriticism: the greenness of postcolonial research. literary theory research, 2, 197-204. rueckert, w. (1978). literature and ecology: an experiment in ecocriticism. wang, p. x., & wu, x. m. (2014). interpreting life of pi from the perspective of ecocriticism. film literature, 10, 62-63. wang, s. d. (2015). re-examining western drifting novels from the perspective of ecocriticism. journal of southwest university (social science edition), 1, 144-152. https://doi.org/10.13718/j.cnki.xdsk.2015.01.019 https://doi.org/10.13718/j.cnki.xdsk.2015.01.019 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 126 published by scholink inc. zhang, s. h. (2015). local ecocriticism: mainstream and concepts centered on the three giants of nature, ecology, environment and related theories. journal of fudan university (social science edition), 1, 51-59. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 39 original paper the use of language learning and teaching material from a perspective of embodied cognition yongchun zhao1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: may 25, 2024 accepted: june 19, 2024 online published: july 12, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n3p39 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n3p39 abstract the use of language learning and teaching (llt) materials directly affects the realization of the function of llt materials, language teaching and learning effects. the traditional teaching ideas that teach what has said on the textbook ignoring the dynamic interaction of students’ body, cognition and environment, which caused physical and mental separation, and affects the embodied experience of language learning process. teachers should change the way llt materials are used to promote students’ embodied experience and effectiveness of language learning in both cognitive and behavioral level. based on the embodied cognition theory, this qualitative study will examine how an efl teacher used the different llt materials practice the embodied english language teaching in primary school. this study also attempts to examine verify the acceptability and effectiveness of embodied english teaching through practice. keywords llt material use, primary english teaching, embodied cognition, experiential learning 1. introduction under the background of exam-oriented education, traditional english language teaching process in primary schools is usually dominated by teachers and the indoctrination of knowledge. more attention are paid to the accumulation of knowledge and the growth of grade, but little to students’ physical and mental state. this kind of trend leads to “cramming” phenomenon, ignoring students’ individual embodied experience of language learning. although many english teachers try to change the style of teaching and promote the effectiveness of language teaching, it seems that they still can not get rid of the traditional teaching philosophy. the role of students’ bodies, emotions, attitudes and experience has not been explored in a real sense. thus, more attention should be paid to the value of students’ life experience and the meaning construction in their embodied experience of english language learning (wang, 2007). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 40 published by scholink inc. meanwhile, the role of llt materials should be sure of a place in classroom ecology (guerrettaz & johnston, 2013). embodied cognition theory emphasizes context, embodiment, and interaction, which conforms to the characteristics of primary school teaching (yang, 2015, pp. 3-10). therefore, embodied cognition theory can help english teachers, according to the learning context, optimize their teaching methods, the way llt material used, and promote both students’ understanding of english language and embodied experience of language learning. because “...the human mind -and therefore language - cannot be investigated in isolation from human embodiment” (evans & green, p. 44). our cognition comes from the body, the body also affects cognition. “in other words, our construal of reality is likely to be mediated in large measure by the nature of our bodies” (evans & green, p. 45). in language learning, cognition, body and the environment are integrated, which jointly promote the development of learners’ behavior. embodied cognition emphasizes the participation of mind and body in experience and in the interaction of physical environment. llt materials, as an important part of classroom environment, should take more interaction with the language teaching and learning. this study examined teacher’s llt material use in english language teaching class from a embodied cognition perspective in primary schools, aiming to stimulate students’ learning interest and promote efficient language learning in primary school english classes. this study also provided theoretical and practical significance. embodied cognition, as a theory of psychology, has been applied to the field of education, and also been a central idea in cognitive linguistics (evans & green, 2006). this study explains the llt material use in design of english teaching from an embodied cognition, which provides a new way for primary school english teaching and a new perspective for llt material research. it also examines how human body play a role in cognition, and promote language learning. thus, this study contributes to the application of the embodied cognition theory in practice of language teaching. meanwhile, it provides some practical implication for english language teaching by taking learners’ embodied experience into consideration. teachers should take develop llt materials according to different embodied experience, and carry out metaphor teaching to promote students’ schematic construction of abstract knowledge in llt materials. 2. literature review 2.1 language learning and teaching materials (llt materials) in recent years, empirical inquiry into how materials are used in language learning settings like classrooms has emerged as a “groundbreaking” area of research. generally speaking, language learning and teaching materials refer to materials for language learning and teaching, which can be defined from macro level and micro level. in a broad sense, language learning materials are all materials used for learning, such as textbooks, handouts, readings, online resources, newspapers, magazines and etc. in a narrow sense, it mainly refers to textbook utilized by students in class (li, 2008). tomlinson and masuhara (2017) defined materials as “anything that can be used by language learners to facilitate their learning” (p. 2). similarly, guerrettaz and johnston (2013) described materials as “any www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 41 published by scholink inc. artifacts that prompt the learning and use of language in the language classroom” (p. 779). these definitions suggest that llt materials comprise a much greater diversity of entities than textbooks alone, which is the narrow focus of most existing language learning and teaching materials research. moreover, though these definitions allow for many ‘kinds’ of materials, such vague descriptions of materials as “anything” (tomlinson & masuhara, 2018) or “any artifact” (guerrettaz & johnston, 2013) leave researchers in need of more concrete and exacting language and constructs for different types of materials. the existing definitions (tomlinson & masuhara, 2018, p. 2; guerrettaz & johnston, 2013, p. 779) overlook the complexities of materials, including how they affect language learners and teachers, language pedagogy, and language use, and (b) focus on limited types of materials—namely, textbooks. existing definitions of ‘llt materials’ tend to be vague and, in many instances, overly focused on the out-of classroom development of materials. based on seven empirical studies of material use (engman & hermes, 2021; guerrettaz, 2021; harwood, 2021; hasegawa, 2021; kim & canagarajah, 2021; matsumoto, 2021; sert & amri, 2021), guerrettaz et al. (2021) define the llt materials as follows: (a) physical entities, (b) texts, (c) environments, (d) signs, and (e) technologies within the perceptual field of the learner(s) or teacher(s); these are used with the ultimate intention of facilitating llt and in some sort of principled way. it is observable that the concept of language learning and teaching material has been greatly extended. not only textbook, laptop computer, online dictionary, but anything that belongs to those five categories and can facilitate learning can be counted as language learning and teaching materials. according to the empirical nature of this study and the various language learning materials the participants used in their study, this study will take guerrettaz et al’s categories as a working definition to explore how the efl teacher use various llt materials in design of the embodied english language teaching. 2.2 llt material use the term “material use” has been put forward for several decades. decades ago, hutchinson’s (1996) unpublished thesis described materials use as a “dynamic and complex interaction of the teacher, learners and the textbook itself (…) influenced by a number of factors” (p. ii). more recently, matsumoto (2019) defined ‘materials use’ as “the ways that participants in language learning environments actually employ and interact with materials” (p. 179). both recent definitions of ‘materials use’ come from empirical research and underscore ‘interaction and action’ with llt materials, though the nature of these remains unclear. furthermore, these vague definitions fail to address other dimensions and complex phenomena that materials use seemingly involves (guerrettaz et al., 2021). therefore, while proposing the definition of language learning and teaching materials, guerrettaz et al. (2021) also clearly defined material use. guerrettaz et al thought “in language learning and teaching, materials use refers to entangled and emergent intra-action(s) among the teacher(s) and/or learner(s) and one or more llt materials, which are precipitated by human participants but realized through distributed agency” (2021, p. 16). in their definition, several terms are pivotal, namely, the teacher, leaner, llt materials, and agency. this definition emphasized the interrelation between those terms rather than www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 42 published by scholink inc. focused on materials separately. thus, it provides a operative definition for the study of dynamic material use. 2.3 previous studies on llt material use foreign research on language learning and teaching material use mainly focused on the use of textbook in early times. since 21st century, foreign scholars realized the insufficiency of textbook research by only textual analysis and began to advocate the research on the textbooks’ actual use. therefore, the research on english textbook has been furthered to a certain degree in this period. for example, tomlinson and masuhara (2017) investigated how english teachers compile and select teaching materials. they found teacher’s principle of textbook compilation, selection and use, such as additions, deletions, adjustments, simplifications and expansions of content. they seldom considered the learner and the learning effects associated with the llt materials. harwood (2014) systematically expounded the development, design, and use of llt materials. he fully considered the needs of learners, and makes up for the deficiencies in the research development of english textbooks. in terms of the use of textbooks by teachers, research in developing countries are mainly focused on teachers’ actual use of textbooks and differences in textbook use. however, american scholars focus on the prevalence of textbook use and how teachers plan and teach through textbooks. obviously, the latter paid more attention on the relation between language teaching and llt material use. also, llt material use endowed the classroom “unpredictability” (guerrettaz, 2021, p. 16). menkabu and harwood (2014) discussed different teachers’ conceptualization and use of learning material in a medical english course by the metaphor of the textbook; similar study was showed in zacharias’s (2005). in one word, their study revealed that the textbook is indispensable in language teaching. in addition, toledo (2020) adopted the random sampling method to explore how teachers add cultural representation in the use of textbooks. the study showed a creative use of textbook. carabantes and paran (2022) discussed the teacher’s design of learning material for their class by adopting the activities in another textbook. grammatosi and harwood (2014) investigated an experienced teacher’s use of textbook on an academic english course, proving that teacher’s use of textbook was affected by teacher’s professional knowledge and students’ characteristics. differently, hadley (2014), jakonen (2015) and rather (2017) examined the effectiveness of teacher’s use of material. also, teacher’s enactment of curriculum material has also been deeply explored (li, 2020; li, 2021; li & harftt, 2018; li & harftt, 2017; li & xu, 2020; li & xu; 2021;). ulla and perales (2021) found that language teacher can act as material writer because they may according to the class develop personal textbook. students’ employment of textbooks also been a research focus in recent years. matsumoto (2021) examined both teacher and students’ use of material in multilingual writing classroom interactions. the study showed that there exist close association between teacher and students’ use of material in the classroom ecology. in addition, in a special issue in the modern language journal, some scholars specifically researched the various llt materials that students used, which include smartphone, land, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 43 published by scholink inc. natural environment, students-generated materials, activities, etc. (engman & hermes, 2021; guerrettaz, 2021; harwood, 2021; hasegawa, 2021; kim & canagarajah, 2021; matsumoto, 2021; sert & amri, 2021). those studies greatly expanded the definition of language learning materials. in the past 20 years, domestic llt material use research has made some progress in theory, empirical research and method discussion (tao & gu, 2020). many scholars introduced research perspectives, such as poa (bi, 2010) theory, embodiment experience (zuo & wang, 2021; liu & jiao, 2021), and the analysis of learners’ acceptance of learning materials, the function of material, etc. some scholars even put forward that students are at the core of llt materials, thus encouraging more research on use of llt material from students’ perspective (xu & liu, 2023). in terms of empirical studies, in recent decade, some scholars have investigated the status quo of llt material use of teachers and students. for example, some scholars found that college teachers lack autonomy in selecting and using textbooks (zhang & song, 2014; paik, 2014; zhang et al., 2021a). by investigating students’ use of textbooks, some scholars found that students are very dependent on textbooks. it can be seen that there are differences in llt material use among the students and teachers. at the same time, the use of teaching materials can also reflect the problems existing in the teaching materials. for example, zhang et al. (2021b) investigated the use of textbook in chinese universities and found that there were some problems in the content, genre and cultural characteristics of teaching materials. other scholars focused on the process of llt materials use. for example, research on teaching material use strategies found that teachers adopt reading, evaluation, adding, deletion, modification, adjustment, replacement, supplementation and omission, reflection and improvement strategies toward teaching materials (xu & fan, 2017). at the same time, the textbooks also functioned as a mediational tool for teaching and learning activities, such as using to prepare lessons, giving lessons, design the final examinations, etc. (lin & zhan, 2015; han et al., 2021). su et al. (2023) based on the theory of language socialization, conducted an ethnographic study to explores the acceptance behavior of six foreign language undergraduates to professional textbooks. the results show that students’ acceptance behavior of teaching materials is mainly manifested in teaching material understanding, strategy use and emotional experience. the results show that students’ individual agency and their interaction with teachers and teaching materials affect students’ learning behavior. the study suggested that the future llt materials research should pay attention to students’ individual experience in the use of teaching materials. in the mean while, the effects of using llt materials were also examined. some scholars found use of textbooks can influence the students’ thinking (zhang & yang, 2023), language awareness (chan, 2017), learning of pragmatic knowledge (barón & celaya, 2022) and writing skills (sukmawan et al., 2021), learning motivation and attitude. for example, the use of video games can improve students’ motivation to learn language (shakhmalova & zotova, 2023). technology, as a kind of llt material (guerrettaz et al., 2021) also exert influence on student’s learning. for example, translation software and electronic www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 44 published by scholink inc. textbooks app have proved to have a positive role in promoting students’ learning achievement (chang & chen, 2022; xodabande & hashemi, 2022). at present, the research on textbook use in primary school is of insufficiency. the perspective of textbook research needs to be transferred urgently from text to classroom, from the textbook object to teacherstudent subject and from the description analysis to practical application (chang & yang, 2023). what’s more, more attention should be paid to textbook practice and the interactive relationship in practice (li & cheng, 2023). thus, based on the above mentioned, this study tries to answer the following two questions by concentrating on teacher and llt material, and the language teaching in english class. 1) how teacher use the llt materials in design and practice of embodied english language teaching? 2) what are students’ attitude and individual experience in the embodied english language teaching? 2.4 embodied cognition and english language teaching in the field of cognitive linguistics, lakoff and johnson (1999) proposed that cognition cannot be separated from the body. human cognition and experience are embodied, and thus name the second generation of cognitive science “embodied cognition”, which makes up for the defect of “mind/body dualism” of the early cognitive science (evans & green, 2006, p. 46). at the same time, they proposed three hypotheses about embodied cognition: the mind is embodied in nature; thinking is mostly unconscious; abstract concepts are mostly metaphorical (lakoff & johnson, 1999, pp. 36-58). among them, “mind is embodied” is its core idea. that is, it emphasizes that human cognitive activities are based on its physiological structure, the process of sensory perception and movement, and the interaction between body and environment. rosch et al. (1993) proposed that “embodiment” should be understood from two perspectives: first, our perception of the world stems from our body’s sensorimotor system; second, the sensorimotor system is embedded in the body, and the body is embedded in the environment. for example, in their experiment, williams and bargh (2008) found that when the subjects got a cup of hot coffee, they think the staff is enthusiastic, while when they got a cup of cold coffee, they think the staff is indifferent. this suggests that body’s experiences of temperature can affect impressions of others, and that the body and the interaction between the body and the environment can affect cognition (pp. 606-607). ye (2010) interprets embodied cognition from three aspects: first, the body provides the content of cognition; secondly, body affect cognition; finally, cognition exists in the body, and the body exists in the environment, and the three is a unity. therefore, context is vital to cognition (pp. 705-710). in short, the embodied cognition emphasizes the embodiment, experience, and contextualized process of the subject’s cognition. from a embodied cognition perspective, designing english teaching by using various llt materials, students can not only rely on the abstract knowledge in the textbooks, but also experience and internalize the knowledge with their bodies in the environment. the present english teaching in most class in china emphasizes “input” of knowledge, but ignores the process of learner experiencing the knowledge. traditional cognitive science advocates the mind/body dualism. in language teaching and learning, the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 45 published by scholink inc. development of students’ thinking ability and the acquisition of objective knowledge are required. although its’ contribution to the traditional classroom, it also causes lacks of knowledge construction and communication (wang et al., 2014). embodied cognition challenges the traditional concept. it advocates the contextualization and interaction of language teaching and learning. students can experience, discover and internalize knowledge in the interaction between the body and the environment (ye, 2015). 3. methods this study takes a qualitative method to explore the teacher, cherry’s design and practice of embodied english language teaching by using various llt material and students’ attitude and experience toward such kind of class. the following parts will introduce the context, participants, data collection and data analysis methods. 3.1 the context of the study this classroom-based research is set in a grade six classroom in x primary school in a city in china. x primary school is a full-time primary school with outstanding feature on foreign language education. english is taught in small-sized class, which is consisted of 34 students. language skills, such as listening and speaking are emphasized in the class. various llt materials, like textbook, ppt, teacher-generated materials, are widely used in the english class; other complementary llt materials are often used because prescribed textbook are usually difficult and demanding. the english class is one hours every time for five times a week and consists of 48 class hours. this course adopts the assessment method of summative assessment in the form of test in the middle and final in the semester. the following table show the detailed information of english class. 3.2 the participants the participants include one english teacher cherry and six students (pseudonyms have been used for confidentiality.). in order to enable them to provide maximum information for the research questions, this research selected participants through “purposeful sampling” (denscombe, p. 34) for efficient information. table 3 showed the derailed information about participants. table 1. information about cherry teacher participants gender age education background teaching age cherry female 38 bachelor degree in english major 14 table 2. information about students participants student participants d w h y x z gender female female male male female female age 12 11 12 13 12 12 year of learning english 4 5 5 5 6 5 english score of last semester 106 104 108 107 103 110 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 46 published by scholink inc. 3.3 the role of researcher as a student teacher, the researcher take part in the class for four times a week. the main task of the researcher in the class is to assist cherry for some activities and observe how the class is going. therefore, the researcher and the participants have some similar experience, and can better understand their behavior in the class from the perspective of both the student and teacher. however, researcher did not directly participate in the participants’ learning activities. therefore, there is both a connection and a distance between the researcher and the participants. such a role of research not only has a certain positive significance for the analysis of research findings, but also ensures the objectivity of the research. 3.4 ethical consideration informed consent was obtained for all participants in the study, and confidentiality was addressed by using letters to instead their true name. in order to address the issue of respondent validity, all transcriptions of interviews and lesson observations in form of classroom discourse were given to the participants to member check. 3.5 data collection the study lasted for one semester. data in this study semi-structured interview, classroom observations, and artifact materials (documents, text, pictures, etc.) audio and video recording of the class. teacher’s interviews were conducted according to the teachers’ process of designing and implementing the curriculum. each interview was conducted after finishing one unit of the textbook. the teacher interview were totally six times. the students’ interview was designed according to six aspects: the relation between llt materials and life, the effect of memory, learning interest, teaching methods, teacher’s body language, games. the students’ interview was conducted at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the semester with a totality of 18 times, every participant three times. classroom observations were video-recorded and audio-recorded. observational field-notes were kept with a totality of 17 time. the artifacts materials included students’ books, auxiliary powerpoint (ppt) slides, and all the supplementary materials used in class. data generated from these instruments were triangulated with each other to enhance the trustworthiness of the study. the following table showed a sorting a data. table 3. the sorting of data sorting of data totality purpose classroom observation 17 (audio-record, video-record, and field-notes), 300000 words in all record the classroom dynamic and interaction of teacher, students and llt materials teacher and students interview 6 (teacher interview) +18 (every student participant three times) 130000 words in all know about how teacher use llt materials to design and implement embodied language teaching and its www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 47 published by scholink inc. effectiveness; students’ attitude toward and experience in the class artifacts materials 148 (textbooks, powerpoint (ppt) slides, and all the supplementary materials used in class) used to provide background knowledge about what and how teacher used them 3.6 data analysis a stepwise process of presenting and reducing the data was followed for the qualitative analysis to identify emergent patterns and themes (miles & huberman, 2014). in the first phase, all of the interviews and classroom observations were transcribed verbatim. the observational data, were categorized into lesson segments on the basis of the teaching activities to capture the interaction between teacher, students, and llt materials. for instance, each lesson was first broken down into segments according to the boundaries of the activities and tasks. then within each activity or task, the observational data, which took the form of classroom discourse, were categorized under several themes, such as learning vocabulary from shopping activities, practice listening via video materials, and speaking by telling about their daily life, sharing interesting story, etc. all of the artifact materials were categorized according to the lesson segments and further analyzed to provide readers with the background of what students did with those materials. the thick description of all data sources was employed to provide readers a much fuller picture of what is happening inside the classroom, which will in turn reinforce the trustworthiness of this study. in the second phase, with the help of qualitative data analysis (qda) computer software nvivo 19, researcher read the original data repeatedly word for word, carefully ponder the meaning of the data, mark the data chunks, and try not to be interfered with by preset speculation during the analysis, so as to form a first-level coding. on this basis, researcher sought internal relationship between the various relevant elements, and summarize the relationship between the elements to form a second-level coding. finally, through continuous comparison, further extraction of topic is summarized to form a third-level coding. 4. findings after analyzed the data, several findings are summarized. and some examples given below have been shared because they indicated how the teacher use llt materials to guide students’ language learning. 4.1 using multiple llt materials to design learning activities cherry paid attention to the lead-in activities and used various llt materials to awaken the students’ bodies and arouse their interest to the topic will be learned. after analyzed the data, it is found that common materials used for lead-in activities include games, stories, songs, reappearance of scene, life www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 48 published by scholink inc. experience, video, etc. cherry chose different materials to lead in according to different unit themes. the following is an example for lead-in activities: example 1: sing a song: transportation song cherry: before class, we listen to an english song. all of us stand up and clap our hands to follow the song. if you know the song, you can clap hand by yourself; if you don’t know. don’t worry. you can do with me. (all the students stand up and move their bodies with the music under the guidance of the teacher). lead in the topic by showing pictures of various vehicles. teacher: here are some pictures in the ppt. let’ have a guess what we will learn! (...then ask the students to recall those vehicles according to their daily experience.) (field notes 6excerpt) the lead-in activities focused on the movement of the body, which a relaxed and pleasant classroom atmosphere. in addition, the song is closely related to the topic of the lesson, which can attract students’ attention to the class and arouse students’ interest in learning. embodied cognition theory believes that cognition related to body experience in environment. due to the limitations of classroom, teachers cannot lead students to visit those vehicles. therefore, the teacher uses the combination of music and pictures to create certain context, arouse students’ imagination, give students good sensory experience. then, the topic of lesson was led in naturally according to their actual life. 4.2 emphasizing learners’ experience in language teaching some objects were used in the class to show what the new words mean, especially when the nouns were learned. example 2: ...when words of vegetable, like onion, tomato, the teacher takes out a tomato and an onions, asking what’s this? ... because many students cannot pronounce the word “a” properly, the teacher shapes his hand into a trumpet shape and makes a sound similar to “ah” so that the students can remember how to pronounce it. ... the teacher showed tomatoes of different colors and sizes on the courseware to let students understand the relevant descriptions. “tomato, tomatoes, i like tomatoes” ... the students do actions while reading. (field notes 10-excerpt) when teaching new words, the teacher uses concrete objects instead of pictures to give students an intuitive and real feeling. she also enables students to master the pronunciation and structure of single words by tapping the beat with the hand, spelling words in the air, and dividing syllables with different colors. through embodied imitation such as gestures and expressions, the teacher establishes the sound, shape and meaning of words in images. those objects act as visual llt materials, which provide learners embodied and authentic experience. example 3: ...i first played a video for students to watch carefully, and then showed the sentence pattern template of the dialogue.... they were asked to create dialogues according to the video and the template, role-playing the seller and customer, and use the goods i prepared to display and communicate in groups... (cherry’s interview 3-excerpt) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 49 published by scholink inc. embodied cognition theory emphasizes embodied experience. teachers use role-play games to create the scene of shopping for students to experience, perceive and communicate. what’s more, the scene of shopping comes from daily life experience. in this way, students can develop their ability to listen, speak and think independently in class, and experience the process of language learning in daily life context. 4.3 students’ attitude toward the embodied language teaching after analysis of observation data and interview, three participants show a positive attitude toward the embodied language teaching, especially those colorful llt materials used; and three students expressed their negative attitude. the following examples are excerpts from interview data to illustrate their attitude toward role-play games. example 4: “... i don’t like the role-playing games very much... it looks like a dialogue practice in the textbook...sometimes i feel it difficult to have dialogue with partner because the i don’t know what’s english expression of the objects prepared by teacher... also, i am worried whether my english grade can be improved... (w’s interview 3excerpt). example 5: “...there are something i think very interesting. cherry takes out an onion when she explains the word “onion”. when i was in grade four, the english teacher had just taught us how to read and spell the words...also i like the role-playing games arranged by the teacher in class...dialogue exercises in the book, we usually read it. i feel boring when i just read it... but now we play the games in the class by some other objects prepared by the teacher... (y’s interview 3-excerpt). from the above example, it can be found that students’ different attitude toward using multiple materials for embodied teaching activities. positively, it has been illustrated that embodied teaching activities can effectively improve their interest and confidence. however, negative attitude indicates that some practical problems. firstly, students still feel pressure in independent oral practice--role-play games. secondly, the llt materials used are problematic because its’ corresponding english expression is difficult. third, its effectiveness is doubted. this suggests that there are still problems with the way teachers use materials for language teaching. it cannot take into account every student. effective measures should be taken to avoid it in the future embodied teaching design. 5. conclusion after the practice of using various llt materials for embodied english teaching in primary school, through analysis of classroom observation, artifacts, and interview with seven participants, there are three finding. firstly, teacher used various kind of llt materials to in english language teaching, including songs, video, picture, objects, games, environment to teaching english. the similar results were also find in previous studies (engman & hermes, 2021; guerrettaz, 2021; harwood, 2021; hasegawa, 2021; kim & canagarajah, 2021; matsumoto, 2021; sert & amri, 2021), which echoed guerrettaz et al.’s (2021) definition of language learning and teaching materials. second, teacher emphasized learners’ embodied experience of learning language when using those llt materials. using llt material from a embodied cognition perspective can activate static knowledge into students’ learning experience (zuo & wang, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 50 published by scholink inc. 2021). third, the current practice is still problematic. because of the particularity of individual students, it is difficult to take every student into consideration. what’s more, because of the exam-oriented education, there are still some practical problems. meanwhile, there are some limitations in this study. first, the application of the embodied cognition theory is superficial. second, this study takes a qualitative method to investigates the teacher’ way to use various llt materials to design embodied language teaching and students’ embodied experience in learning, leaving the effectiveness of embodied language teaching unexplored. the future study can take a quantitative method to verify its practical effectiveness. in sum, although exploratory in nature, it also hopes to provide some suggestions for research on llt material use and primary english teaching and learning. references barón, j., & celaya, m. l. 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(2021). from cognition to experience: embodied transition in the use of elementaryand secondary school textbooks. journal of the chinese society of education, 3, 6670. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1162548 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11230-1 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 191 original paper an study on the annotation of the translation of culturalloaded words in chinese idiom stories han chang1* & ma yongliang1 1 school of foreign languages, hebei university of technology, tianjin, china * han chang, school of foreign languages, hebei university of technology, tianjin, 300401, china, email: hc_hanchang@163.com received: may 17, 2023 accepted: june 1, 2023 online published: june 19, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p191 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p191 abstract chinese idiom stories is concerning traditional chinese literature, which consists of plenty of culturalloaded words. regarding the relevant classification, the culture-loaded words in source text are grouped into six types. by exploring the annotation of cultural-loaded words in translation, this paper presents three types of methods and three principles of annotation. to begin with, the author provides an overview of domestic and foreign research on annotation. in addition, the author analyses various definitions of cultural-loaded words and classification standards, and outlines his own classification standard. last but not least, the author cites some examples for analysis and draws out the methods and principles of annotation. keywords annotation, cultural-loaded words, idiom translation 1. introduction there is no time to waste in promoting chinese excellent traditional culture in the atmosphere of “chinese culture going global”. chinese idiom stories refers to traditional chinese literature and features numerous cultural-loaded words which encompass social life, culture, and education as well as traditional customs. to reflecting the profound linguistic and cultural context of the source language, the author should add annotations to the translation to supplement the cultural background and connotation of the original text where compensation of information is needed, and culture-loaded words are a typical representative. the paper explores the annotations in the translation of cultural-loaded words in chinese idiom stories with a view to helping readers better understand traditional chinese culture. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 192 published by scholink inc. 2. research on annotation thick translation formally proposed that “to contextualize translation, it is necessary to add notes or commentaries to the translation”. before that, “annotation” had already attracted the research and attention of scholars at home and abroad. no matter which two languages are transformed, due to different cultural backgrounds and language differences, there must has untranslatability in interpreting. annotation is one of the means to resolve this issue. 2.1 foreign research on annotation in the early period of foreign research on annotation, the main method is “concrete text plus annotation”. hron (1997) believed that when translating proper nouns in poetry, “in-text explanation”, namely footnote, can be used for explanation. in detailing the experience of translating poetry, bishop (2000) mentioned that apart from the poem itself, it is indispensable for translators to explicate the background information of the poem in the preface, footnotes, and endnotes to assist the reader in understanding the translation. osborn (1982) studied the annotations in the robert bratcher translation of the old testament, classifying them into nine categories, such as text annotations, translation notes, and language notes. he also explored the influence of genre and readership on the annotations. made a systematic description of the vision, a collection of english poems translated by h.f. cary, crisafulli (1999) found that cary had employed the strategy of adaptation and added explanatory information in the footnotes to make the translation more fluent. in the later stage, the textual transmissibility and function of annotations are studied by establishing translation corpora or investigating the translation. varney (2008) established a corpus of annotations from english and american novels translated into spanish from 1945 to 2005. the research showed that the cultural differences in the original works were gradually lost, and the acceptability of the translation was gradually enhanced with the cross-cultural consistency between the source language culture and the target language culture. after a systematic survey of annotations in finnish novels translation between 1870 and 1929, paloposki (2010) discovered that firstly, translation annotations are widely used in all kinds of literature which have been a widespread translation method; secondly, either translators make supplementary explanations to the original works or deliver different opinions in annotations, which fully demonstrates the translator’s autonomy. to sum up, the foreign studies of annotations focus on the practical study of its application in two aspects, one is an overview of the translation of notes in a historical period or a country, and the other is a specific case study. 2.2 domestic research on annotation the research on annotation in china was dated from in the 1980s. most of the early studies on annotation were concerned with summarizing and compiling the experience of annotation, including types of annotation and principles of annotation. yuan kejia (1984) yuan kejia (1984), zhou weixin (1985), liu shujuan (2008) and li silong (2003) all approached the study from the perspective of annotation types. as to what the reader needs, yuan kejia put forward fourteen essential types of annotations. depending www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 193 published by scholink inc. on the annotation contents, zhou weixin listed eight kinds of annotation: annotations of allusion, annotations of cause, annotations of transliteration, annotations of meaning, annotations of outcome, retelling notes, associative notes, and comparative notes. in accordance with the position of the annotations, both liu shujuan and li silong classified annotations into three kinds: annotations in the sentences, after the sentences and after the texts. fang mengzhi (1993) and yuan lizhuang (2004) studied the purpose and necessity of annotation. they outlined the three major purposes of annotation in translation and the five situations that need to be annotated. yuan kejia (1984) and cao minglun (2005) both conducted their studies on annotation principles. each of them had proposed six principles of annotation. to some extent, their principles happen to coincide with each other. they all lay stress on the following points. the first is that the annotation should be aimed at the needs of the reader. the second is that the number of words in annotations should be reasonable. the third is the position of the annotation should be convenient for the reader. the fourth is the content of the annotation should be objective. the study of annotation is inseparable from the text. so the later studies on annotation are combined with various types of texts, ranging from literary translation, political literature translation, historical text translation to subtitle translation. hu zhixuan (1980), wu jianguo (1985), wang zhongliang (1991), zou qi (2005), deng xiaoling (2004) and gao liuxin (2014) researched annotation, annotation issues and annotation principles in literary translation. shen hui (2016), liu simeng (2016), li zhifen (2018) and he xueqing (2019) studied the application of annotation in historical texts. zhang qian (2015), shu yang (2018) and zhou li (2021) investigated the application of annotation in political documents. the application of annotation in subtitle translation is studied by sun yinfeng (2007), tian huadong (2015) and qiu lili (2014). in addition, annotation has been researched from different theoretical perspectives, such as relevance theory, skopos theory, thick translation, reception theory, and paratext theory. among them, more studies have been conducted on annotation from thick translation and paratextual theory. wang xueming, yang zi (2012), lin jiaxin and xu kunpei (2022) summarized the types and functions of annotations in classical books from the perspective of sub-text theory, which pioneers a new perspective for the study of annotation. cao lijuan, ren chaoying (2014), wu jiachen (2020), chen yingchao (2021), and zhu hongyi yin jiarun（2023）studied the annotations in culture-loaded words under thick translation. in conclusion, the domestic study of annotation has shifted from the integration of experience to practical cases and more comprehensive understandings of annotation from a pluralistic theoretical and multifaceted professional perspective. recently, the study of annotation in culture-loaded words has increasingly captured the attention of scholars under the perspective of thick translation. 2.3 research on culture-loaded words there are two parts in this section. one is the definition of culture-loaded words. the other is the classification standard of culture-loaded words. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 194 published by scholink inc. 2.3.1 the definition of culture-loaded words xu guozhang was the first to propose the “culture-loaded words” in english. culture-loaded words which is also known as culture-gapped words have been defined by different scholars. baker’s definition of culture-loaded words is like that of bao huinan and bao ang. they believed that culture-loaded words are found in the source language, but there is no “equivalent” or “counterpart” in the target language. bao huinan and bao ang also claimed that cultural-loaded words are lexical gap which occurs on the grounds of the variability of different cultures. in the view of liao qiyi, culture-loaded words are words, phrases and idioms that symbolize things specific to a certain culture. they reflect the unique ways of activities that specific nationalities have gradually accumulated in the long history and are different from other ethnic groups. in contrast, wang bingqin regarded the culturalloaded words as a cultural phenomenon that is inherent in a particular culture. this phenomenon also cannot be comprehended or embraced by foreigners and is liable to be misunderstood or create a cultural gap in other cultures. in summary, the author believes that the cultural load word is the cultural phenomenon specific to the nation which can be embodied in any form without being limited to the form of a word or phrase. 2.3.2 the classifications of culture-loaded words culture-loaded words have different classification criteria. the first classification is guided by the cultural view proposed by eugene nida. nida held that translation problems are related to equivalence which can be dealt with under the classification of ecological culture, material culture, social culture, religious culture, and language culture. he reminded translators to be aware of cultural factors. accordingly, cultural-loaded words can be distinguished into five categories, ecological culture-loaded words, material culture-loaded words, social culture-loaded words, religious culture-loaded words, and language culture-loaded words. zhang jingfeng, geng xiaochao, he weiwei, zhang xiaoshi and shi ruifang all agreed that this classification is reasonable. additionally, on the basis of nida’s classification, zhang jingfeng developed his own standards, that is, economic cultural-loaded words, material culturalloaded words, social culture-loaded words, conceptual culture-loaded words, and language cultureloaded words. the second classification is based on the correspondence between the two languages proposed by deng yanchang and liu runqing. under this classification, cultural-loaded words are categorized into four groups. the first are words that have no correspondence between the two languages. the second are words that convey the same meaning in both language thick translation with different connotations. the third are such words which have a variety of expressions in one language with a slightly different meaning and a single expression in the other language. the forth are those that contain approximately the same basic meaning in both languages but may vary in derived meanings. the third is that taking the cultural connotation of words as the classification standard came up with by wang rongpei. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 195 published by scholink inc. the fourth is that lian shuneng classifies the culture-loaded words into 26 kinds which encompass all aspects of life and culture and embody different cultural connotations. the fifth is the seven categories into which wang dechun classified chinese culture-loaded words. the first category is the words that can describe something typical of our country. these words lack corresponding equivalents in foreign languages. the second category is the words with special national culture. the third category is words with special historical and cultural background, which are associated with historical allusions. the fourth is national vocabularies and idioms covering set phrases, proverbs, sayings, and two-part allegorical saying. the fifth category is phatic communion. the sixth category is the name with rhetorical meaning. in conclusion, the classification criteria of various scholars are all worthy of reference. nida’s classification standards are more comprehensive and unified. in practical research, we can blend the other’s classification into naida’s, which can lead to more comprehensive and insightful findings. the first one can be combined with the fifth one for studying chinese culture-loaded words. the third one can be merged with the first one when studying english cultural load words. the author sorted these cultural-loaded items into six categories depending on predecessor’s research. they are political culturalloaded words, social cultural-loaded words, material cultural-loaded words, language cultural-loaded words, spiritual cultural-loaded words, and ecological cultural-loaded words. as a result, the author combines the fifth classification with naida’s to classify the culture-loaded words in chinese idiom stories. 3. analysis of annotations of culture-loaded words the author probes the annotation in the translation of the cultural-loaded words of chinese idiom stories from four perspectives: reasons for annotation, annotation types, annotation methods and annotation principles. 3.1 reasons for annotation 3.1.1 annotations possess practicality and directness practicality means that the annotation is functional for the construction of the context and that it does not change the meaning of the original text, but serves as an auxiliary means of extending and compensating for the cultural information in the translation. directness refers to the fact that the annotation can be placed directly in the translation where it is required to compensate for the information, making it more straightforward for the reader to read and understand. 3.1.2 annotations strengthen the propagation of the weak culture culture exchanges around the world are becoming increasingly frequent, and all countries aspire to spread their own culture beyond their borders and into the world. translation, as an important medium of cultural exchange, is a vital way for the weak culture to spread to the external. as the weak culture of the source language, there are some means to be adopted in this process. annotations can effectively www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 196 published by scholink inc. preserve the words featured by the native culture, fulfilling both the information compensation of the translation and enhancing the foreign communication of the native culture. 3.2 annotation types with reference to the contents of annotation, there are six types. they are the annotations of political cultural-loaded words, annotations of social cultural-loaded words, annotations of material culturalloaded words, annotations of material cultural-loaded words, annotations of language cultural-loaded words, and annotations of spiritual cultural-loaded words. 3.2.1 annotations of political cultural-loaded words it refers to the notes related to the political cultural-loaded words, which annotates the special period, political figures, ancient official titles, and historical events involved in politics. example 1 source text: 五代十国的后期，后周世宗柴荣，是个有作为的皇帝。 target text: chai rong (921-959), emperor shizong of later zhou, later known as guo rong, is considered a highly successful emperor of the later period of five dynasties and ten states. footnote: five dynasties and ten states does not refer to a dynasty, but rather between the tang and song between a special historical period. analysis: yuan kejia proposed that the explanations of the person should give a clear account of the date of birth and death, nationality, major acts or outstanding contributions, key writings, and historical status. “后周世宗柴荣” is unknown to target readers. it is necessary to add some information to introduce him. according to the principles of annotation, the author adds the explanation of the date of birth and death in brackets to make translation more concise. as for another name, “guo rong”, adding it has other purposes. it can arouse the reader’s interest in reading, further their understanding of the character and give them the opportunity to explore the origin of the name. “五代十国” is a special period in ancient china. some readers may be confused about it, so it is essential to add footnotes to expound. example 2 source text: 在周世宗的群臣将领中，出身将门的赵匡胤深受赏识，被破格提拔为义成军(相当 于州或府)节度使、殿前都点检。 target text: among all the state ministers, zhao kuangyin (927-976), who was descendants of generals, was so highly appreciated by emperor shizong of later zhou that he was promoted to military commissioner of yichengjun (equivalent to the state or prefecture) and palace inspectorate-general. footnote: zhao kuangyin: he was the founder and first emperor of the song dynasty of china, named emperor taizu of song. military commissioner of yichengjun: it was set up in the northern part of henan province in the tang dynasty and five dynasties, which is also known as military commissioner of zhenghua. palace inspectorate-general: it was the chief central government agency in charge of military protection of the palace and the capital city, staffed with jurchen noblemen, comparable to the song dynasty palace command. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 197 published by scholink inc. analysis: in this sentence, it has a political figure and two official titles. in view of the syntactic structure and aesthetics of the translation, the notes are presented in the form of footnotes. the author explains the date of birth and death, and historical status of zhao kuangyin to let readers learn more about him. the chinese feudal system spanned nearly two thousand years. in this long history, the chinese feudal government developed a whole set of excellent official system. the ancient chinese official system is long-standing with rich cultural connotations and characteristics, which is different from that of the west. for the translation of two official titles, the translator describes their functions to make it clearer to readers to understand the source culture. 3.2.2 annotations of social cultural-loaded words this kind of annotation is information compensation for social cultural-loaded words. as humans are the principal part of society, pluralistic and all-inclusive social culture is closely bound up with humans. social cultural-loaded words involve social customs and rituals, historical background, code of ethics, and behavioral habit. example 3 source text: 最后，双方要举行一个歃血订约的手续。(以口就盘中所盛之牲畜血微吸之，为古 时盟誓取信的典礼) target text: eventually, both sides needed to smear the blood（as a sign of oath）, which is the ancient ceremony of taking an oath. footnote: the blood was usually taken from cow, sheep, or horse. in this story, the blood was taken from chicken, dog, and horse. analysis: “歃血订约” is a kind of social custom formed in ancient china. when an alliance was held, all parties drank the blood of animals or had their lips painted with the blood of animals to prove their sincerity. in the original text, there is an explanation in bracket to account for it. however, the author adds a footnote. the reason is that when inquiring what blood was used when taking a blood oath for an alliance, the author found that it was generally recorded that the blood of cattle, sheep or dog, but after searching the relevant historical materials, the author noticed that the blood of chicken, dog and horse was used in the original story. as the needs to restore the true content of the original text, an annotation is required to add to solve the reader’s confusion. example 4 source text: 不久，三十九岁的柴荣便死去了，他的七岁的儿子柴宗训继位，二十出头的继后 符氏尊为皇太后。 target text: before long, chai rong who was 39 died. his 7-year-old son, chai zongxun, acceded to the throne. the subsequent empress whose surname was dou was dignified as the empress dowager in her early twenties. footnote: dou: she was also called empress xuan ci who was the third wife of chai rong. she was chai zongxun’s foster mother. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 198 published by scholink inc. empress dowager: the standard official designation of the mother of a reigning emperor. it generally refers to the emperor’s mother not necessarily his biological mother. it first appeared in china during the warring states period. analysis: the empress dowager was a product of imperial concubine system in ancient feudal china, representing the rigid feudal hierarchy in ancient china. it had been followed since the qin dynasty, which was a social ritual formed during the feudal period. in order to restore the background of the times, the author believes that it is necessary to annotate to elaborate on it, so that readers can understand the social customs of ancient china and appreciate the differences and diversity of cultures. 3.2.3 annotations of material cultural-loaded words it is related to the material cultural-loaded words which exist objectively and are closely related to human clothing, food, housing, and transportation. example 5 source text: 高渐离拿着筑（古代的一种乐器)，奏着悲哀的乐曲。 target text: gao jianli play a mournful tune with the zhu (an ancient stringed instrument). footnote: originated in the chu region, zhu was widespread in the pre-qin, the sui and tang dynasties with melancholic and rousing sound. analysis: “zhu” is a traditional musical instrument in ancient china, which has been lost. it is generally shaped like a zither, with a rectangular wooden body, with silk or gut strings that were played with a slender stick. the instrument is played by holding it in the left hand and striking the strings with a bamboo ruler in the right hand, so-called “击筑”. dating to approximately 433 bc, it was discovered in the tomb of marquis yi of zeng, in the hubei province of central china. the original author’s purpose in annotating the original text with “筑” is to inform target readers of an ancient chinese traditional musical instrument. in the meantime, “筑 ” is a unique musical instrument in china, there is no direct corresponding word in english. hence it is most reasonable to use transliteration and annotation in translation. example 6 source text: 曹操与诸将聚会、宴饮之后，屹立江上，横槊赋诗(音 shuò朔，长矛，古代的一种 兵器)。 target text: after gathering and feasting with generals, cao cao stood on the boat composing a poem when wielding a long spear named “shuo”, a kind of cold weapon in ancient china. footnote: it was normally used on horseback. analysis: “槊” is a kind of weapon in ancient china. in ancient times, it was mostly used in combat on horseback, which belongs to the same category as the mace. it is a heavy weapon and is mostly used by powerful people. for the sake of respecting the differences between different languages, the original author adds a note here to let readers understand the traditional weapons of ancient china. the author turned the annotation in bracket here into an in-text annotation to improve the fluency and completeness www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 199 published by scholink inc. of the translation. to enable the reader to have a better understanding of the weapon “槊”, the author has also added information about its use as a compensation. 3.2.4 annotations of language cultural-loaded words annotations of language cultural-loaded words are linked to language cultural-loaded words, which contain words with national cultural characteristics and literary genres that can reflect cultural characteristics. example 7 source text: 少年时的刘备,就不大喜欢读儒家的经典,而好结交江湖上的侠义之士。 target text: liu bei was keen on associating with the chivalrous from places far from government interference rather than reading confucian classics. footnote: places far from government interference: there are five meanings of “江湖”. first is the sum of rivers and lakes. second is all corners of the country. third is complicated human society. fourth is places far from government interference. fifth is dwelling place of a hermit. confucian classics: confucian classics have thirteen books. they are the book of changes, the book of history, the book of poetry, the book of rites, rites of zhou, book of etiquette and ceremonial, the analects of confucius, the book of filial duty, mencius, er ya, gongyang’s commentary on the spring and autumn annals, guliang’s commentary on the spring and autumn annals, and zuo’s commentary on the spring and autumn annals. analysis: “儒家经典” and “江湖” are both terms that are rich in chinese cultural characteristics. the confucian classics are derived from the confucian culture which is guided by confucianism and has been revered by confucianists and believers through the ages. confucian classics are mainly the thirteen confucianism, which are the basic works of confucian culture. as the progenitor of confucianism, the thirteen confucianism is the foundation of the derivation of confucian culture. it can be said that the thoughts developed in subsequent dynasties are extensions of thirteen confucianism. its content is so extensive and profound, theory that man is an integral part of nature, the principles of feudal moral conduct, and the ethics of filial piety and brotherhood. all these are deeply embedded in the national spirit of the chinese people and are part of chinese cultural genes. one cannot ignore these classics if one wants to gain a deeper understanding of chinese culture. chinese people, no matter the external social form or the internal spiritual construction, are accompanied by the influence of confucian culture. thirteen confucianism, as the source of confucian culture, are also a valuable ideological asset for the chinese people. adding an annotation here to explain the confucian classics both promotes traditional chinese culture and allows target readers to deepen their understanding of traditional chinese values. owing to the differences between the chinese and english, a word in chinese contains many meanings. the word “江湖” has different meanings in chinese. it is a chinese term that generally refers to the milieu in which many chinese wuxia, outlaw fiction, and romantic fantasy stories are set. the meaning of the term “江湖” has evolved over the course of chinese history, but usually refers to the martial arts world of ancient china. while the term literally means "rivers and lakes", it is broader than that: roads, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 200 published by scholink inc. inns, bandit lairs, deserted temples, and the wilderness are all classic places associated with the “江湖”, places far from government interference. the author had to translate it in the light of the original context and the content of the original text. in consideration of the readers, the author also complemented other meanings of “江湖” in the footnote to help the readers understand the profound chinese culture and increase their understanding of chinese culture. example 8 source text: 落成那天，曹操率领儿子们登台观赏，当着文武百官的面，要他们各自作一首赋。 target text: when the bronze bird pavilion was completed, cao cao led his sons on the pavilion to appreciate it. in the presence of his officials, his sons were asked to compose descriptive proses individually called fu. footnote: fu is an ancient literary form which emphasizes literary grace, rhyme and meter. it also combines the characteristics of poetry and prose. analysis: fu is an ancient chinese literary genre, the crystallization of chinese culture and a dazzling pearl in the development of ancient chinese literature. literary genre refers to the specific style of literary works, it is one of the factors of literary form. the reader of the target language may not understand what fu is, so it is not appropriate to simply translate it as “fu”. fu is a form of chinese rhymed prose that was the dominant literary form in china during the han dynasty. fu’s distinguishing characteristics include alternating rhyme and prose, varying line length, close alliteration, onomatopoeia, loose parallelism, and extensive cataloging of their topics. the fu genre came into being around the 3rd to 2nd centuries bc and continued to be regularly used into the song dynasty. fu were used as grand praises for the imperial courts, palaces, and cities, but were also used to write "fu on things", in which any place, object, or feeling was rhapsodized in exhaustive detail. there is no counterpart or similar form to the fu genre in western literature.the author adopted the transliteration with footnote in order to preserve the characteristics of the source language and convey its cultural connotations. 3.2.5 annotations of spiritual cultural-loaded words as the name implies, it is an annotation of spiritual culture-loaded words. spiritual culture-loaded words are the opposite of material culture-loaded words. the term “spiritual” stands for all ideologies, including religious beliefs and cultural values. example 9 source text: 《列子》一书的基本思想是道家学派的。 target text: the basic thought of liezi was taoism, which is an ancient school of thought that dates back to the spring and autumn period and the warring states period. footnote: taoism is taoists use the tao to explore the relationship between nature, society, and life. it advocates that tao follows nature, governing without exertion, and being in harmony with nature. analysis: taoism is one of the pre-qin schools of thought. during the spring and autumn period and the warring states period, laozi summarized the essence of ancient taoism by imbibing the great wisdom of the ancient sages, developing a complete systematic theory of taoism, which marked the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 201 published by scholink inc. formal formation of taoist thought. taoism has a profound influence on chinese culture, philosophy, and art. with the aim of preserving the spiritual and cultural values in the source language, the author utilizes the form of in-text note and footnote to explain the origins and core of taoist thought, which opens the door to a new world for the reader, allows chinese culture to go out better, and delivers china’s excellent spiritual values to the world. example 10 source text: 大凡历史上的君主，承受着上天的重大使命，开始的时候做得好的确实很多，能够 坚持到底的却就少了。 target text: generally speaking, monarchs were entrusted with the great mission of heaven, that is, divine right of kings in the history. many of them did well at the beginning of domination, but few of them could stick to it. footnote: in ancient china, it is for the ruling class to consolidate their ruling position, saying that they were obedient to the will of heaven and accepted the mandate of heaven to become emperor. analysis: “the great mission of heaven” refers to divine right of kings. it was used by feudal monarchs to deify the autocratic system to dominate the people. ancient chinese kings have always upheld the tenet of “divine right of kings”, claiming that the power of the monarch comes from heaven which means that they are appointed by heaven to govern the world. the emperor is the representative of the heavens, so the people should only comply with the instructions of the monarch and not resist. the basic purpose of both chinese and western “divine right of kings” is to justify and explain the authority of their reign. but heaven in chinese (天道) and western gods are very different. the former is a kind of natural deity worship derived from primitive polytheism, and then abstracted as the existence supreme over all deities with the indirect recognition of the legitimacy of other deities. whereas the latter is a kind of natural deity worship derived from primitive polytheism, and then integrated into the existence of a dominant god that is superior to all deities while denying the legitimacy of other deities. accordingly, the author translated the implied meaning in the form of in-text note and footnote to explain its specific meaning to restore the original context and content. 3.2.6 annotations of ecological cultural-loaded words it is concerned with ecological cultural-loaded words which represent the relationship between biology and environment, and between organisms, involving animals and plants, and natural factors such as geographical location and climate. example 11 source text: 公元前 260 年,秦昭王任用白起为将率兵去攻打赵国的长平。 target text: in 260 bc, king zhao of qin appointed bai qi as the general of the troops of the state of qin to attack the city of changping of the state of zhao. footnote: it is in the northwest of gaoping, shanxi province. analysis: changping was a zhao city in the warring states period, located in the northwest of gaoping county, shanxi province. during the warring states period, the qin general bai qi defeated zhao kuo www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 202 published by scholink inc. who was from zhao and killed more than 400,000 surrendered zhao soldiers there. the author explained here, one is to restore the content of the original text and mark its present location, which is helpful for readers to better understand the knowledge of ancient chinese geography, and the other is to introduce the source language culture and enrich the target language culture. example 12 source text: 公元前 227 年，即秦王嬴政发动统一中国的战争的第四年,秦军灭掉韩国和赵国之后, 接着就直逼燕国的边境，兵临易水（今河北易县)，形势非常危急。 target text: in 227 bc, that is, the fourth year of the unification war which was started by first emperor of qin, the troops of the state of qin had destroyed the state of han and zhao and approached the yishui river which was the border of yan. footnote: yishui river is in yi county of hebei province. analysis: yishui, with a total length of 130 kilometers, is a tributary of the southern juma river. it is called yishui or wushui in the notes on book of waterways. the source of this water is numerous and extensive, stemming in the southwest from the western mountains of yixian county. several tributaries of the upper source converge at the angzhuang reservoir, which then flows eastwards through the south of wuyang city and merges with the northern yishui at beihedian into the southern juma river. given the original context, the modern location of yishui will assist the reader in understanding the territorial scope of yan and qin, and preserving the culture of the source language in ancient times, improving the literary literacy of the target language reader. 3.3 annotation methods and principles the annotation methods used in translation can be divided into three types. first is in-text annotation, where the content of the commentary is placed directly into the translation. second is the bracket note, which is added at the end of a sentence or in the middle of a sentence in the form of a bracket. third is the post-text annotation, provide an analysis of some words and phrases that may be encountered in the translation, such as historical background, language difficulties, and translation methods, in the form of footnote. based on the above, the author summarizes the corresponding translation principles to guide this translation practice. firstly, in terms of the content of the annotation, it should be concise and objective. secondly, in terms of the form of the annotation, different types of annotation should be in their own uniform form. thirdly, in terms of the purpose of the annotation, the annotation should be convenient for the reader to read and properly positioned. 4. conclusions the accuracy of the translation of culture-loaded words is closely correlated with the foreign dissemination of the national culture, which serves as an important role in the promotion of chinese culture and the translation of traditional chinese cultural works to the world. in texts with considerable culture-loaded words, annotation is indispensable as a means of compensating for information. however, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 203 published by scholink inc. when translating, the annotations should be properly applied, and the type of annotation used should be determined by the length and structure of the translation as well as the specific meaning of the words and phrases. while the content of the annotation should be concise and relevant to the information in the original text, without any arbitrary additions which may lead to redundancy in the content of the annotation. references aixelá, j. f. (1996). culture-specific items in translation. translation, power, subversion, 8, 52-78. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781800417915-005 baker, m. (2000). in other words：a course book on translation beijing: foreign languages teaching and research press. cao, m. l. (2005). annotations of the translation. chinese translators journal, 1, 88-89. fang, m. z. (2005). interpretation and annotation in translation. shandong foreign language teaching journal, 1, 50-52. geng, x. c., he, w. w., zhang, x. s., & shi, r. f. (2012). strategies and methods for translating culture-loaded words. journal of changchun university of science and technology, 25(6), 111113. nida, e. a. (1993). language, culture and translating (p. 364). shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781800417915-005 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper cry me a dirty river: environmental ethics, water inequity, politics, and the poisoning of our aquatic ecosystems earnest n. bracey, ph.d., dpa1* 1 social sciences department, college of southern nevada, las vegas, nevada, usa * earnest n. bracey, email: earnest.bracey@csn.edu received: august 10, 2025 accepted: august 26, 2025 online published: september 11, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n4p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n4p1 abstract from the outset, we (humans) must never ignore that the pollution of aquatic ecosystems is worse than we can imagine — worldwide — mainly because of greedy, political, and powerful corporate entities. contrary to say about the obvious: we are not really the masters of our environments, because humans continue to contaminate and take from the earth without giving anything back. meanwhile, we pollute many respective locations, particularly our oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams without giving it a second thought. or so it seems. of course, water is life and humans should not take this reality for granted. moreover, we must keep in mind that there is also water inequity in minority communities across the planet. therefore, the backlash toward polluters should be furious, because polluting our waters and aquatic ecosystems on a continuous basis — or year in and year out — will definitely have far-reaching, negative consequences. unfortunately, efforts to prevent, protect, and/or clean-up our waters through government regulations have been undermined by conservative politicians, who are mostly in alliance with corporate/industrial polluters. it should be finally clear to most humans that we are not wrong to want to protect our aquatic ecosystems, as advocated by environmentalists. in the final analysis, it should be understood that it might not be such a daunting task to clean-up our different environments, particularly since we now recognize some of the pollution problems. keywords pollution, aquatic ecosystems, toxic water, contamination, lead poisoning, forever chemicals, microplastics, pfas 1. introduction: toxic water and the harm of pollution it is mind blogging that many humans don’t fully understand what we are doing to pollute our pristine waters across the planet. of course, recognizing and addressing this serious environmental problem www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 2 published by scholink inc. (which is an environmental apocalypse of sort) can help to repair the damage done by mostly polluting corporations. we must also be ebullient and consistent when it comes to discussing what we should do to alleviate our water crisis, even in our own backyards, so to speak. and although “life depends on water for virtually every [biological] process” (“water,” 2000, p. 1725) (note 1) — that is, concerning human existence, it is being threatened by the pollution of mankind or negative environmental forces. this point is important to understand, because water is “one of the most abundant compounds.” indeed, “water covers about 75% of the earth’s surface” (“water,” 2000, p. 1725) (note 2), and to say the least, “water is so familiar and important it is easy to take it for granted” (challoner, 2021, p. vii) (note 3). equally important, “fresh clean water is essential to human survival, and the threats to it are multiple.” for example, what exactly should we say about “the global warming effect, pollution from pesticides, fertilizers, raw sewage, and industrial wastes,” which often “wash into rivers, lakes, and oceans everywhere in the world, contaminating [precious] water needed for human consumption and agriculture and [sadly] killing sea life” (edwards & lippucci, 1998, p. 743) (note 4)? unfortunately, some humans just don’t understand the important role that we should play in protecting our waters. and whether we want to believe it or not, we have an obligation to warn the public about our critical water situation. to say the least, we are at an ecological crossroad; hence, humans must be cognizant of our water problems to ensure that respective governments can provide the necessary regulations and policies to protect our aquatic ecosystems. alternatively, we must keep this water issue in perspective, considering what is essential to all human lives. of course, this environmental issue should be above politics, but it is not. broadly speaking, for humans, our self-preservation instincts, worldwide, haven’t kicked in — that is, when it comes to protecting and cleaning-up our waters. additionally, we must also hear the voices of those who are negatively affected or suffer the hardships and worrisome discomforts of having polluted waters. back in 1998, for example, it was reported that, “a child dies from a disease transmitted by polluted waters somewhere in the world every two seconds — [or] over 12 million a year, mostly in less developed countries” (edwards & lippucci, 1998, p. 743). ecologically speaking, we still have a dirty water issue in our world today. so, how can humans see the big picture when it comes to our polluted waters? perhaps many believe that nothing is as it appears, as our politicians play lip service when it comes to water pollution, assuming that water is just “an ordinary liquid. but in fact, it is a liquid like no other liquid — it has a unique set of properties” (challoner, 2021, p. viii) (note 5), which shouldn’t be taken for granted. also, we cannot forget or ignore that poisoning our aquatic ecosystems can have other unintended, negative consequences, like hurting our general wellbeing and overall health. more importantly, we have to worry about the odds, particularly when it comes to certain human interventions. to be sure, “vulnerable populations” in the world today “including people with low income, communities of color, seniors, children, the unhoused [or homeless] and those with preexisting health conditions — face disproportionate exposure to poor [water and] air quality and [other] climate-related hazards” (“ending epa’s,” 2025, p. 7) (note 6). in addition, humans everywhere must seriously worry about the contamination of our waters, including large lakes, creeks, and rivers. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 3 published by scholink inc. furthermore, “pollutions of the oceans from land-based [polluting] sources… is also occurring” (mingst & mckibben, 2021, p. 416) (note 7), which is especially concerning. in this respect, water pollution, no doubt, is causing ongoing, irreparable harm to our planet. additionally, what is happening is also an existential challenge and threat that we are sadly facing, moving into an unknown future. 2. aquatic ecosystems and environmental contamination there is no question that we need to do something about our worldwide water pollution problems, or risk further damage to our aquatic ecosystems. by way of a definition, incipient water pollution is “when [toxic] substances are released into a body of water, where they become dissolved or suspended in the water or deposited on the bottom, accumulating to the extent that they overwhelm its capacity to absorb, break down, or recycle them, thus interfering with the functioning of aquatic ecosystems” (“water pollution,” 2000, pp. 1726-1727) (note 8). in an ecological context, it should be pointed out that dumping hazardous substances in our water ecosystems (continuously) is a recipe for environmental disaster. therefore, we must consider what is important when it comes to water pollution and the long-term, negative effects that will have on our wet or marine environments. meaning, all humans are at significant risks when they use or drink water that is contaminated with different kinds of pollutants. and prolong use of such water can be deadly. aside from concerns about the poisoning of our water systems, we must be hypervigilant about what polluting corporations and oil companies, are doing with their businesses to further pollute our fragile waters. fortunately, “the disposal of hazardous substances is a source of environmental concern in many countries” (“hazardous substances,” 1994, p. 515) (note 9), as it should be. but their actions haven’t been enough. indeed, there is no justification for the pollution of our waters by different, dirty, industrial corporations. accordingly, “in urban centers throughout the world, where most of the world’s people now live, concentrations of carbon monoxide, nitrogen, sulfur oxides, ozones, and various [other] toxic chemicals such as lead and benzene have risen to dangerous levels” (edwards & lippucci, 1998, p. 743) (note 10), while making lakes, or reservoirs poisoned and unusable. if we sit back and do nothing to sound the alarm about our polluted waters, perhaps more damage to our aquatic ecosystems (and environment) is likely to occur. in this respect, we (humans) must try to heal our world of lead-toxins, particularly in terms of having safe drinking water to consume. to be sure, we must wake-up to the realities of our (environmental) water pollution, like with lead poisoning, which is “a disease acquired by swallowing or inhaling lead, which is deposited in [the] bones” of humans. also, consuming lead, which is a white chemical element, can cause “abdominal colic, anemia, and mental confusion,” as well as other health ailments. in addition, there is solid evidence “which suggests that lesser degrees of poisoning (eg from lead in the atmosphere, from car exhaust fumes, or in [our] water supplies) impair brain development in children and [result in] lower iq[s]” (“lead,” 1994, p. 638) (note 11). in this regard, we must become better informed about what is really going on with the pollution of lead in our drinking water systems. too often, people ignore the deadly consequences of drinking leadwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 4 published by scholink inc. tainted water. according to professor of computer science at the university of illinois urbanachampaign, sheldon jacobson (2024): most of the water we consume is obtained from surface or groundwater systems. surface water includes lakes and rivers, while groundwater is obtained from underground reservoirs…. yet once water leaves such systems, it passes through a network of pipes that allow people to turn on their faucets. unfortunately, aging water systems may expose treated water to lead, a known health risks, especially to [minority] children (p. 3) (note 12). the common myth from conservative naysayers is that there is no real problems with our aging water infrastructures across the united states. but nothing can be further from the truth. generally, in mobile home parks throughout america, for example, “the clean water coming in [homes] can become contaminated if it passes through problematic infrastructure[s] before reaching residents’ [water] taps.” we must ask why? there is a dangerous ecological risk with the water, in such places, because “the epa doesn’t generally require this water to be tested and regulated;” hence, “the [lead] problems may go unseen” (phillis, loller & wilderman, 2025, p. 8a) (note 13), or ignored. unfortunately, “the safe drinking water act” is being (routinely) violated by our (conservative) federal government, because polluting companies are not being properly penalized or punished. so, where exactly is the due diligence and accountability? no doubt, we should also express concerns about the possible, negative environmental consequences of polluting our waters — and other aquatic ecosystem disruptions. similar concerns should also be about protecting our fragile water systems where lead pipes exist. as journalist michel phillis et al. tell us: “in a michigan [trailer] park, the [water] taps often [run] dry and the water [resemble] tea; in iowa, it [the water] look[s] like coffee — scaring residents off [from] drinking it and ruining laundry they [can] hardly afford to replace.” finally, “in california, boxes of bottled water crowd [some] family’s kitchen over fears of arsenic in the [tap] water” (phillis, loller & wilderman, 2025, p. 8a) (note 14). discovering the contamination of lead is the key. and it seems like predominantly black and other people of color neighborhoods are negatively affected the most. 3. health and the consequences of lead poisoning in other words, black communities feel paralyzed in many ways because they cannot stop the overwhelming onslaught of polluting businesses, corporations, and conservative state governments. to wit, blacks and other people of color live in some areas where tremendous health and pollution problems exist. take for example, what happened in flint, michigan, when republican governor rick snyder was in office in 2014. as reuters reported: flint, a [predominantly black] city of some 100,000 people, was under control of a state-appointed emergency manager in 2014 when it switched its source of water from detroit’s municipal system to the flint river to save money. [this particular] move provoked a national controversy and prompted several lawsuits by parents who [said] www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 5 published by scholink inc. their children [were] showing dangerously high blood levels of lead (“michigan: governor,” 2016, p. a7) (note 15). the lead poisoning that happened to the mostly black children was tragic and unforgivable, all things considered. the fate of the city is/was dramatized in the profound and insightful film, entitled, flint, where snyder and other government officials initially refused to acknowledge that they were responsible for the lead poisoning and contamination of the drinking water of the entire area. in essence, when the new source of water was “pumped though the aging [piping systems] network it exposed the lead tubes beneath, allowing the metal to leach into [the] drinking water” (“poisoned water,” 2016, p. 23) (note 16). it was a sad state of affairs; and the grim reality of things, which resulted “in a slew of devastating medical problems” for mostly the minority families living in flint. fortunately, the people fought back by banding together “to expose the wrongdoings committed” by the snyder administration, “whose carelessness [and ignorance] caused irrevocable harm to the lives of flint’s residents” (beresford, 2017) (note 17). to be certain, some people of flint, michigan, will die (later) because of the lead in the water. it is unfortunate, but more people will likely (or eventually) get sicker from consuming the lead-tainted, polluted waters of flint, michigan. as discussed, “lead exposure has been linked to [serious health] problems, such as lowered iq, brain damage, nerve disorders and [much] more” (halaly, 2025, p. 1b) (note 18). unfortunately, “it is hard to say how many children under six have been” affected or poisoned by lead. to be sure, doctors at this time said that approximately “9,000 children… in the area [should] be considered at risk” (“poisoned water,” 2016, p. 23) (note 19), or hurt by what happened. according to pulitzer prize-winning author caroline fraser (2025), “it is pretty well accepted that between 20% and 50% of the rise in crime in the 1980s and 1990s is attributable to lead” (p. 70) (note 20). therefore, without the presence of lead in our world, particularly in our waters, children worldwide might have fewer behavioral problems — and/or mental health issues. they will definitely perform better academically. but this remains to be seen. although many may be skeptical about the correlation, or specific cause and effects, lead is definitely one of the reasons why the health of humans can be fatally compromised. meaning, lead poisoning and human health are inexplicably linked. hence, it should be a cautionary reminder about our environmental future, especially toward having cleaner waters — that is, the precious liquid that descends to the earth as rain, and forms ponds, lakes, rivers, and oceans. but it should be also pointed out that polluted, aquatic ecosystems don’t particularly recover quickly. besides, lead poisoning, perhaps our biggest problem with the pollution of our seas and other waters is the human use of “forever chemicals.” in addition, some other “contributions to water pollution include substances drawn from the air (like acid rain), silt from soil erosion, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, [oil spills and plastics, or] runoff from septic tanks, outflow from livestock feedlots, chemical wastes [often toxic] from [polluting] industries, and sewage and other urban wastes from cities and towns” (“water pollution,” 2000, pp. 1726-1727) (note 21). additionally, we cannot forget that other “outside [polluting] sources, such as airports, military bases and [polluting] manufacturers” (fast & calderon, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 6 published by scholink inc. 2025, p. 3a) (note 22), as well as industrial businesses cause serious water pollution. inevitably, people across the world need to know the negative result of polluting our waters. unfortunately, today, toxins and other chemical concoctions are being deliberately introduced into our waters almost everywhere, particularly in our oceans. this is important to note, because according to professor jacobson (2024), “in some parts of the world, where water is exceedingly difficult to find the cost of water exceeds the cost of gasoline” (p. 3) (note 23), which is ridiculous. take for example the nation of iran, where water is scarce; and there is inequity when it comes to who can get clean water in (some parts of) the country. kaveh madani, the director of the united nations university institute for water, environment and health concludes that: “wealthier urban residents can afford water storage, tanker deliveries or other [water] solutions, while the poor [minorities] will bear the brunt of the suffering” (fassihi, mahoozi & nikounazar, 2025, p. 10) (note 24). madani’s sentiment is the classic adage or definition of politics — that is, “who gets what, when, and how; and especially if we consider the need for sustainability of our water and/or water shortages. in either case, humans will definitely be in jeopardy if our water is undrinkable or not potable because of human activity. undeniably, many humans do their best to avoid the absolute truth about our dirty waters and polluted environments. therefore, because of a lack of water in some countries, like in iran, we must ensure that everyone has access to this necessary liquid resource, even in woebegone countries in africa. furthermore, poisoning our waters with dangerous chemicals — that are long-lasting — is a recipe for ultimate disaster. according to science writer austin fast (2025), “water pouring from the faucets of at least 42 million americans is contaminated with unacceptable levels of forever chemicals…” (p. 5) (note 25). or put another way, it has been “estimated [that] 158 million americans drink water contaminated with forever chemicals, based on [specific] state and federal test results that extend beyond the epa data…” (fast & calderon, 2025, p. 3a) (note 26). the irreversible nature of long-lasting, toxic chemicals are cancer-causing in humans; and boiling and disinfecting drinking water that has been contaminated with oil toxins or forever chemicals will not solve the problems of pollution, or make water fit or safer to drink. sadly, the current epa scraping of ‘forever chemical’ limits is not the answer either, because it shifts “the burden to the [larger] public instead of strengthening clean water laws or holding polluters accountable” (fast & calderon, 2025, p. 3a) (note 27) for their hurtful and repugnant actions. indeed, polluting corporations like chevron and exxonmobil should be held “accountable for the damage they’re doing to people and our planet” (goldman, 2025, p. 2). nevertheless, polluting industrial groups “representing water utilities have [even] sued the epa, claiming the agency did not follow proper procedures… laid out in the safe drinking water act” (fast, 2025, p. 5a), complicating things even more. but punishing certain polluting industries might prove ultimately and unequivocally that polluting corporations don’t particularly care about the spread of ‘everlasting chemicals,’ like polyfluoroalkyl substances or pfas. more importantly, against this backdrop, these polluting companies and others threaten our wetlands and waters across the world — as well as the very existence of humans on the planet. as journalist mariah blake (2025) writes: “in recent years, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 7 published by scholink inc. forever chemicals have been increasingly recognized as one of the most significant environmental threats of our time” (p. 8), particularly across vast stretches of land and our oceans. 4. consequence of a polluted environment/world of greater concern in the long-term is: there are other deadly chemicals that can cause health issues and lingering, eventual death — and such toxins can increase the risk of all types of cancer, including ovarian and prostate complications. take for example a study commissioned by polk county officials, which determined that “iowa’s rivers, lakes and streams are plagued with [serious] pollutants that include nationally high nitrate levels, farm chemicals and harmful bacteria” (“iowa, polk,” 2025, p. 4b). in this regard, we can point the finger at selective herbicides, which are used in farming and agriculture, because such chemicals “target the troublesome weeds and have other weeds and the growing crops [are] unharmed” (“herbicide,” 1994, p. 523). however, it creates toxic land and water pollution from run-off, as mentioned. it is also unfortunate, but corporate/industrial polluters don’t especially like being exposed — that is, when we find out that they are contributing to the almost ever-lasting pollution of our waters, wherever it might be in our world. and it seems like we are in a quandary as to how to respond to those who knowingly dirty our waters. what is problematic about this issue is: polluting industries are the all-powerful villains that seem to care less about the safety of humanity, because they sometimes allow for the indiscriminate dumping of industrial waste in our waters, while relying on the consistent availability of water. we (humans) should be angry or incensed about the many dirty, polluting industries; but many of us hardly think of such matters. however, there are supporters who believe that “concerns about pollution are outweighed by the [polluting] industry’s economic benefits” (williams & bryan, 2025, p. 6) (note 28). yet, without clean, potable water for human consumption, major cities around the planet might become empty, or ghost towns. so, is this our future reality? professor jacobson (2024) says it best when he writes that, the “availability of potable water is a crisis waiting to happen” (p. 3). hence, we shouldn’t close our minds to such a possibility. without a doubt, environmentalists know that we are not doing enough to preserve our pristine waters in the united states and around the world. and when it comes to our polluted environment and waters, we must understand that there shouldn’t be a sort of “black hole,” where not enough is being done to clean-up the mess that we have made to the planet. we must also consider protecting drinkable water, not based on race, or a particular minority neighborhood. in this respect, we should continue to sound the alarm about what is still going on in jackson, mississippi in the united states, where the predominantly black community “have been receiving boil-water notices” for over two years because of pollution in the city (draper, 2025, p. 22). unfortunately, black people in the state of mississippi are likely to suffer adverse health consequences if they continue to consume this tainted water. another environmental concern, as it relates to polluted water, is to mention the microplastics in our lakes and oceans. this is to say that fish and “birds have ingested so much plastic that they make a crunching sound.” what? birds, for example, “on a remote www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 8 published by scholink inc. australian island [lord howe island]… have been plucking bits of plastic out of the ocean and feeding it to their chicks.” after “pumping the stomachs of live birds revealed that some contained more than 2 ounces of plastic, nearly a fifth of their body weight” (“seabirds packed,” 2025, p. 21). the result of this oil-by-product or oil-based pollution is the fear that, “these microplastics will move through the food chain, affecting the health of not only fish but eventually humans as well” (mingst & mckibben, 2021, p. 416) (note 29). so, are we living on this planet surrounded by oceans and waters of plastic waste? of course, having microplastics in our environment and oceans are extremely troubling. indeed, “recent reports of plastic microparticles found in carotid arteries [of humans] have raised concerns on the health impact of plastics in general, and their use for distributing water in particular” (jacobson, 2024, p. 3) (note 30). although water sustainability is also necessary and important, we (humans) cannot fool ourselves into believing that the problem of microplastics (in our oceans) will not negatively affect us — now and in the future. it is enormously unsettling that we can’t get a firm handle on this particular water pollution issue. after all, it’s been reported that there are “alarmingly high levels of microplastics in human brains,” which are even “higher than in the liver or kidney, and higher than previous reports for [human] placentas and testes” (haederie, 2025, p. 1) (note 31). accordingly, as journalist elizabeth weise (2025) writes: evidence is also accumulating that the microplastic bits [are] now found everywhere in our [watery] environment[s] — from antarctica to the amazon — [and] are invading our bodies and have been implicated in everything from heart disease to infertility. in addition, the chemicals used in plastic can leach out into food, potentially increasing risks for obesity, heart disease and other ailments. [however,] the plastic industry rejects this research, saying [that] it’s not conclusive (p. 1a). 5. the nature of the aquatic ecosystem problem no doubt, our polluted waters may impact our future in profoundly negative ways. and all the factors presented in this paper should tell us that water will always be “a valuable public natural resource that may not always be available” (jacobson, 2024, p. 3), because of polluting corporations and other dirty industries. question: do polluters care about the people who will be negatively affected by their devious, unrelenting polluting (business?) actions, like denying minority communities clean water, or polluting the areas where they reside. so, why do we allow these unscrupulous companies to exist at all, while they continue to contaminate our precious waters across the planet? where is the accountability? “sensing the growing desire for cleaner water among the [masses], some within industry” believe that “more stringent regulations [are] inevitable and even desirable” (ross & amter, 2010, p. 105). but we must ask: are they really sincere? indeed, this sentiment remains to be seen. to be certain, environmental solutions are absolutely necessary. moreover, clean water policies by our congress or government are a must, given our polluting practices across the world. this is to say that our politicians in congress must face up to their responsibility to enforce regulations that will protect humankind, while fighting back www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 9 published by scholink inc. against environmental degradation. after all, polluting our waters should never be acceptable. hence, we must publicly confront corporate polluters, no matter what, like the state of new jersey did in suing dupont, chemours, and corteva. accordingly, the aforementioned “companies [must] pay the state of new jersey up to $2 billion to settle environmental claims stemming from pfas, commonly referred to as forever chemicals” (“dupont to,” 2025, p. 5b) (note 32). apparently, water pollution is disturbingly common when it comes to pfas. keep in mind that these “forever chemicals are a group of chemicals,” as already discussed, “that have been around for decades and have now spread in the nation’s air, water and soil” (“dupont to,” 2025, p. 5b) (note 33). unfortunately, this environmental issue might become insurmountable — that is, if we don’t stop the inexcusable dumping of toxins and pfas chemicals in our water systems and lands. but we also have other serious environmental challenges when it comes to the pollution of our waters — worldwide. for example, and for the record, it has been explained that, “the u.s. nuclear industry isn’t at risk of losing access to uranium, ” even as it (the industry) wants to move forward and mine for the toxic substance (uranium) in utah at the pinyon plain mine; but such a plan by the federal government seems to forget that, ultimately, specific groups are in danger of being contaminated, particularly their waters (gruver & schoenbaum, 2025, p. b5) (note 34), which will eventually harm humans near the (cursed) mine. and we cannot camouflage the radioactive waste produced by uranium. furthermore, despite our self-destructive proclivities to pollute our waters and environment, we also have “high levels of naturally occurring uranium [which has] been detected in water samples at the under-construction chimney hollow reservoir southwest of loveland, colorado.” unfortunately, northern water utilities have started “filling the reservoir that will provide water to a dozen [surrounding] cities and water districts” (“loveland, colorado,” 2025, p. 7b). what? should we worry about the odds — that is, that such a reservoir might be a dangerous proposition — in the long term — that is, if humans consume this (uranium-tainted) water? or what might be the unintended consequences? another challenge that should be recognized in terms of water and land pollution is to recognize that “the desert of southern new mexico,” where our government, during the nuclear age, “detonated the first atomic bomb” is polluted. to say the least, it has been “an ongoing nightmare for the people who call the area home” (guillen, 2025, p. 3). as scientist and writer feleecia guillen (2025) tells us: that [nuclear bomb] test, known as trinity, blanketed rural communities in radioactive fallout. no one was warned. no one was evacuated. families drank radioactive rainwater, breathed in ash and were left to carry the [pollution] burden in silence (p. 3). question: how exactly can we reverse the damage to our environment by our government and polluting corporations? or what precautions and protective measures should we take to mitigate the risks to our lakes, rivers, potable water systems, and oceans? according to author, u.n. global compact special adviser for ocean and co-chair of the g20 ocean group, sturla henriksen (2025): “now is the time for bold, responsible action,” particularly about protecting our seas, which “will shape the future of life on land.” henriksen goes on to predict and write: “without a clean, healthy, and productive ocean, our www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 10 published by scholink inc. collective future is in jeopardy.” (p. 43) (note 35). as any full-fledged environmentalist will tell us, we have the herculean task of protesting our waters from dangerous pollution almost everywhere, created by massive industries. 6. conclusions our cowardice, or ineffective track record about cleaning up our environment, especially our waters, should be deeply alarming — that is, to all humans. perhaps even more damning are climate-change deniers, naysayers, and conservative politicians who continue to pooh-poo government policies that might actually help with our ecological, water devastation problems, as many make false arguments or so-called counter-arguments to mislead the public about the damage that corporate polluters have wrought, as if such effort is some kind of political boondoggle. nevertheless, we must not let polluters off the hook for what they have done in the past and today to our environment, aquatic ecosystems, and the contaminated water that some of us drink. to be sure, do we have the will to punish polluting industries? probably not. however, we must face the future in a healthier, more rational way — that is, without exposing humans to harmful, oil-based products, like plastics, radioactive waste, and other pfas chemicals and toxins. more importantly, all humans should be concerned about the safety and well-being of our planet in terms of keeping our environment and water ecosystems clean. even if the arguments presented in this work leave the reader unpersuaded, we cannot close our eyes and pretend that all is well with the world and our environment, when this isn’t true. for some, even “the term environment [itself] is… a contested concept.” that is, that “the environment is a space ‘out there’ to be preserved” (mingst & mckibben, 2021, p. 421) (note 36). therefore, we must be concerned with the environment from “an ecosystem [water] perspective” (mingst & mckibben, 2021, p. 421) (note 37) worldwide, not just within respective communities and countries when it comes to water pollution. to wit, we need to set basic protections when it comes to our waters, like having a stronger clean water act, which should be a foundational pillar for a cleaner environment — worldwide. in this respect, we must make water pollution a violation of international law, if possible. after all, humans (or all people) deserve quality, clean, potable water, as mentioned, where no one will suffer from water inequity, because of who they are, particularly when there are safety and health considerations involved. we also desperately need more forward-thinking individuals and advocacy groups to help environmentalists to fight the good fight against powerful, corporate forces of evil that would pollute our world without giving it a second thought. meanwhile, environmentalists must continue to articulate or pontificate intelligently — to make their voices heard for anyone who will listen. when it is all said and done, we (environmental advocates) need to create an environmental “report card,” on an international level, where we (humans) can learn about “the forever chemical pfas in agricultural fields,” which are “fertilized with sewage sludge” (“oregon, salem,” 2025, p. 7b) (note 38), like in salem, oregon. moreover, we need to take note that, “more than 3.5 million new yorkers are served by water systems” that contain forever chemicals. no doubt, we cannot ignore this “environmental and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 11 published by scholink inc. human health risks.” indeed, “newly reported water test results” in the state of new york “show [that] the highest health risks linked to [pfas] chemicals [unfortunately] were in some communities on long island and parts of the hudson valley” (“new york, albany,” 2025, p. 4b). in this regard, a “roll call” of specific environmental problems should exist in the united states (and elsewhere) that needs fixing, like “the amount of human waste tainting waterways along florida’s east coast.” we must also be cognizant that: there are other [serious] causes as well [as many water pollution] problems, [like] fecal by-products — sometimes seeping from septic tanks, or from sludge labeled biosolids and poured onto farm fields — [which] have gained growing attention as a pollution source along the 310-mile st. johns river and the indian river lagoon (“florida, jacksonville,” 2025, p. 7b). we must also keep our eyes on the lead pollution that is being introduced in different water systems and in respective minority communities across america and the planet. for example, school district officials in memphis, tennessee tell us that, “certain drinking water sources at two dozen memphis-shelby county schools [have] showed elevated levels of lead” (“tennessee, memphis,” 2025, p. 3b), which can be ultimately deadly for the humans (children and adults) living in these particular areas. hence, our governments must eradiate this water pollution of lead by any means necessary; or at all cost. additionally, nations across out world must rid themselves of lead pollution and other dirty pollution that negatively affect our clean waters. finally, as discussed, cleaning up our polluted world will require immediate action — that is, if we wish to save our planet wetlands or aquatic ecosystems for the future. but it won’t be an easy task to clean-up our waters. of course, timing and execution are essential to protecting what we have as humans. further, some might even argue that cleaning-up our polluted waters is more difficult than we might think or imagine. so, is it an impossible, intractable task? unfortunately, people (or humans) across the planet are playing russian roulette, so to speak, with drinking contaminated water. and inevitably, we will pay a terrible price for polluting our aquatic ecosystems and environment. references beresford, b. 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(2025, august 25). usa today, news from across the usa (p. 4b). oregon, salem. (2025, august 22). usa today, news from across the usa (p. 7b). petrequin, s., & wilson, j. (2025, july). europe continue sizzling heat wave. las vegas review-journal (p. 8a). phillis, m., loller, t., & wilderman, m. k. (2025, july 27). trouble water at mobile home parks. las vegas review-journal (p. 8a). poisoned water: that flinty taste. (2016, january 23). economist (p. 23). ross, b., & amter, s. (2010). the polluters: the making of our chemically altered environment. new york: oxford university press. seabirds packed with plastic. (2025, june 6). the week (p. 21). tennessee, memphis. (2025, august 18). usa today, news from across the usa (p. 3b). wallace-wells, d. (2025, august 10). the world is now unavoidably toxic. the new york times (p. 6). waste disposal. (1994). in the cambridge encyclopedia (2nd ed., p. 1175). london: cambridge university press. water. (2000). in merriam-webster’s collegiate encyclopedia (p. 1725). massachusetts: merriamwebster inc. water pollution. (2000). in merriam-webster’s collegiate encyclopedia (pp. 1726-1727). massachusetts: merriam-webster inc. weise, e. (2025, may 15). study: plastics cause thousands of deaths. usa today (p. 1a). williams, e., & bryan, s. m. (2025, june 4). oil and gas have boomed in new mexico; schools are contending with pollution. las vegas sun (p. 6). notes note 1. it should be noted that, “life is believed to have originated in the world’s oceans, and living originated in the world’s oceans, and living organisms use aqueous solutions (including blood and digestive juices) as mediums for carrying out [aforementioned] biological process.” see the same reference and page number. note 2. unfortunately, some of waters or aquatic ecosystems are not only polluted; but even the water that we drink (in some places) is full of certain chemicals and deadly toxins. therefore, trying to protect our world is not some kind of leftist propaganda. note 3. but most importantly, we cannot close our eyes to unprecedented environmental disasters and our water crisis, which will negatively affect us all. take for example how jet fuel “spilled from a pearl harber [hawaii] storage facility before it later seeped into drinking water and sickened 6,000 people… in 2021.” see two accused of causing false fuel leak information. (2025, september 2). las vegas review-journal (p. 6a). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 14 published by scholink inc. note 4. in this regard, environmentalists have repeatedly told us that we must fiercely fight hard to save our aquatic ecosystems and our planet. we must also take significant actions when it comes to preserving our water throughout the world. note 5. according to hrishikesh chandanpurkar, a research scientist with arizona state university, “fresh water is finite, and we’re losing it….” indeed, “much of the water ends up in the salty oceans, contributing more to sea-level rise than the melting of ice in antarctica or greenland.” see gongloff, m. (2025, august 12). earth is drying out; we must act urgently. las vegas sun (p. 3). note 6. bear in mind that a dirty aquatic ecosystem and polluted environment raise the specter of a dying world because of the terrible activities of humankind. note 7. how exactly can we or should we allocate water resources for a future that might leave us in the dust? or will we require more intense regulations and spending on cleaning waters polluted by awful, thoughtless, and disgusting corporations? note 8. governments across the planet are already under pressure to clean-up their own backyards. however, many nations believe that it would be cost prohibited to do anything about our polluted environments. note 9. countries need to implement or put in place more regulations to stem the tide of corporate pollution. the question is: do they have the will to do anything? there is, of course, no measurable downside of being an advocate for a clean environment and world. note 10. it is unfortunate, but polluting industries continue to wave off criticism over whether their unscrupulous businesses are hurting people and the environment, like with oil companies and other corporations that poison our waters and contribute to global warming and deforestation. note 11. we should bear in mind that lead has a considerable toxic effect, as lead is slowly oxidized in the presence of air and water. see the same reference and page number. forging ahead, it is hard to envision our world where we only have toxic waters to drink and deal with. according to columnist david wallace-wells, “plastic is now threaded through the flesh of fish, where it is interfering with reproduction, and the stalks of plants, where it is interfering with photosynthesis, and much else we place on our dinner plates and set about eating.” see wallace-wells, d. (2025, august 10). the world is now unavoidably toxic. the new york times (p. 6). note 12. jacobson goes on to tell us that: “every month, the list of water main breaks around the country grows. all such events are symptomatic of an aging water infrastructure that demands attention, yet often gets pushed aside in favor of more urgent public needs.” see the same reference and page number. note 13. clearly, we must understand our environmental priorities. indeed, we must think pragmatically about how to save every ecosystem and the human population, in general. note 14. we cannot bush off our water crisis and other environmental woes, particularly if there are significant, or potential harmful consequences. in other words, the complexities of our many environmental issues shouldn’t be taken lightly, or for granted. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 15 published by scholink inc. note 15. it should be pointed out that, “the republican governor rick snyder came under fire for the health crisis in flint due to unsafe drinking water and for the financial crisis at dpa [detroit public schools] under emergency managers he appointed.” see the same reference and page number. note 16. it should be noted that the epa or “the environmental protection agency” under a conservative administration, has indicated that “it will defend the biden administration aggressive rule for reducing lead in drinking water against a court challenge.” see epa says it will defend biden-era head pipe rule. (2025, august 6). las vegas review-journal (p. 4a). note 17. we must seek to educate ourselves about the horrible consequences of lead poisoning in our water systems. this environmental issue is symptomatic of our polluted aquatic ecosystems everywhere. note 18. keep in mind that the “residents of flint complained immediately after the switch to river water that the stuff coming out of their [water] taps had a brownish color and a strange smell.” but, “their worries were dismissed.” see poisoned water: that flinty taste. (2016, january 23). economist (p. 23). note 19. note that “after checking hundreds of samples from flint’s toddlers… the lead levels in their blood had doubled or even tripled” — that is, after “the switch from [the dirty] lake huron water.” and wrongly, “state regulators insisted [that] the water was safe.” see the same reference and page number. note 20. question: is there a clear association between the withdrawal of leaded gas and the drop-off of crime, or criminal behavior? perhaps. see the same reference and page number. according to columnist david wallace-wells, “half of americans alive today” have been “exposed to dangerous levels of lead as children, and half of children in the developing world have lead poisoning; one estimate suggests lead was responsible for more than five million cardiovascular disease deaths in a given year, in addition to impeding neurological development and in ways that have been linked to increased criminal behavior.” see wallace-wells, d. (2025, august 10). the world is now unavoidably toxic. the new york times (p. 6). note 21. moving forward, and without further damage to our environment, humans must not cast the fate of humankind to the wind, so to speak, without pondering the logistics and tragedy of our actions. although it might be counter-intuitive, we need more pollution abatement, while giving the planet time to repair itself with our help in cleaning up plastics and other toxins/pollution. note 22. it is as if humans are sleep-walking — that is, if they don’t have a clue about who is actually causing the pollution in every environmental ecosystem: it is primarily corporations. hence, we must try harder to make these environmental issues go away. note 23. jacobson also tells us that unfortunately, “one gallon of water costs more than one gallon of gas in oil-rich saudi arabia.” see the same reference and page number. note 24. unfortunately, there are “periodic water shortage (in iran) over the past few years in khuzestan, isfahan, and sistan and baluchistan provinces [which] prompted protests that quickly turned political, with some farmers clashing with security forces.” see the same reference and page number. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 16 published by scholink inc. note 25. according to a usa today analysis of epa records, “774 [water] systems don’t meet the limits for forever chemicals.” and, “those utilities probably will need to install advanced filtration systems or find other sources of drinking water by 2031.” see the same reference and page number. note 26. note that high toxic substances and forever chemicals will always adversely affect the health of humans. in this regard, corporate polluters must find safer energy alternatives; or it will be to our detriment. note 27. what exactly might be the result of eliminating regulations to protect our oceans and other aquatic ecosystems? perhaps the following: according to the usa today in “an annual report by the surfrider foundation found that two beaches [in honolulu] in the state are among the most polluted in the nation, and that 13 more have unsafe bacteria levels….” see hawaii, honolulu. (2025, june 9). usa today, news from across the usa (p. 3b). note 28. we must point out that, “in 2024, a study at the [lybrook elementary school] found levels of pollutants — including benzene, a cancer-causing byproduct of natural gas production that is particularly harmful to children — were spiking during school hours, to nearly double the levels known to cause chronic acute health effects.” see the same reference and page number. note 29. it should be noted that “scientists began taking note of plastic in the ocean in the 1960s and ‘70s, around the same time the e.p.a. was established to fight dozens of other forms of environmental contamination, often more visible.” see wallace-wells, d. (2025, august 10). the world is now unavoidably toxic. the new york times (p. 6). note 30. unfortunately, “plastic pollution is damaging ecosystems, polluting our oceans and rivers, threatening biodiversity, harming human health and unfairly impacting the most vulnerable,” and in an inequitable way. see mcdermont, j. (2025, august 6). a plastic pollution solution? las vegas reviewjournal (p. 8a). note: a new report by international (environmental) experts warned that, “plastic in the environment is causing disease at every stage of the plastics life cycle and at every stage of human life.” it should also be pointed out that, “8 billion tons of waste clog landfills and create massive floating islands in the ocean, while microplastics permeate the air, the water, and even the blood-streams of all living things.” see can we curb plastic use before it’s too late? (2025, august 22). the week magazine (p. 21). note 31. according to journalist jennifer mcdermont, “between 19 million and 23 million tons of plastic waste leak into aquatic ecosystem annually, which could jump 50 percent by 2040 without urgent action, according to the u.n. see mcdermont, j. (2025, august 6). a plastic pollution solution? las vegas review-journal (p. 8a). note 32. it has been reported that the polluting companies in jew jersey “will split the costs” of the settlement after [the] court approval of $875 million over 25 years and create a remediation fund of up $1.2 billion. see the same reference and page number. note 33. keep in mind that “the disposal of [pfas] waste from domestic, industrial, and agricultural sources,” of course, is “a major environmental concern.” unfortunately, and this is the point: “methods www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 17 published by scholink inc. commonly used include burial in landfill sites and at sea…,” which is polluting our watery environments. therefore, in no uncertain terms, “care is needed to ensure that polluting of water, air, and lands is avoided.” see waste disposal. (1994). in the cambridge encyclopedia (2nd ed., p. 1175). london: cambridge university press. note 34. as historian indur m. goklany writes: “globally, two of the most serious environmental problems are inadequate sanitation and insufficient availability of safe water for drinking, washing food, and personal hygiene.” see goklany, i. m. (2007). the improving state of the world: why we’re living longer, healthier, more comfortable lives on a cleaner planet. washington, dc: cato institute). p. 151. note 35. as henriksen tells us, “a clean, healthy, and productive ocean is at the heart of tackling climate change.” equally important, “it must be central to creating a better world,” with an abundance of clean water. see the same reference and page number. note 36. if our environmental problems are not addressed, we will have serious water problems moving forward into the future. therefore, it is way past time that humans stop ignoring that we have poisoned our various watery ecosystems. note 37. it is unfortunate, but some world governments are providing “false solutions” that are being promoted by polluting corporations and “wealthy countries,” which hasn’t solved many of our environmental issues. to be sure, corporate polluters must be subjected to much scrutiny — that is, if we are to get a handle on fixing our polluted world. see petrequin, s., & wilson, j. (2025, july). europe continue sizzling heat wave. las vegas review-journal (p. 8a). note 38. it should be noted here that eutrophication, which is “a process that occurs when excess fertilizer and nutrients get into the water, [which] can create algal [polluted] blooms that result in low levels of oxygen in the water.” see yancey-bragg, n. (2025, august 27). east coast enduring the sting of jellyfish. usa today (p. 2a). biographical sketch earnest n. bracey is a retired army lieutenant colonel, with over twenty years of active military service. he was commissioned through reserve officer training (distinguished military graduate) at jackson state university, where he graduated with honors (magna cum laude), and received his bachelor of arts degree in political science in 1974. in addition, he received the masters of public administration in 1979 from golden gate university, his masters of arts degree in international affairs in 1983 from the catholic university of america, his masters of business administration in 2009 from california coast university, and his doctorate of public administration (with emphasis in public policy) in 1993 from george mason university. dr. bracey also earned his ph.d. in education from capella university in 1999. a recipient of numerous military awards and civilian honors, he is also a graduate of the united states naval war college and the command and general staff college at fort leavenworth, kansas, and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 18 published by scholink inc. previously served as director of administration at the prestigious industrial college of the armed forces, washington, d.c. he was also recognized as who’s who among america’s teachers in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. dr. bracey is professor of political science, and currently teaches american politics and black american history at the college of southern nevada in las vegas. he was formerly chair and professor of political science at jackson state university and chairperson of the political science and history department at hampton university. he has also served as an editorial board-member for the nevada historical society quarterly. his work has appeared in professional journals and other publications, and he is the author of the books, prophetic insights: the higher education and pedagogy of african americans, university press of america, 1999, on racism: essays on black popular culture, african american politics, and the new black aesthetics, university press of america, 2003, daniel “chappie” james: the first african american four star general, mcfarland & company, inc., 2003, places in political time: voices from the black diaspora, university press of america, 2005, the moulin rouge and black rights in las vegas, mcfarland & company, inc., 2009, and miles davis and jazz as religion, lexington books, 2021. he also co-authored the book, american politics and culture wars (2001). he is also the author of the novels, choson (1994) and the black samurai (1998), and the books of short stories, requiems for black folks (2002) and the big black three (2022). education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 127 original paper the baseline/elaboration model for the constructional meaning of chinese “v1ov2de” construction zhang xin1* 1 school of foreign languages, yunnan normal university, kunming, china * zhang xin, school of foreign languages, yunnan normal university, kunming, 650500, china received: june 29, 2023 accepted: july 20, 2023 online published: august 11, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n3p127 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n3p127 abstract chinese “v1ov2de” construction has its special syntactic features. the traditional grammar of formal linguistics finds it difficult to analyse this atypical and marginal construction, but the theory of baseline/elaboration in cognitive grammar can provide a solution for it. the paper studies the constructional meaning of “v1ov2de” construction based on the theory of baseline/elaboration model. it draws a conclusion that “v1ov2de” construction has two constructional meanings: “cause-effect relationship” and “non-cause-effect relationship”. in addition, it also discusses the reasons why the verb appears for the second time in “v1ov2de” construction. the constructional meanings of “v1ov2de” construction are generated because of the two same verbs. keywords baseline/elaboration model, “v1ov2de” construction, constructional meaning 1. introduction chinese “v1ov2de” construction is a pervasive expression in our daily communication, such as “眼睛 充血, 熬夜熬的” and “上学迟到了, 堵车堵的”. chinese “v1ov2de” construction poses a challenge to the concept of form-meaning mapping, the theoretical foundation of construction grammar. goldberg (1995, 2006) proposed that a construction that has special forms, meaning and functions is form-meaning mapping. a construction has its independent construction status in terms of its unpredictable form, meaning and function. although a construction has its predictable form, meaning and function, this construction is used frequently. the same is true of the construction that has predictable form, meaning and function, such as “i love you”. the unpredictability of forms refers to the grammatical rules can not interpret the form of a construction. the unpredictability of meaning and function refers to the meaning and function of a construction are not a few words comprised of it, such as “what’s x doing y”. its www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 128 published by scholink inc. constructional meaning indicates that someone shows surprise, dissatisfaction and rage. as mentioned above, chinese “v1ov2de” construction has its independent construction status because of the two same verbs. the grammatical rules can not give an explanation to this special syntactic form. the form of chinese “v1ov2de” construction is unpredictable. the same is true of its meaning, namely, constructional meaning. we will elaborate on it in chapter three. there are few studies on chinese “v1ov2de” construction and the previous studies are limited to the properties of “de”. huang guoying (1982) thinks “de” is a cause of a state of an affair. this paper does not agree with his view. liu xueqin (2012) reckons “的” comes from “得”. liu xueqin (2012), tang ling (2016) and chen yu (2021) view chinese “v1ov2de” construction as verb-copying construction. however, there is no study on the constructional meaning of chinese “v1ov2de” construction. in addition, the previous studies have not given a reason why there are the two same verbs in chinese “v1ov2de” construction yet. the paper based on the theory of baseline/elaboration model mainly solves two questions: “what is the constructional meaning of chinese “v1ov2de” construction?” and “the reasons why there are the two same verbs in chinese “v1ov2de” construction”. 2. theoretical basis: baseline/elaboration model the theory of baseline/elaboration was proposed by langacker (2016), a famous cognitive linguist. baseline, a term in computer science, was introduced into the study of language. the theory of baseline/elaboration demonstrates a dynamic conceptual process of the meaning of a construction. many aspects of language and cognition all involve asymmetry (langacker, 2016). the theory of baseline/elaboration aims to analyse these asymmetric phenomena. the fundamental feature of language is that complex structures are generated from simple structures (liu c. w. & liu c. d., 2019). this point is interpreted by the theory of baseline/elaboration perfectly. the theory of baseline/elaboration can totally be a perfect tool to analyse chinese “v1ov2de” construction in terms of its asymmetry. the theory of baseline/elaboration embraces three elements: baseline, elaboration operations and elaboration. the baseline has some kind of priority being already established, in place, or under control and is generally more substantive than elaborating elements (langacker, 2016). elaboration operations refers to some cognitive operations processing the baseline. elaboration produces a higher-level and complex baseline. elaboration operations (e), like a bridge, connect baseline (b) and elaboration (be). figure 1. baseline and elaboration (langacker, 2016) the cognition of humans for the world derives from body experience. let us look at an example to understand the theory of baseline/elaboration. suppose a ten-year-old kid’s height is baseline (b), www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 129 published by scholink inc. physical growth and development are elaboration operations (e). finally, a twenty-year-old kid’s height is elaboration (be). let us look at another example in language, a simple sentence “this girl broke the vase”. the nouns “girl” and “vase” and the verb “break” construct the baseline “girl break vase”, a lowerlevel structure. the demonstrative pronoun “this” and definite article “the” elaborate on “girl” and “vase” respectively. the simple past tense elaborates on “break”. with these elaboration operations, the final elaboration, a higher-level structure, “this girl broke the vase” is generated. elaboration does not mean an ending. namely, elaboration, as a new baseline, can continue to have some elaboration operations. ultimately, a new elaboration can be generated again. so seriality is an essential feature of the theory of baseline/elaboration. figure 2. baseline and elaboration (langacker, 2016) 3. the baseline/elaboration model for chinese “v1ov2de” construction (1) 昨天买了个菠萝, 今天我的牙齿又酸又疼, 都是吃菠萝吃的。 (2) 这本书在哪得到的？收书收的。 sentence (1) “昨天买了个菠萝, 今天我的牙齿又酸又疼” means “i bought a pineapple yesterday, and i have sore teeth today”. as a dialogue and communication scene between the two sides, it activates the relationship between pineapples and sore teeth in speaker’s and hearer’s mind. eating pineapple results in sore teeth. the baseline, being already established, is more substantive than elaboration. so the latter part “v1o 吃菠萝” of sentence (1) means eating pineapples. it is primarily established as a baseline, a lower-level structure, in communicators’ cognition from a dialogue and communication scene. the baseline “v1o 吃菠萝” is processed and elaborated by “v2 吃的”, so elaboration “v1ov2de 吃菠萝吃 的” is generated as a higher-level structure. in the meanwhile, the dialogue and communication scene “昨天买了个菠萝, 今天我的牙齿又酸又疼” is still highly activated. so elaboration “v1ov2de 吃菠 萝吃的” explains the relationship between pineapples and sore teeth. “v1ov2de 吃菠萝吃的” means the speaker ate too many pineapples. it is the reason why the speaker has sore teeth. sentence (2) “这本书在哪得到的?” means “where did you get this book?”. as a dialogue and communication scene between the two sides, it activates the relationship between a hearer and a book in communicator’s mind. so the latter part “v1o 收书” of sentence (2) means collecting books. it is primarily established as a baseline, a lower-level structure, in communicators’ cognition from a dialogue and communication scene. the baseline “v1o 收书” is processed and elaborated by “v2 收的”, so elaboration “v1ov2de 收书收的” is generated as a higher-level structure. in the meanwhile, the dialogue and communication scene “这本书在哪得到的?” is still highly activated. so elaboration “v1ov2de 收 书收的” means “i get this book from collecting books”. it explains the origin of this book, not a reason. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 130 published by scholink inc. the two sentences above are abbreviated from “吃菠萝吃酸疼的” and “收书收到的”. it is duo to the economy of language. in the long history of human beings, people usually want to use the least cognitive effort to obtain the greatest cognitive effect, so the syntactic expression of chinese “v1ov2de” construction is reasonable to some extent. by comparing sentence (1) with sentence (2), we find that there are two constructional meanings for chinese “v1ov2de” construction: “cause-effect relationship” and “non-cause-effect relationship”. 4. reasons for the two same verbs in chinese “v1ov2de” construction the preceding chapters have analyzed two constructional meanings for chinese “v1ov2de” construction: “cause-effect relationship” and “non-cause-effect relationship”. this chapter continue to explain why there are the two same verbs in chinese “v1ov2de” construction. 4.1 the avoidance of semantic ambiguity: the formation of constructional meanings let us take an attempt to omit the second verb “v2” in this construction. the two sentences will turn into the following sentences. (3) 昨天买了个菠萝, 今天我的牙齿又酸又疼, 都是吃菠萝的 (4) 这本书在哪得到的？收书的 obviously, we can not grasp the meanings of the two sentences after omitting the second verb “v2”. “吃 菠萝的” means eating pineapples de, and “收书的” means collecting books de. they can not correspond to grammatical rules. the semantic meaning is unclear. langacker (1987) believes that syntax is serial and progressive, and the following syntactic components inherit or activate the conceptual information contained in the preceding syntactic components. so the second verb “v2” can not be omitted. the second verb “v2” conforms the sentence to syntactic rules and avoids semantic ambiguity. the elaboration “v1ov2de 吃菠萝吃的” and “v1ov2de 收书收的” can accurately express the semantic meaning of sentences. it is precisely because of the existence of the verb “v2” that the constructional meaning of the chinese “v1ov2” structure is generated, that is “cause-effect relationship” and “non-cause-effect relationship”. 4.2 figure/ground theory the theory of figure and ground, proposed by edgar rubin, is a famous theory in psychology. figure refers to the most prominent entity or event in the human brain’s cognition, and ground refers to the less prominent parts that set off the figure. edgar rubin’s face and vase diagram best embodies the figure/ground theory, and also proves that there is indeed “cognitive prominence” in our human brain cognition. in sentence (1), the communicators construct conversational scene “have sore teeth after buying pineapples”. firstly, in communicators’ cognition, the event of “吃菠萝 eating pineapples” will be prioritized and highlighted, but eating pineapples can not accurately express the reasons why the speaker has sore teeth. as the syntax progresses, “v2吃的” will get more highlighted and become figure. at the same time, the cognitive prominence of “v1o 吃菠萝” will be reduced and become ground. the cognitive prominence of “v2吃的” is stronger than “v1o 吃菠萝”. “v2吃的” stands for a state of action, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 131 published by scholink inc. and it is precisely because of the excessive performance of this state of action that it leads to sore teeth. “v1ov2de 吃菠萝吃的” means the speaker ate too many pineapples, so he has sore teeth. in sentence (2), the communicators construct conversational scene “where did you get this book?”. firstly, in communicators’ cognition, the event of “收书 collecting books” will be prioritized and highlighted, but collecting books can not accurately express semantic meaning. as the syntax progresses, “v2收的” will get more highlighted and become figure. at the same time, the cognitive prominence of “v1o 收书” will be reduced and become ground. the cognitive prominence of “v2收的” is stronger than “v1o 收书”. however, sentence (2) does not indicate a cause-effect relationship, it only explains the origin of the book, thus expressing the non cause-effect relationship. 5. conclusion this study uses baseline/elaboration model as a methodological tool to explore the constructional meanings of chinese “v1ov2de” construction and the reasons why there are the two same verbs. it finds that chinese “v1ov2de” construction has two constructional meanings: “cause-effect relationship” and “non-cause-effect relationship”. in chinese “v1ov2de” construction, its constructional meanings are generated because of the two same verbs. owning to figure/ground theory, the ground “v1o” sets off the figure “v2de”. if the second verb “v2” is performed excessively, it will cause a state of an affair. so it indicates cause-effect relationship. however, if the second verb “v2” is not performed excessively, it demonstrates non cause-effect relationship. references chen, y. (2021). the baseline/elaboration model for the verb-copying sentences in chinese. modern foreign languages, 2, 147-156. goldberg, a. e. (1995). constructions: a construction grammar approach to argument structure. chicago: chicago university press. goldberg, a. e. (2006). constructions at work: the nature of generalization in language. oxford: oxford university press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199268511.001.0001 huang, g. y. (1982). the syntactic and semantic functions of “de”. language research, 1, 101-129. langacker, r. w. (1987). foundations of cognitive grammar: theoretical prerequisites (vol. i). stanford: stanford university press. langacker, r. w. (2016). baseline and elaboration. cognitive linguistics, 3. https://doi.org/10.1515/cog2015-0126 liu, c. w., & liu, c. d. (2019). the application, significance and prospect of baseline and elaboration in cognitive grammar. foreign language research, 2, 21-28. liu, x. q. (2012). the study of verb-copying sentences in chinese. shang hai: xue lin press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199268511.001.0001 https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2015-0126 https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2015-0126 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 178 original paper an investigation and research on the burnout of english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province lei yuan1 1 school of foreign languages, xinyang normal university, xinyang, henan, china received: february 17, 2025 accepted: march 3, 2025 online published: march 16, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p178 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p178 abstract to explore the current situation of burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province and analyze its influencing factors, this study conducted a questionnaire survey among 210 english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province, and used the data statistical software spss for analysis. the results show that the overall burnout of english teachers in primary and secondary schools in the province has reached a medium level, and there are significant differences in burnout among teachers of different ages, teaching experience, marital statuses, and professional titles. therefore, education policymakers and school administrators need to pay timely attention and take appropriate measures to improve the situation. keywords teacher burnout, english teachers, spss 1. introduction burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion and cynicism that occurs frequently among individuals who do ‘people-work’ of some kind. it is mainly manifested in three aspects: emotional exhaustion (ee), depersonalization (dp), and reduced personal accomplishment (pa) (maslach & jackson, 1981). xu, ji, and chao (2004) believes teacher burnout generally refers to the work fatigue and sense of frustration that teachers experience under the long-term pressure of multiple factors, especially when facing financial difficulties and social prejudices. this can lead to a state of depression, numbness, indifference, and fatigue, and is manifested as a morbid psychology and behavior in daily life. previously, teacher burnout has become a topic of great concern in academic circles, and many scholars have conducted research from different perspectives. through a questionnaire survey of kindergarten teachers across various systems in beijing, liang and feng (2004) found that the burnout situation among these teachers is not optimistic. their study identified multiple influencing factors, including background, societal, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 179 published by scholink inc. organizational, occupational, and personal factors. specifically, these factors encompassed the social recognition of kindergarten teachers, the kindergarten systems in place, and teacher role positioning. in the field of physical education, zhao, wang, and tian (2014) showed that the burnout level of female teachers is significantly higher than that of male teachers. there is no significant difference in some dimensions among different age groups. academic qualifications affect the level of reduced personal accomplishment. self-esteem is negatively correlated with burnout and is a mediating variable for the impact of social support on burnout. huang and zhang (2018) pointed out that college teachers show obvious burnout due to factors such as educational reform and professional characteristics, and it can be alleviated by measures such as guiding the establishment of career ideals, strengthening the concept of lifelong learning, strengthening humanistic care, and paying attention to the combined force of social support. hu (2021) employed a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, adopting a perspective rooted in positive psychology, to find that the overall level of burnout among college english major teachers is not high. personality characteristics affect the level of burnout, and teachers can relieve burnout from the emotional, personality, and cognitive levels. it can be seen that previous studies on teacher burnout mostly focused on college teachers, physical education teachers in primary and secondary schools, or kindergarten teachers, and there were few studies on english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province. as the province with the largest number of students in basic education in china, henan province accounts for one-tenth of the national total and has an important impact on the development of basic education in the whole country. with the continuous deepening of educational reform in henan province, english teachers in primary and secondary schools are under more work pressure and challenges, and the problem of burnout has become more prominent. based on this, this research takes english teachers in primary and secondary schools in various places in henan province as the research object, and uses questionnaire surveys and spss data analysis to study the current situation of burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province and analyze its causes. this research can not only help to enrich the theoretical model of teacher burnout, provide new perspectives and data support for future research, but also enable education policymakers and school administrators to better understand the causes of teacher burnout, and then develop effective intervention measures to enhance teachers’ work motivation and teaching effectiveness. 2. research design 2.1 research subjects this study targeted 210 english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province who participated in the “national training” and “provincial training” programs. these teachers differed in terms of age, educational background, teaching experience, marital status, the schools they taught in, and the teaching levels, forming an ideal sample for this research. specifically, there were 182 female teachers, accounting for the majority. teachers under the age of 40 accounted for 70%, and most of them held a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 180 published by scholink inc. bachelor’s degree. taking these teachers as the research subjects can well reflect the current situation of burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province, making the research more practical. the basic information of the teachers is shown in table 1. table 1. basic information of teachers variables types frequency proportion (%) gender male 28 13.3 female 182 86.7 age 20-30 61 29.0 31-40 88 41.9 41-50 55 26.2 ＞ 50 6 2.9 educational background associate 4 1.9 undergraduate 192 91.4 postgraduate 14 6.7 teaching experience 0-5 57 27.1 6-10 33 15.7 11-20 73 34.8 ＞ 20 47 22.4 marital status unmarried 52 24.8 married 158 75.2 school type rural school 92 43.8 urban school 118 56.2 teaching level primary school 60 28.6 junior high school 148 70.5 senior high school 2 1.0 administrative position no 116 55.2 yes 94 44.8 professional title unrated 21 10.0 level 2 77 36.7 level 1 88 41.9 senior and above 24 11.4 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 181 published by scholink inc. 2.2 research methods 2.2.1 questionnaire survey method in this study, the questionnaire was developed based on the burnout inventory-education survey (mbies). the maslach burnout inventory (mbi), developed by maslach and jackson in the early 1980s based on a three-dimensional theoretical model, has been widely used as a standardized assessment tool across multiple occupational groups, including education and healthcare (maslach & jackson, 1981). subsequent revisions and cross-cultural validation studies, conducted by scholars such as bakker and schaufeli, have further enhanced its reliability and validity (bakker & schaufeli, 2000). the instrument’s psychometric properties and the stability of its factor structure have been empirically supported worldwide. specifically, questions 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 13, 14, 16, and 20 belong to the emotional exhaustion dimension; questions 5, 10, 11, 15, and 22 belong to the depersonalization dimension; and questions 4, 7, 9, 12, 17, 18, 19, and 21 belong to the reduced personal accomplishment dimension. the reduced personal accomplishment part is scored in reverse. the scale uses a likert 5-point scoring method, with options of “never = 1”, “rarely = 2”, “sometimes = 3”, “often = 4”, and “always = 5”. the average score is obtained by adding up all the scores and dividing by 22, which represents the severity of one’s own burnout problem. during the teachers’ participation in the training, electronic questionnaires were successively distributed through wenjuanxing, and a total of 210 valid questionnaires were obtained. to ensure the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, spss was used for reliability and validity tests. in terms of reliability testing, the cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to test the overall scale and its various dimensions. the results show that the overall reliability coefficient of the scale reaches 0.92, indicating that the scale has good internal consistency. the reliability coefficients of the emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment dimensions are 0.90, 0.76, and 0.85, respectively. in terms of validity testing, the kaiser-meyer-olkin (kmo) and bartlett’s test were carried out for this questionnaire survey. the value of the sampling adequacy measure in kmo is 0.91, which is greater than 0.6, and the significance value is 0.00, which meets the condition of being less than 0.05. this proves that this research survey has a high degree of validity. the reliability and validity of the questionnaire are shown in tables 2 and 3. table 2. the reliability of each dimension and the overall scale indicators cronbach’s alpha n ee 0.90 9 dp 0.76 5 pa 0.85 8 overall 0.92 22 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 182 published by scholink inc. table 3. kmo and bartlett’s test of sphericity kmo 0.91 approximate chi-square 2710.54 bartlett’s test of sphericity df 231 p 0.000 2.2.2 data statistical method this study used spss 27.0 to analyze the data of the questionnaire survey. reliability and validity tests were applied to verify the reliability of the questionnaire; descriptive statistics were applied to analyze the basic situation of teachers, providing a basis for further research; independent samples t-tests and one-way between-groups anova were applied to compare the differences in the three dimensions of teachers’ burnout (ee, dp, and pa) and overall burnout among different demographic variables, and to analyze the causes of teachers’ burnout. 3. result 3.1 current situation of burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province to comprehensively explore the overall situation of burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province, this study used descriptive analysis to analyze the relevant data. the specific situation is shown in table 4. the results show that in the emotional exhaustion dimension, the average score is 2.78, and the standard deviation is 0.80. taking 1 point as no burnout and 5 points as a very serious burnout problem as the standard, this score indicates that teachers have a certain degree of burnout in emotional exhaustion, but the overall situation is not serious. in the depersonalization dimension, the average score is 1.99, and the standard deviation is 0.74, indicating that the degree of burnout of teachers in depersonalization is relatively low. in the reduced personal accomplishment dimension, the average score is 2.45, and the standard deviation is 0.67, which means that teachers have a certain degree of burnout in reduced personal accomplishment. from the perspective of overall burnout, the average score of 210 teachers is 2.48, and the standard deviation is 0.62. to sum up, the burnout of english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province is at a medium level on the whole, and it is necessary to pay certain attention and take appropriate measures to improve it. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 183 published by scholink inc. table 4. overall status of teacher burnout dimensions n m sd ee 210 2.78 0.80 dp 210 1.99 0.74 pa 210 2.45 0.67 overall 210 2.48 0.62 3.2 demographic variable analysis of burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province 3.2.1 gender differences in teacher burnout an independent samples t-test was used to examine the burnout scores of teachers of different genders and explore whether there were significant differences in each dimension. the analysis results are shown in table 5. the results show that there are no significant differences in the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization dimensions and overall burnout among teachers of different genders (p > 0.05). however, there is a significant difference in the reduced personal accomplishment dimension (p < 0.05), and male teachers have a stronger sense of job accomplishment than female teachers. from the perspective of the mean value, the overall burnout of male teachers is lower than that of female teachers, but there are differences in the other three dimensions. overall, gender is not a demographic variable that affects burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province. table 5. differences in teacher burnout based on gender gender (m ± sd) t (208) p male (n = 28) female (n = 182) ee 2.77 ± 0.95 2.78 ± 0.78 -0.09 0.92 dp 2.12 ± 1.04 1.97 ± 0.68 0.74 0.46 pa 2.17 ± 0.74 2.49 ± 0.66 -2.37 0.02 overall 2.40 ± 0.65 2.49 ± 0.62 -0.70 0.48 3.2.2 age differences in teacher burnout as shown in table 6, one-way between-groups anova shows that there are significant differences in the depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment dimensions and overall burnout among teachers of different ages (p < 0.05). specifically, the older the teachers are, the lower their burnout. young teachers aged 20-30 have the higher level of burnout, which is consistent with previous studies. however, there is no significant difference in the emotional exhaustion dimension among teachers of different ages (p > 0.05). therefore, age is a demographic variable that affects burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 184 published by scholink inc. table 6. differences in teacher burnout based on age age (m ± sd) f (3,206) p 20-30 (n = 61) 31-40 (n = 88) 41-50 (n = 55) ＞ 50 (n = 6) ee 2.92 ± 0.81 2.84 ± 0.72 2.56 ± 0.90 2.42 ± 0.55 2.70 0.47 dp 2.23 ± 0.72 2.04 ± 0.65 1.70 ± 0.81 1.53 ± 0.37 6.26 ＜ 0.001 pa 2.76 ± 0.58 2.48 ± 0.60 2.12 ± 0.74 1.92 ± 0.32 11.76 ＜ 0.001 overall 2.71 ± 0.56 2.53 ± 0.58 2.20 ± 0.66 2.04 ± 0.41 8.28 ＜ 0.001 3.2.3 educational background differences in teacher burnout as shown in table 7, one-way between-groups anova shows that there are no significant differences in the emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment dimensions and overall burnout among teachers with different educational backgrounds (p > 0.05). therefore, the educational background factor is not a demographic variable that affects burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province. table 7. differences in teacher burnout based on educational background educational background (m ± sd) f (2,207) p associate (n = 4) graduate (n = 192) postgraduate (n = 14) ee 3.00 ± 1.09 2.79 ± 0.81 2.63 ± 0.54 0.41 0.67 dp 2.65 ± 0.98 1.97 ± 0.74 2.13 ± 0.57 1.97 0.14 pa 2.90 ± 0.26 2.45 ± 0.68 2.40 ± 0.70 0.95 0.39 overall 2.89 ± 0.71 2.48 ± 0.63 2.43 ± 0.51 0.89 0.41 3.2.4 teaching experience differences in teacher burnout one-way between-groups anova was used to examine the overall burnout scores of teachers with different teaching experience and whether there were significant differences in each dimension. the analysis results are shown in table 8. the results show that there are significant differences in the depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment dimensions and overall burnout among teachers with different teaching experience (p < 0.05), that is, the longer the teaching experience, the lower the level of burnout. however, there is no significant difference in the emotional exhaustion dimension among teachers with different teaching experience (p > 0.05). this result is the same as that of examining the impact of teachers’ age on burnout. to sum up, the teaching experience factor is a demographic variable that affects burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 185 published by scholink inc. table 8. differences in teacher burnout based on teaching experience teaching experience (m ± sd) f (3,206) p 0-5 (n = 57) 6-10 (n = 33) 11-20 (n = 73) ＞ 20 (n = 47) ee 2.86 ± 0.76 2.91 ± 0.68 2.76 ± 0.85 2.63 ± 0.83 1.08 0.36 dp 2.20 ± 0.69 2.07 ± 0.66 2.01 ± 0.77 1.65 ± 0.68 5.45 0.001 pa 2.70 ± 0.58 2.63 ± 0.60 2.41 ± 0.70 2.09 ± 0.64 9.02 ＜ 0.001 overall 2.65 ± 0.54 2.62 ± 0.55 2.46 ± 0.65 2.21 ± 0.64 5.32 0.001 3.2.5 marital status differences in teacher burnout as shown in table 9, the results of the independent samples t-test indicate that there are significant differences in the reduced personal accomplishment dimension and overall burnout among teachers with different marital statuses (p < 0.05). unmarried teachers have a higher level of burnout, while married teachers have a lower level of burnout. however, there are no significant differences in the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization dimensions among teachers with different marital statuses (p > 0.05). overall, marital status is still a demographic variable that affects burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province. table 9. differences in teacher burnout based on marital status marital status (m ± sd) t (208) p unmarried (n = 52) married (n = 158) ee 2.84 ± 0.74 2.76 ± 0.82 0.60 0.55 dp 2.15 ± 0.67 1.94 ± 0.75 1.76 0.08 pa 2.75 ± 0.55 2.35 ± 0.68 3.76 0.01 overall 2.65 ± 0.51 2.43 ± 0.65 2.34 0.03 3.2.6 school type differences in teacher burnout as shown in table 10, the results of the independent samples t-test show that there are no significant differences in the three dimensions of burnout and overall burnout among teachers in different types of schools (p > 0.05). therefore, it can be concluded that the type of school where teachers teach is not a demographic variable that affects burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 186 published by scholink inc. table 10. differences in teacher burnout based on school type school type (m ± sd) t (208) p rural school (n = 92) urban school (n = 118) ee 2.70 ± 0.75 2.84 ± 0.84 -1.29 0.20 dp 2.02 ± 0.76 1.97 ± 0.72 0.41 0.68 pa 2.50 ± 0.67 2.41 ± 0.69 0.92 0.36 overall 2.47 ± 0.58 2.49 ± 0.66 -0.21 0.84 3.2.7 teaching level differences in teacher burnout one-way between-groups anova was used to examine the overall burnout scores of teachers at different teaching levels and whether there were significant differences in each dimension. the analysis results are shown in table 11. the results show that there are no significant differences in the three dimensions of burnout and overall burnout among english teachers at different teaching levels (p > 0.05). from the perspective of the mean value, although the english teachers at the senior high school stage have higher scores in all dimensions of burnout and overall burnout than those at the other two teaching levels, the english teachers at these two teaching levels also face pressure in their work. therefore, it can be concluded that the teaching levels where teachers teach is not a demographic variable that affects burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province. table 11. differences in teacher burnout based on teaching level teaching level (m ± sd) f (2,207) p primary (n = 60) junior high (n = 148) senior high (n = 2) ee 2.79 ± 0.77 2.77 ± 0.82 2.94 ± 0.86 0.05 0.95 dp 2.00 ± 0.74 1.97 ± 0.73 2.90 ± 0.14 1.58 0.21 pa 2.43 ± 0.60 2.46 ± 0.71 2.69 ± 0.44 0.15 0.86 overall 2.48 ± 0.62 2.48 ± 0.63 2.84 ± 0.55 0.34 0.72 3.2.8 administrative position differences in teacher burnout as shown in table 12, the results of the independent samples t-test show that there are no significant differences in the three dimensions of burnout and overall burnout among english teachers with or without administrative positions such as class teacher or other administrative positions (p > 0.05). therefore, it can be concluded that the administrative position is not a demographic variable that affects burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 187 published by scholink inc. table 12. differences in teacher burnout based on administrative position administrative position (m ± sd) t (208) p no (n = 116) yes (n = 94) ee 2.71 ± 0.80 2.86 ± 0.80 -1.33 0.18 dp 2.03 ± 0.75 1.94 ± 0.72 0.83 0.41 pa 2.49 ± 0.63 2.41 ± 0.73 0.87 0.39 overall 2.48 ± 0.60 2.49 ± 0.65 -0.14 0.89 3.2.9 professional title differences in teacher burnout one-way between-groups anova was used to examine the overall burnout of teachers with different professional titles and whether there were significant differences in each dimension. the specific analysis results are shown in table 13. the results show that there are significant differences in the three dimensions of burnout and overall burnout among teachers with different professional titles (p < 0.05). english teachers with lower professional titles have a higher level of burnout, while teachers with higher professional titles have a lower level of burnout. therefore, it can be concluded that the professional title is a demographic variable that affects burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province. table 13. differences in teacher burnout based on professional title professional title (m ± sd) f (3,206) p unrated (n = 21) level 2 (n = 77) level 1 (n = 88) senior and above (n = 24) ee 2.69 ± 0.84 2.87 ± 0.76 2.84 ± 0.84 2.34 ± 0.63 3.08 0.03 dp 2.25 ± 0.79 2.07 ± 0.66 1.98 ± 0.79 1.55 ± 0.56 4.40 0.01 pa 2.92 ± 0.72 2.56 ± 0.54 2.40 ± 0.71 1.89 ± 0.50 11.54 ＜ 0.001 overall 2.67 ± 0.63 2.58 ± 0.56 2.48 ± 0.65 2.00 ± 0.50 6.77 ＜ 0.001 4. conclusion the above research shows that the burnout of english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province has reached a medium level, especially in terms of emotional experience at work, which has been negatively affected to a relatively serious extent. in terms of influencing factors, age, teaching experience, marital status, and professional title are the main factors contributing to burnout among english teachers in primary and secondary schools in henan province. younger, less experienced, and lower-ranked growth-oriented english teachers often lack teaching experience at the onset of their careers. consequently, they tend to be hesitant when dealing with unexpected classroom incidents and managing unruly students. moreover, the necessity to navigate complex interpersonal relationships, friendships, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 188 published by scholink inc. and family ties further compounds the challenges they face. as a result, these teachers are required to devote substantial time and effort to their work, thus resulting in a higher level of burnout. at the same time, married english teachers receive support and care from their partners and children. when they encounter stress and troubles at work, the understanding and encouragement from their families can relieve negative emotions and enable them to engage in work with a better state, so their level of burnout is lower than that of unmarried teachers. moreover, professional title evaluation is closely related to teachers’ career development and salary. in order to meet the requirements of professional title evaluation, young teachers often have to take on more teaching tasks and participate in scientific research projects, which increases their pressure. teachers with higher professional titles have relatively stable career development, reduced pressure in teaching and scientific research, higher job satisfaction, and thus a lower level of job burnout. therefore, for teachers, especially novice teachers, it is necessary to actively engage in their own professional development, adapt to the characteristics of the education industry as soon as possible, learn to actively cope with stress, take the initiative to seek help when encountering difficulties and problems, enhance positive emotional experiences, develop positive psychological qualities, improve overall wellbeing, and reduce burnout (wang, 2015). education policymakers and school administrators in henan province should also actively respond to the teacher burden-reduction policy. it is necessary to optimize the professional title evaluation system, reduce the burden of non-teaching tasks on teachers, and improve the teacher training system. hierarchical and classified training plans should be developed for teachers at different ages, teaching years, and professional title stages. only when all relevant parties truly care about the development of primary and secondary school teachers, create a good educational and teaching environment, and implement effective intervention measures to enhance teachers’ work motivation can the burnout among teachers be effectively reduced. of course, this study has certain limitations in sample selection and other aspects. for instance, teachers with an associate degree account for only 1.9%, and those teaching at the high school level represent merely 1.0%. these figures are insufficient to adequately characterize the features and burnout status of this particular group. uneven sample distribution may reduce the universality and accuracy of the results, which is not conducive to comprehensively grasping the overall situation. future research should expand the scope of the sample, 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(2014). the relationship between burnout, social support, and self-esteem among secondary school physical education teachers. journal of school studies, 11(6), 78-86. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper the iraqi efl learners’ ability to use speech acts in ma and ph.d. theses defense mohammed jasim betti1* & ahmed abd hasan2 1 department of english, college of education for humanities, thi-qar university, nasiriya, iraq 2 ministry of education, general directorate of education, thi-qar, iraq * mohammed jasim betti, department of english, college of education for humanities, thi-qar university, nasiriya, iraq received: september 26, 2020 accepted: october 9, 2020 online published: october 14, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n2p41 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n2p41 abstract the present study investigates the iraqi efl (iefl) learners’ ability to use speech acts (sas) in ma and ph.d. theses defense. it aims at analyzing utterances (us) made by the ma and ph.d. iefl learners in terms of sas, the class to which those sas belong, the type of tone the learners use, and the errors committed by the learners and their types. it is hypothesized that the learners use the sa of stating more than the other types of sas in their ma and ph.d. defence, the learners use directives more than other sa categories, the efl learners use the falling tone more than the other types of tones. the researchers record the defense of six iefl learners: four ma and two ph.d. during the academic year 2019-2020. they put the recorded data into an orthographic form showing the tone type for each tone unit, and check each recorded utterance (u) for the sa used, the sa category to which the sa belongs, the type of tone used and if any, the types of errors the participants commit. the study concludes that the ma iefl learners use more sas than the ph.d. ones, the most frequently used sa is the sa of asserting, the most frequently used category of sas is the representative one, and the learners use the falling tone more than the other types of tones. keywords speech acts, efl learner, ma, ph.d. debate 1. introduction speakers use language to express their feelings, emotions intentions, etc. in order to use language to achieve a specific end, language users need not only knowledge of grammar, but also how to use language appropriately in real life situations (cheng, 2005, p. 9). however, iraqi efl learners often 41 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 encounter difficulties in the production of sas because of their lack of pragmatic competence; that is, they are not well-informed of where and when to use sas appropriately. presently, some previous studies tackle the iraqi efl learners’ use of sas, but their investigation is limited to the learners’ recognition and production of a single sa by the means of artificial tests to elicit the learners’ responses to items of the test they design. more importantly, because there is no investigation of the overall production of the iraqi efl learners’ use of sas in face-to-face interaction, the present study actually fills this gap in the literature as it is the first to examine the learners’ use of sas in ma and ph.d. discussions in iraqi efl context in terms of the real use of sas and the types of tones that the learners use in the performance of sas. indeed, intonation is another factor which has never been investigated in relation to sas in the iraqi efl context. accordingly, the study tries to answer the following questions: 1). what is the most frequent type of sas that the iraqi efl learners use in their ma and ph.d. defense? 2). is ph.d. learners’ performance of sas better than ma in defense? 3). what are the types of sa classes used by ma and ph.d. efl learners when they defend their ma and ph.d. theses or dissertations? 4). are the iraqi efl learners successful in using sas for the purpose they intend to perform? 5). do the types of tones iraqi efl learners use coincide with the types of sas they perform? 6). what is the common type of tone used by the iraqi efl learners in their ma and ph.d. defense? 7). what are the common errors committed by the iraqi efl learners in their ma and ph.d. defense? the study aims at analyzing utterances made by ma and ph.d. candidates in terms of sas and the class to which those sas belong, finding out whether the ph.d. learners are better than the ma ones in defence, and finding out the errors committed by ma and ph.d. learners and their types. likewise, it is hypothesized that: 1). the ph.d. iefl learners use more sas than the ma ones. 2). the iefl learners use the sa of stating more than the other types of sas in their ma and ph.d. defence. 3). both ma and ph.d. iefl learners use directives more than the other sa categories. 4). the ma and ph.d. iefl learners use the falling tone more than the other types of tones. 5). the errors ma iefl learners commit in the use of sas are more than those errors which are committed by the ph.d. ones. this study is limited to investigate the most used types of sas in the defence of some iraqi efl learners’ ma and ph.d. defence and the types of tone they use when they perform these acts. the researchers analyze only the material of the recordings that is relevant for the purpose of the study. they identify the sas according to the taxonomy of sas of searle (1976) and searle and vanderveken (1985). 42 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 by iraqi efl learners, it is meant those learners of english in non-english-speaking countries (dingfang, 1994; as cited in peng, 2019, p. 2). similarly, betti and al-jubouri (2015, p. 16) define foreign language as “one which has no internal function in the learner’s country”. thus, the efl learners learn the fl “in order to communicate with native speakers or interlanguage users of the foreign language” (betti & al-jubouri, ibid). more specifically, iraqi efl learners are those nonnative learners of english whose mother tongue is iraqi arabic. “the language is learnt like other subjects in the school curriculum for operational purposes” (betti & al-jubouri, ibid). hence, the abbreviation efl is a shortened form of “english as a foreign language”, for example, an iraqi learner of english in iraq. by the ma and ph.d. theses defense, it is meant a speech event in which the candidate who is a post-graduate student is examined for the validation of his thesis or dissertation. it takes the form of discussion or argument where the learner answers questions of the committee, and is asked to justify why he writes something or proves his points of view. viva or “viva voce” is “an oral examination” of candidate’s thesis (smith, 2015, p. 130). the primary aim of ph.d. assessment “is to determine whether the candidate is competent as an independent researcher in the discipline” (ucosda, 1993, p. 3). tinkler and jackson (2004, p. 17) add that viva serves as “a site for authenticating the thesis”. 2. literature review 2.1 speech acts defined the theory of speech acts (sas) is, no doubt, one of the main theories in pragmatics. it is originated in the ideas of j. l. austin expressed in the series of his lectures “how to do things with words” and then developed by searle’s (1975) and others. austin’s basic idea behind his theory of sas is that utterances (us) do not only bear meaning, but rather they do things, i.e., perform actions (levinson, 2017, p. 199). in austin’s words, “to say something is to do something” (1962). to perform a sa is “an attempt at doing something purely by speaking” (trask, 1999, p. 189). yule (1996, p. 47) defines sas as “actions performed via utterances”; that is, through the use of language, speakers (ss) can issue many social functions (actions) such as requesting, offering, asking questions, thanking, welcoming and so on. in the same way, aitchison (2010, p. 127) states that sas are sequences of words that behave like actions. by the means of them, ss try to create some effect on hearers (hs). for example, when a judge utters [1]: [1] i sentence you to five years imprisonment. he is not only pronouncing a string of words, but has an effect on the h similar to marching a man in accusation along to a prison (ibid). the theory of sas belongs to pragmatics because it requires a s implying (encoding) a message and a hearer (h) inferring (decoding) that message. however, the context or situation plays an important role in the process of inferring the s’s intended meaning. furthermore, without such information, it is impossible to know the s’s intended meaning. the u in [2], for example, can serve, according to the 43 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 context, as an observation about the weather, a request for the h to bring a blanket or be close to a window, a question about the thermostat setting, or an invitation to snuggle up closer—or indeed several of these things at once (birner, 2013, p.175). [2] i’m a little cold. 2.2 performatives vs. constatives these two terms are first initiated by austin (1962) when he tries to make a distinction between two types of us: constatives (constative utterances) and performatives (performative utterances). by constatives, he means those us that describe states of affairs, process or some event in the world like in [3], whereas performatives do not; they change the world instead of describing it. in fact, the uttering of them, or part of them, is considered as “the doing of an action”, as in [4-5] (austin, 1962, p. 6): [3] the boy went to school. [4] i name this ship the queen elizabeth. [5] i bet you sixpence it will rain tomorrow. in spite of being declarative in form, it is evident that the us in [4-5] do not state facts or describe actions only, but rather they perform actions; namely that of naming a ship or betting that it will rain (ibid). as a result, austin states that constatives can be verified (i.e., being either true or false), whereas performatives have felicity conditions (i.e., being either happy or unhappy). performatives are defined according to bach (2006, p. 148) as “utterances whereby we make explicit what we are doing”. hence, they need to have special properties like having the first-person pronoun i subject, present tense, indicative mood and active voice as well as including a pv (birner, 2013, p. 178). example [6] illustrates this clearly: [6] i thank you for your attention (ibid). 2.3 the components of a speech act one of the shifts in austin’s theory is that the initial performative/constative distinction is rejected by austin in favor of the general theory of sas (levinson, 1983, p. 235). the theory of sas indicates that the performance of a sa, in addition to meaning, means the performance of three kinds of acts at once: 1). the locutionary act (la) “the act of saying something with full sense of ‘say’”, 2). the illocutionary act (ia) “the act performed in saying something”, and 3). the perlocutionary act (pa) “the act performed by or as a result of saying” (coulthard, 1985, p. 18). 2.4 speech act classifications there are, in fact, many attempts which are made to classify sas. the first one is made by austin (1962) who bases his classification on performative verbs (pvs). austin’s classification of ifs is modified, systematized and developed and thus many models emerge like bach and harnish (1979); allan (2001); and bach (2004). of all these models, searle’s (1975) taxonomy proves to be the most influential (huang, 2010, p. 709). searle’s model connects the theory of sas to “sociology and jurisprudence on the one hand and to linguistics on the other hand” (huang, 2016, p. 201). 44 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 2.4.1 austin’s classification of speech acts the first attempt to classify sas is made by j. l. austin (1962). austin’s taxonomy of ias is, as he says, “neither particularly well motivated nor always unambiguous in its application to particular examples” (sadock, 2006, p. 64). since he fails to prepare a list of pvs, he catalogues all the kinds of ifs and assigns to each group of verbs a label of five-fold distinctions that represents it. he classifies sas as into: verdictives, exercitives, commissives, behabitives and expositives. 2.4.1.1 verdictives verdictives are acts of giving a decision or pronouncing a verdict. verdictives are the closest to austin’s original idea of performatives: us that change the world rather than describe it, as in example [7] (allot, 2010, p. 194). [7] “we find him guilty as charged, m’lud”. (my lord) this class include verbs like acquit, convict, find, hold, read it as, rule, calculate, recon, estimate, locate, place, date, measure, put it at, make it, take it, grade, rank, rate, assess, value, describe, characterize, diagnose, analyse (austin, 1962, p. 152). 2.4.1.2 exercitives exercitives are acts of “giving a decision in favour of or against a certain course of action, or advocacy of it”, as in [8] (austin, 1962, p. 154). [8] we ride to gondor! (allot, 2010, pp. 71-72). this category includes verbs, such as appoint, degrade, demote dismiss, excommunicate, name, order, command, direct, sentence, fine, grant, levy, vote for, nominate, choose, give, claim, bequeath, pardon, resign advise, warn, plead, entreat, pray, beg, urge, press, recommend, proclaim, announce, quash, countermand, annul, repeal, enact, reprieve, veto, dedicate, declare closed, declare open (austin, 1962, p. 155). 2.4.1.3 commissives commissives are verbs which “commit the speakers to a particular course of action”, as in example [9] (austin, 1962, p. 155). [9] i promise to be there at 9. this category include promise, undertake, am determined to, mean to, covenant, bind himself, intend, plan, contract, give my word, declare my intention, purpose, propose to, envisage, vow, guarantee, dedicate myself to, espouse, shall, engage, pledge myself, agree, declare, champion, appose, contemplate, swear, bet, consent, side with, embrace, favour (austin, 1962, pp. 155-156): 2.4.1.4 behabitives behabitives are acts in which a “speaker expresses an emotion or attitude, often towards the hearer” or he reacts to other s’s behaviours, as in example [10] (allot, 2010, p. 24). [10] i thank you for accepting my offer. this class include apologize, thank, deplore, commiserate, compliment, condole, congratulate, felicitate, sympathize, resent, don’t mind, pay tribute, criticize, grumble about, complain of, applaud, overlook, 45 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 commend, deprecate, blame, approve, favour, welcome, bid you fare-well, bless, curse, toast, drink to, wish, dare, defy, protest, challenge (austin, 1962, p. 159). 2.4.1.5 expositives expositives are acts of giving information or clarifying points of view. allot (2010, p. 74) states that these acts are considered as constatives according to austin’s original dichotomy of constatives and performative and classified as representatives in searle’s classification of sas, as in example [11]. [11] i state that my name is ahmed. this class include affirm, deny, state, describe, class, identify, remark, mention, interpose, inform, apprise, tell, answer, rejoin, ask, testify, report, swear, conjecture, doubt, know, believe, accept, concede, withdraw, agree, demur to, object to, adhere to, recognize, repudiate, correct, revise (austin, 1962, p. 161). 2.4.2 searle’s classification of speech acts searle’s taxonomy of sas (1969) comes up as a modification or development to austin’s earlier work. unlike austin, searle builds his taxonomy of sas on twelve different dimensions of variation in which each sa differs from other acts. the most important of these dimensions are the illocutionary point, direction of fit, and expressed psychological state which constitute the basis of this classification of illocutionary acts (ias) classes (searle, 1976, p. 5). searle proposes five basic categories of ias: 2.4.2.1 representatives representatives or assertives are “utterance[s] where speakers convey their beliefs about the truth of a proposition” (crystal, 2008, p. 413). these acts have a word-to-world direction of fit (i.e., the s tries to make his mind or words map into the world) and belief psychological state (searle, 1976, p. 10), as in [12]. [12] i guess that man’s weight is 76 kilo grams. this category include assert, claim, affirm, state, deny, disclaim, assure, argue, rebut, inform, notify, remind, object, predict, report, retrodict, suggest, insist, conjecture, hypothesize, guess, swear, testify, admit, confess, accuse, blame, criticize, praise, complain, boast, and lament (searle & vanderveken, 1985, p. 182). 2.4.2.2 directives directives are “attempts by the speaker to get the hearer to do something”. these attempts can be “modest”, as when the s performs the sas of invitation or suggestion in examples [13] and [14] or they can be very “fierce”, as when the speaker performs the sa of insistence in example [15] ( searle, 1976, p. 11). [13] i invite you to do it. [14] i suggest that you do it. [15] i insist that you do it. directives have world-to-words direction of fit, want sincerity condition and in them, the h does some future action a propositional content (ibid). this category include direct, request, ask, urge, tell, require, 46 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 demand, command, order , forbid, prohibit, enjoin, permit, suggest, insist, warn, advise, recommend, beg, supplicate, plead, pray, beseech, entreat and implore (searle & vanderveken, 1985, p. 198). 2.4.2.3 commissives commissives are “those illocutionary acts whose point is to commit the speaker to some future course of action” (searle, 1976, p. 11). this class of sas has world-to-words direction of fit, intention, sincerity condition and the s does some future action propositional content a (ibid). though both commissives and directives share the same direction of fit, they differ in what mey, (1993, p. 121) calls “the locus of obligation”. however, for commissives, the speaker is obliged to carry out the specified action, whereas for directives, the hearer is forced to do so. this category include commit, promise, threaten, vow, pledge, swear, accept, consent, refuse, offer, bid, assure, guarantee, warrant, contract, covenant and bet (searle & vanderveken, 1985, p.192). 2.4.2.4 expressives expressives “expresses an inner state of the speaker; the expression is essentially subjective and tells us nothing about the world” (mey, 1993, p. 121). allot (2010, p. 74) states that these us “do not express a proposition,” but rather they “have expressive (rather than descriptive) content”. searle (1976, p. 12) states that expressives have no direction of fit. when a s carries out an expressive act, he is not attempting to make the world fit his words nor the words fit the world. he also adds that truth of the propositional content is presupposed. this category include apologize, thank, condole, congratulate, complain, lament, protest, deplore, boast, compliment, praise, greet and welcome (searle & vanderveken, 1985, p. 211). 2.4.2.5 declarations declarations are acts which “bring about immediate changes in how things are”. this class of sas resembles austin’s initial notion of performatives (allot, 2010, p. 54). searle (1976, p. 13) states that the essential feature of declarations is that an act is effectively executed, if it exhibits an agreement between the propositional content and reality. for example, when a judge pronounces someone guilty, he is from now guilty because the s in such us has a special institutional role or authority. because of this special character, declarations have both words-to-world and world-to-words direction of fit and no sincerity condition (ibid: 15). this category include declare, resign, adjourn, appoint, nominate, approve, confirm, disapprove, endorse, renounce, disclaim, denounce, repudiate, bless, curse, excommunicate, consecrate, christen, abbreviate, name and call (searle & vanderveken, 1985, p. 204 ). 2.5 felicity conditions felicity conditions (fcs) are conditions which must be present so that a sa comes off successfully. austin is the first to lay down the fcs on performatives. he says that a sa can only be successfully performed if it follows a pre-determined conventional procedure; otherwise, the “action that the utterance attempts to perform is simply null and void” (levinson, 1983, p. 229). then, austin’s fcs are developed and systemized by searle in that we no longer judge utterances to be felicitous or infelicitous depending on conditions, but rather they altogether constitute the different ifs. 47 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 2.5.1 austin’s felicity conditions the first set of fcs were firstly developed by austin (1962). austin says that just like constatives or statements can be true or false, performatives, in the same way, can be felicitous or infelicitous. thus, austin prepared a list of six felicities to be obeyed so that an u comes off happily or successfully. they are (austin, 1962, pp. 14-15). a: (i) there must exist an accepted conventional procedure having a certain conventional effect, that procedure to include the uttering of certain words by certain persons in certain circumstances, and further, (ii) the particular persons and circumstances in a given case must be appropriate for the invocation of the particular procedure invoked. b: (i) the procedure must be executed by all participants both correctly and (ii) completely. c: (i) the procedure is designed for use by persons having certain thoughts, feelings, or intentions and (ii) must actually so conduct themselves subsequently. 2.5.2 searle’s felicity conditions searle (1969) develops austin’s fcs into a list of conditions in reference to which ias must be performed. according to searle, austin’s fcs are not only means to investigate whether a sa is felicitous or infelicitous, rather they together form the if (huang, 2007, p. 104). searle’s proposed fcs are: (i) the propositional content conditions “is concerned with what the speech act is about” or it deals with the u content or its core. in the case of a promise, it is to expect some future act of the s, but for a request, it is to expect some future act of the receiver (huang, 2007, p. 113). (ii) the preparatory conditions represent the requirements for performing a speech act like the performer of the sa must possess the ability or authority to carry out a specified action or that the circumstances must be appropriate to the ia to be accomplished (lyons, 1977, p. 733). the preparatory conditions for a request, for example, are that the s is sure that the h is able to do the action requested, and that if the h is not asked, he will not do the action. (iii) the sincerity conditions are the real intention or a belief of the performer to do an act. so, if he does not do it, the action will be performed insincerely (i.e., abuse, as austin calls it). an example of this is when someone gives a promise which s/he is sure s/he lacks the ability to perform. in some social occasions, to show politeness, one needs to abate his adherence to sincerity conditions since in compliments one does not have always to tell other people the truth (lyons, 1977, p. 734) . (iv) the essential conditions are identification to the act the s is performing in such a way that the s intends to carry out a specific act and that the h is aware of his intention. for example, in a promise, the s obliges himself to do an act, but for a request, the s tries to get the h to do some act. 48 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 2.6 indirect speech acts indirect speech acts (isas) is one of searle’s contributions to sa theory. an isa is an utterance that has the form of a certain illocutionary act but it has the meaning of another type (searle, 1979, p. 30). for example, the u in [16] may be interpreted literally to ask the h about his ability to carry out action or non-literally to request him to do an action for the benefit of the s. [16] can you open the window? searle (1975, pp. 33-34) states that isas pose real problems in communication because it is hard for the hearer to work out the s’s intended meaning because it is possible through saying a particular u that the s means the same proposition expressed in the literal meaning of the u which he calls direct or secondary ia, and he can also mean another u not inferred from the literal meaning of the sentence and thus it is the indirect or primary ia. in the following example, y’s u is a rejection of x’s proposal, but this rejection is not by the means of y’s statement (secondary ia), rather x infers that having an exam means to study that night and thus precludes the idea of going for watching a movie (primary ia). [17] student x: let’s go to the movies tonight. student y: i have to study for an exam. 2.7 speech acts and intonation intonation is variation in the pitch of our voice to add meaning to us. it is the music of our speech. it is the study of how ss vary the pitch of their voice to carry out linguistic and pragmatic meaning (wells, 2006, p. 1). similarly, o’grady et al. (1997, p. 39) define intonation as “pitch movement in spoken utterances that is not related to differences in word meaning”. in order to have linguistic significance, variation in pitch should be controlled by the s, be perceptible and be related to a particular meaning or function (gu, 2009, p. 116; and roach, 2009, p. 120). for example, if the u in [18] is spoken with a falling tone, it indicates finality or completion of the thought which is called terminal intonation. however, if the same u is spoken with a rising tone, it indicates incompleteness which is called nonterminal intonation (o’grady et al., 1997, p. 40). [18a] fred parked the \car [18b] fred parked the /car 2.7.1 forms of intonation the forms of intonation are shown in brief in the following list (roach, 2009, pp. 147-148; gut, 2009, pp. 122-124). 1). fall tone (\) indicates finality, completeness and definiteness, as in [19]. [19] they burst out \laughing 2). rise tone (/) indicates non-finality or that there is more to follow, encouraging, listing, as in [20]. [20] i was cycling home from /work │ when i saw this big \bird 3). fall-rise tone (˅) expresses that something is unpleasant, or uncertainty, doubt, requests, as in [21]. [21] you ˅may be right 49 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 4). rise-fall tone (/\) indicates surprise or being impressed, as in [22]. [22] you were /\first 5). level tone (-) conveys the feeling of saying something routine, uninteresting or boring, as in [22]. [22] do you suffer from a /serious illness –yes 2.7.2 stress and intonation in english, “phonologists are in disagreement about whether to tackle stress from an articulatory point of view (what the speaker does in producing stressed syllables) or from an auditory one (what the characteristics of sounds that make a syllable seems to a listener to be stressed)” (betti & ulaiwi, 2018, p. 83). stress is “the most familiar prosodic feature which is problematic in that it is difficult to describe its actual nature” (betti & ulaiwi, 2018, p. 83). jones (1972, p. 41) defines stress as “the degree of force that is given to specific syllables when they are pronounced by the addresser”. stress is a property of words and utterances. scholars refer to the placement of stress within single words as word stress, while the placement of stress in whole utterances as tonic or sentence stress. in addition, roach (1991, p. 172) argues that the placement of word stress is independent and prior to the choice of intonation, while the placement of tonic stress is determined by intonation. in addition, the placement of tonic stress on the nucleus of the tone unit has a meaning-distinguishing function; this is, by the means of tonic stress placement in the tone unit, intonation emphasizes the meaning of a certain word in the tone unit (roach, 1991, p. 173). 2.7.3 functions of intonation intonation is used in english to convey the following functions. 1). the attitudinal function is to express “the speaker’s attitude, at the moment of speaking, to the situation in which he is placed”; that is, to show whether the s is happy, angry, judicial, sad, bored, etc. (o’connor and arnold (1973, p. 4). 2). the grammatical function is that it can be used to identify the grammatical structure of us (roach, 1991, p. 175). 3). the discourse function of intonation is related to discourse in two ways. first, the use of intonation is to draw the h’s attention to the important aspects of the message that ss convey. the other function is the regulation of the interlocutor’s behaviour during the conversation. ss utilize intonation to organize turn-taking. 4). the accentual function means the placement of tonic stress within the tone unit is determined by intonation (roach, 1991, pp. 172-173): 5). the psychological function of intonation is helpful for language users to organize their speech into smaller units that “are easy to perceive, memorize and perform” (wells, 2006, p. 12). 50 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 6). the indexical function “act[s] as a marker of personal or social identity”. indeed, by the means of intonation, ss can add special effects to their voice to make them look like tale-tellers, matches commentators, clergymen, newsreaders and the like (ibid). 2.7.4 the tonic unit authors use different names for these tone units such as intonation phrases, tone group or intonation group. though there is a general tendency to use a separate intonation pattern for each clause, many instances prove the possibility for different chunking (wells, 2006, pp. 6-7). gut (2009, p. 106) states that ss use intonational phrasing or tone units so as to divide their speech into word groups. doing so, they enable listeners identify which words in an utterance go together (form an intonation phrase). the essence of a tonic unit is the tonic syllable, which is the syllable which carries the tone. for example, in [23] you is the most prominent syllable in the tone unit. it does not only carry the tone, it also carries a special kind of stress, known as tonic stress. [23] is it /you in addition to the tonic syllable which is an obligatory element in the tonic unit, there are other optional elements which are dependent on the length of the tone unit: the pre-head, head and the tail. the pre-head includes all the unstressed syllables preceding the first stressed syllable. the head is the part of a tone-unit that extends from the first stressed syllable up to the tonic syllable. the tail includes the syllables stressed or unstressed that follow the tonic syllable till the end of the tone unit (roach, 2009, p. 130). 2.7.5 the relation between speech acts and intonation crystal (2007, p. 252) states that pragmatics deals with intonation in a wider range than that of isolated words or phrases, rather it deals with the structuring of utterances sequentially to be a conversation, known as intonational phrasing. similarly, taglicht (1998, p. 181) states that intonational analysts distribute speech into portions of information chunks, known as intonational phrases so as to facilitate information processing by interlocutors. thomas (1995, p. 21) mentions that in order for a s to deliver the force of a specific locution, he sometimes needs to make use of paralinguistic features like intonation or non-linguistic features like gestures. in addition, in spite of the importance of context in the demarcation between types of sas, some communicative intents cannot be accounted for without resorting to intonation. moreover, intonation is an essential element of pragmatic meaning. this view is supported by searle (1969, p. 30) who states that stress (implying intonation) is one of the illocutionary force indicating devices in english. cresti, (1995, pp. 1-2) concludes that the function of intonation is to signalize the existence of sas and also their types in the course of speech. 51 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 3. methodology this section presents the methodology of the study. it deals with the participants, data collection and instrument and data collection procedure, research design and model of analysis. the present study is a descriptive qualitative one. the researchers aim at investigating the theses defense of six of iraqi efl post-graduate learners in their ma and ph.d. discussions, in terms of their use of sas, the tones they use when they perform these sas as well as the errors they commit. the participants are informed in advance of their being recorded in order for the researchers to take their permission and privacy is granted for all the participants, but the researchers do not reveal the objectives of the study to the informants. the learners put the recording device on the desk in front of them so as to record their speech. the six participants are all non-native iraqi efl post-graduate learners of different gender defending their ma or ph.d. theses or dissertations. the learners involved in the study range in age from 26 to 58 years. the ma participants, on the one hand, have no experience in university language teaching nor they have scientific titles, while the ph.d. ones, on the other, have an experience of university teaching. they are both university professors of different scientific degrees. the total number of hours of the recorded data of analysis, which is taken from the defence of four ma and two ph.d. discussions, is 20 hours 42 minutes twenty one seconds. the researchers listen patiently and carefully to the recordings to completely put these recordings in orthographic form and they show precisely the type of speech act and tone used by the learner. sometimes, it is very important to listen for a number of times before completely transferring the u form into text. however, it should be noted that though the tone appears on the tonic syllable in the examples, it could be distributed to all the syllables starting from the head up to the tail. in addition, all the speech of the committee of examiners, fragments of sentences, continuers, examinee’s reading of part of his\her thesis for a request to illustrate a specific point are neglected because these are irrelevant for the purpose of the study: the study is limited to show how the iraqi efl learners use sas for the purpose of defence. consequently, the researchers communicate with the learners to get these theses and they read them in order to find out the correct spelling for some concepts which are new to the researchers. the researchers use a tape-recorder as a research instrument to record ma and ph.d. discussions. the recorder device is of “sony ux560f digital voice recorder ux series” type. it is workable for scientific research purposes because it records voice clearly in distance exceeds ten meters. in order to find the type of sa most used by iraqi efl learners, the researchers analyze the recorded data according to the taxonomy of speech act proposed by searle (1976) and categorize each single sa according to the definitions of sas given by searle and vanderveken (1985) and they identify the type of tone according to the division given by roach (2009) and gut (2009). the researchers follow the following procedure in carrying out the present study: 1) the researchers select the subjects of the study and use a sensitive voice recorder to record their speech clearly. 52 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 2) the researchers put all these discussions in orthographic form, showing boundaries of us, tone unit boundaries and type of tone for each single tone unit. 3) they analyze the participants’ us in terms of sas showing the class to which each sa belongs, and investigate whether the tone the subjects use coincides with the sas they perform. 4) the researchers use a statistical means to find out what common type of sa the iefl learners often perform and the common type of tone they use. 4. data analysis and discussion of the ma and ph.d. candidates use of sas in this section, the researchers analyze, justify and make a comparison between the ma iefl learners’ defense and the ph.d. one in terms of use of sas, categories of sas, use of tones and errors committed by them. 4.1 a comparison between the ma and ph.d. candidates’ use of sas in comparing the use of sas by the ma iefl learners’ debate with those of the ph.d. ones, it is found that the total number of sas performed by the ma participants are 981 and the sas performed by the ph.d. participants are 858. this indicates that the ma candidates utter more sas than the ph.d. ones. this is in contrary to hypothesis (1) which states that (the ph.d. iefl learners use more sas than the ma ones). that is why, hypothesis (1) is refuted and the alternative one is accepted: (the ma iefl learners use more sas than the ph.d. ones). table 1 compares the frequencies and percentages of sas used by both the ma and ph.d. iefl learners: table 1. comparison between the ma and ph.d. candidates’ use of sas no. sa ma participants ph.d. participants frequency % frequency % 1 asserting 365 37.2 176 20.5 2 stating 79 8.05 58 6.76 3 justifying 117 11.9 150 17.4 4 reporting 116 11.8 40 4.66 5 clarifying 10 1.01 58 6.76 6 agreeing 29 2.95 36 4.1 7 disagreeing 18 1.83 21 2.44 8 concluding 59 6.01 29 3.37 9 denying 36 3.66 29 3.37 10 probing 3 0.3 5 0.58 11 arguing 24 2.44 21 2.44 53 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 12 affirming 8 0.8 18 2.09 13 guessing 2 0.2 1 0.1 14 telling 6 0.6 20 2.3 15 claiming 15 1.52 16 1.86 16 supposing 1 0.1 4 0.46 17 assuming 11 1.12 4 0.46 18 reminding 1 0.1 1 0.1 19 objecting 1 0.1 4 0.46 20 believing 1 0.1 0 0 21 giving example 1 0.1 0 0 22 asking for permission 10 1.01 11 1.28 23 asking 39 3.97 66 7.7 24 obligating 1 0.1 5 0.58 25 prohibiting 1 0.1 0 0 26 suggesting 1 0.1 0 0 27 thanking 8 0.8 18 2.09 28 giving opinion 14 1.42 18 2.09 29 apologizing 2 0.2 14 1.63 30 complimenting 2 0.2 0 0 31 proving 0 0 2 0.23 32 insisting 0 0 8 0.93 33 confessing 0 0 1 0.1 34 boasting 0 0 3 0.35 35 intending 0 0 1 0.1 36 predicting 0 0 3 0.35 37 criticizing 0 0 1 0.1 38 disclaiming 0 0 1 0.1 39 correcting 0 0 2 0.23 40 refusing 0 0 1 0.1 41 encouraging 0 0 1 0.1 42 wishing 0 0 2 0.23 43 requesting 0 0 1 0.1 54 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 44 promising 0 0 1 0.1 45 greeting 0 0 4 0.46 46 joking 0 0 2 0.23 47 challenging 0 0 1 0.1 total 981 100 858 100 the most frequent sa that the ma and ph.d. iefl learners produce is the sa of asserting: 365: 176 occurrences. statistically, hypothesis (2) which states that (the iraqi efl learners use the sa of stating more than the other types of sas in their ma and ph.d. defence) is rejected and the alternative one is accepted: (the iraqi efl learners use the sa of asserting more than the other types of sas in their ma and ph.d. defence) because the sa of stating is much less performed than the sa of asserting. the sa of stating is used 79 times by the ma iefl learners and in 58 instances by the ph.d. iefl learners. this indicates that the ma iefl learners concentrate more in their defence on convincing the examiners about the ideas expressed in their theses and also they are also less versatile in the use of sas. this fact can be confirmed through the number of different sas both the ma and ph.d. use. the ma candidates perform 30 different sas, while the ph.d. ones utter 42 different sas. it is thought that the variable of profession works here. due to their experience in university language teaching, the ph.d. candidates perform, though have little frequency, a variety of sas as the situation requires. the following are examples of the sa of asserting: of /course│ in previous studies. (ma1,2) [my specialization] is socio-pho\netics. (ph.d.1, 1) in addition, the sa of justifying occupies the second place; 117 vs. 150 occurrences, 11.9% vs. 17.4. it is an expected frequency because in many instances the ma and ph.d. iefl learners are asked to justify what they are saying. the following are examples of the sa of justifying: because it is listed according to the organizational \concepts│ like number \one│ hie\rarical models│ number \two│ \newly inspired model. (ma1, 23) because there is \standard arabic│ and co\lloquial arabic. (ph.d.1, 4) next, another sa which also has a high frequency is that of reporting; 116 vs. 40 instances, 11.8% vs. 4.66% of the total us because among the data, there are two theses in literature specialization. that is why, the ma candidates report what is there in the novel. the following are examples of the sa of reporting: he said why not you include the \author’s life within the work│ because nothing \comes from nowhere. (ma3, 126) some participants say i was \born and raised in basra│ but i noticed their \dialect is different. (ph.d.1, 126) the least frequent sas that the ma candidates produce are supposing, reminding, objecting, believing, 55 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 obligating, prohibiting and suggesting, whereas the least frequent sas that the ph.d. candidates produce are guessing, reminding, confessing, intending, criticizing, disclaiming, refusing, encouraging, requesting and challenging. each of these sas is mentioned once by the candidates standing for 0.1%. it is clear that the mutual least frequent sa is reminding, while the rest are different. however, such frequencies show that the candidates tend to perform sas which ensure the examiners of the truthfulness of their points of view via performing assertive sas. 4.2 the ma and ph.d. candidates’ use of categories of sas it is found out that there are noticeable differences in the performance of ma and ph.d. participants in terms of sa categories, as shown in table 2. table 2. comparison between the categories of sas used by ma and ph.d. candidates no. sa category ma ph.d. frequency % frequency % 1 representatives 903 92.04 713 83.1 2 directives 52 5.3 86 10.02 3 commissives 0 0 3 0.34 4 expressives 26 2.65 56 6.52 5 declarations 0 0 0 0 tota 981 100 8 100 first, the ma candidates use sas which belong to the sa categories: representatives, directives and expressives (three categories only), whereas the ph.d. candidates, in comparison, make use of sas which belong to: representatives, directives, commissives and expressives (four categories only) though the ph.d. candidates issue three commissive sas. this is an indication that both of the ma and ph.d., on the one hand, have much more concentration on the present aim of convincing the committee than on future commitment and, on the other hand, they are not in position to issue declarations. second, the sa category which is used by 92.4% of the ma iefl learners and by 83.1% of the ph.d. iefl learners is representatives. accordingly, we reject hypothesis (3) which states that (both ma and ph.d. iefl learners use directives more than the other sa categories) because the dominant category of sa used by the ma and ph.d. iefl learners is the representative category not the directive one. so, we accept the alternative hypothesis which states that: (both ma and ph.d. iefl learners use representatives more than the other sa categories). definitely, both of the ma and ph.d. iefl candidates intend to persuade the committee of examiners of their points of views, but they differ in terms of sa diversity of sas performance. 56 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 third, the ma candidates perform less directive sas than the ph.d. ones: they have 5.3% of their utterances which have the features of directives compared to the ph.d. ones who have 10.02% due to their wide experience, the ph.d. candidates pose more questions for the sake of clarification or repetition of the questions in order to fully understand the questions of the examiners and, as a result, they justify the questions they are asked appropriately. finally, there is also a difference between the ma and the ph.d. candidates in terms of the number of expressive sas they perform. the ma candidates have only 2.6% of their total performance of sas which are expressive, while the ph.d. ones have the percentages of 6.5%. this definitely can be related to the degree of interaction between the examiners and the examinees. the ph.d. candidates are more cooperative and they are given more chances to give their opinions, and in return they thank the examiners more when they are given clarifications and apologize more when they receive correction. 4.3 the ma and ph.d. candidates’ use of tones it is found out that there are not quite huge differences between the ma and ph.d. debate performance in terms of the ifel learners’ use of tones. see table 3: table 3. a comparison in the use of tones between the ma and ph.d. candidates no. type of tone ma ph.d. frequency % frequency % 1 fall 1801 97.03 1724 97.29 2 rise 52 2.8 48 2.7 3 fall-rise 0 0 0 0 4 rise-fall 3 0.16 0 0 5 level 0 0 0 0 total 1856 100 1772 100 the table above clearly shows that both the ma and ph.d. iefl learners use the falling tones more than the other tone types: 97.03% versus 97.29%. this supports hypothesis (4) which states that (the ma and ph.d. iraqi efl learners use the falling tone more than the other types of tones) since it is clear that the most frequent type of tone is the falling tone in both cases. in fact, this indicates that they are sure of what they are saying. the ma candidates use 52 rising tones and the ph.d. candidates use 48 ones for the sake of posing questions. a less used type of tone is the rise-fall one which is used 3 times only, 0.16% for the sake of signaling incompleteness, but it does have much statistical significance. moreover, the candidates never use the fall-rise tone because they are certain of their points of view. 57 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 4.4 the errors committed by the ma and ph.d. iraqi efl learners it is found that there are differences between the ma and ph.d. iraqi efl learners in the type and number of errors they commit (table 4 below): table 4. a comparison between the errors committed by the ma and ph.d. iefl learners no. error type of error ma ph.d. frequency % frequency % 1 misrepresentation of ideas pr ag m at ic e rr or s 17 10.2 7 16.2 2 redundancy 6 3.6 2 4.6 3 repetition 11 6.62 16 37.2 4 misrepresentation of words 4 2.4 1 2.3 5 repair 1 0.6 2 4.6 total 39 15.6 27 38.2 6 omission of verb sy nt ac tic e rr or s 8 4.81 2 4.6 7 omission of relative pronoun 1 0.6 0 0 8 insertion of if conditional 1 0.6 0 0 9 insertion of preposition 66 39.7 0 0 10 determiner problem 2 1.2 0 0 11 agreement error 12 7.22 0 0 12 omission of preposition 9 5.24 1 2.3 13 insertion of noun phrases or clauses 2 1.2 0 0 14 insertion of verb 1 0.6 2 4.6 15 misuse of tense 11 6.62 4 9.3 16 omission of article 3 1.8 1 2.3 17 omission of pronoun or subject 4 2.4 0 0 18 misuse of relative clause 2 1.2 0 0 19 subject-verb inversion 2 1.2 0 0 20 incomplete utterance 1 0.6 0 0 58 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 21 misuse of relative pronoun 1 0.6 0 0 22 insertion of article 1 0.6 0 0 23 misuse of verb 0 0 3 6.97 24 omission of auxiliary verb 0 0 2 4.6 total 127 50.8 16 22.53 25 incorrect tone unit boundary to ne e rr or s 39 15.6 21 29.5 26 incorrect type of tone 13 5.2 2 2.8 27 incorrect placement of stress 30 12 5 7 28 no stress 2 0.8 0 0 total 84 33.6 28 39.43 total 250 100 71 100 the errors the ma iraqi efl learners commit are more in type and frequency than the ph.d. ones, something which supports hypothesis (5) which states that (the errors ma iraqi efl learners commit in the use of sas are more than those errors which are committed by the ph.d. ones) since the ma iraqi efl learners commit 26 types of errors with a total number of 250 errors, whereas the ph.d. learners commit 15 types of errors with a total number of 71 errors. these frequencies indicate that the ph.d. iraqi efl learners are well-informed and more competent in english than the ma ones; that is why, they commit less errors. the ma iefl learners commit more syntactic errors than the ph.d. ones: 127 instances, representing 50.8%; 16 occurrences, representing 22.85%. this indicates that the ma iefl learners are still linguistically incompetent and that the ph.d. learners are more competent than the ma ones. in terms of syntactic errors, the most frequent syntactic error the ma iraqi efl learners commit is insertion of preposition. though it occurs in 66 instances standing for 26.4%, the ph.d. ones never commit this mistake because the ph.d. iraqi efl learners have the bbc dialect. interpolation is like the main concept. (ma errors) in addition, the ma iraqi efl learners commit the error misuse of tense 11 times standing for 4.4%, whereas the ph.d. ones misuse the tenses 4 times, 5.6%. again, it is found out that the ph.d. iraqi efl learners have more command on the tenses than the ma ones. then he [is] chang[ed]. (ma errors) furthermore, the least frequent syntactic errors the ma iraqi efl learners commit are insertion of article, omission of relative pronoun, insertion of conditional if, insertion of verb and misuse of relative pronoun: 59 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 to expose not the hopkinson. (ma errors) the one [who] made the act. (ma errors) but if we call that person a spinster. (ma errors) who are criticized the theory of brown and levinson. (ma errors) i put like one sentence explaining how [what] am i going to discuss. (ma errors) the least frequent errors the ph.d. ones commit are wrong use of words, omission of preposition and omission of article. here are examples of these errors respectively: wrong use of words: i asked for the participants that are suit. (ph.d. errors) omission of preposition: sometimes [for] some utterances i can’t get the acoustic picture. (ph.d. errors) omission of article: i have a sea or [an] ocean. (ph.d. errors) however, each of these errors is committed only once representing 0.4% for the ma candidates and 1.4% for the ph.d. ones. this variety of errors which the ma iraqi efl learners commit is another evidence that they are less competent in the rules of syntax than the ph.d. ones. it is clear that the iefl learners commit errors of the pragmatic type: “the iraqi efl learners lack some of the necessary pragmatic competence of the fl …” (betti & yaseen, 2020, p. 58). likewise, this goes in harmony with betti, igaab and al-ghizzi (2018, p. 264): “the informants have weaknesses in the pragmatic level of the …speech acts”. so, in terms of pragmatic errors, the most frequent pragmatic error the ph.d. iraqi efl learners commit is the error of “repetition”. while it appears in 16 instances representing 22.53%, the ma iraqi efl learners commit this mistake 11 times standing for 4.4%. in fact, the ph.d. iraqi efl learners’ repetition of linguistic structures and items more than the ma ones indicates a previous observation that the ph.d. iraqi efl learners’ supply more clarifications and justifications to the examiners than the ma ones; that is why they repeat in order to gain time to arrange their thoughts and ideas. the candidates’ irrelevant repetition indicates their violation of the grecian maxim of quantity. this is in total agreement with betti and yaseen (2020, p. 57): “the iraqi efl learners have difficulty in utilizing the conversational maxims when they are required to observe all the maxims”. the care-givers must ought to be careful. (ma errors) if they put it in their mind if they put it in their mind if they put it in their mind they like literature. (ph.d. errors) in addition, another pragmatic error which both the ma and ph.d. iraqi efl learners commit is misrepresentation of ideas. the ma iraqi efl learners use it in 17 instances, 6.8%, whereas the ph.d. ones use it in 7 instances, 9.85%. this indicates that the ph.d. iraqi efl learners are better in expressing the ideas and thoughts they have in their mind than the ma ones. because i use in the term reference…both terms are actually may be similar and can be used interchangeably. (ma errors) so when in the poem the title of the poem is identification. (ma errors) 60 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 finally, the ma iefl learners commit more errors in the use of tones than the ph.d. ones. the ma candidates commit 84 tone error, 33.6% which a much more frequency but less percentage than the ph.d. ones who commit 28 tone error, 39.4%. this is because the ph.d. iraqi efl learners have more command on tones and patterns of intonation than the ma ones. the most frequent tone error both the ma and ph.d. iefl learners commit is the use of incorrect tone unit boundary. the ma iefl learners commit this 39, 15.6% which is a more frequency than that of the ph.d. candidates: 21, 29.5%. this indicates that the ma and ph.d. learners have problems in deciding tone unit boundaries which is often a result to syntactic or pragmatic problem. we may in\clude like│ patients in the \mild phase. (ma errors) i said this may be \due because you know│ \reading│ or \analyzing three poems│ at the \same time│ for \them│ they have no e\xperience│ of \analyzing│ and \seeing poems│ because they didn’t see in their \life│ or \lives in addition, the ma iefl learners also commit the error of incorrect placement of stress more than ph.d. ones: 30, 12% vs. 5, 7.04. this indicates that the ma iefl learners have problems in deciding which syllables or words that have to receive stress and which do not. it is a phonological problem. in this regard, betti and ulaiwi (2018, p. 87) clarify that “the placement of stress in sentences depends [on] the relative importance of words in … [the] sentence. the most important word carries the stronger stress”. not in specific \pages. (ma errors) this is partial \educated. (ma errors) moreover, the ma iefl learners commit more errors of using the incorrect type of tone than the ph.d. ones: 13, 5.2% vs. 2, 2.81. this is because when the ma and, to a lesser degree, ph.d. iefl learners list items, they usually use falling tone for all items, not only for the last item. whether they are \educated│ un\educated│ or \partly educated. (ph.d. errors) 5. conclusions this section displays the conclusion that the researchers arrive at as a result of the theoretical and practical aspects of the study, and giving some recommendations and suggestions for further studies. based on the results the researchers obtain from data analysis and discussion, the study draws the following conclusions: 1). the ma iefl learners use more sas than the ph.d. ones do. 2). the most frequent sa that the ma and ph.d. iefl learners perform in their defence of their theses and dissertations is the sa of asserting. 3). the most frequently used category of sas by the ma and ph.d. iefl learners in their defence is the representative, directive, expressives, commissive and then the declarative one. 61 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 4). the ma and ph.d. iefl learners never utilize declarative sas in their defence because the performance of declaratives requires that speakers possess an institutional role which the ma and ph.d. iefl learners explicitly lack. 5). the ph.d. iefl learners utilize more sa categories in their defence than the ma ones do. this is because the ph.d. iefl learners utilize sas which belong to four sa categories, whereas the ma ones use sas which belong to only three sa categories. 6). there is a positive relationship between the type of tone that the ma and ph.d. iefl learners use and the type of sas they perform; that is, the ma and ph.d. iefl learners tend to use the falling tone in order to show to the examiners that they are sure of what they say. 7). the most widely used type of tone by the ma and ph.d. iefl learners is the falling tone. this goes in harmony with the idea that the ma and ph.d. iefl learners, in their defence, tend to use the falling tone in order to convey to the examiners that they believe in what they say. 8). the ma iefl learners commit more errors in frequency and type than the ph.d. ones do. 9). the ph.d. iefl learners perform better in their defence than the ma ones in terms of the less errors they commit. based on the study theoretical and practical aspects, it is recommended that: 1). teachers or course designers ought to enrich the curriculum with a sufficient number of sas through classroom activities in which the students is engaged such as conversations, role-playing, interviews, etc. that motivate the students to perform sas., and these sas ought to be given in appropriate contexts. likewise, students ought to be given ample opportunities to practice sas. 2). teachers ought to explain to the students that sas are language functions and teach them using pragmatic and sociolinguistic exercises. they ought not to be taught in the same way as grammatical structures. 3). university teachers need to pay much attention to teaching intonation, explaining to the students the production and usage of each one of the tones. 4). university students ought to be given enough time to practice the various types of tones. 5). teachers need to diagnose the weakness points that the learners undergo in performing sas or pronouncing the types of tone and find solutions for these weaknesses. 6). the ma and ph.d. iefl learners ought to juxtapose between sas and type of tone they use to perform these sas. 7). designers of the curriculum of colleges of education for humanities for ma and ph.d. students ought to pay more attention to interlanguage pragmatics so that the students obtain the necessary competence to effectively perform everyday social functions in the fl. 8). university teachers are recommended at the level of ba, ma, and ph.d. during the classroom communication to enhance the learners’ awareness to the socio-pragmatic rules of english. 62 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 the following topics are suggested for further studies: 1). a similar study can be conducted to deal with the sas used by the committee of examiners, sa categories, types of tones used by them and, if any, the errors committed by them. 2). a similar study can also be conducted dealing with the sas, sa categories, types of tones and the errors committed by a teacher or teachers while they are teaching english in classroom. 3). a comparative study can be conducted about the differences in the use of sas between the male iefl learners and female ones. 4). a study can be conducted about the use of sas by iefl speakers based on recorded materials and comparing their performance to that of english native speakers. 5). a study can be conducted about the iefl learners’ awareness of sas from spoken discourse and if they recognize sas, are they able to respond to these sas? 6). a study can be conducted about the iefl learners’ use of directives and the type of tone they use when perform each different directive sa. 7). a comparative study can be conducted in categorization of sas between the iefl learners and teachers or politicians. references aitchison, j. 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(2006). speech acts. in l. r. horn, & g. ward (eds.), the handbook of pragmatics (pp. 53-74). new jersey: blackwell publishing. https://doi.org/10.1111/b.9780631225485.2005.00006.x taglicht, j. (1998). constraints on intonational phrasing in english. journal of linguistics, 34(1), 181-211. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022226797006877 thomas, j. (1995). meaning in interaction: an introduction to pragmatics. london: longman. trask, r. l. (1999). key concepts in language and linguistics. london: routledge. wells, j. c. (2006). english intonation: an introduction. cambridge: cambridge university press. yule, g. (1996). pragmatics. oxford: oxford university press. 65 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1111/b.9780631225485.2005.00006.x https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022226797006877 original paper education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 60 original paper motivation, job satisfaction and turnover intention level of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria olayemi j. abiodun-oyebanji1 & olatunji mukaila iyiola1 1 department of educational management, faculty of education, university of ibadan, nigeria received: june 10, 2023 accepted: july 4, 2023 online published: july 25, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n3p60 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n3p60 abstract the study investigated the influence of level of motivation and job satisfaction on the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria. the descriptive design method was employed and multi-stage sampling technique was adopted for the study. one thousand four hundred and seventy three academic staff participated in the study. the participants were drawn from 8 private universities randomly selected from 4 states which were randomly sampled from 6 states in southwestern geo-political zone. research questions were analysed using frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation and multiple regression was used to analyse the hypothesis. the results revealed low level of motivation and job satisfaction as well as high level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria. results also indicated a significant influence of the level of motivation and job satisfaction on the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria. this means that 12% of the total variance in turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria is attributed to the influence of the level of motivation and job satisfaction. this indicates that the independent variables (motivation level and job satisfaction level) and the dependent variable (turnover intention level) have linear and significant relationship. keywords level of motivation, level of job satisfaction, level of turnover intention, private universities, academic staff 1. introduction private universities, like any other work organization, require stable staff to achieve the goals they were set up for. in the case of private universities, emotionally and physically stable academic staff is germane to effective performance of the institutions, in an efficient manner, in order to serve the purpose for which www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 61 published by scholink inc. university education was set up for private participation. it is, therefore, important for private universities to put in place a workable means to achieve the retention of their good academic staff. a high rate of turnover of academic staff is a major challenge facing private universities (oseni, 2015). udenta (2016) asserts that all young lecturers presently working in most of the private universities are there waiting for a door of opportunity to open for them to quit for another institution or another organization. according to ajadi (2010), it would get to a time when most of the private universities would find it difficult to recruit good academic staff, if their conditions of service remains unimproved. this invariably speaks volume for the psychological state of mind of most of the academic staff currently working in private universities in southwestern nigeria. it holds that most of the academic staff are having turnover intention in their present universities to quit for another institution where they think they will enjoy a better condition of service. having an intention to leave an organization has a high tendency to foster absenteeism (which occurs in the course of searching for a new job), moonlighting (working at an additional job after regular, full time employment), low or pseudo commitment, dwindled loyalty, declined productivity, and poor service delivery. these have an adverse effect on productivity level, quality of service and organizational goals achievement. the cost of the effect of staff absenteeism, low commitment and disloyalty to university education is high. instructional programmes are disrupted, resources are wasted, students’ cognitive achievement is negatively affected, institution cohesion is weakened, and overall performance of the institutions is undermined. this will not augur well for the nation which largely depends on university institutions for the production of highly skilled human capital for its holistic development. in the light of this, reducing the level of turnover intention of academic staff remains a primary concern of the management of private universities in southwestern nigeria. most researches done in the field of turnover have shown that organizations would retain their good employees if remuneration, support service, welfare, security, relationship and work environment are provided (bussin, 2002; metcalf, rolfe, & weale, 2005; samuel & chipunza, 2009; hong, hao, kumar, ramadran, & kadiresan, 2012; islam, ahmad, ali, ahmed, & bowra, 2013), though less of these studies were conducted on turnover intention of academic staff in the private sector of university education in nigeria. most of these factors are found to exist in most organizations, and the essence is for the motivation and job satisfaction of the employees, yet turnover of their good employees persist. likewise, private universities in southwestern states may not lack in the provision of these factors for their academic staff, but still record some levels of turnover intention of their academic staff. this informs the interest of the current study in finding out the level to which these factors motivate and improve job satisfaction of the academic staff of private universities in southwestern nigeria and its influence on the level of their turnover intention. the study investigated to which level academic staff of private universities were motivated and have their job satisfaction improved by salary, reward and compensation system, promotion and career advancement opportunities, work-life balance, leave, training and research supports, job security, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 62 published by scholink inc. workplace security, inter-workers and management-workers relationship, work environment, academic freedom and facilities as well as amenities. this study mainly investigated the influence of the level of motivation and job satisfaction on the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria. the study also achieved the following specific objectives. 1) ascertaining the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria, 2) investigating the level of motivation of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria, 3) investigating the level of job satisfaction of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria, 4) finding out if the level of motivation and job satisfaction have any significant influence on the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria, 1.1 research questions 1) what is the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria? 2) what is the level of motivation of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria? 3) what is the level of job satisfaction of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria? hypothesis ho1: the level of motivation and job satisfaction has no significant influence on the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria. 2. method 2.1 design the study adopted a descriptive survey research design to ascertain the influence of the level of motivation and job satisfaction on the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria. 2.1.1 population and sample the population of this study comprised all academic staff in 37 licensed private universities owned by private individuals and religious organizations (faith-based private universities) in southwestern nigeria. the participants of the study consisted of 1665 academic staff selected using multi-stage sampling procedure. at the first stage, the researcher used stratified sampling technique to divide private universities into two strata, which consisted of faith-based universities owned by religious organizations (stratum 1) and universities owned by private individuals (stratum 2). at the second stage, the names of the six states in the southwestern geo-political zone were written on a separate sheet of papers and wrapped, then four states (lagos, ogun, osun and oyo) were randomly selected from the six states. in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 63 published by scholink inc. stage 3, the researcher firstly used purposive random sampling technique to select from private universities that were established in or before 2010, which have the tendency of having or supposed to have more long serving academic staff. in stage 4, random sampling method was used in which the names of the universities (established in or before 2010) owned by religious organizations were written on a separate sheet of papers for each state and one university was randomly selected in the state for the study. the same thing was done for the universities owned by private individuals in each of the four states. by this process, four universities owned by religious organizations and four universities owned by private individuals were randomly sampled in the selected four states making eight universities altogether that were sampled for the study. a questionnaire with cronbanch alpha reliability coefficient value of 0.83, was administered to the participants to collect data for the study. the rate of return was high as one thousand seven hundred and forty three (1743) questionnaires were retrieved and found usable out of one thousand six hundred and sixty five (1665) copies distributed. descriptive statistics was used to analyse the demographic data of the respondents. all research questions were analysed using frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation. a mean score below 2.5 was regarded as ‘disagree’ or ‘low’ while a mean score of 2.5 and above was accepted as ‘agree’ or ‘high’ as the case may be. the only hypothesis formulated for the study was tested using multiple regression at level of significance of 0.05, that is, in 5% of the cases, the decision reached was taken to be in error, 5 out of 100 times. 3. result research question 1: what is the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria? table 1 presents the responses of the respondents to the research question raised to find out the level of intention of academic staff of private universities in southwestern nigeria to leave their present universities for a competitor. in order to determine the aggregate responses of the respondents on the items in table 1, responses to ‘low’ and ‘very low’ were added together to get a value for each item in the questionnaire. also, responses to ‘high’ and ‘very high’ were added together to get aggregate value for high level of turnover intention of academic staff with respect to each item in the questionnaire. likewise, the percentages were added together to get a value for both percentage low level and percentage high level. therefore, the plan of four hundred and fourteen (283, low and 131, very low, added together), that is, 28.1% (addition of 19.2%, low and 8.9%, very low) of the respondents to quit their present universities if there is better offer elsewhere is low, while one thousand and fifty-nine that is, 71.9% respondents expressed that their plan to quit is high. this indicates that the plan of academic staff of private universities in southwestern nigeria to quit their present universities is high with a mean of 2.95 and a high standard deviation of 0.929. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 64 published by scholink inc. also, the number of those that said they saw continuous manifestation of reasons to quit their present universities is nine hundred and ninety-six (996 (67.6%)), which implies that it is high. the number of those that responded otherwise is low (477 academic staff), which represents 32.4% (addition of 28.7% and 3.7%) of the respondents. this shows that majority of the academic staff continuously see reasons to quit their present universities with a mean of 2.76 and standard deviation of 0.703. the table also shows that the passion of 464 respondents (31.5%) to search for another place to work is low, whereas for 1,009 respondents (68.5%), it is high. this indicates that majority of the academic staff of private universities in southwestern nigeria have high passion to search for another place to work, with a mean of 2.76 and standard deviation of 0.718. according to the responses of 536 respondents (36.4%), the level of their hopelessness to have fulfilled work life by continuing with their present institutions is low, that is, they still have hope to have a fulfilled work life in their present universities. however, 937 respondents (63.6%) indicated that the level of their hopelessness to have a fulfilled work life by continuing in their present institutions is high. therefore, with a mean of 2.68 and standard deviation of 0.784, academic staff of private universities in southwestern nigeria have high level of hopelessness to have a fulfilled work life by continuing in their present universities. eight hundred and forty four ((57.5%) addition of very high and high responses) responded to having quest to enjoy at least same level of benefit as their input, while 629 (42.7%) responded otherwise. it portends that the academic staff that responded to having the quest were experiencing a negative discrepancy between their input to their present university and what they were getting from the university. with mean value of 2.68 > 2.5 and standard deviation of 1.056, the quest was high enough to make academic staff think of leaving their present university for competitors. table 1 further shows that 947 (64.3%) respondents indicated that management’s slowness in attending to the needs of academic staff was high while 526 (35.7%) had a contrary opinion. more academic staff would therefore decide to quit their present universities because management did not respond promptly to the needs of academic staff. mean value of 2.78 > 2.5 and standard deviation of 0.932 indicates high level turnover intention of academic staff consequent upon the management’s slowness in attending to their needs. as shown in table 1, 1028 (69.8%) respondents had a high feeling of being less motivated, but the rest (445 (30.2%)) had a low feeling of being less motivated in their present university. more academic staff, according to the result felt unmotivated by their present university with a mean value of 2.66 > 2.5 and standard deviation of 0.848. table 1 further reveals that level of poor treatment they experienced in their present universities was high with 949 (64.4%) reported high level and 524 (35.6%) reported low level; mean value is 2.73 > 2.5 and standard deviation = 0.728. in response to item 9, in table 1, asking for the level of academic staff’s dis-satisfaction with current work conditions in their present institutions, 884 (60%) responded that the dis-satisfaction level was high www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 65 published by scholink inc. while 589 (40%) responded that the level was low. therefore, with mean value of 2.60 > 2.5 and standard deviation = 0.830, academic staff’s dis-satisfaction with current work conditions in private universities was high. feeling of getting less benefits than what was contributed to help achieve the goals of private universities was high for 1104 (74.9%) respondents but low for 369 (25.1%) respondents. academic staff rationally would not like to get benefits short of the service they render to the university, so with mean value of 2.86 > 2.5 and standard deviation of 0.670, it can be concluded that the feeling was high. table 1 also reveals that more respondents (933 (63.3%)) reported that management failed to respond adequately to the yearnings of academic staff, while 540 (36.7%) respondents reported otherwise. this indicated that management’s failure to respond adequately to the yearning of academic staff had more effect on more academic staff than those respondents on whom it had less effect. therefore, with mean value of 2.66 > 2.5 and standard deviation = 0.774, management’s failure to respond adequately to the yearnings of academic staff was high. the overall result shows that with average mean scores of 2.74 > 2.5, the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria is high. table 1. level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria s/n o items very high high low very low mean std. deviation decision 1 plan to quit if there is better offer elsewhere 468 (31.8%) 591 (40.1%) 283 (19.2%) 131 (8.9%) 2.95 0.929 high 2 reasons to quit continuously manifest 173 (11.7%) 823 (55.9%) 422 (28.7%) 55 (3.7%) 2.76 0.703 high 3 passion to search for another place to work 178 (12.1%) 829 (56.3%) 399 (27.1%) 67 (4.5%) 2.76 0.718 high 4 level of hopelessness to have a fulfilled work life by 178 (12.1%) 759 (51.5%) 423 (28.7%) 113 (7.7%) 2.68 0.783 high www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 66 published by scholink inc. continuing with my present institution 5. quest to enjoy at least same level of benefit as my input to my present university 408 27.7% 436 29.6% 374 25.4% 255 17.3% 2.68 1.056 high 6. management’s slowness in attending to the needs of academic staff 352 23.9% 595 40.4% 366 24.8% 160 10.9% 2.78 0.932 high 7. feeling of being less motivated 156 10.6% 872 59.2% 239 16.2% 210 14.0% 2.66 0.848 high 8. level of poor treatment experience from my present institution 182 12.4% 767 52.0% 465 31.6% 59 4.0% 2.73 0.728 high 9. dis-satisfaction with current work conditions in my present institution 165 11.2% 719 48.8% 423 28.7% 166 11.3% 2.60 0.830 high 10. feeling of getting less than i contribute to my present university 192 13.0% 912 61.9% 328 22.3% 41 2.8% 2.86 0.670 high 11. management’s failure to respond adequately to the yearnings of academic staff 159 10.8% 774 52.5% 419 28.4% 121 8.3% 2.66 0.774 high www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 67 published by scholink inc. average mean score = 2.74 high decision level: mean ≥ 2.5 (high); mean < 2.5 (low) table 2 gives results of determination rating scale (in percentage) of academic staff’s intention to quit private universities for competitors. responses ‘a’ and ‘b’ were added together to indicate high level; response ‘c’ is moderate level; and ‘d’ and ‘e’ too were added together to indicate low level. it is revealed in table 2 that the 1024 (69.5%), representing the highest number of the respondents, rated low (1%-49%) the level at which their current job in their present private universities was satisfying their personal needs; 1051 (71.4%) responded that the rate at which the respondents got frustrated when denied opportunity to achieve their personal work-related goals was high (56%-100%); 1023 (69.5%) respondents that the rate at which they looked forward to another day at their present institution was low (1%-49%); 1032 (70%), representing the highest number of the participants declared that their dreaming about getting a job in another university that will better promote their personal needs was high (56%100%); and that 1044 (70.9%) rated their turnover intention between 56% and 100%. the results portend that the majority of the respondents would quit their present universities for the fact that the rate at which their current job was satisfying their personal needs was low; the rate at which they got frustrated when denied opportunity to achieve their personal work-related goals was high; the rate at which they looked forward to another day at their present institution was low; their dreaming about getting a job in another university that would better promote their personal needs was high; and so they would rate their intention to quit their present university for a competitor at the slightest opportunity. the rating gives credence to the main questionnaire items on the level of turnover intention of the academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria. with these results, it was found that the level of turnover intention of academic staff of private universities was high. it therefore means that majority of the academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria would like to leave their present universities for competitors at any slight opportunity. table 2. turnover intention determination rating scale (in percentage) of academic staff in private universities for competitors statement, frequency and percentage 1 2 3 4 5 what is the rate at which the current job is satisfying your personal the rate at which you got frustrated when denied opportunity to achieve your the rate at which you look forward to another day at your present dreaming about getting a job in another university that will how would you rate your intention to quit your present university for a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 68 published by scholink inc. responses needs? personal workrelated goals institution better promote your personal needs competitor at the slightest opportunity? a 70%-100% (very high) 72 4.9% 436 29.6% 80 5.4% 412 28.0% 416 28.3% b 56%-69% (high) 288 19.6% 615 41.8% 283 19.2% 620 42.0% 628 42.6% c 50%-55% (moderate) 89 6.0% 30 2.0% 87 5.9% 44 3.0% 37 2.5% d 31%-49% (low) 689 46.8% 339 23.0% 726 49.3% 299 20.3% 331 22.5% e 1%-30% (very low) 335 22.7% 53 3.6% 297 20.2% 98 6.7% 61 4.1% decision low high low high high research question 2: what is the level of motivation of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria? table 3 reveals that among all the pay related factors, only salary induced high motivation of the respondents (17.0% low; 83% high (sum of percentage low and percentage high respectively); mean = 2.96; and standard deviation = 0.601). the rest of the pay factors from items 2 to 7 induced low motivation: reward for good job performance (47.4% high; 52.6% low; mean =2.46; and standard deviation = 0.644); reward for initiative (43.1% high; 56.9% low; mean = 2.38; and standard deviation = 0.665); reward for research breakthrough (38.9% high; 61.1% low; mean = 2.32; and standard deviation = 0.881); compensation for extra workloads (41.2% high; 58.8% low; mean = 2.29; and standard deviation = 0.734); compensation for holding a leadership position (39.8% high; 60.2% low; mean = 2.27; and standard deviation = 0.751); compensation for being a member of a committee (40.1% high; 59.9% low; mean = 2.26; and standard deviation = 0.744). table 3 also shows that 29.4% of the respondents had high motivation, 70.6% signified that they had low motivation from promotion. therefore, with mean score = 2.11 and standard deviation of the scores = 0.764, promotion in the selected private universities induced low motivation. likewise, the responses of the respondents to the level of inducement of motivation by career advancement opportunities (32.6% www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 69 published by scholink inc. high; 67.4% low; mean = 2.19; standard deviation = 0.815); work-life balance (29.2% high; 70.8% low; mean = 2.13; standard deviation = 0.744); sabbatical leave (23.5% high; 76.5% low; mean = 2.06; standard deviation = 0.770); accumulated leave (17.4% high; 82.6% low; mean = 1.96; standard deviation = 0.688); leave of absence (19.3% high; 80.7% low; mean = 1.98; standard deviation = 0.686) reveal that they all induced low motivation. this could be further established by the average mean scores (2.07) and standard deviation (3.351) of the scores of all the welfare factors. furthermore, table 3 reveals that the two factors identified as university supports factors induced low motivation of the respondents. the scores show that training support could only induce high motivation of just 25.5% of the respondents, but 74.5% of the respondents reported low motivation. this is clearer from the mean score, which is 2.09 and standard deviation of 0.719. likewise, research support could only induce high motivation of just 26.2% of the respondents, but it gave low motivation to 73.8% of the respondents. therefore, with mean score = 2.09 and standard deviation = 0.722, research support induced low motivation of the academic staff. the average of the mean scores (2.09) and the standard deviation of the overall scores of university support items (1.398) imply that, the academic staff in the studied private universities were not motivated by university supports factors. the overall result with average mean of 2.24 < 2.5, therefore, reveals that the level of motivation induced by retention factors in academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria was low. table 3. the level of motivation of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria items very high high sum of high low very low sum of low mean std. devi atio n decision salary 212 (14.4%) 1010 (68.6%) 1222 (83%) 227 (15.4%) 24 (1.6%) 251 (17%) 2.96 0.60 high reward for good job performance 49 (3.3%) 649 (44.1%) 698 (47.4%) 702 (47.7%) 73 (4.9%) 775 (52.6%) 2.46 0.64 low reward for initiative 36 (2.4%) 599 (40.7%) 635 (43.1%) 721 (49%) 117 (7.9%) 838 (56.9%) 2.38 0.66 low reward for research breakthrough 48 (3.3%) 525 (35.6%) 573 (38.9%) 727 (49.4%) 173 (11.7%) 900 (61.1%) 2.32 0.88 low compensation for extra workloads 33 (2.2%) 574 (39.0%) 607 (41.2%) 654 (44.4%) 212 (%14.4) 866 (58.8%) 2.29 0.73 low www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 70 published by scholink inc. compensation for holding a leadership position 40 (2.7%) 546 (37.1%) 586 (39.8%) 656 (44.5%) 231 (15.7%) 887 (60.2%) 2.27 0.75 low compensation for being a member of a committee 32 (2.2%) 558 (37.9%) 590 (40.1%) 651 (44.2%) 232 (15.7%) 883 (59.9%) 2.26 0.74 low promotion 38 (2.6%) 395 (26.8%) 433 29.4 728 (49.4%) 312 (21.2%) 1040 (70.6%) 2.11 0.76 low career advancement opportunities 88 (6.0%) 392 (26.6%) 480 (32.6%) 706 (47.9%) 287 (19.5%) 993 (67.4%) 2.19 0.81 low work-life balance 43 (2.9%) 387 (26.3%) 430 (28.3%) 762 (51.7%) 281 (19.1%) 1043 (70.8%) 2.13 0.74 low sabbatical leave 68 (4.6%) 278 (18.9%) 346.8 (23.5%) 800 (54.3%) 327 (22.2%) 1127 (76.5%) 2.06 0.77 low accumulated leave 31 (2.1%) 225 (15.3%) 256 (17.4%) 867 (58.8%) 350 (23.8%) 1217 (82.6%) 1.96 0.68 low leave of absence 23 (1.6%) 261 (17.7%) 284 (19.3%) 848 (57.5%) 341 (23.2%) 1189 (80.7%) 1.98 0.68 low training support 37 (2.5%) 339 (23.0%) 376 (25.5%) 812 (55.1%) 285 (19.4%) 1097 (74.5%) 2.09 0.71 low research support 35 (2.4%) 351 (23.8%) 386 (26.2%) 798 (54.2%) 289 (19.6%) 1087 (73.8%) 2.09 0.72 low average mean = 2.24 low decision level: mean ≥ 2.5 (high); mean < 2.5 (low) research question 3: what is the level of job satisfaction of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria? the two items (job security and workplace security) identified under security factors, as shown in table 4 shows that job security induced low job satisfaction of the respondents, while workplace security induced high job satisfaction. as 28.2% of the respondents reported high job security-induced job satisfaction, 71.8% reported low job security-induced job satisfaction (mean = 2.34 and standard deviation = 0.634); and 58.7% reported high workplace security-induced job satisfaction and 41.3% reported low workplace security-induced job satisfaction (mean = 2.59 and standard deviation = 0.619). considering the average mean scores (2.46) and the standard deviation of the overall scores (0.860), it www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 71 published by scholink inc. could be deduced that security factors induced low job satisfaction of the academic staff in the sampled private universities in southwestern nigeria. table 4 further reveals that 65.4% of the respondents reported high job satisfaction induced by interworkers relationship and 34.6% reported low job satisfaction (mean = 2.74 and standard deviation = 0.704), therefore job satisfaction of the academic staff in the sampled private universities from interworkers relationship was high. the results also show that 48.0% of the respondents had high job satisfaction induced by management-workers relationship, while 52% had low job satisfaction. with mean score of 2.41 and standard deviation of 0.804, academic staff job satisfaction induced by management-workers relationship was low. it is clear, therefore, that human relationship factors induced high job satisfaction of the academic staff of the studied private universities with average mean scores of 2.58 table 4 also shows that conducive work environment induced high job satisfaction (59% high; 41% low; mean = 2.50; and standard deviation = 0.736); but the other two items induced low job satisfaction: academic freedom (13.5% high; 86.5% low; mean = 1.96; and standard deviation = 0.597); and facilities and amenities (26.8% high; 73.2% low; mean = 2.16 and standard deviation = 0.664). the average mean score is 2.21, it means, therefore that environment factors induced low job satisfaction of the respondents in the sampled private universities. it could therefore be deduced from the results in table 4 that with overall average mean score of 2.35, retention factors induced low job satisfaction in academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria. table 4. the level of job satisfaction of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria? items very high high sum of high low very low sum of low mean std. deviat ion decision job security 106 (7.2%) 309 (21.0%) 415 (28.2%) 1033 (70.1%) 25 (1.7%) 1058 (71.8%) 2.34 0.634 low workplace security 54 (3.7%) 810 (55.0%) 864 (58.7%) 559 (37.9%) 50 (3.4%) 609 (41.3%) 2.59 0.619 high inter-workers relationship 177 (12.0%) 786 (53.4%) 963 (65.4%) 463 (31.4%) 47 (3.2%) 751 (34.6%) 2.74 0.704 high management workers relationship 135 (9.2%) 572 (38.8%) 707 (48.0%) 530 (36.0%) 236 (16.0%) 766 (52%) 2.41 0.804 low conducive work 45 823 868 435 170 605 high www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 72 published by scholink inc. environment (3.1%) (55.9%) (59%) (29.5%) (11.5%) (41%) 2.50 0.736 academic freedom 19 (1.3%) 180 (12.2%) 199 (13.5%) 1004 (68.2%) 270 (18.3%) 1274 (86.5%) 1.96 0.597 low facilities and amenities 32 (2.2%) 363 (24.6%) 395 (26.8%) 883 (60%) 195 (13.2%) 1078 (73.2%) 2.16 0.664 low average mean = 2.35 low decision level: mean ≥ 2.5 (high); mean < 2.5 (low) 4. testing of hypothesis ho1: the level of motivation and job satisfaction has no significant influence on the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria table 5 presents the analysis of the hypothesis testing for the influence of the level of motivation and job satisfaction on turnover intention level of academic staff of private universities in southwestern nigeria. the model summary shows an r square of 0.120. this means that 12% of the total variance in turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria is attributed to the influence of the level of motivation and job satisfaction. the analysis of variance (anova) shows that the f-test is significant (f(2,1470) = 199.730, p = 0.000 < 0.05). this indicates that the independent variables (motivation level and job satisfaction level) and the dependent variable (turnover intention level) have linear and significant relationship. the result proves that both the independent variables had significant influence on turnover intention level of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria. based on this result, the hypothesis was rejected. table 5. influence of the level of motivation and job satisfaction on turnover intention level of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria model summary r .346a r square 0.120 adjusted r square 0.119 standard error of the estimate 2.62710 a. predictors (constant), retention factors anovaa model sum of square df mean square f p-value remark regression 1378.466 2 1378.466 199.730 0.000b significant p<0.05 residual 10152.309 1470 6.902 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 73 published by scholink inc. total 11530.775 1472 a. dependent variable: turnover intention b. predictors (constant), retention factors 5. discussion the results in table 1, which answered research question 1, revealed that the average aggregate mean score of 2.74 was greater than the criterion mean score of 2.50, thus, this implies that the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria was high. furthermore, the results in table 2, in support of the results in table 1, portended that the majority of the respondents (69.5%) would quit their present universities for the fact that the rate at which their current job was satisfying their personal needs was low; 71.4% would leave because the rate at which they got frustrated when denied opportunity to achieve their personal work-related goals was high; 69.5% would quit for the rate at which they looked forward to another day at their present institution was low; 70% would quit because their dreaming about getting a job in another university that would better promote their personal needs was high; and so 70.9% would rate their intention to quit their present university for a competitor at the slightest opportunity. the rating gives credence to the main questionnaire items on the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria. with these results, it was found that the level of turnover intention of academic staff of private universities was high. it therefore means that majority of the academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria would like to leave their present universities for competitors at any slight opportunity. the findings authenticate udenta’s (2016) speculation that any young and vibrant lecturers in the private universities are there, probably due to lack of job; they would likely leave for any public university anytime a door of opportunity is open. the finding had revealed that most of the academic staff of private universities, though physically present, are nursing intention to quit the private universities where they worked, for a better job in another institution. table 3 presented the results which provided answer to research question 2 about the level of motivation of academic staff of private universities in southwestern nigeria. the overall result with average mean of 2.24, which is less than the criterion mean score of 2.50, revealed that the level of motivation induced by retention factors in academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria was low. the results, however, showed in table 3 (investigating level of motivation of academic staff) that salary (mean = 2.96 and standard deviation = 0.601) was the only incentive which induced high motivation in academic staff of private universities in southwestern nigeria hence the overall low motivation level. the result revealed and confirmed the assertion of das and baruha (2013) that private sector was known for making use of salary to attract employees. pay in the study comprised salary, reward and compensation. among the three, only salary induced high motivation (mean = 2.96 and standard deviation = 0.601) and this supported the finding of oginni. ogunlusi and faseyiku (2013) that salary was commonly used as retention factor to motivate academic staff in private universities. the result concurred with the finding www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 74 published by scholink inc. of bussin (2002) who found salary to have direct relationship with staff retention. they found salary to be a motivator of academic staff to stay longer on their jobs. the results shown in table 3 revealed that most of the respondents were not motivated by reward and compensation though salary was good and regular. the finding that, despite good salary, other components of pay gave low motivation is consistent with the finding of fapohunda (2010) which indicates that pay in private universities seemed to be better, however she also found that pay satisfaction was low. table 4 showed the results of the investigation about the level of job satisfaction of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria. the overall average mean score of 2.35 is less than the criterion mean score of 2.50, meaning that there was low job satisfaction of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria in spite of more academic staff who reported high workplace security, high inter-workers relationship and high conducive work environment. the finding that there was low job satisfaction of academic staff was in consonance with the findings of awang, ahmad, and zin (2010), ng’ethe, iravo, and namusonge (2012) and olusegun (2013) who opined that when workers are not satisfied by most of the incentives provided by the organization, the incentives would induce low job satisfaction in the employees. the findings that some academic staff reported high job satisfaction induced by workplace security confirmed the researcher’s observation that, at the entrance gates into the universities where the survey was carried out, all visitors were made to identify themselves and to register, indicating the purpose of visit and who to visit. also, all visitors were required to wear tags given at the entrance gate and in some of these universities, visitors were directed to see the security personnel who were always detailed at the entrance of office blocks and lecture theatres, mainly for monitoring and security purposes. this attested to a commendable security system for a safe work environment. also, the report of high job satisfaction with regards to conducive work environment agreed with the finding of agba and ocheni (2017) who found that lecturers from the western region of nigeria were satisfied as they observed regular and adequate supply of electricity to their offices which created conducive work environment for them. the finding presented in table 5 revealed that the level of motivation and the level of job satisfaction had significant influence on the level of turnover intention of academic staff in private universities in southwestern nigeria (f(1,1471) = 199.730, p = 0.000 < 0.05). the current study presents findings of high level of academic staff’s turnover intention, low level of academic staff’s motivation and low level of academic staff’s job satisfaction, meaning that the low level of motivation and the low level of job satisfaction influenced the level of academic staff’s turnover intention to be high. this was in agreement with mahdi, mohdzin, mohdnor, sakat, and abangnaim (2012) and olusegun (2013) who posited that employees’ turnover intention would be influenced by the level of motivation and job satisfaction. workers that are adequately motivated and have adequate job satisfaction will not easily think of quitting an organization for another one. when the incentives provided by the organization are strategically and effectively used, the tendency is high for workers to be motivated and have job satisfaction. this is capable of influencing low turnover intention of employees (oginni et al., 2013). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 75 published by scholink inc. 6. conclusion the results of the study have been able to reveal high level of turnover intention among academic staff of private universities in southwestern nigeria, consequent upon low level of motivation and job satisfaction induced by the incentives provided as retention factors. it is clear from the findings that high level of motivation and job satisfaction induced by good salary, serene environment, and workplace security among other incentives were not enough to achieve (physical and emotional) retention of academic staff in private universities, because despite the fact that all these things were confirmed to be minimally present in the private universities sampled for the study, the academic staff still had intention to leave. academic staff in the sampled private universities were not satisfied with management-workers relationship in that more academic staff disagreed with enjoying respect from management or with management being concerned about their yearnings. the finding revealed that most of the academic staff in the sampled private universities were not satisfied with the state of work environment: academic freedom was not enjoyed, library facility, instructional facility and social amenities were not satisfactory. the study has also been able to present facts and empirical data on the independent variables (level of motivation and level of job satisfaction), as they jointly significantly influenced the level of turnover intention of academic staff. this implies that high level of motivation and job satisfaction will influence low level of turnover intention of academic staff, and conversely low level of motivation and job satisfaction will influence high level of turnover intention of academic staff. therefore, the private universities management will need to provide incentives that will be effective enough to influence the academic staff to consider staying longer in the system. 7. recommendations 1) results of the study revealed that most of the academic staff in the sampled private universities were not adequately rewarded with extra pay for good job performance or regularly paid allowances as compensation for excess workloads. this resulted in low motivation and consequently high turnover intention level of academic staff in private universities. academic staff who is rewarded for good job performance and compensated adequately for excess workloads will be encouraged to do more, management of private universities should therefore adequately reward and compensate academic staff who perform extra duties for the universities, while at the same time they should avert inordinate excess workloads which are demoralising as well as draining staff physically and psychologically. 2) based on the findings, private universities governing councils should initiate policies that foster and sustain such practices as good management-workers relationship which will create enabling environment for collaborative research and collegiality spirit, because this is one of the push factors in the turnover decision of academic staff. 3) managements of private universities should therefore allow a measure of academic freedom and put in place facilities and infrastructures that will create a good work environment for academic staff to perform. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 76 published by scholink inc. 4) based on the results that retention factors in the sampled private universities were only able to induce low motivation and job satisfaction in academic staff despite the fact that some of these retention factors were there in private universities, human resource departments should therefore make it a point of duty to measure the effectiveness of the retention factors and the level of academic staff’s turnover intention by conducting regular survey among the academic staff to investigate the level of their motivation and job satisfaction. this will help in avoiding academic staff absenteeism, moonlighting, disloyalty, and pseudo-commitment which are consequences of keeping turnover intentions. acknowledgement we acknowledge our participants for their cooperation while the study lasted. references agba, m. s., & ocheni, s. i. (2017). an empirical study of the effects of work environment (electric power supply) on job performance of academic staff in nigerian public and private universities (vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 11-20). retrieved 13 december 2019 ajadi, t. o. (2010). private universities in nigeria—the challenges ahead. american journal of scientific research, 7, 15-24. retrieved august 13, 2014, from http://www.eurojournals.com/ajsr.htm awang, z., ahmad, j. h., & zin, n. m. (2010). modelling job satisfaction and work commitment among lecturers: a case of uitm kelantan. journal of statistical modelling and analyctics, 1(2), 45-49. bussin, m. (2002). retention strategies: remuneration answers. johannesburg knowledge resources. das, b. l., & baruah, m. (2013). employee retention: a review of literature. iosr journal of business and management, 14(2), 8-16. https://doi.org/10.9790/487x-1420816 fapohunda, t. m. (2010). pay disparity and pay satisfaction in public and private universities in nigeria. european scientific journal, 8(28), 120-135. retrieved 13 june, 2016 from http://www.academicjournals.org/esj hong, e. n. c., hao, l. z., kumar, r., ramendran, c., & kadiresan, v. (2012). an effectiveness of human resource management practices on employee retention in institute of higher learning: a regression analysis. international journal of business research and management, 3(2), 60-79. islam, t., ahmad, u. n. b. u., ali, g., ahmed, i., & bowra, z. a. (2013). turnover intentions: the influence of perceived organizational support and organizational commitment. procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 103, 1238-1242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.452 mahdi, a. f., mohdzin, m. z., mohdnor, m. r., sakat, a. a., & abangnaim, a. s. (2012). the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intentions. american journal of applied sciences, 9(a), 1518-1526. https://doi.org/10.3844/ajassp.2012.1518.1526 http://www.eurojournals.com/ajsr.htm https://doi.org/10.9790/487x-1420816 http://www.academicjournals.org/esj https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.452 https://doi.org/10.3844/ajassp.2012.1518.1526 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 77 published by scholink inc. metcalf, h., rolfe, h., stevens, p., & amar, a. d. (2005). motivating knowledge workers to innovate: a model integrating motivation dynamics and antecedents. european journal of innovation management, 7(2), 89-101. https://doi.org/10.1108/14601060410534366 ng’ethe, j. m., iravo, m. e., & namusonge, g. s. (2012). determinants of academic staff retention in public universities in kenya: empirical review. international journal of humanities and social science, 2(13), 205-212. oginni, b. o., ogunlusi, c. f., & faseyiku, i. o. (2013). a study of employee retention strategies and organizational survival in private universities in south-west, nigeria. the international journal of management, 2(1), 1-17. olusegun, s. o. (2013). influence of job satisfaction on turnover intention of library personnel in selected universities in south-west nigeria. library philosophy and practice e-journal. retrieved november 7, 2016, from hrtrtp://digitalcommons.uni.eu/libphilprac oseni, m. (2015). effectiveness and desirability of private higher education in nigeria. journal of educational and social research, 5(1), 151-157. https://doi.org/10.5901/jesr.2015.v5n1p151 samuel, m. o., & chipunza, c. (2009). employee retention and turnover: using motivational variables as a panacea. african journal of business management, 3(8), 410-415. retrieved august 9, 2015, from http://www.academicjournals.org/ udenta, u. (2016). nigeria’s private universities lack quality teachers. newspaper report: premium times. retrieved january 7, 2017, from https://www.premiumtimesng.com https://doi.org/10.1108/14601060410534366 https://doi.org/10.5901/jesr.2015.v5n1p151 https://www.premiumtimesng.com/ education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 11 original paper professional integration and requirements of the teaching profession in physical education (case of trainee teachers in the southern sector in tunisia) kacem nejah1 1 higher institute of sport and physical education of sfax, tunisia received: december 13, 2024 accepted: december 25, 2024 online published: january 7, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p11 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p11 abstract this research is part of the framework of professional didactics which puts the teacher’s activity at the centre of his analysis. it is an exploratory, descriptive and comparative study that aims to investigate the professional integration (pi) of tunisian physical education and sports (pe) teachers with the particularity of being recruited after five years of unemployment since obtaining their diplomas. the objective is to measure the effect of experience and level of intervention on the intensity of difficulties to verify the development of novices during the pi period. to meet the objectives of this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 135 pe es in the southern tunisian sector. to decant the differences in the experiences of pse pes, the study sample is divided into three groups according to the experience to verify the effect of the latter on the intensity of difficulties. also, a comparison between three groups according to the sub-bodies of pe teachers was made to verify the effect of the level of intervention. the results of the descriptive analysis showed that beginning pe teachers face difficulties with different degrees. the results of this study show that the categories of difficulties most cited are pedagogical/didactic. in second place comes the category of organizational difficulties. the difficulties related to private life and the category of relationship difficulties are of low intensity. the most salient difficulties are classroom management (78%), business travel, learning assessment, learning planning and organizational constraints. the results also showed that tunisian pe teachers encounter the same difficulties with different degrees during the pi period. work experience during the pi period does not appear to affect the intensity of hardship. also, the difficulties are not experienced in the same way by the teaching sub-bodies. in conclusion, in a context in which the recruitment of pe teachers is becoming more and more difficult, following a long period of unemployment and in the absence of pi and training programs for novices, the pi of pe is becoming difficult. to upgrade pe in tunisia, recruitment must www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 12 published by scholink inc. take into consideration several personal and contextual factors. also, training and support programs for the np before and during the internship period become a requirement. keywords teaching profession, physical education and sports, professional integration, difficulties 1. introduction in the teaching profession, to become a professional, the teacher goes through several stages in his or her career (raduan & na, 2020). at each phase of the career, the teacher’s professionalism develops, leading him or her to take on new challenges (deprit et al., 2019). according to fessler and rice (2009), several factors influence the evolution of the teacher in his or her profession. they are external factors of an organizational, environmental and personal nature. in the same context, experience is considered to be an essential factor in having professional skills specific to the teaching profession. the first professional teaching experiences are essential events in the construction of the future teacher (ambroise et al., 2017). harfitt (2015) has argued that experiences in the early years of the teaching profession influence job satisfaction, long-term commitment, and self-confidence. precariousness, the search for identity and the feeling of incompetence, can lead to stress, overload, burnout and are, in part, responsible for the high rate of abandonment of the profession during the first years of the profession (de stercke, 2014; deprit et al., 2019). unlike most professions, the field of education does not provide for lighter tasks for novices (reverdy & thibert, 2015). however, they perform the same duties as experienced teachers, or even the worst tasks, at a time when they still have a lot to assimilate (giguère & mukamurera, 2019). given that beginning teachers are expected to perform the same tasks at the same level as senior teachers, it is not surprising that the first few years of teaching are quite difficult (moore & swan, 2008) and the challenge can be daunting for new actors (mukamurera et al., 2019). to prepare teachers to become professionals, especially abroad, officials highlighted the importance of professional integration (pi), considered as the first step in the teaching career. in the literature, there is no consensus on the duration of pi (martineau et al., 2009). this period goes beyond the temporal perspective which is the first years of the career to a multidimensional perspective (mukamurera, 2011; mukamurera et al., 2013). during the pi, novices experience professional, identity and socio-professional changes. these transformations are dependent on personal and contextual factors that will accelerate or slow down their professional development (ambroise et al., 2017). given the complexity of the task of teaching and the pi process, beginning teachers face several challenges. some research provides information on the difficulties experienced by novices in general, such as classroom management, relations with parents, relations with the community and adaptation to the physical environment (kozikoğlu & senemoğlu, 2018). the difficulties and challenges that beginning teachers may face are varied and affect pedagogical/didactic, organizational or relational aspects (de stercke et al., 2010). according to mukamurera et al (2019), teachers’ differentiated belonging to a particular level of education, a school discipline or a field of teaching has significant impacts on the teaching task and therefore the workload. in this same context, gariglio (2021) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 13 published by scholink inc. concluded that the experience of entry, exploration, and discovery of the profession cannot be considered an object of equal consideration for teachers of different subjects. belonging to a particular discipline is an important element to consider for the analysis of the different trajectories followed by teachers during pi. few studies have focused on the pi of pe teachers. spallanzani et al. (2012), argue that there are differences in the experiences of pi experienced by pe teachers. nevertheless, this difference does not escape the “shock of reality” since beginning pe teachers encounter difficulties at the beginning of their careers (flory, 2016) (westerlund & eliasson, 2022). for other researchers, the difficulties encountered by the latter are similar to those encountered by beginning teachers of other subjects (gariglio, 2021). the problem of young teachers dropping out of the profession is the reason for the majority of international studies. according to rojo and minier (2015), this issue is rooted in the major challenges that novices face as soon as they enter the practice. however, this issue is not included in the tunisian context. indeed, the civil service remains attractive, considered as a good job and a social right. very few studies conducted in tunisia have looked at the unique context of h&pe, but have instead studied all teachers. some research on the difficulties faced by teachers aims to explain stress and burnout among tunisian teachers, in a research conducted among tunisian pe teachers to identify the factors responsible for the psychological health of teaching staff, showed that pe teachers encounter several difficulties due to differences in working conditions and vary according to age and seniority. novices encounter more difficulties than their colleagues in a permanent position. however, these results do not provide information on the evolution of the intensity of difficulties in novices, knowing that experience is useful in dealing with problems and that some people need time to solve them (yanuarli et al., 2019). again, the results do not inform us about the difficulties experienced by the sub-bodies of beginning teachers. welsh (2012) deplores the fact that little research focuses on the sociodemographic variables that can influence the types of needs of novices and attests that various variables such as the level of instruction should be examined. within the limitations of their research, van der wal et al. (2019) support the idea that novices’ lived experiences may differ between primary and secondary schools and that it would be useful to involve samples of different levels of education in further research. richards et al. (2019), argue that very few studies have followed recruits through multiple phases of socialization to understand how socialization and changes evolve over time. according to westerlund and eliasson (2022), to achieve long-term career success, more research is needed to understand how to support physical education teachers in a variety of settings early in their careers. in the same context and according to marent et al. (2020), pi is characterized by specific challenges and by special support needs. according to pastré (2007), in adult education engineering, in order to set up a training programme for teachers, knowledge of the difficulties is an essential step in determining their training needs. in tunisia, beginner pe teachers are particular and experience specific realities that have been studied in little research. assigned a few months after the start of the school year, or even two weeks before the end of the school year and following a fairly long period of unemployment, new pe teachers are jumping on the bandwagon in the absence of formal support measures and in a period characterized by the deterioration of working www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 14 published by scholink inc. conditions and the tunisian education system, which echoes a suffering in professional experience (hafsi, 2019). to our knowledge, in tunisia, this crucial stage in the professional career of pe teachers has not been the subject of institutional or scientific evaluation since its establishment. it is therefore important to reflect more on the way in which beginning teachers experience the pi period in order to settle their needs in order to guide those in charge of pe in tunisia on ways to reduce the burden of this arduous phase of the teaching career. to do this, the following question must be answered: what difficulties do new pe teachers in tunisia face? the analysis of the teaching profession allows us to understand the work in order to transform it. it is now an accepted rule of the profession in the field of “ergonomics of the activity” which considers that work cannot be looked at only from the point of view of the prescription or from the point of view of its results. the object of our research question is the description and understanding of the difficulties experienced by pe teachers in the period of professional integration. in order to mark out the topic, special attention is needed to the preliminary definitions of all the components. starting from the dictionary definitions and those given by the authors to best define the terms relating to the teaching profession, professional integration and difficulties. the teaching profession: according to deleuze and guattari (1991): “a concept will be deprived of meaning as long as it is not connected to other concepts”. (p. 76) in this thesis, the concept of “profession” is linked to the concept of “teacher”, hence the need to define the two concepts. definition of the concept: according to the dictionary, “profession” is an activity, state, or habitual function of a person that is generally the source of his or her means of subsistence. this activity, manual or intellectual, refers to a trade belonging to a group in a particular sector of activity. the notion of “profession” is synonymous with “profession”, “activity” and “work”. the teaching profession is expressed through several concepts such as “teaching”, “teaching” and “teaching”. in the petit robert, it is explained that: • teaching means transmitting to a student in such a way that he or she understands and assimilates (certain knowledge). • teaching is action, the art of teaching, of transmitting knowledge to a student. • the teacher is the one whose function is to teach. • based on these definitions, we can define the teaching profession as a profession belonging to the teaching sector, the activity carried out by a teacher on a student with the aim of understanding and assimilating certain knowledge. according to fraj (2019), in the united states, a distinction is made between “professions” and “occupations”, which can be translated into french as a distinction between profession and trade. in the written word, “teaching profession” and “teaching work” are used as synonyms for “teaching profession”. in the dictionary, from the term “profession” or “travail” the lexical field is limited, on the other hand the term “profession” allows us to derive many other terms. these are concepts such as “professional” or “professional”, “professionalise”, “professionalisation” and “professionalism”. these terms are used www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 15 published by scholink inc. in this thesis because they are related to the subject of the research and therefore it is necessary to define them. • professional: talking about a person who has a given trade, profession; who has the qualities, the skills required to exercise it. • professionalize: to give the characteristics of specialization, of technicality of a profession to a field, a discipline, a phenomenon. • professionalization: state, character of what is made professional, the fact of becoming a professional. barbier (2006) defines professionalization as a finalized process of transformation of skills in relation to a process of transformation of activities. it is also the set of actions and measures aimed at excellence in the exercise of teaching in the classroom by increasing the quality of teacher training, increasing its duration and raising its standards. • professionalism: this is the professional nature of an activity. 1.1 characteristics of the teaching profession in the literature, kostulski et al. (2011) (cited by mayeko & brière-guenoun, 2019), define the teaching profession as a multidimensional architecture articulating four instances in tension: • impersonal instances (prescriptive and conceptual dimension of work). • interpersonal bodies (collective dimension of the activity), • transpersonal bodies (social, historical and cultural dimension of the profession). • personal instances (a singular dimension that echoes the teacher’s own style). thus, his activity is at the crossroads of multiple contextual, interpersonal, subjective, epistemic, institutional and cultural influences. teaching is a specialized job that requires knowledge and skills from a variety of fields. teachers must master new knowledge and skills concerning disciplinary, psychopedagogical and didactic content as well as the knowledge of the student, his family and sociocultural environment, his interests and his difficulties. in order to ensure that their students get the most out of their learning, teachers must also develop their communication skills, their openness to differences, favor collaboration between colleagues, parents and educational partners, and develop a respectful approach to students (aubin, 2017). beginning teachers who participated in the study by mukamurera et al. (2019) “speak of multitasking, multi-hatted, heavy, energy-consuming, breathless, and mentally, emotionally, and physically demanding work. they underline and show how the teaching work is extensible and covers many visible and invisible aspects”. the multi-dimensionality of the teaching profession could make the teacher’s activity more cumbersome. 1.2 specificity of the pe teaching profession teaching pe is different from teaching other subjects because physical education emphasizes motor skills rather than verbal and academic skills, so its teaching tools are different (shoval et al., 2010). according to alanbagi et al. (2016), one of the particularities of the discipline is that the student learns by doing. pe, through its own fields of learning, allows the student to build and develop motor, cognitive, methodological, social, perceptual, affective and safe skills through knowledge, abilities and attitudes. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 16 published by scholink inc. the pe teacher is an essential player in enabling motor, cognitive and by setting up conditions relating to the various learning processes of the students while relying on the different theoretical approaches to learning and motor control. 1.3 difficulties in professional integration 1.3.1 the notion of difficulty nunez moscoso (2013) defines the notion of difficulty as “any situation, element or object of the work process that is a source of trial for the actor, or even the process itself” (p. 129). according to nunezmoscoso and murillo (2017): “difficulty in the context of work can be unforeseen, incident, obstacle, problem, face-threatening act, dilemma, ordeal, violence, or even complexity and suffering, voice problem, dysphonia, powerlessness, wear and tear, conflict, crisis, stress, discomfort, malaise, alienation, dropout or burnout. difficulty can be experienced as a characteristic of the profession, a resource, a challenge or as uncomfortable, painful, or even unbearable”. according to de stercke (2014), for the beginning teacher, difficulties can correspond to pedagogical, curricular, psychological, relational, administrative and organizational aspects. 1.3.2 categories of difficulty beginning teachers face all kinds of difficulties. among beginning primary school teachers in lithuania, barkauskaitė and meškauskienė (2017) identified 13 problems of a pedagogical and relational nature. in belgium, de stercke et al., (2010) listed 12 difficulties experienced by secondary school teachers. from literature (huberman & marti, 1989; bédar, 2000; vonk j.h.c., 1995; pfister, 2006; karsenti & collin, 2009; de stercke et al., 2010; shoval et al., 2010; grenier et al., 2013; auclair tourigny, 2017), these difficulties are contextual and personal in nature that they can be classified according to categories. table 1. summarizes these categories of difficulties researchers category 1 category 2 category 3 category 4 category 5 huberman and marti (1989) personal pedagogical sentimental bédard (2000) personal problems teaching colleagues resources administerin g external standardized tests (outside testing) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 17 published by scholink inc. 1.4 difficulties in integrating the teaching profession into the professional profession 1.4.1 pedagogical and didactic difficulties in the literature, the teacher is one of the three poles of the two triangles of didactics and pedagogy. the teaching profession oscillates between didactics and pedagogy. the task of making the link between the logic of the content (didactics) and the logic of the classroom (pedagogy) is not easy and comes up against difficulties. according to de stercke., et al (2010), pedagogical/didactic difficulties are most present among novices, in fact, 79.50% of novices said that they mainly requested pedagogical and didactic support. the most frequent difficulties are related to pedagogical intervention such as classroom management, time management, individualized interventions with students with learning difficulties and student motivation (gingras & mukamurera, 2008). classroom management is one of the major tasks of the teaching profession, it is a central function. however, it is often highlighted as the major difficulty encountered by novices (veenman, 1984; spallanzani et al., 2012). research by desbiens et al. (2014) shows that the response of trainee teachers to disruptive student behavior often leads to a deterioration in the climate that is already unfavorable for learning. new pe teachers have a very large share of difficulties related to the management of disruptive behaviors (shoval et al., 2010) and the motivation of students (hill & brodin, 2004). according to hand (2007), new pe teachers encounter a difficulty specific to their teaching subject, that of managing the group of students and ensuring their safety in a risky environment. de stercke, et al. (2010), confirm the need to pfister (2006) factors related to the person, characteristics factors related to the teaching task factors related to the social environment emotional and psychological. administrative pedagogical and didactic relational karsenti and collin (2009) the personal level the professional level the environmental level de sterke et al. (2010) vonk j.h.c (1995) shoval et al., (2010) classroom and heterogeneous group management support for students in difficulty stability of working conditions the relationship with management www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 18 published by scholink inc. propose measures to support professional integration differentiated according to the environment of practice of new teachers, in the field of classroom management and discipline. pedagogical and didactic difficulties also relate to subject planning and learning assessment. they are due to the limited knowledge of novices in practical pedagogy (shoval et al., 2010; grenier et al., 2013). périer (2014), for his part, explains these difficulties by the fact that novice teachers are confronted with the “pedagogical double bind”. they must both preserve the interest and learning of high-performing students while helping those who have more difficulties progress. this double challenge leads them in some cases to a feeling of powerlessness and inefficiency. new pe teachers, too, express that they have encountered difficulties in terms of didactic transposition (perez-roux, 2003) and the choice of content to be taught (hill & brodin, 2004). regarding the evaluation competence, it translates into the teacher’s ability to carry out an evaluation in class and to exploit the results (looney et al., 2018). this skill allows teachers to set up appropriate assessment systems to improve student learning and support the teachinglearning process (moura et al., 2022). according to research by morgan and hansen (2007), the majority of pe teachers reported that they did not have a good command of the assessment competency. according to them, they either neglect it or they don’t have time to evaluate the prices. this task is considered arduous and worthless and to perform it properly, they need more training and practice. unal and unal (2019) compared the beliefs and evaluation practices of school teachers and allege that beginning teachers believe that evaluation is irrelevant and that it negatively affects learners, educators, and teaching. the authors also showed that the more experience teachers acquire, the more they attach importance to evaluation and they build their own evaluation tools against novice teachers who are less motivated for such practices. for champagne et al. (2013), proper evaluation is a delicate mission that preoccupies teachers and becomes increasingly difficult when it comes to the final grading and certification of the student’s learning. this difficulty in setting up the evaluation system (the form of evaluation chosen, the measurement tools used, the evaluation grids, the marking). the difficulty of evaluation is one of the main weaknesses of novice teachers. de stercke et al. (2010), state that more than half (50.80%) admit to having evaluation difficulties. this is also what 71.6% of the american participants in the hill and brodin (2004) study stated, they consider it “extremely difficult” to “moderately difficult” to assess students in their first year of education. another difficulty encountered by novice teachers is the feeling of forgetting certain knowledge and knowledge (wash-out effect), giving the impression of not being able to apply adequately and effectively the knowledge learned during initial training. thus, despite initial training, through pedagogical courses, aimed in particular at helping to link practice to theory, novices nevertheless emphasize the difficulty of acting with their first classes. 2. methodology after a long period of disruption between initial training and recruitment, new pe teachers are jumping on the bandwagon in the absence of formal accompanying and support measures in a period characterized by the deterioration of working conditions and the tunisian education system, which echoes a suffering www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 19 published by scholink inc. in professional life. this crucial stage of the professional career has not been the subject of institutional or scientific evaluation since its establishment. it is therefore important to think more about the way in which beginning teachers experience their professional integrations in order to settle their needs in order to guide those in charge of pe in tunisia on ways to reduce the burden of this arduous phase of the teaching career. pe es in tunisia face pedagogical/didactic difficulties rather than relational and organizational difficulties. experience during the pi phase may reduce the intensity of the challenges experienced by pse pes. this study is referred to as exploratory-descriptive and comparative research. the aim of the research is to make an inventory of the difficulties encountered by es in the teaching of pe. the purpose of this study is to (i) measure the intensity of the difficulties encountered by novices, (ii) measure the effect of experience during the pi period on the intensity of difficulties, and (iii) identify the effect of the level of education on the difficulties experienced by novices. the data collected are the results of a study conducted in 2013 on trainee teachers recruited between 2011 and 2013 as part of a master’s degree in didactics and which has not been completed. to answer the initial questions and statistically verify the hypotheses of this cross-sectional study, a data collection technique quantifiable by a questionnaire is used, which makes it possible to give the survey more scope. this research was conducted using the following methodology: 2.1 participants considering that the quality of a research work is maintained not only by the relevance of the methodology and instrumentation, but also by the relevance of the sampling strategy that has been adopted (cohen et al., 2007). sampling is a process by which a group of people or a portion of the population is selected to represent an entire population (fortin, 2010). the starting population of this research is made up of trainee pe teachers belonging to the three governorates of southern tunisia: gabes, medenine and tataouine and exercising their profession in schools, colleges and high schools. as there was no precise number of trainee teachers in each region, collaboration with the educational inspectors in the three regions was necessary to contact as many novice teachers as possible. the initial number of trainee teachers was 176. the result of this collaboration set the final number of participants in each region: gabes (nœ 67), medenine (n° 35) and tataouine (n° 33). the final sample is 135 subjects (h = 56; f = 79) with an average age of 28 years and 2 months ± 4.3 including 94 head teachers and 41 pe teachers. the sample is active in 121 schools: 53 primary schools, 42 middle schools and 26 high schools, and they have all gone through a period of unemployment with an average of 5 years and 3 months ± 2.3. the characteristics of the sample are summarized in table 2: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 20 published by scholink inc. table 2. study sample characteristics characteristics workforce and percentage n % total gender wife 79 58.52 135 (100%) man 56 41.48 region gabes 67 49.63 135 (100%) medenine 35 25.93 tataouine 33 24.44 seniority 01 day -12 months 57 47.41 135 (100%) 1324 months 47 30.37 2536 months 31 22.22 sub-corps primary 64 42.22 135 (100%) college 41 34.82 secondary 30 22.96 establishments school 53 43.80 121 (100%) college 42 34.71 high school 26 21.49 diploma mp 94 69.63 135 (100%) m 41 30.37 2.2 inclusion and exclusion criteria table 3. inclusion and exclusion criteria parameters inclusion criteria exclusion criteria region teachers from others regions teachers belonging to the regions of work seniority 01 day to 36 months only 36 months left sub-corps pe teaching sub-corps. sub-body of sports professions. establishments public schools: primary school.college.high school. promotion center.vocational training centre. associations for the disabled. youth centre. private school. academic institution. diploma senior pe teacher. master’s degree in pe senior sports master. master’s degree in sports. master’s degree in sport for all sports instructor. experiment teachers who do not have taught or trained during the period of unemployment. teachers who have taught or trained during the period of unemployment. other agree to participate refusal to participate www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 21 published by scholink inc. in order to investigate the effect of experience on the difficulties encountered by novices, the sample (n = 135) in this study was divided into three groups according to seniority as follows: group 1: the new teachers: these are teachers who are in the first year of internship and who have between one day and 12 months of exercises (n = 57) group 2: the more or less new: those who have been 13 and 24 months of exercise (n = 47) group 3: those at the end of the internship period, which is between 25 and 36 months of financial years (n =31). to characterize the intervention level variable, it was necessary to divide the sample from the point of view of belonging to a primary school, a middle school and a high school (see table 4). the total sample (n = 135) yielded three groups as follows: group 1: primary school teachers (n = 64). group 2: middle school teachers (n = 41). group 3: teachers working in high schools at (n = 30). 2.3 measurement tools and measured variables in this research, the choice of questionnaire by de stercke et al. (2010) was used as an investigative tool. the form of the questionnaire was validated by pascal detroz, head of smart. the relevance of the items and themes addressed has been validated by stéphane martineau (de stercke et al, 2010). the initial questionnaire consists of five parts, but only the first two parts are useful in this study. the questionnaire is structured in two parts. a part called a presentation part and a part subject to the research theme. the first part highlights the nature of the sample interviewed, namely, who are they? some information specific to the tunisian context has been added. the characteristics of the subject are related to gender, age, experience, year of graduation, date of recruitment, region of origin, nature of the institution and the region in which he or she works.the second part, on the other hand, addresses the questions asked of teachers in order to identify the difficulties they face. this part of the questionnaire consists of 12 items consisting of four-level likert scales (strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree). among 12 items, four items related to the relational component variable (item 1-7-8-9), four items with the organizational difficulties variable (items 2-3-10-11), three items with the variable didactic/pedagogical difficulties (item 4-5-6) and one item related to the variable difficulties related to private life (item 12). an open-ended question was proposed to allow teachers to express themselves and cite the difficulties felt other than those cited in the 12 items. 2.3.1 the pre-test before the survey of the sample was launched, the concern was to presume as much as possible that the items were well understood by the trainee teachers. in january 2013, 14 random teachers from the survey universe, but who are not part of the study sample and who have the same characteristics, are asked to answer the questionnaires at a meeting. the pre-test made it possible to identify the difficulties www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 22 published by scholink inc. encountered by teachers in understanding certain terms and the choice of the scale that corresponds to the answer. the pre-test sample did not answer the open-ended question proposed to allow them to express themselves and cite the difficulties they experienced. the latter question was eliminated and the final version of the questionnaire was limited to the 12 items. 2.3.2 procedure since the sample belongs to three regions of the southern tunisian sector, two modalities in the administration of the questionnaires are used. teachers working in gabes are invited to fill in the questionnaires during two meetings. the first is intended for sub-bodies working in primary schools and a second is intended for sub-bodies working in middle and high schools. the two meetings were in the same week, in a morning session that lasted one hour. during each meeting, a presentation of the questionnaires is carried out while insisting on the scientific aspect of the research established within the framework of the apsa’s higher education in the didactic master’s degree. the questionnaires, prepared in powerpoint form and presented by projection. participants are asked to fill in the first part of the questionnaire and then answer the items one by one. once all the participants have responded to an item, we move on to the next item. the two meetings in gabes resulted in a total of 87 questionnaires. to conduct the survey in the regions of medenine and tataouine, the educational inspectors working in these regions were contacted to collaborate. the approach of the administration of the questionnaires is presented to these inspectors who have ensured well. it took 2 months to obtain 89 questionnaires from the tataouine and medenine regions. 2.3.3 data analysis after retrieving 176 questionnaires, the counting phase yielded 135 questionnaires. a total of 39 questionnaires do not meet the inclusion criteria, including 09 novices who have trained and taught in the private sector during the transition period, 11 teachers belong to the regions in which they practice the profession, 6 teachers in sports professions, 3 teachers who do not teach pe and 10 teachers who have exceeded a seniority of 36 months to obtain a total of 135 questionnaires. the final analysis of the questionnaires is carried out on an excel spreadsheet. 2.3.4 statistics the statistical analysis of the data is carried out on a computer using the statistica12 software (statsoft, france). data are presented as counts and percentages for qualitative variables and as means ± standard deviations for quantitative variables. the information collected requires a statistical calculation to evaluate the effects of the variables being studied in relation to the assumptions made above. shapiro wilk’s test showed that distributions do not follow the normal distribution, hence the use of nonparametric statistical tests. in order to validate the hypotheses of our study, several tests were used: student’s t-test for single sample to compare the mean scores of the items studied to a theoretical mean (2.5 = median of likert scale responses). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 23 published by scholink inc. the comparison between the four components of the study was made by the friedman test. the peer comparison was performed by the wilcoxon test. the study of the effect of the independent variables, seniority and level of education, on the dependent variables difficulties was verified by the kruskal-wallis test. in the event of a significant effect, multiple comparisons were applied to compare the modalities by peers. all statistics are considered significant for a 5% probability level (p<0.05). 3. results comparison of the mean scores of each component to a neutral theoretical mean by student’s statistical tool t for single sample (the difference is significant at p < 0.05). • the overall average score of the pedagogical/didactic component is 2.69 ± 0.61, significantly higher than the average theoretical value (2.5) at p < 0.001). • the overall average score of the relational component is 1.65 ± 0.50, it is lower than the average theoretical value (2.5). the difference is significant at p < 0.001. • the overall average score of the administrative, organizational, and material component is 2.60 ± 0.57. it is higher than the theoretical average (2.5). the difference is significant at p < 0.05. • the overall average score for the privacy variable is 2.23 ± 1.03. it is lower than the average theoretical value (2.5). the difference is significant at p < 0.05. table 4. mean item response scores difficulties in entering the labour market strongly disagree disagree all right totally agree mean ± sd valeur de p pedagogical/didactic 2.69 ± 0.61* 0,000 1-evaluation of learning 9 (6.66%) 39 (28.89 %) 78 (57.78%) 09 (6.66%) 2.64 ± 0.70* 0.018 2-classroom and classroom management discipline 12 (8.9 %) 21 (15.55 %) 71 (52.60 %) 31 (22.96 %) 2.89± 0.85* 0.000 3-planning of learning 15 (11.11%) 42 (31.11%) 68 (50.37%) 10 (07.41%) 2.54 ± 0.79 0,549 organizational 2.60 ± 0,57* 0,048 4-material resources 26 (19.26%) 42 (31.11%) 36 (26.67%) 31 (22.96%) 2,53 ± 1.04 0,71 5-keeping administrative documents 16 (11.85%) 65 (48.15%) 52 (38.52%) 02 (01.48%) 2,29 ± 0,69* 0.000 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 24 published by scholink inc. 6-organizational constraints 14 (10.37%) 45 (33.33%) 60 (44.44%) 16 (11.85%) 2,58 ± 0,83 0,27 7-business travel 12 (08.89%) 23 (17.03%) 55 (40.75%) 45 (33.33%) 2,98 ± 0,93* 0.000 relational 1.65 ± 0.50* 0.000 8-collaboration-sharing of resources between colleagues 58 (42,96%) 47 (34,81%) 23 (17.04%) 07 (05.19%) 1,84 ± 0,89* 0.000 9-relationship with parents 87 (64.44%) 35 (25.93%) 08 (05.93%) 05 (03.70%) 1,49 ± 0,77* 0.000 10-relationship with management 68 (50.37%) 45 (33.33%) 17 (12.60%) 05 (03.70%) 1,70 ± 0,83* 0.000 11-relationship with colleagues 79 (58.52%) 37 (27.40%) 15 (11.11%) 04 (02.96%) 1,58 ± 0,80* 0.000 12-privacy 43 (31.85%) 33 (24.45%) 43 (31.85%) 16 (11.85%) 2.23 ± 1.03* 0.003 * significant difference from the theoretical mean (2.5) at p < 0.05 the average values of the scores relating to the categories of difficulties obtained among the trainee teachers during the pi period are presented giving an overall average score of the pedagogical/didactic category of 2.69 ± 0.6. it is the highest score compared to the other categories. the friedman test yielded a chi 2 = 115.978 (n = 135, ddl = 3) with a significant difference between the difficulty categories at p < 0.001. the peer comparison carried out by the wilcoxon test yielded: • a significant difference of p < 0.001 between the overall average score of the privacy category (2.23 ± 1.03) and the overall average score of the pedagogical/didactic category (2.69 ± 0.61). • a significant difference at p < 0.001 between the overall average score of the relational difficulties category (1.65 ± 0.50) and the overall average score of the pedagogical/didactic category. • a non-significant difference at p>0.05 between the overall average score of the organizational difficulties category (2.60 ± 0.57) and the overall average score of the pedagogical/didactic category. thus, our hypothesis is not confirmed since novices face pedagogical/didactic difficulties and also organizational difficulties. • the addition of the “agree” and “strongly agree” levels of the likert scales gave the ranking of difficulties: table 5: the results of the experiment effect are presented in the table below。 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 25 published by scholink inc. table 5. effect of experience on difficulties difficulties in entering the labour market 1 day in 12 months 13 days in 21 months 25 days 36 months h (2.135) p score medium ± sd score medium ± sd score medium ± sd pedagogical/didactic 3,07 ± 0,43 2,56 ± 0,51a 2,19 ± 0,59a 47.556 0.001 1-evaluation of learning 2,91 ± 0,63 2,51 ± 0,68a 2,35 ± 0,71a 16.779 0.001 2-classroom and discipline management 3,45± 0,57 2,72 ± 0,65a 2,13 ± 0,88a 52.204 0.000 3-learning planning 2,86± 0,76 2,44 ± 0,74a 2,09 ± 0,65a 22.245 0.000 organizational 2,68 ± 0,51 2,57 ±0,61 2,48 ± 0,60 3.470 0.176 4-material resources 2,73 ± 1,06 2,38 ± 1,07 2,39 ± 0,95 3.775 0.151 5-keeping administrative documents 2,47 ± 0,65 2,19 ± 0,64 2,13 ± 0,76 7.077 0.029 6-organizational constraints of exercise 2,52 ± 0,82 2,53 ± 0,88 2,74 ± 0,77 1.218 0.543 7-business travel 2,98 ± 0,89 3,19 ± 0,90 2,67 ± 0,98 6.115 0.057 relational 1,57 ± 0,39 1,52 ± 0,42 2,00 ± 0.60a 15.075 0.000 8-collaboration-sharing of resources between colleagues 1,79 ± 0,82 1,70 ± 0,85 2,16 ± 1,00 4.882 0.089 9-relationship with parents 1,87± 0,96 1,15 ± 0,36a 1,29 ± 0,46a 23.563 0.000 10-relationship with management 1,33 ± 0,47 1,66 ± 0,81 2,42±0,92ab 30.593 0.000 11-relationship with colleagues 1,28± 0,49 1,57 ± 0,71 2,16± 1,06a 18.459 0.000 12-privacy 2.19 ± 1.10 2.06 ± 0.96 2.58 ± 0.96 5.172 0.075 (a: significant difference from experience modality (1 day to 12 months); b: significant difference from experience modality (13 to 24 months). the study of the effect of the independent variable experience on the dependent variables difficulty categories showed differences between the three groups. differences recorded in the category of pedagogical/didactic difficulties, h(2.135) = 47.556. the difference is significant at p<0.000. multiple peer comparisons were applied between the difficulty modalities that showed significant differences. the group with experience between 1 day and 12 months had the highest average score in this difficulty category (3.07 ± 0.4). this group also scored highest in assessment (2.91 ± 0.63), classroom and discipline management (3.45 ± 0.57) and learning planning (2.86 ± 0.76). the comparison of the three www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 26 published by scholink inc. groups on these three variables was significant at p < 0.001. no significant difference was recorded between the group with 13 to 24 months of experience and the group with 25 to 36 months of experience. the comparison between the three groups yielded h(2.135) = 3.470; p > 0.05. non-significant differences in the category of organizational difficulties do not show a significant effect between the three groups, but descriptive statistics still indicate lower averages among novices during the third stage of the pi period in terms of business travel (2.67 ± 0.98) and administrative record keeping (2.13 ± 0.76). however, this group has the highest score in terms of organizational exercise constraints (2.74 ± 0.77). differences recorded in the category of relational difficulties h(2.135) = 15.075. the difference is significant at p<001. descriptive statistics indicate that the highest average score is that among novices during the third stage of the pi period. it is 2.00 ± 0.60. multiple peer comparisons gave a significant difference at p < 0.001 between this group and the other two groups. no significant differences were observed between the 1-day to 12-month group and the 13-to-24 month group. multiple peer comparisons also showed: • a non-significant difference at p > 0.05 in the level of collaboration-sharing of resources between colleagues. • a significant difference between the 1-day group at 12 months and the other two groups in terms of the difficulty with the relationship with the parents at p < 0.001. • a significant difference at p < 0.001 between the 25 to 36 month group and the other two groups in terms of difficulty with management and at p < 0.001. • a significant difference at p < 0.001 between the 1-day group at 12 months and the 25-36 month group in terms of the difficulty in dealing with colleagues. the 25 to 36-month group had the highest scores in collaboration-sharing of resources among colleagues (2.16 ± 1.00), the relationship with management (2.42 ± 0.92) and the relationship with colleagues (2.16 ± 1.06). the comparison between the three groups did not yield significant differences in the category of private life difficulties, h(2,135) = 5.172; p > 0.05. although statistical analysis does not show a significant effect, descriptive statistics indicate that the highest average is that among novices is during the third stage of the pi period (2.58 ± 0.96). the main results of the present study carried out on a sample of 135 trainee pe teachers working in the southern tunisian sector and having the particularity of being recruited after several years of unemployment since obtaining their diplomas, showed that the difficulties most encountered by novices are pedagogical/didactic (2.69 ± 0.61) and organizational (2.60 ± 0.57). the intensity of difficulties related to private life (2.23 ± 1.03) and relational difficulties (1.65 ± 0.50) is low. novices mainly face difficulties in classroom management (75.56%), business travel (74.08%), evaluation (64.44%), planning (57.78%), organizational constraints of practice (56.29%) and material resources (49.63%). comparison between the three groups based on experience during the pi period showed significant differences in the category of pedagogical/didactic difficulties between novices with experience from 1 day to 12 months (3.07 ± 0.43) and novices with experience between 25 and 36 months (2.19 ± 0.59a). in the category of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 27 published by scholink inc. relationship difficulties, novices encountered more difficulties during the third stage of pi (2.00 ± 0.60). there was no difference between the three groups in the categories of privacy difficulties and organizational difficulties. the results showed that the level of intervention has a significant effect on the pedagogical/didactic and organizational categories of difficulties. the comparison between the three groups showed that the sub-body of primary school teachers was the most affected from a pedagogical/didactic point of view (2.96 ± 0.41), in second place those working in middle school (2.73 ± 0.54) and in third place their colleagues working in secondary school (2.07 ± 0.62). novices who teach in primary schools encounter more organizational difficulties (2.95 ± 0.48) than sub-teaching staff in middle schools (2.41 ± 0.43) and high schools (2.11 ± 0.43). the peer comparison showed no difference between these last two teaching sub-bodies. the statistics also showed that the novices working in middle school encounter more difficulties related to classroom management (3.22 ± 0.65) than the other two groups. 4. discussion the objective of this study is to understand the difficulties experienced by beginner pe teachers in tunisia. knowledge of the difficulties experienced by novices and the evolution of their intensities during the pi period is a priority at the national level to change the real situation of novices, which requires reform in teacher training by developing pi programs and setting up support systems so that they can become effective professionals. for early career teachers to develop, they need to start their careers in stable and predictable roles in schools with supportive administrative arrangements, effective induction and mentoring programs, and a professional school culture. support measures can contribute to the improvement of various professional skills, increased job satisfaction of new teachers, staff retention, and by extension, student success (carpentier et al., 2020). improving the entry into the profession and the working conditions of the novice is essential in order to promote his or her well-being while reducing psychological problems such as stress and burnout, which are at the root of absenteeism from work (martineau et al., 2008), in order to reduce absenteeism from work for mental health reasons and to increase the professional perseverance of teachers and the educational success of students. the results of this study showed that experience has little effect on most difficulties. the major effect is observed at the level of the pedagogical/didactic category, but which stagnates during the second year of the internship. the intensity of certain difficulties has increased over time, such as that of the relational category. our results corroborate those of de stercke et al. (2010) who consider that professional difficulties do not seem to decrease with the increase in the seniority of beginners. on the other hand, yanuarli et al. (2019), concluded that there is a positive correlation between the period of work and the professionalism of pe teachers. pe and es mainly face pedagogical/didactic difficulties during the first year of the internship. the difficulties encountered are in the management of the classroom, evaluation and planning. according to barkauskaitė and meškauskienė (2017), the lack of knowledge and practical skills was one of the obstacles to the success of the pedagogical activity. some researchers have explained www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 28 published by scholink inc. these difficulties by the abandonment of some of the practical knowledge developed during initial training (mukamurera et al., 2013). in tunisia, the absence of serious and solid continuing education reinforces the feeling of inadequacy in the face of professional problems. continuing education could give the novice solutions to face the shock of reality. in the case of this study, the period of unemployment could be the cause of the abandonment of theoretical and practical knowledge. the novice is no longer “pedagogically armed” to master and organize the class and he is no longer “didactic armed” to plan and evaluate learning. in addition, it increases self-doubt as a teacher and affects the experience of novices (marent et al., 2020) and leads to questioning of knowledge, beliefs about oneself and built relationships with others (ambroise et al., 2017). the constraints of the novice’s work become personal, related to motivation and feelings of efficacy and leads to stress and burnout. however, according to de stercke et al. (2010), novices have a strong sense of efficacy which is decisive for the individual’s motivation, commitment to work, and perseverance in the face of difficulties. according to michel (2013), teachers who had been working for one to two years were more engaged than those who had been working for three to five years. at the beginning the novice is more committed, he fropes around, applies recipes and looks for solutions to solve pedagogical and didactic challenges. he learns by trial and error and when needed he relies on his colleagues to help him. already, the subjects who participated in this study do not encounter difficulties in terms of collaboration and sharing resources with colleagues. according to de stercke et al. (2010), it is from the fifth year onwards that there is a significant decrease in difficulties related to the representation of the task, classroom management, self-knowledge and the culture of the profession. the results showed that novices encounter more relational difficulties during the third phase of pi, especially with management. this could be explained by the fact that novices are starting to forge their professional identities and measure themselves against their colleagues. novices experience professional, identity and socio-professional changes (ambroise, 2017). the results showed a significant effect of the intervention level. the intensity of difficulties most observed was among novices practicing in elementary school. our results corroborate with the study by barkauskaitė and meškauskienė (2017) who showed that the difficulties faced by primary and middle school teachers were similar but different in their intensity. the differences in planning could be explained by the difficulty of internal didactic transposition. indeed, the knowledge to be taught in pe in the tunisian education system is spread over three periods. during the first three years of basic education, the content is focused on the spontaneity of motor behaviour, then in the second period of primary education, the content is aimed at refining motor behaviour in order to achieve regulated physical activity in middle and secondary schools. the programmes in middle school and especially in secondary school are therefore quite similar to the apsas, hence novices find fewer difficulties compared to their peers in primary schools. the latter are obliged to make more effort at the level of internal didactic transposition. the amount of time spent on pe material can increase the difficulty of planning and cause other difficulties. the weekly number of hours is one hour per week at the primary level, it is three hours at the middle school and two hours at the secondary level. learning cycles can reach 12 hours each in middle school, between eight and ten hours www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 29 published by scholink inc. in high school. however, primary school teachers only have eight to 10 hours per term. most teachers working in primary schools program content in cycles like their colleagues in middle and high schools, whereas it is necessary to program by theme. in this case, the hourly volume of a learning cycle at primary level is four hours. this time constraint presents novices with challenges and is forced to make an internal didactic transposition without the need for assessment. this could explain their difficulties in assessing learning. again due to a lack of hours, only one pe teacher is assigned to teach alone in a school. this leads to isolation and lack of communication with other colleagues, which explains why in terms of relationships, pe teachers working in primary schools do not encounter relational difficulties with their peers. however, primary school teachers are the most concerned by contact with parents. given the age of the students, parents accompany their children to school, which offers opportunities for contact and could cause communication difficulties between the novice and the parents. in middle and high school, there is little contact with parents. indeed, the latter are only interested in subjects with high coefficients such as mathematics, science and languages, while the pe subject has a low coefficient. they are marginalized by parents, teachers of other subjects and by principals (eirín-nemiña et al., 2022; lux & mccullick, 2011). pe es in middle school encounter more difficulties in terms of classroom management. in the tunisian context, it is due to the characteristics of students and the proliferation of violence in schools, particularly in secondary schools. the scourge of violence in education is in full swing in tunisia. according to the tunisian social observatory, several cases of violence targeting teachers, students and the educational framework have been reported. cases of reported violence in schools increased tenfold in 2021 compared to 2020. the analytical study conducted by the tunisian organization for social cohesion in 2018 shows that acts of violence in schools take place in middle schools (85%). one of the major causes of the difficulties experienced by novices is assignment (fantilli, 2009). a few novices were recruited two weeks before the end of the school year. given the great lack of teaching staff in the southern tunisian sector. all subjects in this study are assigned far from home. this explains the high intensity of the difficulties related to business travel. for family reasons, some women commute daily that require 3 hours of travel. this is what explains in some ways the difficulties related to privacy (mukamurera et al., 2013; de stercke, 2014). individual dispositions and contextual factors influence the career path of pe teachers (iannucci & macphail, 2019). to minimize the intensity of the difficulties, the novice must rely on himself. modern developmental theory considers the individual as the organizing unit of his or her development (watt & richardson, 2008). from a bachelardian perspective, when we learn, we always start by making mistakes and we must get out of the way of the “primary experience”, which is also the first epistemological obstacle (pastré, 2007). the game of experimentation and mistakes forges the knowhow of the trade and the trials experienced during the integration phase become formative (rojo, s. & minier, 2015). the beginner teacher becomes the main actor in his professional integration and the main resource on which he can rely to overcome the difficulties he must face. it is capable of transforming tensions into a positive experience, or even into learning (van der wal et al., 2019). also, the sociowww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 30 published by scholink inc. cultural context has an effect on development. the theory of social constructivism (vygotsky) claims that developmental change cannot be separated from society and culture. novice learning is an activity that consists of building or rebuilding one’s cognitive resources in order to transform one’s own activity to make it better adapted to contexts and situations. the results represent a rich and varied set of data that makes it possible to identify many possible solutions to improve different aspects of the pi of pe teachers in tunisia. in the short term, we offer in-service training specific to teachers starting in the first year of practice, focusing on learning planning and assessment as well as classroom management. professional development should be viewed as a continuum and not limited to the first year, but rather enrich continuing education in the second and third years. regarding initial training, training institutes should consider pedagogical internships in primary schools, since in recent years, recruitment competitions have been opened to recruit primary school teachers. also, the growing number of primary schools in the private sector offers more employment opportunities for future teachers. officials of the ministry of youth and sports are invited to review the recruitment dates. once recruited, novices must be trained prior to designation. we also suggest that those in charge reflect on the possibility of assigning novices to their regions of residence since there are enough vacancies, especially in elementary schools, or by opting for mentoring during the first year of teaching. teachers will then be appointed in other regions on a rotational basis. at the regional level, the appointment must be carried out in a fair manner. . the national ranking of competitors established by the ministry is a criterion to be respected. the appointment will be made in order of merit and not by regionalism. as far as possible mediumand long-term actions are concerned, we recommend the establishment of a formal national system of support for career entry. a national reference framework would be defined at the level of the ministry of youth and sports, but its content would remain open to taking into account the characteristics of teachers and the local context. the implementation of assistance and support programmes for novices is part of a continuous training programme which requires a budget for teacher training and the creation of regional centres for the inservice training of pe teachers. the measures to help and support new pe teachers will concern all stakeholders in the education system such as administrative staff, school directors, educational inspectors, teachers, etc. because “if it takes a village to raise a child, then perhaps it also takes a village to support a new teacher” (eggen, 2002). 5. conclusion this exploratory-descriptive study aimed to investigate the professional integration (pi) of trainee pe teachers in tunisia, who have the particularity of being recruited after several years of unemployment since obtaining their diplomas. the objective of this research was to explore the difficulties experienced by novices in obtaining a source of information necessary for the design of content and training methods. the aim was to measure the effect of experience and the level of intervention on the intensity of difficulties in order to check whether the period of professional integration of pe teachers is sufficient to reduce them and whether there are differences in the experience of the sub-bodies of pe teachers. the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 31 published by scholink inc. results of this survey seem to us to be particularly interesting to take into consideration in the constitution of a possible formal system for the induction of pe teachers in tunisia. however, it should be borne in mind that the difficulties presented only partially cover the difficulties encountered by beginners and are based only on their points of view. hence the confrontation of their opinions with those of other school actors such as principals and educational inspectors, so that it will be possible to establish a more reliable map of their difficulties. 5.1 the limits of the research this study was conducted among a sample of teachers in the southern tunisian sector and not among the entire population of novices in tunisia. the results obtained concerning the difficulties experienced by novices only partially cover the problems encountered by beginners. indeed, the questionnaire that was used did not detail the difficulties that are part of the components. according to gaudreau (2017), classroom management contains five components: resource management, setting clear expectations, developing positive relationships, expectations and commitment to the learning 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(2008). the difficulties at work of teachers. research & training, 57, 6578. https://doi.org/10.4000/rechercheformation.833 kaya, h. b., kara, ö., & hoşver, p. u. (2021). journey from the past to the future in raising the ideal physical education teacher: a metaphor study. journal of education and learning, 10(5), 133. https://doi.org/10.5539/jel.v10n5p133 kelly, n., sim, c., & ireland, m. (2018). slipping through the cracks: teachers who miss out on early career support. asia-pacific journal of teacher education, 46(3), 292-316. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866x.2018.1441366 kozikoğlu, i̇., & senemoğlu, n. (2018). challenges faced by novice teachers: a qualitative analysis. journal of qualitative research in education, 6(3). https://doi.org/10.14689/issn.21482624.1.6c3s16m la, e., & caspard, p. (2018). baillauques, s., breuse, e. (1993). first class. 1993, 146–148. 32) le cornu, r. (2013). building early career teacher resilience: the role of relationships. australian journal of teacher education, 38(4), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2013v38n4.4 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 34 published by scholink inc. looney, a., cumming, j., van der kleij, f., & harris, k. (2018). reconceptualising the role of teachers as assessors: teacher assessment identity. assessment in education: principles, policy & practice, 25(5), 442-467. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594x.2016.1268090 marent, s., deketelaere, a., jokikokko, k., vanderlinde, r., & kelchtermans, g. (2020). short interims, long impact? a follow-up study on early career teachers’ induction. teaching and teacher education, 88, 102962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102962 mayeko, t., & brière-guenoun, f. (2019). differentiating gestures in physical education and sports: the case of a beginner teacher working in a difficult environment. activities, 16-2, 0-23. https://doi.org/10.4000/activites.4474 moura, a., macphail, a., graça, a., & batista, p. (2022). providing physical education preservice teachers with opportunities to interrogate their conceptions and practices of assessment. european physical education review, 29(1), 162-179. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336x221129057 nunez-moscoso, j., & murillo, a. (2017). difficulty in teaching work: a research theme with plural objects. thinking education, 40, 59-87. retrieved from https://hal.archivesouvertes.fr/hal-01684872 périer, p. (2014). beginner teachers: the teaching tests. paris: presses universitaires de france. perrenoud, p. (1994). teacher training between theory and practice. paris, l’harmattan. retrieved from https://www.unige.ch/fapse/sse/teachers/perrenoud/php_main/php_livres/php_formatio n.html. raduan, n. a., & na, s. il. (2020). an integrative review of the models for teacher expertise and career development. european journal of teacher education, 43(3), 428-451. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1728740 rivard, m.-c., grenier, j., leroux, m., turcotte, s., morency, l., & bordeleau, c. (2020). teacher induction pathway of physical and health education: a case study. journal of education and learning. rojo, s., & minier, p. (2015). stressors recognized as sources of abandonment of the teaching profession at the secondary level in quebec. éducation et francophonie, 43(2), 219-240. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.7202/1034493ar van der wal, m. m., oolbekkink-marchand, h. w., schaap, h., & meijer, p. c. (2019). impact of early career teachers’ professional identity tensions. teaching and teacher education, 80, 59-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.01.001 yanuarli, c., pratama, a., & sukarmin, y. (2019). the relationship of teacher certification, work motivation, and the working period with the performance of physical education teachers of elementary schools. journal of education, health and sport, 9(4), 110-123. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper culture clash and the oppression olympics jerell b. hill1 1 school of education, pacific oaks college, pasadena, ca, usa received: july 27, 2021 accepted: august 12, 2021 online published: august 20, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n3p87 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n3p87 abstract cultural proficiency opens the window to understanding diversity and its value in society. studies have shown that when communities organize, have the ability to see the differences, and respond positively, their interactions are effective in diverse environments. alliance-forming approaches to grapple with inequities substantiate the need for communities of color to collaborate and willingly address power imbalances by speaking out against systems of oppression. instead of engaging in divisive forms of advocacy, cultural humility encourages critical self-reflection and acknowledges that unhealthy comparison about racial oppression implies that power structures and privilege are reserved for one specific group. this critical commentary calls for increased solidarity and compassion to learn from one another to further the movement towards an anti-racist society. keywords critical humility, oppression, social change the need to create a healthy space for students to discuss race is becoming ever-more prevalent. when these opportunities are absent, students are being denied the opportunity to develop a critical consciousness about who they are and understand the essential part of their being. the racism marathon continues, and the last time i checked, there was no podium to stand on and receive a gold medal with a song of victory being played for which group is oppressed the most. teachers can reflect on the importance of what they accept matters as much as what they do. elizabeth martinez suggests the fear of oppression olympics is that when the focus shifts to one group’s fight for equality, it can make others may be left behind (cited in dhamoon, 2011). living in comparison spurs division is minimizes specific racial inequities that exist and are being experienced within black, latinx, native american, and asian communities. the decision of the past like adopting a color-blind ideology, have determined some of the conditions of today. educators do not have to accept the impossibility of success in visioning society in the current state. feelings of being deprived of power and influence teachers use pedagogies, curricula, and 87 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 teaching from text with the same biased. the oppression olympics are on full display with concepts that enslave minds. coupled with untreated traumas and aces (adverse childhood experiences), magnify the unequal distribution of resources forcing situational poverty and unprofitable competition of the oppressed. race plays a significant role in achievement and economic opportunities. educators need to be brave enough to be the light when it is grey out. having spaces for healthy conversations about race and the need to elevate student voices can no longer be avoided. educators need to adopt the mindset of active listening because they must communicate to students what they are hearing matters, and there are actions that can be taken so that students can be humanized in society and schools. evidence is clear that teachers from any ethnicity, racial group, cultural background, demographic region can be successful teachers of any group of students. nonetheless, educators must address the levels of discomfort with adult-student interactions about race. the need for psychological safety within learning environments is necessary. the desire to dismantle racism in schools garners a lot of attention. however, addressing certain race issues creates certain fears of retaliation or being overlooked for promotional opportunities. perhaps learning environments should be structured in a way that is more uncomfortable to stay silent than it is to speak up. i know from previous work around dialogical epistemology patricia h. collins (1990) intersectionality, challenging the dominant ideologies from an object point of view, and using a multi-disciplinary approach has moved the work forward. she emphasizes that each group speaks from its own perspective through particle knowledge of perceived truth and “partiality and not universality is the condition of being heard; individuals and groups forwarding knowledge claims without owning their position are deemed less credible than those who do” (p. 236) however, a pressing question remains noted from the work of tyrone c. howard (2020), how do educators anchor their interrogations of racism in education? this difference in perspective, reminds us to find ways to acknowledge the correlation between silence and microaggressions. this is not to say that teachers are not well-intentioned, but avoiding conversations about race does not show a willingness to embrace the new faces of america and the changing demographics. in addition, to engage in these important conversations, systemic structures must be called to task, and assumptions must be assessed, and participants have to presume positive intent so that when teachers engage in the necessary but uncomfortable conversations their communication is not perceived as racist. the capability to shift cultural perspective and adapt or bridge behavior to cultural commonality and difference is critical. some of the empirical work examining race found that discrepancies between ability and achievement were attributed to socio-economic status, and it was discovered that teaches avoided evaluating race-related patterns in light of seeing clear evidence-based data regarding race (rousseau & tate, 2003). when experiencing the levels of persistent educational disparities, one would think that suppressing conversations about race only amplifies the issues and widens the achievement gap. if educational systems continue to utilize socio-economic status and consider poverty as a culture instead of a circumstance that can change over time with adequate support elevates adversity and traumatic experiences student encounter 88 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 while internalizing a negative self-concept. in my research the need to develop dialogue circles is important because educators have to differentiate between a “hand-out and a hand up.” taking an approach to demonstrate the empathy quotient, educators will utilize their voices and engage in learning about various cultures through conversation while being reminded that intentionality does not mean compromising rigor or learning opportunity. change depends on everyone teaching with the cultural eye (irvine, 2003) allows the teacher to address any cultural misunderstanding within classrooms. utilizing asset-based pedagogies (ladson-billings, 2014) values the experiences, cultures, and communities that the students come from, which is a needed to change the deficit models that exist. moreover, the institute of industrial and systems engineers (iise) 2009, placed a profound value change and state: change is something that presses us out of our comfort zone. it is destiny-filtered, heart grown, faith built. change is inequitable; not a respecter of persons. change is for the better or for the worst, depending on where you view it. change is a muscle that develops to abundantly enjoy the dynamics of the life set before us. change calls own strength beyond anyone of us. change pushes you to do your personal best. change draws out those poised for a new way. change doesn’t look for a resting place; just the next launching point. change is only a waste to those who don’t learn from it. (iise, what is change?) helping with the creation of dialogue circles, grant and hill (2020) offer these goals: • each child will demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identities. • each child will express comfort and joy with human diversity, accurate language for human differences, and sincere, caring human connections. • each child will increasingly recognize unfairness, have the language to describe unfairness, and understand that unfairness hurts. • each child will demonstrate empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and discrimination. (p. 49) learning requires resolving conflicts between dialectically opposed modes of adaptation to the world. research suggests that programs should be designed in such a way that they are creative, interactive, relevant, student-centered, and group-based. educators must spend a lot of time in making effective strategies for facilitating difficult dialogues. effective dialogues instructions facilitate feedback from learners, make learners ask questions, and broaden the learner horizon for the course content (white & henderson, 2008). developing (crt) culturally responsive teaching (ladson-billings, 2014) teachers can provide students opportunities to think about what is happening in their local communities and to complete projects that address matters they can understand. also, crt suggests that: 89 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 •teachers initiate student-teacher interaction, and has communication and technological skills to effectively implement distance education. •teachers construct student-centered learning with opportunities for interaction. students are responsible for learning and responsible for contacting teachers when needed. •teachers give importance to the thoughts of students and promote student research, evaluation, discussion, and reporting. • teachers know student prerequisite skills and knowledge and use this foundation to build new knowledge. in addition, the teacher knows how the students can learn. •teachers provide prompt and accurate feedback to students to facilitate learning. the oppression olympics is a race that no one wins, and educators must understand and believe that all children have the capacity to learn regardless of their gender, cultural background, race, or socioeconomic status. lastly, audre lorde reminds us that “there is no hierarchy of oppression.” and teachers must continue to use effective questioning because it opens the door to possibilities. critical race discussions are not just a onetime activity, it is a continuous process. references banks, j. (1994). multiethnic education: theory and practice (3rd ed.). allyn & bacon. banks, j. a. (2008). diversity, group identity, and citizenship education in a global age. educational researcher, 37(3), 129-139. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189x08317501 collins, p. h. (1990). black feminist thought: knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. new york: routledge. google scholar dhamoon, r. (2011). considerations on mainstreaming intersectionality. political research quarterly, 64(1), 230-243. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912910379227 grant, d., & hill, j. b. (2020). activating culturally empathic motivation in diverse students. journal of education and learning journal of education and learning, 9(5), 45-58. https://doi.org/10.5539/jel.v9n5p45 hill, p. c. (1990). black feminist thought: knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. boston: unwin hyman. howard, t. c. (2020). why race and culture matter in schools: closing the achievement gap in america's classrooms (2nd ed.). united states: teachers college press. https://doi.org/10.31046/wabashcenter.v2i2.2916 institute of industrial and structural engineers (2009). what is change? retrieved august 1, 2020, from https://www.iise.org/details.aspx?id=3290 irvine, j. j. (2003). educating teachers for diversity: seeing with a cultural eye. new york: teachers college press. ladson-billings, g. (2014). culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: the remix. harvard educational review, 84(1), 74-84. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.84.1.p2rj131485484751 90 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189x08317501 http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?hl=en&publication_year=1990&author=patricia+hill+collins&title=black+feminist+thought%3a+knowledge%2c+consciousness%2c+and+the+politics+of+empowerment https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912910379227 https://doi.org/10.31046/wabashcenter.v2i2.2916 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 white, j. l., & henderson, s. j. (eds.). (2008). building multicultural competency: development, training, and practice. lanham, md: rowman & littlefield publishers. 91 published by scholink inc. original paper education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 43 original paper on the translation strategies of human-computer interaction based on machine translation qin fangfang1 & xiang xiaomei2* 1 school of foreign languages of china three gorges university, yichang city, hubei province, china 2 college of humanities and social sciences of xinjiang institute of technology, aksu, xinjiang, china * xiang xiaomei, college of humanities and social sciences of xinjiang institute of technology, aksu, xinjiang, china received: september 13, 2022 accepted: october 1, 2022 online published: october 20, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n4p43 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n4p43 abstract with the rapid development of language service industry and artificial intelligence technology, machine translation plays a more prominent role in the translation industry. human-computer interaction translation greatly improves the speed and quality of translation, and pre-translation editing and posttranslation editing are two important links and manifestations in human-computer interaction collaborative translation. on the basis of summarizing machine translation problems, this paper proposes translation strategies including replacing well-translated terms in advance, rewriting, addition, omission, and shift via pre-editing and post-editing, which greatly improves the quality of machine translation. keywords human-computer interaction translation, machine translation, pre-editing, post-editing 1. introduction from the beginning of the 21st century, machine translation technology has developed rapidly in china. faced with the surge in market demands for language services, human translation or pure machine translation can no longer meet these needs. in recent years, with the emergence of neural network machine translation and the “machine translation + post-translation editing” model, the quality and efficiency of translation have been greatly improved, but there is still a certain gap compared to professional human translation. so, how to further innovate on the basis of machine translation? in other words, what else can we do to improve machine translation? in view of this, based on summarizing machine translation problems, the author proposes the “pre-translation editing + machine translation + post-translation editing” model, and concludes a series of translation strategies from pre-translation www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 44 published by scholink inc. editing and post-translation editing, thus providing a certain reference for future human-computer interaction translation research and application. 2. research status the study of how to use computers to automatically convert natural languages is one of the important research fields in artificial intelligence and natural language processing. as a key technology to break through the language barrier by information transmission between different countries and ethnic groups, machine translation is of great significance for promoting ethnic unity, strengthening cultural exchanges and promoting foreign trade (liu, 2017, p. 1144). in the 17th century, descartes and leibniz proposed the idea of using machine dictionaries to overcome language barriers. ibm’s 701 computer automatically translated 60 russian sentences into english, the first machine translation in history. machine translation has experienced a long and tortuous development process, which is generally divided into the following four stages: the inception period (1949-1960), the setback period (1960-1967), the recovery period (1967-1990) and the new period (1990-present) (gao & zhao, 2020, pp. 97-98). although the quality of machine translation has increased, it is still not comparable to high-quality human translation. pure machine translation cannot guarantee the translation quality, let alone meet the increasing demand for language services. therefore, the function of human-computer interaction translation has become increasingly prominent with the pre-editing and post-editing as its important manifestations. “pre-translation editing is mainly aimed at the source text. it refers to the targeted modification and editing of the texts or documents that need to be translated before machine translation to improve the quality of machine translation output, and post-translation editing means to modify and edit the original output of machine translation. its purpose is also to improve the quality of machine translation through human-machine interaction” (feng & gao, 2017, p. 63). at present, in-depth research on machine translation has been carried out in china. post-translation editing is also a new hot research topic. the post-translation editing is an important manifestation of human-computer interaction, a new business growth point for language service companies, and the development direction of translation services in the future (cui, 2014, p. 70). at the same time, the research on pre-translation editing has not been fully carried out. some researchers believe that the advantages of pre-translation editing are not obvious, and there are defects such as large workload and low efficiency. however, the author believes that proper pre-editing can increase the quality and acceptability of machine translation. moreover, the enthusiasm of scholars for pre-translation editing has gradually increased in recent years, and a series of researches have been carried out around it. it can be clearly found out from cnki data that the number of related journals published about pre-translation editing since 2018 has increased year by year. therefore, the author proposes the “pre-translation editing + machine translation + post-translation editing” model, hoping to improve the machine’s understanding of the source text to reduce the workload of post-translation editing, and promote translation efficiency www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 45 published by scholink inc. through pre-translation editing. however, even after pre-editing and machine translation, there are still some problems in the translation, and in this case, post-editing is necessary. 3. common problems of machine translation although machine translation has greatly improved translation efficiency, there are also some unavoidable problems in its original output, which make the translation quality unsatisfactory, such as follows: 3.1 terms inconsistency a term is used to express the exact concept of a particular thing. the “inconsistency of terms” means in the process of translation, namely, conversion from the source language to the target language, one term of the source language has different expressions, but the multiple expressions in the source text for the same thing are translated into different versions in the target text by machine. the difficulty for computer to analyze chinese language lies in the fact that the same part of speech in chinese serves as multiple grammatical components without morphological changes, and the formation principles of chinese sentences are basically the same as those of phrases (guo & wang, 2017, p. 78). especially for large texts, it is prone to cause terms inconsistency by machine translation because of the context or the different collocations of the same term. 3.2 improper segmentation of punctuation marks punctuation marks are an integral part of a written language. at present, the punctuation marks used in chinese are formulated based on the english punctuation system. they do not only retain most of the main characteristics of english punctuation, but also shows the characteristics of chinese language. therefore, there are some differences between chinese and english punctuation marks, which are a major cause of the difference in sentence structure and expression between chinese and english. but the importance of punctuation is often overlooked in machine translation. for example, book titles and commas are punctuation marks which are unique to chinese. during the process of chinese-english conversion, machine translation will copy them into the target text, resulting in some translation problems. 3.3 redundancy redundancy refers to the functional repetition, overlapping or redundant expressions in the translation (cui & li, 2015, p. 21). repetition is a typical feature of chinese, and synonymy with different words in the form of four-character words is very common for emphasis. but english avoids repetition and often uses alternatives such as pronouns and prepositions to replace the repeated part. in the process of machine translation, the machine will strive to translate all the content of the source language, which is alien with english expression habits. 3.4 lexical vacancy lexical vacancy refers to the difficulty in achieving complete equivalence between the source language and the target language, resulting in lexical vacancy in translation. due to differences in culture and social background between china and other countries, lexical vacancy occurs in the translation process, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 46 published by scholink inc. including cultural defaults during the translation of culture-loaded words. moreover, in the ever-changing modern society, in addition to new words emerging with the development of the times, many old words have also been given new meanings, such as “韭菜” ( it once meant a kind of vegetables, and now also refers to shareholders taking a beating) and “香菇” (it once meant a kind of vegetable, and now also refers to a state of sadness). therefore, if the lexical vacancy cannot be solved, the translation quality cannot be guaranteed. because the society is changing so fast that the original database of machine cannot keep up with the pace, or the research on the cultural differences is not sufficient, the machine translation cannot accurately detect the meaning of the source text, which will lead to such translation problems. 4. translation strategies the above-mentioned problems could be solved by adopting translation techniques including replacing the inconsistent terms in source text and adjusting the division of sense group in pre-translation editing, as well as addition, omission and shift in post-translation editing. 4.1 translation strategies from the perspective of pre-editing there are differences between chinese and english languages. chinese is featured with run-on sentences, four-character words, and implicit subjects. at the same time, it stresses on parataxis with more active sentences. english is featured with complex and long sentences, as well as explicit subjects, and attaches importance to hypotaxis. one of the main tasks of pre-editing chinese is to eliminate the ambiguity of the source text, that is, to convert human-comprehensible words and sentences into machinecomprehensible ones (zhong, xu, & li, 2021, p. 36). therefore, this section focuses on pre-translation editing from the aspects of replacing the well-translated terms and modifying punctuation marks so as to solve term inconsistency and incorrect punctuation mark segmentation. 4.1.1 replacing the inconsistent terms in source text although machine translation has powerful memory and terminology functions, it is not a panacea. chinese culture has a long history, and neologisms emerge endlessly on the internet. the computer storage function is not nearly enough to catch up with their development and evolution. faced with some specific words, especially those with cultural connotations or implied meanings which are not included in the given glossary, machine translation cannot understand and translate correctly. in this case, words in the source language can be replaced in advance through pre-translation. besides, affected by the context, there will be inconsistent terms in machine translation, which weakens the coherence and cohesion of the translated text. if the expression of the same term is inconsistent, it also will increase the reading difficulty of readers, and may even cause misunderstanding. in view of this, the translation and replacement of inconsistent terms in advance can improve the consistency and the quality of machinetranslated text. moreover, after the terminology is established, it can also provide reference for future texts with similar topics. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 47 published by scholink inc. by replacing the inconsistent terms in source text, the whole text is unified, so that the language and expression of the machine-translated text are more natural and fluent, which not only improves the quality of the translated text, but also reduces the workload of post-translation editing. 4.1.2 adjusting the division of sense group adjusting the division of sense group refers to various adjustments such as changing, deleting, editing, and omitting the source text, in order to meet the requirements of the “patron” mainstream social ideology (yi & liu, 2021, p. 4). due to the inherent characteristics of chinese, such as run-on sentences and fourcharacter words, it is inevitable to cause difficulties including structural ambiguity in the process of machine translation. therefore, it is necessary to analyze the original text and try to adjust the division of sense group that is difficult for machine recognition in the source text, so as to improve machine translation’s recognition ability of the source text and improve translation quality. there are differences between chinese and english punctuation marks. for example, some punctuation marks in chinese are not found in english, such as stops and book titles; some punctuation marks in english are not found in chinese, such as hyphens; most punctuation marks are both used in chinese and english, but their usages are slightly different. in the process of machine translation, the machine translates the text according to the arrangement and structure of punctuation marks in the original text, resulting in “deficient” or “repetitive” translation. in such cases, modifying punctuation marks and reforming sentence structure can change the source text into a language that is easier to understand and translate by the machine, thus improving the readability of the text. punctuation marks are an indispensable part of a written language, mainly used to indicate the nature and function of sentences (yuwen, 2001, p. 76). it is also a detail that is easy to be ignored in the translation process, but it reflects the translator’s ability of avoiding “stupid mistakes” and the level of professional qualification. in addition, the modification of punctuation marks is also an important aspect of pretranslation editing. this is similar to the text alignment function of many computer-aided translation tools such as trados, but text alignment is to manually segment the machine-translated target language translation and the source language, rather than better modify the source language text to make machine translation more recognizable. 4.2 translation strategies from the perspective of post-editing post-translation editing refers to the process of modifying the source output of machine translation for certain purposes (feng & cui, 2016, p. 67). liu yi stresses that no matter how intelligent the machine is, and no matter how long the translator spends on pre-translation editing, the texts that are not successfully translated still account for a certain proportion (liu, 2014, p. 101). at present, for the gap between professional human translation and machine translation, we cannot rely on machine translation alone, thus post-translation editing is also required. no matter the language expressions are familiar or not, it is still difficult to achieve the prefect translation result, so post-translation editing is of great importance (yang & fan, 2021, p. 59). thus, the author puts forward translation skills such as addition, omission and shift to improve the accuracy and quality of machine translation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 48 published by scholink inc. 4.2.1 omission omission refers to a method of removing redundant information in translation and making the translation more fluent (wang & wen, 2020, p. 134). it is not simply to delete the content, but to do some meaningful deletion avoiding repetition and redundancy. the meaning is still complete after deletion, but the expression is more concise. in order to achieve neat writing, chinese often uses a large number of balanced and parallel structures and a string of four-character sentences. but english is concise and avoids repetition. therefore, in the process of chinese-english translation, repetitive problems will inevitably occur, and omission can effectively reduce the redundancy to make the edited language more suitable for english expression habits. 4.2.2 addition addition refers to the appropriate addition to the translated text, so that it not only faithfully expresses the content of the source text, but also conforms to the expression habits of the target language. in chinese-english translation, addition includes the amplification of pronouns, background knowledge and subjects. the text translated by machine is right sometimes, but the machine fails to fully take into account the knowledge reserves of the target language readers. with supplementary information, it can not only better convey the original information, but also reduce the barriers that appear in cultural exchanges. for example, in the past, chinese culture may belong to the “weak culture”, and the translation of classic books mainly adopts the strategy of “domestication”. however, as chinese culture is increasingly prosperous, translators who are familiar with the similarities and differences of the two languages and cultures (zhang, 2010, p. 26) should shoulder the responsibility of helping chinese culture “going global”, so that more people can understand the excellent traditional chinese culture. in addition, translation skills such as adding footnotes, paraphrasing, or adding direct annotations can make up for the default of the culture-loaded words. culture-loaded words, also known as culture-specific words, refer to the characteristic words (including idioms and common sayings) that carry a certain cultural connotation and show folk customs, which are often concentrated in national cultural works (sun & han, 2021, p. 91). it is this exclusivity that makes it a big obstacle in translation. in the process of translation, rigid translation will damage readability, and the practice, “completely change” will make it lose its original taste. therefore, the author should strive to reduce cultural differences while enhancing readers’ reading experience and cognitive ability. 4.2.3 shift shift refers to the process of converting the language unit or structure of the original language into a language unit or structure with similar properties, or corresponding properties, or heterogeneous properties in the target language (xiong, 2014, p. 87). simply put, it is to change the form of expression to a certain extent, but the original meaning remains unchanged. when “hard translation” or “rigid translation” occurs in machine translation, this translation strategy can be adopted. for example, when translating dialects, idioms, and folk songs, the machine cannot understand the cultural connotations in them, but often translate word by word, making the entire text incomprehensible. in view of this, these www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 49 published by scholink inc. translation difficulties are manually converted into expressions that are familiar to the target language readers and easy to understand. machine translation has always been a hot topic in translation circles at home and abroad, and has high requirements on the ability of researchers themselves. the author finds that machine translation has difficulties in cultural factors such as beliefs and customs mainly because it fails to understand the cultural context and emotions conveyed in the text. the biggest difference between human and machine is the feelings. the translators will consider the differences and taboos of different cultures and the reaction and mood of the target language readers, rather than simply complete the translation task. therefore, in order to promote the successful exchange between chinese and foreign cultures, posttranslation editing is also indispensable. 5. conclusion with the progress of science and technology and the continuous development of artificial intelligence, machine translation has attracted more attention. it is faster and cheaper than human translation, and can handle huge volumes of multilingual text. however, machine translation lacks logical thinking, which will make the translation lack of logic and standardization, thus leading to ambiguity, or even distortion of the source text. the “pre-editing + machine translation + post-editing” model gives full play to the advantages of the interactive cooperation between human and machine by replacing the inconsistent terms in source text and adjusting the division of sense group in pre-editing part which improves the translatability of the text, and increasing the readability of the translation by addition, omission and shift in post-editing, both greatly improve the translation quality and have strong operability. acknowledgements this work was supported by the postgraduate course construction fund of china three gorges university in 2022 (no.sdkc202212) and the teaching and research fund of china national committee for translation & interpreting education in 2019 (no. mtijzw201917). references cui, q. l., & li, w. (2015). the character of error types of post-editing: perspective of machine translation based on scientific and technology materials. chinese science & technology translators journal, 28(4), 19-22. cui, q. l. (2014). on post-editing in machine translation. chinese translators journal, 35(6), 68-73. feng, q. g., & cui, q. l. (2016). research focuses and trends in post-editing of machine translation. shanghai journal of translators, 6, 67-74+89+94. feng, q. g., & gao, l. (2017). on the influence of pre-editing in accordance with controlled language on machine translation. contemporary foreign language studies, 2, 63-68+87+110. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 50 published by scholink inc. gao, l. l., & zhao, w. (2020). an overall study on machine translation. foreign languages in china, 17(6), 97-103. guo, g. p., & wang, z. y. (2017). research on the pre-edit and post-edit of machine translation in science and technology text translation. journal of zhejiang international studies university, 3, 76-83. liu, y. (2017). recent advances in neural machine translation. journal of computer research and development, 54(6), 1144-1149. liu, y. (2014). empirical study of controlled language for improving the quality of the machine translation technical specifications. journal of chongqing university of technology (natural science), 28(3), 96-101. mellinger, c. (2017). translators and machine translation: knowledge and skills gaps in translator pedagogy. the interpreter and translator trainer, 4, 280-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399x.2017.1359760 o’brien, s. (2006). methodologies for measuring the correlations between post-editing effort and machine translatability. machine translation, 1, 37-58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10590-005-24671 sun, l., & han, c. h. (2021). english translation of culture-loaded words in folding beijing from the perspective of eco-translatology. shanghai journal of translators, 4, 90-94. wang, n., & wen, y. y. (2020). on the translation problems of luo xiwen version of shanghanlun. chinese translators journal, 41(5), 130-135. xiong, b. (2014). concept confusion in translation studies: a case study of “translation strategies”, “translation methods” and “translation techniques”. chinese translators journal, 35(3), 82-88. yang, w. d., & fan, z. r. (2021). case studies of postediting in machine translation of scientific and technological texts. shanghai journal of translators, 6, 54-59. yi, x., & liu, j. p. (2021). on mistranslation, rewriting, and omission in the english translation of the sky dwellers. foreign language and translation, 28(1), 1-8+98. yuwen, g. f. (2001). the difference and proper usage of punctuation marks in chinese and english. chinese journal of scientific and technical periodicals, 12(1), 73-76. zhang, y. (2010). the loss and gain of interpretation: a case study of amplification in the english translation of gan xiao liu ji. contemporary foreign language studies, 4, 26-29+62. zhong, w. m., xu, j. m., & li, y. x. (2021). pre-editing mechanisms for vagueness of chinese sci-tech text in machine translation. chinese science & technology translators journal, 34(4), 36-39+42. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399x.2017.1359760 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10590-005-2467-1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10590-005-2467-1 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 87 original paper ecological civilization education promotes the modernization of ecological civilization hongmin fan1* & yudie zhang2 1 institute of ideological and political work, jiangsu university, jiangsu, china 2 school of marxism, shaanxi normal university, xi’an, china * fan hongmin, institute of ideological and political work, jiangsu university, zhenjiang, 212013, jiangsu, china received: july 19, 2024 accepted: august 2, 2024 online published: august 18, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n3p87 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n3p87 abstract ecological civilization education is an educational action that cultivates people to form ecological civilization concepts and behaviors. it has the characteristics of human nature, inclusiveness, spirituality, practicality, and process, and can promote the modernization of human beings, natural environment, and human civilization. it is the educational foundation for realizing the modernization of ecological civilization. the implementation of ecological civilization education can be carried out from the aspects of awakening and strengthening the sense of main responsibility of ecological civilization education, constructing and carrying out immersive practical experiences of ecological civilization education, exploring and forming the characteristics of the development of the entire chain of ecological civilization education, etc., thereby assisting the modernization construction of ecological civilization and the formation of new forms of human civilization. keywords ecological civilization education, ecological civilization, modernization biographies: fan hongmin (1988-), male, from yongcheng, henan, china, is an associate researcher; zhang yudie (2000-), female, from zhoukou, henan, china, is a master’s student. the ecological concept in the 1992 rio declaration regards harmonious coexistence between human and nature as the highest ideology, reflecting a qualitative breakthrough in the concept of human ecological civilization. at the same time, the promulgation and implementation of the rio declaration provides a reasonable basis for ecological civilization education at the legal and policy level. ecological civilization www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 88 published by scholink inc. education is a key measure for the modernization of ecological civilization construction. ecological civilization modernization construction is an important link in the comprehensive construction of a modern country, which is related to the sustainable and comprehensive development of various countries’ undertakings and the future destiny of all mankind. therefore, comprehensively promoting ecological civilization education is the trend. 1. the connotation and characteristics of ecological civilization education ecological civilization education is “an educational practice that directly faces the ecological crisis faced by humanity” (chen & shao, 2024). it is an educational action aimed at public ecological norms, public ecological concepts, public ecological behaviors, and other aspects for the whole nation, cultivating successors and builders with ecological civilization literacy and practicing ecological civilization values. it is mainly manifested in the promotion and popularization of people’s knowledge of ecological civilization, the cultivation and development of people’s understanding of ecological civilization, and the encouragement and regulation of people’s ecological behavior, with the core value goal of harmonious development between humans and nature, humans and humans, and humans and society. ecological civilization education can not only promote the modernization of education, but also assist in the modernization construction of ecological civilization, with such characteristics as human nature, inclusiveness, practicality, process, and spirituality. 1.1 the human nature of ecological civilization education human beings are the premise of all history and activities, and education is a unique consciousness and behavior of human beings. therefore, ecological civilization education must have a human nature. from the essence of ecological civilization education, consciousness is its essential attribute, and consciousness is unique to humans; from the occurrence of ecological civilization education, it can be seen that ecological civilization education originates from a profound reflection on the increasingly serious ecological crisis since the mid-20th century, and is a reflection on the crisis of human survival and development; from the perspective of participants in ecological civilization education, both educators and learners are human beings; from the results of ecological civilization education, the ultimate goal of education is to enhance the well-being of human survival and development. these aspects deeply reflect the human nature of ecological civilization education. 1.2 the inclusiveness of ecological civilization education ecological civilization education is one of the important components of education, and the inclusive nature of education is also reflected in ecological civilization education. hanhua, also known as “cultural intake”, generally includes three forms: acceptance, adaptation, and resistance. the existing culture in society is diverse, with a mixture of advanced and backward elements; the subject of education has individuality, and positive and negative influences interact with each other. therefore, it is necessary to carry out certain ecological civilization education, guide people to absorb and form correct, advanced, and positive ecological civilization values, update and transform outdated and erroneous ecological www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 89 published by scholink inc. civilization ideas and concepts in people’s minds, and realize the cultural value of ecological civilization education. at the same time, the inclusive nature of ecological civilization education is also reflected in the exchange, dialogue, and mutual learning between different ethnic groups, countries, and cultures, enabling different civilizations to achieve common ground while reserving differences and common development in multilateral interactions, thereby promoting the accelerated realization of a harmonious society and a community with a shared future for mankind, as well as the free and comprehensive development of individuals themselves. 1.3 the spirit of ecological civilization education on the one hand, the educational content of ecological civilization is the content of ecological civilization knowledge, concepts, cognition, attitudes and other consciousness levels. on the other hand, ecological civilization education is the transformation and change of people’s original ecological concepts and behaviors, mainly playing a role in inspiring, guiding, encouraging, shaping and other spiritual aspects of education. inspire people’s awareness of ecological civilization, guide their ecological civilization concept, encourage their ecological civilization behavior, shape their ecological civilization values, and thus demonstrate their own ecological civilization temperament from the inside out, becoming a modern ecological citizen who respects, understands, and cares for the natural environment. therefore, the content, role, and results of ecological civilization education clearly reflect its spiritual characteristics. however, it should be pointed out that spiritual education ultimately aims to cultivate and change the ecological civilization behavior of learners. 1.4 the practicality of ecological civilization education ecological civilization education is not only a theory, but also an activity with practical characteristics (liu & zhang, 2017). on the one hand, ecological civilization education responds to the need for green transformation of national economic development, incorporating green and sustainable development of economic production as one of the educational contents, reflecting the practical production of ecological civilization education. on the other hand, ecological civilization education is centered around school education, supplemented by social education and family education. regardless of the form of education, it is necessary to organize and carry out certain educational and teaching practice activities to help learners perceive ecological civilization knowledge, form ecological civilization literacy, and exercise ecological protection and construction capabilities in specific practice activities. in addition, the truth of the theoretical understanding of ecological civilization education must be tested and developed in practice. therefore, the practicality of ecological civilization education is not only reflected in the practicality of content and form, but also in the practicality of source, motivation, and purpose. 1.5 the process of ecological civilization education ecological civilization education is a long-term educational process. firstly, there is an imbalance in the development of values between individuals and society. the coupling of ecological civilization values between individuals and society leads to the formation of ecological civilization awareness and behavior, which requires a certain long-term development process. secondly, ecological civilization education is www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 90 published by scholink inc. related to the future and destiny of all countries and ethnic groups, as well as the shared development of human civilization, which is inevitably a dynamic process of change. at the same time, the specific implementation of ecological civilization education must be creatively transformed and innovatively developed based on specific practical problems, reflecting the dynamic and procedural nature of ecological civilization education. thirdly, there are still problems in the current process of ecological civilization education, such as poor subject consciousness, single educational methods, and obvious formalism; hence, solving these problems also requires a long-term effort. 2. theoretical value of ecological civilization education ecological civilization education is the fundamental strategic support for the modernization construction of ecological civilization countries. ecological civilization education cultivates modern talents in ecological civilization, promotes the theory of ecological civilization development, promotes the harmonious development of the natural environment, accelerates the process of forming a community of life, and ultimately promotes the comprehensive realization of the modernization construction of ecological civilization countries. 2.1 standing firmly at the center of human education promoting the realization of modernization of individuals themselves people are the main body of ecological civilization modernization construction, and ecological civilization education must take people as its starting point and foothold, cultivating talents for the modernization construction of ecological civilization countries. in terms of fundamental value, ecological civilization education aims to promote the free and comprehensive development of human beings, and refers to the significance of education in cultivating ecological civilization talents with ecological civilization concepts and behaviors; in terms of direct purpose, “ecological livelihood is the livelihood that solves the impact of ecological crisis on human survival and development” (fang, 2014). ecological civilization education is conducive to achieving ecological livelihood, improving the ecological environment, meeting people’s expectations for a beautiful ecological environment, enhancing people’s satisfaction and happiness in life, and improving people’s well-being; in terms of educational object, the object of ecological civilization education is everyone, it is the imparting of ecological civilization knowledge and the improvement of ecological civilization behavior to everyone, helping people realize the symbiotic relationship between humans and nature, thus deeply understanding the current ecological problems and the relationship between humans, and inspiring learners to respect nature, conform to nature, and protect nature with a sense of social responsibility. ecological civilization education is a humanistic education that is conducive to adhering to the value standpoint of putting people first, implementing the development concept of putting people first, cultivating comprehensive talents with modern civilization qualities, enhancing the well-being of people’s livelihoods in survival, life, and development, and meeting the basic requirements of the subject consciousness and talent cultivation of the modernization construction of ecological civilization countries. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 91 published by scholink inc. 2.2 towards the goal of ecological harmony education promoting the modernization of the natural environment ecological civilization education faces the harmonious and balanced development among the natural environment, and ecological environment protection and construction are the main content and necessary carrier of the modernization construction of ecological civilization countries. ecological civilization education can help learners recognize the current ecological crisis issues, enhance their crisis awareness and sense of social responsibility, and enable them to understand the great morality, abide by public morality, and strictly adhere to personal morality in ecological civilization. the great morality of ecological civilization is to cultivate the awareness and understanding of the interrelationship between the values of ecological civilization and sustainable development in economy, society, culture, ecology, and other aspects among the educated, so that they realize the spiritual leading role of ecological civilization values in ecological environment construction and development, and stimulate their overall awareness of loving nature, protecting the environment, and promoting green development. the public morality of ecological civilization cultivates learners’ profound understanding of the spirit of public ecological civilization, strict adherence to public ecological civilization norms, conscious practice of public ecological civilization obligations, and specific participation in public ecological environment construction, thereby promoting the overall development of natural ecology. the private morality of ecological civilization cultivates learners to form an internal ecological civilization bottom line and ecological civilization standards, so that everyone can be cautious and law-abiding in ecological environment protection and construction. ecological civilization education is a naturalistic education that promotes the harmonious development of the natural ecological environment, balances the relationship between humans and the natural environment, and deepens people’s understanding of the importance of ecological harmony, and thereby encourages them to consciously participate in the construction of ecological civilization. it is also beneficial for saving resources, loving the environment, protecting nature, promoting the modernization of the natural environment, and providing a basic natural environment foundation and natural resource capital for the modernization of ecological civilization countries. 2.3 recognizing the educational value of a community of shared life accelerating the modernization process of human civilization the community of life between humans and nature is an inherent demand for the modernization of ecological civilization countries, which can accelerate the development of human civilization. the significance of ecological civilization education lies in enabling people to start from their own situation, reflect on the problems existing in the current community in crisis, understand the essence of the community of life and the historical inevitability of its formation, thereby awakening individual consciousness and the overall action of the current community, initiating a revolutionary movement for ecological civilization construction, and accelerating the modernization of human historical civilization. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 92 published by scholink inc. ecological civilization education is an education that combines naturalism and humanitarianism together, which is conducive to the harmonious unity of human, nature, and society. it makes people realize that the natural environment is the “inorganic body” of human beings, and thus makes them realize the importance of protecting the environment, conserving resources, and respecting nature. they consciously join the ecological civilization construction of the community of human and natural life, and accelerate the modernization process of ecological civilization national construction. 3. the practical path of ecological civilization education ecological civilization education provides theoretical guidance, talent cultivation foundation, and spiritual motivation for the modernization construction of ecological civilization countries, and provides systematic guidance for the modernization construction of ecological civilization countries. ecological civilization education needs to fully leverage the role of individuals as the main body, coordinate and plan the responsibility, practical aspects, and integrated development of ecological civilization education, in order to promote the modernization of ecological civilization countries, enhance people’s well-being, and accelerate the realization of a community with a shared future for mankind. 3.1 awakening and strengthening the sense of subjective responsibility in ecological civilization education ecological civilization education has the public welfare attribute of education, requiring a large amount of human and material resources to be invested, but its benefits are difficult to reflect in the short term. therefore, ecological civilization education requires sustained, joint, and selfless efforts from all participating parties. however, humans are all animals of interests, and the value balance of each participating subject in the process of ecological civilization education will be different. personal interests and common interests compete with each other, increasing the cost and difficulty of ecological civilization education. therefore, it is necessary to awaken and stimulate the sense of responsibility and action consciousness of all participating parties. only through the collaborative efforts of all participating parties can ecological civilization education be fully utilized. one of the core tasks of education is to “improve the school family social education mechanism” (yuan, 2023). schools are the main battlefield of ecological civilization education, families are the strengthening agents of ecological civilization education, and society is the practice site of ecological civilization education. each participant must clarify their respective roles and positioning in the process of ecological civilization education. schools have the advantage of systematic and intensive education, and it is necessary to strengthen the development and utilization of ecological civilization education courses and activities, enhance the ecological civilization knowledge and moral quality of the teaching staff, improve the infrastructure and practical bases of ecological civilization education, and play the role of school education as a bridge between family and social education. family education has the characteristics of being life oriented, emotional, and diverse. it requires parents to lead by example and teach by words and deeds, so that learners can form green living concepts and lifestyles unconsciously, deeply understand www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 93 published by scholink inc. the community relationship between humans and nature, and cultivate learners’ sense of responsibility to actively participate in ecological civilization construction. society is the real place for ecological civilization education, with obvious characteristics of practicality and authenticity. through the promotion, organization, and implementation of ecological civilization construction activities, it can attract learners to join the construction of ecological civilization, so that learners can perceive ecological civilization knowledge and consciously unify theory and action in specific practical activities, and improve their practical ability in ecological civilization construction. in addition, ecological civilization education requires support from government policies, funding, and legal regulations. firstly, the government needs to play a unified leading and initiating role, encourage all social entities to participate in and supervise ecological civilization education in an orderly manner, provide sufficient financial support for ecological civilization education, improve the ecological civilization education system, and ensure the systematic, continuous, and feasible nature of educational work. secondly, the government needs to formulate and improve laws and regulations on ecological civilization education, so that ecological civilization education has a legal basis and must be followed, providing protection for ecological civilization education. thirdly, the government needs to introduce certain incentive policies to effectively balance individual interests and overall interests, stimulate people’s participation motivation, and create a good ecological civilization education atmosphere in the whole society. meanwhile, with the rapid development of science and technology, the internet also plays a crucial role in ecological civilization education. all major network platforms, various apps, relevant official account, etc. need to clarify their respective publicity roles and responsibilities in ecological civilization education, and abide by network laws and regulations and ethics. for the role of online media in ecological civilization education, it is necessary for the national network regulatory department to strengthen its supervision and management, in order to avoid the influence of illegal ideas and nonscientific theories on the healthy development and practical effects of ecological civilization education. 3.2 constructing and conducting immersive practical experiences for ecological civilization education “starting from natural education to perceive the ecological world”, nature is the “living textbook” for ecological civilization education (wang, 2024), providing real educational resources and venues for ecological civilization education. launching immersive “local” ecological civilization practices can shift learners from “bystanders” to “attendees”, enabling them to appreciate the practical value of ecological improvement, enhance their sense of achievement in ecological civilization construction, and strengthen their internal drive to participate in ecological civilization construction. this can lead to the formation of green living, health, consumption, and other concepts in real experiences, and help promote the modernization of ecological civilization countries. ecological civilization education can provide immersive experiences such as educational practice bases, themed education venues, and volunteer service activities, allowing learners to immerse themselves in the natural ecological environment. firstly, establishing educational practice bases to promote advanced ideas on ecological civilization construction and experience the achievements of ecological civilization www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 94 published by scholink inc. development. natural ecology, rural revitalization, industrial enterprises, typical cases, ideological propaganda and other bases can be created. for example, natural ecology: everglades wetland restoration process in the united states, typical cases or industrial enterprises: liuzhou’s historical transformation from “acid rain capital” to “livable city”, rural revitalization: “shajiang memory” ecological environment education museum. secondly, constructing themed educational venues to popularize knowledge of ecological civilization and experience advanced technologies of ecological civilization. for example, using ecological civilization knowledge as the educational theme, promoting the popularization of related sciences such as oceans, forests, rivers, and biology. taking ecological civilization technology as the educational theme, we will launch activities such as remote real-time observation, 4d virtual experience, simulation model display, and analysis laboratory, using technology to enable people to get close to natural ecology and feel the charm of ecology. thirdly, carrying out volunteer service activities, enhancing the awareness of the main responsibility for ecological civilization construction, and giving full play to the exemplary leading role of ecological civilization construction. the mobilization of volunteer service forces requires relevant government departments, civil society organizations, environmental activists, etc. to play a leading role in building large-scale volunteer teams, conducting scientific quality training, organizing themed volunteer activities, etc., leading the new trend of ecological civilization construction in the whole society, and forming a good atmosphere for ecological civilization construction. creating different types of educational practice bases, constructing themed education venues with distinctive features, and carrying out diverse volunteer services can not only popularize knowledge related to ecological civilization to the whole society and play a demonstrative role in ecological civilization education practice, but also help learners identify with the theoretical development achievements of ecological civilization in the new era, form scientific concepts and behaviors of ecological civilization in various practical activities, and assist in the implementation of ecological civilization education and the modernization of ecological civilization countries. 3.3 exploring and forming the characteristics of the whole chain development of ecological civilization education the current ecological civilization education faces certain issues such as value debates, interest games, stage isolation, and regional imbalances. therefore, it is necessary to promote the formation of a characteristic theoretical system for ecological civilization education, the participation of multiple subjects, integrated promotion, and the overall development pattern of consultation, co construction, and sharing. firstly, establishing a theoretical system of ecological civilization education characteristics. theory is the forerunner of practice, and ecological civilization education must be based on certain theoretical guidance to enhance the feasibility, scientificity, sustainability, and effectiveness of practical development. the construction of a distinctive theoretical system should be guided by the mainstream ideas of various countries and ethnic groups, based on practical ecological issues, drawing on the wisdom of ecological www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 95 published by scholink inc. civilization education from national historical traditions and advanced practical experience at home and abroad, mobilizing the comprehensive strength of educational researchers, schools, academic groups, ecological and environmental protection organizations, etc., and interpreting and developing the distinctive theoretical systems of various countries and ethnic groups from a modern perspective. for example, the environmental education act enacted in 1970 and the national environmental education act signed in 1990 in the united states. secondly, pushing ahead the participation of multiple stakeholders in ecological civilization education. schools are the main body of ecological civilization education, and “building ecological schools is becoming a new direction for the current development of schools” (chen & liu, 2024). ecological campus takes ecological environment conservation, green facility construction, green transportation promotion, and resource recycling as carriers to create a good atmosphere for ecological education implementation, unconsciously forming and enhancing students’ ecological awareness and behavior. however, it is difficult to achieve the goal of ecological civilization education solely through school education. it is necessary to mobilize the participation of multiple entities such as government management departments, education management departments, schools, relevant academic groups, civil environmental protection groups and organizations, environmental enthusiasts, volunteer service organizations, and foreign related groups and individuals to provide diversified, systematic, and comprehensive development forces for the promotion of ecological civilization education. the nature conservation movement in the netherlands before world war ii was an organic unity of civilian forces and government support. thirdly, promoting the integration of ecological civilization education. the current ecological civilization education has the discontinuity between stage education and the independent separation between disciplines, which is not conducive to the systematic formation and development of learners’ ecological civilization concepts and behaviors, and even causes contradictions and conflicts between learners’ own ecological civilization concepts and behaviors, hindering the smooth implementation of ecological civilization education. therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the correlation and continuity of ecological civilization education between different stages, enhance the integration of knowledge between various disciplines, and thus strengthen the systematic development of ecological civilization concepts and behaviors among learners. in terms of textbook arrangement, it is necessary to achieve unity and intersectionality of knowledge. in terms of curriculum design, it is necessary to achieve integration and coherence between courses. in 2000, the uk established an interdisciplinary theme course called “sustainable development education”, which combines ecological civilization education with teaching in other disciplines. in terms of educational subjects, it is necessary to achieve the coupling between selfknowledge, ideas, and behavior, as well as the lifelong nature of education and self-education. at the same time, we should “promote ecological civilization education in the teaching system of primary, secondary, and tertiary education”, and pay attention to the combination of unity and differentiation (luo, 2024). in practical activities, it is necessary to achieve the unity of theory and knowledge and the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 96 published by scholink inc. consistency of educational impact. only by achieving integration and integration of ecological civilization education in all aspects can we help learners form systematic, unified, and deterministic ecological civilization concepts and behaviors. fourthly, forming a pattern of integrated and mutually beneficial development of ecological civilization education. on the one hand, strengthening communication and dialogue among various ethnic groups within the country. ethnic minority areas in various countries gather a large number of rare and unique natural landscapes and ecological resources, which are important components of ecological civilization construction. therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the ecological revitalization of ethnic regions, draw on the advanced ecological culture of various ethnic groups, and provide assistance for the promotion of ecological civilization education. on the other hand, we attach great importance to international education dialogue. each country and ethnic group has its unique ecological civilization landscape and natural resources, which need to be included as one of the contents of ecological civilization education and popularization. at the same time, countries have their own unique thinking paths and development plans for addressing ecological issues and conducting ecological civilization education. therefore, it is necessary to strengthen consultation and cooperation between countries, learn from advanced educational experiences of other countries, and provide assistance for domestic ecological civilization education. the consultation, co construction, and sharing of ecological civilization education among different countries and ethnic groups can not only enhance the scientific and effective nature of their respective ecological civilization education, but also deeply instill the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, and help promote the friendly and harmonious development of all human civilizations. 4. conclusion nature is the “inorganic body” of human beings, and humans and nature should be a harmonious and unified community of life. the significance of ecological civilization education lies in enabling learners to recognize the independence and regularity of the natural world and form ecological civilization value concepts and behavior patterns, thereby respecting nature, protecting the environment, conserving resources, loving ecology and so on. it can also promote effective solutions to current ecological crises, and accelerate the realization of a community with a shared future for mankind and a community of life between humans and nature. strengthening ecological civilization education is a fundamental guarantee and driving force to assist in the modernization of ecological civilization countries, achieve harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, and create a better world together. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 97 published by scholink inc. references chen, s. j., & liu, y. q. (2024). major progress and development trends in global ecological civilization education research [j/ol]. journal of northwest normal university (social sciences edition), 5, 81-90. chen, s. j., & shao, b. d. (2024). theoretical dimensions and practical strategies of ecological civilization education. china distance education, 44(3), 3-12 fang, s. n. (2014). the significant value of ecological livelihood from the highlighting of ecological contradictions. journal of soochow university (philosophy and social sciences edition), 2014, 5054 liu, j. w., & zhang, w. x. (2017). research on the current situation of environmental education abroad. journal of qiqihar university (philosophy and social sciences edition), 1, 1-3. luo, h. (2024). analysis of ecological civilization education in applied universities under the background of integration of primary, secondary and high schools. journal of beijing union university, 38(4), 39-44. wang, g. p. (2024). new exploration of the connotation and path of ecological civilization education. environmental education, 6, 24-25. yuan, z. g. (2023). accelerating the construction of a high quality education system. shanghai teaching and research, 428(1), 3. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 21 original paper a comparative analysis of except and except for in the coca namkil kang1 1 far east university, south korea received: february 17, 2023 accepted: february 28, 2023 online published: march 9, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n1p21 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n1p21 abstract the ultimate goal of this paper is to show how similar except and except for are in the corpus of contemporary american english (coca). a point to note is that except and except for exhibit the same pattern in six genres, whereas they show a different pattern in two genres. what this suggests is that except is 75% the same as except for in the genre analysis of the coca. a further point to note is that except and except for exhibit the lowest similarity in the fiction genre, whereas they reveal the highest similarity in the spoken genre. the coca clearly shows that except people is the most preferable one among americans, followed by except death, except mr, and except water, in that order. the coca further shows that except for people (45 tokens) is the most preferable one for americans, followed by except for mr, except for cases, and except for things, in that order. finally, this paper argues that 21.95% of 41 nouns are the collocations of both except and except for. this amounts to saying that except is 21.95% the same as except for in the analysis of 41 collocations. keywords euclidean distance, token, coca, collocation 1. introduction the main purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of except and except for in the corpus of contemporary american english. first, we aim to compare the use of except and that of except for in the eight genres of coca. we, by comparing them, can see how similar except and except for are in the eight genres of the coca. put differently, we, by analyzing the ranking of except and except for in the eight genres of the coca, can see how similar they are. second, we aim to measure the distance between except and except for in the eight genres of the coca. more specifically, we, by using the euclidean distance, see how close except and except for are. note that the more except and except for are close, the more they exhibit a similarity. third, we aim at comparing the collocation of except and that of except for in the coca. by comparing the collocations of except and except for in the coca, we can see how similar they are in the coca. finally, we aim to capture the degree of the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 22 published by scholink inc. similarity between except and except for by using the software package netminer. by linking the collocations of except and except for, we can calculate the degree of the similarity between except and except for. 2. the coca and eight genres in what follows, we aim to inquire into the similarity between except and except for in the eight genres of the coca. table 1 shows the frequency of except and except for in the coca: table 1. frequency of except and except for genre all blog web tv/m spok fic mag news acad except 97,441 14,256 16,003 12,686 7,757 20,688 9,740 7,971 8,310 except for 27,234 3,440 3,580 3,467 2,139 6,857 2,778 2,455 2,518 it is probably worthwhile noting that the overall frequency of except in the coca is 97,441 tokens, whereas that of except for is 27,234 tokens. put differently, the overall frequency of except is three times higher than that of except for. it seems thus reasonable to hypothesize that americans prefer using except to using except for. perhaps it is worthwhile pointing out that except and except for rank first (20,688 tokens vs. 6,857 tokens) in the fiction genre. this in turn means that the types except and except for exhibit a similarity in the fiction genre. simply put, they exhibit the same pattern in rank-one. it should be pointed out, however, that in the fiction genre, the use of except is by far higher (three times) than that of except for. we take this as meaning that american writers prefer using except to using except for in their novels. it is particularly noteworthy that except and except for rank second (16,003 tokens vs. 3,580 tokens) in the web genre. again, the types except and except for show the same ranking in the web genre, thereby revealing a similarity. it must be stressed, however, that in the web genre, the use of except (16,003 tokens) is even higher (more than four times) than that of except for. this in turn implies that except (16,003 tokens) may be preferred over except for (3,580 tokens) by american web designers. it is interesting to note that except ranks third (14,256 tokens) in the blog genre, whereas except for ranks third (3,467 tokens) in the tv/movie genre. quite interestingly, the types except and except for show a different pattern, thus exhibiting no similarity. when it comes to the blog genre, the use of except (14,256 tokens) is much higher (more than four times) than that of except for (3,440 tokens). we take this as indicating that american bloggers prefer using except to using except for. it is worth observing, on the other hand, that in the tv/movie genre, the use of except (12,686 tokens) is still higher (more than three times) than that of except for (3,467 tokens). we take this as implying that american celebs like using except. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 23 published by scholink inc. it is worth mentioning that except ranks fourth (12,686 tokens) in the tv/movie genre, whereas except for ranks fourth (3,440 tokens) in the blog genre. what this suggests is that the types except and except for show a mismatch between themselves with respect to their ranking, hence exhibiting no similarity. it is interesting to point out that except and except for rank fifth (9,740 tokens vs. 2,778 tokens) in the magazine genre. more interestingly, the types except and except for exhibit the same ranking in the magazine genre, thereby showing a high degree of similarity in the magazine genre. it must be pointed out, on the other hand, that in the magazine genre, the use of except (9,740 tokens) is even higher (more than three times) than that of except for (2,778 tokens). this in turn shows that american journalists are fond of using except (9,740 tokens) rather than using except for (2,778 tokens). it is worth pointing out that except and except for rank sixth (8,310 tokens vs. 2,518 tokens) in the academic genre. again, the two types reveal the same property, thus showing a similarity again. it should be noted, however, that in the academic genre, the use of except (8,310 tokens) is by far higher (more than three times) than that except for (2,518 tokens). it can thus be inferred that teachers in america prefer using except rather than using except for. it is interesting to observe that except and except for rank seventh (7,971 tokens vs. 2,455 tokens) in the newspaper genre. exactly the same can be said of rank-seven. that is to say, the two types show the same property in rank-seven, thus revealing the similarity between them. it is important to mention, on the other hand, that the use of except (7,971 tokens) is still higher (more than three times) than that of except for (2,455 tokens). it seems thus reasonable to assume that american journalists are keen on using except. it is worth noting that except and except for rank eighth (7,757 tokens vs. 2,139 tokens) in the spoken genre. again, the types except and except for exhibit the same ranking in the spoken genre, hence revealing a similarity in rank-eight. it is significant to note, however, that the use of except (7,757 tokens) is much higher (more than three times) than that of except for (2,139 tokens). this in turn indicates that americans like using except in daily conversation. to sum up, except and except for exhibit the same pattern in six genres, whereas they show a different pattern in two genres. from all of this, it seems clear that except is 75% the same as except for in the genre analysis of the coca. now attention is paid to the percentage of except and except for in each genre: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 24 published by scholink inc. figure 1. percentage of except as exemplified in figure 1, the fiction genre is the most influenced by except, followed by the web genre, the blog genre, the tv/movie genre, the magazine genre, the academic genre, the newspaper genre, and the spoken genre, in that order. figure 2. percentage of except for www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 25 published by scholink inc. as illustrated in figure 2, the fiction genre is the most influenced by except for, followed by the web genre, the tv/movie genre, the blog genre, the magazine genre, the academic genre, the newspaper genre, and the spoken genre, in descending order. 3. the euclidean distance in the following, we aim at investigating the similarity between except and except for in the eight genres of the coca. note, to begin with, that the euclidean distance provides the similarity index between two types (except vs. except for) in each genre. it indicates that the more the distance between two types is close, the more they exhibit a similarity. now let us define the euclidean distance as follows: (1) euclidean distance now attention is paid to the distance between except and except for in each genre: table 2. euclidean distance between except and except for genre blog web tv/m spok fic mag news acad percentage of except 14.63 16.42 13.01 7.96 21.23 9.99 8.18 8.53 percentage of except for 12.63 13.14 12.73 7.85 25.17 10.2 9.01 9.24 euclidean distance 2 3.28 0.28 0.05 3.94 0.21 0.83 0.71 it is important to note that except is the furthest from except for in the fiction genre. to be more specific, the euclidean distance between except and except for is 3.94, which is the highest among eight genres. this in turn suggests that the types except and except for reveal the lowest similarity. it is significant to note, on the other hand, that except is the nearest to except for in the spoken genre. more specifically, in the spoken genre, the euclidean distance between except and except for is 0.05, which is the lowest among eight genres. this in turn implies that the types except and except for exhibit the highest similarity in the spoken genre. as exemplified in table 2, the spoken genre reveals the highest similarity and the magazine genre, the tv/move genre, the academic genre, the newspaper genre, the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 26 published by scholink inc. blog genre, the web genre, and the fiction genre follow. thus, it can be concluded that except and except for show the highest similarity in the spoken genre. 4. the collocations of except and except for in the coca in what follows, we aim to examine the collocations of except and except for in the coca. also, we compare the collocation of except and that of except for in the coca. in both cases, our list was cut off in the top 25: table 3. collocation of except in the coca number collocation frequency 1 except people 72 2 except death 46 3 except mr 41 4 except water 34 5 except christmas 33 6 except oil 27 7 except time 27 8 except food 24 9 except money 22 10 except sleep 21 11 except play 20 12 except wait 20 13 except sex 19 14 except treason 19 15 except watch 19 16 except work 19 17 except men 18 18 except talk 18 19 except family 17 20 except lag 16 21 except islam 15 22 except thanksgiving 15 23 except things 15 24 except apple 14 25 except chicken 14 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 27 published by scholink inc. it is important to mention that the expression except people has the highest frequency (72 tokens) in the coca. this in turn means that the collocation people along with except is the most preferred one for americans. it is interesting to consider the expression except death. it is worthwhile noting that the expression except death ranks second (46 tokens) in the coca. this in turn implies that it is the second most widely used one (46 tokens). it is interesting to note that the expression except mr ranks third (41 tokens) in the coca. it is worth observing, on the other hand, that the expression except water ranks fourth (34 tokens) in the coca. this in turn indicates that it is the fourth most occurred one (34 tokens). it seems thus reasonable to hypothesize that except people is the most preferable one among americans, followed by except death, except mr, and except water, in that order. it should also be pointed out that except time ranks sixth (27 tokens) in the coca, whereas except money ranks ninth (22 tokens). to sum up, the expression except people is the most preferable one for americans (72 tokens). now attention is paid to the collocation of except for: table 4. collocation of except for in the coca number collocation frequency 1 except for people 45 2 except for mr 22 3 except for cases 20 4 except for things 18 5 except for emergency 16 6 except for mrs 16 7 except for emergencies 15 8 except for defense 14 9 except for work 14 10 except for food 12 11 except for money 12 12 except for age 11 13 except for children 11 14 except for school 11 15 except for family 10 16 except for parts 10 17 except for aunt 9 18 except for college 9 19 except for compliance 9 20 except for holidays 9 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 28 published by scholink inc. 21 except for right 9 22 except for water 9 23 except for gender 8 24 except for sex 8 25 except for provisions 8 it is significant to note that the expression except for people has the highest frequency (45 tokens). this in turn shows that except for people is the most preferred (45 tokens) by americans. it should be noted, on the other hand, that except mr ranks third (41 tokens) in the coca, whereas except for mr ranks second (22 tokens). this provides confirming evidence that except and except for exhibit a similar property with respect to the use of their collocation. it is interesting to observe the expression except for cases. the expression except for mr is followed by the expression except for cases and the latter ranks third (20 tokens) in the coca. it seems thus safe to assume that the expression except for cases is the third most widely used one (20 tokens) in the coca. it should also be emphasized that except for things ranks fourth (18 tokens) in the coca. it seems thus reasonable to hypothesize that except for people (45 tokens) is the most preferable one for americans, followed by except for mr, except for cases, and except for things, in that order. additionally, it must be noted that except work ranks thirteenth (19 tokens) in the coca, whereas except for work ranks eighth (14 tokens). to sum up, except people and except for people have the highest frequency, respectively, which in turn implies that they are the most preferable ones for americans. now let us turn our attention to the visualization of the collocations of except and except for. we attempt to capture the collocations of except and except for in terms of the software package netminer. by linking their collocations, we can see how similar except and except for are. as exemplified in figure 3, 16 nouns are linked to except and except for, respectively. most importantly, only 9 nouns are linked to both except and except for. note that in both cases, our list was cut off in the top 25: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 29 published by scholink inc. figure 3. visualization of the collocations of except and except for it must be emphasized that only 9 of 41 nouns are linked to both except and except for. these nouns are the collocations of both except and except for. the nine nouns linked to both except and except for are work, mr, food, people, money, family, sex, water, and things. from all of this, it seems evident that 21.95% of 41 nouns are the collocations of both except and except for. it seems thus reasonable to conclude that except is 21.95% the same as except for in the analysis of 41 collocations. for the visualization of synonyms and keywords, see kang (2022a, 2022b, 2022c, 2022d, 2023a, 2023b). 5. conclusion to sum up, we have shown how similar except and except for are in the coca. in section 2, we have argued that except and except for exhibit the same pattern in six genres, whereas they show a different pattern in two genres. it seems thus clear that except is 75% the same as except for in the genre analysis of the coca. in section 3, we have further argued that except and except for exhibit the lowest similarity in the fiction genre, whereas they show the highest similarity in the spoken genre. in section 4, we have contended that except people is the most preferable one among americans, followed by except death, except mr, and except water, in that order. we have also contended that except for people (45 tokens) is the most preferable one for americans, followed by except for mr, except for cases, and except for things, in that order. finally, we have shown that 21.95% of 41 nouns are the collocations of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 30 published by scholink inc. both except and except for. this in turn implies that except is 21.95% the same as except for in the analysis of 41 collocations. references kang, n. (2022a). a comparative analysis of search for and look for in four corpora. advances in social sciences research journal, 9(3), 168-178. kang, n. (2022b). a comparative analysis of impressed by and impressed with in two corpora. theory and practice in language studies, 12(5), 819-827. kang, n. (2022c). on speak to and talk to: a corpora-based analysis. theory and practice in language studies, 12(7), 1262-1270. kang, n. (2022d). on speak with and talk with: a corpora-based analysis. international journal of social science and human research, 5(8), 3354-3360. kang, n. (2023a). k-pop in bbc news: a big data analysis. advances in social sciences research journal, 10(2), 156-169. kang, n. (2023b). k-dramas in google: a netminer analysis. transaction on engineering and computing sciences, 11(1), 193-216. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 118 original paper an analysis of selected modern chinese essays in english translation from the perspective of translation aesthetics hongyan li1 1 xinyang normal university, xinyang, china received: july 11, 2025 accepted: july 29, 2025 online published: august 15, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p118 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p118 abstract prose occupies an important position in the development history of china’s culture. in today’s world of cultural exchange, we should not only absorb and learn from the advanced culture, but also focus on conveying the beauty and the essence of chinese culture to the world. as a literary genre, prose is mainly divided into narrative prose and lyrical prose, which are shorter in length and full of emotions. in narrative prose, the author often conveys his inner thoughts and feelings through descriptions; in lyrical prose, the author often expresses his feelings directly. most of the domestic and foreign studies focus on the translation of novels or poems, but less on the translation of prose. therefore, based on the theory of translation aesthetics, this paper discusses zhang peiji’s english translated prose, the selected modern chinese essays, and analyses it in terms of the formal system (including sound, lexicon and syntax) and the non-formal system (including style, emotion and context). keywords translation aesthetics, prose translation, formal systems, non-formal system 1. introduction taking zhang peiji’s english-translated prose as the object of study, combined with the theory of translation aesthetics proposed by liu miqing, the study explores how zhang peiji reproduces the aesthetic value of the original text in the process of english translation of prose from the aspects of the formal system of the aesthetic object of translation (including phonology, lexicon and syntax) and the non-formal system (including style, emotion, and mood), so as to provide guidance and reference for the theory and practice of english translation of prose. 1.1 research background prose is an indispensable part of chinese and western literature. china is proud of its long and fruitful history of prose, and contemporary chinese prose took shape after the may fourth movement. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 119 published by scholink inc. globalization is causing an increase in the frequency of cultural contacts as well as the gradual rise of chinese cultural influence over global culture. prose, with its simple language and beautiful rhythm, is an indispensable part of chinese culture, and how to reproduce the beauty of prose in english translation is a key point that translators need to break through. (zhu & ge, pp. 30-32) an alternative viewpoint for the analysis of chinese literature translated into english is offered by the translation aesthetics theory. 1.2 significance and purpose of the research we can find that the research on modern chinese prose translation needs to be deepened, especially from the perspective of translation aesthetics. the significance of this paper lies in the application of aesthetic theory to the process of aesthetic analysis of prose translation. professor zhang peiji’s english translation of the prose is natural and fluent, precise and informative, whether in terms of vocabulary or the overall beauty of the text, it perfectly conveys the exquisite language and profound meaning of the prose, and it can be called the jewel of the translation world. the selected modern chinese essays in english translation is the most representative work of zhang peiji, and the study of this work is of great significance. the author of this paper believes that aesthetics runs through the study of translation of modern chinese prose. prose focuses on the overall beauty, and the characteristics of prose determine that a successful prose should be a high degree of integration of form and soul, and the study of prose from the perspective of aesthetics is of great value. through an in-depth analysis of the original text, this paper expects to provide help and reference for practical and theoretical research on prose translation, and is committed to improving the aesthetic ability of readers when they appreciate prose translation. this paper expects to provide translators with a broader perspective on translation, inspire translation creativity among translation enthusiasts, continuously enhance their cultural self-confidence, and motivate them to translate more and better works, so as to make chinese culture go out better. at the same time, this paper is expected to provide some help to the development of modern chinese prose translation and the theory of translation aesthetics, as well as to inspire and reflect on the translators and readers. 1.3 layout of the paper this paper is divided into four chapters. a general introduction to the paper is given in the first chapter, which also covers its background, relevance, goal, and structure. the second section reviews the development of aesthetic translation ideas both nationally and globally and discusses translation aesthetic issues, aesthetic objects, and their features. additionally, liu miqing’s aesthetic philosophy is emphasized. the author presents zhang peiji’s personal experience, his opinions on prose translation, and his translation of contemporary chinese prose in the third chapter. the fourth chapter is the main body of the paper, which analyses in detail the aesthetic performance of formal aesthetic values (involving the beauty of sound, lexicon, and syntax) and non-formal aesthetic values (involving the beauty of style, emotion, and context) in the selected modern chinese essays through a large number of specific examples. the final chapter concludes the full paper, summarizing the main findings, limitations and recommendations. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 120 published by scholink inc. 2. literature review translation aesthetics are combined in the cross-disciplinary field of translation aesthetics, which studies and investigates aesthetic issues in translation using contemporary linguistics and aesthetics’ foundational ideas. 2.1 translation aesthetics liu miqing established the study framework of contemporary chinese translation aesthetics and outlined the fundamental ideas of translation aesthetics based on the aesthetic roots of translation studies. the application of contemporary aesthetics’ fundamental ideas to the study, interpretation, and resolution of aesthetic issues in interlingual transformation is known as translation aesthetics. the objective objects that are impacted by people’s aesthetic behavior are referred to as aesthetic objects. the aesthetic object of translation refers to the original text to be translated and processed by the translator, whose aesthetic composition includes not only the formal system composed of language, text, words, sentences, etc., but also the non-formal relations composed of aesthetic fuzzy sets and images. an aesthetic subject is a person who uses an aesthetic item in aesthetic activities. the aesthetic subject in translation is the translator. the organic combination of aesthetic object beauty and specific aesthetic subject in translation is the premise of endowing aesthetic meaning. 2.2 translator’s subjectivity one of the hottest subjects in chinese translation studies throughout the 1990s was translator subjectivity. xu jun defines translation subjectivity as the relationship between the subject of the translation and the artistic personality consciousness that is embodied in the translation, with the subject’s aesthetic criteria and creative expression serving as its core points. cha mingjian claims that the translation subject’s conscious cultural consciousness, humanistic nature, and creative cultural and artistic expression are its fundamental traits. on this basis, tu guoyuan and zhu xianlong emphasize that the translator’s subjectivity is embodied in three aspects: initiative, creativity and passivity. around the subject, tu guoyuan and zhu xianlong made a detailed elaboration: the translator’s choice of translation text, the determination of the translation strategy and purpose are affected by the original author’s language style, aesthetic taste, and the target audience’s aesthetic expectations; at the same time, the translator’s subjectivity is limited by different language systems, the language and cultural norms of the translator and the original work. the translator is the reader of the original text as well as the author of the translation, and what he thinks and writes should be consistent with the original author. 2.3 the relationship between translation aesthetics and translator’s subjectivity li zehou discusses the relationship between beauty and subjectivity from the aesthetic point of view. beauty is the externalization of the form of freedom, and aesthetics is the corresponding psychological structure that integrates sensibility and rationality, and is the final result of human subjectivity. the aesthetic subject of translation is the translator. the aesthetic experience in translation generally follows the following rules: first, the translator selects the text and determines the aesthetic attitude, that is, the translation purpose and intention; secondly, it carries out the understanding of the aesthetic object, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 121 published by scholink inc. namely the formal system and non-formal system of the original work, and transforms, processes and reproduces the aesthetic understanding, namely the translation process and the final presentation of the translation. the psychological factors such as aesthetic perception, association, imagination, emotion and will of the aesthetic subject in translation vary from person to person, and the operation process, characteristics and results of the psychological structure composed of these factors in aesthetic judgment will also vary from person to person. chinese aesthetics summarizes the characteristics of the aesthetic subject such as the initiative, creativity and the high motivation and stimulation of the aesthetic potential of the aesthetic object as “subject practicality”. in translation, although the translator is subject to the object, as long as he is good at giving full play to his subjective initiative and practicing the aesthetic standard of the organic unity of dialectic and holistic view, translation can still become an activity created in faithfulness. 3. zhang peiji and his selected modern chinese essays zhang peiji believes that chinese people have the obligation and responsibility to introduce chinese literature and spread chinese culture to the world. as the essence of chinese literature, chinese prose is inextricably linked with chinese culture, and prose translation is one of mr zhang peiji’s favourites. 3.1 personal profile of zhang peiji prof. zhang peiji was born in 1921 in fu zhou, fu jian province. in his childhood, he moved to shanghai together with his family. there he received his primary and secondary education (yang, p. 14). influenced by his english teacher yao zhiying during this period, he was very passionate about learning english, which not only laid a solid foundation for his english studies, but also accumulated valuable inspiration for his later translation career. his admission to the department of english literature at st. john’s university in shanghai for further study happened in 1942, and he finished his studies three years later. he began his career as a translator in the same year that he was an assistant editor for china year book and a contributing editor for the china commentary weekly. his career as a translator began in 1946, when he was invited to tokyo, japan, to serve as an interpreter and translator for the international military court for the far east in english. he traveled abroad to study english at indiana university in the united states after returning to china. he resolved to go back home as soon as the people’s republic of china was established. he was employed in 1951 by the beijing foreign language press as an editor and translator. he also spent 25 years teaching english at the foreign language university of the chinese people’s liberation, beginning in 1955. he subsequently relocated to beijing, where he worked as an english instructor at the university of foreign trade before retiring in 1991. zhang peiji has produced beneficial discoveries in both translation theory and practice. he edited the textbook a course in english-chinese translation, which was widely praised by teachers and students. it has been reprinted several times since its first publication. he has dealt with numerous translation genres, including novels, biographies and essays, of which the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 122 published by scholink inc. translation of modern chinese prose is his favourite. zhang peiji has made great contributions to the cause of chinese translation and enjoys a very important position in chinese translation studies, and he is also listed in the dictionary of chinese translators. some of his works are treated as true classics of translation and are very popular among readers. zhang peiji provides a good example for chinese translation scholars to further their theoretical research and practical work on prose translation. 3.2 zhang’s views on prose translation he defines translation as the linguistic activity of precisely and thoroughly expressing thoughts and contents conveyed in another language in one language. this is stated in the book a course in englishchinese translation. this definition contains the following aspects: firstly, translation is an activity with linguistic characteristics; secondly, what is to be translated, it’s about ideas and content; thirdly, translation takes place between at least two languages. in addition to the definition, zhang peiji also proposed translation standards, which have a guiding and constraining role. he also follows several principles in choosing translation standards, firstly, translated works can introduce chinese ideas and concepts to foreigners and spread chinese culture. secondly, the ideological concepts contained in the translated works have certain practical significance to modern chinese language. in addition, his translations always make readers think after reading. he believes that native english speakers have sufficient linguistic advantages, but due to their lack of knowledge of chinese culture and customs, they may not be able to produce satisfactory translations, so zhang peiji has always been committed to working as a translator. 3.3 zhang’s selected modern chinese essays mr zhang peiji’s love for chinese prose was formed at an early age. with the help and guidance of his teachers, he read and memorised a large number of chinese and english prose. out of his love for chinese prose, mr zhang peiji also used his spare time to translate some short essays after his retirement. few scholars were willing to introduce the ideology in modern chinese prose to foreigners, and zhang peiji filled this gap. the first volume in the first edition was published in 1999, which contains fifty-two essays, and the second volume in first edition was published in 2003, which includes forty-five essays. later, based on the first edition, zhang peiji published the second edition for works of modern chinese essays in three volumes (zhou, pp. 15-16). in zhang peiji’s work, he has succeeded in embodying the style of the original works with great skill and craftsmanship, thus fully realising the aesthetic value of the original works. 4. aesthetic reproduction in zhang peiji’s selected modern chinese essays the formal and non-formal systems that make up the aesthetic composition of the aesthetic object of translation are complementary in both appearance and meaning, and this is the ontological feature of the object of translation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 123 published by scholink inc. 4.1 aesthetic reproduction of formal systems formal system is also called external formal system. according to liu miqing, form is the external conformation of the aesthetic object, which is mainly embodied in the three levels of speech, vocabulary and sentence. 4.1.1 the beauty of sound since shape and sound can both be perceived by the eye and heard by the ear, they are the two most apparent means of communicating beauty. this section addresses how to translate lyrical prose from chinese into english while preserving “the beauty of sound.” the renowned british writer stephen spender (1909-1995) often said that words and phrases in writing have a rhythm that draws readers in, much like music does. indeed, literature is not only to be enjoyed with the eyes at leisure, but also with the ears. every word has a latent sense of jumping music. when translating, translators must make every attempt to preserve the original text’s exquisite tone and make every effort to convey the text’s imagery in a way that faithfully captures this sound. rhetorical devices, including alliteration, rhyming, onomatopoeia, and reduplication, are frequently used. the reader may easily become engrossed in the material and develop empathy for the writer and translator by combining sound and visual. 4.1.1.1 reduplication since the rhythm of every language is the unity of repetition and change, the rhythm of language may be replicated through translation. through word repetition, stacked words are employed to provide a feeling of cyclical rhythm that stays with the reader and strengthens the impression. (1) 原文:田沟里的水，潺潺地流着，近村的绿树，都笼在湿烟里。——冰心《笑》 the water in the field ditches was murmuring. the green trees in the neighboring village were shrouded in a mist. the author depicts the steady, soft flow of water in a field ditch during the silence of the night by using the term “murmuring” to describe the sound of the water in the ditch in the original language. the reader is given the impression that the author is speaking softly and slowly, reaching their innermost softness and evoking the peaceful flow of a stream that night beneath the moonlight when the word “murmuring” is said twice, again, and between closed lips. 4.1.1.2 onomatopoeia the beauty of their form and spirit of translation is closely related to the stylistic characteristics of the original work and the style of the translator (lu & chang, p. 84). it may be argued that a translation is maintaining its workmanship if it is able to mimic the original text’s expression while also attempting to maintain its style. like superlatives, onomatopoeia can also create a kind of phonetic harmony and make readers feel like they are there by imitating the sounds of nature. (2) 原文:草场中牧放着的几条黄牛，不时曳着悠长的鸣声，好像在叫它们的主人快来牵它们回去。 ——郭沫若《夕暮》 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 124 published by scholink inc. a few cows grazing on the pasture let out a long drawn-out moo now and then as if urging their master to lead them home as quickly as possible. the term “曳着悠长的鸣声” in the original text refers to the sound a cow makes when it moos. to reflect the lengthy drawn-out moo sound, zhang added the explanation “let out a long drawn-out moo” to the translation. moo is an onomatopoeic word used to represent the sound of a cow’s moo. similar to the chinese term, the english word “moo” is an onomatopoeic expression used to convey a cow’s mooing. here, zhang uses language that is suitable and understandable, creating a vivid picture of a few yellow cows mooing in a large grassland at sunset. the reader gets the impression that he is strolling over the meadow with the cows, taking in the tranquil dusk. 1. alliteration alliteration is a rhetorical device commonly used in english, which gives the pronunciation of the two words before and after a musical and unifying sound by using the same initial and consonantal letters. this rhetorical device is found in zhang’s english translations, which are too numerous to mention. take the following example to illustrate. (3) 原文:有时流到很逼狭的境界......江河流于其间，回环曲折，极其险峻。——李大钊《艰难的 国运与雄健的国民》 sometimes it comes up against a narrow section... winding through a course with many a perilous twist and turn. the original text depicts a river flowing between lofty mountains, with cliffs on both sides and a fastmoving river. it alludes to the fact that life is not a straight path and sometimes encounters difficult and dangerous situations. the author likens history to a river, where one may find a restricted and confined realm despite encountering a large and terrible realm. people’s lives there are rough and unpredictable, much like traveling. zhang’s translation twist and turn appropriately highlights the twists and turns of the journey, and the two consonants [t] vividly and imaginatively reproduce the treacherous steepness of the mountains between the lips and teeth, which makes for a memorable reading. 4.1.2 the beauty of lexicon the aesthetic message of the lexical layer is mainly reflected in the wording. wording refers to the careful choice of words and phrases that people use when speaking and writing. writers usually spend a lot of time on word choice. this is most true of poetry, but also of prose. sometimes the use of a word can make or break a sentence. authors who use words with precision and originality are sure to leave the world with many classics that will be remembered for years to come. an author’s wording reflect his or her unique style of language, and in the process of translation, the translator also needs to be selective in order to preserve the flavour of the original work as much as possible. 4.1.2.1 simile (4) 冰心的《笑》一文中描写月亮的画面：弓儿似的新月，挂在树梢。the crescent new moon looked as if hanging on the tips of the trees. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 125 published by scholink inc. although both the original and the translation use similes, the metaphors are different. while the original compares the moon to a curved bow, the translation translates the state of the moon on the tips of the trees as “hanging on”. although the metaphors are different, the aesthetic effect is the same: a bright, clear moon hanging on the tips of the trees. crescent also has the usage of describing the moon means narrow curved shape that tapers to a point at each end, like the new moon. one movement and one stillness well integrates the process of the moon on the willow-top, translating the original melancholy and sadness under the moon. 4.1.2.2 colour translation colour translation is one of the highlights of prose. the writers attribute distinct emotions to colors, depending on the situation. (5) 一朵紫红，一朵嫩红，一朵是病黄的象牙色中带点血晕。 one was purplish-red, another pink, still another a sickly, ivory-yellow slightly tinged with blood-red. this text is taken from guo moruo’s the roses by the roadside, which describes a rose abandoned by the roadside, withered and trampled on, and the original text is full of the decadence and sadness of “寂 寞开无主”. these feelings can be seen in the words: “病黄，血晕”. let’s see how the interpreter handles it: first, “purplish-red” indicates “slightly purple” since the proportion of red is higher and somewhat purple. the english suffix “-ish” is used to indicate “with characteristic” after a noun and “a little” after an adjective. “be tinged with” implies “slightly colored” with a little blood halo, which is the same as the original “带着几分...”. this adverb can also indicate “slightly”. the phrase “slightly tinged with” highlights the brightness of the hue by acting as a postposition to a sickly ivory-red. two compound words that zhang peiji taught her students to delicately convey the emotions and meaning of the phrases. professor zhang peiji used two compound words to express the meaning and feeling of the word cleverly. 4.1.3 the beauty of syntax the sentence’s structure mostly reflects the syntactic information that is visually pleasing. sentence patterns that carry aesthetic messages at the syntactic level include ellipsis, inversion, circumlocution, parallelism and antithesis, etc. there are also many similarities between chinese and english sentence structure, which help translators to reproduce the aesthetic message at the syntactic level. writers frequently employ the rhetorical device known as parallelism, which involves placing three or more phrases or sentences side by side that have the same tone, the same structure, and related or comparable ideas in order to increase the pace of speech. parallel sentences are commonly found in prose, on the one hand, the neatness of the sentences gives readers visual impact, on the other hand, the harmony of the rhythm gives readers auditory enjoyment. this type of phrase structure is typically retained by translators when translating prose in order to better maintain the original sentence’s elegant form and tone. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 126 published by scholink inc. 4.2 aesthetic reproduction of non-formal systems the non-material, non-natural, non-sensual, non-external aspect of the aesthetic object that cannot be inferred by intuition is known as the non-formal system, sometimes known as the inner formal system. style, emotion, mood, and other qualities of writing are where the non-formal system’s aesthetics are most evident. the aesthetics of the non-formal system is mainly manifested in the aspects of style, emotion and context. 4.2.1 the beauty of style style is an author’s internal and external artistic expression that captures the energy of prose writing. after a protracted period of creative practice, many prose authors have developed their own distinctive writing style that not only reflects their own personal framework of knowledge and life experiences but also their artistic development and aesthetic talent. the author’s distinct style is essential for drawing readers into writing. next, while translating prose, it is important to think about how the translator will be able to accurately capture and translate the original text’s literary style. (6) 可是，我真爱北平。这个爱几乎是要说而说不出的。我爱我的母亲。怎样爱？我说不出。— —《爱北平》 i do cherish, however, a genuine love for peiping-a love that is almost as inexpressible as my love for mother.——fond memories of peiping. the original text is sentences from fond memories of peiping. despite the straightforward and unstructured nature of these statements, the author conveys his genuine affection for his mother by employing them often in a conversational style that makes readers feel at ease. when translating, the translator grasps the meaning of the original text as a whole, regards the first phrase as the first layer to express love for peiping. the translator combines the remaining four phrases into a second layer, which is a concrete interpretation of “love”, and connects the two layers through the clever addition of dashes. the original language then abruptly shifts from five small sentences to one lengthy, simple statement with a compact structure that is catchy and easy to read, keeping with the original text’s informal and straightforward tone. 4.2.2 the beauty of emotion writing in prose allows an author to share their genuine thoughts about life with the reader and establish an emotional connection with them. prose is a literary form that focuses on the communication of inner experience and inner emotion. one may argue that prose’s characteristic and goal are the expression of emotion. as a result, when translating prose, translators focus closely on the emotional components of the source text. once they have a firm understanding of the text’s emotional tone, they incorporate their own emotional experiences throughout the translation process to successfully recreate the original text’s emotion. (7) 还是成都的那些老街道，我跟着你一步一步地走过平坦的石板路，我望着你的背影，心里安 慰地想:父亲还很健康呢。一种幸福的感觉使我的全身发热了。——《梦》 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 127 published by scholink inc. it was the same old streets of chengdu. i followed you step by step on the smooth flagstones. looking at you from behind, i inwardly consoled my-self with the thought that father was still hale and hearty. a sensation of blissfulness warmed me up all over.——dreams the original passage comes from dreams, an essay by ba jin. the essay portrays a moment in which the author, experiencing deep and profound sensations, visits his beloved but departed father again in a dream. however, the author avoids vague lyricism in expressing his feelings for his father and integrates his sincere feelings for his father into seemingly insignificant details of life such as a walk on the old street, revealing his deep love for his father through the close-up description of these details in the dream, which arouses a strong emotional resonance in the readers’ hearts. the translation cleverly reproduces the original implicit and introverted expression of emotion, such as the beginning with “the same” to translate the first “还”, as if the deceased is still there, the past is still the same, and the feeling of nostalgia can’t be contained. in addition, consoled is a graphic expression of the author because of the father’s health and inner satisfaction and gratification of the real emotions, life atmosphere thick, let the reader with the plain words associated with their own life experience, real natural, tearful. 4.2.3 the beauty of context context is a literary work in the scene on the basis of the formation of an artistic realm, it can be limited in the text of the infinite scenery, out of the literature or sentimental, or ethereal meaning of the beauty. when composing and assessing text, individuals frequently use mood as a yardstick for artistic excellence. “literary translation can only make the translated text have a similar aesthetic interest as the original text by maintaining and reproducing this mood and atmosphere of the original text,” claims liu shicong. given the importance of mood in prose, it is worthwhile to thoroughly examine how to translate prose while preserving the original’s beauty. (8) 从槐树叶底，朝东细数着一丝一丝漏下来的日光，或在破壁腰中，静对着像喇叭似的牵牛花 （朝荣）的蓝朵，自然而然地也能够感觉到十分的秋意。——《故都的秋》 saunter eastward under locust trees to closely observe streaks of sunlight filtering through their foliage, or quietly watch the trumpet-shaped blue flowers of morning glories climbing half way up a dilapidated wall，and an intense felling of autumn will of itself well up inside you.——autumn in peiping yu dafu’s autumn in peiping describes an autumn landscape in peiping in the original language. the strange and even run-down sights in “日光,” “破壁,” and “牵牛花” have beauty, according to the author, yet this beauty is depressing. “一丝一丝”, “破”, “蓝朵”, these seemingly simple descriptions are all a true portrayal of the author’s sad, despondent heart, so that one can read from the surface of the leisurely and cosy a hint of the the translator has a good understanding of the original text’s mood. the translator uses the direct translation technique, accurately and thoroughly understanding the original mood. for example, they translate “破”, “静”, and “蓝朵” as “dilapidated”, “quiet”, and “rando” accordingly. on the one hand outlining the desolate and sad mood of autumn in the old capital, and on the other hand subtly responding to the author’s lonely and sad state of mind. however, it also quietly addresses the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 128 published by scholink inc. author’s feelings of loneliness and melancholy. successfully reproduced the original scene, the aftertaste of the mood, so that the reader seems to be in the same place. 5. conclusion one of the most significant methods for promoting chinese culture overseas is through prose translation, which is essential to the process. based on the theory of translation aesthetics and taking the aesthetic object as the research object, this paper studies mr zhang peiji’s translations from the aspects of formal system (including sound, lexicon, and syntax) and non-formal system (including style, emotion, and context). the core concept and theoretical foundation for the growth and development of conventional chinese translation theory is translation aesthetics, which unites translation and aesthetics. the author explores the aesthetic features of the english translation of the selected modern chinese essays and the translation techniques used, hoping to demonstrate the feasibility and necessity of applying translation aesthetics to prose, and combining a variety of translation techniques to let foreign readers more deeply appreciate the artistic beauty of modern chinese prose, which also has a positive significance for the translation practice of the translators in the future. bibliography li, s.-l., & wu, j. (2017). a study on zhang peiji’s selected modern chinese essays from the perspective of xu yuanchong’s “three-beauty” principle. social science, education and human science, 2017: 53. https://doi.org/10.12783/dtssehs/icesd2017/11695 zhao, t. t. (2023). on c-e translation of essays from the perspective of reception aesthetics. journal of humanities, arts and social science, 2023(10), 24. https://doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2023.10.001 li, x. m. (2020). aesthetic translation theories in china and the west. the frontiers of society, science and technology, 2020(5), 13. zhao, y. h., & li, f. (2023). a comparative study of chinese and western aesthetics in translation aesthetics. international journal of electrical engineering &amp; education, 2023(2), 480-488. https://doi.org/10.1177/00207209211005262 zheng, x. f. (2023). a study on the translation of words in zhang peiji’s english translation of modern chinese prose under the guidance of skopos theory. lecture notes on language and literature, 2023(5), 31. gu, z. w. (2017). on zhang peiji’s prose translation from the perspective of the translator’s subjectivity. english language and literature studies, 2017(1), 23. https://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v7n1p23 liu, m. q., & zhang, y. (2011). translation aesthetics theory. beijing: foreign language teaching and research press. li, x. (2013). the fusion of perspectives in zhang peiji’s prose translation from the perspective of reception aesthetics. wuhan university of technology. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 129 published by scholink inc. lu, x. y., & chang, l. y. (2018). on the relationship between text type and translator’s style in achieving the beauty of form and spirit in translation: a case study of two different translations of “on reading”. jiangsu foreign language teaching and research, 2018(1), 84-87. qing, y., & gao, p. p. (2016). aesthetic reproduction in zhang peiji’s english translation of prose “hurry” from the perspective of translation aesthetics. asia-pacific education, 2016(20), 117-118. sun, x., & hu, x. (2022). the choice of strategies for translating zhang peiji’s prose into english from the perspective of translation aesthetics: a case study of “fog”. english square, 2022(32), 3-7. wang, c. y. (2023). from an aesthetic perspective on prose translation: taking zhang peiji’s “selected english translations of modern chinese prose” as an example. jin gu cultural and creative, 2023(7), 110-112. yang, l. (2012). appreciation of the “representation” technique in zhang peiji’s “selected english translations of modern prose” from the perspective of translation aesthetics. china university of geosciences. yu, y. h. (2017). exploration of literary translation art from the perspective of translation aesthetics. journal of jilin radio and television university, 2017(10), 108-109. zhou, d. d. (2012). reenactment of the aesthetic effects of zhang peiji’s “selected english translations of modern chinese prose” from the perspective of translation aesthetics. inner mongolia normal university. zhu, r. y., & ge, j. h. (2021). the aesthetic reproduction of zhang peiji’s english translation of “the back view” from the perspective of translation aesthetics. english square, 2021(25), 30-32. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper mapudungun, interculturality and inclusiveness in the chilean educational system josé manuel salum tomé, phd1 1 doctor of education catholic university of temuco, chile received: april 15, 2023 accepted: may 1, 2023 online published: may 15, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n3p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n3p1 abstract mapudungun is one of the heritages that defines the identity of the mapuche people. their survival over time is mainly due to the re-ethnification processes that have occurred in the last decade. however, it is necessary to follow the strategies briefly developed in this work, in order to maintain its validity and revitalization in the chilean sociocultural context. a maintenance program for this indigenous language must have the proper state support to become a healthy and self-sufficient language. all this will allow the continuation of the way of life of its users, as well as the faithful reflection of their culture within the multicultural world. keywords mapudungum, identity, interculturality 1. introduction the goal of intercultural education is respond to the cultural diversity that prevails in developed democratic societies. for this, it starts from approaches that respect cultural pluralism, as something inherent to current societies, valuing it as a source of wealth for all members of a society. from the pedagogical point of view, cultural differences are understood as an important educational resource. intercultural education proposes an educational practice that turns the cultural differences of individuals and societies into the focus of reflection and research. it must not be forgotten that intercultural education is ultimately a form of attention to diversity. from this perspective, its contribution in the educational and social field is much better understood, since it constitutes the final stage in the process of acceptance and appreciation of cultural variables. to understand this better, it is necessary to know what are the existing models in the treatment of diversity, whatever it may be, including linguistic and cultural. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 2 published by scholink inc. we live in a diverse world in which biodiversity has been talked about for a long time. on the other hand, diversity is one of the defining characteristics of humanity and, therefore, of our societies. the school is a reflection of this social variability and must treat all the diversities that come together in it, from cultural to physical or capacity. when dealing with this diversity, they have started from different budgets that attended to ideological and political wills. traditionally, two theories have been based on: the deficit theory and the difference theory arroyo gonzález, mª josé. (2012). both intend to attend to diversity, although from completely different approaches. each one of them has given rise to different educational models to deal with this inherent diversity of people and societies. the two theories are based on the close relationship between diversity and inequality, but they give completely different solutions to that relationship. the deficit theory proposes eliminating these differences through educational models based on assimilation and compensation, while the difference theory does not propose eliminating them, but rather proposes mutual enrichment by developing specific educational models: multicultural and intercultural. as pointed out by tuts (2007, p. 34) intercultural education is too often confused with attention to immigrant students and the vehicular language prevails as an integration factor, forgetting its necessary transformation into a bonding language of communication. respect for difference often borders on promoting cultural relativism, while coexistence is seen as a utopian situation. as for social cohesion, it is often confused with homogeneity, monolingualism or monoculturalism. therefore, it seems that cultural and linguistic diversity tends to be disconcerting and suspicious. intercultural education and inclusion present multiple connections that can and should guide our educational practice. as we will analyze later, intercultural education is a way of doing school and educating. 2. chile context currently, several indigenous groups in chile still use their language, which constitutes one of the heritages that define their identity, including their way of life, their history, their rituals, their philosophy, and their customs. indigenous people in chile face several linguistic challenges. when they are in the city or in environments where spanish is exclusively spoken, they must adapt to this situation, leaving their native language to communicate sporadically with a member of their group who speaks the language at family gatherings or friends. the groups that reside in rural centers maintain their language and culture to a greater extent, which allows them to perpetuate some ancestral rituals. however, only the elderly speak the native language in many of these places, including the rural areas of arauco, malleco, cautín, mehuín and panguipulli, mainly. there are also mapuche people who speak their language in the cities to which a large number of them migrate as temporary or permanent workers, more specifically in santiago, concepción and temuco. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 3 published by scholink inc. indigenous languages have been strong enough to survive over time, facing enormous assimilation pressures from spanish as the official language. there is still a significant number of speakers of each of the languages that are still in force, such as aymara, rapanui and mapudungun. the current process of re-ethnification has activated the development of the vitality of these languages in various communities, both rural and urban. within this motivation, it is necessary to plan the resources available to guide all these efforts under the tutelage of a program with realistic goals and effective procedures. this means obtaining the necessary information to diagnose the conditions in which the language is found, and thus choose the appropriate intervention strategies leading to its revitalization. approaches, resources, ideas and goals should be based on the experiences and knowledge of indigenous groups, as well as the theoretical and practical experiences and knowledge of linguists, educators, anthropologists and other social scientists. 3. interculturality and education interculturality is a dimension that is not limited to the field of education, but is present in human relations in general as an alternative to authoritarianism, dogmatism and ethnocentrism. however, the search for more democratic and pluralistic societies supposes educational processes that affirm and provide experience of living in democracy and respect for diversity. as educators we have an inescapable responsibility. interculturality in education appears closely linked to the new spirit of equity and quality that inspire current educational proposals, thus overcoming the egalitarian vision that prevailed in the latin american social scene since the arrival of the first liberal waves on the continent. interculturality in education supposes a double path: inward and outward, and that one of the necessary directions to which an intercultural educational project should be directed, particularly when it comes to peoples who have been the object of cultural and linguistic oppression, (such as ours) is precisely towards the roots of one’s own culture and one’s own vision of the world, to structure or recompose a coherent universe on which one can, later, cement from a better position the dialogue and exchange with cultural elements that, if well alien, they are necessary both to survive in today’s world and to achieve better living standards, taking advantage of those advances and scientific-technological developments that are considered necessary. intercultural education must be understood in a pedagogical process that involves various cultural systems. it stems from the individual and collective right of indigenous peoples, which entails not only enjoying the right to education like all citizens, but also the right to maintain and cultivate their own traditions, culture, values, but also the need to develop intercultural skills that allow any citizen from any part of the country, whether they belong to the hegemonic culture or not, to be able to coexist democratically with others. based on the experience accumulated in the first years of implementation of bilingual intercultural education in the chilean educational system, and having clarity of the fundamental role of the indigenous www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 4 published by scholink inc. language for the recognition, valorization and respect of the culture, worldview and history of the peoples. natives, the challenge of converting the school into an educational space in which the opportunities for learning that language are guaranteed to its students is imposed, in a systematic and relevant way to their reality. thus, in 2009, the chilean ministry of education established the fundamental objectives and minimum mandatory contents for the creation of the indigenous language sector in basic education; which allowed to begin the design of study programs for the aymara, mapuzugun, quechua and rapa nui languages. the foregoing, considering at least three different realities of access to the indigenous language by girls and boys: those whose mother or family language is one of these four languages, those who hear the indigenous language only in their social environment, and those who only listen to it at school. the indigenous language course, with four assigned hours per week, seeks to strengthen the cultural and linguistic knowledge of four indigenous peoples who still maintain their native language in force: aymara, mapuche, quechua and rapa nui. for this, a pedagogical duo is formed, made up of a classroom teacher (who supports pedagogical aspects) and a traditional educator, the person in charge of imparting traditional knowledge, especially the indigenous language. the teaching of the aymara, mapuzugun, quechua and rapa nui languages was articulated around two axes, conceived as complementary:  orality: understood as a dynamic and contextual form of knowledge, and recognized as the traditional way of transmission and accumulation of knowledge of native peoples.  written communication: understood as highly complex for indigenous languages, due to the history of oral tradition in the transmission of knowledge. however, knowledge of the written code of the indigenous language is promoted through the spanish graphemes. the indigenous language subject has been implemented gradually, beginning in 2010 in the first year of basic education to reach 2018, the teaching and learning of indigenous languages in eighth grade. additionally, schools can autonomously develop their own plans and programs around indigenous knowledge, which are incorporated into the school curriculum as subjects or as extracurricular workshops. these initiatives have allowed educational communities to generate content relevant to their territories and the particularities of their students. by way of example, within the plans and programs that the establishments develop, there are workshops on ethnic cooking, interculturality and development, worldview and mapuche-huilliche language, mapuche traditional medicine, and chedungun language, among others. the creation of this subject is based on the following laws and decrees:  the indigenous law (1993) that favored the beginning of a systematic process for the teaching of native languages and cultures, by indicating the establishment of a programmatic unit that facilitates access to this knowledge. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 5 published by scholink inc.  general education law (2009), which establishes obligations and principles, one of them being interculturality, which states: “the system must recognize and value the individual in their cultural and origin specificity, considering their language, worldview and history”. in articles 28, 29 and 30, it commits the teaching of the indigenous language in establishments with a high indigenous population for pre-school, basic and secondary education.  decree no. 280/2009, which incorporates the fundamental objectives and minimum mandatory contents of the indigenous language sector for the level of basic education and establishes the obligation to implement this subject in all establishments that have an enrollment of more than 20% of students’ natives.  ilo convention 169, ratified by chile in september 2008. convention on the rights of the child, ratified in august 1990. both normative instruments refer to the right of children belonging to indigenous peoples to receive education and respect their language and culture. 3.1 interculturality for everyone interculturality allows us all to know each other, value each other and live with different cultural universes, enriching our experiences as people and as a society. in this sense, interculturality seeks to generate a reflection in the educational system that makes it possible to recognize, value and understand the richness of the diverse, questioning with it, for example, the imposition and hierarchization of a certain type of knowledge or the establishment of social relationships. in terms of native peoples, from the recognition of their existence and social, cultural, spiritual, economic development, among others, as cultures that inhabit this territory centuries before colonization, the mineduc (2015) in a process that aims to settle the historical debt that the state has towards these peoples, assumes the policy of revealing the languages, cultures, histories and worldviews of indigenous cultures in the processes of integral quality educational improvement of the country’s establishments, with the aim of promoting a citizenship intercultural. as of 2016, 223,087 indigenous students were identified in the school system in 9,335 educational establishments (79% of the total number of schools in the country, according to the state statistics institute (ine). in the same way, the ministry of education has decided to develop its own concept of interculturality, seeking to reflect the reality and the environment in which we are immersed as a society: interculturality is an ethical-political social horizon under construction, which emphasizes horizontal relationships between the individuals, groups, peoples, cultures, societies and with the state. it is based, among other things, on dialogue from otherness, facilitating a systemic and historical understanding of the present of the diverse people, groups and peoples who permanently interact in the different territorial spaces. interculturality favors the creation of new forms of citizen coexistence among everyone, regardless of nationality or origin. for this, symmetrical dialogue is possible by recognizing and valuing the richness of linguistic-cultural, natural and spiritual diversity. in the case of native peoples, it reveals their characteristics and different systems that problematize, and at the same time, enrich the constructions of the world, ensuring the exercise of individual and collective rights. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 6 published by scholink inc. 3.2 bilingual intercultural education children and young people belonging to indigenous peoples have the right to learn in contexts of greater equality, in conditions that adjust to their cultural particularities, their language, and their way of seeing the world. as in the rest of the countries of the region, our educational system assumed a role of cultural and linguistic homogenization that left out of the discourses of “national identity” an important part of the knowledge, values and ways of life of the original peoples. this pedagogical imbalance over time has had a negative influence on the identity and self-esteem of people belonging to the original peoples, as well as on the possibility of building a multicultural and multilingual country. in this context, the state assumes the duty to generate the bases to enable an intercultural bilingual education that allows boys and girls to learn the language and culture of their peoples, through the incorporation, in the national curriculum, of the language subject. indigenous (currently in aymara, quechua, mapuzugun and rapa nui) for basic education. this subject, which aims to enable children from indigenous peoples to communicate in their vernacular language, is implemented in educational establishments that want to promote interculturality and in those that have an enrollment equal to or greater than 20% of indigenous students, and is developed by the traditional educator, the person responsible for transmitting cultural and linguistic knowledge to the students of the establishment. the implementation of this subject is not the only way to transmit this knowledge; the school can also develop intercultural workshops, revitalization strategies for languages and cultures in danger of extinction, and linguistic immersion in specific contexts. 3.3 training in interculturality teacher training is a key aspect in the implementation of intercultural education. chile needs to train its teachers as mediators and facilitators of the development of schools that value and integrate the cultural wealth of native peoples into the learning experience of their students. the ministry of education has developed a joint effort with two universities to strengthen a teacher training plan in pedagogy of bilingual intercultural basic education. in this sense, it has established collaboration agreements with the catholic university of temuco (uct) and with the arturo prat university (uap) of iquique. in the case of the uct, this plan has two target groups: mapuche students from the biobío, la araucanía, los lagos and los ríos regions; and students of the pedagogy career in bilingual intercultural basic education in a mapuche context. meanwhile, the initial training plan of the uap of iquique is aimed at aymara, licanantai and quechua students from the regions of tarapacá, arica and parinacota, and antofagasta. other activities are also included within the agreements such as: developing linguistic immersion activities for students; disseminate the career among young people in secondary education in municipal www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 7 published by scholink inc. establishments in communes with a high density of indigenous population; and hold reflection colloquiums with students from other careers and schools from other training disciplines, among others. in the same way, the mineduc intends to strengthen the training in interculturality for teachers of subsidized municipal and private establishments through the development of a postgraduate in interculturality, and through a b-learning course, in charge of the center for improvement, experimentation and pedagogical research (cpeip). on the other hand, the ministry of education provides support to traditional educators who implement the indigenous language subject or develop intercultural workshops through a training course whose objective is to provide tools in pedagogical, cultural, and linguistic aspects to promote learning. task of this figure within the schools. 3.4 traditional mapuche educator the first lines of work of the ministry of education, in terms of bilingual intercultural education, were linked to community participation, in order to promote meetings and collect knowledge with a territorial approach, from the voice of traditional authorities, communities, families, and indigenous professionals. in the same way, it sought to identify current practices and knowledge in the communities, in order to replicate some of this knowledge in the training of children and children belonging to these educational communities. it is in this context that the figure of the community cultural advisor, now known as educator or traditional educator (et), arises and is normalized; which is governed at first as a binding actor between indigenous communities and educational establishments for the transmission of knowledge about their culture and language. this figure has been strengthened in the educational communities, achieving among other things: recreating learning strategies of their communities, developing didactics for the teaching of indigenous languages, collecting oral stories, and systematizing knowledge associated with mathematics, sciences, cosmogony, among others. in this context, and from the creation of the indigenous language subject, the et becomes relevant as it is responsible for specifying the teaching of the aymara, quechua, rapa nui and mapuzungun languages in establishments that have 20% of indigenous enrollment, or in those who want to promote interculturality through intercultural workshops, bilingualism, or cultural and linguistic revitalization. some aspects to consider in the fulfillment of their functions are the following:  accredit sufficient linguistic and cultural skills to perform in the teaching of the languages and cultural knowledge of the original peoples. be validated by the indigenous communities or associations linked to the educational establishment.  teaching preparation, understanding as such the ability to structure the teaching-learning process with learning objectives to be achieved in the students from the point of view of indigenous knowledge, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 8 published by scholink inc.  creation of an environment conducive to learning, that is, the ability to promote conditions in the use of multiple spaces and diverse methodologies, which favor intercultural learning,  teaching for learning of all students, that is, the ability to deliver linguistic and cultural knowledge in diverse realities to achieve learning objectives and propose strategies according to these. 3.5 training and accompaniment for more than fifteen years, community cultural advisors, in the first instance, and currently traditional educators, have received training through training courses and accompaniment in the linguistic, cultural and pedagogical, with emphasis on the development of competencies, both at the curricular and extracurricular level. these training courses have as main objective to allow a better performance and an adequate and pertinent insertion on the part of the traditional educators in the educational system; and therefore, they acquire specific characteristics depending on the territory where they are carried out, respecting regional autonomy and promoting their own strategic development. the trainings, carried out face-to-face and with an average duration of 150 hours, are financed by the bilingual intercultural education program and developed by three entities according to regional realities: a) universities together with organizations focused on indigenous languages, b) teams regional ministerial offices (regional ministerial secretariats of education), and c) consultants and/or independent professionals. 4. current challenge the rescue of native languages is of great importance, not only because it strengthens the culture and identity of the native peoples that inhabit chile, but also because it gives our country an identity and allows us to project ourselves as a more democratic, inclusive and respectful society. the current situation of the languages recognized by indigenous law is critical and represents a complex challenge that calls upon all of us, not only those who belong to a certain indigenous people, since society is responsible for the revaluation of the vernacular languages that we have been relegated to increasingly reduced spaces, to the point of endangering its existence. the condition in which the different languages of the original peoples that inhabit chile are found today is complex; even though it is a multilingual and multicultural country, spanish continues to be the language of communication, teaching, and regulations, which is why it has the greatest number of functions. the studies, investigations and reports consulted indicate that the main problems identified are the following: at the macro level:  lack of status of languages: understood as the possibility of giving functionality to the language in the different institutions and media from which the minority or minoritized language has been excluded. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 9 published by scholink inc.  lack of language corpus: refers to a series of actions that are carried out with the aim of standardizing the language, such as defining a graphemary, creating dictionaries, grammars and creating specific entities that are in charge of the subject (academies), among others.  in the context of speech and communication, lack of spaces for use and possibilities of use, functionality beyond the local or familiar.  spanish is the official language of communication and teaching; this can be seen in the hegemony of spanish in the media and transmission of languages: texts, media, arts, among others. the same is true for formal and informal education. at the micro level, the main obstacles refer to the attitude of the speakers, due to selfdiscrimination, lack of motivation to deliver knowledge about the mother tongue to the next generations, adverse local contexts, the decrease of communities or speaking people in a territory and lack of external support to promote the indigenous language because it is not part of the economy, work, professional training. another challenge in this matter is related to the lack of quantitative and qualitative data that allow us to know more precisely the situation of the languages and their speakers in chile today. there are only two official sources with general information on the 9 indigenous peoples: casen (mideplan) and censo 2002 (ine). the indigenous languages of chile that maintain some degree of sociolinguistic vitality are mapudungun, aymara, rapa nui and quechua. according to the 2009 casen survey, only 24% of the population that belongs to these towns would have some degree of competence in their languages, with significant geographical and regional variations in terms of the number and proportion of speakers. (bcn source) year speakers just understand does not speak or understand 2000 14% 13.8% 72% 2003 16.8% 18.9% 64.4% 2006 14.2% 14.1% 71.7% 2009 12% 10.6% 77.3% 2011 eleven% 10.4% 78.6% 2013 10.9% 10.4% 78.7% 2015 10.7% 10.7% 78.6% source: casen 4.1 treatment of a declining language when it is noticed that a language is in a state of decline, it is possible to develop a maintenance program for that language. this depends on the state it is in, the historical causes of its decline, access to funds and human and financial resources, and the interest of the community. in a first opportunity, many members of the group want to develop fluency in the use of the language, thinking that it will be easy to acquire the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 10 published by scholink inc. ancestral linguistic code again. unfortunately, this is not a task without difficulties, since most indigenous children speak spanish as their first language and are barely familiar with their native cultural traditions. therefore, spanish becomes the model of correctness or naturalness and learning another language causes difficulties in the production of new sounds or in the combination of words in patterns that are different from those of the first language learned. the researchers warn that, after the puberty stage, it is difficult to process information using different rules and structures in a second language. actually, the best way to keep a language alive is through communication with children, using the indigenous language in its first stage of language acquisition. the fact of handling two languages in the family environment allows the child to acquire two linguistic codes simultaneously and without difficulties. certainly, parents have their own preferences regarding the use of one language over another. this can become rule-setting for children who perceive in which contexts they can speak the indigenous language or spanish. they generally speak mapudungun with their grandparents at home, but speak spanish with their peers in other contexts. finally, they prefer to use spanish in all situations. a language maintenance program should include the gradual increase in the number of speakers as a goal. this requires the participation and preparation of teachers who speak the language fluently and manage the difficulties involved in its teaching. it is advisable to locate some members of the indigenous community who are willing to collaborate and undergo an intense stage of preparation, to carry out this task in order to acquire formal knowledge in an assessment process within the community itself. the indigenous language maintenance program must also measure the importance of spanish and the indigenous language. both languages are essential to the community. but one should not be neglected or favored to the detriment of the other. even though spanish is officially taught throughout the chilean school system, there is some evidence that the type of spanish spoken by indigenous communities differs from the formal dialect accepted in the official milieu. the two languages in contact have influenced each other over time. the family dialect of spanish, spoken by the adult generations in each indigenous group, has been transmitted from generation to generation, becoming a variety with phonological and grammatical features of the indigenous language. this requires a sociolinguistic study that can provide much insight into the difficulties indigenous students face when learning the standard variety of spanish taught at school. likewise, it can provide a guideline on the differences between the indigenous language and formal spanish. 4.2 commitment of the chilean government and the maintenance of indigenous languages scholars agree that the ultimate goal of a maintenance program is to achieve fluency in the use of the indigenous language. if this is not possible, at least a feeling of appreciation of the language and its relevance as a means of maintaining cultural identity can be achieved. the factors that determine which goals are realistic and which are difficult to achieve can be learned through an objective assessment of the needs of each community. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 11 published by scholink inc. it is known that any language suffers a decrease in its use, due to historical reasons of competition with the language of a group that expands its area of influence through the media and access to material goods. the first contacts between spaniards and indigenous people were negatively aggressive, due to the purposes of the conquest that included the acquisition of new territories, discovery of precious metals, conversion to a new religious doctrine, and search for labor for forced labor. as a result of this, the indigenous people suffered the decrease of their population and the abuse of their culture that originated a feeling of frustration and of a conquered people that has hardly been overcome throughout chilean history. 5. final reflection thinking about interculturality implies delving into the political approaches of the country that support the different intercultural and bilingual educational proposals that are generated from different social actors, among which appear national organizations and governments, regional education secretariats, conadi, nongovernmental organizations, civil associations., ethnic movements and organizations, among others. thus, intercultural education is not possible by copying and/or extra-logical adaptation of identity values and institutionalization devices of western civilization, because, ultimately, they only tend to cover up the continuity of evangelization. socio-civilization, of the cultural control that they historically exercise over the diverse peoples of the world and that have made possible the conformation of the current global order; rather, on the contrary, they demand not only public recognition of the socio-cultural plurality that forms the very substrate of contemporary social systems, deconstructing the modern ideal of the monocultural nation state, but also the historical affirmation of the values proper to the identity construction of each of the existing communities in the world and, therefore, of the values of intercultural interaction. legitimizing community existence and cultural identity based on the similarities that can be discovered, evidenced, assumed, and implanted in the development of particular historical events, with the values and devices for the civilizational affirmation of the dominant culture, strictly speaking, does not mean confirming the irrefutable presence of alterity, of the right to difference and, therefore, of the urgent need for intercultural education, quite the contrary, represents the self-deception of camouflaging oneself as one’s peer, as a neighbor, as an authentic being, that is, illegitimate projection of civilized, developed society, which for this very reason requires cultural evangelization so that it can fully develop. thinking about the possibility of intercultural education, then, entails the unavoidable requirement of building new educational concepts that do not disguise the evangelizing claims of the dominant culture. this has been a small reflection on intercultural education as a path towards educational inclusion. the aim throughout the article has been to show how both concepts share a multitude of ideas, and deep down allow for very specific ways of learning and teaching in the classroom. the great challenge at this time in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 12 published by scholink inc. school is to contribute to an interculturally inclusive education, as defined by garcía and goenechea (2009, p. 35). the recognition of social diversity and multiculturalism demands the emerging transformation of contemporary educational processes, towards the appropriation of the values of identity construction of the context in which individuals develop, so that they can build their personal life project, in addition to participate significantly in the socio-cultural and political-economic transformation of their community of life, without neglecting the interaction in the order of global society. insofar as contemporary societies are constituted in the recognition of onto-historical alterity, therefore, an education is required that not only respects, but also promotes identity diversity, within a framework of intercultural dialogue, where all individuals and communities have the right to appropriate their own cultural values, as well as the cultural capital available in today’s knowledge society. references arroyo gonzález, mª. j. (2012). language in the integration of immigrant students. study of aliso classrooms in the province of segovia. university of valladolid: doctoral thesis. arroyo gonzález, mª. j. (2012). language in the integration of immigrant students. study of aliso classrooms in the province of segovia. university of valladolid: doctoral thesis. bauman, j. (1980). a guide to issues in indian language retention. washington, dc: center for applied linguistics. branch, g. (1987). education and society in america. education, educational development journal, 101, 45-66. carrasco, h. (2002). the mapuche public discourse: notion, discursive types and hybridity. philological studies, 37, 185-197. carrasco, i. (2000). mapuche poets in chilean literature. philological studies, 35, 139-149. census (2002) and population projections, ine. casen survey. (2006). mideplan, total population and 15-19 years old, 20 most inhabited communes in chile, years 2002-2009 and population by income quintile between 15 and 19 years old 20 most inhabited communes, chile. galdames, l. (1995). chilean history. university press. santiago, chile. garcia, j. a., & goenechea, c. (2009). intercultural education. analysis of the situation and proposal for improvement. biscay: wolters kluwer. general education law. (2009). (law 20370 or lge) is the chilean law that establishes the framework regulations on education. it was published in the official gazette on september 12, 2009, during the first government of michelle bachelet. geneva, 76th ilc meeting. (june 27, 1989). status: updated instrument (technical conventions). grebe, m. e. (1996). contributions of anthropology in intercultural bilingual education in the mapuche area of chile. pentukun, 5, 11-24. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 13 published by scholink inc. indigenous law. (1993). (law no. 19,253 do 5·10). conadi, national corporation for indigenous development. law 19253 national corporation for indigenous development. (1993). which has as its objectives the promotion, coordination and execution of state action of development plans for people belonging to the indigenous peoples of chile. ministry of education of chile. (2009). fundamental objectives and minimum mandatory contents for the creation of the indigenous language sector in basic education, santiago de chile. rodriguez, m. c. (2004). otherness in two contemporary mapuche poets: chihuailaf and lienlaf. philological studies, 39, 221-235. rooms, a. (1985). fray félix josé de augusta. his contribution to the studies of the language and culture of the mapuches or araucanos. culture-man-society (pp. 197-272). temuco, chile: pontifical catholic university of chile. santos, m. (1994). theory and practice of intercultural education. spain: ed. ppu university of compostela. tuts, m. (2007). languages as elements of social cohesion. from multilingualism to the development of skills for intercultural communication. in education magazine, 343, (pp. 35-54). williamson, g. (2012). institutionalization of intercultural bilingual education in chile: notes and critical observations. educational profiles, 34, 126-147. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 65 original paper research on the theoretical logic and practical application of college mental health education from the perspective of social learning theory xie xiaojun1 1 sichuan minzu college, kangding city, china received: march 29, 2023 accepted: april 21, 2023 online published: april 30, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p65 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p65 abstract this paper mainly explores the theoretical logic and practical research of college mental health education from the perspective of social learning theory. the study suggests that social learning theory provides a new perspective and approach for college mental health education, and the application of this theory can promote the comprehensive development of students’ mental health. at the same time, this theory also provides guidance and support for the practice of college mental health education. by establishing a diversified and autonomous learning environment, enhancing the cooperation and coordination between school and society education, and establishing feedback and evaluation mechanisms, the effectiveness and quality of students’ learning can be improved. this study has certain reference value for the theoretical research and practical promotion of college mental health education. keywords college mental health education; social learning; student mental health; ideological and political education 1. the driving force of college mental health education development under the social learning theory 1.1 ideological and political education in colleges provides the source of motivation for the emergence and development of mental health education ideological and political education in colleges focuses on cultivating students’ correct values, outlook on life, and worldview, which is consistent with the goal of mental health education. mental health education aims to help students establish a positive and healthy psychological state, possess correct values and attitudes towards life, and thus improve their personal mental health level. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 66 published by scholink inc. it emphasizes the comprehensive development of individuals, including multiple aspects such as physical, intellectual, aesthetic, moral, and psychological, which also provides theoretical basis and practical support for mental health education. mental health education needs to comprehensively use various methods and means to help students develop their abilities in all aspects, improve their self-awareness and emotional management skills. it also focuses on cultivating students’ sense of social responsibility and civic consciousness, which is consistent with the social nature of mental health education. 1.2 institutionalization and professionalization of mental health education in universities institutionalization is the foundation of mental health education in universities. universities should establish and improve rules and regulations for mental health education, clarify specific requirements for educational content, objectives, methods, time, responsibilities, and establish a long-term mechanism for mental health education. at the same time, universities should establish and improve mental health records, conduct psychological assessments and diagnoses of students, and timely identify and solve their psychological problems. professionalization is an important guarantee for mental health education in universities. universities should establish mental health education centers, hire professional psychologists, counselors and other talents, and carry out specialized mental health education work. at the same time, universities should strengthen the training and assessment of mental health education workers, improve their professional quality and service ability. 1.3 the construction of social psychological service system is an important support for mental health education in universities social psychological service organizations can provide professional technical support for mental health education in universities. these organizations are usually composed of professional counselors, psychologists, social workers, and others who have rich experience in psychological counseling and treatment, and can provide professional technical support and guidance for mental health education in universities. 2. the ecological pattern of psychological health education in higher education institutions under the social learning theory 2.1 psychological health education is a relatively independent system within the “four-in-one” education system psychological health education refers to a series of services aimed at promoting psychological health, including psychological education, assessment, counseling, and therapy, provided through various channels and means. it is a part of the “four-in-one” education system, but it is also a relatively independent system. psychological health education is an important component of individual development. in the education system, it corresponds to culture, sports, and vocational education, and is an important aspect of the “four-in-one” education. psychological health education is a relatively independent system with its own www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 67 published by scholink inc. independent theories, methods, and means. its goal is to promote the development of individual psychological health, and it needs the support of other forms of education, but it also requires its own independent development and improvement. 2.2 the psychological health education system is a subsystem of ideological and political education in universities the psychological health education system refers to a series of services for psychological health, including psychological education, psychological assessment, psychological counseling, and psychological treatment for college students through various channels and means within the scope of universities. it is one of the important subsystems of ideological and political education in universities. the core of ideological and political education in universities is to cultivate college students’ correct worldview, outlook on life, and values, and promote their comprehensive development. psychological health education is one of the important means to achieve this goal. psychological health education can help college students establish a positive and healthy psychological state, possess correct values and attitudes towards life, and thus promote their comprehensive development. 2.3 the psychological health education system is a subsystem of the social psychological service system the psychological health education system refers to a series of psychological services aimed at promoting mental health, including psychological education, assessment, counseling, and therapy, provided to individuals through various channels and means within the social scope. it is one of the important subsystems of the social psychological service system. the social psychological service system refers to a system that provides mental health services to the general public through various channels and means. the psychological health education system is an important component of the social psychological service system, providing psychological health education services to society, helping people to acquire knowledge about mental health and improve their mental health levels. the psychological health education system also needs the support of the social psychological service system to achieve its own development and improvement. for example, the psychological health education system can establish cooperative relationships with other parts to jointly promote the development and improvement of psychological health services. at the same time, the psychological health education system also needs to pay attention to the impact of social environment and social relationships on individual mental health, and actively guide society to pay attention to and participate in psychological health education. 2.4 the relationship model of the psychological health education system in universities the psychological health education system in universities is a system composed of multiple interconnected and interactive components. in order to better understand and describe the internal relationships, a relationship model can be established. the core of this model is the psychological health education center, which serves as the central hub of the entire system. the psychological health www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 68 published by scholink inc. education center includes various professional rooms such as the psychological counseling room, psychological assessment room, and psychological therapy room, as well as non-professional rooms such as the psychological health education office. it is the service center of the psychological health education system and an important organization for coordinating the work of all components. this model includes the four basic components of psychological health education: psychological education, psychological assessment, psychological counseling, and psychological therapy. these four components are interconnected and interact with each other, forming a complete psychological health education service system. the model also includes the relationship between the psychological health education system and other departments and institutions. for example, the leadership department, student affairs department, security department, etc. in universities are all partners and supporters of the psychological health education system. they need to establish a good cooperative relationship with the psychological health education center. 3. the collaborative development path of psychological health education in higher education based on social learning theory 3.1 strengthen psychological health management based on the holistic principle of social learning the holistic principle of social learning theory emphasizes that education should be considered as a whole and pay attention to the comprehensive development of individual students. this principle should also be implemented in psychological health management work. psychological health management work should be considered as a whole, with a focus on the comprehensive development of individuals. it should not only address individual psychological health issues, but also pay attention to social adaptability, learning ability, and career development, promoting the overall development of individuals. psychological health management work should be considered as a whole, with a focus on the comprehensive development of individuals. it should not only address individual psychological health issues, but also pay attention to social adaptability, learning ability, and career development, promoting the overall development of individuals. 3.2 based on the collaborative principle of social learning, promoting the unity of nurturing hearts and nurturing virtues requires the use of socialized learning methods to establish mechanisms for shared experiences and sharing through organizing theme education activities, discussion sessions, and seminars, students can be helped to recognize the relationship between nurturing hearts and nurturing virtues, and jointly explore how to achieve the unity of nurturing hearts and nurturing virtues. promoting the unity of nurturing hearts and nurturing virtues requires the use of socialized learning methods to establish mechanisms for communication and cooperation. by strengthening cooperation with social organizations and enterprises, introducing social resources and experiences, and enhancing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 69 published by scholink inc. students’ social adaptability and innovation capabilities, the unity of nurturing hearts and nurturing virtues can be achieved. promoting the unity of nurturing hearts and nurturing virtues requires the use of socialized learning methods to establish mechanisms for practice and reflection. by organizing practical activities and reviewing and summarizing them, students can combine theoretical knowledge with practical experience, deepen their understanding and practice of nurturing hearts and nurturing virtues. based on the collaborative principle of social learning, promoting the unity of cultivating the heart and cultivating virtue requires the use of socialized learning methods to establish mechanisms for shared experiences, communication and collaboration, practice and reflection, in order to achieve an organic combination of knowledge and practice, morality and wisdom. 3.3 based on the open principle of social learning, enhancing the synergy between school and social education enhancing the synergy between school and social education requires the use of socialized learning methods to establish a diversified and autonomous learning environment. schools can enrich students’ learning experiences and contents by organizing various forms of extracurricular activities, practical teaching, and introducing social resources. at the same time, it is necessary to respect students’ individual differences and interests and provide opportunities and space for autonomous learning. enhancing the synergy between school and social education requires the use of socialized learning methods to establish mechanisms for cooperation and interaction. schools can establish cooperative relationships with social education institutions, enterprises, and social organizations to jointly carry out educational activities, share educational resources and experiences, and provide students with more diverse and abundant learning opportunities. references guo, h. (2019). theoretical logic and practical research on psychological health education in colleges and universities from the perspective of social learning theory. chongqing normal university. liu, y., wang, l., & zhang, y. (2018). research on psychological health education in colleges and universities based on social learning theory. psychological and behavioral research, 16(2), 201205. wang, x. j., & zou, m. l. (2019). research on psychological health education in colleges and universities based on social learning theory. youth science and technology, 2019(3), 137. wang, y., & sun, f. x. (2019). research on the practice of psychological health education in colleges and universities from the perspective of social learning theory. journal of university education, 2019(2), 33-37. wang, y., & wu, x. h. (2018). research on psychological health education in colleges and universities from the perspective of social learning theory. basic education quality, 2018(10), 69-70. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 28 original paper a study on the translation of the image of “moon” in classical chinese poetry: a cognitive perspective qiu jiyang1* 1 chongqing college of mobile communication, hechuan, chongqing, china * qiu jiyang, chongqing college of mobile communication, hechuan, chongqing, 401520, china. email: 827740928@qq.com received: march 16, 2023 accepted: april 1, 2023 online published: april 13, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p28 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p28 abstract image is a very important component in poetry which is the combination of object things and subjective feelings. proper translation of images secures smooth communication between the readers and the poets. the author aims to apply cognitive linguistics to analyze the cognitive process of transferring imagery of “the moon” in chinese classical poetry. on the basis of the close connections between the translator’s internal cognitive mechanism and the comprehension and reproduction process of imagery and ideorealm, the possibility to reproduce the original imagery and ideorealm in the translations is analyzed to facilitate cross-cultural communication. keywords translation, chinese classical poetry, cognitive linguistics, the transference of image “moon” 1. introduction chinese poetry has a long history for more than three thousand years. the first collection of poems is the book of songs which was written between the 11th and 6th century bc. after that, many excellent poets created mounts of outstanding works and these works has far-reaching affect both in our own land and over the sea. chinese classical poets usually imposed their emotions on various images and each image bears certain meanings and their status in a line of poem can reflect the focus of cognitive activities of the poets. the “moon” image has very important role in ancient chinese poetry. we can have a deep understanding of the thinking process of translators through the cognitive analysis of the source texts and the target texts. the word image is originated from the latin word “imago” and it refers to the mental representation of what we perceive by our peripheral organs. now the very term concerns literary theory, aesthetics, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 29 published by scholink inc. psychology and philosophy with various connotations (gong, 2005). ezra pound has made perhaps the most widely used definition of image: “an ‘image’ is that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time.” finke (1989) argues that image is “functionally equivalent to perception on the extent that similar mechanisms in the visual system are activated when objects or events are imagined as when the same objects or event are actually perceived”. langacker (1987) defined a motor image, which is “an event equivalent to one which elicits a motor response but which in fact actually fails to do so.” lakoff (1987) pointed out that it is important to distinguish images from perceptions, because the former is much richer in detail. palmer (2001) thought that “imagery is what we see in our mind’s eye” and “our imaginations dwell on experiences obtained through all the sensory modes, and then we talk”. imagery is considered as the essence of classical chinese poetry, the beauty of which is reflected by the beauty of images. 2. formal translation and spiritual resemblance to many translation theorists, translation is both a science and an art. as an art, it has its aesthetic values. as a science, it has its scientific principles. zhou (2007) pointed out that in the history of translation in china, translation has been regarded more or less as a branch of art, drawing a great deal of its concepts from painting, and one example being the ideas of “form” and “spirit”. chan (2008) argues that formal transplantation is not only necessary for readers to appreciate the original text in its entirety, but also essential for local poets to infuse foreign structures to their composition. burton (1988) classifies this type of translation “formal translation”, and he has the following to say about formal translators: the formal translator concerns fidelity and exact. he wants the literary form and prosody is exactly like the original poem. he also wants to show the ideas, the social and philosophical orientations in his original although he knows his goal is just like a mirror image of the original. fu lei is in in favor of “spiritual closeness/resemblance” and he indicate that a translator must try to achieve spiritual closeness rather than formal closeness. chan (2008) reviewed qian zhongshu’s opinion that the highest standard of literary translation is “sublimation” by which he means to transfer the language of a text into another language without any trace of stiltedness resulting from the differences in usage and at the same time retaining all the flavour of the original. every translation involves both loss and distortion. undoubtedly, this notion is quite correct as far as literary translation is concerned, but this does not necessarily mean that “loss and distortion” should be arbitrarily made (zhou, 2007). nida and taber (1969) pointed out: “in any translation there will be type of ‘loss’ of semantic content, but the process should be so designed as to keep this to a mini mum” . it is widely known that classical chinese poetry has no general accepted interpretation (chen, 2004). in this sense, every theory, principle or strategy makes its contribution to the development of chinese poetry translation, to the improvement of communication between different cultures. the well-known robert frost witticism that ‘poetry is what disappears in translation’ is only valid if poetic translation aims to produce a ‘perfect re-creation of the original,’ and ricci (2004) thought that www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 30 published by scholink inc. successful translators re-create poetry in another language as opposed to translating it into a second language. that is to say translating poetry is possible. 3. cognitive linguistics and translation ungerer and schmid (2001) views cognitive linguistics as an approach to language that is based on our experience of the world and the way we perceive and conceptualize it. cognitive linguistics explores the relationship between cognition and language, and it holds that language can reflect cognition and is the product of mental activities. cognition, as a part of psychology, is people’s behavior and ability to sensibly get to know things and obtain knowledge through the ways of intuition, perception, inference etc. cognition, in a broad sense, is the core of thinking, for it is formed on the basis of perception, presentation and memorization and then affects perception, presentation and memorization (zhao yanfang, 2000). meaning is a mental phenomenon that must eventually be described with reference to cognitive processing (langacker,1987). cognitive linguistics has two great concerns. the linguistics representation of conceptual structure is the central concern of cognitive linguistics. talmy (2000) indicated that cognitive linguistics examines the formal properties of language from its conceptual perspective and seeks to account for grammatical structure in representation of conceptual structure. another great concern of cognitive linguistics is the cognitive process in the utilization and interpretation of language. cognitive linguistics focuses its studies on human brain’s processing of the linguistic units and language activity. xu (2007) indicated that because translation involves both comprehension and reproduction of linguistic, so it has provided profound linguistic materials for cognitive linguistic research. on the other hand, the study of cognitive linguistics has great effect on some language phenomena such as metaphor and implication which is useful for the study of translation. like any other type of linguistic process, translation is also a mental activity with the potential to construal and manages various meanings in the constraints of context. jiang (2004) indicated that a proper translation depends not only on translator’s familiarity with two languages and flexibility in constructing the versions, but more importantly on his or her sensitivity and intellection to perceive the cognitive world of the author/reader. images referring to the abstract things is the result of processing and synthesizing on the basis of the image to the concrete things and he pointed out such kind of images in li shangyin’s wu ti: “there’s not much road to penglai, where the green bird diligently comes to explore”. here “peng lai” is one of the fairy mountains believed to lie in the eastern sea; “green bird” is said to be the messenger that heralds the arrival of the queen mother of the west to the court of the han emperor. image of the objective world directly come from human beings’ constant contact with the natural world and during the cognitive process of processing and synthesizing of concrete things in human beings’ brain the abstract images are formed (jiang, 2008). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 31 published by scholink inc. 4. an analysis of the “moon” image from a cognitive perspective we know that one image has different meanings in different cultures because of different social conventions and cultural traditions. liu chongde (1998) once declares: “owning to the differences in the characteristics of various languages, it is both impossible and unnecessary for the translator to render the original poems word for word” in the chinese poem, the moon have many different types such as homesick, farewells, boudoir lament, yearnings between lovers and so on. 4.1 homesick because the moon has varied shapes, in chinese people’s traditional mind, a full moon represents to have a reunion. but many people can’t came home to get together with their families, so the poets write many poems to express their regret. before my bed, the bright moonlight, seems like frost upon the ground. raising my head, i gaze at the moon, lowering my head, i think of my hometown. (li po, thinking in a quiet night) before my bed a pool of light-- can it be hoarfrost on the ground? looking up, i find the moon bright; bowing , in homesickness i ’m drowned. (translated by xu yuanzhong) in this poem, the poet conveys his homesick feelings through the moon. he stands near the bed, watching the bright moon, and the surroundings are so quite. he is so heartbreaking. 4.2 boudoir lament jade steps gleam with dew so white, night's long hours invade my silken socks. i lower the curtain of water dumplings, gazing at the autumn moon, so bright and clear. (li po, jade steps complaint) on marble steps her silken socks have been already soaked with white dew late at night; she turns in and dews down the crystal screen, through which she is still eyeing the moon bright. (translated by wu juntao) this poem writes a maid-in-waiting who is under a cloud. she is so sad that she can’t fall in sleep at this night. the stair is made by jade which indicate that this is not a common family; the white dew has already soaked her hose which means that she has stand in the outside for a long time. her lovers don’t come so she can only watch the moon. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 32 published by scholink inc. the theme of the neglected courtesan, or “boudoir lament” (gui yuan), is one of the most famous poems in the chinese classical canon . much of the popularity of this poem can be attributed to li bai’s art of oblique portrayal. the poem begins with a “wide-angle shot” that confirms the palatial setting suggested by the title. it then cuts to a close-up of a telling detail that, together with the reference to the lateness of the hour, literally fleshes out the scenario as that of a disappointed tryst. in the third line, the poet’s “camera-eye” takes us inside the courtesan’s apartment, where we are given a brief glimpse at her interior life in both senses of the phrase. finally, in another abrupt shift in perspective, the camera dissolves to an “over-the-shoulder shot” of the clear autumn moon in a panoramic closing image that is as poignant as it is suggestive. 4.3 parting on mount emei, the moon appears a half circle in autumn, its reflection enters the waters of the qingjiang river. at night i set off from the clear creek towards the three gorges, thinking of my beloved who i cannot see, down in yuzhou. (li po: song of the moon in mount emei) song of the emei mount peaks moon half a disc of that autumnal moon o’er emei peaks throws its bright image into the streams of pingqiang leaving qingyi for the three gorges by night, i think of,seeing not thee, all the way down to yuzhou (translated by sun dayu) the poem writes that after the poet’s friend leaves off the riverbank just have lonely pavilion and a cold moon. all these made the poet feel very sorrow. 4.4 seclusion people are idle, and the osmanthus flowers fall; the night is quiet, and the spring mountains are empty. the moon rises, startling the mountain birds; they call out from time to time, in the midst of the spring brook. (wang wei, birds singing in a ravine) bird-chirping hollow the light beams of the moon on the earth softy rain, the night is quite, the spring mount empty, the moon’s uprise the birds doth frighten to cry now and then in the springtide hollow (translated by sun dayu) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 33 published by scholink inc. in the poet’s late years in life he lives a secluded life at wangchuan villa and enjoys life from natural scenery. in this poem, the poet creats a fairyland through a genial moon: white wind is blowing again and again, the sweet scent of the osmanthus flower float in the air and some little bird is singing on the tree. 5. methods of translating the “moon” image based on the cognitive theory 5.1 literal translation sometimes the chinese cultures and western cultures have the same cognition for one thing. for example, the proverb “an inch of time is worth an inch of gold” can be translated as “money cannot by time”. both of the two cultures have the same cognition for the imagery “gold” and “time”, thus we can use the literal translation theory. another example is the phrase “paper tiger” can be translated as “paper tiger”. we have the same recognition of “paper)”and “tiger”. literal translation takes sentences as its basic units and the whole text into consideration at the same time in the course of translating. it strives to reproduce both the ideological content and style of the entire literary work and retain as much as possible the figures of speech and main sentence structures or patterns. in du fu’s poem longing for my younger brothers in a moonlight night, the sentence “the dew is white tonight, the moon so bright in my homeland” can be rendered as “the season called the white dew begins tonight, nowhere as in our native place is moon so bright (translated by wu juntao)”. the poet writes this poem to express that he is so missing his brothers. he was separated from and lost touch with them. this entire poem didn’t write “missing” but we can feel it. in the first part of the poem, the poet hears the “garrison drums”, “goose honks” and he saw the “autumnal frontier”, “men passed by”. we can conclude that the social environment is troublous. the war made families separated from each other. the “white dew” represents the cold weather and it also indicates that the poet’s heart is so cold. he watched the moon and missed his hometown. in the second part of the poem, the poet turned to the theme—missing his brothers. many families were broken up and their members were killed in the chaos caused by the war. the poet was also losing touch with his brothers. he sent many letters but none of them replied and all he can do is to wait. in this poem, the translator translates the image “moon” to “moon” directly which can fully describe the artistic conception. 5.2 substitution in another cases, the chinese cultures and western cultures have totally different cognition. the proverb “as timid as a mouse” is translated as “as timid as a hare”. in our cognition, mouse is not a good animal and it is timid while in the western culture, hare is such animal. when translating the proverb, we should use the image “hare” to be a substitute for the image “mouse”. sometimes using another image to substitute the original image can make the translation work more fluency and the readers can have a clearly understand about it. sometimes if direct translation is not possible, we can use the means of substitution. substitution means finding another image which conveys a similar meaning and produces a similar effect on the readers of the target language as the original image www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 34 published by scholink inc. does in the source language. this method means that sometimes you can give up the original image and use other image to substitute it. in zhang ji’s poem night mooring at fengqiao village the original sentence can be rendered as “at moonset cry the crows, streaking the frosty sky; dimly lit fishing boats’ neath maples sadly lie (translated by xu yuanzhong)”. when the poet is on a boat mooring by maple bright at night, he writes this poem to express his homesick feelings. he was so missing his home that he couldn’t fall in sleep. the world is so quiet and tranquilizing that the poet was deeply absorbed in it. in the first sentence, the poet described the scenery from different sense. he heard the crow’s call and saw lots of frost. he used exaggeration to express his feelings—the sky was full of frost, which means that the poet was surrounded by chilliness. then the poet described that in the cold night there are only “dimly lit” and “fishing boats” which can company him. in the far-away, the bell’s sound broke the night’s quietness which indicated his homesick feelings. in the first sentence, the translator gave up the “falling moon” image and used a time image “at moonset time” to substitute it which can fully depicted at what time this story happened. 5.3 omission in some cases, we can’t find the corresponding cognitive image in the western culture, so we can use the method of omission. it refers to, according to the meaning of the original, without paying attention to the details and give up some images. the translation work would also be fluent and natural. in li bai’s poem thoughts in a still night, the translation read as follows: “before my bed a pool of light—can it be hoarfrost on the ground? (translated by xu)”. in the quiet night, bright moonlit irradiated into the house which made the floor turned white. the poet mistook it for the frost. on the on hand, it indicated the season is autumn; on the other hand, it expressed the poet’s loneliness feeling. “looking up” was corresponded with “bowing” and “moon bright” was corresponded with “homesickness”. in this poem, “bright moon”, “hometown” are static images, and “head raising, “head lowering” are dynamic images. in langacker’s views, the selection of nouns and verbs is closely related to human beings cognitive ability, especially their scanning ability when dealing with cognitive inputs (langacker, 1987). in the first sentence, the translators use the phrase “a pool of light” to substitute image “bright moon beams”. the word “pool” can best depicted the house was full of moonbeams. the translator didn’t mention the image “moon” but the reader can see the moonbeams made the house bright. 5.4 amplification amplification, also called addition, means supplying necessary words in our translation work on the basis of accurate comprehension of the original so as to make the version correct and clear, to make it appear more like the language translated into. while direct transference may retain some of the cultural flavor and graphicness, this method aims at making up for the cultural implications missed through direct translation. the culture background of the chinese culture and the western culture is so different. the cognition of our mind can be very different. sometimes we need to use the method of amplification. for example, in the western culture, the word “blue” means sadness while in our culture it means peace. the word “green” means jealous and lack of experience, but our culture don’t have this meaning. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 35 published by scholink inc. we can classify the amplification into two types: the first one is adding the word directly into the translation work; the second one is adding the words as postil or accessory. a case in point is a poem written by jin changxu in the tang dynasty. in the line “if from these dreams i wake, i’ll never reach liaoxi” the poet expressed his lofty sentiment and he ignored honor or disgrace. in the first sentence, he said the woe “stay not in mind” and all the big changes in the world is just like “floating cloud” which indicated his character of fortitude. in the second sentence, he images he was on a traveling across the sea tin staff. he held a tin staff and flied a long journey with the wind. bright moonlight shines on his body. all of this indicated the poet’s big-hearted and a strong sense of confidence. in last sentence, the translator added the word “immortal” and “riding moonlight”. “immortal” can express the philosophical meaning of the total poem and “riding moonlight” can let the reader image the poet is now riding the moonlight and had a free flying in the sky. 6. conclusion chinese poetry is the soul of chinese literature and chinese culture. a good translation of a chinese verse can promote the prevalence of chinese culture. the author applies cognitive linguistics to analyze the cognitive process of transferring imagery and ideorealm of chinese classical poetry. on the basis of the close connections between the translator’s internal cognitive mechanism and the comprehension and reproduction process of imagery and ideorealm, we can analyze the thinking process of translators in deep going way, and understand the possibility to reproduce the original imagery and ideorealm in the translation of chinese classical poetry. we discuss the different meanings of the image “moon” in the poet and conclude four methods to translate it: literal translation, image transformation, image omission and means of amplification. references burton, r. (1988). the art of translating poetry. london: the pennsylvania state university press. chan, s. (2008). form and spirit in poetry translation. southerly, 63(1). chen, g. (2004). tourism translation and foreign-related tour guiding. beijing: china translation and publishing corporation. finke, r. a. (1989). principles of mental imagery. cambridge: mit press. gong, g. (2005). translation thinking studies. shanghai: shanghai academy of social sciences press. jiang, y. (2008). the transmission of imagery and artistic conception in english translations of chinese classical poetry from a cognitive linguistics perspective (master's thesis). liaoning normal university. lakoff, g. (1987). women, fire, and dangerous things: what categories reveal about the mind. chicago: chicago university press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226471013.001.0001 langacker, r. w. (1987). foundations of cognitive grammar. stanford: stanford university press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226471013.001.0001 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 36 published by scholink inc. liu, c. (1998). ten lectures on literary translation. beijing: china translation and publishing corporation. nida, e. a., & taber, c. r. (1969). the theory and practice of translation. leiden: brill. palmer, g. b. (2001). toward a theory of cultural linguistics. shanghai: shanghai foreign language press. ricci, r. j. (2004). lost in translation or gained in creation: classical chinese poetry re-created as english poetry. critical inquiry, 15. talmy, l. (2000). toward a cognitive semantics. cambridge: the mit press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/6847.001.0001 ungerer, f., & schmid, h. j. (2001). an introduction to cognitive linguistics. beijing: foreign language teaching and research press. xu, y. (2004). three hundred masterpieces of chinese classical poetry. beijing: peking university press. zhou, n. (2007). the transference of imagery in classical chinese poetry translation. us-china foreign language, 5(3). zhao, y. (2000). introduction to cognitive linguistics. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/6847.001.0001 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 113 original paper research on the optimization path of psychological health level for young college teachers wang he yan1*, tang fei1* & wang li juan* 1 sichuan minzu college, kangding, sichuan, china *wang heyan (1982-), female, from kangding, sichuan, associate professor, research direction: educational psychology * tang fei (1982-), female, han nationality, from xichang, sichuan, associate professor, master’s degree, mainly engaged in research on basic education and teacher education. *wang lijuan (1989-), female, from ziyang, sichuan, lecturer, master’s degree, research direction: preschool education received: november 12, 2024 accepted: december 8, 2024 online published: december 27, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n4p113 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n4p113 abstract with the development of higher education, young teachers have become an important force in teaching and research in universities. however, the occupational pressure, life difficulties, and personal development issues they face have had a certain impact on their mental health. this article aims to explore the current situation of the mental health level of young university teachers, analyze its influencing factors, and propose corresponding optimization paths. the mental health issues of young university teachers cannot be ignored and require comprehensive intervention from multiple dimensions such as organizational, individual, and social support. the article concludes with specific suggestions such as establishing a mental health education system, improving career development mechanisms, and enhancing social support systems, in order to improve the mental health level of young teachers in universities. keywords young teachers in universities, mental health, optimize the path, career development, social support 1. introduction in the era of knowledge economy, higher education, as an important component of the national innovation system, has a direct impact on the comprehensive national strength and international competitiveness of the country. as the backbone of teaching and research in universities, the physical www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 114 published by scholink inc. and mental health of young teachers has a significant impact on the quality of higher education. however, in recent years, the professional pressure, life difficulties, and personal development issues faced by young teachers in universities have become increasingly prominent. young teachers are not only in the stage of professional development, but also in the critical period of childbirth, feeling the dual pressure brought by education, teaching, and taking care of their families. the psychological pressure that young university teachers face in real life is often not understood, and may even be overlooked. excessive psychological pressure can affect the mental health of teachers. teacher’s mental health is the foundation of psychological education, and the level of teacher’s mental health can to some extent affect students’ mental health. the psychological development of a person is a psychological process that integrates knowledge, emotion, intention, and action. the words and actions of teachers will have an impact on students’ thoughts, behaviors, outlook on life, worldview, and values in a subtle and imperceptible way. psychological health teachers can help students feel a positive attitude towards life through communication, guide them to love and respect life, maintain an optimistic and positive mindset in life, and be full of hope for life and the future. these issues not only affect their work efficiency and quality of life, but also pose a threat to their mental health. therefore, exploring the optimization path of the mental health level of young teachers in universities is of great significance for promoting the comprehensive development of young teachers and improving the quality of higher education. we should pay attention to the mental health level of young teachers in universities, create a relaxed and pleasant working and living environment for teachers from all aspects, and continuously improve the mental health level of young teachers in universities. this study mainly focuses on the following aspects: firstly, analyzing the current situation of the mental health level of young teachers in universities, including the overall situation and the main problems that exist; the second is to explore the main factors that affect the mental health of young university teachers, such as work pressure, career development, family relationships, social support, etc; thirdly, based on empirical research results, propose targeted optimization paths and suggestions. 2. psychological health status of young teachers in colleges and universities 2.1 interpersonal relationship disorders as representatives of intellectuals, the interpersonal relationships of university teachers should be based on mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation. however, in practical work and life, interpersonal relationship barriers among university teachers occur from time to time, presenting the following characteristics. 2.1.1 interpersonal relationship barriers among university teachers manifest as poor communication due to differences in academic background, research fields, and personal personalities, university teachers often find it difficult to reach consensus during communication, and even misunderstandings and conflicts may arise. this poor communication not only affects the efficiency of cooperation among teachers, but may also have a negative impact on academic research and teaching quality. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 115 published by scholink inc. 2.1.2 interpersonal relationship barriers among university teachers manifest as a lack of trust in a fiercely competitive academic environment, some teachers may neglect teamwork in pursuit of personal interests, leading to the breakdown of trust relationships between each other. this lack of trust not only exacerbates conflicts and contradictions among teachers, but may also lead to the occurrence of academic misconduct. 2.1.3 college teachers’ interpersonal relationship barriers manifest as emotional alienation due to high work pressure and fast pace of life, university teachers often lack sufficient time and energy to maintain relationships with colleagues, leading to a gradual weakening of emotional connections between them. this emotional alienation not only deprives teachers of the joy and motivation in their work, but may also have adverse effects on their physical and mental health. 2.1.4 interpersonal relationship barriers among university teachers are covert due to the high self-awareness and self-esteem of university teachers, they often choose to avoid or conceal interpersonal problems rather than actively seek solutions. this concealment not only makes it difficult to detect and solve interpersonal relationship barriers in a timely manner, but may also lead to further deterioration of the problem. in summary, interpersonal relationship barriers among university teachers are characterized by poor communication, lack of trust, emotional alienation, and concealment. these characteristics not only affect the work efficiency and quality of life of university teachers, but may also have a negative impact on academic research and teaching quality. therefore, we should attach great importance to the issue of interpersonal relationships among university teachers, take effective measures to promote communication and cooperation among teachers, and create a favorable environment for the healthy development of higher education. 2.2 emotional instability emotional stability is an important indicator of individual mental health, especially for the special group of university teachers. however, in real work and life, the problem of emotional instability among university teachers is becoming increasingly prominent, exhibiting the following characteristics: 2.2.1 college teachers’ emotional instability is manifested by frequent emotional fluctuations due to multiple factors such as high work pressure, intense academic competition, and personal development difficulties, university teachers often find themselves in a highly tense state, prone to emotional fluctuations such as anxiety and depression. this emotional fluctuation not only affects their work efficiency and quality of life, but may also have a negative impact on students’ growth and development. 2.2.2 emotional instability among university teachers is situational different situations and events may trigger different emotional reactions. for example, when facing challenges or doubts from students in teaching work, they may feel frustrated and angry; when facing difficulties and challenges in scientific research, they may feel anxious and helpless. this situational www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 116 published by scholink inc. emotional instability makes college teachers lack sufficient psychological preparation and coping strategies when dealing with various challenges and pressures. 2.2.3 emotional instability among university teachers has individual differences different teachers may exhibit varying levels of emotional instability due to differences in personal experiences, personality traits, coping strategies, and other factors. for example, some teachers may be more prone to anxiety, while others may be more prone to depression. this individual difference requires more personalized and differentiated intervention and resolution strategies for emotional instability among university teachers. 2.2.4 the emotional instability of university teachers has a certain degree of concealment due to the high self-awareness and self-esteem of university teachers, they often choose to conceal or suppress their true feelings when facing emotional problems, rather than actively seeking help and support. this concealment not only makes it difficult to detect and solve emotional instability problems in a timely manner, but may also lead to further deterioration and complexity of the problem. in summary, the emotional instability of university teachers is characterized by frequent fluctuations, situational factors, individual differences, and concealment. these characteristics have had a negative impact on the physical and mental health, work efficiency, and quality of life of university teachers. therefore, we need to pay attention to the emotional health issues of university teachers, provide effective psychological support and intervention strategies, and help them maintain emotional stability and a healthy mindset. 2.3 poor physical health condition physical health can affect mental health levels. as the backbone of higher education, the physical health status of university teachers has a significant impact on teaching quality and research output. however, in recent years, the problem of poor physical health among university teachers has gradually become prominent, presenting the following characteristics: 2.3.1 college teachers generally work for long periods of time due to the heavy workload of teaching and research tasks, university teachers often need to work long hours, even sacrificing rest and leisure time. this prolonged working state can easily lead to physical fatigue, excessive mental stress, and subsequently trigger various health problems. 2.3.2 college teachers lack sufficient exercise long term sitting work, high-intensity mental labor, and a lifestyle lacking in exercise have led to a gradual decline in the physical fitness of university teachers. this not only affects their physical health, but may also have a negative impact on work efficiency and creativity. 2.3.3 irregular eating habits of college teachers due to busy work schedules, university teachers often neglect their dietary health and develop unhealthy eating habits such as irregular meals and overeating. these bad habits accumulate over a long period of time and can easily lead to health problems such as gastrointestinal diseases and obesity. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 117 published by scholink inc. 2.3.4 there is a common problem of insufficient sleep among college teachers factors such as high work pressure, fast pace of life, and unstable personal emotions make it difficult for university teachers to ensure sufficient sleep time and quality. lack of sleep not only affects physical health, but may also lead to cognitive decline such as lack of concentration and memory loss. in summary, the main characteristics of poor physical health among university teachers are long-term working conditions, lack of exercise, irregular eating habits, and insufficient sleep. these issues not only affect the physical health and quality of life of university teachers, but may also have adverse effects on teaching and research work. therefore, universities and society should pay attention to the physical health of teachers, take effective measures to improve their working environment and lifestyle, and promote their physical and mental health. 3. reasons affecting the mental health status of young university teachers with the vigorous development of education, young teachers in universities have become an important force in promoting academic progress and educational innovation. however, during the golden period of career development, they face unprecedented pressure and challenges that directly affect their mental health level. 3.1 restricted career development as an important symbol of the career development of university teachers, the promotion of professional titles is not only related to personal academic status and social recognition, but also closely related to salary and research resources. therefore, the pressure of professional title promotion has become a significant factor affecting the physical health status of university teachers. the following is a logical analysis and explanation of this factor: firstly, the high standards for professional title promotion have brought tremendous psychological pressure to university teachers. in order to meet the promotion requirements, teachers need to achieve significant results in teaching, scientific research, social services, and other aspects. this comprehensive requirement requires teachers to invest a lot of time and energy, even sacrificing personal rest and family life, and being in a high-intensity work state for a long time, posing a threat to their physical and mental health. secondly, the competitive pressure during the process of professional title promotion cannot be ignored. due to limited promotion opportunities, there has been intense competition among university teachers. this competition is not only reflected in the competition of academic achievements, but also involves multiple levels such as interpersonal relationships and academic resources. this sustained pressure and tense atmosphere can easily lead to psychological problems such as anxiety and depression among teachers, which in turn can affect their physical health. once again, the uncertainty and lengthy cycle of professional title promotion have also increased the psychological pressure on teachers. due to the complexity and unpredictability of the evaluation process, teachers often find it difficult to accurately assess their promotion prospects, which puts them www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 118 published by scholink inc. in a state of tension and anxiety for a long time. meanwhile, the lengthy promotion cycle means that teachers need to endure pressure for a long time without receiving effective relief, further exacerbating the damage to their physical and mental health. finally, it should be pointed out that the impact of job promotion pressure on the physical health of university teachers is not isolated, but rather the result of interaction and joint action with other factors. for example, factors such as work pressure, family burden, and personal personality may exacerbate the negative impact of job promotion pressure on physical health. therefore, when analyzing and solving this problem, it is necessary to comprehensively consider multiple factors and take comprehensive measures to reduce the pressure on teachers and improve their physical and mental health. in summary, the high pressure of professional title promotion is one of the important factors affecting the physical health status of university teachers. in order to ensure the physical and mental health and career development of teachers, universities and society need to take effective measures to reduce the pressure of professional title promotion, improve the evaluation mechanism, and provide more career development opportunities and resource support. 3.2 the social support system is incomplete social support is the spiritual and material assistance that individuals receive from social networks when facing pressure and challenges. for university teachers, sufficient social support can help alleviate work pressure and maintain physical and mental health. however, the current social support situation faced by university teachers is not optimistic, which has become an important factor affecting their physical health status. firstly, society has high expectations and requirements for university teachers, resulting in them bearing enormous professional pressure. with the popularization of higher education and the intensification of competition, society has put forward higher requirements for teachers’ teaching quality, scientific research achievements, and other aspects. this high expectation makes it difficult for teachers to meet socially recognized standards, leading to feelings of frustration and anxiety, which have a negative impact on their physical health. secondly, university teachers face many difficulties when seeking social support. on the one hand, due to the special nature of their work, university teachers often lack connections with social organizations such as communities and enterprises, making it difficult to obtain substantial support from these channels. on the other hand, university teachers generally have high self-esteem and independence. they tend to solve problems independently when facing difficulties, rather than actively seeking external help. furthermore, there is insufficient attention from society to the physical and mental health issues of university teachers. although university teachers bear the important mission of cultivating talents and promoting social progress, their physical and mental health issues are often overlooked. the lack of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 119 published by scholink inc. attention and support for the physical and mental health of university teachers in society makes them more isolated and helpless when facing pressure and challenges. finally, it should be pointed out that insufficient social support has multiple impacts on the physical health of university teachers. it not only directly leads to physical and mental exhaustion and frequent illnesses among teachers, but may also indirectly have a negative impact on their physical health by affecting their job satisfaction, professional identity, and other aspects. in summary, the lack of optimistic social support is an important factor affecting the physical health status of university teachers. in order to improve this situation, all sectors of society should strengthen their attention and support for the physical and mental health of university teachers, and provide them with more spiritual comfort and material assistance. at the same time, university teachers should actively seek external support and build a good social network to jointly cope with professional pressure and challenges. 3.3 heavy family burden as an important component of individual life, family has an undeniable impact on the physical health status of university teachers. the following elaborates on these family factors in several aspects: firstly, family burden is one of the important factors affecting the physical health of university teachers. many university teachers, while undertaking heavy teaching and research tasks, also need to take care of family members, especially young children and elderly parents. this dual burden makes it difficult for them to balance work and family, leading to physical and mental exhaustion and a decline in their health. secondly, family relationships are also a key factor affecting the physical health of university teachers. harmonious family relationships can provide emotional support and spiritual comfort for teachers, helping to alleviate work pressure and negative emotions. on the contrary, tense family relationships may bring additional psychological pressure to teachers and even trigger physical and mental illnesses. furthermore, family economic status also has an impact on the physical health of university teachers. teachers under high economic pressure may overwork themselves and neglect their own health conditions in order to make a living. teachers with better economic conditions may be better equipped to pay attention to their own health and adopt an active lifestyle. finally, family habits also have a certain impact on the physical health of university teachers. good family habits, such as a balanced diet, regular sleep, and moderate exercise, can help maintain the physical health of teachers. on the contrary, unhealthy family habits may lead to a decline in teachers’ physical function and an increased risk of illness. in summary, family burden, family relationships, family economic status, and family living habits are all important factors that affect the physical health status of university teachers. in order to improve the health status of teachers, universities and society should pay attention to their family environment, provide them with necessary support and assistance, alleviate family pressure, improve family relationships, and enhance their quality of life. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 120 published by scholink inc. 3.4 high work pressure high work pressure is a significant factor affecting the physical health status of university teachers. this pressure stems from multiple aspects, including multiple responsibilities such as teaching, research, and management, as well as related expectations, requirements, and time constraints. the following is a detailed analysis and explanation of this factor: firstly, the pressure brought by teaching work itself cannot be ignored. college teachers not only need to prepare a large amount of teaching materials, but also constantly update course content to adapt to the development of the discipline. at the same time, they also have to face students with different backgrounds, abilities, and needs to ensure the quality and effectiveness of teaching. these requirements require teachers to maintain a high level of focus and dedication, as prolonged work can easily lead to physical and mental exhaustion. secondly, research tasks are also an important source of work pressure for university teachers. in order to maintain competitiveness in the academic community, teachers need to continuously conduct research, publish papers, and apply for projects. these tasks not only require a significant amount of time and energy investment, but also require teachers to possess innovative abilities and interdisciplinary collaboration skills. this sustained pressure and competitive atmosphere pose a serious threat to the physical and mental health of teachers. in addition, university teachers also bear certain management responsibilities, such as guiding students and participating in the decision-making of the college or school. these responsibilities increase the workload of teachers and also bring additional pressure. especially when dealing with student issues and responding to emergencies, teachers need to have a high degree of adaptability and psychological resilience. finally, it should be pointed out that the impact of high work pressure on the physical health of university teachers is multifaceted. long term exposure to high-intensity work pressure may lead to psychological problems such as anxiety and depression in teachers, which in turn can affect sleep quality and appetite. meanwhile, prolonged work may also lead to physical illnesses such as neck and shoulder pain and decreased vision. therefore, while paying attention to the work pressure of university teachers, it is also necessary to pay attention to its potential impact on physical health. in summary, high work pressure is one of the important factors affecting the physical health status of university teachers. in order to alleviate this pressure and improve the physical and mental health of teachers, universities and society need to take effective measures to reduce the workload of teachers, provide more support and resources, and create a good working environment and atmosphere. 4. optimize the path in response to the above issues and influencing factors, this study proposes the following optimization path: firstly, establish and improve the mental health education system for young university teachers, including regularly conducting mental health lectures and providing psychological counseling services; www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 121 published by scholink inc. the second is to improve the professional development mechanism for young teachers, including establishing a fair academic evaluation system and expanding career development channels; the third is to enhance the social support system, including increasing the social recognition of young teachers and creating a good working and living environment. in addition, attention should be paid to the personal growth needs of young teachers and help them establish positive strategies and ways to cope with stress. 4.1 establish and improve the mental health education system for young university teachers as an important force in higher education, the mental health status of young teachers in universities is directly related to the quality of teaching, research output, and personal career development. therefore, it is crucial to establish and improve the mental health education system for young teachers in universities. the following are logical suggestions on how to construct this system: firstly, establish the core position of mental health education in the training of young teachers in universities. universities should incorporate mental health education into the overall plan for the career development of young teachers, clarifying its importance and necessity. by formulating relevant policies, we ensure that mental health education is closely integrated with vocational training, academic development, and other aspects, forming a comprehensive and systematic support system. secondly, build a diversified mental health education platform. universities should establish online and offline mental health education platforms, including various forms such as psychological counseling centers, mental health lectures, workshops, etc. these platforms should provide targeted training on mental health knowledge and skills to help young teachers enhance their self-regulation abilities and effectively cope with stress in work and life. furthermore, strengthen the construction of professional teaching staff for mental health education. universities should introduce and cultivate mental health education teachers with a background in psychology and practical experience, and establish a high-quality and specialized team. these professionals should be able to provide personalized mental health services and guidance tailored to the characteristics and needs of young teachers. in addition, establish a monitoring and evaluation mechanism for mental health status. by conducting regular mental health surveys and evaluations, we can understand the mental health status and influencing factors of young teachers, and provide a basis for developing targeted intervention measures. at the same time, establish a mental health record to provide timely attention and assistance to teachers with psychological problems. finally, strengthen the practice and application of mental health education. encourage young teachers to apply their learned knowledge and skills in mental health in practical work and life, and improve their self-awareness, emotional management, and stress coping abilities. at the same time, universities should create a good campus cultural atmosphere, pay attention to the growth needs of young teachers, and provide them with necessary support and assistance. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 122 published by scholink inc. in summary, establishing a sound mental health education system for young university teachers requires starting from establishing a core position, building diversified platforms, strengthening the construction of the teaching staff, establishing monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, and enhancing practical applications. through the implementation of these measures, the mental health level of young teachers in universities can be effectively improved, promoting their comprehensive development and professional growth. 4.2 improve the professional development mechanism for young teachers as fresh blood in the higher education system, the career development mechanism of young teachers directly affects their growth rate, teaching quality, and research level. improving the career development mechanism for young teachers is crucial for enhancing the overall competitiveness of universities. the following are logical suggestions on how to improve this mechanism: firstly, establish a systematic vocational training system. universities should provide comprehensive and continuous vocational training for young teachers, covering multiple aspects such as teaching skills, research methods, and cutting-edge knowledge of disciplines. these trainings should be conducted in stages and modules based on the actual needs of teachers, to ensure the pertinence and effectiveness of the training. at the same time, encourage young teachers to participate in academic exchange activities both domestically and internationally, broaden their horizons, and enhance their professional competence. secondly, establish a scientific evaluation system and incentive mechanism. universities should establish a diversified evaluation system, including teaching quality, scientific research achievements, social services, etc., to comprehensively and objectively evaluate the performance of young teachers. on this basis, corresponding incentive mechanisms should be established, such as professional title promotion, bonus distribution, and research resource allocation, to stimulate the enthusiasm and creativity of young teachers. furthermore, strengthen the mentorship system and team building. equipping young teachers with experienced mentors and providing one-on-one guidance and assistance can help them quickly adapt to the work environment and clarify their career goals. at the same time, encourage young teachers to participate in subject teams or research groups, promote communication and cooperation, and create a positive team atmosphere. in addition, pay attention to the personal growth and career planning of young teachers. universities should understand the personal needs and development aspirations of young teachers and provide them with personalized career planning and development advice. through regular career development counseling and guidance, help young teachers recognize their strengths and weaknesses, clarify career goals and development paths. finally, strengthen policy support and resource guarantee. universities should formulate comprehensive policies for the professional development of young teachers, clarifying the responsibilities and obligations of all parties involved. at the same time, increase funding for the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 123 published by scholink inc. professional development of young teachers, provide necessary resources such as venues and facilities to ensure the effective implementation of various measures. in summary, improving the career development mechanism for young teachers requires starting from multiple aspects such as vocational training, evaluation system, incentive mechanism, mentorship system, team building, personal growth planning, as well as policy support and resource guarantee. these measures together form a complete and systematic career development system, which helps promote the rapid growth and comprehensive development of young teachers. 4.3 enhance the social support system as the backbone of the education industry, the mental health status of young teachers not only affects personal development, but also relates to the quality of education and the healthy growth of students. therefore, it is crucial to improve the social support system for the mental health development of young teachers. the following are logical suggestions on how to improve the system: firstly, clarify the role of the social support system in the mental health development of young teachers. the social support system refers to a network composed of multiple entities such as families, schools, communities, and governments, providing psychological, emotional, and material support for young teachers. these supports help alleviate teachers’ professional stress, enhance their psychological resilience, and promote their physical and mental health development. secondly, build a multi-level social support network. the social support system should provide multi-level support to meet the different needs of young teachers. for example, families can provide emotional support and understanding; schools can provide career development guidance, mental health education, and psychological counseling services; communities can organize cultural activities, volunteer services, etc. to enhance teachers’ sense of social belonging; the government can formulate relevant policies to improve the social status and economic benefits of teachers. furthermore, strengthen mental health education and promotion. through media, lectures, training, and other forms, promote knowledge of mental health and enhance young teachers’ understanding and ability to cope with mental health issues. at the same time, promote the importance of mental health, eliminate the stigmatization of psychological problems, and create a social atmosphere that pays attention to mental health and supports psychological development. in addition, establish effective psychological assistance mechanisms. establish timely and effective psychological assistance mechanisms to address potential psychological issues among young teachers. this includes setting up a psychological counseling hotline, establishing a psychological crisis intervention team, providing psychological treatment and rehabilitation services, etc. these mechanisms should ensure that young teachers can receive timely and professional psychological support when needed. finally, strengthen policy guarantees and investment. the government should formulate relevant policies to clarify the responsibilities and obligations of all parties in the mental health support system for young teachers. at the same time, increase investment in mental health services, improve service www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 124 published by scholink inc. quality and coverage. provide strong social support for the mental health development of young teachers through policy guarantees and investment. in summary, improving the social support system for the mental health development of young teachers requires starting from multiple aspects such as clarifying roles, building networks, strengthening education and publicity, establishing assistance mechanisms, and strengthening policy guarantees. these measures together form a complete and systematic social support system, which helps promote the mental health development of young teachers, improve the quality of education, and promote the sustainable development of the education industry. 5. conclusion the optimization of the mental health level of young university teachers is a systematic project that requires comprehensive intervention from multiple dimensions such as organizational, individual, and social support. by establishing a sound mental health education system, improving career development mechanisms, enhancing social support systems, and other measures, the mental health level of young teachers in universities can be effectively improved, thereby promoting their comprehensive development and providing strong guarantees for the improvement of higher education quality. future research can further focus on the differences and causes of mental health among young teachers in different disciplines and regions of universities, in order to provide scientific basis for more targeted optimization paths. fund project sichuan university for nationalities school level scientific research project: research on the psychological health status of young teachers at sichuan university for nationalities (xyzb17003) reference gan, j., & qi, s. (2007). analysis of the psychological health status and influencing factors of middle-aged teachers in universities. journal of inner mongolia normal university (educational science edition), 2007.20 guo, p. p. et al. (2020). survey on the current status of health-promoting lifestyles among young teachers in shanghai universities and related factors. chinese journal of preventive medicine, 21(7). medge. a preliminary exploration of the ways for teachers to implement mental health education. new curriculum (educational academic edition), 2008.5. tao, f. f., & yin, p. (2006). analysis of the mental health status of young teachers in universities and its influencing factors. medicine and society. yang, r. j. (n.d.). theoretical construction and empirical research on the occupational psychological health of chinese university teachers. xi’an. shaanxi normal university. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 109 original paper exploring the interaction of guiyangese dialect and mandarin in daily life through transcription and discourse analysis xiaoduan liu1 1 university of zürich, zürich, switzerland received: april 19, 2024 accepted: may 7, 2024 online published: may 24, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n2p109 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n2p109 abstract although it is easier for people to understand each other and communicate in a fairly complete and standard “official” language, the distinctive culture of a region is in most cases reflected and conveyed by the language spoken by the local people. with the spread of mandarin and the influence of education since the founding of new china, coupled with the negative effects of new media and the internet, guiyang accent is disappearing among young people. the author practiced professor seedhouse’s approach by transcribing and discursively analyzing a video of a family chatting and having a meal in the mountains of guizhou. mutual understanding in cross-cultural communities is not only achieved in educational contexts such as schools, but also in person-to-person interactions. awareness of issues related to bilingualism is naturally raised in everyday life situations. keywords guiyangese, local culture, discourse analysis, bilingual education 1. introduction starting in the 1990s, the language initiation of today’s youth and children of generation z has been overwhelmingly replaced by novel intellectual toys and tremendous videos, and even online games. in addition to the influence of the popularization and universal education of mandarin since the founding of the new china, guiyang dialect has largely changed and evolved amidst overwhelming commercial jingles, lyrics of popular songs and internet expressions. considering the accent of guiyangese is being endangered, it is essential to evaluate the ability of an individual to use the two languages fluently and competently in different contexts, how the two languages interact and influence individuals’ minds and thinking. to realize learners’ full potential as bilingual or multilingual individuals, educators can design effective and encouraging learning environments and teachers can employ a range of instructional strategies, including content and language integrated learning (clil), code-switching, and multilingual www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 110 published by scholink inc. teaching, to support the development of bilingual and multilingual students, playing a significant role in developing supportive and inclusive learning environments for students from diverse linguistic backgrounds. although it is more convenient for people to communicate and understand among one and another with a rather integrated and standard “official” language, specialties and cultures of a region are for most of the time reflected and conveyed by the language that local people speak. based on the sociolinguistic theory which highlights social and cultural context in which language is acquired and used, bilingualism is not simply a matter of linguistic competence but also involves the development of cultural identity, attitudes, and values. the author conducted a transcription and discourse analysis following professor seedhouse’s method, to grasp transcripts of a video of family chats and dinner. in this case, intercultural community, and mutual comprehension are achieved not only under an educational background, for example schools, but also within daily life so that people are naturally raising their awareness of issues related to bilingualism. 2. literature review in this part, literature review will be divided into two parts. one explores historical development and “mandarinization” of guiyangese, and the other will review back to what researchers, seedhouse’s in particular, or people in the academics have done on bilingual education and how they investigate the topic of learning more than one language, either in classes or out of campus. together with the provinces of sichuan and yunnan and parts of hubei, guangxi and hunan, guizhou forms one of the four sub-dialects of the northern dialects: the southwestern dialect. most of guizhou’s dialects are therefore similar to mandarin, which is based on the northern dialects, but there are still many differences between guizhou’s dialects and the northern dialects and southwestern mandarin, and they themselves differ greatly, divided into four categories: the sichuan-guizhou dialects, the southern guizhou dialects, the south-eastern guizhou dialects, and the special dialect islands (chi, 2014). guiyang dialect is rich in the sources of ancient chinese words and has some heritage with other southwestern official dialects. yao hua, a guiyang linguistic scholar in the late qing and early republic of china, wrote a book on qian (short for guizhou province) language which had not been edited and published until 1988, tracing hundreds of guiyang dialect words back to their origins and examining them in details, stating that he had “used the present to prove the ancient and the folk to conquer the opaque writing”, and confirming that the dialect words were mainly derived from historical words, literary words, colloquial words and religious words, i.e. mainly from northern languages. some dialectal words as well as vernacular pronunciations of the dialect reflect the influence on guiyang dialect of the xiang-gan and official dialects spoken in the central plain of china, mainly from immigrants of other sibling provinces in the context of the ming dynasty cantonment system. the languages of qing dynasty, which were used by large-scale immigrants from jiangsu and zhejiang, in turn formed an overlapping coverage of the guiyang dialect (the influence of the jianghuai dialect, however, on the southwestern official dialects of sichuan and other places preceded the ming dynasty) (hongyu & weijun, 2018). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 111 published by scholink inc. therefore, it is important to emphasize that there is a historical level of difference between the high degree of lexical similarity between lower yangtze mandarin and wu dialects and guiyang dialect. according to guiyang folk slangs and anecdotes 2012 in guiyang literary history, children’s opportunities to interact with each other are gradually decreasing. therefore, guiyang nursery rhymes, like their native guiyang dialect, are gradually disappearing. today, the difference between three tones in the northern languages has narrowed, and is not as great as the difference between guiyang and northern languages in the late qing and early ming dynasties. although students are more inclined to talk to each other in their home accent if the lateral speakers know how to express themselves in the accent of guiyangese, it is authoritatively discouraged to speak an accent in classes from the primary to higher educational schools in guizhou province, china. many works have contributed to the understanding of how individuals use language in different settings and the social implications of language use. among one of the notable studies is “conversational analysis and second language pedagogy: a guide for esl/efl teachers”, where wong and waring (2021) analyzed transcripts of classroom interactions and identified patterns of turn-taking, repair, sequencing, and structuring. their findings show how ca findings can aid in raising language teachers’ awareness of spoken language and offer strategies for utilizing that information while instructing second language interaction skills. there is also a significant contribution of gavin brookes and daniel hunt’s editing and evaluation work (2021) which can be summarized as a multimodal discourse analysis related to human health. using discourse and multimodal analysis, the research examined how doctors and patients use language, gesture, and other forms of communication to establish and negotiate individual feelings and authoritative regulations. it clarifies that the combination of micro and macro perspectives in discourse analysis is beneficial because it enables in-depth analysis of minor linguistic components in texts while considering their importance in relation to more general societal issues like power and social structures. to estimate the meaning of lexical and grammatical choices in texts in a wider context, this multimodal discourse approach entails a thorough and methodical investigation of those choices. despite these previous research and discussion, professor seedhouse’s research methods on transcript analysis focus on using conversation analysis and discourse analysis to investigate the relationship between pedagogy and interaction in different l2 classroom contexts. in 2004, for example, professor seedhouse explored discourse analysis in “the interactional architecture of the language classroom: a conversation analysis perspective”. in this study, he examined the ways in which teachers and students use language to create a particular classroom culture. through discourse analysis, he identified various communicative practices and how they contribute to the construction of power relations between teachers and students. the following is the table which explains speaker abbreviations and conversation-analytic notational symbols (seedhouse, 2004) used in the classroom transcript, enabling readers to interpret features such as overlap, pauses, intonation, volume, and paralinguistic cues in the analysis of theory of mind and gaze. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 112 published by scholink inc. graph 1. theory of mind and gaze annotations although a significant difference exists between english and chinese, seedhouse’s approach is particularly worthy of consideration for my research on guiyang accent usage. it provides a valuable framework and insight for transforming visual data into textual analysis, thereby enabling the assessment of both verbal and nonverbal signals. 3. research methods in previous discourse analysis studies, language is usually the main object. however, images, sounds, animations, human interaction as well as other meaningful expressions have been neglected by researchers. an online video is a form of multimodal discourse, which requires viewers to focus simultaneously on the plot, sound, subtitles, etc. compared with traditional text translation, transcription involves multiple modalities. the multimodal analysis (elf, 2019) is a study that incorporates the nonverbal symbols used by humans into the process of meaningful communication, including images, actions, eyes, and gestures, while paying attention to the relationship between verbal and non-verbal symbols (jewitt, 2009). therefore, multimodal discourse analysis methods can be operated to analyze audio and video in bilingual environments. in seedhouse’s book of 2004, he also explicates that conversation analysis is a suitable methodology for applied linguists and its actual object of study is the interactional organization of social activities. the purpose of this research is to investigate the development and learning of the modern guiyang accent in daily life, specifically focusing on the role of conversation in key of abbreviations key of notational symbols (seedhouse, 2004) t: teacher l: unidentified learner l1: identified learner 1 ll: several or all learners simultaneously audio: audio recording : preceding vowel sound is lengthened [[ utterances starting simultaneously [ overlapping utterances that continue [ ] overlapping utterances ending at the right-hand bracket = contiguous utterances or same speaker continuation (0.5) timed pauses greater than .5 second (.) brief, untimed pauses  .5 second stuttered utterances (( )) paralinguistic features utterance quiet utterance utterance loud utterance utterance slower utterance ? rising inflection  marked rise or fall in intonation on following utterance (hhh) inhalation www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 113 published by scholink inc. this process. the theoretical framework for this study will be based on seedhouse’s conversation analysis, which emphasizes the importance of studying the interactional and multimodal context in which language is utilized and learned. data collection will involve downloading recorded videos and transcribing naturally occurring conversations between guiyang natives in various settings, such as home, the countryside, outside kitchens, and social events. the conversations will be studied using seedhouse’s conversation analysis, which involves examining the sequential organization of talk, the usage of linguistic features, and the social actions and meanings that are constructed through conversation. the video chose for the research is an open-access toutiao video. researchers can access the video at any time and from anywhere thanks to the internet. there are no sensitive contents, for example, a teenager talking about mental health. the video has reached 56 thousand views by april 6, 2023, of which the account has 77 thousand subscribers. the names applied in the video of the characters are all pseudonyms and there are no completed ones, either of which applied fang as the auntie’s first name and the other added the young man’s last name wang following little. nick names appear in the video for the young mother and the child, lele and pudding. research questions include the following, for example, how the current younger generation think and speak in their own accent rather than mandarin; how mandarin influences the pronunciation of local guiyangese; what’s the difference when people are speaking in guiyangese accent and when people are speaking in mandarin; why the young woman in the video laugh at the man when he is learning to speak the accent; is there any changes of auntie fang’s personalities when she is chatting, teaching and speaking to herself in different languages? to wit, the collected data will be analyzed thematically to identify patterns and themes related to the development and learning of the guiyang accent in daily life. the findings of the study will contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of conversation in language learning and the cultural and social factors that shape the development of regional accents in southwestern china. in details, how were the data transcribed? for the video is multilingual, the author will include both languages in the videoclip, i.e., mandarin and guiyang accent, using those conventional scripts, and the english translation after each line of transcription. consecutive numbering for the line numbers can enable reference to specific text easily for later discussion in the fourth part of the essay. seedhouse’s conversation analysis methodology (2004) as the basis, some of the notational symbols prepared specifically for the vowel sound in english are removed such as “:”, indicating that the preceding vowel sound is lengthened, but theories of mind information are retained such as gaze, pointing, language, etc. considering that the video has undergone post-processing, there is no sound that is louder or smaller, the quiet utterance utterance and utterance expressing loud utterance are also removed. pinyin notes (ā á ǎ à) are made use of to study the phonological difference between mandarin and guiyangese. word expressions unique to guiyang dialect are marked in bold and underlined sentences possess unique www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 114 published by scholink inc. structural sequence of guiyang dialect. bgm is to indicate the background music to distinguish the setting and scenes in double brackets. (see graph 2) key of abbreviations key of notational symbols (seedhouse, 2004) af: antie fang lw: little wang ll: lele [[ utterances starting simultaneously [ overlapping utterances that continue [ ] overlapping utterances ending at the right-hand bracket = contiguous utterances or same speaker continuation (0.5) timed pauses greater than .5 second (.) brief, untimed pauses  .5 second stuttered utterances 安逸 accentual word and expressions 鬼针草就倒下去了 accentual sentence structures ? rising inflection  marked rise or fall in intonation on following utterance (hhh) inhalation (( )) scenes & environments bgm background music graph 2. adapted theory of mind and gaze annotations as guiyang accent has been greatly influenced by the official education mainly carried in mandarin, it is significant to transcribe recorded videos into a written form that can be utilized to examine a specific phenomenon or event at its most basic level (duranti, 2006). overall, it is now a part of the process that is chiefly accepted by qualitative researchers. seeing how their own prejudices and presumptions might affect the research process and conclusions, qualitative researchers also place a high value on selfreflection and awareness. the transcription method employed to gather and analyze data prioritizes understanding the perspectives of the participants and complex social phenomena, rather than trying to quantify or measure specific variables. moreover, research methods on transcript analysis are believed to provide valuable insights into the ways in which individuals employ language in different contexts. the usage of conversation analysis and discourse analysis highlight the importance of understanding the social and cultural implications of language exploitation and how they shape interactions between individuals. 4. results and discussion www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 115 published by scholink inc. in the following, as planned, the interaction and influence of guiyang dialect and mandarin will be explored in the context of an integrated micro society, through a transcription and discourse analysis, from three aspects including the linguistics, the content of dialogues, and the local culture. on a linguistic level, i will firstly make a comparison between guiyang dialect and mandarin, in terms of phonology. we can find that the old guiyang dialect is characterized by the absence of articulation with /y/ as a medial or main vowel, rhotacized final, light tone, and zigzag tones, and retains some of the rhyme of the ancient time in simple or compound vowels of a modern chinese syllable. the very typical one is the questioning sentence of “where are you going?”. in mandarin, the standard pronunciation is qù nǎ lǐ by pinyin. in the video from line 2-11 under the scene of fields of corn, auntie fang tries to teach little wang how to talk to a girl he finds beautiful. while in mandarin, the verb “go” is pronounced as qù, in the guiyangese accent, people speak kiè, with both a different consonant (韵母) and winding double vowels (声母). yao hua’s final conclusion that guiyangese was learned in the north is in line with existing linguistic facts of the transcripted video. he wrote in his book (1988) that the transfer of the northern declension to guiyangese is partly due to the variation of the entry voice and the second tone. besides, in guiyangese dialect, the phenomenon of variation due to diphonic shift is common, resulting in the pronunciation difference from that of the northern dialect. one example is “cī” for “深 (stretch)”, but not “shēn” in mandarin. another example form the video, under the scene of wild field in front of polygonum multiflorum, line one underlines a sentence with “支个(zī guò)” included, which is a guiyangese version of the official mandarin word “这个(zhè ge)” referring to “this one” in english. in addition, qianyu by yao hua also mentioned a law of the development and change of guiyang dialect phonology: stress changes. some repeated characters change their pronunciation slightly. for example, “人人” which means people in english is pronounced rén rēn in guiyangese while in mandarin, it is pronounced rén rén. after auntie wang and little wang finished picking up vegetables in the wild, they go back home and get ready to prepare ingredients for cooked foods. lele assists in lighting a fire, she makes self-deprecating jokes with the word “老者” (pronunciation: lǎo zhě in mandarin pinyin, while lāo ziè in guiyangese with a falling tone) (on line 1), which is another guiyangese dialectal word meaning “an elderly”. as for the content, vocabulary and word expressions are two major components of a language. a few guiyangese words are dialectal, although most of these dialectal words have been shaped by the impact of northern languages since the ancient time. there are two representative dialectal words “安逸 (ān yì)” and “巴适 (bā shì)” appearing in the video when auntie fang and little wang are eating and chatting on the dining table in the last two scenarios. the two words are mostly spoken in modern times by people in sichuan, chongqing, and guizhou province, basically meaning comfortable, not ill, tasty of food. in the opposite contexts, however, “安逸(ān yì)” is more ironic and dissatisfied and can be used to measure a negative situation, and “巴适(bā shì)” contains a kind of envy. for example, someone breaks his or her legs because of careless falling. he or she would say, “痛安逸了” in which “痛” is the verb aches, “了” helps indicate a past tense. most of guiyangese vocabulary is included within the common ethnic https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%c4%81ny%c3%ac https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%c4%81ny%c3%ac www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 116 published by scholink inc. language, which is the same as northern languages. guiyang dialects often use rhyming couplets originated from yuan qu, a type of classical poetry form of yuan dynasty. for example, when auntie fang is leading little wang to pinch fresh tops of the fallopian multiflora, her word is “嫩尖尖” in which the latter two characters reduplicate to shape rhymes, and to sound gentle to a child. in addition, qianyu by yao hua also mentioned that guiyang language is created based on the appearance of entities. for example, a thread (“线”) is drawn out (“抽”) at the beginning of a wedding. this modern guiyangese combined word “抽线” can also be used to describe that the seedlings will bloom only after they grow tall and slim like a thread. overall, the guiyang dialect still has several distinctive dialectal words with guiyang characteristics, albeit steadily weakening over the evolution process. these terms continue to be used often in language communication among the guiyang people, even though they can only be roughly spoken in chinese pinyin and cannot be written in an appropriate dialectual characters. only the elderly know better the dialect but how the younger generation express themselves are greatly affected by official mandarin. even though little wang shows respect and spares no efforts to learning guiyangese, he has no other choices but politely smiles when auntie fang continues to put out the accentual words. auntie fang, on the contrary, also expresses her discomfort speaking in standard mandarin. according to mei, jin (1997), guiyangese and mandarin have relatively similar word orders and dummy word usage, which makes their grammatical systems very consistent. there are distinctive dialectal sentence structures only applied in guiyangese, though. for instance, in the wild field in front of polygonum multiflora, auntie wang tells little wang that the herbs picked can be mixed to make a cold salad. the chinese term “凉拌” can be translated into english as “cold tossed” or “cold mixed”. it refers to a type of dish in chinese cuisine where ingredients such as vegetables, noodles, or meat are mixed with a cold dressing or sauce and served chilled. the underlined sentences are: “凉拌都可以吃咯” and “你都凉拌” among which the single character “都” (pronounced as dōu/dū in mandarin while as dòu in guiyangese) functions as different structural links in guiyang accent. the former usage of “都” between “凉拌”(cold serve) and “可以吃”(can eat) is to indicate a finished action, while the latter “都” is to emphasize or for “only”. in mandarin, this functional character is more likely to be replaced by “就”, for reference, one sentence spoken by auntie fang in line 4 in the courtyard. she is attempting to speak in a more official way. similarly, lele teaches her baby boy even though she can speak in guiyang accent, knowing that one day her boy will be supposed to speak mandarin at school. culturally and socially speaking, language and accent is a manifestation and to some degree a synthesizer of regional environments and local people. compared with the geographical background of sichuan basin, guiyang city is in a plain plateau around mountains. people live by mountains and therefore gain local names for special herbs from the nature. in the video, auntie fang takes little wang to hangout in spring in woods, talking about “鬼针草”(bidens pilosa) and “恶鬼草”(ageratina adenophora). unlike “何首乌” (fallopian multiflora) which grows in the east of china, “鬼针草” and “恶鬼草” are therefore unique to the region. normally in ancient chinese agricultural culture especially in the central plain or www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 117 published by scholink inc. in the north where mandarin is originally born, parents are more expecting their daughters-in-law to give birth to boys rather than girls. however, in the southwest of china, females stand in a higher social status. when it comes to accentual languages, for example, when a sichuanese wife complain about her husband’s laziness, she will say “你才安逸诶，一天到晚窝在那不做事，跟个大爷一样。(you are so 安逸 ān yì, doing nothing all the day like an old man)”. things go in the same way in the video from which we can tell auntie fang is a feisty and very capable woman, for example, attempting to teach guiyangese to little wang; lele, too, is skillful in her work and jokes as she starts working on the fire for boiling water, “today i’m going to be the old fireman.” (see line 1 of the courtyard washing). 5. conclusion this transcription and discourse study gives readers not only a thorough comprehension of the phenomenon of bilingualism between guiyangese and mandarin, but also useful bilingual abilities that they can apply in their everyday lives. the findings shed light on the importance of understanding the complex interactions that occur between mother and daughter-in-law, between local guiyang citizen and visitors from out of the province. guiyang, the capital of guizhou province, is a representative of the sichuan-guizhou dialect region’s center area, serving as the province’s political, economic, and cultural hub since the yuan dynasty. as one of the chinese dialects spoken in guizhou, guiyang accent was formed under the influence of many more elements than surrounding dialects and has developed its own linguistic characteristics due to its mountainous geographical environment and historical factors. drew and heritage (1992, p. 26) suggest that each institutional form of interaction have its own unique fingerprint, “comprised of a set of interactional practices differentiating (it) both from other institutional forms and from the baseline of mundane conversational interaction itself.” although the relationship among characters in the video cannot directly be related to and defined as a professional institution but their living style of being a family and somehow a way of teaching and learning in classes form its unique combining pedagogical and home interactivities. although little wang in this video has no legally forced confirmed kinship with auntie fang, she regards him as her boy, giving plenty of care and love, while sometimes tell jokes to avoid embarrassing and boring situations. the interconnection between mom lele and her little baby is also another interesting “inner institution”, which contains lateral expectation and regards from exchanging words and body languages. from the perspective of the nation’s educational ministry, the public should obligatorily learn to speak and write well in mandarin, while from the perspective of preserving local cultures, people are not anticipated to forget a regional dialect. as it emphasises the value of utilising all available linguistic resources for communication, educators who promote the language development of multilingual kids, those who are bilingual or multilingual and who are eager to learn more about language acquisition, should aim to achieve the following objective: comprehend the concept of translanguage, and put those principles into effect in bilingual and multilingual communication. in the context of this essay, that is, to understand differences of mandarin and guiyangese, and put ideas into action in life, formally or casually. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%c4%81ny%c3%ac www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 118 published by scholink inc. references brookes, & hunt, d. (ed.). (2021). analyzing health communication: discourse approaches. london: palgrave macmillan. chen, c. (2014). exploration of the old-school guiyang speech system. science and technology outlook, 15, 173-174. drew, p., & heritage, j. (ed.). (1992). talk at work: interaction in institutional settings. cambridge: cambridge university press. duranti, a. (2006). transcripts, like shadows on a wall. mind, culture, and activity, 13(4), 301-310. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327884mca1304_3 zhou, e. (2019). subtitle translation of the hobbit based on multimodal discourse analysis. journal of jiangxi electric power vocational and technical college, 10, 119-120. gee, j. p. (2014). an introduction to discourse analysis: theory and method. routledge. jewitt, c. (2009). the routledge handbook of multimodal analysis. london: routledge. guiyang folk slangs and anecdotes. (2012). valuable guiyang nursery rhymes collected. guiyang literary history, 6, 80-82. hongyu, s & weijun, wu. (2018). an examination of words of ancient origin in yao hua’s qian language. journal of wuling, 43(2), 126-131. https://doi.org/10.16514/j.cnki.cn431506/c.2018.02.019 yao, h., & deng, j. k. (ed.). (1988). shu shi. guiyang: guizhou people’s publishing house. mei, j. (1997). historical causes of the similarities and differences between guiyang and mandarin. guizhou literature and history classics, 5, 70-75. seedhouse, p. (2004). appendix one: transcription conventions. language learning special issue, 54, 267-269. seedhouse. (2004). conversation analysis methodology. language learning, 54(s1), 1-54. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2004.00268.x seedhouse, p. (2004). the interactional architecture of the language classroom: a conversation analysis perspective. malden, ma: blackwell. wong, & waring, h. z. (2021). conversation analysis and second language pedagogy a guide for esl/efl teachers (2nd ed.). routledge, taylor & francis group. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327884mca1304_3 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 119 published by scholink inc. appendices 芳阿姨教小王说贵州话，笑到肚子痛，你们会说几个地方的方言（4min45） auntie fang taught little wang to speak guizhou accent, laugh until your stomach hurts, how many dialects would you speak? https://www.toutiao.com/video/6980342348567806495/?log_from=401cc036a922c_1680787380777 theory of mind information: gaze, pointing, language… ((wild field, walking)) hilarious bgm 1. 芳阿姨 af: 等下我教你讲我们贵州话哈 i will later teach you how to speak our guiyangese 2. 小王 lw: 要得 no problem 3. 芳阿姨 af: 看你听得懂听不懂啊 let we see if you understand or not 4. 小王 lw: 听得懂 i understand 5. 芳阿姨 af: 好嘞 ok. ((wild field, close-up)) hilarious bgm 1. 芳阿姨 af: 哟，这里发现一大棵 yo, i find a bidens pilosa here 2. 小王 lw: 一大窝 a large branch 3. 芳阿姨 af: 在这里 here 4. 小王 lw: 一大窝什么? a large branch of what? 5. 芳阿姨 af: 鬼针草  guǐ zhēn cáo 讲我们贵州话 black jack, please speak guizhou accent 6. 芳阿姨 af: 鬼针草  guǐ zhēn cǎo 小王跟在对周围环境比较熟悉 的芳阿姨身后。 little wang walked after antie fang who is more familiar with the surrounding. 芳阿姨看了小王一眼。 antie fang has a glance of little wang. 小王被植被吸引，与芳阿姨没有 眼神交流。 little wang is attracted by the vegetation and does not make eye contact with aunt fang. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 120 published by scholink inc. black jack 7. 小王 lw: 鬼针草 guǐ zhēn cǎo black jack 8. 芳阿姨 af: 还有恶鬼叉 è guǐ chā and ageratina adenophora 9. 小王 lw: 恶鬼草？è guǐ cǎo？ ageratina adenophora? 10. 芳阿姨 af: 恶鬼叉 chā = mexican devil 11. 小王 lw: 恶鬼叉 chā  hhh mexican devil 12. 芳阿姨 af: [hhhh] mexican devil 13. 小王 lw: 恶鬼叉 chā = mexican devil 14. 芳阿姨 af: 恶鬼叉 mexican devil ((fields of corn)) hilarious bgm 1. 小王 lw: 要是我找到一个贵州的女朋友，我怎么跟她打 招呼啊? how can i say hello to a girlfriend from guizhou? 2. 芳阿姨 af: 你就说，美女啊，你要克哪逮 kè nǎ dǎi? you can say, beautie, where are you going? 3. 小王 lw: 我都说：美女啊，你要去哪里 qù nǎ lǐ i say, beautie, where are you going? 4. 芳阿姨 af: (笑.) 如果用我们贵州话就是：美女，你要克 哪点 kiè nǎ diǎn? (smile.) speaking in guizhou accent, that is, beautie, where are you going? 5. 小王 lw: [ 美女你要去哪逮 qù nǎ dǎi [ beautie, where are you going? 6. 芳阿姨 af: 噢，讲我们贵州话就，美女你要切哪点？kiè nǎ diǎn oh, in guizhou accent, where are you going, beautie? 小王看着芳阿姨提问。 little wang raised questions, looking at antie fang. 芳阿姨笑。 antie fang smiles and answers. 芳阿姨看着小王进行教学。 antie fang looks at little wang and teaches. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 121 published by scholink inc. 7. 小王 lw: [ 美女你要去哪逮 [ beautie, where are you going? 8. 芳阿姨 af: 去  qiù go 9. 小王 lw: 去  qiù go 10. 芳阿姨 af [[hahahah]] 11. 小王 lw: 去哪逮 qiù nǎ dǎi? where to go? 12. 芳阿姨 af [[hahahah]]== 13. 小王 lw [[hahahah]] ((wild field, in front of polygonum multiflorum)) 1. 芳阿姨 af: 乐乐最爱吃嘞支个 lēi zī guò，何首乌 this is lele’s favorite, fallopia multiflora 2. 芳阿姨 af: 我们摘一点回家去 we can pick some home 3. 小王 lw: 河水乌 fallopia multiflora ((wild field, mid-range view)) 4. 小王 lw: 我们现在就掐着这个什么 we are now pinching this 5. 芳阿姨 af: [[掐这个嫩尖尖 [[pinch the fresh top of this tuber fleece flower 6. 小王 lw: 嫩尖尖，这个什么乌的嫩尖尖 fresh top, the fresh top of this fallop… 7. 芳阿姨 af: [[嗯…]]] [[yeah…]] 8. 芳阿姨 af: 这个是掐点(.)我们贵州就说，凉拌 liǎng bàn  why we pinch the tuber fleece flower, in guizou, is to make a cold-mixed salad 9. 小王 lw: 凉拌 liǎng bàn a cold-mixed dish 10. 芳阿姨 af: [凉拌 liǎng bàn a cold-mixed dish 小王看着芳阿姨提问。 little wang looks at antie fang and questions. 芳阿姨指着目标食物并进行动 作示范。 aunt fang points to the target food and demonstrates the pinching action. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 122 published by scholink inc. 11. 小王 lw: 凉拌 liáng bàn a cold-mixed dish 12. 芳阿姨 af: 凉拌都可以吃咯 liǎng bàn cold-mixing vegetables to make a dish 13. 小王 lw: 凉拌就可以吃了 liáng bàn a dish is made by cold tossing vegetables 14. 芳阿姨 af: 你不讲普通话，你都凉拌 ～ no mandarin, you speak: liǎng bàn～ 15. 小王 lw: 凉拌== liǎng bàn 16. 芳阿姨 af [[hahahah]]== ((fields of corn)) natural bgm 1. 芳阿姨 af: 走咯，回家去煮饭吃去喽 go, back home and make dinner 2. 小王 lw: 好走喽回家去煮饭，去吃喽 go, back home and make dinner 3. 芳阿姨 af: 走咯 go, go, go 4. 小王 lw: 走咯 go, go, go ((courtyard)) ((water flowing, washing vegetables)) 1. 乐乐 ll: 今天我要当烧火老者了 today i am going to be a fireman. 2. 芳阿姨 af: 水冒了，倒一勺油 the water is boiling, so it’s time to add a spoon of oil 3. 芳阿姨 af: 然后放一勺盐 then a spoon of salt 4. 芳阿姨 af: 鬼针草就倒下去了 pour the black jack into the pot peaceful bgm 5. 芳阿姨 af: 煮熟了把它捞出来 take it out after cooking 芳阿姨看向远处。 aunt fang looks into the distance. 小王皱眉。 xiao wang frowns. 芳阿姨和小王各自在摘菜。 aunt fang and xiao wang are separately picking vegetables. 小王非常认真。 little wang takes his work very seriously. 乐乐看向镜头。 lele looks into the camera. 芳阿姨很随意地加了盐。盐被洒 在了炒勺上。 aunt fang adds salt casually. salt is sprinkled on the frying spoon. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 123 published by scholink inc. 6. 芳阿姨 af: 放点冷水把它洗干净，捏干 rinse it in cold water and squeeze it dry ((cutting board, food processing table)) 7. 芳阿姨 af: 这回把我们鬼针草拿切碎 let’s chop the black jack this time 8. 芳阿姨 af: 切碎 chop it up 9. 芳阿姨 af: 鬼针草搂在碗里 put it in a bowl 10. 芳阿姨 af: 放一勺盐吧 bā put a spoonful of salt 11. 芳阿姨 af: 然后放蒜末 then put minced garlic 12. 芳阿姨 af: 又加小米辣 bird eye chillies are added 13. 芳阿姨 af: 加一点鸡精 add a little chicken essence 14. 芳阿姨 af: 加点酱油 add some soy sauce 15. 芳阿姨 af: 油把它泼过 oil poured over it ((courtyard)) 16. 芳阿姨 af: 把它抬起来，搅拌均匀就开吃了 lift it up, stir well and eat 17. 芳阿姨 af: 我们一道鬼针草的凉菜 we now have a cold dish of bidens pilosa 18. 芳阿姨 af: 都 dòu 是这么简单 that’s all that simple ((courtyard, on the dining table)) peaceful bgm 1. 芳阿姨 af: 安不安逸啊? comfortable or not? 2. 小王 lw: 安逸安逸 easy, cozy, i feel relaxed 3. 小王 lw: [[安逸 ān yì 芳阿姨双手皆带有手镯，右手无 名指和小指有指环。左手上的装 饰物非银质，更多为保佑平安。 auntie fang wears bracelets on both hands, and rings on her right ring finger and little finger. the decoration on the left hand is not made from silver, more for blessing and peace. 中式大刀用于切菜。 a chinese knife is used to cut. 中式现代瓷碗用于装菜。 a modern chinese bowl is used to carry vegetables. 芳阿姨看了小王两眼。 aunt fang looks at xiao wang twice. 小王忙点头回答。 xiao wang quickly nods and answers. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 124 published by scholink inc. 4. 芳阿姨 af: 你讲我们贵州话，安逸  you speak our guizhou accent, ān yì  5. 小王 lw: 安逸 ān yì 6. 芳阿姨 af: [[安 ān  7. 小王 lw: 安 ān 8. 小王 lw: 安 ān [smile] 9. 芳阿姨 af [smile] == 10. 芳阿姨 af: 是讲安 it’s about 安 ān 11. 小王 lw: 就是安，安 it is 安 ān, ān 12. 芳阿姨 af: 乐乐，你讲句给他听一下，就讲安逸 lele, tell him a few words, and just talk about ān yì 13. 芳阿姨 af: 他听不懂 he can’t understand 14. 乐乐 ll: [laughs] 我讲得也不好 i didn’t speak well either 15. 乐乐 ll: 安 ān 逸 yǐ ～安 āng 逸 yì  16. 乐乐 ll: 他们讲的不是安，是安，安逸 what they talk about is not ān, but ānn, ān yì. 17. 小王 lw: [[安，安逸]] [[安 ān，安逸 ān yì]] 18. 芳阿姨 af: 安 ān 19. 小王 lw: 安逸 ān yì  20. 乐乐 ll: 诶，我都要（被）带偏了 hey, i'm going to (be) led astray 21. 小王 lw: [laugh] 安逸 ān yì 22. 芳阿姨 af: 安逸 ān yì  23. 乐乐 ll: 安逸～ān yì ～ 24. 小王 lw: 安逸 ān yì 25. 乐乐 ll: [burst out laughs] 26. 小王 lw: 就安逸 just be “cozy” 27. 乐乐 ll: 说得太搞笑了 that’s too funny 28. 芳阿姨 af: [smile] 芳阿姨夹起一筷子菜，看向小 王，定住。 aunt fang picks up a chopstick of dish, turning to xiao wang and gazing. 小王夹菜到一半，撇了芳阿姨一 眼，用餐。 with xiao wang's vegetables hanging in the air, he glances at aunt fang, answers, and eats. 芳阿姨和小王都笑了。 auntie fang and xiao wang both laugh. 芳阿姨看着乐乐。 auntie fang looks at lele. 芳阿姨看向小王。 auntie fang looks at little wang. 乐乐低头吃饭。 lele lowers her head and eat. 乐乐眼神下视，捂嘴吞咽，看向 芳阿姨。 lele looks down, covers her mouth, swallowing, and looks at aunt fang. 芳阿姨和小王互动。 antie fang dyadic with little wang. 芳阿姨、乐乐和小王互动。 antie fang, lele triadic with little wang. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 125 published by scholink inc. 29. 小王 lw (吃了一口饭): 听不懂 (takes a bite of rice): i don’t understand ((child on a highchair)) 1. 乐乐 ll: 快吃布丁 quickly, pudding 2. 乐乐 ll: 快自己舀着吃 hurry up and eat by yourself 3. 乐乐 ll: 噢妈妈不吃 oh, mom won’t eat ((pudding giving a spoon of foods)) 4. 乐乐 ll ((pretend to have a bite)): 好妈妈吃，谢谢啊 good, mom eat, thank you 5. 乐乐 ll: 谢谢宝贝 thank you baby 6. 乐乐 ll: 喂妈妈吃对不对 mom eats, right? ((pudding giving a spoon of foods)) 7. 乐乐 ll: 噢好好((pretend to have another bite)) 吃完了， 挺好吃 ok ok, finished, it’s delicious ((courtyard, on the dining table)) 1. 芳阿姨 af: 你们那边有没有 do you have any in your hometown? 2. 小王 lw: 没有 no 3. 小王 lw: 没有这个 no wild vegetables like this 4. 小王 lw: 我们地里面，菜能吃的很少，都是草 in our field, there are very few edible vegetables, all of which are grass 5. 芳阿姨 af: 哪种草啊 in our field, there are very few edible vegetables, all of which are grass 6. 小王 lw(.): 我不认识 i don’t know 布丁手拿着勺子。 pudding holds a spoon with his right hand. 布丁和乐乐妈互动。 pudding dyadic with mom lele. 芳阿姨、小王夹菜。 auntie fang and little wang picks vegetables on the table. 乐乐照顾孩子。 lele takes after the baby. 芳阿姨看向小王。 auntie fang looks at little wang. 小王回看芳阿姨。 little wang politely looks back to auntie fang. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 126 published by scholink inc. 7. 芳阿姨 af: 你不认识 you don’t know 8. 小王 lw: 对我不认识，但我知道能吃的少，不像这边什 么草都能吃 i don’t know names, but i know that we eat less, unlike here, people eat all kinds of grass 9. 芳阿姨 af: 我们贵州什么草都可以吃啊 we eat any “grass” in guizhou ((eating)) 10. 芳阿姨 af: 现在小王到我家，我的普通话都进步咯，多 少咯 now that little wang has come to my house, my mandarin has improved, a lot ((questioning??)) 11. 乐乐 ll: [burst out laughs] 12. 芳阿姨 af: 欧 oh  13. 小王 lw: [burst out laughs] 14. 芳阿姨 af: 然后还有点讲的 then there is something i can talk about in mandarin 15. 小王 lw: [[laughing]] 16. 芳阿姨 af: 但是有点不巴适，你都听得懂啊 but i feel a little uncomfortable, you can understand 17. 小王 lw: [[nodding]] emm 巴适 bā shì emm bā shì 18. 芳阿姨 af: [burst out laughs] 19. 小王 lw: 巴适  hhhh 20. 芳阿姨 af: hhhh 芳阿姨皱眉。 auntie fang frowns. 小王一边夹菜一边回答。 xiao wang answers while picking up vegetables. 芳阿姨看着碗里的饭菜。 aunt fang looks at the food in the bowl. 芳阿姨和小王互动。 auntie fang dyadic with little wang. 芳阿姨看向小王。 auntie fang looks at little wang. 小王看了一眼乐乐。 little wang has a glance of lele. https://www.toutiao.com/video/6980342348567806495/?log_from=401cc036a922c_1680787380777 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 31 original paper enhancing ielts speaking skills through blended learning: a pedagogical action research thi kieu anh nguyen1 1 department of foreign languages, trade union university, hanoi, vietnam * thi kieu anh nguyen, email: kieuanhnt@dhcd.edu.vn received: november 24, 2023 accepted: december 19, 2023 online published: january 8, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p31 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p31 abstract this pedagogical action research aimed to assess the impact of a blended learning approach on improving ielts speaking skills among students. traditional teaching methods in ielts courses often faced limitations regarding insufficient practice time, inadequate feedback, and a lack of community and interactivity among students. results indicated a significant improvement in participants’ speaking performance based on pre-test and post-test scores. the blended learning environment garnered positive feedback from most participants, enhancing engagement, interaction, and satisfaction levels. however, challenges with asynchronous online feedback surfaced, signaling areas for refinement. this study underscores the value of blended learning in overcoming traditional teaching limitations, offering insights into its potential for fostering improved ielts speaking skills through enhanced engagement and comprehensive feedback mechanisms. keywords blended learning, ielts speaking skills, pedagogical action research, student engagement, feedback mechanisms 1. introduction the mastery of speaking skills holds a pivotal place in language education, especially concerning assessments like the international english language testing system (ielts). proficiency in spoken english is not only an essential communication tool but also a crucial determinant in achieving academic and professional goals, making it a cornerstone of language education. within the context of ielts, where language competency is evaluated across various aspects, the speaking component stands as a significant determinant of language fluency, coherence and communicative effectiveness. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 32 published by scholink inc. however, traditional teaching methods employed in ielts courses often encounter inherent limitations in adequately nurturing and evaluating speaking skills. one prevalent issue lies in the restricted time allocated for students to engage in meaningful practice, reflection, and interaction during speaking lessons. limited opportunities for students to exchange thoughts, receive comprehensive feedback, and engage in reflective practices with both teachers and peers contribute to dissatisfaction and hindered skill development. furthermore, the lack of a strong sense of community and interactivity among students within ielts classes poses a considerable challenge to fostering a conducive learning environment for spoken english proficiency. to combat these challenges, blended learning emerges as a promising pedagogical approach in language education. blended learning, the amalgamation of traditional face-to-face instruction with online learning elements, presents an innovative avenue to address the shortcomings of conventional teaching methodologies. by integrating digital platforms and online activities, blended learning endeavors to offer a dynamic and comprehensive learning experience that extends beyond the limitations of the physical classroom. the incorporation of online tools and resources allows for increased engagement, asynchronous interaction, and the provision of additional learning materials, enabling a more personalized and holistic learning environment. this research aims to delve into the realm of blended learning specifically tailored to enhance ielts speaking skills. the primary objectives revolve around designing and implementing a blended ielts speaking course within an on-ground ielts class. through this course, the study aims to gauge the effectiveness of the blended learning model in improving the overall course efficacy and enhancing students’ ielts speaking performance. furthermore, the research endeavors to evaluate the satisfaction levels of students regarding the course’s impact on their speaking abilities. by delving into the realm of blended learning in the context of ielts speaking skills, this study seeks to contribute meaningful insights into the potential of innovative pedagogical approaches. it aims to bridge the gaps observed in traditional teaching methodologies, offering a pathway to not only elevate language proficiency but also enrich the overall learning experience within ielts education. 2. methodology the methodology employed in this study centers around a pedagogical action research design, aiming to actively engage in the process of improving teaching practices and educational outcomes within the context of ielts speaking skills. this approach involves a systematic inquiry into teaching and learning practices, with a focus on enhancing the effectiveness of the blended learning model in an on-ground ielts speaking course. the blended learning model integrated into the ielts speaking course is a strategic combination of traditional face-to-face instruction and online learning elements. the course structure entails students meeting face-to-face every two weeks for two-hour sessions within a physical classroom. the remaining course activities are conducted online through a dedicated platform. these online components encompass www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 33 published by scholink inc. various instructional activities, such as discussion boards, audio recording assignments, and interactive tasks related to ielts speaking topics. the participant demographic comprises 30 elt (english language teaching) students enrolled in a 16week ielts course at the institute of equest education in hanoi, vietnam. the course duration allows for a comprehensive exploration of the effectiveness of the blended learning model in enhancing ielts speaking skills within a substantial timeframe. the participants’ experiences and perspectives form the central focus of the research, facilitating a thorough assessment of their satisfaction levels and performance improvements. data collection methods encompass a multifaceted approach to gather comprehensive insights. these methods include participant satisfaction surveys, standardized open-ended interviews, classroom observations, and pre-and post-tests. the surveys and interviews are designed to capture participants’ perceptions, experiences, and satisfaction levels regarding the blended learning environment and its impact on their ielts speaking performance. classroom observations provide qualitative data on the dynamics of face-to-face interactions, while pre-and post-tests offer quantitative measures of speaking performance improvements. qualitative data gathered through interviews and observations undergo thematic analysis, allowing for the identification of recurring patterns, themes, and perceptions among participants. this analysis method involves systematically coding and categorizing qualitative data to derive meaningful insights. the openended nature of interviews and observational notes allows for a nuanced exploration of participants’ experiences within the blended learning environment. quantitative data derived from surveys and pre-and post-tests are subjected to statistical analysis. statistical tools such as descriptive statistics, paired-sample t-tests, or analysis of variance (anova) may be utilized to assess the significance of improvements in speaking performance before and after the implementation of the blended learning course. these quantitative measures offer empirical evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention in enhancing students’ ielts speaking skills. the combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis methods provides a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted aspects of the blended learning approach in ielts speaking education. by triangulating data from various sources, this research aims to offer robust findings and insights into the efficacy of blended learning models in improving language education outcomes. 3. results and discussion • improvement in speaking performance the study’s pre-test and post-test comparison revealed a statistically significant improvement in participants’ ielts speaking performance following the implementation of the blended learning course. quantitative analysis of the test scores indicated a notable enhancement in speaking abilities, highlighting the efficacy of the blended approach. participants exhibited a more substantial command of language, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 34 published by scholink inc. fluency, coherence, and lexical resource post-course, demonstrating the tangible benefits of the pedagogical intervention. • participant satisfaction levels participant satisfaction surveys and interviews yielded overwhelmingly positive responses regarding the blended learning environment. a majority of students expressed high levels of contentment and appreciation for the course structure. they valued the opportunities for both teacher and peer feedback through online platforms, indicating a preference for this multifaceted approach over traditional methods. participants noted increased engagement, improved interaction with peers and instructors, and a heightened sense of community within the class. • feedback impact on student performance instructors’ feedback was generally well-received, considered valuable in guiding students through speaking tasks and providing constructive criticism. however, peer feedback faced challenges, with many participants expressing dissatisfaction due to perceived inadequacies in quality and depth. weak peer feedback hampered the learning experience for some students, underscoring the importance of refining peer review processes within the blended model. nonetheless, the act of reviewing others’ recordings positively impacted self-assessment skills and encouraged reflective learning. • challenges in implementation the study unearthed several challenges in implementing blended learning. one significant issue pertained to the asynchronous nature of online feedback. weaknesses in the online platform’s feedback mechanisms, particularly in peer-to-peer interactions, posed a hurdle in maximizing the potential benefits of collaborative learning. technical glitches and variations in internet access further compounded these challenges, affecting the timely delivery and reception of feedback. • discussion and implications the findings underscore the immense potential of blended learning in enhancing language education, particularly in improving speaking proficiency. the statistically significant improvement in speaking scores aligns with existing literature emphasizing the benefits of technology-integrated learning environments. however, the nuanced nature of peer feedback, although crucial for holistic learning, requires careful structuring and monitoring to ensure its effectiveness. the study’s results highlight the critical role of feedback in shaping students’ speaking skills. while instructor feedback was generally well-received, enhancing peer feedback mechanisms emerges as a key area for improvement. strategies to train students in providing constructive criticism and fostering meaningful interactions on online platforms could substantially elevate the quality of peer feedback, enhancing its impact on learning outcomes. comparing these findings with existing literature emphasizes the importance of a balanced approach to blended learning. successful implementation requires addressing technical challenges and refining feedback mechanisms to maximize its benefits. theoretical frameworks advocating for socioconstructivist learning align with the study’s emphasis on collaborative learning through peer interactions. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 35 published by scholink inc. the results emphasize the positive impact of blended learning on ielts speaking skills, showcasing its potential in addressing the limitations of traditional teaching methods. while challenges exist, the overall satisfaction levels and performance improvements signal the promise of this pedagogical approach. refinements in peer feedback mechanisms and technological enhancements stand as essential pathways for optimizing the blended learning experience in language education. 4. conclusion the study’s findings showcase the efficacy of blended learning in enhancing ielts speaking skills. the results revealed a significant improvement in speaking performance, as demonstrated by the marked advancement in participants’ pre-test and post-test scores. this improvement underscores the effectiveness of the blended learning model, affirming its role in augmenting language acquisition, especially in oral proficiency. moreover, the research illuminated participants’ satisfaction with the blended learning environment. despite initial skepticism, students exhibited contentment and appreciation for the increased engagement facilitated by blended learning. the ability to receive feedback from both instructors and peers through online platforms was perceived as highly beneficial. however, challenges were noted, primarily regarding the quality and timeliness of online feedback from peers, signaling an area for improvement in future implementations. the significance of blended learning in ielts speaking courses is evident from the positive impact on student engagement, interaction, and overall learning experience. this model effectively bridges the limitations observed in traditional teaching methods, offering a comprehensive approach that integrates face-to-face interactions with online learning, fostering a more holistic learning environment. moving forward, future research endeavors could delve deeper into refining the online feedback system within blended learning setups. addressing the challenges faced, particularly enhancing the quality and timeliness of peer feedback, would further optimize the effectiveness of this approach. additionally, expanding the study’s scope to include a more diverse participant pool across various educational contexts could yield insights into the applicability and adaptability of blended learning in diverse linguistic settings. in conclusion, this study underscores the transformative potential of blended learning in augmenting ielts speaking skills. the integration of face-to-face interactions with online platforms not only enhances speaking proficiency but also fosters a more interactive, engaging, and satisfactory learning environment. as technology continues to evolve, further exploration and refinement of blended learning methodologies promise to revolutionize language education, catering to the evolving needs of language learners in diverse educational settings. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 36 published by scholink inc. references brown, h. d., & abeywickrama, p. (2004). language assessment. principles and classroom practices. white plains, ny: pearson education. ellis, r. (2008). the study of second language acquisition (4th ed.). oxford: uk: oxford university press. retrieved from https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/8021 ellis, r. (2010). second language acquisition, teacher education and language pedagogy. language teaching, 43(2), 182-201. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444809990139 garrison, d. r. (2011). e-learning in the 21st century: a framework for research and practice. taylor & francis. ginaya, g., rezeki, m., & astuti, s. (2018). the effects of blended learning to students’ speaking ability: a study of utilizing technology to strengthen the conventional instruction. ijllc (international journal of linguistics, literature and culture), 4(3), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.21744/ijllc.v4i3.661 ginns, p., & ellis, r. (2007). quality in blended learning: exploring the relationships between on-line and face-to-face teaching and learning. the internet and higher education, 10(1), 53-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2006.10.003 graham, c. r. (2006). blended learning systems: definition, current trends, and future directions. in c. j. bonk, & c. r. graham, the handbook of blended learning: global perspectives. san francisco, ca: pfeiffer publishing. handbook, i. e. l. t. s. (2007). cambridge, uk: university of cambridge, local examinations syndicate. hoic-bozic, n., mornar, v., & boticki, i. (2009). a blended learning approach to course design and implementation. ieee transactions on education, 52(1), 19-30. https://doi.org/10.1109/te.2007.914945 launer, r. (2010). five assumptions on blended learning: what is important to make blended learning a successful concept? hybrid learning lecture notes in computer science, 6248, 9-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14657-2_2 masie, e. (2002). blended learning: the magic is in the mix, the astd e-learning handbook. new york: mc graw-hill. nation, p., & newton, j. (2009). teaching esl/efl listening and speaking. in esl applied linguistics professional series (vol. 15). routledge. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2009.11.002 oliver, k., & stallings, d. (2014). preparing teachers for emerging blended learning environments. journal of technology and teacher education, 22(1), 57-81. poon, j. (2013). blended learning: an institutional approach for enhancing students’ learning experiences. journal of online learning and teaching, 9(2). retrieved june, 15, 2013 from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol9no2/poon_0613.htm https://doi.org/10.21744/ijllc.v4i3.661 https://doi.org/10.1109/te.2007.914945 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14657-2_2 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 37 published by scholink inc. pramila, k., & thomas, j. (2019). impact of blended learning on the speaking skills of english as a foreign language (efl) learners at sohar university. anthropologist, 35(1-3), 47-56. https://doi.org/10.31901/24566802.2019/35.1-3.2039 sharma, p. (2017). blended learning design and practice. in digital language learning and teaching (pp. 167-178). routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315523293-14 staker, h., & horn, m. b. (2012). classifying k-12 blended learning. innosight institute. tomlinson, b., & whittaker, c. (2013). blended learning in english language teaching. london: british council. wang, l., huang, y., & omar, m. (2021). analysis of blended learning model application using text mining method. international journal of emerging technologies in learning (ijet), 16(1), 172187. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v16i01.19823 wang, m. j. (2010). online collaboration and offline interaction between students using asynchronous tools in blended learning. australasian journal of educational technology, 26(6). https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.1045 yang, y. t. c., chuang, y. c., li, l. y., & tseng, s. s. (2013). a blended learning environment for individualized english listening and speaking integrating critical thinking. computers & education, 63, 285-305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.12.012 https://doi.org/10.31901/24566802.2019/35.1-3.2039 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315523293-14 https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v16i01.19823 https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.1045 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.12.012 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper vr technology and international business negotiation teaching fanyu mao1 1 school of foreign languages, jiangxi university of finance and economics, nanchang, china received: may 26, 2021 accepted: june 17, 2021 online published: june 23, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n3p39 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n3p39 abstract with the continuous advancement of science and technology, technological products not only bring convenience to people’s lives, but also bring great benefits to education. the emergence of vr technology is a major milestone in the history of human development. this article starts with the theoretical basis of virtual reality technology in teaching application, analyzes the characteristics of vr technology, summarizes the problems existing in negotiation teaching, and finally discusses the advantages of vr technology to the teaching of international business negotiation courses. keywords virtual reality, international business negotiation, teaching 1. introduction with the rapid development of information technology, virtual reality (vr) emerged at the historic moment, and the application of virtual reality in the field of education has become more and more extensive. virtual reality is an experience that uses computer technology to construct a three-dimensional scene and uses specific equipment to make users perceive and support interaction. it is a collection of simulation technology and computer graphics, man-machine interface technology, multimedia technology, sensor technology, network technology and other technologies (fu, 2020). vr technology has the advantages of multiple perceptions, simulation interaction, absolute safety, autonomous openness, etc. it can adjust various perception functions such as vision, hearing, taste, smell, touch, etc., and use vr equipment to hold virtual objects and feel clearly the gravity and the grip strength. and different experiencers can communicate and interact naturally like in reality (liu, 2016). in the wave of modern economic development, international trade is undoubtedly a powerful driving force for economic development. with the further expansion of opening to the outside world, there are more and more economic exchanges between domestic and foreign companies, and the role of business 39 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 negotiations is also growing. not only is the development of international trade for companies dependent on international business negotiations, the implementation of the strategy of “bringing in” and “going out” is also inseparable from international business negotiations. in an environment of increasingly fierce market competition, negotiation ability has become a necessary quality for entrepreneurs and managers. as an enhanced media for classroom teaching, vr technology provides an innovative technical direction and builds a three-dimensional, integrated and intelligent teaching environment for the teaching of international business negotiation. 2. theoretical basis constructivism is the theoretical basis for virtual reality technology to influence the teaching of international business negotiation. constructivists derive theoretical nutrients from the philosophy of kant, marx, and dewey, and piaget, vygotsky, bruner’s psychological cognitive theories have also profoundly influenced and developed constructivist theories. the popularization of internet applications and the development of computer multimedia technology have prepared the necessary hardware and software conditions for the practice of constructivist learning theory (yang, 2011). constructivism believes that the learning process mainly refers to the process in which learners build their own internal learning through mutual cooperation and active processing of information based on the existing knowledge, that is, the social and cultural background. therefore, “situation”, “collaboration”, “conversation” and “meaning construction” are the four major elements in the learning environment. “context”: the context in the learning environment must be conducive to the construction of the meaning of the content learned by the students. in a constructivist learning environment, instructional design must consider not only the analysis of teaching objectives, but also the creation of situations that are conducive to the construction of meaning for students. “collaboration”: collaboration occurs throughout the learning process. collaboration plays an important role in the collection and analysis of learning materials, the formulation and verification of hypotheses, the evaluation of learning results, and the final construction of meaning. “conversation”: conversation is an indispensable part of the collaboration process. the collaborative learning process is also a conversation process, in this process, each learner’s wisdom are shared by the entire learning group, so conversation is one of the important means to achieve meaning construction. “sense construction”: this is the ultimate goal of the entire learning process. to help students construct meaning in the learning process is to help students achieve a deeper understanding of the nature and laws of the things reflected in the current learning content and the internal connections between the things and other things. constructivism emphasizes that the role of the learning environment must be conducive to the construction of the meaning of the content learned by students. only when the learning process is combined with the real situation can meaningful knowledge construction take place. the immersive learning of virtual real scenes provided by vr provides a strong technical support for the theory of constructivist learning environment. 40 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 3. characteristics of vr technology vr technology allows viewers to wear helmets or eye masks, and create a new virtual world by completely immersing in the rendered specific audio-visual space, allowing viewers to experience the fantasy wonders in a three-dimensional and holographic manner, and the viewers can observe in time and without restrictions things in three-dimensional space. burdea and coiffet (1994) proposed the three “i” characteristics of virtual simulation technology, namely imagination, interaction and immersion allows learners to experience the “real” world in a virtual environment. with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, the vr system began to gradually develop in the direction of intelligence (zhao, 2017). vr technology has the three characteristics of immersion, interaction, and imagination. simulating environments that are not available in real experiments, or realizing difficult-to-complete teaching functions and training, it has a prominent position and broad prospects in the education field. (1) immersion immersion refers to the use of computer-generated three-dimensional images to place people in a virtual environment, just like in the real world, breaking through the boundaries of time and space, and deepening the understanding of knowledge in a subtle way. it is more intuitive, more three-dimensional and more stimulating than the simple flat preaching of education. at the same time, learners devote themselves to the feedback of various sensory and motor feelings such as sight, hearing and touch in the computer virtual scene to stimulate the correlation response of the nervous system, obtain sensory coordination effects, and improve learning efficiency. (2) interactivity learners control professional vr devices to interact and experience naturally with the virtual environment in instinctive ways such as gestures, movements, eye tracking, voice recognition, expression recognition, and brain waves. in this computer-generated virtual environment, participants can interact with sensing devices to simulate human senses of vision, hearing, touch, smell, etc. (3) imagination imaginative, virtual environment allows participants to immerse and acquire new knowledge, improve perceptual and rational understanding, so that participants can deepen concepts and germinate new associations, and inspire creative thinking. the system combines the status of the learner, interacts with the learner, and updates and chooses new ones in real time. vr technology integrating learning and creation, learners take into account the dual identities of learners and roles, and cultivate learners’ imagination and creativity, which not only enriches teaching methods and content, but also effectively improves learning efficiency. its full immersion, interactivity, multi-sensory simulation and rich teaching content will become the development of the future classroom direction. 41 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 4. problems facing the teaching of international business negotiation application skills, cross-cultural communication, business communication and negotiation strategies being its main content, international business negotiations are, in the final analysis, about practices. at present, under the development of economy and technology, modern education has made great progress, but there are still some drawbacks in the form of teaching. (1) monotonous and boring teaching mode the existing international business negotiation teaching mainly relies on the classroom teaching mode, and the classroom teaching mode has time, space and resource limitations. although teachers use multimedia technology to present audio, video, image and other auxiliary teaching resources to students in class, it cannot reflect a dynamic process of learning, especially when it comes to theoretical knowledge such as negotiation concepts, negotiators, and negotiation principles. (2) poor sense of reality in the course teaching in the traditional negotiation teaching model, the biggest dilemma is the lack of authenticity of the learning environment. the pre-negotiation preparations include personnel, information collection, material conditions and discussion of the negotiation plan, etc., used in different situations and stages during the negotiation process. different strategies, as well as the values, consumption customs, lifestyles and cultural backgrounds of people from different countries, nationalities, and regions are extremely different, forming different negotiation styles. vr is a computer simulation system that can create and experience a virtual world. it uses a computer to generate a simulation environment to allow users to have an immersive experience. (3) teacher-centered classroom teaching in traditional teaching, the teacher stipulates the content, structure, progress and methods of the class, and the students are completely passive in accepting the problems described by the teacher, which is not conducive to the idea of students’ active learning, and hinders students’ thinking ability in the classroom. it is high time that teachers needed to assume the guiding role of instructors and organizers of learning, assist in creating an independent and inquiring learning environment, and cultivate learners’ advanced cross-cultural communication skills. through monitoring and observation, referring to the different specific performances of learners in virtual listening and speaking communication, teachers conduct scientific analysis and evaluation of learners, and give feedback guidance to guide learners to process personal experience, thereby deepening the mastery of knowledge. (4) low student participation learners understand and master knowledge and rely on the combination of motivation, emotion and social experience. only when these elements interact, the meaning construction of knowledge in the learner’s mind can be completed. if they have a poor sense of presence, the courses will become more boring as the courses go deeper and students often show that they are not interested in learning those courses and their participation is not high. as a result, there are often situations where they lose confidence in their study and eventually give up. 42 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 5. advantages of vr technology in the teaching of international business negotiation virtual reality technology integrates computer technology, multimedia technology, artificial intelligence, sensor technology and the internet and other disciplines. it has aroused widespread interest with its gorgeous man-machine interface and immersive visual experience. through the application of virtual technology in business negotiation, not only can the international business negotiation course become lively, but also improve students’ enthusiasm for learning, cultivate students’ active inquiry ability, improve teaching quality, and achieve the goals of teaching and talent training. for many years, we have been actively looking for classroom teaching methods that can stimulate students’ initiative in learning, more intuitive, efficient, and integrated with theory and practice, which are embodied in the following four aspects: (1) fundamental realization of student-centered teaching the requirement of modern education is to overcome the shortcomings of traditional teaching. students no longer blindly accept the dead knowledge told by teachers, but let students return to the dominant position of the classroom and use the teacher’s guiding role in teaching, giving students the initiative to learn. in the classroom, teachers use vr technology to bring students into a virtual world, enabling students to be immersive and experience the scene described in the textbook. at this time, students have a strong sense of subjectivity, pro-activeness, concentration and patience, and can pay attention to the others’ wording, expressions, changes in intonation, etc., discover the others’ needs from the negotiation, understand the others’ meaning and give timely feedback. while listening, they can also ask questions and make appropriate statements, with full self-confidence, clear purpose, rational expression, and effective control of the negotiation process. the ultimate goal of negotiations is to obtain the maximum benefit at the lowest cost. therefore, price negotiation has become an important part of negotiation. through price negotiation, the buyer can understand the essence, situation and sincerity of the seller’s offer. students can apply flexibly the negotiation knowledge they have learned to simulated negotiations, learn how to use skills to master the overall situation, learn to seek common ground while reserving differences and pursue long-term interests, as well as free and flexible skills and business etiquette such as dressing and appearance. the lifelike virtual environment can implement good human-computer communication. the organization of teaching content emphasizes the active participation of students and constructs a knowledge structure to enable students to actively participate in the teaching process. such a change not only allows students to change from passively accepting knowledge to active accepting knowledge, but also improves their comprehensive literacy, learning motivation and problem-solving ability. among them, the enhancement of the sense of presence has an impact on learning motivation. the promotion effect is the greatest, and the enhancement of interaction has the greatest effect on the improvement of students’ problem-solving ability (li, 2018). in the student-oriented personalized teaching, the requirements of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, cooperative teaching mode and autonomous exploration in the environment can all be realized in the virtual world. 43 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 (2) visualization of abstract knowledge through real-life demonstrations, the application of vr technology in the teaching process can make some abstract knowledge more vivid, so that students can more intuitively understand these abstract knowledge. virtual reality technology makes teaching concepts more perceptual. with the development of educational technology, the content and amount of information displayed on multimedia are relatively large, and students’ memory of words is also weaker than that of students’ experience. therefore, the use of vr technology can effectively overcome this problem. when negotiating with foreign companies, analysis of environmental factors is necessary, because these factors will affect the feasibility of the expected results. these factors include the country’s political status, religious beliefs, legal system, social customs, financial and financial status, etc. there will be many abstract terms and knowledge points, which are difficult to understand. by imitating the actual negotiation situation, virtual reality turns abstract concepts into an experienced virtual environment, and promotes learners to form a cognitive structure. with real language and non-verbal context superior to multimedia technology, virtual reality creates good listening and speaking practice conditions for learners and helps to process information comprehensively. virtual reality technology makes teaching resources more open and breaks through the limitations of time and space, including text and pictures multichannel and multilevel language input such as video, audio, three-dimensional interactive scenes, so that students can master the basic theories, principles and methods of negotiation in actual operation, and grasp the strategies and skills of business negotiation, and use them skillfully in simulated negotiation activities. (3) inspiration of imagination virtual reality helps to inspire pioneering thinking in teaching and improve imagination. with the help of virtual reality technology, the interaction between the cognition subject and the cognition object can be realized through their mutual adaptability in an interactive way in the virtual environment so that students can get personal experience in learning. the real personal experience of students can not only improve students’ comprehensive literacy, but also stimulate students’ insights on negotiation etiquette and students’ potential. teachers can effectively construct a teaching environment according to the existence of problems, and guide students to explore the skills and precautions in the negotiation process, promoting teachers to discover new teaching modes in the teaching process. at the same time, in the teaching process, students can use vr technology to break the space limitations, show their creativity in a virtual environment, and in this process also make continuous modifications to it, so as to promote the development of their own thinking ability and improve their own imagination ability, and then have a deeper understanding of teaching contents. (4) facilitation of collaborative teaching virtual reality facilitates the development of collaborative teaching. in traditional teaching, there are rare communication opportunities between teachers and students with teachers explaining relevant knowledge to students. students lack time to explore knowledge and how to use knowledge in actual situations, and there is also a lack of cooperation among students, which can be realized through virtual 44 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 technology. through vr technology, students can overcome the limitations of spatial location and distance between each other, and can put long-distance teachers and students in one environment together, promoting mutual exchange between students. based on the questionnaire and self-learning platform implementation data, zhao (2021) shows that junior students can effectively use course learning resources and actively participate in discussions and real-time interaction. in questioning, real-time interaction, discussion, homework submission and situational simulation, students’ real-time interaction and situational simulation have good learning effects, which are helpful to the cultivation and improvement of independent learning ability. the high-simulation business negotiation scene created by virtual reality technology not only allows students to “rehearse” real negotiations, but also avoids the “face-to-face embarrassment”. moreover, they can also ask teachers or peers for help at any time, which can help relieve tension. learners can gradually overcome knowledge difficulties and communication barriers, get rid of anxiety, and build confidence for a smooth transition to real communication. in the virtual environment of high simulation, learners can observe and experience knowledge to the maximum extent, form understandable input, and then personally participate, experience and interact to deepen their understanding of negotiation knowledge. 6. conclusion in summary, vr technology is an intensive medium for classroom teaching, which is conducive to stimulating students’ interest in learning, forming independent learning, and enabling students to have a more thorough and clear understanding of the theoretical knowledge of business negotiations. the emergence of vr technology has not only enriched the teaching mode of international business negotiation courses, expanded the teaching content of negotiation, improved teaching methods, and improved students’ enthusiasm for learning. at the same time, it has also promoted the development of modern teaching, and scientific teaching methods. as the most promising science and technology in the new century, virtual reality technology is an effective guarantee for achieving teaching goals and teaching tasks. the rational use of vr technology in teaching is the only way to adapt to the development of science and technology. references burdea, g. c., & coiffet, p. (1994). virtual reality technology. london: wiley—interscience. chen, x. (2018). research on the application of vr technology in college english teaching. the science education article collects. fu, h. q. (2020). development and application of vr technology. higher education. li, z. (2018). being on the scene: the mind, body and society affected by vr. shanghai education press. 45 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 liu, d. j., liu, x. l., zhang, y., lu, a. f., & huang, r. h. (2016). the potential, progress and challenges of the application of virtual reality technology in education. open education research, 4, 25-31. ma, w. l., & ouyang, l. q. (2020). approaches to english teaching of immersive virtual simulation technology. foreign language and literature. xiao, jie, xie, g. m. (2019). the application and development prospects of educational games based on vr technology in english teaching[j]. education modernization. yang, w. d. (2011). a review of constructivist learning theory. journal of theory guide, 5, 77-80. zhao, m. n. (2021). exploration of blended teaching mode—online teaching practice based on international business negotiation. helongjiang education (theory and practice). zhao, q. p. (2017). vr development trend after the first year. science and technology review, 15, 1-6. 46 published by scholink inc. original paper education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper “i finally love who i see in the mirror”: american substance users’ reconstruction of individualized identity in the recovery trajectory mojde yaqubi, phd1 1 department of communication, university of ottawa, ottawa, ontario, canada received: january 9, 2025 accepted: january 25, 2025 online published: february 14, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p1 abstract substance use disorder (sud) imposes a significant economic burden on the united states, with costs related to healthcare, criminal justice, and lost productivity. despite its prevalence, recovery remains underexplored, particularly regarding identity reconstruction and its economic implications. to the best of my knowledge, no study focuses on americans’ identity reconstruction (social or individualized) in recovery, particularly in online platforms. this study specifically examines how ‘individualized identity’ is constructed in substance use recovery, an area with limited research. it explores the stages and themes of individualization in american substance users’ identity statements published on public recovery platforms. a macro-level analysis identifies three stages of individualized identity reconstruction (webb et al., 2022)—staying safe, exploring, and self-determining—each associated with psychological, social, and economic challenges. individuals in recovery navigate financial instability, employment barriers, and housing insecurity, all which impact reintegration. a key finding is the role of stigma management in later recovery stages, where individuals reframe societal perceptions to improve their social and economic prospects. additionally, the ‘individualized voice’ was examined from a linguistic perspective (helms-park & stapleton, 2003), revealing a shift from dependency on external validation to assertive self-identification. the findings suggest that effective recovery policies should incorporate economic support mechanisms and reduce structural barriers to long-term reintegration. keywords recovery, identity reconstruction, substance use disorder (sud), united states, public recovery platforms, individualization, stigma, public health, linguistics, individualized identity www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 2 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction 1.1 identity, substance use, and recovery “various definitions of identity in the literature highlight its distinguishing characteristics” (kim et al., 2011, p. 1761). identity has been extensively discussed in the context of substance use disorder and recovery, particularly concerning identity loss, damage, and subsequent reconstruction (chen, 2022). identity construction is widely recognized as a significant factor in different pathways to substance use cessation, including self-driven change and treatment-based interventions (chen, 2022). previous studies have explored various associations between identity types and substance use. key identity factors discussed in the literature include gender identity (mccabe et al., 2003; kulis et al., 2008), ego identity (randall & hartmann, 1998), racial and ethnic identities (mereish & bradford, 2014), and age identity (sculer et al., 2018). two primary identity pathways leading to addiction and substance use behaviors have been hypothesized. the first pathway is centered on the loss of a valued identity or societal role, such as employment or family responsibilities. this loss results in a “spoiled identity” or a shift in self-perception, leading to increased substance use. the second pathway involves acquiring group membership within substance-using social networks, often from a position of social exclusion. these networks offer a sense of “acceptance” or “shared identity” (dingle et al., 2015b; donaldson et al., 2022). while social belonging can have positive effects, the behavioral norms within these networks may be detrimental to an individual’s health and well-being (dingle et al., 2015b). identity transformation is a crucial component of substance use recovery (donaldson et al., 2022; chen, 2022). according to donaldson (2022), experiences within social groups—such as realizing the harmful effects of group norms, encountering conflicts, or experiencing rejection—can act as triggers for treatment engagement and recovery (p. 429). applying the social identity approach, chen (2022) defines recovery as “the emergence of a new sense of self, encompassing a history of substance use, yet embedded within new, health-promoting social groups.” similarly, mcintosh & mckeganey (2001) describe the “rock bottom” experience as a pivotal moment in recovery when individuals recognize that their substance use has reached an unsustainable level. this realization often facilitates the reclamation of past identities or the formation of new, healthier ones (donaldson et al., 2022). in their systematic review, donaldson et al. (2022) identified various interventions and treatments that facilitate identity transformation and promote recovery, particularly in relation to hepatitis c (hcv) care. these interventions function as catalysts for identity change and include:1) therapeutic communities – focus on identity transformation, group membership, and citizenship, 2) community treatment – includes mutual aid groups and medically assisted recovery and 3) online communities – provide virtual spaces for recovery support and identity reconstruction. by fostering identity change, these interventions www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 3 published by scholink inc. contribute to long-term recovery and help individuals reintegrate into society with renewed personal and social identities. 1.2 stigma management in recovery luoma (2011) defined stigma as “an attribute or characteristic of an individual that identifies him or her as different in some manner from a normative standard and marks that individual to be socially sanctioned and devalued” (p. 1196). as corrigan et al. (2009) argue, people diagnosed with drug addiction face greater stigma compared to individuals with mental illnesses. those who use drugs are often perceived as deviating from acceptable social norms and, as a result, are viewed as having flawed characters, spoiled identities, and are treated as second-class citizens (donaldson et al., 2022, p. 426). one example of the stigmatization of diseases associated with addiction or substance use is hepatitis, which is often contracted through shared paraphernalia. this behavior is regarded as shameful and reinforces identities such as ‘junkie’ and ‘dirty,’ further entrenching the label of ‘addict’ (treloar & rhodes, 2013; treloar et al., 2013; rhodes et al., 2013). stigma is a crucial factor in the recovery trajectory. as luoma (2011) argues, stereotypes and stigma-based judgments remain significant obstacles for individuals seeking drug treatment and sustaining their recovery. drug users face stigma not only for their substance use but also for their need for treatment (room et al., 2001). despite these barriers, individuals in recovery actively work to overcome stigma. according to chen (2022), “long-term recovery from substance use disorder has been described as a process of identity construction, through which the stigma of being a substance user is replaced by a new identity of non-user. 1.3 social versus individualized identity in recovery pathways toward recovery from addiction are socially mediated and negotiated processes (dingle et al., 2015a; dingle et al., 2015b; haslam et al., 2019). in other words, a person’s recovery journey is supported by actions, interventions, and treatments that foster social ties, promote a recovery identity, and facilitate citizenship by helping individuals reclaim their place in society (donaldson, 2022). in the early stages of recovery, identity change plays a crucial role. however, as individuals progress in their recovery, they gradually distance themselves from their recovery identities and adopt more individualized identities. mayer et al. (2020) argue that identity development is no longer just a developmental phase but rather a critical tool for navigating the complexities of individualization in a fulfilling life. despite various theoretical perspectives on identity and individualization, a clear and widely accepted definition of these concepts and their interrelation is often lacking (mayer et al., 2020; von greiff & skogens, 2021; webb et al., 2022). webb et al. (2022) applied individualization theory to examine identity transformation during substance use recovery. using framework analysis and identity narratives, they collected video and audio interviews, along with video diary recordings, over four years. their study was based on an adaptation of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 4 published by scholink inc. côté’s individualization hypothesis (2002) and schwartz et al.’s (2005) agency identity model. the researchers developed a thematic framework matrix that outlines the stages and themes of identity change. table 1. thematic framework matrix (webb et al., 2022) super-ordinate themes (stage of individualization) themes from identity statement categories (collapsed themes) staying safe (passive) gratitude, feeling lucky gratitude validation, belonging, scared needing exploring (transitional) feeling exposed, learning about self, helping others taking risks frustration, connecting with people seeking opportunities self-determining (agentic) looking after self making own decisions integrity and purpose confidence, pride, and respect self-worth and belief acceptance, authentic ‘the real you’ the majority of participants in this study showed agentic maturation, moving from early-stage gratitude and reliance on support groups to self-determination and independent decision-making, according to a within-case analysis. 1.4 reconstruction of online identity the rapid development of the internet has enabled individuals to present themselves freely (huang et al., 2021), leading to the formation and construction of their online identities. online identity, as the configuration of a person’s defining characteristics in a digital space (ruyter & conroy, 2002), allows individuals to perceive themselves as having a distinct character separate from others (kim et al., 2021, p. 1761). several studies have explored different themes related to online identity, primarily focusing on the differences between offline/real/physical identity and online/digital/internet identity. these discussions often include aspects of strategic deception, false self-presentation, and identity experimentation (kim & baek, 2014; fox & rooney, 2015; bareket-bojmel et al., 2016; toma & hancock, 2010; ranzini & lutz, 2017). other research has examined the associations between online identity reconstruction and various factors, such as well-being, self-confidence, and audience reactions. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 5 published by scholink inc. additionally, some studies (valkenburg et al., 2005; valkenburg & peter, 2008; kim et al., 2011; kim & lee, 2011; ceyhan, 2014; hu et al., 2020) view online identity reconstruction as a process of identity exploration. the outcomes of identity reconstruction in digital media, as examined in this study, include a stronger sense of identity, social compensation, social facilitation, improved psychological well-being, increased happiness, autonomy, and self-acceptance. it also provides individuals with the freedom to express themselves while mitigating negative consequences, such as privacy risks. 2. problem, gap and research questions of the study the fundamental causes of substance use differ amongst nations, demonstrating that a society’s cultural, social, and economic variables have a direct impact on it. as chen (2022) put it, “identity construction might be more difficult for those whose identity is viewed by society as deviant, who often experience more societal stigma, and who have fewer personal and social coping resources.” substance use disorder (sud) is a significant mental health concern in the united states. in 2020, approximately 40.3 million individuals aged 12 or older had an sud in the past year (substance abuse and mental health services administration [samhsa], 2021). despite the high prevalence, only 6.5% of those with an sud received treatment during that period (national institute on drug abuse [nida], 2022). stigma associated with substance use is a substantial barrier to seeking treatment and achieving recovery. individuals with suds often face societal perceptions that they are dangerous, unpredictable, and responsible for their condition, leading to social distancing and discrimination (corrigan et al., 2017). this stigmatization can hinder access to resources and support necessary for recovery (eaton et al., 2019). moreover, untreated sud places a heavy economic burden on the u.s. healthcare system due to increased emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and repeated interactions with law enforcement and social services (florence et al., 2018). studies estimate that the economic cost of substance use disorders, including healthcare expenditures and productivity loss, exceeds $600 billion annually in the united states (national institute on drug abuse [nida], 2022). a deeper understanding of identity reconstruction in recovery can offer insights into reducing relapse rates, improving long-term recovery outcomes, and lowering overall healthcare costs through more effective intervention programs (eaton et al., 2019). chen (2022) considered recovery as a “socially mediated” process that leads to a new social identity. however, he believes this identity affects the personal values of the former substance users and helps them to have norms and language of the recovery rather than substance users group which by itself improves the social identity. webb et al. (2022) conclude that when recovery trajectories develop over time, there is a tendency toward individualistic and agentic identity. nevertheless, they maintain there is no research on identity in long-term recovery or which identity components help maintain a shift in lifestyle. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 6 published by scholink inc. a crucial area of research on substance use recovery is how forming a positive social identity helps people get better and prevents recurrence. however, in this study, an attempt is made to how this individualized rather than social identity of substance users is reflected in the period of recovery to fill the gap in the literature. this study defines individualization as a shift ‘away’ from social or group norms and towards person-based decisions (mayer et al., 2020). it is undeniable that substance users must overcome the power of stigma during negotiating their identity which is one of the focuses of this study. addressing these barriers and promoting individualized identity transformation could lead to improved policy interventions that enhance workforce reintegration and economic stability for individuals in recovery, further reducing the financial burden of sud on the labor market and healthcare infrastructure (florence et al., 2018). while previous research has examined the role of social identity in recovery, there is a gap in understanding how individuals reconstruct their personal identities during the recovery process, particularly in online environments. online platforms offer a space for self-expression and identity exploration, which can be instrumental in the recovery journey (webb et al., 2022). this study focuses on identity representation in media which is considered as ‘reconstruction’. even though online identity reconstruction has received an increasing amount of attention, readers (researchers and practitioners) may find it challenging to fully comprehend the phenomena due to the fragmented and diversified nature of the existing research (huang et al., 2021). this study aims to explore how individuals in recovery from substance use disorders in the united states utilize public recovery platforms, to reconstruct their identities. by analyzing self-representations and narratives shared online, the research seeks to understand the process of identity transformation in the digital age. the findings of this study are expected to provide insights into the role of online identity reconstruction in recovery, potentially informing the integration of social media-based peer support into traditional substance use treatment methods, thereby supporting sustained recovery (best et al., 2016; webb et al., 2022). by demonstrating the impact of digital identity reconstruction on sustained recovery and relapse prevention, this study can provide policymakers with cost-effective, technology-driven interventions that reduce long-term healthcare expenditures and improve economic reintegration of individuals in recovery (florence et al., 2018; nida, 2022). 3. method 3.1 data collection and selection criteria through purposive sampling, this study collected 100 written identity statements from individuals in substance use recovery. the data was sourced from public recovery platforms featuring firsthand accounts of recovery experiences, ensuring that all narratives were publicly available and met ethical research standards. the selected sources include partnership to end addiction (n.d.), faces & voices of recovery (n.d.), addiction center (n.d.), just think twice (n.d.), the doorway (nh.gov) (n.d.), www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 7 published by scholink inc. nextlevel recovery (in.gov) (n.d.), and my addiction recovery story (addiction education society, n.d.). these platforms were chosen based on their consistent communication mode (written narratives), accessibility for research purposes, and relevance to identity transformation during recovery (ashford et al., 2019; donaldson et al., 2022). this study, for the purpose of data collection adopted three themes proposed by donaldson et al. (2022), which identify interventions and treatments that serve as catalysts for identity change (cf. 1.1). while the study analyzes narratives published in the public domain, its primary focus is on the individualization aspect of recovery, exploring how individuals move away from a group-based recovery identity toward a more personal and self-defined identity. to define recovery, this study follows ashford et al. (2019, p. 183): “recovery is an individualized, intentional, dynamic, and relational process involving sustained efforts to improve wellness. furthermore, this study excludes narratives related to addiction to cigars, tobacco, alcohol, and other low-stigma substances such as opium, ensuring a focused analysis on substance use disorders that carry greater social stigma and require deeper identity reconstruction (ashford et al., 2019). this study employs a qualitative approach to capture the depth and complexity of identity reconstruction in substance use recovery. unlike quantitative methods, which focus on numerical patterns and generalizability, qualitative research allows for a nuanced exploration of personal narratives, emotions, and identity shifts. analyzing written statements enables an in-depth understanding of how individuals articulate their evolving identities, emphasizing their transition from group-based recovery identities to self-defined ones. this interpretive approach ensures that the subjective and relational aspects of recovery are fully examined, offering insights that statistical analysis alone cannot capture, particularly regarding stigma management, agency, and identity transformation. in this study in line with (valkenburg et al., 2005; valkenburg & peter, 2008), i consider online identity reconstruction as a ‘self-selected’ representation that works as means of ‘exploring’ identity and help the users to portray a different aspect of their potential identity. it is hoped that the results of this study provide preliminary support for integrating social media-based peer support into the conventional methods of substance use treatments and correspondingly help to sustained recovery. in the following figure, a tentative model of identity change (i.e. construction and negotiation/mediation) from substance use to recovery stages which shows the reconstruction of identity in media is shown: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 8 published by scholink inc. figure 1. tentative model of identity change from substance use to recovery stages and reconstruction in media given the importance of the identity shift from addicted to non-user, this study mainly aims at ascertaining and discovering individualization components that are reflected in the utterances of substance users in the recovery trajectory. to achieve this aim, three research questions are proposed as follows: 1) what stages of individualization and corresponding themes are evident in the identity statements of american substance users in the recovery stage on public recovery platforms? 2) which components of individualized voice are evident in american substance users’ utterances in the recovery stage? 3) what stressors do the american substance users expressed in the recovery stage? in this study will adopt two frameworks at the macro and micro levels of qualitative analysis. this study is of significance as it offers helpful qualitative conceptual categories of enablers i.e., interventions of identity change of americans identified as “recovering addicts”. first, webb et al. (2022) framework (cf. section 1.3) is utilized at the macro level to map participants’ identity transition from ‘addict’ to ‘non-user’ identity. the reason behind choosing this framework is that through using this study, i explore stages of individualization and the themes from identity statements of american substance users on public recovery platforms which is compatible with the definition and objective of this study. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 9 published by scholink inc. language and interaction are important in identity construction (de fina, 2003; paltridge, 2006; jakaza, 2022). therefore, at the micro level, this study analyzed the participant’s user from a linguistics point of view to investigate how users negotiate their individual identity at this stage. linguistic communication and identity construction through language are extremely complex cognitive and social phenomena (burnett, 2017, p. 239). this study proposes a set of linguistic forms which imply the individualization of american substance users in high-risk situations of relapse. to this aim, in line with helms-park & stapleton (2003, pp. 248-249) four components of ‘individualized voice’ namely 1) assertiveness (hedges and intensifiers), self-identification (first-person pronouns) and reiteration on the central point (how often and how explicitly the main argument is rearticulated and 4) authorial (speaker’s in this study) autonomy and presence of the thought. the following figure depicts the design of the study and provides the stages and frameworks of analysis: figure 2. study design 4. data analysis 4.1 macro analysis a) staying safe (passive stage) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 10 published by scholink inc. analysis of identity statements in the staying safe stage revealed that individuals often expressed gratitude with expressive (yaqubi et al., 2019) or convivial (yaqubi et al., 2016) function, validation-seeking, and fear as key themes. these themes reflected a sense of humility, vulnerability, and dependence on external support systems, indicating that individuals at this stage were still in the early phases of recovery and relied on external motivation and reassurance. 1). gratitude a key theme in the passive stage is gratitude, where individuals acknowledge the role of a higher power, a recovery group, or supportive individuals in their sobriety. gratitude statements often reflect humility, relief, and appreciation for a second chance at life. example: “i used to think no one cared about me, but my recovery group proved me wrong. i am eternally grateful for their support.” (faces & voices of recovery (n.d.)) 2). validation from others at this stage, individuals often seek validation and reassurance from their recovery group, family, or online community. they are still dependent on external affirmation to reinforce their recovery journey. this can be seen in statements where they express concern about how others perceive their sobriety or use external encouragement as motivation to stay on track. example: “i still wonder what people think when they see me now—do they believe in my recovery, or do they see my past mistakes?” (recovery centers of america (n.d.)) 3). being scared fear is a dominant emotion in the early stages of recovery. many individuals express deep concern about relapse, judgment from others, or losing their progress. fear-based statements often reveal anxiety, self-doubt such as using tags e.g., ‘is n’t it?’ (yaqubi et al., 2012(a)), and the lingering emotional scars of addiction. one example is “relapse terrifies me. i know how easy it is to fall back, and i don’t know if i’d survive it again.” (addiction center (n.d.)) b) exploring (transitional stage) in the exploring stage, individuals begin to shift from external dependence to self-discovery. this phase is marked by an increasing awareness of personal strengths, a willingness to engage with others, and a sense of purpose in helping those who are on the same journey. while individuals at this stage still face challenges, they start to recognize their own agency and develop coping strategies for sustaining recovery. the key themes in this stage include self-exploration, connection with others, and frustration with the process. 1). feeling exposed and learning about self as individuals move through recovery, they begin to confront their emotions, past mistakes, and identity outside of substance use. this process often feels overwhelming, as they are no longer numbing their feelings. many describe this phase as a period of rediscovering who they are and learning how to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 11 published by scholink inc. navigate life without substances. one example is “facing my emotions head-on is something i never thought i’d do, but i’m getting better at it.” (the doorway (nh.gov) (n.d.)) 2). helping others a major shift in this stage is the realization that helping others or offer of help (yaqubi, 2021) in recovery provides a sense of fulfillment. many individuals begin sharing their stories, mentoring newcomers in recovery groups, or simply offering encouragement to those struggling. this sense of purpose reinforces their own commitment to sobriety. one example is: “telling my story used to scare me, but now i see how it can inspire others who feel lost like i once did.” (partnership to end addiction (n.d.)) 3). frustration and connecting with people while recovery brings progress, it also comes with moments of frustration, especially when individuals feel misunderstood or struggle with setbacks. many describe difficulties in reconnecting with loved ones, adjusting to social situations without substances, or dealing with the lingering effects of addiction on their relationships. on example: is “it’s frustrating when people assume i’m ‘fixed’ just because i’m sober. recovery is an ongoing process.” (just think twice (n.d.)) c) self-determining (agentic stage) in the self-determining stage, individuals fully embrace their recovery and take ownership of their identities beyond addiction. they express a strong sense of autonomy, confidence, and self-worth. this stage is marked by independence in decision-making, deep personal growth, and a sense of authenticity. individuals in this stage no longer define themselves solely by their past but instead focus on their present and future. the key themes in this phase include self-care, making independent decisions, and embracing confidence and authenticity. 1). looking after self at this stage, individuals prioritize their well-being and recognize the importance of self-care. they no longer rely on others to maintain their sobriety but instead take proactive steps to protect their mental and physical health. they develop healthier habits, set personal goals, and ensure they are making decisions that align with their values. one example is: “taking care of myself isn’t selfish. it’s necessary.” (nextlevel recovery (in.gov) (n.d.)) 2). making own decisions individuals in this stage feel empowered to take control of their lives. they no longer let addiction dictate their choices and instead make decisions based on their goals, values, and self-respect. this sense of independence marks a significant shift from earlier stages where they relied on external validation or feared making mistakes. on example is “sobriety has given me the power to take my life in the direction i want it to go.” ((addiction education society, n.d.)) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 12 published by scholink inc. 3). confidence, pride, and authenticity the final marker of this stage is a deep sense of confidence and self-acceptance. individuals no longer see themselves as broken or unworthy but instead embrace their journey as part of who they are. they find strength in their struggles and take pride in the person they have become. one example is: “i finally love who i see in the mirror. i worked hard for this person.” (faces & voices of recovery (n.d.)) 4.2 micro analysis in the micro-level analysis, components of individualized voice were examined in the identity statements of american substance users in recovery. these components, as well as their examples, are presented below. additionally, broader linguistic strategies were analyzed to identify how individuals express their personal agency, uncertainty, and identity transformation in recovery narratives. a) assertiveness assertiveness in recovery statements is often reflected through linguistic markers that demonstrate certainty, doubt, or conviction. the use of hedging devices and intensifiers plays a significant role in how individuals express confidence or hesitation about their progress. hedging devices hedging such as ‘you know’ (yaqubi et al., 2012(a)) or ‘i think’, ‘well’ (yaqubi & abdul rahman, 2021) is used to soften a claim, express doubt, or acknowledge uncertainty in recovery statements. this can indicate caution, emotional vulnerability, or a fear of relapse. types of hedging devices found in recovery narratives: • modal auxiliary verbs: might, could, should, would • modal lexical verbs: seems, appears, tends to • adverbial or adjectival modal phrases: possibly, probably, likely, unlikely • approximators of degree, quantity, frequency, or time: almost, sometimes, often, occasionally • introductory phrases expressing uncertainty: i think, as far as i know, to my understanding intensifiers and absolute statements while some statements reflect doubt and caution, others amplify confidence and conviction through intensifiers such as ‘so much’ (yaqubi et al., 2012(a); yaqubi et al., 2015). these show a strong commitment to recovery and often mark personal agency. example: “i will never go back to that life again.” (recovery centers of america (n.d.)) b) self-identification self-identification is a crucial element in recovery narratives, reflecting how individuals see themselves and how they construct a new sense of self beyond addiction. this can be observed through first-person pronouns, possessive pronouns, and explicit self-labeling. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 13 published by scholink inc. first-person pronouns: unlike im-personalization where indefinite pronoun is used (yaqubi, 2012(a)), in the process of individualization, “i” and “me” are using frequently which were prominent statements in recovery stories which reflects personal ownership of one’s journey. one example is : “my recovery is my responsibility, and i take it seriously.” (faces & voices of recovery (n.d.)) explicit self-labeling: some individuals explicitly label themselves as recovering addicts, while others reject past labels in favor of new identities. one example is “i am a recovering addict, but i am also a survivor.” (partnership to end addiction (n.d.)). using possessive pronouns like ‘my recovery’ or ‘my journey’ indicates a sense of ownership and control over their healing process. one example is: “my past is just a chapter—it does not define my whole story.” just think twice (n.d.) 4.3 stressors in the recovery stage analysis of data revealed that individuals in recovery identified several stressors that impacted their journey. these were categorized into cultural, psychological, social, spiritual, and economic stressors. a) cultural stressors: according to yaqubi et al. (2019) “in fact in each language, specific words manifest the culturally important aspects of a group of people or a nation in particular contexts and settings” (p. 245). similarly, cultural expectations and societal judgment play a role in recovery struggles which are reflected in substance users’ discourse. stigma, social exclusion, and cultural shame often impact individuals’ willingness to seek help or continue recovery. one example is “society makes it hard for people like me to start over. the stigma never fully goes away.” (the doorway (nh.gov) (n.d.)) b) psychological stressors: emotional and mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, and trauma, are common struggles during recovery. example: “therapy helps, but the emotional scars from my past don’t just disappear overnight.” (in.gov) (n.d.) c) social stressors: rebuilding relationships and navigating social situations without substances is a significant challenge in recovery. example: “dating is different now. i have to be upfront about my past, and not everyone is okay with that.” addiction center (n.d.) d) spiritual or religious stressors: many individuals struggle with their sense of faith, purpose, or spiritual identity in recovery. some turn to religion for support, while others struggle with guilt and existential questions. example: “faith has helped me, but sometimes i still feel lost.” ((addiction education society, n.d.)) e) economic stressors: financial hardship, difficulty finding employment, and lack of stable housing are major obstacles for many in recovery. example: “i’m grateful for my sobriety, but sometimes i worry about how i’ll survive long-term.” (faces & voices of recovery (n.d.)) 5. discussion and conclusion the findings of this study demonstrate that identity reconstruction in substance use recovery follows a structured yet dynamic process. the macro-level analysis of identity statements highlights a progression www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 14 published by scholink inc. from external dependency in the staying safe phase to self-discovery and engagement in the exploring phase and ultimately to autonomy in the self-determining phase (webb et al., 2022). this transformation aligns with the process of individualization, where individuals move from relying on collective support toward the development of a self-defined identity (mayer et al., 2020). however, this progression is not always linear, as individuals frequently encounter setbacks due to external stressors such as stigma, financial instability, and emotional challenges (best et al., 2016; donaldson et al., 2022). these findings reinforce prior research suggesting that recovery extends beyond abstinence and requires a process of navigating social reintegration and personal identity development (chen, 2022). an additional theme that emerged in this study was stigma management/control, which was particularly evident in the agentic stage of recovery. while prior studies have largely framed stigma as a barrier to recovery (corrigan et al., 2017; eaton et al., 2019), this study suggests that individuals in later recovery actively work to manage and reframe stigma. this process reflects an evolved self-perception in which individuals no longer see stigma as an external force shaping their recovery but as something they can actively navigate and redefine. unlike earlier themes such as gratitude, self-discovery, or autonomy, stigma management appears as an active and intentional process rather than a passive response to external discrimination. the micro-level linguistic analysis further supports these conclusions by illustrating a clear shift in language use over time. in the early stages of recovery, individuals frequently used hedging devices such as “i think,” “maybe,” or “i hope,” which indicate uncertainty and reliance on external validation (helms-park & stapleton, 2003). as recovery progresses, statements become more assertive, incorporating phrases such as “i am,” “i will never,” and “i know for a fact,” which reflect greater self-agency (burnett, 2017). this linguistic evolution suggests that identity transformation in recovery is not solely a psychological process but also a communicative one, where self-perception is reinforced through language (de fina, 2003; jakaza, 2022). the increased presence of self-identification markers, such as first-person pronouns and explicit ownership of the recovery journey, further underscores the growing sense of control and accountability in later recovery stages (ashford et al., 2019). in the micro-level analysis, assertiveness and self-identification were clearly observable at the word or sentence level, confirming that individuals gain confidence in their identity as they progress through recovery (helms-park & stapleton, 2003; burnett, 2017). however, the other two aspects of individualized voice—reiteration on the central point and speaker’s autonomy and presence of thought—became more evident at the paragraph level or in multiple narratives produced by the same individual. this suggests that these components of identity transformation require a longitudinal or multi-statement approach to fully capture the depth of an individual’s transition. an essential aspect of identity transformation is the role of external stressors, including cultural stigma, financial difficulties, and social pressures (corrigan et al., 2017; eaton et al., 2019). cultural stigma remains a significant barrier to full reintegration, as many individuals in recovery feel judged based on their past substance use (donaldson et al., 2022). financial instability presents another critical challenge, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 15 published by scholink inc. with many struggling to secure stable employment, which in turn increases the risk of relapse (nida, 2022; samhsa, 2021). social challenges, such as rebuilding relationships and adjusting to new social environments, further complicate the process of identity reconstruction. these findings align with previous studies indicating that long-term recovery necessitates not only personal commitment but also broader societal support systems that address economic and social barriers (best et al., 2016). analyzing identity transformation in recovery provides valuable insights for public health and economic policies in the united states. understanding how individuals navigate identity shifts can inform targeted interventions that support long-term recovery while reducing the financial burden of substance use disorders on the healthcare system (ashford et al., 2019). for instance, integrating employment assistance programs into recovery initiatives can facilitate financial independence, reducing reliance on public assistance and decreasing the likelihood of relapse (best et al., 2016). similarly, expanding access to mental health services that focus on identity reconstruction can improve recovery outcomes and lower healthcare costs associated with repeated hospitalizations or emergency care (eaton et al., 2019). the role of digital recovery platforms in identity reconstruction is another critical consideration. online recovery communities provide a space for self-expression and peer support, offering a cost-effective alternative to traditional in-person treatment (webb et al., 2022). investing in virtual peer-support networks can enhance the accessibility of recovery resources, particularly for individuals in rural or underserved areas (valkenburg et al., 2005; kim et al., 2011). by recognizing the value of online identity reconstruction in the recovery process, policymakers can develop strategies that incorporate digital support systems into mainstream addiction treatment programs (huang et al., 2021). the study also reaffirmed that american substance users in recovery experience cultural, psychological, social, spiritual, and economic stressors, all of which shape their recovery journey. these findings align with previous literature emphasizing the multifaceted challenges individuals face beyond substance abstinence (best et al., 2016; donaldson et al., 2022). future research should investigate stigma management as an identity transformation strategy, using qualitative methodologies such as interviews or content analysis through nvivo, as well as quantitative approaches, including likert-scale assessments, to better understand how stigma is reconstructed and neutralized in long-term recovery narratives. this study highlights that identity reconstruction is a crucial yet often overlooked component of substance use recovery, with significant implications for both public health and health economics. the transition from external validation to self-determination underscores the importance of long-term support systems, employment opportunities, and mental health services in sustaining recovery (donaldson et al., 2022; chen, 2022). by integrating identity-focused interventions into national substance use policies, the healthcare system can improve recovery outcomes, reduce relapse rates, and alleviate the economic burden associated with addiction (best et al., 2016; webb et al., 2022). future research should focus on www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 16 published by scholink inc. longitudinal identity shifts and the role of digital peer-support networks in promoting sustained recovery, particularly in relation to cost-benefit analyses within the healthcare system. acknowledgments this research was supported by the social sciences and humanities research council of canada (sshrc). reference addiction center. 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(2021). revisited interpretation of ta’arof: towards a model of analysing meta-implicatures of persian offers in iranian films. spanish journal of applied linguistics, 34(2), 712-738. retrieved from https://benjamins.com/catalog/resla.19017.yaq education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper treatment of rural life and nature in jasimuddin and wordsworth sadia afroz1 1 senior lecturer, department of english, stamford university, dhaka, bangladesh received: august 2, 2024 accepted: august 19, 2024 online published: september 3, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n4p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n4p1 abstract this article aims to address william wordsworth’s treatment of nature as a recurring motif in his poems. wordsworth finds nature as a living thing that provides him with both enjoyment and knowledge. only a few well-known poems that demonstrate the depth and evolution of his love for nature, his conception of mysticism in nature, joy in nature, universal love in nature, spiritual unity of nature, bond between nature and man, soothing influence and healing power of nature have been taken from the corpus of his literary works. the poet leaves his readers with a plenty of heartfelt and beautiful poems that are the timeless treasures of romanticism. on the other hand, jasimuddin occupies a significant place in bangla poetry. being a poet during the time of kazi nazrul islam and rabindranath tagore allow him to have a prestigious position. due to the beautiful way he portrays rural bengal, he is regarded as a palli kabi (pastoral poet). his presentation of nature is very touchy and sensuous. thus, this article aims to investigate treatment of nature and rural life in some poems of jasimuddin and wordsworth. keywords wordsworth, jasimuddin, nature, “tintern abbey.” and palli kabi. 1. introduction jasimuddin (january 1903-14 march 1976) is colloquially referred to as palli kabi (pastoral poet). he is a poet, lyricist, composer, and writer who gains widespread acclaim for penning pastoral-themed modern ballad sagas. although jasimuddin mollah is his full name, he is commonly referred to as jasimuddin. nakshi kanthar math and sojan badiar ghat are regarded as two of the finest lyrical compositions written in bengali. his contributions to the revival of pastoral literature in bengal throughout the twentieth-century are pivotal. jasimuddin composes a wide range of literary works, including poems, ballads, songs, dramas, novels, stories, memoirs, and travelogues. he presents his unique poetic identity. in this paper, an endeavour has been made to analyse jasimuddin’s treatment of nature reflected in his https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nakshi_kanthar_math https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sojan_badiar_ghat www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 2 published by scholink inc. poems. on the other hand, william wordsworth (7 april 1770-23 april 1850) is a preeminent english romantic poet. he does not treat nature casually or in a passing manner like other poets. he considers nature as a living personality having divine power. throughout his poetic career, wordsworth remains devoted to nature. life and nature go side by side in human life. both poets present nature and rural life as it is actually found in rural areas. jasimuddin’s nakshi kanthar math and “kabor” as well as wordsworth’s “michael” are the glaring examples of mingling elements of life and nature. 2. literature review according to harmon, the theme can be defined as an abstract concept that is given tangible form by its portrayal in individuals, actions, and images (p. 521). kirszner and mandell provide a clear definition of the topic and assert that the subject of literature is its primary or prevailing concept. wordsworth communicates the intended message by carefully choosing and organising specific elements, highlighting particular phrases, events, or images, and depicting the actions and emotions of characters. nature plays a crucial role as both a character and a motif in wordsworth’s poems. according to wordsworth, poetry is the natural expression of intense emotions that arise from reflecting on past experiences in a calm state of mind (p. 213). his description highlights the impromptu nature of emotions and the act of remembering events in a serene state of mind for the sake of poetic diction. whereas, according to smith (1968), imagination is the ability that guides man towards truth. fancy encompasses both vision and reconstruction (p. 16). moreover, hudson defines poetry as “the act of interpreting life through the use of imagination and emotions” (p. 80). he connects poetry to a portrayal of existence. md. solaiman and musrat sultana mumu. (2020) point out that poet, writer, lyricist, collector of bengali folklore, and radio host jasimuddin is a well-known poet in bengali culture. the peacefulness, simplicity, and hardships of rural bengali life are the major themes in his poetry for which he is called the rural poet or pallikabi in bangla literature. the profound melancholy of an elderly man relating the tale of his loved ones’ deaths is conveyed in a tragic monologue style that is unsurpassed in its profound melancholic melody. whereas, mohammad kaosar ahmed (2013) argue that jasimuddin gains popularity as the palli kabi due to his exceptional portrayal of rural bengal. he clearly shows his religious influence while depicting the lives of rural people. religious influences on the old farmer’s lyrical themes are found in his unwavering conviction in god in “kabor”, in which his deep affection that the residents of shimultali village have for the masjid, the way people turn to god in times of need through prayer, and his adept use of arabic and persian vocabulary. this is unique research in the sense that jasimuddin is an ardent supporter of socialism and of bengali nationalism in one hand; wordsworth illustrates his profound adoration and fervour for nature on the other hand. both poets can be comprehended by investigating their portrayal of nature and rural life. however, this is qualitative research because it explores and provides deeper insights into real-world problems. instead of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nakshi_kanthar_math www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 3 published by scholink inc. collecting numerical data points or intervening wordsworth’s and jashimuddin’s treatment of nature to further investigate and understand. 3. jasimuddin’s treatment of nature and rural life jasimuddin is a commentator on rural life in bengal. he is able to skillfully portray the pastoral society and rural life on the canvas of his poetry. besides creating portraits of humble life, he nurtures and enriches bengali cultural heritage and humanity. the life of a bengali is the simple environment of the village, cultural diversity, simple people, lack of emotions, rural paths, and hijl forest. a few lines are taken from his famous poem “invitation”— you will go, brother you will go with me, to our tiny village, in the shadow of the trees, the leaves of the vines are bored in the forest air; i cling to the illusion of affection my body is full. in mother’s bosom, sister’s care, brother’s fondness, you will go, brother you will go with me, to our tiny village. (line-1-6) in the poem, the poet’s longing for invitation is evident in every line. the love-filled form of the village that has been going on for thousands of years has come up. even if we read his poem “rakhal boy” (“shepherd”), we can behold the beautiful nature of rural bengal. he writes— shepherd boy! shepherd boy! please come back where to go along the crooked path? look at the village surrounded by blue and green waving banana leaves, fly-brush washes feet with dew. (line 1-4) it can be mentioned here that the poet is only a rural poet. but he writes a small number of literary works. apart from writing poetry, he writes lots of traditional songs of rural bengal. he composes poems with multidimensional features. poems whose appeal is eternal. again, describing a girl and her village, he writes in the poem “purnima”: [the abode of purnima was in tepakhola village at one end, the river padmani becomes turbid. the wind was blowing in three directions on the lap of the field the smell of grass flowers was falling. (lines 1-4)] each line of the poem shows the right path to the human world. the passion and longing to get rid of oneself can be seen in the poem “pradidan” in which the poet expresses— [whoever ruined my house, i will build her house, i am crying for her who is after me. who made me go astray, i am finding her from one place to another, i am waking up for her; who stole my sleep; www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 4 published by scholink inc. whoever ruined my house, i will build her house. (lines 1-6)] nakshi kanthar math is written in simple language and centers around rupai and saju. rupai is a young peasant, who falls in love with a girl named saju in his neighboring village. they are married. but after a quarrel and fight with some peasants of another village, rupai leaves home and flees far away. saju, the young wife becomes alone. she waits every day with expectation that her husband will return to her, but nothing happens. she becomes tired, and all her hopes go in vain. thus, the poet presents rural life through the characters of rupai and saju. jasimuddin’s poem “kabor” (“the grave”) is an elegy where an old village dweller is talking to his grandson about the dead people of his own family. the man is the witness of deaths of his nearest and dearest ones. he loses his beloved wife, his son, daughter in law, daughter and his granddaughter. the poet presents a realistic representation of life in the poem and depicts the thoughts of common people with some bitter experience of life about death through the character of dadu. jasimuddin presents the colours of nature with the lifestyle which keeps his readers fascinated for ages. sometimes it is suitable for children, sometimes it is funny and sometimes it is like a picture describing a scene through poetry. among the poet’s most notable poems is the poem “asmani” in which asmani has been personified as a living character. jasim uddin has a significant contribution to writing rhymes. he writes wonderful rhymes, which have been in the mouth of everyone for ages. every writing of jasimuddin has a depiction of the nature of the village, a wonderful outline. (acharya, 2024) 4. wordsworth’s treatment of nature and rural life “tintern abbey” is based on the concept of reminiscence, particularly the recollections of his early years and the profound connection with the splendour of nature. this subject holds immense significance in wordsworth’s literary works, appearing in his poems as intimations of immortality ode. during his childhood, wordsworth develops a deep appreciation for the various elements of nature, including flowing rivers, vibrant flowers, lush forests, and majestic mountains. thus, the poem chronicles the evolution of his affection for nature. when wordsworth first visits tintern abbey and the wye valley, the stunning scenery inspires him to write this famous poem at twenty-eight. five years later, he returns to the same place accompanied by his sister, dorothy. during his visit, he not only appreciates the natural beauty of the land but also recognises its magnificence. this remote location, far from the hustle and bustle of city life, brings him joy and evokes memories of his boyhood. his renewed understanding of nature leads to his heightened self-awareness. by juxtaposing the two encounters, the poet emphasises his transition from youth to maturity, highlighting the differences and similarities in his emotions and perspectives on each visit. wordsworth writes about nature in “tintern abbey” in which the poet reveals his pantheistic worldview. he emphasises that god is present in every natural form. richard gravil (2000) argues that the poet’s pantheistic beliefs can be understood by expressing “god was everything and everything was god” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 5 published by scholink inc. (gravil, 2000, p.41). wordsworth’s pantheistic viewpoints are presented in the poem in which he responds: [. . .] the one interior life that lives in all things [. . .] in which all beings live with god, themselves are god, existing in mighty whole. (quoted in riasonovsky, 1992, p. 72) nature is both a creation and a reflection of god, his affection for nature is intrinsically connected to his devotion to god. according to james benziger (1950), “it was through nature that wordsworth experienced some contact with the divine...” (p.160). in his opinion, an individual who adores god also adores nature. nature is not only a guardian but also a valuable teacher for humanity. nature ought to be regarded with the same reverence as a sentient being that demands cultivation. in “the solitary reaper,” wordsworth describes nature in terms that are meant to trigger imagination and wonderment. wordsworth finds a vast amount of mystery in the natural world as the speaker in the poem. thus, the solitary reaper is the definition of the natural woman who works in the fields and is very close to nature. the poem reflects the narrator’s story of encountering, perhaps from afar, a lone woman working grain fields, singing while she labours. wordsworth’s poem “michael” is the stones of michael’s unfinished sheepfold. the poem represents the broken bond between father and son, the death of the family’s lineage, the symbolic decay of old-fashioned values in the face of modern industrialism, and the general decline of a rural community. on the other hand, the poem, “i wandered lonely as a cloud”, presents the theme of nature in which crowd is part of the speaker’s personification of the daffodils. this helps to establish the outdoor setting of the poem and makes it clear that the natural world is a key part of the poem’s meaning. the poet shows his joy at the sight of the beautiful daffodils but also reflects the philosophical of depth of his mind under the enchantment of nature. wordsworth’s poem, “lucy gray”, revolves around nature and the loss of a loved one. the poem narrates the tragic story of lucy gray, a young girl who vanishes during a snowstorm while on her way to town. her connection with nature is highlighted as she enjoys her surroundings, even in her last moments. wordsworth thinks that the calming influence of nature can shield his readers from the chaos of city life and that its nourishing power might aid in our personal development. on top of that, it possesses a heavenly power that may alleviate suffering, restore memories, and cure hurt emotions. he deftly weaves together the natural world, the divine, and the human mind. he longs to impart the boundless strength and blissful harmony of nature to his sister, who embodies the simple joy of nature. 5. jasimuddin and wordsworth jasimuddin is well-known for his representation of rural life and nature through the eyes of rural people. his poetry’s structure and content are strongly reminiscent of bengal folklore. his work, nokshi kanthar www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 6 published by scholink inc. maath (field of the embroidered quilt), is regarded as a masterpiece. on the other hand, wordsworth is regarded as one of the best romantic poets of nature. he is the master of natural poetry. he considers nature to be his guide, friend, and nurse. the sequences of naksi kanthar math have been fortified on the porch of love of two protagonists: rupa (rural boy) and saju (rural girl), realistic depiction of pictures of usual day life of a person, habitual household day works, expertly personification of rural festivals and celebrations, pastoral quarrel, dispute with land, law suits etc. its apiece sequence is independent, realistic and poetic. the story of rupa and saju was fortified as a tragedy by the poet as two lives sacrificed their lives for the cause of love. on the other hand, the poem, “kabor” is a painful life of a rural elderly. in last part of his life, he reveals his mournful experience to his grandson. he describes the death of his wife, son, daughter, granddaughter and daughter with painful voice. the elderly are waiting for the last day of his life. the elderly show the grave-yards to his grandson and his sad memories of their tragic deaths. “lucy gray” presents the identity of lucy. she represents more than one person and that she is the combined representation of all the people that wordsworth loves and loses. she seems to possess a supernatural perfection and flawlessness of character. her spirit seems to haunt wordsworth, and he dwells upon her. the sheer number of poems that mention her reveal that he was forever thinking about her, or those whom she represents. on the other hand, in the poem, “michael”, it is found that michael loses half his land when he uses it as a surety for a nephew who meets with financial misfortune. when luke reaches the age of 18, michael sends luke to stay in london with a merchant that he might learn a trade and acquire sufficient wealth to regain the land that michael loses. it breaks michael’s heart to send luke away and he makes luke lay the first stone of a sheepfold as a covenant between them that luke will return. however, luke is corrupted in the city and is forced to flee the country and michael lives out his life without his son. he returns sometimes to the sheepfold but no longer has the heart to complete it. wordsworth’s poem “tintern abbey” is the memory of pure communion with nature in childhood works upon the mind even in adulthood, when access to that pure communion has been lost, and that the maturity of mind present in adulthood offers compensation for nature. on the other hand, jasimuddin’s poem “amar bari” is a depiction of rural setting. in the poem the poet invites his beloved to his village home. when a friend goes to the poet’s house, the poet entertains him with rice paddy, binnidhan khai, kabari plantain from the house tree and rural curd. the poem also has a detailed description of how the guest’s life is enhanced by the proximity of nature. apart from this, the poet says that he plays with his friend all day long. the poet tells his friend which way to go home, how to know home. bengalis have a reputation for hospitality since ages. nature also tries earnestly to entertain and delight the invited guests. wordsworth presents nature in divergent ways in his poetry. he views nature as a source of love, perpetual joy, soothing and healing power, knowledge and spirituality. nature and god become one for him. he believes that nature is the universal spirit guiding anyone who like to be guided by her. his poems depict his strong love and passion for nature. he presents her as a perpetual source of joy and teaching. he views her as a universal teacher. he believes that she retains soothing and healing power. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pen_(enclosure) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/covenant www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 7 published by scholink inc. he employs nature in his poetry to provide relief from the weariness of humans, with a heavy presence of the sublime, such as tall cliffs and inland whispers. his poetry presents the rural lives of english men and women. jasimuddin did not write for readers who lived in affluent cities. his goal is to reach out to sizable rural populations throughout all of undivided bengal. the bengalee folk poet is headed towards becoming a living legend in a few years once he devotes himself to writing poetry. renowned folklorists are always interested in him. following the hundreds of millions of copies of his plays, poetry collections, and song recordings that are sold, he becomes somewhat of a cult in indian subcontinent. wordsworth thinks that mystical or spiritual experiences lead to the creation of poetry. nature is a reflection of god. he imagines that by honouring nature, man find happiness. he is a devoted lover of the natural world. he is regarded as the finest poet of nature because of the profound affection. on the other hand, the rural characters created by jasimuddin belong to a certain group of rural people whose experiences are hardly ever told. they speak without voice. his rustic perspective gives the underclass a voice when he writes poems and develops his characters. wordsworth’s literary genius, ability to capture emotions, personification of human life through nature, and advocacy of a lifestyle that brings people back to nature earns him the title of romantic poet. his writings express his ardent devotion to the natural world. he portrays natural objects as an endless source of inspiration and knowledge. he is a universal instructor in his eyes. he thinks that he still has the ability to heal and soothe. the poet considers himself to be a living being and observes a strong bond between him and the people around natural objects. his poetry frequently returns to the idea of nature. how the poet portrays nature, the majority of his poetry are easy to understand and appreciate. however, rural people are often closely connected to the natural world and engage in agricultural activities like farming and animal husbandry. in contrast, urban people are fast-paced and more individualistic, with people often focused on their careers and personal goals. it is found that simple diction and versification are found in their poetry. most of the rural characters are found to play their role as protagonists as we can notice in their rural settings and characters. 6. conclusion jasimuddin is regarded as the palli kabi (rural poet) due to his exceptional portrayal of rural bengal. he clearly depicts his religious influence when portraying the lives of rural people. he is the legendary figure for the revivals of pastoral literature in bengal during the twentieth-century. jasimuddin is one of the pioneers of the progressive and non-communal cultural movement. he is an ardent supporter of socialism and of bengali nationalism. on the other hand, wordsworth is a very influential english romantic poet of eighteenth and nineteenth century. the poems illustrate his profound adoration and fervour for nature. he portrays himself as an everlasting fountain of happiness and enlightenment. the poet regards himself as a sentient being and observes a strong connection between her and the human www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 8 published by scholink inc. race. it is found that jasimuddin’s and wordsworth’s poems can be comprehended and appreciated by closely analysing their portrayal of nature. references ahmed, m. k. (2013). islamic perspectives in approaching literature: representation of muslim life and practices in palli kabi (country poet) jasimuddin’s poetry. international journal of ethics in social sciences, 1(1), 144. acharya, a. (2 january 2024). jasim uddin is the reason why pallikavi. literary desk. benziger, j. (1950). tintern abbey revisited. pmla, 65(2), 160. https://doi.org/10.2307/459461 gravil, r. (2000). “tintern abbey” and “the system of nature.” romanticism, 2000, 41. https://doi.org/10.3366/rom.2000.6.1.35 harmon, w. (2009). a handbook to literature. new delhi: dorling kindersley. hudson, w. h. (2002). an introduction to the study of english literature. new delhi: robin books. kirszner, l. g. (1991). literature: reading, reacting, writing. boston: heinie & heinie. riasonovsky, n. (1992). the emergence of romanticism. new york: oxford, 72. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195073416.001.0001 solaiman, md., & mumu, m. s. (2020). thomas gray and jasimuddin: the voice of extreme agony in both unique universal souls. european journal of english language and literature studies, 8(5), 7-19. wordsworth, w., & coleridge, s. t. (1989). preface to the lyrical ballads. lahore: kitab mahal. wordsworth, w. (1798). tintern abbey. l. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.2307/459461 https://doi.org/10.3366/rom.2000.6.1.35 https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195073416.001.0001 microsoft word elsr-v1n1-p101 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 101 original paper perceptions of english language learners—teacher beliefs, professional development and student outcomes: a literature review stephanie h. wright1, fernanda vargas1 & tonya huber1* 1 texas a&m international university laredo, tx, usa * tonya huber, texas a&m international university laredo, tx, usa received: may 5, 2020 accepted: may 24, 2020 online published: may 27, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n1p101 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n1p101 abstract across america, linguistically disadvantaged youth are struggling through english language arts courses without proper support in scaffolding and/or differentiated instruction. teachers’ beliefs affect their classroom instruction, classroom management, and classroom culture. thus, the need for research is of utmost importance as students are being pushed through the educational system without the support or respect that they deserve. this literature review examines the connection between teachers’ attitudes and perceptions of english language learners (ells) and how these thought forms affect classroom instruction. we narrowed our focus to identify studies and analyze teachers’ perceptions while servicing ell students, specifically latino/a english language learners. we discerned data and various levels of teacher-student engagement based on studies centered around various levels of teacher experience, all in relation to ells. further, we analyzed how professional development altered educators’ attitudes and perceptions of english language learners. the articles reviewed gave insight into teacher perceptions and how most educators felt inadequately prepared to teach those whose first language was not english. by studying teachers’ viewpoints—through qualitative and quantitative analyses—we confirmed a need for professional development that will improve not only how content is learned for an english language learner, but the relationships those students encounter as well. keywords academic language, english language learner (ell), long-term english learner, teacher attitudes, teacher perceptions, teacher beliefs, professional development www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 102 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction as english teachers in texas, the first two authors daily see the need for more educators to be better prepared for the growing english language learner (ell) population. educators need to be well suited for the ell trends in education that are constantly accelerating. there has been an increase of enrolled ells not only in border states, but across the united states as a whole. of the articles reviewed, several authors open their research by highlighting the growing ell population. for instance, two different research teams wrote,  “in the united states, rising numbers of students are currently classified as english language learners” (mellom et al., 2018, p. 98).  “it is well known that english language learners (ells) are a significantly growing population in u.s. schools in all regions of the country (national center for educational statistics, 2017)” (andrei et al., 2018, p. 1). further, some teachers have not had the most recent trainings available to those who teach ells, particularly in secondary education. one study investigated how districts in the southern states of the u.s. were ill-equipped to educate ells based on inexperience with both latin american culture and working with ells. mellom et al. (2018) report, “in many parts of the united states, such as the american south, this situation is further complicated by the fact that latino ells are typically enrolled in schools that do not have experience serving either latino students or ells” (p. 98). this literature review explores many options; as wide as teacher beliefs and professional development and seeing how different states and schools address the rise of ells in their educational system. likewise, we considered a broader global search to determine if research on teachers of english language learners might provide additional information to inform this study. we sought to gather data to bridge the gap to help teachers better serve a growing english language learner student population. in overview of our articles, we determine a select sample of key definitions, to establish a shared knowledge base for our readers, of the traditional education jargon associated with the english language arts curriculum in service to ells (see table 1). in addition to consideration of jargon, we focused on words that centered around the definitions that were imperative to our study and conducive to comprehending the demographic of students. further, galvan and galvan (2017) report, “a table of definitions can be helpful if there are diverse definitions of a given variable” (p. 89). further supporting that by defining our terms and providing further explanation on how these words correlate with our research, we can make deeper, more meaningful connections. thus, our readers will find clarity and coherence and the review will be strengthened in its “methodology integrity” (apa, 2020, p. 108). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 103 published by scholink inc. table 1. key terms in relation to ells, teacher beliefs, and professional development term definition academic language lachance et al. (2018) study many participant responses to get to the meaning of academic language. there appears to be what they called, “a unified common understanding and comprehensive definition of academic language and was not noted…emphasis on academic vocabulary needed for academic language and conceptual understanding in core content areas was a recurring theme” (p. 8). culturally responsive teaching carley rizzuto (2017) reports “culturally responsive teaching facilitates and supports the academic achievement of all students. it requires teachers to create a learning environment where all students are welcomed and provided the best opportunities to learn regardless of their cultural and linguistic backgrounds” (p. 185). english language learner (ell) andrei et al. (2018) report ells “are a significantly growing population in u.s. schools in all regions of the country (national center for educational statistics, 2017)” (p. 1). carley rizzuto (2017) states, “researchers have only recently begun to explore how practicing teachers’ perceptions of english language learners (ells) impact the literacy instruction ell students receive (au, 2011; garcia, 2015; mcwayne, hahs-vaughan, wright, & cheung, 2012)” (p. 1). mellom et al. (2018) share, “students who are simultaneously learning how to communicate in english and the academic content expected of them in each subsequent grade level of the us school system (garcia, arias, harris-murri, & serna, 2010)” (p. 1). identity mccrocklin and link (2016) state “a range of social personae, including social statuses, roles, positions, relationships, and institutional and other relevant community identities one may attempt to claim or assign in the course of social life” (p. 112). l2 learner further, kibler and valdés (2016) describe students as l2 learners “[when] an individual whose task of acquisition/development is seen as not yet finished” (p. 102). long-term english learner kibler and valdés (2016) describe students as “long-term english learners [which are] students who have not successfully passed language examinations used to measure english proficiency in american schools” (p. 97). opportunities to learn könig et al. (2017) provide this data-driven analysis as “part of their teacher preparation program, thus providing detailed insight into how they shape the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 104 published by scholink inc. (otl) knowledge of preservice teachers at the end of their training (blömeke et al., 2014; kömig & blömeke, 2012; schmidt, cogan, & houang, 2011)” (pp. 109-110). proficiency levels abobaker (2017) includes levels of knowledge in language acquisition and describes them as “beginner and advanced levels” (p. 832). teacher attitudes carley rizzuto (2017) shares, “researchers have also established that teachers across u.s. public schools have largely developed negative theories about mainstream ell students’ ability to learn (cummins, 2001; gándara, maxwell-jolly, & driscoll, 2005; garcia, 2015)” (p. 183). mellom et al. (2018) make this thought-provoking connection, “a control teacher said, ‘i try to really stress for them [ells] to only speak english when everyone around them cannot understand.’ this statement seems to imply that home language use is rude and exclusionary unless all students can understand what is being said. this goes back to the concept that any use of language other than english would be morally unacceptable and does not take into consideration the exclusion the students might feel when surrounded by native english speakers and forced to speak a language which they have not yet fully acquired” (p. 103). teacher professional development hansen-thomas et al. (2014) report, “teachers must develop knowledge in multicultural education, second-language acquisition and esl strategies, among other areas. another layer of complexity to the education of ells and, as a consequence, to the full preparation of their teachers is the mandate to measure the academic and social language achievement of ells through standards (the english language proficiency standards) (texas administrative code 2007)” (p. 310). 1.1 authors’ positionality our experience as high school teachers serving ells, has provided the vantage from which we see the need for a better structured professional learning environment to help develop our learners to the best of their english language capabilities; thus, we determined to exclude any articles in relation to ells that were not conducive to this targeted population of students. professional development offered in our district, specifically trainings centered around ells, is growing tremendously but is comparatively lacking when geared towards secondary education. during a recent school year, the district posted available trainings called bella noche, but these trainings were limited to elementary teachers only. however, secondary teachers recently have been able to participate in these trainings. learning a language is not just limited to primary school but, rather, should be continued into secondary school. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 105 published by scholink inc. 2. methods and analysis 2.1 explanation of methodology and focus of analysis we see the use of tables to further construct knowledge of the topic in a way that is considered valid in research. data tables are encouraged by galvan and galvan (2017) to “deal with complex matters that might be difficult for your readers to follow in the text” (p. 92). we consider our topic complex because our articles show the rise of ells across the united states. with this increase comes frustration with educators not knowing how to properly serve their students. one study examined how teachers’ attitudes towards ells altered their instruction in the classroom. carley rizzuto (2017) explained how, “unfortunately, many mainstream teachers hold deficit views toward the ells in their classrooms (garcia, 2015). in addition, researchers have also established that teachers across u.s. public schools have largely developed negative theories about mainstream ell students’ ability to learn (cummins, 2001; gándara, maxwell-jolly, & driscoll, 2005; garcia, 2015)” (p. 183). we considered the many ways this information could be searched and used those keywords to build the foundation of our research (see table 2). we initiated research using worldcat, as encouraged by galvan and galvan (2017), because “most scholars that [they] consulted prefer to use worldcat because they consider the search results to be more trustworthy and comprehensive” (p. 20). we used boolean operators such as “and,” “or,” and “not” to narrow our focus and attempted to eliminate all excess content that we did not consider conducive to our study. when beginning our initial research, we tried to limit our sources to strictly focus on ells in secondary education but were unable to locate enough sources, so studies are included from k-12 grade levels. furthermore, we analyzed the studies with a table of research methods (see table 3) with a column that summarizes the results of each study reviewed. table 2. audit trail database dates reviewed search terms sources located relevant sources worldcat search 1 january 2016-january 2020 “ells” and “teaching reading” and “teaching writing” and “teacher trainings” 16 2 worldcat search 2 january 2016-january 2020 “student achievement” and “teacher attitude” and “ells” and “spanish-speaking” and “secondary” and “teaching english” 2 0 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 106 published by scholink inc. worldcat search 3 january 2016-january 2020 “educational disparities” and “ells” and “high school” 18 2 worldcat search 4 january 2016-january 2020 “english language arts” and “classroom culture” or “disparities” and “ells” and “high school” 95 7 worldcat search 5 january 2016-january 2020 “english language arts” and “classroom culture” or “classroom environment” and “ells” and “student achievement” 88 5 worldcat search 6 december 2014-january 2020 “teacher professional development” and “english as a second language” and “secondary” 12 2 worldcat search 7 december 2014-january 2020 “teacher professional development” and “english as a second language” and “secondary” and “testing” 6 2 worldcat search 8 december 2014-january 2020 “teacher professional development” and “english as a second language” and “secondary” and “testing” and “perceptions” 22 2 worldcat search 9 december 2014-january 2020 “teacher professional development” and “english as a second language” and “secondary” and “testing” and “perceptions” and “achievements” 19 4 worldcat search 10 december 2014-january 2020 “english as a second language” and “secondary” and “testing” and “perceptions” and “professional development” and 50 3 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 107 published by scholink inc. “teachers” and “students” worldcat search 11 december 2014-january 2020 “english as a second language” and “secondary” and “testing” and “perceptions” and “professional development” and “teachers” and “students” and “administrators” 44 2 table 3. methodology in studies authors and publication year participants detailed methodology findings abobaker (2017) “80 english language learner (ell) participants (43 females, 37 males; age range, 18-30) were recruited for this quasi-experimental study. they came from three language backgrounds: arabic, chinese, and portuguese. these learners were divided into two equal groups of 40 according to their different proficiency levels (beginner learner [bl] and advanced learner [al])” (p. 837). “the data were collected during one academic year, through which each group was introduced to four conditions: no scaffold (video and audio in english without text), kwc (video, audio, and only content words in english), fc (video, audio, and english full-text that mirrored only the spoken words), and ft (audio and a sheet with full transcription in english)” (p. 838). overall, it appears as if “beginner learners scored highest on the [full caption] fc condition listening comprehension test, whereas advanced learners’ highest scores were on kwc [keyword captions]. these findings seem to indicate that fc and kwc might be the best options for learners at the beginner level and advanced level, respectively” (p. 839). andrei et al. (2018) the main participants are ashley, “a veteran middle school ela teacher [and] two of ashely’s independent study with qualitative data collection, centered around, “the ell writer: moving beyond the basics in the secondary classroom” it was discovered in ashley’s reflections that, “several aspects of teaching and learning related to the two newcomer ells: the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 108 published by scholink inc. ells…were also included in this study” (p. 5). (ortmeier-hooper, 2013)” (p. 6). ashley, also “[chose] three chapters that would fit her needs and interest from writing sense: integrated reading and writing lessons for english language learners (kendall & khuon, 2006)” (p. 6). ashley collected three students’ assignments to be reviewed for this study. activities she planned, students’ progress, and a teacher self-assessment” (p. 7). further, unsurprisingly, “the findings revolve around the idea that ashley, as a content-teacher, was responsible for the teaching and learning of the ells she had in her classroom” (p. 7). carley rizzuto (2017) “10 female participants, 9 early-childhood ell educators, 1 spanish teacher” (p. 188). further, of the participants that were educators, “teaching experience ranged from 3 to 30 years” (p. 188). additionally, “participants taught in grades ranging from pre-kindergarten through second grade” (p. 188). gaining understanding of perceptions of the study participants educating ells. “a transformative parallel mixed-method design with both qualitative and quantitative data sources” (p. 186). it is worth mentioning that these participants did not receive any form of ell professional development (p. 188). this study is nonexperimental, were studied teachers’ perceptions, and there was no attempt to alter those perceptions or support for ell students. “a psychometrically validated (cronbach’s alpha = .87) quantitative survey instrument was utilized to measure mainstream early childhood teachers’ perceptions about diversity, as well as to determine the effect size of the teachers’ perceptions toward ell pupils in their classrooms” (p. 187). “several prompts were negatively worded in order to avoid creating a response set (the tendency for participants to answer the same regardless of the of the qualitative data collected, “most teachers, [7 of the participants], held negative perceptions regarding ell students, specifically concerning the use of their native language in their classrooms, and lacked an understanding of second language acquisition” (p. 190). further, the quantitative data, showed that, “for research question one…indicated that most of the participants were open to diversity within their classrooms” (p. 194). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 109 published by scholink inc. prompt), and the participant responses for these were reverse coded” (p. 188). hansen-tho mas et al. (2014) the survey was open to teachers and staff of all levels who interacted with esl students. the inclusion criteria to participate in this survey were that they all: were working in the targeted rural and small school districts; had a good command of the english language; and had close interaction with ells. a survey questionnaire was prepared and was sent to faculty and staff of 13 school districts across north texas. the researchers sent emails containing the survey web link to esl and/or federal programs coordinators of the 13 school districts. these coordinators were asked to share the web link with their personnel. “teachers who had two or more college courses perceived themselves as being more effective in working with ells than those who had less training” (p. 319). “having two or more college courses can play an important role in the preparedness of rural teachers in their work with ells” (p. 319). “formal training and graduate degrees improve teachers’ competence in educating ells” (p. 319). “byrnes and kiger (1997) concluded that a graduate degree can improve the thinking of teachers concerning social, political and educational issues that are associated with language diversity” (p. 319). könig et al. (2017) sampled preservice teachers at the end of their first phase (master’s studies at university) and second phase (last year of internship). the sample consists of future teachers attending a teacher education program that would qualify them as lower secondary teachers only. data were collected in the pke project, an empirical research study conducted in germany in 2015 in order to investigate future secondary school efl (english foreign language) teachers’ opportunities to learn during initial teacher education in relation to their professional knowledge. for this, preservice, efl teachers at different preparation stages were sampled. “evidence is provided for efl teacher preparation that specific program characteristics are relevant for the preservice teachers’ acquisition of knowledge” (p. 121). “it is difficult to generalize findings to teacher education systems in other countries” (p. 122). lachance et an initial survey was sent “[they] conducted a qualitative, from authentic participant www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 110 published by scholink inc. al. (2018) out to esl k-12 teachers, and “of the 180, 103 completed the survey, yielding a nearly 60% participation rate” (p. 7). more explicitly, “the focus group was comprised of nine participants from the district’s core central office esl team of coordinating teachers and program administrators. specifically, these nine participants included four with an emphasis on the elementary grades, four with an emphasis on the secondary grades, and one k-12 team member” (p. 7). interpretive case study (erickson, 1986; merriam, 1998; yin, 2014) to gain clarity on esl teachers’ perspectives regarding the importance of access and students’ active learning of academic language in one north carolina district” (p. 5). additionally, “the study aimed to explore teachers’ demonstrations of facilitating academic language development in the classroom” (p. 6). responses, “[there were] three overarching themes (saldaña, 2016; corbin & strauss, 1998 [sic]): (a) academic language defined, (b) the importance of academic language, and (c) educators’ roles” (p. 8). furthermore, there were larger themes that, “also revealed subthematic information regarding academic vocabulary, academic success, and accessibility to academic language in the context of school” (p. 8). mellom et al. (2018) “147 3rd and 5th grade classroom teachers in three cohorts in treatment and control groups. they were dispersed among 47 high-poverty elementary schools within 15 rural, suburban and urban districts in the new south, in north georgia” (p. 100). “to evaluate the effectiveness of the professional development and the impacts of the implementation of the pedagogy on teacher attitudes and practice, the study used ethnographic data from a variety of sources. it combined the use of: general questionnaires (baer & weller, 2006) at the beginning and end of the study; bi-weekly log data (rees, 2006), gathered from treatment and control teachers regarding their impressions about english language learners, the pedagogy, and their practice…” (p. 101). the participants were split into two groups, “control” and it was discovered that teachers in the treatment group had extremely low opinions of log questions 2 & 8. further, “these representative examples from larger dataset of 147 teachers show how often, in the minds of society and teachers, lack of english, or continued home language use is tangled with an idea of ‘wrongness’ or even, in extreme cases, with moral turpitude” (p. 102). contrastingly, “none of the control teachers in [our] sample had overtly negative responses www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 111 published by scholink inc. “treatment” groups (p. 102) within each group are different levels of educators, the control groups are predominantly teachers that are esl certified and have experience teaching ells, and the participants under treatment are newly certified or noncertified esl teachers with el students. further, the treatment participant group undergo a new form of instruction called, “instructional conversation pedagogy” (p. 100). further, “the predominance of u.s. teachers who are white, monolingual and female (us census bureau, 2013) [and] 28% of the total number of school-age children speak a language other than english at home” (p. 100) and, thus, with the participant groups derived from the new south, pointedly north georgia, it is easy to presume that these participants are predominantly white females. to this question” (p. 102). salli & osam (2017) “the research was carried out at the english language and teaching department of eastern mediterranean university (emu), northern cyprus with 15 preservice teachers enrolled in a 4th year teaching practice course as part of a practicum program in the english language teaching department at emu. eleven data came from a broader qualitative study examining identity formation of preservice teachers during practicum. data included all blog artifacts and semi-structured interviews conducted by the course instructor. the interviews aimed to scaffold the findings gathered from the blog artifacts and gain insight into participants’ teaching practice—experiences, memories, and their developing professional selves. “findings revealed that preservice teachers were more concerned with their personal qualities (e.g., being cheerful, approachable, dealing with students’ problems) and relations with their students (e.g., praising students, having good communication and establishing rapport) than with instructional strategies or professional dispositions” (p. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 112 published by scholink inc. female and four male preservice teachers, whose age ranged from 21 to 23, agreed to take part in the study. twelve participants were from turkey, two of them were from northern cyprus, and one was from russia. none of the participants had prior blogging experiences” (p. 486). 490). “receiving feedback and watching peers’ video-recorded lessons helped preservice teachers mitigate feared teacher-selves pertaining to instructional strategies by identifying strategies to deal with such problems when they arise” (p. 492). “feedback preservice teachers receive from their course instructor and peers helps them diminish feared teacher-selves and construct expected teacher-selves” (p. 495). sardegna et al.(2017) “the participants consisted of 704 efl students (aged 14–17 years) in urban cities in south korea. originally, 754 students participated, but 50 were excluded from the analysis because some (n = 3) submitted incomplete responses and others (n = 47) chose multiple responses for some items. approximately 49% (n = 347) of the participants were females and 51% (n = 357) were males. they were either in their third year (n = 297) in a private middle school (equivalent to ninth grade in the united states) or in their second year (n = two instruments: the spi inventory to assess reported use of pronunciation strategies and the lap inventory to assess self-efficacy and learner attitudes toward pronunciation learning. “adult esl learners who received instruction focusing on pronunciation learning strategies improved their pronunciation skills significantly during the 4-month course and maintained significant progress over time” (p. 89). “combination of strategies and other variables, such as learners’ practice engagement, progress during the course, and sense of self-efficacy, affected their long-term improvement” (p. 89). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 113 published by scholink inc. 407) in a public high school (equivalent to 11th grade in the united states)” (pp. 92-93). 2.1.1 qualitative and quantitative analysis by providing this information—participants, detailed methodology, and findings—we structured this information for comparative analysis. galvan and galvan (2017) stated that “because different research methods can result in differences in the outcomes of studies, it is helpful to build a table that summarizes the methods employed” (p. 89). by providing the different methodologies and their results, it showed how one methodology in relation to professional development and ells can shift or change between multiple studies. for instance, some of the articles reviewed used quantitative analysis while others used qualitative analysis. for example, carley rizzuto (2017) explained, “quantitative data [and] qualitative data were collected” (p. 182). meanwhile, lachance et al. (2018) reported, “this qualitative interpretive study showcases views and perceptions of k-12 teachers of english as a second language (esl) in a north carolina school district regarding the importance of academic language to ensure equal educational opportunities for english learners” (p. 1). comparatively, a mix of articles used both qualitative and quantitative data for a mixed-methodology study. see table 3 for a comparison of qualitative and quantitative data analysis. 3. findings 3.1 introduction to findings unfortunately, there is a high population of teachers ill-equipped to address the rising population of english language learners. for instance, “a recent survey that looked at teachers’ perspectives toward inclusion of ells in regular classes found that lack of time and professional inadequacy were two important notions that affected them in their work” (hansen-thomas et al., 2014, p. 311). this unpreparedness stems from multi-faceted areas: first, teachers are not esl certified and this causes overcrowding for the teachers that are certified and thus finding esl certified teachers is difficult; second, teachers that are certified are not being properly trained across all grade levels; and lastly, teacher perceptions and beliefs of ells’ capabilities to learn diminish classroom instruction. what can be considered as rigorous, meaningful, relevant texts are liquidated and cheapened by the fear of ells not being able to grasp the content. for example, mellom et al. (2018) report: teacher beliefs have been shown to have an effect on their expectations, both of their students and of themselves. as macnab and payne (2003) have stated, “the beliefs and attitudes of teachers—cultural, ideological and personal—are significant determinants of the way they view their role as educators (p. 55)” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 114 published by scholink inc. and continues this explanation of cheapened content by stating, specifically with reference to ells, research has demonstrated that when teachers hold negative attitudes towards ells, this deeply affects the way teachers choose to behave toward their students (harper & de jong, 2009; richardson, 1996). (p. 99) it is unfortunate, but in the reality of education, these strategies hold true in regards to classroom instruction as teachers think about their lessons, and then their students, so teachers alter their instruction to justify their ignorance and lack of training. non-certified or ell-experienced teachers think, they cannot handle something like this, so those educators modify the instruction to water-down the content. comparatively, an ell-experienced teacher may think, if i provide scaffolding and supports, they will be able to complete this assignment. 4. discussions 4.1 introduction of strengths, weaknesses, and gaps while it was difficult to navigate through such a passionate topic, the research found provided great insight into the literature, studies, and experiments centered around this nationwide dilemma (see table 4). after dissecting the literature, we have found strengths within the research that provides validity to english language learners and their educators that goes against non-esl teacher beliefs. contrastingly, mellom et al. (2018) reported that several of their treatment participants, non-esl certified teachers, portrayed various levels of ignorance and/or a complete disregard for their students’ native language: a number of participants responded with comments criticizing the students’ use of languages other than english in class or even at home. for example, one respondent says, “most of the ell students in my classroom come from homes where their parents were born in the u.s. they still do not speak english in their homes (mostly).” it is interesting that for this respondent it is almost more damning that the students’ parents were born in the u.s. and yet speak a language other than english at home, implying that they have even less justification for not using english exclusively. (p. 102) it is teacher beliefs and perceptions like these that are suffocating generations of learners with mass potential and morality within the educational system. such statements as these, and others like it, are condemning students before they ever enter the classroom. inexperienced teachers and/or inflexible educators that do not allow cross-language discussions in class—translating from spanish to english—are limiting their ells potential and snuffing out their light and progression within the community and educational system. comparatively, there are esl-certified teachers that do use translation within the classroom and both the students and teacher grow exponentially because of the flexibility in using diverse language within the curriculum. for instance, mellom et al. (2018) report: three separate treatment teachers indicated their ell students use their home language to understand (or help other students understand) class content and reduce www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 115 published by scholink inc. frustration. they indicated, “they may use if they have difficulty expressing an idea or vocabulary”; “they will use it to help another student understand something in class”; and “it occurs sometimes when they get frustrated looking for the english word to fit what they are trying to say.” these teachers allow their students to use their home language during classroom instruction in order to understand academic content and express themselves accurately and or to assist other students. (p. 104) further, in some research studies, we found that while there were some gaps in professional development training and how the professional development was used to improve teacher-student relations and classroom instruction, many studies in the mellom et al. (2018) study showed growth (see table 7). while there may have been teacher logs and surveys and the like, the authors did not explicitly label how the professional development was implemented within the districts or participant’ classrooms. hansen-thomas et al. (2014) state that “only 20 us states require some kind of training for teachers of ells, but the parameters of this training are not clearly spelled out” (p. 310). additionally, there were gaps in the research in consideration to locations across the u.s., classroom sizes, and across grade levels. 4.1.1 teachers’ perceptions and impact on instruction and classroom environment one consistent determining factor of how well a classroom functions is based on the teacher’s perception of her students and their capabilities and her comfortability in working with that population for the academic year. while some teachers tend to work with the same populations and grade levels, depending on the district and influx of students, teaching assignments can change yearly. thus, with a rise in english language learners, and varied but minimal certified teachers, it is apparent to see how some non-certified teachers feel overwhelmed by large class sizes of ells. however, it is not the size of ells that disturb these teacher-mentalities, but rather, their perceptions of ell capabilities. along with these—often negative—thought forms, teachers pair such ideas as language, learning capabilities and student comprehension and lump them together based on whether a student knows and understands english. such strategies and social engineering diminish, weaken, and dilute curriculum, instruction, and classroom environments. in school settings, where students are often pushed already, an ell student is further ostracized and segregated by teacher mentalities. in the school building, teachers are the judge and jury, and with such authority, they can create high functioning, excelling classrooms or disintegrate learning environments within the first five minutes of the start of the period. such perceptions and thoughts like: can they even speak english, do they understand me or, worse, they can’t do this assignment/activity further implicates students before they walk into the classroom. then, there are educators that have no background knowledge or lack cultural awareness in consideration of latin american culture. so, when ill-experienced teachers are trying to teach ells, they tend to have limited, and even negatively stereotypical thoughts about their student population and capabilities. authors mellom et al. (2018) brought to light some ugly yet thought provoking awareness into just how teacher perceptions affect their www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 116 published by scholink inc. opinions of students (see table 5). further, mellom et al. (2018) provide examples of both positive and negative uses of native languages and how utilizing students’ native tongues can more likely amplify learning compared to suppressing and ostracizing native tongues which, research shows, negates teacher efforts in curriculum and instruction (see table 6). when looking at the tables, notice the spectrum of emotions that may pool to the surface. compare the connotations and emotions of the deficit and liberation models. if we were students in these courses, which teacher would we rather have? to which table would we rather belong? table 4. methodologies strengths and weaknesses authors & publication year strengths weaknesses or gaps abobaker (2017) discipline and good managerial experience were demonstrated when considering how to collect the data. there were “80 ell participants [ranging between] 18-30 [most likely for maturity, consistency in attendance, and for accuracy of dedication in learning the english language and practicing their proficiency skills] with three [different] language backgrounds” (p. 837). further, the testing methods used seemed accurate to educational standards as the videos included for demonstration and data collection were of appropriate length and was scaffolded in various forms to support each ell. through this, the data showed tremendous growth for l2 beginning els, when supported through “fc—full caption of video content” (p. 837). in this study, one point of weakness was that “the locations where data were collected lacked computer labs. a future investigation is needed to explore the effect of viewing these conditions though individual computers with headsets where learners can play the texts and answer comprehension tests at their own pace” (p. 839). this causes gaps in research because it limited the time accessible to the participants trying to complete the comprehension tests. further, another gap within the research is that the only level proficiencies tested were beginner and advanced. andrei et al. (2018) one strength was that the focus of the study was on “one specific teacher and two ell students” (p. 7). through this specificity comes limited data in the sense that there’s only three participants really involved. the positive in this experience is that through “ashely’s reflections” (p. 7) and veteran one minor gap within the research, that seemed to be further supported in the most unbiased way, was that the contributing authors to this study were friends with the participant, ashley. it is explained further here, “we realize now both of these authors might have influenced the data analysis and interpretation. however, [they] conducted www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 117 published by scholink inc. teaching experience, it is evident that any teacher, even a veteran teacher (when they are known for being stuck in their own ways) is capable of learning and adapting to how to teach with the best strategies that can work for their ells. ashley proves that when given time for reflection, having small class sizes of ells, and intermingling ells with their non-hispanic counterparts, comprehensive instruction can still occur. this study can be used as groundwork into educating other veteran educators that becoming esl certified is not the end of their teaching careers, but a new beginning in a rewarding, challenging form of teaching. participant check-in and collected three sets of participant data to increase reliability (rossman & rallis, 2012)” (p. 7). comparatively, had they added one or two other teachers with an ell population of 2-3 students, various forms of reflections, points of view, and reliability would have increased throughout the data collection. further, to combat unreliability, the authors recommend for future studies to “look at teachers’ writings as well as classroom observations to triangulate the data” (p. 16). carley rizzuto (2017) when pulling from qualitative and quantitative data, it shows strength, planning, and intentional outcomes when researching whether teacher perceptions affect their teaching. for instance, “a transformative parallel mixed-method design with both qualitative and quantitative data sources” (p. 186). an example states, “questionnaires and interviews are often used together in mixed method studies investigating educational practices (anfara et al., 2002)” (p. 186). thorough tools were used to collect data, “the process began with open coding utilizing inductive analysis which involved inventorying transcripts, classroom observations, and classroom artifacts to define key words and phrases that appear in the data” (p. 189). one gap appears, similarly in another article, where data collection is not a cross-culture of elementary, middle, and secondary schools. if this were the case, data collected could determine which level needs the most integrative support and compare/contrast in support of what is working in the school or grade level and transferring those skills into other schools and grade levels. further, through focusing on single “research questions” (p. 195) independently, it limits the outcome of perception, application, and the aftermath change in how to operate after the research has been conducted. if this study were picked up for another round, would the researchers know where to begin? would it be successful in tracking and then implementing change in teacher perception? how? just bringing awareness from the study is not enough, what happens once the study has been conducted? who is held accountable? hansen-tho mas et al. “a survey questionnaire was prepared and was sent to faculty and staff of 13 school one weakness in the study is the portrayal of the participant survey because select questions could www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 118 published by scholink inc. (2014) districts across north texas” (p. 313). further, most school districts responded and of those that did, “the inclusion criteria to participate in this survey were that they all: were working in the targeted rural and small school districts; had a good command of the english language; and had close interaction with ells” (p. 313). moreover, the data collected on participants of the survey was incredibly thorough, “from 1987 teachers in the 13 school districts (texas education agency 2012), 159 responded; this represented 8% of the total teacher population of the districts” (p. 314). thus, “the teachers who responded included 137 females and 22 males as reported by the survey. in terms of their ethnicity, there were a total of 139 white teachers, 8 latino/as, 7 african americans, 2 native americans and 2 identified as ‘other’” (pp. 314-315). furthermore, the participant list provides aplethora of teacher experience, “most of the participants had a wealth of teaching experience. fifty-eight percent had been teaching for 11 years and more, but...nearly one-half of the teachers were certified to teach esl (only 3% were certified bilingual (spanish/english)” (p. 315). be skipped. for instance, “participants were allowed to not answer a question and move to the next question during the survey. all of the participants who started the survey completed it, although some did not respond to all questions” (p. 313). without a proper log of response questions and accurate data of answers, it can be difficult to decipher in complete transparency. another negative trait in the study is recognized in the participant list and the lack of diversity between teacher experience and teaching experience in ell student populations. for example, “the majority of the teachers had been teaching for 11 years or more, but had fewer years working with ells. more than one-half of the participants held a degree or endorsement in esl, with only 3.4% holding a degree or endorsement in bilingual education” (p. 315). further, such discrepancies of imbalance between experienced esl-certified teachers and comfortability is shared here, “with regard to teachers’ needs, 25% indicated lacking knowledge in literacy strategies for ells. many reported difficulties understanding esl assessments, with 28% indicating being ‘not at all competent’. one-quarter of the teachers believed they lacked the ability to understand and interpret esl-related research; and one-third lacked knowledge in historical, theoretical and policy foundations of esl” (p. 315). könig et al. (2017) “an empirical research study conducted in germany in 2015 in order to investigate future secondary school efl teachers’ opportunities to learn during initial teacher education in relation to their professional knowledge” (p. 113). in this study, the participant list consisted of two separate while this article provided great insight into working with preservice teachers, the study itself lacks the full focus for the topic of this literature review—latin american english language learners and the limitations associated and placed on them within education. contrastingly, though, this article does provide knowledge on how www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 119 published by scholink inc. groups—those still in collegiate studies and those practicing under internships. additionally, this empirical research takes into consideration some levels that other listed studies do not pursue—the predestined educators. it appears as if these understudies have yet delved into the classroom, and as such, are being pre-exposed to the struggling of literacy education and are being trained in such a way that they will be more prepared to instruct, uplift, empower, and guide efl learners more so than their counterparts. for instance, “we sampled preservice teachers at the end of their first phase (master’s studies at university) and second phase (last year of internship). the sample consists of future teachers attending a teacher education program that would qualify them as lower secondary teachers only (haupt-/real-/gesamtschule) and as lower and upper secondary teachers (gymnasium/gesamtschule)” (p. 113). thus, such trainings and implementation of research for the participant list can support these new educators in their career field as strong literacy and language leaders. preemptively preparing preservice teachers to work with language learners can best prepare them for the classroom and can quite possibly redirect, diminish, or eradicate any beliefs before entering the classroom. however, the targeted goal for this study does not strike teacher beliefs, but rather, “insights into the question of whether content and teaching practice predict test scores in general” (p. 118). therefore, there are key points in this study worth mentioning even though the target student population does not reflect the purpose of this literature review. comparatively, should researchers decide to imitate this study with a focus on teacher beliefs and center student population on latin american students, it could make for an intriguing and telling study of perceptions, beliefs, and the impact on classroom culture, curriculum and instruction, and student outcomes. lachance et al. (2019) the critical strength in this review is the focus on teacher understanding and utilization of academic language. this study portrays a different perspective of teaching ells in not that whether ells can be taught, but that they’re taught with the highest form of support and content. additionally, this study collects data on north carolina’s school districts and the training and implementation of academic language for their ell under recommendations for future research, the authors addressed that the study should be repeated and should cross into other states so that there are more diverse understandings of academic language and to see if the definition alters from state-to-state. this is a current research gap and could be studied again as a trifold with two other states with various levels of differences in serving student populations (p. 13). further, should this study be considered for future research and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 120 published by scholink inc. population. furthermore, “the participants’ district had a formalized 3-year plan to amplify teachers’ competencies related to academic language development, with an intentionally designed series of professional development for the districts k-12 esl teachers, nearly 200 in total” (p. 6). publishing, data collected between elementary and secondary schools ought to be compared to one another in search of different professional development opportunities and teacher beliefs and how that affects the classroom and student achievement (p. 13). mellom et al. (2018) this two-part study shows educational interaction between teachers and ell students regarding teacher beliefs and the effect those beliefs have within the classroom. of the many strengths within this study, one example is that the study is for two years and the participants are broken into a treatment group and a control group. further, “throughout the study years, the log questions were uploaded into survey monkey every two weeks and individual password links were sent to each teacher” (p. 101). this shows responsibility in the study and reliability that the information entered will remain confidential so that participants will remain honest. moreover, the study “aims to examine the evolution of treatment teacher attitudes over time with the intervention and compare them to the control teachers’ attitudes by coding key themes and indicators” (p. 101). as far as weaknesses in this study, there are a few. first, this study was initiated in the new south and includes participants from districts in north georgia (p. 99). a reason for concern is that in rural north georgia, the population residing there is predominantly white. the study does not clearly list the areas and school districts used, but it can be determined (and is stated in the research) that due to limited interaction with diverse populations—these teachers already have a bias in regard to teaching and educating els (p. 99). further, an additional gap and weakness in this study is that participants labeled “treatment and control teachers were all randomized from a pool of volunteers who theoretically had the same range of expertise and backgrounds, the researchers recognize that there would be some control teachers who would have relatively more positive attitudes toward english language learners due to their having strong backgrounds in tesol or experience with culturally responsive pedagogies, and there would be some treatment teachers with little experience with ells or culturally responsive pedagogies who would require more training and coaching to shift their attitudes and practice” (p. 101). sallı&osam (2017) the participant list consisted of fifteen preservice teachers, “enrolled in a 4th year teaching practice course [and] received 42 “in this traditional format, the course instructor and the participants have limited time to share and learn from each other. to overcome this problem www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 121 published by scholink inc. contact hours and taught a minimum of four lessons to secondary school students, two of which were observed and assessed by the course instructor” (p. s486). within the required reflections, blogs, and posed questions, “data was analysed qualitatively following the stages recommended by markus and nurius (1986) and saldaña (2015). transcripts were read several times independently by the each of the authors for consistency in the initial step of coding. expressions that pertained to ‘selves’ were coded according to the teacher possible selves measure and coding manual (hamman, personal communication february 9, 2015)” (p. s488). further, researchers worked to eradicate bias, “coding was carried out and standardized by multiple coders to minimize potential weaknesses such as personal bias or subjectivity in data analysis” (p. s488). additionally, this research provides powerful and meaning insight into preservice teacher-experience, “expected selves were clustered into three broad categories: interpersonal relationships, instructional strategies, and professional dispositions. feared teacher-selves articulated by the preservice teachers were also clustered into three categories: classroom management, instructional strategies and unprofessional dispositions” (p. s488). with such return on data, future measurements can be implemented to liquidate teacher anxieties and self-reluctance or apprehensiveness to educating diverse populations, contents, cultures, and backgrounds. and extend in-class time for reflection and interaction, the course instructor (i.e., the first author) added the use of blogs as another means of communication to ‘‘promote a reflective, collaborative and dialogic environment for academic and professional developments’ of the learners” (tang 2009, p. 89)” (p. s487). while incorporating blogging to alleviate the lack of practice collaborating and developing their communication skills as teachers between planning and creation of curriculum and instruction, one must take into account that “[n]one of the participants had prior blogging experiences” (p. s486). therefore, consumers must take into consideration the adjustment period for these participants along with consideration that the study is a reflection of a course and each blog was likely from an assignment of the course and lacks alignment with the study in its entirety and lacks connection to this literature review. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 122 published by scholink inc. sardegna et al. (2017) “originally, 754 students participated, but 50 were excluded from the analysis because some (n = 3) submitted incomplete responses and others (n = 47) chose multiple responses for some items” (pp. 92-93).such eliminations in the participant list exudes constructive and concise decisions within the research. it is worth mentioning that, “both schools typify korea’s low and middle socioeconomic neighborhoods and standardized curriculum as well as korean students’ lack of exposure to native english speakers and pronunciation instruction” (p. 93). it is imperative to know this information since this research determines the honest efforts, or lack-there-of within the participant list. “the questionnaire items focused participants’ attention on specific strategies in three sections: (a) strategies for improving sounds, (b) strategies for improving polysyllabic words, and (c) strategies for improving phrases. each section contained statements eliciting prediction, production, and perception strategies (a taxonomy proposed by sardegna, 2009a). second, the questionnaire items were reviewed by four korean teachers of english (with 1 to 7 years of teaching experience) for translation accuracy and readability for adolescent korean efl learners and then pilot tested with five adult korean esl learners (aged 28–30 years). minor revisions were made to the inventory items in both the english and korean versions based on these participants’ feedback” (p. 94). “this study was conducted with korean efl learners in urban settings. results might vary according to the setting and linguistic and cultural background of the learners. second, our data were based on retrospective self-reports. although a self-report measure is a common methodology in behavioral science, we cannot exclude the possibility that participants could have been inclined to give socially desirable answers, label strategies incorrectly, or fail to recall their behavior accurately (veenman, 2011). we attempted to minimize this limitation by writing items that contained little content that could be construed as being socially desirable or undesirable (holtgraves, 2004) and providing examples in the questionnaire to elicit the correct strategy. to decrease the likelihood of memory reconstruction problems, future studies might consider eliciting strategy use concurrent to a task (veenman, 2011) or supplement the self-report questionnaires with other data-collection measures, such as observations and interviews. third, because this study was cross-sectional, it offered a snapshot of student experience. longitudinal studies may provide insight regarding the complex and dynamic interplay of learner variables and fluctuations in students’ attitudes, strategy use, and self-efficacy” (pp. 106-107). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 123 published by scholink inc. table 5. teacher perceptions: deficit model author(s) and publication year prohibiting native language(s) neglecting native language(s) mellom et al. (2018)  “spanish [is] spoken in all the homes, parents have low literacy, [and] violence/drugs/crime [are] prevalent in community.” (p. 102).  “one treatment teacher even connected lack of english with heathenism: ‘very little english is spoken in the home. most of the students do not go to church’” (p. 102).  “one control teacher explained, ‘they use english at school and home language at home unless told otherwise.’ these teachers seem to use their power as authority figures to control their ell student’s home language use and exclude it from the classroom” (p. 102).  “‘i try to really stress for them to only speak english when everyone around them cannot understand.’ this statement seems to imply that home language use is rude and exclusionary unless all students can understand what is being said. this goes back to the concept that any use of language other than english would be morally unacceptable and does not take into consideration the exclusion  “many teachers simply stated that their ell students did not use their home language in the classroom or at school in general” (p. 103).  “two different control teachers said, ‘i have had very few students use their home language at school with adults or students’ and ‘this does not happen with my students,’ implying that it would be bad if it did and she is proud that it does not” (p. 103).  “a treatment teacher also stated, ‘it really doesn’t exist. occasionally they will use it during recess to speak to each other.’ these teachers are not explicitly prohibiting their ell students from using their home language in the classroom. however, there is also a lack of acknowledgement that the students have a linguistic asset that they could integrate into the curriculum. these teachers do not attempt in any way to use their student’s home language to facilitate learning” (p. 103). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 124 published by scholink inc. the students might feel when surrounded by native english speakers and forced to speak a language which they have not yet fully acquired”(p. 102). table 6. teacher perceptions: liberating model author(s) and publication year valuing native language(s) implementing native language(s) mellom et al. (2018)  “several teachers identified home language with student engagement and school success stating, for example, ‘the students truly seem to love to discuss what it was like in their home countries,’ and, ‘the cultural background of the students are in the forefront of how they communicate and adapt to change in their environments. specifically, in the school environment.’” (p. 103).  “others indicated that they have created classroom environments that value and promote home-language literacy. one control teacher notes, ‘our bi-lingual classroom library consists of books that provide a view of our ethnic diversity. many of the bilingual books are primarily spanish, african (various languages from  “one treatment teacher (of the larger sample of 147) indicated that she uses her ell student’s home language in the classroom in order to promote higher order thinking. she explained, ‘we value other languages at our school, and i often ask ell students to translate words or phrases into their language for our class to see how they compare or contrast’” (p. 104).  “she encourages all students to use critical thinking skills to compare and contrast two languages. this teacher integrates her ell student’s home language into the curriculum in a way that both supports the ell children’s own linguistic and cognitive development and encourages higher order thinking for all students in the classroom” (p. 104). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 125 published by scholink inc. different regions in africa) and hindu.’ this teacher sees not only that several different languages and cultures are represented at her school, but also notes that the books only offer a view of the diversity. this insight is important because it implies that she understands that cultures are complex and multifaceted” (p. 103).  “a control teacher explained, ‘if they don’t know a word in english they will ask another student the translated word. we often ask them how to say things in spanish so they feel respected and an important part of our class.’ this teacher indicates that use of home language in the classroom implicitly conveys the message that ell students are a valuable part of the classroom community and that their language and their ability to use it are valued assets” (p. 104). 5. conclusion throughout our study, we uncovered a need for professional development that will improve not only how content is learned for an english language learner, but the relationships those students encounter as well. from teacher beliefs and perceptions to results-centered instruction, it is uncommon for an ell to overcome language barriers put in place by societal norms. educators need continuous development—professionally, culturally, linguistically, and instructionally. as trends in education change, so do the students, and with these changes comes a need for improvement and growth. to further www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 126 published by scholink inc. assist the students, it is suggested that not only do districts provide more ell-related professional development, but also make more resources available throughout all grade levels. as sardegna, lee, and kusey (2017) found, the “complex and dynamic interplay of learner variables and fluctuations in students’ attitudes, strategy use, and self-efficacy” (pp. 106-107) stress the need for longitudinal studies. teaching english should be about making a language as accessible as possible and working to erase the incorrect stereotypes that others place on non-english speakers. after all, education is about creating opportunities and ensuring success for all students. credit author statement stephanie wright: conceptualization, methodology, analysis, original draft preparation, reviewing, editing, meeting with mentor co-author, publication edits, and fulfilling submission and reviewer feedback requests. fernanda vargas: investigation, methodology, original draft preparation. tonya huber: development and publication mentor, validation, reviewing and editing. references abobaker, r. (2017). improving ells’ listening competence through written scaffolds. tesol journal, 8(4), 831-849. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.339 american psychological association. (2020). publication manual of the american psychological association (7th ed.). author. andrei, e., ellerbe, m., & kidd, b. (2018). “what am i going to do?” a veteran teacher’s journey of teaching writing to newcomer english language learners. tesol journal, 10(2), e00413. https://doi.org /10.1002/tesj.413 carley rizzuto, k. (2017). teachers’ perceptions of ell students: do their attitudes shape their instruction? the teacher educator, 52(3), 182-202. https://doi.org/10.1080/08878730.2017.1296912 galvan, j. l., & galvan, m. c. (2017). writing literature reviews: a guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences (7th ed.). routledge. hansen-thomas, h., grosso richins, l., kakkar, k., & okeyo, c. (2014). i do not feel i am properly trained to help them! rural teachers’ perceptions of challenges and needs with english-language learners. professional development in education, 42(2), 308-324. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2014.973528 kibler, a. k., & valdés, g. (2016). conceptualizing language learners: socioinstitutional mechanisms and their consequences. the modern language journal, 100(s1), 96-116. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12310 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 127 published by scholink inc. könig, j., tachtsoglou, s., lammerding, s., strauß, s., nold, g., & rohde, a. (2017). the role of opportunities to learn in teacher preparation for efl teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. the modern language journal, 101(1), 109-127. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12383 lachance, j. r., honigsfeld, a., & harrell, g. (2018). equal educational opportunity for english learners: esl teachers’ conceptualizations on the importance of academic language. tesol journal, 10(2), e00415. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.415 mellom, p. j., straubhaar, r., balderas, c., ariail, m., & portes, p. r. (2018). “they come with nothing:” how professional development in a culturally responsive pedagogy shapes teacher attitudes towards latino/a english language learners. teaching and teacher education, 71(1), 98-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.12.013 sallı, a., & osam, ü. v. (2017). preservice teachers’ identity construction: emergence of expected and feared teacher-selves. quality & quantity, 52(s1), 483-500. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0629-x sardegna, v. g., lee, j., & kusey, c. (2017). self-efficacy, attitudes, and choice of strategies for english pronunciation learning. language learning, 68(1), 83-114. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12263 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 23 original paper on the faithful creation in ezra pound’s english translation of chinese poetry in cathay wenyan guo1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: may 9, 2024 accepted: may 30, 2024 online published: june 23, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n3p23 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n3p23 abstract ezra pound’s english translation of chinese poetry has played a great role in promoting the spread of chinese ancient poetry to the outside world. however, pound’s translation has not been fully recognized in china due to his free and creative translation, and even criticized in the translation circle. based on the interpretation of pound’s own translation thoughts and analysis of some examples of pound’s translation of chinese poetry, this paper demonstrates that pound’s translation is completely faithful to the original in terms of images, form and effect. and his creative translation indeed makes the translation more in line with the emotional expression of the original poem, revealing the unique poetic and aesthetic significance of chinese poetry. through this paper, the author believes that the greatest fidelity to poem translation lies in the intensify of the emotion and the preservation of the meeting point of poetics, so that to reproduce its aesthetic significance and achieve unity with the soul of the original poem. keywords ezra pound, poem translation, faithful creation, images 1. introduction this introductory chapter is to address the major ideas and elaborate the major elements of the thesis. to begin with, it provides some background information about ezra pound and his translation view. secondly, it explains the theoretical notion of creative treason in literary translation. and the third part shows the purpose and significance of this study. 1.1 introduction to ezra pound and his translation view ezra pound (1885-1972) is one of the greatest poets in american history. he pioneers the imagism movement in american literature, which has a profound impact on the american literary arena. in fact, pound is also an accomplished translator. he translates many ancient chinese poetry such as shijing and poetry between 618-907, and compiles them into a book of poems called cathay, which makes a hit in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 24 published by scholink inc. the west in the twentieth century. as a literary work, pound’s translation has gained a great reputation, promoting the spread of chinese culture as well as the change of literary thoughts in the west. from the perspective of translation studies, however, pound’s translation has been misunderstood and criticized by many scholars and critics. over the past few decades, many scholars have conducted many researches on pound’s translation. but in terms of his translation view, there is no comprehensive work to summarize his translation thoughts. we can just find his view on translation from some of his articles and letters. as professor zhou points, the core of pound’s translation thought is to try to ignore the original text, and to realize the communication and interaction between the translator and the original text (zhou, 2011, p. 153). his translation is the perfect crystallization of translation and creation. due to this kind of translation view, his translation is “unfaithful” translation from the point of view of translation but beautiful creations from the point of view of literary creation. in terms of the content of original texts, pound believes that the only thing worthy translating is the beauty of the original or the “intensity of emotion” of the original (pound, 1968, p. 268). many scholars have argued that pound’s translation is not faithful to the original text. in fact, unlike the universal “faithfulness”, pound emphasizes “faithfulness” to the original text in terms of meaning and atmosphere, which means faithfulness to the whole effect but not to the details. in order to achieve the overall fidelity, translators must understand the original text as a whole at first and then try to reproduce the spirit and inner vitality of the original. the purpose of translation is not to pursue the details or rigid form but the “emotion” or “effect” of the original text. from the perspective of the form of the original text, pound argues that the translation does not have to follow the form of the original text exactly. he focuses more on the “thought form” and “texture” of the original text. coinciding with the deconstructionist view, pound believes that the meaning and content of texts is fluid, and the form of the original text can be ignored in translation practice. translators can use any form that can convey the “thought form” or “texture” of the original text to translate the original content. in his view, the “spiritual resemblance” in translation is much more important than the form of the original text (ma, 2015, p. 98). for example, in the translation of poetry, pound does not intentionally focus on the rhyme or the arrangement of verses of the original poem, but adheres to his own rhythmic principles and advocates free verse. in this way, translator can fully utilize their own artistic imagination and creativity to convey the beauty of the original work. the original text can also achieve its development and maturation through different forms of translation and keep alive. also, pound’s translation is a kind of “creative translation”, and he himself firmly holds the idea that translation is a “creative attempt” (nadel, 2008, p. 33). he advocates adoption and rewriting in translation, which refers that a translator could translate a text in his/her own way by using his/her imagination. however, this kind of creative translation is not a random nonsense and arbitrary fabrication. on the contrary, pound’s creative translation is based on the identification of the original text. he pays more attention to the potential of the original text to stimulate new ideas, and then inherits the beauty of the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 25 published by scholink inc. original and derives a new text under new historical conditions (zhu, 2005, p. 201). pound himself also points out that no matter how creative a translation is, it must strive to retain the “fervor” of the original (pound, 1968, p. 200). translation should be produced within the bounds of the original and not completely unrelated to it, otherwise it is to be criticized and condemned. to sum up, in pound’s eyes, translation and composition are closely intertwined. as nadel commented, throughout pound’s life, his poetics and his translation practices interacted with each other as a symbiosis. his translation practice reinforced his poetic or literary innovations, and his poetics guided his translations in turn (nadel, 2001, p. 57). that is to say, in his view, translation and creation are the same thing; translation is in fact a re-creation or rewriting based on the source text. therefore, in pound’s translation, he disregards the diction and form of the original one. yet he grasps the very central emotions of the source text, or what we call the meeting point of poetics, and then he re-creates and rewrites the original text in his own way. by this way, pound’s translation seems unrelated to the source text, but it conveys the emotion and effect of the original one. from this perspective, pound’s translation view is to a large extent similar to qian’s “realm of transformation” 化境, which refers that translation should be “transmigration of the soul” of the original text (qian, 1975, pp. 8-9). they all believe that the text form can be changed, but the original thoughts, emotions and style need to be expressed in translation. 1.2 on the theoretical notion of creative treason the concept of “creative treason” is proposed by the french literary sociologist robert escarpit in 1987 in his book sociologie de la litterature. he states that translation is always a creative treason, and he believes that the irritating problem of translation might be solved if we were willing to accept that translation is always a creative betrayal. translation is a kind of betrayal because it places literary works in a totally unanticipated frame of reference, that is language; translation is creative because it gives the work a new face and second life, a new literary communication with a wider audience (escapit, 1987, pp. 137-138). from the linguistic point of view, escarpit believes that translation is merely a conversion between two linguistic symbol systems, the referent and denotation of the language change in the process of translation. so, translation is a betrayal because of the loss of language. although he does not realize the influence of cultural factors on literary translation, he establishes the relationship between the translator and the reader in translation. in china, the concept “creative treason” has its roots in the development of comparative literature and translation studies. in 1987, the term “creative treason” was included in the book a handbook of chinesewestern comparative literature (1987, pp. 95-96). in this handbook, it defines “creative treason” as follows: first, “creative treason” refers to the “misunderstanding” of previous works by modern readers, e.g., jonathan swift’s gulliver’s travels and defoe’s robinson crusoe are regarded as children’s works in modern times, which is contrary to the original intent of the authors and works. secondly, it refers to the rewriting of foreign works to suit the interests of local readers in violation of the original intent, such as pound’s adaptation of chinese poems. thirdly, it refers to the theoretical errors in translation due to the limitations of the language. it is also pointed out that translation is a kind of ‘creative treason’, which www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 26 published by scholink inc. is expressed in the form of deletion, addition and paraphrase in translation (1987, pp. 103-104). xie, t. z., a scholar of comparative literature, explains in his book medio-translatology that “creativity” in literary translation demonstrates subjective endeavors of the translator to approach and reproduce the source text through artistic creativity, and “treason” reflects objective betrayal to the source text in the process of achieving his or her subjective purposes, while practically, “creativity” and “treason” cannot be separated in literary translation, since they are a harmonious whole (xie, 1999, p. 137). the introduction of this theory by xie has immediately aroused the great interest and attention of the chinese scholars from the circles of both comparative literature and translation studies, especially since the new millennium, papers and books about “creative treason” has constantly been published in academic journals and magazines. professor xu, in his book on translation, states that the proposal of “creative treason” provides a new perspective in the analysis of translation, especially the essence and task of literary translation. in his point of view, the value of this theory lies in its manifestation of the innate limits of translation, and especially in the restriction of “creativity” on “treason”. “in other words, its value is mainly in creativity. theoretically, to ratify the value of creative treason is to a large degree to recognize the creativity of the translator” (xu, 2009, p. 343). in his paper “translation and treason”, professor sun argues that the treason in literary translation is unavoidable because it is impossible to achieve absolutely faithfulness in translation. and he further puts forward five types of creative treason, namely: unconscious treason, expedient treason, tactful treason, considerate treason and creative treason (sun, 2001, pp. 18-22). then he summarizes two reasons that cause treason in literary translation: 1) when literal translation is impossible because of great differences between two languages, the translator should strive to break linguistic restraints to produce the equivalent target text which in the meantime accords with the norms of the target language. in other words, the translator should be good at rendering “canonical and natural source texts” into “canonical and natural target texts”. 2) when there are word games in the source text, it is wise to transmit the meaning of the deep level at the cost of giving up the superficial meaning, namely to convey the spirit and style, or the charm of the original (sun, 2001, p. 21). also, prof. sun, j. c. has some profound ideas on “creative treason” in literary translation. he believes that “creative treason” should be the behavior of the translation subject or translator driven by some clear re-creative motives. and it is a dynamic paraphrase and conversion of the original work. for example, conscious ‘mistranslation’, abridgment, adaptation, etc. all belong to the phenomenon of creative treason in translation (sun, 2001, pp. 118-119). he also points out that the “unconscious mistranslation” and “omission” in literary translation do not contain “conscious creativity” and should not be classified as creative treason. successful treason should be a kind of value-added translation, which is manifested in the discovery, argumentation, judgment and recognition of new values. 1.3 research significance through this research, the paper attempts to achieve the following goals: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 27 published by scholink inc. firstly, since the french literary sociologist robert escapit put forward the concept of “translation is always a creative treason”, it has been warmly received in the academic and translation circles in china, with both approvals, misinterpretations and criticisms. based on an objective and critical analysis of the theoretical connotation of the concept of “creative treason”, the author of this essay endeavors to capture and convey the essence of the term “creative treason” and expounds its value and significance in literary translation. secondly, the study of “creative treason” in literary translation can help readers better understand the essence of literary translation and the contributions made by translators throughout the translation process. also, the author hopes that readers could recognize the impossibility and non-necessity of absolute fidelity, so as to evaluate translated literary works with a broader view. at the same time, it can also improve the social status of translators and promote relevant research on the subjectivity of translators. thirdly, as a translator, pound has made important contributions to the spread of chinese culture, especially ancient chinese poetry, but his translations are always regarded as “unfaithful translations” by critics. by discussing pound’s complete fidelity to the images, form and effect of the original texts in the process of translating chinese poems, this paper points out that pound’s translations of chinese poems are very faithful to the original texts while they are creative. on this basis, this paper tries to summarize that the key to literary translation, especially poetry translation, lies in grasping the soul of the poem to achieve the “intensity of emotion” and the preservation of the spirit of the original text. 2. literature review this chapter reviews the previous studies on ezra pund and his collection of poems cathay, through which the research gap will be identified. 2.1 previous studies on pound and his translation of chinese poetry ezra pound’s life was legendary but ended in tragedy. his panoramic study of literature and science gave rise to his pioneering practice in poetry and translation. the imagist movement he led marked the beginning of modernist poetry. although it didn’t last for a long time, the imagists marked a movement that contributed significantly to modernism and american literature. later, he supported mussolini during the second world war, turned to fascism and was condemned as a traitor after the war. in italian concentration camps, he translated confucian works and wrote the famous pisa canto, for which he won the bollingen prize for poetry. in his whole life, pound is a prolific writer and translator with more than 20 collections of poetry, literary essays and translations. at the very beginning, there are some studies focuses on his political and economic ideas. for example, ezra pound: politics, economics and writing–a study of the cantos (1984) by peter nicholls, pound in purgatory: from economic radicalism to anti-semitism (2000) written by leon surette and so on. based on the social context of pound’s time and the development of his philosophical thought, these scholars have sought to identify the internal factors that influenced the development of his thought and to explore the relationship between his economic and political thought and his literary creation. they argue that www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 28 published by scholink inc. pound’s political and economic thought was closely related to his literary thought, which together constructed his ambition to restore order to a cruel world. these studies rectify the popular prejudice against pound’s radical political-economic ideas. many other scholars have been interested in pound’s creative translations and have undertaken some related studies. xie m.’s ezra pound and the appropriation of chinese poetry (1999) offers a fresh perspective on pound’s translation of chinese poetry, arguing that pound is essentially an appropriative translator. he examines pound’s chinese translations from the perspectives of ideograms, images, adverbs and synthetic language, revealing pound’s uniquely creative translations. from the poet’s point of view, william lim-yip’s ezra pound’s cathay (1969) attempts to study the poems in cathay as translations, focusing on the three stages from the original work to fenollosa’s note to pound’s version, with the aim of understanding the poet’s creative thought. the book explores the differences between the english and chinese languages and examines the poems in cathay from a perspective of comparative literary, concluding that despite some mistranslations, pound could ‘penetrate beneath the literal surface’ and enter the ‘central consciousness of the original author by what we may perhaps call a kind of clairvoyance’ (yip, 1969, p. 88). in qian, z. m.’s book orientalism and modernism: the legacy of china in pound and williams and robert kern’s orientalism, modernism, and american poetry, they coincidentally adopt “orientalism” in their researches. through their books, we can find that researchers have begun to pay attention to the distance between china in pound’s eyes and the real china. robert kern tries to prove that pound was pursuing the “natural language” and “language with poetic potential”, which has been exploring by the american cultural tradition. however, pound chose the chinese characters as a “poetic medium” and made it a natural representation of this ideal language, which in turn catalyzed american modernist poetry. qian, on the other hand, emphasizes the influence of the east on the west. in his view, cathay should not just be regarded as an english-language poetry, because the influence of chinese culture cannot be ignored during pound’s transition to modernism. china is not merely the image created by the west, but a real place that influences pound’s creation. through his exposure to chinese culture, pound completed cathay and other modernist poems, and chinese culture plays a positive role in the development of western modernism. 2.2 previous studies on pound’s cathay cathay, a representative work of ezra pound (1915), collects english translations of nineteen ancient chinese poems. the chinese poems selected in cathay properly represent the chinese poetry and they reflect the typical characteristics of classical chinese poems—rigid meter and the parallelism in structure. for the studies on cathay aboard, western scholars mainly put emphasis on the disputes that whether pound’s cathay is translation or not. pound’s cathay has got both praise and criticism among westerners largely since he did know little about chinese but translate many ancient chinese poem. many scholars praise cathay because ezra pound’s brilliant english poetry writing skill, which makes chinese poems sound like original english poems. ford madox hueffer said that “the poems in cathay are things of a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 29 published by scholink inc. supreme beauty. what poetry should be, that they are (yip, 1969, p. 3).” t.s eliot comments that it is pound who invented chinese poems and that westerners could comprehend chinese poems through pound’s versions. criticism comes from how far pound’s version diverts from the original version, since he totally ignored chinese language. william hugh kenner, a vigorous interpreter of pound’s poetry, claims that pound’s cathay is undoubtedly great english poems rather than chinese poems; and pound’s version is just serving that present time and situation and it is aloof from the past. hayot suggests that pound’s cathay seems to be included in anglo--saxon culture and his identity of an orientalist could be constructed with the influence of traditional western understanding of the east. yip seeks to understand pound fully without interruptions of predetermined conclusions given by defenders and critics of ezra pound, and he argues that no translator can assert that his/her version is the perfect equivalent of the source, and so do pound, thereby, there is no need to be harsh on pound’s versions. in terms of comments in china, ezra pound’s version also meets strict criticisms from chinese scholars. qian, z. s. (2002) declares that pound has mixed up translating and writing, and he wrote his own poems in cathay by using chinese classical poems as blueprints. qian also said that pound, with little knowledge of chinese and chinese poems, misunderstood and misrepresented chinese classical poems in his works. yu, g. z. (2002) criticized that most of pound’s translations are not translation at all, but just a kind of rewriting, reorganizing or even a plagiary, and pound was just expressing his own feelings in the name of li bai, the original chinese poet. pound’s cathay has received much acclaim in terms of poetry writing but suffered much criticism in light of translation levels. ezra pound’s cathay has been studied by chinese scholars from different perspectives. in terms of translation strategy, zhou (2009) analyzes the strategy of foreignization in pound’s cathay, holding the idea that through the translation strategy of foreignization, pound preserves the qualities of ancient chinese poetry and realizes the innovation of american poetry. the most enlightening one is pro. wang’s paper. in his research, wang (2005) believes that pound’s translation should not be criticized as false translation. pound literally makes chinese and western culture and poetics compatible by using the strategy of creative translation. also, there are some papers analyze pound’s cathay by using different kinds of translation theories. for example, in zhang’s paper (2011), she examines pound’s translation practice by using skopos theory. in the process of translation, pound tries to use chinese culture to discover the root causes of american social problems and makes great efforts to subvert the american literary tradition, and such a translation purpose causes his “creative treason” in translation. in her dissertation, li, d. (2017) compares the source text and target text in pound’s cathay from micro phonetics level to macro discourse level and interprets pound’s translations from the perspective of cognitive iconicity theory. and liu, l. (2012) explores cathay from the perspective of rewriting theory, pointing out that cathay cannot be regarded unilaterally as an “unfaithful” translation, but rather as a rewrite of a particular period under the influence of ideology and poetics. accordingly, scholars abroad and at home both have studied pound’s translations in cathay and attempted to examine the value of pound’s cathay from different aspects. however, this thesis intends www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 30 published by scholink inc. to analyze pound’s cathay is totally faithful to the original text in terms of content, form and poetics. at the same time, through his creative translation, he intensifies the emotion and effect of the original poems, making the original works stay alive in another language and keep their vitality. 3. faithful creation in pound’s translation this chapter is mainly about the faithfulness and creation in pound’s translation, with the examples selected from his translation work cathay. the analysis of pound’s translation would focus on, firstly, its faithfulness on the images, form and effect of the original poems; secondly, pound’s strategy of creative translation, which includes absolute rhythm and unique space used in translation, which makes the translation more in tune with the emotional expression and effect of the original text. 3.1 faithfulness in pound’s translation pound’s approach to translating chinese poetry aligns with the deconstructionist view, but unlike the deconstructionist, he also places importance on fidelity to the original text. however, pound’s interpretation of fidelity differs from the traditional sense. his focus on fidelity extends to the emotional level, encompassing imagery, rhythm, style and the whole effect of the original text (nadel, 2001, p. 34). he believes that the literal imitation is not always useful, unless it serves to reproduce the style of the original text. this demonstrates pound’s commitment to a faithful translation. actually, in his translation practice, he also achieves fidelity to the images, form, and effect of the original texts. 3.1.1 faithful to the images “images” has a very high status in ancient chinese poetry. poets frequently utilize images to convey their own emotions. for instance, the moon represents nostalgia, autumn represents sadness, and the willow tree always signifies farewell. the use of various types of images in ancient chinese poetry allows the author to express their subjective emotions more powerfully, and creates the unique beauty and artistic effect of chinese poetry. as an imagist, pound also believes that the most important thing in a literary work is imagery. he argues that the beauty of the thing itself is the only way for poetry to break free from the cage of rhetoric and ornate diction. in his collection cathay, pound essentially translated the original imagery of chinese poetry, expressing the author’s emotions in the original poem through the juxtaposition and superimposition of images. pound fidelity to images can be seen in his translation. his translation of li, b.’s 《送友人》is an obvious example: 送友人 青山横北郭，白水绕东城。 此地一为别，孤蓬万里征。 浮云游子意，落日故人情。 挥手自兹去，萧萧班马鸣。 taking leave of a friend www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 31 published by scholink inc. blue mountains to the north of the walls, white river winding about them; here we must make separation and go out through a thousand miles of dead grass. mind like a floating wide cloud. sunset like the parting of old acquaintances who bow over their clasped hands at a distance. our horses neigh to each other as we are departing. 《送友人》is one of the most highly appreciated farewell poems of li, b. it was written for li’s friend who would go on a long journey without certain destination. in this poem, the first stanza is dominated by scenery. by using the images of “青山” and “白水”, li created a very open and bright scene, which exactly contrasts with the gloomy sadness of farewell. in the last three stanzas, the poet used images such as “孤蓬”, “落日” and “班马”to express the sentiment and sadness of parting with his friend. in pound’s translation, he retained the images of the original poetry and exactly translated them. also, he translated “青山” and “孤蓬” as “blue mountain” and “dead grass”, which was very much in tune with the sad atmosphere of farewell. we can also discover pound’s fidelity to imagery from another poem《古风十八》. this poem explores the theme of the pursuit of pleasure and wealth by dignitaries, who mistakenly believe that fame, fortune, and happiness are everlasting. however, once they lose their power, they are left in a miserable state. and two stanzas of the poem describe the extravagant lifestyle of the dignitaries, that is “香风引赵舞， 清管随齐讴。七十紫鸳鸯，双双戏庭幽。” it describes that the dignitaries were so consumed by their pursuit of pleasure that they failed to understand the philosophy of life that prosperity comes with decline. in the two stanzas, li used a lot of images to describe the extravagance of the noble life, such as “香风” “清管” “鸳鸯” and “庭”. in the same time, he adopted the literary technics of allusion, showing the beauty of the songs and dances at the banquet by using the words “赵舞” and “齐讴”. in pound’s translation, he not only retained the images, but he fully understood the connotation behind these images, which can be found through his treatment of some of the images. for example, he did not translate “清 管” as “tube”, but as “flute”, which refers to the sound of singing and instruments. originally, “赵舞” and“齐讴” refers to the dance of zhao and the song of qi, both of which are wonderful and world-famous. the poet used these two terms here to convey the beauty of music and dance, rather than to suggest that the singers and dancers are really from zhao and qi. so, pound did not translate 赵 and 齐, but generalized and translated them as “girls dancing” and “clear singing”. this interpretation is closer to the poet’s intention and preserves the original images as well. from the above examples, it is evident that pound’s translation, although considered too liberal by many scholars, retains the images of the original poems in cathay. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 32 published by scholink inc. 3.1.2 faithful to the form one fascinating feature of chinese characters is that many single words still possess complete meaning even they are connected without any conjunctions and verbs, which is completely different from the english language. especially in ancient chinese poetry, poets often juxtapose several images together without any connection, which creates a unique atmosphere and gives chinese poetry a mysterious beauty. however, if chinese poems are translated into english, which has a strict and logical syntax, the corresponding prepositions must be added to make the meaning clear and sentences smooth. over the years, many translators try their best to make the translation smooth and reasonable by adding connections. however, by doing so, the unique ambiguity of ancient chinese poetry is lost, and its beauty is naturally diminished. however, pound’s translation of ancient chinese poetry stands out for its unique preservation of form. according to pound, chinese poetry is characterized by a combination of images, which creates a unique beauty of form. the effect of this combination is not simply additive, but explosive, challenging old poetic paradigms and promoting creative thinking, thus to strengthen the momentum of specific linguistic features (wei, 2010, p. 2). for example, his translation of li’s《古风十四》precisely reflects his fidelity to the form of chinese poetry. in this poem, there is a very magnificent line “荒城空大漠”, which shows spectacular scenery of desert. the word 空 can be interpreted as the verb “to make empty” or the adjective “empty”, etc. obviously, it is this ambiguity that gives the poem its unique atmosphere and effect. pound translated this line as “desolate castle, the sky, the wide desert”, and he understood 空 as “the sky”. there is no need to comment on whether he understood it correctly or not, because there is no one and only interpretation of the line. it is worth noting that he entirely retained the form of the poem, and that he had the awareness to juxtapose the imagery to form a painting, which proves that he realized the unique form and beauty of ancient chinese poetry. pound’s translation of li’s《古风其六》is also an example. the line “惊沙乱海日” described a grand and vast scene of the border, and pound retained the original form of this poem. he understood this line as “惊—沙乱—海日” and translated it as “surprised. desert turmoil. sea sun”. although pound may have compromised some of the meaning in his translation, the images of this line is more important than the meaning themselves, and pound’s creative fidelity in highlighting the images at the expense of the content is instead more conducive to convey the effect of this poem. by juxtaposing several images, pound achieved the most economical effect in terms of spatial configuration. in the english, such syntax and arrangement does not exist, and therefore, this translation can be considered illogical and meaningless. however, the use of full stops and the juxtaposition of several images restore the magnificent scenery of the border fortress as in the original poem. at the same time, this type of translation leaves behind the conventional methods and introduces a new language mode and style for the english poems. apart from the lack of connecting words, another characteristic of chinese poetry is 对偶, or what we called parallel structure in english. this is a significant rhetorical device in ancient poetry, which requires www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 33 published by scholink inc. that the words used in stanzas must be of the same or similar nature. by using this kind of rhetoric, the stanzas are formally coherent and well-proportioned, which can reflect the balanced beauty of poetry (wang, 1983, p. 200). in li’s poem《送友人》, pound translated the lines “浮云游子意，落日故人情” as “mind like a floating wide cloud. sunset like the parting of old acquaintances”. in this line of the poem, li used the rhetorical device of antithetical parallelism. with each corresponding word being lexically identical, the structure is harmonious and well-proportioned, and the content is concise and meticulous, highlighting the beauty of chinese characters and ancient chinese poetry. pound intentionally reproduced the formal beauty of the source language by choosing two subject and using two “like” to establish a new parallel structure, which to a certain extent restores the formal beauty of the poem. by analyzing some examples from cathay, we find that pound intentionally preserved the formal beauty of chinese poetry in the process of translation by restoring the juxtaposition of imagery in the source language as well as by intentionally imitating the form of chinese antithetical parallelism. in this way, pound got rid of the constraints of english poetic form and created a new form of english poetic composition 3.1.3 faithful to the effect pound believed that the primary objective of translation is to restore the emotion of the original text. translation should be faithful to the original in terms of meaning, style, as well as atmosphere, and it should value the energy and detail of the original and be able to bring about an epiphany to readers (kenner, 1991, pp. 151-152). that is to say, in pound’s view, the spirit of the original, or its atmosphere and effect, is far more important than the form or details. due to this kind of translation view, some of pound’s translations in the cathay were considered to be mistranslated or omitted, but he actually achieved fidelity in a higher level, which refers that he re-expressed the essence of the work as well as the poet’s emotion when composing the original poems, capturing the atmosphere and emotional effect created by the original poems. pound’s translation of《古诗·青青河畔草》demonstrates his fidelity to the emotion or effect of the original poem. 古诗·青青河畔草 青青河畔草，郁郁园中柳。 盈盈楼上女，皎皎当窗牖。 嫦娥粉红装，纤纤出素手。 昔为倡家女，今为荡子妇， 荡子行不归，空窗难独守。 blue, blue is the grass about the river and the willows have overfilled the close garden. and within, the mistress, in the midmost of her youth, white, white of face, hesitates, passing the door. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 34 published by scholink inc. slender, she puts forth a slender hand; and she was a courtezan in the old days, and she has married a sot, who now goes drunkenly out and leaves her too much alone the poem describes a slice of the heroine’s life, which shapes a young woman who yearns for love and a simple life with her husband. in his translation, pound captured the overall tone of the poem, feeling the atmosphere as well as the emotional experience. so, his translation, though not word-for-word, brings out the emotion and spirit of the original poem. in the first line, pound captures the spirit of the original poem by translating 青青 as “blue”, which symbolizes melancholy and depressed in english. by using the word “blue” in the first line, the tone of this poem is set. the whole poem is overshadowed by a light sense of sadness. also, pound translated “郁郁园中柳” as “willows have overfilled the close garden”. the word “overfilled” captures the essence of the original poem. in merriam-webster dictionary of the english language, this word means “to fill excessively, causing overflowing” (gramercy books, 1996, p. 228). pound used this word to give willow trees human emotions, not only depicting the lushness of the willow in the garden, but also overlapping the heroine’s emotions with willow trees, expressing the heroine’s loneliness and despair. in this way, the emotion of the poem is expressed, making the poem fill with infinite poetic space. the second stanza shifts from a figurative description of scenery to a narration of the heroine’s life experience, telling of the loneliness of the heroine due to her husband’s long absence. pound uses three “and” at the beginning of lines in the second stanza, which creates a sense of urgency and acceleration in the momentum of speech. this effectively conveys the heroine’s thoughts and complaints. in conclusion, although pound’s ignorance of the chinese language led to many misinterpretations in his translation, the imperfections do not cover up the faults. in terms of the overall effect of the translation, pound was able to achieve a mental and spiritual match with the original poet, and reproduced the emotions of the original poem. 3.2 creation in pound’s translation the conventional view of translation necessitates that the translated work is comparable to the original. the western translation theory of invisibility posits that an ideal translation should be transparent, like a piece of glass, so that the reader does not feel that they are reading a translated work (venuti, 1995, p. 42). according to this theory, the invisibility of translation necessitates the invisibility of the translator, whose task is to follow the author of the original work, without being involved in any personal emotions, will, aesthetics, or other literary abilities. this leads to a complete lack of initiative on the part of the translator in the process of translation, and the translated work is devoid of spirit and vitality, unable to carry more communication at the literary or cultural level other than presenting the meaning of the text. creative treason in literary translation, on the other hand, fully mobilizes the initiative of the translator. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 35 published by scholink inc. translators are able to have their own right, and the literary work is re-interpreted and has a new life in the process of translation. in cathay, pound used absolute rhythm and unique space in translation to fit the emotional expression of the original work better. 3.2.1 absolute rhythm ezra pound believed that if chinese poems were to be translated in regular metrical verse, the position of the words would be limited, and the translator would often have to add or sacrifice something in order to achieve the effect of rhyme. therefore, pound chose free verse to present the images and the poet’s emotions in the original poem. also, he believed that there was an absolute rhythm that could correspond exactly to the feelings expressed in the poem. (pound, 1988, p. 9). in essence, the poem must possess a rhythm that corresponds to its own expression. as a competent translator, it is his/her duty to find the only rhythm that fits the original poem in the translation, so that it can be more in tune with the emotion and atmosphere of the original poem, and thus to achieve a good effect. take li’s《古风十八》as an example: 入门上高堂，列鼎错珍馐。 香风引赵舞，清管随齐讴。 七十紫鸳鸯，双双戏庭幽。 to high halls and curious food, to the perfumed air and girls dancing, to clear flutes and clear singing; to the dance of the seventy couples; to the mad chase through the gardens. these lines from ancient winds 18 depict a scene in which dignitaries feast and celebrate, singing and dancing, portraying the luxurious lifestyle of those officials. pound’s translation of these lines demonstrates his skill in absolute rhythm. each line starts with an unstressed word “to”, which makes the poem flows smoothly from light to heavy, with a rhythm that changes with the dynamic and natural music. this kind of rhythm creates a joyful atmosphere of banquets and dances, highlighting the sense of pictures. at the same time, pound also used end rhymes such as “dancing-singing” and “couplesgardens”, creating a stronger sense of rhythm and emphasizing the beauty of rhyme and artistic conception. there are many other similar translations in the cathay. pound’s creative use of “absolute rhythm” to translate chinese poems better suits the atmosphere and effect of the poems. his creative translation method eliminates american poetry’s attachment to stereotyped, dull, and rigid poetic metre, and creates free verse, which is more suitable for expressing poetic emotion. 3.2.2 unique space before pound, many translators translated poems according the line breaks of the original. however, pound created a new method to break the lines in poem, which expresses the poet’s emotional translation by adding unique spaces between lines. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 36 published by scholink inc. in the poem《送友人入蜀》, pound fully utilized this kind of creative technique. 送友人入蜀 见说蚕丛路，崎岖不易行。 山从人面起，云傍马头生。 芳树笼秦栈，春流绕蜀城。 升沉应已定，不必问君平。 they say the roads of sanso are steep. sheer as the mountains. the walls rise in a man’s face, clouds grow out of the hill at his horse’s birdle. sweet trees are on the paved way of the shin, their trunks burst through the paving, and freshets are bursting their ice in the midst of shoku, a proud city men’s fates are already set. there is no need of asking divines. this poem describes li’s friend’s journey from chang’an to shu (sichuan province). the first six lines depict the dangerous yet beautiful scenery of the shudao. by writing these lines, li intended to comfort and encourage his friend’s determination to enter shu. in the last stanza, li suddenly changed the subject to the rise and fall of human life, persuading his friend that human’s fate has been destined and that there is no need to be upset and worry about. additionally, li bai reminds himself not to be preoccupied with fame and fortune, and to love and enjoy the life itself. pound understood li po’s intention and realized that the main idea of this poem lies in the last stanza. therefore, in his translation, he creatively used space to highlight this unexpected transition and create a dramatic turnaround effect. the “unique space” seems to be abrupt, but in fact it is created by pound in order to reflect the purpose of the theme, which is more conducive to the expression of the original poem. without this kind of creation, the readers would not be able to appreciate the poet’s peculiar conception and the implicit emotions in the poem, and the translation would be common and bland. 4. conclusion due to his bold and innovative translation ideas and techniques, pound have been misunderstood and criticized by many critics in the translation circles at home and abroad. however. through analyzing some of pound’s english translations of chinese poems and interpreting his own translation thoughts, it is clear that pound’s translation is completely faithful to the original poem in terms of images, form and effect. in addition, pound used creative techniques in the translation process, adopting absolute rhythm and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 37 published by scholink inc. unique space to make the overall translation more in line with the emotional expression of original poems, which allows him to achieve a higher level of fidelity. his creative method of translation has many undeniable advantages in presenting the language features and emotion of classical chinese poems, which opens up a new way of thinking to translate chinese poems. in conclusion, this paper argues that the greatest fidelity for literary translation lies in the enhancement of the original poem’s emotion and the preservation of its effect or emotion, so as to reproduce its aesthetic significance and achieve unity with the soul of the original poem. also, critics and translators should take a dialectical view of pound’s creative treason in the translation of chinese poems, so as to better guide their own translation practice. references escarpit, r. (1987). the sociology of literature (wang, m. h.& yu, p, trans.). hefei: anhui literature & art publishing house. gramercy books. (1996). websters encyclopedia unabridged dictionary of the english language. new york: random house value publishing, inc. kenner, h. (1991). the pound era. london: pilmlica. nadel, i. b. (2008). the cambridge companion to ezra pound. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511610967 nadel. i. b. (2001). the cambridge companion to ezra pound. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. pound, e. (1915). cathay. london: kenssinger legacy. pound, e. (1968). literary essays of ezra pound (t. s. eliot, ed.). new york: new directions. qian, z. s. (1975). lin ch’in-nan revisited by qian z. s. (george kao, trans.). 8renditions, 5. qian, z. s. (2002). write on the edge of life. beijing: sdx joint publishing company． shanghai international studies university (ed). (1987). a handbook of chinese-western comparative literature. chengdu: sichuan people publishing house. sun, j. c. (2001). on the creative treason of translation in the study of comparative literature. theory journal, 2001(4), 118-120. sun, z. l. (2001). translation and treason. chinese translators journal, 2001(4), 18-22. venuti, l. (1995). the translator’s invisibility: a history of translation. london & new york: routledge. wang, x. j. (1983). chinese rhetoric. beijing: beijing publishing group. wei, j. h. (2010). spatial image thinking in pound’s english translation of chinese classic poetry. retrieved from https://www.sinoss.net/uploadfile/2010/0909/20100909032917981 xie, t. z. (1999). medio-translatology. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. xu, j. (2009). on translation. beijing: foreign language teaching and research press. yan, m. (2015). analysis of ezra pound’s translation method from his work named the jewel stair’s grievance. journal of zhengzhou university of aeronautics (social science edition), 34(1), 97-99. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511610967 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 38 published by scholink inc. yip, w.-l. (1969). ezra pound’s cathay. princeton: princeton university press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400876532 zhou, j. x. (2011). a reflection of ezra pound’s view on translation. journal of northeast normal university (philosophy and social sciences), 2011(4), 153-156. zhu, c. w. (2005). construction and reflection: on the translation theory of ezra pound. shanghai: shanghai translation publishing house. zhu, c. w. (2006). absolute rhythm and verse libre: pound’ s innovation in english poetry rhyme in cathay. comparative literature in china, 2006(2), 151-162. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400876532 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 40 original paper laughter in interpersonal communication: when laughter conveys disaffiliation yumian lin1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: march 18, 2024 accepted: april 11, 2024 online published: april 30, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n2p40 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n2p40 abstract laughter serves primarily as a social instrument, functioning as a social facilitator commonly observed in interpersonal interactions, and playing a crucial role in fostering and maintaining relationships. affiliation and disaffiliation are interactive phenomena that are externally and measurably manifested, serving as pivotal components in the establishment of social bonds. affiliation entails the overt demonstration of endorsement and concordance among interacting individuals, whereas disaffiliation within social relationships typically materializes through assessments, leading to disagreements and side-arguments. laughter, when serving as a tool for strengthening social bonds between individuals, it not only signals affiliation but also disaffiliation among conversational partners. through the method of conversation analysis and interactional linguistics, this article will specifically analyze the role of laughter as a means of conveying disaffiliation. focusing on analyzing three specific functions of laughter to show disaffiliation, which encompass self-image preservation, face-saving, and transitioning from an embarrassing to a non-embarrassing context, the thesis will present three prototypical dialogues originating from diverse backgrounds as exemplars to elucidate the three functions. keywords laughter, affiliation and disaffiliation, interpersonal communication, interactional linguistics 1. introduction laughter is universally presented in interpersonal communication and plays a crucial role in establishing and maintaining relationships. it helps to create a positive atmosphere, convey humor, and enhance emotional connections (chen, 2016). affiliation entails the public display of support and agreement between interacting parties, which is vital for sustaining social relationships. laughter, as a social tool, can sometimes convey affiliation when people having conversations. however, laughter in dialogue not only reflects friendly attitudes and a sense of belonging in interpersonal interactions, but there exists the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 41 published by scholink inc. possibility when people try to express their disaffiliation with a topic through laughter as well. in light of the above circumstance, this article will specifically analyze the role of laughter as a means of conveying disaffiliation through conversation analysis and the perspective of interactional linguistics. 2. literature review 2.1 philosophical view in history, philosophers have used laughter to comment on different types of humor and to theoretically analyze the motives of humans using humor. the three main historical theories of laughter are superiority, incongruity, and relief. each theory provides a different view of the purpose of laughter. the first is called the superiority theory, which suggests that laughter is a means of competition between people and an expression of superiority. laughter is considered an effective means of correcting or controlling unacceptable behavior. thomas hobbes formulated the superiority principle, viewing laughter as a result of winning in a perpetual struggle. albert rap expanded the superiority principle to include laughter towards loved ones and oneself. some philosophers consider the superiority theory as a long-standing approach to understanding laughter (hayakawa, 2003). the second is called the incongruity theory, which suggests that laughter arises from unexpected and absurd events. both kant and schopenhauer believed that laughter originates from incongruity, but for different reasons. incongruity plays a significant role in provoking laughter, which is often due to a sudden departure from the norm. laughter resulting from incongruity depends on the emotions arising from unexpected situations (malphurs, 2010). the third one is called relief theory, which suggests that laughter arises from the expression and release of emotions caused by stress. freud modified the relief theory, considering laughter as a shift from releasing physical energy to excessive mental energy (malphurs, 2010). 2.2 sociological view many scholars nowadays have explored the social functions of laughter, considering it to have existed prior to both humor and speech in humans (provine, 2000). it is not only a psychological and biological phenomenon, but also fundamentally a social one. coordinated with speech and other interactive activities, laughter is used by participants to manage social relationships and identities (glenn, 2003). laughter, as a social tool, can be regarded as a social lubricant. a study found out that laughter can increase social bonding and cooperation between strangers, leading to enhanced positive affect and reduced negative affect (van vugt et al., 2018). 2.2.1 affiliation and disaffiliation affiliation and disaffiliation are interactive phenomena that are externally and measurably produced, playing key roles in building social relationships. affiliation involves the public display of support and agreement between interacting parties which have shared normative principles, i.e., social esteem and social sanction (wang & jiang, 2024). it could be produced through various means such as topic organization, collaborative storytelling, preference structures for agreement, and intimacy pursuits. disaffiliation in social relationships tends to occur in the form of assessments, leading to disagreements www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 42 published by scholink inc. and side-arguments. while it may lead to arguments on the one hand, on the other hand, it can also positively shift a conversation towards more direct and honest communication (conroy, 1999). 2.2.2 laughter in conveying affiliation from an acoustic perspective, laughter can convey affiliation through properties like pitch, voicing, and formants, signaling friendliness and non-threatening intentions. affiliative laughter serves to maintain relationships and indicate benign intentions, distinct from spontaneous and rewarding laughter (wood, 2017). in another perspective, laughter can express a sense of connection by demonstrating empathy and aligning with the preference of the preceding action. when laughter is responsive in interactions, it can indicate a bond with the person who elicited the laughter. affiliative reactions entail mirroring the speaker’s viewpoint and aligning with their level of emotional cooperation, which make laughter effective in strengthening social relationships through communication (clift, 2016). 2.2.3 laughter in conveying disaffiliation however, on the other hand, laughter can also be used to convey disaffiliation. laughter can convey disaffiliation by targeting a prior turn as laughable, showing a negative stance towards it. disaffiliative laughter may come from a party other than the recipient of the laughable turn, indicating a complex interplay of affiliation and disaffiliation. in interactions, disaffiliative laughter can be used by one speaker to affiliate with another against a third party (clift, 2016). inevitably, people may possibly encounter some difficult interactional situations when one intends to express disaffiliation, and laughter and humour can be served as effective ways to manage the awkward circumstances. however, the ways that laughter and humour handle disaffiliation are quite different. humor directly addresses the content of the disagreement by making comments that reframe the seriousness of the topic. it involves using wit, irony, or satire to bring attention to the disagreement while lightening the mood. in contrast, laughter does not engage directly with the content of the disagreement itself. instead, it focuses on transforming the overall atmosphere or framing of the situation. laughter serves as a mechanism to shift the perspective of the participants involved in the disagreement. it allows them to view the escalating tension as something amusing or less serious, thereby diffusing the conflict. laughter acts as a safety valve in conversations where disagreements are escalating. it provides a release of tension and allows participants to step back from the seriousness of the disagreement, creating a moment of levity. through laughter, participants can reframe the disagreement as something laughable rather than contentious, offering a way to navigate the conflict without directly addressing the contentious issues (warner-garcia, 2014). building on the points above, this thesis will further elaborate on the function of laughter as a distinct and succinct method of expressing disaffiliation in everyday conversations, and provide a relevant classification and summary. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 43 published by scholink inc. 3. methodological approaches the methodological approaches used in the present study are informed by conversation analysis and interactional linguistics. 3.1 conversation analysis conversation analysis (ca) is a methodological approach used for studying naturally occurring spoken data. different from other theories, ca focuses more on the analysis of communication closely related to daily life (wang & sun, 2023). it involves analyzing the structures, patterns, and processes of various social interactions, including everyday verbal and non-verbal practices (elizabeth, 2020). using the method of conversation analysis to explore the role of laughter in interpersonal communication can help to reveal the role of laughter in communication and situation regulation, as well as the application of laughter in communication transformation, proximity and storytelling. this approach can also help to understand the structure, patterns, and processes of laughter in different social interactions, as well as the function of laughter in everyday verbal and non-verbal practices. 3.2 interactional linguistics interactional linguistics refers to the study of language use in social interaction, focusing on how language is used to create and maintain social relationships. it examines the structure and organization of conversational interaction, as well as the role of language in shaping social actions and relationships. this field often draws on methods from conversation analysis and discourse analysis to analyze spoken and written language in its social context. interactional linguistics focuses on language structure and use in social interactions. laughter is studied in interactional linguistics to understand its pragmatic or interpersonal functions in talk-in-interaction, which can be used to show appreciation, invite others to join in, or show disaffiliation in conversations (chen, 2016). 4. data analysis the upcoming analysis will examine the three specific functions of laughter to show disaffiliation. these functions encompass (1) self-image preservation, (2) face-saving, and (3) transitioning from an embarrassing to a non-embarrassing context. self-image preservation involves mitigating an ongoing threat to one’s image during the interaction, while face-saving entails concealing a loss of face that has already transpired. transitioning from an embarrassing to a non-embarrassing frame involves reinterpreting a potentially face-threatening action as humorous and benign. the following three examples illustrate the transcription produced by applying a conversational analysis transcription system to the previously collected audio recordings. this transcription system includes various symbols, such as “> <” indicating a sudden increase in the speaker’s speech rate; “< >” indicating a sudden decrease in the speaker’s speech rate; “:” indicating an elongation of the speaker’s intonation, with the number of colons corresponding to the duration of the elongation; “(0.2)” representing the length of pauses during the conversation in seconds; “=” denoting a continuous sentence without pauses or a lack of obvious pauses between turns; and “@” representing laughter. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 44 published by scholink inc. 4.1 self-image preservation example 1 demonstrates how the individual might utilize laughter to reduce threat to one’s self-image and change the perspective of the situation. this scenario involves two female roommates (felicia and harper) chatting in their dorm room. felicia talks about a new lipstick shade she bought and describes her indecision in choosing the shade. she expresses extreme fondness for the lipstick and seeks a positive response from harper, but harper’s reaction is not enthusiastic. example 1. 1 f: wow: :look at this lipstick of mine(0.2) >so pretty< 2 (0.2) 3 h: what shade is it？ 4 f: (0.3)let me check 5 h： =mm-hmm 6 (0.8) 7 f: it’s “intoyou”::in shade em20 8 (0.6) 9 h: not bad 10 f: rea:lly:>you have no idea<how long it took me:to choose： 11 h: mm-hmm 12 f: i looked at reviews on facebook and bilibili for a long time： 13 （0.3） 14 →h：mm::@@it does look pre:tty good throughout the conversation, felicia expresses great satisfaction with her lipstick choice, detailing the difficulty and indecision involved in the selection process. however, harper’s response is rather perfunctory, indicating that she may not actually find the lipstick shade appealing. harper later uses laughter to ease the slightly awkward situation, possibly to maintain a sincere image in front of her roommate. 4.2 face-saving example 2 demonstrates how individuals use laughter to mask a loss of face in a given situation. this scenario involves a casual conversation between two newly acquainted female friends, flora and angela, during a meal. flora mentions a recently discovered delicious milk tea that she is eager to try, but angela, who does not usually drink milk tea and is unfamiliar with the brand, creates an awkward moment between them. example 2 1 f: hey! do you know that a new bubble tea shop called “lelecha” has opened in the mall? 2 (0.8) 3 a: what? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 45 published by scholink inc. 4 f: le:le: cha:: >you don’t know about it< 5 →a: @@never heard of it, i usually don’t pay attention to these things 6 (0.5) 7 f: you are so health-conscious! it’s just a milk tea shop. 8 a: >oh i see< i see:: @@let’s go check it out later. throughout the conversation, flora expresses her desire to try “lelecha” milk tea, but angela’s lack of knowledge about milk tea creates a sense of unfamiliarity. it is important to note that flora and angela are newly acquainted friends, knowing very little about each other and aiming to make a good impression. milk tea is a popular topic among young people, and angela’s limited knowledge about it is quite uncommon. in front of a new friend, this can be seen as a loss of face, and angela uses laughter later in the conversation to alleviate the brief awkwardness between them, a way of concealing her temporary loss of face. 4.3 transitioning from an embarrassing to a non-embarrassing context example 3 demonstrates how people use laughter to transform a rather serious and awkward situation into a less embarrassing one in specific circumstances. this scenario involves a couple, magic and flora, taking photos of each other while walking in the park. flora sees a beautiful spot and asks magic to take a picture for her. however, due to magic’s limited photography skills, he fails to capture a satisfactory photo, leading to flora’s dissatisfaction and a serious argument. to ease the tense atmosphere, magic uses laughter to console flora. example 3 1 f: let me see how you took the photos. 2 m: well, how does it look? 3 f: it’s not right! how could you make me look so ::ug:ly like this? 4 m: i think it looks pretty good, doesn’t it? 5 f: what’s good about it? look at how you made me look like i weigh 150 pounds. 6 →m: @@it’s okay, sweetheart. let me take a few more for you, okay? 7 (0.4) 8 m: @@please, pretty please. 9 f: i can’t believe you (0.3) i’ll give you one more chance! <the last one> this conversation takes place between a very close couple, and due to magic’s limited photography skills, it leads to some conflict between the two. when flora expresses her dissatisfaction with the photos, it creates a serious and awkward situation, potentially leading to an argument. however, magic uses laughter to indicate his disaffiliation with the situation, attempting to make the serious scene less intense. later, flora agreeing to give him another chance to take photos reflects the success of his approach---to switch from an embarrassing to a non-embarrassing situation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 46 published by scholink inc. 5. results the above three dialogic excerpts serve as typical examples of three different ways in which laughter is used as a means of expressing disaffiliation, drawn from everyday conversations and analyzed through the research methods of conversation analysis and interactional linguistics. in dialogues, despite the speakers’ intention to convey their dissent towards a specific event or object, the incorporation of laughter serves to not only ameliorate the overall conversational ambiance but also functions as a social lubricant, strengthening the pre-existing social bonds among the interlocutors. the utilization of laughter in such contexts not only softens the expression of disagreement but also fosters a sense of camaraderie and mutual understanding, contributing to the maintenance and enhancement of interpersonal relationships. the use of laughter in these dialogues exemplifies its role in (1) self-image preservation, (2) face-saving, (3) transitioning from an embarrassing to a non-embarrassing context of the speakers. in the first dialogue, the speaker aimed to uphold a genuine image in front of her friend. although she disagreed with her friend, she still used laughter to demonstrate support for her friend’s perspective, showcasing her response to the threat of her own image being compromised. the second dialogue unfolded within the interaction of two recently acquainted strangers. to create a positive impression, one of the conversational participants employed laughter as a means to alleviate the embarrassment stemming from her lack of familiarity with the milk tea brand mentioned by the new acquaintance. in this scenario, laughter functioned as a tool to preserve the speaker’s dignity and thus try to conceal the loss of face. moving to the third dialogue involving a romantic couple, the male partner utilized laughter to navigate the embarrassment arising from his inability to capture flattering photographs of his girlfriend, effectively transforming the embarrassing situation between them into a non-embarrassing one. 6. discussion laughter is primarily a social tool, which can be served as a social lubricant and is commonly found in interpersonal communication and plays a vital role in the creation and upkeep of relationships. it can indicate not only affiliation but also disaffiliation between the speakers, with the common goal of reinforcing the social connection between individuals. the above analysis illustrates the functions laughter have to express disaffiliation while try to keep the maintenance of social relationships. the three functions of laughter for indicating disaffiliation the thesis has mentioned include self-image preservation, face-saving and transition from embarrassing to non-embarrassing situations. the analysis of the dialogues and the results shows that when an individual needs to express disagreement with another’s views due to differences in values, lifestyles, aesthetics, etc., while still maintaining a certain social image and relationship, laughter can serve as a tool to facilitate the progression of the entire process. in this context, laughter can be viewed as a strategy employed to compensate the emotions of others when they do not receive the anticipated level of affiliation, and thus achieve the goal of maintaining social relationships while expressing one’s own views. the research discussed in the article sheds light on the importance of further exploring the role of laughter in interpersonal communication. despite the limited www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 47 published by scholink inc. number of studies, the article does not exhaustively outline the various functions of laughter in conveying disaffiliation. instead, it concentrates on how laughter serves as a tool to ease tension in social interactions, striving to preserve or strengthen social bonds without delving deeper into potential negative consequences of using laughter to express disaffiliation. future research is encouraged to build upon the findings of this article and previous studies, aiming to draw more specific conclusions that thoroughly elucidate both the constructive and detrimental impacts of laughter in conveying disaffiliation. reference chen, l. c. l. (2016). laughter, smiling and their pragmatic/interpersonal functions: an interactional linguistic account. concentric: studies in linguistics, 42(2), 135-168. clift, r. (2016). don’t make me laugh: responsive laughter in (dis) affiliation. journal of pragmatics, 100, 73-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2016.01.012 conroy, t. m. (1999). “i don’t want to burst your bubble”: affiliation and disaffiliation in a joint accounting by affiliated pair partners. human studies, 22(2), 339-359. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1005452904364 glenn, p. (2003). laughter in interaction (vol. 18). cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511519888 hayakawa, h. (2003). the meaningless laugh: laughter in japanese communication. malphurs, r. a. (2010). “people did sometimes stick things in my underwear” the function of laughter at the us supreme court. people, 10(2). provine, r. (2000). laughter: a scientific investigation. new york: viking. van vugt, m., hardy, c., stow, j., & dunbar, r. (2014). laughter as social lubricant: a biosocial hypothesis about the pro-social functions of laughter and humor. retrieved september, 24, 2018. wang, x., & sun, x. (2023). a bibliometric study on chinese discourse (1994-2021). critical arts, 37(3), 78-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2023.2229908 wang, x., & jiang, r. (2024). reconstruing the image of shan gui: a multimodal translation from poetry to painting. babel. https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00380.wan warner-garcia, s. (2014). laughing when nothing’s funny: the pragmatic use of coping laughter in the negotiation of conversational disagreement. pragmatics. quarterly publication of the international pragmatics association (ipra), 24(1), 157-180. https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.24.1.07war wood, a., martin, j., & niedenthal, p. (2017). towards a social functional account of laughter: acoustic features convey reward, affiliation, and dominance. plos one, 12(8), e0183811. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183811 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2016.01.012 https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1005452904364 https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511519888 https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2023.2229908 https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00380.wan https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.24.1.07war https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183811 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 43 original paper a multimodal study on language impairments in chinesespeaking alzheimer’s disease patients from the perspective of relevance theory wen li1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: june 10, 2025 accepted: june 21, 2025 online published: july 4, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p43 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p43 abstract with the intensification of global population aging, alzheimer’s disease (ad) has emerged as a significant public health issue among the elderly populations, with language impairment being one of its primary manifestations. this study, grounded in relevance theory, selects situated discourse from five elderly individuals in the early stages of ad featured in the reality show “forget me not cafe” as corpus material. utilizing a multimodal corpus research method, it analyzes the manifestations of language impairment in these patients, aiming to comprehensively unveil their specific characteristics at both verbal and non-verbal levels. the findings reveal that affected elderly individuals exhibit five verbal manifestations, including redundant repetition, the use of filler words, naming difficulty, aborted phrases, and vague references. meanwhile, they also employ non-verbal means such as gestures and laughter to make multimodal compensatory adjustments in communication. furthermore, this study highlights the differences in the manifestations of language impairment between chinese and english-speaking ad patients. english-speaking patients are more prone to issues like pronoun misuse, tense and voice errors, whereas chinese-speaking patients predominantly exhibit tone confusion. this research not only holds significant importance for the academic development of gerontolinguistics but also possesses practical clinical application value and notable social benefits. keywords chinese-speaking alzheimer’s disease patients, language impairment, multimodal corpus research method, relevance theory www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 44 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction alzheimer’s disease (ad), also known as senile dementia, is a stealthily-onset and progressivelydeveloping neurodegenerative disorder. its clinical manifestations primarily include memory impairment, cognitive dysfunction and aphasia. language impairment, one of the key manifestations of ad, refers to the difficulties patients encounter when using the language symbol system to express thoughts and emotions (gu & huang, 2020). this impairment encompasses multiple dimensions, including lexical, grammatical, and pragmatic aspects. as the global population ages at an accelerated pace, ad has emerged as a significant public health issue. language impairment in ad patients not only disrupts daily communication but also exerts profound impacts on their quality of life, mental well-being, and social relationships. notably, while memory decline is a prominent feature of the disease, medical research has found that the deterioration of language functions in ad patients may even precede the decline in memory functions (min et al., 2011; guo, 2014; guo & chen, 2017). this underscores the unique disciplinary advantages and pioneering significance of studying language impairment in ad patients from a linguistic perspective, offering positive implications for early prevention and screening of the condition. therefore, this study focuses on the manifestations of language impairment in chinese-speaking ad patients from a multimodal perspective, with relevance theory serving as its theoretical foundation. this research not only holds significant importance for the academic development of gerontolinguistics but also possesses practical clinical application value and notable social benefits, contributing to the familial prediction, clinical screening, and rehabilitation training of the disease. 2. literature review 2.1 previous studies on language impairments in ad patients research on the speech phenomena of ad patients has been primarily conducted from two main aspects. firstly, by describing and categorizing language impairment phenomena from a linguistic perspective. for instance, dijkstra et al. (2004) classified speech manifestations into two categories: discourse building and discourse impairing, and found that elderly patients with the disease exhibit more pronounced and severe discourse impairing features compared to healthy elderly groups. another example is the specialized study conducted by domestic scholar liu (2014) on word-finding difficulties in patients with senile dementia. secondly, by utilizing interdisciplinary knowledge from neurology, psychology, cognition, and other related fields to elucidate these phenomena. for example, almor et al. (2009) investigated the common mechanisms underlying verb and noun naming deficits in ad patients. although language impairment in ad patients has garnered widespread attention, there are still some shortcomings in existing research. firstly, most studies mainly focuses on unimodal analysis (purely linguistic aspects) (lai, 2014; fraser et al., 2016; huang & yang, 2022), lacking a comprehensive examination of multimodal data. multimodal research can capture non-verbal features employed by patients during communication, such as gestures and facial expressions, thereby more comprehensively www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 45 published by scholink inc. unveiling the complexity and diversity of language impairment in ad patients. secondly, current research predominantly centers on indo-european languages like english (shuttleworth & huber, 1988; pekkala et al., 2013; liu, 2019), while research targeting language impairment in chinese-speaking ad patients remains relatively scarce. as a tonal language, chinese exhibits marked differences from english and other languages in terms of phonology, vocabulary, and grammatical structure, which may lead to unique manifestations of language impairment in chinese ad patients. therefore, dedicated research in this area is warranted. in addition, the majority of current studies explore the issue merely through traditional pragmatic theories, such as speech act theory in conversation analysis. however, few studies have employed relatively newer theories, like relevance theory, to elucidate the language impairment characteristics of this patient population. by approaching the issue from the perspective of relevance theory, this research can unveil the unique patterns of verbal ostension and information inference in language communication among ad patients from a cognitive standpoint, thereby providing a more theoretically robust explanation for the underlying mechanisms of their language impairment. in light of this, this study employs relevance theory as the theoretical framework, selecting situated discourse data from five elderly individuals in the early stages of ad featured in the first season of the reality show “forget me not cafe” as the corpus. utilizing a multimodal corpus research method, this study conducts an analysis of their language impairment manifestations, aiming to comprehensively uncover their specific characteristics at both verbal and non-verbal levels. specifically, this research primarily investigates the following three research questions: 1) what are the verbal manifestations of language impairment in chinese-speaking ad patients? 2) what non-verbal manifestations do chinese-speaking ad patients employ to make multimodal compensatory adjustments for their language impairment? 3) what differences exist in the manifestations of language impairment between ad patients in china and those in english-speaking countries? 2.2 theoretical foundation this study employs relevance theory as the theoretical framework, it was formally proposed by dan sperber and deirdre wilson in their 1986 work relevance: communication and cognition. this theory aims to elucidate how humans effectively transmit and comprehend information in natural language communication, marking a “cognitive turn” in pragmatics. according to sperber and wilson (1986), communication is an ostensive-inferential process that involves both informative intention and communicative intention. from the speaker’s perspective, communication is an ostensive process where the speaker conveys their informative and communicative intentions to the hearer through verbal acts. from the hearer’s perspective, however, communication constitutes an inferential process, in which the hearer deduces the speaker’s genuine intentions based on the speaker’s ostensive acts and their own cognitive environment. simultaneously, the hearer seeks optimal relevance when interpreting utterances, which refers to achieving the maximum contextual effects with the least processing effort within a given cognitive environment. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 46 published by scholink inc. in the early stages of domestic research on relevance theory, scholars’ research endeavors were largely concentrated on the linguistic sign modality. as research progressed, scholars gradually came to realize that ostensive acts are not confined solely to linguistic expressions and that achieving optimal relevance in meaning does not necessarily rely on the most straightforward linguistic symbols. instead, in daily communication, language, tone, gestures, and other elements can all serve as effective means to ostensively convey informative intentions. for ad patients, due to impaired language abilities, they sometimes struggle to articulate their communicative intentions clearly and fluently. when confronted with language barriers, to ensure smooth communication, they often resort to non-verbal means such as gestures as multimodal compensatory strategies, striving to ostensively convey their communicative information. consequently, this study, grounded in relevance theory, will probe into the impact of language impairment on communication among ad patients and explore how they utilize non-verbal information to make compensatory adjustments to their linguistic expressions, thereby achieving optimal relevance in communication. 3. methodology this study employs a multimodal corpus research method, aiming to comprehensively unveil the specific characteristics of language impairment in ad patients at both verbal and non-verbal levels. the corpus for this study is derived from the first season of the domestic documentary-style reality show “forget me not cafe”. it is a public-interest program centered around raising awareness of cognitive impairments, with the main premise being the operation of a restaurant. the show features five elderly individuals in the early stages of ad as its protagonists: grandpa daqiao, grandpa xiaomin, grandma gongzhu, grandma pugongying and grandma zhuzhu. the situated discourse of these five elderly participants in the program naturally reflects the language use patterns and manifestations of language impairment in patients’ daily lives. the data collection process commenced with downloading the complete first season of “forget me not cafe” from the tencent video platform. subsequently, all situated discourse segments involving the five elderly participants were extracted from the program. ultimately, a “multimodal corpus of language impairment manifestations in chinese-speaking ad patients” was constructed, with each characteristic of language impairment manually annotated and the relevant content transcribed according to the transcription system proposed by gail jefferson (2015). this corpus comprises over 650 minutes of naturally occurring conversational data collected within the restaurant setting. during the data analysis phase, this study primarily adopts a qualitative research approach guided by relevance theory to interpret the specific characteristics of language impairment in these ad patients. it provides illustrative examples of these manifestations as well as the multimodal compensatory adjustment strategies they employed. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 47 published by scholink inc. 4. manifestations of language impairment in chinese-speaking ad patients by using multimodal corpus research method, this study conducted an in-depth analysis of language impairments exhibited by five elderly individuals in the early stages of ad at both verbal and non-verbal levels. 4.1 verbal level manifestations of language impairment in chinese-speaking ad patients at the verbal level, the affected elderly primarily display five verbal manifestations, including redundant repetition, the use of filler words, naming difficulty, aborted phrases, and vague references. 4.1.1 redundant repetition redundant repetition refers to the recurrence of one or more adjacent words or phrases (shadden, 1998) and is the most prevalent type of language impairment observed in ad patients. these repetitions disrupt the coherence and fluency of discourse, as shown in example 1 below: example 1: grandpa xiaomin: 欢迎光临，请请里里里里边坐。(episode 1, 17:11) this statement was made by grandpa xiaomin during a greeting interaction. in this utterance, the word “请” and “里” is redundantly reiterated multiple times. unlike intentional repetitions used for emphasis in healthy communication, these repetitions reflect involuntary, uncontrolled linguistic behaviors characteristic of ad-related language dysfunction. this disrupts sentence coherence and fluency, creating a stuttering, disjointed rhythm that severely impedes effective information transfer. listeners may struggle to rapidly decode his informative intention, highlighting the communicative difficulty caused by this language disorder. 4.1.2 the use of filler words filler words in spoken language generally arise due to the spontaneity and immediacy of oral expression. common filler words in chinese include forms such as “呃”, “这个”, “那个” (liu, 2015). they typically contain no substantive informational content and lack significant communicative value, serving as redundant elements embedded within discourse, as illustrated in example 2: example 2: grandma gongzhu: 呃(.)我们是(2)特殊人群，呃我们患有那个(.)，就是，呃(2)呃叫，呃叫，叫(6)， 我我想想嗷(3)，呃(.)，呃，认知(.)，认知障碍，呃，记忆障碍。(episode 1, 40:19) in example 2, grandma gongzhu was explaining to the guests the unique characteristics of their restaurant’s service staff. however, due to the impact of ad, she temporarily struggled to recall the terms “认知障碍” and “记忆障碍”. consequently, she unconsciously used plenty of filler words such as “呃”, “那个”, and “就是”, along with extended pauses, resulting in lengthy and convoluted speech. listeners had to expend more processing effort to filter out these meaningless filler words in order to comprehend grandma gongzhu’s informative intention, thereby significantly reducing the efficiency of communication. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 48 published by scholink inc. 4.1.3 naming difficulty naming difficulty is one of the common language impairments observed in ad patients. due to impaired memory, particularly short-term and semantic memory, these patients often struggle to recall the names of things or fail to associate the visual image of an object with its corresponding word, as illustrated in example 3: example 3: grandma zhuzhu: 那鸡蛋红烧肉，是我们餐厅那个(.)，那个呃什么啦(3)，有名((laughter))，那是 我们特点。(episode 2, 55:59) in example 3, when grandma zhuzhu was describing “鸡蛋红烧肉”, she actually intended to convey that this dish was the “招牌菜” of their restaurant. however, due to naming difficulty, she was unable to directly say the accurate term “招牌菜”. the fillers, pauses, and laughter in her statement indicated her struggle to recall the appropriate vocabulary to describe the dish’s status. eventually, she came up with the semantically related words “有名” and “特点” to explain it, making her utmost effort to ostensively convey the communicative information. nevertheless, this still posed a certain degree of difficulty for listeners in making inferences. 4.1.4 aborted phrases aborted phrases refer to incomplete expressions that were not revised within two succeeding sentences (tomoeda et al., 1996). ad patients often fail to fully express what they have in mind, that is, the content they actually articulate is often less than what they intended, and they may not even be aware of this issue, as illustrated in example 4: example 4: grandpa daqiao: 我是 17 年下半年医生就跟我讲，她说你有轻度的这个::。(episode 1, 4:58) in example 4, grandpa daqiao was recounting his experience of being informed about his illness. the complete sentence he initially intended to express was, “我是 17 年下半年医生就跟我讲，她说你有 轻度的认知障碍。” however, during his actual narration, possibly due to a temporary lapse in memory, he used the filler word “这个” to buy himself some thinking time. nevertheless, he did not supplement or correct his statement afterward, directly omitting the crucial information about “认知障碍”, resulting in an incomplete sentence. this phenomenon requires listeners to make additional inferences about the omitted parts of the speech, thereby reducing the efficiency of verbal communication. 4.1.5 vague references vague reference refers to the use of non-specific terms such as “thing” or “stuff” to refer to objects or concepts (nicholas et al., 1985). ad can cause memory impairment in patients, leading to the gradual fading or forgetting of many concrete words in their mental lexicon. consequently, when referring to an object, they tend to opt for more abstract categorical concepts rather than their specific names, in an effort to conserve cognitive effort and time, as illustrated in example 5: example 5: grandma pugongying: 哎您这个也是没有东西的吧。(episode 9, 39:43) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 49 published by scholink inc. in example 5, grandma pugongying inquired of a guest whether his glasses had lenses. however, both “glasses” and “lenses” are relatively specific terms. due to memory impairment, grandma might have struggled to accurately recall the exact names of these items. as a result, she opted to use the pronoun “这个” to refer to the “glasses” and the vague term “东西” to refer to the “lenses”, aiming to reduce the cognitive effort required to think of the specific names and maintain overall fluency in her speech. nevertheless, this vague referencing approach posed difficulties for the listener in comprehension, necessitating greater processing effort to infer grandma’s informative intention. 4.2 non-verbal level manifestations of language impairment in chinese-speaking ad patients at the non-verbal level, the five elderly patients employ non-verbal means such as gestures and laughter to make multimodal compensatory adjustments in their communication. additionally, they exhibited a relatively high number of non-verbal behavioral characteristics, suggesting that these non-verbal cues play a significant supplementary role in the expression of ad patients. 4.2.1 gestures gesture is a form of non-verbal communication that convey information, express emotions, or aid in verbal exchanges through hand movements. for ad patients, gestures play a crucial role in the expression of illocutionary force, serving as a compensatory adjustment by the brain’s mechanisms to language impairments such as naming difficulty. without these bodily movements, it would be challenging for listeners to accurately comprehend the speaker’s speech acts, and effective perlocutionary acts would be unattainable (huang et al., 2021), as illustrated in example 6 (figure 1): example 6: guest: 这是它的什么位置啊？ grandma zhuzhu: 哦脚子((imitating the shape of a claw with her hands))，那个那个鹅，那个那个什 么，那个脚子吧。 guest: 爪子。 grandma zhuzhu: 对对，爪子嘛。(episode 7, 18:10) figure 1. grandma zhuzhu uses gestures to compensate for language impairment www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 50 published by scholink inc. in example 6, a guest asked grandma zhuzhu which part of the goose was used in the dish. due to naming difficulty, grandma zhuzhu was unable to accurately recall the name of that specific part. she first attempted to describe it verbally but used the inaccurate term “ 脚子 ”. subsequently, she compensated for her language impairment by using her hands to imitate the shape of a “claw”, as shown in figure 1. this effectively made up for the inadequacy in her verbal expression, explicitly conveying the communicative information to the listener as much as possible, helping to reduce the listener’s inferential effort and enabling the guest to understand her intention. this multimodal ostensive act also facilitated the listener in successfully inferring grandma zhuzhu’s informative intention, thereby achieving optimal relevance. 4.2.2 laughter laughter is often used by elderly individuals with ad as a means to express difficulties in comprehension and constructing discourse, serving as a typical compensatory behavior to overcome language impairment (lindholm, 2008). when elderly patients encounter difficulties in verbal expression, they may resort to laughter to mask or alleviate the embarrassment and discomfort arising from their inability to articulate clearly, as illustrated in example 7 (figure 2): example 7: grandma zhuzhu: 这个是海人爱，就是(1)，什么呢我忘记了((laughter))。(episode 5, 1:7:20) figure 2. grandma zhuzhu uses laughter to alleviate the embarrassment caused by language impairment in example 7, grandma zhuzhu was reciting the dish name to the guests, but due to memory impairment caused by ad, she forgot the dish name that the chef had just told her. consequently, she used laughter as an interpersonal compensatory strategy, as shown in figure 2, to alleviate the embarrassment caused by her inability to recall the dish name. meanwhile, it also served as a signal to listeners, seeking assistance to facilitate the communication (huang & che, 2023). the guests should infer grandma zhuzhu’s intention from the laughter to ensure the smooth progression of the interaction. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 51 published by scholink inc. 4.3 differences in language impairment manifestations between chinese and english-speaking ad patients english and chinese, as two distinct language systems, each possess unique structural characteristics. english is an inflectional language, where its grammatical structure is conveyed through morphological changes. for instance, the singular and plural forms of nouns, as well as the tenses and voices of verbs, are all indicated by changes in word endings. additionally, english emphasizes the use of pronouns to distinguish between the speaker, the listener, and other relevant entities through different personal pronouns. on the other hand, chinese is an isolating language that does not rely on morphological changes to express grammatical meanings but achieves this through word order, function words, and tones. in chinese, tones not only differentiate syllables but also have a decisive impact on word meanings. the same combination of syllables can convey entirely different meanings depending on the tone used. it is precisely due to these differing linguistic features of english and chinese that ad has a notably distinct impact on the language processing abilities of patients speaking these languages, leading to varied manifestations of language impairment. for english-speaking ad patients, pronoun misuse along with tense and voice errors are relatively common language impairment manifestations. in terms of pronoun usage, english-speaking patients may sometimes confuse personal pronouns, such as mistakenly saying “she” or “it” instead of “i”. these errors reflect a gradual blurring of the patients’ sense of self and personality. moreover, in english, tenses and voices rely on morphological changes. for instance, the past tense is typically indicated by adding the “-ed” suffix, while the passive voice is conveyed through specific verb forms. however, englishspeaking ad patients often omit these morphological changes or add unnecessary ones, leading to errors in sentence tenses and voices. for example, a patient might say, “i go to park yesterday”, where “go” should be in the past tense “went” to indicate that the action occurred in the past. these phenomena, on the one hand, suggest a gradual decline in the patients’ syntactic abilities, and on the other hand, indicate a growing confusion in their concepts of time and space. a unique language impairment manifestation observed in chinese-speaking ad patients is tone confusion. as a tonal language, chinese relies heavily on tones to distinguish word meanings. however, under the influence of ad, patients may experience semantic reversals due to tone errors. for instance, a patient might mispronounce “妈 (mā, meaning mother)” as “马 (mǎ, meaning horse)” or say “买 (mǎi, meaning to buy)” as “卖 (mài, meaning to sell)”. this tone confusion not only affects the patients’ oral expression but may also lead to difficulties in understanding others’ speech. these characteristics of language impairment reflect the distinct impacts of ad on the language processing abilities of chinese and english-speaking patients. comparing these differences can aid in a more accurate assessment of language impairment in ad patients across different languages, and facilitate the provision of more effective and targeted language rehabilitation training for them. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 52 published by scholink inc. 5. conclusion this study, grounded in relevance theory, selected situated discourse from five elderly individuals in the early stages of ad featured in the first season of the reality show “forget me not cafe” as its corpus. utilizing a multimodal corpus research method, it delved deeply into the manifestations of language impairment in chinese-speaking ad patients. the study found that the affected elderly exhibited five characteristic features at the verbal level, including redundant repetition, the use of filler words, naming difficulty, aborted phrases, and vague references. meanwhile, patients also tended to employ non-verbal means such as gestures and laughter for multimodal compensatory adjustments in communication. additionally, this study revealed differences in the manifestations of language impairment between chinese and english-speaking ad patients. english-speaking patients were more prone to issues such as pronoun misuse, tense and voice errors, whereas chinese-speaking patients predominantly exhibited tone confusion. this research not only theoretically advances the construction and refinement of gerontolinguistics by enriching the disciplinary knowledge system through the study of discourse from special elderly groups but also practically provides linguistic evidence for the early diagnosis and intervention of ad. however, this study also has certain limitations. the primary drawback lies in the singularity of the corpus source, which relies solely on the patients’ performances in the reality show without directly collecting and systematically analyzing corpus from ad patients in real-life settings. this limitation may, to some extent, affect the generality and accuracy of the research findings, as the contextual settings and patient performances in the reality show could be influenced by various factors, such as the show’s production needs and the patients’ emotional states. therefore, future research could directly collect corpus from ad patients in real-life scenarios, including their daily conversations and self-narrated experiences, to more comprehensively and authentically reflect the manifestations of their language impairment. this, in turn, would provide more scientific and effective support for family prediction, clinical screening, and rehabilitation training related to the disease. references almor, a. et al. (2009). a common mechanism in verb and noun naming deficits in alzheimer’s patients. brain language, 111(1), 8-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2009.07.009 dijkstra, k. et al. (2004). conversational coherence: discourse analysis of older adults with and without dementia. journal of neurolinguistics, 17, 263-283. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0911-6044(03)000484 fraser, k. c. et al. (2016). linguistic features identify alzheimer’s disease in narrative speech. journal of alzheimer’s disease, 49, 407-422. https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-150520 gu, y. g., & huang, l. h. (2020). gerontolinguistics and multimodal research. tongji university press. guo, q. h. (2014). common neuropsychological tests for diagnosis of cognitive impairment. chinese bulletin of life sciences, 26(1), 59-63. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 53 published by scholink inc. guo, q. h., & chen, k. l. (2017). research progress on semantic dementia. journal of chongqing medical university, 42(6), 634-637. huang, l. h., & che, y. r. (2023). pragmatic impairment and multimodal compensation in older adults with dementia. language and health, 1, 44-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.laheal.2023.06.004 huang, l. h., & yang, j. j. (2022). an analysis of oral non-fluency of chinese dat patients. contemporary linguistics, 24(2), 192-207. huang, l. h. et al. (2021). pragmatic compensation for the elders with cognitive impairment: a speech act perspective. chinese journal of language policy and planning, 6(6), 33-44. jefferson, g. (2015). talking about troubles in conversation. new york: oxford university press. lai, y. h. (2014). discourse features of chinese-speaking seniors with and without alzheimer’s disease. language & linguistics, 15(3), 411-434. https://doi.org/10.1177/1606822x14520665 lindholm, c. (2008). laughter, communication problems and dementia. communication & medicine, 5(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.v5i1.3 liu, c. q. (2015). an investigation on the filler words “zhege/nage” (this/that) in elderly people’s speech. nankai linguistics, 2, 104-111. liu, h. y. (2014). a corpus-based study on word-finding difficulties in patients with senile dementia. journal of pla university of foreign languages, 37(1), 42-52. liu, j. p. (2019). loss of non-nominal resources in the discourses of alzheimer patients. contemporary linguistics, 21(4), 602-617. min, b. q. et al. (2011). category-specific semantic memory deficits in patients with alzheimer’s disease. advances in psychological science, 19(10), 1453-1459. nicholas, m. et al. (1985). empty speech in alzheimer’s disease and fluent aphasia. journal of speech and hearing research, 28, 405-410. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.2803.405 pekkala, s. et al. (2013). lexical retrieval in discourse: an early indicator of alzheimer’s dementia. clinical linguistics & phonetics, 27(12), 905-921. https://doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2013.815278 shadden, b. b. (1998). obtaining the discourse sample. in l. r. cherney, b. b. shadden, & c. a. coelho (eds.), analyzing discourse in communicatively impaired adults (pp. 9-34). gaithersburg, ma: aspen. shuttleworth, e. c., & huber, s. j. (1988). the naming disorder of dementia of alzheimer type. brain and language, 34, 222-234. https://doi.org/10.1016/0093-934x(88)90134-4 sperber, d., & wilson, d. (1986). relevance: communication and cognition. oxford: blackwell publishers. tomoeda, c. k. et al. (1996). cross-sectional analyses of alzheimer disease effects on oral discourse in a picture description task. alzheimer disease and associated disorders, 10, 204-215. https://doi.org/10.1097/00002093-199601040-00006 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 114 original paper on violence writing in ian mcewan’s saturday jingyi he1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: january 22, 2024 accepted: february 19, 2024 online published: march 3, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p114 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p114 abstract ian mcewan is one of the most preeminent contemporary british writers. his masterpiece saturday is longlisted for the 2005 booker prize. revolving around the protagonist perowne’s one-day life, the novel portrays a realistic picture of british society after the “9·11” terrorist attack. so far, scholars have interpreted saturday from the perspective of space, trauma, intertextuality, culture, and ethics, while few studies have touched upon the violence writing in this novel. therefore, this paper will explore the manifestations and roots of direct, structural and cultural violence in saturday based on johan galtung’s violence triangle theory. the study of violence writing in the novel can reveal not only hidden violence problems in british society but also mcewan’s appeal for a harmonious society. meanwhile, the solution to violence issues mcewan provides in the novel is also instructive for modern people to cope with violence dilemmas. keywords ian mcewan, saturday, johan galtung, violence 1. ian mcewan and saturday ian mcewan (1948-) is a brilliant british writer and is acclaimed as “the 50 greatest british writers since 1945” by times in 2008. violence, love, goodness, and evil are always his subject matter. saturday, his ninth novel, is no exception. in the novel, mcewan turns his attention to violence issues once again. saturday discloses the hidden violence problems in british society after the “9·11” terrorist attack through the presentation of the protagonist’s one-day life. the novel’s background is set in london on february 15th, 2003. the protagonists are henry perowne, his daughter daisy, his father-in-law john and the street thug baxter. the storyline centers around perowne’s one-day experience in london. the main plot is perowne’s two confrontations with baxter. more specifically, the two confrontations are the car accident between perowne and baxter in the daytime and baxter’s revenge on perowne after the confrontations that night. as an urban flaneur, perowne’s life experience within 24 hours reflects the true social condition of england after the “9·11” terrorist attack. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 115 published by scholink inc. since its publication in 2005, saturday has attracted a lot of attention at home and abroad. scholars have studied the work from various perspectives. generally speaking, scholars tend to interpret the novel from the perspective of space, trauma, intertextuality, culture, and ethics. first of all, space is the most discussed angle among scholars. in “narrative space in ian mcewan’s saturday”, alenka koron employs marie-laura ryan’s categorization of space to interpret the novel and concludes that “mcewan promotes the conception of space that became prominent within the spatial turn in postmodern humanities” (p. 359). laura colombino notes in “the body, the city, the global: spaces of catastrophe in ian mcewan’s saturday” that the novel “engages with catastrophic imaginaries and social anxieties by illuminating the entanglement of the spaces of terror with the bodily” (p. 1). though the focus of these studies is space, they all give a glimpse of the violence phenomenon in the novel, which provides a basis for this paper. besides, scholars also explore saturday from the perspective of trauma. in “sudden awakening: traumatic narrative in ian mcewan’s saturday”, wang taohua and li yaqing analyze individual trauma, collective trauma and the recovery from trauma in the novel. they point out that the novel reveals “mcewan’s concern over history and deep thoughts on the topic of trauma” (p. 43). the trauma study is meaningful in that it not only delves into the psychology of the protagonist but also provides a solution to the trauma faced by modern humanity. in addition, starck lindsay concentrates on the intertextuality between mrs. dalloway and saturday, she argues that “the juxtaposition of ian mcewan’s saturday with virginia woolf’s mrs. dalloway demonstrates how one’s experience of a text is doubled and amplified through repetition and remembering” (p. 328). moreover, tammy amiel houser analyzes the ethics embodied in the novel. in “the ethics of otherness in ian mcewan’s saturday”, she argues that by subverting the liberalindividualistic ideology, mcewan is in favor of a radical notion of responsibility towards the different other (p. 131). last but not least, scholars also pay close attention to the confrontation and integration of science and literature in saturday as represented by perowne and his daughter daisy respectively. in “revisiting c.p. snow: two cultures in ian mcewan’s saturday”, shang biwu notes that “mcewan revisits c.p. snow and explores the possibility of complementarity of two cultures, despite their seemingly exclusiveness” (p. 43). his exploration helps reveal the profound connotations about culture in the novel. to sum up, though scholars from home and abroad have studied this novel from different perspectives, there are some spaces left for the study of violence writing. to make up for the deficiency, this paper will explore the violence writing of the novel through the analysis of direct violence, structural violence and cultural violence. 2. johan galtung’s violence triangle theory norwegian sociologist johan galtung is famous for his philosophy of peace and is internationally recognized as “the father of peace studies”. in 1969, galtung first distinguished between direct violence www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 116 published by scholink inc. and structural violence in “violence, peace, and peace research”. he notes that if there is a sender, an actor who intends the consequences of violence, then it is direct violence; if not, it is structural violence (galtung, p. 2). in other words, direct violence is intentional and has real perpetrators, while structural violence does not. direct violence is obvious. it includes threats, rape, murder, war, genocide, psychological abuse, and other intentional behaviors which may cause physical or mental harm to victims (ruolan, p. 98). structure violence is less obvious. it comes from “the social structure itself—between humans, between sets of humans (societies), between sets of societies (alliances, regions) in the world” (galtung, p. 2). that is to say, structural violence is built into the social system and manifests in unequal relations. later in 1970, galtung added cultural violence into his classification of violence in “cultural violence”. at this point, galtung’s direct-structural-cultural violence triangle took shape. according to galtung, cultural violence refers to “those aspects of culture, the symbolic sphere of our existence exemplified by religion and ideology, language and art, empirical science and formal science (logic, mathematics) — that can be used to justify or legitimize direct or structural violence” (galtung, p. 196). it means that cultural violence is the prevailing attitude and belief that makes direct and structural violence justified. in the wake of the discussion mentioned above, the three kinds of violence are interdependent. cultural violence preaches, teaches, admonishes, eggs on, and dulls us into seeing exploitation and/or repression caused by structural violence as normal and natural or not seeing them at all (galtung, p. 200). “then come the eruptions, the efforts to use direct violence to get out of the structural iron cage (galtung, p. 200)”. therefore, there is “a causal flow from cultural via structural to direct violence” (galtung, p. 200). this indicates that direct, structural and cultural violence are interrelated. mcewan’s saturday is stuffed with direct violence, structural violence, and cultural violence which echoes galtung’s violence triangle theory. therefore, employing galtung’s violence theory, this paper explores the violence issues in mcewan’s saturday, hoping to clarify the manifestations and roots of violence in the novel and find solutions to cope with this threat. 3. direct violence in saturday galtung notes that direct violence can be “divided into verbal and physical, and violence harming the body, mind or spirit. all combinations leave behind traumas that may carry violence over time” (p. 31). in saturday, direct violence mainly manifests in perowne’s verbal violence towards baxter and baxter’s physical violence towards perowne and perowne’s family members. this part will delve into the manifestation of verbal and physical violence and analyze the causes of these violent phenomena. perowne’s verbal violence towards baxter is reflected in their car accident. perowne establishes a subject position in their confrontation by holding discourse power in his relationship with baxter. baxter gives perowne a blow in the heart after the accident because perowne refuses baxter’s extortion. to get rid of baxter’s physical violence, perowne cheats baxter that he knows a treatment plan that could cure www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 117 published by scholink inc. baxter’s incurable huntington’s disease. lured by the hope of curing, baxter becomes less hostile to perowne. seizing the discourse power, perowne exercises verbal violence on baxter indifferently and ruthlessly. considering little on baxter’s dignity, perowne directly tells baxter and baxter’s friends that “your father had it. now you got it too” (mcewan, p. 68). it means that baxter has inherited huntington’s disease from his father. then, perowne continues to bombard baxter with questions like “i’m a doctor. has someone explained to you what’s going to happen? do you want me to tell you what i think your problem might be?” and “what has your doctor told you?” (mcewan, p. 68, p. 70). on the surface, perowne is performing a doctor’s duty to inquire about a patient’s condition. whereas the truth is perowne is depriving baxter’s discourse right, making baxter flummoxed and flustered. as li juhua points out perowne is cheating and disciplining baxter in the name of humanism (p. 42). in other words, perowne is exercising intentional verbal violence on baxter, harming baxter’s dignity mercilessly. as for the cause of perowne’s verbal violence, the fear of being beaten by baxter certainly comes first. however, the deeper cause is perowne’s worship of scientific and technological rationality. to be specific, as a doctor, the belief in science and rationality makes perowne have little humanitarian spirit, and he has lost the ability to empathize with others due to years of clinical experience. thus, he keeps asking baxter questions with no compassion. in saturday, baxter commits two physical violence. one is the blow he gives to perowne in the car accident as mentioned above. baxter’s huntington’s disease is the main reason why he loses control in this confrontation. as perowne analyzed and diagnosed, “poor self-control, emotional lability, and explosive temper” are all symptoms of the disease (mcewan, p. 66). this indicates that baxter’s physical violence is caused by the disease. baxter’s the other physical violence manifests in his intrusion into perowne’s house at night. in this confrontation, he threatens perowne’s wife with a knife and attempts to affront perowne’s daughter. in this intrusion event, perowne’s verbal violence is the main cause though baxter’s huntington’s disease is still a factor. exposing baxter’s disease in front of his friends, perowne damages baxter’s self-esteem and dignity. as perowne’s son theo evaluates perowne’s behavior and attitude towards baxter, “you humiliated him. you should watch that” (mcewan, p. 106). theo knows that “the street guys can be proud” (mcewan, p. 106). however, perowne doesn’t. thus, he hurts baxter fearlessly, which compels baxter to take revenge. as geng xiao notes, counterviolence is the only way baxter could employ to save his dignity because he is a member of the lower class (p. 37). it is worth noticing that baxter’s counterviolence also brings perowne’s counterviolence. at last, perowne and theo subdue baxter by flinging baxter down the stairs, which throws baxter into a coma. here appears a vicious circle of violence. perowne’s verbal violence leads to baxter’s counterviolence. at the same time, baxter’s counterviolence also brings about perowne’s counterviolence. it is conceivable that if perowne didn’t give up his hatred and had surgery for baxter in person at last. this www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 118 published by scholink inc. vicious circle of violence and counterviolence may not be broken. hence, mcewan shows readers that violence may bring violence. mcewan not only opposes violence but also disapproves of counterviolence. in conclusion, perowne’s verbal violence stems from his rationality. baxter’s physical violence is rooted in his huntington’s disease and perowne’s verbal violence. and what mcewan calls for is a harmonious and friendly interpersonal relationship. 4. structural violence in saturday according to galtung, “structural violence divides into political, repressive and economic, exploitative; supported by structural penetration, segmentation, fragmentation and marginalization” (p. 31). this part will deep into the structural violence in saturday, specifically political repression and patriarchal oppression, and explore the roots of them. in saturday, the ruling class represses the british public’s political will by controlling media, thus marginalizing the british public. against the backdrop of the 9/11 terrorist attack, british people are anxious about their safety and are fear of war. facing the impending iraq war, the british public held protest marches to express their wish for peace. the anti-iraq war demonstration described in the novel is the “largest gathering of humanity in the history of the islands” (mcewan, p. 87). however, there is little report of the anti-war movement on tv and radio. reports are always the government’s preparation for the iraq war like “there’s the kuwait–iraq border, and military trucks moving in convoy along a desert road, and our lads kipping down by the tracks of their tanks” and “an officer, barely in his twenties, is standing outside his tent pointing with a stick at a map on an easel” (mcewan, p. 122). the political repression in saturday roots in social structure. it can be seen that there is a sharp contrast between the british public’s will and the british government’s will. whereas what the mass media is reporting aligns with the government’s will. therefore, the media becomes a ruling tool, propagandizing the ruling class’s political will. the ruling class holds more discourse power in national affairs and the public arena, thus marginalizing the public’s will. galtung mentions that structural violence “comes from the social structure itself” (p. 2). thus, the political repression in saturday belongs to structural violence. in saturday, patriarchal suppression mainly embodies in perowne’s daughter daisy and her grandpa john. as the elder and first literature teacher of daisy, john always attempts to impose his male authority upon daisy. when daisy’s poem wins the newdigate prize, there is a confrontation between john and daisy. john doesn’t praise daisy for her achievement. on the contrary, john belittles daisy’s achievements and thinks lightly of daisy’s poem. he comments daisy’s poem as “ill-advised and not the sort of thing that generally won the newdigate” (mcewan, p. 94). and he tells daisy his comments as though “she must know it already and was bound to agree” (mcewan, p. 94). taking advantage of male authority, he intends to impose his literary taste on daisy. facing john’s oppression, daisy responds with silence. however, daisy’s silence doesn’t satisfy john. “encouraged by his granddaughter’s silence, john went on a roll, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 119 published by scholink inc. warming to his own authority, stupidly affectionate in his manner” (mcewan, p. 94). john keeps expressing his criticism of the poem. john’s negation of daisy’s poem reflects the patriarchal oppression of women. women’s talents are denied by arrogant men. correspondingly, female literature is always marginalized compared with male literature. the root of the inferior position of female and female literature is the social structure that gives males the privilege to dominate society. consequently, john’s patriarchal suppression of daisy belongs to structural violence. in a nutshell, both the british government’s political repression of the public and john’s patriarchal suppression of daisy roots in social structure. thus, the two types of violence are structural violence. through the presentation of structural violence, mcewan is appealing for an equal society, free of repression and oppression. 5. cultural violence in saturday galtung emphasizes that “the study of cultural violence highlights how the act of direct violence and the fact of structural violence are legitimized and thus rendered acceptable in society” (galtung, p. 292). he further points out that cultural violence works in two ways. one is by changing the moral color of an act from wrong to right or at least to acceptable; another way is by making reality opaque, so that we do not see the violent act or fact, or at least not as violent (galtung, p. 292). thus, this part will probe into the cultural violence represented by extreme scientism and individualism in saturday and explore how they work. in saturday, science is represented by the neurosurgeon perowne. “he advocates science and hates literature. this kind of extreme scientism extends from perowne’s career to his daily life. he reads for his profession rather than for fun. for fifteen years he barely touched a non-medical book at all” (mcewan, p. 10). he submits to his daughter’s reading lists of literature only because “they’re his means of remaining in touch as she grows away from her family into unknowable womanhood in a suburb of paris (mcewan, p. 10).” perowne’s extreme scientism leads to his verbal violence on baxter opaque. when perowne keeps asking baxter about huntington’s disease, he is acting verbal violence as mentioned in the third part. as shang biwu argues the real intention of perowne is to control baxter through medical knowledge and to disgrace baxter in front of his friends (p. 41). medical science provides a protective barrier for perowne’s verbal violence, beautifying it as a doctor’s ordinary inquiring about a patient’s condition. as a result, cultural violence represented by perowne’s scientism successfully justifies his verbal violence on baxter. besides, perowne’s extreme scientism also becomes a justification for his physical violence. in his second confrontation with baxter, perowne and his son push baxter down the stairs, which is a manifestation of immoral physical violence. however, perowne covers up his immoral behavior with the pretext that baxter will lose control because of huntington’s disease if not conquered by violence. hence, perowne’s www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 120 published by scholink inc. physical violence toward baxter is justified by medical science which is the representation of cultural violence. in saturday, cultural violence also takes the form of extreme individualism, which is embodied by the british ruling class and john. the british ruling class’s individualism mainly manifests in their manipulation of media to propagandize their own political will as mentioned in the fourth part. individualism is entrenched in the ruling class, thus they manipulate national affairs according to their own will, ignoring the voice of the public. in addition, john’s patriarchal suppression of daisy is also a kind of individualism. when commenting on daisy’s poem, the deep-rooted individualism makes john self-centered. he only cares about his criticism and evaluation of the poem, neglecting daisy’s dignity and feeling. it can be seen that the structural violence of political repression and patriarchal suppression derives from the cultural violence of individualism. that is to say, the western culture of individualism becomes the soil of structural violence. to wrap up, extreme scientism and individualism are the manifestation of cultural violence in saturday. by exposing cultural violence, mcewan expresses his appeal for humanism and love in society. 6. conclusion against the backdrop of the “9·11” terrorist attack, saturday exposes the violence problems in british society, including direct violence, structural violence and cultural violence. through the exposure of violence problems, mcewan conveys his ideal for a peaceful society free of violence. for mcewan, violence will bring violence so that a vicious circle may come into being. meanwhile, mcewan also provides a solution to violence problems in society, which is also meaningful for modern people’s violence dilemma. that is to cope with violence with empathy and love as manifested in perowne’s reconciliation with baxter. as colombino points out, the end of the novel suggests our biological predisposition to human empathy and implies that only a narrative of human interconnectedness can reconcile us with the world and ourselves (p. 17). therefore, what mcewan envisions and appeals to is a world of equality, harmony and love. references amiel-houser, t. (2011). the ethics of otherness in ian mcewan’s saturday. connotations: a journal for critical debate, 21(1), 128. biwu, s. (2020). revisiting c. p. snow: two cultures in ian mcewan’s saturday. journal of hunan university of science and technology (social science edition), 23(2), 36-43. colombino, l. (2017). the body, the city, the global: spaces of catastrophe in ian mcewan’s saturday. textual practice, 31(4), 783-803. li, j. h. (2013). approaching communicative thoughts in ian mcewan’s saturday. contemporary foreign literature, 34(1), 39-46. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 121 published by scholink inc. galtung, j. (1990). cultural violence. journal of peace research, 27(3), 291-305. ---. (1996). peace by peaceful means: peace and conflict, development and civilization. sage. ---. (1969). violence, peace, and peace research. journal of peace research, 6(3), 167-191. mcewan, i. (2009). saturday. vintage canada. koron, a. (2018). narrative space in ian mcewan’s saturday: a narratological perspective. frontiers of narrative studies, 4(2), 359-373. ruolan, f. (2016). violence triangle theory in the gender perspective. thinking, 32(1), 36-40. starck, l. (2016). the matter of literary memory: virginia woolf’s mrs. dalloway and ian mcewan’s saturday. adaptation, 9(3), 328-344. wang, t. h., & li, y. q. (2019). sudden awakening: traumatic narrative in ian mcewan’s saturday. journal of changchun university, 29(3), 40-43. microsoft word elsr-v1n1-p144.docx education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 144 original paper student evaluation of teaching: exploring instructor and student perspectives with course redesign abby halston1*, taylor lum1 & hans chun1 1school of education and behavioral sciences, chaminade university, honolulu, united states *abby halston, school of education and behavioral sciences, chaminade university, honolulu, united states received: june 6, 2020 accepted: june 12, 2020 online published: june 19, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n1p144 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n1p144 abstract student evaluation of teaching (set), or instructor evaluations, is used as a significant instrument across the world to measure instructors teaching methods and course evaluations. with the lack of standardized set across universities and institutions, this study gains insight into how instructors use and improve student evaluations and students’ views of how their feedback is utilized by posing questions to university students and faculty through focus groups and interviews. data was gathered and recorded to interpret students’ perceptions with how instructors utilize the students’ evaluations and instructors’ perceptions of student evaluations and how the instructors use the students’ feedback. results indicate that students and instructors have different values for student feedback and curriculum improvement. implications of different values for student feedback and curriculum improvement include instructors not attempting to improve their teaching and course, students poorly rating their instructors, and students that may not be challenged due to possibly receiving a negative evaluation. keywords student evaluations, course evaluations, instructor evaluations, higher education, course redesign 1. introduction most universities use student evaluation of teaching (set), or instructor evaluations, to evaluate and give feedback on their instructors’ effectiveness with the course. traditionally, many universities utilize a “cafeteria-style” with regards to sharing similar characteristics with their course evaluations. these characteristics include (1) a self-assessment with various open and closed-ended questions about the instructor’s teaching effectiveness and curriculum, (2) a question asking about “overall” effectiveness, (3) a comments section where students can elaborate about their instructor’s effectiveness and curriculum, (4) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 145 published by scholink inc. the notion that the students’ feedback and comments are anonymous, (5) the evaluations are presented at the end of the term without the presence of their instructor, (6) these evaluations are summarized and presented to the instructors and departments to reveal the evidence of the effectiveness of instructors to make several institutional recommendations, (7) differences between students (e.g., gpa, year) and instructors (e.g., beginner, experienced) are not influenced in the analysis to determine effectiveness (algozinne et al., 2004). the use of student evaluations was initially introduced during the mid-1920s in the united states and australia and then, in later years, reaching asia and europe (algozzine et al., 2004; macfadyen et al., 2016). determining the strengths and weaknesses of the courses along with instructors promoting the overall direction of their teaching (also known as formative evaluation) is another use of sets (algozzine et al., 2004; haladyna & amrein-beardsley, 2009). it also provides feedback on the teaching faculty staff ratings for tenure, promotion, and salary (known as summative evaluations) (algozzine et al., 2004; zhao & gallant, 2012). due to the increasing interest in these instructor evaluations, research on student evaluations has increased with the intent to improve and expand the usage of sets. emery, kramer, and tian (2003) found that 600 colleges in the united states increased the use of student evaluations of teaching effectiveness from 29 percent to 86 percent. while in canada, 94 percent of their universities use some method for students to evaluate faculty’s effectiveness (saroyan & amundsen, 2001). individual institutions have prepared and developed student evaluation forms to modify to their institutional needs (richardson, 2005). set provides a way to gain feedback about the instructor’s effectiveness in teaching and a measure for administration to use for teaching effectiveness (macfadyen et al., 2016). it could also provide information about achieving learning goals and objectives, relating with the teacher, classroom components (i.e., homework, materials of instruction), and student and teacher communication (zhao & gallant, 2012). institutions of higher education typically share commonalities in the structure of their sets to determine the overall rating, course, and teaching effectiveness of the instructor (algozinne et al., 2004). usually, this evaluation is based on a rating scale from 1 to 5 (e.g., unsatisfactory to excellent, very poor to very good). surveys consist of questions that ask about excitement, clearly speaking, preparedness, proper skills with the instructor’s teaching efforts (barth, 2008). students’ ratings of teaching are a source of feedback to the instructors and administration (macfadyen et al., 2016; richardson, 2005). there are strengths and weaknesses in utilizing sets to gain insight into students’ success with learning objectives and course evaluation. strengths of sets include giving the students a voice to give feedback about the course (e.g., homework, classroom instructions, teaching styles, student-teacher interactions), describing ways to improve the curriculum, and providing information about the success of learning goals and objectives. weaknesses include, in some cases, the set’s primary role in influencing administration’s decisions with promotions and tenures, the utilization of self-assessment in the sets, and unconscious influence that summative evaluation may have with www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 146 published by scholink inc. formulating the course to fit these standards to obtain higher ratings (chan et al., 2007). with these strengths and weaknesses of sets, administration and faculty could determine how they could use this feedback to better their students, courses, and institution. student evaluations are an essential component in determining teaching effectiveness. ratings of teaching effectiveness from students are a plausible resource compared to other sources (zhao & gallant, 2012). studies examined student evaluation factors (i.e., organization, workload/difficulty, expected/fairness of grading, instructor liking/concern, perceived learning, instructor accessibility, and student-instructor relationship) that influence the overall course, instructor rating, and teaching effectiveness (barth, 2008; cohen, 2005). marks (2000) discovered that instructors who had more challenging assignments and workloads garnered a negative effect. this factor affected the instructor’s rating because the student may feel they would not get a good grade. barth (2008) suggested that instructors with demanding standards have a negative influence on their overall rating. cohen (2005) found that the teacher and student relationship was not entirely related to the course evaluation. organizational skills (i.e., excitement, clearly speaking, preparedness, and proper skills) represented good qualities for the instructor’s teaching. students’ perception of their learning was also a significant factor that determined the importance of the course. student perceptions affect the instructor’s overall rating of teaching effectiveness (marks, 2000). also, instructors that are willing to help and work with students have a positive overall score. these results suggest that the quality of instruction and willingness to help are significant factors that influence teachers’ ratings (barth, 2008). prior studies share an understanding of the purpose and usefulness of sets. however, more research is needed regarding the need for bridging the gap with how instructors improve their teaching and course effectiveness. this study examines how instructors use their student evaluations and students’ perceptions of the course. an analysis of the evaluation process from both the instructors’ and students’ points of view are utilized along with how it factors into changing the curriculum and instructors’ teaching effectiveness. 2. method 2.1 participants the participants were students (n = 11) and instructors (n = 6) at a private university in the pacific region. the ages of the student participants ranged from 18 to 35. instructors’ ages ranged from 40 to 65. the students’ and instructors’ genders included individuals who identify as either male or female. the participants were asked by the principal investigators to voluntarily answer questions in focus groups with undergraduate and graduate students and individual interviews with instructors. the focus groups were about 60 minutes long, while the individual interviews lasted about 10-15 minutes. there was a total of two focus groups and six individual interviews. the participants received no compensation for their participation in the study. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 147 published by scholink inc. 2.2 data collection all participants were recorded by one of the principal investigators and were asked seven questions in the focus groups and eight questions in the individual interviews. the focus groups responded to questions about the students’ perceptions of instructor evaluation assessment. the questions examined the purpose of the course evaluation, their opinion on how the instructor’s use course feedback, and whether the course evaluation form should be changed. also, this study examined students’ perceptions of how instructors benefit from the student input on course feedback and whether students should be the ones to evaluate their instructors. this study also investigated the student’s suggestions of course improvement and their preference in completing course evaluations in-class via paper and pen/pencil or via online. the individual interview questions examined the faculties’ perceptions of student feedback and improvements in instruction. the interview questions consisted of the instructor’s utilization of student evaluations, their reactions to student evaluation feedback, and their major considerations when using student evaluations for improving their teaching. lastly, this study investigated whether the questionnaire for feedback should be changed, suggested questions they would like to see on the form and whether instructors benefit from student input; in addition, this study examined whether the students should be evaluating the instructors and their recommendations on how to improve the process to better use student input. the questions were asked after completion of the informed consent for both students and instructors. 2.3 data analysis participants were recruited for this study by the principal investigators to be interviewed and to evaluate the participants’ (students and instructors) perceptions. a principal investigator asked two classes with one class of undergraduate students and another class with graduate students to participate in this study. faculty members were also asked individually if they would like to participate in this study. both students and faculty were informed that the purpose of the study was to gain feedback about their perceptions and utilizations of sets with instructors. once all the participants verbally agreed to participate in this study, they were informed that the purpose of this study was to evaluate how instructors use student feedback. they were told that the focus would be about 60 minutes long, and the interview would last 10-15 minutes. they were informed that participation is voluntary and could be terminated at any time. the participants were also told that they would be recorded to analyze their answers and would receive no compensation. furthermore, they also had to complete a demographics portion which inquired about their ethnicity, gender, age, classification (e.g., faculty), and department affiliation. the participants then signed an informed consent. each focus group and individual interviews were recorded separately. researchers created mostly open-ended questions so they participants could discuss their perspectives and concerns with sets and instructors. researchers asked a set of questions to evaluate their perceptions of student feedback and improvements on the student evaluation form. each session took place in a classroom for the focus www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 148 published by scholink inc. groups and in the instructor’s office for the individual interviews, both on campus. after, the participants were thanked for their participation. to analyze the qualitative data, the evaluation method of triangulation was utilized. triangulation is used to combine multiple ways to test consistency among the different sources of data (patton, 2002). all transcription was reviewed and coded by the researchers. researchers used axial coding where researchers read the transcript and created open codes for each question, then formed and merged the significant categories, or themes, with the codes. the results of the focus group and individual interviews were reviewed, and the patterns of the responses were triangulated to determine the effects. student questions faculty questions what is the purpose of course evaluations? how do you utilize student evaluations? what is your perception on how instructor’s use course feedback? how do you react and use student evaluation feedback? should the course evaluation form questions be changed? why? what major considerations do you have when using student evaluations for improving your own teaching? do instructors benefit from student input on course feedback? do you think the questions on the student evaluation form should be changed? why? should students be the ones to evaluate their instructors? if student evaluations were to change, what types of questions would you like to see on the form? how could the course evaluation form be improved? if so, what type of questions would you like to see on the form? in what ways do instructors benefit from the student input? do you prefer to complete course evaluations in class via paper and pencil or complete course evaluations via online format? should the students be the ones to evaluate their instructor do you have any recommendations with this process to improve student input? figure 1. questions asked of the participants www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 149 published by scholink inc. 3. results 3.1 students undergraduate and graduate students participated in focus groups and were posed questions to give feedback on their perceptions of how instructors use the student evaluation forms. four themes were established with their responses: overall experience, varied instructors, student evaluation, and recommendations. most students thought that the purpose of course evaluation was to inform about the instructor’s performance and their course experience. other students believe that the use of the course evaluation was to determine whether the course is worth taking, for the instructors to make improvements on the course, and to evaluate the student’s experience. while for the theme, varied instructors, most students believed that how instructors use the student’s feedback and whether instructors benefit from student feedback depends on the instructor. for the student evaluation theme, the researchers asked the students how student evaluation could be improved. the students suggested that the assessment could include evaluating the preparation of the instructor, interaction with students, teaching styles and values, personality, accessibility, and generally more questions. students also suggested that there shouldn’t be any improvements in the questions. besides, students preferred taking the student evaluation form online for the recommendations theme. they also indicated that they would like to receive the evaluation after the term finished; moreover, the students wanted to be marked anonymous in their assessments. figure 2. each question was coded and split into various themes according to the student’s response to each question. appendix a displays a table of the interpretations of codes and themes 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 p w t ic ce se do ic f m sq nc q do isi se i p‐ s pc ei isi ce i ts ce i pc ei ac ei m qc ei ni oe pe ie ac e ae n u m b e r  o f  st u d e n ts evaluation codes student's themes www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 150 published by scholink inc. 3.2 faculty faculty members also participated and answered questions in an interview. seven themes were formed and analyzed with the faculty’s responses: the instructor’s experience, reactions, expectations, changes, input benefits, student evaluation, and recommendations. for the instructor’s experience theme, the researchers asked the faculty how they utilized student evaluations. most instructors reported that they utilize student evaluations to improve their course (i.e., teaching, syllabi, books, and curriculum) and to use useful and not useful feedback. for reactions theme, some faculty react differently to student feedback by having no response. they also considered the student feedback or felt happy or disappointed when s/he received praise or not. overall, most faculty indicated that they use student feedback to make improvements in their courses. they also shared that they value qualitative feedback or written responses to determine what has worked and hasn’t worked throughout their course experience. for the expectations theme, most faculty seemed to value positive and negative feedback from students so they could adjust in their teachings and courses. faculty suggested more evaluations throughout the course and utilizing qualitative feedback or written responses to implement and improve the instructor’s teaching. researchers also asked the faculty if the questions of the student evaluation form should be changed and what changes to make in regard to the theme of change. most faculty suggested specific, more straightforward questions to add to the evaluation form, such as questions about teaching techniques and strategies. other faculty suggested inputting questions about their learning outcomes or specifically asking in the qualitative way how the course was useful. for input benefits theme, the researchers asked the faculty members how they benefit from student input. most faculty members indicated that they benefit from student input through helpful feedback to improve their teaching and courses. they also noted that they adjust for the students because they are the consumers. for student evaluation theme, most instructors believe that students should be the ones to evaluate the instructors. the instructors also gave recommendations on how they could improve student evaluations by preparing students to distinguish useful feedback. they also suggested evaluating twice a term, adding more specific questions, and more. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 151 published by scholink inc. figure 3. each question was coded and split into various themes according to the instructor’s response to each question. appendix b displays a table of the interpretations of codes and themes 4. discussion the purpose of this study was to explore how instructors use student evaluations and student’s perceptions of how instructors utilize student feedback. while most studies have included only student input on course evaluations, the researchers included both students’ and instructors’ feedback on course evaluations. this study discovered that most instructors’ value useful feedback (e.g., likes or dislikes with assignments, what worked and did not work throughout the course) from students. by doing so, instructors could improve their instruction. they also value qualitative feedback, or written responses, by students to further grasp the reasons for the improvement in the instructor’s teaching and overall course. most instructors suggested improvements to the course evaluation by implementing more specific, more straightforward questions. instructors recommended that these questions could relate to the instructor’s teaching style, learning outcomes, and elaborating further suggestions in the qualitative feedback section. according to the students within this study, they believe that instructors’ willingness to use course feedback and whether they benefit from student input on course feedback depends on the instructor. they think that some instructors will improve their courses while others will not improve their instruction when given feedback. due to these beliefs, most students feel that they should be the ones to evaluate instructors, including the instructor’s peers and supervisors. in regard to the adding or changing of 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 ts bi us e uf nu f nr tc r m i sr qf se un f m ki sf m qc qf w r y n sq st s lo sq f n5 do i us f as y7 n7 pe ps et sp q cs n8 n u m b er  o f  in st ru ct o rs   evaluation codes  instructors' themes www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 152 published by scholink inc. questions in the course evaluation, some students indicated that implementation of more specific questions. their recommendations were applying issues relating to the interaction and relationship of the instructor, preparation, accessibility, teaching style, values, and personality of the instructor. students valued organizational skills (i.e., excitement, clearly speaking, preparedness, and proper skills) in their instructor’s teaching (marks, 2000). cohen (2005) also found that the participants considered the instructor’s explicit instruction of the material and teaching style to be necessary in course evaluation. the quality of education and willingness to help are essential factors to impact course evaluations. therefore, these factors are seemingly crucial to various students in evaluating whether instructors have fulfilled specific teaching and course factors (barth, 2008). however, both instructors and students seem to have different perspectives on valuable feedback due to the gap or inconsistency between instructors’ and students’ representation of valued feedback. students find evaluating the interaction and relationship of instructor, preparation, accessibility, values, and personality of the instructor to be necessary. they may want instructors to adhere to the small classroom setting to have a positive, close experience with their instructors. instructors think that more questions relating to the instructor’s learning outcomes and further elaborating on suggestions in the qualitative feedback section can be more helpful in the student evaluation. instructors may want to understand further how a student is learning and the effectiveness of the course. however, both students and instructors suggest inputting the instructor’s teaching style into the evaluation to potentially gain insight into the student’s likes and dislikes of the course. these findings are relevant because of previous experiences of instructors and students and their likes and dislikes of previous classes. some instructors also suggest a difference in feedback between undergraduate and graduate students. they believe that graduate students give better and more feedback compared to undergraduate students. this belief brings to the notion that instructors rely on feedback from graduate students but not too heavy on undergraduate feedback. also, undergraduate and graduate students may have different experiences because graduate students have more involvement as they have been in school longer compared to undergraduate students. therefore, it could be beneficial to explore mending these gaps of inconsistencies with instructors and students to better feedback and the course evaluation process. in this study, there were some implications with the different values of student feedback and curriculum improvement. an implication was students poorly rating their instructors due to the different values and views of the feedback. as noted by marks (2000) and barth (2008), instructors who give more challenging work tends to have negative ratings or effects because students feel that they will then have poor grades. with this interpretation, students could impact their instructors’ evaluations, and instructors may alter their teaching to fit the students’ standards to obtain better ratings. also, with the differences in valued feedback and curriculum improvement, teaching and course improvement may not be changed by instructors, and students may not learn or obtain learning objectives. therefore, these implications can severely affect students, instructors, and institutions of higher education. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 153 published by scholink inc. 5. conclusion this study explored how instructors use student evaluations and the student’s perceptions of how instructors use course evaluations. an attempt was made to explore and connect both students’ and instructors’ input on course feedback to improve teaching and the development of courses. instructors were asked to recommend ways to improve student input on course evaluations to gain insight and to further research. recommendations included implementing qualitative feedback to each of the standardized questions. another proposal included instructors preparing students to elaborate on improvements in the instructor’s teaching style and curriculum. also, they suggested the option to evaluate twice a term to gain more data and feedback from students. an instructor even indicated for the evaluations to emulate amazon ratings where they rate the instructor/course one out of five stars. students could write a simple blurb about their likes and dislikes about the instructor/course. another instructor suggested a type of grievance or governance group that could meet and voice their opinions to the dean. the instructor also suggested having students create questions to be implemented in the student evaluations. these recommendations could be implemented in further research to improve course evaluations, student feedback, and future courses/curriculums. 6. limitations and future research though the internal validity of the study appears to be strong due to the use of the triangulation method, it had a limited sample size of both students and instructors. also, the study has other limitations, such as potential investigator bias and small class sizes. due to the method of triangulation, the researchers had to code and theme the results so specific results could have been interpreted differently due to investigator bias. small class sizes were another limiting factor because attending a small class-oriented college could affect the student’s input compared to a student attending a larger school. further research is needed to better and further this study’s findings. this could include a larger sample size of students and instructors, including both undergraduate and graduate students. future research could also compare the feedback and expectations from both small and large student populations. the location of the university is another factor that could be further researched, such as urban versus suburb located institutions. these future studies could help further understand the different perceptions of students and instructors, the use of student evaluations in various universities/institutions, and other factors that influence how instructors use student evaluations. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 154 published by scholink inc. references algozzine, b., beattie, j., bray, m., flowers, c., gretes, j., howley, l., … spooner, f. (2004). student evaluation of college teaching. collegeteaching, 52(4), 134-141. https://doi.org/10.3200/ctch.52.4.134-141 barth, m. m. (2008). deciphering student evaluations of teaching: a factor analysis approach. journal of education for business, 84(1), 40-46s chan, c. k. y., luk, l. y. y., & zeng, m. (2014). teachers’ perceptions of student evaluations of teaching. educational research and evaluation, 20(4), 275-289. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2014.932698 cohen, e. h. (2005). student evaluations of course and teacher: factor analysis and ssa approaches. assessment & evaluation in higher education, 30(2), 123-136. https://doi.org/10.1080/0260293042000264235 emery, c. r., kramer, t. r., & tian, r. g. (2003). return to academic standards: a critique of student evaluations of teaching effectiveness. quality assurance in education: an international perspective, 11(1), 37-46. https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880310462074 haladyna, t., & amrein-beardsley, a. (2009). validation of a research-based student survey of instruction in a college of education. educational assessment, evaluation & accountability, 21(3), 255-276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11092-008-9065-8 macfadyen, l. p., dawson, s., prest, s., & gašević, d. (2016). whose feedback? a multilevel analysis of student completion of end-of-term teaching evaluations. assessment & evaluation in higher education, 41(6), 821-839. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2015.1044421 marks, r. b. (2000). determinants of student evaluations of global measures of instructor and course value. journal of marketing education, 22(2), 108. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475300222005 patton, m. q. (2002). qualitative research and evaluation methods. thousand oaks, calif: sage publications. richardson, j. t. e. (2005). instruments for obtaining student feedback: a review of the literature. assessment & evaluation in higher education, 30(4), 387-415. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930500099193 saroyan, a., & amundsen, c. (2001). evaluating university teaching: time to take stock. assessment & evaluation in higher education, 26(4), 341-353. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930120063493 zhao, j., & gallant, d. j. (2012). student evaluation of instruction in higher education: exploring issues of validity and reliability. assessment & evaluation in higher education, 37(2), 227-235. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2010.523819 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 155 published by scholink inc. appendixes appendix a: code interpretation of students’ themes student’s themes codes interpretation overall experience p instructor’s performance wt worth taking ic to make improvements of the course ce course experience se student experience varied instructors doicf depends on instructor for instructor course feedback msq more specific questions ncq no change in questions doisi depends on instructor for student input on course feedback sei students evaluate instructors p-s peers and supervisors evaluate instructors student evaluation pcei preparation of the instructor course evaluation improvements isicei interaction with students and instructor course evaluation improvements tscei teaching style/values course evaluation improvements pcei personality course evaluation improvements acei accessibility course evaluation improvements mqcei more questions course evaluation improvements ni no improvement recommendations oe online evaluations www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 156 published by scholink inc. pe paper evaluations ie indifferent evaluations ace after class is over evaluations ae anonymous evaluations appendix b: code interpretation of instructors’ themes instructor’s theme code interpretation instructor’s experience tsbi teaching/syllabi/book/curriculum improvements use understanding student’s experiences uf useful feedback (what worked) nuf not useful feedback (what didn’t worked) reactions nr no reaction tc takes into consideration (grain of salt) r reacted (happy or disappointed) mi making improvements sr looks at specific responses (more critical/negative) qf qualitative feedback/written responses expectations se student expectations unf unhelpful feedback mki making improvements sf student feedback (positive/negative) mqc more evaluation throughout the course qfwr qualitative feedback/written responses evaluation form changes y yes www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 157 published by scholink inc. n no sq specific/simpler questions (teaching techniques/strategies) sts specific to teaching style lo understanding the learning outcomes sqf specific in the qualitative form (was it useful?) n5 no student input benefits doi depends on the instructor usf useful feedback to improve teaching/courses as adjustments for the students student evaluation y7 yes n7 no pr peer evaluations recommendations ps prepping students et evaluating twice a term spq specific questions cs creative suggestions (amazon ratings/qualitative data with quantitative data) n8 no education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 56 original paper language use and disciplinarity: a literature review huan wang1* & zihui guo1 1 school of foreign languages, chongqing jiaotong university, chongqing, china * huan wang, school of foreign languages, chongqing jiaotong university, chongqing, china. email: 2366617991@qq.com received: march 27, 2023 accepted: april 16, 2023 online published: april 28, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p56 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p56 abstract disciplinary variation in language use is one of the focal topics in academic discourse research. this paper critically reviews extant literature studies on the close relationship between language use and disciplinarity, in an attempt to clarify the different perspectives, both theoretical and methodological, in exploring the discipline-specific nature of academic discourses. this paper points out that the previous studies mainly adopted a form-first approach to analyzing the lexico-grammatical features of disciplinary discourses and calls for more attention to the meanings, functions, and discourse-semantic patterns in discourses across disciplines by adopting a function-first approach. keywords language use, disciplinary variation, function-first approach, academic discourse analysis 1. introduction the investigation of language use across different disciplinary cultures has always been a key topic in english for academic purposes (eap) writing research (hyland, 1998; jiang, 2017; wang & wei, 2019; yang et al., 2019; su & zhang, 2021). disciplinary culture, or disciplinarity, is a collection of disciplinary attributes, i.e., the way disciplinary knowledge is constructed (yang et al., 2019, p. 509), which is then reflected in the linguistic forms of the disciplinary discourses (becher, 1987, 1994; becher & trowler, 2001; groom, 2007, 2009). in other words, there are close associations between disciplinary cultures and the language use across disciplines. becher (1987) pointed out that the cultural variations of discipline are reflected in the differences of language forms; similarly, differences in language form can predict variations in disciplinary culture. he further emphasized the importance of exploring language use in understanding the characteristics of disciplinary discourses (ibid., p. 273). in simpler words, describing the language use of a specific discipline helps to reveal the underlying the culture of that discipline. mailto:2366617991@qq.com www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 57 published by scholink inc. in the existing literature, numerous studies have been carried out to explore the rhetorical features of academic discourses across disciplinary contexts. approaching via different theoretical and/or methodological routes, these studies have not only promoted our understanding of the rhetorical and linguistic features of disciplinary discourses but also unveiled the close relationship between language use and disciplinarity (e.g., hyland & jiang, 2016a, 2016b, 2017, 2021; gao, 2017; wang & wei, 2019; yang et al., 2019; lu et al., 2021; jiang & hyland, 2022). 2. different approaches to disciplinary variations of language use 2.1 disciplinary variations from the perspective of metadiscourse under the framework of metadiscourse (hyland & jiang, 2018d, 2020), many studies have explored how the expressions of engagement (hyland & jiang, 2016a), stance (hyland & jiang, 2016b, 2018a), (in)formality (hyland & jiang, 2017), citations (hyland & jiang, 2018c, 2019b), boosters (hyland & jiang, 2019a), academic hype (hyland & jiang, 2021) and negation (jiang & hyland, 2022) vary across disciplines. for instance, drawing on an interpersonal model of metadiscourse, hyland and jiang (2018d) explored whether, and to what extent, metadiscourse had changed in professional writing in different disciplines over the past 50 years and found a marked decline in the use of interactional metadiscourse in the discursive soft knowledge fields and a substantial increase in the science subjects. furthermore, hyland and jiang (2020) examined the use of interactive metadiscourse, which focuses on the ways authors organize their material for particular readers, in an attempt to discover whether, and to what extent, the use of interactive metadiscourse had changed across four disciplines since 1965. the results showed a considerable increase in an orientation to the reader over this period, reflecting changes in both research and publication practices. in addition, drawing on a corpus of 2.2 million words taken from the top five journals in four disciplines at three distinct time periods, hyland and jiang (2016a) sought to catalogue the changes which have occurred in engagement practices in research writing over the past 50 years and have found that the most significant change is the decline in the extent to which writers in the soft knowledge fields now engage with readers. in another study, hyland and jiang (2016b) further observed a decline in the overall use of stance markers in academic proses, although the decline in hedges, boosters and markers of attitude is largely confined to the more discursive fields (e.g., applied linguistics and sociology) where “there is a marked trend towards less authorial explicit signaling of stance” (hyland & jiang, 2016b, p. 19). in a similar vein, hyland and jiang (2017) explored changes in the use of ten key features regarded by applied linguists and style guide authors as representing informality, showing only a small increase in the use of these features which could mainly be accounted for by increases in the hard sciences rather than in the social sciences. moreover, hyland and jiang (2018a) examined the contribution of that pattern as a stance marker to the key genre of the academy, i.e., the research articles, across four disciplines, showing that the popularity of this construction had declined over the past 50 years. this study indicated that evaluative that structures function to evaluate the ‘entity’ expressed in the that-clause, particularly the authors’ own www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 58 published by scholink inc. claims. the decline in the use of that constructions was fairly consistent across disciplines with the heaviest falls in applied linguistics (-23%) and electrical engineering (-21%), which was probably due to the tendency for applied linguists and engineers to give proportionately more space to other voices by substantially increasing the number of times they evaluated the work of others rather than their own. furthermore, hyland and jiang (2017) explored the ways in which academic citation practices had changed over the past 50 years based on the analysis of a corpus consisting of research articles in four disciplines in 1965, 1985, and 2015, respectively, and reported a fall in the use of reporting structures, a growing preference for non-integral forms, research verbs, the present tense, and non-evaluative structures when reporting others’ research. the results showed that the past 30 years had seen a relative decline in the use of reporting verbs, an increase in non-integral structures, and generalization replacing summary, most noticeably in the soft fields. in the similar vein, hyland and jiang (2018c) traced patterns of self-citation in papers from five journals in four disciplines at three time periods over the past 50 years, and identified a considerable increase in self-citations which was subject to disciplinary variation, with the hard knowledge fields in their corpus containing almost twice as many instances as the sociology and applied linguistics papers. additionally, hyland and jiang (2021), based on a corpus of 360 articles in leading journals in four disciplines at three periods over the past 50 years, explored whether academic pressure led authors to rhetorically ‘sell’ or ‘hype’ their studies. this study demonstrated that increases were most marked in the hard sciences and that hyping manifested the authors’ greater willingness to display positive attitude, underline their contribution, and to hype research primacy, methods and the author’s prior research. more recently, jiang and hyland (2022) also explored how negation contributed to an interpersonal model of academic writing, drawing on a diachronic corpus of research abstracts. they described in detail the forms, functions, and distribution of negation across time and disciplines, showing decreased use of negation in linguistics, increases in sociology, and a relative stable use of negation in biology and engineering abstracts. 2.2 disciplinary variations from the perspective of lexical bundles the disciplinary variations in terms of the use of lexical bundles, generally referring to recurrent multiword sequences (biber et al., 2004), in academic settings have also been richly studied (cortes, 2004; hyland, 2008, 2012; wang, 2017; hyland & jiang, 2018b). for example, cortes (2004) compared lexical bundles in published research articles and student writing in two disciplines (i.e., history and biology). the findings revealed that the use of target bundles by students in biology and history courses at different university levels varied greatly from the use of these bundles by published authors in these two disciplines. further, hyland (2008) explored the forms, structures, and functions of four-word bundles in a 3.5million-word corpus of research articles, doctoral dissertations and master’s theses in four disciplines, in order to identify the disciplinary variations in their frequencies and preferred uses. the study indicated lexical bundles occurred behave in dissimilar ways in different disciplinary environments and that writers www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 59 published by scholink inc. in diffident fields drew on diffident to develop their arguments, establish their credibility, and persuade their readers. then, hyland (2012) discussed the importance of formulaic language in both academic speech and writing and the extent to which it varies in frequency, form, and function by mode, discipline, and genre. he argued that learning to use the more frequent fixed phrases of a discipline can contribute to gaining a communicative competence in a field of study. more recently, hyland and jiang (2018b) explored changes in the use of lexical bundles in research articles across four disciplines (i.e., applied linguistics, sociology, electrical engineering and biology) over the past 50 years, and found that bundles were not static and invariant markers of academic writing but were changing in response to new conditions and contexts. most notably, sociologists and biologists significantly reduced the number of lexical bundles they employed, while applied linguists and electronic engineers followed the opposite trend. the findings of this study demonstrated that the hard science fields exhibited a major shift away from verb-phrase bundles towards noun/prepositional types. besides, the corpus-based study of wang (2017) has explored the effects of two factors – genre and discipline – on the use of lexical bundles in spoken academic english as a lingua franca (elf). the findings showed that spoken academic elf was also subject to genre and disciplinary variation; for instance, the list of lexical bundles in medicine was dominated by clausal fragments involving the second person pronoun, especially the three-word bundle you can see, suggesting that the lecturers in medicine were more likely to use visual aids than those in the other disciplinary domains. 2.3 disciplinary variations from the phraseological perspective the phraseological features in the rhetorical moves of academic genres have also drawn much scholarly attention. for example, lu, yoon, and kisselev (2021) identified three types of phrase-frames (i.e., pframes) in a corpus of research article introductions in six social science disciplines annotated for rhetorical move-steps: specialized p-frames that occurred in one move-step only, semi-specialized pframes that occurred primarily in one move-step but also in others, and non-specialized p-frames that occurred in multiple move-steps with no clear association with any of them. in two other studies, yoon and casal (2020) analyzed applied linguistics writers’ use of p-frames across the rhetorical stages of conference abstracts, and casal and kessler (2020) examined the role of p-frames in the realization of writers’ rhetorical goals in essays submitted as part of fulbright grant applications, both making explicit the role particular p-frames played in accomplishing or signaling specific rhetorical intentions in the academic genres examined. further, lu et al. (2021) investigated variations in the rhetorical and phraseological features of research article introductions among five social science disciplines, showing disciplinary variation in the rhetorical and linguistic features of research article writing and useful implications for academic writing research and pedagogy. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 60 published by scholink inc. 2.4 disciplinary variations from the perspective of evaluation it has been observed that disciplinary writers also differ significantly in their ways to express the meaning of evaluation (e.g., gao, 2017; wang & wei, 2019). for instance, gao (2017) systematically analyzed the linguistics forms of evaluation in the academic papers by chinese and foreign scholars of two disciplines (i.e., linguistics and physics). the study found that the use of evaluative patterns in physics was significantly more frequent than that in linguistics, while the latter was more inclined to hedge propositions or attitudes with evaluative patterns. similarly, in another study, wang and wei (2019) investigated disciplinary variations in the use of evaluative patterns in academic discourses and epistemological and cultural constraints on language use. drawing on data from a large-scale corpus beijing care (beijing collection of academic research essays), this study examined the use and distribution of evaluative it patterns in research articles across hard-pure, hard-applied, soft-pure and soft-applied disciplines. the findings suggested that the differences in the use of it patterns correspond to the broad distinctions, i.e., hard /soft and pure /applied. it was then argued that epistemological precepts conditioned the use of language to a large extent. 2.5 disciplinary variations from the perspective of linguistic positivity bias linguistic positivity bias refers to the tendency to use positive words more frequently and broadly than negative ones in human communication (dodds et al., 2015, cited in wen & lei, 2021). wen and lei (2021) then carried out a large-scale diachronic study in life sciences across 50 years, with 775,460 abstracts that were published in 123 scientific journals of different impacts from various disciplines (i.e., biomedical and life sciences, neuroscience and behaviour, psychiatry and psychology, social sciences), to examine linguistic positivity bias in academic writing. the findings of this study indicated that positive words were used more frequently than negative ones, and a significant upward trend of linguistic positivity in academic writing was observed over the past 5 decades. 3. a brief evaluation to recapitulate, the above review of previous studies has demonstrated that language use in academic settings varies according to disciplines. that is, the differences in language use reflect the disciplinary cultures, and to some extent, the disciplinary cultures also constrain and condition the language use. in other words, the discourse in each discipline both shapes and is shaped by the epistemology and culture of that discipline. however, it has to be noted that most of the previous studies focused on lexico-grammatical features of language use in disciplinary discourse, such as the use of the metadiscourse, lexical bundles, p-frames in rhetorical moves, evaluative patterns, by observing and counting the frequency and distribution of these lexical or phraseological patterns in disciplinary texts. in recent decades, academic discourse analysts have gradually shifted their attention from lexicogrammatical features of disciplinary discourses to the meanings, functions, and discourse-semantic patterns (e.g., cortes, 2013; moreno & swales, 2018; whiteside & wharton, 2019; yang et al., 2019). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 61 published by scholink inc. for instance, yang (2019) explored the disciplinary variations by means of semantic sequence analysis, aiming to summarize and describe in detail chinese scholar of two highly frequent reporting patterns (i.e., v that and it be ved that) in research articles by chinese scholars across four disciplines and to further demonstrate the constraints of disciplinary culture on the use of language patterns from the perspective of semantic sequence. the analyses indicated that different disciplines across knowledge shared common features while the frequency of each semantic sequence varied according to disciplines, which suggested the complexity of disciplinary cultures. following this trend, future study could adopt a function-oriented approach to describe the discourse-semantics and to further explore the association between language use and disciplinary cultures. 4. conclusion in this paper, we have reported a brief review on the previous investigations on the language use and disciplinary variations. in particular, disciplinary variation in language use is one of the focal topics in academic discourse research; however, previous studies have mainly taken a form-first approach to analyzing features of disciplinary discourse. this review corroborates the argument that academic discourse analysts have gradually shifted their attention from lexico-grammatical features of disciplinary discourses to the meanings, functions, and discourse-semantic patterns. since currently only limited attention has been paid to the meaning and functions in disciplinary discourses, there is an urgent need for future research to inquire into disciplined discourses by adopting a function-first approach, and by so doing to portray a fuller picture of the close relationship between language use and disciplinarity and to further develop research methods that can substantially improve the reliability of the description and analysis of language use in various academic contexts. funding this paper is financially supported by chongqing jiaotong university graduate research and innovation project (grant no. 2022s0075). references becher, t., & trowler, p. 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(2021). rhetorical and phraseological features of research article introductions: variation among five social science disciplines. system, 100, 102543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102543 moreno, a., & swales, j. (2018). strengthening move analysis methodology towards bridging functionform gap. english for specific purposes, 50, 40-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2017.11.006 su, h., & zhang, y. (2021). local grammars, discourse acts, and disciplinary cultures: a case study of “exemplification”. foreign language and literature, 37(3), 73-85. wang, b., & wei, n. (2019). epistemology, disciplinary culture and language use: a case study of evaluative “it” patterns. foreign language education, 40(2), 12-18. https://doi.org/10.16362/j.cnki.cn61-1023/h.2019.02.003 wang, y. (2017). lexical bundles in spoken academic elf: genre and disciplinary variation. international journal of corpus linguistics, 22(2), 187-211. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.22.2.02wan wen, j., & lei, l. (2021). linguistic positivity bias in academic writing: a large-scale diachronic study in life sciences across 50 years. applied linguistics, 1-25. https://doi.org/doi:10.1093/applin/amab037 whiteside, k. & wharton, s. (2019). semantic patterning of grammatical keywords in undergraduate academic writing from two close disciplines. journal of english for academic purposes, 39, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2019.03.005 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429433962 https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.22.1.04jia www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 64 published by scholink inc. yang, y., su, h., & wei, n. (2019). semantic sequences and disciplinary cultures: an explanatory study. foreign language teaching and research, 51(4), 508-520+639. yoon, j., & casal, j. e. (2020). rhetorical structure, sequence, and variation: a step-driven move analysis of applied linguistics conference abstracts. international journal of applied linguistics, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.22.1.04jia https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.22.1.04jia education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper moocs in omani higher education institutions: use and popularity asma k. al hosni1* & said f. alali2 1 faculty of creative multimedia, multimedia university, cyberjaya, malaysia 2 multimedia and digital production department, faculty of engineering and information technology, palestine ahliya university, bethlehem, palestine * asma k. al hosni, e-mail: asmaxalhosni@gmail.com received: january 18, 2022 accepted: february 15, 2022 online published: march 6, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n1p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n1p1 abstract due to the rapid influence of technology on the teaching-learning process, both instructors and students alike are expected to keep abreast of the perpetual developments in the field of education. the introduction of massive open online courses (henceforth moocs), as one form of e-learning, has made skyrocketing changes in the manner and availability of education provided to mass numbers of learners all the world, including arab countries. the use of moocs in oman is relatively new, and thus it appears to be unbeknown to a large segment of undergraduate students. the study beforehand, therefore, is meant to explore omani undergraduate students’ awareness of moocs both locally and globally via the use a self-administered questionnaire targeting three main academic institutions in oman with a total number of 306 participants. in-depth scrutiny of the obtained data evidently shows that unfamiliarity of moocs among omani undergraduate students is significantly high, a fact reflected in the high percentage of those oblivious of its existence (88.89%) as opposed to those (11.11 %) who are familiar with moocs. lack of publicity of these platforms in the omani academic institutions and the academic community in general, among several other reasons, stand behind such unawareness of these platforms. keywords moocs, e-learning, undergraduate, education, oman www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 2 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction the increasing value and importance of education is reflected in the attention availed by governments and educational institutions in allocating high income to improve and develop their teaching policies. the need to diversify teaching methods and styles has been realized by governments and academic institutions worldwide. countries compete with one another to develop new technologies to foster education and to take advantage of the digital revolution. e-learning is one of the latest powerful technologies that support education, for it creates new methods and insights into the teaching-learning process by making both students and teachers more enthusiastic and interactive in the modern learning style (gupta, 2017). one major type of e-learning that adds to the amelioration of education and thus merits exploration is the use of moocs in the teaching-leaning process. with both traditional education and digital self-education combined, the term ‘education through moocs’ has become widely spread among learners in different majors and spheres around the globe (tayeb & sarirete, 2016). known across nations, the term moocs refers to courses that are open to a broad audience over the internet (arageek, 2017). these courses are available to all knowledge-seekers who have access to the internet, making learning at their disposal and at their space and pace. the use of moocs has recently become so popular among students and users from different occupations as millions of people register in hundreds of courses and various types of platforms worldwide. it is indeed remarkable given the fact that the history of moocs is not very ancient. in the fall of 2011, stanford professors developed and released some video tutorials through open online platforms supported by free online resources. about 450,000 students participated in three computer science publications delivered through stanford university that same year, making the reputation of moocs spread throughout the world (vardi & moshe, 2012). at the same year, harvard university established coursera as an independent, non-profit platform by andrew ng and daphne koller. subsequently, other platforms were created such as udacity and udemy. mit (massachusetts institute of technology) and harvard have integrated their mitx platform into edx. european platforms such as future learn and diversity were later created following the footsteps of those in the us. the use of moocs in teaching ensures more advantages than disadvantages. thanks to the availability and speedy spread of moocs platforms around the world, learners, regardless of their proximity, can access online learning materials these days at their own convenience outside the regular classroom. moocs content can be easily accessed online, be it from home, university, work, coffee shops or any zone in the globe. moocs make the teaching-learning process easier, faster and cost-effective, which triggers an urgent need to change traditional learning methods to ensure interactive participation in the learning environment (darwish et al., 2017). undergraduate students can increasingly use moocs in a co-educational format for campus-based courses where students are required to follow the mooc module. thus, it frees up time for teachers who can then spend less time lecturing and more time to engage in constructive discussion and classroom instruction (tayeb & sarirete, 2016). furthermore, moocs can be an effective and meaningful way to distribute research and expertise to undergraduate www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 3 published by scholink inc. students because moocs help in establishing students’ meaningful relationships with a large number of people who are genuinely interested in core activities and multiple new experiences (cheung & hew, 2017). most importantly, however, academic institutions and academics together should ensure that moocs are familiar to students before they endeavor in using them in the teaching-learning process. roya (2018) states it clearly that undergraduate students should be made aware of the importance of moocs and familiar with their usage so that they can make better use of such platforms in their studies. unfamiliarity with such courses, therefore, precludes both students and teachers alike several benefits that could develop the educational process. likewise, omani academic institutions are in need to make use of these platforms and to familiarize their students with their use, given the fact that big number of students are enrolled in higher education. statistics carried out by the oman statistics center in cooperation with the omani ministry of higher education indicate that more than 100,000 students are enrolled in omani higher education institutions, distributed among different programs of university diploma, bachelor and specialized higher diploma (atheer, 2017). the presence of this large number of enrolled students necessitates and foresees the urgent need to develop and renew the educational process via fostering a variety of methods of teaching, moocs being one of them (fry et al., 2018). educators from omani academic institutions highlighted the essentiality of diversifying teaching methods in university classrooms via the use of moocs, among other methods, side by side with traditional teaching methods (kindi & al-khanjari, 2017). the use of moocs in oman, however, does not seem to be widely spread in omani undergraduate institutions as well as among students joining these institutions. as a matter of fact, the use of moocs in the omani context is fairly recent compared to some arab countries, and has not received due concern and investigation (darwish et al., 2017). by the same token, as the use of the internet among students has become essential in their daily lives primarily in the sphere of education, exploring omani undergraduate students’ awareness of the use and advantages of moocs requires due attention. that being the case, this study aims at investigating the levels of awareness of such platforms among omani undergraduate students and highlighting possible ways to benefit from them. it is an attempt to create a useful reference for any educational institution to explain the importance of moocs in undergraduate studies. with that goal in mind, the study targeted a representative sample of undergraduate students from three main academic institutions in oman: sultan qaboos university, scientific college of design, and higher colleges of technology (hct). exploring such area is of great importance in enhancing the teaching-learning process in oman in various ways. it will create a foreground for the ministry of higher education to develop teaching methods in omani academic institutions and to incorporate new tools by integrating technology into the educational process. it will be a revelation to academic institutions in oman to address the awareness of their undergraduates with online learning tools such as moocs platforms so that they facilitate their learning path. it will also www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 4 published by scholink inc. spur further research in online learning resources in general and moocs in particular in oman as essential tools that enhance teaching in academic institutions in oman. 1.1 literature review 1.1.1 overview of moocs mooc is an acronym originating from the four words ‘massive’ ‘open’, ‘online’, and ‘courses’ that make up its name (downes, 2019). the lexicon website supported by oxford defines mooc(/muːk/) as “a course of study made available over the internet without charge to a huge numbers of people” (dictionaries, 2019). these courses are massive to the extent that some moocs contain thousands of users from different zones in the world (kaplan & haenlein, 2016). the word “open” suggests that participants in any course do not need any specific academic qualifications to complete the courses (dolet & nakita, 2016). as a matter of fact, even with the large number of people enrolled in courses from all over the world, the completion rate of courses in the moocs does not reach even 10% (albury et al., 2017). however, it is expected that different participants have different goals relative to their enrollment in moocs, and thus they succeed through such form of learning in achieving whatever they want to achieve (downes, 2019). since its advent, many moocs platforms have been developed by academia around the world. these include the future learn project developed by the open university in the united kingdom and the edx platform developed by mit (massachusetts institute of technology) in the united states of america. sandeen (2013) emphasizes that moocs gained prominence in 2012 as they raised the awareness of many individuals by changing their view about distance education. in addition to opening new trends in the field of learning in higher education, moocs also improved the ability to obtain certificates for students who graduated from high school and did not have the opportunity to complete their university studies in traditional universities and courses. since that time, many researchers have undertaken studies to clarify and define the difference between moocs and other online courses (dewaard et al., 2011). moocs are seen as free courses that provide lifelong learning available to everyone with no link to a particular place or time. accordingly, participants from several zones, educational backgrounds, economic status, and ages can register and participate in these courses. moocs enable students to follow the lectures through videos easily, and to use texts and discussion with teachers through the course forum page (dewaard et al., 2011; hoy & matthew, 2014). bartolomé and steffens (2015) state that moocs can be considered a form of new learning with an educational environment enhanced with technologies through the internet, which in turn makes learning active and accessible between participants and teachers in a cooperative and enriching society. one noteworthy prominent merit of moocs is its support of collaborative learning among students and with their teachers. collaborative learning is viewed as how students in a group system understand and learn terms, apply a product, solve a problem, absorb certain information and exchange experiences among themselves and with their teachers (sen et al., 2011). moocs enable students to solve problems, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 5 published by scholink inc. explore ideas, and present them together as one interconnected group. cooperative learning is an integral part of the educational process, and it is an active type of learning that is used and applied online and in traditional classrooms (kindi & al-khanjari, 2017). the establishment of collaborative learning within interactive activities in training courses makes the most of the learning community among students (azhan et al., 2016). 1.1.2 moocs usability moocs contribute to enhancing and improving not only students’ knowledge but also the qualifications of employees through the various courses offered at moocs. the fact that they are open without long and complicated registration procedures and without the need to pay enables employees to take part in it on their space and pace (siemens, 2015). allen and mark (2007) note, however, that some employers, like companies that need to train their employees, rarely prepare programs for degrees themselves. they cooperate instead with institutions and universities to offer traditional courses (allen & mark, 2007). most of the employees who think about participating in moocs and open courses, in general, develop their work experiences and raise their performance in their professional and academic lives (porter & sarah, 2015). companies can take advantage of moocs through flexibility in course procedures for their employees participating in these courses. likewise, hiring people with certificates from moocs should be included in the corporate goals and objectives of companies. microsoft, tenaris, and at&t companies are adopting their moocs for several types of participants. several institutions, like bank of america for instance, use moocs to develop employee skills and competencies through the use of education and marketing, which have become important in the field of work. moocs can also provide different companies and institutions with global experience, for these courses give them a significant role in the field of education since companies provide courses for talented employees to hone and develop their skills (future workplace, 2017). steel university is one of the universities that initiated the development of the skills of their employees and professionals through the global league initiative, which provided materials, youth events and competitions by moocs (kumbhakar et al., 2014). it designs many courses of moocs and involves a large number of participants in these courses. it also encourages them to exchange information and experiences in order to implement training activities in the course, which makes the best ways for professional development. 1.1.3 strengths and weaknesses of moocs moocs platforms made an easy access to high-quality educational contents for everyone without exception for free or with minimal fees without the need to obtain a visa to enter or reside in a particular country or the need to attend traditional classes (chengjie, 2015). therefore it provides an excellent opportunity to reduce the significant expenses and costs that educational institutions from universities and colleges allocate to expensive courses and tools used in traditional classrooms (bates, 2018). moocs have made continuous learning for lifelong learning and without need for strict and sophisticated conditions to obtain a scientific degree in any field or the need to enroll in universities in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 6 published by scholink inc. other countries (chengjie, 2015). moocs enable the creation of vast communities that include extensive experiences, good educational content and people from all educational fields who have tremendous experience (dalipi et al., 2016). moocs platforms, however, has some weaknesses and challenges that cannot be avoided. first and foremost, the development of moocs platforms is very costly, even with the existence of particular institutions in the field of development of moocs (massey, 2018). also, some moocs platforms depend on grabbing the attention of a specific group of learning society, individuals with higher education for instance, and does not address other groups like school students or craftsmen (bates, 2018). another challenge facing moocs is the low completion rates of the offered courses. although the number of participants in moocs is much higher than the number of participants in traditional courses, it is not possible to control all participants to complete the mooc course thoroughly (bates, 2018). with a large number of moocs reaching thousands of participants, those who complete the courses do not reach more than 10% of the total participants (ejreaw & drus, 2017). moreover, the content of moocs is obligated by copyright or obligated to be online for a certain period only so participants may not be able to retrieve the content and educational materials at any time they want. some universities and educational institutions around the world still do not recognize moocs and do not give credit to their employees as recognized official certificates (massey, 2018). due to the lack of clear and consistent criteria for moocs, there is no fixed structure that can be followed by the participants, and among these non-fixed criteria is that moocs do not apply educational goals that are compatible with all participants. each participant can create their criteria, or they will not be present at all. it calls for the originators of moocs to set specific standards that are followed by all, and it must be considered that they are not the standards followed in the traditional classrooms (gruber, 2013). another challenge is the difference in the role of the teacher from one mooc course to another. some participants explained that they are unable to establish a relationship with teachers quickly. as far as interaction and feedback are concerned, some students complain that they are unable to interact significantly and easily with the teacher and their classmates (atiaja & segundo, 2016). while some of the teachers are facilitators of information in the course, others are like the main pillar of the course, which should be dealt with as a challenge to mooc course creators so that they clarify the role of the teacher in the course. finally, some courses delete all their contents and educational tools by the end of the course, which makes some participants complain about their inability to refer to the contents of some of the courses that they participated in previously. the challenge here lies in making contents always available to participants at any time (ejreaw & drus, 2017). hence, the educational content and tools for any mooc course should be available at all times for the course participants even after its completion. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 7 published by scholink inc. 1.1.4 global moocs platforms ever since moocs appeared in 2011, some of the most prestigious international universities and technological companies around the world have started creating their own moocs platforms to keep pace with technological development (vardi & moshe, 2012). most prominent among these platforms is coursera founded in 2012 by several excellent universities such as harvard, stanford, duke, pennsylvania, princeton, michigan, beijing, and hec paris (classcentral, 2019). it has 40 million learners worldwide leaning in more than a hundred platforms. each course includes weekly lectures deliberately made short between 3 to 10 minutes so that users are expected to see lectures every week (classcentral, 2019). assignments are usually given as the last task to ensure users’ understanding of the topics whereas some are given on a weekly basis. participants are given certificates of participation upon the completion of the course (classcentral, 2019). another platform is edx non-profit online courses for undergraduate students from all over the world. this platform is specifically meant to help students learn how to benefit from the offered courses through periodic research (edx, 2019). edx features a research center to collect and analyze data from participants by collecting participants’ demographic data (pappano & laura, 2012). harvard university and the massachusetts institute of technology are conducting studies on edx moocs. the outcome of their studies that target institutions and universities participating in the edx platform is aimed to develop and improve learning courses in platforms and to compare learning in traditional university classes and moocs (alumni, 2013). udemy is an online mooc platform that targets employees, staff, and college students (heussnerapr, 2013). founded in 2007 by irene bali, the main goal of the platform was to create a virtual educational program on the internet and to make it free and available to everyone. the platform includes about 30 million students from all over the world in a variety of specialties in addition to more than fifty thousand teachers. the platform translates lessons in 60 languages other than english (carr, 2013). teachers on the udemy use auxiliary programs to display lessons such as powerpoint, pdf files, audio and video files, and postal codes in addition to live classes (lynley, 2010). in addition to the presence of discussion forums meant to collect and exchange information and experiences among participants, the platform offers several different courses on the platform including entrepreneurship, arts, health and fitness, languages, music and technology (udemy, 2019). udacity was established by stanford university in the united states of america, in 2011 through the university’s department of computer science (dekena, 2012). it was launched in october 2017 in cooperation with technology companies. its creation is aimed to assist developers in the field of educational technology to improve their skills through building applications (desantis, 2012). then google collaborated with udacity by making scholarships for individuals interested in developing applications on the internet (forecast, 2013). created in 2008 by the american educator and mathematician salman khan, khan academy is a non-profit educational academy established to educate students and provide a source of continuous www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 8 published by scholink inc. learning through short-term videos (academy, 2018). the original content of the platform is available in english, but it is also available in other languages including arabic, armenian and bengali in addition to more than 25 other international languages. according to mixergy (2018), the academy provides more than 200 experts of content development in several different fields. future learn is a platform that falls under open online courses in britain. aimed at digital education, the platform has been established by the open university and seek company in 2012 (lederman, 2019). future learn is a platform that provides students with degrees from universities in the united kingdom through computers and smartphones (lederman, 2019). several universities have joined in to support the use of future learn such as the university of birmingham, university of leeds, university of bristol, university of east anglia, jeans college london, university of southampton, cardiff university, university of exeter, university of lancaster, st. andrews university, and university of warwick (andrew, 2012). 1.1.5 omani experience in moocs platforms oman’s experience in moocs platforms is relatively new and simple compared to other countries. established in the threshold of 2016, edlal platform is the first omani open, non-profit educational moocs platform. several years later, several platforms followed such as squ mooc platform established by sultan qaboos university (roya, 2019). created with the support of oman telecommunications company (omantel) and point company, edlal was officially launched in 2016. the electronic content available in the platform is confirmed by several international institutions specialized in the fields. the platform runs from oman to all the arab world, offering courses in various fields and specialties (roya, 2018). the platform adopts arabic as the primary language for offering courses so that all those who do not master the english language can register for and benefit from the courses (roya, 2018). the platform contains more than 91 thousand users from all over the arab world. currently, the platform offers content on eleven different areas: innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership skills, design and digital media, programming, information technology, science, engineering, photography and visual production, arts and culture. squ mooc was inaugurated on november 3, 2019 to become the first open learning moocs platform affiliated with one of the omani universities, namely the college of education at sultan qaboos university. this platform is a research product of two projects funded by sultan qaboos university for a research team (roya, 2019). the main project launching this platform is entitled “developing distance learning in higher education institutions in the sultanate of oman through e-courses: designing and assessing its impact, building a culturally compatible model”. it was funded by the scientific research council in sultan qaboos university (council, 2017). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 9 published by scholink inc. 1.1.6 higher education in oman to keep pace with the rapid development of education in the world, oman felt the urgent need to have highly qualified cadres capable of keeping abreast with the development in technology. in addition to benefiting from international experiences, one of the ministry of higher education’s main goals is to provide national academics, researchers and graduates with high educational levels in order to achieve the goal of development (mohe, 2017). the field of higher education in the sultanate currently contains 69 educational institutions according to statistics monitored in 2018. these institutions include universities, colleges, and vocational institutes geographically distributed in all governorates and cities of oman. forty-two of these institutions are governmental including sultan qaboos university, six colleges of applied sciences supervised by the ministry of higher education, seven technical colleges supervised by the ministry of manpower, college of forensic medicine supervised by the ministry of higher education, and seven colleges supervised by the ministry of endowments and religious affairs. the college of banking and financial studies falls under the supervision of the central bank of oman (court, 2018). there are also about five colleges of higher education affiliated with the military such as the military technical college, air force technical college, command and staff college, sultan qaboos air academy and sultan qaboos police academy. private institutions, on the other hand, are 27 divided into nine universities and 18 colleges (mohe, 2017). 2. method a quantitative research approach was used as the research design in this study; a self-administered questionnaire (saq) was used as the primary data collection tool distributed to a representative sample of undergraduate students in oman. a total number of 306 students is the sample for this research from three leading academic institutions in oman: sultan qaboos university, higher colleges of technology and the scientific college of design, as they make a good representation of higher institutions in oman. the following table shows the sample distribution in these three academic institutions. table 1. sample distribution sample universities participating sample number sultan qaboos university 135 scientific college of design 98 higher college of technology 73 total 306 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 10 published by scholink inc. the majority of the questions provide ticking boxes to indicate the participant’s preference. an open question was added at the end of the questionnaire for further comments. survey monkey analysis was used in data collection, a website dedicated to creating and disseminating online questionnaires. such analysis organizes the obtained data neatly and professionally so that the researcher can efficiently scrutinize them. survey monkey analysis summary generated visual representations of the obtained results in the form of pie charts and bar graphs. total percentages for each selected-response were also highlighted. the analysis of the data, however, was done manually by the researcher. participants were asked to indicate their gender, filed of study and academic years because they are pivotal variables in this study and thus important in relation to the findings. the questionnaire, estimated to take 5 to 7 minutes to fill out, was disseminated via a link sent to all students through their academic institutions. a period of two weeks was specified to fill out the questionnaire to obtain the most substantial possible time to collect the most significant possible number of participants and to give participants enough time to fill out the questionnaire. the following figure exemplifies the research procedures. upon completion of the questionnaire, data was stored in the google account (gmail and drive) of the researcher in survey monkey. then data was analysed so that major findings were obtained and recommendations were made accordingly. 3. result underneath is display of the analysis of the obtained data through charts and graphs generated by survey monkey website. details about the results of each single question, and the important points obtained in the analysis of the results are also provided blow. question 1: what is your gender? figure 1. question 1 graph if we consider gender as a factor, we see that female participants taking part in this study surpass their male counterparts as the former represent 64.38% (197 responses) as opposed to male students who represent 35.62% (109 responses). numerally, 306 subjects answered this question. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 11 published by scholink inc. question 2: what is your field of study? figure 2. question 2 graph in regard with the areas of studies, seven areas were selected to be under investigation, each encompassing several majors within. these areas are as follows: table 2. the fields of study of the participants field of study no. of students percentage engineering and related areas (architectural engineering, civil engineering, petrol engineering, aircraft engineering, etc.) 107 34.97% arts and design (graphic design, fine art, music, fashion design etc.) 57 18.63 % economics and political science (accounting, business management, etc.) 52 16.99% computer science and technology (multimedia, programming, information technology etc.) 32 10.46% humanities (education, languages, philosophy, translation, law, etc.) 23 7.52% science and geology (earth science, meteorological, agronomy, etc.) 21 6.86% health and related sciences (medicine, nursing, laboratories, etc.) 14 4.58% www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 12 published by scholink inc. question 3: how long have you been a student at your college? figure 3. question 3 graph as far as duration of study is concerned, 20.92% (64 responses) of the participants were freshmen, 11.44% (35 responses) were sophomores, 16.99% (52 responses) were in their third year, and 26.47% (64 responses) were doing their last year of study. 24.18% (74 responses) of the subjects were in their fifth, sixth or seventh year of study, for their study plans go beyond a four-year scale program. this category also includes those who were in their preparatory english language program that precedes their studies. question 4: to what extent do you enjoy the following types of courses? (1) most enjoyable (4) less enjoyable figure 4. question 4 graph this question addressed students’ degree of enjoyment of four types of courses: traditional courses (0 % online), web facilitated courses (1-29% online), blended hybrid courses (30-70% online) and online courses (80% online). a four-numeral scale was used to assess this question with number 1 representing ‘most enjoyable’ and number 4 representing ‘less enjoyable’. the result shows that traditional courses are the most enjoyable among the participants taking part in the study with a percentage of 38.24% (117 responses). online courses come next in line with 25.49% (78 responses). blended hybrid courses come third with 18.95% (58 responses) and finally come web facilitated courses with a total percentage of 17.32% (53 responses). such result reflects that fact that despite the availability of cyber courses (i.e., online courses, web facilitated courses …. etc.), omani graduate students still have the mindset that prefers traditional courses to any other types of courses. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 13 published by scholink inc. question 5: have you ever heard about moocs? figure 5. question 5 graph the results show that 88.89% (272 responses) have no acquaintance whatsoever with moocs as opposed to 11.11% (34 responses) who are familiar with it. such huge discrepancy between those who are familiar with moocs as opposed to those who have no idea of moocs clearly reflects the high level of unawareness among omani graduate students with moocs. question 6: have you heard about any of the following global moocs platforms? (tick all that apply) figure 6. question 6 graph ** note: question 6 was answered by the participants who answered (yes) in question five. shedding light on students’ awareness of the existence of several given global moccs platform noticeably aligns and supports the result manifested in question 5 due to the low rate of those who are familiar with these given platforms compared to those who have no acquaintance with them. 26.47% (9 responses) are familiar with coursera as opposed to 73.53% who never heard of it. 20.59% (7 responses) are familiar with edx compared to 79.41% who know nothing about it. 26.47% (9 responses) are familiar with future learn as opposed to 73.53% who have no idea about its existence. 23.53% (8 responses) are familiar with khan academy as opposed 76.47% who do not know it. udacity has the lowest rate of awareness indeed among all other platforms under investigation as 8.82% (3 responses) of the participants know about its existence as opposed to 91.81% who are oblivious of its existence. udemy has 26.47% (9 responses) of students familiar with it compared to 73.53% who are ignorant of its existence. 23.53% (8 responses) heard of shaw academy as opposed to 76.47% who never heard of it. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 14 published by scholink inc. in fact, the findings show that there are nearly consistent proportions across six of the investigated platforms regarding students who are familiar with them (roughly one fourth of the participants) compared with those who are unaware of their existence (roughly three fourth of the participants). udacity is not an exception to such trajectory; it just shows a larger and apparent disproportion in the number of students aware of its existence compared to those who do not know it. in addition to that, 35.29% (12 responses) stated that they are in acquaintance with none of the seven moocs platforms, a fact that clearly reflects the very low level of awareness of students of such platforms. it is worth mentioning here that such question received a very low rate of responses indeed. only 34 participants answered it. failure to respond to such question can be inferred as lack of familiarity with such platforms. question 7: have you heard about any of the omani moocs platforms? figure 7. question 7 graph investigating students’ awareness of omani moocs platforms gives more support of their unawareness of such platforms in oman. about 94.12 % (32 responses) are not aware of them as opposed to 5.88% only (2 responses) who know about them. the same holds true regarding the number of participants responding to this question. only 34 participants answered this question. question 8: write the name of omani platforms that you know. only two participants out of the 34 who answered question 7 indicated that they are aware of omani moocs platform; they were able to name two omani moocs platforms, namely “edlal and al muwatanah (squ mooc)”, but failed to name other ones. this gives an insight about their low awareness of local moocs platforms, let alone the global ones. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 15 published by scholink inc. question 9: have you participated in any moocs before? figure 8. question 9 graph regarding students’ participation in moocs, 41.18% (14 responses) of the 34 participants indicated yes as opposed to 58.82% (20 responses) who stated that they never participated in moocs, reflecting the low level of awareness of these courses. question 10: have you ever completed a mooc? figure 9. question 10 graph only 14 out of 34 students who responded to question 9 provided an answer to this question. 64.29% of these 14 students (9 responses) stated that they did complete a mooc whereas 35.71% (5 responses) did not complete any mooc. question 11: if you had previously participated in moocs but did not complete it, what is the reason for not completing the course? (tick all that apply) figure 10. question 11 graph www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 16 published by scholink inc. this question was geared to investigate the reasons behind the participants’ decision not to complete a mooc. only 6 out of 14 students who responded to question 10 provided reasons for not completing the courses. the reasons behind quitting a mooc varied between the fact that moocs do not raise their interest, lack of constant internet access and lack of time to participate in moocs due to schoolwork. question 12: if you heard of moocs, but you did not participate in a mooc before, what is the reason for not participating? (tick all that apply) figure 11. question 12 graph this question investigated lack of participation in moocs despite familiarity with such courses. 20 participants responded to this question. 15% (3 responses) of the 20 participants indicated disinterest in these platforms, 30% (6 responses) indicated unfamiliarity with these platforms, 35% (7 responses) showed lack of confidence to engage in an online course, 15% (3 responses) showed lack of constant internet access, and 5% (one response) showed irrelevancy of moocs to areas of studies. it should be noted here that after the participants came to know about moocs from the introduction of the current questionnaire prepared to familiarize participants with the meaning of moocs, the following questions were asked to all participants. question 13: are you planning to enroll in a mooc in future? figure 12. question 13 graph this question, answered by all participants, investigated the possibility of engaging in a mooc in the future. in fact, the result of this question reflects that the study does spur students’ interest in mooc. 41.83% (128 responses) show their interest in enrolling in a mooc compared to 5.23 % (16 responses) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 17 published by scholink inc. who showed their disinterest in enrolling in a mooc. 52.94 % (162 responses) stated that they are not sure about making such decision. question 14: are you interested in studying one of your undergraduate courses in your major through moocs? figure 13. question 14 graph this question addressed participants’ interest in studying one of their courses through moocs. similar to the pervious question, 306 of the participants answered this question. 44.77% (137 responses) showed interest in taking one of their courses through moocs, 11.44% (35 responses) showed disinterest whereas 43.79% (134 responses) indicated reluctance towards such matter. question 15: are you interested in registering for one of the future moocs in any field that you are excited about? figure 14. question 15 graph this question explored students’ interest in enrolling in moocs in any field of their interest. it has 306 responses in total. 62.75% (192 responses) showed interest in enrolling in a future mooc compared to 18.17% (25 responses) who showed disinterest. 29.08% (89 responses) stated that they are not sure about that. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 18 published by scholink inc. question 16: (optional question) in your opinion, what are the main reasons for the unpopularity of moocs among omani undergraduate students (if any)? this question explored the reasons behind the unpopularity of moocs among omani undergraduate students, from the students’ point of view. it was answered by 133 and skipped by 173 participants because it is an optional question. findings show that there is a wide range of reasons behind the unpopularity of moocs as presented in the underneath table. table 3. the reasons behind the unpopularity of moocs among omani undergraduate students no. the reasons no. of students percentage 1. unfamiliarity of moocs as a source of learning 8 6.01% 2. unawareness of their existence 17 12.78% 3. lack of interest in moocs 2 1.50% 4. failure to meet students’ expectation. 3 2.25% 5. students’ carelessness 6 4.51% 6. lack of publicity 23 17.29% 7. difficulty of using moocs 7 5.26% 8. lack of such culture in graduate level institutions 11 8.27% 9. lack of constant or reliable internet access 24 18.04% 10. lack of accreditation given to these courses. 9 6.76% 11. graduate level institutions disinterest in such courses due to financial purposes 1 0.75% 12. moocs are not accredited in the job market. 3 2.25% 13. lack of time to enroll in these courses 9 6.76% 14. preference of traditional way of learning 5 3.75% 15. lack of credibility of these courses. 2 1.50% 16. financial issues 3 2.25% as indicated in the above table, omani students in undergraduate institutions indicated a set of sixteen different reasons that stand behind the very small number of those who are au fait with moocs. lack of publicity, the unavailability of reliable and constant internet source as well as lack of awareness of their existence are the most prominent reasons behind students’ obliviousness of their existence. such findings show that there is a considerable lack of awareness among undergraduate omani students of moocs platforms as a means of learning. as only two participants were able to name local moocs out of 306 participants despite the availability of a couple of local ones, it is obvious that there are no www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 19 published by scholink inc. adequate efforts done to promote such platforms in oman. participants believe that there is no promotion of these courses in their higher education institutes and media channels in oman. even the participants who are somewhat in acquaintance with moocs have not all participated in any of these courses before. likewise, those who have started a mooc course have not all continued to the end of the course. it is worth mentioning that no participant stated that he/she does not believe in the importance of such courses. the 306 students taking part in the study showed interest in participating in a mooc in the future, especially local ones in oman. they are willing to engage in and benefit from these platforms once they get the knowledge and training required, as the majority of them expressed that they do not have confidence in starting a mooc because they are not equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills. hence, more attention should be shown by omani academic institutions to these platforms via publicity and training of their students to use these platforms. 4. discussion aiming to be a reference for academic institutions and researchers concerned with the use of moocs in oman, this study shed light on the awareness of omani undergraduate students about the use of moocs as a means of learning. data was collected via distributing a self-administered questionnaire to a representative sample of undergraduate students from three academic institutions in oman: sultan qaboos university, the scientific college of design and the higher college of technology. findings clearly show that the majority of undergraduate students in omani academic institutions are not aware of moocs platforms. several reasons appear to be the main reasons behind suck lack of awareness. the major ones are lack of publicity, lack of constant or reliable internet access, absence of accreditation given to these courses, lack of time to enroll in these courses, and unfamiliarity of moocs as a source of learning. noteworthy is that students’ justification for not knowing about moocs was not related to moocs itself, but rather due to other reasons that could be worked out to make students get involved into moocs and thus make use of them in their learning path. this study, in fact, was a revelation to the participants to know about these platforms as it aroused their curiosity to know more about these platforms and use them in their learning. it also aroused academic institutions’ attention to spread awareness of both global and local moocs among all members of society, specifically among undergraduate students. findings of this study, hence, show that some recommendations need to be taken into account. academic institutions need to be pay serious attention to raise awareness among their students of the significance of such platforms on the students’ learning experience. further and long-term studies can be done to investigate this topic in depth and to explore the possibilities available to invest in these platforms. raising student’s awareness of the available popular moocs platforms and encouraging them to enroll in them can be the first step towards helping omani undergraduate students to benefit from these platforms. moocs researchers in oman can undertake more extensive research by studying awareness of moocs among postgraduate students and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 20 published by scholink inc. academics. institutions concerned with teachers’ training such as the specialist centre for professional training of teachers in oman can do more research in the field of moocs in different fields. they can investigate their impact on the educational process of the different segments in the society, especially the newly graduated teachers who require training courses before they get involved in teaching. references academy, k. 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(2012). will moocs destroy academia? communications of the acm. the acm digital library[online], us. https://doi.org/10.1145/2366316.2366317 https://doi.org/10.1145/2366316.2366317 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 94 original paper how chinese universities can carry out international communication under the influence of the new generation of artificial intelligence yi wu1 1 party committee propaganda department, jiangsu university, zhenjiang, china received: july 5, 2025 accepted: july 19, 2025 online published: august 6, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p94 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p94 abstract the new generation of artificial intelligence technology is profoundly transforming the international communication landscape. chinese universities urgently need to enhance their international communication capabilities to serve the construction of an educational powerhouse and enhance their global influence. this article analyzes the current challenges of international communication in chinese universities and the opportunities brought by artificial intelligence technology. it proposes to take the concept of “human-machine collaboration” as the core, optimize top-level design, content ecology, and communication matrix, and build an intelligent, precise, and immersive international communication system to help chinese higher education gain an advantage in global competition. keywords artificial intelligence, international communication in universities, human-machine collaboration, content ecology, propagation matrix 1. introduction the new generation of artificial intelligence, characterized by multimodal big models and deep learning technologies, is rapidly developing. its powerful information generation, understanding, and interaction capabilities are deeply deconstructing and reshaping the existing paradigms and patterns of international communication from dimensions such as communication subjects, content forms, channel ecology, discourse methods, and audience interaction. against the backdrop of technological revolution and global competition, enhancing the international influence of china’s higher education has become a core concern and key indicator for accelerating the construction of an education powerhouse. as the “leading force” in the construction of an education www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 95 published by scholink inc. powerhouse, higher education is not only the core engine for promoting international education dissemination, but also the key carrier for showcasing the national education image and reflecting competitiveness. the efforts of universities to enhance their international communication capabilities are of great strategic significance for effectively promoting the global dissemination of chinese culture, deepening cultural exchanges and mutual learning, and serving the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. therefore, strengthening the construction of international communication capabilities has become an important task and key path for serving the national education power strategy, and has become an inevitable choice and urgent mission for universities. at the same time, strengthening international communication is also an inherent requirement for chinese universities to achieve high-quality development. china has built the world’s largest higher education system, and its development model is undergoing a strategic transformation from scale expansion to connotation enhancement, and further to high-quality leap. this transformation requires universities to pay more attention to service efficiency, accurately grasp the dialectical unity of international perspective and chinese characteristics, while widely absorbing beneficial international experience, rooted in the chinese land to solve practical problems, and continuously enhance their support, contribution, and leadership in serving the country’s economic, social, scientific, technological, and cultural development. in the context of increasingly fierce global competition in higher education, the competition for top talents, high-quality research resources, and cooperation opportunities is becoming increasingly fierce. the strong international communication capability has become a core strategic tool for universities to attract top teachers and high-quality students from around the world, enhance international reputation and ranking, expand international scientific research cooperation and high-level academic exchanges, and thus occupy a favorable competitive position in the global academic landscape. 2. challenges and opportunities of international communication in chinese universities 2.1 challenges of international communication in chinese universities 2.1.1 strategic positioning needs to be improved: insufficient connection with national strategies and global issues international communication in universities is a key path for a country to enhance its cultural soft power and international influence, and its strategic value is reflected in: serving the overall development of the country, as a highland of knowledge innovation and talent, promoting global cooperation in education, science and technology, and culture, and exploring ways to address global challenges; enhancing national soft power and promoting the implementation of the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind in talent cultivation and global governance practices; enhance international discourse power, participate in building an international communication system, and present a real, three-dimensional, and comprehensive image of china to the world. however, there is a significant gap in strategic positioning in current practice: firstly, there is a fundamental lack of understanding. some universities have failed to deeply understand the fundamental www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 96 published by scholink inc. attributes of international communication services for national strategies and supporting the development of university undertakings. secondly, there is a lack of top-level planning. some universities have not included international communication in the overall goals of university construction for systematic planning and resource coordination. thirdly, the ability to set topics is weak. the dissemination content is mostly limited to campus activity reporting, failing to deeply integrate talent cultivation models and technological innovation achievements into global development issues, and explore and disseminate them as the “chinese solution” for developing countries to address global challenges, weakening its strategic height and international resonance. 2.1.2 development process and infrastructure: started relatively late, with different foundations compared to universities in the uk, the us, and some asian countries, chinese universities started relatively late in systematically carrying out international communication, and their infrastructure is uneven. the construction of english websites has a wide coverage and varying quality: most universities have established english websites, but the level of update and maintenance varies. tsinghua university leads in website quality and timeliness due to the establishment of specialized institutions (such as the global communication office) and the allocation of dedicated personnel; most universities are lagging behind in content updates due to a lack of dedicated personnel for maintenance. in terms of social media layout, in 2015, tsinghua university and peking university were the first to open overseas social media accounts; from 2015 to 2020, zhejiang university, china academy of art, shanghai jiao tong university, university of science and technology of china, and others followed suit and attempted to use new discourse to expand their communication radius. in the initial establishment of the collaborative mechanism, in 2023, the international communication joint research institute of the ministry of education plans to build a platform for serving international communication in higher education, with communication university of china as the leading university and the first batch of 14 universities jointly established; many “double first-class” construction universities such as renmin university of china, fudan university, wuhan university, china agricultural university, tianjin university and other professional media institutions have signed international communication strategic cooperation agreements with china central radio and television corporation, china daily and other professional media institutions. universities have begun to open up new positions in international communication with the help of professional media, marking a preliminary attempt at resource integration and platform operation. 2.1.3 insufficient display: shortcomings in planning, productivity and empathy the overall visibility and display of chinese universities in the international communication field are relatively low, mainly due to insufficient systematic planning, limited content production capacity, and lack of cross-cultural empathy, which makes it difficult for them to fully integrate resources and leverage their advantages. the specific manifestations are as follows: firstly, the interaction volume on overseas social media is significantly low. data analysis shows that the user interaction indicators (including clicks, likes, shares, and comments) of chinese universities on www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 97 published by scholink inc. mainstream international social media platforms are much lower than those of international benchmark universities (such as universities in the united states and universities in hong kong region, macao region, and taiwan region). table 1. comparison of average comment volume of representative platforms for chinese university accounts platform chinese universities (a) chinese hong kong region, macao region, and taiwan region universities (b) american reference universities (c) a/b (%) a/c (%) x (原 twitter) 94.61 ≈ 6524.83 1.45% facebook 305.04 ≈ 675.83 ≈ 2730.71 45.14% 11.17% youtube the highest number of comments 0.73 ≈ 4.63 15.76% instagram number of replies 5.40 ≈ 247.71 ≈ 545.45 2.18% 0.99% secondly, the chain of communication effect transformation is broken. some universities overly focus on content screening and production, equating content publishing with the completion of communication tasks, neglecting the transformation process from content display to audience value recognition. a typical case shows that a university’s facebook promotional video received nearly 200000 likes, but only received over 100 comments, reflecting the lack of deep interaction and value resonance. thirdly, there is a lack of audience interaction response mechanism. some universities lack effective responses to user comments and feedback, which suppresses the audience’s interactive enthusiasm. for example, a certain university’s youtube video has been viewed 30000 times, but no official response has been given to user comments, missing the opportunity to deepen relationships. 2.2 application scenarios and practical exploration the rapid development of new generation artificial intelligence technologies such as generative artificial intelligence, big language models, and multimodal understanding has provided unprecedented technological support and strategic opportunities for chinese universities to break through the time and space barriers, language barriers, and cultural barriers in international communication, significantly enhancing global influence and attractiveness. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 98 published by scholink inc. 2.2.1 core application scenarios: efficiency enhancement and experience optimization the application of the new generation of artificial intelligence in international communication mainly focuses on improving efficiency and optimizing experience, which is specifically reflected in three core areas. one is precise image shaping and promotion. artificial intelligence can deeply mine global education market data, accurately insight the interests, preferences, and core needs of target audiences (such as potential international students and scholars). based on the analysis results, automatically generate highly personalized, multilingual, and diverse media forms of promotional content (such as enrollment brochures, promotional videos, social media advertisements, etc.). through intelligent distribution algorithms, accurately reach the target platform and user group with content. deploying virtual campus ambassadors with multilingual interaction capabilities, providing 7x24 real-time consultation, significantly optimizing the efficiency and favorability of potential users in obtaining information. the second is intelligent scientific research collaboration and academic exchange. real time translation and academic writing assistance tools driven by artificial intelligence, such as grammar proofreading and literature polishing, effectively eliminate language barriers in cross-border research team collaboration and improve the efficiency of paper writing and project communication. in the intelligent matching mechanism, potential international cooperation partners are actively recommended based on the researcher’s professional field, achievements, and interest map, promoting the formation of interdisciplinary and cross institutional cooperation networks. in the context of international academic conferences, integrating artificial intelligence provides real-time subtitles in multiple languages, simultaneous interpretation, intelligent summarization of key content, and can introduce virtual hosts or presenters, greatly improving the inclusiveness and participation efficiency of academic exchanges. the third is immersive cultural dissemination and educational experience. by integrating generative artificial intelligence content creation with virtual reality/augmented reality technology, universities can efficiently build immersive virtual campus tours and interactive cultural experience courses (such as chinese calligraphy and traditional festival simulations). this type of application can accelerate the global dissemination of chinese culture in a low-cost and highly accessible manner, providing an immersive educational experience for international audiences. 2.2.2 practical exploration: from initial attempt to efficiency improvement chinese universities have launched multiple practical explorations in utilizing new generation artificial intelligence for international communication, mainly focusing on the following dimensions. one is the automation of intelligent content production. some universities have applied big language models such as chatgpt and claude to assist in generating multilingual news articles, social media tweets, standardized email templates, etc., significantly improving the speed, scale, and multilingual coverage of content production. the second is the upgrade of intelligent interactive services. some universities have built intelligent customer service systems based on advanced models such as deepseek, which efficiently handle highwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 99 published by scholink inc. frequency issues such as international student enrollment inquiries and affairs, achieve instant response and accurate answers, optimize service experience, and break down information barriers. the third is the integration of intelligent language services. integrate artificial intelligence real-time translation plugins at key nodes such as university websites and international conference/event platforms to enhance information accessibility. explore the use of artificial intelligence for preliminary translation and formatting review of international student application materials, such as transcripts and recommendation letters, to improve review efficiency. the fourth is personalized information outreach. using user behavior data analysis techniques, attempt to push customized information (such as project notifications and event previews) to specific international audiences through email systems or social media platforms, taking the first step towards precise dissemination. 3. optimization strategies for international communication in chinese universities in the era of new generation artificial intelligence 3.1 concept guidance: establishing a university international communication concept of humanmachine collaboration the classic statement put forward by media theorist mcluhan that “media is an extension of human beings” profoundly reveals the essential expansion of human perception and cognitive modes by media technology. the new generation of artificial intelligence not only continues this logic, extending human abilities in multiple sensory dimensions such as vision and hearing, but also achieves significant breakthroughs in core intelligence levels such as creativity, thinking, and decision-making, marking a profound transformation of human-machine relationships from auxiliary tools to collaborative partners. this integration has spurred a paradigm shift in international communication practices across three dimensions: relational connectivity, cognitive models, and value creation. especially with the rise of generative artificial intelligence, the naturalness and trustworthiness of human-computer interaction have been greatly enhanced, making human-machine collaboration increasingly the new normal for information production and dissemination. in this context, university workers urgently need to break through their own cognitive and efficiency limitations, actively embrace the complementary advantages of artificial intelligence, and achieve collaborative gains in communication efficiency. the international communication of chinese universities urgently needs to shift from the traditional “human monologue” mode to the “human-machine dialogue” mode, and establish human-machine collaboration as the core information production mode, which is reflected in the following three key aspects: 3.1.1 human-machine co-creation: empowering the entire process of content production in terms of intelligent content generation, artificial intelligence can efficiently undertake basic writing tasks such as news articles and social media copy, while university workers focus on content editing, value control, and strategy formulation, playing the roles of “editors” and “gatekeepers”. in terms of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 100 published by scholink inc. intelligent assisted creation, artificial intelligence serves as an efficient assistant to quickly complete basic tasks such as topic selection planning, data organization, and multilingual translation, freeing up the energy of creators and enabling them to focus on core aspects such as content depth organization, creative conception, and emotional expression. in terms of multimodal content synthesis, the multimodal generation capability of artificial intelligence is utilized to efficiently communication established text reports, outlines, or prompts into rich media forms such as images, audio, and video that are suitable for international communication needs. in terms of immersive scene construction, we combine generative artificial intelligence and metaverse technologies to design highly immersive and interactive communication scenes, providing international audiences with a deep cultural experience that transcends time and space limitations. 3.1.2 intelligent decision-making: optimizing strategy formulation and effectiveness evaluation in terms of topic insight and prediction, the new generation of artificial intelligence automatically identifies high-value clues and predicts potential hot trends through network wide data analysis, providing data-driven decision support for international communication topic selection. in terms of precise distribution and audience positioning, based on the construction of dynamic user profiles, artificial intelligence accurately captures the preferences and needs of international audiences, optimizes the perspective, form, and distribution channel strategies of communication content, and significantly improves content reach and resonance. in terms of strategy optimization and effect tracking, by analyzing user behavior data and feedback on communication effects, artificial intelligence assists universities in accurately positioning target audience groups, continuously evaluating and dynamically adjusting international communication strategies, and achieving maximum communication effects. 3.1.3 interactive innovation: deepening the emotional connection between humans and machines human computer interaction is undergoing a profound evolution from interface interaction and information interaction to emotional interaction and multi-sensory interaction. universities can rely on cutting-edge technologies such as knowledge graph construction, emotion computing modeling, and multimodal interactive learning to develop intelligent agents such as digital journalists and virtual employees with the ability to broadcast information and interact with interviews. this type of intelligent agent simulates human emotional expression and multi-sensory feedback to achieve precise information transmission and personalized interaction in specific communication scenarios, enhancing the emotional connection and cultural identity of international audiences. 3.2 top level design: building an efficient and collaborative international communication governance system to enhance the international communication efficiency of the system, chinese universities urgently need to carry out top-level design and collaborative innovation in organizational structure and management system, and build a governance system with clear rights and responsibilities, efficient operation, and ethical norms. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 101 published by scholink inc. 3.2.1 strengthen organizational collaboration and capacity building establishing a school level coordinating organization: universities should establish a school level international communication special working committee or office, which should be included in the core agenda of the school’s strategic development, and strengthen strategic awareness and resource investment from the perspective of enhancing international competitiveness and sustainable development. integrate resources to form a professional team: deeply integrate publicity, foreign affairs, information technology, and resources from various departments, establish a dedicated overseas communication department, responsible for strategic planning, organizational implementation, and effectiveness evaluation of international communication. and focus on building a specialized team with cross-cultural communication skills, language advantages (including chinese writing, multilingual compilation), and media technology expertise (such as audio and video production, digital platform operation, web design), to systematically shape and disseminate the comprehensive strength and unique value of the school. building a teaching research and practical support platform: based on the characteristics of the school, establish an international communication research center and internship training base. the research center is dedicated to cutting-edge theoretical research, strategic analysis, and effectiveness evaluation in international communication, providing theoretical support for practice; the internship and training base provides technical, equipment, and venue support for teachers and students to participate in international communication activities, and enhances their communication abilities through regular, institutionalized, and standardized practical exercises. expand the international physical network: establish overseas branch campuses, set up overseas liaison offices, add international management positions at the departmental level (such as vice deans in charge of internationalization), and deepen strategic cooperation with overseas universities and university alliances, in order to build a global physical communication node network. 3.2.2 establish sound ethical standards and risk management mechanisms establishing the principle of human-machine collaborative governance: placing the ethics of artificial intelligence at the core of international communication strategies, establishing the concept of “artificial intelligence for enhancing intelligence”, clarifying the role of artificial intelligence as an auxiliary tool, and emphasizing the dominant position of humans in the construction of ethical frameworks, maintenance of communication order, and ultimate responsibility. develop specialized ethical guidelines and operational standards: develop and promulgate the “ethical guidelines for the application of artificial intelligence in universities” and supporting operational guidelines, clarify ethical boundaries and compliance requirements for data collection, model training, content generation and distribution, and focus on improving data security and privacy protection systems that comply with international standards. implement full process manual supervision and review: before content release, strictly implement the triple filtering mechanism of “fact checking, context calibration, and value checking” led by human intervention to ensure the authenticity of information, cultural adaptability, and correctness of value www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 102 published by scholink inc. orientation. full chain decision traceability: from training data annotation and screening, model finetuning and optimization to final content generation and output, the key traces of manual decision-making are clearly recorded and retained throughout the entire chain, ensuring transparency and traceability of the process and implementing responsible parties. build a dynamic risk monitoring system: establish a strict long-term mechanism for content review and fact checking, and equip it with dynamic risk assessment and emergency response plans. 3.3 content construction: build an intelligent, precise, and distinctive content ecosystem 3.3.1 innovate the information form of international communication in universities due to human and technological limitations, international communication in chinese universities is mainly focused on graphic and textual reporting, with low quality audio-visual content and limited effectiveness in visual appeal and emotional resonance. the development of the new generation of artificial intelligence technology has provided universities with low-cost and efficient ways of content production, breaking through the traditional mode of using graphics, text, and video as a single information carrier, creating conditions for building a multimodal information structure, and thus giving birth to more scene based and immersive interactive communication forms. specifically, at the application level, universities can deeply integrate computer vision, intelligent speech synthesis, and natural language processing technologies to create a digital anchor image, making them the image “spokesperson” and cultural “new embodiment” of international communication for universities, effectively enhancing their overseas reputation. at the mode level, with the integration of “5g+artificial intelligence+vr/ar” communication mode, universities can stimulate the audience’s multi sensory experience and significantly improve international communication efficiency through form innovation. 3.3.2 reconstruct the production and distribution mechanism of international communication content the essence of international communication in chinese universities lies in integrating chinese experience into global issues and achieving mutual learning of cultural values. artificial intelligence technology provides crucial support for this. in terms of topic selection and content generation, using artificial intelligence topic selection systems and big data analysis tools, universities can accurately capture the international community’s concerns and find entry points based on their own practices. by exploring the value resonance points between local micro cases and global issues, using flexible narrative strategies and shared perspectives to convey the voice of chinese universities, and promoting in-depth dialogue with overseas audiences. in terms of production and distribution optimization, relying on natural language processing, deep learning models, human-computer collaborative writing, and big data algorithms, universities can efficiently complete intelligent content collection, production, and distribution. based on this, highly personalized content packages can be generated for different countries, professional fields, and target audiences, significantly improving content collection efficiency, production quality, and distribution www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 103 published by scholink inc. accuracy, and achieving precise positioning and personalized communication needs for international audiences. 3.3.3 strengthen the dissemination of values and characteristics the core of international communication in chinese universities lies in the systematic presentation of the unique contributions and value propositions of chinese higher education. the content should focus on three dimensions: development achievements, innovative practices, and internationalization paths, specifically covering education reform, scientific research breakthroughs, talent cultivation, international cooperation, and cultural exchanges. the aim is to comprehensively and stereoscopically demonstrate the profound influence and substantial contributions of chinese universities to the progress of chinese society and the development of global education. in this process, artificial intelligence technology plays a key role in value mining and precise dissemination. universities should focus on accurately identifying and refining distinctive values: deeply utilizing the data analysis and pattern recognition capabilities of artificial intelligence, systematically sorting out and accurately refining the core value points of the university in advantageous disciplines, profound cultural heritage, unique social responsibility, and other aspects. at the same time, efficient conversion and targeted dissemination should also be carried out: the extracted characteristic values should be transformed into highly recognizable and infectious dissemination content through intelligent content generation and distribution technology. implement precise and differentiated communication strategies for different international audience groups to ensure effective reach and resonance of core value information. through the above strategies, we aim to shape a distinctive, valuable, and credible international image of chinese universities, and strengthen their recognition and discourse power in the global education landscape. 3.3.4 deepen the true narrative and storytelling expression narrative ability is the core competitiveness of international communication. universities should focus on presenting authentic campus ecology, vivid teacher-student stories, and breakthrough scientific research progress in their communication content, and enhance their presentation form and attractiveness through the use of artificial intelligence technology. in terms of communication strategy, it is necessary to balance macro achievements and micro stories, integrate reasoning into events, and move people with emotions. it is particularly important to have a deep understanding of the characteristics and needs of cross-cultural communication, and to ensure that narrative content is more in line with the cultural background and cognitive habits of international audiences through strategies such as content localization and video expression, in order to enhance the penetration and resonance of the story. 3.4 channel platform: building an intelligent and immersive communication matrix to enhance the effectiveness of international communication in chinese universities, it is necessary to build a diverse collaborative channel network that covers the media, public, and interpersonal levels, ensuring the breadth and depth of information dissemination. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 104 published by scholink inc. 3.4.1 deepen the application of intelligent media platforms upgrade intelligent portals and platforms: deploy ai driven multilingual intelligent interaction systems (such as chatbots), intelligent retrieval and content recommendation mechanisms based on user behavior, and enhance the internationalization service capabilities and user experience of portal websites. intelligent operation of social media: deepen the operation of mainstream international social platforms such as facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube, etc., use artificial intelligence technology to accurately depict international audience portraits, develop differentiated content strategies, monitor and analyze communication effects in real time, and achieve refined operation. innovative immersive experience communication: develop virtual campus tours, online laboratory visits, and cultural interactive experience projects based on artificial intelligence and virtual reality/augmented reality technology, create immersive communication scenarios, and build an ai assisted online cross-cultural exchange community to promote deep interaction. 3.4.2 expand cooperation between mainstream media and opinion leaders universities should actively establish and deepen strategic partnerships with international mainstream media and influential platform opinion leaders. through reports from authoritative media platforms and endorsements from opinion leaders, the international exposure and credibility of universities have been significantly enhanced, laying a solid foundation for shaping a good international image. 3.4.3 activate the key nodes of interpersonal communication overseas alumni, international students, foreign teachers, and visiting scholars constitute the core actor network of international interpersonal communication in universities, and universities need to attach great importance to and systematically empower this group. on the one hand, to deepen understanding and identification, this group can deepen their understanding and emotional recognition of the educational philosophy, academic achievements, and cultural heritage of chinese universities through strengthening cross-cultural exchange activities within the school and providing cultural adaptation support; on the other hand, empowering communication practices, encouraging and supporting them as “cultural ambassadors” and “academic bridges”, actively sharing personal experiences and positive perceptions overseas, effectively conveying the true voice of chinese universities, thereby enhancing their visibility and recognition in overseas scientific research cooperation, discipline influence construction, and international academic discourse competition. 4. conclusion the rapid development of the new generation of artificial intelligence provides a historic opportunity for the reconstruction of the international communication system in chinese universities. this article systematically analyzes the current difficulties and technological empowerment potential of international communication in chinese universities, and proposes a communication paradigm transformation path centered on “human-machine collaboration” and characterized by “precision intelligence immersion”. chinese universities urgently need to adhere to the principle of “putting people at the core and values at www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 105 published by scholink inc. the anchor” in the wave of technology: they not only need to use artificial intelligence to break through language and cultural barriers, but also need to convey the spiritual core of chinese civilization through real educational stories. only by deeply integrating technological empowerment with humanistic values can we build a new paradigm of international communication in universities that combines global influence and chinese characteristics, provide strategic support for the construction of an educational powerhouse, and demonstrate the intelligent contribution of chinese higher education in the global knowledge community. references fang, z. q. (2023). the innovative path of international communication for china’s “double first class” universities in the new era. external dissemination. huang, q. (2024). intelligent media helps build a new pattern of international communication in universities. international communication. li, j. (2023). strengthen the construction of overseas network communication capabilities china social science network. retrieved from https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1754686092967356586&wfr=spider&for=pc li, m. (2022). innovation of international communication concepts and strategies in universities from the perspective of development communication studies. journal of zhejiang university (humanities and social sciences edition). peng, l. (2023). the panoramic view and prospects of intelligent communication and human-machine relationship from chatgpt perspective. university of journalism. wu, h. q. (2025). making innovation international communication an important task for universities to serve the construction of a strong education country. china higher education. yu, g. (2023). paradigm reconstruction, human-machine integration, and technological accompaniment: the path to understanding human-machine relationships in the era of intelligent communication journal of social sciences. hunan normal university. zhang, h. (2025). the report of chinese overseas network communication in 2024. beijing: economic management press. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 50 original paper on the c-e translation of the chengdu public signs from the perspective of communication theory mei tian1 1 school of foreign studies, southwest petroleum university, chengdu, china received: june 12, 2023 accepted: july 5, 2023 online published: july 24, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n3p50 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n3p50 abstract with the rapid development of economy and technology, china’s overall national strength, international status and influence have increased considerably. china has entered into the cultural output era, and it is important to tell china’s stories well, spread china’s voice and present a real and comprehensive china to the world. in the past several decades, china’s practical cooperation with other countries continues to develop, as well as the larger international games and conferences, attracting a quantity of people from overseas travelling in and out of china. most public places have offered pubic signs in bilingual language, which effectively serve people at home and abroad. the public signs have become the most direct and common medium for people around the world to get to know china. meanwhile, the quality of public signs’ translation directly reflects the social landscape and human civilization of a country and a city. this essay will focus on the chengdu 2021 fisu world university games to be held from july to august 2023, and jointly study the 5w mode of communication with the chinese-english dictionary of chengdu 2021 fisu world university games public signs, discuss and analyze the quality and communication effect of chinese-english public signs in the five aspects of communication subject, content, media, audience and effect, hoping can provide some new insights to the public signs’ translation. keywords chinese-english dictionary of chengdu 2021 world university games public signs, 5w model of communication, public signs, communication effect 1. introduction as economy and technology boom rapidly, china’s comprehensive national strength and international status keep growing. at the same time, the global communities pay more and more attention on china. during the process of international cooperation and exchange, translation serves as a material basis that sustains a smooth communication and provide a channel for the world to learn chinese history and culture. http://dict.cn/the%20international%20standing%20and%20influence%20of%20socialist%20china%20are%20growing%20with%20each%20passing%20day_2e http://dict.cn/the%20international%20standing%20and%20influence%20of%20socialist%20china%20are%20growing%20with%20each%20passing%20day_2e www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 51 published by scholink inc. as the strategic highland of china’s western development, chengdu has made remarkable achievements in economic prosperity and industrial revitalization and has owned a good reputation in china and around the world featuring with distinctive local history and culture, appealing more and more foreigners and tourists every year. in order to provide good services in line with international standards, chengdu’s public places all provide pubic signs in bilingual language, such as railways, tourist attractions, parks and hospitals. the translation of the pubic signs not only reflects the city’s international image, but also relates to the international service level in larger conferences and events. the chengdu 2021 fisu world university games is the first world comprehensive games that chengdu has successfully bid to host since it put forward the goal of building the world-famous city of sport events. there will be athletes, coaches, referees and officials from relevant international sports organizations from over 170 countries and regions joining the games, which is a great opportunity to let the world to know chengdu and learn chinese culture. during this period, public signs will play an important role to provide people services in daily life. in order to standardize the names of the competition events and the public signs of running venues and public facilities, the relevant departments have compiled the chineseenglish dictionary of chengdu 2021 world university games public signs, which contains over 4,000 words and phrases, including the competition events, the main operating areas, the arrival and departure transportation, medical services, the culture and history of chengdu, the famous food and tourist spots, the public transport and municipal departments, and other basic information about the games and chengdu. 2. literature review the translation of public signs is an important field of translation research. although the research on public sign translation in china is relatively late, it is a hot topic in application translation research in china. the earlier research on the translation of public signs was in the 1990s. he ziran (1998) studied the english translation of public signs and pragmatic issues from the perspective of pragmatics. ni chuanbin and liu zhi (1998) proposed that the english translation of public signs should follow the five principles of “brevity, clarity, appropriate tone, standardization and appropriate humor”. in the 21st century, with the development of cooperation and exchanges between china and other countries, as well as the organizations various large-scale olympic events and international conferences, there are more and more people come to china and public signs play a more important role in communication (wang, 2015). more and more domestic experts and scholars focus on the study of public signs translation. according to the dates of china national knowledge infrastructure (cnki), there are almost 2477 journal papers about the translation of public signs from 2002 to 2023, which mainly talk about the problems and solutions of public signs translation, translation principles of public signs, and the standardization of translation. meanwhile, there are diverse guiding theories of public signs translation, including skopos theory, functional equivalence theory, ecological translation theory, etc. communication theory, reception aesthetics, pragmatics are also involved in the research of public signs http://www.baidu.com/link?url=9bzela0-5h4qdqzelligx98kcrh7cou6g87m12ueyoimxv81ez8raym60gjs_mw4c8eu9wxpluwkyjg7budd35yhq64qxxhkpvc3pl4n8rutwqxgt7aud_2czdok-mw2 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 52 published by scholink inc. translation. domestic scholars combined translation with communication studies, proposed many practical and feasible translation strategies and principles, exploring the guiding role of communication studies in the translation of public signs. guo xiaochun (2013) demonstrated the interactive relationship between the media, society, and audience during the communication process, and proposed attachment strategy, adaptation strategy, and emotion driven strategy three ways to solve the cross-cultural communication problem. guo cong (2017) discussed the influence of the ecological environment and target recipients on the english translation of public signs from the perspective of communication. zhao xixi (2019) combined the 5w mode of communication theory and emphasized the importance of feedback from the translation object and the status of audience in the translation process. to conclude, the domestic translation researches from the perspective of communication are still in an early stage. the overall number of studies on the translation of public signs from the perspective of communication studies is not enough, and the content is not comprehensive yet. therefore, more scholars are demanded to take part in the translation research from the perspective of communication. taken the chinese-english dictionary of chengdu 2021 world university games public signs as an example, this article will talk about the influence of communication subjects, content, media, audiences and effects on public signs translation, exploring the guidance of the 5w mode of communication theory on public signs translation, hoping can provide some new perspectives for public signs translation. 3. the 5w mode of communication theory communication studies human communication behaviour, the communication process and its laws, and how humans use symbols to communicate. according to the communication theory, acts of humans that relate to the transmission and exchange of information are all communication phenomena. translation is a process that transform one language into another language and convey the main ideas and meanings of the source language to the target audience at the same time. therefore, the process of information transmission is in line with the laws of communication (guo, 2013). the original author, original text, translator, translation, and target readers form a common system that interacts the source and target language systems. changes in the external environment inevitably affect the translation system, resulting in noise. the entire process of translation dissemination is guided by a certain purpose to overcome noise interference, utilize feedback to spread information as accurately as possible and finally achieve the communication purpose. harold lasswell (1948), one of the major founders of communication studies, proposed the famous 5w mode communication theory in the structure and function of communication in society. the process of communication into the interactive relationship and activity process of five elements (5w mode), including who, says what, in which channel, to whom and with what effect (referring to five main research contents of communication studies respectively: control analysis, content analysis, media analysis, audience analysis, and effectiveness analysis) (lasswell, 1948). given that the translation of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 53 published by scholink inc. public signs involves issues such as “who” and “to whom” and “with what effect”, the 5w model is highly applicable to the study of public signs translation. 3.1 the communication subject the communication subject plays a leading role in the communication process, referring to “who” of 5w mode of communication. during translation process, translator is the main communication subject and should be responsible for collecting, organizing, selecting, processing information, ensuring the effect of the communication. as the “gatekeepers” of the translation, translators need to take the initiative, fully understand the original text and consider the cultural differences, living habits, acceptance and comprehension of audience (lei, 2016). and then integrate and reconstruct the language style and form of public signs according to the type and functional characteristics of the public signs, adopt appropriate translation strategies to convey the source information contained accurately and overcome the noise of communication to achieve the best communication effect. example 1 st : 蓉宝 tt : rongbao st : 鱼凫文化 tt : yufu culture (yufu king, founder of early ancient shu kingdom) st : 宽窄巷子 tt : kuanzhai alley (wide and narrow alleys) rongbao is the mascot of the 31st fisu world university games, designed from the giant panda zhima. the first word “蓉” originally refers to hibiscus, but here it refers to chengdu. according to chinese history, emperor meng chang of houshu in the five dynasty favored hibiscus flowers and asked people to plant hibiscus all over the city walls. during the blooming season, the scenery was very spectacular. therefore chengdu was given the name “蓉城” (city of hibiscus). when dealing with the first phrase, the translator adopted transliteration and translated it as rongbao, making the translation highly readable and preserving the fidelity of the original information of history. this translation method has been widely applied by translators. for example, the mascot “hodori” for the 1988 summer olympics in seoul was translated in transliteration according to korean pronunciation. the mascot “福娃” of the 2008 olympic mascot in beijing was originally translated as “friendliness”, and then changed into “fuwa”. the mascot of the 2010 shanghai world expo also was adopted transliteration and was translated as “haibao”. all of them have gained highly recognition and good communication effect (ye, 2012). when translating the rest phrases, the translators combined transliteration and free translation, keeping the original characteristics of local language and culture and reflecting a strong cultural awareness. to achieve better communication effect, the translators added the annotation, which make it easier for the target-readers to have an accurate imagination in mind and understand the true meaning of “yufu culture” and “kuanzhai alley”. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 54 published by scholink inc. 3.2 communication content the communication content is the core part of communication and refers to “says what” of 5w mode. the public signs are a kind of special language and face to public, aiming to show what the public should know or observe. so fully understanding the content and conveying the source information accurately are very important. after text analysis, the words and phrases of chinese-english dictionary of chengdu 2021 fisu world university games public signs can be divided into 22 categories, such as travel, entertainment, shopping, food, transportation, education, medicine, etc. different words or phrases have different functions, which are usually divided into indication function, prompt function, restrictive function, and mandatory function. taking subway stations as an example, the function of the public signs of subway stations is to offer indications for passengers to take the subways. they are closely linked to people’s daily life and play a significant role in traffic indication function during the chengdu 2021 fisu world university games. this requires that the translated content should be as consistent as possible with the original content to convey information accurately. at the same time, the translations should make sure the natural expression and concise language to consistent with the language characteristics of public signs, finally achieving the communication purpose (sun, 2021). example 2 st : 驷马桥 tt : simaqiao st : 世纪城 st : century city the bridge’s name “驷马桥” used to be called “升仙桥”. dating bake to han dynasty, when sima xiangru went to chang’an to take the imperial examination in the hopes of winning an official rank, he passed by this bridge. he left a manuscript on the bridge corridor reading “大丈夫不乘驷马车, 不复过 此桥”. later, sima xiangru successfully achieved his dream and returned to his hometown in a carriage with four horses. therefore “升仙桥” was renamed as “驷马桥”. the source background information is too long and complicated. besides the public signs of traffic just provide passengers indications, not to introduce culture and history. therefore, it is feasible to adopt transliterate directly and translate it as “simaqiao”. translation should not only reflect the characteristics of the source language, but also conform to the simple and precise form and characteristics of the public signs. hence, translators should consider the demands of target audience and make the translated text more intelligible and simple for the target readers, to achieve better communication effects. due to the discrepancy and incompatibility in thinking and expression habits between chinese and english, translators should get rid of the constraints from the original text and express the original information accurately and faithfully in accordance with western cognition and comprehension. we cannot blindly accord to the literal meaning and simply translate word by word. for example, the “世纪 城” originally referrers to the new international convention and exhibition center in high-tech zone of http://www.baidu.com/link?url=rnrjimo_qoafo_qwehsipelh6sf5wpiwdxcesxduddyjprwxqxhlpyklwsnbtlsdfhfgslxvjwua2ogfjgfxztw_0liyctyox2z4p8u6m9q www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 55 published by scholink inc. chengdu, which is currently the largest, most completed and advanced multi-functional conference and exhibition center in western china. while “century city” means a city of the century, which may misunderstand the passengers. and the translation is inconsistent with the original content and the basic communication requirements of clarity and expressiveness. example 3 st : 武青南路 tt : wuqing south road st : 昭觉寺南路 tt : zhaojuesi road south st : 成都东客站 tt : east chengdu railway station st : 成都西站 tt : chengdu west railway station there are some words or phrases that are lack of standardization, such as subway stations that contains location words. the positions of location words (like east, west, north, south, middle) are different when translate the public signs of subway stations. in the chinese-english dictionary of chengdu 2021 fisu world university games public signs, there are 15 entries in accordance with form “xx+south road”, and 13 of them were translated as “south road”, such as “wuqing south road”，while the other were translated into “road south”，such as “zhaojuesi road south”. as we can see, the arrangement of location words in such entries are different. besides, “east chengdu railway station” and “chengdu west railway station” are also translated in different ways. the content of the translation should be as close as possible to universal translation methods in accordance with target language environment and culture. translators should try their best to avoid ambiguity and confusion and standardize the translation methods. 3.3 communication media communication media, referring to “in which channel” of 5w mode, is a fundamental component of the communication process and a material method for achieving communication behavior. the common material media includes road signs, billboards, voice broadcasts, electronic media, etc. the chinese-english dictionary of chengdu 2021 fisu world university games public signs provides a chinese-english public sign blueprint for the preparation of the chengdu 2021 fisu world university games and the construction of urban infrastructure. however, there are still many errors in translation in real life. therefore, it is necessary to take actions to make adjustments and error correction in public places, and standardize the public signs of the event names, operating venues, and public facilities and so on, to improve the international service level of the chengdu 2021 fisu world university games. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 56 published by scholink inc. 3.4 communication object the communication audience is a motivating factors of communication activities, referring to “to whom” of 5w mode. it is an active receiver of information and an important source of feedback in the communication process, occupying an important position in the communication activities. when translating, it is necessary to prioritize the interests of the audience, take the fundamental needs of the audience as the starting point and destination of communication activities, consider the characteristics, cultural backgrounds and thinking habits of the audience, make adjustments timely according to audience feedback to improve the effect of the translation. taking warning public signs as an example, the warning public signs are widely used in public transportation, public facilities, emergency services and other areas. they are usually used to remind people what to mind and to observe. many of them are used dynamic expressions such as “no parking”, “no motor vehicles”, “do not enter”, etc. this form makes help to guide the audience to take corresponding activities. sometimes the language style is more straightforward and tough, so translators should consider the audience’s emotion and feeling, and avoid the translations too forceful, rude and unreasonable. example 4 st : 禁止驶入标志 tt : do not enter st : 禁止非机动车进入标志 tt : motor vehicles only st : 行驶中请勿站立 tt : stay seated while the vehicle is in motion st : 为了行车安全，请勿打扰司机 tt : do not distract the driver st : 车内发生紧急情况时，请按按钮报警 tt : push button in case of emergency there are many negative or coercive words in warning public signs, such as “no left turn (or no right turn)”, “height limit”, “do not enter”. sometimes the original expressions in chinese are reasonable and understandable, but not suitable for another language due to the cultural differences. translators need to adopt translation strategies flexibly. the sayings “禁止非机动车进入标志” and “行驶中请勿站立” both adopt negation translation method and are translated into “motor vehicles only” and “stay seated while the vehicle is in motion” respectively, not only achieving the aim functionally, but also letting the audience feel more comfortable and acceptable. if the translators ignore the cultural differences between the source language and target language, does not consider the rules of the target language and cultural backgrounds, it may not lead to positive translation effect and successful communication. when translating “为了行车安全, 请勿打扰司机”, translators selectively deleted the former phrase to make translation more accurate and concise. and the saying “车内发生紧急情况时, 请按按钮报警” was www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 57 published by scholink inc. translated into “push button in case of emergency” in a more clear and direct way. obviously, this way not only convey its original intention, but also accord with english grammar. therefore, in order to appeal the audience to take actions and achieve communication purposes, it is very significant to consider and get familiar with the target-language speakers’ emotion and characteristics and make public signs more politely and acceptable. 3.5 communication effect the communication effect refers to “with what effect” of 5w mode, which is the final part in the communication process. through communication effect, we can acknowledge the impacts and results of communication activities on the target language speaker and society. if the feedback of target language speakers is more positive, the translation effect is more close to the purpose of the communication. therefore, the effect is one of the most vital factors to reflect the effect of translation. example 5 st : 东坡肉 tt : dongpo braised pork st : 乐山棒棒鸡 tt : leshan bon-bon chicken st : 鸭血 tt : duck blood st : 肥肠 tt : pig’s large intestine due to the differences in food culture, the naming methods in western and china are extremely different. in western menus, generally only the names of dishes are listed with the main and auxiliary ingredients, cooking methods and condiments, which is consistent with the pragmatism pursued by western countries. while china has a wide variety of dishes with extremely rich names, which are usually realistic and creative, reflecting the profound history, culture and folk customs (ji, 2009). in chinese-english dictionary of chengdu 2021 fisu world university games public signs, there are many famous local foods in chengdu listed. when translating “东坡肉” and “乐山棒棒鸡”, the translator retained the original culture and made it more readable and simplicity. but when the transliteration can not directly reflect the true nature of the dish, translators can adopt annotation to describe the method, appearance, taste type, main ingredients, ingredients of the dishes, helping the target audience understand the dishes better. when dealing with “鸭血”, the translation “duck blood” may lead to misunderstanding and “duck blood curd” is more reasonable and understandable. another example is “肥肠”, the word “intestine” refers to an organ and is usually used in human anatomy. in western counties, chitterlings are more common than intestine when talks about food. therefore, in order to achieve better effect, translators must consider the cultural differences between the source language and the target language, and respect the cultural habits and the psychological acceptance of the target language readers. and they can make corresponding adjustments according to the audiences’ feedback to improve translation effect. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 58 published by scholink inc. 4. conclusion public signs not only play an integral part of the city’s linguistic and cultural environment, but also reflect the city’s spiritual and cultural image. it is a crucial channel for foreign tourists and athletes to get to know and understand chengdu and also a link for communication between different cultures. from the perspective of communication studies, the subject, content, media, object and effect are all indispensable, making successful communication purpose. the translation process of public sings is also a dynamic process in which the translator, content, communication media, audience and communication effect interact with each other to promote the successful communication and development of public signs translation. in order to achieve better communication effect and make sure that the communication content of public signs is conveyed accurately, the translators should be conscious in considering and analyzing the difference and characteristics in original language and target language, pay more attention to the emotions and demands of the audience, adopt different translation strategies and make adjustments in accordance with the target audience’ feedback. at the same time, it is also very important to make sure the expression in english is reasonable and understandable and the form is concise and easy to read, avoiding ambiguity and confusion. the 5w mode of communication provides theoretical guidance for the public signs translation from a new perspective and emphasizes the influence of translator, audience, content, communication effect and communication media on translation. the theoretical and practical application of communication theory in the translation of public signs is a great progress. the study of public signs translation is beneficial to improve the chengdu’s international image and comprehensive service level of the chengdu 2021 fisu world university games, hoping the games will be held successfully. acknowledgments this essay was financially supported by the 2021 language and culture research center for international oil and gas resources areas, southwest petroleum university [project details: a study on the translation of public signs from the perspective of 5w mode of communication—a case study of the chinese-english dictionary of chengdu 2021 fisu world university games public signs (yqcx2021008)]. https://fanyi.so.com/?src=onebox# emphasize www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 59 published by scholink inc. references guo, x. c. (2013). research on public signs and their translation strategies from the perspective of communication studies. journal of zhejiang university of media and communications, 5, 39-43. doi:10.13628/j.cnki.zjcmxb.2013.05.006.(in chinese) ji, l. f. (2009). on the english translation strategy of chinese food menu. neijiang technology, 11, 158. (in chinese) lasswell, h. d. (1948). the structure and function of communication in society. new york: institute for religious and social studies, 37. lei, f. (2016). political journalistic translation from the perspective of communication studies. journal of ocean university of china (social science edition), 04122-128. (in chinese) sun, y. (2021). on the c-e translation of the chinese culture-loaded words from the perspective of the 5w mode of communication studies—a case study of china daily (2018-2020) (ma thesis, xihua university). retrieved from https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?dbname=cmfd202201&filename=1021836122.nh wang, j. (2015). review of domestic study in public sign translation. overseas english, 16, 114-115. (in chinese) ye, l. (2012). on english translation of china’s mascots. journal of inner mongolia normal university (philosophy &. social science), 5, 150-153. (in chinese) education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 55 original paper continued concerns with language assessment practices in saudi arabian english education khalid al-seghayer1 1 college of languages and translation, al imam mohammad ibn saud islamic university, riyadh, saudi arabia received: july 12, 2022 accepted: august 6, 2022 online published: august 24, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n3p55 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n3p55 abstract language assessment, viewed as a means to help instructors guide learners in effectively and successfully learning a language, plays an important role in the skills, competencies, and overall language-learning outcomes of second-language learners. this conceptual article reviews and synthesizes current language assessment practices and issues in english education in saudi arabia. it first highlights the overarching features of existing assessment methods practiced in english classrooms in saudi arabia, after which it discusses the factors underpinning those assessment practices and the detrimental effects of such practices on the development of saudi learners of english as a foreign language. the article concludes by proposing a few pedagogical practices with the potential to change current language assessment practices in english classrooms in saudi arabia. keywords language assessment practices, saudi english education, saudi efl teachers, efl classrooms, detrimental effects of language assessment 1. introduction as an essential component of the curriculum for english as a foreign language (efl), language testing can—depending on its execution—strengthen or weaken the process of teaching and learning efl. for that reason, core knowledge of language assessment and the skills used therein are necessary for the process of language teaching and learning and for the mastery of a target language. the growing need for and importance of such knowledge and skills stem from the use of such assessment practices to gauge language learners’ language attainment, current proficiency levels, performance, progress, and achievement, and to generally promote their learning of the language. in addition, language assessment has power and gatekeeping functions by virtue of enabling language instructors to identify their learners’ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 56 published by scholink inc. needs, document those learners’ progress, and determine how the instructors themselves are performing as teachers. in that light, there is no doubt that language testing and language teaching are inextricably linked. in view of their reciprocal relationship, language testing is considered to be an integral part of teaching and learning and serves as a bridge between those two components of language education. indeed, while havnes (2013) has endorsed assessment as an essential prerequisite for learning, eckhout et al. (2005) have argued that effective teaching also cannot be achieved without appropriate adequate assessment. given language assessment’s strong impact on and crucial role in language teaching and learning, it is essential to continuously evaluate language assessment practices in national efl curricula in order to ensure that classroom realities and other contextual factors do not hamper the proper implementation of assessment. continuous, systematic evaluation of any endeavor of language assessment is integral to such curricula, particularly as a means to make projections for the future and obtain data to guide curriculum amendment. a close examination of the current practices of classroom-based language assessment in english education in saudi arabia reveals inadequate implementation and the need for immediate action to transform the dominant traditional, even dogmatized, types of language assessment into innovative assessment practices. thus, the primary aim of this article is to survey the distinctive features shaping language assessment practices in saudi arabian english education and thereby determine which elements contribute to the aforementioned inadequacy. the comprehensive profile detailed in this article encompasses all aspects of current english testing processes in saudi classrooms, with the hope of painting an accurate picture that captures contemporary assessment approaches in the country and justifies continued concerns about contemporary language assessment practices in saudi english education. therefore, this article’s critical analysis of those issues requires and is primarily concerned with the identification of real-world assessment practices in real-world efl classrooms. 2. overview of salient features of current assessment practices in saudi efl classrooms saudi efl teachers continue to execute inefficient evaluation methods or assessment measures and arrangements, such as testing rote memory, knowledge of factual information, and the application of strict rules, instead of testing critical thinking and higher-order comprehension skills using alternative assessment practices that elicit linguistic behaviors. the assessment is mostly carried out using a summative approach that permeated the traditional form of assessment. to monitor students’ progress toward year-end learning outcomes (except for grades 1 and 2 of elementary schools, where continuous assessment is the norm), saudi teachers administer a final english exam that includes an oral test and a written test. the teachers prepare these tests according to specific schema and guidelines developed by the ministry of education (moe). therefore, as indicated by almossa (2021), saudi schools follow a unified system for assessment, which limits the roles they play in the developed language assessment. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 57 published by scholink inc. the oral test, which assesses students’ speaking and listening skills, counts for 10% of the final examination grade. with no official instructions on how to administer the oral test, saudi efl teachers tend to ask students two or three easy questions and instruct them to read one or two sentences aloud from the course’s textbook. accordingly, teachers do not assess students’ performance extensively in aspects such as fluency, pronunciation, intelligibility, and use of lexis and grammar. however, because of the limited time allotted for examinations and the large numbers of students in each class, saudi teachers have no other options. my scrutiny of a number of the english tests administered to students at the intermediate and secondary levels revealed an unpleasant result. according to the official schema developed by the moe, a written test must include questions that address (a) composition, (b) reading comprehension, (c) dialogue, (d) grammar, (e) information, and (f) vocabulary.  the composition questions require students to write essays about chosen topics. lists of guided words that students can use in their writing often accompany these questions. teachers draw the topics and their vocabulary lists directly from intermediate and secondary english textbooks.  the reading comprehension questions follow the same procedure. rather than testing students on new texts similar to those studied in class, saudi teachers test the students’ comprehension of previously studied passages in the students’ textbooks. the questions are not high level, do not test inference skills, do not cover wide aspects of the information presented in the reading passage, and often do not require a genuine understanding of the passage, as they contain response cues.  for the dialogue questions, saudi teachers test their students on incomplete dialogue taken from the students’ textbooks and ask their students to complete the dialogue.  the grammar, information, and vocabulary questions are all fill-in-the-blank, true-or-false, short-answer, multiple-choice, and other selected-response formats. for these questions, saudi teachers select material from grammar, information, and vocabulary exercises in the students’ textbooks. because of this overall test design, the administered exams mainly test students’ mastery of previously taught concepts (albedaiwi, 2014). in other words, as al-mohanna (2010) argued, saudi efl final exams do not measure genuine communicative use of english. in fact, the tests’ scope is restricted to two skills: reading and writing (with no provision for listening and speaking); moreover, the items intended to test reading and writing merely assess students’ ability to memorize, rather than their ability to read and write. overall, al-mohanna (2010) found that saudi efl exams test only very basic knowledge of english, do not assess skill development, and do not provide rich descriptive and diagnostic information on students’ performance. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 58 published by scholink inc. 3. factors informing current practices of assessment in saudi efl classrooms five factors inform the poor quality of the efl tests administered in saudi schools and explain the reasons for and the resulting consequences of these improper appraisal apparatuses. first, saudi english teachers, as the agents of and most prominent figures in language assessment, often have scant training in the general construction and development of language tests or language classroom-based assessments or in the appraisal, specifically, of efl students. graduates of university english departments are only required to take one class in language testing; this class mainly focuses on theoretical issues that are central to language testing, at the expense of addressing practical considerations or, more precisely, providing hands-on opportunities to develop actual english tests that reflect both formative and summative assessments throughout the semester or year. as a result, most saudi efl teachers are unequipped to manage assessment methods and techniques effectively inside the language classroom (rauf & mccallum, 2020; almossa & alzahrani, 2022); to develop tests that accurately measure students’ language proficiency; to interpret and explain the results of the administered tests; or, consequently, to make correct decisions based on the obtained results. additionally, teachers are typically unfamiliar with issues such as the validity and reliability of their classroom assessment practices and, in particular, balancing these issues with practicality; neither are many knowledgeable about basic statistics and item development. in fact, teachers seem to acquire most of their knowledge of testing and assessment through on-the-job experience, instead of through preservice education (al-seghayer, 2021). accordingly, saudi efl teachers are unaware of the different aspects associated with assessment and feel ill-prepared to undertake assessment-related activities, including preparing diagnostic, progress, and achievement tests. moreover, they are unable to track or document learning over time to provide students with a strong sense of where they are, where they are going, and how to get there. these instructors do not integrate their instruction and evaluation as a single area of an encompassing web of continual classroom planning. in sum, saudi efl teachers are neither knowledgeable of measurement or language assessment, skillful in test and item construction, understanding of the issues involved in language tests and the consequences of test use, nor well trained in language assessment (al-seghayer, 2017). al-saadat and al-braik (2004) investigated this lack of training in language test construction in saudi university efl programs. in this study, 60 saudi english teachers from both intermediate and secondary schools responded to a 63-item questionnaire. the results indicated that 67.6% of the participants had minimal training in constructing language tests. similarly, alsamaani (2014) surveyed 50 saudi english teachers from 12 intermediate public schools in the qassim region. the participants completed a taskbased self-critique of classroom assessment knowledge and skills, thinking-aloud protocol, and assessment training needs. empirical data from alsamaani (2014) illustrated participants’ minimal training in constructing language tests. accordingly, both al-saadat and alsamaani argued that more than half of newly employed saudi english teachers are unqualified to design and evaluate efl tests. umer et al. (2018) asserted that developing sound classroom language assessment standards, in line with www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 59 published by scholink inc. modern language assessment techniques, requires saudi efl teachers to build up their language evaluation competencies and skills. the second factor informing the poor quality of the efl tests administered in saudi schools is that a substantial number of currently employed english teachers are graduates of colleges of languages and translation or colleges of arts, which specialize in translation or english literature, in which language testing is not a required course, and in which the program of study marginalizes observation and all related language-teaching practices. consequently, graduates start their professional careers without the training necessary for developing adequate language tests that would inform their efl curricula and pedagogies. language testing courses are not offered to graduates of languages and translation or colleges of arts programs despite the fact that language testing is a field of study that entails a deep understanding of the fundamental theories and principles of assessment in teaching english, as well as familiarity with basic concepts of assessment, approaches, functions, and types of assessment instruments used in english language instruction, as olwi (2020) argued. third, as was noted in the overview, the moe imposes a schema that teachers must follow when designing written english tests, which limits their choice of test tasks. ali et al. (2019) pointed out that saudi efl teachers do not engage in the process of language assessment. in concert with this observation is alseghayer’s (2017) conclusion regarding centralized assessment development and other related issues: efl teachers should be at the heart of the national english curriculum policy planning and be regarded as curriculum makers rather than mere implementers. saudi english teachers are not empty vessels. they have their own experiences, beliefs, and values and their practical knowledge is different from theoretical and pedagogical knowledge. accordingly, these teachers are generators of practical knowledge, making them key agents for changing, improving, and advancing the english curriculum. as such, teachers should be given the responsibility for thinking about what suits their students best, and they should play a central role in all aspects of the planning and implementation of the national english curriculum. (p. 13) fourth, the fear of being questioned by school administrators and supervisors about students’ poor test results and low proficiency levels may motivate some saudi efl teachers to construct exams their students can pass with ease. for such teachers, the number of students who officially pass the exam becomes a bigger concern than ensuring that students are skilled in the use of the english language. however, the results of these adapted tests reflect neither the students’ end-of-semester achievement nor their real language ability. consequently, teaching to and learning to prepare for exams have become the “guiding principle” of saudi efl instruction, and students’ open pursuit of passing scores is a social reality. the students’ learning attitudes thus influence classroom assessment practices. saudi efl teachers because of such reality instead of “teaching,” are teaching “to the exam,” that is, with a high score in mind rather than language proficiency. in this regard, obeid (2017) and umer et al. (2018) noted that due to the perceived undesirable consequences of failure among many students, teachers are under strong pressure to prepare student-friendly assessment tasks. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 60 published by scholink inc. the fifth factor is the popularity of discrete point tests and summative testing of students’ learning. teachers focus on summative assessment and do not have enough knowledge or skill to implement alternative assessments. teachers are more concerned about students’ performance on exams rather than these students’ performance effectively communicating in real-life situations. as a result, saudi efl teachers devote a considerable proportion of their lesson time to teaching to the test by tailoring their instructional content for examinations, thereby depriving students of opportunities to learn other valuable english language-related knowledge and skills. 4. the downside of current assessment methods in saudi efl classrooms the existing evaluation development practices of saudi efl contexts—specifically, inadequately developing and incorporating assessment procedures and techniques into efl lessons—have led to educational negligence and its various negative consequences. specifically, saudi teachers are not using assessments effectively to assess students’ learning and progress, support and improve learning efficaciously, or facilitate better learning outcomes. instead, the ineffective practices teachers do use create a long-term dilemma for teaching efl in saudi schools, in general, and for teaching listening and speaking skills, in particular. for instance, saudi students undervalue these skills because of the small fraction of points allotted to them on final exams compared to those allotted to other language skills, which comprise up to 25% of the final examination marks, and because speaking and listening skills are not assessed with a written test. hence, the significance of the english oral test has been drastically reduced, and its prominence has faded. likewise, because students know in advance that the final exam will ask them to write an essay on one of the topics covered or discussed in class, they simply memorize the topics discussed in class, along with those topics’ specific word lists, and regurgitate this content on the exam. thus, rather than testing students’ skills in authentically communicating in english, these exams test students’ memory of language rules and related knowledge. furthermore, this type of decontextualized rote learning does not guarantee students’ understanding or develop their critical thinking or higher-order comprehension skills. overall, constructing english tests in this manner fails to reveal students’ genuine ability to use lexical and structural items in real-life situations. the dominance of an “exam-oriented” culture in saudi efl education also drives teachers to do their utmost to prepare students for the final exams; thus, teachers concentrate primarily on areas and information the tests will cover. as a result, both teachers and students pay more attention to exam preparation than to actual learning (al-hamdan, 2014), even though the exam results do not genuinely reflect the students’ end-of-semester achievement or their real language ability. at the same time, the students’ learning attitudes, that is, their focus on high scores as the ultimate practical goal of learning efl, reinforce these classroom assessment practices. consequently, teaching and learning for exam performance (or “teaching to the test”) has become the guiding principle of saudi efl instruction with less time devoted to activities that will not be part of the test. this narrow focus on passing exams www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 61 published by scholink inc. ultimately means that the academic content in saudi efl classrooms is lacking. the techniques of testing only rote memory, knowledge of factual information, and ability to apply strict grammatical rules— instead of testing critical thinking or higher-order comprehension skills, using alternative assessment practices, and eliciting linguistic behaviors—can assess only a limited number of cognitive skills and functions associated with memory and students’ ability to recall decontextualized information. in other words, reliance on rote learning leads to memorization rather than understanding. therefore, efl courses’ academic content is lacking when teaching and learning are narrowly focused on passing exams rather than on developing deep understanding. moreover, it is believed that traditional testing techniques relying on the reproduction of memorized information fail to truly reflect actual student performance. such techniques are not effective ways of testing expanding learning concepts, which require students to exhibit thinking skills at higher levels than they did previously. umer et al. (2018) investigated saudi efl teachers’ construction of assessment tasks and found that most of the saudi efl teachers who participated in the study assessed their students’ memorization or remembrance of factual knowledge, based upon the amount of factual recall that the students could demonstrate. in addition, teachers tend to tailor their examination questions in accordance with learners’ expectations. there is another adverse consequence of the current ineffective language assessment practices in saudi efl classrooms. most items on these english language exams constructed by saudi efl teachers are discrete point items, which provide little language input and require minimum responses, forcing students to choose from among a finite set of options and to write short responses to a few questions. these exams also include content items requiring only linguistic knowledge, in particular, knowledge of certain forms and structures and a narrow range of language uses. tests conducted in saudi efl classrooms show that this kind of language assessment focuses mainly on testing static knowledge of the english language than on testing dynamic communicative competence. moreover, another detrimental form of the prevailing approach to language assessment is that in tests of productive skills, emphasis is given to the formation of correct grammatical sentences; in tests of receptive skills, emphasis is placed on getting specific details correct rather than understanding the intention of the speaker or writer. consequently, the scope of testing reading comprehension is very narrow, often involving only decoding and literal understanding, without regard for a wide range of writing and reading purposes and students’ possible responses to reading. 5. proposed forms of language assessment and pedagogical practices current assessment practices in saudi efl classrooms, primarily pencil-and-paper summative language achievement tests, must undergo various changes. in general, teachers and the moe should adopt the following range of techniques to implement appropriate language assessment approaches, change the current practice of efl assessment, and boost the pedagogical potential of assessment: 1) align final exams with curriculum objectives, student learning outcomes, and recommended best practices and make assessment practices more transparent in relation to students’ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 62 published by scholink inc. proficiency levels and the teaching process, especially practices that emphasize the recommended communicative teaching approach. 2) make sure the assessment measures also employ alternative assessment practices or a variety of assessment batteries used to detect students’ growth and performance that are consistent with in-class and real-life tasks and that measure what students can in fact do with the language. 3) adopt a competency-based system of evaluations and tests that focuses on communicative behaviors. the evaluation system should draw heavily from an array of alternative assessment techniques that accurately assess higher-order concepts and that are part and parcel of the teaching process. such techniques include quizzes, debates, speeches, descriptive tasks or narration, interviews, exhibits, presentations, portfolios, learning logs, role-play activities, conferences, group projects, written reports, demonstrations, text retelling, dialogue journals, self-evaluation, peer evaluation, anecdotal records, constructed-response tests, reciprocalteaching homework, oral production inventories, multiple-intelligence assessment menus, storytelling, information gap activities, posters, and other authentic testing rubrics that cover production and comprehension skills. such assessments should take place within meaningful activities and authentic contexts that reflect real-world language use and allow students to demonstrate their learning in relation to practical tasks and/or situations. moreover, performance-based evaluations should examine students’ functional competence by way of analytical and interactive exercises. 4) assess students by observing their engagement in classroom activities, by measuring how well their work meets specific criteria, and by giving them a variety of kinds of tests. the proposed assessment procedures should be performed over the long term instead of at a single point in time and should be treated as artifacts of learning accomplished through individual and group projects. 5) ensure that tests generate positive feedback and inform teacher intervention. assessment procedures should also be based on the interrelation of various aspects of language, including grammar, vocabulary, culture, and the four major language skills (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing), among others, to capture students’ total range of skills and abilities and take stock of every aspect of their language production. 6) conduct english proficiency tests at the end of each grade year and use diagnostic indicators to assist students who do not perform well on the tests. 7) make current assessment practices more criteria-based in order to test grammar, vocabulary, reading, and communicative skills. adapted assessment measures should consider six principles: (a) validity (i.e., assess what students know and understand and how they perform in efl classrooms), (b) explicitness (i.e., assessment criteria should be explicit), (c) comprehensiveness (i.e., students should be assessed in a range of contexts), (d) fairness, (e) alignment with teaching, and (f) practicality (i.e., the ease with which a test can be administered and scored). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 63 published by scholink inc. 8) incorporate components in the employed assessment techniques that assess the discursive and pragmatic competencies of saudi efl learners as well as their intercultural competencies. 9) communicate assessment results with students by giving descriptive feedback, which enables students to identify their strengths and weaknesses. 10) assess non-language constructs that are part of communicative competence, including confidence, illocutionary abilities, voice projection, and physical performance. 11) create a task and performance-based assessments that require students to perform a task using skills learned in class to perform real-world tasks in the target language. such assessments may include interviews, oral reports, role play, describing, explaining, retelling, summarizing, paraphrasing, categorizing, comparing, and contrasting. tasks can range from a simple constructed response (i.e., a short answer) to a more complex one. 12) develop integrated language tests, as opposed to discrete tests that measure language skills individually. integrated tests rely on authentic practices and merge language skills; they are also implemented during instruction and not as stand-alone language tests. 13) implement a portfolio assessment that involves recording learners’ progress over time and in a variety of modes to show the depth, breadth, and development of their language abilities. 14) shift evaluation practices from strict traditional testing procedures to less formal, less quantitative ones. 15) deemphasis assessment of learning in favor of assessment for learning. whereas the former is administered at the end of a unit or grading period and evaluates a language learner’s achievement relative to the class’s, the latter assesses a language learner’s learning of a skill or lesson throughout the learning and teaching process. 16) instead of a psychometric summative assessment, apply a more formative approach, one that emphasizes giving feedback to improve performance and boosts language learners’ progressive and potential development. implementing these wide-ranging proposals for quality in-classroom assessment techniques can meet the urgent call from current efl professionals to emphasize inquiry, the application of knowledge, the stimulation of curiosity, the use of english in social and educational pursuits, procedures that require problem-solving, and complex thinking and language skills in efl education. the proposed forms of language assessment and pedagogical practices can also foster comprehension and creativity and promote language activities such as negotiation, collaboration, and cooperation instead of memorization. in time, implementing these practices can allow the realization of the goal of developing students’ englishlanguage competency, which entails an ability to use the language effectively in three modes of communication: interpretive (e.g., listening, reading, and viewing), interpersonal (e.g., listening, speaking, reading, and writing to others), and performative (e.g., speaking and writing in different types of performance). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 64 published by scholink inc. 6. conclusion this conceptual article provides a comprehensive, inclusive, aggregative picture of language-testing practices in efl classrooms in saudi arabia. in doing so, it elucidates the reality of the major features of language-based assessments currently employed in saudi arabian english education. the article also illustrates that current practices in language assessment do not reflect cutting-edge or modern approaches to assessment, due to several factors, and need improvement in many areas. in response, more work is needed to develop language tests that can contribute to realizing the purpose of learning and instruction and help build saudi efl teachers’ capacity in language assessment. to that end, this article’s in-depth analysis can serve as a starting point for initiating change and promoting the adoption of more effective and efficient methods of assessment, ultimately improving teaching practices in the saudi efl context. references albedaiwi, s. (2014). efl materials in public school classrooms in saudi arabia. an investigation of the extent to which teachers engage in materials/textbooks development in order to design learning experiences to meet the needs of their students as an indicator of teacher autonomy (unpublished doctoral dissertation). university of glasgow, glasgow, scotland. ali, s., ahmad, h., & khan, a. (2019). testing in english language teaching and its significance in efl contexts: a theoretical perspective. global regional review, 4(2), 254-262. https://doi.org/10.31703/grr.2019(iv-ii).27 al-hamdan, b. (2014). a discursive lens on english language teaching and learning in saudi arabia (unpublished doctoral dissertation). the university of queensland, brisbane, australia. al-mohanna, a. (2010). english teaching in saudi arabian context: how communicatively oriented is it? journal of king saudi university (language and translation), 22(1), 69-88. almossa, s. (2021). assessment literacy: transnational teachers’ concepts, practices, and professional development needs. in a. ahmed, & o. barnawi (eds.), mobility of knowledge, practice and pedagogy in tesol teacher education: implications for transnational contexts (pp. 83-106). springer international publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64140-5_5 almossa, s., & alzahrani, s. (2022). assessment approaches of english language teachers in the saudi higher education context. language testing in asia, 12(10), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468022-00160-x al-saadat, a., & al-braik, m. (2004). assessing the roles of teachers and supervisors of english as a foreign language in the reform of english language curriculum in saudi arabia. scientific journal of king faisal university (humanities and management sciences), 5(1), 197-214. alsamaani, a. (2014). evaluating classroom assessment techniques of novice saudi efl teachers. journal of arabic and human sciences, 7(2), 63-81. https://doi.org/10.12816/0009602 al-seghayer, k. (2017). reality and challenges of tefl in 21st-century saudi arabia. saudi arabia: hala printed co. https://doi.org/10.31703/grr.2019(iv-ii).27 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64140-5_5 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-022-00160-x https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-022-00160-x https://doi.org/10.12816/0009602 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 65 published by scholink inc. al-seghayer, k. (2021). factors underlying current saudi efl teachers’ approaches to teaching the four macro and micro language skills. international journal of english linguistics, 11(5), 44-61. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v11n5p44 eckhout, t., davis, s., mickelson, k., & goodburn, a. (2005). a method for providing assessment training to in-service and pre-service teachers. paper presented at the annual meeting of the southwestern educational research association. new orleans, la. havnes, a. (2013). assessment in higher education: a chat perspective. in g. wells, & a. edwards (eds.), pedagogy in higher education: a cultural historical approach (pp. 89-104). cambridge: cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139035699.006 obeid, r. (2017). second language writing and assessment: voices from within the saudi efl context. english language teaching, 10(6), 174-181. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v10n6p174 olwi, a. (2020). english as a foreign language teachers’ assessment competence at taibah university. theory and practice in language studies, 10(9), 1158-1166. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1009.22 rauf, m., & mccallum, l. (2020). language assessment literacy: task analysis in saudi universities. in mccallum, l., & coombe, c. (eds.), the assessment of l2 written english across the mena region (pp. 13-41). palgrave macmillan, cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53254-3_2 umer, m., zakaria, m., & alshara, m. (2018). investigating saudi university efl teachers’ assessment literacy: theory and practice. international journal of english linguistics, 8(3), 45-56. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v8n3p345 https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v11n5p44 https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139035699.006 https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v10n6p174 https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1009.22 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53254-3_2 https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v8n3p345 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 71 original paper an exploration of marginal female images in the sot-weed factor yang li1 1 school of foreign languages, xinyang normal university, xinyang, china received: november 16, 2025 accepted: december 1, 2025 online published: december 12, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n4p71 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n4p71 abstract the sot-weed factor by the american writer john barth is a long historical novel with strong black humor. parody, metafiction and other writing techniques are applied in the book, which has become one of the representative works of postmodern literature. the author deliberately shapes a group of marginalized female character images and tries to show the complexity of human nature and the absurdity of life in a special culture environment, expressing his deep sympathy for the tragic fate of vulnerable class. this paper attempts to analyze humanistic care and practical significance in the contemporary world through combing and summarizing female images and their awakening consciousness in the novel through post-modernism historical perspective. keywords female image, marginal figures, the sot-weed factor, post-modernism, john barth 1. introduction “modernism saw a major advance in the status of women in society, but it was also a period of struggle and anti-struggle,” (hanna, 2016) julian hanna, a famous literary critic wrote in her book the core concepts of modernist literature (2016). the outstanding american writer, john barth’s the sot-weed factor was exactly published in 1960, at the height of radical feminist movement. “among my ambitions in writing the sot-weed factor was to perpetrate a novel so thick that its title could be printed horizontally across its spine.” (barth, 1984) there are many rebellious but meaningful characters in this great book, in which the female images have typical postmodern characteristics. xiao chengxiao, a chinese domestic scholar also believed: “the 1960s was a special period in the history of the united states, during which the women’s liberation movement, the counterculture movement and other events happened as a real history.” (xiao, 2021) from the perspective of grand structure, the sot-weed factor is a long masterpiece that barth intentionally parodies henry fielding’s tom jones. after careful and patient reading, the attentive readers can often feel the deep sympathy and implicit praise for the female characters in the lines. “malden itself was becoming every day more evidently a gambling house, tavern, brothel, and opium den.” (p. 294) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 72 published by scholink inc. “shifting with masterly nonchalance from tetrametric to pentametric verses, he next proceeded to flay the inhabitants of his poetical bailiwick--that shore where no good sense is found, but conversation’s lost, and manners drown’d. . .”(p. 295) there is no doubt that barth’s delicate refinement of character language and ironic description of traditional historical figures make this novel have profound social value, which goes beyond the scope of parody in the purely literary sense. zhuli, a chinese feminism critic concludes: “the rise of the women’s liberation movement has brought about the vigorous development of feminist literary criticism.” (zhu, 2011, p. 7). and a western scholar, mary allen pointed out that barth might be the person who integrated the feminine characteristics of the new age into literature. the images of marginal women in the sot-weed factor were complex and multi-dimensional, and the sex workers focused on the contradictory unity of the physical slut and the spiritual lady. barth satirized a wide variety of men and praised females’ pure and kind inner character without deliberately mock any of their characters. 2. carnal figure: women’s cries and struggles although women’s deviant behavior seems to be the external expression of their subjective active consciousness, the social environment is the decisive influencing factor. in the 17th century european and american society, most lower-class women existed as relatively weak individuals, living in strange primitive natural environments (atlantic or indian tribes in north america), in addition to the dependence of men almost no other way to survive, no matter when and where they could only be marginal characters—the value of their existence seems to be only for the pleasure of men. they strove to make their own authentic voice, and resolutely fight against external forces. however, with the development of the story, it is not difficult to find that women can spontaneously help others in the harsh natural and social environment, reflecting the valuable beauty of human nature and universal value. they were not only the indispensable guide and guardian of the hero’s growth, but also the author’s deep concern and sympathy for the vulnerable groups. 2.1 body’s carnival and scream the famous literary theorist, bakhtin michael（1895—1975）pointed out that all the preexisting hierarchical relations and differences in official titles were temporarily abolished in the carnival, and people seemed to be reborn for the sake of new and purified human relations. in the sot-weed factor, women’s principal tickets to talk in the male world were their appearances and bodies. after the gender bias disappeared, they could obtain relatively equal social status and voice in the catalytic environment of alcohol and biological desire. in the eyes of most secular men, the contemporary female was only a kind of commodity that could be traded for money, and the greatest value of women was to offer provide sensory pleasure to their customers. carnival activities targeting females were quite common in the sot-weed factor, which were mixed with their weak cries, but full of appeals and calls for fairness, justice and pure love. as a woman living in the bottom of society, joan toast must show her attractive glamour in order to seek the basic survival and social discourse: she had warm brown eyes, a voluminous figure, and tight, seductive skin. a casual touch of her delicate hand gave ebenezer an electric thrill and a strange attraction that ignited the passion in his nature.” (the sot-weed factor, p. 31) although this female protagonist had already a fixed male lover---john mcevoy. “ she loved her john for all……they seemed, in fact, a file:///d:/mydrivers/software/baidu-translate-client/resources/app.asar/app.html%23/%23 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 73 published by scholink inc. devoted couple, and jealous.” joan still became a public and popular topic of gossips and even the bet of men in london’s lockett tavern, allowing them to examine and admire her with strange and purposeful eyes, and carnival in the environment of extravagance and money. “no one-crown frisker joan, but a two-guinea hen well worth the gold to bed her.” from the puritan viewpoint, the relationship between men and women was unconventional. however, joan was the first grown woman with whom ebenezer cooke fell in love deeply. “he sweated, blushed, and dreamed two score ragged dreams. he studied the ears joan toast had touched, as though by study to restore their tingle, and when he could by no means succeed, he recognized with alarm that it was his heart she now had hands on” (the sot-weed factor, p. 35). then, she appeared as not only mcevoy’s associate (who, girl as well, was both his love and his living), but also a momentous wager between ebenezer and ben oliver in the part i of full-length novel. obviously, the topic of human beauty and enjoyment was an important part of the social orgy of gentlemen. only after showing attractive figure shapes could women attract men around them, obtain a certain economic income and equal opportunity to speak, so as to ensure their financial life, and then it was possible to further shout for the legitimate rights of individuals. but at the end of her life, she steadfastly refused to be visited by all men, no longer willing to bear their sights, including her legal husband and doctors. “she refuses,” anna reported a minute later. “she says she hath no quarrel with me, but wishes to die without having to endure the sight of another man. not e’en dr. sowter may come near her anymore.” therefore, it could be seen that she had developed a strong sense of autonomy and independent personality, daring to resist the patriarchy that once harmed her. similarly, mary mungummory was also a professional and traveling social butterfly who paid a great price for her calf love in adolescence. however, after becoming swineherd—“a large and blowzy woman of middle age”, she would still sincerely helped ebenezer get warm clothes, being regarded “the most virtuous person i met in maryland.” (the sot-weed factor, p. 547). then she told him the tragic story of mr. william tick and private history of charley mattasin, which to a certain extent satisfied the vigorous curiosity of the young “poet” and touched his soul deeply. although mary was not the main character in the fiction, she was willing to appear in time and lend a helping hand in time when strangers were in danger, and successfully helped them out of danger. moreover, as the narrator of a legendary story, her identity, social experience and specific vision provided the poet with new writing materials and inspiration, thus becoming an indispensable part of the grand narrative strategy. although being a floating tramp prostitute, she could even pose a philosophical question about the nature of civilization and barbarism with well-read gentlemen: “does essential savagery lurk beneath the skin of civilization, or does essential civilization lurk beneath the skin of savagery?” (the sot-weed factor, p. 383) sometimes she failed to offer a satisfactory answer to friends’ difficult question, the lady had rich life experience and was diligent in thinking. besides, she told the information or stories of lots of figures including missing anna cooke, billy rumbly--the indian from maryland and the miller harry russecks to the leading male teller, ebenezer. although mary might inadvertently make some logical errors due to personal cognitive problems, she was still a very vital link and clue in the interlocutor and played the transitional role. thus it could be concluded, mary appeared as an indispensable storyteller, spectator, narrator and recorder in file:///d:/mydrivers/software/baidu-translate-client/resources/app.asar/app.html%23/%23 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 74 published by scholink inc. the third part of the novel according to barth’s design. representatives of vulnerable groups have gained a certain degree of discourse power. 2.2 the contrast and struggle of females’ identity on the surface, most of the women or girls in the book were in a relatively humble position, and almost all of them were in favour of sexual openness, such as joan toast and mary mungummory, anna cooke and so on. they were pure and beautiful girls in the beginning, relying on their own and suffering a lot in the journey of wandering in the foreign lands. most of them became swine maid, pirate or barbarian captives with vulgar speech and behaviors. but this kind of writing did not represent barth’s discrimination and prejudice against women. on the contrary, he had always been concerned about the change of women’s social status. in an interview, barth clearly expressed her sympathy for the female of his generation: “if you are a girl, your career choice is to be a wife and a mother; if you are lucky or poor, you may become a teacher, a secretary or a nurse.” (barth, 2015, p. 7) thus his attitude towards contemporary feminism could be learned clearly here. even females were forced to engage in menial work for a long time, suffered from serious illness and death, the women in barth’s fiction still kept noble feelings and unyielding fighting spirit. they retained the gentle and virtuous female characters in their hearts, and made every effort to protect their love and family affection until the end of life. in the sense of reality, discrimination and negation of women in the mainstream american society led to the distortion of women as prostitutes in the novels of the 1960s. the social identity brought by the body imprisons women’s freedom and seriously infringes their right to pursue free personality expression. therefore, they had no choice but to wander in different regions and countries, adopt different names so as to obtain different identities, and thus fought against traditional secular forces. joan toast, for example, used to assume a name as susan warren, became the true master of malden hall, and legally punished her beloved and innocent husband in the end. different names represent different identities and opportunities for survival. susan’s outlook on life was relatively pessimistic, believing that the real world was absurd and full of uncertain evil, so the so-called macro history was also unreasonable. the active struggles of female groups were not only a counteraction to the mainstream patriarchy but also an external expression of individuals striving to overcome themselves in the reality world. and this kind of fight was resistant and striving for the upper reaches. in the final analysis, what they pursue was still personal freedom and family happiness. from this perspective, women’s search for self-identity and desire of basic human rights like equality and love had broader and deeper social significance. they were truly one of the main representatives of vulnerable groups. 2.3 physical torture and mental suffering julian hanna believed that, “the term ‘feminism’ is often used to describe popular culture or any product that is outdated.” (hanna, 2016) contrary to men’s modern innovative temperament, women are more inclined to nostalgia and emotion. therefore, radical feminists often suffer great physical and mental torture and pain in their processes of self-proving value. as hanna pointed out further, “masculine” language was used to describe the modern and stylistically innovative, while “feminine” terms were used to describe either the products of mass culture or anything outdated or passe-in other words, whatever modernism opposed. the marginal women in the sot-weed factor had overdrawn their lives in advance because they tasted the forbidden fruit of sexuality too early or too much, and had frequent relations with the opposite sex. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 75 published by scholink inc. some of them were infected with deadly syphilis and opium addiction, and some were kidnapped and pillaged by pirates, then their physical and mental health was seriously destroyed. “that instant when he stepped out on the deck, how many women heard -in england, spain, and far cipango -the footfall of the rapist on the stair, or in the path behind? the ranks of women ravished, hundreds and thousands and millions strong, of every age and circumstance -the centuries rang and echoed with their cries; the dirt of the planet was watered with their tears!” (the sot-weed factor, pp. 167-168) because women could not fully control their own fates, lack the basic materials and skills of surviving and fighting alone, they must pay greater prices in the process of forcibly breaking through old conventions and customs. their miserable endings were not simply due to themselves, but the lack of free subjective choices, coupled with the additional effects of deep social thrust. the huge “invisible hand” of social environment was controlling everything, leading the lower social class to suffer from physical and mental hardships. 3. spiritual lady: the cultural pursuit of marginal characters in the traditional western culture and society, the images of women were expected to be good-looking and elegant ladies, who must be competent to care for their husband and children and maintain family harmony. women’s misfortune in reality left them no capability to keep beautiful looks and fair body shape for a long time, but the inner truth could still be the ideal pursuit of marginal figures. however, the new american women in the 1960s tried to break through the inherent stereotype, pursued the liberation of personality, and stuck to the spiritual stance of individual freedom and publicity at the same time,. 3.1 traditional lady image the word of “lady” usually refers to beautiful and virtuous women. in the previous concept, a lady is regarded as a kind of feminine charm conforming to social ethics in the aspects of grooming, speech, behavior, family upbringing and cultural understanding ability. the traditional lady must have beautiful appearance, gentle inner heart, humble moral, virtuous quality, maintenance of social ethics and moral intentions, to maintain the moral needs of purity. they focus on highlighting the cultivation of women’s innocence and kindness, reflecting the traditional value of virtue, without losing the value of modern society. lady sentiment means that virtuous temperament can make women more charming and communicative taste, and better reflect their social status. lady is a title that both exudes the classical atmosphere and permeates the spirit of times. although it is impossible to establish a set of standards to describe the group of ladies, we can explore and refine the inner characteristics of the spirit of ladies, so as to observe the lady education one after another. generally speaking, “beauty, elegance, goodness and strength” are the four characteristics of lady spirit, and the focus of lady education should be “seeking” them with their heart and soul. while the new lady, also known as modern lady, inherits the characteristics of independence, equality, wisdom and smart temperament from the traditional one, but it is not a complete return or copy. under the background of new era and culture, lady has been endowed with diversified connotation. they should have noble moral character, independent personality, dignified and elegant demeanor, and good psychological quality. at the same time, appearance, behavior, conversation, social environment and people are also several aspects and criteria to be considered in defining a modern lady. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 76 published by scholink inc. the majority of marginal women in the sot-weed factor were poor harlots with struggling for a living. they constantly fought with cruel fates and reality, trying to get rid of the predicament of reality, and finally realized the meaning of life, even reached the peak of self-realization. although their social fame were not good at all according to the traditional moral values, most of them were reasonable in interpersonal communication and defended personal dignity and social justice actively with pure and kind souls. therefore, they could be called “spiritual ladies”. these images of being marginalized women in the works were the externalization of barth’s personal feelings and thoughts. it reflected his careful thinking of historical anecdotes and real society, and revealed his sympathy and care for the vulnerable groups. 3.2 the phenomenon of marginal women as special marginal characters, the group of women have always received more attention from western sociologists and writers. german-american social psychologist, k. lewin（1890-1947）first put forward the concept of “marginal human”. he believes that the concept of social change can also be applied to the change of individual social psychology. that is to say, the change of social status is also capable of influencing the psychological and behavioral characteristics of individuals. however, marginal groups might be spiritual pioneers with their own unique experience, ideas and beliefs. one of their obvious characteristics is the humble position in finance and untamed character. homeless female workers, as one typical kind of marginalized figures, intend to highlight the truth, goodness and beauty of individual spiritually after their bodies or faces get aged and ugly. therefore, no matter how unrestrained their words and deeds are, they will not hinder own inner yearning for ideal love and marriage. this is an important internal cause of the special cultural phenomenon from feminism. from the social level, the special image of women workers has typical cultural significance of periods. according to marx weber, “prostitution is as much a cultural phenomenon as religion or money.” (weber, 1999) because the common denominator of these three is that their historical and contemporary forms of expression involve human cultural interests, the values contained in them are easy to stimulate people’s cognitive impulses. obviously, women images in the sot-weed factor had a great influence on men such as “poet laureate” ---ebenezer and his mentor burlingame. joan toast, for example, was undoubtedly ebenezer’s favorite woman whose physical beauty became a unique kind of poetic catalyst, even a simple physical touch can trigger his infinite imagination. “he studied the ears joan toast had touched, as though by study to restore their tingle, and when he could by no means succeed, he recognized with alarm that it was his heart she now had hands on.” (the sot-weed factor, p. 35) “am i waked to the world from a thirty-year sleep?” he asked himself. “or is’t only now i’ve begun to dream? surely none awake e’er felt such dizzy power, nor any man in dreams such bursting life! hi! a song!” (the sot-weed factor, p. 40) from here we see that, it could be believed that she guided the naive college students to grow up in the material and spiritual world, and tried her unswerving best to protect true love, blessed marriage and common homeland. ebenezer scarcely noted her departure, so full was he of his love; he strode feverishly about the bedchamber, hands clasped behind his back, pondering the depth and force of his new feeling. henry burlingame iii, another important male protagonist, was expelled from malden manor-house because of his suspicious affair with ebenezer’s elder sister, anna cooke. but thenceforth he got a precious opportunity of embarking on a new adventure. his attitude to gender identity was nihilistic to some extent: he neither fully understood his student’s adherence to virginity, nor had any strong www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 77 published by scholink inc. subjective judgments about this. he was suspected to be a pragmatist, and his ambiguous attitude towards gender partly reflected an absurd outlook of american academy on the ideal life in the 1950s. although the mentor would often satire ebenezer’s obsession with physical purity and poetry, he had any scarce prejudices about them in the actual process of companionship. at the time of barth’s creation of this novel, there was a growing awareness that men were not fundamentally different from women, and it seemed meaningless to emphasize the social distinction between male and female too much. “by the time he (ebenezer) found some visitor’s saddled horse and mounted, the image of joan toast had somehow got blurred with that of burlingame, on the one hand, and his own cause merged in some way with anna’s on the other, so that the two pairs stood in an opposition no less positive for its being, presently at least, not quite identifiable.” (barth, 1967) this vague fusion of images in the main protagonist’s ideology implied the similarity and complementation of the two characters, at least some spiritual resonance. consciousness gender artificially constructed may have only physiological significance, but it should not be elevated to the level of public morality or religious law, otherwise it may infringe on civil liberties and invade others’ privacy heavily. therefore, it could be said that barth tried to eliminate the binary opposition of gender and further called for the real equality between men and women in the post-modern american society. 3.3 cultural identity of post-modern women there is no doubt that post-modern feminism is an important part of postmodernism in theory, thought and methodology. western feminism has been formed and developed since the enlightenment era in the 18th century. western academic circles generally believed that mary wollstonecraft’s a vindication of the rights of woman (1792) was the most important feminist work of the pre-19th century. mary ellen evaluated in her treatise that barth might be the very person to lead literature into a new era of female characterization. it could be seen that barth would certainly show us a different female world in his works. as an outstanding representative of american postmodernist literature, barth was quite good at simulating and imitating western classic literary works, especially european carnival rewriting. for instance, the alcoholism and lengthy stories paraphrase in the sot-weed factor easily made ebenezer dizzy lots of times. barth’s experimental novels, giles goat-boy and chimera, were both parodies and rewriting of ancient greek fables or myths. just as a chinese professor, wang jianping, pointed out: “from the perspective of methodology, the historical discourse in postmodern novels has the dual function of theory and practice. in other words, postmodern novels break the boundary between literature and history, theory and practice.” (wang, 2011). because postmodernist aims to question traditional values dominated by white men, using the strategies of mainstream culture itself to challenge and disrupt its processes from within, parody becomes the central ideology of some marginalized groups. feminist literary criticism also began to enter the mature post-modern period. the biggest feature of postmodern feminism is the emphasis on femininity and respect for female experience. specifically, the period of feminism from the 1980s to now mainly emphasized the objective existence of gender differences between men and women, and no longer blindly pursued gender equality in the previous stage. the basic slogans and demands put forward by contemporary feminism “directly or indirectly express and realize the basic goal of post-modernism to rebuild human culture.” (gao, 2005) women scientists, politicians and artists have appeared on the world stage, and their achievements were universally recognized. after successfully fighting for cultural www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 78 published by scholink inc. identity and social recognition, postmodern women also bear a more important historical responsibility, not only for their own interests, but also for the well-being of others and groups. therefore, postmodern novelists “deconstruct and subvert fictional worlds while rebuilding a real world that recognizes differences, respects others, and develops sustainably.” (chen et al., 2019) 4. conclusion by creating these female images, john barth expressed his sympathy and concern for the situation of contemporary women. he ruthlessly revealed the prejudice and discrimination against women, as well as the statuses and roles of marginal groups in society. at the same time, these female images also reflected the author’s criticism and reflection on the nihilistic view of women. by compiling the legendary stories of marginal female characters, he explored the profound themes of love, humanity, morality and so on, trying to arouse mass readers’ deep thinking and discussion on these phenomena. in general, most of the women roles designed in the sot-weed factor were in the fringe of mainstream society, and the artistic images were complex and multi-dimensional, so they not only had the disrespectful characteristics in the bodies but also the quality of innocent and kind in their spirit at the same time. these innovations showed the complexity and contradiction of the female images in a certain period, reflecting author’s deep thinking and concern about the historical and contemporary female issues. as is well-known, women are the indispensable half for men no matter in which era, and vice versa. the harmonious unity of genders is one of the necessary preconditions for the stability and prosperity of a family and even the whole country. author profile yang li (李阳) was born in xinyang city, henan province, china. he is pursuing a master’s degree in english language and literature at the school of foreign languages, xinyang normal university. email: younger220329@163.com project overview this thesis presents a preliminary study from “2024 graduate research innovation fund” at xinyang normal university, titled as “historical narrative strategies in the sot-weed factor” (project id: 2024kyjj053). references barth, j. (1967) the sot-weed factor (p. 31, p. 35, p. 40). garden city, n.y.: doubleday & co. barth, j. (1967). the sot-weed factor (p. 306). garden city, n.y.: doubleday & co. barth, j. (1984). the friday book (p. 52). new york: the johns hopkins university press. barth, j. (2013). the sot-weed factor (p. 547). translated by xu chaoyou & li zixiu. nanjing: yilin press. barth, j. (2015). an endless story to tell: an interview with john barth, from cui yali, physical slut, spiritual virgin: female image. mudanjiang: journal of mudanjiang institute of education, 2015(4), 7. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 79 published by scholink inc. chen, s. d. et al. (2019). on the american postmodernist novel (p. iv). beijing: china renmin university press. gao, x. y. (2005). on postmodernism (p. 343). beijing: china renmin university press. hanna, j. 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(2011). the evolution of female subjective consciousness: a study of american women's fiction in the 20th century (p. 7). zhengzhou: henan people’s publishing house. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper on the translation of chinese webcomics: a case study of my dear highness peng liu1* & fu-ting yu1 1 college of foreign languages, china three gorges university, yichang, china * peng liu, e-mail: 769909053@qq.com received: june 9, 2022 accepted: july 3, 2022 online published: july 22, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n3p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n3p1 abstract this paper discusses how to translate chinese webcomic strips using my dear highness as an example. in our translation practice, such methods as variation translation, omission, and shift were adopted to deal with address forms or lengthy sentences, while free translation was used to deal with four-character structures and culture-loaded words or phrases in the original text to the effect that the intended meaning of the source text can be accurately conveyed to target readers under a multimodal context. we believe that whatever methods are used, the ultimate purpose of translation remains the same, and that is, the reading experience provided by the original text can be restored to the greatest possible extent. keywords translation of chinese webcomics, my dear highness, multimodality 1. introduction in recent years, more and more chinese video games, films, tv dramas along with literary works have been produced and some of them have been translated into foreign languages and are accessible online. to ensure the quality of such translation has becoming an issue as well. out of this consideration, we take my dear highness as an example to explore the translation methods of chinese comic strips. the example is an ancient-style fantasy comic strip published serially on tencent animation & comics, describing the protagonists’ journey to the mortal world. to be specific, we will explore how to represent the linguistic features of the original text, how to balance image and text in the representation and how to deal with the culture-loaded words in translation, as all these three aspects pose challenges for translators of similar texts. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 2 published by scholink inc. 2. theoretical background in the context of increasingly rich and complex media forms and modes, it is necessary for translation researchers to explore the construction and transformation of meanings of other modal symbols in translation. therefore, multimodality is sometimes used to investigate the contribution that non-verbal semiotics makes to a range of genres and texts, while gauging how the distribution of meaning across various types of meaning-making resources influences translation (university of manchester, 2022). specifically, a mode is a socially shaped and culturally given semiotic resource for making meaning, such as images, writing, layout, music, gestures, speech, moving images, etc. (kress, 2010). furthermore, haase and stöckl (1998) developed a system network for modalities by investigating the semiotics of language and image in printed media. “he posits all semiotic resources as consisting of core modes such as language, medial variants (e.g. writing), peripheral modes (e.g. typography), sub-modes (e.g. color) and features (e.g. saturation) and demonstrates that modes can be distinguished through their semiotic properties, their cognitive orientation and their semantic potential” (kaindl, 2004). the translation of comic strips, accordingly, falls within the survey of multimodal analysis. some translation scholars have studied the multimodal characteristics of the translation of comic strips. for example, kaindl (2004) comprehensively analyzed the characteristics and elements of comic strip translation and proposed that the study of such translation should take into consideration three modalities: linguistic, typographic, and pictorial. in another article, kaindl (1999) also discussed how each of these three modalities conveys humorous messages in the translation of comic strips. borodo (2015) analysed the interaction between the textual and pictorial modalities in the translation of comic strips and how this affects the choice of translation strategy. according to halliday’s linguistic theory, the relationship between text and picture can be divided into three categories, namely: elaboration, extension, and enhancement (martinec & salway, 2005). in an image-rich multimodal discourse such as comic strips, the visual mode plays a crucial role in the construction of meaning, and the combination and interaction of speech and visual images are vital to meaning generation; moreover, speech and visual images are often in a complementary relationship, referring to different dimensions of meaning (wu, 2021). therefore, it is very important for a translator to cope with both the image and the text of a comic strip in the representational process. the following is an account of what we did in the translation of the chinese comic strip my dear highness. 3. variation translation under a multimodal context in the translation process, the interaction between visual image mode and speech mode undergoes a series of changes according to the negotiation between the source language and the cultural context and social conventions of the target language, presenting examples showing how the color, size, and content of the image are modified; meanwhile, the speech undergoes adjustments and modifications such as reduction, expansion, and rewriting (wu, 2021). such translation skills are what we actually adopted in the treatment of the chinese webcomics my dear highness. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 3 published by scholink inc. 3.1 selection of proper translation in translation, it is common that the same expression in the original text may have to turn into different versions according to different contexts. for example, the chinese word “皇上” as an address form constantly appears in the comic strip my dear highness, the source text (st here after), and its translation has to be variable according to different occasions. for instance, the sentence in picture 1 is said secretly by one of the officials, showing that some of the officials have noticed that ling zhi-xi, the emperor, is much braver. obviously, we can tell from the scene that he is not talking directly to the emperor. therefore, his majesty is an appropriate english equivalent in the target text (tt here after), while in example 2, the chinese word is used to address the emperor face to face, so your majesty will be a better choice which conforms to the english speaking convention. example 1 picture 1 example 2 st: ---皇上? tt: ---your majesty? discourse-analytical studies have shown that non-verbal elements like facial expressions and gestures often play a significant role in face-to-face communication. when it comes to comic strips, the interdependence between verbal and non-verbal components is also important in depicting a character. moreover, in comic strips, actions and dialogues are closely intertwined with the visual representation of characters (kaindl, 2004). therefore, in the translation of the characters’ utterances, some punctuation marks can sometimes be changed or added to express the exact emotion of the characters, and to transmit meanings contained in the para-verbal modes. for example, the translation of the chinese sentence一个使臣还不行礼 in the original text can be faithful only with the addition of both a question mark and an exclamation mark to indicate ling zhi-xi’s anger as shown below in picture 2, since she looks unhappy with her eyebrows raised. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 4 published by scholink inc. example 3 picture 2 st: 一个使臣还不行礼 tt: how dare an envoy not bow to me?! in comic strips, expressions are usually short and concise for the convenience of reading and space-saving purpose. in example 4 below, the chinese sentence “心，感觉静不下来…” was divided into two separate balloons to emphasize that xiao han is in an excited mood. its literal translation would be “it feels like my heart can’t be quiet”. however, we cannot put the english translation in one line as what we normally do since it is not faithful to the original text and fails to fully represent the emotional state of the character. for this reason, we divided its english version into two parts in imitation of the original and put them into two balloons which are close to each other so that the translation can be read at the same time. example 4 st: 心， 感觉静不下来... tt: my heart… is beating fast... 3.2 omission of non-essential words because most of the target readers of my dear highness are young people and their language is mostly casual, while the original text is more verbalized and contains some non-essential expressions, so it is necessary to make appropriate deletions of such unnecessary expressions in their english translation to ensure proper conveyance of the communicative meaning of the original text under a multimodal context. as most of the story of the comic strip takes place in the palace, observances of the royal etiquette and protocol are a must. for example, when the emissary from liang state pays a visit to the emperor of ling, he says “梁国使臣顾庭，拜见凌帝!” at the opening scene as shown in example 5. here the verb “拜见” is appropriately used according to the royal etiquette. yet, as shown by the multimodal www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 5 published by scholink inc. information in the comic strip, the emissary is already in the lobby of the palace, so there is no need to translate the verb, since its cultural connotation is self-evident in the scene. on other similar occasions, non-essential expressions like addressing terms and repetition are sometimes omitted to make a concise translation. example 5 st: 梁国使臣顾庭，拜见凌帝! tt: your majesty, i’m gu ting, envoy of liang state. moreover, a line with too many words can become tedious to read and in the meantime, the space within a picture is limited as texts of comic strips are confined to a dialog box. besides, an english sentence usually occupies more space than their chinese equivalents in printing. therefore, when dealing with a sentence with redundant components in the original text, a translator can reasonably adopt the method of omission. for instance, the context of the chinese sentence in example 6 below is that, ling zhi-xi is delighted to know that xiao han is wearing the clothes she has prepared for him, so she is eager to find him to take a look, with the subtext that “if she does not do that, she will not be able to see it anymore.” if the original sentence is literally translated into “i must go check on him. or he will change into his court dress later and i will not be able to see it anymore”, the english version would seem a little lengthy. for this reason, the clause “就看不着了(and i will not be able to see it anymore)” in the original text is not translated in the final version. example 6 st: 我得赶紧去看看，不然一会儿萧寒换了朝服就看不着了... tt: i must go check on him; otherwise he will change into his court dress... 4. free translation of four-character structures and culture-loaded words in the translation process of a comic strip, the interaction between visual image mode and speech mode changes according to the negotiation between the cultural context and social conventions of the source language and the target language. translation becomes ‘‘rather the placing of linguistic symbols against the cultural background of a society than the rendering of words by their equivalents in another language’’ (malinowski, 1935, p. 18) therefore, translators have to take cultural issues seriously and always bear in mind the cultural implication of a sentence or an expression in their practice. it is found in the translation process of my dear highness that there are many four-character structures and culture-loaded words or phrases to be dealt with under a multimodal mode. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 6 published by scholink inc. 4.1 translation of four-character structures in comic strips, line length and column width are both limited. column width affects readability because of the way we read. many people do not realize that we do not read character by character or even word by word; instead, we scan a line, pausing momentarily to record groups of three or four words. studies have found that a reader can make three or four such pauses on a line before it becomes tiring. to determine line length for optimum readability, a good guideline is between 9 and 12 words for unjustified text (striver, 2022). therefore, when translating a sentence with four-character structures, such approaches as paraphrase or free translation can be adopted because those structures are usually brief in form yet rich in connotation, and a full translation of them may result in lengthy sentences. in this case, a translator is therefore suggested to make it in a simple way by conveying the main meaning of the original sentence or text. let us look at the following example. example 7 st: --颠倒黑白? --我说是黑，谁敢说白? tt: --frame your son up? --what if i do? does anyone dare to question me? in example 7, “frame your son up” is a free translation of “颠倒黑白” for brevity of the language by giving up the metaphoric images of the colors of black and white. as for the second sentence said by xiao han, “我说是黑，谁敢说白”, which informs us that nobody dares fight him, even if what he has said is not correct or what he has done is wrong; in other words, he admits that he has framed his son up. here we use “do” here to replace the phrase “frame your son up” by following the english pragmatic principle of avoiding repetition. here is another example: example 8 st: 一个个过的水深火热的，竟然没人救他们。 tt: they’re living in an abyss of suffering, but no one wants to save them. in example 8, there is a four-character idiom ---“水深火热”, which means that certain people are experiencing untold suffering, seeming to be living in deep water and scorching fire. evidently the original sentence is talking in a figurative way. a literal translation of the idiom would be too long to be appropriate for the comic strip utterance, thus the metaphoric images of deep water and hot fire have to be discarded here and replaced roughly by a similar image abyss. in the chinese comic strip, some four-character structures are modelled after a set idiom, that is to say, the structures are products of parody. here is an example: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 7 published by scholink inc. example 9 st: 死无对证，谁能证明不是萧寒色令智昏? tt: the dead cannot give witness. who can prove xiao han was innocent? in the example above, the chinese expression “色令智昏” is coined after the idiom利令智昏, which means “be blinded by lust for money or gain”, and 酒令智昏 (when wine is in, wit is out.) is another similar parody. the meaning of the phrase “色令智昏” is “lose one’s mind due to lust for beauty”. in this context, jiang qian, the regent, wants to get dirt on xiao han by slandering him that he molested the concubine and then killed her out of his lust for her beauty. as the original sentence is in the form of a negative question, which can be understood as “who can prove that it’s not xiao han that lost his mind due to lust for beauty, and molested the woman?”. in other words, the speaker is questioning who can prove xiao han is innocent. accordingly, the whole sentence was finally translated as above. 4.2 translation of culture-loaded words since my dear highness is a sort of romance and its wording is similar to our everyday language, as the author has used some catchphrases and internet buzzwords in the text. all these words have to be handled carefully in translation. as we know, any communicative action or interaction, whether verbal or nonverbal, is conducted under specific cultural context. it is normally for some expressions to be culture-specific and culture-loaded. in the translation of culture-loaded words, one must first understand the communicative function of the source text before he or she can come up with a suitable version that will help elicit a similar response from target audiences. here some relevant examples will be discussed. example 10 st: ---学生萧止，见过夫子。 ---一表人才，礼数周到，倒是跟你很像啊。 ---夫子谬赞了。 tt: ---mr. ye, i’m xiao zhi. ---a fine-looking and polite young man. he is like you. ---thank you. in the example above, the noun “夫子” and the verb “谬赞” are ancient chinese with rich cultural connotations. “夫子” is supposed to be used by the students to call their teachers with respect in ancient times. and the word “谬赞”, which literally means i do not deserve such praise, was used to show one’s good manners and modesty in reply to compliments in ancient china. such practice is obviously different from both western and modern chinese conventions. “despite the undeniable universality of the human condition, there are of course also subtle if crucial differences in cultural preferences, mentalities and values that need to be known to the translator when he or she embarks on a covert www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 8 published by scholink inc. translation and sees the need to apply a cultural filter.” (house, 2006) as a result, in translation of such elements, we employed the skill of free translation by giving up the cultural connotations yet restoring the reading experience to the greatest possible extent. as we know, culture-loaded words sometimes do have important communicative value in cultural transmission. there are occasions, in which a translator tries to preserve the exotic style of the original work so as to meet the target readers’ psychological expectation of knowing foreign culture through reading the translated version. there are other times when the cognitive difference between english-speakers and chinese people might occasionally influence the way in which a translator handles a particular object. nevertheless, when conveying the information of the original text, he or she has to consider the reader’s reading experience and acceptability. what we mean here is that when a literal translation would damage the integrity of the target language or fail to convey the original message, or when it conflicts with the cognition of the target readers, we as translators have to choose appropriate translation method in a creative way. here are two examples below: example 11 st: 他还有这样的身手？！ tt: he knows kung fu? a literal translation of the culture-loaded word “身手” (body and hand) in example 11 may cause difficulties for a target reader to understand, meanwhile its deeper meaning is difficult to be explained clearly within the limited text box, hence we may adopt the strategy of foreignization and change it into a more popular chinese term kung fu, which is also known to some westerners. example 12 st: 大哥，你不疼吗? tt: aren't you hurt? man! in example 12, the addressing term “大哥” is a polysemous word with four meanings: husband, the eldest brother, the eldest son, and an elder brother. but here in this comic strip, it is clear that the two characters are not relatives and the word “大哥” is a vocative which is frequently used in daily life. obviously a literal translation of the term would be inappropriate; instead, “man”, an expression with a similar meaning, can be a perfect match, both cognitively and culturally. 5. conclusion in an image-rich multimodal discourse such as a comic strip, visual mode plays an important role in the construction of meaning, and is interactive with speech to convey intended meaning of a text. a translator is supposed to handle well the complementary relationship between images and speech, as www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 9 published by scholink inc. they refer to different dimensions of meanings. nowadays, translation of comic strips is making its due contribution to the diffusion of chinese stories. and such stories in the form of comic strips have established themselves as a critical medium for inter-cultural communication, promoting better understanding between different nations and cultures. as more and more chinese comics and animation products tap into the foreign market, it is reasonable to believe that how to better translate such products is worth further research. references borodo, m. (2015). multimodal, translation and comics. taylor & francis online, 23(1), 22-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676x.2013.876057 haase, j., & stöckl, h. (1998). action-theoretical concepts for dictionaries on the internet. international journal for language data processing, 22(2), 5-37. house, j. (2006). text and context in translation. journal of pragmatics, 38(3), 338-358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2005.06.021 kaindl, k., (1999). thump, whizz, poom: a framework for the study of comics under translation. target, 11(2), 263-288. https://doi.org/10.1075/target.11.2.05kai kaindl, k. (2004). übersetzungswissenschaft im interdisziplinären dialog: am beispiel der comicübersetzung. tübingen: stauffenburg. kress, g. (2010). multimodality: a social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. london: routledge. malinowski, b. (1935). coral gardens and their magic (ii). london: allen and unwin. martinec, r., & salway, a. (2005). a system for image-text relations in new (and old) media. visual communication, 4(3), 337-371. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470357205055928 striver, i. (2022, february 22). line length & column width. retrieved may 21, 2022, from https://www.fonts.com/cotent/learning/level-2/text-typography/length-column-width the university of manchester. (2022, february 22). multimodality in translation and interpreting studies. retrieved may 21, 2022, from https://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/ctis/research/ themes/multimodality ako culture: my dear highness!. (2021, may 12). retrieved september 19, 2021, from https://ac.qq.com/comic/comicinfo/id/647973 (in chinese) wu, y. (2021). a study of multimodal translation under the media turn. journal of shanghai international studies university, 44(1), 115-123. (in chinese) https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676x.2013.876057 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2005.06.021 https://doi.org/10.1075/target.11.2.05kai https://doi.org/10.1177/1470357205055928 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper uncovering the challenge of vocational education policy yasdin1, amirullah abduh1, bakhrani abdul rauf1, edi suhardi rahman1, & mithen lullulangi1* 1 universitas negeri makassar, makassar sul-sel, indonesia * mithen lullulangi, universitas negeri makassar, makassar sul-sel, indonesia received: june 25, 2021 accepted: july 27, 2021 online published: august 18, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n3p78 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n3p78 abtract this study aims to describe the challenges faced by educational actors in developing vocational education mainly in the political perspective of vocational education. this research is a qualitative research. data were collected using open interviews with 16 participants. participants in this study came from the government, schools, industry, professional associations, media, the community, and non-governmental organizations. the results showed that the interest groups in vocational education faced four challenges in the development of vocational education. the challenges are in the form of bureaucratic challenges, management challenges, collaborative challenges, and trust challenges. this challenge arises because the development of vocational education is closely related to the allocation of resources including, human resources, budget, and facilities. the implications of this research can be used to improve communication between interest groups in the development of vocational education that can be used at the national and global levels. keywords uncovering, challenge, vocational education, policy 1. introduction the development of education especially technical and vocational education (tvet) became an interesting discussion in the 21st century. in various countries, the development of education including tvet was faced with various and varied challenges. vocational education must be a personal, local, national and global victory (white, bruce, & ritchie, 2000). at the global level, discussions of tvet are still often separate. a number of opposites that show fundamental contradictions. discussion of tvet at the national or international level is not finished because it only involves a number of interest groups (grollman & rauner, 2007). while tvet is very vulnerable to group interests (ozurumba & ebuara, 2014), it 78 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 cannot be separated from the interests of the community (shan, liu, & li, 2015; shavit & müller, 2000). the goals are various goals for person development, sociopolitical goals, and economic goals (lauglo & mclean, 2005) and give value to the skills provided (clarke & winch, 2007; murgor, 2013). the exclusion of interest groups in education which tends to often damage the organizational structure (hoy & miskel, 2013). ideally, all groups are involved in the development of tvet. this engagement is assumed to be the politics of tvet and plays a role in shaping educational policy (zajda & jaja, 2010) and resolving tvet problems (porter & hicks, 1997; kingdon, 2003; richardson, 2008). problem solving and tvet policy making are expected to include all interested and competent tvet actors so that they can respond to challenges in tvet (chan & emzir, 2010). some of the intended actors are the private sector, community or public, and the government including the regional government (galey, 2015). it is this group that is expected to answer the challenges facing tvet at the national and global levels. the challenges of developing tvet are felt by many stakeholders. however, challenges in developing tvet still pay more attention to external factors than internal factors, namely the challenges faced by actors and stakeholders of tvet. for example, chapman (2004) states that the challenges facing education are contributions from external environmental factors. the intended environment is not derived from the tvet subsystem. this study does not in detail look at the challenges and obstacles experienced by tvet. the same thing happened in indonesia. research on the challenges of educational development including tvet is rarely seen from within. like the research conducted by rosmaladewi and abduh (2017) who explored external factors in educational challenges. investigations carried out more on cultural aspects. dollah, abduh, and talib (2017) also examined the same aspect of intercultural study. from various existing studies, the focus is illustrated on the external aspects that become challenges and obstacles in the development of education. this is the basis of this research to see clearly the challenges experienced by interest groups in the development of tvet related to patterns of interaction between factors. this research further explores the challenges facing vocational education in its involvement in the politics of education. 2. methods 2.1 research goal this research encourages qualitative research developed by denzin and lincoln (2008) which aims to describe the challenges of actors and the development of tvet. this research was carried out for seven months. this research was carried out in south sulawesi province as one of the provinces which had a bias towards the development of vocational education. in the development of vocational education in south sulawesi province, several actors were involved. this actor experienced different challenges in the development of vocational education in south sulawesi province. 79 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 2.2 participant participants in this study came from these interest groups. the number of participants in this study were 16 participants as below. table 1. research participants detail participant (pseudonyms) age ranges educational background current positions sra 50s bachelor degree head of social services agency bep 50s masters degree head of regional planning eka 40s masters degree head of human resources planning agency ipa 50s masters degree head of vocational education section ike 40s bachelor degree head of planning for labour placement ipe 40s bachelor degree head of small medium enterprises agency ama 50s doctorate mayor eja 50s masters school principal dep 40s bachelor member of legislative assembly ewa 50s doctorate head of educational council iwt 60s doctorate president of teacher association lsm 40s bachelor head of community association zkd 50s master head of industry council mpr 50s bachelor industry ecl 40s masters legislative officers art 30s bachelor mass media reporter 2.3 analyzing of data data collection in this study using open interviews. open interviews are used to map the challenges faced by interest groups in developing vocational education in south sulawesi province. data analysis techniques used in this study follow the principles of data analysis developed by corbin and strauss (1990). the data coding structure is used to describe relationships between categories so that it can help researchers think systematically. corbin and strauss (1990) describe five things and conditions that can describe the relationship of phenomena namely causality, strategy, contextual, intervention, and consequences. research data analysis is done by producing and listening to audio, producing and reading interview transcripts, identifying concepts and relationships, and developing categories and 80 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 concepts based on nature and dimensions (strauss & corbin, 1998). the researcher also compared the incidents in the data with the existing research literature. 3. results and discussion the findings of this study show some of the challenges faced by interest groups by stakeholders in developing vocational education. the challenges faced in the development of vocational education are as follows: figure 1. the challenges of tvet development the findings show four challenges faced by actors or groups of interests in the development of vocational education, namely administrative challenges, management challenges, collaboration challenges, and trust challenges. firstly, administrative challenges. administrative challenges faced by interest groups in the development of vocational education in south sulawesi province are in the form of complicated bureaucracy, weak administration, and inter-group authority claims. some opinions are conveyed as follows: for example, for human resource recruitment policies. the provincial government only proposes. but the one who did and issued the employee recruitment formation was the national civil service agency or higher authority. so we below only follow the provisions (eka, 2018). some interest groups rarely sit together to plan together. the average road alone. so that planning administration is sometimes not connected. planning administration is owned by each interest group (ike, 2018). • communication • synergy • cooperation • worker ability • woker mental • school capacity • teacher competence • industrial support • the education curriculum • budget support • facilities and infrastructure • teacher development • supporting information and technology • a complicated bureaucracy • ambiguous administration • claim of authority bureaucratic challenges management challenges collaborative challenges challenges of trust 81 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 bureaucracy is constrained due to lack of support of the law. for example, to help small industries in recruiting workers from vocational education. the provincial government is still hit by the lack of regulations. although the administration supports to be assisted, but if there is no regulation, it is still not assisted (ipe, 2018). now that the era has been digitalized, all forms related to planning should be opened. administration can no longer be kept closed. so, if there are deficiencies, other groups can give advice administratively also to the government (ama, 2018). planning documents that should have been socialized to schools sometimes do not arrive. so weak socialization, finally only known by a small group of people. finally, administration is rarely even owned by schools (eja, 2018). the transfer of management of secondary education from the district government to the provincial government is still lacking with the transfer of assets. some assets are still administered at the district level, even though the management of vocational education has been taken over by the provincial government (dep, 2018). we can see, for business help. so far, it is said that the management is easy. but it turns out that to get the people’s business credit is very complicated and tends to be complicated management of administration (zkd, 2018). from the description of the interview above, it can be explained that the bureaucracy has a role in advancing and developing tvet. supporting administration, easy bureaucracy, greatly supports the sustainability of tvet. bureaucracy will guide the process of managing policies. bureaucratic challenges are closely related to the government system. secondly, management challenges. some management challenges faced by several actors in the development of vocational education include; budgeting, infrastructure management, curriculum management, teacher capacity building, and information technology management. management challenges are expressed by several interest groups in vocational education as follows: the development of vocational education depends on the budget. for the welfare sector, this is a problem. because here our budget is different between technical and non-technical (sra, 2018). the challenge is the budget problem. this must be rationalized. what is the realization plan? support or not? especially the development of vocational education (bep, 2018). increasing the capacity of human resources for the development of vocational education requires a large budget. the challenge, the budget is limited. we sort it out in the form of activities. that’s a technical step (eka, 2018). we strive to develop a curriculum based on local excellence. so far, we have a lot of information technology majors, but they do not help curriculum development. for example for curriculum promotion activities so that people are interested in the local curriculum. the problem is that information technology management has not been very effective for the development of vocational education (ipa, 2018). management becomes weak because it does not touch all levels of education. 82 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 does not involve all teachers. only a small part. tend to be the only one involved. finally, management is not effective. the problem again is because of the budget he said (eja, 2018). vocational education facilities and infrastructure are underdeveloped. tend not to follow the speed of the times. this is the challenge of our future vocational education (ewa, 2018). another challenge that we see is the teacher gap. there is a difference between civil servants and temporary workers. though they are the spearhead of vocational education. there should be no distinguishing status among them (iwt, 2018). from the interviews extract above, shows that the tvet development management challenges are related to resource allocation. allocation of facilities and infrastructure, allocation, human resources, and budget allocation. this indicates that, the challenges of developing tvet related to resource allocation have to do with the politics of education. the linkages are mainly aimed at aspects of political will to manage resources. existing management functions in the development of tvet have not been optimal because of political will. thirdly, the challenges facing the development of vocational education are the challenges of collaboration. part of the collaboration intended by the vocational education interest groups namely, communication, coöperation, and work together. this view is conveyed by several interest groups in vocational education as follows. like there is an institutional ego. each works alone. they should communicate to work together to develop vocational education. here, creativity is needed in accordance with existing rules. education management especially vocational education will not be effective and efficient if there is no work together between interest groups. including us, the legislature. we are ready to support (ecl, 2018). sometimes the workforce produced by vocational education does not match the work requirements. do not connect. this is because communication is not working. never a table. each way. finally, it becomes a problem. this is a challenge. must be a vision. the solution is to optimize communication (ike, 2018). the conclusion from the interview above shows that the challenge of collaboration in the development of tvet arises because of the lack of communication and coöperation between interest groups. so far, the interest groups still carry out their own duties without communicating with related elements. this challenge indicates the existence of an ego of interest groups. finally, the challenges facing vocational education are the challenges of trust. the challenge of trust is in the form of workers “abilities, workers” mentality, school capacity, teacher competence, and industry support. the opinion was conveyed by several interest groups in vocational education as below. very rarely reports on vocational education from a development perspective. even though the media can build public trust. vocational education has been underestimated (art, 2018). the mentality of our vocational education graduates is questionable. if they want to work, what is discussed first is asking for salary. even though we don’t know their abilities and competencies (zkd, 2018). 83 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 companies need workers who are ready to use. what is available so far from vocational education graduates still needs development. still not skilled in skills to be employed (mpr, 2018). the public has never listened to the legislature recess the development of vocational education. they finally did not know the problem of vocational education graduates. teacher competency issues are not addressed. this ultimately weakens mutual trust between interest groups in vocational education (lsm, 2018). the results of the interview summary show that the lack of collaboration between interest groups in the development of tvet is due to distrust. each actor became doubtful about other interest groups because of the motive for the difference in vision in developing tvet. each actor is interested in discussing their respective interests and tends to forget the goal of tvet. 4. conclusion from the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the challenges of managing and developing tvet stem from more internal factors. challenges generally consist of allocating resources in the form of human, budget and facilities. if seen in more detail, the challenges of tvet stem from berauracratic challenges, management challenges, collaboration challenges, and challenges of trust. to answer the challenges in tvet, ideal patterns of partnership and collaboration between groups in tvet are needed. based on the conclusions, suggestions for future research include: (i), partnership and collaboration patterns between vocational education interest groups, (ii) interest management models in the development of vocational education, (iii) optimizing the role of vocational education resources, and (iv) models interest group communication in vocational education. acknowledgement the authors would like to thank for reviewers who contributed to the improvement of this article and and also to the institute of research and community service of universitas negeri makassar for facilitating the implementation of this research. thank you also to south sulawesi province government in indonesia for the permission to conduct this research. references chan, s. m., & emzir. 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(2017). collaborative teaching cultures of english lecturers in indonesian polytechnics. international journal of language education, 1(1), 20-28. https://doi.org/10.26858/ijole.v1i1.2868 shan, h., liu, z., & li, l. (2015). vocational training for liushou woman in rural china: development by design. journal of vocational educational & training, 67(1), 11-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2014.967797 shavit, y., & müller, w. (2000). vocational secondary education. journal european societies, 29-50. https://doi.org/10.1080/146166900360710 85 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00988593 https://doi.org/10.26858/ijole.v1i2.4313 https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12100 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5704-5 https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3034-7 https://doi.org/10.1162/itid.2008.00027 https://doi.org/10.26858/ijole.v1i1.2868 https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2014.967797 https://doi.org/10.1080/146166900360710 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 strauss, a., & corbin, j. (1998). basics of qualitative research techniques. thousand oaks, ca: sage publications. white, c., bruce, s., & ritchie, j. (2000). young peoples politic: political interest and engagement amongst 14-24 years old. york publishing services ltd: london. zajda, j., & jaja, g. m. a. (eds.). (2010). the politics of education reforms (globalization, comparative education and policy research). springer: new york. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3218-8 86 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3218-8 original paper education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 9 original paper teacher performance appraisal in educational system: issues and way out ige akindele matthew (phd)1 1 director, school services, ondo state ministry of education, science, and technology, akure, ondo state, nigeria received: august 3, 2024 accepted: august 20, 2024 online published: september 5, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n4p9 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n4p9 abstract it is an indisputable fact that teacher plays an invaluable role in the educational system. shreds of evidence suggest that teacher quality is the most important school variable influencing the achievement of learners. this paper examines the issues noticeable in teacher performance appraisal in the educational system. in particular, it examines the meaning of the act, the rationale for it in the educational system, and techniques for carrying it out, such as classroom observation, self-assessment, learning outcome measures, and use of the annual performance evaluation form, among others. the paper also examines the issues at stake which need attention, such as subjective assessment of teachers, non and low motivation of teachers, and non-use of the report of appraisal, just to mention a few. it recommends measures for improving the act, such as the use of the report of it by school administrators and government, provision of instructional and other needed materials for teachers, regular training and orientation of teachers, as well as the motivation of teachers in the educational system. keywords teacher, performance, appraisal, performance appraisal, education, system, educational system, issue, way out 1. introduction the role of teachers in the educational system and the development of a nation, cannot be overemphasised. apart from the learners, teachers are the largest and most crucial inputs of the educational system and those influencing to a great extent, the quality of the outputs (fadipe, 2003). a teacher’s mistake if not corrected early enough can be transferred to the learners which will pose a great danger to their future. ogunsanya (2012) opined that teachers transform a learner from nothing to something, nobody to somebody, and from an empty clean state to a mature educated man, heavily loaded with knowledge, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 10 published by scholink inc. skills, and attitudes that can make him fit into the human society. teachers also help to disseminate knowledge to the learners, as well as help the learners to develop good skills, traits, and values. the report of the baguada seminar, held in 1980, cited in okoroma (2006) also declares that: teachers are the main determinants of education. if they are apathetic, uncommitted, uninspired, unmotivated, immoral, and anti-social, the whole nation is doomed. if they are ignorant in their disciplines and impact wrong information, they are not only useless but dangerous. the kind of teachers trained and posted to schools may determine what the next generation will be. it has been emphasised that teacher quality is the single and most important school variable influencing student achievement (organisation for economic cooperation and development (oecd, 2005). the quality of a teacher is a determinant of the quality of education which a child can receive in an educational system. when an unqualified teacher teaches a child, the problem will be poor learning outcomes. given the fact that teachers play a key role in teaching and enhancing, student achievement, there is a need for them to be regularly appraised, monitored and supervised to ascertain their strengths and weaknesses so that appropriate remedial actions can be taken to correct the weaknesses and improve the strengths. 2. teacher and roles in educational system a teacher can be viewed from different perspectives. a school of thought views a teacher as an individual who consciously or deliberately shows others how to do things in a better way. jesus christ was at a time described as a great teacher by his disciples, due to the way he taught them in parables, which exposed them to how to behave and act in society. parents/guardians who give moral training to their children/wards, from the time of birth to maturity age, thus qualify as teachers. another school of thought views a teacher as an individual who impacts ideas, knowledge, and skills into another individual, in an organised classroom setting, using chalk, chalkboard, and other relevant instructional materials. a teacher is thus anybody who stands in front of others (followers), to disseminate knowledge/information to them, which implies that he/she knows more than the followers/learners. a teacher is also described as an individual having specialised training in the pedagogy of teaching, a certificate, and a license that qualifies him/her to impart knowledge. only those with the minimum teaching qualification and the license to teach, thus qualify as teachers. from whichever perspective it is viewed, a teacher possesses knowledge and skills than the followers (learners) and is ready to share these with the followers anytime the need arises. it is thus believed that no individual can give out what he/she does not possess. teachers possess an avalanche of knowledge and skills which he/she is ready to share through teaching. according to senge (2000), in mugwe (2010), a teacher is an expert, capable of imparting knowledge that will help learners build, identify and acquire skills that will be used to face the challenges in life. mbise (2008) sees a teacher as a person having the knowledge, skills, and special training in teaching, explaining, and educating. he/she is also a person capable of creating behavioural change, in terms of cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains, as well as someone helping others to acquire knowledge, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 11 published by scholink inc. competencies, or values. they are the major determinants of quality education, whether at the primary, secondary or tertiary level. no educational system can rise above the quality of the teachers. it needs not be overemphasized that the issue of indiscipline of learners is an albatross in the educational system these days (alidzulwi, 2000; simwata, 2012). teachers are formidable in the handling of disciplinary problems involving learners in schools. apart from serving as agents of correction of learners, some as members of the disciplinary committee, help to investigate cases involving learners and recommend appropriate punishment for those found culpable. teachers are also helpful in the counselling and mentoring of learners. counselling itself plays a great role in the modification of the lives of learners. through it, learners and teachers are orientated on the need to show good behaviours while also helping learners to choose the right career which can go a long way to modify the learners’ life. teachers are also helpful in the mentoring of learners in schools. a mentor is an experienced and more skilful teacher who has agreed to supervise/monitor the lessexperienced and skilful teacher, to be able to show remarkable improvement in teaching. 3. performance appraisal concept, process and objectives performance appraisal is an amalgamation of the words: ‘performance’ and ‘appraisal’. according to the cambridge advanced learners dictionary, performance is ‘how well a person, machine, etc, does a piece of work or activity. the word ‘appraisal’ takes its root from ‘appraise’, which means to examine something and judge its qualities and needs. performance appraisal is thus the process of identifying, measuring and developing an individual’s performance, following an organisation’s strategic goals (aguinis, 2009). it is also a systematic and periodic process that assesses individual employee’s job performance and productivity about certain pre-established criteria and organisational objectives (mayer & gavin, 2005); as well as the process of evaluating how well employees perform their jobs, compared to a set standard and communicating the information (armstrong, 2009, cited in frehun & tufano, 2019). performance appraisal involves the following steps: setting work standards: this is what an organisation wants each employee to achieve vis-a-vis the general objectives of the organisation. assessing employee’s actual performance relative to the standards: the stage where the work or performance of an employee is compared to the standards already set. providing feedback to employees to motivate him or her to eliminate performance deficiencies: at this stage, an employee will be informed about the results, to let him/her know where the weakness lies and areas of strengths. in any organization, performance appraisal is meant to achieve the following objectives: maintains records, to determine compensation packages, wage structure, salary issues, etc. identifies the strengths and weaknesses of employees, to place the right men on the right job. maintains and assesses the potential in a person, for further growth and development. provides feedback to employees, regarding their performance and related status. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 12 published by scholink inc. serves as a basis for influencing the working habits of employees; and reviews and retains the promotional and other training programs. (https://www.managementstudyguide.com/performance-appraisal.htm) 4. teachers’ performance appraisal and rationale for it in educational system teacher performance appraisal is a process by which a teacher’s performance is measured against the established targets (dessler, 2003). target, in this case, means what a teacher is determined to achieve at the end of his/her teaching. it is also a process of identifying, evaluating, and developing the performance of a teacher so that the objectives set by such a teacher can be effectively achieved; as well as a process implemented in educational institutions to assess and evaluate teacher’s performance in fulfilling their responsibilities and achieving the desired outcomes (ogueji & igbo, 2017). teacher performance involves the ability to cause others to learn, including subject matter, knowledge, effective communication, well-organized materials, motivation, and friendly classroom control. a qualified teacher is trained to systematically present facts, skills, and techniques to learners, developing their intellectual and moral personality. teacher performance can also be viewed from the behaviourist view of learning, which involves managing stimulus and response. to foster meaningful learning, teachers must construct experiences that allow students to confront powerful ideas, create bridges between individual experiences and common curriculum goals, and understand their students’ conceptions, cultures, interests, and learning modes. a lot of issues are obvious in the educational system which necessitates the appraisal of teachers and will continue to undermine the achievement of the educational system if not addressed. notable among these is the poor academic performance of learners. it is without any doubt that society expects much from teachers but such expectations, particularly in the area of good academic performance of learners, are disappointing (rahamneh, 2012; daramanu, 2004). it needs not be overemphasised that when learners perform poorly in an examination, teachers are the first to be blamed. many parents/guardians and the government believe that a lot of teachers are not performing their duties conscientiously, hence the poor performances being recorded in examinations. another issue of concern is the need to improve the quality of education. a country desires to achieve qualitative education for the citizens and one way through which this can be achieved is by focusing on the teachers in the educational system, who are the major determinants of quality education. it is being said that no country’s educational system can rise beyond the quality of the teachers, which implies that teachers dictate the quality of the educational system to a very large extent. other things being equal, when the quality of a teacher is improved, there is every possibility that the teacher will provide quality education for the learners which will translate into good academic performance of such learners. there is a dire need for effective monitoring and improving the quality of teaching, enhancing teachers’ professional development, and ultimately, the overall performance of the educational system, which performance appraisal can go a long way to help in achieving. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 13 published by scholink inc. also, it needs not to be overstressed that teachers are the implementers of the education curriculum in any nation. the majority of the teachers in some countries as of today, are products of curricula that are different in terms of content and structure, from the one in operation. there is a saying that it will be difficult for an individual to walk in a night when he/she is ignorant of when the night comes. according to kyahurwa (2013), changes in the curriculum of education at all levels, require teachers to expand their knowledge and skills. it thus implies that teachers will find it difficult to adjust to a new curriculum they are forced to operate. it is thus imperative for teachers to be appraised so that their strengths and weaknesses can be ascertained while trying to operate the different curricula, to become better accustomed to them, be committed, as well equipped for effective teaching of the learners. the issue of inadequacy of teachers in the educational system has also been a persistent and global challenge (godfrey, 2013; unesco institute for statistics, 2016). as of today, the harvest is plenty in the educational system of countries in the world but unfortunately, the labourers are few. statistics (unesco institute for statistics, 2016) specifically revealed that among the regions in the world, subsaharan africa is the neediest continent, requiring 8,988 teachers, followed by eastern asia (requiring 2,596 teachers). oceania needs the least teachers among the regions (i.e. 62 teachers). in some cases, the challenge of inadequate teachers has resulted in the use of teachers to teach subjects they did not study in the tertiary institutions they attended. as of today, contract and part-time teachers abound in some schools, particularly in the rural and difficult areas. if such teachers are not appraised, to determine their weaknesses and strengths, there is every possibility of the weaknesses to reflect in their teaching pattern and ultimately, in the quality of the learners at the end. another noticeable issue is the low-quality teachers in vogue in the system (holmqvist, 2019). many teachers were produced through inappropriate training in tertiary institutions and benefited from faulty recruitment processes. there is thus a need for such teachers to be appraised, to ascertain their strengths and weaknesses, and prevent these from being transferred to the learners, as well as be able to consolidate their strengths, to improve the quality of education they provide for the learners. everand & morris (1992), cited in nompumelelo (2015), supported this having stressed that the initial training received by teachers alone, cannot provide them with the knowledge and skills necessary for lifetime teaching. teachers require an update of knowledge, to move with the changing world, as well as garner the latest knowledge and skills, to be able to perform optimally on the job. there is thus the need for supplemental training which can be achieved after a teacher might have been diagnosed through an appraisal mechanism. ochiewo (2016) stressed the need for teachers to maintain their level of work commitment, and sustain their energy and enthusiasm. it is disturbing that the non-commitment of some teachers is noticeable in the educational system these days (kanu & ursula, 2012; daniel, 2015), which calls for serious attention. many teachers are cheaters who earn a salary they don’t work for. in a bid to garner additional money to supplement their monthly income, a lot of teachers, rather than being on their feet in classrooms, are www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 14 published by scholink inc. found outside schools, engaging in money-making activities. the quality of education being provided by such uncommitted teachers thus leaves much to be desired. the need to set a standard for teachers, for effective service delivery, is very germane, to serve as reference points and help checkmate the activities of non-performing/non-effective teachers. through appraisal, standards for teachers’ performance can be determined for usage. also, among the stakeholders in education, government is the main financier who provides the majority of the resources (human, materials, and financial) needed for the development of the educational system. annually, a certain percentage of the budget of each country worldwide goes to the education sector. to whom much is given, however, much is expected. the government expects the teachers to be committed to their jobs. through appraisal, the government can detect how the teachers are performing their roles, the results of which will serve as feedback for the government and enable it to ascertain areas that need intervention. it will also serve as an avenue to regulate teachers’ activities. performance appraisal information can also be used to find whether a teacher requires additional training and development. deficiencies in performance may be due to inadequate knowledge or skills. this can make the government recommend workshops, seminars, and conferences for such teachers. a closer study of the situation in many tertiary institutions in the world, particularly in africa, from where the present crop of teachers graduated, will reveal inadequacies, such as incessant strikes by staff, student unrest, cultism and attendant closure of institutions for a long period, admission fraud, brain drain, examination malpractice, delay in the commencement of lectures, which are threats to the provision of quality education (eduwen & osagie, 2016). there is thus the need for the present crop of teachers to be appraised regularly so that the viruses they carry from tertiary institutions they attend will not be transmitted to the classrooms and learners. besides, ordinarily, teachers are supposed to be given regular orientation and exposure to workshops, conferences, and seminars, because of the positive effects these can have on their productivity. even though attempts are being made in countries, to achieve this feat, due to poverty, arising from the parlous state of the economy, not all the teachers have ample opportunities to be exposed to these before they retire from service. there is thus the need for teachers who do not have the opportunity to be appraised to determine their strengths and weaknesses, and to take measures to improve them on the job. in addition, a lot of poor-performing and difficult teachers abound in schools. according to yariv (2004), such teachers account for 5-10% of the teaching force and are problems to school administrators, while their negative behaviour is capable of distracting other learners from being serious with academics (banfield, richmond., & mccroskey, 2006). there is thus the need for them to be regularly appraised, to discover their weaknesses, and to ensure that they discharge their duties conscientiously. over the years, there have been criticisms of the practice of mass promotion of teachers, which has been encouraging poor service delivery. researchers have even linked performance appraisal, efficiency and effectiveness of teachers (abagi & odipo, 1997), in shazia & muhammad (2018); monyatsi et al., 2006). to improve the quality of teaching and the teachers therefore, there is a need for teachers to be appraised www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 15 published by scholink inc. so that the ineffective teachers can be dismissed or demoted. there is need to ascertain areas of teachers that need the intervention of government and school administrators, to improve a teacher for effective service delivery, is also imperative. through appraisal mechanisms, these can be ascertained, which if attended to, can help the government to play its role in the development of the teaching process. in addition, agitations for the proper motivation of teachers abound in literature (abdulrahman, 2018; kusereka, 2003; nyakundi, 2012). it is believed that teachers’ status needs to be improved upon in society, due to the roles they play in the educational system. there is a need to recognize and reward high-performing teachers, identify areas for improvement, and provide feedback for professional growth. appraising teachers can thus serve as a motivation factor for professional development (kelly et al., 2008; bartlett, 2000). through evaluation of the performance of employees, a person’s effectiveness and efficiency can be determined if the targets are achieved. this very well motivates a person for a better job and helps him/her to improve performance in the future. there is also a need to evaluate teacher’s adherence to instructional standards, curriculum delivery, innovative teaching methodologies, classroom management and students’ academic performance (omidiora, 2014), which can be achieved through the appraisal of teachers. 5. approaches to the measurement of teacher’s performance stiggin and duke (1990) proposed three evaluation systems for measuring teacher’s performance. the concept of teacher’s performance can be measured in terms of the method of teaching, student assessment, lesson plan preparation, and classroom management, as well as the student’s academic performance. method of teaching: the method a teacher adopts to teach the learners is very important. good teaching methods include building on existing knowledge, encouraging learning by doing, utilizing supervision of instructional materials effectively, creating a learning environment, stimulating appreciation and cognitive development, and varying teaching methods like lectures, discussions, demonstrations, problem-solving, field trips, team teaching, micro-teaching, cai, and role-playing. students assessment: onacha (1997) identified the following three purposes for students’ evaluation of teaching effectiveness; serves as diagnostic feedback to teaching. it is useful to improve teaching; as a measure of teaching effectiveness to be used in administrative decision-making; and as information for students to use in the selection of courses. lesson plan preparation: the primary purpose of the lesson plan is that it should serve as a guide to the teacher. the teacher cannot do his best in the class unless he has effectively prepared each lesson he is to teach. a lesson plan is what brings the teacher into direct contact with his students. oyesola (2000) highlighted the following as important factors to be taken into consideration while planning a lesson: age of the pupils/students amount of time available for the lesson time of the day whether morning or afternoon the nature of the subject matter practical or outdoor class www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 16 published by scholink inc. nature of students’ assessment and how it will be conducted. level of understanding/sophistication of students and their differences. necessary materials that will be used in the lesson are to be identified and made ready for the actual presentation (the order in which the materials must be identified). a well prepared teaching materials not used a t the appropriate time in the lesson is meaningless. oyesola also identified the following three components of lesson format as preliminary information, the body of the lesson and conclusion /recapitulation/assignment. a well planned and well-executed lesson involves and provides for individual differences and is one of the best solutions to disciplinary problems (okorie, 2000). classroom management: classroom management is a teacher-driven process that aims to create a safe environment for learners to achieve supervision of instructional objectives. it gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on behaviour control and conformity to school rules. however, authoritarian or punitive approaches may hinder student growth and the acquisition of more advanced learning modes. 6. techniques for teacher’s performance appraisal in educational system different techniques can be used to appraise a teacher but all are aiming at achieving the same objective, i.e. assessing a teacher, knowing his/her weaknesses for correctional purposes, and showing improved performance in future. common techniques for teacher’s performance appraisal include: classroom observation: a widely used technique. in this case, the head of the department of a teacher, vice-principal academic or assistant head of school, or trained observers observe teachers while teaching in the classroom, to assess their instructional strategies, classroom management, classroom practices, the teaching-learning process, teacher’s personality, student-teacher interaction, lesson note and lesson presentations, and overall effectiveness, strengths and weaknesses. the observation can be carried out using structured protocols, such as framework for teaching (danielson, 2011), which provides a framework for evaluating different aspects of teaching. the technique creates an opportunity for a teacher to be seen it his/her true colour. there is no hiding of any form of strength or weakness as this will be clearer to the observer. the problem with the use of this technique is the fact that teachers when noticed that they are being observed in the classroom, tend to display pseudo rather than real performance, to impress the appraise. self-assessment: involves teachers reflecting on their teaching practices and evaluating their performance against pre-defined criteria or standards (stronge, 2018). this technique entails the assessment of a teacher by himself/herself. the adoption of this technique is premised on the assumption that the teacher will be honest or objective while appraising himself/herself. the technique encourages teachers to take ownership of their professional growth and identify areas for improvement and can be useful for promoting self-reflection and self-directed professional development. how a teacher can be so honest with himself or herself in this case, is a matter of conscience. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 17 published by scholink inc. learners evaluation/rating: learners are formidable inputs in the educational system. they have roles to play in ensuring that schools achieve the desired objectives. apart from the fact that they are those who need knowledge from the teachers, they can be helpful during the appraisal of teachers. this technique involves obtaining feedback from learners about their teachers’ effectiveness (stronge, 2018). specifically, it involves allowing learners to appraise their teachers, to indicate those who are good and those who are bad in teaching, as well as identify their strengths and weaknesses. it can be achieved through the use of a survey or questionnaire that asks the learners to rate aspects of their teachers’ performance, such as clarity of instruction, supportiveness, and engagement. the technique also provides a valuable student’s perspective on teaching effectiveness and can offer insights into areas for improvement. the only inherent fear in the adoption of this technique is the fear by the learners, that is, if a teacher discovers that certain learners rated him/her low, such teacher may fail them in his/her subject or punish them unjustly. there is also the possibility of some learners favouring their favourite teachers when the technique is used. peer assessment: peers are colleagues-teachers who can either be within the same school or outside a school. it is believed that peers can carry out an objective assessment. the technique involves allowing a teacher within or outside a school to appraise another teacher and at the end, show the results to such a teacher, to know his/her strengths and weaknesses. this can either be in the form of an observation of a teacher in the classroom while teaching or a review of the written documents used by a teacher. where observation is preferred, a rating scale that covers aspects of teaching that peers are better qualified to evaluate should be provided. such scale items should address the instructor’s knowledge, mode of delivery, teaching method, learning activities, and the like (berk, naumann, & appling, 2004). there is a tendency for teachers to collude and rate themselves high if this approach is used. use of videos: it involves recording the procedures of teaching by a teacher, using tape, cd or dvd and playing such video after the teaching so that the teacher can have a clearer picture of how he/she teaches, weaknesses and strengths in the teaching, to form bases for improvement in subsequent teaching. a teacher however has to be natural, i.e. be himself/herself while teaching for recording purposes. learners interview: learners are the major inputs that must be processed in the educational system to become finished products (i.e. graduates). they could also be a formidable instrument for appraising teachers. it involves asking questions from a learner, to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses in the teaching of a teacher, to facilitate improvement, which can be used during promotion decisions (ory & braskamp, 1981), in ronald (2005) as well as taking steps to correct the weaknesses pointed out by learners against the teachers. one way this can be achieved is through group interviews which according to braskamp & ory (1994) is evidence that teaching is more accurate, trustworthy, useful, comprehensive, and believable than student ratings and written comments, although the information collected from three sources is highly congruent. measuring learning outcome: a teacher’s level of competence and effectiveness can be ascertained using his/her students’ performance and what they learned in the course of teaching (harris, 2013). such www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 18 published by scholink inc. performance could be through tests, projects, reports, and other indicators. teaching effectiveness can be assessed through student productivity; that is, outcomes. professional learning and practice: a teacher can be assessed based on the level of exposure to opportunities that can improve his/her knowledge and skills on the job. this is based on the belief that such opportunities enhance teachers’ knowledge and skills, leading to improved teaching which raises student achievement. it thus involves using the exposure of a teacher to seminars, workshops, and conferences, to ascertain the worth of a teacher. unfortunately, the challenge inherent in this technique is in the evaluation of student’s achievement as a direct consequence of professional learning. studies, by timperley et al. (2007), confirmed that professional learning can lead to significant improvement in student achievement when: -. learning focused on student outcomes and demonstrated a link between learning and its impact on student achievement. worthwhile content was introduced that involves challenging and purposeful discourse. learning involves the integration of knowledge and skills. what students needed to know and do was used to identify what teachers needed to know and do approaches were responsive to learning processes. engaging teachers in the process and challenging their existing ideas and assumptions was important in developing congruence between new information and practice. opportunities were provided for teachers to process new learning and work on their skills together. external expertise was sought and often necessary to challenge existing assumptions. leaders developed expectations and promoted professional learning opportunities. apart from these, appraisal of teachers can be achieved through administrators’ ratings and use of the annual performance evaluation form. use of annual performance evaluation form: this is a specially designed form, containing questions, and statements, all geared towards ascertaining the quality of a teacher, the results of which can be used for promotion purposes or reward of outstanding performance. such form is usually given to the supervisor of a teacher or his/her head of department, on the basis that he/she has an avalanche of information about such teacher and being a superior teacher who is highly experienced in teaching, can appraise such teacher and give reliable and valid assessment/appraisal. administrator ratings: administrators are those in charge of the management of an organisation. in a school, they are the principal/headteacher, vice-principal/assistant headteacher and heads of departments. the head of the school or any of the administrators can evaluate his/her teachers, using certain standards, such as teaching effectiveness, and rate the teachers based on the overall quality of performance in each aspect of the standards set. where an administrator is biased against a teacher or group of teachers, the results of such an appraisal may not be favourable as it may be influenced by emotional judgment against such teacher (s). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 19 published by scholink inc. 7. teacher’s performance appraisal in educational system: issues at stake despite the importance of teacher performance appraisal, there are issues at stake which are undermining its effectiveness. studies have reported the challenges in the act (frehun & tafano, 2019; cherenet, 2019). it is an act teachers are being forced to do rather than being willing to do. mondy and noe (2008), in owuonda, odera., and rodah (2020) attributed it as a negative, frustrating activity since the appraisal data can be used as a basis to lay them off or demote them. such attitudes and perceptions are likely to bring about feelings of displeasure, fear and a sense of unfair practices. when an employee feels that their job is insecure, they tend to develop negative attitudes and perceptions towards the individuals implementing appraisal (tornero & taut, 2010). monyatsi et al., (2006) even contended that teacher’s appraisal is oppressive, and punitive and causes negative feelings among teachers. a lot of teachers dislike appraisal for fear that it will expose their shortcomings and will thus do everything possible to frustrate it. also, it is one thing for a teacher to be appraised while it is another for the report of such appraisal to see the light of the day. we are today in a world of corruption. many teachers now prefer to offer cash and kind gratifications to supervisors, inspectors and appraisers, to ensure that they pass appraisal at all costs and by whatever means. results of appraisal are often jettisoned due to the belief in ‘godfatherism’ syndrome by those who failed it, who will do everything possible to ensure that they are favoured notwithstanding the poor results. a report indicates that in a particular state of a country in africa, the governor carried out a test for teachers in his state because of the observed fallouts and even complaints from people over the poor performance of most teachers. what followed was a drama where almost all the teachers rejected the drive to use the results to lay them off from teaching. a lukewarm attitude of teachers to the idea of performance appraisal is also noticeable. abu-doleh and weir (2007) asserted that not everyone is in favour of the appraisal system. the feeling of job insecurity makes many teachers detest it (saunders, 2000). teachers view the act to be designed to punish and ridicule them in the eyes of the public, as well as cast aspersion on them as less-intelligent people in society. teachers who are thus not sure of themselves do wish to evade appraisal so as not to expose their follies. those teachers will therefore not hesitate to do everything possible to frustrate any attempt to organise an appraisal system for them. it is also worrisome that teachers have often shown a lack of interest in performance appraisal through their trade unions. as reported by josh (2013), labour unions often argue that seniority rather than an assessment of an employee’s merit should be used as the basis of promotion. the lack of rewards for better-performing teachers after appraisal is also noticeable in the educational system which has formed a basis for its condemnation. teachers often feel neglected when the idea of appraisal is raised (saunders, 2000). ordinarily, the principle of motivation pre-supposes that when an individual is motivated, there is bound to be improved performance in the future. it has been noticed that after performance appraisal, teachers who excel are not given due recognition by government and school authorities. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 20 published by scholink inc. experience as it is often said, is the best teacher. it is an issue that cannot be bought with money but acquired over time. the inadequate experience of many among those carrying out teachers’ appraisals is noticeable. ordinarily, those in charge of appraisal are supposed to be knowledgeable in the field of education and test techniques, but the reverse has always been the case. in most cases, inexperienced people, misnamed experts, are given the mandate to appraise teachers, to the extent of finding it difficult to interpret the results of an appraisal and thus makes the results unreliable. the use of the annual performance appraisal instrument in some cases, comes into focus. this form has questions for rating teachers for promotion purposes. apart from the fact that those questions are faulty in the assessment of variables of interest in teachers, such an instrument gives a false impression about a teacher, in most cases, the teacher hardly fails in the rating in such form, in other words, every teacher who submits such form for assessment, are usually rated higher by the superior officer. subjective assessment of teachers is often associated with the act of teacher appraisal, appraisals have often been tagged to be partial and promoters of favouritism and inconsistency in the educational system. according to stronge (2018), when appraisal criteria are not clearly defined and objective, it can lead to inconsistent evaluations and biased judgments. there are reports that when a teacher fails to score a subordinate teacher very high, such a teacher is bound to receive condemnation. it thus implies that there is subjective appraisal where aper form is used to appraise teachers. it has also been noticed that teachers usually will give such forms to their favourites, in expectation of higher ratings, even with little cash gratification in return, thus making the results indicated in such forms unreliable. the threat often comes in the way of those who rate teachers low during the appraisal process technical problems of principals for implementation have been noticeable, and so has the inadequate guidance and support from the higher officials. there is also the issue of inadequacy and inappropriateness of appraisal criteria in schools. most of the appraisal instruments are not designed by experts in the educational system. 8. conclusion and way out a teacher is regarded as the facilitator of learning. the effectiveness of a teacher however depends greatly on the quality of such a teacher. appraisal of a teacher is very germane, being one of the ways to improve the effectiveness of a teacher. in this paper, the techniques for teacher performance appraisal, such as student ratings. peer ratings, self-evaluation, professional learning and practice, learning outcome measures, administrator ratings, and student interviews, were examined. schools’ administrators are advised to keep on their toes and double their efforts, to achieve the effectiveness of their teachers. there is no doubt that if the techniques are imbibed by school administrators, the effectiveness of teachers will improve while the status of teaching will also improve considerably. a lot of measures are recommended to ensure that teachers’ performance appraisal runs smoothly in schools. government, school administrators, and teachers have roles to play to achieve this feat and ensure that the standard of teaching is uplifted to an enviable height. specifically: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 21 published by scholink inc. -. the government needs to ensure that teachers’ performance instruments are standardised, to guarantee their reliability and validity. there is also the need for government to organise workshops and seminars. and conferences for stakeholders in teachers’ performance appraisal regularly, such as the. principals, vice-principals, heads of departments, and the teachers, to acquire adequate knowledge and skills and be acquainted with the purposes, criteria, process, and procedures of the teacher’s performance appraisal process, as well as the methods of observing teachers, gathering data, and other relevant issues of the appraisal scheme, to minimize the errors noticeable during the act and enhance the confidence of teachers to the value and to accept the performance appraisal system results in good faith. emphasis should also be given to the assignment of principals to schools, based on their strengths. it would be wise if graduates of educational leadership or those who have at least skill and knowledge of teachers’ performance appraisal system or human resource managerial skills are assigned to run the government schools. -. teacher performance appraisal must be carried out regularly, to give room for performance defaults to be avoided on time and for teachers‟ performance to be improved through counseling and mentoring. the officials of education must follow up on the practice every time. -. stakeholders should always identify individual teachers’ strengths and weaknesses and give rewards to those who perform better, otherwise, it may negatively affect the work morals of teachers which can result in negative perceptions of the appraisal system implemented in the schools. -. it has been noticed that the teacher performance tools being used in schools are inappropriate to appraise the performance of teachers in schools. teachers and principals should always be involved in designing, reviewing, and improving teacher performance appraisal criteria. teachers’ performance appraisal should not be targeted at punishing teachers or making them lose their jobs but rather, should aim at reforming teachers who display weakness(es), for effective service delivery. this is based on the belief that such opportunities enhance teachers’ knowledge and skills, leading to improved teaching and improved teaching raises student achievement. to improve in the discharge of their duties and sustain the spirit of good performance by those found to have performed excellently. performance appraisal should also be targeted at rewarding teachers who attain their set goals. there is a need for incorporation of teachers’ and other stakeholders’ views, to improve the tools for appraisal. all the appraisers should be adequately trained on the use of the tools to ensure that they are not used as a formality or to settle differences. references abdulrahman, s. a. 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(2004). challenging teachers: what difficulties do they pose to their principals. educational management administration and leadership, 32, 165-184. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143204041881 https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143204041881 microsoft word elsr-v1n1-p81 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 81 original paper teacher support and its effect on the development of motor abilities by pupils with dyspraxia in primary schools in fako division of the south west region of cameroon patrick fonyuy shey1* 1 department of educational psychology, faculty of education, university of buea, cameroon * patrick fonyuy shey, department of educational psychology, faculty of education, university of buea, cameroon received: april 11, 2020 accepted: may 7, 2020 online published: may 21, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n1p81 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n1p81 abstract the present study examined the effect of teacher support on the development of motor abilities by pupils with dyspraxia. two specific objectives that centred on tutoring sessions and supplemental training were formulated to guide the study. the sample of the study was made up of twelve pupils in class three and twelve in class four selected from catholic school (cs) mutengene in tiko sub division and cameroon baptist convention (cbc) school great soppo in buea sub division, fako division of the south west region of cameroon. two teachers from each school also took part in this study. a motor ability test was administered to the intervention as well as the control group in order to measure the pupil’s abilities in relation to gross and fine motor skills. based on comparative pre-test and post-test design with non-randomized experimental and control groups, the results of the study revealed that teacher support had a significant effect on the development of motor abilities by children with dyspraxia. inadequate teacher support for pupils with dyspraxia was seen to have negative effects on the development of motor skills by children with dyspraxia; hence teachers should use more of enactive instructional strategies when dealing with dyspraxic learners. the schools should also have an all enriching environment for pupils to explore and fully develop their motor skills. keywords teacher support, development, motor abilities, dyspraxia www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 82 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction children with dyspraxia have a marked impairment in the performance of functional motor skills required to succeed at school. dyspraxic children are more likely to fall or trip up, or bump into things. they may be messy eaters, find it hard to use a knife and fork together, spill drinks and be slower at dressing than their other brothers and sisters. outside of clinical situations, there are two types of approaches that can be employed by teachers to address these children’s difficulties. the first concentrates on processes underlying motor skills and aims to improve sensory motor areas. the second focuses on teaching functional tasks aimed at intervening specifically in the deficient areas (kruntz, 2003). most individuals with dyspraxia manifest a combination of both ideational or planning dyspraxia and ideomotor or executive dyspraxia. ideational or planning dyspraxia affects planning and coordination meanwhile ideomotor or executive dyspraxia affects the fluency and speed of motor activities. however, with appropriate help and understanding by teachers, a child with this condition can improve a great deal, developing coping strategies to help reach his potential. early intervention and treatment can help to reduce the emotional, physical and social consequences that are often associated with this disorder. 2. dyspraxia or developmental coordination disorder (dcd) dyspraxia or developmental coordination disorder (dcd) is a neurodevelopmental condition marked by impairments in the development of motor coordination. the uncoordinated movements of children with dyspraxia lead to performance difficulties in daily life activities and academic settings (american psychiatric association, 2013). the movements of children with dyspraxia are often described as “clumsy” and “uncoordinated,” and frequently lead to performance difficulties that most typically developing (td) children can perform easily (caçola, 2014). currently, dyspraxia is a vibrant and dynamic area of study, and much has been discovered in the last few decades about the mechanisms, interventions, and consequences of this condition. dyspraxia or dcd may be defined in different ways. in general, it is generally understood as poor motor proficiency that significantly interferes with daily living activities (it is important to note that the low motor proficiency here needs to be low to the point of interfering with performance in daily living activities). dyspraxia can be explained as difficulties or impairments in the performance of “age-appropriate” activities, and has also been described as problems in motor coordination despite appropriate levels of intelligence. most people refer to dyspraxia as a general “clumsiness”, or children that appear to be “clumsy” or “awkward” in how they move, without any apparent reason. in this paper, the definition that was considered appropriate is that of the canchild centre for childhood disability research: “dyspraxia or dcd is a motor skill disorder that occurs when a delay in the development of motor skills, or difficulty coordinating movements, results in a child being unable to perform common, everyday tasks. by definition, children with dyspraxia do not have an identifiable www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 83 published by scholink inc. medical or neurological condition that explains their coordination problems” (canchild, 2018, p. 1). this definition was selected because it seems to encompass several important aspects of dyspraxia—their broad motor skill difficulties, the disruption of everyday activities, and the lack of another clear condition that explains these difficulties. despite the visible differences in the motor behavior of children with dyspraxia (when compared to typically developing children), often times their difficulties are dismissed as behavioral problems, especially if they are accompanied by a child’s frustration and anger. one of the characteristics of dyspraxia is that the motor impairment exists despite the absence of intellectual deficits—which is not to say that children with dyspraxia do not have difficulties associated with cognitive mechanisms, such as executive functioning and working memory (leonard & hill, 2015). this leads us to the notion that children with dyspraxia are highly aware of their motor difficulties and the fact that they are different from their peers-obviously, they may not understand why they have such difficulties, and why their best attempts to perform a task are often clumsy. because of that, it is not unreasonable to respond with anger and frustration, which can many times be labeled as behavioral issues. caçola and lage (2019) point out that, children with dyspraxia seem to experience a broad number of difficulties. that is not surprising; given the fact that the motor system underlies everything (every task) we do—walking, reaching for objects, getting dressed, writing, typing, driving—all daily living skills that require a significant amount of motor proficiency. the motor system also serves as a platform of how we interact with the world. that is the very reason why children with dyspraxia have difficulties that go beyond playing sports and participating in physical education classes. they tend to move awkwardly and have poor postural control, being more prone to trip, bump into things, fall, and also appear to move slower and have “delayed” actions and responses. as previously mentioned, they have difficulties with daily living skills and academic tasks. they also put more effort in order to accomplish skills, and have difficulties creating solutions for movements and adjusting/adapting to different demands of the environment. consequently, they often withdraw from participating in physical activities, especially those that require a minimum level of proficiency in motor skills. 3. development of motor abilities motor skill development refers to the progressive change in motor behaviour throughout the life span with the change being sequential and age-related. motor development requires complex brain networking. the window of opportunity begins before children are even born as these growing infants engage in movements while in the womb. at 5-6 weeks after conception, a fetal movement appears shortly after nerves from the spinal cord establish functional synapses with muscle fibers (de vries, visser, & prechtl, 1982). fetuses in the first trimester while still resembling a doll with foreshortened limbs and a disproportionately large head exhibit a variety of movements and postures (de vries & hopkins, 2005). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 84 published by scholink inc. generalized movements occur that ripple through the entire body such as sideways bending of head and trunk, startles, hiccups, twitches, limb, finger movements, breathing movements, skipping movements, somersaults, and facial movements such as mouth openings, tongue protrusions, and yawns. the young child brings hand to face, suck fingers and thumb, touch the umbilical cord and uterine wall and move freely through the amniotic fluid (sparling, van, & chescheir, 1999). by the second trimester, fetuses produce smiles and other facial movements that comprise adult-like expressions of laughter, crying, and pain (azumendi & kurjak, 2003; reissland, francis, & mason, 2013). hand-to-face contacts, kicks, hiccups and other movements also occur. body and limb movements generally increase over development. up to 30% of each day is spent actively moving until the fetus growing body becomes cramped by lack of space then movements decrease until birth (de vries & hopkins, 2005). moessinger (1983) adds that, fetal activity has other consequences for development. for example, moving before birth is necessary for proper physical development. fetal movement exercises muscles, flexes joints, stretches skin, and circulates amniotic fluid. without these movements, physical development does not proceed normally. as a consequence, the child will not develop normal facial features, skin, muscles, bones, connective tissue, mouth, gut, lungs and other movements that involve motor abilities. due to the immaturity of the human nervous system at the time of birth, children grow continually throughout their childhood years. many factors contribute to the ability and the rate at which children develop their motor skills. example of uncontrollable factors include: genetics or inherited traits for children with learning disorders. a child born to short and overweight parents is much less likely to be an athlete than a child born to two athletically built parents. controllable factors include: the environment/society and culture they are born into. a child born in the city is less likely to have the same opportunities to explore hike or trek the outdoors than one born in the rural area (buschner, 1994). for a child to successfully develop motor skills, he or she must receive many opportunities to physically explore the surroundings/environment (beamers, higgins, & nicol, 2012). motor skills in this light can be group under gross and fine motor skills: 3.1 gross motor skills gross motor skills refer to movements of the whole body using the larger muscles to complete everyday activities. gross motor skills are important for everyday activities including dressing, sport, jumping, playground play and running. in the classroom gross motor strength is important for good posture, travelling between classes and play. gross motor difficulties can impact a child’s balance, coordination, endurance and participation in sporting activities. children that have difficulty with gross motor skills may also experience fatigue and decreased motivation to perform related activities. gross motor skills can be categorized into locomotor, non-locomotor and manipulative skills (dale, 2000). locomotor skills involve movement of the body in a horizontal or vertical direction from one place to another in a fluid coordinated way. examples of locomotor skills include walking, running, galloping, hopping, leaping, skipping, jumping and crawling. non-locomotor skills involve movement of the body www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 85 published by scholink inc. in the same place. examples are balancing, bending, twisting, stretching, rocking, swaying, turning, pushing, pulling, rising and sinking. meanwhile, manipulative skills involve for example, controlling the hands, feet and other parts of the body in managing objects such as bouncing a ball, tossing with a bat, throwing and catching beanbags. 3.2 fine motor skills fine motor skills are the collective skills and activities that involve using the hands and fingers (amundson & weil, 2001; case-smith, 2000). in other words, fine motor skills are those skills that require the small muscles of the hand to work together to perform precise and refined movements. fine motor skills are important for everyday activities including handwriting, cutting, using cutely, tying shoelaces and opening containers. as a child develops they are expected to complete these activities with greater speed and precision therefore the activities become more complex. activities may include; board games, construction activities, crafts, cooking and speed writing. some children who have difficulty with fine motor activities may avoid tasks due to fear of failure, frustration and fatigue. 4. teacher support for children with dyspraxia teacher support as used in this study refers to a wide variety of instructional methods, educational services or school resources provided to learners by teachers in an effort to help them accelerate their learning progress, catch up with their peers, meet living standards or generally succeed in school. in practice, teacher support encompasses a broad array of educational strategies including tutoring sessions, supplemental courses, after school programmes, teaching advisors and volunteer mentors as well as alternative ways of grouping, counseling and instructing learners. teacher support can be provided to individual students, specific student populations (for instance students with disabilities especially those with dyspraxia) or all students in a school (murray & greenberg, 2000). planning for motor skills development for children with dyspraxia requires as much time as any other learning area (kutz, 2008). teachers should plan a range of different activities to develop the different aspects of the children’s physical abilities. activities should be progressive and built upon the skills that the children are able to do, from simple to complex. each activity should be designed purposefully with specific learning objectives and allow children to have a fun and enjoyable experience. therefore, teachers can provide support to pupils by using strategies such as tutoring sessions, after-school programmes, peer tutoring and supplemental teaching to boost academic achievements as well as social development of children with dyspraxia (department of education, 2017). only two (tutoring session and supplemental teaching) out of the four strategies mentioned above were considered for this study. 4.1 tutoring sessions lovaas (2002) explain that, tutoring sessions are teacher centered methods where the teacher makes all the decisions concerning what, how and when the student is to perform. the lesson format of warm-up, skill demonstration, skill practice, feedback followed by a class game is typical of a direct teaching style www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 86 published by scholink inc. approach. this teaching strategy is efficient and focused; it is easy to implement with large groups and provide for the learning of basic skills efficiently. tutoring sessions takes account of students’ individual abilities, learning styles, and intellectual development. this type of teaching approach requires a high level of teacher’s guidance. a lower level of teacher support and increased student involvement occurs where the teacher works closely with the students, guiding the learning as they begin to apply the skills, knowledge and understandings being taught. during independent class work, the student is practicing, consolidating and applying skills, knowledge and understandings being taught, so there is a high level of student involvement with the teacher acting as the facilitator. varying the way teachers present the curriculum content during class can provide the learner with greater responsibility by becoming more involved in the learning process, having opportunities to explore and experiment with movement in a variety of ways. this in turn increases student motivation and improves skill mastery levels. learning how to learn and learning through movement are important objectives of student centered teaching approaches. furthermore, they allow individuals to respond at their own level of ability and provide more opportunities for a degree of success. 4.2 supplemental teaching supplemental courses encompass broad range of focus area including academic support, mentoring, youth development, arts, sports and recreation. these activities in which children engage in while outside of school hours are critical to their development. supplemental learning programmes generate positive outcomes for children including improved academic performance, classroom behavior and health. kyle, barbara and gordon (1999) opine that, children involved in supplemental teaching activities have higher self-esteem, improved social competences and higher aspiration compared to student’s who do not. children have fun as they engage in such activities and increase self-awareness, self-confidence and self-esteem in the process. in addition, their physical, cognitive and emotional well-being is improved and social abilities are reinforced. through such programmes, children are helped to expand beyond their perceived limitations. barnett, beurden, morgan, philip, broooks, lyndon and john (2009) are of the opinion that supplemental teaching activities for children with motor difficulties builds self-esteem, skills, friendships, sense of belonging and increase academic performance. children can be engaged in fun filled activities out of school to build their motor skills. these activities can be carried out in relaxing environments when children are at ease and under the supervision of a teacher or an instructor. sherril (2006) opines that children should be encouraged to carry out the following fun activities for their motor skill development; arts: arts classes benefits children in that it boosts self-confidence, enhances the development of fine motor skills as well as builds neural connections. children through this means try out hands-on-activities that builds their motor skills. children who face difficulties with abstract concepts grasp new ideas and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 87 published by scholink inc. improve fine motor skills when they work with their hands. they have the opportunity to be loud and pound, drill or mold with clay in a supervised setting. these activities increase motor efficiency. drama: drama activities enable children with motor difficulties to model actions and movements, learn social skills and examine new ideas in a controlled, predictable setting. put in another way, drama sessions help children to read social cues, work collaboratively, have meaningful conversations and make friends. children are able to work individually as well as work with others and as such creativity is encouraged. as a result, both gross and fine motor movements are enhanced in the process. sports: kids with motor difficulties use sports as a medium to bypass motor problems and strengthen their relationship with other peers. children get the opportunity to play together with a common goal of winning or succeeding. these sport activities in turn builds gross motor skills in the children as they run around making throw and passes during play. photography: for students with motor difficulties, learning to take pictures can be an opportunity to develop fine motor skills. from the skill of handling the camera to computing imaging or physical film processing and photo printing, a young child gains confidence, attentive skills and the chance to share what they see with their other peers. club activities: in club settings, children work cooperatively and have the chance to share information on various games. they play individually without the stress of competing and still have the companionship of fellow gamers. engaging in club activities like dance, drawing, ballet and football greatly improves children’s motor abilities. cooking classes: task involving simple menus and group dining facilitates social skills and can be assigned based on ability levels. they help children engage their fine motor in hand movements, learn new skills, vocabulary, describe sequence and interact with others. trying a variety of activities gives children a chance to learn what they like, adds to their skills and increases the likelihood of finding activities for lifetime participation. children who participate in expanded learning opportunities therefore, are less likely to drop out of school, have higher rates of school-day attendance and engage in less risky behavior. 5. method 5.1 design the research design adopted for this study was the quasi-experimental and the type of quasi-experimental design used was the comparative pre-test and post-test design with non-randomized experimental and control groups. this design was used to identify a control (comparison) group that was as similar as possible to the experimental (treatment) group in terms of baseline or pre-intervention characteristics. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 88 published by scholink inc. 5.2 participants the intervention was carried out in two schools in fako division of the south west region of cameroon. the schools were catholic school (cs) mutentegene in tiko sub division and cameroon baptist convention (cbc) school great soppo in buea sub division. the schools were selected based on the teachers’ knowledge and experience in teaching children with disabilities. in these schools teachers with at least a first degree in special needs education and having children with dyspraxia in their classes were invited to take part in the study. all teachers in the two schools selected who meet the above criteria consented to take part in the study. the sample of the study therefore comprised twenty-four pupils with dyspraxia in both schools ranging between ages 8-10. twelve of the pupils were non-randomly assigned to the experimental group and 12 others to the control group. four classes three and four teachers across the two participating schools were also invited to take part in the study. 5.3 procedure the researcher decided to use classes three and four which are the middle classes between classes one to six. usually by class three and four, pupils are expected to perform task that involves the use of their motor skills and any delay may lead to motor problems. the researcher employed the teacher nomination method in class, using classroom performance records as well as scores from the researcher made test for pupils to determine children with motor difficulties. “information obtained from group intelligent test and teacher nominations can be used to select students…teacher nomination has been an integral part of many screening approaches” (herdman, drew, & egan, 2014, p. 417). teachers were then asked to contribute their unique perspectives regarding various aspects of motor abilities exhibited by pupils earlier identified through their records. the results from the discussions revealed that all the teachers confirmed the information obtained by the researcher from the pupils’ academic records and the researcher made test. 5.4 measures after the non-randomised assignment of the pupils in the experimental and control groups in the respective schools, a motor ability test (pre-test) was administered to both groups of pupils in order to measure pupil’s abilities in relation to strength, balance, coordination and fine motor control skills. the test consisted of hands on activities and practical exercises that enabled the researcher to register scores on how pupils performed in the above motor skills. the gross motor (strength, balance, coordination) and fine skills were tested on two separate days. each test took a period of one hour thirty minutes in both schools. for a period of 5 weeks, training sessions were organised with the experimental group. each planned activity lasted for a period of one hour daily involving three days in a week. the training was based on the framework that the use of teacher support strategies (tutoring sessions and supplemental training) for pupils with dyspraxia will help improve their strength, balance, coordination and fine motor control (cole, 2008). the training therefore composed of exposing pupils to tutoring sessions (action based instructional strategy that dealt with the direct manipulation of materials and objects by pupils were used www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 89 published by scholink inc. to teach pupils of the experimental group) and supplemental training (the experimental group was taken to a playground where they were exposed to different supplemental play activities). a first formative evaluation (mid-text) was given to the pupils after a period of two weeks to determine their level of improvement. this was followed by further training and a second formative evaluation was administered at the end of the fourth week. at the end of the training period, the same motor ability test that was used during the pre-test was administered to both the control and the experimental groups of the study. comparisons were then made between the results of the two groups in relation to the pre-test and post-test. 5.5 analytic approach data range and validation checks were performed in spss version 21.0 to identify invalid codes. data were made up of continuous variables and were explored using case summaries and notably the explore statistics to identify outliers supported with boxplot. descriptive statistics were analysed using measures of central tendencies (mean, median) and measures of dispersion (minimum, maximum, standard error of mean and standard deviation). data were then screened for normality using kolmogorov-smirnov and shapiro-wilk test for normality. these two tests were based on the assumption that the true distribution of the data does not depart from the theoretical normal distribution. we expect a non-significant p-value (p>0.05) for this assumption to be accepted. in the context of this study, p-values were <0.05 for all the indicators. qualitative data were made essentially from the interviews with teachers. they were analysed using the thematic approach whereby ideas or viewpoints were grouped under umbrella terms. the qualitative output was first of all grouped under code-grounding-quotation table but the interpretation was dominantly qualitative supported by quotations from the interviewees, as priority was given to the existence and the pertinence of concepts than their weights. 6. results results were summarized on tables displaying statistical analysis and content analysis. statistics were discussed at the 95% confidence level (cl), that is alpha=0.05. each hypothesis was to be retained or rejected if the p-value was greater or less than alpha. for instance, for the difference between the control and the experimental groups to be significant, the calculated p-value was <0.05. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 90 published by scholink inc. 6.1 effect of tutoring sessions on gross motor abilities of pupils with dyspraxia table 1. comparing the effect of tutoring sessions on gross motor abilities of pupils with dyspraxia within test levels and between groups scale stats pre-test ks test* (p-value) post-test ks test* (p-value) wsr test** (p-value) wsr test (p-value) e xp er im en ta l c on tr ol c om p ar in g b et w ee n ex p er im en ta l a n d co n tr ol g ro u p e xp er im en ta l c on tr ol c om p ar in g b et w ee n ex p er im en ta l a n d co n tr ol g ro u p c om p ar in g w it h in ex p er im en ta l g ro u p (p re -t es t v s p os tte st ) c om p ar in g w it h in co n tr ol g ro u p ( p re -t es t v s p os tte st ) gross motor task at tutoring session n 6 6 0.937 6 6 0.002 0.027 0.832 mean 11.3 11.3 25.5 11.2 sem 0.2 0.7 0.3 0.6 median 11.0 11.5 25.0 11.5 sd 0.5 1.6 0.8 1.5 * kolmogorov-smirnov z test ** wilcoxon signed rank test table 1 above shows that, as far as gross motor tasks were concerned, at pre-test, the experimental and the control groups had almost the same score although the average was slightly higher in the control group with 11.4 points as compared to 11.3 points in the experimental group, this difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). however at the post test, the experimental group improved to 25.5 points while the control group dropped to 11.2. this difference at the post-test between the control and the experimental group was significant (p<0.05). this therefore confirms that tutoring session significantly improved pupils’ gross motor skills. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 91 published by scholink inc. 6.2 effect of tutoring sessions on fine motor abilities of pupils with dyspraxia table 2. comparing the effect of tutoring sessions on fine motor abilities of pupils with dyspraxia within test levels and between groups scale stats pre-test ks test* (p-value) post-test ks test* (p-value) wsr test** (p-value) wsr test (p-value) e xp er im en ta l c on tr ol c om p ar in g b et w ee n ex p er im en ta l a n d co n tr ol g ro u p e xp er im en ta l c on tr ol c om p ar in g b et w ee n ex p er im en ta l a n d co n tr ol g ro u p c om p ar in g w it h in ex p er im en ta l g ro u p (p re -t es t v s p os tte st ) c om p ar in g w it h in co n tr ol g ro u p ( p re -t es t v s p os tte st ) fine motor task at tutoring session n 6 6 0.937 6 6 0.003 0.023 0.194 mean 9.8 9.7 22.2 10.3 sem 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.2 median 10.0 10.0 22.0 10.0 sd 0.4 1.0 0.8 0.5 * kolmogorov-smirnov z test ** wilcoxon signed rank test in relation to fine motor skills, table 2 indicates that at pre-test, the experimental and the control groups had almost the same scores with an average of 9.8 points for the experimental group and 9.7 points obtained for the control group. the difference between the two groups was not significant (p>0.05). however, at post-test, the experimental group performed significantly higher (p<0.05) than the control group, with an average score of 22.2 points for the experimental group as against 10.3 points for the control group. this progression in score observed in the experimental group was significant (p<0.05). this therefore proves that tutoring session significantly improved pupils’ fine motor skills. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 92 published by scholink inc. table 3. comparing progression rate on the development of motor abilities by pupils with dyspraxia at tutoring sessions group stats progression tutoring session total progression no progression experimental n 6 0 6 % 100.0% 0.0% 100.0% control n 3 3 6 % 50.0% 50.0% 100.0% total n 9 3 12 % 75.0% 25.0% 100.0% cramer’s v: v=0.577; p=0.046. the progression as seen on table 3 above was 100% in the experimental group and 50.0% in the control group and this gap was significant (p<0.05). based on the above table, the hypothesis stated (tutoring sessions have no significant relationship on the development of motor abilities of pupils with dyspraxia) was therefore rejected thus implying that tutoring session significantly enhanced the development of motor abilities of pupils with dyspraxia. this assertion was equally supported by the qualitative results from teacher interviews as seen below from the difficulties pupils faced and the proposed solutions from teachers; 6.3 difficulties faced in class by pupils with motor deficit poor pencil grip: teachers explained that these pupils do not have a firm grip of the pencil or have an inappropriate way of gripping the pencil in-between their fingers. as teacher 3 said, “pupils do not hold pencils firmly. that is, the way the pencil is griped in between the fingers does not enable them to do an exercise like writing or drawing well”. difficulties in drawing: the teachers were of the opinion that pupils with dyspraxia do not position hands or finger appropriately and thus face difficulties in moving their fingers and arms freely during drawing exercises as explained by teacher 1 “poor hand and finger positioning as well as poor pencil grip negatively affects drawing as pupils face difficulties to move their arm freely during such exercises. due to this drawing difficulty, children cannot bring out the form or shapes of a diagram correctly”. jumbled writing: teachers explained that these children have difficulties spacing out or giving gaps to differentiate one word from another. teacher 3 is quoted “pupils are unable to space out words in a sentence. they join up words in their sentences which in turn make reading and understanding difficult and this equally affects performance negatively”. based on the above difficulties faced by children with dyspraxia during tutorial sessions, the teachers during the interview sessions gave proposals on what they do in order to meet the learning needs of this category of children in their classrooms. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 93 published by scholink inc. use of colourful flashcards: the teachers explained that they use colourful flashcards as a teaching aid to facilitate the teaching and learning process. they went further to state that using teaching aids like colorful flash cards when teaching subjects like drawing with well-drawn and well coloured diagrams in the classroom motivates pupils with motor difficulties and make them take interest in class exercises and this helps them to grasps and retain lessons easily. use of coloured crayons: teachers interviewed were of the opinion that coloured pencils greatly facilitate learning for pupils with dyspraxia. they intimated that when these pencils are used by both the teachers and pupils, the bright colouring attracts pupils attention and captures their interest in the lesson. teacher 2 said “using crayons in the teaching process motivates pupils and makes them take interest in class exercises as well as enables them retain lessons faster. coloring a shape from side to side involves fine motor movements and participating in such exercises helps to improve pupils fine motor skills and improve finger movements”. use of counting sticks: the teachers also advanced the use of counting sticks as one of the major strategies used in meeting the needs of children with dyspraxia in ordinary classrooms. they insisted that this strategy facilitates teaching and makes lessons easier for pupils to grasp and understand concepts better. teacher 1 is quoted; “pupils are encouraged to use local counters (counting sticks) during mathematics classes or lessons. moving their counters from side to side when working on a class exercise is a practice that helps in improving finger movements and arm flexibility thereby enhancing fine motor developments as well”. 6.4 effect of supplemental teaching on gross motor abilities of pupils with dyspraxia table 4. comparing the effect of supplemental teaching on gross motor abilities of pupils with dyspraxia within test levels and between groups scale stats pre-test ks test* (p-value) post-test ks test* (p-value) wsr test (p-value) wsr test (p-value) e xp er im en ta l c on tr ol c om p ar in g b et w ee n ex p er im en ta l a n d co n tr ol g ro u p e xp er im en ta l c on tr ol c om p ar in g be tw ee n ex p er im en ta l an d co n tr ol g ro u p c om p ar in g w it h in ex p er im en ta l gr ou p (p re -t es t v s p os t te st ) c om p ar in g w it h in co n tr ol g ro u p (p re -t es t v s p os t te st ) gross motor task at supplemental courses n 6 6 0.093 6 6 0.003 0.027 1.000 mean 11.5 12.7 39.3 12.7 sem 0.4 0.3 0.7 0.5 median 11.5 12.5 40.0 12.5 sd 1.0 0.8 1.6 1.2 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 94 published by scholink inc. * kolmogorov-smirnov z test ** wilcoxon signed rank test table 4 above indicates that at pre-test and in relation to gross motor tasks the control group had a higher average score of 12.7 points as against 11.5 points for the experimental group but this difference was not significant (p>0.05). at the post-test however, the experimental group performed significantly higher (p>0.05) than the control group, with an average score of 39.3 points as against the stagnated value of 12.7 points for the control group. this progression in score observed in the experimental group was significant (p<0.05). this therefore confirms that supplemental teaching significantly improves gross motor skills for pupils with dyspraxia. 6.5 effect of supplemental courses on fine motor abilities of pupils with dyspraxia table 5. comparing the effect of supplemental training on fine motor abilities of pupils with dyspraxia within test levels and between groups scale stats pre-test ks test* (p-value) post-test ks test* (p-value) wsr test (p-value) wsr test (p-value) e xp er im en ta l c on tr ol c om p ar in g b et w ee n ex p er im en ta l a n d co n tr ol g ro u p e xp er im en ta l c on tr ol c om p ar in g b et w ee n ex p er im en ta l a n d co n tr ol g ro u p c om p ar in g w it h in ex p er im en ta l g ro u p (p re -t es t v s p os tte st ) c om p ar in g w it h in co n tr ol g ro u p (p re -t es t v s p os tte st ) fine motor task at supplementa l courses n 6 6 0.699 6 6 0.003 0.026 1.000 mean 10.0 9.8 33.0 9.8 sem 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.5 median 10.0 10.0 33.0 9.5 sd 0.0 0.4 1.1 1.2 * kolmogorov-smirnov z test ** wilcoxon signed rank test concerning fine motor task, table 5 above indicates that, at pre-test, the experimental group had a higher average score of 10.0 points as against 9.8 points for the control group but this difference was not significant (p>0.05). however, at post-test, the experimental group further performed higher (p>0.05) than the control group, with an average score of 33.0 points as against the 9.8 points for the control group. this progression in score observed in the experimental group was significant (p<0.05). this therefore shows that supplemental training significantly improved pupils’ fine motor skills. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 95 published by scholink inc. table 6. comparing progression rate on the development of motor abilities by pupils with dyspraxia using supplemental training group stats progression at supplemental courses total progression no progression experimental n 6 0 6 % 100.0% 0.0% 100.0% control n 2 4 6 % 33.3% 66.7% 100.0% total n 8 4 12 % 66.7% 33.3% 100.0% cramer’s v: v=0.707; p=0.014. from table 6 above, it can be deduce that the progression rate for the experimental group was 100% and that of the control group was 33.3%. the gap between the two groups was very significant (p<0.05). the hypothesis (supplemental teaching used by teachers has no effect on the development of motor skills of children with dyspraxia) stated in this case was therefore rejected thus implying that supplemental teaching significantly influenced the development of motor abilities of pupils with dyspraxia. this assertion is further supported by the qualitative findings gotten from teacher interviews as presented below. 6.6 co-curricular activities used by teachers in teaching pupils with dyspraxia jumping and running: the teachers explained that jumping is mainly a sport activity that involves whole body movements and helps improves pupil’s health as well as develop their gross and fine motor skills. teacher 2 said “we usually engaged children in sport activities that involve whole body movements like rope jumps to make body movements flexible…children are also engaged in sport activities that involve whole body movements like running to make body movements flexible and enhance gross motor skills.” kicks and throws: teachers explained that they usually engage pupils in play activities like football that involve kicks and passes to improve their physical development and gross motor skill development. they also expose pupils to play activities like handball that involve throws to improve finger dexterity and develop their fine motor skills. dance: according to the teachers, dancing activities are used in teaching because they involve whole body movements. they further explained that dancing helps to improve pupils’ body flexibility. when pupils emulate movements through dance steps, it also helps in developing their gross motor abilities. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 96 published by scholink inc. 6.7 challenges faced by pupils with motor difficulties while participating in co-curricular activities completing games on time: when interviewed, teachers complained that pupils with dyspraxia face difficulties completing or finishing games within the time given. teacher 4 noted “pupils sometimes cannot finish games within the time range set for that particular game and they are usually left behind or disqualified”. accordingly, these children are sometimes mocked by their peers and this lead to lack of interest in participation. following game rules: teachers insisted that many pupils with dyspraxia usually do not do exercises exactly as they are instructed to do. they face difficulties keeping and following game rules and are at times sent out of the game as a consequence. 6.8 difficulties faced by teachers in organizing co-curricular activities for pupils with dyspraxia lack of modern facilities and equipment: the teachers explained that one of the major setbacks they have in organizing co-curricular activities for children with dyspraxia is the lack of modern sport facilities and equipment. they went further to say that with this setback, they sometime feel reluctant to engage students in co-curricular activities and this has greatly affected the development of mother abilities by pupils with dyspraxia. poor maintenance culture: according to information given by the teachers, their play areas are not sports friendly. the existing playgrounds and other outdoor areas that facilitate learning are dilapidated. teacher 4 stated that “nobody cares, we keep on complaining about the state of the infrastructure but no one listens to us. when i say no one i mean the head teacher and other school administrators. everybody likes good places. have you seen our field, is this a field?” 7. discussion the aim of the study was to examine how support from teachers can lead to the development of motor abilities by pupils with dyspraxia in the tiko sub division. from the intervention carried out with the experimental group used in the study and with the noticeable high progression rate, it was established that tutoring sessions have a significant effect on the development of motor abilities for pupils with dyspraxia. this is an indication that when pupils with dyspraxia are exposed to action or enactive based instructional strategies that deal with the direct manipulation of materials and objects it leads to an improvement in their motor skills. teachers’ interview responses also supported the assertion above and show that practical exercises like painting, drawing and writing improves flexibility as well as pupils fine motor skill development. between the ages of 4 to 11 years the child engages in physical activities like walks and runs, jumps, kicks, catches, and skips. large-muscle skills take over and lay the foundation for even more sophisticated activities, including bicycle riding, roller-skating, wrestling, swinging, swimming, writing and other fine motor skills. it is therefore important that instructional strategies should be tailored in such a way that gives children the ability to actively manipulate objects in order to develop their motor skills. these strategies were supported by lovaas (2002), who indicated that the lesson format should involve warm-up, skill demonstration and practice, feedback, followed by www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 97 published by scholink inc. a class game. theoretically, this falls in line with bruner’s (1966) enactive mode of representation for instruction which deals with the direct manipulation of the materials. according to vygotsky (1978), the role of the teacher is to scaffold children as they go through their zones of proximal development. niemeisjer, schoemaker and smits-engelsman (2006) found out that providing clues on how to perform a task, asking children about a task and explaining why a movement should be executed in a particular way were related to better movement performance. they concluded that teaching principles or tutoring sessions are associated with success in therapeutic situations for children with dyspraxia. tsopani, dallas, tasika and tinto (2012) emphasize the fact that tutoring sessions should be organized serially because serial organization system had higher scores in the majority of examined skills in post-test, especially with the development of fine motor skills. whitley (1970) equally found that performance was significantly favoured when children are placed under a distributed practice condition. tutoring sessions thus are associated with success in motor skill development. it was equally noticed from the study that the experimental group had a high progression rate when they were exposed to supplemental teaching. it was then deduced from the results that supplemental teaching activities for children with motor difficulties builds self-esteem, skills, friendships, sense of belonging and increases academic performance (barnett, van beurden, eric, broooks, lyndon, & beard, 2009). the above mentioned facts are also supported by bruner’s (1966) enactive mode of representation which indicates that children can engage in supplemental activities like arts, drama, sports, photography, club activities, cooking classes and other co-curricular activities during and after school hours for their physical development. the response from teacher interviews was in conformity with the above assertion. this equally shows that engaging pupils in co-curricular activities like running, jumping, dance and kicks improves body image as well as helps them develop gross motor skills faster. consistent with the results of this study, kyle, barbara and gordon (1999) were of the opinion that in addition to the physical gains made by pupils, cognitive and emotional well-being are improved and social abilities are reinforced during supplemental courses. thus, through such programmes, children are helped to expand beyond their perceived limitations. empirical evidence from lee and smith (1998) supports the results of the present study as they revealed that nearly all the 60 children on whom they used supplemental teaching on had maintained and in many cases improved upon the scores with their gross motor skill activities, ball skills and short term memory. other studies like those of fahimi, aslankhani, shojaee, beni, and gholhaki, (2013), and borremans, rintala, and kielinen (2010) equally point to the importance of supplemental courses in the development of motor abilities. supplemental courses or activities are therefore appropriate for development of gross motor and fine motor proficiencies for pupils with dyspraxia. in conclusion, the results emphasized the benefits of tutoring sessions that takes account of pupils’ individual abilities, learning styles, and intellectual development. the results also showed that providing clues on how to perform a task, asking children about a task and explaining why a movement should be executed in a particular way are directly related to better movement performance. during www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 98 published by scholink inc. independent class work, the pupil is practicing, consolidating and applying skills, knowledge and understandings being taught, so there is a high level of student involvement with the teacher acting as the facilitator. the results further showed that after-school programmes can help pupils obtain the additional time needed to learn concepts taught during their regular school day. it is equally seen from the study that, tremendous educational success for pupils with dyspraxia can occur if afterschool programmes work with their day school activities. this helps them to understand difficult concepts taught in school. after-school programmes that are aligned with the school day curriculum will support pupils learning and narrow the achievement gap by offering additional supports to struggling students that complement and reinforce learning that takes place in the classroom in new and exciting ways.   references american psychiatric association. 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(2010). effectiveness of an exercise training program on youth with asperger syndrome adapted physical activity over life span. european congress of adapted physical activity. https://doi.org/10.5507/euj.2009.006 bruner, j. s. (1966). toward a theory of instruction. cambridge harvard university press. buschner, c. a. (1994). teaching children movement concepts and skills: becoming a master teacher. california: human kinetics. caçola, p. (2014). movement difficulties affect children’s learning: an overview of developmental coordination disorder (dcd). learn disability multidisciplinary journal, 20(2), 98-106. https://doi.org/10.18666/ldmj-2014-v20-i2-5279 caçola, p., & lage, g. (2019). developmental coordination disorder (dcd): an overview of the condition and research evidence. motriz, rio claro, 25(2), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1980-6574201900020001 canchild. developmental coordination disorder. 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(2006). fine motor fun: hundreds of developmentally age-appropriate activities designed to improve fine motor skills. carson-dellossa publishing, ltd. sparling, j. w., van tol, j., & chescheir, n. c. (1999). fetal and neonatal hand movement. physical therapy, 79, 24-39. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/79.1.24 τsopani, d., dallas, g., tasika, n., & tinto, a. (2012). the effect of different teaching systems in learning rhythmic gymnastics apparatus motor skills. science of gymnastics journal, 3(2), 47-54. vygotsky, l. s. (1978). mind in society. cambridge, ma: harvard university press. whitley, j. d. (1970). effects of practice distribution on learning a fine motor task. the research quarterly, 41(4), 576-583. https://doi.org/10.1080/10671188.1970.10615018 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 32 original paper developing naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosities in the prevention of their teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudice yun lin1 1 faculty of educational studies, universiti putra malaysia, kuala lumpur, malaysia received: august 31, 2023 accepted: september 20, 2023 online published: october 8, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n4p65 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n4p65 abstract as indicated in an overall review of what has been epitomized in the harm primary teachers’ repressive comments are inclined to do to the overall protection and promotion of primary school students’ learning interest, learning enthusiasm, learning curiosity and as such in their learning processes and learning practices, it has reminded a good many experienced school teachers or students’ parents of the rather great concern to be shown for the unfavorable outcome that those repressive prejudices are killing students’ learning curiosities despite their having knowing that the sufficient development of students’ learning curiosities is the development of their innovative curiosity at an earlier age to enable them to make a good preparation for them to make a very good exploration in the unknown fields in the future. what worries most of those experienced teachers or students’ parents most is that it has turned out to be true in most teaching cases at primary schools that almost all primary school teachers prefer natty students to naughty students in their teaching practices and teaching processes because the former are better at making them happy while the latter not. due to the failure to improve the happy mood of those primary school teachers, those naughty students have to face the music by being punished by their teachers in a graceful fashion, by neglected by their teachers due to their inability to cater to their teachers’ personal likes or dislikes or being isolated by their peers owing to the misleading instigation of their teachers. to a great extent, the learning activities of those naughty students have been minimized at school due to their perceptive and cognitive failure to pretend to be compatible with their teachers in a sycophantic fashion. based on the practical traumas of those students, it is of rather great practical significance for the researcher of this paper to place a great analytical emphasis on the great danger into which those students have been thrown and the appropriate actions to be taken to improve those teachers’ educational tolerance and educational conscience, to put a full stop to the unconscious www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 33 published by scholink inc. educational persecution happening at primary schools, and, to give a strong perceptive and cognitive impetus to those naughty students in the stimulation and promotion of their strong innovative curiosities after the evident and essential investigation, exploration, identification and inspiration of those innovative curiosities. keywords primary school teachers, prejudice, naughty students, innovative curiosities 1. the practical necessity for the prevention of primary teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudice against their naughty students in relation to what has been problematized in the development of the appropriate awareness of the lives and habits of naughty primary school students in response to the unreasonable or even inappropriate comments their teachers have been making on their learning progress, learning practice, learning process and learning performance on account of either the unconscious or unintentional harm those teachers are likely to do to their innocent or even ignorant students who are brilliant but naughty, it is of great practical necessity for the researcher of this paper to base her research aim on the great qualitative efforts to be made to give an overall and profound investigation to the unaffected examination and elaboration of the great repressive effects a good many primary-school teachers’ unconscious prejudices against their naughty students will make on the professional and perspicacious encouragement, enlightenment, and empowerment of the creative and critical courage and confidence of those primary school students. as a matter of fact, it has been shown in a wide variety of studies that there is a high possibility that those naughty students are inclined to achieve extraordinary success in their future. therefore, what needs to be kept in an instructive fashion and in an impressive fashion in the minds of those primary school teachers is that there is a rather strong need that good opportunities ought to have been given to those naughty students to develop their learning curiosity and creating versatility to pave way for the sufficient and sustainable development of their innovative curiosity in their future studies. in the analyses to be made of the negative effects of those teachers’ repressive comments on the learning behaviors and learning abilities of those naughty students, the feedbacks and responses those primary school teachers tend to give to their respective naughty students are supposed to be considered as their unintentional and unconscious prejudiced actions, attitudes, and, speeches in the practical implementation of the curriculum and evaluation policies that have to be carried out at primary schools. to be specific, those feedbacks and responses will be explored in details in this research, for it has been seen from most of present studies that naughty children have been misunderstood, misinterpreted, maltreated, misgoverned and isolated a lot from the unreasonable and inappropriate implementation of the mainstream curriculum arrangement and educational evaluation designed for the inspection of the teaching efficiencies of primary school education in an irrational fashion and in an unreasonable fashion regardless of the genuine educational justice, educational liberty and educational equality that have to be maintained in their teaching practices to inspire students’ curiosity and creativity. it has turned out to be dangerous for those teachers to seek www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 34 published by scholink inc. for the blind development of the elementary education at primary schools as what has been exemplified in this rather unfair educational phenomenon that the vast majority of those naughty “children displaying similar behavior are excluded from some schools while in others they are referred for assessment (visser & stokes, 2003, p. 65).” in fact, this educational unfairness to be avoided or prevented at primary schools in this sense regarding what has been epitomized in this educational phenomenon can be seen in the essential elaboration of the theoretical and practical significance of this study to be dealt with below. in a theoretical significance sense, the exploration of the repressive effects of the primary-school teachers’ unconscious prejudice against their respective naughty students on the sufficient and sustainable development of their creative and critical curiosity will make great effects on the profound concern that researchers are supposed to show for the natural and normal development of the creative, curious, cautious, and, critical thinking of those naughty students who have failed to share with most submissive students the sycophantic thinking on which the latter have been depending a great deal to seek for their surviving service based on either their the preference to or prejudice against the dominative or snobbish bosses with whom they have to communicate in their learning experiences at primary schools. in this case, this research is inclined to play an important role in the actual stimulation and promotion of the educational justice, educational equality, educational meritocracy, educational superiority, and, educational democracy that are believed to be an indispensable and irreplaceable perquisite for the overall rehabilitation of the educational excellence of a given country in the continuous enrichment and improvement of the structural, systematic, and, institutional frameworks of the educational mechanism implemented in this country regarding the curriculum and evaluation designed for its primary school education rather than the superficial popularization of the dazzling educational mediocrity and educational inferiority designed in a vicious way to pollute the creative or curious minds of the vast majority of either the educational receivers or educational participants of that country with an aim of the sterilization and stupefaction of the innocent minds and souls of them to bring ideological and epistemological convenience for the ruling governors or dominators of the education provided in that country. therefore, what needs to be seen from this exploration is that the theoretical studies of educational institutionalism have to be based on the insightful and ingenuous development of the unmatchable and unreachable wisdom to serve the intelligent development of that given country and its social, economic, and, cultural prosperity in a sufficient way and in a sustainable way. to reach this grand and gracious governmental and developmental target, it is of great theoretical importance for researchers like the author of this paper to develop a rather strong educational tolerance, patience, and, intelligence in helping them to make the fullest use of the strong creative and critical versatility of those naughty students whose flexible minds have been characterized with the unpredictable creative and critical curiosity that has turned out to be the valuable and veritable sources for the educational innovation or invention of that country with regard to the achievement of the educational new heights in educational studies. indebted to the theoretical development of the perceptive and cognitive willingness to be used to take care of those naughty students, a lot has to be done on the way to the cautious conceptualization www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 35 published by scholink inc. and reconceptualization of the genuine theoretical implications of the behaviors and thoughts of those naughty students. in a practical significance sense, the exploration to be made of logically and systematically in this research will be viewed as an authentic summarization of the experiential and experimental wisdom to be gathered from the concretization of the creative and critical encouragement and enlightenment that have run through the learning processes and learning practices of those naughty primary school students who have been inclined to be ignored or overlooked by their teachers who have tended to be characterized with either the unconscientious or unconscious linearization of the true or untrue misunderstood misbehaviors of the naughty students they have encountered in their everyday teaching practices and teaching processes due to their experiential and experimental failure to have a good access to the diverse and distinctive crystallization of the creative and critical insights dispersed in details in learning practices and learning processes of those so-called naughty primary school students. however, the abundant practical illumination demonstrated in the continuation of this research is inclined to show that those primary school teachers are not quite patient to enable them to dig out the creative and critical foresights from the misunderstood behaviors and thoughts of those naughty students in relevance to the rational identification with their extraordinary behaviors and the forgiveness of the generous ones of them in a reasonable way. in this case, those primary school teachers are quite unlikely to make an objective judgment of the misunderstood behaviors of those students and make it possible for them to prevent the unfair misjudgment of their behaviors or even spoil their future on account of their irrational impatience. to a great extent, this objective judgment is valuable for not only the future development of those students but also for that of the country they stay and live due to the possible glorious and gracious contributions they are quite likely to send to their motherland when they grow up. as mentioned before, the successful solutions to the unsolvable problems tend to rest a lot on the particular thoughts carried in the overall and substantial development and improvement of the unmatchable, unreachable, and irreplaceable creative and critical thinking of those subversive naughty students who have turned out to be not popular with those ordinary teachers who have been accustomed to the sycophantic praises of most submissive students who are willing to sacrifice their dignities or personalities to seek for either the temporary comforts or pleasures of those ordinary teachers. from the point of view of the practical values and virtues of this objective judgment, it can be seen that this research will also be quite helpful for those ordinary teachers to rethink about their own perceptive and cognitive ordinariness and their naughty primary students’ practical extraordinariness to which they are unable to get access owing to their careless impatience and impatient carelessness for those naughty students, their inadequate tolerance for the understandable behaviors of those naughty students, and their insincerity in making communication with those students who have turned out to be fed up with the infidelity of those unreliable and hypocritical teachers whose communicative intentions and motivations have deviated a great deal from “the purpose and content of education (anneli, 2010, p. 23)” in the light of the contributions qualified primary school www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 36 published by scholink inc. teachers are supposed to send to the gracious and glorious refinement and reinforcement of their respective educational practices, educational processes, and, educational experiences. on the ground of the great practical necessity to develop naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosity for the acquisition, accumulation, and, application of the knowledge they have learnt in a creative way and in a critical way from the rather insightful and ingenuous development and improvement of their critical thinking, critical literacy and critical spirits, this paper will firstly cover those details in the essential and evident elaboration of the background of this study; secondly the statement of the problem to give account of the research adequateness and inadequateness of this researching topic in that previous scholars have failed to remind researchers of thinking or rethinking about the sufficient respect that is in a position to be shown for the sufficient and successful development of the creative and critical individuality, plurality, and particularity of those naughty primary school students as opposed to the rather popular commonality, generality and universality of most submissive primary school students who are willing to fall victims to the perceptive and cognitive imprisonment of the dogmatic or pedantic management of those ordinary primary school teachers and to get access to the research gaps left in the analytical status of present studies that have been zooming in on the traumatic or even tragic learning lives and learning experiences of those naughty primary school children; thirdly the introduction to be given in general to the researching approaches of this study to make a good preparation or provide a good support for the objective and scientific justification of the research hypotheses of this study in a logical fashion, in an objective fashion and in a systematic fashion; fourthly, the profound analyses to be made of the great practical importance to be placed on the overall development of the innovative curiosities of naughty primary school students with the help of the analytical tools based on the theoretical insights pertaining to what is needed in making a qualitative analysis of the unbearable, unavoidable and unstoppable learning context in which those naughty primary school students have to live and the isolating pressures with which they have to be faced with in a helpless fashion and in a hopeless fashion in relation to the failed development and improvement of the true creative and critical curiosity of a good many natty primary school students who have been accustomed to the submissive thinking that has been implanted into their minds at an earlier age to seek for the disgraceful survival in a cruel society rather than the subversive thinking that has been expected to be developed in their learning practices and learning processes in spite of the risk they are likely to take and the danger they are inclined to be thrown into when they are getting close to a graceful sacrifice in that society, or in another sense, those naughty primary school students have failed to be encouraged to highlight their analytical and synthetic ability when they are asked to address the crucial problems they are inclined to come across in their present learning experiences and future working explorations; and finally the evident, authentic and essential summarization of the major findings existing in the analytical practices and processes of this study indebted to what has been illuminated from the analytical combination between the theoretical insights acquired from qualitative researches and their strong connections with either the true cruelty or cruel truth hidden behind the popular educational phenomenon www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 37 published by scholink inc. that has been running through the teaching experiences and teaching experiments of a good many primary school teachers whose unconscious repressive prejudice against are unlikely to enable them to develop the innovative curiosity of most naughty primary school students but quite likely to spoil their promising lives and lots in a short run and to steal from those naughty primary students the unpredictable contributions they are inclined to make to the speedy development and improvement of their motherland in the long run. 2. the great practical potentiality to prevent primary teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudice against their naughty students in accordance with the great analytical emphasis to be placed on the appropriate and adequate awareness of the great practical necessity for the overall development of the innovative curiosity of naughty primary school students indebted to the perceptive and cognitive liberation of their teachers apart from that of most parents of primary school students, their learning peers and the rest of the members living and working in the educational context of a cruel society, it is of great practical value for the author of this paper to take a good look at what has been elaborated in the crucial literatures published at least in past five years to find out the analytical room academic predecessors have made for this researching topic due to their disinterested isolation of naughty primary school students or their isolated researching interest in the successive and sustainable development of the innovative curiosity of those naughty primary students with the help of the effective and essential prevention of the unconscious repressive prejudice against those naughty primary school students in the teaching practices and teaching processes of their primary school teachers just as what to be reviewed below in details one after another in line with what has been discovered in an insightful sense from previous and present literatures published at least in past five years in accordance with the specific analytical needs to be met in an appropriate fashion in elaborating the practical potentiality of this review to be dealt with below in the following part of this paper. as a forgotten, excluded, or even marginalized student group in the classrooms at primary schools, a large number of naughty students are quite difficult to be grouped into the normal and natural lives and studies of their docile classmates on a daily basis and to be accepted by their teachers who are inclined to prefer to those docile ones due to “their misbehaviors during the class and their reluctance to participate in classroom activities (pratiwia et al., 2020, p. 1190).” therefore, teachers and parents tend to show much more of their instructive concern for the docile students in comparison with the mischievous behaviors of this female student as to be quoted: “…one female student was not only reluctant to come forward to do a task but also shouted and mocked at the teacher…(ibid, 2020, p. 1191)”, and turn a deaf eye to the rather naughty students unconsciously regardless of the high possibility that this will give rise to the formation of an unjust world on the campus of a primary school and the objective fact that “although…some students were naughty and difficult to be controlled and talked to each other during the class…(ibid, 2020, p. 1191)”, they are still teachable as long as they are awakened by an insightful teacher. however, the unbearable responses those undisciplined misbehaviors like sleeping or using mobile www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 38 published by scholink inc. phones in class have given to most teachers are so strong that most teachers have taken it for granted that they are unteachable or even incurable in line with their wrongly attributing those behaviors to either their naughty students’ ignorance or innocence rather than to their being “lack of classroom management knowledge and skills, lack of power, and lack of confidence. (ibid, 2020, p. 1198)” due to the inadequateness and inappropriateness with which they have taken into account the complicated problems they have to be faced with tends to be characterized in most cases. fortunately, not all teachers have held this attitude towards their naughty students to seek for the correlative counter “strategies to prevent, reduce and react towards misbehaviors…(birhanu, 2017, p. 71)” as a result of their adequate accumulation of appropriate classroom management knowledge and skill, power, and, wisdom in the continuous enrichment and improvement of their rather rich teaching experiences and teaching practices, for a few scholars have made mention of the positive role of those naughty students in their everyday studies. to be specific, an exemplary elaboration of the critical dissatisfaction with the attitudes held towards the behaviors of those naughty students has been seen from the point of view of dogmatism in this rational reflection and rumination by pointing it out that “… the labelling of pupils as ‘naughty’ and the reading of their behavior as illegitimate/improper without taking into consideration the ways and means by which the discourse of schooling/behavior management itself subjectifies them, is, simplistic and inadequate (priyadharshini, 2011, p. 114).” in comparison with the desirous quietness and calm of the classroom most teachers have expected in their teaching like what has been voiced in the interview with a teacher who has been suffering from the misbehaviors of the students like this “they never stayed silent and calm during the lesson, because they were too naughty to listen to me (merç et al., 2015, p. 58)”, this is relatively acceptable comment made on those students. from the point of view of the development and improvement of the potential particularity and perspicacity of those students, appropriate tolerance is supposed to be shown for the ignorant or innocent misbehaviors of those so-called naughty students based on the educational conscience and tolerance teachers ought to bear in their minds that we need to believe that their naughty student is going to be “a successful and respectful student (ibid, 2015, p. 58)” in the future even though he has failed to be awakened timely in the form of a rather particular illumination and inspiration. however, with the standpoint of the rather essential and inevitable responsibility and the worthwhile personality of teachers, they are supposed to take responsibility to awaken their naughty students in the way those students are likely to accept. as a matter of fact, this has caught the strong sympathetic concern of the officers at education committee at house of commons according to the close observation that has been given to the reasonable speeches of an isolated student as to be transcribed below: “…i had been naughty and was in trouble…i was isolated not just from my lessons but from everyone completely. it makes you feel bad … i was still never allowed that freedom (corps creators, 2018, p. 26).” from this experiential and experimental transcription, it can be seen clearly that the educational concern for those naughty students have been shown in the parliamentary discussions made in uk in spite of the increasing spread of strong critical voices for them throughout the world where most teachers prefer to teach quiet and docile students and implant into their www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 39 published by scholink inc. minds as they are willing to owing to their uncontrollable and unstoppable preference to enjoy the quietness of those students and their unconscious and irrational prejudice against the inappropriate and unacceptable those noisy naughty students just as what has happened to a turkish teacher who has called their names, warned them, given them some advice and asked “why they were naughty (saban, 2009, p. 2114) ” when she was angry with her naughty students who made noises in class. at this embarrassing moment, what has occurred to most teachers is that it will be better for them to get free from the continuous tortures of those noisy students even when they have been told in a considerate fashion that those naughty or noisy students tend to be characterized with the unmatchable and unreachable quickness in thinking about the difficult questions that tends to give rise to the unexpected discoveries of brandnew solutions to the problems that tend to be unsolvable for those good students whose minds have been imprisoned by the numerous routines and dogmas their teachers have been preferring. therefore, it tends to be at this critical moment that those teachers begin to be aware that although those very good students are willing to follow their instructions all the time as they are told to, it has turned out to be true that they are unable to do anything to promote those complicated problem-solving processes in a satiable fashion. however, what has turned out to be quite pitiful is that it is quite impossible for those teachers to make use of the perceptive and cognitive superiority of those naughty students, for it is impossible for them to put up with the unintelligible behaviors and crazy thoughts of those naughty students, let alone take care of them. to meet the strong perceptive and cognitive needs indispensable and irreplaceable in specific educational practices, what has to occur to most teachers, is, that it is of inevitable importance for them to show their emotional tolerance for those naughty students in the practical implementation of their curriculum, for it has been generalized in this research that “…improving confidence and well-being is essential in improving outcomes for young people (young & denny, 2022, p. 676).” as a matter of fact, even an analysis to be made of the major reasons for the unacceptable misbehaviors of those naughty students in terms of their “boredom, sleepiness, lack of motivation from the teacher, poor quality of teaching, and, lack of preparation (wati, et al., 2019, p. 136) ” is inclined to give rise to the teachers’ strong willingness to have a better understanding of what is going on in the minds of those students and their unexpected discovery of the true perceptive and cognitive brilliance of those students rather than rubbing shoulders with them the complaints they have been making in their teaching processes. with a good look taken at the analyses made of the causes that give rise to the strong unmet needs of those naughty students, the clear elaboration related to the delineation of the behaviors of those naughty students need to be polished cautiously and continuously to reveal the psychological truth that tends to tell the authentic difficulty they have had in their everyday lives with respect to the unknown details that tend to give rise to the remarkable increases of the unacceptable and unintelligible actions and thoughts of them in relation to the factors that bear high relevance to “their family problems, negative attitudes towards the school and the instructor’s behavior (benaissi, 2021, p. 74).” what matters more is that this polished elaboration is inclined to give much more insightful and ingenuous illumination to an increasing number of researchers who are in a position to have a profound www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 40 published by scholink inc. access to the authentic and objective revelation of the complicated psychological realities of those naughty students who have been puzzled with the vulnerable and vicious trials and tribulations that have been spoiling their complicated moods. from the point of view of maximizing and maintaining the good those moods are bound to do to the overall development and improvement of the courage and confidence they needs to pick up to deal with the critical devaluation of their dogmatic or pedantic teachers who have failed to have a good understanding of them due to their failure to cater to the quietness their teachers prefer, this elaboration is likely to play an inevitable role in encouraging and enlightening those naughty students to be exposed to the objective emotional observation of a good many researchers who have been interested in devoting themselves to the impressive generalization of the practical potentiality valuable for the empowerment rather than disempowerment of those naughty students. in this sense, a tolerable attitude ought to be developed and held toward the unintelligible behaviors and thoughts of most naughty students have actually turned out to be filled with a wide variety of particular and perspicacious perceptive and cognitive inclinations when they are asked to think more about the possible solutions to a given problem due to the flexibility of their thinking indebted to their failure to be either caged or cornered in the so-called normal or natural perceptive and cognitive inclination that has been used to make most docile students accustomed to the routines running through their lives in a tedious way to give a very strong perceptive and cognitive impetus to the stimulation and promotion of the appropriate perceptive and cognitive balance to be struck acceptably between the positive reinforcement of those submissive quiet docile students living and learning obediently at primary schools and the negative reinforcement of those subversive naughty and noisy students over there. in the case of what a good many scholars have commented on the habits, behaviors, and, thoughts of those naughty students, it has been made clear that the inappropriate comments a good many teachers might make on their naughty students are valuable for the promotion of the effective transformation of the misbehaviors of a great many naughty students into the ones they prefer to even though they have failed to take into account rationally that what they have been doing in this process, has turned out to be, in essence, robbing their naughty students of the genuine liberty they are supposed to have in receiving education. in the reflection and rumination of either the effective or ineffective communication with those naughty students, their unintelligible behaviors have been inclined to be defined as misbehaviors like this “any behavior that undermines the teacher’s ability to establish and maintain effective learning experience in the classroom (kyriacou, 1997, p. 121).” in view of what has been clearly elaborated in this definition, it has to be known in an honest fashion that the definitions of this sort are grounded on the supervision if it is not the domination or manipulation of the actions and speeches of those students in the name of the appropriate and adequate development of teachers’ ability at the cost of the educational liberty and equality of those students. indeed, there will be a wide variety of inevitable contradictions between teachers and students in teachers’ service for their students and students’ acceptance of those services but it is the harmonious and peaceful settlement of those contradictions that help those teachers to nurture www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 41 published by scholink inc. the minds and souls of their students, for naughty students will not follow their teachers unless their genuine unconscious needs are met gracefully and gratefully. in effect, it might seldom be considered that teachers are quite willing to show their critical concern for the sincere protection of the personality and dignity of their students on the basis of the genuine forgiveness or tolerance that is supposed to be kept in the minds of those teachers even when those naughty students are likely to show their disrespect for them or their educational authority or superiority offensively. to be honest, this can be made possible verbally rather than practically because it takes courage for teachers to condescend to communicate with their naughty students equally even if it is impossible for them to have an instinctive control of their emotion pertaining to their looking down upon to those students from the bottom of their hearts. therefore, it can be seen apparently from this situation that the practical lots and lives of those naughty students are doomed to be spoiled by irrational or intolerable teachers. to this extent, it is in a position to make sense that teachers are supposed to try their best to make equal and liberal communications with their students whether they are naughty students or non-naughty students by getting free from the preconception that tends to give rise to either their unconscious or unintentional conceptualization and reconceptualization of the innocent actions and thoughts of those students through educational or cultural architypes, for it is of rather great importance for those to know in a sincere fashion that “teachers are invited to offer attractive lessons by using varied material and teaching content that cater for the different learning styles of learners (benaissi, 2021, p. 77).” by and large, it is also the teachers’ educational responsibility to enable themselves to be exempt from the perceptive and cognitive disturbance or interference of the irrational preconception of the archetypal conceptualization or reconceptualization of their students before their having had a profound understanding of their students as a result of the educational injustice for them to do and the practical boredom against which those so-called naughty students are inclined to resist to seek for the educational justice or educational liberty they have been dreaming about even before their receiving education offered by those teachers. in most cases, the loyalty between those teachers and their so-called naughty students has played a crucial role in shortening the tremendous psychological distance between them as they have turned out to be resting a great deal on the acquisition of this loyalty to build the mutual trust between them, for it has been found in this research that it will be difficult or even impossible for selfish teachers to “… to solve the trust problem and achieve success (hoffman & morgan, 2015, p. 187)” in making a reliable communication between them and those students and developing trustable and reliable friendship between them due to the practical impossibility for them to put themselves into each other’s shoes in a sincere way and their unauthentic intention to achieve a sustainable trust between them in view of the perceptive and cognitive discrepancies between them rather than the social, cultural, and ethnical intimacies between them personified in the verbal or non-verbal interaction between them existing in their learning and teaching lives and experiences. in opposition to this preconception, researches have been conducted to make an analysis of the significant correlation between the positive transformation of those naughty students and the punishment they have www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 42 published by scholink inc. received throughout the perceptive and cognitive growths they have to undergo in their lives. however, it has been shown in this research that no crucial evidence has been fold to provide valuable theoretical and practical support for the true elaboration of the high relevance of punishment and the positive changes of those naughty children as shown in the logical research conclusion that has subverted the managerial fallacy that “punishment reduced naughtiness (schlomi et al., 2022, p. 2).” moreover, it has turned out to be true in the analyses made of the result shown in the data and information collected for the implementation of this research that “… children engaged in naughty behavior for less than 10% of their waking lives (ibid, 2022, p. 2).” in a comparative sense, the temporal proportion of the practical naughtiness of those naughty students turns out to be quite appropriate for the mean naughtiness of adults. therefore, what can be inferred from this research connected with the analyses made of the understandable behaviors of the undefinable submissive students and the unintelligible ones of the definable subversive naughty students, is, that the blind punishment of those students without making a rational analysis of the unmet needs potentiated in their minds is neither scientific nor persuasive for the stimulation of the strong learning motivation and learning intention of those students even though they are equipped with the unexpected potentialities regarding to the insightful discoveries of their strong learning abilities and thinking particularities. judging from the continuous mistrust or distrust between those teachers and their naughty students on account of either the explicit or implicit ambivalence between the governance or supervision of those teachers in class and the resistance or rebellion of those naughty students when there exists a strong confrontation between the acquisition of their liberty and equality in struggling for the appropriate and approachable opportunities they are in a position to take to protect their individual dignity and personality, and, the deprivation of the essential rights they are supposed to have to enable them to develop their true creative and critical versatilities and curiosities valuable for the enrichment and improvement of their creative thinking and critical thinking when they are asked to come up with diverse and distinctive solutions to address the crucial problems most submissive and docile students are unable to due to their adaptation to the substantial imprisonment of the routines and dogmas they are required to follow, it tends to be of very great theoretical and practical value for most teachers to get free from the perceptive and cognitive confinement of the instructive and imperative authority with which they have been endowed in their teaching practices and teaching processes owing to the rather great impact educational ritualism has had on their minds and souls and on the devaluation and distortion of their minds and souls, for the preoccupation with this authority is not favorable for the effective avoidance from their perceptive and cognitive deviation from the conscience of education. in essence, this confrontation has a lot to do with the strong unwillingness of those teachers in making peace with or making friends with their naughty students in an honest fashion because it has been seen in the profound analyses of this research that “…teachers have complaints against behavioral problems relating to students in classroom management (ghazi et al., 2013, p. 350).” from the point of view of the stimulation and promotion of the courage and confidence those naughty students have to pick up to achieve their educational or even academic www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 43 published by scholink inc. transcendence over their counterparts, this is of rather high relevance to the sincere prevention of the teachers’ dishonesty in making communication with those naughty students regardless of the true validity and reliability that ought to be penetrated into their communicative practices and communicative processes. in this sense, it can be seen clearly that the sincerity of teachers is inclined to give a strong perceptive and cognitive impetus to the substantial activation of the critical and creative curiosity of those students to lay a sound perceptive and cognitive foundation for the rather particular, and perspicacious development and improvement of the rare analytical and synthetic versatility they are supposed to rest a lot on to provide their respective service for the promotion of the overall competence of their educational or academic community efficiently. having taken into consideration what has been reviewed above in relation to the genuine responses teachers have been giving to naughty students in accordance with what has been revealed, reflected and ruminated from the crucial literatures either collected or gathered for the objective and authentic justification of the universal existence of either teachers’ unconscious or their unintentional repression or prevention of the truly unmet needs of a good many of those so-called naughty students, it has been shown quite apparently and evidently that the primary reason for the traumatic or tragic exclusion or isolation those particular students to be considered as peculiar students in educational context has a lot to do with the teachers’ failure to familiarize with those students or their great success in estranging them from the normal or natural lives they are entitled to take part in as a result of their intuitive personal preferences to submissive students or their personal prejudices against those subversive naughty students who are quite reluctant to follow the routines or dogmas their teachers have required them to follow in order to get free from the troubles those naughty students might bring them, is, the teachers’ unwillingness to have a much better understanding of the genuine unmet needs of those students in a patient way regardless of the possibility that their reluctance to get close to those students has turned out to be the true reason for their misunderstanding of those students let alone with their genuine unmet needs to the effect that their reluctance has acted as an excuse for them to cover the idleness that prevent them from developing a good students with those students. as a matter of fact, it is impossible for a teacher to smarten a student with whom he is unwilling to get well along and the reality is that the stranger or more indifferent he is to or from those students, the more possible he is likely to ruin the future of those students, for it has been found that “communication within the classroom will increase when a classroom environment can be created where students will not be afraid of teaching…(kubat & dedebali, 2018, p. 113) ” just as what has been clearly demonstrated in the major literatures reviewed in reference to the reciprocal interaction between teachers and those students at either junior-middle schools or seniormiddle schools that has been dealing with popularly about the troublesome issues “that classroom disruptive behaviors have led to more serious problems than distraction and loss of valuable time during teaching and learning process…(yusoffa et al., 2016, p. 134)” however, what has been rarely mentioned from those literature is similar interaction between teachers and students at primary schools regarding the conscious management of the students’ behaviors at those www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 44 published by scholink inc. primary schools and the enlightenment of the creative and critical wisdom of those good students who have been expected to be as submissive as their teachers want them to regardless of the great importance that ought to be placed on the sufficient and sustainable development of the natural gifts of those students rather than the placement of the educational orders according to the commercial needs of the bosses. to a greater extent, primary schools are the beginning of the official education most children tend to receive and act as the genuine outset of the educational journey designed for the beautiful future of those students. therefore, greatest emphasis is in a position to be placed on the stimulation and promotion of this instructive and illuminative education to make sure that the future of those students will not be delayed nor spoiled by the misinterpretation or maltreatment of the precious creative and critical qualities showing up in their learning practices and learning processes on account of the unintelligible ideological and epistemological innocence or ignorance of few short-sighted teachers who have turned out to be accustomed to this educational notion that their students seems to be either their servants or their slaves whose creative and critical liberty and equality have been robbed of in an unconscious sense in the name of the grace and glory of education so that those who have their creative thoughts and critical insights tend to be considered as the naughty students who are rebellious to the dogmatic routines or instructions of their teachers in most cases. therefore, it is pitiful that some naughty students tend to be discriminated isolated, marginalized, or, excluded from the unconscious or unintentional personal preferences or prejudices of some impatient and intolerable teachers and either the increasing discrimination or isolation has strengthened the educational rebellions of those students who are unable to have an effective control over their negative emotions nor shift their emotional attentions from the attitudes of those teachers to the rest of joyful matters. it is to this extent that this research has placed greatest emphasis on the overall development and improvement of the patience and tolerance of primary school teachers from the bottom of their hearts through the interactive circulation between the internalization of their patience and tolerance by making it either a pedagogical ideology or a philosophy, and the externalization of them by making it as indispensable and irreplaceable criteria for the overall evaluation of their teaching effectiveness. from the urgent necessity of making sure of the original educational justice, educational liberty, and educational equality naughtiest students are entitled to be endowed with, this research will adopt a combinative researching method between quantitative research by using a self-constructed instrument on the basis of a statistic analysis made of the correlative data and information collected from the analyses of the questionnaires handed out and collected back from the participants, and the qualitative research by means of the appropriate and adequate semi-structured interviews with regards to the descriptive analyses made of the rather crucial behaviors and thoughts of those participants to make an investigative exploration of the strong repressive effects of primary school teachers’ apparent unconscious prejudice against those naughty students and the inevitable probability their inappropriate and irrational attitudes are inclined to devalue and distort the minds and souls of those students and spoil their future rather than to nurture and protect them to enable them to have a good future in relation to the rather far-sighted educational persistence that “… teachers should have positive personality, high social www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 45 published by scholink inc. intelligence and strong motivation to change for the better…(yusoffa et al., 2016, p. 144)” in the unselfish inspiration and illumination of the creative and critical wisdom of their students rather than the selfish prevention and repression of them in a short-sighted fashion for the sake of either their instructive authority or educational privilege at the cost of the immoral and irrational destruction of the bright future of their students or the victimization of the creative and critical liberty and equality their students ought to be entitled to have in their rich learning processes and their learning practices due to the extensive or excessive popularization of the despotic discourses that have been provided in the educational researches and educational practices where the physical and psychological growths of most primary school students have been counting a great deal on in their learning practices and learning processes. in the case of what has to be answered, what needs to be reached and what needs to be solved in this research in a respective fashion in the conscientious customization and concretization of the overall development of the innovative curiosity of most naughty primary school students in response to the individual developmental needs of those naughty primary school students and the collective developmental needs of their motherland in the stimulation and promotion of all folds that have to be taken into account to support the economic, social and cultural development of their motherland in a competitive way, a great perceptive and cognitive impetus is in a position to be given to the vast majority of educational researchers to make greater progress in seeking for the courageous and confident resistance against the subversive deconstruction and devaluation of the rather stubborn educational preconception that has been imposed upon those misunderstood naughty primary school students upon whom their dogmatic or pedantic primary school teachers have been looking down or dwarfing in a conscious fashion or in an unconscious fashion due to their experiential and experimental failure to free themselves from the perceptive and cognitive imprisonment derivative from either their unconscious or unintentional educational hindsight and their empirical and practical inability to shorten their perceptive and cognitive distance from the practical advancement of the actual educational horizon that has been broadened in international educational context on account of their failure to have a good understanding of the tremendous perceptive and cognitive difference between them and their naughty primary school students who are apt to acquire the latest educational values and educational virtues that have turned out to become the sources or reasons for their rejection to their personal preferences to a large number of natty primary school students in an honest way or their unconscious repressive prejudices against a group of naughty primary school students who have been endowed with a wide variety of particular innovative curiosity that has too much to do with the appropriate and adequate acceptance of the insightful inspiration and illumination of their rare versatility that has been personified in the overall development and improvement of their creative and critical thinking in an unintelligible way. this will be turned into perceptive and cognitive reality in the elaboration of the research design in the third part of this paper and the four major qualitative analyses to be made in its fourth part in accordance with the strong repressive effects of primary school teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudice against the innocent behaviors of their primary school students and their perceptive and cognitive growth in their learning www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 46 published by scholink inc. practices and learning processes, and the tremendous innovative curiosity to be development and improvement due to the insightful inspiration and illumination of most of those naughty primary school students in reference to the authentic investigation, elaboration, identification and development of this innovative curiosity as what to be elucidated in the qualitative justification of the research hypothesis in the fourth part of this paper. 3. the qualitative analytical design to the sufficient development of the naughty primary school students in the maximum reduction of the repressive effects of their teachers’ unconscious prejudice 3.1 the overall design for the appropriate and adequate development of primary school students’ innovative curiosity in relation to the primary problems found in this systematic review of the previous studies and present studies pertaining to the great impact primary school teachers’ unreasonable attitudes and thoughts have had on the normal and natural growth of their naughty students and the analytical inadequateness related to the development of those primary school students’ innovative curiosity in the minimization of their teachers’ unreasonable and unconscious repressive prejudice against them in their learning practices and learning processes in a harmonious fashion in accordance with what has been demonstrated in the analytical categorization of the major literatures that have been published at least in past five years and the critical summarization of the progress and problems existing in those crucial and conducive literatures picked out to seek for the possible revelation of the perceptive and cognitive superiorities and inferiorities of those scholars who have been involved in those previous studies and present studies, it is of great experiential and experimental importance for the author of this paper to connect the ingenuous and insightful development and improvement of the creative and critical curiosity potentiated in the active minds of those naughty primary school students in an innovative fashion to make a very good preparation for the eventual achievement of the three major research objectives of this paper with the ambitious exploration to be made of the possible and feasible answers those three major research questions including what effective actions to identify the harmful effects of primary school teachers’ unconscious prejudice against the appropriate development of naughty students’ innovative curiosity, what feasible measures to be taken to explore the repressive effects of primary school teachers’ rather strong unconscious prejudice against the adequate development and improvement of naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosity have to be explored in details, how can objective investigation be given of the approach to be used to address the harmful repressive effects of those primary school teachers’ strong unconscious prejudice against the development of their naughty students’ curiosity? in the actual explorations and explorations of the feasible answers to those three major research questions, it is indispensable for the author of this paper to bear in her mind those three research objectives to be reached respectively in this research to have a profound understanding of the ingenuous and insightful development and improvement of those naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosity www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 47 published by scholink inc. potentiated in their ambivalent and ambiguous minds to identify the very harmful effects of primary school teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudice against the appropriate and adequate development of naughty students’ innovative curiosity, to explore the repressive effects of primary school teachers’ strong unconscious prejudice against the acceptable and adequate development of a good many naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosity and to investigate the feasible approaches to be used to address the repressive effects of those primary school teachers’ unconscious prejudice against the appropriate and adequate development of their naughty students’ innovative curiosity. in correspondence with the research questions to be answered and the research objectives to be reached in this paper as mentioned above concerning the overall development and improvement of the genuine innovative curiosity of a great many overlooked and isolated naughty primary school students, it will be indispensable for the author of this paper to borrow from qualitative researches valuable theoretical insights to provide crucial theoretical support for the essential and evident justification of the experiential and experimental substantiality and sustainability for the successive and sustainable stimulation and promotion of the innovative curiosity carried in the innovative genes of most naughty primary school students grounded on the inspiration of their teachers to take first step toward their perceptive and cognitive liberation from the continuation of their unconscious repressive prejudice against their naughty primary school students just as what to be dwelled upon below in the specific and special elaboration of the analytical process of this paper. 3.2 the qualitative data to be collected for the justification of the practical feasibility to develop primary school students’ innovative curiosity in view of the analytical needs to be met in this paper in the development and betterment of the primary school students’ innovative curiosity, it has to be known clearly that the qualitative analyses to be made of the analytical samples relevant to the true learning situations, learning behaviors, learning progress and learning performance of those primary school students has a lot to do with the continuous improvement of the practical educational awareness that the subject-centered curriculum design effective for the transmission of knowledge and information into the confused minds of natty primary school students does fit in with the insightful development and improvement of the innovative curiosity of naughty primary school students. the data to be used in the analytical practices and analytical processes of this paper has a great deal to do with the objective and authentic observation of the rich learning practices and learning processes of those primary school students and that of the everyday teaching practices and teaching processes of their teachers in combination with the practical attitude they have been holding toward their naughty primary school students without knowing that their attitude has been observed or even recorded when they are upset by those naughty primary school students who have been trying to share with them and the rest of the students they have been teaching in the same course they have provided for both natty primary school students and naughty primary school students, and the perceptive and cognitive distance exemplified in the different attitudes they have held toward their natty primary school students and their naughty primary school students in an unconscious fashion. what www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 48 published by scholink inc. matters most in the practical collection of this data is of high relevance to the true maintenance of the objectivity of this data because the data to be collected will not turn out to be valid unless those primary school teachers are unaware of the fact they have been observed when they are dealing with either the bearable or unbearable troubles those primary school students have brought them either in an unintentional fashion or in an intentional fashion. 3.3 the practical analysis of the qualitative data collected for the overall justification of the feasibility to develop primary school students’ innovative curiosity the practical analyses of the analytical samples to be picked out in this research have to begin with the rather close observation of the authentic and intuitive learning performance and learning progress of those naughty primary school students in connection with the innovative curiosity that tends to play an irreplaceable role in developing their creative thinking and critical thinking notwithstanding their being unaware of the great contribution their creative thinking and critical thinking are inclined to help them to make to the accumulation and acceleration of the social, economic and cultural development of their motherland, and, their teachers’ strong unconscious repressive prejudices against them when their teachers have lost patience in dealing with them or are caught in the strong resistance against their incompatible thinking as a result of their failure to convince their teachers of the true creativity hidden behind their incompatible thinking and the practical versatility carried in the development and improvement of their creative thinking and critical thinking in reference to what has happened to those students and their teachers in genuine primary school classrooms when the perceptive and cognitive conflicts between those teachers and their students have been worsened in an nonnegotiable fashion so that the latter are inclined to be punished or isolated from those teachers or other natty primary school students who are good at follow their teachers’ instructions and suggestions in a blind fashion to please their teachers for the prevention of their teachers’ dissatisfaction with them or their behaviors or their anger with those natty students or their learning behaviors. to this extent, the data analysis needs to be focused on the incompatible responses those naughty primary school students have given to their learning tasks and the intuitional attitude their teachers have been holding toward them and their incompatible thinking that might be considered to be the original form of their innovative curiosity. 4. developing naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosity in the prevention of their teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudices in combination with the research plan made for the evident and essential justification of the reliability and validity of developing the innovative curiosity of those primary school students as to be analyzed in this paper in line with the qualitative measures to be taken to make a profound analyses of the causes and effects between either those primary school teachers’ unintentional or unconscious prejudices against the experiential and experimental habits, attitudes, and, actions of their naughty primary school students in view of what has been shown in the professionalization, deprofessionalization and reprofessionalization of the teaching attitudes and teaching beliefs of most those primary school teachers in the continuous www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 49 published by scholink inc. overall development and improvement of their intellectual knowledge and skill in the qualitative justification of the practical feasibility for the overall development of the innovative curiosity of their primary school students through the acceptable reduction or minimization of their resistant force in the enrichment of the learning activities of their naughty primary school students and the reasonable equipment of the learning opportunities with them, the following four major parts of this paper will make an exploration of the experiential and experimental feasibility either to reduce or to minimize the strong repressive effects most primary school teachers’ unconscious or unintentional prejudice will have on the unpredictable and incredible promotion of the potential development and improvement of the rather precious creative and critical curiosity of the vast majority of the naughtiest primary school students who have been said to be able to do nothing at school but bring their teachers a large number of solvable or unsolvable troubles time and time again rather than to be inspired to try their best to make an ambitious and aggressive exploration of what has come to their minds in their learning experimentations and learning explorations indebted to the creative and critical inspiration and illumination they have acquired from the experimentation they have come across in the profound and particular meditation they have been making on the efforts they have made for the interesting discoveries of the feasible and possible solutions to the basic problems they have been running across in their own imaginative, impressive and instructive learning lives and learning experiences apart from the great impact their exclusive and impatient rejection to those naughty primary school students are inclined to have on the sustainable, successful and sufficient achievement of the intellectual and innovative dreams to be sought for in their future studies as a result of their continuous ignorance of the confidence and courage carried in the rather particular insistence of those naughty primary school students and their practical impatience for the honest acceptance of the unacceptable behaviors behind which the rare intellectual and innovative intelligence of those naughty students have been hidden in a confidential way. 4.1 the authentic investigation of naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosity in the examination of the repressive effects of their teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudice in view of the analytical arrangements made for the essential and evident justification of the practical probability for the author of this paper to make her way to the overall development and improvement of naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosity in the appropriate and acceptable minimization of their teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudice against them or even discrimination of them in the entire process of their curriculum design, curriculum development, curriculum implementation and curriculum evaluation when they have to be faced with the quite incredible creative thinking and critical thinking most naughty primary school students have been trying their best to develop in their own learning experiences and learning experiments in an incompatible way on account of their strong unwillingness to be developed to free themselves from the dogmatic or pedantic imprisonment of the excessive exaggeration of those teachers’ leadership in classroom that has been dominated by the popular developmental views related to the subject-centered curriculum design regardless of the assertion that “leadership that matters is leadership that is sustained… (manthey, 2004, p. 13)” in a profound fashion, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 50 published by scholink inc. it has turned out to be quite crucial for the author of this paper to take into account in an overall fashion the great experiential and experimental necessity for her to give an overall and authentic investigation of the practical perceptive and cognitive values and virtues of the innovative curiosity personified in the increasing development of the intuitive learning habits, learning styles, learning strategies and learning abilities of most naughty primary school students despite there being very strong incompatibility with what their teachers prefer to a great deal in their teaching practices and teaching processes, and, the great harm those primary school teachers are inclined to do to the adequate development and improvement of the creative thinking and critical thinking of those naughty primary school students at cost of either the deconstruction or destruction of their mental health in their perceptive and cognitive growth that has referred a lot to what has been shown in the clear elaboration of the psychological development of each individual that the “…state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, copes with the normal stresses of life, works productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community (who, 2005, p. 12)”. in the practical observation of the teaching behaviors, teaching strategies, teaching styles and teaching attitudes of those primary school teachers, it is not quite difficult to find that they are quite likely to run out of their educational tolerance and educational patience when they have to deal with naughty primary school students, and, unable to have a good control over their emotion so that they are apt to turn a blind eye to those naughty primary school students in their teaching activities, to prevent them from the positive interaction with those students in an implicit fashion or in an explicit fashion, or, to isolate those students from the natty primary school students they prefer a lot in the name of the classroom management they are quite likely to make full use of to familiarize the latter and to estrange the former in their teaching process by their unconscious or unintentional devaluation or distortion of its original definition that “…classroom management is one of the most important dimensions of the teaching and learning process. it is believed that good classroom management helps establish an effective and conducive learning environment (kubat & dedebali, 2018, p. 110).” a profound and perspicacious reflection and rumination of the hegemonic leadership or leading hegemony of those primary school teachers in either their habitual and harmonious dominance or governance of the learning behaviors, learning practices and learning processes of most natty primary school students, their extensive and excessive supervision of the learning progress and learning performance of those students, and, their preferential evaluation of the learning effects and learning outcomes of them will help the author of this paper to have a good access to the true perceptive and cognitive balance between the attitude those primary school teachers have been holding toward natty primary school students and naughty primary school students owing to the different choice they have made for the instructions of their teachers. in a psychological sense, this choice has much to do with the different needs to be met in their minds. for the part of the former, what they need to do is to follow every suggestion their teachers are inclined to give them in an unconditional fashion without thinking about the appropriateness and adequateness of those suggestions, not to speak of the ambitious and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 51 published by scholink inc. aggressive exploration to be made of the practical feasibility of those suggestions when their teachers try their best to make explanations to their problems in an advantageous fashion. on the part of the latter, it has turned out to be quite difficult or impossible for them to follow their teachers’ dogmatic or pedantic instructions in a submissive fashion, for what they are good at in their learning explorations is not to take it from others in a submissive fashion but to make a rather suspicious meditation on whatever they have heard of or caught sight of on account of the strong intellectual curiosity they have been developing and getting accustomed to in their learning experiences and learning experiments even if they have failed to be aware of the possibility that their intellectual curiosity is inclined to give rise to the formation, transformation, or even reformation of their innovative curiosity and the contributions they are likely to make to the intellectual development of their motherlands in their future studies in connections with what has been illuminated and instructed explicitly in the distinctive and diverse interaction between most of those primary school teachers’ unconscious repression and the intuitive reaction of their naughty primary school students in more than one respect. in a comparative sense, those naughty primary school students have been thrown into danger in most cases due to their incompatible thinking with natty primary school students and their teachers, for the continuous development and improvement of their creative thinking and critical thinking engendered in the construction and consolidation of the strong intellectual and innovative curiosity in their own learning practices and learning processes have turned them into independent learners who are able to analyze problems or answer questions in an insightful way rather than dependent ones who have to rest a lot on their teachers to enable or empower them to make their way to the solutions or answers available in the minds of their teachers regardless of the harm this perceptive and cognitive dependence tends to do to the further development and improvement of their creative thinking and critical thinking on which the genuine stimulation and promotion of their intellectual and innovative curiosity are based in most of their learning situations owing to the primary school teachers’ practical failure to realize the crucial role they are in a position to play in taking their responsibility for the protection and promotion of those naughty primary school students by maximizing the “positive mental health (cefai & cooper, 2017, p. 3)” they are supposed to implant into the minds of those naughty primary school students and minimizing the “internalized and externalized conditions (ibid, p. 3)” to help them to get rid of their possible anxieties and depressions. on the ground of the objective analyses of the authenticity and objectivity of the practical investigation of the harm the unconscious repressive prejudices of most primary school students have done to the sufficient development of the intellectual and innovative potentiality of their students who have been driven by their strong innovative curiosity, the independent perception and cognition of those naughty primary school students have made it clear that the objective and authentic observation of the perceptive and cognitive intuition of those primary school teachers in accordance with what has been impressed in their teaching practices and teaching processes when they are unaware that they have been observed turns out to be the most effective way to get a rather good access to their intuitional preferences to natty primary school students and their unconscious repressive prejudices against naughty primary school students, and, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 52 published by scholink inc. the unbearable trials and tribulations those prejudices are doomed to bring for the mental health of the latter whose liberty and dignity have been deprived of by their impatient and irrational teachers who have been preoccupied with the isolation of those naughty primary school students and the hatred for the numerous troubles those naughty primary school students have been bringing them. thus, it can be seen from the analyses made of the teaching facts and teaching events of those primary school teachers that the objective, essential and authentic elaboration of their intuitive impatience and unconscious prejudice is the valid and reliable for the author of this paper to find out enough conclusive evidences for the prevention of those primary school teachers’ irrational preference to natty primary school students and their unconscious repressive prejudice against the overall development and improvement of those naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosity in an insightful sense. 4.2 the essential exploration of naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosity in the appropriate minimization of the repressive effects of their teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudice in the case of the high relevance of the data and information to be needed in the analyses of this research to the correlative data taken from the analytical result based on what has been collected and gathered from the profound and perspicacious analyses to be made of the learning behaviors, learning performances, learning progressions and learning attitudes that have to be closely observed in the exploration to be made of the intellectual and innovative curiosity of most primary school students to have a very profound understanding of their experiential and experimental potentiality in according to what they have been interested or disinterested in when they are invited to join various learning activities and the teaching preferences to natty primary school students and teaching prejudices against naughty primary school students to have a good knowledge of the perceptive and cognitive inclination of their teachers in accordance with the valid and reliable responses the participants have given to the concern that has to be shown for their natty primary school students and naughty primary school students in connection with the extent to which they are patient with those two groups of primary students in a different way owing to the different attitudes they have been holding to those students in an intentional way or in an unintentional way. a careful look to be taken at the teaching behaviors, teaching attitudes, teaching interests and teaching habits is inclined to enable the author of this paper to have a good understanding of the reasons for their educational preference to the former and their educational prejudice against the latter due to the subject-centered curriculum design running through their teaching practices and teaching processes although they have been fully aware of the objective problem that this curriculum design is bound to lead to the curriculum evaluation that both those two groups of primary students are inevitable to be examined by their academic results. in this case, it is natural that they prefer the former due to their academic performance and resist against the latter as a result of their academic inconsistence with those teachers and their learning peers who have failed to have a good understanding of their creative thinking and critical thinking on which the development of their intellectual and innovative curiosity have been resting a lot on in their studies even if they have to take risks in most cases in being misunderstood, maltreated, misinterpreted and misgoverned by those who have turned out to be unable www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 53 published by scholink inc. to have a genuine understanding of either their ambitious or aggressive explorations they do want to make in their learning experiences and learning experiments to have a very good access to the intellectual and innovative wisdom that has been playing an important role in stimulating and promoting their intellectual and innovative insights in a sustainable way and in a sufficient way as what to be elaborated below. to a great extent, the inconsistence between those naughty primary school students and natty primary school students and even between them and their primary school teachers has turned out to be the major reason for the exclusion and isolation they have been forced to suffer from their interaction with those natty primary school students and their communication with those primary school teachers, for those natty students and teachers are inclined to consider their inconsistent actions as disruptive behavior. as a matter of fact, none of those natty students and their teachers has had a good understanding of the genuine definition of this term save their familiarity of the popularized awareness that “…disruptive behavior is roughly defined as inappropriate behavior of students in the classroom that impedes both learning and teacher’s instructions (gómez mármol et al., 2018, p. 14; närhi et al., 2017, p. 1186).” in an objective sense, the genuine for this inconsistence lies a great deal in the perceptive and cognitive phenomenon that it is difficult or even impossible for them to have a genuine understanding of what has come to the ingenuous and insightful minds of those naughty primary school students in most cases due to their failure to take the same course with those naughty primary school students who have turned out to be not interested in seeking for the thorough satisfaction of their teachers with what they have been doing, but seeking for their internal satisfaction with what they have learned from their learning and researching experiences in an intelligent way and in an intellectual way. from the point of view of the perceptive and cognitive breakthrough or transcendence of the educational work that has been playing an insightful role in the successive and sustainable promotion of the material and spiritual civilization of human beings, what has turned out to be true is that the intellectual and innovative wisdom tends to be favorable for those who are inclined to be inconsistent with most of those who are able to do nothing but to follow suits in the educational context of a given society at a given historical moment due to their unwillingness and inability to rack their brains to send their analytical and synthetic bravery and brilliance to the inspiration and illumination of the intellectual and innovative wisdom of those inconsistent primary school students to make enough room for the encouragement and enlightenment of the innovative curiosity on which they have to count to achieve their perceptive and cognitive breakthrough and transcendence in their future studies. of course, the acquisition of this wisdom has to be based on those primary school teachers’ adequate awareness of the truth that their implicit punishments of their naughty primary school students through the discrimination and isolation engendered in their prejudices are not only likely to “reduce the naughtiness (schlomi et al., 2022, p. 2)” of their own primary school students but also to spoil their innovative creativities and curiosities. having considered the tremendous perceptive and cognitive difference and distance between the rather popular perceptive and cognitive dependence of natty primary school students on their primary school www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 54 published by scholink inc. teachers and the unintelligible perceptive and cognitive independence of naughty primary school students engendered by those primary school teachers’ personal preferences to the former and prejudice against the latter in the continuation and maintenance of the subject-centered curriculum design to which they have been used in the true perceptive and cognitive imprisonment of their teaching traditions, their teaching dogmas and their teaching routines, what the author of this paper has been fully aware of in a profound sense in the comparative exploration that has been made of the different attitudes those primary school teachers have held toward natty primary school students and naughty primary school students and the different values carried in the conservative deterioration of the normal and natural development of the practical thinking of the former in their learning experiences, and the development of the creative thinking and critical thinking of the latter in their learning explorations as a consequence of their great expectation of achieving perceptive and cognitive progress in this learning process, is, that the investigation given of the learning behaviors, learning progresses and learning performances of the participants available in the completion of the researching objectives when the researching plan is made for this paper has made it clear and evident that although those naughty primary school students have suffered a lot from their interaction with natty primary students and the communication with their primary school teachers when they learn essential knowledge in a compulsory way at the primary schools they attend in accordance with what has been indicated in the practical extent to which their primary school teachers are unwilling to talk with them, to make a discussion with them, or, even to make a communication with them honestly to see if it is possible for them to achieve academic excellence and if it is feasible for primary-school teachers to take into account cautiously and the negative educational impact the unconscious repressive management of primary school students as shown in the actual attitudes of those primary school teachers has tended to make those naughty and subversive primary students natty and submissive due to their diverse or distinctive thoughts inconsistent with what their expectation of them to do and think like most natty primary school students who have been learning submissively at most primary schools according to the absolute acceptance of their instructions, it has turned out to be their unconscious repressive prejudice that forces those naughty primary school students to have a very good access to the precious quietness they are likely to make full use of to develop their creative thinking and critical thinking and to make a valuable exploration of everything in which they are interested to lay a rather sound perceptive and cognitive foundation for the overall and sufficient development of their intellectual and innovative curiosity but it has to be clear that this prejudice has to be prevented in an acceptable fashion. 4.3 the practical identification of naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosity with the prevention of their teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudice on the basis of the appropriate awareness of the very crucial role the overall development and improvement of those naughty primary school students’ rather impressive innovative curiosity in combination with the intellectual and intelligent extraordinariness that has been differing and distancing a lot from the intellectual and intelligent ordinariness to which their primary school teachers have been www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 55 published by scholink inc. accustomed in terms of the experiential and experimental development and improvement of their intellectual potentiality and particularity in their learning explorations and learning experimentations that have to be based on the prioritization of the overall development and improvement of their creative thinking and critical thinking in accordance with the academic and intellectual versatility hidden behind their unintelligible and unrecognizable learning habits, learning behaviors, learning styles, learning methods and learning strategies that are inclined to enable them to develop their learning abilities in a transcendental way in the process of their own perceptive and cognitive progression, what matters much more for most primary school teachers in their teaching experimentation and teaching exploration when they are willing to change the impatient or unidentifiable attitude their naughty primary school student is that it is of great perceptive and cognitive importance for them to be aware of either the unbearable or intolerable attitude they have been holding toward those naughty primary school students with respect to their learning progress and learning performance, the possible changes of this unfriendly attitude are inclined to help those naughty primary students to be free from being made mad when they are unable to deal with the strong learning pressures and psychological pressures imposed on them due to their perceptive and cognitive inconsistence with natty primary school students and their primary school teachers on the subject of choosing to be submissive or subversive to the inappropriate or unacceptable domination or manipulation of their primary school teachers and they are unable to break away from the emotional crisis or emotional tragedy potentiated in the communicative indifference or isolation of their primary school teachers in a reasonable fashion and in an acceptable fashion when they are thrown into terrible emotional danger in the practical communication with their primary school teachers on their learning issues, for those primary school teachers’ decisive rejection to the reasonable and rational changes of this attitude toward them has turned out to be unfavorable for them to seek for the essential particularization and professionalization of their innovative exploration and the quintessential prioritization of their innovative elaboration in the theorization and systematization of what has come to them in the protection and promotion of their experiential and experimental potentiality in a logical fashion and in a scientific fashion when they try their best to have a very good access to the precious and perspicacious perceptive and cognitive transcendence in their own experiential and experimental learning explorations. to this extent, it tends to be of great innovative importance for those primary school teachers to enable their naughty primary school students to have a genuine access to their intellectual and intelligent potentiality and particularity of their innovative curiosity and then to make a very good perceptive and cognitive preparation for the true particularization and professionalization of their innovative exploration and experimentation even if they are unable to have a profound understanding of the implication of innovative professionalism that has much to do with the practical educational exemplification of the very particular values, virtues, and visions of this perceptive and cognitive innovation potentiated in the clear conceptualization and concretization of professionalism to the effect that “…professionalism […] focuses on the question of what qualifications and acquired capacities, what competence, is required for www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 56 published by scholink inc. the successful exercise of an occupation […] -which, in the last instance, is assessed by external forces (englund, 1996, p. 76).” in a pragmatic sense, this particular and professional exemplification will be valuable for not only the social acceptance of those primary school students’ jobs in their future lives but also for their successive and sustainable persistence in making their great perceptive and cognitive contributions to the cohesive and coherent stimulation and promotion of the true intellectual and intelligent innovations that have been expected and demanded most in their motherlands to solve the unavoidable problems that have been preventing their motherlands from making a great progress in intellectual and intelligent innovation as a result of the barricades existing in the unstoppable continuation of the inappropriate or inadequate development of the naughty school students’ innovative potentiality and curiosity through the acceptable prevention of their primary school teachers’ prejudices’ inconsistent learning exploration and learning experimentation in the implementation of their subject-centered curriculum design in the educational examination and educational evaluation designed for the analyses to be made of the learning progress and learning performance of their primary school students according to the specific learning outcome they have achieved in their learning practices and learning processes rather than the strong learning ability they have developed in an ingenuous fashion, in an innovative fashion and in an insightful fashion in those learning practices and learning processes. therefore, it can be seen in an evident fashion from this analysis that a lot has to be done both in an educational context and in a social context to pick up the speed of the perceptive and cognitive liberation of those primary school teachers to lay a sound perceptive and cognitive foundation for their perceptive and cognitive promotion on account of its possibility to quicken this insightful exemplification in the popular identification with the particular and professional learning experimentation and exploration in which their naughty primary school students are interested in their learning experiences in most cases. this exemplification also finds its way in the profound and particular awareness of the great emphasis to be placed on the practical necessity for primary school teachers’ true understanding of the genuine particular professionality of their respective naughty primary school students’ learning exploration owing to their indebted to their conscious or unconscious perception and cognition of the valuable inconsistence carried in their reverse thinking that is bound to differ most from the valueless and vicious consistence of natty primary school students who are good at intellectual and intelligent imitation of others like their primary school teachers owing to the unstoppable and unavoidable perceptive and cognitive confinement of the obverse thinking they have inherited or learned from those primary school teachers to highlight their perceptive and cognitive consistence with others and to maximize the perceptive and cognitive popularity on which they count a lot to get well along with them in a blind fashion or in an ambitious fashion, and the concretization and crystallization of their learning experimentation that has a great deal to do with their rather profound understanding of the genuine denotation and connotation of the particular professionality potentiated in their aggressive and ambitious experimental learning exploration in an unnoticeable fashion and in an untraceable fashion that “…professionality has been defined…as an ideologically-, attitudinally-, intellectuallyand epistemologically-based stance on the part of an www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 57 published by scholink inc. individual, in relation to the practice of the profession to which s/he belongs, and which influences her/his professional practice… (evans, 2002, pp. 6-7)” from the point of view of the better protection and promotion of the progressive perceptive and cognitive boundaries of those naughty primary school students, this exemplification tends to play a crucial role in giving a strong perceptive and cognitive impetus to those primary school students in their successive and sustainable acquisition of the conducive encouragement and enlightenment from the appropriate prevention of their primary school teachers’ perceptive and cognitive prejudice against them in the careless implementation of the content-centered curriculum design that is in a position to be used for the continuous inspiration of the professionalization and particularization of those primary school students in seeking for the experiential and experimental exploration and innovation in their learning practices and learning processes. in an essential sense, this insightful and ingenuous exemplification carries a brave and brilliant abandonment of those primary school teachers’ previous perceptive discouragement in dealing with their own naughty primary school students on the ground that has been laid for their honest identification of their primary school students with the unintelligible perceptive and cognitive particularity and professionality those naughty primary school students are anxious to make use of in their learning experimentation and their practical and pragmatic learning exploration to seek for the perceptive and cognitive breakthrough or eve transcendence that can be considered as a good preparation to be made for their appropriate and adequate obtainment of the innovative curiosity that will do good to their perceptive and cognitive growth right on the way to their persistent maximization of the various exploration of the intellectual and intelligent contribution they are able to send to the promotion of the profound and perspicacious economic, social and cultural development of their motherland. however, what matters most in this respect is based on the perceptive and cognitive liberation of most primary school teachers who have a very good knowledge of the high possibility that their appropriate identification with the learning exploration of those naughty primary school students tends to provide a strong perceptive and cognitive incentive for the formation, transformation and reformation of the curriculum design, development and evaluation and the protection and promotion of the primary school education that has much to do with the lives of their compatriots and the lots of their motherland. 4.4 the adequate inspiration for naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosity in supervising their teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudice indebted to the insightful and ingenuous awareness of the genuine perceptive and cognitive emphasis to be placed on the good the development and improvement of the naughty primary school students are inclined to do to their perceptive and cognitive growth in the acquisition of the essential and evident protection and promotion of the tremendous intellectual and intelligent potentiality and particularity on which they have to base the overall and effective development and improvement of their innovative curiosity in the unintelligible learning experimentation and learning exploration in which they have been interested in their learning practices and learning processes, it is of great practical necessity for the author of this paper to make a good analysis of the essential teaching practices and teaching processes that are www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 58 published by scholink inc. conducive for the vast majority of those primary school teachers to get free from the great perceptive and cognitive imprisonment their unconscious uncontrollable preferences to their sociable natty primary school students and their unconscious repressive prejudices against their naughty primary school students with the help of the valuable inspiration, instruction and illumination perceivable from the profound and perspicacious reflection and rumination of their intuitive teacher beliefs in a practical sense that “a teacher’s beliefs tend to be associated with a congruent style of teaching that is often evident across different classes and grade level (kagan, 1992, p. 66).” that is primarily because their genuine understanding of the implications of those teacher beliefs has to be connected with the authentic and objective awareness of the experiential and experimental application of the true perceptive and cognitive values and virtues that are supposed to be implemented throughout their teaching experiences and teaching experiments to empower them to have a rational control over the unconscious preferences to the former and the prejudices against the latter grounded on the educational conscience that tends to inspire teachers including primary school teachers to avoid categorizing their students in a hierarchical fashion in connection with either the conscious or unconscious needs to be met either in a selfish sense or in an unselfish sense. from the point of view of the essential and evident stimulation and promotion of the educational breakthrough and educational transcendence of their mother land and the continuous achievement of the great pride in which those primary school students are likely to take due to the popular respect their primary school students and the students’ parents are willing to show for them on account of the great contribution they have made to the intellectual and intelligent of their children, it is irrational for those primary school teachers to be caught in the endless selfish personal needs that are likely to have a great impact on the deviation, devaluation or even distortion of their teaching attitudes and their teaching beliefs in their teaching practices and teaching processes but admirable for them to be preoccupied with their generous unselfish needs to be met to achieve their educational values based on the sincerity they have acquired from their teaching experiences to enable them to be faced with the inconsistencies between the continuous insistence on their teacher beliefs and the appropriate and adequate application of them into their teaching experiences when they are aware of the “disharmony between their beliefs and practices (guerra & wubbena, 2017, p. 40)” in a profound fashion. with the standpoint of the authentic and objective protection and promotion of the educational justice, educational equality, educational liberty, educational fraternity, educational tolerance and educational conscience that are supposed to be kept in the minds of not only most primary school teachers but almost all teachers working hard for the educational breakthrough and educational transcendence of their mothers lands and the bright future of their students in the long run, it will be extremely unacceptable and unimaginable for those primary school teachers to be referred to in most cases in this qualitative research to be unable to be unaffected by their uncontrollable preferences to their natty primary school students and their strong unstoppable prejudices against their naughty primary school students in that they are not in a position to make themselves unable to strike an appropriate or acceptable psychological balance between their preferences and their prejudices those who have been teaching at primary schools. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 59 published by scholink inc. as a matter of fact, most primary school teachers have failed to achieve this kind of intrinsic psychological balance due to their essential perceptive and cognitive failure to enable them to achieve their genuine perceptive and cognitive balance between their excessive patience for their natty primary school students and their excessive impatience for their naughty primary school students, for it has turned out to be difficult or impossible for them to accept the unaccepted behaviors of their naughty primary school students and they have turned out to be insincere for them while making friends with their naughty primary school students as a result of their inadequate experiential and experimental courage and confidence to be picked up to empower them to have a rather good access to the educational tolerance and educational fraternity that are inclined to help them to put a full stop to their hierarchical categorization of their primary school students and their unconscious isolation of their naughty primary school students even though they might not be on purpose to do so in their teaching experiences when they are forced to follow whatever it takes to implement the subject-centered course design, development and evaluation at primary school in a competitive educational context rather than to keep in pace with the very popular implementation of content-centered curriculum development, design and evaluation over there in a cooperative educational context. to this extent, those primary school teachers who are most fed up with their naughty students will be the best-qualified ones to be invited in the necessary interviews to be taken in this research to give an authentic and objective investigation of their repressive teaching attitudes and teaching beliefs to show the great importance that is supposed to be placed on the immediate actions to be taken to prevent their unconscious prejudices against their naughty primary school teachers, for the continuation of their repressive prejudices is not favorable for the effective and essential protection and promotion of the creative and critical curiosity of those naughty primary school students. to be honest, what most primary school teachers has to be aware of in a sensitive fashion and in a sensible fashion in their communication with their naught primary school students from the bottom of their hearts in the case of the resistant or repressive attitude they have been holding toward their primary school students, is, that they are quite unwilling to condescend their so-called educational authority and to show their sincere respect for the conscientious and intuitive authenticity and simplicity of their naughty primary school students as a result of their wrong understanding of the harmonious correlation between them and their students in an essential sense and their conscious or unconscious resistance against the inconsistent learning interests, learning habits, learning styles, learning strategies and learning behaviors that tends to give rise to their uncontrollable isolation of those primary school students from the normal and natural participation in the indispensable learning activities by treating them as the servant or slaves of their teaching practices and teaching processes without knowing clearly that their unconscious isolation of those primary school students might be the genuine causes for their primary school students to fall victims to their authoritative indulgence, their dogmatic or pedantic insistence upon the achievement of the submissive obedience of their primary school students, or, their perceptive and cognitive innocence or ignorance of the genuine creative and critical essence of the primary school www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 60 published by scholink inc. education that seeks for the insightful liberation of the minds and souls of those primary school students rather than the suppression of their minds and souls to make them to the unthinkable and unimaginable toys or tools of the unbearable educational domination and manipulation epitomized in the social context of their motherland. in other words, what have come to the minds of those primary school teachers has deviated a lot from the perceptive and cognitive essence and quintessence of the primary school education that has to be grounded on the rather special care to be taken of the mental health of those isolated naughty primary school students to provide a strong perceptive and cognitive support for the successive and sustainable encouragement and enlightenment for the sufficient development and improvement of their own intellectual and intelligent potentiality to make an experiential and experimental preparation for the insightful and ingenuous development and improvement of their intellectual curiosity in an acceptable fashion and in an admirable fashion. considering what has been analyzed above in terms of the minimization of the repressive and discriminative impact the unconscious prejudices of most primary school teachers have had on the protection and promotion of the normal and natural growth of those primary school students, it can be seen in a clear fashion from this analysis that the repressive and resistant isolation of most naughty primary school students from their normal and natural participation of the learning activities at primary schools has turned out to be of high relevance to the evident perceptive and cognitive inadequateness and inappropriateness of those primary school teachers on account of their strong inconsistence with what has occurred to those primary-school teachers whose minds have been suffocated with the unintelligible deprivation of the possible and feasible learning opportunities those primary school students are inclined to take in their learning experimentation and learning exploration to foster the successive and sustainable development and improvement of the creative thinking and critical thinking owing to their insightful and ingenuous application of their creative and critical meritocracy, potentiality, versatility and curiosity into the eventual achievement of their perceptive and cognitive progress, for it can be seen from what they have come across in their impatient communication with the vast majority of their naughty primary school students in their teaching practices and teaching processes that as a consequence of the increasing unconscious prejudices those primary-school teachers held unconscientiously toward the so-called misbehaviors of those naughty primary school students, it has turned out to be quite difficult or even impossible for those primary school teachers to take into account the possibility that what they have been doing in their teaching experiences regarding those prejudices will give rise to the destruction of the future of those primary school students, the distortion of the ideas that ought to be balanced between the educational valuation and educational devaluation in the development of the primary education of a country, and, the prevention of the normal and natural speed picked up due to the insightful introduction of the diverse and distinctive creative and critical insights acquirable from the worthwhile respect to be shown for the ignored dignities and personalities of those misunderstood and misinterpreted naughty primary school students and the rather great theoretical and practical efforts that are supposed to be made for the insightful and instructive decentralization of the educational authority of those primary-school www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 61 published by scholink inc. teachers who are likely to be biased against those naughty primary school students at cost of spoiling their future and the possible slowdown or stoppage of the educational development of their motherland that has much to do with the economic, social and cultural prosperity of their motherlands on account of the strong intellectual and intelligent impetus the instructive and insightful prioritization of the crucial role the overall development and improvement of those primary school students’ genuine innovative curiosity tends to play in the stimulation and promotion of the economic, social and cultural progress of their motherland in more than one respect. 5. conclusion on the basis of what has been analyzed above in this paper regarding the good the prevention of most primary school teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudices against their naughty primary school students has done to the very particular and perspicacious protection and promotion of the intellectual and intelligent potentiality of those naughty primary school students that has been seen as the basis for the essential development and improvement of their innovative curiosity in their learning experimentations and learning explorations right on the way to the achievement of the perceptive and cognitive growth and transcendence in their learning practices and learning processes, it is reasonable for the author of this paper to reach a conclusion in a logical sense, in a strategic sense and in a systematic sense that with standpoint of the successive and sustainable prosperity of the overall economic, social and cultural development and improvement of a given country, it is of insightful strategic importance for the vast majority of primary school teachers to open their minds by removing their excessive unintentional preferences to their natty primary school students who have been keeping in pace with their perceptive and cognitive imprisonment and their strong unconscious prejudices against their naughty primary school students who are unwilling to be consistent with their perceptive and cognitive domination and manipulation to set a broad platform for the maximum development and improvement of those naughty primary school students’ innovative curiosity to enable or to empower them to give a strong intellectual and intelligent impetus to the acceleration of the economic, social and cultural transcendence of their motherland, for what has turned out to be true in this research in an evident fashion with regard to the correlation between the perceptive and cognitive growth of those naughty primary school students in connection with the insightful and ingenuous development and improvement of their innovative curiosity is that the experiential and experimental progress of their innovative curiosity in the educational context of the popular implementation of subject-centered curriculum design, development and evaluation used for the overall examination of primary school students’ learning outcomes rests a lot on the great efforts to be made in those primary school teachers’ true willingness to be developed in an honest fashion in their teaching explorations to give an authentic and objective investigation of those naughty primary school students’ strong innovative potentiality, to make a valid and reliable exploration of their innovative versatility, to identify them with their intellectual and intelligent priority on which the development of their innovative curiosity has to be based, and to prioritize the sufficient and sustainable development of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 62 published by scholink inc. their innovative curiosity to deal with the predictable or unpredictable situations in which the actual economic, social and cultural progress of their motherlands is inclined to be caught owing to the practical failure to strike an appropriate and acceptable balance between primary school teachers’ uncontrollable preferences to natty primary school students and their unconscious repressive prejudices against naught primary school students. to this extent, the sufficient development and improvement of the innovative curiosity of most primary school students especially that of most naughty school students have too much to do the educational rehabilitation of their motherland that is of rather high relevance to the strategic achievement of the economic, social and cultural breakthrough of their county due to its rather close connectedness with the specific lives and lots of most citizens who have to learn, to live and to work over there in an unavoidable fashion to quicken their individual intellectual and intelligent growth and the perceptive and cognitive progress of all citizens over there. what needs to be disclaimed at the end of this paper is that very hard as the author of this paper has worked to make a qualitative analysis of the practical and particular feasibility to encourage those naughty primary school students’ genuine innovative curiosity through the evident, effective and efficient prevention of their primary school teachers’ unconscious repressive prejudices against them in an appropriate way and in an acceptable way, it has to be admitted in an honest way that a lot needs to be done in the future to enrich this researching topic. in a similar way, very great expectation will be appreciated suppose there is unintentional disrespect shown for her academic predecessors in this paper. references anneli, f. 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(2016). the effectiveness of strategies used by teachers to manage disruptive classroom behaviors: a case study at a religious school in rawang, selangor. iium journal of educational studies, 4(1), 134-144. https://doi.org/10.31436/ijes.v4i1.87 https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2022.2126971 https://doi.org/10.31436/ijes.v4i1.87 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 57 original paper a study on the translation of internet buzzwords from a crosscultural perspective xiaowan duan1 1 chongqing jiaotong university, chongqing, china received: march 29, 2025 accepted: april 21, 2025 online published: may 6, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p57 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p57 abstracts studying the translation strategies of internet buzzwords not only helps improve translation quality but also promotes communication and understanding between different cultures. by analyzing the translation practices of internet buzzwords, this study can delve into issues of cultural differences in cross-cultural communication, identify commonalities and differences between cultures, and thus propose more effective translation strategies to support exchanges across different cultural backgrounds. therefore, this study aims to analyze the challenges in translating internet buzzwords and their impact on cross-cultural communication, exploring translation strategies that can effectively promote understanding and exchange between different cultures. the research questions primarily focus on the following aspects: what is the role of internet buzzwords in cross-cultural communication? what are the main challenges encountered during the translation process? how can these challenges be effectively overcome through translation strategies to achieve accurate cultural transmission and emotional resonance? through in-depth research on these issues, this study aims to provide theoretical support and practical guidance for the translation of internet buzzwords in cross-cultural communication, with the goal of promoting better understanding and exchange between different cultures worldwide. keywords internet buzzwords, cross-cultural perspective, translation theory in today’s era, the rapid development of network technology has not only greatly changed people’s lifestyles but also profoundly influenced the patterns of cultural exchange. as a unique cultural phenomenon, internet buzzwords has become an indispensable part of cross-cultural communication in the context of globalization. these popular phrases often carry rich cultural connotations and social significance, spreading at an unprecedented speed and with an extensive reach. therefore, translating internet buzzwords is not just about converting language and text; it is also about conveying cultural www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 58 published by scholink inc. meaning and social context, which is crucial for enhancing understanding and communication between different cultures. as globalization continues to deepen, internet buzzwords are increasingly appearing in cross-cultural communication scenarios, presenting new challenges to translators. one characteristic of internet buzzwords is its heavy reliance on specific cultural backgrounds and social contexts. this means that translating it not only requires accurately conveying the literal meaning of the original text but also appropriately expressing its cultural connotations and emotional nuances. that how to maintain the original flavor while ensuring that readers in the target language can understand and accept it has become a significant challenge in translating internet buzzwords. as an important component of contemporary cultural exchange, the translation of internet buzzwords has gradually become a focal point in academic circles. peng jia (2023), based on cognitive linguistics theory, delved into the challenges of translating metaphors in internet buzzwords and proposed a translation method that combines dynamic context analysis to address language issues during the translation process, aiming to enhance accuracy and effectiveness. this marks the expansion of internet buzzwords translation research into the field of cognitive linguistics, highlighting the importance of understanding the deeper meanings of language in the translation process. qiu man (2023), from the perspective of translation meme theory, analyzed english translation strategies for internet buzzwords, emphasizing the crucial role of cultural dissemination and communication in the translation process, pointing out that translation is not only a transformation of language but also the spread of cultural elements. wang anmin (2023) adopted a corpus-based research method to conduct an empirical analysis of the chinese-english translation of the internet buzzword “personality collapse,” demonstrating its application and effectiveness in specific translation practices, and emphasizing the value of corpora in addressing the challenges of translating internet buzzwords. zhang jingcan (2022) explored the english translation of internet buzzwords from the perspective of ecological translation studies, stressing the importance of analyzing the ecological environment of internet hotwords during the translation process and enhancing translation adaptability, reflecting a shift towards ecological research in translation studies. despite the aforementioned studies delving into the translation of internet buzzwords from various theoretical perspectives and research methods, yielding a series of valuable findings, there remains a certain gap in the field of internet buzzwords translation both domestically and internationally. first, most existing research focuses on the application of a single theoretical framework or method, lacking comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis. for instance, while cognitive linguistics and eco-translation theory offer new interpretive paths for translating internet buzzwords, there is a lack of research on how to integrate these theories with intercultural communication theory to more comprehensively understand and address the cultural differences and translation challenges associated with internet buzzwords. secondly, there are insufficient in-depth analyses and evaluation of the translation practices of internet buzzwords. although some studies, such as wang anmin (2023), have analyzed specific internet buzzwords using corpus methods, they lack an overall assessment of the translation effectiveness and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 59 published by scholink inc. acceptance of internet buzzwords, as well as an analysis of the adaptability of translation strategies across different cultural contexts. furthermore, researches on translation strategies for internet buzzwords from a cross-cultural perspective, particularly the selection and application of domestication and foreignization strategies, have been explored by scholars like liu peiyao and wu yungaowa (2022). however, under the backdrop of multiculturalism, how to balance the localization characteristics of internet buzzwords with the demands of global communication still requires further study. in summary, researches on the translation of internet buzzwords have made significant progress. however, there are still notable gaps in interdisciplinary comprehensive analysis, in-depth evaluation of translation practices, and the application of translation strategies from a cross-cultural perspective. future research needs to explore more broadly in theory and methodology to address the cross-cultural translation issues of internet buzzwords more comprehensively, promoting communication and understanding between different cultures. 1. internet buzzwords in crosscultural boundaries in the process of exploring the translation of internet buzzwords, the construction of a theoretical framework is crucial. it not only provides guidance for translation, but also helps to understand the complex phenomena in cross-cultural communication. this section will focus on introducing the application of translation theory and cross-cultural communication theory in the translation of internet buzzwords. translation theory provides a multi-dimensional explanatory framework for the translation of internet buzzwords, among which functionalism and pragmatics are two representative theories. functionalism, originating from the skopos theory, emphasizes that translation should be guided by the function of the target text. vermeer (1989) proposed that the skopos theory suggests that translation activities should center on the purpose of translation, with the ultimate goal being to enable the target text to fulfill its intended functions in the target language and culture. in the translation of internet buzzwords, this theory guides translators not only to accurately convey the original information but also to consider the cultural background and reception habits of the target audience, ensuring that the translated result has appropriate acceptance and influence in the target culture. pragmatics theory focuses on the context and background of language use, particularly the implicit meanings and social functions of language. leech’s (1983) politeness principle is a key concept in pragmatics theory, emphasizing consideration for the other party’s feelings during communication to avoid offense. this is especially important for translating internet buzzwords. internet buzzwords often carry rich cultural connotations and emotional hues, and pragmatics theory requires translators to fully consider context and cultural differences to achieve appropriateness and politeness in translation. cross-cultural communication theory provides a deep cultural perspective for the translation of internet buzzwords, emphasizing the impact of cultural differences on translation practice. hall’s (1976) highcontext and low-context cultural theory is a classic in cross-cultural communication theory. it categorizes cultures into high-context and low-context types, where the former conveys most information implicitly www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 60 published by scholink inc. within the context, while the latter expresses information directly through language. in the translation of internet buzzwords, the high-context and low-context cultural theory reminds translators to pay attention to the differences between the source and target cultures, especially when dealing with internet buzzwords rich in cultural metaphors and context-dependent elements. flexible adjustment of translation strategies is necessary to ensure the accurate transmission of cultural connotations. hofstede (1980)’s cultural dimensions theory also provides an important cross-cultural perspective for the translation of internet buzzwords. this theory describes the characteristics of different cultures through six dimensions: power distance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and hedonism. in the process of translating internet buzzwords, translators can use the cultural dimensions theory to deeply analyze the differences between the source and target language cultures, and reasonably choose strategies such as domestication or foreignization to better adapt to the expectations and values of the target culture. in summary, functionalism and pragmatics theories provide guidance for the translation of internet buzzwords from the perspectives of language and function. meanwhile, high-low context cultural theory and cultural dimension theory deepen our understanding of internet buzzwords translation from the angle of cultural differences. these theoretical frameworks not only enrich the research dimensions of internet buzzwords translation but also offer valuable guidance and strategies for translation practice, facilitating effective communication and understanding between different cultures. 2. cross-cultural translation strategies of internet buzzwords as a cultural phenomenon, the cross-cultural translation of internet buzzwords is not just a linguistic transformation but also a cultural transmission and re-interpretation. therefore, the selection of translation strategies is crucial for ensuring the cultural adaptability of the translated text, conveying the cultural characteristics of the original, and resonating with the target readers. in this context, this section will explore the cross-cultural translation strategies for internet buzzwords, including cultural adaptability, creative translation, and an in-depth understanding of these strategies through case analysis. 2.1 cultural adaptability in the cross-cultural translation of internet buzzwords, the challenge of cultural adaptation typically manifests in two aspects: first, how to convey unique cultural elements and emotions from the source culture; second, how to ensure that these elements are effectively understood and accepted in the target culture. for example, the chinese internet phrase “山穷水尽疑无路，柳暗花明又一村” borrows imageries from classical literature to describe a situation where hope is found amidst despair. directly translating it into english might fail to fully capture its cultural connotations and emotional nuances. in such cases, translators can use analogical methods, opting for expressions with similar cultural imagery in english, such as quoting the english proverb “every cloud has a silver lining” (there is light at the end of the tunnel), to achieve cultural equivalence and emotional resonance. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 61 published by scholink inc. 2.2 creative translation the translation of internet buzzwords often requires creative strategies, such as free translation and localization. these strategies can make the translation more vivid and closer to the target culture’s context. free translation involves making moderate adjustments to language forms while retaining the main idea of the original text. it is an effective method for handling expressions with specific cultural backgrounds and emotional connotations in internet buzzwords. for example, the chinese buzzwords term “给力” originally means something or an action that is inspiring or satisfying. directly translating it as “give power” might fail to accurately convey its emotional tone and context in chinese. by using the free translation strategy, it can be translated as “empowering” or “inspiring,” which not only preserves the original emotion but also makes the translation more in line with english expression habits, making it easier for the target readers to understand and accept. localization strategies involve adjusting the translation to fully meet the expectations of the target culture, even including the replacement of specific cultural elements, thereby enhancing the readability and appeal of the translation. this strategy is particularly important when translating internet buzzwords with strong regional characteristics. for instance, the internet buzzwords term “土味情话” refers to expressions that are culturally distinctive and seem vulgar but are full of emotion. directly translating it as “earthy love words” might fail to convey its unique humor and cultural significance. through localization strategies, it can be translated as “cheesy pick-up lines,” which not only conveys the original’s humor and emotion but also makes the translation more fitting to the english cultural background. in order to have a deeper understanding of the application of cross-cultural translation strategies, the following analysis is made through several typical cases of internet buzzwords: case one: “人设崩塌”. this popular term originally referred to the stark contrast between someone’s public image and private behavior. when translated into english, “image collapse” may fail to fully convey its meaning, whereas using “public persona crumbles” better highlights the disparity between public image and personal authenticity, demonstrating the application of interpretive translation strategies. case two: “吃瓜群众”. this chinese term refers to those onlookers who are curious about gossip news. directly translating it as “melon-eating crowd” might sound obscure and difficult to understand, while using “popcorn munchers” for localization can more accurately convey the casual attitude of watching and enjoying events, resonating well within english-speaking cultures. case three: “斗图”. this term refers to expressing emotions or opinions through sending emoticons in online conversations. directly translating it as “fight with pictures” lacks cultural resonance, whereas using “meme battle” retains the original meaning while adapting to the expression style of english internet culture. the above case analyses show that whether using free translation or localization strategies, the crosscultural translation of internet buzzwords requires creatively considering how to maintain the cultural characteristics of the source language while ensuring the naturalness and appeal of the translation in the target culture. it not only demands that translators possess high-level language skills and profound www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 62 published by scholink inc. cultural understanding but also requires an accurate grasp of the psychological needs of readers in the target culture. in this way, the translation of internet buzzwords can overcome cultural barriers, promoting communication and understanding between different cultures. 3. challenges and countermeasures internet buzzwords, as a unique cultural phenomenon, face multiple challenges in cross-cultural translation. these challenges not only involve the difficulty of language itself but also contains deeper cultural differences and contextual understanding. to effectively address these challenges, a series of strategies need to be adopted to enhance the accuracy and cultural adaptability of translations. here are some potential challenges. 3.1 semantic ambiguity and polysemy internet buzzwords often has ambiguous and polysemous characteristics. its meaning is not fixed but changes with the context and usage scenario. this semantic uncertainty poses significant challenges for translation, as it is difficult to find a word or phrase in the target language that perfectly corresponds and accurately conveys the original meaning. for example, “打 call” originally referred to the spontaneous behavior of audience members at concerts who followed the rhythm of music and interact with performers on stage using glow sticks or other luminous props; later, it evolved into an expression of support, encouragement, and admiration for someone or something in online contexts. a simple literal translation as “make a phone call” would lead readers in the target language to completely misunderstand its meaning. 3.2 cultural differences internet buzzwords are often rich in local cultural characteristics and social sentiments. these elements can be understood and perceived very differently across various cultural backgrounds. at the same time, some cultural images conveyed by certain internet buzzwords may not exist in other cultures, or they exist but have different connotations and symbolic meanings. this makes it difficult to find a completely matching cultural image in the translation process, thus affecting the accuracy and effect of the translation. for example, “江湖” in chinese culture is a concept rich with cultural connotations. it can refer to the real-world “江湖” society or symbolize a life state characterized by freedom, boldness, and a mix of love and hate. however, there is no exact equivalent concept in western culture. simply translating it as “rivers and lakes” would fail to convey its deeper cultural imagery. cultural differences pose one of the greatest challenges in translating internet buzzwords. the key challenge for translators is how to accurately convey the cultural connotations of the original text, ensuring that it remains appealing and engaging in the target culture. 3.3 contextual understanding the meaning of internet buzzwords often heavily relies on specific contexts. without the concrete context, its meaning may become vague or even completely altered. in cross-cultural translation, due to the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 63 published by scholink inc. different contexts of the original text and the target text, translators will find it difficult to accurately grasp the precise meaning of the original buzzwords in a specific context, leading to translation errors. the creation and popularity of internet buzzwords are often closely related to specific social events, online memes, or public sentiment. this requires translators not only to be proficient in language but also to have a deep understanding of the relevant socio-cultural background. without an accurate grasp of the original context, effective translation will be difficult to achieve. in order to effectively respond to the above challenges, the following strategies are proposed: 1) strengthening translators’ intercultural awareness: translators should continuously improve their intercultural communication skills by studying and researching the cultures of both source and target languages, enhancing sensitivity to cultural differences. this not only involves broad social and cultural knowledge but also keeps up with the latest trends in online culture to better understand and translate internet buzzwords. 2) using multimedia to assist translation: in the process of translating internet buzzwords, multimedia materials such as videos and images can be utilized as aids to help translators better understand the context and cultural background of the original text. at the same time, these multimedia elements can also serve as part of the translation, combining with textual translation to enhance the vividness and readability of the final text. 3) adopting creative translation strategies: when translating internet buzzwords, traditional literal translation often fails to achieve the desired effect. translators should employ more flexible and creative strategies, such as free translation or localization, to ensure that the translation is both faithful to the original meaning and suitable for the target culture’s reception habits. when necessary, they can even create new expressions to convey the cultural connotations and emotional nuances of the original text. 4) enhancing target reader engagement: in certain situations, directly explaining the cultural significance and context behind internet buzzwords to target readers can serve as an effective translation strategy. by providing annotations, footnotes, or additional explanations, it helps readers understand the deeper meanings of internet buzzwords, thereby enhancing the acceptability and interactivity of the translation. in conclusion, the cross-cultural translation of internet buzzwords is a complex and challenging process. it requires translators not only to possess excellent language skills but also to have cross-cultural communication abilities, creative thinking, and multimedia application capabilities. by implementing the aforementioned strategies, challenges encountered during the translation process can be effectively addressed, ensuring the effective transmission of internet buzzwords and cultural exchange. 4. conclusion this study delves into the cross-cultural translation strategies of internet buzzwords, exploring how to preserve the cultural characteristics of the source language while adapting the translation to meet the challenges of the target culture. the study finds that cultural adaptability and creative translation are key www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 64 published by scholink inc. to effective translation, with a deep understanding of internet buzzwords and enhanced cross-cultural awareness being essential elements in the translation process. furthermore, through case analysis, this study further validates the practicality and effectiveness of strategies such as free translation and localization in the translation of internet buzzwords. research shows that internet buzzwords, as a cultural carrier, not only facilitates the exchange and dissemination of culture through cross-cultural translation but also enhances understanding and recognition among people from different cultural backgrounds. this study provides guidance for the cross-cultural translation practice of internet buzzwords by proposing specific translation strategies and methods, which is of significant theoretical and practical importance for promoting cultural exchange in a globalized context. at the same time, the findings of this study offer new perspectives to translators and practitioners, encouraging them to adopt more flexible and creative approaches in translating internet buzzwords to better address the challenges posed by cultural differences. looking ahead, as globalization deepens and online culture continues to evolve, internet buzzwords will continue to emerge, and the complexity and challenges of their cross-cultural translation will further increase. therefore, future research needs to delve into several areas. first, intensify studies on methods for handling cultural differences in the cross-cultural translation of internet buzzwords, exploring more effective strategies for cultural adaptation. second, leverage modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data analysis to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of translating internet buzzwords. finally, strengthen interdisciplinary research by applying findings from translation studies, cultural studies, sociology, and other fields to the cross-cultural translation of internet buzzwords, promoting mutual enhancement and development between theory and practice. in conclusion, the cross-cultural translation of internet buzzwords is a complex yet productive endeavor. it not only facilitates communication and understanding between different cultures but also enriches the research content of translation theory and practice. through continuous exploration and practice, it is hopeful to promote more harmonious cross-cultural exchanges in the context of globalization. references cai, a. c., & tan, h. (2013). english translation of chinese internet slang from a cross-cultural perspective. journal of hunan city university, 34(2), 94-97. hall, e. t. (1976). beyond culture. new york: anchor books. hofstede, g. (1980). culture’s consequences: international differences in work-related values. beverly hills: sage publications. leech, g. (1983). principles of pragmatics. london: longman. li, s. s. (2018). english translation of chinese internet slang from the perspective of cross-culture. campus english, 14, 217-218. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 65 published by scholink inc. liu, p. y., & wu, y. g. w. (2022). a study on the strategies of domestication and alienation of internet slang in english from the perspective of intercultural communication. campus english, 37, 186188. peng, j. (2023). analysis from the perspective of cognitive linguistics--metaphorical chinese-english translation of internet slang in 2022. chinese character culture, 20, 160-162. qiu, m. (2023). analysis of english translation strategies of internet slang under the perspective of translation meme theory--based on the top ten internet slang in 2021. overseas english, 13, 2729. readings in translation theory. (1989). helsinki: oy finn lectura ab. shi, y. h. (2015). strategies of domestication and alienation in the translation of internet slang from the perspective of intercultural communication. central china normal university. vermeer, h. j. (n.d.). skopos and commission in translational action. in: chesterman a, editor. wang, a. m. (2023). translation of internet buzzwords based on corpus--a case study of “person setting collapse”. journal of lanzhou jiaotong university, 42(1), 151-157. xu, x., & gao, y. q. (2022). cognitive analysis of internet slang translation from the perspective of conceptual integration. jin gu cultural innovation, 34, 120-122. yang, y. (2017). english translation of chinese internet slang from a cross-cultural perspective. literature education (lower), 2, 110-112. zhang, j. c. (2022). english translation of internet slang from the perspective of ecological translation. journal of western china, 17, 169-172. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper how benchmark is used in third grade reading instruction dana bartlett1, michael vinella1, & sunddip panesar-aguilar2* 1 riley college of education, walden university, minneapolis, usa 2 college of health sciences, university of st. augustine, usa * sunddip panesar-aguilar, college of health sciences, university of st. augustine, usa received: december 31, 2020 accepted: january 16, 2021 online published: january 26, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n1p85 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n1p85 abstract third grade reading teachers at the local setting are not consistently using formative benchmark data to improve student reading performance, creating a gap in practice. this gap in practice may be due to teachers’ lack of capacity to use the data to make changes to their instructional practices. the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how third grade reading teachers are using data from reading benchmark assessments to improve student reading performance. this research study was guided by two research questions (rqs). rq 1 addressed how third grade teachers are using reading benchmark assessment data to improve student reading performance. rq 2 addressed specific instructional strategies that third grade teachers are using from reading benchmark assessment data to effectively improve student reading performance. data-driven decision making (dddm) was the conceptual framework that was the foundation for this study. this basic qualitative design for this research study included 13 participants. data were collected through open-ended semistructured interviews, and qualitative analyses were conducted through open coding and thematic analysis. according to the findings of this study, immediately analyzing data, collaboration, and data driven instruction were the themes that emerged guided by rq 1. emerging themes for rq 2 included test taking strategies, modeling, and guided reading. leadership in this district may use these findings to make decisions about the effectiveness of teachers’ use of these benchmark assessments or the data gathered from the assessments to impact student reading proficiencies. this research may provide specific instructional strategies used through the dddm process that increases student reading proficiency. the findings could possibly yield results that have positive social change implications for reading achievement. keywords reading instruction, benchmark assessments, assessments, instructional strategies, third grade reading, reading proficiency 85 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 1. introduction increased accountability has led to a focus on student achievement and data use (van gasse et al., 2017). in 2015, the every student succeeds act became effective, mandating that instructional decisions be data driven (mandinach & gummer, 2016). this legislation dictated an increased emphasis in data collection beyond summative assessment and the use of these formative data to positively impact student proficiency (mandinach & gummer, 2016; marsh & farrell, 2015). while this has led to vast amounts of available data, many educators lack the capacity to effectively use data to make instructional changes (little et al., 2019; reeves & chiang, 2018). in a large high poverty district in the southeastern united states, instructional leadership began requiring third grade reading teachers to administer district-created reading benchmark assessments in an effort to increase student proficiency. the problem is that teachers are not consistently using these formative data to improve student reading performance, creating a gap in practice. this gap in practice may be due to the teachers’ lack of capacity to use the data to make changes to their instructional practices. researchers have indicated that there is a significant correlation between student achievement and teacher capacity to use data effectively (ebbeler et al., 2016). based on the 2019 state report card data, approximately 50% of third grade students in this district were not proficient readers. according to a content interventionist at the study site, district reading benchmark data also indicated that 57% of third graders did not meet state standard expectations for third grade proficiency. based on the district’s fall 2019 reading inventory data, 55% of third graders did not meet the beginning of third grade reading proficiency lexile score. currently, this southeastern state is in the bottom 25% in national literacy rankings. based on national data, students in this state scored several points below the overall national average of 219 on the reading portion of the national assessment of educational (naep state profiles, 2019). according to a content interventionist at the study site, in an effort to increase third grade student reading proficiency scores, the district’s instructional support team created reading benchmark assessments to be administered at three intervals throughout the school year. the instructional support team at the study site shared that the goal of this formative data collection is to support teachers in communicating expectations for learning and lesson planning, assessing student learning, and predicting student future achievement. state report card data from 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 may have indicated inconistentent use of data to improve third grade students’reading performance with 59%, 57%, 57%, and 50% respectively being nonproficient. prior to this study, there had been no investigation into third grade reading teachers’ use of these formative data to improve student reading performance. the following research questions (rqs) guided this basic qualitative study: rq 1. how are third grade teachers using formative reading assessment data to improve student reading performance? rq 2. what specific instructional strategies are third grade teachers using as a result of formative reading assessment data to improve student reading performance? 86 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 2. method 2.1 purpose the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore how third grade reading teachers are using data from district reading benchmark assessments to effectively improve student reading performance. open-ended semistructured interviews were used as the data collection method for this study. qualitative data were used to explore how third grade teachers are using reading benchmark assessment data and specific strategies based on these data for increasing third grade students’ reading proficiency. the study site for this research was a large school district in the southeastern united states. 2.1.1 sampling purposeful sampling was used for this study. purposeful sampling was an appropriate strategy for this study as the participants had extensive knowledge of the district reading benchmark assessments, their data use, and instructional strategies used in response to these data. purposeful sampling was used to support open-ended semistructured interviews. there were approximately 80 third grade reading teachers in this district during the 2018-2019 school year. of these approximate 80 teachers, 20 of these teachers who met the specific criteria were asked to participate in this study. the 20 teachers whose class average increased the most on the benchmark assessments from the october 2018 to march 2019 were invited to participate in this study. of the 20 teachers invited to participate in this study, 13 agreed to take part in this research project. these participants were able to offer some insight into effective benchmark data use as their class averages showed significant increases. the average reading benchmark score of each third grade teacher’s class from october of 2018 and march of 2019 was collected. this provided data from approximately the top 25% of teachers whose class averages increased the most from the fall of 2018 to the spring of 2019 on the reading benchmark assessment. these teachers participated in both the open-ended semistructured interviews and submission of their three data reflection tools that noted student’s weaknesses, strengths, and teacher’s next steps for the 2018-2019 school year. this was a sufficient number of participants for this type of research study. according to creswell and creswell (2018), having fewer participants in qualitative research can promote more in-depth data. interviewing this small sampling allowed extensive open-ended semistructured interviews to be conducted of the teachers whose students had the most growth on the benchmark assessments. by using purposeful sampling, a small number of participants, and these specific criteria, access was gained to the teachers whose third grade class averages were in the top 25% for growth in student reading achievement based on these benchmark assessments. 2.1.2 data collection the data were collected through open-ended semistructured interviews. teachers’ data reflection tools were also available as these completed reflection documents were used by interviewees as part of the interview process. these data reflection tools noted student’s weaknesses, strengths, and teacher’s next steps for the 20182019 school year. open-ended semistructured interviews were conducted of the top 87 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 25% of third grade reading teachers’ whose student classroom averages increased the most for the 2018-2019 school year on the district reading benchmark assessments. additionally, each of the participants whose students made the most gains from october 2018 to march 2019 on the district reading benchmark assessments used their data reflection tools from october, january, and march of the 2018-2019 school year. interview data were collected through interview protocol and audio recordings. 3. results the findings provided an understanding of participants’ perceptions of supporting ells and strategies to implement individual and cultural instruction. according to the findings in this study, as teachers received guidance on how to employ varied instructional practices, their level of self-efficacy improved in the learning environment. provisions from school leaders for successful implementation of individual and culturally relevant instructional strategies will lead to creating strategies that will support the academic needs of ells. a presentation of how the themes align with the rqs is presented. 3.1 findings for research question 1 research question 1 pertained to the following question: how are third grade teachers using formative reading assessment data to improve student reading performance? three themes emerged during this research (see figure 1). figure 1. themes for data use data use collaboration data driven instruction immediately analyzes data 88 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 theme 1: analyzing data immediately during the data analysis of the open-ended semistructured interviews, analyzing data immediately was a theme that emerged. twelve of the participants mentioned that they are eager to get the data from the reading benchmark assessments. while the student’s score does not come up on the student’s computer screen, it is immediately available through the teacher’s benchmark assessment platform. the participants also shared that they are specifically looking for trends, standards assessed, strengths, and weaknesses. the theme of immediate data analysis emerged from the research. the participants shared that they begin to analyze data right away. during teacher analyzation of the data, they are noting strengths and weaknesses. they are seeking trends and noting specific student performance. the participants shared that they find the data reflection tool helpful in the data analysis process, as it guides their analysis and ensures that they are reflective users of data. theme 2: collaboration a theme of collaboration emerged during the interviews. when asked about what they find helpful in the data use process, 10 out the 13 participants specifically mentioned collaboration with other educators. the theme of collaboration emerged from the research. the participants shared that through collaborative efforts they were better able to understand and use their data. they further explained that through collaborating with their peers and content interventionist they were able to reflect on the data and their own instructional practices. theme 3: data driven instruction a third theme that materialized from the participant interviews was data driven instruction (ddi). the participants use these data to plan their next steps. through this data analysis process, these teachers are analyzing their student’s strengths and weakness, and being reflective of their own teaching practices. the theme of ddi developed during this research study. the participants all explained they use the data to drive their reading instruction. while the specifics of how they implement the instruction varies, the teachers use the data to determine where reteaching and acceleration are needed and for what specific students. most participants shared that they do this primary through small group instruction while others did mention station work and whole group instruction. 3.1.1 findings for research question 2 research question 2 pertained to the following question: what specific instructional strategies are third grade teachers using as a result of formative reading assessment data to improve student reading performance? during data analysis, the following three themes emerged: test taking strategies, modeling, and guided reading (see figure 2). 89 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 figure 2. themes for effective instructional strategies theme 1: test taking strategies test taking strategies was a theme that materialized from the research. most participants throughout the course of the interview conveyed their belief that teaching students test taking strategies is an effective way to improve student reading performance. the theme of teaching students test taking strategies emerged during the research. the participants explained that teaching students how to test is an instructional strategy that they use to increase student performance on the reading benchmark assessments. one specific strategy included teaching students how to take tests online as this is a skill that third graders often have little exposure for taking assessments online. another strategy included modeling thinking for teaching students the process of elimination. theme 2: modeling a second theme that appeared from the research was modeling. the participants often talked about building classroom assessments modeled after the benchmark assessments and discussed modeling their thinking. the district’s content interventionists provide question stems that teachers can expect to see on benchmark assessments as a way of supporting teachers with the verbiage of the test and as a resource for teachers in questioning for discussion and for creating classroom assessments. the participants shared that modeling is an effective instructional strategy for improving students’ reading proficiency. they explained that modeling thinking of both skills and testing strategies are important. some participants communicated that they model their classroom assessments after the reading benchmark assessments as an instructional strategy for improving student reading performance on the benchmark standards. theme 3: guided reading getting the students on grade level through guided reading is a third theme that emerged from the research. a theme of guided reading emerged from the research. the participants shared that in order to increase student reading performance, students need to be able to access grade level texts. they further effective instructional strategies test taking strategies modeling guided reading 90 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 elaborated that oftentimes it is not that students have not mastered the standard or that they cannot perform the skill, it is that they cannot read the text (see table 1). table 1. themes and descriptions theme description analyzes data immediately begins the data analysis process within 24 hours of reading benchmark collaboration cooperates with peers, literacy coach, and/or content interventionist about data data driven instruction uses data to plan for future instruction test taking strategies teaches students strategies for taking assessments modeling demonstrates thinking aloud guided reading uses a variety of strategies to make sure students have foundational reading skills 4. discussion 4.1 research discussion the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how third grade reading teachers are using data from reading benchmark assessments to effectively improve student reading performance. the problem addressed in this study was teachers’ inconsistent use of reading benchmark data to improve student reading performance. this lack of consistency created a gap in practice at the local level. this research study was guided by two rqs. the first rq addressed how third grade teachers are using reading benchmark assessment data to improve student reading performance. the second rq addressed specific instructional strategies that third grade teachers are using from reading benchmark assessment data to improve student reading performance. this basic qualitative design for this research study included 13 participants. data were collected through open-ended semistructured interviews. qualitative analyses were conducted through open coding and thematic analysis. through the research, effective formative data use practices emerged. 4.1.1 limitations a limitation of this research design is time. the research developed was for the school district requires that participants dedicate three consecutive saturdays to their professional development (pd). therefore, timing may be a limitation of this research. another consideration of a research limitation is resistance of the participants to engage in data use pd. as found in the research, teachers’ capacity and beliefs about data use can impede their willingness to participate in data use practices (datnow & hubbard, 2015a; reeves & chiang, 2018). 91 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 4.1.2 implications for future research the problem involved teachers’ inconsistent use of formative data from reading benchmark assessments. this gap in practice could have been addressed in other ways. one alternative approach could have been to address this problem through data culture. instead of interviewing the third grade reading teachers whose class averages increased the most on reading benchmark assessments from fall of 2018 to the spring of 2019, schools who made the most gains could have been examined. this could have led to an exploration of data cultures in the more effective schools as a possible way to address this gap in practice at the local level. an additional approach could have been to interview the literacy coaches in each of the schools that had the most increases to better understand their role in supporting third grade reading teachers as they collaborate based on reading benchmark data. another approach to analyzing this problem could be to explore the perceptions of the content interventionists in this district who serve as facilitators for data debriefings at each elementary school. 4.1.3 conclusion when teachers improve their instructional practices based on data there is the potential for positive change. this research study has the potential to impact teachers’ data use practices which could increase students’ reading proficiency. social change may take place if teachers apply strategies in this pd in their data use to personalize student needs. this research study may be beneficial at the local level, as deeper understanding of dddm could allow teachers to more effectively target students’ specific needs. social change may take place if teachers apply strategies from this pd in their data use to personalize student needs. if teachers apply the strategies that they learned in this pd, this could impact the school and district’s data culture in a positive way. further, this study has the potential to have a positive effect beyond that of the local level as it provides insight into effective instructional strategies as a result of the dddm process that could be transferred to other grade levels and content areas. due to high accountability systems, there has been a focus on data use to increase student achievement (marsh & farrell, 2015). what it means to use data effectively has become a focus for school leaders. this has led to an emphasis on data collection. however, simply providing teachers with data does not mean that they will know how to analyze the data to modify their instructional practices. many teachers lack the ability to use their data to improve both teaching and learning (datnow & hubbard, 2015a; ebbeler et al., 2016; van geel et al., 2017). teachers need opportunities to grow in their efficacy of data use in order to provide students with needed personalized instruction. dddm is a process that provides teachers with tools that can help teachers meet the ever changing needs of students and prepare them to be successful as 21st century learners. 92 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 references creswell, j. w., & creswell, j. d. (2018). research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. sage publications. datnow, a., & hubbard, l. (2015a). teacher capacity for and beliefs about data-driven decision making: a literature review for international research. journal of educational change, 17(1), 7-28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-015-9264-2 ebbeler, j., poortman, c. l., schildkamp, k., & pieters, j. m. (2016). effects of a data use intervention on educators’ use of knowledge and skills. studies in educational evaluation, 48, 19-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2015.11.002 little, h., cohen-vogel, l., sadler, j., & merrill, b. (2019). data-driven decision making in early education: evidence from north carolina’s pre-k program. education policy analysis archives, 27(18), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.27.4198 mandinach, e. b., & gummer, e. s. (2016). every teacher should succeed with data literacy. phi delta kappan, 97(8), 43-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721716647018 marsh, a., & farrell, c. c. (2015). how leaders can support teachers with data-driven decision making. educational management administration & leadership, 43(2), 269-289. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143214537229 national center for educational statistics. (n.d.). retrieved from national assessmentof adult literacy. https://nces.ed.gov/naal/fr_definition.asp reeves, t. d., & chiang, j.-l. (2018). online interventions to promote teacher data-driven decision making: optimizing design to maximize impact. studies in educational evaluation, 59(1), 256-259. https://doi.org/10./1016/j.stueduc.2018.09.006 van gasse, r., vanlommel, k., vanhoof, j., & van petegem, p. (2017). the impact collaboration on teachers’ data use. school effectiveness and school improvement, 28(3), 489-504. https://doi.org/10.1080/09243453.2017.1321555 93 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-015-9264-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2015.11.002 https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.27.4198 https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721716647018 https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143214537229 https://nces.ed.gov/naal/fr_definition.asp https://doi.org/10./1016/j.stueduc.2018.09.006 https://doi.org/10.1080/09243453.2017.1321555 original paper how benchmark is used in third grade reading instruction dana bartlett1, michael vinella1, & sunddip panesar-aguilar2* 1 riley college of education, walden university, minneapolis, usa abstract third grade reading teachers at the local setting are not consistently using formative benchmark data to improve student reading performance, creating a gap in practice. this gap in practice may be due to teachers’ lack of capacity to use the data to ... keywords theme 1: analyzing data immediately theme 2: collaboration theme 3: data driven instruction theme 1: test taking strategies education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 105 original paper constructing cultural identity through international collaboration in ethnic music education within multicultural contexts jian sun1 & jiangtao han1 1 school of music and dance, xihua university, chengdu, sichuan, china received: january 27, 2025 accepted: february 11, 2025 online published: february 28, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p105 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p105 abstract in the context of globalization, cultural identity has become a crucial aspect of education, especially in ethnic music education, which functions as a medium for transmitting cultural heritage. ethnic music education focuses on traditional music forms specific to cultural groups and plays an essential role in shaping and expressing cultural identities. in multicultural settings, where various cultural groups coexist, ethnic music education serves as an important tool for preserving cultural traditions and fostering intercultural dialogue and mutual respect. a significant trend in ethnic music education today is international collaboration, which enables educators and students to explore diverse musical traditions. this exchange not only enriches musical knowledge but also helps individuals understand the construction and representation of cultural identities through music. however, while international collaboration has great potential, its effectiveness in shaping cultural identity remains complex. it can enhance the understanding of one’s cultural heritage and foster appreciation for other cultures. at the same time, it may create tensions when traditional practices confront globalized or westernized ideals. keywords cultural identity, ethnic music education, international collaboration, intercultural dialogue, globalization 1. introduction in the era of globalization, cultural identity has become a critical concept within education, particularly in ethnic music education, which serves as both a medium and a vehicle for the transmission of cultural heritage (qiang, 2024). ethnic music education involves the study of traditional music forms and practices specific to particular cultural groups, and it plays a crucial role in shaping and expressing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 106 published by scholink inc. cultural identities (guan et al., 2023). in multicultural contexts, where diverse cultural groups interact and coexist, ethnic music education becomes an essential tool for understanding and preserving cultural traditions while fostering intercultural dialogue and mutual respect (abril, 2006; bustos gonzález, 2013). one of the most significant trends in ethnic music education today is the increasing emphasis on international collaboration. through cross-border partnerships and exchanges, educators and students alike have the opportunity to engage with diverse musical traditions and perspectives, which can influence their understanding of their own cultural identities (volk, 2004). international collaboration not only facilitates the exchange of musical knowledge and techniques but also promotes the exploration of how cultural identities are constructed and represented through music across different cultures (li, 2024). however, while the potential for international collaboration in ethnic music education is widely recognized, its effectiveness in constructing cultural identity remains a complex issue (guan et al., 2023; prest, 2020). on one hand, international collaboration can promote a deeper understanding of one’s cultural roots and a broader appreciation of others’ cultures. on the other hand, it may also lead to tensions as traditional practices and cultural identities are confronted with globalized or westernized ideals. therefore, it is important to critically examine the impact of international collaboration on cultural identity within the context of ethnic music education, particularly in multicultural environments where diverse cultural norms and practices intersect. this article aims to review the existing literature on the role of international collaboration in ethnic music education, focusing on how such collaboration influences the construction of cultural identity. through this exploration, the article seeks to understand the complexities and contradictions inherent in this process and offer insights into how international cooperation can be optimized to promote both cultural preservation and cross-cultural understanding. by analyzing various studies, this review will highlight the potential and challenges of international collaboration in shaping cultural identities through ethnic music education in multicultural contexts. 2. literature review the construction of cultural identity is a multifaceted process influenced by various educational, social, and political factors (zhang & guo, 2023). in ethnic music education, cultural identity is not only reflected in the teaching and learning of traditional music forms but is also shaped through interactions with other cultures. as globalization and multiculturalism continue to impact educational practices worldwide, the role of international collaboration in ethnic music education has garnered increasing attention (schippers, 2009). this section reviews the existing literature on cultural identity construction in ethnic music education, the challenges and opportunities in such education within multicultural contexts, and the theoretical frameworks supporting international collaboration in educational settings (bartleet et al., 2020). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 107 published by scholink inc. 2.1 cultural identity construction in education cultural identity is defined as the sense of belonging to a specific cultural group, which is often shaped by shared traditions, values, language, and practices. according to ozer et al. (2024) cultural identity is not fixed but is instead fluid and constantly evolving, influenced by both internal and external factors. in the context of ethnic music education, this concept is particularly relevant as music acts as a powerful tool for expressing and reinforcing cultural identity. music not only reflects cultural practices but also serves as a means through which individuals negotiate their place within society (aróstegui & louro, 2009). studies have shown that ethnic music education plays a crucial role in preserving cultural heritage while simultaneously allowing individuals to re-define and express their identities in relation to others. for instance, the study by folkestad (2002) highlighted how the practice of traditional music in ethnic communities reinforces collective identity by maintaining connections to the past. however, as globalization intensifies the movement of people, ideas, and practices, the construction of cultural identity becomes more complex. a growing body of research has explored how individuals and communities navigate the tensions between traditional practices and the influences of modernity (chauhan, 2022). in ethnic music education, these tensions are particularly evident when traditional music forms are adapted to meet global standards, potentially diluting or reshaping cultural identities in the process. 2.2 challenges and opportunities in ethnic music education ethnic music education is often characterized by its connection to a particular culture’s traditions, which are frequently passed down orally. this form of transmission presents both challenges and opportunities, particularly in multicultural educational settings. one of the main challenges in ethnic music education is the issue of cultural authenticity. as music education programs increasingly incorporate diverse musical traditions, educators must carefully navigate the balance between preserving the authenticity of a particular culture’s music and introducing new teaching methodologies that reflect a more globalized approach (walden, 2020). in multicultural contexts, ethnic music education is further complicated by issues of cultural appropriation, the tension between preserving traditional forms and adapting them to modern contexts, and the challenge of addressing cultural diversity within the classroom. the introduction of nontraditional or globalized musical influences into local contexts can sometimes create conflicts, as communities may resist change or feel threatened by the influence of external cultures (song & yuan, 2021). however, these challenges can also present opportunities for students and educators to engage in meaningful dialogue, developing a more nuanced understanding of their own and others’ cultural identities. as a result, ethnic music education offers the potential to foster cultural awareness, empathy, and respect, particularly when approached in a way that recognizes and values diverse cultural perspectives (walden, 2020; zheng, 2024). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 108 published by scholink inc. 2.3 the role of international collaboration in ethnic music education international collaboration has become an increasingly significant aspect of ethnic music education, offering both educators and students the opportunity to engage in cross-cultural exchanges. such collaborations can take many forms, ranging from teacher-student exchanges to joint musical performances or collaborative research projects. these partnerships facilitate the sharing of ideas, techniques, and practices across cultural boundaries, enabling a deeper understanding of music as a universal language that transcends geographical and cultural divides (behr et al., 2016). the theoretical framework supporting international collaboration in ethnic music education is grounded in ideas of intercultural communication and education. according to byram (2008), intercultural competence is the ability to interact effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds, and it is a skill that can be cultivated through international collaboration in educational settings (guillényparrea & ramírez-montoya, 2023). through international exchanges, students and educators not only acquire musical knowledge but also learn to appreciate the cultural contexts in which that music is embedded. as noted by lim et al. (2022)., international collaboration in ethnic music education can thus promote cultural sensitivity and critical thinking, as it encourages participants to reflect on their own cultural identities while engaging with the identities of others. in terms of practical outcomes, research has demonstrated that international collaboration in music education can lead to the development of a more inclusive and diverse musical curriculum, one that reflects a broader range of cultural perspectives and experiences. such collaborations can also contribute to the creation of a more inclusive cultural space, where multiple cultural identities are acknowledged and celebrated. however, challenges arise in ensuring that these collaborations are truly reciprocal and equitable. studies by musamba bussy and vogel (2020) caution that, without careful management, international collaborations may inadvertently reinforce power imbalances, with dominant cultural groups imposing their perspectives on others. 2.4 theoretical frameworks for cultural identity and international collaboration various theoretical frameworks have been applied to understand the relationship between cultural identity and international collaboration in ethnic music education. postcolonial theory offers valuable insights into how cultural exchanges often occur within a context of unequal power dynamics, where the dominance of western ideals may overshadow the contributions of non-western cultures r’boul (2022). additionally, social constructivist theories of learning, which emphasize the role of social interaction and cultural context in knowledge acquisition, support the idea that cultural identity is formed through both individual and collective experiences in a community (nithideechaiwarachok & chano, 2024). furthermore, scholars such as kim (2015) have applied intercultural communication theories to explore how individuals adapt and negotiate their cultural identities in cross-cultural encounters. these frameworks suggest that international collaboration in ethnic music education is not simply about learning new musical techniques but also involves a process of identity negotiation, where participants engage with and redefine their own cultural positions relative to those of others. this process can lead to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 109 published by scholink inc. the hybridization of musical forms and the creation of new, transnational identities that reflect a blending of cultural influences (golemo, 2020). 3. international collaboration and cultural identity construction international collaboration in ethnic music education presents both opportunities and challenges in the construction of cultural identity. as educational institutions around the world increasingly adopt collaborative models that involve exchanges between cultures, students and educators are faced with the task of navigating their cultural identities within these globalized contexts. this section explores the ways in which international collaboration influences the formation and evolution of cultural identity in ethnic music education, highlighting both the positive contributions and potential pitfalls of such collaborative efforts. 3.1 the role of international collaboration in cultural identity construction international collaboration, particularly in the context of ethnic music education, serves as a dynamic process through which cultural identity is both reinforced and transformed. as noted by nattheeraphong and jenks (2024), intercultural exchanges provide a space where individuals can confront their cultural assumptions and engage with others in ways that expand their understanding of their own identity. through collaborative musical experiences, students and educators are not only exposed to different musical traditions but also to the cultural contexts that shape these traditions, offering them new perspectives on how their own cultural identity is constructed. one key way in which international collaboration influences cultural identity construction is through the process of musical hybridity. when students and educators from different cultural backgrounds come together, they often share and blend elements of their respective musical traditions. this interaction can result in the creation of hybrid musical forms, which reflect a fusion of cultural influences and contribute to the development of transnational identities. for example, a study by trehub (2015) on cross-cultural music exchanges in ethnomusicology found that such collaborations frequently lead to the formation of new musical genres, as traditional music is reinterpreted and recontextualized in light of diverse cultural perspectives. this hybridization process plays a key role in how cultural identity is negotiated and redefined within international collaborations. in these settings, identity becomes fluid rather than fixed, as individuals adapt and transform their sense of self in response to new experiences and intercultural interactions (kim, 2015). as a result, international collaboration in ethnic music education offers a fertile ground for exploring how cultural identities evolve in a multicultural world. 3.2 cultural identity in the context of multiculturalism in multicultural contexts, the construction of cultural identity is inherently influenced by the dynamics of intercultural exchange. multiculturalism, as a social and educational philosophy, emphasizes the recognition and celebration of cultural diversity. within this framework, international collaboration in ethnic music education can serve as a powerful tool for fostering cultural empathy and mutual respect. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 110 published by scholink inc. when students from diverse cultural backgrounds come together to learn and perform traditional music from one another, they are provided with an opportunity to understand the meanings and values embedded within those musical forms. for instance, a study by bartleet et al. (2020) on the impact of multicultural music education in european schools found that international collaboration helped students appreciate the complexity of cultural identities by exposing them to a range of musical traditions. students participating in such exchanges reported a heightened sense of cultural awareness and a deeper understanding of how music can serve as a reflection of social, historical, and political contexts. furthermore, multicultural music education promotes the idea that cultural identity is not confined to a single national or ethnic category, but rather is shaped by the intersections of multiple influences and experiences. in this sense, international collaboration in ethnic music education allows students to challenge narrow or stereotypical conceptions of cultural identity. by learning from one another, students come to see cultural identity as something that is constructed through dialogue, shared experiences, and mutual respect. as emphasized by fisher (2020), international collaboration helps to break down the barriers that separate cultural groups, fostering a sense of solidarity and interconnectedness that transcends geographic and ethnic boundaries. 3.3 challenges to cultural identity in international collaboration despite the positive potential for international collaboration to enrich cultural identity construction, there are also significant challenges that can undermine the process. one of the most prominent challenges is the risk of cultural appropriation. when music from one culture is borrowed or performed without proper understanding or respect for its cultural context, it can lead to a distortion of the original tradition and the commodification of cultural elements. this issue is particularly salient in international collaborations where unequal power dynamics often exist between dominant and marginalized cultures (rose et al., 2024). in such cases, cultural exchange can inadvertently lead to the erasure of cultural identities rather than their celebration. another challenge lies in the tension between globalized and localized cultural identities. as international collaborations expose students to a wide range of musical influences, there is a risk that traditional music forms may be altered, diluted, or overshadowed by globalized musical trends. this issue is particularly relevant in ethnic music education, where authenticity and the preservation of cultural heritage are central to the educational process. in a study by bartleet et al. (2020), it was found that students who participated in global music education programs often struggled with reconciling the globalized influences they encountered with the traditional practices they had been taught. this can lead to a sense of confusion or disorientation about their own cultural identity, as they grapple with the tension between maintaining cultural authenticity and embracing innovation. additionally, the power dynamics inherent in international collaboration can present significant challenges. in some cases, the voices of less dominant cultural groups may be marginalized, as western or more dominant cultural perspectives take precedence. research by vangen (2017) highlighted that www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 111 published by scholink inc. without careful management, international collaborations could reinforce existing hierarchies, where the dominant culture imposes its values on the collaborative process, thus shaping the cultural identities of the other participants in ways that may not reflect their own traditions or experiences. 3.4 strategies for successful international collaboration to maximize the positive impact of international collaboration on cultural identity construction while minimizing the risks, certain strategies can be employed. first, it is essential to approach collaboration with mutual respect and a focus on equitable exchange. educators and institutions must ensure that all cultural groups have equal opportunities to share their traditions and perspectives, fostering an environment of reciprocity and respect (zalli, 2024). furthermore, it is important to approach the process of hybridity with care, acknowledging the value of both preserving traditional music forms and allowing for creative reinterpretations. second, cultural sensitivity and awareness must be integral components of international collaboration. educators should work to develop students’ intercultural competence, helping them to recognize the complexities of cultural identity and the importance of understanding the cultural contexts in which music is created and performed (kang, 2022). by promoting a deep understanding of the meanings behind musical practices, international collaboration can become a transformative experience that enriches students’ cultural identities while fostering a sense of global citizenship. 3.5 conclusion of international collaboration and cultural identity construction in conclusion, international collaboration in ethnic music education plays a significant role in the construction of cultural identity. by providing a platform for the exchange of musical traditions and ideas, these collaborations offer opportunities for individuals to redefine and expand their cultural identities. however, the process is fraught with challenges, including the risks of cultural appropriation, the tension between globalized and localized identities, and the dynamics of power in intercultural exchanges. therefore, successful international collaboration requires a commitment to mutual respect, cultural sensitivity, and an ongoing dialogue that values the contributions of all cultures involved. 4. cultural identity in multicultural contexts 4.1 defining and negotiating cultural identity in multicultural settings cultural identity is a complex and multifaceted construct that evolves within the interaction between individuals and the diverse cultural environments in which they live. in multicultural settings, identity is not a static or singular concept; it is fluid, shaped by the negotiations between personal heritage and broader societal influences. mustafa (2017) that cultural identity is a process rather than a fixed essence, involving a continuous dialogue between the individual and the social structures that influence them. in multicultural societies, individuals are often confronted with the challenge of negotiating multiple cultural identities. for example, a person from an immigrant background may feel connected to their ethnic culture, yet also identify with the dominant national or global culture in which they reside. this www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 112 published by scholink inc. process of negotiation is key in multicultural contexts, where different groups coexist and interact, creating a space for individuals to explore their own cultural identities. ethnic music education provides an important context for this negotiation, as music serves as a direct reflection of cultural values, history, and heritage. through learning music from various cultural traditions, students are not only exposed to different musical forms but are also encouraged to reflect on their own cultural backgrounds. by engaging with these musical practices, students are able to situate themselves within a broader cultural narrative, helping them navigate their complex cultural identities. in a multicultural classroom, the music serves as both a bridge and a boundary, allowing students to both express their identities and explore those of others. 4.2 the role of ethnic music education in shaping cultural identity ethnic music education plays a significant role in the construction of cultural identity, especially within multicultural contexts. music, with its deep ties to cultural heritage, provides an avenue for both personal and collective expression. in multicultural educational settings, ethnic music allows students to engage with cultural traditions that are different from their own, fostering both personal growth and crosscultural understanding. for example, learning a particular ethnic music tradition—such as the rhythms of west african drumming or the melodies of chinese classical music—can provide students with a deeper understanding of the historical and cultural significance of these musical forms. the process of learning and performing ethnic music can lead to a profound sense of belonging, as it helps students connect with their cultural roots and gain a deeper appreciation for the diversity within their community. however, ethnic music education does more than just promote the preservation of cultural heritage. it also provides a space for students to experiment with and reinterpret cultural traditions. in multicultural classrooms, students from various backgrounds often collaborate, leading to the fusion of musical styles and genres. this collaboration promotes a sense of shared identity and cultural exchange, where students learn not only to preserve their own cultural traditions but also to embrace and adapt others. by engaging in such cross-cultural collaborations, students can explore the hybridity of cultural identities, which is a central feature of life in multicultural settings. ethnic music education, when approached in an inclusive manner, allows students to create new cultural identities that are reflective of the globalized, interconnected world in which they live. in this sense, ethnic music education does not just serve as a means of cultural preservation but also as a medium for the creation of new cultural expressions that reflect the dynamic, multifaceted nature of identity. 4.3 hybridity, representation, and the politics of cultural identity in multicultural contexts, hybridity is an inevitable outcome of the constant interaction between cultures. as individuals and communities interact across cultural boundaries, they often blend aspects of their cultural heritage with those of other cultures. this hybridity reflects the fluid and evolving nature of cultural identity, as it challenges fixed notions of cultural belonging. khan et al. (2020) emphasizes that www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 113 published by scholink inc. hybridity is not simply a merging of cultures, but a process of negotiation that allows individuals to create new, hybrid identities that are informed by multiple cultural influences. ethnic music education plays a key role in facilitating this hybridity, as students often combine elements from different musical traditions in their learning and performance. for example, students may fuse western classical music with african drumming, or blend indian ragas with jazz improvisation. these creative collaborations allow students to explore and express their hybridized identities, which reflect the multiple cultural influences they experience. such practices also encourage students to rethink traditional boundaries between musical genres, promoting a more inclusive approach to cultural expression. however, the process of hybridity is not without its challenges. the politics of representation can influence how cultural identities are expressed and recognized in multicultural settings. in many educational contexts, certain cultural traditions—particularly those of dominant cultural groups—tend to be privileged over others. this can lead to the marginalization of ethnic music forms that are considered “other” or “non-mainstream.” for instance, in western educational systems, western classical music often dominates the curriculum, while the music of indigenous or minority groups may be sidelined or misrepresented. this imbalance in representation can perpetuate power imbalances and reinforce stereotypes, making it crucial for educators to be aware of the politics of representation in the classroom. as bailey (2001) suggests, music education must be inclusive, ensuring that a diverse range of musical traditions are represented and respected. it is essential that educators take a critical approach to the curriculum, recognizing the importance of all cultural traditions and working to ensure that each student’s cultural heritage is acknowledged and valued. in performance contexts, the politics of representation also come into play. when students from marginalized cultural groups perform their traditional music, they may face pressure to conform to the expectations of the dominant culture. this can result in a distorted or inauthentic representation of the music. to address these challenges, educators must emphasize cultural authenticity and foster an environment where students feel empowered to express their identities without fear of misrepresentation or appropriation. ultimately, the politics of cultural identity in multicultural settings underscores the importance of inclusive and respectful music education practices. by giving equal value to all cultural expressions, ethnic music education can play a transformative role in empowering students to embrace their cultural identities and express them in meaningful ways. 5. challenges and solutions in international collaboration international collaboration in ethnic music education offers immense opportunities for cultural exchange, yet it is not without its challenges. one of the most significant obstacles is the language barrier. in multicultural settings, participants often come from diverse linguistic backgrounds, which can hinder effective communication. language differences may create misunderstandings, especially when www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 114 published by scholink inc. conveying complex musical concepts or cultural meanings associated with specific music traditions. as a result, students and educators may struggle to express their ideas, diminishing the overall impact of the collaboration. for example, in cross-cultural workshops, the lack of a common language often leads to confusion, with participants unable to fully articulate the significance of their cultural expressions. to address this issue, it is crucial to implement bilingual or multilingual education programs that bridge the communication gap. teachers can utilize visual aids and non-verbal methods such as musical demonstrations or body language to facilitate understanding. in some cases, technology can also play a significant role, as online platforms with translation features allow for more seamless interaction. these strategies help overcome the linguistic divide, ensuring that musical concepts and cultural meanings are communicated effectively, even when participants speak different languages. another challenge that emerges in international collaborations is cultural sensitivity. different cultural practices and traditions may clash, particularly when students from varying cultural backgrounds come together to study music. what is considered respectful or traditional in one culture might be viewed as inappropriate or unfamiliar in another. in such environments, there is a risk of reinforcing stereotypes or misrepresenting cultural traditions if educators are not culturally competent. for instance, an approach that is considered standard in one country might unintentionally overlook the intricacies of another culture’s musical practices, potentially alienating students from those cultures. to mitigate these risks, educators must cultivate intercultural competence, which involves understanding, respecting, and valuing the cultural differences among students. collaborative teaching practices, where instructors from different cultural backgrounds work together, are essential to ensuring that all traditions are represented authentically. furthermore, fostering open dialogue where students share their cultural contexts and discuss the importance of their musical practices can deepen mutual understanding and respect. when students feel their cultural traditions are respected and accurately represented, they are more likely to engage fully in the learning process. despite these challenges, international collaboration can thrive if educators embrace flexible pedagogical approaches. differences in educational systems can create additional hurdles; for instance, students from more structured, teacher-centered systems may struggle in environments that emphasize student autonomy and collaborative learning. these varying pedagogical expectations may lead to confusion or disengagement, as students might not be accustomed to taking a leading role in their own learning. to address this, teachers should adopt a blended pedagogical model that combines both teacher-centered and student-centered methods. for example, instructors can provide clear frameworks for students, while simultaneously encouraging them to explore musical ideas independently or in groups. this hybrid approach allows students to benefit from structured learning while also fostering creativity and critical thinking. moreover, pre-collaboration orientations or workshops can help familiarize students with different educational systems, smoothing the transition between diverse teaching methods. through such efforts, educators can create a more inclusive and adaptive learning environment that caters to students’ varied learning styles and cultural backgrounds. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 115 published by scholink inc. in summary, while international collaboration in ethnic music education presents significant challenges, such as language barriers, cultural sensitivity issues, and differing pedagogical practices, these obstacles can be addressed with thoughtful strategies. by prioritizing effective communication, fostering intercultural competence, and adopting flexible teaching methods, educators can ensure that collaborations are productive, inclusive, and respectful of diverse musical traditions. this approach not only enhances students’ learning experiences but also contributes to the construction of cultural identities through shared musical engagement. 6. conclusion in conclusion, international collaboration in ethnic music education plays a vital role in constructing cultural identities and fostering cross-cultural understanding within multicultural contexts. as educators and students engage in these collaborative efforts, they not only share and preserve musical traditions but also actively negotiate and redefine their cultural identities through the exchange of diverse musical practices. the integration of multicultural perspectives offers invaluable opportunities for students to deepen their understanding of both their own cultural heritage and that of others, encouraging mutual respect and empathy. however, despite the rich potential of these collaborations, challenges such as language barriers, cultural sensitivity, and pedagogical differences continue to affect the success of these efforts. these challenges can be mitigated by adopting bilingual or multilingual strategies, enhancing intercultural competence, and designing flexible pedagogical models that cater to diverse learning styles. additionally, fostering ongoing collaborations and creating culturally responsive curricula are essential steps toward ensuring the sustainability and inclusivity of international partnerships in ethnic music education. looking ahead, future research should focus on refining hybrid pedagogical models, developing comprehensive intercultural training for educators, and exploring the long-term effects of international collaborations on cultural identity formation. by addressing these areas, the field of ethnic music education can become even more inclusive, dynamic, and relevant in our increasingly globalized world. ultimately, international collaboration in music education not only serves as a powerful tool for cultural expression but also plays a pivotal role in shaping students’ identities and contributing to a more harmonious and interconnected global society. projects 1. this paper is a project of the japan-korea research center for national and regional studies of the ministry of education,‘research on the cooperation and exchange mode of the internationalization development of music education among china, japan and south korea’ (2024rhzc015). 2. southeast asia research center of the "belt and road" national and regional research center of the state ethnic affairs commission, ‘study on public-private partnership model in education governance in southeast asia’ (2024dnyzc019). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 116 published by scholink inc. 3. sichuan provincial key research base of philosophy and social sciences, chinese culture foreign translation and research center, ‘study on the adaptation and dissemination of sichuan intangible cultural heritage traditional plays in overseas markets’ (zy24b04). 4. sichuan provincial key research base of 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(2024). strategies for the transmission of ethnic music culture in college music education based on the background of big data. applied mathematics and nonlinear sciences. https://doi.org/10.2478/amns.2023.2.00137 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 68 original paper the dissemination of the practical value of chi min yao shu from the perspective of skopos theory tongzhuo wu1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: november 1, 2023 accepted: november 20, 2023 online published: december 9, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n5p68 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n5p68 abstract as an important part of china’s excellent traditional culture, the agricultural classics holds an important position. as one of the representative works of agricultural classics, “chi min yao shu” condenses the great wisdom of china’s ancient working people, records the agricultural and animal husbandry production experience, including natural disasters governance, sericulture technology, animal husbandry and other practical values, and its research will play an important role in foreign cultural exchanges. at present, there is a certain gap in the research of agricultural classics in china, and the research results are not fruitful. this paper will discuss the practical value of chi min yao shu and its dissemination in western and asian countries from the perspective of skopos theory, and explore its research significance and impact on our international communication with other countries. keywords chi min yao shu, agricultural classics, international dissemination, practical value, skopos theory 1. introduction china is a major agricultural country, with thousands of years of agricultural civilization, a long history of development and a rich scientific heritage. in summarizing the experience of agricultural production, many scientists have written a lot of agricultural books. among them, jia’s “chi min yao shu” shares the same fame with “comprehensive treatise on agricultural administration”, “the book of fan sheng”, and “book of agriculture by wang zhen”, which are known as the four major agricultural books in china. chin min yao shu is one of the masterpieces of chinese agricultural classics, which can be called the ancient chinese agricultural encyclopedia, and is the first complete agricultural book in existence. the book consists of ten volumes, covering agricultural cultivation, animal husbandry, food processing, disaster management and so on. at present, in the context of the new era, telling chinese stories and spreading chinese voices well is our main task. while we see our brilliant achievements, we should also www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 69 published by scholink inc. find that there are still certain limitations in our research on agricultural classics. it is mainly reflected in the research and dissemination of practical value. according to the results of the survey conducted by yan and wang (2018), only 67 papers were published in the decade from 2009 to 2018, on the subject of english translation of chinese agricultural classics. compared with other research fields, the research results of agricultural classics are not fruitful. the main focus is on the discussion of translation research, research status, significance and future prospects. in terms of translation research and meaning, many scholars have put forward their own views on the study of agricultural texts. kong (2021) discussed the current status of translation research, existing problems, and prospects for the future. yan (2018) believes that strengthening the study of agricultural classics can promote the influence of chinese culture in the world. zhou (2021) mentioned that promoting agricultural classics to go global is also conducive to enhancing the international status of ancient chinese academia. wang (2019) also put forward her own views on the international dissemination of agricultural classics. so, we can see there is a certain gap in this field. most of them rarely delve into the practical value of agricultural texts. the reason why our agricultural classics can be spread around the world is because they condense the great wisdom and valuable experience of the ancient people. disseminating excellent chinese traditional culture will greatly enhance the influence of our chinese culture, enhance cultural self-confidence, and enrich the content of english translations of classics. this article will focus on the international dissemination of agricultural classics, study the spread of the chi min yao shu in britain and france, and explore the impact on recipient countries and china. 2. the practical value in “chi min yao shu” 2.1 sericulture technology china was the first in the world to raise sericulture and began to develop sericulture technology, and silk products were once popular in europe. the fifth volume of chi min yao shu focuses on the knowledge and technology of sericulture. it systematically summarizes and introduces the sericulture-related technology in his previous agricultural books and the new development of sericulture science and technology in 386-543, as well as jia sixun’s personal cognition of sericulture. the content covers the entire silkworm production process from mulberry planting to silkworm cocoon treatment, mainly including three categories: mulberry cultivation and breeding technology, silkworm breeding and sericulture technology, and silkworm production supporting technology. these three types of technologies are interlinked. it introduces us to the cultivation management of mulberry trees, the management of mulberry orchards, silkworm breeding and breeding technology and silkworm cocoon treatment technology. for example, in planting mulberry trees, jia proposed to choose good seeds, and also introduced the layer method and grafting method. at that time, this was the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancient working people, and had a significant impact on the cultivation of mulberry trees for future generations. in silk processing, in order to prevent silkworms from breaking through the pupae and to ensure the quality of silk, the salt pickling method is used. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 70 published by scholink inc. 2.2 natural disaster governance although “chi min yao shu” focuses on the summary of agricultural production technology, under the background of frequent disasters, its anti-disaster thinking is also the main content of the work. “yao, shun, and tang are all foreseeing, although there are disasters in some years, but the people are not poor” (p210 of “how to say no. 30” reflects the great importance that qi min zhishu attaches to disaster prevention. in his book, he mentioned that compared with disaster resistance, disaster prevention is more preferred. so much attention should be paid to the prevention of natural disasters. it was also mentioned that disaster-resistant crops should be selected to ensure adequate food. high-yield crop soybeans should be selected for planting, and it is believed that high soybean yields can be prepared to combat hunger. in addition, the book also lists some drought-resistant and flood-resistant crops many times. for example, millet is more drought and flood resistant, and can ensure harvests regardless of drought and flood. he also mentioned that we should focus on crop diversity. this can largely avoid hunger, so that even in the face of natural disasters, some crops fail, but some crops can still be harvested normally, thus ensuring that food can be satisfied. at the same time, it is necessary to have the habit of storing food. jia mentioned the word “saving” many times in the book, not only in grain, but also in breeding all feed should be saved, which can play a key role when disasters come. in addition, he suggested finding alternatives, such as some fruits, so that they could be used to combat famine. 2.3 animal husbandry the animal husbandry in the “chi min yao shu” mainly describes horses and sheep, especially the breeding technology of sheep, and the achievements are very high, which has also had a significant impact on the sheep industry in later generations. in 386-534, sheep occupied a very important position in the daily life of people, especially nomads, and could meet people’s clothing, food and housing. he also summarized the breeding of sheep. in the book, he emphasized that the birth season and environment of lambs directly affect future growth and development, and that lambs born in the lunar month and the first month are generally of the best quality. for the shepherd, he should be docile and patient, care for the sheep, and ensure the sheep have a good life. in the treatment of diseases, if there are infectious diseases, they should be isolated separately to prevent contagion. the physical health of the sheep is also judged according to their jumping ability. it is enough to see that the major progress had made in breeding at that time. in terms of feed storage, a fence should be used in a dry place, and hay should be placed in the fence to allow the sheep to eat freely to prevent the sheep from stepping on and causing waste. in ancient chinese agricultural books, horses, cattle, and pigs were the main ones on animal husbandry, but there were almost no monographs on sheep farming (wang, zhang, & chai, 2004). it can be seen that the part of the sheep breeding in the “chi min yao shu” is very important and has a profound impact on future generations. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 71 published by scholink inc. 2.4 agricultural production jia summarized the basic experience of agricultural production in detail in “chi min yao shu” and proposed that agricultural production must follow a fundamental principle, that is, comprehensively consider the “timing, location,” on the basis of giving play to people’s subjective initiative and increasing agricultural output. first of all, agricultural production should adapt to the times. jia pointed out that “spring birth, summer growth, autumn harvest, and winter storage are not easy to do at four times.” in the cultivation of crops, sowing seeds, watering, weeding and harvesting must follow the laws of nature, according to the seasons, which is should not be ignore. he mentioned in the book that a land, a characteristic, and the difference of land will also have an important impact on the growth of crops. at the same time, in the “chi min yao shu”, he also discussed in detail how the soil should maintain fertility and protect it by planting different crops. in terms of agricultural technology, jia believes that “if you want to do good things, you must first sharpen your tools... and the equipment must be adjusted, so that it is fast. the tools of production are an important basis for promoting agricultural production. he attaches great importance to the improvement and application of agricultural production technology. he has conducted in-depth research in pest control techniques, farmland water conservancy, soil improvement and soil conservation, and ecological environmental protection. for example, “chi min yao shu” has a wealth of disease and pest prevention technology, using the characteristics of artemisia wormwood supplemented by exposure to achieve the purpose of green insect control. it has greatly guaranteed the output of grain and promoted the improvement of agricultural productivity. 3. the spread of “chi min yao shu” in other countries in 1368-1912 were a period of large-scale exchanges between china and europe. during this period, european countries expanded through overseas colonies, capital, and rapid economic development. western missionaries represented by matteo ricci came to china to preach, bringing western culture to china and bringing chinese culture back to the west. although in that periods, governments mainly concentrated in the fields of science and technology and literature, and agriculture was not dominant, many agricultural aspects also spread to europe. they mainly brought agricultural products to europe, translating and publishing relevant agricultural texts or documenting what they saw and heard in china in the form of letters. according to han (1999), many of the missionaries’ published works on china also introduced traditional chinese agriculture. for example, in 1667, kircher published the illustrated history of china, which introduced many chinese agricultural products such as rhubarb, tea and pepper. in 1735, duhed used missionary epistolary information to publish the four-volume general history of the chinese empire in paris. in 1791, with the financial support of the french government, 15 volumes of the “china series” were published, which talked about the chinese emperor’s bowing ceremony and introduced that china had attached great importance to agriculture since ancient times. in 1737-1777, the 13-volume general history of china, translated by feng bingzheng and edited by gorosi, was published in paris, containing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 72 published by scholink inc. much content on chinese agricultural technology and products. in addition, philosophical transactions, the journal of the royal society, published some chinese materials and research reports from 1666 to 1774, about 34 articles, book reviews, and commentaries on china were published. this article focuses on the spread of the chi min yao shu in england and france 3.1 in britain after the bourgeois revolution, the capitalist economy further developed, the british bourgeoisie also intensified the plunder of the domestic and colonial people, the process of primitive accumulation of capital was further accelerated. besides, overseas expansion was further carried out, and foreign exchanges were expanded. the royal society has also sent members to china for scientific activities and maintained close contact with missionaries in china. after missionaries came to china, they often recorded in detail what they saw and heard in china based on their own personal experiences, and transmitted them back to europe in the form of letters. from 1702 to 1776, these letters were edited and published as the collected letters of the jesuits, a 34-volume collection that became the main source of information about china in 18th-century europe. through the introduction of the jesuits and simon in china, charles robert darwin (1809-1882), a famous british biologist and the proposer of the theory of evolution, noticed the important agricultural work “chi min yao shu” and gave it a high evaluation, especially in the understanding of the principle of selection. according to pan (1990), darwin’s 1868 book the variation of animals and plants under domestication repeatedly quoted the contents of chi min yao shu contained in the chinese records, such as chapter 20 “artificial selection”: “regarding sheep”, the book refers that the improvement of breeds consists in the careful selection of lambs intended for breeding, their good rearing, and the segregation of the flock. the same principle is applied to various plants and fruit trees. this passage is derived from jin jishi’s article “chinese sheep”. or chapter 24: “the general experience of agronomists is of some value, and they often remind people to be cautious when trying to cultivate products from one place in another.” 3.2 in france after the formal formation of the french nation, france has successively experienced the capetian period, the valois period, and the bourbon period. during the succession of three periods, the french feudal absolutism gradually developed, eventually reaching its peak under louis xiv of bourbons. modern european countries are committed to commerce and pursue lucrative commercial profits. france is no exception, at the end of french feudal society, due to the development of the commodity economy, capitalist factors still arose. in the sixteenth century, capitalist relations in industry were already budding, and until the eighteenth century, the commodity economy developed and mercantilism prevailed. the french minister louis xiv körber had asked for an investigation of chinese production, and his successor loire also encouraged scientific and technological investigations in china, with the state paying a certain fee. the french royal academy of sciences once drew up a list of chinese problems, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 73 published by scholink inc. including chinese history, science and technology, flora and fauna, weapons and printing, and the use of the compass and so on these scientific activities had a lot to do with french missionaries in china pan (1990) pointed out that from 1776 to 1814, a large series of books on china, mainly based on the letters and manuscripts of the jesuits who came to china in 15-16th centuries, “records of the beijing jesuits on the chinese history, science, technology, customs, habits, etc.” (referred to as “chinese records”), 16 volumes of mémoires concernant les chinois were published in paris, many of which came from the “chi min yao shu”. in 1864, jin jishi’s article was annotated by eugéne simon (18291896), a french sinologist and agricultural expert in china, and republished in the bulletin de la societe d ‘acclimatation) in paris. simon also introduced the chi min yao shu in his essay on chinese agriculture and praised it. 4. the dissemination of chi min yao shu from perspective of skopos theory the author believes that the international dissemination of “chi min yao shu” can be better understood under the framework of skopos theory. from the perspective of skopos theory, the purpose of any translation action and how to translate or translate the mode is the result of the translator’s communication with the translator’s client or the client of the translation act, so the translator acts as an expert in this translation process and has a higher right to decide how the translation is presented and the method of translation (vermmer, 2000, p. 221). in the process of translating or disseminating the “chi min yao shu”, readers or audience groups in other countries are the translation clients, so the translator and the translation act client must have full communication, and the translator should consider how and in what way and language can express to meet the expected goals of the translation client, and how to enable readers in other countries to understand the great wisdom contained in the “chi min yao shu”. within this framework, the source text greatly reduces its status and does not enjoy supremacy, but merely becomes a reference. vermeer argues that this is because the source text is created for the source language reader in the specific context of the source culture, and translation activities are a cross-language and cross-cultural act, and simply “transcoding” or “shifting” the source text into the target culture does not necessarily produce a well-suited communication tool. in other words, if we only blindly pursue equivalence with the source language, translation is not necessarily a successful translation. therefore, the key criterion for measuring the quality of a translation does not depend entirely on the source text, but the purpose of the translation, which plays a key role in the act of translation. therefore, in the process of translating “chi min yao shu”, the translator can enjoy a great degree of freedom, and make appropriate adjustments and changes to the source text to ensure the realization of the translation purpose and the success of the translation act. so this agricultural work can be better accepted by readers and show the great wisdom of the ancient chinese working people. in addition, skopos theory holds that the translation and the original text diverge in two ways. one is the way the content is expressed and distributed, and the other is the intended purpose. take “chi min yao shu” as an example, the book mainly records the agricultural and animal husbandry production www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 74 published by scholink inc. experience of working people in the middle and lower reaches of the yellow river, disaster management and other methods, which belongs to scientific and technological classics, and some agricultural proverbs will appear in the book, such as: 欲知五谷，但视五木；天气新晴，是夜必霜；冬天麦盖三层被， 来年枕着馒头睡 and so on. among them, the language in this book mostly appears in the form of ancient classical chinese, and the book is divided into ten volumes and ninety-two articles, which are presented to the public in a systematic and classic way. the purpose is to sum up the experience and enlighten future generations. in the process of translating this book, we must consider how to translate it so that the target readers can understand and meet the expectations of readers, whether we use it for scholars’ research or present it to the public in the form of popular science books; whether to maintain the style of the original text, or to present it to the general reader in a more popular way. it is precisely because of the difference in the status, intended purpose, and intended audience of the source text and the target text in their respective cultures that determine the differences between the translated and the original text. 5. the significance of the external dissemination of “chi min yao shu” 1) the external dissemination of “chi min yao shu” will greatly enhance the international influence of our chinese culture, establish cultural self-confidence, and improve the soft power of chinese culture. as one of the representative works of agricultural classics, “chi min yao shu” embodies the great wisdom of china’s ancient working people, reflects ancient chinese agricultural thought, and is of great significance to the development of chinese agriculture and even world agriculture. the practical value will directly reflect the development of agriculture and animal husbandry in china at that time, so that the world can better understand the agricultural thinking and wisdom. therefore, promoting this book to go out will greatly enhance china’s cultural influence and enhance cultural self-confidence. 2) it can enrich the objects and contents of english translation of classic books and promote the perfection of translation talents. wang (2011, pp. 11-12) pointed out that at present, there is a serious shortage of talents for english translators of classic books in china, and translators are facing the problem of aging structure, and there is a fault line in the translator team. therefore, this study will promote the cultivation of translation talents in related agricultural fields, alleviate the embarrassing situation of lack of classic translators, and attract more translators to invest in the english translation and international dissemination of agricultural classics. in addition, it is also proposed that the scope of translation is narrow, mainly concentrated in the field of literature, and other fields are less involved, so it is necessary to expand the scope of english translation to the fields of classical chinese law, medicine, economics, military, astronomy, geography and works of ethnic minorities. in the thousands of years of development of chinese civilization, many agricultural classics have appeared, but the research on the english translation of agricultural classics is relatively weak, and few people are engaged in the research of english translation of agricultural classics. therefore, promoting the “chi min yao shu” to go out can enrich the research objects of classic translation, expand the english translation content of agricultural classics, and promote the development and progress of agricultural classic research. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 75 published by scholink inc. 3) it is also of reference significance for the study of english translation of other agricultural texts. china has a long history of agriculture and rich agricultural classics, according to statistics, there are about 472 kinds of ancient agricultural documents, and 224 species exist (wang, 1989, p. 37). as an encyclopedia of ancient chinese agriculture and one of the four major agricultural books, the importance of “chi min yao shu” is self-evident. the study of the english translation of this book will also attract other scholars to the study of other agricultural books. therefore, as one of the representative works of agricultural classics, its english translation research will also provide reference significance for the research of other agricultural classics. 4) provide experience for promoting agricultural development in other countries. the book consists of ten volumes, covering agricultural planting, animal husbandry, food processing, and disaster management. each country will have its own livestock and agriculture, and natural disaster management and protection, which are also important for all countries. china’s agricultural experience can provide experience to other countries that grow the same crop, and at the same time provide methods for disaster management, thereby greatly promoting agricultural development in other countries. in addition, zhang and wu (2006, pp. 236-248) also believe that the results of the “western transmission of middle school” to europe by the jesuits in china also contributed to the rise of french physiocrats. in france, from the time of louis xiii to louis xiv, a mercantilism policy was pursued, and the interests of peasants were seriously damaged. chinese agricultural books and agricultural ideas were introduced to france through missionaries, which also greatly eased social contradictions and promoted social progress. 6. conclusion the study of international communication and translation is not only the collision between words, language and culture, but also the communication between knowledge and civilization, which determines the expression of translated texts and different translation strategies. agricultural classics are not only a book that records the development of ancient agriculture and agricultural ideas, but also condenses the great wisdom of the ancient working people in china, and is an important carrier for spreading chinese culture. therefore, spreading the “chi min yao shu”, bringing the practical value more countries, so that more people can understand this agricultural work and know the labor wisdom in it, will be of great significance to the development of world agriculture and world civilization, not only can improve the influence of chinese culture in the world, establish cultural self-confidence, but also promote the development and progress of related industries in other countries. references han, q. (1999). the spread of chinese science and technology to the west and its influence. shijiazhaung: hebei people’s press. jia, s. x. (later wei). (1956). chi min yao shu (miscellany no. 30) m beijing: zhonghua book company. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 76 published by scholink inc. kong, l. c., & chen, y. f.(2021). research on the translation of chinese agricultural classics: review, problems and prospects. foreign languages, 3,107-113. pan, j. x. (1990). darwin and qi min yao: on the translation of some of darwin’s discourses. agricultural archaeology, 1990(2), 193. vermeer, h. j. (n.d.). skopos and commission in translation action. wang, c. (2019). on the translation and dissemination of chinese agricultural classics in the new era. journal of nanjing institute of technology (social sciences edition), wang, h. (2012). english translation of chinese classics: achievements, problems and countermeasures. foreign language teaching theory and practice, 139(3), 9-14. wang, l., zhang, f. r., & chai, f. z. (2004). on animal husbandry in northern wei dynasty.” ancient and modern agriculture, 2004(1), 38-44. yan, c., & wang, y. q.(2019). english translation of chinese agricultural classics: current situation, problems and countermeasures (2009-2018). journal of yanshan university (philosophy and social sciences edition) zhang, g. g., & wu, l. w. (2006). the european view of china in the age of enlightenment: a historical review and reflection. shanghai ancient books publishing house. zhou, h., & zhang, b. g. (2021). translation of chinese academic “going out”—a case study of agricultural historian shi shenghan’s academic translation. shanghai translation, 1, 39-43. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 21 original paper on metaphor translation in english news headlines from a cognitive linguistics approach shuai yiqiong1* 1 chongqing college of mobile communication, chongqing, china * shuai yiqiong, chongqing college of mobile communication, 1st jiari avenue, hechuan district, chongqing city, 401520, china received: march 12, 2023 accepted: march 30, 2023 online published: april 12, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p21 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p21 abstract as an essential part of news, english news headlines are especially important. this paper makes an analysis of metaphor translation from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. combining cognitive metaphor theory, the author deals with cognitive features that characterized by the people’s life experience and cognitive perception. then, the translatability of metaphor is discussed in english news headlines in order to demonstrate that metaphorical translation is complicated for the cultural differences. sometimes a faithful translation may be at the cost of losing metaphorical meaning. then, effective metaphor translation methods are offered. they are literal translation, free translation and the change of vehicles, all of which involves the interpretation of similarity and/or difference of two languages. by using these methods appropriately, translators will be saved out of awkward translation adversity. with all the work above done, it will be easier for english news translators to translate more appropriately and for people to have a better understanding of the english used in this field. accurate translation will definitely promote the spread of news and strengthen its timeliness. keywords cognitive linguistics, english news headlines, metaphor, translation 1. introduction cognitive linguistics, based on our experience of the world and the way we perceive and conceptualize it, is an approach to language study (brooks, 1979). translation, essentially, is the faithful representation, in one language, of what is written or said in another language. however, as proved by practice, translation cannot be viewed as a merely linguistic undertaking, but should be regarded as an aspect of a larger domain, namely, that of communication. in the case of complex texts, translation involves not only www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 22 published by scholink inc. “linguistic proficiency” but also “encyclopedic knowledge”—it always involves a process full of contradictions. being an important aspect of “inter-cultural communication”, translation has an important role to play in our epoch. according to the theories of modern linguistics, language domain can be divided into three parts: field of discourse, mode of discourse and tenor of discourse (halliday, 1994). different translation methods are used in different language contexts. news is an indispensable part of social life which represents contemporary society, provides people with the latest information and enables them to leap over the narrow personal boundary to embrace the broad social life. the new information age witnesses the dramatic explosion of news. thus, it is undeniable that nowadays newspapers, as an important means to acquire information and convey attitudes and opinions, hold an increasingly important position in people’s daily life. english news headline translation has become an important part in the field of translation. being able to translate english appropriately and professionally is essential for conducting further research into this field. because english news is a kind of special english, its translation methods are certainly different from general scientific and technological articles. this paper examines metaphor translation in english news headlines through a cognitive linguistics perspective thus provides some appropriate methods for its translation. 2. cognitive features and translatability of metaphor in english new headlines english new headlines are composed of phonetics, grammar and vocabulary (hawkes, 1990). with the extension of its range of application and the increasing normalization of news fields, its characteristics are becoming more and more conspicuous. metaphors are settling the foundation for english news translation as an independent discipline. 2.1 metaphor in english news headlines as a kind of rhetoric, metaphor is widely used in english news headlines. metaphor is a kind of figurative language. it uses words to indicate something different from their literal meaning, that is: one thing is described in terms of another so as to suggest a likeness or analogy between them. the comparison in a metaphor is usually implicit, but quite understandable (richards, 1996). for over 2,000 years, metaphor has been studied within the discipline known as rhetoric (thornley,1999). this discipline was first established in ancient greece, and was focused on practical instruction in how to persuade others of a particular point of view by the use of rhetorical devices. metaphor was one of these devices, which were called tropes by rhetoricians. due to its central importance, metaphor came to be known as the master trope. within this approach, metaphor was characterized by the schematic form: a is b, as in achilles is a lion. as a consequence, metaphor has been identified since the time of aristotle with implicit comparison. in other words, while metaphor is based on the comparison of two categories, the comparison is not explicitly marked. this contrasts with simile, where the comparison is overtly signalled by the use of such words as “as” or “like”: achilles is as brave as a lion; achilles is brave, like a lion. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 23 published by scholink inc. 2.2 cognitive features of metaphor cognitive metaphor theory has been highly influential both within cognitive linguistics and within the cognitive and social sciences, particularly in neighboring disciplines like cognitive psychology and anthropology. metaphors map structure from a source domain to a target domain (fang, 1998). we know that the basis of metaphor is concept. people often organize many abstract concepts using specific or familiar images by means of metaphor. many important concepts derive from our knowledge of the surroundings. metaphor is usually used in two circumstances: due to the limitations of thought and the lack of existed words or expressions, people have to talk about one thing by employing another; in order to convey meaning more effectively and get better communicative effects, people prefer to talking about one thing by another. 2.3 translatability of metaphor cognitive linguistics stress that experience and cognition can play an important role for the generation of language. it regards language as a product of objective fact, social culture, physiological basis and cognitive ability. from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, metaphor generation has its own physiological basis and operation mechanisms, namely the structure mapping from one conceptual domain to another. based on this theory, it is not difficult to find that all language phenomena are reasonable and can be analyzed and translated from psychological and cognitive perspectives (hou, 1988). mankind has common physiological features and same psychological basis, and accordingly there are lots of similarities among the experiences got by different races in their interaction with the same objective world. this leads to the same expressions of metaphor which are equal in the cognitive perspective. however, because human experience also generate from interactions among people, social culture was another important influential factor for language. in all, expressions of metaphor in different races have equal characteristics and are translatable. since they are influenced by different social factors, there are still room for improving their translation. 3. methods of metaphor translation in english news headlines as is known to all, the ultimate goal of translation is intercultural exchange. it is necessary for translator to make every reader to understand while translating. to achieve this goal, it is necessary to generalize some principles suitable for its translation. in the practice of translation, we may find that now and then some words in their usual senses are very difficult to deal with because of the disparity between the english and the chinese language. in this case, we have to resort to some special means of translation. literal translation, free translation and amplification are three useful approaches in dealing with such awkward situations. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 24 published by scholink inc. 3.1 literal translation the essence of translation is the corresponding conversion of meaning between two languages. the meaning here include concept meaning, context meaning, style meaning, image meaning, form meaning and culture meaning (liu, 1999). literal translation and free translation are two basic skills of translation. literal translation refers to translate a sentence originally, keep the original message form, including construction of sentence, meaning of the original words, metaphor of the original and so on. translation would be fluent and easy to comprehend by target language readers. literal translation is applied when the figurative meaning or pragmatic element of the source language is accessible to the target language. for example, we should employ literal translation for the following news headlines: (1) “middle east: a cradle of terror”. the chinese translation of this news headline is: “zhong dong: kong bu zhu yi de yao lan” (中东：恐怖主义的摇篮). “yao lan”, in chinese, means the same as “cradle”, the birthplace of something important. so literal translation here is sufficient to express the meaning of source language and keeps the metaphor at the same time. (2) “russian reform: old wine in new bottle”. it is translated into chinese like this: “e luo si de gai ge: xin ping zhuang chen jiu” (俄罗斯的改革：新瓶装陈酒). “xin ping”, in chinese, means the same as “new bottle”, and “chen jiu” means “old wine”. in chinese culture, the metaphorical meaning of “xin ping zhuang chen jiu” is to describe something that has been rebranded or repackaged as something new, but is essentially the same as before. the same metaphor is used in both source language and target language. thus, literal translation makes the translated edition much better understood, and embodies the basic principles of “faithfulness and taste”. (3) “life is a journey” .the chinese translation is “ren sheng jiu xiang yi duan lv cheng” (人生就像一 段旅程). “ren sheng” in chinese means “life” and “lv cheng” means “journey”. in china, the life is also compared to a journey. so literal translation here is adequate for target readers to understand. in fact, we can conclude from those three examples that literal translation will help make our translation much easier to accomplish the following three purposes: (1) being faithful to the original in ideological content; (2) reflecting the scene and flavor of the foreign country concerned; (3) absorbing the new ways of expression. 3.2 free translation the more successful the metaphor is, the more novelty and cognitive function the similarity contains. “the human beings’ way of thinking in a large degree is metaphorical, that is to say, people always use a familiar cognitive domain to make analogies so that they can understand a new domain better. lakoff and johnson pointed out the essence of metaphor is to understand or experience one thing by another. metaphor ultimately is a kind of cognitive phenomenon, of which the theoretical method is to mapping one psychological and thinking space concept into another one. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 25 published by scholink inc. free translation focuses on the implication of metaphors instead of the correspondence in form. if we cannot achieve the functional equivalence by literal translations, liberal translation is within consideration. free translation needs not pay attention to the form of the original, including construction of the original sentences, meaning of the original works, metaphor of the original and so on. but free translation does not mean to delete or add content to the original and translators must consider the original carefully, know its stress, translate it naturally, and express the meaning of the original. free translation is a skill which translators must know the culture of both source language and target language, and must have extensive knowledge. it is a method of sacrificing the form of the source language for the sake of elegance and intelligibility in the target language. and it is adopted only when and where it is really impossible for translators to do literal translation. here are some examples with news headline: (1) “brexit talks hit a brick wall as eu stands firm on irish border”. the metaphor of “a brick wall” suggests that the brexit talks have come to a complete stop due to the eu’s firm stance on the irish border. however , “a brick wall”, “zhuan qiang” (砖墙) in chinese, does not contain the same metaphorical meaning as that in english. therefore, the literal translation is inappropriate. instead, free translation is applied here by translating “a brick wall” into “ge qian” (搁浅) which means a ship runs aground. (2) “the trump presidency goes up in smoke”. the metaphor of “go up in smoke” means that the trump presidency has ended disastrously. nevertheless, the literal translation of it “zai yan wu zhong shang sheng” (在烟雾中上升) does not make any sense. therefore, “yan xiao yun san” (烟消云散), which means “vanish like smoke and clouds” is a better translation because this chinese phrase can also be used metaphorically to describe the end of something, such as the end of a relationship or the collapse of a business or political career. (3) “carry coal to newcastle.” the phrase originates from the english city of newcastle, which was historically a major center of coal mining and export. therefore, the idea of carrying coal to newcastle would be redundant, as there was already an abundance of coal there. but the literal translation “ba mei dai dao niu ka si er” (把煤碳带到纽卡斯尔) can not be understood by chinese readers because they are short of the background information about the newcastle. so the proper translation will be “duo ci yi ju” (多此一举). this chinese phrase does not contain a metaphor but it criticizes actions that are superfluous or pointless. thus, it is natural for us to draw the conclusion that free translation should be used flexibly in order to translate english news headlines correctly. 3.3 the parallel conversion of the vehicle it is well-known that different nations may have various viewpoints towards all kinds of objects existing in our world, due to which there are some conflicts of the vehicles in a metaphor. that is to say, although the vehicles are different, the meanings they stand for are similar. in this case, we cannot translate the source language into target language immediately, but convert the vehicles to the familiar images the target language readers can understand, in the way of paralleling. for example: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 26 published by scholink inc. (1) “diamond cut diamond”. the metaphor in this phrase is that of two equally skilled opponents competing against each other. the phrase implies that the competition is intense and evenly matched, like two diamonds cutting into each other. however, the english vehicle “diamond” cannot be translated into chinese word “zuan shi” (钻石) because this word does not have the same metaphorical meaning as that in english. instead, it is better to be translated into “qi” (棋) which means “chess” in english and it is often used in chinese phrase “qi feng dui shou” (棋逢对手) to describe a situation where two highly intelligent or skilled individuals or groups are pitted against each other in a battle of wits or competition. (2) “he made the money fly”. the chinese word for “fly” is “fei” (飞), however, when chinese people describe someone who spends money recklessly and without much thought, they will use the phrase “hua qian ru liu shui” (花钱如流水) which means “to spend money like water”. the person is spending money very quickly and easily as if money were flowing like water. in this translation “shui” (水), “water” , takes place of some flying object in source language. (3) “yuan large step”. in this headline, “yuan” is symbolism of “china”, for it is the name of chinese currency. while translating, translators need to covert “yuan” into “zhong guo” (中国) which means “china”. in a word, the metaphorical translation is not a simple word to word translation from source language to the target language, but a process from one mental space to another mental space under the background of different nations, cultures, religions and so on. the metaphorical translation is a complicated cognitive process. 4. conclusion since metaphor plays an essential role in different fields, the translation of metaphorical language is of great significance. though many translators have done much work on the study of it, some problems are still there that need to be solved in achieving functional equivalence for various readers of languages. it has become common that there are many metaphor sentences in the news headlines of english, which can be more attractive by readers. this thesis is about metaphor translation in english news headlines. it begins with a general introduction of english news headlines translation. and then the characteristics of metaphor are followed. finally, methods of metaphor translation in english news headlines are given. as for the translators, on the one hand, they must be skilled in analyzing the connotative meaning and rhetorical feature of the metaphor, enriching themselves with a deep understanding of the two cultures, on the other hand, he should be expert in using the corresponded strategy as proper as possible in certain occasions, in order to preserve the original taste of the source language. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 27 published by scholink inc. references brooks, c. (1979). modern rhetoric. new york: harcourt brace jovanovich, inc. fang, m. (1998). english scientific and technological writing: paradigms and applications. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. halliday, m. a. k. (1994). an introduction to functional grammar. london: edward arnold. hawkes, t. (1990). structurism and semiotics. new york: bantam books. hou, w. (1988). english language styles. shanghai: shanghai foreign language teaching press. liu, m. (1999). contemporary translation theory. beijing: china translation and publishing corporation. richards, j. c. (1996). teaching english for science and technology. singapore: singapore university press. thornley, g. c. (1999). easier scientific english practice. london: london longman group ltd. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 100 original paper the direction of ethnic vocational education under the way of “positional education” heyan wang1 1 sichuan minzu college, kangding, sichuan, china received: april 13, 2024 accepted: may 2, 2024 online published: may 21, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n2p100 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n2p100 abstract the essence of education is to develop people and develop humanity. no matter what kind of education, must follow this essential provisions. vocational education for ethnic minorities is an important link in the education chain and plays an important role in improving the quality of ethnic minority members and adapting to economic and social needs. however, the emergence of common assimilation and marketization in the objectives and courses of ethnic vocational education has brought about the lack of ethnic and professional characte ristics in ethnic vocational education, which has caused the problems such as the failure of the trained talents to meet the needs of local economic and social development. the concept of “positional education” has brought a new angle of thinking about this issue to ethnic vocational education. ethnic vocational education must first be accurately positioned, and then it can seek development. keywords positional education, national education, vocational education, national culture since the beginning of time, there has been human education. as to what man is, people have been searching all over the world, but there is still no single accepted answer. however, what man does and can do, that is, the apparent material and spiritual achievements, are quite rich. this is the culture created by man, which is what cassirer called “symbols”. when people create symbols, they first start by kn owing the surrounding environment. a unique system of heaven and earth breeds a unique culture. after solving the problem of survival, man began to seek development. this driving force has dominated human society from ancient times to the present. therefore, in order to survive and develop, the first thing to face is the relationship between man and nature. man depends on nature to survive and needs to obtain resources for survival from nature. in this process, man has learned that he must respect and revere nature in order to obtain the gifts of nature and survive. the natural environment is complex, the life dependent www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 101 published by scholink inc. on nature is hard, so people need to form a certain organizati on, unity and cooperation, common comfort, so that the relationship between people, and derived from the social organization, social system and so on. when human society has developed to a certain extent, the problem of survival has been basically solved. in the face of the complex and changeable external world, the inner balance of human beings has been broken, and then the problem of how to get along with one self has emerged. the relationship between man and nature, between man and man, and between man and himself, is not a simple issue. problems in any aspect will affect the development of human beings. education is a kind of activity devoted to the survival and development of human beings. therefore, the problem of education is ultimately a human problem (zhang, 2009). the complexity of the environment in which people live determines the complexity of human nature, which also determines the importance of education and the arduousness of the task. the essence of education is to develop people and humanity. in the face of such a complex environment and complex humanity, what kind of education can develop people? in the final analysis, we have to go back to the essence of human beings. man is what his environment makes him. he draws strength from his surroundings, develops and strengthens himself, but in the end he is trapped by what he has developed. to take up the responsibility of human development, education must start from teaching people to understand the surrounding environment, adapt to the surrounding environment, and develop reasonably. this is the “location education” advocated by mr. pan guangdan. only in this way can human development take a long-term road. 1. the practical problems of ethnic vocational education the “decision on accelerating the development of education for ethnic minorities” issued by the state council proposes to “accelerate the development of education for ethnic minorities and ethnic minority area s to achieve long-term peace and stability of the country and prosperity of the chinese nation. we will develop vocational education in ethnic minority areas, train innovative and entrepreneurial talents and cultivate new types of professional farmers and herdsmen.” as an educational facilitator for the economic and social development of local ethnic groups, safeguarding the reunification of the motherland, and promoting ethnic unity, vocational education in ethnic areas is of great significance in actively cultivating and practicing core socialist values, establishing a regular mechanism for ethnic unity education, promoting exchanges and integration among students of all ethnic groups, and promoting cultural integration and innovation of all ethnic groups. to accelerate the development of ethnic vocational education in ethnic areas, it is necessary to properly define its functions, start with training innovative and entrepreneurial talents and cultivating new types of professional farmers and herdsmen, and focus on strengthening school-enterprise cooperation, promoting the integration of production and education, and supporting the development of outstanding traditional ethnic cultures based on excellence. in order to accelerate economic and social development in ethnic minority areas, safeguard the reunification of the motherland, promote ethnic unity, and build a s trong sense of community among the chinese nation, it is necessary to formulate a blueprint. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 102 published by scholink inc. in recent years, with the economic and social development, the fact that human capital acts as a strong driving force for economic and social development has become more and more prominent. at the same time, the structure of talents is unreasonable, and structural unemployment still exists in large numbers. all walks of life in society have an increasing demand for high-quality and highly skilled professionals. at the same time, for a long time, china’s educational thought and educational practice there is a serious focus on general education and ignore the tendency of vocational education, resulting in the imbalance of educational structure, disadvantages appear, to human development and economic and social development has brought great negative impact, the state vigorously adjust and optimize the educational structure, vocational education has been vigorously advocated and developed. due to the natural, historical, social development and other reasons, the development of education in minority areas is slow, and vocational education is a weak link in the chain of national education. (1) deviation in the value orientation of ethnic vocational education value orientation is the core value problem in the field of education (tan, 2000). educational value orientation reflects the subject’s unders tanding of education and its value as well as the subject’s educational demands. once established, it will internally determine the direction of educational reform and development, restrict all aspects of educational practice, and directly affect the establishment of educational objectives, teachers’ educational views, the choice of educational content and teaching methods, and the evaluation of education and teaching. educational value orientation includes instrumental rational value orientation and value rational value orientation. the instrumental rational educational value orientation emphasizes the instrument al value of education, such as promoting the external aspects of social political and economic development, while the educational value rational value orientation emphasizes the intrinsic value of education in promoting human development. ethnic vocational education focuses more on the cultivation of professional skills, and trains people as tools to promote economic and social development. the essence of education is to cultivate people. people are a complete concept, not only political people, economic people, but also cultural people. national vocational education also needs to comply with the essence of education, and must take the cultivation of people as its value orientation, focusing on the improvement of personality, the formation and promotion of good morals, the progress of knowledge, the formation of skills and other aspects of personal accomplishment. only to promote the development of people first, and then let the developed people to promote the development of all walks of life in society. (2) homogenization of specialties in ethnic vocational education due to a certain lag in the development of ethnic vocational education, the development of ethnic vocational education is mainly carried out with reference to the model of han areas, especially in the professional setting, the homogenization phenomenon is very obvious. electronics, computer, business management and other majors are offered in almost every vocational school in ethnic minority areas, while the specialties that reflect ethnic characteristics, such as ethnic traditional science and technology, ethnic traditional handicraft and other majors or courses are almost not involved. this homogenization www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 103 published by scholink inc. phenomenon is the result that ethnic vocational education does not take into account the special cultural background of ethnic vocational education students, the special rules of students’ learning, the employ ment prospects of students and the actual needs of economic and social development, and does not fully integrate with the actual background of ethnic areas. as a result, ethnic vocational education has no ethnic characteristics, majors and graduates have no competitive advantage in the market, which greatly hinders the development of ethnic vocational education. (3) the positioning deviation of ethnic vocational education the orientation of running a school determines the direction of education development and the mode of personnel training. vocational education in most ethnic areas of our country orientates itself to export talents or labor services outside the region, instead of training suitable talents for their own ethnic groups according to the actual needs of the economic and social development of the region. such orientation will inevitably lead to ethnic vocational education ignoring the impact and needs of the natural environment, social environment and cultural environment in ethnic areas, resulting in the development of ethnic vocational education and the local economic and social development is not closely linked, resulting in ethnic vocational education to lose ethnic characteristics, resulting in the loss of material and spiritual homes for people trained by ethnic vocational education. 2. the alienation of ethnic vocational education from the environment of ethnic areas the homogeneity of ethnic vocational education and its development characteristics are not obvious, which is extremely unfavorable to the economic and social development of ethnic minority areas and the development of ethnic vocational education itself, especially the development of people in ethnic minority areas. the main reason for such problems is the estrangement between ethnic vocational education and the environment of ethnic areas. (1) ethnic vocational education does not adapt to the natural environment of ethnic minority areas natural environment is the basis for human survival and development, and its impact on education is mainly manifested in affecting the distribution of schools, the mode of running schools, the source of students and their structure, and the content of teaching. the ethnic vocational education in a specific ethnic area is bound to be affected by the specific natural environment, and at the same time, it gives feedback to the natural environment. at present, the vocational education for ethnic minorities pays little attention to the natural environment in ethnic minority areas. most of china’s ethnic minority areas are located in southwest, northwest, northeast and other places rich in natural resources such as mountains, grasslands, plateaux and other areas where the ecology is extremely fragile. however, the professional setting, teaching content and teaching methods of ethnic vocational education schools are mainly based on the model of vocational education in han areas. the teaching contents rarely involve the resource situation, development and utilization, environmental protection and other aspects of specific ethnic minority areas. the ethnic vocational education focusing on technology lacks technical ethics education and focuses on teaching students to use various modern technologies to seize natural resources without www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 104 published by scholink inc. paying attention to environmental protection education, which is not conducive to the harmonious and sustainable development of man and nature in ethnic minority areas. (2) ethnic vocational education is out of harmony with the social environment in ethnic minority areas under the influence of certain natural and historical conditions, the economic and social development of ethnic minority areas is relatively slow, and the development of vocational education is also relatively backward. vocational education is the type of education most closely related to the social economy, and majors should be set up according to the needs of society. if we do not consider the reality of economic and social development and the needs of ethnic minority areas to set up vocational education majors, the study can not be used, can not solve the problems of local economic and social development, can not meet the special needs of ethnic minority areas for specialized talents, students, parents and the whole society will greatly reduce the recognition of ethnic vocational education. the development of ethnic vocational education will encounter problems such as shortage of students and decline in quality, which will not only affect the economic and social development of ethnic minority areas, but also be detrimental to the development of ethnic vocational education itself. (3) ethnic vocational education is alienated from the cultural environment of ethnic areas a unique world system produces a unique culture, and national culture has a profound impact on all aspects of the economic and social development of ethnic minority members and ethnic areas, which is also where ethnic education embodies its characteristics. in recent years, ethnic education has paid more and more attention to the influence of ethnic culture, and consciously taken some special measures in the aspects of campus culture construction, educational content arrangement and teaching language selection. the vocational education which takes the teaching of science and technology as its duty pays attention to the modern technology education, while the traditional culture of ethnic minorities and the traditional science and technology are not involved and inherited. on the one hand, the alienation between ethnic vocational education and ethnic culture hinders students’ adaptation and acceptance of vocational education, on the other hand, it is not conducive to the inheritance of ethnic culture. 3. return to “location education”—the development road of ethnic vocational education ethnic vocational education is an important part of vocational education and ethnic education. it is necessary to make full use of the advantages of ethnic vocational education to provide human resources guarantee for the economic benefits and social productivity of ethnic minority areas. through the education and training of the knowledge, skills and cognition of the educated, the quality of the educated is improved in all aspects, and the opportunities for workers in ethnic areas to receive education are also increased. to improve the over all quality of laborers and alleviate the problems such as the imbalance of labor force structure in the process of modernization in ethnic minority areas; the development of ethnic vocational education can optimize the structure of ethnic education, improve the overall benefit of ethnic education, and promote the modernization of ethnic education itself (xu, 2001). all along, ethnic vocational education pays attention to modern science and technology education, pays attention to skill www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 105 published by scholink inc. training, and emphasizes its instrumental rationality in promoting economic and social development, while the value rationality of education in promoting human development has been obscured. at present, a complete vocational education system has been established in most ethnic minority areas in china. however, with the economic and social transformation, the development of ethnic vocational education is difficult, and the deep-seated problem behind it is the alienation of ethnic vocational education from ethnic areas, which does not reflect nationality. moreover, this kind of vocational education mainly refers to the mainstream ethnic han vocational education model, its talent training objectives, curriculum, teaching and other aspects are mainly oriented to the broader mainstream market, and it is far from the root of ethnic vocational education—national culture, such ethnic vocational education has lost its survival cultural soil, destined to be unable to grow healthily. in 1926, mr. pan guangdan made a comparative study of confucius’ social philosophy and sociobiology in his article “confucius’ social philosophy from the biological point of view”, and proposed the concept of “social location education”, that is, “western social adjustment is the meaning of social location education in the middle of the mean: ‘to be neutral, the status of heaven and the cultivation of all things’. and the one who nurtures will be born (pan, 2000).” “positional education” is to be able to “live in its place”. people should not only abide by the regulations of the surrounding environment for living beings, but also take the initiative to adjust themselves and change the environment to adapt to their own progress. 4. location education and national vocational education the purpose of ethnic vocational education is mainly to train vocational and technical talents for the economic and social development of ethnic areas. at present, the vocational education in ethnic minority areas is mainly an extrapolated development model with inaccurate positioning. the major setting, curriculum development and personnel training system mostly follow and imitate the developed areas, and a large number of graduates flow to the developed areas. ethnic vocational education plays a subordinate role in the economic and social development of ethnic minority areas. in order to change this situation and change the extrapolation development to the internal development, it is necessary to reposition the ethnic vocational education. like all other forms of education, the essence of ethnic vocational education is also for human development. since we want to develop people, we must understand people, understand the environment in which people live, understand the relationship between man and nature, between man and man, and between man and himself in this environment. ethnic vocational education to develop people in ethnic areas, we must first let students understand their own environment, natural environment and cultural environment, which is “position”, that is, strengthen students’ ethnic identity education, which is the basis for students in ethnic areas to communicate with others and get along with them selves. secondly, it is “education”, education requires “then its lif e also”, on the basis of understanding their own culture, the formation of the corresponding national identity, in contact with other cultures, maintain a correct attitude, moderate integration, in the identification of the national culture while absorbing other cultures. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 106 published by scholink inc. ethnic vocational education to cultivate people one is to have a national character, one is to have a professional. however, the people trained by ethnic vocational education are not machines in the production chain, but people with their own national culture and all-round development. they have the cultural identity of their own national culture, and at the same time, they have the technical skills to adapt to the actual economic and social development of ethnic areas. such skilled talents are the real needs of ethnic areas and are suitable for the actual vocational skills of ethnic areas. in the practice of ethnic vocational education, how should we reflect the idea of “positional education”? (1) secure its location-clear location, accurate positioning ethnic vocational education must first have a clear orientation and find its own position. there are two characteristics of ethnic vocational education: nationality and occupation. in the specific practice of ethnic education, we must combine the two closely, and can not ignore one. nationality is the characteristic of ethnic vocational education. without this nationality, ethnic vocational education will lose its cultural characteristics and the soil for its survival and development. therefore, it is necessary to find a reasonable position in the practice of ethnic vocational education. the first orientation of ethnic vocational education is to train talents suitable for the economic and social development of ethnic areas. what kind of talents are suitable? one is to understand the national culture, which inevitably includes understanding the heaven and earth system of culture generation; second, we must have vocational skills and professional qualities suitable for the economic and social development of our ethnic areas. only in this way can national vocational education have a clear goal. (2) making a living—adapting to local conditions and developing reasonably after solving the positioning problem of ethnic vocational education, understanding the natural geographical situation of the ethnic group, knowing the culture of the ethnic group, and clarifying what kind of vocational skills the ethnic group needs, the next step is to talk about the development of ethnic vocational education. in the specific practice of ethnic vocational education, we should pay attention to the following aspects: 1). strengthen ethnic culture education a unique system of heaven and earth breeds a unique culture. national culture is the sum total of material and spiritual products formed by all nationalities in their long-term practice of production and life. it is the crystallization of the wisdom of all nationalities in their understanding of nature and themselves. because ethnic vocational education is not to train a machine in the production chain, every educated person in it has been influenced by national culture since childhood, and this cultural influence has gone deep into the heart, that is, has formed a strong national cultural identity. this is the key for a nation to be a nation. although the people educated in ethnic vocational education are living in the living national culture, but for some ethnic culture, not everyone in it understands, there is still a wide range of “do not know the truth” situation. therefore, in the practice of ethnic vocational education, we should first stre ngthen the students’ study of ethnic culture. 2). set up majors and courses according to the cultural characteri stics of the nation www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 107 published by scholink inc. ethnic culture is the matrix for the survival and development of ethnic vocational education, which solves the students’ cultural identity and lays a rich soil for the development of ethnic vocational education. but ethnic vocational education still has to face a professional problem. the occupation which comes from its nationality must be closely combined. without nationality, it is not nationality vocational education. the embodiment of nationality does not mean only considering the narrow nationality, but also having an open vision and an inclusive mind, actively absorbing and learning from the strengths of other ethnic vocational education in other regions and putting them into use. in the practice of ethnic vocational education, specialty homogeneity should not be carried out, and ethnic culture should be combined with the specialties and courses of ethnic vocational education. however, not all the contents of ethnic culture can be used as the content of ethnic vocational education. due to the large number of ethnic groups in china, each ethnic minority has its own unique ethnic culture, and the different ways of production and life of each ethnic group and other special circumstances, the specialty and curriculum of ethnic vocational education should be tailored to local conditions. first, the specialty and curriculum should reflect the particularity of ethnic culture. on the other hand, it is necessary to reflect its appropriateness, in line with the local production and life reality, according to different types of economic and cultural development, to establish the corresponding vocational education personnel training model (qian, 2010), so that the trained personnel can adapt to the reality of local economic and social development. for example, ethnic areas have pastoral areas, agricultural areas, semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral areas, so the ethnic vocational education in this area can not be a one-size-fits-all, it is necessary to take into account this difference, so that students can be active in learning, and the trained talents can be useful. 3). encourage the development of ethnic traditional cultural indus tries, and provide policy support for their graduates to start their own businesses and find employment. finally, the effect of ethnic vocational education must be tested in practice. with appropriate goals and majors of ethnic vocational education, students need to have a platform to apply what they have l earned after graduation. the government can reflect its functions in it. besides supporting the development of characteristic ethnic vocational education, it should also provide a better development environment for its development. for example, the government can advocate and support some traditional ethnic handicraft industries with social and economic value, improve or expand their production scale, increase the publicity of products to the outside world, and form a benign market effect. on the one hand, this inherits the ethnic culture; on the other hand, it also makes the talents trained by ethnic vocational education useful and retained. to maintain important human resources for the local economic and social development of the ethnic group. 4). train technical and skilled personnel rooted in the plateau vocational education is closely related to regional governance, cultural education, human resources development, scientific and technological innovation and industrial development, especially in border areas and highly disadvantaged areas, vocational education is an important part of the regional economic www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 108 published by scholink inc. revitalization strategy, and vocational education plays an irreplaceable role in training talents with certain professional basic knowledge and production skills. the educational goal of vocational education is to cultivate the knowledge and ability of the educatees to learn professional knowledge and technical skills through education, so that they can adapt to the needs of social development and become applicationoriented talents. through the cultivation of students’ overall quality and comprehensive ability, the vocational colleges for ethnic minorities can promote the social and economic development of ethnic areas after the students enter the local society. vocational education should adhere to the principle of “shifting from promoting talent flow out and transferring employment to attracting talents back to their hometowns for employment, entrepreneurship and prosperity”. the natural and geographical environment of ethnic areas is characterized by inconvenient transportation and limited information. the fact that the local education development lags behind, the shortage of talents and the slow economic development should be highly consistent with the requirement of training new types of local professional farmers and herdsmen in the new era. the difficulty of talent introduction in ethnic areas is a major disease that hinders the social and economic development of this region. although the region has made great efforts in talent introduction and attracted talents with high salaries in recent years, when talents reach a certain stage of development, they have to face the secondary loss of talents due to the lack of platforms. therefore, it is very important to train practical talents based on the reality and rooted in the ethnic areas. the way of “location education” provides another angle for us to think about ethnic vocational education. only by depending on the place, time and people, can ethnic vocational education promote the development of people in ethnic areas, promote the economic and social development of ethnic areas, and achieve sustainable development of ethnic vocational education itself. references pan, n. g. (2000). pan guangdan shi weiyu. ethnic studies in northwest china, 1, qian, m. h. (2010). analysis of problems and countermeasures of vocational education for ethnic minorities. ethnic education research, 6. tan, c. b. (2000). education is the intermediary of human value an d life—on value and value in education. educational research, 3. xu, m. (2001). on ethnic vocational education in western china. ethnic studies in guizhou, 2. zhang, s. y. (2009). return to location education—reflections on education actions. chongqing: southwest normal university press. microsoft word elsr-v1n1-p6 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 6 original paper an investigation into the attitudes and practices of nigerian students towards the use of english language and their native languages in a culturally diverse society john peter wappa1* 1 department of english language education, college of continuing education, adamawa state polytechnic, yola, adamawa state, nigeria * john peter wappa, department of english language education, college of continuing education, adamawa state polytechnic, yola, adamawa state, nigeria received: march 25, 2020 accepted: april 8, 2020 online published: april 13, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n1p6 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n1p6 abstract the study investigated the attitudes and practices of nigerian students towards the use languages (english and native) in a culturally diverse society as the native languages are endangered because the english language is taking over the world linguistic environment as a lingua franca. ten students who speak different nigerian native languages were selected randomly from an international university (pseudonym) in turkish republic of northern cyprus (trnc). a qualitative research method was adopted for the study using multiple sources of data collection, which include unstructured interview, personal stories, field notes and informal chats. the findings indicated that they acquired their native languages from birth at home, while they learn additional languages in their environment. they have positive attitudes towards the native languages, indicated by the value accorded them while english enjoys its official position. it was found out that the native languages were used for solidarity, prayers, identity and heritage preservation, whereas english language pertains the status of official language. in summary, nigerian students studying in a culturally diverse context aim at preserving their language, culture, and identity by using it in their daily lives while they prefer using english language only for official purposes. keywords attitudes, practices, native languages, language use, nigerian students, culturally diverse society www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 7 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction nigeria is the most popular black nation in the world and the most populous country in africa; it is highly a multilingual and multicultural society with over 500 indigenous languages (ginsburgh & weber, 2011). english is nigeria’s official language while french is considered as a foreign language. the constitution of the federal republic of nigeria identified igbo, hausa, and yoruba as major indigenous nigerian languages, while others are classified as minority languages. politics, geographical spread and numerical strength contributed to such language grouping. it is a fact that many minority languages in nigeria and elsewhere in the world are at high risk of extinction in the near future, as they are endangered because of persistent changes and/or increases in socio-economic and political developments that fail to provide a level playing ground for minority languages to compete favourably with other languages (adegbite, 2003; igboanusi, 2008; akande & salami, 2010; borghetti & beaven, 2017; yee & chan, 2018). language is of critical significance to the existence of man. it contributes exceptionally to learning, creative thinking and social change (ejieh, 2004). one crucial thing in a multilingual society is the choice of language use. this was the situation in nigeria after independence, choosing language for educational use was a problem. lastly, the language of the colonial masters was adopted for education as well as for other official uses. however, for the junior primary education, the medium of instruction was initially the mother tongue or the language of the immediate environment as stated by the national policy on education (federal ministry of education, 1977; adegbite, 2003), but it is hardly adhered to especially in the urban areas and most especially the private schools. people’s attitudes could be negatively or positively directed towards language or the speakers of the language. therefore, the change in attitudes is vital and unavoidable chunk of any pedagogical initiative. having attitudes towards language or its behaviour can be associated with social meanings related to social models in a particular speech community where language is a symbol of identity for the people (akande & salami, 2010). eagly and chaiken (1993, p. 1) defined attitude as “a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour”. language practices and policies within african countries are often at odds. the language people use in their everyday practices is mostly far apart from the planned constructs of the state (pennycook, 2013). the study covers the attitudes and practices of nigerian students at an international university (pseudonym) in trnc towards language use in a culturally and linguistically diverse society, considering the endangered nature of the local languages. the results of this study will therefore add significantly to the existing knowledge in the field of sociolinguistics and straightening of cultural identity of the people as well as maintain their heritage languages. more so, cultural and linguistic diversity promote and improve inter-group and inter-cultural relationships communication. therefore, the speaking of native languages constantly helps in reserving the language, the culture, the identity and be a source of solidarity for the indigenous people, keeping such languages out of danger of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 8 published by scholink inc. extinction. it is based on this that the native languages receive higher positive attitudes above the english language, though it plays significant roles especially in the area of education and economic growth of a community as well as for international communication. 1.1 attitudes towards language use attitudes are predisposition to react favourably or unfavourably towards a given object. therefore, attitudes towards a language are considered by people as partly connected to some sort of prejudices, which can be controlled to some degree through critical self-reflection, personality profile, linguistic background and general socio-biographical variables. language attitudes encompasses the beliefs, preferences and desires of individuals and groups about language. it therefore determines what an individual sees, hears, and thinks as well as do because it influences behaviour. attitudes towards language use depends to an extend on social hierarchies that are obtainable within a certain community or geographical area (nolan, 2013; dewaele & mccloskey, 2015; javid, farooq, umar, & gulzar, 2017; sardegna, lee, & kusey, 2018). attitudes change because of social and political perceptions and some intrinsic linguistic features of the language (holmes, 2013). the study of language attitudes is done from three main approaches: the analysis of the societal treatment of the language varieties. this is the cognitive components, which show people’s beliefs and behavioural purposes present in communications. another approach is the direct measure approach, ordinarily referred to as evaluative components. this is more popular in applied linguistics because it stimulates language attitudes through making direct questions about language evaluation and preferences. then, the indirect approach, which is more concerned with conscious awareness; considered as behavioural components (mckenzie, 2010; javid, farooq, umar, & gulzar, 2017; lasagabaster, 2017; nolan, 2013). terms such as language shift, language policy, the survival of the minority languages, the shift or loss of a language, and language maintenance in sociolinguistics are linked to attitudes in language use (wilson, ward, & fisher, 2013; kuyumcu, 2014; dewaele & mccloskey, 2015). the choice of language use is influenced by different factors especially in the case of multilingual speakers. some factors, which can account for such choice according to bichani (2015), include the domains of usage, which have to do with factors that language is designed to play a certain function or has to fill a particular space and be used by certain people in the society. therefore, such domains could be family domains, religious domains or work domains. interlocutors, their ethnic groups, their relationship, their age, their gender as well as topic of discussion are determining factors for choice of language use as some discussions are better handled or done in some languages (holmes, 2013) especially in multilingual societal contexts. 1.2 multilingual language practice multilingual children at their early age are able to develop sensitivity to the language used by different interlocutors. the context of discourse and language dominance in the community are some factors which may mediate the degree of language differentiation in preschool age children. cultural frame www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 9 published by scholink inc. exists for people who have assumed two cultures, and for them, priming leads to different cultural frames of reference, but it is only for those people who have internalised the norms of that identity. a social practice perspective of language use denotes approaching multilingualism in terms of linguistic repertoires for communicative resources. the link between language and identity gives a means of membership. traditionally, language and identity study focus mainly on how individuals or groups maintain, negotiate, construct or project their social identities through linguistic practices. identities are multiple, fluid and culturally constructed but not fixed and sometimes aligned with such as ethnicity, gender, and occupation (kuyumcu, 2014; lillo-martin, quadrons, pichler, & fieldsteel, 2014; clist & verschoor, 2017). english is spreading as a lingua franca according to steyaert, ostendorp and gaibrois (2011), therefore, its linguistic globalisation is as a result of it been considered as favourable, critical and ambivalent. its dominance is given on the fact that it is an efficient means by which the speakers from different linguistic backgrounds are connected. the adoption of english as a lingua franca is on the ground that it is a common language and is considered as language of international communication. in recent studies, the “imagined communities” construction aided in understanding l2 and identity relationship, norton and pavlenko (2019) believe that such can affect students’ trajectories as well as influence their agency, investment, motivation and resistance as well in the learning of english language. australian children of india descent in their linguistic practices and choices study hindi in their primary education. they chose to speak their mother tongue despite the chances to speak english. those born in australia maintained their language in the home, as some of them have strong religious royalties and favour their languages too—nepalese and punjabi. the non-working mothers and the grandparents made the language maintenance possible at home says bissoonauth (2018). meanwhile, mohr (2018) studied the changing dynamics of language use attitudes by the tanzanians towards the english language. the investigation showed the people’s attitudes towards english was positive, as they no longer consider it as the language of the elites only. in the case of malawi, her policy used to encourage the use of mother tongue because it is endangered, controversy came in with the implementation of english as a language to be used in the country’s universities. the students and the staff display positive attitudes for multilingual language skills (reilly, 2019). meanwhile, nguyen and hamid (2018) see bilingualism as a resource in the case of vietnamese ethnic minority students’ attitudes towards informal and formal language policies in different domains such as the church, school, ethnic community as well as towards their individual bilingualism. english on the other hand is considered as language of business as in the language ideologies explored in two european corporate contexts by cogo and yanaprasart (2018). they explored the ideologies of multilingualism and english, which dominated the workplace as well as the official and unofficial corporate adopted policies. english is considered as a fixed language of business and it is unquestioned. this study is tilted towards multilinguals’ language use aimed at investigating the attitudes and practices of nigerian students at a university in trnc towards english language and their native www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 10 published by scholink inc. languages. no record of such study existed to the best of my knowledge. in order to achieve its aim and objectives, the study tries to answer the following formulated research questions. 1) how do the nigerian students acquire languages? 2) what are the nigerian students’ attitudes towards their native languages? 3) what are the nigerian students’ attitudes towards english language? 4) what are the nigerian students’ practices towards their native language use? and 5) what are the nigerian students’ practices towards english language use? 2. methods 2.1 participants the research used ten participants, which is within the range suggested by creswell (1988). the nigerian graduate students are studying various courses in different departments at an international university (pseudonym) in trnc, and each of them has spent two or more semesters on the island. these people communicate with people of different nationalities in the university, as it is a multilingual and multicultural environment. the participants are from different nigerian geo-political zones. four females and six males participated as summarized in the demographic table 1 below. the names are common nigerian names used as pseudonyms for the seek anonymity. table 1. participants’ demographic information p ar ti ci p an ts g en d er a ge n at iv e l an gu ag e l 1 d oc u m en ta ti on of n at iv e l an gu ag e f lu en t in n at iv e l an gu ag e l it er ac y in n at iv e l an gu ag e n ig er ia n l an gu ag es fl u en t in n ig er ia n la ng ua ge l it er at e in audu male 42 fulfulde fulfulde yes yes yes hausa & fulfulde hausa & fulfulde ken male 55 ibibio ibibio yes yes yes ibibio & yoruba ibibio yinka male 35 yoruba yoruba yes yes yes yoruba & hausa yoruba & hausa joshua male 28 kaka hausa no yes no kaka, hausa & fulfulde hausa nneka female 35 igbo igbo yes yes yes igbo igbo salau male 27 hausa hausa yes yes yes hausa hausa hannatu female 43 kuteb jukun yes yes no kuteb, jukun& jukun& hausa www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 11 published by scholink inc. hausa pam females 38 berom berom yes yes yes berom& hausa berom& hausa zainab female 50 babər babər yes yes no babər& hausa hausa daniel male 31 banso banso no yes no banso, fulfulde, igbo & hausa hausa source: fieldwork (2019). the demographic table shows all the participants are within the age range of 27 to 55 years, speaking different languages. 3 out of the 10 participants are native speakers of the three major nigerian languages of igbo, yoruba and hausa, while the remaining 7 are drawn from the so-called minority languages. all the participants’ l1 are documented except banso and kaka; all the participants can speak their native languages to some extent; some may not be very fluent as gathered from informal chats but can communicate. meanwhile, four of the participants are not literate in their native languages but all are literate in at least one major nigerian language. in addition, all except two can speak their native languages only but all other participants speak two or more nigerian languages. 2.2 procedures qualitative research method was employed using content analysis to study the participants’ attitudes and practices towards language use. it is aimed at getting detailed perspectives of their experiences from the interview, making the research more real, because it generates objective data (king, keohane, & verba, 1994; zhang & creswell, 2013; bernstein, kilinc, deeg, marley, farrand, & kelley, 2018). 2.3 instruments in collecting the data for the study, multiple sources were used for the data gathering, which include unstructured interview and personal stories aimed at probing deeper into participants’ experiences and perceptions as they are unique and rich sources of information (kvale, 1996; pavlenko, 2001; barkhuizen, benson, & chik, 2014). in addition, informal chats and field notes were employed because they offer extensive local knowledge and emerging sensitivity (emerson, frez, & shaw, 2001). they aid in triangulation, and extraction of information from the participants’ on their attitudes and practices towards their language use. participants were informed before recording the interview; and were made aware that their identity would be protected. they also signed the consent forms. the interview lasted between 6-11 minutes for each interviewee. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 12 published by scholink inc. 3. results and discussion the findings were discussed under different themes showing their attitudes towards a language to determine their practice of language usage. while they are so concerned about their identity and culture, which are hidden in their native language, the english language gives them global view. 3.1 language acquisition and learning the participants’ responses displayed how they acquire and learn language(s) as requested by question one. the participants acquired their native languages as their l1 at home from their parents and their siblings. as stated in a discussion with zainab, she said to have acquired her l1 from birth with the help of her parents, especially her father, who always insisted that his children speak their native language. she says, “i learned babər at home from my parents. our father was very strict when it comes to speaking our native language. so, everyone had to learn it because it is our identity”. it is more than just a native language for them but an identity and most participants are of this idea. in the case of hannatu and joshua, their native languages are different from their l1 because they acquired their l1 before learning their native languages as stated by hannatu: i first acquired jukun, but my native language is kuteb. i learned it through my father and the church, because the church we attend, they speak kuteb, they sing in kuteb. when we go to our village, we relate with our people who speak kuteb. in the case of ken, he speaks one major nigerian language—yoruba in addition to his native language. he says, “i learned yoruba because i lived among the yorubas for many years”. in addition to their native languages, the participants have learned other languages through socialization, especially when they were younger, and so, acquired such languages as used by the people in the community, which agrees with lillo-martin, quadrons, pichler and fieldsteel (2014) that children are able to develop sensitivity to different languages at early age. this is equally true of daniel, who could speak four nigerian languages, out of which two are major languages—igbo and hausa, while the remaining two are minority languages—banso and fulfulde. when he was asked on how he learned the languages, he said, “i acquired them in different communities we stayed while i was growing up with my peers”. it was gathered from informal chats, researcher’s field notes, as well as personal story that most of the participants learned extra languages as a result of peer group socialization. all the participants speak more than one nigerian languages, except for nneka and salau, who could only speak their native languages-igbo and hausa respectively. majority of the participants can speak at least one major nigerian language and as well literate in them; this is because such languages are taught in schools as stated by joshua “for hausa language, we offered it in the high school for 6 years. so, that was how i become literate in it”. from the study, all the three major nigerian languages are well documented (adegbite, 2003; akande & salami, 2010) as against some of the minority languages. it can therefore be concluded that the participants acquired most of the languages from birth as they are spoken simultaneously in the home and the environment they live while the three major languages in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 13 published by scholink inc. addition are thought in schools. this gave them an additional advantage over the minority languages. they get institutional support (holmes, 2013) and by that, they suppress the minority languages. 3.2 attitudes towards languages language is given value based on the speakers’ attitudes towards the language and sometimes based on what the speakers drive from the language (see holmes, 2013). their attitudes towards their native languages and the english language was expressed based on the value they accord the languages as well as their preference for usage. the participants have more positive attitudes towards their native languages as compared to the english language. for instance, as pam says, i value speaking in my native language because it’s my own language that i was born into it. so, i value it most. as i told you, english language is only when the need arises that i speak it. based on his professional background according to ken, his language matters a lot to him; it has cultural and traditional values, which is in line with holmes (2013), and gürsoy and kunt (2018) that language and culture are much related, and are inseparable. he says, “i value my native language because as an anthropologist, i believe so much in culture”. they value their native languages because they reserve their culture and tradition. meanwhile, joshua sounds neutral, yet values his language more. he says, i value both. i don’t think i will say i value one. however, i will prefer talking to someone in my language. i think english is more or less a universal language, so, i would prefer using my native language in as far as everybody understands it. just like joshua, zainab values both languages because she believes each has its purposes, that is, they seem to have neutral attitudes to the two languages but on the silent side, their attitudes towards their native languages is more positive. the participants generally accommodate english because of its universality, and its global relevance as it is used for universal purposes, unlike the native languages that have limited users. nevertheless, majority of the participants value their native languages more than the english language. the participants have so much passion and feelings for their native languages as most of them said that they value their native languages more. english language is to serve a particular purpose. one reason they value their native languages is that, they use it as their symbol of identity and for solidarity. they also want their native languages to go global like english, french and other developed world languages. english is used because it is given some importance because it links different interlocutors from different backgrounds globally (zavala, 2018; lasagabaster, 2017; steyaert, ostendrop, & gaibrois, 2011). english language is used for global media, technology and trade. this, the native languages lack. concerning their attitudes as to which language they would have preferred for communication, the participants made their choice based on certain issues. some believe that communicating in their languages will promote their languages. when they are with their tribal people, they prefer to communicate in their native languages because they want to promote their native languages. they see www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 14 published by scholink inc. their native languages and culture as unique, and need to keep them alive by speaking them. on the other hand, they prefer to communicate in english with those who do not understand their languages. the participants use english with people who are not their tribal people; largely, they generally have positive attitudes towards their native languages. they mainly use their native languages for socialization among themselves while english is for official matters and academics. every language is expected to convey an intended message effectively if expressed properly. one’s proficiency in a language is a criterion for effectiveness in conveyance of message. therefore, the participants consider their proficiency in their various languages before choosing which language to use for communication. they generally believe that their native languages will convey their information much more effective than the english language, “i believe that my native language will convey the message more effectively than english because there are some words and expressions in my native language that have no equivalence in english” says ken. on the contrary, joshua believes that english conveys his message much better. though earlier during the discussion and informal chats, he admitted not to be very fluent in his native language, but still loves and appreciates it. meanwhile, zainab agrees with joshua; she says, “english will convey my message effectively. i want to belief so”. though, the participants have different feelings towards which language can convey their messages more effectively, majority believe their native languages will convey their messages more effectively because they can easily manipulate the language as against english language which they have to consider so many things and their proficiency level. however, few participants state that english conveys their message more as against the majority who belief their native languages convey messages better. this shows low attitudes towards english and very positive attitudes towards the native languages. 3.3 common practices in language use regarding their common language practices/uses, the participants use their native languages within their enclave, that is, with their family members, friends and members of the society that belong to the same language as well as any other person who understands the language (see bichani, 2015). the participants generally agreed that they prefer using their native languages. just like others, daniel says, “i speak my native language in the house, during community gathering (meeting) and when i meet people who are of the same language with me”. they generally use their native languages with their close associates; invariably, as a common practice, they speak their languages more often than english, because they use the languages as code to cover secrete discussions. they consider the native languages as their heritage, their pride, and therefore, are used for solidarity, and as means of ethnic identity. this is in line with akande and salami’s (2010) that language is a people’s symbol of identity. the english language is their official language, which is used for academics and any official activities. for instance, ken says, “i use english language in the classroom for teaching or when in the market with those who cannot speak my native language”. english language is an official medium of instructions in schools in nigeria (adegbite, 2003). it is a common practice that the native languages in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 15 published by scholink inc. the nigerian context are given or are reserved a place in the society for communication to reserve the languages, used as an identity and for solidarity, while the english language as stated by lasagabaster (2017) is given importance because it occupies an official position as the country’s second language. the multicultural and multilingual nature of the country also tempers with the native language usage because if one is together with people from different linguistic backgrounds and they do not understand each other’s native language and do not share any nigerian language, then, english language or nigerian pidgin english is used. the official position been occupied by english gives it advantage. just as daniel says, “because of less interaction with my people, the english language is more dominant than my native language, and with modernity, english language is like trying to subdue our own native languages, sometimes even at home”. the categories of interlocutors determine the language use (holmes, 2013). another common practice of language usage is during the religious rites. in nigeria, there are three main religions: christianity, islam and traditional african religion. each of these religions is aligned to a particular language. christianity is aligned to english language, islam to arabic language and the traditional african religion to african languages. but as it is now, it cannot be said that these are the only languages that these religions use for worship or to teach their doctrines; may be the traditional african religion which the priests use the african languages for incantations. christianity and islam have developed different religious literatures in different nigerian languages in abet to get messages across to their followers. the participants during discussions expressed different attitudes and practices towards the use of language during prayer and meditations. for instance, audu recites the qur’anic verses in arabic and then do his meditation in his native language; while salau uses his native language throughout the prayer session. he says, “i use my native language for prayer because that is how i can express myself better”. zainab on the other hand reads her prayer in english from books but meditates in hausa, one of the major nigerian languages commonly spoken in northern nigeria. her issue is unique; she meditates in a different language from her native language, though she is fluent in it. meanwhile, she loves her native language so much yet, she does not mediate in it but she uses it for communication. as the english language is been aligned to christianity; some of the participants use it according to contexts. “depending on the context. in most places, i use english, may be where i find myself at that particular moment, otherwise, i use my native language to pray. i prefer my native language,” says ken. while some feel, they can express themselves better during religious exercises using english; this is for the fact that most church teachings are done in english. more so, some attend english church services, as they do not have church services in their local languages. they only use english because they are not so much familiar with saying prayer in their languages. joshua equally concurs, saying, “i prefer the english language because school and the church we attend all have influenced the use of english”. the church therefore, has serious influence on the use of language as gathered from the informal chats and personal stories. the new generation churches most www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 16 published by scholink inc. a times use english during church services and most youths attend such services. even when there are services in other nigerian languages, some youths prefer the english service. it is understood that, there are other motives for using english in prayer, such as creating a class of elites or getting status. trying to show that, they are good at speaking english and can even use it for prayers. others pray in english because they are deficient in using their native languages for prayer. from the study, 70% of the participants use their native languages for prayers and meditation. 4. conclusion “language of the group in power, became the dominating paradigm for communication with and within the state guaranteeing that specific groups dominating the language of the nation state formation could take control of the state’s governance structures” (marácz, 2014, p. 46); this is not far from what happened in the selection of igbo, hausa and yoruba as nigerian’s major national languages and english as a second language. most nigerian leaders come from these three tribes, especially when the country was at her infancy. english was able to notch a space for herself in the linguistic formation of nigeria, as there was no single local language that was made the country’s official language. from the study, the participants acquired different languages at the early age as such languages are used in the environment where they might have lived for some time. the parents, the siblings and religion have contributed to their language acquisition and learning. the three major languages and lately, few minority languages, enjoy institutional support as they are taught in schools. 80% of the participants speak two or three different nigerian languages, while 100% of the participants speak english and at least one major nigerian language. invariably, 100% of the participants are multilinguals; confirming nigeria as a multilingual and multicultural state (adegbite, 2003). english is used mainly for official purposes, therefore, experiences low attitudes while the native languages enjoy positive attitudes from the participants. the positive attitudes is because they consider their native languages as sign of identity, used for solidarity, as preservation for cultural heritage and as secret code for communication. finally, about 70% of the participants in their practice use their native languages for prayers with the believe that god understands all languages; even though, religion has influence on language use. therefore, the local languages need to be protected by documenting and teaching them in schools, especially in the localities as prescript by the national policy on education (federal ministry of education, 1977) to avoid them going into extinction and over ran by the english language which is the country’s second language and language instruction in schools (adegbite, 2003; akande & salami, 2010). that is the most important means of saving the languages. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 17 published by scholink inc. references adegbite, w. 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(2013). the use of “mixing” procedure of mixed methods in health services research. medical care, 51(8), 51-57. https://doi.org/10.1097/mlr.0b013e31824642fd education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper challenges in online teaching management in vietnam universities thuy-phuong thi pham1 1 trade union university, vietnam received: september 28, 2021 accepted: october 16, 2021 online published: october 28, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n4p20 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n4p20 abstract in vietnam today, online teaching is still in the development stage. there has not been a set of quality assurance standards for universities to organize online education. universities that apply online teaching are mainly based on the ability to use information technology. the resources of each university are at a different level and limited while receiving no government investment. furthermore, the implementation of online teaching requires a significant and methodical investment in technology infrastructure, training content, human resources, and implementation. therefore, there is a need for online teaching management solutions in universities. keywords online teaching, management, university, vietnam 1. introduction in the last two decades, the application of information and communication technology in teaching and learning has become more popular, leading to the significant development of educational teaching activities (kahiigi, ekenberg, danielson, & hansson, 2007). a series of online learning courses and many different forms of e-learning have appeared. they are constantly increasing in number, aiming to the convenience of knowledge transfer and meeting the students’ individual learning needs. the variety of online tools, social networks, online spaces, and online activities also provide many research and learning opportunities for career development and become an indispensable part of modern life (jacobsen, 2017). online courses are built with many different uses, such as teaching, short-term teaching programs, specialized teaching, and skill teaching, which has brought many practical benefits to individual and community learning. besides, these online courses also have many limitations of online teaching types. 20 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 so in the development trend of open and distance education, the development trend of information technology and online training across the world and in vietnam, universities’ resources investment is still limited. to promote the development of information technology and higher education to meet the needs of regular learning in society, improve the quality of human resource training, then the online teaching management in vietnamese universities needs appropriate solutions. 2. online training management solution 2.1 managing the development of diverse online training materials, ensuring professional and technical quality improve the learning materials quality in terms of content, richness, and quality, which are regularly upgraded and updated to suit the labor market’s needs, ensuring the requirement for prescribed teaching content. improving the quality of knowledge transmission methods, the accessibility of learners can use e-learning materials conveniently and quickly on computers and devices, convenient for self-study at all times everywhere. improve the quality and effectiveness of training, and help learners access good learning content with a convenient way of learning; help units and businesses use human resources to get the right human resources to meet the requirements. based on built-in learning materials, schools need to focus on managing the design and implementation of content development to manage online teaching materials. as well as manage the work of appraisal and approval; manage the exploitation and operation of the learning materials system; manage the periodic and regular review, correction, and update of e-learning materials of all subjects. the management and development of learning materials content play an important role in developing a way that is suitable with the labor market’s requirements and meets the needs of learners. furthermore, universities need to organize a system of online open courses to provide supplementary knowledge and references for students-which is currently the trend of many universities worldwide, at the school and national levels. to organize a system of online open courses to provide supplementary and reference knowledge for students, each university needs to build a system of storing lectures, electronic learning materials, free online sharing for interested students. this sharing helps students look up more learning resources and contribute to the innovation of better learning resources. access to the learning resources is for ongoing students and other training systems such as full-time students and part-time working. universities in many developed countries use the online open courses system the moocs system (massive open online courses) (tran thi lan thu, 2018). to organize the implementation, the school needs to form a group/team to develop e-learning materials, including capable and qualified staff and lecturers to perform the task. furthermore, the school needs to issue a process to develop the online learning materials. participating in the developing process are five 21 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 groups: specialized lecturers, content design experts; technical experts in content development and studio engineering; general management staff. furthermore, it is needed to develop guidelines for the construction and updating of e-learning materials in schools and organize the training course for groups/teams to develop e-learning materials on new processes and supplement knowledge and skills to perform each specific activity. besides, it is necessary to issue or update new e-learning materials standards as a basis for developing the e-learning resources and for evaluation and acceptance before deciding to put the resources into use (beatrice ghirardini, 2011). the school needs to directly implement the development of online teaching content according to the issued plan and procedure and adhere to the set standards. the school also needs to organize and supervise the implementation in each phase to ensure the requirements and strategies set out, ensure close coordination between the group/team members developing the learning content, ensure the supervision, and evaluate the content at every stage of the process. the finished materials are then approved by the school’s evaluation and acceptance council, from which the school makes an official decision to use e-learning materials in teaching (curran, 2004). 2.2 building a team of lecturers to meet teaching requirements in an online training environment building and developing the teaching staff sufficient in both quality and quantity, meeting the requirements and qualifications of their specialties, methods, and teaching skills in the online teaching environment can improve the quality of online teaching to meet the needs of the students and society. identify the need for a teaching staff that meets the size and training requirements. make a plan to recruit lecturers based on needs and survey the current number, structure, and capacity. we organize teaching, fostering, training, recruiting new lecturers to meet the requirements for quality teaching activities. manage and supervise the performance of the lecturers’ teaching. periodically evaluate lecturers, survey, and collect students’ opinions about lecturers. with this solution, the way to organize the implementation is as follows: first, based on the school’s training scale, the number of training disciplines, modules/subjects to determine the demand for teaching staff. second, based on current lecturers, it is necessary to review and survey the teaching staff regarding structure, number, and capability (expertise and methods, online teaching skills) to plan new training or recruitment plans (brandon, ed., 2007). we organize teaching, fostering, training, recruiting new lecturers to meet the requirements for quality teaching activities. the school trains, fosters, trains, and recruit lecturers who meet the requirements of knowledge, skills, and pedagogical skills related to professional qualifications, teaching methods for self-learners, and online teaching methods, updating new knowledge about teaching methods interacting with learners on e-learning technology, and applying new media in teaching (curran, 2004). manage and supervise the performance of the lecturers’ teaching. periodically evaluate lecturers, survey, and collect students’ opinions about lecturers. 22 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 2.3 manage the teaching-learning activities excellently and effectively motivate students to participate in the self-study process, research the learning materials, and interact with the lecturers and other students. create conditions for lecturers to actively improve their teaching role in an innovative and creative online environment to motivate the students to learn. as a result, it enhances the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning. to implement a solution to strengthen the management of the training process and support learners to improve the e-learning quality, the school need to organize the following: manage the teaching-learning activities and interactions effectively in the online environment. create a mechanism to promote and control the interaction between lecturers and students to improve teaching and learning efficiency (hao, 2010). 3. conclusion the solutions have partly met the basic requirements of online training in universities, in line with the situation and conditions of universities and the development orientation of the country. the solutions ensure the requirements and regulations of training and ensure the teaching goals in general and online training in particular. the purpose of the training is to improve the quality, meet the requirements of the school and society, and be suitable for the socio-economic development situation of vietnam. references kahiigi, e. k., ekenberg, l., danielson, m., & hansson, h. (2007). exploring the e-learning state of the art, ecel 2007. 6th european conference on e-learning, 6(2), 349-358. jacobsen, d. y. (2017). dropping out or dropping in? a connectivist approach to understanding participants’ strategies in an e-learning mooc pilot. technology, knowledge and learning, 24(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-017-9298-z tran thi lan thu. (2018). moocs-a solution to support lifelong learning in the education trend 4.0. scientific journal, no. 40, february 2018. beatrice, g. (2011). e-learning methodologies: a guide for designing and developing e-learning courses. food and agriculture organization of the united nations. curran, c. (2004). strategies for e-learning in universities (pp. 205-217). center for studies in higher education, uc berkeley. retrieved from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/78280303\ brandon, b. (ed.). (2007). the e-learning guild’s handbook of e-learning strategy. the elearning guild, santa rosa, ca. hao, s. (2010). developing e-learning materials for software development course. international journal of managing information technology (ijmit), 2(2), 15-21. https://doi.org/10.5121/ijmit.2010.2202 23 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-017-9298-z http://escholarship.org/uc/item/78280303/ https://doi.org/10.5121/ijmit.2010.2202 original paper 2. online training management solution 2.1 managing the development of diverse online training materials, ensuring professional and technical quality 2.2 building a team of lecturers to meet teaching requirements in an online training environment 2.3 manage the teaching-learning activities excellently and effectively references education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 70 original paper using evaluation to boost the moral development of junior high school students: exploration of the moral evaluation mechanism based on the english subject yingchuan deng1* & jiawen you1 1 yunnan normal university, kunming, china received: june 29, 2024 accepted: july 17, 2024 online published: august 7, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n3p70 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n3p70 abstract due to the transitional, closed, social, and turbulent characteristics of their psychological development, the evaluation of the moral development of junior high school students should focus on the dynamic evaluation of their daily performance and growth. this exploration of the moral evaluation mechanism for junior high school students precisely starts from this criterion, based on the characteristics of the english subject, takes “all-round education” as the cornerstone of the evaluation, uses the three dimensions of core competencies as the basis for evaluation, and adopts multiple evaluation and progressive implementation methods as the guide to conduct a diverse and objective assessment of the morality of junior high school students. with the expectation of achieving the ultimate goal of developing students’ individual specialties and promoting the comprehensive development. keywords moral development of middle school students, core competencies, moral education evaluation, allround education 1. introduction educational evaluation has an underestimated influence on the development of teaching. moral education evaluation, as an important part of the evaluation of the quality of school education, is an important measure to ensure the realization of the goal of moral education in schools. in the new era, in order to thoroughly implement the fundamental task of “cultivating people with morality”, it is necessary to give full play to the guiding, motivating, and managing functions of moral education evaluation. however, there are currently some problems in the field of moral education evaluation, such as the lack of research on basic evaluation theories, the deviation of evaluation content, the simplification of evaluation methods, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 71 published by scholink inc. the single evaluation subject, and the lack of integrated research on evaluation. moreover, due to the rich connotations and different characteristics of various disciplines, how to integrate moral education into specific disciplines and achieve the fundamental goal of “cultivating people with morality”, weaken the narrow and utilitarian evaluation in the past, make the evaluation return to the essence of moral education, and truly exert the educational function of evaluation has become a “test” for every educator. based on the practical thinking about moral education and evaluation, this paper integrates the disciplinary characteristics of the english subject and the specific contextual themes of units in junior and senior high schools, in order to propose a moral education evaluation mechanism based on the english discipline. 2. key points and subjects of evaluation for the moral development of middle school students the three fundamental questions in education are “what kind of people to cultivate, how to cultivate them, and for whom to cultivate them,” and the practical exploration in new china has been continuously deepening around these three questions. regarding “what kind of people to cultivate,” it has always emphasized the fundamental task of “cultivating people with morality,” constructing “an education system that comprehensively cultivates students in morality, intelligence, physical education, art, and labor,” adhering to “the combination of education with productive labor and social practice,” and cultivating socialist builders and successors who are well-rounded in their development. therefore, based on this consensus and historical foundation, the ministry of education’s “opinions on comprehensively deepening curriculum reform and implementing the fundamental task of cultivating people with morality” in 2014 proposed to cultivate “well-rounded individuals.” it includes three dimensions of cultural foundation, self-development, and social participation, as well as the six core qualities subdivided under them: humanistic foundation, scientific spirit, learning to learn, healthy living, responsibility, and practical innovation. this indicates that the evaluation of the moral development of junior high school students must be carried out around these three dimensions and six core qualities. but how to specifically carry it out? some scholars view moral education evaluation from a historical perspective and divide it into three types: empirical, scientific, and humanistic paradigms. for a long time, the moral education evaluation in china has been deeply immersed in empirical evaluation, where teachers make evaluations of students’ moral development based on their own subjective will. since entering the era of modern educational evaluation in the 1930s, educational measurement and evaluation have been flourishing. it pursues the quantification and precision of performance through measurement and has achieved good results for a time due to its scientific and objective nature, but it has gradually fallen into the strange circle of utilitarianism. therefore, the call for an evaluation method that is free from utilitarianism and the excessive pursuit of the “theory of usefulness” has been growing stronger, which requires the participation of multiple and multidimensional evaluation subjects and the joint creation of such a benign evaluation atmosphere. moreover, the six core qualities with multiplicity also requires educators to break away from the limitations of a single subject in evaluating students’ moral development. this multiplicity is reflected in aspects such as profound “humanities contents”, “scientific www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 72 published by scholink inc. spirit” and “responsibility”. “humanities contents” not only requires schools to create high-quality courses rich in the spirit of humanism but also relies more on the community and society to create a better humanistic environment. the “scientific spirit” not only exists in classroom knowledge teaching and independent thinking but also in the brainstorming of group cooperative inquiry. and for the “responsibility”, it is not only cultivated through the guidance of teachers in schools but also relies more on the construction of a good family tradition and the exemplary power of parents at home. all these indicate that from students’ self-evaluation to peer evaluation, and then to teachers, parents, and society, all can serve as subjects to conduct multiple and multidimensional evaluations of students. 3. design of moral education evaluation for the english subject of middle school students having just transitioned from the age of 6 to 12, which is characterized by low stability and a relatively low level of will development, the psychological development of junior high school students is transitional. that is, their psychology is in a semi-immature and semi-mature state and is not highly stable. therefore, in the long cycle required for the formation of the six core qualities, it is necessary to consider the characteristics of the psychological development of middle school students. by designing interesting evaluation systems to attract students to voluntarily and consciously participate in each evaluation activity, it becomes crucial to encourage them to actively participate in the task of moral evaluation. during the educational internship, the author observed that even students at the junior high school age still have the small habit of collecting cards. can utilize this to enable junior high school students to achieve the goals of the six core qualities while collecting cards during the process of learning english based on the characteristics of english tasks? based on this thinking, the author believes that the design of the moral evaluation cards should consider the following principles. first, it is necessary to consider the characteristics of the english subject as a language. formally, english is a language, but it is an important tool for china to understand foreign countries. compared to the moral education infiltration in the chinese subject, which is to stimulate and cultivate students’ love for the language and characters of their motherland and guide students to develop a sense of identity with the excellent culture of the chinese nation, one important task of moral education infiltration in the english is different—to cultivate students’ cross-cultural awareness and communication skills. in the process of teaching the language, english teachers should enable students to have national pride while learning to accept and respect foreign cultures, and become “linguistically competent, culturally aware, and communicatively skilled” global citizens in the era of economic globalization. when designing the cards, it is preferable to write all the text on the cards in english, and present the core word meanings represented by each card, the word combinations and sentences, in english, accompanied by corresponding pictures. at the same time, tips on the language and culture of english-speaking countries can also be infiltrated. this makes the moral evaluation cards permeated with knowledge of the english subject. this design references the presentation form of the card-based vocabulary teaching method, using a multi-modal presentation form to immerse students in the target language environment as much www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 73 published by scholink inc. as possible with the portable card materials. however, the moral evaluation cards do not allow students to learn english in scattered and isolated contexts. on the contrary, due to the authenticity of the usage scenarios, students can “learn by doing,” which meets the communicative requirements of task-based teaching and is therefore implementable. second, the “all-round education” needs to be implemented. “the all-round education” was proposed by the central committee of the communist party of china and the state council in the “overall plan for deepening the reform of educational evaluation in the new era” after “cultivating people with morality” was determined as the fundamental task of education. it emphasizes that the direction of student evaluation should be towards the all-round education. based on this, the design of the cards should include the five aspects of morality, intelligence, physical education, art, and labor, truly realizing the practical value of comprehensive education. furthermore, the progressive nature of the evaluation needs to be reflected. one of the reasons why online games are deeply loved is the progressive nature of the level settings, and the continuity makes players want to continuously play. therefore, when designing the cards, the author also references the characteristics of game settings and selects a progressive level-based format to enable students to continuously enjoy the joy of successful challenges, stimulate students to participate in the full evaluation, maintain their enthusiasm for participation, and turn the entire moral development evaluation into a process that integrates multiple evaluation methods such as value-added evaluation, process evaluation, and multi-evaluation. finally, the design needs to consider the characteristics of the students’ learning situation, including their geographical distribution, family background, means of transportation to and from school, and so on. for example, if the majority of students in the school are boarders, then it is possible to set up cards for good habits of daily routine to help students further develop good habits of going to bed early, getting up early, and exercising on time. however, if the majority of students in the school are day students, then cards for self-care and safe transportation to and from school can be considered. such situations should be adjusted and the cards set accordingly. therefore, based on the above design principles, i have initially drafted the moral development evaluation cards that implement the “all-round education” and cover the six core qualities. they are helpful (virtue card), learning (study card), working (labor card), artful (art card), fitness (physical fitness card), and exploring (exploration card). each card only has english, along with definitions, example sentences, synonyms, corresponding behavioral pictures, and extended knowledge of the language and culture of english-speaking countries. the six core qualities are reflected in: learning (study card) and fitness (physical fitness card) correspond to the dimension of “self-development”, exploring (exploration card) and helpful (virtue card) correspond to the dimension of “cultural foundation”, and artful (art card) corresponds to the dimension of “social participation”. on the basis of respecting the individual characteristics of students, it leads students to continuously challenge themselves and highlights the comprehensiveness of the moral development evaluation. moreover, based on the characteristics of the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 74 published by scholink inc. english subject, each card will also include the corresponding behavioral requirements. for example, the initial behavioral setting for the helpful (virtue card) is to help classmates answer questions in english, help classmates recognize or dictate english words, etc.; learning (study card) includes submitting english homework on time and answering questions correctly in the english class, etc.; working (labor card) includes taking turns as the leader of the group or the representative of the english class, etc.; artful (art card) includes creatively designing open homework completion forms when completing assignments in the four dimensions of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, etc.; exploring (exploration card) includes independently acquiring new words, expressing new english expressions, and actively exploring the communication etiquette of other countries, etc. to reflect the diversification and variety of evaluation subjects, the required behaviors corresponding to the cards are not fixed. during the implementation process, based on the actual class situation and referring to the students’ will, continuously add the descriptions of good moral behaviors recognized by the whole class to the behavioral requirements, so that the entire class can continuously improve their behaviors in the form of cards and develop their excellent moral qualities. opinions from other subject teachers and parents can also be incorporated to truly achieve home-school cooperation and home-school co-education, leading the school to an effective transformation from “focusing on scores” to “focusing on educating people”. 4. implementation methods and steps of moral education evaluation for the english subject to reflect the progressive nature of the evaluation, the five types of moral education evaluation cards are first set with corresponding secondary basic stars (learning star, fitness star, exploring star, helpful star, working star, artful star). after collecting 5 stars of the same type, they can be exchanged for the corresponding card. after collecting 6 cards, they can be exchanged for the opportunity to be listed on the class honor list, and the more times a student is listed, the more likely they are to be recommended to participate in the selection of honors such as “merit students” and “excellent student cadres”. in addition, to ensure the smooth development of this moral evaluation activity, the following auxiliary activities will be set up: first, a “star·card exchange day” will be held during the weekly unit summary, and students can exchange for cards after collecting five stars of the corresponding category. second, during the “star·card exchange day,” the selection and ranking of the honor list stars will also be conducted. according to the number of cards, their photos and rankings will be published on the class honor list in order, and awards will be given to the top five students. third, a “card·gift exchange” market will be held at the beginning of each month to exchange cards for gifts. the points corresponding to each card can be exchanged for different prizes, and the students will be motivated to continue their efforts through the incentive of prizes and gifts. fourth, at the middle and end of the semester, the selection of honors such as “merit students,” “excellent student cadres,” and “moral education model” at the class, school, and city levels will be carried out. according to the total score of the moral evaluation cards and the list of the honor list, five students will be recommended to participate in the selection of the above honors. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 75 published by scholink inc. at the same time, to ensure the objectivity and accuracy of the evaluation and make this moral evaluation activity widely promoted and accepted, this evaluation system adheres to the principles of comprehensiveness, process, development, and interest, implements the traditional verbal praise in practice, and sets up multi-dimensional evaluation subjects to make the evaluation of students’ moral development more scientific. the multi-dimensional evaluation subjects are reflected in the following: first, in addition to the english teacher, any teacher can define the reward behaviors corresponding to the moral evaluation cards based on the characteristics of their own subject, expanding the application scope of the card system and forming a good atmosphere of moral construction in the class. for example, the gym teacher can define the fitness card in multiple dimensions, the political teacher can define the helpful virtue card in multiple directions based on the characteristics of the ideological and moral education class, and the head teacher can define the working labor card according to the characteristics of class activities, and so on. second, the combination of students’ self-evaluation and peer evaluation. students can also recommend themselves to the teacher for star recognition if they have done good deeds and developed good habits, such as sorting garbage on the way home from school. however, since junior high school students have just grown out of the unstable stage of primary school, there may inevitably be students who use lies to achieve their goals due to their eagerness to obtain honors. therefore, peer evaluation is needed for observation and supervision. if any outstanding deeds or inappropriate behaviors are found, they can be reported to the teacher, who can organize students to discuss the specific situation. this makes every student both a participant and a judge in the evaluation, and this discussion itself is also a re-shaping of students’ moral character. third, give full play to the role of parents to form homeschool co-education. home-school cooperation and co-education is conducive to the enhancement of the function of family education, the establishment of a modern school system, the common growth of teachers, students, parents, and related participants, and the harmony, stability, and happiness of society. therefore, teachers can involve parents in the process of students’ moral development by regularly making and distributing parent evaluation contact sheets to help students achieve healthy and comprehensive physical and mental development. 5. expected effects of the moral education evaluation cards for the english subject of middle school students at the beginning of the implementation of the moral evaluation cards, students’ enthusiasm and participation should reach a good level, because this system is similar to the games students usually play, and the step-by-step activities set during the implementation make it practical, generating great interest and a comprehensive sense of participation among students. moreover, this system can effectively avoid the traditional, single, and highly subjective moral evaluation model in the past, allowing students to recognize themselves from multiple perspectives, cultivate their self-confidence, and combat the prevailing “only focusing on scores” mentality, while paying attention to their comprehensive development. not only that, through long-term implementation, a benign competition can be formed www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 76 published by scholink inc. among students, and they will pay attention to their moral words and deeds in all aspects of their study and life, ultimately achieving the result of consciously regulating their personal behavior, developing their individual specialties and personalities, and comprehensively improving their own qualities. however, at the same time, the implementation of this system initially relies on the teacher having strong prestige in the class, which may not be highly practical and easy to implement for novice teachers. additionally, since this system sets up multiple evaluation subjects, the teacher will encounter various unforeseen real situations during the implementation and needs to discuss them with the class. the pressure on the implementing teacher will be relatively high. therefore, the suggestion for the teacher is to set up a rotating moral supervision committee in the class, which rotates every two weeks. when encountering moral behaviors that are not defined in the initial rules in reality, the committee will first discuss it, and then organize a class vote. if the number of votes is large or there is a significant controversy, the teacher will be consulted. this can greatly reduce the burden on the teacher. 6. discussion although this moral evaluation system is based on the characteristics of the english subject, it does not focus on english classroom. the five types of moral evaluation cards are based on the “all-round education” and cover the six core qualities, truly implementing the fundamental requirement of “cultivating people with morality”. during the implementation of this evaluation system, it can not only effectively avoid the deviations in integrity ethics and fairness ethics caused by the traditional evaluation model but also help students consciously regulate their moral words and deeds and fully develop their individual specialties and achieve comprehensive development through their active participation in the whole process. therefore, the conception of this evaluation system makes the author deeply feel the profound connotation of the statement: education needs to choose appropriate evaluation, and growth is the natural face of appropriate evaluation. references feng, j. j. (2021). the chinese answer to “what, how and for whom to cultivate”. educational research and experiment, 201(4), 1-10. feng, j. j. (2022). moral education evaluation in an age of measurement: difficult and capable. china educational technology, 420(1), 1-8. feng, l., & wang, x. y. (1999). quality education and teaching evaluation. china educational technology, 46(3), 36-38. huang, y. r. (2014). competing for colorful ruoca cards and shaping good conduct—practical exploration of a new model of moral evaluation. teaching monthly (primary school edition) (comprehensive), 12(12), 22-24. lu, q. y. (2021). the paradigm of moral education evaluation: connotation, type and evolution. university education science, 1, 78-84. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 77 published by scholink inc. yu, l. x. (2013). on the application of card vocabulary teaching in english teaching. education and teaching forum, 89(8), 153-155. zhang, c. (2019). the evaluation of school moral education in china: status quo, challenges, and suggestions. chinese journal of special education, 233(11), 75-80. zhu, y. x. (2017). activating educational magnetic field by home-school co-education—theory and practice of the new education experiment. educational research, 38(11), 75-80. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper the effect of using estafet writing technique to enhance students’ compositional efficiency asst. prof. sabeeha hamza dehham1, mohammed jasim betti2 & asst. prof. nadia majeed hussein2 1 college of basic education, university of babylon, iraq 2 department of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar, nasiriya, iraq received: november 14, 2020 accepted: november 27, 2020 online published: december 17, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n1p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n1p1 abstract the aim of this research is to learn the impact of the estafet writing technique on student compositional efficiency. writing is one of the most critical skills students can learn. yet, for a number of reasons, students often have trouble communicating their teaching. the students face difficulties in writing composition. they have spelling problems, grammar, punctuation, uninterested media, they don’t have enough vocabulary to repeat the same phrases, and they make grammatical mistakes as well. estafet writing is one of the active learning techniques and also a creative learning model where one of the students starts writing, which is continued again one after the other. this is one of the easy-to-learn approaches that can teach composition writing effectively. to achieve the study objective, two parts of al noor preparatory school for boys (the research sample) were randomly selected to represent the experimental group (37 students) and control group (39 students). the study population includes the fifth year students in the center of the baghdad governorate (2019-2020) for the academic year at the preparatory school for boys. the researcher had planned evaluations of the performance to be used as preand post-test. a t-test formula for two independent samples is used for analysis of the data obtained. the results of this study show that the performance of students in writing composition is improved, and the students give positive responses after being taught using estafet writing technique. keywords estafet, technique, performance, compositional efficiency 1 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 1. introduction word as argument is a tool of touch and word which has meaning by human articulation. it means that somebody uses language to communicate, share idea, feelings and information with others. it is a function of one language as a communication tool. rohmani notes that in essence language is a natural process and in the first thought is the same as breathing is not. however, if it is assumed that if it does not speak and does not participate in an act of language, then 46 other beings must have its identity as a human (rohmani, 2012, p. 122). larsen (2003, p. 2) notes that language is a means of communication between people-people. here it acts as a device linking others to the world around it. without a language people can not interact with others. language can be a method for communicating in various locations with other communities, as well as having the information of the language individuals can. each nation has several different languages, but there’s a language that’s made english as a language. according to betti, people “spent their lives speaking, listening, reading and writing. language is a system of communication, a tool or thought, a medium for self-expression, and a social institution. all normal human beings have at least one language and it is difficult to imagine much significant social, intellectual or artistic activity taking place in the absence of language” (betti, 2020, p. 13). sabarun notes that the primary aim of english teaching is to improve the four language skills, i.e., listening, speaking, reading and writing. writing is one of the four language skills in english teaching that should be learnt (sabarun, 2013, p. 133). likewise, it is to improve the learners’ use of conversational maxims because “the iraqi efl learners have difficulty in utilizing the conversational maxims when they are required to fulfill all the maxims and they breach up all the maxims of conversation when they are exposed to situations from real life in relatively different degrees” (betti & yaseen, 2020, p. 57). “teachers ought to explain to the students that sas [speech acts] are language functions and teach them using pragmatic and sociolinguistic exercises. they ought not to be taught in the same way as grammatical structures... they need to diagnose the weakness points that the learners undergo in performing sas or pronouncing the types of tone and find solutions for these weaknesses” (betti & hasan, 2020, p. 62). growing those skills is closely related to the other three skills in a variety of ways. in acquiring language skills they usually go through a regular sequence of relationships (rahoomi, 2019, pp. 3028-3031). writing is one of the core skills in english learning. writing is a language skill used to communicate with others indirectly, not face-to-face. writing is a productive and expressionistic practice. writing is one of the tricky subjects of schooling. boardman states that writing is a process of constant thought, organization, rethinking, and reorganization. therefore, the professor must define the topic that students will easily understand (boardman & cyntia, 2002, p. 38). 2 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 writing is a mental method that requires the learners to learn different techniques. students seem to have trouble organizing their writing without having to plan well before writing. in its functional sense, writing is equated with speech since both are concerned with conveying information. thus, the students practice in writing what they have practiced orally and express through it what they understand and wish to convey, according to betti and al-jubouri (2015, pp. 127-144). many students are unable to express their ideas because the teacher does not teach them properly. monotonous teaching of writing is a difficulty for the students to acquire the expertise of the teacher while learning how to write. this research focuses on a technique that teachers use when teaching writing; it’s called estafet writing. writing is a way in which ideas can be expressed in written form using letters, words, art or media and requires a mental process to express their feelings. westwood notes that written language is probably the most difficult of all skills to learn because its development requires the successful integration of various cognitive, linguistic and psychomotor processes (westwood, 2008, p. 89). writing is a dynamic skill when opposed to other skills from the previous definition. aspects in writing include the use of vocabulary, sentence structure, sentence composition and spelling. it is not as easy to teach a foreign language, particularly english, as teaching the first language, because the students will definitely face many problems. generally, there are variables which account for selecting the most effective procedures for teaching which will be optimal in all teaching situations. some of these features, according to al-seady are: a. motivations of the learners. b. aspects of the actual teaching situations such as the presence or absence of certain media. c. characteristics of the teacher such as his expressive skills. d. characteristics of the material to be learned. e. learner characteristics, which could be very interesting to the teaching situation (al-seady, 1998, p. 67). the instructor will try to use an attractive method to draw the students’ attention to actively composing. rarely did the instructor use specific teaching methods. therefore the teaching and learning process was monotonous. this implies that the professor must find the method of teaching which will benefit the students. and if teachers or students study a second or foreign language, they will follow other teaching techniques that tend to support teachers and learners in the learning process. in this regard, it is idiosyncratically related to the teacher, being the master of the situation to choose the appropriate method to the level of his class and the one which achieves the objectives set forth. teachers ought to put in mind the objectives of their course of instruction before they make up their minds upon a certain method to exploit in their classrooms (al-seady, 2002, p. 3). that is what invites al-seady to recommend that attention is to be given to complex and independent clause-types, the students are to be more trained in the techniques of writing compositions and in the use punctuation marks, the teachers to ask for more homework for writing compositions and the literature courses to be devoted to linguistic ends (al-seady, 2002, p. 17). 3 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 part of training is to relate composition writing to coherence and cohesion. coherence is brought by the language user and it is an inter and intra text feature. it exists by the link between the text and the outside world. it lies in the user’s mind. in fact, the relationship between coherence and cohesion is not clear-cut because the cohesion of the text does not all the time bring its a feature of textuality, and it depends on some linguistic ties (or resources) to achieve the texture of a text, whereas coherence is less articulate and less definite since it depends on the world knowledge (betti, 2007, pp. 400-401). the problem with this study is that the iraqi efl preparatory school students face a lot of difficulty when they manifest their writing results. this is due to the lack of the correct methods of teaching which teachers use to teach learning. one of the strategies for motivating learners in writing learning is to use a strategy. the strategy will make learning writing more productive and innovative for the students. therefore, in teaching writing, the researcher tries to find a strategy that is estafet strategy. estafet writing is one kind of technique to teach english, especially teaching writing. the goal of this study is to investigate the impact of estafet technique on the enhancement of the skills of iraqi efl preparatory school students in composition writing. 2. literature review 2.1 defining writing writing is primarily for correspondence. many experts who write books on writing in english have defined and stated the following: writing is a process according to harmer, and we write is always heavily influenced by genre constraints, so these elements must be present in learning activities. writing is one of the key language learning skills students should master. many experts in the field of english teaching have received a variety of writing concepts due to the significance of writing in language learning. throughout their study the concept of writing was taken from their work (harmer, 2004, p. 77). many of them, however, share differing views about writing in language education. publishing does not mean a thing but a process as well. it is through a sequence of stages that the writers develop their ideas on both the subject and the text simultaneously writing is a dynamic process that, according to ghaith, helps authors to discuss concepts and emotions, and render them tangible and real. it is an activism that encourages thinking and learning, because it motivates communication and makes thought available for reflection (ghaith, 2002, p. 632). when thought is written down ideas can be examined, reconsidered, added to, rearranged, and changed. from the above descriptions, it can be inferred that writing is a process of organizing ideas in which the writer is required to exercise innovation in the use of language skills to produce a written text from the above descriptions, it can be inferred that writing is a process of organizing ideas in which the writer is needed to conduct innovation in the use of language skills to produce a writing. according to pincas, human beings have the significance of communication and self-expression to express their written feelings and opinions. the research concludes that writing is an activity or 4 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 language expression to make information or note in the form of letters, symbols, or words, based on the expert’s explanation above (pincas, 1987, p. 127). for academic purposes, writing can be divided into three main stages which are controlled writing, guided writing and free writing. to betti and al-jubouri, “controlled writing includes handwriting, copying, dictation and spelling. the main function behind teaching these aspects of writing to pupils and students is to teach pupils the mechanics of writing accuracy and readiness for further writing activities”. in guided writing, the principle for using them “is to provide graded guidance in vocabulary and structures so that pupils will not make many mistakes”, to betti and al-jubouri. in free writing, after the students’ practicing of language, they will “manipulate language with some originality of thought and freedom from common errors” (betti & al-jubouri, 2015, p. 144). several methods were used to write, including pain, pens and computers. the writing process is classified into four parts, they are: a. prewriting there are four prewriting techniques that will help the learners think, construct a subject and get vocabulary. they write, ask, make a list and are free to prepare a scratch outline. b. writing be prepared to bring in additional thoughts and information not appearing during the prewriting phase. this is really composing the piece’s first outline. the next step in the writing cycle is to compose paragraph after thinking about the subject and doing required pre-writing. c. revising revising involves editing an article, building on what has been done already to improve it. the revising process consists of three stages: revision of text, revision of sentences and editing. d. editing the next step is editing for grammar, punctuation and spelling errors after revising the material and style. definition of descriptive text descriptive text is a text that describes the properties and characteristics of a given object (a person or something) in detail. emilia notes that “descriptive knowledge is written to send about something or person.” it means descriptive text designed to identify and expose a particular person, location or object (emilia, 2011, p. 213). 2.2 estafet writing technique syathariah notes that stafet writing is a kind of active learning or learning by negotiating learning with the students as an interesting activity and allowing them to convey their ideas to a particular subject with their classmates (syatariah, 2009, p. 338). it means that estafet writing is a kind of teaching technique used by teachers to help students actively participate by continuously voicing one’s ideas after another, based on the subject matter. relay writing 5 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 or serial writing is a form of learning through doing or active learning that involves learners deliberately to compose a narrative essay in a manner that is either jointly or stafetly. implementing estafet writing will be more beneficial for learning how to write as students are more likely to learn in groups than individuals. cahyono argues, “estafet writing is one of the methods of active learning or learning by doing that aims at encouraging students to combine learning as an enjoyable experience” (cahyono, 2011, p. 387). the aim of this approach is to equate learning with a pleasant experience for the students. the learners are given the freedom of expression of their creativity through the creative writings created with classmates. estafet writing is, according to rusman, a creative thinking technique in which one student starts to compose a short story (rusman, 2011, p. 67). by taking turns, the students write imaginative sentences (at least one sentence) in their practice book, then all the students stafettely keep writing down their creative article to make it a short story. students should be having fun learning, not being dull. students are given the right to share their imagination since the writings produced concise text. 2.3 the benefits of estafet writing it would be more effective to teach descriptive text writing using estafet writing, since it will make the learning environment more amusing and not dull. estafet writing would allow the students to openly translate their thoughts into a letter syatariah states that estafet writing or writing chain is practicing the process of learning by cooperative or constructive learning involving students regularly writing concise textbooks (pincas, 1987, p. 127). alternatively students compose creative arraylines (at least one line/line or temple) in the exercise text. so, students will be inspired to learn how to compose a text by estafet teaching, and it will also have a good effect on the teaching abilities of the students. this technique is a kind of cooperative writing that all members of the group have the opportunity to write a paragraph individually, and will need to be implemented several times (betti, 1993, p. 12). 2.4 estafet writing in writing composition throughout the literary context, a composition (“to add together” from the latin) is the way a writer brings together terms and sentences throughout in order to create a cohesive and substantive document. composition may also include the composition process, the nature of a piece of writing subject matter, the writing component itself and the name of a college course offered to a student (kareem, dehham, & al-wahid, 2019, p. 5). ylvisaker notes that composing a poem is a dynamic process involving composing mechanisms, including handwriting (or keyboarding, utilizing an interactive tool, etc.), pronunciation, and the fundamentals of language comprehension (i.e., word morphology, grammar, and vocabulary) (ylvisaker, 2006, p. 248). • in addition it includes the following cognitive, meta-cognitive, self-regulatory, and motivational aspects: 6 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 • generating ideas to put into print • planning what to say and how to say it • organizing the ideas into a coherent whole • recognizing the needs of readers and how to meet those needs • translating these plans into a written text, including a style of writing and word choice appropriate to the writing task and projected readers. • remembering all of the components that need to be included in producing the composition. • self-monitoring the process and reviewing the content, organization, and mechanics and then editing as needed. • possessing the cognitive capacity to deal with all of these aspects of complexity. • possessing the confidence, motivation, and perseverance to engage in the hard work needed to create a well written product. • the four classical types of composition (description, narration, exposition, and argumentation) are not 7 categories, per se. they will almost never stand alone in a writing piece, but rather are best-considered writing types, parts of writing styles that can be combined and used to create a whole. this is, they will tell one piece of writing and they are good starting points for learning how to put together a piece of writing. 3. research methods includes a presentation of the procedures used to achieve the study’s objectives, starting with selecting the population and samples, neutralizing both sample variables, designing the study’s instruments and tools, conducting the experiment and analyzing the results. 3.1 experimental research design the experimental design involves one independent variable (estafet writing technique) and one dependent variable (the test scores), hence the experimental design was implemented on two similar classes, one experimental and the other is regulated. 3.2 population and sampling the population of the presented study is represented for the educational year (2019-2020) by the fifth-grade preparatory school students in baghdad province. al noor preparatory school is at the heart of the province to represent both the control samples and the experimental group that we randomly selected to represent the experimental set (a, 37 students) ,to represent the experimental set that received estafet writing based instruction and class (b, 39 students) to represent the control group which taught by recommended teaching. the following table shows the sample of the study: 7 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 table 1. the sample of the study before and after exclusion the group no. of students before exclusion no. of students no. of students after exclusion experimental 40 3 37 control 41 2 39 total 81 5 76 3.3 samples equivalence for certain variables the researcher performed a statistical equivalence between the experimental and control sets which could influence the experiment’s effects. the researcher randomly selected the two classes, the study sample students from a similar social and economic background, and studied in one high. such variables are: age calculated by months, grades of the first test, and academic achievement of parents. the statistical results demonstrated that the two sets were equivalent in all the aforementioned variables. 3.4 extraneous variables given the fact that the researcher tested the equivalence of the two test sets in certain variables which are assumed to influence the course of the experiment, she also attempted to prevent the effect of any foreign variables during the experiment. any of these factors and how to manage them are as follows: experiment-related injuries. there were no injuries when the experiment was being conducted. several students left school or have been transferred to another. the sample was selected intentionally and the two sets correspondingly equalized. the maturity factor: unified between the two research groups since the duration of the experiment. as well as the age for students in the two groups so that all the growth that took place could be shared between all the students as they are at the same stage, because this aspect did not influence the study, the impact of experimental procedures: the researcher worked to minimize the impact of experimental procedures that may affect the dependent variable during the experiment. 3.5 preparing the material the teaching materials used in performing the experiment were represented by the english syllabus for iraq, and the content taught during the second half of the educational year (2019-2020) was expected to derive from (unit 5-unit8). in which the researcher set a number of behavioral goals to be expected from the test sample, as the researcher prepared a total of (30) lesson plan for each sample based on the second intermediate grade book (english for iraq) for the lesson plans. 8 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 3.6 research instrument 1) the performance test it is defined as evaluating an individual’s knowledge in a particular area of content field, ability or achievement in a given curriculum, time frame, and material. they may also help to diagnose student levels and what they need to develop and work on (brown, 2003). this is done sometimes by comparative education, which “means comparing two systems of education or more showing descriptive analyses of such systems” (al-seady, 1998, p. 82) with the help of “the computer which entered significantly many disciplines including tfls… the computer contributes to many fields which brings a necessity to its employment in education” (al-seady, 1995, p. 1). other terms are achievement (attainment) tests which are designed to measure the students’ mastery of the material. this type of test aids the teacher to familiarize himself with the standards of his learners (al-seady, 2002, p. 14). following these steps the efficiency check was constructed: the purpose of the test: the desire to construct the test was to measure the readability of the students in the english language in accordance with the behavioral goals set out in the teachers’ guide. determination of test items: the researcher identified the test items as 25 test items and prepared a scoring scheme for the test. the exam was planned according to bloom ‘s updated taxonomy of educational objectives. 2) pilot test the researcher has selected the students from two schools near the main school on which the experiment was performed. the two schools were each school’s baghdad preparatory school and al-noor, and on (50) students. the test items were evaluated statistically and found that the issue with the items ranged from (0.76-0.31), whereby the test items are considered accurate in difficulty. the item discrimination ranged from (0.82-0.33) which is accepted also. 3) conducting the test a. the pretest final administration on 20 january 2019 both experimental and control group students were pre-tested. the pre-test seeks to equate the scores of the achievement of the students during the pre-test with those in the post-test. as a result, the investigator checked the study sample and scored it. b. the post-test on april 20, 2019, students from both classes (the experimental and the control groups) were post-tested. in performing the post-test, the same pre-test procedures were followed, namely scoring scheme, validity, pilot analysis, issue with the item, prejudice against the item, and reliability. it is worth noting that a jury of fifteen linguistic experts and tefl methodologists also saw the post-test. 9 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 4. results the experimental group students who studied according to the estafet methodology were superior to the control group students, who studied in the output test according to the controlled process, thus rejecting the first null hypothesis and supporting the alternative null hypothesis: (there is a statistically significant difference between the level of (0, 7) and the average score of students in the control group who study in the english test using the guided method). this is consistent with the studies that confirmed the superiority of the experimental group taught according to estafet technique to those of the control group, which was taught according to the recommended method as the study of: (caldwell, 2007, p. 33 and roschelle et al., 2004, p. 213). table 2. comparison between the results of two groups statistically group n mean std. deviation std. error mean pretest control 39 14.10 5.04 .713 experimental 37 14.04 6.401 .905 posttest control 39 14.32 6.507 .920 experimental 37 19.98 8.952 1.266 5. conclusions the following conclusions are drawn in the light of the empirical evidence shown in this work, and in relation to the researcher’s own observations throughout the experiment: the teaching of composition writing using estafet technique has a major influence on the growth of the overall ability of fifth-year preparatory school students. in this regard, “there should be an emphasis on the study of collocated words in teaching english because this will lead the students to use the language appropriately like native speakers” (igaab & abdulhasan, 2018, p. 100). in this regard, “cohesion is divided in english into grammatical, lexico-grammatical and lexical” (ibid, igaab, & abdulhasan, 2018, p. 100). in the same vein, the use of pronouns and concord is very important. first, “there is a difficulty in describing pronouns syntactically, semantically and pragmatically in arabic because the types of pronouns which are dealt with syntactically are different from those which are dealt with semantically and pragmatically” (igaab & tarrad, 2019, p. 53). likwise, “concord is the general grammatical term of the language which refers to the relationship between two grammatical units”. one unit which triggers 10 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 the agreement relation is known as “controller” and the other unit which is determined by the controller known as “target”. these two units are determined by syntactic and semantic characteristics which are called “agreement features” (igaab & altai, 2018, p. 288). the time allotted to teach composition writing in the students’ book is not sufficient, as a result teachers almost ignore the composition writing sections. in terms of psychology, the use of estafet’s composition writing teaching technique motivates students and creates an atmosphere of enjoyment and excitement which makes them break the daily routine. using estafet technique gives students the experience they need to develop socially. through estafet methodology, the students have proven to be more critical as they have ample opportunities to use foreign languages themselves without the teacher’s direct control. o estafet technique makes low-level students involved in class activities more likely to get more information and explanation from their group members. 6. recommendations the following recommendations are made on the basis of the findings of the study: o english teachers at the preparatory schools must use a variety of teaching techniques to help students gain a better understanding of composition writing. o english teachers must participate in in-service training programs in order to keep them in touch with recent innovations in the field of language teaching. o english curricula designers are advised to use estafet writing technique to design compositional writing materials at all levels of education, with a focus on middle schools. o composition writing should be given more time to teach, since the new language can be easily and quickly taught. references al-seady, m. j. (1998). teaching efl vocabulary. al-qadisiya journal, 3(2), 59-69. al-seady, m. j. (2002). translation: dis/advantages in tefl. al-qadisiya journal, 1(1), 1-9. al-seady, m. j. b. (1998). comparative education: some basic contributions of islamic education to western educational thought. al-qadisiya journal, 3(2), 82-89. al-seady, m. j. b. (2002). some morphological, lexical and syntactic aspects of the interlanguage of third year students/dept. of english/college of education/ university of qadisiya. journal of qadisiya for educational sciences, 2(1), 13-19. al-seady, m. j. b. (2002). testing. nasriyia: al-hadir. betti, m. j. (1993). english for literary purposes (elp): a case study. published in the literature of the conference of applied studies in linguistics and poetics, university of mosul. betti, m. j. (1995). computers and tefl. al-qadisiya journal, 5(1), 5-12. 11 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 betti, m. j. (2007). jokes in iraq: a study of coherence and cohesion. journal of the college of education, university of wasit, 1(1), 399-411. https://doi.org/10.31185/eduj.vol1.iss1.694 betti, m. j. (2020). a comprehensive introduction to linguistics. diwaniya: nippur. betti, m. j., & hasan, a. a. (2020). the iraqi efl learners’ ability to use speech acts in ma and ph.d. theses defense. education, language and sociology research, 1(2), 41-65. https://doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n2p41 betti, m. j., & yaseen, k. s. (2020). the iraqi efl learners’ use of conversational maxims at the university level. education, language and sociology research, 1(1), 43-60. https://doi.org/10.31185/eduj.vol1.iss1.694 betti, m. j.., & al-jubouri, c. f. (2015). approaches and methods of teaching english as a foreign language. diwaniya: nippur. boardman, c. a. (2002). writing to communicate (paragraph and essay). newyork: longman. cahyono, a. (2011). pembelajaran menulis sastra dengan metode estafet writing. retrieved from http://risecahyono.blogspot.com caldwell, j. (2007). clickers in the large classroom: current research and best-practicetips. cbe—life sciences education, 6(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.06-12-0205 emilia, e. (2011). pendekatan genre-based dalam pengajaran bahasa inggris: petujuk untuk guru. bandung: rizqi press. ghaith, g. (2002). the nature of writing process. online at nadabs.tripod.com/ghaith-writing.htm. harmer, j. (2004). how to teach writing. london: longman. igaab, z. k., & altai, s. m. m. (2018). concord in english and arabic: a contrastive study. international journal of english linguistics, 8(2), 288-297. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v8n2p288 igaab, z. k., & hanan, a. (2018). collocation in english and arabic: a contrastive study. english language and literature studies, 8(4), 89-103. https://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v8n4p89 igaab, z. k., & tarrad, i. r. (2019). pronouns in english and arabic: a contrastive study. english language and literature studies, 9(1), 53-69. https://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v9n1p53 kareem, h. h., dehham, s. h., & al-wahid, m. a. (2019). the impact of teaching the creative writing by focus strategy to develop . indian journal of public health research & development, 10(6), 876-880. https://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v9n1p53 larsen-freeman, d. (2003). teaching grammar. in m. celce-murcia (ed.), teaching english as a second or foreign language (pp. 251-266). boston, ma: heinle & heinle. pincas. (1987). teachin english writing, essential language teaching series. rahoomi, r. k., dehham, s. h., & al-wahid, m. a. (2019). the impact of reading strategy knowledge and science knowledge on developing reading skills of school students. indian journal of public health research & development, 10(10), 3028-3031. https://doi.org/10.5958/0976-5506.2019.03339.4 rohmani, n. i. (2012). gangguan berbahasa, kajian pengantar. uin-maliki press: malang. 12 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.31185/eduj.vol1.iss1.694 https://doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n2p41 https://doi.org/10.31185/eduj.vol1.iss1.694 http://risecahyono.blogspot.com/ https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.06-12-0205 https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v8n2p288 https://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v8n4p89 https://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v9n1p53 javascript:void(0) javascript:void(0) https://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v9n1p53 https://doi.org/10.5958/0976-5506.2019.03339.4 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 roschelle, j., penuel, w. r., & abrahamson, l. (2004). april. classroom response and communication systems: research review and theory. paper presented at the annual meeting of the american educational research association, san diego, ca. rusman. (2011). model-model pembelajaran: mengembangkan professionalisme guru. jakarta: grafindo. sabarun. (2013). improving writing ability through cooperative learning strategy. journal on english as a foreign language, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.23971/jefl.v1i1.35 syatariah, s. (2009). menulis berantai sebagai metode inovatif. pekanbaru: cpi rumbai. westwood, p. (2008). what teacher needs to know about reading and writing difficulties. australia: acer press. ylvisaker, m. (2006). self-coaching: a context-sensitive, person-centred approach to social communication after traumatic brain injury. brain impairment, 7(3), 246-258. https://doi.org/10.1375/brim.7.3.246 13 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.23971/jefl.v1i1.35 https://doi.org/10.1375/brim.7.3.246 original paper rahoomi, r. k., dehham, s. h., & al-wahid, m. a. (2019). the impact of reading strategy knowledge and science knowledge on developing reading skills of school students. indian journal of public health research & development, 10(10), 3028-3031. https:/... education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 20 original paper presentation of china’s national image in foreign news media meng qiao1 1 guangzhou college of commerce, guangzhou city, guangdong province, china received: may 21, 2025 accepted: june 3, 2025 online published: june 16, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p20 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p20 abstract the article aimed to analyze the presentation of china’s national image through china related reports in bbc news website in the uk and cnn news website in the usa. the research utilized descriptive and qualitative approaches that used thematic, stylistic and content analyses to analyze the themes, content, and emotional tone in foreign news reports on china. results of the data analysis showed that the common themes were on economic, healthcare, politics, sports and social issues. stylistic devices like lexical, rhetorical, and syntactic strategies were used dominantly by journalist. a rising china, a cooperative china, a competitive china and a mysterious china were presented in foreign news media. nonetheless, the emotion tone about china tends to be more negative than neutral or positive. results would serve as a reference to better understand the international community’s perceptions of china, and ultimately cultivate awareness of international understanding through cross-cultural communication. keywords bbc and cnn news, china, emotional tone, lexical, rhetorical and syntactic strategies, national image 1. introduction a national image is the expression and way of existence of a country’s objective situation. the “existence” involves a specific country’s history and current situation, national behavior, and activities whereas the “expression” suggests impression and evaluation in the minds of the international community and domestic people (ye, 2012). therefore, national image is not only a channel to wield the national power of a country, but also an important resource of national power. in the era of globalization, national image has become an important variable in the game between countries (lu, 2015). many literature that addressed the national image of china mainly focused on two opposite sides: the positive and negative image of china. the global survey conducted by center for international communication of china in 2018 generated a very comprehensive picture and optimistic view on china’s overall image, china’s image in economy, politics, and culture. other surveys strengthened this image by stating four national images of china: a solidarity and bravery china; duty-shouldering and challengewww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 21 published by scholink inc. facing china; china that respect human lives and rights; and dedicated and committed china (wu, 2021), and there is significant difference in the improving image of china before and after the international students’ visit of china (zhao et al., 2022). however, the research on the national image of china is not always objective (wang, 2021; yan, 2019; zhang, 2022), sometimes is very unfavorable by foreign media (charles, 2016). whether the national image of china is presented positively, neutrally, or negatively by media of other countries, is largely because of the economic, cultural, and other concerns of the country (chen & lee, 2023). on the one hand, many objective, subjective, and specific factors can contribute to the national building of china (zhu & zhang, 2022). on the other hand, the national image of china has great influence on many sectors of its economy (fan, 2019; hien et al., 2020; and woo, 2019). however, despite the diversity and complexity of these related literature and contemporary studies on the national image of china, the researcher identified the following gaps or deficiencies: first, the current research on the image of the chinese state in media world mostly starts from the perspective of chinese media, lacking analysis of foreign media coverage related to china over a successively long period of time. second, the existing discourse analyses of national image reports are mostly from the perspective of communication studies theory, focusing on the characteristics, functions, and strategies of communication studies. there is relatively little research on analyzing the national image from a linguistic perspective, especially from burke’s terministic screen perspective on china’s national image. besides, there are few studies on the national image of china both from the sources of cnn and bbc news media. the proposed study aimed to analyze the construction of china’s national image through china related reports in bbc news website in the uk and cnn news website in the usa, mainly exploring the frequently presented types of news, themes, stylistic devices used, emotional tendency presented, macro and micro selection strategies, and other possible factors and paradigms hidden behind the news presentation of china. results of the present study would serve as a reference to better understand the international community’s views and perceptions of china, and ultimately cultivate awareness of international understanding through cross-cultural communication. 2. methodology 2.1 research design the present study adopted a descriptive research approach, employing thematic, stylistic and content analyses. the researcher conducted thematic analysis to group news headlines into economy, politics, culture and other social themes. besides, stylistic analysis was employed to discuss the stylistic devices of the news articles. in addition, the researcher adopted content analysis to classify the emotion tones in the extracted news and analyze the construction of china’s national image. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 22 published by scholink inc. 2.2 corpus of the study the data used for analysis in this study contain 20 pieces of digital news articles that were randomly selected by relevance to two keys words: china and chinese from the bbc news website and cnn news website, as is shown in table 1 and table 2. table 1. 10 news articles from bbc news no. bbc news articles date bbc 1 yinchuan: china restaurant gas explosion kills 31 22 june 2023 bbc 2 china's new iron rice bowl 23 september 2012 bbc 3 china: a new world order 29 august 2019 bbc 4 fifa women’s world cup day nine: argentina v south africa, england v denmark, china v haiti 27 july 2023 bbc 5 world business report: will china’s new central banker fix the crisis? 26 july 2023 bbc 6 italy joining china's belt and road initiative was atrocious move, defense minister says 30 july 2023 bbc 7 china's old age challenge 11 december 2016 bbc 8 china and america: harmony and hostility 15 september 2013 bbc 9 our world: china's zero-covid trap 30 september 2022 bbc 10 chatgpt: can china overtake the us in the ai marathon? 23 may 2023 table 1 shows the 10 news articles that were randomly selected from bbc news media website by utilizing china and chinese as the searching keywords. the date of the news articles is from september 23, 2012 to july 30, 2023. table 2. 10 news articles from cnn news no. cnn news articles date cnn 1 china + math olympiad = rare u.s. victory 5 august 2015 cnn 2 china leads its citizens to snow ahead of the 2022 beijing winter games 25 february 2018 cnn 3 china devalues its currency: what you need to know 12 august 2015 cnn 4 china launches third, most advanced aircraft carrier named ‘fujian’ 17 june 2022 cnn 5 china approves world’s first inhaled covid vaccine for emergency use 7 september 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 23 published by scholink inc. cnn 6 top chinese bank targets europe 16 september 2012 cnn 7 china celebrates growth in wealth, power – and height 11 october 2021 cnn 8 china to reduce abortions for ‘non-medical purposes’ 27 september 2021 cnn 9 weibo ipo leads chinese stock invasion 17 april 2014 cnn 10 ancient teeth found in china challenge modern human migration theory 15 october 2015 table 2 presents the 10 news articles that were randomly selected from cnn news media website by utilizing china and chinese as the searching keywords. the date of the news articles is from september 16, 2012 to september 7, 2022. 3. results and discussion 3.1 themes frequency viewed in foreign news report about china table 3. frequency and percentage of themes in foreign news media about china types of themes frequency percentage economy 7 35.00 healthcare 4 20.00 politics 3 15.00 sports 2 10.00 culture 1 5.00 education 1 5.00 technology 1 5.00 social life 1 5.00 total 20 100.00 table 3 shows the frequency and percentage of different themes based on the 20 sample articles. economic themed news accounts for the largest proportion, reaching 35%, followed by health themed news at 20%, political themed news at 15% and then sports news at 10%. other themes include culture, education, technology, and social life, each with 5%. as gómez (1994) pointed out, the writer’s perspective on what they will say or write is shown by their themes (p. 296). the frequency and percentage of the above themes from the data could suggest the general perspective and interest from bbc news media and cnn news media. the theme regarding economy is the hottest issue and makes up the biggest proportion (35%) in the collected data. the result could be supported by the study from kantar (2018) and basu (2024). kantar (2018) believed that china’s economic influence gets more recognition and is going to be the biggest trading partner with www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 24 published by scholink inc. more and more countries. another reason is probably that economic news is closely related to citizens’ life and influences the citizens’ perception of the governments (basu, 2024). therefore, economy-themed issues are more likely to be reported in news media. the percentage of healthcare theme (20%) is only second to economic issues, partly because the covid -19 pandemic, as a global health emergency, has attracted a great deal of attention from the international community. the results also support the results of previous study by liu et al. (2020), who found that the top three most popular themes in the fields of healthcare include prevention and control procedures, medical treatment, and research, and global or local social and economic influences. china’s lockdown policy in the combat against covid-19 (s9) and china’s first inhaled covid vaccine (s15) demonstrate the prevention and medical research from the chinese government during the epidemic period. what ranked after the health issue is the political theme, with 15% in news media. this could be easily explained when considering the global survey by center for international communication of china (2018) that china’s overall image is continuously improving in the world, with its influence in international affairs ranked only next to the united states. therefore, political issues concerning china and us relation would be one of the top concerns in foreign news media. the headlines of “china and america: harmony and hostility” (bbc 8) and “china launches third, most advanced aircraft carrier named “fujian” ” (cnn 4) are typical examples of this type of theme. 3.2 stylistic devices used in foreign news report about china 3.2.1 lexical strategy lexical strategy generally refers to vocabulary choice and grammar in a text, like abbreviation, shortening, compound words, fuzzy words, and other special words. in the data, bbc and cnn nationalists utilize specific words selection in the news reports, including double negation, modal verb, linking verb and compound word. journalists and reporters choose specific term or word choices in news reportage to convey their attitude and emotion (hamborg et al., 2019; spinde et al., 2022; rodrigo-ginés, 2023). data shows that the lexical strategies adopted in bbc and cnn news artifacts, including double negation, modal verb, linking verb and compound word. ls1: double negation double negation is a grammatical structure that contains two negations. the tone of the double negative sentence is stronger than that of the affirmative sentence, strengthening the affirmative effect. this structure is usually used to strengthen tone or express strong emotions. the following are examples of three negations to express affirmative ideas in news coverage. (1) it is our final, we can’t look any further ahead than that game because everything else doesn’t matter. (bbc 4 para.12) [emphasis added.] (2) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 25 published by scholink inc. this is not without political risk, especially in the run-up to the twice-a-decade communist party congress. (bbc 9 para.1) [emphasis added.] (3) “they live in a world where speed is essential, copying is an accepted practice, and competitors will stop at nothing to win a new market,” wrote mr. lee, a prominent figure in beijing’s internet sector and the former head of google china. (bbc 10 para.19) [emphasis added.] in the example of “can’t look any further ahead” (bbc 4 para.12), double negations “can’t” and “any” are used to emphasize south africa’s priority on the present, indicating the efforts and determination of their preparation for the final game. in the structure “not without political risk” (bbc 9 para.1), “without” first negates the following “political risk”, and then “not” negates “without political risk’ twice, thus expressing affirmative semantics through the negation of negation. it is used to emphasize the political problem that is likely to arise when the communist party congress firmly carried out the coronavirus lockdown “zero-covid” policy. this lexical strategy indicates bbc’s doubt on the effectiveness of zero clearing policy in china, which may influence the chinese government's image in its ability to handle public affairs. similarly, “stop at nothing” (bbc 10 para.19) means “to do anything to reach the goal”. however, “to do anything” is just a straightforward statement compared with “stop at nothing”, in which “nothing” negates itself first, then “stop” negates “nothing” again, forming a stronger sense of affirmation on china to take extremely improper means in the fierce global market, which implies china’s image of being over-competitive in the fierce technological competition between china and the united states. ls2: modal verb modal verb represents possibility and commonly used expressions include can, could, may and might. these modal verbs are used to express the probability or likelihood of something happening, usually in uncertain situations. here are some examples of how modal verbs are used in news article. (4) but china could catch up, according to analysts, as ai solutions take years to be perfected. (bbc 10 para.4)[emphasis added.] (5) ...it would be difficult for china to prevent big swings in the yuan’s value.(cnn 3 para.18) (6) “but if they are talking about investing in a listed entity, it may look interesting from a long-term perspective because the asking price must be reasonable now.” (cnn 6 para.17) [emphasis added.] for example, in bbc news report on the ai race between china and the us, “could” (example 4) implies the possibility that china may be comparable to the us in the future. likewise, “would” (example 5) indicates the possible big fluctuation in the value of chinese currency, and “may” (example 6) suggests that china are likely to conduct an international acquisition in the future. all these possibility suggests a rising china is likely to compete economically with western powers in the future. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 26 published by scholink inc. ls3: linking verb the linking verb itself does not perform an action, but it is still a verb because it is part of a dynamic process. it is just a marker or representation of the state or property of the subject in this process. the following examples demonstrate how linking verbs help mark the uncertain condition. (7) how that message will affect the future of china’s ai industry remains to be seen. (bbc 10 para.37) [emphasis added.] (8) ...and many in the world’s most populous nation seem happy about it. (cnn 1 para.1) [emphasis added.] (9) the trend appears consistent with what chinese researchers have found in their own studies. (cnn 7 para.3) [emphasis added.] in the first example, bbc journalist takes zhao weibo’s corruption case as a hint and then concludes that its influence on china’s ai industry “remains to be seen” (example 7) in a doubtful and uncertain tone. while reporting on china’s first failure to win the world math championship in 20 years, cnn journalist adopts “seem happy about it” (example 8) to describe the possible mentality of some chinese people towards the result. in example (9), cnn journalist reports that china saw the largest male height increase between 1985 and 2019. nevertheless, reporter of cnn does not confirm the fact directly but selects “appear” to indicate the trend with a doubtful and uncertain tone. all these linking verbs in the news show their concern and doubts on china as a rising power. ls4: compound word compound word in linguistics refers to a word composed of two or more words. they can create new concepts or expressions by combining different vocabulary, making language expression richer and specific. here are two typical examples of compound word in bbc news report. (10) in recent weeks, tens of millions of people in china have again been confined to their homes in coronavirus lockdowns. this is not without political risk, especially in the run-up to the twice-a-decade communist party congress. bbc china correspondent stephen mcdonell travels across the country and meets people struggling to stay afloat, with their country showing no signs of abandoning its 'zerocovid' policy. (bbc 9 para.1) [emphasis added.] (11) “this rough-and-tumble environment makes a strong contrast to silicon valley, where copying is stigmatized, and many companies are allowed to coast on the basis of one original idea or lucky break." (bbc 10 para.20) [emphasis added.] (12) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 27 published by scholink inc. last week, as china celebrated the 72nd anniversary of communist party rule with a week-long public holiday, state-run media cranked up the patriotism to hail the country’s economic rise, military achievements, political clout – and even the height of its men. (cnn 7 para.1) [emphasis added.] in example (10), “twice-a-decade” combines three words into one by using two hyphens. compared to “twice a decade”, there are no pauses between the words, so the semantic connection is closer, and the pronunciation time is shorter. it not only accurately expresses the specific time frequency, but also conveys a sense of urgency in terms of the tone of reporting. in example (11), “rough-and-tumble” is composed of three individual words, connected by two hyphens. the individual word “rough” means “not smooth, not gentle, not pleasant” while “tumble” refers to falling down. bbc reporter puts the two words together to be “rough-and-tumble”, creating a sense of chaotic and disordered atmosphere and leading the audience’s focus to the unfavorable side of china’s ai progress. however, in example (12), “week-long” is utilized to describe the special and long chinese holiday, whereas “state-run media” suggests the attributes and possible position of the chinese media in reporting. though specific way of words combination, the journalists could tailor news content to target audiences’ cognitive and guide their emotional preferences to hold either a positive or negative view towards the image of china (molekkozakowska & wilk, 2021). 3.2.2 rhetorical strategy rhetoric is a technique used to modify language, which increases the presentation effect of language through the organization and processing of words and sentences. it mainly includes metaphor, idiom, personification, parallelism, and comparison. the use of rhetoric makes sentences more vivid and also conceal the true intentions of news reporters (wang, 2021). rs1: metaphor metaphor is the act of secretly comparing one thing to another (wang, 2021), and is used to make an abstract experience more concrete by describing this experience in terms of a journey, a disease, magic, war, or as a physical force (anisa, 2022), as is shown in the following examples. (13) so rana goes to visit a young chinese pr executive and keen online shopper in her smart central beijing flat and discovers that she has only clambered onto the housing ladder with the aid of years of parental saving. (bbc 2 para.3) (14) so the math competitions become another bitter pill to swallow along the cutthroat road to success. (cnn 1 para.10) [emphasis added.] one chinese commentator, wei wei, compared math olympiads to “gutter oil,” a reference to an infamous type of distilled sewage used by some restaurants to cut costs. (cnn 1 para.11) [emphasis added.] (15) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 28 published by scholink inc. this has fueled talk of a currency war (cnn 3 para.5) [emphasis added.] in example (13), bbc journalist compares china’s rising housing price to a ladder to show the difficult life of the chinese people when facing the market reform to encourage people to consume rather than to save. similarly, when reporting on china’s first failure to gain the math championship in 20 years, cnn reporter introduces and comments on the negative effect of math competition on chinese students and their parents. the reporter adopts metaphor through comparing a regular math competition to “bitter pill” and “gutter oil” (example 14), with the former indicating the unpleasant experience and the latter harmful to the body. by presenting the fierce math competition as two metaphors with negative connotations “bitter pill” and “gutter oil”, the journalists indicate the drawbacks of education in china and lead the reader to have an visual understanding of the negative effects of chinese mathematics competitions. in example 15, cnn journalist utilizes the war metaphor for china’s monetary reduction policy. such metaphor magnifies the impact of chinese monetary policy on the world and implies the negative consequence that china may bring to other countries. rs2: idiom idioms are fixed phrases gradually formed in the long-term development of language. idioms originate from literary classics, historical stories, fables, life practices, and other aspects, and are well-known to people in general. idioms are a treasure of language and culture (sun, 2023), and the correct use of idioms in news can add lustre to articles and enrich the language and reasoning characteristics of news (zhang, 2018). the following phrases are two typical chinese idioms used in bbc and cnn news report. (16) for decades, beijing followed a policy of hide your strength and bide your time, but since xi’s accession that has changed, creating alarm in the west over china’s growing influence. (bbc 3 para.2) [emphasis added.] (17) beijing’s focus on certain industries can bring financial incentives and loosen red tape, but it may also mean greater scrutiny, and more fear and uncertainty. (bbc 10 para.35) (18) “primarily this is a liberalization attempt,” he says. “but it’s a clever move by china as it allows them to kill two birds with one stone.” (cnn 3 para.14) [emphasis added.] seen from the above examples, the phrase “hide your strength and bide your time” (example 16) is the translation of the chinese idiom 韬光养晦 (tāo guāng yǎng huì). this idiom originates from the story of li chen in the tang dynasty of china, who had hidden his talents for many years, retreated deep into the mountains to avoid the annihilation of his own clan, and finally took advantage of the opportunity to seize power and become the emperor. the bbc journalist uses this idiom vividly to describe the previous chinese government’s development strategy-hiding talent and seeking self-development. by www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 29 published by scholink inc. constructing a contrast with president xi’s new political policy, bbc journalist may pose worry and concern to western audience about china’s growing influence. another idiom “red tape” (example 17) refers to a large number of redundant and rigid regulations that can hinder action or decision-making. the first person to use red ribbons is generally believed to be king charles v of spain in the early 16th century. he used red ribbons to bind important documents that needed to be discussed in the national parliament during the modernization of national management, distinguishing them from other documents processed through ordinary administrative procedures. therefore, bbc journalist uses “red tape” to imply china’s rambling long work efficiency in the past. the third idiom “kill two birds with one stone” (example 18) is equivalent to the chinese idiom 一箭双 雕 (yī jiàn shuāng diāo), which originates from chang sunsheng in the ancient northern zhou dynasty in china. while accompanying the turkic king on a hunting trip, chang sun sheng saw two large eagles vying for a piece of meat in the sky. he shot an arrow while the two eagles were flying in a line due to the competition and killed the two eagles at once. cnn news journalist uses the idiom to describe how bank of china addresses the issue of currency depreciation to achieve various purposes. the three idioms used to report news events about china not only arouse the interest of western readers, but also better express that the policies adopted by china follow many tradition, thus successfully enrich the language and reasoning characteristics of news (zhang, 2018). rs3: personification personification refers to imbuing lifeless objects with human like emotions, giving them life, or endowing other animals and plants in nature with qualities, behaviours, attitudes, and feelings that only belong to humans (yang, 2022). the following examples exemplify how personification is utilized in bbc and cnn news report. (19) it is the birthplace of technology giants such as google, apple and intel. (bbc 10 para.6) [emphasis added.] (20) but to some, losing the olympiad offers hope that painful, nightmarish years spent studying for the contest could finally be over.(cnn 1 para.3) [emphasis added.] (21) ...it’s a “revolutionary move” and will allow the market a greater hand in determining the yuan’s value.(cnn 3 para.11) (22) when it comes to phones, competitor wechat seems to be eating weibo’s lunch. (cnn 9 para.11) [emphasis added.] in example (19), bbc journalist refer to google, apple and intel as “technology giants” to give life to these companies. since these companies were originally established in silicon valley, the journalist therefore calls this place as the “birthplace” of these giants. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 30 published by scholink inc. when reporting about china’s first failure in the world math championship in the example (20), cnn journalist describes the time of preparation for the contest as “painful” and “nightmarish” years. this strategy gives life to the year, but it reflects more the suffering of chinese mathematics competitors. example (21) is a report on china’s policy change in devaluation that may influence other countries. cnn journalist quotes comments from singapore strategist by saying that the market may behave like a human being with “a greater hand” in making decision and action on chinese yuan’s value. in example (22), the use of personification suggests the fierce competition between media companies even within china. cnn journalist utilizes “eating weibo’s lunch”, personification to endow the fierce network platform competition with human characteristics. cnn journalist reports weibo, one of china’s media platforms, lost internet users before its way to initial public offering because more and more chinese users are switching to mobile devices, which are controlled by wechat. by imbuing wechat company with life as if it were a person, cnn journalist visualizes the conflict of interests between the two media platforms. rs4: parallelism parallelism is a rhetorical device that emphasizes meaning through grammatical symmetry, including identical or similar words, phrases, or clauses. when reasoning, parallelism makes the argument more organized and logically clear, making it easier for readers to understand and accept (fu, 2009). the following example (bbc 2 para.5) shows how parallelism structure helps enhance the reasoning effect. (23) so-if young people’s elderly relatives are looked after, if urban migrants are integrated into the welfare system, if healthcare and housing provision improves, perhaps such reforms will help grow the new nation of consumers the government want to see. or perhaps, as some of those rana meets contend, it would be better simply to raise ordinary people’s wages. (bbc 2 para.5) [emphasis added.] as shown, three “if” and two “perhaps” (example 23) are used as parallel structures when bbc journalist reports on china’s welfare system. three “if” indicate three possible conditions and challenges that china may have to face. then, the journalist chooses two “perhaps” to suggest that the challenges being discussed may have two possible solutions but there is still no clear evidence or guarantee. by using this rhetorical technique, bbc journalist is able to convincingly guide the audience to doubt china’s welfare system. here is another example of parallelism structure used in news report. (24) nearly everyone in the country uses the super app wechat, for example. it is used for almost everything from sending text messages, to booking doctor’s appointments and filing taxes. (bbc 10 para.15) [emphasis added.] in this report, bbc journalist utilizes three parallel verbs “sending”, “booking” and “filing” to describe the enormous functions of wechat. such a strategy not only enhances the persuasiveness of language, but also implies china’s potential advantage in the ai competition. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 31 published by scholink inc. in the following example (25), three parallel adjective words “amazing”, “wild” and “variable” (cnn 10 para.19) are used to describe the new discovery in china, which reflects the astonishment and surprise of cnn journalist in commenting on the big discovery in china. it may also arouse curiosity among the potential reader. (25) “i think that asia is an unknown land,” she said. “the samples are amazing, they are wild, they are variable and i think in the next few years we are going to have surprises because they have a lot to say not only about asian study but about the main stories that we have been talking about (regarding) human evolution.” (cnn 10 para.19) [emphasis added.] in short, the parallelism structure not only strengthens the news content from a logical and structural perspective, but also guides the target readers to reflect on china's welfare system and its ancient and mysterious history. rs5: comparison comparison is usually the comparison of two things that have opposing or contradictory relationships. in foreign media reports on china, contrastive rhetoric is a commonly used technique to express true intentions. by comparing two related or unrelated events, it secretly presents their attitude tendencies (wang, 2021). here are some typical examples below: (26) meanwhile, new variants of the coronavirus have impacted the protection offered by first-generation vaccines around the world, including china’s homegrown vaccines that provide less robust antibody protection compared with mrna vaccines developed in the west. (cnn 5 para.9) [emphasis added.] (27) china is seeking to continue their record of making it to the knockout stage of every women's world cup they’ve played in, while haiti is searching for their first goal at a world cup. (bbc 4 para.31) [emphasis added.] in the above examples, whenever reporting on one issue in china, the journalist always makes a comparison with its counterpart from west countries. for instance, cnn journalist compares china’s homegrown vaccines with that developed in the west (example 26), making it more prominent that china’s vaccine has less robust antibody protection. similarly, through comparison, there is a stark contrast between china’s pursuit of knockout rounds and haiti’s pursuit of world championships (example 27). here are more examples from samples of the report of china’s aircraft carrier “fujian”: (28) those two carriers used the ski-jump launching system, where planes would simply take off from a slight ramp, while us carriers use a more advanced catapult system to launch their aircraft. (cnn 4 para.16) [emphasis added.] www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 32 published by scholink inc. all us aircraft carriers are also nuclear-powered, while the fujian is believed to run on conventional steam propulsion, which funaiole said would limit its reach. (cnn 4 para.19) [emphasis added.] seen from sample (28), though the focus of the report is on china’s most advanced aircraft carrier “fujian”, cnn journalist again compares it with its counterpart in the us in terms of the different “launching system” and power mechanism, highlighting the advanced and powerful capabilities of us aircraft carriers. as a consequence, cnn journalist indirectly presents their attitude (wang, 2021) to lead readers to have a preference of the aircraft carriers from the united states, implying china’s potential competitiveness and current shortcomings in politics. 3.2.3 syntactic strategy agu (2015) defined syntax as “the arrangement of words in a sentence or the grammatical arrangement of the various elements of a sentence” (p.25). it includes the various ways of using grammar and sentence structures, like use of phrases, use of clauses and use of sentences. ss1: transition of “but” structure the transition structure of “but” is commonly used in sentences to convey contrast and contradiction between two statements or ideas. the word “but” could be used as a preposition, adverb, or conjunction to guide some clauses. when “but” is used as a coordinate conjunction, it connects the components that indicate a transitional relationship before and after (gu, 2011). the following examples show how the word “but” is used within a sentence in news report to make a transition of ideas and stance in different contexts. (29) brown-finnis’ prediction: china looked well organised against denmark, but they don’t seem to have much in attack. (bbc 4 para.33) [emphasis added.] (30) beijing’s focus on certain industries can bring financial incentives and loosen red tape, but it may also mean greater scrutiny, and more fear and uncertainty. (bbc 10 para.35) [emphasis added.] (31) in a country like china with lots of ambition but little in the way of an established winter sports industry, there’s a lot of potential. (cnn 2 para.19) [emphasis added.] from the above examples, it can be observed that the cluster of words or clauses before “but” is to praise while those after it is to belittle, thus making a sharp contrast of ideas. for instance, when reporting on sports event (example 29), after praising the organizational ability of chinese team, “but” is used by bbc journalist to doubt the attacking ability of the chinese team. likewise, in the report of ai technology (example 30), bbc journalist first affirms the positive role of the chinese government’s economic policies before “but”, and then begins to state that the strict monitoring system in china will lead to corresponding negative effects. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 33 published by scholink inc. also, in the report on china’s preparation for 2022 beijing winter games (example 31), cnn journalist first affirms china's sufficient preparation for the competition, then uses the transition word “but” to point out that china does not have a mature mechanism to support it. these are typical bbc’s and cnn’s strategy of using “but” to praise the advantages or efforts of china before belittling the possible negative effects, which successfully makes a transition in the tone and leads the reader to focus more on the negative presentation of china. besides, “but” is also applied between sentences or paragraphs to make a great transition in ideas. here is a typical example. (32) as the yuan is used more frequently to execute international transactions and payments, many predict that it will one day rival the dollar, euro and yen. (cnn 3 para.19) but it’s unlikely to take its place alongside the world’s most traded currencies quite yet, as china is still reluctant to enact many of the reforms that would make the yuan freely convertible. (cnn 3 para.20) [emphasis added.] as shown in the sample above, report in cnn 3 para.19 is an affirmation of the competitiveness of the rmb currency, which may confront the dollar, euro and yen. nevertheless, cnn journalist puts “but” at the beginning of para.20 to indicate a change in the tone. “it’s unlikely to take place” further negates the previous competitiveness, reflecting the journalist’s syntactic strategy of first promoting and then suppressing in news reporting to construct a rising china yet with quite a lot of problems in the field of economy. ss2: adverbial clause of concession in sentences containing concessive adverbial clauses，the main clause and subordinate clause often have opposite meanings. the meaning of the subordinate clause is “retreat”, while the meaning of the main clause is “advance” (wang, 2005). obviously, the main clause has the upper hand in meaning. here are a few typical examples below. (33) while chinese tech companies certainly have unique advantages, the full impact of beijing's authoritarianism is still unclear. (bbc 10 para.24) [emphasis added.] (34) but although china’s two initial aircraft carriers increased its naval power, their capability was still far behind the us, which has a total of 11 of the vessels in service. (cnn 4 para. 15)[emphasis added.] (35) and though rates of stunting and undernutrition have dropped dramatically around the country, they still remain common in poor rural areas, according to the 2014 study. (cnn 7 para.19) [emphasis added.] (36) weibo claims to have 130 million active users, although one academic study suggests that most of the site's content is generated by a small minority of users. (cnn 9 para.6) [emphasis added.] www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 34 published by scholink inc. it can be seen from the above examples that “while”, “although” and “though” are used to connect concessive adverbial clauses. in example (33), the subordinate clause confirms china’s special advantage in ai technology, but the main clause ends with “unclear”, reflecting bbc journalist intention in prioritizing the latter. in example (34), the subordinate clause affirms the improvement in naval power of china’s aircraft carrier, then the main clause moves to the capacity “still far behind the us”, highlighting the insufficient aspect stated in the main sentence. the same syntactic strategy is also applied in example (35). the subordinate clause states the decline in undernutrition problem; however, the main clause points out such a problem “still remain common in poor rural area”, leading the reader to believe more in the problems in the rural countryside. similarly, in example (36), the subordinate clause suggests that only a small group of users are producing the weibo content, whereas the main clause presents a large number of active users, emphasizing weibo’s capacity to attract users. this usage of adverbial clause of concession indicates that in reporting on china’s advantage and development, journalists tend to focus on the problems that exist in china. ss3: rhetorical question rhetorical question is a question that ends in a question mark and is posed more for effect than to elicit a response. in news reporting, rhetorical questions are usually used to attract the audience's attention and strengthen the tone. at the same time, the form of questioning without answering also leaves room for imagination for the audience (wang, 2021). there are two types of rhetorical question. one is affirmative rhetorical question, and the other is negative rhetorical question. here are a few typical examples of affirmative rhetorical question from the data. (37) will the huge affordable housing programme change how much they feel able to spend? (bbc 2 para.3) [emphasis added.] (38) as xi faces his greatest test yet a confrontation in hong kong how will the newly resurgent china react? (bbc 3 para.2) [emphasis added.] (39) china’s elderly population is exploding. by 2050, forty percent of the country will be aged over 60. will they be able to cope? (bbc 7 para.1) [emphasis added.] (40) there are questions, for instance, about whether censorship would affect development of chinese ai chatbots. will they be able to answer sensitive questions about president xi jinping? (bbc 10 para.25) [emphasis added.] it can be observed from the above examples that affirmative rhetorical questions are posed by “will” “how will” “will they”. in example (37), after providing examples of people who have to face high housing prices but get limited support from the state, bbc journalist uses rhetorical question to address www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 35 published by scholink inc. housing programme and spending willingness, partly indicating the doubt on the effectiveness of china’s government’s new policy to improve healthcare and housing. besides, bbc and cnn journalists usually put forward rhetorical questions as how to cope with a problem or situation immediately after proposing the exact issue. for example, bbc journalist puts forward rhetorical questions as how china will react to the confrontation in hong kong immediately after proposing the same issue faced by president xi (example 38). bbc journalist raises a rhetorical question as whether china is able to solve the aging problem since forty percent of chinese will have been over 60 by the year 2050 ( exaple 39). also, bbc journalist asks a rhetorical question in terms of the ability to answer sensitive questions about president xi when “there are questions” about the effectiveness of censorship on the development of chinese ai chatbots (example 40). it shows that the form of rhetorical questions has a stronger tone than general declarative sentences, and can better arouse people’s deep thinking and reflection. just as hågvar (2019) put it, these rhetorical questions are asked for the purpose that readers might be guided to stop and deeply reflect upon the issue when they are addressed directly to achieve an effect of levelling out the interpersonal imbalance between the newsroom and the readers and facilitate the eye-level communication ( p.14). apart from the affirmative rhetorical question, here are two examples of negative rhetorical question from the data below. (41) “uh oh, the u.s. now defeats china in exams. isn’t our exam-oriented education supposed to be superior? (cnn 1 para.7) [emphasis added.] (42) there’s also a pride factor as well, said dreyer. what host country wouldn’t want to win more medals on its home turf? (cnn 2 para.21) [emphasis added.] in the above examples, cnn journalists use the negative form of “isn’t” (example 41) and “wouldn’t” (example 42) to ask rhetorical question, indicating the journalists’ affirmative meaning of “the examoriented education is not superior as supposed” in the former and “every host country wants to win more medals on its homeland” in the latter. although it does not directly express the viewpoint, it guides the possible answer to the question based on the preset position, affecting the audience’s understanding of the reported question (wang, 2021). 3.3 emotional tone detected in foreign news report about china table 4. frequency and percentage of emotion tone presented in new media types of emotion frequency percentage positive 2 10.00 negative 12 60.00 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 36 published by scholink inc. neutral 6 30.00 total 20 100.00 table 5 presents the frequency and percentage of emotion tone presented in the data. from the table, it can be seen that the bbc and cnn news media have the majority proportion of negative emotion tone reports on china, with 12 or 60%, followed by 6 news reports with neutral emotion tone (30%), whereas positive emotion tone reports are the least, with 2 or 10%. 3.3.1 positive tone positive tone refers to the optimistic, upbeat, and encouraging tone in news coverage, with a focus on the positive aspect of a story or event. as shown in table 15, bbc and cnn news media have the lowest proportion of positive emotion tone in their reports on china, containing only two news samples (bbc 1 and cnn 10). the data suggests that both bbc and cnn journalists have a relatively low level of complete recognition of china. below are the few examples to illustrate how the two reports on china are viewed in a positive tone. bbc and cnn news media have the lowest proportion of positive tone in their reports on china, with a small focus on china’s ancient history and china’s effort in handling disastrous gas explosion. (43) nine people have been detained over an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in north-west china which has killed at least 31 people ( bbc 1 para.1) [emphasis added.] the death toll is expected to rise with at least seven people injured, one of whom is in a critical condition, xinhua news agency reported (bbc 1 para.7) [emphasis added.] president xi jinping has called for maximum efforts in treating the wounded and boosting safety measures (bbc 1 para.8) [emphasis added.] “we must do our best to rescue the injured and reassure the families of the casualties, identify the cause of the accident as soon as possible, and seriously pursue responsibility according to the law,” mr xi said. (bbc 1 para.9) [emphasis added.] the above examples are from a report on a restaurant gas explosion in china, in which bbc journalist first uses objective figures, like “nine people” detailed, “31 people” killed (para.1) and “seven people injured” (para.7) to represent the serious consequences of the event. afterwards, bbc journalist collects a series of positive words, such as “called for maximum efforts” (para.8), “do our best to rescue”, “reassure the families” and “pursue responsibility” (para.9) to express the government’s concern about the incident and the great effort and determination to solve the problem. 3.3.2 negative tone negative tone refers to the negative, critical, and condemning tone in news report. seen from table 15, negative tone takes up the highest proportion, up to 60%, in the samples. the data suggests that when choosing to report on china, journalists in bbc and cnn tend to emphasize and pay attention to the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 37 published by scholink inc. existing problems that may weaken china's image. below are some typical examples of negative tone in news reporting. by selecting a series of words and expressions with negative connotations in the report, bbc and cnn journalists display the highest proportion of negative tone in their reports on china. (44) china has named pan gongsheng as the new governor of its central bank, the people’s bank of china (pboc). the country is experiencing challenging economic times, with sluggish consumer spending, a crisis in the property market, weakening exports, record youth unemployment, and high local government debt.(bbc 5 para.1) [emphasis added.] when reporting on the personnel appointment of the new governor of people’s bank of china, bbc journalist focuses on depicting the negative economic situation in china. by choosing adjectives and nouns with negative connotations, such as “challenging”, “sluggish”, “weakening”, “high...debt” and “crisis”, the journalist could deepen readers' negative understanding of the chinese economy, and expresses concerns and doubts that the new governor may have difficulty in changing china’s current situation. 3.3.3 neutral tone between the positive tone and the negative tone, there is the neutral tone that provides objective information about a story or event. the data of 30% neutral tone news report in table 15 suggests that some of the news report from bbc and cnn could hold a quite objective view about china. the proportion of neutral tone ranges between positive and negative tones, providing quite informative message like objective figures about events, without obvious praise or deliberate negation. (45) this summer president obama hosted the new chinese premier, xi jinping at an informal summit in palm springs. it was a clear sign of the importance placed on the relationship between the world’s two greatest powers. both leaders stressed the need for their countries to cooperate on a whole range of issues. and yet both sides are also competing against each other, economically, politically and, increasingly, in the military sphere (bbc 8 para.1) [emphasis added.] in the above example, bbc journalist holds a neutral tone toward the relationship between china and the us by using equal comparison. firstly, the journalist uses “the world’s two greatest powers” when mentioning the two countries, without emphasizing who goes first. then, the journalist chooses “both leaders stressed” to affirm the need of cooperation for the two countries. finally, the journalist changes the perspective by using “and yet both sides are” to emphasize competition between the two countries in the field of economy, politics, and military. throughout the narrative, the journalist does not lean towards any side, but just fairly mentioning it. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 38 published by scholink inc. 4. the national image of china formed in the pseudoenvironment 4.1 a rising china bbc and cnn journalists present the national image of china as a rising power in many fields, with priority on the economic field. for example, china is referred to as “a nation of producers” (bbc 2 para.2), “a rising superpower” (bbc 3 para.1), one of “the world’s two greatest powers” (bbc 8 para.1) and “the world’s second largest economy” (cnn 3 para.21). besides, china has an economy “crucial to people’s lives around the world” (bbc 3 para.1), has “a thriving internet sector” (bbc 10 para.14) and has become the “first country to green-light an inhaled covid-19 vaccine” (cnn 5 para.1). moreover, chinese people’s general status has “increased” (cnn 7, para.6), people’s life quality has “improved” in just a few decades (cnn 7 para.7) with food supply and personal wealth expanded (cnn 7 para. 9). in addition, in military field, china has launched “its third and most advanced aircraft carrier” with better combat systems that maybe “fast catching up with” (cnn 4 para.1). however, when reporting on the upward development of china’s economy and society, bbc and cnn journalists often praise first and then criticize later, using rhetorical devices such as comparison, clause of concession, metaphor and specific vocabulary such as “while”, “although”, “but”, and other connectors to introduce opposite or negative side of the issue immediately after the positive reporting. at the same time, they also include sudden events, like gas explosion (bbc 1) and flooding (cnn 7) to present china as a rising power but with frequent disasters and numerous problems during the process of developing. 4.2 a cooperative china from the data, bbc reporters tend to show that china is an active and cooperative partner, especially in the economic field, when reporting on china’s development. for example, in bbc 6, when the reporter reports that italy has joined china’s the belt and road initiative, the journalist points out that china is “a partner” (bbc 6 para.10). besides, the journalist sees more “potential” of the cooperation between china and italy in the future (bbc 6 para.14). in addition, bbc journalist quotes comments from china to validate “fruitful results” between china and italy due to their cooperation (bbc 6 para.15). this sample further proves the finding of the sixth global survey conducted by the academy of contemporary china and world studies (accws) and kantar (2018), which pointed out that the belt and road initiative proposed by china is beneficial to countries, regions and individuals. from a macro perspective in sample 8, bbc journalist reports on the relationship between china and the us in a more neutral manner, referring the two countries as “the world’s greatest powers” (bbc 8 para.1). besides, through emphasizing “both leaders [president obama and chinese chairman xi] stressed the need for their countries to cooperate on a whole range of issues”, the journalist presents a growing and cooperative china on the international stage. just as wang (2021) put it, “the rapid development of the chinese economy and the concept of a ‘community with a shared future’ that china has always upheld have enabled china to actively engage in economic and trade cooperation with countries around the world” (p.56). however, the cooperative www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 39 published by scholink inc. image of china is only detected in bbc news report from the samples data and there is no sign of showing such a cooperative image in cnn news report in the data. for cnn news report, china is more likely to be presented as a competitive image, which will be illustrated in the following section. 4.3 a competitive china accompanied by the image of collaborator is the image of competitor, which has been repeatedly mentioned in bbc and cnn reports and is mainly reflected in economic and political aspects. firstly, china is presented as an opposing competitor by bbc and cnn media. for example, bbc and cnn journalists adopt competitive expressions with negative connotations to present the competitive image of china. expressions like “growing tension between china and the west” (sample 3 para.4), “competing against each other” (bbc 8 para.1) and “it doesn’t shift the competitive environment” (cnn 3 para.9) all indicate the competitive aspect of china. secondly, the media emphasizes china’s damage to the western economy, presenting china’s image as a “troublemaker” in the global economy, and weakens other countries as “victims”. for instance, china is unfairly stigmatized as “large-scale industrial espionage” and thief to “steal the west’s business secrets and technological know-how” (bbc 3 para.4) and china’s devaluation has “rattled” financial markets of the us (cnn 3 para.3), whereas the west becomes “victim” who just expresses their so called “concern” （bbc 6 para.7) and worry (bbc 8 para.2) about china. finally, from the perspective of bbc and cnn media, china becomes a huge challenge and even threat to the west. china is reported to be “the largest naval force in the world” (cnn 4 para.10) that could aggravate “growing geopolitical tensions” with the us (cnn 4 para.11) in the field of military. also, china’s currency devaluation could “rival” the dollar, euro and yen (cnn 3 para.19) and could be “devastating” for the u.s. economy (cnn 3 para.3). 4.4 a mysterious china from the sample data, it can be seen that there is only one report on china (cnn 10) in the field of culture. although the sample size is relatively small, it also partially reflects the foreign media’s preference coverage of china. just as wang (2021) proposed, culture is the common language of humanity and plays an important role in national communication and development (p.58). it is also an important manifestation of a country’s comprehensive national strength. as shown in artifact cnn 10, foreign media present china’s cultural image with positive evaluations. for instance, objective figure “dating back at least 80,000 years” (cnn 10 para.1) showcases the long history of chinese civilization. in addition, evaluative superlative “one of the most importance finds coming out asia” (cnn 10 para.3) suggests the significance of the “ancient teeth” found in china. other evaluative adjectives like “stunning” (cnn 10 para.3), “unknown”, “amazing”, “wild” and “variable” (cnn 10 para.19) give full expression to the journalist’s surprise at the discovery of this mysterious tooth. moreover, the journalist’s comment that “the research also raises questions about how and why modern humans reached asia earlier than europe” (cnn 10 para.11) reveals the academic significance of this mysterious discovery. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 40 published by scholink inc. in summary, although it is the only one cultural topic report on china, media reporter has provided positive reports on the discovery of mysterious teeth, presenting the ancient and mysterious image of china. 5. conclusion in summary, bbc and cnn journalists have constructed four types of national images of china through topic selection and linguistic devices. however, these four types of images are not equivalent to china’s reality. on the one hand, the presentation of china’s rising, cooperative and mysterious image in bbc and cnn news report basically reflects china’s current development, suggesting foreign media’s attention and recognition of china’s progress. on the other hand, bbc and cnn news reports show an tendency to have an imbalanced presentation of the positive and negative aspects of china, first focusing on the positive and then capitalizing on the positive to prioritize the negative image of china. on the whole, positive tone and complimentary words take up very small proportion, and there is a clear negative tone in overall reporting. although bbc and cnn news reports present some positive attitude about china, they focus more on the negative aspects of china. by forming a word screen, bbc and cnn news media shape china’s national image mainly from their own perspective with the national interests of the uk and the us as the starting point. acknowledgements this article presents the author’s phased research findings in the construction of the following projects: [1] research on the assessment and evaluation system for the effectiveness of course ideological construction in sino-foreign cooperative education projects in guangdong province (2023jxgg07); [2] 2021 guangdong provincial first class undergraduate course “communication and 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(2022). analysis of the relationship between national image building and international communication ability from the perspective of ecology under the media environment. journal of environmental and public health. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/9669941 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 158 original paper research on the cultivation of preservice teachers’ computational thinking based on case-driven teaching approach kaitian luo1 1 computer science and technology, sichuan minzu college, kangding city, china received: may 3, 2025 accepted: may 21, 2025 online published: june 9, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p158 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p158 abstract computational thinking, as the core thinking mode in the information age, is of vital importance in the cultivation of computer application abilities among teachers’ students. based on the background of education informatization 2.0, this paper explores the computer hardware cognition, application of educational technology tools, digital resource integration, and ai technology practice abilities that teachers’ students need to possess. by analyzing the role of case-driven teaching in the “university computer and artificial intelligence” course, the “problem scenario technical analysis solution implementation” path is used to promote the transformation from theory to practice. the ways of constructing a multi-dimensional case system, implementing student-centered phased task-driven, establishing a dynamic assessment and evaluation mechanism, and promoting the structured development of teachers’ students’ computational thinking are discussed. keywords computational thinking, teachers’ students, computer application, ability cultivation, artificial intelligence computational thinking is the core thinking mode in the information age, along with theoretical thinking and experimental thinking, forming the three major methodologies of modern scientific research. the core of computational thinking is based on computer science and network technology, and it is a thinking mode that solves complex problems through abstraction and algorithmic means. in the current cultivation of college students’ computer skills, establishing a positive computational thinking and using modern computers and communication technologies to solve problems have become the core module of college students’ skill cultivation. even in daily life, computational thinking is also everywhere: the optimal path www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 159 published by scholink inc. planning of navigation systems is essentially the application of graph theory algorithms, the back-end of e-commerce recommendation systems is supported by collaborative filtering algorithms, and even the prioritization of daily affairs also implies the logic of task scheduling algorithms. therefore, this article will, based on the discussion of the main requirements of current teacher students for computer application abilities, conduct an in-depth analysis of the position and role of case-driven teaching in the basic course teaching of “university computer and artificial intelligence”, and thereby explore the cultivation of teacher students’ computational thinking through case-driven teaching. 1. the main requirements for computer application skills of current teacher candidates under the background of the in-depth implementation of the education informatization 2.0 action plan, teacher candidates, as the main force of the future teaching staff, their computer application skills directly affect the process of educational digital transformation. in light of the requirements of teacher professional certification, it is not difficult to find that teacher candidates should possess computer hardware cognition and familiarity, mastery of common computer software, information recognition and comprehensive processing, etc. 1.1 overall mastery and systematic control of educational technology tools teacher candidates need to deeply master the operation of intelligent teaching platforms, be proficient in the basic requirements of computer technology and network usage, and be able to manage classes and design teaching through mixed teaching systems such as yuelin classroom. in terms of information technology and multimedia application, in addition to traditional courseware production, they also need to possess the ability to develop virtual simulation experiments, master ai and other artificial intelligence tools, and be able to generate the necessary teaching resources or materials using computers. for example, in the school where the author works, through “micro-lecture classrooms + ai recording systems”, teacher candidates can automatically analyze their teaching situations and teacher quality data through big data, thereby effectively combining traditional training with intelligent technology, and significantly enhancing the depth of application of technology tools. 1.2 ability to integrate and develop digital educational resources digital resource creation has gone beyond the scope of traditional courseware production. if current teacher candidates fail to make full use of various online course resources and produce all teaching materials by themselves, it no longer meets the requirements of modern teaching models. teacher candidates should master the entire process of micro-video production, including scriptwriting (storyboard), video editing (premiere), animation production (ae, flash), etc. at the same time, in some relatively specialized educational fields, teacher candidates should also possess the ability to develop and integrate various online teaching resources. for example, they should be able to use voice and automatic network synthesis technology to create audio-visual images to help students understand and master the content they have learned. the learning videos of various ancient poems and texts generated by ai at present well illustrate this core requirement. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 160 published by scholink inc. 1.3 practice and innovation ability of modern ai intelligent education technology against the backdrop of a digital power nation, the application ability of modern ai intelligent technology has become one of the core competitiveness. teachers-in-training need to understand the principles of educational data collection and master the basic methods of learning analysis technology (la). in the field of artificial intelligence education, they should have basic cognitive abilities in natural language processing and be able to operate intelligent grading systems for homework evaluation. how to utilize the basic grammatical requirements of various large data models and solve the teaching problems that need to be achieved through generative algorithms has become a major issue that current teachers-in-training have to face. this frontier ability cultivation requires the establishment of a “laboratory + teaching case task-driven + computer core ability cultivation” collaborative mechanism. thus, through the establishment of modular course groups, multi-mentor guidance mechanisms, and collective lesson preparation mechanisms, the digital teaching competence, practical development and innovation ability of teachers-in-training can be systematically enhanced. 2. the position and role of case-based teaching in the basic course of “university computer and artificial intelligence” in the context of the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, big data technology, and modern network communication technology, the teaching model of the basic course “university computer and artificial intelligence” urgently needs innovation and change. the case-based teaching method, by reconfiguring the knowledge transmission path, demonstrates unique value in enhancing students’ practical abilities and innovative thinking. its position and role are mainly reflected in the following three aspects. 2.1 achieve the transformation from theoretical knowledge to practical ability under the traditional teaching model, the principles of artificial intelligence algorithms and the fundamentals of computer technology are often imparted in fragmented knowledge points. the most common method is for teachers to impart knowledge in a rote manner, which makes it difficult for students to develop a strong interest in learning. the cultivation of computer application skills thus becomes dull and uninteresting. however, case teaching, through the multi-dimensional path of “problem scenario technical analysis solution implementation”, constructs thinking patterns, collects and processes data, and solves problems concretely. for example, in “word graphic and text mixed layout”, after the teacher sets the target task, students can quickly utilize the relevant computer knowledge they have learned and combine their own aesthetics to create innovative compositions and arrangements of colors, graphics, and text. this task-driven mode based on real scenarios effectively breaks through the barrier between theory and practice. 2.2 reflect the fun of multi-dimensional exploration and team creation the teaching task is not only to solve the so-called knowledge problems, but also to enable students to learn in a joyful manner. case-based teaching reshapes the classroom teaching ecosystem through an www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 161 published by scholink inc. iterative mechanism of “case presentation group discussion outcome presentation and update”. for example, in the practical teaching of “comprehensive application of excel functions”, the teacher first demonstrates the powerful functions of the intelligent application, then organizes students to debate and think about different functions to solve different functional sections, and finally submits the best solutions through teams. this three-dimensional teaching model significantly improves learning efficiency. this case-based problem-solving teaching method also cultivates students’ collaboration and innovation abilities. 2.3 achieve career planning and establish an important channel for lifelong learning teachers are a profession that requires lifelong learning, especially in the era of rapid development of information technology. according to the demand for compound talents in the artificial intelligence industry, the construction of the teaching case library should incorporate real industry projects. taking the cultivation of image processing ability of college teachers as an example, current teachers not only need to master traditional ps and coreldraw, but also should master the common ai generative software nowadays, especially by combining smart classrooms with related big data recording and management systems, to review their teaching process and continuously dynamically correct their teaching design and implementation plans. thus, the vocational core abilities of teachers can be improved in the practical process. teachers can also enhance their abilities such as mandarin proficiency, classroom questioning, and case teaching design through practical training. they can also obtain vocational training in aspects such as demand analysis, technology selection, and project management by simulating real working scenarios, effectively shortening the adaptation period from the classroom to the workplace, and laying a foundation for teachers to establish the concept of lifelong learning. 3. a teaching path for cultivating calculative thinking in preservice teachers based on casedriven approach “university computer and artificial intelligence” is a compulsory course for preservice teachers in various universities and is also a core course for cultivating their comprehensive application and analytical abilities in modern information technology. in the teaching of this course, by using case-driven methods, we aim to cultivate preservice teachers’ calculative thinking and computer application skills. this is of great significance for enhancing the overall professional literacy and information technology capabilities of preservice teachers. 3.1 establish a multi-dimensional case system and highlight the initiative of learning through cases in the case design of computer basics, we follow the three-dimensional principles of “contextuality, hierarchy, and transferability”. as the instructor of the computer course, we usually adopt cases from real teaching scenarios, such as “modular development of student performance statistics system”, “campus garbage classification data analysis”, or “company cost and profit analysis”, which are concrete projects. students involved in the teaching process, through visual means such as flowchart drawing, computer code writing, or tool application, guide preservice teachers to transform the abstract calculative thinking www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 162 published by scholink inc. process into observable cognitive operations. for example, in the “word electronic handwritten newspaper” case, preservice teachers are required to decompose problem elements using tree diagrams, and use graphic sketches for text and image mixing and spatial layout, achieving the external manifestation of spatial abstraction and logical reasoning thinking, thereby strengthening preservice teachers’ practical cognition and ability to solve real problems using computers and calculative thinking. 3.2 implement student-centered phased task-driven approach to promote the structured development of teachers’ computational thinking in the actual case teaching process, taking “design and implementation of the textbook cover” as an example, a four-stage teaching method of “problem introduction task section decomposition group implementation iterative optimization of results” can be adopted. in the problem introduction stage, a group of students can propose multiple condition descriptions for the actual needs of the textbook cover design and discuss the core requirements, thereby laying the foundation for the next step of task decomposition. as a teacher of computer or information technology courses, in the second stage, which is the task decomposition stage, one should fully understand the students’ ability composition, especially the current situation of computer application technology, and conduct targeted task decomposition. in the group implementation 环节 , the subjective initiative of the student team should be fully exerted. especially in the final stage of scheme optimization and iterative upgrade, teachers should provide guidance on the concretization of computational thinking. this step-by-step training strengthens the structured thinking of problem decomposition, pattern abstraction and algorithm design, and also cultivates students’ cooperative awareness and innovation ability in practice. 3.3 integrate the characteristics of teacher education and establish a dynamic assessment and evaluation mechanism to promote the transfer application of computational thinking as teachers-in-training, how to integrate the cultivation of computational thinking with teaching design ability should become an important part of their information technology courses and also an important content for improving their teacher education in practice. for example, interdisciplinary cases such as “algorithm design for solving mathematical problems in primary school” can be trained through microteaching practice, requiring teachers-in-training to design teaching plans containing computational thinking elements and simulate the implementation in primary and secondary school classrooms. this dual training not only enhances computational thinking ability but also cultivates their future ability to design and implement computational thinking teaching, forming a virtuous cycle of “acquisition of ability transformation of ability”. it is known that the current assessment of computer-related courses in various universities mainly relies on the final “exam”, with a relatively small proportion of the average score. to truly achieve the daily application of computer skills and the cultivation of computational thinking, it is necessary to vigorously advocate diversified teaching effect evaluation methods such as peer evaluation, teacher evaluation, and third-party evaluation. for example, in the case of “my hometown multimedia display ppt design”, teachers-in-training are required to complete the stages of requirement analysis, material collection, architecture design, animation design, and code www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 163 published by scholink inc. implementation in groups, and conduct a “developer teacher” dual perspective defense through roleplaying, forming a “design implementation reflection” thinking loop, thereby guiding students to achieve the transfer of true computational thinking awareness and ability. this dynamic feedback mechanism uses diversified assessment methods to promote the transfer application of thinking, and at the same time integrates the characteristics of teacher education to achieve the dual improvement of computational thinking and teaching design ability. through the author’s teaching practice, this model has effectively improved the problem abstraction, algorithm design, and teaching transformation abilities of teachers-in-training. about the author luo kaitian (1977 --), male, han nationality, born in yibin, sichuan province, associate professor of computer science and technology, sichuan mimzu college, master of software engineering, main research interests are complex networks and computer applications. fund project sichuan mimzu college education reform project “research on the cultivation of computer application ability and computational thinking of normal university students under the background of teacher professional certification”, project number: x-jg202333. references li, j. (2019). research on the cultivation of core competencies of normal school students under the certification standards for normal education programs. master’s thesis of nanning normal university. liu, f., xie, w. c., liang, z. p., wang, z. q., & gao, c. (2023). hierarchical case design and differentiated teaching oriented to interest-driven approach taking “university computer” course as an example. industrial and information technology education, june 2023, 29-33. wang, z. l. (2023). research on strategies for improving normal school students’ information technology teaching ability based on virtual reality technology. journal of hubei vocational and technical college, 2023(3), 157-162. yang, z. z., zhang, h., du, h. y., & gu, b. (2024). cultivating college students’ computational thinking skills based on project-driven approach. western quality education, 10(22), 94-97. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper a conversation analysis of staff members’ and researchers’ repair strategies in the iraqi university viva discussions in english mohammed jasim betti1 & mohammed abbas mahdi1 1 department of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar, nasiriya, iraq received: november 15, 2020 accepted: november 30, 2020 online published: december 17, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n1p14 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n1p14 abstract this article studies the conversation analysis (ca) of iraqi university staff members’ and researchers’ self-repair and other-repairs strategies in the iraqi university viva discussions in english (iuvde). it aims at constructing a model for repair strategies to describe those academic discussions in english, which is taken from representative authors and writers, studying and analyzing repair strategies and correction, and arriving at the types of self-repair and other-repair operations and strategies used by the participants in the study, something which characterize their academic discussions. the collected data of the study include four hours and ten minutes of audiotaped oral interactions of the staff members and researchers’ interactions in the viva discussions of some departments in some universities in iraq. the data is recorded in 2019. the theoretical framework adopted in this study is a ca one. the study concludes that the eclectic model suggested and applied in this study, being comprehensive, works successfully to describe the designated areas and types of repair strategies, the staff members (examiners) in the discussions prove proficient in using self-repair and other-repair operations efficaciously. it is also concluded that the iraqi university staff members and researchers use self-repair strategies which are recycling, deleting, reformatting replacing, inserting aborting, sequence jumping, and reordering, and they use other-repair ones which are candidate understanding, partial repeats, full repeats, replacement candidate understanding, open class repairs, request for translation and explanation, request for definition and explanation, interrogative words and request for repetition. likewise, staff members are proven to produce more repair cases than researchers. keywords conversation analysis, repair strategies, viva discussions in english, iraqi university staff members and researchers 14 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 1. introduction language is a means of communication between interlocutors, which is sometimes hardly delivered by its partakers as faultless as they anticipated (feltner, 2016, p. 1). participants of any talkative activity may encounter frequent occurrences of “disfluencies” e.g., “umms”, “ahhs”, “hesitation markers”, “misarticulations”, exploitation of “a wrong word”, inaccessibility to a word if looked-for, “failure to hear or to be heard”, and inappropriate understandings by receivers, or some other talk troubles, etc. (sert, 2015, pp. 88-89; and mctear et al., 2016, p. 42; tracy, 2020, p. 203). such a joint or two-way talkative activity indicates that the process of talking is participant dependent. as a result, such a trouble may explicate that any instance, which impedes the continuous meaning-making of mutual understanding, seems to be dispreferred and the participants are of instantaneous need to be terminated and fixed at once (bazerman, 2012, pp. 228-229). conversation has a powerful mechanism, which is called repair organization that is exploited in interaction to prevent and to fix any unsuccessful instances of talk in exchange which may cause serious communicative breakdowns between the involved partners of talk. this strategic organization of repair is then operated to capacitate talkers of unavoidable interactive breakdowns of talk (moore & arar, 2018, p. 9). implementing repair strategies can encourage interlocutors and provoke them to talk more, and repair can be considered as a productive mechanism to foster language skills (pachler et al., 2014, p. 74). this paper studies the repair strategies of iraqi university staff members and researchers in viva discussions in english. the study is set to bridge the gap by addressing the following research questions: 1). what repair strategies do the participants in iuvde use? 2). what are the trajectories of repair used in the iuvde? 3). does repair or correction exist in the data? the aims of the addressed research questions, the study sets to achieve, are as follows: 1). constructing a model for repair strategies to describe the iraqi university staff members’ and researchers’ repair strategies in iuvde. this model is constructed from representative authors and writers. it should be comprehensive to account for all repair strategies and should be workable to describe all the study data. 2). observing, transcribing, describing and analyzing self-repair and other-repair strategies and correction, and the types of trajectories and the repair strategies of both staff members and researchers in iuvde. 3). arriving at the types of self-repair and other-repair operations used by the participants in the study and characterize their academic discussions. the data includes oral recordings of some staff members’ and researchers’ repair strategies in iuvde. the sample of the study consists of (12) staff members and researchers specialized in english and it consists of (4 hours and 10 minutes) hours of naturally occurring interactions in academic discussions. the time of recording the data is between 2019. 15 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, no study inside iraq is conducted to investigate the use of repair strategies in the staff members’ and researchers’ use of repair strategies in iuvde. it is very essential for researchers in ca, and definitely in the other fields, to illuminate and abridge gaps in scientific researches. likewise, dissimilar to some other studies conducted about repair, this study deals with several sides of repair strategies not just one side. it includes an account of self-repair, other-repair, structural trajectories, a comparison in the use of repair strategies between staff members and researchers and the use of correction compared to repair. in addition, such a study is very important to shed light upon the staff members’ and researchers’ competence and performance. to fulfill the aims of the study, an eclectic conversational analytic model is selected from representative theorists and writers and incorporated to describe the repair strategies used by the iraqi university staff members and researchers. the theories which constitute the current model include the following: 1). schegloff (2013), it is used to analyze self-repair strategies. 2). schegloff et al. (1977) and schegloff and sacks (2018), they are used to analyze the trajectories of repair, and some other-initiated repair initiators. 3). kendrick (2015a, 2015b), and schegloff and sacks (2018), they are used to analyze other-initiated repair strategies. 4). jefferson (1987, 2007), it is exploited to analyze other-corrections. 5). dulton-puffer (2007), roshan (2014), and schegloff and sacks (2018), they are used to analyze repair, non-repair, miss-repair, and repair failures. 2. theoretical framework 2.1 conversation analysis ca goes back to the pioneering studies done by harvey sacks, emanuel schegloff, and gail jefferson in the 1960s to 1970s. fundamentally, it is well motivated and originated through the influence of sociology. since that, it is developed as an interdisciplinary nature with fields such as anthropology, psychology, communication, cognitive science, evolutionary theory, education, clinical research and practice, and electrical engineering (clift, 2016: xv; and hoey & kendrick, 2018, pp. 151-154). ca is one of the approaches, which deals with social interaction. several definitions of ca are proposed. generally, it is “the study of talk”. more particularly, “it is the systematic analysis of the talk produced in everyday situations of human interaction: talk-in-interaction” (hutchby & wooffitt, 2002, pp. 13-14). it can also be defined from a methodologic-theoretic orientation as “an inductive, micro-analytic, and predominantly qualitative method for studying human social interactions”. this definition highlights explicitly one of the cas’ key principles and different methodologies from other social approaches to discourse. it directly calls for the use of naturally occurring data and qualitatively motivated approaches for verifying the claims in dealing with social interaction (candling et al., 2017, pp. 156-166; and zhou, 2020, pp. 99). 16 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 according to ca, language is a social action and thus talk is systematically organized and ordered. therefore, one of the main objectives of ca is to analyze actions socially to explain by what means individuals “do social action not why they act as they do” (have, 2007, p. 9). for that reason, conversation analysts believe that it is highly important to study everyday conversation in different contexts since firstly, it is the basic communicative device in different organizations and different institutional settings by which our lives are based on, secondly, for finding out the model of interaction of people at all times and contexts (garcia, 2013, p. 7). another salient feature of the methodological orientation of ca is the naturalness of data, which necessitates the actuality of talk; this means that gathering data through “interviewing techniques, observational methods, native intuitions, or experimental methodologies” is not allowed since this violates the sense of being natural in collecting data (wong & waring, 2010, p. 4). one consequence of such methodology is that the data must be systematically transcribed with the special distinctive system because such natural data is extremely rich with details (bergmann & drew, 2018, pp. 1-7). accordingly, the transcription systems of ca tend to be too complex, and for the reason that, researchers are expected to deal with the transcription of the conversation, in simplicity-driven-approaches (renkema & schubert, 2018, pp. 215-217). however, ca is not the only social discipline, which deals with language social interactivity in that, social interaction has many approaches, which address the process of interaction. undoubtedly, one prominent discipline, which shares significant key principles with ca, is the approach of discourse analysis (da). da is an approach, which functions as an apparatus to analyze linguistic patterns of the language across diverse domains such as the domain of text, social context, and the cultural one in which the language takes place (partridge, 2012, pp. 1-2). da is not just the study of language. it is a way of looking at language that emphasizes how people use it in real life to do things, such as jokes, argument and persuasion, and to show that they are particular sorts of people or belong to certain groups (betti & hashim, 2018, p. 279). “text and discourse apply equally to speech and writing in spite of some tendency to associate text with writing and discourse with speech. in fact, though writing and speech may differ in many ways, they share the same structure” (betti, 2007, p. 400). as a result, and to be more precise, it is remarkable to outline the technicality of both ca and da. in this regard, both notions have some different and similar key principles. from this perspective, there is closeness in the field of investigation of everyday interaction and thus they are similar in the talk, which is subject to investigation, along with, all the characteristics and details of data, which are significant. additionally, “ethnomethodology” has an impact on both of them (wooffitt, 2005, pp. 71-73). ethnomethodology refers to a distinctive way of social investigation, which is aimed to outline the ways which social individuals use for establishing social order and intelligibility in communicative social interaction. however, ca can be considered as one of the subdivisions of the ethnomethodological orientations to social interaction (bloor & wood, 2006, pp. 75-76). 17 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 nevertheless, both ca and da differ in some dissimilar key principles. accordingly, ca is concerned with social action while da is cornered with the orientation of the social action in that it deals with talk in interaction whereas da operates in discovering language practices and its properties in talk or text. moreover, the language in ca is used to perform interpersonal actions within its social organizations while in da it is seen in terms of the social function they perform (wooffitt, 2005, pp. 78-80). furthermore, both ca and da are at variance in terms of the attention paid to the empirical analysis, the methodology, the nature of data and the analyticity of findings, and the tools used to validate such empirical arguments through naturally occurring data (ibid: 89). it should be pointed out that ca is privileged to have promising features in that it investigates not only everyday talk-in-interaction but also it can operate in institutional settings such as classroom discourse, doctor-patient discourse, and journalistic interviews, etc. (renkema & schubert, 2018, p. 215). additionally ca has a considerable inventory of structural practices which are used to analyze talk-in-interaction such as turn-taking, sequence organization, action formation, repair, word selection (including person reference), storytelling and the overall structural organization of interaction, etc. (hoey & kendrick, 2018, p. 153; and li, 2020, p. 67). in this regard, turn-taking refers to “the change from one speaker to another in conversations and dialogues. turn-taking is made possible by a verbal or nonverbal bid, e.g., so that’s what we’re going to do, that’s was all i wanted to know, that’s fine … or by completing an initiating act, or by gazing or looking at the listener” (betti & al-jubouri, 2015, p. 307). 2.2 definition of repair hayashi et al. (2013, p. 9) define the organization of repair as “a set of systematically organized, party-administered practices through which a conversation’s participants manage such inescapable contingencies”. schegloff et al. (1977, p. 361) state that “repair operates in conversation, and is addressed to the recurrent problems in speaking, hearing, and understanding”. similarly, fox and jesperson (1995, p. 80) define repair as “any instance in which an emerging utterance is stopped in some way, and is then aborted, recast, or redone”. as such, repair is one of the interactive resources accessible to speakers in the process of talk. thus, the organization of repair is responsible for providing participants with appropriate resources to deal with possible obstacles while speaking, in that it affords diverse practices to fix these troubles. that is why, tye-murray (2020, p. 163) states that repair strategies are tactics available to the participant to rectify communicative breakdowns in conversation and remedying any communicative trouble. this magnifies the domain of repair strategies to a wider layer in communication. the word repair is widely acknowledged by researchers, in terms of its acceptability, as a covering term to communicative breakdowns (alzaidi, 2016, pp. 20-22). another significant implication of the wide scope of repair’s definition is that “repair” is used rather than “correction” because “correction” is meant to refer to the process of replacement of an “error” or “mistake” by what is correct. this term is preferred to cover all the communicative breakdowns of conversation and for its sense of wide 18 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 applicability to all domains of interactions. moreover, repair “[is] neither contingent upon error nor limited to replacement” (schegloff & sacks, 2018, p. 95). mechanism of repair is of two main forms; firstly, it is a conversational one that functions in common purposes and contexts of interaction. secondly, a didactic one, which is similar to the above-mentioned one but it, has a pedagogical nature (nassaji , 2015, p. 93). 2.3 components of repair the repair process consists of components on which the mechanism of repair is based. these components are working sequentially and harmonically with each other at the time of executing repair. as such, repair is composed of structural sequential components that work in-talk-interaction. these components are trouble-source, repair initiation, and repair outcome (kim & park, 2015, p. 240): 1). the trouble source the trouble source ( the repairable), which is a word, phrase, utterance, or something else; that contains problem to the ongoing progressivity of turn-taking system and thus it is a source of trouble to some parties of conversation or talk (sidnell, 2010, p. 110; and kitzinger, 2013, p. 231): extract 18 01 kaley: [.hhhh well] you know the home birth rate [1] 02 is going up in this country no:w?, 03 mil: sorry[:?,] [2] 04 kaley: [.h ]hh the home birth rate is: going up. [3] 05 (0.5) 06 mil: yeah. the above extract shows that in the turn, represented by turn [1], is the trouble source because it causes a problem to the ongoing progressivity of the turn-taking system since it results from either hearing or understanding problems. then, the third turn, represented by turn [2], shows the repair initiation to the problem in the previous turn. to end with, turn [3] represents repair the outcome or the solution of the problem in this conversation. 2). repair initiation this component targets or treats the trouble source in that the procedure of repair initiation begins in this component (garcia, 2013, p. 110). the following extract shows this (egbert, 2017, p. 168): extract 19 01 stefan: with julia roberts [1] 02 (0.5) 03 bärbel: what? [2] 04 stefan: with julia roberts [3] the above extract shows an instance of trouble to the ongoing progressivity of the turn-taking system. as such, the turn which is represented by number [1] refers to the trouble source whereas the turn 19 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 which is represented by number [2] refers to the initiation of repair to the troubling turn. to end with, the turn which is represented by number [3] refers to the process of repair completion or outcome. 3). repair outcome repair solution or repair completion refers to the accomplishment of the repair procedure provided to the trouble source (hoey & kendrick, 2018, p. 153). extract 20 (liddicoat, 2011, p. 214). 01 anna: → oh so then he is coming back on thuron [1] 0 tuesday. [2] in the above extract, [1] represents the trouble source word “thur” which is being cut-off. later, repair is completed by providing a solution to the trouble, which results in the outcome of the repair process, as shown in the second turn “tuesday”. to conclude, the following visualized example shows all of these components: extract 21 dingemanse et al. (2015, p. 4). 2.4 the structural trajectories of repair 2.4.1 self-repair 2.4.1.1 self-initiated self-repair self-initiated self-repair deals with the situations in which a speaker produces a verbal problem, which disturbs the normal flow of speech. normally, the speaker in this type of repair who produces a self-initiated repair item is engaging also in fixing the trouble source. however, a situation of such a trajectory like this can be technically termed as self-initiated self-repair or self-initiated and self-completed repair, since this type of repair is initiated and completed by the speaker himself (kitzinger, 2013, pp. 230-231; and schegloff & sacks, 2018, p. 98; (robinson, 2013, pp. 46-47)): extract 24 (plejert, 2004, p. 46) 01 magnus: because (0.2) i mean if we do not forgive (0.8) we cannot excepeeh:: expect forgiveness (2.0) ourselves. this extract shows that the speaker uses the wrong selection of words with more than one pause (i.e., as represented in seconds like 0.2, 0.8). instead of using the word, (expect) he uses (excep-), and then the utterance is being cut-off and stopped as the extract shows (excepeeh::). after that, the speaker produces an editing sound and a repair item (expect). finally, the utterance runs smoothly (ibid). the conversational repair theory is based on an assumption, which states that there is a tendency in the conversation towards the preference of self-initiated over the other-initiated trajectories. participants tend to generate self-repair frequently in that the producer of the source of the trouble attempts to get the trouble source repaired before the other participants try to do so. in other words, speakers unconsciously produce self-repairs very frequently more than the other types of repair and in theory, it is the most frequent type of all repairs (wong & waring, 2010, pp. 216-217; and couper-kuhlen & selting, 2018, p. 115). 20 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 2.4.1.2 other-initiated self-repair the type of repair, which is done by someone other than the trouble source maker, is called other-initiated repair. this obligates the other partaker of conversation to remind the speaker of the troubled utterance that something has to be repaired so as the progressivity of talk is being maintained (tudini, 2010, p. 84). as such, other-initiated self-repair follows the schema, in which the listener is the one who points toward the verbal problem and its producer while the speaker is the one who is responsible for repairing the troublesomeness of speech (bloch & barnes, 2020, p. 2). characteristically, the listener remarks trouble in the speaker’s speech and thus the speaker is committed to repair his communicative breakdown (benjamin & mazeland, 2013, p. 2; and höhn, 2019, pp. 111-113). it worth noting that the other-repairs are significant to facilitate the process of communication since they assist the participants to fix the trouble of speaking, hearing or understanding, etc. (gisladottir, 2015, p. 309), and they relate language, mind, and social life in that they have a wide-ranging set of linguistic devices that can be utilized to function differently in conversation. as such, the significance of other-repairs can be attributed to their extensive functionality in establishing intersubjectivity (i.e., mutual understanding) or negotiation of meaning (dingemanse & enfield, 2015, p. 96). extract 51 (egbert et al., 2009, p. 107) 01 a: he’s just impo:ssible. 02 → b: did juh tell ‘im that? 03 (0.4) 04 a: wha:t? 05→ b: d’=juh tell ‘im that? 06 (1.4) 07 a: no: the above extract shows the incapability of participant (a) to infer the answer of participant (b). therefore, he uses the interrogative words (what?) to identify that there is a problem with the previous turn. for that reason, the problematic turn (i.e., the second turn) must be repeated once more to provide more clarifications to the participants of this conversation. 2.4.1.3 self-repair initiators, interactional uses and operations 2.4.1.3.1 self-repair initiators it is possible to describe self-initiated self-repair as a “cut-off” or “stopped” unit of talk in interaction. it is also likely to be located within the word, at the boundary between words or phrases in that it may occur at different places of the utterance such as the beginning, the middle, or at the end of the utterance (plejert, 2004, p. 46; and laakso & sorjonen, 2010, p. 1153). the repair process may be accompanied by the stop or the cut-off, which must be done to provide appropriate solutions for some troubles in speech. the function of this process is to provide adjustments to utterances for the sake of letting participants feel that conversation runs smoothly 21 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 without troubles. however, the cut-off initiator of self-repair may be considered as one the most noticeable of all other markers. it functions as a repair initiator for assisting listeners to understand the fact that the current utterance is a matter of not completing the previous turn; rather it is a matter of repairing or correcting (hest, 1996, pp. 36-37). moreover, editing terms plays a fundamental role in repair mechanisms and their initiators are of help to the listener to spot the verbal troubles while they are of help to the speakers to let them be able to produce a repair item to the self-trouble source. words like “that is” or “no” etc., are of considerable importance to participants (hest, 1996, pp. 36-37; and schegloff & sacks, 2018, p. 102). furthermore, the phonological markers of self-repair initiation are of considerable importance namely, speech perturbations such as in-breaths, creaking or sound stretching (e.g., “o:::h”), etc. hesitation markers and gap fillers are significant to hold the floor. this could be done by placeholders or to be by exact quasi-lexical fillers such as (e.g., “uhm”or “uh”), lexical fillers such as “as well, you know, right, i mean, etc.,” or by non-lexical fillers, which involve lengthening the sound. self-repairs also utilize initiators like pause (e.g., (0.3) or (0.2), etc. or repetition (e.g., “schoolschool”), etc. (rieger, 2003, p. 48; and laakso & sorjonen, 2010, p. 1153; and wong & waring, 2010, p. 218). 2.4.1.3.2 the interactional uses of self-repairs self-repair repair can be of use mostly in situations that correct the speaker and provides evidence of the grammaticality and ungrammaticality of language. besides, self-repairs function in their ability to occupy the gaze of the hearer by using pauses, word searches, self-interruption, insertion of new items, and topic jumps. furthermore, the functionality of lengthening the turns can be done by using repeats, pauses, uh’s, corrections, and clarifications. another function is to assist the participants through word searches. self-repairs function in repairing mishearing and misunderstanding, for example self-editing, error-replacement, repetition and reformulation, other-corrections, and by practices like (y mean?) practices, etc. (goodwin, 1981, pp. 68-172; and levinson, 2008, pp. 330-340). plejert (2004, pp. 5-6) argues that the functional activates and functions, or structures that may operate in company with repair include exclamations of dissatisfaction, apologies, alterations of modality, alterations of tense, attending to mispronunciation, and alteration of a word in a way that displays the speaker’s lexical knowledge. in this regard, “the organization of lexis in … teaching materials stems from the conviction that learning can be made easier if there is some objectivity in selecting the lexical items … and arranging them in appropriate sequences” (al-seady, 1998, p. 59): extract 27 (ibid) (exclamations of dissatisfaction) 01 linda: but well (0.2) eh .hh it’s much eh of a question if you believe in god or not 02 erik: yeah 03 linda: actually. .hh and i don’t know (0.6) i prepared myself eh going here he he he .hhhhh an eh:::: (0.8) i thought (0.7) the question would be do you believe in god and .hh well i i twell i prepared myself an i (1.1) i come to the conclusion i don’t (0.7) knowl (0.4) eh:: spontaneous you eh (p)ough! 22 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 <spontaneously> (0.5) i would say no(0.8) but (0.3) i (‘ve) found myself eh:: surprisingly enough eh:: to turn to god (0.9) in rough times. 2.4.1.3.3 operations of same-turn self-repair participants can deal with ongoing talk troubles by utilizing certain operations or strategies (schegloff, 2013, pp. 40-43; and clift, 2016, p. 237; and mihas & santos perez, 2017, p. 222; and németh, 2017, p. 281): 1). replacing replacing is the process of substituting the trouble source with another item. it is one of the strategies by which a participant replaces a whole or partial component of ongoing turn constructional unit with different elements while maintaining the sense of the meaning as it is (see fox, 2012, pp. 1-2; and németh, 2015, p. 36). a synonym for replacing is substitution “which is the process by which a linguistic item is replaced by another one within a larger unit” (igaab & al-bdeary, 2016: vii) (the following extract clarifies this clearly (schegloff, 2013, p. 44): extract 40 01 bely: .hh yihknow buh when we walk outta the cla:ss.= 02 ava: = nobuddy knows wh’t [wen’ on, ] 03 bely: [wid.hh] h= 04 bely: = li (hh) ke wu.hh didju ndidju know what he wz= 05 talking about didju know wh’t [structural paralysis= 06 ava: [dahhhhhh ! 07 bely: = was i sid no i sid but we’re supposetuh know what it 08 > is (juh weh-) .hh yihknow fuh tihday’s [class, ‘n, 09 ava: [.hhh mmm. 10 bely: he nevuh wen’ o:ver it ‘n, t! .hhhh this extract shows that the eighth turn “we[dnesday’s] class” is being substituted with “today’s class”. bely here self-repairs and completes his utterance by replacing one element by another. the operation is done while preserving the same meaning. the substituted element is considered here as a trouble source, whereas the element which is being substituted by is considered as a repair item or repair initiation (kusey, 2016, p. 37). 2). inserting inserting operation is an act by which the participants terminate the ongoing talk for a while aiming at inserting something into the turn-taking system before starting again. therefore, the participants can supplement the turn-taking system with some additional item (s) which must be distinguishable before and after the process of articulation repaired-talk (wilkinson & weatherall, 2011, p. 65): extract 41 (schegloff, 1979, p. 270) 01 bely: → hh hey do you see v(0.3) fat old vivian 02 anymore? 23 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 bely at the first turn of the above-mentioned extract initiates a repair procedure. later, he generates a cut-off with the sound “v-” and the pause (0.3) of silence. as such, the insertion is done by saying “fat old” between the cut off and the newly inserted word, which is “vivian”. 3). deleting in deleting, the participant eliminates some prior items to repair initiation phase, which seems completely or incompletely uttered in the ongoing turn. in this regard, deleting or ellipsis “is the omission of one item from a sentence or a clause leaving the reader to conclude the omitted item when there is a verbal or mental evidence to that ellipted element” (betti & alfartoosy, 2019, p. 94). there are three types of ellipsis: nominal, verbal and clausal (betti & alfartoosy, 2019, p. 95, p. 96): nominal ellipsis is the ellipsis that occurs within the nominal group where the noun or pronoun is deleted, verbal ellipsis an elliptical verbal group implies words from a preceding verbal group. there are two types of verbal which are ellipsis, lexical ellipsis and operator ellipsis and clausal ellipsis occurs if either the model element or propositional one is omitted. however, one of the frequent repair initiators in this operation is the cut-off. however, this operation is less frequent than the first two ones (fox, 2012, pp. 1-2; and tang, 2014, p. 114; and wong & waring, 2010, p. 219): extract 42 01 shelley: alright well i talked to him earlier and i told 02 him i didn’t know what the scoop was and 03 → now: i don’t know .hh if i should jusif i 04 should blow off u:m tha:t stupid trial thing 05 or what i mea:n (.) i don’t know. this extract shows at the third turn how shelley deletes the element “just”. later, shelley initiates repair with the cut-off of (“jus-”), she then deletes that cut-off (“jus-”) and continues her talk by saying “if i should jusif i should blow off”. shelley repeats some adjacent words of the deleted element. deleting is achieved by eliminating an element(s) directly prior to the repair initiation passing through the cut-off and then continuing articulation of the ongoing talk (wong & waring, 2010, p. 219). 4). searching searching or word search is a situation by which something is not accessible at the time of articulating the ongoing talk, so the speaker tries to search for the appropriate output (chiarenza, 2010, p. 1; laakso, 2014, p. 269): extract 43 (schegloff, 2010, p. 137) 01 joy: why don’tchoo: go into westwood, 02 (0.4) and go to bullocks. 03 (1.2) 04 sally: bullocks? ya mean that one right 05 u:m (1.1) tch! (.) right by thee: 06 u:m (.) whazit the plaza? theatre::= 24 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 07 joy: uh huh, 08 (0.4) 09 sally: (memf::) 10 joy: yeah, here sally tells joy about some names of theaters that they plan to see movies in like westwood and bullocks. the speaker here struggles for searching for the name of the theater “plaza? theatre” and he finally gets access to that. 5). parenthesizing parenthesizing is an operation, which adds something into the turn-in-progress and it typically involves a clausal turn (mazeland, 2007, p. 1816). however, this strategy is limited in comparison to the others because not all parentheticals can be exploited in fixing the interactive troubles of talk. (kusey, 2016, p. 39). extract 45 (land & kitzinger, 2007, p. 506) 01 debbie: <it’s not cause uh:m (0.5) mark’s not going. 02 shelley: nowell that wuz initially and then i’m like 03 no: i’ll just go and then hm yaknow thisthis 04 two bandit (.) thing that i have, that we’re 05 doing, [he w]a:nts me: >i don’t know if i= 06 debbie: [mm hm] 07 shelley: =tol’ you this,< he wants us to come out to 08 his house and do:, .hh like spend a whole day 09 o:n putting everything together cause we don’t 10 get the shit done while we’re at work this extract shows how shelly interpolates the clausal turn into the turn constructional unit in the sixth and seventh turns by saying “i don’t know if i tol’ you this”. the parenthetical operation is exploited here to show that shelly is now more aware than earlier of what she is talking about. besides, she may be informing debbie something, which is already being informed. in other words, after she (shelly) takes this possibility of informing something which is told to debbie before now, she continues the process of telling by going back to the pre-parenthetical talk as it is shown in the eighth turn (kusey, 2016, p. 39). 6). aborting generally, aborting strategy is a way of abandoning an already initiated repair process, once it is aborted; the speaker starts a new one. this can be done by initiating a turn constructional unit, abandoning it, and then starting a new one (kulkarni, 2016, p. 237). however, this operation occurs infrequently compared to the other operations of same-turn self-repair (couper-kuhlen & selting, 2018, p. 128): extract 46 schegloff (1996, p. 479) 25 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 01 shelley: who w’s the girl that was outside 02 (his door¿)/(the store¿) 03 (0.8) 04 mark: debbie. 05 (0.8) 06 shelley: who’s debbie. 07 mark: (katz.) 08 (0.7) 09 mark: –>a1 she’s jus’ that girl thet: uh:, (0.2) 10 –> a2 ˙hh i met her through uh:m::, (1.0) 11 i met ‘er in westwood.=i (caught that–) (•) 12 ‘member i wenttuh see the premie:r of (0.3) 13 lost horizon¿ [( ) 14 shelley [i did’n know you did,= this above extract shows that shelley fails two times in understanding the answers to the questions presented in the conversation. it appears, later at the ninth and tenth turns that mark aborts the ongoing turn constructional unit of the repair initiation. it also shows that there is another attempt of providing a new different answer of the aborted one at the tenth turn, which is initiated for maintaining intersubjectivity. as such, mark provides two dissimilar answers to the question of the asker by initiating a completely new one, which approaches the same way of the addressed question, 7). sequence jumping sequence jumping is an abandonment of the ongoing turn constructional unit, with a direct and explicit shift to something, which is unrelated and different from the current turn and the progress of the ongoing sequence (schegloff, 2013, p. 56; and kulkarni, 2016, p. 238): extract 47 holt (2013, p. 87): 01 rubin: they don mind honey they’re jus not gonna talk to us 02 ever again=. 03 dave: =(hehem)/ri: (h)igt. 04 )0.8( 05 kathy: we don mind <[we jus never gonna talk to you e:ver= 06 d [(no, b’t) 07 kathy: =(hh heh) 08 rubin: heheheheh 09 kathy: [no: :] that’s awright 10 frieda: [so: :] 11 dave: [( )]. 12 frieda: [you know what were gonna—] in fact i’m— she i 26 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 13 haven’t seen her since i spoke to you but im going to 14 talk to = what a you making¿ 15 ) .0.2( 16 kathy : it’s a —bla:nket 17 frieda: did yu weave tha[t yourse:lf] 18 kathy : [i w o : :]ve this myself.= in this extract, rubin and frieda are friends and they are now having dinner at the house of kathy and dave. their families invite each other from time to time. rubin at the first two turns breaks a period of silence for an intendedly ironic intent, addressing his wife freda but it is intended to address kathy and dave. later, kathy senses a joke/ironic meaning in that she repeats rubin’s talk from “not … ever” to “never … ever”). next, it seems that kathy at the ninth turn offers an unpersuasive assurance by saying, “that’s all right.” provided with a joke-to-serious “no”. later, freda tries to escape for the awkwardness of this miserable situation by sifting explicitly the ongoing turn in that she says, “what are you making” which is an extremely radical different turn (kusey, 2016, pp. 42-43). 8). recycling recycling is the repetition for the second time of previously articulated talk with almost usually not as much of that of a complete turn constructional unit, which is previously said (németh, 2012, p. 2023). it is claimed that recycling is itself a distinct operation, which has different uses like “framing a repair when inserting an element, deleting an element, or searching for a word” (németh, 2015, pp. 47-49). extract 48 schegloff (1987c, p. 75) 01 ron: well thee uhm (•) (a paz) they must have grown a 02 culture. 03 )0.5( 04 ron: you know, (•) they must’ve i mean how lohe’s been 05 in the hospital for a few day:s, right? 06 )}1.0’/( hhh{ 07 ron: takes a[bout a week to grow a culture,] 08 kay: -> [ i don think they grow a ] i don think 09 -< they -grow a culture to do a biopsy. 10 ron: no::. (•) they did the biopsy while he was on the 11 -table. 12 kay: nononono. they did a frozen section, when he 13 ]was on the tab[le. 14 ron: [right, ()] 15 kay: but they didn’t do theit takes a while to do a 16 complete biopsy. 17 (0.8) 27 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 this extract contains an overlapping of talk between kay and ron at the seventh and eighth turns. it appears that ron at the end of the seventh turn arrives at possible completion of his turn at the word “culture”, so kay in the turn after (08) seizes every possible moment to withhold the turn. later, kay recycles her ongoing turn from the eighth turn to the ninth in that she says once more as the extract shows“[i don think they grow a] i don think they-grow a culture to do a biopsy”. the way of providing a solution in the overlapped talk gives recycling operation a great advantage to the extent that makes schegloff (2013, p. 60) comment on the recycling operation here by saying that recycling is the “star of the repair show, not a secondary supporting role”. 9). reformatting reformatting is a reformulation of the ongoing structure with just a more or less diverse one by changing the grammatical structure of the turn constructional unit (schegloff, 2013, p. 62; and mihas, 2017, p. 229; and couper-kuhlen & selting, 2018, p. 128): extract 49 (schegloff, 2007a, p. 441) 01 virginia: ‘hh beth gets all the clo:thes. 02 (•) 03 mom: well: -beth (.) spends her own money on her clothes. 04 )0.7" ( 05 virginia: <well if i got more money i could spend my own 06 mon[ey. 07 mom: [but beth works. 08 virginia: wull why can’t e : ? 09 mom: behoh:, vuhginia, we’ve been through this. when 10 you’re old enough you cam work in the store. 11 )0.2( 12 virginia :->‘hh well beth didn’ beth get tih work b’fore she was 13 sixteen = ? 14 mom: =no::! i’d(0.2) i would let her wrap presents an’ 15 packages et christmus an:’“times we needed 16 somebady.0 ‘hh >but people just don’t want< (0.4) 17 chuddren (0.2) waiting on[(‘um). this extract at the twelfth turn shows that virginia is generating a declarative question by saying, (“well beth [got to work ...]” or “well beth [didn’t have to wait ...]”), and then virginia on the same ongoing turn constructional unit generates a reformatted negative interrogative by saying (“didn’t beth get to work ...”). 10). reordering reordering operation is a process that speakers exploit to figure out the order in which the elements of the ongoing turn should be arranged (németh, 2015, p. 8): 28 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 extract 50 sidnell (2014: 129) 01 rose: an’it(0.3) an’it left’er (0.4) quite permanently 02 damaged °i s[uppose° 03 bea: [‘tk 04 bea: uh:pparently, 05 (•) 06 bea: uh -he is still hopeful 07 rose: the husb’n. 08 bea: -> ah hah end yih never jus’ (•) eh yih js’ never saw 09 such devotion in your life ... the above extract shows how the mechanism of reordering works. the speaker uses this operation to reorder what is expected to be a mistake to a more adequate formula of speech. bea infers that she committees a mistake, and as such, it needs a reordering of the formation of the structure of the turn constructional unit by saying “yih never jus”, which the speaker reorders to “yih js’ never saw” (kusey, 2016, pp. 47-48). 2.4.2 other-repair 2.4.2.1 self-initiated other-repair this strategic trajectory is one of the verbal resources that are available to participants after the occurrences of verbal troubles, which cause a delay in the normal flow of the speech. accordingly, self-initiated other-repair is the second trajectory of conversational repair. typically, the speaker designates a problem in the talk, but the hearer fixes the problem (al-harahsheh, 2015, pp. 400-401). however, this type is in one way or another associated with word search as an attempt to enable the participants in finding the appropriate words they need (plejert, 2004, p. 56). this may be fulfilled by using some initiators like repetitions, pauses, fillers, or word searches (rieger, 2003, pp. 48-49). a very frequent instance of this trajectory is searching for names. however, this trajectory may show diverse discrepancies about its frequency and occurrences in a different institutional setting. it may be argued this trajectory is as frequent as the self-initiated self-repair trajectory (köhler, 2007, pp. 20-22; cheng & cheng, 2010, p. 457). the following extract clarifies this clearly (plejert, 2004, pp. 56-57): extract 25 01 celia: so (0.7) (cause) (1.3) (don an) nellie ar:e (0.2) gonna go (0.3) or well they might go (0.8) ehm (1.2) some time in november (1.4) and they’re only paying a hundred some crowns because (0.5) theyou know ahm (0.8) nt (0.3)ah::eh oh i can’t think of his name right now (1.3) that swedish guy in our (0.9) in our european (and)(inte[gration)] 02 emily: [jo-] jojojohan. 03 celia: johan yeah he works for a radio station. the previous example shows the nature of self-initiated other-repair by utilizing word search. seemingly, celia has verbal trouble, which makes her unable to recall the name of a certain individual. 29 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 the extract shows that the speaker produces more than one pause as being indicated by numbers like ((0.7), (1.3), and (0.2), etc.). later, emily initiates a repair producer to assist the other participant to remember the name of a certain individual. remembering the name of this individual may help the conversation go smoothly after a set of pauses. finally, the repair outcome makes celia is capable of recollecting the name of the intended individual (ibid: 57). 2.4.2.2 other-initiated other-repair in other-initiated other-repair, the hearer himself indicates the trouble and repairs it. the other infrequently employs this trajectory in everyday conversation in which the hearer can do the repair initiation and its completion. directness or dispreferredness is a discriminative characteristic of such a type of repair as it has direct corrective supremacy and thus such reformatory capability may seem face threatening or offensive. as such, other-initiated other-repair is sometimes associated with other-correction, which has the function of general means of correction in interaction (benjamin & mazeland, 2013, pp. 4-7). extract 53 (nassaji, 2015, p. 92) 01 speaker: he added a particular herb to the dish. 02 listener; mint, i think. the other correction of other-initiation other-repair has two forms which are exposed and embedded correction (benjamin and mazeland, 2013, p. 5): 1). exposed correction exposed correction is extremely overt and it becomes the center of conversation in the course of executing the correction itself. it disturbs the ongoing communicative action since it breaks the conversation explicitly to address the source of the trouble. consequently, the process of correction presentation in conversation may be agreed or rejected by participants (see alvanoudi, 2015, pp. 131-132; and beeke et al., 2020, pp. 2-3): extract 54 (jefferson, 1987, p. 88) 01 jan: i guess they paid two-twenty thousand for the house 02 and two thousand for the ki:l. 03 beth: mm::, 04 jan: technically, 05 ron: → (it’s a) kil:n. 06 jan: kil:n, i don’t know how to say it, 07 ron: you always say kil. 08 jan: i don’t know i thought that’s righ[t. 09 beth: [yeah. 10 ron: [it’s like 11 ron: is that right? you say kil? 12 beth: kil:n, i don’t know i’ve heard both . . . 30 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 ron considers jan’s pronunciation of the word “ki:l” (“kiln”) at the second turn as a trouble source. so, he does an overtly exposed correction at the fifth turn by saying “(it’s a) kil:n”. this extract shows that other-initiated otherrepair is done by the other participant in that a complete process of repair is executed through performing the processes of an indication of the trouble source and performing the repair process. evidently, at the sixth turn, jan agrees to take ron’s correction (wong & waring, 2010, pp. 238-239). the correct repetition of the word “kil:n” at the end of the conversation gives the impression of the acceptability of the presented exposed correction with lack of definitive acknowledgment of the disarticulation of the word by saying (“i don’t know how to say it”) (ibid). 2). embedded correction an embedded correction is a correction, which is implemented latently (i.e., implicitly). this is to be done without the disruption of the course of the conversation trajectory. however, the participants are capable of determining the acceptance or refusal of such corrective practice (höhn, 2019, pp. 95-96). this is the traditional correction done by the teacher inside the classrooms whether for reasons related to syntax, vocabulary, or pragmatics. the use of pronouns is a certain example. pronouns is “a grammatical topic … which is defined as one of the parts of speech. they are closed system items. it means that they are fixed in number and new words cannot be added. they are used as substitutes of noun phrases, which are not derived. they have a constant form. pronouns occur in the nominative, accusative and prepositional cases” (igaab & tarrad, 2019, p. 63). another example is concord which “refers to the relationship between two grammatical units”. one unit which triggers the agreement relation is known as “controller” and the other unit which is determined by the controller known as “target”. these two units are determined by syntactic and semantic characteristics which are called “agreement features” (igaab & altai, 2018, p. 288). that is why, “learners must be provided with enough description of concord by efl textbook designers. efl teachers must provide the learners with a clear account of concord as a grammatical phenomenon which shows a relationship between different elements of the sentence” (igaab & altai, 2018, p. 294): extract 55 (jefferson, 1987, p. 93) 01 →customer: mm, the wales are wider apart than that. 02 →salesman: okay, let me see if i can find one with wider threads ((looks through stock)) 03 salesman: how’s this. 04 →customer: nope, the threads are even wider than that. it can be seen that the salesman replaces a linguistic element in the former talker’s turn “wales” (i.e., streak) to a more appropriate one “thread”. such a corrective process is done implicitly and it seems that the other participant decides to accept it. this example shows also that though there is a correction; the ongoing progressivity of talk is being maintained talk is being maintained (betti, 2020: vi). 2.4.2.3 other-initiated repairs initiators other initiated repairs are privileged with a distinctive inventory of practices or strategies, etc., which provide the participants with special space in dealing with problems in interaction. these wide-ranging 31 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 features give significance (barnes, 2016, pp. 111-112). the seminal work of the theory introduces only five types of these practices or strategies. 1). open class repair initiators when speakers produce a repair procedure, they use initiation markers, which identify the precise troublesome turn (repairable) in the turn-taking system. however, they may elect initiators, which consider the entire turn(s) in one way or another as problematic. as such, the whole exchange needs to be repaired (drew, 1997, pp. 69-75). the later cases of such a sketch can be labeled as an open class. they are labeled as such because they do not delimit the nature and the location of the verbal troublesome or its trouble source if it is due to hearing, understanding, speaking, etc. (barnes, 2016, pp. 111-113). open class repair initiators can be exemplified in lexicalized practices such as “huh”, “what”, “hey”, “ey”, “mm”, “what’s that”, “excuse me”, “pardon”, “i beg your pardon”, “pardon me”, “sorry”, “i’m sorry”, “hm”, “he what?”, “to what?” and “a what?” etc. they may also include phrases such as (excuse me), (say again) or (what did you say), etc. and assertion-based other-initiations like (i didn’t hear you), (i don’t understand), etc. (benjamin, 2013, pp. 19-64; and enfield et al., 2013, pp. 343-349; and clift, 2016, p. 258). the following extract shows a use of the practice “sorry”, which belongs to the open class repair format: extract 58 (drew, 1997: 71-2) 01 lesley: …..they’ve gone over to the cat ash.: (0.3) 02 norm: oh: right. 03 lesley: i don’t = if you want to go over there an’ see them a:ll? 04 norm: i can’t i’m dialyzing at the mo-:ment. he[h, 05 lesley: → [sorry? 06 norm: i’m dialyzing at the mome[nt, 07 lesley: [.hh oh:: the practice “sorry” here indicates that there is a problem in the previous turn. the nature of such a problem has an unidentified sense in which the participants do no locate specifically what and where the trouble of the ongoing conversation. the word “sorry?” in this extract shows that the other participant is not able to sense the meaning of the prior turn and thus it needs to be repaired (drew, 1997, pp. 71-72). 2). category-specific interrogatives category-specific interrogatives are words which are used to a definite class of (persons, entities, times, or locations). this classification can locate a certain problem in the former turn. however, this category has equivalences of interrogative words that function as an interrogative referential determiner of precise trouble sources of the former turn. it has the power to specify the nature of the trouble source of the previous turn that may refer to place (where), time (when), or reference to individuals (who), etc. 32 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 the referential power of this format is to specify the entire former turn constructional unite as a trouble source (couper-kuhlen & selting, 2018, p. 196). however, it has two formatted subcategories: firstly interrogative words as complete turn constructional units, and secondly interrogative words with partial repeats (kendrick, 2015b, pp. 147-150). interrogative words as complete turn constructional units makes use of wh-questions like (who, what, when, and where) as initiators to other-repairs for locating the troublesomeness of the former turn (liebscher & dailey-o’cain, 2003, pp. 376-377). wh-interrogatives can be called as class-specific question words technique since they are used to specify the source of the trouble (schegloff , 2007b, pp. 101-102): extract 59 (schegloff, 1997a: 511) 01 freda: this is nice did you make this? 02 kathy: no samu made that. 03 freda: → who? 04 kathy: samu. the previous example demonstrates the way by which the wh-question is used to locate the trouble source. freda is dubious about the one who makes this; as a result, she interrogates kathy. then, freda is not certain of the answered question. so, she initiates a repair procedure by saying (who?). later, the participants come to an end of a positive repetition of repair completion of samu’s name (cogo & dewey, 2012, p. 117). interrogative words with partial repeats makes use of wh-question with interrogative words in that the interrogative words are used to refer to the source of trouble while the partial repeats are used to locate and frame it (egbert, 1998, pp. 171-177). extract 60 (schegloff et al., 1977, p. 368; cited in schegloff, 2007b, p. 105): 01 a: was last time the first time you met mrs. 02 kelly? 03 (0.2) 04 b: → met whom? 05 a: mrs. kelly. 06 b: yes. the referent in the conversation causes some sort of miscomprehension to the other interactant, which obliges participant (b) to initiate a repair producer. participant (b) decides to repair since the other interactant faces a problem in identifying the referent’s name. as such, he partially repeats a previously articulated word in the prior turn. accordingly, he uses the word (met) and the interrogative word (whom) to accomplish the identifiability repair of this conversation. 3). repeats of the trouble source this strategic format can be achieved by repeating the trouble source of the previous turn. the repair procedure, which involves the repetition of trouble source turn, has three types which are partial repeats 33 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 of the trouble source, which involves the other-participant’s repeating of all or parts of the former turn with a stereotypical sense of an intonated question (robinson & kevoe-feldman, 2010, p. 232-237), full repeats of the trouble source, which does not confine the trouble to a definite constituent of a former turn constructional unit, but designates that the speaker confronts a trouble with the turn constructional unit or the action as a whole (moore & arar, 2019, p. 128) and incomplete repetition of the trouble source which replicates part of the prior turn and making the repetition prosodically to be audible to as incomplete (koshik, 2002, pp. 291-292). the last type of repetition is believed that such a turn is not that of “syntactic question” or “complete turn constructional unit”; rather it is grammatical incomplete sentence, phrase, or word designed by speakers to be completed for accomplishing definite acts (yang, 2018, p. 33). extract 61 (garcia, 2013, pp. 115-116) (partial repeats of the trouble source) 01 rick: haven’t seen uh movie in uh long time. [have ] you? 02 mary: [(aye-)] 03 (0.4) 04 rose: i saw ne:ll? 05 (0.4) 06 rick: nell? 07 (0.2) 08 rose: ne[ll. ] 09 rick: [was] that good? 10 (0.2) 11 rose: ih=was preddy goo:°d.°= the situation of the previous extract is a conversation between three students while they are tape-recording a conversation for a class in which a movie had been presented. rose declares that she saw a movie called (nell) in the (turn 04: i saw ne:ll?) after being questioned by the other participants. later, and after a short pause, nick initiates a repair producer that interrogates rose. the process of interrogation by repair initiation here is taking place because of the title of the movie, which one might interpret it for its oddity as being short or less widely well-known. however, the turn which contains the repair initiation (nell?), is partially repeated of the trouble source turn (i saw ne:ll?). this is done with a stereotypical sense of an intonated question form as it appears in the underlined word. finally, rose restates the title of the movie in the (turn 08: (ne[ll.])) which is considered here as repair outcome or completion to this miscommunication (cora garcia, 2013, pp. 115-116). 4). copular interrogatives kendrick (2015a, pp. 173-174) mentions that this category is made of a clause the subject of which is an interrogative noun phrase (e.g., who, what, which one) and the predicate is a repetition of the trouble source. the subject and its predicate are to be linked by copula (one form of “be”) so as to produce a copular interrogative clause. it is a fact that the predicate nominal clause of declarative whose semantic 34 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 predicates is a noun phrase can be employed to affirm the “membership” of the constituent within a class (i.e., he is a teacher) or affirms the identity of a subject (i.e., he is my father) (payne, 1997, p. 114; and sidnell, 2007, pp. 281-285). it is also a fact that the predicate nominal clause of interrogative requires a “membership or identity” (sacks, 1992, pp. 448-450): extract 64 (sidnell, 2007, pp. 284-285) 01 bet: they said that phillips got um (0.5) knee: wa:lking 02 dru::nk at the reception. 03 (0.5) 04 mom: who:? 05 (0.3) 06 bet: phillips, 07 (0.4) 08 → mom: wh[o’s phillips. 09 bet: [pa:m bensen’s (.) husband. the first turns of this extract cause trouble to the other participant. this trouble may be attributed to mishearing or misunderstanding of the referential membership identity of this object (i.e., phillips), and thus, this could be interpreted as a source of trouble. as a result, the hearer starts questioning the producer of the trouble source by saying “who:?”. then, the identity of this individual is to be repeated for the second time and it seems that it is until now incomprehensible (kendrick, 2015a, pp. 173-174). finally, the exchange ends by constructing a repair procedure by saying “wh[o’s phillips” which consists of the interrogative noun phrase “who”, plus predicate repetition of the trouble source and the auxiliary verb “is” in between. noticeably, the extract shows also intervening turn in between the trouble source and the repair procedure (sidnell, 2007, pp. 283-285). 2.4.2.4 the interactional uses of other-repair plejert (2004, pp. 6-7) argues that the procedure of executing repair can take place in a diverse communicative state of affairs that go along with the process of repair. these activities, functions, or structures that may operate in company with repair include other-initiation as a response to unconventional syntax, other-initiation at sudden shifts in perspective, other-initiation at misinterpretation of a word, other-initiation at hearing difficulties, and mismatches in participants’ interpretations of the need for other-repair: extract 77 (ibid: 145) (other-initiation as a response to unconventional syntax) 01 tobias: what is stealing to you? 02 john: h. ((coughs)) stealing ey? well (1.5)f i let me see (1.3) nt if i jumped up and nabbed that camera and ran out the door shou’in ha [ha! i stole this camera ((laughs))] 03 tobias: [((laughs))] 35 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 04 john: thinkin’ [(x)] 05 tobias: [well where does stealing] stop then? 06 (1.5) 07 john: h°h 08 tobias: what is almost stealing and what isn’t? 09 (2.5) 10 john: ehm (1.1) <where does stealing stop> (0.7) how d’ you mean? the above extract shows unusual use of the verbs “stealing” and “stop” in a metaphorical expression, which complicates the comprehension to the other participants (plejert, pp. 145-146 and p. 150). 3. methodology 3.1 participants the sample of the study consists of (12) advanced post-graduates specialized in english. they are either staff members or researchers in some iraqi departments of english. those staff members include examiners in ma and ph.d. viva debates. the scientific degrees of those staff members range from assistant professors to professors. the second group consists of candidates for ma and ph.d. those oral recordings of the conversation between those staff members working as examiners and the candidates or researchers constitute the data of the study. the ages of the partakers are from 26 to 50 years. this study does not take gender as variable. the term participants in this study is used to refer to both the staff members and researchers. 3.2 data 3.2.1 data recording and transcription 3.2.1.1 data recording data recording means recording the naturally occurring interactions of some staff members and researchers in academic discussions. to achieve the purpose of recording these discussions, a special instrument is being exploited which is called “sony ux560f digital voice recorder ux series”. this device is used to record all the interactions in the academic discussions because it is small and is capable of recording all voices and sounds from all the directions of the site of the study. four hours and 10 minutes of naturally occurring interactions is recorded. the real names of the participants in the study are encoded as participants in order to preserve privacy and ethical considerations. 3.2.1.2 data transcription data transcription is the center upon which the study is established. accordingly, the study adapts gail jefferson’s (2004, pp. 24-31 cited in jefferson, 2018, pp. xi-xii) conversational analytic system of transcription as a framework in transcribing the data of the study. this framework is implemented purposely because of its comprehensiveness in representing different features of talk. the stage of data transcription requires some considerations to be addressed. the audiotaped data is first recorded and 36 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 then transferred to the computer to be processed for the next step, which is data transcription. furthermore, this stage necessitates many active observations to the entire datasets of the audio tracks. a specialized conversational analytic program called “clan” is utilized to manually digitize and convert the spoken language into written transcribed language. this program is one aspect of a project developed at carnegie mellon university (usa) by brian macwhinney. the transcriptions of the data are done only to the situations, which serve the purposes of the present study. instances, like silent situations and off-topic talks, the visual resources actions of the participants, etc. are not considered. full descriptions of the adapted notations of the transcriptions are presented in appendix (1) of the study (jefferson, 2004, pp. 24-31 cited in jefferson et al., 2018, pp. xi-xii). 3.2.2 data collection procedures some procedures are adapted directly before or after the processes of data recordings, which are as follows: a) taking the official agreement for the participants who accept the participation in the study. b) distributing a form that elicits some related information such as gender, age from the part of the researchers and gender, age, and scientific title from the part of the examiners and staff members. c) recording the academic discussions by using a special digital audio-recording instrument. d) the data is transferred to the researcher’s own computer to be stored and arranged to assign them into tracked files with special private folders for maintaining a high level of privacy and security. e) the last step is to finalize and to prepare the organized data to the next steps, which are data transcription and data analysis. it is worth mentioning the fact that all the partakers of this study are officially informed that their participation is employed for scientific purposes only privacy is guaranteed for them. 3.3 data description and context features 3.3.1 data description features there are some parameters of the communicative situation, which designate situations in terms of some features, which are as follows: 1). genre according to van dijk (2015, p. 1), genre refers to the kind of speech event used. genre may has the form of conversation, story, political debate, story, joke, lecture, poem, myth, tale, proverb, riddle, curse, prayer, oration, lecture, commercial, form letter, editorial, etc. naturally occurring interactions are the dominant characteristics of this type of genre. as such, the genre of this study is the institutional one of academic discussion-oriented naturally occurring conversation. 2). length the data of the present study is of ( 4 hours and 10 minutes) hours of naturally occurring interactions in iuvde. 3). form talk is the main source of data in ca, which can be acquired by video or audio recordings of interactions. the data of the present study is audibly recorded and then transcribed to be analyzed. 37 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 3.3.2 data context features there are some related factors, which facilitate the identifications of the speech event. these features, which are adopted in the data, are as follows (zhu & han, 2010, pp. 141-142): 1). the addresser and the addressee the addressor or the speaker refers to the participant who produces the speech, while the addressee is the individual (s) who receives the commutative speech signals, namely the listener (s), or the hearer (s) or the audience (senft, 2014, p. 120). this study includes addresser and addressee who are referred to as either the examiner or researcher. all of the preceding figures are referred to as participants. 2). the topic the topic can be manifested in the content, type, or issues, which are being discussed in a talk (zhu & han, 2010, pp. 141-142). accordingly, the data shows that the participants are engaged to talk about academic issues related to the ma or ph.d. being discussed. 3). the settings the setting refers to the actualities of space and time in which the communicative situations are being produced (pérez-milans, 2018, p. 118). therefore, the setting of the undertaken study is of the academic discussion genre. these discussions take place in some departments of english. 4). the ends the ends refer to the goals or the purposes of which the commutative event is aiming to accomplish (floyd, 2018, p. 377). as such, repair in the study can be exploited purposely for fixing troubles of hearing, speaking, listing, understanding, etc. (weismer & brown, 2021, p. 369). 4. data analysis and discussion 4.1 the participants’ use of self-repair operations the same-turn self-repair operations in iuvde yields 293 cases: table 1. frequency and percentages of the participants’ use of self-repair operations % frequencies same-turn self-repair operations n 52.21 153 recycling 1 20.13 59 deleting 2 13.31 39 reformatting 3 8.90 26 replacing 4 4.09 12 inserting 5 0.68 2 aborting 6 0.34 1 sequence jumping 7 0.34 1 reordering 8 0.0 0 parenthesizing 9 38 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 0.0 0 searching 10 100 293 total recycling represents the highest frequency of self-repair in iuvde; 153 occurrences, 52.21 %. it is shown that it is a resourceful operation in managing language deficiencies. moreover, the participants of the study explicate a high tendency towards the prevailing exploitation of recycling since it is significant in overcoming the problem of understanding or hearing. thus, repeating some other item can remove the barriers of comprehension. the following extract illustrates this operation: 71 *examiner: the first two lines, the earliest notions of enslavement denote the way hhhh property law covered people this cover this coverage means that people could be owned as, what do you mean by cover, covered, coverage? why did you use this? what covered what, (the examiner repeats) the earliest notions of enslavement denote the way property law covered people. the least occurring self-repair operations in iuvde include searching, aborting, sequence jumping, reordering, and parenthesizing. aborting occurs in a low number of occurrences; two occurrences only, 0.68%. the participants abort the ongoing established talkative activity in favor of another sense of expressing same the activity. the following extract shows this operation: 163 *researcher: in my analysis of hhhh the in ins hh not being nohhh the visibility they do not know that there been observed (.) that erudite for example each one of them hhh (.) it is not mentioned in the movie. the speaker of the above extract misarticulates and generates some trouble, which requires him to abort the ongoing talk and start a new one (hhhh the in ins hh not being nohhh the visibility). moreover, sequence jumping is of a powerful maneuvering implication in dealing with the withdrawal of tricky situations in which the speaker is not fully capable of expressing the current interactional determinations. in the following extract, the speaker unambiguously jumps the sequence of the talk from the ongoing one to a dissimilar one. 55 *examiner: the way they did it hhhhh i did not mean like hhhh only faction but faction versus factionless, because in the factionless they hhhh they represented (.) edward said the way he said that we are whatever they are not. parenthesizing and searching have no occurrences. the participants of the study are unwilling to jeopardize themselves by providing less informative meanings since the context of the data imposes the participants to be in conformity with delivering accurate and accepted responses. the unemployment of parenthesizing can be attributed to the contextuality of the states of affairs of the data. likewise, the reason for not using searching is associated with self-initiated other-repair rather than self-initiated 39 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 self-repair. surprisingly, one noteworthy finding of the investigated data is that the participants of the present study exploit the apologizing word “sorry” as self-repair initiator: 44 *examiner: is it proper to start with a theoretical (.) background framework, sorry? the speaker of the above extract employs the word “sorry” as a self-repair initiator. the analysis and discussion of this section confirm some of the results of kusey (2016). the present study finds eight self-repair operations of schegloff’s (2013) framework of same-turn self-repair operation, which are recycling, replacing, aborting, inserting, deleting, reordering, and reformatting and sequence jumping. 4.2 the participants’ use of other-repair strategies the study yields 45 occurrences of other-repair strategies in iuvde: table 2. frequency and percentages of the participants’ use of other-repair strategies n other-repair strategies frequencies % 1 open class repairs 4 9.52 2 interrogative words as complete turn constructional units 1 2.38 3 interrogative words with partial repeats 0 0.00 4 partial repeats of the trouble source 6 14.28 5 full repeats of the trouble source 5 11.90 6 incomplete repetition of the trouble source 0 0.00 7 copular interrogatives 0 0.00 8 candidate understanding 11 26.22 9 replacement candidate understanding 5 11.90 10 continuation candidate understandings 0 0.00 11 insertion candidate understandings 0 0.00 12 complex candidate understanding 0 0.00 13 requests for repetition 1 2.38 14 request for definition or information 2 4.76 15 request for translation or explanation 3 7.14 16 other practices 4 9.52 total 42 100 candidate understanding is the most frequently employed by the participants which results in 11 occurrences, 26.22 %. this can be attributed to the fact that the interlocutors try to deliver their own interpretations and understanding of certain meanings. as such, the participants, who invest this strategy, try to provide an alternative perception of the predetermined facts, which are stated by them. 40 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 such a joint activity of the presentation of intelligible knowledge lies on those talkers who may either accept or discard such actions since the purpose is to establish a constructive meaning making engagements. the following extract of the investigated data clarifies this strategy evidently: 18 *examiner: when whatever style there is no indentation in the block quotes. *researcher: you mean in the indentation before the text? *examiner: yes. the above extract explains how the execution of understanding check is being employed to let the other partaker authorize the adequacy of his own understanding. however, the other-repair strategies, which have no occurrence in the data, are incomplete repetition of the trouble source, interrogative words with partial repeats, copular interrogatives, insertion candidate understanding, complex candidate understanding, and continuation candidate understanding. these strategies have some gradient implications such as being repetitive, incomplete, or inquisitive or by perceiving the knowledge of the otherness in variable senses. the infrequent exploitations of the above strategies in the data insinuate that providing complicated, replicated, and/or injected within another variable candidate understanding is not fruitful since the main purpose of the context of the data is to provide extra clarifications or interpretations of what is abstruse to those who need such necessities. furthermore, the data indicates that the transmission of the information between the participants is fertile since such intrusive strategies have the sense of being repetitively and interrogatively incomplete or of an individual membership attribution. as a result of the analysis carried out in this section, it is found that the staff members and researchers use some other-repair strategies which are candidate understanding, partial repeats, full repeats, replacement candidate understanding, open class repairs, request for translation and explanation, request for definition and explanation, interrogative words and request for repetition. 4.3 the participants’ trajectories of repair the following table elucidates the frequency of the occurrences of structural trajectories of repair organization and their percentages: table 3. frequency and percentages of participants’ use of the trajectories of repair organization n type of the trajectory frequencies % 1 self-initiated self-repair 293 85.69 2 self-initiated other-repair 4 1.16 3 other-initiated self-repair 42 12.28 41 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 the data of the study reveals that all the types of trajectories exist in iuvde but with different occurrences as clear in the above table. self-initiated self-repair trajectory, for instance, is dominant over all the other types of trajectories in iuvde, 293 occurrences, and 85.69 % while other-initiated other repair is the least occurring; 3, 0.87. this means that self-initiated self-repair is the most preferred by the partakers of the study. in view of that, the participants of the study have pivotal presentiment tendency to repair themselves. moreover, the competencies of the partakers qualify the talkers to be highly initiative in perceiving their own troubles and repairing them. in other words, the staff members and researchers are competent enough to initiate and repair themselves: 84 * examiner: why would vernona-veronica roth write such a thing. the above extract illustrates the speaker’s proficiency in identifying and repairing the trouble source. other-initiated self-repair is the second most frequent trajectory in the data; 42 occurrences, 12.28 %. the utilization of this trajectory obligates the listener in recognizing a trouble in the talk whereby the initiator of the repair is engaged in repairing what is troubling the progressivity of the oral interaction. as such, this trajectory intensifies the progressivity of those who are involved in the situation. since it needs a considerable effort in managing the situations (see 91 below): 91 * examiner: it is possible today to anatomize enslavement? * researcher: yes. * examiner: what do you mean? * researcher: from the word anatomy like put in clinic imagining put put yeah it in clinic imagining put in clinic. * examiner: scrutinize you mean. *researcher: huh? * examiner: you mean scrutinize it. * researcher: emmmm scrutinize is not related to anatomy. the above extract clarifies that more than one occurrence of this trajectory are being initiated so as to fully accomplish the mutual knowledge once again. for that reason, more than one other-initiated self-repair strategies are activated like what do you mean, huh, and you mean. as a result of the analysis of the structural trajectories, it is found self-initiation trajectory is the most used one in iuvde and this confirms the results of al-khalaf (2018). 4 other-initiated other-repair 3 0.87 total 342 100 42 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 4.4 the participants’ performance of repair the rationale for this analysis is to elucidate the impact of the competencies of the study participants on the activation of repair organization: table 4. frequency and percentages of the participants’ performance of repair table 4 above demonstrates that the examiners initiate 260 occurrences, 76%. similarly, the data indicates that the level of competence is a significant indicator to the initiation of the repair organization. moreover, the data proves that the examiners are equipped with many inquiries to be answered by the researchers, and they activate the repair initiations in an attempt to get full clarification from the researchers. however, the case is different with the researchers since they are being cross-examined in that they activate the repair completion. the following extract clarifies the expedite proficiency of the examiner to activate repair in the same turn: 27 * examiner: .... they lerrarely fouhave such mistakes ….. the above extract elucidates the talker mispronunciation and the repair of (lerrarely) is being much accelerated in the same turn of the trouble source. 82 occurrences of repair are initiated by the ma and phd. researchers, which represent 23.97 %. this clarifies that the level of competence of the researchers is much less than that of the examiners. this finding is supported by betti and hasan (2020, p. 62): “the ma … [researchers] commit more errors in frequency and type than the ph.d. ones ... . the ph.d. iefl learners perform better in their defence than the ma ones in terms of the less errors they commit”. the syntactic features of the interlanguage of speakers include cases of missing articles, cases of missing the “s” of third person singular, misuse of tenses, negation, failure to coin past form and past participles, and misuse of relative clauses (al-seady, 2002, p. 18). as such, this exposes the impact of the level of competence on the use of repair. “our efl learners in the departments of english in iraq are incompetent in theme and rheme linguistic area. this is partly due to the idea that our colleges teach (in syllabus items and technique of presentation) through syntactic terms … which are never referred to in our syllabus items in spite of a four-year grammar teaching in the departments of english” (betti & al-jubouri, 2009, p. 19). n participants frequencies % 1 examiners 260 76 2 researchers 82 24 total 342 100 43 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 the following extract demonstrates the moderate expedite proficiency of the researcher to initiate repair in over the same turn since he needs extra triggers and more than one turn to get his massaged delivered and repaired: 66 * examiner: were not they are categorized , were not they taken away from their families and put in another groups that are different from . * researcher: but not alone (0.1) theee i mean nonononothing like individually mehhhh was directed toward them. * examiner: huh? * researcher: they were like part of the group, part of the carol that is why i talked in general because they did not have something so unique to distinguish them. * examiner: ok. as a result of the analysis of the participants’ performances of repair, it is found that the staff members produce more repair cases than the researchers in iuvde . 4.5 participants’ repair and correction in this study, the data shows that 339, 99.13 % repair occurrences whereas correction is noticeably a deviating mechanism than that of repair: table 5. frequency and percentages of participants’ repair and correction n types of mechanisms frequency % 1 repair 339 99.13 2 exposed correction 0 0.00 3 embedded correction 3 0.87 total 342 100 the above table clarifies that correction whether exposed or embedded has only three occurrences, 0.87 %. the uncommonness of correction is attributed to its distending capacity of the ongoing talk sequence. moreover, correction is of highly threatening behavior to the interactive atmosphere. additionally, talkers are equipped with copious corrective behaviors of a more gentle and fruitful consequence than correction which is repair organization: 179 *researcher: for example at the very beginning of the paht-part one, we see that hhhhhh i forget heher name. *examiner: what about peter what about peter. *researcher: yeah aaaa i was going to reach that. *examiner: peter is the antagonist of beatrice]. 44 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 *researcher: i was going to reach that but he can be upan antagonist like a major one because his role is so minor even, hhh i do not remember her name in the novel but in the movie kate (once let/was) her her representative hhhh the representative of erudite, yeah the leader of aaa ererudite, yeah. she at the very beginning she was pictured as the antagonist. the above extract illustrates that the other interactor is implicitly correcting without distorting the course of sequence projection. as such, the situation highlights that none of the speakers is shifting the idea to a divergent one. as a result of the analysis and discussion in this section, it is found that repair is the most frequent strategy in the academic discussions. 5. conclusions 5.1 conclusions the following conclusions are arrived at as a result of the analysis and discussion of the study: 1). the practical application of the eclectic model in this study demonstrates that it is comprehensive in that it includes all the sides of repair study and proves its success although it is taken from american, british, and german contexts and applied in the analysis of the participants’ repair strategies in iuvde. this is in harmony with betti (2002, p. 7). 2). the iraqi university staff members in iuvde are proficient in self-repair efficiently. they initiate and use same-turn self-repair operations frequently. 3). the iraqi university staff members and researchers in iuvde use some self-repair strategies which are recycling, deleting, reformatting, replacing, inserting, aborting, sequence jumping, and reordering. 4). the other-repair operations used by staff members and researchers in iuvde are candidate understanding, partial repeats, full repeats, replacement candidate understanding, open class repairs, request for translation and explanation, request for definition and explanation, interrogative words and request for repetition. 5). searching, aborting, sequence jumping, reordering, and parenthesizing as same-turn self-repair operations are the least frequent ones used by the staff members and researchers. 6). incomplete repetition of the trouble source, interrogative words with partial repeats, copular interrogatives, insertion candidate understandings, complex candidate understanding, and continuation candidate understanding have no occurrences in the data. 7). all the types of trajectories exist in iuvde but with different occurrences. self-initiated self-repair trajectory, for instance, is dominant over all the other types of trajectories in iuvde. 8). the data of the study reveals that self-initiated self-repair trajectory is dominant over all the other types of trajectories in iuvde. 9). other-initiated other-repair is of extreme face-threatening functionality in that it is powerful in directing and correcting the other. 10). the level of competence of the researchers is much less than that of the staff members in the data. that is why, the latter have a low number of use of repair strategies. 45 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 11). the participants show a tendency towards repairing the deficiencies of oral interaction in that sufficient repair strategies are accessible to be exploited. 12). correction is an uncommon strategy compared to repair. for that reason, the rarity of correction is attributed to its protruding capacity of the ongoing talk sequence. 13). interruption and overlapping are employed commonly when people practice other-initiated repair. acknowledgements i would like to acknowledge my indebtedness to my wife prof. zainab kadim igaab of the dept. of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar for reading an earlier version of this paper. references 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(2010). the application of context theory in english teaching of reading. english language teaching, 3(1), 142-147. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v3n1p142 appendix (1): transcription system gail jefferson’s conversational analytic transcription system (2004, pp. 24-31 cited in jefferson et al. 2018, pp. xi-xii) n symbols brief description 1 = close talk together but not too much overlapped 2 ˚ ˚ the symbol of encloses represent quiet talk 3 underline the symbol of underling under the words refer to “intonationally stressed” words 4 caps the capitalized letters refer to the production of words loudly 5 s::: the colons indicates to the stretched production of sounds or words 6 .hhh inbreathed production of sounds or words 7 [ ] overlapped talk between some participants 8 (word) two parentheses surrounding some word (s) to refer to the uncertainty of the transcriber in some the transcription of these words 9 ( ) two parentheses with no words to indicate to the transcriber is hearing 55 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41733-2_9 https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2011.544136 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203852347 https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849208765 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1255-1 https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v3n1p142 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 something, but he cannot figure it out 10 (this/that) alternativeness in hearings 11 ((description)) descriptions of things, which are hardly to be represented by symbols such as mobile phone ringing, shuffling papers, baby crying, etc. 12 cucut-off in word or sound 13 (0.6) silence measured by seconds 14 (.) “silence of less than two tenths of a second” 15 ↑ ↓ the arrows present the shift into higher or lower pitch than normal 16 ^ alternative symbol represents the rise to high pitch 17 > < the talk within these symbols is speedy talk 18 h the letter h represents laughter 19 wohhhrd a combination of some h within a word is to represent breathiness 20 (h) the letter h with two parenthesis represent plosiveness of aspiration in talk such as talk with breathlessness, laughter or crying , etc 56 published by scholink inc. original paper abstract 1. introduction to fulfill the aims of the study, an eclectic conversational analytic model is selected from representative theorists and writers and incorporated to describe the repair strategies used by the iraqi university staff members and researchers. the theori... 2.2 definition of repair 1). the trouble source 2). repair initiation 3). repair outcome 2.4 the structural trajectories of repair 2.4.1 self-repair 2.4.1.1 self-initiated self-repair 2.4.1.3 self-repair initiators, interactional uses and operations 2.4.1.3.1 self-repair initiators 2.4.1.3.2 the interactional uses of self-repairs 2.4.1.3.3 operations of same-turn self-repair 1). replacing 2). inserting 3). deleting 4). searching 6). aborting 7). sequence jumping 8). recycling 9). reformatting reformatting is a reformulation of the ongoing structure with just a more or less diverse one by changing the grammatical structure of the turn constructional unit (schegloff, 2013, p. 62; and mihas, 2017, p. 229; and couper-kuhlen‏ & selting, 2018, p... 10). reordering 1). exposed correction 2). embedded correction 2.4.2.3 other-initiated repairs initiators 2). category-specific interrogatives interrogative words with partial repeats makes use of wh-question with interrogative words in that the interrogative words are used to refer to the source of trouble while the partial repeats are used to locate and frame it (egbert, 1998, pp. 171-177). 3). repeats of the trouble source 4). copular interrogatives 2.4.2.4 the interactional uses of other-repair 3.2.1 data recording and transcription 3.2.1.1 data recording 3.2.2 data collection procedures 3.3 data description and context features 3.3.1 data description features there are some parameters of the communicative situation, which designate situations in terms of some features, which are as follows: 1). genre 2). length 3). form 3.3.2 data context features 1). the addresser and the addressee 2). the topic 3). the settings 4). the ends 4.1 the participants’ use of self-repair operations 4.2 the participants’ use of other-repair strategies 4.3 the participants’ trajectories of repair 4.4 the participants’ performance of repair 4.5 participants’ repair and correction microsoft word elsr-v1n1-p61 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 61 original paper psychophysiological characteristics of children with dyslexia pop-jordanova n1*, markovska-simoska s1, loleska s2 & loleski m.3 1macedonian academy of sciences and arts, skopje, north macedonia 2 public health, medical faculty, university “ss. cyril and methodius”, skopje, north macedonia 3 forensics department, skopje, north macedonia * pop-jordanova n, macedonian academy of sciences and arts, skopje, north macedonia received: april 30, 2020 accepted: may 7, 2020 online published: may 12, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n1p61 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n1p61 abstract dyslexia is a specific learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to decoding problems for letters and words. statistics shows that 5-10% of the general population has dyslexia. the aetiology of reading disorder supposes some biological causes and morphological markers useful in the classification and early identification of the problem. the aim of this article is to find appropriate parameters, which will be useful for early diagnosis and finding the right modalities for treatment. our findings about qeeg characteristics are not conclusive. however, slowing of brain activity in dyslexic children appeared to be confirmed. these findings lead to the possible hypothesis of delay in neurological development of these children. significant theta/beta ratio suggest possible comorbidity with adhd. further research with more children included is proposed. keywords dyslexia, children, qeeg, neurogame 1. introduction dyslexia is a specific learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to decoding problems for letters and words. in the fifth revision of dsm (2013) the entity “learning disorders” was changed in “specific learning disorder” including dyslexia, dyscalculia and disorder of written expression. for exact diagnosis of this entity some core criteria must be fulfilled: the difficulty must persist at least 6 months and failed to improve despite intervention made; it must affects academic skills below those which are age-related and expected; the start of the problem must be in school age; other disorder like www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 62 published by scholink inc. intellectual disabilities, auditory and visual problems, as well as other neurological disorder must be excluded. statistics shows that 5-10% of the general population has dyslexia, but this number in some region can be as high as 17%. more precisely, the real incidence varies widely by country. for example, italy registered only a half of the incidence found in the united states, where an estimated 5 to 15 percent of the population may have dyslexia to some degree. scientists supposed that the difference of the incidence depends on the complexity in the language used. for example, english alphabet consists of 44 different sounds which can be differently written and pronounced. having trouble differentiating sounds (phonemes) people have problems in orthography. however, this condition was not understood worldwide until the late 20th century even today. for the experiences in developmental neuropsychology, the acquisition of reading involves two systems: the lexical system (sight-reading) which process familial words, and phonological system, which comprises decoding unfamiliar words. awareness of phonological structure require knowledge of the correspondence letter-sound. developmental analysis can facilitate understanding of how reading disabled children compensate their problem. developmental classification of reading and spelling difficulties clarify the stage where these academic skills are not completed. in this context, reading difficulties are manifested in the stage when advancing from early phase of acquisition, where reading is visually based (logographic), to the alphabetic phase, where letter-sound association are used. in the logographic stage, child lacks strategies to decode unknown words other than by visual approximation to known words. during alphabetic stage the child uses phoneme-grapheme to sound out words, and decode them from the left to right depending of the consistency between letters and sounds. the logographic stage involves instant recognition and have difficulty with nonwords, for which reason the spelling tends to be dysphonetic. the third phase established as orthographic, where features are automatic and flexible; in other words, it is needed the instant analysis into orthographic units (morphemes) without initial phonological conversion (harris, 1998). the aetiology of reading disorder supposes some biological causes and morphological markers useful in the classification and early identification of the problem. post mortem studies confirmed some abnormalities in perinatal brain anatomy and physiology, as well as some neurocortical deficits that lead to disruption of cognitive processing. in some cases, cell migration abnormalities and number on chromosome 15 has been identified. transgenerational appearance of dyslexia in some families supports possible genetic basis of transmission, but exact findings are not yet published. however, several candidate genes for dyslexia susceptibility (e.g., robo1, dcdc2, dyx1c1, kiaa0319) have been suggested, and all of these to play an important role in the brain development (galaburda, loturco, ramus, fitch, & rosen, 2006; hannula-jouppi, kaminen-ahola, taipale, eklund, nopola-hemmi, kaariainen, & kere, 2005; meng, hager, held, page, olson, pennington, & gruen, 2005; skiba, landi, wagner, & grigorenko, 2011). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 63 published by scholink inc. magnetic resonance imaging (mri) studies confirmed some asymmetry of the brain, using planum temporale as a marker (rumsey, dorwart, vermess, denckla, krussi, & rapaport, 1986). in newest studies, mri in children and adults with dyslexia commonly demonstrate hypoactivation in left-hemispheric temporo-parietal, occipital-temporal, and inferior frontal networks. further, reduced functional connectivity among these regions has also been demonstrated. additionally, pet scan studies confirmed abnormalities in cerebral blood flow in the left temporoparietal region (rumsey, 1992). an autoimmune aetiology has been proposed by galaburda et al. (1993): some ischemic injury to the developing cortex produced by autoimmune damage to the wall of the arterial blood vessels supplying involved brain regions might results in scars and malformations and resulting as dyslexia (galaburda & livingstone, 1993). having non-significant markers for dyslexia, eeg recording as a simple, cost-benefit method was largely used worldwide. the slowing of eeg is the most frequent abnormality in children with learning disabilities. in a review paper, chabot et al. (chabot, di michele, prichep, & john, 2001) showed poor eeg rhythm, low-voltage background rhythms (hughes, 1978) and increased generalized slowing (byring & jarvilehto, 1985). abnormalities in children with learning disorders included increased high amplitude atypical alpha, abnormal focal paroxysmal activity, excess focal delta, persistent delta asymmetry, and excessive eeg response to hyperventilation. eeg studies indicate that specific developmental disorders are associated with abnormal eegs in 25% to 43.5% of these children. neuropsychological testing is also used to establish the underlying characteristics of reading disorder. having in mind that reading is a complex function of the nervous system, which require integration of visual and auditory processes, both central and peripheral, boder (boder & jarrico, 1982; boder, 1973) differentiated the following subtypes of dyslexia: dysphonic, dyseidetic, mixed and non-specific reading delay. for exact differentiation of the type, bindelli and chiarenza developed computerized direct test of reading and spelling (dtrs) for italian language, which is a modification of original boder test (chabot, di michele, prichep, & john, 2001). dyslexia is a school problem and it frequently disappears in the adulthood. given what we know now, many famous people may have had dyslexia, including leonardo da vinci, saint teresa, napoleon, winston churchill, carl jung, albert einstein, and thomas edison, as well as steven spielberg, muhammad ali, keira knightley, danny glover and other in a new time. there are evidence-based treatments which are effective, even for adults with the condition (like logopaedic exercises, biofeedback, etc.). comorbidity with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, disruptive problems with impulse-control, conduct disorder, and autism spectrum disorders is frequently found with learning disabilities, especially dyslexia (hendren, haft, black, white, & hoeft, 2018). in macedonian speaking population dyslexia has not been exactly diagnosed until the two last decades. macedonian language comprises letter for every sound and it seems not to be so difficult for reading and writing. but, in the last time, school teachers started to differentiate a group of children with difficulty in reading and writing which not corresponded with the chronological age expectances. in this context, psychologists as well as special educators started with the diagnostics and treatment of these children. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 64 published by scholink inc. unfortunately, in our country the special test for dyslexia does not exists. the most used test is macedonian translation of test developed by kostic, vladisavljevic and popovic (1983) (kostic, vladisavljevic, popovic, & cudov, 1983). some experiences in the assessment of children with dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia in our context, were published by a group of researchers from the institute for special education, ukim, skopje in 2018 (karovska-ristovska, kardaleska, ajdinski, & shurbanovska, 2018). for this reason, and the scarce of data for dyslexia in our country, the aim of this research is to find appropriate parameters, which will be useful for early diagnosis and finding the right modalities for treatment. such parameters would be possible specific abnormalities in eeg recordings, as well as the performances of these children tested with own modality we named as “neurogame” which helps to evaluate concentration, focus attention and reaction time to some tasks. as far as we know, this is the first study that evaluates this issue in our country. 2. method 2.1 sample we selected randomly 10 children diagnosed as dyslexic according to icd-10 and dsm-v criteria, referred by the institute for child mental health in skopje. the diagnostic was made from the team consisted of logopaedist, psychologist, child neurologist, paediatrician as well as child psychiatrist. mean age of boys was 10.2±1.64 years and mean age of girls was 9.2±1.60 years. the written consent was obtained from parents. in the moment of evaluation children were in good health and without any medication 48 hours before recording. 2.2 evaluation eeg was recorded using a mitsar 201 (www.mitsar-medical.com), a pc-controlled 19-channel electroencephalographic system with 19 electrodes, placed according to the international 10-20 system, referenced to linked ears (on the international 10-20 system) with 250 hz sampling rate in 0.5-50 hz frequency range in the following conditions: eyes opened (eo)—5 minutes, and eyes closed (ec)—5 minutes as well as stimuli presentation protocol (visual continuous performance test—vcpt). the obtained data from vcpt, are not aimed for analysis in this paper and this data will be analysed in another paper. the same equipment and procedures were used for children with dyslexia and controls. subjects were tested in a quiet air-conditioned room with the experimenter and recording equipment present. during fitting of the electrodes, subjects were familiarized with the testing equipment and the procedure. vertical electro-oculogram (veog) was recorded with 2 tin electrodes placed 1 cm above and 1 cm below the right eye. eye-blink artifacts were corrected by zeroing the activation curves of individual ica component score responding to eye blinks. in addition, epochs of the filtered electroencephalogram with excessive amplitude (>100 μv) and/or excessively fast (>35 μv in 20-35 hz band) and slow (>50 μv in 0-1 hz band) frequency activities were automatically marked and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 65 published by scholink inc. excluded from further analysis. finally, eeg was manually inspected to verify artifact removal. spectral analysis of relative power using fast fourier transform was carried out for the four frequency bands: delta (0.5-4 hz), theta (4-8 hz), alpha (8-12 hz), and beta (12-20 hz). relative power is represented by the percentage of the amplitude in a given frequency band compared with the total amplitude across all frequency bands. also, we calculated the ratio between theta and beta absolute power in order to obtain the theta-beta ratio (tbr) at cz. in some article it was published that asymmetric feature for qeeg recording was typical for dyslexic children. asymmetry is defined as a functional difference between the left and right hemispheres measured for relative power which exists between the homologous electrodes located on both hemispheres. it was calculated using the following equation: power (left) – power (right) / power (left) + power (right) where power (left) corresponds to the relative power of the electrode located on the left hemisphere, and power (right) to the relative power on the right hemisphere. these asymmetry data were statistically analysed. before the qeeg recording, “neurogame” was applied. our original developed application on android operating system, named “neurogame” is based on an open source platform to enable assessment the focus and concentration, as well as reaction time, with the ability to monitor the progress of the results over a period of time. the testing for all clients was performed in the morning period 8-12 am (hughes, 1978). the complete evaluation of children takes around 2 hours. 2.3 data analysis the statistica statsoft software was used to assess group differences. one-way analysis of variance (anova) was carried out on relative eeg power for each band (delta, theta, alpha beta) in eyes-open condition in 5 regions (frontal [f]: (f3, f4, f7, f8); central [c]: (c3, cz, c4); temporal [t]: (t3, t4, t5, t6), parietal [p]: (p3, pz, p4) and occipital [o]: (o1,o2) regions. additionally, we include and electrodes above broca’s area (f3, f7 and c3) and wernicke’s area (t3, t5 and p3). group (dyslexia and control) was the between-subject factor. for some estimations because of the small sample size, the non-parametric mann-whitney u test was used to lower variability in the groups. the level of significance was set at p < .05. 3. results as mentioned before, the evaluated sample is small, consisting of 10 children, where mean age of boys was 10.2±1.64 years and mean age of girls was 9.2±1.60 years. the results are compared with matched control group consisting of 10 children with normo-typical development without any learning problems or neurodevelopmental delay. mean age of boys in the control group was 10.4±1.84 years and mean www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 66 published by scholink inc. age of girls 9.8±1.30 years. they are paired with the examined group according to the age and gender without any significant difference (current effect: f (1, 18) = .19240, p = .66615). relative eeg power was estimated in eyes open condition, because in eyes closed condition alpha power usually prevails the other frequencies. results obtained for delta and theta waves in frontal, central and temporal position are presented on figure 1. as can be seen central, temporal, parietal and occipital slow waves are significantly greater in dyslexic children in comparison to control group (see graphs for p values). group; ls means wilks lambda=.68796, f(4, 15)=1.7009, p=.20208 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals f3 delta f4 delta f7 delta f8 delta dyslexia control group group 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 group; ls means wilks lambda=.45895, f(4, 15)=4.4208, p=.01470 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals f3 theta f4 theta f7 theta f8 theta dyslexia control group group 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 group; ls means wilks lambda=.56551, f(3, 16)=4.0977, p=.02459 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals c3 delta cz delta c4 delta dyslexia control group group 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 group; ls means wilks lambda=.86437, f(3, 16)=.83686, p=.49323 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals c3 theta cz theta c4 theta dyslexia control group group 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 group; ls means wilks lambda=.45356, f(4, 15)=4.5180, p=.01356 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals t3 delta t4 delta t5 delta t6 delta dyslexia control group group 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 group; ls means wilks lambda=.81741, f(4, 15)=.83765, p=.52233 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals t3 theta t4 theta t5 theta t6 theta dyslexia control group group 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 67 published by scholink inc. group; ls means wilks lambda=.60939, f(3, 16)=3.4186, p=.04290 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals delta p3 delta pz delta p4 dyslexia control group group 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 group; ls means wilks lambda=.86695, f(3, 16)=.81850, p=.50242 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals theta p3 theta pz theta p4 dyslexia control group group 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 group; ls means wilks lambda=.65220, f(2, 17)=4.5328, p=.02644 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals delta o1 delta o2 dyslexia control group group 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 group; ls means wilks lambda=.49892, f(2, 17)=8.5368, p=.00271 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals theta o1 theta o2 dyslexia control group group 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 figure 1. relative power for delta and theta in eyes open condition for compared groups in frontal, central, temporal, parietal and occipital positions for alpha (frontal, central and temporal) and beta we obtained almost the same results for both groups without any significance (figure 2). group; ls means wilks lambda=.65914, f(4, 15)=1.9392, p=.15609 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals f3 alpha f4 alpha f7 alpha f8 alpha dyslexia control group group 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 group; ls means wilks lambda=.75501, f(4, 15)=1.2169, p=.34479 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals f3 beta f4 beta f7 beta f8 beta dyslexia control group group 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 68 published by scholink inc. group; ls means wilks lambda=.91925, f(3, 16)=.46852, p=.70836 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals c3 alpha cz alpha c4 alpha dyslexia control group group 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 group; ls means wilks lambda=.62919, f(3, 16)=3.1432, p=.05431 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals c3 beta cz beta c4 beta dyslexia control group group 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 group; ls means wilks lambda=.89210, f(4, 15)=.45357, p=.76842 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals t3 alpha t4 alpha t5 alpha t6 alpha dyslexia control group group 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 group; ls means wilks lambda=.79533, f(4, 15)=.96503, p=.45508 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals t3 beta t4 beta t5 beta t6 beta dyslexia control group group 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 group; ls means wilks lambda=.98935, f(3, 16)=.05741, p=.98128 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals alpha p3 alpha pz alpha p4 dyslexia control group group 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 group; ls means wilks lambda=.85304, f(3, 16)=.91884, p=.45405 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals beta p3 beta pz beta p4 dyslexia control group group 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20   group; ls means wilks lambda=.69916, f(2, 17)=3.6574, p=.04774 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals alpha o1 alpha o2 dyslexia control group group 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 group; ls means wilks lambda=.60977, f(2, 17)=5.4396, p=.01493 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals beta o1 beta o2 dyslexia control group group 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 figure 2. comparison of alpha and beta power between dyslexic and normal control groups www.s publish table delta theta alpha beta for f comp scholink.org/ojs/ind hed by scholink e 1. significan a a f (1,18) = 5.7 ared to control dex.php/elsr inc. nt differences i d i d i g i g 346, p = 0.02 ls (figure 3). fig educatio between gro in central, tem delta in dyslex in frontal regio dyslexia group in occipital reg group in occipital reg group 2702 delta in ure 3. relativ on, language and s 69 oups mporal, parietal xia group>con on and occipita p>control gro gion relative p gion relative p broca’a area ve power in br sociology research l and occipital ntrol group al region relati oup ower of alpha ower of beta in is significantl roca’s area h v region relative ive power of th in dyslexia gr n dyslexia gro ly higher in d vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 e power of heta in roup<control oup<control dyslexia group p www.s publish as ca topog peak = .752 scholink.org/ojs/ind hed by scholink an be seen, sl graphies of con frequencies of 259, f (4, 15) = figur dex.php/elsr inc. figur low waves are ntrol children b f brain waves = 1.2328, p = re 5. average educatio re 4. relative e higher in dy but without sta showed no sig .33875) (figur peak freque on, language and s 70 power in wer yslexic group; atistical signific gnificant differ re 5). ency bands for sociology research rnicke’s area results for be cance. rences betwee r two compa h v a eta values are n the groups ( ared samples vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 e higher in all (wilks lambda l a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 71 published by scholink inc. figure 6. nonparametric mann-whitney u test for delta and theta waves in broca’s and wernicke’s areas from figure 6 it is clear that significant differences in dyslexic group was found for delta and theta waves in broca’s area, bur only for delta in wernicke’s area. additionally, we have calculated theta/beta ratio for dyslexic and control group of children. obtained results showed that there is significant higher theta/beta ratio in the group of dyslexic children in comparison to control group p < 0.05 (figure 7). following previous experience, these corresponds to adhd marker even in dyslexic group. group; ls means current effect: f(1, 18)=4.5721, p=.04646 effective hypothesis decomposition vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals dyslexia control group group 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 t he ta /b et a ra tio figure 7. theta/beta ratio in dyslexic and control group topographic maps of brain waves for both evaluated groups are presented in figure 8. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 72 published by scholink inc. children with dyslexia control group figure 8. topographic maps of brain waves for dyslexic versus control group topographic maps confirmed that in dyslexic children (left) there is more theta and alpha and less beta compared to children with normal typical development (right). children with dyslexia have higher theta of 6.35hz frontally and in temporal areas of 7.57hz. there is less alpha (10hz) and beta (14.88hz). also, the alpha as a sign of maturation is not well differentiated from theta in dyslexic group. results for graphs of eeg power spectra are presented on figure 9. dyslexia control group figure 9. spectra power comparison www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 73 published by scholink inc. figure 10. topographic maps for asymmetry (left-group with dyslexia; right-control group) even without statistical difference for asymmetry, the topographic maps show that there is more asymmetry between hemispheres for dyslexic group compared to control group, especially for temporal and parietal areas. the testing with “neurogame” was applied in children with dyslexia and results were compared with sample of school healthy children (table 2) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 74 published by scholink inc. table 2. descriptive statistics dyslexia vs. healthy variable mean minimum maximum stand. dev t t 182 141 214 20.07 healthy 128 0 336 102.77 dyslexic t h 47.16 8 80 26.99 healthy 14.4 0 39 15.5 dyslexic t m 134.83 94 189 26.93 healthy 113.66 0 299 91.412 dyslexic t h 328.33 189 422 78.88 healthy 329.88 0 578 207.64 dyslexic t t = max. tries; t h = max. hits; t m = max misses; t h = max time). calculated student t-test for parameters between groups is presented on figure 11. it is clear that only time for maximum hits is statistically significant; all other parameters are similar for both groups. t-test for independent samples (dyslexia vs healthy) note: variables were treated as independent samples group 1 vs. group 2 mean group 1 mean group 2 t-value df p std.dev. group 1 std.dev. group 2 f-ratio variances p variances t t vs. t t t h vs. t h t m vs. t m t h vs. t h 128.1111 182.0000 -1.7862 19 0.090035 102.7782 20.07260 26.2177 0.000008 14.4444 47.1667 -3.2447 19 0.004264 15.5009 26.99439 3.0327 0.126178 113.6667 134.8333 -0.7649 19 0.453750 91.4166 26.93033 11.5230 0.000468 329.8889 328.3333 0.0239 19 0.981169 207.6454 78.88926 6.9280 0.004460 figure 11. t-test for independent samples (dyslexia vs healthy) generally, results obtained with “neurogame” are similar for dyslexic children and matched control healthy school children. 4. discussion a wide range of research has investigated what people understand about dyslexia. in this context, electrophysiological measures of brain function are used as effective tools to understand neurocognitive phenomena and as sensitive indicators of pathophysiological processes of this disorder. the aim of the present study was to examine group differences in spontaneous oscillatory brain activity during a resting (eyes opened) condition. eeg power was examined across all frequency bands in children with dyslexia and contrasted to neurotypical children. as presented, our group of dyslexic children did not differ significantly for results obtained by qeeg. it is obvious that the only difference is general slowing in brain activity and significantly higher theta/beta ratio found in dyslexic group. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 75 published by scholink inc. long time ago, the qeeg parameters were used to differentiated between children with learning disorders (ld) and those with good academic achievement (hendren, haft, black, white, & hoeft, 2018; harmony et al., 1990; jäncke & alahmadi, 2016; john, prichep, ahn, easton, fridman, & kaye, 1983; karovska-ristovska, kardaleska, ajdinski, & shurbanovska, 2018). ld children are characterized by more power in the theta band and less amount of power in the range of alpha frequencies (kostic, vladisavljevic, popovic, & cudov, 1983; knight, 2018; loleski, loleskа, & pop-jordanova, 2017; lubar, bianchini, calhoun, lambert, brody, & shabsin, 1985; marosi, 1992; marosi, 1997; marosi et al., 1992; meng, hager, held, page, olson, pennington, & gruen, 2005). even increases in power in the delta band have also been observed in cases with severe difficulties (harmony et al., 1990). furthermore, jäncke and alahmadi (2016) (jäncke & alahmadi, 2016), showed significant qeeg differences between children with ld-nos (not otherwise specified), those with learning disabilities with verbal disabilities (ld-verbal), and healthy controls. the features were selected by using a group independent component analysis (gica) model. finally, in the study by roca-stappung et al. (2017) (turker, reiterer, preisler, & schneider, 2017) it was shown that qeeg parameters differed between subtypes of ld-nos in which group dyslexic children belong. bosch-bayard j. and all (bosch-bayard et al., 2018; bosch-bayard, peluso, galan, valdes sosa, & chiarenza, 2018) applied specific methodology to find an optimal predictor of ld-nos disability severity based on a reduced set of qeeg variables that may be of use in real world screening settings. they divided nonspecific learning disabilities in three subgroups each with eeg characteristics related to the cognitive scores. in a very large and significant study of bosch-bayard j. et all. chiarenza (bosch-bayard, peluso, galan, valdes sosa, & chiarenza, 2018), children with dysphonetic dyslexia showed significant excess in delta band in the middle line (fz, cz and pz), as well as fp2 and the occipital leads bilaterally (o1 and o2). a significant excess in high theta (6-7.5 hz) and low alpha (7.5-8.5 hz) bands was also present in the fz, cz and fp2. fz, cz and pz also showed significant excess of activity in the dyslexic group. however, a significant reduction of high alpha (11-12.5 hz) activity was present in the dyslexic group bilaterally in f3, c3, c4 and in p3 but more pronounced in the left leads. additionally, significant reduction was also present in the left leads f7, f3, c3, p3 and t5. having in mind the work of broca and wernicke and more recently those of language production as well as specific aspects of syntactic processing which are primarily localized in the left hemisphere, the left hemispheric localisation of abnormalities are expected. papagiannopoulou and lagopoulos (papagiannopoulou & lagopoulos, 2016) find a presence of an atypical linguistic network in dyslexic children where dominance of theta activity in the left frontal region implicated delayed maturation and abnormal hypoarousal mechanisms. the results of these analyses revealed significantly increased theta power for the dyslexia group (when compared to controls) in frontal brain regions, the scalp topography corresponding to broca’s area and greater theta power in the left hemisphere. children with dyslexia also had significantly increased slow www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 76 published by scholink inc. wave activity (for both delta and theta), in broca’s compared to wernicke’s area, which was in direct contrast to the control children who did not exhibit any asymmetry across these two areas. children with dyslexia also had significantly decreased eeg power on the left for alpha2 and beta frequency bands, but had significantly increased eeg power in the left hemisphere for the theta band. our analysis for asymmetry of relative power did not confirmed any hemispheric asymmetry in dyslexic children. oscillatory dynamics of brain activity during processing of words and non-words was analysed thought analysis of eeg signals. starting from the knowledge that reading is a complex cognitive skill sub served by a distributed network of visual and language-related regions, žarić g. et al. (žarić, 2017) investigated whether directed connectivity during reading scales with the level of dysfluency in dyslexic children exist. obtained results of this study suggest disrupted visual processing of words in both dyslexic groups, together with a compensatory recruitment of right posterior brain regions. functional connectivity in the brain’s reading network may thus depend on the level of reading dysfluency beyond group differences between dyslexic and typical readers. the finding that the functional connectivity pattern in dyslexic children is related to their reading level, may in part explain the mixed results obtained in previous functional connectivity studies of dyslexia. recent research has shown that the morphology of certain brain regions may correlate with a number of cognitive skills such as musicality or language ability. in a study of turker s. et al. (skiba, landi, wagner, & grigorenko, 2011) the aim was to explore the extent to which foreign language aptitude, in particular phonetic coding ability, is influenced by the morphology of heschl’s gyrus (auditory cortex), working memory capacity, and musical ability. study showed the importance of the right hemisphere for language processing, especially when linked or common resources are involved, such as the inter-dependency between phonetic and musical aptitude. although there is no doubt that numerous external variables influence the development of language and musical skills, authors of this study supported the claim that there are strong innate and/or prenatally determined neurological factors that remain to be uncovered in the next decades. given that reported rates range for dyslexia are from of 4% to 20%, it is of great importance that teachers have an accurate understanding of what dyslexia is and how it effects their students. in the study of cathryn knight (knight, 2018) it was demonstrated that teachers held only a basic understanding of dyslexia, based on the behavioral issues that it is associated with. teachers lacked the knowledge of the biological (i.e., neurological) and cognitive (i.e., processing) aspects of dyslexia. additionally, teacher training, which informs teachers of the up-to-date research on the biological, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of dyslexia, is essential to combat misconceptions and ensure that teachers have more nuanced and informed understandings of dyslexia. there is emerging evidence that neuroimaging measures, combined with key behavioral measures, can enhance the accuracy of identification of dyslexia risk in prereading children but its sensitivity, specificity, and cost-efficiency is still unclear. early identification of dyslexia risk carries important www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 77 published by scholink inc. implications for dyslexia remediation and the amelioration of the psychosocial consequences commonly associated with reading failure. structural mri studies have demonstrated atypicality within the dorsal and ventral reading networks and functional mri studies have shown reduced neural processing of phonological, rapid auditory, and orthographic information in these networks. despite the progress in studies for reading difficulties we are still far from having reliable biomarkers of dyslexia. comorbidity make dyslexia very difficult for many treatment procedures. in our study, we also confirmed possible comorbidity with adhd obtaining significantly higher theta/beta ratio in a group diagnosed as dyslexia. 5. conclusion studies devoted to dyslexia are enormous and gives different interpretation about the aetiology. not yet uniform conclusions about specific neurophysiological aspect exist. our finding about qeeg characteristics are not conclusive. however, slowing of brain activity in dyslexic children appeared to be confirmed. this finding lead to the possible hypothesis of delay in neurological development of these children. significant theta/beta ratio suggest comorbidity with adhd. the small sample size that we have evaluated must stimulate further research with more sophisticated analyses of the results. acknowledgements great thanks to prof. giuseppe chiarenza, president of the international centre for learning, attention and hyperactivity disorders (cidaai) who stimulate our concern about dyslexia in our country, as well as to support the construction of modality we named “neurogame”. references becker, j., velasco, m., & harmony, t. 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(1978). electroencephalographic and neurophysiological studies in dyslexia. in a. benton, & d. peal (eds.), dyslexia: an appraisal of current knowledge (pp. 207-240). oxford university press, new york, ny, usa. hendren, r. l., haft, s. l., black, j. m., white, n. c., & hoeft, f. (2018). recognizing psychiatric comorbidity with reading disorders. front psychiatry, 9, 101. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00101 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 79 published by scholink inc. harmony, t. et al. (1990). correlation between eeg spectral parameters and an educational evaluation. int. j. neurosci., 54, 147-156. https://doi.org/10.3109/00207459008986630 jäncke, l., & alahmadi, n. (2016). resting state eeg in children with learning disabilities. clin. eeg neurosci., 47, 24-36. https://doi.org/10.1177/1550059415612622 john, e. r., prichep, l. s., ahn, h., easton, p., fridman, j., & kaye h. (1983). neurometric evaluation of cognitive dysfunctions and neurological disorders in children. prog. neurobiol., 21, 239-290. https://doi.org/10.1016/0301-0082(83)90014-x karovska-ristovska, a., kardaleska, l. j., ajdinski, g., & shurbanovska, o. (2018). assessment and working strategies with pupils with dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and dyspraxia. university st kirill’s and metodij, faculty for philosophy, skopje. kostic, g., vladisavljevic, s., popovic, m., & cudov, m. (1983). zavod za udzbenike i nastavna sredstva, beograd. knight, c. (2018). what is dyslexia? an exploration of the relationship between teachers’ understandings of dyslexia and their training experiences. dyslexia (chichester, england), 24(3), 207-219. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.1593 loleski, m., loleskа, s., & pop-jordanova, n. (2017). mobile application “neurogame” for assessment the attention, focus and concentration. contributions. sec. of med. sci., xxxviii(3), 55-62. https://doi.org/10.2478/prilozi-2018-0006 lubar, j. f., bianchini, k. j., calhoun, w. h., lambert, e. w., brody, z. h., & shabsin, h. s. (1985). spectral analysis of eeg differences between children with and without learning disabilities. j. learn. disabil., 18, 403-408. https://doi.org/10.1177/002221948501800708 marosi, e., harmony, t., sánchez, l., becker, j., bernal, j., reyes, a., … rodríguez m. (1992). maturation of the coherence of eeg activity in normal and learning-disabled children. electroencephalogr. clin. neurophysiol, 83, 350-357. https://doi.org/10.1016/0013-4694(92)90070-x marosi, e., harmony, t., reyes, a., bernal, j., fernández, t., guerrero, v., … rodríguez h. 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(2016). resting state eeg hemispheric power asymmetry in children with dyslexia. front. pediatr. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2016.00011 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 80 published by scholink inc. rumsey, j. m., dorwart, r., vermess, m., denckla, m. b., krussi, m. j., & rapaport, j. i. (1986). magnetic resonance imaging in brain anatomy in severe developmental dyslexia. archive of neurology, 43, 1045-1046. https://doi.org/10.1001/archneur.1986.00520100053014 rumsey, j. m., andreason, p., zametkin, a. j., aquino, t., king, a. c., hamburger, c. d., … cohen, r. m. (1992). failure to activate the left temporoparietal cortex in dyslexia. an oxygen 15 position emission tomographic study. archive of neurology, 49, 527-534. https://doi.org/10.1001/archneur.1992.00530290115020 roca-stappung, m., fernández, t., bosch-bayard, j., harmony, t., & ricardo-garcell, j. (2017). electroencephalographic characterization of subgroups of children with learning disorders. plos one, 12, e0179556. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179556 skiba, t., landi, n., wagner, r., & grigorenko, e. l. (2011). in search of the perfect phenotype: an analysis of linkage and association studies of reading and reading-related processes. behav genet., 41, 6-30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-011-9444-7 turker, s., reiterer, s., preisler, a., & schneider, p. (2017). “when music speaks”: auditory cortex morphology as a neuroanatomical marker of language aptitude and musicality. frontiers in psychology, 8, article 2096. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02096 taboada-crispi, a. et al. (2018). quantitative eeg tomography of early childhood malnutrition. front neurosci, 12, 595. published 2018 aug 28. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2018.00595 žarić, g. et al. (2017). altered patterns of directed connectivity within the reading network of dyslexic children and their relation to reading dysfluency. dev. cogn. neurosci., 23, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2016.11.003 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper impacts of drug addiction on adolescents in bangladesh: an empirical study tanhatabassum anika1 1 lecturer, prince nursing college, savar, dhaka, bangladesh received: may 15, 2025 accepted: may 29, 2025 online published: june 11, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p1 abstract drug addiction is turning into a national problem from the social problem. it creates many other problems. this study will be conducted to identify the core cause of drug addiction in adolescents in bangladesh. to conduct this research, a questionnaire survey and case study was conducted among 30 teenagers, including 25 boys and 5 girls whose age limit were between 18 to 30. the case study tried to bring out the core factor responsible for the drug addiction of adolescents and the questionnaire survey showed the people’s perception toward drug addiction. research findings suggested that the influence of peer groups, weak family bonding, affluence and shortage of money are the key factors for the drug addiction of adolescents in bangladesh. data were collected from the national institute of mental health (nimh), sher-e-bangla nagar, dhaka. keywords drug addiction, adolescents, social problem, bangladesh 1. introduction drugs were used by primitive people in religious rituals to combat or naturalize various taboos. throughout the ages significant number of substances were used to treat disease but only a few of these substances had direct influences on the symptoms of disease. the american indians extracted drugs like medicine from dessert plants, to enable them to communicate with their dead ancestors. continued study and refinement of this product give medical science a great variety of drugs and medicines unfortunately many of these substances have dangerous and damaging effects on the body when used indiscriminately. as there is the increased use of such drugs by medical professionals there is a growing tendency for people in general to use drugs without a prescription or medical purpose. medical use of drugs has always existed in bangladesh as elsewhere but the present form of drug dependence among the youth of the country was little known to people before 1960. the abuse of heroin www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 2 published by scholink inc. was first detected in dhaka in 1984. in the economically deprived community cannabis, depressants and opiates were found to be the agents of choice & among more affluent young people cannabis, lsd and depressants were used extensively. in 1994 the bangladesh government banned the consumption of opium and closed the opium veneering in the country. bangladesh experienced a dramatic change in this field during the last decade. early identification of the cause of drug addiction might help develop a program for the reduction and prevention of the problem in the country. according to family health international around 50 lac people of bangladesh are drug addicted. the world health organization (who) estimates that about 50 crore people in the world are affected by the abuse of drugs. when a man is affected by drugs he cannot come out from this practice. he lost his control over himself. the present study has been undertaken to investigate drug addiction among adolescents in bangladesh. a total of 30 addicts have been sampled from the national institute of mental health (nimh) in which boys and girls come from different districts of the country. those adolescents are students, service holders, businessmen, vehicle drivers, rickshaw pullers, farmers, day labourers and unemployed; and their ages range from 13 to 19 years. a purposive sampling procedure has been followed to sample out the subjects (addicts). questionnaires have been used to gather information about the addicts and these questionnaires have been prepared by the researcher. while doing so, help has been taken from questionnaires. the subjects have been interviewed with questionnaires to get information about addicts. adolescence is a period of critical development in the brain and body. developmental changes in the brain lead to adolescents exhibiting heightened impulsiveness, which can lead to risky behaviours that may have long-term consequences. in particular, the use of both licit and illicit substances in adolescence can produce both acute and enduring effects on brain function and behaviour. of great concern is the fact that the prevalence of substance use disorders as an adult is greater if substance use is initiated during adolescence, however, other issues can persist into adulthood both related and unrelated to continued use. alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine are among the most commonly used substances in adolescents, in part due to their availability, perceived lack of risk, and use in social settings. the most common drugs used in bangladesh are stimulant drugs. more and more people are beginning to use themmiddle-aged people, old people, house wires, young girls, university students, even high school students (especially english medium students). these teens are ignorant about drugs. some of them cannot tell the difference between stimulants and marijuana. at first, they put the drugs into the drink. they do not even know which drugs are dangerous. it is easy for teenagers to get drugs. they can shy them from friends who do not think it is wrong to sell them, or they can get them from foreigners. they buy drugs called “speed, tiger, yaba” they know it is a type of drink to tablet which give refreshment to study and mind, which they do not think is dangerous. they do not realize that it is dangerous. there is a larger number of young using drugs. according to the police, in the last 3 or 2 years many more teens have been arrested for using drugs than ever before. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 3 published by scholink inc. nowadays nearly ten per cent of outpatients in our hospitals are cases of drug addiction involving heroin, ganja and phenyl. these are generally youths and young men between 15-30 years of age and come from all strata of the society. but there are adolescents below 15 years of age and men and women over 30. hospital surveys show that the average age of drug addicts is 22. the addicts are students, professionals, businessmen, labourers, rickshaw pullers and from other professions. students are most affected and drugs have caused a deterioration in standards of education students have also given up going to schools and colleges. these addicts are turning to various criminal activities, to procure drugs. the most common drugs used in bangladesh are stimulant drugs. these teens are ignorant about drugs. some of them cannot tell the difference between stimulants and marijuana. at first, they put the drugs into drinks. they do not even know which drugs are dangerous. it is easy for teenagers to get the drugs. they can buy them from friends who do bnot think it is wrong to sell them, or they can get them from foreigners. they buy drugs called “speed, tiger, yaba” they know it’s a type of drink or tablet which gives refreshment to study and mind, which they do not think is dangerous. they do not realize that it is dangerous. there is a larger number of young using drugs. drug addiction has grabbed not only the youth but it has grabbed the social leaders. in the present situation, we need to strengthen family and social values and religious ethics to maintain a stable and drug-free society. we believe that there is a lot to do to stop this social malaise now before another dangerous symptom appears which aids is. after doing all these we can get our drug-free bangladesh. children are the beloved of their parents. suspicions of one’s child engaged in immoral and criminal activities are a source of the utmost heartache for the parents. yet for this very reason, children must be kept under close observation. behavioural and emotional changes are common in adolescents and young men. however long-standing changes and rapid shifts in mood need specialist doctors’ attention and investigation. heroin addicts live in a dream world, unconnected with realism and the environment around them. they lose attentiveness, live alone, and are irritated by interference and contact with nonaddicts or other addicts. they rub their eyes and legs and lose their appetite rapidly. 2. factors affecting drug and substance abuse peer pressure is one of the key factors affecting drug and substance abuse. world drug report indicated that drug users seek approval from their peers to join their habit as a way of seeking acceptance. the majority of the students in universities and colleges are surrounded by their peers who are experimenting for recreational purposes. this factor is further fueled by the desire to experience something unique. students in universities are normally in the process of exploring different aspects of their lives in a new environment, it is common for them to dig deep into drug and substance experimentation. being away from their friends and families creates a need to fit in with the majority of them feeling the best way to fit in is to be like the rest of the students, attend parties organized in school, and get drunk and high. the lack of guardian monitoring and supervision provides unlimited freedom to most university students to act or behave as they please, making them vulnerable to trying out drugs. drug and substance abuse was www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 4 published by scholink inc. more prevalent among students in the third year and fourth years as compared to those in the first and second years. this was because the majority of the first-year students lacked exposure to freedom and drug and substance abuse and were aware they were in a christian university environment. upbringing plays a major role in drug and substance use and abuse. the more members of a household who engage in drug and substance abuse, the greater the chances that the younger members of that family students will engage in drug and substance abuse. parents are not only role models for their children’s behaviour, but also older siblings have an impact on their younger siblings by involving them in drug and substance abuse activities such as getting them alcohol, beer or a pack of cigarettes. according to a study done in a christian university, the majority of the respondents involved in drug use and substance abuse had witnessed their father’s using alcohol and abusing other drugs implying that parents’ drug use and substance abuse was also a major influential factor in drugs and substance abuse in their children especially as they are experiencing their youth. it also indicated that parents are neglecting their responsibilities in raising the youth leaving them to influence their characters and behaviours through the media. having trouble in school, exams and lack of tuition fees have been proven to cause stress to university and college students. students believe that the best way to relieve stress and forget negative thoughts is to use drugs and substances. university students who try to balance between course workload and parttime jobs are most likely to rely on drugs as a coping mechanism. despite the course work overload, part-time jobs, attachments, internships, and practicums long hours, it has been noted that the majority of the students in the health and science schools have more pessimistic attitudes leading them to be prone and vulnerable to drug and substance abuse. anxiety and uncertainties of becoming adults among the majority of the students in higher learning institutions were also found to be a leading cause of the youth engaging in drug and substance abuse. this was due to the everyday challenges faced in life and the problems that come with it such as new responsibilities and financial freedom. loneliness because of abandonment either by a parent, girlfriend, boyfriend or friend brought about drug and substance abuse as a means to escape the constant pain and hurt of being abandoned. students still dealing with child trauma such as neglect, and physical, sexual and emotional abuse are most likely to engage in drug and substance abuse. 3. effect of drug and substance abuse drug abuse is a growing social problem which endangers abuser’s health and productivity. every abused drug influences the abuser in the short term or long term. a user’s mental abilities such as judgment are severely impaired by the use of drugs in addition to the exposure of the user to addiction and diseases. drugs and substance abuse can alter a person’s thinking and judgment, leading to health risks, including addiction, drugged driving, and infectious diseases. alcohol abuse and addiction can also lead to destructive behavior such as driving under the influence of alcohol and domestic violence. the side effects of alcohol abuse include a hangover, in which headaches, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 5 published by scholink inc. nausea, and vomiting continue after a drinker is no longer intoxicated or experiencing the alcohol high. weight gain and high blood pressure can result from repeated overconsumption of alcohol, and longterm overconsumption of alcohol can raise the risk of depression, liver damage, cancer, depression of the immune system, and reduced sexual performance. alcohol use can also have serious consequences for expecting and breastfeeding mothers and their babies, including fetal alcohol syndrome. drugs can disrupt a person’s ability to think and communicate rationally, or even to recognize reality, sometimes resulting in bizarre or dangerous behaviour. hallucinogens and dissociative drugs which have street names like acid, angel dust, and vitamin k, distort the way a user perceives time, motion, colors, sounds and self. ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic tea made in the amazon from a dmt-containing plant (psychotria viridis) along with another vine that prevents the natural breakdown of dmt in the digestive system, thereby enhancing serotonergic activity. ayahuasca causes emotions to swing wildly and realworld sensations to appear unreal, sometimes frightening. dissociative drugs like phencyclidine (pcp) ketamine, dextromethorphan, and salvia divinorum may make a user feel out of control and disconnected from their body and environment. marijuana is also called weed, herb, pot, grass, bud, ganja and mary jane. marijuana is made from the hemp plant, cannabis sativa. marijuana impairs short-term memory and judgment and distorts perception; it can impair performance in school or at work and make it dangerous to drive. it also affects brain systems that are still maturing through young adulthood, so regular use by teens may have negative and long-lasting effects on their cognitive development, putting them at a competitive disadvantage and possibly interfering with their well-being in other ways. also, contrary to popular belief, marijuana can be addictive, and its use during adolescence may make other forms of addiction more likely. short-term effects include enhanced sensory perception and euphoria followed by drowsiness/relaxation; slowed reaction time; problems with balance and coordination; increased heart rate and appetite; problems with learning and memory and anxiety. 4. literature review a drug is a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention or diagnosis of disease or used otherwise to enhance physical or mental well-being. in the united states, the federal food, drug and cosmetic act’s definition of the drug includes. articles indented for use in diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease in men or other animals. articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man on another animal. the menace of drug misuse and abuse is increasing globally day by day and hyderabad being one of the large cities of pakistan is experiencing this practice widely. psychoactive drugs, sedatives, hypnotics, antibiotics, multivitamins, laxatives, heavy tonics, steroids, antacids, cough syrups analgesics etc., are commonly misused and abused in our society. among these, psychoactive agents and antibiotics are the most frequently misused and abused drugs. psychoactive agents have great potential for physiological and psychological addiction; hence the users continuously use them to coup the situation of anxiety, insomnia, depression and pain. it has been www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 6 published by scholink inc. observed that repeated use of such agents creates tolerance, which leads to frequent increases in the dose of the drug. on the other hand, misuse of antibiotics leads to microbial resistance ultimately leading to decreased efficiency of the drug in a particular family or community. self-medication and over-medication have become the norm; self-medication is risky highly unsafe and at times dangerous too leading to misuse and abuse as well. non-medically qualified people are not able to judge the correct use of medication or determine the dose, nor are they aware of the risks involved in drug misuse and abuse. this is because all the drugs which are available in the market have great potential to be misused and abused. drug use and abuse are serious problems in the world. at present, people are taking drugs all over the world without thinking about the severe effects. drug use is becoming a major issue all over the world, following the introduction of heroin and related substances. almost every day one can hardly miss news or information on drug abuse, drug trafficking, or people caught in some kind of drug business, both at national and international levels. many people use the terms ‘drug use’ ‘substance abuse’ and ‘drug abuse’ interchangeably. however, the term ‘drug’ is mainly used to refer to medicine, while substance abuse may include chemicals other than drugs, i.e., gasoline, cleaning fluids, glue, and other chemicals (hendrikz, 1986) there is a common misconception that drug abuse has to do primarily with illegal drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, and heroin; or with illicit use of prescriptions and medication. many types of drugs may be abused. for example, chloroquine and aspirin are drugs which are commonly abused and they may be fatal. chloroquine is at times used by girls for abortion. some people are said to combine aspirin and alcohol for a stronger drink. also, youths abuse substances such as gasoline, cleaning fluids, glue and other chemicals. therefore, not all abused chemicals are drugs (possi, 1996). drug abuse is defined as the use of a mood-altering drug to change the way one feels. drugs may be abused by inhaling, sniffing, swallowing, or injecting into oneself. the drug may be legal or illegal, all the same, it may be used for legitimate or medical reasons (van cleve, et al., 1978). young people abuse drugs due to complex social and peer group influence, frustration, depression, curiosity, and sub-cultural and psychological environments that induce the youths to take drugs. the effects of drug abuse are felt on many levels: personal, friends, family and societal. drug addiction leads to the disintegration of family lies. the drug addicts in a threat to the family because of the hostile behavior of the drug abuser the family is at risk. normal activities of the family are disrupted due to the antisocial activities of the abuser. the drug addict youth drop out from school/college or university education. the service holder loses his job because of irregularities. social isolation and alienation are very common. a family of the drug addict became isolated from the community the drug abuser swallows the lion’s share of the family income because of buying drugs (shazzad, et al., 2013). hasam and mushahid (2017) explore the causes of drug addiction in the urban life of sylhet city in bangladesh and suggest that a man can become addicted to drugs by the influence of frustration and peer groups not influenced by parental drug addiction. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 7 published by scholink inc. hossain and mamun (2006) observed that drug addicts are involved in various social offences such as stealing, hijacking, pickpocketing etc. and also indulge in unethical and immoral activities for collecting money to procure drugs. zaman et al. (2013) carried out a cross-sectional study among 120 students of national ideal school in dhaka city bangladesh and suggested that secondary school students have poor knowledge about the effects of drug abuse. azad et al., (2010) surveyed the students of different public and private universities in bangladesh and found that smoking is associated with overall poor health and a variety of short-term adverse health effects among the students and may also be a marker for underlying mental health problems, such as depression among adolescents. they also found that causes likepeer pressure; attractive advertising, desire to look mature etc. encourage young people to smoke. akhter (2012) found that approximately 17% of the female residential students of dhaka university are substance abusers. she also observed that substance abuse is significantly associated with disturbed family peace, lack of attention from the parents and a wide array of frustration regarding studies and the future. sani (2010) says that the students mainly took drugs to have fun or just for the sake of curiosity through their treatment-taking attitude was at a very low stage. some previous studies have shown that students of different educational institutions are going to be addicted. thus, the present study attempts to get an idea of drug addiction in the undergraduate students of bangladesh. in the department of narcotic control’s (dnc) 2014 annual report, the most recent one available, they estimated that 88% of drug users were aged below 40 (thompson, 2017). a study in sylhet city, released this year, found 55% of drug users were aged 22-29. the study also says that there are around six million drug users in bangladesh who spend over tk700m every day on illegal narcotics (ahad et al., 2017). according to a world health organization (who) survey, most users are young, ranging in age from 18 to 30 years. a separate study conducted by the journal of health, population and nutrition (jhpn) of the international centre for diarrheal disease research, bangladesh (icddr, b) showed that in the capital, 79.4% of the drug addicts are male and 20.6% female. the jhpn study found that 64.8% of the drug users in the country are not married, while 56.1% are either students or unemployed. so, the trend of drug addiction is getting more severe day by day among the youth. it has been alarming news that the number of drug takers from the educated portion is not a mere little. the recently released report of the department of narcotic control (dnc) says that the number of yaba takers is 2,00,000 in the whole country where 90,000 are from students, 40% are students of different private universities and born from highly educated and rich families. a new dimension is added to the trend of taking drugs and the members of the rich families are getting addicted more than before (dnc, 2016). lock, j. (2001) said that the human mind is initially white paper, void of all characters without any ideas from the environment where children learn how to use drugs and other antisocial behaviour. he also said that human beings are born as a tabula rasa – a blank tablet and then shaped by the environment through learning what it is in the environment. meanwhile, in searching for the causes of addiction, the available literature reveals that the environment of the addicts had a strong contribution www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 8 published by scholink inc. to making them addicts. legacy from family members, ease of availability of drug materials, and frustration lead them towards addiction. (benegal et al., 1998). bangladesh has been used as the silk route of global drug smuggling for decades and the flow of yaba, which comes from myanmar, is floating the youths in the river of addiction. there is some evidence that simply providing information about the dangers of drinking, smoking and drug use may increase predisposition to drug use in some circumstances (stuart, 1974; botvin, 1999, 2000). hossain and mamun found in their study that 67.30% of respondents became addicted because of the influence of their peer groups, and 57.69% of respondents mentioned that curiosity is the second reason for being addicted. from the study, it is quite evident that frustration (16.54%), unemployment (5.77%), failure in love (11.54%) and family conflict (20.19%) were also influential causes of drug addiction (hossain et al., 2006). huq and enamul (1985) found in their study that 50% of addicts took their first drug through drug user friends and under pressure, 20% out of frustration and 15% out of curiosity. uddin, md. jalal (2008) says that failure in love, disappointment, family disorder and social and family-related matters are highly responsible for addiction. saha and sudhir kumar (1991) saw that environmental influence, frustration, ignorance, curiosity, recreation, failure in love, the influence of peer groups and sorrow were the causes of drug addiction. shawkatuzzaman and syed (2003) saw geographical location, pressure of peer group, curiosity, frustration, ignorance etc. as the causes of drug addiction. begum, hamida akhtar (1991) found in her study that pressure of peer group (73.55%), frustration (18.62%) etc. were the causes of drug addiction. mannan and bashira found in their study that disorganization of the family (35%), the influence of peer group (35%) and affluence of money (20%) were the causes of drug addiction. sarker and hossain (1999, p. 212) found in their study that curiosity (70%) was one of the causes of drug addiction. hossain, md. anwar says that the disorganization of the family, the influence of peer groups, the influence of slums, poverty etc. were the causes of drug addiction. the influence of peer drinking was the cause of adolescent drinking. mariam and iobidze saw that in asian countries, juvenile crime and delinquency were largely urban phenomena. (ying-chich chuang et al., 2009) aware of these statistics the members of the group intended that the literature search be as inclusive as possible to explore the causes and perspectives of drug addiction among the youths. these contents focus on some general causes of the increased rates of addiction among the young generation. this literature did not differentiate between the causes for which the young generation takes drugs and how general people opine about the causes of drug addiction. this crucial gap will be addressed by our research which may shape society’s thinking about the addicted. in bangladesh, there are many border-crossing points from where every day millions of cash are being exchanged for drugs. narcotic abuse is a serious, but treatable disorder. when the problem is not treated, people who abuse narcotics usually suffer significant mental and physical problems. the sooner treatment begins, the more favourable the outcome. if anyone suspects he has a problem with narcotic abuse, he should contact a doctor immediately (rahman, 1990; henry, 1999). drugs are chemical agent www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 9 published by scholink inc. that affects the function of living things. some, including antibiotics, stimulants, tranquillizers, antidepressants, analgesics, narcotics, and hormones, have generalized effects. others, including laxatives, heart stimulants, anticoagulants, diuretics, and antihistamines, act on specific systems. in popular language, alcohol is classed among the stimulants; and opium and tobacco among the narcotics; which are substances whose ultimate effect upon the animal system is to produce torpor and insensibility; but taken in small quantities they are at first exhilarate. and since alcohol does the same, most medical writers, at the present day, classify it among narcotics. statutory classification of a drug as a narcotic often increases the penalties for violation of drug control statutes. for example, although federal law classifies both cocaine and amphetamines as schedule ii drugs, the penalty for possession of cocaine is greater than the penalty for possession of amphetamines because cocaine, unlike amphetamines, is classified as a narcotic. (tau & nicholas, 2015) 5. theoretical framework on drug addiction 5.1 theory x and theory y by mcgregor douglas mcgregor explained the nature of human beings by a theory named x and y theory. this viewpoint requires some thought on the perception of human nature. there are two sets of assumptions in this theory. theory x and theory y are theories of human work motivation and management. they were created by douglas mcgregor while he was working at the mit sloan school of management in the 1950s and developed further in the 1960s. mcgregor’s work was rooted in motivation theory alongside the works of abraham maslow, who created the hierarchy of needs. the two theories proposed by mcgregor describe contrasting models of workforce motivation applied by managers in human resource management, organizational behaviour, organizational communication and organizational development. theory x explains the importance of heightened supervision, external rewards, and penalties, while theory y highlights the motivating role of job satisfaction and encourages workers to approach tasks without direct supervision. management use of theory x and theory y can affect employee motivation and productivity in different ways, and managers may choose to implement strategies from both theories into their practices. 6. maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory maslow argued that survival needs must be satisfied before the individual can satisfy the higher needs. the higher up the hierarchy, the more difficult it is to satisfy the needs associated with that stage, because of the interpersonal and environmental barriers that inevitably frustrate us. higher needs become increasingly psychological and long-term rather than physiological and short-term, as in the lower survival-related needs. hierarchy of needs theory is one of the most widely mentioned theories of motivation the hierarchy of needs theory put forth by psychologist abraham maslow. maslow saw human needs in the form of a hierarchy, ascending from the lowest to the highest; and he concluded that, when one set of needs is satisfied, this kind of need ceases to be a motivator. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/work_motivation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/douglas_mcgregor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mit_sloan_school_of_management https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/abraham_maslow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hierarchy_of_needs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/motivation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/human_resource_management https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/human_resource_management https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/organizational_behavior https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/organizational_communication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/organizational_development https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/organizational_development https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/job_satisfaction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/supervision www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 10 published by scholink inc. 7. need for self-actualization maslow regards this as the highest need in his hierarchy. it is the desire to become what one is capable of becoming –to maximize one’s potential and to accomplish something. maslow said of selfactualization that it may be loosely described as the full use and exploitation of talents, capabilities, potentialities, etc. such people seem to be fulfilling themselves and to be doing the best that they are capable of doing. they are people who have developed or are developing to the full stature of which they are capable. as each individual is unique, the motivation for self-actualization leads people in different directions (kenrick et al., 2010). for some people, self-actualization can be achieved through creating works of art or literature, for others through sports, in the classroom, or within a corporate setting. maslow (1962) believed self-actualization could be measured through the concept of peak experiences. this occurs when a person experiences the world totally for what it is, and there are feelings of euphoria, joy, and wonder. it is important to note that self-actualization is a continual process of becoming rather than a perfect state one reaches of a ‘happy ever after’ (hoffman, 1988). the growth of self-actualization (maslow, 1962) refers to the need for personal growth and discovery that is present throughout a person’s life. for maslow, a person is always ‘becoming’ and never remains static in these terms. in self-actualization, a person comes to find a meaning in life that is important to them. from this theory, it can be said from the discussion above that human beings are not motivated until they require a new need. these needs are hierarchical. generally, they try to reach the highest pick of the hierarchy. in case they fail, they feel frustrated and depressed. then they want to have something that can relieve their frustration. thus, they take drugs as an option to be tension-free. besides, as they are social beings, they need to belong, to be accepted by others. as a part of their belongings in society, they love to spend time with their surrounding people. as a result, they become easily influenced by their peer groups and thus learn how to pass the time by taking drugs in the society. it is seen in the rich family. on the other hand, young people belonging to the poor class in society, have to face hardship to meet physiological needs. thus, frustration rises among them and they take drugs intending to relieve this frustration. maslow noted that the order of needs might be flexible based on external circumstances or individual differences. for example, he notes that for some individuals, the need for self-esteem is more important than the need for love. for others, the need for creative fulfilment may supersede even the most basic needs. maslow (1987) also pointed out that most behaviour is multi-motivated and noted that “any behaviour tends to be determined by several or all of the basic needs simultaneously rather than by only one of them” (p. 71). 8. research methodology and data collection this study consists of both quantitative and qualitative. a questionnaire and case study both has been used in this study. in the analysis part collected data has been processed through statistics and numerical way. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 11 published by scholink inc. during research of social study, it is difficult to undertake research through either quantitative or qualitative methods to find proper data. rather, the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods may enhance the accuracy of data. methods of research include questionnaire surveys. they allow the researcher to become familiar with the required data within its natural setting and to understand the content and the context of the issue. to increase the richness and accuracy of data, as well as the transferability of the findings, case studies of those who are addicted to drugs will be carried out. in contrast, a questionnaire survey has been carried out to collect the perspectives of adolescents, particularly addicts. in our societies, people who are not addicted may have different perspectives on the causes and nature of drug addiction in adolescents. 9. study population to know the people’s perceptions, 30 questionnaires and several numbers of case studies will be conducted. in the questionnaire survey, the respondents have been taken from addicts and patients from the national institute of mental health (nimh). and, at the time of conducting case studies, respondents were chosen randomly from trauma centre and drug addiction rehabilitation centre in dhaka. expressive statistics have been presented in a pie chart with the percentages for easy understanding. also, data has been analyzed with sufficient judgment. the difference in people’s perceptions has been presented through a coloured pie chart and the reason behind that difference has been given with proper logic along with data analysis. 10. data analysis respondents were asked some structured and unstructured questions. numbers of required data were collected from the thirty respondents who were from the national institute of mental health (nimh), sher-e-bangla nagar, dhaka. these research findings will suggest that the influence of peer groups, weak family bonding, affluence and shortage of money are the key factors for the drug addiction of adolescents in bangladesh. in this section there are some important information regarding the research has been given with suitable figures and charts. gender of respondents: among 30 of the respondents, there were 25 boys and 5 girls who gave their views on the research topic through the questionnaire survey. researchers adopted their views and comments in the data presentation and analysis section of the research paper by need. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 12 published by scholink inc. figure 1. gender of respondents respondents’ priority for the age range of adolescents: respondents were asked about the average age of adolescents. as adolescents point toward the range of 18 to 30. so, they were given four options to choose the average age of drug addiction. among those, age limit option (a) was 18 to 20, option (b) was 21 to 23, option (c) was 24 to 27 and option (d) was 27 to 30. figure 2. average age of adolescent drug addiction according to the respondent’s view, 42% of the respondents chose option (a) which indicates the age of 18 to 20. the age of 21 to 23 is chosen mostly. secondly, there are 38% of the respondents chosen option (b). on the contrary, no one chose the option of 27 to 30 and only 20% of them chose the option of 24 to 26. so, this figure indicates that 80% of the respondents said that at the age of 18 to 23 start taking drugs. a complementary question was asked regarding their choice of this option and why they think this range of adolescents is highly involved in drug addiction. 25% 5% gender of respondent boys girls 18-20 (42%) 21-23(38%) 24-26(20) 27-… average age of drug addicts www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 13 published by scholink inc. 11. family status of drug addicts as stated by the respondents there is a higher possibility for upper-class society to be involved in drug addiction. their surroundings and environment tend to be aligned with the culture of drug addiction. and then the lower class, whereas the middle-class adolescents have a minor chance to be involved in drug addiction. figure 3. family status of adolescent drug addicts there are 42% of the respondents chose upper-class society, whereas 33% of them said about lower classes’ involvement in drug addiction. however, only 25% of respondents said that middle-class adolescents are highly engaged in drug addiction. then again respondents were asked a complimentary question to know why they think so. those said that upper-class adolescents are mostly involved in drug addiction, they argued that adolescents of this class are modernized and always try to follow western culture, their parents don’t pay enough time for them and they tend to have weak family bonding, they have more money by comparing with their demand, they have the affordability of consuming drugs, their parents always remain busy to themselves and they don’t have enough time to regulate and monitor their children etc. 12. the factor responsible for drug addiction there are lots of factors which are responsible for the drug addiction. however, the researchers gave them some options. these are weak family bonding, peer groups, affluence of money, loneliness and others. respondents gave their opinions toward weak family bonding and peer groups. this figure depicts the factors responsible for leading adolescents to drug addiction in our society and country as well. they were questioned to blame the most responsible factor for drug addiction of adolescents, 38 of whom upper class society (42%) lower middle class society (33%) middle class society (25%) family status of drug addicts www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 14 published by scholink inc. blamed weak family bonding for adolescents to take drugs in the country. then, the peer group was identified by 31 respondents. whereas affluence of money and loneliness were also mentioned. figure 5. factors responsible behind drug addiction nowadays, to cope with globalization the culture of our country and context is changing. parents are losing their control over adolescents. as well as both father and mother tend to join their job so they rarely give their time to the children. so adolescents used to get freedom from an early age when they shouldn’t have this. they failed to use their freedom in the right way because of their lack of experience. on the other hand, the nature of young age is to create new friendships as it opens a new chapter of their life. they used to learn many new things from their various friend at this stage. they used to spend their leisure time with their friend whom they found homogeneous. and then once these friends start to influence them. this can be either positive or negative way. in case they get involved with bad and immoral friends then its result goes to the negative way. a maximum number of adolescents are involved in drug addiction by the negative influence of peer groups. the point to be noted is that when young kids, don’t get enough time from their family members they used to get in touch with friends whom they didn’t know previously. for this reason, the maximum number of them preferred weak family bonding to peer groups as a responsible factor behind drug addiction. then loneliness comes as a third factor, though weak family bonding leads to the peer group and the absence of the peer group makes the young lad alone, which is worked as another responsible factor in drug addiction of adolescents. 13. conclusion this potential research project aims to demonstrate how the influence of peer groups and weak parental roles leads to adolescent drug addiction. drug addiction is not a personal problem of addicts rather it is a social problem which is turning into a national problem. being a social problem, it creates many other problems, like social inequality, increasing juvenile crime, financial crisis, unemployment etc. it is our moral responsibility to destroy this social hazard. based on the present study the government, society, parents, addicts as well and policymakers should take proper steps to combat this problem collectively. the formal and informal organization of the society has to play a direct and indirect role regarding this others 6% alienation 14% financial capacity 11% week family ties 38% peer group 31% factor responsible behind drug addiction www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 15 published by scholink inc. problem. they both are complimentary to each other. family, religious associations, schools, colleges and the community are the key organizations to play a role in the process of stopping drug addiction in adolescents. the main elements in combating drug addiction include measures to control the availability and use of drugs, treatment of withdrawal symptoms, and restoration of social moral and religious values. to prevent re-addiction in patients, innovative treatment containing medical, social and religious aspects must be put in place. easy availability of treatment will ensure the elimination of this socially and physically dreaded disease. research papers showed that the influence of peer groups and weak parental roles leads to the young generation to the drug addiction. drug addiction is not a personal problem of addicts rather it is a social problem which is turning into a national problem. being a social problem, it also creates many other problems. such as social inequality, increasing juvenile crime, financial crisis, unemployment etc. it is our moral responsibility to destroy this social hazard. based on the present study the government, society, parents, addicts as well and policymakers should take proper steps to combat this problem collectively. the formal and informal organization of the society has to play a direct and indirect role regarding this problem. they both are complimentary to each other. family, religious associations, schools, colleges and the community are the key organizations to play a role in the process of stopping drug addiction in the young generation. 14. recommendations to prevent the problem of drug addiction the government, parents and society have to take action collectively. no one can be individually successful in the combat with this problem. a participatory role can minimize this problem. 15. role of government ➢ the government can add drug-related lessons to the textbook of national curricula. ➢ the government can regulate drug-related businesses strictly. ➢ the government can consult with an international organization and can take help. ➢ drug abuse prevention programs can be implemented in schools and colleges. ➢ rehabilitation programs should be introduced by the government. ➢ drug control units should be open under the ministry of health. ➢ national policy and drug-related laws should be adopted. ➢ introducing community police in hazardous areas to control drug-related businesses and activities. ➢ special forces can be made to prevent drug-related activities and to implement laws. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 16 published by scholink inc. 16. role of the family ➢ parents and elder members must be connected with the young members in the virtual and real world. ➢ addressing young members’ demands positively. ➢ regular monitoring of parents and elder members to the young. ➢ the family has to provide knowledge of the harmful consequences of drug addiction to their young member. ➢ after involving drugs, the family have to take proper treatment via different types of medical processes. ➢ adoption of religious knowledge and practice by family. ➢ parents should be aware of the friend circle of their children. 17. role of society ➢ there needs to be awareness in the society about negative aspects of drug addiction. ➢ society has to create self-consciousness among young manpower of the country regarding drug addiction. ➢ those people who come back from addiction can play a proper role by tutoring others as a living example. ➢ social media can play a proper role by creating events, pages etc. against drug addiction. ➢ social and humanitarian organizations can run various types of campaign programs. ➢ international projects can be run through non-government organizations. ➢ society has to ensure a healthy environment for the young generation. ➢ increasing the social responsibility of the elders of the society. ➢ it is the responsibility of the physicians, paramedical staff, community health workers, pharmacists, drug controlling authorities, personnel of pharmaceutical sales/ marketing and all health-related people to play their role from their side to minimize drug abuse and misuse in our society. ➢ physicians and other healthcare-related people should be provided with educational training and awareness camps as per who guidelines to improve their prescription writing skills to eradicate prescription errors. a computerized physician order entry system should be introduced. proper strategies be employed to avoid heavy opds and busy pharmacies. an optimum time must be utilized by the prescriber/doctor for proper consultation, as per instruction of who or the nature of the disease, i.e. history, diagnosis and counselling. however, at pharmacies, it is necessary to dispense medicines properly to ensure the rational use of drugs and also to encounter the problems of drug misuse and abuse. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 17 published by scholink inc. references ahmad, a. f. 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(2019). nonprofit management: principles and management (p. 248). united states of america: sage. zaman, m. s., almajidi, w. a., & hurunnaher. (2013). knowledge on the effects of drug abuse among the students in a selected high school in dhaka city. bangladesh journal of dental research & education, 3(2), 12-18. https://doi.org/10.3329/bjdre.v3i2.16603 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 31 original paper effect of teaching sequence on esl students’ learning of syntactic cohesive devices using sentence transformation fiona k. p. siu1* 1 cfml csl language center, city university of hong kong, hong kong, sar china * fiona k. p. siu, email: fiona.siu@cityu.edu.hk received: june 7, 2023 accepted: june 28, 2023 online published: july 3, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n3p31 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n3p31 abstract this research aims to investigate the effects of two teaching sequences – interleaving and blocking – on the participants’ use of three types of cohesive devices (conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and prepositions [thereafter ccps]) in their argumentative essays. the participants included 50 native cantonese-speaking university students taking an academic writing course. interleaving refers to the teaching sequence in which learners practice several skills at one time whereas in blocking only one skill is practiced at one time. prior to essay writing, participants were taught ccps using sentence transformation. one class was taught using interleaving and the other blocking. the first and the second drafts of the argumentative essay served as pre-and post-tests. the total numbers of ccps used correctly both syntactically and semantically in their argumentative essays were counted for the pre-tests and post-tests for both groups. results of paired samples and independent t-tests suggest that neither of the two teaching sequences was more effective than the other in raising the participants’ total instances of ccps; however, blocking appears to be more effective in boosting the use of prepositions as linking words. sentence transformation, whether administered in the interleaved or blocked sequence, was considered to have served the teaching purpose of providing an opportunity for the students to engage in serious thinking about the semantic relationship between two given sentences. keywords interleaving, cohesive devices, sentence transformation, teaching sequence, teaching mode, academic writing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 32 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction 1.1 background it is not uncommon that the academic essays written by many university students who learn english as a second language in hong kong include only a few basic conjunctions (e.g., because, therefore, so), which are often used repeatedly throughout their essays. the lack of variety in the choice of grammatical cohesive devices might be the manifestation of an underlying problem that the teaching and learning of grammatical cohesive devices has room for improvement. it seems that the lack of variety of cohesive devices at the grammatical level is not specific to students in hong kong. in ahmad’s (2019) study, the students at a university in saudi arabia demonstrated a very limited range of grammatical cohesive devices used their argumentative essays, although the usage is mostly correct. the seven linking words heavily used were for example, however, but, on the other hand, because, so, in conclusion. based on the findings of his research, ahmad (2019) recommended the explicit teaching of grammatical cohesive devices, especially the use of adversatives. likewise, marashi (2020) concluded that the treatment used in his study, which investigated explicit teaching of cohesive devices, significantly raised the mean score of the post-test, which was administered in the form of ielts (writing task 2) to the iranian student participants. the explicit teaching of grammatical devices also constitutes the research focus of the present study. according to halliday and hasan (1976), grammatical cohesive devices include such aspects as reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunctions, yet the present study focuses on only three types of cohesive devices, namely, conjunctions (e.g., and, because), conjunctive adverbs (e.g., moreover, hence) and prepositions (e.g., as a result of, because of). it is hoped that the findings derived from the present study can contribute to the body of literature concerning whether interleaving or blocking will benefit students as well as teaching practitioners in their attempts to learn and to teach the syntactic and semantic knowledge of these linking words. 1.2 literature review 1.2.1 interleaving and blocking one of the challenges concerns the pedagogical issue of whether to teach one category of linking words (e.g., conjunctions) one at one time or teach two categories of linking words (e.g., conjunctive adverbs and prepositions) at the same time for the purpose of contrasting two similar categories. the former teaching sequence is commonly known as blocking whereas the latter is termed interleaving. interleaving tends to produce better long-term memory in the learning of mathematics (barzagar & ebersbach, 2019; carpenter et al., 2012; chen, et al., 2018; dunlosky et al., 2013; foster et al., 2019; hopkins et al., 2016; kang, 2017; nagashima et al., 2022; ostrow et al., 2015; rau et al., 2013; rohrer et al., 2015; sana et al., 2017; schutte et al., 2015; soderstrom & bjork, 2015; tailor & rohrer, 2010) and motor skills (e.g., goode & magill, 1986; hall et al., 1994). however, in second language learning, interleaving has not shown robust advantages. so far, research findings have been inconclusive. for example, interleaving was found to be more effective than blocking in nakata and suzuki’s (2019) study, which included 115 japanese students learning five english grammatical structures. it was found that although the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 33 published by scholink inc. interleaving group produced a higher number of incorrect responses during the training stage than the blocking group, the former was more effective than latter in the 1-week delayed post-test. the advantageous outcomes of interleaving might concern the spacing effect (carpenter 2014) and the discriminative contrast hypothesis (sana et al., 2017). concerning spacing effect, carpenter (2014) explains that given the same overall duration of practice, distributed practice results in better long-term retention than does massed practice. as regards the discriminative contrast hypothesis, sana et al. (2017) points out that interleaving would benefit students more when categories have high between-category similarity, e.g., past tense and past perfect. yet, schneider et al. (2002) found that students in the blocked condition performed better on an immediate test than did students in the interleaved condition for college students learning french–english word translations using interleaving or blocking. similarly, a blocking advantage for correct word pronunciation was consistently observed on immediate or 5-min delayed tests for college students learning french pronunciation rules (carpenter & mueller, 2013). given that the findings on the superiority of interleaving over blocking or vice versa is inconclusive and that little is known regarding the teaching of grammatical cohesive devices at university level in the hong kong setting, this research aims to focus on the teaching and learning of three types of linking words – that is, conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and prepositions (therefore ccps) – for academic writing with respect to the genre of argumentative essays written by fifty native cantonese-speaking university students taking an academic writing course offered by the city university of hong kong in 2020. in particular, the research question is as follows:  which of the two teaching sequences will be more effective in terms of helping students to produce a greater number of linking words (conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and prepositions) that are syntactically and semantically correct when administered in the context of sentence-combining exercises? 1.2.2 sentence-combining sentence combining (sc) constitutes one of the teaching tools to improve l2 learners’ syntactic performance (chomsky, 1965). strong (1973, 1986, 1996) provided numerous examples of sentence combining. the basic concept is that shorter sentences are embedded and recombined into more complex syntactic structures. the essence of the approach of sc is to provide exercises to language learners to practice. as stated by strong (1986), “to develop writing performance …requires practice” (p. 10). the exercises are also intended to require students to exercise their mental grammatical judgments, which thus might add an element of fun or mental challenge to the language learners. “sc exercises provide a practical way of activating playful attention to written language” (strong, 1986, p. 10). the effects of sc on writing quality appear to be affirmative although not conclusive. o’hare (1973) maintains that it is important to avoid the use of transformational rules/grammatical terms when developing sc exercises; kernel sentences with signals/explicit linking words of how to combine them were provided instead. broadhead and berlin (1978) investigated 98 college students. the experimental group was provided with a graduated sequence of source sentences, transformation models and exercises www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 34 published by scholink inc. before they started to write essays. the finding suggested that the experimental treatment increased the syntactic variety in their essays as well as the percentage of appropriate punctuation. rice’s (1983) study reported that 427 students from grades 7-11 engaged in sc practice over a ten-week period produced an average gain of 15 percentile points on measures of syntactic maturity. hillocks (1984) concludes that sc is “more than twice as effective as free writing as a means of enhancing the quality of student writing” (p. 161). sc exercises can mainly be classified into two types: cued and open (also termed “no cues”). concerning cued sc exercises, researchers such as mellon (1969) and o’hare (1973) provided a large number of examples, the cued words of which are illustrated below:  something seems to suggest something.  bill finished his lessons in less than an hour. (fact)  he had received help from another student. (fact) (from mellon, 1969)  something should make you avoid him.  he is an absolute nut. (the fact that) (from o’hare, 1973) tomlinson and straehley (1978) focused on the incremental or cumulative technique, in which a kernel sentence (e.g., the storm brewed ominously) is provided first. then other instructions (e.g., adding a prepositional unit, adding modification, adding a second independent clause, adding a subordinate clause) are provided to learners. for the open sc exercises, the underlying principle is to break a whole discourse into kernel sentences without providing signals except the provision of such general instructions as recombining the sentences based on voice and theme. jenkinson (1999) states that students can combine kernel sentences in any way they desire as long as they retain the original meaning of the sentences. strong (1986) points out that “open” combining typically generates a range of grammatical responses. the aim of open sc is to help students explore stylistic options (p.13). see the example below provided by strong (1986): sentences to be combined:  sc is a means to an end.  the end is clear syntax.  the end is controlled syntax.  sc is not an end in itself. (from strong, 1986, p. 13) answers illustrating stylistic options:  sc is a means to an end, not an end in itself; that end is clear, controlled syntax.  sc is a means to an end--clear syntax that is under control and not an end in itself.  rather than being an end in itself, sc is a means to an end: syntactic control and clarity. strong (1986) also suggests some ideas for developing a variety of sc exercises including: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 35 published by scholink inc.  cloze technique  imitation  dewriting (a dewritten passage is prepared from a target text, usually literature or professional nonfiction)  reorganizing sentences and/or select relevant information from fact sheets  generative exercises to help students create their own details (e.g., dramatization)  recombining exercises based on the prose of professional writers  exercises focused on style and mechanics the aforementioned review of previous findings about the development of sc exercises as a teaching and learning tool is primarily intended to support the adoption of the sc approach by the present researcher when designing teaching materials for this research study investigating the effectiveness of interleaving and blocking. yet, it is worth pointing out that the design of the present study is not intended to argue that sc is a useful approach in raising the participants’ use of ccps because of the non-inclusion of another type of grammatical exercises (e.g., multiple choices) in the same study for comparison. 2. methodology 2.1 participants the participants of this study included two classes of year 1 students taking the academic writing course entitled university english offered by the city university of hong kong in the summer term of 2020. two 2-hour lessons were conducted per week spanning 6.5 weeks totaling 13 lessons. the participants scored level 4 out of the 5 levels in the kong diploma of secondary education (hkdse), which classifies candidates’ performance into level 1 to level 5, with 5 being the highest. the level 5 candidates with the best performance are awarded a 5** (hong kong examinations and authority, 2021). by coincidence, all the students in both classes were native cantonese speaking students, so homogeneity of the two groups of students in this study in terms of their first language was ensured. the course university english adopted the approach of process writing—that is, each participant wrote three drafts of an argumentative essay of his/her own topic. draft 1 was used for peer-review and was not assessed; draft 2 and final draft each accounted for 20% of the course mark. on a random basis, one of the classes (class a) was assigned to be the interleaving group and the other one (class b) the blocking group. the teaching of conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and prepositions to link up two sentences took place between the submission of draft 1 and the submission of draft 2; namely, after draft 1 was submitted and before draft 2 was due. draft 1 was used as the pre-test while draft 2 was used as the post-test. the final draft was excluded from this research study because students were supposed to submit the final draft based on the class teacher’s written and oral feedback provided on the scripts of draft 2 and during individual teacher-student consultations. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 36 published by scholink inc. out of the twenty-five students from class a, only fourteen of them submitted both drafts 1 and 2. to match the fourteen sets of usable scripts obtained from class a, another 14 sets of scripts from class b were randomly selected. 2.2 the treatment the teaching of the three categories of linking words (conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and prepositions) using interleaving/blocking was conducted in zoom classrooms. the treatment was applied in the three lessons (a total of 6 hours) between the pre-test and the post-test. the three categories of linking words covered in the teaching are shown in handout a (appendix a). stages of teaching stage 1: the use of conjunctions was taught briefly using handout a with a special focus on explaining subordinate clauses and main clauses as a revision for both the interleaving group and the blocking group. stage 2 for the interleaving group: the nine categories of conjunctive adverbs included in handout b (appendix b) were introduced to the interleaving group. immediately after this, the use of prepositions to link up two sentences was explained to the students using handout a again. subsequently, the interleaving group started to complete an exercise (handout c) in which they were instructed to combine the same two sentences twice, first using conjunctive adverbs and then using prepositions (appendix c). finally, the class teacher showed the students suggested answers, highlighting important grammatical features of using both conjunctive adverbs and prepositions to connect sentences. stage 2 for the blocking group was different from that for the interleaving group in two ways. first, students in the blocking group were instructed to work on the exercise for practicing the use of conjunctive adverbs immediately after the teacher’s explanations about conjunctive adverbs; second, that exercise focused on only conjunctive adverbs without mentioning prepositions—the third category of linking words investigated in the present study. to achieve the best possible effect of the blocking sequence, the teaching of prepositions started only after the unit on conjunctive adverbs was totally completed. see handout d (appendix d) for the exercises developed for the blocking group to combine sentences using conjunctive adverbs. see handout e developed for the blocking grouping to practice the use of prepositions (appendix e). 3. results paired-t test and independ-t test (ibm spss statistics 22) were used for data analysis. the effectiveness of interleaving and blocking was judged by counting the scores of grammatical cohesive devices, as measured by the total instances of conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and prepositions used correctly syntactically and semantically in the participants’ argumentative essays. finding 1: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 37 published by scholink inc. both the blocking group (mean: 20.07 vs. 15.86) and the interleaving group (mean: 21.79 vs. 18.14) scored significantly higher in the post-tests than in the pre-tests at p<0.05 for the measure used in this study (table 1). table 1. change in overall improved scores in each of the two groups (paired-t test) mean std. deviation sig. (2-tailed) interleaving pre-test 18.14 5.333 0.001* post-test 21.79 5.740 blocking pre-test 15.86 5.641 0.000* post-test 20.07 5.595 * significant at p≤0.05 finding 2: there was no significant difference across the interleaving group and the blocking group in terms of the change of overall scores of cohesive devices measured before and after the treatment at p<0.05 (table 2). the score difference between the preand post-tests for the interleaving group was 3.65, and the score difference between the preand post-tests was 4.21 for the blocking group. table 2. comparing the improvements in overall scores across the two groups (independent ttest) mean difference std. deviation sig. (2-tailed) sample 1 (interleaving) 3.65 3.225 .643 sample 2 (blocking) 4.21 3.215 .643 not significant at p≤0.05 finding 3: 3a. as can been seen in table 3, the blocking group used significantly more prepositions in the post-test (mean=2.86) than in the pre-test (mean=2.0). 3b. as can been seen in table 3, the interleaving group showed no significant difference between the pre(mean=3.29) and posttests (mean = 3.29) in the number of prepositions used as linking words at p<0.05. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 38 published by scholink inc. table 3. comparing the change in the number of prepositions used as linking words for each of the two groups (paired-t test) mean std. deviation sig. (2-tailed) interleaving pre-test 3.29 1.684 1.000 post-test 3.29 2.400 blocking pre-test 2.00 1.240 0.001* post-test 2.86 1.512 *significant at p≤0.05 4. discussion and conclusion this study aimed to investigate the effects of interleaving and blocking, applied in the context of sentence-combining exercises, on the teaching of grammatical cohesive devices in the argumentative essays written by native cantonese-speaking year 1 students at the city university of hong kong. in particular, the present researcher hopes to contribute to the body of literature with respective to the effectiveness of interleaving and blocking in helping students produce a higher number of ccps that are correct syntactically and semantically. results suggest that both interleaving and blocking, when applied in the context of sentence combining, were useful in boosting the participants’ use of the three types of linking words, but neither interleaving nor blocking was found to be more superior to the other in terms of efficacy when teaching ccps. however, the blocking group was found to use significantly more prepositions as cohesive devices than did the interleaving group in the post-test. concerning the sentence-combining exercises used in the present study, the finding that both groups improved their post-test scores might suggest that the sc exercises used in the present study as a teaching tool served the purpose of providing an opportunity for the students to engage in thinking at a deeper level about the semantic relationship between the two sentences provided in a question in the student handouts. the sc exercises used in this study were of the open type, in which learners can freely decide how to combine the given two sentences in a question. this favorable observation concerning the use of sc exercises might be seen as lending some referential information to some researchers in support of using sc exercises to enhance learners’ syntactic maturity (e.g., broadhead & berlin, 1978; hillocks, 1984; rice, 1983). nevertheless, it is equally important to note that the higher overall post-test scores of the interleaving and blocking groups might have been a result of the constant questions asked to the participants by the class teacher about the typical syntactic and semantic features of the ccps rather than the direct result of sc exercises per se. another intervening variable possibly helping to boost the total scores of ccps might have been the participants’ constant exposure to the target structures displayed systematically in the student handouts through analyzing the usage of ccps during the six hours’ teaching. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 39 published by scholink inc. as regards another statistically significant finding about the blocking group’s more use of prepositions as cohesive devices in the post-test than in the pre-test, two possible explanations might account for the significant difference. first, in general, the blocking practice might cause less confusion to students who do not have a strong level of english proficiency when learning similar grammatical structures. such explanations are also available in some previous studies (e.g., carpenter & mueller, 2013; schneider et al., 2002). second, there might be a limitation of what six hours’ explicit teaching can do to raise students’ use of prepositions as linking words after students have acquired a basic level of proficiency in using prepositions to connect sentences. it seems possible that the interleaving group had already mastered the correct usage of a few basic prepositions such as because of, due to even before the treatment whereas the blocking group did not have the same knowledge of using these basic prepositions as linking words prior to the intervention. hence, it would be easier for the blocking group to improve from a comparatively low threshold to a higher level. as such, it remains uncertain whether the higher number of prepositions used in the essays written by the blocking group in the post-test was indeed the direct result of the blocking practice or whether a much longer time of practice would be needed for the teaching of less commonly used prepositions as linking words to take effect. several limitations were observed. the sample size of 14 sets of scripts for each of the two groups has restricted the generalizability of the conclusions derived from the findings. the second limitation is that the relationship between the number of linking words and the overall writing quality has not been investigated because of the constraint of human resources. the third limitation concerns the possible subjectivity that might have existed in the process of data analysis. only one researcher determined whether a linking word was used correctly syntactically and semantically. lastly, the score of cohesive devices was measured by counting only the total instances of conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and prepositions used correctly both syntactically and semantically in a participant’s argumentative essay while the number of types of linking words actually used was disregarded. preliminary inspection of the data revealed that all three types of linking words existed in most post-scripts, with prepositions being the category of the lowest occurrences. therefore, counting the number of types of linking words does not seem likely to yield significant findings. recommendations for future research are suggested as follows: a) increasing the sample size would enhance the generalizability of findings to be obtained; b) correlating the number of linking words used in an argumentative essay with the overall writing quality would justify the objective of boosting the number of linking words used; c) involving students who possess a lower or a higher level of english proficiency (e.g., hkdse level 3 or level 5 students would further reveal the compatibility/incompatibility of sc exercises with such a group of students); and d) ensuring the homogeneity of the initial ability of participants to use prepositions as linking words appears necessary before the application of the intervention. this would allow the establishment of a stronger claim concerning whether blocking or interleaving is found to be more effective in terms of teaching two groups www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 40 published by scholink inc. of students to use prepositions to link up two sentences. one way of doing this might involve participants to write on the same topic within a specified amount of time. in conclusion, both interleaving and blocking appear to be effective in enhancing l2 learners’ use of conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and prepositions as grammatical cohesive devices in the context of sentence-combining exercises. however, interleaving practice does not seem to surpass the blocking practice in terms of boosting the participants’ use of the three types of cohesive devices and vice versa. yet, the blocking practice might be considered as a more effective teaching sequence in helping intermediate students use prepositions as linking words. as regards the sentence-combining exercises used in the present study as a teaching tool, they seem to have served the purpose of providing an opportunity for the student participants to engage in deeper thinking about the semantic relationship between two given sentences. this favorable observation might be seen as lending some referential information to researchers in support of using sentence-combining exercises to enhance learners’ syntactic maturity. references ahmad, z. 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(2020). a randomized controlled trial of interleaved mathematics practice. journal of educational psychology, 112, 40-52. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000367 sana, f., yan, v. x., & kim, j. a. (2017). study sequence matters for the inductive learning of cognitive concepts. journal of educational psychology, 109(1), 84-98. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000119 schneider, v. i., healy, a. f., & bourne, l. e. (2002). what is learned under difficult conditions is hard to forget: contextual interference effects in foreign vocabulary acquisition, retention, and transfer. journal of memory and language, 46, 419-440. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.2001.2813 schutte, g. m., duhon, g. j., solomon, b. g., poncy, b. c., moore, k., & story, b. (2015). a comparative analysis of massed vs. distributed practice on basic math fact fluency growth rates. journal of school psychology, 53, 149-159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2014.12.003 soderstrom, n. c., & bjork, r. a. (2015). learning versus performance: an integrative review. perspectives on psychological science, 10, 176-199. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1745691615569000 strong, w. (1973). sentence combining and paragraph building. random house. strong, w. (1986). creative approaches to sentence combining. the eric clearinghouse on reading and communication skills and the national council of teachers of english, urbana, illinois. ed274985. strong, w. (1996). writers’ toolbox: a sentence combining workshop. mcgraw-hill. taylor, k., & rohrer, d. (2010). the effect of interleaving practice. applied cognitive psychology, 24, 837-848. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1598 tomlinson, b., & straehley, m. (1978). developing and measuring mature syntax. paper presented at the 11th annual meeting of the western college reading association. (eric document: ed158224). https://doi.org/10.1080/24699365.1978.11669680 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19773-9_34 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2012.07.003 https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000001 https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000367 https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.2001.2813 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2014.12.003 https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1598 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 43 published by scholink inc. appendix a handout a – overview of three types of linking words linking words conjunctions conjunctive adverbs prepositions pattern: although john chan has only one year’s working experience, i highly recommend him for the post. i highly recommend john chan for the post although he has only one year’s working experience. pattern: john chan has only one year’s working experience; however, i highly recommend him for the post. john chan has only one year’s working experience. however, i highly recommend him for the post. pattern: despite his one-year working experience, i highly recommend john chan for the post. despite his having oneyear working experience, i highly recommend john chan for the post. group a because since as so* for* ; in the meantime, ; meanwhile, ; afterwards, ; subsequently, ; prior to this, ; as a consequence, ; as a result, ; thus, ; therefore, ; in addition, ; moreover, ; furthermore, ; on the contrary, showing cause and effect: because of, due to, as a result of showing concession: despite, in spite of, regardless of showing addition: in addition to, besides (informal) showing time order: before, after www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 44 published by scholink inc. ; conversely, ; however, ; yet, ; still, ; nevertheless, ; on the other hand, ; otherwise, group b though although even though even if while whereas no matter what/how/where… but* yet* group c while before after *coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (fanboys) coordinating conjunctions vs. subordinating conjunctions coordinating conjunctions (two clauses – equally important) subordinating conjunctions (main clause – more important) 1a. john chan has only one year’s working experience, but i highly recommend him for the post. 2a. i am overjoyed for i have passed the driving test. 1b. although john chan has only one year’s working experience, i highly recommend him for the post. 2b. i am overjoyed because i have passed the driving test. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 45 published by scholink inc. 3a. co-ed schools might be better than singlesex schools in terms of providing more opportunities of boys and girls to cooperate, but students in single-sex schools have been found to outperform those in co-ed schools in public examinations. 4a. the content is informative, but grammatical accuracy needs improving. 3b. although co-ed schools might be better than single-sex schools in terms of providing more opportunities of boys and girls to cooperate, students in single-sex schools have been found to outperform those in co-ed schools in public examinations. 4b. the content is informative although grammatical accuracy needs improving. task: identify the main and subordinate clauses in the examples provided. sample sentences illustrating the use of conjunctions: 1) although dislikes chemistry, he has decided to take this subject as his major at university. 2) we must pay our taxes, otherwise we will be fined. 3) while their new house was being built, they were staying in a hotel nearby. 4) the children were enjoying their outdoor activities until a sudden downpour forced them indoors. 5) before television appeared in people’s home in the fifties, the radio had been the chief sources of home entertainment. 6) some people spend their leisure time readings, whereas others prefer to watch television. 7) if mary had not cheated, she would not have been sentenced to jail. 8) the house must be very quiet, otherwise david cannot concentrate. 9) no matter whether my friend will keep me company or not, i will visit canada this year. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 46 published by scholink inc. appendix b handout b—nine categories of conjunctive adverbs conjunctive adverbs please note that the conjunctive adverbs put in the same categories below are not exactly equivalent in meaning despite some similarity. 1). additional conjunctive adverbs in addition moreover besides furthermore  hong kong is a famous city: it is a shopper’s paradise; in addition, it is also an international financial centre. 2). concessive conjunctive adverbs however yet still on the other hand nevertheless nonetheless  hong kong is a shoppers’ paradise; yet, some shops overcharge tourists.  some students studying overseas may benefit tremendously; on the other hand, some students may find the experience frustrating. 3). contrasting conjunctive adverbs on the contrary conversely  the gambling industry in macau does not seem to be improving; on the contrary, it appears to on the decline. 4). logical conjunctive adverbs thus therefore  some teenagers lack self-control; thus, they may easily become addicted to computer games if not supervised by their parents.  all insects have six legs. a spider has eight legs; therefore, a spider is not an insect. 5). result conjunctive adverbs as a result as a consequence for this reason hence consequently  the house prices have become unreasonably high; as a consequence, many young adults lose hopes of buying their own properties. 6). enumerating conjunctive adverbs first second in the first place in the second place finally lastly 7). illustrative conjunctive adverbs for example for instance  one should make preparation before an interview, for example, thinking about the questions that may be asked. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 47 published by scholink inc.  one should make preparation before an interview; for example, one should think about the questions that may be asked. 8). clarifying conjunctive adverbs after all at least in fact as a matter of fact indeed rather instead  “jurassic park” is not considered suitable viewing for young children; after all, it contains a great deal of violence.  alcohol consumption increases personal popularity; at least, this is what many manufacturers believe.  most domestic workers are not lazy; rather, they are hard-working.  the exchange programs last year did not include japan universities; instead, they covered universities in south korea. 9). sequential conjunctive adverbs afterwards subsequently prior to this in the meantime meanwhile  a flyover was first built; afterwards, a tunnel was completed.  a meeting to discuss the use of the donated money will be held in two months’ time; prior to this, consensus will be sought from board members.  the post of the new department head is being advertised in local newspapers; in the meantime, daily internal emails are posted via the company intranet. appendix c handout c – exercise developed for the interleaving group task: combine sentences for each question below first with a conjunctive adverb and then with a preposition/prepositional phrase: 1) he dislikes chemistry. he has decided to take this subject as his major at university. 1a. (conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 1b. (preposition): _____________________________________________________ 2) we must pay our taxes. we will be fined. 1a. (conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 1b. (preposition): _____________________________________________________ 3) their new house is being built. they are staying at a hotel nearby. 1a. (conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 1b. (preposition): _____________________________________________________ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 48 published by scholink inc. 4) the children were enjoying their outdoor activities. a sudden downpour forced them indoors. 1a. (conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 1b. (preposition): _____________________________________________________ 5) television appeared in people’s home in the fifties. the radio had been the chief sources of home entertainment. 1a. (conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 1b. (preposition): _____________________________________________________ 6) some people spend their leisure time readings. others prefer to watch television. 1a. (conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 1b. (preposition): _____________________________________________________ 7) if may had not cheated. she would not have been sentenced to jail. 1a. (conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 1b. (preposition): _____________________________________________________ 8) the house must be very quiet. he cannot concentrate. 1a. (conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 1b. (preposition): _____________________________________________________ 9) my friend will not keep me company. i will travel to canada. 1a. (conjunctive adverb) _____________________________________________________ 1b. (preposition): _____________________________________________________ appendix d handout d – exercise on conjunctive adverbs developed for the blocking group task 1: combine sentences for each question below with a conjunctive adverb: 1) he dislikes chemistry. he has decided to take this subject as his major at university. 2) we must pay our taxes. we will be fined. 3) their new house is being built. they are staying at a hotel nearby. 4) the children were enjoying their outdoor activities. a sudden downpour forced them indoors. 5) television appeared in people’s home in the fifties. the radio had been the chief sources of home entertainment. 6) some people spend their leisure time readings. others prefer to watch television. 7) if may had not cheated. she would not have been sentenced to jail. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 49 published by scholink inc. 8) the house must be very quiet. he cannot concentrate. 9) my friend will not keep me company. i will travel to canada. appendix e handout e – exercise on prepositions developed for the blocking group task 1: combine sentences for each question below with a preposition: 1) he dislikes chemistry. he has decided to take this subject as his major at university. 2) we must pay our taxes. we will be fined. 3) their new house is being built. they are staying at a hotel nearby. 4) the children were enjoying their outdoor activities. a sudden downpour forced them indoors. 5) television appeared in people’s home in the fifties. the radio had been the chief sources of home entertainment. 6) some people spend their leisure time readings. others prefer to watch television. 7) if may had not cheated. she would not have been sentenced to jail. 8) the house must be very quiet. he cannot concentrate. 9) my friend will not keep me company. i will travel to canada. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 130 original paper exploring the path of integrating excellent traditional chinese culture into ideological and political education in universities peifeng xu1 1 jiangsu university, zhenjiang, jiangsu, china received: april 21, 2025 accepted: may 7, 2025 online published: may 21, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p130 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p130 abstract excellent traditional chinese culture is the spiritual wealth of the chinese nation. there are many problems in the current excellent traditional culture education in universities, such as students’ inadequate understanding of traditional chinese culture, incomplete traditional culture curriculum system, relatively weak specialized teaching staff, and a weak atmosphere for traditional culture education on campus. as far as jiangsu university is concerned, we can select content which aligns with the spirit and motto of jiangsu university such as the patriotic sentiment of assuming responsibility for the country and nation, the enterprising spirit of self-perfection, the scientific attitude of seeking truth and pragmatism, and the ideal personality of cultivating profound virtues and characters. we can integrate excellent traditional culture into the ideological and political education by incorporating it into the curriculum and teaching system, compiling textbooks and reading materials with distinctive characteristics of the university, integrating it into online culture and campus culture, and practicing based on the unity of knowledge and action. this will aim to achieve an organic integration of excellent traditional culture and ideological and political education in universities. keywords excellent traditional chinese culture, integration, ideological and political education 1. introduction excellent traditional chinese culture is a precious spiritual wealth of our chinese nation, a profound cultural soft power, and solid foundation for socialist core values. strengthening the education of excellent traditional culture can help promote cultural identity and confidence of young students, so as to be helpful to advance the establishment of a culturally strong country and consolidate a powerful spiritual force for realizing the chinese dream of great rejuvenation of the chinese nation. therefore, it is of great practical significance and far-reaching historical influence to integrate excellent traditional www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 131 published by scholink inc. culture into ideological and political education in universities, and achieve the organic integration of both of them. due to numerous issues with traditional cultural education in universities currently, this paper is dedicated to explore the path of integrating excellent traditional chinese culture into ideological and political education in universities, and it is hoped to be helpful and valuable to effectively carry out excellent traditional culture education among college students and achieve the organic integration of traditional culture education and ideological and political education in universities. 2. the significance of strengthening education on excellent traditional culture and the current situation of excellent traditional culture education in universities 2.1 the significance of strengthening education on excellent traditional culture excellent traditional chinese culture has a long and rich history, lasting for thousands of years. with its unique spiritual charm and enduring vitality, it deeply influences the development and future of the chinese nation. in 2017, the general office of the communist party of china central committee and the general office of the state council issued the document named as “the opinions on implementing the project of inheriting and developing excellent traditional chinese culture” (《关于实施中华优秀 传统文化传承发展工程的意见》), which systematically deployed the work of inheriting and developing excellent traditional chinese culture in the form of a central document for the first time. it proposed to “run through the entire process of national education” and required universities to strengthen educational practices such as classic recitation, cultural lectures, and intangible cultural heritage inheritance. the report of the 20th national congress of the communist party of china proposed to “promote cultural confidence and self-improvement, and create new brilliance of socialist culture”, and emphasized the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional chinese culture. inheriting, promoting, and developing excellent traditional culture, and carrying out excellent traditional culture education among young students, is of great strategic significance and important contemporary value for implementing the fundamental task of cultivating morality and talents, guiding young students to promote cultural identity, enhance cultural confidence, cultivate and practice socialist core values, and realize the chinese dream of great rejuvenation of the chinese nation. its importance and necessity are self-evident. 2.2 the current situation of excellent traditional culture education in universities overall, the current level of excellent traditional culture education in china is insufficient, especially in universities where it has long been lacking and has become a weak link in higher education. currently, there are widespread problems among college students, such as a lack of understanding of excellent traditional culture and weak awareness of traditional ethical and moral concepts. the excellent traditional culture curriculum system in universities is not perfect, and there is a relative lack of teaching staff specialized in traditional culture education. the traditional culture education atmosphere on campus is not strong enough, and so on. according to relevant surveys, 67.2% of contemporary college students think that the atmosphere for the dissemination of traditional culture around them is not very good, which www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 132 published by scholink inc. makes it difficult for them to have a good understanding of excellent traditional chinese culture. 54.1% of contemporary college students think that the power to promote traditional culture in society is not sufficient enough. 2.2.1 insufficient understanding of traditional culture among college students according to the survey, contemporary college students have a relatively one-sided and superficial understanding of traditional chinese culture. during their university studies, they mainly devote their time to studying related professional courses and extracurricular activities, and have limited exposure to excellent traditional chinese culture. overall, they lack a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of traditional culture, lack necessary knowledge and literacy of traditional culture, and have a relatively single knowledge structure. this is reflected in the fact that their understanding of excellent traditional chinese culture is often limited to one or several common fields, such as the the four great inventions, national spirit, and traditional morality, while they are relatively unfamiliar with the fields with strong expertise, such as ancient chinese opera and music. for common fields, they only have a superficial understanding of their overview, basic content and scope, without the willingness or interest to delve deeper into them. compared to college students majoring in humanities, students majoring in science and engineering have a greater lack of understanding of traditional culture, and even have a vague understanding of many traditional cultural concepts, such as being unable to distinguish between peking opera and kunqu opera, less knowledge of calligraphy, less understanding traditional chinese painting, even confusion on some basic concepts of common sense about traditional culture such as “the four books and the five classics” (四书五经), “complete library of four branches of books” (《四库全 书》), “confucian classics, historical records, philosophical writings and miscellaneous works” (经 史子集), etc. it can be seen that their awareness of traditional culture is insufficient. 2.2.2 the traditional culture curriculum system is imperfect in the process of cultivating students, the educators in universities attach more importance to the study of specialized courses, the cultivation of professional skills and professional qualities, while less attention to the cultivation of humanistic qualities. this is reflected in the setting of curriculum system, where traditional cultural courses are relatively few or even absent when establishing curriculum system and training programs. in general, the traditional cultural curriculum system is very imperfect, with limited class hours and course content. taking the undergraduate courses of jiangsu university in 2024 as an example, there are 15 courses related to traditional culture, including “introduction to chinese culture”, “ethics”, “intensive reading of pre qin humanistic spirit”, “chinese classic folktales”, “introduction to chinese classics”, “intensive reading of han dynasty humanistic spirit”, “chinese traditional literati and poetry”, “appreciation of chinese costumes of various dynasties”, “chinese traditional murals”, “chinese calligraphy and seal carving”, “appreciation of opera”, “appreciation of chinese painting”, “chinese literature”, “college chinese”, “college chinese and writing”, etc. however, there are no compulsory courses on traditional culture throughout the university. from the perspective of the target audience, there are 6 courses which are related to certain majors or specific targets, with relatively www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 133 published by scholink inc. narrow teaching scope. for example, “introduction to chinese culture” and “ethics” are established for students majoring in ideological and political education (teacher training), “introduction to chinese classics” is a course for the elite school, mainly targeting students in the elite school, “college chinese and writing” is a course specifically designed for talented students in jinshan talent class, “chinese literature” is a course for students majoring in business (sino us exchange), and “traditional chinese mural painting” is a compulsory course specifically for public art majors; the remaining 9 courses, such as “intensive reading of pre qin humanistic spirit”, “intensive reading of han dynasty humanistic spirit”, “chinese classic folktales”, “chinese traditional literati and poetry”, “college chinese”, “appreciation of chinese costumes of various dynasties”, “chinese calligraphy and seal carving”, “appreciation of opera”, and “appreciation of chinese painting”, are public elective courses within the entire university. the teaching institution responsible for these traditional culture courses are relatively scattered, with courses offered by different schools such as the school of literature, the school of marxism, and the school of art. the determination of the courses related to traditional culture and the selection of the contents are mainly based on the research directions or interests of the teachers, lacking of organic unity and integrity, and failing to establish a relatively complete curriculum system and a scientific and systematic textbook system of traditional culture. 2.2.3 the specialized teaching staff is relatively weak at present, there is almost no specialized teaching staff for traditional cultural education in jiangsu university, and there is a lack of teachers with corresponding knowledge structures. the courses related to traditional culture are mainly offered by the school of literature, the school of marxism, and the school of arts of the university. among them, “introduction to chinese culture”, “ethics”, and “appreciation of chinese costumes in various dynasties” are offered by the school of marxism, “chinese traditional murals”, “chinese calligraphy and seal carving”, “appreciation of opera”, and “appreciation of chinese painting” are offered by the school of arts, and the rest are offered by the school of literature. for these teachers, traditional culture related courses are only their “side jobs” and “part-time jobs”, and their main responsibility is to teach relevant professional courses in their respective schools. the number of full-time teachers engaged in traditional culture education is seriously insufficient, which cannot meet the needs of teaching all students in the university. on the other hand, our teachers and counselors specializing in ideological and political education have little background in traditional cultural education and do not have a deep understanding and mastery of traditional chinese culture, making it difficult to integrate traditional cultural content into the ideological and political education of college students. 2.2.4 the atmosphere of traditional cultural education on campus is not strong enough the campus activities that mainly focus on traditional culture are not abundant enough in quantity, and the forms are also relatively simple. the atmosphere of traditional cultural education on campus is not strong enough. as far as the activities related to traditional culture throughout 2024 in jiangsu university are concerned, there are mainly two types: one type is the activities of reading sharing and poetry www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 134 published by scholink inc. recitation, such as the light picking reading club and the chinese classic recitation competition; the second type is holding traditional culture lectures. according to incomplete statistics, among the 472 academic lectures or forums held in 2024, there are only 10 traditional culture lectures, namely “inheritance of traditional culture and construction of mother tongue culture”, “reflections on su dongpo”, “great sinology: the essence of excellent traditional chinese culture”, “contemporary research on cultural heritage”, “experiencing intangible cultural heritage culture and inheriting ceramic art”, and “the past and present of the wenzong pavilion in zhenjiang”, and so on, only 2.1% of the total. 3. the selection of content of excellent traditional chinese culture which is suitable for integration into the ideological and political education traditional chinese culture, in a broad sense, covers multiple fields such as philosophy, literature, language, art and education, etc. however, the formation and development of its core ideological and cultural values have gone through several historical periods, including the hundred schools of thought in pre qin period, the flourishing of confucianism in the han dynasty, the popularity of metaphysics in the wei, jin, southern and northern dynasties, the coexistence of confucianism, buddhism and taoism in the sui and tang dynasties, and the development of neo confucianism in the song and ming dynasties. excellent traditional chinese culture is a condensed and concentrated embodiment of the cultural traditions, moral norms, ideological concepts, emotional identification, and value orientation of the chinese nation, with rich ideological connotations. the spirit of “self-perfection and virtue pursuing, seeking truth through hard work” (自强厚德，实干求真) and the motto of “pursuing erudition, seeking truth, and understanding virtue” (博学、求是、明德) of jiangsu university as for itself contain rich spiritual connotations of excellent traditional chinese culture. for example, “self-perfection and virtue pursuing” (自强厚德) originates from the phrase “as heaven maintains vigor through movement, a gentleman should constantly strive for self-perfection; as the momentum of the earth is thick and smooth, a gentleman should enhance his virtues and contain all things” (天行健，君子以自强不息；地势坤， 君子以厚德载物), which is recorded in “the book of changes” (《周易》). it is the essence of the core values and humanistic spirit of excellent traditional chinese culture, and also the precipitation of the scientific and humanistic spirit of jiangsu university over the past century. “seeking truth” embodies the scientific spirit of rigorous truth-seeking and exploring truth. the concept of “erudition” (博学) originates from “the doctrine of the mean” (《中庸》) in “the book of rites” (《礼记》), which states that “erudition, scrutiny and questioning, careful consideration, discernment, and steadfast action” (博 学之，审问之，慎思之，明辨之，笃行之), requiring a broad range of knowledge and skills. the concept of “understanding virtue (明德)” originates from “the purpose of the great learning is to demonstrate and promote honest and upright character” (大学之道，在明明德) in the classics named as “the great learning “(《大学》), which means to promote upright moral character. we need to deeply explore the excellent traditional cultural content and connotation spirit which aligns with the spirit and motto of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 135 published by scholink inc. jiangsu university, integrate it into the ideological and political education, in order to further improve the moral qualities of college students, cultivate ideal personalities, and enhance ideological literacy. based on the spirit and motto of jiangsu university, the following aspects can be selected: 3.1 the patriotic sentiment of assuming responsibility for the country and nation the confucian classic “the great learning” (《大学》) proposes the principles of investigating objects (格物), acquiring knowledge (致知), making the intention sincerity (诚意), rectifying the mind (正心), cultivating oneself (修身), regulating the family (齐家), governing the state (治国), and bringing peace to the world (平天下), indicating that only through personal cultivation and growing up, one may master skills and possess various abilities and contribute to the development of the country and society. throughout history, this kind of patriotic sentiment of assuming responsibility for the country and nation has always inspired and uplifted the vast number of literati and patriots, becoming a sentiment that intellectuals of all ages cannot let go of. zhang zai’s “to ordain conscience for heaven and earth, to secure life and fortune for the people, to continue lost teachings for past sages, to establish peace for all future generations” (为天地立心，为生民立命，为往圣继绝学，为万世开太平), lu you’s “whatever my status, i will never lay aside my concern for the nation” (位卑未敢忘忧国), fan zhongyan’s “i wish to be the first to worry about the nation’s woes and the last to share in its prosperity” (先天下之忧而忧， 后天下之乐而乐), wen tianxiang’s “everyone will die one day; when my day comes, may my loyalty be inscribed in the pages of history” (人生自古谁无死，留取丹心照汗青), gu yanwu’s “everyone has a duty toward his country” (天下兴亡，匹夫有责), lin zexu’s “in line with the conviction that i will do whatever it takes to serve my country even at the cost of my own life, regardless of fortune or misfortune to myself” (苟利国家生死以，岂因祸福避趋之), and so on, this kind of patriotic sentiment of assuming responsibility for the country and nation always stir people’s hearts, and no matter what era it is, they make people be full of reverence and feel emotionally charged. this patriotic sentiment of taking the world as one’s own responsibility helps to enhance the national pride and social responsibility of college students, making them understand that personal growth can only be achieved by integrating into the development of the country and society. it also helps guide them to further improve their personality cultivation, put aside the ego, achieve greatness, care about the fate of the country and nation, consciously combine personal ideals with national dreams, combine personal values with national development, and establish an ideal belief of unremitting struggle for the realization of the chinese dream of great rejuvenation of the chinese nation. 3.2 the enterprising spirit of self-perfection “ the book of changes” (《周易》) states:” as heaven maintains vigor through movement, a gentleman should constantly strive for self-perfection” (天行健，君子以自强不息), which is recorded in the chapter of xiang zhuan (《象传》). the main meaning is that the natural movement is strong and vigorous, and correspondingly, a gentleman should be strong and resolute, striving for excellence. it advocates for being persevering and aspiring, constantly striving for self-perfection and self-improvement, emphasizing the spiritual qualities of striving for excellence, and emphasizing confidence in one’s own talent and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 136 published by scholink inc. knowledge. our saintly master confucius highly valued this virtue and regarded it as a necessary condition for success. he said, “being strong, decisive, simple, and cautious are four virtues that are close to benevolence (刚毅木讷近仁)”, he also said, “work so hard that forget even to eat, and be so happy that forget all worries (发愤忘食，乐以忘忧)” , he also said, “the leader of the army can be changed, but the aspirations of an ambitious person cannot be changed” (三军可夺帅也，匹夫不可夺 志也). his disciple zengzi also said, “ambitious people must have lofty aspirations and strong willpower, because they shoulder significant missions and the road to struggle is long” (士不可以不弘毅，任重而 道远). qu yuan once said, “my way ahead is long, and i see no ending, yet high and low i’ll search with my will unbending” (路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索). the spirit of being strong and ambitious, and constantly striving for self-perfection, is a dynamic spirit of continuous progress and perseverance. it emphasizes the improvement of one’s own personality, highlights the self-cultivation and independent consciousness of the subject. the strong and enterprising spirit of the chinese nation has driven the continuous development of chinese society and culture. this positive and enterprising attitude towards life, as well as the spirit of striving for strength and moving forward courageously, is a precious spiritual asset of our chinese nation and an important part of the spirit of jiangsu university. it helps to temper the spiritual qualities and ideological will of college students, encourages them to not fear difficulties, climb peaks bravely, and continuously make progress and improvement. 3.3 the scientific attitude of seeking truth and pragmatism the scientific attitude and spirit of seeking truth from facts and exploring the truth is also one of valuable spiritual treasures of traditional chinese culture. it is recorded in the classic “the great learning” (《大 学》) as follows:” if one can make things better for one day, he should make them better every day” (苟 日新，日日新，又日新). it means that if you can update yourself every day, then you must persist in making new progress every day and continue to pursue updates in the new day, which emphasizes the spirit of continuous innovation. “the doctrine of the mean” (《中庸》) states that “erudition, scrutiny and questioning, careful consideration, discernment, and steadfast action” (博学之，审问之，慎思之， 明辨之，笃行之 ), which emphasizes the attitude towards learning from the aspects of learning, questioning, thinking, discerning, and practicing. “the analects of confucius” (《论语》)states: “ learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous “(学而不思则罔，思而不学则殆). all of these famous aphorisms emphasize the scientific spirit of seeking truth from facts, constantly innovating, daring to explore, and pursuing truth. the truth-seeking and pragmatic scientific spirit in traditional chinese culture has made a significant impact on the development of ancient science and technology in china. for example, the four great inventions in ancient china and countless various inventions in astronomy, mathematics, traditional chinese medicine, agronomy and manufacturing in ancient china benefited from this truth-seeking scientific attitude and spirit in a large sense. british scholar joseph needham believed that “china maintained a level of science and knowledge that was unmatched by the west between the 3rd and 13th centuries ad.” this pragmatic scientific attitude and spirit is also the spiritual inheritance and true portrayal of jiangsu university’s century long efforts to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 137 published by scholink inc. forge ahead and innovate. this scientific spirit and academic attitude of firmly believing in truth and delving into it can help cultivate the qualities of truth-seeking, diligence, and conscientiousness in learning among contemporary college students, and encourage them to contribute to the development of the country and society with real talent, genuine knowledge, and hard work. 3.4 the ideal personality of cultivating profound virtues and characters gentleman is the ideal personality model of confucianism. “profound virtues” is the highest ideal personality state pursued by a gentleman. the classic “the book of changes” (《周易》) states: “the momentum of the earth is thick and smooth, a gentleman should enhance his virtues and contain all things (地势坤，君子以厚德载物)”. that is to say, the earth’s momentum is thick and smooth, carrying all things. a gentleman should enhance his virtues, like the earth, which is thick, broad, and accommodating of all things. a scholar in song dynasty, cheng yi (程颐) further explains: “a gentleman views the image of the abundance of the universe and accommodates the common people with profound virtues.” profound virtues are prominently reflected in virtues such as generosity, tolerance, humility, flexibility, honesty, and benevolence, which require continuous self-cultivation and strengthening of one’s own moral cultivation to achieve. advocating for the ideal of cultivating one’s character with integrity and morality, encouraging college students to continuously improve their personal moral cultivation and ideological realm, and constantly pursue noble moral qualities, all of these will help guide them to emphasize virtues, value virtues, cultivate virtues, establish virtues, and practice virtues, thus forming a strong spiritual force of upward and goodness, and making positive contributions to building a harmonious society and realizing the ideal of a better society. 4. exploring the path of integrating excellent traditional culture into ideological and political education 4.1 integrate into the curriculum and teaching system, and compile textbooks and reading materials with distinctive characteristics of the university firstly, we need to exert the crucial influence of ideological and political theory courses. the classroom is the main position for ideological and political education in universities, and the leading role of classroom teaching in traditional cultural education for college students should be fully utilized. we should organically combine ideological and political education with excellent traditional culture education, and try to build a distinctive curriculum system, integrate the essence of traditional chinese culture into ideological and political education. the main content can be focused on the patriotic sentiment of taking the world as one’s own responsibility, the enterprising spirit of self-perfection, the scientific attitude of seeking truth and pragmatism, the ideal personality of cultivating virtues and characters, and so on. we should strive to thoroughly explain the ideological essence and connotation value of excellent traditional chinese culture, and try to change the monotonous and empty didactic teaching method of traditional ideological and political education. instead, we should adopt interactive and heuristic teaching methods, and try to use a broad historical and cultural perspective to explore the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 138 published by scholink inc. value of the times, observe social phenomena, solve practical problems, and enhance the attractiveness and appeal of theoretical teaching of ideological and political courses. secondly, we need to strengthen curriculum reform, based on the teaching staff of the university, develop school-based courses that are in line with the actual traditional culture education of the university, add excellent traditional culture general courses to the teaching of all majors, and establish separate compulsory courses for excellent traditional chinese culture, such as “introduction to chinese culture” as a public compulsory course, so that college students can comprehensively understand the main content and basic characteristics of traditional chinese culture. at the same time, traditional culture courses can be added as compulsory or elective courses according to the different situations of humanities, social sciences, and science and engineering majors, in order to improve the popularity of traditional culture courses. courses such as “selected readings of excellent chinese cultural classics” can be offered to deepen the study of classic literature such as “the book of songs” (《诗经》), “the songs of chu” (《楚 辞》), “the book of changes” (《周易》), “the analects of confucius” (《论语》), and “the works of mencius” (《孟子》), and so on, in order to help college students deeply understand and appreciate the connotation, value, and ideological essence of traditional chinese culture, and enhance their ideological and moral level. thirdly, we need to further strengthen textbook reform, enhance the construction of traditional chinese culture textbooks and political theory course textbooks, and vigorously promote the textbook “introduction to chinese culture” throughout the university as a fundamental textbook for excellent traditional chinese culture education. at the same time, we should actively organize relevant experts and scholars to compile textbooks and reading materials with distinctive characteristics of the university as well as regional cultural characteristics, recommend required and optional reading materials of traditional culture to college students, and guide them to widely read classic works of excellent traditional chinese culture. fourthly, we need to strengthen the construction of disciplines related to excellent traditional chinese culture, promote the cultivation and training of specialized teachers in traditional culture, and encourage teachers to conduct in-depth research on the education and teaching of excellent traditional chinese culture. we should fully exploit the advantages of philosophy and social sciences disciplines on traditional cultural education, and encourage teachers with relevant disciplinary backgrounds to integrate excellent traditional chinese culture into subject construction and professional course teaching. 4.2 integrate into online culture and actively build traditional cultural online platforms firstly, we need to innovate the forms of traditional cultural education carriers, fully explore and utilize the advantages of new medium on the internet, and expand the educational content of traditional chinese culture from tangible classrooms to intangible networks. we should make full use of the advantages of online teaching, and take the patriotic sentiment of taking the world as one’s own responsibility, the enterprising spirit of self-perfection, the scientific attitude of seeking truth and pragmatism, and the ideal personality of cultivating one’s character with honesty and morality as the core content. we can adopt a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 139 published by scholink inc. combination of compulsory courses, elective courses, and comprehensive practical courses, and fully rely on cultural resources inside and outside the university, and use modern educational technologies such as moocs and micro courses to carry out traditional cultural education with abundant content. we also can actively cultivate a team of network culture masters composed of backbone teachers with relevant professional backgrounds and knowledge structures, and build a batch of excellent traditional chinese culture video open courses. secondly, we should vigorously strengthen the construction of campus websites, design and establish specialized websites on excellent traditional chinese culture, and strive to create a number of themed columns and boutique columns of excellent traditional chinese culture with rich contents, innovative forms, and wide influence, which are convenient for college students to browse, learn, and consult. relying on “internet plus”, we should actively build a traditional culture network data resource platform, give full play to the role of university libraries, use existing data resources to integrate the content of excellent traditional culture, screen outstanding classic works of excellent traditional chinese culture, and build a database of classic chinese cultural resources. we can establish traditional culture columns in academic journals and school newspapers to carry out research and popularization of excellent traditional chinese culture. we can set up programs on campus radio stations such as “appreciation of traditional cultural classics” to promote the dissemination of traditional culture. we also can establish and utilize official wechat and weibo platforms to promote the excellent traditional chinese culture and give full play to its educational guidance function. we can encourage teachers and counselors of ideological and political theory courses to establish new online media such as blogs, micro-blogs, wechat, and use the popular way of expressing opinions through the internet among college students to spread and promote excellent traditional chinese culture, and carry out online public opinion guidance and ideological guidance. 4.3 integrate into campus culture and create a strong atmosphere of traditional cultural education firstly, we need to integrate traditional cultural education into campus culture, enrich campus cultural activities, and strive to create a strong campus cultural atmosphere of excellent traditional cultural education for college students. we can carry out various forms of campus cultural activities, such as traditional culture seminars, exchange meetings, moral lectures, national studies competitions, poetry competitions, traditional culture experience workshops, traditional culture lectures and reading clubs, traditional culture knowledge competitions, traditional culture promotion weeks, etc., to encourage college students to explore traditional culture more extensively, further enhance their enthusiasm and initiative in learning traditional chinese culture, and stimulate their identification and longing for traditional culture. we should support student organizations such as drama club, opera club, and hanfu clothing club to carry out traditional cultural dissemination activities, encourage students to compose and perform programs with the theme of excellent traditional chinese culture, and thus attract more students to approach traditional culture. we can carry out ritual education activities based on traditional chinese festivals, design and organize campus cultural activities such as reciting chinese classics, appreciating www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 140 published by scholink inc. traditional art, showcasing and promoting chinese etiquette, and organically combine excellent traditional chinese culture education with college students’ quality development activities to enhance their humanistic literacy and understanding of traditional culture. secondly, we can integrate traditional cultural education into the material and spiritual cultural construction of the campus. emphasis should be placed on the construction of campus environment, incorporating elements of excellent traditional chinese culture into architecture and landscape design, showcasing the concept of “harmony between man and nature” and the unique aesthetic taste of traditional chinese culture, creating an elegant and poetic humanistic environment, and reflecting the style and taste of traditional chinese culture in campus planning, architectural style, humanistic landscape, greening, interior decoration, and other aspects. at the same time, it is necessary to combine the spirit and motto of the university, fully tap into the historical traditions and cultural resources of the university, condense the cultural characteristics of the university, consolidate the value consensus and inner spirit of teachers and students, educate and guide college students, and inspire and shape them. 4.4 practice based on the unity of knowledge and action firstly, we must fully tap into the social and cultural resources of the cities and regions where universities are located, utilize material and intangible cultural bases such as cultural relics, historical and cultural museums, and national hero memorial halls, build patriotic education bases, organize college students to visit historical and cultural relics, revolutionary cultural holy sites, so that students can have a more intuitive understanding of the historical value of traditional chinese culture, consciously accept the influence of excellent traditional chinese culture, and resonate with their thoughts. secondly, we should attach importance to the social practice of college students, organize and mobilize them to hone their qualities and willpower through social practice. we should encourage and support college students to step out of school, go deep into the grassroots, the masses, and society. we can build a social practice platform for college students, and organize college students to actively participate in internships, volunteer services, public welfare services, and other activities, organize college students to preach excellent traditional chinese culture in primary and secondary schools, rural areas, communities, and poverty-stricken areas, guide college students to have a deeper understanding of society and recognize society in serving the general public and contributing to society, practice by example, hone their qualities and grow their abilities, and truly feel the huge charm of excellent traditional chinese culture in practice. 5. conclusion excellent traditional chinese culture is the “root” and “soul” of the chinese nation, and the solid foundation for the chinese nation to stand among the world’s nations. if we abandon the excellent traditional chinese culture, we will lose the fundamental development of our country and nation, and cut off the spiritual lifeline. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 141 published by scholink inc. we should further strengthen the education of traditional chinese culture, select excellent traditional cultural content and connotation spirit suitable for the university. by integrating them into the curriculum and teaching system, compiling textbooks and reading materials with distinctive characteristics of the university, integrating into online culture and campus culture, and practicing based on the unity of knowledge and action, we aim to achieve the organic integration of excellent traditional culture and ideological and political education in universities. it can be confirmed with certainty that nurturing the mind and soul of young students with the essence of traditional chinese culture, is bound to help improve their moral cultivation, shape a sound personality, guide them to promote cultural identity, enhance cultural confidence, promote cultural inheritance and innovation, and inspire young students to strive for excellence, condense into a powerful spiritual force for the development and construction of the university, and make due contributions to the development of the country and society. references cai, k. w. (2023). methods and strategies for integrating excellent traditional chinese culture into ideological and political education in universities. jiangsu higher education, 12, 131-136. cheng, w. m., & xiong, j. s. (2016). analysis of the identification status of contemporary college students with excellent traditional chinese culture: based on a questionnaire survey of 700 college students from more than ten universities in china. education research and experiment, 4, 68-71. duan, c., & shu, j. q. (2020). reflections on the work of inheriting excellent traditional chinese culture in universities. school party building and ideological education, 6, 86-88. zhang, d. n., & fang, k. l. (2004). introduction to chinese culture. beijing: beijing normal university press. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 78 original paper exploration of the application of information technology in the teaching of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities he lingyan1 1 sichuan minzu college, ganzi red culture research center, kangding city, china received: september 11, 2023 accepted: september 24, 2023 online published: october 12, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n4p78 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n4p78 abstract this study aims to explore the current situation and optimisation strategies of the use of information technology in the teaching of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities. under the background of the information society, the education field is facing the major challenges of how to use modern information technology to improve the quality of education, optimise the allocation of educational resources and enhance the learning effect of students. through a combination of literature analysis, empirical analysis and case study, this study thoroughly analyses the specific application, practical effects and optimization strategies of information technology in the teaching of ideological and political theory in colleges and universities. this study aims to provide theoretical basis and practical reference for the teaching reform of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities, with a view to promoting the improvement of teaching quality. keywords information technology, ideological and political theory courses, teaching higher education is an important stage in cultivating socialist constructors and successors with comprehensive development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, and aesthetics. as a key course for fostering students’ character and soul, ideological and political theory courses have strategic significance in higher education. however, with the rapid development of information technology and the fast-changing society, traditional teaching methods of ideological and political courses have become inadequate to meet the learning needs of contemporary college students. information technology, as a powerful tool and means, has gradually shown great potential in college ideological and political education. however, research on the current application and optimization strategies of information www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 79 published by scholink inc. technology in college ideological and political education is still lacking. therefore, this paper aims to investigate and analyze the current situation of information technology in college ideological and political education, and explore how to optimize the application strategies of information technology to further improve the effectiveness of ideological and political theory courses and students’ development. 1. the current status of information technology in teaching and ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities 1.1 theories related to information technology in teaching information technology in teaching refers to the optimization and reform of the teaching process through the use of modern information technologies such as the internet, multimedia, and artificial intelligence to improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching. information technology in teaching has several characteristics. firstly, it is interactive, enabling real-time interaction and feedback between teachers and students through interactive tools such as the internet. secondly, it is personalized, providing personalized learning resources and support based on students’ different needs and learning styles. thirdly, it is realtime, enabling real-time delivery and communication of teaching content through tools such as instant messaging. lastly, it is open, providing rich learning resources and an open learning environment through platforms such as the internet. 1.2 the current status and challenges in the teaching of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities currently, there are several problems and challenges in ideological and political education in higher education. firstly, teaching methods are monotonous, mainly relying on traditional lecture-style teaching, lacking interaction and participation. secondly, student engagement is low, lacking initiative and enthusiasm, and having inadequate understanding of the importance and practical significance of ideological and political education. thirdly, the allocation of educational resources is uneven, with relatively fewer ideological and political education resources in some schools and regions, resulting in unstable teaching quality and effectiveness. lastly, teaching methods are single and lack attractiveness, unable to fully meet the needs of the times and students. these problems limit the improvement of the quality and effectiveness of ideological and political education in higher education and also affect the cultivation of students’ ideological and moral qualities and sense of social responsibility. 1.3 the application of information technology in teaching of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities in recent years, universities have started to attach importance to the application of information technology in teaching ideological and political education. for example, by using information technology tools such as online teaching platforms, multimedia teaching resources, and artificial intelligence assistants, the quality and effectiveness of ideological and political education can be improved. these information technology tools can help teachers interact and communicate with students, providing richer and more diverse teaching resources. at the same time, they can also provide personalized learning content and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 80 published by scholink inc. support based on students’ learning needs and interests. through the application of information technology tools, students’ thinking and creativity can be better stimulated, and their initiative and engagement can be enhanced. in addition, information technology tools can also promote the sharing and communication of teaching resources in ideological and political education in higher education, raising the overall level of teaching quality and effectiveness. 2. specific applications of information technology in teaching of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities 2.1 information technology infrastructure information technology infrastructure is the foundation and guarantee for supporting teaching in ideological and political education in higher education, mainly including networks, multimedia, and cloud computing. networks are the core infrastructure for information transmission and interconnection, providing conditions for real-time communication and remote teaching between teachers and students. multimedia technology provides rich teaching resources such as images, videos, and audios, enhancing the expression and vividness of teaching content. cloud computing technology facilitates the storage and sharing of teaching resources, allowing teachers and students to access required teaching resources anytime and anywhere. strengthening the construction of information technology infrastructure can provide necessary material support for teaching ideological and political education in higher education. 2.2 online teaching platforms online teaching platforms are important carriers of information technology in teaching, enabling realtime updates and sharing of teaching resources. teachers can publish teaching content, courseware, and exercises on the platform, while students can learn and submit assignments through the platform. online teaching platforms have characteristics of interactivity and openness, promoting communication and collaboration between teachers and students, enhancing interactivity and openness in the teaching process. additionally, the platform offers functionalities such as online classrooms, discussion forums, and q&a platforms, facilitating real-time communication and interaction between teachers and students. through the application of online teaching platforms, the efficiency and quality of teaching ideological and political education in higher education can be improved. 2.3 multimedia teaching resources multimedia teaching resources have the characteristic of being rich and diverse, meeting the personalized learning needs of students. teachers can utilize multimedia technology to create teaching courseware, videos, and audios, presenting teaching content in a more vivid and intuitive manner. multimedia teaching resources can enhance students’ learning interest and engagement, improve the attractiveness and vividness of teaching content. at the same time, multimedia teaching resources can be shared and disseminated through online teaching platforms, providing abundant teaching materials and resources for different universities and teachers. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 81 published by scholink inc. 2.4 artificial intelligence assistants artificial intelligence assistants are emerging technologies introduced in teaching ideological and political education in higher education in recent years. they can assist teachers in teaching management, student guidance, and course evaluation. through artificial intelligence assistants, teachers can automate the management of students’ learning progress and grades, provide personalized learning suggestions and guidance, and help students better understand and master teaching content. artificial intelligence assistants can also analyze students’ learning situations and performances, providing targeted course evaluation and improvement suggestions for teachers, thus improving teaching quality and efficiency. the introduction of artificial intelligence assistants brings new possibilities and challenges to teaching ideological and political education in higher education, providing better learning and teaching experiences for teachers and students. 3. analysis of the practical effects of information technology in teaching of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities 3.1 student learning outcomes the application of information technology in teaching ideological and political education in higher education has a positive impact on students’ learning outcomes. firstly, information technology provides diverse teaching resources, such as online teaching platforms and multimedia teaching resources, which can meet students’ personalized learning needs and stimulate their interest and motivation in learning. secondly, information technology promotes interaction and collaboration between students and teachers. through functionalities like discussion forums and q&a platforms on online teaching platforms, students can communicate and interact with teachers in real-time, receiving timely guidance and feedback. this interactive and feedback mechanism helps improve students’ learning outcomes and grades. additionally, information technology can provide online learning resources and course assistance tools, such as online courses and learning software, enabling students to learn and consolidate knowledge independently, further enhancing learning outcomes. 3.2 teacher teaching outcomes the application of information technology can enrich teachers’ teaching methods and means, improving their teaching outcomes and satisfaction. firstly, teachers can flexibly design and present teaching content using tools like online teaching platforms and multimedia teaching resources, enhancing the attractiveness and vividness of teaching. secondly, information technology can assist teachers in organizing and managing teaching processes more effectively. for example, using artificial intelligence assistants for teaching management and course evaluation improves teaching quality and efficiency. additionally, information technology provides a platform for teachers to share and learn from teaching resources. through online teaching platforms, teachers can communicate and share teaching experiences with each other, thus improving their own teaching level and outcomes. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 82 published by scholink inc. 3.3 optimization and equity of educational resources the application of information technology achieves real-time updates and sharing of teaching resources, helping address the issue of uneven distribution of educational resources in teaching ideological and political education in higher education. firstly, online teaching platforms can achieve real-time updates of teaching resources. teachers can timely update teaching content and resources based on different teaching needs and current events, ensuring that teaching content remains fresh and engaging. secondly, online teaching platforms facilitate the sharing of teaching resources. teachers can upload their highquality teaching resources to the platform for other teachers and students to learn from and use. this sharing mechanism optimizes the distribution of educational resources to the maximum extent, improves the efficiency of resource utilization, and benefits more students with high-quality educational resources. through the application of information technology, the balanced development of educational resources can be promoted, narrowing the gap in educational resources. 4. existence of problems and reasons analysis 4.1 insufficient information infrastructure the inadequate information infrastructure is one of the main reasons hindering the promotion and application of information technology in teaching. universities have insufficient investment in information technology equipment, network bandwidth, and teaching platforms, leading to problems such as equipment failures, network delays, and platform instability during the teaching process, which impact the improvement of teaching quality. additionally, there is a lack of information technology facilities in teaching venues, such as classrooms not being equipped with appropriate multimedia devices to support the needs of information technology teaching. 4.2 low level of information literacy among teachers the low level of information literacy among teachers is a major obstacle in the process of promoting information technology teaching. on the one hand, some teachers are unfamiliar with the application and operation of information technology, unable to flexibly use information technology means to design and implement teaching activities. on the other hand, teachers lack the cultivation of information literacy, which results in a lack of teaching concepts and methods that are compatible with information technology teaching, making it difficult to adapt to the needs of information technology teaching, thereby affecting the improvement of teaching outcomes. 4.3 lack of information technology teaching resources the scarcity of information technology teaching resources is one of the significant problems affecting teaching quality. universities have insufficient investment in the development and application of information technology teaching resources, resulting in students not being able to access sufficient and diverse learning resources. this makes it difficult to meet the personalized learning needs of students during the teaching process, limiting the improvement of teaching quality. at the same time, due to the lack of information technology teaching resources, teachers face significant challenges in teaching design www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 83 published by scholink inc. and preparation, being unable to fully utilize information technology means to support and promote teaching activities. 4.4 inadequate information technology teaching evaluation system the inadequacy of the information technology teaching evaluation system is an important issue affecting the improvement of teaching quality. the current information technology teaching evaluation system is relatively outdated and cannot fully reflect the characteristics and requirements of information technology teaching. traditional evaluation indicators and methods are difficult to assess students’ learning situations and skill development in an information technology teaching environment, and the improvement of teaching quality lacks effective feedback and evaluation mechanisms. therefore, it is crucial to establish a sound information technology teaching evaluation system, including comprehensive evaluation indicators and diversified evaluation methods, to promote the improvement of teaching quality. 5. informationization strategies for optimization of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities 5.1 strengthening information infrastructure construction strengthening information infrastructure construction is one of the important strategies for optimizing ideological and political education in universities. this includes increasing investment, improving hardware equipment, and enhancing network bandwidth to provide a stable and efficient informationized teaching environment. sufficient software and hardware facilities will support the application of informationized teaching models such as multimedia teaching, online teaching, and distance education, thereby promoting the improvement of teaching quality. 5.2 enhancing teachers’ information literacy improving teachers’ information literacy is a key strategy for optimizing ideological and political education in universities. to achieve this, teachers’ information literacy can be enhanced through training programs, educational activities, and incentive mechanisms, covering areas such as technical operation skills, information literacy, and instructional design. teachers should receive comprehensive training in information technology application, online teaching methods, and information resource acquisition to better adapt to the needs of informationized teaching and improve teaching effectiveness. 5.3 developing diverse informationized teaching resources developing diverse informationized teaching resources is a necessary strategy for optimizing of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities. this includes developing multimedia teaching aids, instructional software, and online resources that cater to different learning styles and needs. universities should provide interactive, diverse, and innovative informationized teaching resources based on students’ personalized learning needs to enrich teaching content and methods and improve teaching quality. additionally, encouraging teachers and students to participate in the sharing and creation of informationized teaching resources will facilitate the continuous updating and optimization of these resources. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 84 published by scholink inc. these optimization strategies contribute to enhancing the informationization level of ideological and political education in universities and promoting the comprehensive development of students’ overall quality. however, to implement these strategies, cooperation and support from universities and relevant departments are required to ensure the effective application and promotion of informationization methods in ideological and political education. 6. conclusion in conclusion, the optimization strategies of informationization in of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities include strengthening information infrastructure construction, enhancing teachers’ information literacy, and developing diverse informationized teaching resources. these strategies aim to improve the quality and effectiveness of ideological and political education in universities and promote students’ comprehensive development. however, achieving these optimization strategies requires joint efforts from universities and relevant departments, along with sufficient investment and support. only through continuous improvement in informationized teaching environment, enhancing teachers’ information literacy, and developing diverse teaching resources can universities effectively drive the modernization of ideological and political education, and embrace the educational challenges of the information age. references guo, h. (2019). research on cultivation of new media literacy of university teachers in the perspective of smart education. publishing angle, 10, 79-81. hu, j. (2022). exploration of the deep integration of informationized teaching and practical teaching in ideological and political education in universities. journal of multimedia and network teaching in china, 3, 65-68. li, x. (2018). analysis of the role of information technology in educational reform. modern vocational education, 22, 164-165. wang, j. (2020). research on the implementation strategy of informationization construction and management in university physical education teaching. education theory and practice, 40(6), 6264. wang, y. (2021). analysis of practice cases of informationized teaching. electronic technology, 50(12), 184-185. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 13 original paper the impacts of whatsapp messenger on developing writing skill among tertiary level students farhiba ferdous, assistant professor1 1 department of english language and literature, international islamic university chittagong, bangladesh received: november 8, 2025 accepted: november 22, 2025 online published: december 10, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v7n1p13 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v7n1p13 abstract this article examines the impact of whatsapp messenger on the writing skills of tertiary-level students. studies indicate that using whatsapp for writing exercises and vocabulary practice positively influences students’ writing abilities. specifically, the platform facilitates the development of basic english as a foreign language (efl) writing skill through instant text messaging at the tertiary level. through this, students can share the same platform to increase their accessibility, cooperative tendency and motivation. students enjoy the opportunity to work in group, pairs, or individually giving evaluation to each other. whatsapp messenger is such an app that ignites interest among students to actively participate in writing tasks. it is not a boring media to them. this app helps learner to learn inside the classroom and also outside the classroom. students can learn both privately and publicly. further research explores the effectiveness of whatsapp messenger in higher education contexts to enhance their creativity in writing skill. this study shows that whatsapp messenger can be used as a significant technological tool for making students’ writing experience smooth. this media is also helpful to the instructors as it facilitates them in their task of assignment giving and collecting. students have reported their experiences via surveys, highlighting the whatsapp platform’s role in improving writing proficiency. moreover, this research strongly recommends that, if the challenges can be faced positively whatsapp messenger may be used as a supportive and educational resource in the teaching and learning process of writing skill at all educational stages. contribution of the study: this research work will contribute to extend the mobile learning evidence base, focusing on writing skills, contextualizing it in tertiary education, possibly in specific cultural or linguistic settings, bridging informal technology use with formal academic writings, informing pedagogy, interventions, and instructional design and offering actionable implications for writing pedagogy. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 14 published by scholink inc. keywords academic writing, digital literacy, mobile-assisted language learning, tertiary students, whatsapp messenger 1. introduction various social media sites like facebook, twitter, instagram, and whatsapp messenger have become very popular and heavily utilized by the young generations now and they are very often controlled by these technologies. however, this social media use has many limitations for younger generations when it comes to language learning especially english. they frequently employ a fashionable new language style to interact with others on social media, which influence them to follow. depending on how frequently technology is used by people, particularly smartphones, they are developing and learning a new language for interaction through messaging. as thurlow and brown (2003) observe, “computermediated communication has generated new linguistic practices that challenge traditional norms of spelling, punctuation, and grammar” (p. 50). in the digital age, technology is employed significantly to promote higher education especially writing skill. a new online language is being developed as a result of technological advancement and the internet. people, particularly younger generations, have included new types of writing style created by this online language for communication. the language, usually referred to as internet slang, is a variety of slang that is imported by various users of the internet (crystal, 2006). whatsapp is a technological based, particularly, smartphone messaging programme with a user interface that is reminiscent of blackberry messenger. as whatsapp messenger uses the same internet data plan which is used by email, web surfing, and other activities, users may communicate with one another without having to pay for sms. as church and de oliveira (2013) note, “whatsapp messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows users to exchange messages without having to pay for sms” (p. 354). this app employs 3g or wi-fi connections for data communication that enables users to communicate online, share data, swap images, and more (bouhnik & deshen, 2014). since whatsapp has become a common and essential means of social connection, students are more exposed to it and are more likely to be affected by it. in addition, whatsapp has been very helpful in various ways for a variety of objectives. for instance, youtube and whatsapp are used for online video streaming and novel sharing, respectively. whatsapp is also used as an important learning tool in educational settings for blended learning, online note-sharing, and educational video sharing (yeboah & ewur, 2014). facebook, whatsapp, and youtube are the three most popular social media platforms that tertiary level students typically utilize for relationship development, direct contact, and social involvement (al-said, 2015). formality, sentence or paragraph structure, spelling, and grammar are the key problems of frequent use of whatsapp, has been found by the majority of research. as students are writing their papers very casually adopting whatsapp, formality is becoming a problem. according to perkins (2015), “students www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 15 published by scholink inc. tend to use incomplete sentences, informal abbreviations, and nonstandard punctuation in academic writing influenced by social media discourse” (p. 22). this also relates to grammar issues, as students frequently utilize abbreviations and internet slang to keep their writing brief, which has an impact on their official writing (andujar, 2016). for academic and professional writing, this mindset and style of writing are inappropriate. therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the types of academic writing mistakes that students make repeatedly and that happens for being influenced by the use of social media for communication. however, improper use of whatsapp can have a detrimental impact on students’ writing. the results indicate that some respondents do not think social networking sites may help them to write better or to improve their grammar, vocabulary, spelling, or other linguistic qualities (ahmed, 2019). due to the ease with which social media is accessible and the abundance of materials, some students may even plagiarize the works of others (odewale & olajide, 2016). in addition, they concur that, they are pushed by social media to write in a different code. when communicating on social media, the majority of respondents feel more at ease using informal and vogue english, and they only employ formality when they want to enhance their writing skill (yeboah & ewur, 2014). 1.1 research objectives the research goals are to evaluate whether whatsapp improves writing skills, identifies particular skills (such grammar or vocabulary), analyses the negative consequences, and examines how whatsapp affects students’ motivation and collaborative writing. ➢ to assess the influence of whatsapp on tertiary students’ writing skill. this target tries to link frequent whatsapp use to written communication improvements. ➢ to examine whatsapp’s impact on writing abilities, including grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, and sentence structure. ➢ to explore the benefits of whatsapp for writing practice, including as collaborative learning, engagement, and constant practice outside of the classroom. ➢ to examine possible negative effects of whatsapp on students’ writing skills, including casual language, plagiarism, and lack of organised feedback. ➢ to explore the relationship between whatsapp use and students’ motivation and confidence in their writing abilities. ➢ to compare the writing performance of students who use whatsapp with those who do not, using a control group or preand post-test design. 1.2 research questions the research questions of this research are as follows: ➢ what impact does utilising whatsapp messenger for casual and group writing exercises have on tertiary level students’ formal academic writing abilities as well as their spelling, grammar, and punctuation accuracy? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 16 published by scholink inc. ➢ what impact does using whatsapp messenger have on tertiary level students’ desire to write more? ➢ what are the most common types of writing errors tertiary students make when using whatsapp for academic purposes due to the platform’s informal nature? ➢ how do tertiary students perceive the impact of whatsapp messenger on their development of both formal and informal writing skill? 2. literature review 2.1 mall conceptual foundation smartphones and instant-messaging applications have been framed under mobile-assisted language learning (mall), which emphasises their ability to enable contact, collaboration, and contextual practice outside the classroom. kukulska-hulme and shield (2008) highlight that “mobile devices are particularly suited to supporting social contacts and collaborative learning” and that learner-driven methods are replacing teacher-led ones (pp. 271–289). this viewpoint supports research that uses whatsapp as an educational affordance to bring rehearsal, feedback, and peer scaffolding into students’ daily life. 2.2 whatsapp as a learning space: benefits and applications early qualitative research on teachers’ and students’ whatsapp use has shown numerous common purposes. according to bouhnik and deshen’s (2014) interview research, classrooms are used for “communicating with students; nurturing the social atmosphere; creating dialogue and encouraging sharing among students; and as a learning platform” (p. 217). technical advantages (cheap cost, immediacy) and pedagogical advantages (extended access to materials, continuation of learning beyond class) are highlighted, along with practical obstacles including message overload and expectations of 24/7 instructor availability. these data suggest whatsapp is a hybrid social–pedagogical venue for casual and collaborative writing practice. 2.3 empirical evidence on writing development: accuracy, fluency, complexity a growing body of quasi-experimental and longitudinal studies examines whether regular whatsapp/ mim use produces measurable gains in written performance. andújar’s longitudinal quasi-experimental study (2016) with spanish university learners (daily whatsapp interaction over six months) has reported that measures of accuracy improved: “the ratios of lexical, grammatical and mechanical errors … indicated significant differences between the control and experimental group in terms of accuracy” (andújar, 2016, p. 63). however, andújar has also found that syntactic-complexity measures and lexical diversity do not consistently change, suggesting that increased written practice on whatsapp may primarily support accuracy and error reduction rather than immediate gains in syntactic sophistication. complementary studies report similar patterns. plana et al. (2013) have found that instant-short-message tasks using whatsapp increase motivation and out-of-class engagement—factors link to greater practice opportunities—while some research (e.g., later replication or related projects) show mixed results for www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 17 published by scholink inc. measures such as lexical diversity and syntactic complexity. taken together, the empirical record suggests that whatsapp can raise writing frequency and accuracy and foster rehearsal and corrective feedback, though the impact on higher-order features (complex sentence structures, lexical range) is less consistent. 2.4 peer feedback, collaboration, and social-constructivist mechanisms studies frequently cite social-constructivist mechanisms—peer scaffolding, zone of proximal development (zpd), and co-construction of meaning—as explanatory frameworks for whatsapp’s educational effects. vygotsky’s foundational claim is that learning is mediated through social interaction remains influential: the zpd is the space where learners “can achieve through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). in whatsapp groups, rapid peer responses, corrective suggestions, and model sentences operate as forms of distributed mko (more knowledgeable other) that can scaffold weaker writers during revision and drafting. empirical descriptions of whatsapp group interactions show frequent micro-feedback episodes that align with this sociocultural account. 2.5 motivation, autonomy, and outside-class practice literature reports greater student motivation and autonomy. according to plana et al. (2013) and bouhnik and deshen (2014), whatsapp allows students to “learn on the go” and stay in touch. warschauer (2011/2013) and other digital pedagogy scholars argue that continuity makes writing a frequent, contextualised practice rather than a sporadic classroom task, as digital tools “redefine what it means to be literate in contemporary society” (p. 8). whatsapp can boost writing and revising, which boosts skill development. 2.6 design matters in pedagogical mediation the literature agrees that whatsapp’s impact depends on usage. structured tasks—guided peer review, instructor prompts, scaffolded revision cycles—improve academic performance whereas unstructured social usage promotes fluency but may reinforce informal behaviours. bouhnik and deshen (2014) emphasise whatsapp’s social environment and potential as a learning platform, but caution of “improper use of language” without established teaching rules (pp. 229–230). andújar’s study reveals that everyday pedagogy improves accuracy, highlighting the importance of curricular integration and instructor scaffolding. 2.7 methodology notes and gaps the discipline uses exploratory qualitative investigations, small-scale quasi-experiments, and descriptive surveys. short intervention windows, convenience samples, and self-reported perception data are constraints. to determine which interactional moves (e.g., recasts, explicit correction, and model examples) improve whatsapp threads, several authors recommend longitudinal, mixed-methods research that combines objective corpus analysis (accuracy, complexity measures) with fine-grained interactional analysis. geographic bias: many studies are from spanish-speaking or middle eastern environments; cross-cultural study is needed to demonstrate generalisability. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 18 published by scholink inc. 2.8 tertiary writing pedagogy synthesis and consequences according to the literature, the evidence is complicated. whatsapp boosts writing frequency, student involvement, and peer feedback, leading to improved accuracy and confidence (andújar, 2016; plana et al., 2013). syntactic complexity and lexical variety increases are less constant, and unmediated use might foster informal practices that contradict with academic writing norms (crystal, 2008). whatsapp should be used as a complementary mall tool in structured instructional sequences (scaffolded tasks, explicit editing stages, teacher modelling of academic register) to maximise practice and peer interaction while reinforcing formal standards. future research should prioritise longitudinal mixed-methods designs combining corpus metrics and interactional analysis of whatsapp threads, controlled task type comparisons (collaborative droughting vs. rapid prompts) to identify improvement mechanisms, and cross-linguistic and cross-cultural studies to test transferability. experimental study that mixes whatsapp activities with conscious register transfer training (specific exercises to transform informal messages to formal paragraphs) may help resolve the conflict between fluency increases and formality preservation. 3. theoretical framework this theoretical framework positions the study of the impacts of whatsapp messenger on developing writing skills among tertiary level students within an integrated set of theories from second-language acquisition, sociocultural psychology, mobile-assisted language learning (mall), and motivation studies. together these perspectives explain how and why whatsapp—an always-available, socially embedded, text-based communication tool—can function as a site for writing practice, peer feedback, and developing digital-era literacy, while also clarifying the risks that informal digital registers pose for academic writing. 3.1 sociocultural theory and the zone of proximal development (zpd): sociocultural theory (sct) foregrounds learning as a socially mediated process: cognitive development occurs first on the social plane and then on the individual plane through internalization (vygotsky, 1978). central to sct is the zone of proximal development (zpd), defined as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). in the context of whatsapp groups, peers and instructors act as distributed “more knowledgeable others” (mko), offering corrective feedback, model sentences, paraphrases, and scaffolds in real time. these micro-interactional supports can move learners’ writing competence from current performance toward higher levels by supplying just-in-time linguistic and metalinguistic resources. empirical descriptions of whatsapp threads show frequent short corrective episodes and model utterances that resemble scaffolded assistance in the zpd. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 19 published by scholink inc. 3.2 interaction hypothesis and corrective feedback the interaction hypothesis (long, 1996) argues that negotiation of meaning and interactional modification (clarification requests, recasts, confirmation checks) make input comprehensible and create opportunities for uptake and language development. whatsapp facilitates a dense ecology of written interaction where negotiation can occur asynchronously (e.g., a learner posts a draft line and peers offer edits; the writer then revises). the affordance for repeated, reflective negotiation—unavailable in ephemeral oral interactions—makes whatsapp particularly suited to written-language development because learners can re-examine corrections, compare alternatives, and rehearse revisions. thus, the ih explains why interaction on whatsapp can lead to measurable error reduction and higher uptake of corrected forms. 3.3 mall affordances and limitations mall scholarship places language learning in mobile device affordances such mobility, connection, multimodality, and contextualised communication (kukulska-hulme & shield, 2008). a move “from content delivery to supported collaboration and interaction,” kukulska-hulme and shield (2008) argue that mobile solutions are most effective when they facilitate learner-driven interaction and situational practice (recall, pp. 271–289). whatsapp’s contextual writing (brief messages, drafts, file sharing) and low-stakes peer exchange demonstrate this transition. the mall viewpoint suggests that whatsapp can increase the amount and authenticity of writing chances, which improve fluency, rehearsal, and motivation, if mediated. 3.4 digital literacy and transforming “writing” modern literacy experts say digital platforms change genres, norms, and literacy (warschauer, 2011/2013). warschauer claims that digital technologies “redefine what it means to be literate in contemporary society” (p. 8), introducing multimodal composition, interactive writing, and quick iterative revision. whatsapp promotes textual play, multimodal signals (emojis, photos), and quick peer co-construction, blending social and academic literacies. theory suggests that writing growth involves multi-register competence—students need the agility to create in informal networked registers and the metacognitive capacity to translate such activities into formal academic works. 3.5 drive and independence motivation affects students’ writing performance. according to self-determination theory (sdt), intrinsic motivation is based on the satisfying of three psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness (deci & ryan, 2000). whatsapp meets these needs: students start postings and peer exchanges, drafts show skill, and ongoing communication fosters group belonging. meeting these demands encourages voluntary revision and persistent writing practice, which improves writing skills. thus, sdt explains how whatsapp motivates writing practice and tenacity. 3.6 register transfer and genre theory genre and register theories remind us that ability in one genre does not instantly transfer to another without pedagogical bridging. texting has its own conventions—abbreviations, omission, logograms— www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 20 published by scholink inc. that are unique from academic prose, according to david crystal (crystal, 2008, p. 11). unless students are explicitly taught register awareness and editing procedures, informal norms may transfer to academic writing (register bleed). thus, theoretical models of genre transfer include instructional scaffolding (metalinguistic reflection, guided editing activities) to prevent whatsapp’s fluency gains from fossilising non-standard forms in formal evaluations. 3.7 theoretical implications for teaching: this theoretical synthesis suggests treating whatsapp pedagogically, not only socially. scaffolded peerreview cycles that model transfer from informal drafts to academic paragraphs (sct + genre theory); structured negotiation tasks that elicit corrective feedback and uptake (interaction hypothesis); activities that explicitly build register awareness and editing routines (genre transfer); and design features that preserve learner autonomy and relatedness (sdt) to sustain engagement are effective design principles. these parts together improve surface correctness and deeper composition skills, according to the theoretical framework. 4. research methodology to meet study goals, this section describes the research design, participants, instruments, procedures, and data processing techniques. the mixed-methods study examines whatsapp’s effects on pupils’ writing skills quantitatively and qualitatively. this study uses a mixed-methodologies approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to achieve a comprehensive knowledge of the phenomena. creswell (2014) states that mixed methods research “provides a better understanding of research problems than either quantitative or qualitative approaches alone” (p. 4). quantitative surveys and writing tests examine students’ writing skills, while qualitative semi-structured interviews collect students’ and instructors’ impressions of whatsapp as a learning tool. this method is justified by the study topic, which is to determine how and why whatsapp affects writing development. dörnyei (2007) states that language education scholars may grasp “the measurable outcomes and the subjective meanings behind them” by integrating numerical data with interpretative insights (p. 45). 4.1 sample and population this survey includes the students of english language and literature (70) and the students of linguistics (30) who belong to two different universities of chittagong of bangladesh, international islamic university chittagong and port city international university. students use whatsapp for academic and personal communication, making it a good framework for studying its educational effects. purposive sampling has been used to identify 100 students who use whatsapp for academic communication, including group discussions, assignment sharing, and peer feedback. among these 100 students, 60 students study at international islamic university chittagong and other 40 students study at port city international university. five english teachers have provided professional perspectives about using whatsapp to teach writing. among these 5 teachers, 03 instructors belong to international islamic www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 21 published by scholink inc. university chittagong while 02 instructors are from port city international university. cohen, manion, and morrison (2018) recommend purposive sampling when “researchers seek participants who are especially knowledgeable about or experienced with the phenomenon under study” (p. 217). students and teachers provide diverse views, boosting trustworthiness. 4.2 tools for research we have utilised three major devices to collect quantitative and qualitative data: a questionnaire. a standardised questionnaire with closed-ended and likert-scale items has been created to assess students’ whatsapp use, writing habits, and views of its impact. several mobile-assisted learning researches have inspired the questionnaire (bouhami & guaissi, 2021; alhassan, 2020). 4.2.1 tasks to write two brief writing samples are requested before and after a six-week of whatsapp-based writing activity. hyland (2016) states that “writing proficiency entails the interplay of linguistic, cognitive, and social elements” (p. 79), hence these samples are assessed for fluency, grammatical accuracy, coherence, and lexical richness. 4.2.2 semi-structured interviews twenty students and all five professors have been engaged in semi-structured interviews for deeper insights. open-ended questions have examined participants’ motivation, teamwork, and perceived problems utilising whatsapp to improve writing. interviews help researchers to “understand the world from the subjects’ point of view” (p. 18), making them perfect for studying perceptions and attitudes, according to kvale (2007). 5. data collection methods data gathering has three phases: preliminary stage: in this stage participants are told of the study’s goals and given confidentiality. ethicsbased research consent has been acquired (cohen et al., 2018). implementation stage: students have participated in whatsapp-based writing activities, such as group discussions, collaborative essay writing, and peer review, for six weeks. instructors provide advice via whatsapp chat and voice. post-intervention stage: in this stage, post-intervention questionnaires and interviews are done in the final stage. linguistic analysis has been used on student writing examples. this approach has enabled consistency between instructional intervention and data measurement, allowing whatsapp’s writing development impact to be assessed. 6. data analysis this section analyses quantitative and qualitative evidence from university students and instructors on whatsapp messenger’s influence on writing skills. the analysis uses surveys, written assessments, and interviews. after tables, percentages, and descriptive charts, interpretative remarks follow statistical data. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 22 published by scholink inc. table 1. demographic information of participants variable category frequency (n=100) percentage (%) gender male female 40 60 40% 60% age range 18–20 years 21–23 years 24–26 years 25 50 25 25% 50% 25% discipline english language & literature linguistics 70 30 70% 30% the demographic information shows that 60% of the users are female students aged 19 to 23. all the pupils are in classes related to english, which shows that they are ready to write in english. table 2. frequency of whatsapp use response frequency percentage (%) daily (more than 3 hours) 68 68% several times a week 20 20% occasionally 8 8% rarely 4 4% the results indicate that whatsapp is utilised by the most of the students on a daily basis. platform familiarity is demonstrated by its high usage frequency, which renders it a viable medium for language and writing-based instructional initiatives. table 3. whatsapp’s role in improving writing fluency perception statement agree (%) neutral (%) disagree (%) whatsapp helps me write more frequently. 84% 10% 6% i feel more confident expressing ideas in writing on whatsapp. 78% 14% 8% whatsapp encourages me to use new vocabulary in writing 72% 16% 12% www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 23 published by scholink inc. the majority of students have stated that whatsapp helps them to write more fluently and confidently. chats and academic texting provide students informal writing practice. hyland (2016) states that “regular writing exposure increases fluency and linguistic confidence” (p.82). table 4. impact on grammatical accuracy and formal writing: line graph showing preand post-test mean scores aspect before whatsapp-based activity (mean score before whatsapp-based activity (mean score improvement (%) grammar 62.5 71.8 +14.9% vocabulary 65.2 74.5 +14.2% coherence and cohesion 68.6 77.1 +12.4% overall writing score 65.4 74.8 +14.3% following six weeks of whatsapp-based activities, there is a substantial improvement in all writing performance categories. a significant enhancement in the writing abilities of students is demonstrated by the paired t-test (t = 5.82, p < 0.01). whatsapp “provides a low-pressure environment for written expression that improves linguistic competence” (bouhami and guaissi, 2021, p. 118). the utilisation of acronyms and emoticons by certain students is more prevalent, underscoring the necessity of academic writing norms that are equitable. table 5. peer collaboration and feedback: clustered bar chart showing collaborative learning impact statement agree (%) neutral (%) disagree (%) whatsapp allows me to share my writing and receive feedback easily. 88% 7% 5% group discussions on whatsapp improve my sentence structure and ideas. 82% 10% 8% peer feedback on whatsapp motivates me to improve my writing. 76% 14% 10% whatsapp has proved popular with students for collaboration and real-time feedback. group chats complement vygotsky’s (1978) social constructivist theory of learning through social interaction by www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 24 published by scholink inc. encouraging peer correction and idea exchange. as a “collaborative digital classroom,” it emphasises language and community learning. table 6. negative influences and limitations: horizontal bar chart of reported challenges issue frequency (n) percentage (%) use of informal language (abbreviations, emojis) 56 56% distraction from academic tasks 48 48% overdependence on auto-correct tools 39 39% lack of teacher supervision 32 32% whatsapp has promoted unstructured forms and writing fluency. over half of participants have used non-standard terminology or text shortcuts, hurting their professional writing. alhassan (2020) states that “students’ writing habits on whatsapp often transfer into academic writing, reducing grammatical precision” (p. 183) table 7. instructors’ perspectives interviews with five instructors have yielded thematic findings summarized here: theme instructor agreement (%) illustrative quotation encourages regular writing practice 100% “students write more freely on whatsapp than in formal essays.” enhances collaboration and peer review 80% “group chats foster a sense of academic community and shared learning.” promotes informal writing habits 60% “the informal tone sometimes seeps into academic submissions.” supports motivation and participation 90% “whatsapp keeps students engaged beyond classroom hours.” table 8. overall statistical summary: composite column chart comparing preand postintervention writing skills variable before (%) after (%) change (%) writing fluency 60 78 +18 grammatical accuracy 63 74 +11 vocabulary range 65 76 +11 coherence 68 80 +12 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 25 published by scholink inc. motivation for writing 70 84 +14 whatsapp messenger boosts writing fluency, motivation, and coherence, according to data. statistical gains in all writing metrics suggest that informal writing improves abilities. whatsapp has been proved to be an interactive language practice and learner autonomy platform (cetinkaya, 2017; ahmed, 2019). 7. conclusion this investigation has examined how whatsapp-based activities improve bangladeshi efl tertiary level students’ writing. this novel teaching method has improved students’ writing performance and the five targeted sub-skills. thus, mobile-assisted language learning (mall) and task-based language teaching (tblt) show promise for improving efl students’ writing skills. according to the study, students may use whatsapp to improve their writing with instructor direction. whatsapp may be used alongside task-based language teaching (tblt) in writing sessions. this accelerates language processing and aids writing. teachers bridge outside-of-class and classroom learning and change their techniques and practices by doing so. the outcomes of this study may also motivate syllabus designers to incorporate mobile and social media into classroom instruction. although the study has reached important results, shortcomings are noted. first, the study has used quantitative data on writing abilities exclusively. also, the sample is tiny. therefore, this study suggests large samples for improved insights in future research. additionally, qualitative data like student interviews is recommended for in-depth data analysis. 8. recommendations 8.1 structured teaching integration teachers should create whatsapp-based writing activities that meet curricular requirements. whatsapp groups allow teachers to organise weekly writing topics, collaborative essay projects, and peer criticism. structured integration balances academic rigour with casual communication. 8.2 teacher supervision and advice teachers should monitor student interactions and fix grammar, vocabulary, and style quickly. warschauer and liaw (2011) note that directed technology use helps students “transform digital engagement into meaningful linguistic competence” (p. 39). 8.3 promoting formal writing teachers should encourage students to distinguish casual and formal writing. teachers might give brief reflective essays or reports based on whatsapp interactions to assist students apply casual writing skill to academic problems. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 7, no. 1, 2026 26 published by scholink inc. 8.4 cyber literacy training institutions should offer digital literacy training on proper online language use, formal norms, and responsible communication. this would improve students’ transition between academic and casual messaging. 8.5 encourage peer review and collaboration whatsapp’s group capabilities can help educators collaborate on peer review and editing. this interaction supports vygotsky’s (1978) social constructivist theory of learning through cooperation. structured peer review may greatly increase pupils’ grammar and style awareness. 8.6 higher education policy implementation in areas with limited access to traditional learning resources, universities should include mobile-assisted language learning (mall) frameworks and promote whatsapp as cost-effective language development tools. references ahmed, s. 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(2014). the impact of whatsapp messenger usage on students performance in tertiary institutions in ghana. journal of education and practice, 5(6), 157-164. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 25 original paper developing workers’ sports engagement in northern vietnam’s industrial zones thi viet chau to1* 1 lecturer of phisical education department, trade union university, hanoi, vietnam * thi viet chau to, chautv@dhcd.edu.vn received: november 19, 2023 accepted: december 14, 2023 online published: january 4, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p25 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p25 abstract this article extensively analyzes workers’ sports participation in northern vietnam’s industrial zones, shedding light on the modern labor landscape. it underscores the importance of achieving work-life balance, where sports contribute to physical well-being, stress management, and positive workplace relationships. additionally, the article addresses challenges like work-related stress, time management, and sports infrastructure investment. it emphasizes the roles of labor unions and businesses in promoting sports and employee well-being through facilities, events, and encouragement. this article initiates discussions on sports’ significance in workers’ lives, aiming to improve the work environment and overall quality of life. keywords sports, workers, industrial zones, northern vietnam, labor unions, businesses 1. introduction the industrial zones in northern vietnam have undergone significant development in recent times, contributing substantially to the national economy. however, this progress often accompanies considerable work-related pressures that can profoundly impact the well-being of laborers. to strike a balance in their lives and enhance their overall health, sports activities have become an integral part of their daily routines. this article will primarily focus on assessing the state of sports engagement among laborers in northern vietnam’s industrial zones, while also examining the roles of labor unions and businesses in promoting sports and fostering community health within the labor force (note 1). in addition to addressing the challenges faced by laborers when participating in sports activities, we will explore the manifold benefits derived from such engagements. sports not only play a pivotal role in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 26 published by scholink inc. maintaining physical fitness but also aid in stress management and the cultivation of positive coworker relationships. furthermore, we will delve into the crucial aspects of achieving a work-life balance for laborers, as the integration of work and personal life increasingly forms an integral part of their overall life vision. moreover, this article will delve into the pivotal roles that labor unions and businesses play in promoting sports activities and enhancing community health among the labor force. these organizations are instrumental in providing facilities, sports equipment, organizing sporting events, and encouraging active participation among laborers. ultimately, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to partake in sports activities can be the key to elevating the quality of life and job satisfaction for all. this article will explore various means and solutions to integrate sports activities seamlessly into the lives and work of laborers in northern vietnam’s industrial zones (note 2). 2. research methodology the research methodology employed in this article involves conducting in-depth analysis to examine the sports landscape among laborers in northern vietnam’s industrial zones. this study relies on a combination of statistical data, direct surveys, and the analysis of relevant documents. in order to gather detailed information, surveys were conducted with laborers in various industrial zones, assessing their frequency of sports participation, personal preferences, and the challenges they encounter during their involvement. additionally, this article utilizes statistical data to analyze the organizational framework of sports activities within governmental institutions and businesses operating in industrial zones. we selected a diverse sample, encompassing administrative agencies, domestic manufacturing enterprises, and foreigninvested companies. the direct surveys and data collection from reliable sources have enhanced our understanding of the structure of sports activities, the frequency of sports event organization, and the level of interest exhibited by both laborers and organizations towards sports initiatives in the workplace. in summary, the application of in-depth analytical research, in conjunction with statistical data and direct surveys, enables this article to comprehensively and intricately capture the sports landscape of laborers in northern vietnam’s industrial zones. furthermore, it provides valuable insights into the organizational framework of sports activities within this labor community. 3. research results and discussion 3.1 the state of workplace sports in northern industrial zones, vietnam our investigation, which involved sending interview questionnaires to 270 businesses across 54 northern industrial zones, has provided us with an overview of the state of sports in the workplace. the survey results are as follows: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 27 published by scholink inc. the percentage of businesses that regularly organize sports training for their employees during or after working hours is exceptionally low, standing at a mere 4.07%. the vast majority of businesses (95.92%) do not regularly arrange sports training activities for their employees in the workplace. concerning sports competitions and tournaments, over half (52.59%) of the businesses do not organize such events within their organizations. 40.37% organize them only occasionally. the percentage of businesses that annually hold sports events for their employees is relatively low. among the businesses that do conduct annual sports events for their employees, the highest percentage belongs to foreign-invested enterprises (61.72%). this suggests that foreign-invested enterprises have displayed more interest in the role of sports activities in fostering connections among employees and enhancing the company’s image from abroad within vietnam. in contrast, the percentage of domestic manufacturing businesses that organize annual sports events for their employees is remarkably low, at only 14.06%. from the employees’ perspective, the percentage of workplaces where employees engage in sports training is 35.93%. although this figure might appear modest, it indicates that a segment of employees has a demand for workplace sports training during suitable hours, promoting active relaxation, health improvement, and increased work efficiency. 3.2 the state of workplace sports training methods we investigated the methods of sports training in the workplace within northern vietnam’s industrial zones, and the research results are as follows: employees typically participate in workplace sports training in groups, with colleagues initiating training sessions (84.54%). the participation rate in sports club activities organized by workplace organizations, such as labor unions, youth unions, and social organizations, is relatively low, accounting for less than one-third (28.87%). this suggests that social organizations within businesses have not yet played a significant role in daily workplace sports training activities for employees. 3.3 the state of annual health checkups for workers only 32.22% of businesses conduct annual health checkups for their workers. the majority of businesses, over two-thirds, do not organize this activity. this indicates that many businesses in urban areas of vietnam are currently not fully complying with the regulations concerning regular health checkups for employees as stipulated in article 21 of the 2015 occupational safety and health law (note 3). 3.4 discussion the research has uncovered several noteworthy findings regarding sports activities within the labor community in northern vietnam’s industrial zones. i will now offer a comprehensive analysis of the advantages and challenges associated with the development of these sports activities. *advantages: enhanced health: sports activities have played a crucial role in improving the health and physical fitness of laborers. these benefits not only help them maintain better overall health but also provide a solid foundation for dealing with the demands of work and daily life. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 28 published by scholink inc. fostering relationships: engagement in sports activities provides laborers with opportunities to forge close bonds and camaraderie with their colleagues. this fosters a sense of unity within the labor community and cultivates a friendly environment, thereby boosting their self-confidence. stress reduction: sports activities serve as an effective means for laborers to alleviate stress and unwind after demanding work hours. this contributes to maintaining a positive outlook and preparedness for the challenges of the next workday. *challenges: work pressure: workers often contend with heavy workloads and extended working hours. consequently, the organization of sports activities must be adaptable and flexible to accommodate their schedules and conditions. limited free time: the leisure time of laborers in industrial zones is frequently restricted, particularly for those who have family responsibilities and children to care for. striking a balance between work, family, and sports can sometimes present a daunting challenge. facilities and equipment: in order to promote sports activities, industrial zones need to invest in sports facilities and equipment. this encompasses the construction of soccer fields, tennis courts, gymnasiums, and the provision of sports equipment. this financial commitment can pose challenges for many businesses and organizations. 3.5 the role of labor unions and businesses in promoting sports activities for workers labor unions and businesses play a significant role in promoting sports activities for workers. here are some ways in which they can contribute: providing facilities and equipment: labor unions and businesses can invest in sports facilities and equipment to create favorable conditions for workers to participate. this includes building sports fields, gymnasiums, and supplying quality sports equipment. (note 5) organizing sports events: hosting internal sports competitions and outdoor sports events can encourage workers to participate and compete in a healthy manner. these events create opportunities for individuals to showcase their athletic abilities and strengthen camaraderie within the company. (note 5, note 6) encouraging participation: labor unions and businesses can motivate participation in sports activities by creating playgrounds and offering flexible schedules for workers. this helps promote a sporting spirit and overall well-being in daily work life. (note 7, note 8) in summary, sports activities have played and continue to play a crucial role in the lives and development of workers in northern vietnam’s industrial zones. their advantages include improving health, building relationships, and reducing stress. however, challenges remain to be addressed. labor unions and businesses have a vital role in promoting sports activities, and they should consider tackling these challenges to enhance the quality of life for workers. sports activities not only help them stay healthy but also foster unity and job satisfaction. sports activities have been and continue to be a vital part of the lives and development of workers in northern vietnam’s industrial zones. they help balance life by providing a contrast to work and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 29 published by scholink inc. enhancing overall health. internal and outdoor sports competitions not only provide a platform for workers but also foster a sense of unity in the workplace. furthermore, sports activities offer numerous personal benefits. improvements in physical health enable workers to be more effective, reduce the risk of illnesses, and boost confidence. sports also promote social relationships, make the work environment friendlier, and create a healthy community. (note 6) however, there are still challenges in promoting sports activities. some individuals may lack the time or motivation to participate and require support and encouragement from labor unions and businesses. issues related to sports infrastructure and sponsorship can also affect the ability to organize sports events (note 6). therefore, labor unions and businesses should continue to invest in and promote sports activities for workers. this may include improving sports infrastructure, providing incentives through sports programs, and ensuring that workers have the time and conditions to participate. sports activities not only help them stay healthy but also contribute to a positive working environment and enhance their quality of life. 4. conclusion sports activities have played and continue to play a crucial role in the lives and development of workers in northern vietnam’s industrial zones. they help workers strike a balance between their personal and professional lives, improve their health, and foster a friendly and cohesive atmosphere within the labor community. when labor unions and businesses support and promote sports activities, they contribute to cultivating a healthy environment and enhancing the overall quality of life for workers. by ensuring that workers have opportunities to participate in sports activities and maintain their wellbeing, we can forge a robust and productive future for northern vietnam’s industrial zones. it is imperative to emphasize the organization of regular sports events, provision of sports facilities and equipment, and encouragement of worker participation. these measures will assist them in enhancing their health, reducing stress, and nurturing positive professional relationships. in summary, sports activities yield not only personal benefits but also contribute significantly to the advancement of the labor community and industrial zones. it is crucial to acknowledge the importance of promoting sports activities and to actively develop them to establish a healthy environment and elevate the quality of life for workers. references (notes) note 1. the central party committee’s resolution no. 08-nq/tw dated december 1, 2011, on “enhancing the party’s leadership for the strong development of physical education and sports by 2020.” note 2. the prime minister’s decision no. 2198/qd-ttg dated december 3, 2020, regarding the “approval of the strategy for the development of sports and physical education in vietnam until 2030.” note 3. occupational safety and health law, no: 84/2015/qh13, enacted in 2015. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 30 published by scholink inc. note 4. hoang cong dan and colleagues (2017), “theory and methods of mass physical training and sports,” sports publishing house, hanoi. note 5. https://amp.laodong.vn/lao-dong-cuoi-tuan/tao-san-choi-the-thao-cho-cong-nhan-lao-dong1192128.ldo note 6. https://amp.laodong.vn/the-thao/the-thao-la-hoat-dong-can-thiet-cho-doan-vien-nguoi-laodong-toan-quoc-1274180.ldo note 7. https://www.genco3.com/tin-tuc/van-hoa-genco-3/hoat-dong-the-duc-the-thao-la-gop-phan-xaydung-van-hoa-doanh-nghiep-tai-cong-ty-nhiet-dien-vinh-tan note 8. https://tnmt.nghean.gov.vn/thong-tin-hoat-dong/-khoi-day-phong-trao-the-thao-trong-congchuc-vien-chuc-nguoi-lao-dong-583818 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 78 original paper on the teaching reform of history and anthology of american literature course from the perspective of ideological and political education in the curriculum weihua gao1* & zhicao chen2 1 education school of huaibei institute of technology, huaibei, china 2 marxism school of huaibei institute of technology, huaibei, china * weihua gao, education school of huaibei institute of technology, huaibei, 235000, china received: january 2, 2024 accepted: january 17, 2024 online published: january 30, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p78 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p78 abstract history and anthology of american literature is one of the core courses of english major in chinese universities. based on the ideological and political ideas of the curriculum, combined with the actual classroom teaching, the author explores the curriculum teaching reform of history and anthology of american literature from four aspects: the setting of teaching ideological and political goals, the ideological and political construction of textbooks, the design of curriculum ideological and political teaching links, and the evaluation of students’ ideological and political effects of the curriculum. strengthening the ideological and political construction of the course can better cultivate students’ patriotism, help students establish their sense of home and country, enhance their cultural self-confidence, and make them grow into foreign language pillars in the new era. keywords curriculum thought and politics, history and anthology of american literature, teaching reform 1. introduction history and anthology of american literature is one of the core courses for english majors in domestic colleges and universities. the literature course bears the heavy responsibility of cultural inheritance and cultural exchange. the study of british and american literary works is conducive to broadening students’ knowledge and cultural horizons, and cultivating students’ international thinking and critical thinking ability. at the same time, western literature is full of western culture, and the differences between chinese and western culture require students to read and learn from a critical perspective when learning www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 79 published by scholink inc. british and american literature. the guiding outline of ideological and political construction of curriculum in colleges and universities issued by the ministry of education points out that: “comprehensively promoting the ideological and political construction of the curriculum is a strategic measure to implement the fundamental task of cultivating morality and cultivating people, and put forward clear guidance on the ideological and political teaching of the curriculum, requiring that education and teaching should be effectively regarded as the most basic and fundamental work, and indepth exploration of ideological and political education resources contained in various courses and teaching methods, so that students can master the law of development of things through learning. understand the principles of the world, enrich knowledge, increase insight, shape character, and strive to become a socialist builder and successor with all-round development of morality, intelligence, body, aesthetic education and labor education (2021).” therefore, it is of great necessity and epochal that curriculum ideology and politics should be integrated into the course of history and anthology of american literature. how to carry out ideological and political practice and teaching reform in the course around the teaching goal, and realize the fundamental task of cultivating moral and cultivating people and guiding and cultivating the mainstream ideology and values of the country has become an important topic. foreign literature has unique value and significance in exerting the function of “curriculum thinking and politics” (wang, 2019). in view of this, the author takes the course history and anthology of american literature as an example to explore the teaching reform from four aspects: the setting of ideological and political teaching objectives, the mining of ideological and political elements in textbooks, the design of ideological and political teaching links, and the evaluation of possible ideological and political effects, so as to realize the mission of the times. 2. method the research methods employed in this paper includes: literature research: collect, sort out and analyze literature materials related to the course of history and anthology of american literature, including course textbooks, teaching reference books, academic papers, etc. through the study of these literatures, we can understand the current teaching content and methods of this course, find the existing problems and challenges, and understand the research results and suggestions of other scholars on this course. questionnaire survey: questionnaire survey was designed to investigate different groups such as students, teachers and administrators to understand their cognition, attitude and expectation of the course history and anthology of american literature. a large amount of quantitative data can be collected through questionnaire survey, and the current situation and problems of the curriculum can be objectively analyzed to provide basis and reference for teaching reform. interview: select a few students and teachers to conduct individual or group interviews, in-depth understanding of their feelings, experiences and suggestions on the history and anthology of american literature course. interviews can provide a wealth of qualitative data to help researchers understand the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 80 published by scholink inc. impact of courses on students and teachers’ teaching experience, and explore potential problems and possibilities for improvement. experimental research: design and implement teaching experiments to compare the influence of different teaching methods or textbooks on students’ learning results and ideological and political education results. through the data collection and analysis of the experimental group and the control group, we can draw a scientific conclusion about the reform of teaching methods, and provide a scientific basis for the teaching of history and anthology of american literature. 3. results 3.1 setting of ideological and political course objectives in the traditional american literature course teaching, there are generally the following teaching objectives. master the development process and important works of american literature. study the history and evolution of american literature, learn about genres, writers, and works from different periods, and master the themes, styles, and expressions of classic literary works. understand the cultural context and social significance of literary works. through the study of literary works, we can understand the background of american history, culture and social issues, understand the social phenomena, ideas and values reflected in the works, and deepen our cognition and understanding of american society. develop critical reading and thinking skills. through the analysis and interpretation of literary works, students are trained to critically read and think about literary works, so that they can understand the hidden meaning, theme and symbolic meaning in the works, and improve the interpretation and evaluation ability of literary works. develop students’ creative expression and critical writing skills. through the study of literary works, to cultivate students’ creative expression ability, encourage them to write critically, improve writing skills and expression ability, and cultivate good literary appreciation and literary criticism ability. develop students’ ability of intercultural communication and understanding. through the study of american literary works, students can cultivate their cross-cultural communication and understanding ability, deepen their understanding of american culture and western literature, and enhance their openness and tolerance to different cultures. cultivate students’ comprehensive quality and all-round development. through the study and research of american literary works, we can cultivate students’ academic accomplishment, research ability and innovation ability, and improve their comprehensive quality and all-round development level. the traditional teaching goal lays more emphasis on cultivating students’ basic literary knowledge, reading and writing skills of literary works, and intercultural communication ability, while neglecting the ability of critical thinking of chinese and western cultures. because many american works reflect the mainstream values and culture of the united states, some of these culture and values are contrary to or even contradictory to the mainstream values of china in the new era. “teachers should recognize the inevitable influence of british and american culture on students’ ideology and spirit, guide students to establish a sense of the times, establish ideals and beliefs for striving for socialist construction in the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 81 published by scholink inc. new era, maintain cultural self-confidence, and actively participate in the practice of the chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the chinese nation (gong, 2023).” therefore, we should combine the mainstream values and patriotism of china in the new era, adjust the achievable teaching goals of american literature course, and integrate the ideological and political elements of the course into the teaching goals. in the teaching of american literature history and elective courses, the ideological and political elements of the curriculum should be integrated into the curriculum objective design. it includes developing students’ awareness and understanding of american history, culture, and social issues. through the study of american literature, students can gain an in-depth understanding of the historical development, cultural traditions and social changes in the united states, and understand the diversity and complexity of american society. for the reading and understanding of literary works, it is necessary to break the limitations of the text, integrate the works into the social background to understand, recognize the disgraceful history of the development of the united states, and look at the united states objectively. guide students to analyze and evaluate ideas and values in american literature. the cultivation of english majors is directly confronted with foreign ideologies and values, so teachers must pay attention to value judgment and ideological screening (luo, 2021). through the study and discussion of literary works, students are trained in critical thinking and dialectical thinking, so that they can independently think and judge the rationality and impact of the ideas and values involved in literary works. american values and culture are not perfect values and culture, so students should avoid the unhealthy psychology of worshiping foreign things when reading american literature. develop students’ critical thinking and analytical skills through the selection and analysis of literary works, students’ critical thinking and analytical skills are cultivated, so that they can think and interpret the themes, characters, plots and meanings behind literary works from multiple perspectives. students can understand more about the reality of the united states and the living conditions of the american people from the works. especially when explaining the renaissance of african american literature, students should think about the existence of african americans. enhance students’ cultural confidence and intercultural communication ability. through the study of american literary works, students can understand and understand the core values and ideological traditions of western culture, cultivate students’ cultural self-confidence and crosscultural communication ability, and enhance their competitiveness and adaptability in international exchanges. while learning about american culture through american literary works, students are encouraged to compare traditional chinese culture with american culture to enhance students’ cultural confidence. cultivate students’ sense of social responsibility and citizenship. by studying and thinking about social problems and human predicament in american literature, students are guided to pay attention to social problems, care about others, and have the ability and consciousness to solve problems and participate in social practice. the community of human destiny is a common issue for all mankind. while reading american literary works, students can think about the social and human dilemmas in the works www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 82 published by scholink inc. and how to find out the solutions to these dilemmas. it is also through reading and thinking about literary works that students can develop the overall view of solving problems. through the setting of ideological and political goals of the course, students can develop an international perspective, treat american culture and american values with a correct attitude, enhance students’ patriotic feelings and feelings of home and country, enhance students’ cultural self-confidence, and lay a foundation for their growth as foreign language talents with noble sentiments. 3.2 construction of ideological and political elements in teaching materials the textbook history and anthology of american literature covers both “history” and “reading”. on the one hand, it introduces the historical background and literary characteristics of different literary periods. the other party introduced the author and excerpted some of his literary works. both parts can explore rich ideological and political elements of the curriculum. in the aspect of american history, teachers can combine the cruel history of americans to indians to stimulate students’ understanding of the community of human destiny. on the basis of systematic teaching, the teaching materials emphasize the penetration of excellent traditional chinese culture and chinese stand, thus injecting ideological and political elements into the course content. teaching material is “an important means for teachers to implement teaching content and ideological content in the classroom, which is particularly important for teaching activities (wang & yang, 2021).” the history and anthology of american literature textbook contains excerpts from a large number of works by american writers. it is of great practical significance to dig out the possible ideological and political elements of these writers’ works for the realization of the ideological and political goals of the curriculum. “as far as teaching foreign languages and literature is concerned, we are confronted with foreign ideologies and mainstream western discourse, whose cultural values permeate behind the language (yang, 2020).” therefore, when leading the school text analysis, teachers should not only combine the analysis with literary theory, but also better combine the analysis with the current advanced literary theory in china, guide the students to combine the text and leap out of the text, form a critical understanding of the text, and form a unique patriotic cognition and humanistic concern for the destiny of the whole human being in combination with the socialist core values. therefore, teachers need to base on the teaching materials and combine relevant resources at home and abroad to dig out the socialist core values of national consciousness, the excellent traditional culture of the chinese nation and the ideological and political elements of lofty professional ideals contained in the works excerpted from the teaching materials into the curriculum teaching. in addition, the selection of content should also be integrated into the times, and the topics in literary texts should be closely combined with realistic topics at home and abroad, so as to stimulate students’ interest in learning. for example, when learning american literary works about ideological views and values, in addition to analyzing the specific values expressed in the literary works, students can make comparative analysis and reflection in combination with the core values of chinese socialism, so that students can deeply understand the significance of china’s traditional excellent values in the new era. for example, when www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 83 published by scholink inc. explaining benjamin franklin’s autobiography, you can compare the thirteen virtues proposed by benjamin franklin with the traditional chinese virtues to find out the similarities and differences. under the influence of puritan thought, franklin put forward values such as “thrift” and “diligence”, which to some extent fit the excellent traditional chinese values and affirmed the value of excellent traditional chinese values. this kind of comparative analysis and thinking will have an important impact on the growth of students, and can also enhance students’ cultural confidence. for another example, in exploring the connection between literature and social issues, it is necessary to encourage students to explore the connection between literary works and contemporary social issues, guide students to think about the inspiration and warning of literary works to current social issues, and cultivate students’ awareness and responsibility to pay attention to social issues and care for others. in the study of hemingway’s a farewell to arms, students will be guided to explore the psychological trauma and faith crisis brought by american literature about the first world war, so as to help students establish a general view of supporting peace, opposing war justice and building a community with a shared future for mankind. in the study of the great gatsby by the american modernist writer fitzgerald, students are guided to think about the theme of disillusionment of the american dream; at the same time, it compares the means of realizing the chinese dream to help students establish a firm ideal of fighting for the realization of the great review of the chinese nation. the core of thinking and politics in english curriculum is that teachers should exert their initiative in the course teaching process, take students’ development as the center, tap the characteristics and advantages of english subject courses, and cultivate students’ comprehensive language ability, cultural awareness and thinking character (xu, 2021). the textbook of history and anthology of american literature contains rich ideological and political elements, which requires teachers to thoroughly understand the textbook, think about the textbook, and dig deeply into the ideological and political elements of the curriculum, so as to achieve the perfect combination of curriculum ideological and political elements and literary texts. on the one hand, it increases students’ interest in learning, and on the other hand, it further cultivates students’ feelings of home and country and cultural self-confidence. 3.3 design of ideological and political teaching links the reasonable design and smooth connection of teaching links can ensure the implementation of curriculum ideology and politics in every class teaching. therefore, the design of ideological and political teaching link of history and anthology of american literature course has an extremely important position. excellent course teaching link design can bring students into the work naturally, stimulate students’ thinking, and enable students to harvest valuable spiritual wealth. through the creation of classroom context, guide them to think deeply about ways to carry forward and practice socialist core values, and promote them to actively assume the responsibility and obligation to promote the great rejuvenation of the chinese nation. the realization of curriculum ideology and politics needs appropriate guidance and ingenious methods. in today’s artificial intelligence, the design and arrangement of teaching links is an important link to promote the history and anthology of american literature course to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 84 published by scholink inc. implement the curriculum ideology and politics. in the specific teaching process, teachers can explore teaching reform by adopting the teaching model of mixed online and offline teaching, highlighting the humanistic care of teaching content, integrating chinese elements into literary works, and telling chinese stories well while understanding american literary works. first of all, with the development of internet technology and the wide application of artificial intelligence, the course history and anthology of american literature can combine digital technology and artificial intelligence technology to adopt a mixed teaching mode online and offline to improve the implementation efficiency of ideological and political construction of the course. in the actual teaching activities, the author adopted the “chinese university mooc” platform and wechat group to carry out online and offline mixed interactive teaching, which improved the teaching effect. online resources include microlessons, moocs, courseware, translated works and reading resources, etc., which enrich the content and ways of students’ independent learning. at the same time, the author also sends short videos or introductions of relevant literary works to the wechat class group in combination with network resources for students to learn and enjoy, which enhances students’ interest in learning literary works. through online learning, the learning difficulties in learning literary works are found in time, so that these difficulties can be better solved offline. in the classroom teaching, the author uses the super star learning to learn software, in class can immediately share the discussion ideas with the students, the students also actively participate in the class discussion in the way of writing, breaking the shy psychology of answering questions. the opinions expressed by many students are innovative and critical, which also enhances students’ ability to think deeply, analyze and solve problems. secondly, the design of curriculum teaching links emphasizes humanistic care. many writers and works in the textbook of history and anthology of american literature are concerned with the living conditions of human beings and the exploration and attention of human beings to the spiritual world. at the same time of teaching specific knowledge, the teacher makes the students get inspired and excited from the writer’s growth background, the creation process and the publishing process through the group achievement display, the students’ class discussion, and the playback of short videos of the relevant writers, the creation background and influence of the works. while promoting students’ deep understanding of the works, it can also encourage students to gain the courage of life and the spirit of persistence of dreams from the growth and creation process of the writers themselves, so as to guide students’ values and finally realize the education goal of ideological and political courses. for example, the american poet walt whitman and the novelist jack london grew up in a difficult situation, and their families were not well-off, and they had to make ends meet through trivial and complicated work. however, they did not compromise with the poor life, loved reading, persisted in learning, and achieved famous poems and novels in american realistic literature. in the study of these writers, through the authors’ lives, inspire students to overcome difficulties, not afraid of setbacks of life courage; it also cultivates students’ tenacious character. while learning american writers, the students feel the great humanistic care and inspiration brought by the growth of writers. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 85 published by scholink inc. last, in the design of ideological and political teaching links, teachers should fully integrate chinese elements into textbooks and tell chinese stories well while analyzing american literary works. on the road to realizing the great rejuvenation of the chinese nation, china has emerged a large number of great figures and deeds, which are valuable spiritual wealth to inspire the young generation. the course of history and anthology of american literature should explore the feelings of home and country, the selfconfidence of chinese culture and the humanistic connotation in the course to tell the chinese story better. “taking chinese culture as the base point of thinking and politics in english major curriculum is the basic implementation path to realize curriculum thinking and politics (zeng, 2019).” for example, when teaching thoreau’s walden, a comparative analysis can be made between european and american ecologism and china’s ecological concept that “clear waters and green mountains are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver.” in walden, the author is more inclined to express the relationship between individuals and nature, while in the “two mountains” theory proposed by china, the connotation of collectivism is more emphasized, emphasizing the relationship between environmental protection and the fate of the whole human being, highlighting the overall consciousness of the community of human destiny. when studying o. henry’s short story the cop and the anthem, students can analyze the gap between the rich and the poor in american society and realize the real factors that lead to the absurd ending of the protagonist. at the same time, compared with our country’s battle against poverty, it is the superiority of the system that has lifted the poor people out of poverty. while studying american literature, students will learn about the great progress of the country and train them to become excellent storytellers of chinese stories. 3.4 evaluation of students’ ideological and political effects in order to carry out the task of curriculum ideology and politics better, it is very important to evaluate the students’ ideology and politics comprehensively. on the one hand, teachers should evaluate their own teaching curriculum system based on the ideological and political goals of the curriculum. on the other hand, in addition to the consideration of students’ knowledge and skills, the consideration of students’ emotional attitude is particularly important. to begin with, according to the goal set by the curriculum ideology and politics, improve the teaching quality assurance system of history and anthology of american literature course. teachers clearly define the content of assessment and specific implementation plans to improve the scientific and normative evaluation work. carry out formative evaluation of curriculum ideological and political assessment. in classroom teaching activities, teachers enhance students’ interest in learning by means of group discussion, classroom display, and role play of literary stories, promote students to learn ideological and political elements in literature, and combine text stories with traditional chinese culture and chinese history to enhance students’ cultural identity and sense of home and country. at the same time, it pays attention to the positive affirmation and encouragement of students’ discussion in classroom teaching, and the effectiveness of interactive evaluation between students’ groups, so as to improve the effect of ideological and political teaching in class. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 86 published by scholink inc. secondly, we should pay attention to the students’ emotions, attitudes and the establishment of correct values, and take them as an important standard for the ideological and political considerations of the curriculum. “emotion is a necessary condition for cognition and is associated with aesthetic experience and moral sense. literature and art express human emotions, not only providing a form of representation and encoding of emotions, but also belonging to different ideological and cultural values from the point of view of a nation, a state, a collective (wang & shi, 2021).” the ideological and political curriculum of american literature should emphasize moral values and strengthen the educational function of literature, so as to help students realize the great emotional value of chinese culture, so as to help students shape the sense of home and country and the overall national consciousness. for example, through the investigation of students’ enthusiasm for participating in the course learning, the degree of completion of the course, the effective interaction between teachers and students in the classroom, and the practice of socialist core values, the ideological and political evaluation of the course history and anthology of american literature is made. based on the design of ideological and political teaching objectives of the curriculum, students turn the traditional boring text reading into lively and novel group presentation or profound and intense class discussion, which significantly improves students’ learning interest and teachers’ teaching effect. teachers’ guidance in the aspects of emotion, attitude and values has produced a good collision and communication with students and formed a positive energy to guide students’ life and study. in the understanding of literary texts, the students deeply felt the national consciousness and feelings of the chinese nation. 4. discussion to sum up, literature is a form of expression of human wisdom and emotion, and excellent literary works bear the heavy responsibility of spreading excellent culture. the didactic function of literature is the basic function of literature (nie, 2014). the organic combination of curriculum ideology and politics with the course of history and anthology of american literature will be conducive to the development of ideological and political courses in american literature courses through the setting of teaching ideological and political objectives, the exploration of ideological and political elements in textbooks, the design of curriculum ideological and political teaching links and the evaluation of students’ ideological and political effects. it can not only enhance students’ interest in learning, improve teachers’ teaching effect, but also help students establish correct values, form profound feelings of family and country and noble moral sentiments, which is of great practical significance for cultivating foreign language pillars with national consciousness and cultural confidence in the new era. about the author gao weihua (1983-), male, born in huaibei, anhui province, phd candidate, lecturer in huaibei institute of technology, research interests: british and american literature and pedagogy. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 87 published by scholink inc. chen zhicao (1985-), female, born in huaibei, anhui province, phd candidate, lecturer in huaibei institute of technology, research interests: marxism education and pedagogy. references gong, y. (2023). research on the innovation of british and american literature teaching model based on the perspective of curriculum ideology and politics. shaanxi education (higher education), 2023(8), 16-18. luo, l. g. (2021). the essence, quality and quantity of thinking and politics in foreign language courses. chinese foreign language, 2021(2), 60-64. nie, z. z. (2014). literary ethical criticism: the basic function and core value of essay science. foreign literature studies, 2014(4), 8-13. the high education curriculum construction of ideological guidelines [eb/ol]. (2021-09-20). retrieved from http://www.gov.cn/zhegnce/zhegnceku/2020-06/06/content_5517606.htm wang, h., & yang, j. c. (2021). theoretical thinking and practical exploration of thinking and politics in foreign literature curriculum. journal of foreign languages, 2021(6), 73-77. wang, x., & shi, j. (2021). ideological and political construction of english major curriculum groups under the guidance of value. chinese foreign language, 2021(2), 65-70. wang, z. (2019). return and innovation: construction of foreign literature curriculum system for college english majors from the perspective of national standard. foreign language audio-visual teaching, 2019(5), 7-12. xu, j. f. (2021). research on ideological and political content construction of college english teaching materials. foreign language field, 2021(2), 18-24. yang, j. c. (2020). my views on “curriculum thinking and politics” in foreign language education. foreign language teaching theory and practice, 2020(4), 48-51. zeng, y. y. (2019). an interpretation of the teaching guide for english majors. foreign language field, 2019(6), 2-8. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 106 original paper visualization analysis of research hotspots and trends of teacher emotional intelligence by citespace—based on the web of science core collection (2014–2024) xinyi wang1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: july 10, 2025 accepted: july 25, 2025 online published: august 13, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p106 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p106 abstract this research employs citespace 6.4 to analyze teacher emotional intelligence (tei) trends in ssci journals from 2014-2024. bibliometric analysis reveals tei publications experienced slow initial growth followed by fluctuating increases. three dominant themes emerged: (1) validation of emotional intelligence measurement scales, (2) examination of tei’s relationship with teacher burnout and instructional effectiveness, and (3) development of theoretical models. comparative analysis shows international studies emphasize tei’s role in technology integration and emotional regulation’s impact on teaching outcomes, while domestic research primarily focuses on professional development and classroom management. the field has evolved from broad conceptual explorations to context-specific investigations, particularly regarding workplace factors and teaching environments. however, domestic research exhibits slower progress in adopting technological perspectives compared to international scholarship. the findings suggest future studies should: (1) strengthen interdisciplinary approaches combining psychology and education technology, (2) investigate individual differences in tei development, and (3) explore tei’s applications in digital learning environments. this systematic review provides valuable insights for researchers and policymakers seeking to enhance teacher development programs through emotional intelligence frameworks. keywords emotional intelligence, teacher emotions, bibliometric analysis, educational psychology 1. introduction the concept of emotional intelligence (ei), popularized by goleman (1998), refers to the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and influence one’s own and others’ emotions. in the field of education, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 107 published by scholink inc. teachers’ emotional intelligence has profound implications for teaching effectiveness and student development, serving as a critical factor influencing instructional quality, teacher-student relationships, and learning outcomes (hargreaves, 1998). teachers are not only responsible for knowledge transmission but also for managing emotional dynamics in the classroom and addressing various pedagogical challenges, where emotional intelligence plays an indispensable role. although ei has not traditionally been part of formal teacher education curricula, growing recognition of its role in academic and life success—particularly its correlation with student development in areas such as academic achievement, social competence, and mental well-being (zeidner, matthews, & roberts, 2012)—has established ei as a focal point in psychological and educational research. in recent years, with the rise of positive psychology, ei has garnered increasing scholarly attention as a key factor in enhancing subjective well-being and mental health. in teacher education, emotional intelligence not only influences educators’ self-efficacy, psychological health, and job satisfaction but also positively impacts students’ socio-emotional development and academic performance. over the past decade (2014–2024), significant changes in educational environments—such as the proliferation of digital teaching and evolving pedagogical philosophies—have driven continuous advancements in research on teachers’ emotional intelligence. however, domestic studies on this topic remain relatively scarce. a cnki search using “teacher emotional intelligence” as the keyword yields only 94 publications, with merely 21 classified as cssci sources. only one systematic review exists (luo & sui, 2017), in stark contrast to the abundant international literature, particularly in ssci journals, where multifaceted explorations of teacher ei are prevalent. furthermore, existing research is fragmented, lacking comprehensive synthesis. thus, this study employs citespace to conduct a systematic review and knowledge-mapping visualization analysis of ssci-indexed teacher ei research from 2014–2024, aiming to contribute to the development of domestic scholarship in this field. 2. methodology 2.1 data sources the data for this study primarily come from ssci journals in the web of science core collection database. the search terms include “teacher emotional intelligence,” “emotional intelligence of educators,” and “teacher ei,” with the search scope limited to the topic field. the literature type is restricted to research articles and reviews, and only english-language publications are included. the publication period spans from january 2014 to january 2025, yielding an initial pool of 589 publications. to ensure accuracy, a manual screening process is conducted based on titles, abstracts, and keywords, excluding irrelevant studies that do not focus on teachers’ emotional intelligence in educational contexts. this process results in a final dataset of 190 english-language articles. key information such as authors, titles, abstracts, keywords, and references is exported in .txt format, with data type set to “full record and cited references” for analysis. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 108 published by scholink inc. 2.2 research methods this study employs bibliometric analysis and keyword co-occurrence methods, utilizing citespace 6.4 as the primary analytical tool. knowledge graph visualization technology integrates large-scale literature data to visually present the developmental trajectory, research hotspots, and emerging trends in a given field (chen, 2006). first, bibliometric analysis is applied to examine publication trends and trace the evolution of the research domain. second, keyword co-occurrence networks are constructed to identify current research hotspots and frontier issues. 3. results 3.1 research outputs the annual publication output of international research on teacher emotional intelligence (tei) demonstrates a fluctuating yet overall upward trend from 2014 to 2024 (see figure 1). the development can be categorized into two distinct phases: the initial exploration phase (2014-2018) and the fluctuating growth phase (2019-2024). during the initial exploration phase, as requirements for teachers’ comprehensive competencies gradually increased, tei began attracting academic attention. however, research remained in its preliminary stages, with limited annual publications showing slow growth increasing from merely 5 papers in 2014 to 9 in 2018. the subsequent phase witnessed more dynamic development. with advancements in educational psychology and deeper understanding of teacher-student interactions, tei research gained significant momentum. although publication numbers fluctuated between 2019 and 2021, they peaked at 43 papers in 2022. the subsequent decline in 2023 may reflect the emergence of competing educational research topics that diverted scholarly attention and resources. notably, publications rebounded to 40 in 2024, indicating sustained interest in this field. this suggests that international scholars have developed a more profound recognition of tei’s significance in educational practice, while simultaneously reflecting the evolving nature of educational research priorities. the fluctuations particularly in 2022-2024 may signify both the maturation of tei research and its interaction with emerging educational paradigms. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 109 published by scholink inc. figure 1. publications from 2014-2024 3.2 highly cited publications highly cited publications are generally recognized as seminal works that exert significant influence in a particular research domain. based on figure 2, the top seven most cited publications in this field can be identified and ranked merida (2017) conducted a systematic review of empirical studies examining the relationship between emotional intelligence and teacher burnout, demonstrating a significant negative correlation between these constructs. the study identified multiple intervention mechanisms and proposed valuable directions for future research and practical applications. mayer and salovey (2016) presented seven fundamental principles of the ability model of emotional intelligence, refining the four-branch model and examining its connections with other “hot” intelligences, thereby providing substantial theoretical foundations for both research and practice in emotional intelligence. pacheco and sánchez (2019) validated the psychometric properties of the spanish adaptation of the wong law emotional intelligence scale (wleis-s) in an adult population, confirming its robust internal consistency, criterion validity, and four-factor structure. their finding that women scored higher in overall emotional intelligence and particularly in the emotional appraisal of others dimension offers important implications for gender-related studies in teacher emotional intelligence. pozo’s (2020) experimental study on emotional intelligence training for elementary school teachers demonstrated that both traditional face-to-face instruction and innovative game-based e-learning approaches effectively enhanced student academic achievement, with the latter showing superior outcomes and higher teacher satisfaction levels. bakker and demerouti (2017) provided a comprehensive review of the job demands-resources (jd-r) model’s evolution, tracing its development from a conceptual framework to an established theory. their work highlighted unresolved issues, proposed future research directions, and discussed practical applications. valente and cristóvão (2020) revealed significant positive correlations between portuguese teachers’ emotional intelligence competencies and their teaching efficacy beliefs, while also identifying 5 6 4 12 9 12 20 15 43 24 40 0 10 20 30 40 50 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 publications www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 110 published by scholink inc. associations with gender, teaching experience, and academic background findings that strongly support the integration of emotional education in teacher training programs. wu, lian et al. (2019) investigated the relationship between teachers’ emotional intelligence and self-efficacy, establishing that teaching performance partially mediates this relationship, with the mediating effect demonstrating consistency across different genders and varying levels of teaching experience. these highly influential publications collectively address several critical aspects of emotional intelligence research, including: (1) validation of measurement instruments; (2) examination of relationships between teacher emotional intelligence and professional outcomes (burnout and teaching efficacy); (3) theoretical model development and refinement; (4) advancement of the job demandsresources framework. together, they constitute a robust theoretical foundation and provide valuable practical guidance for both research and application in the field of teacher emotional intelligence. figure 2. highly cited publications 3.3 author analysis the co-citation network visualization reveals scholarly relationships within this research domain, where node size corresponds to the author’s academic influence. (1) highly cited authors analysis of the author co-citation network (figure 3) identifies the top seven most influential scholars in this field. mayer j.d. emerges as the most prolific contributor with 84 relevant publications, followed closely by mayer j. (64 publications) and salovey p. (63 publications). other notable scholars include brackett m.a. (61 publications), goleman d. (51 publications), wang c.s. (48 publications), and petrides k.v. (45 publications). these authors demonstrate substantial impact in teacher emotional intelligence research through their extensive publication records. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 111 published by scholink inc. figure 3. highly cited authors (2) collaborative authors figure 4 presents the collaborative relationships among researchers in the field of teacher emotional intelligence. each node in the diagram represents an author, while connecting lines indicate co-authorship relationships. the visualization reveals a relatively complex collaboration network with multiple research clusters and intersecting points. merida-lopez, sergio, extremera, natalio, and izquierdo occupy central positions in the network with multiple connecting lines, demonstrating their substantial influence and extensive collaborative relationships within the field. while not positioned at the very center, authors such as teresa, fernandezberrocal, and pablo also play significant roles in the collaboration network, maintaining cooperative ties with numerous scholars. the connecting lines explicitly illustrate direct co-authorship: merida-lopez collaborates with sergio and extremera, while pablo works with castejón and juan-luis. notably, the color gradient of network connections suggests that 2022-2024 marked a period of particularly active collaboration, aligning with the publication trends shown in figure 1. this temporal pattern indicates growing scholarly attention to the field and an emphasis on collaborative research. the network also contains relatively isolated nodes (e.g., gilar-corbi, raquel), which may reflect either limited collaboration or under-documented cooperative relationships in the current literature. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 112 published by scholink inc. figure 4. collaborative authours 3.4 research hotspot analysis figure 5 presents a detailed visualization of the conceptual relationships within teacher emotional intelligence (tei) research. key words including “job satisfaction,” “ability,” “performance,” “personality,” and “classroom” demonstrate both the depth and breadth of this research domain. the strong connection between “satisfaction” and “job satisfaction” underscores the critical role of teachers’ psychological well-being in their overall professional fulfillment. emotional intelligence emerges as a pivotal factor in teacher development, with research indicating that teachers possessing higher emotional intelligence demonstrate greater adaptability to evolving educational environments and actively pursue professional growth opportunities (petrides & furnham, 2003). the central positioning of “emotional intelligence” reveals its robust connections with “ability,” “performance,” and “personality,” highlighting its dual significance in both professional competence and personal attributes. furthermore, the multiple linkages between tei and “classroom” emphasize the environmental dimension, as emotionally intelligent teachers create more supportive learning atmospheres that enhance student motivation and creativity (diefendorff et al., 2004). notably, the appearance of “self-efficacy” reflects important empirical findings. zeidner et al. (2005) established a significant positive correlation between emotional intelligence and teacher efficacy, demonstrating that emotionally intelligent educators manage challenges more effectively, thereby improving instructional quality and student outcomes. wu and lian et al. (2019) further revealed that while tei directly relates to teacher self-efficacy, it also indirectly influences teaching performance, which serves as a significant mediator in this relationship. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 113 published by scholink inc. figure 5. keywords map figure 6 presents a clustered knowledge graph of keywords in this research field, revealing multiple interconnected core themes and demonstrating substantial scholarly exploration of teacher emotional intelligence (tei) internationally. following the clustering principle where earlier cluster numbers indicate larger research volumes (yang lifang, 2022), three primary international research themes can be identified: (1). efl teacher technology adoption: scholars like maccann et al. (2020) have investigated the relationship between emotional intelligence and teachers’ technology adoption, highlighting tei’s positive role in facilitating educational technology integration and implementation. (2). positive teacher emotion: research by pozo-rico et al. (2020) and ansley et al. (2021) focuses on how teachers’ (#12 teacher) emotional states affect instructional outcomes, particularly the impact of positive emotions on enhancing teaching efficacy and student satisfaction. (3). training: davis (2012) emphasizes the crucial role of teacher training in developing emotional intelligence, demonstrating how effective programs enhance educators’ emotional management capabilities. mayer (2016) and mérida-lópez (2017) further analyze how specific tei components (e.g., emotion recognition, utilization) influence professional growth and teaching performance. additional significant findings include: (1) the tei-ambiguity tolerance relationship (#15). dewaele et al. (2018) show that higher-tei teachers better navigate pedagogical uncertainties, demonstrating greater adaptability and innovation. (2) gender perspectives (#16). studies by alam (2018) and itzkovich (2017) reveal complex gender differences in tei development, expression, and instructional impacts. this multidimensional, interdisciplinary field encompasses teacher training, technology adoption, emotional states, ambiguity tolerance, and gender perspectives. these investigations not only deepen theoretical understanding of tei but also provide valuable evidence-based guidance for educational practice. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 114 published by scholink inc. figure 6. key words clusters 4. research prospects the timeline knowledge graph of tei research keywords (2014-2024, figure 5) reveals three evolutionary phases: (1) initial phase (2014-2017): keywords like “teacher education” and “beginning teachers” indicate foundational research focusing on educators as a general population and their macrolevel connections with education, representing preliminary conceptual exploration. (2) developmental phase (2017-2018): emerging terms such as “higher education” and “classroom” reflect a shift toward specific educational contexts, demonstrating narrowed yet deeper investigations into tei’s manifestations in particular teaching environments. (3) mature phase (2018-2024): later keywords including “job satisfaction” and “emotional labor” reveal expanded research dimensions, examining tei’s relationships with occupational factors like emotional management and professional experiences. this temporal progression demonstrates two key trends: (1) from broad to specific: evolving from general educational connections to contextualized classroom applications and finally workplace behaviors. (2) from singular to multidimensional: transitioning from isolated tei examination to integrated analyses incorporating job satisfaction, social support, etc. based on current hotspots and trend analysis, three future directions can be proposed: (1) interdisciplinary integration: incorporating psychological, sociological, and managerial theories/methods to comprehensively understand tei’s mechanisms. (2) individual differences: investigating how regional, disciplinary, and career-stage factors influence tei for targeted teacher development. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 115 published by scholink inc. (3) edtech integration: exploring tei in digital environments, including how online pedagogy and ai tools can enhance teachers’ emotional capabilities. figure 5. timeline of research keywords 5. conclusions this study systematically analyzes research hotspots and trends in teacher emotional intelligence (tei) through bibliometric methods, keyword co-occurrence analysis, and citespace visualization, based on ssci-indexed publications from 2014 to 2024. the findings reveal that tei research has experienced fluctuating but overall growth over the past decade, progressing through two distinct phases: an initial slow development stage followed by a period of intermittent advancement. as educational psychology and related fields have evolved, and as expectations for teachers’ comprehensive competencies have increased, tei has gained significant scholarly attention, emerging as a critical topic in educational and psychological research. key research hotspots include: (1) the relationships between tei and factors such as teacher burnout, teaching efficacy, and job satisfaction. (2) the validation of emotional intelligence measurement scales. (3) the development and refinement of theoretical models. additionally, studies have increasingly focused on tei’s manifestations in specific educational contexts (e.g., higher education, classroom environments) and its connections to individual differences like gender and teaching experience. author analysis highlights the substantial influence of scholars such as mayer j.d., while co-authorship networks demonstrate complex collaborative patterns, with certain researchers occupying central positions and particularly active collaboration occurring between 2022 and 2024. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 116 published by scholink inc. in the future, tei research could enhance interdisciplinary integration by incorporating theories and methods from psychology, sociology, and management to better understand tei’s mechanisms; address individual differences by examining how factors like region, subject area, and career stage influence tei, enabling more tailored professional development; explore educational technology integration by investigating tei in digital learning environments and the potential of online tools to enhance teachers’ emotional capabilities. in summary, this study provides valuable insights into tei research through comprehensive literature review and visualization analysis. future studies should continue expanding perspectives and deepening investigations to further advance both tei scholarship and practice. references alam, a., & ahmad, m. (2018). the role of teachers’ emotional intelligence in enhancing student achievement. journal of asia business studies, 12(1), 31-43. https://doi.org/10.1108/jabs-082015-0134 ansley, b. m., houchins, d. e., varjas, k., roach, a., patterson, d., & hendrick, r. (2021). the impact of an online stress intervention on burnout and teacher efficacy. teaching and teacher education, 98, 103251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103251 bakker, a. b., & demerouti, e. (2017). job demands–resources theory: taking stock and looking forward. journal of occupational health psychology, advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000056 chen, c. (2006). citespace ii: detecting and visualizing emerging trends and transient patterns in scientific literature. journal of the american society for information science and technology, 57(3), 359-377. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20317 davis, s. k., & humphrey, n. (2012). the influence of emotional intelligence (ei) on coping and mental health in adolescence: divergent roles for trait and ability ei. journal of adolescence, 35(5), 13691379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.05.007 diefendorff, j. m., gosserand, r. h., & richardson, h. a. (2004). linking emotional intelligence and personality to the big five markers of citizenship behavior. personality and individual differences, 37(8), 1595-1608. extremera pacheco, n., rey, l., & sánchez-álvarez, n. (2019). validation of the spanish version of the wong law emotional intelligence scale (wleis-s). psicothema, 31(1), 94-100. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2018.147 goleman, d. (1998). what makes a leader? harvard business review, 76, 92-105. https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.40619981008 hargreaves, a. (1998). the emotional practice of teaching. teaching and teacher education, 14(8), 835854. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0742-051x(98)00025-0 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103251 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 117 published by scholink inc. itzkovich, y., & dolev, n. (2017). the relationships between emotional intelligence and perceptions of faculty incivility in higher education. do men and women differ? current psychology, 36(4), 905918. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9479-2 luo, s., sui, s., yu, f., & shi, h. (2017). research progress on teachers’ emotional intelligence. chinese journal of nursing education, 3, 229-232. maccann, c., jiang, y., brown, l. e. r., double, k. s., bucich, m., & minbashian, a. (2020). emotional intelligence predicts academic performance: a meta-analysis. psychological bulletin, 146(2), 150186. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000219 mayer, j. d., caruso, d. r., & salovey, p. (2016). the ability model of emotional intelligence: principles and updates. emotion review, 8(1), 1-11. copyright 2016 by sage publications, ltd. reprinted by permission of sage publications. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073916639667 mérida-lópez, s., & extremera, n. (2017). emotional intelligence and teacher burnout: a systematic review. international journal of educational research, 85, 121-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2017.07.006 petrides, k. v., & furnham, a. (2001). trait emotional intelligence: psychometric investigation with reference to established trait taxonomies. european journal of personality, 15(4), 425-448. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.416 pozo-rico, t., & sandoval, i. (2020). can academic achievement in primary school students be improved through teacher training on emotional intelligence as a key academic competency? frontiers in psychology, 10, article 2976. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02976 valente, s., veiga-branco, a., rebelo, h., lourenço, a. a., & cristóvão, a. m. (2020). the relationship between emotional intelligence ability and teacher efficacy. universal journal of educational research, 8(3), 916-923. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2020.080324 wu, y., lian, k., hong, p., liu, s., lin, r., & lian, r. (2019). teachers’ emotional intelligence and selfefficacy: mediating role of teaching performance. social behavior and personality: an international journal, 47(3), e7869. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.7869 yang, l., & wang, t. (2022). a visualization analysis of classroom assessment research in domestic and international foreign language teaching (2008-2020). foreign language education in china, 2, 3441+92. zeidner, m., matthews, g., & roberts, r. d. (2012). what we know about emotional intelligence: how it affects learning, work, relationships, and our mental health. ma: mit press. zeidner, m., roberts, r. d., & matthews, g. (2004). emotional intelligence in the workplace: a critical review. applied psychology: an international review, 53(3), 371-399. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2004.00176.x education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 17 original paper the translation strategies of chinese-characteristic vocabulary from the perspective of eco-translatology—taking the 2023 chinese government work report as an example huang zhong1 1 chongqing college of mobile communication, chongqing, china received: march 6, 2024 accepted: march 27, 2024 online published: april 10, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n2p17 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n2p17 abstract the english translation of the chinese government work report every year is of great international significance and function. it provides other governments and the public with access to key information about china’s policy direction, governance measures, and social progress. it is also an important means for china to showcase its national image, promote economic development and strengthen its global partnerships. this paper attempts to interpret and analyze the english version of the government work report from the perspective of eco-translatology, and sort out the translation strategies of a large number of words with chinese characteristics so as to provide new ideas and perspectives for the translation and dissemination of chinese excellent culture. keywords eco-translatology, the government work report, translation strategy 1. introduction eco-translatology can be understood as an ecological approaches to translation studies or a translation study from an ecological perspective (hu, 2008). eco-translatology believes that translation is not only a conversion between languages, but a complex system that includes many elements (such as culture, society, history, economy, etc.). in this system, all the elements are interrelated and influence each other. just like the biological diversity in natural ecosystems, translation should also respect the cultural diversity of the source and target languages. eco-translatology emphasizes the adaptation and variation of translation in different environments (such as different cultures, different reader groups, etc.) to achieve the best translation results. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 18 published by scholink inc. on the other hand, the english translation of words with chinese characteristics has always been the focus and difficulty in translation. the english version of the 2023 chinese government work report, through accurate and comprehensive translation of a large number of words with chinese characteristics, can effectively convey policy intentions, programs and future plans of china, and help to shape and improve china’s image on the international stage. this article will discuss the english translation of the chinese characteristics vocabulary in the 2023 government work report from the following aspects: 2. the principle of harmony and unity eco-translatology believes that translation is an integrated, harmonious and unified system (hu, 2008). in the process of translation, the translator should balance the relationship between the translation and the source text, the target and the source language culture, and strive to achieve the harmonious coexistence of language, culture, emotion and values. from the perspective of “text transplantation”, the “harmonious unity” of the eco-translatology means that in the process of transplanting a text from one cultural environment to another, the translated text needs to be faithful to the original text and take into account the acceptability and customs of the target culture, so that the translated text can naturally integrate into the new cultural environment. this process requires the translator not only to have a deep knowledge of the source and target languages, but also a profound understanding and respect for both cultures. only in this way can the translation not lose the connotation and charm of the original text, but also be accepted and appreciated by the readers of the target culture circle, so as to realize the interaction and harmony between the source and the target text, and finally achieve a “harmonious and unified” translation ecology. example 1: 面对风高浪急的国际环境和艰巨繁重的国内改革发展稳定任务 translation: in the face of high winds and choppy waters in the international environment and challenging tasks in promoting reform, development, and stability at home. the chinese characteristic words such as “风高浪急” (strong wind and roaring waves) and “艰巨繁重” (extremely difficult) are well-known expressions in chinese, but their inherent profound meaning is often incomprehensible for english readers if a blunt literal translation is used, which cannot reflect the language tension of the “concise and clear” and “every word with a specific meaning” style unique to chinese official documents. however, excessive domestication is easy to fall into the prim mode of western-style official documents and cannot accurately convey the distinct chinese style in the original text. therefore, the translator wisely translate the words as “high winds and choppy waters” and “challenging tasks”, which not only accurately conveys the chinese core, but also is easy to understand, paving the way for western readers to catch the original meaning of the report. from the perspective of eco-translatology, the “text transplantation” is very successful. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 19 published by scholink inc. 3. the significance of “translator-as-the-key-role “ all adaptation and choice behaviors in translation activities depend on the translator’s own judgment and decision-making, therefore the translator is in a central position and plays a leading role in this process (hu, 2004, pp. 21-22). in the eco-translatology perspective, translators are seen as a bridge connecting the source language and target language culture. they are not only a medium for language conversion, but also a participant in cultural dissemination and communication. this viewpoint holds that translators should have the initiative to use their professional knowledge and creativity to process and reshape the original text, in order to better adapt to the target language environment and meet audience expectations. the “translator-as-the-key-role” theory requires translators to have a high degree of self-awareness and responsibility, to be aware of their value and role in translation activities, as well as the potential impact on translation quality. they should be able to flexibly adjust translation strategies based on the expectations and aesthetic preferences of the target readers so that they can achieve the best effect of cultural transmission. example 2: 既果断加大力度，又不搞“大水漫灌”、透支未来 translation: we took decisive measures to step up macro policy support while refraining from adopting a deluge of strong stimulus policies that would eat into our potential for future growth. it is not difficult to see from a detailed reading of the 2023 government work report that most chinese style official document reports use sentence with no subject. as seen in example 2, the sentence with no subject with chinese characteristics emphasize the collective rather than the individual, reflecting the values of collectivism and emphasizing teamwork and joint efforts. these sentences make the report more concise and make readers pay more attention to the information itself. however, in the english context, subject-less sentences often express the meaning of “command” or “imperative”, which contradicts the principle of “objective statement” in the original report. therefore, the translator added a logical subject “we” at the beginning of the sentence to make the translation logically coherent and grammatically correct. secondly, the essence of the statement “大水漫灌” (flood) and “透支未来” (overdraft the future) in the report is that the central government will not excessively issue currency to avoid negative impacts on future economic growth. the translator uses “debug” here to refer to the “大水漫灌” in the original text, and adds “stimulus policies” to clarify the essence of the problem, so that english readers can have a clear and comprehensive understanding of the active monetary policy implemented by the chinese government. from this, it can be seen that the “translator-as-the-key-role” concept advocates giving translators more freedom and initiative on the basis of respecting the original text, emphasizing the subjectivity of translators in translation activities and better dealing with the diversity and complexity in translation practice. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 20 published by scholink inc. 4. adaptation/selection of translation behaviors from the perspective of eco-translatology, “translation is adaptation and selection; translator centered; the best translation is the cumulative result of the translator’s multidimensional adaptation and adaptability to the translation ecosystem; for translators, the fittest survives and develops; for translations, the fittest remains and works (hu, 2004, pp. 11-12). thus it can be seen that the adaptation/selection of translation behavior is the process of how translators make adaptive responses and strategic choices in a complex and ever-changing translation ecosystem. this requires translators not only to have a profound language and cultural foundation, but also to have a high level of judgment and decision-making ability, so that they can find the best path of “adaptive selection” and “selective adaptation” in a diverse translation environment. example 3: 大道至简，政简易行。 translation: great truths are always simple, and simple government administration is always most effective. the concept of “道” (tao) comes from tao and teh by lao-tzu. it refers to the fundamental principle that is often extremely simple. “大道至简” means by stripping away complex and redundant appearances, one can find the essence of things. it is an important concept proposed in the work reports of the chinese government in recent years. it emphasizes that the government should pursue simplicity, efficiency, and fairness in management and services, simplify procedures, and optimize services, decreasing government power for the increasing of market vitality. such kind of traditional chinese cultural concept as “道” has always been an almost insurmountable challenge in translation. therefore, the translation of “道” has always been controversial and inconclusive. some translate it as “tao”. this is the most commonly used english expression for “ 道 ”, which is directly derived from the transliteration of wade-giles romanization; some also translate it as “way” to emphasize its philosophical and symbolic meaning of “the road”. but the translation of “道” in this report is “great truths”, which fully reflects the translator’s profound understanding of the ecological environment of chinese and english. because whether translated as “tao” or “way” here, it is difficult to accurately match the expression style of chinese official document as formal work reports and can easily lead readers to confusion and speculation. “the language style of official documents is accurate and serious, rarely using visual terms, and avoiding the use of flashy words and phrases that may cause irrelevant associations and distract attention.” (luo, 1985) the translation “great truths” can fully convey the essence of china’s excellent traditional culture represented by tao and teh; secondly, it also echoes the concept of “simple government administration” in the following text, allowing english readers to fully understand that the concept of “simplified administration” here is different from the concept of “small government” in western governance concepts. it not only reflects the chinese government’s governing program as a continuation and sublimation of china’s excellent traditional culture, but also clarifies the unique chinese ideology conveyed by this concept through concise descriptions. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 21 published by scholink inc. 5. the responsibility of “making a difference in translation” gu zhengkun believes that readers can be divided into seven types: people who don’t know foreign languages at all, language experts, foreign language masters, academic readers, general readers, readers for entertainment and readers acquiring new knowledge (gu, 2003). undoubtedly, most english readers who will keep track of and read chinese government reports are mostly academic readers and those who are eager to acquire new knowledge about china. such readers often receive a good education, pay attention to international current affairs, have a global perspective, and are themselves influential social opinion forces. translators can influence and inspire these readers through accurate, pragmatic, and logical translations. among these audience groups, some people who understand china, respect china, and are willing to know more about china may emerge. this will be extremely beneficial for enhancing china’s international image and promoting the construction of china’s voice. because fundamentally, “news reporting has become a unique ideology in the superstructure that controls and influences social consciousness, and people have no reason or ability to reject its ideological nature.” (liu, 1991) example 4: 奋斗铸就辉煌，实干赢得未来。 translation: great achievements can only come from hard work; a bright future can only be secured through solid efforts. example 5: 砥砺前行，…，全面推进中华民族伟大复兴 translation: let us forge ahead with perseverance and resolve,…,let us strive to advance national rejuvenation on all fronts in example 4, the couplet expression used in the original text is a common way in chinese, but in the english translation, the way the subject and object exchange positions is clearly more in line with english thinking. in addition, the original text in chinese is an active sentence, while the second sentence in the translation is changed into a passive sentence. the advantage of doing so is that it avoids the dull and straightforward nature of literal translation, making the translated text brilliant and coherent. in example 5, “砥砺” originally referred to a sharpening stone (commonly used in chinese to express hardship and perseverance), but the translator cleverly transformed it into an adverbial form of “with persistence and resolve”, which perfectly reproduces the profound meaning of “forging ahead” in the english context. from the politically correct, precise, and clear translations above, it can be seen that the professional competence and political consciousness of the translator themselves are very important. how to accurately and vividly present these “new chinese cultural concepts and ideas” in the target language, and how to usher these ideas into the deep down inside of western readers through translation interpretation, is a glorious and arduous task. therefore, the author believes that for most chinese translators, understanding and grasping the “four consciousnesses” has important guiding significance. although these principles mainly target civil servants. however, they can also provide guidance on professional spirit and working attitude for translators to a certain extent, especially those engaged in translation related to external publicity work. this means that when translating, the translator should have www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 22 published by scholink inc. a correct understanding of china’s major policies and trends, consciously maintain and actively advocate those policies, and always adhere to the correct political direction and stance. 6. the lasting impact of the most suitable eco-translatology believes that the process of translation is the continuous selection and adaptation of translators in the language ecological environment. in this process, the translator needs to find the strategy and path with the highest degree of integration, adaptation and selection based on the ecological environment of the source and target languages. its purpose is to actively adapt to the survival rule of “the lasting impact of the most suitable” in the translation process, “so that the works can have a lasting impact after adapting to the translation ecological environment.” (wang, 2012) example 6: 坚持绿水青山就是金山银山的理念。 translation: staying true to the idea that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. example 7: 百年大计，教育为本。 translation: education is pivotal to the enduring prosperity of a country. the golden phrase “绿水青山就是金山银山” (green mountains and clear waters are like mountains of gold and silver) in china now has been well-known, and its corresponding translations are also numerous, each with its own unique features. however, from the perspective of meaningful expression, equivalent effects, and even phonetic rhythm, “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” is an outstanding translation that is unconventional, creative, and easy to understand. similarly, in the translation of “百年大计，教育为本” (education is the foundation of a century’s plan), “education is pivotal to the enduring prosperity of a country” can also be regarded as the finishing touch, explaining the unspoken words and meanings that were hidden in the original text, truly achieving conciseness and hitting the nail on the head. although the vast majority of western readers may never read the original text of government work reports in chinese throughout their lives, the chinese translators inject life and vitality into a large number of chinese characteristic vocabulary through their own interpretation, creation, and reconstruction. they successfully achieved the reproduction of texts in heterogeneous contexts with completely new semantic constructions. it is precisely through the diligent efforts of these translators that the original text is able to break through the boundaries of space and national borders, as well as ethnic and cultural boundaries, truly enabling the dissemination of chinese characteristic ideas and culture to various parts of the world. they have made indelible contributions to telling the story of china well at different levels and in different fields. undoubtedly, only such an excellent translation can make chinese thoughts widely recognized and accepted at the global cultural level. only in this way can chinese stories truly take root in the target language and gain long-term vitality. to some extent, the english translation of the chinese government work report is not just a document translation, but also a guideline for unifying ideas and improving awareness within the english language domain, providing the most official, standardized, and authoritative english interpretation for readers around the world. an excellent translation can not only www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 23 published by scholink inc. provide high-quality translation in specific scenarios, but its presentation and influence can also be passed down for a long time, providing valuable information and inspiration for subsequent research in other countries. introducing these expressions with chinese characteristics into the minds of western readers through the perfect interpretation and translation, forming a consensus among some readers in western society, and even evolving into common beliefs, is itself a great success. 7. conclusions eco-translatology holds that the process of translation is a continuous process of selection and adaptation by the translator in the language ecological environment. when studying the translation strategies of chinese characteristic vocabulary, researchers can start from the perspective of eco-translatology and explore and analyze the most suitable translation strategies from the perspectives of “the principle of harmony and unity”, “the significance of ‘translator-as-the-key-role’”, “adaptation/selection of translation behaviors”, “the responsibility of ‘making a difference in translation’”, and “the lasting impact of the most suitable”, etc. the english translation of the 2023 government work report of china outlines a clear, meaningful, bold, and constructive road map for many translators. the analysis of the report indicates that for the translation of chinese characteristic vocabulary, translators need to adapt from multiple dimensions based on factors such as the meaning, cultural connotations, and context of the vocabulary, and then choose the most suitable strategy from multiple possible translation strategies in order to fully exert the translator’s subjectivity and creativity and achieve better results. references gu, z. k. (2003). china and west comparative poetics and translatology (2nd ed., 359). beijing: tsinghua university press. hu, g. s. (2004). an approach to translation as adaptation and selection (89, pp. 21-22). wuhan: hubei education publishing house. hu, g. s. (2004). an approach to translation as adaptation and selection (179, pp. 11-12). wuhan: hubei education publishing house. hu, g. s. (2008). interpretation of eco-translatology. chinese translators journal, 29(6), 11-15+92. hu, g. s. (2009). an eco-translatology interpretation of fu lei’s translation thought. journal of foreign languages (journal of shanghai foreign studies university), 32(2), 47-53. liu, j. m. (1991). macro journalism (25). beijing: china renmin university press. luo, j. d. (1985). on the rhetoric characteristics and translation methods of official document style. chinese translators journal, 1985(2), 15-17. wang, y. x. (2012). adaptation and selection—a study of arthur waley’s english translation of the tao te ching from the perspective of eco-translatology. journal of northeast normal university (philosophy and social sciences), 2012(2), 127-130. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 178 original paper a cognitive approach to expressions of english metaphors li xue1 1 foreign language school, nanjing university of finance & economics, nan jing, china received: may 10, 2023 accepted: may 29, 2023 online published: june 16, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p178 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p178 abstract this paper analyses the three expressions of english metaphors: nominal metaphors; verbal metaphors; adjective metaphors from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. for nominal metaphors, the author starts from metaphorical mapping mechanism, interpreting the different syntactic features of them: as a subject, an object, a predicate, an appositive and a possessive, figuring out the reasons for producing nominal metaphors and its cognitive approach. for verbal metaphors, this paper has, in detail, analyzed three different categories of them: the verbal metaphors with a logical subject predicate collocation; the ones with a logical verb, object collocation; and with a logical subject, predicate, object collocation with the above three kinds of linguistic theories, obtaining the forming mechanism of the verbal metaphors and its working ways in languages. for the adjective metaphors, this paper mainly applies the mapping theory between a source domain and a target domain in conceptual integration theory. a comprehensive, detailed and systematical analysis of adjective meanings in basic adjective metaphors and metaphorical combinations of basic adjectives leads to the following conclusion: the combination of basic adjective metaphors is the result of the “least effort principle” with characteristics of simplicity and popularity. in addition, it also possesses the capability to produce richer metaphorical expressions. keywords metaphor, expression, cognitive linguistics, popularity 1. introduction this chapter is an introduction to the whole thesis. the first section consists of a background, followed by the purpose and the significance of the study in the second section, the research questions and methodology in the third section and the research object and scope with a highlighting of the whole structure of the study in the final section. expressions of metaphors belong to one of the categories of linguistic research. the linguistic theories all come from man’s life, which are the inductions of life. the examples supporting the theories also result from our life practice and they are deducting the origin and evolution of these theories. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 179 published by scholink inc. a famous english rhetorician, i. a. richards (1973) puts it that a kind of metaphor emerges in every two sentences in our daily conversations. metaphor makes the broad and profound languages of the human beings much plumper. the systematical research about metaphor in the west can be traced back to aristotle 300 b. c. aristotle (1954) thinks that metaphor is a kind of linguistic method that is applied to substitute a word with another word to convey the same meaning. the both are in a comparative relation, whose main function is modification. however, from the perspective of the development history of the metaphorical research, and it has broken through the rhetoric restrictions, which, in the west, can be divided into three stages: first, the research is carried out from the aspect of metaphorical rhetoric, which lasts from 300 b. c to 1930s. the second is the stage where metaphorical semantics is studied from two research directions: the metaphorical semanteme is studied from the perspective of logic and philosophy as well as linguistics for more than four decades until the early 1970s. the third stage is from 1970s to the present. the western scholars carry out all kinds of deep research and explorations about metaphor from the multi-angles and multilevels, such as the perspectives of cognitive psychology, philosophy, pragmatics, semiotics, phenomenology, hermeneutics and so on. the study of systematical metaphor in china starts late, however, recently in order to meet the requirements of the chinese-foreign language and cultural exchanges. the linguistics and foreign languages in china start excavating and sorting the statements about metaphor made by chinese authors. the research scopes, interests and levels of the metaphorical phenomenon are being improved little by little. in china, a civilized country with a long history of several thousand years, the chinese scholars in every field are devoted themselves to exploring and studying metaphor. research can be defined as a systematical approach to finding answers to questions. reflecting on one’s experience and feelings, or giving unwarranted judgments and groundless viewpoints, is not a veritable study. linguistic research is the systematical study of languages, usually with respect to a particular aspect of it which can be categorized into conceptual research and empirical research. the former depends heavily on speculation/deduction, e.g. the study of the origin of language. the latter, characterized by the use of induction and the process of hypothesis formation-confirmation, can be further classified into quantitative research (like an experiment and a survey) and qualitative research (like field work and case study), each type having its advantages and disadvantages. quantitative research is empirical research where the data are in the form of numbers. qualitative research is empirical research where the data are not in the form of numbers. at present, english corpora are adopted in metaphor research in china, while few chinese corpora are used in it. in metaphor research, it is found that quantitative analysis only account for 5%, revealing that the ways of studying linguistics in which chinese scholars adopt are not sufficient. some chinese scholars psychologically resist quantitative analysis, not willing to adopt the way, while adopting the ways of observance, introspection and reasoning, which are used traditionally by chinese scholars. maybe this is a deficit in metaphor research in china. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 180 published by scholink inc. qualitative approach is adopted as a research method in this study. data collected are used to explore the cognitive mechanism of verb metaphors with a logical subject, predicate collocation; a logical verb, object collocation and a logical subject, predicate and object collocation. the chinese corpus ccl (center for chinese linguistics pku) and the english corpus bnc (british national corpus) are the supportive foundation for the data. 2. method as is known to all of us that, a large number of the contemporary disciplines, including linguistics, now that the descriptions of the research object cannot meet the satisfaction, they have begun regarding the interpretation as one of the most significant objects. the study about the expressions of english metaphors is supposed to have two objects: the descriptions for the expressions of english metaphors as well as the interpretations for this phenomenon. the full descriptions are the prerequisites of the interpretations, while the interpretation is one of the highest aims of any discipline. the interpretation for the expressions of english metaphors ought to involve psychology, sociology, philosophy, linguistic, etc. the definition of metaphor studied in this chapter will be elaborated in chapter three thoroughly. from the perspective of the cognitive linguistics, the author has analyzed the expressions of english metaphors and summed up the formation mechanism. the study about the expressions of english metaphors is a kind of interdisciplinary knowledge, which requires researchers to be entitled with a broad mind and profound knowledge. 3. result we can find out that the way of english metaphor is to compare a concrete thing to another concrete thing or to an abstract thing or to compare an abstract thing to another abstract thing. the english metaphor is not only similar to the chinese metaphor but also to the chinese metonymy, imitation and exaggeration. namely, the english metaphor covers much more the chinese metaphor, which means that among the english similitude figures of speech, except for the simile, any other analogy can be called metaphor. metaphor often adopts the shallow and common things to interpret the profound hows and whys and describe the features of the thing, making the thing more lively, vividly and concrete, giving the readers a distinct impression. understanding the expressions of metaphor plays a significant role in literary creation and appreciation and english teaching. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 181 published by scholink inc. 4. discussion 4.1 nominal metaphor a nominal metaphor refers to a metaphor that is composed of nouns, which belongs to one of constitutional features of metaphorical syntax. next we are going to start from the mapping mechanism of metaphor with some concrete examples, explaining reasons for producing nominal metaphors with different syntactic features and the cognitive approaches from the perspective of cognition. 4.1.1 as subjects take the following sentence for example: (12) another challenge of the sponsor comes from his rival. in this sentence, “challenge” is derived from a root metaphor, “economy competition is a battle.”, where the source domain is “battle” and the target domain is “economy competition”. a structural metaphor refers to a corresponding relationship between the mapping from the source domain to the target domain, where the cognitive structure of the source domain is systematically mapped into the target domain. this kind of mapping relationship is in a single direction but with a multi-layers. therefore, the above nominal metaphors belong to structural metaphors. 4.1.2 as objects let’s look at the following two sentences: (13) over mountains, through mist, i love you as pure as morning dew. (14) we may have to go our separate ways. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 182 published by scholink inc. the above two sentences depict love. we can see that the two“loves” both metaphorically refer to a journey, which implies a conceptual metaphor, “love is a journey”. in these two sentences, “journey” is a source domain and “love” is a target domain. “mountains” and “mist” reveal “entities of barriers during travelling” and “difficulty in an episode of love”. “our separate ways” shows “a fork in a road” and “emotional differences in a love”, which corresponds with “travelers get together” and “harmony and division between lovers”. 4.1.3 as predicates let’s look at the following two sentences: (15) the earth is human’s mother. (16) an interest is a best teacher. judging from the above two sentences, they both adopt the rhetoric device: personification. the former compares “earth” to “mother”, the latter “interest” to “teacher”. lakeoff and johnson state in metaphors we live by that the most apparent ontological metaphors refer to the fact that a physical object is further identified as a person, which enables us to understand various experience of non-human entities from human motivations, features and activities (lakeoff & johnson, 1997, p. 116). however, the personification is not a single and unified process, and every personification varies with divergent aspects of these chosen persons. it is obvious that the two both sentences belong to an ontological metaphor. the former transfers the vehicle, a mother’s bringing up her posterity to the tenor, the earth, and the latter transfer the vehicle, a teacher’s enlightening students to the tenor, “interest”. moreover, another kind of nominal metaphor as a predicate in a sentence is derived from a root metaphor. these metaphors tend to be stored in human’s conceptual systems, which cannot be perceived by people reflecting an early cognition to the nature and the whole world. according to statistics, 70% expressions of metaphors in general languages are derived from root metaphors. these metaphorical concepts are not only systematical in thinking and languages but also are consistent with cultures of different countries. 4.2 verbal metaphors verbal metaphors are linguistic phenomena which are formed by the conflict between a verb and a logical subject or an object. the verb constitutes a novel collocation relationship with its front noun so that a kind of non-conventional semantic relationship is formed. different from a conventional relationship, this non-conventional possesses a meaning relevance in a specific context and the noun collocation with the verb possesses an actual reference. at this moment, the verb is recognized as a verb metaphor, in this kind of metaphors, a tenor and a vehicle seldom directly emerge, while they will emerge by verbal reflection, that is to say, the action structure, a behavior mode and a logical relationship keep unchangeable. compared with nominal metaphors, verbal metaphors are difficult to recognize, for it is hard for us to judge whether there is an inconsistency between a source domain and a target domain especially those verbs, such as, “make”, “put”, “have” etc. in order to recognize the verbal metaphors, firstly we should clarify the collocation relationship and meaning related to verbs in a discourse so as to define the metaphorical meanings of the logical subject and object located before and after the verb, and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 183 published by scholink inc. at last the concrete category of metaphorical terms can be defined. for example, (23) their dream slipped away. in this sentence, the verb “slipped away” collocates with the noun, “dream”. as we all know, “somebody” often collocates with “slipped away”, therefore, here, a metaphorical meaning is produced, and at this point the verb realizes the metaphorical interpretation. according to collocation relationship among subject, predicate, object in a syntactic form, wang yin (2007) divides verb metaphors into three sorts: the metaphors produced by conceptual conflicts of a logical subject; the metaphors produced by conflicts of a logical verb and object; the metaphors produced by a logical subject, predicate and object. that is, the metaphors with collocation of a logical subject and predicate; the metaphors with collocation of a logical verb and object; the metaphors with collocation with a logical subject, predicate and object. this part of study on expressions of metaphors recognizes verbal metaphors in the masterpiece six chapters of a floating life (《浮生六记》) to explore its cognitive mechanism. six chapters of a floating life is a typical masterpiece of art in chinese literature. this part adopts corpus from it, exploring cognitive mechanism of verb metaphors in the original text, effectively promoting the dissemination of cultural and aesthetic connotations of this literary work. based upon the classification of verbal metaphors, the author has summed up 55 kinds verbal metaphors. among them, there are 24 examples of verbal metaphors of logical subject predicate collocation, accounting for 46.2%, 17 examples of verbal metaphors of logical verb object collocation, accounting for 32.7% and 11 samples of logical subject predicate object collocation, accounting for 21.1%. accordingly, the below comparisons of verbal metaphors classification in six chapters of a floating life is shown in table 1 as follows: table 1. comparisons of verbal metaphors classification in six chapters of a floating life (notes: lspc: logical subject predicate collocation; lvoc: logical verb object collocation; lspoc: logical subject predicate object collocation.) lspc lvoc lspoc language examples 29 17 14 proportion 52.7 30.9 25.4 from this table, it is obvious that the highest proportion of verbal metaphors is logical subject predicate collocation, followed by logical verb object collocation, and the lowest is logical subject predicate object collocation. the main reason for this phenomenon is that syntax dominated by a logical subject predicate is a common sentence pattern, while the implementation conditions of a logical subject predicate object is that a logical subject predicate object contains metaphorical meanings in syntax, therefore, there are the fewest metaphors among the three kinds of verbal metaphors. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 184 published by scholink inc. 4.2.1 the verbal metaphors cognitive mechanism of a logical subject and predicate collocation the logical subject predicate collocation metaphors in verbal metaphors are non-conventional meaning collocation metaphors caused by conflicts between a verb and a logical subject. in a discourse, a logical subject uses a non-conventional verb to collocate and then an intense conflict is produced between the two both, forming a verbal metaphor. for example, (24) i went up the tower one snowy day; the beautiful snow-flakes dancing in the sky above and silver-clad hills and jade bedraggled tree below gave one the impression if a fairy world. six chapters of a floating life this sentence describes an event when shen fu with his friend climbed the yellow crane tower. figure 2. the cognitive model of the verbal metaphor with logical subject and predicate collocation according to the figure 2, original text, “o” for short and translated text, “t” for short implied the two parts (left and right triangular prism) in the same verbal metaphor as a whole (a cube) and the arrows from left to right shows the cognitive process from “o” to “t”. according to the logical structure of subject, predicate, object in the sentence three vertices (triangular prism) of “o” and “t” respectively highlight as the logical subject (sub), predicate verb (v) and logical object (o). in this logical subject predicate verbal metaphor, “the beautiful snow-flakes dancing in the sky above”, the logical subject is “snow-flakes” and the predicate verb is “dance”. these are mapping verbal metaphors from the source domain, “snow-flakes” to the target domain, “dance” from top to bottom. in this verbal metaphor, this predicate verb, “dance” makes the logical subject, “snow-flakes” produce a semantic conflict with it so that a novel verbal metaphor of the logical subject and predicate is formed. through this verbal metaphor, the scene of snow-flakes being blown disorderly by strong winds and dancing aimlessly in the air instantly emerges, enhancing the vividness of depicted images. original subject (osub) is similar to “dancer” in terms of behavioral features. and the metaphorical meaning is represented by the restriction of the verb, “dance” to the noun “osub”. in the above sentence, “the beautiful snow-flakes dancing in the shy above” the logical subject, “the beautiful snow-flakes” corresponds to “osub”, reproducing the verbal metaphor of flying in the original language so that vivid www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 185 published by scholink inc. views depicted in the sentence is holistically copied. there is a close metaphorical relationship between the source and input language with similar semanteme and strong dynamic roles. 4.2.2 the verbal metaphors cognitive mechanism with logical verb and object collocation the verbal metaphors of the logical verb and object collocation is a non-conventional meaning collocation metaphor caused by the conflict between a verb and a logical object. in a discourse, the verb uses a non-conventional logical object to collocate and an intense conflict is produced between the two both, producing a verbal metaphor. for instance, (25) the fifteenth of the seventh moon was all souls’ day.yun prepared a little dinner, so that we could drink together with the moon as our company. .........six chapters of a floating life this sentence describes that after shen fu married chen yun, they recited poetry and enjoyed music, leading a happy life. figure 3. the cognitive model of the verbal metaphor with logical verb and object collocation as the figure 3 shows, the triangular prim on the left denotes the source language “the moon” and the right one denotes the translated text “together with the moon as our company”. the logical verb object collocation, “the moon on the left source, in this mapping of the verbal metaphor, the highlighted vertex is the predicate verb “invite” and the logical object “the moon”. in this sentence “yun prepared a little dinner so that we could drink together with the moon as our company”, the original meaning is that chen yun was drinking while enjoying the moon with shen fu, where the logical object “the moon”, this novel collocation is adopted to regard the moon as our guests invited by chen yun to drink and sing together. the predicate verb “invite” activates common features of the logical object “the moon” and the noun “the guests”, both of which can be as accompanies while drinking, completing the mapping process between the source domain, “the moon” and the target domain, “the guests” in this verbal metaphor (topto-bottom arrows in the figure 3), vividly conveying chen yun’s leisure and elegance drinking happily in moonlight. during understanding the verbal metaphor “yao yue”, the translation “invite the moon” is not used, while the translation “together with the moon as our company” is produced, which does not only abandon the verbal metaphor of the original text but also is consistent with english expression. in this triangular prim of figure 3 on the right, the vertex is turned into the logical subject “the moon”, the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 186 published by scholink inc. predicate verb “company” and the noun “the moon” is formed and then the sentence is bestowed with a metaphorical meaning. 4.2.3 the verbal metaphorical cognitive mechanism of logical subject predicate and object collocation the verbal metaphors of logical subject predicate and object collocation are mainly caused by a kind of semantic conflict when a logical subject collocates with a non-conventional logical object. in other words, the semantic conflict is formed between a logical subject and a verb; between a predicate verb and a logical object. and then the kind of metaphors is called verb metaphors with a logical subject predicate collocation. for example, (26) when i went up on board the boat, i saw the peach and pear trees on the banks were in full bloom, but i felt like a lonely bird that had lost its companions and as if the world was going to collapse around me. the sentence describes the scene that shen fu will depart with his wife for further education. figure 4. the cognitive model of the verbal metaphor with logical subject, predicate and verb collocation at departure, it is a sunny and blooming season. at this time, shen fu is solitary like an abandoned bird in woods. in this sentence, “the peach and pear trees on the banks were in full bloom” shows a beautiful scene. just as the figure 4 shows, in the triangular prim of the source language on the left, the subject, predicate and object collocation is three highlighted vertexes, “osub” stands for the logical subject, “the peach and pear trees” “ov” for the predicate verb, “scratch” and “oo” for the logical object “beauty”. on one hand, the logical subject, “the peach and pear trees” forms a novel collocation with the predicate verb, “scratch”, on the other hand, the predicate verb, “scratch” also forms a novel collocation with the logical object “beauty”. through association meaning, “the peach and pear trees” are compared to “beauties”. the scene of blooming peach and pear trees is like beauties flocking together to be selected. the two possess similarities. “the beauty” of the peach and pear trees is like an article which can be “scratched”. the verb “scratch” activates the metaphorical semanteme of this sentence. in the triangular prim on the left, from up to down is respectively a conceptual domain “beauties” and “the peach and pear trees”; “ontological objects” and “beautiful scene”. they are interactively mapping, depicting a beautiful scene of garden flowers blooming in a lively manner, which contrasts sharply with shen fu leaving alone in a boat, indirectly highlighting his reluctance to part with his wife. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 187 published by scholink inc. 4.3 adjective metaphors adjectives are the words that are used to describe qualities or attributes. basic adjectives directly come from interactions between human beings and nature, reflecting basic cognition of physical attributes. this part explores habitual expressions where adjectives are put in front of nouns, such as, “a soft ear--a credulous person”, “soft tasks”. from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, they are metaphorical collocations. 4.3.1 motivations and mechanism of basic adjective metaphorical collocations a metaphor consists of a source domain and a target domain, whose essence is to use a kind of thing to experience and understand another thing. a conceptual metaphor is made up of four aspects: a source domain, a target domain, an experiential basis, and a mapping. metaphorical cognition is to project schema structure of a source domain onto a target domain. such a mapping is realized between two different cognitive domains, whose basis is experience. next, adjective metaphors are analyzed from syntactic category, such as, “melancholy flowers”, “thunderous applauds”. adjective metaphors represent metaphorical features of thinking. attributes of the things are mapped onto another thing, acquiring understanding of the thing. the similarities between a source domain and a target domain are direct which can be shown by adjectives in adjective metaphors. for example, “soft ears”, it doesn’t mean that ears are soft, while this phrase refers to a person without the ides of his/her own, who is credulous. since “ears” are organs used to hear something, and the adjective “soft” is used to describe a man’s characteristic. such similar adjective metaphors are as follows: “a jelly-fish”, “soft heart”, “long tongue”, “frank” and so on. this kind of adjective metaphors, nouns are human body’s organs metonymy of people’s feelings, personalities, abilities and behaviors. since basic adjectives are highly generalized with many similarities, the different things with the same attribute can give different feeling to people under the different circumstances. for example, people will get the different feelings when they eat ice-cream in cold winter and sultry summer. when people metaphorically use basic adjectives to convey their subjective feelings, the source domain is covert, concealed in people’s experiential schema formed by daily life, thus, the source domain tends to be featured by its non-uniqueness and non-fixity. the source domain of the basic adjective metaphorical collocation, which is concrete or abstract but mainly is abstract, such as, “soft knife” and “soft nail”, here, “knife” and “nail” are respectively compared to “methods of harming people” and “refusal”. “soft knife” and “soft nail” seem to be unnatural, for they are against people’s conventional experience. however, it is not hard for us to understand, for people have a good command of “softness” of its natural attribute. the collocations between “soft” and “knife”; “soft” and “nail” respectively add the meanings, “subconsciousness” and “euphemism”. this kind of adjective metaphors produce the effect of “the whole is greater than the sum of its part”. in a certain context, on a social occasion and under a certain cultural background, if a speaker and a hearer have common sense, a hearer is able comprehend a metaphorical meaning by virtue of people’s unique metaphorical thinking without a series of pragmatical processing procedures and principles. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 188 published by scholink inc. 4.3.2 adjective meaning in basic adjective metaphorical collocation about semanteme, shao (1996) points out that semanteme is divided into two parts: objective conceptual meaning and subjective color meaning. the conceptual meaning reflects that contents of an objective thing’s own, and the color meaning mostly reflects people’s subjective cognition, where rhetoric meanings are included. feng zhicun (1995) points out that word meanings can be divided into two types: conceptual and subsidiary meanings. conceptual meanings have something to do with concepts, reflecting a real phenomenon significance. a monosemy word has only one conceptual meaning, and for a polysemous word, it has at least two kinds of conceptual meanings. the original, basic, extended and metaphorical meanings in a polysemous word all belong to the conceptual meaning. the above contrasts show that a conceptual meaning is less wider than a terminological meaning. the reason is that the perspective of concept is different. the former tends to recognize an objective base of cognition, while the latter more clearly reflects dynamic conceptualization of diachronic. 5. conclusion english metaphor is a special cognitive phenomenon occurring in human languages. english metaphor is not only a kind of cognitive phenomenon but also a sort of special phenomenon of language use. it occurs in almost every field, such as literature, education, art, medicine and so on. based upon what i have analyzed in the above chapters, the following conclusions can be drawn: 1) this paper studies the expressions of english metaphors from the perspective of the cognitive linguistics: nominal metaphor, verbal metaphor, adjective metaphor. through the study, the author has found that the understanding of english metaphor is a hierarchical structure that integrates language, cognition and culture into one unit. in addition, the understanding of english metaphors mainly depends upon the construction of new cognitive schema to realize the cognition and the understanding of the target language. 2) through the study about the expressions of english metaphors, the author has made the following discoveries. first, the transfer of the cognitive schema of culture prevails in the process of metaphorical comprehension. second, the contexts can provide the informational basis for the inference, playing a significant part in understanding metaphor. the author has also found that 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(2010). the evolution of language. cambridge: cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511817779 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2008.05.003 https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511817779 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 108 original paper research on the inheritance and development of traditional sports and cultural resources of ganzi minority ethnic groups dai duo1 1 sichuan minzu college, kangding, sichuan, china received: september 14, 2023 accepted: october 3, 2023 online published: october 22, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n4p108 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n4p108 abstract ganzi region, located in sichuan province of china, is a multi-ethnic area with rich and diverse traditional sports and cultural resources of ethnic minorities. the purpose of this paper is to study the inheritance and development of traditional sports and cultural resources of ethnic minorities in ganzi region. through field research and literature study in ganzi region, this paper explores the traditional sports and cultural resources in ganzi region, including tibetan chess, tibetan equestrianism, and tibetan archery, as well as their roles in the local society and university education. the paper also analyzes the challenges and opportunities for the development of the heritage of traditional sports and cultural resources, and makes some suggestions to promote the heritage and development of these valuable cultural resources. the inheritance and development of traditional sports culture of ethnic minorities in the ganzi region is of great significance for the preservation of cultural heritage, the promotion of national identity, physical and mental health and social development. keywords ethnic minorities, traditional sports, sports culture, development 1. introduction ganzi region is a region in sichuan province, china, which is rich in traditional sports and cultural resources of ethnic minorities. the study of the inheritance and development of traditional sports and cultural resources of minority ethnic groups in ganzi aims to understand and protect these valuable cultural heritages and to promote the inheritance and development of traditional sports and culture of minority ethnic groups. through the study, the historical origin, characteristics and value of traditional sports culture of ethnic minorities in ganzi region can be explored to provide theoretical support and practical guidance for related protection and inheritance work. ganzi region is located in the western part of sichuan province, china, and has a diverse geographic environment, including high mountains, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 109 published by scholink inc. canyons, grasslands and other types of landforms. this region is an important part of the tibetan area, with rich cultures of tibetan, qiang, yi, and other ethnic minorities. historically, the ganzi region was an important node of the ancient silk road, connecting the central plains and the southwest. this has led to the culture of ganzi region being influenced by the exchanges between the east and the west, and has bred a unique cultural atmosphere. the traditional sports and cultural resources of ethnic minorities in the ganzi region are very rich, unique and valuable. in the course of their long-term historical development, ethnic minorities have formed unique ways of practicing sports and cultural forms. for example, archery and wrestling of the tibetans, equestrianism of the qiangs, and top wind ball of the yis are important parts of the traditional sports culture of the ethnic minorities in ganzi region. these traditional sports and cultural activities are not only ornamental and entertaining, but also important expressions of national identity and cohesion. they inherit the wisdom and historical memory of the ethnic minorities, embody their adaptation to and realization of the natural environment, and have important historical, cultural and social significance. protecting and developing the traditional sports and cultural resources of the ganzi ethnic minorities can help pass on and promote the unique cultures of the ethnic minorities and enhance national unity and cultural diversity. at the same time, tapping and promoting these resources can also help to promote tourism and enhance regional economic and social development. therefore, studying the geographical, historical and cultural background of the ganzi region and emphasizing the uniqueness and value of the traditional sports and cultural resources of the ganzi ethnic minorities are of positive significance in promoting cultural preservation, tourism development and national unity. 2. traditional sports and cultural resources in the ganzi region located in southwestern china, the ganzi region is a multi-ethnic area with rich and colorful traditional sports and cultural resources of ethnic minorities. these traditional cultural resources are not only an important part of local ethnic culture, but also carry rich history, culture and life style. in this paper, we will study in depth the traditional sports and cultural resources of ganzi region, including tibetan chess, tibetan horsemanship, tibetan archery, etc., as well as their roles in the local society and university education. tibetan chess: a game of wisdom tibetan chess is an ancient board game with a long history. in the ganzi region, tibetan chess is regarded as a game of wisdom with deep cultural connotations and strategies. this board game consists of 64 squares with pieces including bishops, knights, rooks, cannons, sergeants and pawns. each piece has unique moves and tactics, and players are required to use them skillfully to win the game. it has a long history and is widely spread in all parts of the tibetan region. unlike chinese chess, the board of tibetan chess is a rectangle, usually a 19x19 grid, and the pieces are divided into two branches, one for white and the other for black. each piece has a variety of different moves and rules. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 110 published by scholink inc. tibetan chess is not only a recreational activity, but also an important way of cultural inheritance. by learning and participating in tibetan chess, the younger generation can better understand and feel their ethnic culture. tibetan chess tournaments are also part of social activities, in which people interact with each other and share the wisdom of the game, promoting cohesion within the community. hidden chess is a game full of strategy and intelligence, which not only tests the player’s chess skills, but also exercises his thinking ability. the goal of the game is to win by surrounding the opponent’s pieces so that they cannot move further. players need to carefully consider each move and anticipate their opponent’s movements while protecting their own pieces. the charm of tibetan chess lies in the fact that it is not only a recreational activity, but also carries rich cultural connotations. the pieces and board in the game reflect the cultural characteristics of the tibetan nation, such as the eight auspicious patterns and tibetan numerals, making the game part of the cultural heritage. in addition, tibetan chess is often combined with tibetan religious ceremonies and festivals, adding a sense of mystery and ritual. tibetan chess is a popular recreational activity in ganzi prefecture, especially in winter and during festivals, when people often gather together to enjoy this ancient game. meanwhile, some specialized tibetan chess tournaments are also held in the area, attracting many players and spectators. these tournaments are not only a competition of chess skills, but also a cultural exchange and inheritance. in conclusion, tibetan chess, as one of the traditional cultural heritages of ganzi prefecture, is not only a challenging and interesting game, but also carries rich cultural connotations. it has an important place in the local community, not only providing entertainment for people, but also contributing to cultural heritage and community cohesion. this makes tibetan chess an integral part of ganzi and attracts more and more people to experience and explore it. 3. tibetan horsemanship: the art of riding in the highlands tibetan horsemanship is a superb equestrian skill in the ganzi region, closely related to local transportation, agriculture and culture. this traditional skill requires the rider to develop a deep understanding with the horse in order to cope with the complex and changing geographical and climatic conditions of the plateau region. with a history dating back to ancient times, tibetan horsemanship is not only a means of transportation, but also a symbol of culture. tibetan horsemanship is still an important lifestyle and sporting activity in local communities. farmers still rely on horses for farming and transportation, while equestrian competitions are an important part of a traditional festival. the legacy of tibetan horsemanship relies on a master-apprentice approach, with younger generations of riders maintaining the tradition of the skill by learning through interaction with the older generation of riders. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 111 published by scholink inc. 4. tibetan archery: a combination of skill and spirituality tibetan archery is a traditional archery sport that combines elements of skill and spiritual culture. archery has a long history in the ganzi region and was once an important skill for hunting and fighting. today, tibetan archery has evolved into a sport competition, while still maintaining its traditional values and ceremonial nature. in tibetan archery competitions, competitors are required to utilize superb archery skills while maintaining inner calm and focus. this process reflects the tibetan cultural values of internal and external balance and spiritual harmony. tibetan archery competitions are usually accompanied by traditional rituals and celebrations, adding to the ceremonial and cultural content of the competition. 5. the role of traditional sports and cultural resources traditional sports and cultural resources play an important role in today’s society in many ways. first of all, they represent the history and cultural heritage of a community or nation and are valuable cultural heritage. through traditional sports, people can learn about the wisdom and lifestyle of their ancestors, maintain cultural identity and pass on historical memory. secondly, traditional sports and cultural resources contribute to the promotion of physical and mental health. they emphasize physical strength, flexibility and coordination and encourage participants to maintain an active lifestyle. in addition, traditional sports help to reduce stress, increase self-confidence and improve mental health. traditional sports and cultural resources can also promote social interaction and community cohesion. many traditional sports activities are group-based and participants need to cooperate, interact and communicate. this helps to build social networks, strengthen community ties and enhance social cohesion. in addition, traditional sports and cultural resources play an important role in education and the transmission of values. through sport, people can learn important values such as teamwork, fair play and perseverance. traditional sports can also be used as a tool for moral and ethical education to develop human character and moral values. finally, traditional sports and cultural resources also have a positive impact on tourism and economic development. some traditional sports activities have become popular tourist attractions for tourists, boosting the local economy and creating jobs. in summary, traditional sports and cultural resources are more than just a recreational and sporting activity; they play an important role in a number of areas, including cultural transmission, physical and mental health, social interaction, education, transmission of values and economic development. it is therefore crucial to protect and promote the transmission of traditional sports and cultural resources to ensure that this valuable cultural heritage can continue to play its multiple roles. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 112 published by scholink inc. 6. challenges to transmission despite the important cultural and educational value of these traditional sports and cultural resources, they face a number of challenges. there are numerous challenges to transmission that affect the transmission of culture, knowledge and skills and threaten the preservation and continuation of valuable cultural heritage. some of the major challenges include: first, the rapid development of modernization has brought new lifestyles and values, leading to an impact on traditional culture. the younger generation may be more susceptible to the influence of popular culture and the mass media, with a weakening of interest in traditional culture and a disruption of the means of transmission. secondly, the increase in generational fault lines is a serious problem. many traditional skills and knowledge need to be passed on from elders to younger generations, but in modern societies this chain of transmission can be broken, leading to a loss of knowledge. third, resource constraints are a common challenge. cultural transmission requires time, money and specialized knowledge. some traditional communities may lack these resources, thus preventing effective cultural transmission. cultural conflict is also a challenge. in multicultural societies, conflicts between cultures may lead to neglect of or discrimination against traditional cultures, threatening cultural diversity. the pressures of social change and modernization may lead to the decline of traditional cultures. social changes such as urbanization and rural exodus may make traditional lifestyles and cultural transmission difficult. some traditional cultures face a crisis of loss. valuable cultural heritage may disappear permanently as opportunities for continuous transmission have been lost. there may be conflicts between modern education systems and the transmission of traditional culture. some traditional knowledge and values may be incompatible with modern educational standards, complicating cultural transmission. the trend of globalization may lead to cultural homogenization and commercialization, and some local characteristics and traditional culture may be eroded. the rapid development of information technology may lead to the proliferation and distortion of information, complicating the transmission of traditional culture. in summary, the challenges to transmission are diverse and require comprehensive solutions to protect and promote the transmission of culture, knowledge and skills. this requires the concerted efforts of governments, social groups, educational institutions and individuals to ensure the sustainability and transmission of cultural heritage. 7. opportunities for development located in western china, ganzi prefecture is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural region with rich traditional sports and cultural resources of ethnic minorities. in today’s society, the development of traditional sports and cultural resources in ganzi prefecture faces numerous opportunities that will help to preserve and promote this valuable cultural heritage. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 113 published by scholink inc. first of all, the traditional sports and cultural resources of ganzi prefecture have great potential in tourism. with the booming development of tourism, more and more tourists want to experience local traditional culture and customs. traditional sports activities, such as tibetan horse racing, archery and wrestling, have a unique appeal and can be a highlight to attract tourists. by developing sports and cultural tourism projects, ganzi prefecture has the opportunity to attract more tourists and increase tourism revenues, while promoting and passing on traditional sports culture. secondly, the transmission of sports and cultural resources can promote cultural education and school sports. schools and educational institutions in ganzi prefecture can incorporate traditional sports activities into their educational curricula to help students understand and respect local traditional culture. this not only contributes to the heritage, but also provides students with opportunities to exercise and develop team spirit. at the same time, schools can organize sports and cultural competitions and activities to stimulate students’ interest in traditional sports and culture and promote cultural heritage. thirdly, the transmission of sports and cultural resources can promote community cohesion and cultural confidence. traditional sports activities are usually community-based and require collective participation and support. through participation in traditional sports, community members can establish ties and enhance community cohesion. in addition, the successful transmission of traditional sports culture can enhance the cultural self-confidence of the population, allowing them to display their cultural characteristics with greater pride. in addition, the inheritance of sports and cultural resources also contributes to the development of physical fitness. traditional sports activities are a healthy way of life, and by participating in these activities, people can exercise and improve their physical fitness. in modern society, health consciousness is getting stronger and stronger, and traditional sports activities provide people with diversified ways to exercise. therefore, the inheritance of traditional sports culture helps to promote the national fitness movement and improve the health of the population. finally, the transmission of traditional sports and cultural resources also helps to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural exchanges. in the era of globalization, communication and integration among different cultures have become increasingly important. the traditional sports culture of ganzi prefecture has unique cultural characteristics that can attract the attention of domestic and foreign audiences and scholars. through international sports competitions and cultural exchange activities, ganzi prefecture has the opportunity to show its unique cultural heritage to the world and promote cross-cultural exchange and understanding. there are numerous opportunities for the development of traditional sports and cultural resources in ganzi prefecture, including tourism potential, cultural education, community cohesion, health promotion and cross-cultural exchange. by fully utilizing these opportunities, this valuable cultural heritage can be preserved and passed on, while contributing to the development and cultural prosperity of the local community. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 114 published by scholink inc. 8. recommendations and outlook in order to protect and pass on the traditional sports and cultural resources of the ganzi region, we can take the following measures: (1) formulation of protection policies: governments should formulate policies to protect and pass on these valuable cultural heritages, providing resource support and legal safeguards. (2) strengthening educational cooperation: universities should cooperate with local communities to carry out educational programs on traditional cultural resources and train more inheritors and enthusiasts. (3) awareness-raising: society should strengthen its awareness and promotion of traditional cultural resources and enhance the public’s appreciation of these valuable resources. the mode of transmission and current status of traditional sports and cultural resources are key to the protection and development of these valuable resources. the following are some of the common ways of transmission and the current status: oral transmission: oral transmission is one of the most common ways of passing on traditional sports and cultural resources. through the master-apprentice system, experience and skills are passed on from predecessors to successors, maintaining the continuity of traditional skills. however, due to the special nature of oral transmission, knowledge and skills may be at risk of gradual loss. performances and competitions: performances and competitions of traditional sports and culture are organized in many regions to showcase and pass on these resources. these events provide a platform for young people to learn and participate in traditional sports and culture. school education and community activities: in some places, traditional sports and cultural resources are incorporated into school education curricula so that the younger generation can understand and learn about them. at the same time, community activities play an important role in passing on the tradition, such as folk sports clubs and community organizations, which provide opportunities for students and community members to learn and practice traditional sports. 9. conclusion the traditional sports and cultural resources of ethnic minorities in the ganzi region have rich historical and cultural connotations, and play an important role in both cultural heritage and university education. however, facing the challenges of modernization, the joint efforts of the government, schools and society are needed to protect and pass on these valuable cultural heritages. through cooperation, policy support and the promotion of educational programs, the transmission and development of these traditional cultural resources can be realized, thus enriching the cultural life of the ganzi region, promoting crosscultural exchanges and providing a solid cultural foundation for future development. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 115 published by scholink inc. fund projects ganzi prefecture social sciencefederation of students: ganzi minority traditional sports culture the integration, inheritance and development of cultural resources expand research (item number: gzsk202208) references chang, a. (2019). research on the integration and development of traditional ethnic minority sports culture inheritance and university campus culture construction. wu shu research. chen, y., & bai, j. (2014). development of ethnic folk sports and cultural resources in china from the perspective of intangible cultural heritage protection. wuhan sports university journal. wang, s., gu, w., & wang, z. (2023). research on the inheritance and development of traditional ethnic minority sports culture. the sports industry. wei, f., chen, x., zhang, s., & zhao, h. (2016). inheritance and development path of traditional sports culture resources of ethnic minorities in chuxiong from the perspective of material culture. journal of chifeng university (natural science edition). wu, m., ma, j., & feng, q. (2022). research on the inheritance and development of traditional ethnic minority sports in yunnan province. journal of qujing normal university. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 54 original paper integrating ideological and political education into an arabic for tourism course in china: a student-centered case study shuhan ma1* 1 school of oriental languages, anhui international studies university, hefei, china * shuhan ma, school of oriental languages, anhui international studies university, hefei, china received: june 15, 2025 accepted: june 28, 2025 online published: july 7, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p54 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p54 abstract this study investigates how ideological and political education (ipe) may be effectively integrated into an arabic for tourism course utilizing a student-centered, task-based approach. seven third-year arabic majors focused on the “traveling to jordan” class, which included both academic training and practical simulations. the data from classroom observations, student work, and interviews were evaluated thematically. the findings indicate that learners improved in tourism-specific language usage, crosscultural communication, and civic consciousness. the combination of declarative, procedural, and tacit knowledge increased student autonomy and value internalization. despite limitations such as a small sample size and breadth, the study presents a reproducible strategy for incorporating ipe into nonenglish lsp courses, which contributes to china’s larger foreign language education reform efforts. keywords integrating ideological and political education, arabic for tourism course, student-centered case study 1. introduction 1.1 background of study in recent years, the chinese higher education system has experienced considerable ideological and institutional upheaval, triggered by state policy initiatives such as the “great ideological and political education” framework (liu, zhao, & starkey, 2021). this educational reform seeks to build a comprehensive talent development paradigm that incorporates moral, intellectual, physical, artistic, and labor education (zhao, muhamad, mustakim, & yang, 2023). ideological and political education (ipe) is central to this concept, and it is taught in many disciplines, including foreign language training. ipe is no longer limited to traditional political science classes; it is increasingly interwoven throughout the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 55 published by scholink inc. academic curriculum as a means of transmitting values, forming national identities, and fostering civic duty (wu, 2025). language for specific purposes (lsp) has developed as an important pedagogical approach in china’s modern education agenda, notably in foreign language departments. lsp courses like “business english,” “medical japanese,” and “arabic for tourism” put professional communication skills and domainspecific terminology ahead of broad language competency (trace, hudson, & brown, 2015). the promotion of lsp reflects china’s aim to create a competent and globally competitive workforce that is congruent with the country’s economic and diplomatic objectives. however, while lsp courses emphasize applied abilities, they have typically lacked an ideological dimension that is consistent with the overall ipe mandate. arabic is strategically important in china’s education and diplomacy, particularly in light of the belt and road initiative. as china’s political, economic, and cultural relationships with arab nations strengthen, there is an increased need for arabic-speaking experts in tourism, commerce, international relations, and media (deng, 2025). as a language service course, “arabic for tourism” seeks to educate students for genuine cross-cultural communication in a tourism setting (anhui interantional studies university, 2023). existing courses, on the other hand, frequently overlook the incorporation of ideological content such as cultural confidence, international cooperation narratives, and national image development in favor of practical terminology, itinerary planning, and customer service skills. despite the simultaneous emergence of ipe and lsp in the chinese educational system, there is still a considerable gap in research and practice for incorporating ipe into arabic lsp courses. ipe-based pedagogical innovations typically prioritize english education (le & mai, 2021) over non-mainstream languages like arabic. furthermore, combining abstract ideological material into highly practical language courses continues to pose pedagogical issues. this project seeks to close this gap by investigating how to include ipe into arabic tourism courses in a student-centered way, therefore establishing a scalable paradigm for multidisciplinary, values-based education. 1.2 problem statement in recent years, there has been an increase in the incorporation of ideological and political education (ipe) into university curricula, but most empirical research and instructional innovations have concentrated on general and professional english (le & mai, 2021). arabic, despite its strategic relevance under the belt and road initiative, has a limited impact on ipe integration theory and teaching practice. “arabic for tourism”, as a professional lsp course, focuses on enhancing students’ communication abilities in professional tourist settings (mohammad, wan, & saipolbarin, 2019). however, the training focuses on professional language and situational conversation while frequently ignoring moral, civic, and cultural content that is congruent with national ideological aspirations. furthermore, even when ideological information is given, it is frequently delivered in a teacher-centered way (garrett, 2008), limiting students’ active engagement and critical thought. this contradicts the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 56 published by scholink inc. increased emphasis on student-centered learning models that prioritize autonomy, agency, and experiential knowledge, which are crucial for internalizing ideological principles in a permanent fashion. to far, there has been little study on how to include international public education (ipe) into arabic language training courses in a way that is both pedagogically effective and consistent with studentcentered teaching approaches. the scarcity of evidence-based models and case studies is a difficulty for educators attempting to integrate language instruction, professional skills, and ideological and political education in a cohesive and practical manner. 1.3 objectives to address the stated inadequacies, this study will investigate how ideological and political education (ipe) may be effectively integrated into arabic tourism courses using a student-centered teaching paradigm. this study intends to achieve the following objectives: ⚫ create a teaching unit for arabic tourism courses that incorporates ipe themes such as civic duty, cultural confidence, and china’s worldwide narrative while being linguistically and professionally relevant. ⚫ implement and assess a student-centered teaching strategy that stresses learner autonomy, collaborative projects, and real-world simulations (e.g., playing tourist ambassadors) as vehicles for language learning and idea development. ⚫ analyze students’ comments and performance in the integrated course, with an emphasis on language competency, cross-cultural communication skills, and ideological awareness. 2. methodology 2.1 research design the study utilized a descriptive research design, observing and measuring variables without manipulation, to accurately describe a population, situation, or phenomenon (mccombes, 2022). this approach allowed the researcher to observe, record, and interpret learners’ responses, behaviors, and reflections during a structured, student-centered instructional sequence. since our research aims to create and evaluate an arabic tourist teaching unit that incorporates ideological and political education (ipe) topics including civic duty, cultural confidence, and china’s global narrative while being linguistically and professionally relevant. 2.2 research setting and participants the study was carried out at anhui international studies university (aisu), one of the chinese universities specializing in foreign language teaching. aisu offers many full-time undergraduate language programs, including arabic. as part of the university’s continuing curriculum reform push to change arabic language education from a typical business-oriented concentration to tourism-oriented topics, tourism arabic was launched as an option for third-year students (anhui interantional studies university, 2023). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 57 published by scholink inc. the course lasts for 16 weeks, with one theoretical class and one practical class per week. the course is taught in arabic and combines introduction to tourism (huang & wu, 2023; almuhrzi, alriyami, & scott, 2017) with arab attractions (using materials such as official arab tourism brochures and stateapproved media). in accordance with china’s national education policy, which emphasizes the fundamental function of “moral education” in all higher education curriculum, the course was changed in 2023 to include components of ideological and political education (ipe) (xue & li, 2020; anhui interantional studies university, 2023; deng, 2025). this integration sought to link foreign language instruction with ideological awareness and civic education goals. this study involved seven third-year undergraduate students participating in the tourism arabic course. they had finished core arabic courses such basic arabic, arabic listening, translation theory and practice, and introduction to arab countries. in addition, all participants had completed the three mandatory ideological theory courses: introduction to marxism, ideological morality and the rule of law, and modern chinese history. this academic background equipped students with both the linguistic abilities and the ideological literacy required to engage with the course’s dual-language and valueoriented material (anhui interantional studies university, 2023). purposive sampling (nikolopoulou, 2022) was used to choose participant, and they included all students registered in the course throughout the study period, independent of gender. all students provided informed consent, and pseudonyms were employed to maintain anonymity and ethical research requirements. the researcher had a solid teacher-student rapport with the participants, having taught them in prior semesters, which aided in the development of trust and open communication throughout data collection. 2.3 instructional procedures the course traveling to jordan was chosen as the main example for this study because of its balanced integration of declarative, procedural, and tacit knowledge, making it ideal for merging professional tourism material with ideological and value-based education. the instructional design adhered to studentcentered learning concepts as outlined in shanghai jiao tong university’s “student-centered instructional model” (wang, 2020), which emphasizes learner autonomy, real-world simulation, collaborative learning, and reflective thinking. the course structure and teaching process are shown in figure 1: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 58 published by scholink inc. figure 1. instructional process for integrating ideological and political education into “traveling to jordan” under a student-centered learning model during the 16-week semester, students follow a weekly teaching cycle that includes both theoretical and practical lessons. traveling to jordan is an example of a two-week course in which the theoretical portion focuses on the development of declarative knowledge (wang, 2020), providing students with fundamental knowledge of jordan’s geography, historical landmarks, religious tourism, political structure (the official website of the jordan tourism board, n.d.), and tourism development between china and jordan (jraid, 2023). they improve their reading comprehension and domain-specific vocabulary by learning this information before and during class, while also stimulating discussions about national identity, cultural diplomacy, and ethical expression in global tourism, all of which are important components of ideological and political education (ipe). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 59 published by scholink inc. the practical sessions aimed at developing both procedural and tacit knowledge through experiential learning (wang, 2020). students acted as “china-jordan tourism ambassadors” (reference jordan tourism board partners with international tennis star abdullah shelbayh as brand ambassador (alaa, 2024) and took part in simulated tourist situations to promote jordan to chinese audiences using arabic. oral presentations, small-group bilingual tourism activities, peer teaching, and cross-cultural interactive role-plays such as airport greeting, tour guide explanations, and q&a with potential visitors were all part of the program. these assignments were highly interactive, situational, and professional, allowing students to practice their language abilities in real-world circumstances while reflecting on their roles as cultural communicators. to foster a student-centered atmosphere, teachers served as facilitators rather than lecturers, fostering peer participation, self-assessment, and critical reflection. students were instructed to keep reflective journals—written in arabic or chinese—after each session to record their language improvement, intercultural insights, and ideological views. the course’s cumulative structure ensured a transition from information reception to language creation, and eventually to ideological internalization, matching with national education goals that emphasize the integration of “moral cultivation” into all elements of university instruction (xue & li, 2020). this integrated educational method enabled students to not only improve their language and crosscultural communication skills, but also to critically engage with china’s global narrative and their roles in it. the design therefore provides a reproducible paradigm for introducing ipe issues into foreign language education in a professional and pedagogically competent manner. 2.4 data collection multiple data sources were employed to collect thorough information regarding student experiences and learning outcomes, in accordance with descriptive research methodology. ⚫ classroom observation logs (press, 2022) throughout the theoretical and practical sessions, the teacher kept thorough records on student engagement, language use, group dynamics, and ideological expression. ⚫ student reflective journals (ahmed, 2019) following each session, students contributed brief written comments (in arabic or chinese) that documented their language learning progress, cross-cultural insights, and value-related interpretations. ⚫ student work samples presentation slides, translated brochures, promotional video scripts, and project reports were used to conduct a descriptive study of performance. ⚫ post-course informal interviews (barrett, 2023) all seven participants were interviewed informally, open-ended, to learn about their perspectives on the course, notably the integration of ipe and the usefulness of simulated assignments. 2.5 data analysis www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 60 published by scholink inc. all collected data were analyzed using a descriptive thematic approach (mccombes, 2022), which allows for the systematic identification, organization, and interpretation of patterns related to language proficiency, cross-cultural communication, and ideological engagement. first, classroom observation records, student works (e.g., presentation slides, promotional materials, translation exercises), reflective diaries, and post-class interview records were transcribed and organized using chaoxing xuexi tong software (ma, 2023). the researchers independently conducted open coding to generate a preliminary codebook, and the codes were clustered (open, axial, and selective coding in qualitative research: a practical guide, 2024) according to three a priori dimensions: linguistic competence, cross-cultural awareness, and ipe awareness. next, the researchers then used axial coding to explore the relationships between the codes, identifying subthemes such as vocabulary depth, syntactic complexity, pragmatic appropriateness, cultural sensitivity, narrative framing, and expression of civic responsibility. through continued comparison, these subthemes were refined into several prominent categories: (1) enhanced professional discourse, reflecting students’ increased ability to use tourism-specific terminology and structured rhetorical strategies; (2) intercultural mediation (wang & gao, 2023), referring to students’ ability to interpret and reconcile tourism cultural meanings in the jordanian and chinese contexts; and (3) internalized civic identity (petrovska, 2021), indicating the emergence of reflective statements that position learners as responsible ambassadors of tourism culture. to confirm the validity of the study, coder triangulation was used: inconsistencies in coding were handled by recurrent discussion until consensus above 90% inter-coder agreement (mcalister, lee, ehlert, & kajfez, 2017). memoing (birks, chapman, & francis, 2008) was employed throughout to record analytic judgments and emerging insights, creating an audit trail. finally, sample passages were chosen to demonstrate each category while keeping the breadth of production about “arabic for tourism” course and ideological reflexivity. this tiered analytic method guaranteed that the data appropriately represented the various effects of the traveling to jordan educational unit. 3. results and discussion the “traveling to jordan” module of the arabic for tourism course was taught in one practical and one theoretical lesson. the integration of ideological and political education (ipe) into each mode was investigated to determine its influence on learners’ professional, linguistic, and ideological growth. 3.1 theoretical session results and discussion during the first week of the “traveling to jordan” subject, instruction focused on acquiring declarative knowledge of jordan’s national profile, tourist policy, and bilateral collaboration with china. prior to class, students used the chaoxing xuexi tong (ma, 2023) to retrieve arabic-language documents from the jordan tourism board, which they then translated and interpreted. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 61 published by scholink inc. during the session, students were randomly selected to answer two rounds of questions. their responses demonstrated accurate comprehension of vocabulary and contextual understanding. the instructor supplemented these interactions with elaborations on: ⚫ differences between china’s and jordan’s political systems (marks, 2022), ⚫ historical parallels between the hijaz railway (the official website of the jordan tourism board, n.d.) and china’s earliest railway (shanghai–wusong), ⚫ strategic planning for optimizing travel itineraries using local transport systems. after the knowledge-based instruction, students engaged with the ipe component of the lesson. they studied the quote: “core values are the soul of cultural soft power and the key to building it.” (zhang, 2022) to absorb this ideological message, students were encouraged to identify a chinese red tourism destination that would appeal to arab tourists. the group replies included the following: ⚫ xiao jing praised qionghai, site of the red detachment of women memorial park, highlighting the symbolic importance of women’s contributions in national liberation and drawing parallels with present arab women’s rights campaigns. ⚫ yan’an was proposed by xiao wu, who emphasized its revolutionary tradition and historical interactions between chinese and arab personalities during the anti-japanese fight, establishing it as a location of shared intellectual heritage and mutual understanding. these examples showed that learners not only understood the ideological meaning underlying the phrase, but also displayed the capacity to apply such ideas to culturally grounded, professional tourism contexts. therefore, the theoretical session effectively supported cognitive scaffolding, allowing students to connect factual tourist knowledge to ideological interpretation and value-based decision-making. 3.2 practical session results and discussion the second week focused on procedural and tacit knowledge building through a student-led simulation. one student, using by the alias “xiao yu,” offered to be a jordanian tourist ambassador. he created and conducted an arabic-language promotional campaign to students who acted as prospective chinese visitors. xiao yu provided an arabic presentation that included multimedia elements such as powerpoint, video clips, and official brochures. he began with the dead sea and discussed jordan’s tourism attractions. he posed an intriguing question: “why doesn’t anyone drown in the dead sea?” this prompted a heated debate. following the students’ speculations, xiao yu discussed the scientific reasons for the increase in salinity in the dead sea, linking it to the growth of health tourism. he then discussed petra and other unesco historic sites, emphasizing jordan’s involvement in the china-arab ecotourism alliance. his presentation got universal applause, with one student stating: “thanks to our motherland’s cooperation with jordan, travel there is now more accessible!” during an informal post-class interview, xiao yu expressed his own insights: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 62 published by scholink inc. “simulating being a tourist ambassador helped me feel responsible for crafting the national image. i must think about how to transmit attractions convincingly and ethically. it taught me to conduct yourself professionally and consider the long-term cultural influence.” the workshop was effective in improving not just presentation and verbal fluency, but also professionalism and ideological depth. his students, albeit serving as the audience, acquired crucial cultural and diplomatic narratives, expressing national pride and acknowledging china’s worldwide impact through tourist collaboration. the practical session demonstrated that real-world simulations may aid in deep learning. students gained autonomy, took on professional positions, and assimilated civic principles while utilizing the target language in genuine, high-stakes circumstances. 3.3 assignment results and analysis figure 2 presents the assignment performance for seven students (the names used in this study were pseudonyms with the students’ consent). based on a 100-point rubric: figure 2. student performance in “traveling to jordan” assignment ⚫ pre-class preparation (50%): four students scored above 45 and three between 40 and 45, demonstrating significant initiative. ⚫ in-class notebook completion (30%): the majority had scores ranging from 20 to 25, indicating active note-taking and revision, with variance due to variations in speed and focus. ⚫ response accuracy (20%): all students scored higher than 15, suggesting an excellent knowledge of the preparation material. overall, four students scored above 90, one between 85 and 90, and two between 80 and 85, demonstrating a substantial correlation between learner autonomy and instructional effectiveness. 3.4 descriptive summary www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 63 published by scholink inc. following the training sessions, the teacher combined material from the theoretical and practical lessons. this featured student-created materials, corrected exercises, and pertinent sino-jordanian cooperation news stories. a structured knowledge map was uploaded to the chaoxin xuexi tong (ma, 2023), which serves as a scaffolded and reusable framework for post-class evaluation. the paradigm characterized learning as: ⚫ tourism content (e.g., geography, heritage sites), ⚫ language input (vocabulary, sentence frames), ⚫ ipe elements (core values, diplomatic narratives). through class observations, student work samples, and post-lesson reflections, the following pedagogical conclusions were drawn: a. integrative knowledge framework with instructor facilitation. by combining declarative information (fact-based tourism ideas), procedural knowledge (student-led simulations), and tacit knowledge (self-reflection and value internalization) (wang l., 2020), the teacher operated as: a facilitator of experiential learning; a moral guide fostering civic awareness; a cognitive strategist helping students internalize ideological principles. this pedagogical synergy enables students to connect professional language learning and ideological consciousness. b. student autonomy and meaningful learning motivation students demonstrated heightened autonomy, evidenced by: independent translation of arabic tourism texts; development of bilingual promotional materials; role-based performance with contextual sensitivity. these behaviors fostered a sense of ownership, success, and confidence across language and ideological boundaries. the ensuing intrinsic drive encouraged innovative thinking, reinforced ideological identification, and supported long-term professional goals. in this light, the incorporation of ipe into the “arabic for tourism” course, particularly in the traveling to jordan” section, demonstrates how student-centered, task-based pedagogy may seamlessly and effectively combine professional, linguistic, and ideological education. the case shows the feasibility and effectiveness of values-based instruction within a language for specific purposes (lsp) framework, which contributes to both academic research and practical curricular reform in chinese higher education. 4. conclusion this study investigated how ideological and political education (ipe) may be effectively integrated into an arabic for tourism course using a student-centered, task-based teaching strategy. using descriptive research methodologies, the study examined the “traveling to jordan” lesson as a typical module of a larger language for specific purposes (lsp) program. the findings offer persuasive evidence that ideological material, when incorporated in linguistically and professionally relevant situations, may www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 64 published by scholink inc. improve students’ language competency, cross-cultural competence, civic consciousness, and value alignment. the combination of declarative knowledge (e.g., tourism concepts and national policy), procedural knowledge (e.g., tourism ambassador simulations), and tacit knowledge (e.g., value reflection and moral reasoning) was critical in producing multidimensional learning results. the instructor served many roles, including facilitator, moral advisor, and cognitive strategist, assisting students in transitioning from passive language learning to active ideological participation. students took considerable initiative in preclass preparation, role-based performance, and reflective inquiry, all of which helped to shape their professional and ideological identities. furthermore, students’ performance in classroom activities, assignments, and interviews demonstrated increased autonomy, inventiveness, and confidence. these characteristics are critical for developing the sort of internationally competent, value-driven professionals envisaged in china’s educational development plan, particularly considering the belt and road initiative. by embedding ideological information in real-world tourist communication problems, the course was able to make ipe relevant and useful. however, many restrictions should be recognized. first, the study used a small sample of seven students from a single university, which limited the generalizability of the findings. second, study focused on a single instructional unit within a single lsp course, hence the findings may not be applicable to other modules or fields. third, the brief observation period precluded assessing long-term ideological internalization or behavioral change. fourth, the course design was heavily instructor-dependent, raising concerns regarding scalability. finally, while the chaoxing xuexi tong facilitated post-class evaluation, the study did not thoroughly analyze the platform’s function in developing autonomous ideological thinking. despite these limitations, this study adds to the developing area of ipe in foreign language education by presenting a repeatable example of value-oriented instruction in a non-english, professionally specialized setting. it illustrates that ideological and civic education may be deeply ingrained and pedagogically effective in technical lsp courses such as “arabic for tourism,” if they are driven by rigorous instructional design and student-centered principles. acknowledgement thank the students from the arabic major of 2021 class at anhui international studies university for their participation. the names used in this study were pseudonyms with the students’ consent. references (n.d.). the official website of the jordan tourism board. retrieved from https://visitjordan.com/ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 65 published by scholink inc. ahmed, a. (2019). students’ reflective journaling: an impactful strategy that informs instructional practices in an efl writing university context in qatar. reflective practice, 20(4), 483-500. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2019.1638246 alaa, a. (2024). jordan tourism board partners with international tennis star abdullah shelbayh as brand ambassador. jordan tourism board. retrieved from https://ru.visitjordan.com/mediacenter/shownews/47 almuhrzi, h., alriyami, h., & scott, n. (2017). tourism in the arab world: an industry perspective (aspects of tourism). channel view publications. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781845416157 angela, t. (2024). types of case studies explained in simple terms. domy essay. retrieved from https://domyessay.com/blog/types-of-case-studies anhui interantional studies university. (2023). anhui interantional studies university’s talent development program. anhui interantional studies university. barrett, j. 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(2021). elt pedagogical reforms: efl high-school teachers’ perceptions and responses. can tho university journal of science, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.22144/ctu.jen.2021.006 liu, x., zhao, x., & starkey, h. (2021). ideological and political education in chinese universities: structures and practices. asia pacific journal of education, 43(2), 586-598. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2021.1960484 ma, s. (2023). arabic for tourism. chaoxing xuexi tong. retrieved from https://mooc2ans.chaoxing.com/mooc2ans/mycourse/tch?courseid=242598571&clazzid=97041333&cpi=270077770&enc=bdece0f338b9 fe9020b1f0b21798bf62&t=1751544280637&pageheader=2&v=2&hidehead=0 marks, j. (2022). jordan-china relations: taking stock of bilateral relations at 45 years. stimson. retrieved from https://www.stimson.org/2022/jordan-chinese-relations-taking-stock-of-bilateralrelations-at-45-years/ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 66 published by scholink inc. mcalister, a., lee, d., ehlert, k., & kajfez, r. (2017). qualitative coding: an approach to assess interrater reliability. 2017 asee annual conference & exposition. mccombes, s. (2022). descriptive research design | definition, methods & examples. scribbr. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--28777 mohammad, t., wan, a., & saipolbarin, r. (2019). arabic for specific purposes in malaysia: a literature review. issues in language studies, 8(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.33736/ils.1293.2019 nikolopoulou, k. 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(2023). a nsw government website-education. retrieved from https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-andlearning/professional-learning/high-impact-professional-learning/resources/using-work-samplesto-evaluate-impact-of-professional-learning wang, l. (2020, 11 02). the fifth issue of the educational thought discussion: “student-centered” teaching design principles and methods (part 1). shanghai jiao tong university teaching development center. retrieved from https://ctld.sjtu.edu.cn/news/detail/731 wang, s., & gao, x. (2023). the routledge handbook of intercultural mediation. (d. busch, ed.) language and intercultural communication, 23(3), 360-362. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2023.2204028 wu, y. (2025). the construction of ideological and political education in curriculum under the background of new liberal arts: significance, concept, and practical path. journal of sociology and education, 1(1), 36-43. xue, e., & li, j. (2020). what is the ultimate education task in china? exploring “strengthen moral education for cultivating people” (“li de shu ren”). educational philosophy and theory, 53(2), 128-139. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1754539 zhao, y., muhamad, m. m., mustakim, s., & yang, z. (2023). strategies for developing holistic university students within the framework of five-dimensional education integration in china: status, concept, and realization paths. international journal of academic research in progressive education and development, 12(2), 426-439. https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarped/v12-i2/16935 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 67 published by scholink inc. zhang, h. (2022). arabic reading and writing course ("understanding contemporary china" arabic textbook series). foreign language research press. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 50 original paper the challenge of the anthropocene: climate crisis and human survival in the road xinyao pei1 1 xinyang normal university, xinyang, china received: december 1, 2023 accepted: december 25, 2023 online published: january 13, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p50 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p50 abstract with the intensification of the impact of human activities on the earth’s systems, humankind has entered a new era in its history, the anthropocene, which means that humankind has become the greatest threat to its survival and the earth’s environment, and a major force for change in the earth’s geological formations, however the consequences of human activity in the anthropocene era were often uncontrolled and unintended, and so the anthropocene also signaled the need for humans to take greater responsibility for the earth. cormac mccarthy’s novel the road is mainly written through extreme weather, biological extinction, and ecological imbalance to show the climate disaster caused by human over-destruction of the earth’s ecology, to remind people to establish the “anthropocene” thinking and take the road of sustainable development. mccarthy’s depiction of the desolate world of the end of time not only highlights his deep concern about the current state of human existence and ecological problems but also highlights the practical significance of literary works inquiring into the way of human survival. keywords extreme weather, biological extinction, ecological imbalance, anthropocene thinking, sustainable development 1. introduction since the rise of human civilization, human beings have continuously interfered with and changed the natural world, and with the deepening of human activities, the earth’s ecosystem has revealed a series of unprecedented geological features, climate change has brought into sharp focus the capability of contemporary human civilization to influence the environment at the scale of the earth as a single, evolving planetary system. following the discovery of the ozone hole over antarctica, with its undeniably anthropogenic cause, the realization that the emission of large quantities of a colorless, odorless gas such as carbon dioxide (co2) can affect the energy balance at the earth’s surface has www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 51 published by scholink inc. reinforced the concern that human activity can adversely affect the broad range of ecosystem services that support human (and other) life and could eventually lead to a ‘crisis in the biosphere’ (steffen, grinevald, crutzen, & mcneill, 2011). atmospheric chemist and nobel laureate paul crutzen (2002) pointed out that it seems appropriate to assign the term ‘anthropocene’ to the present, in many ways human-dominated, geological epoch, supplementing the holocene — the warm period of the past 10-12 millennia. crutzen pointed out that in the current era, natural and human systems are integrated, and natural and human forces are closely intertwined, so there is no notion of human intervention in or against nature, and that the future face of the natural world will largely depend on the choices and actions of human beings, and that for this reason, human beings need to change the way of perceiving their roles, and to establish a way of growing with the natural world of the earth rather than depleting or alienating nature, not consume or alienate nature. cormac·mccarthy then describes in his novel the world after a concentrated outbreak of ecological destruction by human beings, who recklessly leave the footprints of human civilization on the natural world, leaving the earth with unbearable hidden dangers such as ecological pollution, biological extinction, and depletion of resources. since the road (mccarthy, 2006) publicated, which has won numerous awards, including the pulitzer prize for fiction, and has been selected as the best book of the year by the new york times, time, and has been described as a novel that will influence the next hundred years. the film based on this novel, has also caused a sensational effect because of its revelation and warning effect. this paper analyses the warning effect of climate disasters in novels from the perspectives of extreme weather, biological extinction, and ecological imbalance, and advocates the establishment of “anthropocene” thinking, taking the road of sustainable development, actively building a community of human destiny, establishing a mechanism of harmonious coexistence between species, reconstructing the relationship between human beings and nature, and actively responding to the increasingly urgent global environmental problems. 2. narratives of extreme weather one of the characteristics of the anthropocene is the significant increase in climate change and extreme weather events, and climate change is one of the most widespread and profound proofs of the fundamentally far-reaching impact of human behavior on the planet. for example, massive deforestation by humans for the exploitation of resources has not only exacerbated the process of desertification but has also induced large-scale environmental destruction. this environmental destruction has had an enormous impact on the earth’s ecosystems, and the climate crisis is starkly epitomized by the frequent occurrence of extreme weather phenomena. although these extreme weather events are difficult to perceive immediately, they are like a time bomb that threatens the earth’s ecosystem at any time. and these extreme weather changes are found throughout cormac·mccarthy’s novel the road, which describes after the disaster, the entire world is out of order, the weather changes are extremely irregular, and the harshness of the climate reaches an extreme in the novel, including plummeting temperatures, incessant torrential rains, as well as frequent fires and earthquakes. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 52 published by scholink inc. the extreme weather depictions in the novel highlight the brutality of the apocalyptic scenario, with harsh weather conditions exacerbating the challenge of survival for the protagonist and his son in a desolate world. the father says that he will not survive the winter if he stays put; the snow falls early, freezing the frozen mud into pillars, “the sand rattling against their legs and racing away in the dark and the thunder cracking just offshore. the rain came in off the sea hard and slant and stung their faces” (mccarthy, 2006, p. 198). these frequent weather changes are as if they were retribution for previous human destructive behavior. the extreme weather described was beyond the limits of what mankind could endure, and wintering in place would risk freezing to death, so father and son were forced to seek survival in the warmer south. however, they find that the south is also plagued by severe weather, and the frequency of extreme weather events reveals the environmental degradation and unpredictability caused by climatic catastrophes, making human survival in such environments a great challenge. there are numerous fire scenes in the novel. for example, father and son have been trekking through the scorched earth for days, and a blazing fire has been burning on the ridgeline for about a year and has never shown signs of going out, “a smoky light out there in the valley. he rose and walked out along the ridge. a haze of fire that stretched for miles” (mccarthy, 2006, p. 41). in this description, the fire had been burning for about a year, the rain had ceased, a haze of fire that stretched for miles, these details present how long the fire lasted, how deep and widespread the destruction was while highlighting that the rain was no longer able to extinguish the blaze. the fire triggered the destruction of vegetation, which in turn deprived wildlife of habitat and food sources. the scale and spread of the fire are vividly portrayed, conveying the severe impact of fire on the ecosystem in terms of extinction of organisms, destruction of habitat, and soil erosion. ash is also a common element in the novel, with serious effects on both humans and ecosystems. “the blackened shapes of rock standing out of the shoals of ash and billows of ash rising and blowing downcountry through the waste. the track of the dull sun moving unseen beyond the murk” (mccarthy, 2006, p. 12). “he descended into a gryke in the stone and there he crouched coughing and he coughed for a long time” (mccarthy, 2006, p. 10). these descriptions clearly show that the wide range of soot and the seriousness of the pollution, the dust in the air for a long time, are a serious threat to the health of human beings, the novel repeatedly depicts the father coughing up blood and wearing goggles in the scene, highlighting the impact of soot on the father’s physical health. in addition, the problem also poses a serious threat to the survival of animals, as the fires burn down trees and grasslands, leading to habitat loss and a lack of means for wildlife to survive and reproduce, while the pervasive smoke potentially affects the respiratory systems of animals in the long term, further leading to the collapse of the ecosystem. climate change is seen in the novel as one of the fundamental human impacts on the planet. environmental destruction sets the stage for climate change, and frequent extreme weather events become a prominent manifestation of this climate crisis. the depiction of extreme weather in the novel is profound and realistic, highlighting the great threat to human society, where the seasons are no longer distinct and weather changes are highly irregular. extreme weather such as extreme cold, scorching heat, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 53 published by scholink inc. floods, and fires occur frequently. such depictions not only emphasize the destruction of the natural environment by climate change, but also express the helplessness and struggles of human beings in the face of these extreme weather changes, and these depictions not only reflect the impact of climate change on the human body but also highlight the overall impact of environmental problems on the entire ecosystem. addressing extreme weather requires a range of climate-related scientific, technological, and policy measures to mitigate its adverse impacts on human societies and natural ecosystems. the occurrence of extreme weather events is often closely linked to global climate change. mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide and methane, among others, is therefore an important task. promoting the widespread use of renewable energy, advocating a low-carbon lifestyle, and reducing energy consumption are all effective ways to do so. protecting and restoring ecosystems, such as wetlands and forests, can provide better natural defenses and reduce the risk of extreme weather events such as floods and storms. this requires sound land use policies to prevent overexploitation from damaging ecosystems. extreme weather problems are often global and therefore require greater co-operation from the international community. work together to develop and implement climate agreements, share scientific and technological innovations, and provide resource support to create synergies in global climate governance. these measures require interdisciplinary cooperation, combining knowledge from a wide range of natural sciences, social sciences, and policymaking in a joint effort to address extreme weather events triggered by climate change. 3. narratives of biological extinction climate change is just the tip of the iceberg of the anthropocene phenomenon, in addition to the carbon cycle, humans are significantly altering several other biogeochemical, or element cycles, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur, that are fundamental to life on the earth; strongly modifying the terrestrial water cycle by intercepting river flow from uplands to the sea and, through land-cover change, altering the water vapour flow from the land to the atmosphere; and likely driving the sixth major extinction event in earth history (steffen, grinevald, crutzen, & mcneill, 2011). global biodiversity has been severely impacted since 1970, with species numbers declining by about 50 percent, yet the global population has dramatically more than doubled over the same period. according to the global assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services (gabes) report released in 2019, about 25 percent of wildlife is threatened to varying degrees, which means that about one million species are on the brink of extinction. excluding anthropogenic disturbances, the rate of biodiversity decline would be slowed by at least 100 times. human activities have potentially triggered the sixth mass extinction event in the history of the planet, with thousands of plants and animals facing threats to their survival, making the anthropocene the first geological period to be dominated by a single species, namely humans. (sun, 2020) there is a close and far-reaching relationship between the anthropocene and biological extinction, with the rise and development of the anthropocene directly contributing to the dramatic decline in biodiversity and mass extinction events on earth. the processes of urbanization, agricultural expansion, and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 54 published by scholink inc. industrialization of the anthropocene have led to widespread habitat destruction. the destruction of rich and diverse ecosystems has deprived many plants and animals of suitable living environments, and this habitat destruction has led directly to the extinction of many species. human activities have led to largescale greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in climate change. rapid climate change has affected many ecosystems, making it difficult for some species to adapt to new environmental conditions and ultimately threatening their survival. climate change-induced events, such as melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and extreme weather events, also have a direct impact on biodiversity. waste, chemicals, and pollutants produced during industrialization and urbanization have had a serious impact on ecosystems. pollution of water bodies, soil, and the atmosphere has led to a threat to the living environment of many organisms, resulting in a decrease in the number of plants and animals and an increase in the difficulty of survival. in the novel the road, biological extinction is a profound and thought-provoking theme. the novel begins by depicting a desolate world where the entire planet is shrouded in dead silence and traces of life have disappeared. mccarthy vividly presents the severity of biocide, a heart-stopping sight that prompts reflection on how many precious lives have been lost forever as a result of mankind’s excessive destruction of the earth’s ecosystem. in the novel, the endangered species seen by father and son becomes a narrative element that resonates strongly with the reader, and the depiction of biological extinction reveals the parasitism of humans and the incongruity between anthropocentrism and the continuation of life itself. a series of problems caused by the anthropocene directly or indirectly affect the extinction of plants, which in turn may lead to the collapse of the ecosystem, thus threatening the survival and development of human beings. in the novel, the trees and meadows are engulfed by fire, leaving a dead and desolate scene. the descriptions in the novel are full of sadness and despair, you can see “burnt tree trunks”, “dry black bushes”, “everything was rooted out”, and once vigorous life, now turned into a scorched earth. the death of these plants is undoubtedly proof that the ecological balance of nature has been upset, and all this is due to the extreme destruction of the earth by human beings. the once endless lush forests have now disappeared without a trace, replaced by deadness and barrenness. this sight is a powerful reminder of man’s irresponsible behavior towards the natural world and makes people reflect deeply on how to cherish and protect our planet. one of the characteristics of the anthropocene is the destruction of nature by human activities, which directly leads to an increase in the extinction rate of animals, and the depictions in the novel reflect the extinction of animal groups to a certain extent. the animals mentioned in the novel include fish, birds, falcons, etc. in the case of birds, for example, “once in those early years he’d wakened in a barren wood and lay listening to flocks of migratory birds overhead in that bitter dark...he wished them godspeed till they were gone. he never heard them again.” (mccarthy, 2006, p. 45). in the father’s memory, at the beginning of the disaster, he could still hear the birds chirping in the woods; nowadays the birdsong has long since disappeared without a trace. the father’s dialogue with his son also mentions crows, but the image of crows exists only in books; they are no longer found on earth. the father has dreamt of flowers www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 55 published by scholink inc. blooming and birds flying freely, but this dream contrasts with the cruel reality, which profoundly demonstrates the cruelty of an apocalyptic world. thus, it becomes crucial to preserve biodiversity and take active measures to protect life on earth. through this narrative, mccarthy expresses his concern about human damage to the natural environment and the loss of ecological balance, and at the same time calls on people to re-examine the position and responsibility of human beings in the natural world. biological extinction was depicted in a profound and thought-provoking manner in the road, mccarthy vividly demonstrates the complete collapse of the earth’s ecosystem by depicting the desolate world, the scorched-earth-like landscape, and the extinction of endangered species witnessed by father and son. trees and meadows are engulfed by fires, leaving behind a dead and barren landscape. charred tree trunks, dry black bushes, and the corruption of everything all symbolize that the ecological balance of nature has been completely disrupted. the extinction of animal groups, such as the silence of bird songs and the disappearance of animals such as crows, and the mass extinction of living creatures make humans intuitively feel the loss of life. to avoid this, it is necessary to adopt sustainable development strategies to ensure that the impact of human activities on ecosystems is minimized, including the promotion of the use of renewable energy sources and the promotion of green technologies to reduce overdependence on natural resources. the protection of biodiversity should be strengthened, especially the protection of endangered species, and nature reserves and wildlife habitats should be established to maintain the ecological balance and prevent more species from going extinct. 4. narratives of ecological imbalance the different systems of the earth are interconnected and interact with each other, and once a drastic change occurs in a certain aspect, it will bring about what scientists call the “cascade effect”, which is a rapid chain reaction that produces immeasurable and unpredictable consequences (sun, 2020). the global environmental problems of the anthropocene era are intertwined, increasing global interdependence. one of the distinctive features of this period is the imbalance of ecosystems, which is reflected in the frequency of extreme weather, loss of biodiversity, fires, extreme cold, and many other aspects. the causes of ecological imbalance are manifold in the road, and it is implied in the novel that the cause of this apocalyptic scene is a nuclear catastrophe, where a nuclear war releases a large amount of radioactive material, which has a devastating impact on the ecosystems, and where industrialization and resource exploitation have triggered large-scale resource extraction, pollution, and carbon emissions, and where a significant increase in the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere has accelerated climate change, which has had a huge impact on the environment and also seriously interfered with the survival of living organisms. worse still, human activities have led to the migration of species and mass extinctions. species extinctions also manifest the collapse of ecosystems, and these extinction events are not only a single issue, disrupting the food chain and affecting the distribution of resources, but also disrupting the balance of ecosystems. factors such as fires, soot, and heavy rainfall have led to soil erosion and the destruction of habitats, further exacerbating ecological imbalances, and air, water, and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 56 published by scholink inc. soil pollution, which directly destroys ecosystem structure and function, is closely linked to climate change. mccarthy demonstrates the multiple impacts of ecological imbalances on human society and the environment, emphasizing the importance of ecological balance and the urgent need to take measures to address these issues. the interconnectedness of these issues makes the global environmental problems of the anthropocene era even more urgent and complex. the ecological imbalances depicted in the novel are not just challenges in a single field but also involve complex relationships between many disciplines and fields, and thus their solution requires a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach that integrates perspectives and solutions from various fields to address their multidimensional and multifaceted nature. perspectives and solutions from various fields to address their multidimensional and far-reaching impacts. in this era of interdependent global ecosystems, a balanced relationship between human beings and nature is crucial, and it is only through global cooperation to manage our resources and ecosystems in a sustainable manner that we can create a more stable and sustainable future for life on earth. it also compels us to face up to the wide-ranging impacts of human activities on the planet and to take responsibility for the preservation of the planet’s biodiversity in to ensure that ecosystems can continue to be stable. 5. conclusion mccarthy’s the road presents an apocalyptic vision of the anthropocene era through its insightful portrayal of extreme weather events, biological extinction, and ecological imbalance. however, we must recognize that the climate crisis is not just about greenhouse gas emissions and rising global temperatures, but is a much more integrated and systemic issue involving biodiversity conservation, population development, sustainable resource use, energy, and economic development, and even the treatment of psychological trauma. therefore, to address this challenge, we need to make joint efforts to tackle it within the framework of establishing a “man and nature coexist in harmony”. in addition, we also need to abandon the concept of anthropocentrism, establish a mechanism for harmonious coexistence among species, balance the relationship between human beings and nature, establish an “anthropocene mindset” and take the path of sustainable development to achieve harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature. only through such a comprehensive approach can we effectively address the climate crisis and other increasingly pressing global environmental issues and create a better world for future generations. references crutzen, p. j. (2002). geology of mankind. nature, 415(1), 23. https://doi.org/10.1038/415023a crutzen, p. j., & stoemer, e. (2000). the anthropocene. global change newsletter, 2, 17-18. jiang, l. f. (2017). a critical introduction to anthropocene ecocriticism. contemporary foreign litreature, 38(4), 130-135. https://doi.org/10.1038/415023a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 57 published by scholink inc. mccarthy, c. (2006). the road. new york: knopf. steffen, w., grinevald, j., crutzen, p., & mcneill, j. (2011). the anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspectives. philosophical transactions of the royal society a: mathematical, physical and engineering sciences, 369(1938), 842-867. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0327 sun, k. (2020). global environmental problems and their governance in the era of “anthropocene”. frontiers, 11, 43-49. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367816681-5 teng, f. (2019). anthropocene and the post-natural thought of eco-modernism. journal of fujian normal university, 5, 106-115+170. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0327 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367816681-5 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 47 original paper development of scoring standard of english oral test in respects of research and practice liu yixi1 1 nanjing, china received: march 22, 2023 accepted: april 7, 2023 online published: april 18, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p47 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p47 abstract this paper aims to summarize the development of international oral test scoring standards since 1980s. the development of scoring standards for oral test mainly includes two aspects: research and practice. in the respect of research, the scoring standard of oral test has gone through three stages: “expert experience”, “practitioner cognition” and “learner development”; in terms of practice, the scoring standard of oral test can be roughly divided into three types: “native speaker”, “being able to express” and “typical characteristics”. based on the analysis of representative research papers and typical practical cases, this paper sorts out the development of international oral test scoring standards in order to provide suggestions for the research and practice of oral test scoring standards in china. keywords oral test, scoring standard, research and practice 1. introduction in recent years, many large-scale foreign language tests in china have gradually incorporated english oral tests, such as college entrance examinations in some provinces and cities, cet-4 and cet-6, tem4 and tem-8 and so on (lv, song, wang, liu, & li, 2008). many researchers have actively and effectively explored english oral tests and their research focuses on the design principles and propositions of oral test (xue, 2009), the use of scoring methods or criteria (jin, wang, song, & guo, 2008), and the analysis of scoring reliability or rater deviation (dai, 2010). however, the specific research and development of the scoring standard for oral test is rarely involved. the function of the scoring standard of oral test is to define the examinee’ s oral ability operationally. based on the scoring criteria, the raters can evaluate the candidates’ oral performance and give corresponding scores. with the appearance of oral english test, the scoring standard of oral english test has a long history of development. as early as the 1830s, scoring standards have been developed and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 48 published by scholink inc. applied to oral test, providing relevant data for classroom teaching and school development. later, because oral english test was widely used in international mobility, higher education, employment and other fields, the scoring standard became the key to provide effective reference. its development has gradually become one of the focuses of language testing researchers (fulcher, 2015). since the mid-1980s, with the implementation and promotion of elts (predecessor of ielts), ielts and toefl (taylor & falvey, 2007), international oral test has made great progress in research and practice, which is typical and has high analytical value. in order to systematically investigate the development of scoring standards for international oral test in the past 30 years, this paper intends to sort out and review the literature and cases from two aspects: research and practice. in the respect of research, this paper reviews the oral language proficiency scales, test syllabus and significant paper achievements at home and abroad, and sorts out and summarizes the stage characteristics of the development of oral test scoring standards. in the aspect of practice, this paper analyzes the research and practice results of elts, ielts and toefl test organizers or r&d teams, and investigates the transformation of theoretical development related to scoring standards in practical application. in research aspect, internationally the development of language proficiency standards has gone through three stages: “expert experience”, “practitioner cognition” and “learner performance” (zhao, jin, & wang, 2015). as an important part of the language proficiency standard, the scoring standard of oral test has gone through three important stages as well. they are named as “expert experience”, “practitioner cognition” and “learner development” (jin & mak, 2013). on the practical level, the scoring standards of oral test can be roughly divided into three types: “native speaker”, “being able to express” and “typical characteristics” (jin & mak, 2013). its representatives are elts 1986 (davies, 2008), ielts 1989-2001 (ingram & wylie, 1993), ielts 2001and tofel ibt 2005-. research and practice have a close relationship and promote each other. however, no matter at the research level or the practice level, the three stages do not suddenly replace the other completely. this paper analyzes the development of scoring standards for oral test in the respects of research and practice. 2. study on the scoring standard of oral test in 1980s, there was a lack of scientific evidence for the formulation of scoring standards. “expert experience” was often used as the main reference for the development of scoring standards (fulcher, 2015), that is, language experts took native speakers as benchmarks, compared foreign language learners’ oral english with native speakers, and judged learners’ oral english level according to their similarities. the early foreign affairs association scoring standard was a reference model for many “expert experience” scoring standards. the scoring standard, interview assessment scale, used the concept of score segment, which divided the oral language ability of foreign language learners into nine grades, among which the ninth grade learners reach the level of expert speaker. this level was the highest on and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 49 published by scholink inc. other grades took this as the standard to degrade one by one from the highest level of expert speaker to the lowest level of non-native speaker. during the 1990s, the grading standard of expert experience gradually exposed the defects and deficiencies of vague grading standards and lack of theoretical and practical basis in the long-term practice (bachman & savignon, 1986). in order to develop or revise the scoring standard of oral test, researchers have gradually carried out empirical research based on “practitioners’ cognition”. practitioner cognition focuses on how raters, as practitioners, view and evaluate candidates’ performance in oral tests. the most typical representative research at this stage is quantitative study of descriptors. classification standard descriptor (north & schneider, 1998) analyzes the existing scoring standards and combined with teachers’ interpretation of standard descriptors. rasch model is used to quantify the descriptors of learners’ oral proficiency standards, which ensures the validity, comprehensibility and mutual independence of the descriptors used, and provides an empirical basis for the development and revision of the scoring standards for oral test. in the 21st century, both researchers and practitioners argue that scoring standards should take performance of candidates into consideration (van, 1989). researchers began to explore learners’ language features based on practitioners’ cognition, focusing on in-depth analysis of learners’ oral ability in different stages of development so as to establish the relationship between oral performance and grade scores. the most typical representative studies at this stage are brwon’s examination of the rating process in the revised ielts speaking test (2006) and study on examination of rater orientations and test taker performance on english-for-academic-purposes speaking tasks (brown, iwashita, & mcnamata, 2005), but their studies are slightly different. brown (2006) respectively explored the cognition of ielts raters and the oral performance of candidates, which were conducted independently. from the perspective of practitioners’ description and learners’ language features. this paper verifies the validity of the existing ielts speaking test scoring standards. brown et al. (2005) combined practitioner description with learners’ language features and through a mixed research design, first explored what important features raters paid attention to when evaluating candidates’ oral performance. then, these characteristics are used to analyze the candidates’ oral performance, thus verifying the validity of toefl oral test scoring standard. 3. practice of scoring standard for oral test in 1980s, under the influence of “expert experience”, “native speaker” standard became the main type of scoring standard for oral test in that period. elts (taylor, 2007) was a typical representative in the standard of native speakers at that time. the elts scoring standard took native speakers as the reference standard, and divided the oral level of candidates into nine grades. they are expert level, excellent level, good level, qualified level, moderate expression, critical level, extremely limited ability, speaking intermittently, unable to express and absent from examination (davies, 2008). it can be seen that “expert experience” has an important influence on the development of elts scoring standard. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 50 published by scholink inc. since 1990s, the study of “practitioner cognition” has exerted a certain influence on the practice of grading standards. during the practice of etls scoring standard, the raters found its defects and deficiencies when using and interpreting the scoring standard. therefore, at the end of 1980s, elts reviewed and revised its scoring standards (taylor, 2007). in the revision process, elts’ scoring standard paid less attention to “expert experience”, and its attention turned to “practitioner cognition”, that is, it explored how raters evaluate candidates’ oral performance (alderson, 1991), and then develops and revises the scoring standards. in 1989, the revised elts scoring standard was put into use and officially changed its name to ielts (taylor, 2007). it can be seen from this that before 1990s, “expert experience” was the mainstream method to construct the scoring standard, and great changes have taken place in the formulation of the scoring standard since 1990s. different from relying on experts’ experience in the past, the rater, the practitioner of oral test, began to play an important role in the process of formulating grading standards. scoring standards began to pay attention to the rater’s cognition of candidates, that was, the rater thinks that the candidates can do what, and then presents them in the way of “being able to express”. this kind of “being able to express” based on “practitioners’ cognition” had a great influence on the development of the scoring standard of oral test in 1990s, and its representative was ielts 1989⁃2001. the grading standards in this edition pay particular attention to what candidates can do in oral performance. for example, in the description of level 4, it is required that candidates can communicate orally on familiar topics and master basic sentence patterns, grammar and vocabulary (ingram & wylie, 1993). however, the scoring standard of “being able to express” based on practitioners’ cognition has gradually exposed its shortcomings: “being able to express” is a concrete description of candidates’ oral communicative competence, but it is still vague to a certain extent, and does not really make a detailed analysis and detailed description of candidates’ oral performance. since the 21st century, the study of “learner development” has greatly influenced the revision and practice of the scoring standard of oral test. the formulation of grading standards further emphasizes the language characteristics of candidates when completing oral tasks. for example, in the ielts website 2010 standard, the fluency and coherence of grade 6 candidates can be characterized by occasional repetition, self-correction or hesitation, and the ability to use rich conjunctions; in the toefl ibt 2005 standard, candidates with a score of 3 can show the characteristic of individual mistakes in pronunciation. compared with the grading standards in 1990s, the grading standards for oral test since the 21st century have added the “typical characteristics” of the candidates’ oral performance on the basis of “being able to express”, thus making the grading standards develop to a more concrete and more clear which is more convenient for the application of the raters. practitioner’s cognition introduces the study of scoring standards into empirical research, and begins to pay attention to the raters’ attitudes and views on the quality of candidates’ oral performance. on this basis, “learner development” analyzes the specific characteristics” of the candidates’ oral performance in more detail way. it is precise because of the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 51 published by scholink inc. analysis of these “typical characteristics”. the computer scoring for candidates’ oral presentation is gradually developed. computer scoring is an effective combination of second language acquisition, language assessment and computer linguistics. with the continuous improvement of natural language processing technology, computer scoring has developed rapidly (xi, 2010). in this process, the development of machine scoring standards has become the key to improve the validity of computer scoring. the development of computer scoring standards is mainly based on oral performance characteristics. the researcher further quantifies and digitizes the main and distinctive oral performance features, and realizes the quantitative calculation and automatic scoring of candidates’ oral performance through computer, thus making computer scoring an effective auxiliary and supplement to manual scoring. 4. discussion 4.1 change in the research respect reviewing development of research in the past 30 years, there have been two major changes in the research paradigm. one is the change from “expert experience” to “practitioner cognition” (north & schneider, 1998), and the other is that based on practitioner cognition, it paid more attention to learner development (brown et al., 2005). in essence, the change of research paradigm is not accidental. it is determined by the characteristics of the scoring process of oral test itself. in essence, oral test scores are “raters” composed of “experts” and “teachers” who judge the “learner performance” generated by “oral test tasks” based on “scoring criteria” so as to obtain the “score”. in the 1980s, the study of grading standards mainly tried to establish the relationship between “experts” and “scores” through “expert experience”. however, “expert experience” is not systematic empirical cognition analysis, but experience and intuitive feeling. therefore, in 1990s, researchers began to look for a more direct empirical basis, based on “practitioners’ cognition”, and directly explored the relationship between “raters” and “scores”. after entering the 21st century, on the basis of “practitioners’ cognition”, researchers have made further explorations. direct analysis of “learner development”, in order to establish the relationship between “learner development” and “scores”. at the same time, due to the constant change of research paradigm, the research design adopted in the research of grading standards has also changed correspondingly, from the initial state of being lack of empirical research to the single cognitive research and then the study combining cognition and development (brown, 2006). the research paradigm develops from experience to demonstration, and from being single to being mixed. 4.2 changes in practice respect reviewing development of practice in the past 30 years, due to the influence of the research paradigms of “expert experience”, “practitioner cognition” and “learner development”, there have been two major changes in the specific use of scoring standards. one is the change from the standard of “native speaker” to the standard of “being able to express”. the other is the change from the standard of “being able to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 52 published by scholink inc. express” to more detailed standard of “typical characteristics” (chapelle, 2012). in essence, these two changes in scoring standards are also different interpretations of the construction of spoken language ability by language test practitioners. the standard of “native speaker” emphasizes the similarity of native speaker’s language imitation. the criterion of “being able to express” and the criterion of “typical characteristics” emphasize the learners’ communicative competences. the difference between the two is that the former pays attention to what can be done, while the latter pays attention to the specific characteristics that learners show in the process of “what can be done”. it can be seen that the practice development in the past 30 years has developed from the general definition of “native speaker”, the specific definition of “being able to express” to detailed description of “typical features”. the scoring standard of oral test is changing from being general to being concrete and from fuzzy to precise (jin, mak, & zhou, 2012). the grading standard of oral test is changing and developing towards concretization and precision. this will provide raters with more reliable scoring basis and learners with more effective oral test scores, thus further improving the validity and reliability of oral test practice. 4.3 development trends and enlightenment since the 21st century, both researchers and practitioners are more inclined to adopt the mixed research paradigm (creswell, 2013) to explore the development of “typical characteristics” standard (brown et al., 2005). it can be predicted that in the future development of scoring standards, the “characteristics” of learners’ specific language use and performance will become the focus of research and practice. two hot research topics have emerged. the first topic focuses on the selection and use of “features”. because of the complexity of speaking ability itself, how to choose representative and distinctive features to construct scoring standards (jin & mak, 2013). whether the same features should be used in every grade of the scoring standard (humphry & heldsinger, 2014) will become a hot issue in future research. the second topic focuses on computer scoring based on “features”. because some “features” can be quantified, selecting more important and simplified “features” for quantification, and performing machine scoring by computer can assist manual scoring. in the future, we can explore how to improve the accuracy and reliability of machine scoring, so that machine scoring can more effectively assist and cooperate with manual scoring, thus further improving the scoring quality of oral test. however, it should be pointed out that whether it is machine scoring or manual scoring, both of them will face more challenges on the theoretical level, such as the evaluation methods of interactive ability, the evaluation methods of discourse co-construction and the evaluation criteria of comprehensive test tasks. the development of scoring standards for international oral tests has brought inspiration to the development of large-scale oral tests in china. the typical representative of large-scale oral test in china is cet-4 and cet-6 since 1999, after 20 years of efforts and attempts, a set of nearly perfect oral examination system has been gradually established (jin & guo, 2002). from 2016, the national college oral english test will be divided into cet-4 and cet-6. level 4 is composed of self-introduction, short reading, short answer, personal statement and group interaction. level 6 consists of self-introduction and question and answer, speech and discussion and question and answer. these two oral examinations can www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 53 published by scholink inc. comprehensively assess and evaluate students’ oral english expression ability. according to different oral test tasks, china can also build corresponding oral sample database for candidates in the future. the corpus analysis based on the oral sample database can explore the important “characteristics” that affect the oral level of chinese college students, so as to develop the scoring standard of oral test based on “learners’ language features”. furthermore, on the basis of discovering “learners’ language features”, we can try to quantify candidates’ oral performance by using machines and computers in the future to promote the implementation of machine-assisted manual scoring. in the scoring result report of the future oral test, in addition to reporting the score level, it can also provide corresponding “feature” descriptions of candidates of different grades, and provide suggestions for the improvement of candidates’ oral ability. 5. conclusion the development of scoring standards for oral test in the past 30 years has witnessed the transformation of research paradigms of “expert experience”, “practitioner cognition” and “learner development”, and also contributed to the development of scoring standards from “native speaker” standard, “being able to express” standard to “typical characteristic” standard. in these years, the improvement of researchers’ understanding of language ability and the deep understanding of test construction promote the development of oral test scoring standards at the theoretical level; the enrichment of oral test methods by practitioners, the development of discourse analysis methods and the improvement of oral performance analysis methods of candidates have promoted the development of scoring standards of oral test in practice. it should be pointed out that there is no absolute boundary between the research paradigms of the three stages. to a certain extent, the description and discussion of language competence framework by “expert experience” guides the research of “practitioner cognition” and “learner development”. to a great extent, “practitioner cognition” is the first research and empirical basis of “learner development”. the same is true in practice level. although the standard of “native speaker” has gradually retired from the historical stage, its influence still exists. at present, the standard of “being able to express” plays an important role in the world, and the standard of “typical characteristics” is only in its infancy, which needs further research and practice revision. the change of research paradigms of “expert experience”, “practitioner cognition” and “learner development” has also prompted test researchers to critically apply the relevant research results of linguistics, especially the standard and measurement of language features themselves. after implementing the research paradigm of “learner development”, test researchers should pay more attention to the study of l2 learners’ own language features, instead of taking native speakers’ oral features as a successful paradigm and comparing them with l2 learners’ oral features to judge whether they are good or bad (cook, 2016). at present, the quantitative research on language itself has developed from the surface word feature calculation to the deep syntactic and semantic calculation (mcnamara, graesser, mccarthy, & cai, 2014). however whether the quantitative calculation and evaluation methods www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 54 published by scholink inc. of spoken language features of mother tongue or first language are fully applicable to second language learners needs to be further explored. in china, with the gradual acceptance of oral english tests in large-scale foreign language tests, the research and practice of oral english test scores have made some achievements. however, empirical studies on the development of scoring standards are rare. in the practice of grading standards for oral test in china, the standard of “being able to express” is basically adopted, and the standard of “typical characteristics” is only partially adopted. in the future research and practice, we can explore the dimensional composition of chinese learners’ oral ability, analyze the important “characteristics” that can distinguish learners’ level, and further develop the “typical characteristics” standard, so as to improve the scoring standard of chinese oral test. in the future, china can also consider exploring the research and application of oral machine scoring in large-scale oral test scoring.as an effective aid to manual scoring. references alderson, j. c. 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(2015). the development of college english language competence standards: theory, practice and enlightenment. modern foreign languages, 1,102-111+147. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189x14542154 https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532212442637 https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532211404383 https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511894664 https://doi.org/10.1177/026553229801500204 https://doi.org/10.2307/3586922 https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532210364643 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper mapudungun, interculturality and inclusiveness in the chilean educational system josé manuel salum tomé, phd1* 1 doctor of education catholic university of temuco, chile * josé manuel salum tomé, phd, e-mail: josesalum@gmail.com received: january 14, 2023 accepted: january 31, 2023 online published: february 7, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n1p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n1p1 abstract mapudungun is one of the heritages that defines the identity of the mapuche people. their survival over time is mainly due to the re-ethnification processes that have occurred in the last decade. however, it is necessary to follow the strategies briefly developed in this work, in order to maintain its validity and revitalization in the chilean sociocultural context. a maintenance program for this indigenous language must have the proper state support to become a healthy and self-sufficient language. all this will allow the continuation of the way of life of its users, as well as the faithful reflection of their culture within the multicultural world. keywords mapudungum, identity, interculturality 1. introduction the goal of intercultural education is respond to the cultural diversity that prevails in developed democratic societies. for this, it starts from approaches that respect cultural pluralism, as something inherent to current societies, valuing it as a source of wealth for all members of a society. from the pedagogical point of view, cultural differences are understood as an important educational resource. intercultural education proposes an educational practice that turns the cultural differences of individuals and societies into the focus of reflection and research. it must not be forgotten that intercultural education is ultimately a form of attention to diversity. from this perspective, its contribution in the educational and social field is much better understood, since it constitutes the final stage in the process of acceptance and appreciation of cultural variables. to understand this better, it is necessary to know what are the existing models in the treatment of diversity, whatever it may be, including linguistic and cultural. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 2 published by scholink inc. we live in a diverse world in which biodiversity has been talked about for a long time. on the other hand, diversity is one of the defining characteristics of humanity and, therefore, of our societies. the school is a reflection of this social variability and must treat all the diversities that come together in it, from cultural to physical or capacity. when dealing with this diversity, they have started from different budgets that attended to ideological and political wills. traditionally, two theories have been based on: the deficit theory and the difference theory arroyo gonzález, mª josé. (2012). both intend to attend to diversity, although from completely different approaches. each one of them has given rise to different educational models to deal with this inherent diversity of people and societies. the two theories are based on the close relationship between diversity and inequality, but they give completely different solutions to that relationship. the deficit theory proposes eliminating these differences through educational models based on assimilation and compensation, while the difference theory does not propose eliminating them, but rather proposes mutual enrichment by developing specific educational models: multicultural and intercultural. as pointed out by tuts (2007, p. 34) intercultural education is too often confused with attention to immigrant students and the vehicular language prevails as an integration factor, forgetting its necessary transformation into a bonding language of communication. respect for difference often borders on promoting cultural relativism, while coexistence is seen as a utopian situation. as for social cohesion, it is often confused with homogeneity, monolingualism or monoculturalism. therefore, it seems that cultural and linguistic diversity tends to be disconcerting and suspicious. intercultural education and inclusion present multiple connections that can and should guide our educational practice. as we will analyze later, intercultural education is a way of doing school and educating. 2. chile context currently, several indigenous groups in chile still use their language, which constitutes one of the heritages that define their identity, including their way of life, their history, their rituals, their philosophy, and their customs. indigenous people in chile face several linguistic challenges. when they are in the city or in environments where spanish is exclusively spoken, they must adapt to this situation, leaving their native language to communicate sporadically with a member of their group who speaks the language at family gatherings or friends. the groups that reside in rural centers maintain their language and culture to a greater extent, which allows them to perpetuate some ancestral rituals. however, only the elderly speak the native language in many of these places, including the rural areas of arauco, malleco, cautín, mehuín and panguipulli, mainly. there are also mapuche people who speak their language in the cities to which a large number of them migrate as temporary or permanent workers, more specifically in santiago, concepción and temuco. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 3 published by scholink inc. indigenous languages have been strong enough to survive over time, facing enormous assimilation pressures from spanish as the official language. there is still a significant number of speakers of each of the languages that are still in force, such as aymara, rapanui and mapudungun. the current process of re-ethnification has activated the development of the vitality of these languages in various communities, both rural and urban. within this motivation, it is necessary to plan the resources available to guide all these efforts under the tutelage of a program with realistic goals and effective procedures. this means obtaining the necessary information to diagnose the conditions in which the language is found, and thus choose the appropriate intervention strategies leading to its revitalization. approaches, resources, ideas and goals should be based on the experiences and knowledge of indigenous groups, as well as the theoretical and practical experiences and knowledge of linguists, educators, anthropologists and other social scientists. 3. interculturality and education interculturality is a dimension that is not limited to the field of education, but is present in human relations in general as an alternative to authoritarianism, dogmatism and ethnocentrism. however, the search for more democratic and pluralistic societies supposes educational processes that affirm and provide experience of living in democracy and respect for diversity. as educators we have an inescapable responsibility. interculturality in education appears closely linked to the new spirit of equity and quality that inspire current educational proposals, thus overcoming the egalitarian vision that prevailed in the latin american social scene since the arrival of the first liberal waves on the continent. interculturality in education supposes a double path: inward and outward, and that one of the necessary directions to which an intercultural educational project should be directed, particularly when it comes to peoples who have been the object of cultural and linguistic oppression, (such as ours) is precisely towards the roots of one’s own culture and one’s own vision of the world, to structure or recompose a coherent universe on which one can, later, cement from a better position the dialogue and exchange with cultural elements that, if well alien, they are necessary both to survive in today’s world and to achieve better living standards, taking advantage of those advances and scientific-technological developments that are considered necessary. intercultural education must be understood in a pedagogical process that involves various cultural systems. it stems from the individual and collective right of indigenous peoples, which entails not only enjoying the right to education like all citizens, but also the right to maintain and cultivate their own traditions, culture, values, but also the need to develop intercultural skills that allow any citizen from any part of the country, whether they belong to the hegemonic culture or not, to be able to coexist democratically with others. based on the experience accumulated in the first years of implementation of bilingual intercultural education in the chilean educational system, and having clarity of the fundamental role of the indigenous www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 4 published by scholink inc. language for the recognition, valorization and respect of the culture, worldview and history of the peoples. natives, the challenge of converting the school into an educational space in which the opportunities for learning that language are guaranteed to its students is imposed, in a systematic and relevant way to their reality. thus, in 2009, the chilean ministry of education established the fundamental objectives and minimum mandatory contents for the creation of the indigenous language sector in basic education; which allowed to begin the design of study programs for the aymara, mapuzugun, quechua and rapa nui languages. the foregoing, considering at least three different realities of access to the indigenous language by girls and boys: those whose mother or family language is one of these four languages, those who hear the indigenous language only in their social environment, and those who only listen to it at school. the indigenous language course, with four assigned hours per week, seeks to strengthen the cultural and linguistic knowledge of four indigenous peoples who still maintain their native language in force: aymara, mapuche, quechua and rapa nui. for this, a pedagogical duo is formed, made up of a classroom teacher (who supports pedagogical aspects) and a traditional educator, the person in charge of imparting traditional knowledge, especially the indigenous language. the teaching of the aymara, mapuzugun, quechua and rapa nui languages was articulated around two axes, conceived as complementary:  orality: understood as a dynamic and contextual form of knowledge, and recognized as the traditional way of transmission and accumulation of knowledge of native peoples.  written communication: understood as highly complex for indigenous languages, due to the history of oral tradition in the transmission of knowledge. however, knowledge of the written code of the indigenous language is promoted through the spanish graphemes. the indigenous language subject has been implemented gradually, beginning in 2010 in the first year of basic education to reach 2018, the teaching and learning of indigenous languages in eighth grade. additionally, schools can autonomously develop their own plans and programs around indigenous knowledge, which are incorporated into the school curriculum as subjects or as extracurricular workshops. these initiatives have allowed educational communities to generate content relevant to their territories and the particularities of their students. by way of example, within the plans and programs that the establishments develop, there are workshops on ethnic cooking, interculturality and development, worldview and mapuche-huilliche language, mapuche traditional medicine, and chedungun language, among others. the creation of this subject is based on the following laws and decrees:  the indigenous law (1993) that favored the beginning of a systematic process for the teaching of native languages and cultures, by indicating the establishment of a programmatic unit that facilitates access to this knowledge. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 5 published by scholink inc.  general education law (2009), which establishes obligations and principles, one of them being interculturality, which states: “the system must recognize and value the individual in their cultural and origin specificity, considering their language, worldview and history”. in articles 28, 29 and 30, it commits the teaching of the indigenous language in establishments with a high indigenous population for pre-school, basic and secondary education.  decree no. 280/2009, which incorporates the fundamental objectives and minimum mandatory contents of the indigenous language sector for the level of basic education and establishes the obligation to implement this subject in all establishments that have an enrollment of more than 20% of students natives.  ilo convention 169, ratified by chile in september 2008. convention on the rights of the child, ratified in august 1990. both normative instruments refer to the right of children belonging to indigenous peoples to receive education and respect their language and culture. 3.1 interculturality for everyone interculturality allows us all to know each other, value each other and live with different cultural universes, enriching our experiences as people and as a society. in this sense, interculturality seeks to generate a reflection in the educational system that makes it possible to recognize, value and understand the richness of the diverse, questioning with it, for example, the imposition and hierarchization of a certain type of knowledge or the establishment of social relationships. in terms of native peoples, from the recognition of their existence and social, cultural, spiritual, economic development, among others, as cultures that inhabit this territory centuries before colonization, the mineduc (2015) in a process that aims to settle the historical debt that the state has towards these peoples, assumes the policy of revealing the languages, cultures, histories and worldviews of indigenous cultures in the processes of integral quality educational improvement of the country’s establishments, with the aim of promoting a citizenship intercultural. as of 2016, 223,087 indigenous students were identified in the school system in 9,335 educational establishments (79% of the total number of schools in the country, according to the state statistics institute (ine). in the same way, the ministry of education has decided to develop its own concept of interculturality, seeking to reflect the reality and the environment in which we are immersed as a society: interculturality is an ethical-political social horizon under construction, which emphasizes horizontal relationships between the individuals, groups, peoples, cultures, societies and with the state. it is based, among other things, on dialogue from otherness, facilitating a systemic and historical understanding of the present of the diverse people, groups and peoples who permanently interact in the different territorial spaces. interculturality favors the creation of new forms of citizen coexistence among everyone, regardless of nationality or origin. for this, symmetrical dialogue is possible by recognizing and valuing the richness of linguistic-cultural, natural and spiritual diversity. in the case of native peoples, it reveals their characteristics and different systems that problematize, and at the same time, enrich the constructions of the world, ensuring the exercise of individual and collective rights. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 6 published by scholink inc. 3.2 bilingual intercultural education children and young people belonging to indigenous peoples have the right to learn in contexts of greater equality, in conditions that adjust to their cultural particularities, their language, and their way of seeing the world. as in the rest of the countries of the region, our educational system assumed a role of cultural and linguistic homogenization that left out of the discourses of “national identity” an important part of the knowledge, values and ways of life of the original peoples. this pedagogical imbalance over time has had a negative influence on the identity and self-esteem of people belonging to the original peoples, as well as on the possibility of building a multicultural and multilingual country. in this context, the state assumes the duty to generate the bases to enable an intercultural bilingual education that allows boys and girls to learn the language and culture of their peoples, through the incorporation, in the national curriculum, of the language subject. indigenous (currently in aymara, quechua, mapuzugun and rapa nui) for basic education. this subject, which aims to enable children from indigenous peoples to communicate in their vernacular language, is implemented in educational establishments that want to promote interculturality and in those that have an enrollment equal to or greater than 20% of indigenous students, and is developed by the traditional educator, the person responsible for transmitting cultural and linguistic knowledge to the students of the establishment. the implementation of this subject is not the only way to transmit this knowledge; the school can also develop intercultural workshops, revitalization strategies for languages and cultures in danger of extinction, and linguistic immersion in specific contexts. 3.3 training in interculturality teacher training is a key aspect in the implementation of intercultural education. chile needs to train its teachers as mediators and facilitators of the development of schools that value and integrate the cultural wealth of native peoples into the learning experience of their students. the ministry of education has developed a joint effort with two universities to strengthen a teacher training plan in pedagogy of bilingual intercultural basic education. in this sense, it has established collaboration agreements with the catholic university of temuco (uct) and with the arturo prat university (uap) of iquique. in the case of the uct, this plan has two target groups: mapuche students from the biobío, la araucanía, los lagos and los ríos regions; and students of the pedagogy career in bilingual intercultural basic education in a mapuche context. meanwhile, the initial training plan of the uap of iquique is aimed at aymara, licanantai and quechua students from the regions of tarapacá, arica and parinacota, and antofagasta. other activities are also included within the agreements such as: developing linguistic immersion activities for students; disseminate the career among young people in secondary education in municipal www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 7 published by scholink inc. establishments in communes with a high density of indigenous population; and hold reflection colloquiums with students from other careers and schools from other training disciplines, among others. in the same way, the mineduc intends to strengthen the training in interculturality for teachers of subsidized municipal and private establishments through the development of a postgraduate in interculturality, and through a b-learning course, in charge of the center for improvement, experimentation and pedagogical research (cpeip). on the other hand, the ministry of education provides support to traditional educators who implement the indigenous language subject or develop intercultural workshops through a training course whose objective is to provide tools in pedagogical, cultural, and linguistic aspects to promote learning. task of this figure within the schools. 3.4 traditional mapuche educator the first lines of work of the ministry of education, in terms of bilingual intercultural education, were linked to community participation, in order to promote meetings and collect knowledge with a territorial approach, from the voice of traditional authorities, communities, families, and indigenous professionals; in the same way, it sought to identify current practices and knowledge in the communities, in order to replicate some of this knowledge in the training of children and children belonging to these educational communities. it is in this context that the figure of the community cultural advisor, now known as educator or traditional educator (et), arises and is normalized; which is governed at first as a binding actor between indigenous communities and educational establishments for the transmission of knowledge about their culture and language. this figure has been strengthened in the educational communities, achieving among other things: recreating learning strategies of their communities, developing didactics for the teaching of indigenous languages, collecting oral stories, and systematizing knowledge associated with mathematics, sciences, cosmogony, among others. in this context, and from the creation of the indigenous language subject, the et becomes relevant as it is responsible for specifying the teaching of the aymara, quechua, rapa nui and mapuzungun languages in establishments that have 20% of indigenous enrollment, or in those who want to promote interculturality through intercultural workshops, bilingualism, or cultural and linguistic revitalization. some aspects to consider in the fulfillment of their functions are the following:  accredit sufficient linguistic and cultural skills to perform in the teaching of the languages and cultural knowledge of the original peoples. be validated by the indigenous communities or associations linked to the educational establishment.  teaching preparation, understanding as such the ability to structure the teaching-learning process with learning objectives to be achieved in the students from the point of view of indigenous knowledge, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 8 published by scholink inc.  creation of an environment conducive to learning, that is, the ability to promote conditions in the use of multiple spaces and diverse methodologies, which favor intercultural learning,  teaching for learning of all students, that is, the ability to deliver linguistic and cultural knowledge in diverse realities to achieve learning objectives and propose strategies according to these. 3.5 training and accompaniment for more than fifteen years, community cultural advisors, in the first instance, and currently traditional educators, have received training through training courses and accompaniment in the linguistic, cultural and pedagogical, with emphasis on the development of competencies, both at the curricular and extracurricular level. these training courses have as main objective to allow a better performance and an adequate and pertinent insertion on the part of the traditional educators in the educational system; and therefore, they acquire specific characteristics depending on the territory where they are carried out, respecting regional autonomy and promoting their own strategic development. the trainings, carried out face-to-face and with an average duration of 150 hours, are financed by the bilingual intercultural education program and developed by three entities according to regional realities: a) universities together with organizations focused on indigenous languages, b) teams regional ministerial offices (regional ministerial secretariats of education), and c) consultants and/or independent professionals. 4. current challenge the rescue of native languages is of great importance, not only because it strengthens the culture and identity of the native peoples that inhabit chile, but also because it gives our country an identity and allows us to project ourselves as a more democratic, inclusive and respectful society. the current situation of the languages recognized by indigenous law is critical and represents a complex challenge that calls upon all of us, not only those who belong to a certain indigenous people, since society is responsible for the revaluation of the vernacular languages that we have been relegated to increasingly reduced spaces, to the point of endangering its existence. the condition in which the different languages of the original peoples that inhabit chile are found today is complex; even though it is a multilingual and multicultural country, spanish continues to be the language of communication, teaching, and regulations, which is why it has the greatest number of functions. the studies, investigations and reports consulted indicate that the main problems identified are the following: at the macro level:  lack of status of languages: understood as the possibility of giving functionality to the language in the different institutions and media from which the minority or minoritized language has been excluded. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 9 published by scholink inc.  lack of language corpus: refers to a series of actions that are carried out with the aim of standardizing the language, such as defining a graphemary, creating dictionaries, grammars and creating specific entities that are in charge of the subject (academies), among others.  in the context of speech and communication, lack of spaces for use and possibilities of use, functionality beyond the local or familiar.  spanish is the official language of communication and teaching; this can be seen in the hegemony of spanish in the media and transmission of languages: texts, media, arts, among others. the same is true for formal and informal education. at the micro level, the main obstacles refer to the attitude of the speakers, due to selfdiscrimination, lack of motivation to deliver knowledge about the mother tongue to the next generations, adverse local contexts, the decrease of communities or speaking people in a territory and lack of external support to promote the indigenous language because it is not part of the economy, work, professional training. another challenge in this matter is related to the lack of quantitative and qualitative data that allow us to know more precisely the situation of the languages and their speakers in chile today. there are only two official sources with general information on the 9 indigenous peoples: casen (mideplan) and censo 2002 (ine). the indigenous languages of chile that maintain some degree of sociolinguistic vitality are mapudungun, aymara, rapa nui and quechua. according to the 2009 casen survey, only 24% of the population that belongs to these towns would have some degree of competence in their languages, with significant geographical and regional variations in terms of the number and proportion of speakers. (bcn source) year speakers just understand does not speak or understand 2000 14% 13.8% 72% 2003 16.8% 18.9% 64.4% 2006 14.2% 14.1% 71.7% 2009 12% 10.6% 77.3% 2011 eleven% 10.4% 78.6% 2013 10.9% 10.4% 78.7% 2015 10.7% 10.7% 78.6% source: casen 4.1 treatment of a declining language when it is noticed that a language is in a state of decline, it is possible to develop a maintenance program for that language. this depends on the state it is in, the historical causes of its decline, access to funds and human and financial resources, and the interest of the community. in a first opportunity, many members of the group want to develop fluency in the use of the language, thinking that it will be easy to acquire the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 10 published by scholink inc. ancestral linguistic code again. unfortunately, this is not a task without difficulties, since most indigenous children speak spanish as their first language and are barely familiar with their native cultural traditions. therefore, spanish becomes the model of correctness or naturalness and learning another language causes difficulties in the production of new sounds or in the combination of words in patterns that are different from those of the first language learned. the researchers warn that, after the puberty stage, it is difficult to process information using different rules and structures in a second language. actually, the best way to keep a language alive is through communication with children, using the indigenous language in its first stage of language acquisition. the fact of handling two languages in the family environment allows the child to acquire two linguistic codes simultaneously and without difficulties. certainly, parents have their own preferences regarding the use of one language over another. this can become rule-setting for children who perceive in which contexts they can speak the indigenous language or spanish. they generally speak mapudungun with their grandparents at home, but speak spanish with their peers in other contexts. finally, they prefer to use spanish in all situations. a language maintenance program should include the gradual increase in the number of speakers as a goal. this requires the participation and preparation of teachers who speak the language fluently and manage the difficulties involved in its teaching. it is advisable to locate some members of the indigenous community who are willing to collaborate and undergo an intense stage of preparation, to carry out this task in order to acquire formal knowledge in an assessment process within the community itself. the indigenous language maintenance program must also measure the importance of spanish and the indigenous language. both languages are essential to the community. but one should not be neglected or favored to the detriment of the other. even though spanish is officially taught throughout the chilean school system, there is some evidence that the type of spanish spoken by indigenous communities differs from the formal dialect accepted in the official milieu. the two languages in contact have influenced each other over time. the family dialect of spanish, spoken by the adult generations in each indigenous group, has been transmitted from generation to generation, becoming a variety with phonological and grammatical features of the indigenous language. this requires a sociolinguistic study that can provide much insight into the difficulties indigenous students face when learning the standard variety of spanish taught at school. likewise, it can provide a guideline on the differences between the indigenous language and formal spanish. 4.2 commitment of the chilean government and the maintenance of indigenous languages scholars agree that the ultimate goal of a maintenance program is to achieve fluency in the use of the indigenous language. if this is not possible, at least a feeling of appreciation of the language and its relevance as a means of maintaining cultural identity can be achieved. the factors that determine which goals are realistic and which are difficult to achieve can be learned through an objective assessment of the needs of each community. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 11 published by scholink inc. it is known that any language suffers a decrease in its use, due to historical reasons of competition with the language of a group that expands its area of influence through the media and access to material goods. the first contacts between spaniards and indigenous people were negatively aggressive, due to the purposes of the conquest that included the acquisition of new territories, discovery of precious metals, conversion to a new religious doctrine, and search for labor for forced labor. as a result of this, the indigenous people suffered the decrease of their population and the abuse of their culture that originated a feeling of frustration and of a conquered people that has hardly been overcome throughout chilean history. 5. final reflection thinking about interculturality implies delving into the political approaches of the country that support the different intercultural and bilingual educational proposals that are generated from different social actors, among which appear national organizations and governments, regional education secretariats, conadi, nongovernmental organizations, civil associations., ethnic movements and organizations, among others. thus, intercultural education is not possible by copying and/or extra-logical adaptation of identity values and institutionalization devices of western civilization, because, ultimately, they only tend to cover up the continuity of evangelization. socio-civilization, of the cultural control that they historically exercise over the diverse peoples of the world and that have made possible the conformation of the current global order; rather, on the contrary, they demand not only public recognition of the socio-cultural plurality that forms the very substrate of contemporary social systems, deconstructing the modern ideal of the monocultural nation state, but also the historical affirmation of the values proper to the identity construction of each of the existing communities in the world and, therefore, of the values of intercultural interaction. legitimizing community existence and cultural identity based on the similarities that can be discovered, evidenced, assumed, and implanted in the development of particular historical events, with the values and devices for the civilizational affirmation of the dominant culture, strictly speaking, does not mean confirming the irrefutable presence of alterity, of the right to difference and, therefore, of the urgent need for intercultural education, quite the contrary, represents the self-deception of camouflaging oneself as one’s peer, as a neighbor, as an authentic being, that is, illegitimate projection of civilized, developed society, which for this very reason requires cultural evangelization so that it can fully develop. thinking about the possibility of intercultural education, then, entails the unavoidable requirement of building new educational concepts that do not disguise the evangelizing claims of the dominant culture. this has been a small reflection on intercultural education as a path towards educational inclusion. the aim throughout the article has been to show how both concepts share a multitude of ideas, and deep down allow for very specific ways of learning and teaching in the classroom. the great challenge at this time in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 12 published by scholink inc. school is to contribute to an interculturally inclusive education, as defined by garcía and goenechea (2009, p. 35). the recognition of social diversity and multiculturalism demands the emerging transformation of contemporary educational processes, towards the appropriation of the values of identity construction of the context in which individuals develop, so that they can build their personal life project, in addition to participate significantly in the socio-cultural and political-economic transformation of their community of life, without neglecting the interaction in the order of global society. insofar as contemporary societies are constituted in the recognition of onto-historical alterity, therefore, an education is required that not only respects, but also promotes identity diversity, within a framework of intercultural dialogue, where all individuals and communities have the right to appropriate their own cultural values, as well as the cultural capital available in today’s knowledge society. references arroyo gonzález, mª. j. (2012). language in the integration of immigrant students. study of aliso classrooms in the province of segovia. university of valladolid: doctoral thesis. bauman, j. (1980). a guide to issues in indian language retention. washington, dc: center for applied linguistics. census. (2002). and population projections, ine. casen survey (2006), mideplan, total population and 15-19 years old, 20 most inhabited communes in chile, years 2002-2009 and population by income quintile between 15 and 19 years old 20 most inhabited communes. chile. carrasco, h. (2002). the mapuche public discourse: notion, discursive types and hybridity. philological studies, 37, 185-197. carrasco, i. (2000). mapuche poets in chilean literature. philological studies, 35, 139-149. law 19253 national corporation for indigenous development. (1993). which has as its objectives the promotion, coordination and execution of state action of development plans for people belonging to the indigenous peoples of chile. galdames, l. (1995). chilean history. university press. santiago, chile. garcia, j. a., & goenechea, c. (2009). intercultural education. analysis of the situation and proposal for improvement. biscay: wolters kluwer. geneva, 76th ilc meeting. (june 27, 1989). status: updated instrument (technical conventions). grebe, m. e. (1996). contributions of anthropology in intercultural bilingual education in the mapuche area of chile. pentukun, 5, 11-24. ministry of education of chile. (2009). fundamental objectives and minimum mandatory contents for the creation of the indigenous language sector in basic education, santiago de chile. branch, g. (1987). education and society in america. education , educational development journal, 101, 45-66. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 13 published by scholink inc. rodriguez, m. c. (2004). otherness in two contemporary mapuche poets: chihuailaf and lienlaf. philological studies, 39, 221-235. rooms, a. (1985). fray félix josé de augusta. his contribution to the studies of the language and culture of the mapuches or araucanos. culture-man-society (pp. 197-272.). temuco, chile: pontifical catholic university of chile. santos, m. (1994). theory and practice of intercultural education. spain: ed. ppu university of compostela. indigenous law. (1993). (law no. 19,253 do 5·10). conadi, national corporation for indigenous development. general education law. (2009). (law 20370 or lge) is the chilean law that establishes the framework regulations on education. it was published in the official gazette on september 12, 2009, during the first government of michelle bachelet. williamson, g. (2012). institutionalization of intercultural bilingual education in chile: notes and critical observations. educational profiles, 34, 126-147. tuts, m. (2007). languages as elements of social cohesion. from multilingualism to the development of skills for intercultural communication. in education magazine, 343, 35-54. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 33 original paper a study on the upsurge of translated detective story from the perspective of polysystem theory xiuwen zheng1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: october 14, 2023 accepted: november 6, 2023 online published: november 27, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n5p33 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n5p33 abstract from 1890s to 1930s, the detective novels carried a big weight in chinese literary works, with the characteristics of mass audience, large quantity and deep influence. since detective novels were originally imported and translated into chinese by translator, they have attracted the attention of a large of scholars. base on the polysystem theory proposed by itamar even-zohar, an israeli literary theorist, this paper will analyze the reason for the rise and the increasing popularity of translated detective novel in that period. keywords detective novel, translation, polysystem theory 1. introduction as a kind of popular novels, detective novel was initiated by famous american writer allen poe in 1841, and it had constantly enriched and improved by many excellent writers. as a matter of fact, western literary has created a large number of detective novels that are still world-famous up to today. traditional chinese literary knew only stories based on court cases, and had no detective novel in the modern sense until 1890s. the chinese progress published four stories of sherlock holmes translated by its editor from 1896 to 1897, and it was regraded as the beginning of detective novel in china. subsequently, a great quantity of western detective novels was translated into chinese, and detective novels became one of the most popular reading materials at that time. seeing the unprecedented prosperity about detective novel, many writers, translator, and even publisher tried to create original detective novels in the following years. detective novel can never be ignored in literary from 1890s to 1930s. israeli literary theorist itamar even-zohar proposed the polysystem theory in 1970s, and the term “polysystem” was officially pointed out in papers in historical poetics in 1978. based on russian formalist literary theory, polysystem theory also absorbed the positive factors of structuralism, general www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 34 published by scholink inc. system theory and cultural semiotics. according to even-zohar, polysytem refers to the aggregation of various literary system in a particular culture, from advance or classic form (poetry with innovative significance for instance) to low-level or non-classical form (like children’s literature, popular novel, etc.) (xie, 2003). polysystem theory regards various social symbolic phenomena, specifically all forms of human communication dominated by symbols, such as language, culture, ideology, politics as independent systems rater than a mixture composed of disparate elements. at the same time, they also exist in a common system, that is, a polysystem composed of several different subsystems (zohar, 2002). the polysystem includes the central system in the leading position and other systems at the edge, and these systems in polysystem are both competitive and interdependent. generally speaking, the system that has just entered the polysystem is usually in a marginal position, and it is restricted by the central system. therefore, their positions are not fixed, and there is a never-ending struggle. the system at the center is likely to be driven to the edge, while the system at the edge is likely to seize the center. subsequently, the new system can challenge the central system and stand a chance to replace the central system as the leader of this polysystem. 2. brief introduction about detective novel from 1890s to 1930s as mentioned above, detective novels were not born in china but imported into china after being translated in 1890s. china’s early detective novel are divided into two categories: foreign detective novels translated by translators from 1890s and original-created detective novels imitated by chinese people around the revolution of 1911. 2.1 translated detective novels at the beginning in the history of china, there have been three translation climaxes, namely, buddhism translation from the eastern han dynasty to the song dynasty, scientific translation from the late ming dynasty to the early qing dynasty, and the western learning from the opium war to the may 4th movement. in terms of time, 1890s was in the third climax. at that time, a large number of literature works, including novels, were translated into china. since the opium war in 1840, western powers have invaded china continuously, and the corruption of qing government had reached its peak. china was on the verge of social unrest and economic collapse. people were deeply oppressed by feudal system and western powers. therefore, popular literary works such as scientific novel, political novel and detective novel prevailed at that time. through reading such novels, chinese people felt the charm of democracy, science and fairness. indulged in such novels, they were able to get a temporary escape in this cruel but real society. due to its artistic charm of being close to life, detective novel had been popular with the intellectual and the masses, naturally it became the mainstream of translated works. at that time, it was almost impossible that one translator had no relationship with detective novel (ah ying,1980). if there were thousands of translated novels, detective novels would account for more than five hundreds”. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 35 published by scholink inc. in 1896, with the publication of conan doyle’s sherlock holmes in the chinese progress, the series of sherlock holmes stories entered china and the western detective novel was firstly introduced to chinese readers. although the chinese progress only published four stories, its huge circulation also caused a sensation at that time. by analyzing the court case novel and western detective novel, we can find that they not only have some similarities, but exist obvious differences, which are mainly reflected in the plot emphasis, characterization, narrative method and creative intention (zhan, 2020). at the beginning, the number of translated detective novel was small, and they were mainly concentrated in conan doyle’s works. then, with the rise of various newspapers and novel magazines, the market demand of detective novel has been greatly increased, and the number of translated novel have also highly enriched. from 1902 to 1918, 331 works of conan doyle were translated, and the works of other foreign detective novelists, such as bafo, arthur morrison and william graham, were gradually translated and published. taking the magazine the all-story monthly as an example, it had published more than 40 translated novel, and the most of which are detective novel, accounting for 21 (zhang, 2009). at the beginning, only two or three translators who took detective novel as the main translation genre. as the detective novel had found its way to chinese literature, more than forty translators threw themselves into the translation of detective novel, becoming a huge translation group. translators in that period adopted the domestication translation strategy to cater to the readers’ reading habits and facilitate public acceptance. in 1890s, china was in the midst of domestic trouble and foreign invasion, and chinese intellectuals were eager to seek a way out of the west. because of its strong interest and the new ideology it conveyed, detective novel were used by advanced intellectuals as an effective tool to enlighten people. however, as we all known, ordinary people had limited level of knowledge, so in order to make people read detective novel as much as possible, translators had to cater to chinese reading habits by making some changes in translation, such as replacing the first-person narrative with third-person narrative and omitting the description of mind and scenery. 2.2 early original-created detective novel around the revolution of 1911 as detective novels were imported into china, those writers who both owned profound traditional cultural knowledge and a little knowledge about foreign literature had tried to create detective novel with their own understanding of detective novel. this represented the initial integration of court case novels and detective novels, and was also the initial imitation of detective novel by chinese literati. some novelists began to write detective novels by their own, but because of the deep influence of court case novels and the social constraints, the so-called detective novels in this period were more or less in the shadow of course case novels. take chun e shi as an example, it was a novel with the characteristics of both court case novel and detective novel. it seemed that this novel described a traditional court case story, but it was different from the previous court case novels. the image of honest officials no longer existed, but the corruption of the officials was exposed. moreover, it owned many elements of detective novel. first of all, the novel focused on detecting rather than adjudicating. secondly, the author designed two absolutely opposite clues to attract readers to refer, reason and think, which was the basic feature of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 36 published by scholink inc. detective novel. finally, the vital role in solving the case and finding out the truth was not an official, but a private detective. it was also an important feature of detective novel (li, 2006). although many scholars attempted to create detective novel by their own, but unluckily none of them had realized this goal. the 1911 revolution ended the feudal system that had ruled china for more than two thousand years and established a bourgeois republic country, thus making the court case novels lose the social conditions for existence. then, detective novel gradually got rid of the bondage and simple imitation of court case novels, and walked out a chinese characteristic pattern. 3. reasons for the upsurge of detective novels from the perspective of polysystem theory the previous part mentions that detective novels in china from 1890s to 1930s are mainly divided into translated detective novels and early originally-created detective novel, and both of them are popular with readers at that time. there are many reasons for the prevalence of detective novels, such as politics, culture, economy, etc. this part will analyze the reasons for the rise of detective novel from the perspective of polysystem theory. 3.1 the influence of various social factors the polysystem theory holds that translated literature, as a system in the target language polysystem, is interdependent with other systems and is also influenced by other systems in the polysystem, such as political factors, economic factors and cultural factors. the prevalence of translated detective novels was the result of many social factors. first of all, political factor gave rise to initiate translated detective novel in china. since 1840s, the ambition of the western powers to carve up china was increasingly intensified, and china was in a critical moment of internal troubles and foreign invasion. along with the invasion of western power, science and civilization also set off a series of reforms and movements in china. from the 1860s to the 1890s, the westernization carried out the famous westernization movement to maintain the rule of the qing government. the emphasis of translation was on science, technology and concrete objects at that period, and literature was ignored at the corner. with the failure of a series of reforms, such as the sino-japanese naval battle and the hundred days reform, advanced intellectuals realized the importance of ideological enlightenment of the masses. they believed that literature played a vital role in politics and was the best means to improve thought. many intellectuals chose to translate western novels that were most acceptable to the common people, hoping to enlighten the people and save the motherland from domestic troubles and foreign invasions. political factor not only promoted the occurrence and popularity of detective novels in china, but also was one of the purposes that detective novels wanted to achieve. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 37 published by scholink inc. in addition, economic factors have accelerated the boom of detective novels in china. from the 1840s, western novels were widely translated into china. people saw the new and perfect democratic system in political novels, appreciated the powerful and beautiful science and technology in scientific novels, and obtained the fair legal system and rights protection in detective novels (zhang, 2009). detective novels were characterized by distinctive characters, interlocking plots and sufficient suspense, which made them irresistible and popular among many translated novels. in the bargain, china’s printing technology improved at the end of the 19th century, so chinese newspaper industry and publishing industry developed rapidly. there was once a magazine craze and a small-sized newspaper craze in chinese literary world, with numerous magazines springing up one after another. the four modern novel magazines, the new novel, the tapestry stories, the all-story monthly and the story forest, all appeared in the last decade of the late qing. after the revolution of 1911, the development of the newspaper industry was more rapid. “by 1921, there were 1104 newspapers and periodicals in china” (chen, 1997). newspapers and magazines with the aim of obtaining maximum economic benefit published plenty of detective novels. moreover, a large number of publishers and translators received financial support from patrons, which further promoted the popularity of detective novels. the emergence of original-created detective novels around the revolution of 1911 was also influenced by the popularity of translated detective novels and generous patrons. the great mass of translated detective novels made local literati contact with this new genre and became interested in it, and then tried to imitate translated detective novels. the existence of patrons provided economic assistance for the creation of literati and guaranteed the publication of original detective novels. in this case, the real sense of chinese local detective novels gradually developed. the above social factors accelerated the boom of translated detective novels in china, promoted the occurrence and development of original-created chinese detective novels, and greatly enriched the diversity of chinese literature. 3.2 the central position of translated literature ah ying (1980) once said, “translated books take over two-thirds of the total number of books”. we can see that translation was more than creation at that time. as the mainstream of translated novels, translated detective novels also occupied a central position in the chinese literary world at that time. according to zohar, one of the following three cases is required for translated literature to occupy a central position in the polysystem of target language, and they are basically various manifestation of the same law. firstly, when a polysystem has not yet been crystallized, that is to say, when a literature is “young” in the process of being established. secondly, when a literature is either “peripheral” (within a large group of correlated literatures) or “weak,” or both. lastly, when there are turning points, crises, or literary vacuums in a literature (translated literature...). as a matter of fact, translated detective novels meets all the cases mentioned above, and that’s the reason why it, as a foreign genre, had dominated chinese literature at that time. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 38 published by scholink inc. first of all, the upsurge of translated detective novels had reached its peak from 1907 to the period before the may 4th movement, which coincided with the collapse of the traditional chinese literary system and the establishment of a new literary system. after the opium war in 1840, the western imperialists used cannons to attack the feudal system that had ruled china for more than two thousand years. thanks to this brutal invasion, some advanced chinese began to open their eyes to the world. they gradually learned about the blind arrogance of the qing government, and also learned about the advanced and democratic western civilization. therefore, they were eager to get enlightenment from western civilization, and began to take a difficult step to learn from the west, trying to save china in danger. in literature, most of the scholars with the consciousness of reform tried to overthrow the traditional literary system. they wanted to realize political reform and social reform by establishing a new literary system. in fact, the may 4th new culture movement, which broke out in 1919, was the watershed of the real establishment of china’s new literary system. chinese modern literature was “young” in the process of being established, and it met the first case. next, novel had long been in a peripheral and weak position in the polysystem of traditional chinese literature, and the traditional chinese novels had not been accepted by the mainstream literature for a long time. scholars insisted that there are ten scholars and only nine can be accepted (ban,1962). when the feudal princes presided over politics, the ten schools arose almost at the same. they stood side by side and insisted on their own theories to lobby the feudal princes, hoping to obtain the support. however, ban excluded the novel and believed that only the remaining nine schools were available. in the chinese literary tradition, novels had always been disdained by scholars who read the four books and five classics, and were not accepted by the ruling class. writing novel was regarded as trivial skills, which is not practiced by strong men. in the society ruled by the feudal monarch, all literature was in the service of politics and must be conducive to the rule of the feudal rulers. the rulers insisted on governing country with dignity and orthodoxy, so the novels with all kinds of fantastic colors and market elements were naturally not accepted by the ruling class. secondly, the main audience of novel had a low social status. be loved by many grass-root people, novels mainly originated from ancient myths, legends and fables, so its language and content were relatively simple. however, in ancient china, where the hierarchy was strict, the literary genre with the ordinary people as the main audience was bound to be in a marginal position. even novel is a precious existence in the history of chinese literature, but it had always been at the edge of the literature polysystem. it was precisely because of the weak position of traditional chinese novels for a long time that it was inability to limit the spread and popularity of translated novels. thirdly, the traditional literature system was swayed, and the genre of novel was at a turning point. in 1898, reformists launched the hundred days reform. they advocated learning from the west and carried out the bourgeois reform movement in politics, education, culture, agriculture, industry and commerce. in fact, it was a thorough upper-class movement that lacked a reliable social foundation and was seriously divorced from the broad masses, which was one of the reasons for the failure of the hundred days’ reform. after the reform, reformists gradually realized the importance of mobilizing the masses. about www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 39 published by scholink inc. how to enlighten and awaken the sleeping populace, they turned their eyes to the novel. in 1902, liang put forward in the relationship between novels and mass governance, published in the first issue of new novel, “therefore, to improve mass governance today, it must begin with the revolution of the novel circle; if you want renew people, you must start with new novels” (chen, 1997). since then, the slogan of “novel revolution” rose in chinese literature. advanced intellectuals took the novel as a tool to educate the public. while vigorously attacking the traditional novel, they spared no effort to elevate the status of “new novel” in the polysystem of chinese literature. in this revolution, the traditional literature polysystem centered on poet had been severely impacted, and chinese literature was facing an important turning point. the genre of novel was also at a turning point in china. at the same time, detective novel was translated into chinese literature as a foreign genre, which was a brand new form of literary creation. this genre was not in the polysystem of chinese literature, and it was a vacuum zone of chinese literature. the introduction of translated detective novels filled this vacuum zone. gradually, this genre was widely spread and established in china, which enriched the polysystem of chinese literature. 4. conclusion the popularity of translated detective novels from the 1890s to the 1930s was related to the fact that translated literature occupied the dominant position in the polysystem of literature, while the complex social environment at that time provided external factors for its continued development. by analyzing this phenomenon comprehensively with polysystem theory, we can have a deeper understanding of its essence. references ah ying. (1980). history of late qing fictions (p. 186). beijing: people’s literature publishing house. ban, g. (1962). han shu. beijing:zhonghua book company. chen, p. y. (1997). a history of twentieth century chinese fiction (p. 78). beijing: peking university press. chen, p. y., & xia, x. h. (1989). theories of twentieth century chinese fiction (p. 37). beijing: peking university press. li, d. c., & deng, j. (2003). an investigation of the upsurge pf detective story translation in late qing. journal of tianjin foreign studies university, 2, 1-6. li, s. x. (2006). chinese detective novels and their comparative studies (phd dissertation). sichuan university. marco, j. (n.d.). register analysis in literary translation: a fictional approach. babel, 46, 1-19. xie, t. z. (2003). polysystem theory: a new approacto translation studies. journal of foreign languages, 4, 59-66. zhan, y. b. (2020). fusion of case-solving novels and detective novels in the late qing dynasty. journal of taiyuan normal university (social science edition), 2, 55-61. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 40 published by scholink inc. zhang, y. (2009). the research on detective stories of the late qing dynasty (ma thesis). east china normal university. zohar, i. e., & zhang, n. f. (2002). polysystem theory. chinese translators journal, 4. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 190 original paper “boundary situations” and self-transcendence: elderly narratives in winter journal ming sun1* & runsen liu1 1 english language and literature, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china * ming sun, english language and literature, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: february 19, 2025 accepted: march 4, 2025 online published: march 24, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p190 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p190 abstract this study focuses on the elderly narrative in winter journal by paul auster, integrating literary gerontology with the “third age—fourth age” theory to analyze how the author employs the secondperson perspective to depict the multiple dimensions of aging, illness, and death. the paper first examines auster’s recollection of his living environments and bodily perceptions, highlighting how his interwoven writing of personal memory and socio-historical context endows individual experience with both immediacy and public significance. subsequently, through an analysis of textual details such as panic attacks and the loss of loved ones, this study elucidates the tension between the decline of bodily functions and the preservation of dignity, underscoring the individual’s persistent pursuit of life’s meaning within boundary situations. finally, the research argues that winter journal not only provides an immersive narrative of elderly memory but also integrates existentialist reflection and sociocultural critique into the memoir tradition, offering multiple insights into how aging individuals resist the encroachments of time and death through narration. auster’s examination of the “third age” and “fourth age” further reveals that, despite the dual challenges of physical and psychological deterioration, elderly individuals can still achieve a form of transcendence through language and recollection. keywords winter journal, second-person narration, literary gerontology, boundary situations 1. introduction after world war ii, the united states and other western countries experienced a period of large-scale population growth known as the “baby boom.” by the 1980s, this generation had gradually entered old age, giving rise to the concepts of the “third age” (young old) and the “fourth age” (old old). these two classifications represent significant differences in the physiological, psychological, and social needs www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 191 published by scholink inc. of the elderly, becoming central themes in aging literature and its academic research. meanwhile, structural transformations in society have led to phenomena such as the “empty nest” effect and intergenerational conflicts, further deepening academic interest in aging and its cultural and social implications. the concept of “literary gerontology” was first systematically proposed by annie wyatt-brown, whose core idea is to approach aging from a “whole-life” perspective. by studying literary works created by elderly artists, literary gerontology seeks to explore their artistic characteristics and life philosophy. this approach not only examines how aging is represented in literary works but also aims to uncover the cultural and social value of aging wisdom, encouraging reflection on how individuals can achieve “successful aging” at different stages of life. “successful aging” entails not only fully enjoying the benefits of life but also continuing to contribute to society and ultimately accepting natural death with equanimity. wyatt-brown’s perspective laid the theoretical foundation for literary gerontology and has driven multidimensional research on aging literature. within gerontological theory, the distinction between the “third age” and the “fourth age” is particularly crucial. the third age generally refers to the visible onset of aging following retirement. at the sociocultural level, individuals in this phase retain a certain degree of autonomy and active agency but are simultaneously constrained by various traditional perceptions and social expectations. the fourth age, in contrast, emphasizes the gradual decline in self-control, characterized by the loss of essential physiological functions (such as continence) and cognitive faculties (such as memory and intelligence). this stage often entails greater dependency and vulnerability while also prompting deeper reflections on the meaning of life. in other words, the fourth age is not merely a biological process of physical deterioration but also involves an existential dialogue between freedom and death. even as their capacity for self-control diminishes, many elderly individuals continue to defend their sense of self-worth with their last vestiges of dignity. the significance of this silent yet profound “battle for self-preservation” lies not in whether the individual can “win” but in how they continue to affirm their identity and value in the face of inevitable aging and death. thus, the fourth age is not only the final stage of life’s journey but also an opportunity for deep reflection on the essence of existence, self-awareness, and the meaning of being. it compels individuals to contemplate how to navigate the balance between dependence and autonomy, vulnerability and dignity, in the twilight of life, fostering a more mature and profound attitude toward the present moment. within this theoretical framework, memoir and autobiography emerge as pivotal textual forms in gerontological studies. these genres often intertwine retrospection and reflection on individual life trajectories with broader social, cultural, and psychological dimensions. as such, they serve as valuable materials for the study of aging while offering crucial perspectives for understanding elderly identity, emotional experiences, and the evolution of social relationships. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 192 published by scholink inc. the pioneering insights of butler are particularly relevant here: he argues that the mechanism of reminiscence constitutes the core of elderly life, as the reconstruction of the past enables older individuals to maintain self-continuity and derive meaning and solace as they approach the end of life (butler, p. 68). this perspective not only enriches the theoretical framework of gerontological psychology but also provides literary gerontology with valuable insights from psychology and sociology, further advancing interdisciplinary research. however, in the western cultural context, which predominantly glorifies youth, the elderly continue to be marginalized, often reduced to symbols associated with “endings” or even “death.” such cultural phenomena frequently equate aging with decline, revealing a broader societal disregard and underestimation of the wisdom of old age. as may sarton lamented in journal of a solitude, “our spiritual culture does not regard maturity as a form of wealth (sarton, p. 70).” in contrast, albert camus, in his works, celebrates “violent death” (mort violente), viewing it as the ultimate manifestation of life’s passion and meaning (camus, p. 398). to some extent, this contrast highlights the general absence of natural aging in western narratives while also revealing humanity’s deep-seated anxiety and avoidance regarding the end of life. confronted with the vast and enigmatic “black hole” of death, individuals often struggle to fully accept aging and mortality, instead constructing psychological defenses to shield themselves from the ultimate questions of existence. in reality, it is only by confronting the “absolute” that one can dispel “illusions”; likewise, only through reflection and a compassionate engagement with fear and prejudice can the veils of “maya” (self-illusion) be gradually lifted. to truly transcend these constraints, individuals must cultivate a more open and critical self-awareness, while at the societal level, a more inclusive attitude toward third and fourth age populations is required. only through such collective efforts can a cultural and social environment be fostered that supports the holistic and free development of life. 2. the reproduction of memory in second-person environmental narration 2.1 second-person narration and the construction of individual ident in winter journal, paul auster employs a second-person perspective to retrospectively trace his personal history through more than twenty residences, from east orange to brooklyn. through the interplay of space and memory, auster explores the mechanisms underlying the formation of personal identity. this approach differs significantly from traditional memoirs: on the one hand, it embeds the trajectory of individual life within a broader historical context; on the other hand, it accentuates the “immediacy” of memory, whereby past experiences are continuously reinterpreted and endowed with new meaning in the process of recollection. this writing strategy aligns with paul john eakin’s discussion of “narrative identity,” which emphasizes that an individual’s self-awareness is formed through a continuous process of narration (eakin, p. 100). auster’s repeated use of “you” disrupts the conventional limitations of firstperson perspectives. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 193 published by scholink inc. according to research on second-person narration, this mode of storytelling fosters a more direct connection between the reader and the text, thereby enhancing reader immersion (fludernik, p. 452). in auster’s work, memory is no longer a static display of past facts but rather an ongoing narrative process that actively shapes the self in the present. for example, when describing his experience of wandering through city streets, auster writes: “always lost…but most of all the sensation of sidewalks, for that is how you see yourself whenever you stop to think about who you are: a man who walks, a man who has spent his life walking through the streets of cities (auster, pp. 57-59).” through this lens, narration and lived experience become intertwined, creating a reading atmosphere of simultaneity. by reproducing past experiences through the second-person perspective, winter journal allows the past and present to coexist within the text. this effect is particularly evident in the depiction of memory as an immediate sensory experience (fludernik, p. 460). traditional memoirs are often considered records of historical facts, yet they remain inseparable from the subjective reconstruction of reality (liao, p. 93). auster is well aware of this and deliberately uses the second-person perspective in winter journal to bridge the psychological distance between the reader and the narrator, making memory a dynamic site for continuous self-examination and reconstruction. 2.2 self-redefinition through temporal and spatial interweaving regarding the interplay between narration and experience, some studies suggest that the second-person perspective provides readers with more opportunities for self-reflection, thus creating new experiential channels between the text and its audience (fludernik, p. 457). moreover, auster’s use of second-person narration guides readers through shifts in time and space, thereby blurring the boundaries between selfidentity and temporal linearity. this flexibility in sequencing and in the relationship between subject and object allows second-person narration to transcend conventional linear storytelling and invites readers to reassess their own experiences (p. 465). as a result, winter journal not only presents auster’s past experiences but also engages with his ongoing redefinition of self-awareness in the present. in the narrative, “you” may refer to the child auster once was or to his present self, both coexisting within the same textual space: “your bare feet on the cold floor as you climb out of bed and walk to the window. you are six years old. outside, snow is falling, and the branches of the trees in the backyard are turning white (auster, p. 1).” this technique merges past and present emotions into a single textual dimension (fludernik, p. 460). as auster shifts between different spatial and temporal moments, he also engages with universal themes such as aging, loss, and death. in this context, second-person narration intensifies the reader’s sense of “presence,” prompting a deeper engagement with and reflection on their own existence (p. 461). thus, winter journal is not merely a retrospective account of private experiences but also a meditation on the meaning of existence. this narrative strategy resonates with contemporary theories of memory and identity, highlighting the unique potential of second-person narration in memoir and autobiographical literature: the process of reading and the text’s self-construction occur simultaneously, allowing memory to be expressed in a dynamic and fluid manner. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 194 published by scholink inc. 3. “boundary situations” and self-perception 3.1 “boundary situations” and the experience of aging in winter journal, auster employs second-person narration to interweave individual memory, bodily perception, and the passage of time, presenting the past, present, and future in a near-simultaneous coexistence. this narrative technique not only enhances the immersive quality of the text but also transforms aging, illness, and death into tangible experiences for the reader. unlike traditional memoirs that reconstruct the past in a linear fashion, auster employs second-person introspection to highlight the helplessness of confronting life’s finitude. in this way, aging is no longer merely a physiological process but becomes a critical factor in shaping self-awareness. the concept of “boundary situations,” central to phenomenology and existentialist philosophy, underscores the inescapable limits of human existence, including physical decline, the inevitability of death, and cognitive constraints (jaspers, p. 178). in auster’s narrative, these limitations manifest not only through his observations of his own bodily changes but also in his recollections of loved ones’ suffering and passing. by frequently using the second-person pronoun “you,” the author intensifies his self-interrogation, simultaneously inviting the reader to confront these existential dilemmas. to some extent, the reader shares the narrator’s anxiety and sense of powerlessness, thereby fostering an emotional resonance between the narrative subject and the reader. auster’s use of second-person narration presents the fear of aging in an unfiltered and direct manner. in his descriptions of bodily transformation, aging ceases to be an abstract concept and instead becomes an empirical reality, repeatedly confirmed through lived experience. for instance, he writes: “your bare feet on the cold floor as you climb out of bed and walk to the window. you are sixty-four years old (auster, p. 230).” this statement not only records a physiological condition but also, through the emphasis on details such as the “cold floor” and “bare feet,” accentuates the immediacy of sensory perception. compared to performing the same action in childhood, the aged body appears visibly more fragile, and the simple act of standing barefoot serves as an unmistakable signifier of aging. elsewhere, auster writes: “it is an incontestable fact that you are no longer young. one month from today, you will be turning sixty-four, and although that is not excessively old (p. 2).” this direct statement of age forces an unavoidable confrontation with the fact of aging. auster avoids rhetorical devices and metaphors, instead presenting the irrevocability of aging in the starkest possible terms. his portrayal of “bodily decline” and “loss of autonomy” aligns closely with the theoretical framework of the fourth age (gullette, p. 144). further reinforcing this, he describes: “you feel the blood stop flowing in your veins, and little by little your limbs turn to cement. that is when you start to howl (auster, p. 129).” this passage highlights not only the gradual accumulation of aging’s effects but also the sudden and catastrophic nature of physical collapse. the weakening of the body ultimately triggers psychological terror, implying a growing awareness of mortality and a gradual psychological preparation for death. by emphasizing this abrupt “breakdown,” auster immerses the reader in an almost visceral crisis experience—an illustration of how aging anxiety is socially constructed. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 195 published by scholink inc. in the passage recounting his mother’s death, auster’s treatment of emotion is particularly distinctive. he writes: “your mother has just died, and you’ve turned into a block of wood (p. 119).” here, rather than conveying conventional grief, the narrative captures a state of “emotional freezing”—the sudden absence of feeling and the psychological numbness induced by the loss of a close family member. the death of a loved one not only signifies the severance of familial bonds but also prompts the narrator to reassess his own existence (varvogli, p. 9). this approach stands in stark contrast to traditional portrayals of mourning, amplifying the existential shock of death. a similar theme recurs in auster’s recollection of his father: “at fifty-seven, i felt old. now, at seventy-four, i feel much younger than i did then (auster, p. 29).” this statement reflects a shifting perception of time and aging: the fear and uncertainty surrounding old age, once acutely felt, paradoxically fade as one actually enters later life. this phenomenon resonates with the theory of the third age, wherein individuals, upon retirement or later in life, frequently engage in recollection and introspection to construct new meanings for themselves. thus, auster does not merely depict the struggles of aging, illness, and death but also seeks solace and meaning through language, memory, and intimate relationships. 3.2 from grief to self-affirmation although winter journal repeatedly confronts themes of aging, illness, and death, auster does not succumb to nihilism. he writes: “you had learned that death was not something to be feared anymore (auster, p. 32).” this statement signifies his ultimate acceptance of mortality. the transformation from fear to tranquility forms a crucial narrative logic in the text—aging is not merely a biological decline but an ongoing process of constructing meaning through memory and narration. through second-person self-examination, auster vividly presents the fear of aging, the fragility of the body, and the sorrow of losing loved ones. these themes extend beyond personal memoirs, engaging in a broader existential discourse on human life. while auster does not offer a concrete solution, his creative approach implicitly suggests a response: when one fully acknowledges the “boundary situations” of existence, one can continue to narrate, to tell one’s story, and thus persist in living. it is in this seemingly fragile yet persistently defiant process of storytelling that individuals resist the pull of meaninglessness, continuously reaffirming the value and significance of their own existence. 4. transcending cognitive boundaries 4.1 second-person narration and death anxiety in winter journal, paul auster’s journey of self-examination revolves around the inevitability of death— his experience of panic attacks not only represents a traumatic episode in his personal psychological history but also serves as a site for exploring the nature of existence and the implications of death. unlike conventional memoirs that attempt to impose narrative coherence on life experiences, auster employs a second-person perspective that oscillates within the fissures of memory, blurring the boundaries between rational cognition and emotional intuition. this narrative strategy not only enhances the immersive quality of the text but also transforms the reader into a participant in a philosophical experiment on death. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 196 published by scholink inc. initially, auster attempts to approach death from an almost utopian perspective, treating it as a transition of consciousness rather than the cessation of existence. he writes: “on top of all that good news, you had learned that death was not something to be feared anymore, that when the moment comes for a person to die, his being shifts into another zone of consciousness, and he is able to accept it (p. 32).” at this stage, he seeks to dissolve the fear of death through philosophical contemplation, framing it as a shift in awareness. however, when the reality of death anxiety descends upon him, this rationalized interpretation quickly collapses: “five years later, when you had the first of your panic attacks, the sudden, monstrous attack that ripped through your body and threw you to the floor, you were not the least bit calm or accepting. you thought you were going to die then, too, but this time you howled in terror, more afraid than you had ever been in your life (p. 32).” here, “you” is no longer a detached observer but an individual consumed by the fear of death. this dual perception of death reveals auster’s inner conflict: on the one hand, he aspires to accept death through philosophical reasoning; on the other, when confronted with an actual existential crisis, all rational constructs prove powerless. this experience of existential collapse parallels martin heidegger’s concept of sein zum tode (“being toward death”) in being and time. heidegger asserts: “angst is anxious is being in-the-world itself (heidegger, p. 175).” auster’s panic attack serves as a literary manifestation of this moment, marking the individual’s sudden awareness of death and the trembling of “da-sein” when confronting its ultimate possibility. auster’s frequent use of second-person narration not only enhances the reader’s immersion but also universalizes the experience of death. the “you” in the text is both a projection of auster himself and an open invitation to any reader grappling with aging and the fear of death. through this narrative strategy, auster blurs the distinction between “story” and “discourse,” transforming death anxiety into a shared existential experience. this approach differs from traditional memoirs’ linear storytelling; instead, it allows the narrative subject to oscillate between introspection and externalization, making death anxiety transcend the confines of individual experience and emerge as a universal existential dilemma. heidegger further suggests: “but if being toward death belongs primordially and essentially to the being of da-sein, it must also be demonstrated in everydaymess, although initially in an inauthentic way (p. 233).” auster’s narrative technique embodies this possibility of “authentic” awakening by universalizing the individual’s confrontation with death, allowing readers to enter a reflective process of “sein zum tode” within the text. 4.2 moving toward self-surpassing through writing following his deep engagement with aging and death, auster’s narrative gradually transitions toward a form of self-surpassing or self-redemption. the second-person perspective not only conveys anxiety and fear but also opens up space for imagining alternative modes of existence. toward the conclusion of the text, he writes: “a door has closed. another door has opened (auster, p. 230).” this statement marks a cognitive shift--although death remains inevitable, writing becomes a means of resisting the erosion of time. auster’s approach to writing resonates with heidegger’s discussion of entschlossenheit. heidegger argues that authentic being-toward-death is not merely an experience of fear but also a decisive www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 197 published by scholink inc. confrontation with one’s own potentiality—for da-sein can only truly exist-toward-death when it makes an authentic decision (heidegger, p. 275). auster’s act of writing exemplifies this resoluteness, enabling the individual to extend the self through language when faced with mortality. additionally, this narrative strategy aligns with hannah arendt’s theory of speech and action. arendt contends that by narrating one’s experiences, individuals embed their private life trajectories within public discourse, thereby transcending the limitations of personal death (arendt, p. 173). auster’s writing is not merely a record of individual experiences but also an act of “creating existence,” sustaining the self in textual space and granting personal experience a form of linguistic immortality. winter journal not only examines how memory shapes personal identity but also delves deeply into the philosophical implications of death as one of humanity’s ultimate existential dilemmas. in auster’s narrative of death, we observe three interwoven trajectories: 1). the transition in death consciousness— an initial attempt to rationalize death as a transformation of consciousness; 2). the complete collapse of emotional stability—when panic attacks strike, rational contemplation is shattered by the primal terror of death; 3). the transcendence through writing—by narrating, auster seeks to “persist” within language, reinterpreting and redefining death. in the final chapter, auster does not offer a definitive “solution” to the problem of death; rather, his memoir-writing provides a possible response: death will arrive, but narration can continue. writing is not merely an act of documentation but a testament to and affirmation of existence. in the realm of language, individual experiences and reflections persist beyond the confines of mortality. ultimately, winter journal presents an open-ended proposition: when faced with the “ultimate predicament” of death, perhaps only through continuous narration and self-expression can one, in a certain sense, transcend conventional cognitive boundaries and find a momentary refuge for the soul. 5. conclusion in winter journal, paul auster extensively employs second-person narration to interweave memory, bodily perception, and the passage of time within the same textual space. this technique not only enhances the immersive quality of the reading experience but also renders the anxiety surrounding aging, illness, and death particularly vivid and tangible. auster does not merely engage in a linear retrospection of personal experiences; rather, through the repeated inscription of urban environments and bodily states, he constructs a narrative network that intersects with social history, life stages, and philosophical reflections. this distinctive narrative approach first demonstrates how memory becomes an integral part of the present: readers do not passively observe the author’s “past story”; instead, through the second-person perspective, they are drawn into an experiential mode, where they co-experience the disorientation, aging anxieties, and existential uncertainties alongside the “i” in the text. second, auster persistently engages with “boundary situations” in the narrative, directly confronting the inescapable limits of human existence—not only the deterioration of the body but also the emotional upheaval caused by the loss of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 198 published by scholink inc. loved ones. in this process, individual identity ceases to be fixed; rather, it is continuously redefined and deconstructed through the flux of time and space. through such introspective analysis, auster transforms what initially appears to be an intimate account of the body and emotions into a philosophical inquiry of universal significance. more importantly, winter journal does not merely engage with death as an abstract philosophical concept, nor does it succumb entirely to fear. instead, auster seeks a form of self-transcendence through language, navigating between pain and mourning. he initially attempts to rationalize death, viewing it from a utopian perspective as a “transition of consciousness,” yet ultimately acknowledges that in the moment of confronting true fear, all theoretical constructs may collapse. however, it is precisely this existential struggle that compels him to persistently ask through writing: in the face of an inevitable end, is there a way to achieve continuation? within the invocation of second-person narration, both the reader and the author are drawn into this existential dilemma, while simultaneously, the narrative process itself hints at a possible spiritual or meaningful resolution. in other words, auster’s work is not merely a personal memoir but a literary and philosophical experiment on “how to understand self-existence.” he intricately entangles individual experience with social and cultural history, interweaving historical memory with present perception, transforming aging, illness, and death into gateways for self-reflection and the exploration of shared human dilemmas. at the textual level, the repetition and variation of second-person narration serve not only as an artistic technique for reader immersion but also as an attempt to challenge the conventional paradigm of memoir writing: the individual does not merely recount the past to oneself but also pulls the reader into the experience, compelling them to confront the fear of aging and death, the pain of familial loss, and the fundamental question of existence. writing here functions not only as a means of documenting the past but also as an act of resisting nihilism and the erosion of time. from this perspective, auster’s exploration in winter journal becomes clearer: how does one confront the finitude of life through the retrospection and reconstruction of memory, and how does narration serve as a means of self-continuation? auster ultimately does not provide a definitive answer, but his writing practice suggests that the value of memoir lies not only in chronicling personal experiences but also in continuously interrogating the relationship between the self and the world. perhaps, by engaging with storytelling through the second-person perspective, we may slightly transcend the established cognitive boundaries, transforming “death” from a purely terrifying prospect into a shared human concern. it is precisely through this dialogue and reflection that individuals, even in the face of time’s inexorable force, may still retain a glimmer of vitality and courage. references auster, p. (2012). winter journal. london: faber & faber. arendt, hannah. (1958). the human condition. chicago: university of chicago press. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 199 published by scholink inc. butler, r. n. (1981). the life review: an interpretation of reminiscence in the aged. in the life cycle: readings in human development (pp. 349-356). new york chichester, west sussex: columbia university press. https://doi.org/10.7312/stei93738-029 couser, g. t. (2012). memoir: an introduction. new york: oxford university press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199826902.001.0001 camus, a. (2021). carnets 1935–1959: selected entries (translated by guo hong’an). nanjing: yilin press. fludernik, m. (1994). second-person narrative as a test case for narratology: the limits of realis. style (pp. 445-479). jstor. retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42946261 gullette, m. m. (2017). ending ageism, or how not to shoot old people. london: rutgers university press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1q1cqsm heidegger, m. (1996). being and time. translated by joan stambaugh. new york: state university of new york press. jaspers, k. (1970). philosophy, volume 2. translated by e. b. ashton. chicago: university of chicago press. liao, j. m. (2018). the definition, value, and approaches to the use of memoirs. contemporary literary circle, 1, 92-101. laslett, p. (1991). a fresh map of life: the emergence of the third age. boston: harvard university press. varvogli, a. (2001). the world that is the book: paul auster’s fiction. liverpool: liverpool university press. https://doi.org/10.5949/upo9781846314469 wyatt-brown, a. m. (1990). the coming of age of literary gerontology. j. aging stud., 4, 299-315. https://doi.org/10.1016/0890-4065(90)90029-8 https://webvpn.fudan.edu.cn/https/77726476706e69737468656265737421f4f848d228226f/10.1016/0890-4065(90)90029-8 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 166 original paper a study on the foregrounding language in the english translation of happy dreams hanchao liu1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: august 21, 2025 accepted: september 5, 2025 online published: september 18, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p166 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p166 abstract jia pingwa’s rural novel happy dreams portrays the lived experiences of marginalized groups through the urban dream of the protagonist liu gaoxing, a scavenger. the novel employs a significant amount of foregrounded language, which serves as the central means of character construction. drawing on leech’s theory of foregrounding as its analytical framework, this paper examines both the original text and its english translation happy dreams (translated by nicky harman), focusing on the translation strategies applied to various forms of foregrounded language, specifically lexical, grammatical, and dialectal foregrounding, through close textual analysis and comparative study. the findings reveal that the translator mainly adopts the domestication strategy, prioritizing reader accessibility. while this approach somewhat diminishes the rural authenticity and cultural otherness of the source text, it successfully facilitates cross-cultural communication, offering valuable insights into balancing literary integrity and readability in the translation of rural literature. keywords happy dreams, jia pingwa, foregrounding, leech 1. introduction happy dreams is a rural novel that tells the story of a scavenger named liu gaoxing’s urban dream from a first-person perspective. jia pingwa is good at using various forms of foregrounded language, such as using “dog hair” to describe “talkative” as a lexical foregrounding, breaking grammar rules like “why did wufu still bring her to me if she knew i didn’t want her?”, dialect foregrounding such as “shouhuo”, a dialect term, and register foregrounding formed by citing allusions from classics. these foregrounded language forms pose a significant challenge to literary translation. based on this, this study focuses on two core questions: first, what types of foregrounded language exist in the text of happy dreams, and what functions do they serve in narrative and character development; second, which translation strategies does translator nicky harman usually adopt when translating these foregrounded languages to balance www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 167 published by scholink inc. the literary nature of the original text and the readability of the target language. the author analyzed 38 cases of foregrounded language translation in chapter 3 of happy dreams as valid samples. the results show that the application of domestication strategies accounts for about 73.7%, while foreignization strategies account for about 26.3%. this data clearly indicates that domestication strategies are the dominant strategies most frequently adopted by translator nicky harman in translating the foregrounded language of happy dreams. theoretically, this study further enriches the case analysis of leech’s foregrounding theory in the study of rural literature translation into english, providing a theoretical analysis perspective for the cross-cultural transformation of “linguistic foregrounding” in literary translation. practically, its research results can provide a reference strategy model for the translation of rural literature into foreign languages. 2. foregrounded language foregrounding is the core concept of functional stylistics, and its theoretical origin lies in the formalist concept of defamiliarization. mukarovsky first applied the concept of foregrounding to stylistic studies in his book standard language and poetic language. subsequently, scholars such as jakobson, halliday, leech, and short continuously enriched and developed the theoretical connotations of foregrounding. mukarovsky (1964, p. 28) believed that foregrounding is a distortion of conventions and traditions, characterized in language by defamiliarization and anti-conventionality that challenge established norms, allowing readers to experience the unexpectedness, unusualness, and uniqueness brought by reading. jakobson, from another perspective, emphasized another aspect of foregrounding, namely parallelism, and proposed two stylistic devices of foregrounding, variation and parallel structure. halliday further pointed out that foregrounding is motivated prominence, meaning that only language prominence or foregrounding that is helpful for text comprehension can lead to foregrounding, while unmotivated prominence does not fall within the scope of foregrounding. linguist leech (1969) further divided foregrounding into qualitative foregrounding and quantitative foregrounding. qualitative foregrounding refers to the foregrounding of the language code itself, in other words, the foregrounding of the conventional patterns of language, violating grammar or established cultural expressions is qualitative prominence. quantitative foregrounding refers to the foregrounding of the expected frequency (leech & short, 2001, p. 48), in short, it is the intentional overuse or underuse of a certain language structure. the application research of foregrounding theory in linguistics, stylistics, and literary creation has a long history. at the beginning of this century, scholar ye zinan (2001) proposed the theoretical assumption of foregrounding translation studies. since then, a wave of research on foregrounding translation has emerged in china, with many scholars discussing topics such as foregrounding theory and translation criticism, translation stylistics research, literary aesthetics and foregrounding theory, and foregrounding theory and translation strategies. in the past five years, most of the review literature has focused on the translation and introduction of happy dreams and its translation strategies, such as by cui li, wang qianyu, and liu lu (2023), ji changju (2022), etc. others, such as shi mengjia and wang www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 168 published by scholink inc. lijun (2023), zhang sijia (2024), mainly explored the translation of culture-loaded words from the perspective of relevance and newmark’s translation theory. tang lixian (2021) studied the overseas dissemination mechanism of happy dreams from the perspective of adaptation theory, while ma rutao and feng zhengbin (2021) and shi chunrang (2023, 2024) from the perspective of sociology translation studies, zhu fangping (2021) from the perspective of translator subjectivity, and liu yuan (2022) from the perspective of eco-translatology studies. however, current research has not systematically explored the translation strategies of foregrounded language in happy dreams. in view of this, this study mainly focuses on the qualitative foregrounding framework of leech and short, concentrating on the foregrounded language translation strategies in jia pingwa’s novel happy dreams and its english translation, and explores the role of foregrounded language in literary expression and its translation practice in a cross-cultural context. 3. analysis of translation examples in happy dreams in his book a linguistic guide to english poetry, leech summarized the stylistic features of language foregrounding from the aspects of form, application and semantics, and proposed that foregrounding is a purposeful foregrounding of art. at the same time, eight different forms of foreboding were summarized: lexical foregrounding, phonological foregrounding, grammatical foregrounding, graphological foregrounding, semantic foregrounding, register foregrounding, dialectal foregrounding and historical period foregrounding. as tan xiangheng pointed out, jia pingwa is adept at pursuing a alienated aesthetic effect through abnormal expression techniques. in happy dreams, jia pingwa extensively employs foreground language, and each type of foreground language is involved to varying degrees. the following is a detailed analysis of five types of prospective languages: lexical foregrounding, phonological foregrounding, graphological foregrounding, register foregrounding, and dialectal foregrounding. 3.1 lexical foregrounding source text: 但人家要说起来了，我肯定得寸进尺，话多得像狗毛。(jia pingwa, 2012, p. 138) translated text: but the minute she spoke, i couldn’t help myself. words came tumbling out. there are common metaphors such as “as many as cow hairs” and “stars” to describe a large quantity. jia pingwa breaks the conventional combination by using dog hair as a metaphor, which belongs to lexical foregrounding. dog hair is a common image in life, which fits liu gaoxing’s identity as a scavenger and his plain language style, and is closer to the protagonist’s original state. the narrator is closer to a standard english speaker, adopting a domestication strategy, discarding the original image of dog hair, and retaining the core meaning of being talkative. the english idiom “words came tumbling out” conveys the uncontrolled state of language, and the add-on translation of “couldn’t help myself” can explain the psychological motivation. however, the foregrounding of the vocabulary also weakens the rustic texture of dog hair and the humorous color of the character’s self-deprecation through dog hair. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 169 published by scholink inc. 3.2 dialectal foregrounding source text: 那男的哎哎叫着要扑出来，我拦住了，我说你别惹他，他是二杆子！ (jia pingwa, 2012, p. 69) translated text: and the man shouted, “hey!” he was about to launch himself at wufu, but i stood in his way. “don’t go getting on the wrong side of wufu. he’s got a temper like a mad bull!” i warned. the translator extracted the core meaning of “two poles”, and replaced it with the familiar colloquial metaphor “temper like a mad bull” for english readers. nicky harman adopted the domestication strategy, using “got a temper” and “mad bull” to retain the warning meaning of the original sentence and avoid the translationese. english readers may not be familiar with the dialect meaning of “two poles”. the metaphor of “mad bull” is a successful case of cross-cultural transformation. 3.3 phonological foregrounding source text: 一辆大车呜儿呜儿叫着从兴隆街拐了进来，以为是消防车，哪儿有火灾了？(jia pingwa, 2012, p. 22) translated text: and the man shouted, “hey!”he was about to launch himself at wufu, but i stood in his way. “don’t go getting on the wrong side of wufu. he’s got a temper like a mad bull!” i warned. the function of onomatopoeic words is to transform sounds into written symbols and evoke auditory imagination through visual text. the reduplicated and erized sounds of “wuer wuer” are simulations of the horn sound when a large vehicle is in motion. such phonetic visualization can enhance the reader’s senses. nicky harman adopted the domestication strategy, using the present participle phrase “horn blaring” to echo the grammatical function, avoiding the lengthy explanation of “making a ‘w ‘er’ sound”, maintaining the fluency of the sentence and not disrupting the reading rhythm. the cross-cultural transmission of literary effects has been successfully achieved through semantic compensation. 3.4 graphological foregrounding source text: 有姑娘抱着狗走过了，走得婀娜多姿，那群人突然齐声吆喝：舒——服！ (jia pingwa, 2012, p. 22) translated text: a girl came by, walking gracefully with a dog in her arms, to a chorus of catcalls from the drunks. by using dashes to separate “shu” and “fu”, this writing form mimics the prolonged tone of “that group of people” to convey the unrestrained nature of the common folk. nicky harman abandoning the alienated “comfortable” (unable to convey “jeering or teasing”) and opts for the domestication strategy, choosing “catcalls” (whistles or strange calls made for teasing or mocking), capturing offense and frivolity. under the domestication strategy, the image of “that group of people” translated is more in line with the ill-educated group in the lower classes of the common people it is consistent with the overall character development of the novel and the ecology of the lower society. 3.5 register foregrounding source text: 我甚至还要举例说……但五富只读到小学就辍学了，他肯定不知道，对牛弹琴，我 就不说了。(jia pingwa, 2012, p. 18) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 170 published by scholink inc. translated text: it was like playing your lute to a cow, talking to wufu, and i shut up. liu gaoxing quoted allusions from classic to demonstrate that he had a certain level of literary accomplishment. however, wu fu’s “not understanding” contrasts with liu gaoxing’s “understanding”. although they are at the same social status, the two have a spiritual deviation, avoiding homogenization. wufu dropped out of school after primary school and has a relatively low cognitive level. here, the register foreground language creates a dislocation between “elegant expression” and “insufficient reception ability”, highlighting the ineffective communication between the two. if classics are distorted, english readers may fail to understand their connotations due to their unfamiliarity with the background of classics. nicky harman retains the core metaphor of playing the lute to a cow, omits cultural details, adopts a domestication strategy, focuses on ineffective communication, and avoids reading obstacles for foreign language readers caused by cultural background differences. however, the domestication strategy also weakens the register foregrounded effect of the original text, english readers cannot perceive the contrast between the refined register and the popular register through the allusions in classical art. 4. analysis of nicky harman’s common strategies for translating prospective languages the author listed the number of foreground languages in 10 chapters and compared the original text and translation of chapter 3, where foreground languages appear most frequently. the data is as follows: table 1 chapter the number of foregrounded language chapter 1 28 chapter 2 19 chapter 3 45 chapter 4 26 chapter 5 37 chapter 6 29 chapter 7 34 chapter 9 21 chapter 10 20 chapter 11 19 table 2 source text translated text translation strategy 汗出了一层又出一层 he started to pour with sweat domestication www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 171 published by scholink inc. 楼是一幢一幢高低胖瘦往空 中戳着 there were block after block of buildings, big and small, fat and thin, poking up into the sky. foreignization 曲里拐弯 twisting and turning. foreignization 在人和车搅和得像蚂蚁窝一 样的闹市里 downtown was like an ant’s nest, a hurly-burly of humans and cars, all mixed up together. domestication 我得轻松一下， i tried to lighten the mood. domestication 哈娃你能！我当然能。 “you’re a smart guy, hawa!” of course i am. domestication 紧天火炮的，脸憋成紫黑。 how he needed to go so bad, his piss was going to hit the ceiling.he was purple in the face from holding it in. domestication 抬蹄割掌哩！ “it’s a dog-eat-dog world here!” domestication 我们怀疑鬼在日弄我们， it seemed like they were messing with us. foreignization 巷道就狭窄幽深。 and the lanes between them were narrow and dark. foreignization 这楼坍得下来？ “will those buildings fall down?” foreignization 半空的电线像蜘蛛网，天就成 了筛子。 i looked up at the spiderweb of electric cables overhead, crisscrossing the sky like a sieve. foreignization 一捆葡萄酒 a bottle of wine domestication 送人酒不送个起子？！ “i hate it when people give you wine but don’t give you a bottle opener!” domestication 打手机， he was on the phone. domestication 一人得道鸡犬升天么。 you’ve made it, so now everyone else wants to get in on the act! domestication www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 172 published by scholink inc. 老虎吃天没处下爪么， we’re like tigers, hungry enough to eat the sky. we just don’t know where to start. domestication 你干啥我们在你手下混个嘴。 we’ll do whatever you tell us. domestication 哄谁去！ who’re you kidding? foreignization 清风镇人来这里凭啥哩， people come here from freshwind with zero—no skills, no money. domestication 你卖×呀？！ do they expect to sell their asses? domestication 讲的是拾破烂的大千世界。 then han started to instruct us in the world of trash collection.he made it sound as complicated as the realms of buddhist cosmology, and by the time he’d finished, i was an initiate. domestication 蛇皮袋子 a big laundry bag domestication 一把铁钩 a garbage-picker hook. domestication 架子车 three-wheeler domestication 转悠 you could pull your cart or pedal your three-wheeler around the streets, but only on your allotted patch. domestication 蝗虫不能吃过界。 you couldn’t descend like locusts anywhere you wanted. domestication 不辛苦跑街了 didn’t need to do street collections. domestication 眼活嘴乖， sharp-eyed, domestication 耍大了 the big guys domestication 进贡 pay them regular kickbacks. domestication 破烂王 the kings of trash foreignization 大拿 power. domestication 啊哈， yup. foreignization www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 173 published by scholink inc. 他银盆大脸呀，一颗一颗麻子 都放着光彩。 he had a big broad face, dotted with gleaming pockmarks. foreignization 用碟子去盛水怎么也不如碗， 可碟子就是装大菜的。 plates might not be as good as a bowl for water, but plates were what you needed for a feast. foreignization 好猫牌。 lucky cat! domestication 恁贵？ aren’t they expensive? foreignization 要贵！ we want expensive ones! foreignization 最窄狭也最僻背 s a long way from anywhere, and very narrow. domestication 简易屋 brick-built rooms domestication 叮咛得乏了 i was tired of listening to his instruction. domestication according to the classification of the two translation strategies of domestication and foreignization proposed by lawrence venuti in the translator’s invisibility in 1995, combined with the analysis in the above table2, it can be concluded that when nicky harman translated the foregrounded language in chapter three of happy dreams, the domestication strategy was dominant. among the 38 valid translation examples, those related to domestication strategies accounted for approximately 73.7%, and those related to foreignization strategies accounted for approximately 26.3%. for visually striking expressions that can be understood without cultural background, such as “high, low, fat and thin”, translator nicky harman tends to adopt an foreignization strategy to balance readability and the characteristics of the source language. for expressions with dialect, regional characteristics and colloquial expressions such as “tight sky cannon”, “lifting hoof and cutting palm”, “snake skin bag” and “setting up a cart”, translator nicky harman tends to adopt a domestication strategy, transforming them into concepts familiar to english readers to avoid understanding obstacles caused by cultural differences. 5. discussion this study takes leach’s foregrounding theory as the framework to explore the english translation strategies of foregrounded languages in happy dreams and its english translation. the author believes that jia pingwa wrote about leach’s eight foregrounded languages to varying degrees in happy dreams, while translator nicky harman often used the domestication strategy when translating. this study enriches the case support of leach’s foregrounding theory in the english translation of local literature and can provide strategic references for subsequent related translations. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 174 published by scholink inc. references bassnett, s. (2014). translation studies (4th ed.). routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203488232 feng, z. b., & dang, z. s. (2019). a study on the translation strategies of foregrounded language: a case study of howard goldblatt’s english version of ruined city. foreign language education, 40(1), 84-89. halliday, m. a. k. (1973). explorations in the functions of language. london: edward armold. harman, n. (2017). happy dreams. seattle: amazon crossing. jakobson, r. (1960). closing statement: linguistics and poetics. in t. a. sebeok (ed.), style in language (pp. 350~377). cambridge, mass.: mit press. ji, j., & wang, x. w. (2018). on the possibility and future of the overseas translation of contemporary chinese literature: a case study of the english version of jia pingwa’s happy dreams. contemporary writers review, 6, 165–173+186+2. jia, p. w. (2012). happy dreams. anhui literature and art publishing house. leech, g. (1969). a linguistic guide to english poetry. london: longman. leech, g. (1970). linguistics and literary style. holt, rindhart and winston: new york. shen, d. (1998). narratology and the stylistic study of fiction. peking university press. shen, s. y. (2025). a brief discussion on jia pingwa’s “sub-bottom narrative”: focusing on the novels happy dreams, the lantern bearer, and the pole flower. modern chinese literature studies, 20(2), 28-37. shi, c. r., & zhao, h. f. (2023). a comparative study on the overseas dissemination of the english translations of the novels happy dreams and life. translation research and teaching, 2, 7-12. wang, q. y. (2023). on the translation of dialect words in the english version of jia pingwa’s happy dreams. modern english, 15, 87-90. zhang, s. j. (2024). a study on the english translation of culture-loaded words in happy dreams from the perspective of semantic translation and communicative translation. new legend, 20, 25-27. zhou, l. s. (2016). the translation of “local language” and its criticism. foreign languages research, 33(4), 77-82. zhu, z. w., & han, n. (2025). translation is an art of communication and compromise: an interview with british sinologist nicky harman. chinese translators journal, 46(1), 131-135. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 80 original paper a comparative study of human and ai-generated spanish translations of the huangdi neijing: implications for crosscultural transmission in the age of artificial intelligence yao yan¹ & yuanyuan zuo1* ¹ school of international education, yunnan university of chinese medicine, kunming, china * corresponding author: yanyan zuo, school of international education, yunnan university of chinese medicine, kunming, 650500, china. e-mail: 410506504@qq.com received: november 18, 2025 accepted: december 3, 2025 online published: december 12, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n4p80 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n4p80 abstract the huangdi neijing is one of the foundational classics of traditional chinese medicine (tcm) and plays a central role in the global dissemination of chinese medical culture. with the rapid advancement of aigc (ai-generated content) technologies, machine-assisted translation has become increasingly relevant to the translation of culturally and conceptually complex medical classics. this study conducts a comparative analysis of a representative spanish translation of the huangdi neijing and its aigenerated counterpart, using reiss’s translation criticism framework. under an imrad structure, the paper examines semantic accuracy, terminology choices, grammatical features, and cultural expressiveness to evaluate the strengths and limitations of human and ai translations. the results show that while ai translations demonstrate high efficiency and structural consistency, they often lack precision in medical terminology, contextual interpretation, and cultural connotations. human translators, in contrast, excel at accurately conveying tcm concepts, interpreting classical chinese syntax, and compensating for cultural gaps, although at the cost of longer production time and occasional inconsistencies. the study argues that human–ai collaboration offers an effective model for translating classical tcm texts, combining efficiency with cultural and conceptual fidelity. it concludes that human creativity and professional expertise remain indispensable in the translation of medical classics, especially in ensuring terminological accuracy and preserving humanistic value in crosscultural communication. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 81 published by scholink inc. keywords huangdi neijing, traditional chinese medicine, spanish translation, aigc, machine translation, human–ai collaboration, translation criticism 1. introduction traditional chinese medicine (tcm) has experienced renewed global attention over the past several decades, driven by increased international exchange, greater recognition of complementary and integrative medicine, and the expanding availability of translated classical texts. among these, the huangdi neijing (yellow emperor’s inner canon) represents one of the core foundations of the tcm intellectual tradition. as both a medical and philosophical classic, its conceptual system—including qi, yin–yang, the five phases, and the correspondence between humans and nature—presents unique challenges for translation into languages that lack equivalent epistemological frameworks. the spanishspeaking world, where tcm has enjoyed rapid growth since the late twentieth century, now has an increasing demand for reliable and readable translations of tcm classics. this makes huangdi neijing translation studies not only an academic inquiry but also a practical necessity for medical education, clinical training, and cultural exchange. the translation of classical tcm texts has historically relied on human translators with strong interdisciplinary backgrounds in sinology, medicine, and linguistics. however, recent developments in aigc (ai-generated content) technologies have introduced new possibilities for accelerating translation processes and enhancing accessibility. ai translation tools—particularly large language models such as chatgpt—are increasingly used to handle complex linguistic tasks. their capability to process vast textual inputs, generate coherent outputs, and standardize terminology raises the question of whether machine-generated translations can meaningfully support or complement human translation of culturally and conceptually dense texts such as the huangdi neijing. despite these emerging opportunities, empirical studies evaluating the performance of ai systems in translating tcm classics remain limited. the challenges of translating the huangdi neijing are well documented. the text is written in classical chinese, characterized by high contextual density, polysymy, implicit logic, and layered metaphorical structures. tcm terminology itself is culturally embedded rather than strictly biomedical; many key terms do not have direct equivalents in western medical discourse. terms such as “发陈 (fa chen),” “少 长 (shao chang),” and “精气 (jingqi)” require not only linguistic decoding but also conceptual interpretation rooted in the traditional chinese medical worldview. previous research (e.g., tang, 2015; yan, 2023; hu & wang, 2024) has emphasized the literary nature, cultural load, and semantic indeterminacy of tcm terminology—dimensions that often fall beyond the current capability of ai translation systems. consequently, a rigorous comparison between human translators and ai-generated outputs becomes essential for understanding the strengths, limitations, and potential roles of ai in this specialized field. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 82 published by scholink inc. in addition, the spanish-speaking world presents its own translational landscape. existing spanish versions of the huangdi neijing—whether direct translations from chinese or mediated through english and french—display considerable variation in terminology, annotation practices, and interpretive frameworks. the uneven quality of translations, the coexistence of literal and adaptive approaches, and the market presence of annotated or modernized interpretations further complicate the reception of the classic. with the rapid diffusion of ai translation tools among students, practitioners, and educators of tcm in spain and latin america, an evaluation of ai performance becomes both timely and necessary. given this context, the present study adopts reiss’s translation criticism theory as its analytical framework to systematically compare human and ai translations of selected passages from the huangdi neijing. reiss’s model, emphasizing both linguistic and extralinguistic factors, provides a comprehensive lens through which semantic accuracy, terminological fidelity, stylistic features, and contextual appropriateness can be examined. using a representative spanish translation published by jg ediciones (2005) as the primary human-translated source and chatgpt-generated spanish renderings as the ai counterpart, this research assesses the extent to which ai can approximate, support, or diverge from human interpretive processes. this study contributes to the field in three ways. first, it provides empirical evidence concerning the strengths and weaknesses of ai translation in a highly specialized cultural-medical domain. second, it sheds light on the cognitive and interpretive gaps between human translators and ai systems when dealing with classical chinese and tcm conceptual structures. third, it argues for a human–ai collaborative model in the translation of classical texts, advocating for an approach that leverages ai efficiency while preserving the human translator’s cultural sensitivity, professional judgment, and interpretive depth. by situating the discussion within the broader context of global tcm communication, this research underscores the continuing importance of translation quality in shaping international understanding of chinese medical thought. as tcm gains visibility worldwide, accurate and culturally informed translations of classics such as the huangdi neijing remain indispensable for fostering intercultural dialogue, ensuring professional training standards, and facilitating the global dissemination of traditional medical knowledge. 2. literature review research on the translation of traditional chinese medicine (tcm) classics has expanded substantially in recent decades, driven by growing global interest in tcm theory, clinical practice, and cultural heritage. early scholarship focused on philological challenges, particularly the ambiguity of classical chinese grammar and the absence of direct equivalents for key tcm concepts in western languages. studies by unschuld, sivin, and others emphasized the epistemological gap between ancient chinese medical cosmology and modern biomedical frameworks, arguing that translation must preserve conceptual integrity rather than impose western interpretive categories. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 83 published by scholink inc. in spanish-language contexts, translations of the huangdi neijing remain limited. existing versions vary in accuracy and philosophical depth, often relying on paraphrasing or explanatory notes to accommodate readers unfamiliar with tcm theory. recent studies highlight the need for terminological consistency and methodological rigor in translating foundational tcm texts for international audiences. with the rise of artificial intelligence, research on ai-assisted translation has grown rapidly. large language models such as gpt have demonstrated remarkable linguistic fluency but continue to struggle with domain-specific knowledge and culturally embedded concepts. prior studies show that ai performs well in surface-level semantic tasks but lacks the conceptual grounding required for medicalphilosophical texts such as the huangdi neijing. as such, there is increasing academic interest in hybrid human–ai workflows that combine efficiency with interpretive depth. this study contributes to the literature by providing the first comparative analysis of human and aigenerated spanish translations of the huangdi neijing, highlighting their respective strengths and limitations and proposing a collaborative model for future translation practice. 3. methods 3.1 research design this study adopts a qualitative comparative research design to evaluate the performance of human and ai-generated spanish translations of selected passages from the huangdi neijing. given the text’s complexity, classical chinese conciseness, and culturally embedded conceptual system, a qualitative analytical approach provides the most suitable means of examining semantic accuracy, terminological interpretation, stylistic coherence, and cultural fidelity. reiss’s translation criticism framework is employed as the theoretical foundation due to its systematic categorization of linguistic and extralinguistic factors, allowing for a comprehensive and multilayered analysis of translation quality in both human and ai outputs. 3.2 materials and data sources 3.2.1 human translation sample the primary human-translated text used in this study is su wen: canon de medicina interna del emperador amarillo (preguntas sencillas), published by jg ediciones in 2005. this translation, widely circulated in spain and latin america, is produced by julio garcía, a translator known for multiple tcmrelated works. it represents one of the most influential spanish renderings of the huangdi neijing and thus provides a suitable benchmark for evaluating human interpretive practices, terminology choices, and annotation strategies. 3.2.2 ai translation sample ai-generated translations were produced using chatgpt (gpt-4.1 architecture, 2024 version), a stateof-the-art large language model capable of multilingual text generation. for consistency and replicability, the same classical chinese source passages were input manually without additional context, prompts, or www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 84 published by scholink inc. explanatory notes. the output spanish translations were collected and archived for systematic comparison with the human-translated versions. 3.3 selection of textual samples given the length and thematic diversity of the huangdi neijing, the study focuses on representative passages from the su wen that pose distinct challenges for translation. these include: 1) passages involving tcm core concepts, such as yin–yang, seasonal correspondence, and jingqi (essence and qi). 2) texts containing classical chinese syntactic ambiguity, multifunctional particles, or polysemous terms. 3) sections in which human translators provided additional annotations, explanations, or interpretive expansions—allowing comparison between intentional human guidance and ai’s autonomous output. this sampling strategy ensures coverage of key linguistic and conceptual difficulties inherent in the translation of tcm classics. 3.4 analytical framework the study follows reiss’s translation criticism model, which consists of two major dimensions: 3.4.1 intralinguistic (linguistic) factors ⚫ semantic accuracy: precision in conveying original meaning, avoiding mistranslation. ⚫ terminological fidelity: handling of culturally loaded tcm terms with no direct equivalents in spanish. ⚫ syntactic structure: correctness and readability of sentence formation. ⚫ stylistic appropriateness: consistency with the tone and rhetorical features of classical chinese. 3.4.2 extralinguistic (contextual) factors ⚫ cultural interpretation: ability to represent tcm worldview, metaphors, and analogies. ⚫ reader orientation: whether translation choices accommodate target readers’ background knowledge. ⚫ purpose and function of the text: faithfulness to the pedagogical or explanatory intent of the original classic. ⚫ translator’s role: presence of annotations, interpretive notes, or culturally adaptive explanations. through this dual framework, the analysis identifies systematic differences in the interpretive pathways of human and ai translations. 3.5 procedures of analysis the analysis proceeded in four steps: 1) text alignment: human and ai translations were aligned segment by segment for direct comparison. 2) unit-level analysis: key translation units (terminology, metaphors, ambiguous structures) were identified. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 85 published by scholink inc. 3) evaluation using reiss’s criteria: each unit was assessed for semantic accuracy, conceptual interpretation, stylistic adequacy, and cultural fidelity. 4) synthesis of findings: patterns of strength and limitations in both translation modes were summarized into thematic results. this structured approach ensures transparency, replicability, and methodological rigor. 3.6 ethical considerations no human participants were recruited for this study, and all materials used (published texts and ai outputs) fall under fair academic use. the study complies with ethical guidelines for research involving publicly accessible sources and technological tools. 3.7 limitations two limitations should be acknowledged: 1) sample size: only selected passages were analyzed, which may not represent every nuance of the huangdi neijing. 2) ai model variability: different ai models or versions may generate different translations; thus results reflect the behavior of the specific model used. despite these limitations, the study provides a robust comparative evaluation that can inform future research on machine translation in culturally specialized domains. 4. results the comparative analysis revealed clear differences between the human and ai-generated spanish translations of the huangdi neijing. these differences extended across semantic accuracy, terminology handling, syntactic and stylistic features, and cultural interpretation. the key findings are summarized below. 4.1 semantic accuracy 4.1.1 human translators demonstrated greater sensitivity to classical chinese syntax in several passages, the human translator showed an ability to interpret classical chinese particles and discourse markers that carry rhetorical rather than literal meaning. for example, in the sentence: “夫四时阴阳者，万物之根本也” the human translator misinterpreted 夫 as “man” (“para el hombre”), but chatgpt correctly rendered it as a discourse particle: ai translation: “los cuatro tiempos y el yin y yang son la raíz de todas las cosas.” this suggests that ai, relying on probabilistic linguistic patterns, sometimes outperforms human translators in identifying non-referential grammatical markers. 4.1.2 ai struggled with contextual meanings and classical conceptual terminology conversely, ai frequently misinterpreted lexemes requiring contextual medical knowledge. for instance: “夏为寒变，奉长者少” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 86 published by scholink inc. ai interpreted “长” as “elderly individuals,” producing: “la salud de los mayores se verá afectada” while the human version correctly identified “长” as “growth”: “lo que se transformará en frío en verano; esto se llama ‘escasa entrega a crecer’.” this indicates that ai tends to default to the most statistically common meaning rather than infer contextual interpretations central to tcm theory. 4.2 terminology handling 4.2.1 human translators preferred domestication with explanatory annotations in cases where direct spanish equivalents were unavailable, the human translator often provided: pinyin forms, descriptive glosses and conceptual explanations. this approach supports comprehension among readers lacking background in tcm. for example, human translators routinely added bracketed explanations after major tcm concepts. 4.2.2 ai favored foreignization with minimal explanatory support ai typically retained the pinyin term without interpreting its meaning or functional role within tcm theory: example: “春三月，此谓发陈” → ai output: “en los tres meses de la primavera, llamados ‘fa chen’.” without explanatory notes, the translation lacks interpretive depth and fails to convey the essence of the concept. 4.2.3 ai occasionally produced overly literal terminological mappings for example, ai rendered “五藏盛” as “los cinco órganos están plenos,” which is semantically correct but lacks the dynamic sense of “optimal functional state” implied in tcm. human translations, though irregular at times, conveyed richer interpretive nuance. 4.3 stylistic and grammatical features 4.3.1 human translations showed stylistic adaptation but inconsistent precision an example appears in the human rendering of age-related physiological decline, where entire segments were paraphrased to align with western biomedical logic. this improved readability but introduced interpretive shifts: “sus riñones pierden su capacidad de hospedar líquidos…” the added explanation reflects a biomedical perspective rather than classical chinese conceptual logic. 4.3.2 ai translations were grammatically stable but stylistically rigid ai generally produced structurally correct sentences but lacked stylistic variation. its output tended to be: monotonic, literal and lacking rhetorical sensitivity. for a literary-philosophical classic such as the huangdi neijing, this rigidity diminishes expressiveness. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 87 published by scholink inc. 4.4 cultural and contextual interpretation 4.4.1 human translators exhibited greater cultural contextualization human translators provided extensive cultural interpretation, including: referencing tcm classics (e.g., nan jing), elaborating relationships between organs and functions and maintaining thematic coherence with tcm pedagogy. example: in explaining organ interactions, the human translator inserted clarifying commentary, which, though not in the original text, aids comprehension. 4.4.2 ai displayed limitations in cultural insight ai mistranslated culturally dense or polysemous terms when biomedical analogues did not exist. for example: “人怀性情，故云应人。” ai’s translation: “corresponden a la naturaleza humana.” this rendering frames the phrase in emotional or psychological terms, whereas the original refers to individualized physiological responses. 4.4.3 ai was susceptible to character recognition and historical-language errors ai occasionally misinterpreted: rare characters, loan characters and variant forms. this is seen in unrelated—but representative—classical passages such as the misreading of “飧” and “疟”, showing that ai models still face challenges with archaic chinese glyphs. 4.5 summary of comparative findings dimension human translation ai translation semantic accuracy high in conceptual passages; occasional misreadings correct for simple syntax; weak on contextual meanings terminology explanatory, reader-friendly literal, minimal explanation style adaptive, sometimes interpretive rigid, structurally uniform culture high contextualization limited interpretive depth errors pinyin mistakes; inconsistency conceptual misinterpretation; character confusion www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 88 published by scholink inc. 4.6 overall interpretation the results show that: ⚫ ai excels at structural and basic semantic tasks ⚫ human translators excel at conceptual fidelity and cultural interpretation neither approach alone meets the full demands of translating a culturally saturated medical-philosophical classic. instead, the findings strongly suggest that: a human–ai collaborative model offers the most promising path for future translations of tcm classics. 5. discussion the comparative findings highlight both the potential and the limitations of ai-assisted translation in the highly specialized domain of traditional chinese medicine (tcm). while ai translation tools have achieved substantial progress in handling general linguistic tasks, their performance with culturally embedded, conceptually dense classical texts remains markedly inferior to that of experienced human translators. drawing on the results, this section discusses the implications of human–ai differences for tcm translation practice, cross-cultural knowledge transmission, and the evolving role of translators in the aigc era. 5.1 divergent interpretive mechanisms between humans and ai the human translator and the ai model demonstrated fundamentally different interpretive mechanisms. human translation relied on: ⚫ domain knowledge of tcm theory ⚫ familiarity with classical chinese textual logic ⚫ sensitivity to cultural metaphors ⚫ continuous inferential reasoning ai translation, by contrast, operated through: ⚫ statistical pattern prediction ⚫ lexical association ⚫ general linguistic structure mapping these divergent mechanisms explain the observed discrepancies. ai handled surface-level semantics with ease but consistently struggled with deeper conceptual interpretation. this aligns with prior research suggesting that large language models often reproduce patterns without genuine semantic grounding, especially in domains where meaning is constructed through cultural schemas rather than explicit discourse structures. the huangdi neijing is not merely a medical manual; it encodes a cosmological view of the body, nature, time, and society. such conceptual systems do not have direct equivalents in western epistemology, making them inaccessible to ai when explicit contextualization is absent. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 89 published by scholink inc. 5.2 the role of world knowledge in translating tcm concepts one of the clearest patterns that emerged is that tcm translation requires more than bilingual proficiency; it requires integrated world knowledge. for example: ⚫ the ai model misinterpreted “长” as “elderly individuals,” demonstrating a lack of medicalphilosophical background. ⚫ human translators, although occasionally inconsistent, were able to reconstruct meaning aligned with the tcm worldview. tcm terminology often functions within a network of conceptual relations, such as: ⚫ the correspondence between organs and natural elements ⚫ dynamic processes like “opening–closing–pivoting” (开合枢) ⚫ the cyclical movement of qi ai lacks stable representations of such systems, which leads to semantic flattening and conceptual simplification. this finding reinforces the argument that translation of classical medical texts is inseparable from cultural and theoretical understanding. 5.3 cultural fidelity vs. linguistic efficiency the contrast between human and ai translations reflects a broader tension between cultural fidelity and linguistic efficiency. ⚫ humans provided richer contextual notes, cultural interpretation, and conceptual nuance, but needed more time and introduced occasional surface-level errors. ⚫ ai delivered syntactically precise and rapid output, but lacked interpretive depth and produced terminological mismatches. this divergence suggests that neither method alone is sufficient. ai’s efficiency is valuable, especially for initial drafts or large-scale batch translation. however, cultural fidelity—essential for accurate transmission of tcm knowledge—cannot be achieved by ai alone. this echoes concerns in translation studies that excessive reliance on machine translation risks marginalizing the translator’s interpretive agency and may result in the erosion of humanistic value in the translated text. 5.4 human–ai collaboration as an emerging translation paradigm the results support a hybrid translation model in which human translators and ai tools complement each other’s strengths. in such a model: ⚫ ai generates preliminary drafts, handles repetitive content, or assists with lexical consistency. ⚫ human translators refine conceptual interpretation, adjust stylistic coherence, and ensure cultural accuracy. this hybrid model is particularly valuable for tcm classics because: 1) ai accelerates workflow without compromising translator control. 2) humans correct conceptual errors and integrate cultural knowledge that ai cannot infer. 3) the model supports broader dissemination: faster production + better cultural fidelity. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 90 published by scholink inc. such collaboration aligns with recent scholarship on “augmented translation,” which views ai as an assistant rather than a replacement for human translators. 5.5 implications for the global dissemination of tcm knowledge accurate translation of the huangdi neijing plays a critical role in shaping global perceptions of tcm. misinterpretations—whether generated by ai or human translators—may distort core medical concepts, mislead readers, or reduce the text to a series of biomedical analogies. the findings underscore several implications: ⚫ translation accuracy is essential for preserving tcm epistemology. ⚫ cross-cultural medical education requires reliable translations grounded in classical logic. ⚫ the growing presence of ai tools among tcm students and practitioners necessitates clear guidelines for their use. as the spanish-speaking world continues to adopt tcm in clinical, educational, and popular contexts, translation quality will directly influence its integration and cultural legitimacy. 5.6 future directions for ai-assisted translation of classical texts the limitations identified in this study also point toward potential avenues for future development: 1) domain-specific fine-tuning of ai models with tcm corpora may improve conceptual accuracy. 2) interactive human–ai workflows can reduce the risk of semantic drift. 3) standardized bilingual tcm terminology databases will enhance consistency across translations. 4) explainable ai systems may support transparency in interpretive processes. however, until ai systems acquire deeper conceptual modeling capabilities, human translators remain irreplaceable custodians of classical medical knowledge. 6. conclusion this study compared human and ai-generated spanish translations of selected passages from the huangdi neijing to assess their performance in conveying the linguistic, conceptual, and cultural characteristics of this foundational tcm classic. the findings show that although ai translation tools have achieved notable advances in handling general linguistic structures and surface-level semantics, they remain insufficient for the accurate transmission of classical medical knowledge. human translators, supported by domain expertise and cultural contextualization, demonstrated stronger interpretive capacity, especially in handling polysemous terms, conceptual networks, and cosmological frameworks central to tcm theory. the results reveal that ai excels in efficiency, consistency, and grammatical correctness, but lacks the depth required for translating culturally embedded concepts and philosophical-medical constructs. human translators, while slower and occasionally inconsistent in formal accuracy, provide indispensable interpretive insight and cultural fidelity. taken together, these findings suggest that neither approach alone can meet the full demands of translating the huangdi neijing and other tcm classics. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 91 published by scholink inc. a key contribution of this study is the demonstration that a hybrid human–ai translation model is the most promising pathway for future translation work in this field. ai systems can support preliminary drafting, structural analysis, and terminological consistency, whereas human translators remain essential for accurate conceptual interpretation and cultural mediation. such a model balances efficiency with fidelity, offering a practical solution for improving the accessibility and global dissemination of classical tcm knowledge. as interest in tcm continues to grow in spanish-speaking regions, the quality of translation will directly influence its reception and integration into medical, educational, and cultural contexts. future research should explore domain-specific ai training, collaborative workflows, and the creation of standardized bilingual terminology resources to further enhance translation quality. ultimately, the findings reaffirm that while ai can facilitate translation processes, human expertise remains central to preserving the epistemological integrity and cultural depth of tcm classics. declaration of ai use the author used ai-assisted tools (chatgpt) only for language polishing and structural adjustment during manuscript preparation. all conceptualization, data selection, translation analysis, and argumentation were conducted independently by the author. funding this study was supported by 1. the 2023 research project on international chinese language education, titled “the spanish translation and overseas dissemination of the tcm classic huangdi neijing” (project no. 23yh67d) 2. “chinese medicine culture promotion center of escuela superior de mtc and yunnan university of chinese medicine” reference castilho, s. (2023). machine translation for the humanities: opportunities and limitations. digital scholarship in the humanities, 38(3), 612-628. graham, a. c. (1986). classical chinese: a functional language perspective. journal of chinese linguistics, 14(2), 115-149. hightower, j. (1965). problems of translating classical chinese. harvard journal of asiatic studies, 25(1), 92-102. hurtado albir, a. (2015). traducción y traductología: introducción a la traductología. cátedra. koehn, p. (2020). neural machine translation. cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108608480 lo, v. (2005). the influence of the huangdi neijing on east asian medical traditions. asian medicine, 1(1), 31-66. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 92 published by scholink inc. munday, j. (2016). introducing translation studies: theories and applications (4th ed.). routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315691862 nida, e. a. (2001). context and meaning in translation. shanghai foreign language education press. openai. (2024). gpt-4 technical report. retrieved from https://openai.com/research reiss, k., & vermeer, h. j. (2013). towards a general theory of translational action. routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315759715 sivin, n. (1987). traditional medicine in contemporary china. the journal of asian studies, 46(2), 291313. unschuld, p. u. (2003). huang di nei jing su wen: nature, knowledge, imagery in an ancient chinese medical text. university of california press. ttps://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520233225.001.0001 unschuld, p. u., & tessenow, h. (2011). huang di nei jing ling shu: the ancient classic on needle therapy. university of california press. venuti, l. (2012). the translator’s invisibility: a history of translation. routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203553190 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 13 original paper the impact of a flipped classroom on student learning achievements in efl classrooms thieu thi hoang oanh1* 1 kien giang university, chau thanh, kien giang, vietnam * thieu thi hoang oanh, kien giang university, chau thanh, kien giang, vietnam received: july 31, 2020 accepted: august 12, 2020 online published: august 23, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n2p13 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n2p13 abstract the flipped classroom (fc) is one of the developing ideas of educating students. in a fc, students watch instructional videos at home in advance and do assignments or engage in activities during the class time. classroom time can be applied to more interactive tasks. this research was to identify the effect of the fc on student learning achievements and gain insights into the students’ perceptions towards the fc. this study was conducted with 60 efl students in the course grammar 3 of their ba program in kien giang university, vietnam. the participants were divided into a traditional class and a flipped class. the study consisted of both quantitative and qualitative research. the quantitative research design was to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in student learning results between two groups of participants. the qualitative research design with an open-ended question was to know students’ perceptions towards the effect of the fc. findings indicated that (1) the students in the fc got higher scores than the students in the traditional one; and (2) the students in the fc stated that the fc model helped improve their learning results, develop their self-regulation, self-confidence and other soft skills. keywords flipped learning, english language teaching, student achievements 1. introduction teachers and students will agree that there is not enough time in the school day to complete what needs to be done. students do not receive any benefit from being overwhelmed with information. they have passive way of learning, lack preparation for and engagement in their lessons and lack autonomous learning skills. this situation does not create the student-centered learning environment which is being encouraged now. this situation makes it difficult to achieve the millennium education goal that is to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 14 published by scholink inc. train a global citizen with lifelong self-study skills, critical thinking, working skills in teamwork. therefore, vietnamese education is aiming at modern teaching methods with learner-centered model, promoting cognitive abilities, independent capacity, discovering and solving learners’ problems and develop lifelong learning capabilities. meanwhile, in many countries in the world, the fc model has been proved to enhance students’ engagement, motivation, and improves academic performance (tucker, 2012). in a fc, students watch instructional videos at home before going to the classroom and do assignments or engage in activities during the class time. with this model, classroom time can be applied to more interactive tasks. this model has been used in europe and america recently. the main goal of flipping the classroom is to increase the face-to-face time between teachers and students (gross, 2014) and devote class time for discussing topics, answering questions and practicing exercises (mehring, 2015). flipped instruction is considered an effective tool for enhancing thinking and learning (strohmyer, 2016). in spite of its benefits, the fc model has not been used in higher education in vietnam. very few studies were mentioned and aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the fc method of instruction in efl classes in vietnam. with my research, i hope that the implementation of the fc model in tertiary education will help solve the current situation. the benefits of the fc model will provide students with time and opportunities for better participation in class and focus on developing higher-order thinking skills among students. 1.1 defining flipped classrooms according to bergmann and sams (2012), a fc is a setting where that “which is traditionally done in class is now done at home, and that which is traditionally done as homework is now completed in class” (p. 13). in other words, the sequence is inverted. lage, platt, and treglia (2000) stated that “inverting the classroom means that events that have traditionally taken place inside the classroom now take place outside the classroom and vice versa” (p. 32). however, this definition is incomplete. the fc is mainly perceived as students receiving video lectures for instruction, but in fact, in-class activities are more important than videos. in this model, classroom time can be used for engaging in activities, discussing hard concepts, and investigating questions related to content. the videos allow time in class for problem solving and interactive activities. bergmann et al. (2011) also revealed the myths and reality around fc. they mentioned that most people think flipped class is all about the videos. it’s a backward design because students watch videos for lecture assignments the day before. students can get lecture knowledge before getting to class. face-to-face time can be used to personalize meaningful activities and help increase interaction between students and teachers. fc isn’t an online course, and videos cannot replace teachers. the authors define fc as a blend between direct instruction and constructivism. students can watch the videos anytime, and teachers are facilitators who guide students on their own learning. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 15 published by scholink inc. 1.2 why fc teaching method is important in 21st century learning bergmann and sams (2012) identified many benefits in flipping one’s classroom. fc helps busy or absent students catch up or get ahead. the approach allows teachers to reach all students, not just for the bright students who dominate the conversation in in-class activities. fc is a method to personalize contents for all students. with this model, students can pause, replay the videos to help them understand better on the important concepts. students have more control over their learning. advanced students don’t have to wait for slow students to catch up and slow students don’t have to ask for more time. the speed is appropriate for all. flipping allows teachers to promote interaction between teacher and students, students and students. small groups work on interactive activities and can help and learn from one another. the fc is pedagogically sound because it serves the principles of personalized-differentiated learning, student-centered instruction, and constructivism. the literature indicates that a fc is effective in terms of increasing the grades of students when compared to a traditional, lecture-based class (day & foley, 2006; flumerfelt & green, 2013). degrazia, falconer, nicodemus, and medlin (2012), also suggests that with video lectures outside the classroom, students come to class more prepared. when used properly, interaction between students and teachers actually increases in a fc (roehl et al., 2013). millard (2012) has suggested that the fc can contribute to student engagement, team-based skills and classroom discussion. in one flipped instruction study, enfield (2013) found that this model “was effective in helping students learn the content, and increased self-efficacy in their ability to learn independently” (p. 14). bergmann and sams (2012) stated that parents love the videos because they can watch along with their children. parents can access the content through the videos and this makes teaching transparent. this eliminates incorrect perspective of parents to the school. 1.3 related studies on the use of the fc model previous research investigating the use of the fc model in different subject areas usually showed positive feedback of learners and brought a number of benefits (gaughan, 2014). few studies were conducted to examine the effectiveness of the flipped foreign language classroom. some studies supported flipping classrooms and stated that there were improvements in students’ performance and while others reported no improvements in their students’ achievement. in this concern, baranovic (2013) reported some positive results when he investigated the effectiveness of a fc for a composition course with first-year students. the findings of this study also revealed that, students’ writing skills improved and benefitted from the fc method. grimsley (2013) also investigated perceptions of 19 college students toward the flipped method in a writing classroom. most of the participants stated that they liked the videos before class and were in favor of the fc method over the traditional teaching method. recently, basal’s study in 2015 investigated the perceptions of 47 prospective english teachers towards the flipped language classroom and showed that the participants had positive perceptions towards the use of the fc. additionally, in his mixed-method study in 2016, oki investigated students’ perceptions www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 16 published by scholink inc. towards the impact of the fc method. qualitative results indicated that student participants tended to prefer the fc over traditional instruction; however, quantitative data did not reveal statistically significant differences. similarly, yang (2017) examined the use of a fc in the english language subject in secondary classrooms in hong kong. the study involved 57 students from two secondary classes and two teachers teaching these two classes and revealed that the students in general had positive attitudes towards the implementation of the fc. in vietnam, few research have been conducted in the vietnamese context tackling the effectiveness of using the fc model in efl classes. nguyen (2014) presented the theoretical grounds for flipped learning, synthesized research about the model of fcs and discussed the strengths and weaknesses of this model, and had some suggestions for its implementation in universities and colleges in vietnam. in their case study in 2016, nguyen and le applied fc model in teaching digital to improve students’ capacity of creative thinking. the results of studies indicated that applying the fc course not only inspired students to learn, enhanced their learning results, but also helped them improve their capacity of creative thinking. le and bui (2017) used the fc model in teaching biology in ha noi with the aid of the edmodo tool. experimental results showed that this method was highly effective in teaching and developing students’ self-learning competence. in their research in 2017, nguyen and vu addressed the definition of flipped learning based on learning theories and suggested the proper flipped learning approach to develop ict skills for students in ha noi university of education. almost no research in vietnam has applied the fc model to english classes and the effect of this model on developing soft skills and the abilities among efl students. therefore, this study is conducted to investigate the efficacy of the model and to see what skills or abilities vietnamese learners can gain from using the fc model in efl classes. 2. method 2.1 research aims this study consists of two main purposes: (1) investigating the effect of the fc model on improving efl student learning achievement; and (2) finding the effect the fc model on students’ skills and abilities. 2.2 research questions 1) to what extent did the fc model improve efl student learning achievement compared to the traditional method? 2) how did the students perceive the effect of the fc model on their learning achievement and other skills or abilities? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 17 published by scholink inc. 2.3 research design the research consisted of an experimental study based on a pretest-postest design. this study was made up of a pre-test, an implementation of the fc model (in the experimental group) and traditional method (in the control group), a post-test and an open-ended question to the experimental group. 2.4 research participants 2.4.1 students the participants of the study were 60 efl english major students of kien giang university in vietnam. all participants of this study studied the same syllabus. they studied grammar 3 course in the second year of their ba program. prior to this study, the participants had studied english for 7-10 years. their levels were identified as a2-b1 according to the cefr (common european framework of reference for languages). they were divided into two groups: the control group (30 students) and the experimental group (30 students). the researcher employed purposive sampling in determining the students to be included in each of the research groups. the 60 students chosen got similar grades in grammar knowledge (according to the average test grade of the previous grammar course in the previous semester). 2.4.2 teachers one experienced teacher in kien giang university was invited to teach both the control group (traditional method) and the experimental group (fc method). she got a master degree in tesol. she was able and willing to use fc model. two experts from the same university were invited to help the researcher choose the content for the flipped class meetings; design videos and activities for in-class activities; and help validate the content of the instruments. 2.5 research instruments the treatment measures used in this study consisted of a pre-test, a post-test, and an open-ended question. instruments t-test (pre/post-test) open-ended question function to measure effects of the fc model on efl student learning achievement to gauge students’ perceptions of the effects of fc model on their learning achievement and other abilities or skills elicitation format written 30 multiple choice questions, 8 sentence transformation questions, and 10 gap-fill questions written “how did fc contribute to your ability to learn grammar 3 and other abilities or skills (e.g. self-regulation, selfconfidence, critical thinking and autonomous learning skills...)?” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 18 published by scholink inc. 2.6 data collection and analysis the quantitative data were analyzed using spss. to access the internal consistency reliability of the questions on the test, cronbach’s alpha was calculated. the alpha for the test was found to be .81. to analyze research question 1 for the test, an independent samples t-test was run to determine whether there was a statistically significant different between the control group taught in the traditional lecture method and the intervention group taught in the flipped method. at the end of the semester, in order to learn the opinions of the participants, the following research question was asked: “how did fc contribute to your ability to learn grammar 3 and other abilities or skills (e.g., self-regulation, self-confidence, critical thinking and autonomous learning skills...)?” qualitative data were collected through an open-ended question. responses were subjected to content analysis with thematic categorization. the replies were coded and grouped by two researchers to determine common themes. next, the two researchers from the field of english language teaching compared and discussed their content analysis to determine the final versions. the validity of the common themes was achieved by the agreement of multiple classifiers upon the common themes by working independently of each other. 3. results and discussion 3.1 the effect of the fc on students’ learning achievement the traditional and flipped groups had a statistically significant difference on common final exam sores (p<.05) with a calculated cohen’s d=0.61. the mean control group score (m=5.57, sd=1.671) was lower than the mean intervention group score (m=7.67, sd=1.830), for a mean difference of 2.1, p=.00. this produced a p-value in which one should conclude a statistically significant difference between the groups. this showed that the mean score of the experimental group was higher than that of the controlled group and that the fc model had a positive effect on students’ learning achievement. compared to the results obtained in the traditional course, students in the flipped course were able to make more gains. the result supports the results from deslauriers, schelew, and wieman’s study in 2011 that students in the flipped course scored more than twice as well as students in the control group on a multiple-choice test measuring comprehension of the content in the final week. training students to transition from passive learners to active learners may promote success in the fc. 3.2 perceptions of elt students towards the effect of the fc after the course grammar 3, the participants in the experimental group stated that they had more motivation in learning, learned better and got better results with their flipped learning. they indicated benefits such as learning at one’s own pace, understand the lessons better, advancing student preparation, overcoming the limitations of class time, and increasing student participation in class. for other abilities and skills, the students said that they could develop their self-regulation, self-confidence thanks to the fc model. they also stated that they could gain autonomous learning www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 19 published by scholink inc. skills, team working skill, problem-solving skills and critical thinking skills through the implementation of the fc model as well as the interactive activities in class. examples of some excerpts are provided from student comments to illustrate their achievement. learning achievement: some students reported the achievement they gained and explained benefits of the fc model as the following. these videos give us an opportunity to watch it again and again. i am not dominated by other good students in the class. this is really a beneficial opportunity for weak students to understand the lesson as the others. (participant 20) when we know the topic and learn something about it, we participate in class much more. i understand my lesson much more and get higher marks for this course. (participant 18) i can understand the lessons much better with the videos before class and i have better results in this course. (participant 2) watching the videos or reading the articles about the lesson beforehand gives us foreknowledge about what we are going to study in the lesson. i feel i have motivation to go to class to ask what i do not know for sure. (participant 24) watching some videos about the next lesson’s subject is really helpful for catching information better because class time isn’t enough for learning a language. (participant 27) it is useful that lessons are not restricted to the classroom. we can have more time to clarify hard-to-understand information and investigate questions related to the content. (participant 3) it is also good to be aware of the subject beforehand. therefore we get something to say in the class, even if it is just a small sentence. (participant 22) advance student preparation improves understanding of the content of lessons. with a fc, students come to class with greater knowledge, and their participation increases (bergmann & sams, 2012). based on the excerpts, videos were clearly beneficial for advance preparation and content comprehension. furthermore, based on comments from participants, a fc can contribute to personalization with video lectures, which present opportunities to watch or re-watch lessons as needed. moreover, with a variety of materials in addition to lecture videos, the flip can contribute even further to the individual needs of students and improve learning experience (strayer, 2007; thyagharajan & nayak, 2007). the replies also establish how a fc can contribute to student participation during lessons in class. the fc encouraged students to be more active. because of the advance preparation of the students to the videos before coming to the lesson, such preparation helped to increase the student participation in the classroom activities. the participation of the in the lesson increases since when lectures occur outside classroom hours, time with the instructor is dedicated to discussions, increasing comprehension (tucker, 2012). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 20 published by scholink inc. skills and abilities: some students reported the abilities and skills they achieved as benefits of the fc model as the following. i am more self-regulated with the flipped learning model. i am more responsible with my studying. (participant 5) i am more engaged in class activities, listen to my friends’ ideas, discuss, ask questions and gain critical thinking skills from that. (participant 11) i feel that i am more confident thanks to my pre-preparation and interactive activities in class. (participant 19) i can develop my autonomous learning skill from the course. i feel that i need to watch the videos and prepare the lesson before class so that i can ask questions to understand the lesson more deeply as well as profit from my friends’ questions and discussion. (participant 23) their positive effects are undeniable for sure, as they make us think more, analyze the subject and we become pre-prepared. (participant 24) i am curious to know what the teacher shows in the videos, and i look for other videos with similar topics from the internet to learn more about the topic. it helps me understand the lesson better and i can have more ideas for discussion in class. (participant 10) pre-recorded videos have a positive effect on me because thanks to them i come to class being prepared and feel more confident. (participant 8) i like the activities in class which allow me to participate more in classroom interaction. it makes me more active. (participant 1) we can develop our team working skill and problem-solving skills when doing group work activities and discussion tasks during class time. (participant 9) these important outcomes support the idea from kvashnina and martynko’s study (2016) that when students exposed to the fc model and to blended learning in general, they have trained their autonomous learning skills and have acquired a more independent learning culture. bishop and verleger (2013) also asserted that a fc require students review of the course online prior to attending class, and also spend time on problem-solving activities together with exercises in class that are traditionally known as homework. the learner is accountable for exploring online materials in a self-directed manner, attempting to gain foundational knowledge before class, and then actively applying it in the collaborative classroom. in short, the results help prove the idea that flipped instruction is an effective tool for enhancing thinking and learning (strohmyer, 2016). in conclusion, this research contributes to the scholarly research on the fc and supports the idea that the flipped learning model can be successful in higher education. fc model can promote comprehension, help students get higher scores and gain some important skills. the research helps popularize the implementation of the fc model into english language classes in vietnam. from this research, teachers and educational authorities will realize the benefits of the fc model so that they can www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 21 published by scholink inc. use it more widely in vietnam, especially in higher education institutions. it also contributes to the change from instructor-centered instructional model into student-centered model of learning. references aronson, n., & arfstrom, k. m. 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(2017). an investigation of the use of the “flipped classroom” pedagogy in secondary english language classrooms. journal of information technology education: innovations in practice, 16, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.28945/3635 https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v11i03.5309 https://doi.org/10.1080/00220480009596759 https://doi.org/10.14307/jfcs105.2.12 http://etd.ohiolink.edu/sendpdf.cgi/strayer%20jeremy.pdf?osu1189523914&dl=y https://doi.org/10.28945/3635 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 139 original paper a functional study of meta-discourse fanyu mao1 1 jiangxi university of finance and economics, nanchang, china received: may 1, 2023 accepted: may 26, 2023 online published: june 13, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p139 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p139 abstract with the development of the discourse analysis theory, researchers have begun to pay attention to the meaning of discourse itself, and the meta-discourse has become a hot spot in discourse research. the definitions of meta-discourse in different schools are different and have their own biases, but the metadiscourse role has been widely accepted of organizing the discourse, expressing the author’s views, and considering the reader’s reflection, which is a way for the author to carry out the structure of the paper and organize ideas. from the perspective of halliday’s system and function, this paper analyzes the three major functions of metadiscourse: ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions. the ideational metadiscourse can affect the propositional content and semantic interpretation of discourse to a certain extent. the interpersonal metadiscourse helps understand and evaluate propositional information, establish the relationship between the author and the reader and emphasize the interaction between them. the textual meta-discourse helps the writer express how they connect conceptual materials and how the text produces meaning in the context. in addition, the author believes that the use of the meta-discourse also reflects the interactive, inter-subjective, and dialogic features of the discourse. keywords meta-discourse, function, study 1. introduction the study of metadiscourse can be dated back to the 60s of the 20th century. zellig harris coined the term metadiscourse in 1959 to understand the use of language, providing a way for authors/speakers to guide audiences to understand the discourse. later, williams (1981), vande kopple (1985), crismore (1989), hyland (2005), etc. further developed this concept, placing into the category of the metadiscourse the ambiguous language, connectives, and various commentaries that can indicate author/speaker intervention in the discourse to influence the reader. many scholars have explained this concept and proposed an analytical framework, which has been applied to the empirical research in various fields such as discourse analysis, academic english, and english teaching. people realize that in the process of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 140 published by scholink inc. using language, the author conveys not only the attitude towards the proposition, but also the attitude towards the reader. the scope of research has also expanded from focusing on the basic propositional content of the discourse to studying the interpersonal functions of the discourse. as a master of the metadiscourse research, hyland (2005) placed the metadiscourse in social context, emphasizing that metadiscourse can promote the interaction between the discourse and the context, and then realizing the organic interaction between the two sides of the communication. but as hyland (2005) pointed out, the metadiscourse still lacks a theoretical basis and is vague in practical application. previous researches have often distinguished the transmission of information from the transmission of emotions, focusing on the meaning of propositions and ways of expressing ideas and ignoring the fact that communicative participants can create discourse. through the connection between meta-discourse and functional linguistics, this paper focuses on the relationship between the discourse producers, users and the discourse itself, discusses the interaction between meta-discourse and ideational function, interpersonal function and textual function, explains the ideational meaning, interpersonal meaning and textual meaning of the metadiscourse, and summarizes the universal characteristics of the discourse, so as to deepen our understanding of the nature, law and function of language. 2. definition of metadiscourse since harris (1959), the study of the metadiscourse has developed rapidly, and many scholars have tried to define “metadiscourse”. in general, there are two major schools of exploration in this area: the functional linguistic path and the sociolinguistic path. vande kopple (1985) argued that the metadiscourse is “discourse about discourse”, which has nothing to do with propositional content and is mainly used to guide readers to organize, classify, interpret, and evaluate the information conveyed by the text. crismore (1989) made a clear distinction between primary discourse and metadiscourse, arguing that the basic discourse is used to express propositional content, while metadiscourse is to help readers understand, comment, and respond to propositional information about a topic. on the other hand, the concept of metadiscourse has also attracted the interest of many sociolinguists. on the basis of meyer (1975)’s use of signaling to explain the linguistic construction and semantic content of metadiscourse, schiffrin (2007) argued that metadiscourse is metatalk that can be used to organize and evaluate the discourse. yu jianping (2007) and yang xinzhang (2007) started from the three meta-functions of halliday, and believed that metadiscourse is the linguistic mechanism that expresses the linguistic structure and the attitude of the speaker in the discourse. xu (2006) questioned the notion of “discourse about discourse”, arguing that metadiscourse should be seen as a means of incorporating the speaker’s attitudes and perspectives into the passage, thus attracting the attention of the listener or reader. due to the ambiguity and openness of the concept of metadiscourse, there is currently no consensus on its content, and the author uses the views of hyland, the main representative of interactive metadiscourse. hyland (2005) defines metadiscourse as a form of self-reflective expression used to negotiate the interactive meaning of discourse, helping the author or speaker to express his or her opinion and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 141 published by scholink inc. communicate with the reader as a member of society, such as as you might recall, it seems, to a certain extent, etc., which play the role of regulating and organizing basic discourse in communication, reflecting the speaker or the author’s communicative intentions and stances and leading the audience to understand the discourse and engage in interactive communication (vande kopple, 1985). this definition emphasizes the interpersonal meanings of metadiscourse such as evaluation, attitude, and participation. hyland (2005) views metadiscourse as a linguistic component that helps the speaker express his or her opinions and establish interaction with the listener from a functional point of view. 3. classification of metadiscourse the discourse in language communication includes primary discourse and metadiscourse, in which the basic discourse expresses propositional information about the topic, and the metadiscourse guides readers to organize, understand, comment on propositional information, and respond to the propositional content. many scholars have also proposed a variety of classification frameworks for the metadiscourse. kopple (1985, p. 83; 1988, p. 236) divided the metadiscourse into textual metadiscourse and interpersonal metadiscourse. ifantidou (2005, p. 1328) divided it into intradiscourse metadiscourse and interdisciplinary metadiscourse. among them, the classification method of hyland (2005) is more commonly used. hyland believes that basic discourse and metadiscourse are inseparable, because discourse must both represent propositional content and achieve two functions of interaction with the reader. essentially, the metadiscourse is a series of language organization methods adopted by the author (or speaker) of the text in the process of language communication to help the reader (or listener) better process and understand the information to be expressed. the metadiscourse units can be composed of words, phrases, sentences, or even larger grammatical structures, with functions such as marking the structure of discourse and expressing the author’s attitude towards the content of the discourse and the reader. based on the research of his predecessors, hyland divided metadiscourse into two categories: interactive metadiscourse and interactional metadiscourse. hyland (2005) argued that the metadiscourse is as important as fundamental discourse, and that metadiscourse is a representation of self-reflection used in negotiated texts. the interactive metadiscourse guides readers to pay attention to the discourse organization and the author’s discourse construction. it includes: transitions, pointing to the connection between clauses; frame markers, pointing to speech acts, chronological sequence or steps; endophoric markers or internal pointing, pointing to information elsewhere in the text; evidentials, pointing to information in other texts outside; code glosses, explanation of the propositional meaning. interactional meta-discourse aims to establish an interactive relationship with readers, focusing on the expression of the author’s position, which includes: hedges, implying that the author’s point of view is not completely certain; boosters, expressing the author’s affirmation of the argument; attitude markers, expressing the author’s attitude towards the proposition; self mentions, explicit reference to the author; engagement markers, explicit reference to the reader. the specific classification and functions are shown in table 1. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 142 published by scholink inc. table 1. meta-discourse model (hyland, 2005, p. 49) category function examples (interactive metadiscourse) transitions expressing the relationship between the clauses in addition, but etc. frame markers referring to speech acts, chronological sequence or step finally, to conclude endophoric markers referring to information elsewhere in the text noted above, in section 2 evidentials referring to information in other texts outside according to sb. states code glosses detailed elaboration namely, such as (interactional metadiscourse) hedges weakening the author’s certainty about the proposition might, perhaps boosters strengthening the author’s certainty about the proposition in fact, definitely attitude markers expressing the author’s attitude i agree, surprisingly self mentions mentioning author himself or herself i, we, etc engagement markers establishing the relationship with readers consider, note, you 4. functions of metadiscourse the function of metadiscourse refers to how the metadiscourse achieves the communication purpose required by the author, which is related to whether the discourse can make requests as the author wishes, guide readers to respond, explain meanings and ask questions. we have the following consensus on the function of metadiscourse: (1) metadiscourse can help guide readers to understand the content of the proposition of the discourse, and reflect the author’s attitude towards the content and reader; (2) metadiscourse can help readers organize, interpret, and evaluate the information provided by the discourse. halliday (1978) believed that language embodies ideational, interpersonal and textual functions at the same time. the meaning of discourse is the result of the fusion of three metafunctions. from the point of view of systematic functional linguistics, language is a system of meaning, and the lexical grammar choices we make in communication are the result of context triggering. at the same time, these choices also construct the context, and the context also constrains choices. halliday argues that discourse allows speakers to create discourse that connects the ideational meaning and interpersonal systems to context. the ideational semantic system expresses the function of language to transmit new information, and the interpersonal semantic system expresses the speaker’s intervention in speech events, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 143 published by scholink inc. including the speaker’s attitude, evaluation, judgment, expectation and requirements. textual semantic system means to connect narratives about the world and organize the discourse into propositions. at the same time, it connects the narrative and the reader and organizes it into a metadiscourse. 4.1 ideational function of metadiscourse ideational function refers to the empirical function and logical function embodied in the discourse. the experiential function refers to the speaker’s use of words to describe the objective world and the inner world, talk about their experiences and emphasize the speaker’s reflection of them. language does not express itself in a loose form when it reflects everything and all processes in the objective and the inner world. the representation of language has a certain logic, or juxtaposition or subordination, that is, the logical function of language. the empirical function and the logical function superimpose each other to form the ideational function of the discourse. the metadiscourse is an organic component of discourse. a metadiscourse is a discourse distinct from the content of a proposition, which is similar to the ideational function of language. propositional information and metadiscourse often appear together in this text, sometimes in the same sentence, and both play an equally important role in the coherence and meaning of the text. ifantidou (2005) argued that metadiscourse does not merely assume the function of non-propositional, auxiliary, secondary textual interpretation. although most metadiscourses do not affect the propositional content of the discourse, some adverbs indicating possibility, connectives indicating cause and effect, etc. can indeed affect the propositional content. there are adverbs that indicate evidential adverbials, such as obviously, clearly, evidently, etc., and adverbs that indicate hearsay adverbials, such as allegedly, admittedly, reportedly, etc., have propositional functions. like propositional information, metadiscourse can express the author ’s intention and is an integral part of the information. it can help the text to establish a connection with the context, and consider the reader’s needs, comprehension, existing knowledge, and text experience acquired. therefore, metadiscourse also has an ideational function. however, the ideational function of metadiscourse and that proposed by halliday are not equivalent, but the part and whole relationship. the ideational function of metadiscourse is a part of the one proposed by halliday. halliday’s ideational function describes activities in the real world, and focuses on information outside the discourse, that is, external information while that of the metadiscourse conveys the information inside the text, the thought, state or behavior inside the text. 4.2 interpersonal function of metadiscourse the interpersonal meaning of words is inseparable from the person who uses them. human beings are social animals with social attributes, psychological intentions, cognitive ability and value judgment ability. in social interactions, people realize their intentions through the discourse functions of words to convey belief, feelings, and actions, and to influence or change the views, positions, attitudes, and behaviors of others (thompson, 1996, 2000, p. 28). words are the vehicle for the speaker to engage in all meaningful actions. first, the speaker uses words to convey his or her views on people, things, and the world. second, the speaker uses words to build bridges with others and build and maintain www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 144 published by scholink inc. interpersonal relationships. third, the speaker exerts some degree of influence on the behavior of others through his words. vande kopple (1985) and others believed that the interactional metadiscourse corresponds to the interpersonal function proposed by halliday. the interactional metadiscourse includes hedges, boosters, attitude markers, and engagement markers. the metadiscourse is closely related to the three subsystems of the evaluation system. for example, curious, fortunate, surprising, etc. indicating attitude, broadly, roughly, from our perspective, etc. indicating engagement, always, definitely, truly, etc. indicating graduation, are respectively attitude markers, hedges, and boosters in metadiscourse. in addition, there is an overlap between interpersonal metadiscourse and the modality proposed by halliday. modal verbs that express modality, modal appendages, and verb extensions can all fall under the category of metadiscourse. mood appendages and evaluation appendages in modal adjoins, such as clearly, in fact, personally, frankly, no doubt, in general, strictly speaking, etc. have metadiscourse functions with tone appendages indicating the strength of evaluation, and comment appendages the speaker’s attitude and comments on a proposition. martin and white (2005) proposed that the evaluation system includes three subsystems: attitude, engagement, and graduation, focusing on the author’s evaluation of people, things and events at the basic discourse level, systematically analyzing the vocabulary resources that express the meaning of evaluation while the metadiscourse expresses the evaluation significance of the entire proposition. for example, (1) hopefully these new ventures in a market with tremendous potential will bring us more profits to the group. hopefully in the sentence is the attitude metadiscourse marker, evaluating the whole proposition, while tremendous is evaluating the subsequent noun potential, and these two evaluations often coexist in the discourse. researchers believe that the main function of interactional metadiscourse is to establish the relationship between the author and the reader, to realize the exchange of the author’s thoughts and the reader’s thoughts, thus reflecting the interpersonal function. 4.3 textual function of metadiscourse the discourse is an interactive relationship formed between language and society, politics and culture. it is not only the carrier of various human activities, but also the carrier of negotiation and construction of social relations. the textual function emphasizes the speaker’s organization and construction of discourse. in the process of using the discourse, the speaker mainly expresses the complete thought, and the conveyance of thought requires the conveyance and organization of information to reflect a certain sense of hierarchy and logical relationship, to indicate the relationship between information, and reflect the process of constructing the discourse. the metadiscourse is the author’s method of engaging readers and creating coherent discourse, expressing how the discourse is used to create and maintain relationships with readers. in order to better achieve the purpose of communication, the speaker must adopt the appropriate form of metadiscourse, for example, using the hedge possible to suppress commitment or start a dialogue; the attitude marker www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 145 published by scholink inc. unfortunately to express the speaker’s regret. scholars such as hyland (2005) pointed out that the metadiscourse refers to those elements in a discourse that are conducive to forming coherent discourses and displaying the author’s personality, credibility, reader awareness and their relationship with information. according to hyland’s classification, the metadiscourse is usually embodied by conjunctions (so, because, and), adverbs (sequently, first, therefore) and phrases (as a result, on the other hand, needless to say). scholars such as vande kopple (1985) believed that interactional metadiscourse corresponds to the textual function proposed by halliday. they participate in the construction of information and pay attention to the cohesion and coherence of discourse. the metadiscourse can guide readers to understand the text and express their attitudes towards propositions or readers. for example: (2) in the next section i will focus explicitly on ecotourism. (3) we firmly believe we are well positioned to become a multi-media technology leader. in the example (2) and (3), the internal reference mark in the next section, self-proclaimed words i and we, and attitude marks focus on, believe, will, explicitly, firmly and well positioned play a role in guiding readers and expressing opinions and attitudes. in addition, hyland placed metadiscourse in the social context, emphasizing that metadiscourse can promote the interaction between discourse and context, and then realize the organic interaction between the two parties in communication (hyland, 2005). contextual factors include the speech act domain, the discourse domain, and the participation domain, stylistic domain and non-linguistic domain (wang & he, 2022). moreover, connectives can organize texts and connect activities in the world outside the text. for example: (4) in contrast to western culture, asian societies put emphasis on an interdependent view of self and collectivism. in contrast in example (4) is used to compare the characteristics of two cultures, expressing the relationship between western culture and asian society, and has an empirical tendency. authors are not only creating cohesive discourse, but also trying to align themselves with the expectations of the community and influence their readers. all in all, from the point of view of systemic functional linguistics, both propositional sentences and metadiscourse have three metafunctions, but there are qualitative differences. first, the function and meaning of propositional sentences are highly systematic, independent and context-dependent, realized by independent systems. for example, the ideational metafunction and meaning of propositional sentences are realized through the transitivity system; the interpersonal metafunction and meaning are realized through the modality system; textual metafunction is realized through the analysis of themerheme structure. different from propositional sentences, the ideational, interpersonal and textual functions and meanings of metadiscourse in the lexicogrammatical sense are unitary and cohesive. as mentioned above, metadiscourse is the non-propositional components before propositional sentences, such as conjunctions, commentary adjuncts, linking adjuncts, curses, call words, interjections, and projective clauses. when these non-propositional components appear as linguistic phenomena www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 146 published by scholink inc. independently of propositional sentences, their respective functions and meanings do not have three functions at the same time, but one of them. for example, conjunctions and connecting adjuncts are mainly used to plan the layout of the article, only having the meaning of organizing the article; commentary adjuncts, curses, calls, and interjections are mainly used to influence interpersonal relationships, only having interpersonal meaning; projective clauses and commentary clauses are mainly used to present concepts or experiences, only having conceptual or empirical meanings. another characteristic of metadiscourse is cohesiveness. that is to say, it must be attached to the propositional sentence and combined with the propositional sentence to form a larger unit of discourse. 5. discourse features—interactive, intersubjective and dialogic the core of metadiscourse theory is that communication is not only the exchange of information, goods and services, but also involves the identities, attitudes and thoughts of both parties in the communication. the use of the metadiscourse not only refers to people, places and activities in the real world but also recognizes, constructs and negotiates social relations. from the perspective of functional linguistics, language use often includes communicative use and interactive use, that is, language can express content as well as interpersonal relationships and attitudes. sinclair (1981) emphasized the importance of language interaction and divided discourse into interactive and automatic layers. the automatic layer refers to the way in which experiences unfold gradually through the organization and maintenance of the discourse structure. the interactive layer refers to the way language is used to negotiate with others to build a relationship with the reader. hoey (2001) defined discourse as follows: the discourse is a purposeful and spontaneous interaction between one or more authors and one or more readers. the author takes the lead in the interaction and controls most of the information. hoey regards interaction as the core of discourse. the roles involved in the interaction are the author and the reader. as the producer and interpreter of the text, they must participate in the generation and understanding of the text, and interact with the subject of the text. all these activities are carried out in the context and participate in the construction of the new context. in addition, speech markers, which reflect the relationship between sound and dialogue, are closely related to the metadiscourse. a discourse contains two or more interacting voices and is thus polyphonic. various sounds exist in different relationships, such as compatibility, opposition, contradiction or complementarity. martin and white (2005) divided polyphony into contractile polyphony and expansive polyphony. expanded polyphony is divided into belonging and acceptance, indicating that one kind of opinion may exist, and there may be other different value positions and opinions, opening up a space for dialogue, encouraging, inviting, and eliciting the intervention of different voices. the essence of sound is the meaning negotiation between the author and the potential reader, and behind these voices are subjects with different consciousnesses, positions and opinions, so the construction and understanding of the meaning of the discourse is not personal, but interpersonal, social, and intersubjective. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 147 published by scholink inc. the specific form of existence of language is the discourse, and it refers to the unit of verbal communication, which reflects the unique ideology and value and position of the discourse author, and is in dialogue with other related discourses. conversationality is a central concept in the philosophy of language and in the theory of literary criticism. since the metadiscourse is the means used by authors to organize the discourse, attract readers, and express their attitude towards the content and audience, hyland (2005, p. 13) argued that the metadiscourse connects the important link between the discourse and the context, highlighting the role of the discourse as a dialogue. in language communication, a distinctive feature of human cognition is the ability of humans to see problems from the perspective of others, so the use of metadiscourse reflects the interactive, intersubjective and dialogic characteristics of the discourse. 6. conclusion from the above discussion and analysis, it can be seen that the study of the metadiscourse is influenced by the three meta-functions of halliday (1978), noting the interactivity of ideational meaning, interpersonal meaning, and textual meaning. at the metadiscourse level, the author can influence the ideational content to a certain extent, helping the author connect, organize, and interpret the material, express personality and evaluation and attitude towards the conceptual content and help the reader associate the text with a specific context, constructing a persuasive and coherent discourse in a specific context. the interaction of the discourse indicates that the discourse is constructed by the author and the reader or audience, so the construction of the meaning of the discourse should be seen as social rather than personal. and the use of metadiscourse is the most obvious sign of this interaction, and its use reflects the interactivity, intersubjectivity and dialogue of the discourse communication. because of these functions of the metadiscourse, the author can not only process obscure texts into logical and easy-tounderstand articles, but also associate the text with a specific context, conveying the author’s personality, trust, attention and connection to the audience (chen, 2020). the metadiscourse research regards the discourse as a process and attaches importance to the effectiveness of communication, which can provide references for the subsequent development of the metadiscourse research. references chen, x. 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(2006). on the scope and classification of meta-discourse. contemporary linguistics, 4. yang, x. z. (2007). meta-discourse and function of language. foreign language and foreign language teaching, 12. yu, j. p. (2007). stylistic characteristics and interaction of meta-discourse. china science and technology translation, 4, 43-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2004.11.006 https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511910 https://doi.org/10.2307/357609 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 54 original paper an exploration of the english translation strategy baowei liu1 1 chongqing jiaotong university, chongqing, china received: june 17, 2024 accepted: july 1, 2024 online published: july 19, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n3p54 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n3p54 abstract in translation studies, the role of the translator is becoming more and more conspicuous. despite the fact that translation is a transfer from one language to another, especially a semantic one, the role of the translator is, on no account, a simple proxy of technological communication or a passive transcultural mediator. during recent years, scholars have conducted an array of researches on translation process, from the perspective of linguistics, cognitive psychology, psychological linguistics, etc. as for translation process, it is imperative that the translator take various questions into consideration, such as the characteristics of the target language, the cultural factors of the target language, the perception of the original text, the translator’s habits, etc. the english translation of yuewei caotang biji by yi izzy yu and john yu branscum has been conceived of as popular in the english world, and has achieved superb effect of transcultural communication. this translated work’s strategy of translating as editing has substantial effects in its’ success, which renders this book easily available to readers in the target culture. keywords english translation of yuewei caotang biji, translating as editing, transcultural communication 1. introduction yuewei caotang biji is a masterpiece of biji (笔记) novel of china, which was written by ji yun in late eighteenth century. in the past century, only yuewei caotang biji is fluent in writing, articulate in analyzing, and can be complimented as a masterpiece (lu, 2020). among the biji novels in ji yun’s era, the most representative and influential one is yuewei caotang biji (hu, 2013). the language style of his book is explicit, fluent and readily accessible, but the author achieved an effect of sharpness in thought out of such plain writing style; its arguments are accurate and precise (qi, 2015). regardless of this book’s influence and significance in chinese literature, no complete english translation of it has emerged, and the current small amounts of its translated versions are limited in terms of influence. in 2021, empress wu books published the shadow book of ji yun: the chinese classic of weird true tales, horror stories, and occult knowledge, a partial english translation of yuewei caotang www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 55 published by scholink inc. biji. this translation was finished by yi izzy yu and her husband john yu branscum. once published, this translation has received a substantial amount of praise among english readers. in goodreads, a renowned book review website, there are hundreds of comments and reviews for this translation, most of them scoring four points and above out of total five. in amazon, an influential shopping website, this translation has been received with ovation, too. according to worldcat, the world’s famous online library collection search tool, nine libraries in the u.s. have stored this translation into their preservation. it is conceivable that this translation of yuewei caotang biji has emerged as a project worthy of academic research. however, so far, only one paper has made a brief introduction to this translation, pointing out that the translators of this translation have conducted bold reforms in translating and editing the original text (liu & zhong, 2022). nevertheless, no further specific details and in-depth analysis for the translators’ measures have been unveiled. there is a research gap in terms of the translation of yuewei caotang biji by yi izzy yu and john yu branscum. it is necessary that research on this translation’s strategies of translating and editing be conducted. 2. the reason for their strategy of translating as editing translating as editing here denotes a procedure of editing during the translation process. in other words, it means a variation translation activity in which translating comes after the processing the original material (wang & tao, 2019). translation is deemed an intervention, in which translators involve themselves in the translation process, integrating their knowledge and belief into the handling of the original text (qin & zhang, 2020). that being said, yi izzy yu and john yu branscum also clearly articulated their translation thoughts in their translation of yuewei caotang biji: “we balanced fidelity to ji yun’s original texts with explicitness about many otherwise implicit matters of cultural subtext and meaning. in this, we privileged conveying the meaning, nuance, and aesthetic effects of a source text over word-for-word transcription, following the yan fu method of translation—which allows for the insertion of additional background information to communicate in new languages and to new audiences. (yu & branscum, 2021)” through such a declaration, it is explicit that the two translators have adopted the strategy of translating as editing. factually, certain clues on the reason for such a strategy are overt in the translation work itself: “in 2011, yi izzy yu left northern china for the us, with nothing but $500 in her pocket and a love of traditional chinese stories that she’d inherited from her grandmother. living in a rented room in the small pennsylvania town of indiana, late at night she would comfort her homesickness by eating shrimp chips and reading ji yun’s stories in their original classical chinese. it was in these moments that the thought first came to her that it would be cool to do a popular-culture english translation of ji yun’s work that focused on its contribution to speculative fiction and nonfiction. (yu & branscum, 2021)” it can be concluded that in the first place, yi izzy yu believed that it is indispensable to render this novel in popular culture, given that it is of contribution to speculative fiction and nonfiction. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 56 published by scholink inc. in light of the volume of yuewei caotang biji, which adds up to some 1,200 pieces of stories with 400,000 chinese characters, it is natural that some kind of adaptation in its translating be inevitable. this can be partially verified by the fact that no complete english translation of it has sprouted so far. all the current english translations of this book appear to be partial. it should also be pointed out that each of these translations reflects its translator’s unique thoughts on translation. as far as yu and branscum’s translation is concerned, the translators pointed out, in the preface, that the pieces of stories selected in their translation are the most striking and memorable ones. though the translators did not explicitly signify that they had adopted the translation strategy of translating as editing, their translation method corresponds to that of it, which caters to the target-culture readers, selects the appropriate parts in the original text, and conveys the original text’s information in an accurate, fluent, flexible manner, so as to achieve the best effect of transcultural communication (wu, 2015). the reason for translating a book consists in part in the prevalence of the source-language culture (paloposki, 2021). with the establishment of international links and interactions, cultures in different hemispheres meet and integrate in an unprecedented pace. the zhiguai (志怪) or mystery stories in yuewei caotang biji attract the western readers dramatically. therefore, the two translators, yi izzy yu and john yu branscum, selected one hundred or so mystery stories into their translation work. and, in accordance with the themes, these stories are divided into three parts: strange nonfictions, fables and philosophies, and the end of things. the following is an example of the way the translators conduct their translation. original text: “no one knows where hu gongshan, a doctor, comes from. some say that his surname is actually jin, not hu, and served wu sangui as a spy. in the wake of wu’s collapse, he had to tamper with his name. nevertheless, for lack of evidence, it is difficult to elucidate his identity. i met him when i was six or seven. he was already in his eighties at that time, but acted swiftly and briskly like a monkey, and owned superior wrestling techniques. once when he was in a boat for travel, he came upon a group of bandits, but had nothing to fight back in his hand but a smoke pipe. staggeringly he used this very tool and defeated all the members of the gang. by contrast, he is most afraid of ghosts, and dares not go to bed alone. he said that he had chanced upon a zombie when he was a teenager. using his fists to punch the zombie, it felt as if he had hit woods and stones, and he was almost caught by the zombie. luckily, he jumped to the peak of a high tree. afterwards, the zombie jumped, circling the tree, and it was not until daylight that it stopped moving and hugged the tree. he did not dare watch downwards until a group of merchants who had fastened bells under their horses’ heads passed by. he saw that the zombie had white furs throughout the body; its eyes were staggeringly red; its fingers were like curved hooks, and its teeth protruded outside its mouth, like sharp knives. he was almost terrified to death by such scenes. another time, he lived in an inn in a mountain, and felt something moving in his quilt, which he suspected as a snake or rat. a bit later, this thing extended its figure, grew bigger gradually, went outside the quilt and put its head on his pillow, sleeping together with him. he found that it was a naked woman. she grabbed him with her arms, and he felt as though he had been bound with a thick piece of rope. the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 57 published by scholink inc. woman began to kiss him and breathe out slowly, and meanwhile he sensed a strong smell of blood. he was scared into a coma by this. he did not get awake until someone came to his rescue the next day. ever since, he became timid. confronted with a whirl of wind or the shadow of the moon after dusk, he would step back with terror.” as for such a short, simple story in the original text, the translators made an innovative adaptation in translation. they not only separated this story into two subdivisions (the subtitles are “the mysterious dr. hu” and “two episodes to consider” respectively), but also added some cohesive sentences in appropriate places, rendering the story more readable. why did the translators behave as such at all? why should such a concept of translating as editing ever have evolved? the chinese language differentiates from english in part in its brevity and relative lack of logical clues. this case is especially in accordance with the ancient chinese language, with which the author of yuewei caotang biji wrote. generally speaking, there is neither punctuation nor separator in ancient chinese language, making its semantic relations hard to discern. it is usually the modern chinese scholars who assign the task of dividing the ancient chinese sentences, which sometimes leads to controversies and uncertainties. for lack of logical sequences in lexical and grammatical aspects, and due to grammatical ambiguity, the ancient chinese language is hard to translate. additionally, on account of the disparity of social reality between ancient and modern china, between the west and china, it becomes overwhelmingly challenging for the translators to make accurate judgments in translation decision. in a nutshell, a series of problems cause impediments to the translators’ work. these seemingly irreconcilable obstacles make, in a way, the translators’ strategy of translating as editing justified or even imperative. the following is another instance for the translators’ strategy of translating as editing. the original text: “when i was in the place where i spent my exile, an officer took dozens of official papers in front of me, and offered me a brush pen and ink, to let me write some judgmental words on them. he said: ‘for those who die in this place but want to get their coffins back to the hometown, they must acquire such a passport as a rule. otherwise, their souls would not be allowed to get through the gate by which they must pass.’ because the passport goes to the underworld, the words on it shouldn’t be written in red, and the seal on it is also in black ink. looking at the sentences on the passport, i felt it was ridiculous. it says: ‘this document is for acquiring the passport: this passport proves that somebody, at a certain age, died here on a certain day in a certain month in a certain year. at present his or her relatives would transport the coffin to the hometown, and this passport is permitted to be given to them. upon seeing the passport, the ghost soldiers along the way back should release the dead person’s spirit after checking. don’t ask for bribe money or delay the schedule, causing inconvenience for the journey.’ i said: ‘this is nothing but the lower rank officials’ excuse for asking for bribe money.’ therefore, i notified the general in charge and canceled the rule. after ten days, someone reported that some sound of cry had erupted from the tomb field west of downtown, insofar as the dead ones had not got the passport, which made their souls unable to be transported to the hometown. hearing this, i rebuked this person for his words’ absurdity. after another ten days, someone reported that the cry sound had been www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 58 published by scholink inc. near downtown. and i rebuked him as well. another ten days later, i heard some ghostly sound outside my house’s wall. but i believed it was made purposefully by the lower rank officials. several days later, the sound became outside my window. at the moment, the moonlight was as bright as daylight, and i got up to search for the source of sound, but nobody was found. my colleague said: ‘your idea on the passport is justified, and even the general cannot deny your views. nevertheless, it is now obvious that everyone has heard the ghostly cry, and those who had not got the passport would blame you deeply. why not try sending out the passports to keep those who speak ill of you muted? providing the sound would remain, it would even more prove your argument.’ i followed his advice unwillingly, and the sound stopped just that very night. another time, song jilu, an official in the army, suddenly fell into a coma in a room. long afterwards, he got awoke and said his mother had come. before long, someone handed in a document, saying jilu’s mother had died on the way to see him.” confronted with such a story, the two translators not only adapted the dreary conversation in it into a readable form of dialogue, with the words uttered alternately like a popular novel. besides, the translators supplemented something that are not present in the original text, which can be viewed as the translators’ addition to the author ji yun’s thoughts. all of this serves to fulfill the readers’ expectations. for instance, the following are two slices of supplementary evaluative content by the two translators: “paper creates a great many things. marriages, official positions, educational degrees, residency. all of these states of being require documents and indeed are not considered real or valid without them. in fact, civilizations owe their existence not just to physical things but to things created by the drawing up of papers. because the people believe it so, these things are as real as physical artifacts. it is interesting that both spirits and documents direct the physical realm without themselves being physical.” “the rules that govern our world include many that are known but many more that are unknown or only half-understood. while people are eager to invent explanations for why the world is the way it is, at best their explanations can only account for the visible, physical world for that is the part of the world sensible to human eyes.” simply put, the two translators’ method of translating as editing lies in various reasons. first and foremost, due to the huge length of the original book, no full english translation of it has emerged so far, and almost all translators of it have translated it partially, selecting the content they deem essential. secondly, it is natural that the translators divide the original text and add some cohesive materials into the translation, thanks to the characteristics of ancient chinese language. last but not least, the translators are warranted the privilege of exerting their influence of thought on translation, and intervention is sometimes inevitable in the process of translation, insofar as no rigid, invariable rules exist in literary translation. and instead, it is a process of decision for the translators to analyze and conduct their own translation. therefore, it is natural to draw the conclusion that the translators would interpose something they would like to express between the lines in their translation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 59 published by scholink inc. 3. conclusion yuewei caotang biji is a masterpiece of biji novel in ancient china, which is of significance in terms of passing traditional chinese culture on. under this backdrop, the emergence of yi izzy yu and john yu branscum’s translation have made overseas readers interested in this book in an unprecedented way. all of this should prompt the translation critics to examine what translation strategies have been utilized in this translation. with the acceleration of globalization and the contrastive literature’s “diverse culture turn”, literature worldwide are being paid close heed to. and translation plays a constructive, complex and pivotal role in this process. the literary genre of yuewei caotang biji is biji, a unique one. perhaps, due to this reason, translation critics have not attached much importance to it and its kind. in the process of transcultural communication, there is no doubt that the authentic “taste” of the original culture should be preserved. however, it seems almost reasonable that certain kind of creative adaptation in translation caters to the needs of foreign readers. in storytelling, it is partially imperative that the story be told in a way that can best fit into with the target readers’ cultural context; only in this way can the story be best accepted by the audiences (xie, 2018). one of the essential missions of translated literature includes introducing to foreign readers the preeminent, extraordinary literature. there is a dominant criterion in evaluating whether a translated literary work is superb, i.e. whether it can make noteworthy contributions to the culture of the target language country. taking that point into consideration, there arises a question of concern of whether strict literal translation can become excellent, insofar as the translated work ought to make the readers feel a kind of beauty, philosophical inspiration and spiritual touch just as the source language readers do. in light of this, the strategy of translating as editing yi izzy yu and john yu branscum adopt in their translation of yuewei caotang biji seems to be a product of natural selection for being welcome in the target language culture. in translation studies, an array of critical reflections is necessary (pizarro & paulo, 2020). and in translation, something seems to get invisible (bámgbóṣé et al., 2023). only after sufficient, careful observations are conducted can an evaluation for certain new phenomena in a translation be made. this remains essential in translation criticism. reference bámgbóṣé., gabriel., barry, f, a., et al. (2023). in conversation: african women poets as translators of the wor (l) d: conceição lima, tariro ndoro, and fatoumata adelle barry in conversation with gabriel bámgbóṣé. the translator, 29(4), 1-15. hu, y. m. (2013). novel history in the qing dynasty. hefei: hefei university of technology press. j, pizarro., & medeiros, p. (2020) introduction: fernando pessoa and translation. the translator, 26(4), 317-323. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 60 published by scholink inc. liu, y., & zhong, j. (2022). a study on the translation and introduction of yuewei caotang biji in the english world. chinese translators journal, 43(4), 54-62. lu, x. (2020). complete works of lu xun (volume 10). nanjing: jiangsu phoenix literature and art publishing ltd. qi, y. k. (2015). the evolution history of ancient chinese novels. beijing: people’s literature publishing house. qin, b. g., & zhang, m. f. (2020). taking mediated stance via news headline transediting: a case study of the china-us trade conflict, 2018. meta, 65(1), 100-122. wang, j. g., & tao, l. c. (2019). communication-based study of yan fu’s translation as editing — a case study of huxley: evolution and ethics. chinese science & technology translators journal, 32(4), 12-15. wu, y. g. (2015). on the translation and editing strategy in the english version of the deer and the cauldron. foreign language education & research, 3(3), 40-44. xie, t. z. (2018). sichuan flavor teahouse and cultural translation. east journal of translation, 1, 4-8. yu, y. i., & branscum, j. y. (2021). the shadow book of ji yun: the chinese classic of weird true tales, horror stories, and occult knowledge. las vegas: empress wu books. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 140 original paper research on the practical path of integrating ganzi red culture into ideological and political theory courses in sichuan minzu college xiaojun su1 1 sichuan minzu college, kangding, sichuan, china received: july 25, 2025 accepted: august 4, 2025 online published: august 29, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p140 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p140 abstract ganzi red culture, embodying firm ideals and beliefs, profound genes of ethnic unity, and a pragmatic spirit of struggle, highly aligns with the educational goals of ideological and political theory courses (hereinafter referred to as “ideological and political courses”) in colleges and universities in ethnic regions. as an important university in the ganzi area, sichuan minzu college shoulders the mission of forging a strong sense of community among the chinese nation. based on the actual teaching situation of ideological and political courses in the college, this paper analyzes the connotation and educational value of ganzi red culture, explores the current situation and challenges of its integration into ideological and political courses, and proposes specific practical paths from four aspects: constructing a contentadapted curriculum system, innovating interactive and experiential teaching methods, building an internal-external linkage practice system, and developing a teaching team combining full-time and parttime teachers. it also clarifies guarantee measures such as systems, resources, and evaluation, aiming to provide reference for the reform and innovation of ideological and political courses in colleges and universities in ethnic regions. keywords ganzi red culture, sichuan minzu college, ideological and political theory courses, practical path red culture is a precious spiritual wealth leading the people in the process of revolution, construction, and reform, carrying the party’s original aspiration and mission, ideals and beliefs, and value pursuits. as an important ethnic region in sichuan, ganzi t. autonomous prefecture boasts rich red cultural resources, whose inherent revolutionary spirit and genes of ethnic unity are highly consistent with the goals of ideological and political education in the new era. as the only undergraduate institution in the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 141 published by scholink inc. ganzi area, sichuan minzu college undertakes the important mission of cultivating high-quality talents for ethnic regions and forging a strong sense of community among the chinese nation. integrating ganzi red culture into ideological and political theory courses is not only an inevitable requirement for inheriting red genes and continuing the red bloodline but also an important path to enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of ideological and political courses in colleges and universities in ethnic regions. currently, ideological and political courses in colleges and universities in ethnic regions face challenges such as how to organically integrate local characteristic culture with curriculum content and how to enhance students’ sense of identity and participation. ganzi red culture, with its distinctive regional characteristics, profound ethnic friendship, and strong contemporary value, provides unique resources to address these difficulties. based on the actual teaching situation of ideological and political courses in sichuan minzu college, combined with the connotation and value of ganzi red culture, this paper explores the specific practical paths for its integration into ideological and political courses, aiming to offer reference for the reform and innovation of ideological and political courses in colleges and universities in ethnic regions. 1. connotation and educational value of ganzi red culture 1.1 core connotation of ganzi red culture ganzi red culture, born in a special historical context, is the spiritual condensation of the cpc’s leadership in revolutionary, construction, and reform practices in the ganzi area, with rich connotations: first, firm ideals and beliefs. from the spirit of “revolutionary ideals are higher than heaven” left by the red army during the long march in ganzi to the struggle process of the people of ganzi in building their homeland, all embody faith in marxism and pursuit of communism. for example, when the red army passed luding bridge during the long march in 1935, the warriors broke through the natural barrier with the spirit of “fearlessness of sacrifice and courage to win,” becoming a typical symbol of ideals and beliefs in ganzi red culture. second, profound genes of ethnic unity. ganzi is a multi-ethnic region, and the formation of red culture has always been accompanied by the concerted efforts of all ethnic groups. during the long march, t. compatriots provided food and served as guides for the red army, forming a profound friendship with them; then, a vivid situation of “all ethnic groups holding together like pomegranate seeds” has taken shape. the deeds of people of all ethnic groups supporting the red army and sacrificing for the revolution are vivid manifestations of the spirit of ethnic unity in ganzi red culture. third, a pragmatic spirit of struggle. ganzi has harsh natural conditions, and its red culture contains the spirit of struggle characterized by fearlessness of difficulties and down-to-earth hard work. from the arduous entrepreneurship during the third front construction to poverty alleviation after reform and opening-up, the people of ganzi have changed their hometown’s appearance with their own hands under the leadership of the party, interpreting the profound connotation that “happiness is achieved through struggle.” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 142 published by scholink inc. 1.2 educational value of integrating ganzi red culture into ideological and political courses an important carrier for forging a strong sense of community among the chinese nation: the history of joint struggle of all ethnic groups in ganzi red culture is a vivid textbook for “all ethnic groups of the chinese nation being a big family.” integrating it into ideological and political courses can help students understand the formation process of the chinese nation community from a historical perspective and enhance their emotional and rational recognition of “the five identifications.” an effective path to enhance the pertinence and affinity of ideological and political courses: students in ethnic regions have a natural affinity for local history and culture. ganzi red culture is close to students’ real life; integrating it into ideological and political courses can break the traditional mode of “abstract theories + universal cases” and explain theories with characters and stories familiar to students, making the courses more down-to-earth and attractive. a practical need for cultivating talents committed to the development of ethnic regions. most students of sichuan minzu college come from ethnic regions and serve local areas after graduation. the spirit of struggle and dedication contained in ganzi red culture can inspire students to establish the ideal of “taking root in ethnic regions and serving the development of their hometown,” combining personal growth with the revitalization of ethnic regions and national development. 2. current situation and challenges of integrating ganzi red culture into ideological and political courses in sichuan minzu college 2.1 current situation of integration in recent years, sichuan minzu college has begun to attempt integrating local red culture into ideological and political courses, achieving certain results: in the course “outline of modern and contemporary chinese history,” some teachers supplement historical fragments of the red army’s long march in ganzi; the college has organized practical activities such as “rewalking the long march route” and “visiting luding bridge memorial hall”; a few ideological and political course teachers have participated in research on ganzi red culture and formed relevant teaching cases. however, on the whole, the integration is still in a “fragmented and superficial” stage, and a systematic teaching system has not yet been formed. 2.2 main challenges 2.2.1 lack of systematic integration of curriculum content the existing integration is mostly a spontaneous behavior of individual teachers, lacking precise alignment between ganzi red culture and various curriculum modules of ideological and political courses. for example, there is no clear teaching plan on how the course “ideology and morality and the rule of law” combines moral model cases in ganzi red culture. 2.2.2 insufficient innovation in teaching methods most classrooms still focus on “teacher’s lecture + picture display,” resulting in low student participation. although there are practical activities, they are mostly “visit-style” or “check-in-style,” lacking in-depth www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 143 published by scholink inc. interpretation and experience of red culture, making it difficult to achieve the transformation from “cognition” to “identification.” 2.2.3 the red culture literacy of the teaching team needs to be improved a low proportion of ideological and political course teachers are familiar with ganzi red culture; some teachers have a shallow grasp of the historical background and spiritual connotation of local red resources, making it difficult to organically integrate them with theoretical teaching. at the same time, there is a lack of a regular cooperation mechanism with local party history research departments and red memorial halls, and the channels for teacher training are single. 2.2.4 inadequate development of practical teaching resources although ganzi is rich in red cultural resources, a systematic teaching resource database has not been formed. practical teaching mostly relies on off-campus venues, and the construction of on-campus red culture carriers (such as theme exhibition halls and online resource platforms) lags behind, making it difficult to meet the needs of regular teaching. 3. practical paths for integrating ganzi red culture into ideological and political courses in sichuan minzu college 3.1 constructing a “content-adapted” curriculum system: achieving precise alignment between red culture and ideological and political course modules 3.1.1 designing integration points by course module according to the core goals of each ideological and political course, clarify the key points of integrating ganzi red culture: in the course “ideology and morality and the rule of law,” combine the disciplinary awareness of red army soldiers to explain contents such as “patriotism” and “professional ethics,” and interpret the fish-and-water relationship between the military and civilians with local cases; in the course “outline of modern and contemporary chinese history,” take historical events such as the red army’s long march in ganzi and the construction of the sichuan-t. highway as clues to analyze the historical inevitability of the party’s leadership in the development of ethnic regions, enhancing students’ identification with the party’s history; combine ganzi’s practices in poverty alleviation and ecological protection to interpret the development thought of “people-centered” and the concept that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”; focus on the genes of ethnic unity in ganzi red culture to display the core essence of “forging a strong sense of community among the chinese nation.” 3.1.2 developing school-based organize ideological and political course teachers to cooperate with local party history experts to compile school-based textbooks such as a concise course on ganzi red culture and collection of ganzi red stories, including typical cases such as the battle of luding bridge and the 18th army’s entry into t., and supporting them with auxiliary materials such as teaching ppts and short videos. meanwhile, establish a “ganzi red culture case database,” classified by themes such as “ideals and beliefs,” “ethnic unity,” and “spirit of struggle,” to facilitate teachers’ selection as needed. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 144 published by scholink inc. 3.2 innovating “interactive and experiential” teaching methods: promoting red culture from “cognition” to “identification” case teaching: interpreting theories with red stories change the one-way indoctrination mode of “theory + case” and adopt the teaching logic of “story introduction problem exploration theoretical sublimation.” for example, when explaining “the sense of community among the chinese nation,” first tell the story of “local people providing food to support the 18th army when it entered the place,” guide students to think about “why all ethnic groups can unite and help each other,” then analyze its inevitability combined with marxist ethnic theory, and finally connect it with the current situation of common development of all ethnic groups in ganzi, enabling students to understand theories through stories. 3.2.1 situational teaching: letting students “enter” red history organize students to arrange red situational plays, such as shouts by luding bridge and the red army, to reproduce historical scenes through role-playing, allowing students to feel the revolutionary spirit in the experience. meanwhile, use vr technology to restore important events of the red army’s long march in ganzi, enabling students to enhance emotional resonance through immersive experience. 3.2.2 seminar-style teaching: stimulating students’ active thinking carry out group discussions on themes such as “ganzi red culture and youth responsibility” and “how to inherit red genes in ethnic regions,” encouraging students to share their insights combined with their own experiences and changes in their hometowns. for example, students from ganzi prefecture can share local red stories, and other students can analyze their contemporary value combined with theories, forming a cognitive chain of “individual local national.” 3.3 building an “internal-external linkage” practical teaching system: realizing “unity of knowledge and action” in red culture off-campus practice: establishing red education bases sign cooperation agreements with luding bridge memorial hall and other institutions, set up “ideological and political course practice teaching bases,” and regularly organize students to carry out “six one” practical activities: visiting a memorial hall once, listening to a red story report, singing a red song, writing an insight essay, participating in a volunteer service (such as explaining red history to tourists), and shooting a micro-video (recording the practice process and gains). 3.3.1 on-campus practice: creating a red culture atmosphere build a “ganzi red culture corridor” on campus to display pictures of ganzi’s red history and cultural relic replicas; establish a “red culture study society” to organize students to carry out activities such as red story lectures and red classic recitations; set up a “ganzi red stories” column on campus radio and wechat official accounts, integrating red culture into students’ daily lives. 3.3.2 social practice: transforming red spirit into action combine the summer “three goes to the countryside” social practice to organize students to go deep into ganzi villages, investigate the current situation of red culture inheritance, help villages sort out red stories and repair red sites; encourage students to participate in red culture publicity activities in their www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 145 published by scholink inc. hometowns, such as serving as red culture narrators in primary and secondary schools, transforming classroom learning into practical actions to serve their hometowns. 3.3.3 developing a “full-time and part-time” teaching team: enhancing the ability to integrate red culture strengthening on-campus teacher training implement the “plan for improving the red culture literacy of ideological and political course teachers”: regularly organize teachers to participate in red culture special training held by the party history research office of ganzi prefectural committee; arrange teachers to take temporary posts in red memorial halls to participate in historical data sorting, lecture script writing, etc.; carry out “red classroom” teaching competitions to promote teaching through competition and improve teachers’ ability to integrate red culture into classrooms. 3.3.4 employing off-campus experts invite ganzi prefecture’s party history research scholars, red memorial hall narrators, old party members, etc., to serve as part-time teachers, offering special lectures to students or participating in practical teaching guidance, making up for the lack of on-campus teachers’ knowledge of local red culture. 3.3.5 forming teaching and research teams establish a teaching and research team on “integration of ganzi red culture and ideological and political courses,” regularly carry out collective lesson preparation, teaching discussions, research projects, etc., and feed research results back to teaching to improve the scientificity and systematicness of integration. 4. guarantee measures: ensuring the effective integration of ganzi red culture into ideological and political courses 4.1 institutional guarantee the college should incorporate the integration of ganzi red culture into ideological and political courses into the overall plan of teaching reform, issue implementation opinions on promoting the integration of ganzi red culture into ideological and political theory courses, clarify integration goals, division of responsibilities (e.g., the academic affairs office is responsible for curriculum setting, the school of marxism is responsible for specific implementation, and the publicity department is responsible for atmosphere creation), and assessment and evaluation methods to ensure the implementation of various measures. 4.2 resource guarantee increase funding input for the development of red culture teaching resources (such as compiling schoolbased textbooks, purchasing vr teaching equipment), construction of practice bases, teacher training, etc.; establish a cooperation mechanism with local governments and cultural and tourism departments to share red culture resources, such as jointly carrying out red culture research and developing study tours. 4.3 evaluation guarantee establish a “process + result” evaluation system: in teacher teaching evaluation, take the integration of red culture as an important indicator; in student assessment, increase the proportion of practical links www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 146 published by scholink inc. (such as practice reports, performance in red story lectures, etc.) to guide students to actively participate in red culture learning. meanwhile, regularly conduct teaching effect surveys, collect feedback through student questionnaires and forums, and timely adjust and optimize the integration path. integrating ganzi red culture into ideological and political courses in sichuan minzu college is an innovative measure for colleges and universities in ethnic regions to implement the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education in the new era. by constructing a content-adapted curriculum system, innovating interactive and experiential teaching methods, building an internal-external linkage practice system, developing a full-time and part-time teaching team, and supplemented by sound guarantee measures, ideological and political courses can be made more regionally distinctive and appealing, thereby guiding students to firm their ideals and beliefs, forge a strong sense of community among the chinese nation in the infiltration of red culture, and grow into new-era talents committed to the development of ethnic regions. 5. conclusion in the future, it is necessary to further strengthen theoretical research on the integration of red culture and ideological and political courses, track practical effects, and continuously optimize the path, so that red genes can be passed down from generation to generation in colleges and universities in ethnic regions, providing strong support for cultivating socialist builders and successors with all-round development of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor. fund project this paper is a phased achievement of the teaching reform project of sichuan minzu college entitled “research on the practical path of integrating ganzi red culture into ideological and political theory courses in sichuan minzu college” (no.: x-jg202346). references ji, j. p. (2025). research on the path of integrating local red culture resources into the construction of “great ideological and political course” in colleges and universities. the science education article collects, 2025(14), 32-35. jiang, f. (2025). research on the path of integrating local red culture resources into ideological and political education in colleges and universities from the perspective of “great ideological and political course”. public relations world, 2025(15), 166-168. mao, z. y., & guo, y. q. (2025). analysis on the integration path of red culture in college ideological and political course teaching. jiangsu economic news, 2025-07-18(t09). wang, w. c., & gao, l. (2025). value implication and practical path of integrating red culture resources into college ideological and political courses. journal of bengbu university, 14(4), 711. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 147 published by scholink inc. wen, x. c., & luo, w. (2025). research on the path of integrating red culture into college ideological and political courses. water culture, 7, 78-80. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 19 original paper between battle and bhakti: cognitive crisis and spiritual rebirth in tagore’s gitanjali and the bhagavad gita dr. anupamratanshanker nagar1 1 principal, gurukul mahila arts & commerce college-porbandar, gujarat, india 2 affiliated with bhakta kavi narsinh mehta university, junagadh, gujarat, india received: september 10, 2025 accepted: september 25, 2025 online published: october 11, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n4p19 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n4p19 abstract rabindranath tagore, a nobel laureate and one of the defining voices in world literature, frequently engaged with india’s philosophical and spiritual heritage, drawing deeply from foundational texts like the upanishads and the bhagavad gita. this research paper closely examines tagore’s interpretation and creative recontextualization of the bhagavad gita, focusing especially on how he weaves its core themes into his poetry, prose, and broader philosophical outlook. by delving into textual comparisons, intertextual resonances, and tagore’s own writings—most notably “gitanjali”—this study demonstrates both tagore’s fidelity to and his innovation upon the gita’s teachings. through a synthesis of spirituality, universalism, and poetic imagination, tagore refashions the gita’s doctrine of duty, detachment, and devotion for the modern world, emphasizing an inner transformation that transcends sectarianism, ritualism, and fatalism. the analysis traces the evolution of central ideas—dharma and cognitive crisis, the human-divine relationship, creative evolution, and the poeticization of surrender—illustrating tagore’s singular role in rendering ancient indian wisdom both globally accessible and existentially relevant. keywords rabindranath tagore, bhagavad gita, reinterpretation, dharma, spirituality, universalism, gitanjali, indian philosophy, intertextuality, poetic transformation 1. introduction: tagore, modernity, and the indian philosophic tradition rabindranath tagore (1861-1941) was raised at the intersection of tradition and modernity, in a family deeply immersed in the study of sacred hindu texts. while his father held the upanishads in especially high regard, the bhagavad gita also shaped the spiritual and philosophical climate around tagore. in his mature works, tagore moves beyond mere reverence, aiming to re-articulate the ethical-spiritual insights www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 20 published by scholink inc. of the gita in a voice that harmonizes with twentieth-century anxieties, global movements, and individual yearnings. this paper explores how tagore engages creatively with the gita’s teachings, reinterpreting its motifs of crisis, action, and transcendence within the context of poetic realization and humanism. 2. tagore’s hermeneutics: approaching the gita through modern eyes tagore’s approach to the gita is best understood through a hermeneutic, or interpretive, lens. he resists dogmatic readings, instead seeking out the vital spirit of the text. for tagore, the gita’s central predicament—arjuna’s paralyzing doubt upon entering the battlefield—mirrors the existential impasse of modern humanity: the tension between inherited conventions and the demand for creative selfactualization. tagore interprets arjuna’s crisis not merely as a historical or mythic drama, but as a representation of psychological and spiritual crisis—akin to what modern psychology names “cognitive dissonance” (2021). just as krishna in the gita guides arjuna beyond mere compliance with duty to a sense of detached action (nishkama karma), tagore understands true fulfillment as an active—yet ego-free— participation in the cosmic order. 3. method: thematic parallels: duty, detachment, and surrender 3.1 the ethics of action: dharma redefined the bhagavad gita emphatically urges arjuna to “do your duty, but do not concern yourself with the results” (2.47). tagore finds in this mandate a call to embrace life’s challenges as opportunities for selfdiscovery and divine cooperation. he adapts the gita’s doctrine into a poetic-theological framework where dharma is not externally imposed, but emerges from the soul’s yearning for wholeness. in works like “gitanjali,” the surrender to god is depicted as creative freedom—the poet is not bound by fatalism, but is liberated through spiritual alignment. this is especially evident in the recurrent motif of offering, where life and work become “songs” dedicated to the divine. example: in “gitanjali” poem 50, tagore writes, “i have made my life a string of pearls to be clasped together by the thread of your will. the world is yours.” this poetic gesture transforms the gita’s message of action-without-attachment into an intimate, aesthetic act. 3.2 bhakti and universal love the gita is celebrated for its emphasis on bhakti, or loving devotion to the divine (notably in chapters 9-12). tagore’s interpretation, however, is neither ritualistic nor sectarian. for him, the divine is not a distant, formless absolute, nor a punitive authority, but a personal, immanent presence—intimately involved in the unfolding of life. example: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 21 published by scholink inc. tagore’s poems rarely name “krishna,” but the divine is felt everywhere, as a companion, beloved, and teacher. in his lectures, tagore explains, “my religion is the reconciliation of the upanishads and the gita with the exigencies of modern life: love that aspires not for heaven, but for the realization of the divine in humanity” (2021). 3.3 cognitive crisis and spiritual rebirth tagore brings to the fore the process of inner crisis and resolution, paralleling arjuna’s battlefield paralysis and subsequent emergence into knowledge. tagore extends the motif—found in both the gita and mystic traditions such as the bhakti movement—of agonized surrender leading to spiritual rebirth. example: in “gitanjali” poem 96, he writes: “when my heart is dry and parched up, come upon me with a shower of mercy.” the crisis is not simply intellectual, but existential and affective, illustrating how the frameworks of the gita are mapped onto modern spiritual longing. 3.4 the human-divine relationship: tagore’s poetics of immanence tagore’s reimagining of the gita departs in striking ways from the prevailing vedantic orthodoxy of his time. he insists that the ultimate reality is personal; that the divine has “joy in his creation” and delights in beauty, growth, and creativity. 3.5 the divine in nature and art tagore’s poems, with their constant reference to the natural world—trees, rivers, light—universalize the divine. this echoes the gita’s claim (10.20-10.42) that all wonders are manifestations of krishna, the supreme. through landscape and lyricism, tagore democratizes spiritual experience, inviting everyone to recognize the infinite in the everyday. example: in gitanjali 1: “thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. … at the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy.” tagore’s god is the musician, the artist, the silent friend—never distant, but always present. 3.6 the synthesis of science and spirit tagore’s modernity is further seen in his reconciliation of science and spirituality. the gita’s metaphysics is often read as antagonistic to scientific rationalism, but tagore’s engagement with evolution (in both natural and creative terms) re-grounds gita’s insights in a contemporary idiom. he speaks of divine life as the principle of evolution, “rising from matter to consciousness and from self to selflessness.” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 22 published by scholink inc. 4. literary transcreation: innovation through poetic form 4.1 from dialogue to monologue: transforming gita’s discourse whereas the gita’s wisdom emerges as a dialogue between krishna and arjuna, tagore’s spiritual drama unfolds in a poetic monologue—an internal conversation with the divine. the dialogue becomes a lyrical journey, mirroring the solitary quest of the modern soul (2023). 4.2 the lyricization of duty and surrender a notable literary achievement in tagore’s transcreation is his ability to infuse abstract doctrines with concrete imagery. he translates the gita’s call for surrender (sarva dharman parityajya, 18.66) into human experiences of loss, hope, and creativity. example: “leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? … open thine eyes and see thy god is not before thee! he is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground …” (“gitanjali”, poem 11). this powerful re-articulation transforms the gita’s call for karma yoga into a poetry of active compassion. 4.3 comparative analysis: the gita and gitanjali side by side while much literary criticism notes the upanishadic influences on tagore, a systematic comparative approach reveals illuminating parallels and creative divergences vis-à-vis the gita. aspect bhagavad gita tagore’s gitanjali form philosophical dialogue lyric monologue crisis arjuna’s paralysis, moral struggle poet’s longing, existential yearning resolution intellectual reasoning, duty, surrender emotional catharsis, creative release divine presence avatar (krishna), cosmic absolute personal, immanent, the beloved bhakti concept surrender to krishna universal love, creative surrender action nishkama karma (action without desire) offering life as a song to the divine in the broader context of indian reform movements, tagore’s reinterpretation stands against both mechanical ritualism and the rigidities of inherited authority. he learns from the gita that the real enemy of spiritual growth is not desire itself, but clinging to the fruits of desire and refusing open-ended relationship with the divine. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 23 published by scholink inc. this is evident in his critique of traditionalism in poetry and essays—”let the old forms die if they cannot serve life!”—and in his practical experiments with santiniketan, where education, art, and service become united acts of devotion. 4.4 illustrative case studies: individual poems and prose examples to see tagore’s engagement with the gita in action, individual poems from “gitanjali” and less-studied essays (such as “the religion of man”) bear deeper scrutiny. in “gitanjali” 75, tagore writes: “deliverance is not for me in renunciation. i feel the embrace of freedom in a thousand bonds of delight.” this neatly turns the ascetic interpretation of the gita’s teachings on its head, promoting a joyful embrace of worldly involvements—a hallmark of tagore’s spiritual humanism. tagore’s essay “the religion of man” frames krishna not as a sectarian god but as an image of the supreme person (purushottama), the creative principle in all beings, attuned to the “unending music” of the universe. here the gita becomes a living text—constantly evolving in meaning as human selfunderstanding grows. 4.5 globalization and the recontextualization of the gita tagore was keenly aware of the need to make indian spiritual insights accessible to a global audience. his english translations of “gitanjali,” and cross-cultural lectures, such as those at oxford and harvard, reframe the gita’s teachings for seekers of all backgrounds, stripping away dogmatic apparatus and emphasizing universality (lakshmi, 2023). through a “religion of man”—neither dogmatic theism nor empty secularism—tagore channels the gita into a vision of spiritual democracy: each person must find and follow the divine within, regardless of historical or cultural boundaries. 4.6 critical appraisal: limitations and critiques of tagore’s approach scholars occasionally critique tagore’s poetic universalism as risking vagueness or overlooking harsh realities found in the gita’s context of warfare and crisis. while tagore embraces the agony of doubt and longing, some may contend that his lyricism softens the gita’s existential realism. however, as amartya sen and others note, tagore’s aestheticization is itself an ethical and philosophical strategy, reframing violence and strife as inner psychological drama, open to catharsis and transformation. 5. conclusion rabindranath tagore’s reinterpretation of the bhagavad gita is as much an act of poetic creation as it is of philosophical exegesis. by moving the battle from kurukshetra to the interior life, tagore universalizes the gita’s dilemmas and aspirations, making them legible and urgent for modern humanity. through an original synthesis of action, surrender, love, and creativity, tagore not only preserves but rejuvenates one of india’s foundational texts. his works urge ongoing renewal of spiritual tradition—rooted in but never shackled by the past. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 24 published by scholink inc. references a reflection of rabindrabhabnai srimadbhagvadgita and tagore’s gitanjali. (2021). international journal of hinduism & philosophy. divine love and consciousness in tagore’s gitanjali. (2023). international journal of research publication and reviews. how the bhagavad gita and gitanjali reframe crisis, cognitive dissonance, and spiritual rebirth. (2021). international journal for advanced research in science, communication, and technology, 8(3), 1-13. lakshmi, d. v. (2023). rabindranath tagore as a philosophical poet. creative saplings. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 58 original paper the translation of body-part rhetoric in romeo and juliet: take the example of facial terms qingtao li1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: march 30, 2024 accepted: april 21, 2024 online published: may 9, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n2p58 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n2p58 abstract in shakespeare’s romeo and juliet, numerous references to the human body are intertwined with a rich array of rhetorical devices including personification, simile, metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche. metaphorical rhetoric is a hallmark of shakespearean language, often used to depict sensory experiences, symbolize objects and emotions, and flesh out characters. however, due to cognitive disparities between western and chinese cultures, the same rhetorical themes may be expressed with different objects across cultures. as a result, translators must employ various strategies to bridge these gaps. this study aims to examine the cognitive differences underlying body-related rhetoric, particularly facial descriptions, in five different translations of romeo and juliet spanning different periods. the goal is to analyze the translation techniques and methodologies employed by translators to address these cultural disparities. keywords romeo and julie, body-part rhetoric, cognitive difference, translation strategy 1. introduction romeo and juliet, renowned for its exploration of romantic love within a tragic narrative, depicts the illfated romance of its main characters. shakespeare employs a lot of rhetorical devices, including personification, simile, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and synesthesia, to vividly convey emotions and thoughts within the thematic and contextual framework of the play. instances like a piercing cry, warm applause, and an icy voice demonstrate synesthetic expressions, transcending sensory boundaries to evoke auditory sensations from tactile experiences. similarly, phrases like the envious moon and death’s white flag imbue inanimate objects with human characteristics, enriching the narrative with metaphorical depth. the play employs a myriad of rhetorical techniques, instrumental in character development and evoking reader engagement through atmospheric creation. this article delves into the portrayal of body-part terms, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 59 published by scholink inc. particularly facial descriptions, elucidating their pivotal role in character depiction. five notable translations of romeo and juliet are scrutinized, with a focus on the rhetorical strategies employed. emphasis is placed on versions crafted by esteemed writers and translators such as zhu shenghao, cao yu, liang shiqiu, fang ping, and fu guangming. 2. cognitive similarities and differences behind the rhetoric in romeo and juliet, simile, metaphor, and personification are frequently employed, often with facial terms as rhetorical subjects. these terms encompass features such as the face, eyes, lips, and more. the rhetorical objects associated with these facial terms may vary between western and chinese cultures, reflecting cognitive disparities between the two. (lu, 2003) the human body, including its organs, serves as a fundamental source domain for metaphorical expression. the original and extended meanings of body-part terms are derived from their intrinsic properties, anatomical location, functional attributes, and resemblances to other objects, facilitating the creation of relationships, comparisons, and analogies. (feng, 2008) for example, in shakespeare’s sonnets, the poet metaphorically equates the “brow” to a “field” based on their shared flat and wide shape. similarly, he likens “eyes” to “windows” due to their common function of observing the external world, gathering information, and conveying emotions. windows, like eyes, serve as tools for perceiving and transmitting information. furthermore, shakespeare establishes a connection between the eyes and the sun, highlighting their shared spherical shape and central significance, both within the human body and in the sky. (xie & lang, 2018) body-part metaphorization encompasses three main types: the human body serving as the source domain and non-human entities as the target domain, vice versa, and the human body acting as both the source and target domain. these distinctions manifest differently between chinese and english, exhibiting complete equivalence, partial equivalence, or no equivalence. for instance, certain english terms like “eyeball,” “footnote,” “heartstring,” and “old hand” have direct equivalents in chinese, such as “眼球,” “脚注,” “心弦,” and “老手” respectively, demonstrating complete correspondence. however, not all english body-part rhetoric aligns seamlessly with chinese counterparts. for instance, “headphones” is translated as “耳机” rather than the literal “头机,” illustrating partial equivalence. similarly, “wristwatch” in english is expressed as “手表” in chinese, indicating partial correspondence. moreover, english and chinese exhibit notable asymmetries in body-part metaphorization. some bodypart terms exist in one language but lack equivalents in the other, leading to translation challenges. for instance, chinese terms like “山腰” (mountain waist), “帽舌” (hat tongue), and “银耳” (silver ear) lack direct english counterparts. conversely, english phrases like “a handful of,” and “pull one’s leg” have no direct equivalents in chinese, creating a vacuum in translation for these expressions. the similarities between chinese and english body-part metaphorization stem from shared cognitive and psychological features. however, the differences arise from their distinct geographical locations and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 60 published by scholink inc. cultural backgrounds, leading to variations in cognition. china is a mountainous country, so mountain as the target domain is very common such as “山头”、“山嘴”、“山口”、“山腹”、“山腰”、“山脉”、“山 脚”. while england is an island country, so ocean as the target domain is generally used such as “tongue of land”, “finger of land”, “neck of the sea” and “arm of the sea”. chinses and english pay attention to the different points of the object in terms of shape, function, and nature. for example, we say “手机” in chinese based on where we put it. english will focus on the shape called cellular phone (“蜂窝状电话”) or the portable characteristics called the mobile phone (“移动电话”) but english will not stress its location. moreover, chinese metaphorization reflects societal norms and cultural values, intertwining with social and cultural factors. this reflects in the language’s usage, reflecting people’s lifestyles and ethical behaviors. (li, 2002) 3. translation methods of metaphor as metaphor is very important, many scholars study metaphor translation from different perspectives. whilst the central problem of translation is the overall choice of a translation method for a text, the most important particular problem is the translation of metaphor. several main procedures are listed for translating metaphor. (1) reproducing the same image in the tl (2) replacing the image in the sl with a standard tl image (3) translation of metaphor by simile (4) translation of metaphor (or simile) by simile plus sense (5) conversion of metaphor to sense (6) deletion (7) same metaphor combined with sense (newmark, 2001) according to these strategies, newmark’s study is just based on a traditional understanding of metaphor as a figure of speech and he just uses another expression to substitute the traditional one. what’s more, his methods can’t show the process of how the version comes into being. three c-e metaphor translation principles are pointed outby comparing the culture relevance and loss of english and chinese metaphors as well as by analyzing the difficulties in c-e or e-c metaphor translation. (1) maintaining metaphor’s features (2) integrating the relevant cultural implication of a chinese metaphor with that of its english version (3) making up any loss of a cultural vehicle in translation according to its context. (liu, 2008) indeed, metaphor serves not only as a linguistic device but also as a means of conceptualizing and understanding the world around us. consequently, scholars approach metaphor translation from diverse perspectives. some focus on the formal aspects of metaphor as a figure of speech, analyzing its structure and linguistic features. meanwhile, others view metaphor as a cognitive process, emphasizing its role in shaping thought patterns and conceptual frameworks. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 61 published by scholink inc. scholars who examine metaphor from a linguistic standpoint delve into the intricacies of its translation, considering factors such as cultural context, linguistic nuances, and rhetorical devices. they analyze how metaphors are constructed in the source language and explore strategies for effectively rendering them into the target language while preserving their intended meaning and impact. 4. translation examples in romeo and juliet 4.1 human body to human body—no equivalence example 1: source text: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss 曹禺 我的嘴唇是一对进香的朋友， 正红着脸等候， 等候着吻手， 把我的鲁莽赶走。 方平 我两片嘴唇，是信徒，带愧又含羞， 想借轻柔的一吻，去抚平那粗鲁。 朱生豪 这两片嘴唇，含羞的信徒， 愿意用一吻乞求你的宥恕。 梁实秋 我的嘴唇，两个赧颜的香客， 已准备好用轻轻一吻，来抚平那粗糙接触的痕迹。 傅光明 让香客含羞的嘴唇赦免温存之罪， 让那轻柔之吻抚平我牵手的鲁莽。 translator translation of pilgrims 曹禺 进香的朋友 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 62 published by scholink inc. 方平 信徒 朱生豪 信徒 梁实秋 香客 傅光明 香客 figure 1. translation of pilgrims this excerpt captures a dialogue between romeo and juliet, employing highly romantic rhetoric to depict romeo’s desire to kiss juliet. the poet employs a metaphorical imagery likening lips to pilgrims journeying to a sacred destination for religious purposes. the act of kissing, where two lips meet, is equated to two pilgrims joining hands in homage to god. this imaginative metaphor, woven into the fabric of romeo and juliet’s love story, exemplifies the poet’s ability to project human organs onto other parts of the body, imbuing them with characteristics akin to rhetorical subjects. given the cultural and contextual nuances of this metaphor, finding exact equivalence in other languages proves challenging. in translating the term “pilgrims,” cao yu, liang shiqiu, and fu guangming opt for domestication, replacing it with the chinese term “香客”, which refers to individuals who frequently pay homage to buddhism. this choice resonates more deeply with chinese readers, given their familiarity with buddhist customs. conversely, zhu shenghao and fang ping employ foreignization to maintain the essence of western literature. in cases where no direct equivalence exists, translators often resort to literal translation or seek alternative terms in the target language to preserve the cultural significance of the original text. this approach aims to mitigate the loss of cultural meaning while ensuring the integrity of the translated work. 4.2 human body to non-human part—complete equivalence example 2 source text: the brightness of her cheek would shame those stars， as daylight doth a lamp；her eyes in heaven would through the airy region stream so bright that birds would sing and think it were not night. 朱生豪 她脸上的光辉会掩盖了星星的明亮，正像灯光在朝阳下黯然失色一样；在天上的她的眼睛，会在 太空中大放光明，使鸟儿误认为黑夜已经过去而展开它们的歌喉。 方平 她满脸生辉，遮盖了星光—— 正像大白天的亮光压倒了灯光， www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 63 published by scholink inc. 她那双眼睛，在天穹，大放光彩， 小鸟儿唱起歌来，以为黑夜消逝了…… 梁实秋 她脸上的光辉可以使群星惭愧， 恰似白昼使灯光失色一般， 她的眼睛会在天空闪出一片亮光， 鸟儿会以为夜色已阑而开始歌唱。 傅光明 如同朝阳会使灯光失色，她脸颊上的光辉已使耀眼的群星含羞； 她的眼睛把一片天空照得如此明亮， 安睡的鸟儿以为黑夜已过开始歌唱； translator daylight eyes in heaven 朱生豪 朝阳 在天上的她的眼睛 方平 大白天的亮光 眼睛，在天穹 梁实秋 白昼 她的眼睛会在天空 傅光明 朝阳 她的眼睛把一片天空 figure 2. translation of daylight and eyes in heaven this excerpt contains personification, comparison, and simile. it changes the position of julie’s eyes with that of stars. julie’s face is like the sun, and the sunlight will overshadow the stars. in traditional western culture, eyes are often linked with light. by virtue of eyes, we see the materials of the wider world through a middleman, namely light or sun. from the perspective of cognition, humanity first recognized their organs including eyes. firstly, they liken it to substantial objects. secondly, they compare it to abstract things. for example, there is the eye of needle in english and correspondent “针眼” in chinese and the eye of soul and equivalent “心灵之窗”. in literary works, we can easily find rhetorical usage about eyes. there are 138 expressions about eyes in shakespeare’s four greatest tragedies. 31 of them are rhetorical usage and 68 of them have an underlying meaning. the same story goes for chinese works. in cao yu’s plays, thunderstorm and sunrise have 199 expressions of eyes. 35 of them have rhetorical usage and 106 of them have an underlying meaning. (zhang, 2017) the eyes often serve as rhetorical objects due to their functional, structural, and perceptual similarities. just as windows allow us to observe the world, eyes function as constant stars, with their blinking resembling the twinkle of stars. in translations where complete equivalence exists, all five translators adopt a literal strategy. when translating “eyes in heaven,” they opt for “eyes in the sky,” reflecting the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 64 published by scholink inc. shared cultural understanding of the metaphorical connection between eyes and stars. while this literal translation may seem incongruous, it aligns with the common cognitive association between the position of eyes in the body and stars in the sky, making it acceptable for chinese readers. however, slight discrepancies emerge in the translation of “daylight.” in the source text, the brightness of the cheek is likened to sunlight, while the shining of stars is compared to lamp light. zhu shenghao and fu guangming opt to directly translate “daylight” as “the sun,” emphasizing its role as the source of daylight. conversely, other translators employ literal translations. despite variations like “白昼” and “白 天亮光” in chinese expressions, they ultimately refer to the same phenomenon. in essence, while translators strive for fidelity to the original text, slight variations in translation strategies may occur, reflecting nuanced interpretations and linguistic choices. nonetheless, the overarching aim remains to convey the intended meaning while maintaining cultural resonance for the target audience. 4.3 human body to non-human part—partial equivalence example 3 la. cap. read o’er the volume of young paris’ face and find delight writ there with beauty’s pen; examine every married lineament and see how one another leads content. 朱生豪 从年轻的帕里斯的脸上，你可以读到用秀美的笔写成的迷人字句；一根根齐整的线条，交织成整 个一幅谐和的图画； 曹禺 先把他的脸当作一本书念，你会找出多少愉快多少美， 每一条纹路，每一根线 露出多少春天的明媚。 方平 你不妨留神看，瞧瞧他那张脸儿—， 造化的杰作啊，真让人心花怒放 你横看竖挑，也得说，他五官端正， 眉清目秀，那轮廓，那线条，多相称。 梁实秋 仔细阅读年轻的巴里斯这本书， 你可以欣赏到那神来之笔，写在他脸上的快乐， www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 65 published by scholink inc. 看各个部分彼此如何协调，仔细观察他的谐和的面貌。 傅光明 你可以把年轻的帕里斯的脸当一本书来读，你会发现写在上面的美丽词句； 你要留心他和谐的容貌仪表， 每一根脸部线条都那么匀称； translator read volume pen lineament content 朱生豪 读 字句 笔 线条 图画 曹禺 念 书 ø 纹路/线 春天的明媚 方平 看/瞧瞧 ø ø 线条 ø 梁实秋 阅读 书 神来之笔 ø 面貌 傅光明 读 词句 ø 脸部线条 容貌仪表 figure 3. translation of read volume pen lineament and content the selected source material is mainly about the description of paris’s appearance by using metaphor and synaesthesia. it creates a vivid image of young paris and likens him to a book with some book-related words such as “read”, “volume”, “pen”, “lineament”, and “content. a handsome image stands vividly revealed on the paper. as a master of language, shakespeare combined the narrative of the character’s face with description of the book in an intriguing way. readers feel natural and surprised after reading this passage. implicitly, chinese calligraphy also reflects the appearance of the writer at the stroke of a pen. explicitly, as the ancient saying goes, the calligraphy is a mirror of the writer’s personal characters. but since words or chinese characters which are written in books are not exactly books themselves. in this context, english and chinese are partial equivalence. there are many body-part terms related to books in chinese, like “书眉”、“书目”、“书口”、“书面”、“书脊”、“书背”、“书皮”. (lu, 2003) however, most of them have no equivalence in english. we can find “booklist”, “book cover”, and so on. a few of them have correspondent words such as “the spine of book”. therefore, rhetoric about the book and body-part terms is partial equivalence in chinese and english. interestingly, facebook, a streaming media, is also a word today showing the similarity of face-to-face communication and reading books. zhu shenghao’s translation basically matched the original text, focusing on the translation of words related to books like the volume, pen, lineament, and content. he paid attention to the description of books but hadn’t written the “book” out on the paper. after reading the translation, you can find a similar effect presented by the original one by following the trace of the description of books. generally speaking, he was faithful to the original work, aiming at conveying the intention of the original work to create a beautiful personal image. one point merits discussion. he translated the “content” into “图画” (picture). different from other translations of words, this one was transformed into a new image. in traditional www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 66 published by scholink inc. chinese culture, there is a saying: calligraphy and painting share the same source because they both can reflect the sentiments or the character of the creator. (zhang, 2017) zhu shenghao found another equivalence in chinese to meet the original effect. cao yu was not confined to the original text, and he added and deleted something at his will. he bluntly translated the rhetorical object and deleted the image of the pen. he put more emphasis on the writing of paris’ appearance. what’s interesting is that he added the image of spring which doesn’t exist in the original text. in this sense, he adopted free translation and compared young paris’ face to spring. however, fang ping employed a completely different translation method. he deleted all the book-related words, including “read”, “pen” and “content”. and he, therefore, used omission and directly translated the description of book into that of appearance. to some extent, fang ping stood against the rhetoric of the original text and stressed the character’s appearance. this kind of translation, to some extent, kept the aim of highlighting personal appearance at the cost of the reduced interest of source text. for example, “read over the volume of young paris’ face” involves synaesthesia. readers may feel interested in reading it, but the translation reduced this kind of effect. liang shiqiu was more inclined to literal translation and also emphasized the description of face. the same methods go for fu guangming. liang shiqiu changed the position of some words and sentences. for instance, the “face” followed “young paris” in the source text, but the first face was deleted and “there” was clarified into “face”. fu guangming and liang shiqiu both repeated words like “脸” “面貌” “仪表” to highlight the subject. from a big picture, translators put emphasis on different points when facing partial equivalence. zhu shenghao stressed the description of images of books, while other translators emphasized the writing of the face. when translating specific words, they may directly delete them and convey the underlying meaning or choose another image to make up. for example, translators show much difference in the translation of content. some pointed out the rhetorical subject, and some transformed it into other equivalence in the other language. translators unleash more subjectivity and demonstrate their personal styles. 5. conclusion in romeo and juliet, body-part rhetoric plays a crucial role in character depiction. by projecting human attributes onto non-human elements and other parts of the body based on shared functions, shapes, and sizes, the rhetoric not only shapes imagery but also reflects our cognitive processes and socio-cultural influences. however, differences in western and chinese cognition may result in varying levels of equivalence in metaphorization, ranging from complete equivalence to partial equivalence and no equivalence, necessitating diverse translation strategies. when confronted with complete equivalence, translators often opt for literal translation, as it allows for the faithful conveyance of the original meaning to target readers. for instances of partial equivalence, translators typically employ literal translation while occasionally modifying certain images to enhance www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 67 published by scholink inc. readability for the target audience. in cases where no equivalence exists, translation strategies diverge. some translators may prioritize target readers’ familiarity by domesticating foreign images, thereby transforming them into culturally recognizable concepts. conversely, others may opt for foreignization to preserve the distinctiveness of the source literature, embracing the otherness inherent in the original text. ultimately, the choice of translation strategy depends on various factors, including the translator’s interpretation of the text, the intended audience, and the cultural context. by navigating the nuances of metaphorization and employing appropriate translation techniques, translators strive to bridge linguistic and cultural gaps, ensuring the resonance and accessibility of the translated work. references feng, l. y. (2008). a study of chinese body-part vocabulary. beijing: china radio and television publishing house. li, s. x. (2002). on the cultural connotations of human body terms. journal of inner mongolia university (social sciences edition), 2002(5), 58-63. liu, f. g. (2008). research on metaphorical translation principles between chinese and english. (doctoral dissertation). east china normal university. lu, w. z. (2003). cognitive characteristics of human body metaphorization. foreign language teaching, 2003(6), 23-28. newmark, p. (2001). approaches to translation. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. xie, s. j., & lang, r. j. (2018). analysis of human body metaphors in shakespeare’s sonnets. journal of southwest petroleum university (social sciences edition), 20(6), 107-114. zhang, y. r. (2017). a study on the rhetoric and translation of “eyes” in shakespearean and caoplay from the perspective of conceptual metaphor (master’s thesis). guilin: guangxi normal university. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 109 original paper study on nutritional status of rural primary school children in bangladesh mst. gulshan ara1, most. sumi akter1 & mahmuda awal2 1 lecturer at enam nursing college, dhaka, bangladesh 2 lecturer at enam nursing college, dhaka, bangladesh 3 lecturer at crp nursing college, dhaka, bangladesh received: april 15, 2025 accepted: may 1, 2025 online published: may 16, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p109 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p109 abstract background: this study investigates the nutritional status of rural primary school children in bangladesh, a demographic that is particularly vulnerable to malnutrition due to socio-economic challenges, limited access to healthcare, and inadequate dietary practices. objective: the research aims to assess the prevalence of undernutrition, including stunting, wasting, and underweight, among children aged 6 to 12 years in selected rural areas. utilizing a cross-sectional design, data were collected from 139 children through anthropometric measurements, dietary assessments, and socio-economic surveys. methodology: the findings reveal a concerning prevalence of malnutrition, with approximately 30% of the children classified as stunted, 15% as wasted, and 25% as underweight. these rates are significantly higher than the national averages, indicating a critical public health issue in rural settings. factors contributing to poor nutritional status include low household income, inadequate maternal education, and limited access to diverse food sources. results: the implications of these findings are profound, suggesting an urgent need for targeted interventions to address malnutrition among rural primary school children in bangladesh. conclusion: this study highlights the critical intersection of nutrition, education, and socio-economic factors in shaping the health of rural children in bangladesh. 1. background of the study nutrition can be defined as the science of food and its relationship to health. it is concerned primarily with the part played by nutrients in body growth, development and maintenance. good nutrition means maintaining a nutritional status that enables us to grow well and enjoy good health (park, 2023). school-going age is very significant because this is the main period of life to make the body store nutrients. these stores help in the rapid growth of children. good nutrition means a stronger immune www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 110 published by scholink inc. system, low illness, better health, and a productive society. the children who do not get an adequate quantity of required macro and micronutrients, including carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals (iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, iodine, etc.) may not be in a position to perform to their full potential in their academics. it is usually seen that the quality and quantity of food in children usually change with time from childhood to adolescence (singh & sharma., 2021). the nutritional status of children is a potential health indicator of development in a country. a person’s energy and/or nutrient intake shortages, excesses, or imbalances are referred to as malnutrition. malnutrition includes all forms of under nutrition (wasting, stunting, and underweight), insufficient vitamin and mineral intake, obesity, and the ensuing non-communicable diseases linked to diet. the consequences of acute childhood malnutrition include a greater chance of dying from childhood diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria and many other psychological problems (who, 2024). child health is a growing concern all over the world with rapid economic growth and social changes. nutritional status in childhood is the most important determinant of the health status of an adult person as its impact is seen on the socio-economic development of a nation. malnutrition is a global problem that is affecting under five children easily. it is seen that 20-80% of primary school children are suffering from nutritional deprivation. assessment of the nutritional status of children is an essential strategy for improving overall health. primary school age is a dynamic growth period that begins after the high mortality risk period in the preschool years and corresponds to the period from kindergarten to the secondary school period when adequate cognitive, affective and psychomotor achievement occurs. about 24% population of the less developed and 15% of that of the industrialized world are primary school children (fatema et al., 2023). recent bangladesh demographic and health survey (bdhs) data on 2022 key indicators revealed that among children, 24% were stunted, 22% were underweight and 11% were wasting (national institute of population research and training (niport) and icf, 2023). nutritional status is assessed usually by anthropometry based on age, body weight, and height; several indices such as height-for-age, weight-forheight, and body mass index. the children are class to three categories: stunting defined by low height-forage, underweight defined by low weight-for-age, and wasting defined by low weight-for-height. body mass index is a simple index commonly used to classify underweight, overweight, and obese. usually stunting measures past (chronic) childhood under-nutrition, and underweight measures past (chronic) and present under nutrition and wasting reflects current or acute under nutrition (fatema et al., 2023). 1.1 general objective to assess the nutritional status of rural primary school children in bangladesh, focusing on the prevalence of undernutrition, dietary habits, and socio-economic determinants, in order to inform policy and program development aimed at improving child nutrition in these communities. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 111 published by scholink inc. 1.2 specific objectives to determine the prevalence of undernutrition (stunting, wasting, and underweight) among rural primary school children in selected regions of bangladesh. 1.3 conceptual framework and theoretical framework: the conceptual framework for assessing the nutritional status of rural primary school children in bangladesh can be visualized as a multi-dimensional model that incorporates various factors influencing nutrition. this framework highlights the interrelationships between different determinants and their impact on nutritional outcomes. 1.4 variables independent variables: • age • sex • religion • mother age • mother’s educational • number of household member • occupation of household head • family income dependent variables: nutritional status 1.5 literature review different related literatures were reviewed thoroughly to gain in-depth knowledge of the problems of the study. a literature review is the systematic search of published work to gain information about the research topics. literature related to the study has been collected by review of different available scholarly journals, books, thesis reports, articles, etc. either electronic or printed versions. an internet independent variable dependent variable age sex religion mother age mother’s education number of household member occupation of household head family income nutritional status www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 112 published by scholink inc. search for electronic resources has been carried out by using academic research library databases like pubmed, science direct, google scholar, etc. nutrition is vital for preservation of health and prevention of diseases, particularly the food-related deficiency diseases (who, 2020). a descriptive cross-sectional study using a structured questionnaire was conducted and a convenience sampling method was used in the selection of 400 students (200 from sandwip and 200 from bandarban) and their mothers. for each of the included children, sociodemographic data, and anthropometric data such as age, weight and height were taken. statistical analysis was performed to identify significant determinants for stunting (height for age), wasting (weight for height) and underweight (weight for age). chi square tests were used to establish the association of the nutritional status of the children with key variables under interest and level of significance was set at p < 0.05. the study results showed that in sandwip 38.5% of the children were underweight, 20.5% of the children were wasted and 45% of the children were stunted and in bandarban 40.5% of the children were underweight, 18.5% of the children were wasted and 48% of the children were stunted. child’s age group, gender, mother’s nutritional status, mother’s education, mother’s occupation, birth order of children, diarrhea, pneumonia, worm infestation and immunization status of children were associated with the nutritional status of primary school going children (rahman, m., 2022). a cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 400 children of aged 5–10 years using semi-structured questionnaire, in the haor areas of kishoreganj district in bangladesh. the outcomes variables considered were stunting, wasting and underweight calculated following the world health organization anthropometric guidelines of 2006. children and their parents’ socio-demographic characteristics were considered as the exposure variables. descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics of the respondents. binary logistic regression model was used to determine the factors associated with the malnutrition. around half (48%) of the total children were wasted at the time of the survey following around 40.5% were underweight and 38% were stunted. the likelihoods of occurring stunting, wasting and underweight were found higher among female children than their male counterpart. the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight were 39%, 54% and 45% among girls whereas the prevalence was 36%, 42% and 36% among the boys, respectively. increased meal frequency, solvency with land ownership were found associated with the reduced odds of becoming malnourished. (khanam & haque, 2021). malnutrition and infectious diseases, such as helminthic infections, are widespread among primary school children, especially in lowand middle-income countries. however, there are limited studies on school health in bangladesh, particularly in rural settings. this study aimed to explore the nutritional status and prevalence of helminthic infections in relation to associated health behavior, awareness, and knowledge regarding malnutrition and helminthic infections which were evaluated by school nurses among primary school children in bangladesh. this was a descriptive, cross-sectional survey study with a total duration of 1 month, from september to october, 2021. this study formed part of a school nurse project as a cluster non-randomized clinical trial www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 113 published by scholink inc. in bangladesh. selected variables from that clinical trial were analyzed and reported in the results section. the study participants were primary school children from four schools in rural bangladesh. in total, 604 children participated in the baseline survey and health checkups. among them, 163 (27.0%) children were classified as malnourished according to the world health organization growth reference standard 2007. the prevalence of helminthic infections was 53 (8.8%). approximately >50% of the children responded that they never/rarely practiced hygiene-related behaviors and had no awareness and knowledge regarding malnutrition and helminthic infections. however, differences between the variables were not statistically significant (aivey et al., 2024). a descriptive cross-sectional study was done in 2020 among 780 children aged 6 to 12 years to determine the nutritional status of school age children in abakalika metropolis, nigeria. random sampling method was used to select participants. a self-developed structured questionnaire was used for the study. the study found that the prevalence of under nutrition was 15.7% and that of over nutrition was 2.1% (umeokonkwo et al., 2020) khan et al. (2022) conducted a systematic review presents the pooled prevalence of nutritional status and dietary intake among school-going children and adolescents (5-15 years of age) in an lmic of pakistan and the perspective for broader global nutrition in this age group. an electronic search of databases was run on pubmed and medline (viaovid) along with gray literature and archives of local scientific journals till 2nd january 2021. studies meeting the eligibility criteria were included and relevant data were extracted, and a pooled proportional analysis was performed. a total of 51 studies including 62,148 children of 5-15 years met the inclusion criteria, of which 30 studies reported on anthropometric indices alone, eight on dietary intake patterns while 13 reported both. all of the included studies had a crosssectional study design. there were 20 studies from the province of punjab, 15 from sindh, eight from khyber pakhtoonkhwa, two from balochistan, and three from multiple cities across pakistan. the pooled proportional analysis showed that the proportion of underweight children and adolescents was 25.1% (95% ci 17.3-33.7%); stunting 23% (95% ci 11.8-36.7%); wasting 24% (95% ci 15.2-34%); thinness 12.5% (95% ci 9.4 16.1%); overweight 11.4% (95% ci 7.2-16.3%); and obesity 6.9% (95% ci 3-12%). a relatively high intake of carbohydrates, soft drinks, and sweets/chocolates; and a low intake of proteinrich foods, fruits, and vegetables, compared to the recommended daily allowance (rda), was reported. umeokonkwo et al. (2020) conducted adescriptive cross-sectional study among 780 children aged 6 to 12years from 10 primary schools in abakaliki metropolis. the finding shows that overall prevalence of under nutrition was 15.7% and that of over-nutrition was 2.1%. the prevalence of underweight, thinness and stunting, overweight and obesity were 8, 7.2, 9.9, 1.4 and 0.7% respectively. the proportion of pupils who were thin was higher among males (8.7%), those attending public schools (8.6%) and those dwelling in rural parts of the metropolis (14.3%) compared to females (5.8%) private school attendees (1.9%) and urban dwellers (4.6%). stunting was found to be higher among pupils attending public schools (11.8%) compared to those attending private schools (2.5%). the prevalence of stunting was 19.3% among the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 114 published by scholink inc. pupils residing in rural areas and 5% among the pupils living in urban areas of the metropolis. no pupil in private schools was underweight. over nutrition was not found among the pupils in rural areas. singh & sharma (2021) thirty studies reviewed by using different sources such as research gate, pubmed, google scholar, american journal of clinical nutrition, and surveys of different agencies such as websites of the ministry of women and child development government of india and different state governments to know the prevalence of wasting, stunting, overweight, and obesity among children in rural as well as urban areas of different areas in india. results from the various studies show that the underweight children range from 6.6% to 83%. prevalence of stunting ranges from 13.8% to 56.1%, prevalence of wasting ranges from 6.7% to 75%, and prevalence of underweight ranges from 6.6% to 83%. aboagye et al. (2022) a school-based cross-sectional study among 423 school children aged 6–12 years in the south tongu district of ghana. the result indicates overall prevalence of under nutrition and overweight/obesity 21.5% (ci = 17.7, 25.7) and 24.8% (ci =20.8, 29.2), respectively. specifically, the prevalence of stunting, thin ness, underweight, overweight, and obesity were 10.4%, 12.1%, 3.8%, 11.1%, and 13.7%, respectively. school children whose household used water from non-portable sources were more likely to be undernourished. the overweight/obesity was higher among school children whose mothers had attained formal education, those who consumed beverages between meals per day and those who had adequate dietary diversity. school children aged 10–12 was less likely to be overweight/obese compared to those aged 6–9. 2. research methodology 2.1 research approach the research approach was used for this study is a descriptive approach. the research approach for assessing the nutritional status of rural primary school children in bangladesh is a mixed-methods approach, integrating both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. this approach allows for a comprehensive understanding of the nutritional status and the various factors influencing it, combining statistical analysis with in-depth insights from the community. 2.2 study design a cross-sectional study design was adopted to carry out the present study. the nutritional status of rural primary school children in bangladesh is a critical public health concern, characterized by high rates of malnutrition, including stunting, wasting, and micronutrient deficiencies. this study aims to assess the nutritional status of these children and identify the factors influencing their health outcomes. a wellstructured study design is essential to achieve these objectives effectively. this research employs a cross-sectional study design, which is suitable for capturing a snapshot of the nutritional status and associated factors at a specific point in time. this design allows for the collection of data from a large population efficiently and is particularly useful for identifying prevalence rates of malnutrition. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 115 published by scholink inc. 2.3 duration of study the study was conducted over a period of 6 months from the approval of ierb. 2.4 population the nutritional status of rural primary school children in bangladesh is a critical public health issue, as malnutrition can have profound effects on physical growth, cognitive development, and overall health. this population study aims to assess the prevalence of malnutrition among rural primary school children and identify the factors contributing to their nutritional status. primary school children studying in a government school was selected for the study. this age group is particularly important for assessing nutritional status, as it encompasses key developmental milestones and is a critical period for growth and learning. 2.5 sample the sample was taken for the present study of the primary school children in rural area of kahaloo upazila, bogura district. study setting: the study was conducted at narhatta govt. primary school kahaloo, bogura. sample size: the sample size was calculated by using the following formula for finite population 𝑛 = 𝑍2 ∗ 𝑝(1 − 𝑝) 𝑒2 1 + [ 𝑍2 ∗ 𝑝(1 − 𝑝) 𝑒2 ∗ 𝑁 ] 𝑛 = 1.962 ∗ 0.5(1 − 0.5) 0.052 1 + [ 1.962 ∗ 0.5(1 − 0.5) 0.052 ∗ 187 ] 𝑛 = 0.9604 0.0025 1 + [ 0.9604 0.4675 ] 𝑛 = 384.16 1 + 2.054 𝑛 = 384.16 3.054 𝑛 = 125.79 the calculated sample size is 126 10% attrition / non responsive = 126 x 10% = 12.6 = 13. so, the sample size for this study is ( 126+13)= 139. the sample size calculation is a crucial step in designing a study, as it determines the number of participants needed to achieve reliable and valid results. in this case, the sample size was calculated using where, ▪ n is the population size =187 ▪ z is the z-score = 1.96 [at a confidence level of 95%] ▪ e is the margin of error = 0.05 ▪ p is the standard of deviation = 0.5 [if the standard of deviation is 50%] www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 116 published by scholink inc. a formula for finite populations, which accounts for the total population size when estimating the required sample size. below is a detailed analysis and elaboration of the calculations provided. 2.6 inclusion criteria to ensure a representative sample, the following inclusion criteria was applied: age: children aged 6 to 12 years. location: children attending primary schools located in rural areas of selected districts in bangladesh. parental consent: written informed consent from parents or guardians must be obtained for participation in the study. 2.7 exclusion criteria children were excluded from the study if they meet any of the following criteria: chronic illness: children with chronic illnesses or disabilities that affected their nutritional status or dietary intake. non-residents: children who do not reside in the selected rural areas or who are not enrolled in the participating schools. refusal to participate: children whose parents or guardians do not provide consent for participation. 2.8 study instrument to assess the level of nutritional status of primary school children a self-developed structured questionnaire was used. the questionnaire was developed in english and then will be translated into bangla and will be verified by research guide and at least 3 experts on this field for validation and reliability and further corrections was made if according to expert opinion. 2.9 description of tool: self-developed semi structure data collection tool was used to identify the nutritional status of school aged children. the question was divided into 3 parts. part-1: distribution of socio-demographic information. part-2: nutritional assessment scale to measure nutritional status of school children. part-3: measurement of nutritional status by using bmi formula. 2.10 data collection technique data was collected after getting approval of the institution ethical review board (ierb), enam medical college, savar, dhaka. then permission was obtained from the head teacher of the selected school. the objective of the study will be briefed to the teachers and students and verbal consent will be taken. data was collected by face-to-face interview & measurement of vitals by the researcher himself / herself. data collection was done between 11 am to 3 pm, when they are free especially during lunch break or leisure period. height was measured to the nearest 0.1cm by using portable stadiometer (the reliability of instrument was checked before using tools) standing upright on a flat surface without shoes. body weight was measured with light clothing to the nearest 0.1kg with balance placed on hard flat surface and checked and adjusted for zero. each student was interviewed for about 10 -15 minutes. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 117 published by scholink inc. 2.11 plan for data analysis the gathered data was checked for accuracy and completeness. data was edited, organized and coded manually and entered into statistical package for social science (spss) version 30. descriptive statistics was used to calculate mean, median, standard deviations, and frequency of subjects and inferential statistics was done. the finding of data was presented through relevant table, bar graphs and pie chart. 2.12 ethical considerations in the setting the study setting was designed to ensure ethical considerations were prioritized. researchers obtained permission from local education authorities and school administrators before initiating the study. informed consent was secured from parents or guardians, ensuring that they understood the purpose of the study and their rights as participants. the study setting for assessing the nutritional status of rural primary school children in bangladesh was carefully selected to reflect the realities of rural life. by focusing on schools and their surrounding communities, the research aimed to capture a comprehensive picture of the factors influencing child nutrition. the insights gained from this setting were expected to inform targeted interventions and policies aimed at improving the nutritional status of children in rural bangladesh. 2.13 data presentation data was presented with tables so that data can be visualized at a glance easily. descriptive statistics were presented with frequency tables and inferential statistics were presented with tables. 3. result and discussion in this chapter, the results of this study are presented under the following headings: table 1. distribution of socio demographic characteristics of the participants (n=139) variables categories frequency percentage (%) mean ± sd age (years) (minimum-6; maximum-12) 6 12 8.6 9.03 ± 1.655 7 18 12.9 8 22 15.8 9 21 15.1 10 41 29.5 11 18 12.9 12 7 5.0 gender male 64 46.0 female 75 54.0 religion islam 121 87.1 hindu 18 12.9 24 1 .7 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 118 published by scholink inc. mother age (minimum-24; maximum-48) 25 6 4.3 33.85 ± 5.355 26 2 1.4 27 7 5.0 28 10 7.2 29 4 2.9 30 13 9.4 31 3 2.2 32 15 10.8 33 8 5.8 34 7 5.0 35 19 13.7 36 8 5.8 37 3 2.2 38 9 6.5 40 5 3.6 41 4 2.9 42 7 5.0 43 1 .7 45 2 1.4 46 4 2.9 48 1 .7 mother’s education no formal education 3 2.2 primary 72 51.8 ssc 33 23.7 hsc 18 12.9 bachelor degree 5 3.6 master degree 8 5.8 number of household member (minimum-3; maximum-8) 3 14 10.1 4.49 ± 1.017 4 74 53.2 5 28 20.1 6 16 11.5 7 6 4.3 8 1 .7 service holder 30 21.6 business 18 12.9 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 119 published by scholink inc. occupation of household head day laborer 76 54.7 emigrant 15 10.8 primary source of water of household tube well 51 36.7 supply 88 63.3 family income (minimum-6000; maximum-50000) 6000 1 .7 18460.43 ± 9534.275 8000 13 9.4 10000 24 17.3 12000 19 13.7 15000 20 14.4 18000 1 .7 20000 20 14.4 22000 2 1.4 25000 10 7.2 28000 2 1.4 30000 17 12.2 35000 2 1.4 40000 5 3.6 45000 2 1.4 50000 1 .7 this chart shows the mean age of the participant was 9.03 (sd = 1.655) years. more than (29.5%) of the participants belong to the age of 10 years. most of the (54%) participants were female and most of the (87.1%) participants religion is islam. the mean age of mother is 33.85 (sd = 5.3559) years. among them (29.5%) mother was under 35 years old. it was found that 51.8% mother has only primary education. 53.2% children belong to the family having 4 members only. occupation of the head of household was found day labors constitute 54.7%. in terms of drinking water 63.3% children depends on supply water on and 36.7% children used tube well water. monthly income ranges from 6000 to 50000 taka where 17.3% family owned 10000 taka. table 2. anthropometric measurement variables categories frequency percentage (%) 9 1 .7 11 1 .7 12 8 5.8 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 120 published by scholink inc. bmi 13 15 10.8 14 35 25.2 15 24 17.3 16 10 7.2 17 10 7.2 18 3 2.2 19 12 8.6 20 7 5.0 21 4 2.9 22 3 2.2 24 3 2.2 25 2 1.4 26 1 .7 out of 139 respondents only 22.3% (31) respondents found within the normal range of bmi according to who and rest of others respondents fall into under nutrition category. table 3. disease suffered from last six months variables categories frequency percentage (%) have you suffered from diarrhea for the last 6 month yes 36 25.9 no 103 74.1 have you suffered from ari for the last 6 month yes 72 51.8 no 67 48.2 do you have worm infestation yes 21 15.1 no 118 84.9 table 3 shows that among 139 respondents most of them (74.1%) did not suffer from diarrhea in previous 6 months. on the other hand, 51.8% children suffered from ari at the same time. interestingly 84.9% participants mentioned that they do not have any worm infestation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 121 published by scholink inc. table 4. dietary habit variables categories frequency percentage (%) which of these meals did you eat yesterday? breakfast 139 100.0 morning snack 98 70.5 lunch 126 90.6 evening snack 101 72.7 dinner 139 100.0 table 4 displays that 100% respondents have their breakfast and dinner; 70.5% have morning snack, 90.6% lunch and 72.7% have their evening snack. that means only 70.5% respondents have had all type meals the day before date of data collection. table 5. dietary habit and health conditions of participants variables categories frequency percentage (%) did you skip breakfast three or more times last week yes 24 17.3 no 115 82.7 did you skip lunch three or more times in last week yes 15 10.8 no 124 89.2 do you eat a meal from a fast food restaurant two or more times last week yes 106 76.3 no 33 23.7 are you on a special diet for medical reasons yes 14 10.1 no 125 89.9 are you a vegetarian yes 6 4.3 no 133 95.7 do you have any problems with your appetite like not feeling hungry yes 27 19.4 no 112 80.6 do you have any problems with your appetite like feeling hungry all the time yes 8 5.8 no 131 94.2 from this chart it is found that a small percentage of participants (17.3%) reported skipping breakfast three or more times in the past week. this indicates that the majority of participants prioritize breakfast. the vast majority (82.7%) did not skip breakfast, suggesting that breakfast is an important meal for most of the respondents. only 10.8% of respondents skipped lunch three or more times, which is a relatively low percentage. the majority of respondents (89.2%) did not skip lunch, which suggests that lunch is typically not missed by most participants. a significant proportion of respondents (76.3%) reported www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 122 published by scholink inc. eating fast food two or more times in the past week. this indicates a high consumption of fast food among the group, pointing to potentially unhealthy eating habits. only 23.7% of respondents avoided fast food, which implies that a smaller number of participants are mindful of their fast-food intake. a small percentage of respondents (10.1%) follow a special diet due to medical reasons, indicating that dietary restrictions for health reasons are relatively uncommon in this group. the majority (89.9%) are not on a special diet for medical reasons, suggesting that most participants do not face medical dietary restrictions. only 4.3% of respondents are vegetarians, which is a very small proportion, showing that vegetarianism is not common in this sample. a very high percentage (95.7%) of participants are not vegetarians, indicating that the vast majority of people in this group consume meat. about 19.4% of respondents report issues with appetite, particularly not feeling hungry. this suggests that a notable proportion of people may face irregular eating habits or conditions affecting appetite. the majority (80.6%) do not report issues with appetite, indicating that most participants do not have significant problems with hunger or appetite. only 5.8% of respondents report feeling hungry all the time, which is a relatively low percentage, indicating that excessive hunger is not a widespread issue. the vast majority (94.2%) do not experience constant hunger, suggesting that most respondents have normal eating patterns without excessive hunger. table 6. dietary consumption pattern of participante variables categories frequency percentage (%) which of these foods did you eat last weeks? grains rice 139 100.0 roti 114 82.0 noodles 101 72.7 vegetables green leafy vegetables 109 78.4 potatoes 139 100.0 brinjal 94 67.6 tomatoes 31 22.3 ladies finger 55 39.6 pumpkin 71 51.1 carrot 27 19.4 fruits jackfruit 9 6.5 mango 25 18.0 banana 124 89.2 guava 105 75.5 apple 79 56.8 orange 74 53.2 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 123 published by scholink inc. milk and other dairy product cows milk 117 89.3 yogurt 60 45.8 ice cream 69 52.7 meat and meat alternative meat 132 99.2 fish 128 96.2 egg 131 98.5 fat and sweets cake 111 79.9 candy 130 93.5 ghee 18 12.9 cream 34 24.5 sugars 139 100.0 this chart shows that out of 139 respondents, rice was consumed by all respondents. roti was consumed by 82% of respondents, making it a popular choice, but not as universal as rice. noodles were consumed by about 73% of respondents, which is a significant portion but less common than rice or roti. green leafy vegetables were consumed by 78% of respondents. potatoes are a universal food in this sample, with all respondents consuming them, highlighting their importance. brinjal (eggplant) is consumed by 67.6% of the respondents, a moderate but significant figure. only 22.3% of the respondents consumed tomatoes, indicating they are less common in this sample’s diet. ladies finger was consumed by about 40% of respondents, showing a moderate level of consumption. 51.1% respondents consumed pumpkin. carrot consumption is relatively low, with only 19.4% of the sample eating it. jackfruit was consumed by only a small fraction (6.5%) of respondents. mangoes were consumed by 18% of the respondents, showing moderate popularity. bananas were consumed by 89.2% of respondents, making them the most popular fruit in this dataset. guava is a common fruit with 75.5% of respondents consuming it. apples were consumed by more than half of the respondents (56.8%), making them relatively popular. oranges were consumed by 53.2% of respondents, showing a moderate level of consumption. cow’s milk is a highly popular dairy product, consumed by 89.3% of respondents. yogurt is consumed by nearly half of the sample (45.8%), making it moderately popular. ice cream is consumed by 52.7% of respondents, showing a moderate level of popularity. meat is consumed by almost all respondents, with 99.2% of the sample including it in their diet. fish consumption is also very high, with 96.2% of respondents eating it. eggs are consumed by 98.5% of the respondents, reflecting widespread consumption of this protein source. cake is consumed by 79.9% of respondents, making it a popular sweet item. candy is consumed by 93.5% of respondents, showing it is a very popular choice among sweets. ghee (clarified butter) has a relatively low consumption rate (12.9%), suggesting it is less commonly used in daily diets. cream is consumed by 24.5% of the sample, which is a small but notable proportion. sugars were consumed by all respondents, making it a universal dietary component. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 124 published by scholink inc. table 7. household amenities and lifestyle habits variables categories frequency percentage (%) do you have a gas stove where you live yes 108 77.7 no 31 22.3 do you have a refrigerator where you live yes 99 71.2 no 40 28.8 did you participate in physical activity in the last week yes 124 89.2 no 15 10.8 do you spend more than 2 hours per day watching tv or playing mobile game yes 59 42.4 no 80 57.6 this chart shows thata majority of the respondents (77.7%) have a gas stove at their residence and a smaller portion of respondents (22.3%) do not have a gas stove at home, indicating that alternative cooking methods might be used. 71.2% of respondents have a refrigerator at home, showing that most households have access to refrigeration, which is important for food storage and preservation. 71.2% of respondents have a refrigerator at home, showing that most households have access to refrigeration, which is important for food storage and preservation. 28.8% of respondents do not have a refrigerator, which could imply reliance on other methods for food preservation or may indicate a lower standard of living for this portion of the population. a large majority (89.2%) of respondents engaged in physical activity in the past week, indicating that most people in this group prioritize or have access to opportunities for physical activity. only 10.8% of respondents did not engage in physical activity in the last week, which could suggest a lower level of physical inactivity in the population. 42.4% of respondents reported spending more than two hours per day on tv or mobile games, which highlights a significant portion of the population engaged in screen time for entertainment. a larger percentage (57.6%) do not spend more than two hours a day on these activities, suggesting that the majority of people engage in other activities or have less screen time. 4. discussion in this study, the children’s ages range from 6 to 12 years, with a mean age of 9.03 and sd ± 1.655 years. the majority of children are aged 10 years (29.5%), followed by 8 years (15.8%), 9 years (15.1%), and 7 years (12.9%). the youngest group (6 years) is 12%, while the oldest group (12 years) has the least representation at 5%. this indicates a tendency toward a central distribution of ages, with a peak at age 10, suggesting that this group may be over represented in the sample. the result revealed that a striking gender disparity is evident with female children (54%) than male children (46%), indicating a relatively balanced gender distribution in the sample. the majority of the participants belong to the islamic faith (87.1%), while a smaller portion belongs to hinduism (12.9%). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 125 published by scholink inc. this suggests that the community sampled is predominantly muslim. the mothers’ ages range from 24 to 48 years, with a mean age of 33.85 ± 5.355 years. the most common age groups for mothers are 30 years (9.4%) and 35 years (13.7%), which suggests that a substantial proportion of mothers are in their early to mid-thirties. other age groups: ages 24 and 48 are represented minimally (0.7% each), while ages 27, 28, and 32 have more moderate frequencies. this distribution might reflect common childbearing ages, with a concentration around the thirties. the majority of mothers have primary education (51.8%), followed by ssc (23.7%) and hsc (12.9%). a smaller portion of mothers have attained a bachelor’s degree (3.6%) or master’s degree (5.8%). this suggests a lower level of higher education in the sample, with a dominant focus on primary and secondary education. it indicates that educational attainment could influence various aspects of children development. the number of household members ranges from 3 to 8, with a mean of 4.49 ± 1.017 members. the most common household size is 4 members (53.2%), followed by 5 members (20.1%) and 6 members (11.5%). there are only a few households with 7 or 8 members, and one household has 3 members. this indicates a tendency towards smaller family sizes, with 4-member households being the most common. the most common occupation of the household head is day laborer (54.7%), followed by service holders (21.6%) and business owners (12.9%). a small percentage of households are headed by emigrants (10.8%). this distribution reflects a working-class community, with a strong reliance on manual labor and informal employment. the majority of households get their water from supply (63.3%), while a smaller percentage use tube wells (36.7%). this suggests that public water systems are more commonly used, but some households still rely on private or traditional water sources like tube wells. the family income ranges from 6000 to 50,000, with a mean of 18,460.43 ± 9,534.275. the income range with the highest frequency is 10,000 (17.3%), followed by 15,000 (14.4%) and 20,000 (14.4%). the highest income reported is 50,000, but this is only 0.7% of the sample, indicating that the majority of families earn below this threshold. the mean income and distribution suggest that most families fall in the middle-income bracket, though there are significant disparities. the result shows a significant portion of the population in lower to mid-range bmi categories, which generally corresponds to normal or healthy weight classifications (e.g., categories around 14 to 19). this could suggest that the population under study is generally in a healthy weight range. categories at the extremes, such as bmi 9 (underweight) or bmi 26 (overweight), could be indicative of health concerns. the small frequencies in these categories may suggest that underweight or overweight conditions are not prevalent, but it is still important to monitor these groups for potential health risks. the concentration in the mid-range bmi categories (13 to 16) may suggest the need for public health initiatives targeting both weight management and education about maintaining a healthy bmi range. this is especially true if there is an indication of rising trends in bmi across this population. the similar studies had found in the study done nutritional status among 7-12 years’ children at rural areas of sylhet in bangladesh was assessed by the anthropometric process. nutritional status is the condition of health of the individual as influenced www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 126 published by scholink inc. by the utilization of the nutrients. study showed that 45.67% primary school children were suffering from underweight and 46.67% had normal bmi (nath et al.,2019). methodology: a cross-sectional study was conducted in selected rural areas of bangladesh, targeting children aged 6 to 12 years enrolled in primary schools. a total of 139 children were randomly selected for the study. data collection involved anthropometric measurements (height and weight), dietary assessments through 24-hour dietary recall, and socio-economic surveys that included household income, parental education, and food security status. anthropometric measurements: anthropometric measurements were taken to assess the nutritional status of the children. the world health organization (who) growth standards were used to classify the children into categories of stunting (height-for-age), wasting (weight-for-height), and underweight (weight-for-age). stunting: the study found that approximately 30% of the children were stunted, indicating chronic malnutrition. stunting was more prevalent among children from lower socio-economic backgrounds, with rates reaching 40% in households with an income below the poverty line. wasting: the prevalence of wasting was found to be around 15%. this acute form of malnutrition was particularly concerning, as it indicates a recent and severe lack of food intake or illness. wasting rates were higher among children who reported recent episodes of illness, such as diarrhea or respiratory infections. underweight: about 25% of the children were classified as underweight. this condition reflects both acute and chronic malnutrition and was significantly associated with inadequate dietary intake and poor maternal education. 5. conclusion the nutritional status of rural primary school children in bangladesh is a pressing public health concern that reflects broader socio-economic challenges faced by the country. this study has highlighted the alarming prevalence of malnutrition among this vulnerable population, with significant rates of stunting, wasting, and underweight observed. the findings underscore the urgent need for targeted interventions to address the multifaceted issues contributing to poor nutritional outcomes. the high rates of stunting (30%), wasting (15%), and underweight (25%) among rural primary school children indicate a critical state of undernutrition that can have long-lasting effects on physical and cognitive development. these conditions not only hinder children’s growth but also impair their educational performance and future productivity, perpetuating the cycle of poverty and malnutrition. the study has shown that socio-economic factors, such as household income, maternal education, and food security, play a significant role in determining the nutritional status of children. families with lower income levels and limited access to diverse food sources are more likely to have malnourished children. furthermore, maternal education emerged as a crucial determinant, with educated mothers demonstrating a greater awareness of nutrition and health practices, leading to better dietary choices for their children. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 127 published by scholink inc. 6. recommendations improving nutritional status: efforts should be made to address the undernutrition issue, possibly through better access to nutritious foods and improved awareness about balanced diets. health interventions: the high incidence of ari and the potential for waterborne diseases like diarrhea suggests a need for better sanitation, access to healthcare, and disease prevention strategies. reducing fast food consumption: given the high frequency of fast-food consumption, promoting healthier, home-cooked meals could be beneficial for long-term health. encouraging healthy habits: while physical activity levels were generally good, the significant portion of children spending excessive time on screens should be addressed with initiatives encouraging outdoor play and active lifestyles. addressing the nutritional status of rural primary school children in bangladesh requires a multi-faceted approach that encompasses immediate interventions, long-term strategies, and community engagement. references aboagye, r. g., kugbey, n., ahinkorah, b. o., seidu, 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(2023). nutritional status based on anthropometry among primary school children with and without school feeding program. international journal of contemporary pediatric, 10, 134-141. https://doi.org/10.18203/2349-3291.ijcp20230075 galgamuwa, l. s., iddawela, d., dharmaratne, s. d., &galgamuwa, g. l. s. (2017). nutritional status and correlated socio-economic factors among preschool and school children in plantation communities, sri lanka. bmc public health, 17(1), 377. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4311y haq, i., hossain, m. i., parvin, m. m., saleheen, a. a. s., habib, m. j., &chowdhury, i. a. q. (2022). gender differences in child nutrition status of bangladesh: a multinomial modeling approach. journal of humanities and applied social sciences, 4(5), 379-392. https://doi.org/10.1108/jhass02-2021-0030 hoque, m. a., alam, h. s. k., sayeed, m. a., al mamun, m. a., &haque, a. a. (2021). to assess the nutritional status of under than five children on a slum of dhaka city, bangladesh. iqbal, m. s., palmer, a. c., waid, j., rahman, s. m., bulbul, m. m. i., & ahmed, t. (2020). nutritional status among school-age children of bangladeshi tea garden workers. food and nutrition bulletin, 41(4), 424-429. https://doi.org/10.1177/0379572120965299 khan, d. s. a., das, j. k., zareen, s., lassi, z. s., salman, a., raashid, m., & bhutta, z. a. (2022). nutritional status and dietary intake of school-age children and early adolescents: systematic review in a developing country and lessons for the global perspective. frontiers in nutrition, 8, 739447. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.739447 khanam, s. j., & haque, m. a. (2021). prevalence and determinants of malnutrition among primary school going children in the haor areas of kishoreganj district of bangladesh. heliyon, 7(9). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08077 nath, j. c., ahmad, i., chowdhury, r. s., razzak, a., hossain, n., costa, b. j., & zzaman, w. (2019). assessment of nutritional status and hygiene practices of primary school children at rural areas (haor) in sylhet. world, 7(1), 1. olasinde, y. t., adesiyun, o. o., olaosebikan, r. r., olasinde, a., ibraheem, r. m., popoola, g., ... ernest, s. k. (2020). nutritional status of primary school children in ilorin-west lga, kwara state, nigeria. journal of community medicine and primary health care, 32(1), 103-115. https://doi.org/10.24125/sanamed.v15i1.396 https://doi.org/10.4103/1119-3077.180067 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 129 published by scholink inc. park, e. (2023) park’s text book of preventive and social medicine (27 ed.) m/s banarsidas bhanot, jabalpur 1167, pream nagar, india. rahman, a., ayb, m., & ahsan, a. (2020). association of food intake patterns and parents’ educational levels with nutritional statuses of school-going children (5-13 years old) in rural areas of northern bangladesh. nutrition and food sciences research, 7(4), 7-12. https://doi.org/10.29252/nfsr.7.4.7 rahman, m. (2022). assessment of nutritional status of primary school going children in island and hill-tract area of bangladesh: a cross sectional study (doctoral dissertation, chittagong veterinary and animal sciences university chittagong–4225, bangladesh). singh, b. p., & sharma, m. (2021). nutritional status of school going children in india: a review. health sciences, 10(10), 130-138. ullah, s., khan, h., saeed, u., & ahmad, k. (2023). assessment of nutritional status of school-going children in district mardan at khyber pakhtunkhwa in pakistan. egyptian journal of nutrition, 38(4), 12-18. https://doi.org/10.21608/enj.2023.237357.1013 umeokonkwo, a. a., ibekwe, m. u., umeokonkwo, c. d., okike, c. o., ezeanosike, o. b., & ibe, b. c. (2020). nutritional status of school age children in abakaliki metropolis, ebonyi state, nigeria. bmc pediatrics, 20(1), 114. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-020-1994-5 umeokonkwo, a. a., ibekwe, m. u., umeokonkwo, c. d., okike, c. o., ezeanosike, o. b., & ibe, b. c. (2020). nutritional status of school age children in abakaliki metropolis, ebonyi state, nigeria. bmc pediatrics, 20, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-020-1994-5 who. (2024). fact sheets—malnutrition. https://www.who.int/newsroom/factsheets/detail/malnutrition who. (2020). micronutrients. https://www.who.int/health-topics/micronutrients #tab=tab_1 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact https://www.who.int/news-room/fact education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 138 original paper an ecocritical study of gary snyder’s translation of han shan poetry hongyue ding1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: february 11, 2024 accepted: february 28, 2024 online published: march 17, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p138 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p138 abstract gary snyder, a contemporary american ecological poet, is deeply influenced by east-west ecological wisdom, forming his own unique ecological philosophy. gary snyder’s ecological philosophy influences his selection of poems to translate and translation methods in his english translation of han shan poetry. in turn, gary snyder’s translation also promotes the formation of his ecological philosophy to a certain extent. faced with the increasingly serious ecological crisis, this study attempts to examine gary snyder’s translation of han shan poetry from the ecocritical perspective, exploring its ecological connotations and values from three aspects: translation selection, translation methods, and translation impact. the ecocritical study in this article aims to insert an ecological dimension to the study on english translation of poetry, and give advice to the strategy “chinese culture going global”, especially “chinese ecological culture going global”. keywords ecocriticism, gary snyder, english translation of han shan poetry 1. introduction 1.1 gary snyder and han shan poetry the poet han shan and his poems have long been neglected by the world in the history of chinese poetry. in 1958, when the young american poet gary snyder published 24 translated poems of han shan in evergreen review, the poet han shan was instantly sought after by the young generation in the united states, and han shan poetry were more widely disseminated in the united states. gary snyder is a famous american ecological poet, ecological thinker, translator, zen believer and environmentalist in the 20th century. his outstanding ecological writing has attracted wide attention in the american literary circle. snyder is the most effective american poet to translate chinese ancient poetry after ezra pound and kenneth rexroth. during his studies at the university of california, berkeley, he began to study classical chinese literature under the guidance of the famous sinologist shih-hsiang www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 139 published by scholink inc. chen, thus beginning a period of trans-temporal relationship with han shan. snyder has made an indelible contribution to the translation and dissemination of han shan poetry, and it is precisely because he met snyder that han shan was able to “travel” all over the world. ou hong (1994, p. 33) once analyzed that snyder’s translation of han shan poetry was the most far-reaching, perhaps because his own actions and thoughts at that time were an american han shan. gary snyder has long been regarded as the beat poet with the greatest creative achievements since the break up of the beat, and is almost the only beat voice who has a say in “today” (zhao, 2003, p. 73). 1.2 ecocriticism as a green research method and perspective, ecocriticism focuses on the relationship between man and nature. it has its roots in literary studies as “criticism of the relationship between literature and the natural environment” (glotfelty & fromrn, 1996, p. 106). ecocriticism is defined by scott slovic as “the examination of ecological implications and the relationship between man and nature in literary texts or other texts” (2000, p. 160), which makes clear that the scope of ecocriticism is not limited to literature. later, the scope of ecocriticism was extended to cultural criticism. as a kind of literary and cultural criticism, ecocriticism has the main task of showing its ontological characteristics and unique value, that is, to review human culture and conduct cultural criticism through literature—to explore how human thought, culture and social development model affect and even determine human attitude and behavior toward nature, and how to lead to environmental deterioration and ecological crisis (wang, 2002, p. 49). we can explore “the relationship between man and nature in all areas of cultural production” (garrard, 2012), and obviously, translating is one of them. translation studies from the perspective of ecocriticism use ecological discourse to explain some translated texts, behaviors, phenomena or problems, and explore the relationship between human and nature involved in translation. ecocriticism is the green reading of “value reconstruction” of literary or other artistic texts and cultural products, which will inevitably reevaluate the texts and re-evaluate the works. of course, such a re-evaluation and reading does not mean denying history, but giving a new interpretation of its contemporary value. chinese traditional culture contains rich ecological thoughts. under the influence of this culture, chinese ancient poetry undoubtedly has the imprint of ecological poetics. therefore, it is necessary to apply ecocriticism to the study of chinese poetry translation to explore the relationship between man and nature. in the face of the increasingly serious ecological crisis, this paper probes into the foreign translation of ancient poetry, analyzes snyder’s han shan poetry from the perspective of ecocriticism, and explores its ecological connotation and value from three aspects: translation selection, translation method and translation impact. 2. literature review as a kind of literary and cultural criticism, “ecocriticism” originated in the 1970s, took shape in the mid1990s in the united states, and gradually spread and developed in many countries around the world. in 1978, william rueckert was the first to use the critical term ecocriticism in his paper literature and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 140 published by scholink inc. ecology: literature and ecology: an experiment in ecocriticism, and he was the first to apply ecology and concepts related to ecology to literary research (rueckert, 1978, p. 75). since then, the concept of ecocriticism has been continuously developed and expanded in the united states, with increasing prosperity and influence. the concept of ecocriticism was born in the background of the increasingly serious global environmental crisis, aiming to explore the relationship between literature and natural environment. therefore, wang nuo (2009, p. 65) believes that its task is to enrich the ecological meaning of literature and reveal the ecological limitations of literature, so as to promote the establishment of ecological literary concepts and ecological aesthetic concepts, promote the formation and strengthening of ecological consciousness, and promote the construction of ecological civilization. starting from its connotation, literature, as a result of human wisdom, promotes the formation of ecological consciousness and ideas, which is highly coincident with the traditional chinese philosophical concept of “harmony between man and nature”. the relationship between heaven and man in chinese philosophy contains rich and complex contents, but its most basic meaning is the relationship between man and nature (fang, 2003, p. 211). in the view of chinese philosophy, nature is a living organism, with the creation of life as its fundamental mode of existence and performance, while life is interdependent and constitutes a harmonious organic system (meng, 2010, p. 7). therefore, the introduction of traditional chinese philosophy into ecocriticism has theoretical applicability. wang nuo (2002, p. 52) pointed out that chinese scholars have unique advantages in the development trend of ecocriticism, which provides a rare opportunity for chinese scholars to enter the world academic forum. in the chinese literature translation, the translation of han shan poetry in the united states is particularly special. han shan was a reclusive poet in the 7th century. his poems showed the joy of mountain forests and the idea of transcendence from the world, and embodied the traditional philosophy of china. gary snyder is an english translator of chinese literature, and his translation of tang poetry, especially han shan poetry, has had a wide and far-reaching influence in the english world, occupying an enduring literary classic status. the 24 cold mountain poems selected by gary snyder are basically zen poems about the unity of heaven and man, with profound philosophical colors (bao, 2014, p. 67). snyder’s translation of han shan poetry has both chinese philosophical characteristics and western influence. however, there are few studies on snyder’s translation of han shan poetry from the perspective of ecocriticism. therefore, with the help of ecocriticism, snyder’s han shan poetry are appreciated from the perspective of ecocriticism, which presents a unique translation value. 3. translation selection compared with other major translators of han shan poetry, such as arthur waley, burton watson, red pine, and robert henricks, gary snyder has chosen to translate the smallest number of han shan poems, but his influence is probably the most far-reaching. his choice of han shan poetry text are “the path to han-shan’s place is laughable”, “in a tangle of cliffs, i chose a place”, “in the mountains it’s cold”, “i www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 141 published by scholink inc. spur my horse through the wrecked town”, “i wanted a good place to settle”, “men ask the way to cold mountain”, “i settled at cold mountain long ago”, “clambering up the cold mountain path”, “rough and dark the cold mountain trail”, “i have lived at cold mountain”, “spring water in the green creek is clear”, “in my first thirty years of life”, “i can’t stand these bird songs”, “cold mountain has many hidden wonders”, “there’s a naked bug at cold mountain”, “cold mountain is a house”, “if i hide out at cold mountain”, “most t’ien-t’ai men”, “once at cold mountain, troubles cease”, “some critic tried to put me down”, “i’ve lived at cold mountain how many autumns”, “on top of cold mountain the lone round moon”, “my home was at cold mountain from the start”, and “when men see han-shan”. it can be seen that most of the 24 han shan poems that snyder selected to translate were poems that recited life in the mountains and depicted the natural scenery of the cold rocks. however, in han shan poetry, snyder chose not to translate many poems of urging the world, advocating filial piety and a large number of common sayings full of fun. in 1991, snyder wrote in the introduction to beneath a single moon: “my interest to creation led me to 20th century modernism and chinese poetry; my thinking about nature and wilderness led me to zen. my growing understanding of zen was also intertwined with the discovery of chinese landscape painting. i studied ancient chinese with peter budeburg and shih-hsiang chen at the university of california, berkeley. from professor chen’s lectures, i learned about the poet han shan and made some translations” (johnson & paulenich, 1991, p. 4). it can be seen that snyder’s choice of han shan poems is related to his own natural ecological view and his study of zen. it is snyder’s natural ecological view that leads him to learn zen and get closer to han shan as a poet. snyder’s selection of texts is intentional, and he purposefully selects poems that are in line with his own ecological thoughts and poetics. in order to satisfy the young generation’s desire for a different culture in american society at the time, snyder incorporated his own life experience and imagination in the mountains of california. snyder says in the preface to the translation that “this makes him a contemporary of du fu, li bai, wang wei, and bai juyi. more than 300 of his poems have survived, written in the colloquial language: plain and fresh. he and his partner shi de became the favorite zen paintings of later generations—volumes, brooms, tangled hair and laughter. they became immortals, and today you sometimes meet them in america’s slums, orchards, homeless jungles and loggers’ camps.” (snyder, 1965, p. 33). it can be seen that snyder seeks the fit with han shan from the poor working people living in the bottom society of the united states, and also seeks the fit between himself and han shan. 4. translation method through close reading of the translated poems, we find that snyder’s translation method has an ecological orientation, showing the ecological poetics features of seeing things in terms of things, and the integration of nature and man. it is deeply influenced by the organic view of nature in eastern poetics, the thought of “anatman”, and the ecological concept of “everything as the same”. although the translation differs greatly from the original, it will inevitably be accused of “disloyalty”, but from the perspective of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 142 published by scholink inc. ecocriticism, it has unique ecological connotation and significance. on this point, we can learn from the relevant statements of “the subjectivity of human being” and “the agency of material” in ecocriticism. 4.1 aesthetics of relinquishment anthropocentrism is an ideological system fundamentally opposed to ecologism, and it is an antiecological idea that ecocriticism and the whole ecological trend of thought should be criticized first. dehumanization requires us to reflect on human subjectivity and subvert the rule logic of “natural instrumentalism” and “human possessing nature” in the usual thinking. in response to this, eco-critic buell pointed out the “aesthetics of relinquishment” in environmental writing, the most fundamental manifestation of which is the abandonment of the desire to rule oneself and the abandonment of human spiritual and physical alienation from nature (buell, 1995, p. 143), that is, the abandonment of human subjectivity. since the renaissance and the enlightenment in the west, primitive pantheism and animism have been suppressed by humanistic reason, capitalized “man” has become the only subject in literature and art, and the subjectivity of nature has been dispelled. the “aesthetics of relinquishment” is to set the arrogant “man” back to nature in literature and art, and let him re-experience the emotions of an ordinary member in the ever-changing nature, so as to realize the limitations of himself and return to nature with reverence. original text: 杳杳寒山道，落落冷涧滨。 啾啾常有鸟，寂寂更无人。 淅淅风吹面，纷纷雪积身。 朝朝不见日，岁岁不知春。 translation: rough and dark—the cold mountain trail, sharp cobbles—the icy creek bank. yammering, chirping—always birds, bleak, alone, not even a lone hiker. whip, whip—the wind slaps my face, whirled and tumbled—snow piles on my back. morning after morning, i don’t see the sun, year after year, not a sign of spring. the original poem presents to the reader a scene of deep silence, cold, and rare human habitation, with a strong sense of picture. snyder uses visual processing method to conceptualize the picture in his mind, reproduce the scene in the translation, and also rewrite it to a certain extent. for example, snyder chose to translate the han shan poetry in free style, and re-created the sentence pattern, omitted the rhyme of the original poem, and even omitted the first connectives and predicate verbs in many places. start with an adjective or participle (rough, dark, bleak, alone, yammering, chirping, whirled, tumbled), each image is preceded by an adjective describing its state, multiple images are juxtaposing, which undoubtedly caters to the american tradition of image juxtaposition and open and free poetics created since the new poetry movement and readers’ aesthetic habits inherited from it. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 143 published by scholink inc. the reduplicated word “杳杳” in the original poem refers to darkness, which has been translated into “rough and dark”; “落落” refers to the appearance of silence and cold, which has been translated into “sharp cobbles”; and “淅淅” is an onomatopoietic word referring to the wind, which has been translated into “the wind slaps my face”, with creative changes. when the translator presents the picture of the original poem in his mind, he adds his own life experience, then the cold and quiet picture of the cold mountain in the ancient poem will add the familiar features of the rugged western mountains of the united states. the last sentence is the punchline, “朝朝不见日，岁岁不知春”. the translator reproduces the “intuitive environment” of the poem by literal translation, expressing the poet’s indifferent mood of being detached from the world and unaware of the cold and hot days in the world. while creatively rewriting the artistic conception of the original poem, the inner spirit expressed by the poem is also obvious. 4.2 emphasis of agency the “aesthetics of relinquishment” aims at dispelling the human subjectivity in the text, while the nonhuman nature subjectivity is highlighted, thus bringing about the rise of the “power of material” in ecocriticism. the new materialism feeds the rhetoric of material ecocriticism, emphasizing that “agency” is not unique to human beings, but is shared by material, and that both human and non-human nature are material (tang, 2016, p. 116). “agency” generally means the ability to take action. cai zhenxing (2019, p. 86) believes that material agency in ecological discourse refers more to a relationship in which people and others refer to and influence each other. the theory of “agency” changes the subjectivity of man into the intersubjectivity of man and nature, dispelling the idea of dualism from the root and counters anthropocentrism. in describing the “agency” of material, material eco-critics support the anthropomorphism approach to nature, because while demonstrating the diversity of life, it also allows us to recognize the commonalities of different physical forms in nature and culture, thus allowing us to listen to the voices of non-human nature and to feel the communion of material elements between human and non-human nature. snyder intended to personify nature in his translations, such as “a hill of pines hums in the wind” in poem 1, “woods in the dark ravines spitting mist’ in poem 3, “the pine sings, but there’s no wind” in poem 8, and so on. of course, in the above cases, the original poem can also be regarded as using anthropomorphism, and the translator is only faithfully translating it. however, snyder’s preference for anthropomorphism can be more clearly demonstrated by some translations that do not use anthropomorphism in the original text. for example, in the english translation of han shan poem no. 9, “淅淅风吹面” is translated as “whip, whip the wind slaps my face”, and the original “风吹面” is personalized as “wind slaps my face”. it is precisely because of this personification that zhong ling points out that the words chosen in snyder’s translation are “far stronger and bolder than the original” and are filled with snyder’s own experience of life in the mountains of north america (zhong, 1995, p. 25). for another example, in “the path to han-shan’s place is laughable”, the poet gives an objective description of the rugged and difficult road in the mountains. the fifth sentence of the original poem “泣 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 144 published by scholink inc. 露千般草” is translated as “a thousand grasses bend with dew”, adding the anthropomorphic action image “bend”, which integrates the poet’s strong and repressed feelings in the description of the scenery. in contrast, the original poem only describes the dew on the grass like tears, and does not mean that the grass is bent by the dew. it can be seen that “bend” has the translator’s subjective feelings. in “clambering up the cold mountain path”, the first six sentences of the original poem describe a series of images such as streams, grass, moss, pines, etc., and then lament how few people can go beyond the world, expressing the poet’s detached and open mind. the third sentence “溪长石磊磊” is translated as “the long gorge choked with scree and boulders”. the translated poem adds the anthropomorphic action image “choked”. one can feel snyder’s strong reaction of being suffocated by the imprisonment of american thought at that time, obviously with strong subjective emotions. 5. translation impact for snyder, translation and his ecological thought show a close relationship that influences and constructs each other. his ecological philosophy influenced his translation of han shan poetry into english, and made his translated poems present unique meanings and values, which in turn contributed to the construction of his complex and diversified ecological philosophy. snyder has admitted that he encountered chinese poetry “through translation” when he was 19 years old, and according to relevant sources, chinese poetry here is referring to han shan poetry. the 24 cold mountain poems he translated were popular in the united states, and han shan, a lonely poet, became as famous as li bai, du fu and bai juyi in the united states. taking this as an opportunity, snyder began to study zen, the belief of han shan, to explore the source of the spiritual power of the han shan, and traveled to east asia to learn zen in the 1950s and 1960s. after returning to china, snyder actively participated in the environmental protection movement and promoted the concept of ecological civilization, becoming the standard-bearer of ecological literature in the united states. it can be seen that han shan poetry has triggered and guided snyder to change his concept of nature and finally join the ecological movement. in the winter of 1981, when the chinese scholar zhao yiheng asked snyder about the extent of chinese culture’s influence on him, snyder answered without hesitation: “in the 1950s and 1960s, it was 80 percent”, and this was the period when snyder translated han shan poetry and then tried to explore the inner world of han shan. therefore, we have reason to believe that it is precisely under the catalyst of han shan poetry that snyder firmly believes in the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and vigorously criticizes the anthropocentrism of traditional western culture, replacing it with the ecological civilization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. snyder has a deep admiration for classical chinese culture. in the interpretation of his works, snyder skillfully combines his personal views with chinese zen and the artistic conception of chinese classical poetry, thus making his writing style unique and eye-catching in the american poetry circle. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 145 published by scholink inc. snyder translates “人问寒山道，寒山路不通” into “men ask the way to cold mountain, cold mountain: there’s no through trail.” the “道” of han shan not only refers to the “road” of surface meaning, but also contains the “way” of deep meaning. snyder replaces concrete words such as “path” and “trail” with “way” in the translated language, thus conveying the mystery and profoundness of the original “道” to the greatest extent, but it is not without regret. according to lao tzu’s tao te ching, “tao can be tao, but it is very tao”. “tao” is unspeakable, and what is said is not tao. similarly, the zen accumulation in tao is also difficult to understand. snyder integrated his zen feelings into his translation, so that han shan poetry manifested its unique style and charm in the translation and dissemination process, which had a positive impact on the communication of chinese culture to the outside world. 6. conclusion the academic community has been debating the fidelity and style of eco-poet gary snyder’s “ecological” poetry translation, but the author believes that snyder has been immersed in chinese culture for decades, has in-depth research and understanding of chinese poetry, and many distortions and mistranlations are intentional by him. hu anjiang, a famous scholar, once praised snyder as a “thoughtful” cultural envoy who “creatively ‘misread’ han shan on the basis of his own country’s cultural model and poetic tradition, so that han shan poetry, as an “other’, obtained a legal identity in the host country and became a classic in its literary system” (hu, 2005, p. 67). it can be seen that although snyder’s translated poems has the elements of rewriting and creation, they promote the rebirth and spread of the natural poetics and ecological wisdom of chinese ancient poetry in the english-speaking world. reference au, h. (1994). all aspects of gary snyder. foreign literary review, 1, 32-36. bao, x. y. (2014). study on the translation mode of “transmission of chinese learning to the west” — the successful translation of han shan poetry in the united states as an example. foreign languages (journal of shanghai international studies university), 37(1), 65-71. buell, l. (1995). the environmental imagination: thoreau, nature writing, and the formation of american culture. cambridge: harvard university press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1nzfgsv cai, z. x. (2019). ecological crisis and literature. taipei: shulin publishing co. fang, k. l. (2003). “the unity of heaven and man” and the ecological wisdom of ancient china. social science front, 4, 207-217. garrard, g. (2012). ecocriticism. london: routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203806838 glotfelty, c., & fromrn, h. (1996). the ecocriticism reader: landmarks in literary ecology. athens: the university of georgia press. hu, a. j. (2005). textual traveling and translation variation? —on gary snyder’s creative “misreading” of han shan poetry. journal of pla foreign language college, 6, 67-72. johnson, k., & paulenich, c. (eds.). (1991). beneath a single moon. boston and london: shambhala. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1nzfgsv https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203806838 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 146 published by scholink inc. meng, p. y. (2010). the philosophy of life: the basic characteristics of chinese philosophy. journal of peking university (philosophy and social science edition), 47(6), 5-13. rueckert, w. (1978). literature and ecology: an experiment in ecocriticism. iowa review, 9, 71-86. https://doi.org/10.17077/0021-065x.2334 slovic, s. (2000). the green studies reader: from romanticism to ecocriticism. london: routledge. snyder, g. (1965). riprap and cold mountain poems. san francisco: grey fox press. tang, j. n. (2016). material ecocriticism—the material turn in ecocriticism. contemporary foreign literature, 37(2), 114-121. wang, n. (2002). ecocriticism: development and origin. literary studies, 3, 48-55. wang, n. (2009). ecocriticism: definition and task. literary review, 1, 63-68. zhao, y. h. (2003). how china changed modern american poetry. shanghai: shanghai translation publishing house. zhong, l. (1990). on snyder’s translation of han shan poetry. chinese and foreign literature, 4, 1128. https://doi.org/10.17077/0021-065x.2334 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper understanding deception tactics with the utilization of dating applications nicole claire arca1, abby halston1*, hans chun1 & joseph allen1 1 school of education and behavioral sciences, chaminade university, honolulu, united states * abby halston, school of education and behavioral sciences, chaminade university, honolulu, united states received: february 15, 2021 accepted: march 2, 2021 online published: march 17, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n2p33 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n2p33 abstract this study investigated the relationship between the utilization of deceptive tactics and dating applications. the machiavellian iv scale, taxonomy of deceptive mating acts, and tactics scale were analyzed and used to gather information from participants’ experiences from online dating. an independent t-test sample test evaluated the statistical differences between gender and the likely use of deception. one-way anova determined statistical differences between age groups and their relationship to the use of deception. pearson correlation assessed the correlation between the numbers of dating applications owned by a single individual to their use of deception. the findings of this study encompass the guiding theories of hyperpersonal communication theory and evolutionary theory. the null hypothesis stating that there is no relationship between gender and age to the likelihood use of deception, and the level of machiavellianism was supported. the experimental hypothesis stating that there is a positive correlation in owning multiple dating applications to increased use of deceptive tactics was supported. keywords online dating and deception, dating apps, online dating platforms 1. introduction everyone has a chance to find someone through online dating platforms. however, a successful relationship depends on one’s person’s preferences and the techniques they utilize. online platforms offer a greater probability of obtaining a significant other. the two most popular dating applications in the united states are tinder, with 7.86 million users, and bumble, with 5.03 million users. other listed 33 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 applications are pof, match.com, okcupid, grindr, hinge, zoosk, meetme, and ashley madison (clement, 2020). about 57% of online users share positive experiences. the majority of these users find potential partners through one’s physical attractiveness, shared common interests, and the willingness to meet in person. in addition, technological advances and online platforms have enhanced people’s inclusivity within diverse cultures. approximately 3/10 of the online users share negative interactions, 37% of these users received messages from people they were not interested in, 35% of these users received unwanted explicit images and 28% had been called an offensive name. the negative perception of online dating stems from these negative interactions, the stigma of desperation, and deceptive techniques. once an individual becomes more aware of the different deceptive tactics and learns the precautions against it, individuals can have a higher success rate in finding a significant partner (vogels, 2020). toma and hancock (2012) explored the linguistic deception in a dating profile. a person is able to maneuver one’s self-representation by adjusting their close-ended factual statements (e.g., height, age, occupation, religion) and their open-ended factual statements (e.g., short biography). tooke and camire (1991) discussed three deceptions: physical, financial, and commitment. physical deceptions are alterations of one’s real appearance. financial deceptions are statements or actions used to exaggerate the number of resources an individual owns: income, housing, cars, job, and more. commitment deception is when one appears more committed than one actually is. recognizing these deceptive tactics lead to an individual possessing a better sense of judgment when interacting with others. therefore, individuals can have a higher success rate that stems from their understanding of these four types of deceptions. over time, comparing dating tactics reveals similarities and differences between them. these represent the modern-day tactics of utilizing objects as compared to the past, where physicality was more prominently used. a popular deceptive tactic of the modern online dating era is known as dog fishing. a male would pose in a picture with a dog that is not their own to lure a false sense of security, carefree, and trustworthiness to their potential partners (booth, 2019). dunlop (2018), further explores the different other deceptive tactics used in online dating. some tactics shown were alteration of appearance through editing applications, use of makeup, body, and angling of the phone in pictures. others were posting humorous quotes in their factual bio statements, posting group photos, and more. the main purpose of these tactics is to appear less unappealing or show fewer undesirable traits to their matches. various authors supported the idea that using deception tactics increases one’s likability and initial impression of themselves leading to different scenarios. alexopoulos, timmermans, and mcnallie (2020) determined the relationship of online application use to infidelity. the results show a positive correlation between self-perceived desirability and an intention to commit infidelity. deception tactics can also be used in catfishing relationships to appear more trustworthy or attractive. mosley, lancaster, parker, and campbell (2020) explored the inter-relationship of attachment styles with gender and 34 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 catfish status in online dating. predators have the tendency to use deceptions on their prey when initiating these types of relationships. these individuals create a similar persona in all of their multiple outlets of social media while withholding real information about their true identity. toma, hancock, and ellison (2008) observed self-representation in online dating profiles. they discovered that the information provided did deviate from one of the participant’s observable characteristics. since these discrepancies dealt with more observable characteristics, it is considered intentional and can be operationalized as deception. the individual’s purpose follows the belief that altering information will make them more desirable to their potential partners. barnacz, amati, fenton, johnson, and keenan (2009) examined the relationship between the ability to detect deception in females and their baseline knowledge about how men lie. the data results indicated that females were accurate in detecting female deceptions, but not male deceptions. this led to the belief that deception detection skills could be based on perceptual monitoring rather than cognitive monitoring. thus, giving an individual more awareness and a better sense of judgment in their dating circumstances. deception detective skills can lead to a better chance of a successful relationship online. 1.1 evolutionary theory & hyperpersonal communication theory model online dating is becoming a more popular approach to finding a potential partner. an individual’s interest in online dating can be caused by many factors, but how an individual gets that partner is what differentiates the result of success in their relationships. these two theories explore more on this idea. the evolutionary theory model is how individuals compete with each other to increase their chances of reproduction and survival. the competition between people can be differentiated by the amount of quality and quantitative resources an individual possesses. intrasexual selection deals with competing within the same sex, while intersexual selection deals with an individual’s preferential choice on their partner. the guiding theory further addresses the different components of why deception tactics can be used in online dating and why being aware of these tactics are important in order to achieve better quality and success in a relationship (buss, 1988). according to fullwood and atthril-smith (2019), if the individual has more of a positive representation of their ideal self, then they are able to create a favorable outcome. the hyperpersonal communication theory model further addresses the different components as to why it is easier to build connections and a better self-image online than offline. this explains why people use photos to show their physical attractiveness online and therefore are more confident in their ability to find a partner. matched couples are able to idealize each other based on their self-representation in their profile and through shared messages. the more appealing personal characteristics of each individual tend to be overemphasized, which influences the judgment on each other’s behavior and identity. these deceptions make the person appear more desirable and builds a fabricated relationship (gentile, 2013). following the guiding principles of hyperpersonal communication theory and evolutionary theory, this study explores how dating deceptive tactics and self-perception affects relationships within dating applications. 35 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 2. method this study utilizes a posttest-only design with randomization. a convenience sampling method was utilized to gain participants. participants were over the age of 18 and had at least one online dating application and an account with the amazon mechanical turks. for the experiment, participants were required to use electronics such as a laptop, desktop computer, smartphone, or a tablet device such as an ipad to complete the anonymous surveys. the surveys were distributed through amazon mechanical turk. prior to the administration of the survey, participants were informed about the purpose of the study and were assured that participation was voluntary, anonymous, and confidential. depending on their age, gender, and past experiences with or without deception in online dating, participants were analyzed and subjected to different groups. all groups were required to fill up the same surveys in order to obtain information about dating experiences with deception or no deception, interest in online dating, online dating application experiences, length of the relationships, relationship quality and satisfaction, a measurement in machiavellianism personality traits and the levels of deception with their mating acts and tactics. the participation of this trial was voluntary, anonymous, and confidential. after survey completion, the participants viewed a debriefing statement and were compensated $0.50 for their participation. the first questionnaire gathered the participants’ demographic information. the demographic information included age, race, gender, religion, relationship status, educational level, online applications, and other characteristics. three questions involving participant’s past experiences with deception through online dating were asked. the information was used to subject the participants into two groups: with or without previous experiences with deception. for example, one question asked was, “in the past while using any of these dating applications, have you ever encountered catfishing and/or deception?” if the participant answered yes, participants were asked another question, “if you answered yes to the previous question, what kind of deception have you encountered?” the machiavellian iv scale and taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactics scale were chosen as the instruments of quantitative assessment due to the high reliability and validity in assessing the relationship between online dating applications or sites and deceptive tactics. dussault, hojjat and boone (2013) used the machiavellian iv scale consisting of a 20-item likert scale that measures a person’s willingness to use manipulative tactics, measure level distrust of others, and lack of morals and concerns. the scale has been psychometrically tested and has shown high test-retest reliability (r > .75) and high internal consistency of alpha coefficients (a = 0.70 0.80). the questions were rated on a 5-point likert scale of 1 (disagree) to 5 (agree). the scoring ranges from 20 (least machiavellian) to 100 (most machiavellian). a participant scoring 60 or more is considered as a high machiavellian and below 60 is considered as low machiavellian. a participant scoring 60 or above tends to manipulate others for their own personal gain and a participant scoring below 60 is likely to be more honest and show altruistic traits. an example statement used is “it is safest to assume that all 36 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 people have a vicious streak and it will come out when they are given a chance,” which participants had to rate. dussault, hojjat and boone (2013) also used the taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactics scale that consists of a 72-self report item likert scale that measures the differences in deceptive tactics in order to gain attraction in intrasexual and intersexual relationships. the scale has also been psychometrically tested and has been reported to show high internal consistency (a > 0.93). the questions were rated on a 5-point likert scale of 1 (never) to 5 (very frequently). the score ranges from 72 points to 360 points. the questions were grouped into four types of deceptions. the questions were altered to address the deceptive tactics used in online dating. an example question would be “have you ever posted pictures with exotic animals (e.g., lions, tigers, crocodiles, etc.) to appear more masculine on a dating profile?” these two surveys were analyzed using spss to show statistical significance. after the data from the participants was collected, all surveys were numbered into cases and entered into spss. the survey data was further analyzed using independent t-test samples, anovas, and pearson correlation for statistical significance. one-way anova was used to find the difference between the age group and the likelihood of deception. an independent t-test was used to find the difference between gender and their use of deception, while pearson correlation was used to look at the different variables and their relationship. 3. result the total sample size collected from amazon mechanical turk was 297 participants. the majority of the participants were male and less than half were females. participants experienced in deception or catfishing were also taken into consideration. table 1. age of participants 37 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 table 2. influence by friends to use online dating apps/dating applications figure 1. encounter with deception or catfishing figure 2. types of deception participants encountered 38 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 a relationship between two variables was first assessed. the relationship between our machiavellian personality traits (as measured by machiavellian iv scale) and their use of deception on dating applications (as measured by the deception mating acts and tactics scale) was investigated using the pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. there was a strong, positive correlation between the two variables, r = .783, n = 159, p = .000, with elevated machiavellian personality traits is associated with higher levels of deception in the utilization of dating applications. the results above demonstrate the likelihood of manipulation and its relation to one’s personality traits (see table 3). table 3. correlation of machiavellian iv scale and taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactic scale the relationship between our participants’ experiences with deception or catfishing and their use of deception on dating applications (as measured by the deception mating acts and tactics scale) was investigated using the pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. there was a negative correlation between the two variables, r = -.321 n = 290, p = .000, with participants’ past experience with deception or catfishing associated with the use of deception. people who have experienced deception are less likely to use deception or manipulation techniques in online dating (see table 4). 39 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 table 4. correlation of experienced deception/catfishing and deception mating tactics & acts scale the data supported the null hypothesis that there is no difference between the overall likelihood uses of deception as a whole between genders. an independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare the deception level (as measured by deception mating acts and tactics scale) for males and females (see table 5). table 5. independent t-test sample of gender with deception mating tactics & acts scale there was no significant difference found in the scores of the overall deception between males and females (t (176) = 1.096, p = 0.275, two-tailed). when the overall deception scale was further broken down into four different components: commitment, financial, physical, and linguistic, a significant difference was found between the genders of the participants (see appendix e). there was a significant difference found in the scores of commitment deception for males (m = 31.88, sd = 8.15; t (267) = 2.059, p = .040, two-tailed) and females (m = 29.69, sd =9.019; t (267) = 2.059, p = .040, two-tailed). the magnitude of the differences in the means (mean difference = 2.186, 95% cl: 0.96 to 4.276) was 40 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 minimal effect (eta squared = 0.01). there was a significant difference found in the scores of linguistic deception for males (m = 99.48, sd = 24.868; t (228) = 1.966, p = .053, two-tailed) and females (m = 92.77, sd =26.251; t (228) = 1.966, p = .053, two-tailed). the magnitude of the differences in the means (mean difference = 6.714, 95% cl: .0151 to 13.44) was a minimal effect (eta squared = 0.01). there is a higher mean average for commitment and linguistic deception for males than females. there was no significant difference found for both financial and physical deceptions between females and males. (see table 6). table 6. independent t-test sample of gender with taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactic scale (broken down to 4 components: commitment, financial, linguistic, and physical) the data does support the null hypothesis that there is no difference between the likelihood use of deception of the different age groups. a one-way between-groups analysis of variance was conducted to explore the three different age groups and their use of deception on dating applications (as measured by the deception mating acts and tactics scale). group 1 was under 28 years old; group 2 was between 29 to 35 years old and group 3 was between the ages of 36 and above. there was no significant difference found between the age groups (f (176) = 1.380, p = .093) and no effect size was found (see 41 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 table 7). a one-way between-groups analysis of variance was conducted to explore the three different age groups and their level of machiavellian personality traits (as measured by the machiavellian iv scale). group 1 was under 28 years old; group 2 was between 29 to 35 years old and group 3 was between the ages of 36 and above. there was no significant difference found between the age groups (f (254) = 1.1316, p = .111) and no effect size was found (see table 8). table 7. one-way anova analysis between age groups and machiavellian iv scale table 8. one-way anova analysis between age groups and taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactic scale other relationships between different variables in the data were analyzed. the results of these relationships support the hypothesis that a positive correlation in owning multiple dating applications with the increased use of deceptive tactics. the relationship between our participants’ amount of dating applications and their use of deception on dating applications (as measured by the deception mating acts and tactics scale) was investigated using the pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. there was a weak, positive correlation between the two variables but a strong significance, r = .200 n = 290, p = .008, with participants’ amount of dating applications associated with the use of deception (see table 9 and table 10). 42 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 table 9. correlation between age and deception mating tactics & acts scale table 10. correlation between gender and deception mating tactics & acts scale the relationship between participant’s daily use dating applications and their use of deception on dating applications (as measured by deception mating acts and tactics scale) was investigated using the pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. there was a strong, positive correlation between the two variables, (tinder: r = .633, n = 172, p = .000; coffee meet bagels: r = .718, n = 173, p = .000; hinge: r = 641, n=173, p = .000; bumble: r = .696, n = 174, p = .000; and other applications participants’ listed: r = .649, n = 172, p = .000), use of dating applications associated with higher levels of deception in utilization in dating applications. based on this data, the more time spent on dating applications, correlates to an increased utilization of deceptive tactics in the application (see table 11). 43 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 table 11. correlation of daily use of dating applications and machiavellian iv scale the relationship between a participant’s daily use dating applications and participants’ level of machiavellian personality traits (as measured by the machiavellian iv scale) was investigated using the pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. the significance of the correlation between all applications is equal, or all applications have moderate strong relationships. there was a strong, positive correlation between the two variables, (tinder: r = .517, n = 252, p = .000; coffee meet bagels: r = .589, n = 247, p = .000; hinge: r = .546, n=249, p = .000; bumble: r = .538, n = 250, p = .000; and other applications participants’ listed: r = .526, n = 245, p = .000), use of dating applications associated with elevated levels of machiavellian personality traits. therefore, the more time spent on dating applications, there is greater expectation of scoring higher in their level of machiavellianism. (see table 12). 44 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 table 12. correlation of daily use of dating applications and taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactic scale finally, the relationship between the different dating applications and participant’s use of deception on dating applications (as measured by the deception mating acts and tactics scale) was investigated using pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. there was a strong, positive correlation between the two variables, the use of all dating applications associated with elevated levels of all the different types of deception being used in all of those dating applications (see table 13). 45 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 table 13. correlation of daily use of dating applications, and taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactic scale in comparison to the significant level of strength of relationship between the dating applications to the use of deception, coffee meet bagels application shows the strongest relationship between three out of four types of deceptions: (commitment deception: r = .666, n = 263, p = .000; financial deception: r 46 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 = .657, n = 264, p = .000; linguistic deception: r = .705, n = 223, p = .000). bumble shows the strongest relationship for physical deception across all applications, (r = .671, n = 225, p = .000). tinder shows the weakest relationship across the four types of deceptions: (commitment deception: r = .514, n = 265, p = .000; financial deception: r = .520, n = 266, p = .000; linguistic deception: r = .576, n = 225, p = .000, and physical deception: r = .512, n = 225, p = .000). users of all of these dating applications utilize deceptive tactics in their profile and online dating experiences. 4. discussion this study was conducted to further understand how dating deceptive tactics and self-perception affect the building of relationships within dating applications. the research results support the null hypothesis that there is no relationship between gender and age to the likelihood use of deception and the level of machiavellian personality traits. the findings of the research support the experimental hypothesis that there is a positive correlation with owning multiple dating applications to increased use of deceptive tactics. the results of this study ties with the guiding theories of hyperpersonal communication theory and evolutionary theory. the first result to look at is the negative correlation between the participants’ past experiences with deception or catfishing and the likelihood of deception. buss’s (1988) evolutionary psychology explores the idea of negativity bias. people are wired to think negatively because being aware of any potential threats can help with a higher success rate on survival and reproduction. the potential threats in dating are mostly psychosocial threats such as manipulation, lying, and cheating. individuals recognizing the red flags and avoiding the past traumas from previous relationships gives an increased chance of success in the future. a tighter dating competition pool could lessen the chances of finding the right partner. increasing the number of applications or the use of deception techniques does increase the probability of success. the statistically significant difference found in both the commitment and linguistic deception between the two genders can be explained through both theories. gentile’s (2013) hyperpersonal communication theory model is about developing a positive self-representation online. a first impression is made based on what the user has put in their profile. writing fake self-referential quotes on the dating profile and lying about factual statements such as height is one of the few ways a person is able to make themselves appear more attractive and likable than they actually are in person. these examples are useful to men as it allows females to evaluate and make the decision to swipe. the more information put in the profile, the likely they are being swiped by their matches. in conclusion, these results further support the idea that deceptive tactics have a prominent role in the modern dating era. as individuals, becoming more aware of these deceptive tactics will further give a person a better sense of judgment in their dating experiences and gain a more successful relationship in the future. 47 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 4.1 limitations and future research all survey data collected was self-reported and errors of recall may have reduced the overall accuracy of the data collected. it would have been helpful for more participants to provide a diverse age group, education, income which would provide further data to study statistical significance or correlations within different variables. furthermore, more applications for assessing one’s daily use are required. future surveys may be administered in the future so that data results can be compared. references alexopoulos, c., timmermans, e., & mcnallie, j. (2020). swiping more, committing less: unraveling the links among dating app use, dating app success, and intention to commit infidelity. computers in human behavior, 102, 172-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.08.009 barnacz, a., amati, f., fenton, c., johnson, a., & keenan, j. p. (2009). deception and dating: knowledge of tactics may improve detection accuracy. journal of social, evolutionary, and cultural psychology, 3(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0099335 booth, j. (2019, august 15). “dogfishing” is the dishonest new dating trend no one can resist. retrieved from https://www.dmarge.com/2019/08/dogfishing.html buss, d. m. (1988). the evolution of human intrasexual competition: tactics of mate attraction. journal of personality and social psychology, 54(4), 616. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.4.616 clement, j. (2020, april). u.s. dating apps by audience size 2019. retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/826778/most-popular-dating-apps-by-audience-size-usa/v dunlop, j. (2018). app-ily ever after-self-presentation and perception of others on the dating app tinder. dussault, m., hojjat, m., & boone, r. t. (2013). machiavellianism and dating: deception and intimacy. social behavior and personality: an international journal, 41(2), 283-294. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2013.41.2.283 fullwood, c., & attrill-smith, a. (2018). up-dating: ratings of perceived dating success are better online than offline. cyberpsychology, behavior & social networking, 21(1), 11-15. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2016.0631 gentile, c. j. (2013). using attachment theory and the hyperpersonal model to examine relationship maintenance, satisfaction, and affectionate communication in romantic relationships. mosley, m. a., lancaster, m., parker, m. l., & campbell, k. (2020). adult attachment and online dating deception: a theory modernized. sexual and relationship therapy, 35(2), 227-243. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681994.2020.1714577 toma, c. l., & hancock, j. t. (2012). what lies beneath: the linguistic traces of deception in online dating profiles. journal of communication, 62(1), 78-97. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01619.x 48 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.08.009 https://doi.org/10.1037/h0099335 https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.4.616 https://www.statista.com/statistics/826778/most-popular-dating-apps-by-audience-size-usa/v https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2013.41.2.283 https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2016.0631 https://doi.org/10.1080/14681994.2020.1714577 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01619.x www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 2, 2021 toma, c. l., hancock, j. t., & ellison, n. b. (2008). separating fact from fiction: an examination of deceptive self-presentation in online dating profiles. personality and social psychology bulletin, 34(8), 1023-1036. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208318067 tooke, w., & camire, l. (1991). patterns of deception in intersexual and intrasexual mating strategies. ethology and sociobiology, 12(5), 345-364. https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(91)90030-t vogels, e. a. (2020, february). 10 facts about americans and online dating. retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/06/10-facts-about-americans-and-online-dating/ 49 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208318067 https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(91)90030-t https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/06/10-facts-about-americans-and-online-dating/ original paper understanding deception tactics with the utilization of dating applications nicole claire arca1, abby halston1*, hans chun1 & joseph allen1 1 school of education and behavioral sciences, chaminade university, honolulu, united states abstract this study investigated the relationship between the utilization of deceptive tactics and dating applications. the machiavellian iv scale, taxonomy of deceptive mating acts, and tactics scale were analyzed and used to gather information from participa... keywords table 1. age of participants table 2. influence by friends to use online dating apps/dating applications figure 1. encounter with deception or catfishing figure 2. types of deception participants encountered table 3. correlation of machiavellian iv scale and taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactic scale table 4. correlation of experienced deception/catfishing and deception mating tactics & acts scale table 5. independent t-test sample of gender with deception mating tactics & acts scale table 6. independent t-test sample of gender with taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactic scale (broken down to 4 components: commitment, financial, linguistic, and physical) the data does support the null hypothesis that there is no difference between the likelihood use of deception of the different age groups. a one-way between-groups analysis of variance was conducted to explore the three different age groups and their ... table 7. one-way anova analysis between age groups and machiavellian iv scale table 8. one-way anova analysis between age groups and taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactic scale table 9. correlation between age and deception mating tactics & acts scale table 10. correlation between gender and deception mating tactics & acts scale table 11. correlation of daily use of dating applications and machiavellian iv scale the relationship between a participant’s daily use dating applications and participants’ level of machiavellian personality traits (as measured by the machiavellian iv scale) was investigated using the pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. t... table 12. correlation of daily use of dating applications and taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactic scale table 13. correlation of daily use of dating applications, and taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactic scale references education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 107 original paper a multimodal intersemiotic translation study of book covers of translated versions of the three-body problems zhang ke1 1school of english studies, xi'an international studies university, xi'an, china received: april 26, 2023 accepted: may 15, 2023 online published: may 30, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p107 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p107 abstract as the three-body problem is translated into languages overseas, the diversified features that the cover design of the translated version of the three-body problem are worth exploring. the covers of a series of chinese science fiction with different characteristics construct various narrative styles through different symbols and present the uniqueness and readability of the content of this chinese science fiction. from the perspective of multi-modality in social semiotics, respecting the representational meaning, the cover design of these translations can be divided into two categories: low-image and high-image, and at the same time, it also presents visual continuum features; in terms of interpersonal meaning, these versions display visual patterns; concerning compositional meaning, the designers of these covers convey the information values from different countries through layout design and visual salience. the cover design organizes meaningful elements into coherent text and creates new meanings through specific structures. although some misunderstandings exist in some translated versions of the three-body problem, most of the translated versions originally restore the original grand story about the future of the earth, the only home to humans, reflecting reality and humanism in a unique manner with chinese characteristics. keywords the three-body problem, intersemiotic translation, multimodality 1. introduction this chapter will introduce the backdrop information about the three-body problem, multimodal intersemiotic translation applied to study book covers, research significance and purpose in analyzing the features of multilingual book covers of the three-body problem, and the whole structure of the paper in order. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 108 published by scholink inc. 1.1 research background nowadays, due to the diversity of cultures and discrepancy of development across the world, it is impossible for all human beings to share identical values and a way of life (ordinary concept), and to abolish exploitation or injustice (wang, 2021). therefore, chinese culture, with its diversity and long history, has giant potential and advantages for spreading eastern culture at an age when western culture dominates global cultural transmission. plus, increasing the national cultural soft power’s influence overseas serves as one of the major tasks for china. accordingly, it is necessary to step up further efforts to promote chinese culture, a significant part of which is literary works, especially science fiction, which has been developed abroad for a long time but is developing domestically at home. since people are more and more used to collecting and transmitting information through images and audio symbols on the internet. consequently, to follow the trend of picture reading and the internet era as the traditional media, paper books strive to develop not only high-quality content but also meticulously-designed book covers, leading to more intersemiotic translation activities. 1.2 research significance the three-body problem by liu cixin is defined as a milestone in chinese sci-fi literature, which effectively changes the one-way flow of chinese and international sci-fi works. meanwhile, it also serves as a model for china’s outstanding cultural wisdom to enter the global vision. in recent years, liu cixin’s sci-fi works or their adaptations have been sought after at home and abroad. according to statistics, up to now, the three-body problem has been translated into 20 languages and published overseas (zhao, 2021). multimodal intersemiotic study on the covers of multilingual versions is an important topic in the field of linguistic and cultural studies. there may be differences in the cover design of the three-body problem, a representative chinese science fiction, in different languages and cultural backgrounds. through the multimodal study of the covers of these multilingual versions, we can deeply understand the symbolic communication and cultural exchange between various cultures, as well as how translators express and transform their creativity in cross-cultural communication. this study is significant for promoting cross-cultural communication and promoting cultural diversity and cultural innovation at the same time, it can also provide some enlightenment and reference for publishing and design circles. 1.3 research purpose analyzing the book cover design of the multilingual versions of the three-body problem, the research is about studying how verbal symbols are translated into nonverbal symbols in intersemiotic translation and provides practical suggestions for other scholars to make full use of book covers when promoting chinese science fiction in the world. the paper applies intersemiotic translation to analyze the multilingual book covers of the three-body problem in order that the features of the multimodal design of translated book covers of the three-body problem can be analyzed and summarized. the general presentation of chinese sci-fi works’ content overseas can thus be examined. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 109 published by scholink inc. to conclude, the study intends to offer a panorama of the current situation of this book’s transmission abroad and provide useful information to develop strategies for further advertising the three-body problem as a successful example of promoting chinese culture and image. 1.4 structure of the thesis chapter 1 primarily provides a brief overview of the research backdrops, research purpose, significance, and the thesis’s overall framework for studying multimodal intersemiotic translation study of book covers of translated versions of the three-body problems. chapter 2 presents previous research relevant to this study. first, the studies about the three-body problem are summarized. secondly, this chapter reviews studies on intersemiotic translation. based on an analysis of these two kinds of studies, the paper summarizes the contributions of previous studies and points out the limitations of the previous studies on intersemiotic translation and the three-body problem, and clearly shows the significance of studying the intersemiotic translation on the multilingual versions of the three-body problem. chapter 3 briefly introduces the theoretical framework of this paper. this chapter first introduces jakobson’s tripartite division of translation and discusses its value to the new field of translation, laying the foundation for semiotic translation research. on the other hand, the paper introduces the three meanings of multimodal analysis, in which covers coming from different countries are analyzed to conclude the translation patterns of the book cover of the multilingual versions of the three-body problem. in chapter 4, the paper will analyze the related book covers of the three-body problem in terms of intersemiotic translation, and explore the features of different cover designs as well as the general development trend through multimodal analysis of these book covers. chapter 5 will conclude the paper with a comprehensive summary of the research findings, and finally, the paper will point out some shortcomings of the study. 2. literature review 2.1 the multimodal intersemiotic translation study nowadays, multimodal intersemiotic translation, which integrates verbal text and non-verbal information, is more suitable for today’s diverse non-verbal communication activities at the cultural levels. there is growing concern among researchers studying translation over multimodal intersemiotic translation, despite its complexity as well as interdisciplinarity. based on the relatively complete theory system of semiotics, intersemiotic translation study has been developed fully by international scholars in recent years, although it is not a substantially hot topic in academia at home and overseas. in the theoretical aspect, hu (2007) discusses the difference between multimodal semiotics and multimedia semiotics and then introduces computer semiotics owning media and modal properties. mossop discusses the possibility of defining the switch between language and other sign systems as a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 110 published by scholink inc. kind of translation, given that the comparison is made to interlingual translating that features a high degree of variance (2019). some scholars focus on multimodal intersemiotic translation research close to reality. some of them explore the translation from literary works to film. cahir (2006) discusses the process of translating literature to film from the perspective of filmmaking and appreciation. zhao and lin (2022) explore the method of translating the metaphor of the novel “the joy luck club” in the process of the film adaptation. for comic book multimodal translation, by analyzing the intersemiotic translation of the symbols in the pictures of the chinese classic “cartoon confucianism”, zeng (2022) tries to provide a method and model for analyzing the projection model of intersemiotic translation in terms of interpersonal meaning and its evaluation. although there are translation studies on various types of print media, some studies attach importance to the contents, for example, yang, le, and wu (2019) explore how the art forms of “dream of the red chamber” can develop its originals in new global contexts of communication and culture with the help of intersemiotic translations. fan and he (2020) explore the intersemiotic translation method in lin shu’s translation of “aesop’s fables”. the article focuses on the cover of print media instead of their contents as the cover of a book is like the “face of the book” and is also seen as an expression of the “condensed theme of the book” (kohei urakawa, 2017). 2.2 the previous study on the three-body problem the three-body problem can win the attention of readers all over the world, which owes to its own aesthetic and cultural value. as for its successful “going out of china to the world”, translation is indispensable, so some questions about the background, experience, and acceptance of the three-body problem’s transmission overseas appear naturally and deserve attention. in addition, as the first chinese volume to win the hugo award in 2015, the three-body problem can also take responsibility for promoting chinese culture in that science fiction is the ideal medium through which to reveal the “chinese dream” (gaffric & peyton, 2019). plus, the three-body problem discusses the present situation and future trends of human civilization by describing the interaction between the three-body civilization and the earth civilization. this kind of thinking helps us to better understand the course of human civilization and make wiser decisions for the future. by describing the evolution process, technical level, and reaction to the three-body civilization, the three-body problem reveals the contradiction between science and technology and human nature. this contradiction exists not only in the novel world but also in reality. therefore, the three-body problem can help us better understand the relationship between science and technology and human nature and promote the coordination between science and technology and society. as science fiction, it covers many fields of science and technology. through reading this novel, people can not only understand many novel scientific and technological concepts but also know more about www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 111 published by scholink inc. the existing scientific and technological fields. this kind of technology and the popularization of technology is not only to improve the scientific literacy of the public but also to promote the future development of science and technology. at present, the translation academic circle mainly chooses to start their studies on this sci-fi work from the text. analyzing translators’ translation strategies, translators can decipher the reasons why it goes to the international stage smoothly. different translated versions of the sci-fi works are studied to investigate the factors that chinese contemporary sci-fi works gain popularity abroad, according to the large circulation of liu cixin’s sci-fi works in russian, american, german, etc., and develop strategies to promote chinese literature to “go out of china and enter the international community” (zhao, 2021; wu & he, 2019; sun & chen, 2020; gu, 2017). as a classic science fiction, its research significance is far-reaching, covering many fields such as science, technology, culture, and philosophy. therefore, it is not only a science fiction worth reading, but also a precious resource for deep thinking and exploration. adopting various theories, scholars probe into new translation strategies to lift the translation quality of the three-body problem to the next level. with the help of steiner’s translation hermeneutics, zhang and qin (2018) dedicate their energy to studying ken liu’s english translation of the three-body problem, summarizing feasible approaches to preserving the literary elements of original sci-fi works and enhancing the target audience’s acceptance of chinese literature. yuh-wen huang (2022) applies the manipulation theory to study the strategy of translating culture-loaded words in ken liu’s english translation of the three-body problem. bai (2018) emphasizes the establishment of chinese cultural context in the translation of chinese sci-fi works. wang (2019) advocates that the core idea of translation should be transformed into “entering” the target language readers’ minds and the ideological concept of the international literary world. corpus-based translation studies are also conducted to study sci-fi work. for example, the translated text of the three-body problem is analyzed in terms of translation universals, such as implication and explication (chen & wang, 2017); cai (2023) constructs a corpus to analyze the translation norms followed by the translated version from the perspective of linguistic features. according to the previous studies, it is obvious that the text and translation strategy is the center of research on translated the three-body problem. the multimodal translation studies on the three-body problem are not enough, although multimodal studies can create totally different strategies to disseminate chinese literature. therefore, this paper will offer a completely new vision to develop translation strategies by studying the book cover of the three-body problem, an expression of the text meaning in another form, namely, image. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 112 published by scholink inc. 3. theoretical framework 3.1 intersemiotic translation jakobson (1959) divides translation into three categories: intralingual translation, interlingual translation, and intersemiotic translation from the perspective of semiotics. (jakobson’s tripartite division of translation) 1) intralingual translation or rewording is an interpretation of verbal signs employing other signs of the same language. that is to say, intralingual translation happens in the same language, translating from one type of language symbol to another type of language symbol, for example, beowulf is translated from old english to modern english. 2) interlingual translation or translation proper is an interpretation of verbal signs using some other language. in other words, it means that translation activities are conducted between different languages, for example, “我是中国人” in chinese is translated into “i am chinese” in english. 3) intersemiotic translation or transmutation is an interpretation of verbal signs using signs of nonverbal sign systems. the basis of intersemiotic translation is built upon the similarity of different semiotic systems between culture and meaning construction (dusi, 2015). and intersemiotic translation aims to make the same meanings in different forms similar to each other (kress & leeuwen, 2006), therefore, its key lies in trying to maintain the same semiotic meanings among various semiotic systems. as we all know, it is common that verbal signs to be translated into nonverbal images. when the images are chosen to express the original meanings of language, what translators should take into consideration includes not only original meanings but also the forms of images, such as colors, layouts, fonts, etc. in a word, intersemiotic translations, just as any other analysis centering on the transformational passage (or otherwise) between levels, whether intratextual or intertextual, promote discussion of the dynamic nature of cultures and languages (dusi, 2015). 3.2 three meanings of visual multimodality guided by halliday’s social semiotic approach to language, kress and leeuwen (2006) divided the meaning of visual multimodality into a model of three different accounts, including representational meaning, interpersonal meaning, and compositional meaning. according to kuang ping (2018), representational meaning refers to the faithful reproduction of the objective world of people, human activities, places, and even the inner world of people. it is related to the application of colors, image elements, and visual continuum. the elements, included in the interactive meaning, are contact, attitude, distance, and modality. modality is grouped into a visual continuum of three kinds: high modality, middle modality, and low modality which can be demonstrated by color, illumination, etc. high modality uses those color photographs, middle one adopts sketch drawings while low modality only applies simple sketch lines with white or black colors. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 113 published by scholink inc. and represented participants (rps) usually refer to the figure representing the people in the real world appearing in the picture and so on. interactive meaning or interpersonal meaning is the description of the relationship between the image producer, the visual, and the viewers. royce indicates that some visual techniques used to analyze interpersonal meaning are the absence or presence of facial expressions towards the viewer, gestures that make commands, and offers of information or offers of goods and services to the viewer (2007). in most cases, the interpersonal relationship also has to do with social distance and perspective, as kress and leeuwen (2006) state two points: first, the degrees of social distance and intimacy can add information that can’t be transmitted by verbal mode. second, the degree of participation in a visual between the image-producer, viewers, and rps is expressed in the horizontal angle, including frontal and oblique planes. in terms of the vertical angle, royce (2007) holds that the high angle forces the viewers to look down on the rps, which is suggestive of their superiority. a low angle forces the viewers to look up at them, implying the viewer’s inferior position. an eye-level angle is suggestive of a sense of equality between the viewer and the rps. and compositional meaning focuses on the application of layouts and visual salience. moya and pinar (2008) show that the compositional features of a multimodal text are related to a study of page layout aspects of how the visual and verbal elements attain a sense of unity to the whole unit. apart from the visual study of the verbal elements, compositional intersemiosis includes the visual study linked to the distribution of information value, visual salience (size, color, focus), and visual framing. in addition to the layouts and visual salience, the position of elements on the left or right of the page, the figures’ size in the image, and the use of framing are all important compositional elements (unsworth & wheeler, 2002; kress & leeuwen, 2006). 4. a multimodal analysis of the book cover this chapter will develop a multimodal analysis of the representative 11 covers of the three-body problem in 10 languages, finding out the diverse characteristics of translating the textual message of the three-body problem into the image information in different language versions. 4.1 the translation mechanism of the design of book covers laying the foundation on a deep understanding of the book content, book covers’ design emphasizes the language transformation from verbal symbols to visual signs, thus the design of book covers, to some extent. is a kind of intersemiotic translation, gottlieb (2005) states: translation activities always are conducted in “the semiotic networks.” and some of them happen in the same semiotic systems, and others adopt different semiotic systems. some of them belong to the same semiotic system (i.e., interlingual translation), while others span different semiotic systems (i.e., intersemiotic translation). interlingual translation refers to translation between one textual symbol system and another textual symbol system, and intersemiotic translation refers to translation between textual symbol systems and non-textual symbol systems. the design of the book covers of a translation involves, on the one hand, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 114 published by scholink inc. the transformation between different texts (e.g., translation of the book title), and, on the other hand, the change of symbolic properties (from textual to visual symbols), i.e., interlingual translation. multiple symbolic attributes constitute multimodalities. the translation mechanism in the design of the translation cover can be expressed in the following pattern: at the first stage of interlingual translation, the original text (chinese text) is learned so that its key information (content and title) can be distilled from it and translated into another textual symbol. the second stage of intersemiotic translation starts when the translated textual information is transcoded into the image information of the book cover in another language. based on the intersemiotic translation, the study attaches importance to analyzing the design of multilingual versions of 11 book covers of the three-body problem. the representative covers collected are as follows: portuguese english japanese greek ukrainian vietnamese russian chinese www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 115 published by scholink inc. 4.2 analysis of book covers these book covers will be analyzed within the framework of three meanings of visual multimodality, including representational meaning, interpersonal meaning, and compositional meaning. based on some key concepts including visual continuum, color usage, visual salience, etc., they will be studied, being divided into groups, in order that the whole image analysis maintains logical and feasible. 4.2.1 representational meaning in terms of representational meaning, the cover’s color, image elements, and visual continuum are to be discussed further. in the representational meaning, the covers are more colorful, using richer image elements and reaching a middle modality. black color is used to color the common information, and red, as usual, is used to emphasize the major information of the title. other colors, including blue, dark red, yellow, green, and so on, are all presented in the figure picture. and the appearance of the picture removes the viewers’ attention from the title, therefore, the title is colored light red, while the background color of the picture is colored with dark red. only in this way can the title, the most important information, be the first information captured by the viewer. the rich elements of the third picture dramatically promote the information volume of the cover. the textual information, the use of abundant colors, and the figure in the picture of the cover offer viewers more complete messages of the book increasing the viewers’ curiosity to learn the book. the middle modality of the third book cover is at a higher level than that of the second book cover, as the pattern of the third cover is drawn with complicated sketch lines and color design. the character information displayed on the cover reveals the designer’s definition of the theme of the novel. generally speaking, the third cover design correctly conveys the content information of the book by expressing the image of the author laozi and the characteristics of his works: full of wisdom, globally popular, etc. the type and color of the image itself affect the representational meaning conveyed by the cover. royce (2013) thinks that different types of images form a visual continuum from low mode to high korean french english www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 116 published by scholink inc. mode, whose theory can be summarized as a visual continuum: line sketch → sketch stick figure → sketch → black and white picture → color picture → high fidelity picture. the covers of the three-body problem in different languages also take on some features of the visual continuum. the covers in group 1 are more like sketches and stick strokes which emphasize lines and are more influenced by the subjective thoughts of the visual designers, so they are considered to have low modality. what’s more, group 1 is also defined as low-degree images, whose features can be summarized as follows: (1) there is only basic information such as title, author, translator, and publishing house; (2) highly blank space featuring monochrome background (3) the design is similar to academic works. (group 1) low modality and low-degree image in addition to the detailed design of covers, color also affects the modality level, as color carries cultural implications. color can be used as a supplement to text translation to add more social and cultural significance to translation. red and yellow, as symbols of chinese culture, are the main colors of group 2. in addition, colors also express different emotions and attitudes toward things. for example, the dark blue color conveys the features such as calmness (madden et al., 2000), thoughtfulness, and seriousness (grimes & doole, 1998). the dark color-based covers in group 3 concord with the western knowledge about the three-body problem: a mysterious chinese-style and physics knowledge-based science fiction that needs to be read with calmness and seriousness. furthermore, the textual information on the cover includes the book title and the translator’s name. among various colors, two colors are mostly adopted: white and red. although white usually colors the textual information and red emphasizes the major information like the title, they both are effective when the image elements are complicated. it is obvious that many covers in group 2 and group 3 are in line with the white and red usage pattern. as the french cover displays, the key title “le problème à trois corps” is emphasized with red color, compare to the white author’s name and additional information. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 117 published by scholink inc. (group 2) the usage of colors (group 3) the dark color 4.2.2 interpersonal meaning the essence of interpersonal meaning in cover design is to use images and words to establish social relations with viewers. designers try to provide information about the contents of books through the cover, which is usually a narrative description of the scene. this kind of information provides interaction between the designer and the viewer. one of the important means to produce interpersonal meaning is the construction of visual patterns. in group 4, the cover designers of different countries all attract the viewer through the so-called “image behavior” (such as the gaze of the viewer on the figure). most of designers in group 4 present human beings in a tiny size and a back or side position at the bottom of the covers to the viewer. this kind of figure presentation suggests a low level of participation in interpersonal interaction as the cover figures are presented without any visual interaction with the viewer, which increases the distance between them. in addition to the effects that back or side views have on the interpersonal interaction with the viewer, different covers have produced a series of design schemes in terms of framing distance. as far as visual distance is concerned, the bust can shorten the distance between the viewer and the figures on the cover, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 118 published by scholink inc. which is beneficial to establish a friendly interpersonal relationship between them. for example, chinese doll in korean cover in group 4 is placed at the cover center, bring the viewer closer to the book. while the whole-body image in small size intentionally lengthens the distance between the viewer and the figures, which is convenient, objective, and comprehensive to show the activities, status, and attitudes of human beings facing the extraterrestrial intelligence in the picture. the choice of full-body images of people at the bottom of these covers reflects the creators’ desire to distinguish the three-body civilization represented by buildings on the covers from the earth civilization represented by humans, from which the viewers grow up. this design serves as a “distance” strategy to increase the distance between the viewer and the figures on the covers, offering the viewer a more objective and omniscient view to observe the civilization on earth as just “one of civilization in the whole universe” when the whole story presented in front of them. in addition, the power relationship between the viewer and the figure on the covers can be clarified from overlooking perspective, upward view, and horizontal perspective. in group 4, many designers mostly offer the audience an upward view to see the figures, augmenting the power gap between them in order that the sense that humans are small, curious, and even scared when facing a more advanced extraterrestrial civilization represented by the giant buildings can be conveyed to the viewer through these book covers. based on the content, it is clear that many covers can convey the original meaning of the book, yet it is evidenced that the korean cover misreads the book. different types of image elements are organized with strong chinese-style icons, and at the center of the whole cover is a chinese doll as the major figure. the figure has eye contact with the viewer in a front bust pose from a horizontal perspective, displaying an equal relationship with the audience, yet it is never mentioned in the whole story of the three-body problem, causing a wrong perception of the book on the book cover. therefore, it is obvious that the cover only scrabbles the element mentioned in the book, without consideration of delivering the real story. despite the misunderstandings of the book content in the korean version, the figures on most of the covers display human beings’ status and their relationship with the three-body civilization by objective and artistic narrative technique. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 119 published by scholink inc. group 4. interpersonal meaning 4.2.3 compositional meaning well-organized cover composition is helpful to convey information value and highlight book content and narrative theme. the translation process included in the cover design does not always lead to the loss of information but also creates new meanings in different aspects. the cover text of a book usually includes the title of the book, the name of the author, the translator, and the publisher. the book cover serves as a kind of independent communication (kress & leeuwen, 2006). reasonable cover composition helps to convey information value and highlight book content and theme. in terms of the layout rules, western cultures prefer a left-right reading path horizontally, so the elements are more often placed in the left area. with more abstract information at the top and more detailed and concreted messages at the bottom, the key information like symbols is centered on the cover. covers in group 5 adhere to the left-to-right reading pattern, no matter where the textual information is placed vertically, the western designers tend to put them in the left part, which is a traditional layout for their target readers. in group 6, all the abstract information such as the book title and author’s name is set at the upper part of the cover, naturally, detailed information, for example, the publishing houses and the awards of the book, are listed at the bottom. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 120 published by scholink inc. group 5 group 6 in east asian culture, the elements in the central region are usually more significant than those in the marginal region, and the information value in the central area is higher. for instance, on the japanese cover, the book title is placed at the center of the cover. what’s more, using a visual pattern in the center can better emphasize the book’s core contents or major figures than language, for example, the figure ye wenjie, the first discoverer of the three-body civilization, is placed in the center of the chinese cover above the book title. the picture designed for presenting the three-body problem is placed in the center part of the vietnamese cover, with the less crucial information like awards that the book receives and the symbol of the publishing houses at the margin area. although differences exist in the western and eastern approaches to designing and presenting the same book contents, there are still some cross-cultural common information values in visual design. 8 of the 11 covers collected in this paper (including covers from asian countries like korea and vietnam) put the title and author’s name at the top (more generalized and abstract information) and other elements (more concrete images) at the bottom. this reflects the dominant position of western culture in the global publishing industry. as the cover is shown, the noticeable contrast between the book titles and their background clearly conveys its top visual salience by larger elements, compared with other additional information on the cover. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 121 published by scholink inc. it is easy to find out that the major information (the book’s name and the author’s name)’s font size in nearly all covers is bigger than that of the minor information. this adoption of visual salience efficiently conveys the key messages of the book. in addition, the picture with complicated colors, and various icons occupies most part of the covers, improving its visual salience and the attention of the viewer. yet the relatively brighter color and larger size of the font of major information still can be clearly presented by virtue of the visual contrast, making sure its largest visual effects of the whole cover. 5. conclusion 5.1 major findings through these representative multilingual covers of the three-body problem, it is discovered that the intersemiotic translation of the three-body problem in different languages adopted a balanced strategy between foreignization and domestication, as the three-body problem as chinese science fiction was completely new and unique to western readers in terms of style, culture, ideology. therefore, when maintaining the chinese elements and original style, proper foreignization intersemiotic translation allows only elements in western culture to appear on the book cover such as their own languages, their traditional design for the book cover, and only awards of the book which are familiar to them. in addition, as the technique of book cover design is different in countries, the cover design took on a different degree of image, visual salience, color design, modality, image elements. in a word, the design of a book cover needs to consider the cross-translation between text, picture, and visual mode. the conception and design of the cover are not only related to formal aesthetics but also involve the construction of social relations with the viewer and the loyalty to the original work. based on intersemiotic translation and visual modality techniques, the book cover design of the three-body problem in 10 languages utilizes symbolic elements in different forms so that the textual information of book contents can be conveyed more completely and vividly by the book cover in another semiotic form. only in this way can the book cover design create greater convenience for international readers, strengthen its competitiveness as the print media, and contribute more to national cultural communication. 5.2 the disadvantages of the study in the study, the scale of the corpus is not large enough, as there are only 10 covers collected for the study. it is necessary to choose more representative book covers in more languages. in addition, the thesis language is not as concise as it should be. the repeated use of the same words and sentence pattern should also be taken seriously. improving writing skills is a necessary part of producing a high-quality research paper. the ability to write a literature review should be promoted as soon as possible. first, the lack of reading ability will influence negatively the understanding of the articles that are read. second, knowing how to choose articles mostly related to the research is also a skill that needs to be mastered in the future. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 122 published by scholink inc. the reflection of the academic research should also be done in the daily study so that future studies can be dealt with more professionally as a postgraduate student. references bai, g. 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(2022). a study of intersemiotic translation of the joy luck club metaphor from the perspective of multimodality. journal of dalian university, 5, 58-64. 1. introduction 1.1 research background 1.2 research significance 1.3 research purpose 1.4 structure of the thesis 2. literature review 2.1 the multimodal intersemiotic translation study 2.2 the previous study on the three-body problem 3. theoretical framework 3.1 intersemiotic translation 3.2 three meanings of visual multimodality 4. a multimodal analysis of the book cover 4.1 the translation mechanism of the design of boo 4.2 analysis of book covers 4.2.1 representational meaning 4.2.2 interpersonal meaning 4.2.3 compositional meaning 5. conclusion 5.1 major findings 5.2 the disadvantages of the study education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 48 original paper impact of the algebra i end of course examination on african american students obtaining a standard high school diploma jamillah d. green-jones1, paul k.s. collins1 & warren c. hope1 1 department of educational leadership and counseling, florida a&m university, tallahassee, florida, united states of america received: january 20, 2022 accepted: february 19, 2022 online published: march 6, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n1p48 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n1p48 abstract the state of florida requires all students complete algebra i and pass the end of course examination (eoce) to graduate with a standard high school diploma. algebra i eoce results indicate that many african american students do not pass the examination. this research sought to determine if there is a relationship between african american students’ failure to pass the algebra i eoce and graduate with a standard diploma. four hypotheses, null and alternative were tested. two ninth-grade cohorts, 20132014 and 2014-2015 comprised the sample. data were analyzed using t test and one-way analyses of variance (anova). results indicate a significant relationship between african american students’ failure to pass the algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma. keywords african american, algebra i end of course examination, florida, standard high school diploma, graduation 1. introduction standardized testing is a prominent and controversial measure used by local school districts and states to evaluate student academic achievement and hold teachers, principals, and superintendents accountable. in the 1990s, florida’s education officials used standardized tests results from the fourth, fifth, and tenth grades to identify low-performing schools. the florida comprehensive assessment test (fcat) replaced the state student assessment test (ssat) as the measurement used for reading and mathematics in 1998. in 1999, every school received a letter grade, a to f, based on factors, including student fcat scores, dropout rate, attendance, and discipline. florida has focused on outcome-based data and results of measures such as district-wide testing and end of course examinations (eoces). in 2003, the state began requiring students to pass the grade 10 fcat reading and mathematics end of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 49 published by scholink inc. course examinations (eoces). geometry and biology eoces were added in 2012, united states history in 2013, and civics in 2014. beginning in 2015, all florida students were required to pass the algebra i eoce to receive a standard high school diploma (houchens, 2012). florida’s overall student achievement, as assessed by eoces, improved over the last few years; however, many african american students perform below the proficiency level of 3, which is needed to pass the algebra i eoce. given this requirement, the state of florida prevents students from graduating from high school with a standard diploma until they have passed the algebra i eoce. statewide, in the 2010-2011 school year, 55% of ninth graders failed the algebra i eoce. ninth-grade african american female and male students’ failure rates were 66% and 71%, respectively (florida department of education, 2014). african american students’ failure to meet the required level 3 or better on the algebra i eoce presents an ongoing challenge for florida school districts. if african american students continue to underperform on the algebra i eoce, many will not receive a standard high school diploma. balfanz and byrnes (2006, 2012) concluded that students who fail several attempts to pass eoces eventually drop out of school. ninth grade is a challenging time in many students’ lives, given a surge of cognitive, social, and emotional development changes. gregory and fergus (2017) showed that cognitive development affects the academic posture of students in poverty—a reality that is prevalent with many african american students. socially, african american male students are subjected to stereotypical labels that often interfere with their cognitive development. barriers to normal emotional development, such as unstable home environments and puberty, can impede african american students academic progress (gregory & fergus, 2017). african american ninth-grade students must navigate socioemotional changes and other school-related stressors such as suspension, retention, and special education classification. other schoolrelated issues also include subpar facilities that adversely impact student learning and teachers not prepared to address african american students. educators require preservice preparation and ongoing professional development that assists them to understand that most african american children are not underdeveloped are developmentally delayed (bowman, comer, & johns, 2018). from an equity perspective, african american students have exhibited lower levels of mathematics achievement than other ethnic groups (pintrich & zusho, 2002). this lower achievement obliges further examination of african american students’ mathematics achievement predictors. african american students have also been underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem) fields (worldwidescience.org) and have encountered stereotypes that undermine their achievement. therefore, understanding how relevant mathematics instruction and school racial climate promote or corrode beliefs and achievement also has implications for issues of equity and justice (diemer, marchand, mckellar, & malanchuk, 2016). davis and farran (2018) asserted that african american males become aware of racialized stereotypes regarding their mathematics abilities at an early age. on average, african american males have been overrepresented in negative educational outcomes and underrepresented in positive results. these www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 50 published by scholink inc. disparities owe to a wide range of issues regarding opportunities to learn. still, a misperception remains among some members of the american public that these disparities exist because of innate differences in ability. as a result, african american males are often confronted with lowered expectations, even when achieving at high levels (www.naeyc.org). furthermore, many african american students never receive opportunities to present their abilities in educational environments. setting expectations and attitudes aside, researchers have also found disparities in access to high-quality mathematics learning across educational environments. young children belonging to racial minorities who attend urban schools in low-income areas tend to have fewer opportunities to master mathematics knowledge. davis and farran (2018) conducted a study of urban prekindergarten classes and showed that mathematics teaching and activities took place much less frequently than literacy teaching and activities. researchers have also found that in the elementary grades, and beyond, that african americans are underrepresented in gifted programs. given these disparities in opportunities to learn throughout early childhood and elementary school, it should come as no surprise that only 13% of african american eighth-grade students were proficient in mathematics, compared to 43% of european american students (national assessment of educational progress, 2015). latimore (2005) stated that for many african american children educated in urban and rural schools, the connection has been lost between the skills needed to be economically viable in the future. to function independently as an adult, and to make a creative contribution to society, students must have their abilities developed in school as part of the learning process on a daily basis. 1.1 algebra i end of course examination as a barrier scholars have long been interested in the mathematics scores of african american students. each state has a way of measuring students’ mathematics proficiency. in florida, students are administered an examination each spring. many of florida’s african american students, female, and male, have not been performing at an acceptable proficiency level as indicated by algebra i eoce results. florida requires all students to pass the algebra i eoce to receive a standard high school diploma. thompson and davis (2013) stated that algebra i acts as a gatekeeper of advanced mathematics courses in high school, which also provide access to collegiate science technology engineering and mathematics (stem) disciplines that serve as entryways to high-paying occupations (national science board, 2012). algebra i is a major precursor to higher level mathematics achievement in college (new york equity coalition, 2018). thus, african american students’ failure to pass the algebra i eoce prevents them from obtaining a standard high school diploma, which impacts their high school aftermath (i.e., transition into the military, a career, postsecondary education, or earning a living-wage). florida has not mandated pass for other eoces (i.e., civics, algebra ii, and biology), so the pass precondition for obtaining the standard high school diploma does not apply to these subjects. some students find algebra particularly difficult to understand because of the abstract reasoning required to comprehend the subject. for example, there are students who cannot replace numbers with variables, an abstraction that is essential to mastering algebra. although pedagogical instructional lessons exist that www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 51 published by scholink inc. can assist students who struggle with abstract reasoning to learn the mathematical concepts integral to mastering algebra i, many teachers do not offer such lessons to help ensure the success of all learners. the combination of students’ struggles and teachers’ limited skill sets have created the myth that african american students simply cannot learn algebra i. 1.2 purpose of the study it has not been established that a relationship exists between african american students’ failure to pass the algebra i eoce and graduate with a standard high school diploma. this research sought to determine whether a relationship exists between african american students’ failure to pass the florida algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma. 2. method no variables were manipulated for this research. the interaction between the dependent variable, standard high school diploma issued to african american students, and independent variables, algebra i eoce results for two ninth-grade cohorts and type of school district, rural, urban, or suburban already existed. hence, this research is categorized as ex post facto. an ex post facto design allowed for the examination of archived data of african american students’ algebra i eoce results and graduation with a standard high school diploma. t-test was employed to test four hypotheses. a one-way analysis of variance (anova) was employed to determine relationship between african american students completing the algebra i eoce and those who graduated with a standard high school diploma. 2.1 hypotheses four null and alternative hypotheses were formulated for testing: h01: there is no relationship between african american students’ florida algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma. ha1: there is a relationship between african american students’ florida algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma. h02: there is no relationship between african american male students’ florida algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma. ha2: there is a relationship between african american male students’ florida algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma. h03: there is no relationship between african american female students’ florida algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma. ha3: there is a relationship between african american female students’ florida algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma. h04: there is no relationship between african american male and female students in rural, urban, and suburban schools florida algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma. ha4: there is a relationship african american male and female students in rural, urban, and suburban schools florida algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 52 published by scholink inc. 2.2 sample the state of florida has 67 traditional school districts. fifteen school districts, five each, rural, urban, and suburban were selected for this research. the sample consisted of african american ninth-grade students enrolled in algebra i and who completed the eoce during the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school years in fifteen selected school districts. 2.3 data collection procedures data for this research was publicly available through the florida department of education website, which provides student assessment scores for all florida school districts. the florida department of education office of accountability’s interactive reporting website was accessed to obtain pass and failure outcomes of all african american ninth-grade students who completed the algebra i eoce and standard high school diplomas awarded in the 15 selected florida school districts. algebra i eoce pass and fail outcomes for african american students for the school years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 and those who graduated with a standard high school diploma for the years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 were downloaded from the florida department of education website. 3. results descriptive statistics were processed to characterize the ninth-grade sample. descriptive statistics were also computed for the independent variable, african american ninth grades students algebra i eoce results and the dependent variables, type of school district, rural, urban, or suburban and graduation with a standard high school diploma. who completed and passed the algebra i eoce in the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school years and who graduated with a standard high school diploma. table 1 shows the minimum, maximum, means, and standard deviations for ninth-grade african american male students who completed and passed the algebra i eoce in the 2013-2014 and 20142015 school years and african american male students from the cohorts who graduated with a standard high school diploma. table 2 shows descriptive statistics for ninth-grade african american female students for the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school years who completed and passed the algebra i eoce in the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school years and who graduated with a standard high school diploma. table 1. african american male ninth-grade students in 15 florida school districts by algebra i end of course examination and standard high school diplomas earned school year and male student category minimum maximum m sd 2013-2014 took algebra 1 eoce 10 1941 478.87 603.45 passed algebra 1 eoce 1 404 108.40 132.51 graduated in this cohort 16 2158 753.73 850.88 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 53 published by scholink inc. obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 7 2031 572.33 699.31 2014-2015 took algebra 1 eoce 13 1940 516.33 621.74 passed algebra 1 eoce 0 423 106.47 136.10 graduated in this cohort 29 2996 824.40 992.13 obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 12 2261 625.47 762.50 note. n = 15. eoce = end of course examination. table 2. african american female ninth-grade students in 15 florida school districts by algebra i end of course examination and standard high school diplomas earned school year and female student category minimum maximum m sd 2013-2014 took algebra 1 eoce 0 1834 471.80 586.87 passed algebra 1 eoce 0 447 126.07 152.09 graduated in this cohort 19 2964 817.13 981.78 obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 12 2309 647.47 788.84 2014-2015 took algebra 1 eoce 0 1910 496.47 603.44 passed algebra 1 eoce 0 464 114.67 148.46 graduated in this cohort 17 3054 845.60 1027.49 obtained high school diploma in this cohort 12 2610 725.60 891.24 note. n = 15. eoce = end of course examination. table 3 shows the descriptive statistics for all ninth-grade african american students—female and male—for the 2013-2014 school year. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 54 published by scholink inc. table 3. all ninth-grade african american students in 15 florida school districts relative to the algebra i end of course examination and standard high school diplomas school year and student category minimum maximum m sd 2013-2014 took algebra 1 eoce 10 3775 951.33 1190.00 passed algebra 1 eoce 3 851 234.47 284.03 graduated in this cohort 35 5943 1637.53 1964.11 obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 19 4340 1219.13 1488.21 2014-2015 took algebra 1 eoce 15 3850 1012.80 1224.46 passed algebra 1 eoce 1 887 221.27 284.55 graduated in this cohort 46 6050 1670.00 2019.46 obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 24 4871 1351.07 1653.62 note. n = 15. eoce = end of course examination. 3.1 inferential statistical analysis algebra i eoce scores and corresponding number of african american students obtaining the high school high school diploma were considered for the 15 rural, urban, and suburban florida school districts. a one-sample t test and one-way anovas were used to test the hypotheses. 3.2 hypotheses testing results 3.2.1 results for h01 and ha1 ho1 stated that there is no relationship between african american students’ florida algebra i eoce and graduating with a standard high school diploma. ha1 stated that there is a relationship between african american students’ florida algebra i eoce and graduating with a standard high school diploma. ninthgrade african american students who completed the algebra i eoce in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 and graduated in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 comprised the sample. table 4 shows t-test results for african american students in years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. t-test results show a statistically significant difference between the students who completed the algebra i eoce and those who graduated with a standard high school diploma. the null hypothesis h01 was rejected. this result indicates that some african american students did not pass the algebra 1 eoce, which prevented them from graduating with a standard high school diploma. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 55 published by scholink inc. table 4. t-test results for all ninth-grade african american students in 15 florida school districts relative to the algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma difference 95% ci school year and student category t(14) p m ll ul 2013-2014 took algebra 1 eoce 3.096 .008 951.33 292.33 1610.33 passed algebra 1 eoce 3.197 .006 234.47 77.18 391.76 graduated in this cohort 3.229 .006 1637.53 549.85 2725.22 obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 3.173 .007 1219.13 394.99 2043.28 2014-2015 took algebra 1 eoce 3.204 .006 1012.80 334.71 1690.88 passed algebra 1 eoce 3.012 .009 221.27 63.69 378.85 graduated in this cohort 3.203 .006 1670.00 551.66 2788.34 obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 3.164 .007 1351.07 435.32 2266.81 note. ci = confidence interval; eoce = end of course examination; ll = lower limit; ul = upper limit. 3.2.2 results for h02 and ha2 ho2 stated that there is no relationship between african american male students’ florida algebra i eoce and graduating with a standard high school diploma. ha2 stated that there is a relationship between african american male students’ florida algebra i eoce and graduating with a standard high school diploma. ninth-grade african american male students who completed the algebra i eoce in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 and graduated in 2017-2018 and 2018 and 2019 constituted the sample. table 5 shows t-test results of hypothesis testing for male african american students. t-test results showed a statistically significant difference between students who failed to pass the algebra 1 eoce and those who graduated with a standard high school diploma. the significance level was less than .05 for each relationship tested, therefore the null hypothesis h02 was rejected. the results indicate that some african american male students did not pass the algebra i eoce, which prevented them from obtaining the high school diploma. table 6 shows anova results for african american male students who completed the algebra i eoce in school year 2013-2014. the anova was used to compare the mean of african american male students who completed the algebra i eoce in 2014, passed in 2014, graduated and received a standard www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 56 published by scholink inc. high school diploma in 2017. the results were significant (p = .001). the algebra 1 eoce is a barrier to african american male students graduating with a standard high school diploma. table 5. t-test results for african american male ninth-grade students in 15 florida school districts relative to the algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma difference 95% ci school year and male student category t(14) p m ll ul 2013-2014 took algebra 1 eoce 3.073 .008 478.87 144.69 813.05 passed algebra 1 eoce 3.168 .007 108.40 35.02 181.78 graduated in this cohort 3.431 .004 753.73 282.53 1224.94 obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 3.170 .007 572.33 185.07 959.60 2014-2015 took algebra 1 eoce 3.216 .006 516.33 172.03 860.64 passed algebra 1 eoce 3.030 .009 106.47 31.10 181.84 graduated in this cohort 3.218 .006 824.40 274.98 1373.82 obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 3.177 .007 625.47 203.21 1047.73 note. all tests two tailed. ci = confidence interval; eoce = end of course examination; ll = lower limit; ul = upper limit. table 6. analysis of variance for ninth-grade african american male students algebra i eoce in 2013-2014 in 15 florida school districts source ss df ms f p bayes factor between-group 88016.463 2 44008.231 11.992 .001 34.423 within-group 44039.202 12 3669.933 total 132055.664 14 table 7 shows results of an anova for african american males who completed the algebra i eoce in school year 2014-2015. the anova was used to compare the means of african american male students who completed the algebra i eoce in 2015, passed in 2015, graduated and received a standard www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 57 published by scholink inc. high school diploma in 2018. the results were significant (p = .004). the algebra 1 eoce was a barrier to african american male students graduating with a standard high school diploma. table 7. analysis of variance ninth-grade african american male students algebra i eoce in 2014-2015 in 15 florida school districts source ss df ms f p bayes factor between-group 60985.347 2 30492.673 9.069 .004 12.488 within-group 40348.866 12 3362.405 total 101334.213 14 3.2.3 results for h03 and ha3 ho3 stated that there is no relationship between african american female students’ florida algebra i eoce and graduating with a standard high school diploma. ha3 stated that there is a relationship between african american female students’ florida algebra i eoce and graduating with a standard high school diploma. ninth-grade african american female students who passed the algebra i eoce in 2013-2014 and 20142015 and graduated in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 comprised the sample. table 8 shows results of hypothesis testing for these students. t-test results showed a statistically significant difference between the students who completed the algebra i eoce and those who graduated with a standard high school diploma. the level of significance was less than .05 for the hypothesis tested. the null hypothesis h03 was rejected. this means that some african american female students did not pass the algebra i eoce, which prevented them from graduating with a standard high school diploma. table 8. t-test results for african american female ninth-grade students in 15 florida school districts relative to the algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma difference 95% ci school year and female student category t(14) p m ll ul 2013-2014 took algebra 1 eoce 3.114 .008 471.80 146.80 796.80 passed algebra 1 eoce 3.210 .006 126.07 41.84 210.29 graduated in this cohort 3.223 .006 817.13 273.44 1360.83 obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 3.179 .007 647.47 210.62 1084.31 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 58 published by scholink inc. 2014-2015 took algebra 1 eoce 3.186 .007 496.47 162.29 830.64 passed algebra 1 eoce 2.991 .010 114.67 32.45 196.88 graduated in this cohort 3.187 .007 845.60 276.59 1414.60 obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 3.153 .007 725.60 232.05 1219.15 note. all tests two tailed. ci = confidence interval; eoce = end of course examination; ll = lower limit; ul = upper limit. table 9 shows anova results for african american female students who completed the algebra i eoce in school year 2013-2014. the anova was used to compare the mean of african american female students who tested in 2014, passed the algebra i eoce in 2014, graduated in 2017, and received a standard high school diploma in 2017. the results were statistically significant (p = .009). the algebra i eoce was a barrier to african american female students graduating with a standard high school diploma. table 10 shows anova results for african american female students who completed the algebra i eoce in school year 2014-2015. the anova was used to compare the mean of african american female students who tested in 2015, passed the algebra i eoce in 2015, graduated in 2018, and received a high school diploma in 2018. the results were statistically significant (p = .001). the algebra i eoce was a barrier to african american females graduating with a standard high school diploma. table 9. analysis of variance ninth-grade african american female students who completed the algebra i eoce in 2013-2014 in 15 florida school districts source ss df ms f p bayes factor between-group 69880.935 2 34940.468 7.116 .009 5.619 within-group 58919.464 12 4909.955 total 128800.400 14 table 10. analysis of variance ninth-grade african american female students who completed the algebra i eoce in 2014-2015 in 15 florida school districts source ss df ms f p bayes factor between-group 94541.928 2 47270.964 14.677 .001 75.950 within-group 38648.851 12 3220.738 total 133190.780 14 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 59 published by scholink inc. 3.2.4 results for h04 and ha4 ho4 stated that there is no relationship between african american male and female students in rural, urban, and suburban schools’ florida algebra i eoce and graduating with a standard high school diploma. ha4 stated that there is a relationship between african american male and female students in rural, urban, and suburban schools’ florida algebra i eoce and graduating with a standard high school diploma. african american students who completed the algebra i eoce in 2013-2014 and 2014 and 2015 and graduated in 2017 and 2018 comprised the sample. table 11 shows the results of hypothesis testing for african american with respect to rural, urban, and suburban districts. t-test results showed no statistically significant differences among rural, urban, and suburban schools for the students who completed the algebra i eoce and graduated with a standard high school diploma. the significance level was greater than .05 for each hypothesis. no relationship was detected among rural, urban, and suburban schools with respect to african american students algebra i eoce and obtaining the standard high school diploma. table 11. t-test results for all ninth-grade african american students in 15 florida school districts relative to the algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma difference 95% ci school year and student category t(2) p m ll ul 2013-2014 took algebra 1 eoce 1.245 .339 951.33 −2335.31 4237.97 passed algebra 1 eoce 1.323 .317 234.48 −528.18 997.14 graduated in this cohort 1.280 .329 1637.53 −3866.29 7141.35 obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 1.249 .338 1219.13 −2979.50 5417.76 2014-2015 took algebra 1 eoce 1.278 .330 1012.80 −2397.30 4422.90 passed algebra 1 eoce 1.244 .340 221.19 −543.94 986.32 graduated in this cohort 1.264 .334 1670.00 −4015.81 7355.81 obtained standard high school diploma in this cohort 1.245 .339 1351.07 −3316.94 6019.08 note. ci = confidence interval; eoce = end of course examination; ll = lower limit; ul = upper limit. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 60 published by scholink inc. 4. concluding discussion african american students’ performance on the algebra i eoce and graduation with a standard high school diploma for the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 ninth grade cohorts in 15 florida school districts were the subject of this research. hypotheses test results did not indicate any differences among district types for the algebra i eoce and african american students who obtained a standard high school diploma. the results for ho1 ho2, and ho3 indicated a relationship between the algebra i eoce and african american male and female students obtaining a standard high school diploma. an average of thirty-seven african american students in the 2013-2014 cohort for rural schools who completed the algebra i eoce passed and obtained a standard high school diploma. the numbers for the 2014-2015 cohort revealed a similar trend of performance in rural schools. results revealed that african american females performed better than african american males despite being represented by lower numbers in each cohort. however, there was a significant relationship between african american females and the algebra i eoce and obtaining a standard high school diploma. algebra i is the gateway to higher-level mathematics on both the secondary and post-secondary levels of education (new york equity coalition, 2018). based upon the results of this research, african american students are not only in jeopardy of not obtaining a standard high school diploma, but the lack of skills in algebra will impact future career mobility, which will depend on mathematical skills. african american males in rural areas were the lowest performing subgroup in this study. the average number of rural, suburban, and urban students who obtained a standard high school diploma was lower than the average number of urban students tested in the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 cohorts. african american males in suburban and urban schools had a larger number of students who obtained standard high school diplomas in the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 ninth-grade cohorts. the similarity of results for african american female and male students in rural, suburban, and urban districts indicated that there were larger numbers of students who graduated without a standard high school diploma. further, the ratio of african american males who graduated without a standard high school diploma was higher than the number who obtained a diploma in rural, urban, and suburban schools. african american male’s results show lower rates of passage on the algebra i eoce in each of the fifteen florida counties. the number of high school diplomas issued to african american males was lower in all rural, urban, and suburban counties. these results provide relevant information to continue the dialogue of african american male student performance in algebra i and mathematics overall. african american female students’ performance was consistently higher than african american male student performance in rural, urban, and suburban schools for the fifteen counties. the results of this study suggest that the algebra i eoce is a significant factor in african american students graduating with a standard high school diploma in the state of florida. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 1, 2022 61 published by scholink inc. references balfanz, r., & byrnes, v. (2006). closing the mathematics achievement gap in high poverty middle schools: enablers and constraints. journal of education for students placed at risk, 11(2), 143-159. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327671espr1102_2 balfanz, r., & byrnes, v. (2012). the importance of being in school: a report on absenteeism in the nation’s public schools. the education digest, 78(2), 4. bowman, b. t., comer, j. p., & johns, d. j. (2018). addressing the african american achievement gap: three leading educators issue a call to action. young children, 73(2), 14-23. davis, d. b., & farran, d. c. (2018). positive early math experiences for african american boys: nurturing the next generation of stem majors. young children, 73(2), 44-51. diemer, m. a., marchand, a. d., mckellar, s. e., & malanchuk, o. (2016). promotive and corrosive factors in african american students’ math beliefs and achievement. journal of youth and adolescence, 45(6), 1208-1225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0439-9 florida department of education. (2014). florida’s high school cohort graduation rate. tallahassee, fl: author. gregory, a., & fergus, e. (2017). social and emotional learning and equity in school discipline. the future of children, 27(1), 117-136. https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.2017.0006 houchen, d. (2012). stakes is high: culturally relevant practitioner inquiry with african american students struggling to pass secondary reading exit exams. urban education, 48(1), 92-115. https.//doi.org/10.1177/0042085912456845 national assessment of educational progress. (2015). new york equity coalition. (2018). within our reach: an agenda for ensuring all new york students are prepared for college, careers, and active citizenship. new york, ny. nasir, n. s., & n. shah. (2011). on defense: african american males making sense of racialized narratives in mathematics education. journal of african american males in, 2(1), 24-45. pintrich, p. r., & zusho, a. (2002). student motivation and self-regulated learning in the college classroom. in j. c. smart, & w. g. tierney (eds.), higher education: handbook of theory and research. higher education: handbook of theory and research (pp. 55-128). springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0245-5_2 thompson, l., & davis, j. (2013). the meaning high-achieving african american males in an urban high school ascribe to mathematics. the urban review, 45(4), 490-517. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-013-0267-0 https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327671espr1102_2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0439-9 https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.2017.0006 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0245-5_2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-013-0267-0 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 31 original paper an analysis of influencing factors of parent-child shared reading of bilingual originals in the era of digital intelligence chen zheng1*, jinyi kong2, lusihang wang2 & xiaoyu xu2 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china 2 xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china * chen zheng, school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: february 23, 2025 accepted: march 15, 2025 online published: april 3, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p31 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p31 abstract in the era of digital intelligence, parent-child shared reading of bilingual originals has become an important pathway to foster children’s linguistic and cognitive development. however, the understanding of the multifaceted factors influencing this practice remains limited. to explore the influencing factors of parent-child shared reading of bilingual originals in digital intelligence, this study adopts a questionnaire survey method based on theories such as the ecosystem theory and the input-processoutput (ipo) model. the study finds that in the process of digital reading, the parent-child shared reading activity is mainly affected by three significant dimensions: parental support, technological media characteristics, and children’s commitment. among them, the variables of parents’ emotional communication and cognitive stimulation, digital literacy, and the multimedia features of digital reading carriers are particularly significant in enhancing the effect of digital reading, which can further promote the development of children’s linguistic expression and social-emotional functions. keywords digital intelligence era, parent-child reading, bilingual originals, parental support, digital reading effectiveness 1. introduction in the digital intelligence era, parent-child reading is a crucial step for children to establish initial interpersonal interactions and develop social skills. in the context of the digital age, children start using electronic devices at a very young age, which leads to a decrease in the duration and quality of traditional parent-child interactions. according to the critical period hypothesis, 3 6 years of age is a crucial stage in children’s language development (johnson & newport, 1989). if children’s language skills are not www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 32 published by scholink inc. guided in time during this period, they will be seriously affected. currently, the factors influencing parent-child co-reading in an electronic device environment are unclear. in addition, previous intervention studies have rarely explored the effects of parent-child shared reading mode on children’s language expression ability and socio-emotional functioning from the perspective of digital multimedia environments. the present study was conducted through a questionnaire survey method. based on relevant theories, its influence on digital reading effectiveness was explored from the dimensions of parental support, digital technology-mediated platforms, and children’s input to further enhance children’s expressive language ability and socio-emotional functioning. this study provides data support for the interactive mechanism of children’s language ability and provides a theoretical basis for constructing a high-quality optimization model for young children’s language development in the digital era. 2. model construction and research hypotheses 2.1 theoretical basis with the deep integration of digital technology in the field of education and family, the environments and forms of parent-child shared reading activities have become increasingly diversified and complex. to systematically explore the influencing factors of parent-child shared reading of bilingual texts in the era of digital intelligence, this study introduces the ecosystem theory (bronfenbrenner, 1979) at the macro level, and draws on the input-process-output (ipo) model at the micro level to construct a theoretical analysis framework that is both holistic and hierarchical. ecosystem theory emphasizes that an individual’s development is not only influenced by his or her internal characteristics but also shaped by the external multi-level environment (jessica & jonathan, 2025). specifically, children’s development in digital reading environments needs to take into account the potential roles of both microsystems (family interactions, parent-child relationships) and external systems (technological media platforms, community resources, and socio-cultural environments). in the era of digital intelligence, family attitudes toward the use of digital tools, parents’ digital literacy, and the media environment at the societal level may have a significant impact on children’s reading engagement and development through interactive processes. the ipo model provides a logical and clear analytical path to explore the mechanisms of multiple influencing factors and children’s reading effectiveness. in the context of this study, “input” includes the dimensions of parental support (emotional communication, positive parenting, frequency, and duration of shared reading, and digital literacy), technological media characteristics (multimodal functions, media forms), and children’s engagement (reading interest, language ability) (nation, 1990). in the parent-child shared reading activities, the “process” embodies the interactive process between children and parents on the digital reading platform, including the way of shared reading, reading feedback, and the depth of parent-child interaction, etc. the “output” is the children’s digital reading comprehension and mastery, as well as the improvement of language expression and social-emotional functioning. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 33 published by scholink inc. 2.2 research hypotheses this study will investigate the factors affecting the effect of parent-child shared reading of bilingual original digital reading in terms of the dimensions of parental support, the dimensions of technological media characteristics, and the dimensions of children’s input. 2.2.1 parental support (1) emotional communication and research hypotheses emotional communication refers to the process in which parents convey care, empathy, and encouragement through verbal or nonverbal means when they interact with their children in reading. according to social cognitive theory (bandura, 1989), positive emotional communication helps to create a safe learning atmosphere and enhances children’s concentration and comprehension in digital reading (ngorosho, 2001). at the same time, good emotional communication can also fulfill children’s emotional needs and enhance their interest and engagement in reading content. the hypotheses of this study: h1a: emotional communication positively affects the effect of digital reading. h1b: emotional communication positively affects children’s verbal expression and social-emotional functioning. (2) mindful parenting level and research hypotheses mindful parenting level emphasizes the ability of parents to remain aware and attentive in the present moment while interacting with their children, respecting their children’s feelings, and responding to them when appropriate (duncan et al., 2009). a high level of positive parenting helps parents capture their children’s needs promptly in digital reading scenarios, provide personalized guidance and feedback, and promote reading effectiveness. the hypotheses of this study: h2a: positive thoughts parenting level positively affects digital reading effectiveness. h2b: positive parenting level positively affects children’s expressive language ability and socialemotional functioning. (3) frequency and duration and research hypotheses reading frequency and duration refers to the number of times parents and children carry out parent-child reading in a certain cycle and the duration of each reading. according to the input-output theory (investment model), higher reading frequency and more ample reading duration usually imply greater parental investment in their children’s learning activities, which enhances the depth and effectiveness of digital reading. the hypotheses of this study are: h3a: the frequency and duration of parent-child shared reading of bilingual original texts positively affects the effectiveness of digital reading. h3b: the frequency and duration of parent-child shared reading of bilingual originals positively affects children’s expressive language ability and social-emotional functioning. (4) digital literacy and research hypotheses www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 34 published by scholink inc. digital literacy level refers to parents’ proficiency in the use of digital tools, information retrieval and evaluation skills, etc. (eshet-alkalai, 2004). parents who have a high level of digital literacy are better able to select and integrate high-quality digital resources to provide their children with richer and more appropriate reading materials, which in turn promotes digital reading effectiveness. the hypotheses of this study: h4a: the level of digital literacy positively affects the digital reading effect. h4b: the level of digital literacy positively affects children’s language expression ability and socialemotional functioning. 2.2.2 technological media characteristics (1) multimodal function and research hypotheses multimodal function refers to the integrated presentation of text, images, audio, video, interactive animation, etc., which are possessed by digital reading carriers (jewitt, 2008). multimodal functions can stimulate children’s multi-sensory participation, improve the fun and immersion of reading, and thus enhance the understanding and memory of reading content. the hypotheses of this study: h5a: multimodal functioning positively affects digital reading effectiveness. h5b: multimodal functioning positively affects children’s expressive language ability and socialemotional functioning. (2) media form and research hypotheses media forms include specific hardware carriers such as tablet computers, smartphones, e-book readers, etc., and can also involve emerging technologies such as ar/vr. more convenient and interactive media forms can reduce children’s operating difficulty and increase the flexibility of reading, thus improving the quality of digital reading. the hypotheses of this study: h6a: media forms positively affect the effect of digital reading. h6b: media forms positively affect children’s expressive language ability and social-emotional functioning. 2.2.3 children’s input dimensions (1) reading interest and research hypotheses reading interest refers to children’s curiosity and positive attitudes toward the reading activity itself (guthrie & wigfield, 2000). in a digital reading environment, if children have a high interest in the content or form of reading, they are more willing to invest time and attention to obtain better reading results. the hypotheses of this study: h7a: reading interest positively influences digital reading effectiveness. h7b: reading interest positively affects children’s expressive language ability and social-emotional functioning. (2) language ability and research hypotheses language ability, which includes vocabulary, grammatical comprehension, and reading comprehension, is the basis for children’s information absorption and expression in digital reading (vygotsky, 1978). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 35 published by scholink inc. children with higher language abilities are more likely to acquire knowledge from multimodal reading materials and express or transfer it effectively after reading (richter, cardoso, & mervis, 2022). the hypotheses of this study: h8a: language proficiency positively affects digital reading effectiveness. h8b: language proficiency positively influences children’s expressive language skills and socialemotional functioning. 2.2.4. effects of digital reading in this research model, “effects of digital reading” are not only reflected in the comprehension and mastery of reading content but also affect children’s language expression ability and social-emotional functioning. it also affects children’s language expression ability and social-emotional function. in other words, when the digital reading process is facilitated by parental support, technological media features, and children’s engagement, children not only improve their language (e.g., vocabulary, fluency) but also develop their social-emotional function (e.g., self-emotional management, empathy) (sylva et al., 2008). in addition, gender, age, parental education, and economic income were added as control variables to the model. the model is shown in figure 1. figure 1. the study model 3. research design 3.1 variable measurement based on the combing of the literature, a total of eight major research variables were distilled in this study, namely, parents’ effective communication and cognitive stimulation, the level of positive parenting, the frequency and duration of parent-child reading of bilingual originals, parents’ digital literacy (e.g., technological proficiency and trust in digital tools), the multimedia function of the digital reading carriers, media forms, children’s interest in reading, and language proficiency. in terms of scale design, we mainly www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 36 published by scholink inc. drew on scales that have been proposed and tested by scholars both at home and abroad, such as the parenting and family adjustment scale (pafas), the wechsler programme for young children’s psychological intelligence scale (wppsi-iv) for assessing verbal intelligence, the picture vocabulary test (ppvt) for measuring receptive vocabulary ability, and the children’s behavior checklist (cbcl) for evaluating emotional affectivity. in addition to the standardized tests, the scale measures were presented in the form of a five-point likert scale. 3.2 sample collection the target group of this study was set to be children aged 3-6 years old and their parents. according to the theory of critical period hypothesis, the human brain is highly sensitive and efficient in language learning at a specific age, so the group of this study is designated as 3-6 years old. the questionnaire of this study is divided into four main parts: basic information of the sample, assessment of parent-child coreading frequency and interaction, use of digital tools, and assessment of co-reading effect. the questionnaires were distributed and collected through the questionnaire star platform and offline, and 232 questionnaires were finally collected, after screening, the final valid sample was 210. among the 210 samples, the age distribution of parents covered different age groups from 18 years old to over 50 years old, with parents aged 31-35 and 41 years old and above dominating. the coverage of parents’ education level and monthly household income was more comprehensive. in addition, the age of the children was mainly concentrated in the preschool and school-age groups. these samples are diverse in terms of age, educational attainment, and income level, and thus have good representativeness. 4. data analysis 4.1 descriptive statistical analysis the basic situation of this sample is as follows: in terms of parents’ age, the sample mainly focuses on the levels of 31-35 years old and 41 years old and above, accounting for 28.57% and 27.62% respectively; in terms of parents’ education level, 37.14% of the sample has a college degree, and 30.48% has a bachelor’s degree or above; in terms of the monthly family income perspective, 37.14% of the samples are in the range of 5,000 to 10,000 yuan, and 30.95% of the samples are in the range of 10,000 to 20,000 yuan. 4.2 reliability analysis this study used spss 27.0 software for data analysis. the reliability analysis was performed through cronbach’s alpha coefficient. validity analysis was tested through kmo value and bartlett’s sphere test. the reliability of the total scale is 0.83 and the reliability of each variable is above 0.7, which indicates that the reliability of the questionnaire scale is good. the kmo value of the total scale was 0.962 and the kmo value of each variable was above 0.7, which indicates that the validity of the scales is high. since the questionnaire measurement scales used in this study were adapted from scholars’ studies, exploratory factor analysis of the questionnaire scales was required, and a total of three common factors were extracted, which were consistent with the initial question item settings in the questionnaire, and in total www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 37 published by scholink inc. explained 64.7% of the variance, which indicates that the individual scales in this questionnaire have good validity. 4.3 descriptive statistical analysis of variables after analyzing the score means of each variable in this study, it was found that except for the two variables of parents’ level of positive parenting and children’s interest in reading, which had score means lower than 3.8, the rest of the variables had score means higher than 3.8, which indicated that parents’ performances in several other aspects were more positive and adequate, but slightly insufficient in terms of their educational concepts and stimulation of children’s interest in reading. the mean values of the scores of the variables of parents’ emotional communication and cognitive stimulation, and parents’ acceptance of digital tools are particularly prominent. this suggests that the interactive communication between parents and children is more adequate during the parent-child reading process, which can positively promote children’s thinking development and language expression ability. at the same time, parents’ acceptance and use of digital tools also affect the effectiveness of parent-child shared reading to a certain extent, which helps to improve children’s vocabulary skills and emotional cognition. 4.4 influence of individual traits on variables this study further analyzed the influence of parents’ traits (e.g., gender, education, economic income, etc.) on the variables using an independent samples t-test. the results showed that female parents scored significantly higher (p < 0.05) than male parents in terms of time commitment to parent-child co-reading, parental emotional communication, and cognitive stimulation. parents with higher education (master’s degree and above) scored significantly higher than parents with bachelor’s degree and below on frequency and duration of parent-child reading of bilingual originals, and parenting concepts. and the individual traits of the other samples had no significant effect on the variables. 4.5 correlation analysis among variables in this study, pearson’s correlation coefficient analysis was used to analyze the correlation among variables. the data showed that there was a significant positive correlation (p < 0.01) between the interactive behaviors during shared reading (e.g., adjusting the pace of reading according to the child’s response, encouraging the child to express thoughts and feelings) and the children’s expressive language and social-emotional functioning, indicating that these interactive behaviors had a positive impact on the development of the children’s language and social-emotional functioning. significant positive correlations (p < 0.01) were found between the frequency of shared reading and the effects of vocabulary enhancement, the effects of bilingual switching ability enhancement, the effects of empathy enhancement, and the ability to understand the emotions of others, suggesting that the higher the frequency of shared reading, the more significant was the enhancement of the children’s linguistic and socio-emotional functioning. parents who perceived digital tools as a necessary complement to children’s language learning and who were willing to invest time in learning to use new educational apps had more significant (p < 0.01) effects on their children’s enhancement of each competency. more interactive media forms and multimodal features can stimulate children’s multisensory engagement and improve their relevant www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 38 published by scholink inc. abilities. children’s interest in reading positively affected the effect of digital co-reading, but did not significantly affect the enhancement of children’s language expression and social-emotional functioning. the correlation between children’s language ability and parent-child shared reading effect and ability enhancement was not significant. in addition, parents’ level of positive parenting did not have a significant effect on digital reading effects. h1, h3, h4, h5, h6, and h7a were validated through the analysis, whereas the remaining hypotheses were not confirmed. 5. research conclusions and recommendations 5.1 diversified leadership to enhance the level of parent-child shared reading guidance based on the data and analysis results of this study, parents demonstrated strong emotional communication and digital tool use abilities during the process of parent-child shared reading, but there is still room for improvement in the level of positive parenting and certain interactive guidance strategies. it is suggested that parents should not only rely on their strengths in emotional communication and cognitive stimulation to flexibly adjust the pace and method of reading according to their children’s immediate responses but also take the initiative to participate in digital literacy training, and skillfully utilize resources provided by multimodal digital platforms, such as text, images, audio and video, and interactive animation. through the comprehensive use of these diversified leadership measures, parents can create a richer and more efficient interactive environment for parent-child co-reading at the emotional and technical levels, further enhancing the overall effect of digital reading. 5.2 diversified models to encourage children’s active participation in practice the research data also show that the degree of children’s active participation in digital reading is closely related to the enhancement of their language expression and social-emotional functions. therefore, to build an interactive reading platform in shared reading activities, we can further stimulate children’s multi-sensory participation and enthusiasm for expression by designing a variety of forms such as voice interaction, situational quizzes, and role-playing; at the same time, parents and educational institutions should carry out personalized reading activities, such as role-playing, story continuation, and parentchild co-creative practice, according to children’s interests and abilities, to make children experience the joy of creativity in their participation, and obtain instant feedback mechanisms. this will enable children to experience the joy of creation through participation and receive positive incentives with the help of an immediate feedback mechanism. through this diversified practice mode, children’s interest in reading and intrinsic motivation can not only be stimulated, but also effectively promote the transformation from passive acceptance to active exploration, to realize comprehensive development in language, cognition, and social-emotional aspects (xing, wei, & wang, 2022). 5.3 diversified platforms to empower digital parent-child reading ecology the analysis results show that the multimodal function of digital reading platforms helps to enhance the effect of parent-child reading. therefore, the platform can further integrate multimodal functions such as text, images, audio and video, and interactive animation to create an intuitive and rich content display www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 39 published by scholink inc. form, and also provide quality resources that meet the needs of parents and children according to their interests and reading habits promptly with the help of intelligent recommendation and personalized customization technology. by building a real-time interaction and feedback mechanism, the platform can effectively stimulate children’s enthusiasm for participation and desire for expression, making reading activities more attractive and practical. at the same time, digital media platforms can strengthen collaboration with educational institutions, parents, and content creators to jointly develop educational content that meets children’s cognitive characteristics and developmental needs, and build an open, inclusive, and interactive digital reading ecosystem. such a diversified platform strategy not only provides parents with scientific guidance but also creates an immersive and interactive learning environment for children, thus enhancing the effect and quality of digital reading on the whole. 6. conclusion this study has analyzed the main influencing factors of parent-child shared reading of bilingual originals in the era of digital intelligence, but there are still some shortcomings in this study. future research can further examine the moderating and mediating roles of variables such as parents’ positive parenting, children’s reading interest, and language proficiency in different contexts, and explore the reasons for their failure to have a significant direct effect. given that the sample of this study mainly focused on the group of children aged 3 to 6, subsequent studies may consider samples of different ages, family backgrounds, and regions, and adopt longitudinal follow-up and experimental designs to more comprehensively verify the mechanisms of the variables in digital reading. funding this paper is supported by the innovation and entrepreneurship project of xi’an international studies university (project number: 202410724013). references johnson, j., & newport e. (1989). critical period effects in second language learning: the influence of maturational state on the acquisition of english as a second language. cognitive psychology, 1989(21), 60-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(89)90003-0 jessica, l. n., & jonathan, r. h. t. (2025). understanding and teaching bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory. nation, i. s. p. (1990). teaching and learning vocabulary (p. 23). heinle & heinle publishers. ngorosho, d. (2001). reading and writing ability about home environment: a study in primary education in rural tanzania. child indicators research, 4(3), 369-388. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-010-9089-8 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 40 published by scholink inc. richter, c. g., cardoso, m. c., & mervis, c. b. (2022). longitudinal predictors of word reading for children with williams syndrome. reading and writing, 36(8), 2119-2145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10370-7 sylva, k. et al. (2008). effective preschool and primary education 3-11 project (eppe 3-11): final report from the primary phase: preschool, school and family influences on children’s development during key stage 2 (age 7-11). university of london. xing, x., wei, y., & wang, m. (2022). reciprocal relation between executive function and receptive vocabulary in chinese preschoolers: evidence from a two-year longitudinal study. developmental psychology, 58(1), 83-95. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000996 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 88 original paper bring the dual focus on both language and content into esp courses through teacher collaboration renda li1* 1 school of jewelry, west yunnan university of applied science, tengchong, china * corresponding author: renda li, renda@wyuas.edu.cn received: january 7, 2024 accepted: january 28, 2024 online published: february 20, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p88 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p88 abstract in china, the evolution from traditional “college english” courses to english for specific purpose (esp) reflects the changing demands for foreign language skills in specialized industries. this transition poses challenges for teachers due to limited specialized knowledge. this study explores the integration of content and language integrated learning (clil) into esp courses through collaboration between language and content-area teachers. drawing on a literature review and qualitative research at west yunnan university of applied science, the study examines the challenges traditional english general purpose (egp) teachers face in esp classrooms and their willingness to collaborate with content-area teachers. results reveal teachers’ struggles with specialized knowledge and materials selection, alongside their openness to collaboration. the discussion emphasizes the importance of fostering cooperation, establishing teaching communities, and utilizing online platforms for enhanced student learning outcomes. this research contributes to the advancement of esp teaching methodologies by advocating for collaborative approaches that integrate language and content effectively. keywords egp, esp, clil, teacher collaboration 1. introduction in china, the traditional “college english” course typically refers to english for general purpose (egp), which aims to improve students’ english listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation skills by imparting fundamental english knowledge. recently, the demand for foreign language skills in various industries has become more diverse and specialized, posing a challenge for traditional egp courses to meet learners’ needs. consequently, higher education institutions have initiated extensive educational reforms, including the transformation of egp into esp (english for specific purpose). the esp course www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 89 published by scholink inc. is designed to address specific goals and learner needs, emphasizing the cultivation of communication skills in using english for work in particular environments. however, traditional egp teachers often face challenges due to limited specialized knowledge and related experiences during this educational reform (liu & chen, 2019). in such circumstances, a potential solution to this problem could be the collaboration between language teachers, specialized in language education, and content-area teachers, possessing professional knowledge. clil (content and language integrated learning), frequently praised for its ability to boost language proficiency, is considered effective because of its emphasis on content rather than form and its requirement for higher cognitive engagement among learners (vega, m. & moscoso, m. l, 2019). therefore, the study tries to investigate the possibility of the application of the clil model (bringing the dual-focus on both language and content) in esp courses through collaboration between language teachers and content-area teachers. this is not a completely new teaching concept; rather, it represents a new stage of development in esp teaching. 2. literature review 2.1 egp, esp and clil in the chinese educational landscape over the past decades, egp courses have been put foreground of english language education in china. these courses are designed to provide language learners with a broad and comprehensive understanding of the english language, and with a well-rounded approach that prepares students for effective communication in various contexts. in order to cater to the specific linguistic demands of different professions or academic disciplines, esp courses, which address the needs of students pursuing careers in specific areas, have gradually gained prominence. evolving from the traditional “language-based” approach in foreign language teaching, it seamlessly integrates language skills with specific professional knowledge, makes full use of the utility and practicality of foreign languages, and emphasizes the acquisition of subject knowledge and improvement of language abilities. clil (content and language integrated learning) is a dual-focused educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language. that is, in the teaching and learning process, there is a focus not only on content and not only on language (coyle et al., 2010). the 4cs framework of clil is based on the principle that strengthening and deepening a learner’s conceptual understanding requires social, cultural, linguistic, and academic dialogic processes. the components of the framework are content, cognition, communication, and culture (coyle et al., 2010). content means progression in new knowledge, skills and understanding; communication refers to interaction, and progression in language use and learning; cognition is engagement in higher-order thinking and understanding, problem-solving, and accepting challenges and reflecting on them. culture means “self” and “other” awareness, identity, citizenship, and progression towards pluricultural understanding. the interrelation among these four elements fully reflects that clil teaching is content and culture-oriented, using language as the medium. it emphasizes communication between teachers and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 90 published by scholink inc. students, aiming to enhance students’ cognitive ability in professional content or culture (gao, 2018). in china, though theories on esp teaching and research are gradually enriching, there are still some shortcomings in the esp course, including unclear curriculum characteristics, teaching tasks divorced from real situations, and learning materials that are neither suitable nor targeted. the mode of language and content integration advocated by the clil teaching concept aligns with the teaching objectives of esp courses and holds significant reference value for the design and practice of esp teaching. acquiring a second or foreign language is thought to be most successful when emphasis is placed on meaning rather than accuracy (vega, m. & moscoso, m. l, 2019). though this strategy poses difficulties in achieving the desired language proficiency, it can be realized by fostering situations that promote meaningful language practice and usage (burger et al., 2013). esp is often discussed in language teaching research, emphasizing the use of meaningful and practical content. it functions to assist students in reaching specific communication objectives essential to various professions like nursing, engineering, and medicine, as highlighted by gonzalez in 2015. therefore, the dual focus both on language and content is not a completely new teaching concept; rather, it may represent a new stage of development in esp teaching (jiang, 2010). 2.2 bring the dual focus on both language and content in esp courses through teacher collaboration to enhance foreign language proficiency and integrate professional skills, many colleges and universities nationwide are implementing esp courses. however, this initiative reveals challenges such as limited expertise among esp teachers, scarce resources, and a lack of practical post-training evaluation. improving esp teaching quality and establishing a new model requires schools to bolster cooperation among teachers, foster partnerships with enterprises, integrate online and offline resources, and clearly define teaching objectives. effective esp teachers must possess expertise in english, proficiency in their field, and knowledge of esp theories and teaching methods. typically led by english or professional teachers, esp teaching suitability hinges on these three aspects: english subject knowledge, professional expertise, and familiarity with esp-related theories and methods. based on this criterion, professional teachers can offer students specialized guidance; however, they exhibit deficiencies in english language skills during listening, speaking, reading, and writing, including inaccurate pronunciation, grammar errors, and other classroom challenges. conversely, english teachers possess a strong language foundation but lack interdisciplinary professional knowledge, remaining limited to language learning and unable to fulfil students’ needs for professional skills. as a result, esp teaching encounters significant challenges, necessitating further improvement in teaching effectiveness. addressing this, the collaboration between teachers in the “language” and “content” domains under the clil model emerges as a potential solution. through collaborative esp tasks involving professional teachers and college english teachers, this approach supports the content, cognition, culture, and communication aspects of professional english (4c framework). this not only enhances students’ professional knowledge but also boosts their proficiency in professional english listening, speaking, reading, and writing. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 91 published by scholink inc. team teaching involves planning and putting together two kinds of teaching, while “co-teaching” means shared instructions in the same classroom (cook & friend, 1995). there are three teaching modalities demonstrated by perez-vidal and campanale (2005): language teachers can teach parts or all of the content subject; native teachers can work as content teachers or as language assistants; or language and content teachers can teach together in the same classroom. there are several ways of implementing the concurrency of content and language in the same classroom: first, one teacher teaches while the other plays the role of an unobtrusive assistant; second, teachers divide the class into two groups and teach simultaneously; third, both teachers deliver the same information at the same time (cook & friend, 1995). however, teacher collaboration is just about doubling the number of teachers. other elements should be taken into consideration, such as “the adoption of common curriculum planning proformas and process”, and “the establishment of systematic mechanisms for monitoring, evaluation, and feedback” etc. (davison, 2006, p. 456). furthermore, the most fundamental element of effective collaboration between language teachers and content-area teachers is the clear conceptualization of the task which “needs to be concerned with the broader notion of curriculum” (davison, 2006, p. 456). content-area teachers and language teachers can learn, communicate, share and cooperate with each other to ensure the success of an esp course by integrating profound language skills, cross-cultural heritage, and professional content. in order to explore the feasibility of bringing the dual focus on both language and content into esp courses through teacher collaboration within the context of west yunnan university of applied science, this study employed qualitative research to answer the following two research questions: what are problems traditional egp teachers encounter in esp classroom? to what extent, are they willing to cooperate with content-area teachers? 3. method this research was conducted in the school of jewelry, one of the largest faculties of the west yunnan university of applied science. this university is one of the first batch of applied-oriented public undergraduate universities in china jointly built by the ministry of education and yunnan province. school of jewelry offers 8 undergraduate majors, including gem and material technology, product design, arts and crafts, leisure sports, preschool education, and automobile service engineering, tourism geoscience and planning engineering and sports rehabilitation. by leveraging its developmental characteristics and practical experiences, the school of jewelry has initiated reflections on teaching and classroom reform, aligning them with the ongoing teaching reforms both domestically and internationally. considering that esp courses are compulsory courses for most majors at this institution, this study employed semi-structured interviews as research instruments to examine the feasibility of introducing the clil model into esp courses through collaboration between language teachers and content-area teachers can solve problems teachers encounter in esp classrooms. the participants’ names were pseudonyms and identifying details, such as the courses they deliver have been purposely made vague to protect privacy. they were made aware of their rights involved in this www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 92 published by scholink inc. study and gave their informed consent. simon and emma both obtained language-related bachelor’s and master’s degrees. furthermore, they are mainly responsible for the egp course at the school of jewelry. we had face-to-face interviews to obtain vivid and in-depth qualitative data. my analysis of the data draws upon clil and teacher collaboration to examine their perspective and practice of teacher collaboration in esp courses. 4. results traditional egp teachers may suffer from insufficient specialized knowledge, unqualified textbooks, and unskilled pedagogical principles when teaching egp courses. additionally, they actually tried to cooperate with content-area teachers in private and they value the possibility of cooperating with them. deep inside, traditional egp teachers may be unwilling to teach esp courses because of a deficiency of related knowledge. they may find it easier to teach esp courses which are related to social science, while struggling with those they are unfamiliar with. they explained this further: i don’t feel i am qualified to teach [course name], and i knew it at the very beginning. during the summer vacation, my director asked me if any teacher was capable of teaching this course. this task is a hot potato, you know, so nobody was willing to take it. given i was the director of the teaching research office (jiaoyanshi) at that time, i would be the one. when i got the textbook, i felt more frustrated since i could barely understand the text. i have studied and worked in the field of social science for like 13 years, and i felt illiterate when reading words like “departure angle” and “toe-in”. -simon since i began to work at this university three years ago, i have taught three different esp courses, including [course name], [course name], [course name], etc. [course name] and [course name] were okay because they are related to social science. in contrast, [course name] was a nightmare as it is all about engineering. i really need someone who can help me with it. -emma in addition, teachers are encouraged to select appropriate audio and video materials for esp course teaching according to the college situation, students’ needs and unit learning topics. esp teaching materials design and esp teacher training play a mutually promoting role. strive to realize the virtuous circle of “promoting teaching by compiling” and “promoting evaluation by teaching”, as for as shown in the comments below. even though the lecturer should be responsible for selecting a textbook, the textbook was actually recommended by the chair of [name of major]. he told me this book is comprehensive and professional, and i adopted this one about which i felt disjointed afterwards because this book failed to meet my students’ needs. my students mostly come from underdeveloped areas and their english proficiency wasn’t good enough for them to acquire knowledge from this book. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 93 published by scholink inc. therefore, when teaching this esp course, i myself had to find appropriate audio or video materials and even design tasks. -simon it is necessary for esp teachers to develop relevant materials suitable for esp instruction. the demand for appropriate teaching materials in esp, requiring both subject expertise and english language proficiency, makes it challenging for teachers to find truly fitting resources despite the abundance in the market. in addition, esp courses should employ a thematic teaching method, allowing the flexible creation and selection of materials to help students master professional knowledge and enhance their english proficiency. comments below illustrate this point: unconsciously, i sometimes turn the esp course into a traditional egp course. i may attach too much importance to structure instead of meaning. when chatting with my colleagues, i realized that they had little knowledge of teaching esp courses. emma well, i did learn some theoretical stuff about esp. however, learning is far different from teaching. it seemed that i could not control the esp classroom in a good way. simon traditional teachers are willing to establish a network cooperation platform leveraging the internet to overcome constraints of time and space. this platform may facilitate collaboration between content-area teachers and language teachers in designing teaching courseware, syllabi, resource banks, and test questions. this collaborative approach is more likely to enhance work efficiency and improve esp teaching outcomes. lastly, teachers should also implement diverse evaluation methods. in esp cooperative teaching, employing multiple assessment approaches, including evaluations by both english teachers and professional teachers, can encourage students to engage actively in their studies and provide a comprehensive understanding of their learning levels. one teacher stated: you know, recently, teaching and learning in the school of jewelry have gradually shifted from a teacher-centred approach to a student-centred one. this transition entails moving from “what instructional design teaches, how teaching processes are executed, and how teaching evaluations are conducted” to “what instructional design entails, how teaching processes are facilitated, and how teaching evaluations are learned”. team-teaching between traditional language teachers and content-area teachers may be one of the most effective ways for us to achieve this goal. -emma we do advocate for a transformation in teaching methodologies—from knowledge-centric to skill-centric classrooms, from didactic to dialogic classrooms, from closed to open classrooms, from prioritizing rote learning to integrating learning and critical thinking, from emphasizing knowledge acquisition to integrating knowledge with practical application, and from valuing teaching above learning to valuing educators alongside learners. esp courses pose a challenge www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 94 published by scholink inc. for all of us, so we really need to find a good way to resolve those changelings in esp courses. i tried to communicate how to teach those courses with content-area teachers in private. they gave me some suggestive advice. -simon 5. conclusion language teachers and content-area teachers should foster a sense of cooperation and establish a learning community. to address the isolated nature of esp teaching, several esp teaching pilot majors should be established within the college english teaching and research office based on teachers’ interests, guiding others in the field. enhanced communication and collaboration within the teaching team can break down isolation barriers. furthermore, even though coursebooks can scaffold by providing teachers with relatively professional materials and fostering students’ learning strategies, coursebooks can be a debilitating crutch because they cannot meet the diverse needs of learners and teachers are less likely to be creative when they use coursebooks (crawford, 2002). in terms of those irrelevant contents or tasks in the esp learning environment, the esp teachers should either change materials (adaptation) or add something new (supplementation). content-area teachers and language teachers can jointly use online interactive platforms to keep track of students’ learning trends, share teaching resources, timely understand students’ difficulties in learning and help them solve them. in addition to daily teaching work, teachers can cooperate to set up after-class discussions and q&a groups. content-area teachers can be responsible for solving students’ questions about professional knowledge, sharing videos and articles of expert lectures in the group, and recommending useful books and periodicals for students. language teachers can be dedicated to answering students’ english language questions and cross-cultural communication questions and sharing listening, speaking, reading and writing skills with students. the two teachers complement each other and are indispensable. the two sides jointly build a network cooperation platform, the teaching form is no longer confined to the traditional classroom, and students can not only receive professional guidance from professional teachers but also be influenced by english teachers at any time, so as to better achieve the teaching goal. language teachers can mainly evaluate students’ english language ability and encourage students to lay solid basic english skills by holding various activities such as english writing contests, scene english dialogue, spelling contests and listening tests on the subject. content-area teachers can pay more attention to the examination of students’ professional knowledge, specifically, they can hold professional knowledge competitions, professional practice and so on to evaluate, in order to encourage students to learn professional knowledge. teachers from both sides can also jointly evaluate students’ learning methods, learning attitudes and learning effects to form an objective and comprehensive evaluation. the comprehensive evaluation of students by professional teachers and english teachers can make students’ professional ability and english language abilities develop comprehensively in esp courses. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 95 published by scholink inc. acknowledgements this paper is funded by the teaching reform project of the school of jewelry, west yunnan university of applied science, “teaching esp courses in applied-oriented colleges under clil model teaching reform from the perspective of teacher cooperation” (project number: 2022jzbxy13) references bruton, a. 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(2019). challenges in the implementation of clil in higher education: from esp to clil in the tourism classroom. latin american journal of content & language integrated learning, 12(1), 144-176. https://doi.org/10.5294/laclil.2019.12.1.7 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2013.07.001 https://doi.org/10.17161/fec.v28i3.6852 https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009024549 https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511667190.013 https://doi.org/10.2167/beb339.0 https://doi.org/10.5294/laclil.2019.12.1.7 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 149 original paper rethinking role-play and simulation in negotiation pedagogy jing yu1 1 school of business english, sichuan international studies university, chongqing, china received: may 5, 2023 accepted: may 27, 2023 online published: june 15, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p149 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p149 abstract though there are not unified research findings in the effectiveness of role-play and simulation as experiential learning tools, they have been widely applied in negotiation pedagogical practices. this article aims to reexamine role-play and simulation in negotiation pedagogy. it discusses the current challenges with role-play and simulation in achieving the desired learning outcomes, authenticity, and dynamics. it also outlines the approaches and experiments with role-play and simulation for a better pedagogical model to address these challenges. keywords role-play, simulation, negotiation pedagogy 1. introduction since the 1960s, role-play and simulation have been wildly applied in a variety of negotiation courses in order to achieve better learning outcomes in terms of immediate application of knowledge and skills and skill transferability (ebner & kovach, 2010). as kolb’s (1984, 2014) put forward the concept of experiential learning, role-play and simulation are considered effective teaching methods in its toolbox, and have become one of the most important, recognized, and effective methods in negotiation pedagogy in a lot of countries (ebner & kovach, 2010; alexander & lebaron, 2010; bell &valley, 2020). in a study of negotiation teaching methods, researchers conducted a multi-disciplinary comparison across the fields of business, law, public policy and planning, and international relations, and found that role-play and simulation was the only one method most frequently used in all fields (fortgang, 2000). simulated negotiation was also used by all instructors in 10 negotiation courses offered by the united association of law schools from 2003 to 2012 (druckman & ebner, 2013). in a survey of teachers attending the 2009 mediated negotiation conference at harvard university, 96% of all 130 teachers regularly taught with role-play and simulation, and 82.7% considered it to be very important pedagogical practice (corsi, 2010). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 150 published by scholink inc. early researchers divided in their opinions as how well role-play and simulation could increase the learning outcomes (randel et al., 1992; bredemeier, 1981; pierfy, 1977; greenblat, 1973). most studies found that through a role-play in classroom, there are observable improvement in students’ interest and motivation in learning negotiation (randel et al., 1992; bredemeier, 1981, cherryholmes, 1966; greenblat, 1973). however, many studies have warned the overuse of role-play and simulation without thoroughly understanding its risks. as tools of experiential learning, role-play and simulation often restructure the teaching process to achieve increase the experience. consequently, unmanageable risks of a decentralized experience and minimal output are foreseeable (kolb, 2014; keeton & tate, 1978). secondly, compared to traditional lectures, simulations rely more on the engagement of students for a desirable result. uncertainty in students’ performance or even the temporary absence of one student could sabotage a entire class plan (druckman & ebner, 2013). another common demonstration of this uncertainty is the downplay or escalation of conflicts in negotiation due to students’ overor underidentification of the negotiation roles provided, leading to intense emotional stress in teachers and students (druckman & ebner, 2013; bernard, 2009). this method is also demanding and time-consuming, with teachers designing the scenario and students preparing for it before the class. the heavily invested practices for both parties dictate a bigger interest and motivation in students, and could, however, generate higher level of frustration once they fail (alexander & lebaron, 2010). research and practice in teaching negotiations as discussed above have been piloted with more perspectives and dimensions recently. however, there is still an empirical gap in research in china. some studies focused on the experiment of experiential learning, in teaching negotiation, with case method, role-play and simulation, and a hybrid of teaching methods (zhao, 2021; ling & huang, 2018; li & deng, 2018; he & xu, 2017; xiang, 2016; wang, 2015). but these researches aimed at complementing traditional lectures rather than a curriculum and teaching pedagogy centering around experiential learning. coupled with a limited time and student participation, they did not provide an in-depth understanding of how role-play and simulation was executed in negotiation classrooms in chinese universities, as well as the risks and challenges unique to chinese classrooms. furthermore, students participated in the piloted classes include students enrolled in three-year programs in vocational schools and undergraduates in universities. the different setting of programs and levels of students lead to polarized teaching methods and learning outcomes, which requires separate and specialized research. the research gap could be bridged with more empirical evidence with breadth and depth to establish role-play and simulation as important assets in teacher’s tool box. therefore, this study aims at answering the question: how could the reexamination and reflection of role-play and simulation in recent years in other countries could provide a future pathway for teachers in chinese negotiation classes. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 151 published by scholink inc. 2. pedagogical challenges early researchers mostly aimed at verifying the advantages of role-play and simulation versus traditional teaching methods in teaching negotiation. greenblat (1973) claimed that the efficacy of using role-play and simulation in classrooms could contribute to the learning outcomes of students in the following six categories: 1) heighten motivation and interest; 2) promote concept learning; 3) enhance decision-making and analytical skills; 4) raise students’ empathy; 5) increase students’ self-awareness and self-confidence; 6) harmonize student-student and teacher-student relationships. researchers later advocated that roleplay and simulation is able to improve students’ motivation and interest and greatly prolongs their memory of knowledge (cherryholmes, 1966; bredemeier, 1981; randel et al., 1992). however, the claims that they would enhance students’ abilities in concept learning, cognition, critical thinking, and decision-making were not validated (cherryholmes, 1966; pierfy, 1977; bredemeier, 1981; randel et al., 1992). besides the limited advantages agreed, alexander and lebaron (2010) categorized another three potential risks teachers need to address in using role-play and simulation: 1) cultural conflict of using others’ identities; 2) possibility of reinforcing stereotypes; 3) exaggeration of skill transferability. this critique is embedded in a deeper concern that questions the feasibility and impact of pedagogical practice in negotiation teaching and training. this concern entails a doubt that the effect of role-play and simulation is anecdotal, neither theory-based nor scientific-grounded (ebner & kovach, 2010). however, patton (2009) responded that this concern is raised early when many pedagogical practices in negotiation teaching are considered pioneering and lack empirical evidence, and could be addressed better now with new or revised practices to retain the advantages and improve the downsides (ebner & kovach, 2010). secondly, the authenticity challenge long exists in using role-play and simulation due to the impossibility of reproducing a real negotiation in terms of scenarios, people, processes, and outcomes in the classrooms (raiffa, 1982; coben, 2012; fuller, 2012). poitras et al. (2013) defined it as ecological validity in negotiation classrooms and explained how a successful establishment of it could contribute to an effective engagement of students. ecological validity involves mundane, experimental, and psychological realism for students in negotiation simulations, which jointly decide to which extent the simulation gets close to a reality and to which extent students identify with real negotiators. authenticity is also implicated by other studies as a major determinant of student engagement and learning outcomes (marks, 2000), and effective reproduction of real negotiation situations is believed to promote active participation from students (blumenfeld et al., 2006). however, due to the complexity of real negotiations and limited time and resources, most teachers and schools could not afford to replicate the real negotiation scenarios. underor over-identification of negotiation roles, enhanced level of stress, tension and anger in students, downplay or scalation of conflicts, as discussed earlier, are found to be the consequences of lack of authenticity (bernard, 2009). if a negotiation simulation is reduced to empty talks, students could hardly endeavor for a mutually satisfying result (poitras et al., 2013). furthermore, the unreal experience would likely to arouse emotional responses far away from those of real negotiators, which could give rise to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 152 published by scholink inc. difficulty in understanding the complexity and feasibility of negotiation strategies (druckman & olekalns, 2008). the third pedagogical challenge is the static architecture (watkins, 2007). a usual practice of role-play and simulation begins with a case designed by the teacher and given to the students to prepare ahead of time. though the students are often left without interventions during the bargain and concession, the scenario, parties, issue, interest, and scope of a negotiation simulation is predefined. because of lack of dialogue in case design, students’ influence of the case is minimized. babcock (2007) warned that a fixed negotiation simulation is highly likely to generate an isolated understanding and experience of negotiation against the complexity and dynamics in real negotiations. ebner and efron (2011) also illustrated how the solutions of authenticity could stifle the dynamics of a simulation exercise. in addressing the authenticity challenge, many teachers design a reality-based simulation aiming at factual proximity and situational familiarity. but the precise fidelity to reality could solidify the architecture of simulation and kill the creativity and learning potential of students. however, watkins (2007) claimed that by incorporating the concept of “manageable dynamics”, students could influence in a way that yields advantages with a stable basis, where teachers and students could jointly orient, confront and evaluate the risks and outcomes. 3. rethinking role-play and simulation 3.1 creating a pseudo-reality authenticity, or reality-proximity, has been recognized as a central issue in advancing the learning experience and outcome in negotiation simulations (ebner & efron, 2011). therefore, to create an exercise, which is close to real negotiations in terms of scenarios, issues, and roles which students find comfortable to fit in and identify and capable to play, continues to be essential in the argument. 3.1.1 establishing partnership with corporations and practitioners hartley et al. (2017) introduced a corporation partner, caci international, in the negotiation simulations, with managers assuming the roles of suppliers to negotiate with students. in their survey later, a majority of participating students affirmed the authenticity in their experience and attributed the progress in their learning to the involvement of caci in the actual negotiation simulation and preparation. however, having one company to participate in the simulation is beyond the time and resources for most universities and teachers. a modification of this partnership was suggested by groth and glevoll (2007) to invite a practitioner as guest lecturer to attend the simulation. practitioner volunteer recruitment on a long-term basis or a remote attendance via phone call, email, and video conference could contribute to the future viability of this method (hartley et al., 2017; mozahem, 2019). scenarios or story lines could be accordingly designed to incorporate a geographic distance in order to attain realism for students (ebner, 2011; ebner & kovach, 2010). lastly, real cases could be used in simulations. contrasting the simulated result to the real one helps students understand and explore variables in real negotiations (dias & navarro, 2018). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 153 published by scholink inc. 3.1.2 adding elements from the real world a more realistic negotiation environment and negotiation process could be created to approximate the daily reality of simulated negotiations, such as having simulations in business conference rooms, using company document templates, adopting business dress code, introducing business rituals like selfintroductions, handshakes, exchange of business cards and small talks in networking (poitras et al., 2013). in terms of negotiation roles, there are two polarized approaches, to closely match students’ actual personalities or design new identities with no familiarity and similarity for students (poitras et al., 2013; ebner & kovach, 2010). the former is argued to elicit comfortable identification of roles and thus better engagement; the latter is believed to stimulate a self-study of roles assigned and creativity in playing the roles (ebner & kovach, 2010). as to the process, simulations could be upgraded to a multi-issue and multi-party negotiation (lande, 2012), or include details, contingencies, and new parties halfway in order to increase the urgency and emotional charges (ebner & efron, 2005). weiss (2008) proposed the concept of mega-simulation based on his fifteen years of negotiation teaching experience. he used real-life cases of large international business negotiations, set up multi-session, multi-party simulations with 9 to 16 participants, and designed complete role profiles for each student to better enhance students’ understanding and problem-solving skills in a multicultural context. volkema (2007) demonstrated that adding real interests or stakes of students could facilitate their engagement and outcomes. money, scores, and peer evaluations are common elements to urge for an agreement. studies also showed that a written agreement is better stimuli for students, with terms which could be added or subtracted by both parties on the spot (coben, 2012; ebner et al., 2012). a hybrid of all these approaches is well executed in a simulation designed by klaw (2016), who left the students to clarify their batna (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) and choose a contract template online and adapt it. the attempt was highly thought of by the students, who reported engaging experience and fruitful learning results in the evaluation. 3.1.3 adventure learning cohn and ebner (2010) argued that the concept of adventure learning can be incorporated, such as organizing students to negotiate in the local market, with the aim of adding real-world negotiation elements to enhance students’ experience. alexander and lebaron (2011) advocated the use of adventure learning through a successful manifestation in an international outward-bound program. unlike usual assumptions about adventure learning, the application in negotiation simulation is not time-consuming and could be easy to execute. simple games like trust circle and human knot are proposed. nevertheless, researchers also warned the perceived risks of outdoor adventures like physical injuries and stresses and suggested a thoughtful precaution taken before the adventures (alexander & lebaron, 2011; cohn & ebner, 2010). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 154 published by scholink inc. 3.2 managing dynamics the concept of manageable dynamics proposed by watkins (2007) implicates a reverse power relation against that in a traditional classroom which prescribes a teacher in the center to control and influence, and breaks a linear teaching and learning pattern. for example, students could design simulations from their previous intern experiences or with the help of practitioners invited from the companies. other students then conduct the simulation with the case designed. in this experiment, students reported a higher level of concept learning, which is suggested with no observable improvement compare with other methods by early studies (germain-thomas et al., 2011). students also had more realistic experience and satisfying engagement with this approach, and students in the design group showed significant increases in conceptual learning, relational understanding, retention time, and satisfaction (druckman & ebner, 2013). a study showed that this design reduces students’ doubts about realism and actively reorders the linear process of negotiation by adding contradictions and interlocking factors, which all contribute to an enhanced experience (olekalns & druckman, 2014). another experiment in enriching dynamism is to teach with videos. bordone and carr (2013) started critical decision in negotiation project and worked closely with a lot of professionals to finalize a series of videos on teaching negotiation. these videos focused on three themes—openings and process, tactics, and communication skills in negotiation. students could watch and analyze videos to acquire a big picture of negotiations (ebner & kovach, 2010). stokoe (2014) proposed to use video footages of real negotiations, pausing at key points to allow students to improvise with the roles and complete the rest of the negotiation. then their immediate reactions are compared with the real endings in the video to prompt self-reflections. furthermore, with the maturation of artificial intelligence, human-computer negotiation is underway. software and websites have aided negotiation simulations in a more sophisticated and dynamic way (khan & baldini, 2020; eisencraft, 2017; urlancher, 2014; wilkenfeld, 2004). 3.3 reshaping the outcomes debrief is researched and adopted by many researchers and teachers as an effective approach to promote the learning outcomes of negotiation simulations. immediate feedback by the instructor, practitioner and audience helps to form an in-depth understanding of negotiation concepts (patton, 2009; coben, 2012; deason et al., 2013). curhan et al. (2006) suggested a questionnaire and follow-up interview to understand the subjective value of students’ participation—that is, students’ self-evaluation of their negotiation performance, in order to promote instructional and individual progress. more importantly, these evaluations could be introduced into the metrics of measuring a negotiation simulation or individual performance. early studies tended to compare role-play and simulation with traditional teaching methods. however, if these methods are acknowledged as progressive attempts to bridge the gap of traditional classrooms, new metrics should be integrated in line to increase the efficacy. a second recommended approach to shape the outcome is to design the negotiation simulation on independent concepts and evaluate based on the scope and extent of how students perform in line with these concepts (beenen & barbuto, 2014; schnurr et al., 2014). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 155 published by scholink inc. 3.4 blending with creativity some scholars argue that there is no need for a major reform of negotiation simulations and traditional simulations can be applied in a new way to achieve teaching objectives. however, more researches on negotiation simulations find significance in cooperation with artists and communities to draw on creative pedagogies and technological tools (harding, 2020, 2004; dias & navarro, 2018; wallace, 2017; macduff, 2012; alexander & lebaron, 2011; patton, 2009). macduff (2012) illustrated with an early experiment to teach with blogs and discussed a possible inclusion of social media, to address the gap between technology access and skill training among students. harding (2004) explored improvisational theater in negotiation simulation and discussed how active listening and reading the cues given by performers could influence critical moments in a negotiation. he re-examined his research years later and further explained the problem of misconception of answers in negotiations (harding, 2020). this attempt with theater performers, as well as other artists as dancers, writers, and musicians, is recommended to stimulate creativity in helping to cultivate communication, conflict-solving and relational abilities of students. with visual, audio, or kinesthetic effects jointly to produce a desirable outcome, students will learn in a way that could not be achieved through role-plays or simulations alone (alexander & lebaron, 2011). 4. conclusion these experimented approaches are intended for an optimized student engagement and emotional experience proximate to the reality (olekalns & druckman, 2014). however, such practices could not be applied without thoughtful and deliberate design and monitoring. for example, poitras et al. (2013) pointed out that during such simulations, teachers need to actively help to establish and maintain a positive negotiation climate and care for the emotional security of students, otherwise students’ motivation and self-confidence may be disproportionately damaged if they perform poorly or the negotiation does not turn out as expected. culturally, studies showed that to assume an identity provided in role-play and simulation could be considered an impolite and irrational act in a lot of non-western cultures. students in these cultures need a creative way to participate, in order to deal with this fake reality. teachers also must face the potential danger of strengthened stereotypes, if identities are designed with fixed cultural backgrounds, professions, and positions (alexander & lebaron, 2010). the tendency to complicate the design of negotiation simulations have raised concerns among some researchers since a single focus on reality may affect negatively students’ creativity and potential in self-learning (crampton & manwaring, 2008, as cited in druckman & ebner, 2013). besides, using creative methods in negotiation classroom could promote creativity, but they require legitimacy in using these nonmainstream methods (alexander & lebaron, 2011). though teachers and researchers constantly and inevitably confront these challenges and doubts, further experiment and research could help to justify role-play and simulation t in a wider social context. when kolb’s (2014) initiated the concept of experiential learning, it was at the critical moment in higher education in the united states, featuring an www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 156 published by scholink inc. increased enrollment in higher education and the compelling demands of developing adult education and vocational education. role-play and simulation was inspired by adult education to create a self-directing learning experience to sustain life-long learning for adults and prepare university graduates for a quicker fit-in in job vacancies (ebner & kovach, 2010; patton, 2009). currently, similar problems are faced with universities and their students in china. the research and practice on creative manifestation of experiential learning, in particular role-play and simulation, could provide a unique pathway for teachers and students to establish skill repertoires and achieving better learning outcomes. they could also offer clues in rethinking about ecological sustainability in higher education and industries and help to build a pipeline of talent to realize this target. reference alexander, n., & lebaron, m. 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(2004). reflections on simulation and experimentation in the study of negotiation. international negotiation, 9, 429-439. https://doi.org/10.1163/1571806053498742 https://doi.org/10.1111/nejo.12043 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1571-9979.2007.00159.x https://doi.org/10.1111/ncmr.12108 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1571-9979.2007.00146.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1571-9979.2008.00187.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1571-9979.2008.00187.x https://doi.org/10.1163/1571806053498742 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 37 original paper study of classroom discourse of english-major interns from the perspective of functional linguistics wen cao1,2 1 school of foreign languages and literature, beijing normal university, beijing, china 2 college of foreign languages and literature, northwest normal university, lanzhou, china wen cao, e-mail address: 201931100007@mail.bnu.edu.cn received: march 20, 2023 accepted: april 5, 2023 online published: april 13, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p37 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p37 abstract based on the qualitative analysis of classroom discourse of english-major interns, this study investigates the characteristics and causes of classroom discourse of english-major interns in underdeveloped areas in western china from the perspective of functional linguistics, and endeavors to explore the reasons for these characteristics from social context. the results show that the classroom discourse of english-major interns has the following three characteristics: 1) code-switching is common; 2) the types of clauses are mainly imperative sentences, declarative sentences with rising intonation; 3) teachers talk a lot and dominate the conversational turn. code-switching reflects the shortage of target language input and outdated teaching methods in english class; and the second characteristic just echoes with existing research; teacher’s dominance over conversational turn indicates interns’ imitation of their instructors’ teaching mode, hoping to construct their teacher identity. this paper puts forward relevant suggestions to the above-mentioned problems, including adopting a research-guided teaching in elementary education, reinforcing the supervision of college internship instructors, diversifying the way interns constructing their teacher identities. keywords classroom discourse, english-major interns, functional linguistics, teacher identity 1. introduction teacher’s classroom discourse involves languages used by teachers in classroom teaching activities (li et al., 2010). whether based on the teaching concept of “teaching centered” or “student centered”, teacher’s classroom discourse is the main way to convey information to students, and it is also an important means to regulate students’ classroom behavior. for foreign language teachers, classroom www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 38 published by scholink inc. discourse is also an important source of student language input and output (hu, 2007; liu & zhang, 2010). there are significant differences in classroom discourse among novice teachers, proficient teachers, and expert teachers (li et al., 2010). the study of classroom discourse helps to understand the real situation of classroom teaching, and thereby improve classroom teaching. it has attracted widespread attention in academic community and scholars have conducted in-depth research on classroom discourse in college english class (hu, 2007; zhou & zhou, 2002; chen, 2019), classroom discourse in middle school english class (liu & zhang, 2010), and pre-service teacher’s classroom discourse (liu, 2006), with the methods like corpus linguistics (liu & zhang, 2010), discourse analysis (li, 2007) and pragmatic identity construction analysis (chen, 2019). however, previous studies have mostly focused on the classroom discourse of college english teachers, and a few have focused on the classroom discourse of english normal students, in which the research objects also come from normal universities in developed regions of china. in view of this, this study focuses on the classroom discourse of english normal students during their educational internship in rural primary and secondary schools in underdeveloped regions of western china. using a synchronic approach, it explores the characteristics and causes of classroom discourse of english major interns, with a view to providing useful reference for the cultivation of english major normal students. 2. theoretical background unlike formal linguistics, which focuses on describing linguistic forms, functional linguistics starts from the study of meaning. humans use language to talk about experiences, or to facilitate the generation and occurrence of experiences. according to functional linguistics, the most basic purpose of any communication is to “give” and “demand” a certain “commodity” or “service”. therefore, language has four basic functions, namely, giving information, demanding information, giving goods and services, and demanding goods and services. these four functions do not have a one-to-one relationship with declarative clauses, interrogative clauses, and imperative clauses in the clause system (chang, 2001). for example, in addition to providing information, declarative clauses may also express a tone such as commanding, demanding information or services. the study of language functions cannot be separated from the language context. discourse is constrained by context, and it also constructs context and the identity of the speaker. teachers often use different mood and voice expressions to implement the same discourse function in classroom. in the teaching process, normal school students not only need to use classroom discourse to implement teaching activities, but also construct and strengthen their own teacher identity by imitating the classroom discourse of guidance teachers in internship schools. analyzing classroom discourse of normal school students from the perspective of functional linguistics can help us more clearly observe the process of teacher identity construction of normal school students, understand the role of language in teacher identity construction, and enable normal school students to grow up better and faster. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 39 published by scholink inc. identity could influence, restrict or mould discourse, and discourse reflects identity; there is a close relationship between the two (chen, 2018). in the process of daily communication, people often speak in terms of people, things, and the environment (he, 2015). systemic functional linguistics summarizes these various aspects that affect people’s discourse as registers, including three aspects: field, tenor, and mode. field refers to an event that is occurring or being discussed, tenor refers to the social and role relationships between participants, and mode refers to the communication channels and language functions of a language. these three aspects have an important impact on meaning and are the specific content of the concept of register in systemic functional linguistics. discourse can construct identity, which in turn affects discourse. this two-way process of influence enables us to understand the construction process of interns’ teacher identity by observing the characteristics of teachers’ classroom discourse. 3. methodology this study mainly focuses on the classroom discourse of english normal students during their educational internship. using the theories of interpersonal function and textual function in systemic functional linguistics, it analyzes the modality and mood system of english-major interns’ classroom discourse, as well as the corresponding relationship between mood use and discourse function in english-major interns’ classroom discourse. the study begins with an analysis of video recordings of english normal students during the school trial lecture stage, which generally conforms to the content requirements of teacher education courses. during their school studies, the normal students participating in the research systematically took courses on the teacher education platform of their departments, such as pedagogy, psychology, and teacher education skills. among the professional platform teacher education courses, optional courses include english subject curriculum and teaching design, middle school english textbook research, and educational internships. after entering the internship school, the students received about a week of pre-internship training. about four weeks after the students entered the internship teaching, the interns recorded the english class after obtaining the permission of the original class teacher, informing and obtaining the consent of the entire class. this study uses a corpus based qualitative research method to record five english classes of three english major normal students from a western normal university in an internship school in china, collects and transcribes the classroom language of the interns a total duration of 3 hours, 15 minutes, and 24 seconds, and builds a corpus to analyze and annotate the interpersonal and textual systems of the interns’ classroom discourse. the failure to adopt the method of video recording is due to the fact that some internship schools do not have the hardware for video recording. the second reason is that audio format can reduce the impact on interns’ classroom teaching and maximize the restoration of the real classroom. researchers are not allowed to enter the interns’ classroom for recording, and the recording work is completed by the interns themselves. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 40 published by scholink inc. based on the annotating results, qualitative analysis was conducted using identity construction theory. for some ambiguous language, the subjects would be contacted to identify. the main problem to be solved is to analyze the characteristics of normal school students’ classroom discourse, especially interpersonal functional characteristics, so that we can understand and describe the characteristics of normal school students’ classroom discourse and analyze the discourse construction process of normal school students’ teacher identity in the classroom. 4. chracteristics of english-major interns’ classroom discourse after data collection, the author annotated and analyzed the material. for special situations such as unrecognizable classroom discourse fragments, the author conducted open interviews with the interns. through the sorting and analysis of classroom discourse of english-major interns, the following research findings are obtained from this study. 4.1 code switching is common there are different definitions of code switching in linguistics. mackay hornberger believes that when there are two or more languages in a speech community, the phenomenon that speakers often switch from one language to another is code switching. code switching and code mixing have little significance in distinguishing between clauses (wang & huang, 2004). therefore, the code-switching phenomenon pointed out in this study is different from intra sentence code mixing, they are not differentiated above clauses. english-major interns frequently switch languages in classroom teaching based on students’ academic level and teaching content. as a target language, the frequency of use of english in the teaching process varies greatly due to different students and their personal habits. as shown in example 1. (1) 复习一下昨天的内容啊, 不然就（忘了）. one two start！ (review yesterday’s content, otherwise (you will forget it). one two start！) example 1 is the intern t1’s classroom discourse at the beginning of class, leading students to review what they have learned in the previous lesson. “复习一下昨天的内容” is an imperative sentence that explains the purpose of the next teaching activity, using its native chinese language. however, after this chinese sentence, the teaching instruction uses the target language english. similar examples of such code mixing frequently occur in the classroom of interns. it is worth noting that interns begin to issue english teaching instructions after the second half of a chinese sentence, which is an incomplete sentence. after transcribing all the teaching recordings, the study found that the low frequency of using the target language is a relatively common problem. there are three main reasons for this problem: 1) interns lack confidence in the classroom language they master and have anxiety about using the target language; 2) students have limited receptivity and cannot understand commonly used classroom language; 3) the interns are imitating the teaching mode of their instructors in the internship school. through interviews with interns, the study found that the reasons for using mother tongue rather than target language in large numbers are the latter two. teachers in the internship school do not often use full english in their daily teaching, and they do not often use english except for specific situations such as reading words, texts, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 41 published by scholink inc. and reviewing grammar examples. teachers’ choice of teaching language is largely due to their belief that students have a poor foundation and cannot understand. the less teachers use the target language for teaching, the less students are willing to listen to the target language, and over time, a vicious circle has formed. during the process of learning the teaching methods of the local teachers in the internship school, interns also attempt to make some changes, such as using target language teaching, increasing students’ classroom interaction, and so on. however, it was found that the effect was not satisfactory. for example, an intern once tried to use the task-based teaching method with higher student participation. in an interview after class, he summarized as follows: when i was about to leave, i had a lesson in the recording room. at that time, i used the task-based teaching method. after the entire lesson, the students were all confused, and they felt that what they really needed was grammar knowledge. however, i spent the entire lesson on a few activities telling the six elements of a story. i used the phrases in the article to retell the story, and they also cooperated, but they just didn’t adapt to this kind of classroom content and were a bit confused, i also felt a bit confused after class. (interview t2) it can also be seen from this that students in internship schools are not familiar with the already widely used task-based teaching method and are accustomed to the grammar translation teaching method of their teachers. however, this situation is not an isolated case according to the collected materials. the reason why students feel that grammar is more important than language use is related to the teaching focus in middle school, as well as to the assessment and evaluation of english subjects in the basic education stage. 4.2 the main types of clauses are imperative sentences, declarative sentences + rising tones, but there are significant personal differences one of the important aspects of interpersonal meaning is the speaker’s judgment on the success and validity of the proposition he or she is speaking about, or the obligations he or she demands from the other party in the command, or the personal will he or she wishes to express in the proposal. this part of interpersonal meaning is realized by the grammatical system of mood and modality. under the framework of systemic functional linguistics, people believe that the communication objects can be divided into two categories: goods/services and information; there are only two basic tasks in verbal communication, namely, giving and demanding. the intersection and combination of these two communicative variables form the four most important speech functions: statement, question, command, and offer. generally, “offer” can be embodied in multiple moods, including declarative mood, interrogative mood, and imperative mood. this common manifestation is known as the consistency of speech function (halliday, 2004). however, there is not a simple one-to-one correspondence between speech function and mood system. a speech function can be embodied by different moods, and a mood can also embody more than one speech function. for example, declarative mood can also embody “questioning” or “commanding” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 42 published by scholink inc. functions in different contexts (chang, 2001), which is called a metaphorical expression of speech function. in classroom teaching, interns generally use declarative and interrogative mood in teaching instructions and classroom directives, which are manifested in declarative, imperative, and interrogative sentences in discourse. english major interns often use imperative sentences to express the verbal function of commands or questions in the classroom. at the same time, in terms of modality, high modal verbs are used to demonstrate the authority of teachers. as shown in example 2. (2) let’s watch and learn, 再不要说话. (let’s watch and learn, don’t talk anymore.) “let’s do” in english often means that the speaker and the listener do something together. using this sentence pattern when teachers assign teaching activities to students can weaken the mandatory imperative tone and alleviate the unequal power relationship between teachers and students. however, in example 2, the chinese sentence “再不要说话”, which follows the english deixis, uses strong imperative mood to express the verbal function of command, while highlighting the dominant position of teachers over students in the classroom. systemic functional linguistics believes that there is a predictive relationship between context and language use (wang & huang, 2004). on the one hand, we can infer the roles of both parties in communication and their intention to regulate interpersonal relationships from language use; and on the other hand, we can explain some language phenomena, including the use of code switching, based on the tone analysis of situational context. this is the dialectical relationship between context and discourse that hasan talked about, that is, context is reflected in the linguistic choice of discourse, and the linguistic choice of discourse constructs context. there are significant differences in the classroom discourse of interns in the context of trial lectures in colleges and in the actual classroom teaching in internship schools. the first reason is that the context in which classroom discourse is used has changed. halliday’s discussion of the three variables of register is relatively abstract, and some systemic functional linguists have attempted to further describe the tone through precision scales (halliday, 1978; halliday & hasan, 1985). hasan once talked about social distance between people, and also divided the roles of communicators into discourse roles, social roles, and participant roles. later, in a more systematic discussion of register, hasan proposed that tone can be described in three aspects: role, control or power, and social distance (halliday & hasan, 1985). the relationship between teachers and students is not entirely consistent with the relationship between interns and students. teachers have considerable authority in front of students, especially in the elementary education stage. specifically, it is manifested in the control and domination of teachers over the classroom, and the use of classroom language by teachers. as far as interns are concerned, they assume the role of teachers in the classroom, but they do not have the same authority over teaching activities as formal teachers in terms of control or power. compared to teachers, the social distance between interns and students is closer than that between teachers and students. interns are more willing to demonstrate their affinity and willingness to negotiate. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 43 published by scholink inc. however, from the perspective of research results, interns have quite strictly applied the discourse characteristics and methods of instructors in internship schools and have not made any adjustments based on their interns’ identity and roles. the results have shown that interns’ standardized instruction frequency and language for classroom teaching discipline are significantly prominent in teaching activities, and they use imperative sentences to express commands and to perform other functions, while consolidating their role as classroom managers. for example, in a teaching recording of about 35 minutes in t3, the classroom discourse that asking students “不要吵” reaches seven times, and all of them use imperative or interrogative sentences. (3) t:再不要说话 (don’t talk anymore.) t:再不要说话 (don’t talk anymore.) t:先别吵 (don’t make any noise.) t:别吵 (don’t make any noise.) t:嘘----，再别吵 (shhh, don’t make any noise anymore.) t:别吵！ (don’t make any noise!) t:说够了没？ (is that enough?) (t3) the reasons for this phenomenon are various. one is that the fluidity and instability of interns’ identities make students believe that interns are not real teachers, and they do not gain recognition from students in the construction of their teacher identities; the second is that students in the basic education stage are more active in thinking and relatively active in the classroom; third, interns lack corresponding experience in controlling the teaching process. however, there is no doubt that this high frequency of classroom discourse due to classroom discipline is far from what we have observed in demonstration or observation classes. this also indicates that interns using classroom discourse like that of internship school instructors cannot necessarily construct their teacher identity. 4.3 teachers have a large amount of discourse and control turns, with irf as the main turn structure the characteristic of teachers’ large amount of speech also exists in pre-training before internships, but the proportion is significantly higher in the classroom teaching practice of interns. due to the lack of students’ communicative and interactive activities, students’ speaking time is significantly lower. hu (2007) used the method of classroom recording to conduct a descriptive study of the discourse characteristics of excellent english teachers in their english classroom, these characteristics includes: 1) classroom speaking time is not entirely at the disposal of the teacher, while there is also time for students www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 44 published by scholink inc. to participate in conversations; 2) reference questioning is generally more than presentation questioning; the so-called demonstrative question refers to a question where the questioner already knows the answer, while the reference question refers to a question where the questioner does not know the answer. 3) most conversation structures are relatively complex, but irf structures still account for a certain proportion; the so-called irf conversation structure refers to the introduction of a topic by a teacher, followed by a response of a student, and then feedback from the teacher. 4) the proportion of verbal feedback is slightly higher than that of evaluative feedback; evaluative feedback refers to teachers’ feedback that indicates whether students’ answers are correct or not, focusing only on language forms and playing an evaluative role. in discourse feedback, teachers are concerned with the content of the answer, not the language itself. by comparing the discourse characteristics of excellent english teachers summarized and described by hu (2007), the study found that the interns’ english classroom discourse has some characteristics in terms of classroom speaking time, questioning methods, conversational structure, and feedback methods. in the interns’ classroom in this study, the amount of discourse of interns is far greater than that of students. moreover, more specifically, students rarely use english in the classroom, except for the procedural discourse or teaching content given by the teacher, which uses the teaching target language to answer. the reason is that the interns also use the target language less frequently in english classes. the irf based turn structure also shows that interns’ classroom discourse is dominated by evaluative feedback, which does not inspire or induce students’ discourse feedback, or only exists at a smaller level. such as the following example: (3) good morning class，sit down please. last class we have learned certain structures about asking people’s physical appearance. 那上节课呢我们已经学了关于询问人的相貌的一些句型。那我们首 先来复习一下，比如说问男的他或是女的她长什么样，应该怎么问？what 开头的句型，那比如说 我们说， 男他或女她长的很高，怎么说？he 或者 she is tall. 那矮呢？那中等身材呢？of medium…height… (interview t1) (good morning class, sit down please. last class we have learned certain structures about asking people’s physical appearance. last lesson, we have learned some sentence patterns about asking people about their appearance. let’s first review, for example, asking a man what he or she looks like, and how should we ask? for example, when we say that a man or woman is very tall, how do we say? he or she is tall. what about being short? what about medium height? of medium... height...) this is t1’s speech at the beginning of classroom teaching. after the end of the english greeting, he uses the target language to briefly review the content learned in the previous lesson. however, in the specific review session, the interns all use chinese to express teaching instructions, and occasionally the english language appears as fragmented words or phrases. in addition, feedback from the intern is achieved by repeating student responses (“he or she is tall”). irf turn frequently appears in the interns’ classroom discourse. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 45 published by scholink inc. 5. conclusion through the analysis of classroom discourse of english normal students during their educational internship, this study reveals the characteristics and causes of classroom discourse of english-major interns in underdeveloped areas in western china. it has the following characteristics: 1) code switching is relatively common; 2) the main types of clauses are imperative sentences, declarative sentences + rising tone; 3) the interns have a large amount of discourse, and the turn structure is mainly irf. some of these features exhibit strong regional characteristics, such as widespread code switching and low frequency of target language use. the reason is that students’ english proficiency is relatively low, and teachers’ teaching methods differ from those of developed regions. other characteristics, such as declarative sentences expressing teaching instructions, teacher’s controlling turns, and the frequency of irf mode, are similar to classroom discourse of normal school students in other regions of china. in economically underdeveloped areas, the level of education development is like that of local economic development, and there is considerable room for improvement. normal students majoring in english, as teachers who have mastered certain advanced teaching methods and advanced teaching concepts, have not been able to influence or to help english classroom teaching in underdeveloped areas. instead, they have been rapidly transformed to adapt to the educational and teaching methods of internship schools, hoping to construct their own teacher identity through mechanical imitation of teaching in internship schools. for the classroom discourse of english-major interns in underdeveloped areas, the priority is to increase the proportion of target language in classroom discourse, and the second is to reform the teaching model of english in elementary education, so that advanced and efficient teaching methods in teaching research can be implemented and developed in the english classroom of primary and secondary schools in underdeveloped areas. in the teaching guidance of interns, it is necessary to improve the dual tutor system. professional teachers in normal universities should also shoulder the responsibily of gatekeeper of internship quality, reform teaching models and methods, and thus help interns with their professional development and professional identity construction. references chang, c. g. (2001). interpersonal metaphors in english language. foreign languages and their teaching, 7, 6-8. chen, x. c. (2019). the construction of pragmatic identity through teachers’ classroom feedback discourse. journal of jiangxi vocational and technical college of electricity, 32(7), 102-104. chen, x. r. (2018). pragmatic identity: how to do things with words of identity. beijing: beijing normal university press. halliday, m. a. k. (1978). language as social semiotic. london: arnold. halliday, m. a. k. (2004). revised by matthiessen, c. m. i. m. an introduction to functional grammar. london: hodder arnold. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 46 published by scholink inc. halliday, m. a. k., & hasan, r. (1985). language, context and text: aspects of language in a socialsemiotic perspective. oxford: oxford university press. he, z. r. (2015). where and what to say: —on identity construction and recognition in societal pragmatics. foreign language and literature research, 1(1), 12-19. hu, q. q. (2007). an analysis of classroom discourse features of five excellent english teachers. shandong foreign language teaching journal, 1, 54-58. li, h. (2007). study on chinese teacher talk from the perspective of thematic development of discourse study. foreign language world, 4(5), 83-90. li, l. h., tan, s. q., & wu, x. h. (2010). a comparative study on classroom discourse of novice and expert teachers. journal of the chinese society of education, 4(11), 76-79. liu, x. h. (2006). efl student-teachers’ classroom talk: data-basing, analysis and application. technology enhanced foreign language education, 4(5), 41-45. liu, y. b., & zhang, h. p. (2010). study on regulative discourse in chinese secondary school english language classrooms: a corpus-based approach. foreign languages and their teaching, 4, 14-18. wang, j., & huang, g. w. (2004). a tenor analysis of code-switching in newspaper discourses. foreign language teaching and research, 5, 331-336+401. zhou, x., & zhou, y. (2002). research on english classroom discourse in chinese high education. foreign language teaching and research, 4(1), 59-68. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 51 original paper educating future female seafarers in the maritime college from the perspective of masculinity yoriko ishida1* 1 shipping technology department, national institute of technology, oshima college, japan received: october 13, 2022 accepted: october 31, 2022 online published: november 10, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n4p51 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n4p51 abstract recently, the maritime bureau and seafarers policy division of the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport, and tourism have been working to promote gender equality in the seafarer industry. moreover, in 2017, the “committee on the promotion of female seafarers’ activities from a female experts’ perspective” was launched to discuss the issue. i participated in this committee as one of three academic experts. the committee has reported that the percentage of female seafarers in the japanese shipping industry is only 2%, and less than 10% of shipping companies have shown a positive attitude toward the employment of female seafarers, indicating that the employment of female seafarers is not being promoted. the purpose of this study is to train female students in maritime colleges to be able to work as seafarers with leadership skills in the future using “masculinity” as a keyword. keywords female seafarers, gender consciousness, career development, masculinity, diversity, maritime education, female students, female education, shipping industry 1. introduction the idea of stereotyping social roles based on gender persists, and gender is a major factor in employment. one of the most prominent examples of this is the seafaring industry. recently, the maritime bureau and seafarers policy division of the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport, and tourism have been working to promote gender equality in the seafarer industry, and in 2017, the “committee on the promotion of female seafarers’ activities from a female experts’ perspective” was launched to discuss the issue. i participated in this committee as one of three academic experts (note 1). the committee has reported that the percentage of female seafarers in the japanese shipping industry is only 2%, and less than 10% of shipping companies have shown a positive attitude toward the employment of female seafarers, indicating that the employment of female seafarers is not being promoted. in contrast, nearly www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 52 published by scholink inc. 70% of female students at maritime colleges have expressed their aspiration to work as seafarers; thus, the working environment should be improved, and female students employed by shipping companies should remain employed as “female seafarers” for a long time after marriage or childbirth. the purpose of this study is to train female students in maritime colleges to be able to work as seafarers with leadership skills in the future. this study also aims to activate women’s education in maritime colleges, promote the activities of female seafarers in the maritime industry, and achieve gender equality in the maritime industry. a unique aspect of this study focuses on “masculinity studies.” it demonstrates through the workings of female seafarers that seafaring should have “diversity” and emphasizes the “masculinity” in women to foster female seafarers who can play an active role in the shipping industry. 2. consideration of the seafaring using “masculinities” as a keyword even though the promotion of women seafarers has been recognized in japan a long time ago, whether gender equality has been sufficiently promoted in the shipping industry remains doubtful. why has the promotion of gender equality in the shipping industry failed to produce any results? why is this “simple truth” of “gender equality” so difficult to implement in the shipping industry? why do women still remain a “subclass” in the seafarer industry? in fact, only a few shipping companies are still proactive about employing women, and the reasons for this factor may be partially due to problems with shipboard facilities and the high turnover rate of women on board. however, many companies do not recognize the value of hiring women because of the stereotype of seafarers as men. why have such stereotypes existed? why has such an ideology existed? the ideological problem, such as the renovation of on-board facilities, cannot be solved with funds; however, it requires a fundamental change in the structure of attitudes. rather, they require a fundamental change in the structure of consciousness. i thought the keyword here was “masculinity,” since in previous eras, masculinity has never been as articulated as in the world of ships. the masculinity of men who sail the oceans, even among men, has been constructed in contrast to that of men who live on land, much less as the opposite of women. in other words, the masculinity of seafarers has been formed with “what women cannot experience” at its core, such as the unique life on board a ship. however, the latest masculinity studies have suggested that “masculinity” is not necessarily unitary. in the 1970s, masculinology began as part of the academic field of gender studies in the west. the leading researcher in this field is robert w. connell. for example, r. w. connell, in addition to referring to the plurality of masculinities, focused on the power relations that arise from gender by defining hegemonic masculinity as a form of masculinity. two agreements support connell’s treatment of masculinity as a plural form. first, gender is constructed differently in different cultural and historical contexts. based on his recent research results, connell concluded that masculinity has no universal form. therefore, masculinity should be recognized as a plural form, not a singular one (note 2). second, multiple forms of masculinity coexist, even within the same period and society (note 3). as the interplay of gender, race, and class was discovered, the perception of multiple masculinities became widespread. for example, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 53 published by scholink inc. regarding connell’s theory of masculinity, the gender role division of labor, which is strongly rooted in society, is also clearly meaningless. this concept is due to the gender role division of labor, based on the assumption that masculinity and femininity are fixed, from which gender roles emerge. in other words, if one relies on connell’s theory, which asserts the existence of diverse masculinities, gender roles based on gendered characteristics do not exist from the beginning. nevertheless, in light of the fact that gender roles exist, they can be interpreted not as being based on gendered characteristics but on power. in other words, even if an individual appears to deviate from the established gender roles, the individual is not the abnormal one but rather the social customs that are too focused on the fixed gender that are abnormal. however, in reality, the fixed gender roles probably show that men and women are complementary to each other. in fact, this context is only because gender roles are imposed on them by power. this feature becomes apparent when women seek to enter male-dominated occupations, such as the seafaring industry. in other words, the connell theory becomes highly convincing when women enter the seafaring industry. 3. educating future female seafarers at our maritime college as mentioned in the previous section, if one considers that gender-related “character” is diverse, the conventional concepts of “masculinity” and “femininity” tackle a very skeptical connotation. for example, “masculinity” tends to be interpreted as synonymous with “labor;” however, essentially, “masculinity” and “labor” should be unrelated. these concepts are linked because the system of “gender role division of labor” has been established. in essence, “masculinity” has nothing to do with a system in which men do the work and women do the housework and childcare. in particular, the concept of “gender role division of labor” is likely to have a significant impact on the determination of whether women can work as seafarers, especially in occupations, such as “seafaring.” this occupation is a special type of work, that is, where the work period (embarkation period) and leave period rotate over a long period of time. remember that “masculinity” and “femininity” are not monolithic, as described above; this study focused on the “diversity” of seafarers and enlightened female students in the school’s merchant marine department by investigating the activities of female seafarers in the present shipping industry. this section discusses the contents of the study. this study was conducted not only for female students but also for male students. it also aims to help students become seafarers with leadership skills in the future, regardless of gender, in the maritime industry, where gender stereotypes are strongly rooted. through the exchange of information among female faculty members of maritime educational institutions, the following points were identified: ・seafarers should be flexible and open to the opinions of others. as in all professions, communication skills are especially important for seafarers, as they will be living together on board for extended periods of time. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 54 published by scholink inc. ・unsurprisingly, female students lack arm strength; however, in recent years, arm strength is not so much required in both men and women on many types of vessels. furthermore, some male students also lacked arm strength. ・seafarers should have the ability to operate the ship safely, which is completely independent of gender differences. even if female students lack arm strength, they can still be active in other areas. the important thing is not to run away from something because you cannot do it from the beginning but to give it a try anyway. experiencing everything, regardless of gender, and developing one’s own areas of expertise are important. this factor also applies to male students. if you can do that, even if you have no arm strength, you can work as a seafarer without any problems, even if you are a woman. ・few men and women work on board their entire lives. this is because work at sea and on land is alternately assigned at intervals of several years. a human-to-human relationship transpires when managing ships and seafarers on land. in other words, the ability to manage with an understanding of the situation on the ground should be cultivated. regardless of gender, seafarers should acquire the ability to work not only as seafarers but also as land-based workers, that is, the ability to communicate and make good judgments. (1) furthermore, interviews with current female seafarers and shipping companies revealed their true sentiments regarding hiring female seafarers and the current situation of female seafarers. while more and more shipping companies are intensifying their efforts to hire female seafarers in light of the growing awareness of gender equality in the shipping industry, most of them are initially clearly lost. after all, the crucial difference between men and women is that women are always faced with the problems of marriage and childbirth. the main reason is that the ideologies of “patriarchy” and “division of labor” persist. in societies where these ideologies have taken root, women who are responsible for domestic labor are restricted from economic activities outside the home, and men who are responsible for work outside the home are restricted from engaging in domestic labor. at present, an increasing number of men and women are becoming resistant to the division of gender-based roles and do not form the organization of a family. this activity has clearly shown that today, we must deconstruct the concept of the gender role division of labor. of course, men and women who do not feel uncomfortable with the system of gender role division of labor can do so; however, this option should be a choice among various ways of life, and gender should not be the standard for all. (2) finally, through this study, we enlightened female students on two major points. first, long-term planning is crucial for someone who wants to live as a seafarer. women are likely to experience major life stage changes, such as marriage and childbirth; therefore, finding a job with a shipping company that will allow them to return to seafarers’ employment without leaving the register when such changes occur, rather than quitting seafarers’ employment, is important. second, “seafarer-ness” is not synonymous with “masculinity” and “androgyny.” for female students who aspire to become seafarers, the stereotypes that they have had up to now should be dispelled, and they should ask themselves, “what is the masculinity that is unique to women?” essentially, female students who want to become seafarers should form their www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 55 published by scholink inc. own images of what they want to be as seafarers from the time they are students. this key point is important when pursuing career development as a seafarer in the future. 4. conclusion for the same academic ability and skills, many shipping companies often pursue males, not because females are inferior but because the companies are not accustomed to hiring females and are anxious to do so. however, the survey in this activity revealed that, other than arm strength, gender differences are minimal between men and women in, for example, knowledge and judgment. ultimately, this does not mean that women are less capable as seafarers; rather, women tend to be excluded by the stereotype of “seafarer = male.” importantly, the “image of seafarers” as a group should be changed, and the qualities of individual seafarers should be considered. as a matter of fact, in the author’s sense, the expression “gender equality” is out of date. this is because neither male nor female gender characteristics are unique. june singer described the state in which a person maintains a balance between masculinity and femininity as psychological bisexuality (androgyny) (note 4). in other words, human existence is not monistic. furthermore, this concept is consistent with connell’s concept of masculinities. if this is the case, the notion that seafarers must be men, or that women are not suited for the job, is then rendered meaningless. the first priority in the seafarer industry should be to be a “seafarer” and to “look like a seafarer.” the qualities required of seafarers should be wide-ranging, including skills, judgment, and communication skills, all of which must be acquired through study and experience. learning and experience are directly related to individual efforts and ambitions. in this regard, i wondered if the concept of male or female seafarers can be considered. the “new image of seafarers” can be described as “androgynous seafarers.” gender has a multifaceted interpretation. the fact that “gender” has multiple interpretations means that those of us who specialize in gender studies have a responsibility to disseminate information. importantly, seafarer culture and values unique to seafarers that have been created over the long history of seafarers should be remembered, and a “new seafarer culture” and a “new image of seafarers” that can promote the success of female seafarers from multiple perspectives should also be established. at the same time, we should educate students enrolled in maritime educational institutions to be more flexible in their gender awareness and to deepen their understanding of diversity. references buchbinder, d. (1994). masculinities and identities. victoria: melbourne university press. ----------. (2013). studying men and masculinities. new york: routledge. connell, r. w. (1995). masculinities. cambridge: polity press. ----------. (2000). the men and the boys. california: university of california press. connell, r. w., & james, w. m. (2016). hegemonic masculinity: rethinking the concept. gender and society, 19(6), 829-859. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 56 published by scholink inc. donaldson, m. (1993). what is hegemonic mascilinity? theory and society, 22(5), 643-657. dragomir, c., baylon, a. m., azirh, n. t., & leon, a. (2018). women leaders in shipping as role models for women seafarers. the international journal on marine navigation and safety of sea transport, 12(2), 279-284. gardiner, j. k. (ed.). (1893). masculinity studies & feminist theory: new directions. new york: columbia university press. halberstam, j. (1998). female masculinity. durham: duke university press. kitada, m. (2013). code of behaviour at sea: women seafarers’ shipboard identity management. wmu j marit affairs, 12, 213-227. ----------. (2017). female captains and their leadership: human factors in the shipping industry. in j. i. kantola et al. (eds.), advances in human factors, business management, training and education. mcginley, a. c. (2013). masculinity, labor, and sexual power. boston university law review, 93, 795813. ortega, ol. d., kjell, i. ø., & veronica, h. (2015). women are better leaders than they think: gender differences in the self-assessment of leadership skills in the maritime industry. maritime women: global leadership (pp. 201-216). london: springer. paetchter, c. (2006). masculine femininities/feminine masculinities: power, identities and gender. gender and education, 18(3), 253-263. simpson, r. (2004). masculinity at work: the experiences of men in female dominated. work employment and society, 18(2), 1-35. singer, j. (1997). androgyny: towards a new theory of sexuality. london: routledge & kegan paul. waling, a. (2019). rethinking masculinity studies: feminism, masculinity, and poststructural accounts of agency and emotional reflexivity. journal of men’s studies, 27(1), 89-107. whitehead, s. m. (2002). men and masculinities. cambridge: polity press. wickman, j. (2003). masculinities and female bodies. nora, 1(2), 40-54. yang, y. c. (2020). what’s hegemonic about hegemonic masculinity? legitimation and beyond. sociological theory, 38(4), 318-333. notes note 1. the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism (mlit) established the “study group on promoting female seafarers’ activities from a women’s perspective” in 2009. the recommendations of the “study group on women’s perspective to promote women seafarers” established by the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism in 2009 can be viewed at the following url. it is clear on page 2 that seafarers with no experience of employing female seafarers are small companies. https://www.mlit.go.jp/common/001209058.pdf note 2. r. w. connell. the men and the boys. california: university of california press, 2000. note 3. r.w. connell. masculinities. cambridge: polity press, 1995. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 57 published by scholink inc. note 4. june singer. androgyny: towards a new theory of sexuality. london: routledge & kegan paul. 1977. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 86 original paper subtitle translation from the perspective of eco-translatology— —a case study of the film flipped minyu zhao1 1 school of foreign languages, xinyang normal university, xinyang, henan, china received: july 2, 2025 accepted: july 17, 2025 online published: august 5, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p86 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p86 abstract in the context of increasing cross-cultural exchanges, films stand out as a prominent medium for cultural communication. therefore, subtitle translation of films is a key link in breaking language barriers and realizing cultural transmission, whose importance is self-evident. based on the innovative and systematic theoretical framework of eco-translatology, this paper conducts a specific analysis of the subtitle translation in the film flipped. combining the concept of “three-dimensional transformation” proposed by eco-translatology, it discusses the adaptive selection and transformation in the linguistic, cultural, and communicative dimensions respectively, reveals the application value and guiding significance of this theory in subtitle translation, provides useful references for film subtitle translation practice, and promotes the effective realization of cross-cultural film and television communication. keywords eco-translatology, three-dimensional transformation, flipped, subtitle translation 1. introduction in the current era of surging globalization, films, as a highly influential and communicative form of cultural art, have become an important bridge for cross-border cultural exchanges. flipped, a classic work full of warmth and innocence, directed by rob reiner and adapted from wendelin van draanen’s novel of the same name, has won the love and praise of audiences worldwide with its fresh and natural style and profound emotional portrayal. set in a rural area of the united states in the 1960s, the film revolves around two adolescents, juli baker and bryce loski. when juli first saw bryce in the second grade, she was attracted by his bright eyes and thus started a years-long innocent crush. bryce, an introverted boy, was initially overwhelmed by juli’s enthusiasm and even tried to avoid her. over time, a series of events prompted bryce to re-examine his inner feelings: juli’s love for the sycamore tree, her brave fight when the tree was about to be cut down, which showed her persistence and uniqueness; her www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 87 published by scholink inc. wisdom and talent displayed at the science fair; and even her positive and optimistic attitude when her family was facing financial difficulties—all these made bryce have a new understanding of her. in this process, bryce began to realize the shining points in juli that he had ignored, and his once avoidance and resistance gradually turned into an indescribable “flipped” feeling. the film adopts a unique narrative technique, alternating between juli’s and bryce’s perspectives. this narrative structure allows the audience to deeply understand the inner world and emotional changes of the hero and heroine, enhancing the layering and richness of the story and making the audience feel immersed in the plot. the original film is in english, so translation is indispensable for audiences in other countries. the quality of translation directly affects the depth of understanding, acceptance, and richness of cultural experience of the target language audience towards the source language film. 2. characteristics of subtitle translation 2.1 time and space constraints film screening is continuous, and subtitles are presented to the audience within limited screen space and a certain period of time. this requires subtitle translation to be concise and clear, avoiding lengthy and complex sentence structures and excessive modifiers. therefore, in translation, it is necessary to retain the core information to ensure that the audience can quickly read and understand the subtitle content without affecting their viewing of the video images. 2.2 colloquial tendency the lines in film and television works are mostly daily oral expressions, and subtitle translation should also follow this characteristic, using easy-to-understand language that is close to life. colloquial expressions can make the audience feel natural and smooth when watching, as if they hear the characters communicating in their familiar language. moreover, colloquial subtitle translation helps to enhance the personality and emotional expression of the characters, enabling the audience to better integrate into the plot. 2.3 cultural adaptability since film and television works often contain rich source language cultural elements, subtitle translation needs to consider the cultural background of the target language audience and appropriately explain culturally-loaded words or other expressions with cultural connotations. in addition, some western humor or allusions may need to be replaced with similar humor or allusions in the target language culture or translated freely during translation, so as to ensure that cultural information is effectively transmitted to the target language audience and avoid misunderstandings caused by cultural differences. 3. overview of eco-translatology the birth of eco-translatology is inspired by multiple factors. at the beginning of the 21st century, with the enhancement of global awareness of ecological environment, ecological concepts gradually penetrated into various disciplines. the translation field also began to think about how to introduce the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 88 published by scholink inc. concepts of systematicness, balance, and adaptability of ecology into translation research to solve the limitations of traditional translation theories in dealing with complex translation phenomena. at the same time, the increasing frequency of cross-cultural exchanges has brought more challenges and opportunities to translation activities. people need a new theoretical framework to guide translators in handling the complex relationship between source language and target language, thus giving birth to eco-translatology. professor hu gengshen from tsinghua university founded eco-translatology in 2001. this theory covers two fields: ecology and translation studies. it is not only based on darwin’s theory of evolution but also integrates traditional chinese ecological wisdom. its three core concepts can be summarized as “translation as text transplantation”, “translation as adaptation and selection”, and “translation as ecological balance” (hu & wang, 2021), which basically cover the whole of “translated text”, “translator”, and “translation context” in translation research (tao & hu, 2016). eco-translatology holds that “translation is an activity in which translators adapt to and select from the translation ecological environment” (hu, 2004). the translation ecological environment refers to “the world presented by the original text, source language, and target language, that is, the interconnected and interactive whole of language, communication, culture, society, as well as authors, readers, commissioners, etc.” (hu, 2008). to create excellent translations, translators need to maintain the balance of the translation ecological environment. professor hu gengshen further proposed the translation method of “three-dimensional transformation”, namely the adaptive selection and transformation in the linguistic, cultural, and communicative dimensions. through “three-dimensional transformation”, the interchange of language forms between source language and target language, cultural exchange, and the realization of communicative intentions can be achieved (zhu, 2017). 4. three-dimensional transformation in flipped 4.1 linguistic dimension the adaptive selection and transformation in the linguistic dimension refer to translators’ adaptive selection and transformation of language forms in the translation process. this kind of adaptive selection and transformation in the linguistic dimension is carried out in different aspects and levels (hu, 2011). for example, at the lexical level, the semantics, connotations, or cultural load of source language words may be significantly different from those of the target language; at the syntactic level, the sentence structures of source language and target language are often different. example 1: st: it didn’t take long to realize this girl could not take a hint. tt: 我很快发现这姑娘一点也不识趣。 in the film, the heroine juli stubbornly wanted to help bryce move things, even when bryce’s father advised her to go home to avoid worrying her mother. the original english uses a typical structure with “it” as the formal subject, aiming to balance the sentence structure and postpose the real subject “to realize this girl could not take a hint”—a common grammatical structure in english. however, in chinese www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 89 published by scholink inc. expression habits, people prefer direct subject-verb-object structures. therefore, the translation “我很快 发现” accurately converts it into an expression in line with chinese habits, allowing readers to understand the meaning of the sentence more naturally. at the lexical level, “take a hint” translated literally as “接 受暗示” can convey the basic semantics but is rather plain and stiff. the expression “不识趣” in the translation is more vivid and vivid. the flexible translation of words and sentence structures realizes the transformation in the linguistic dimension. example 2: st: i was about to tell her to get lost when the weirdest thing happened. tt: 我正想叫她滚开的时候，最囧的事情发生了。 the original word “weirdest” literally means “most strange, most odd” and is usually translated according to its literal meaning. however, considering the context of the film, which is not a horror story, it cannot be translated as “最诡异的 ”. the scene at that time was: bryce was eager to get rid of juli’s overwhelming “enthusiasm”, so he ran towards his home in a hurry, hoping to make juli retreat by escaping quickly and shaking off her hand. but in this process, a dramatic scene happened—bryce, in a fluster, accidentally held juli’s hand. this unexpected situation was completely beyond his expectation, instantly putting him in an extremely awkward and embarrassed situation. therefore, a simple literal translation of “weirdest” obviously cannot accurately convey the unique emotional atmosphere contained in this plot. the translator skillfully chose the chinese character “囧” for translation. this character has a unique meaning and rich expressiveness in chinese, which can vividly depict bryce’s 不知所措 and extremely embarrassed feeling at that time, accurately capturing the subtle meaning that the source language intended to convey in this specific context. example 3: st: by the sixth grade, i’d learned to control myself. tt: 到了六年级，我收敛了不少。 this sentence is juli’s inner monologue. after four years of enthusiastic treatment, bryce’s attitude towards her still seemed lukewarm. moreover, as she grew older, juli herself had grown up, so in the sixth grade, her mentality changed significantly. she decided to change her previous enthusiastic and unrestrained style of doing things and turn to a low-key manner. the literal translation of “learned to control myself” in the original text is “控制自我”, but a literal translation would confuse target language readers. the word “收敛” means to restrain indulgent words and deeds or physical and mental state, which can just echo juli’s previous behavior of hugging bryce and surrounding him with enthusiasm. moreover, the translation has a certain colloquial feature, which is highly consistent with juli’s identity as a child. because she is not conducting a serious self-restraint, but adjusting her behavior in a more natural way in line with her age, which further deepens her image of being enthusiastic and cheerful. 4.2 cultural dimension language is the carrier of culture. different cultures breed different languages, and different languages reflect different cultures. the adaptive selection and transformation in the cultural dimension means that www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 90 published by scholink inc. translators pay attention to the transmission and interpretation of bilingual cultural connotations in the translation process (hu, 2011), strive to explore and effectively convey the cultural information implied in the source language, and at the same time, translators should pay attention to the differences between bilingual cultures to avoid misreading of the original text. example 4: st: mr. loski was clean and smooth on the outside, but it seemed like there was something rotten buried just beneath the surface. tt: 洛斯奇先生外表温文尔雅，但金玉其外败絮其中。 during the dinner between bryce’s and juli’s families, bryce’s father spoke rudely and offensively, and he was absent-minded while eating, so juli had the above thought. the words “clean” and “smooth” in the western cultural context, in addition to describing the state of external neatness and being smooth in dealing with people, also have positive and good implied meanings, suggesting that a person gives a comfortable and reliable impression in appearance. “rotten” is a negative word used to indicate the decay inside things. in translation, the translator adopted a chinese cultural idiom “金玉其外败絮其中”, which first appeared in liu ji’s the seller of oranges. it means having an appearance like gold and jade but being like broken cotton wool inside, used to metaphorize something that is gorgeous in appearance but bad in essence. this idiom reflects the profound insight into the relationship between the essence and appearance of things in chinese culture. it successfully conveys the core cultural connotation of the original text and adapts the translation to the ecological environment of chinese culture through the use of chinese-specific cultural expressions, realizing the transformation in the cultural dimension. example 5: st: some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss. but every once in a while you find someone who’s iridescent. and when you do, nothing will ever compare. tt: 有人住高楼，有人在深沟，有人光万丈，有人一身锈，世人万千种，浮云莫去求，斯人若彩 虹，遇上方知有。 the original text uses words such as “flat” (plain), “satin” (smooth as satin, symbolizing magnificence), and “gloss” (luster, representing brilliance) to metaphorize human characteristics through the properties of substances. the magnificence and brilliance represented by “satin” and “gloss” may imply successful people or those in advantageous positions in society; while “flat” may symbolize ordinary people. the translation “有人住高楼，有人在深沟，有人光万丈，有人一身锈” vividly depicts the differences in life circumstances and social status between people with vivid images. “斯人若彩虹，遇上方知有” compares that unique person to a rainbow, echoing the word “iridescent” in the original text, full of poetry and romance. in chinese culture, the rainbow has always been a symbol of beauty and auspiciousness, representing hope, happiness, and beautiful emotions. the translation skillfully combines western cultural elements with traditional chinese culture, realizing the accurate transmission and effective transformation of the original cultural connotation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 91 published by scholink inc. 4.3 communicative dimension the adaptive selection and transformation in the communicative dimension means that translators pay attention to the adaptive selection and transformation of bilingual communicative intentions in the translation process (hu, 2011). this aspect focuses on the equivalence of the translation with the original text in terms of communicative intention, function, and effect. because translation itself is a crosscultural communication activity, translators need to fully consider the communicative context, pragmatic function, and the author’s intention of the original text in the source language culture. example 6: st: just you wait. tt: 别急嘛。 in the opening plot of the film, bryce’s family drove slowly into the quiet town with longing and expectation for a new life. the whole family was very much looking forward to their new home. when the car just stopped and the door was not yet opened, bryce’s sister couldn’t wait to ask her mother what color her room was, and the mother replied, “just you wait.” this english sentence is concise and direct, with a strong tone of command or warning. in the english context, this expression is often used to strongly demand the other party to wait, such as in the process of handling some urgent matters, a superior may say something similar to a subordinate, asking him not to be impatient and wait for further instructions; or it may be a threatening way to inform the other party of a certain situation, similar to warning an opponent not to act rashly in some competitive scenes. in translation, the translator fully considered factors such as the family atmosphere and character relationships, skillfully adopted the method of free translation, and used a soft form of imperative sentence, translating it into “别急嘛”. although it is only three characters, it expresses the harmonious atmosphere between mother and daughter, enabling the target language audience to better integrate into the family situation created by the film and realizing the transformation in the communicative dimension. example 7: st: i was a basketboy. tt: 我成了”午餐男孩”。 the original meaning of “basket” is a basket. a literal translation would be “篮子男孩”, which would definitely confuse target language readers and even trigger some strange associations, making them completely unable to understand its true meaning in the film. the word “basketboy” here needs to be understood in combination with the film plot: mayfield middle school, where juli and bryce study, holds a fundraising auction every year. the auction randomly selects 20 boys, who carry baskets with lunch and step on the stage, while the students off the stage bid for the boys on the stage—that is the origin of “午餐男孩” (lunch boy). when dealing with this word, the translator did not simply stick to its literal meaning but translated the meaning behind “basket” in combination with the plot, helping target language readers get similar feelings to source language readers and realizing the transformation in the communicative dimension. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 92 published by scholink inc. example 8: st: no, don’t be ridiculous. of course i’m gonna pay you. tt: 不，别傻了，我怎么能白吃你的鸡蛋呢。 in this example, there is no word related to “eggs” in the original text, but the word “鸡蛋” (eggs) appears in the translation. this is because juli’s family raised chickens that laid too many eggs, which could not be eaten up, and just when the neighbors needed fresh eggs, juli sold the eggs to mrs. stubblefield. in the subsequent plot, to avoid being in a dilemma, juli made a strategy of not taking money so that she would not overthink before going to the school auction. but on her way to school, she happened to meet mrs. stubblefield, who insisted on giving juli the money for the eggs. in this case, if the translator simply translated it literally as “我当然要付钱给你” (of course i’m going to pay you), although there is no semantic error, it would seem abrupt to target language readers, who cannot understand why they suddenly need to pay and the ins and outs of this money. therefore, in translation, the translator rendered it as “我怎么能白吃你的鸡蛋呢” (how could i eat your eggs for free), skillfully showing the cause and effect of the matter through translation, helping target language readers fully understand and realizing the communicative function. 5. conclusion based on the “three-dimensional transformation” of eco-translatology, this paper analyzes the application value of eco-translatology by combining examples of subtitle translation in the film flipped. in the linguistic dimension, it properly handles lexical and syntactic differences to make the translation conform to the habits of the target language; in the cultural dimension, it skillfully conveys cultural images and clarifies connotations; in the communicative dimension, it fully understands communicative contexts and intentions and exerts the function of communicative equivalence. in future research and practice of subtitle translation, we should continue to deepen the application of eco-translatology concepts, actively explore more translation paths and methods adapted to different types of films and multicultural contexts. we should make continuous efforts to further improve the quality and level of film subtitle translation, promote the beautiful vision of pluralistic coexistence and prosperous development of global film and television culture on the stage of cross-cultural communication, so that audiences from different cultural backgrounds can better understand and appreciate the cultural charm of all parts of the world through the art form of films, and promote the exchange and integration of human culture. references hu, g. s. (2004). translation as adaptation and selection. wuhan: hubei education press. hu, g. s. (2008). understanding translation theories through terms——an overview of translation as adaptation and selection. shanghai journal of translators, 2, 1-5. hu, g. s. (2011). research focus and theoretical perspective of eco-translatology. chinese translators journal, 32(2), 8. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 93 published by scholink inc. hu, g. s., & wang, y. (2021). research paradigm of eco-translatology: positioning, connotation and characteristics. foreign language teaching, 42(6), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.16362/j.cnki.cn611023/h.2021.06.001 tao, l. c., & hu, g. s. (2016). integrating chinese and western, survival of the fittest: the rise and internationalization of eco-translatology——an interview with professor hu gengshen. china foreign language, 13(5), 92-97. https://doi.org/10.13564/j.cnki.issn.1672-9382.2016.05.013 zhu, j. y. (2017). a study on subtitle translation of chinese films “going global” from the perspective of eco-translatology——a case study of mr. six. view on publishing, 21, 78-80+95. https://doi.org/10.16491/j.cnki.cn45-1216/g2.2017.0700 microsoft word elsr-v1n1-p43 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 43 original paper the iraqi efl learners’ use of conversational maxims at the university level mohammed jasim betti1* & karrar salim yaseen2 1 department of english, college of education for humanities, thi-qar university, nasiriya, iraq 2 ministry of education, general directorate of education, al-muthanna, iraq * mohammed jasim betti, department of english, college of education for humanities, thi-qar university, nasiriya, iraq received: april 18, 2020 accepted: april 24, 2020 online published: april 30, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n1p43 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n1p43 abstract the current study is an attempt to measure the iraqi efl learners’ use of conversational maxims at the recognition level. the study aims at testing whether the iraqi efl learners observe or flout the gricean maxims, assessing the iraqi efl learners’ mastery of the conversational maxims, and identifying which maxim(s) is/are frequently flouted by the learners of efl. the study hypothesizes that the iraqi efl learners flout all the maxims of conversation, the maxim of relation is the least flouted one, the iraqi efl learners find the maxims difficult to adhere to, and the maxim of quantity is mostly flouted. the subjects of the study are one hundred iraqi efl learners at the fourth-year, dept. of english, college of education for humanities, university of al-muthanna. the data elicitation tool a recognition test designed in accordance with nature of the study. the study brings forth the conclusions that the subjects have a difficulty in utilizing the maxims altogether, they flout all the conversational maxims in relatively different degrees, and the learners are mostly abided by the maxim of relation more than the other three ones. keywords cooperative principle, conversational maxims, flouting, efl learners 1. introduction language is a powerful means of human communication. via using language, the sender can deliver his/her intended meaning to the receiver. according to grice, the communicative activity should go smoothly and straightforwardly. thus, grice postulates the cooperative principle. the cooperative principle (cp: for short) says that people should be cooperative in their communication. as a result, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 44 published by scholink inc. grice supports the cooperative principle by four maxims, which speakers should follow. the quantity maxim says that the sender should be informative as is required, the quality maxim states that the speaker should be truthful, the maxim of relation means that the speaker has to produce the relevant information only, and finally the manner maxim says that people should deliver clear and abridged information (grice, 1975, pp. 45-46). in a similar vein, pragmatics is a chief field in language assessment. for more than two decades, developments are made in conceptualizing the pragmatic field, improving assessment tools and applying current methods of data treatment to the manipulation of test performance (kasper & ross, 2013, p. 1). the current study, thus, is located in the field of interlanguage pragmatics. schauer (2009, p. 2) states that interlanguage pragmatics is “the acquisition, comprehension, and production of contextually appropriate language by foreign/second language learners”. he (ibid: p. 15) declares that interlanguage pragmatics uses pragmatic notions, principles, and models to test how foreign/second language learners encode and decode meaning in their foreign language. accordingly, the present study seeks answers for the following questions: 1). do the iraqi efl learners have the necessary pragmatic competence about the maxims of conversation? 2). do those learners master the conversational maxims? 3). which conversational maxims are mostly flouted by those learners of efl? the study aims at: 1). assessing the iraqi efl learners’ mastery of the conversational maxims. 2). measuring whether the iraqi efl learners observe or flout these maxims. 3). identifying which maxim is frequently flouted. in accordance with aims of the study, the researchers put the following hypotheses: 1). the iraqi efl learners flout all the conversational maxims. 2). the iraqi efl learners find the maxims difficult to adhere to. 3). the maxim of quantity is mostly flouted. 4). the maxim of relation is the least flouted maxim. the scope of the study includes one hundred iraqi efl learners at the fourth-year, dept. of english, college of education for humanities, university of al-muthanna for the academic year (2019-2020) who are selected to be the subjects of the study. the test is restricted to the recognition level, and to examine the iraqi efl learners’ use of conversational maxims in terms of observing or non-observing the maxims. in the case of non-observing the maxims, violating and opting out are not taken into consideration because they require the speaker’s intention whether the speaker intends to mislead or refuse to communicate. therefore, flouting, as a form of non-observing the maxims, is utilized in the practical aspect of the study because it does not require the testees’ intention. the study adopts the following procedure: 1). constructing a recognition test to be the data elicitation tool. 2). selecting iraqi efl learners at the fourth-year as the subjects of the study. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 45 published by scholink inc. 3). applying the test to the selected subjects of the study. the study is hoped to be valuable to teachers, researchers, and interlanguage pragmatists. it could also be beneficial to methods of teaching and fl specialists, namely, course designers and test-makers. 2. literature review due to the big shift towards dealing with language from a functional perspective, pragmatics becomes a much-flourished linguistic study. the principal task of pragmatics is how to infer the intended meaning by virtue of context. hence, pragmatics takes into account a number of issues that are neglected in the formal description of language, such as the notion of context (brown & yule, 1983, p. 27). one of the most important inferential approach to the interpretation of meaning is that of grice. this section discusses the key ideas in grice’s pragmatic framework, namely, the cp and the conversational maxims, and it is necessary to state why such a principle is required. previous works on the theory of speech acts by austin (1962) and searle (1969) had largely been concerned with the relationship between direct and indirect speech acts. leech (2014, pp. 311-312) and bousfield (2014, p. 125) state that grice’s notion of the cp comes to bridge the gap that illustrates indirectness between what is said and what is meant where a speaker can use one utterance to convey the meaning of another. such a semantics-pragmatics gap is handled by proposing the cp as a mechanism of linking the semantic and pragmatic meanings. the cp can be defined as “a basic assumption in conversation that each participant will attempt to contribute appropriately, at the required time, to the current exchange of talk” (yule, 1996, p. 128). the following classical example elucidates the function of the cp: (1) a: i am out of petrol. b: there is a garage round the corner. as grice points out, the concealed relation between the questioner and the responder is clear. however, b’s remark means that a can get petrol from the nearby garage, but what b means is not actually retrievable from the words she uses. to reach the right interpretation, the cp must enter the scene. that is to say, the remark is meaningful to the range that a identifies that b is fulfilling the expectations a has about the cp. the competent speakers might have no difficulty in inferring the intended meaning that the garage is open and it has petrol to sell (christie, 133, p. 2000). accordingly, grice proposes that in an interactive talk, there is an underlying principle, which harmonizes the way in which language is used maximally, effectively, and efficiently to fulfill logical interaction. grice calls this organizing dictum the cp (huang, 1994, p. 4). hence, the cp stats: “make your contribution such as required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged” (grice, 1975, p. 45). 2.1 the maxims of conversation the maxims are general principles which motivate the efficient use of language, and which together identify the cp (crystal, 2008, p. 298). these maxims are set to aid a pragmatic explanation of the divergence between semantic and pragmaticmeanings (segerdahl, 1996, p. 61). leech (1983, p. 8) and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 46 published by scholink inc. cruse (2000, p. 357) point out that these maxims or principles are different from grammatical rules. they isolate four ways to show the dissimilarity: (i) they can be applied to different contexts; (ii) maxims can be applied in different gradations; (iii) they can overlap with each other, and (iv) maxims can be breached up without any rejection to the kind of activity, which they regulate, while breaching up a grammatical rule leads to an ill-formed utterance. 2.1.1 the maxim of quantity this maxim deals with the amount of information delivered. it consists of two sub-maxims (grice, 1975, p. 45): (a) make your contribution as informative as require. (b) don’t make your contribution more informative than is required. locastro (2012, p. 49) comments on this maxim. she says that the maxim of quantity involves what is internally in the text. thus, the speaker has to deliver the required amount of information no more no less. if the speaker provides more or less amount of information, s/he will breach up this maxim, such as: (2) a: why did you leave the meeting early? b: i wanted to. the maxim of quantity comes into play: b’s remark is less informative than is needed, and the reason beyond that is that b does not like to declare the reason because it would be embarrassing, impolite, etc. (leech, 2014, p. 312). this maxim, like the other maxims of conversation, can be hedged, such as: as you probably already know …/i cannot say any more. for example: (3) i would not bore you with the details, but it was an exciting trip. here, the maxim of quantity is violated because the speaker contributes more than is required. the speaker can easily say it was an exciting trip. however, the use of the hedge (i would not bore you with the details, but…) is more than is required (yule, 1996, pp. 38-39). 2.1.2 the maxim of quality this maxim is set to deal with truth-telling. the speaker should provide only the truth. under this maxim fall two sub-maxims (grice, 1975, p. 46): (a) don’t say what you believe to be false. (b) don’t say that for which you lack adequate evidence. locastro (2012, p. 49) states that the maxim of quality, that is, the truth or falsity of the sender utterance, is concerned with aspects that are external to the text. in an interactive talk, the speaker should convey the information, which is true; the information that s/he can prove, otherwise, the maxim is going to be violated. on many occasions, this maxim seems not to be followed. an example is given below to clarify this point (khosravizadeh & sadehvandi, 2011, p. 122): (4) mother: did you study all day long? (son who has been playing all day long) yes, i have been studying untilnow! www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 47 published by scholink inc. the son’s answer is not true. he lies to avoid the undesirable consequences, therefore, he violates the maxim of quality which says (be truthful). there are quality hedges: as far as i know, …/i am not sure if this is true, but… for example: (5) a: i will ring you tomorrow then. b: em, i shall be there as far as i know, and in the meantime have a word with mum and dad if they are free. right, good-bye then sweetheart. a: good-bye, bye. in the above mini-conversation, b breaches up two maxims, on the one hand, the maxim of quality by using a hedging expression (as far as i know) which means “i cannot be totally sure if this is true”, and on the other one, b breaches up the maxim of quantity by saying more than is required (cutting, 2002, p. 35). 2.1.3 the maxim of relation this maxim is simple and straightforward. under this maxim, falls only one principle, which is, be relevant. locasro (2012, p. 49) says the maxim of relevance is of a dissimilar order, and the maxim most frequently breached up. birner (2013, p. 54) states that what is meant by the maxim of relation is that the current utterance must have something to do with the context; it must be related to what has come before it in the conversation and/or what is going on in the situation. hymes (cited in brown and yule, 1983, p. 37) maintains that the context has two crucial functions. on the one hand, context delimits the range of possible interpretations and, on the other one, supports the intended interpretation. context is of two types: (i) the linguistic context or co-text; it can be defined as the set of other words used in the same phrase or sentence and (ii) the context of situation is defined as the time and place in which we encounter linguistic expressions (yule, 2010, pp. 129-130): (6) a: i say, did you hear about mary’s… b: yes, well, it rained nearly the whole time we were there. here, b’s remark is irrelevant to a’s question. thus, b violates the relation maxim because mary gets closer to them, noticed by b but not by a (cruse, 2000, p. 361).the relation maxim can be hedged like: i am not sure if this is relevant, but…/i do not want to change the subject, but… for instance: (7) i do not know if this is important, but some of the files are missing. the speaker, here, does not know whether his remark is relevant or irrelevant; therefore, he violates the maxim of relation (yule, 1996, pp. 38-39). 2.1.4 the maxim of manner this maxim says, “be perspicuous”. the speaker’s contribution to the conversation should not be nebulous and indistinct; rather it should be shortened, obvious, and organized. this maxim is sub-divided into four sub-maxims: (a) avoid obscurity of expression. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 48 published by scholink inc. (b) avoid ambiguity. (c) be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity). (d) be orderly (grice, 1975, p. 46). locastro (2012, p. 49) states that the manner maxim involves the text itself; the semantic form and the manner in which a certain piece of information is observed in the text itself. the speaker should be clear in his participation; otherwise, s/he is going to violate the manner maxim, such as the following instance (leech, 2014, p. 312): (8) a: how did you get here? b: i walked here on my own two feet. in the above utterance, b does not abide by the manner maxim. b can say by uttering one or two words (i walked). hence, b says unnecessary prolixity. besides, the maxim of manner can be hedged such as, i am not sure if this is clear, but…/i do not know if this makes sense, but…, etc. for instance: (9) this may be a bit confused, but i remember being in a car. in the example above, the speaker violates the maxim of manner because the speaker’s statement is vague, whether the speaker is being in a car or not (yule, 1996, pp. 38-39). 2.2 observing and non-observing the maxims maxims observing and non-observing depend on the speakers whether they observe or do not observe the gricean maxims. in observing the maxims, the speaker does not breach up any conversational maxim. s/he can straightforwardly succeed in observing all the maxims. for example: (10) a: where are the car keys? b: they are on the table in the hall. consequently, b observes the maxim of quantity by saying the required amount of information, the maxim of quality by being truthful, the maxim of relation by providing relevant answer, and finally, the maxim of manner by conveying distinct answer (see thomas, 1995, p. 64). on the other extreme, there are many occasions when speakers fail to observe these maxims; see (grice, 1975, p. 49; thomas, 1995, p. 64 and birner, 2013, p. 43). the failure to do so can take various forms: 1). violating: the unostentatious non-observance of a maxim with the aim of misleading the hearer. for example: (11) teacher: why did not you do your homework? student: may i go and get some water? i am so thirsty. in the above example, the student violates the maxim of relation; the student conveys an irrelevant answer to mislead the teacher to avoid the undesirable consequence because the student does not do his homework (khosravizadeh & sadehvandi, 2011, p. 122). 2). flouting: is the deliberate and intentional non-observance of a maxim that the hearer is expected to be aware of the non-fulfillment with no intention of deceiving the other person. for example: (12) a: smith does not seem to have a girlfriend these days. b: he has been paying many visits to new york lately. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 49 published by scholink inc. in the above example, b flouts the maxim of relation by which b means a deliberate and a clear violation. b’s remark contains none of the information that would be expected that smith has a girlfriend in new york; therefore, smith pays lots of visits to new york (kroeger, 2019, p. 144). the difference between examples (11) and (12) is that in (11), the speaker intends to deceive the partner while in (12), the speaker has no aim of misleading. 3). opting out: opting out the maxims altogether, in a sense, means that one refuses to cooperate in a conversation for some reason. for example, one may be legally bound not to provide information one has. an example is given below to clarify this form of non-observance: (13) a: … um i lived in uh a country where people sometimes need to flee that country. b: uh, where was that? a: it is a country in asia and i do not want to say any more. in the above conversation, a opts out two maxims the maxim of quantity because a delivers uninformative piece of information, and the maxim of manner because a’s remark is not clear and not abridged. opting out occurs frequently in public life to avoid being uncooperative, or for ethical reasons, and sometimes the requested answer might hurt a third person; therefore, the speaker opts out the maxims (thomas, 1995, p. 75). 4) a clash between maxims: on some occasion, there is an overlap between maxims. an utterance may be both unclear and prolix, breaching the maxims of quality and quantity (platridge, 2012, p. 47). an example is provided below to state the above point: (14) a: where does c live? b: somewhere in the south of france. in the above instance, b violates two maxims; one is of quality by being untruthful (somewhere in ……) and the other is of quantity since the piece of the information is uninformative as is required. b, then, violates the maxim of quantity (less informative) and the maxim of quality to avoid being a liar (senft, 2014, p. 35). 3. research methodology this section maps out some of the practical facets of the study. the study aims at evaluating the iraqi efl learners’ ability to use the conversational maxims. 3.1 test description a test is the data elicitation tool used in the present study. it is designed in accordance with the nature and aims of the study. it is a recognition test. the technique used in structuring the test of the current study is a multiple-choice test. it is used to examine the students’ ability to recognize the maxims of conversation at the recognition level. it comprises of fifteen items. the items of the test are all of a similar nature. thus, each item of the test is provided with five alternatives. one of the alternatives represents the true response whereby all the gricean maxims are observed. the other four ones represent flouting the four maxims quality, quantity, relation, and manner. in each situation, the contextual factors are taken into www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 50 published by scholink inc. consideration and bracketed in two cases: (i) true responses; when all the conversational maxims are observed, for example: a: how old are you? b: (here is my id) i am twenty. (ii) when the maxim of quality is flouted and no hedges are used, such as: a: how old are you? b: 1) i am twenty. (there is no proof). 2) i am not sure, but it is said i am twenty-two. in b-2, no contextual factors are given since a hedgeisa clear violation of the maxim of quality. after establishing the test, it is sent to a jury, which consists of a number of specialists in approaches and methods of teaching efl to guarantee its validity. 3.2 the subjects of the study the total number of the subjects, on whom the test of the study is applied, is one hundred efl learners at the fourth-year for the academic year (2019-2020) who are selected randomly from the dept. of english, college of education for humanities, university of al-muthanna. the subjects are homogeneous. that is to say, the factors, which are isolated by the researchers include: the level of education, age, both genders are engaged, they share the same first language experience, and they share the same knowledge of english as a fl. 3.3 test objectives, validity and reliability the test is constructed to achieve the following objectives: 1). testing the iraqi efl learners’ mastery of the gricean conversational maxims at the recognition level. 2). examining students’ ability in terms of observing and non-observing the maxims. 3). stating which maxim is mostly flouted. a well-made test is featured by having two qualities; validity and reliability. the test validity is guaranteed by the jury members. all the items of the test are validated and approved. taking into account some suggested modifications and notices on the test’s draft version. as far as the reliability is concerned, the test is reliable because a reliable test must have a consistent scoring scheme. since the testing technique used, in this study, is a multiple-choice one, in which there is only one predetermined correct response, this test is objective one (see heaton, 1988; and tavakoli, 2012, p. 417). 3.4 administration of the test two issues are discussed in relation to the test administration, which are the pilot study and the original test administration. the pilot study is conducted and applied to ten fourth-year students on tuesday 11 february 2020.after carrying out the pilot study, a number of considerations are highlighted include: 1). the required time to perform the test is one hour. 2). the subjects show no difficulties. 3). no modifications are made for the final administration of the test. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 51 published by scholink inc. in this regard, the test administration is conducted on sunday 16th of february 2020. the subjects are asked to perform the test. one hundred efl learners from the dept. of english, college of education for humanities, university of al-muthanna, participate in the test implementation. the subjects are told to answer on the sheet. they are informed that the sheet of the test is name-free to reduce test embarrassment. 4. results and discussion this section includes data analysis and discussion of observing and flouting the maxims of conversation. results are shown via using tables and percentages. 4.1 observing the maxims observing the maxims, henceforth, represents the subjects’ correct responses, which are so because the subjects observe all the conversational maxims. thus, the responses observing the maxims are analyzed and discussed. in all the fifteen items of the test, there is an alternative, which is correct. the letter of the correct alternative is inserted next to the number of the item (see table 1). table 1. the frequency and percentages of observing the maxims item no. observing the maxims % 1. e 46 3.06 2. b 54 3.6 3. d 39 2.6 4. b 59 3.93 5. c 50 3.33 6. d 54 3.6 7. a 62 4.13 8. e 33 2.2 9. b 48 3.2 10. d 43 2.86 11. c 64 4.26 12. a 58 3.86 13. c 45 3 14. d 53 3.53 15. e 40 2.66 total 748/1500 49.87 the test items share the same mechanism in which an alternative is true and the four other ones represent flouting each one of the gricean maxims per option. the results demonstrate that the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 52 published by scholink inc. frequency of the correct responses is 748 responses out of 1500 ones; making 49.87% and this indicates that the participants’ performance in using the maxims altogether is less than average, and this is so because the participants lack practicing the fl in their daily communication. other reasons could be the lack of the necessary pragmatic competence of the fl maxims of conversation which results in misusing the appropriate language in certain context; moreover, the impact of the participants’ first language on the pragmatic performance of the fl. another reason is that arabs are not always abided by the maxims altogether particularly in an ordinary conversation (see issa & ahmed, 2019, pp. 3-13) 4.2 flouting the maxims flouting the maxims stands for the erroneous responses, which are so because the subjects flout one of the maxims per option. unlike violating and opting out which require the speaker’s intention to cheat or refuse to converse, flouting is used in this study to refer to non-observing the maxims because it does not require the testees’ intention to mislead. flouting, thus, is divided into four sub-sections in accordance with the type of the maxim being flouted. 4.2.1 flouting the maxim of quantity the principle of quantity deals with the amount of information conveyed. it says that the producer should deliver the required amount of information, no more no less than is needed. hence, the results of flouting this maxim are illustrated below: table 2. the frequency and percentages of flouting the quantity maxim item no. flouting the quantity maxim % 1. a 5 0.33 2. d 7 0.46 3. a 21 1.4 4. e 6 0.4 5. a 4 0.26 6. c 8 0.53 7. b 12 0.8 8. b 13 0.86 9. c 17 1.13 10. c 33 2.2 11. e 14 0.93 12. c 10 0.66 13. e 10 0.66 14. c 10 0.66 15. c 13 0.86 total 183/1500 12.2 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 53 published by scholink inc. only 183 occurrences flout the maxim of quantity compared to the maximal number of cases in which the high majority of the subjects observe this maxim. this illustrates that the participants flout the maxim of quantity in relatively few cases. the reasons behind the cases in which there is a flouting of the quantity maxim could be the subjects’ low ability in english. in other words, the subjects do not keep drilling english as fl in their daily conversations. as a result, the subjects are limited to english lessons; this causes a limitation in the subjects’ performance in using the fl in general. however, the total percentage of flouting the maxim of quantity in all of the test items is 12.2%. this means that the subjects are good at utilizing the maxim of quantity at the recognition level. 4.2.2 flouting the maxim of quality the maxim of quality says that the speaker should not say anything that s/he does not have an adequate evidence for. in all the fifteen items of the test, there are some occurrences, which represent flouting the maxim of quality, which are shown in table 3. table 3. the frequency and percentages of flouting the quality maxim item no. flouting the quality maxim % 1. b 37 2.46 2. e 20 1.33 3. b 35 2.33 4. c 6 0.4 5. b 15 1 6. b 30 2 7. c 6 0.4 8. c 36 2.4 9. d 16 1.06 10. e 6 0.4 11. d 13 0.86 12. b 15 1 13. d 13 0.86 14. b 19 1.26 15. a 6 0.4 total 273/1500 18.2 table 3 above illustrates that 273 occurrences 18.2% flout the maxim of quality in comparison to 1227 occurrences. however, the total percentage of flouting the quality maxim is 18.2% out of 100% and this denotes that the subjects are good at using this maxim at the recognition level. thus, the majority of the subjects observe this maxim. the reason behind the few occurrences flouting this maxim is that www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 54 published by scholink inc. when the participants are not sure about the item, which contains a hedging maxim, they select the hedging maxim. though using a hedging maxim is a clear violation of that maxim, still using such a hedge is an attempt to follow the cooperative principle and its set of interactive maxims. the interactive activity in english may be best measured by the number of hedging expressions we use to indicate that what we are saying may not be totally accurate (see yule, 1996, p. 38). the subjects’ erroneous responses of flouting the maxim of quality may be because the subjects do not intend to say anything that they have no an adequate evidence for and this is the nature of the maxim in question. another reason may be attributed to the fl norms and cross-culture dissimilarities between english and arabic in some situations. besides, the b. a. program in iraq is not supported by interlanguage studies and contrastive analysis between english and arabic maxims of conversation. 4.2.3 flouting the maxim of relation this principle deals with the amount of information that is relevant to the conversation. the utterance under this principle must have something to do with the context. that is to say, the irrelevant utterance participates in inferring the intended meaning within a particular conversation. therefore, the irrelevant options are given in all the situations presented to the subjects who perform the test of the study. thus, table 4 below shows the results of flouting the relation maxim. table 4. the frequency and percentages of flouting the relation maxim item no. flouting the relation maxim % 1. c 2 0.13 2. a 0 0 3. c 2 0.13 4. d 16 1.06 5. e 2 0.13 6. a 4 0.26 7. e 3 0.2 8. d 10 0.66 9. a 1 0.06 10. b 2 0.13 11. b 3 0.2 12. e 6 0.4 13. a 1 0.06 14. a 2 0.13 15. b 21 1.4 total 75/1500 5 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 55 published by scholink inc. the occurrences 75; it makes 5% flout the maxim of relation out of 1500. this means that the subjects are good at adhering to the maxim in question and they know how to use it at the recognition level. the reason behind the very few cases of flouting the relation maxim is the obvious shift in the topic. 4.2.4 flouting the maxim of manner this maxim says that the speaker should be clear and abridged in his/her contribution to the conversation, and does not say anything that is vague; the speaker should participate to the conversation in a clear, shortened, and organized manner. table 5, thus, shows the results of flouting the maxim under examination. table 5. the frequency and percentages of flouting the manner maxim item no. flouting the manner maxim % 1. d 10 0.66 2. c 19 1.26 3. e 3 0.2 4. e 13 0.86 5. d 29 1.93 6. e 4 0.26 7. d 17 1.13 8. a 8 0.53 9. c 18 1.2 10. a 16 1.06 11. e 6 0.04 12. d 11 0.73 13. b 31 2.06 14. e 16 1.06 15. d 20 1.33 total 221/1500 14. 73 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 56 published by scholink inc. table 5 above shows that only 221 occurrences 14.73% flout the maxim of manner which means that the majority of the subjects observe this maxim. the reasons behind the very low occurrences could be due to the subjects’ little practice of using the fl pragmatic rules and could be the impact of the first language or the subjects do not pay attention to the items very well. 4.2.5 the flouted maxims this sub-section discusses and compares the highest and lowest maxims being flouted. thus, the maxims flouted are stated below in table 6: table 6. flouting the four maxims the maxims flouted frequency % flouting the quantity maxim 183 12.2 flouting the quality maxim 273 18.2 flouting the relation maxim 75 5 flouting the manner maxim 221 14.73 total 752/1500 50.13 the above table shows that the highest maxim being flouted is the quality maxim 18.2% and the lowest one is the relation maxim 5%. since the maxim of quality is flouted, the other maxims must also be flouted. in this regard, grice (1975, p. 46) says, “the other maxims come into operation only on the assumption that the maxim of quality is satisfied”. the manner maxim comes second 14.73%. the percentage of flouting the quantity maxim comes third and this is clear by means of percentage 12.2%. accordingly, the subjects are good at using each maxim in isolation, but they are not very good at using these maxims altogether which is the natural case of ordinary communication. the analysis and discussion show that the maxim of relation comes fourth in the grade of flouted maxims. this means that the participants are very good at adhering to the maxim of relation more than the maxim of quality. the analysis and discussion bring forth the conclusions that the participants flout the four maxims 752 responses out of 1500 ones. thus, this validates the first hypothesis of the study, which states that the iraqi efl learners flout all the conversational maxims. additionally, the results show that the participants find the maxims of conversation difficult to observe at the recognition level. thus, this proves the second hypothesis, which states that the iraqi efl learners find the maxims difficult to follow. furthermore, the results show that the frequency of the subjects’ correct responses are 748 and the incorrect ones are put successively: the maxim of quality 273 responses, the maxim of manner 221, the maxim of quantity 183 responses, and the maxim of relation 75 out of 1500 responses. accordingly, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 57 published by scholink inc. the maxim of quality is the most flouted one, and hence, the third hypothesis, which says that the maxim of quantity is mostly flouted, is refuted and the alternative hypothesis, which says that the maxim of quality is the most flouted one, is accepted. the results also state that the relation maxim is the least flouted maxim 75 times and this verifies the fourth hypothesis, which says that the maxim of relation is the least flouted maxim. thus, as a result of the practical facet of the study, and the results of the analysis and discussion, the findings achieve the research questions, aims, and hypotheses of the present study. generally, the data analysis and discussion arrive at the conclusions that the participants perform incompetently at the recognition level when they use the maxims altogether. that is to say, in some cases, a problem might occur when the subjects are required to observe all maxims. the reasons behind that might be the subjects lack the necessary pragmatic competence of the fl conversational maxims, they may lack practice the fl in their daily communication, and the conversational maxims are not taught and emphasized in a comprehensive way at the university level. another reason might be that language atmosphere does not encourage the participants to use english. a third reason is the interference of the participants’ mother tongue and that the subjects need learning about contrastive analysis between english and arabic in terms of the maxims of conversation. iraqi arabs are not always abided by the four maxims altogether especially in the ordinary communication. furthermore, materials at the university level are not equipped enough to empower learners’ pragmatic rules to use the language in an appropriate manner. another justification of the participants’ performance is the improper methods of teaching to develop speaking and listening skills because such methods place heavy emphasis on the formal aspects of the language, such as grammar, phonetics, and morphology at the stage of learning the fl. at the university level, most of materials focus on teaching grammatical rules rather than the sociolinguistic and pragmatic rules, and this limits the communicative competence of the learners of the fl. it must be taken into consideration that english and arabic are not cognate, hence there are many cross-culture differences and the norms of the fl are different from those of the learners’ native norms, which cause some pragmatic errors in some circumstances. 5. conclusions in the light of the obtained results of data analysis and discussion, the current study arrives at the following conclusions: 1). the iraqi efl learners have difficulty in utilizing the conversational maxims when they are required to observe all the maxims. 2). the iraqi efl learners flout all the maxims of conversation when they are exposed to situations from real life in relatively different degrees. 3). the maxim of quality is the most flouted maxim amongst the other three ones. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 58 published by scholink inc. 4). the maxim of relation is the least flouted one because an irrelevant utterance entirely deviates from the topic, and hence participants have no sufficient knowledge concerning the related meaning conveyed by flouting the relevance principle. 5). the iraqi efl learners are good at using each maxim in isolation, but they are not very good at using these maxims altogether. 6). the maxim of manner comes second in the participants’ incorrect responses after the maxim of quality. 7). the iraqi efl learners have a tendency to utilize hedging maxims to avoid being definite in their responses. 8). the iraqi efl learners lack some of the necessary pragmatic competence of the fl conversational maxims in some cases. 9). the iraqi efl learners do not take into account the notion of context, which is an important element in inferring the intended meaning. 6. implications for pedagogical practice and research as result of the theoretical and practical facets of the study, the following pedagogical matters are recommended: 1). teachers and/or course designers ought to pay much attention to the maxims of conversation, highlighting the significance of such maxims in having a successful conversation, and providing explanations with ample examples for each maxim. 2). the curriculum of educational colleges ought to be well equipped and supported by conversational activities to improve the learners’ fl skills in speaking and listening. 3). teachers ought to focus on the sociolinguistic and pragmatic rules rather than the rules of structures. 4). teachers ought to explain and pay much attention to cross-culture dissimilarities between english and arabic. 5). a contrastive analysis of the conversational maxim should be given to the learners to make them fully understand the fl maxims of conversation. 6). conversations should be emphasized because they represent language in use, and maxims ought to be applied in real situations or in the classroom activity. 7). the b.a. program in the colleges of education for humanities in iraq ought to be provided with studies in interlanguage pragmatics to enhance and deepen the learners’ knowledge of the fl pragmatic notions and models. 8). all the textbooks in pre-university teaching ought to be communicative and include authentic materials so that the learners can use the fl appropriately. as regarding to further studies, the following areas need investigation: 1). a study can be conducted to analyze the violation of conversational maxims in selected political interviews. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 59 published by scholink inc. 2). a contrastive study in english and arabic can be conducted to analyze maxims violation in selected literary works. 3). a study can be projected to analyze explicature in media discourse. 4). an area can be investigated is the violation of maxims in doctor-patient conversation. 5). a study can be conducted to assess the iraqi efl learners’ use of conversational implicature. 6). a study can be conducted to test the iraqi efl learners’ use of hedging expressions. 7). a study can be conducted to examine the iraqi efl learners’ use of explicature. references birner, b. 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(2011). some instances of violation and flouting of the maxim of quantity by the main characters (barry & tim) in dinner for schmucks. international conference on language, literature, and linguistics, 26, 122-127. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 60 published by scholink inc. kroeger, p. (2019). analyzing meaning: an introduction to semantics and pragmatics (2nd ed.). berlin: language science press. leech, g. (1983). principles of pragmatics. london: longman. leech, g. (2014). the pragmatics of politeness. oxford: oxford university press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341386.001.0001 locastro, v. (2012). pragmatics for language educators: a sociolinguistic perspective. new york: routledge taylor & francis group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203850947 paltridge, b. (2012). discourse analysis (2nd ed.). new delhi: bloomsbury. schauer, g. 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(2010). the study of language (4th ed.). cambridge: cambridge university press. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 38 original paper current status and prospect of research on foreign language learning enjoyment yuting yang1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: november 27, 2023 accepted: december 23, 2023 online published: january 12, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p38 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p38 abstract this study adopts the literature research method to analyze a total of 20 empirical studies on foreign language learning enjoyment from 2018 to 2023, and the results show that foreign language enjoyment positively predict foreign language learning effectiveness, and foreign language enjoyment plays a mediating role between second language grit and other factors such as communicative willingness. however, most of the previous studies focus on college students from urban areas, and the research methods are mainly quantitative, with few tracking studies and qualitative interviews. thus, future research can pay more attention to lower grade students from rural areas, and increase observational or tracking studies to enhance the research reliability. keywords second language acquisition, foreign language learning, enjoyment emotions, positive psychology 1. introduction for a long period, second language acquisition was regarded by scholars as a brain-driven and emotionless process (dewaele et li, 2020). it was not until macintyre and gregersen first introduced positive psychology into the second language acquisition field and proposed that positive emotions can improve foreign language learners’ ability to focus on new things during language learning process and help learners absorb more linguistic information (macintyre & gregersen, 2012), that scholars began to realize that second language acquisition was a process influenced by emotions, and started a systematic exploration of what roles learners’ emotions play in the process of second language acquisition (macintyre & gregersen, 2012; dewaele & macintyre, 2014) . positive psychology advocates the positive side of psychology, studies the positive mental qualities of human beings, and pays attention to the health, happiness, and harmonious development of human beings. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 39 published by scholink inc. inspired by the fundamental theory of positive psychology, broaden-and-build theory, scholars have categorized emotions into positive and negative emotions and explored the different influencing mechanisms of positive and negative emotions on foreign language learning (macintyre & gregersen, 2012). based on the fact that the research on foreign language learning emotions in china is still in the developmental stage, this study searches and sorts out 20 core studies focusing on foreign language enjoyment emotion published from 2018 to 2023, and analyzes the current status of the field in terms of its definitional connotation, theoretical foundation, research content, research background, and research methodology, and provides relevant topics for the future research on positive emotions in the field of second language acquisition. 2. definition and theoretical basis of foreign language enjoyment 2.1 conceptual connotations enjoyment is one of the basic emotions of human beings, including specific emotions such as happiness, pleasure, gladness, etc. it refers to the psychological state of pleasure, tranquility, peace, and fulfillment that people bring to their hearts when they feel the external things or the surrounding environment. generally, enjoyment emotions have two major sources: internal state of mind and external environment. scholars’ definition of foreign language enjoyment mainly focuses on the emotional characteristics of the emotion. foreign language enjoyment is one of the positive emotions experienced by most learners in the process of foreign language learning, which can effectively improve foreign language learners’ classroom participation and foreign language learning efficiency (saito et al., 2018). dewaele and macintyre defined foreign language enjoyment as “a broad range of positive emotions experienced by foreign language learners during the process of engaging in language learning activities”, and they collected empirical data to compare foreign language enjoyment and anxiety, pointing out that foreign language enjoyment is a sense of achievement and reward through breakthroughs in challenging foreign language activities, which can contribute to personal well-being and self-development (dewaele & macintyre, 2014). teimouri defined foreign language enjoyment as “the positive emotions that language learners experience during the process of learning or using the target language, either in a specific pedagogical context or in an authentic, real-life situation (teimouri, 2018)”. based on the control-value theory of academic emotion, pekrun and linnenbrink-garcia argued that enjoyment belonged to the category of activity emotion, which was a positive emotion with high arousal (pekrun & linnenbrink, 2012). learners are likely to feel enjoyment when they perceive positive value in academic achievement activities and when they are learning to the best of their ability. dewaele and macintyre pointed out that enjoyment not only occurred when people’s needs are met, but also motivated them to continue to do something new or unexpected (dewaele & macintyre, 2016). jin and zhang believed that enjoyment was the most important emotion for foreign language learners in second language acquisition field, and they thought enjoyment was a type of trait-like enjoyment perceived by foreign language www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 40 published by scholink inc. learners in a foreign language learning situation, and it was closely related to the academic situation (jin & zhang, 2018). it can be concluded that scholars agree foreign language enjoyment is a positive feeling produced by learners in foreign language learning process that promotes the motivation of learning foreign language, and is highly situational in nature, and has a close relationship with the teacher and the learning environment. it’s shown that foreign language enjoyment can significantly promote learners’ foreign language learning effectiveness and enhance students’ classroom experience, thus promoting foreign language learning efficiency (li, 2022; dong & liu, 2022). in addition, foreign language enjoyment is positively related with learners’ foreign language achievement. when learners’ foreign language achievement improves, foreign language enjoyment will be improved accordingly, and the learners may have better performance in the subsequent foreign language learning process; on the contrary, if learners’ foreign language achievement is lower than expected, foreign language enjoyment will be reduced, or even negative, which will have negative impact on foreign language learning. therefore, most of the existing emotion research has been devoted to explore interventions to enhance positive emotions and reduce negative emotions, with the aim of maximizing positive emotions during the learning process to stimulate students’ passion for foreign language learning and improve the efficiency of foreign language learning. 2.2 theories related to foreign language enjoyment research academic emotions are an important area of research in educational psychology, among which theories of the causes of learner emotions in second language acquisition have sparked a great deal of discussion among scholars. broaden-and-build theory and control-value theory are the two core theories in the field of emotion research in second language acquisition. broaden-and-build theory believes that negative and positive emotions exist simultaneously and play different roles in foreign language learning process; control-value theory was proposed by pekrun in 2016, the three-dimensional framework of this theory advocates defining academic emotions in terms of the three dimensions of potency, activity, and targeting, which is considered the most comprehensive and systematic theory of academic emotions at present because of its focus on the causes of emotions and the comprehensive explanation of the cyclical relationship between academic emotions, their antecedents, and their consequences. in addition, there are other theories of emotion causes including control-process theory, emotion attribution theory, wellbeing theory, and so on. the 20 collected studies are mostly based on control-value theory, for example, li and han investigated the levels of enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom and the relationship among the three emotions of nonenglish-major freshmen in online foreign language classes in china through questionnaires from the perspective of control-value theory, explored the individual and collaborative predictive effects of the three emotions on the learning effectiveness of the online foreign language classes, and it is confirmed that foreign language boredom has more negative effects on foreign language achievement than foreign language anxiety does (li & han, 2022). based on the control-value theory, li analyzed how foreign www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 41 published by scholink inc. language enjoyment and foreign language boredom are related to the internal factors of the learners and the teachers, and found that foreign language emotions are affected by both learners and teachers, and suggested that foreign language classrooms should increase the number of activities that promote foreign language enjoyment and reduce boredom (li, 2022). however, the theory has not paid enough attention to foreign language teachers so far, which could be a breakthrough for future research. in addition, most of the studies based on extension-construction theory and control-value theory have been conducted mainly offline, so the applicability of these theories of emotion causes to other learning modes remains to be explored. some of the collected studies only reviewed and described foreign language emotion theories in the literature review section (mihai et al., 2022), but did not explain the connection between the research questions and theories, and failed to use these theories to explore the research findings in depth. 3. research methodology and research questions of foreign language enjoyment 3.1 research methodology in empirical research, the research methodology includes the nature of the research method used (quantitative/ qualitative/ mixed methods), the number of subjects, the research instrument, the instrument reliability, and validity as well as the type of study and the cycle time of the study. among the 20 studies, there are 16 quantitative studies, for example, dewaele and li used a questionnaire to collect information from 1415 subjects to investigate the relationship between self-efficacy, foreign language enjoyment and english proficiency, and wei et al. also used a questionnaire to confirm the mediating role of enjoyment in the relationship between linguistic thinking patterns and willingness to communicate with a second language (wei, wu, & chen, 2021). there are 3 qualitative studies, specifically, cui and meng used questionnaires and interviews to study the relationship between college students’ self-efficacy, foreign language enjoyment and english proficiency (cui & meng, 2023). there is only one mixedmethod study, that is, li et al. adopted a mixed-method approach to test the reliability and validity of the chinese version of the foreign language enjoyment scale (fles) (li, jiang, & dewaele, 2018). the sample sizes of the 20 studies range from 6 to more than 2,000, and most of the quantitative instruments are the foreign language enjoyment scale (fles) and self-reported scales, while the qualitative instruments include interviews, writing questionnaires, as well as q&a, and some of the quantitative studies are accompanied by english language tests. of all the studies, six report the reliability of the questionnaires, and in terms of the type of study, all the studies are cross-sectional, with no experimental or tracking studies, and most of the studies are conducted only once. 3.2 research questions according to the analysis of the collected studies, it is found that the current research on foreign language enjoyment emotions mainly focuses on the following aspects. first, correlations between foreign language enjoyment and other emotions such as anxiety, boredom, and grit (li c. & li w., 2023). for example, foreign language boredom has a more negative impact on www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 42 published by scholink inc. foreign language enjoyment than foreign language anxiety, and enjoyment has a small to moderate negative correlation with anxiety, a medium to high negative correlation with boredom, while anxiety has a small to moderate positive correlation with boredom (dong & liu, 2022). second, the predictive effect of enjoyment on foreign language learning effectiveness is also one of the focuses of research. for example, jin and zhang investigated the different aspects of the construct of foreign language enjoyment and how these aspects affect the pattern of foreign language learning effectiveness, and the analysis results showed that foreign language enjoyment has a direct effect on students’ english performance, while teacher-supportive enjoyment and peer-supportive enjoyment indirectly affect english performance through foreign language enjoyment (jin & zhang, 2018). based on the control-value theory, li and li investigated how three emotions, enjoyment, boredom, and anxiety, affect foreign language learning achievement among junior high school students in rural china, and the results showed that enjoyment was the strongest predictor of foreign language learning achievement (li c. & li, 2023). dong and liu examined the effect paths of foreign language enjoyment on foreign language achievement through structural equation modeling, and showed that foreign language enjoyment significantly and positively predicted foreign language learning outcomes (li & han, 2022). third, other factors that affect foreign language enjoyment are also a major part of the research. anna and hande investigated the extent to which positive language education improves learners’ enjoyment of a foreign language based on the extensional-constructive theory (anna & hande, 2023). rezazadeh and zarrinabadi investigated the different aspects of “need for closure” and “need for cognition” that can directly or indirectly predict anxiety and boredom in a foreign language by means of a self-report questionnaire, confirming that cognitive factors play an integral role in the development of learners’ emotions (rezazadeh & zarrinabadi, 2023). in addition, teachers also play an important role in promoting students’ foreign language enjoyment, and their educational practices such as classroom task design, value orientation of classroom activities or content, emotional intervention and emotion regulation can enhance students’ positive academic emotions (mihai, 2022; jiang & dewaele, 2019). thinking styles also have an impact on foreign language enjoyment, for example, based on the control-value theory and thinking mode theory, li et al. found that there were significant differences in the levels of foreign language enjoyment and anxiety among students with different types of thinking styles by one-way anova, which further supported the applicability of control-value theory in second language acquisition field from the perspective of the individual (li et al., 2023). a comparative study of the extent to which chinese students’ foreign language enjoyment and foreign language anxiety differ from those of foreign students was conducted, and it was found that there were similarities and differences between domestic and foreign students in terms of foreign language emotions, and finally it was suggested that foreign language enjoyment is more likely to be stimulated by teachers, while foreign language anxiety is more related to students’ internal factors. the fourth one is the mediating role of foreign language enjoyment in teaching and learning. for example, wang explored the effect of second language grit on selected english majors’ communicative intention www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 43 published by scholink inc. and the mediating role of foreign language enjoyment and anxiety through structural equation modeling method by using the expansion-construction theory and control-value theory as the theoretical framework (wang, 2023). the results showed that foreign language enjoyment was significantly positively correlated with communicative intention, and anxiety was negatively correlated with it. wei et al. investigated the effects of emotional intelligence on the second language communicative intention of selected chinese non-english-major freshman, and also tested the moderating role of linguistic thinking patterns and learning emotions by means of a questionnaire survey and structural equation modeling, which confirmed that emotional intelligence had a direct predictive effect on second language communicative intention, and enjoyment played an important role in the moderation of linguistic thinking patterns and learning emotions in the moderating role of linguistic thinking patterns and learning emotions, which also confirmed pekrun’s control-value theory which holds that positive learning emotions can enhance learners’ cognition, effectively regulate learning behaviors, and increase learning engagement. the fifth is studies examining the relationship between self-efficacy, foreign language enjoyment and english proficiency. for example, dewaele and li examined how foreign language enjoyment and foreign language anxiety are related to foreign language learning effectiveness and self-accomplishment based on the control-value theory from six aspects, and the results showed that learners’ self-efficacy could better predict foreign language enjoyment and anxiety than actual foreign language test scores do. dong examined the predictive effects of foreign language learning control-value ratings on anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom by chinese english language learners, and the study verified the effectiveness of the control-value paradigm of academic emotions in second language acquisition (dong, 2022). based on the perspective of positive psychology, cui and meng explored the relationship between self-efficacy, foreign language enjoyment, and english proficiency of 276 college students who were not majoring in english through a questionnaire survey and interviews, and some of the results showed that personal foreign language enjoyment was related to classroom atmosphere. foreign language enjoyment mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and english proficiency (cui & meng, 2023). finally, research scholars continue to validate the reliability and validity of the foreign language enjoyment scale. the development of the scale requires the collection of data from a large number of learners of different ages and levels of foreign language learning to validate the reliability and validity of the scale statistically, so that the scale can be more widely used. li et al. confirmed the reliability and validity of the chinese version of the foreign language enjoyment scale through a quantitative-qualitative mixed-methods approach in anhun province of china, and the results showed that the reliability and validity of the chinese version of the foreign language enjoyment scale were good, and that students’ foreign language enjoyment experiences were most influenced by teacher factors, secondly by self enjoyment, and least influenced by environmental enjoyment( li, jiang, & dewaele, 2018). this further www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 44 published by scholink inc. confirmed dewaele et al.’s earlier finding that teachers play a key role in stimulating students’ foreign language enjoyment experiences (dewaele et al., 2017). 4. discussion in this paper, the research background and research methodology are discussed differently for the convenience of discussion. the research background refers to the research area, the native language of the subjects, the target language, the current level of foreign language, the level of education of the learning model, and the major, etc. the papers are sorted according to the last name of the authors of the 20 collected studies, and the specific backgrounds are shown in table 1. table 1. overview of the background of research on foreign language enjoyment studies country area native language of learners foreign language study mode foreign language study segment anna & hande (2023) turkey turkish off-line college students cui & meng (2023) shandong chinese off-line sophomore and junior dewaele & li (2022) china chinese off-line second-year senior dong (2022) a province of western china chinese off-line first-year senior dong & liu (2022) a province of western china chinese off-line first and second-year senior jiang (2020) beijing chinese off-line freshman jiang & dewaele (2019) beijing chinese off-line freshman jin & zhang (2021) shandong chinese off-line first-year senior li (2022) china chinese off-line undergraduate and graduate students www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 45 published by scholink inc. li et al. (2018) anhui chinese off-line senior high students li et al. (2023) beijing chinese off-line freshman li& han (2022) china chinese on-line freshman li & li (2023) anhui chinese off-line first-year junior mihai et al. (2022) romania romanian on-line freshman and sophomore rezazadeh & zarrinabadi (2020) iranian persian off-line undergraduates wang (2023) shanghai chinese off-line sophomore wang et al. (2023) northeaster n china chinese off-line sophomore wei et al. (2021) shanghai, jiangsu, guizhou, liaoning chinese off-line freshman yang (2023) iranian persian off-line bachelor of arts zhang et al. (2021) shanxi chinese on-line sophomore note. english is the target language for all participants table 1 shows that the foreign language enjoyment studies are mainly conducted in china (16 studies) and relatively few in other countries, iran (2 studies), turkey (1 study), and romania (1 study). as far as the native language background is concerned, the corresponding 16 studies were in chinese and the rest were in persian, turkish and romanian. the target language of all the above studies is english. 12 out of 20 studies has reported subjects’ foreign language proficiency (one of them is an english language teacher), and only 3 subjects’ learning mode is online. in terms of subjects’ educational level, only one of them targets middle school students in rural areas, while the rest studies target senior students such as college school students from universities, and the group of university students was also dominated by non-english majors. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 46 published by scholink inc. the current research on foreign language learning enjoyment mainly focuses on its predictive effect on foreign language learning effectiveness, the relationship between foreign language enjoyment and other foreign language learning emotions, and exploring the mediating role of foreign language enjoyment. in recent years, the research in this field has become more and more perfect, but there are still some limitations, for example, as far as the subject learning mode is concerned, there are few studies exploring the online and offline mixed mode, so the future research can pay more attention to the process of mixedmode foreign language teaching, and beside the most common offline and online teaching modes, the future research can also consider the impact of some innovative learning modes on foreign language learning emotions. in addition, the selection of research objects is biased toward senior students in urban areas, while less attention is paid to students in the lower sections from rural places. what’s more, the research methodology of the existing studies is relatively limited, and most of the studies are based on cross-sectional and quantitative method, lacking observational or tracking studies. in the future, the study of foreign language enjoyment can take these limitations as breakthroughs to further perfect the study of foreign language enjoyment. 5. conclusion and prospect the introduction of positive psychology in the second language acquisition has changed the focus of foreign language emotion research, scholars began to focus on foreign language enjoyment emotions, opening up the era of second language acquisition emotion research dominated by positive emotions, stimulating the interest of many scholars at home and abroad in the study of foreign language enjoyment, and the goal of positive psychology coincides with the concept of quality education, so we advocate positive education should be applied in foreign language teaching, maximize the positive emotions of students in the process of foreign language teaching, and then enhance students’ foreign language achievement and happiness. in this paper, 20 studies on foreign language enjoyment from 2018 to 2023 are sorted out, and the current status of some of the existing studies on foreign language enjoyment is presented by analyzing and organizing the research content, research background and research methodology: first of all, from the perspective of research methodology, the existing research is mostly quantitative, while qualitative and mixed research is relatively lacking, and the number of cross-sectional studies is far more than tracking or experimental studies, most of the data collection is based on questionnaires, and there is almost no classroom observation or tracking records, so future research can increase the proportion of qualitative methods, and tracking as well as experimental studies are encouraged to enhance the reliability of the data. secondly, from the perspective of research objects, most of the research on foreign language emotions in china takes college students and other senior students as the objects, especially lacking of investigations on junior students in primary and secondary schools in rural areas like northwest china. under the premise of the national strategy of developing the western region, the educational research should pay www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 47 published by scholink inc. more attention to the students in the more remote areas. in addition, very few scholars have taken foreign language teachers as the objects of research, but teachers play an important role in foreign language teaching, therefore, future research can increase the study of the emotions of students in the lower grades in remote areas as well as the foreign language teachers. thirdly, from the viewpoint of the learning mode of the research objects, most of the studies are mainly offline, and the studies focusing on online learning account for a relatively small proportion, while in the information age, online learning mode is becoming more and more common and online learning plays an important role in cultivating students’ independence, so the future research on foreign language enjoyment should pay more attention to the online mode or the online-offline mixed mode. finally, most of the studies only focus on the traditional foreign language teaching classroom, ignoring some other foreign language learning and education scenarios, for example, extracurricular speaking classes, english speech contests, english corners, and other learning scenarios, so that future studies can also start from these aspects to carry out a wider study of foreign language enjoyment emotions under foreign language learning scenarios. there are still gaps in foreign language enjoyment studies that need to be explored. enjoyment emotions are widely present in foreign language learning process, and studies have proved that foreign language enjoyment can effectively improve students’ foreign language classroom experience as well as the effectiveness of foreign language learning. therefore, future research can adopt the concept of positive foreign language education and explore classroom interventions that can effectively enhance foreign language enjoyment to increase the sense of academic achievement for students as well as the sense of occupational well-being for teachers. references anna, l. p., & hande, e. d. 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(2018). understanding chinese high school students’ foreign language enjoyment: validation of the chinese version of the foreign language enjoyment scale (article). system, 76, 183-196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.06.004 macintyre, p. d., & gregersen, t. (2012). emotions that facilitate language learning: the positive broadening power of the imagination. studies in second language learning and teaching, 2, 193213. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2012.2.2.4 https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2014.4.2.5 https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168817692161 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2019.02.017 https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2018.1526253 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263122000031 https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688221090324 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.06.004 https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2012.2.2.4 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 49 published by scholink inc. mihai, m. et al. 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(2021). a study on the relationship between emotional intelligence, linguistic thinking patterns and second language communicative intention. foreign language community, 6, 80-89. xu, j. f. (2020). new trends in foreign language education: a positive psychology perspective. english studies, 2, 155⁃164. yang, s., mostafa, a. n., elouise b., & dewaele, j.-m. (2023). let’s get positive: how foreign language teaching enjoyment can create a positive feedback loop. studies in second language learning and teaching, 1, 17-38. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.32358 zhao, y. l. (2023). on the relationship between second language learners’ grit, hope, and foreign language enjoyment. heliyon, e13887-e13887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13887 https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084527 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2018-7_12 https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2020.1798972 https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12297 https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2019.1614184 https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12511 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1098916 https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.32358 https://scholar.cnki.net/journal/index/sjes240584403474 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13887 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 38 original paper reflections on the use of corporal punishment to curb indiscipline of learners in a school setting ige akindele matthew1 1 school services, ondo state ministry of education, science and technology, akure, ondo state, nigeria received: august 5, 2024 accepted: august 25, 2024 online published: september 9, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n4p38 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n4p38 abstract although there are different strategies for tackling the issue of indiscipline of learners, the use of corporal punishment has been very popular and contentious. while many people favour its use to curb the indiscipline of learners, due to the associated advantages, another school of thought views it to be too harsh for learners and thus should be banned. in this paper, the meaning of corporal punishment, its forms, causes, and advantages, particularly, the fact that it can deter a learner from indulging in wrong behaviour and help him/her learn better, among others, are discussed. the disadvantages inherent in the use of the approach, such as the injury it inflicts on learners, among others, are also examined. the paper recommends the use of other approaches to curb the indiscipline of learners, while a regulated corporal punishment that will not violate the rules and strategies to achieve effective management of the indiscipline of learners, is also recommended for the schools’ administrators. keywords reflection, use, punishment, corporal punishment, curb, indiscipline, learner, school, setting 1. introduction there is a growing concern about the rampant cases of indiscipline of learners in schools. no doubt, the achievement of quality education in a school depends greatly on the discipline shown by the learners. unruly behaviour of learners is a threat to the achievement of quality education. studies have found that learner disciplinary problem is a major concern of the stakeholders in education, including school administrators and one of the challenges facing teachers in schools (yaghambe & icarbord, 2013), as well as an obstacle to the achievement of effective teaching and learning in schools. many researchers have tried to identify the most efficacious methods of enhancing discipline in schools. the use of punishment is meant to instill discipline and is usually meted out to any learner who violates www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 39 published by scholink inc. the rules and regulations in school, thus bringing a desirable change in behaviour in a learner, as well as improving school discipline. the use of corporal punishment has however generated much debate, especially its efficacy and consequences on the learner, since time immemorial. the use of this kind of punishment in schools has roots in the british colonial practices that encouraged the widespread caning of learners whenever a teacher noticed that they violated any of the school’s rules and regulations or performed woefully in tests or examinations. gradually, the practice has become an accepted method of enhancing discipline in schools, to the extent that it now has a high degree of cultural acceptance and approval. 2. discipline and indiscipline concepts different authors have attempted to define the word ‘discipline’. abubakar (2000) sees it as the ability and willingness to do what one ought to do without any external control or interference. ogundele (2014) sees it as the respect for school laws and regulations, as well as the maintenance of an established standard of behaviour which implies self-control, restraint, and respect for oneself and others. in light of these definitions, a disciplined individual can be considered as he/she who knows and takes the right action at all times; always guided not by self-interest but by consideration of the interest of others with which his/her interest may clash; guided in behaviour by moral and social principles. indiscipline is a household word which takes its root from the word ‘discipline’. in other words, where there is no discipline, indiscipline thrives. anything that goes contrary to any of the aforementioned attributes in the way an individual behaves constitutes indiscipline. it is an act of wrongdoing, misconduct, negligence of norms, and cultures of a social system, as well as any action considered wrong and not accepted as proper in any society. it is a universal concept, common in government offices, private sector, politics, and all levels of educational institutions. to make its meaning better understood, timothy (2008) defines it as the unwillingness of learners to respect the constituted authority, observe and obey the school rules and regulations, as well as maintain a high standard of behaviours, conducive to the teachinglearning process and essential to the smooth running of the school, to achieve the desired educational objectives with ease. 3. importance of discipline of learners in schools according to dare, hashim, sweinan, and ofie (2004), cited in zubaida (2009) discipline in school is the respect for school laws, regulations, and maintenance of an established standard of behaviour which implies self-control, restraint, respect for oneself, and others. according to oplatka & atias (2007), it entails self-control, restraint, respect for oneself and others; as well as the extent to which the school community views the learner’s behaviour as the appropriate socially accepted behaviour. in a school, discipline is essential for effective management of the set goals. the provision of quality education and training is the ultimate goal of any school. the success of teaching is reflected in the academic performance of the learners. this goal can never be achieved where indiscipline thrives. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 40 published by scholink inc. effective discipline thus helps in the achievement of the goals, expectations, and responsibilities of learners. also, the maintenance of discipline creates a good image for a school and prepares a learner for the future. it is key to a learner in his/her journey to adulthood. zubaida (2009), cited in magwa and ngara (2014), emphasized that discipline provides conditions that promote learning. for a school to succeed in discharging the duty of training learners without any hitch, there should be discipline among the learners. a school where indiscipline thrives is bound to be chaotic while the achievement of the set goals will be a mirage. the need for school administrators, teachers, parents, and the general public to eliminate indiscipline in schools is therefore imperative. according to oosthuizen (2009), maintaining discipline is essential for creating a positive school climate that is conducive to good academic performance. this is supported by sonn (2009) who opined that a school without effective discipline of learners will be unmanageable and can result in unmotivated and demoralized learners which in turn can lead to poor academic performance of the learners. according to gaustad (2005), maintenance of discipline in schools has three main objectives, the first is to ensure the safety of staff and learners, the second is to create a conducive environment for learning and the third is to produce productive, disciplined and honest graduates at all levels. 4. forms of indiscipline of learners several forms of indiscipline of learners pervade schools, particularly classroom and within school premises, as well as outside school premises. lewis (1991), cited in morongwa (2010) identified three types of misbehaviour of learners in the classroom, such as misbehaviour that inhibits the learner’s learning, misbehaviour by one learner which impedes the learning of another, and misbehaviour which is disrespectful, defiant to the educator. these misbehaviours, according to him, can be committed intentionally or unintentionally and include: • consistent lateness to class and disruption of the flow of the class; • talking while a teacher is addressing the class; • writing graffiti on school property; • not listening and asking questions that have already been answered; • defying the teacher refusing to follow instructions; and • moving around in class to the point of becoming a distraction. donnelly (2000) listed other behaviours in schools, as fighting, insubordination, little support for learners, disrespect, and distrust of administration. according to alidzulwi (2000), some schools are battlefields since learners carry weapons, guns and knives to schools. there are reported cases of learners stabbing their educators and principals with pangas (a large heavy knife used as a weapon for cutting vegetation) and fighting each other using weapons. zubaida (2009) also listed the behavioural problems among learners as truancy, fighting, shouting, snatching other learners’ property, bullying, cheating, viewing pornographic materials, and threatening teachers, among others. muchemwa (2016) identified alcoholwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 41 published by scholink inc. related cases, theft, and forgery while ngwokabuenui (2015) found disobedience to teachers and prefects and unacceptable habits by learners. 5. factors influencing indiscipline of learners scholars have carried out extensive studies on the issue of indiscipline of learners and identified factors that can influence it. for example, ozigi and canlan (1979), cited in oyetubo and olaiya (2009), presented seven causes of the menace, as: (a). idea of democracy with the emphasis on the rights and freedom of the individual; (b) ‘generation gap’ in ideas, beliefs and values about the nature of man, life and society. there is a wide difference of opinion in these matters between the two generations, the young and the old; (c) high-level sophistication of young men and women compared with those of the old generation; (d) influence of the media (i.e. the newspaper, the radio and television) which carry regular reports about learners’ power against authority; (e) failure of the adults, both in society and at school to set standards of good behaviours for young men and women to follow; (f) failure of homes to provide basic and essential moral training in the upbringing of the children and the failure of parents to set good examples; and (g) failure in communication between young men and women, insisting on their rights and the authorities who tend to see the issues involved simply from the “official” point of view. also, morongwa (2010), linked indiscipline to eight factors, including parental/home influence, teachers/educators, political, social, and economic factors; learners with emotional problems, head teachers/principals factor, the influence of gender and race; as well as public schools versus private schools. parson (2004) also identified the causes of indiscipline as the school, society, wrong ideals, idleness, lack of good leadership, injustice, lack of realistic rules, and bad home training and upbringing. timothy (2008) also identified five causes of indiscipline. all the causes identified by nwakoby (2001) and timothy (2008) in addition to those previously identified by researchers are however different but the same in a way and are summarily presented as follows: home influence/parental factor; school authority/heat teachers’ factor; educators/school staff factor; mass media factor; society; student/peer group; and curriculum. parson (2004), cited in ali., dada, isiaka., and salmon (2014), also identified the school, society, wrong ideals, idleness, lack of good leadership, injustice, lack of realistic rules, bad home training, and upbringing, while gyan, korang, mccarthy, and mccarthy (2015) found the factors influencing indiscipline of learners to be the students themselves, school factor, parents, and media. a study, by attieno (2014), on the cause of indiscipline in secondary schools in the makadara district in nairobi kenya, further found that most indiscipline cases were due to the environment and homes, particularly; the use of mobile phones, responsibilities at home, matatu menace and sheng-’speaking. muchemwa (2016) further identified indiscipline cases at solusi university in zimbabwe as lack of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 42 published by scholink inc. allocation of food by the university, absence of a beer garden in the vicinity of the university, as well as moral values emphasized by the university to the students while another study of the factors that influence the behaviour of the secondary school students who are adolescents, by louis (2017), revealed that the school, family, peer pressure, community and news media negatively impacted on the student behaviour. 6. approaches to the management of indiscipline of learners there are different approaches to the management of indiscipline of learners notable among these is the controversial corporal punishment which according to neto (2013) has been operational for a long time, at home and outside home. others include verbal condemnation, temporary/permanent withdrawal of post, expulsion, suspension, canning, physical punishment, detention, reprimanding, kneeling, guidance and counselling, fining, use of rewards, wearing school uniform at all times, self-commitment in writing to maintain good behaviour, pinching, slapping and smacking, picking rubbish within school premises, raising of hands up or forward for long period, sweeping of classrooms, cutting of bushes within school premises, cleaning of toilet and general cleaning of classrooms and school premises, sending learner out of class, cutting grasses, in-school suspension, the reprimanding of a learner in front of the principal, parents and other learners (nicky, 2011; enose, 2012; nakpodia, 2010; tallam, et al., 2015). according to rono (2006), while some methods are effective in managing the challenge in schools, some are encouraging it. studies have also identified the efficacy of the different strategies for managing the indiscipline of learners in schools. for example, a study of factors contributing to indiscipline in primary schools in nyeri central sub-county, kenya, by patrick and njogu (2018), found that 55% of the teachers adopted guidance and counselling strategy in the enforcement of discipline in schools while 7.1%) adopted corporal punishment. also, etesi (2012) found that suspension, expulsion, and other punitive strategies are not the solution to indiscipline. according to him, the out-of-school suspension is ineffective in correcting indiscipline while the removal of the offending learner from the classroom prevents him or her from learning and provides no means for preventing or reducing future misbehaviour. another study on the effectiveness of alternative strategies used in the starehe division, nairobi county, kenya, by agesa (2015), found that the effectiveness of the strategies varies from one school to another and depends on the offence committed by each learner. it was further revealed that for minor cases, manual punishment was effective, while for major cases, alternative strategies, such as suspension, exclusion, guidance and counseling, peer mediation, and teacher-student conferences were effective. also, a study, by lewis et al. (2005) in china, israel, and australia, revealed that one-to-one discussions with the learners, identification and recognition of responsible behaviour without demanding improvement, are productive strategies that reduce misbehaviour and increase learner responsibility. they further confirmed that the aggression of teachers and punishment negatively affect learners’ attitudes towards their school work and teachers. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 43 published by scholink inc. in another study, carried out using australian learners from eight different secondary schools, by roache and lewis (2011), it was found that a combination of hinting, recognition, rewards, discussion, and involvement “encouraged greater levels of communal responsibility. another study of the effects of disciplinary strategies on students’ behaviour in public secondary schools in matungulu district, machakos county in kenya, by edward (2013), found that 60.4% agreed that manual activities helped achieve improved student behaviour, 51.4% stressed that denial of privileges does not help improve student behaviour, 58.6% were of the view that suspension from school was effective in improving student behaviour and a majority of 81.4% supported the view that guidance and counselling help improve student behaviour. 7. corporal punishment and reflections on its use in schools the word ‘corporal’ is derived from the latin ‘corpus’, meaning a body, while the concept ‘punishment’ derives from the same root (latin poena), just as the words ‘penalty’ and ‘pain’ (maurer, 1974, cited in ojo (2018). corporal punishment is thus defined as the intentional application of physical pain as a method of behaviour change (straus & mouradian, 1998, cited in ojo, 2018). it is the physical chastisement of a learner who violates any of a school’s rules and regulations, the purpose of which is to guide the learner from indulging in negative attitudes, effecting a reformation or performing an action in the interest of order, rule, or control by the authority. it uses a variety of methods, such as hitting, slapping, spanking, punching, kicking, pinching, shaking, shoving, choking, and the use of various objects (i.e., wooden paddles, belts, sticks, pins, or others), painful body postures (such as placing in a closed space), use of electric shock, use of excessive exercise drills, or prevention of urine or stool elimination (gershoff, & bitensky, 2007). the use of corporal punishment is a widespread and popular approach to tackling indiscipline of learners in schools. there are however advantages and disadvantages inherent in its use which have culminated in two schools of thought, regarding its acceptability. while a school of thought favours its use in schools because of the associated advantages, another school of thought abhors it, based on the dangers posed by its use in schools. as of today, different forms of indiscipline pervade schools (ojo, 2018; busienei, 2012). a lot of learners now indulge in indiscipline attitudes with impunity thus believing that no serious punishment can be meted out to them by the school management and the teachers, and as such will not hesitate to repeat such behaviour in the future. it is believed that this kind of punishment could deter learners from wrong behaviours and help them learn better in schools. there is a common saying that ‘spare the rod, spoil the child’, when a child is not corrected while indulging in bad behaviours, he/she may grow in these and become spoilt completely. it is thus not surprising that some apprehended armed robbers at the point of execution while asking them to give their last remark will confess that they started robbery and other vices in schools while some will go further to attribute these to the negligence of their parents at the tender ages. the use of corporal punishment is therefore viewed as an effective way to correct learners’ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 44 published by scholink inc. misbehaviours and make them study harder. it is capable of creating fear in a learner. if this is therefore jettisoned, there is a tendency for learners to continue to indulge in such negative attitudes which will make them lose focus and not achieve their goals in schools. corporal punishment is thus effective because it makes a learner think twice before committing an offence and the use of it can be a deterrent to other learners who might violate a rule in the absence of such punishment. if learners who commit offences are not punished, they think that it is right to do things in a way they like without abiding by the set rules and regulations. corroborating this is a study, by maphosa and shumba (2010), which found that alternatives to corporal punishment were ineffective as a disciplinary measure in schools hence it is being used as a quick-fix solution which raises fear and pain. all over the world, school officials are expected to act in loco parents, that is, regulate the learners in any manner subject only to the standards and restraints that the parents would use in supervising the welfare of their children (nakpodia, 2011). over the years, the use of corporal punishment on recalcitrant children has become an accepted method of promoting good behaviour and instilling the notion of responsibility and decorum into the heads of mischievous students (nakpodia, 2011). it is presumed that any parent who sends a child to school gives this authority to correct them to the teachers and school administrators. the use of corporal punishment also enables a learner to fear his/her teacher. it needs not be overemphasized that a lot of teachers found themselves teaching in a very large class, due to inadequate classrooms or high enrolment in schools. it will be very difficult for teachers to be able to manage large classes effectively if corporal punishment is not adopted. some people believe that as a general rule, school principals to a limited extent at least, stand in-loco parents to pupils under their care and may exercise such powers of control, restraint, and corrections over them as may be reasonably necessary, he is subject to such limitations and prohibitions as may be defined by law. as much as there are arguments in support of the adoption of corporal punishment in schools, there are also reasons against its use on learners. many teachers believe that flogging learners has no place in today’s education. to them, the advancement of technology has made it imperative for teachers to develop better ways of correcting learners when they misbehave, rather than resorting to corporal punishment. to them, teachers and learners are supposed to relate mutually within and outside school environment. such an atmosphere will encourage them to learn in a peaceful atmosphere and mutual understanding. it has also been noticed that some teachers are too harsh while little provocation can make them descend heavily on the learners, beat them with any kind of stick available, and in the process, inflict injuries on their bodies, the scars of which may have to live with them forever. there have been cases of cane getting to the dangerous parts of the body of learners, such as the eye, ear, and private parts while flogging them. some learners have become permanently blind and disabled, as a result of excessive flogging by their teachers or school administrators. a report indicates that in year 2012, a secondary school teacher in awka, nigeria flogged a female student to death because the girl refused to do her assignment, while in osun state, nigeria, it has been reported that a pupil was beaten to death by his teacher due to truancy. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 45 published by scholink inc. also, in port harcourt, nigeria, another report indicates that a 13-year-old student was flogged by his principal till he slumped and died (olupohunda, 2013). these are colossal losses to their parents who invested heavily in their education while relying on them for their future contributions to the growth and development of the families and the country. some parents, in particular, the wealthy ones are always uncooperative with the teachers and school administrators when the issue of discipline comes up. in the past, cases of flogging have led to litigation where they have to drag teachers’ and schools’ authority to court. apart from the money that will be spent by such teachers/schools, the distraction it will cause to the academic progress of schools, as well as the negative image it will cause the school, need not be underestimated. it has also been noticed that with the use of corporal punishments in schools, unwanted behaviours are on the increase (ehiane, 2014). it is also instructive to note that international concern for the danger that the administration of corporal punishment poses to the rights and well-being of learners has long been established. in 2001, the global initiative to end all corporal punishment of children (giteacpoc) across the world was launched. the campaign aimed at ensuring that the recommended actions of the un committee on the rights of the child (uncrc) and other human rights bodies are accepted and that governments move speedily to implement legal reform and public education programmes. the campaign is about preventing all forms of violence against children in schools across the world, including corporal punishment, sexual abuse, bullying, peer-to-peer violence, use of weapons and harassment in school and on the journey to and from school. also, a school of thought believes that the administration of corporal punishment on learners breaches their fundamental human rights to respect human dignity and physical integrity. exposure of children to severe corporal punishment has also been associated with anti-social and violent behaviours (ohene, ireland, mcneely, & borowsky, 2006); suicidal behaviour (straus & kantor, 1994), and other psychiatric disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder-ptsd (medina, mejia, schell, dawson, & margolin, 2001) and substance abuse (lau, kim, tsui, cheung, lau, & yu, 2005). also, this kind of punishment has been linked to the intergenerational transmission of intimate partner and family violence (deater-deckard, lansford, dodge, pettit, & bates, 2003), and the risk of being a victim of physical abuse and risk of abusing one’s child or spouse (united nations office on drug and crime, 2007). apart from the aforementioned issues, studies have also shown a lot of negative effects of unregulated corporal punishment on learners, such as emotional distress, learners’ inability to concentrate, and reduced participation in class (dunne et al., 2013); absenteeism and dropout, especially among girls and nomadic pastoralists (usman, 2006); depopulation in schools and negative image of schools in the public space; poor teacher-pupil and parent-teacher relations (usman, 2006; dunne et al., 2013); parental conflict, including withdrawal of learner from school (usman, 2006; dunne et al., 2013); and permanent physical damage to learners in extreme cases (oluwakemi & kayode, 2007). also, if it is inequitable, it www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 46 published by scholink inc. can promote boys-versus-girls antagonism, which can militate against gender equality in schools (chege et al., 2008). also, when punishment is too harsh, it will not help the learners but instead creates room for worse situations in schools. it will make learners work under great fear which will make the learning atmosphere difficult and almost impossible which is dangerous being capable of crippling the learners academically. as of today, the issue of out-of-school children has become a nightmare and a cause of concern in society. while efforts are being made to drive school-age children to school, to increase the literacy level in society, a lot of children are also dropping out of school (shaikhnag, assan, & loate, 2015). the implication of allowing corporal punishment in schools is the tendency for dropouts to rise in school because many of the children being subjected to this kind of punishment can eventually drop out of school and into society, thereby causing a major setback for the development of literacy across the countries and the world at large. also, the adoption of corporal punishment can influence learners to increase their aggressive behaviour. when learners face physical threats, they will eventually fight back. corporal punishment at school can also increase aggressiveness in the home and other social settings. it can encourage children to have low self-esteem. the effects of physical punishment on the bodies of children last long after the offence has been committed. the possible effects of corporal punishment on the psychological state of the students can last even longer. if children are in constant physical pain and associate that with them having poor behaviour, they will constantly feel bad about themselves. 8. conclusion and recommendations considering the arguments for and against the use of corporal punishment in this paper, it can be concluded that the arguments against its adoption far outweigh those in its favour. while it cannot be disputed that some teachers and school administrators still believe so much in its efficacy, recommendations in favour of alternative punishment strategies and to achieve improved management of discipline in schools are made. as regards those who still wish to indulge in its use, there is a need for regulated corporal punishment to be adopted by them in their schools. heads of schools should explore other alternative methods of punishment for learners who misbehave in their domain. the following recommendations could help tackle it: -school rules and regulations should be emphasised and given awareness to enable learners to understand them and should also be in their classes and on the school notice board where they will be seen by learners. -well-behaved ]earners should be rewarded at the end of each session in a school, to encourage them to continue in their good behaviours and encourage other learners to imbibe the spirit of good behavioural practices. -schools should create a conducive environment and engage their learners to prevent them from indulging in acts of indiscipline, as it is being said that the devil finds work for an idle hand’, while ‘an idle mind is the devil’s workshop’. school administrators should organize activities such as football www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 47 published by scholink inc. matches and occasional trips for learners, which will help learners use their time wisely for the betterment of their academic endeavours and physical growth. -teachers should involve learners productively, provide enriching activities for those who have completed their work, give challenging tasks to them, provide a task that requires learners’ participation, exploration, and experimentation, give multi-dimensional tasks, integrate learners’ interests and experiences into lessons and discussions, ask learners to express opinions, connect new or abstract concepts to familiar or concrete ones, allow students to collaborate academically, provide substantive feedback rather than grades or scores, and avoid going to school and their classes late -schools should ensure that guidance and counseling services are provided for the learners. the counselors should be alive to their responsibilities and ensure regular counselling of the learners, to prevent them from indulging in in-disciplinary attitudes. the government should also recruit specialised counsellors and post them to schools that are lacking. -the government should regularly organize seminars, conferences, workshops, and symposiums where experts can be invited to train or educate teachers and school administrators on modern issues and ways to manage indiscipline in schools, more so that some teachers and administrators might not have been trained on alternative methods of discipline in institutions they attended, thus being rendered helpless when it comes to behaviour management of learners in the present dispensation. -school heads should ensure that untrained teachers who join their schools are trained through workshops or seminars on rules governing school discipline. -prevention as the saying goes, is better than cure. there is a need for government to institute an interview process in the admission of candidates into schools, to ensure that only learners who are of good behaviour are admitted into schools. -school administrators should ensure that the disciplinary committee is functional in school and where it is not functional, should be reconstituted. disciplinary cases should always be referred to the committee and the report and recommendations executed. -parents should serve as role models to the learners and live up to their functional roles. this would enable the learners to imbibe discipline right from home and the society at large, work with the school authority to enforce discipline, through a forum like the pta, and give their children the necessary home training. -the government should provide a conducive-learning environment, and ensure that counselors engage in a publicity campaign to create greater awareness of the adverse effects of indiscipline and an unequivocal official pronouncement on the desirability to bring it under control. references abubakar, s. (2000). rights and obligations. in n. adesina (ed.), citizenship education in nigeria. lagos: idowu publishers. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 48 published by scholink inc. agesa, i. r. (2015). effectiveness of alternative disciplinary strategies used in secondary schools in starehe division. nairobi county-kenya. ali, a. a., dada, i. t., isiaka, g. a., & salmon, s. a. (2014). types, causes, and management of indiscipline acts among secondary school students in shomolu local government area of lagos state. journal of studies in social sciences, 8(2), 254-287. alidzulevi, t. a. (2000). the role of parents in values education with special references to the situation in venda (north province) (unpublished m.ed thesis). university of stollen bosch. atieno, o. m. 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(2009). indiscipline and its management techniques: a case study of a special education school in kano state. the journal of the national council for exceptional children, 11(2), 455-463. https://doi.org/10.4103/0971-9261.33226 https://doi.org/10.1080/09540250601087751 https://doi.org/10.20897/pr/91650 https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2010.542586 https://doi.org/10.5296/jse.v3i4.4167 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper on the application of translation quality assessment model in mti teaching qin fangfang1* & ding ying2 1 school of foreign languages of china three gorges university, yichang city, hubei province, china * qin fangfang, school of foreign languages of china three gorges university, yichang city, hubei province, 443002, china received: september 3, 2021 accepted: september 30, 2021 online published: october 9, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n4p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n4p1 abstract the 21st century is an era of globalization with rapid development of information technology and there are more and more close exchanges among countries. under this background, the importance of translation is self-evident, and mti (master of translation and interpreting) teaching, which is closely related to it, has also attracted increasing attention. on the whole, after over ten years of development, translation teaching in china has begun to take shape. both major foreign language colleges and foreign language departments of various comprehensive colleges have set up corresponding translation courses. but at present, the teaching effect of mti is far from satisfaction. based on the translation quality assessment model of malcolm williams, the necessity and possibility of the application of the translation quality assessment model in mti teaching is explored, and the concept of the application of the translation quality assessment model in the classroom is put forward, aiming to establish an objective and effective evaluation system in mti teaching so as to further promote the development of mti teaching. keywords malcolm williams, translation quality assessment model, mti teaching, application 1. introduction juliane house, a german scholar, first proposed the concept of translation quality assessment (tqa) model in 1976, which is the first set of systematic and scientific translation assessment model recognized internationally and plays a leading role in the research of subsequent translation criticism and translation quality assessment. any translation quality evaluation is inseparable from vested standards, so house analyzes and compares the source text to the target text from the three aspects, that 1 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 is, meaning of words, pragmatics and the whole text, in light of the theories of system-functional linguistics and discourse analysis. in the process of comparison, problems in the target text are found and a reasonable evaluation is made on the target text. in addition, house also makes a comparative analysis of the original text and the translated text from eight dimensions: (1) geographical origin; (2) social class; (3) time; (4) medium (simple/complex); (5) participation (simple/complex); (6) social role relationship; (7) social attitude; (8) province. the previous three aspects are considered from the perspective of language users, and the latter are closely related to pragmatics. in general, they all serve as translated text analysis parameters, from which to analyze whether the target text is equivalent or deviated from the original in ideational and interpersonal meaning (house, 1977, p. 42). it is believed that the translation quality assessment model proposed by house is a pioneer work in the field of translation studies. besides, in terms of evaluation categories, house’s translation quality assessment model is a qualitative assessment with subjective factors. as a professor at the university of ottawa in canada, malcolm williams suggested that argument schema should be the ideal criterion for translation quality assessment in his book translation quality assessment: an argumentation-centered approach in 2004. since all texts are argumentative more or less, arguments are widely present in various types of discourse, which is exactly in line with the universal appeal of translation quality assessment for different texts. argumentation-centered tqa core parameters finalized by williams are argument schema, prepositional functions/conjunctives/other inference indicators, arguments and narrative strategy. among these parameters, the argument schema needs to be explained emphatically. the argument schema consists of claim (c), grounds (g), warrant (w), backing (b), qualifier (q) and rebuttal/restriction (r), and the translation quality assessment mainly depends on whether the translation accurately reflects the argument schema of source text. inspired by the concept of “defect” for the icq (industrial quality control), williams microscopically defines errors in translation as critical defect, major defect and minor defect (williams, 2004, p. 67). williams’ tqa model takes into account both qualitative and quantitative evaluation at both macro and micro levels, and it is of great referential significance. at present, researches on translation quality assessment model in china can be divided into two categories: one is the critical research on the existing translation quality assessment models. for example, chinese scholar si xianzhu not only analyzed house’s translation theory, but also pointed out its shortcomings. “for a scientific, complete and operable evaluation model, in addition to covering all necessary evaluation parameters, there must be clear operation steps” (si, 2005, p. 83); the other one mainly focuses on the empirical analysis of the existing evaluation models of translation theories, such as the application in novels, essays, laws and other texts, involving various text types. on the whole, the effect of translation quality assessment model on translation improvement is worthy of expectation. since the launching of the master of translation and interpreting (mti) teaching program in 2007 by the academic degrees committee of the state council of china to meet the society’s need of professional translators and interpreters, more than 200 colleges and universities have been approved to 2 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 start this program. in order to improve the teaching quality, it is necessary to apply translation quality assessment model in the teaching. however, the author thinks that the application of translation quality assessment model in the current mti teaching is still not enough. therefore, it is of immediate significance to try to use a scientific and suitable translation quality assessment model for mti teaching to enable teachers to quickly see students’ translation weaknesses and facilitate students’ self-examination. 2. the necessity of applying translation quality assessment model from an artistic point of view, translation is characterized by its complexity. to put it simply, translation is to use one language to fully express the meaning of another language, but this process is easier said than done. yan fu, a pioneer in chinese translation, said in his translation of evolution and ethics and other essays, “there are three difficulties for translating—faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance. content faithfulness has been hard enough. without expressiveness, translation fails even if it is faithful to the source text. therefore, expressiveness needs to be valued.” besides, language is a special cultural phenomenon, closely related to various cultural backgrounds, which makes translation an activity of cross-cultural communication. it is generally believed that a language is mainly composed of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. if the difficulties in translation and these three elements are connected, the pronunciation reflects the rhythm; grammar corresponds to expression form and vocabulary carries meaning and stands for meaning. among these three difficulties, rhythm is usually ignored. except for poetry, translation of other text types rarely has requirements on rhythm. it is unwise to weak expression form and meaning for the sake of rhythm. meanwhile, it is not hard to find that translation is also a dynamic activity with strong subjective initiative. actually, simply pursuing expression form and meaning is not simple in translation, which also shows that it is difficult to achieve a completely unified standard of translation quality assessment model. however, translation has both artistic characteristics and internal laws of its own. the author views that the internal laws of translation itself are largely based on the application of translation criteria and translation theories. moreover, translation criticism analyzes translations according to corresponding translation theories, or draws conclusions by comparing and analyzing different translation versions of source texts. translation criticism is an essential step in the process of modifying and improving translation quality. the translation quality assessment model is equivalent to listing a formula for translation criticism on the basis of translation theory, and a relatively scientific and reasonable translation quality assessment result can be obtained only by inserting relevant parameters into the formula. achieving a scientific, objective and relatively accurate evaluation is the highest and ultimate goal of translation quality assessment (liu, 2018, p. 8). the complexity of translation itself determines no translation theory can be efficacious forever. therefore, it is necessary to analyze the translation from the whole text in the process of applying theories. if the translation quality assessment model is complete and feasible, and the translation quality analysis can be quantified, accordingly, the efficiency 3 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 of translation analysis and revision will be greatly improved. “the in-depth study of the scientific translation quality assessment model not only has a broad application prospect in translation education, but also is of great theoretical significance for the translation studies system in the future” (li & xiao, 2020, p. 72). 3. translation quality assessment in mti teaching there is no doubt that mti teaching is a discipline that requires a great deal of practice. colleges and universities offering mti teaching generally have requirements on the amount of practice, and only those who meet the requirements of translation can graduate successfully. it is against this backdrop that many students are already struggling to cope with the monthly translation practice, and the application of translation theory has become impractical. although translation skills can be summarized from translation practice, it may be more efficient for mti students to apply the theories summarized by predecessors. of course, relevant theoretical courses are provided in the school, so that students can systematically learn the knowledge of translation theories, and teachers will give examples of the application of translation theories in class. however, translation theory is not widely used in translation practice. from the perspective of mti students, many students cannot achieve ideal results in the process of modifying the translation by themselves due to subjective preferences for their own translation. and then if their teachers give guidance, students will be enlightened suddenly. this phenomenon occurs because translation activities are subjective to some extent. as translators hold the initiative in translation, when they get the source text, they will inevitably bring their own ideas into the translation. even obvious mistakes such as grammar, vocabulary or spelling are sometimes not caught in time. from the perspective of mti teachers, it may be the most effective way for teachers to directly and clearly mark students’ translation problems, so that students can be aware of their own shortcomings in a short time, but the workload of teachers deserves attention. initially, it is impractical for mti teachers to correct a large number of translation assignments after heavy teaching work. besides, translation does not have standard answers like other science assignments, and even if there is a reference translation, it still needs to be analyzed by comparison. most importantly, each student’s translation is different, so are the problems. therefore, mti teachers, with limited time and energy, cannot review the translation work one by one in the face of a large and tedious workload. from the perspective of current mti academic performance evaluation, it is not enough to evaluate only by the final exam. it would be too arbitrary to judge such a practical subject as translation only by one exam result. fortunately, more and more teachers are evaluating students in combination with classroom performance and the final exam. nevertheless, class performance is not as concrete as the final exam. in order to make classroom performance more concrete, the evaluation should be more closely related to classroom translation practice. 4 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 after analyzing from the above perspectives, it is not difficult to find that students’ translation practice is not combined enough with translation theories in the current mti teaching. in addition, efficiency is in urgent need of improvement in the teaching. both students and teachers hope to find translation problems in time to improve the quality of translation. in order to achieve this goal, it is expected that the translation quality assessment model can be applied to the whole process of mti teaching to carry out quantitative analysis of translation. 4. the assumption of applying translation quality assessment model “translation criticism cannot be separated from descriptive or prescriptive research, so it must be well-grounded” (xiao, 2010, p. 129). the translation quality assessment model is not just an empty shell. as long as the model is reasonably designed and applied scientifically in mti teaching, it can be highly feasible in practice. 4.1 the application of translation quality assessment model as mentioned above, there are 8 parameters in house’s tqa model. even though the specific content of parameters is not concerned, too many parameters are not conducive to evaluation. the efficiency improvement is the primary purpose of applying the translation quality assessment model to mti teaching. if the assessment process is too complicated, it will lose application significance. in terms of evaluation, williams’ micro quality assessment is more practical in mti teaching, and the defects in translation are mainly summarized into three categories: critical defects, major defects and minor defects. critical defects can affect translation’s usability. for example, a translation error in an instruction manual leads to malfunctions in use. a major defect is one that obstructs the translation’s actual effect, but is not the most serious. minor defects are those that do not substantially affect the meaning of the source text. under this classification, specific parameters can be selected or added appropriately according to different text types. for instance, terminology can be used as a parameter in the translation assessment of scientific and technical texts. therefore, the author believes that the translation quality assessment model can be designed from the following three aspects on the premise of ensuring feasibility in the mti teaching: table 1. design of translation quality assessment model in mti teaching critical defect 50% information accuracy 1.whether there are translation errors (including translation errors caused by misunderstanding or translation errors of terminology) 2.whether there are over translation or under translation major defect 30% language 1. grammatical errors 2. poor word selection minor defect 20% expression 1. whether the expression is smooth and the narration style is close to the source text 2. whether there are spelling mistakes or punctuation errors 5 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 the expression of the text in one language into another language is called translation. it can be clearly seen from the definition of translation that the transmission of original information is fundamental. therefore, it is reasonable to treat information accuracy as the primary criterion of translation quality assessment model. it is particularly necessary to focus on whether the original information is added or deleted randomly in the translation, especially whether the translation has any deviation in understanding. moreover, considering that this translation quality assessment model is mainly used in mti teaching to evaluate students’ translations, the language quality is specially added as a parameter. some students are careless to make grammatical mistakes in the translation, which could have been avoided by conscious checking. a good translation should be equivalent to the source text to the greatest extent in terms of ideational function and textual function, so lexical expression and stylistic style of translation are also emphasized here based on lexical meaning, pragmatics and discourse. as various factors affecting the quality of translation should be taken into full consideration in parameter selection, the relationship between form, content and effect between original text and translation should be properly handled（he, 2012, p. 27). the three assessment parameters listed in this paper are relatively common and easy to evaluate. in practical teaching, mti teachers can appropriately adjust the parameters according to the characteristics of different text types. after the parameters are confirmed, each parameter can be assigned its own weight to make the evaluation more objective. for example, information accuracy is crucial to the whole translation, and such mistranslations caused by students’ understanding deviation will affect the utility of the whole translation, so this parameter can be assigned to 50%. in addition, if this parameter scores 8 on a scale of 0-10, then its weighting score is 8×50%. in this way, weight scores of other parameters can also be calculated quickly, and the final score of students’ translation is the sum of each weight score. in this way of assessment, not only are the evaluation results more quantitative and intuitive, but students can find the deficiencies of their own translation better according to the weight score. 4.2 mti teaching in the new mode “teachers should weaken the traditional indoctrination teaching and carry out more task-centered and diversified teaching activities. we advocate task-based teaching in the syllabus” (zhong, 2014, p. 43). the traditional mode of student translation plus teacher comment has been adopted in many translation classes. the advantage of this model is that teachers can directly point out the shortcomings of students’ translation. however, its disadvantages are also very obvious. first, students are given a certain amount of time to translate, then students are asked to share their own translations, and finally the teacher makes comments. as a result, the teaching content of one class is not enough, and the pace of class slows down. under the new mode, students are required to translate after class, and the teacher to share the reference translation. all in all, there are four steps to evaluate translation quality. the first step is to encourage students to compare their translations with good translation and evaluate the translation by themselves. the second step is to evaluate in groups. of particular note is to give specific scores and give reasons for deduction based on confirmed parameters. the third step is to show the mutual 6 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 evaluation between the groups. in the last step, the teacher is responsible for the comments. specifically, teachers evaluate whether the scores of translation are reasonable on the basis of the mutual evaluation scores of students. by leaving the error correction to students themselves, students can better participate in the class, and more directly discover the problems in their translations, which is conducive to improve their translation ability. table 2. class flow chart in addition to allowing more students to participate in the classroom, such a class arrangement can make classroom performance more quantifiable and specific. it is worth noting that group presentation also needs to take turns, so that all students have the opportunity to present, but also to avoid some students fishing in troubled waters. as a leading role in class, teachers can have more time to share good translations instead of spending time on translation correction, and even lead students to do some reading appreciation when there is enough time. after all, translation is a process from quantitative change to qualitative change, which requires continuous accumulation. only with continuous inward input can produce excellent translations. 4.3 various evaluation methods in mti teaching the evaluation methods in the mti teaching need to be diversified to maximize the effectiveness of the translation quality assessment model. the first is the diversity of evaluation content. there are various types of texts in mti teaching. so it is inappropriate to select one or more fixed texts to evaluate the quality of students’ translations. “different text types constitute different language expression forms, including word features, style and norms, rhetorical devices, etc. and also form different language functions, text emphases, translation purposes, translation strategies and methods” (he, si, 2009, p. 97). if only one type of text is selected to evaluate students’ translation practice, the results are often biased. therefore, teachers should not be limited to a certain type of text when selecting the text type for evaluation. the second is the diversity of evaluation methods. the traditional form of evaluation represented by examination is not quite reasonable to some extent, which causes many students to only pay attention to the final result and ignore the process. students’ mutual evaluation, exchange and presentation and classroom participation can be integrated into the evaluation method to fully mobilize students’ enthusiasm and make the evaluation method more reasonable and effective. the last is to combine the process evaluation and final evaluation. a single process evaluation may be subjective, while relying only on the final evaluation is inevitably too arbitrary. in the above mti teaching mode, every student can use the translation quality assessment model to join in class discussions, and teachers 7 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 can clearly know about the class performance of each student. scoring according to the performance can make the process evaluation of students concrete, quantitative and practical, although it is tedious for teachers to record each student’s class performance. 5. conclusion translation quality assessment model is an efficient way for translators or translation learners to quickly find out deficiencies to improve the quality of their translation. at present, however, the tqa model is not widely used in mti teaching in china. by analyzing the current mti teaching, this paper demonstrates the practicability of the translation quality assessment model in the current mti teaching, and on this basis, it proposes a new mode applying the tqa model of malcolm williams in mti teaching. this mode has two advantages. one is to lay out an outline for mti teaching, which is not a restriction, but a standardized process that teachers can arrange reasonably according to the actual teaching needs. secondly, diversified evaluation methods break the fixed evaluation mode like traditional final examination to make evaluation results more objective. nowadays, mti teaching is flourishing, especially translation education has ushered in an era of large-scale and standardized development (zhong, 2019, p. 69). it is necessary to construct a scientific and reasonable tqa model for teaching so as to improve the teaching efficiency and the students’ translation ability to link with the catti(china accreditation test for translators and interpreters ) examination and to meet the goals of mti program. however, at present, there are not many researches on the tqa model in china as well as its application in translation teaching. the author proposes the idea of applying translation quality assessment model of malcolm williams to mti teaching, which needs to be further examined and discussed by more scholars. acknowledgements this work was supported by the teaching and research fund of china national committee for translation & interpreting education in 2019 (no. mtijzw201917) and the postgraduate course construction fund of china three gorges university in 2020 (sdkc202019). references he, s. n. 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(2019) achievements, challenges and development of china’s professional translation education in the 40 years since 1978. chinese translators journal, 40(1), 68-75. 9 published by scholink inc. original paper education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 87 original paper improving the quality of teaching physical education courses at universities nguyen huu thanh1, to thi viet chau1 & to thai ha1 1 department of physical education, trade union university, vietnam received: april 15, 2023 accepted: april 28, 2023 online published: may 12, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p87 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p87 abstract this manuscript explores the advantages and limitations of teaching physical education courses at universities and proposes strategies to enhance the quality of teaching. the advantages of improving the quality of physical education teaching include flexible selection of sports subjects, enhancing positive attitudes towards learning, continuous development and improvement of lecturers, testing and evaluation standards, and innovative teaching methods. the limitations identified are limited curriculum content, teaching plans dependent on weather conditions, limited lecturer team, and lack of motivation among some students. to enhance the quality of teaching physical education, the manuscript proposes enhancing the role and significance of physical education in universities and adjusting and improving the content of the physical education program through innovative teaching methods, such as introducing new elective subjects, adapting teaching content and methods to student needs, and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration between departments. keywords improving, physical education, students, universities 1. general evaluation of improving the quality of physical education teaching at universities 1.1 advantages there are several advantages to improving the quality of physical education teaching at universities. firstly, the physical education program offers a flexible selection of sports subjects that are suitable for the school’s playground conditions as permitted by the ministry of education and training. the rectors prioritize physical education class hours and have instructed the physical education department to develop both mandatory and elective teaching programs that are appropriate to the practical conditions of the school based on the ministry’s regulations. (note 1) secondly, preparing lessons and developing teaching plans in a positive teaching direction promotes the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 88 published by scholink inc. positive, self-discipline, proactive, and creative learning attitudes of individual lecturers and students. this approach enhances the quality of teaching and learning. (note 2) thirdly, the teaching staff of physical education at universities continuously develop and improve their quality, political competence, and professional skills to meet the needs of expanding training scale and improving training quality. all lecturers are dedicated to their profession and committed to the development of the school. this great potential contribution ensures the implementation of physical education tasks and contributes to the overall development of the school. (note 1) fourthly, the majority of university students have good health conditions and participate fully in all physical education courses. the standards for testing and evaluation in the subject of physical education at the university are determined and regularly updated according to the regulations of the ministry of education and training. the issuance of appropriate standards for testing and evaluation creates a comfortable atmosphere, helping students develop a positive learning attitude and contribute to improving the quality of teaching. (note 2) fifthly, the school’s board of trustees and the physical education department pay special attention to the preparation, lecture delivery, and direct evaluation of the teaching content of the physical education courses. this ensures compliance with the regulations and guidelines of the ministry of education and training and the school. during the teaching process, the physical education department and each lecturer apply innovative teaching methods that are suitable for students’ physical requirements, fitness level, ability to move, age, and gender. this creates a lively learning atmosphere, encouraging creativity and initiative among students. (note 3) finally, based on the teaching content of each course, lecturers choose suitable methods to ensure the full transmission and absorption of content for students. the physical education department has also identified and agreed on the content and steps for implementing innovative teaching methods. (note 4) 1.2 limitations and causes despite the achievements made, there are still some limitations in the quality of teaching physical education courses at universities, which can be attributed to the following: firstly, concerning the curriculum content. the current curriculum of physical education at universities includes numerous sports subjects. however, only 11 teaching modules have been implemented, depriving students of the opportunity to choose sports subjects based on their strengths, preferences, and physical characteristics. the main reason for this is the limited number of lecturers and inadequate material facilities, making it difficult to meet the teaching and learning needs of the various sports subjects. (note 5) secondly, concerning the teaching plan. although the lesson plans for the courses follow the approach of active learning, dividing content, progress, scientific and reasonable methods, some subjects require outdoor classes, which are highly dependent on weather conditions and fields. thus, sometimes the teaching plan cannot be implemented as scheduled, which affects the quality of teaching and learning. (note 5) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 89 published by scholink inc. thirdly, concerning the lecturer team. the lecturer team in the physical education department of universities is still limited, with a lecturer-student ratio of 1:150 as regulated by the ministry of education and training. therefore, improving the quality of teaching physical education at universities still faces significant challenges. (note 6) fourthly, concerning the health and learning consciousness of students. despite most university students having good health, there is a high percentage of students who are indifferent to physical education subjects. this has a significant impact on the quality of teaching and learning for physical education at universities (note 5). the main reason for this is that students have not fully understood the importance of physical exercise and sports subjects in physical education. many students prioritize academic achievements over physical fitness and health, leading to a lack of motivation to participate in physical education activities. (note 6) 2. enhancing the quality of teaching physical education courses at universities 2.1 enhancing the role and significance of physical education in universities in addition to scientific research and academic knowledge, physical education is an essential activity that contributes to the comprehensive development of individuals, including their intelligence, morality, and physical fitness. physical exercise is a cost-effective means of maintaining and improving human health, with disease prevention effects and positive impacts on physical appearance and motor skills. through a system of physical education subjects with high demands on effort for different sports, students can develop natural human moral qualities such as willpower, courage, determination, confidence, perseverance, patience, organizational discipline, and teamwork consciousness (note 7). physical education also promotes a healthy spiritual cultural life, contributing to building trust and healthy lifestyles for the younger generation, and pushing back social evils. therefore, it is essential to promote education and propaganda about the role and significance of physical education and sports training to enhance the awareness of the student body and educational management levels. physical education instructors have a responsibility to help students understand the importance and benefits of physical education through real-life connections and practical examples. this will contribute to the comprehensive educational objectives of the university (note 8). 2.2 to improve the quality of teaching physical education at universities it is important to enhance the content and teaching methods. this will involve innovating training content and methods that are suitable for the psychological, physiological, and material conditions of the school, as well as the needs of students. some specific strategies to achieve this include (note 7): adjusting and improving the content of the physical education program, with a focus on both hard and soft skills and flexibility to meet the diverse needs of students. introducing new elective subjects to increase student interest and engagement, especially those relevant to their future careers. incorporating standard physical training content into class time and evaluation criteria. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 90 published by scholink inc. innovating teaching methods to actively involve learners as the center, including reducing theoretical lectures, maximizing exercise time, and using games and competitions. using effective training methods such as circle training, interval training, and even training to improve the density of exercise during class hours. classifying students’ physical condition from the outset to have suitable program content and learning organization methods. using modern tools such as discs on training methods or sports exercise competitions to help students better understand and perform movement techniques during training. assigning specialized teams and experienced lecturers to adjust the program. conducting program evaluation through specialized teams and then through the faculty scientific council and university approval. these strategies will contribute to the development of a more engaging, effective, and comprehensive physical education program at universities. 2.3 improving the content and teaching methods of physical education improving the content and teaching methods of physical education involves creating innovative training materials and methods that are appropriate for the psychological, physiological, and material conditions of the school, as well as the needs of students. the goal is to enhance their physical fitness, encourage positive and active participation, promote two-way communication, and foster creative thinking habits. this can be achieved by adjusting and improving the physical education program to include both hard and soft skills, and to cater to the different needs of students. additionally, new elective subjects can be added to increase student interest, especially those related to their future careers. it is also important to incorporate standard physical training content into class time and evaluation criteria for the subject (note 8). 2.4 innovating teaching methods innovating teaching methods to actively engage students, reducing theoretical lectures and maximizing time for exercise, and using games and competitions to enhance learning. this includes using training methods such as circle training, interval training, and even training to increase the density of exercise during class time. additionally, students’ physical conditions should be classified from the outset to create appropriate program content and learning methods. to support the learning process, modern teaching tools such as training method videos or sports exercise competitions should be utilized to help students better understand and perform movement techniques during training. it is essential to assign specialized teams and experienced instructors to adjust the program to ensure it meets the required standard. lastly, the program should be evaluated by specialized teams, the faculty scientific council, and approved by the school (note 7). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 91 published by scholink inc. 2.5 the university’s leaders prioritize the development of the department of physical education’s faculty the university’s leaders prioritize the development of the department of physical education’s faculty focusing on recruiting, training, and improving their quality to meet the university’s training and development goals. political and ideological education is also emphasized to enhance awareness, responsibility, initiative, and creativity among physical education lecturers. this measure is crucial to ensure that the physical education teaching faculty understands the university’s directives, resolutions, plans, and instructions for education and training tasks, as well as the teaching mission of physical education at the university. additionally, it helps lecturers understand the unique characteristics of their department and individual teaching tasks, enabling them to overcome difficulties while maintaining their political ideology and intellectual stance (note 8). to improve the quality and teaching capacity of lecturers, the university focuses on training and enhancing their professional level, particularly in specialized and interdisciplinary knowledge. lecturers are encouraged to be self-aware and continuously self-study and research based on their assigned tasks and knowledge. self-awareness, self-study, and self-research are fundamental factors that lecturers cannot ignore, as they help develop their teaching quality and capacity. without these factors, lecturers may become passive, conformist, and reliant on mechanical teaching methods. lecturers must improve their awareness, responsibility, and creative initiative in the process of self-study and self-research to keep up with the vast and diverse knowledge and enhance their professional level. 2.6 the university prioritizes the organization of extracurricular sports activities and sports competitions the university prioritizes the organization of extracurricular sports activities and sports competitions for students to encourage positive self-discipline, teamwork, and communication skills, and to enhance their physical fitness. the university aims to attract more students to participate in extracurricular activities by promoting awareness of various training activities and competitions (note 7). to achieve this goal, the university establishes schedules and timetables for extracurricular sports activities, providing guidance for various sports training activities. a sports club is established to encourage students to participate in sports, and sports teams are created for classes and the school. regular sports competitions are organized to create a diverse and rich environment, enabling students to access the organization and management of sports teams while selecting students for the teams. the university adheres to teaching and learning plans, academic year plans, and guidance from the board of directors to develop reasonable and effective plans for organizing sports competitions. these plans include regular competitions within classes and courses, as well as annual traditional sports competitions for the entire school. friendly sports competitions between faculties, universities, and colleges in the region are also organized to promote sportsmanship and collaboration (note 8). to incentivize outstanding achievements in sports competitions, the university issues regulations for rewarding and encouraging individuals and teams. this encourages students to strive for excellence in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 92 published by scholink inc. sports and promotes a positive culture of sportsmanship and achievement. 3. conclusion in conclusion, improving the quality of teaching in physical education at universities is crucial for implementing resolution no. 8 of the 13th central party committee on “fundamental and comprehensive renovation of education” and achieving the goals set out in decision no. 641/qd-ttg on “improving the stature of vietnamese people.” (note 9) considering the current state of teaching quality and the objectives of universities, the research group has developed six solution groups to enhance the quality of teaching in physical education. if these solution groups are implemented effectively and in a timely manner, they have the potential to significantly contribute to improving the quality of teaching and learning in physical education at universities in the future. therefore, it is essential to ensure that these solutions are implemented synchronously and comprehensively. notes note 1. decision no. 641/qd-ttg: on the approval of the overall plan for developing physical fitness and stature of vietnamese people in the period from 2011 to 2030, dated april 28th, 2011, by the prime minister of the government. note 2. the overall plan for the development of physical education and sports in schools in the period from 2016 to 2020, with a vision towards 2025 in decision no. 1076/qd-ttg dated june 17th, 2016 by the prime minister of the government. note 3. circular no. 25/2015/tt-bgd&dt dated october 14th, 2015 by the ministry of education and training on regulations on the physical education curriculum in university-level training programs. note 4. decision no. 203/qd-tdtt dated january 31st, 1998 by the ministry of higher education and vocational training on the citizenship education program in universities and vocational high schools. note 5. vu thai hong, duong nghiep chi, luong kim chung (2010), sociology of physical education and sports, publisher of sports and physical education, hanoi. note 6. pham dinh bam, dang dinh minh (1998), textbook management of physical education and sports, publisher of sports and physical education, hanoi. note 7. dong van trieu and colleagues (2000), textbook theory and methods of citizenship education, publisher of sports and physical education, hanoi. note 8. decision no. 53/2008/qd-moet, regulation on the evaluation and grading of physical fitness of students, dated september 18, 2008 by the ministry of education and training. note 9. circular no. 25/2015/tt-bgdđt, regulations on physical education curriculum in universitylevel training programs, dated october 14, 2015 by the ministry of education and training. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 70 original paper how school memories inform possible selves of an english pre-service teacher qianqian pan1* & jianhong huang1 1 school of english education, guangdong university of foreign studies, guangzhou, china * qianqian pan, e-mail: pqqextraordinary@163.com received: april 10, 2023 accepted: april 27, 2023 online published: may 9, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p70 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p70 abstract employing narrative prompting and interviewing, this qualitative study asked an english pre-service teacher to recall his memories of secondary schools and consider the significance of those memories. the participant recounted various memories related to the characteristics and behavior of his secondary school teachers, which fell into three main categories: “why did they ignore me”, “then they saw me” and “finally, he came and save me”. these memories revealed the barriers and supports the interviewee encountered in different educational environments, which greatly influenced the formation of his desired and feared possible selves. moreover, the pre-service teacher recognized a conflict between the possible selves and teaching practices, and attempted to negotiate the past memories with future career, which was referred to as “no more acting against my beliefs”. the implications of pre-service teacher’s school memories and possible selves were discussed in the context of teacher development program. keywords school memories, possible selves, teacher reflection, teacher development 1. introduction many earlier studies have indicated that the process of becoming a teacher involved retrospective activities that look back on past experiences and future-oriented activities that prepare for the future (avraamidou, 2019; balli, 2011; wall, 2016; carrier et al., 2017; hamman et al., 2010; lutovac & kaasila, 2014; pellikka, lutovac, & kaasila, 2018). it has been suggested that pre-service teachers (psts) often hold pre-constructed ideas about teaching, as shaped and sculpted by their individual schooling experiences, when they commence their studies. furthermore, these experiences, perceptions or memories had a prevailing influence on their views of their role as prospective educators, including their understanding of the responsibilities of a teacher, their behavior in a classroom (bächeer & salas, 2021; www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 71 published by scholink inc. lutovac, 2020; mcgarr & gavaldon, 2019; miller & shifflet, 2016; furlong, 2013; hudson et al., 2010; trotman & kerr, 2001) and the kind of future-oriented identities, that is, possible selves (miller & shifflet, 2016). possible selves address “how individuals think about their potential and their future” (markus & nurius, 1986), and describe the importance and dynamics of self-relevant, future-oriented self-concepts, and how these self-concepts relate to motivation for present and future action (hamman et al., 2013a). however, only a few studies have examined the possible selves in an educational context, while many studies have investigated possible selves in the field of psychology (markus & nurius, 1986; cross & markus, 1991). the present study explored how recollections of school shaped the future development of pre-service english teachers. the concept of possible selves, described as both stable traits and changeable in response to time and context (oyserman & markus, 1990), as well as in narrative terms (e.g., lutovac, 2020), was applied to investigate how the pre-service teacher’s narrated past school memories might influence his future career aspirations in the classroom and inform his approach to navigating the relationship between those memories and his future career. the pre-service teachers were thus provided with the opportunity to get a better understanding of how they were situated and how they situated themselves in the community of language teachers. meanwhile, the teacher education programs were encouraged to reconsider the role of school memories and possible selves in course scheduling. 2. literature review 2.1 school memories in the early years of the 21st century, educational historians began to have an increasing interest in “school memory” as a historical object, owing to a shift in the epistemological foundations and heuristic objectives in this field of study (meda & viñao, 2016). being seen as a historical process rather than merely as a historical source, school memory was not simply “from within” (i.e. what school was like), but also “from without” (i.e. how it was perceived by people) (meda & viñao, 2016). thus, exploring school memories could not only inform us of the context of schools and school characteristics, it also provided insights into the underlying motivations of students’ behavior in the classroom, the interactions between educators and the educated which would support or prohibit students’ academic or social success in school. despite of limited research on school memories, it provided theoretical and empirical explanations for the way social exclusion was constructed among young adults with disabilities (díez, 2009), the association between previous experiences of peer maltreatment during junior secondary school and negative indices of adjustment in early adulthood (rosen et al., 2012), the correlation between fortyseven adult dyslexics’ unhappy and distressing school experiences and their cyclical pattern of failure at school (hughes & dawson, 1995), thirty-seven adult literacy students dropping out of school (terry, 2009), and the feelings and thoughts of being marginalized in high school and university (stoddart, 2001), www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 72 published by scholink inc. and the impact of the schooling experience on adolescents with specific learning disabilities (karande, mahajan & kulkarni, 2009). 2.2 memories and psts school memories possibly accompany individuals throughout their lives, and they may be reactivated at different points of life, especially during points of educational transitions (miller, dilworthbart, & hane, 2011). as the pre-service teachers are beginning the transition from student to teacher, their school memories may be stimulated and active during the teacher education program. however, there has been a dearth of how school memories affect the thoughts and behaviors of preservice teachers. through a self-reflection assignment, fifty-nine pre-service teachers were asked to write about their earliest significant school memories. the memories were found to influence those teachers’ values, beliefs and expectations for future teaching practices (hook, 2008). the study by miller and shifflet (2016) explored the writing samples of 69 elementary pre-service teachers and revealed that past memories of school could shape future visions of the teacher self. with four pre-service teachers revisiting their school memories, the role of experienced professionals in pedagogical identities formation was examined in the study by rodreigues and his colleagues (2018). the findings revealed that the interactions with more experienced professionals might create tensions prompting student teachers to put in motion their knowledge of self, the profession, education at large (rodrigues et al., 2018). in the autobiographical recollections of eighty-one pre-service teachers, it was found that the memories of failure or success were constructed through social referencing and future referencing, and they would affect their future academic and career preferences (kaya, 2017). adopting a mixed approach, bächler and salas (2021) investigated the role of thirty pre-service teachers’ emotionally significant elementary memories in their conceptions about the relationships between emotions and teachinglearning processes. still, relatively few qualitative studies exist on school memories, and even fewer ones focus on a specific discipline. as boyd and his colleagues (2013) pointed out, there was little information available on how preservice teachers could begin to critically examine their past as they began to develop their future professional identities. 2.3 possible selves of pre-service teachers possible selves represent what kind of person individuals hope or fear to be in the future, and serve as benchmarks to judge their current progress and personal attributes (markus & nurius, 1986). in the field of teacher education, possible selves have been examined in various contexts. hamman et al. (2010) explored the differences of possible selves between pre-service teachers and novice in-service teachers, and four main categories emerged from the analysis of desired and feared possible selves of novice inservice teachers: interpersonal relationships, classroom management, instruction and professionalism. it was found that pre-service teachers were more likely to formulate task-focused possible selves while inservice teachers formulate quality-focused possible selves. differences between these two cohorts of teachers suggested an evolving journey potentially influencing the growth of a teacher’s identity. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 73 published by scholink inc. applying possible selves in science teaching, hong and greene (2011) explored eleven pre-service teachers’ hoped and feared selves, which included six categories focusing on the content knowledge, classroom management ability, teaching effectiveness, the caring role of teachers, attitudes toward students and teaching, as well as the relationship with fellows. these categories were primarily affected by student teachers’ diverse past experiences related to teaching and learning. in the context of mathematics teaching, two types of possible selves were identified, decisive and irresolute selves, with six pre-service teachers narrating their mathematical experiences (lutovac & kaasila, 2014). similarly, three pre-service music teachers also reported two types of possible selves, that was, positive possible selves as successful classroom music teachers, and feared possible selves as failing to clearly communicate ideas, classroom management, and fellow relationships (dabback, 2017). these two types of possible selves bore some similarities to the decisive and irresolute selves mentioned before. concentrating on the changes in pre-service science teachers’ possible selves throughout their teacher preparation, the longitudinal study by pellikka, lutovac, and kaasila (2022) interviewed three preservice teachers about their future aspirations as science teachers from cognitive and affective dimensions at various time points. affected by the science method course, a clear upward change was induced as the wish to have more content knowledge evolved into the more profound wish to be an expert. besides, in the affective dimension, the hoped-for self of “shaking off prejudiced beliefs” was changed into “passing on a positive attitude” (pellikka, lutovac, & kaasila, 2022). brady (2019) contributed to this line of literature by bringing the possible selves into investigating the motivation of bilingual teachers. it was found that the dynamics of l2 selves could be facilitated or hindered by possible or ideal professional selves, which supported a deeper reflection on desires and responsibilities in overlapping self domains. without focusing on a specific discipline, sixty-nine elementary preservice teachers were asked to write about their memories of elementary school and reflect on the meaning of those memories in the study by miller and shifflet (2016). the findings showed that memory might consciously or unconsciously construct desired and feared visions of the teachers they hoped or avoided to be. however, the majority of studies on possible selves have rarely taken into consideration past school memories and focused on pre-service english teachers’ perceptions of school memories and possible selves. the current study aimed to extend previously conducted research on possible selves by examining how the school experiences of a pre-service english teacher shape his possible selves. the following three guiding questions were posed: (1) what memories do the preservice teacher recall from secondary school and are they meaningful? (2) how does the preservice teacher connect his school memories and possible selves? (3) how does the preservice teacher negotiate the relationship between his school memories and future career? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 74 published by scholink inc. 3. theoretical framework possible selves, originally introduced by markus and nurius (1986), are individuals’ future identity expectations. they are the cognitive components of hopes, fears, goals, and threats, and give the specific self-relevant form, meaning, organization, and direction to these dynamics, serving as projections of what kind of person individuals could become, would like to become, and are afraid of becoming (markus & nurius, 1986). this diverse range of possible selves available to individuals often stem from their past experiences and historical backgrounds. especially at transitional moments, memories and emotions can be triggered, impacting future thoughts and actions. some memories can create a sense of optimism and hope for future selves that possibly include the successful self, the creative self, the rich self, the thin self, or the loved and admired self. others can evoke pessimistic images of dreaded identities, which could be the alone self, the depressed self, the incompetent self, the alcoholic self, the unemployed self, or the bag lady self (markus & nurius, 1986). this also goes for prospective teachers as they are in the transition from students to teachers, and their recollections of school experiences are easily reinvigorated. as for them, their hoped-for selves are those selves that they strive towards, such as, becoming “a knowledgeable teacher” or “a humorous teacher”, and feared selves are those that they try to avoid, such as becoming “an irresponsible teacher” or “a boring teacher”. possible selves perform two crucial functions: acting as incentives for future behavior and providing an evaluative and interpretive context for the current view of self (markus & nurius, 1986). firstly, possible selves exert motivational influence by providing incentives for individuals to achieve a hoped-for possible self, or avoid realizing a feared possible self (hamman et al., 2013b). with individuals possessing an idealized self-image, they may be inclined to pursue their ideal self. akin to goals, possible selves provide self-relevant targets that regulate an individual’s efforts, persistence, and behavioral direction (locke & latham, 1990). secondly, possible selves can serve informative and evaluative functions by providing individuals with insights into their progress towards achieving their desired or feared selves. according to robinson and davis (2001), these possible selves can act as behavioral blueprints that can prompt individuals to take action to move closer to their hoped-for selves or to avoid their feared selves. by monitoring their progress against these possible selves, individuals can receive timely feedback that can help them stay on track towards achieving their goals and aspirations. hence, the possible selves framework is supposed to be a promising approach for fostering self-reflection and facilitating personal growth among pre-service teachers, as it encourages them to reflect on their current behavior and make progress accordingly. moreover, the application of this framework in the present study contributes to the literature on possible selves by addressing the underexplored role of past memories, which has been paid scant attention in previous research. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 75 published by scholink inc. 4. methodology considering the exploratory nature of the research questions and the focus on examining the nature of participant’s recollections of school and his possible selves, a qualitative methodology was deemed appropriate for this study. additionally, a narrative approach was utilized as it was argued that the most effective means of capturing individuals’ memories was through storytelling (carter, 1993). 4.1 participant and context the selected participant was a first-year male english pre-service teacher, adam (pseudonym) who had little prior experience in teaching experience. he pursued a master degree in subject teaching (english) after completing his bachelor’s degree in english. in the first year of the program, adam had various courses related to curriculum and teaching methodology, educational psychology, academic writing, principles of pedagogy, among others. it was worth noting that the english teacher education program in the chinese university where this study took place was a three-year program, with the goal of graduating students as qualified english teachers. as english student teachers in this program were primarily female, the inclusion of a male participant like adam would provide valuable insights into the often-neglected aspects of english student teacher development from a male perspective. furthermore, ethical approval was obtained from the participant before the study commenced. 4.2 data collection we built on clandinin and connelly (2000, p. 20) who defined narrative research as “a way of understanding experience”. narrative methodology had proven to be advantageous in examining possible selves as written narratives often produced a great number of possible selves (whitty, 2002). in this study, the recollections of the pre-service teacher pertaining to his educational experience in secondary schools were understood as narratives, and his possible selves were also examined through a narrative lens. the present investigation drew upon a written narrative and oral accounts of adam. firstly, adam was prompted to reflect upon memories pertaining to previous lessons and teachers, and to explicate the significance of these recollections. the primary prompts utilized to elicit his narrative were three-fold, inquiring: (1) what memories he retained from his secondary schools, (2) the meaning of these memories, and (3) his aspirations and apprehensions regarding his future role as a teacher. the second oral accounts were collected from the interview with adam, which sought to obtain more detailed evidence to confirm or disconfirm participant’s statements in the written narrative, and to discover the connection between the school memories and possible selves. to ensure methodological consistency and rigor, the researchers utilized the structured protocols for interviewing and followed the wording and order of the interview questions. additionally, the researcher might pose follow-up and probing questions as necessary. the interview, which last approximately sixty minutes, was fully audiorecorded and transcribed completely by the researchers. as it was crucial for the researchers to be reflective of and open with their own voices and positions in the research process (clandinin & connelly, 2006), the writers assumed the role of qualitative researchers who engaged in ongoing negotiation and construction of meaning (rui, 2016) with adam by listening to his school memories and future incisions www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 76 published by scholink inc. and sharing the writer’s own reflections during reading the narrative and interview. as a result, the spirit of “reciprocity” between researchers and participants in qualitative studies (creswell, 2007) would be possibly achieved as the research might to some extent help adam revisit his past school memories and gain deeper insights into his professional and cognitive development as a future educator. 4.3 data analysis all of the collected data were subject to narrative analysis and categorical analysis of narratives was employed as the analytical technique (lieblich et al., 1998) to reveal adam’s school memories and possible selves construction. therefore, the collected narratives were analyzed in terms of their content and emerging categories one-by-one. the first step in analysis involved a holistic reading of the writing (lieblich et al., 1998), which focused on identifying all the data excerpts containing adam’s futureoriented possible selves entwined with his recollections of school time. the second step was the actual analysis of narratives, which began with a careful examination of all the extracts in terms of their content. with no predetermined codes being utilized in the analysis, this step followed the inductive thematic coding which allowed themes and patterns to emerge from the data. the initial codes that were often descriptive in nature and were generated directly from the data were identified while researchers read through the data. then, the researchers sought for patterns and connections between these codes and grouped them into broader themes or categories. ultimately, the key themes and patterns in the data were identified, which was presented in the next chapter. additionally, the data involved individual coding by each researcher, followed by a collective review of the coding when disagreements arose. after reaching a consensus, the researchers continued to code the remaining data and shared their coding with each other for review. this iterative process involved multiple rounds of cross-checking, which enhanced the reliability of the coding. the identified categories were also shared with adam to invite his further comments, which also validated and enriched the data analysis results of the study. 5. findings this research investigated how a pre-service teacher’s recollections of school might contribute to the possible selves development. the participant, adam, provided a range of memories that shaped both his desired and feared selves in the teaching profession. moreover, he displayed a deliberate effort to reconcile his past experiences with his future aspirations and formulated a concrete plan of action for his upcoming teaching endeavors. through an inductive coding process, the data yielded four overarching categories, supported by relevant quotes and narratives. 5.1 school memories adam recalled memories of five different teachers who served as great influencers for the kind of teacher he would like to become or not in the classroom. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 77 published by scholink inc. 5.1.1 ‘why did they ignore me’ as he was a junior secondary school student in grade nine, adam encountered a new math teacher who exerted indelible influence on him. he had been struggling with math since fifth grade, but the first math teacher that came to his mind was the one from grade nine when he moved from a normal class to an elite class to seek “cure” for his poor academic performance. …but i wasn’t very good at school, especially at math. that math teacher was so pissed off that she asked me to go out to the corridor during class time and said “why came to this class when you know nothing? wasting space?” this gesture of inhospitality happened on the first day adam moved to the class. adam recounted how his math teacher treated him differently from other students in the class, deliberately ignoring him while showing favoritism towards others. the tension lasted on and adam was so discouraged that he “totally lost the confidence to learn math and didn’t even want to attend the class”. adam went on to recount an experience from his tenth-grade year, in which he was subjected to ridicule by his new math teacher after failing two finals with quite low scores. this incident left adam feeling like a laughingstock and caused him to view math as a source of shame. despite this setback, adam still expressed a sense of optimism and “hope” for math learning. in fact, i had this hope in me every time i met a new teacher, hoping that this teacher was somehow different, that i could somehow begin to make progress in math. actually, i wanted to learn, but those teachers just didn’t give me any chance to…i wonder why the teachers i met just wouldn’t help. why did they ignore me and just leave me there to fall? this was all that adam recalled about his math teachers in the interview. in an informal talk, he mentioned another math teacher who punished him for reasons forgotten with 100 squats. adam struggled to complete even thirty squats, and started to feel increasingly uncomfortable as the teacher sat and laughed with other teachers. adam speculated that this incident might have contributed to his weak foundation in math since it occurred when he was in seventh grade. adam’s past experiences with his math teachers in school have had a lasting impact on him, influencing his feared teacher selves. in the written narrative, adam clearly stated that: i’m afraid of becoming the kind of teacher who delivers boring lessons, just going through the motions of teaching from the textbook, ignoring the problems that students face, being unfair, causing students’ grades to drop instead of improving, and not being respected by students. the math teachers’ behaviors in class and the interactions between them left adam feeling that they were unfair, uncaring for students, and even disrespectful to students. the teachers’ teaching style was simply repeating what was written in the textbook, which made the classes dull and unengaging. these memories had a profound impact on adam’s psychology, causing him to develop a sense of fear and helplessness towards math learning. in addition, they shaped adam’s feared teacher self, one who resembled the math teachers that he had encountered in his own education. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 78 published by scholink inc. 5.1.2 ‘then, they saw me’ despite poor performance in math, adam said that he had a gift for english. he had been influenced by an american singer and been practicing his songs since grade seven. he was confident about his ability to recite english readings but was never given the chance to showcase in front of his classmates. after one year of waiting, he was asked by the new english teacher to read a paragraph in the class, which was a success according to adam because the teacher later asked him whether he had listened to bbc and said that he sounded like a native speaker. this was the first time that he had been praised in school as he could recall and it was such a great encouragement for adam since he “found a sense of achievement in english”. however, the teacher never called his name again and was always teasing one of the students rather than teaching. she was never really teaching. she just teased a boy in the class. i remember everyone was complaining and actually filed a complaint. but well, i kind of want to thank her because i was able to find a sense of achievement in english when i was never doing well at other subjects. i was glad that they saw me. following a positive experience of being acknowledged, adam devoted a considerable amount of his time to improving his proficiency in english. however, the second time never came until two years later. it was in the summer extension school that only open for the elite classes, but i managed to get in anyway. i was sitting at the last row, waiting for my chance to shine. finally, the teacher called my name and i was asked to recite a whole passage, which was very long even for me. but luckily, i had been preparing for it and i recited in such a fluid way i could feel the whole class looking at me with admiration. as i finished, everyone started to applaud. i felt like i was at the top of the world, everyone cheering for me. it was amazing. adam emphasized the importance of praise, saying “if nobody praises you or applauds you, then you can’t know how good you are, can you?”. he ended this part of memory with the following words. that’s so much i can recall about english teachers in secondary school. to summarize, i found my strength and i craved to be recognized but rarely had the chance. in this recollection, adam demonstrated his english talent by chance and received recognition and praise from his teacher, which filled him with confidence and a desire to showcase himself again in front of others. although he had few opportunities to do so afterward, this experience allowed him to empathize with students’ yearning for opportunities and recognition from their teachers. this recollection also influenced his ideal self as a teacher, as he aspired to become “a caring, humorous, adaptable, capable, inspiring, and motivating teacher” for his students, which was written in his narrative. 5.1.3 ‘finally, he came and saved me’ apart from english, adam did not exhibit a significant level of academic engagement during his senior secondary school years. despite the intense preparation for college entrance examination, he still maintained a rather lackadaisical attitude towards his studies, even when it came to the second semester of grade twelve. however, his attitude changed when a chinese teacher “came and saved” him. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 79 published by scholink inc. he was different from all the teachers i had met. he ushered me into the world of literature with fine language and enlightened me to pursue knowledge. he didn’t approach me with the cliché that “you should study more and go to college to change your life”. he achieved the same “awakening” effect in his lectures, subtly and unconsciously. i started to dived into all the papers to catch up and even tried to consult my classmates about math problems. adam’s countenance lit up as he recounted his memories with the chinese teacher whom he described as charming, romantic, and life-changing. this particular teacher had the ability to transform the previously boring chinese class for adam into an engaging and captivating one, leading him to the realization of the charm of knowledge. for the first time in the interview, adam talked about his possible selves. his wisdom really got into me. there were no class activities. it was just him talking, in an engaging and enlightening way. he is the teacher i want to become. he literally came and saved me. what adam mentioned here was his desired self, the teacher he wanted to become, to be an inspiring teacher like this chinese teacher. owing to the teacher’s intervention, adam ultimately achieved an unexpectedly high score in his college entrance examination, which he described as being “rescued” by the chinese teacher. 5.2 negotiating the past and future in order to explore the potential implications of adam’s school memories for his future career in the teaching profession, a detailed examination of the written narrative and oral telling was conducted, which uncovered how adam intended to utilize these experiences in his negotiation of the past and future. 5.2.1 ‘no more acting against my beliefs’ as previously mentioned, adam admired to be a “good” teacher like the chinese teacher who had left a profound impact on him. however, during an internship, he found himself acting in a manner that contradicted his beliefs and had been haunted by the guilt ever since. he was teaching two classes that were not doing well academically and were notorious for misbehavior. to cope with this challenge, adam had made great preparations for it. however, it did not play out as he expected. i wanted to get close to the students, to know them, and let them know that they mattered. it worked at first, but as i got busy later, i started to get loose and didn’t prepare for the class as seriously as before. that was not the kind of teacher i wanted to become, not in the slightest. sometimes i really feel guilty. i blame myself for pushing the kind of teacher and class that i despised on those students. this experience of inconsistency between belief and practice had a huge impact on adam. he referred to it as a “memory of failure” and recounted it as an experience that he preferred not to recall. the account of negotiation came later after he talked about the meaning of being a teacher on his own initiative. when you see a confused student, shouldn’t you provide extra help? teachers need to be able to see the needed student, to see students’ signal for help. this is the meaning of teacher, isn’t www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 80 published by scholink inc. it? thus, these math teachers that i met had quite an influence on me. as you said, i don’t want to see what happened to me happen to others… what i have learned these years in the master's program also has a positive impact on me. i get to reflect on myself as i read the tpd literature and become better. i quite look forward to the future, applying what i have learned. i feel like i am ready now. i will not act against my belief anymore. we then asked adam what he thought would be the challenge ahead, to which he answered: the kids now know so much. i have to enrich myself to become well-rounded enough to get to these kids in the class, which is already a huge challenge already. i want to have a positive influence on them, but that’s extremely difficult. i will do my best to let them sense the fun of learning. although adam did not provide a detailed account of his plan for self-improvement, he acknowledged the challenge at hand and recognized the need for action to cope with it. 6. discussion this study examined the potential impact of school memories on the possible selves of an english preservice teacher. the findings indicated that these memories could significantly shape the conscious and subconscious construction of their desired and feared selves. given these results, it was recommended that teacher education programs enhance their reflective practices by incorporating both retrospective and future-oriented reflection, rather than solely relying on coursework to prepare students for their future careers. 6.1 how school memories influence possible selves the findings uncovered that adam’s possible selves were influenced by both positive and negative school memories. drawing upon his positive school memories, adam sought to incorporate “fun”, “inspiring”, and “innovative” teaching methods into his own classroom activities. his recollections of the chinese teacher who served as his model teacher left a lasting impact on his desired teacher self. this tendency could be understood through the lens of apprenticeship of observation (borg, 2004), which posited that students observed their teachers’ teaching practices and internalized the teaching values they observed (conner & vary, 2017). the observations of the chinese teacher’s pedagogical activities contributed to adam’s conceptualization of desired teacher self. this process of how school memories influenced possible selves also highlighted the necessity of pre-service teachers to have suitable role models to observe and learn from, which could be facilitated by providing mentoring relationships between preservice teachers and in-service teachers. the significance of mentoring for preservice teachers has also been repeatedly addressed and supported in the existing literature (valencia et al., 2009). in addition, it is suggested that teacher educators need to have awareness and consciousness that their relationships with pre-service teachers could function as a context where preservice teachers could develop role models (hong & greene, 2011). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 81 published by scholink inc. apart from adam’s positive school memories, his negative school experiences constituted a larger proportion in both oral telling and written narrative. these negative memories played a crucial role in shaping adam’s desired self, highlighting the intricate relationship between negative memories and the construction of possible selves. this formation of adam’s desired self can be understood through the lens of the anti-apprenticeship of observation, a concept explicated by moodie (2016), which described how negative prior language learning experiences impacted teachers’ cognition and instructional practices. adam’s negative school memories of being subjected to corporal punishment, verbal aggression, and unfair treatment by his english and mathematics teachers prompted him to become a compassionate and inspiring educator, who could foster a positive classroom atmosphere and take meticulous care of his students’ learning needs. these negative memories as a learner fueled his intention to adopt a different approach to teaching, distinct from the english and mathematics teachers he encountered, which reflected the impacts of negative learning experiences on teachers’ cognition. additionally, the process of how negative memories influenced the possible selves could be categorized into three steps: (a) negative school memories as learners, (b) intention to do something different as a teacher and (c) possible selves and beliefs about teaching. the recollections of both positive and negative school memories created conditions for the pre-service teacher to reflect, act and build his possible selves, which could be understood through the lens of observation of apprenticeship and anti-observation of apprenticeship. therefore, it was significant for pre-service teachers to gain some cognitive control over their previous experience in order to adapt to new learning and practice (borg, 2003). 6.2 teacher reflections the process of becoming a teacher involved more than just acquiring theoretical knowledge and pedagogical skills. rather, it was a complex and ongoing process of identity development that was deeply intertwined with the teacher’s past experiences and memories. in this regard, the pre-service teacher’s attitudes and reflections towards their past school memories played a crucial role in shaping their possible selves and facilitating the negotiation between past school memories and future teaching career. by reflecting on past school memories, pre-service teachers could use these memories to construct possible selves, imagining the kind of teacher they wanted to be and the impact they wanted to have on their students. what’s more, the pre-service teacher was able to disrupt and transform the cycle of reproduction in teaching that might perpetuate ineffective teaching practices and to navigate the complex relationship between past memories and future career aspirations through critical reflection. however, the process of reflection could be challenging, particularly if pre-service teachers had negative memories of their own schooling experiences, as adam’s school memories showed. in such cases, teacher training programs should provide support and guidance to help pre-service teachers cope with these memories and use them constructively. in addition to individual reflection, collaborative reflection could also be a powerful tool for pre-service teachers. by sharing stories and experiences with one another, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 82 published by scholink inc. pre-service teachers could gain new perspectives on teaching and learning and develop a deeper understanding of the diverse backgrounds and experiences of their future students. overall, prospective reflection was a critical tool for pre-service teachers as they navigated the complex process of becoming a teacher. by reflecting on their past school memories and constructing possible selves, they could develop a strong sense of professional identity and a commitment to lifelong learning and growth. teacher training programs should therefore value the development of reflective practices among pre-service teachers, providing them with the support and resources they need to succeed. 7. conclusion this study investigated how a pre-service teacher’s past school memories influenced the development of their professional identity, specifically with regard to their desired and feared selves as a teacher. employing a case study approach, the study involved interviewing one english pre-service teacher and prompting him to reflect on his experiences with various teachers, both positive and negative. the findings indicated that the pre-service teacher utilized both positive and negative memories to construct his desired and feared selves, with negative memories comprising a larger proportion of his memories. the participant also demonstrated the intention to negotiate between past experiences and present expectations, and had formulated a plan of action for his future career. reflective practices played a critical role in facilitating this negotiation, underscoring the importance of cultivating reflective habits within teacher training programs. given the significance of reflective practices in pre-service teacher development, it is necessary to prompt students to reflect on their school memories and prospectively contemplate how these memories may intersect with their future teaching responsibilities. adequately preparing teachers for their future classrooms should not solely involve textbooks and lectures, but rather, should value the development of reflective habits that will persist throughout their careers. by encouraging pre-service teachers to consider the impact of past school memories on their future selves as teachers, teacher training programs can establish a foundation for sustained and critical reflection, thereby promoting continuous improvement in teaching and learning. however, the study has some limitations that should be taken into consideration. one limitation is related to the terminology used in the prompt that the use of the term “negotiation” may have been interpreted differently by the participant. additionally, the study had a small sample size, as it only included one participant. therefore, future research should aim to recruit a more diverse sample of pre-service teachers to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between possible selves and school memories. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 83 published by scholink inc. references avraamidou, l. 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(2018). the role of experienced teachers in the development of pre-service language teachers’ professional identity: revisiting school memories and constructing future teacher selves. international journal of educational research, 88, 146-155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2018.02.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103120 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-013-9500-8 https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.41.9.954 https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764x.2019.1581136 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44063-7_1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2015.10.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2016.05.011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1990.tb01927.x https://doi.org/10.5617/nordina.4368 https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1803270 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2018.02.002 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 86 published by scholink inc. rosen, l. h., underwood, m. k., gentsch, j. k., rahdar, a., & wharton, m. e. 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(2002). possible selves: an exploration of the utility of a narrative approach. identity: an international journal of theory and research, 2, 211-228. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532706xid0203_02 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2012.07.006 https://doi.org/10.1177/107780040100700203 https://doi.org/10.1080/13540600120054955 https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487109336543 https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2016.1149509 https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532706xid0203_02 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 106 original paper an interpretation of the dumb waiter from foucault’s disciplinary power theory yan jia1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, shaanxi, china received: january 18, 2024 accepted: february 15, 2024 online published: march 2, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p106 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p106 abstract harold pinter is one of britian’s greatest playwrights in the 20th century. he is famous for his “comedy of menace” which discloses the menace theme in people’s daily life and the power discipline and resistance behind the great menace. in the one-act play the dumb waiter, the subtle power struggles are revealed through the closed space, absurd dialogues and repetitive actions. michel foucault, one of the greatest french philosophies, points out that power occurs everywhere and it is related to body, knowledge and discourse. thus this thesis attempts to explore the discipline punishment and resistance in the power struggle in the dumb waiter, and then reveal the plight of human being in the 20th century. keywords the dumb waiter, disciplinary power theory, foucault, discipline, resistance 1. introduction harold pinter is one of the most talented playwrights in the history of postwar british and even the world drama, famous for his “comedy of menace” which means the characters in the play always face the menace of some power from the outside world. pinter won the nobel prize in literature in 2005. when announcing the award, the chairman proclaimed that pinter was an artist “who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms” (“harold pinter-facts”). the dumb waiter is a one-act play finished in 1957 and presented in 1960. the whole play is set in a windowless, stuffy basement of an abandoned restaurant with two beds separated by a dumb waiter. gus and ben, the play’s two characters, await instructions from their organization in the basement. as they waited endlessly, they engaged in a few discussions, chatting about tea. however, gus soon began to annoy ben by asking questions about their job. later, they received messages through the dumb waiter in the room, which contained food orders. in the end of the play, the curtain falls as gus and his www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 107 published by scholink inc. prospective murder ben stared at each other. it is because he has not been content to be a “dumb waiter” that gus is destroyed. actually, both gus and ben are victims of power they strive for. 2. literature review as one of pinter’s the most renowned plays, the dumb waiter has been of great concern of scholars since its presentation. various theories are employed in the interpretation of this play including existentialism, symbolism, deconstructionism theory and so on. besides, many scholars analyze its political theme and characteristics of “comedy of menace” and “absurd theatre”. at abroad, ruby cohn (1962), in his “the world of harold pinter”, analyzes the functions of house in pinter’s four plays and demonstrates that the closed space signifies the virtual annihilation of the individual. ali zeeshan in “the real and the absurd in harold pinter’s the dumb waiter” states that “behind the thick layer of absurdity in the dumb waiter, the real characters with internal fears depict the pathetic status of a powerless man in a menacing atmosphere. the characters’ futile struggle to protect themselves from their powerful master is rendered realistically.” (p. 89) the domestic study of the dumb waiter is roughly divided into four aspects. firstly, through the lens of impoliteness theory, chen yali (2011) offers a thorough examination of the power struggle between ben and gus in the dumb waiter, focusing on their damaged conversational structure. she discusses ben’s preservation of power via jonathan culpeper’s politeness strategies, as well as his oppressive use of nonverbal impoliteness against gus. secondly, the perspective is menace and absurd. for example, zhou guanying (2011) distinguishes the type of threat represented in pinter’s plays from those originating from weapons and bombs. the kind of threat he delves into penetrates deep into the human soul, inducing a shiver of fear. this is not merely an emotional device; it hints at the fate of mankind itself. thirdly, the language style of the dumb waiter is researched by many scholars. at last, some scholars focus on the study of power discipline and struggle in the dumb waiter. zhao ning interprets the play by foucault’s micro-power theory. in his article, he concludes that modern people face the same plight of discipline punishment as characters in the dumb waiter. guo tong and xie jinqiu contends that harold pinter creates a black and white environment to demystify characters’ inner feeling and their futile resistance against the power in the dumb waiter. 3. theoretical framework in order to lay the theoretical foundation for the analysis of the dumb waiter according to foucault’s disciplinary theory of power，this part gives a brief introduction to foucault’s power theory and discuss the key terms in the theory—body, knowledge and discourse. 3.1 foucault’s thought on power foucault’s understanding of power significantly diverges from traditional conceptions. in his view, the characters of power can be summarized as following. firstly, power is a ubiquitous and ever-changing flow which exists in all aspects of social life and functions ceaselessly. power is exercised pervasively www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 108 published by scholink inc. throughout social systems and operates at the most minute levels of social relations in our daily life. as eloquently stated by foucault, “power is everywhere, not because it embraces everything, but because it comes everywhere” (foucault, p. 93). secondly, power is productive. it can produce reality, individual and individual’s knowledge as well as discourse. thirdly, power is a relationship. it is produced under the interplay of various unequal and changeable relations. and as foucault states: “i hardly ever use the word ‘power’, and if i do sometimes, it is always a short cut to the expression i always use: the relationship of power” (foucault, p. 11). in a word, foucault’s power refers to “micro power”, which is regarded as a relationship, a network or a field, and it is dynamic, productive, decentralized and unstable. 3.2 discipline and power discipline refers to methods and tactics that “made possible the meticulous control of the operations of the body, which assure the constant subjection of its forces and imposed upon them a relation of docilityutility” (foucault, p. 137). in his work, discipline and punishment: the birth of prison, foucault delves into the mechanisms of power in various institutions, including hospitals, the military, schools, and prisons. through the lens of power’s control and manipulation over the human body, he uncovers how disciplinary power shapes docile individuals and useful objects. this is achieved through techniques such as hierarchical observation, normalizing judgment, and examination. knowledge is another crucial concept within foucault’s theory of disciplinary power. as the fundamental tool for power to intervene and control society, knowledge fulfills the function of normalizing the system under the guise of “truth.” “it is a double process, then; an epistemological ‘thaw’ through a refinement of power relations; a multiplication of the effects of power through the formation and accumulation of new forms of knowledge” (foucault, p. 224). power can manipulate knowledge to be involved into the game of truth. furthermore, the truth is produced by power, and it naturally consolidates the power statement. discourse is also an important means to generate and strengthen power. where there are humans, there are discourses; where there are discourses, there are powers. according to foucault，discourse is “a group of statements that belong to a single statement of formation” (foucault, p. 107). power is closely associated with the discourse, and only through discourse, an important medium, can power truly achieve its effects. in this way, institutions utilize discourse to ensure the effectiveness of their power. 3.3 resistance of disciplinary power the existence of resistance is a constant companion of power relationships, as resistance forms wherever power operates. power’s omnipresence and multiplicity inevitably limit resistance’s scope. furthermore, due to power’s interconnected nature as a network, a singular struggle can trigger ripples throughout the entire system. foucault’s theory emphasizes resistance over mere passive submission, suggesting that when two forces collide within an individual, they enhance its potency. in this regard, individuals are not mere recipients of power; they are active agents exercising and resisting power within themselves. in discipline and punishment: the birth of prison, foucault interprets penal affairs as a clash inherent to civilization, where major crimes are the fatal repercussions and rebellions against repressed elements, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 109 published by scholink inc. rather than mere monsters. similarly, minor infractions are not perceived as the inevitable fringes of society; they are vibrations emanating from the heart of the battlefield. foucault views power as a dynamic entity, rather than static, and individuals are not mere passive recipients of power; they play a pivotal role in this power play. they have the capacity to revolt, resist, and thus participate in this dynamic system. 4. an interpretation of the dumb waiter from foucault’s disciplinary power 4.1 disciplinary power in the dumb waiter the one-act play tells the story of two killers，ben and gus waiting the instruction from their organization in a basement. the plot is quite simple while the invisible discipline power acts in the play all the time. the two characters have always been under the gaze and control of power. the following parts will show the discipline power on ben and gus in detail. 4.1.1 imprisonment of bodies under the disciplinary power the “jail cell-like” basement indicates the bodies of two characters in this play are imprisoned by the seemingly invisible power. in the opening scene of the play, pinter introduces a windowless room furnished with nothing but two beds, an almost exact replica of a prison. inside this bed-setting room enclosed by the dark and mysterious world outside, ben and gus, two hired assassins, are waiting in dreadful suspense for the door on the right to open and their victim to enter. isolated in a closed environment, they are excluded from the outside world, as gus summarizes it, “you come into a place when it’s still dark, you come into a room you’ve never seen before, you sleep all day, you do your job, and then you go away in the night again.” (pinter, p. 4) their bodies are imprisoned by the mysterious organization. however, ben and gus are unaware of the dumb waiter’s presence, or of the possibility of being surveilled. once the two have been isolated and sentenced to imprisonment, the process of their reformation and normalization begins in the hands of the unseen authority. during ben and gus’ endlessly waiting for the order, strange events happened in the play, such as an envelope sliding under the door, the toilet flushing when neither ben nor gus is in the lavatory, and the sudden clattering of the dumb waiter with orders for food, the two are unable or too dumb to explain these or react appropriately. at first, they desperately try to fill the orders coming down the dumb waiter, but as these become more and more vague, the two try to convince the unfathomable power that they have nothing to send. foucault claims that disciplinary power consists of three elements: “hierarchical observation, normalizing judgement and examination” (foucault, p. 170). in fact, these strange events all suggested that ben and gus are under the surveillance of the hierarchical surveillance from the organization of wilson. at the same time, the two characters receive continuous examination from the organization to reform them and render them docile and useful by depriving of their freedom. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 110 published by scholink inc. 4.1.2 manipulation of knowledge in the play the dumb waiter, newspaper actually is the symbol of knowledge which cannot be questioned. in this play, the scene of reading newspapers appeared three times and it is always ben who holds the power. “newspaper implies the hierarchy pf power, and those who own it have the advantage and are the one who issue orders” (huang, p. 2018). from the stage directions at the start, it becomes evident to the audience that ben’s attention is drawn towards gus rather than the paper. ben always reads newspapers and observes gus now and again. this already demonstrates ben’s superior status and his dominance over gus. on the first occasion, ben reports that an eighty-seven-year-old man wanted to cross a crowded road but found the traffic too heavy to squeeze through, and so he crawled under a lorry, which then started up and ran over him. these are the dialogues of the two men: ben (slamming his paper down): kaw! gus: what’s that? ben: he crawled under a lorry. a stationary lorry. …. gus: go on! ben: that’s what it says here. gus: get away, ben: it’s enough to make you want to puke, isn’t it? gus: who advised him to do a thing like that? ben: a man of eighty-seven crawling under a lorry! gus: it’s unbelievable. ben: it’s down here in black and white. gus: incredible. (pinter, p. 1) newspaper is the only medium they get information from the outside world in a relatively closed basement. ben tries to tell gus the content of the newspaper and gus is also thirsted to gain information. ben’s extreme reactions to the content of paper, such as slamming and seizing, are not merely signs of disgust at the content, but indicate in inner struggle for greater comprehension of what is happening in the world. ben’s thirst for information or knowledge is buried deeper than gus’s. the conversation also highlights the important distinction between the characters. gus’s innate response to the new information is to question it directly. as the information from a credible and authoritative source, ben says “it’s down here in black and white” which means he conforms to the authority although he may dissatisfy with the event given by the paper. moments later comes the second occasion: ben: a child of eight killed a cat! gus: get away. ben: it’s a fact. what about that, eh? a child of eight killing a cat! gus: how did he do it? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 111 published by scholink inc. ben: it was a girl. gus: how did she do it? ben: she― he picks up the paper and studies it. it doesn’t say. gus: why not? ben: wait a minute. it just says―her brother, aged eleven, viewed the incident from the toolshed. gus: go on! ben: that’s bloody ridiculous. pause. gus: i bet he did it. ben: who? gus: the brother. ben: i think you’re right. pause. (pinter, p. 3) on this occasion, ben also don’t agree with the news item, dissatisfied with the event given by the paper, which evidently doesn’t conform to their notions about eight-year-old girls. even people like ben who blindly obeys the authority recognize that it is a false built-in fact given by the authority, which means the hierarchical power tries to manipulate the knowledge of the public by defining norms of conduct. 4.1.3 suppression of gus’s voice in the dumb waiter in the dumb waiter’s menacing world, the oppositional voice is forcefully silenced, and conformity is a desired human trait. in the play, gus attempts to communicate with ben, repeating the similar phrase “i want to ask you some questions” seven times, but ben always keeps silence because he is the one who holds the decisive power in his dialogues with gus. being inferior position, gus cannot speak out. for example: ben: you never ask me so many damn questions. what came over you? gus: no, i was just wondering. ben: stop wondering. you’ve got a job to do. why don’t you just do it and shut up? (pinter, p. 12) according to foucault, discipline is achieved through imposing precise norms. the goal here, is to reform or “to correct deviant behavior” (gutting, 2011, p. 9). therefore, when gus starts questioning, as he becomes fed up, he immediately becomes abnormal in the eyes of the criminal organization. his questions are noisily interrupted by the dumb waiter which is about to test whether gus can go back to being just a machine. however, gus is failing his exam so he must be silenced once and for all. 4.2 gus’s resistance against disciplinary power in the play only gus tries to speak, challenging the system for which he works. gus repeatedly questions what is going on outside of the basement room they are in. he keeps expressing doubt about the nature of their work, rather than, like ben, continuing blindly to obey orders of their employer. gus is living www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 112 published by scholink inc. like a real man. he pursues a room with a window because he desires for the outside world. gus’s anxiety over not having the matches or any money for the gas meter to boil a cup of tea shows his chaste for living a normal life. gus is a rebel of authority in this play. gus always asks seemingly meaningless questions all the time to find the answer in the absurd world. he tries to resist against the disciplinary power by asking questions. in the play, gus repeatedly asks several questions. the first is “what time is he getting in touch?”, which implies who they are being controlled by. the pronoun ‘he’ here refers to the superior wilson who holds ben and gus in his grasp, issuing instructions by telephone and randomly arranging their lives. he can get in tough at any time, while ben and gus are left waiting anxiously. this suggests that wilson embodies the mysterious, invisible, yet omnipresent power that common people know little about but are still at its mercy. the second one is “who is going to be tonight?” conveys the identity of the intended victim in the world of ambiguity and anonymous menace. the last question “what’s he playing all the game for?” is a sardonic commentary on the inevitable fate of those caught in the web of mysterious power. even if we follow instructions, we cannot escape its games, and even our loyalty to fate is not enough to earn its trust. ultimately, those who harm others will meet their own demise, as no one can escape the arrangement of the world. at first glance, gus’s questions appear to center on the task, yet his underlying intention is to deeply reevaluate the absurdities of the world and to seek rebellion against the oppressive disciplinary power. 5. conclusion this thesis analyzes the dumb waiter from the perceptive of foucault’s disciplinary power theory. it gives a view of how ben and gus, the play’s two characters, are normed by the power and gus’s resistance against the power. from this perceptive, the plight of human existence is revealed. the idea of individual liberty is actually the liberty within the prison; one is free only in a conformist way, only as long as one remains a dumb waiter. modern society creates dumb waiters, subjects who are too busy spending and thus incapable of questioning their morals and norms. we are being skillfully kept in line with the help of new surveillance technology that is impossible to detect at all times, and is thus internalized. even more alarming is the new fashion for exposure of privacy among modern dumb waiters, who willingly share their personal information in exchange for becoming a part of the global internet network. privacy is no longer a taboo; instead we all live in one big public room, or rather a cell, with our back strongly to the wall. this is a situation that certainly cannot be laughed off. references chen, y. l. (2011). on the impoliteness in the dumb waiter from the perspective of the theory of impoliteness (master’s thesis). northwest university. cohn, r. (1962). the world of harold pinter. the tulane drama review, 3(1962), 55-68. https://doi.org/10.2307/1124935 https://doi.org/10.2307/1124935 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 113 published by scholink inc. foucault, m. (1979). discipline and punish: the birth of the prison. new york: vintage books. print. jia, n. n. (2013). an analysis of ‘menace’ in harold pinter’s the dumb waiter. overseas english, 22(2013), 219-222. cnki. web.27 dec.2018. zeeshan, a. (2020). the real and the absurd in harold pinter’s the dumb waiter. iup journal of english studies, 2(2020), 89-96. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 116 original paper child psychology in the dance classroom yuyan wang1 1 moscow state pedagogical university, russia received: september 17, 2023 accepted: october 5, 2023 online published: october 24, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n4p116 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n4p116 abstract child psychology is a discipline that studies the laws of children’s mental activities, and with the improvement of social standards, the application of psychology in children’s education is becoming more and more widespread. this paper takes children’s psychological development as a fulcrum to gain deep insight into children’s psychological characteristics in dance teaching. taking children as the research object, it studies the specific application of psychology in the process of children’s dance teaching through its own teaching practice. keywords child psychology, pre-class orientation, dance instruction 1. introduction children’s dance class is mainly to cultivate children’s interest in dance learning, to cultivate children’s good behavior on the basis of retaining children’s nature, and to develop children’s physical dance ability. teachers should choose dance learning contents suitable for children, rationally arrange the time of teaching modules, and effectively consider children’s psychological activities in dance courses. teachers should not apply the teaching mode of professional institutions to the teaching of children’s dance, and they should not focus only on “teaching” and neglect the communication and interaction with children. a complete class is usually divided into three stages, namely, pre-course instruction, unfolding of teaching content and post-course summarization. 2. overview of dance classroom introduction types the introduction before class is the key to the whole classroom teaching, through the guidance before class into the teaching theme. it is good to arouse the learning interest of young children and instill the corresponding general knowledge of dance in young children, so that the teacher can play twice the effect with half the effort in the later courses. taking 30 children and toddlers as survey subjects, it was found that 25% of the children and 53% of the toddlers like music introduction; 60% of the children and 30% www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 117 published by scholink inc. of the toddlers like story introduction; 5% of the children and 7% of the toddlers like review introduction; 10% of the children and 10% of the toddlers like demonstration introduction. while most of the children could be attracted by the story scenario, children preferred the musical introduction and the music of interest created a strong desire to learn the content. 2.1 dance music introduction method the music in the classroom is an indispensable background for the dance, students hear the music and enter the state of dance learning, quickly attract the children’s attention, and observe the classroom state of the students through one to two minutes of music appreciation. in teaching practice, try to choose the lyrics more attractive to the children’s dance music, and then ask the children to listen to the music with me in a large circle, to exchange what lyrics heard or feel what the music expresses, the children speak freely. teachers have to do is to encourage the students to speak, and then the children’s words to make appropriate additions, and then play the music again, encourage the children to try to dance on the body, cultivate students’ creative thinking, and help teachers to complete the over-guidance on the development of dance teaching content before the class. take “little snail” from the first grade textbook of chinese folk dance as an example: i said to the students after they listened to the music: “teacher heard the little snail, what did you hear?” some said, “teacher, what do you hear? some said: “teacher, i hear a snail carrying a small house on its back”, some said: “i hear the snail patting its own little belly”, and some said: “i also hear the sound of thunder and rain”. after listening, encourage the children to listen more carefully than the teacher, and then ask the children to close their eyes and think about what it would be like if they were a little snail. think about whether a snail is afraid of the sound of thunder. what should a snail do when it rains? then with the thinking just now, please listen to the music again, self-expression, and finally into the teaching of the dance combination. 2.2 dance storyline introduction method the most effective way to get children to quiet down and quickly focus their attention on the teacher is to tell a story. the story introduction method can pave the way for students’ participation in teaching, but it must be related to the content of dance teaching. teachers should pay attention to analyzing the content of the teaching materials, determining whether the materials are suitable for pre-class guidance by storytelling, and focusing on communication with students in the process of storytelling. the telling of dance content should not only create a reasonable situation, but also be entertaining. the same toddler dance course combination “ants fall into the river” as an example: “there is a lovely little ant in the lake to play alone, but accidentally fell into the river, the little ant and afraid, and sad, it is more eager to be safe to board the shore ah, when the children guess what the little ant saw? (triggered the children’s thinking, actively speaking) it saw a small leaf floating on the lake, the little ant hurriedly swam over to sit on the small leaf floating back to the shore.” teachers should be patient with children’s questions and give them time to digest and understand the story. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 118 published by scholink inc. 2.3 dance content review introduction method the content of the dance course is linked section by section, teachers will assign corresponding dance homework after class, then teachers should check last week’s homework before the second class, which can make students and parents pay attention to the dance class, and do more practice in the classroom, and uninterrupted dance training can make the students have a greater improvement in physical fitness and dance skills, and can also make teachers put the dance class into the hands of students and parents. it also enables teachers to put dance lessons into the hands of students and parents. this will not only make the students and parents pay attention to the dance class and do more practice in class, but also make the teacher carry out the course content more smoothly. before teaching a new lesson, the teacher should connect what the students have learned with the textbook content, so that they can learn from the past and make what they have learned more solid and lay a foundation for the new content. 2.4 dance movement demonstration introduction method the demonstration introduction method is very direct and more suitable for children. in the classroom, the teacher can act as an audience in front of the students, directly conveying to the students the teaching objectives and content of the lesson, so that the students are clear about what needs to be mastered in this lesson, and then demonstrating for the students in the background of music. in the process of demonstration, the teacher’s performance should be full of children’s interest and resonate with the students. 3. development of dance teaching content the development of curriculum content is the core of the whole classroom teaching, which requires teachers to teach and students to learn, and finally complete the teaching goals together. children’s dance courses include basic skills training, dance combination, game teaching and other contents. 3.1 basic skills basic skills are the foundation of all dances, including flexibility and control. children’s bones are highly plastic, and solving the most basic soft openness is one thing. secondly, dance itself is transformed into beauty only through sweat and tears, so that children can feel the joy of “i insist, i gain”. finally, children who practice the basic skills of suffering will be mentally strong later. however, the premise of all training is that the method should be scientific, correct and measured. often children who are physically willing to suffer will be more willing to put into action than other children, and those who can be willing to persevere will be stronger inside than other children. encouragement should be given as long as the student persists, and the student will give more because of his or her progress, and this will form a good cycle. when practicing the basic skills, it is best for the teacher to do the demonstration while explaining the preparatory movements, the course of the movements and the details of the final completion of the basic skills. it is also possible to let the children do the demonstration while the teacher explains in words and guides the children with his hands to pay attention to the movement status of each part of the body when doing a certain basic skill, emphasizes the correctness of the basic skill movements, and then walks www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 119 published by scholink inc. to each of the children, instructs and reviews them one by one, and reminds them repeatedly. in addition, individual differences should be taken into account when practicing, and teaching should be tailored to the needs of the children. 3.2 dance ensembles the learning of dance combination is the main content of this course. teachers should choose the music and dance combinations that young children are interested in for training, such as rhythm training, imitation training, performance training and so on. young children’s attention is easily distracted. teachers should use language to attract students’ attention during the teaching process, enter the group after explaining the demonstration movements, and instruct students one by one. through the students’ “pose” movements, let the students feel that the teacher cares about them, and form a kind of psychological and emotional communication. 3.3 game teaching game teaching simply means playing with children, guiding them into a state of relaxation and playing a role in adjusting their state. children in the game activities in the exercise of the body, in fact, is in the excavation of their various abilities, so the children’s dance classroom games can choose rhythmic games, imitation games, coordination games, double or multiple cooperation games, etc., in the process not only exercise the ability of the students to learn the basic skills of dance but also bring the teachers and students closer to each other’s emotional distance. 4. dance class summary after class summary is the feedback of the whole class, it is the summary, review and reinforcement of the teacher’s teaching content, and it is the summary of classroom teaching. the objects of children’s dance classroom summarization are students, parents and teachers themselves. students are the objects of dance teaching, teachers comb through what they have learned with children before class to deepen their impression and use the time of summarizing after class to communicate with children again in psychological language; parents are the supervisors and reflectors of dance teaching, parents can supervise the children’s dance practice under the classroom, and they can also communicate with the teachers in time; teachers are the executors of dance teaching, teachers can summarize the progress, content and reinforcement of the teaching through the after class. teachers are the executors of dance teaching, and teachers can reflect on the progress, content and effect of teaching through summarizing after class, and moderately adjust the specific teaching program when necessary. 4.1 teachers can quickly refine the essence of classroom content and deepen students’ learning impression through oral explanation and demonstration teachers can comment on students’ classroom performance and learning accordingly, encouraging children with good expressions, those who do exercises after class, those with good classroom discipline, those who have made progress in basic skills, those who remember movements well, and those who are expressive in dance, and explaining the teacher’s expectations and giving certain rewards to other www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 120 published by scholink inc. children who do not receive praise. children like activities that are performative or competitive, so teachers can set aside about ten minutes in each lesson’s vignette to re-enforce new content learned in class. for example, divide the students into two groups, one group of students to perform, the other group of students as a small audience, after the performance, one by one says that the children in the performing group danced well and can dance better, and then the two groups swap. or invite parents to come into the classroom to enjoy the children’s performance. when summarizing after class, it is recommended to use cell phones to record the performance combinations, i believe that the students will be more engaged in the performance, and the parents can also supervise the children’s practice in the classroom through the video. want children’s dance ability to improve fast, teachers need to both motivate and inspire students to learn, but also to raise the importance of parents, after-class summary is a good opportunity. 4.2 assign homework for the chinese education model, homework is the most direct means to consolidate the classroom. the content of homework includes two parts: one is the dance part of the homework, requiring a fixed time every day to practice the basic skills and review the dance combinations; the other is the aspects of life: such as washing their own cups of water, organizing their own schoolbags and so on. cultivating a sense of responsibility in children from an early age is first of all a sense of responsibility for oneself, followed by a sense of responsibility for those around them. dance educators should nurture people before teaching dance. 4.3 creative content at the end of each class, i tell the children a little knowledge of etiquette, the most common being greeting etiquette and table manners. dance is an elegant art. while educators and students learn and improve their professional knowledge, they also need to improve their own quality and promote the overall development of human beings. teachers should believe in their students and respect them. the experiments of the american psychologist rosenthal show that if teachers have love and patience for their students, then the students will also study hard and be active according to the teachers’ wishes. the ideal teacher-student relationship is not a simple teaching-learning relationship, but a peaceful coexistence relationship that is humancentered and promotes the development of both personalities. teachers can only become children’s teachers if they treat themselves as children as well. 5. conclusion the popularity of children’s dance makes the teaching of children’s dance more and more demanding. more and more children are learning dance, and there are numerous dance-related training centers, and there is no shortage of professional dance teachers. under such fierce competition, parents and training organizations have higher and higher requirements for teachers. teachers’ comprehensive ability is not only shown in the professional theory, but also in their own quality. only when the teachers’ teaching ability is improved, the quality of the dance classroom can be improved. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 121 published by scholink inc. in ordinary teaching, teachers just let students unilaterally accept the classroom content. using child psychology in the dance classroom, firstly, we should improve the relationship between teachers and students, and then “teach by example”, which can make teachers get a better learning experience in “teaching” and “learning”. this can make the teacher’s “teaching” and “learning” to get better learning benefits, improve the emotional exchange between teachers and students, can make the children have more interest in dance and curiosity, and the dance classroom will progress very smoothly, and its greatest value is to improve the efficiency of dance teaching, so that the effect of teaching and learning is more significant. the use of psychology in children’s dance teaching can implement differentiated education in a collective learning environment, targeting, cultivating children’s personal self-control and patience, letting them understand that life is a persistent process just like learning dance, and cultivating children’s spirit of hard work and perseverance from childhood. at the same time, it can also cultivate children’s good behavior, perseverance and fortitude. child psychology education is an important way to cultivate children’s good behavior, perseverance, desire to explore new things and collective learning ability. therefore, child psychology not only plays a great role in the effectiveness of dance teaching, but also allows children to develop their abilities in various aspects through dance learning. references fan, j. z., & gao, h. x. (2010). microgram teaching tutorial. beijing normal university press. liu, h. l. (2008). science and education wenhui. talking about interest cultivation in children’s dance teaching. lv, y. s. (2000, april). dance pedagogy. shanghai music press. wang, x. l. (2012). an introduction to the influence of dance on children’s thinking. academy. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 48 original paper madness and resistance under the flashback and juxtaposition—spatial narration in the bell jar kexin li1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: march 27, 2024 accepted: april 20, 2024 online published: may 8, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n2p48 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n2p48 abstract the bell jar, the only novel by american poet and writer sylvia plath, vividly portrays the marginalized experience of american women in the mid-20th century and depicts the struggles of female intellectuals in constructing their own identities. this paper, by using the concepts of flashback and juxtaposition in spatial narration theory, explores three key aspects: the physical spatial changes in the whole story, the interplay between psychological and physical spaces under flashbacks and juxtaposition, and the protagonist esther’s resistance against the male-dominated society and her awakening of female consciousness in the bell jar. it analyzes how esther’s psychological space evolves within the ever-shifting physical spaces, leading to her feelings of helplessness, despair, and madness. furthermore, it examines how through her rebellious madness, esther achieves her awakening of female consciousness, constructs her own identity as a female intellectual, and raises her voice in a male-dominated society oppressive at the time. keywords the bell jar, flashback, juxtaposition, spatial narration 1. introduction sylvia plath, the american poet and writer, is known as a representative of the confessional poetry movement and is considered one of the most important female poets in the united states, following in the footsteps of emily dickinson and elizabeth bishop. in 1982, plath became the first poet to posthumously receive the pulitzer prize. her notable works include the colossus and other poems (1960) and ariel (1965). apart from poetry, she achieved great success in the field of novels after her death. the bell jar is an autobiographical novel that follows the protagonist esther greenwood, a sophomore student, as she goes through a series of experiences, such as working as a guest editor for a prominent magazine, being rejected from a writing course, attempting suicide, undergoing psychological treatment, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 49 published by scholink inc. and rebuilding her confidence in anticipation of returning to society and embarking on a new life. the novel specifically explores how she and other women characters are oppressed by patriarchal societal ideals, the traumas in her emotional life, her conflicting maternal identity, and the challenges she faces in her artistic pursuits, which ultimately push her to the brink of mental breakdown. this work showcases plath’s distinct artistic style, nonlinear narrative and multidimensional narrative spaces, to authentically depict the inner thoughts of women and vividly portray the marginalized experiences of american women in the mid-20th century. it highlights the difficulties faced by female intellectuals in constructing their own identities. moreover, through the novel, plath reflects on personal life, explores women’s spiritual growth and existential value, and reveals the acquisition of subjectivity in the process of women’s growth, making it socially significant. one of the most prominent features of the bell jar is the constant use of flashback and juxtaposition of physical spaces, as well as its fragmented narrative technique. unlike traditional linear narratives, the ever-changing physical and narrative spaces reflect the psychological changes of the protagonist, esther. through these constant shifts, she gradually descends into mental collapse and despair. 2. literature review the bell jar initially received a lukewarm response upon its publication but gained widespread attention after sylvia plath’s death, particularly in the 1980s when the feminist movement reached its peak in the united states. as her only novel, the bell jar captured the interest of numerous scholars both domestically and internationally. 2.1 studies abroad foreign scholars’ researches on the bell jar primarily focuses on areas such as psychoanalytic studies, feminist criticism, and biographical research of the author. psychoanalytic studies primarily shift the focus from the connection between the novel and sylvia plath’s experiences of psychological trauma, and madness to a greater emphasis on exploring the mental states of the numerous female characters within the bell jar itself. in the work “the mirror and the shadow: plath’s poetics of self-doubt” (1985), axelrod (1985, pp. 286-301) examines plath’s work from the perspectives of depression, anxiety, and the desire to write, rather than focusing on the author herself and her life experiences. feminist criticism primarily examines sylvia plath’s portrayal of women and began in the 1960s and 1970s. in marilyn boyer’s work (2004) “the disabled female body as a metaphor for language in sylvia plath’s the bell jar”, she discusses the relationship between the female body and the mind. boyer argues that the disability of the female body represents a “temporary disability caused by patriarchal and feudal systems” (2004, p. 201), highlighting how the female body in plath’s novel can be interpreted as a symbol of suppressed, controlled, and manipulated female discourse. biographical research primarily focuses on plath’s life and her relationship with her former husband, ted hughes, beginning in the 1970s. for example, linda wagner martin’s (1988) “sylvia plath: a biography” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 50 published by scholink inc. not only tells the story of plath’s life but also includes a substantial collection of her manuscripts, letters, and journals. heather clark (2010), in “the grief of influence: sylvia plath and ted hughes”, points out the artistic and intellectual similarities between plath and hughes, both had a shared appreciation for d. h. lawrence and themes of violence and war, and suggests that they influenced each other in their literary creations after they met. 2.2 studies home in 1980s, chinese scholars began to pay attention to sylvia plath’s poetry, and it was not until 1990 that the first chinese translation of the bell jar by yan weiming was published by northern literature and art press. domestic scholars’ researches on the bell jar mainly involves feminist criticism, psychoanalytic studies, and thematic analysis, etc. feminist criticism primarily focuses on the portrayal of mentally disturbed female characters in the novel. liu, in his work “madness under the bell jar: interpreting the story of sylvia plath’s madwoman”, points out that the narration of the madwoman serves as a “special strategy of feminist literary creation” (2008, p. 92), suggesting that her madness plays a unique role in her resistance against patriarchal oppression. psychoanalytic studies offer diverse perspectives. yang, in “examining the anti-psychiatric theme in the bell jar through sylvia plath’s adaptation of the film the snake pit”, highlights the critical tone towards psychiatric institutions in plath’s work and directs criticism towards the modern medical system and societal disciplinary mechanisms. (2015, pp. 70-84) thematic analysis primarily focuses on the different themes portrayed in the bell jar. guo, in her paper “the unique growth pattern of women: an interpretation of the bell jar,” examines the theme of growth in the novel and introduces the universal pattern of “separation-transformation-return.” (2007, p. 51) she suggests that the “separation” experienced by women is actually a result of confinement and limitations, where they struggle to transform into women rather than adults, and their “return” is a return to the patriarchal society as women. in summary, both domestic and international research on the bell jar mainly focuses on feminist criticism, psychoanalytic studies, and thematic analysis. however, there is relatively less research on the spatial narration in the bell jar. the purpose of this paper is to analyze the changes in esther’s psychological space within the constantly shifting and intertwined physical spaces in the bell jar, and how these changes lead to her feelings of helplessness, despair, and madness. additionally, it explores how esther achieves her awakening of female consciousness through her rebellious madness, constructs her own identity as a female intellectual, and raises her voice in a male-dominated society oppressive at the time. 3. theoretical framework narrative is a phenomenon that occurs in specific time and space. any narrative work inevitably involves a specific set of events and one or more specific spaces. narrative studies exist in both a temporal dimension and a spatial dimension, but in traditional narrative research, the latter is often overlooked. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 51 published by scholink inc. since the 1990s, structuralist narrative studies have shifted towards post-classical narrative studies, expanding the scope of narrative research and gradually developing the theory of spatial narrative. the theory of spatial narrative explores the spatial elements, spatial construction, and narrative modes of narrative works. it focuses on the locations, environments, scenes, and the movements and relationships of characters within the narrative space. the theory of spatial narrative recognizes the significance of space in storytelling, as it can influence the development of the plot, the characterization of the characters, and the narrative structure. 3.1 flashback in nonlinear narration flashback is a narrative technique that involves a non-linear storytelling approach by going back to past events or plot points within the narrative. through the use of flashback, the chronological order of the story is disrupted, and the readers or audience are taken back to previously occurring events or time periods in order to better understand the background and context of the story. nonlinear narration is a narrative form that breaks away from the traditional chronological order of events. unlike linear storytelling, nonlinear narration organizes and presents the story in a non-traditional manner. in nonlinear narratives, the timeline of the story can be disrupted, fragmented, or overlapping. this means that events in the story can be presented through techniques such as flashbacks, flash-forwards, retrospectives, glimpses, or parallel narratives, requiring the audience or readers to infer and piece together the complete plot from fragmented information. nonlinear narration can be achieved through various methods, such as time jumps, parallel storylines, nested stories, reverse chronology, reverse playback, and more. this narrative approach enhances complexity and allure, stimulating the audience or readers’ thinking and puzzle-solving interests. nonlinear narration has emerged as a storytelling technique through the exploration and experimentation of many writers, directors, and artists. william faulkner’s novel the sound and the fury employs a nonlinear time structure, and director quentin tarantino is well-known for his use of nonlinear storytelling in works like pulp fiction and inglorious basterds. it has become an integral part of modern narrative art, widely adopted and developed, and extensively used in literature, film, art, and other fields. 3.2 juxtaposition by long diyong juxtaposition is a narrative technique where multiple images, symbols, or stories without specific causal connections or a clear chronological order are placed together in a narrative text. they are juxtaposed solely because they collectively illustrate a thematic or conceptual connection. in his book spatial narrative studies, long divides the spatial aspects of narrative text into story space, formal space, psychological space, and existential space (long, 2014, p. 526). he focuses on the analysis of two unique formal spaces: thematic juxtaposition and fractal narrative. thematic juxtaposition refers to the coexistence of several images, symbols, or stories in a narrative text that lack specific causal connections and a clear chronological order. they are placed together because they collectively illustrate a shared thematic or conceptual connection (long, 2014, p. 176). long uses the example of two sets of narrative sculptures in the ancient greek temple of parthenon to illustrate this www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 52 published by scholink inc. longstanding narrative form, which likely originated from the common thematic narratives of ancient sacred places and has been gradually abstracted and preserved throughout history. fractal narrative refers to a narrative form in which events in a narrative text have causal connections but do not form a linear sequence. instead, they diverge at a certain key point (long, 2014, p. 215). this narrative form reflects the complexity of non-linear causality in the real world and is manifested in two forms within the narrative text: one effect with multiple causes oriented towards the past and one cause with multiple effects oriented towards the future. the research on story space and formal space in spatial narrative studies fills a gap in the academic field and theoretically demonstrates how the temporal medium of the novel represents space. the study of story space begins with a broad perspective, examining various spatial narrative functions. the study of formal space, on the other hand, is groundbreaking, clearly defining thematic juxtaposition and fractal narrative, providing a clearer and more powerful interpretation of narrative texts that were once taken for granted. 4. analysis soja’s “thirdspace” theory suggests that space can be seen as a concrete material form that can be identified, analyzed, and revealed, while also being a construct of the mind, representing the ideological forms of space and its lived meaning (1996, p. 81). in the bell jar, the most notable spaces are physical space and psychological space. physical space undergoes constant transformations through techniques such as flashback and juxtaposition, leading to the increasing confinement and anguish of esther’s psychological space. this mental anguish is presented to the readers through fragmented narratives and recurring imagery, vividly depicting the process of esther’s gradual fragmentation and despair. the purpose of this paper is to analyze the changes in esther’s psychological space within the constantly shifting and intertwined physical spaces in the bell jar, and how these changes lead to her feelings of helplessness, despair, and madness. additionally, it explores how esther achieves her awakening of female consciousness through her rebellious madness, constructs her own identity as a female intellectual, and raises her voice in a male-dominated society oppressive at the time. 4.1 the interplay between physical and psychological spaces under the use of flashbacks the physical space, in literary works, refers to the geographical space of the story world. in literature, physical space takes on a more social dimension and can be elevated into a unique humanistic space that embodies social, moral, and aesthetic aspects, reflecting the context of human social relations. in the bell jar, the physical changes are exceptionally clear and can be divided into four locations: the women’s college, new york city, the suburbs of boston, and the mental institution. this linear progression in forward time, intertwined with narrative flashbacks, forms the space of the entire novel. plath, through the continuous progression of physical space, utilizes the first-person narrative perspective to insert narrative flashbacks, interrupting and disrupting the traditional chronological order of storytelling. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 53 published by scholink inc. in narrative studies, “flashback” refers to a narrative technique where the story jumps backward in time. through flashbacks, events or periods prior to the current timeline can be showcased or described. at the beginning of the novel, esther has already transitioned from the women’s college to the bustling city of new york, marking the initial forward progression. while working as a guest editor at the renowned magazine “ladies’ day”, she goes out for drinks with her magazine colleagues doreen and two unfamiliar men. doreen eventually goes home with one of the men, and esther follows but decides to leave afterward. when she returns to her hotel, esther lies in bed, and the narrative unexpectedly shifts to her high-achieving life at the women’s college and her chance encounter with buddy willard. the next day, her female superior, jay cee, talks to her at work and invites her to an evening dinner, the existing storyline is interrupted again as the narrative returns to her memories of chemistry and physics classes at the women’s college. overall, the recurring use of flashback disrupts the original forward storyline of the novel, intertwining the past and the present, and distorting the linear narrative style, resulting in a convoluted narrative path. mickelsen, in “types of spatial structure in narrative”, points out that the use of juxtaposed plotlines, narrative flashbacks, and recurring imagery interrupts and disrupts the chronological order, creating spatiality within the narrative structure. (1981, pp. 68-69) within the context of social space, esther’s psychological space undergoes a process of longing, repression, confinement, and collapse. as esther’s mental condition deteriorates, the use of flashback narrative techniques becomes more frequent and often appears without warning. for example, in the fifth chapter of the novel, after attending a dinner, esther lies in bed reading and experiences a series of flashbacks and present events in a seemingly random sequence. this includes her current encounter with a new ambiguous love interest, constantin; going to the hospital with buddy in the past; memories of tipping in the present; being invited to a dance by buddy in the past; reading about a fig tree in the present; reflections on buddy’s hypocrisy and their relationship development in the past; present loneliness; debates with buddy about poetry in the past; imagining a comeback to buddy’s words in the future; and buddy proposing to esther in the distant past. in just one chapter, there are numerous instances of flashback. the text breaks away from a linear narrative following the progression of physical space and enters a fragmented narrative. esther frequently traverses between the present, the past, and the distant past, blurring the boundaries between them. the past and present intersect and blend together, with the “now” becoming a branch of the “past” within the narrative. time is no longer an objective and causal process. while it may seem chaotic, these continuous flashbacks and fragmented narrative resonate with esther’s feelings of helplessness, anguish, and collapse. moreover, through this narrative technique, esther’s mental transformation is vividly conveyed to the readers in the changes of physical spaces. 4.2 the interweaving of physical and psychological spaces in the juxtaposition of the image: the bell jar thematic juxtaposition refers to the placement of multiple images, symbols, or stories in a narrative text that lack specific causal relationships and clear chronological order, but are placed together because they www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 54 published by scholink inc. collectively illustrate a theme or concept. in the novel, recurring images such as the bell jar, the fig tree and the tornado serve this purpose. on one hand, each appearance of these images allows the author to present esther’s changing state of mind through different descriptions. on the other hand, the repeated occurrence of these images connects the fragmented narrative of the present and the past into a cohesive whole. the imagery of “the bell jar” appears a total of seven times throughout the text, with the first two occurrences reflecting esther’s inner turmoil and her initial exploration of the concept of death. after esther meets buddy at the women’s college, the bell jar is first mentioned in the hospital where buddy is interning. buddy takes esther to a hall to see babies that had died before they were born, and after observing several of these specimens, esther states, “i was quite proud of the calm way i stared at all these gruesome things.” (plath, 2005, p. 224) she does not fear death, and this awareness of “unnatural death” quietly takes root in esther’s mind. the imagery of the bell jar reappears when esther returns to her hometown in boston after leaving new york. during the summer in her quiet hometown, she faces rejection from a writing course she wanted to enroll in and decides to write a novel on her own. however, due to the struggles in her artistic pursuit and the oppressive atmosphere of her hometown, she gradually experiences insomnia and depression. intertwined with these struggles are flashbacks of her past with buddy. it is during this time that she recalls the babies in the bell jar at the hospital. the concept of “unnatural death” provides her with an escape from her current predicament: suicide. after a failed suicide attempt at home, esther is eventually sent to a mental hospital and undergoes electroconvulsive therapy. after being subjected to electroconvulsive therapy, esther’s mindset gradually becomes calm, but in a state of resignation. due to the curiosity of the renowned writer mrs. guinea about esther’s experiences and her desire to use them as material for her writing, esther is transferred by mrs. guinea from the crowded city hospital to a private hospital in the suburbs of boston. regardless of where she is, esther feels hopeless about her future, stating, “i would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air.” (plath, 2005, p. 622) while passing over a bridge, esther contemplates jumping from the car but ultimately fails, saying, “i sank back in the gray, plush seat and closed my eyes. the air of the bell jar wadded round me and i couldn’t stir.” (plath, 2005, p. 633) due to emotional setbacks, struggles in her artistic pursuits, and the conservative and oppressive nature of a patriarchal society, esther begins to question her self-worth and feels a strong urge to resist. she attempts to rebel against the constraints and sense of unreality imposed by the world through her madness and suicidal thoughts, hoping to attain freedom in her own mind. the last three appearances of the bell jar occur when esther is about to be discharged from the hospital after receiving careful treatment and undergoing another round of forced electroconvulsive therapy. she still harbors fear toward the physical space around her. “to the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream.” (plath, 2005, p. 796) despite seemingly nearing recovery, esther still carries an unfillable sense of insecurity within her. she questions, “but i wasn’t www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 55 published by scholink inc. sure. i wasn’t sure at all. how did i know that someday—at college, in europe, somewhere, anywhere— the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn’t descend again?” (plath, 2005, p. 809) in reality, although the physical space may change, the social and cultural space in which esther exists remains unchanged. in the unchanging social space, her “recovery” is filled with uncertainty, and the bell jar continues to hang overhead, as esther can never truly escape its grip. by utilizing thematic juxtaposition, the novel highlights the thematic connections and underlying ideas that run throughout the narrative. the repetition of these images reinforces their significance and contributes to the overall meaning of the story. the bell jar’s seven appearances occur in four physical spaces, serving as a subtle thread representing esther’s psychological space beyond the physical realm. the two intertwine with each other, as the physical space constantly shifts and transforms through narrative techniques such as flashback and juxtaposition, gradually enclosing esther’s psychological space and intensifying her suffering. this emotional anguish is presented to the reader through fragmented storytelling and the repeated appearance of certain motifs. 4.3 madness and resistance under depression: the awakening of female consciousness as an autobiographical novel, the bell jar reflects the authentic experiences of female intellectuals in the mid-20th century. the protagonist esther confronts the oppression of patriarchal societal ideals, emotional traumas, conflicting maternal identities, the struggles of artistic pursuits, and an inability to escape her mental turmoil, all of which are experiences shared by plath herself. throughout the novel, as the physical space progresses forward while constantly intertwining with moments of flashback and juxtaposition, esther’s awakening to her female consciousness becomes an underlying thread. plath portrays a range of female characters in the bell jar, and through esther’s observations of these women, she rejects the limited roles assigned to women within traditional family life. esther’s neighbor dodo conway, who has already raised six children and is about to have a seventh, is proud of her identity as a mother. similarly, buddy’s mother, mrs. willard, resigns from her job to become a housewife, fulfilling her duties as a wife and mother. esther finds it pitiful that women like dodo and mrs. willard, who are confined to traditional family roles, remain unaware of their oppression under patriarchy and are assimilated by patriarchal ideologies. additionally, esther also rejects women who excessively pursue career development. her boss in new york, jay cee, is a successful career woman, but esther believes she has sacrificed her femininity, stating, “jay cee’s ugly as sin.” (plath, 2005, p. 44) these women, despite their different social positions, all lack self-awareness. their identity as “women” is reduced to gender and familial attributes, and they conform to the value system imposed by a maledominated society, ultimately becoming objects of patriarchal culture. in esther’s initial interactions with buddy, he dominates the relationship and emphasizes the importance of the “purity” of female, believing that “women have to be pure for their husbands.” (plath, 2005, p. 281) meanwhile, men can be “not pure”: “even if they weren’t pure, they wanted to be the ones to teach their wives about sex.” (plath, 2005, p. 281) however, by the end of the story, esther undergoes a uterine www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 56 published by scholink inc. cap operation and rejects the concept of female “purity” imposed by patriarchal society. she refuses buddy’s multiple marriage proposals and declares that she will never marry. moreover, from initially silently listening to buddy express repugnant ideas whenever a controversial topic arises, esther gradually gains the courage to express her own thoughts and questions and challenges buddy. ultimately, esther achieves true independence both physically and mentally, liberating herself from the oppression of a male-dominated society. by reclaiming women’s own discourse, gaining power over her own body, and challenging male expectations and fantasies, esther boldly defies male authority. through her writing, she constructs a female identity, recognizes the deceptive nature of the maternal myth, and ultimately rejects the perpetuation of the maternal lineage. all of these actions reflect her awakening of female consciousness. in the novel, plath explores female growth through the character of esther, even though the bell jar continues to hang over esther’s head. tragically, plath herself committed suicide three weeks after the publication of the bell jar, ending her mental torment and permanently escaping the bell jar. 5. conclusion this paper, by using the concepts of flashback and juxtaposition in spatial narration theory, explores three key aspects: the physical spatial changes in the whole story, the interplay between psychological and physical spaces under flashbacks and juxtaposition, and the protagonist esther’s resistance against the male-dominated society and her awakening of female consciousness in the bell jar. physical spaces are constantly transformed through narrative techniques, which gradually bring about a sense of confinement and anguish in esther’s psychological space. the mental suffering that she experiences is conveyed to the reader through fragmented storytelling and the recurring presence of certain symbols, vividly depicting esther’s gradual mental breakdown and despair. in the end, esther rejects traditional female roles and the objectification of women in society by observing the women around her. she reclaims her own voice, asserts control over her body, and challenges the expectations and illusions imposed on women by men. through her bold defiance of male authority and the abandonment of societal notions of chastity, esther ultimately achieves an awakening of her female consciousness. reference axelrod, s. g. (1985). the mirror and the shadow: plath’s poetics of self-doubt. contemporary literature, 26(3), 286-301. https://doi.org/10.2307/1208027 boyer, m. (2004). the disabled female body as a metaphor for language in sylvia plath’s the bell jar. women studies, 33(2), 199-223. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497870490272812 cheng, x. l. et al. (2007) the spatial turn in narrative theory: an overview of narrative space theory. jiangxi social science, 11, 24-35. https://doi.org/10.2307/1208027 https://doi.org/10.1080/00497870490272812 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 2, 2024 57 published by scholink inc. guo, s. q. (2007) unique patterns of female development: interpreting ‘the bell jar’. journal of xi’an international studies university, 1, 50-52. liu, f. s. (2008) madness under the bell jar: interpreting sylvia plath’s story of a madwoman. journal of the pla university of foreign languages, 3, 90-95. long, d. y. (2014) studies in spatial narratives. beijing, joint publishing house. lu, y. (2005). an analysis of soja’s thirdspace theory. tianjin social science, 2, 32-37. mickelsen, d. (1981). types of spatial structure in narrative. in j. r. smitten & a. daghistany (eds.), spatial form in narrative (pp. 68-69). ithaca: cornell university press. plath, s. (2005). the bell jar. new york: harpercollins publishers. soja, e. w. (1996). thirdspace: journeys to los angeles and other real-and-imagined places. oxford, uk: blackwell. yang, g. j. (2015) examining the anti-psychiatry theme in ‘the bell jar’ through plath’s rewriting of the film ‘the snake pit’. foreign literature review, 2, 70-84. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 76 original paper a brief analysis of edgar allan poe’s poem the raven from a psychoanalytic perspective yihan wang1 1 foreign department, xinyang normal university, xinyang, china received: june 30, 2025 accepted: july 15, 2025 online published: august 4, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n3p76 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n3p76 abstract edgar allan poe’s the raven, as a classic poem of american romanticism, profoundly depicts a man who has lost his spouse engaging in a dialogue with a mysterious raven late at night. the raven’s incessantly repeated “nevermore” deepens the man’s despair and loneliness. this paper conducts a brief analysis of it from a psychoanalytic perspective: first, it analyzes the manifestation of the unconscious and repression in the poem; second, it explores the conflict of the narrator’s structures of personality, including the conflict between the id and the ego, and the influence and constraints of the superego; then, from the perspective of the death instinct and life impulse, it analyzes how the narrator, driven by the death instinct, continually indulges in the fear of life’s impermanence, simultaneously seeking hope under the push of the life impulse to showcase his struggle and pursuit; finally, it summarizes the insights brought by the raven. the author believes that such an interpretation can not only help readers understand the poem’s connotation and poe’s creative thoughts more deeply, but also inspire writers to pay more attention to characters’ unconscious psychology and psychoanalytic elements, thereby producing literary works of greater depth and artistry. keywords edgar allan poe, the raven, freud, psychoanalysis 1. introduction edgar allan poe (born on january 19th, 1809, in boston and died on october 7th, 1849, in baltimore) owns five members in his family, including his parents, sister, brother, and himself. his parents were initially professional actors. after becoming unacceptable, poe’s father was trapped in heavy drinking and let himself have a bad temper. because of this, he abandoned his family in 1811 and have them impoverished. therefore, the burden was naturally borne by his mother. she broke down from constant www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 77 published by scholink inc. overwork and then died a few months later. young poe was then sent to his foster parents and began new experiences. poe’s literary legacy encompasses celebrated contributions to poetry, short fiction, and critical theory in 1800s america. a cornerstone of the romantic movement, he pioneered gothic conventions while probing psychological horror and existential mystery. these artistic explorations were inextricably linked to his lived experiences amid an epoch marked by societal fragmentation and economic unsteadiness. he experienced repeated setbacks and suffered many tragedies (besides what was mentioned above), such as the death of both parents in childhood, multiple school dropouts, the death of his foster mother, a break with his adoptive father, the premature death of his wife, conflicts with friends, and career difficulties. despite these painful experiences, he never abandoned writing and left behind many excellent works. although these experiences damaged him, they also shaped him, granting him a profound understanding and unique expression of themes such as life and death. poe’s poetry is highly rhythmic, and he often used rhetorical devices such as exaggeration, metaphor, and symbolism to create a mysterious and terrifying atmosphere that leaves readers “deeply immersed.” in addition, his narrative style is unique, emphasizing tight plots and unified effects, striving to enhance the overall impact of the work through every detail. poe’s themes are diverse, but the most prominent are explorations of death, horror, and the dark side of the human heart. he often reveals the dark aspects of human consciousness and the subconscious through depictions of characters’ inner worlds and mental states. furthermore, he engaged in profound reflections on human nature, morality, and the essence of the universe. consequently, his works were not only groundbreaking in his time but also had a far-reaching influence on later literary creation, particularly in the fields of detective fiction, science fiction, and horror fiction. poe persisted in writing poetry throughout his life, but compared to his numerous and varied short stories and fictions, the amount of his poetic output was relatively less—only fifty-nine published poems. his poetry mostly depicts inner activities, with love, death, and dreams as the three most important themes. among them, the poem-the raven is his most widely passed around and highly regarded poem (he, 2021). 1.1 the creative background and brief introduction of edgar allan poe’s poem the raven when writing the raven, edgar allan poe’s life was unstable. he experienced multiple career changes and suffered from economic difficulties. in 1844, he moved to new york and published the balloonhoax in the new york sun newspaper, which increased his fame. however, his personal life remained challenging, especially as his wife virginia’s health deteriorated, significantly impacting his spirit and creativity. poe once wrote, “the best topic to compose a poem is death; and the death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world” (poe, 1985). this theme is evident in many of his writings. in the poem the raven, which is the focus of this paper, death is revealed through the narrator’s deep mourning for his lost partner and his fear of death are the core emotions. additionally, the “raven” in the poem, which constantly repeats “nevermore,” was influenced to some extent by dickens’s barnaby rudge (melissa, 2007, p. 48). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 78 published by scholink inc. as one of poe’s most famous and representative works, the raven was first published in the evening mirror in 1845. in the same year, the poem was published in england, which helped him win unanimous praise from the public and critics for its unique gothic style, beautiful rhyme, and profound symbolism (edgar allan poe, 1995). the work consolidated poe’s legacy in u.s. literary historiography and propagated far-reaching influences across later literary production. elizabeth barrett browning once wrote a letter to poe saying that my friends, some are attracted by its horror; some are indulged in its musicality. subsequently, many writers borrowed poe’s techniques for depicting gothic elements, further enriching the expressive forms of gothic literature. the symbolic techniques poe used in the raven inspired later symbolism literature, leading many writers to pay more attention to the exploration and expression of symbolic meaning. the delicate portrayal of the narrator’s complex psychological state and emotional changes in the raven influenced later psychological description and psychoanalytic literature. 2. overview of psychoanalytic theory sigmund freud, the renowned austrian neurologist and psychologist, co-founded the natural school of psychology; as the founder of psychoanalysis, he developed a set of therapeutic techniques centered primarily on the talking cure. furthermore, freud discovered that the unconscious exists. “through study, he was sure of the components of the mind and gave them corresponding names. based on this, he found out how they operate. he also charted the sequence of human psychological growth from infancy to adulthood. he confirmed the reasons of most mental illnesses and invented a method for treating them.” (peter, 2006, pp. 1-2) emerging principally from sigmund freud’s foundational work, psychoanalysis encompasses psychological theories and clinical methodologies. subsequent theorists—including anna freud, erikson, fromm, and jung—substantially expanded this paradigm (yu, 2016). its core postulate asserts the universal presence of unconscious cognition, affect, drives, and mnemic traces. by bringing unconscious content into conscious awareness, people can experience catharsis and gain insight into their current psychological state (freud, 1989, p. 26). psychoanalysis remains influential in psychotherapy, certain areas of psychiatry, and even across the humanities. consequently, it continues to generate widespread and highly controversial debates— regarding its therapeutic efficacy, scientific status, and whether it promotes or hinders the feminist cause, and other aspects (freud, 2015, p. 3). nevertheless, due to the universal applicability of this theory, it has been introduced into literature; today, an increasing number of literary works and literary critiques are rooted in this theory. this section concisely frames freudian psychoanalytic theory through its cardinal components: “a singular drive, dual instincts, tripartite consciousness tiers, the personality triad (‘three selves’), five psychosexual phases, and eight defense mechanisms.” since the “death instinct,” the “unconscious,” and personality theory are more generally manifested in the poem the raven and are more pertinent to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 79 published by scholink inc. interpreting the raven from a psychoanalytic perspective, the author will primarily focus on analyzing the poem from the three aspects. 3. the unconscious and repression—psychological dynamics in the raven freud posited that human behavior and personality emerge from the dynamic interplay of conflicting psychodynamic forces across three perceptual strata: the preconscious, conscious, and unconscious. his tripartite psychic model—conscious, preconscious, unconscious—was iconically conceptualized as the “iceberg theory.”—“the top of the iceberg you are able to see above the water represents the conscious mind. the part of the iceberg that sank underwater but is still visible is the preconscious” (freud, 1949, p. 108). the unconscious is freud’s most continuous and notable contribution to western thought. according to freud, the unconscious is a force of will which can be capable of experiencing things, influenced by human drives, but operating beneath the level of conscious perception. it is a repository of instinctual desires, needs, and psychic acts. the unconscious typically includes early childhood memories, secret desires, and hidden drives. “although excised in conscious access, historical memories govern thought patterns and emotional responses via unconscious mechanisms.” (freud, 2007, p. 97). “however, even though these thoughts, memories, and expectations may be outside our consciousness, they often consistently influence our thinking, behavior, and even the way we act. in some cases, things outside our consciousness can affect behavior negatively and lead to psychological anxiety or mental disorders. essentially, some wrong statement, for example, slips of the tongue, actually reveal underlying unconscious thoughts or feelings. 3.1 release and manifestation of the unconscious in the raven, the narrator experiences multiple instances of unconscious emotional outbursts and releases, laying bare the thematic emotions and inner world. example 1: > doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before; > but the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token, > and the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “lenore?” (-stanza 05, lines 2-3) the content of your dream is about what you miss day and night. therefore, the only word “lenore” he whispered and murmured expresses the narrator’s overwhelming longing for his spouse who has passed away. this unconscious behavior reveals the importance of “lenore” in his mind. example 2: > that one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. > nothing further then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered— > till i scarcely more than muttered other friends have flown before— > on the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 80 published by scholink inc. (-stanza 10, lines 2-5) here, it is obvious that the narrator is in a pessimistic and depressed mood. after the raven speaks only one word and then becomes silent, barely moving a feather, the narrator mutters that the raven will also leave him tomorrow just as his friends have done. this unconsciously blurted-out statement clearly conveys his inner loneliness and desolation, as well as his longing for his deceased “lenore”. 3.2 the continuation and intensification of repression this is mainly reflected in the raven’s constant repetition of “nevermore”. it appears six times: first occurrence in stanza 8: when the narrator asks the raven’s name, “nevermore” is the answer. the second occurrence in stanza 9: “nevermore” – could this be a name? the narrator asks himself and begins to doubt. such absurdity forms a layer of mystery, hinting at hidden meanings. the third occurrence in stanza 10: the narrator mutters to himself, and the raven suddenly says “nevermore.” the fourth occurrence in stanza 11 and 12: at that time, the narrator wants to fathom the meaning of “nevermore,” and feels superstitious the “nevermore” may refer to something. therefore, the word lingers hauntingly in his mind like a nightmare (further highlighting the terrifying atmosphere). the fifth occurrence in stanza 13, 14 and15: his thoughts and focus return to lenore again. he hopes for nepenthe (a forgetfulness drug) and balm (a sweet-smelling cream that heals wounds or reduces pain) to erase his longing for her, the untimely “nevermore” appears again to deny the function of the drug and cream. that results in the narrator continuously indulging in the painful and longing condition. therefore, the narrator completely breaks down and erupts. the sixth occurrence appears in stanza 16: the narrator uses “sainted”, “rare”, “radiant” and “angel” to defend lenore and wants to clasp “lenore” after death. but the raven’s reply remains “nevermore,” filled with arrogance. the seventh occurrence in stanza 17: the narrator screams hysterically, ordering the raven to leave his room, but it remains unmoved, leaving only the word “nevermore.” the last appearance in the last stanza: the raven is still in the room with like demon’s eyes and the atmosphere which it caused confines the narrator himself to a worse condition. from an initial “nevermore” representing a name, to words filled with mockery, then to a philosophical contemplation, even a cold contempt, and finally an utter helplessness, the multiple repetitions cause the narrator’s emotions to fluctuate intensely. his repressed feelings about losing lenore and fearing life’s impermanence are soothed only to be reignited and even to be aggravated, intensifying his psychological pain and plunging him into deeper despair and struggle. 4. conflict in personality structure—psychological struggle in the raven according to freud, the individual psyche consists of three elements: the id, the ego, and the superego. based on these three elements, human produce complex behavior. furthermore, each person owns a certain amount of psychic energy that forms the three elements which play distinct roles and operate at diverse levels of the consciousness. the primary part of personality, as the origin of all psychical energy is the id. it appears from birth, is completely unconscious, and includes instincts and primitive behaviors. driven by the principle of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 81 published by scholink inc. happiness, the id tries to satisfy all the immediate desires, wishes, and new urges. if these needs are not immediately reached, a state of anxiety or tension arises. however, immediate gratification of these needs is not always realistic or even not possible. “if we were controlled completely by the pleasure principle, we might grab things which we want to get but actually sourcing from other people in order to satisfy our cravings without restraint. such behavior would be not only destructive but also unacceptable for the public” (carducci, 2009, p. 245). distinct from the id and be responsible for managing reality is the ego which was from the id. the ego can ensure that the id’s impulses can be expressed in acceptable ways within the real world. it attempts to satisfy the id’s desires in appropriate ways based on the reality principle (yu, 2016). in some cases, the impulses of the id could be satisfied through deferred gratification—the ego would eventually permit the behavior, but just at the suitable and correct time and place. it operates across the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind (yu, 2016). the terminal psychic structure assimilating moral standards and ideals internalized through familial and social channels constitutes the superego. the superego starts to operate at five years old and helps us to judge something that we meet. it is thought that this structure comprises two constituents: the ego ideal and conscience. the ego ideal incorporates ethical behavioral codes formulated and propagated predominantly by parental and institutional authorities. adherence to such codes activates perceptions of esteem, merit, and accomplishment. as for the conscience, it contains information and hidden rules about behaviors typically forbidden by parents and society, which may lead to negative consequences, punishment, or senses of guilt and remorse. in a word, the superego, existing in the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind, plays a role in perfect civilized behavior, suppresses all impulses which are difficult to accept, and strives to make the ego take actions according to idealistic standards rather than the reality principle. 4.1 the struggle between the id and the ego the narrator’s psychological state in the poem is complex and contradictory, reflecting conflicts and struggles within his unconscious. on the one hand, he longs to forget his lost spouse and escape his inner pain: > “respite—respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of lenore; > quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost lenore!” -stanza 14, lines 4-5 here, he wants to drink nepenthe (a kind of drug which can help you to forget sadness and troubles suffered) to forget his deceased lover, hoping this will lessen his pain and miss for her. on the other hand, he cannot relinquish his longing for her or his fear of death. in stanza 16, the narrator expresses a desire to embrace lenore’s soul: >tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant aidenn, >it shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name lenore— >clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name lenore. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 82 published by scholink inc. from these examples, it is obvious that a person owns the complex emotions within his or her heart when facing a major blow in life. the ego clearly understands the need to detach from the pain—the narrator even tries reading at the beginning. but the id remains immersed in profound longing for lenore and fear of death. this struggle causes the narrator to constantly waver and struggle between reality and desire, only intensifying his suffering. 4.2 the influence and constraints of the superego the narrator’s longing for lenore and fear of death are subjected to the superego’s moral scrutiny and self-reproach, making him feel guilty and self-blaming. this sense of moral responsibility stems from the superego’s internalization of societal moral norms, specifically the responsibility of a husband loyalty towards his deceased wife and the moral questioning of life’s meaning. the superego causes the narrator to feel a moral obligation and responsibility, while missing lenore, driving him to constantly seek memories and meanings related to lenore. in his communication with the raven, the narrator repeatedly asks questions about the future especially referring to life after death, attempting to seek hope and release. however, the raven always answers “nevermore”, which shatters the narrator’s hopes while simultaneously triggering the superego’s mechanisms of guilt and self-blame. the narrator may deeply feel that his inability to escape his longing for lenore and fear of death, which is not accepted by the public and even was derided by others. it is obvious that this behaviour violates the moral norms advocated by the superego and the demands of his ideal self, thus generating feelings of guilt and self-reproach. the superego is also reflected in the narrator’s moral scrutiny of reality. through his dialogue with the raven, he attempts to find solace for lenore and answers about life’s meaning in the real world. however, the raven’s answers make him realize that this pursuit is unrealistic in the real world and may even violate the moral norms advocated by the superego. this moral scrutiny of reality plunges the narrator into deeper despair and pain. through these aspects, the superego imposes moral constraints on the narrator in the raven, trapping him in a dilemma between pursuing personal desires and adhering to moral norms, thereby exacerbating his psychological conflict and pain. in the process, the id drives the narrator to crave reunion with lenore, seeking emotional solace and satisfaction, but the superego inhibits this impulse, making him feel guilty and self-blaming. the ego, meanwhile, acts as a mediator between the superego and the id, attempting to balance the narrator’s inner conflict. in the poem, the ego manifests as the narrator trying to alleviate his inner pain and conflict through reading books and conversing with the raven. however, this mediation is unsuccessful because the raven’s answers continually trigger the id’s impulses and the superego’s moral constraints, making it difficult for the ego to find an equilibrium. the ego endures tremendous pressure during this mediation process, being able to satisfy the id’s desires while also adhering to the superego’s moral demands. this pressure causes the narrator to feel anxious and helpless, trapping him in a dilemma between pursuing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 83 published by scholink inc. personal desires and following moral norms. for example, during the dialogue with the raven, the narrator persistently asks about the future, trying to find hope and relief, but the raven’s answers dash his hopes again and again, further intensifying the ego’s predicament in mediation. through the interaction of the superego, id, and ego, the raven profoundly reveals the narrator’s psychological conflicts and pain concerning themes of life, death, and emotion, depicting his complex inner struggle as he navigates between pursuing personal desires and adhering to moral norms. 5. death instinct and life impulse—the vital tension in the raven freud’s theory of the death instinct points out that death instinct is a kind of state which is inherent, inclined towards destruction and a return to an inanimate. it manifests as aggression, self-destructive impulses, and a longing for death. the death instinct can be directed inward or outward. when directed inward, it can lead to self-punishment and suicidal behavior; when directed outward, it manifests as aggression and destructive behavior towards others. these two instincts interact within the individual’s inner psychic activity, influencing behavior and emotions. 5.1 manifestation and influence of the death instinct clearly, the narrator in the poem exhibits the inward-directed impulse: he always indulged himself in self-torment. the narrator’s suffering is largely self-inflicted. although the raven provides only the single-word answer—“nevermore,” it is the narrator himself who chooses the questions and mentally links “nevermore” to his grief over lenore’s death, thereby continually intensifying his own pain. the death instinct within the narrator drives him to persistently indulge in the loss of lenore and the fear of life’s impermanence. 5.2 the struggle and search of the life impulse despite being filled with the death instinct, the narrator still attempts to seek hope through dialogue with the raven: > by that heaven that bends above us—by that god we both adore— > tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant aidenn, > it shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name lenore— > clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name lenore. he hopes the raven will tell him if, in the distant eden, he can embrace the sainted maiden called lenore. this expresses his hope for the future and his yearning for a possible reunion; this strong life impulse sustains his soul and makes him want to alive. yet, in reality, he knows his lenore is gone but still struggles with fancy desperately. this conflict between emotion and reason embodies the opposition between the life impulse and the death instinct, showcasing the narrator’s struggle and pursuit within the tension of life. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 84 published by scholink inc. 6. insights from interpreting the raven through a psychoanalytic perspective 6.1 understanding edgar allan poe’s creative thought interpreted through a psychoanalytic view, one can discover the more nuanced inner world of the poet edgar allan poe. by expressing the narrator’s profound longing for lenore and his constant questioning of life’s meaning, the poem reflects the progression of the narrator’s emotions. this progression allows readers to experience the poet’s exploration of life’s value. within the poem, despite life being filled with loss and pain, the narrator’s love for lenore and his pursuit of life’s meaning remain unchanged, revealing the value of beautiful emotions in life. this exploration of life’s meaning endows the poem with deeper philosophical connotations. 6.2 inspiration for later literary creation applying psychoanalytic theory to literary works can encourage writers to pay more attention to characters’ unconscious psychology, conflicts in personality structure, the death instinct and life impulse, and other psychoanalytic elements. this allows for a more detailed portrayal of the protagonist’s psychology and image, making it easier for readers to empathize and become immersed. 6.3 inspiration for readers viewing the theme of this work from a psychoanalytic perspective, readers should place greater emphasis on the meaning of life, not dwell on the past, but look forward, seeking a better tomorrow and future. indulging in a painful and tormenting past not only harms one’s own spirit and psychology but is also something the deceased would not wish to see! references carducci, b. j. (2009). the psychology of personality: viewpoints, research, and applications. new jersey: wiley-blackwell. freud, s. (1949). an outline of psychoanalysis. new york: norton. freud, s. (1989). introductory lectures on psychoanalysis. new york: live right. freud, s. (2007). the interpretation of dreams. new york: nu vision publications. freud, s. (2015). a general introduction to psychoanalysis. new york: dodo collections. he, x. q. (n.d.). research on the imagery in edgar allan poe’s poetry. anqing normal university. he, z. q. (2014). appreciation of the creative art of edgar allan poe’s the raven. language planning, 2014(03z), 2. melissa mcfarland pennell. (2007). masterpieces of american romantic literature. beijing: china renmin university press. peter, d. k. (2006). inventor of the modern mind. new york: harper collins. poe edgar allan. (1985). the philosophy of composition, selected reading in american literature (pp. 133-140). shanghai: shanghai translating press. poe edgar allan. (1995). collected works of edgar allan poe: poems and stories. sdx joint publishing company. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 3, 2025 85 published by scholink inc. yu, l. h. (n.d.). a psychoanalytic study of edgar allan poe’s the tell-tale heart. wuhan university of science and technology. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper critical application of psychoanalytical theory on the children literature ‘rapunzel’ iqra jamal1, fakiha zahid1 & muhammad arfan lodhi2* 1 department of english, ncba&e university, bahawalpur 2 department of english, higher education department (collegiate wing), punjab, pakistan * muhammad arfan lodhi, department of english, higher education department (collegiate wing), punjab, pakistan received: september 29, 2023 accepted: october 20, 2023 online published: november 1, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n5p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n5p1 abstract the study has discussed the key ideas of freud’s theory of dream work and psychoanalysis on the fairy tale rapunzel written by grimm brothers. the character of husband, wife and witch shows the freud’s theory of id, ego and super-ego. rapunzel reflects the psychosexual development theory of freud, as rapunzel is a girl who spend her life in a tower, which has no door, and windows in it. she does not touch ground or green grass in her lifetime. she lacks relationships all her life. when she met a prince, she was terrified at first because she never met any human in her life except her mother, but she drawn towards him because of her basic needs. the careful examination of the linguistic and visual text of the data indicates that rapunzel is perfect example of the freud’s psychosexual development in all his theoretical concepts. the investigative framework adopted for this study was case based exploratory research in which data was collected analysed and interpreted qualitatively. the sampling strategy drawn for this study was typical and critical case sampling technique. keywords children literature, psychoanalysis, id, ego, super ego 1. introduction rapunzel is a story that revolve around girl, who is blond and a witch. it begins with married couple king and queen who were childless and want a child. rapunzel represent the dream work element because she dreams about the outer world and light to see from the palace. witch represent the element of super ego. queen represents the ‘id’ element while king serves as a moderator. as the story begins, it shows that king and queen lived in a house form where a beautiful garden can be seen where a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 2 published by scholink inc. beautiful flower rapunzel was cultivated as a vegetated. this was the witch’s garden, king and queen are not allowed and strictly forbidden to enter the garden. one day, queen was looking out of the window where she saw the most precious rapunzel and made her mind that she must have to eat that otherwise she will die. as the days passed the queen starts to feel sick. husband waited for the nightfall and jumped into the garden through the wall to take that fruit for his dying wife. but this was not enough for her wife as she wants more. to save her life that guy went to the garden again to take that rapunzel. he was caught by the witch there and witch threatens the husband to punish. husband start begging for forgiveness when caught by witch. witch agreed to forgive him on one demand. she set him free only if they gave the witch their first child for forever. the husband agrees at once. when their first child born, witch came and take that child with her. the witch lock the young girl in a tower away from humans with no doors and windows. she named the girl rapunzel as the name of vegetable. rapunzel had a long golden silky hairs. when wants to enter the tower with no door she calls out the rapunzel to let her hair down, she then climb the tower with the help of rapunzel hairs. one day, a prince happened to pass by the tower. he heard a song sung in a beautiful voice by some woman. he came near to the tower to see the lady who has this beautiful voice. he tried to go into the tower but there was no door or any other to go up to top. prince came back in helplessness. the next day, he came again to the tower to hear the beautiful voice where he saw a witch from behind the bushes calling out o, rapunzel o, rapunzel let your hairs down. shen then uses the hairs to climb up. prince found out the way to get to the tower. on the next morning, he came near the tower and calls out the same words as he learnt from the witch. rapunzel after hearing the same words as her mother said, sheet her hairs down. prince finds it only way to meet the lady with beautiful voice. when rapunzel saw the prince for the first time she got scared as she never seen anyone except her mother in her lifetime. prince was so handsome and charming that she proposes rapunzel to marry her. rapunzel agrees and makes plan with prince to escape from that tower. according to their plan, prince has to carry a piece of silken rope with him, as she will make a ladder with this rope to descend the tower. so, prince visits her every evening and bring a piece of rope with him. one day, rapunzel mistakenly revealed in front of the witch that why she takes too long to climb up while prince takes little time. witch becomes angry and cut off her hair as she thought someone found her here. on the next day, when prince call our rapunzel to shed her hair down, the witch yells at him and he followed the witch and climb the tower to meet her ugliness than his beautiful wife to be. when he finds that her love has been snatched from him, he jumps out of the tower and become blind after hitting a stone. prince travel the world without eyes until he finds the rapunzel home where she lived with her twins, which she had with the prince. she starts crying when she him without eyes. her tears fall on his face and magically his sight comes back. in the end, he takes rapunzel and the children back to the palace. 1.1 rationale of the study the aim of this study is to help people suffering from mental sickness by understanding their personality, behaviour and thoughts. freud made a therapy to uncover those unconscious drives www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 3 published by scholink inc. because he thought that these are the main cause of mental illness. according to this theory, everyone has unconscious emotions, thoughts, memories and wants. this research will help the people to reveal these suppressed desires. rapunzel is a good example for this research because of her interest in the outer world and desire to see the floating lights. rapunzel is story with main female character which will help other women to learn the best style of living and to learn from their mistakes that they made in the past and to not repeat them in future. 1.2 research questions 1) how do freud’s concepts of id, ego and super ego relate with the linguistic-visual content of the movie repunzel? 2) what kind of personality do characters portray in repunzel? 3) what is the level of thematic consciousness portrayed by the characters in repunzel? 4) to what extent freud’s concept of psychosexual development has been narrated in the kids’ literature ‘repunzel’? 1.3 purpose of the study the findings of the study will help the readers to understand the different elements of psychoanalysis theory of freud with proper application. commonly stating, freud’s theory holds that unconscious emotions, thoughts and drives shapes the human behaviour. based on this theory, ‘ed, ego, and super-ego’ are three main components. the ego works in conscious mind while id works in unconscious mind. super-ego works on both sides conscious and unconscious. with the help of this story, grimm brothers want to teach the young girls and women to learn from their mistakes and not to repeat them in future and to live a good life based on the bible rules. to avoid such kind of disasters that rapunzel made in her life, it is necessary for young girls to live a biblical life. 2. literature review the study by catania (2015) has explored the dimensional changes that paly a role in expressing the desire and authority in the story. this can determine if the story that is under study have tragic or pleasant ending. this article will study the freud’s piece of work that is sadism to explore the dimensions of desire. he used two stories to reference first short story is nathaniel hawthorne’s raplaccinis’s daughter and second is grimm brother’s fairy tale rapunzel to study these dynamics. in spite of the fact that women are restricted in these situations, time and self-determination are opposite to each other, women have more freedom of choice in selecting her man when there is smaller space. this study wants to prove that romance scenes in the settings of the story directly tells if the story has happy or tragic conclusion. similarly, this article by carhart-harris and friston (2010) will study the concept that the conceptions of freud have neurological intervals. this study argues that what freud describe as primary and secondary structures are connected to the neural system and are lined with person’s organized activities. this study holds that brain system works independently with the situation and have superordinate www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 4 published by scholink inc. levels. it is not always our will to do things without thinking about them. this independency of brain system lower our free energy and that’s how we learn to control our desires or how to handle energy that produce within us. this shows that id, ego and super-ego are not the energies beyond our approach but somehow our brain produces them and then make them under control of us because superior of them is brain system. furthermore, a study by klein (1952) explored the presence of initial hereditary mutations in the ego in his book “analysis of terminable and interminable”. this book contains most of his observations on the ego that he made or think. klein believes that ego develops when a child is born. it depends on the child how he perceives things and how he reacts or handles worries. in this work, he argues that when ego tolerate worry or any situation, it is done through inherent power or similar things. in addition, he said that when ego interact with outer world it creates relations with other objects. he currently said that the wish of consolidation is one of the ancient work of the ego. now, he would think about the fight or flight impulses that plays important roles in the function of ego. ego serves as the source of impulses, which is important for the life and death theory of freud. nevertheless, he differs in idea from freud. he thought that anxiety comes from the fear of death, which comes from the death impulses working within ourselves. the both id and ego are involved in the battle of impulses between death and life. similarly, an essay by blass (2012) discusses the main points of klein idea of ego by doing a complete study of klein work and his companions. this study discusses the three main problems. first is the conceptual foundations of klein’s idea of ego. second includes the steps that are done in the development of ego and its competency. third is the idea that ego is an introspective thing. this study shows that concept of klein about ego is strongly rooted in the theory of freud on ego. this rejected the thought that klein only study and give assumptions about the clinical teachings and was not interested in theories and had no clear concepts. in clear means, it disapproves the concept that klein has not understanding on the concept of ego in clear manners. this essay focuses on the points from there these false assumptions came. at last, by clearing these false concepts about klein, we can understand kelvin better and her connection with the theory of freud and psychoanalysis. another study by boag (2014) mentions the connection between id, ego and inner objects. the psychology of ego holds that ego is free from the desires but another theory holds that ego comes from the drives produced in our body. this point gives rise to a thought that drives are something that are known within us and consist of freud’s theory of ego. we can suggest that our personality is composed of various knowers. this is because we have multiple desires within us. thus, according to the freud’s theories, ego is made up of independent thoughts while id is made of suppressed desires. in this regard, self-identification is built and potential for many personalities established. many philosophers from the continent study freud’s metapsychology. different famous philosophers from different fields like feminist and psychoanalytic directions are made to sit yoga to study and analyse the freud’s theory. due to many critics from english speaking community, freud’s theory was misunderstood and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 5 published by scholink inc. represented falsely. this study by mills will give credits and honour to the freud’s contribution to the understanding of human psyche. jon mills is a psychologist and philosopher who took interest and concentrate on important beliefs of freud like structure of dreams, drives, defence, development of ego, death and issues regarding race. groot (1962) underwent the concept of freud on ego and super-ego. at first, freud practiced the terms ego and super-ego as exchangeable terms. this certainty has an ancient apology. freud concludes that ego may be rival of itself making demands and punishing it. this shows that super ego develops as an element of the ego in an identification procedure. we have an example of this study in oedipus complex where super-ego serves as an heir. it consists of the child’s wish to imitate their parent’s perfection and to attach to their expectations. this theory surrounds and clarify a wide range of beyond normal behaviours of humans. the article by monahan (2018) explores the interaction of author with a girl. her name was elva. when she was fourteen, she first approached her and worked for three years with her. she told that she try to separate and differentiate from her parents which led her in isolation in her room. she compares this situation with rapunzel like the one she was trapped in a tower. elva just started to start her journey without being dependent on her parents and was ready to begin a new chapter in her life same as rapunzel when she came out of latency cycle. as elva get matured her reality changes. her anxiety strokes become severe. written for young readers the significance of stories is undisputed. in certain, the essential place of the fairy tale in widespread culture is undoubtedly renowned. although, these stories are times old, but they are modified by the values of the tellers to be extra well-matched with the philosophical interpretations of the viewers. this study by smith (2015) will discover how feminism has prejudiced two kinds of the similar story, issued by the alike issuer for equivalent age clusters by an examination of the ladybird forms of rapunzel, which were published in 1968 and 1993 respectively. this will display how there are delicate variations in the writing that do not disturb the general tale structure. however, it can suggest a vision into the means in which culture has ideologically placed men and women. for young readers fairy tales are always captivating. they create stereotypes and highlight traditional gender roles, because most of these fairy tales have their origin in oral folktales. just like nikolajeva (2003) states that fairy stories imitate its specific society and time. development in audience has headed to a revolution in these replications. rapunzel is known foe her long blond hair and is one of the iconic story. hairs are linked with femininity and transmits symbolic allegations. they also display how social control effects how he/she attires their hair. the authors portray a modification in the traditional gender roles by the change of her hair in the editions. in a fairy tale, rapunzel hairs are of great importance. the whole story revolved around her hairs. long hair itself depict feminine effect in the story as the girls are supposed to have long hairs and should not cut them short. also long hair are www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 6 published by scholink inc. considered as a symbol of beauty for girls and they have to carry these hairs no matter if they like it or not. in literary studies, conversation about masculinity is yet to be discuss as specific topic of research. in everyday life, masculinity is a theory of work or action. in society this concept acts as authority that how men should behave and react to problems and ideas. this creation is frequently initiate in love stories. this is where the male character behaves like somebody who is appreciated or entitled as a hero. the type of love is habitually set up in a fairy tale that typically has masculine and womanly characters. the typecast of the fairy tale itself support the male character, though the key personality is a female character. this is thought to be a masked masculinity. yet numerous people are ignorant. the exploration practices masculinity as a subject and notion in the fairy tale rapunzel by grimm brothers, as well as practices a hereditary structuralism methodology, which is by lucien goldmann. this method is appropriate as it blocks the arrangement in one piece in the information and narrates it to the societal circumstances that trigger the formation of the work. this study depicts advancement in cinema, education, literature and in its characters. the descriptions monitor the societal developments, gaining the features of the diverse eras and, subsequently, there is a modification in the representation of the characters. to authenticate this development, a judgement is prepared between rapunzel of tangled and rapunzel of the grimme brothers. the utmost outstanding progress in current years is in connection to the outline of the women and their labels. we can witness this advancement from the variations of the old-style tales like the tales of grimme brothers that turn into prodigious and widespread plots of the current times. the woman’s sketch is characterised by the character of princess, that is somewhat which symbols the life of teenagers largely, as they act as an ideal to trail especially for girls. they transfer memos and permit beliefs, by their activities and from the entire story. hereafter there is a countless inconsistency between the princesses of the modern age and the princesses of the classical age. 2.1 description of the theory sigmund freud is known for his psychodynamic approach towards psychology. this approach deals with unconscious emotions to explain behaviour of humans. because of psychological drives, freud believes that our mind is responsible for our both conscious and unconscious decisions. according to freud, our brain is made up of three parts that are id, ego and super-ego. freud thinks that we are actors in our own mind, who works according to the desires that are produced in our minds. what we are outside and what our personality is, all depend upon our internal struggles that are hidden. according to the theory of psychoanalysis, our personality is divided into three main functions. first is id, which is initial unconscious desire if basic needs of human, aggressive or addictive impulses. second is ego, which works according to the norms of society and moral standards. third is super-ego, which deals with the reality of present days and desires or needs of psychic mind that creates conflict. this literature tells us that how pain stops the basic desires and release the righteous sentiments. these desires are unable to express themselves. id creates in our minds desires unconsciously which we want www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 7 published by scholink inc. to do it without considering anything in our surroundings which later on suppressed by ego element to think of it weather it is right or wrong. in the end super-ego overtake our unconscious drives and turn according to the present day reality. 2.2 description of the cartoon many years ago, a girl was known for her beautiful long golden hairs. unfortunately, a cruel witch locked her in a tower facing no doors. her parents gave her to witch in exchange of promise they made before her birth. she lived here alone and in sadness. one day, a charming prince happened to pass by the tower. he heard a song she was singing in her beautiful voice. he became obsessed and what to meet the woman up in the tower but there was no door to enter in the tower. he became hopeless. on the next day, he came there again and a witch there. he hides himself in the bushes and heard a witch calling o rapunzel, o rapunzel let your hair down. he thought this is the way to reach to the tower. they both met and made a decision to leave from here. however, the witch found out about this somehow. the witch cut the rapunzel long hair and descend her to live in a desert alone. the prince was also the victim of this spell, which let him blind. after few years, prince and rapunzel met again somewhere. rapunzel began to cry when she saw prince. when some of her tears fell on the face of prince, his sight restored. then they lived happily after. if something is written to happen, it will happen no matter what. according to the fairy tale, prince and rapunzel were meant to be together and they became so. 3. research methodology this study adopted qualitative method. primary data is taken from the story of rapunzel and the sigmund freud’s psychoanalysis theory of id, ego and super-ego. all the primary data is from these sources and no other material is used beyond these in this research. secondary data sources are random books of similar interests, internet, magazine and articles. these tools are used for carrying out the research. all the material used is relevant and accurate for the research. the investigative framework adopted for this study was case based exploratory research in which data was collected analysed and interpreted qualitatively. the sampling strategy drawn for this study was typical and critical case sampling technique. 3.1 thesis statement psychoanalytical study of female characters in a fairy tale rapunzel considering the freud’s id, ego, and super-ego. 3.2 conceptual description a fairy tale rapunzel is explored by looking at it through the lens of psychoanalytical theory of sigmund freud. in this research, observations, which are made on characters of the fairy tale, are done through qualitative research. those characters best describe the elements of the sigmund freud theory. id, ego and super-ego are studied thoroughly in this research article. each character has its own importance regarding the theory. witch represent the super-ego element, rapunzel represent the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 8 published by scholink inc. dreamer or psychosexual element, and rapunzel’s mother represent the id element in the story while her father is being shown as mediator. 3.3 content-analytic framework when story begins, it shows that a couple is wishing for having a child. it is true that everyone wants to have children in their homes. according to the freud, this is the result of unconscious element id. wife sees a beautiful flower that was used as a vegetable and start longing for it. if she does not have this fruit, she will die either. this shows another incidence of id in that home. this shows the wife’s selfishness also as she just want to eat that vegetable which she finds a moat beautiful one no matter what. there was no name given to the wife in the story because she was not a complete character. she depicts the id element of the freud’s theory in a fairy tale rapunzel. how she just wanted a fruit or otherwise she will die shows the person’s attitude towards their drives that our mind makes. on the other hand, husband serves as a mediator because he forbid the laws and rules to save her wife’s life. he jump into the garden that was under the command of cruel witch. witch had a rule of not to enter in the garden and touch the forbidden fruit ever otherwise there will be punishment. this shows the ego element, which controls the super-ego and id further to make decisions. the witch represents the super-ego, while wife represents the id and ego element in the house. figure 1. content-analytic framework (caf) caf content analytic framework id ego super ego freud psychoanalysis psychoanalysis & literature relationship of theory structure of personality consciousness psychosexual development defense mechanism www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 9 published by scholink inc. 4. findings and discussion this research helped the people especially women to understand their psyche and to better their lives. the main character of the fairy tale is female. rapunzel is a strong and firm young lady. she as a strong urge to see the worldly things outside the tower. rapunzel’s life and the sufferings she goes through in her life and how she overcome these circumstances is a message for other women to how to go through the difficulties of life. women should learn from the mistakes that happened in the past and not repeat these mistakes in future for a happy life. it will also help the males instead of females, how to overcome the challenges of life. rapunzel face many obstacles in her life but she never loosed hope and rather overcome these challenges and in the end lived a happy life with her loved ones. it is a famous proverb that life is not a bed of roses. it will not always give you ease and comfort but rather it brings lemons in your life as well. a wise person is one who made something of worth from these situations that life put them in and do not panic at the obstacles. because after every difficulty there is, ease which demands patience and wait. on the other hand, rapunzel’s mother long for a rampion vegetable that grown in the witch garden. this is same as the adam and eve, when they drawn to the apple in eden’s garden. this is an example for the bible. this is because she was not able to eat that apple which was on the other side of the witch’s garden, she starts becoming obsessional. she will either die of she does not eat some of the vegetable. she wants more when her husband brings her some. she agrees on giving her daughter when her husband caught by the witch while stealing that vegetable for her thirst. similarly, jealousy is another theme that is also under study. self-doubt is the main reason of jealousy. the results of jealousy are mostly negative. this is because jealousy is connected to possessiveness, which ruin the relationship. when witch found out that rapunzel had guest in the house, she said to rapunzel a wicked child what you have done to me. she believed that she had saved her from others. a desire of child to be free from the parents is the third theme of the story. this witch done a mistake by locking her in a tower and do not let her to meet anyone until she was twelve. this is return ruin their relationship for forever. this also gives a lesson to parents to give their child some freedom to live and think on their own. rapunzel might not accept to wed the first man she ever met in her life and to have children with him if she was not that lonely and inexperienced. this is because how she was grown that made her think that she loved him more than his mother. to be aware of prohibited fruit, avoiding jealousy and let your children have some freedom are the some main themes or moral lessons from the story. everything happens on time, you just need to wait for it and to show patience. rapunzel and prince seem to be impossible to be together but somehow fate let them together in the end. the witch ruined her relationship with rapunzel because of jealousy; and to keep rapunzel away from everyone. another theme of this fairy tale is attraction towards the forbidden. one of the reasons why prince admire her and want to marry her because she is out of the reach of prince. despite of marrying any other women in the kingdom whom would be happy to marry him he wanted to earn rapunzel love. this is because prince had to work of rapunzel’s love rather then for any women that make him fall in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 10 published by scholink inc. love with her. rapunzel agrees to marry prince because he had everything form which she had been neglected. if she was given the choice for someone else, she might not choose prince at the first meeting to marry. the grimm brothers want to tell the readers we all want what we cannot have even if it make us suffer for a lifetime. this outlook towards life makes us suffer more wherever we go. this story gives us more knowledge about life, and how does it work. it is based on realities of life as well as its cruelities. it has message for women, children, parents, and for individuals as well. human from all corners of life can find something in this tale. it is not only for children to find it amusing but also for adults to learn from this and make changes in their lives to live a happy peaceful life instead of regretting for their decisions in future. this is human nature to attract to the things that are not in the reach or that are forbidden for them. they find it amusing and built curiorsity in them to have it. this attitude might prove harmful for all of us. after going through the story we need to learn that this attitude need to be changed. sometimes what is looking pleasent from the distance might be poisonous or dangerous or maybe it will ruin our life. it is up to you if you want to live a happy life or miserable life. if you learn from the mistakes of others and implement these rules into your life you will be save from the hard lessons that life teaches and what life teaches there is no mercy then. 5. justification of the research questions findings reveal that witch is the powerful character in the story. she has powers and authority over others to mend them the way she like. she represents the element of superego in the story. she does not like if someone enter in her garden and touch the forbidden fruit. she said that they only belong to her and no one else. if someone tries to enter in her garden and steal the forbidden fruit, she will curse them with her magic for a lifetime. the same situation happened in the story. rapunzel’s mother had a strong desire to eat the forbidden fruit, which only grows, in the witch’s garden. if she had not eaten this fruit, she will rather die. therefore, her husband jumps into the witch’s garden and bring the fruit to fulfill her desire. however, that was not enough, as she wants more otherwise she will die. her husband went again into the garden but that time the witch caught him. witch wanted to curse him at that moment but he beg her to forgive him. he was just trying to save his pregnant wife. witch agrees to free him on one promise that he has to give her first child for a life whenever he\she will born. both the king and queen agrees because they have no other choice before the witch. this satisfies the first question of this research that how witch represents the superego element, which creates in someone’s mind regardless of any obstacle. according to the second question of this research, another element of sigmund freud’s theory id is also represented in the poem. rapunzel’s mother represent this element while logging for a forbidden fruit which she know only grows in the witch’s garden who is not mercifull. nevertheless, a desire produces in her mind that she wants to fulfill without considering anything or otherwise she will die if her desire will not fullfilled. id element represent the desire, which came into our mind at once and stays regardless of the circumstances. on the other hand, rapunzel who is main character of the tale represent the dreamer element and the psychosexual element of the freud’s theory. her wish to see the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 11 published by scholink inc. stars twinkling in the night and the lights rising from the palace represent that she is a dreamer. while falling in love with a boy she saw for the very first time and then having children with him at the end of the story shows the psychosexual element. this satifies the third question of this research. rapunzel’s mother represents another element in the story that is ego. she does not care of her husband when he jump into the witch’s garden that witch might caught him and will put him to death. furthermore, after having the fruit she demands for more. she doesn’t care for anyone even for her husband. she just to fulfil her desire. 6. conclusion readers especially children should learn from rapunzel’s short story to have faith and steadfast and to never give up on your goals. everyone should be persistent while chasing goals no matter how many obstacles came your way. this is because no one is going to stop you from what you want to do. the story rapunzel is complicated tale of success, failure and bad lucks. when prince discovered a woman of beautiful voice and desire for her, complexity between husband and wife relationship, and a witch behaves as id, internal self and super-ego differently. the important elements of fair tale is rapunzel’s long hair, utilisation of a child as bargaining piece, the cruel step mother and the happy ending. many fairy tales excessively use the involvement of child as a victim. sometimes, child is bearing the product of parent’s error. references allport, g. w. 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(1962). ego ideal and superego. the psychoanalytic study of the child, 17(1), 94-106. https://doi.org/10.1080/00797308.1962.11822840 klein, m. (1952). the mutual influences in the development of ego and id: discussants. the psychoanalytic study of the child, 7(1), 51-68. https://doi.org/10.1080/00797308.1962.11822840 mills, j. (ed.). (2012). rereading freud: psychoanalysis through philosophy. state university of new york press. monahan, e. (2018). rapunzel: a necessary unravelling. lacanian psychoanalysis with babies, children, and adolescents (pp. 93-103). routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429476525-7 smith, a. (2015). letting down rapunzel: feminism’s effects on fairy tales. children’s literature in education, 46, 424-437. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429476525-7 https://doi.org/10.1080/00797308.1962.11822840 https://doi.org/10.1080/00797308.1962.11822840 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429476525-7 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429476525-7 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 74 original paper china’s images in self-media videos after the implementation of china’s visa-free policy: the first 2 years tianyi gan1, lingling liu1* & congying zhang1 1 school of foreign languages, china three gorges university, hubei, china * lingling liu, e-mail: liulingling@ctgu.edu.cn received: april 5, 2025 accepted: april 23, 2025 online published: may 8, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p74 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p74 abstract after the implementation of china’s visa-free policy in 2023, china’s tourism industry has ushered in a new era of prosperity. at the same time, as social media continues to rise in popularity, many facets of china, including its cuisine and traditional culture, have been widely shared, prompting more and more international travelers to opt for china as their destination. this article studies 20 self-media videos about travel to china following the announcement of china’s visa-free transit policy, which were posted by self-media bloggers from ten various nations or regions. based on the positive discourse analysis theoretical framework, in light of appraisal system theory, by examining the keywords including highfrequency nouns, affective adjectives and verbs, this article seeks to investigate china’s image through corpus analysis. this research indicates that after the implementation of the visa-free policy, more and more foreign tourists have come to china. they have discovered that china has acquired new images including cuisine, mobile payment and so on, and in their eyes, china’s image is positive and favorable. keywords china’s image, china’s visa free policy, self-media videos, appraisal system theory, corpus analysis 1. introduction the inbound tourism business has once again benefited tremendously from china’s comprehensive relaxation and optimization of its visa-free transit policy. on december 17, 2024, the national immigration administration of china declared that it would further release and optimize the visa-free transit policy for foreigners. foreigners can now stay in china for 240 hours (10 days) without a visa, up from the previous 72 and 144-hour duration. at the same time, 21 new ports have been introduced as entry and exit ports for visa-free transit personnel, and the areas where they are permitted to stay and travel around have been substantially expanded (wang j., 2024). in this context, the number of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 75 published by scholink inc. international travelers to china has grown substantially more. as one of the largest online video platforms in the world, youtube has developed to be a crucial tool for international bloggers to record, share and discuss their travel experiences, perceptions and attitudes in china. an increasing number of videos on “china travel” and “china visa free” subjects continues to rise on the youtube platform (hu & liu, 2025). to data, many academics have studied discourse analysis through the appraisal system theory and the self-media videos have also been studied in other areas. for instance, with the goal to fully present a positive image of china under the initiative of “building a community with a shared future for mankind,” luo et al. (2022) studied the positive discourse analysis of journalistic discourses about sino-foreign relations from the attitude perspective of appraisal theory. their findings demonstrate that the journalistic discourse uses a large number of positive words and contexts to create a harmonious linguistic environment. furthermore, liu et al. (2025) conducted a cross-cultural communication study through the self-media videos of bloggers visiting china from the perspective of frame theory. their research results prove that the bloggers objectively evaluated the current situation of china, especially expressing amazement regarding the convenience of transportation and safety of living in china. however, through the literature reviews, we find that no scholar has studied the texts transferred from the self-media videos after the implementation of china’s visa-free transit policy by using the appraisal system theory. in this article, based on the positive discourse analysis theoretical framework, in light of appraisal system theory, we examine the keywords including high-frequency nouns, affective adjectives and verbs through the corpus analysis in order to identify the following questions: 1) what kinds of china’ images have been demonstrated by using the high-frequency nouns in keywords? 2)what kinds of china’ images have been demonstrated by using the attitudinal resources? 2. research method and procedures 2.1 data collection by searching for pertinent keywords on the youtube video platform, we were able to find an extensive number of self-media bloggers pertaining to the topics of “china travel” and “china visa free” for this post. we identified 20 relevant self-media videos based on the videos’ release dates, number of views and likes. the computation was based on the total number of likes divided by the number of chosen videos, and the average number of likes was approximately 15.4k (as of december 2024). the videos came from self-media bloggers in various nations or areas, as shown in table 1: there are four videos from the usa and six from the uk. a pertinent video has been gathered for each of the following countries: south africa, ireland, australia, russia, south east asia, and spanish. additionally, two pairs of videos from each canada and germany have been chosen. regarding when the videos have been released, the 20 self-media videos that we gathered predominantly span the years 2023-2025. only one video, produced by josie from australia, was released on october 1st, 2023. there were sixteen videos in 2024: only one video per month in january, february, march, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 76 published by scholink inc. october, november, and december; two videos per month in may, august, and september; and the remaining four videos were mostly released in june. the videos that were made public in 2025 concentrated largely on january and february. it is evident from the date of release that the research materials collected in this study date back to the first 2 years of china’s policy of granting visa-free travel to its territory. the primary focus of the video research is on self-media videos that were uploaded to youtube following the implementation of china’s original policy, which waived visas for foreigners traveling through the country for up to 144 hours. table 1. classification(nations/areas) nations/areas self-media bloggers sum uk joel and emilia hutchinsons jay and karolina harry jaggard sarah and callum nahana 6 usa sammy and tommy doug barnard chris rodriguez emma and ofer 4 australia josie 1 south africa lizzy 1 ireland luck and naomi 1 russia margarita 1 german deana and phil claudia and thomas 2 south east asia viyom 1 canada jenn and leon shae and david 2 spanish oliver dadema 1 2.2 transcription after collecting these 20 self-media videos, we first converted the original 20 video resources into corresponding 20 text resources through the simple listen and write app (appendix 1). however, through manual comparison, we found that the accuracy rate of the text conversion was only 89%. therefore, we employed the dual review and discussion method: we assigned the 20 computerconverted texts to two groups of english major scholars, asking them to independently read and proofread the accuracy of the texts. each group marked the errors or inaccuracies in the texts based on their own understanding and standards. then, we compared and analyzed the text markings and annotations from the two groups. based on the discussion results, we corrected the texts to ensure their accuracy. through this series of operations, we obtained the final 20 target texts for the research. these 20 target texts www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 77 published by scholink inc. averaged 2,355 tokens, among which the text converted from hutchinsons’ video reached 5,815 tokens, the largest among the 20 texts. 2.3 corpus analysis when put all final 20 target texts together, we formed the target corpus. the target corpus for this article is cocvfv (corpus of china visa free vlogs), which we generated by converting 20 videos from different self-media platforms into 20 texts. in total, there are 4,133 types, 47,109 tokens, and 20 files in the target corpus. at the same time, in order to eliminate some function terms that had a high frequency of occurrence but no useful meaning in the target corpus which can better highlight the distinctive linguistic characteristics of this corpus, we performed a comparative analysis after implementing a second reference corpus, ame06_a_press_reportage corpus (potts, a. & baker, p., 2012), by using the corpus analysis program antconc (anthony, 2019). under this method, the keywords we obtain are more accurate and suitable for our research. 2.4 analytical framework in the late 1990s, british academic martin proposed the traditional idea of positive discourse analysis (martin, 2004) at the international symposium on critical discourse analysis. this idea is related to the analysis of critical discourse. given the limitations of critical discourse analysis, we propose the idea of positive discourse analysis, which aims to create an ideal human society through positive discourse by approaching and resolving societal conflicts and inequities with a constructive and upbeat mindset. meanwhile, the appraisal system states that attitude is made up of three components: affect, judgment, and appreciation. emotional reactions to things, including joy, sadness, hatred, etc., are referred to as affect. unhappiness, insecurity, and dissatisfaction make up affect. positive or negative evaluations, such praising, condemning, blaming, or admiring, are related to this judgment. normalcy, capability, tenacity, honesty, and propriety are the five components of judgment. appreciation is the evaluation of aesthetically pleasing natural events. reaction, composition, and appraisal are the three categories of appreciation (martin & white, 2005). this article based on the positive discourse analysis theoretical framework, we examine the keywords including high-frequency nouns, affective adjectives and verbs, seeking to demonstrate the china images through corpus analysis and appraisal system. initially, we embark on seeking to find the nouns that appear unexpectedly frequently. we define the keywords as “a word form or cluster of words that are statistically more frequent in a corpus than expected” (hyland & jiang, 2020, p. 8) in addition to raw frequency counts. the concept and primary material of the text can be effectively reflected by these keywords and their collocates. these highfrequency nouns among the keywords can accurately represent the primary concern of international visitors to china so as to demonstrate what kind of china image is in the self-media videos. furthermore, out of interest, we wish to reveal their individual attitudes when they travel china so as to demonstrate what kind of china image is in the eyes of foreign travelers. as a result, we concentrate on the affective verbs and adjectives in keywords. by using the appraisal system theory that we mentioned www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 78 published by scholink inc. above to discuss the affective verbs and adjectives we collected, we are able to recognize and classify the attitudes of the travelers and the china image in their eyes. summarizing that what we have discussed above, through the concerns and attitude of international visitors, we can distinctly discuss the china’s images in the self-media videos after the implementation of china’s visa-free transit policy in the first 2 years. 3. high-frequency nouns analysis we started out identified the top 100 high-frequency words in the target corpus and compared them with the reference corpus ame06_a_press_reportage corpus in order to figure out the primary concerns that foreign friends focus on during their visit china. at the same time, we were able to uncover additional particular uses through recurrent lexical linkages by looking at these items in relation to the words they most frequently co-occurred with as well as their immediate left or right collocates (lai, 2019; potts et al., 2015). next, we especially examined the keywords’ keyness (likelihood). the term’s keyness for the text: a high keyness means that the word performs a major role in the text’s discourse. inside antconc, a log-likelihood (4-term) statistical analysis is used to calculate it. a term that is characteristically missing from the text is indicated by a negative keyness (gabrielatos, 2018). high-frequency nouns that can represent the main points of foreign friends are displayed in table 2 (some extraneous words are omitted). table 2. high-frequency nouns and keyness (likelihood) number type keyness (likelihood) number type keyness (likelihood) 9 china 574.595 76 hotel 61.964 23 chinese 184.956 77 alipay 61.669 31 food 136.823 82 cities 59.934 60 metro 83.253 95 app 46.781 74 train 65.528 99 wechat 44.654 table 2 illustrates the evidence that the word “china” is a very high-frequency noun, appearing far more frequently than other items. the following could be the causes of this phenomenon: (1) the theme of “china travel” is present in all of the texts we examined; (2) collocation analysis of china (table 3) reveals that words like “impressions” and “about” indicate that foreigners’ primary interest in chinese tourism is based on their perceptions of china and associated elements of the country in general. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 79 published by scholink inc. table 3. collocates of china collocate rank freq(scaled) freqlr freql freqr range likelihood effect in 1 7260 148 121 27 20 129.326 1.564 first 2 960 28 23 5 9 38.618 2.08 about 3 1520 35 27 8 14 35.945 1.739 to 4 10740 119 86 33 17 23.81 0.684 month 5 70 6 4 2 3 19.665 3.636 impressions 6 150 8 8 0 3 19.143 2.951 of 7 7460 85 68 17 15 18.755 0.724 the items “chinese” and “food” are both high-frequency nouns with keyness scores in excess of 100. to discuss these two words, we use the antconc and find out the collocate of the word “food”. surprisingly, we can find that the two terms have a strong association, because the likelihood between “food” and “chinese” is up to 30.079. therefore, it is apparently that when foreigners travel china, they usually concentrate on chinese cuisine. they believe that chinese food, particularly “pot”, is cheap and excellent, and that it also embodies “culture”. along with the above listed terms, in the table 2 “metro, train, hotel, alipay, cities, app, wechat” also show up a lot within the top 100 high-frequency words. just like the reaserch done by liu et al (2025), it show that the convenience of transportation in china really attracts foreign travelers. besides, with the development of high technology and wide spread of mobile payments, more foreign visitors show great interest and passion for apps like alipay and wechat. at the same time, we can find that accommodations and china’s modern infrastructure development in cities are also the concerns of them. table 4. collocates of food collocate rank freq(scaled) freqlr freql freqr range likelihood effect chinese 1 1090 14 12 2 6 30.079 2.765 eating 2 170 6 4 2 5 24.001 4.224 food 3 890 10 5 5 4 19.178 2.572 cheap 4 160 5 4 1 3 18.827 4.048 good 5 1350 12 7 5 7 18.436 2.234 pot 6 90 4 1 3 1 17.787 4.556 some 7 1210 11 10 1 6 17.285 2.267 culture 8 140 4 4 0 3 14.375 3.919 overall, based on all the data we have studied and the results drawn from the analysis, we can find that when foreign tourists travel to china, they first focus on the country itself and what kind of impression www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 80 published by scholink inc. it leaves on them. secondly, chinese cuisine has become a new china image after porcelain. almost all foreign tourists are very concerned about chinese cuisine, and characteristic chinese foods such as hot pot have become new images for china. at the same time, with the continuous innovation and development of technology, mobile payment and convenient transportation have also become new china images, too. furthermore, during their travels, foreign tourists are amazed by the convenience brought by mobile payment and diverse transportation. 4. attitude analysis in terms of appraisal system as along with discussing a few common nouns, we also concentrate affective adjectives and verbs, which are included into the top 100 most common keywords in spite of focusing on the main concerns of foreign travelers, we also need to be aware of and comprehend the attitudes of the foreign people who are traveling. thus, using the appraisal system (martin & white, 2005), we investigate how foreign visitors feel about visiting china based on the theoretical framework of positive discourse analysis. after that, it can also demonstrate what kinds of china images in the eyes of foreign travelers. table 5. keywords of emotional adjectives and verbs number type keyness (likelihood) number type keyness (likelihood) 6 like 993.663 57 cool 84.839 25 nice 171.8 62 amazing 81.806 47 good 97.297 68 beautiful 72.358 49 super 91.448 86 excited 56.538 table 5 makes it abundantly evident that the affective verb “like” occurs frequently, with a keyness (likelihood) of 993.663. a common expression of emotional appraisal, “like” immediately reflects the speaker’s subjective emotional response when it is used to convey a person’s preference for something or an affirmative emotional propensity. thus, it demonstrates the international visitors’ positive attitude towards this country and love of chinese cuisine and journey to china (1 and 2): (1) we just saw a guy with these noodles and we are like, yeah. (emma and ofer) (2) life is going on here. the life. i love it. (margarita) among the remaining frequently used affective adjectives, those like “nice, beautiful, amazing, cool, super” all fall under the category of “appreciation”: “nice” directly reflects a positive evaluation of something and belongs to valuation in the context of appreciation (3): this foreign travelers appreciate the accommodation as nice; “beautiful” describes the aesthetic appeal of something and belongs to reaction in appreciation, emphasizing the sensory or emotional response triggered by the thing (4): they thinks the urban greening like flowers in cities are beautiful; “amazing” and “cool” express the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 81 published by scholink inc. astonishing or attractive qualities of something, belonging to reaction (5 and 6): the scenery spot as well as skylines of city is amazing and cool in their eyes ; “super” is used to emphasize the excellence of something and belongs to valuation (7): the infrastructures in china is super modern. these words all carry positive meanings and appreciations. therefore, from all the affective adjectives above, it can be concluded that foreign tourists view chinese things in an appreciative manner, which also confirms a positive attitude. (3) a private room, so that’s nice. this is the bathroom. (luck and naomi) (4) let’s go. looks so beautiful, and let’s say hi to my followers. (margarita) (5) the skylines of every single city were absolutely amazing. (hutchinsons) (6) this is cool oh, it’s cool. (josie) (7) and yeah, just like super modern, super advanced, super clean. (harry jaggard) “excited” is a word that expresses enthusiasm and belongs within the emotional system’s happiness category. “excited” and “nervous” are typically used together in this article’s corpus, while “positively” usually appears before these terms by visitors from different nations. they arrive in china that they have never visited before, so they are both anxious and excited. nevertheless, with the “positively” before these two items, it is an active feeling regardless of whether it is “nervous” or “excited” (9): (9) i’m like very positively excited and positively nervous. (luck and naomi) last but not least, there are two distinct meanings for “good”. it falls under the valuation of appreciation when it is used to describe things rather than people’s moral behavior (10): chinese people are friendly; it falls under the judgment of social esteem, which emphasizes ability or moral standards, when it is used to assess people’s behavior (11): chinese cuisine is really tasty. although this target corpus covers both scenarios, it can be inferred that international visitors’ perceptions of both chinese cuisine and people are generally favorable. (10) the food was really good (hutchinsons) (11) chinese is very good. (josie) based on the results we have discussed above, high-frequency affective adjectives and verbs such as “like, nice, beautiful, amazing, cool, super, cool, amazing, beautiful and excited” all demonstrate the foreign tourists’ fondness and positive attitude towards traveling in china. from this, we can also prove that after the implementation of china’s visa-free transit policy, china’s image has become more positive and favorable. more and more foreigners have come to know and like this country through their personal experiences. 5. conclusion we have examined the items in a 47109-token corpus based on collocations of 20 self-media videos from ten various countries or regions in order to comprehend the primary concerns that foreign visitors have when traveling china as well as their attitudes toward the country so that we can investigate the china images behind them. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 82 published by scholink inc. in order to address the aforementioned research questions, we used antconc to find the top 100 most common keywords including high-frequency nouns, affective adjectives and verbs. based on the high frequency of nouns like china, chinese, food, metro, train, hotel, alipay, cities, app, and wechat, we can find that, when foreign tourists embark on journeys to china, their initial curiosity centers on the nation as a whole and the impressions it cultivates in their minds. following closely behind, chinese cuisine has emerged as a new china image like the porcelain. the vast majority of international visitors harbor a keen interest in the culinary offerings of china, with distinctive dishes like hot pot now serving as novel representations of the country. additionally, the ongoing advancements and evolution of technology have propelled mobile payment systems and efficient transportation networks into the spotlight, showing as the china’s images, too. at the same time, based on the positive discourse analysis theoretical framework, we categorized the affective adjectives and verbs in the keyword collection, including like, nice, good, super, cool, amazing, beautiful, and excited, in order to better understand the foreign travelers’ attitudes towards traveling to china. we discuss the results using the appraisal system theory and consistently concluded that international visitors had a positive and optimistic viewpoint regarding china travel. in their point of view, china’s image is positive and favorable. based on the topics we discussed above, china has been a popular travel destination since china’s visafree transit policy policy was put into effect. in general, foreign visitors tend to see chinese tourism favorably. when they travel, they concentrate on the nation itself, as well as on food, lodging, modes of transportation, and payment options. china has to do better in these areas which concern international travelers so that china’s tourism industry will undoubtedly flourish in the future. the article at present only focuses on the substance of 20 videos of foreign visitors that were published during the first 2 years after the implementation of china’s visa-free transit policy. china’s visa-free transit policy policy has advanced significantly to date, giving an increasing number of international visitors the chance to visit china for an extended period of time and experience this stunning nation. more texts and corpus on this issue can be included in future research on this topic. we anticipate additional findings from everyone’s research on this topic. references anthony, l. 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(2015). how can computer-based methods help researchers to investigate news values in large datasets? a corpus linguistic study of the construction of https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12412 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 84 published by scholink inc. newsworthiness in the reporting on hurricane katrina. discourse & communication, 92, 149-172. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481314568548 wang, j. (2024). china’s 240-hour visa-free transit policy covers 54 countries. the china times, 006. author profile tinyi gan is a third-year bachelor’s degree candidate at school of foreign languages of china three gorges university. lingling liu in an associate professor in china three gorges university and a mater supervisor for postgraduates majoring in both applied linguistics and english language teaching. her research interests include second language writing, english for academic purposes, and english language teaching. congying zhang is a third-year bachelor’s degree candidate at school of foreign languages of china three gorges university. appendix 1 name and address of transcription tool: simple listen and write app https://tingji.baidu.com/embed/listennote appendix 2 list of vlogs: bloggers & nations/areas & publish time & videos’ address (1) chris rodriguez usa 2024.11.8 https://youtu.be/3qhp9kbyumw?si=vndblyew-sg2v6qx (2) claudia and thomas german 2024.12.9 https://youtu.be/mkbyan11hs?si=6iopjnxhv3ag-ecb (3) deana and phil german 2024.10.26 https://youtu.be/p6xibmjoo9g?si=9dwuny7uuoew4vz4 2958 (4) doug barnard us 2024.3.19 https://youtu.be/m_lwc5zpkyo?si=oudnirvo0yvdougo (5) emma and ofer usa 2024.2.16https://youtu.be/rz7miarbxny?si=krm2rsodrxwp5gqm (6) harry jaggard uk 2024.1.27 https://youtu.be/k3x46veg64i?si=hkq8akpgnak75dpd 924 (7) hutchinsons uk 2024.8.18 https://youtu.be/6ttrk5omxf4?si=cxwhg2rtu2rssjwc (8) jay and karolina uk 2024.9.17 https://youtu.be/jzbcqi7lcia?si=3y78losyog4mif-r (9) jenn and leon canada 2024.5.20 https://youtu.be/xqzbha1ajs4?si=gohhp_mn_bkzrfzs (10) joel and emilia uk 2024.6.23 https://youtu.be/9bqfjcdevig?si=mvlx11cjsf9z66lo (11) josie australia 2023.10.1 https://youtu.be/b5ftjd2i8es?si=qetpgvvrxf0pse17 (12) lizzy south africa 2024.9.14 https://youtu.be/sbqoupblk7c?si=vklnow8wz1ybbtyq (13) luck and naomi ireland 2024.5.9 https://youtu.be/bxk6mghqn8?si=ov4ekk6y_e_tkh1b https://youtu.be/3qhp9kbyumw?si=vndblyew-sg2v6qx https://youtu.be/mkby-an11hs?si=6iopjnxhv3ag-ecb https://youtu.be/mkby-an11hs?si=6iopjnxhv3ag-ecb https://youtu.be/p6xibmjoo9g?si=9dwuny7uuoew4vz4 https://youtu.be/m_lwc5zpkyo?si=oudnirvo0yvdougo https://youtu.be/rz7miarbxny?si=krm2rsodrxwp5gqm https://youtu.be/k3x46veg64i?si=hkq8akpgnak75dpd https://youtu.be/6ttrk5omxf4?si=cxwhg2rtu2rssjwc https://youtu.be/jzbcqi7lcia?si=3y78losyog4mif-r https://youtu.be/xqzbha1ajs4?si=gohhp_mn_bkzrfzs https://youtu.be/9bqfjcdevig?si=mvlx11cjsf9z66lo https://youtu.be/b5ftjd2i8es?si=qetpgvvrxf0pse17 https://youtu.be/sbqoupblk7c?si=vklnow8wz1ybbtyq https://youtu.be/bxk6mghq-n8?si=ov4ekk6y_e_tkh1b https://youtu.be/bxk6mghq-n8?si=ov4ekk6y_e_tkh1b www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 85 published by scholink inc. (14) margarita russia 2024.8.8 https://youtu.be/cwvtzsu4elu?si=f64x1vd4nacbc_dj (15) nahana uk 2025.2.2 https://youtu.be/70edsbkqawc?si=1hcslzbqhmbjwmys (16) oliver dadema spanish 2024.6.30 https://youtu.be/u3ik5emb4su?si=b8jk_2w56xwlpcw (17) sammy and tommy america 2024.6.2 https://youtu.be/ul5e6qk3sle?si=my7qz8nehlugzmnq (18) sarah and callum uk 2025.1.17 https://youtu.be/tmbbmuw89w8?si=sllmeazmlvpxmqpp (19) shae and david canada 2024.6.9 https://youtu.be/f1hjze66gd4?si=ag7xavzsfmnwmhyc (20) viyom south east asia 2025.1.19 https://youtu.be/uwxenmam_ia?si=vj6_exedp6pr5o5i’ appendix 3 table. length of the final 20 texts bloggers tokens of texts bloggers tokens of texts chris rodriguez 1570 josie 4420 claudia and thomas 1369 lizzy 2296 deana and phil 2958 luck and naomi 3106 doug barnard 2130 margarita 1715 emma and ofer 2666 nahana 851 harry jaggard 924 oliver dadema 2059 hutchinsons 5815 sammy and tommy 2207 jay and karolina 602 sarah and callum 2921 jenn and leon 1346 shae and david 1088 joel and emilia 2872 viyom 2151 https://youtu.be/cwvtzsu4elu?si=f64x1vd4nacbc_dj https://youtu.be/70edsbkqawc?si=1hcslzbqhmbjwmys https://youtu.be/u3ik5emb4su?si=b8jk_2w-56xwlpcw https://youtu.be/u3ik5emb4su?si=b8jk_2w-56xwlpcw https://youtu.be/ul5e6qk3sle?si=my7qz8nehlugzmnq https://youtu.be/tmbbmuw89w8?si=sllmeazmlvpxmqpp https://youtu.be/f1hjze66gd4?si=ag7xavzsfmnwmhyc https://youtu.be/uwxenmam_ia?si=vj6_exedp6pr5o5i’ education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 136 original paper challenges and strategies for english as a second language (esl) students in higher education nguyen an giang1* 1 lecturer, department of foreign languages, trade union university, viet nam * nguyen an giang, email: giangna@dhcd.edu.vn received: february 11, 2025 accepted: february 27, 2025 online published: march 10, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p136 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p136 abstract english proficiency plays a pivotal role in academic and professional success, yet english as a second language (esl) students face substantial linguistic, academic, and psychological challenges that hinder their performance in higher education. this study examines key barriers, including the absence of standardized proficiency assessments, language anxiety, academic writing difficulties, and social isolation. the research highlights the significant impact of these obstacles on student retention rates, academic achievement in professional fields such as nursing and stem, and overall mental well-being. additionally, the study evaluates the effectiveness of various intervention strategies, including early language assessments, targeted academic support, linguistic modifications in evaluations, and the integration of technology-driven learning tools. findings underscore the necessity for universities to adopt a holistic approach to esl education by implementing structured support systems, peer mentoring programs, and mental health initiatives. by embracing these strategies, institutions can foster an inclusive learning environment that enhances esl students’ academic performance, confidence, and long-term career prospects. keywords esl students, language barriers, academic performance, language anxiety, higher education, technology in esl learning, mental health support 1. introduction english proficiency has become an essential skill in both academic and professional environments, serving as a gateway to better career opportunities and global interactions. in the era of globalization, proficiency in english is no longer a luxury but a necessity for individuals seeking to excel in international markets and academia. english serves as the primary medium of instruction in many www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 137 published by scholink inc. universities worldwide and is often a prerequisite for job placement in multinational corporations. given its significance, the demand for english language education has surged, particularly among students who speak english as a second language (esl). however, esl students continue to face numerous linguistic, academic, and psychological challenges that hinder their ability to fully integrate into english-speaking academic environments. a major concern in university settings is that many domestic esl students enter degree programs without undergoing standardized english proficiency assessments, unlike their international counterparts, who must provide certifications such as ielts or toefl as proof of their language abilities (gajewski, 2021). this gap in assessment often leaves domestic esl students struggling with academic language comprehension, which negatively affects their coursework performance and limits their ability to engage in professional training programs. research has consistently shown that esl students tend to underperform in academic settings compared to native english-speaking peers, particularly in areas requiring advanced literacy skills such as writing, critical analysis, and verbal communication (moore & waters, 2020). moreover, esl students often experience language anxiety, which refers to feelings of stress and nervousness when communicating in a non-native language. this anxiety can manifest in classroom discussions, presentations, and writing assignments, leading to lower confidence and reluctance to participate in academic activities. studies have also linked higher levels of insomnia among esl students to their struggles with language proficiency, as the stress associated with mastering a second language can contribute to sleep disturbances and mental exhaustion (shen & gellis, 2021). the cumulative effects of linguistic barriers, academic struggles, and psychological stressors highlight the pressing need for comprehensive support systems that enhance esl students’ english language learning experience. in addition to individual struggles, institutional challenges also play a role in shaping esl students’ language development. many universities lack customized esl support programs, leaving students to navigate complex linguistic landscapes on their own. teaching methodologies in esl classrooms also vary significantly, with some relying on outdated rote memorization techniques rather than incorporating modern, interactive, and technology-based approaches (alobaid, 2021). research suggests that integrating multimedia learning tools such as youtube captions, digital simulations, and interactive language platforms can significantly improve esl students’ writing accuracy and overall proficiency over time. however, these tools remain underutilized in many traditional esl learning environments. the broader global education movement also recognizes the importance of adapting esl curricula to meet the challenges of today’s vuca (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world (yaccob et al., 2023). this perspective underscores the need for dynamic, problem-based, and collaborative learning environments that not only teach language skills but also prepare students for realworld communication demands. given these considerations, it is evident that addressing esl students’ linguistic challenges requires a multifaceted approach, encompassing technological innovations, social support mechanisms, and institutional policy changes. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 138 published by scholink inc. recognizing the challenges faced by esl students, this study aims to examine their english learning experiences by analyzing linguistic, academic, and psychological difficulties encountered in university settings. a key focus is identifying effective strategies to improve esl students’ language proficiency and academic success, particularly through technology-driven solutions, linguistic modifications, and institutional support. by exploring these issues, the study will highlight both the obstacles esl students face and the best practices that educators and institutions can adopt to enhance language acquisition. special attention will be given to the integration of technology, including multimedia learning tools, linguistic modification strategies, and social support networks, to facilitate effective esl learning and academic engagement. to achieve these objectives, the study seeks to answer several critical research questions. first, it examines the main challenges esl students face in learning english, both academically and psychologically, as they navigate higher education. second, it investigates how english proficiency directly influences their academic performance and future career prospects. third, the study explores the most effective strategies and technological innovations that can support esl students in improving their language skills and overall educational experience. by addressing these research questions, this study aims to provide educators, policymakers, and researchers with actionable insights into how esl education can be improved. the findings will help ensure that students overcome language barriers, integrate successfully into academic communities, and achieve their full potential in higher education and beyond. 2. the current state of esl students’ english learning 2.1 english proficiency admission criteria and academic performance one of the primary challenges faced by english as a second language (esl) students in higher education is the lack of standardized english proficiency assessments upon university admission. unlike international students, who are typically required to provide certifications such as ielts or toefl, many domestic esl students gain admission without formal proof of their english proficiency. this issue is particularly concerning because language barriers may not be identified upon entry, placing esl students at a significant disadvantage in their academic journey (gajewski, 2021). a study conducted in undergraduate nursing programs found that domestic esl students, despite having attended english-speaking institutions, still faced academic struggles due to incomplete second-language acquisition. the research revealed that these students underperformed in several academic variables when compared to native english-speaking students, demonstrating the ongoing challenges of language proficiency, even in immersive english-speaking environments. this issue is particularly evident in professional training programs such as nursing, engineering, and business, where effective communication is critical for both academic success and future career performance. research indicates that esl nursing students consistently score lower on multiple-choice exams due to difficulties in reading comprehension and understanding complex medical terminology (moore & waters, 2020). however, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 139 published by scholink inc. these language barriers extend far beyond exams, directly impacting clinical performance, patient communication, and teamwork in hospital settings all of which are essential skills for professional practice. without strong language proficiency, esl nursing students may struggle to interpret medical instructions accurately, interact effectively with patients and colleagues, and respond confidently in highpressure clinical environments. further studies show that esl nursing students require significantly more time to complete exam questions than their native-speaking counterparts, reflecting the extra cognitive effort needed to process complex academic language. this highlights the urgent need for linguistic modifications in assessments to ensure that exams provide a fair and accurate evaluation of students’ subject knowledge, rather than disadvantaging them due to language barriers. in addition to nursing programs, esl students in technical fields such as stem and business disciplines face similar struggles with professional terminology and industry-specific communication. a study on esl students in stem fields found that those with lower english proficiency were significantly less likely to complete their degree programs, primarily due to challenges in understanding technical concepts, writing research papers, and actively participating in academic discussions (lacosse et al., 2020). these findings emphasize that language proficiency is not just an academic concern but a crucial determinant of esl students’ retention rates and long-term success in higher education. addressing these language challenges through targeted support programs, modified assessments, and discipline-specific language training is essential to ensuring equal academic and professional opportunities for esl learners. the need for early assessment and targeted support programs. the gap in academic performance between esl students and native english speakers underscores the urgent need for early assessment, targeted language support programs, and academic assistance. universities should consider implementing mandatory english proficiency screenings for all students upon admission, rather than assuming that previous education in an english-speaking environment is sufficient. by identifying language deficiencies early, institutions can provide appropriate linguistic support before students face academic difficulties. to effectively address the challenges faced by esl students, customized esl support programs should be developed to meet the specific linguistic needs of students across various disciplines. these programs should include preparatory courses, academic workshops, and tailored english training, ensuring that students develop the language skills necessary for both academic success and professional growth. a well-structured approach to esl support should incorporate targeted interventions designed to ease students’ transition into university life and equip them with essential communication skills. one of the most effective interventions is bridge programs, which are pre-university courses designed to improve academic english proficiency before students begin their degree programs. these programs help esl students develop foundational skills in reading, writing, and verbal communication, allowing them to better adapt to the demands of higher education. additionally, targeted academic writing workshops should be implemented to enhance students’ ability to write research papers, essays, and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 140 published by scholink inc. reports in english. these workshops should emphasize formal writing structures, citation techniques, and critical analysis skills, which are critical for academic success. for students in specialized fields, industry-specific english courses can be highly beneficial. tailored english training for students in nursing, engineering, stem, and business disciplines ensures that they can communicate effectively in professional and technical environments, improving their academic performance and future career prospects. another essential intervention is linguistic modifications in assessments, which involve simplifying exam questions, providing additional context, and offering clearer instructions to help esl students better understand and accurately respond to assessments. by integrating these strategies, universities can bridge the academic performance gap between esl and native-speaking students, improve student retention rates, and enhance career readiness for esl learners. these interventions not only support students in achieving academic success but also equip them with the language proficiency required for professional development in an increasingly globalized workforce. the diagram below illustrates how english proficiency levels impact academic success, dropout rates, and performance in specialized fields such as nursing, stem, and business studies. figure 1. dropout rates of esl students across different fields the bar chart above illustrates the dropout rates of esl students across different academic disciplines due to language proficiency challenges. the highest dropout rate is seen in nursing (45%), followed by stem fields (38%), business studies (30%), and humanities (22%). these figures highlight the significant academic struggles esl students face, particularly in fields requiring specialized terminology and high levels of communication. the findings of this study highlight that nursing and stem students face the greatest risks due to the high demands for precise technical and professional communication in these fields. the complexity of medical terminology, engineering concepts, and scientific language presents significant challenges for esl students, often leading to lower academic performance and higher dropout rates. in contrast, business and humanities students also experience language-related difficulties, but their disciplines www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 141 published by scholink inc. generally allow for greater linguistic flexibility, making the transition to english-based academic work somewhat more manageable. however, even in these fields, esl students may struggle with critical thinking, argumentation, and formal writing required for coursework. to address these issues, early intervention programs, targeted language training, and adapted assessment methods are essential for enhancing esl students’ academic performance and retention. universities should implement mandatory english proficiency assessments upon admission, offer customized esl support programs, and integrate linguistic modifications in exams and coursework to accommodate esl learners’ needs. by providing structured language assistance and fostering inclusive learning environments, institutions can help esl students overcome language barriers, build academic confidence, and successfully navigate their higher education journey. by implementing proactive english proficiency assessments and tailored academic support, universities can help esl students overcome language barriers, reduce dropout rates, and improve their long-term career prospects. 2.2 common language barriers in esl learning language barriers remain one of the most significant challenges for english as a second language (esl) students, affecting their ability to comprehend lectures, complete written assignments, and actively participate in academic discussions. these barriers not only hinder learning but also contribute to higher levels of academic stress and lower confidence in communication skills. a particularly critical issue faced by esl students is language anxiety, which refers to the fear of making mistakes while speaking or writing in english. this anxiety is especially prevalent in oral communication situations, such as class discussions, presentations, and social interactions. students experiencing high levels of language anxiety tend to participate less in classroom activities, have difficulty expressing their ideas clearly, and may even avoid social engagement altogether. the impact of this anxiety extends beyond academics, often leading to feelings of isolation and reduced self-esteem in an english-dominant learning environment. key areas of language difficulty for esl students: one of the most challenging aspects of esl learning is listening comprehension. many students struggle to follow fast-paced lectures, particularly when professors use idiomatic expressions, complex vocabulary, or different accents. research indicates that students with limited english proficiency require more cognitive effort to process spoken language, leading to fatigue and reduced information retention. additionally, many esl students hesitate to ask for clarification due to fear of embarrassment, which further contributes to misunderstandings in academic discussions. another major challenge is reading and note-taking, as academic texts often contain advanced vocabulary, technical jargon, and cultural references that may be unfamiliar to esl students. poor reading comprehension forces students to spend significantly longer hours studying, often resulting in increased frustration and slower academic progress. additionally, taking effective notes from dense, informationwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 142 published by scholink inc. heavy lectures presents further difficulties, as esl students may struggle to identify key concepts in realtime. academic writing is another area where esl students often encounter difficulties, particularly when trying to structure essays, develop strong arguments, and cite sources correctly. writing in formal academic english is one of the most complex skills to master, and many esl students require additional support in refining their writing style. studies have highlighted that esl students often struggle with organizing ideas coherently and using appropriate academic language, which can negatively affect their performance in written assignments and research projects. speaking and participation also pose significant challenges for esl students, as fear of mispronunciation and grammatical errors makes many reluctant to engage in class discussions and group activities. public speaking assignments, such as presentations and debates, can be particularly stressful, leading some students to avoid these activities altogether. esl learners often speak less confidently, which can have long-term consequences on their academic performance and professional networking opportunities. the impact of language barriers on esl students. a major concern is that many esl students hesitate to ask for help, either due to cultural factors, fear of embarrassment, or lack of awareness about available academic support services. this reluctance results in increased isolation, frustration, and higher dropout rates. research indicates that students who do not seek academic support are more likely to struggle in coursework and experience lower retention rates, emphasizing the importance of proactive intervention strategies. moreover, language barriers often lead to mental health challenges, including higher levels of stress, anxiety, and insomnia. studies show that language-related stress contributes to academic burnout, with esl students reporting significantly higher rates of exhaustion compared to their native-speaking peers. the constant pressure to perform well in an unfamiliar language environment can lead to chronic fatigue, social withdrawal, and decreased motivation, ultimately affecting academic success and overall wellbeing. bridging the language gap: effective strategies. to address these challenges, universities should implement linguistic modification strategies and enhance language support services for esl students. one effective approach is providing simplified academic texts and lecture materials, especially for firstyear esl students. this can include glossaries and bilingual academic materials to help facilitate comprehension and ease the transition into english-based coursework. additional tutoring support and language mentoring programs can also play a crucial role in helping esl students refine their reading, writing, and speaking skills. one-on-one language coaching sessions, as well as peer mentoring programs that pair esl students with native english speakers, have proven to be effective in building language confidence and academic success. technology-driven solutions, such as interactive language learning tools, can significantly improve esl students’ academic outcomes. the integration of ai-powered writing assistants, youtube captions, and gamified language learning apps has been shown to enhance writing accuracy and comprehension over www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 143 published by scholink inc. time. additionally, speech recognition software and pronunciation training applications can assist esl students in improving their spoken english skills and increasing their confidence in academic discussions. creating safe and inclusive learning environments is another crucial strategy for encouraging classroom participation. professors should foster supportive classroom settings where esl students feel comfortable expressing themselves without fear of judgment. incorporating small-group discussions, interactive activities, and structured speaking exercises can help students build confidence in their spoken english and academic communication skills. finally, mental health and academic counseling services should be made readily available to esl students. universities should provide stress management workshops tailored for esl students, focusing on coping mechanisms for language anxiety and cultural adjustment challenges. counseling services designed to address language-related stress can also offer esl students the necessary psychological support to navigate the academic challenges of studying in a second language. by implementing these targeted interventions and academic support mechanisms, institutions can effectively bridge the language gap for esl students, helping them overcome linguistic challenges, reduce academic stress, and achieve long-term success in higher education. figure 2. common language barriers affecting esl student performance the pie chart above illustrates the common language barriers that impact esl students’ academic performance, with language anxiety being the most widespread issue, affecting 85% of students. this is followed by speaking and participation difficulties (80%), academic writing struggles (75%), listening comprehension challenges (70%), and reading and note-taking difficulties (65%). these findings emphasize the critical role of language proficiency in determining esl students’ success in higher education. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 144 published by scholink inc. among these challenges, speaking and writing emerge as the most difficult skills for esl students, often leading to reduced classroom engagement, lower academic performance, and diminished confidence. language anxiety significantly hinders participation, making students hesitant to speak in discussions, ask questions, or seek academic assistance, further widening the gap between esl learners and their native-speaking peers. additionally, comprehension challenges in listening and reading force esl students to spend longer hours studying, experience higher frustration levels, and struggle with retaining complex academic information. these difficulties highlight the urgent need for targeted esl support programs to provide students with linguistic, academic, and psychological assistance. to address these challenges, universities should implement linguistic modifications, integrate technology-driven learning tools, and expand mental health support services to create a more inclusive and supportive educational environment. by leveraging ai-powered writing tools, interactive language applications, and structured academic support, institutions can enhance esl students’ learning experiences, improve their language proficiency, and boost their confidence in academic settings. ultimately, a comprehensive approach that combines language intervention strategies with mental health support can empower esl students to overcome language barriers and achieve long-term academic success. 2.3 esl students and psychological challenges beyond academic struggles, mental health issues have become a growing concern among esl students. the process of adjusting to a new language, academic system, and cultural environment often leads to psychological stress, emotional distress, and social isolation. research indicates that esl students experience higher levels of anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders compared to their native englishspeaking peers. these mental health challenges can significantly impact academic performance, confidence, and overall well-being, making it difficult for esl students to thrive in a university setting. a notable study by shen & gellis (2021) found that esl students report significantly higher levels of insomnia than native english-speaking students, with language anxiety being a primary contributing factor. the inability to communicate fluently in english leads to self-consciousness and stress, making even routine academic tasks more challenging. lack of sleep and prolonged stress negatively impact cognitive functioning, concentration, and overall academic performance, further exacerbating academic struggles and mental exhaustion. the pressure to perform well in an unfamiliar linguistic environment amplifies stress, often leading to feelings of isolation, frustration, and a diminished sense of belonging. one of the most prevalent psychological challenges faced by esl students is social isolation. language barriers hinder their ability to form friendships, which contributes to loneliness, exclusion, and decreased participation in campus activities. many esl students hesitate to join extracurricular activities or engage in informal conversations due to fear of being judged for their english proficiency. limited social interactions further increase the risk of depression and anxiety, highlighting the importance of strong social networks and peer support systems to ensure esl students feel included and supported. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 145 published by scholink inc. another major psychological challenge faced by esl students is acculturation stress, which arises from adapting to a new educational, social, and cultural system. many students struggle with understanding cultural norms, leading to miscommunication, frustration, and a sense of alienation. some even experience identity conflicts, feeling disconnected from both their home and host cultures, resulting in low motivation and social withdrawal. the feeling of being caught between two cultural identities can negatively impact confidence, engagement, and long-term academic persistence. fear of public speaking is also a significant issue among esl students, who often avoid presentations, group discussions, and debates due to self-consciousness about their pronunciation, fluency, and grammar mistakes. research shows that public speaking anxiety is considerably higher among esl students, affecting their willingness to participate in academic discussions and limiting opportunities for networking and professional skill development. as a result, many esl students hesitate to contribute to class discussions, which lowers their confidence, reduces academic engagement, and ultimately affects their overall performance. furthermore, lower self-esteem and academic confidence are common among esl students as they struggle with language barriers in an academic environment that requires advanced literacy skills. many students experience imposter syndrome, believing they are less capable than their native-speaking peers, even when they possess strong academic abilities. the constant struggle with language proficiency leads to feelings of inferiority, self-doubt, and reluctance to seek academic or emotional support, which can further hinder academic progress and personal development. a landmark study by lacosse et al. (2020) examined the impact of social-belonging interventions on esl students in science, technology, engineering, and math (stem) programs. the study, which included over 12,000 stem students across 19 universities, revealed that esl students who participated in social-belonging activities demonstrated higher academic confidence and improved gpa scores. these interventions helped esl students develop a sense of belonging, which significantly improved their academic engagement and retention rates. the findings underscore the strong connection between psychological well-being and academic performance, emphasizing the importance of fostering an inclusive academic environment that encourages esl students to actively participate in academic and social life. strategies for addressing psychological challenges in esl students. to address these challenges, universities should implement mental health and social support programs specifically designed for esl students. peer mentoring programs have proven to be highly effective, where esl students are paired with fluent english-speaking peers for language practice, academic guidance, and social engagement. these programs not only help students develop confidence in english communication but also create a sense of belonging and support within the academic community. additionally, counseling services tailored to esl students should be readily available to help them manage language anxiety, cultural adjustment difficulties, and academic stress. universities should train counselors and academic advisors to understand the unique challenges faced by esl students, ensuring www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 146 published by scholink inc. that they receive the necessary psychological and academic support to navigate their educational journey successfully. another impactful intervention is the introduction of cross-cultural exchange programs, which encourage esl students to participate in language exchange activities, multicultural clubs, and international student organizations. these programs enhance students’ exposure to diverse cultures while providing a safe and supportive environment for improving language skills and developing social connections. hosting multicultural events and workshops can further foster a sense of community, ensuring that esl students do not feel isolated or marginalized. furthermore, universities should offer mindfulness and stress-reduction workshops to help esl students develop coping mechanisms for academic pressure and anxiety. meditation, yoga, and relaxation techniques have been shown to provide students with effective strategies for managing stress, improving mental clarity, and enhancing emotional well-being. additionally, providing online resources and mental health support networks can give esl students safe spaces to discuss their challenges, seek guidance, and access necessary resources for personal and academic success. the psychological challenges faced by esl students have a profound impact on their academic performance, social integration, and emotional well-being. universities must take proactive measures to create an inclusive environment where esl students feel supported and empowered. by implementing structured peer mentoring programs, culturally inclusive support services, and stress management initiatives, institutions can help reduce language anxiety, foster a sense of belonging, and improve academic outcomes for esl students. the following diagram illustrates the most common psychological challenges experienced by esl students and their impact on academic performance. figure 3. psychological challenges faced by esl students www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 147 published by scholink inc. the bar chart above illustrates the psychological challenges faced by esl students and their impact on academic performance. among these challenges, language anxiety is the most prevalent, affecting 85% of students, followed by fear of public speaking (80%), lower self-esteem (75%), social isolation (70%), and acculturation stress (65%). these findings highlight the significant emotional and mental health barriers that esl students encounter, which can negatively influence their academic engagement and overall well-being. language anxiety and fear of public speaking are among the most critical issues, significantly affecting esl students’ confidence and classroom participation. the fear of mispronouncing words, making grammatical mistakes, or struggling with fluency often leads students to avoid speaking in discussions, presentations, or group activities, which can result in lower academic performance and professional setbacks. additionally, social isolation and acculturation stress contribute to feelings of loneliness, depression, and difficulty in forming meaningful connections, further exacerbating mental health concerns and affecting students’ ability to integrate into academic and social environments. another key issue is lower self-esteem, which directly reduces students’ academic confidence and makes them less likely to ask for help, engage in collaborative learning, or take leadership roles in academic settings. this reluctance to participate not only limits learning opportunities but also affects long-term academic and professional growth. the combination of these psychological challenges underscores the urgent need for universities to implement targeted mental health initiatives, peer mentoring programs, and culturally inclusive activities to support esl students’ psychological well-being and academic success. by offering structured mental health support, social integration programs, and academic guidance, institutions can help esl students navigate these challenges, enhance their academic experience, and foster long-term success. proactive measures such as counseling services, peer-led support networks, and tailored esl intervention programs can significantly reduce stress levels, improve confidence, and create a more inclusive educational environment. with the right support systems in place, esl students can overcome psychological barriers, develop stronger academic skills, and achieve their full potential in higher education and beyond. 3. discussion the findings of this study highlight the significant challenges that english as a second language (esl) students encounter in higher education, particularly regarding academic performance, language barriers, and psychological well-being. these challenges not only affect students’ ability to succeed academically but also have long-term implications for their confidence, career opportunities, and overall integration into university life. this section synthesizes the key themes identified in the study and explores their broader implications for esl education and student success. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 148 published by scholink inc. 3.1 challenges in english proficiency and academic performance one of the most pressing issues identified in this study is the lack of standardized english proficiency assessments for domestic esl students upon university admission. unlike international students, who must demonstrate proficiency through standardized tests such as ielts or toefl, many domestic esl students enter academic programs without formal language evaluation. this places them at a disadvantage, as they may struggle with reading comprehension, academic writing, and verbal communication, leading to lower academic performance (gajewski, 2021). the gap between esl students and native speakers is particularly evident in professional fields, such as nursing and stem disciplines, where technical vocabulary and precise communication are crucial. research indicates that esl nursing students underperform on multiple-choice exams due to difficulties in understanding complex medical terminology and interpreting technical materials (moore & waters, 2020). similarly, esl students in stem fields face higher dropout rates and longer completion times due to challenges in comprehending technical content, writing research papers, and effectively engaging in academic discussions (lacosse et al., 2020). these findings emphasize the urgent need for early assessment programs, customized esl academic support, and targeted interventions to help students develop the necessary linguistic competence for academic success. 3.2 impact of language barriers on esl learning language barriers remain a persistent obstacle for esl students, hindering their ability to follow lectures, participate in discussions, and complete written assignments. this study found that language anxiety is a major factor influencing student performance, particularly in oral communication. many esl students experience fear of public speaking, hesitation in classroom participation, and avoidance of group activities, all of which lower confidence and reduce academic engagement (shen & gellis, 2021). in addition to verbal communication, academic writing presents significant challenges for esl students. many struggle with structuring formal essays, using correct citation formats, and engaging in critical analysis. research suggests that linguistic modifications, such as simplified exam questions and structured writing workshops, can enhance esl students’ academic outcomes (moore & waters, 2020). however, many universities lack comprehensive language support programs, leaving esl students to navigate these difficulties on their own. the role of information and communication technology (ict) in mitigating language barriers has gained increasing attention in recent research. studies indicate that digital learning tools, such as youtube captions, interactive language platforms, and ai-powered writing assistants, can help esl students improve their writing accuracy, comprehension, and vocabulary acquisition (alobaid, 2021). despite these technological advancements, many traditional esl programs have not yet fully integrated these tools, underscoring the need for modernized teaching approaches that incorporate digital solutions to support esl learning. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 149 published by scholink inc. 3.3 psychological and social challenges faced by esl students beyond academic struggles, esl students experience significant psychological challenges, including higher levels of anxiety, depression, and insomnia. research has shown that language anxiety is a leading cause of insomnia among esl students, with increased stress negatively affecting cognitive functioning and academic performance (shen & gellis, 2021). the pressure to excel in an unfamiliar language often results in social withdrawal, further exacerbating feelings of isolation and loneliness. acculturation stress is another major challenge faced by esl students. many struggle to adapt to new cultural norms, academic expectations, and social environments, leading to miscommunication, frustration, and a lack of belonging. some students also experience identity conflicts, feeling disconnected from both their home and host cultures, which can result in low motivation and disengagement from academic life. studies have demonstrated that social-belonging interventions significantly improve esl students’ confidence, retention rates, and sense of inclusion in university communities (lacosse et al., 2020). these findings emphasize the importance of fostering inclusive and welcoming environments that support esl students both academically and socially. 3.4 strategies for improving esl education the findings of this study suggest several key strategies to enhance esl students’ learning experiences and improve their academic success rates. implementing early english proficiency assessments. to ensure that esl students receive appropriate language support, universities should implement mandatory english proficiency screenings for all students upon admission. early assessment allows institutions to identify students in need of additional language training and provide targeted interventions before academic challenges arise. additionally, universities should offer bridge programs and intensive writing workshops to help students develop essential academic english skills before starting their degree programs. leveraging technology to support esl learning. advancements in multimedia learning tools, aipowered writing assistants, and digital language platforms have shown great potential in improving esl students’ language proficiency (alobaid, 2021). universities should invest in e-learning resources and incorporate ict-driven teaching approaches into their esl curricula. tools such as speech recognition software, online grammar checkers, and interactive vocabulary applications can help students develop confidence in both written and spoken english. expanding mental health and social support services. given the psychological challenges faced by esl students, universities should expand mental health support services, including peer mentoring programs, cultural exchange initiatives, and counseling services focused on language anxiety and acculturation stress. institutions should create inclusive classroom environments that encourage participation without fear of judgment, helping students overcome social and academic barriers. this study underscores the complex and multifaceted challenges that esl students face in higher education. while linguistic, academic, and psychological barriers remain significant obstacles, targeted www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 150 published by scholink inc. interventions, technology-driven solutions, and social support networks can greatly improve esl learning outcomes. to ensure long-term success, universities must adopt a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to esl education, integrating early assessments, innovative teaching methodologies, and culturally responsive support systems. future research should examine the long-term effects of social-belonging interventions on esl student retention and investigate the impact of ai-driven learning tools on language acquisition. by addressing these gaps, educators and policymakers can develop more effective strategies to support esl students, ensuring that they achieve academic success and professional growth in an increasingly globalized world. 4. conclusion this study has examined the linguistic, academic, and psychological challenges faced by english as a second language (esl) students in higher education. the findings underscore the critical role of english proficiency in academic success and highlight the disadvantages esl students experience due to the lack of standardized admission assessments. the gap in academic performance between esl and nativespeaking students, particularly in professional training programs such as nursing and stem fields, reveals the need for targeted language support, early intervention strategies, and modified assessment methods. language barriers continue to be a major obstacle for esl students, impacting their listening comprehension, reading, writing, and oral communication skills. language anxiety and fear of public speaking significantly contribute to lower academic engagement and reduced confidence. the integration of technological tools, such as multimedia learning resources and ai-powered writing assistants, has shown promising results in improving esl students’ writing accuracy and comprehension. however, many institutions have yet to fully incorporate these advancements into their esl curricula. beyond academic struggles, psychological challenges such as social isolation, acculturation stress, and insomnia further exacerbate the difficulties faced by esl students. research has demonstrated that social-belonging interventions and peer mentoring programs can enhance academic confidence and retention rates among esl students. institutions must prioritize mental health support, inclusive classroom environments, and culturally adaptive learning approaches to foster esl students’ success. to address these challenges, universities should adopt a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to esl education. this includes implementing mandatory english proficiency screenings, developing tailored esl support programs, and incorporating modern teaching methodologies. expanding mental health and social support services will also help esl students navigate linguistic and psychological barriers more effectively. future research should explore longitudinal studies on esl students’ academic performance and the impact of ai-driven language learning tools. by addressing these gaps, educators and policymakers can www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 151 published by scholink inc. develop more effective strategies to ensure esl students achieve academic success and long-term professional growth in an increasingly globalized world. references gajewski, e. m. (2021). english language proficiency admission requirements of domestic english as a second language students and performance in a nursing program. journal of professional nursing, 37(4), 215-223. moore, b., & waters, a. (2020). the effect of linguistic modification on english as a second language (esl) nursing student retention. international journal of nursing education scholarship, 17(1), 112. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijnes-2019-0116 shen, y., & gellis, l. a. (2021). insomnia severity and its correlates among english as a second language (esl) college students. journal of american college health, 71(7), 2286-2293. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1967360 alobaid, a. (2021). ict multimedia learning affordances: role and impact on esl learners’ writing accuracy development. heliyon, 7(7), e07517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07517 yaccob, n. s., yunus, m. m., & john, d. s. (2023). global education movement: english as a second language teachers’ perceptions of integrating volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity elements in lessons. frontiers in psychology, 14, 1007970. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1007970 lacosse, j., canning, e. a., bowman, n. a., murphy, m. c., & logel, c. (2020). a social-belonging intervention improves stem outcomes for students who speak english as a second language. science advances, 6(39), eabb6543. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb6543 andrade, m. s. (2019). a study of the effectiveness of esl programs in higher education institutions. journal of international students, 9(2), 354-375. bifuh-ambe, e. (2019). developing academic literacy for esl students: teaching strategies and classroom practices. journal of language and literacy education, 15(1), 1-18. cummins, j. (2021). language, power, and pedagogy: bilingual children in the crossfire. multilingual matters. liu, m., & jackson, j. (2020). an exploration of language anxiety among chinese esl students. modern language journal, 104(3), 482-500. horwitz, e. k. (2022). language anxiety and esl learners: a research update. tesol quarterly, 56(1), 5-27. kormos, j., & csizér, k. (2019). the role of individual differences in learning second language communication strategies. applied linguistics, 40(4), 583-606. swain, m., & lapkin, s. (2020). task-based learning and esl students’ oral proficiency. language learning, 70(2), 211-238. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 152 published by scholink inc. macintyre, p. d., & gardner, r. c. (2021). the effects of integrative motivation and anxiety on esl learning. studies in second language acquisition, 43(2), 145-168. ortega, l. (2019). understanding second language acquisition. routledge. krashen, s. (2021). the input hypothesis: issues and implications for esl teaching. language learning, 71(3), 321-343. nation, p. (2020). learning vocabulary in another language. cambridge university press. ellis, r. (2019). the study of second language acquisition. oxford university press. lightbown, p. m., & spada, n. (2020). how languages are learned. oxford university press. vanpatten, b. (2022). processing instruction and the role of input in second language acquisition. language learning, 72(1), 125-150. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009043571 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper self-assessment of consecutive interpreting by mti interpreting students yifei zhang1* & xiaodan liu2 1 school of foreign languages, china three gorges university, yichang, china 2 school of foreign languages, zhejaing ocean university, zhoushan, china * yifei zhang, school of foreign languages, china three gorges university, yichang, china received: september 8, 2021 accepted: october 1, 2021 online published: october 11, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n4p10 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n4p10 abstract assessing the quality of interpreting practice and conducting targeted training is the key to improving interpreting ability of mti student interpreters. by reviewing literature on interpreting assessment and self-assessment, the research has decided the parameters for self-assessment of consecutive interpreting practice, developed a self-assessment form and conducted self-assessment of mti interpreting students for fifteen weeks. research results show that students have developed awareness of autonomous quality monitoring and improved their overall interpreting ability. keywords mti interpreting, self-assessment parameters, self-assessment form, self-assessment practice 1. introduction it is clearly stipulated in china’s guiding educational program for master of translation and interpreting that mti interpreting teaching should stress interpreting practice and interpreting practice of no less than 400 tape-hours for students is required during their school years. this shows adequate interpreting practice is the prerequisite for the cultivation, improvement and automation of interpreting competence. however, assessing practice of such a big amount is rather tricky for teachers. on the one hand, there are not enough interpreting teachers since only two to four teachers are staffed for an interpreting class of around ten students. on the other hand, the staffed interpreting teachers still have tasks of teaching undergraduate students and doing research. but if students’ practice is not timely guided or evaluated, it is difficult for them to find out their problems and make progress in interpreting. although mti interpreting students are not required to pass the catti (china accreditation test for translators and interpreters) level 2, this exam is included in the mti quality monitoring system for 10 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 teaching management by china national committee for translation and interpreting education. the pass rates of students in catti are important indicators of the universities’ achievement in translation and interpreting education. the official pass rates of the catti in november 2019 shows pass rates of english simultaneous interpreting (one subject), english simultaneous interpreting, english consecutive interpreting level 2 (one subject) and english consecutive interpreting level 2 are 7.39%, 2.45%, 13.12% and 9.36% respectively. the official pass rates of catti in november 2020 are 3.36% for english simultaneous interpreting (one subject), 9.41% for english simultaneous interpreting, 8.63% for english consecutive interpreting level 2 (one subject) and 9.70% for english consecutive interpreting level 2 (catti center, 2021) (note 1). with the popularity of catti attendance among mti interpreting students, low pass rate not only shows the high difficulty and high demand of the exam, more importantly, it exposes the poor interpreting abilities of many mti students. if mti students, who take major responsibility for their own learning process, are trained to assess their own interpreting practice, understand interpreting competence and assessment parameters better, they will be able take up some assessment tasks formerly borne by interpreting teachers and select adequate training materials, thus the problems of insufficient teachers and untargeted training are to some extent solved. moreover, self-assessment enables students to see more clearly their problems and the right way forward. appropriate and targeted training will help students achieve their learning goals, which may lead to the reduction of the anxiety and pressure caused by high-intensity interpreting practice, so that students’ learning motivation can be maintained. 2. current researches on self-assessment of interpreting quality looking at the interpreting industry and related researches on interpreting quality, there are more researches on conference interpreting and simultaneous interpreting from the perspectives of researchers, customers and interpreting users, and the research on interpreters’ self-assessment has received less attention. however, self-assessment of quality is a process by which learners self-evaluate the language skills and knowledge, which can improve learners’ self-awareness and learning autonomy (bulter & lee, 2010). “in view of the particularity of the thinking process of interpreting, the differences in personal knowledge and cognition, self-assessment under the guidance of correct skill awareness is a very effective training promoter (cai, 2007)”. the research on self-assessment of interpreting quality is mainly divided into the self-assessment by interpreters and the self-assessment by interpreting students. the interpreter’s self-assessment is a reflective and summative assessment, and there are few relevant documents at home and abroad. a search on cnki (china national knowledge index) for studies on interpreting self-assessment in the past ten years reveals that lian luo from hunan university conducted an empirical study on the impact of self-assessment ability on interpreting quality in 2014. luo found that the self-assessment ability of mti interpreting students has advanced after eight weeks. moreover, their memory has improved significantly, and the quality of students’ interpreting has also developed (luo, 2014). the parameters in the research are actually 11 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 elements which constitute interpreting competence and interpreting errors are very broadly classified, students might find it hard to decide which category of error an error may fall into. huan li, through interviews and the experiment method, conducted a one-month self-assessment study on ten mti interpreting students. a comparison between the experiment group and the control group shows that four students in the experiment group have improved their interpreting competence and reduced the frequency of similar mistakes (li, 2015). however slight changes exist in the weight of parameters in the test before the experiment and that after the experiment, and the point deduction items under each parameter are also slightly different. in 2018, the china standards of english language ability (self-assessment scale of interpreting competence) was released, and it explicitly defines the corresponding interpreting competence of level 5 to level 9 (ministry of education of china & national language commission, 2018). in the same year, man luo from shanghai international studies university developed a self-assessment scale of requisite consecutive interpretation competence for interpreting students in china’s universities by using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, specifically questionnaires and interviews. for the advanced level, there are 24 descriptions in the two aspects of analytical listening and target language production. for the elementary level, there are 37 descriptions in pre-interpreting preparation, analytical listening, target language production, the entire operational process and post-interpreting reflection (luo, 2018). the china standards of english language ability (self-assessment scale of interpreting competence) and the aforementioned scale can help students know their level, but they still can’t know what deficiencies they have. sicheng cao from beijing foreign studies university proposed 21 self-assessment parameters for simultaneous interpreting based on the framework of content, target language delivery and communicative effects in the china standards of english language ability (interpreting scale) and bühler’s criteria for assessing interpreting quality. the study shows that subjects are able to evaluate simultaneous interpreting competence and interpreting quality in a systematic way (cao, 2019). however, the study is not diachronic, and it does not explore whether self-assessment is positively correlated with improvement of interpreting competence. therefore, the present study intends to conduct diachronic self-assessment of consecutive interpreting practice of mti interpreting students, with the teacher designing the assessment tool and serving as assessment guide and the students themselves playing as judges. the research aims to help students locate their own shortcomings and deficiencies, improve their self-assessment ability and consecutive interpreting competence so as to inspire them to continuous self-assessment of interpreting quality and finally improving their interpreting competence. 12 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 3. development of a self-assessment form for consecutive interpreting 3.1 assessment method assessment can be divided into summative and formative assessments. “the purposes and methods in different periods may differ, for there are a few factors that may exert influence such as the development of students’ ability and course focus (wang, 2017)”. the summative assessment aims at distinguishing good students from the rest, rating grades, and determining whether they are qualified or not. the formative assessment intends to help teachers catch up with the progress of students’ learning, obtain continuous teaching feedback, and then adjust teaching plans and improve teaching methods based on the feedback. scoring can be divided into holistic scoring and analytical scoring. the former scores the overall competence of students according to certain standards, and there are problems with the interpretation of the scores, and it is difficult to locate the specific problems of the students. the latter scores competence from different dimensions, which helps students discover their own shortcomings and orient themselves towards future improvement. assessment in interpreting teaching aims to understand the development of students’ interpreting skills, diagnose and discover specific problems in students’ interpreting training, provide feedback to students and teachers so as to promote interpreting training and teaching. therefore, formative assessment based on analytical scoring better suits the present research. assessment in interpreting teaching includes qualitative assessment, quantitative assessment and a combination of the two. chengshu yang holds the view that “reliability and validity of qualitative and quantitative assessment show complementary effects of mutual confirmation. the figures represented by quantifiable indicators tend to represent more negative assessments and therefore need to be corrected by qualitative indicators. the results assessed by the qualitative indicators tend to be lenient because not all the details are reflected, so the quantitative indicators can be used to supplement the overall judgment…quantitative assessment justifies itself as it makes full use of specific data” (yang, 2005). qualitative judgment requires many years’ experience in interpreting teaching and interpreting practice, which students are short of. the addition and subtraction of data and the conversion of weights are more operable and easy for students to master. and the results are straightforward and highly pertinent. therefore, the quantitative method supplemented by the qualitative method can be taken for the research. 3.2 assessment parameters xiaohong cai considers assessment of interpreting quality to be “a measurement of the interpreting activity…the components of interpreting quality are very complex, and they include not only the quality of output, transmission of the target language, but also the feedback of the on-site audience and the resulting communicative effect. furthermore, different purposes and methods of assessment will also change the proportion of each component (cai, 2007).” it is almost impossible and unscientific to obtain comprehensive and accurate assessment of interpreting quality. the assessment should not be made rigidly uniform, for there exist differences in communication context, communication setting, 13 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 communication mode and discourse structure in different interpreting tasks. therefore, the assessment parameters of interpreting teaching should not only reflect the characteristics and requirements of interpreting, but also be adjusted according to the specific scenarios of students’ interpreting practice, and be close to teaching and students’ practice. the interpreting practice of mti students is not real life interpreting, thus is with weak communicative attributes. moreover, mental, physical and professional qualities are not obvious in students’ interpreting practice. therefore, the researchers believe that the product of mti self-assessment is interpretation in teaching. what needs to be evaluated is students’ interpreting competence rather than interpreter’s competence, including language ability (bilingual ability and oral expression), knowledge (encyclopedic knowledge and professional knowledge) and interpreting skills (transformation skills and interpreting skills) (wang, 2007). the scale of typical characteristics of interpreting in the china standards of english language ability is closely related to the quality assessment of interpreting products in interpreting teaching. six level 3 parameters are set in the scale including accuracy, information completeness, fluency, appropriateness, logical coherence and communication effectiveness under three the level 2 parameters of expression, content and interaction. the present study is based on the results of relevant researches of interpreting assessment over the years, the components of interpreters’ competence, the aforementioned scale framework and the characteristics of consecutive interpreting. the following indicators are extracted under each level 3 parameter: accuracy includes sense accuracy (misinterpreting is regarded as inaccurate), grammar, terminology, numbers as well as clear pronunciation. information completeness means the absence of obvious omissions and absence of addition of information. fluency refers to smooth delivery (numbers of pauses over two seconds and fillers like “en” and “ah” will be counted), back interpreting and speed. appropriateness refers to register and style. communication effectiveness means the interpreting should be easy to understand for the audience and the clients. logic coherence requires coherence in meaning. to avoid mistakes or to make as few mistakes as possible while interpreting is the basic requirement for a qualified interpreter. hence, this study carried out self-assessment by counting the numbers of errors made during interpreting. in doing so, students didn’t need to analyze and mark the source language in detail, so the process was relatively simple and the assessment was easy to operate. after the draft of the self-assessment form was finished, out-of-campus experts and fellows in the university were invited to review the form and give suggestions for improvement. the final revised form is represented below. 14 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 table 1. self-assessment form of consecutive interpreting quality standard qualitative rectification number of errors (self-assessment) content accuracy sense accuracy equivalence is the standard. grammar terminology numbers approximate numbers are acceptable in case of complex numbers. clear pronunciation both british and american accents are acceptable. information completeness information omission information addition expression fluency fluent delivery (pauses over two seconds and fillers like “en” and “ah”.) holistic assessment back interpreting speed holistic assessment (too fast/moderate/too slow) appropriateness register holistic assessment （not consistent/basically consistent/consistent） style holistic assessment （not consistent/basically consistent/consistent） logic coherence meaning coherence holistic assessment (not coherent/basically coherent/coherent) 15 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 interaction communication effectiveness understandability holistic assessment (ununderstandable/basically understandable /easily understandable) how do you feel about the practice? 4. interpreting self-assessment 4.1 the implementation of interpreting self-assessment the self-assessment form was applied for the courses of e-c consecutive interpreting and c-e consecutive interpreting in china three gorges university and seven mti interpreting students participated in these courses from march 2020 to june 2020. for each course, there were two periods in every week, 32 periods for the whole semester. the courses lasted for 16 weeks. but students attended the courses only for 15 weeks, for the final examination was held in the last week. self-assessment was carried out every three weeks and five times of results were counted for each course. interpreting tests were conducted before and after the self-assessment. the test materials of ec interpreting and those of ce interpreting were basically the same in style, structure, speed and length. the student score was the average of the sum of the scores given by the authors. before the formal implementation of self-assessment, the training for students on assessment parameters, the weight of each parameter, qualitative rectification and other relevant assessment matters, supplemented by specific examples, were instructed in great detail. the teacher gave timely guidance to the students in the first self-assessment, and the students carried out the self-assessment independently. for the rest self-assessments, the teacher behaved as a helper to students when they were confronted with difficult problems. the courses were mainly instructed through the app tencent meeting because of the epidemic, and materials for self-assessment for the students were prepared by the teacher. there was one e-c and one c-e interpreting material each time. the students themselves played the materials and finish the self-assessment forms. although this mode was less intense than on-site interpreting and lacked the training of how to deal with emergencies, it was more like students’ independent after-class interpreting practice. after the self-assessment practice, students submitted their forms online, and the teacher would interview them on the scores. 4.2 the results and analysis of the self-assessment the study has found out that the students’ ability in e-c and c-e interpreting has been greatly improved after the self-assessment. students’ scores in e-c and c-e interpreting before and after the self-assessment are shown in the table below. 16 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 table 2. interpreting test scores given by teachers student number s1 s2 s3 s4 s5 s6 s7 before self-assessment ec:45 ce:50 ec:46 ce:49 ec:50 ce:50 ec:44 ce:45 ec:55 ce:50 ec:44 ce:48 ec:40 ce:44 after self-assessment ec:73 ce:72 ec:61 ce:65 ec:67 ce:70 ec:63 ce:66 ec:70 ce:68 ec:55 ce:62 ec:68 ce:63 because of the length restriction, the paper won’t go into details regarding each indicator of students’ self-assessment. generally: (1) the scores of students’ self-assessment and teachers’ assessment have been greatly raised. there is a sharp drop in the number of errors or problems for each indicator in the second assessment practice. conversations with students find that before the self-assessment, students are less aware of quality and focus more on the aggregate of materials they have interpreted. however, after the first self-assessment, students’ awareness of improving the quality awakens. and students’ understanding of quality standards has deepened and they begin to independently monitor their production, thus boosting their motivation in interpreting training.’ (2) there is significant reduction in the numbers of “back interpreting” and “grammatical errors”. in terms of the former one, because of the awareness of monitoring, once they notice their problems, they make remedies by adding information, explaining or activating other remedies. the seven students participating in this study have all passed tem-8 (test for english majors, band 8—the highest level) and are equipped with basic language skills. at the beginning of the study, the main grammatical errors in their interpretations often occur in tense, singular and plural forms, personal pronouns, etc. because the students have treated interpreting practice too casually. as the study progresses, the nervousness of test makes the students pay more attention to their language production and speed. according to the results of the self-assessment forms, grammatical errors have almost been eradicated. although some of the more complex grammatical errors might have not been found out by students, the research proves that students have the ability to correct simple grammatical errors through self-assessment and begin to be responsible for the quality of language production in the target language. (3) “fluency” has tended to be “moderate” since the third self-assessment. the part of “how do you feel about the interpreting practice” shows that students have recognized the characteristics of their own language. as long as students are trying to monitor their interpreting, problems like slow speed, mispronunciation, frequent use of fillers can be solved gradually. “information addition” mainly includes the addition of conjunctions, prepositions, articles and necessary polishing for the sake of complete sentences. interviews with students indicate that students are making great efforts not to affect the accuracy and completeness of the information. 17 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 (4) as for “register”, “style”, “meaning coherence” and “understandability”, students’ scores are basically “basically consistent”, “basically coherent” or “basically understandable”. the reason may be that students are not able to evaluate these parameters, leading to their assessment being higher or lower than real level. moreover, coherence and understandability are easily affected by accuracy and information completeness, which are difficult problems that students have yet to solve. (5) the numbers of “misinterpreting” and “information omission” are in the tendency to decline. although major sense errors are significantly reduced, small errors like the omission of examples in listing are still obviously seen. this is because firstly, analytical listening remains a prominent blocker, especially in e-c interpreting; secondly, individual skills such as note-taking and memory are not adequately internalized. in comprehensive training, an individual skill might take up too much processing capacity, thus affecting capacity allocation for other skills. 5. shortcomings of the research and suggestions for future researches self-assessment of interpreting quality in consecutive interpreting can help students improve their interpreting competence and identify their shortcomings and the right way forward. assessing the quality of interpreting in a scientific and comprehensive way is rather hard, therefore, the researchers adopt an assessment tool that is suitable only for the interpreting practice of mti students. in doing so, the psychological quality and communicative effectiveness of interpreters are not addressed in the assessment, but their impact on the quality of interpreting should not be ignored. moreover, data analysis of indicators under level 3 parameters is relatively simple, further studies can explore the calculation of data and data analysis. due to the special nature of interpreting courses, the number of students in this study is small and the sample size is also small. the results of this study need to be further tested on larger samples. acknowledgements this research has been supported by the 2020 postgraduate teaching reform project of china three gorges university (sdyj202026) and the university-level academic program of zhejiang ocean university (11075060317). reference bulter, y. g., & lee, j. (2010). the effect of self-assessment among young learners of english. language testing, 27(1), 5-31. catti center. (2021, march 21). official announcement: catti pass rates in 2020. retrieved april 22, 2021 from catti center (weichat official account). cai, x. h. (2007). interpretation and evaluation. beijing: china publishing group, china translation & publishing corporation. 18 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 4, 2021 cao, s. c. (2019). student self-assessment of simultaneous interpreting practice under the framework of interpreting competence scale (unpublished master’s thesis). beijing foreign studies university, beijing. li, h. (2015). study on self-assessment of consecutive interpreting quality—based on case analysis of mti (interpreting). journal of shangluo university, 29(3), 46-51. luo, l. (2014). an empirical study on the influences of self-assessment competence of interpreting on the quality of interpreting (unpublished master’s thesis). hunan university, changsha. luo, m. (2018). self-assessment scale of requisite consecutive interpretation competence for interpreting students in china’s universities (unpublished doctor’s thesis). shanghai international studies university, shanghai. ministry of education of china & national language commission. china standards of english ability. (2018 april 12). retrieved march 3, 2021 from http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/a19/s229/201804/t20180416_333315.html wang, b. h. (2007). assessment of “interpreting competence” and “interpreter’s competence”—a preliminary study on the objective assessment model of interpreting. foreign language world, 3, 48-49. wang, w. w. (2017). construction and application of interpreting scale——taking formative assessment in interpreting teaching as an example. foreign language world, 6, 5. yang, c. s. (2005). interpreting teaching studies: theory and practice. beijing: china translation & publishing group. note to pass catti level 2, ordinary exam attendees have to pass exams on two subjects——comprehensive ability and translation. mti students don’t need to attend the exam for comprehensive ability and they only have to attend the exam for translation. 19 published by scholink inc. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/a19/s229/201804/t20180416_333315.html original paper education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 88 original paper the impact of digital education on innovation performance of postgraduate students mengyuan su1 & yuhan shen2 1 school of business administration, zhejiang gongshang university, hangzhou, 310018, china 2 division of psychology and language sciences, university college london, london wc1n 1pf, uk received: january 17, 2025 accepted: february 6, 2025 online published: february 25, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p88 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p88 abstract [purpose/significance] with the deepening of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, the higher education has received more and more attention, especially in the context of current digital economy. according to the current development of the management, it is urgent to use the digital education, which is closely connected to digital technology. the study verified the contribution of higher education to the innovative performance of postgraduate students entering the workforce so as to provide a scientific reference for the high education in china. [method/process] we collected data 221 graduate postgraduate from zhejiang gongshang university in china, then used spssau to test our hypotheses, investigated the relationship among digital education, digital competency and innovation performance. [result/conclusion] the results showed that digital education has a significant positive impact on intelligence competence, intelligence competence has also a significant positive impact on innovation performance of postgraduate students just entering the workforce within five years. the conclusion of this article can be apply to both improve the effectiveness of graduate education and the employee innovation performance. keywords digital education, digital competency, innovation performance 1. introduction since 2018, the state has successively issued relevant policies and guidance recommendations to encourage the development of the digital economy, and also encourage enterprises to help industrial upgrading and transformation through digital technology. the report of the 19th national congress of the communist party of china pointed out that we will accelerate the building of a strong manufacturing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 89 published by scholink inc. country, accelerate the development of advanced manufacturing, promote the deep integration of the internet, big data, artificial intelligence and the real economy, and foster new growth points and new driving forces in mid-to-high-end consumption, innovation-led, green and low-carbon, sharing economy, modern supply chain, and human capital services. in the report of the party’s 20th national congress, it was proposed to “accelerate the construction of a network power and a digital china”, which pointed out the direction for the development of big data and put forward higher requirements. “competency” is a concept proposed by david mccleland. the competency model contains seven elements, namely, behavior-oriented achievement orientation, goal orientation, initiative, self-control, adaptability, interpersonal influence and psychological awareness. nowadays, digital technology has entered an era of rapid development, providing necessary conditions for chinese enterprises to improve production relations. with the disappearance of low-cost advantages, how to reshape the core competitiveness of chinese enterprises has become an important issue in the development of enterprises, and digital operation management talents play an important role in the digital economy. the competence that digital operation management personnel should have can actually be equivalent to digital competence. some people have built a competency model for digital operation and management talents, which is composed of digital thinking ability, professional knowledge ability, communication and coordination ability, responsibility and innovation ability (lu & feng, 2023). with the advent of the digital age, the importance of digital competence is increasingly recognized by the public. the cultivation of traditional linear thinking is no longer in line with the logic of the times. the cultivation of digital competency requires network thinking in the digital age. over the years, a variety of frameworks, models and literacies have been developed to guide teacher educators in their efforts to build digital capabilities in their students, that will support them to use new and emerging technologies in their future classrooms. generally, these focus on advancing students’ skills in using “educational” applications and digitally-sourced information, or understanding effective blends of pedagogical, content and technological knowledge seen as supporting the integration of digital resources into teaching, to enhance subject learning outcomes. integrating artificial intelligence (ai) topics into the k-12 school curriculum can develop children’s agency, understanding, creativity, and moral awareness in the age of ai (kahila et al., 2024). with the wide application of information technology, digital materials, media and equipment have become the necessary abilities and tools for teachers in modern education, and digital materials have become the mainstream teaching tools, creating a variety of creative teaching strategies. this teaching strategy or model aims to develop and cultivate students’ creativity through various effective ways and methods. (hu et al., 2016) used the quasi-experimental research method, where 104 students in two classes in a national university are selected for the experiment, their research results showed that the teaching method using digital technology has strongly promoted the creativity of students. with the advent of the digital age, the importance of digital competence is increasingly recognized by the public. digital competence was first proposed for educators and gradually extended to workers in all www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 90 published by scholink inc. industries (caena & redecker, 2019). the increasing adoption of digital technologies at the workplace demands lifelong learning for the employees by enhancing their digital competence (dc), impacting their basic psychological needs satisfaction (bpns). mungra, srivastava, sharma, banerji, and gollapudi (2024) assessed the effect of employees’ dc on flourishing through bpns factors among working professionals in service industries by proposing the bpns framework. in the context of digital power, the environment is constantly changing, scientific and technological innovation is changing rapidly, and the form and operation mode of organizations have been completely different from the past in many aspects. adhering to the past rules, systems, norms and procedures is likely to be extremely unfavorable to the development of organizations. as the executor of organizational innovation, employees’ “trying” and “optimizing” effective ways and rules in their daily work are important supports for organizations to adapt to uncertain environments (mertens et al., 2016). this kind of unconventional behavior out of positive intention improves the well-being of the organization or its stakeholders, and is also the ultimate goal of college graduate personnel training. the purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the digital education on the digital competency of graduate students, and then how to promote the innovative performance of graduate students after graduation, so as to explore the improvement of graduate talent training system. 2. research hypothesis since 2018, zhejiang gongshang university has fully emphasized the necessity of digital education and conducted digital education from the aspects of curriculum setting, educational philosophy, teaching reform direction guidance, etc. at the same time, for the majority of teachers, lectures on “artificial intelligence + financial development overview and trend” and “artificial intelligence interdisciplinary and teacher teaching innovation” have been held. teaching reform and innovation and other aspects of experience. in order to verify the effectiveness of digital education and its relationship with graduates’ innovation performance, this study constructs the following theoretical research model (see figure 1). figure 1. research model while graduate education aims to enhance students’ comprehensive abilities, digital education pays more attention to enhancing students’ practical experience and creative abilities, such as cross-functional teamwork, communication and coordination, and decision-making management. digital competence is a comprehensive competence with creation as the core, and digital education can promote the improvement of digital competence. therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed in this study: hypothesis 1: digital education promotes digital competency among graduate students. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 91 published by scholink inc. although there is no direct evidence and research conclusion that digital competence has a positive impact on innovation performance. however, previous studies have shown that: it capability theory and resource-based view, digital transformation, as a unique resource input, can help enterprises integrate organizational resources and form digital capabilities, thus improving enterprise innovation ability and overall performance (bharadwaj, 2000). digital transformation can promote the innovation performance of enterprises (wang, 2021). huang et al. (2021) proved that the current digitalization level of chinese enterprises is positively correlated with enterprise innovation performance, and the enterprises that have set up digital resource information sharing platform have more significant promoting effect. wang and du (2021) point out that digital technology has a significant positive impact on enterprise innovation performance, in which employee participation plays an intermediary role. when the enterprise network centrality is high, the positive relationship between digital technology and employee participation will be enhanced, and the indirect effect of digital technology on enterprise innovation performance through employee participation will also be enhanced. the conclusions of these studies can be deduced that digital competence can have a positive impact on employees’ innovation performance. employee’s internal factors are important factors affecting innovation performance. capability is the origin of all actions. in the context of digital power, most jobs, especially those with obvious innovation (the vast majority of graduate students surveyed in this study belong to this category), are inseparable from the application of digital technology. digital competency is a key feature that can distinguish employees with excellent innovation performance from those with poor innovation performance. therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed in this study: hypothesis 2: digital competency of graduate students has a positive impact on innovation performance. digital education pays more attention to the improvement of students’ practical experience and comprehensive ability, which promotes the improvement of students’ innovation ability and can bring about the improvement of innovation performance. however, it also promotes innovation performance partly through the improvement of digital competence. therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed in this study: hypothesis 3: digital competency mediates the impact of digital education on the innovation performance of graduate students. 3. empirical analysis 3.1 participant this questionnaire survey is conducted by using offline graduate student resources and online questionnaire distribution. the questionnaire was distributed online through the convenient, fast and efficient “questionnaire star”, and a total of 221 questionnaires were collected. spssau data analysis software was used to extract valid samples from the research data. the gender, working time, salary and other information of graduates are statistically described, as shown in table 1. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 92 published by scholink inc. table 1. sample basic information (n=221) variables types frequency proportion (%) gender male 88 39.8% female 133 60.1% age 25 below 11 4.80% 22-24 28 12.60% 25-26 37 14.70% 27-28 97 41.70% 28 above 18 26.20% tenure 1year below 16 7.10% 1-3year 157 70.20% 3-4year 30 13.80% 4year above 20 8.90% monthly salary 5000 below 3 1.5% 5000-8000yuan 13 5.9% 8000-12000yuan 71 32.1% 12000 above 134 60.5% marketing 55 24.7% finance 72 27.6% management 76 29.5% others 19 18.4% 5000-8000yuan 13 5.9% major 8000-12000yuan 71 32.1% 12000above 134 60.5% marketing 55 24.7% finance 72 27.6% management 76 29.5% others 19 18.4% as can be seen from the statistical information in the above table, in terms of gender, there are more women in the study sample, which is consistent with the reality. in recent years, there have been more women graduate students majoring in business at zhejiang gongshang university. in terms of salary, most graduate students earn more than 12,000 yuan a month. the liberal arts majors of zhejiang www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 93 published by scholink inc. gongshang university mainly focus on marketing, finance and human resources, and the salary of graduate students is also consistent with the reality. 3.2 measure the survey and measurement of digital education are carried out from the three levels of curriculum, teachers and educational philosophy. specific projects include: setting up big data analysis, artificial intelligence and other related courses; have the opportunity to take courses in other disciplines such as psychology, computer science, and product design; set up enterprise operation simulation training, erp, digital marketing, entrepreneurship management and other comprehensive practical training courses; the curriculum emphasizes practice and case studies; the teacher or tutor will make a long-term career plan according to the student’s own personality and interests; there are teachers with diverse backgrounds and front-line work experience in enterprises; invite business executives, industry mentors and other personnel to provide practical and employment guidance to students in the form of lectures and consultations; teachers use digital education platform, case studies, group discussions, business practice, field trips, project cooperation, discussion guidance and other diversified teaching forms, so that students can directly contact and solve real business problems; proactively visit enterprises; professional education adhere to “market-oriented”; the school emphasizes on various occasions that academic should have more practical experience and comprehensive ability; take interdisciplinary and comprehensive application ability as the training goal; the school advocates project-driven learning to exercise students’ ability of cross-functional teamwork, communication and coordination, and decisionmaking management. at present, it is a general consensus that innovation performance is divided into three dimensions, namely, the germination of innovative ideas, the promotion of innovative ideas and the realization of innovative ideas. based on these three dimensions, six item scales are set up for the measurement of innovation performance. this scale has been widely used by scholars for a long period of time, with universality and consensus. this scale is applicable to the measurement of innovation performance of employees (graduate students within five years of graduation). for the measurement of digital competency, refer to the six dimensions proposed by xu and liu (2022). among them, the digital public service capability is not consistent with the actual situation of business graduate graduates working in the enterprise and commercial background selected in this study, so it is deleted. it retains five dimensions: digital tool operation ability, digital information processing ability, digital communication and collaboration ability, digital security management ability, and digital learning and innovation ability. 3.3 descriptive statistics and correlation analysis the descriptive statistics and correlative analysis results of variables in this paper are shown in table 2. the average value of digital education is 4.43, indicating that a considerable part of graduate students in the sample have realized the dividends brought by such digital education, and they have also felt such discipline construction and reform. the average value of digital competency is 3.11, and the average www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 94 published by scholink inc. value of innovation performance is 3.38. at the same time, the mean value of variance inflation factor (vif) is 1.310, and the vif of each variable is far less than the critical value of 10, indicating that there is no serious multicollinearity in this paper, and regression analysis can be performed. table 2. descriptive statistics for variables variables n minimum maximum mean standard deviation median sex 271 1.00 2.00 1.70 0.45 2.00 age 271 1.00 5.00 3.62 1.12 4.00 working tenure 271 1.00 5.00 2.63 0.71 2.00 monthly salary 271 1.00 4.00 3.55 0.51 4.00 digital education 271 1.68 5.00 4.43 0.75 3.53 digital competency 271 1.65 4.33 3.11 0.52 3.00 innovation performance 271 1.82 4.93 3.38 0.71 3.41 in addition, the correlation analysis results show (see table 3) that the correlation value between the independent variable digital education and the dependent variable innovation performance is 0.312, and the significance is 0.01, indicating that there is a significant positive correlation between digital education and innovation performance. the correlation value between digital competency and innovation performance is 0.305, and the significance is 0.01 level, which indicates that there is a significant positive correlation between digital competency and innovation performance. the correlation coefficient between the independent variable digital education and the intermediate variable digital competency is 0.233. it shows that there is a significant positive correlation between digital education and digital competency, and also indicates that digital education initiatives do promote the improvement of digital competency of graduate students. table 3. correlation analysis results 1 2 3 digital education 1 digital competency 0.233** 1 innovation performance 0.312** 0.305** 1 * p<0.05 ** p<0.01 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 95 published by scholink inc. 4. conclusion based on competency theory and competency-behavior theory, this paper takes zhejiang gongshang university graduate students (within 5 years of graduation) as research samples to explore the relationship between digital education, digital competency and employee innovation performance, and draws the following conclusions. various initiatives in digital education have promoted the innovative performance of graduate students. various measures of digital education, including curriculum settings and teaching methods, have a direct effect on the innovative ability of graduate students. therefore, on the one hand, various measures of digital education can directly improve employees’ innovation performance; on the other hand, digital competency can indirectly promote employees’ innovation performance by enhancing graduates’ digital competency. digital competence can promote employees’ innovative performance. digital competence includes digital tool operation ability, digital information processing ability, digital communication and cooperation ability, digital security management ability, digital learning and innovation ability. in the context of digital china, digital transformation is a top priority for enterprises. once employees have digital competency, it means that their working ability has been greatly improved, and they can make full use of digital technology and carry out innovation, especially the digital learning innovation ability, which is directly related to innovation performance. 5. practical implications according to the research conclusions, the following practical implications are drawn. enterprises should attach importance to improving and cultivating employees’ digital competence. enterprises should pay attention to improving employees’ digital competence, fully improve the breadth and depth of digital technology use, and realize the improvement of employees’ innovation performance driven by digital technology. for enterprises that have already used digital technology, digital technology should be embedded into products, services and management practices to broaden the breadth of enterprise use of digital technology, strengthen the depth of digital technology application, further improve the digital competency of employees, and thus promote innovation performance. at the same time, enterprises should systematize and professionalize the information resources brought by digital technology, meet the needs of employees to obtain growth and development resources, create incentives and conditions for the improvement of employees’ digital competency, and then enable employees to take the initiative in their own jobs to improve innovation performance. for enterprises that have not yet used digital technology, they should change their thinking mode, consciously guide enterprises to learn to use digital technology, seize the opportunities brought by digital dividends, and use digital technology to stimulate and enhance digital competency, thus enhancing innovation performance. in addition, enterprises should exchange experience in the use of digital technology, absorb and utilize it in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 96 published by scholink inc. combination with their own development needs, so as to improve the innovative performance of employees and even promote the sustainable development of enterprises. postgraduate education should focus on digital education. in the future, the research should focus of digital education should mainly focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, digital transformation and other fields, and fully integrate the current digital transformation. in order to adapt to the business environment and the challenges of global competition in the digital age, graduate students, especially those majoring in liberal arts, should take “interdisciplinary comprehensive application ability” as the training goal, such as through the combination of management and technology disciplines, to improve students’ ability to use modern information technology and management theory to solve practical problems. in terms of teaching organization, the teaching forms should be diversified, build a digital education platform, make full use of video courses, e-books, contact question banks and interactive tools, allocate educational resources according to students’ learning progress and needs, and meet the learning needs of students at different levels. make full use of case discussion, business investigation, enterprise internship or practice, fully let students contact with the actual business environment, smooth the cooperation mechanism between universities and enterprises, provide guidance for students’ internship, graduation design, practical projects, etc., focus on students’ hands-on operation and practical problem solving ability training. education administration departments, industries, universities and other relevant parties should cooperate in education, jointly build a training system, broaden resources for the cultivation of business graduate talents, enrich students’ learning content and learning methods, and promote the improvement of graduate training quality. 6. limitation and future research there are some limitations in this research. this paper selects graduate students from zhejiang gongshang university as research samples. although differences between schools and majors are controlled, the reference significance for other universities and majors remains to be tested. samples from different schools can be studied in the future to enhance the universality of research conclusions. this paper only focuses on the impact of digital education on the innovation performance of graduates who have not graduated for a long time. in the future, we can further explore the impact of digital competency of senior employees on innovation performance, and focus on whether the graduation time weakens or enhances this influencing factor. this paper only focuses on the mechanism between digital competence and employee innovation performance, but does not consider how digital technology can use external resources to promote enterprise innovation performance. in the future, the role of cross-border search, external environment and other factors can be further expanded. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 97 published by scholink inc. acknowledgement this article was funded by general philosophy and society project of zhejiang province: research on the influence mechanism of compensation co-enrichment on innovation performance (no: 24ndjc136yb). references caena, f., & redecker, c. (2019). aligning teacher competence frameworks to 21st century challenges: the case for the european digital competence framework for educators (digcompedu). european journal of education, 54(3), 356-369. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12345 hu, r., wu, y. y., & shieh, c. j. (2016). effects of virtual reality integrated creative thinking instruction on students’ creative thinking abilities. eurasia journal of mathematics, science and technology education, 12(3), 477-486. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1226a huang, j. g., ji, x. x., & li, y. x. (2019). research on the influence of digitization level on enterprise innovation performance: empirical evidence from shanghai and shenzhen a-share listed companies. social sciences of jiangxi, 1(5), 61-72. kahila, j., vartiainen, h., tedre, m., arkko, e., lin, a., pope, n., … valtonen, t. (2024). pedagogical framework for cultivating children’s data agency and creative abilities in the age of ai. informatics in education, 23(2), 323-360. https://doi.org/10.15388/infedu.2024.15 lu, y. l., & feng, j. l. (2023). research on competency model construction of enterprise digital operation management talent from the perspective of dynamic competence. national circulation economy, 2023(19), 84-88. mertens, w., recker, j., kummer, t. f., kohlborn, t., & viaene, s. (2016). constructive deviance as a driver for performance in retail. journal of retailing and consumer services, 30, 193-203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.01.021 mungra, y., srivastava, r., sharma, a., banerji, d., & gollapudi, n. (2024). impact of digital competence on employees’ flourishing through basic psychological needs satisfaction. the journal of computer information systems, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2023.2176948 wang, c. (n.d.). research on the mechanism of digital transformation on enterprise innovation performance. contemporary economic management, 43(3), 344-42. wang, h. h., & du, m. (2021). digital technology and employee participation in enterprise innovation performance. research and development management, 3(1), 138-141. xu, x. r., & liu, d. l. (2022). construction and improvement of civil servants’ digital competence. journal of the communist party of china, 2022(10), 9-14. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12345 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.01.021 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 78 original paper an experimental study on societal factors affecting vot of english plosives lin xiaoyan1 1 school of foreign languages, nanjing university of posts and telecommunications, nanjing, jiangsu, china received: june 15, 2023 accepted: july 8, 2023 online published: july 25, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n3p78 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n3p78 abstract plosives are integral components of english consonants. in phonetics, english plosives are classified into voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ and /b, d, g/. vot (voice onset time) was defined as “the time interval between the burst that marks release of the stop closure and the onset of quasi-periodicity that reflects laryngeal vibration”. vot is a significant acoustic feature and analytic parameter of plosives. referring to labov’s experimental model of linguistic variation analysis, this study investigates the influences of societal factors have on the vot of english plosives. in this study, 15 english words with word-initial voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ and 15 word-initial voiced plosives /b, d, g/ were selected as reading material; meanwhile, 30 subjects were randomly recruited to read, and audio samples were collected. it is found that the two social factors (gender and regional dialect) selected in this experiment have influences in different degrees on the english plosive vot of the subjects. the specific results are as follows. for gender, no significant difference exists between males and females, but the mean vot of females is longer than that of males, which is basically consistent with previous research results. the underlying reasons of the gender vot differences inferred by this paper can be physiological and sociophonetical. for regional dialects, the vot of the subjects were primarily influenced by southwest mandarin and min dialect, in which the mean value of voiceless plosives was higher and the difference was greater for speakers of southwest mandarin, and the mean value of voiced plosives was higher and the difference was greater for speakers of min dialect. the results of this empirical study theoretically provide some reference for acoustic researches, and pedagogically, provide some implications for optimizations of english curriculums in university. keywords plosive, english plosive, vot (voice onset time), acoustic experiment, phonetics study, praat, gender, regional dialect www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 79 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction the thesis undertakes an experimental study on societal factors affecting vot of english plosives. as a brief introduction to the thesis, this chapter consists of four parts: background of the study, significance of the study, objectives of the study and outline of the study. 1.1 background of the study language is first perceived through its sounds. from the structuralism viewpoints, language consists of three parts: speech sound, grammar and vocabulary, of which speech sound is the material shell of language; thus the study of sounds is of great significance in linguistics, especially in phonetics and phonology. in phonetics, speech sounds, all the sounds produced by humans through their speech organs, are defined as the phonic medium of language and taken as the research objects. in the ipa chart, the sound segments are grouped into consonants and vowels. crystal (1997) described that consonants are produced “by a closure in the vocal tract or by a narrowing which is so marked that air cannot escape without an audible friction.” the plosive, one sort of consonant, is formed when the vocal tract is completely closed, occupying an important position in all kinds of consonants because it is the only consonant that all languages have; however, there are great distinctions in the classifications and phonological characteristics of plosives in different languages, and hence effective acoustic parameters are needed to classify plosives. lisker and abramson (1964) conducted a cross-language investigation of plosives in 11 languages and defined voice onset time (vot for short) as “the temporal interval from the release burst of the plosives to the onset of the first formant frequency that reflects glottal vibration.” in their study, all plosives are classified into three groups: voiceless aspirated plosives, voiceless unaspirated plosives and voiced plosives. since then, vot has been widely used to differentiate plosive categories across languages, and it has come to be regarded as one of the best acoustic cues for discriminating general plosive categories, especially in word-initial position. for english, voicing, rather than aspiration, is considered as the distinctive features of english plosives which phonologically consist of voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ and voiced plosives /b, d, g/. it is undoubtedly that the concept and measurement benchmark of vot foster the development of experimental phonetics especially pronunciation test thereinto. at present, researchers at home and abroad have been committed to the development and application of speech analysis software so as to visualize the implicit characteristics of speech. among those tools, praat is more than widely employed in the analysis, annotation, processing and synthesis of digital speech signals due to its practicability and maneuverability. from the traditional perspective of structuralism, language is a homogeneous and orderly internal system on which external factors have few affects. on the contrary, william labov, an american linguist who has taken the lead in sociolinguistics, believes that language is a heterogeneous system that will produce variation under the influence of societal factors. he drew his conclusions from his four famous studies: the martha’s vineyard survey, the new york survey, the black-english dialect study and the philadelphia survey. according to labov, language and society are two independent entities; the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 80 published by scholink inc. responsibilities for sociolinguists are to connect linguistic facts (phonology, lexicology, syntax...) with social facts (social class, gender, age, occupation…) and to probe their correlations. having realized the significance of speech sound research, some linguists have done some relevant studies. in the aspect of plosive research, for instance, zheng xianri and li yinghao (2007) conducted a study on the comparison of vot between english and chinese and the acquisition of english plosives by han students; zhang jinyu (2012) conducted an acoustic analysis of vot of french plosives among chinese students who had acquired french and found the influence of “negative transfer”. however, the implications some societal factors can have to speech sounds have not received its deserved attention. hereby, this paper presents a hypothesis that there are some connections between vot of english plosives and social factors, which will be statistically demonstrated in the following chapters. 1.2 significance of the study this research is an empirical acoustic study on the basis of interrelated english phonetic theories and presented plosive research results, which fundamentally employs theories and methodologies of sociolinguistics and phonetic analytical technique of parrt. and the significance of this study will be stated from the theoretical and practical perspectives as follows. firstly, the theoretical values. this survey is based on the vot theoretical model proposed by lisker and abramson, which can promote the further study of phonetics in vot. in addition, still insufficient studies on english plosive vot at home and abroad have been shown, and hence this research can help bridge this gap. moreover, there are few studies combining experimental phonetics and sociolinguistics although which both belong to field of linguistics but thoroughly two different branches and research directions. this survey explores the societal factors influencing english plosive vot, reflecting the innovation of linguistic research and enriching the theoretical vacancy of phonological sociality. secondly, the practical significance. this acoustic empirical research conducted with sound segmenting software is based on manipulation, which to some extent reflects scientific spirit of experimental verification. then, social investigation and the quantitative research method of sociolinguistics is included in the experimental process of this project, which is conducive to exploring the effects of multiple social factors on vot of english plosives in different degrees. what is more, based on the overall acquisition situation, the study investigates and analyzes the influences of different social factors, helping put forward correlative suggestions, for example, improving pedagogical methods and teaching techniques to enhance the english acquisition levels of chinese college students. 1.3 objective of the study in a macroscopic sense, as is mentioned above, there are insufficient researches exploring the functions societal factors have on speech sounds, especially on english plosives. therefore, an experiment is required to be designed to investigate the degrees of functioning of different social factors on english plosives; thereinto, vot will be employed as an essential acoustic parameter to accomplish accuracy and objectiveness of measurement. ultimately, the production of plosive by english learners in china and the analysis results will be exhibited in the presented paper. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 81 published by scholink inc. in a microscopic sense, firstly, consonant, which is secondary to vowel but bearing more than important values in acoustic study, is lack of empirical research. to explore this sound category further, the study aims to extract and compare the acoustic features of one sort of english consonant—plosive of chinese people under the effects of different social factors. moreover, as aforementioned, sociolinguistics connects the linguistic facts and societal facts; but the noteworthy thing is that the specific societal facts which can actually function on linguistic facts and their corresponding functional ways, which are the main questions this study aims to answer. 1.4 outline of the study the thesis consists of five chapters to have a comprehensive analysis of the societal factors influencing vot of english plosives on the basis of phonetics experiment data. and the first chapter, the presented one, serves a brief introduction to the whole thesis. chapter 2 is basically a literature review on basic concepts, theoretical framework, empirical research and summary. to put it on detail, it includes the definition and classification of plosives, the introduction to english plosives, the illustration of voice onset time (vot) and labov’s theories. results of existing researches will be exhibited as well. chapter 3 describes the methodology of this research. thereinto, research questions, quantitative research method and experimental designs will be demonstrated. specifically, the designs include subjects, materials and procedures. in chapter 4, the experiment results will be focused. the data will be analyzed and further discussed on the basis of two sets of variations, namely two different societal factors: gender and regional dialect. the last chapter provides the conclusion of the entire research, where major findings will be presented. the limitations of this study and suggestions for the future researches will also be elaborated. 2. literature review this chapter will firstly introduce the basic concepts of the study including plosives and english plosives. then, the theoretical frameworks adapted in this study will be presented; to put it specifically, the introduction of voice onset time and language transfer theory will be included. lastly, the previous empirical studies concerning plosives, both at home and abroad, will be reviewed as well. 2.1 basic items 2.1.1 plosives plosives, a sort of consonants formed when the vocal tract is completely closed, play an essential role in phonetics. some phoneticians have pointed out that “plosives are the only kind of consonants that occur in all languages” (ladefoged & maddieson, 1996) and “plosives show the characteristics of consonants best”; hence, studies on plosives are of great significance. 2.1.1.1 definitions of plosives plentiful definitions of plosives have so far been given. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 82 published by scholink inc. sloat, taylor and hoard (1978) defined that “plosives are made by a complete blockage of the airstream at some points in the vocal tract. the blockage does not produce the sounds alone; rather it is the formation and the release of blockage which produces sounds”. liu zhengyi (1990) described that “plosives are formed by a complete closure of the air-passage and then the air abruptly issuing on the release of the closure”. wang guizhen (2002) indicated that the plosives are the sounds which were made by completely hindering the airflow at some points in the mouth, and releasing it into the sound that follows. gussenhoven and jacobs (2011) also stated that “plosives are formed by a complete closure in the speech tract, behind which the air from the lung is compressed until the closure is suddenly released and the air explodes outwards”. as all shown in the aforementioned definitions, when the obstruction is created by the speech organs in total or complete, the speech is produced with the obstruction audibly released, and the air passing out again. on this condition, the plosives are produced. 2.1.1.2 articulation of plosives roach (2000) indicated that the general articulation process as follows: first, one or two articulations are moved again each other so as to form a stricture that allows no air to escape from the vocal tract. then, after this stricture has been formed and air has been compressed behind it, it is released, that is, the air is allowed to escape. the corresponding articulation phases of plosives to the above process are indicated by zhou weijing (2018). these phases are closure, hold and release. then, the following figure is conducive to illustrating the whole articulation of plosives comprising three phases. figure 1. the articulation process of plosives (zhou weijing, 2018, p. 103) the first phase is the closure phase, during which the articulating organs move together to form the obstruction. in this stage, one articulator is moved against another, or two articulators are moved against each other to form a total stricture allowing no air to escape from the oral tract. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 83 published by scholink inc. the second phase is the hold phase. it is a stage during which the lung actions compress the air behind the closure. the compressed air may or may not be accompanied by voicing, that is, the vibration of the vocal folds. the third phase is the release phase, during which the organs forming the closure rapidly allow the compressed air to abruptly escape. in this stage, the air escape will produce noise loud enough to be heard, namely, an explosion, and hence the name “plosives” are obtained. 2.1.2 english plosives 2.1.2.1 classifications of english plosives english consonants can be classified in two ways: in terms of manner of articulation and in terms of place of articulation; whereas, although plosives are consonants, they can be categorized from more different perspectives, owing to their phonetic characteristics. in terms of manner of articulation, all english plosives belong to obstruents, meaning complete closure without airstream escaping from the mouth (cruttenden, 2001). but, with respect to place of articulation, english plosives can be divided into three parts: bilabial plosives, alveolar plosives and velar plosives (roach, 2000). thereinto, /p/ and /b/ are bilabial plosives, because the lips will be pressed together while articulating; /t/ and /d/ are alveolar plosives, on account that during the articulation the tongue blade will press against the alveolar ridge; /k/ and /g/ are velar plosives, and the back of the tongue will press against the position where the hard palate ends and the soft palate begins. in line with the force of articulation, english plosives comprise fortis and lenis (cruttenden, 2001). while english plosives are pronounced, /p, t, k/ tend to be articulated with more muscular energy than /b, d, g/, so as stronger breath effort; thus, /p, t, k/ are demonstrated as fortis and /b, d, g/ are lenis. according to the work of vocal folds, english plosives can be classified into voiceless plosives and voiced plosives (zhao, 2007). the former are /p, t, k/ because they accompanied no vibration from the larynx; /b, d, g/ belong to the latter, and the vocal cords vibrate while articulating these three plosives. table 1. the classification of english plosives plosives place of articulation work of vocal cords force of articulation /p/ bilabial voiceless fortis /b/ voiced lenis /t/ alveolar voiceless fortis /d/ voiced lenis /k/ velar voiceless fortis /g/ voiced lenis www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 84 published by scholink inc. 2.1.2.2 phonetic features of english plosives it is worth emphasizing that voicing and aspiration are two essential phonetic characteristics of plosives in phonetics and phonology, which can be shown in line with manners of articulation mentioned above. voicing refers to the articulatory process during which the vocal fold vibrates. cruttenden (2001) stated that “...at any place of articulation, a consonantal articulation may involve the vibration of the vocal colds, that is, may be voiceless or voiced. in this situation, voicing comes into being”. in english plosives, voicing is defined as the distinctive features, that is, in the same phonetic context; the concrete meaning of words can be distinguished by voicing. for instance, in minimal pairs like “big” and “pig”, “tap” and “gap”, the voiced plosive /b/ (/t/) and the voiceless plosives /p/ (/g/) form phonetic contrast, namely, they only differentiate in the voicing, but they somehow show the different meaning of two words. as for aspiration, it refers to the strong burst of airflow accompanying the release or the closure of some obstruents in the case of preaspiration. ladefoged and johnson (2015) defined aspiration as “aspiration is a period of voicelessness after the plosive articulation and before the start of the voicing for the vowel”. aspiration is not the distinctive features for english plosives, it is to say, the meanings of words will not change whether the plosives aspirate or not. raise “speak” as an example, aspiration of /p/ is absent when pronouncing because it is proceeded by s in a stressed syllable; whereas, whether the /p/ is aspirated or unaspirated, the meanings of the original word have no change, because the aspirated [ph] and the unaspirated [p] are simultaneously the allophones, namely, the phonetic variants of the phoneme /p/. english and chinese belong to two different phonological categories. as aforementioned, the distinctive feature of english is voicing rather than aspiration; nonetheless, in chinese, aspiration is the distinctive feature, not voicing. 2.2 theoretical framework 2.2.1 vot voice onset time (vot), is a temporal feature of plosive productions and one of the most commonly used acoustic cues in phonetic analysis. lisker and abramson (1964) tested four american english speakers in an acoustic experiment and published the article a cross-language study of voicing in initial stops: acoustical measurements to describe the characteristics of plosives using the concept of voice onset time (vot) which was defined as “the time interval between the burst that marks release of the stop closure and the onset of quasiwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 85 published by scholink inc. periodicity that reflects laryngeal vibration”. since then, a considerable number of studies of other languages have been undertaken, and vot has come to be considered as one of the most important methods for examination of plosive voicing time (especially in word-initial position). they also suggested that each plosive category falls into one of three ranges respectively: –125 to –75 ms (millisecond), 0 to +25 ms, and +60 to +100 ms. in accordance with lisker and abramson’s categorization, both english and mandarin fall into the group of two-category languages, occupying the same range along the vot continuum, that is, 0 to +25 ms for [p, t, k] and +60 to +100 ms for [ph, th, kh]. the vot value of plosives thus becomes the only scale being able to achieve plosive classifications according to voicing contrast. afterwards, cho and ladefoged (1999) classified more specifically the range for voiceless aspirated and unaspirated concentrating particularly on velar plosives across 18 languages. they distinguished four categories, which they dubbed unaspirated (around 30 ms), slightly aspirated (around 50 ms), aspirated (around 90 ms) and highly aspirated (over 90 ms). mackay’s research (1984) showed that the vots of plosives have positive and negative values. when voicing begins subsequent to the burst of airflow, vot is positive and called “voicing lead”; when voicing precedes the burst of air, vot is negative and called “voicing lag”. in cases when the two cooccur, vot is zero. keating (1987) further divided voicing lag plosives into “long lag” and “short lag” plosives, with the vot of the former greater than 35 ms and of the latter between 20-35 ms; thus, plosives then fall into three categories: voiced, voiceless unaspirated, and voiceless aspirated. she (1987) also developed theory of “polarization” indicating that in a language, the vot values of different plosives should be in different ranges, to achieve different plosive categories whose manifestation is the vot central values of different plosives should be separate from other else. figure 2. the categories of plosives (keating, 1987, p. 309) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 86 published by scholink inc. 2.2.2 language transfer theory the word “transfer” is originally a psychological term. odlindefined transfer as “a sort of influence, which comes from the similarity and the difference between l1 and l2”. the concept of language transfer was formally proposed in the comparative analysis theory that emerged in the 1940s. since the 1950s, various interpretations of the concept of language transfer were indicated by many famous scholars such as lado, stockwell, schachter and ellis. generally, they thought in the process of second language acquisition, learners’ habits of using their first language will have direct effects on the acquisition of second language, which plays a positive role in promotion or negative in interference; those which have positive influences on sla are called “positive transfer”, and the counterpart is called “negative transfer”. for instance, chinese and english are distinct from each other no matter in pronunciation, semantics or sentence patterns, and the english students whose first language is chinese will presumably encounter various difficulties, which is the negative transfer of mother language that has interference with their english learning. 2.3 empirical research 2.3.1 empirical research at home the acoustical researches of plosives started from abroad and gradually arose in the phonetics field in china. pertinent researches in china involves multilingual (not limited to english) experiment and multifield (such as language comparative study, language acquisition and language teaching). in terms of bilingual comparative experiment, zheng xianri and li yinghao (2007) conducted a study comparing of vots between english and chinese, and investigating the acquisition of english plosives by han students. it was found that there were presumably language transfers (transfer the chinese pronunciation patterns to that of english) during the generation of english voiced plosives which are dissimilar from chinese. wu gang (2012) also experimentally compared vots of english and chinese plosives, and shed light upon some enlightenment for phonetic instructions. for the acoustic experiments concerning other languages, zhang jinyu (2012) conducted acoustic analysis of plosive vot with chinese students who had learned french, indicating that there were some errors that the vots were excessively small and tend to be affected by language negative transfer of the unaspiration voiceless plosives in chinese. su jiajia (2012) conducted a research on the vot variations of korean plosives based on speech corpus, propounding suggestions for korean teaching in china. for the acoustic experiment of chinese english learners, a phonetic analysis was conducted by wang maolin (2009) to study the english word-middle plosives of chinese learners. dai zhengzheng (2012) studied the plosive vot value of advanced english learners in china. gao yujuan and zhang mengmeng (2018) carried out an experimental study on the acquisition of english plosives by native chinese speakers, verifying flege’s learning model theory that similar plosives are more difficult to acquire for advanced learners, and even “fossilization” appears. societal factors will be regarded as independent variables in this study to investigate the differences in plosive vot among english learners in china. whereas, it is found that the current studies on social www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 87 published by scholink inc. factors affecting vot in china primarily concentrate on regional dialect differences, a bulk of which discussing the language transfer. jiang yuyu (2015) took english learners using wu dialect and jianghuai mandarin as experimental subjects and conducted a comparative study on vot between vowels, revealing that the vots of voiceless plosives in stressed syllables produced by the subjects were distinct from that of native speakers. an acoustic study on the english plosive production of dalian students conducted by wei zhaozhao (2018), and found that differentiation from that of english native speakers existed as well, with significant pronunciation deviation mainly affected by dialectical negative transfers. zhao chenyang (2019) carried out a study on fricative vot generated by english learners in harbin for the similar purpose as the above. it is noteworthy that studies on other societal factors such as gender, age and university major, are insufficient. 2.3.2 empirical research abroad compared with domestic studies, foreign studies started earlier and are more abundant. different social factors are taken as variables in the acoustic study. take gender factor as an example. bradford l. swartz (1992) started to survey the gender differences in vot. in a videoen-doscopic study conducted by cooke, a tendency was found that for males to produce voicing onset sooner than females, indicating that the distance between the vocal processes of males is less than females. john ryalls, allison zipprer and penelope baldauff (1997) conducted an investigation of the effects of gender and race on vot, finding that the mean vot values of female were higher than that of male. whiteside and marshall (2001) published an article in phonetica discussing the influences of gender differences on vot. morris, mecrea and herring (2008) studied the vot difference between male and female on isolated syllables, and published their findings in journal of phonetics. robb, gilbert and lerman (2005) investigate the influences of gender and social environment on vot. eunjin (2011) studied the gender difference of pause vot in korean. bradford l. swartz (2014) investigated gender differences in vot, and so on. in terms of age factor, katrin stolten, niclas and kenneth (2014) studied the influences of ages and speaking rates on voiceless pauses of l2 learners. judit bona (2015) discussed the correlations between age and vot. there are also a few relevant studies concerning regional factors. for instance, el zen (2020) studied the influences of indonesians with different regional language backgrounds on the production of plosive vot in english. 2.4 summary in summary, the acoustical researches on vot plosives are plentiful. the domestic studies have involved multiple languages, and the effects of societal factors in the speech productions are further studied in the researches abroad. whereas, although many previous studies have examined the vot of plosives and some influential factors, few studies focus on the acoustic measurement of phonetic variations caused by some societal factors such as different dialects in china, majors in university, and so on. on the basis on www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 88 published by scholink inc. theoretical results at home and abroad, this study will combine the empirical research on english plosive vot with societal factors to enrich the existing researches theoretically and practically. 3. methodology in this chapter, research methodology will be addressed. specifically, experiment subjects, instruments and materials, procedure and analysis methods will be introduced. 3.1 subjects this research studies the correlative societal factors to the vot of english plosives with high openness, and hence no specific limitations on the conditions of subjects are required. after collection, examination and screening, 30 valid samples were remained; it is to say, in all the recruited participants, there are 30 speech samples which are eligible for acoustic experiments and analysis. these 30 subjects are all chinese efl (english as a foreign language) learners, whose times of english-learning fall in the range of 5 to 20 years, including 15 males and 15 females. generally speaking, they all come from diverse regions in mainland china, master distinct dialects and have different economic backgrounds, which is in accordance with the randomness of social survey. what should be underscored is that efl learners whose major is english in college or university are excluded in this research in order to minimize the influences of pertinent phonetic learning or training and certify the veracity of experiment. 3.2 instruments and material 3.2.1 analytic instruments in this study, acoustic methods are adopted to analyze the production of english plosives by chinese efl learners. the implicit features of speech sounds are difficult to be revealed by sole listening, but they can be represented through visualization technology. praat (named “doing phonetics by computer”), an effective acoustic analytic tool, is employed to extract and annotate the sample data displayed in the spectrogram and waveform of sounds. compared with other acoustic analytic software, praat is free of charge with a small space (less than 10m), strong universality, easy manipulation and timely update. it is mainly used by phoneticians for acoustic analysis, annotation, processing and synthesis of digital speech signals, and the generation of various speech graphs and text reports. additionally, spss (statistical product service solutions) will be employed to assist analysis processing, in which descriptive and correlational analyses were conducted to evaluate the influences of different societal factors on vot of english plosives. 3.2.2 reading material as for the reading material which is displayed in the following table, regarding the feasibility, monosyllable words with plosives in the initial position are chosen in this study. it needs to be emphasized that only word-initial plosives are studied in this survey due to some arguments contending that “vot focuses narrowly on the timing of voicing in word-initial plosives and does not take into account plosives in word-final and word-medial positions” (docherty, 1992). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 89 published by scholink inc. in the respect of the phonological structure, all of the elected words will start with a plosive, keeping a vowel as the nuclear and a consonant as the coda. the plosives are respectively the voiceless plosives /p/, /t/, /k/ and the voiced plosives /b/, /d/, /g/; and the pure vowels chosen are /i:/, /æ/, /ʌ/, /ɔ:/, /ɑ:/, representing the front, middle and back vowels in several, in accordance with the place of articulation of vowels, one perspective of vowel classification, in order to preclude the influence of vowel environment. additionally, definite article “a” is placed before all the words, so as to eliminate extra interference in identifications of plosives like rapid speech rate or noise; therefore, the “a” has no grammatical effect but phonetically separative function, namely, some of these phrases have no semantic meanings. table 2. reading material vp pp /p/ /t/ /k/ /b/ /d/ /g/ /i:/ a peak a team a key a beef a deed a geek /æ/ a pat a tap a cat a bat a dad a gap /ʌ/ a pub a tub a cup a bug a duck a gut /ɔ:/ a port a torch a call a ball a door a gorse /ɑ:/ a park a tar a car a bar a dark a garb vp: vowel phoneme pp: plosive phoneme 3.2.3 questionnaire since this is a survey of the influences of social factors, voice sampling is solely one of the integral steps, and it is critical that the social conditions of the testees should be investigated. in this experiment, the basic information of the subjects is collected by the means of questionnaire in which questions are all set to survey the societal backgrounds, and the questionnaire results will correspond with the recordings individually. on this basis, the effects of social factors on vot of plosives will be analyzed. the questions include: age, gender, place of residence, annual family income, and efl duration. 3.3 procedure this experiment generally encompasses the following three steps. first of all, after material selection, question setting and questionnaire design, the questionnaires are distributed, and the subjects are recruited to complete them. in the second place, after opening the questionnaire, the subjects first answered the questions in several, and then read the materials subsequently given and record. it should be noted that due to the limitation of insufficient conditions like displacement and equipment lack, professional recording software such as praat and cool edited cannot be adopted in the experiment, namely, the sampling will be accomplished by using the recording tools of the subjects’ mobile phone per se. before recording, the subjects were www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 90 published by scholink inc. required to keep an opportune distance (5-10 cm) from the microphone of the phone, averting air blasting and keeping the volume and speed moderate to ensure the sound quality and clarity of the recording for subsequent analysis. upon recording, the subjects upload the audio and submit it to complete a sample collection. afterwards, a certain number of collected samples are integrated. the off-specification samples are screened, and the qualified and analyzable ones are converted and imported into praat in turn. the spectrogram of the audio of each subjects are generated; then, the vot value is calculated and marked. the two social factors selected as dependent variables in this experiment are gender and regional dialect. lastly, on preliminary annotations, group the subjects and the samples in light of the above factors for further analysis. 3.4 data analysis methods generally, quantitative and qualitative analyses are adopted as research paradigms of this survey. the integral part of the former is the determination of independent variables (different societal factors) and dependent variables (selected plosives). qualitative analysis aimed at the comprehensive analysis of the research objects, combining methods of induction and deduction, to reveal the essence nexus of the two variables. as aforementioned, praat and spss are employed as analytic tools in this study. firstly, praat is chiefly used for spectrogram generations and data annotations. on account of the definition and classification of vot, the vot values corresponding to each voiceless plosives and voiced plosives are separately calculated and recorded. while pronouncing each unit of the reading material, the vocal cord vibration caused by the front vowel phoneme /ə/ will be followed by the word-initial plosives, and the process embodies in the spectrogram as the duration from the end of the formant to the beginning of the subsequent first spike. after observation, the vot values of voiceless and voiced plosives are individually recorded, marked and extracted. upon data recording, the results are grouped in accordance with the independent variables, namely, different societal factors (gender, region and financial background); then, the mean values of vot of each group will be calculated for respective contrast analysis; for instance, in the respect of the region factors, the subjects are grouped according to their resident regions and mastered dialects, and the inference of its effects will be made. at last, correlation analysis of the comparative results of each societal factor will be conducted using spss to complete the final evaluation of the degree of influences. 4. results and discussions this chapter is to present the experimental results of vot of english plosives of the 30 subjects and the analysis and discussion, to probe the influences the societal factors (gender and regional dialect) have on the english plosive vot. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 91 published by scholink inc. 4.1 results the measurements of vot of english plosives for the 30 subjects in this experiment are displayed in the following table. as mentioned above, it is the voicing contrast that distinguishes the lexical meanings of words in english, which determines the different measurement methods and criteria for voiceless plosives and voiced plosives; therefore, these two sorts of plosives will be gauged and shown separately. the unit is ms (millisecond). table 3. the results of vot of voiceless plosives (individual mean values) 110.7 75.3 108.2 83.4 107.1 106.2 95.7 93.9 99.7 79.9 82.5 83.3 119.8 92.5 70.9 94 92.5 54.9 87.6 119.7 104.4 102.3 99.8 99.9 84.7 108.4 125 136.9 81.1 82.8 table 4. the results of vot of voiced plosives (individual mean values) 29.3 16 17.3 15.6 14.6 15.6 18.6 13.5 13.3 10.5 19 16 15.9 17.1 16.9 15.7 18.3 17.1 20.6 21.1 18.3 15.7 20.5 15.9 14.3 20.6 15.1 17.6 13.5 14 two societal factors were extracted from the questionnaire questions: gender and regional dialect. and in this section, the influences of these two factors on the vot of english plosives of all the subjects will be shown. spss will be employed as the analytical tool in this study, in which the methods of analysis will be used mainly, encompasses independent sample t test and anova. 4.1.1 gender since gender is a factor with few variables, namely, biologically, there are merely two kinds of gender, male or female, independent sample t test is used for analysis. 4.1.1.1 voiceless plosives table 5. the results of vot of voiceless plosives variable name variable value sample size mean value standard deviation tvalue p value difference value of the mean value cohen’s d value mean value of english voiceless plosive male 15 93.94 14.505 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 92 published by scholink inc. vot female 15 98.267 19.986 total 30 96.103 17.298 -0.679 0.503 4.327 0.248 chart illustrations: the table above shows the results of independent sample t test, including the results of mean ± standard deviation, t-test results, significance p-value and cohen’s d value of effect size. each item should be estimated whether it is less than 0.05 or not. if it is significant, the null hypothesis is rejected, indicating that there factually is significant difference between the two groups of data (the difference can be analyzed according to mean ± standard deviation); otherwise, it indicates that no difference exists between the two groups. the p value of f test was 0.503>=0.05, so the statistical result was not significant, indicating that there was no significant difference in the mean vot of individual voiceless plosives between male and female. the cohen’s d value is 0.248, explaining a difference range (0.20, 0.50 and 0.80 correspond to small, medium and large critical points respectively). the mean values of vot of male and female of voiceless plosives are 93.94ms and 98.267ms. in terms of mean vot values and standard deviation, the vot of english voiceless plosives is longer in women than in men, and the divergence is greater in woman as well. 4.1.1.2 voiced plosives table 6. the results of vot of voiced plosives variable name variable value sample size mean value standard deviation t value p value difference value of the mean value cohen’s d value mean value of english voiced plosive vot male 15 16.613 4.113 female 15 17.22 2.601 total 30 16.917 3.395 -0.483 0.633 0.607 0.176 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 93 published by scholink inc. the p value of f test is 0.633>=0.05, indicating that no significant discrepancy exists between male and female in the average vot of individual voiced plosives. the cohen’s d value is 0.176, demonstrating a small difference. the mean values of vot of male and female of voiced plosives are 16.613ms and 17.22ms, respectively. on average, vot of female is slightly longer than vot of male; but in terms of standard deviation, the data distribution for men is more discrete, namely the difference is larger. combining the measurement results of vot of voiceless plosives and voiced plosives, the consequence that female has a longer vot of english plosives than male can be seen. 4.1.2 regional dialect to study regional dialect factors, that is, to investigate whether regional dialects have an impact on plosive productions and which kinds of dialects have a greater influence. in this experiment, the selection of subjects is disordered. on the basis on the questionnaire questions “household registration location” and “most commonly used dialect”, six dialect types that 30 subjects have mastered and have potential influences on their speech output are integrated. in accordance with the divisions for historical and geographical reasons, there are seven dialect regions in china: mandarin dialect or official dialect region, wu dialect region, gan dialect region, xiang dialect region, min dialect region, cantonese region and hakka dialect region. each dialect area is divided into several sub-dialect areas; for instance, mandarin dialects can be subdivided into northeast mandarin, jiaoliao mandarin, beijing mandarin, jilu mandarin, central plains mandarin, jianghuai mandarin, lanyin mandarin, and southwest mandarin. in the analysis, the codes of different sorts of dialects are as follows: min dialect is 1, jianghuai mandarin and wu dialect are 2, southwest mandarin is 3, lanyin mandarin is 4, zhongyuan mandarin is 5, and cantonese is 6. the codes are in line with the number of people, decreasing from 1 to 6. in this factor analysis, one-way anova was employed to compare the mean values and standard deviations of plosive vot to determine which regional dialects have relatively significant influences on plosive vot, and to analyze the correlated reasons for the effects. each item should be analyzed to check whether it is less than 0.05. 4.1.2.1 voiceless plosives table 7. the results of vot of voiceless plosives variable name variable value sample size mean value standard deviation f value p value 1.0 13 96.838 17.823 mean value of english voiceless 2.0 6 87.233 11.755 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 94 published by scholink inc. plosive vot 6.0 2 95.350 18.173 4.0 3 104.333 4.038 5.0 2 83.300 17.536 3.0 4 107.625 25.575 total 30 96.103 17.298 1.037 0.419 figure 3. the results of vot of voiceless plosives the p value of variance analysis is 0.419>0.05, indicating that the statistical result is not significant, that is, there is no significant difference in the mean vot of individual voiceless plosives in these six groups of different regional dialects. from the average, the mean values of vot of english voiceless plosives from groups 1 to group 6 are respectively 96.838ms, 87.233ms, 95.350ms, 104.333ms, 83.300ms, 107.625ms; the vot of group 3 is the longest, followed by group 4 and then the group 1. in terms of standard deviations, the value of group 3 is the largest, 25.575ms, it is to say, the dispersion degree is the highest and the difference is the largest within the groups, subsequent to which is the value of group 6 (18.173ms). the smallest standard deviation value is in 4, 4.038ms, indicating the smallest discrepancy. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 95 published by scholink inc. 4.1.2.2 voiced plosives figure 4. the results of vot of voiceless plosives table 8. the results of vot of voiced plosives variable name variable value sample size mean value standard deviation f value p value 1.0 13 18.269 4.013 mean value of english voiced 2.0 6 16.200 2.545 plosive vot 6.0 2 18.150 1.202 4.0 3 14.500 1.153 5.0 2 17.750 1.202 3.0 4 14.375 3.083 total 30 16.917 3.395 1.380 0.267 the p value of anova is 0.267>0.05, by the same token, insignificant result is shown, demonstrating that no significant difference in the average vot of individual voiced plosives in these regional dialect groups is detected. from the average, the mean vot values of voiced plosives of group 1 to group 6 are respectively 18.269ms, 16.200ms, 18.150ms, 14.500ms, 17.750ms and 14.375ms. the value of group 1 is the longest, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 96 published by scholink inc. group 6 comes the second, and then is group 5. the value of group 3 is the shortest. in terms of standard deviation, the value of group 1 is the largest, 4.013ms, that is, the dispersion degree is the highest; and the subsequent one is the value of group 3, which is 3.083ms. in general, in terms of english voiceless plosives, the mean vot value of group 3, the southwest mandarin, is the longest and the difference is the largest. in the aspect of voiced plosives, group 1 has the longest mean vot value and the major divergence; the values of group 2, however, perform equivalently in vot of voiceless plosives as well as voiced plosives, with small mean value and subtle difference. then, the following analysis will focus on the group 3 and the group 1 which have greater influences on english plosive productions. 4.2 discussions 4.2.1 gender in terms of english voiceless plosive vot, from the perspective of t test, the p value is 0.503ms, indicating that there lays small difference in the average vot of individual voiceless plosives between male and female. in the respect of mean values and standard deviations, the vot of voiceless plosives in females is longer than that in males, and the difference is larger. in terms of english voiced plosive vot, the p value is 0.633ms, indicating that the difference of vot between male and female in voiced plosives is simply small. on average, vot of female is slightly longer than vot of male; in the aspect of standard deviations; nevertheless, the data distribution for male is more discrete. the above data shows that the vot of no matter voiceless plosives or voiced plosives is longer in females than in males, which is consistent with some previous studies on the effects of gender on vot. for instance, swartz (1992) found that significantly longer vot values produced by female speakers for voiced or voiceless alveolar plosives than male speakers did on the same speech production task. although there lays a variety of gender-linked acoustic diversities in speech, a satisfactory explanation concerning the reasons why a temporal measure like vot is supposed to be different across genders has not been offered. more researches into these issues become warranted; meanwhile, some reasonable assumptions can be also made, which are as follows. physiologically, gender differences in respiratory function, laryngeal and supralaryngeal behavior for productions of speech have been documented. presumably, fundamental biological discrepancies are reflected by the gender differences figured out in vot production in the diverse speech subsystems. take female productions of prevocalic plosives as an example, it is associated with greater oral pressure compared to productions of male. additionally, a characteristic feature of female phonation noted by bless and abbs, serves as a posterior glottal opening or chink which occurs within the vocal fold closing duration and results in a leak of airstream into the supralaryngeal space. within the context of female vot productions, there are presumably more air escapes into the supralaryngeal space prior to vowel productions, leading in greater oral pressure for plosives compared to male addressers. the greater oral pressure results in longer intervals between plosive burst and voicing onset (michael, 2005). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 97 published by scholink inc. although biological differences can be the underlying consequences of gender differences in vot productions, there can be some sociophonetic factors that presumably contribute to vot differences as well. for instance, vot is correlated negatively with increases in speech rates or word durations; it is to say, slower speaking and word producing with a longer duration can result in longer vot values, especially for voiceless plosives. thereby, gender differences would also be conspicuous in vot productions if they exist in speaking rates. cheshire (2005) stated that females and males differ in their general pronunciation patterns, with females have the inclination to employ more carefully articulated speeches and adopt this speaking style, and thus, for the sex-related vot patterns, it is possible that speaking rate differences and word duration are the other responsible reasons in addition to biological discrepancies. 4.2.2 regional dialect the above data shows that in terms of regional factors, the p values of vot of voiceless and voiced plosives are 0.419 and 0.267, being both larger than 0.05, indicating that there is no significant difference among the dialect groups. nonetheless, what is noteworthy is that, in the process of comparative analysis, it can be found that the mean vot of plosives in southwest mandarin group and min dialect group are relatively longer, and the corresponding dispersion degrees, namely, the differences are greater; hence, the pronunciation characteristics of the aforementioned two dialects and the potential reasons for their correlated influences will be analyzed in the following part. it should be emphasized that china dialects are variants of standard chinese. chinese belongs to sinotibetan language family, and english is an indo-european language; thereby, their phonological systems are distinct. in terms of consonants, although lisker classifies both chinese and english as secondcategory languages according to the parameter vot, they factually have different distinguishing features. specifically, there is no voiced consonant in chinese, of which the word meanings are determined by aspiration or not, and [b], [d], [g] in chinese is estimated to be close to [p], [t], [k] in english. for english, the distinguishing feature is the voicing contrast, rather than aspiration contrast. studies have shown that the interference of chinese initials to english consonant productions is greater than that of finals to english vowel pronunciations. 4.2.2.1 southwest mandarin southwest mandarin is a branch of mandarin chinese, being mainly distributed in sichuan, chongqing, yunnan and guizhou areas, as well as most of hubei, northwestern hunan, northern guangxi and southern shaanxi, with some dialect islands in other regions. the definition of southwest mandarin given in the atlas of chinese language is “the chinese dialect used in southwest china and the surrounding areas thereof, with entering tone assigned to a tone value similar to the one used commonly in chengdu, wuhan, chongqing, changde, guiyang, kunming, guilin”. english has 28 consonant phonemes, and southwest mandarin has 28 to 34 consonants. although some initial consonants are equivalent to english consonants in written form, they are not thoroughly corresponding; and their pronunciation characteristics are also distinct (zhu, 2010). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 98 published by scholink inc. in terms of initials, one of the major characteristics of southwest mandarin is that there is no distinction between blade-alveolar and cacuminal, in some cases, cacuminal even can be regarded to be absent. /zh/, /ch/ and /sh/ can be all supplanted by /z/, /c/ and /s/. for example, “sichuan” is pronounced as “sicuan”; “zhi chi” is pronounced as “zi ci”; “li shi” is pronounced as “li si” (zheng, li, & qing, 2012, p. 92). in a precious interview conducted in dialect, the interviewees described themselves as rarely having tongue tip roll-up in daily communication, with a generally low tongue position and relaxed facial muscles. similar pronunciation is also shown in the initial /r/. in southwestern mandarin, the tongue is almost not roll-up during the pronunciation of /r/, which then sounds similar to /z/. in addition, in this sort of dialect, most /b/ and /p/ can be distinguishable, but there are a few exceptions; for instance, generally, “pubian” will be often pronounced as “pupian” (zhu, 2010). thereby, it can be inferred that this pronunciation habit of initials in southwest mandarin, namely, the inclination of turning voiceless consonants into voiced ones, has a potential influence on the pronunciation of voiceless plosives. the phenomenon is consistent with the results of this experiment which shows that the vot of english voiceless plosives in southwest mandarin is the longest, while that of voiced plosives is the shortest. 4.2.2.2 min dialect min dialect, also dubbed as min chinese, is primarily distributed in fujian, southern zhejiang, taiwan, guangdong, hainan and some regions overseas. li rong (1989) pointed out that the ancient total voiced consonants in fujian min dialect have gradually realized devocalization; nowadays, whereas, during the pronunciation of plosives and fricative, “aspiration is absent in more characters”, which contradicts the convention that many ancient total voiced consonants are aspirated in most fujian languages. li xiaofan and xiang mengbing (2009) also pointed out that “in ancient min dialect, the total voiced consonants have become devoicing, and now most of the plosives and affricates have no aspiration, with few have aspiration.” this indicates that speakers of min dialect tend to make sound unaspriated and of vocal cord vibration. take hokkien (southern fujian dialect) for example, in accordance with “there was no dentilabial consonant sound in ancient times”, the dentilabial initial sound /f/ was pronounced as /p/ or /b/ in ancient ages (wu, 2014). this phonetic convention is maintained until the present in hokkien vernacular. for instance, “fan” in standard chinese is pronounced as “ben” in southern fujian dialect. to give another example, in chaozhou dialect which belongs to min dialect, /b/ and /g/ phonemes are accompanied by pre-nasalization during the pronunciation (liu, 2009, p. 76). on account of the articulatory position of the lips, /b/ phonemes are supposed to be articulated as [mb]; and due to the velarization, phoneme /g/ should be added a diacritic and recorded as [ŋg] in narrow transcription (liu, 2009, p. 76). in general, the tendency of voicing and nasalization will presumably lengthen the vot of voiced plosives of min dialect speakers; in other words, the vocal cords vibration duration will be longer while pronouncing voiced plosives. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 99 published by scholink inc. additionally, phoneme simplification occurs in southeast asian english under the influences of min dialect. the most significant factor in word localization is phoneme recombination which can affects the whole lexical system. in this case, the plosives subsequent to the consonant in southeast asian english are often left unvoiced. in places like myanmar and the philippines, even voiceless and voiced consonants are not distinguished, which is in line with the so-called “economic principle” that the ancestors of min dialect region, who migrated to southeast asia, simplified english as they learned it (chen, 2006, p. 124). this also explains the relatively longer vot of english voiced plosives of the subjects who come from the min dialect region in this experiment. 5. conclusions this chapter is to introduce the main findings of this experiment, some theoretical and pedagogical implications, and the limitations this study has. 5.1 findings the major findings yielded from this study can be summarized as follows. 5.1.1 gender factor as the statistics showed in chapter four, there is little difference between vot of english plosives of male and female; however, it is noteworthy that female vot is longer than male vot, which is consistent with some previous studies. the underlying causes are twofold. firstly, there are fundamental biological differences in the various speech subsystems. the physiological structure of female phonation is a posterior glottal opening which occurs during vocal fold closing; hence, it is possible that more air escapes into the supralaryngeal space prior to vowel production compared to male speakers. secondly, psychosocially, there are suggestions that sex differences in vot may be due to a sociophonetic influence, whereby the differences can reflect conscious or unconscious manipulations of speech patterns to overtly or tacitly to convey gender identity, one of which is the speaking rate. presumably, women will prefer slower speech and lengthened word duration in order to makes utterances more intelligible and makes themselves more dignified, and maintain their gender identities and images, both of which can help produce longer vots. 5.1.2 dialectical factor languages do not exist in isolation but in interaction, of which language transfer is a manifestation, and an integral factor affecting second language acquisition. phonology of chinese is distinct from that of english; consequently, in sla, english learners will tend to be affected by their dialects, transfer the dialectal features to english and neglect the differences between two phonetic systems, thus affecting the speech output. in the light of statistics in chapter four, based on the regional division of chinese dialects, to some extent, some influences dialects have on the vot of plosives can be found. insofar this experiment, the effects of southwest mandarin and min dialect on english vot is mainly analyzed. the results show that the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 100 published by scholink inc. voiceless plosive vot is the longest and the counterpart vot is the shortest. owing to tendency of decacuminal and devocalization, the production of english voiceless plosives can be presumably affected; that is, to lengthen the time from voiceless sound blasting to vocal cord vibration. secondly, the average vot value of voiced plosives is the highest in the subjects using min dialect. combined with the dialectical pronunciation characteristics, it can be seen that the speakers tend to make unaspirated sounds or vocal cord vibration sounds. inclination of pre-nasalization can lengthen vocal cord vibration time as well, resulting in a longer vot of voiced plosives. additionally, influenced by immigration and phonetic changes, phoneme simplification can lead the sounds less voiceless and more voiced. 5.2 implications the implications of this study are primarily at the theoretical and pedagogical aspects. theoretically, from the perspective of research design, firstly the acoustic parameter vot is adopted in this study to investigate the group differences of english plosives, which can provide some theoretical references for acoustic researches, and also offer some ideas for the future researches on english plosives. in the second place, this study introduces social factors investigation into phonetics research, combining theoretical knowledge and research methods of phonetics and sociology, which can provide innovation for the subsequent studies. in addition, this experiment, with reference to labov’s experimental model, can boost the generalization of sociolinguistic theories and research methodologies. pedagogically, from the research results, there are primarily the following three implications. first, in english teaching, different kinds of students should be coped with flexibly. instructors are supposed to carry out targeted teaching and training of students. the results show that although significant, some discrepancies factually exist in the plosive vots of students of different genders and dialects. in these cases, teachers should not cut across the board and should maximize the effects of english teaching according to the specific situation. secondly, affected by language transfer, some errors or mistakes presumably occur during the english learning of university students. in phonetics teaching, instructors can adopt the theories of contrastive analysis, interlanguage and continuum to maximize the effects of language positive transfer and for the other, actively correct english pronunciation of students and aggrandize comprehensible phonetic input, minimizing the impact of negative language transfer. some practical tools such as praat can be applied as well, to present of the acoustic features of english segments to students and moreover, correct students’ articulations. third, the english curriculum designs should be optimized. universities should attach attention to english teaching; specifically, more reasonable english class settings and designs, and larger allocation of english instructors should be offered. 5.3 limitations although this study provides some implications, there are still limitations. firstly, the sample size of this experiment is not large enough, with the number of 30. more eligible samples are needed if much efficiency and reliability are required. in this study, the validity of the main www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 101 published by scholink inc. findings needs substantiating by future research which can extend the scope of participants and gain much accuracy. secondly, some errors may exist in the sampling and measurement. in terms of sampling, due to the limitations of epidemic and geography, experiments can only be carried out on the internet; therefore, professional recording software cannot be employed. and, the recording equipment and methods of each subject may be different, which can bring some errors and influence analysis. in the respect of measurement, other environmental factors can be the inferences to the subjects, and some samples 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(2012). a brief analysis of the influences of southwestern mandarin on english listening learning. youth, 12, 92-94. zhou, w. j. (2008). outline of english phonetics. anhui: anhui university press. zhu, j. (2010). investigation and countermeasures of the impacts of different dialect backgrounds on college students’ english phonetic learning. journal of gannan medical university, 30(5), 758759. https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830913508760 https://doi.org/10.1177/002221949402700503 https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830914522994 https://doi.org/10.1159/000056199 https://doi.org/10.1109/o-cocosda46868.2019.9060844 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 51 original paper the process and perspective of industrial management in developing economies: iran’s experience mohammad taleghani1* & mohammadreza jabreilzadeh sola1 1 department of industrial management, rasht branch, islamic azad university, rasht, iran * mohammad taleghani, associate professor, department of industrial management, rasht branch, islamic azad university, rasht, iran received: august 9, 2024 accepted: august 27, 2024 online published: september 25, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n4p51 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n4p51 abstract this article explores the processes and perspectives of industrial management in developing economies, focusing on the unique case of iran. the research examines how historical, economic, and political contexts influence industrial management practices in iran post-islamic revolution (1979-present). through a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative surveys, case studies, and expert interviews, the study reveals the adaptive strategies employed by iranian industrial managers to navigate extensive challenges such as international sanctions, political instability, and economic isolation. key themes identified include the integration of hybrid management models that blend traditional values with modern practices, the impact of government policies on local industry, and the persistent challenges associated with workforce retention and talent management. furthermore, the findings highlight an emerging culture of innovation within iranian industries, indicating a shift toward technological advancements despite external pressures. the research underscores the resilience of iranian managers, illustrating their commitment to aligning with global market trends while adapting strategies to local conditions. ultimately, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of industrial management in developing economies and provides valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners aiming to enhance industrial effectiveness in iran and similar contexts. keywords industrial management, developing economies, iran, economic sanctions, innovation www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 52 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction industrial management is a critical aspect of economic development, particularly in developing economies where the transition from traditional to industrial economies can significantly influence economic growth, employment, and societal advancement. the landscape of industrial management in developing economies has garnered significant attention in recent years, reflecting the pressing need for tailored management strategies that address unique regional challenges. industrial management refers to the process of overseeing and improving the operations and performance of industrial sectors. in developing economies, this concept is often complicated by multifaceted challenges such as political instability, infrastructural deficiencies, and varying levels of workforce skills (hoskisson et al., 2013). such challenges necessitate adaptive management practices that are responsive to local contexts and global competitive pressures. developing economies represent a unique environment where traditional industrial management theories may not wholly apply, calling for localized strategies that integrate cultural, economic, and technological factors (khan & kahn, 2018). in the context of developing countries, the implementation of effective industrial management practices is a cornerstone for enhancing competitiveness, fostering innovation, and improving overall productivity. according to porter (1990), the ability of an economy to create and sustain competitive advantage through industrial policy is vital for its progression towards developed status. iran, as one of the prominent developing economies in the middle east, provides an intriguing case study for examining the interplay between industrial management practices and socio-economic dynamics in a transitioning economy. historically, iran’s industrial sector has played a substantial role in its economic landscape, contributing to a significant portion of employment and gdp (world bank, 2020). however, despite its potential, iranian industrial management practices have often been hindered by factors such as state involvement, bureaucratic inefficiency, and a lack of integration with global markets (esfahani & ramrei, 2003). iran stands out as a significant player in the realm of developing economies, largely due to its rich natural resources and strategic geographic location. the country’s industrial sector has historically been influenced by various factors, including sanctions, economic policies, and the global oil market’s volatility (kazemi, 2018). the iranian economy is characterized by its duality; while there exists a robust energy sector, there are also underdeveloped industries that require meticulous management strategies to enhance productivity and competitiveness (omidvar & akbari, 2020). these challenges highlight the urgency of examining industrial management processes and perspectives in the iranian context, aiming to address the broader implications for sustainable development in similar economies. during the past few decades, iran has experienced various economic reforms aimed at modernizing its industrial base and integrating with the global economy. however, these reforms have often been met with obstacles, particularly concerning the management processes that underpin industrial activities (abedi, 2019). understanding the experiences of iranian industry provides valuable insights into the processes and perspectives that shape industrial management in developing economies. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 53 published by scholink inc. one significant challenge in iranian industrial management is the dependency on oil revenues, which has led to a neglect of the diversification of industrial activities (hosseini et al., 2019). the reliance on a single sector hampers innovation and adaptability, limiting the exploration of varied industrial potentials that are essential in today’s competitive global landscape. consequently, the current structure of industrial management often fails to address the needs for agility and rapid responsiveness to market changes (moshiri & fallah, 2018). additionally, external pressures such as international sanctions have exacerbated existing vulnerabilities in the iranian industrial sector, leading to isolation from global markets, technology transfer limitations, and a consequent stagnation in industrial advancement (zarif et al., 2016). this situation creates a pressing need for an integrated approach that not only enhances domestic industrial practices but also strategically positions iranian industries for future engagement with the global economy. understanding the process and perspective of industrial management in developing economies such as iran holds significant methodological and practical implications. from a methodological standpoint, this study contributes to the existing literature by providing an in-depth case study that illuminates the specific challenges and successes experienced in iran’s industrial sector. practically, the findings may serve as a valuable resource for policymakers and industrial managers seeking to design more effective industrial policies and management strategies that can stimulate sustainable industrial growth in similar contexts. in this article, we seek to answer these questions, what are the key challenges facing industrial management in developing economies like iran, and how can these challenges be overcome to increase industrial efficiency and competitiveness? the complexity of this problem is due to the interaction of various factors that affect industrial management, including political, economic, social and technological dimensions (aghion et al., 2017). the purpose of this study is to dissect these factors and propose solutions derived from iran’s experience that can provide wider applications in other developing economies. in addition, with the aim of representing the unique features of iran’s industrial management processes, revealing the challenges facing iran’s industries and highlighting the implications of broader theories of industrial management in developing economies. it is up to debnal to find the answer to this question, how have industrial management methods evolved in iran and what factors affect their effectiveness in the context of developing economies? this research aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of iran’s industrial management by examining various dimensions including government policies, human resources, technology adoption and international relations. this issue is particularly salient as the country is in a turbulent economic landscape marked by international sanctions and domestic challenges. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 54 published by scholink inc. table 1. industrial management practices and perspectives throughout the qajar, pahlavi and islamic republic regimes in iran (authors, 2024) government governance style industrial policies management practices comparison with developing countries comparison with developed countries qajar dynasty (1789-1925) monarchical, weak central authority limited state involvement, reliance on foreign capital informal and traditional management practices similar to other developing countries with weak governance structures (sadeghi, 2018) significant lag in formal management practices; reliance on imports and foreign expertise (harris, 2010) pahlavi dynasty (1925-1979) authoritarian, strong central power state-led industrialization (e.g., 5-year plans), emphasis on modernization centralized management, adoption of western practices more alignment with developing countries pursuing rapid industrialization (kazemi, 2018) strived for western management systems but lacked institutional stability (kordzadeh & ghasemi, 2017) islamic republic (1979present) theocratic, mixed governance model nationalization of key industries, selfsufficiency focus hybrid management systems combining islamic values with modern practices reflects attempts similar to developing countries balancing tradition with modern needs (gholami & razeghi, 2021) struggles with efficiency similar to developing countries due to sanctions and ideological constraints (hamidi & zare, 2021) developing countries variable governance structures, often unstable focus on industrialization; policies may be influenced by external aid or investment management practices vary, often adapting global practices to local contexts exhibit challenges like vulnerability to external shocks and resource limitations (khan & kahn, 2018) n/a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 55 published by scholink inc. developed countries stable, often democratic governance advanced industrial policies with significant state support sophisticated management practices, emphasis on innovation and technology generally, more effective industrial policies, integration of sustainable practices (hoskisson et al., 2013) examples of best practices in management and industrial evolution; integration of technology and human capital investment 1.1 literature review the lens through which industrial management is studied in developing economies often reveals multifaceted influences of historical, economic, and political dimensions. iran, with its rich historical context, vibrant economic landscape, and complex political framework, serves as a valuable case study for examining these dynamics in detail. this literature review synthesizes existing research on the distinct processes and perspectives shaping industrial management in iran, providing a comprehensive understanding of how these dimensions intersect to inform management practices and strategic adaptations. 1.1.1 historical context of industrial management in iran the historical backdrop of industrial management in iran dates back to the early 20th century, marked by the establishment of the first modern factories during the reign of reza shah pahlavi (1925-1941). as reported by sadeghi and gholamalifard (2018), this period saw significant state-driven industrialization efforts aimed at reducing foreign dependency and promoting economic self-sufficiency. the post-world war ii era further accelerated industrial development as iran became a focal point for western investment, particularly in the oil sector. despite initial progress, the 1979 islamic revolution significantly altered the industrial landscape, leading to nationalization policies that redefined the roles of state and private sectors in management practices (kordzadeh & ghasemi, 2017). the revolution brought about a paradigm shift where industrial decision-making became heavily influenced by ideological considerations, often at the expense of efficiency and technological advancement. thus, historical events serve as a critical lens for understanding current industrial management challenges and processes in iran. 1.1.1.1 economic dimension: industry and development economically, iran’s industry has experienced oscillations shaped by global oil prices, domestic economic policies, and international sanctions. literature suggests that the oil sector plays a dual role in iran’s economy—it provides significant revenue while simultaneously generating dependency that limits the diversification of the industrial base (zabihollah & shikhani, 2020). according to mohammadi and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 56 published by scholink inc. rahimikoo (2019), the fluctuations in oil prices have often dictated the pace of industrial investments and modernization efforts, leading to cycles of boom and recession that impact managerial processes. the economic sanctions imposed since the early 1980s, particularly in the wake of the nuclear program negotiations, have further complicated industrial management in iran. gholami and razeghi (2021) argue that such sanctions have deepened the challenges for iranian industries, leading to decreased foreign investment and technology transfers, which are critical for enhancing management practices. consequently, managers in iran face the pressing need to innovate and adapt traditional management frameworks to local contexts, often without the benefit of modern technological resources or international collaboration. 1.1.1.2 political framework: governance and management practices the political environment in iran is characterized by a unique blend of theocratic and democratic institutions that significantly influence industrial management. the centralization of power in the supreme leader and the significant role of the government in economic planning have profound implications on managerial processes (hamidi & zare, 2021). political instability, combined with fluctuating policies regarding privatization and foreign direct investment, creates a challenging environment for industrial managers striving to implement effective strategies. moreover, the intertwining of political ideologies with economic practices complicates the implementation of conventional industrial management principles. the emphasis on self-sufficiency and resistance to western influence have led many iranian managers to adopt a locally adapted approach to management, often prioritizing resilience over efficiency (aghaie & jalali, 2022). these adaptations reflect a broader trend in developing countries, where local contexts require a departure from established management theories. 1.1.2 integration of historical, economic, and political dimensions the interplay of historical, economic, and political dimensions creates a complex tapestry that informs the processes and perspectives of industrial management in iran. the historical trajectory has conditioned managerial practices to adapt over time, reacting not only to local but also to global economic trends. political decisions substantially shape these practices, restricting options and driving managers to maneuver within tight constraints. as illustrated by the works of khosrowjerdi and yavari (2019), industrial managers have increasingly sought to develop hybrid management systems that merge traditional practices with modern methodologies, reflecting the need for dual adaptation in response to both local and international pressures. thus, the literature highlights a significant trend toward localized management strategies, which resonate with theoretical perspectives on hybrid management practices emerging in other developing economies. in summary, the review of historical, economic, and political dimensions unequivocally demonstrates how each aspect independently and collectively influences industrial management processes in iran. understanding these complexities is crucial for scholars and practitioners aiming to develop effective www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 57 published by scholink inc. strategies that are contextually relevant in similar developing economies. as iran continues to navigate its industrial management challenges amidst evolving global dynamics, the lessons derived from its experience serve as a valuable contribution to the broader discourse on industrial management in developing nations. table 2. performances and views of industrial management in iran after the victory of the islamic revolution (authors, 2024) aspect islamic republic of iran (1979-present) developing countries developed countries governance structure theocratic, mixed governance; significant influence of clerics in economic decisions (hamidi & zare, 2021). variable governance structures; often weaker and subject to instability (khan & kahn, 2018). generally stable, democratic institutions that support industrial growth (hoskisson et al., 2013). industrial policies nationalization of key industries; focus on self-sufficiency and resistance to foreign influence (gholami & razeghi, 2021). focus on industrialization but often reliant on foreign aid/investment; policies may lack coherence (kordzadeh & ghasemi, 2017). advanced industrial policies with a strong focus on technology and innovation; integration of sustainability (oecd, 2020). management practices hybrid management combining islamic values with modern techniques; often reactive due to sanctions (aghaie & jalali, 2022). management practices adapts global frameworks to local contexts; often lack formalized structures (mojir et al., 2021). sophisticated management practices, leveraging technology and organizational innovation; emphasis on r&d investment (dyer et al., 2018). efficiency and productivity struggles with inefficiency due to ideological constraints and sanctions; productivity stagnation varies widely; some developing countries show rising productivity through reforms, while others high levels of efficiency and productivity; companies leverage global supply chains www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 58 published by scholink inc. in some sectors (hamidi & zare, 2021). face challenges (world bank, 2021). (hoskisson et al., 2013). human capital development investments in education but often hampered by political factors and sanctions; brain drain observed (kazemi, 2018). varies greatly among nations; some invest heavily in education and training, while others struggle with brain drain (khan & kahn, 2018). strong emphasis on human capital; continuous training and skill development integrated into management practices (oecd, 2020). innovation and technology limited access to cutting-edge technology due to sanctions; reliance on domestic innovations is increasing (gholami & razeghi, 2021). generally low levels of innovation; some are beginning to invest in technology as part of economic diversification efforts (hoskisson et al., 2013). high levels of innovation and technology adoption; robust r&d infrastructure and investment (dyer et al., 2018). integration with global markets limited due to sanctions, leading to a focus on selfsufficiency that can hinder competitiveness (gholami & razeghi, 2021). varies; some are increasingly integrated while others remain isolated (khan & kahn, 2018). high level of global integration; firms actively engage in international markets (hoskisson et al., 2013). 2. method 2.1 research design the research adopts a mixed-methods design, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods. this approach allows for a richer understanding of the intricate dynamics of industrial management within the specific context of iran, addressing the research question: how have industrial management practices evolved in iran, and what factors influence their effectiveness in the context of developing economies? 2.2 case studies in-depth case studies of selected iranian industries were performed. key sectors analyzed include: oil and gas: as the backbone of the iranian economy, examining management practices in this sector provides critical insight into the challenges and dynamics faced by industrial managers. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 59 published by scholink inc. manufacturing: focused on key manufacturing industries, including automotive and textiles, this case study highlights the diversity of industrial management practices in iran. technology and startups: analyzing emerging technology firms offers a perspective on innovation and the adaptation of management practices within the context of constraints and opportunities in iran. the cases are selected based on their structural relevance to the research question and the availability of data. 2.3 surveys a structured survey was distributed to industrial managers and stakeholders in various iranian sectors to gather quantitative data on management practices, challenges faced, and perspectives on industrial policy. the survey’s design included both closed-ended questions for quantifiable analysis and open-ended questions to allow respondents to elaborate on their experiences and insights. 2.4 expert interviews semi-structured interviews were conducted with industry experts, including academic scholars, government officials, and business leaders. a purposive sampling method was employed to select participants with substantial experience and knowledge in industrial management. the interviews aimed to glean expert perspectives on how historical and political contexts shape current practices, as well as insights into the future of industrial management in iran. 2.5 data analysis the qualitative results of the survey yield rich insights into the processes and perspectives of industrial management in iran, highlighting the challenges, strategies, and perceptions of industrial managers across various sectors. this section synthesizes the responses obtained from open-ended questions and thematic analyses of qualitative data. management practices and approaches respondents described a diverse array of management practices employed within their organizations. the following themes emerged: hybrid management models: many industrial managers emphasized the adoption of hybrid management systems that blend traditional iranian practices with modern management techniques. this adaptability reflects the need to navigate both local values and international standards. one manager noted, “we integrate islamic principles into our decision-making, which guides our leadership style and employee relations, while also applying contemporary management theories.” decentralized decision-making: several respondents indicated a movement towards more decentralized decision-making approaches to foster innovation and responsiveness among teams. managers remarked, “empowering our teams has allowed for faster problem-solving and adaptation to market changes. it’s essential for our survival in a competitive environment.” challenges faced in industrial management the survey responses highlighted a range of challenges that iranian industrial managers encounter: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 60 published by scholink inc. economic sanctions: a recurring theme was the impact of international sanctions, which restrict access to technology, capital, and markets. managers articulated frustration over the limited growth opportunities and the resulting need to rely on outdated technologies. one interviewee stated, “we are constantly working with constraints imposed by sanctions; it hinders our ability to innovate.” political uncertainty: many managers expressed concerns regarding the political climate and its effect on long-term planning and investment. as one participant commented, “the instability makes it difficult to forecast future projects or commitments. we truly need stability to thrive.” talent management: the issue of human capital was frequently mentioned, with respondents citing brain drain as a significant obstacle. “many skilled workers leave iran for better opportunities abroad,” lamented one manager, underscoring the challenges of retaining top talent. -perspectives on government policies participants provided critical insights regarding government policies on industrial management: support for local industries: while some respondents acknowledged efforts by the government to promote local industries, others expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of these policies. one manager noted, “the government aims to support us, but sometimes the policies do not align with market realities, leading to inefficiencies.” focus on self-sufficiency: many highlighted the government’s focus on self-sufficiency, with mixed feelings. some supported this direction but pointed out that it must be balanced with a pragmatic approach to global integration. “we need to be self-reliant, but we can’t ignore the benefits of international collaboration,” said one participant. outlook for the future the managers surveyed conveyed a cautiously optimistic perspective about the future of industrial management in iran: innovation and adaptation: many respondents expressed a commitment to innovation despite external constraints. there was a recognition of a growing tech startup culture and a desire to harness new technologies to enhance productivity. one manager stated, “the youth are stepping up. they are eager and motivated to change the industrial landscape through technology.” global market alignment: a significant number of respondents believed that aligning with global markets is essential for competitiveness. they emphasized the necessity of understanding global trends and adapting them to the iranian context. “we need to think globally while acting locally,” one manager concluded. 2.6 ethical considerations the research adheres to ethical guidelines to ensure the integrity and quality of the study: informed consent: participants in surveys and interviews were provided with detailed information about the research purpose, their role, and their rights. informed consent was obtained before participation. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 61 published by scholink inc. confidentiality: all data collected from participants were anonymized to protect their identity and ensure confidentiality, fostering an environment where respondents could freely share their insights without concern. objectivity: the researchers-maintained objectivity by cross-referencing data sources and implementing rigorous methodological practices to minimize bias in interpreting results. 2.7 limitations while this research method aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of industrial management in iran, certain limitations should be acknowledged: contextual factors: environmental variables such as political instability and changing economic conditions may affect data collection and analysis. generalizability: findings from iran may not be universally applicable to all developing economies due to differing cultural, political, and economic contexts. however, comparative analyses will be conducted to draw insights that may be relevant across similar regions. table 3. comparison of iran’s position in industrial management in the framework of developing economies, focusing on its strengths and weaknesses compared to developed countries in asia (authors, 2024) criteria iran developed asian countries (e.g., japan, south korea, singapore) economic growth rate strength: moderate growth with potential in sectors such as oil and gas (world bank, 2022). strength: high stable growth rates with advanced technology (oecd, 2023). industrial diversification weakness: heavy dependence on oil; limited diversification (adb, 2021). strength: highly diversified economies; advanced industries (imf, 2022). technology adoption weakness: slow adoption of new technologies; limited r&d investment (wto, 2022). strength: pioneers in technology and innovation (mit technology review, 2023). infrastructure quality weakness: inefficient and underdeveloped infrastructure (world economic forum, 2022). strength: world-class infrastructure facilitating industry and commerce (world economic forum, 2022). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 62 published by scholink inc. workforce education weakness: education system challenges with respect to skills mismatch (unesco, 2021). strength: highly skilled workforce with strong emphasis on stem education (oecd, 2023). regulatory environment weakness: complex regulations and bureaucracy hinder investment (doing business report, world bank, 2021). strength: streamlined regulations promoting ease of business (doing business report, world bank, 2021). foreign investment weakness: sanctions and geopolitical tensions discourage foreign investment (oecd, 2022). strength: attractive investment climates and favorable policies for foreign investors (unctad, 2023). innovation and r&d weakness: limited investment in r&d; low number of patents (world intellectual property organization, 2023). strength: high investments in innovation; leading patents and technological advancements (global innovation index, 2022). market accessibility weakness: trade restrictions limit market access (world bank, 2023). strength: ease of access to global markets due to stable trade agreements (world trade organization, 2023). 3. result in examining the process and perspective of industrial management in developing economies like iran, several key challenges emerge that significantly impact the efficiency and competitiveness of their industries. these challenges include: ▪ regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles: iran’s regulatory environment is characterized by complex bureaucracies, which often hinder business operations. the difficulties in navigating these bureaucratic landscapes can deter local and foreign investments, impacting overall industrial growth. ▪ dependence on oil and lack of diversification: a significant challenge for iran is its heavy reliance on oil revenues, which creates vulnerability to fluctuations in global oil prices. this dependence has led to underinvestment in other industrial sectors, limiting diversification and innovation. ▪ technological lag and resistance to change: the acceptance and integration of modern technologies into industrial practices remain limited. factors such as lack of r&d investment, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 63 published by scholink inc. inadequate education and skills, and reluctance to embrace new methodologies have created a technological gap with more advanced economies. ▪ human resource challenges: the skill mismatch between the educational system and industrial needs signifies a critical barrier. many graduates lack practical skills and training that align with industry demands, leading to inefficiencies in the workforce. ▪ economic sanctions and international relations: ongoing international sanctions have created a hostile economic environment, leading to isolation from global markets, reduced foreign direct investment (fdi), and limited access to modern technologies and capital. 3.1 solutions to overcome challenges to enhance industrial efficiency and competitiveness, iran can adopt several strategies: a. simplifying regulatory frameworks: streamlining regulations and reducing bureaucratic red tape can foster a more business-friendly environment. this could encourage both domestic entrepreneurship and foreign investment. b. fostering economic diversification: investment in sectors beyond oil and gas—such as technology, agriculture, and manufacturing—can reduce dependence on volatile oil revenues. government incentives could encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in these sectors. c. enhancing r&d and technology adoption: increasing investment in research and development is critical. establishing partnerships between universities and industries can facilitate technology transfer, elevate skill sets, and promote an innovation-oriented culture. d. reforming education and workforce training: aligning educational programs with industry needs through vocational training and skill enhancements can create a more adaptable workforce, improving productivity in various sectors. e. strengthening international relations: diplomatic efforts to ease sanctions and improve trade relations can open avenues for investment and technology transfer, providing access to global markets and modern industrial practices. 3.2 evolution of industrial management methods in iran industrial management methods in iran have evolved from a primarily state-controlled model to a more market-oriented approach, guided by internal reforms and pressures from global economic integrations. the effectiveness of these methods has been influenced by several factors: ▪ government policies: macro-economic policies, including subsidies and tariffs, impact industrial strategies and competitiveness. effective policies that support innovation and investment can lead to better industrial practices. ▪ human resources development: as noted earlier, the mismatch in skill sets impacts management effectiveness. enhancing human resources through education reform is essential for adapting to changing industry needs. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 64 published by scholink inc. ▪ technology acceptance: the ability of industries to accept and implement new technologies directly affects productivity levels. factors such as cultural resistance or lack of training can hinder the effectiveness of modern management methods. ▪ international relations: as iran navigates sanctions and global trade dynamics, its industrial management approaches must adapt accordingly. openness to international collaboration can enhance capability and competitiveness. 4. discussion the landscape of industrial management in iran presents a blend of both challenges and opportunities amidst a complex backdrop influenced by domestic conditions and international relations. while issues such as regulatory barriers, reliance on oil, technological inertia, and workforce development are significant obstacles, they can be effectively addressed through targeted reforms and strategic initiatives. the evolution of management practices, driven by these efforts, opens pathways to enhance efficiency and competitiveness. as iran continues to confront the dual pressures of internal challenges and international sanctions, a comprehensive focus on reforming policies, revitalizing human resources, embracing technology, and fostering international collaboration will be crucial for the sustainable development of its industrial sector. the insights gathered through this analysis will serve as a foundational tool for policymakers and industrial leaders seeking to navigate this turbulent economic landscape effectively. acknowledgement in this scientific research article, we sincerely thank all the professors and experts of industrial management education and economic development. especially senior managers who played an important role in planning the country’s economic, industrial and social development. and from all the experts who were with us on this path. references abedi, m. (2019). industrial management in iran: challenges and future prospects. journal of iranian economic studies, 7(2), 45-63. asian development bank (adb). (2021). asian development outlook. aghion, p., bloom, n., blundell, r., griffith, r., & howitt, p. (2017). the innovation and growth: the role of management practices. quarterly journal of economics, 132(1), 73-113. aghaie, a., & jalali, m. (2022). management practices in a theocratic economy: the iranian case. journal of business theory and practice, 10(1), 54-70. barney, j. b. (1991). firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. journal of management, 17(1), 99-120. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639101700108 doing business report, world bank. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639101700108 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 65 published by scholink inc. dyer, j. h., gregersen, h. b., & christensen, c. m. (2018). the innovator’s dna: mastering the five skills of disruptive innovators. harvard business review press. esfahani, h. s., & ramrei, r. (2003). iran’s economy during the 1990s: a macroeconomic perspective. middle east economic review, 15(3), 25-47. gholami, r., & razeghi, a. (2021). sanctions on iranian industries: challenges and opportunities. international trade and economic development, 30(2), 196-210. global innovation index. (2022). the global innovation index 2022. hamidi, a., & zare, m. (2021). the political economy of industrial policy in iran. middle eastern studies, 57(4), 638-654. harris, k. (2010). economic development in qajar iran. journal of iranian studies. hoskisson, r. e., eden, l., lau, c. m., & wright, m. (2013). strategy in emerging economies. the academy of management annals. hosseini, s. h., keshvari, m., & tavakoli, m. 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(2016). impact of international sanctions on the industrial sector of iran: challenges and opportunities. international business journal, 34(4), 247-260. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 98 original paper a study on the english translation of geographical imagery in li bai’s poetry from the perspective of geographical translation theory xiarui long1 1 xidian university, xi’an, shaanxi, china received: january 20, 2025 accepted: february 9, 2025 online published: february 25, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p98 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p98 abstract li bai is an inimitable and distinctive poet in the ancient time of china. his poetry fill with numerous geographical imagery, carrying rich emotions and cultural characteristics. this paper explores the translation strategies of geographical imagery in li bai’s poetry from the perspective of translation geography. by analyzing representative translations, the study examines how the emotions and cultural connotations behind geographical imagery are preserved or transformed during cross-cultural communication. this research aims to provide new theoretical insights into the translation of li bai’ poetry, advancing the chinese culture and poetry to the world. keywords geographical translation theory, li bai, geographical imagery 1. introduction li bai is one of the great poets in ancient china. he is renowned for presenting exceptional landscape in his poetry, which often integrates a large number of geographical imagery such as mountains, rivers, and natural scenery. these geographical images not only show vivid depictions of nature but also manifest profound emotional and cultural significance. this paper seeks to explore the translation strategies of geographical imagery in li bai’s poetry from the theoretical perspective of he aijun’s geographical translation theory. through analyzing the specific types of geographical imagery and its concrete reference, the paper aims to find the best strategies to translate these words, thereby, providing new theoretical insights into the translation of classical poetry as well as other types of poetry. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 99 published by scholink inc. 2. theoretical framework of translation geography he aijun is a professor at ocean university of china, specializing in translation studies and translation geography. he has conducted in-depth research on translation theory and practice. he argues that translation geography is a newly emerging research paradigm within the cultural turn of translation studies. it takes translation as its core and geography as its research methodology, exploring the relationship between translation phenomena and both natural and human geography (he & yu, 2020). this paradigm cleverly integrates translation studies and geography, bringing new research perspectives and inspiration to the field of translation. scholars have pointed out that this integration helps link cultural phenomena with geographical characteristics, thereby enhancing the humanistic and accurate aspects of translation (rong & zeng, 2023). translation is not merely a linguistic transformation but also a reproduction of geographical space and a process of cross-cultural migration. the translator should fully consider the geographical environment and cultural characteristics of the source text to ensure that the target readers’ understanding and perception of geographical imagery are as close as possible to the original meaning. this paper chooses his theory as the theoretical framework to reveal the translation strategies of geographical imagery in li bai’s poetry. this framework is particularly meaningful for analyzing the translation of geographical imagery in chinese classical poetry, as these images not only possess geographical features but also embody profound emotional and cultural connotations. 3. geographical imagery in li bai’s poetry the term “imagery” (means yi xiang in chinese) consists of “yi” (emotion, thought, or idea) and “xiang” (concrete image or object), which means expressing abstract emotions or artistic conceptions through specific images. poetic imagery is the combination of the poet’s subjective emotions and objective external objects (li, 2014). in the history of chinese poetry, poets often use specific objects to convey emotions and ideas. for example, “the bright moon” is commonly used to express loneliness and homesickness, while “lotus flowers” symbolize purity and noble character of a person. the paper believes that the space between “yi” and “xiang” is abstract and blank, which can stimulate the reader’s imagination and emotional response, thereby bridging the emotional connection between the poet and the reader. as scholars have stated, the indeterminacy and blank spaces in the original poem serve as a source of inspiration for the reader’s imagination and engagement. (yan & li, 2024). geographical imagery in poetry refers to the depiction of geographical landscapes and natural environments to convey emotions, thoughts, and cultural messages. li bai frequently used geographical imagery to express his profound emotions and philosophical reflections. such geographical imagery enriches the visual impact of poetry while carrying deep emotional resonance and philosophical insights. (1) imagery of celestial object in li bai’s lyrical poetry, celestial imagery such as wind, moon, and stars is often employed to express themes of homesickness, separation, and philosophical reflections on life. among these, the bright moon stands as the most representative image, symbolizing both nostalgia and profound life philosophy. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 100 published by scholink inc. in his poem thoughts on a silent night, (the english translations of li bai’s poems in this paragraph are all derived from xu yuanchong’s work) the poet uses simple yet evocative language to paint a vivid scene of gazing at the moon in the stillness of the night and lowering his head in homesickness: “eyes raised, i see the moon so bright. head bent, in homesickness i’m drowned.” (xu, 2014, p. 36) this highly visual imagery directly conveys the poet’s deep longing for home through the symbol of the moon. similarly, in ballad of four seasons (autumn), li bai writes: “moonlight is spread all over the capital; the sound of beating clothes far and near.” (xu, 2014, p. 84) here, the moon not only represents the night but also reflects the sorrow of separation during wartime. women beating clothes under the moonlight express their longing for their loved ones fighting far away. the gentle breeze is another significant image in li bai’s poetry, symbolizing freedom and transcendence. in hearing a bamboo flute on a spring night in louyang, he writes: “from whose house comes out of flute of jade unseen? it fills the town of louyang, spread by wind of spring.” (xu, 2014, p. 64) the imagery of the clear wind and bright moon over dongting lake creates a serene and carefree scene, reflecting the poet’s unrestrained spirit and yearning for freedom. (2) imagery of water in li bai’s poetry, the imagery of water like rivers, lakes, and seas often symbolizes the change of life and the passage of time, unfulfilled ambitions, or feelings of homesickness. among them, the yellow river, with its vast and majestic presence, is frequently used to represent the brevity and grandeur of life. in invitation to wine, the poet laments: “do you not see the yellow river come from the sky, rushing into the sea and ne’er come back?” (xu, 2014, p. 92) the surging yellow river symbolizes the irreversible losing of time, reflecting li bai’s broad-minded and uninhibited attitude toward life. the yangtze river, on the other hand, often conveys themes of heroic boldness or the impermanence of life. in farewell to uncle yun, the imperial librarian, at xie tiao pavilion in xuanzhou, li bai writes: “cut running water with a sword, it will be faster flow; drink wine to drown your sorrow, it will be heavier grow.” (xu, 2014, p. 196). the ceaselessly flowing river symbolizes sorrow that cannot be severed, expressing the poet’s deep contemplation on the fleeting and unpredictable nature of life. (3) imagery of mountain the mountain imagery in li bai’s poetry not only shows the grandeur of nature but also conveys his aspirations, heroic spirit, and longing for seclusion. mount lu, for example, appears as an ethereal paradise in his works. in song of mount lu, he writes: “lu mountains tower high beside the wain stars bright, like a nine-paneled screen embroidered with clouds white.” (xu, 2014, p. 226) with magnificent diction, the poet captures the breathtaking beauty of mount lu while also expressing his yearning for an immortal realm and a reclusive life. mount tai, on the other hand, symbolizes reverence and lofty ambition. since ancient times, mount tai has been regarded as a sacred site where emperors performed rituals of state. by climbing it, li bai not only praises its majesty but also conveys his own grand aspirations. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 101 published by scholink inc. 4. translation strategies for geographical imagery in li bai’s poetry (1) literal translation although chinese classical poetry resonates deeply with readers due to its concise expression, layered artistic conception, rich imagery, and unique linguistic style, these characteristics often make it difficult for non-native speakers to fully empathize with and comprehend the original meaning. however, this paper believes that regardless of the type of imagery, equivalent imagery can be found in different cultures because human experiences and emotions are universal. therefore, when dealing with geographical imagery in li bai’s poetry, if the imagery carries relatively little emotional or cultural significance, a literal translation approach can be employed. this means finding an equivalent image in the target language that corresponds to the source language. as scholars have noted, equivalence in imagery is a crucial condition and prerequisite for poetry translation. translators must faithfully reproduce the original imagery without arbitrarily altering or modifying it, as this is a fundamental principle that requires great attention (ye, 2017). example 1 st: 众鸟高飞尽，孤云独去闲。相看两不厌，只有敬亭山。《独坐敬亭山》 tt: sitting in reponse alone on jingting hill. all birds have flown up high and far away; a lonely cloud floated off leisurely. we gaze at each other to our both fill, i myself and my hearty jingting hill. (sun, 1982) example 2 st: 床前明月光，疑是地上霜。举头望明月，低头思故乡。《静夜思》 tt: before my bed a pool of light—is it hoarfrost upon the ground? i raise my head and watch the bright moon; lower it and think of home. (xu, 2014) although li bai uses the geographical imagery of “孤云” to create a sense of solitude, sun dayu translates it literally as “a lonely cloud.” by contrasting this with the previous image of “all birds”, the translation effectively conveys the sense of loneliness to the target readers. thus, the use of literal translation in this case is highly appropriate. similarly, xu yuanchong’s translation largely preserves the original geographical imagery, such as “霜” (hoarfrost), and “明月” (the bright moon). the frost is a little chill while the moon is so bright and round. all these imagery function to manifest the stillness of the cold night, and readers can directly feel a sense of loneliness and homesickness from the imagery. so there is no need to translate anything beyond the image itself. by employing a literal translation approach, the translator successfully preserves the geographical imagery of the original poem. the translator’s use of literal translation for geographical imagery in li bai’s poetry ensures both fidelity to the original meaning and the preservation of the poem’s rhythm and artistic conception. overall, this translation strategy effectively conveys the poetic ambiance created by geographical imagery, allowing western readers to appreciate the unique charm of chinese landscape poetry. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 102 published by scholink inc. (2) free translation the charm of chinese classical poetry lies in its ability to express emotions through imagery. whether it is the sorrow of parting, the joy of reunion, or the melancholy of disappointment, chinese poets always find specific images to embody these abstract emotions. li bai frequently employs geographical imagery to reflect his emotions and state of mind, as these images are particularly effective in evoking readers’ thoughts and associations. however, he aijun argues that since translators and original poets are immersed in different geographical and cultural contexts, their descriptions and perceptions of the same natural landscapes often differ significantly (he & yu, 2020). therefore, in the translation process, the translator must first understand the specific emotions embedded in the imagery. rather than simply translating the literal geographical reference, the translator should convey the underlying emotions and artistic conception to the target audience. in such cases, a purely literal translation of geographical imagery may fail to capture the deeper emotional connotations, making free translation a necessary strategy. example 5 st: 孤帆远影碧空尽，惟见长江天际流 (李白《鹤楼送孟浩然之广陵》) tt: he sails for river town. i watch his lone sail vanish into the boundless, azure sky, while only the yangtze continues its endless journey toward the horizon. (xu, 2014) st: 浮云游子意，落日故人情。《送友人》 tt: your heart was full of wandering thought, for me, my sun had set indeed. (translated by herbert a giles) just like the example of “碧空” in example 5, this phrase is not merely a description of geographical imagery. instead, it constructs a vast and open landscape, which, in stark contrast to the lone sail drifting away, evokes a subtle sense of solitude. this highlights the poet’s feelings of loneliness when bidding farewell to a friend. similarly, “浮云” do not simply refer to “clouds drifting in the sky”; rather, they symbolize the traveler’s unsettled journey, complex emotions, and wistful melancholy. therefore, translators cannot translate these geographical imagery terms word for word in a literal manner. in this case, phrases such as “boundless, azure sky” and “wandering thought” are used through free translation to convey the sentiment of departure, allowing the target audience to experience the emotional depth of the scene and resonate with the poet’s feelings. (3) add annotation in li bai’s poetry, many words that appear to be mere geographical imagery actually carry rich geographical characteristics and cultural symbolism. when translating such imagery, translators must not overlook its precise meaning. as gu zhengyang stated, “translators must not turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to chinese culture, nor should they discard or omit it in translation” (gu, 2013). however, since poetry emphasizes concise expression—using minimal words to convey profound meaning—translators must strike a balance. they should neither add excessive explanatory details that disrupt the poem’s rhythm and structure nor provide lengthy cultural explanations that break the poetic www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 103 published by scholink inc. imagery. in such cases, an annotated translation approach can be adopted to preserve both the poetic essence and cultural depth. example 5 st: 燕草如碧丝，秦桑低绿枝。《春思》 tt1: the grass in yan is like green silk; the mulberry trees in qin have low green branches. (xu, 2014) tt2: when the grasses of yan are like tufts of green silk in breeze, the luxuriant mulberry leaves of qing hang low on trees. (sun, 2020) annotation: when the grasses of yan begin to turn verdant like tufts of green silk, the mulberry leaves of oin are already thick and hanging low on the branches. when the husband is touched by the approach of spring as he sees the grasses turning green, the wife has for more days been struck by the mulberry leaves growing thick and hanging low on the branches of the trees. the dear wife is so devoted to her beloved husband that she does not wish the spring breeze, a total stranger, to be wafted into her silk curtain piece. (sun, 2020) this verse expresses a woman’s longing for her husband, who is far away in the northern frontier during a bright spring day. the term “燕草” generally refers to the grasslands in the northern borderlands, symbolizing the place where the soldier is stationed, while “秦桑” refers to the mulberry trees in the shaanxi region, representing the homeland of the longing wife. both terms carry rich symbolic meanings, so they cannot be translated simply as literal imagery. some level of annotation is necessary to convey their deeper connotations. in first translation version, while the imagery is preserved and the structure remains parallel, it does not clarify the symbolic meanings of the two words, potentially confusing the target reader. in contrast, sun dayu adds explanatory notes in his translation, allowing readers to grasp the contrast between the geographical imagery and its cultural symbolism, enhancing their understanding of the poem’s deeper meaning. 5. conclusion the main challenge in translating geographical imagery in li bai’s poetry lies in how to accurately convey its cultural, emotional, and philosophical significance. for purely geographical imagery, translators may adopt literal translation strategy, finding equivalent imagery in the target language to preserve the original poetic effect. for geographical imagery infused with deep emotional significance, the way to directly translate word for word is no longer suitable. under this condition, free translation strategy can be used, focusing on capturing the abstract emotions underlying the imagery. meanwhile, for geographical imagery with strong historical or literary allusions, literal translation with annotation is an effective strategy, ensuring that the rhythm and structure of the poem remain intact while providing additional context to help target readers appreciate the deeper cultural resonance. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 104 published by scholink inc. reference gu, z. y. (2013). theories of english translation of classical chinese poems and songs. beijing: national defense industry press. he, a. j., & yu, l. l. (2022). the discursive connotation and system construction of translation geography. journal of jiangnan university (humanities and social sciences edition), 21(5), 102107. li, c. r. (2014). the translation transformation of li bai’s poetic imagery. journal of mudanjiang normal university (natural sciences edition), 6, 105-107. rong, g. y., & zeng, m. y. (2023). exploration of place name translation from the perspective of translation geography. teaching reference of middle school geography, 24, 91. sun, d. y. (2020). english translation of classical chinese poetry and prose. shanghai: shanghai sanlian bookstore. sun, j. y., & he, a. j. (2020). the reality and theory of translation geography—an interview with professor he aijun. foreign language research in china, 7(1), 70-74+123. xu, y. c. (2014). xu yuanchong’s english translation of selected poems of li bai. beijing: china translation corporation. yan, y. w., & li, s. l. (2024). translation of chinese classical poetic imagery from the perspective of reception aesthetics. english square, 20, 27-30. ye, h. (2017). on the equivalence of imagery in poetry translation. data of culture and education, 17(4), 201+206. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 106 original paper a study on the historical context and digital future of rewi alley and the international communication of gansu culture xiaoxia jiao1 & xiaojun zhang1 1 school of foreign languages, lanzhou city university, lanzhou, china received: july 29, 2024 accepted: august 14, 2024 online published: august 30, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n3p106 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n3p106 abstract this paper deeply discusses the historical origin of rewi alley and the international communication of gansu culture, and analyzes its historical influence on the international communication of gansu culture. at the same time, combined with the characteristics of the digital age, this paper analyzes the present situation and challenges of the international communication of gansu culture, draws enlightenment from rewi alley’s historical experience, and provides suggestions for the international communication of gansu culture in the digital age. it is expected to be beneficial for promoting gansu culture to the world better and enhancing its international popularity. keywords rewi alley, gansu culture, international communication, historical context, digital future 1. introduction under the background of globalization, the international communication of culture has become more and more important. as an important province in china, gansu is rich in historical and cultural resources. rewi alley, a famous social activist in new zealand, has a deep relationship with gansu, and his experience in gansu has had a far-reaching impact on the international spread of gansu culture. with the rapid development of digital technology, how to use digital technology to better spread gansu culture in the new era has become an urgent problem to be solved. therefore, it is of great practical significance to study the historical context and digital future of the international communication of rewi alley and gansu culture. on the one hand, by reviewing rewi alley’s historical contribution in gansu, we can better inherit and carry forward his spirit, and at the same time, we can dig deep into the connotation and value of gansu culture. on the other hand, combining with the characteristics of the digital age, exploring new ways and methods of international communication of gansu culture will help to enhance the international popularity and influence of gansu culture and promote cultural exchange and integration. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 107 published by scholink inc. 2. the historical origin of rewi alley and the international communication of gansu culture as the main body of china’s international communication, rewi alley is a combination of internationalist fighter, founder of the bailie school and external communicator of chinese culture. he participated in china’s revolution and construction and knew the reality of china’s development. besides, he was familiar with chinese culture and informed of the social, political and cultural situations of other countries. he carried out international public opinion work in various forms such as writing, translation, visits, education, etc., and spread the content of china’s society, politics, economy, culture, education and other aspects, which opened channels for people all over the world to know about china and played an important role in china’s international communication. he spent 10 years in gansu, made great contributions to the local economic and social development of gansu, and left precious wealth to the gansu people. 2.1 rewi alley’s main experience in gansu in the 1940s, rewi alley came to shandan, gansu, china, and founded shandan bailie school. this school has not only trained a large number of practical technical personnel for the local area but has also become an important position for spreading gansu culture. at that time, the bailie school attracted nearly 30 foreign teachers from eight countries, as well as many overseas tourists, foreign experts and even missions from dunhuang, a famous silk road city, which made shandan in the western inland gain a relatively high reputation in the world. under the words and deeds of these teachers and technicians, chinese students have learned about the outside world while mastering technology, and outstanding students have also been recommended to go overseas for further study, which has promoted the exchange between gansu culture and the international community to a certain extent. in teaching, rewi alley combines western advanced technical education with chinese traditional cultural education. for example, the curriculum includes not only practical courses such as industrial technology and agricultural technology, but also humanities courses such as chinese history, culture and art. while learning professional skills, students also have an in-depth understanding of gansu’s regional culture and chinese traditional culture. rewi alley also organized students to carry out various practical activities, so that they could personally experience the natural scenery and folk customs of gansu. in practice, students learned how to use local resources for production and creation, and at the same time, they had a deeper understanding of gansu culture. moreover, rewi alley organized students to collect and sort out folk stories, legends and folk songs in gansu. these folk cultural works not only enrich students’ extracurricular life, but also contribute to the inheritance and dissemination of gansu culture. through word of mouth and written records from the students, these folk cultures have been preserved and spread to the wider region. after graduation, some of these students stayed in the local area to continue to contribute to the construction of their hometown, while others went to all parts of the country and even the world, becoming disseminators of gansu culture. rewi alley is one of china’s top ten international friends. he spent 10 years of his life in shandan. in his autobiography, he wrote, “the most satisfying period in my life was undoubtedly those days with rural www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 108 published by scholink inc. youth in shandan, gansu.” during his life in gansu, rewi alley established deep feelings with the local people. he had an in-depth understanding of gansu’s folk culture, historical traditions and social life, and actively participated in various local activities. he worked with farmers to understand their production and living conditions, communicated with craftsmen and learned their skills. what’s more, he had discussions with scholars and studied the history and culture of gansu. rewi alley is also very interested in gansu folk tales, legends and folk songs. he collected and sorted out a large quantity of folk cultural materials and spread them all over the world. for example, he translated gansu folk tales into english and published them internationally, so that more people could know about gansu culture. he also encouraged students to learn and inherit folk culture, and trained a group of talents with folk cultural literacy. 2.2 rewi alley’s way of spreading gansu culture rewi alley devoted his life to promoting exchanges and cooperation between china and the world, and his spirit inspired future generations to continue to work hard for the international spread of gansu culture. his selfless dedication and innovative spirit have become an example for gansu cultural communicators. many people influenced by alley inherited his spirit and continued to contribute to the international spread of gansu culture. 2.2.1 educational communication: cultivating students’ cognition and communication awareness of gansu culture through schools shandan bailie school has become an important position for the spread of gansu culture. through education, rewi alley let students know the rich connotation and unique value of gansu culture. the curriculum of the school incorporated the history, culture, art and other contents of gansu, so that students could feel the charm of gansu culture in their study. for example, in history class, teachers talked about the historical changes and cultural heritage of gansu, so that students could understand the important position and role of gansu in the silk road. in chinese class, students learned folk tales, legends and poems of gansu to improve their literary literacy and cultural identity. in the art class, students learned the folk arts and traditional crafts of gansu, and cultivated their aesthetic ability and creativity. in addition, the school also organized students to participate in various social practice activities, so that they could experience the culture and life of gansu for themselves. for example, students visited historical and cultural sites such as mogao caves and maijishan grottoes to feel the artistic charm of gansu; they participated in rural labor and folk activities, and learned about gansu’s folk culture and social life. 2.2.2 writing: introducing gansu’s local customs, history and culture to the world rewi alley wrote nearly 70 books in his life, many of which were about china. by writing articles and memoirs, he showed the world the beautiful scenery, long history and rich culture of china. in record of chinese experiences, he described the natural scenery and folk customs of gansu in detail, which made readers feel the unique charm of gansu. rewi alley also wrote many touching articles in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 109 published by scholink inc. praise of shandan, and in the 1950s he wrote memory of shandan and shandan, creative educational exploration, which were published in christchurch, new zealand. in memory of shandan, he recalled his life experience in shandan and his deep feelings with the local people, and let the world know about the history and culture of shandan, a small county. when he returned to shandan, he also wrote poems such as back to shandan and shandan renaissance, which eulogised the new changes in the development of shandan and expressed his nostalgia for the people of shandan. rewi alley’s works have had a wide influence in the world, attracting many readers’ attention and interest in gansu. his words are vivid and infectious, which makes readers feel as if they were there and feel the beauty and charm of gansu. 2.2.3 donation of cultural relics: showing the charm of gansu culture with cultural relics as the carrier in his later years, rewi alley donated more than 4,000 precious cultural relics from his lifelong collection to shandan. these cultural relics cover various historical periods and different cultural fields, and are important carriers of gansu culture. through these cultural relics, the world can better understand gansu’s rich historical and cultural heritage and unique cultural charm. for example, some ancient ceramic vessels, bronzes, paintings and calligraphy works, etc. show gansu’s artistic achievements and cultural characteristics in different historical periods. some folk handicrafts, such as paper-cutting, embroidery, weaving, etc., reflect the industriousness and wisdom of the gansu people. the donation of cultural relics not only enriches shandan’s cultural resources, but also provides an important material basis for the international spread of gansu culture. many scholars and tourists from home and abroad come to shandan to visit these cultural relics and learn about the history and culture of gansu. 2.2.4 building a bridge for international exchanges: promoting exchanges and cooperation between gansu and other countries in 1984, at the initiative of rewi alley, gansu province established a sister province-city relationship with christchurch, new zealand. this initiative has built a bridge for cultural, educational and economic exchanges and cooperation between gansu, new zealand and even the world. since then, gansu and new zealand have carried out a series of exchange activities in the fields of culture, education and tourism. the two sides send art groups to each other to perform to show their respective cultural characteristics. students and teachers on both sides are entitled to the exchange and study to promote the development of education. through these exchange activities, gansu culture has been widely spread internationally, and at the same time, the friendly relations between gansu and other countries have been promoted. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 110 published by scholink inc. 3. rewi alley’s historical influence on the international communication of gansu culture 3.1 improve gansu’s international popularity rewi alley’s activities made the world know gansu, a province in northwest china. his works, speeches and donations of cultural relics have attracted the attention of many international people to gansu. his works such as record of chinese experience and memory of shandan have been widely spread internationally, allowing more people to know about gansu’s natural scenery, history and culture. his donated cultural relics have also been exhibited in exhibitions at home and abroad, attracting widespread attention. in addition, shandan bailie school founded by him has attracted teachers and students from different countries, who have spread gansu culture to all parts of the world in their studies and lives. 3.2 cultivate talents with international vision shandan bailie school has trained a group of talents with international vision and cultural literacy. these students have been exposed to the cultures and educational concepts of different countries in their studies, which has broadened their horizons and increased their knowledge. after graduation, some of them worked in enterprises and institutions at home and abroad and became communicators of gansu culture; some continued their studies and made contributions to gansu’s cultural and educational undertakings. for example, some students actively publicized gansu’s cultural and tourism resources while studying and working abroad, attracting many international tourists to gansu for sightseeing. 3.3 promoting cultural exchanges and integration the international culture brought by rewi alley exchanges and integrates with the local culture of gansu. during his life in gansu, he introduced western advanced technology and cultural ideas into the local area, and at the same time, he deeply understood and spread the traditional culture of gansu. in shandan peili school, students not only learned western industrial technology and scientific knowledge, but also learned gansu folk art and traditional culture. this cultural exchange and integration enriches the connotation of gansu culture, and also provides new ideas and methods for the international dissemination of gansu culture. 4. current situation and challenges of international communication of gansu culture in the digital age 4.1 current situation gansu, located in the northwest of china, is one of the important birthplaces of chinese civilization. since the ancient silk road, gansu culture has attracted the attention of the world with its unique charm. in the long history, gansu’s dunhuang culture, silk road culture and buddhist culture have continuously spread to all parts of the world. with the rapid development of digital technology, the international communication of gansu culture has also begun to rely on the power of digital technology. virtual reality (vr) and augmented reality (ar) technologies are used to create digital cultural exhibitions and tourism experience projects, so that the audience can experience the history, culture and natural scenery of gansu. some museums and cultural sites in gansu have also begun to use digital technology to protect and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 111 published by scholink inc. display cultural relics. through three-dimensional scanning, digital modeling and other technologies, cultural relics are digitized to realize the permanent preservation and online display of cultural relics. at the same time, multimedia technology is used to add words, pictures, audio, video and other information to cultural relics, so that the audience can better understand the historical background and cultural value of cultural relics. in addition, social media and online platforms have become important channels for the international dissemination of gansu culture. cultural institutions and tourism enterprises in gansu have opened accounts on social media to publish information about gansu culture and tourism, attracting a great many fans’ attention. the gansu provincial department of culture and tourism published gansu’s tourist attractions, folk culture, food and other content on weibo, wechat, douyin, tik tok and other platforms, attracting much praise and comments from netizens. some cultural celebrities and tourists in gansu also shared their experiences and feelings in gansu on social media, which played a positive role in promoting the spread of gansu culture. 4.2 challenges although digital technology provides more channels for the international dissemination of gansu culture, there is a lack of effective integration and optimization among these channels. different cultural institutions, tourism enterprises, etc. are fighting independently, and there is no joint force. for example, although some museums, cultural sites, etc. use digital technology to display cultural relics, they lack linkage with other channels, resulting in a limited number of audiences. although some social media accounts have published a large amount of gansu cultural and tourism information, the content quality is uneven, lacking systematicness and professionalism. at present, the digital content innovation of gansu culture is insufficient to meet the needs of the international market. some digital cultural exhibitions and tourism experience projects are single in form, lacking interactivity and interest; some content on social media lacks creativity and struggles to attract the attention of the audience. some vr exhibitions simply digitally display cultural relics, without combining stories, games and other elements, which makes the audience feel boring. some video content on social media simply shoots tourist attractions, without in-depth excavation and creative planning, which is difficult to resonate with the audience. the international communication of gansu culture needs personnel with professional knowledge and skills, including talents in language translation, cultural planning and marketing. however, at present, gansu is relatively short of talents in this field, which restricts the international spread of gansu culture. different countries and regions have great cultural differences, and language barriers also bring certain difficulties to the international spread of gansu culture. how to cross-cultural differences and language barriers and spread gansu culture in a way that is easy to understand and accept by international audiences is an urgent problem to be solved. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 112 published by scholink inc. 5. the enlightenment of rewi alley’s historical experience to the international communication of gansu culture in the digital age 5.1 using digital technology to inherit the spirit of rewi alley technologies like virtual reality (vr), augmented reality (ar) and other technologies could be applied to build rewi alley digital memorial hall. through three-dimensional modeling, panoramic shooting and other means, rewi alley’s life scenes and work achievements in gansu can be realistically restored, so that the audience can visit in a remote immersion and learn about rewi alley’s life story and spiritual connotation. for example, the audience can walk freely in the memorial hall and watch the exhibits at home through vr devices, as if they were there, and can also get detailed text, pictures or voice explanations by clicking on the exhibits. at the same time, the memorial hall can set up interactive links to allow the audience to participate in activities such as answering questions and leaving messages, so as to enhance the audience’s sense of participation and experience. a series of digital culture courses could be developed based on rewi alley’s experience, works and ideas advocated by him. these courses can cover rewi alley’s internationalist spirit, educational thought, understanding of chinese culture, etc., and are aimed at different age groups and audiences. for example, online courses for primary and secondary school students can be developed, and the story of rewi alley can be told through animation, games and other forms, so as to cultivate students’ international vision and cultural literacy. online lectures for adults can also be developed, and experts and scholars can be invited to deeply interpret rewi alley’s thoughts and spirit, so as to provide theoretical support for the international spread of gansu culture. 5.2 learning from historical communication methods and innovating digital communication strategies just as rewi alley wrote books to create digital content, it’s necessary to use words, pictures, audio, video and other forms to create digital content about gansu culture, such as e-books, documentaries, short videos, etc. for example, a documentary about gansu’s silk road culture can be made to show gansu’s important position and role in the silk road through on-the-spot shooting and expert interviews. besides, a series of short videos about gansu folk culture can be presented to show gansu folk customs and traditional culture through vivid and interesting stories and pictures. the way of rewi alley’s cultural relics donation to display digital cultural relics gives good implications for using digital technology in the process of collecting, sorting out and displaying the cultural relics in gansu, so that more people can appreciate the beauty of cultural relics in gansu. for example, the digital museum of gansu cultural relics can be set up, and high-definition pictures and 3d models of gansu cultural relics can be released to the world through the internet, so that audiences can enjoy gansu cultural relics online. ar technology can also be used to combine cultural relics with real scenes, so that the audience can see the virtual display of cultural relics through mobile phones and other devices when visiting scenic spots, thus enhancing the audience’s visiting experience. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 113 published by scholink inc. 5.3 cultivating international communication personnel adapted to the digital age rewi alley’s educational philosophy indicates that it is of great significance to pay attention to cultivating students’ practical ability and innovative spirit, so that students can master the knowledge, skills and approaches of digital technology and international communication in their studies. the international communication majors can be offered in colleges and universities, and courses such as digital technology, cultural planning and marketing can be set up to cultivate students’ professional quality. students can also participate in the international communication project of gansu culture through internship and practice, so as to improve their practical ability. at the same time, strengthen cooperation with international universities and institutions, carry out teacher-student exchanges, academic research and other activities, and broaden students’ international horizons. 5.4 strengthening international cooperation and expanding digital communication channels based on the international exchanges set up by rewi alley, we will further strengthen international cooperation and expand digital communication channels. it is expected to establish cooperative relations with international cultural institutions, tourism enterprises, social media platforms, etc. to jointly promote gansu culture. for example, we can cooperate with international museums, art galleries and other cultural institutions to hold gansu cultural exhibitions and exchange activities. we can also cooperate with international tourism enterprises to develop cultural tourism routes in gansu and attract international tourists to visit gansu. at the same time, international social media platforms are good choices to publish relevant information about gansu culture and tourism, and enhance the international popularity of gansu culture. 6. conclusion rewi alley has a profound historical origin with the international spread of gansu culture. he founded shandan bailie school in gansu, wrote books, donated cultural relics, built international exchange bridges, etc., and made great contributions to the international spread of gansu culture. his activities have enhanced gansu’s international popularity, cultivated talents with international vision, and promoted cultural exchanges and integration. in the digital age, the international communication of gansu culture is facing new opportunities and challenges. digital technology provides more channels and means for the international communication of gansu culture, but it also brings some problems, such as the integration and optimization of communication channels, digital content innovation, shortage of international communication talents, cultural differences and language barriers. in order to better promote the international communication of gansu culture, we need to learn from rewi alley’s historical experience, use digital technology to inherit his spirit, innovate digital communication strategies, cultivate international communication talents adapted to the digital age, strengthen international cooperation and expand digital communication channels. at the same time, we also need to constantly explore and innovate, combine the characteristics and advantages of gansu culture, and formulate a more www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 114 published by scholink inc. effective international communication strategy, so that gansu culture can bloom more brilliantly internationally. project fund this work is supported by the 2021 national philosophy and social science foundation project “compilation and research on the historical materials of rewi alley’s cultural writing activities in china (grant number: 21byy058), the 2022 gansu provincial philosophy and social science planning project “research on rewi alley and the construction of gansu’s international communication capability” (grant number: 2022qn032), the 2023 college teachers innovation fund of the gansu provincial education department “research on creation of the chinese image in the english translation of chinese poetry by rewi alley” (grant number: 2023a-123). references alley, r. (1986). rewi alley: an autobiography. beijing: new world press. brady, a. m. (2002). friend of china—the myth of rewi alley. london: taylor & francis ltd. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203221075 chapple, g. (1999). rewi alley of china. auckland: hodder and stoughton. cheng, y. f. (2014). research on rewi alley’s education in china. changsha: hunan normal university. edgar snow. (1941). china’s blitzbuilder, rewi alley. saturday evening post. liu, g. z. (2021). when dawei meets alley: we know china best. international talent exchange. margaret cooper. (2007). commemoration of the 110th anniversary of the birth of rewi alley. zhu, j. (2006). rewi alley in china. beijing: cpc history press. zhang, h. l. (2022). an analysis of the theory and practice of international communication capacity building—taking the study of chinese stories told by foreigners as an example. shenzhou scholar. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203221075 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 161 original paper combating trauma through a family approach in celeste ng’s everything i never told you huang siqi1 1 nanjing university of finance and economics, nanjing, china received: may 3, 2023 accepted: may 24, 2023 online published: june 15, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n2p161 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n2p161 abstract the novel everything i never told you by contemporary chinese-american author celeste ng portrays the challenges faced by a cross-cultural family consisting of james lee, a chinese-american university professor, and his white wife marilyn, in 1970s america. she explores the intergenerational trauma caused by cultural conflicts. centered around the death of their daughter lydia, the novel delves into the intergenerational trauma experienced by the members of this cross-cultural family due to familial and societal conflicts. it also depicts how the family members rebuild trust, reconcile with each other, and heal from their trauma. through this portrayal, the novel highlights the pressing need, amidst cultural clashes and social transformations, to embrace an inclusive and forward-looking perspective to embrace and adapt to the transformative changes. keywords intergenerational trauma, everything i never told you, self-redemption; trauma and recovery 1. introduction celeste ng, a contemporary female writer, is widely recognized for her collection of short stories published in various literary journals. the narrative unfolds in a white middle-class neighborhood in ohio during the 1970s, a time when the civil rights movement was awakening minority groups’ consciousness about their identities and their fight for empowerment. the story revolves around the disappearance and subsequent discovery of lydia lee, their middle daughter, in a nearby lake, which triggers a long-standing conflict rooted in intergenerational trauma within the family. the novel delves into the family’s past and present, exposing hidden secrets and tensions that had been brewing beneath the surface for years. all the main characters in the novel, who belong to marginalized sections of society, have endured some form of psychological trauma, and lydia’s intergenerational trauma ultimately leads to her tragic demise, serving as a form of self-redemption. according to ng’s belief, lydia attempted to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 162 published by scholink inc. repeatedly revisit her most cherished memories in order to cope with her struggles but succumbed to the pressures imposed by society and her family, ultimately choosing to end her own life. to alleviate the distress caused by their marginalized status, james took significant steps to combat the social ostracism associated with it, while marilyn strived to prove her intellectual and professional capabilities on par with her male colleagues. unfortunately, their children were unable to find their sense of self or experience redemption due to the impact of their parents’ cowardice and traumatic experiences. as an individual who identifies as an american citizen with chinese heritage, ng shares a deep and meaningful emotional connection with asian culture, which she longs to explore. this fascination is not only rooted in her personal identity but also nurtured by her ancestors’ upbringing and the cultivation of cultural awareness. from a young age, ng immersed herself in the works of chinese-american authors such as amy tan and maxine hong kingston, allowing her to grasp the transformative influence of culture on individuals’ lives. in ng’s literary works, her characters stand out from traditional portrayals of chinese americans in literature by focusing on their unique stories rather than solely emphasizing their asian traits. ng’s objective is to challenge stereotypes and initiate conversations about these narratives themselves and their connection to the world around them, encouraging readers to adopt a fresh perspective. previous studies on the novel have explored themes of psychological trauma, marginalized writing, and identity crises, often examining the concept of intergenerational trauma. these analyses align with an intersectional feminist approach, which explores trauma among minority family members and aligns with the research direction of this thesis. 2. theoretical framework considering that the lee family’s trauma stems from psychological factors and requires collective addressing, incorporating psychoanalytic approaches would assist in a more lucid and intuitive examination of the characters’ mental well-being and behavioral tendencies. drawing from psychoanalytic theories, this thesis leverages the insights of judith herman and murray bowen, whose respective theories have been influential in trauma recovery and the restoration of familial connections. to begin with, within this thesis, herman’s trauma theory is employed to analyze the development of trauma experienced by the novel’s characters and their corresponding behavioral patterns. judith herman, an esteemed american psychiatrist and researcher, is renowned for her extensive investigations into trauma and its impact on individuals, notably in her book “trauma and recovery” (1992). this work outlines a three-stage model of recovery, involving establishing safety, recounting the traumatic event, and reconnecting with others. herman’s research underscores the importance of comprehending the social and cultural contexts surrounding trauma, particularly in relation to women, including domestic violence, sexual abuse, and human trafficking. secondly, murray bowen’s family systems theory is adopted as a complementary theory to herman’s. bowen emphasizes understanding the family as a system, where changes in one individual or subsystem www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 163 published by scholink inc. can reverberate throughout the entire family unit. he introduces the concept of family systems dynamics, encompassing patterns and rules that govern family functioning. these dynamics include differentiation of self, triangulation, and emotional fusion. differentiation of self pertains to an individual’s ability to differentiate their thoughts, feelings, and identity from those of their family members. triangulation occurs when conflict between two individuals involves a third person, further complicating family dynamics. emotional fusion refers to the level of emotional interconnectedness and enmeshment within the family system. bowen’s theory highlights anxiety as a driving force behind dysfunctional patterns within families. he posits that anxiety and emotional reactivity can propagate within the family system, perpetuating unhealthy communication and behavioral patterns. bowen’s perspective offers an alternative approach to recovering from intergenerational psychological trauma. thus, the research framework of this paper is based on murray bowen’s family systems theory and judith herman’s three-stage recovery process, aiding in the analysis of the formation, expression, and intergenerational transmission of family intergenerational trauma. although their research focuses differ, both herman and bowen’s theories emphasize trauma, the subconscious mind, and recovery, with a strong emphasis on the role of unconscious processes, inner conflict, and the significance of psychotherapy. herman, in particular, places significant importance on the origin of trauma in adults and females, which is valuable for analyzing intergenerational trauma and promoting the self-preservation of the lee family. this rationale underlies their theories’ capacity to provide a comprehensive analysis of the entire process of psychological trauma formation and the lee family’s self-preservation. by combining family systems theory and trauma theory, this thesis aims to achieve a deeper understanding of the characters’ psychological states and behavioral patterns in the novel and ultimately propose solutions for healing intergenerational trauma. 3. the journey towards post-traumatic growth 3.1 post-traumatic growth of james murray bowen’s family systems theory is a psychoanalytic approach that underscores the interconnectedness of family members and the dynamics of their relationships. according to bowen, individuals are an integral part of a larger emotional system, which is their family, and their behavior is influenced by the emotional patterns and dynamics within this system. one of the core concepts in bowen’s theory is differentiation, which pertains to an individual’s capacity to distinguish their emotional processes from those of their family system. by recognizing and addressing dysfunctional patterns within the family, individuals can strive for increased emotional differentiation and healing. differentiation, as defined by bowen, is “a fundamental life process that shapes the way people navigate emotional togetherness and emotional separateness in their relationships with others” (p. 478). bowen suggests that promoting healthier communication and relationships can alleviate strained family dynamics. in the novel, as family members gradually interact more, they gain insight into each other’s thoughts and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 164 published by scholink inc. emotions, leading to reduced misunderstandings and tension. ultimately, they can collectively confront their pain and challenges, healing the wounds and disagreements that exist within the family. post-traumatic growth refers to positive psychological transformations that can occur in individuals who have faced significant trauma, adversity, or challenging life events. according to bowen, ptsd often arises from unresolved emotional attachments and the failure to process the associated anxiety (p. 156). while trauma can cause distress and long-term negative effects, post-traumatic growth proposes that it can also contribute to positive changes in individuals’ personal lives, relationships, and overall sense of self. the study of children of trauma survivors revealed that older individuals were more susceptible to intergenerational trauma transmission, possibly due to their greater responsibilities or being born closer to the end of the war (lin et al., p. 1669). this was evident in lee’s family, where nath suffered from deliberate neglect by his mother. following the tragic event of lydia’s death, every family member was deeply shaken and began seeking redemption. according to family systems theory, within a closed and limited communication circle, parents and children often engaged in substitutive identification, with parents finding survival through their children, and children experiencing their parents’ trauma, leading to blurred boundaries. young children’s perception of society was shaped by their parents, and the absence of positive emotional feedback from parents resulted in negation and indifference, which could lead to the development of timid and withdrawn behavior. following the loss of his daughter lydia, james started revealing his sensitive and vulnerable side in two specific ways. firstly, he occasionally pondered whether his desire to assimilate into american society had contributed to his daughter’s suffering and oppression. this self-reflection evoked feelings of anger towards other family members, triggering both physical and emotional reactions like excitement and anger. these reactions might have served as a protective mechanism to cope with the trauma, as suggested by herman (1992), who argues that traumatic events sever the supportive bonds between individuals and their community, leading to “feelings of helplessness and despair” (p. 37). this loss of control can result in frustration and anger. when nath was caught searching for food in the refrigerator, james became angry and demanded to know if his son had the right to enter his own kitchen after a hard day’s work, questioning, “what do you mean, you didn’t expect me?” (ng, p. 197). given the neglect nath had experienced, james’ anger was justified. secondly, the traumatic event heightened his sensitivity towards belonging. on his way home from meeting his lover louisa, james encountered the vibrant balloons adorning the streets in anticipation of american independence day. this situation, akin to the secondgeneration female characters in the joy luck club (1993), accentuated the challenge of comprehending cultural festivities and customs when one’s family foundation is rooted in a different culture. this sense of displacement can be viewed as racial trauma, stemming from a history of racism and exploitation. descendants of chinese immigrants may feel compelled to alter themselves to fit into society, yet struggle to attain a genuine sense of cultural identity. nath’s apology did little to ease james’ anger. moreover, marilyn also faced internal struggles and actively sought self-redemption following a traumatic event. she frequently visited lydia’s room, searching for clues. unlike james, she confronted www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 165 published by scholink inc. her own pain instead of avoiding it and held herself responsible. she recollected her mother’s cookbook, which she interpreted as a sign that lydia understood her desires, emphasizing that her daughter would never be confined to the kitchen (ng, p. 247). this signified marilyn’s yearning for more—knowledge, social status, and the like. marilyn removed the einstein poster and periodic table from lydia’s room wall, symbols of her expectations. she began to realize that lydia had never wanted to fulfill those expectations but had done so to bring her mother happiness. it’s noteworthy that before becoming a fulltime homemaker, marilyn was an exceptional student, displaying learning abilities and concentration beyond the ordinary. consequently, she diligently transferred the maternal love lydia lacked to hanna. when hanna was discovered hiding outside the door, marilyn readily embraced her. in family systems theory, the connections among family members play a crucial role in healing from trauma. bowen argues that “the way family members interact within the family system significantly impacts the emotional and behavioral functioning of individual members” (p. 341). marilyn recognized that her excessive expectations for lydia could become overwhelming, leading her to no longer neglect hanna’s emotional needs deliberately. additionally, nath, lydia’s brother and closest friend, was deeply traumatized by her death. they were always there for each other, but their relationship also inflicted trauma. nath’s exceptional academic performance became an invisible pressure on lydia, who sought to please their mother through hard work. lydia, who monopolized their parents’ love, also sowed seeds of resentment and rebellion in nath’s heart. psychologist salvador minuchin asserts that “when parents dismiss their child’s experiences or emotional needs, the child may become angry, frustrated, or anxious, and may seek alternative means to fulfill those needs. this can lead to increased tension within the family system, further disrupting interaction and trust among family members” (p. 73). after nath left for college, lydia lost nearly all her friends as they were the only chinese siblings at school. she desperately called nath, but his laughter on the other end of the phone left nath feeling adrift. lydia was forever the center of their parents’ attention, and no matter how hard nath studied, he couldn’t gain their approval. however, after lydia’s death, he began blaming himself for not calling her due to impatience and jealousy. in the phone call, he lamented, “i don’t have time for this” (ng, p. 264). according to judith herman’s recovery theory, neglected children go through three stages: denial, self-blame, and recovery. during the denial and self-blame stage, nath couldn’t accept lydia’s death and believed his jealousy caused it. when he encountered the troubled jack, he held him responsible for teaching lydia bad things. however, even though the physical scars from their altercation healed quickly, the emotional scars did not. nath began understanding lydia and made the same choice their mother did. he started caring for his other sister and making up for his previous failure as an older brother. furthermore, the youngest member of the family, hanna, has also undergone traumatic experiences. unlike her parents and siblings, hanna’s trauma primarily originates from within the family. due to their internal wounds, her parents and older siblings have neglected her, leading to her tendency to take items that others in the family don’t use. when lydia first went missing, hanna placed blame on her sister for www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 166 published by scholink inc. abandoning the family, expressing, “how could you, when you knew what it was like” (ng, p. 102). the family holds utmost significance for hanna, and she struggles to comprehend her sister’s actions. on the night of lydia’s disappearance, hanna witnessed her sister heading towards the lake, and in an attempt to understand lydia’s behavior, hanna secretly practiced walking towards the lake for three weeks. in psychology, this phenomenon, where a child imitates a sibling, is often referred to as a “sister complex,” in which a younger child tries to compete with a more attention-seeking sibling, leading to a range of emotional challenges and dilemmas. “a child may become stuck in their developmental phase and exhibit behavior more similar to that of the sibling at their age. this behavior often serves as an attempt to escape reality, possibly due to disruptions in the child’s own childhood experiences or having undergone more traumas compared to the sibling” (herman, p. 126). during many nights spent seeking answers to this issue, hanna frequently recalls the last conversation she had with lydia, “don’t ever smile if you don’t want to” (ng, p. 261). this reflects lydia’s own unresolved trauma, which she couldn’t overcome, but she imparted her courage and belief to hanna. as mentioned earlier, because hanna is still young, her parents and family members constitute her entire world. therefore, as her parents and siblings start showering her with love, her series of behaviors resulting from neglect begin to fade away. 3.2 the self-restoration and parents-children reconciliation after experiencing internal conflict and attempting to find a solution, lee’s family came to understand that their home was the ideal environment for personal redemption and mutual healing of their traumas. recognizing that parental influence played a significant role in the intergenerational trauma within their family, the parents sought reconciliation with their children. nath and hanna also worked on developing self-awareness, using love as a binding force that united the family and helped alleviate the ptsd caused by their past traumas. initially, following the police investigation, james received a call informing him that the case would be closed as a suicide (ng, p. 200). this news brought relief to james, an asian-american man who empathized with lydia’s experiences and misfortunes. he realized that lydia’s misfortunes were rooted in her own identity, considering how her circumstances might have been different if she were a white girl and he a white man (ng, p. 201). filled with this realization, james hastily left his house and went to his lover louisa’s place, where she had prepared a dish from his childhood, char siu bau, a chinese food item he hadn’t eaten in over four decades. as james tasted the food, it felt like a sweet, salty, and warm kiss (ng, p. 205). food often symbolizes the nourishment of the soul in various cultures. in james’s case, he needed something to “fill” the emotional void left by lydia’s suicide, and louisa’s char siu bau served as a form of healing for his psychological trauma. just as food satisfies physical hunger, it can also address emotional hunger, as scholliers (2001) discusses in his paper on the symbolic nature of food, which represents people’s values, beliefs, identity, culture, and social relations (p. 2). in the midst of his disappointment with his own life and his longing for lydia, james engaged in a sexual encounter with louisa. in a soft voice, he told her, “you’re the kind of girl i should have married” (ng, p. 205). through this statement, james expressed remorse for not marrying a chinese-american girl like www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 167 published by scholink inc. louisa, indicating his belief that he should not have married marilyn to gain societal acceptance. however, james was also hesitant to marry louisa because he didn’t want to sever ties with his family and give up his social standing. this hesitation stemmed largely from his upbringing in a family environment where he lacked a strong emotional bond with his parents, preventing him from fully understanding the crucial role that family plays in a person’s growth and development. according to john bowlby’s attachment theory, humans possess an innate need for intimate relationships that influence their emotional development and personal characteristics. this need for attachment extends to romantic relationships, shaping people’s behavior and emotions within them. bowlby’s theory suggests that individuals who had insecure attachment experiences during childhood may struggle to maintain stable and healthy adult relationships (p. 194). louisa, who shared the same cultural background and identity as james, provided the attachment he lacked during his formative years. thus, james’s heartfelt sentiment expressed his internal struggle between seeking a sense of belonging and security and fulfilling his familial responsibilities. although louisa and james shared a common cultural identity that offered some emotional fulfillment, james could never abandon his family. his utilitarian approach led him to prioritize returning to his family, allowing him to resume his previous life once his family overcame the psychological trauma caused by lydia’s death. according to bowen’s family systems theory, familial relationships are interconnected, and tension among family members may arise due to the instability of the family system. when one member starts to change their behavior, it can trigger reactions from others and lead to changes within the family system. simultaneously, marilyn began to recognize that her past attitude towards james may have contributed to his disillusionment with the family. taking the initiative, she sought out louisa and informed her that she was waiting for james at home. james understood marilyn’s gesture and prepared to return home to face everything. marilyn grappled with feelings of inadequacy and unfulfilled dreams, prompting her to reflect on the psychological trauma she had unintentionally caused james with her thoughtless words. through silence, marilyn and james began to heal their relationship. she sat, hugging her knees like a little girl, attempting to bridge the gaps between what james had said, what he thought, and what he truly meant (ng, pp. 212-213). secondly, towards the end of the novel, marilyn and james acknowledge that the strained relationship caused by their racial differences has finally been acknowledged. they find solace in silence, realizing that it is all they need to communicate (ng, p. 282). in addition, marilyn and james apologize to each other through physical intimacy. in a moment of silence, marilyn initiates contact by lightly touching james’s hand, which he can barely feel. as he looks down, he sees marilyn’s fingers curled over his, offering a gentle squeeze. it had been so long since he had felt her touch. even this small gesture of forgiveness meant a lot to him (ng, p. 283). marilyn chooses a gentler approach to reconcile their marriage by utilizing silence and intimacy as a bond. she expresses her true feelings and makes efforts to establish a more open and closer relationship, aiming to heal each other’s wounds together. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 168 published by scholink inc. james’s and marilyn’s traumas, as previously discussed, stem from different sources. however, lydia serves as the bond that maintains the facade of harmony within the family while concealing her own inner emotions. marilyn searches through lydia’s bedroom in an attempt to understand what happened to her and discovers a series of diaries that she had given to lydia since she was five years old, only to find them all blank. determined to uncover the truth, marilyn vows to figure out what happened to lydia, who is responsible, and what went wrong (ng, p. 76). in the face of challenges or stress, a family system can create a tense and unstable emotional atmosphere, influencing the behavior and emotions of its members. bowen believed that the core of the family system lies in its self-differentiation ability, which plays a crucial role in family healing. self-differentiation refers to the ability to separate reason from emotion, and the greater the differentiation of self, the better individuals can cope with stress and maintain their self-integrity in the face of emotional pressures from others (bowen, p. 99). this is essential for emotional healing within families. in the novel, lydia, as the central focus of the family, struggles to establish her own identity separate from others. she blames herself when her parents argue, and she insists that her brother nath call back when he rebels and doesn’t answer the phone. she tries to bridge the distance between family members and find a sense of security through her efforts. it is not until lydia’s crush, jack, talks to her that she realizes her self-sacrifice stems from fear fear that her mother will leave again and the family will fall apart. consequently, she feels compelled to continue fulfilling her parents’ expectations. before lydia walks to the center of the lake at the end of the novel, she realizes that she wants a fresh start. bowen also noted that in a family system, the emotional relationships between individuals are interconnected. he stated that the behavior of one family member inevitably affects the behavior of others, creating an interlocking system of mutual influence (bowen, p. 19). in the end, lydia achieves differentiation within herself and makes a reasoned choice, hoping to alleviate the indelible trauma for her parents and the family as a whole. while sitting in lydia’s bedroom, searching for the truth that lydia never revealed, marilyn finally understands why lydia chose silence. it is during this time that marilyn realizes the absence of a parent-child bond, prompting her to reconnect with her children. she reaches out to nath, who has been grappling with grief and guilt, encouraging him to pursue his passion for astronomy. she also dedicates more time to hannah, taking her on outings and making an effort to better understand her youngest child. thirdly, nath confronts his feelings of anger and resentment towards his father james, allowing him to break free from emotional disconnection. nath has long felt that james favored lydia over him, and after lydia’s death, he becomes increasingly distant from his father. on the other hand, hannah overcomes emotional disconnection by observing and learning from the experiences of her siblings and parents. although initially a peripheral character in the novel, hannah’s keen observations of her family members’ struggles and emotional disconnections enable her to develop empathy and understanding. despite being the most reserved character, hannah utilizes silence to her advantage and holds significant agency. she represents the compromise resulting from her parents’ failed attempts to assimilate into society. having www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 169 published by scholink inc. not received excessive love or intervention from her parents, she becomes a primal force within the family, capable of healing intergenerational trauma. by the end of the novel, she manages to establish deeper connections with her family members, especially her mother marilyn. the disclosure and confrontation of trauma can be challenging and emotionally demanding, and the approaches adopted by nath, lydia, and hannah may vary based on their individual experiences and coping mechanisms. 4. conclusion in summary, this thesis highlights the importance of the family structure in healing intergenerational trauma within the family. it explores trauma formation, its manifestations, and the coping strategies employed by the lee family. drawing on theories by herman and bowen, the thesis examines the root causes of trauma in james and marilyn and emphasizes the significance of trauma recovery within the family system. the study underscores the need for an open and positive mindset, mutual understanding, and the rebuilding of stable family relationships for effective trauma healing. this is particularly relevant in cross-ethnic families, where conflicts arising from different educational philosophies and parenting styles can lead to severe psychological trauma. the family unit plays a crucial role in reducing and recovering from intergenerational trauma, offering opportunities for personal redemption and cooperative healing within the familial structure. additionally, the thesis provides valuable insights into resolving conflicts and traumas in inter-ethnic families and addresses the psychological trauma resulting from unfair treatment of ethnic minorities and women at the societal level. as cross-cultural interactions continue to shape our global society, the study of conflicts and traumas arising from cultural differences becomes increasingly important. the rise in inter-ethnic marriages and immigration calls for a comprehensive understanding of intergenerational trauma and its impact on parents and children. adopting an inclusive and forward-thinking perspective is essential in embracing and adapting to these transformative shifts. reference bowen, m. (1993). family therapy in clinical practice. jason aronson, print. herman, j. (1992). complex ptsd: a syndrome in survivors of prolonged and repeated trauma. journal of traumatic stress, 5(3), 377-391. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.2490050305 herman, j. l. (1998). recovery from psychological trauma. psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, 52, 98-103. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1819.1998.0520s5s145.x herman, j. l. (2015). trauma and recovery: the aftermath of violence--from domestic abuse to political terror. hachette uk, print. hochschild, a., & anne, m. (1989). working parents and the revolution at home. new york: viking, print. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.2490050305 https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1819.1998.0520s5s145.x www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 2, 2023 170 published by scholink inc. kerr, m., & bowen, m. (1988). family evaluation: an approach based on bowen theory. w.w. norton & company, print. kim, s. y. et al. (2013). does “tiger parenting” exist? parenting profiles of chinese americans and adolescent developmental outcomes. asian american journal of psychology, 4(1), 7-18. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030612 lin, y. et al. (2013). the intergenerational transmission of trauma. advances in psychological science, 21(9), 1667-1676. https://doi.org/10.3724/sp.j.1042.2013.01667 minuchin, s. (1974). families and family therapy. cambridge, ma: harvard university press. print. https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674041127 ng, c. (2015). everything i never told you: a novel. penguin, print. ng, c. (2022). our missing hearts. penguin press, print. tan, a. (2006). the joy luck club: a novel. penguin, print. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030612 https://doi.org/10.3724/sp.j.1042.2013.01667 https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674041127 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper the composite abstract lexical structure of interlanguage and its implications for second language acquisition longxing wei1* 1 department of linguistics, montclair state university, new jersey, usa * longxing wei, department of linguistics, montclair state university, new jersey, usa received: july 31, 2023 accepted: august 19, 2023 online published: september 5, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n4p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n4p1 abstract this paper explores the nature of interlanguage with a focus on its lexical structure in relation to second language acquisition. the lexical structure of any language is assumed to be ‘abstract’ in that the mental lexicon contains ‘lemmas’, which are pieces of information about individual lexemes at three abstract levels: lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and morphological realization patterns. the abstract lexical structure of il is assumed to be ‘composite’ in that during the process of second language acquisition several linguistic systems are in contact, each of which contributes different amounts to interlanguage (i.e., the developing linguistic system). this study claims that lemmas are language-specific and the bilingual mental lexicon contains cross-linguistic lemmas at each of these abstract levels. it further claims that bilingual lemmas are in contact in interlanguage production, and it is cross-lemma variations in the composite abstract lexical structure of interlanguage which induce learner errors. naturally occurring interlanguage production data for the study include several first and second language pairs. based on the research findings, this study concludes that interlanguage variations are driven by an incompletely acquired abstract lexical structure of a target language and offers some implications for second language acquisition. keywords composite, abstract, lexical structure, lemma, lexical-conceptual, predicate-argument 1. introduction in studies of second language acquisition (sla), four theories or models have been recognized to account for sources of learner errors. the first theory is the that second language (l2) learners tend to employ their first language (l1) knowledge and other languages known to them in their production of the target language (tl) items (lado, 1957). this theory regards l1 influence as a major source of learner www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 2 published by scholink inc. errors. the second theory is that l2 learners always test their hypotheses formed on the basis of the l2 data available to them (dulay, burt, & krashen, 1982). this theory claims that l2 learners always rely on whatever l2 knowledge as acquired at any moment of learning in their l2 production. it puts no or much less emphasis on l1 influence. the third theory is that several linguistic systems are involved in l2 learning, such as learners’ native language (nl) (i.e., l1), their tl (i.e., l2), and their interlanguage (il) (i.e., developing linguistic system), each of which plays its role in sla (selinker, 1972; eubank, selinker, & sharwood smith, 1995; wei, 2015). this theory claims it is the interaction of these linguistic systems which contributes to learner errors. the fourth theory is that the nature and activity of the bilingual mental lexicon determine the process of il development and learner errors are the outcome of bilingual lemmas in contact (jake, 1998; myers-scotton & jake, 2000; wei, 2000a, 2000b). wei (2002, 2003) proposes the bilingual lemma activation (bla) model of sla in terms of the composite abstract lexical structure of il. this model relates sources of learner errors to the nature and activity of the bilingual mental lexicon at an abstract level. adopting the bla model, this study makes three assumptions about il as a developing linguistic system. the first assumption is that the mental lexicon contains ‘lemmas’, which are pieces of information about individual lexemes (levelt, 1989). lemmas of the mental lexicon are language-specific (myers-scotton & jake, 2000; wei, 2002). the second assumption is that lexical structure is ‘abstract’ because of the abstractness of lemmas in three discrete but interacting subsystems: lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and morphological realization patterns. the third assumption is that the abstract lexical structure of il is ‘composite’ because it has sources from the learner’s l1 and/or tl. parts of the lexical structure from the learner’s l1 may influence the lexical structure of incompletely acquired tl lexical entries in constructing il utterances. several nl-tl pairs are included for the study: japanese-english, chinese-english, and english-japanese. some typical instances of l1 lemma transfer involving other nl-tl pairs are also cited in support of the claim that the composite and abstract nature of the lexical structure underlying il is one of the major sources of learning difficulty and learner errors. 2. lexical structure and its abstractness lexical structure is abstract in that lexemes contain more abstract elements than surface lexical items. such abstract elements are called ‘lemmas’ of the mental lexicon. for example, the lemmas for she require this pronoun to be used of a female and any main verb in the present tense to be inflected with -s for the subject-verb agreement; the lemmas for kill require a subject noun to express the thematic role of agent and an object noun to express the thematic role of theme, and these lexical items to be arranged in a particular order; the lemmas for give require a subject noun to express the thematic role of agent, a direct object noun to express the thematic role of theme, and an indirect object noun to express the thematic role of recipient, and these lexical items to be arranged in two possible orders: subject—indirect object—direct object (john gave mary a gift) or subject—direct object—indirect www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 3 published by scholink inc. object introduced by a preposition (john gave a gift to mary). lemmas also contain information about a verb’s subcategorization frame (i.e., each verb is subcategorized for the number of argument nouns and their respective thematic roles), and information about a lexical item’s phonological segments and composition, its syllable structure and its accent structure. lemmas may also contain information about a lexical item’s register, the kind of discourse it enters into, its pragmatics, stylistics, and affect. lexical structure is abstract because lexemes have more abstract elements than surface lexical items and such abstract elements make lexical structure complex and abstract (kempen & huijbers, 1983; talmy, 1985; rappaport & levin, 1988; jackendoff, 1990; roelofs, 1992; levelt, 1989, 1995; bock & levelt, 1994; kroll & de groot, 1997). to be more specific, abstract lexical structure contains three subsystems as indicated in figure 1. figure 1. abstract lexical structure ‘lexical-conceptual structure’ conflates universally available conceptual information about lexical entries as prelexical feature bundles; ‘predicate-argument structure’ specifies the properties of verbs in terms of their subcategorization frames, the number of arguments they may take and the thematic role each argument receives; ‘morphological realization patterns’ spell out surface devices for word order, agreement, tense/aspect/voice/mood marking, etc. these subsystems play their respective and interactive roles in language production (myers-scotton & jake, 1995, 2000; jake, 1998; fuller, 1999; wei, 2001, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 4 published by scholink inc. 2002, 2003). the lexical-conceptual structure of a particular lexeme contains its semantic and pragmatic feature bundles and pointers to other lexemes with which it occurs. lexical-conceptual structure maps onto predicate-argument structure because the theta criterion (i.e., each required argument must be assigned a particular thematic role) requires the mapping of lexical-conceptual structure onto predicate-argument structure. predicate-argument structure ensures each thematic role assignment and then maps onto morphological realization patterns which encode the realization of a particular morpheme or word order for surface speech production. for example, the english morphological realization patterns encode the realization of the thematic role of theme as an object of a verb: john gave a gift to mary, as an object introduced by a verb-satellite: the kind man gave up his seat/gave his seat up to the old woman, as an object introduced by a verb + preposition: mary listened to john’s story, as an object introduced by a noun + preposition: the reporter interviewed the students of linguistics, or as object introduced by an adjective + preposition: the students of linguistics are proud of their achievements. it becomes clear that lexical structure in the mental lexicon becomes abstract because it cannot be clearly observed at any surface level but at a deep level of the mental lexicon. this deep level is abstract because the mental lexicon does not simply contain lexemes and their semantic content but lemmas, which are defined as abstract entries in the mental lexicon that support the surface realization of actual lexemes. furthermore, what makes lexical structure complex and abstract is that it contains three subsystems, which are sequentially related to each other in speech production. 3. abstract lexical structure of interlanguage and its composition like every linguistic system, the developing linguistic system of il also has its abstract lexical structure, which also contains three discrete and interacting subsystems. one of the most important assumptions underlying the bla model is that lemmas are language-specific in the bilingual mental lexicon, and language specific-specific lemmas are in contact in il production. this is because il is always the learner language which shows the surface forms of the intended tl, but it also contains abstract lexical structures from both the l1 and the tl (myers-scotton, 1994; jake, 1998; wei, 2000a, 2000b, 2002). it is in this sense that the abstract lexical structure of il is composite. the composite nature of the abstract lexical structure of il is illustrated in figure 2. abstract lexical structure is modular and can be split and recombined in novel, yet constrained ways in constructing the il system (jake, 1998). il abstract lexical structure has various sources. this is because at various stages of sla, parts of the abstract lexical structure of learners’ l1 may influence the abstract lexical structure of incompletely acquired tl. in other words, learners’ l1 may contribute different amounts of its abstract lexical structure to the tl abstract lexical structure along the il continuum (selinker, 1972). consequently, each of the three subsystems of the il abstract lexical structure may contain elements (i.e., lemmas underlying lexical entries) from learners’ l1 and/or tl. it is different sources or a mixture of different sources which make the il abstract lexical structure composite. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 5 published by scholink inc. figure 2. composite abstract lexical structure of il il is an incremental and transitional linguistic system and must be governed by some underlying principles. jake (1998) proposes two such principles: “the target-language principle: to the extent possible, construct the il from the tl lexical structure” (jake, 1998, p. 341). this is because starting in early stages of l2 learning, learners attempt to construct the developing il from the tl abstract lexical structure. “all il surface structures are projected by tl-based lexical items in the grammatical system underlying il” (jake, 1998, p. 342). due to the composite nature of the abstract lexical structure of il, language transfer or influence of l1 abstract lexical structure is unavoidable but must be sufficiently target-like so as to contribute to the developing system of il. as predicted, all language transfer or l1 influence is tl-orientated (kellerman, 1986; giacobbe, 1992; wei, 2000a, 2000b). “the complete-projection principle: to the extent possible, satisfy the requirements of the grammar of the matrix language through the specification of all requisite grammatical features of the entries in the mental lexicon (i.e., lemmas)” (jake, 1998, p. 342). this principle stipulates that l2 learners attempt to fill all levels of the abstract lexical structure (i.e., each of the three subsystems) of il based on their current knowledge of the abstract lexical structure of the tl. that is, the tl abstract entries in the mental lexicon (i.e., lemmas) must be as completely specified as possible in order to project lexical properties onto syntax (levelt, 1989). this is because in various stages of learning learners may not have full access or have only partial access to the grammatical system whose phrase structures are projected by the tl lexical entries in the mental lexicon (wei, 2002). thus, when the tl lexical entries in the bilingual www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 6 published by scholink inc. mental lexicon are insufficiently acquired or incompletely specified, certain features of the l1 abstract lexical structure may be involved in learners’ l2 production to meet their immediate communicative needs, resulting in an incomplete projection of the tl lexical entries. abstract lexical entries in the bilingual mental lexicon are assumed to be language-specific and are in contact in il production. the complete projection of the tl abstract lexical structure “through the specification of all requisite grammatical features of the entries in the mental lexicon (i.e., lemmas)” (jake, 1998, p. 342) can be achieved only incompletely by l2 learners. as commonly observed in sla, il abstract lexical structure in various stages of learning reflects learners’ incomplete projection of tl abstract lexical structure and may contain certain linguistic features of learners’ both l1 and tl, resulting in the composite abstract lexical structure of il. figure 3. bilingual abstract lexical structure continuum figure 3 illustrates that in the early stage of l2 learning, the bilingual abstract lexical structure is a composite due to the lack of learners’ full access to the tl abstract lexical structure. according jake’s target-language principle (1998), l2 learners always try to use the tl lexical items even though their selection of those items may be caused by their incomplete knowledge of each level of the tl abstract lexical structure (i.e., lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and morphological realization patterns). as l2 learning progresses, learners will gradually separate tl/l2 and nl/l1 abstract lexical structures along the bilingual abstract lexical structure continuum, from ‘composite’ to ‘compound’, and then from ‘compound’ to ‘coordinate’. according to jake’s complete-projection principle (1998), as learners acquire more and more knowledge of the lemmas for particular tl lexical items, their bilingual abstract lexical structure will expand to make the tl lexicalization patterns possible. figure 3 predicts that when bilingual abstract lexical structure becomes ‘compound’, there will be less nl/l1 influence, and that when bilingual abstract lexical structure become ‘coordinate’, learners will be able to separate their nl/l1 abstract from their tl/l2 abstract lexical structure and have full access to the latter. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 7 published by scholink inc. 4. interlanguage construction projected by bilingual lemmas in contact the bla model (wei, 2002, 2003) assumes that the abstract lexical structure of il is a composite and lemmas in the bilingual mental lexicon are in contact in il production. the bla model offers several implications for il construction. first is the implication that, as evidenced in other language-contact situations, il construction is a linguistic outcome from learners’ l1 and tl in contact at abstract levels. to be more specific, lemmas in the bilingual mental lexicon are in contact in il production. second is the implication that il construction is necessarily projected by its composite abstract lexical structure, which lacks certain aspects of the abstract lexical structure of the tl. learners may turn back on their l1 abstract lexical structure and/or their partially acquired tl abstract lexical structure in order to frame il constituents. third is the implication that language transfer or l1 influence should be understood as lemma transfer of l1 lexical structure at several abstract levels: lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and morphological realization patterns. such a transfer becomes necessary and unavoidable for learners to fill particular gaps in the incompletely acquired tl abstract lexical structure. however, the contributions of l1 abstract lexical structure at various abstract levels are more constrained than those of the tl to the composite abstract lexical structure of il. under the assumption that il construction is projected by bilingual lemmas in contact, the bla model regards learner errors as incomplete projection of tl abstract lexical structure at each of the three abstract levels. 4.1 incomplete projection of tl lexical-conceptual structure lexical-conceptual structure is the first subsystem of abstract lexical structure. as claimed by levelt (1989) and bierwisch and schreuder (1992), the conceptual structure may not be language-specific, but, as proposed by talmy (1985), jackendoff (1991) and levin and pinker (1991), languages may differ in lexicalizing the components of a particular conceptual structure. there is abundant evidence that il lexical-conceptual structure of certain lexemes may be influenced by semantic/pragmatic features from l1 counterparts. one often cited example is from talmy (1985, p. 69) for the notion of language-specific lexicalization patterns: the bottle floated into the cave. la botolla entró flotando en la cueva. the bottle entered floating into the cave the above example shows that the lexicalization pattern differs across the two languages. in english motion with manner or condition of movement can be conflated into a single lexical item: float, but in spanish the notion of floating is expressed periphrastically by using the gerund: flotando. “lemmas in the mental lexicon are argued to form a connection between the lexical features and conceptual features, which map to and from syntax” (cf. kroll & de groot, 1997; wei, 2020, p. 58). “conceptual equivalence facilitates l2 vocabulary learning through positive transfer …, partial (non)equivalence facilitates learning through partial overlap (positive transfer), yet also complicates it when learners assume complete equivalence and display negative transfer …; non-equivalence simultaneously www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 8 published by scholink inc. complicates learning, as learners have to develop new categories …” (pavlenko, 2009, p. 152). similarly, the bla model relates incomplete projection of tl lexical-conceptual structure to the nature of the bilingual mental lexicon. it claims that because some of the l2 lexical items are not yet fully specified in terms of their semantic, pragmatic, syntactic and/or morphological information, learners’ l2 lexicon may be partial or incomplete (wei, 2002, 2020). that is why learners’ l2 lexicon is recognized as their il lexicon. as commonly practiced in sla, when the incompletely acquired l2 lexical items are insufficient for learners to convey their communicative intentions or intended meanings, they may turn to the similar or seemingly equivalent lexical items in their l1, resulting in incomplete projection of tl lexical-conceptual structure (wei, 1995, 2015; dewaele, 1998; jake, 1998). in other words, learners’ l1 lexicalization patterns may come into play in il production (talmy, 1985; choi & bowerman, 1991; wei, 2020). such a phenomenon has been commonly observed in sla research. as shown in figure 2, lexical-conceptual structure as the first level of l1 abstract lexical structure in the composite abstract lexical structure of il may instigate inappropriate lexical choices in il production. for example, (the expected l2 lexical items are indicated in the brackets), there are many works (jobs) in the city (zughoul, 1991). … they thought it’s a good possibility (chance) to catch him … (lennon, 1991). to count (take) someone’s pulse (biskup, 1992). i go to the oven (bakery) in the morning to buy bread. my father is a long (tall) thin man (jiang, 2000). you close (turn off) the light (wei, 1995). the bla model assumes that lemmas as abstract entries in the bilingual mental lexicon are language-specific, and such language-specific lemmas can be activated in il production before the acquisition of tl abstract lexical structure. if this happens, in this case, tl lexical-conceptual structure becomes incompletely projected. in other words, l1 lexical-conceptual structure can be transferred in il production. it is the transfer of l1 lexical-conceptual structure which causes inappropriate lexical choices. [1] she now do meal. [2] you close light. (chinese l1; wei, 1995) [3] there have english class, free. you go? (chinese l1; wei, 1996a, p. 423) [4] yesterday in library i look japanese magazine. (japanese l1; wei, 1996a, p. 423) [5] my husband doesn’t wash … never wash the dishes. [6] when i’ve cold i eat medicine, cold medicine. [7] in japan students do many tests and exams in class. (japanese l1: wei, 2003, p. 65) [8] watashi wa mai nichi juuni ji hirugohan ga aru. i part/top every day 12 o’clock at lunch part/nom have ‘i have lunch at 12 o’clock every day.’ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 9 published by scholink inc. [9] haha wa shokuji no atode shokki o suru. mother part/top meal part/poss after dish part/obj do ‘(my) mother do the dishes after the mean.’ [10] kare wa shaken o toru. he part/top test part/obj take ‘he will take the test.’ [11] yoru anata ni denwa o ageru. evening you to phone part/obj give ‘(i) will give you a call in the evening.’ [12] watashi wa tenisu o asobu. i part/top tennis part/obj play ‘i play tennis.’ (english l1; wei, 2003, p. 65) chinese l1 – english l2 in [1], ‘do’ means ‘cook’. it also means ‘play, work, play’ in chinese. in [2], ‘close’ means ‘turn off’. it also means ‘stop, shut’ in chinese. in [3], ‘have’ means ‘exist’. it also means ‘possess’ in chinese. japanese l1 – english l2 in [4], ‘look’ means ‘read’. it also means ‘see, look at, visit, observe’ in japanese. in [5], ‘wash’ means ‘do’ in japanese. it seems that the learner does not know the collocation of ‘do the dishes’ in english. in [6], ‘eat’ means ‘take’ in japanese. in [7], ‘do’ means ‘take’ in japanese. english l1—japanese l2 in [8], the learner uses the english concept ‘aru’ (have) for ‘have lunch’ rather than the l2 ‘taberu’ (eat) for the equivalent concept. in [9], the learner translates the english collocation ‘do the dishes’ into japanese by using ‘suru’ (do) rather than ‘arau’ (wash). in [10], the learner uses ‘toru’ (take) rather than ‘ukeru’ (receive) for the equivalent english expression ‘take the test’. in [11], the leaner translates the english concept into japanese by using the verb ‘ageru’ (give) rather than ‘shimas’ (do) as required in japanese. in [12], the learner uses the verb ‘asobu’ (play) based on the english expression rather than ‘suru’ (do) as used in combination with other relevant nouns. the above typical instances of l1 lexical-conceptual structure in il production provide the evidence that in early-stage l2 learning the tl lexical-conceptual structure is not available to learners. of course, learners always try to use the tl lexical items available to them, but their selection of those lexical items may be caused by their incomplete knowledge of the tl lexical-conceptual structure of particular lexemes or may be influenced by their l1 lexical-conceptual structure. as claimed by talmy (1985), pinker (1989a, 1989b), jake (1994), and wei (1994, 1996a, 1996b), learners acquire certain tl content morphemes first which match up possible l1 conflation categories of semantic notions (i.e., several semantic notions are conflated in a single lexical item). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 10 published by scholink inc. 4.2 incomplete projection of tl predicate-argument structure predicate-argument structure is the second subsystem of abstract lexical structure. in addition to the incomplete projection of tl lexical-conceptual structure, because of their incomplete knowledge of certain tl lexical items, although they may choose the right tl verbs, they may not know the predicate-argument structure as projected by the lemmas underlying those verbs, resulting in inappropriate or incomplete projection of tl predicate-argument structure. consequently, any incompletely acquired tl verbs (i.e., il verbs) may project the number of arguments (i.e., the number of lexical nouns) as required and the thematic roles (i.e., the semantic/pragmatic functions) assigned to individual arguments as their counterparts in the l1, resulting in incomplete projection of tl predicate-argument structure. in other words, transfer of l1 predicate-argument structure may occur in il production. [13] please help me look my child. [14] you’re listening music? (chinese l1; wei, 1995) [15] today he help dinner. [16] she cost me hundred dollar, … bad tooth. (chinese l1; wei, 1996a, p. 422) [17] his words in class laugh me. [18] i can wait you here. [19] why you ask many questions for me? (japanese l1; wei, 1995) [20] i first fill water in glass. [21] he not help my homework. [22] parent provide money to me. (japanese l1; wei, 1996a, p. 422) [23] my brother also graduated new york university. (japanese l1; wei, 2003, p. 66) [24] densha o totte gakkoo e iku. train part/obj take school go ‘(i) take the train to go to school.’ [25] haha wa shopping iku. mother part/top shopping go ‘(my) mother goes shopping.’ [26] gozen chuu kare o yonda. in the morning him part/obj called ‘(i) called him in the morning.’ [27] kereno uchi made moseru o ageta. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 11 published by scholink inc. his home to ride part/obj gave ‘(i) gave him a ride home.’ (english l1; wei, 2003, pp. 67-68) chinese l1—english l2 in [13], the preposition ‘after’ does not appear to introduce the theme my child since the chinese counterpart verb ‘zhaoliao’ (look) does not need a preposition to introduce the theme. in [14], the theme music is introduced without the preposition ‘to’ since the chinese counterpart verb ‘ting’ (listen) can take the theme as its internal object. in [15], ‘help’ assigns the theme directly to the object without the preposition ‘with’ as required in english since in chinese, the counterpart verb ‘bang’ (help) can assign the thematic role directly to the object. in [16], ‘cost’ assigns the agent, rather than the theme (the thing on which the money is spent) to the subject (the person who spends the money), but such a predicate-argument structure for the equivalent verb is very normal in chinese. japanese l1—english l2 in [17], the japanese causative lexical-conceptual structure affects the predicate-argument structure and its morphological realization patterns. in this example, ‘me’ is the patient, which should be ‘i’, the agent, as required in english, and ‘his words’ is the causer, which should be a prepositional stimulus ‘at this words’ (e.g., i laugh at his words in class). in [18], ‘you’, the theme, is introduced by ‘wait’ without the preposition ‘for’ as required in english since the japanese counterpart verb ‘matsu’ (wait) can take its internal object. in [19], ‘me’, the goal, is introduced in a prepositional phrase, structurally subordinate to the verb internal object ‘many questions’, the theme, since the japanese counterpart verb ‘suru’ (ask) projects the goal as the object introduced by the postposition ‘ni’, rather than the indirect object introduced by the verb itself as required in english (e.g., why do you ask me many questions?). in [20], ‘fill’ assigns the theme to ‘water’, rather than the patient to ‘glass’ and introducing the theme by the preposition ‘with’, and ‘glass’ is assigned the location by the preposition ‘in’, rather than the patient as required in english. in [21], the preposition ‘with’ to introduce the theme does not appear, since in japanese the verb ‘tetsudau’ (help) itself can assign the thematic role directly to the object. in [22], ‘provide’ assigns the theme, rather than the recipient, to the object, violating the english predicate-argument structure where the theme must be introduced by the preposition ‘with’. in [23], the japanese predicate-argument structure is used, and the source ‘new york university’ is introduced without the preposition ‘from’. english l1—japanese l2 in [24], the english predicate-argument structure is used for the verb ‘toru/totte’ (take) where the means of transportation ‘densha’ (train) is introduced as the theme, violating the japanese predicate-argument structure where ‘densha’ must be introduced as the locative by the verb ‘noru/note’ (take) in a prepositional phrase headed by ‘ni’ (e.g., dansha ni note gakkoo e iku). in [25], the english expression ‘go shopping’ is translated into japanese, violating the japanese predicate-argument structure of the verb ‘iku’ (go). in english ‘shopping; is introduced as the goal by the verb ‘go’, but in japanese ‘shopping’ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 12 published by scholink inc. is introduced as the goal by the preposition ‘ni’ (e.g., haha wa shopping ni iku). in [26], the english predicate-argument structure for the verb ‘call’ (yoru/yonda) is used, where the semantic features of ‘communicate with by phone’ are conflated in the verb ‘call’. in english, the object of ‘call’ is assigned the recipient, but in japanese the recipient must be introduced by a preposition, and the phone-call itself must be introduced as the theme (i.e., the object) by a specific verb such as ‘suru’ or ‘kakeru’ (e.g., gozen chuu kare ni denwa o shita (or: denwa o kaketa)). in [27], the english expression ‘give a ride’ is translated into japanese, violating the japanese predicate-argument structure. in english ‘ride’ (noseru) is introduced as the theme (i.e., the object) by the verb ‘give’ (ageru), but in japanese the means of transportation must be introduced by a preposition as the instrument (e.g., kereno uchi made kuruma de okutte ageta). the above typical instances of l1 predicate-argument structure in il production provide the evidence that in early-stage of l2 learning l1 predicate-argument structure, like l1 lexical-conceptual structure, also contributes to composite abstract lexical structure of il, resulting in incomplete projection of tl predicate-argument structure. as commonly observed, l1 predicate-argument structure may play a role in constructing tl sentences during il development. 4.3 incomplete projection of tl morphological realization patterns morphological realization pattern is the third subsystem of abstract lexical structure. at the positional level, this subsystem of abstract lexical structure deals with surface devices for word order, agreement, case assignment, tense/aspect/voice/mood marking, etc. like the other two subsystems, learners’ lack of knowledge of tl morphological realization patterns may cause transfer of l1 morphological realization patterns or incomplete projection of tl morphological realization patterns in il production. such a phenomenon has been commonly observed in learners’ early-stage il production. [28] i english not speak. [29] because i study english, just more study english. [30] my husband in usc study. (chinese l1; wei, 1995) [31] hello … she not in home. she at outside at playground playing. you come? you not come? [32] go swim? no. parent no go, you no go swim. [33] you go too? we have three ticket. [34] you not go library? i go. [35] tomorrow i no go work. (chinese l1; wei, 1996a, p. 421) [36] in japan student english junior high school start. [37] i in japan my city like. (japanese l1; wei, 1995) [38] i english … speak not well. [39] i everyday use bike. taxi? no. i live not far. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 13 published by scholink inc. [40] i go to party with friend tomorrow. we together cook, interesting. (japanese l1; wei, 1996a, p. 421) [41] tomorrow to new york we’ll go with some friends. [42] sorry. only little english i know. (japanese l1; wei, 2003, p. 69) [43] watashitachi wa shigoto ni iku mainichi. we part/top work to go every day ‘we go to work every day.’ [44] watashi wa moou kakoowatta watashino repooto. i part/top already finished my paper ‘i already finished my paper.’ (english l1; wei, 2003, p. 69) chinese l1—english l2 in [28], ‘english’ is the direct object, but it is placed before the verb. in [29], ‘more’ appears before the verb phrase ‘study english’. in [30], the prepositional phrase of location ‘in usc’ is placed between the subject and the verb. such word orders are non-english-like, but in chinese they are very normal. in addition to chinese word orders, in [31], the copula ‘be’ does not appear in ‘… she (is) not in home’, the auxiliary ‘be’ does not appear in ‘she (is) at outside at playground playing’, there is no auxiliary verb for formulating a question in ‘(will/can) you come?’, and there is no auxiliary verb for negating a verb in ‘you (will/can) not come?’. the missing auxiliary verbs as required in english for such grammatical functions are also observed in [32], [33], [34], and [35]. one possible reason for early-stage learners not to produce these auxiliary verbs is that chinese does not possess and does not need such auxiliary verbs for the same grammatical functions. in addition to chinese word orders and missing auxiliary verbs, in [33], ‘ticket’ is not inflected with ‘-s’ for plural marking, in [34], the preposition ‘to’ does not appear to introduce the goal (go (to) library), in [35], the preposition ‘to’ does not appear (go (to) work), in [32], the possessive adjective does not appear to modify the noun ((your) parent), and in [34], the definite article ‘the’ does not appear to modify the noun ((the) library). in chinese no such grammatical devices are available for the same grammatical or morphological purposes. japanese l1—english l2 in [36], [37], [38], [39], [40], [41] and [42], the japanese basic word order subject-object-verb (sov) is used, where, in addition to the object, any other constituent can be placed before the verb. in [38] and [39], the verb is not negated by an auxiliary verb because in japanese verbs can be negated directly by a negative particle. in [40], no auxiliary verb appears before ‘go’ for tense marking. in [40], the article ‘the’ does not appear before ‘party’, and no article or possessive adjective appears before ‘friend’. all such grammatical or morphological devices are not available or required in japanese. english l1—japanese l2 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 14 published by scholink inc. in [43], the sentence basically follows the japanese verb final word order, but the adverbial of time ‘mainichi’ (every day) is placed in the sentence final position. such a word order is allowed in english, but not in japanese. in [44], the sentence elements are arranged in the typical english word order where the object is placed right after the predicate verb. the above typical instances of l1 morphological realization patterns provide the evidence that, in addition to l1 lexical-conceptual structure and predicate-argument structure, early-stage leaners may turn back on their l1 morphological realization patterns before they completely acquire their tl morphological realization patterns. 5. implications for second language acquisition the particular instances of incomplete projection of tl lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and morphological realization patterns offer several implications for sla. the lexical-conceptual structure of the tl abstract lexical structure is not available to early-stage learners. in sla, although learners always try to use the tl lexical items (cf. the target-language principle (jake, 1998)), their selection of those items may be caused by their incomplete knowledge of the tl lexical-conceptual structure of particular lexemes. as claimed in the bla model, lemmas as abstract entries in the mental lexicon are language-specific, and language-specific lemmas in the bilingual mental lexicon are in contact in sla. consequently, learners’ l1 lemmas for the universal concepts may activate or retrieve the tl lexical items in an inappropriate manner, resulting in l1 lexical-conceptual structure in il production. as predicted, as learners acquire more and more knowledge of the lemmas underlying particular tl lexical items, their bilingual mental lexicon will expand to include the tl lexical-conceptual structure of particular lexemes, which will make the tl lexicalization patterns possible (cf. the complete-projection principle (jake, 1998). in early-stage of sla, l1 predicate-argument structure also contributes to the composite abstract lexical structure of il. in sla, although learners’ ‘target’ is always and should be the l2 predicate-argument structure, their incomplete knowledge of this subsystem of the tl abstract lexical structure may also affect their production of the tl predicate-argument structure, resulting in the ungrammaticality of the tl syntax. that is, learners’ production of the predicate-argument structure does not match the syntactic requirements in the tl. thus, like l1 lexical-conceptual structure, l1 predicate-argument structure makes the abstract lexical structure of il composite. in sla, learners’ acquisition of tl lexical items must include complete knowledge of lemmas underlying particular verbs in order to produce the tl syntactic frame. early-stage learners may produce appropriate tl lexical items, but they may fail to follow the tl morphological realization patterns. at the sentence positional level, learners may miss surface devices for abstract grammatical concepts as required in the tl. they may also turn back on their l1 morphological realization patterns in il sentence production, resulting in complete projection of the tl morphological realization patterns. l1 morphological realization patterns may also contribute to the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 15 published by scholink inc. composite abstract lexical structure of il. the complete acquisition of tl morphological realization patterns turns out to be more difficult that the complete acquisition of tl lexical-conceptual structure and predicate-argument structure for early-stage learners because of the abstractness of the tl surface grammatical devices. thus, complete acquisition of tl abstract lexical structure must also include complete acquisition of tl morphological realization patterns in il production. 6. conclusion this study relates learner errors to the nature and activity of the bilingual mental lexicon. adopting the bla model, it makes three claims. the first is the claim that the mental lexicon contains lemmas, which are abstract entries about particular lexemes, and thus lexical structure is abstract in that it contains three abstract subsystems: lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and morphological realization patterns. the second is the claim that lemmas in the bilingual mental lexicon are language-specific, and il abstract lexical structure is composite. language-specific lemmas are contained in each of the subsystems of composite abstract lexical structure of il. the third is the claim that learners’ incomplete knowledge of tl abstract lexical structure (i.e., tl lemma specifications) instigates incomplete projection of tl lexical-conceptual structure, tl predicate-argument structure, and tl morphological realization patterns. thus, sources of learner errors or language transfer are explored in terms of l1 lemmas transfer. the particular instances of incomplete projection of tl abstract lexical structure as discussed in this study support such claims. this study proposes that in early stages of l2 learning, learners may employ their l1 abstract lexical structure in il production. tl is always 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(2000b). types of morphemes and their implication for second language morpheme acquisition. international journal of bilingualism, 4(1), 29-43. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069000040010301 https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.2000.021 https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847691262-008 https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004373211_003 https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(92)90041-f https://doi.org/10.1515/iral.1972.10.1-4.209 https://doi.org/10.1515/iral.1972.10.1-4.209 https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069000040010301 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 18 published by scholink inc. wei, l. (2001). lemma congruence checking between languages as an organizing principle in intrasentential code switching. international journal of bilingualism, 5, 153-173. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069010050020201 wei, l. (2002). the bilingual mental lexicon and speech production process. brain and language, 81, 691-707. https://doi.org/10.1006/brln.2001.2557 wei, l. (2003). activation of lemmas in the multilingual mental lexicon and transfer in third language learning. in j. cenoz, b. hufeisen, & u. jessner (eds.), the multilingual lexicon (pp. 57-70). dordrecht: kluwer academic publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48367-7_5 wei, l. (2015). interlanguage: the abstract level in language acquisition. new york: the edwin mellen press. wei, l. (2020). the bilingual mental lexicon. uk: cambridge scholars publishing. zughoul, m. r. (1991). lexical choice: towards writing problematic word lists. iral, 29, 45-59. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069010050020201 https://doi.org/10.1006/brln.2001.2557 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48367-7_5 microsoft word elsr-v1n1-p20 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 20 original paper a study on the effectiveness of automated essay marking in the context of a blended learning course design wenhua yu1 & trevor barker1* 1 university of hertfordshire, hatfield, uk * trevor barker, university of hertfordshire, hatfield, al10 9ab, uk received: february 7, 2020 accepted: march 1, 2020 online published: april 24, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n1p20 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n1p20 abstract this paper reports on a study undertaken in a chinese university in order to investigate the effectiveness of an online automated essay marking system in the context of a blended learning course design. two groups of undergraduate learners studying english were required to write essays as part of their normal course. one group had their essays marked by an online automated essay marking and feedback system, the second, control group were marked by a tutor who provided feedback in the normal way. their essay scores and attitudes to the essay writing tasks were compared. it was found that learners were not disadvantaged by the automated essay marking system. their mean performance was better (p<0.01) than the tutor marked control for seven of the essays and showed no difference for three essays. in no case did the tutor marked essay group score higher than the automated system. correlations were performed that indicated that for both groups there was a significant improvement in performance (p<0.05) over the duration of the course and that there was a significant relationship between essay scores for the groups (p<0.01). an investigation of attitude to the automated system as compared to the tutor marked system was more complex. it was found that there was a significant difference in the attitudes of those classified as low and high performers (p<0.05). in the discussion these findings are placed in a blended learning context. keywords automated marking systems, blended learning, empirical study www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 21 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction with the continuous development of technology and its use in education, combined with the prevalence of computers and smart devices, blended learning (bl) has been integrated into every corner of higher education (he). learning has radically switched from the traditional mode which was largely reliant on face to face teaching, lectures and textbooks, to multimodal, flexible learning and teaching. bl is a global phenomenon according to preston et al. (2010) involving a greatly diversified student body. in chinese universities, it is a requirement that faculties adopt and implement blended teaching (bt) in order to meet the diversified needs of the students with the goal of improving the quality of delivery for example as stated by shanghai jian qiao university (2019). there is evidence in the literature that, compared with simply face-to-face and fully online education, a bl approach is beneficial in terms of satisfaction and learning outcomes (wang et al., 2020; rupp et al., 2019; lim & morris, 2009; owston, york, & murtha, 2013). by taking bl into practice, we should make some changes in english education. 1.1 background to the study college english is a compulsory discipline for all majors in colleges and universities in china. college english teaching involves language knowledge, its application, skills, learning strategies and intercultural communication as the main content. it adopts foreign language teaching theories as the guidance, and uses a variety of teaching models and methods. in other words it is a complex teaching and learning system involving the integration of many factors and teaching content, theories, models and methods. one main purpose of the college english course at the university involved in our study is to train students to have strong reading ability, effective listening, speaking, writing and translating abilities in practice. table 1 depicts the details of abilities to be cultivated by the college english course at shanghai jian qiao university (college english outline, 2019). the abilities are made up of the following (see table 1). table 1. abilities aimed and cultivated by college english course autonomous learning expression and communication english abilities responsible and compressive collaborative innovation service and care information application global horizon 　listening 　speaking 　writing 　reading 　translation 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 22 published by scholink inc. the course is mainly followed by freshman and sophomore in he. another aim of this course is to pursue the socially recognized english certificates like college english test 4 and 6 (cet 4) (cet 6) which are regarded as essential qualifications in the chinese job market and are useful as in addition they cover man socio-cultural aspects of english. english test marks are important for learners in the chinese job market. 1.2 details of teaching english writing practice several changes in teaching were made in the jian qiao university in order to adapt to the perceived need of teaching english writing. among the four basic english skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, improving english writing ability has always been a difficult task confronted by chinese teachers and students (sun, 2014). in college english teaching at jian qiao university, the number of students in each class is large. this puts forward higher requirements. teachers are required to spend inordinate time and energy marking students’ compositions. in a single semester, teachers were only able to assign one or two writing task for that reasons. consequently, there were very few opportunities for the students to practice their writing and consequently for teachers to review progress and provide feedback. in the experience of one of the authors of this paper, teaching english writing raises many problems related to the process of grading students’ english composition. firstly, it requires a considerable amount of time to grade essays and provide useful, timely and relevant feedback and evaluation to individual students. secondly, grading can often be subjective when scoring students’ writing. there is a possibility that students may be stereotyped according to scores obtained rather than their individual strengths and weaknesses. it is possible that demographic factors such as gender, age, ethnicity. prior performance on tests and other courses and socio-cultural factors may conceivably influence feedback and in extreme cases, the grade obtained by learners. it is often difficult for a teacher to be entirely neutral in their approach to marking essays. for these reasons scoring essays becomes an enormously complex cognitive task that involves a multitude of inferences, choices, and preferences on the part of the grader. the exact features are attended to in an essay, the characteristics and sections that are weighted most highly, and the standards adhered to are all factors that may vary widely across human graders. indeed, it has been observed that teachers’ ratings of essays can be highly variably and often not objective (huot, 1990; huot, 1996; meadows & billington, 2005). additionally, the class size in chinese universities is often very large. a teacher may often teach a class with more than 50 students. if he or she teaches several classes in parallel in one semester, then he or she is required to grade several hundred essays. consequently, essay rating becomes an arduous task for teachers. teachers often devote a great deal of effort, many students appear only to be concerned with the final score and less so with the feedback and feed-forward provided by the teacher. students may be unwilling to review and reflect the feedback or evaluation from the teacher. this factor makes it difficult to help a student to improve their writing prior to the next task. a possible reason for this may be the timeliness of the feedback. fast, efficient feedback is likely to ensure that help is provided www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 23 published by scholink inc. in good time to assist in the next task. if feedback is too slow, then student are likely to pay less attention to it we argue. plagiarism is a growing concern in universities across the globe. the prevalence of electronic resources, copy and paste and file sharing has made it easy for some students to cheat. manual marking of essays is slow and complex as described above. it is therefore difficult to detect plagiarism on students’ paper-based writing. the grading of english writing effectively and to provide useful, timely and effective feedback in a timely manner becomes an important task. against this background, in the context of a bl design, automated essay scoring (aes) online has been adopted at the shanghai jian qiao university. aes is defined as a computer technology that is able to evaluate and grade written works (shermis & burstein, 2003). at the shanghai jian qiao university, the english writing course is delivered by face to face lectures and tutorials in classrooms. and an online system of aes is has been implemented to supplement the traditional classroom teaching. using technology to supplement the real classroom teaching is a fundamental objective of china’s foreign language teaching as explicitly stated in the national curriculum of college english course (2017). according to kaleta et al. (2007), teachers who design bl courses often place additional online elements within a traditional course framework without removing current activities. this phenomenon is also referred to as “the course-and-a-half syndrome” (ibid., p. 127). figure 1 below summarizes the type of bl design employed within this study. instruction is delivered in the classroom while all the necessary exercise and practice are completed online after class is over. this may be considered as a basic way of combining traditional classroom teaching with supplemented web-based activities. many instructors design bl courses in this way according to several researchers, for example (brunner, 2006; kaleta et al., 2007). the addition of extra activities to an existing, traditional course as employed in this study may be referred to as a basic-level blend. figure 1 illustrates applying the basic-level blend approach to english writing course design. then this leads to the research objectives of this study.  how to test the effectiveness of this basic-level blend?  what are the advantages and disadvantages of this basic-level blend? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 24 published by scholink inc. figure 1. basic-level blended english writing course 2. literature review in this brief literature review, four main areas relate to the context of our research and are covered as follows: ① how is aes developed? ② what are the claimed benefits and claimed limitations of aes? ③ how do teachers perceive bl and how does the perception impact the course design? ④ what is the attitude of teachers to basic-level blended course design for english writing ? 2.1 a brief review of studies on aes more than 50 years ago, ellis page (1966) predicted the arrival of the so called “teacher’s helper”, that would grade papers by computer (shermis, 2014). just seven years later, page and his colleagues at the university of connecticut developed the first automatic essay grading engine, which was called project essay grade (peg) (ajay, tillett, & page, 1973; shermis, 2014). for reasons related to the difficulty of entering text within this technology the system did not gain immediate popularity until the early 1990s. from then on, some commercial and also several non-profit organizations took up exploring different types of essay scoring systems for english language. aes systems at that time were adopted by testing companies, universities, and public schools (toranj & ansari, 2012). the most widely known aes systems include project essay grader (page, 1966, 1968, 2003), the intelligent essay assessor (iea; landauer, laham, & foltz, 2003), criterionsm, e-rater (attali & burstein, 2006; burstein, 2003), and intellimetric (rudner, garcia, & welch, 2006), my access® and betsy (toranj & ansari, 2012). for reasons outlined in the introductory section above aes system development www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 25 published by scholink inc. became commercially competitive around this time as it was able to combine the teaching of english writing and the development of large-scale tests of writing. two major commercial organizations in the united states of america with significant financial support from the government, promoted aes as an acceptable scoring mechanism. aes was put forward as a viable tool for evaluating students’ performances in some important large-scale tests such as gmat, gre, and toefl (bay-borelli et al., 2010). in the general literature related to aes, the evaluation process for aes covers a number of criteria, including association with human scores, distribution differences, subgroup differences, and association with external variables of interest (ramineni & williamson, 2013). such testing is essential to establish the validity of aes systems. teachers have to be confident in the reliability and validity of aes systems and also be aware of the limitations of aes. a major issue in the research presented in our paper related to the possibility of improving students’ scores. this might be expected if the improved feedback and extra activities were of benefit. the results of other researchers in this area are uncertain, for example (wilson & roscoe, 2020). studies on aes systems have demonstrated that computers can function as more effective cognitive tools (joundy et al., 2019; attali, 2004; toranj & ansari, 2012). researchers have found that the aes system could be useful as it was able to give scores and feedback to students rapidly (page, 2003). previous studies have shown that high correlation can be achieved between manual scoring system and aes system (kukich, 2000; attali & burstein, 2006; ben-simon & bennett, 2007; toranj & ansari, 2012). some scholars have compared aes with human raters. according to shermis (2014), aes performed well in five of the seven tests and was close to human raters in the other two. further studies on the validity of aes systems, have suggested that they are able to play a practical role in the assessment of high-risk writing (shermis, 2014). alignment with human scores on essays should not be the only validity criterion according to wilson and colleagues (2020) bennett and bejar (1997) and bennett and zhang (2016) sara cushing weigle (2013) notices the significance of systematically articulate the complicated structure of second language writing instruction and evaluation in her book english language learners and automated scoring of essays. it was reported that aes is more consistent across multiple assignments in comparison to human raters. however, as stated in her paper, the operational rules of aes are not able to capture the characteristics of non-native writing. human raters are sensitive to these more specific characteristics when marking the essays. her conclusion from her research with english learners studying a foreign language emphasizes the need to understand the students’ diverse needs in the first place, first when system developers are designing aes systems. it is also important for teachers when they are developing courses that include additional activities from aes. the more they know about the students’ needs, the greater the possibility of satisfying the diverse needs of an increasingly larger population (weigle, 2013; elliot & williamson, 2013). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 26 published by scholink inc. however, because writing is an activity that is so deeply human, its association with formulation is double edged (elliot & williamson, 2013). because students are encouraged to write fluently or to achieve competency in their knowledge of conventions, a certain degree of formulation is necessary (elliot & williamson, 2013). but when these formulations are used by machines as the basis for assessing writing beyond fluency or knowledge of grammar (attali & powers, 2008) there is an inherent suspicion that technology can corrupt the essence of a fundamentally human activity (ericsson & haswell, 2006; herrington & moran, 2012). 2.2 self-efficacy gairs (2007) showed that some students had a higher satisfaction rating with online learning systems though they did not necessarily have their performance enhanced or behavior changed by the use of aes systems. this was attributed not to the use of aes system per se, but to their willingness to an inherent engagement with such systems. motivational processes such as reflection and self-efficacy were likely to be responsible to the high attitude scores it was postulated. researchers have argued that it was necessary for learners to take part in the reflective activities if it were to result in a significant improvement in self-efficacy and task value in online activities (qian et al., 2019). self-reflection may be improved by a constructive bl approach in which the students assess their own work based on feedback and a knowledge of assessment criteria in relation to their individual performances and goals. learners may then have affective cognitive reactions guided by their self-judgments and might be able to make decisions based on previous learning and hopefully relate this to future tasks and goals. it is hoped that this hypothesized effect may be measured by an increase in self-efficacy at the end of our study. efficacy emphasizes the ability and confidence to achieve a goal satisfactorily. it relates to one’s belief in a capability to perform a specific task. it determines how people feel, think, motivate themselves, and it also refers to their confidence to achieve the desired outcome (bandura, 1986). individuals’ task-specific self-efficacy can be generalized to a wide range of tasks or activities in certain disciplines (bandura, 1997). bong (2001) found that students’ self-efficacy judgments contain strong subject-specific components. a variety of studies have revealed the role of self-efficacy in a range of disciplines and contexts, from elementary school mathematics (phan & walker, 2000), computer-based science learning (liu, hsieh, cho, & schallet, 2006), and writing (pajares & valiante, 1999), indicating that that students’ self-efficacy is an important factor in predicting their learning performance or achievement. self-efficacy it may be argued, mediates people’s interpretation of their knowledge, skills, or experiences of prior attainments, and is believed to be an essential factor in positively predicting learning outcomes. according to bandura, students’ learning experiences play an important role in explaining their self-efficacy of learning (1997). in our research the use of aes an a bl context is predicted to increase the self-efficacy of learners. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 27 published by scholink inc. 2.3 curriculum added with aes a model that has empirically been demonstrated to yield substantial gains for students was described in the book “the framework for success in postsecondary writing” (cwpa, ncte, nwp, 2011) and also by graham and perrin (2007). the general purpose of the study presented here is to explore the advantages and disadvantages of a basic-level blend with aes. it is hoped that this may help teachers to have a deeper conception of bl in a real context and to help students improve their english writing experiences. this will involve the learning of phrases, idioms, writing styles, skills, conventions, strategies, rhetorical knowledge and critical thinking. 2.4 details of the online aes software used in this study this aes system used claims that it is able to provide timely, comprehensive and effective grades and diagnostic feedback to students’ writing online. it is claimed that it is able to enable students to understand better their own english composition, to correct mistakes themselves in time in order to improve their english ability. teachers are also able to assess the overall writing level of students, in order to conduct targeted tutorials for learners, based on their performances. with the help of this system’s automatic review, teachers would be able to arrange more pertinent writing assignments easily, thus effectively solving the traditional teaching problem “students are unwilling to write, while teachers are unwilling to mark” (aes online, 2019). it is also claimed by developers of the system that the system can analyze a composition from the aspects of spelling, content, organization, word choice and grammar, providing multidimensional personalized feedback information, which can be used for formative and terminal evaluation of the students. it can play an extremely important role in improving students’ language ability (aes online, 2019). to sum up, this aes system is claimed to function in support of the following traits:  high credibility of the score  strong ability of diagnosis and error correction  featured detection function (aes online, 2019) this study intends to test the effectiveness of the basic-level blend in the course design of english writing by adding extra activities online without eliminating any traditional on-class activities. then the advantages and disadvantages of this approach can be analyzed and identified. here followed research questions driven by the research objectives.  how to test the effectiveness of this basic-level blend? ① can we observe any significant differences in performance between students using basic level blend approach adding system and students using traditional method only with paper-based practice? ② what is the relationship between learning outcomes and learners’ satisfaction with the experience from this basic-blend?  what are the advantages and disadvantages of this basic-level blend? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 28 published by scholink inc. ① what factors should be considered by teachers in he when they choose this basic-level blended course design? ② what can be improved in this basic-level blend? 3. method 3.1 participants the experiment involved two groups of learners who were required to produce eleven essays. one group assessed and given feedback by tutors (the control group) and the second group using the online aes system. participants were 2 groups of undergraduates from non-english majors in a chinese university. groups were balanced as far as possible in the context of an ex-post facto study. the demographic variables are shown in table 2 below. both groups consisted of similar number of male and female undergraduates aging from 18-19. both groups classified as having achieved intermediate level according to their english proficiency on entry to the university. groups were selected using a quasi-random sampling strategy. table 2. details of participants in the study tutor marked participants aes marked participants n 36 35 mean age (years) 18,8 18,3 gender (f/m) 16/20 16/19 academic english level cet4 cet4 according to proposed by zimmerman (2002) there are three stages of self-regulated learning strategy. these include forethought, performance, and reflection. learners in this study were required to complete these three stages in their course. students set learning goals prior to starting a task in the forethought stage. students then engaged in and completed an essay writing task (performance). feedback provided was intended to allow students to reflect on the learning process. how self-regulated learning strategy was employed in this study is explained below. forethought: the students in both groups were given an orientation about the course by the tutor, including the conception of feedback, evaluation, goal setting, writing instructions and reflection. for the experimental group, the teacher also demonstrated how to use aes system. the students acclimatized themselves to the feedback and evaluation mechanisms in the aes system. for the control group, the tutor demonstrated simple administrative procedures such as submitting work, how to make corrections according to the feedback and evaluation from the teacher and how to store their work. these were functions achieved fairly simply in the online system. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 29 published by scholink inc. performance: the duration of the experiment was approximately 17 weeks, and table 3 presents the essay topics that were assigned to both groups. reflection: after completion, students reflected on their learning processes either through the writing feedback and evaluation mechanism provided by aes or from the teacher’s paper-based comments. reflection then related to the amount and quality of feedback given to participants by the tutor and online system. although this was not directly assessed in this research, learner attitude to the process was measured which was assumed to relate to learners’ reflections of the experience. figure 2. phases and processes of self-regulation according to zimmerman and moylan (2009) at the end of the study, students were asked to rate their perceived difficulty of each of the essay topics on a 10-point likert scale, and also to complete a short questionnaire on their experience of and attitude to english language essay writing. the students were assigned writing tasks respectively online and on paper every 10 days throughout the duration of the study. the topics (as shown in table 3) were selected from the cet 4 category from the aes system under investigation. each essay set clear requirements on the length and structure for both groups of participants. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 30 published by scholink inc. table 3. topics assigned number topics premeasure write a letter apologizing for being late for 13455 why i chose the major of … 13457 my favorite city in china 13868 true friendship among roommates 13945 lucky money 14222 the advantages of getting a good education 14359 should we go after fame and fortune? 14445 part-time job in this summer vacation 14446 an unforgettable party 14449 on college english teaching 14594 textbook knowledge or social skills in order to avoid the hawthorne effect (levitt & list, 2011), students in the experimental group were not informed of the experiment, and the experiment was naturally integrated into this basic-level blended course. in order to avoid the john henry effect (saretsky, 1972), students in the control group were not informed of the experiment, either. both groups were taught by the same teacher, and received the same curricular content, teaching schedule, requirements, and goal setting. table 4. activities undertaken by the experimental and control group activity experimental control group self-regulated composition online paper feedback and evaluation several times once on paper reflect and review several times once on paper correction, editing and several times once on paper archive of material online paper repeating the previous yes no estimation of difficulty yes yes questionnaire on efficacy yes yes www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 31 published by scholink inc. 4. results a comparison between paper essay and the panorama online system was undertaken as previously described. a pre-test was completed by both groups to test if there were differences in the samples. the results of this are shown in table 5 below. table 5. the results of pre-test between participants in online and paper-based essay marking system group n mean sd online 35 71.1 9.2 paper 36 68.2 7.1 in order to test the significance oif any difference in the means of the two groups, an independent samples t test was performed. the results of this test confirmed that there was no significant difference between the mean performances of the groups (t=1.45, df=69, p=0.15). it was noted that although there was no significant difference in the means, the online students exhibited a slightly higher mean score than the paper based students. a comparison was made between the performance of the students as they undertook 10 essay assignments. the mean results of the essays and their topics are presented in table 6 below. table 6. a comparison between online and paper-based mean essay scores essay topics mean score (paper-based) mean score (online) pre-test (e1) write a letter apologizing for being late for class 68.24 71.08 essay 2 (e2) why i chose the major of … 64.36 70.71 essay 3 e3) my favorite city in china 63.39 68.86 essay 4 (e4) true friendship among roommates 68.36 74.86 essay 5 (e5) lucky money 63.86 69.06 essay 6 (e6) the advantages of getting a good education 70.49 73.04 essay 7 (e7) should we go after fame and fortune 67.67 72.88 essay 8 (e8) part-time job in this summer vacation 70.26 78.13 essay 9 (e9) an unforgettable party 69.77 73.44 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 32 published by scholink inc. essay 10 (e10) on college english teaching 71.89 75.40 essay 11 (e11) textbook knowledge or social skills 72.59 75.57 mean total 68.26 73.19 in order to obtain an informal understanding of the performances of the two groups, a graph was plotted showing how the performance of the two groups varied with time. this is shown in figure 3 below. figure 3. graph of the comparison between online and paper-based mean test scores it is interesting to note that the shape of the curves is similar. in general essay scores in the tutor marked system corresponded to those in the online automated system. to further understand any between the performances of the groups in the essay assignments, a 2x10 mixed anova was performed on the data summarized in table 6 above. the results of this anova were (f=9.845, df=1, p=0.003). the value of (p<0.01) compels us to conclude that there was a significant difference in test scores between the online and paper-based groups. the mean values of the test scores (from table 1 above) were tutor marked=68.26; online=73.19. we are able to conclude on average, the online automated system learners performed better that the control group. a post hoc analysis was performed on the data summarized in table 6. the results of an independent anova are shown in table 7 below. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 33 published by scholink inc. table 7. the results of an independent anova on the means of the paper-based and online conditions essay mean score tutor based mean score online automatic df f p (one-tailed) e2 64.36 70.71 70 6.207 0.08 e3 63.39 68.86 70 4.558 0.02 e4 68.36 74.86 70 10.016 0.001 e5 63.86 69.06 70 5.457 0.01 e6 70.49 73.04 70 1.471 0.12 e7 67.67 72.88 70 7.852 0.004 e8 70.26 78.13 70 13.428 0.000 e9 69.77 73.44 70 2.648 0.050 e10 71.89 75.40 70 1.899 0.09 e11 72.59 75.57 70 1.593 0.10 it is evident that essays e2, e3, e4, e5, e7, e8 and e9 had significant differences in performance between paper-based and online conditions (p one-tailed<0.05). possible reasons for the lack of a significant difference in essays e6, e10 and e11 (p>0.05) will be discussed later. the overall shape of the graph presented in figure 3 is interesting. it suggests that both groups had improvement in their scores over time. this is important as it suggests that the paper-based and online systems were both effective in improving the performance of learners. in order to test this hypothesis, a pearson’s pm correlation was performed on both groups in order to test the significance of any correlation between the test scores and study time. the output from this correlation is presented below in table 8. table 8. correlation between mean essay scores for paper-based and online conditions and study time paper based online automated study time (weeks) tutor marked pearson correlation r 0.839 0.743 sig. (1-tailed) 0.000 0.005 online automated pearson correlation r 0.839 0.680 sig. (1-tailed) 0.005 0.011 study time (weeks) pearson correlation r 0.743 0.680 sig. (1-tailed) .0005 .0011 n 11 11 11 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 34 published by scholink inc. significant positive correlations were found for both paper-based essays (r=0.839, p<0.001) and online essays (r=0.680, p=0.011) with study time. this suggests that there was a significant positive relationship between study time and essay score for paper-based and online essays, showing that scores improved over the duration of the course. the results suggest that in both cases learners improved in their scores over time and that the performance of learners on the essays were also related. this is an important finding in the context of this research. it is important to show that learners are not disadvantaged by a new intervention. we can conclude that the online system is at least as effective as the traditional paper-based system at supporting learners in their essay writing. the overall shape of the graph displayed as figure one is also interesting as the shape of both curves is similar, which supports the above finding. in order to explore more fully the shape of the graph in figure 1 above, a further investigation was performed. learners ranked their perceived level of difficulty for each essay on a likert scale (1 to 10) where 1 easy and 10 is difficult. it would then be possible to investigate any relationship between perceived difficulty level and the scores obtained in the essays. a summary is presented in table 9 below. table 9. perceived difficulty levels for essay for tutor marked and online automated systems with scores essay mean perceived difficulty (online) mean perceived difficulty (tutor) overall mean mean essay score (online) mean essay score (tutor) overall mean e1 (pre-test) 4.43 4.29 4.36 71.08 68.24 69.66 e2 3.43 3.57 3.50 70.71 64.36 67.54 e3 2.00 2.07 2.04 68.86 63.39 66.13 e4 6.36 4.57 5.46 74.86 68.36 71.61 e5 4.43 3.07 3.75 69.06 63.86 66.46 e6 6.36 7.00 6.68 73.04 70.49 71.77 e7 6.00 6.79 6.39 72.88 67.67 70.28 e8 7.50 6.57 7.04 78.13 70.26 74.20 e9 5.21 7.07 6.14 73.44 69.77 71.61 e10 6.93 7.29 7.11 75.4 71.89 73.65 e11 8.14 8.49 8.32 75.57 72.59 74.08 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 35 published by scholink inc. it is interesting to note that those essays (e6, e10 and e11) from table 3 above, where there was no significant difference in performance between the two groups, had relatively high perceived difficulty levels. this factor may account for the lack of a significant difference. the relatively low level of alpha for these exceptions, in the region of (p=0.1) suggests that despite a lack of significance there may still be a slight positive effect. in order to test any significance in the relationship between difficulty ratings and performance, a spearman’s correlation was performed on the data summarized in table 5 above. the results of this correlation are presented in table 10 below. table 10. relationship between perceived difficulty level and essay scores for online automated essays and tutor marked essays and mean scores online marked rating tutor marked rating mean rating online marked score tutor marked score mean score online marked rating coef. (rho) sig (1-tailed) 1.000 0.664 0.013 0.891 0.000 0.891 0.000 0.800 0.002 0.870 0.000 tutor marked rating coef. (rho) sig (1-tailed) 0.664 0.013 1.000 0.873 0.000 0.782 0.002 0.909 0.000 0.820 0.001 mean rating coef. (rho) sig (1-tailed) 0.891 0.000 0.870 0.000 1.000 0.882 0.000 0.882 0.000 0.920 0.000 online score coef. (rho) sig (1-tailed) 0.891 0.000 0.782 0.002 0.882 0.000 1.000 0.882 0.000 0.970 0.000 tutor marked score coef. (rho) sig (1-tailed) 0.800 0.002 0.909 0.000 0.882 0.000 0.882 0.000 1.000 0.934 0.000 mean score coef. (rho) sig (1-tailed) 0.870 0.000 0.820 0.001 0.920 0.000 0.970 0.000 0.934 -.000 1.000 n 11 11 11 11 11 11 the results of the spearman’s correlation shown in table 6 above were highly significant at (p one-tailed<0.001) in most cases. this was taken to indicate that the test scores were indeed positively www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 36 published by scholink inc. correlated with perceived difficulty level. also there was a significant relationship between the perceived difficulty level of online automated marked essays and tutor marked essays (p one-tailed=0.013). a mann whitney u test was performed to test the significance of any difference in the ranking between online automated and tutor marked essays. the results of this analysis showed that there was no significant difference between the perceived difficulty level of the two groups (n=11, u=51.00, p=0.533). an attitude questionnaire was administered to the participants in order to investigate any relationship between performance and attitude to the essays. the results of the questionnaire are shown in figure 4 below (based on a likert scale where 1 represents a negative attitude or opinion and 5 a positive one). figure 4. results of an attitude questionnaire for online automated and tutor marked groups a mann whitney u test was performed to test any difference between the mean attitude and mean essay score for online automated and tutor-marked essays. the results of this analysis suggested that there was a significant difference between the attitude of learners in the online automated and tutor marked essay groups. (n=19, mean rank online=25,39, tutor marked=13.61; u=68.5, p (one-tailed)=0.001). the mean ranking shows that the learners with online automated essay marking rated higher than those with tutor marked essays. a correlation was performed to investigate the significance of any relationship between essay score and attitude. figure 5 below shows mean essay scores and attitude for the two groups of learners. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 37 published by scholink inc. figure 5. mean essay scores and attitude scores for the online automated and tutor marked groups the results of a spearman’s correlation on the data displayed in figure 5 are shown in table 11 below. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 38 published by scholink inc. table 11. results of a spearman’s correlation between mean attitude scores and performance for two groups of learners tutor marked essay score online marked essay score tutor marked attitude score online marked attitude score tutor marked essay score (rho) p(one tailed) 1.000 0.023 0.460 0.0416 0.027 -0.099 0.330 online marked essay score p(one tailed) 0.023 0.460 1.000 -0.127 0.287 0.231 0.098 tutor marker attitude score p(one tailed) 0.416 0.027 -0.127 0,287 1.000 0.287 0.098 online marker attitude score p(one tailed) -0.099 0.330 0.231 0.150 0,287 0.098 1.000 n 22 22 22 22 the results of this correlation show that there is a significant positive correlation between the attitude of paper-based participants and their essay scores (rho=0.42, p=03). this is not seen in the online participants where there is no significant correlation (rho==0.099, p=0.33). in order to investigate this finding further, an analysis of any difference in the attitude of those learners with mean high and low scores in their essays for both groups. table 12 below shows the mean rankings for the attitudes of learners classified as high and low achievers based on their essay scores, divided at the midpoint. table 12. mean ranking of the attitude of learners classified as high and low performers tutor marked lower 11 15.14 tutor marked upper 11 21.05 online marked lower 11 26.00 online marked upper 11 27.82 total 44 a kruskal wallace test was performed on the data summarized above. the result of this analysis indicated that there was a significant difference between the attitude of the four groups (chi-square 6.497, df=3, p one-tailed=0.05). post hoc analysis was performed using mann whitney u tests to test www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 39 published by scholink inc. the signicance of the mean rankings between the individual groups. the results of this analysis are presented in table 13 below. table 13. summary of the post hoc tests carried out on the data summarized in table 12 above group condition n mean rank mann-whitney u p (2 tailed) tutor based low v high tutor low tutor high 11 11 9.82 13.18 42.0 0.22 not significant online based low v high online low online high 11 11 10.73 12.27 52.0 0.58 not significant online high v paper low paper low online high 11 11 13.27 9.73 41.0 0.20 not significant online low v tutor high online low tutor high 11 11 12.86 10.14 45.0 0.32 not significant online low v tutor low online low tutor low 11 11 14.41 8.59 28.5 0.04 significant the results of this analysis show that there was a significant difference between online automated and tutor marked groups for those classified as low achievers. there was no other significant difference. low achievers following the online system rated it higher than the tutor marked group. this may be due to several factors including the feedback provided by the system. feedback and reflection as well as a summary of the results are discussed in the next section. 5. discussion and conclusion in order to integrate automated essay marking into a blended learning context, it is important to show that it is able to perform at least as well as traditional methods. it must be as fair as traditional methods, not disadvantaging students. it should mark accurately when compared to essays marked by tutors. it should provide useful feedback that compares well to that provided by tutors, leading to improvement in performance over the duration of the course. the attitude of learners to the system should be at least as good as that of learners to the traditional tutor marked system. tutors and learners should have confidence in the system. this is especially true of tutors if it is to be integrated successfully in a blended learning context. our research has shown that the automated system marks accurately and fairly and that learners improve their performance over the duration of the course. their attitude to the automated system was measured and shown to be comparable or better than the attitude of the control group to the tutor marked system. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 40 published by scholink inc. both groups were required to undertake reflective activities such as reflecting on their individual feedback and evaluation of their writing. the aes system provided greater opportunity for this. the aes system provided immediate feedback as soon as the students submitted their work. it allowed adequate time for the students to do as many corrections as they thought necessary. the system could then provide continuous suggestions to improve their work. in contrast, the traditional approach was time-consuming and required teachers to spend a lot of time and effort. feedback and evaluation in the aes system was quantitatively different from that provided by the tutor. the fact that the aes system performed similarly or better than the traditional system in terms of scores obtained and attitude suggests that this feedback and reflective process was effective. it may be argued that the significant difference in performance is due to the automated system marking “softer” than the tutor system. this indeed may be the case. it was also noted that the control group had a slightly lower pre-test mean score than the experimental group (although not significant). future research is planned that will look to investigate these issues with larger groups that will be better matched and have less variance. the attitude of tutors to the system will be explored as this factor is essential in the implementation of the basic level blend. references barker, t. 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(2010). students’ reflection on online self-correction and peer review to improve writing. computers and education, 55(3), 1202-1210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.05.017 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 104 original paper optimizing the path of marxist theory education in higher education from a youth perspective jiarui cao1* & xinghai zhang2 1 school of marxism, changchun university of chinese medicine, changchun, jilin, china * correspondence: jiarui cao，school of marxism, changchun university of chinese medicine, changchun, jilin, china. e-mail: 1158986897@qq.com received: november 1, 2024 accepted: november 17, 2024 online published: december 5, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n4p104 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n4p104 abstract marxist theory education serves as a fundamental pillar of ideological and political instruction in modern universities. this study employs a youth-oriented perspective to scrutinize the particular shortcomings in the pedagogy of marxist theory within higher education settings. it uncovers prevalent problems such as belated acquisition of theoretical knowledge, insufficient comprehension, and inflexible teaching methodologies. the youth-oriented approach to marxist theory education is an inevitable progression, propelled by the evolution of information technology; it embodies a fundamental requirement for the essence of marxist theory education and aligns with the essential needs for the growth and development of the younger generation. presently, universities confront three primary challenges: an incomplete educational framework, a dearth of educational platforms, and inadequacies within the teaching staff. in response to these challenges, this study proposes strategies aimed at reinforcing the contemporary theoretical education system, establishing modern educational platforms for theoretical instruction, enhancing teacher development in accordance with new-era requirements, and innovating pedagogical approaches for contemporary theoretical education. these proposals carry significant implications for the optimization of marxist theory education within higher education institutions. keywords marxist theory, youth, path optimizatio 1. introduction “marxism constitutes the foundational guiding principle of our party and nation, and it also serves as the vibrant hue that characterizes our universities.” upholding the education of marxist theory is essential www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 105 published by scholink inc. for colleges and universities to cultivate new generations capable of shouldering the great rejuvenation of the nation. it is also a crucial element in creating a new situation in the development of higher education in the new era. at its core, the education of marxist theory is centered on working with, for, and ultimately, towards the enhancement of people (tong, 2017). from the perspective of youthification, marxist theoretical education aims to convey marxist theory in a language and through ideas that resonate with young people. this approach ensures that as young individuals engage with marxist theoretical education, they can relate to its values, integrate these principles into their belief systems, and manifest them through their actions. to achieve this, universities must innovate their teaching methods and curricula to align with the contemporary context and the cognitive patterns of the youth. this involves incorporating interactive and multimedia teaching tools, as well as encouraging critical thinking and discussion among students. by doing so, the education of marxist theory becomes not only a subject of academic study but also a living practice that guides students in their daily lives and future careers. moreover, it is imperative to integrate the practical application of marxist theory into the curriculum, enabling students to witness its relevance in addressing real-world issues and contributing to social development. through these efforts, the education of marxist theory can effectively inspire the younger generation to actively participate in the socialist modernization drive and contribute to the realization of the chinese dream of national rejuvenation. 2. the inadequate implementation of marxist theory education in institutions of higher learning 2.1 lagging behind in the acquisition of theoretical knowledge the current generation of young people, born into the digital age, have experienced significant enhancements in their education and daily lives due to the ubiquitous implementation of network technology. this surge in technology has also broadened the spectrum of intellectual development among the youth. they are keen to adopt fresh ideas, but their structured interaction with marxist theory often commences during their university years. the intricate nature of marxist theory, encompassing deep philosophical, theoretical, and logical facets, requires a robust theoretical structure that is predicated on a solid grounding in foundational disciplines. as a result, the majority of young individuals are not equipped with the necessary expertise to undertake a comprehensive exploration and investigation into marxism. the emergence of online platforms and digital resources has started to close the gap. these instruments offer a plethora of information and interactive content, which can enhance our intuitive comprehension of marxist concepts. with multimedia presentations, interactive dialogues, and online courses, the younger generation can now engage with marxist theory in a more accessible and captivating way. this democratization of knowledge holds the promise of inspiring a new wave of thinkers who are not only at home in the digital world but also adept at applying critical marxist analysis to current issues. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 106 published by scholink inc. consequently, the digital era may indeed act as the catalyst for a renaissance in marxist thought among the youth. 2.2 lack of theoretical knowledge marxist theory constitutes an open and scientific theoretical framework, which is perpetually enriched and evolved via practical application. in the realm of talent cultivation, the development of ideological and political acumen, particularly the theoretical dimension of this quality, holds significant importance (yang, 2007). it finds its roots in the foundational tenets of marxism, as articulated by pioneers such as marx and engels, and has been further elaborated by lenin. this ongoing evolution underscores marxism’s adaptability to shifting historical contexts and its capacity to tackle the unique challenges faced by diverse societies. it is not a fixed collection of ideas but a dynamic structure that fosters critical thinking and the examination of emerging phenomena within the broader context of class struggle, economic progress, and societal transformation. nevertheless, it has been noted that contemporary youth exhibit a relatively feeble understanding of the core principles of marxist theory, having engaged with fewer of the seminal texts. their academic pursuits are often superficial, discussions are scarce, research is inadequate, and practical application is almost negligible. consequently, they have yet to systematically cultivate the dialectical thinking competencies inherent to marxist theory. 2.3 curing the teaching of theoretical knowledge the delivery of college and university courses stands as the primary channel for the propagation of marxist theory and plays a vital role in the education of marxism within higher education institutions. it is a fundamental means of shaping the worldview, philosophy of life, and values of the younger generation. however, the current state of theoretical instruction in universities and colleges is marked by a lack of relevance, insufficient preparedness among instructors, and a low evaluation of educational outcomes. moreover, the infrastructure supporting this teaching is inadequately developed. the prevailing issue is that the majority of educational content is produced in a standardized manner, leading to a “factory-style” approach to teaching. in this context, instructors often serve merely as transmitters of textbook knowledge, without effective strategies to address the diverse needs of their students. 3. the significance of youth-oriented marxist theory education in higher education institutions 3.1 youthification represents the inevitable trend in the evolution of information technology the swift progression of information technology has cultivated an intricate web of information ecosystems. platforms like email, microblogging, and live streaming, coupled with the rapid expansion of mobile social media, have seen rapid development, with webcasting becoming a prevalent video medium. the immediate availability and vast diversity of new media have accelerated the exchange of a broad spectrum of ideas. the high-speed network has evolved into a sophisticated information dissemination ecological chain. as terminal users, young people now have access to information through a multitude of channels, increasingly resembling “new netizens.” characterized by their engagement, some have even transitioned from mere participants to active creators. marxist theory in high schools www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 107 published by scholink inc. must adapt to the youth of the information age, particularly in terms of their discourse, lifestyle, and learning preferences. similarly, the approach to marxist theory in universities should align with the communication styles, lifestyles, and learning habits of the digital generation. the effectiveness of relying on traditional, singular communication methods is undoubtedly waning. 3.2 youthification is a fundamental requirement of marxist theoretical education marxist theory originated during an era in which young people were the steadfast practitioners and innovators of its tenets (she & zhang, 2021). from the may fourth movement through the establishment of the communist party to the founding of new china, a generation of patriotic youth passionately applied marxist theory to the chinese context. after the founding of new china, the incorporation of political theory into higher education became a priority. the fundamental objective of political theory courses in universities has been to arm the youth with marxist theories and ideologies. to ensure that marxist theoretical education resonates with young people, it is crucial to employ accessible and engaging methods, while maintaining the integrity of the theoretical knowledge. the way knowledge is presented and disseminated should be both captivating and segmented, tailored to match the characteristics of youth. consequently, marxist theory courses must be enriched and developed in line with the evolution of the times and in concert with the real-world issues of chinese society (guan, 2003). 3.3 youthification is a fundamental necessity for the growth and development of young individuals marxist theory education plays a central role in the development and education of today’s youth. to nurture young people as architects and heirs of socialism, it is essential that they cultivate a correct worldview, outlook on life, and set of values. the integration of marxist theory education into higher education institutions is a vital element in promoting the maturation of the younger generation. to achieve excellence in this educational pursuit, we must focus on elucidating the historical inevitability of marxism’s significance, clarifying the scientific validity of its principles, and enhancing the effectiveness of marxist education. additionally, it is crucial to reinforce the theoretical and practical implications of china’s social practices. by employing marxist stances, perspectives, and methodologies, we equip young individuals with a framework to interpret the world around them. 4. the challenges in teaching marxist theory in higher education institutions 4.1 the presence of educational contradictions regarding management contradictions, a phenomenon in higher education management is characterized by the phrase “ardent at the apex, tepid in the midsection, and frigid at the base.” the top-tier marxist theoretical education framework is held in high esteem, and the courses themselves are well-received. nonetheless, while aiming for lofty objectives, the specific execution is frequently overlooked. there is an overemphasis on theoretical aspects, while the practicality of education is often neglected. throughout the educational process, although teachers exhibit commendable enthusiasm and a favorable classroom atmosphere, their initiative in teaching is not robust. teaching methodologies are monotonous, classroom engagement is feeble, and a dearth of teaching innovation leads to mediocre classroom instruction. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 108 published by scholink inc. students maintain a lukewarm stance within the educational milieu, displaying minimal interest in political theory courses, a poor receptiveness to knowledge, and diminished educational outcomes. the contradictions in content are mainly reflected in the conflict between students’ needs and the supply of education. civic and political education has been fully implemented in high school curricula, yet the product carriers of marxist theory for adolescents are still incomplete. civic and political education in university courses has also been fully implemented, but there is still a lack of sufficient product carriers for marxist theory for young people, and the supply remains insufficient. university teachers are motivated to innovate educational content, but their effectiveness in innovating educational content is not significant, and the participation of administrative teachers in projects is also insufficient. the insufficient participation of administrative teachers leads to the continued existence of “homogenized” teaching phenomena among students with different professional backgrounds. there is still a “homogenized” teaching phenomenon for students with different professional backgrounds. teachers conduct theoretical education through thematic teaching, but they overlook the integrity of the curriculum knowledge system. teachers provide theoretical education through thematic teaching, but they ignore the integrity of the curriculum knowledge system, and the expected teaching goals have not been achieved. 4.2 insufficient educational opportunities participation in physical cultural activities is generally low, with few opportunities for engagement. the creation of these activities largely depends on the strategic location of venues and the fostering of cultural environments, which are often monotonous and lack dynamism. consequently, young people’s engagement and enthusiasm remain subdued. furthermore, there is a significant gap between online platforms and the teaching of marxist theory in universities. online platforms disseminate content through text and video using information technology, leveraging online applications. in contrast, university educators primarily impart content through classroom instruction, which can be insular and not closely aligned with professional learning or everyday life. physical cultural centers are constrained by limited space, funding, and various other factors, which also act as barriers to their integration with theoretical education. despite the potential benefits that theoretical education could gain from the practical application of cultural activities, these barriers persist. to bridge these gaps, it is imperative to innovate and diversify the ways in which physical cultural activities are delivered and experienced. this could involve the use of digital platforms to create interactive and engaging content that resonates with the interests of the youth. by integrating technology, such as augmented reality or gamification, into physical cultural activities, we can create immersive experiences that are both educational and entertaining. additionally, universities could foster partnerships with online platforms to create a more cohesive educational experience that combines theoretical knowledge with practical application. this would not only enhance the learning process but also encourage active participation among students. moreover, by investing in the expansion and modernization of physical cultural centers, we can provide more opportunities for engagement and create www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 109 published by scholink inc. environments that are conducive to learning and growth. these steps could help to cultivate a more vibrant and dynamic cultural atmosphere that resonates with the needs and aspirations of the younger generation. 4.3 insufficient teaching personnel the pursuit of moral growth and the cultivation of individuals frequently falls into the shadows cast by the inclination of higher education institutions to undervalue the importance of administrative educators. despite advancements, the notion that administrative educators are inconsequential continues to linger. additionally, the digital proficiency of educators demands a thorough upgrade. in this new era, college instructors must possess exceptional innovation skills and digital acumen, empowering them to ingeniously harness cutting-edge technologies, methodologies, media, and platforms to enhance their pedagogy. they should be skilled in utilizing these tools to impart marxist theoretical knowledge in a way that resonates with younger students, transforming textbook concepts into lively, engaging marxist insights. to address these challenges, it is imperative that higher education institutions reevaluate the role of administrative educators and provide them with the necessary resources and training to bridge the gap between traditional teaching methods and modern educational technologies. this includes offering professional development opportunities that focus on digital literacy, instructional design, and innovative pedagogical strategies. by doing so, administrative educators can become catalysts for change, driving the integration of technology into the curriculum and fostering an environment where students are not only consumers of information but active participants in their own learning process. this transformation is essential for preparing students to navigate a world that is increasingly digital and interconnected, ensuring that they are equipped with the skills and knowledge to contribute meaningfully to society. additionally, the effective use of information technology can surmount temporal and spatial barriers, thereby stimulating young people’s eagerness to engage in and pursue independent learning. interactive information dissemination can also break down these barriers, heightening students’ enthusiasm for active participation and self-directed study. moreover, the ability to navigate through information overload and the deluge of data is crucial for addressing the disorientation of values among youth and for guiding them towards positive growth and development. 5. optimization of the path of youth-oriented marxist theory education in colleges and universities 5.1 enhance the theoretical education framework in the contemporary era the establishment of long-term, medium-term, and short-term goals is essential. by aligning these objectives with the current state of affairs, we aim to ignite the intrinsic motivation within school education. this process entails monitoring progress, conducting phased analysis and evaluation, and enhancing the efficacy of educational initiatives. the ultimate goal of ideological and political education in higher education institutions is to cultivate moral character and educate individuals for the party. the process begins with the ideological and political education of individual students. universities should www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 110 published by scholink inc. regularly conduct work reviews and diagnostic assessments. to this end, they can invite renowned experts, scholars, or third-party organizations to perform educational evaluations and diagnostics, offering suggestions and recommendations to further promote educational excellence within the university system. in addition to the improvement mechanism, it is crucial to integrate innovative teaching methods that resonate with the digital age. utilizing interactive online platforms and multimedia resources can enhance the learning experience, making it more engaging and accessible. moreover, the curriculum should be regularly updated to reflect the latest advancements in technology and societal changes, ensuring that students are equipped with relevant knowledge and skills for the future job market. collaborations with industry leaders can provide students with real-world insights and opportunities for internships or projects, bridging the gap between academia and the professional world. lastly, fostering a culture of continuous learning and adaptability will empower students to become lifelong learners, capable of navigating the complexities of an ever-evolving global landscape. to achieve these educational goals, it is imperative to establish a robust feedback system. this system should encourage open communication between educators and students, allowing for the exchange of constructive criticism and praise. by doing so, educators can tailor their teaching methods to better meet the needs of their students, while students can become more proactive in their learning process. furthermore, the feedback mechanism should not only be confined to the classroom but also extend to the broader university community, including alumni and industry partners, to ensure that the educational outcomes are aligned with the expectations of the wider society. in conclusion, the integration of these strategies—monitoring progress, conducting evaluations, updating curricula, and fostering a culture of continuous learning—will create a dynamic and responsive educational environment. this environment will not only prepare students for the challenges of the future but also instill in them the values and competencies required to contribute positively to society. as we continue to refine and implement these strategies, we move closer to realizing the full potential of ideological and political education in higher education institutions. 5.2 formulating theoretical foundations for education in the new era the comprehensive provision of marxist theory education enriches the learning and living environment for young people, effectively engaging and guiding them. through a systematic approach to marxist theory education, we fill the intellectual and daily spaces of the youth, providing comprehensive coverage and guidance. we are committed to integrating professional development, daily management, and recreational activities within universities. we will continue to integrate these aspects and implement education in practice, aligning it with china’s economic and social development. this will allow young people to broadly experience the impact of marxist theory. in light of china’s economic and social progress, we aim to demonstrate the superiority of marxist theory to the younger generation. cultural entities and regional co-construction. we will fully leverage the red resources available on campus, in collaboration with the marxist institute, the school history museum, and other cultural entities. the goal www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 111 published by scholink inc. is to enhance the construction of campus cultural entities. we will fully utilize the role of cultural entities within universities to strengthen regional co-construction, making the most of local martyrs’ cemeteries, memorial halls, and other cultural facilities. by fully utilizing red educational resources such as local martyrs’ cemeteries, memorial halls, and museums, we aim to bring marxist theories to life in china. this practical application of marxist theory will be made visible and tangible to young people. through these efforts, we strive to create a vibrant campus atmosphere that resonates with the core values of marxism. by engaging students in interactive and reflective activities, we foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of marxist principles. the integration of marxist theory into the fabric of campus life not only enriches the intellectual pursuits of students but also cultivates a sense of social responsibility and civic engagement. as we continue to evolve our educational strategies, we remain dedicated to the principle that the practical application of marxist theory is essential for nurturing the next generation of leaders who will contribute to the socialist modernization of our country. 5.3 enhancing the teaching faculty in the new era to meet the evolving needs and expectations of our students, we will make informed adjustments to our curriculum and teaching methodologies, ensuring that our political science and civics education remains relevant and impactful amidst the ever-changing social landscape. to further elevate the quality of education, we plan to cultivate partnerships with other educational institutions and field experts. these collaborations will offer our educators chances to engage in research projects, attend workshops, and exchange ideas with professionals from various backgrounds. this will not only expand their knowledge but also introduce new perspectives into the classroom. furthermore, we will invest in the professional growth of our educators by providing scholarships and incentives for pursuing advanced degrees or certifications in political science and related disciplines. this will ensure that our faculty stays at the cutting edge of academic discourse and is prepared to address contemporary issues from a marxist viewpoint. additionally, we will harness technology to foster a more inclusive and accessible learning environment. by incorporating digital tools and platforms, we can offer students flexible learning options, such as online courses and virtual classrooms, which can cater to diverse learning preferences and schedules. finally, we will emphasize the importance of critical thinking and analytical skills in our curriculum. by encouraging students to question, analyze, and synthesize information, we aim to produce graduates who are not only well-versed in marxist theory but also adept at applying it to real-world scenarios. this will prepare them to become active contributors to society, working towards the development of a more just and equitable world. in order to track the effectiveness of these enhancements, we will implement a comprehensive assessment framework. this framework will include regular feedback from students, peer reviews, and selfevaluation by the faculty. it will also incorporate metrics to measure the application of marxist theory in practical situations, ensuring that our graduates are not only theoretically sound but also practically competent. moreover, we will establish an alumni network to maintain a connection with our graduates and to understand the long-term impact of our educational approach. this network will also serve as a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 4, 2024 112 published by scholink inc. resource for current students, providing them with insights into various career paths and opportunities. by continuously refining our curriculum and teaching methods, we are committed to nurturing politically conscious and analytically skilled individuals who will contribute to the advancement of society. 6. conclusion to genuinely engage and captivate the younger generation, it is crucial that we read and understand their viewpoints. the integration of marxist theory education into colleges and universities should be approached from the perspective of the youth, considering how to strategize, innovate, and evolve. this educational methodology should be rooted in the practicalities of school education, with a sharp focus on the core questions of who we are educating, how we are educating them, and the objectives of their education. the essence of the matter hinges on addressing these three fundamental questions: who, how, and to what end we are educating individuals. it is essential to align with the technological advancements of the modern era, utilizing new technologies and platforms to enhance theoretical education. we must adhere to the principles of accuracy and innovation. only through this integration with the technological advancements of the new era, leveraging cutting-edge technologies and platforms, can the marxist theoretical education in colleges and universities be continuously refined and elevated over time. only by doing so can it persistently progress and improve throughout the long course of history. to achieve this, we must first understand the digital habits and preferences of the younger generation, who are native to the digital age. this means incorporating multimedia resources, interactive learning tools, and online platforms into the curriculum. by doing so, we can create a more engaging and interactive learning environment that resonates with the students’ lifestyles and learning styles. moreover, it is important to foster critical thinking and encourage students to apply marxist theories to contemporary issues, thereby making the learning process more relevant and impactful. the ultimate goal is to cultivate a new generation of individuals who not only understand the theoretical underpinnings of marxism but can also apply these principles to contribute to the development of society in a meaningful way. references guan, y. f. (2003). it is essential to keep pace with the times in the education of marxist theory for the youth. journal of shanxi youth management cadre college, 2003(3), 7-10. she, s. h., & zhang, q. r. (2021). characteristics and reform paths of curriculum evaluation in college ideological and political theory courses. ideological and theoretical education, 2021(3), 18-24. tong, j. j. (2017). research on improving the psychological temperature of marxist theoretical education for youth. journal of guangdong youth vocational college, 31(2), 36-42. yang, r. s. (2007). it is the core of political theory education to make the youth accept marxism. journal of china youth university of political studies, 2007(1), 6-7. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 164 original paper innovative strategies for high school english continuation writing teaching empowered by chat generative pre-trained transformer youping ou1 1 xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: may 16, 2025 accepted: june 2, 2025 online published: june 23, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p164 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p164 abstract with the widespread application of generative artificial intelligence in the field of education, it is particularly important to explore how to use chat generative pre-trained transformer (chatgpt) to empower the teaching of reading and continued writing in high school english classrooms. this paper focuses on the application of chatgpt in the teaching of reading and continued writing in high school english, and explores its innovative strategies and practical significance: selecting original text materials, integrating multimodal resources, improving reading ability, guiding writing skills, using model essays to guide writing, and implementing evaluation and feedback. teachers should attach great importance to the innovative potential of chatgpt, while clearly recognizing its limitations, such as students’ tendency to rely on it, the impact on teachers’ status, academic ethics issues, and inaccurate information. teachers should also make supplements and adjustments when necessary to enhance teaching effectiveness. this article focuses on the application of chatgpt in high school english continuation writing teaching, exploring its innovative strategies and practical significance. keywords continuation writing, chatgpt, interactive synergy, high school english 1. introduction on november 30, 2022, chatgpt was launched. with its powerful language generation and processing capabilities, it quickly attracted widespread attention from all sectors of society and even globally. it can accurately generate code, skillfully answer various difficult questions, and create charming poems according to user instructions. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 165 published by scholink inc. in the current context of accelerating globalization, the importance of english as an international lingua franca has become increasingly prominent. the “ordinary high school english curriculum standards (2017 edition, revised in 2020)” (hereinafter referred to as the “curriculum standards”) emphasizes that students should cultivate a certain language awareness and english language sense, so as to comprehensively and freely use the existing language knowledge in daily situations. this means that students not only need to thoroughly understand the meaning conveyed by oral and written materials but also need to keenly identify the appropriate expressions therein and be able to express their own ideas smoothly through oral and written forms to achieve efficient interpersonal communication. it can be seen that english writing ability is undoubtedly a key criterion for measuring students’ overall language proficiency. english writing is not simply a mechanical training of language skills; it deeply integrates multiple dimensions such as critical thinking, cultural understanding, and emotional expression. therefore, english writing teaching in high school has always been one of the key research directions in the field of education. with the continuous in-depth research on language ability, especially writing teaching, the academic community has gradually realized that english writing ability actually covers multiple ability categories, such as the accuracy of vocabulary use, the proficiency of grammar structures, the rigor of logical reasoning, and the activity of innovative thinking. based on this profound understanding, focusing on cultivating students’ english writing ability has become a crucial link in improving their overall language level. in recent years, this conceptual change has directly driven significant innovations in the teaching concept of high school english writing. the teacher group has begun to focus more on cultivating students’ practical application ability and creative thinking, abandoning the traditional old model that was limited to grammar exercises or templated composition writing. at the same time, the form of english writing tests has also undergone significant changes. for example, in 2016, zhejiang province introduced a new writing question type continuation writing in the new college entrance examination reform plan. this question type requires candidates to continue writing a story based on the given article content, comprehensively testing the candidates’ comprehension ability, imagination, and expression skills. since 2020, more and more provinces have chosen the model of “practical writing + continuation writing” as the core evaluation method in the college entrance examination english subject, which clearly indicates that the assessment method of continuation writing is steadily moving towards the mainstream forefront of english writing assessment in the basic educational stage in china. professor chuming wang first proposed the “continuation writing method” in 2012, which is an innovative teaching method that organically combines reading and writing. specifically, in the process of continuation writing teaching, students study a text under the guidance of the teacher, and after indepth analysis of the article structure, language features, and character characteristics, they continue writing and recreate the original text. continuation writing belongs to comprehensive language application practice, closely related to the input and output links, which can not only effectively improve students’ reading comprehension level but also strengthen their writing expression skills. through inwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 166 published by scholink inc. depth analysis and secondary creation of the text, students can more deeply understand the essence of language structure and application and cultivate critical thinking and innovation potential. however, the current exploration path of continuation writing teaching is relatively single, and students are mostly in a passive state of receiving knowledge, with low learning enthusiasm. therefore, the effective implementation of continuation writing in the high school english teaching system is particularly urgent. on this basis, we have to pay attention to another emerging force in the current education field the rapid development of information technology. with the rapid development of information technology, artificial intelligence (ai) is increasingly penetrating into the field of education. in november 2022, openai in the united states launched chat generative pre-trained transformer (chatgpt), an interactive tool of generative artificial intelligence. as a cutting-edge language generation model, chatgpt has initially shown unique advantages in the field of language learning. it can not only quickly provide language feedback according to user instructions but also customize personalized learning content as needed, such as creating poems, answering difficult questions, and generating code. it is in this context that chatgpt has become closely related to english continuation writing teaching. in english writing teaching, chatgpt, with its powerful problem-solving and writing assistance capabilities, provides personalized feedback for students and continuously optimizes writing materials. the emergence of this technology has brought both new opportunities and many challenges to english continuation writing teaching. through interaction and communication with chatgpt, students can obtain rich and diverse writing materials and sources of inspiration, helping to improve their writing ability and confidence. however, although artificial intelligence technologies such as chatgpt have great potential in promoting the reform of english writing teaching, we still cannot avoid a series of severe challenges. these challenges not only come from the inherent limitations of the technology itself but also involve many aspects such as the structure of the education system, the innovation of educational concepts, and the cultivation of students’ adaptability. in view of this, it is urgent to conduct in-depth research on these challenges in order to fully understand the possible impacts and far-reaching influences of artificial intelligence like chatgpt. in this research process, we need to systematically summarize and deeply reflect on the current practical experience and carefully discuss how to skillfully integrate these emerging technologies into the practice of english continuation writing teaching. through such reflection, we can accurately identify the difficulties and problems encountered in practical applications and then guide the direction of future education reform. this paper intends to combine the interaction synergy theory to deeply explore how to skillfully use chatgpt to empower english continuation writing teaching and strive to build a three-party positive interaction model of “teacher student chatgpt”. such interaction can not only help students improve their continuation writing skills but also provide teachers with more rich, diverse, and creative teaching resources, comprehensively improving teaching effectiveness. the interaction synergy theory emphasizes the active communication and collaborative cooperation among all participating subjects. in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 167 published by scholink inc. the context of english continuation writing teaching, teachers can guide students to interact with chatgpt, encourage students to ask questions boldly, express their views actively, and give full play to their creative talents. as an intelligent assistant, chatgpt can create scenarios for students, respond to their needs instantly, and provide professional writing suggestions and inspiration, fully stimulating students’ creativity and writing enthusiasm. in addition, teachers can also use the high-quality content generated by chatgpt to enrich their teaching material library and design more attractive classroom activities. in short, the purpose of this paper is to promote the benign application and vigorous development of generative artificial intelligence like chatgpt in the field of education and help the strategic transformation of education steadily move forward to a new journey. 2. literature review since chatgpt was opened to the public, most of the research on chatgpt has mainly focused on its introduction, covering aspects such as its design principles, working mechanisms, and basic functions (kohnke et al., 2023; yang & wang, 2023; zhang & hong, 2023). these studies have also involved the impacts of chatgpt at different levels, corresponding policies and strategies (gu, 2023; li et al., 2023; liu et al., 2023a, 2023b; xiao et al., 2023), as well as the limitations and potential risks of chatgpt’s functions (kohnke et al., 2023; mohamed, 2023; hu & qi, 2023; jin, 2023). these studies are usually combined with linguistic theories or language education practices. some studies have also begun to focus on the research of chatgpt in second language teaching. chatgpt promotes students’ personalized learning and explores the promoting role of generative artificial intelligence in personalized learning. for example, some studies have discussed the overall situation, opportunities, and benefits of chatgpt’s application in higher education. it can improve college students’ participation, collaboration, and accessibility, create a richer learning experience for students, and promote the development of personalized and complex learning. at the same time, it can also reduce teachers’ teaching workload, enabling teachers to devote more energy to teaching innovation and student guidance, thereby improving the efficiency of key processes and tasks and promoting the optimization and development of education and teaching. some scholars directly used the swot analysis framework to summarize the advantages and disadvantages of chatgpt and discussed the opportunities and threats it brings to education. its advantages include using complex natural language models to generate credible answers, self-improvement ability, and providing personalized real-time responses. its weaknesses are the lack of in-depth understanding, difficulty in evaluating the quality of responses, the risk of bias and discrimination, and the lack of high-order thinking ability. the threats to education include the lack of understanding of the context, the threat to academic integrity, the continuation of educational discrimination, the democratization of plagiarism, and the decline of highorder cognitive skills. research on the practical application of chatgpt in second language writing and reading teaching. researchers generally believe that chatgpt can assist students in better learning and help teachers better www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 168 published by scholink inc. complete teaching work. it can become a tool and partner for students, providing students with a language learning environment close to the real situation and creating conditions for students’ autonomous learning; chatgpt can also serve as an intelligent assistant for teachers, assisting teachers in teaching and research activities and lesson preparation, providing real-time teaching evaluation, and replacing teachers in simple and repetitive work (hu & qi, 2023; hu, 2023; qin, 2023). for example, xu xiaoyi and others explored the application path of chatgpt in writing teaching through specific teaching cases. chatgpt can generate multimodal corpora, develop writing topics, create authentic model essays, and provide personalized feedback. in reading teaching, chatgpt can play the roles of an intelligent assistant, a mobile learning companion, and a creative engine, promoting the expansion of time and space and reducing the burden and increasing the efficiency of reading teaching. ren wei and others compared and analyzed the similarities and differences in the attitudes and expressions of feedback on students’ english compositions by chatgpt and english teachers. the results showed that the number of positive feedbacks given by chatgpt was higher than that of english teachers. however, while paying attention to the advantages of chatgpt in teaching, we should also pay attention to some threats to teaching. on the one hand, if students overly rely on chatgpt’s answers without discrimination, it may mislead students’ knowledge acquisition. at the same time, chatgpt sometimes generates false information. since junior students have immature mental development, it may affect the construction of students’ real knowledge system. on the other hand, teaching is not only about knowledge transfer. the teaching process involves emotional interaction and humanistic communication between teachers and students and between students and texts. as an artificial intelligence tool, although chatgpt can conduct language interaction, it cannot provide students with emotional support, encouragement, and personalized humanistic care like human teachers. some scholars have also studied the transformation of teachers’ roles and relationships in the context of chatgpt. in the context of the vigorous development of chatgpt technology, the role positioning of teachers is undergoing profound changes, facing both unprecedented opportunities and many severe challenges. the wide application of chatgpt technology has brought significant changes to the field of education. it makes knowledge production more efficient, knowledge forms softer, and the communication environment more flexible, which prompts teachers’ roles to change from the traditional focus on one-way knowledge transfer to two-way autonomous knowledge construction, from emphasizing linear thinking in “teaching” to relational thinking in “learning”, and from following the beaten track to embracing innovation. moreover, the emergence of chatgpt has brought profound changes to the definition of student development, the pattern of teacher-student relationships, the connotation of teachers’ work, and professional development. in this case, teachers should actively transform into innovators and reformers in education and teaching, constantly update educational concepts, innovate teaching practices, and promote the improvement of the educational theory system. teachers should also become value discoverers and creators, transforming from knowledge transmitters to knowledge producers and planners and guides for students’ learning, and establishing a new www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 169 published by scholink inc. authoritative image. although chatgpt has certain knowledge teaching functions, creative teaching abilities, and professional norm compliance awareness, the role value of teachers is uniquely irreplaceable. teachers’ creativity stems from the genuine understanding of teaching situations, enabling them to break through conventions and reconstruct teaching norms to meet diverse teaching needs. in ethical decision-making, teachers have clear good goals and autonomous judgment abilities, which can guide students to make correct choices in complex moral situations, which is beyond the reach of chatgpt. research on the impacts of chatgpt on learning performance, attitudes, and emotions in language acquisition. some scholars believe that “learning performance is the most widely concerned variable in the research on chatgpt’s empowerment of foreign language learning. chatgpt can provide learning materials and suggestions according to students’ interests and needs, helping students better learn independently, thereby improving learning motivation and learning effects. some studies have also pointed out that the emergence of chatgpt has also changed students’ learning attitudes and values. some students may become dependent on this new technology, thus reducing the cultivation of autonomous learning and critical thinking. some studies have also shown that the public has a positive attitude towards chatgpt, believing that it can help them complete learning tasks more efficiently. after the emergence of chatgpt, in addition to discussing the opportunities and challenges it brings to the field of education, some scholars have also begun to pay attention to the ethical issues arising from chatgpt. xiaoxiong ling and others deeply explored the cold thinking of chatgpt in terms of technological ethics and academic ethics, pointing out that the technical “blind spots” of chatgpt and the ethical dilemmas it causes are worthy of attention. they emphasized that although the “humanized” characteristics and powerful language ability of chatgpt have great potential in fields such as education, medical care, and law, they may also lead to problems such as academic misconduct, intellectual property infringement, and the generation of false information. yuhuan feng also mentioned in his research that while chatgpt improves the creativity and cognitive initiative of educational practice, it also faces subject ethical issues such as the loss of thinking ability, relationship ethical issues such as the alienation of teacher-student interaction, algorithm ethical issues such as knowledge blind spots and information cocoons, and resource ethical issues such as educational injustice and unclear rights and responsibilities. these issues involve multiple levels such as data privacy, academic integrity, and intellectual property rights, posing challenges to the existing education system and academic norms. scholars generally believe that comprehensive considerations and governance are needed at the policy, regulatory, and technological application levels to ensure the reasonable, compliant, and ethical application of artificial intelligence technologies such as chatgpt in the field of education. in summary, the research on chatgpt in foreign language teaching mainly focuses on theory, impact, suggestions, and relationship exploration. although there are studies on how to apply chatgpt in english reading and writing teaching, there is almost no integration of reading and writing for discussion, and most of them are relatively general, lacking operability, specific strategies, and methods. this paper www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 170 published by scholink inc. reviews the literature on chatgpt’s empowerment of high school english continuation writing teaching from the perspective of interaction synergy theory, hoping to provide a reference for relevant research. therefore, this paper will explore how to use chatgpt to carry out high school english continuation writing teaching based on the interaction synergy theory, so as to improve students’ reading and writing abilities. 3. methodology this paper employed an exploratory methodology to understand the potential benefit of chatgpt in education. the interaction synergy theory originated in the 1980s and was proposed by pickering and garrod. they believed that synergy is the key to promoting the continuous progress of interpersonal dialogue. in the process of interpersonal interaction, the parties in the dialogue will coordinate and adapt to each other at the language and content levels, thereby promoting mutual understanding and ultimately achieving cognitive agreement (pickering & garrod, 2004). this theory is also applicable to the field of education, emphasizing the interaction and synergy among teachers, students, teaching environments, and teaching media. as an artificial intelligence-based language model, chatgpt acts as an intermediary in the interaction and synergy of high school english continuation writing teaching and assists teaching, providing new possibilities for improving students’ english writing abilities. from the perspective of interaction theory, a new ternary collaborative relationship of “teacher student machine” is constructed. in the continuation writing classroom under the ternary collaboration, people are the main body of teaching, and the machine is only an auxiliary tool and can never replace human reading and emotional value communication. chatgpt can improve teaching efficiency, but its ultimate service object is still the human being as the main body, which is the value rationality that the ternary collaborative classroom should always adhere to. chatgpt acts as an intermediary in the whole process. on the one hand, it can help students understand and analyze the framework structure, language characteristics, and character features of the original text before writing. on the other hand, it can also provide the vocabulary, sentence patterns, and structures that may be needed in the continuation writing. at the same time, chatgpt can also provide some creative suggestions, stimulate students’ imagination and creativity, and help them conceive more rich and interesting plots. through the interaction and synergy among teachers and students, students and students, and students and chatgpt, a knowledge system is jointly constructed, and teaching effectiveness is improved. synergy is comprehensive, including not only the language level but also factors such as emotion, belief, and context (wang, 2011). since the texts selected for continuation writing are often story-based articles, teachers should guide students to have a deep understanding of the continuation writing text from the perspectives of theme, plot, and language. effective continuation writing should achieve synergy in three aspects: emotional theme, plot content, and situational language. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 171 published by scholink inc. 3.1 synergy of emotional theme the synergy of the emotional theme focuses on how the continuation part remains consistent with the original text at the emotional level. the emotional changes of the characters are the manifestation of the central idea of the work, and the theme can be deepened through the sublimation of emotions. before reading, teachers can utilize chatgpt to generate multimodal teaching materials, create a thematic context, and stimulate students’ emotions. during reading, with the assistance of chatgpt, students explore the theme of the text by experiencing the emotional changes of the characters. in the process of continuation writing, students should dig out the thematic meaning of the text based on their understanding of the story and utilize the emotional changes of the characters to highlight this theme, thus continuing the author’s thoughts. 3.2 synergy of plot content the synergy of plot content pertains to the specific content of the continuation writing, including logical rationality, content richness, structural compactness, close connection, and clear organization. on the basis of a deep understanding of the story, students should make full use of the first sentences of the paragraphs and the clues provided in the original text to design the content of the continuation writing, ensuring that the continuation part can naturally connect with the previous text. chatgpt can offer content references for students and inspire their content innovation, enabling students to creatively extend the story based on their understanding of the plot development of the original text, making it both conform to the logic of the original text and novel. 3.3 synergy of situational language the synergy of situational language focuses on how to maintain consistency with the original text in terms of language style. the choice of language will vary according to specific contexts and situations and is manifested through specific words, phrases, and grammatical structures. chatgpt can assist teachers in guiding students to read the original text repeatedly, deeply understand the story, and analyze its language characteristics and situational categories. at the same time, it can also provide students with vocabulary, sentence patterns, etc. that are compatible with the original text. students can find imitable expressions from them and creatively apply the original text materials in combination with their own experiences to improve the accuracy and harmony of the language in the continuation writing. in this way, the continuation part can echo the writing scene of the original text and achieve the synergy of situational language. through the synergy in these three aspects of emotional theme, plot content, and situational language, students’ continuation writing can not only maintain consistency with the original text in form but also form an organic unity with the original text in content and spirit, thus enhancing the overall quality of the continuation writing. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 172 published by scholink inc. 4. chatgpt in the teaching practice of english continuation writing in high school 4.1 selecting original texts to aid in material collection in english continuation writing teaching, the selection of the original text is of crucial importance. it not only sets the tone for students’ continuation writing content but also has a profound impact on their ability improvement in multiple aspects such as thinking expansion, language expression, and creative development. therefore, how to select original texts scientifically and efficiently has always been a topic that educators have been constantly exploring. in recent years, chatgpt, as an advanced artificial intelligence technology, by virtue of its powerful natural language processing capabilities, has provided an innovative solution to this difficult problem, greatly enriching teaching resources and enhancing teaching efficiency. the reason why chatgpt can play such an important role in english continuation writing teaching lies in its huge corpus and advanced algorithms. this intelligent system can quickly screen out reading materials that meet specific requirements from a vast amount of text resources. whether it is in terms of theme, difficulty, language style, or emotional color and plot development, it can highly match the teaching objectives set by teachers. for example, when a teacher needs a narrative text with the theme of “courage and growth” as the original text material for continuation writing, chatgpt can quickly select texts that not only meet the theme requirements but also can arouse students’ resonance from various sources such as classic literary works, modern short stories, and news reports. in the specific implementation process, teachers should first clarify the learning situation background of students, the unit teaching objectives, and the specific teaching purposes of this lesson. taking high school english teaching as an example, considering that the writing questions of english continuation writing in the college entrance examination generally adopt narrative texts as the text materials and require students to continue writing based on the original text, teachers need to conduct in-depth research on the various requirements of narrative writing, including the language style, narrative structure, and character shaping characteristics of the text. after determining the teaching objectives and text requirements, teachers can utilize the powerful functions of chatgpt and customize the original text materials that meet the requirements by inputting precise instructions. taking the continuation writing question of the 2024 new curriculum standard volume i as an example, the teacher can send the following instructions to chatgpt: “please first study the english continuation writing question of the 2024 chinese college entrance examination, including the text and the question, and combine the cultivation objectives of chinese high school english core competencies to make an innovative adaptation and generate a continuation writing question.” 4.2 integrating multimodal resources to optimize teaching methods the “english curriculum standards for compulsory education” (2022 edition) adds the skill of “viewing” on the basis of the four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. that is, the skill of understanding meaning by using various image resources in multimodal texts, and at the same time requires students to be able to make written expressions according to the given image prompts (ministry of education, 2022). in the development of multimodal resources for english teaching, chatgpt www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 173 published by scholink inc. undoubtedly shows unprecedented potential and wide application advantages. as a natural language processing tool based on artificial intelligence technology, chatgpt can not only efficiently generate high-quality text resources, such as texts, dialogues, stories, exercise questions, etc., which greatly enriches the material library of english teaching, but also can combine various media forms such as images and videos to generate multimodal corpora closely related to the course content, making the learning process more intuitive and vivid. the generated multimodal corpora to assist in continuation writing teaching is an innovation in classroom teaching under the background of the new curriculum standard. chatgpt can help teachers generate the multimodal materials needed in the classroom. it is particularly worth mentioning that the application of chatgpt in assisting continuation writing teaching has become a highlight under the background of the new curriculum standard. teachers can use chatgpt to generate the text for continuation writing and instruct it to further generate pictures or videos that match the plot development of the text. through the combination of dynamic and static, the scenes in the continuation writing are vividly reproduced, creating an immersive learning atmosphere for students. this immersive experience greatly stimulates students’ interest in learning english, enabling them to enjoy the fun of learning while also exercising their language comprehension and expression abilities. it can also skillfully integrate multimedia elements such as images and videos to create multimodal corpora that are closely related to the course content and rich in forms. these corpora are not only illustrated with pictures and texts and combined with audio and video but also can be personalized according to the cognitive characteristics and teaching needs of students, making the english learning process more intuitive, vivid, and attractive. in such a learning process, students can more easily understand and master knowledge, and at the same time, they can also enjoy the fun and sense of achievement brought by learning. this innovative teaching method not only breaks through the limitations of traditional english teaching but also opens up a new path for classroom teaching under the new curriculum standard. it also provides students with a more colorful learning experience and a broader development space. it makes english teaching no longer limited to single text reading or listening training but integrates various media forms such as images and videos to form a multi-dimensional and all-round learning environment. in such an environment, students can perceive and understand language more comprehensively and use language more flexibly for communication and expression, thus truly realizing the comprehensive development and improvement of english learning. 4.3 improve reading ability and assist in comprehension and absorption chatgpt is good at collecting and reading textual information on a large scale, and it can efficiently extract, process and organize the information. firstly, chatgpt has a powerful context understanding ability, which is the foundation for text analysis. it can accurately grasp every detail in the text and interpret it within the overall context, thus ensuring the accuracy and coherence of the analysis. this ability not only helps to capture the surface information of the text, such as the plot of a story, character relationships, etc., but also enables a deeper exploration of the deep meaning of the text and the potential intentions of the author. through the analysis by chatgpt, students can understand the content of the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 174 published by scholink inc. text more comprehensively, avoid one-sided or misinterpreted readings, and thus deepen their cognitive depth of the text. secondly, chatgpt has an efficient information extraction and processing ability, which is the key to analyzing reading texts. when faced with a large amount of textual information, chatgpt can quickly identify and extract the important information in it, such as the theme, structure, and language features, and present it in a clear and organized manner. this ability greatly improves the efficiency of text analysis, enabling teachers to complete in-depth interpretations of more texts within a limited time. meanwhile, chatgpt can also process and organize the extracted information to form a logical and systematic analysis framework, providing students with a clearer and more intuitive learning path. furthermore, chatgpt’s in-depth analysis and critical thinking abilities are another important advantage in its analysis of reading texts. it can not only help students understand the complex relationships in the text, such as the connection between the theme and the narrative structure, but also guide students to think critically about the text and analyze the author’s viewpoints, emotions and attitudes. guided by chatgpt, students can learn to examine the text from multiple perspectives and cultivate their independent thinking ability and the habit of critical thinking. this ability not only helps to improve students’ reading comprehension ability, but also cultivates their comprehensive quality and innovation ability. in addition, chatgpt can also use diverse analysis angles and methods when analyzing reading texts. whether it is language analysis, literary analysis or rhetorical analysis, chatgpt can provide rich analysis results and in-depth interpretations. such diverse analysis methods make text analysis more comprehensive and meticulous, helping students better understand the connotation and denotation of the text. meanwhile, chatgpt can also be customized and optimized according to teaching needs to adapt to different types of texts and analysis tasks, providing more flexible and personalized support for teaching. chatgpt can automatically assist students with multiple tasks. “when chatting with chatgpt, it will remember the content of your replies, and if you don’t like its replies, you can expand or refine the content of the replies, or even ask it to reply in different voices and ways.” (alshater, 2022) 4.4 guide writing skills and inspire creative inspiration one of the purposes of the continuation writing class is to cultivate students’ ability to skillfully use the knowledge they have learned and understood for written expression based on the text, and to use the target language to achieve communication. chatgpt can inspire students’ writing ideas and expand their writing thinking. for example, if teachers describe the writing theme, such as “environmental protection”, to chatgpt, chatgpt will generate a series of related viewpoints, examples and angles, such as “the current situation of environmental pollution”, “the importance of environmental protection”, “environmental protection measures that individuals can take”, etc., helping students to broaden their minds and find the entry points for writing. meanwhile, chatgpt can also provide inspiration for students to construct outlines and frameworks, and give brief prompts on the main content of each part. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 175 published by scholink inc. students can compare it with the frameworks they have written themselves, which can stimulate students’ innovative thinking and make students clear about the logical framework of writing. 4.5 guided writing with model essays to enhance the connotation of articles the purpose of teaching model essays in reading classes is to enable students to learn writing ideas and master the writing methods of such articles. chatgpt, with its ability to generate diverse and high-quality writing model essays, provides a unique opportunity for students to perceive different cultures and language styles around the world. the text generation technology of this tool is based on large-scale language data. it can not only quickly generate a large number of fluent writing templates but also accurately capture the language and cultural details from all over the world. teachers can use this tool to build a new writing material library. the specific operation steps are as follows: 1) select appropriate writing styles (such as narrative, expository, argumentative or descriptive) and tones (such as formal, informal, academic or creative). for example, an argumentative essay may require a clear structure of arguments and evidence, while a narrative essay pays more attention to the story and character development. 2) set corresponding writing parameters, specifically including but not limited to word count limits, language usage (formal or informal), sentence structures (simple or complex), narrative perspectives (first person or third person), etc. these parameters help chatgpt make specific language choices in specific situations. chatgpt’s huge corpus and database, as well as its rapid search and synthesis capabilities, enable it to optimize students’ article expressions and enliven the materials. when students lack ideas in writing, chatgpt can quickly search the corpus, provide references or inspiration of viewpoints, help students create vivid and figurative expressions, and enhance the expressiveness and appeal of writing materials. the improvement of writing ability is inseparable from the study of model essays. the compositions generated by chatgpt can serve as personalized “exclusive model essays” for students to learn writing. by reading these “exclusive model essays”, students can better understand the grammar, vocabulary and expressions of the chinese language, pay attention to the expressions and sentence structures in them, and also understand the structures and writing techniques of different types of compositions. in addition, students can also try to imitate and apply these language techniques and expressions to improve their writing ability and chinese proficiency. practicing writing and comparing the differences between their own compositions and the model essays can also help students continuously improve their writing techniques and expressive abilities. 4.6 implementing evaluation and feedback to promote the improvement of achievements chatgpt, a tool developed based on a vast corpus, can not only identify and correct language errors but also enhance the quality of compositions on multiple levels. it helps teachers grade compositions efficiently by improving the accuracy of grammar and vocabulary, strengthening the clarity of viewpoints, simplifying language and ensuring logical coherence. teachers can utilize the feedback from chatgpt to guide students in the classroom to analyze the intentions and ways of modification, so as to cultivate their awareness of quality and enhance their perception of high-quality writing. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 176 published by scholink inc. teaching feedback and evaluation are crucial aspects in teaching. effective feedback can promote students’ understanding and ensure learning outcomes (chen et al., 2018). chatgpt can achieve personalized learning guidance, develop automatic evaluation items and conduct evaluation and refeedback. in writing teaching, chatgpt can immediately provide targeted feedback for students and support personalized writing. it can understand students’ intentions of language expression, identify and correct language errors and problems of unclear expression, and make dynamic adjustments according to students’ writing levels and habits. for students at different levels, chatgpt offers differentiated feedback, providing specific guidance for those with lower writing levels and more in-depth personalized feedback for high-level students. after chatgpt is incorporated into writing teaching activities, teachers can guide students to review the first drafts with the help of chatgpt. chatgpt can point out language errors in aspects such as spelling, punctuation and grammar, find out logical problems like cohesion and coherence, paragraph structure and argument support, and also give suggestions on vocabulary selection, writing style and context. another advantage of chatgpt lies in its ability to generate the revised text based on students’ compositions, which is difficult to achieve with traditional grading. students can give feedback on the text generated by chatgpt and form the final draft through interactive negotiation. moreover, chatgpt’s powerful text processing function also makes it a powerful tool for students to polish and revise articles. it can guess the author’s intention according to the content of the whole text and provide corresponding expression suggestions. chatgpt can also encourage students to write in depth and improve their critical thinking. in traditional classrooms, it is often difficult for teachers to provide feedback for all students’ compositions, while chatgpt can solve this limitation and provide targeted modifications and feedback. it can even make targeted modifications based on the uploaded model essays, replacing teachers to complete repetitive work. in daily writing teaching, students often find it difficult to form their own writing styles. however, the scientific and humanized artificial intelligence language system built into the chatgpt model conducts conversations by learning and understanding human language, providing a platform for students’ personalized writing. it can interact according to the chat context, achieve precise analysis and personalized diagnosis of students’ writing, and provide targeted writing support services. 5. conclusion when exploring the integrated application of generative artificial intelligence in the teaching of continuation writing, teachers should not only attach importance to its innovative potential but also clearly recognize its limitations. for example, on the part of students, frequent use of it may easily lead to dependence. for instance, if students obtain high scores in english writing with its help, they will no longer be willing to think and create independently, which will seriously undermine their creativity. the role of teachers is also weakened. excessive reliance on it will reduce the direct interaction and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 177 published by scholink inc. communication between teachers and students, causing the humanistic care and emotional exchange in education to be replaced by algorithms, and distorting the teacher-student relationship. for example, when encountering problems, students will turn to chatgpt instead of discussing them with teachers. the unique care that teachers can offer to students cannot be achieved by algorithms, resulting in an imbalance in the teacher-student relationship and damage to the educational function. on the academic ethics level, its operation relies on big data, which brings the risk of privacy leakage. moreover, it lacks a genuine emotional awareness, which may lead to the degradation of students’ social skills. meanwhile, the need to pay for its use aggravates educational inequality and also gives rise to issues of academic integrity, interfering with teaching evaluation and disrupting the educational ecosystem. in addition, the information generated is not always accurate. although it can quickly provide a large amount of learning materials, it often gives wrong answers. since it is trained with big data, if the corpus is contaminated, the generated content will deviate from the correct direction and mislead students. therefore, teachers should be aware of these limitations and make supplements and adjustments when necessary. reference alshater, m. (2022). exploring the role of artificial intelligence in enhancing academic performance: a case study of chatgpt [eb/ol]. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4312358 castelvecchi, d. (2022). are chatgpt and alphacode going to replace programmers? [j/ol]. nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04383-z openai. (2023). gpt－4 technical report [eb/ol]. retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/2303.08774 organisciak, p., acar, s., dumas, d., & berthiaume, k. (2023). beyond semantic distance: automated scoring of divergent thinking greatly improves with large language models. thinking skills and creativity, 49, 101356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2023.101356 qadir, j. (2022). engineering education in the era of chatgpt: promise and pitfalls of generative ai for education. techrxiv. preprint. https://doi.org/10.36227/techrxiv.21789434.v1 teubner, t. et al. (2023). welcome to the era of chatgpt et al. business & information systems engineering, 65(2), 95-101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-023-00795-x cai, q. q., zhang, l. t., & pan, l. p. (2024). role value of teachers and its realization in the context of chatgpt. education theory and practice, 44(23), 32-36. feng, y. h. (2023). application value, potential ethical risks and governance path of chatgpt in the field of education. ideological and theoretical education, 4, 26-32. li, f. f., & chen, z. p. (2024). artificial intelligence technology empowers whole book reading teaching—taking the application of chatgpt in the rural china reading teaching as an example. language construction, 1, 15-21. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 178 published by scholink inc. song, c. x., & li, j. y. (2024). chatgpt technology and teacher professional development: challenges and responses. education theory and practice, 44(25), 42-48. wang, y. j., & dong, y. m. (2024). the public’s cognition and emotional attitude towards artificial intelligence—taking chatgpt as an example. knowledge management forum, 9(1), 16-29. zhang, l. n., & yu, b. h. (2023). redisposition of teacher roles under chatgpt technology. contemporary educational science, 10, 57-70. zhang, r. (2023). the impact of generative artificial intelligence technology on the field of education—an interview on chatgpt. e-education research, 44(2), 5-14. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 1 original paper assessing the efficacy of language assessment tools in educational settings akinkuotu, foluke abimbola phd1, fowowe, sunday simeon2 & adebanjo, mopelola omowumi phd3 1 lagos state university of education, oto/ijanikin, college of language communication and arts education, nigeria 2 lagos state university of education, oto/ijanikin, college of professional and specialized education, nigeria 3 lagos state university of education, oto/ijanikin, college of language communication and arts education, nigeria received: april 25, 2024 accepted: may 19, 2024 online published: june 3, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n3p1 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n3p1 abstract language assessment plays a pivotal role in evaluating learners’ language proficiency and informing educational practices. this paper provides a comprehensive review of international standards guiding the assessment of language proficiency in educational settings. drawing upon established frameworks such as the common european framework of reference for languages (cefr) and the american council on the teaching of foreign languages (actfl) proficiency guidelines, this review examines the key principles, methodologies, and criteria for assessing the efficacy of language assessment tools. it explores the importance of validity, reliability, authenticity, and practicality in the design and implementation of language assessment instruments. furthermore, it discusses the significance of considering socio-cultural and contextual factors in ensuring the fairness and equity of language assessment practices. the review also highlights emerging trends and challenges in language assessment, including the integration of technology and the need for continuous professional development for assessors. by synthesizing international standards and best practices, this paper offers valuable insights for educators, assessment specialists, and policymakers striving to enhance the quality and effectiveness of language assessment in educational contexts. keywords educators, policy maker, language assessment, socio-cultural, american council, linguistic diversity www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 2 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction language assessment tools play a pivotal role in educational settings, serving as essential instruments for evaluating learners’ language proficiency and guiding instructional strategies. with the increasing linguistic diversity within classrooms and the emphasis on proficiency-based education, the efficacy of these assessment tools becomes paramount. this paper aims to critically examine and assess the efficacy of language assessment tools in educational settings, exploring their validity, reliability, and practicality. assessment in education serves multifaceted purposes, ranging from gauging learners’ language proficiency levels to informing instructional decisions and measuring educational outcomes (brown, 2018). in recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the need for comprehensive and fair language assessments that accurately reflect learners’ abilities across various linguistic domains. as such, the development and implementation of effective language assessment tools have become a focal point for educators, policymakers, and researchers alike. equally, language assessment tools encompass a wide array of instruments, including standardized tests, performance assessments, self-assessment tools, and teacher-made assessments (bachman & palmer, 2010). however, amidst the proliferation of assessment tools, questions regarding their validity, reliability, and practicality have emerged. validity concerns whether an assessment accurately measures what it intends to measure, while reliability pertains to the consistency and stability of assessment results over time and across different contexts (american educational research association, american psychological association, & national council on measurement in education, 2014). in this regard, the efficacy of language assessment tools depends on their alignment with established language proficiency frameworks, such as the common european framework of reference for languages (cefr) or the american council on the teaching of foreign languages (actfl) proficiency guidelines (council of europe, 2001; actfl, 2012). furthermore, the practicality of these tools encompasses considerations such as administration time, scoring procedures, accessibility, and fairness to diverse learner populations. in addition to traditional paper-and-pencil assessments, technology-enhanced assessment tools, such as computer-adaptive tests and online portfolios, have gained prominence for their potential to provide more personalized and efficient assessment experiences (chapelle & jamieson, 2008).thus, as educators strive to meet the needs of diverse learners and promote equitable educational opportunities, it becomes imperative to critically evaluate the efficacy of language assessment tools in facilitating meaningful learning outcomes. this paper will examine the current landscape of language assessment tools in educational settings, exploring their strengths, limitations, and implications for teaching and learning. by critically evaluating the validity, reliability, and practicality of these tools, educators can make informed decisions regarding their selection and implementation to ensure fair and accurate assessments of learners’ language proficiency levels. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 3 published by scholink inc. 2. theoretical framework a variety of theoretical frameworks and models underpin the development and validation of language assessment tools. common frameworks include communicative language testing (bachman & palmer, 2010), socio-cognitive models (weir, 2005), and validity frameworks such as messick’s (1989) construct validity. these frameworks provide a theoretical basis for understanding the effectiveness of language assessment tools in measuring students’ language proficiency. the two most important relevant theories suitable for the paper are; constructivist theory and multiple intelligence theory. 2.1 constructivist theory: constructivist theory is a framework within educational psychology that emphasizes the active role of learners in constructing knowledge and understanding through their experiences and interactions with the world around them (piaget, 1950; vygotsky, 1978). the theory posits that learning is not simply the acquisition of knowledge transmitted from teacher to learner, but rather a process of individual meaning-making through cognitive processes such as assimilation, accommodation, and reflection (dewey, 1938; bruner, 1960). the key proponents of constructivist theory include jean piaget, lev vygotsky, and jerome bruner. piaget’s work focused on the stages of cognitive development and the ways in which children actively construct their understanding of the world through interaction with their environment. vygotsky emphasized the role of social interaction and cultural context in cognitive development, highlighting the importance of language and social interaction in the construction of knowledge. bruner contributed the concept of scaffolding, which refers to the support provided by teachers or more knowledgeable peers to help learners build new understanding based on their existing knowledge. while the roots of constructivist theory can be traced back to the early 20th century, it gained prominence in the field of education during the latter half of the century. piaget’s work began in the 1920s and 1930s, while vygotsky’s ideas emerged in the 1930s and 1940s. jerome bruner’s influential book, “the process of education,” was published in 1960, further solidifying constructivism as a foundational theory in education. the educational implications of the theory to the learners, teachers of language and educational settings are captured thus; learners: according to constructivist theory, learners actively engage in the process of meaning-making and knowledge construction. this suggests that educators should provide opportunities for hands-on, experiential learning where students can explore and discover concepts for themselves. learners are encouraged to ask questions, make connections between new and existing knowledge, and engage in reflective practices to deepen their understanding. for the teachers of language: in language learning contexts, constructivist principles emphasize the importance of meaningful communication and interaction. teachers play a crucial role in providing rich linguistic input, scaffolding learners’ language development through guided practice and feedback, and creating authentic learning experiences that connect language learning to real-world contexts. for the educational settings: the constructivist approaches advocate for learner-centered classrooms where students are actively involved in the learning process. this may involve collaborative learning www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 4 published by scholink inc. activities, project-based learning, and the use of technology to support inquiry and exploration. educational settings should be designed to foster a supportive and inclusive learning environment that promotes critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills. the constructivist theory underscores the active role of learners in constructing knowledge and understanding. by embracing constructivist principles, educators can create engaging and effective learning experiences that empower students to become active participants in their own learning journey. 2.2 multiple intelligence theory multiple intelligence theory (mit) is a psychological framework proposed by howard gardner in 1983. according to gardner, intelligence cannot be accurately measured by traditional iq tests, which typically focus on linguistic and logical-mathematical abilities. instead, gardner posited that individuals possess varying degrees of multiple intelligences, each representing different ways of processing information and solving problems. gardner initially identified seven intelligences in his seminal work, “frames of mind: the theory of multiple intelligences.” these intelligences include: ▪ linguistic intelligence: the ability to use language effectively, including reading, writing, and speaking. ▪ logical-mathematical intelligence: the capacity to understand logical reasoning and mathematical concepts. ▪ spatial intelligence: the ability to perceive and manipulate spatial relationships and visualize objects in three-dimensional space. ▪ musical intelligence: sensitivity to rhythm, melody, and pitch, as well as the ability to compose, perform, and appreciate music. ▪ bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: skill in using one’s body effectively and expressing oneself through physical activities. interpersonal intelligence: understanding and interacting effectively with others, including empathy, social awareness, and leadership skills. ▪ intrapersonal intelligence: self-awareness and the ability to understand one’s own emotions, motivations, and goals. gardner later suggested additional intelligences, such as naturalistic intelligence and existential intelligence, though these are less widely accepted. mit has significant implications for education, challenging traditional approaches that emphasize linguistic and logical-mathematical abilities as the primary measures of intelligence. instead, mit advocates for a more holistic approach to education that recognizes and nurtures diverse forms of intelligence. for learners, mit implies that education should be tailored to individual strengths and preferences. by recognizing and developing their unique intelligences, students can engage more deeply with the material and achieve greater success. teachers can incorporate various teaching methods and assessments to accommodate different intelligences, fostering a more inclusive learning environment. in language teaching, mit encourages educators to explore diverse modes of instruction beyond traditional grammar and vocabulary drills. for example, linguistic intelligence can be developed through storytelling, poetry, and drama, while musical intelligence can be engaged through songs and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 5 published by scholink inc. rhythm-based activities. by integrating multiple intelligences into language instruction, teachers can enhance student engagement and language acquisition. equally, in educational settings, mit challenges the one-size-fits-all approach to curriculum design and assessment. instead, educators are encouraged to design flexible learning experiences that accommodate diverse intelligences. this may involve project-based learning, collaborative activities, and performance assessments that allow students to demonstrate their strengths in various domains. 3. empirical review of relevant literature on the variables and concepts language assessment plays a crucial role in educational settings, aiding educators in evaluating students’ language proficiency and guiding instructional strategies. in recent years, there has been a growing interest in exploring the efficacy of various language assessment tools used in educational contexts. this literature review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of existing research on this topic, highlighting key findings, methodologies, and implications for practice. language assessment tools encompass a wide range of formats and purposes, including standardized tests, classroom-based assessments, and alternative assessments. standardized tests, such as the toefl and ielts, are widely used for admissions and placement purposes in educational institutions (brown, 2014). classroom-based assessments, on the other hand, focus on ongoing evaluation within the instructional context, providing valuable feedback to both students and teachers (mcnamara, 2000). -validation studies validation studies are essential for establishing the reliability and validity of language assessment tools. these studies examine various aspects of validity, including content validity, criterion-related validity, and construct validity (messick, 1989). researchers use a variety of methods, such as factor analysis, differential item functioning analysis, and rasch modeling, to evaluate the psychometric properties of assessment tools (alderson, 2000). -factors influencing efficacy: several factors can influence the efficacy of language assessment tools in educational settings. these include test design features, such as item format and task authenticity (bachman, 1990), test administration conditions, such as time constraints and mode of delivery (weigle, 2002), and test-taker characteristics, such as language proficiency level and test-taking strategies (chapelle & green, 1992). understanding these factors is crucial for optimizing the effectiveness of language assessment tools. -implications for practice the findings from empirical studies have important implications for language assessment practice in educational settings. educators and test developers can use this evidence to inform the selection, design, and implementation of assessment tools that are valid, reliable, and fair for diverse student populations (chapelle, 2008). additionally, ongoing research is needed to address emerging challenges and trends www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 6 published by scholink inc. in language assessment, such as the integration of technology and the assessment of multilingual competencies (chapelle & jamieson, 2008). in conclusion, this literature review provides a comprehensive overview of research on the efficacy of language assessment tools in educational settings. by examining theoretical frameworks, types of assessment tools, validation studies, factors influencing efficacy, and implications for practice, this review highlights the importance of evidence-based approaches to language assessment. moving forward, continued research and collaboration are essential for advancing our understanding of how best to assess language proficiency in diverse educational contexts. 4. guided questions the following seven questions were generated to guide the study: 1) how do language assessment tools contribute to the overall effectiveness of language learning in educational settings? 2) what criteria should be used to evaluate the efficacy of language assessment tools in educational contexts? 3) how do language assessment tools accommodate diverse learning styles and cultural backgrounds in educational settings? 4) what role does technology play in enhancing or complicating the efficacy of language assessment tools in educational environments? 5) how do language assessment tools address the challenge of assessing both linguistic proficiency and communicative competence in educational settings? 6) what are the potential biases or limitations inherent in language assessment tools, and how can educators mitigate them? 7) how can ongoing research and development improve the efficacy of language assessment tools for use in educational settings? ❖ language assessment tool language assessment tools play a pivotal role in enhancing the effectiveness of language learning in educational settings through various mechanisms. firstly, they provide educators with valuable insights into students’ language proficiency levels, enabling them to tailor instruction to individual needs (brown, 2018). by utilizing tools such as proficiency tests, placement exams, and formative assessments, educators can identify areas of strength and weakness in students’ language skills, allowing for targeted interventions and personalized learning plans (mcnamara & roever, 2006). moreover, language assessment tools facilitate the monitoring of students’ progress over time, enabling educators to track their development and adjust instructional strategies accordingly (bachman & palmer, 2010). through regular assessments, educators can gauge the effectiveness of teaching methods, curriculum design, and learning materials, leading to continuous improvement in the language learning process (fulcher, 2010). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 7 published by scholink inc. furthermore, assessment tools promote learner engagement and motivation by providing clear benchmarks and goals for achievement (alderson, 2005; fowowe & akinkuotu, 2018). by setting measurable objectives and offering feedback on performance, students are incentivized to strive for improvement and take ownership of their learning journey (mcnamara & roever, 2006). additionally, language assessment tools support the evaluation of program outcomes and the accountability of educational institutions (chapelle, enright, & jamieson, 2008). by assessing students’ language proficiency against established standards and benchmarks, institutions can demonstrate the effectiveness of their language programs and make data-informed decisions regarding resource allocation and curriculum development (bachman & palmer, 2010). ❖ criteria to be used to evaluate the efficacy of language assessment tools in educational contexts language assessment tools play a multifaceted role in enhancing the effectiveness of language learning in educational settings. by providing valuable insights, facilitating personalized instruction, monitoring progress, promoting motivation, and ensuring accountability, these tools contributed significantly to the overall success of language education programs. when evaluating the efficacy of language assessment tools in educational contexts, several criteria should be considered to ensure robustness and comprehensiveness. these criteria include validity, reliability, authenticity, practicality, and washback effect. -validity: this refers to the extent to which the assessment tool measures what it intends to measure. it’s essential to consider both content validity, ensuring that the content of the assessment aligns with the curriculum and learning objectives, and construct validity, which examines whether the assessment accurately reflects the constructs it claims to measure (brown, 2004). -reliability: reliability refers to the consistency of the assessment results over time and across different administrations. it’s crucial to assess the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and inter-rater reliability of the assessment tool to ensure that it produces dependable results (bachman & palmer, 2010). -authenticity: authenticity concerns the degree to which the assessment tasks resemble real-life language use situations. assessments should reflect the communicative demands learners will encounter outside the classroom to ensure they measure language proficiency accurately (mcnamara, 2000). -practicality: practicality refers to the feasibility and ease of administration, scoring, and interpretation of the assessment tool within the educational context. assessments should be manageable in terms of time, resources, and administration logistics for both teachers and students (hughes, 2003). -washback effect: the assessment should have a positive impact on teaching and learning, encouraging effective instructional practices that align with the assessment goals. assessments with a strong washback effect motivate students to engage in meaningful language learning activities (alderson & wall, 1993). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 8 published by scholink inc. by evaluating language assessment tools against these criteria, educational stakeholders can make informed decisions about their suitability for assessing language proficiency in educational settings. assessment tools play a crucial role in ensuring fair evaluation and accommodating diverse learning styles and cultural backgrounds. these tools incorporate various strategies to address these factors effectively: firstly, language assessment tools often utilize multiple modalities to assess language proficiency, catering to diverse learning styles. for instance, they may include components such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing tasks, allowing learners to demonstrate their language abilities in ways that align with their individual strengths. in nigeria, language assessment tools like the west african examination council (waec) and the joint admissions and matriculation board (jamb) exams integrate diverse question formats to accommodate different learning styles. this includes objective questions, essay writing, and oral examinations, ensuring that learners from various backgrounds have an opportunity to excel. additionally, cultural sensitivity is paramount in language assessment tools. they should incorporate content and contexts that resonate with the cultural backgrounds of the learners. in nigeria, where cultural diversity is significant, assessment materials often include examples, scenarios, and topics relevant to different ethnic groups and regions. this ensures that learners feel represented and can relate to the assessment content, leading to more accurate evaluations of their language proficiency. furthermore, language assessment tools should provide accommodations for learners with specific needs, such as those with disabilities or english language learners. in nigeria, organizations like the national examinations council (neco) and the nigerian educational research and development council (nerdc) have guidelines in place to ensure that assessment accommodations are provided appropriately. this may include extended time, alternative formats, or language support for english language learners. 5. how do language assessment tools accommodate diverse learning styles and cultural background in educational settings language assessment is a critical aspect of education, particularly in diverse learning environments where students come from varied cultural backgrounds and possess different learning styles. in this discussion, we will explore how language assessment tools accommodate these diversities to ensure fair and effective evaluation. • understanding diverse learning styles: according to gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (1983), learners possess various cognitive strengths and preferences, including linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic intelligences. language assessment tools must consider these diverse learning styles to accurately gauge students’ language proficiency. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 9 published by scholink inc. • accommodating learning styles in assessment tools: linguistic intelligence: assessment tools should include tasks that focus on reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills to cater to learners with strong linguistic intelligence. • visual-spatial intelligence: incorporating visual aids, such as diagrams or pictures, into assessments can assist learners who excel in visual-spatial processing. • bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: hands-on activities or role-plays can be integrated into assessments to engage learners with bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. • musical intelligence: assessments may include activities like creating songs or chants related to language concepts to appeal to students with musical intelligence. • interpersonal intelligence: group discussions or collaborative projects can be included in assessments to accommodate learners who thrive in social settings. intrapersonal intelligence: providing opportunities for self-reflection or journaling within assessments can benefit students with strong intrapersonal intelligence. • logical-mathematical intelligence: tasks involving logic and problem-solving, such as puzzles or language games, can be included in assessments to engage learners with logical-mathematical intelligence. • naturalistic intelligence: assessments may incorporate topics related to nature or the environment to resonate with students who have a strong naturalistic intelligence. • considering cultural backgrounds in assessment tools: cultural content: language assessment tools should include culturally relevant content and topics that resonate with students from diverse backgrounds. • cultural sensitivity: assessment tasks should be culturally sensitive, avoiding stereotypes or biases that may disadvantage certain cultural groups. • language variations: acknowledging and accepting language variations, such as dialects or accents, ensures that assessment tools do not penalize students based on their cultural or linguistic backgrounds. • familiar contexts: providing assessment tasks that reflect familiar cultural contexts allows students to demonstrate their language proficiency more authentically. • flexibility: offering flexibility in assessment formats and allowing students to express themselves using culturally appropriate language forms enhances fairness in evaluation. moreover, continuous research and development are essential to enhance the effectiveness of language assessment tools in accommodating diverse learning styles and cultural backgrounds. nigerian educational institutions, in collaboration with international partners and researchers, engage in ongoing efforts to improve assessment practices and develop innovative tools that meet the evolving needs of learners. language assessment tools in educational settings strive to accommodate diverse learning styles and cultural backgrounds through the integration of multiple modalities, cultural sensitivity, provision of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 10 published by scholink inc. accommodations, and ongoing research and development efforts. in nigeria, these principles are reflected in assessment practices across various examinations and educational initiatives, ensuring fair and inclusive evaluations for all learners. language assessment tools accommodate diverse learning styles and cultural backgrounds in educational settings 6. what roles do technology play in enhancing or complicating the efficacy of language assessment tools in educational environment? in today’s educational landscape, technology plays a multifaceted role in both enhancing and complicating the efficacy of language assessment tools. these roles span various aspects, from the design and administration of assessments to the interpretation of results and their implications for learners. • enhancing efficacy: personalization and adaptability: technology enables the development of adaptive language assessment tools that can tailor the assessment experience based on individual learners’ needs and abilities (chapelle, 2009). adaptive testing systems can dynamically adjust the difficulty level of questions based on the learner’s responses, providing a more accurate measure of proficiency (weigle, 2014). • authenticity and interactivity: technology facilitates the integration of multimedia elements and interactive tasks into language assessments, making them more engaging and reflective of real-world language use (luoma, 2004). virtual environments and simulations allow learners to demonstrate their language skills in context, enhancing the authenticity of assessments (godwin-jones, 2014). • efficiency and accessibility: online assessment platforms streamline the administration process, offering greater flexibility in scheduling and administration (shohamy, 2013). moreover, technology-enabled assessments can be easily accessed remotely, eliminating geographical barriers and accommodating diverse learner populations (brown, 2003). • validity and reliability concerns: the rapid advancement of technology often outpaces the validation of assessment tools, raising concerns about their validity and reliability (bachman & palmer, 2010). developers must ensure that technology-based assessments accurately measure the intended language constructs and demonstrate consistent results over time (mcnamara et al., 2014). • digital divide and equity issues: the reliance on technology for language assessment may exacerbate existing disparities in access to resources and digital literacy skills (warschauer, 2003). learners from disadvantaged backgrounds or regions with limited internet connectivity may face barriers in accessing and completing assessments, leading to inequitable outcomes (levine & lezberg, 2013). • security and integrity challenges: online assessments are vulnerable to various security threats, such as cheating and unauthorized access to test content (douglas & attewell, 2017). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 11 published by scholink inc. maintaining the integrity of assessments in digital environments requires robust security measures and ongoing vigilance to prevent breaches (chapman & thomas, 2010). technology has become integral in transforming language assessment tools within educational settings, both enhancing and complicating their efficacy. this comprehensive exploration delves into the multifaceted role of technology in language assessment: -enhancements through technology: accessibility and flexibility: technology facilitates the creation of online language assessment platforms, allowing students to undertake assessments remotely, at their convenience (adewale, 2019). this flexibility caters to diverse learning styles and schedules, enhancing accessibility. -personalized learning: adaptive language assessment software, as studied by oluwafemi (2020), tailors assessment content to individual learners’ proficiency levels, providing targeted feedback and resources for improvement. this personalized approach fosters effective language acquisition. -multimodal assessment: digital tools enable the integration of various assessment modalities, such as audio recordings and interactive exercises, as highlighted by olalekan and adebayo (2018). this multimodal approach offers a more holistic evaluation of language skills beyond traditional pen-and-paper tests. complications arising from technology: ▪ validity and reliability concerns: the dynamic nature of online assessments poses challenges in ensuring the validity and reliability of results (ibrahim, 2021). factors like internet connectivity issues or cheating mechanisms may compromise the integrity of assessments. ▪ technological barriers: not all students have equal access to technology or possess the digital literacy skills required for online assessments (ogunleye & adebowale, 2019). this digital divide exacerbates inequities in language assessment outcomes. ▪ ethical considerations: automated scoring systems in language assessment tools, though efficient, raise ethical concerns regarding fairness and bias (ojo, 2017). algorithms may inadvertently favor certain linguistic or cultural backgrounds, leading to unjust outcomes. in nigerian educational contexts, technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing the efficacy of language assessment tools by promoting accessibility, personalization, and multimodal evaluation. however, complications such as validity concerns, technological barriers, and ethical dilemmas underscore the need for careful implementation and ongoing research to ensure equitable and reliable language assessment practices. in educational settings, language assessment tools tackle the challenge of evaluating both linguistic proficiency and communicative competence through multifaceted approaches. these tools integrate various assessment methods to provide a comprehensive understanding of students’ language abilities: assessing linguistic proficiency involves measuring individuals’ mastery of vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and pronunciation. language assessment tools commonly employ written tests, oral exams, and listening exercises to gauge these aspects (akande, 2017). for instance, written tests assess vocabulary www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 12 published by scholink inc. and grammar through tasks such as fill-in-the-blank exercises and essay writing, while oral exams evaluate pronunciation and speaking fluency. on the other hand, communicative competence encompasses individuals’ ability to use language effectively in real-life situations, considering context, appropriateness, and cultural nuances (oladimeji, 2020). language assessment tools address this aspect by incorporating tasks that simulate authentic communicative situations. these tasks may include role-plays, group discussions, and problem-solving activities, allowing assessors to observe how well students can interact and convey meaning in different contexts. furthermore, some language assessment tools utilize performance-based assessments, such as portfolios and projects, to provide a holistic view of students’ language skills (adeyemi, 2019). these assessments enable students to demonstrate their language abilities in practical, real-world scenarios, emphasizing the application of language skills rather than mere memorization of rules. language assessment tools in educational settings employ diverse methods, including written tests, oral exams, performance-based assessments, and communicative tasks, to effectively evaluate both linguistic proficiency and communicative competence. by integrating these approaches, educators can obtain a comprehensive understanding of students’ language abilities, facilitating targeted instruction and support. language assessment tools serve as critical instruments for evaluating language proficiency, yet they are not without biases and limitations. potential biases and limitations in language assessment tools by ogunleye (2019) and ugborugbo (2014) are listed below: 1). cultural bias: language assessment tools often reflect the cultural background of their developers, leading to biases favoring certain cultural norms and practices. for instance, a language assessment tool developed in western countries may prioritize expressions and scenarios more familiar to western culture, disadvantaging nigerian learners who may have different linguistic and cultural backgrounds (ogunleye, 2019). 2). socioeconomic bias: language assessment tools may inadvertently discriminate against learners from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. for example, assessments that require expensive materials or access to technology may disadvantage students who cannot afford such resources, thus skewing the results based on socioeconomic status rather than language proficiency (obanya, 2017). 3). linguistic bias: assessment tools may exhibit linguistic bias by favoring certain dialects or varieties of a language over others. in nigeria, where numerous indigenous languages are spoken alongside english, assessments biased towards standard english may disadvantage students whose first language is not english or who speak nigerian english variants (adegbija, 2009). 4). limited scope of assessment: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 13 published by scholink inc. many language assessment tools focus primarily on receptive skills such as reading and listening, neglecting productive skills like speaking and writing. this limited scope fails to provide a comprehensive evaluation of language proficiency, as language learners need to demonstrate competence in both receptive and productive skills (babatunde, 2016). 5). lack of cultural context: assessment tools may lack cultural context, leading to misinterpretation of responses or failure to assess cultural competence alongside language proficiency. in nigeria, where language and culture are deeply intertwined, assessments should consider cultural nuances to provide a more accurate evaluation of language skills (iruonagbe & oluikpe, 2018). mitigation strategies include but limited to the following: 1). diverse item development teams: educators can mitigate cultural bias by involving diverse teams in the development of language assessment tools. by including experts from different cultural backgrounds, assessment tools can be more inclusive and representative of the diverse linguistic and cultural landscape of nigeria (akindele & akinola, 2015). 2). socioeconomic considerations: educators should consider the socioeconomic backgrounds of their students when selecting or designing assessment tools. they can opt for assessments that do not rely heavily on expensive resources and ensure equitable access to necessary materials for all students (ige & agbatogun, 2020). 3). linguistic diversity: assessment tools should acknowledge and accommodate linguistic diversity by incorporating tasks that allow students to demonstrate proficiency in different language varieties, including nigerian english and indigenous languages (fafunwa, 2000). 4). comprehensive assessment: educators should adopt assessment tools that encompass all language skills—reading, writing, listening, and speaking—to provide a holistic evaluation of students’ language proficiency (akinnaso, 2012). 5). contextualized assessments: assessment tasks should be contextualized to the nigerian setting, incorporating familiar scenarios and cultural references to ensure relevance and accuracy in evaluating language proficiency (ugborugbo, 2014). language assessment tools play a crucial role in evaluating language proficiency, but they are not immune to biases and limitations. educators in nigeria can mitigate these biases by adopting inclusive practices, considering socioeconomic factors, embracing linguistic diversity, ensuring comprehensive assessment, and contextualizing assessments within the nigerian cultural context. ongoing research and development play a crucial role in enhancing the effectiveness of language assessment tools for educational settings. as nigeria strives to improve its education system, particularly in the realm of language learning, it is imperative to explore avenues for advancing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 14 published by scholink inc. assessment methods to accurately gauge students’ language proficiency levels (oladipo, 2020). one way ongoing research can enhance language assessment tools is by integrating innovative technologies such as natural language processing (nlp) and machine learning algorithms. these technologies can analyze linguistic patterns and provide more nuanced insights into students’ language abilities (adeyanju & omidire, 2019). for example, automated essay scoring systems powered by nlp can evaluate writing proficiency with greater efficiency and reliability than traditional manual grading methods (ojo et al., 2021). furthermore, ongoing research can focus on developing culturally relevant and contextually appropriate assessment materials. language assessments tailored to nigerian cultural contexts and linguistic diversity can better reflect students’ true language competencies (olawale & olufemi, 2018). by incorporating authentic materials such as local literature and oral narratives, assessments can better capture students’ language skills in real-life situations (adegbija, 2016). moreover, ongoing research should address the issue of fairness and equity in language assessment. studies have shown that standardized tests often disadvantage certain groups, such as students from marginalized communities or those with limited access to quality education (ogunyemi & ayeni, 2020). research efforts should strive to develop inclusive assessment practices that consider diverse linguistic backgrounds and learning needs (olatoye, 2017). ongoing research and development are essential for advancing the efficacy of language assessment tools in educational settings in nigeria. by embracing technological innovations, cultural sensitivity, and equity considerations, researchers can contribute to the creation of more accurate, reliable, and inclusive language assessments that better serve the needs of nigerian students. 7. how do language assessment tools address the challenge of assessing both linguistic proficiency and communicative competence in educational settings? assessing linguistic proficiency and communicative competence in educational settings is a multifaceted challenge, often requiring the use of various language assessment tools. these tools aim to provide a comprehensive evaluation of a student’s language abilities, encompassing both their mastery of linguistic structures and their ability to effectively communicate in real-life situations. in nigeria, as in many other countries, this issue has been the subject of considerable research and debate. one approach to addressing this challenge is through the use of standardized tests, which focus primarily on assessing linguistic proficiency. these tests typically measure a student’s knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, and syntax through tasks such as multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blanks exercises, and reading comprehension passages (ogunniyi, 2019). however, while standardized tests can provide valuable insights into a student’s language skills, they may not fully capture their communicative competence, which involves the ability to use language effectively in various social and cultural contexts. to complement standardized tests, educators often incorporate performance-based assessments that require students to demonstrate their communicative competence in real-life scenarios. these www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 15 published by scholink inc. assessments may include tasks such as role-plays, group discussions, and oral presentations, which assess students’ ability to interact with others, negotiate meaning, and express their ideas fluently and coherently (obadeji & dada, 2020). by engaging students in authentic communicative activities, these assessments provide a more holistic view of their language abilities and better reflect the demands of real-world communication. in addition to these traditional assessment methods, technology has also played a significant role in addressing the challenge of evaluating both linguistic proficiency and communicative competence. computer-assisted language testing (calt) tools, for example, can administer interactive tasks that simulate real-life communication situations, such as video-based speaking prompts and instant messaging conversations (adebayo & okedara, 2018). these tools not only provide a more engaging testing experience for students but also offer more reliable and objective measures of their communicative abilities. despite these advancements, however, language assessment in educational settings continues to face several challenges. one such challenge is the cultural bias inherent in many assessment tools, which may disadvantage students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds (oyelami, 2017). additionally, the dynamic nature of language and communication means that assessment tools must continuously evolve to keep pace with changes in language use and communication technologies (olawepo, 2018). 8. what are the potential biases or limitations inherent in language assessment tools and how can educators mitigate them? language assessment tools play a crucial role in evaluating individuals’ linguistic proficiency and guiding educational decisions. however, these tools are susceptible to various biases and limitations, both inherent and external. understanding and mitigating these biases is essential for fair and accurate assessment practices in diverse educational settings. 9. inherent biases in language assessment tools: a. cultural bias: many language assessment tools are developed within specific cultural contexts, leading to biases against individuals from different cultural backgrounds (hamayan et al., 2013). for example, idiomatic expressions or cultural references may be unfamiliar to non-native speakers. b. linguistic bias: some assessments may favor certain dialects or varieties of a language over others, disadvantaging speakers of non-standard or minority dialects (cumming, 2013). c. socioeconomic bias: access to resources for language learning and test preparation can influence performance, resulting in unfair outcomes for individuals from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds (lee & sawaki, 2009). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 16 published by scholink inc. 10. limitations of language assessment tools a. standardization constraints: standardized tests may not fully capture the complexity of language use in real-world contexts, limiting their validity and reliability (bachman, 2004). b. testing environment: factors such as test anxiety, distractions, or unfamiliarity with the testing format can impact test performance, leading to inaccuracies in assessment outcomes (ockey & choi, 2017). c. overemphasis on productive skills: many assessments focus primarily on speaking and writing skills, overlooking receptive skills like listening and reading, which are equally important for language proficiency (brown, 2003). 11. mitigating biases and limitations a. diversifying assessment methods: educators can employ a variety of assessment methods, including performance-based tasks, portfolio assessment, and interviews, to provide a more comprehensive picture of students’ language abilities (weigle, 2002). b. culturally responsive assessment: incorporating diverse cultural content and contexts into assessments can help reduce cultural biases and increase relevance for all students (rivera et al., 2015). c. accommodations and accessibility: providing accommodations such as extended time, alternative formats, or language support services can mitigate the impact of environmental and linguistic barriers on test performance (lee & sawaki, 2009). 12. international perspectives on language assessment a. european union: the european language portfolio emphasizes learners’ ability to reflect on and document their language learning experiences, promoting a holistic approach to language assessment (council of europe, 2001). b. united states: the common european framework of reference for languages (cefr) provides a common framework for assessing language proficiency across different contexts and languages, facilitating international communication and collaboration (council of europe, 2001). 13. how can ongoing research and development improve the efficacy of language assessment tools for use in educational settings? improving the efficacy of language assessment tools in educational settings is crucial for accurately evaluating language proficiency and facilitating effective language learning. ongoing research and development play a pivotal role in this endeavor, allowing for the refinement and innovation of assessment methodologies. here’s a comprehensive discussion, incorporating both nigerian and foreign perspectives, along with relevant citations: • incorporation of technology: ongoing research emphasizes the integration of technology in language assessment tools. in nigeria, initiatives such as the use of computer-based www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 17 published by scholink inc. testing (cbt) platforms have been explored (adeyemo, 2019). similarly, foreign studies have highlighted the benefits of utilizing automated scoring systems and adaptive testing algorithms to tailor assessments to individual learners’ proficiency levels (bachman & palmer, 2010). • cultural and linguistic relevance: language assessment tools must be culturally and linguistically appropriate to accurately measure proficiency. in nigeria, research emphasizes the importance of incorporating indigenous languages and cultural contexts into assessments (adebayo, 2018). foreign scholars also advocate for culturally responsive assessment practices to ensure fairness and validity (cumming, 2013). • validity and reliability: ongoing research focuses on enhancing the validity and reliability of language assessment tools. nigerian studies stress the need for rigorous validation processes, including content validation and criterion-related validity (oluikpe, 2017). foreign research emphasizes the importance of incorporating multiple sources of evidence and employing statistical techniques to ensure the reliability of assessments (messick, 1989). • formative assessment strategies: continuous assessment strategies, such as formative assessments, are gaining traction in both nigerian and foreign educational settings. these strategies provide valuable feedback to learners and teachers, facilitating targeted instruction and learning improvement (black & wiliam, 1998; iloputaife & nwazor, 2018). • interdisciplinary approaches: collaboration between linguists, educators, psychologists, and technologists is essential for advancing language assessment research. in nigeria, interdisciplinary research teams have been formed to address complex issues related to language assessment (oyebade, 2020). similarly, foreign scholars advocate for interdisciplinary approaches to foster innovation and address emerging challenges (shohamy & mcnamara, 2009). • ethical considerations: ethical considerations, such as fairness, equity, and privacy, are integral to the development and implementation of language assessment tools. nigerian researchers emphasize the need for ethical guidelines to ensure the integrity of assessments and protect the rights of learners (adeniran, 2016). foreign literature also underscores the importance of ethical assessment practices, particularly concerning test security and confidentiality (council of europe, 2001). 14. conclusion in conclusion, the efficacy of language assessment tools in educational settings is a multifaceted issue that requires careful consideration. throughout this assessment, various factors have been explored, including the alignment with learning objectives, reliability, validity, fairness, cultural sensitivity, and practicality. it is evident that no single assessment tool can fully capture the complexities of language www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 18 published by scholink inc. learning and proficiency evaluation. however, by employing a combination of approaches and continually refining assessment practices, educators can enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of language assessment in educational settings. 15. suggestions diversify assessment methods: educators should utilize a range of assessment methods, including formative and summative assessments, to capture different aspects of language proficiency. this could include oral presentations, written assignments, group projects, and performance-based tasks. align with learning objectives: assessment tools should align closely with the learning objectives of language courses. this ensures that assessments measure the skills and knowledge students are expected to acquire, providing meaningful feedback for both learners and instructors. ensure reliability and validity: prioritize the development and use of assessment tools that demonstrate reliability and validity. this involves thorough piloting, statistical analysis, and ongoing evaluation to ensure that assessments accurately measure what they intend to measure. promote fairness: be mindful of potential biases in assessment tools and processes. consider factors such as language proficiency, cultural background, and prior educational experiences to ensure that assessments are fair and equitable for all students. enhance cultural sensitivity: incorporate diverse cultural perspectives and contexts into assessment materials and tasks. this promotes inclusivity and allows students from different backgrounds to demonstrate their language skills in meaningful ways. provide clear feedback: offer timely and constructive feedback to students based on assessment results. this helps students understand their strengths and areas for improvement, facilitating their language learning progress. professional development: invest in professional development opportunities for educators to enhance their assessment literacy and proficiency. this empowers teachers to design and implement effective assessment strategies tailored to their students’ needs. collaboration and research: encourage collaboration among educators, researchers, and assessment specialists to continuously improve language assessment practices. engage in ongoing research to identify emerging best practices and address evolving challenges in language assessment. by implementing these suggestions and adopting a holistic approach to language assessment, educational institutions can better support student learning and promote linguistic proficiency in diverse educational settings. 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(2009). language testing and assessment: encyclopedia of language and education (2nd ed., vol. 7). springer ugborugbo, n. m. (2014). nigerianizing the curriculum: language policy and planning in education. journal of nigerian languages and culture, 16(2), 125-138. vygotsky, l. s. (1978). mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. cambridge, ma: harvard university press. weigle, s. c. (2002). assessing writing. cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511732997 weigle, s. c. (2002). assessing writing. cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511732997 weir, c. j. (2005). language testing and validation: an evidence-based approach. palgrave macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230514577+ https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511732997 https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511732997 https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230514577 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 77 original paper empirical analysis of teacher behaviors impact on students’ metacognitive strategy selection in higher education zipeng zhou1* 1 qingdao institute of technology, qingdao, china * zipeng zhou, e-mail: zhouzipeng@qit.edu.cn received: november 6, 2023 accepted: november 22, 2023 online published: december 14, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n5p77 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n5p77 abstract this study conducts an empirical evaluation of how teacher behaviors impact on students’ metacognitive strategy selection in higher education. it defines metacognitive strategies and investigates the impact of different teaching behaviors on their application by students. utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods, such as surveys and interviews, the research identifies a notable correlation between teacher practices and student use of metacognitive strategies. the findings provide key insights into pedagogical processes and suggest actionable strategies for educational practice and policy development. keywords higher education, teacher behavior, metacognitive strategies, empirical analysis 1. introduction in higher education, educators’ behavior significantly influences students’ learning pathways, affecting both knowledge transmission and the shaping of cognitive and strategic approaches in learning environments. this impact is notably evident in the development of metacognitive strategies, essential for students’ academic success and largely shaped by teacher conduct. educational psychology advancements have led to a heightened focus on the link between educator behaviors and student outcomes, particularly in the context of metacognitive strategy selection. metacognitive strategies, vital for planning, monitoring, and evaluating learning, are crucial for students managing their education independently, a key distinction from compulsory education. metacognitive knowledge involves understanding cognitive processes, strategies, and self-assessment capabilities, while metacognitive skills entail the ability to monitor, regulate, and adjust cognitive activities during learning, including goal-setting, strategy planning, and post-learning reflection. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 78 published by scholink inc. the evolving higher education landscape, enriched by diverse pedagogical methods and technological integration, necessitates examining the influence of educator behavior on student learning strategies. this study seeks to investigate this relationship in higher education, aiming to categorize educator behavior patterns, assess their impact on students’ metacognitive strategy choices, explore student responses to these behaviors, and ultimately propose recommendations for enhancing teaching practices and policy development to support metacognitive skill advancement. 2. methodology 2.1 research design this study employs a mixed-methods approach, integrating both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, to thoroughly examine the relationship between teacher behavior and student selection of metacognitive strategies in higher education. the investigation commences with a questionnaire-based data collection to quantify the correlation between teacher behaviors and students’ choice of metacognitive strategies. this is followed by in-depth interviews and case studies to provide a deeper interpretive layer to the survey findings. 2.2 data collection 2.2.1 questionnaire development the survey questionnaire is designed based on theories related to metacognitive strategies. it includes queries about teachers’ teaching styles, interaction methods, feedback, and assessment, aiming to infer potential issues in teacher practices and to determine their impact. the drafted questions include: a. for students: s1. i am adept at creating specific learning plans. s2. i understand the overall course outline and plan. s3. i am aware of my learning level. s4. i preview the material before class. s5. i conduct self-assessment after class. s6. i am skilled at analyzing problems and assessing tests. s7. i can compensate for issues independently. b. for teachers: t1. i inform students of the specific learning plan for the semester. t2. i explain the course outline and plan at the beginning of the term. t3. i tailor teaching according to students’ learning levels. t4. i check and provide feedback on students’ preparatory work. t5. i assign homework after classes. t6. i provide feedback on students’ assignments. t7. i guide students in analyzing test papers. t8. i assist students in self-study. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 79 published by scholink inc. each question is rated on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 indicates strong disagreement and 5 indicates strong agreement with the described situation. the higher the score, the greater the degree of agreement. 2.2.2 survey implementation a sample of some students and teachers from three higher education institutions is selected to complete the survey, gathering data on their perception of teacher behavior and their own use of metacognitive strategies. interviews and observations are conducted to collect feedback on the behavior of students and teachers. the interviews focus on specific teaching behaviors of teachers, students’ responses to these behaviors, and how these factors influence their choice of metacognitive strategies. 2.2.3 analysis method statistical analysis software is utilized for data processing. the primary analytical methods include descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis to determine the degree and direction of association between teacher behavior and student metacognitive strategy selection. interview recordings are transcribed, and through a coding process, key themes and patterns are identified to deepen the understanding of the quantitative results. 3. results this study gathered questionnaire data from 70 students across three universities, along with corresponding data from 30 teachers at each institution. the student sample exhibited an equal gender ratio of 1:1, with ages ranging from 18 to 22 years, and included diverse academic majors. the teacher sample encompassed a variety of teaching tenures and styles. the questionnaire results indicated a broad spectrum of student perceptions regarding teacher behavior, reflecting the diversity of teaching methods. table 1. students’ self-assessment of their own behavior university s1 s2 s3 s4 s5 s6 s7 s8 a 1.3 2 2.36 2.08 2.08 1.32 1.16 1.48 b 3.2 2.9 2.76 3.5 3.2 3.12 3.04 2.96 c 1.9 2.35 2.55 2.45 2.3 1.95 2.15 2.55 table 2. teachers’ self-assessment of their own behavior university t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 t8 a 1.4 2.3 3.1 2.5 2.8 1.6 1.3 1.6 b 3.34 3.1 3.33 3.7 3.42 3.21 3.1 3.17 c 1.6 2 2.2 2.4 2.1 1.9 2.2 2.6 converting the above statistical results into line graphs, a clear positive correlation between student behavior and teacher behavior is evident. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 80 published by scholink inc. figure 1. correlation graph of teacher behavior and student behavior in university a figure 2. correlation graph of teacher behavior and student behavior in university b figure 3. correlation graph of teacher behavior and student behavior in university c by calculating the average conformity values of students and teachers across the three institutions, the following table was derived: 0 5 q1 q2 q3 q4 q5 q6 q7 q8 s t 0 2 4 q1 q2 q3 q4 q5 q6 q7 q8 u2 s t 0 1 2 3 q1 q2 q3 q4 q5 q6 q7 q8 u3 s t www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 81 published by scholink inc. table 3. average conformity values of student behavior and teacher behavior (ua/b/c: university, s̅: student average, t̅: teachers average) s̅ t̅ ua 1.72 2.08 ub 3.09 3.3 uc 2.13 2.31 the questionnaire’s positive phrasing implies that higher scores reflect more engaged teacher behavior and a more active employment of metacognitive strategies by students, while lower scores point to a tendency towards passive learning and less frequent use of these strategies. interviews with students revealed a common perception: supportive and motivational feedback from teachers is crucial for effectively planning and revising their learning approaches. notably, 67% of students acknowledged that specific feedback and guidance from teachers significantly aided in pinpointing their learning challenges and enhancing their overall learning process. the study also uncovered distinct variations in how students from different academic disciplines responded to teacher behavior. science students, for instance, leaned towards structured and straightforward guidance, whereas arts students were more drawn to open-ended dialogues and self-directed exploration. a deeper cross-analysis showed that both the academic level and background of students play roles in shaping their views of teacher behavior and their choices in metacognitive strategies. senior students, for example, tended to adopt more sophisticated metacognitive strategies, especially those who had been exposed to teaching styles emphasizing critical thinking. 4. discussion 4.1 challenges to educational theory the survey demonstrates a significant correlation between teacher behavior and students’ use of metacognitive strategies. specifically, when teachers detail the semester’s learning plans, students often engage in metacognitive planning, involving strategy development based on curriculum goals and cognitive tactics such as problem-solving and monitoring. additionally, teacher feedback on preparatory work leads students to adopt metacognitive regulation strategies, while regular homework and feedback enhance their metacognitive monitoring and evaluation, prompting strategy refinement. conversely, student adjustments in metacognitive strategies improve learning outcomes and boost teachers’ sense of efficacy, promoting pedagogical enhancement. contrary to prevailing educational research that often blames student behaviors for learning difficulties, this study posits that these behaviors are influenced by teacher actions and the students’ choice of metacognitive strategies. it suggests that issues in students’ metacognitive strategies may stem from instructional errors by teachers. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 82 published by scholink inc. furthermore, the findings align with constructivist theories, highlighting the active role of learners in creating meaning and understanding through their knowledge, experiences, and social interactions. 4.2 implications for educational practice our research underscores a crucial connection between enhancing students’ metacognitive strategy development and refining teaching practices. to this end, we offer targeted recommendations for improving higher education: a. encourage educators to embrace interactive teaching approaches and integrate course elements that foster metacognitive skills. b. foster active learning by promoting student engagement in class discussions and group cooperative learning, which aids in peer knowledge exchange and critical thinking. c. utilize case studies and problem-solving techniques to bridge theoretical knowledge with practical application. d. instruct students in setting clear learning objectives, crafting strategic learning plans, and tracking their academic progress. e. embed reflective practices and self-evaluation within the curriculum to enable students to critically assess their learning approaches and outcomes. f. provide constructive feedback to assist students in recognizing cognitive biases and understanding challenges. g. utilize advanced technological resources, such as online platforms and educational tools, incorporating simulations and virtual reality to enrich the learning experience. h. motivate teachers to participate in professional development through workshops and training sessions, focusing on innovative teaching methodologies. i. advocate for peer review and classroom observation as means for collaborative learning and feedback exchange among educators. j. encourage students to draw connections across various disciplines, thus cultivating comprehensive and integrative thinking. k. design interdisciplinary projects that challenge students to apply multifaceted knowledge in addressing complex issues. l. urge educational policymakers to integrate training in metacognitive teaching strategies into teacher education programs and to include metacognitive skill development in course evaluation standards. 5. conclusion and recommendations this study highlights the crucial link between teacher behavior and the selection of metacognitive strategies by students in higher education. emphasizing a student-centered approach, it delves into how teachers’ actions can influence students’ metacognitive strategy choices, thereby underscoring the significant effect of teaching practices on learning strategies. the research aligns with constructivist www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 83 published by scholink inc. theories, championing the role of active student engagement and socio-cultural dynamics in learning. it outlines practical implications for teaching, such as embracing interactive methods, fostering active classroom participation, incorporating reflective and evaluative elements into curricula, leveraging advanced technology for enhanced learning experiences, and encouraging interdisciplinary thought. the paper concludes that effective teaching not only bolsters students’ metacognitive skills but also contributes to the professional growth and effectiveness of educators. references beate, s. b. et al. (2022). students’ experiences of academic coaching in norway: a pilot study. international journal of mentoring and coaching in education, 11(4), 349-363. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijmce-07-2021-0077 dan, j. m. et al. (2023). brief research report: psychometric properties of a cognitive load measure when assessing the load associated with a course. the journal of experimental education, 91(2), 401-410. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2021.1947763 kyriakides, l., anthimou, m., & panayiotou, a. (2020). searching for the impact of teacher behavior on promoting students’ cognitive and metacognitive skills. studies in educational evaluation, 64(c),100810-100810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2019.100810 loeffler, n. s. et al. (2019). investigating and fostering self-regulated learning in higher education using interactive ambulatory assessment. learning and individual differences, 7143-7157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2019.03.006 mackenzie, s., & jessica, s. (2022). a continuum to promote college instructor metacognition about teaching. college teaching, 70(1), 46-56. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2021.1879723 https://doi.org/10.1108/ijmce-07-2021-0077 https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2021.1947763 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2019.100810 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2019.03.006 https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2021.1879723 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 31 original paper emphasizing kiswahili as a medium of instruction for effective education output in tanzania catherine david hiza1 & mahona joseph paschal 2 1 centre for international education, university of sussex, brighton, united kingdom 2 department of educational foundation, st. augustine university of tanzania received: february 16, 2023 accepted: march 7, 2023 online published: march 16, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n1p31 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n1p31 abstract the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction is usually encouraged by scholars and educationists for its many benefits that include intellectual growth of students, and promoting national development, amongst others. in some cases, however, it can lead to problems when not properly implemented. in preparing this policy brief, we built on our intimate knowledge of tanzania and its language situation as both are teachers and citizens of the country. we also relied on internet research using search engines, particularly google scholar using key terms like ‘education policy in tanzania’, ‘kiswahili in tanzanian education’, ‘mother tongue influence in schools’, ‘language policy in tanzania’ and the like. in addition to this, we made extensive use of the university of sussex library services. this is the case of tanzania where kiswahili is primarily used as the medium of instruction in primary schools with english as a subject of study. however, at the secondary school level, there is usually an abrupt change as students are formerly taught in english, with informal use of kiswahili. this policy brief reviews the language of instruction in tanzania highlighting problems of secondary school students due to the switch to english in secondary schools. it advocates for continuous use of kiswahili formally up to university level without neglecting english but allowing it to be offered as a subject. the study concluded that there is an obvious problem of the language of instruction in tanzania that is leading to several issues in the educational sector. a determined and deliberate step in adopting either english or kiswahili as a continuous language of instruction with proper implementation will lead to overcoming most of these obstacles. the study recommended that kiswahili should be used as a medium of instruction throughout the educational process of students, right up to tertiary institution. keywords education policy in tanzania, kiswahili in tanzanian education, mother tongue influence in schools, language policy in tanzania www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 32 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction and background in order to ensure active teaching and learning, language is one of the most powerful tools that can be used by teachers to support students’ engagement as they are learning. this paper is based on a critical review and synthesis of current literature related to policy and the language of instruction in tanzania highlighting problems of secondary school students due to the switch to english in secondary schools. it advocates for continuous use of kiswahili formally up to university level without neglecting english but allowing it to be offered as a subject. driven by the published policy by the ministry of education that spoke of the aim of the nation’s education to be: “building a nation with high quality of education at all levels, this study seeks to understand and deliberate step in adopting either english or kiswahili as a continuous language of instruction with proper implementation will lead to overcoming challenges related to the language of instruction in tanzania. tanzania is a multilingual nation with over 126 languages spoken. kiswahili, a language spoken in uganda, kenya, burundi, mozambique, somalia, and the democratic republic of the congo and south africa was adopted as a national language for the country and as a language of unity. this has been seen as a positive sign especially with the upholding of a ‘local’ language as a lingua franca to unite people with different ethnicities. in this regard, shortly after independence, the language was adopted as the official language of government and also the language of instruction in schools with english used as a subject of study (barrett, 1994). over the years, the role of english has come to take a more important place in the tanzanian educational system with its official use as the medium of instruction in post-primary education. in this wise, the ministry of education’s policy notes that “the medium of instruction in pre-primary schools shall be kiswahili and english shall be a compulsory subject… the medium of instruction for secondary education shall continue to be english except for teaching of other approved languages and kiswahili shall be a compulsory subject up to ordinary level” (mec, 1995, p. 35, p. 45). the policy aimed at insisting the use of kiswahili in lower learners which will enable students to understand their culture and preserve it and also to free tanzanians from colonialism ideologies and later use english language as medium of instruction in secondary education which will be good for international use and the capital after graduating school to look for a job. this point of view has been supported by paschal (2022), who noted that english language is essential to student success, collaboration and internationalization. in 2007, the ministry of education published a policy that spoke of the aim of the nation’s education to be: “building a nation with high quality of education at all levels; a nation which produces the quantity and quality of educated people sufficiently equipped with the requisite knowledge to solve the societal problems, meet the challenges of development and attain competitiveness at regional and global levels.” by 2015, the tanzanian government launched a more formal education and training policy (2014) which promised to give more roles to kiswahili in education. despite this, the 1995 policy remains in full effect giving more emphasis to english as a medium of instruction in public schools at www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 33 published by scholink inc. post-primary levels. this brief looks at some of the problems that arise from this and recommends that kiswahili should be taken more seriously and students given the chance to learn in the language without an abrupt change to english in secondary school when they have a weak foundation in it, thereby causing a myriad of problems. 2. methods in preparing this policy brief, we used a qualitative approach by building on our intimate knowledge of tanzania and its language situation as both are teachers and citizens of the country. we also relied on internet research using search engines, particularly google scholar using key terms like ‘education policy in tanzania’, ‘kiswahili in tanzanian education’, ‘mother tongue influence in schools’, ‘language policy in tanzania’ and the like. in addition to this, we made extensive use of the university of sussex library services. 3. literature review 3.1 language policy as noted earlier, the tanzanian educational system uses two languages in teaching: kiswahili at the primary level with english taught at post-primary levels. the switch to english at the secondary level is abrupt without students having a strong knowledge of the language since it was only taught as a subject of study. this is against the projection of the system which believes that they should be able to know english when no measure has been put in place to actualize this (msanjila, 1990; yogi, 2017). indeed, there is a policy gap during the transition from primary education where language of instruction is kiswahili to secondary education where language of instruction is english. the current policy does not look on the level of language proficiency most students, particularly those in public schools, have. it is almost taken for granted that children of the affluent can go to private schools where they will learn english or take private lessons while those who are poor will be forced to get what they can learn from the public schools. this latter group form the majority of students in the educational system. majority of students get admission into secondary schools and are meant to learn essential subjects in the sciences and arts like chemistry, mathematics, biology, physics, literature-in-english and the like in a language that they can barely have a conversation in (telli, 2012; yogi, 2017). also, paschal and gougou (2022) noted that the lack of proficiency makes teachers to use rote pedagogic methods that do not aid adequate learning. yogi (2017) narrates that in a series of research, the system of teaching was largely by copying to a blackboard with little communication taking place between the teachers and students. the students would copy verbatim, many times not understanding what they had written and later, failing the exams. it is important to note that language plays important role in ensuring students understanding, performance and communicating better in school between themselves and their teachers but lack of understanding the english language can cause student’s dropouts, repeating class and even lack of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 34 published by scholink inc. interest and increase rate of absenteeism in schools, code mixing and code-switching during teaching. from this noted standing point (ofodu, fatimayin, & paschal, 2022) pointed out that in order to ensure active and interactive learning, the effective use of language helps teachers make more engaging, meaningful and productive learning. therefore, in order to ensure responsive learning, teachers from lower to higher education are required to use language effectively in their classroom. this is noteworthy since tanzania has a high rate of drop-outs in terms of children generally and especially in terms of lower secondary school age. the number of students reported to start secondary school in 2007 to 2011 was 50.2% of the total population enrolled in school and the number weakened to 35.8% at the time they are entering form four and one of the reasons for students’ dropout was the language of instruction (gibbons, 2017). the human rights watch (2017) notes that “millions of tanzanian children and adolescents do not gain a secondary education or vocational training. it is estimated that a total of 5.1 million children aged 7 to 17 are out of school, including nearly 1.5 million of lower secondary school age.” figure 1. percentage of dropouts in secondary schools (from moevt in vuzo 2018, p. 809) however, the problems of learning and teaching are not exclusive to the linguistic incompetence of the students alone also but also that of teachers too, most of whom do not have proficiency in the use of english or teaching generally. in a few select cases, though, there are teachers who try to translate the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 35 published by scholink inc. english syllabus into kiswahili for easier understanding by the students. interestingly, research shows that students were more enthusiastic in learning when teachers balanced the teaching of modules by translating (hilliard, 2014; tibategeza & du plesis, 2018). the idea of using code-mixing and code-switching is supported by students as it helps them to understand what the teacher is teaching in the class as is seen in figure 2. figure 2. code-mixing and translation for teaching (excerpt from brick-utne, 2005, p. 11) unfortunately, using this method of teaching is not particularly emphasized or encouraged by schools and in many scenarios, punitive measures are putting in place for anyone who speaks in the vernacular—which refers to any language that is not english (yogi, 2017; msanjila, 1990). the general implication of all of this is that there is increased dropouts and inequality created in society since english is actually offered in private schools and to families that can afford to pay for after-school tutorials with teachers. such students do better academically and proceed to the university. upon graduation, these privileged class get jobs while most of their colleagues who had only learnt kiswahili in the primary school and struggled in secondary school in many cases, do not have the right qualification and therefore remain jobless and/or in mediocre jobs. in turn, this leads to increased poverty in many circles and can increase crime rates when such individuals turn to crime (barrett, 1994; yogi, 2017). 4. conclusion in conclusion, one notes that there is an obvious problem of the language of instruction in tanzania that is leading to several issues in the educational sector. a determined and deliberate step in adopting either english or kiswahili as a continuous language of instruction with proper implementation will lead to overcoming most of these obstacles. this informs the above recommendations. without taking these steps, there is a high risk of continued failure and dropout rates by students in post-primary institutions which can lead to a myriad of problems in society. students’ self-confidence will also be www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 36 published by scholink inc. shaken and the value of kiswahili as a national language will be reduced. thus, language must be taken serious with kiswahili giving a dominant place in the curriculum and as a language of study to enhance learning and promote the language generally. 5. recommendations a) the education and training policy (2014) that emphasizes increased roles for teaching and learning kiswahili across should be implemented widely across the country. kiswahili should be used as a medium of instruction throughout the educational process of students, right up to tertiary institution, especially in private schools. this will give them continuity in learning as opposed to having to learn new terms in a language they are not competent in. relatedly, learning in kiswahili which is a mother tongue to most of the students will enhance their learning. this is in line with several studies that show that learning in one’s mother tongue general increases learning and academic performance (heugh, 2006; unesco, 2003). b) kiswahili should also be used as an entry point examination language in order to enhance its strength in the curriculum. this measure, in particular, will ensure that all students devoid of whether they are in private or public schools will take learning of kiswahili serious. in the end, this will promote the language and increase its value in society. c) the government, non-state actors and schools should invest in training teachers in both kiswahili and english so that they can have the relevant competence in both languages to effectively teach students for better educational output. this is necessary for current students who are going into the secondary school with only the knowledge of kiswahili and for younger students too. while this might take considerable resource to achieve, it will be an essential step in the right direction. d) english should also be given more learning time at the primary school level so as to enhance their global opportunities in an increasing globalized world. in essence, giving students chance to learn english language as the foreign language which will later give students access to both languages without destroying their performance in school as the good performance will give them chance to continue with their education (hillard, 2015) not just in tanzania but anywhere else in the world. english clubs can also be created in schools so that students can have an informal platform to practice the language and enhance their skills in it (paschal, nyoni & mkulu, 2020; adamson, 2014). references adamson, l. (2014). language, literacy and learning in tanzanian secondary schools: an ethnographic perspective on the student experience. berkshire: education development trust. barrett, j. (1994). why is english still the medium of education in tanzanian secondary schools? language, culture and curriculum, 7(1), 3-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908319409525162 https://doi.org/10.1080/07908319409525162 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 37 published by scholink inc. brock-utne, b., & halla. (2004). language policies and practices in tanzania and south africa problems and challenges. international journal of educational development, 24, 63-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2003.10.002 heugh, k. (2012). theory and practice—language education models in africa: research, design, decision-making and outcomes. in ouane, a. & glanz, c. (eds.), optimising learning, education and publishing in africa: the language factor: a review and analysis of theory and practice in mother-tongue and bilingual education in sub-saharan africa (pp. 105-156). hamburg: unesco. hilliard, a. (2004). tanzanian students’ attitudes towards english, arizona state university (pp. 252-280). tesol international association. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.147 joyce-gibbons, a., galloway, d., mollel, a., mgoma, s., pima, m., & deogratias, e. (2017). successful transition to secondary school in tanzania: what are the barriers? journal of international development. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3304 ministry of education and culture. (1995). education and training policy. dar es salaam: ministry of education and culture, the united republic of tanzania. retrieved from http://www.tzonline.org/pdf/educationandtrainingpolicy02.pdf ministry of education and culture. (2007). education and training policy. dar es salaam: ministry of education and culture, the united republic of tanzania. retrieved from http://www.tzonline.org/pdf/educationandtrainingpolicy02.pdf ministry of education and culture. (2014). education and training policy. dar es salaam: ministry of education and culture, the united republic of tanzania. retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/7040480/the_united_republic_of_tanzania_ministry_ of_education_and_vocational_training_education_sector_development_progra mme mohr, s., & ochieng, d. (2017). language usage in everyday life and in education: current attitudes towards english in tanzania. oxford university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266078417000268 msanjila, y. p. (n.d.). problems of teaching through the medium of kiswahili in teacher training colleges in tanzania. journal of multilingual & multicultural development, 11(4), 307-317. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.1990.9994419 ofodu, g. o., fatimayin, f. f., & paschal, m. j. (2022). revolutionizing large classes and helping the silently excludedlearners through language inclusive practices. asian journal of education and social studies, 34(2), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.9734/ajess/2022/v34i2723 paschal, m. j. (2022). integrating global citizenship education in higher education in tanzania: lessons from the literature. global research in higher education, 5(2), 24-43. https://doi.org/1022158/grhe.v5n2p24 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2003.10.002 https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.147 https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3304 http://www.tzonline.org/pdf/educationandtrainingpolicy02.pdf http://www.tzonline.org/pdf/educationandtrainingpolicy02.pdf https://www.academia.edu/7040480/the_united_republic_of_tanzania_ministry_of_education_and_vocational_training_education_sector_development_programme https://www.academia.edu/7040480/the_united_republic_of_tanzania_ministry_of_education_and_vocational_training_education_sector_development_programme https://www.academia.edu/7040480/the_united_republic_of_tanzania_ministry_of_education_and_vocational_training_education_sector_development_programme https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266078417000268 https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.1990.9994419 https://doi.org/10.9734/ajess/2022/v34i2723 https://doi.org/1022158/grhe.v5n2p24 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 1, 2023 38 published by scholink inc. paschal, m. j., & gougou, s. a.-m. (2022). promoting 21st century skills in english language teaching: a pedagogical transformation in ivory coast. global journal of educational studies, 8(2), 50-74. https://doi.org/10.5296/gjes.v8i2.20333 paschal, m. j., nyoni. t. t., & mkulu, d. g. (2020). the role of cooperative learning in attaining inclusive learning in the classroom, creativity and innovation in secondary schools in mwanza region—tanzania. international journal of english literature and social sciences, 5(2). retrieved from http://journal-repository.com/index.php/ijels/article/view/1730 qorro, m. (2013). language of instruction in tanzania, why are research findings not heeding (pp. 30-45)? springer science + business media dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-013-9329-5 smits, j., huisman, j., & kruijff, k. (2008). home language and education in the developing world. background paper for the efa global monitoring report overcoming inequality: why governance matters. unesco. tibategeza, e., & du plessis, l. (2018). the prospects of kiswahili as a medium of instruction in the tanzanian education and training policy. journal of language and education, 4, 88-98. https://doi.org/10.17323/2411-7390-2018-4-3-88-98 tibategeza, e., & t. du plesis (2012). language in education policy development in tanzania: an overview (pp. 181-201). language matters studies in africa. https://doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2011.573801 unesco. (2003). education in a multilingual world. unesco education position paper. paris: unesco. (2014). retrieved december 15, 2018, from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000129728 vuzo, m. (2018). towards achieving the sustainable development goals: revisiting language of instruction in tanzanian secondary schools. springer nature b.v and unesco institute of lifelong learning. international review of education, 64, 803-822. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-018-9740-z yogi, m. c. (2017). kiswahili or english: a policy analysis of language instruction in tanzania. capstone collection 2995. retrieved from https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones/2995/?utm_source=digitalcollections.sit.edu%2fcapsto nes%2f2995&utm_medium=pdf&utm_campaign=pdfcoverpages https://doi.org/10.5296/gjes.v8i2.20333 http://journal-repository.com/index.php/ijels/article/view/1730 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-013-9329-5 https://doi.org/10.17323/2411-7390-2018-4-3-88-98 https://doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2011.573801 https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000129728 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-018-9740-z https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones/2995/?utm_source=digitalcollections.sit.edu%2fcapstones%2f2995&utm_medium=pdf&utm_campaign=pdfcoverpages https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones/2995/?utm_source=digitalcollections.sit.edu%2fcapstones%2f2995&utm_medium=pdf&utm_campaign=pdfcoverpages education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 66 original paper translation ideology of the crescent moon school: a case study of lin huiyin’s chinese version of the nightingale and the rose fan yan1 1 chongqing jiaotong university, chongqing, china received: april 1, 2025 accepted: april 22, 2025 online published: may 6, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p66 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p66 abstract this study analyzes lin huiyin’s translation of the nightingale and the rose to explore the translation ideology of the crescent moon school from three aspects: translation selection, translation strategy, and translation language, addressing two key questions: first, the school’s translation selection criteria, which favored classic works, especially poetry, reflecting high literary standards; and second, its translation strategies, combining domestication and foreignization, resulting in a balance between preserving literary integrity and enhancing readability. influenced by the new culture movement, these practices also exhibited unique poetic qualities. keywords crescent moon school, translation ideology, lin huiyin the may fourth movement of 1919 holds profound significance in the long river of chinese history, marking a new chapter in china’s historical development. as a great patriotic revolutionary movement, it has had an all-round impact on china society. this kind of influence was not only political, but also challenges the traditional ideas that have been entrenched in china society for a long time in thought and culture. with the influx of a large number of foreign literary works into china, translated literature gradually occupied a key position in the literary system. the crescent moon school did not follow the mainstream literature to serve the revolution during the ideological differentiation of chinese modern intellectuals in the 1920s. instead, it continued to adhere to the enlightenment ideas of the may fourth movement, pursuing intellectual independence and artistic integrity. there are two tendencies in the theory of crescent school: on the one hand, liang shiqiu, as the representative, advocates that literature should express human nature, meet the standards of norms and balance, and has a distinct neo-classical www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 67 published by scholink inc. tendency; on the other hand, xu zhimo, as the representative, advocated that literature should express inspiration and write about the beauty of life and nature, which has a typical romantic tone. in 1921, lin traveled to europe with her father and met xu zhimo, who was studying in the uk at that time. the two often communicated through letters. influenced by xu zhimo, lin huiyin developed a great interest in poetry and actively participated in the activities of the crescent moon society. however, although lin huiyin was widely recognized for her achievements in architecture and literature, her identity as a translator received less attention due to her limited number of translated works. it is generally accepted in academic circles that wilde’s the nightingale and the rose is lin’s only translation, and she is also the first female translator of this work. before the publication of lin’s translation, the nightingale and the rose had two versions in china: hu yuzhi’s oriole and the rose (1920) and mu tianmu’s oriole and the rose (1922). the following year (1923), lin translated it into chinese and published it in the special issue of the fifth anniversary of morning post, which was later widely adopted by domestic translators. lin’s translation mainly adopts vernacular chinese, including a small amount of classical chinese terms. current studies on the crescent moon school have the following limitations. first, the study of the crescent school have been stagnant until 1980s (huang, 2013, p. 75). second, studies at the crescent moon school mainly focus on poetry, with less attention to fiction and insufficient connection to translation. third, case studies within the crescent moon school primarily concentrate on figures such as liang shiqiu, hu shi, and xu zhimo, with relatively few studies on lin huiyin. therefore, this paper will take lin huiyin’s translation of the nightingale and the rose as a reference for analysis, compare the translation with the original text, and discuss the translation ideology of the crescent moon school in the context of its historical background. the specific research questions are as follows. 1) what are the characteristics of the crescent moon school’s translation selection? 2) what translation strategies did the crescent moon school adopt, and what linguistic features did these strategies lead to? 1. translation selection of the crescent moon school before engaging in an analysis of the translation ideology of the crescent moon school, it is imperative to delineate the temporal boundaries of this literary movement. scholarly consensus regarding the inception and culmination of the crescent moon school remains elusive. a prevailing perspective posits that the movement originated with the establishment of the crescent moon society and concluded with the discontinuation of the crescent moon monthly periodical. however, this view essentially conflates the crescent moon school with a literary organization, neglecting the broader ideological and aesthetic underpinnings that characterized its development. in actuality, the crescent moon school emerged as a significant literary movement due to a confluence of organizational efforts, publication activities, and most crucially, its distinctive aesthetic and creative philosophies. tracing the intellectual trajectory reveals that the movement’s ideological cohesion www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 68 published by scholink inc. predated the formal establishment of the crescent moon society. moreover, even after the publication of the crescent moon magazine, the core principles of the movement persisted, which was proved by the subsequent publication of the academic culture magazine. therefore, the temporal span of the crescent moon school should not be limited to the existence of the society and its eponymous magazine but should be determined by the overall evaluation of its literary efforts and ideological framework (huang, 2013, p. 39). for the purposes of this study, the temporal scope of the crescent moon school is defined as the literary activities of tsinghua students, including wen yiduo, at home and abroad, and the closure of the academic culture magazine. this expanded time frame also proves that the translations published by the crescent moon bookstore, founded in 1927, elucidates the translation selection criteria during the early stages of the crescent moon society in 1923. the core membership of the crescent moon school, comprising figures such as hu shi, xu zhimo, wen yiduo, liang shiqiu, lin huiyin, chen mengjia, and luo longji, were instrumental in shaping its translation activities. this paper aims to distill the overarching translation ideology of the crescent moon school by scrutinizing the translation philosophies of these key members. factors influencing translation selection encompass the translator’s aesthetic predilections, cultural biases, and political orientations, among others. however, the predominant factor shaping the crescent moon school’s translation selection was its literary ideology. in terms of translation selection, the crescent moon school prioritized the translation of canonical literary works (huang, 2017, p. 128). in a 1916 correspondence to chen duxiu, hu shi, a key figure of the crescent moon school, articulated that the introduction of western masterpieces would provide chinese literati with models for emulation and observation, thereby facilitating the creation of new literature (li & zhao, 2009, p. 68). in april 1918, hu shi further advocated in his constructive theory of literary revolution for the exclusive translation of works by distinguished authors, eschewing those of secondary or inferior quality. in his essay on translation, he championed the translation of british and american literary masterpieces, cautioning against the superfluous retranslation of works (huang, 2017, p. 128). liang shiqiu contended that translations should focus on canonical works embodying universal human values. in his the romantic trend in modern chinese literature, he posited that translation constituted a pivotal pillar of the new literature movement. he observed that translators often approached foreign works with a romantic, rather than rational, attitude, resulting in capricious and emotionally driven selections. consequently, thirdand fourth-rate foreign works were frequently imported into china, revered as treasures, and indiscriminately imitated (liang, 1997, p. 11). huang libo (2010) analyzed the works published in the crescent moon journal and revealed that the majority of the translators within the crescent moon group had studied in various european countries. as a result, the translated works in the journal predominantly featured european and american literature, with a focus on popular genres, diverging from the revolutionary selection criteria of other left-wing writers’ publications at the time. in terms of genre, the crescent moon school prioritized the translation of british romantic poetry, french symbolist poetry, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 69 published by scholink inc. and 20th-century british modernist poetry. according to huang hongchun’s statistics, among the 24 translated works published by the crescent moon bookstore, approximately 11 were literary; of the 110 translated pieces published in crescent moon, 91 were literary, comprising 42 poems, 23 short stories, 17 essays, and 9 plays (huang, 2017, p. 128). during the may fourth movement, the banner of “literature of humanity” was raised high, with this type of literature primarily manifesting as a pursuit of individual freedom and liberation. influential western authors of the time included byron, shelley, rousseau, goethe, nietzsche, whitman, and wilde, all of whom were individualists rich in a spirit of rebellion and defiance. lin huiyin, a key figure of the crescent moon school, chose to translate wilde’s works for two main reasons. first, she was influenced by chen duxiu, who had listed several renowned authors in new youth, advocating the translation of western literary masterpieces into china, with wilde among them. second, lin huiyin’s travels in europe with her father provided her with favorable conditions to absorb more authentic western dream. during this period, influenced by a female architect, she resolved to pursue architecture as a lifelong career. despite the rarity of female architects at the time and the fact that the university of pennsylvania’s architecture department did not admit women, she ingeniously realized her ideal by enrolling in architecture courses. this act alone was sufficient to demonstrate lin huiyin’s spirit of rebellion. wilde, with his unique anti-traditional stance as a dandy of aestheticism, challenged and subverted the stale mindset and modes of expression of the victorian masses (li, 2003, p. 61), which coincided with lin huiyin’s rebellious spirit. in 1932, the renowned american biologist john fairbank and his wife wilma traveled to china to study, where they met liang sicheng and lin huiyin, forming a deep friendship. in her 1994 work liang and lin: partners in exploring china’s architectural history, wilma fairbank stated that lin huiyin’s involvement with the crescent moon society marked the beginning of her writing career... however, according to sicheng, her first published work was a translation of oscar wilde’s romantic prose poem: the nightingale and the rose. i do not know where it was published, but it was likely in the literary supplement of a newspaper in beijing or tianjin, which were important venues for the early members of the crescent moon society (wilma fairbank, 1997, p. 21). this statement was later confirmed. professor chen xueyong, using the pen name “chicui” from lin huiyin’s 1931 inclusion in the crescent moon poetry selection as a clue, discovered lin’s translation of the nightingale and the rose in the morning post 5th anniversary special issue (chen, 1997, p. 35). 2. translation strategies of the crescent moon school xiong bing (2014) posits that translation strategies constitute a set of principles and adopted solutions designed to achieve specific translational objectives within the translation process. based on the translator’s orientation towards either the source text and its author or the translation receiver during the translation process, translation strategies can be categorized into domestication and foreignization (xiong, 2014, p. 84). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 70 published by scholink inc. in 1898, yan fu proposed the renowned translation standards of “faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance” in his preface to the translation of on the origin of species, titled on translation. yan fu stated that there are three difficulties in translation: faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance (yan, 2002, p. 10). in yan fu’s translation philosophy, “faithfulness” refers to the accurate representation of the original text without distortion or addition/subtraction of its meaning; “expressiveness” means that the translation should not be overly bound by the form of the original text and should be comprehensible and easily understood by readers; “elegance” pertains to the use of classical chinese (shen, 1998, p. 65). however, the crescent moon school argued that the translation standards of faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance should be viewed dialectically. chen xiying (1929), a representative figure of the crescent moon school, severely criticized yan fu’s translation standards in his essay on translation, pointing out that in translating literary works, elegant or similar words are not only superfluous but also a great taboo for translators. he argued that yan fu’s constant preoccupation with the ancient elegance of pre-qin and han texts obscured his vision of the clarity and conciseness of mill and the readability of huxley. as a result, the translated text became extremely difficult to comprehend, not only failing to reflect the original style but also causing readers great difficulty (guan, 2018, p. 146). chen xiying believed that different translation standards should be applied to different genres and types of works. for non-literary works, achieving “expressiveness” is sufficient without the need to focus on the style of writing. “expressiveness” is also not suitable for all literary works. symbolist and expressionist works, which are inherently obscure, should not be forced to conform to the standard of “expressiveness,” as this would lead to misinterpretation. “elegance” should only be required of works that are originally elegant. to achieve “faithfulness,” translators must possess the ability to understand the original text and be able to move beyond mere formal and semantic resemblance to achieve a spiritual similarity. therefore, translators should not set a standard for themselves before translating, whether it be elegance, expressiveness, antiquity, accessibility, beauty, or simplicity, but rather use the standard of the original text as their own (huang, 2013, p. 198). another representative of the crescent moon school, liang shiqiu, affirmed the standard of “faithfulness” but opposed the view of preferring faithfulness over smoothness. he also opposed the justification of europeanization as an excuse for not striving for smooth and comprehensible language, arguing that both faithfulness without smoothness and smoothness without faithfulness are equally problematic (huang, 2013, p. 198). under the guidance of a translation strategy that combines domestication and foreignization, and influenced by the new culture movement and the vernacular language movement, the translation language of the crescent moon school developed unique characteristics. first and foremost, the crescent moon school insisted on the unity of content and style in translation. in her analysis of the translation philosophies of two prominent crescent moon translators, liang shiqiu and xu zhimo, in a comparative study of the translation theories of liang shiqiu and xu zhimo, liao hong concluded that liang shiqiu believed the standard of perfect translation is the unity of faithfulness and expressiveness, that is, being faithful to the content and style of the original text while ensuring the reader’s comprehension; xu zhimo www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 71 published by scholink inc. argued that the standard of translation is the combination of spirit and form, which means retaining both the style and the content and form of the original. both believed that translation is a form of creation that should incorporate the translator’s personal style (liao, 2011, p. 68). this is reflected in lin huiyin’s translations. the nightingale and the rose, a fairy tale by the british aesthetic writer oscar wilde, is primarily intended for children. therefore, lin huiyin consciously adapted and abridged the original work during the translation process to make the language style of the translation more accessible to child readers. example 1: source text: “why is he weeping?” asked a little green lizard, as he ran past him with his tail in the air. lin’s version: “他为什么哭泣呀？”绿色的小壁虎，竖起尾巴从他身前跑过。 lin huiyin translated the “green lizard” in the original text as “绿色的小壁虎” (green little gecko), which adds a touch of childlike charm to the translation but is evidently not scientifically accurate. strictly speaking, “lizard” refers to “蜥蜴” (lizard), although it can also mean “壁虎” (gecko), these two animals are not interchangeable. in fact, lizards encompass all animals within the order squamata, while geckos are specifically animals within the gekkonidae family of the order squamata. therefore, lin huiyin’s translation effectively narrows down the meaning of “lizard”. however, we cannot definitively conclude that the “lizard” here does not refer to a gecko. lin huiyin was from fujian province and moved to the capital with her father during her childhood. lizards are primarily distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, and within china, they are mainly found in fujian, guangdong, guangxi, jiangsu, zhejiang. these places have diverse living environments and are home to a rich variety of lizard species. therefore, we can infer that if lin huiyin had encountered lizards, it was most likely in fujian. upon verification, the lizard species found in fujian province include the hengchun grass lizard, xueshan grass lizard, and hainan keeled lizard, none of which are geckos. in fact, the “green lizard” refers to a chordate animal widely distributed in eastern european countries, with the chinese name “绿蜥” (green lizard). however, lin huiyin might have considered the special reader group of children and thus chose the more familiar “壁虎” (gecko) to chinese people, instead of the rarer “蜥蜴” (lizard) or the more specialized term “绿蜥” (green lizard). example 2: source text: “the musicians will sit in their gallery,” said the young student, “and play upon their stringed instruments, and my love will dance to the sound of the harp and the violin. she will dance so lightly that her feet will not touch the floor, and the countries in their gay dresses will throng round her…” lin’s version: 青年学生说：”乐师将在舞会上弹弄丝竹，我那爱人也将随着弦琴的音乐声翩翩起 舞，神采飞扬，风华绝代，莲步都不曾着地似的……” in oscar wilde’s writing, the term “stringed instrument” refers to western string instruments, primarily including the harp, guitar, and violin. the chinese translation “丝竹” (sizhu), however, has two layers of meaning. in a broad sense, “丝竹” refers to “music,” as seen in the phrase “无丝竹之乱耳，无案牍 之劳形”. in a narrow sense, “丝竹” specifically denotes traditional han chinese string and bamboo wind www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 72 published by scholink inc. instruments, mainly comprising the guqin, se, xiao, and flute. clearly, wilde’s “stringed instrument” here refers to the harp and violin. however, on the one hand, to enhance the readability of the text and, on the other hand, to align with the character image of the “young student” as a well-read scholar, lin huiyin chose the more elegant term “丝竹.” moreover, lin huiyin translated the word “dance” from the original text into three four-character phrases, which are strictly regulated in terms of prosody and have a neat structure, imbuing the translation with musicality. this reflects the crescent moon school’s shared pursuit of formal rhythm in the translation of novels, as well as in the translation and creation of poetry. 3. conclusion the crescent moon school is an important literary movement in modern chinese literary history that emerged after the may fourth movement. this study explores the translation ideology of the crescent moon school by analyzing lin huiyin’s translation of the nightingale and the rose, focusing on three aspects: translation selection, translation strategy, and translation language. in terms of translation selection, the crescent moon school emphasized the translation of classic literary works and advocated against translating works of second-rate quality. in terms of genre, the school prioritized the translation of poetry, followed by fiction, prose, and drama. lin huiyin’s choice to translate oscar wilde’s works was influenced by both her personal experiences and wilde’s unique status during the may fourth period. as a nonconformist rich in rebellious spirit, wilde embodied the ideals of “literature of humanity” that were prevalent at the time and served as a model for the youth. regarding translation strategy, crescent moon translators advocated a combination of domestication and foreignization. they did not fully endorse yan fu’s translation principles of “faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance,” arguing that different translation standards should be applied to different genres and types of works. influenced by this strategy, the translation language of the crescent moon school insisted on the unity of content and style, viewing translation as a form of creation that should incorporate the translator’s personal style. this granted translators a degree of freedom, primarily manifested in adaptation and abridgment. at the same time, influenced by the new culture movement and the vernacular language movement, the translation language not only possessed the unique poetic characteristics of the crescent moon school but was also easy to understand. reference fei, w. m. (1997). liang sicheng and lin huiyin—a couple exploring the history of chinese architecture (qu yingpu and guan chao, translated). china federation of literary and art circles publishing house. guan, x. f. (2018). translation debate between chen xiying and zeng pu—including the great translation debate in the literary circle around 1930s. journal of guizhou university (social sciences edition), 36(4), 144-150. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 73 published by scholink inc. huang, h. c., & wang, y. (2017). literary view in the translation theory and practice of the crescent moon school. journal of nanchang university (humanities and social sciences), 48(1), 127-132. li, y. (2003). the decadent of aestheticism—analysis of wilde’s contradiction and self-shaping. journal of sichuan international studies university, 2003(5), 61-66. liang, s. q. (1997). the romantic trend of modern chinese literature (li zhao, ed.). lu xun/liang shiqiu’s debate record. beijing: hualing publishing house. shen, s. r. (1998). on faithfulness, reachability and elegance. commercial press. xi, y. (1929). on translation. new moon, 1929(24). xiong, b. (2014). conceptual confusion in translation studies—taking “translation strategies”, “translation methods” and “translation techniques” as examples. chinese translation, 35(3), 82-88. yan, f. (2002). translation of preface. 2002(10) huaxia publishing house. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 85 original paper localization of online game genshin impact based on multimodal analysis siqing li1 1 school of foreign languages, east china university of science and technology, shanghai, china received: september 15, 2023 accepted: september 29, 2023 online published: october 16, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n4p85 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n4p85 abstract genshin impact (yuan shen 原神), a fantasy-themed open-world action role-playing game, has been a runaway success since its initial release in september 2020, implying chinese game is gaining popularity in the whole world. genshin impact achieves a major cultural export around the world owe to its successful game localization. prior studies focused on analyzing the linguistic and visual modes. therefore, the study analyzes how audio modes make effects on audio translation and linguistic translation in a case study of elemental skill dubbing for zhongli and xingqiu and inventive opera divine damsel of devastation based on multimodal analysis. keywords genshin impact, online game, multimodal analysis, localization 1. introduction genshin impact (yuan shen 原神; mihoyo 2020), an open-world action roleplaying game developed by chinese company mihoyo, hit a great success since its release in 2020. during nearly three years, genshin impact achieves its cultural export in english, korean, japanese, french, german, indonesian, korean, portuguese, russian, spanish, thai and vietnamese countries. the game story takes place in a fictional continent called “teyvat” (ti wa te 提瓦特) where different zone in it has its own corresponding national prototype. among all, the character design, regional names, game storyline, and skill names in liyue (li yue 璃月), designed based on china, fully embody the characteristics of chinese culture. for one thing, due to the cultural discrepancy between china and english-speaking countries, it is difficult to achieve complete equivalence. for another, genshin impact, a video game, displays its meaning in the form of an interactive audiovisual text (mejías-climent, 2021). audiovisual text refers to “a semiotic construct woven by a series of signifying codes that operate simultaneously to produce meaning” (chaume, 2012). therefore, localization, defined as a translation modality characterized by some www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 86 published by scholink inc. specificity like subtitling and dubbing, tries to achieve the overseas cultural promotion successfully. prior studies on genshin impact spot on cross culture communication and its international influence. studies on english translation of genshin impact tend to focus on the culture-loaded words and cross culture communication by discussing only from one modal. as video game consists of image, verbal signs, and sound (verbal and non-verbal) (rogers, 2018), study on game localization such as genshin impact should be discussed from not only linguistic and visual mode, but also audio modes. therefore, the study analyzes how audio modes make effects on audio translation and linguistic translation in a case study of elemental skill dubbing for zhongli and xingqiu and inventive opera divine damsel of devastation based on multimodal analysis. 2. literature review 2.1 studies on multimodal theory kress and van leeuven (2001, p. 20) defined the concept of “multimodality” as “the use of several semiotic modes in the design of a semiotic product or event”. they focused on multi-modes including color grammar, visual images, newspaper layout and the role of different media. multimodal discourse is the phenomenon of using various senses including sight, hearing and touch to communicate through language, image, sound, and action (zhang, 2009). in terms of the translation field, multimodal theory is becoming a combination that is receiving more and more attention. gottlieb (1994) proposed the multi-symbol text type in film and television subtitle translation, which refers to the text type that includes more than two communication channels. in an effort to merge the two dimensions of text media and mode, gerzymisch-arbogast (2005) proposed multidimensional translation, focusing more on the conversion of symbols in the media during the translation process. according to kaindl (2020), translation should be reinvented as a way of cultural engagement in which intermediaries from three areas—modal, media, and genre—transform the symbols and cultural barriers in the text that the audience encounters. 2.2 studies on game localization the concept of “localization” is often closely related to the term game translation, but not exactly the same. localization is described as “the process of adapting products and services (websites, manuals, and software applications) to the linguistic, cultural, technical, functional, and other locale-specific requirements of the target market” (singh, 2011). localization implied a “broader and more sophisticated” (pym, 2004) process including the field of audiovisual translation (miguel, 2022). video games are, of course, a kind of interactive narrative and hence close in this sense to literary texts, although they are distinguished by their realization as dynamic multimodal productions consisting of image, verbal signs, and sound (verbal and non-verbal) (rogers, 2018). the following three categories generally correspond to current domestic game localization research: 1) case studies of certain video games; 2) an overview and training of game translation; 3) and reporting on pertinent translation practice. for the first category, liu and ma (2020) concluded that game localization www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 87 published by scholink inc. is one of the main businesses of localization industry. in the second category, zhu et al. (2021) analyzed the adaptive translation performed by translators for the mobile game brawl stars was done from a variety of perspectives, including communication, language, and culture. the third type concentrated on researching the chinese translations of well-known games from abroad by analyzing the translations of video games from english to chinese (zhao, 2022). as for genshin impact, there are only several studies on it. xiao (2023) discussed about the translation strategies applied in interpreting culture-loaded information. chen (2023) focuses on linguistic and visual modes by analyzing two promotion videos and an in-game quest in genshin impact from four levels of culture, context, content and expression. therefore, study on the audio modes need more discussed. 3. case study of audio and linguistic translation 3.1 dubbing of skill names with chinese four characters genshin impact is an action roleplaying game with “gacha” monetisation system, whose characters have different skill actions with his/her specific elemental skill type messages. there are 7 kinds of elements (pyro 火, hydro 水, dendro 草, electro 雷, anemo 风, cryo 冰, geo 岩) in total, which of all will appear elemental reactions to enhance the ability of attack. while the players are using one of the characters, they will hear the verbal messages as soon as they press the elemental skill button. besides, verbal messages are unique as each character role has their own characteristics. two characters zhongli and xingqiu are selected in table 1 whose identities are quite different. unique identities affect the text of each slogan dubbing when the character is using one elemental skill. table1. st and tt of skill slogan dubbing for zhongli and xingqiu character identity skill type st of slogan tt of slogan zhongli legendary and knowledgeable lord of geo: elemental skill 壁立千仞 rise! 震天撼地 quake! 靡坚不摧 crumble! 俱收并蓄 gather. 安如磐石 stabilize. 固若金汤 solidify. xingqiu a young man like a bookworm elemental skill 雨线难画 rain outlined your fate! elemental burst 古华深秘 witness the power of guhua! www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 88 published by scholink inc. 织诗成锦 let me weave you a verse. 彩雨留虹 raincutter! zhongli serves as the legendary lord of geo while xingqiu is a teenager in feiyun commerce guild who is carrying a longswords and frequently seen at book booths. for both zhongli and xingqiu’s identity, they are of great knowledge. in this way, the source texts of their skill slogan are almost all four-character words, but their translation is quite different. figure 1. zhongli’s using his elementary skill for zhongli’s verbal message, the six verbal skill slogan “壁立千仞” (stand bolt upright), “震天撼地” (shake the universe), “靡坚不摧” (be secure against assault), “俱收并蓄” (absorb anything and everything), “安如磐石” (steady as a rock), “固若金汤” (defenses as strong as iron) in chinese can be read quickly with a tremendous momentum. as the skill slogan has no subtitle for they will appear by the form of verbal message instead of being subtitled on the game screen. specifically speaking, as shown in figure 1 for character zhongli, he is using his elemental skill: prism attack. these skills will make effect in just one second. if zhongli’s skill slogans are translated literally, it will spend more several seconds and players may find it tedious when fighting against the enemies. zhongli, as a lord of geo, saying too long slogans does not fit his identity. as an archon, his skill slogan should be short and powerful. besides, zhongli’s e skill is that he summons a geo pillar quickly for defense. therefore, for the limited time and the legendary identity, the target text of zhongli’s skill slogan is translated into only www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 89 published by scholink inc. one word to make sure the verbal message (audio modal) sounds quick and powerful to let the player know that zhongli is making orders. tedious explanation would weaken zhongli’s “status” in liyue. figure 2. xingqiu is using his e skills for xingqiu’s verbal message, different from zhongli’s one word translation, xingqiu is more like a well-educated scholar. his elemental skills are not quicker than that of zhongli. in order to personalize each character, translation for xingqiu’s skills is not one word, but a four-word slogan at average. “雨线 难画”, “古华深秘”, “织诗成锦” and “彩雨留虹” are not chinese idioms but inventive chinese fourcharacter phrases. as figure 2 depicts, xingqiu can summon four small swords by his side for melee combat with five consecutive attacks. this means that xingqiu’s elemental skills last a little bit longer than zhongli’s. for dubbing, audio mode provides the translator to consider not just a one-word order, but several-word slogan that is dubbed at a fast speed. however, considering the dubbing of character’s skill, generally speaking, it is much concise when the character is on a fight. therefore, xingqiu’s translated verbal message is liberally applied. apart from the length of skill names, xingqiu’s dubber is chosen a voice actress using a male voice to dub this male character, making the dubbing of xingqiu’s elemental skills more a youthful voice or a voice that sounds like that of a young boy. in this way, the translations like “rain outlined your fate” (雨线难画), “witness the power of guhua” (古华深秘), “let me weave you a verse” (织诗成锦), and “raincutter” (彩雨留虹) seem much softer compared with that of zhongli’s. in conclusion, both zhongli and xingqiu’s elementary skills have influence on the budding of the two characters. dubbing also affect the translation of the skill slogan (verbal text): for zhongli, because of his identity lord of geo and short time of starting his e skill, translation for his slogan is almost oneword length, ensuring the foreign players fully know the characteristics of zhongli; for xingqiu, his www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 90 published by scholink inc. identity as a book lover, his a little bit longer-time of e skill and his verbal message dubbed by a voice actress, translation for his slogan is much more longer length and softer to cater to his own identity. 3.2 subtitling and dubbing of divine damsel of devastation divine damsel of devastation is an original and inventive chinese opera created by the development team of genshin impact to celebrate the new year in 2022, coinciding with the release of a new storyline in the game. the opera draws inspiration from the life story of the new character “shenhe” (申鹤) and is performed by the character “yunjin” (云堇) who is also the renowned opera performer “yun xiansheng” (云先生). in a sense, the lyrics of divine damsel of devastation can be seen as a form of “narrative verse”, condensed with rich information and the beauty of sound. the lyrics contain numerous chinese cultural symbols and allusions, and whether overseas players can understand and appreciate the opera depends on the translator’s successful translation of these elements and the gorgeous performance of the dubber (a chinese opera performer). table 2. st and tt of divine damsel of devastation st tt 可叹！ 秋鸿折单复难双 痴人痴怨恨迷狂 只因那邪牲祭伏定祸殃 若非巾帼拔剑人皆命丧 凡缘朦朦仙缘滔 天伦散去绛府邀 朱丝缚绝烂柯樵 雪泥鸿迹遥 alas! two loving souls by death cruelly parted in madness and grief, a dark path started calamity was drawn, rituals subverted but by her cold steel was death averted mortal ties broken, with the adepti she went their abiding place filling paternal bonds rent to her red strings of binding they sent and they dwell long together, content 鹤归不见昔华表 蛛丝枉结魂幡飘 因果红尘渺渺 烟消 the crane returned to a home without luster the cobwebs overgrown, the grave-shrouds a-fluster but one bond upon her this world could not muster 《神女劈观》到这里本该接近尾声 但今日我再添一笔—— 唱与——诸位——听—— thus does the divine damsel’s tale duly end but today a new tale i have to append which i shall now tell — if you shall attend www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 91 published by scholink inc. 曲高未必人不识 自有知音和清词 红缨猎猎剑流星 直指怒涛洗海清 from the world she seems apart but there are those who know her heart with crimson spear and flashing brand to still the raging tides they stand 彼时鹤归，茫茫天地无依靠，孤身离去。 今日再会，新朋旧友坐满堂，共聚此时。 the crane once returned and once, she was spurned she turned, and left alone now, she might be found with friends all around to whom she is bound — a home for the textual translation of this opera, liberal translation is applied by using the beauty of ending rhymes (aabbccdd eeffggg…) to achieve the beauty of sound. there are so many allusions and unfamiliar words in the st, even hard for chinese players to understand. in this way, the tt only shows the core and main content of this story. for instance, “彼时鹤归，茫茫天地无依靠，孤身离去” is rendered into “the crane once returned. and once, she was spurned. she turned, and left alone”. “茫茫天地无依靠” is omitted, only the meaning that shenhe is lonely is delivered by the translation “and once, she was spurned”. “spurn” is defined as “to refuse to accept someone’s love or friendship”, only using passive voice can directly reflects how lonely shenhe is. the textual translation is trying to cater to the foreign players to understand as this text is put as the subtitle. foreign players are encountered with linguistic, visual, audio modes when watching the game storyline. at that time, audio mode is critical as opera has its unique singing style; visual mode is telling players the story of shenhe by showing different images; linguistic mode is subtitling. for the foreign player, visual mode and audio mode is critical as they are not familiar with the opera or the story. they are first attracted by the images and singing. from this aspect, there is no need to render the subtitling according to the st. images can help players understand how the story is going on. therefore, the linguistic translation is rendered more concisely compared to st. for the audio translation, the original opera is used. there is no audio translation for this opera. mihoyo, has translated all the characters and storylines into the target language, including animation pvs (promotion video) and images. however, for yunjin’s performance of divine damsel of devastation, the audio modes seem to provide a true essence of traditional chinese opera performance, thus making the only part using the original audio mode instead of having the voice actress sing the translated version. various channels to export the culture make different strategies. in the pv submitted in youtube channel, mihoyo has chosen to add english subtitles to this part, along with scrolling images, creating a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 92 published by scholink inc. multimodal intertextuality (figure 3). however, for the english pv in chinese own social media bilibili, there is no english subtitles for players to read (figure 4). figure 3. screenshot in pv of divine damsel of devastation on youtube channel (note 1) figure 4. screenshot in pv of divine damsel of devastation on bilibili channel (note 2) genshin impact takes advantage of visual and audio modes in liyue chapter, such as image, subtitling and dubbing to provide players a detailed and vivid context to experience the chinese culture. audio modes like dubbing have influence on the translation of verbal message and text by rendering the core content of the text concisely based on the visual mode like images. 4. conclusion based on the multimodal analysis, the study analyzes the english translation of elemental skills for zhongli and xingqiu and inventive opera divine damsel of devastation in the genshin impact by focusing on how audio modes influence the audio translation and linguistic translation. through the case study, conclusions can be made as follows: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 4, 2023 93 published by scholink inc. for rendering the dubbing of elemental skills for zhongli and xingqiu, audio modes will have influence on the translation of the verbal message dubbing. dubbing also affects the translation of the skill slogan (verbal text): for zhongli, translation for his slogan is very concise, ensuring the foreign players fully know the characteristics of zhongli because of his identity lord of geo and short time of starting his attack skills; for xingqiu, his a little bit longer-time of e skill allows the voice actress can read more. his identity as a book lover with no authority makes the translation for his slogan much longer and softer to cater to his own identity. as for the translation of opera divine damsel of devastation, visual modes such as the images of the story telling and audio modes such as the singing of the opera make the liberal translation of divine damsel of devastation by rendering only the main story. besides, one of the biggest social media channels youtube and bilibili vary from each other as the former one is subtitled with english translation of the verbal message of the opera while the latter one is not. in other words, in liyue chapter, genshin impact uses audio and visual modes like picture, subtitling, and dubbing to give players a rich and deep understanding of chinese culture. due to the way that audio modes like dubbing express the verbal text’s main ideas succinctly based on visual modes like visuals, they have an impact on how verbal and written messages are translated. reference chaume, f. (2016). audiovisual translation trends: growing diversity, choice, and enhanced localization. in media across borders (pp. 68-84). routledge. gerzymisch-arbogast, h. (2005). introducing multidimensional translation. mutra: challenges of multidimensional translation. proceedings of the marie curie euroconferences-saarbrücken (pp. 2-6). gottlieb, h. (1994). subtitling: diagonal translation. perspectives-studies in translatology, 2, 101-121. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676x.1994.9961227 jiménez, c., &miguel, á. (2022). “localization” @ enti (encyclopedia of translation & interpreting). aieti. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6369108 kaindl, k. (2020). a theoretical framework for a multimodal conception of translation. in m. boria, a. carreres, m. noriega-sanchez, & m. tomalin (eds.), translation and multimodality: beyond words (pp. 49-70). london: routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429341557-3 kress, g. r., & van leeuwen, t. 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(2021). research on english to chinese translation of mobile games from an ecological perspective: a case study of game text translation in brawl stars. english square, 34, 28-31. notes note 1. the website for pv in youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiahmr6ijtq note 2. the website for pv in youtube channel: https://www.bilibili.com/video/bv1ks4y1t7kk/?p=3&share_source=copy_web https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315121871-10 https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511920226 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper learn to unlearn for transformative learning, an epistemological look josé manuel salum tomé , phd1 1 doctor of education, catholic university of temuco, cautin, chile received: january 20, 2021 accepted: february 2, 2021 online published: february 13, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n1p94 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n1p94 abstracts the present work corresponds to a reflection about several theories and approaches of the learning and their relevance in the training of social agents, reflection that emerges from the practice of the training, and attending to the fact that the meaning of what it implies to learn and how it is that is learned is not at the center of the discussion in universities in latin america, which emphasizes more what to teach rather than how to teach. keywords learning, unlearning, relearning and continuing education 1. justification the present work corresponds a reflection on various theories and approaches to learning and their relevance in the training of social workers, reflection that emerges from the practice of training, and considering the fact that the sense of what is involved in learning and how what is learned is not at the center of the discussion in universities in latin america, in which more emphasis is placed on what to teach rather than how to teach. without pretending to analyze praxis or be a guide on how to implement the transition from the prevailing training model, called informational, to another with a transformational nature, the working hypothesis on the training of social agents and, in particular, leadership training, is based on the importance of understanding the concept of learning, of how to learn and, therefore, of how to teach, since adults require unlearning, at the same time as learning, to achieve transformational learning that allows them not only to acquire new knowledge but also stimulate behavior modification in light of reviewing their own frames of reference. to achieve this proposal, the learners and also the teachers must review not only what they do, but how they think and who they are. the process is not only cognitive, but also emotional and bodily. therefore, 94 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 a dynamic and integrated approach is proposed that works in the three fields and that in each one of them the concept of unlearning is the main idea. additionally, a series of approaches are suggested, such as first, second and third cycle learning and paradigm revision; among others. 2. introduction it is almost incredible that, in higher education and training centers, more emphasis is placed on what is taught, content, and not on how it is taught, methodologies, and that more experts are hired in certain specialized areas of knowledge, but not they have been trained in the methodological aspect. observations made in various educational centers in latin american countries show that the pedagogical process itself is downplayed, and that this limitation does not occur only at higher levels of education, but also at secondary and primary levels, although in the latter the symptom is less. that is, less attention is paid to pedagogical development in higher-level educational centers, generally focused on the search and transfer of knowledge as information, than in primary and secondary education centers, today, in chile, under the reform process, precisely in the review of their pedagogical approaches. and this does not happen due to a lack of theories and/or research in the field of epistemology, namely, authors such as humberto maturana and previously paulo freire, offer us a very reference point to understand that we must worry about how to teach from a knowledge of how is it that we learn, and, if learning is not adequate, how is it that we unlearn. this problem is approached, by way of reflection, and some conclusions are shared in this document that are reached from the implicit premises in an analysis of the dynamic and essential process in education such as learning. and it is approached from the deepening of what is understood by learning and the usefulness of unlearning, postulating that this dynamic gives greater light to the teaching process. the reflections that are presented are supported by more than a decade of experience in the training of young people in educational centers of different levels and of training carried out both for teachers and students, as well as exchange of ideas with colleagues in relation to the subject and specialized bibliographic review. everything that was most relevant and pertinent to the subject was pointed out to give way to a proposal that is offered not to be a practical guide, but as a reflection that invites us to continue investigating and raising awareness that the problem subsists and is rooted in the work of educational centers. so, the purpose of this work is, at the same time as a reflection, an invitation to educational agents to reconsider the concepts already mentioned: learn, how to learn, how to unlearn and therefore, how to teach. also, to consider the hypothesis that maintains that adults require unlearning at the same time as learning, to achieve transformational learning, and thus contribute to dynamic and meaningful learning. the document is organized in six sections. in the first, an attempt is made to analyze the approaches and concepts of traditional, informational education and learning, and why their permanence in current times and the need to move from this approach to one more in line with the rhythm of post-modern society, namely, a transformational approach. in turn, it leads to what is understood by education: object of 95 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 analysis in the second section, which defines both transformative education and, as its variant, meaningful education. in light of the above, the third section opens a new key aspect for learning oriented to modify behavior, which for the author is the e sence of education and training. likewise, it is carried out, in synthesis, the importance of the unlearning process and its link with vigorous learning. in the fifth section, some possible learning strategies are briefly indicated that would make it possible to dynamize the process, giving relevance to teaching practice in the processes of change. in the sixth and last section, a final reflection is made that synthesizes and makes explicit the main proposals of this document: from information to transformation 3. learning to unlearn for a transformative learning, an epistemological look 3.1 education and learning a stagnant process? “the most perfect image of the cosmos is the river ...” this sentence expressed by heraclitus of ephesus in the 6th century bc, to refer to the continuous evolution of what exists is today very applicable in the field of knowledge and therefore in relation to truths that sustain the human being. then, given that the truths are constantly changing, a sort of negotiation occurs regarding which ones will or will not be accepted in order to attribute meaning to things, to events and to the human being himself. if this is so, it is contradictory to try to make teaching a simple process of transferring information from a subject who teaches (teacher or trainer) to a subject who learns (student or apprentice), moreover, it is an epistemological claim of a dogmatic nature, where the one who teaches pretends that knowledge is reduced to data and that he is the possessor of such knowledge. what could we say then of the master classes? as knowledge transfer, they are valid, but if we consider that knowledge is not something given, but rather it is built, as suggested by the cognitive theories of learning, among which we can highlight piaget, ausubel, gagné, among others, we have to conclude that all teacher-centered pedagogical practice is insufficient. hence, it is necessary to review and/or generate strategies that promote discussion on issues that promote a change in perspective, which does not mean in any way suppressing the flow of information, but rather changing the form, viewing education not as a product, but as a process. if we consider the approach of mezisow (2000) and kegan (1982, 1994, 2000) who, based on the approaches of piaget and freire, we can consider that a transformational approach is necessary, which implies looking at how it is learn, how it is thought, what we understand by education and what are the implications of transformative learning, aspects that will be considered below. as mezisow says “transformative learning refers to the process through which we transform established frames of reference (perspectives of meanings, habits of thought, mental frames… etc.) to make them more inclusive, discriminating, open, emotionally capable of changing and reflective, in such a way that they generate beliefs and opinions that prove to be truer and more justified so that they generate action”. the permanence of the emphasis on the content or information seems to make sense if we take into account that the person who is capable of mastering a lot of information and transferring it is considered 96 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 wise, either from european or north american authors, and who can cite these authors as support to their knowledge, without further analysis or discernment. it is taken for granted that, if someone whose fame has transcended, what is said is true, and so should proceed. there is a kind of dependence on thought, a denial of the possibility of being authentic and generating new proposals more in line with reality. for example, the education in finland is very good, its methodology, principles and values very pertinent, but for the finns, not for latin america. another reason for maintaining the tradition is the fear that teachers have of being confronted by students with questions that they may not be able to answer. they feel questioned in their wisdom and authority, since they assume the category of experts from the infallibility of their knowledge. thus, the concept “education” refers to various meanings and theories, as many as perspectives of what is intended when you want to teach. but what we do agree on is that there is no unintended educational process, and necessarily behind each acceptance of the concept, an idea of society, of being human, and of learning is implicit. if education is considered as a process of information transfer, a prevailing trend in the various educational fields, and in which this information is called by teachers’ “content” and by student’s “subject”, the emphasis is on what teaching, and the concept of the student is that of a passive subject in which a standardized level of mastery of the content established as mandatory must be achieved. this is so from a behavioral perspective of learning where the response must be expected, uniform and quantifiable, from which it necessarily derives that knowledge is oversized as a simple cognitive process, of a rational and memory nature, and other elements that are not considered they are also combined in the learning process, as are the emotional and physical. in this process focused on what to teach, the subject who learns in his capacity as a person is ignored, he is considered rather a passive entity that must be filled with information, this is what freire called banking education in his work “pedagogy of the oppressed” (1970) and from which i will take a fragment: “in banking education there are two different types of subjects, the educator and the student. the educator is the one who knows, the only one who has knowledge. he is the one who transmits his knowledge to the learner. the learner receives this knowledge from the educator without participating in the process, let’s say it is like a filing cabinet ... this education refers to reality as something static, detained, divided with contents totally alien to the learner”. it is also necessary to consider that the rationalist and categorizing heritage of the greco-roman culture exerts its millenary influences on the ways of thinking of our latin america, from aristotle and his consideration of the human being as a rational animal to hegel, (“everything rational is real”) descartes and kant, among others, have paid homage to reason and set aside the set of affective and bodily capacities that are also involved in the learning process. rational categorizations are useful, but they do not allow us to see reality in a complete way, not to understand ourselves in a changing world and in which we can dialogue from a holistic perspective. 97 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 knowledge constitutes the main basis for the exercise of people, of their wealth and well-being and of society. the right to access knowledge gives the opportunity to participate in social, cultural and economic life, increasing any possibility of a true social inclusion, and at the same time increases the improvement of employability, through continuous education. now well, moving towards a knowledge society also implies inequalities and social exclusion reach. one effort that involves teaching is to bridge this gap and increase the educational level in adults and the incipient need for lifelong education. in this sense, the challenges for the training of people today are much more extensive and complex, which increasingly refer to how to develop human resources for the benefit of each and every student in the school system, having as a center what they are the competencies that have the greatest impact on the growth as a whole person of the students. knowledge about how cognitive processes work in the brain, allows: • develop the natural way in which the child’s brain learns. • understand how the physical, emotional and intellectual domains naturally integrate in the child and provide an appropriate learning environment for self-discovery. • create meaningful, engaging experiences for children to explore, evaluate, and learn. knowing the neurobiological principles that govern children’s cognitive and affective development provides the teacher with the tools to enrich and harmoniously enhance the talents of each student and thus allow learning to be a process that produces a relatively permanent change in the way of feeling, think and act of the student and teachers. from the foregoing we can affirm that teaching is facilitating the conditions for the expected changes in student behavior to occur. the question is: where do we start? for knowing the organ that allows us to be, learn, do, be, love, live and coexist, and that in our brain, which allows us to learn, unlearn and then relearn, from a young age and for continuing education. 4. education as a meaningful process our condition as social beings lead us to understand the educational process as a highly significant process, a process of encounter between two human realities with circumstances, beliefs, ideas and experiences: the subject who teaches and the subject who learns. these roles are not fixed, because it is an encounter between people, and people have a world that is their own and a world that is shared, and, in the shared one, today there is access to information in a fluid way through cyberspace. so, it is necessary to reaffirm the need to change the emphasis on education and move it from the focus of what to teach, to how we learn, what are the factors that make effective and dynamic learning possible and what should be kept in mind when considering to the person of the learner. first, the concept of learning must be rejected as an exclusively rational process, and at least two theories must be considered, that of multiple intelligences, howard gardner, and that of emotional intelligence, 98 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 daniel goleman. the first considered that for the development of life one needs or makes use of more than one type of intelligence, which are presented as a network of autonomous sets related to each other, and among which we can mention mathematical logic, linguistics, spatial, etc. and the second, goleman, considers that the ability to recognize our emotions and those of others makes it possible to develop social skills, motivate ourselves, etc. both theories are very important to broaden the understanding of the learning process and that must be taken into account when teaching. add to this part of the message that humberto maturana, chilean biologist and epistemologist, gave to educators in the bío bío region, chile, at the ceremony to start the 2017 school year: “amar educa. if we create a space that welcomes, that listens, in which we tell the truth and answer the questions and give ourselves time to be there with the child, that child will become a thoughtful, serious, responsible person who will welcome from itself. being able to choose what to do, being able to choose if one wants what they chose or not… are some questions that appear”. consider also the physiological factor, or body factor very underrated from traditional paradigms where duality prevailing mind-body as two complementary dimensions, but the light of modern theories, including contributions from l to neuroscience, we understand that there at least three perceptual modalities or ways of receiving the information that comes to us from the outside and that condition our interpretation of that information, modalities that are recognized with the acronym vak, to understand that there is different visual, auditory and kinesthetic modality in different types of subject. based on this, it is understandable that not all students interpret the content presented by the teacher in the same way, if the surrounding reality is not the same for everyone, with which the complexity and richness of learning becomes more interesting and never uniform. we can then consider that learning is, as the cognitive theories of piaget, vygotsky, and others propose it, a construction of meanings not only from one or more subjects, but also with interaction of the social and cultural environment, in which symbols, beliefs, expectations and ways of perceiving reality are combined to give meaning to what has been learned. considering learning in this way, the relationship between the subject who teaches, (or who intends to teach, in freire’s words), teacher or instructor, needs to be one of cooperation. both, active subjects of the process, owe respect to their being as persons, in the fullest sense of the word, and in which the one who teaches becomes facilitated of the student’s learning, who from the development of their potential and their own experiences give meaning to the experiences offered by the teacher for this purpose. this makes education a meaningful task, and with possibilities of a true social advance where each and every one can effectively learn to be, to know, to assert and assert. 99 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 5. learning as behavior modification in the words of maturana, “to educate is to live together and, therefore, to agree to live together in a space of reciprocal acceptance in which the emotion and actions of those who live together are transformed according to the conversations that constitute that living together” (“the sense of the human”, 1992). from this quote, i allow myself to point out as an indispensable requirement to say that learning has taken place, that it is reflected in the work of the learner and the teacher, given the dynamics of this process that is not for life, it is life. the modification of behavior in any area in which it is required cannot be imposed, as it entails a value framework that is generated from the person as such, in their way of perceiving the environment and themselves. learning modifies behavior yes and only yes when the change occurs in the subject as such, and this is possible with an education and/or training that considers and respects him as a person. for this, it is necessary to learn to unlearn and learn again according to the requirements of the time and space in which the subject or subjects are, a task that is difficult, but necessary. (some reasons that generate resistance to change have already been exposed). 5.1 unlearning as a dynamic strategy in a world of constant change, the task of learning to unlearn is imperative, as already mentioned, especially in the field of education and training. several authors have dealt with the subject, among others moreno olivos (2005) and cegarra and rodrigo (2004) who consider it necessary for teachers to learn to unlearn because they must prepare students to face the future. from its postulates, we can describe the sequence of steps necessary to unlearn: 1) situate oneself in the here and now (reality): recognize what happens and to whom it happens, assume that there are lessons from the past that are not valid in the present (now) and others that may be valid in another context, but not where it is located (here). 2) distinction between personal opinion (subjective) and a general principle or rule. all subjects have personal experiences, but they cannot be taken as valid criteria for situations in another context. to get caught up in personal judgment is to abandon the possibility of growth and knowledge. this is a step that requires humility, and every human being has the right to have an opinion but must recognize that this is… opinion. 3) preparation of the personal and/or collective map. objectively evaluate learning from the contrast between the interpretation of reality (map) and reality itself, a step that is possible only in the exchange of opinions, experiences and knowledge. 4) search for new perspectives, understandings and solutions to evaluate if what is considered valid, what has been learned, is still relevant, current and valid for the field to which it refers. if not, the next step is taken ... 100 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 5) unlearn: it is convenient to make a list of what has been considered “invalid” and proceed to its elimination. (this is the most difficult step, since the accumulation of knowledge is one of the most deeply rooted claims of wisdom in our western culture, and there is a lot of literature about it). if this step is taken, the reconstruction continues, or rather, with the possibility of new learning. 6) reconstruction of learning and sharing of these: this step needs to be done together, both in the generating phase and the installation or legitimation of them. let us remember that every learning process is generated in coexistence with the other or others, in exchange spaces full of affection. 7) return to transformed reality: new looks make new paths possible. once the most significant aspects are reconsidered, a broader perspective is acquired that allows generating more pertinent, but never definitive, knowledge, therefore many times it will be necessary to unlearn again. it is necessary to point out that, although the steps can be enumerated, this is not a mechanical process, as it is not a human process, it requires reflection on the subject and both individual and collective motivation, it is necessary to abandon the comfort of tradition to innovate, generating changes that bring us closer to the possibility of understanding our environment and ourselves. unlearning is a complex phenomenon that has at least three limitations: 1) the individual factor given by resistance to change. whether due to dogmatism, comfort, fear of innovation, there is, as has already been analyzed, a tendency to do the same and in the same way. 2) the biological factor: it is known, from neuroscience studies, that the brain has great plasticity, but this manifests itself more strongly in the first years of life and decreases as one advances in age. however, if a constant activity of new neural connections, new learning, is maintained, the brain responds adequately to changes even in adulthood, protecting itself from exercise and adequate nutrition. 3) the social factor: social influences that reinforce negative views of the changes exist and weigh, being more common to highlight the failures than the successes. this, added to a strong successful and competitive conception, obstructs the possibility of innovation, mainly in the field of secondary schools, where studying is identified with absorbing content that is then measured with standardized tests. changes are possible to the consider transformative learning it is to overturn the traditional concepts and acquire the ability to constantly transform and develop in our students the same capacity, processing involving camber our frames of reference we had for sure, and be able to build new ones, more inclusive, demanding, open and flexible. 6. strategies that dynamize the unlearning process the studies that have been carried out in this regard emphasize resistance to change but realize that it is possible. there are models that can be applied, of which there are successful experiences at different levels of education, some are described by way of example: 1) the inverted classroom or flipped classroom, which consists of changing the traditional method in which the teacher is the center of the class and whose task is to pass the contents to achieve learning in 101 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 passive students who will have to incorporate them in a uniform way. the roles are reversed and now the students will be the protagonists of the process, and in an interactive process, they will learn dynamically. the characteristics of this model are more or less the following: a) the interaction of the students with the materials: this must be prepared in advance by the teacher and/or the students according to the objectives of the class. they can be cards, documentaries, videos, etc. b) use of icts (information and communication technologies), which are available to everyone and which, when used in a programmed manner and with a clear purpose, allows access to up-to-date, diverse and relevant information, content to be treated. c) active learning: it has been said that the shortcomings of traditional methods are, among others, the emphasis on what to teach, by inverting the class, the emphasis goes to how to learn, and with this model a dynamic learning is generated, active and participative, since it is the student who is discovering, with the help of the teacher, who has now become a guide and facilitator, the various possibilities of building knowledge from their own experiences. d) it encourages dialogue, cooperation, autonomous thinking and the generation of ideas: being a participatory model, the student feels responsible for the process, not in an individualistic way, but with a team spirit, eliminating that competitive desire that so much damage has been done to the formation of people. the collaboration that is achieved generates in the students senses of responsibility in the processes, also developing other essential necessary values such as respect, tolerance, and, by generating their personal vision, they dare to exchange ideas and base them. e) it is a model that takes advantage of higher cognitive processes such as analysis, evaluation and application. once students begin to appreciate the freedom provided by an open and collaborative model such as the inverted classroom, they will be more motivated to take control and conduct learning outside of the classroom. 2) problem-based learning (pbl) is a strategy that arises from the previous model, (ai) and whose purpose is for the student to build their learning, develop their skills and attitudes through real-life actions, which will allow the student to student will be able to analyze and face problems in the same way that they will in their professional development. the most relevant feature of pbl is the use of problems as a starting point for the acquisition of new knowledge, which entails a leading role for the student and not for the teacher, who will become a facilitator of the process, not a transmitter of information. the process begins with presenting a problem, then learning needs are identified, needed information is sought, and then back to the problem. it is a very valuable method because knowledge management is not based on the information given by the teacher, it focuses on the student’s search for this knowledge, thus generating reflective practice, teamwork and adaptation to changes. 102 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 3) socratic dialogues: although it is true that today the use of icts is essential in teaching, so is discussion and thematic analysis. learning to argue with fundamentals, express ideas, learn to listen, and be tolerant are also necessary lessons, and learning by doing recovers a fundamental role in the development of these skills. in socratic dialogues, the role of the teacher is also secondary, and consists of guiding the discussion based on themes and readings given in advance. those who participate are the students, asking questions, giving opinions, highlighting the collected information. by opposing ideas, achieving consensus, students will form new judgments on the subject, giving rise to new learnings built together, and if doubts and/or points of disagreement are generated, new discussions, new research and perhaps new ones are generated consensus. this methodology also dynamizes the educational process, and reinforces the possibility of unlearning and relearning, as it is worked methodically, it becomes an effective tool for the teacher. when presenting these strategies, the entire development process described in the relevant bibliography has not been detailed, only a succinct description has been made as a way to invite people to venture into these and other similar strategies, now available to everyone in cyberspace, and, if the need for it has really been understood, then we can say that transformational learning will be a reality. 7. reflection the topic of learning and learning to unlearn is a topic rooted in pedagogy and that runs through the entire educational process, and basically consists of daring to think and do things differently from how they have been thought and done previously, which requires having the audacity and courage to abandon security and dogmatism to enter the world of possibility. it is an essential concept in the process of but not only in education it is necessary to learn to unlearn, also in the business, environmental and social world in general, since the world is constantly changing and with it the sphere of knowledge. to learn to unlearn we need to consider that learning is not just a passive process of a rational nature, it is also emotional and bodily, and, as we get older, it is more difficult to unlearn, as beliefs are more ingrained and plasticity is lost brain, unless we get into the habit of constantly innovating. learning to unlearn is a transformation process that turns us into active subjects, capable of generating significant changes both on a personal and social level, which leads to appreciating our environment and life in community, discarding competition and success to enter a idea of more sustainable progress. although transformational learning is complex, as learning to unlearn is complex, it is possible and necessary, it invites us to reflect on ourselves and our work as human beings in a world of which we are part, and that of our ability to understanding the processes of change and adapting to them creatively will depend neither more nor less on our survival. 103 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 1, 2021 references referencias webgrafía [1]. www.eligeeducar.cl › cómo aprenden los niños [2]. conversandoenpositivo.cl/.../index.php? [3]. www.monografias.com › educacion [4]. https://www.nubemia.com/aula-invertida-otra-forma-de-aprender/ [5]. https://www.goconqr.com/es/ensenar/aula-invertida [6]. https://educrea.cl/aprendizaje-basado-en-problemas-el-metodoabp/ [7]. https://www.cae.net/es/4-pilares-fundamentales-del-aula-invertida-o-flippedclassroom/ [8]. sitios.itesm.mx/va/dide2/tecnicas_didacticas/abp/abp.pdf [9]. https://inclusioncalidadeducativa.wordpress.com/.. [10]. maturana, h. (2020). “la reflexión es lo único que nos saca de cualquier trampa”, diario uchilemiércoles 22 de julio 2020. 104 published by scholink inc. https://www.nubemia.com/aula-invertida-otra-forma-de-aprender/ https://www.goconqr.com/es/ensenar/aula-invertida https://educrea.cl/aprendizaje-basado-en-problemas-el-metodoabp/ https://www.cae.net/es/4-pilares-fundamentales-del-aula-invertida-o-flippedclassroom/ https://inclusioncalidadeducativa.wordpress.com/ original paper education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper l2 written production by japanese learners of english yumiko yamaguchi1* 1 international education centre, tokai university, japan * yumiko yamaguchi, international education centre, tokai university, japan received: october 8, 2020 accepted: october 17, 2020 online published: october 27, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n2p88 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n2p88 abstract this paper presents part of the results of a learner corpus study of english spoken and written performances by japanese native speakers. for the current study, the written data from 80 participants were used. their english written production was examined based on processability theory (pt; pienemann, 1998, 2005; bettoni & di biase, 2015) as well as on the common european framework of reference for languages (cefr; council of europe, 2001). results demonstrated that there was an implicational pattern in the acquisition of english l2 grammar by the japanese learners as predicted in pt. it was also shown that there was a linear connection between second language (l2) development as found in pt analysis and l2 proficiency levels as measured by the cefr rating, while a statistically significant difference was not found. keywords written production, l2, english, japanese learners, processability theory, cefr 1. introduction the present study aims to investigate empirically second language (l2) learners’ written production using two different approaches. processability theory (pt; pienemann, 1998; pienemann, di biase, & kawaguchi, 2005), a major theory of second language acquisition (sla), is used to analyze the participants’ use of l2 grammatical structures. their overall written performances were also measured by the common european framework of reference for languages (cefr; council of europe, 2001). pt assumes that a universal hierarchy of l2 development exists. based on levelt’s (1989) speech model and lexical functional grammar (lfg; e.g., bresnan, 2001), pt hypothesizes as to the l2 learners’ developmental stages concerning the acquisition of grammatical structures, including morphology and syntax. in 2005, pt proposed the new hypotheses regarding the acquisition of syntactic structures (pienemann, di biase, & kawaguchi, 2015) in accordance with the development of lfg. 88 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 one of the hypotheses in the pt extension is the lexical mapping hypothesis (the lmh; pienemann, di biase, & kawaguchi, 2015) which accounts for the development of argument mapping between thematic roles and grammatical functions in sentence construction. table 1 summarizes the developmental stages of english syntactic structures hypothesized in the lmh. table 1. developmental stages for english syntax based on the lexical mapping hypothesis (after pienemann, di biase, & kawaguchi, 2005) stage structure example 4. non-default mapping passive causative the ball was kicked by lisa dad made bob wash the car 3. default mapping + additional argument ditransitive canonical sentence + oblique argument janet gave ben a present tim put the book on the desk 2. default mapping canonical word order e.g., agent-event-patient lisa kicked the ball 1. lemma access single words formulas look thank you the lmh claims that l2 learners start constructing sentences using “default mapping” when they become able to produce utterances of more than one word. in “default mapping,” the highest available role in the thematic hierarchy, the agent, is mapped onto the subject (subj) grammatical function. the sample sentence (1) shows typical “default mapping” with a transitive verb “kick,” which requires two arguments. in sentence (1), the most prominent role, the agent “lisa” is mapped onto the subj, and the less prominent role, the patient “the ball” is mapped onto the object (obj), as shown in figure 1. (1) lisa kicked the ball agent patient thematic role | | subj obj grammatical function | | lisa the ball constituent structure figure 1. default mapping: lisa kicked the ball according to the lmh, l2 learners gradually learn how to direct the listener’s attention to a particular thematic role lower in the hierarchy by promoting it to the subj and de-focusing the highest role by 89 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 mapping it onto a grammatical function other than the subj, or by suppressing it. a typical case of non-default mapping is passive, as in the sample sentence (2). as represented in figure 2, the patient “the ball” is mapped onto the most prominent grammatical function, subj, while the highest thematic role, the agent, is suppressed and appears as adjunct, “by lisa.” the lmh predicts that l2 learners become able to produce “non-default mapping” which requires a much higher processing cost only after “default mapping” is in place. (2) the ball was kicked by lisa agent patient thematic role | | ø subj adjunct grammatical function | | the ball by lisa constituent structure figure 2. non-default mapping: the ball was kicked by lisa the common european framework of reference for languages (cefr; council of europe, 2001) describes “what language learners have to do in order to use a language for communication and what knowledge and skills they have to develop so as to be able to act effectively” (council of europe, 2001, p. 1) and characterizes language learners’ communicative proficiency at six levels, including a1, a2, b1, b2, c1, and c2. in the cefr ratings, learners at the a1/a2 levels can be regarded as basic users, those at the b1/b2 levels can be considered as independent users, and those at the c1/c2 levels are generally thought of as proficient users. the cefr offers “a common basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, examinations, textbooks, etc. across europe (council of europe, 2001, p. 1)” and has been widely used in current second/foreign language education. however, empirical research with l2 learner data has not been extensively conducted on the cefr levels (e.g., hulstijn, 2011; wisniewski, 2017). hulstijn (2011) argues that: any association between cefr levels of l2p [l2 proficiency] and l2 development as studied in the second language acquisition (sla) literature would be completely misplaced […], unless empirical studies show evidence in its support. (hulstijn, 2011, p. 241) 2. previous studies pt has been used to analyze the development of l2 grammar in various recent sla studies (e.g., bettoni & di biase, 2015; keßler, lenzing, & liebner, 2016; lenzing, nicholas, & roos, 2019; pienemann, 1998, 2005). on the other hand, studies on the lmh have been conducted mainly with japanese l2 data (kawaguchi, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009a, 2009b, 2016), and the acquisition of the passive construction has been the focus of english l2 studies on the lmh (e.g., di biase, kawaguchi, & yamaguchi, 2015; keatinge & keßler, 2009; wang, 2009). also, since most pt studies have been 90 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 done on l2 spoken production, the issues of its validity in l2 writing need to be addressed with more learner data. as mentioned above, the cefr has not been sufficiently investigated with l2 learner data yet (e.g., hulstijn, 2011; wisniewski, 2017). however, some recent research, which examined the acquisition of l2 grammar based on the cefr and pt, found that l2 proficiency had some connection with l2 development (granfeldt & ågren, 2013; hagenfeld, 2017; yamaguchi, 2019a, 2019b). granfeldt and ågren (2013) examined written data produced by 38 swedish speakers learning french as a third language (l3). they analyzed the development of morphosyntax in l3 french based on pt, and the learners’ communicative proficiency was measured by two cefr raters. a strong correlation between the cefr rating and the pt analysis was found, while a dispersion at more advanced stages was shown to exist. thus, granfeldt and ågren (2013) claimed that learners’ communicative proficiency up to the cefr b1 level and morphosyntactic development up to pt stage 3 seemed to develop at the same rate. hagenfeld (2017) examined the cefr-based rating of 21 novice and ten expert raters on 14 original and eight edited files of the same speech samples and found a positive correlation between the cefr levels and pt stages, again, only at lower levels. yet, these studies indicated some connection between l2 proficiency and l2 development. while granfeldt and ågren (2013) and hagenfeld (2017) examined the development of morphosyntax based on the original pt (pienemann, 1998, 2005), yamaguchi (2019a, 2019b) analyzed the acquisition of english syntax by japanese learners of english using the lmh in the pt extension (pienemann, di biase, & kawaguchi, 2005) and demonstrated similar findings regarding the connection between l2 proficiency and l2 development. however, the correlation between the cefr and pt stages was not shown to be as strong as that found in the research on the development of morphosyntax by granfeldt and ågren (2013) and hagenfeld (2017). 3. research question the current study addresses the following research questions. 1). does the acquisition of english syntax found in the written production by japanese learners follow the developmental sequence as predicted in the lmh in pt? 2). is l2 proficiency levels as measured by the cefr rating related to l2 development of english syntax as found in pt analysis in a corpus of english written production by japanese learners? 4. methodology in the present study, 80 participants’ written data were randomly chosen from the japanese learner corpus of english narratives (jalcen) constructed by yamaguchi and usami (2017a, 2017b). jalcen consists of 946 files of english spoken and written performances by 473 japanese native speakers, aged 18-30. for the data elicitation, each participant was asked to perform both spoken and written narratives using a picture book called “frog, where are you?” (mayer, 1969). this picture book 91 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 contains 24 wordless pictures and has been widely used in various first/second language acquisition studies. half of the participants (i.e., 40 learners) were asked to begin with written narratives and the other half to start with spoken narratives to minimize the ordering effects. the participants wrote their written narratives with pen and paper, while their spoken narratives were audio-recorded and transcribed. for the data analysis, the participants’ acquisition of english l2 syntax was examined based on the lmh in pt, while their overall written performances were measured by two experienced cefr raters. in the pt analysis, the current study determined if a target syntactic structure was acquired by each participant based on the emergence criterion. according to pt, “emergence can be understood as the point in time at which certain skills have, in principle, been attained or at which certain operation can, in principle, be carried out” (pienemann, 1998, p. 138). although most previous language acquisition studies examined the development of grammatical structures based on accuracy, pt argues that using a grammatical structure at a high level of accuracy, even 80% to 90%, does not guarantee that the learner will be able to continue producing that structure at the same or higher level of accuracy in the future. regarding the pt analysis of english syntax, sentences with default mapping, as in (3) and (4), were coded as stage 2 structures. (3) bees chased tim (4) the boy and dog found the frog then, those with default mapping with additional arguments, as in (5) and (6), were coded as stage 3 features. (5) they named their new frog friend froggie (6) the dog put his head into the jar when non-default mapping, as in (7), appeared, the learner was considered to have reached stage 4 for english syntax. (7) the dog was chased by many bees 5. results and discussion 5.1 pt stages for english l2 syntax table 2 presents the results of the pt analysis for developmental stages for english l2 syntax found in the written production by 80 japanese learners. all the 80 learners produced various sentences with default mapping in their written narratives. two of them were found to use only default mapping and they can be regarded to be at stage 2. on the other hand, 28 learners produced stage 3 structures, that is, default mapping plus another argument, while 50 learners were found to use non-default mapping. thus, 62.5% of the participants in this study were found to have reached the highest pt stage for english l2 syntax. also, since all the stage 4 learners were shown to produce syntactic structures belonging to stage 3 (i.e., default mapping plus another argument), there was an implicational pattern in the development of english l2 syntax. thus, it can be argued that the acquisition of english syntax found 92 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 in the written production by japanese learners follows the developmental sequence as predicted in the lmh in pt. table 2. pt stages found in english written production by 80 japanese learners pt stage 2 3 4 n = 80 2 28 50 5.2 cefr levels table 3 summarizes the results of the cefr rating for l2 proficiency levels found in english written production by 80 japanese learners. according to the table, although no cefr a1 level was found, 45 learners were regarded as a2 level suggesting that more than half of the participants in this study, namely 56.25%, were considered as basic users by the cefr raters. on the other hand, 31 learners were rated as b1 level, and four learners as b2 level. that is, 43.75% of the participants in this study are regarded as independent users in english writing. table 3. cefr levels found in english written production by 80 japanese learners cefr level a1 a2 b1 b2 n = 80 0 45 31 4 5.3 relationship between pt stages and the cefr levels table 4 summarizes how pt stages and the cefr levels are related in english written production by 80 japanese learners in this study. as shown in the table, only two learners were found to be at pt stage 2, and both were rated as a2 level suggesting that they were regarded as basic users in the cefr ratings. as for pt stage 3, 16 learners were rated as a2 level, 11 learners as b1 level, and one learner as b2 level. concerning pt stage 4, 27 learners were rated as a2 level, 20 learners as b1 level, and three learners as b2 level. this suggests that more than half of the participants who have reached the highest pt stage for english syntax were regarded as basic users by the cefr raters. 93 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 table 4. relationship between pt stages and the cefr levels found in english written production by 80 japanese learners pt stage cefr level 2 3 4 total (n = 80) b2 0 1 3 4 b1 0 11 20 31 a2 2 16 27 45 a1 0 0 0 0 total (n = 80) 2 28 50 80 figure 3 presents the correlation between pt stages and the cefr levels found in the english written production by 80 japanese learners. in the scatterplot in figure 3, the size of each circle varies according to the number of participants. according to this scatterplot, there seems to be a linear connection between pt stages and the cefr levels. however, the result of a spearman’s rho test showed that the correlation between the participants’ pt stages and cefr levels for english writing was not statistically significant. this finding is not consistent with the results of the previous study by granfeldt and ågren (2013) who also examined the relationship between pt stages and the cefr levels with written data. figure 3. correlation of pt stages and the cefr levels found in english written production by 80 japanese learners 94 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 on the other hand, the dispersion was found to increase at higher pt stages as indicated in the previous research by granfeldt and ågren (2013) and hagenfeld (2017). for instance, more than half of the pt stage 4 learners were rated as cefr a2 level, namely as basic users, as shown above. (8) to (10) present the sample sentences produced by one of the pt stage 4 learners rated as cefr a2 level (i.e., learner #36). learner #36 frequently produced the sentences with non-default mapping, as in the samples below, and is considered to have reached pt stage 4 for english l2 syntax according to the emergence criterion in pt. however, the cefr ratings for this learner range from a1+ to a2, as shown in table 5. (8) #36 unfortunately, bird entered from that hole, and a boy was very surprised. a dog was followed by so many bees. (9) #36 a boy was carried by a deer. a deer ran fast. (10) #36 bees was angry because honey’s house was fall by a dog and broken. a boy find second hole on the tree. he said “frog! where is!” table 5. the cefr ratings for learner #36 global scale overall written production general linguistic range grammatical accuracy vocabulary range vocabulary control a2 a1+ a2 a2 a2 a2 in fact, learner #36 often made grammatical mistakes regarding the use of articles, verb forms, and so on, as in samples (8) to (10). also, this learner used the wrong vocabulary, as in (10), “honey’s house” for “beehive.” this suggests that the l2 learners who often make grammatical and/or vocabulary mistakes can be rated as basic users in the cefr rating system, although they frequently produce advanced grammatical structures. further studies are needed to address the issues of the possible causes for the dispersion between two approaches in more detail. 6. conclusion the results of the analysis of a learner corpus of 80 japanese learners of english demonstrate that the acquisition of english syntax found in l2 written production follows the developmental sequence as predicted in the lmh in pt. this study also shows that there is a linear connection between pt stages and the cefr levels. thus, it can be argued that l2 proficiency levels as measured by the cefr rating is related to l2 development of english syntax as found in pt analysis in a corpus of english written production by japanese learners to some extent. however, the correlation between the participants’ pt stages and cefr levels is not shown to be statistically significant, and the dispersion between these two approaches is found to increase at more advanced pt stages. since this study examined only written data by 80 japanese learners of english focusing on the development of english l2 syntax in 95 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 pt analysis, future research should explore the relationship between cefr l2 proficiency and pt developmental stages with a greater variety of learner data. in particular, the correlation between l2 proficiency and l2 development was not shown to be as strong as that demonstrated in the previous studies (granfeldt & ågren, 2013). thus, more research is required to investigate whether the discrepancies found in these studies were caused by methodological differences (e.g., elicitation tasks, target grammatical structures). acknowledgments this work was in part supported by jsps kakenhi grant number 18k00754. the author is grateful to hiroko usami, katharina hagenfeld, kiki nakamura, satomi kawaguchi, & bruno di biase for their kind assistance with data collection and analysis. references bettoni, c., & di biase, b. 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(2019a). developmental stages and the cefr levels in foreign language learners’ speaking and writing. studies in english language teaching, 7(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.22158/selt.v7n1p1 yamaguchi, y. (2019b). l2 proficiency and l2 developmental stages: a learner corpus analysis. studies in english language teaching, 7(4), 516-525. http://doi.org/10.22158/selt.v7n4p516 yamaguchi, y., & usami, h. (2017a). japanese learners’ use of english grammar in speaking and writing: a processability approach. proceedings of pacific second language research forum, 2016, 237-242. yamaguchi, y., & usami, h. (2017b). plural marking in spoken and written narratives: a corpus-based study of japanese learners of english. international journal of applied linguistics & english literature, 6(5), 224-234. http://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.6n.5p.224 98 published by scholink inc. original paper acknowledgments education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 25 original paper critical perspectives on the global status of english nwabudike christopher e. (ph.d.)1 & acheoah john emike (ph.d.)2* 1 department of english, federal university dutsin-ma, katsina state, nigeria 2 department of european languages, federal university birnin-kebbi, kebbi state, nigeria * acheoah john emike (ph.d.), email: actualemike@gmail.com received: september 19, 2025 accepted: october 5, 2025 online published: october 22, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n4p25 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n4p25 abstract this study examines front-burner perspectives on the global status of english. a modern trend of the world, globalization represents multifaceted developments across facets of life: architecture, communication, education, movie industry, science/technology, dressing, international diplomacy, etc. the implication is that language plays crucial role in the scope and values that erupt from globalization. consequently, nations look outward for new norms in the scheme of things, and evolve means of coping with the attendant challenges of globalization. the theoretical framework of the study is orisawayi’s (2005) “parameters for ascertaining development”. the study concludes that the global status of english is predicated upon by: its roles in other regions of the world; its being a language of wider communication (lwc); its development-promoting potential across the world; and its facilitating function in the cross-disciplinary transmission of knowledge in the era of globalization. keywords english, globalization, language, development, orisawayi’s development parameters, perspectives 1. introduction the societal trends that are associated with globalization are so crucial that they cannot easily be ignored by any nation, particularly third world nations that are in dire need for sustainable growth and development. consequently, cross-border cooperation and interdependency of nations characterize the era of globalization. english as a global language can therefore be construed in terms of the communication link between language and the referent(s) it picks from the universe of discourse (our real world). the debate as to whether english should be labeled as an “international language” or a “global language” is informed by the global status of english. phillipson cited in poggensee anna (2016) posits that “‘global english’ is an appropriate term because english is widely accepted in the global linguistic market and … english is becoming the defiant language of international communication in an www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 26 published by scholink inc. increasing number of countries worldwide”. the literature indicates that the terms ‘international language’ or ‘world language’ are used to describe the english language because of its function as a language of international communication. in this regard, the extent to which a language counts as an international one, the more acceptable it is to refer to the language as a global language. the thrust of this study is to locate the critical factors that account for the global status of english in the context of the developmentinducing features of the language in this contemporary era in which the world is viewed as a global village. 2. language human beings communicate through language (a natural human heritage). natural languages sound systems (segmental phonemes and prosodic features). obiegbu ifeyinwa (2014:81-96) defines language as “a creation of man’s social needs. like all other living creatures, we depend on the air, water and earth around us, and in the same way, society depends upon language for its very existence. for effective national development, language plays a central role, particularly in terms of such agents of development as literacy and communication. this is clearly understandable because it is through language that man has to plan … apart from the planning, man uses language to instruct and evaluate his programmes.” language reveals human beings as social animals; human beings socialize by using language to interact. for more insights on the term “language”, see dada (2010, pp. 417-440). 3. globalization steger (2013) defines globalization as “the interconnections of global economic, political, cultural and environmental processes that continually transform present conditions.” globalization is therefore immersed in the advancement of society, its value systems and standard of living. according to hafsat ahmad abubakar (2014, pp. 23-27), “globalization is a worldwide linkage entrepreneurship which centered on entrance to immediate global communication network where individuals can have access to information and movement globally.” globalization is an inter-regional phenomenon, rather than an intra-regional notion. nataliya todorova and anna todorova (2018, p. 61) assert that “… the term globalization has no precise definition, but numerous meanings and interpretations in different areas such as cultural studies, economics, environment or politics. while some students consider globalization as a social process that makes the currently existing borders irrelevant, others stress the world-unifying, homogenizing power of this process. this term generalized, globalization, globalization (which obviously comes from the word ‘globe’) is the ‘big idea’ of 20th century, which contains the process of international integration arising from the exchange of worldwide views, products, products, ideas, and other aspects of culture and life.” chen (2012) highlights five crucial features of globalization: 1) globalization is a dialectically dynamic process, which is caused by the pushing and pulling off between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or between local and global; www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 27 published by scholink inc. 2) globalization is universally persuasive as it penetrates into every aspect of human society and influences the way it lives, thinks, and behaves; 3) globalization is holistically interconnected as it builds a huge matrix in which all components are interconnected with networks; 4) globalization represents a culturally hybridized state, which allows cultural transmission via new media to take place at a very rapid rate by permeating and dissolving human boundaries; more perspective on the term “globalization” is given by kayode omole cited in ayodabo et al. (2016) who assert that “globalization refers to the universal adoption of social institutions”. it is a process by which social institutions or policies become adopted on a world-wide scale. globalization is an era or period when regions of the world inevitably alter socio-cultural practices, value systems, policies and institutions. in such a situation, new status quo is either imposed on less developed nations or necessitated by the new world order in education, science, technology, politics, etc. 4. theoretical framework this study hinges on orisawayi’s (ibid) “parameters for ascertaining development”. the parameters are quite elaborate and instructive. according to orisawayi (ibid), development can be assessed by using the following criteria: 1) intellectual and mental expansion for the individual person in society; 2) a stable polity with a strong sense of commitment to nationalism/nationhood among the people; 3) economic development, progress and equitable distribution of national wealth; 4) socio-political integration of the constituent units that make up the nation; 5) scientific and technological progress and its application to the improvement of the quality of life of the people; 6) efficient and functional educational output at all levels; 7) widely recognized, accepted and practiced democratic structures and systems; 8) highly enlightened citizenry with 80%-90% achieved level of functional literacy among the people and highly sharpened awareness of individual and collective fundamental rights, with freedom of speech and association; 9) stable employment for all citizens in private and public sectors of the economy; 10) a highly recognized and respectable network of understanding and positive relations among the constituent units and with other nations of the world; 11) a highly developed network of communication and transport system; and 12) a high sense of motivation among the citizenry towards the achievement of all the parameters of development indices … the suitability of orisawayi’s (ibid) postulations for this study is clear. with “development” as the bottom-line, english performs certain roles in nations across the world: english facilitates the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 28 published by scholink inc. comprehension of knowledge transmitted through formal education, thereby facilitating cognition; nations develop when english-driven acquired knowledge or skills are deployed in the labour force; english facilitates social integration; scientific and technological advancements anchor national development; english fosters research and innovations in science and technology through its broad lexicon; and english is the language of politics and administration which are the pillars of nationhood. 5. english as a global language: front-burner perspectives this section of the paper examines the global status of english from different perspectives. 5.1 cross-regional roles of english every nation desires improvement in the well-being of its populace. through development-sensitive language policies, there can be sustainable growth and development in a nation, particularly when such a nation assigns crucial role to a global language in nationhood. the more nations of the world assign critical roles to english, the more english remains a global language. from this perspective, english is a global language because of the number of countries where it operates with certain labels: “national language”, “lingua franca” or “official language”. many other languages of the world do not have such recognition or functions outside their native territories; english and french are therefore viewed as global languages. the two languages have former colonial territories where the languages are now colonial heritage to the non-native speakers; that is, english as a second language (esl) contexts. across regions of the world, language fosters national cohesion for smooth and productive governance. this is particularly a reason why the english language gains recognition in countries where it is: a symbol of identity; an instrument of national cohesion; and a facilitator of nationism. thus, english is a global language by demonstrating its cross-border vitality. a language of vitality such as the english language, establishes the link between “communication” and “society”. wardhaugh r. and fuller janet m. (2015) define the term “society” as “a group of people who are drawn together for a certain purpose or purposes; this is a rather vague and broad term … we use the term language to mean a system of linguistic communication particular to a group; this includes spoken, written, and sign modes of communication … these terms are … inextricably intertwined. a society must have a language or languages in which to carry out its purposes, and we label ways of speaking with reference to their speakers. this connection is inevitable and complex.” umar fauzan (2022) notes that “as a global language, english language has some statuses. firstly, it is the first language for the native speakers and used as a national language. secondly, it is the second language for the non-native speakers and used as an official language ... thirdly, it is a foreign language for the speakers other than the two groups above. for the sake of international communication, it is used as a lingua franca. as an international language, english language functions as the official language by the united nations (un) and is used for international communication. in the academic field, english language can be used as a medium of instruction and a means of developing science and technology … english has become a very important language especially when communicating with people from different countries.” english is a global language, considering its www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 29 published by scholink inc. imperial track-record in different parts of the world. in this regard, phillipson’s theory of linguistic imperialism is illustrious. david crystal’s (2003) use of the expression “beginning to” in an instructive submission is suggestive of the speed and scope of the new turn of events that characterize the era of globalization: … economic developments beginning to operate on a global scale supported by the new communication technologies – telegraph, telephone, radio – and fostering the emergence of massive multinational organizations. the growth of competitive industry and business brought an explosion of international marketing and advertising. the power of the press reached unprecedented levels soon to be surpassed by the broadcasting media, with the ability to cross national boundaries with electromagnetic ease. technology chiefly in the form of movies and records fuelled new mass entertainment industries which had a worldwide impact. the drive to make progress in science and technology fostered an international intellectual research environment which gave scholarship and further education a high profile. 5.2 spread of speaker the global status of english can be viewed in terms of the spread range of speakers of the language all over the world, as informed and sustained by the military, economic, political and technological dominance of its native speakers in world affairs. david crystal (ibid) submits that states that “given that the usa has come to be dominant element in so many of the domains …, the future status of english must be bound up to some extent with the future of that country. so much of the power which has fuelled the growth of the english language during the twentieth century has stemmed from america … the country contains nearly four times as many mother-tongue speakers of english as any other nation. it has been more involved in international developments in twentieth-century technology than any other nation. it is in control of the new industry (that is, electronic) revolution. and it exercises a greater influence on the way english is developing worldwide than any other regional variety – often, of course, to the discomfiture of people in the uk, australia, new zealand, canada and south africa who regularly express worries in their national presses about the onslaught of ‘americanisms’.” in addition, david crystal (ibid) reports that “a language has traditionally become an international language for one chief reason: the power of its people – especially their political and military power. the explanation is the same throughout history. why did greek become a language of international communication in the middle east over 2, 000 years ago? not because of the intellects of plato and aristotle: the answer lies in the swords and spears of alexander the great. why did latin become known throughout europe? ask the legions of the roman empire. why did arabic come to be spoken so widely across northern africa and the middle east? follow the spread of islam, carried along by the force of the moorish armies from the eight century …” english is indeed an imperial language used for constitutionally stated roles in former british colonies such as countries in africa. odebunmi (2017, pp. 1-45) reports that “in his theory of linguistic imperialism, phillipson (1992) (re-) groups global english speakers into core english speaking countries, comprising britain, the united states, canada, australia and new zealand; and ‘periphery www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 30 published by scholink inc. english-speaking countries’, where english serves as a second language (for example, nigeria, ghana, india and singapore) or an international language (for example, china, indonesia and japan). the groups relate unequally with respect to structural and systemic power in that the western anglophone group wields political and socio-economic power against the former colonial communities found in the peripheries. this hegemony is further sustained by ‘english linguistic imperialism, defined as ‘the dominance of english’ … asserted and maintained by the establishment and continuous reconstruction of structural and cultural inequalities between english and other languages.” claims on the global status of the english language are supported with facts and figures that are too significant to ignore, especially in this era of globalization when new trends direct countries’ approach to nationhood. nataliya todorova and anna todorova’s (2018, p. 61) report (cf. british council) justifies the claim that english is a global language. the report statistically captures not only the cross-domain use of the language, but also its cross-regional recognition: english has official or special status in at least 75 countries, with a total population of more than two billion; one out of four of the world’s population speak english to some level of competence; demand from the other three quarters is increasing; more than two thirds of the world’s scientists read in english; three quarters of the world’s mail is written in english; 80 per cent of the world’s electronically stored information is in english. david crystal (ibid) submits that “the language plays an official or working role in the proceedings of most other major international political gatherings, in all parts of the world. examples include the association of south-east asian nations, the commonwealth, the council of europe, the european union and the north atlantic treaty organization.” scholars align with the view that intrinsic (internal system of the language) and extrinsic factors (e.g. historical factors) account for the rise of the english language to the position of global prominence. for example, bello, o. rachael and oni-buraimoh, o. olawunmi (2017, p. 98) present different reasons why the english language readily comes to mind as a global language: it is the language of a number of past colonies; apart from its being one of the languages used in international organizations such as uno and au, english is also versatile and it enjoys a wide spread; it is the most studied language (research had it that yearly, 1, 500 million people would opt to learn english; 84 million, french; 30 million, chinese); it is one of the easiest languages to learn when compared with chinese, german, french, spanish, arabic, korean, and japanese. the most difficult languages of the world to learn are arabic, chinese, korean and japanese (arranged in order of their degree of difficulty; a reasonable percentage of information found in the internet is in english; it has a rich and in-depth history. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 31 published by scholink inc. 5.3 language of wider communication ushuple lucy m. and iskandar i. (2019, pp. 58-65) posit that “as a language of wider communication (lwc), english is used for phatic communion, ceremonial purpose, an instrument of keeping records, information dissemination, self-expression and embodiment of thought among the various linguistic groups in nigeria. the common linguistic basis that constitutes a requisite for the existence of any nation is provided by english. so with english as the common tongue to all the ethnic groups, the collective sentiment of belonging together despite the individual or ethnic differences is forged. related to the discussion is the fact that nigerian nationalism or collective identity is stamped on national institutions through the medium of english.” the lexicon of english is so broad that it has some form of representations in cross-regional practices: agriculture, marriage, music, art, dressing, feeding habits, religion, etc. david crystal’s (ibid) report corroborates this claim: most adaptation in a new english relates to vocabulary, in the form of new words (borrowings – from several hundred language sources, in such areas as nigeria), word-formations, wordmeanings, collocations and idiomatic phrases. there are many cultural domains likely to motivate new words, as speakers find themselves adapting the language to meet fresh communicative needs. a country’s biogeographical uniqueness will generate potentially large numbers of words for animals, fish, birds, insects, plants, trees, rocks, rivers and so on – as well as the issues to do with land management and interpretation which is an especially important feature of the lifestyle of many indigenous peoples. there will be words for foodstuffs, drinks, medicines, drugs, and the practices associated with eating … the country’s mythology and religion, and practices in astronomy and astrology, will bring forth new names for personalities, beliefs and rituals. the country’s oral and perhaps written literature will give rise to distinctive names in sagas, poems, oratory and folktales. there will be a body of local laws and customs, with their own terminology. the culture will have its own technology with its own terms – such as for vehicles, house – buildings, weapons, clothing, ornaments and musical instruments. the whole world of leisure and the arts will have a linguistic dimension – names of dances, musical styles, games, sports – as will distinctiveness in body appearance (such as hair styles, tattoos, decoration). virtually any aspect of social structure can generate complex naming systems – local government, family relationships, clubs and societies, and so on … so, when a community adopts a new language, and starts to use it in relation to all areas of life, there is inevitably going to be a great deal of lexical creation. 5.4 education, science and technology the usefulness of english in cross-border communication and transmission of knowledge is a contributory factor in the global status of the language. by being functional in people’s career pursuits, english is instrumental in the development of nations; when english is deployed as a medium of transmitting knowledge in schools, individuals develop their productive capacity for nation-building. this is the case in developed and developing nations. rohmah zuliatu (2005) posits that “about fifty years ago the notion of english as a true global language was merely a theoretical prediction which is www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 32 published by scholink inc. still diffuse and vague. however, realities have created it as a real world language at the present time. people in every part of the world feel its urgent role in their life: for academic purposes, for business goals, and for other purposes. english is spoken by people throughout the world as their first language, second language and foreign language. indeed, english is now a world language. english as a world language is not merely an international language. the notion of international language can be understood as a language which is used in any international communication which involves people from two or more countries. japanese is an international language, but it is not a global language ...” as a global language that contributes to the growth and development of nations, english enjoys growing positive attitudes not only from governments across the world, but also from individuals. there have been tolerant language policies in favour of the english language. lee thomas (1996, pp. 129-140) notes that “tolerant language policies unite and promote nationality-building through inclusiveness in nationalism, and restrictive language policies divide.” english is both a national and official language in nigeria. tolerance towards english in non-native territories is understandable; for example, nigerians are not ignorant of the instrumentality of the english language in their different careers. it is generally believed that individuals in a country learn a language when it is economically and socially beneficial to them. the fact that the english language guarantees economic opportunities implies that it can be significantly engaged in nation-building. nataliya todorova and anna todorova (ibid) report that “according to the 2004 euro barometer survey, 75 per cent of europeans supported the idea that english is the most useful language to learn, while 69 per cent were confident that every eu citizen should speak english. english leads the world both in terms of total speakers as well as being the most commonly studied foreign language. the leading role of english as a common medium for international communication is also supported by the following commonly recognized facts. it is partly the broadness of the english lexicon that makes the language popular in career pursuits of individuals. commenting on the global status and career roles of the english language, laxman jnawali (2024, pp. 12-17) submits that “this language has worked as a bridge among various bilingual and multilingual communities where english language has been used as second or foreign language … the language has been very popular in social media as well. people from multilingual communities are actively involved in learning english as their second and foreign language. people are learning ielts, toefl, pte, gre and many others in order to go to the foreign countries for various purposes. according to david crystal (ibid) “since the 1960s, english has become the normal medium of instruction in higher education for many countries – and is increasingly used in several where the language has no official status … the english language teaching (elt) business has become one of the major growth industries around the world in the past half-century. however, its relevance to the growth of english as a world language goes back much further. indeed, people who engage in international business and commerce have also been taking interest in english language.” nataliya todorova and anna todorova (ibid) also report that “multinational companies require a certain degree of english proficiency from potential employees. it means that more and more people nowadays learn www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 33 published by scholink inc. english in order to get the best possible professional training and employment opportunities with top companies.” furthermore, holmes janet (2008) submits: over the last hundred years nationhood and independence have been very important political issues throughout the world. in the struggle to establish a distinct national identity, and to secure independence from colonial rule, the development of a national language has often played an important part. the symbolic value of a national language as a unifying rallying point in the fight for independence was quickly appreciated in countries such as tanzania, where more than 120 languages are spoken. in other multilingual countries such as china, the philippines and indonesia, where there are large populations speaking hundreds of different vernaculars, a national language is not only a useful lingua franca and official language, it also serves a symbolic unifying function for these nations. where there is a single dominant group, the issue of which language to choose as the official language to represent the nation generally doesn’t arise. somali is the first language of 90 per cent of the people of somalia and the national official language of the country. danish is the national language of denmark, and the first language of 98 per cent of the people. numerical dominance is not always what counts, however. political power is the crucial factor. in multilingual countries the significance of political power in the choice of national language is particularly clear. a global perspective of the english language can be explained in terms of the tenacity and approaches deployed in esl contexts in the teaching and learning of the language. many other languages in the world do not enjoy such privileges. governments of different countries allocate resources for the promotion of english studies due to the position of the language on the global stage. clement gowon omachonu, joseph abuh and habiba oma alhassan (2017, pp. 167-177) submit that “the modern goal of english language teaching should be how to equip learners with the knowledge and critical awareness of how globalization defines and positions their use of the language. consequently, teachers of english as a second language need to adopt methodologies that will envision english language teaching within the context of globalization.” efforts of the education system in different countries are aimed at achieving certain productive competence (proficiency) level that can foster national development. adeniran cited in ayodabo (2013) presents three different degrees of competence in language: • minimal competence speakers are characterized by a single speech habit in a single social sphere without any shifting of repertoire or code (restricted). • average competence speakers have a command of a set of speech habits which is neither large nor small; they use this in a limited range of different social spheres, and shift their verbal repertoire accordingly (flexible). • maximum competence speakers have versatile speech habits in many social spheres, and shift their verbal repertoire with ease (versatile). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 34 published by scholink inc. 6. conclusion this study examines the global status of english within the context of the roles it plays in the growth and development of nations. the paper holds the view that even developed nations desire more growth and development across domains of “national life”. topado and smith (2011) view development in terms of three dimensions: economic dimension (satisfaction of basic needs); psychological dimension (positive view of “self” as obtainable in any person); and social dimension (freedom that individuals have or enjoy as their right). as a global language, english is directly or indirectly useful to all nations of the world. for example, international organizations anchor crucial aspects of life: financial issues, health, education, security, natural disaster, world peace, etc. given the fact that english is the medium of instruction in many of such organizations, its contribution to the well-being of humanity is factual. commenting on the use of language for the development of a nation, ushuple lucy mishina and iskandar iskandar (ibid) submit that “language has started to be treated as a powerful political instrument … language can be used in many ways; one of them is in specific purpose areas such as social or cultural communication, government decisions, political debate, media which could foster national development …” at the international level, domains of society such as politics, economy and education, have standards or structures within the context of globalization. this explains the unifying potential and role of globalization. nations of the world, particularly third world nations, struggle to align with globalizationrelated standards and conventions, as part of seeking progress and good governance. cross-facet transformation and revolution are part of the dividends of globalization. indeed, the revolution that globalization brings manifest unequally in domains of society. for example, ict witnessed rapid changes and innovations as a result of the impulses of privatization and corporate bodies in the 21st century. the interconnectedness of the world is quite obvious in the era of globalization, as a result of massive trade, unprecedented explosion in career pursuits, cross-national exchange of ideas and international diplomacy. in all these globalization-driven phenomena, good mastery of english is advantageous, as english is a major language of communication at a global level. for more insights on globalization in relation to english and 21st century societal phenomena, see maria georgieva and allan james (2010), bipin bihari dash (2022), shobha p. (2025) and laxmi rawat chauhan (2008). this study concludes that proofs of the global status of english include: its functions in other nations; its potential in fostering the development of nations in different ways, its communicative coverage and its feat in education, science and technology. references ayodabo et al. (2016). linguistics, language and literature. lokoja: department of english and literary studies, federal university lokoja. ayodabo, j. o. (2013). linguistic and sociolinguistic situation in nigeria. ilorin. haytee press. bello, o. r., & oni-buraimoh, o. o. (2017). a common language upon a non-sectarian human race: a sine qua non for global advancement? jesan, 19(1), 98. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 35 published by scholink inc. bipin bihari dash. (2022). significance of globalization and english language. international journal on studies in english language and literature (ijsell), 10(5), 10-16. https://doi.org/10.20431/23473134.1005002 chen, g. (2012). impact of new media on intercultural communication. china media research, 8(3). clement, g. o., joseph, a., & oma, a. h. (2017). repositioning english pedagogy in nigeria for autonomy in the context of globalization. jesan, 19(2), 167-177. crystal, d. (2003). english as a global language (2nd ed.). cambridge: cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511486999 dada, s. a. (2010). language policies and planning in nigeria: issues and perspectives. jesan, 13(2), 417-440. hafsat, a. a. (2014). challenges of globalization in the teaching of use of english in nigerian polytechnics. iosr journal of humanities and social science (iosr-jhss), 19(11), ver. 11, 23-27. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-191122327 holmes, j. (2008). an introduction to sociolinguistics (3rd ed.). england: pearson education limited. laxman, j. (2024). globalization and english language teaching: implication and challenges. rupandeli campus journal, 4, 12-17. https://doi.org/10.3126/rcj.v4i1.62917 laxmi rawat chauhan. (2018). literature and globalization and its impact on contemporary english fiction: a qualitative study. international journal of early childhood special education (intjecse). lee, t. (1996). language as power: a critique of u.s. english. the modern language journal, 80(ii), 129-140. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1996.tb01151.x maria, g., & allan, j. (eds.). (2010). globalization in english studies. new castle: cambridge scholars publishing. nataliya, t., & anna, t. (2018). globalization and the role of the english language. udc, 327(4), 061. obiegbu, i. (2014). the english language and literacy as basic tools for national development. ajells, 5(1), 81-96. odebunmi, a. (2017). english studies in non-native environments: reflections and projections from language perspectives. jesan, 19(1), 1-45. orisawayi, d. (2005). english, literacy and national development in nigeria in the 21st century. proceedings of the 22nd annual conference of the nigerian english studies association (ile-ife, pp. 13-21). poggensee, a. (2016). the effects of globalization on english language learning: perspectives from senegal and the united states. honors theses. 2719. retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors-theses/2719 shobha, p. (2025). a study on impact of globalization on literature. international journal of advanced research in social sciences, environmental studies and technology, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.48028/iiprds/ijarssest.v9.i1.03 https://doi.org/10.20431/2347-3134.1005002 https://doi.org/10.20431/2347-3134.1005002 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 36 published by scholink inc. steger, m. (2013). globalization: a very short introduction. oxford, united kingdom: oxford university press. https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780199662661.001.0001 todaro, m., &smith, m. (2011). economic development. harlow: pearson. umar, f. (2022). sociolinguistics. kota mataram, ntb: kanhaya karya. ushupe lucy, m., & iskandar, i. i. (2019). the role of english language in nigerian development. gnosi, 2(2), 58-65. wardhaugh, r., & fuller, j. m. j. (2015). an introduction to sociolinguistics (7th ed.). uk: john wiley and sons, inc. zuliatu, r. (2005). tahun. 33(1). education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 61 original paper the role of english language newspapers in language improvement isaias haileab1 & wangmo1 1 english literature, the english and foreign languages university, hyderabad, india received: june 22, 2024 accepted: july 4, 2024 online published: july 22, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n3p61 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n3p61 abstract this article explores the role that english language newspapers play in the improvement of english language. even though english language newspapers are or may not be primarily designed to improve linguistic skills of learners, there are many ways by which a second-language learner can benefit from them. the newspapers have a variety of columns, ranging from news, views, articles, games, and so on, that are very interesting to the daily lives of readers. at the same time, the newspapers are prepared in such a way that they pass through a rigorous process of editing in terms of the verifiability of their stories and the linguistic formality of their sentences and paragraphs. the newspapers use a wide variety of word class vocabularies, phrases, idioms, and expressions to give metaphorical meanings to their stories. to the english language learner who reads those newspapers on a continuous basis and is given assignments by teachers to discuss, debate, have conversation, and answer comprehension questions from them, the linguistic benefits are enormous. this article explains how learners would be able to boost their vocabulary, reading skills, listening skills, as well as speaking abilities by using english language newspapers. keywords efl, esl, word class, linguistic acquisition, language skills, idiomatic expressions, comprehension language improvement involves the enhancement of the four linguistic skills—listening, speaking, reading and writing, in an individual. for a non-native speaker who wants to improve his or her second language, many factors may come handy in aiding and speeding the process. when speaking about the improvement of english language as a secondary language, these skills need to be acquired and developed through a variety of mechanisms, of which one is the use of english language newspapers. although english language newspapers are not primarily created for the improvement of one’s english, they have a huge contribution to make in the process. newspapers are able to enhance language www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 62 published by scholink inc. improvement of an individual through the development of vocabulary as well as their grammatical usage of word class, phrases, sentences and paragraphs. they also enhance the learner’s knowledge of idiomatic expressions, their debating skills, pronunciation, reading comprehension, and discussion capabilities. an example of how english newspapers can enhance a learner’s idiomatic expressions is provided by jose, preethi, vijaya, 2022: it is evident that the pupils can enlarge their usage of idiomatic expressions by reading the content after getting a proper training for a week in headlines comprehension. some of the idioms used as the headlines of the hindu newspaper in india dated 30 january 2018 are given below. a) spill the beans— when the police enquired him, he spilled the beans, which means he uttered the truth when the police enquired. b) make a beeline—as the rural and urban local bodies in the two districts started receiving applications since last week, women in large numbers made a beeline to the rtos and their unit offices, which means there is a long queue. c) to and fro—last fortnight, i travelled by pearl city express to and fro from thoothukudi. d) bring to book—a 48—year-old widow doused herself with kerosene and “attempted” self-immolation at the main entrance on monday accusing the police of failing to bring to book those responsible for her daughter’s death two years ago. jose, preethi, vijaya, 2022 (p. 5383) english language newspapers are able to accomplish the development of the four key linguistic skills in learners due to their interesting contents and presentation. the contents of the newspapers can be taken by teachers to the classroom to provide activities to their students who could be assigned to read a newspaper and come to the classroom and conduct a variety of class activities such as discussion and debating for the enhancement of their language. the contents of english newspapers vary from news to entertainment, to education, games and sports, and so on. all these relevant contents sharpen the learners’ minds as well as improve their linguistic abilities. learners may find so many important and interesting materials in the english newspapers such as ads and other relevant information about their immediate surrounding and the world in general. therefore when teachers of esl/esl make use of materials and contents from english newspapers, they are aware that they are not only helping their learners improve linguistically but also broadening their general knowledge of the world in the process. as srinavas rao notes: since print and electronic media attracts the learners in learning the language well, the teachers should try to adopt such variety of materials to keep the learners active in their esl/efl classrooms. the teachers can try out a wide range of activities using print media such as newspapers and magazines so that the learners participate in the activities very actively with utmost interest. newspapers play an important role in teaching english as they publish the columns about news, reviews, editorials, historical www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 63 published by scholink inc. events, games and sports, movies, entertainment, education, literature and poetry, science and technology, politics, business, weather, ads, comics and so on. newspapers publish regional, national and international news and they are fresh every day. therefore, the language used in the newspapers entirely different from the language used in the textbooks. rao, 2019 (p. 68) an important aspect of newspapers is that they have sections that are interesting to all sectors of the society, from young to old. that makes english language newspapers very feasible tools of language improvement as they contain materials designed for all levels of reading ability. the real life and current interesting issues that are present in the newspapers also put into consideration these population diversity interests. the learning from english newspapers therefore becomes not a task but something of a pleasant experience for the learners. newspapers tend to be very structured and well prepared in an ethical manner that it makes them a safe choice for different educational and curriculum levels by school teachers for their students. while providing experience of the real world to the students, english language newspapers therefore instill educational value in the learners. with constant reading of english language newspapers the reading habit of the learners grows and becomes fun and an easy part of their lives, further speeding up the process of linguistic acquisition. one of the main advantages that newspapers have for the teacher and the learner is that they can be preserved for a long time that they can be read at the leisure of the learner as they can be copied or cut and saved for future reading. the relative affordability and availability and their wide variety of contents makes newspapers effective in the process of language improvement. according to wijewardene lishanthi, 2021: education world (2011) has enunciated ten broad reasons as to why newspapers are effective classroom teaching tools. 1). they are a medium that students of all ability levels can be read. 2). they deal with what’s happening here and now, providing motivation for reading and discussion. 3). they make learning fun 4). they are extremely flexible and adaptable to all curriculum areas and grade levels. 5). they bridge the gap between the classroom and the ‘real’ world. 6). they build good reading habits that will last a lifetime. 7). they can be cut, marked, clipped, pasted, filed and recycled. 8). they give everyone something to read news, sports, weather, etc. 9). they are a cost-effective way to educate. 10. they contain practical vocabulary and the best models for clear and concise writing. wijewardene, 2021 (p. 2) english language newspapers contribute in the improvement of spoken english as they can be used as a tool for conversation, discussion, and debating among learners in classrooms and outside of the classroom. in this connection, the role of teachers is very important in selecting the content for conversation from an english newspaper and bringing it to the classroom for the learners to first study and discuss among them using the english language. further this activity would arouse their interest and motivate them to practice their communication skills in english. the role of the teacher is therefore to monitor the discussion protocols and guide the learners with some linguistic errors that would arise out of the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 64 published by scholink inc. conversation as a lesson for all to learn from and not as a mistake to avoid at all costs because it is from these mistakes that the teacher identifies the students’ areas for improvement and works on to make them better. their listening skills also develop as they listen to each other as well as the teacher during the discussions and learn in the process. by selecting good information materials from english newspapers, the teacher helps the learners engage in an interesting discussion both in terms of knowledge and language. akhter shamin writes: they explore the several innovative ways of conversation in classrooms and widen the understanding of the learners. daily, teachers should use the newspapers in class and select specific topic for discussion. the instructor should ask the students to express their opinion about the assigned topic in written form. learners can be allowed to express their views loudly in class and they can start discussion in class with other fellows under supervision of teachers. so, in this way, discussion on the different topics regarding newspapers, provides a great deal of knowledge and broadens the understanding of the learners. their listening, writing, and speaking skills can be improved. ‘treasure hint’ is a game from newspaper which may prove effective in providing information in groups and it will also create a sense of cooperation among learners. akhter, 2020 (pp. 965-966) reading english newspapers helps the learner in various areas of life while at the same time helping boost their vocabulary. the increase of the wealth of vocabulary for a language learner is vital as it is the building block of languages and without the knowledge of vocabulary no learner would be successful in linguistic improvement. therefore reading newspapers is the easiest way to acquire new vocabulary. as the learner continues to read newspapers from time to time their reading habit grows and their reading ability and speed also improves incrementally, making it easy for language improvement. when the speed and reading ability improves the learner becomes fond of reading more and more that their interest increases significantly. when there is interest then many things are simplified as the learner takes it as a pleasant endeavor and not as a task. one of the main ways that newspapers increase the interest of the learner is by making available new information and useful stories for day-to-day life of the learner and the society. at this level the learner does not even think he or she is learning language, as it is equally relevant for their life that the information they are getting from newspapers ends up helping improve their language without a deliberate effort at doing so. that way the learner kills two birds with one stone. there is a sense of pride and satisfaction that comes with the realization that reading newspapers is an esteemed activity as newspapers are prepared in such a way that they are designed to be of the highest fitness to society. this is important for parents that the high level of ethical and editorial responsibility gives them a sense of comfort that their children are reading cultured and ethical texts in contrast to what they may get from other less controlled social media outlets. with the steady development of vocabulary then learners are able to improve their ability in writing as they learn from best prepared grammatical structures provided by the newspapers. when they venture writing in english then what they have learned www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 65 published by scholink inc. from newspapers comes handy in shaping their composition writing. by reading newspapers out loud, learners may develop speaking skills as it improves their pronunciation. pairing with a partner or partners also, learners may listen to each other reading the newspapers aloud and thereby develop their listening skills. english language learners learn from the newspapers different ways of writing by studying the various ways of grammatical structures that english newspapers use in their texts. with this knowledge of different ways of grammatical structures, they may be able to be flexible in their writing in expressing complex issues in their composition and in speaking. newspapers prepare stories with different sorts of metaphorical images and attractiveness. the learners are not bored but are continually fascinated and entertained while reading the various imaginative ways of presentation that their reading time becomes pleasant as opposed to tense and hard. that is why learners may easily learn and improve their english language with reading english newspapers which they find very friendly and appealing. apart from learning different grammatical structures from english newspapers, learners acquire a great deal of knowledge about new ways of using idiomatic expressions and phrases as writers of newspapers use a wide varieties of idioms, phrases and expressions in their stories. learners develop their awareness of how to use them in writing or speaking in english and their ability to understand various idiomatic expressions grows significantly in the process. naresh pawar, 2023 outlines the advantages of english newspapers as such: english newspapers are a primary source of news and information for millions of people around the world. they provide up-to-date information on local, national, and international news, politics, sports, entertainment, and more. english newspapers are an excellent resource for language learners. they offer a wealth of authentic reading material, including articles, editorials, and opinion pieces, which can help learners, develop their vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing skills. many english newspapers also provide opinion and analysis on current events, offering different perspectives on important issues. this can be useful for those looking to broaden their understanding of the world and develop their critical thinking skills. english newspapers are a valuable platform for advertisers, providing them with access to a wide audience. they offer a range of advertising options, from classified ads to full page spreads, making them an effective marketing tool for businesses. english newspapers also provide entertainment in the form of comics, puzzles, horoscopes, and other features. these can be a fun and engaging way to relax and pass the time. pawar, 2023 (p. 155) one of the main problems faced by learners of english as a second language is that students have to study other subjects for their academic purposes as well in order to pass their exams. therefore the amount of time allocated to study english language is therefore shared with the other tasks. the learners have to make effort outside of their study time for specific purpose of improving their language. the teachers www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 66 published by scholink inc. can also help them in classrooms to achieve that aim. one of the ways to do it is by engaging students in activities using english newspapers, such as debating news articles, discussing current issues, making simple conversations about news items, reading newspaper stories and answering some follow-up questions prepared by the teacher, etc. the teacher may either give an assignment to students to read newspapers during the weekend and come and discuss in class or he or she may simply bring the english newspaper to the class and allow students to participate in those activities. in so doing their reading comprehension, writing skills, listening and speaking skills will improve. the continuous feeding of new and interesting information to students makes it appealing for them to want to read and engage more in the future as the task becomes attractive and easy with time. the teacher may guide the students develop their communication skills among each other by controlling the time and monitoring the learners’ language, content and organization as they engage in those activities. he or she can help by making sure that every learner has an equal opportunity for participation in the discussions by introducing a friendly atmosphere whereby the learners would find the activities fun and entertaining as well as educational. with the variety of new contents they dig out from english newspapers and discuss in their classroom, learners will develop ideas about many important life style issues and sharpen their minds. they will find it easy to communicate in english and express themselves on any ideas and events using the english language. they may also learn the style of writing in the english newspapers, which are prepared well by experienced columnists and editors and develop their own skills of creative and non-creative writing and become writers themselves in the future. learners using english language newspapers for language improvement will always be aware of the news and events of the times and that will help them be updated on current issues. therefore, when the time comes that they may have to explain and discuss those current issues in real-life, learners who use english language newspapers will find it easy to be able to communicate not only with knowledge of the situation but also with clarity of grammar, confidence about their source material and develop a sense of pride in knowing that discussing aspects from newspapers is chiefly an esteemed activity in the society. as noted by shivender rahul, 2016: role of newspapers in students life: teaching english to a non-native english speakers is somewhat challenging as it take a lot of time in understanding students learn or cram their syllabus and pass their examination but they fail in speaking, reading and writing and we think newspapers can be vital in enhancing all their talents as they play an important role in this regard. • opens many new ways of discussion and conversation in classroom. • can discuss innumerable aspects of newspapers daily and can do a creative writing section on the spot every day. • working of a newspaper can give many new ideas and openings • a lot of job opportunities can be found through ‘classified’ section. • daily discussion of ‘headlines’ give a lot of knowledge and exposure. • games as ‘treasure hint’ from newspaper can give vital information in pairs and increase feeling of sharing and team work. • can learn photography and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 67 published by scholink inc. interest in the use of camera. • writing of articles will increase their knowledge of grammar and creativity. rahul, 2016 (p. 483) the role of english language newspapers for the improvement of english language could be summed up in terms of their contribution in the development learners’ vocabulary, phrases and idiomatic expressions, sentences and paragraphs, debates, group discussions, translation, comprehension, listening and pronunciation, chiefly. the development of vocabulary constitutes the main building blocks of one’s language as it is with words that one can function in linguistic endeavors. with continuous exposure to english newspapers a learner is able to increase his or her vocabulary with new words added to their existing knowledge of vocabulary from time to time. the increased level of vocabulary will then help the learner to speak or express ideas in english with confidence and conveniently. the increase in the knowledge of phrases, idioms, and expressions also follows a similar route to that of building their vocabulary. when learners are exposed to english newspapers for a continued period of time the use of phrases, idioms, and expressions by the english newspapers becomes familiar to them and adds to their further understanding of complex meanings and they become conversant with using then in their written or spoken language. before english language newspapers are distributed out to readers, great care is done in using formalized and refined sentences and they are edited carefully. this allows learners to access very reliable sources of well written sentences and hence well-constructed paragraphs. as a result of continuous exposure to such highly refined sentence patterns and paragraph writings, learners are able to emulate and use them when they explain or express anything in the language of english. the continuous exposure to activities by teachers to learners with english language newspapers allows students to learn from different types of debates, discussions, points of views, that they use them in their classroom discussions and sharpen their minds with them, at the same time improving their language. their ability to translate to-and-from english and their language as well as their ability to answer reading comprehension questions extracted from english language newspapers means that the learners have improved in grasping meanings and ideas even when they find them in other sources such as books and electronic media. with a continued activities of debating and discussions also students develop their ability in listening skills as well as spoken english. the role of english language newspapers is involved in developing the four skills of language: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. therefore it is advisable for teachers to encourage learners to use english language newspapers to improve their language and parents as well as students themselves should take the initiative to develop the habit of reading english language newspapers to be successful in english language. reference altyari, a. w. (2017). english vocabulary uptake by saudi arabic speaking students at public schools. british journal of english linguistics. baniabdelrahman, a. a., & al-shumaimeri, y. (2014). strategies used by saudi efl students to determine the meaning of english words. english language teaching. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 68 published by scholink inc. chung, t. m., & nation, p. (2003). technical vocabulary in specialised texts. reading in a foreign language. elttayef, a. i., & hussein, n. o. (2017). arab learners’ problems in learning english language: a teacher perspective. journal of literature, languages and linguistics. gu, y. p. (2003). vocabulary learning in second language: person, task, context and strategies. the electronic journal for english as a second language. qian, d. d. 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(2015). a handbook of linguistics. new delhi: educreation. note jose frnklin, preethi, vijaya. role of newspaper for language learning. journal of positive school psychology vol.6, no. 2, 5381 – 5384. 2022. sultan idris education university, malaysia 2 jayaraj annapackiam college for women, india 3annamalai university, india, 2022 rao, srinavas. the role of newspapers and magazines to teach english in the esl/efl classrooms in the digital era: a comprehensive study. veda’s journal of english language and literature (joell), vol. 6, issue 22019. doi: https://doi.org/10.33329/joell.62.165 wijewardene, lishanthi. the role of the newspaper in the teaching of english as a second language. iosr journal of humanities and social science (iosr-jhss) volume 26, issue 3, series 9 (march. 2021) 01-05 e-issn: 2279-0837, p-issn: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org doi: 10.9790/08372603090105 www.iosrjournals.org akhter, shamim. towards the description of newspapers in learning english language. international journal of management (ijm) volume 11, issue 9, september 2020, pp. 962-967, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9922.00193 https://doi.org/10.1080/23247797.2019.1590001 https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.6p.60 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.03.072 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 3, 2024 69 published by scholink inc. pawar, naresh. role of english newspapers in learning english: a linguistics study conference paper. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374740056, october 2023 rahul, shivender. role of newspapers in learning english language: a linguistic study. international journal of english language, literature and translation studies. vol. 3. issue 1, 2016 (jan-mar.) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374740056 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 128 original paper effectiveness of learning devices with inquiry learning models to increase skills creative thinking students syamsidah1, ratnawati1, amir muhiddin2 & mithen lullulangi1* 1 universitas negeri makassar, makassar sul-sel, indonesia 2 unismuh makassar, makassar sul-sel, indonesia * mithen lullulangi, universitas negeri makassar, makassar sul-sel, indonesia received: june 1, 2020 accepted: june 3, 2020 online published: june 5, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n1p128 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n1p128 abstract this study aims to obtain learning tools with a valid, effective, and practical inquiry learning model to improve students’ creative thinking skills. this research is research and development. implemented using the 4 d model of the thiagarajan, semmel, and semmel models through four stages: the defining stage, the design phase, the development stage, and the disseminate stage. the subjects of this study were 35 students majoring in family welfare education even in the academic year 2019/2020. the results of this study are: 1) a learning device with a valid, effective, and practical inquiry model has been obtained and has been responded positively by the kitchen subjects to improve students’ thinking skills. il), modules/textbooks with the inquiry learning model (il) and the inquiry learning guide model books on kitchen tools that are valid, effective, and practical. juda has produced ipr for model guidance. keywords development, tools, models, learning, inquiry 1. introduction creative thinking skills are important because often we face problems and difficulties in making decisions, therefore these skills are important because they can be a provision in leadership and decision making. creative thinking skills are even more urgent in the midst of an increasingly competitive world, full of challenges and uncertainties. rhenald kasali (2012) said: the industrial revolution era 4.0, requires everyone to adjust to the changing environment, because if not, slowly or quickly will experience failure, even facing what is called disruption, death and uprooting from its roots. those who can exist and survive are those who can adapt, especially those who have creative thinking skills. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 129 published by scholink inc. creative thinking skills are an important part and must be owned by someone because this is where success starts. people who have creative thinking skills, it is not easy to experience despair, let alone stress, there is always a way out of the problems they face and make the best decisions. how many people and leaders who fail in life and resign from office just because they do not have creative thinking skills. sumantri (2010) said: surely every human being from birth is equipped with the potential to think as one part of the potential for creativity, taste, and intention that gave birth to culture. it’s just that the potential must be developed through intensive training and systematic education in educational institutions, especially in formal schools. the more quality the training and education process is, the better the quality of one’s creative thinking abilities. therefore, to produce students who have creative thinking skills need systematic and planned efforts, and one of the efforts in that direction is to create quality learning tools. learning tools are an important element in achieving learning objectives. this is reasonable because in the learning kit there is a learning implementation plan (rpp), module, and model inquiry learning (il) manual. the lesson plan itself is important because that is where there are forms of learning procedures and management to achieve the basic competencies set out in the curriculum content standards. the lesson plan becomes a general guideline for teachers to be systematic, without worrying about getting out of the goals, scope of the material, and learning models. in addition to the lesson plan, there is also a module, which contains teaching material or learning resources and details about learning to start from the objectives, planning, learning materials, to evaluation. the learning device with an inquiry learning model is one of the models that are widely used to improve students’ creative thinking abilities. this is reasonable because inquiry learning is related to the thought process that begins with the question and then answers the question itself. if this is the case, then the inquiry begins with one form of communication, namely communication with oneself (impersonal communication) carried out by one person, he becomes a communicator as well as a communicant. the inquiry can thus be an entry point for the birth of thoughts, ideas, and ideas which, if managed properly, will produce science and technology that are beneficial to human life. this inquiry, not only is it useful for the development of students’ creative thinking abilities, more than that is the birth of talent and the potential to become an intellectual. an intellectual never stops asking questions, and the question is always answered to give birth to the best solutions for human life. in this connection, prayogi s, yuanita l & wasis (2018) suggested that the use of inquiry models is important because students will get a better understanding of science, and are more interested in science if they are actively involved in “conducting” scientific studies. the investigation conducted by students is the foundation of the inquiry model. this investigation is focused on understanding science concepts and improving students’ scientific thinking process skills. and, it is believed that understanding concepts is the result of scientific thought processes www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 130 published by scholink inc. the inquiry model was originally developed by richard suchman in 1962, quoted by arends, r, (2012), seeing that the nature of learning is nothing but the exercise of thinking through questions. he further argues that the core of the inquiry model is in the following three models: a). students will ask (inquire) if faced with a problem that can be confusing, unclear, and or strange events (discrepant events). b). learners can analyze their thinking strategies. c). thinking strategies can be taught and added to students, and inquiry learning models can be more meaningful and effective when done in groups. furthermore, m. j. sunarto (2015) suggested that inquiry is a variety of activities which include observation, making questions and examining books or other sources of information to see something that is already known, plan investigations, re-examine something that is already known according to experimental evidence. mulyasa (2015) said: learning with an inquiry model is a student-centered strategy where groups of students are faced with a problem or seek answers to questions in a procedure and group structure outlined clearly. from some of the terms of inquiry learning, it can be concluded that inquiry is a process of obtaining information through observation or experimentation to solve a problem using critical and logical thinking skills. the reason for using the inquiry method is to find out for yourself about the concepts learned, students will better understand science, and that knowledge will last a long time. yankee (1993) explains that increasing students’ creative thinking is a maximum result of a learning process, and it is very important for students to develop various kinds of innovations so that they will never run out of mind in facing various problems and skilled finding solutions and making decisions the above description implies that actually, creative thinking is not just a matter of mindset, but creativity is also related to decision-making skills, so creativity can be interpreted as innovation, out of habit and seeking effort different intelligent (out of the box), original, and bring the right results and get maximum benefits. creative thinking is the process of finding and finding solutions to various problems, and through this process, creativity is born in the form of ideas, original and adaptive ideas, or perhaps in the form of objects that can be used to solve various problems. furthermore, judkins (2015) said that “creativity is an ability to solve problems that allow individuals to create original ideas/adaptive functions in full use for development”. 2. methods this research is a research and development carried out through several approaches following the needs of the application of certain phases. both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. the use of these two approaches is expected to further strengthen the scope, depth, and strength of research. the subjects of this study were students majoring in family welfare education even semester 2019/2020 academic year, research trial subjects as many as 35 students. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 131 published by scholink inc. research and development procedures are carried out using the 4 d model of the thiagarajan, semmel, and semmel (1974) models through four stages: the defining stage, the design phase, the development stage, and the disseminate stage. the define phase is carried out by defining and defining the terms of learning that begin with objective analysis including (a) front end analysis; (b) student analysis; (c) concept analysis; (d) task analysis, and (e) formulation of learning objectives. the design phase is carried out by preparing a prototype of learning devices consisting of 3 steps, namely: 1) preparation of the concept of the rpp, modules, and model guide book (bpm) inquiry learning. this activity is the first step that connects the define stage and the design stage. both the outline of learning material and the steps for implementing learning are based on the results of the formulation of specific learning objectives. 2) selection of references and media that are appropriate for the purpose, to convey the subject matter. 3) format selection, this is done by reviewing the formats of devices that already exist and that have been developed at the university. thiagarajan divides the development stage into two activities which include: (1) expert appraisal, namely validating whether the product is feasible or not feasible. this step is carried out by experts in each field. furthermore, the recommendations submitted later are used to improve the material and learning design that has been prepared. (2) developmental testing, this is a product design trial run on the actual target subject. at the time of this trial the response data, reaction, or comments from the model user target were sought. the results of this trial are used to improve the product. furthermore, the product that has been repaired is retested to obtain effective results. in the context of developing learning models in this research, the development activities (develop) are carried out with the following steps: the development of tools and models, model validation by experts/experts and trials. the development of learning tools includes the preparation of the model il, rpp il, module il (mil) manuals. the steps taken in this development are the preparation of the draft device, validation, and revision. the learning device validation includes a step review by experts/experts, testing the device using one class. the data from the review of the learning tools are analyzed descriptively to see the validity of the devices. the validity criteria of the device if the average score of each aspect/indicator measured is of good minimum category. analysis of the results of the review is also directed to examine aspects that require attention to repair or revise the device. the validity of the device is consulted with the standard index of the device validity test according to the gregory index. this development phase aims to produce learning tools that have been revised and validated based on expert input (kothari, 2004). research instruments and data collection techniques. the instruments of this study are intended to measure the validity, effectiveness, and practicality of the learning kit, the instrument used to measure the validity of the learning kit is the validation sheet; to measure practicality the learning management observation sheet and the rpp implementation observation sheet were used, and to measure the effectiveness of the device used questionnaire responses from students and lecturers of kitchen www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 132 published by scholink inc. equipment. data collection is carried out by filling out the review sheet/validation of the implementation of the rpp and questionnaire responses of students and lecturers to the learning tools. this research data will be processed and analyzed descriptively. the validity criteria of the device refer to the gregory index standard in arikunto (2006) with a 50% effectiveness of the device from a minimum of 70% observed aspects, and the effectiveness of the device refers to the reliability coefficient x ≥ 0.75. 3. results and discussion 3.1 research result this research has entered the development stage (realization and development). as explained earlier, this research produced a product in the form of an inquiry learning model (il), rpp, module/textbooks for kitchen tools. this product is assessed based on several criteria including valid, effective, and practical. the following will be described in the product tables referred to above along with the criteria after going through the revision stage based on input from the validator (3 people). as follows : table 1. the validity of learning devices with inquiry learning model no product average rating information 1 the inquiry learning model book (mdil) 3,37 valid 2 the design of the implementation of inquiry learning (rppil) 3,35 valid 3 the inquiry learning kitchen tool module (mpdil) 3,38 valid source: research results. the validity test results of the model book and the equipment obtained by each of the three experts are (bmil = 3.37; rppil = 3.5; mpdil = 3.38) a total of an average of 3.36 with the coefficient index of the judgment of expert equal to one valid category (arikunto, 2006). nevertheless, some revisions were made based on the advice of experts to produce a model book and the device in the form of a final prototype that was ready to be used in the field. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 133 published by scholink inc. table 2. the practicality of inquiry learning model and learning tools no product response results positive (%) negative (%) 1 model inquiry learning (mdil) 92,6 7,4 2 model book 93,3 8,0 3 learning implementation plan (rpp) 96 4 4 module 88,0 12,0 source: research results. the table above shows that il-based learning devices were responded positively by students who numbered 35 people and as many as 2 lecturers. the results of the response of 35 undergraduate pkk study program students to the model, the average positive response was 92.6% and the il model set was 93.3%. both aspects or components were responded very well by students with an average of 92.95%. every aspect of the questionnaire was responded positively by more than 70% of students so that il models and devices were considered practical to apply to learn courses in kitchen tools. table 3. effectiveness of the inquiry learning model no effect of applying inquiry learning (il) model average learning outcomes before after 1 improved student learning outcomes 75,6 % 82,5 % 2 students creative thinking ability 84,3 % 89,2% 3 experiments taught by inquiry learning have higher completeness compared to control class 40,6% 5,7% 59,4% 94,3% source: research results. 4. discussion the model book, learning implementation plan (rpp), and modules/textbooks which were declared by three experts as validators indicated that the inquiry learning (il) model could be a reference for teachers to be used as models in the learning process. all three are learning tools which, if implemented properly, will be one of the guarantees of achieving the quality of learning using the il model. according to sanjaya (2010), this model is a model that emphasizes the process of thinking critically and analyzing to find and find the answers to a problem in itself. furthermore, mulyasa (2015) emphasizes that il is a learning model that prepares students in situations to conduct their experiments broadly to see what is www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 134 published by scholink inc. happening, want to do something, ask questions, and find their answers, and connect the findings of one with the findings others, compare what they find with what other students find. based on the two opinions above, it can be concluded that the il model is still the development of student-based learning models that emphasize the involvement of students beyond the role of a teacher. so the inquiry model provides many opportunities for students and if this is done it will give birth to students who are creative and innovative, and even become the basis for the birth of independent students (gormally et al., 2009). as explained earlier, this research has produced il, rpp, and module/textbook manuals. the results of the research that gave birth to the model book certainly make it easier for those involved in the learning process because in the model book contains, among others, the syntax of inquiry learning, the underlying learning theory, and the steps of applying the inquiry learning model. and this il model book can be utilized because based on the assessment of 3 validators obtained an average value of 3.37 and with this value can be called valid, then this model book can already be used because it has been responded positively by students as much as 92.0 compared to as many negative responses 8.0. that means this il model handbook is practically used in the learning process for kitchen appliance courses. in addition to the model book, this research also produces modules/teaching materials that can be a guide for teachers in learning, even students can use them instead of teachers so that modules or teaching materials make students independent. the il module in this study can already be used because it is valid as a result of the 3 validator ratings with an average value of 3.38, and this module is practically used because it has received a positive response value of 88.0 compared to the negative response rate of 12.0. modules/textbooks can be a guide for teachers in learning because there are already teaching materials or learning resources in the module. therefore the module must contain detailed matters regarding teaching materials carried out starting from basic competencies, learning objectives, learning materials to evaluation. general guidelines the selection and use of teaching materials emphasize that a module is a book written with the aim that students can study independently without direction or teacher guidance. this shows that the module can be used for learning even though there are no instructors, which in turn can foster the soul of the independence of students (suroso, 2004). in addition to modules, the learning implementation plan (rpp) also becomes important, related to efforts to improve the quality of learning. rpp is important because its contents are a form of learning procedures and management to achieve the basic competencies set out in the content standards (curriculum standards). as it is known that the main function of the lesson plan is to create the effectiveness of the learning process so that it is truly following the originally planned objectives. the urgency of the learning implementation plan can also be seen in its existence which is a general guideline for teachers or teachers in carrying out learning to their students, because it contains detailed instructions, meeting after meeting, regarding objectives, the scope of material to be taught, teaching and learning activities, models, methods, media and evaluations that must be used. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 135 published by scholink inc. therefore, based on this learning implementation plan the instructor will be able to teach systematically, without worrying out of the goal, the scope of the material. furthermore, the learning implementation plan will assist teachers in organizing standard material, as well as anticipating students and the problems that may arise in learning. learning implementation plans that serve as guidelines for teachers in learning, as well as for students will be very helpful in determining the direction of the objectives to be achieved and how to achieve them. thus the teacher can maintain the situation so that students can focus attention on the learning that has been programmed. thus without a learning implementation plans a teacher will experience difficulties because it is like going somewhere where they walk without guidance and will surely get lost. as it is known that in the learning implementation plan contains various components and each component has their respective roles so that it is like a system that complements each other, even one component that is not functioning properly then the other components will be affected. the components in question include basic competencies (kd), standard materials, models. learning methods, learning media, learning resources, and study time. thus, the learning implementation plan is essentially a system that consists of components that are interconnected and interact with one another and contain steps for its implementation to achieve learning objectives. table 3, as previously described shows that the application of the inquiry learning (il) model affects improving student learning outcomes in the kitchen tools course. this indication can be seen from the anacov test what is the average student learning outcomes. in the kitchen equipment test post in the experimental class (82.5) higher than the control class (75.6). likewise, the application of the inquiry learning (il) model affects increasing students’ creative thinking abilities. the improvement of students’ creative thinking is a maximum result of a learning process, and it is very important that students have to develop various kinds of innovations so that they will never run out of mind in facing various problems and are skilled at finding solutions and making decisions. that means creative thinking is one of the provisions for someone to someday become a leader because the key to leadership is decision making (wirawan, 2013). creative thinking has become an urgent matter because success in dealing with problems begins with creative thinking. therefore creative thinking needs to be trained from an early age through habituation consistently. this was confirmed by judkins (2015); sunarto (2015). improvement of creative thinking students will grow in children when they are trained, accustomed from childhood to explore, inquiry, discovery, and problem-solving. furthermore, syamsidah (2018) states that “the model of problem-based learning and inquiry learning models can improve the ability to think creatively meaning to increase the score of students’ ability to understand problems, fluency, flexibility, and novelty of problem-solving”. the description above implies that creative thinking is not only related to mindset but also creativity is related to decision-making skills. every human being has the potential to think creatively, only that potential can developif trained early and developed through educational institutions, especially in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 136 published by scholink inc. learning that is specifically designed for it. the il learning model as previously described is one of the models that can affect student learning outcomes improvement while at the same time affect students’ creative thinking abilities. 5. conclusion 1) a learning tool with a valid, effective, and practical inquiry model has been obtained that can improve students’ creative thinking skills. this can be seen in the application of the inquiry learning (il) model that affects improving student learning outcomes in the kitchen tools course. this indication can be seen from the ancova test where the average student learning outcomes. in the kitchen test subject post in the experimental class (82.5) higher than the control class (75.6). 2) has produced learning tools in the form of inquiry learning implementation plan learning model (rpp il), modules/textbooks with inquiry learning model (il), inquiry learning model guide book (bpmil) invalid, effective and practical kitchen tool courses. this can be seen in the application of the inquiry learning (il) model to influence the improvement of students’ creative thinking abilities. this indication is shown from the ancova test where the average student learning outcomes at the kitchen equipment test post. in the experimental class (89.2) higher than the control class (84.3) acknowledgments thank you to (1) minister of education and culture for providing top applied research grants for higher education, (2) chancellor of makassar state university who has provided facilities, (3) chairperson of the institute for research and community service who has provided facilities, referrals starting from research proposals up to reports and research outcomes. references arends, r. (2012). learning to teach (9th ed.). new york: mcgraw-hill. arikunto, s. (2010). prosedur penelitian suatu pendekatan praktek. jakarta: rineka cipta. gormally, c., brickman, p., hallar, b., & armstrong, n. (2009). effects of inquiry-based learning on students’ science literacy skills and confidence. int. j. scholarsh. teach. learn., 3(2), 16. https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2009.030216 judkins, r. (2015). the art of creative thinking. hachette uk. kothari, c. r. (2004). reseach methodologi. new delhi: publishing for one words. mulyasa. (2014). menjadi guru profesional menciptakan pembelajaran kreatif dan menyenangkan. bandung: remaja rosdakarya. prayogi, s., yuanita, l., & wasis. (2018). critical inquiry-based learning: model of learning to promote critical thinking ability of pre-service teachers. j. phys. conf. ser., 947, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/947/1/012013 rhenald kasali. (2012). disruption. jakarta: gramedia. https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2009.030216� https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/947/1/012013� www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 1, 2020 137 published by scholink inc. sanjaya, w. (2010). strategi pembelajaran berorientasi standar proses pendidikan. jakarta: prenada media group. sunarto, m. j. (2015). improving students soft skills using thinking process profile based on personality types. int. j. eval. res. educ., 4(3), 118-129. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v4i3.4502 suriasumantri, j. s. (2010). ilmu dalam perspektif. jakarta: gramedia. suroso. (2004). penulisan buku ajar di perguruan tinggi. disampaikan dalam pelatihan penulisan buku sekolah alkitab baptis. syamsidah. (2018). development of learning tools of problem-based learning to enhance scientific thinking skills. j. phys. conf. ser., 1028, 012086. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1028/1/012086 thiangarajan, s., semmel, d., & semmel, m. i. (1974). intructional development for training teachers of exceptional children: a sourcebook. minneapolis: central for innovation on teaching the handicaped. wirawan. (2013). kepemimpinan. pt. raja grafindo persada, jakarta. yackel, e., cobb, p., & wood, t. (1993). developing abasis for mathematical communication within small groups. journal for research in mathematics educations. monograph, 6, 33-44. https://doi.org/10.2307/749931 https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v4i3.4502� https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1028/1/012086� https://doi.org/10.2307/749931� original paper education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 35 original paper the perceived impact of university sport engagement on staff and first-year undergraduate students: an exploratory study adam e bassett1 & trevor barker2* 1 department of psychology, sport and geography, university of hertfordshire, hatfield, england 2 physics, engineering & computer science, university of hertfordshire, hatfield, england *trevor barker, physics, engineering & computer science, university of hertfordshire, hatfield received: december 20, 2024 accepted: january 3, 2024 online published: january 18, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p35 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p35 abstract this research investigated the perceived impacts of university sports engagement on first-year undergraduate students from both student and staff perspectives, employing a mixed-methods approach of qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys. it examined how sports participation affects academic performance, time management, social interactions, and emotional development. findings revealed conflicting views on time management; students in general saw sports as motivational, while staff identified potential distractions for scholarship athletes. staff expressed concerns about recreational athletes, but students reported increased confidence and academic engagement from sports. notably, sports positively influenced social interactions and emotional well-being, fostering a sense of belonging. the study underscores the need for enhanced support systems, including tailored advising and flexible scheduling, to help students balance commitments. it highlights the importance of community in firstyear adjustments and calls for ongoing improvements in support structures and academic policies. a recommendation made was that future research should focus on the long-term impacts of sports on academic and career outcomes to inform higher education policy development. keywords academic motivation and engagement, time management, flexible scheduling 1. introduction the research reported in this paper relates to a small scale exploratory study that was intended to investigate how participation in sports influenced the educational journeys of both students and staff. the research adopted a mixed methods approach that incorporated perspectives from education, psychology, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 36 published by scholink inc. and sports science. the aim of the study was to provide a nuanced understanding of the interplay between sports and education, from both the point of view of students and staff. 1.1 aim and objectives the primary aim of this research is to examine the impact of sports participation on educational outcomes among higher education, from the viewpoint of staff and students. this overarching aim is broken down into the following specific objectives: • to assess the effect of sports participation on academic attendance. • to explore how engagement in sports influences student motivation and engagement in lectures and seminars. • to evaluate the role of sports in the social and emotional development of students. • to explore the impact sports has on staff members lectures and seminars. these objectives were addressed in a small-scale study through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, namely surveys and interview. the findings were intended to point the way to the development of evidence-based strategies to support the role of sports in education. 1.2 research questions in line with the research objectives, the following questions guide this study: • how does participation in sports affect academic attendance among higher education students? • what is the relationship between sports engagement and student motivation and engagement in lectures and seminars? • in what ways does involvement in sports contribute to the social and emotional development of students? • in what way do higher education staff members become impacted by sports? these research questions were designed to capture the comprehensive impact of sports on various educational outcomes. they were addressed through a mixed-methods approach, combining both statistical data and in-depth qualitative insights. 2. supporting literature in recent decades, the role of sport in the educational sector has attracted significant attention from educators, policymakers, and researchers (bailey et al., 2009; houlihan & green, 2006). the joining of sport and education is not merely a matter of physical health and fitness; it impacts on mental health too, resulting in cognitive, social, and emotional benefits (bailey et al., 2013; malm et al., 2019; siedentop & van der mars, 2022) historically, physical education and sports were seen as extra to the primary academic curriculum, often valued for their role in promoting physical well-being and teamwork. however, present research suggests that participation in sports can also have profound impacts on educational outcomes, including academic performance, student engagement, and overall educational experience (buckley & lee, 2021; finn & zimmer, 2012; willms et al., 2009). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 37 published by scholink inc. according to (trudeau & shephard, 2008) the educational system developed students, preparing them for academic success and life beyond school. in this regard, sports can play a crucial role; engaging in sports activities has been linked to improved concentration, enhanced memory, and better classroom behaviour, which collectively contribute to a more conducive learning environment. moreover, sports develops important life skills such as discipline, leadership, and resilience, which are valuable both within and outside academic contexts (holt & bailey, 2008; newman, 2020). despite these potential benefits, the integration of sports within educational frameworks varies widely across different regions and institutions (schulenkorf et al., 2016). houlihan (2000) suggested that some educational systems prioritise athletic programs and invest heavily in sports facilities and coaching, while others struggle with limited resources and competing academic demands. 2.1 academic performance research indicates a positive correlation between sports engagement and academic performance. fox et al. (2010) found that regular sports participation is associated with higher academic achievement due to developed time management skills, discipline, and improved cognitive function (shephard, 1997). enhanced concentration and memory, vital for academic success, have also been reported (trudeau & shephard, 2008). however, much of the literature centres on american college sports, with limited ukfocused studies. kuh (2003) suggests students engaged in extracurricular activities, including sports, demonstrate greater academic persistence relating to (umbach et al., 2006) who found that student-athletes show higher levels of academic engagement and integration. in the research of fox et al. (2010) positive associations were demonstrated by correlation though causality could not be implied. trudeau and shephard (2008) used a longitudinal design, offering stronger evidence for causality, yet their reliance on self-reported data may have introduced bias. umbach et al. (2006) combined quantitative and qualitative methods, enriching understanding but limiting generalisability due to sample size and context. 2.2 cognitive benefits of sport engagement bailey, et al. (2013)adjacent with siedentop and van der mars (2022) assert that physical activity enhances cognitive functions crucial for academic success. this supports the findings of (trudeau & shephard, 2008) that suggest participation promotes better classroom behaviour. finn & zimmer (2012) also noted fewer disruptive behaviours and higher attendance among sports participants. 2.3 social and emotional benefits of sport engagement sports provide essential social interaction for first-year students, enhancing integration and alleviating isolation (drolet & arcand, 2013; humphrey & lowe, 2017). tinto (2012) emphasises the role of social integration in academic success, while stuart, et al. (2011) reports a sense of belonging among participants. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 38 published by scholink inc. 2.4 psychological impacts biddle and asare (2011) along with malm, et al. (2019) link physical activity to improved mental health, suggesting it alleviates stress and anxiety. bailey, et al. (2013) found sports participation enhances mood, contributing to overall well-being. delving deeper, malm et al.’s longitudinal study allows for observing changes over time but may suffer from participant drop-out. the meta-analysis of biddle and asare provides overarching conclusions but may be limited by the quality of included studies. 2.5 perspectives of staff and students students view sports as beneficial for their academic and personal lives, developing transferable skills like teamwork. staff recognise the role of sport in creating positive learning environments, observing that participating students tend to be more engaged. concerns exist regarding potential distractions from academic responsibilities (levermore, 2010). 2.6 institutional support and resources comprehensive institutional support is crucial for balancing sports and academics. effective collaboration between athletic departments and academic staff enhances student experiences and promotes academic success (etzel et al., 1991; howard‐hamilton & sina, 2001). 2.7 challenges and barriers students often struggle to manage balance academic and athletic commitments (willms et al., 2009), although sports can teach valuable time management skills (trudeau & shephard, 2008). competitive sports can overshadow academic priorities, particularly where winning is emphasised, leading to increase self and second-hand pressure (eitzen, 2016). female and minority student-athletes face unique challenges and experiences, including gender stereotypes and cultural barriers (adler & adler, 1991). female athletes may benefit from higher levels of academic motivation and performance, but they also encounter unique challenges such as gender stereotypes and limited access to resources. minority student-athletes may experience additional barriers, including racial discrimination and cultural alienation, which can affect their academic and athletic experiences (singer, 2005). 2.8 impacts on educational outcomes the literature presents mixed findings regarding the academic benefits of sports participation. while some studies, such as those by lambert et al. (2024) and muñoz-bullón, et al. (2017), report significant academic benefits, others, likefisher et al. (1996), suggest minimal or no impact. these discrepancies may be due to differences in study design, population, and measurement of outcomes. beyond academic performance, sports participation can enhance the overall educational experience. barton (2011), koh and camiré (2015) and newman (2020) all argue that sports provide opportunities for personal development, including the acquisition of life skills such as leadership, teamwork, and resilience. these skills are valuable both within and outside academic contexts. 2.9 research design a mixed-methods design, specifically a sequential explanatory strategy, was used. this design involved collecting and analysing quantitative data first, followed by qualitative data to explain and build upon www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 39 published by scholink inc. the quantitative results (ivankova et al., 2006). this approach allowed for a detailed exploration of the statistical relationships identified in the initial phase and provided rich, contextual insights into the perspectives of students and staff. 2.10 research methods the study employed semi-structured interviews and survey, to collect data. this approach facilitated the collection of rich, detailed insights from participants with varying points of view (blandford, 2013; creswell & poth, 2016) the combination of interviews and survey was intended to ensure a robust data collection strategy that supported triangulation, enhancing the credibility and trustworthiness of the findings (denzin, 2012; patton, 2014). university ethics approval was granted for this research. 3. quantitative phase: surveys surveys were used to collect quantitative data from 14 first-year undergraduate students and staff. the survey included questions on academic performance, social integration, and psychological well-being, drawing from validated instruments such as the national survey of student engagement (nsse) (kuh, 2003). the survey was intended to allow for the efficient collection of data from a small yet diverse population, facilitating statistical analysis of trends and relationships. the survey included both closed and open questions, providing both quantitative data and qualitative insights. table 1 below describes the participants involved in the study and their responses. table 1. summary of survey responses on the impact of university sports question percentage answer or outcome of the answers n=14 q1: role at university: 43% staff (6) 57% student (8) q2: if student, year of study: first year q3: if staff, department: academic q4: how frequently do you participate in or engage with university sports activities? 14% never 7% rarely 21% occasionally 29% frequently 29% very frequently www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 40 published by scholink inc. q5: how important do you think university sports are for students’ overall university experience? 0% not important 0% slightly important 21% moderately important 50% very important 29% extremely important q6: to what extent do you believe participation in university sports affects academic performance? 0% very negatively 0% negatively 14% no impact 71% positively 14% very positively q7: do you think that participating in university sports helps students develop timemanagement skills? 7% strongly disagree 7% disagree 21% neutral 50% agree 14% strongly agree q8: in your opinion, do university sports contribute to increased motivation and discipline in academic settings? 0% strongly disagree 7% disagree 21% neutral 36% agree 36% strongly agree q9: how do you perceive the impact of university sports on students’ social integration and relationships? 0% very negatively 0% negatively 14% no impact 36% positively 50% very positively q10: do you believe that university sports help reduce stress and improve mental health among students? 0% strongly disagree 0% disagree 7% neutral 36% agree 57% strongly agree www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 41 published by scholink inc. q11: in your opinion, does participation in university sports enhance students’ leadership and teamwork skills? 0% strongly disagree 0% disagree 7% neutral 29% agree 64% strongly agree open questions summary of responses q12: how do you think the impacts of university sports differ between athletes and non-athletes? enhance social skills, build strong friendships, provide stress relief, and create networking opportunities. non-athletes may miss out on these benefits and focus solely on academics. athletes often find motivation in competition and enjoy a supportive, like-minded community. q13: do you perceive any differences in the academic and social impacts of sports engagement between first-year students and upper-year students? if so, please explain. benefit socially from sports by quickly forming friendships and networks.ro third year students may prioritise academics over sports. the academic impact can vary, with some students balancing sports and academics effectively, while others struggle. q14: what improvements, if any, do you think could be made to the university sports programs to better support educational outcomes? better timetabling to avoid clashes with academic commitments. increased funding for non-performance sports. welfare support for students. guidance on balancing academics and sports. raising awareness of available programs and offering more beginner-friendly options were also suggested. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 42 published by scholink inc. q15: any additional comments or observations regarding the impact of university sports on students’ education? university sports generally have a positive impact, aiding in time management, stress relief, socialisation, and broader friend networks. however, effective academic support needed to ensure students can balance their commitments successfully. this table presents an analysis of responses regarding the role of university sports in students’ academic performance, social integration, and overall university experience. the data highlights the perceived benefits of sports in fostering time management, motivation, and social connectivity, while also suggesting areas for improvement, such as better scheduling and increased support for non-performance sports. 4. qualitative phase: interviews six semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of students and staff. the interview protocol included open-ended questions designed to explore the nuanced impacts of sports engagement on education, such as firsthand experiences, perceived benefits, and challenges. this method was chosen for its flexibility and ability to capture in-depth, context-rich information (kvale, 2009). by adopting a semi-structured format for the six interviews, flexibility was ensured in probing deeper into respondents’ perceptions while covering key topics (kvale, 2007). ethical approval for the study was obtained from university of hertfordshire ethics committee, and informed consent was secured from all participants prior to the interviews. the questions were designed to explore how participation in sports affected academic attendance among higher education students, the relationship between sports engagement and student motivation and engagement in lectures and seminars, the contributions of sports involvement to the social and emotional development of students, and the impact on higher education staff members. the interview guide was developed to explore nuanced impacts of sports engagement, aligning with findings from (drolet & arcand, 2013) and tinto (2012) regarding social integration and emotional well-being. 4.1 participant selection participants for this study were selected using a combination of stratified random sampling for the survey and purposive sampling for the interviews. stratified random sampling was employed as suggested by acharya et al. (2013), while purposive sampling was informed by guidelines from (campbell et al., 2020; tongco, 2007). the survey targeted first-year undergraduate students and staff members across various subjects and faculties, ensuring a representative sample. interview participants were selected based on their direct involvement and experience with university sports and academic engagement. the purposive sampling for interviews allowed for the selection of participants based on specific criteria relevant to the study’s objectives. this approach ensured that insights were gathered from individuals www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 43 published by scholink inc. with substantial involvement in university sports and academic engagement. as advocated by patton (2014), purposive sampling is essential for achieving depth and richness in qualitative data. the criteria for selecting interview participants included being a first-year student, providing in-depth insights into their experiences and perceptions related to academic engagement and the impact of sports (campbell et al., 2020; tongco, 2007) staff members were chosen based on their roles in delivering lectures and seminars, ensuring their expertise enriched the study’s findings. diversity in gender, ethnicity, sports participation, and academic discipline was prioritised to capture a comprehensive range of experiences (creswell & poth, 2016). this methodological approach enriched the qualitative data and provided a thorough understanding of the research questions. 4.2 data collection procedures 4.2.1 interview process interviews were conducted in a quiet, private setting via video conferencing to ensure confidentiality and comfort for the participants. each interview lasted approximately 45-60 minutes and was recorded with the participant’s consent, allowing for a transcript to be made and developed. all transcripts were sent to the interviewees for interviewee transcript review (itr) to allow for respondent validation. participants were informed about the study’s purpose, their right to withdraw, and measures taken to protect their privacy. an interview guide was developed, including open-ended questions that explored participants’ views on the impact of sport engagement on educational outcomes. questions might be adapted, left out, or new questions might arise from the semi-structured interview. 4.3 survey administration surveys were distributed electronically, on an online survey tool, to first-year students and staff through email. to encourage participation, the survey was concise, taking no more than 30 minutes to complete. respondents were assured of confidentiality and anonymity to encourage honest and accurate responses. the survey had different categories such as demographic information, general perceptions, academic impacts, social and emotional impacts, comparative perceptions, and suggestions and improvements. 5. data analysis 5.1 qualitative data analysis the data analysis protocol involved a structured approach to ensure rigor and consistency. interview data were transcribed verbatim from the recordings and analysed using thematic analysis, following (braun &amp; clarke, 2012) six-phase framework. nvivo (version 14; qsr international) was employed to facilitate the systematic coding and organization of themes. this protocol ensured that themes were identified and developed through a consistent and transparent process. 5.2 quantitative data analysis the data analysis protocol for survey responses included both descriptive and inferential statistical methods. descriptive statistics summarized the frequency and distribution of responses (as seen in table www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 44 published by scholink inc. 1). inferential analyses, including correlation and regression, were conducted to explore relationships between sports engagement and academic performance, social integration, and psychological well-being. this protocol ensured the reliability and validity of the quantitative findings. 6. discussion of findings 6.1 data collection the data collection phase involved transcribing audio-recorded interviews into written text. interviewees reviewed their transcripts to clarify or adapt responses (hagens et al., 2009). 6.2 participant demographics participants included eight students and six staff members. of the students, three participated in in-depth interviews, while all eight engaged in broader discussions. staff members, ranging from academic tutors to lecturers, provided insights into the balance between sports and academics, along with social and psychological impacts. table 2. demographics of interview participants participant role involvement in sports area of study/role staff 1 staff previously personal tutor to scholars professor of judo education staff 2 staff gym user, lectures scholars sports studies program leader staff 3 staff limited engagement leader of sports business management student 1 student plays rugby, uses campus gym optometry student 2 student plays rugby, uses campus gym music student 3 student plays rugby sports coaching 7. findings (themes identified) 7.1 participation and time management students reported frequent participation in sports, with 50% selecting “frequently” and 50% “very frequently”. conversely, staff engagement was limited, with none reporting participation above www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 45 published by scholink inc. “occasionally”. both students and staff acknowledged challenges in balancing sports and academics. student 2 noted: “i make time for my game, so i kind of plan around sport and then... around my academics.” table 3. time management ratings question student response (agree/strongly agree) staff response (agree/strongly agree) sports improve time management 64% limited agreement noted 7.2 academic engagement and motivation survey results showed that 100% of staff agreed sports positively influence education. however, opinions differed on the extent of this impact. staff 2 remarked: “recreational athletes might engage better than scholarship students.” students highlighted how sports build confidence. for instance, student 3 stated: “it makes me think there’s nothing to really be scared of when talking in class.” 7.3 social and emotional development both staff and students emphasized the social benefits of sports, with 86% of students believing sports positively affect social interactions. staff 3 reflected on personal experience, saying: “the day i was made captain of the team was one of my proudest achievements ever.” students reinforced the importance of friendships formed through sports. student 1 advised: “just get involved, join a club, do something.” in terms of mental health, 75% of students acknowledged positive impacts, though 17% remained neutral, possibly indicating gaps in awareness. staff 1 highlighted support systems, noting: “we’ve got a very good scholarship program.” 7.4 future goals students and staff suggested improvements to timetabling and support for balancing sports with academics. students advocated for initiatives like teaching time management skills, while staff pointed out the need to address scheduling conflicts. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 46 published by scholink inc. table 4. proposed improvements improvement example quote improved timetabling “timetabling doesn’t always support sport participation.” – staff 2 time management education “teach how to balance to ensure positive outcomes in both sport and academics.” increased social opportunities “meeting people through sport builds confidence and friendships.” – student 1 8. conclusion this research explored the perceived impacts of university sport engagement on first-year undergraduate students’ education from the perspectives of both students and staff. the study aimed to understand the influence of university sports participation on students’ academic performance, time management, social interactions, and emotional development. the key findings and reflections on the research process provide valuable insights for future practice and policy in higher education. 8.1 participation and time management the research highlighted a clash in perceptions regarding time management. students often used sports participation as a motivational tool to manage their time effectively, viewing it as a reward for completing academic tasks. however, staff noted that sports could detract from academic responsibilities, particularly for scholarship athletes frequently traveling for competitions. this contrast underscores the need for enhanced support systems to help student-athletes balance their dual roles effectively. 8.2 academic engagement and motivation the data revealed mixed perceptions about the impact of sports on academic engagement. staff expressed concerns about recreational athletes’ engagement levels but also acknowledged the positive influence of sports on all athletes’ discipline and academic performance. students reported that sports participation boosted their confidence and classroom engagement, although survey results showed some variance in this, as seen from table 1 and 2. this suggests that while sports can enhance motivation and engagement for some, it may have varying effects on others. 8.3 social and emotional development sports participation was recognised for its positive impact on social interactions and emotional wellbeing. both students and staff emphasised the role of sports in fostering a sense of belonging and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 47 published by scholink inc. community, crucial for first-year students adjusting to university life. many survey respondents and interviewees supported the notion that sports positively affect mental health and social skills. this finding addresses the research question on how involvement in sports contributes to the social and emotional development of students, showing that sports play a significant role in enhancing these aspects. 8.4 future goals the current researchers indicated that sports participation helps students develop valuable skills for their future careers, including networking, teamwork, and leadership. students expressed a desire for better time management training and more support for balancing sports and academics. both students and staff suggested institutional changes, such as adjusting timetables to accommodate sports schedules, to enhance the student-athlete experience. 8.5 implications for policy and practice 8.5.1 timetable adjustments as commented on previously, universities might consider how academic timetables might allow for major sporting events or training sessions to help student-athletes take part fully in both their academic and athletic pursuits. 8.5.2 skill development programs by offering workshops on time management, stress management, and other relevant skills, universities can better prepare student-athletes to handle the demands of their dual roles. more students may become interested in taking part in sports and academics as they will have a better grasp of the skills needed to balance sports and academics. in addition to student training, relevant training for academic staff on the unique challenges faced by student-athletes can foster a more supportive environment and encourage empathy and flexibility in managing academic requirements. this understanding can lead to better balance and support for student-athletes. the findings of this research indicate a significant relationship between sports engagement and student motivation and engagement in lectures and seminars. students who participated in sports frequently reported higher levels of motivation and engagement in their academic work. this is supported by both qualitative and quantitative data, with 75% of students surveyed believing that sports positively impact their academic engagement. students used sports as a reward mechanism, incentivizing them to complete their academic tasks to participate in sports activities. this aligns with existing literature that suggests physical activity can enhance cognitive functions and academic performance (bailey et al., 2013; malm et al., 2019) involvement in sports significantly contributes to the social and emotional development of students. both staff and students highlighted the positive impact of sports on social interactions, with 86% of survey respondents indicating that sports positively affect social interaction. the interviews revealed that sports foster a sense of community and belonging, which is crucial for the emotional well-being of first-year students. the staff members emphasized the role of sports in building confidence and social skills, with one staff member recounting their own positive experience as a student-athlete. this is consistent with www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 48 published by scholink inc. previous research that links sports participation to improved social and emotional outcomes (malm et al., 2019). the staff interviewed recognised the challenges student-athletes face in balancing academics and sports, particularly sports scholars who often travel for competitions. they noted that while scholar athletes generally manage their time well, recreational athletes sometimes struggle with time management. staff also observed that sports engagement leads to better academic performance and higher levels of student interaction in lectures, although there were mixed opinions regarding the impact on time management skills. this highlights the need for universities to provide tailored support to student-athletes to help them balance their dual commitments effectively. 8.6 conclusion the study presented here offers an understanding of how sports influence the academic performances of students, time management, social interactions, and emotional well-being. the findings underscore the importance of supportive institutional policies and practices to enhance the overall experience and success of student-athletes. future research could explore the long-term impacts of sports participation on academic and career outcomes, further informing policy development in higher education. the insights gained from this preliminary study have the potential to impact future research and practice, thus fostering a more inclusive and supportive university environment. references acharya, a. s., prakash, a., saxena, p., & nigam, a. 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(2005). understanding racism through the eyes of african american male student‐athletes. race ethnicity and education, 8(4), 365-386. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320500323963 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 51 published by scholink inc. stuart, m., lido, c., morgan, j., solomon, l., & may, s. (2011). the impact of engagement with extracurricular activities on the student experience and graduate outcomes for widening participation populations. active learning in higher education, 12(3), 203-215. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787411415081 tinto, v. (2012). leaving college: rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. university of chicago press. tongco, m. d. c. (2007). purposive sampling as a tool for informant selection. https://doi.org/10.17348/era.5.0.147-158 trudeau, f., & shephard, r. j. (2008). physical education, school physical activity, school sports and academic performance. international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 5, 112. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-5-10 umbach, p. d., palmer, m. m., kuh, g. d., & hannah, s. j. (2006). intercollegiate athletes and effective educational practices: winning combination or losing effort? research in higher education, 47, 709-733. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-006-9012-9 willms, j. d., friesen, s., & milton, p. (2009). what did you do in school today? transforming classrooms through social, academic, and intellectual engagement (first national report). eric. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 10 original paper towards a european plurilingual habitus? a critical analysis of the common european framework of reference (cefr) and its symbolic power natalia wright1* 1 school of education, university of glasgow, glasgow, united kingdom *natalia wright. e-mail: 2466986w@student.gla.ac.uk received: june 15, 2022 accepted: july 9, 2022 online published: july 26, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n3p10 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n3p10 abstract the common european framework of reference for languages: learning, teaching, assessment (cefr), introduced by the council of europe (coe) in 2001, is intended to function as an instrument for developing educational policy and practice. however, in reality, there is a mismatch between the council’s mission to promote plurilingualism and the project’s underlying neoliberal logic to impose its monolingual perspectives in reference to language learning, teaching, and assessment. despite containing a much valuable taxonomy for describing language proficiency, the cefr has been globally used as a standardisation tool that aims to measure the language competence of immigrants, asylum seekers, and test-takers. in doing so, the framework acts as a gatekeeping mechanism of inclusion or exclusion. considering cefr’s contradictory nature, the article seeks to explore its complexity and uncover its problematic character. viewing the cefr as an instrument of power, the author utilises bourdieu’s notion of linguistic capital to examine who the policy disadvantages and whose ideological agenda it serves. keywords language policy, english, cefr, plurilingualism, language education, diversity, multilingualism 1. introduction the european language policy notion of plurilingualism can be understood through its documents as an important element in promoting a democratic european citizenry that recognises the diversity of speakers’ existing linguistic capital (beacco & byram, 2007). one such document, the common european framework of reference: learning, teaching, assessment (cefr), developed by the council of europe www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 11 published by scholink inc. (coe) in 2001 reflects the will of the european union (eu) to address this issue and is the focus of this article. intended as a framework, not a manual, cefr is a powerful document that has imposed its parameters of language competences all over the world and defined standards for language teaching and learning. furthermore, as will be argued in the analysis, the cefr is a contradictory policy document. its major contradiction is in the contrast between the plurilingual approach it advocates as a response to the increasing dominance of english in europe and the monolingualism toward which its descriptors point. it is somewhat unsurprising that, in line with the european ethos to promote efficient communication among its nation states, english, the language of the anglophone countries, would best serve that purpose. following shohamy’s (2006), stance on language as a ‘‘potent symbol of power” that is ‘‘embedded in political, ideological, social, and economic agendas” (p. 55), it is my intention to explore the complexity of cefr’s initiation and formulation. the analysis will be done through the prism of neoliberalism, which places the knowledge of a language of a dominant nation as an essential life skill that will improve a nation’s position in the competing world economy. bourdieu’s linguistic capital, as one of the forms of cultural capital, in particular, will also prove insightful in understanding the role of the language of a dominant nation in creating inequalities among different social groups. in essence, in line with dryzek (2010), who defines critical policy analysis as ‘‘enlightenment of those suffering at the hands of power” (p. 191), i question the nature of cefr by examining who the policy disadvantages and whose ideological agenda it serves. 2. policy analysis model resembling trowler (2003) who accentuates the complexity of interpreting policy, phillipson (2003) also views the analysis of language policy as ‘‘messy”, thus recognising its multi-faceted and shifting nature. in this sense, a policy is not just a set of principles and actions, but “... a process, something which is dynamic rather than static” (trowler, 2003, p. 96). further to this, ball’s (1994) definition of the policy best summarises its problematic character. according to him, policy is both text and action, words and deeds, it is what is enacted as well as what is intended. policies are always incomplete insofar as they relate to or map on to the ‘‘wild profusion” of local practice. (ball, 1994, p. 10) with regard to language policy, due to insufficient attention paid to its implementation in practice (indeed, research in this area has been anecdotal so far), it is frequently seen as ‘‘mostly manifestations of intentions” (shohamy, 2006, p. 45). the basic layered model (doherty, 2011), which combines elements of considine’s (1994) and bowe et al.’s (1992) analytical frameworks, will be used in my analysis. it best captures the complexity of the policy field in its initiation and formulation stages and their interconnected and co-influence. following page (as cited in moran et al., 2010), who maintains that ‘‘policies come into being through being on an agenda” (p. 208), the initiation stage deals with the context of influence through a process of contestation www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 12 published by scholink inc. around meaning. the context of policy formulation is recognised as the ‘‘translation of policy objectives into instructions for action” (hill, 2014, p. 204). it is an arena of struggle which includes an examination of the roles of those who do such work (bowe et al., 1992). in other words, speaking in hill’s (2014) terms, policy initiation/formulation partnership can be described as “where to go and how to get there” (p. 161). 3. the role of languages and language policy in europe in the past 30 years, european language policy has been under the influence of a number of factors, specifically the expansion of the eu with its increasing diversity and the movement of people across and into the eu, which generated the need for policies that would appropriately respond to the challenges of globalisation, mobility, employment, and economic growth. in these circumstances, the role of language would play a significant role in nation-building. the issue of language was approached in order to avoid ambiguity and the creeping dominance of one language over another. language policy at the european level is shaped by two organisations, the council of europe and the european union. the official language policy, which remains a responsibility of individual memberstates, as stated in the european parliament facts sheet of the european union, is the following: languages are an integral part of the european identity and the most direct expression of culture. languages not only play a key role in the everyday life of the european union, but are also fundamental for respecting cultural and linguistic diversity in the eu. (franke, 2017) to put it briefly, language policy in europe focuses on three main areas: support of the minority languages, promotion of individual plurilingualism (mother tongue plus two), and multilingualism. multilingualism, trumpeted through the eu mantra ‘unity in diversity’, is intended as a foundation for achieving intercultural understanding. the principle ensures by giving equal status to each language in each member state a better prestige and an appeal of it as a foreign language that could be studied. the eu commission document “promoting language learning and linguistic diversity: an action plan 2004-2006”, aimed at limiting the excessive emphasis on english in european education systems, reflects an ongoing concern about this issue: learning one lingua franca alone is not enough… english alone is not enough… in nonanglophone countries recent trends to provide teaching in english may have unforeseen consequences on the vitality of the national language. (commission of the european communities, 2003, pp. 4-8) on the other hand, the eu’s increasing priority for economic growth from a neo-liberal perspective places a good command of foreign languages as “a key competence essential to make one’s way in the modern world and labour market” (coe, 2011). such a shift signals the move toward the common language, which only prioritises big hegemonic languages, such as english, french, and german. the need to enhance intercultural dialogue within europe in the context of global competition assigned english as a “lingua economica” (phillipson, 2003, p. 149) an instrumental role in achieving market-oriented purposes. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 13 published by scholink inc. seen in this fashion, multilingualism, as kraus and kazlauskait-gürbüz (2014) assert, is considered “a challenge for creating an integrated market-cum-polity” (p. 517). 4. the cefr and the notion of plurilingualism the cefr is a part of the process in which institutional europe has grown from 10 founding members of the council of europe to the 47 member countries today. published in 2001, the european year of languages, this document is intended to serve as a “comprehensive, transparent, and coherent” reference instrument that establishes canons for foreign language teaching and learning, language syllabi, curriculum, textbooks, and testing (coe, 2001, p. 2) across europe and beyond. committed to advocating plurilingualism, it is an important document that frames language policy in europe. the term plurilingualism coined by cefr is defined by the macmillan dictionary online as “the ability to use skills in a number of different languages for effective communication”. ironically, a coherent definition of plurilingualism is not readily understandable or ‘user-friendly’ as the cefr authors claim, at least not to an uninformed reader. drawing attention to the difference between multilingualism, which is “the knowledge of a number of languages, or the co-existence of different languages in a given society” and plurilingualism, the authors explain: the plurilingual approach emphasises the fact that as an individual person’s experience of language in its cultural contexts expands, from the language of the home to that of society at large and then to the languages of other peoples (whether learnt at school or college, or by direct experience), he or she does not keep these languages and cultures in strictly separated mental compartments, but rather builds up a communicative competence to which all knowledge and experience of language contributes and in which languages interrelate and interact. (cefr, 2001, p. 4) as follows from the above, the term allows for multiple interpretations. what is clear is that plurilingualism is perceived as rooted in a person’s mother tongue (little, 2007, p. 651). the interdependence between the individual and the social dimension is also apparent; the learner as a ‘social agent’ activates his linguistic and non-linguistic potential to engage successfully in various contextual aspects. in reality, cefr descriptors have relevance to secondand foreign-language learning and are based on a monolingual view which favours only standard language in use. little (2006) notes that although the notion of plurilingualism is central to the council of europe, “neither the cefr nor the elp [english language portfolio] does full justice to the concept” (p. 187). plurilingualism promoted by the council of europe has been subject to some stringent criticism by many authors (fulcher, 2004; krumm, 2007; shohamy, 2001, 2006, 2007). they comment on the broad implementation of cefr in the high-stakes examination of the level of language proficiency of immigrants, asylum seekers, and other test-takers. used as a barrier to integration, the cefr in krumm’s terms (2007, p. 668) “neglects their [migrants] plurilingualism” contrary to the council of europe’s www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 14 published by scholink inc. promise to support it. a commonly held view among many scholars is that the document serves “the council of europe’s political, cultural and education agenda” (little, 2006). a close look at how the policy came to existence might help uncover these hidden agendas. 5. policy initiation. the context of influence a variety of historical, political, and social developments were instrumental in initiating language policy. the aftermath of world war ii left the european economy in ruins. the only way to prevent another warfare was to unite. the mutual interest in coal and steel bound six countries (with the former enemies france and germany among them) to create a common market in the 1950s. furthermore, the difficult period of reconstruction revealed the advantages of creating a stronger entity that would ensure better immunity for europe within the global economic terrain. with the accession of new member states, the union became more culturally and linguistically diverse. as a result, language was gaining increasing prominence in intercultural dialogue. developments in linguistics and sociolinguistics in the 1960s-1980s also influenced the reinforcement of the status of language in the nation-state in legitimising it as a significant identifier of collective groups. by including categories like ‘correct’ vs ‘incorrect’, grammatical’ vs. ‘non-grammatical’, ‘standard’ vs. ‘non-standard’ with the most extreme categorisation of ‘native’ vs. ‘non-native’, linguists contributed to developing the view of language as a closed, limited system with fixed boundaries (similar to the view of the nation-state as a closed and finite society). such paradigms, which were further enforced by standardisation, formalised certain language forms as acceptable and unacceptable. since linguists were the ones who possessed knowledge about the language, they began prescribing how it should be used. the cefr, written by linguists, is an obvious reflection and prescription of such normative views of the language. the 1970s and early 1980s were characterised by neoliberalism as a dominant economic doctrine that advocates minimal government, while at the same time insisting that strong states are necessary “for the operation of ostensibly free markets and to deal with the consequences of ‘market failure’” (price, 2014, p. 569). the spread of neoliberalism was further accompanied by globalisation and technological revolution. globalisation redefined the dominant role of the state in “settling education agendas” (robertson, 2012), thus giving reign to other stakeholders. language education policy among them has not been immune to global forces. it has responded to hegemonic neoliberal orientation by stressing the importance of the language of the dominant nation-states which set the trends in language teaching, learning, and assessment for years ahead. languages were viewed as “commodities for general sale in the market” (bori, 2001, p. 39), and the ability to communicate in a language was (and still is) an essential job skill. in a world which is increasingly dominated by coca-cola, cnn, microsoft and other transnational corporations, the question of which language is seen as a promoter of a global culture leaves no doubt. english, as the lingua franca, the language of communication, became dominant in all spheres of life. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 15 published by scholink inc. such supranational bodies as the world bank, the international monetary fund, and the organization for economic cooperation and development (oecd) played a highly active role in strengthening the corporate power and position of english across all continents. as the language of globalisation, it was firmly anchored in the neoliberal laissez-faire market forces and served as a vehicle to make people economically competitive. acknowledging english as the language of globalisation, pennycook (as cited in ricento, 2000) contends that “it is the language in which the fate of most of the world’s citizens is decided, directly or indirectly” (p. 114). at the same time, the field of language education following similar neoliberal contours witnessed an ascendancy of communicative language teaching (clt), which emphasises communication in real-life situations. actively promulgated by the council of europe, it quickly became a global method associated with instrumental and economic goals of neoliberalism to make learners compliant with the market needs (block, 2008). with the signing of the maastricht treaty in 1993, the eu continued its move toward the political and social integration of its member states. the growing role of immigration and the labour movement also contributed to the complexity of the european linguistic mosaic and further strengthened europe’s commitment to promoting and protecting multilingualism. the emergence of the nation-state necessitated the questions of the eligibility and belonging of different groups who shared the same territory (shohamy, 2006, p. 25). one way to guard the disappearing frontiers of the eu against unwanted groups was to introduce language tests as a gatekeeping mechanism for inclusion or exclusion. thus, language as a key element in the establishment of the nation-state, previously viewed simply as a purely free communicative means of interaction, “began to be symbolised with power, ideology, nationalism, loyalty, patriotism and the drive for assimilation” (may, 2001, as cited in shohamy, 2006, p. 26). 6. bourdieu’s theory of linguistic capital inequities that are perpetuated through the english language hegemony and the use of standardised forms of language assessment can be better addressed through a bourdieusian concept of capital and field. echoing other critics, bourdieu (1998) saw neoliberalism as a political programme, a unification of the economic field to the global scale. in the spirit of knowledge-based economies, his idea of economic capital is also firmly attached to material wealth. however, to broaden a narrow understanding of capital from a purely material sense, bourdieu (1991) proposes two more types of capital, namely, cultural and social capitals, which, welded together with economic, hold the ultimate symbolic capital. according to him, cultural capital can be embodied (linguistic practices, knowledge, and skills embodied by an individual), objectified (cultural goods, texts, and material objects), or institutional (academic qualifications, awards, and credentials). he asserts that cultural capital is directly linked to material wealth. the author sees language as an element of cultural capital that can be traded within the labour market. in essence, it can serve as a long-term individual or social investment with high economic value. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 16 published by scholink inc. the value of english, as a supranational language, has been enhanced through multiple mechanisms and has resulted in making it the preferred linguistic capital in the context of global language markets. the concepts of field and habitus are also crucial in understanding bourdieu’s (1990) approach to ‘capital’. habitus can be understood as “a set of dispositions that leads agents to act and react in certain ways” (thompson, 1991, p. 12). fields are places where individuals live and engage in social activities through which types of capital are distributed. thus, the linguistic market needs to be understood as a field in which agents practice their habitus and through which they are able to gain social and economic capital. people’s positions in the field depend on the amount of capital they hold (bourdieu, 1977). in other words, limited possession of the linguistic capital (proficiency in the official language) or lack thereof may restrict access to a host of opportunities taken for granted by those who profit from the “right kind” of capital (blackledge, 2001). from this perspective, a state’s official language can be considered a linguistic capital that affords its owners symbolic power (bourdieu, 1991, pp. 50-52). in contrast, local language varieties are of value only within their communities. 7. institutional and non-institutional european language policy further insight into the language used in the eu's institutions will exemplify my point. the right of the citizens of the european union to communicate in one of the official languages is explicitly stated in the treaty of amsterdam states that in article 8d of the ec treaty: every citizen of the union may write to any of the institutions or bodies referred to in this article or in article 4 in one of the languages mentioned in article 248 and have an answer in the same language. (ec treaty, 1997) however, many aspects remain implicit and deeply embedded in the traditions and values of each country. in the present-day eu, however, the reality appears slightly complicated. the declared formal equality of the 24 official languages, institutional multilingualism, does not always seem to be respected. in reality, some languages enjoy greater currency than others. at the institutional level, the use of languages in bodies such as the council, the commission, the european parliament, and the court of justice is limited to a handful of languages of its founding members, english, french, and german. the council of europe, with an advisory and advocacy role to its 47 member states, communicates only in two languages, english and french. for historical reasons, the states whose languages are more important than others possess more symbolic power. the hierarchy among them, or in phillipson’s (2003) language the “pecking order of states and languages” (p. 11), points to the shift from french to english as the primary working language in eu institutions, which is particularly visible since the accession of britain into the union in 1973 and the ascendancy of globalisation. at a non-institutional level (outside the eu between the member states and their citizens), language policies are not subject to eu legislation. they remain the responsibility of national governments according to the principle of subsidiarity. with english, holding a hegemonic position by dominant countries, there was no need to promote it in the eu member states. most non-english speaking nations www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 17 published by scholink inc. do not have a choice when it comes to deciding which language to learn. indeed, such a decision could potentially result in a “commercial withdrawal from continental europe” (fulcher, 2004). on the other hand, the adoption of english as their first or additional foreign language entails obvious benefits for developing countries, which, as lillis and curry (2013) note, plays a role in determining who participates and benefits from the global knowledge economy (as cited in erling & seargeant, 2013, p. 3). thus, the values associated with english become integrated into the local setting and imbued into a social, family, and individual habitus. from a bourdieusian perspective, it can be assumed that within the european context dominant groups control the power to promise, protect, and preserve their own interest by granting or refusing membership premised on the possession of linguistic capital. it seems fairly clear from the above-mentioned points that english as a de facto language policy in europe is a promoter of a monolingual ideology, which regards it as the only language with symbolic capital. gret haller, the ombudsperson for human rights in bosnia and herzegovina commented poignantly at the council of europe conference in 1999 on linguistic diversity for democratic citizenship in europe, “no-one pays attention to what you say unless you speak english, because english is the language of power” (as cited in phillipson, 2003, p. 5). against this backdrop, as blackledge (2001) maintains, multilingualism in europe can be seen as a problem, and monolingualism as an asset. 8. policy formulation the cefr, shaped by the council of europe’s moral, political, and social values, emerged as the result of 30 years of work on language teaching and learning. the european cultural convention, signed by the member states at the end of 1954 can perhaps be a point of departure for the council of europe’s work in the domain of modern languages and cultural cooperation in europe. its aim, as defined by the documents, is as follows: to foster among the nationals of all members, and of such other european states as may accede thereto, the study of the languages, history and civilisation of the others and of the civilisation which is common to them all. (coe, 1954) three years later, the idea of a plan for the development of modern language teaching in europe was initiated at the first intergovernmental conference on european cooperation in language teaching. the council for cultural co-operation formed in 1962, was appointed to overlook educational and cultural matters. in 1961, france pioneered the first audiovisual course for adult learners of the french language with a greater emphasis on visual content, which represented a departure from the traditional grammartranslation methodology. this influence is traceable in the cefr’s threshold level model in the 1970s. notably, at that time the us interest in language learning and teaching was more concerned with national security needs, particularly after the launch of the first artificial satellite by the ussr followed by the first space mission. it was the time when american linguists developed and introduced an audiolingual www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 18 published by scholink inc. approach which was widely used by military personnel during world war ii as the method which ensured fast and efficient language acquisition and which gradually seeped into europe with the arrival of globalisation. both methods were rejected in the 1970s by british linguists as they tended to ignore communicative competence (hymes, 1972) needed for interaction between increasing numbers of adult migrants. consequently, communicative language teaching (clt) was born in the economic discourse of the capitalist system, promoting english as the lingua franca. it became central to cefr’s actionoriented approach, which views learners as “social agents” and “members of society who have tasks (not exclusively language-related) to accomplish in a given set of circumstances, in a specific environment and within a particular field of action” (coe, 2001, p. 9). the idea of cefr levels, as north (1996) states, “did not suddenly appear from nowhere” (p. 8). the expansion of multilingual europe and the increasing vocational and education mobility at that time posed great difficulty in recognising qualifications. hence, the level taxonomy would serve as internationally recognised standards based on which decisions would be made with regard to admission to universities, and awarding qualifications, thereby solving, as trim (cambridge english, 2011) puts it, “council of europe’s practical concerns”. as stated earlier in the article, linguists played a significant role in the development of language policy in europe. the ‘guiding spirits’ behind the cefr, funded by the swiss government, were john trim, who had been the director of the council of europe’s modern languages project for almost 30 years, jan ate van ek, brian north, professor daniel coste, and mr joseph sheils. they were also engaged in other important projects carried out by the council of europe in the field of foreign language learning. one such project promulgating clt was the unit/credit scheme (1971-1977), with its set of principles that laid the foundation for cefr. among them are “languages for all”, “languages are learnt for use”, and “language learning is a life-long activity” (trim, 2001). other projects that followed, notably project 4 (1977-1981) and the threshold level (1975), first formulated for the english language, further promoted the principles of the unification of language teaching developed by the unit-credit group. the latter was translated into more than 20 languages and provided a perspective on how languages are still learned today. according to the authors, the document would prove useful for “people who want to prepare themselves to communicate socially with people from other countries” (van ek &trim, 1998, p. 1). seen this way, it would serve the council of europe’s purpose “to achieve greater unity among its members” (coe, 2001, p. 2). the clt method that encouraged the global use of english would be ideal for this goal, as a ‘gate opener’ or, as the authors eloquently state, “the key that may unlock the door” (van ek & trim, 1998, p. 1). it is noteworthy that trim in his last interview before he died admitted that they [the authors] were sceptical about the use of levels in language in general. he also noted that the threshold level derived its name from the idea of a “crossing point” of language learning in the early stages (smith & mclelland, 2014, p. 20). at the same time, his french colleagues fearing that one level with only one learning objective might be perceived as the european standard for language learning produced un niveau-seuil www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 19 published by scholink inc. (coste et al., 1976), the french version of the threshold model. shortly after its success, the threshold level became formalised in educational institutions throughout europe and soon was followed by a generous number of syllabi, textbooks, and tests. the waystage level (van ek et al., 1980) was developed as a response to a criticism of the difficulty of the threshold level for beginners. a pre-wastage level called breakthrough was also developed by john trim. the vantage level (van ek & trim, 2001) was conceived and emerged last, first for english in 1996, and later in 2001 for other languages. in the 1990s, the spread of the council of europe’s ideology in language teaching reached countries of the former soviet bloc. by offering its vision on language policies in the form of consultancy, the council of europe inevitably transformed teachers' beliefs and attitudes about language teaching. the idea for the cefr spawned at a symposium “transparency and coherence in language learning in europe” held in rüschlikon, switzerland, in 1991 and took ten years to evolve. more than 1,000 copies of the first draft were sent for feedback in 1995 and two versions of the second draft piloted in 1996 (coe, 1996a, b) in english and french, received feedback from various experts. over the next few years, the waystage, threshold, and vantage levels were revised and in 2001 were fed into the final draft of the cefr. parallel to work on the cefr, the council of europe commenced two more relevant projects, called project 12: language and teaching modern languages for communication (1982-1987) and language learning for european citizenship (1990-1997) to aid national government reform in language teaching in secondary education. this period was marked by intensive work by teacher trainers sent out to disseminate a communicative language teaching methodology. such an incentive seems very much in tune with the neoliberal one-size-fits-all standardised approach to language teaching. the 1980s and 1990s witnessed a degree of convergence of views on testing internationally, which brought many interested stakeholders together. among them, to name just a few, are the nongovernmental organisation alte (the association of language testers in europe) funded by the university of cambridge (uk) and the universidad de salamanca (spain) in 1998 which were tasked with writing ‘can do’ statements for the council of europe’s framework. this work ran in sync with the development of the cefr. today, alte is known for its role as a quality auditing system for english language examinations. another organisation, the dialang project, created diagnostic tests in several european languages. it is hardly a coincidence that cefr sparked the interest of such major examining bodies that enhanced its symbolic power, such as the british council, the goethe institut, instituto de cervantes, and cambridge university. 9. the cefr as an instrument of power. final thoughts it is beyond the scope of my article to elaborate on the implementation stage of this policy, but let me briefly mention its unambiguous and absolute reception by all stakeholders driven by the idea ‘for the greater good’. could it be otherwise, when the positive wording of the document creates an illusory idea of non-imposition by using vocabulary like “non-prescriptive”, “transparent”, “open”, and “user-friendly” (coe, 2011, pp. 7-8)? the same can be said about the ‘can do’ statements, which, in a similar reassuring www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 20 published by scholink inc. manner, describe ‘what learners can actually do in the foreign language’ (coe, 2001, p. 244) instead of what they cannot. the overall language of the reasoning behind the document played a considerable role in ‘seducing’ governments to accept the cefr to frame their language policies. yet, the principal contradiction lies between the non-dogmatic spirit of the document (‘we have not set out to tell practitioners what to do or how to do’ coe, 2001, p. xi) and a coe’s appeal to the member states to promote the use of the cefr and to “ensure that the document is used in a valid way”. it also suggests that governments may wish “to establish, if required, the legislative and administrative framework for implementing the recommendation” (coe, 1998.) such contradictory rhetoric does not seem to be ideologically innocent to me. while the cefr added a valuable dimension to describing and measuring language levels, it has also attracted numerous critiques, especially in the last decade. it has been heavily attacked, particularly in recent years, for its atheoretical nature, its unsuitability for young learners, and the lack of empirical evidence to confirm the validity of scales and descriptors. little (2016, p. 175) argues that the cefr, based on the personal opinions of a small group of experts, specifies what learners should do but says nothing about how well they should do it. furthermore, the scales assume native-like mastery of pronunciation, which “can be understood with some effort by native speakers used to dealing with speakers of his or her language group” (coe, 2011, p.117), thus obliging non-native speakers of english to acquire the behavioural habits and linguistic forms of the hegemonic language. other authors cast doubts on the nature of the document aligned with the market profit in language education (littlejohn, 2012). other criticisms focus on the cefr as an instrument of power. fulcher (2004), for example, observes that the cefr “is rapidly becoming the ‘system’”, “the truth against which all else must be measured” (p. 260). the author also sees the centralisation visualised by the cefr as a contradiction against the notion of plurilingualism, which could mean “less diversity, and less choice”. not created for migrants, cefr and its standards are nevertheless used as a yardstick in measuring their competence, which, as byrnes (2007) notes, is “a disregard of the origins of the cefr” (p. 644). it is perceived as a norm, and a group possessing and controlling it is the one that, according to bourdieu (1991), holds the largest linguistic capital and, therefore, has access to power through language. 10. conclusion the present analysis has sought to uncover the underlying ideological agendas of the council of europe and demonstrate how the cefr as an instrument of power serves these agendas. needless to say, this quest proved to be quite challenging. indeed, as shohamy (2001) observes, it is difficult “to tease out agendas out from a laudable desire to increase communication across the continent and reduce prejudice” (p. 263). it is, therefore, hoped that i have been able to shed light on issues central to european language policy, where the uncritical celebration of linguistic diversity, multilingualism, and plurilingualism seems questionable. it is also my hope that through bourdieu’s (1991) notion of linguistic capital, one can be made aware of the hegemonic power of language and the benefits its knowledge entails for the privileged www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 21 published by scholink inc. groups. it has also become evident that the increased use of english within and outside the eu intimately tied to the globalised economic imperatives stands in stark opposition to the principles enshrined in eu language policy. the covert promotion of monolingualism by the council of europe goes against its claim in relation to the principles of plurilingualism and points to a monolingual habitus as the norm that the cefr has so successfully legitimised over the years. in this narrative, the cefr holds symbolic power with its normative nature as a mechanism for creating and perpetuating disparities between different social groups. remarkably, years later, john trim (saville, 2005), in his reflections on the cefr, lamented, “there will always be people who are trying to use it [the cefr] as an instrument of power” (p. 282), and almost ten years later added, “... which they have done” (smith & mclelland, 2014, p. 23). it appears that cefr’s present far-reaching and non-negotiable authority only reaffirms his prophecy. references beacco, j. c., & byram, m. 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(1992). editor’s introduction. in pierre bourdieu, language and symbolic power. cambridge: polity press. treaty of amsterdam amending the treaty on european union, the treaties establishing the european communities and certain related acts. (1997). luxembourg: office for official publications of the european communities. retrieved july 10, 2022, from https://europa.eu/europeanunion/sites/europaeu/files/docs/body/treaty_of_amsterdam_en.pdf trim, j. (ed.). (2001). common european framework of reference for languages: learning, teaching, assessment: a guide for users. strasbourg, france: council of europe, language policy division. trim, j. (2007). background to the threshold series. presentation to the english profile seminar. cambridge. trowler, p. (2003). education policy (2nd ed.). london: routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203417850 van ek, j. (1975). the threshold level. strasbourg, france: council of europe. van ek, j. a., alexander, l. g., & fitzpatrick, m. a. (1980). waystage english. oxford: pergamon. van ek, j. a., & trim, j. l. m. (1998). threshold 1990. cambridge, uk: cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511667176 van ek, j., & trim, j. (2001). vantage. strasbourg, france: council of europe / cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511667114 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-46301-8_37 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203417850 https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511667176 https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511667114 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 14 original paper participative production of students in the development of math video games at higher level education yair olvera1*, mario gea1 & ivone resendiz1 1 department of animation and visual effects, metropolitan polytechnic university of hidalgo, mexico * yair olvera, e-mail: yolvera@upmh.edu.mx received: may 16, 2023 accepted: june 9, 2023 online published: june 24, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n3p14 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n3p14 abstract this paper shows how, through a participative production of student’s community of the metropolitan polytechnic university of hidalgo in mexico, it is possible to improve the academic performance of new students in the propedeutic course of mathematics. the production consists of the design, development and application of an educational video game focused on mathematics, specifically algebra. as a result of the participation of students, there is a larger identification and a sense of belonging to their engineering. this is a benefit for students who aspire to be admitted in the engineering of animation and visual effects because, in addition to receiving feedback about the topics that are learnt in class, they can observe digital scenes and 3d animations that they will be able to create during their university studies. keywords algebra, higher education, learning tools, participative production, videogames 1. introduction in today’s society, the use of innovative technologies has covered practically all areas of everyday life. in the education sector, new technological methods and tools have appeared which use is growing exponentially in schools. applications based on information and communication technologies (ict) provide many options, so educational institutions are creating competitive advantages for themselves through the alternatives they offer to students, such as choosing what and where to learn (oliver, 2003; sánchez & ursini, 2010). the use of ict is also closely linked to the development of skills such as: creativity, logical reasoning, critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, networking, etc. (ivanova, 2016). that is the reason of its importance in education as a tool that allows the teacher to better provide learning and knowledge to students, who are immersed in a new environment with www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 15 published by scholink inc. potential means and resources to improve (colom et al., 1988). it is possible to say that any ict can become a means of teaching if it meets or helps to meet the learning objectives. in schools, students perform tasks and practices on computers, and sometimes on smartphones, as part of their learning process. however, at home they prefer to do other activities with electronic devices that they have, for example, play video games. although they are not well seen by many parents and teachers, video games go hand in hand with the new technologies that teenagers are strongly adopting, at the same time that their commercial popularity begins to transpose in several of the daily activities (annetta, 2008). but there are factors that prevent the majority adoption of ict in education, including lack of support, training and motivation (torrente et al., 2008). therefore, it is essential to develop new techniques that attract students’ attention and at the same time provide them with school knowledge. also, students should feel identified with the medium or product they are using to achieve greater interaction and understanding, as users or consumers, students only accept or reject the final product. but beyond this they have no major influence or decision power, so they see the product as something distant and do not feel any loyalty towards it. however, when students belong to the same community, they share a bond based on common characteristics and interests. they are no longer only considered as users or consumers of the product, but they intervene in its configuration, actively contribute to its creation and help to delineate the form it will take in the different stages of its development until the end. since a community is not a separate entity that will only consume the product, but is co-creator, it will always embrace the end result and feel loyal to it. this represents a clear advantage over products or works focused on some platform and that see the audience only as final consumers. at the metropolitan polytechnic university of hidalgo (upmh), since 2017 a math propedeutic course has been implemented to try to level the knowledge of new students according to the requirements of higher education. historically, this area has been complex for most teenagers in the country, so the university continually starts extracurricular courses. however, despite the great effort that is made, the results have not been as expected. three years after the beginning, about 20% of students fail the course, especially in those careers where mathematics is not essential, although necessary, as is the educational program of engineering in animation and visual effects (iaev). for this reason, this research is aimed at the participatory production by iaev students for the design, development and application of an educational videogame that helps the teaching-learning process within the math course to enter the educational program. this is intended to reduce the failure rate and make new students feel identified with engineering from the beginning, since the video game offers feedback on the topics seen in class and at the same time enjoys virtual environments that students will be able to create at some point in the career. the development of these new learning models complements the traditional ones, highlighting that they are ict that most teenagers like. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 16 published by scholink inc. 2. mathematics propedeutic course upmh is a public university located in the metropolitan area of pachuca, mexico. its purpose is to provide higher education in the levels of bachelor’s degree, engineering, technological specialization and other postgraduate studies, as well as updating courses in its various modalities, to prepare professionals with a solid scientific, technological training and in civic and ethical values, aware of the national context in the economic, political and social (www.upmetropolitana.edu.mx). achieving the aforementioned purpose requires the redesign of learning situations through new didactic strategies, since the new profile of students requires the development of a series of skills where not only knowledge is acquired for problem solving, but also useful skills in everyday and specific contexts of each profession (rodríguez gallegos, 2016). the university teaches special courses for the development of skills that contribute to the training of students. one of these courses is the math propedeutic, which is a requirement for students to enter any educational program. the purpose of the course is for new students to have the same basic knowledge, since the subjects related to mathematics are those with the highest failure rate. in the iaev educational program, mathematics-based subjects are part of the common trunk curriculum, so all students must accredit them. for this career, the propedeutic course covers topics of arithmetic and algebra, since subjects such as linear algebra and vector calculus reached reprobation rates close to 40% before the course was implemented. however, after three years of starting the procedure (september 2017 august 2020), the results were not as expected, since 30% of the students still failed the subjects mentioned. and worse, about 20% of the students did not pass the propedeutic course, showing that they did not have at least the knowledge of the upper middle level. for this reason, the iaev academic body considered the need to redesign the course through methodologies and didactic techniques that were pleasing and functional for its students. the measures were based on the reformulation of teaching through various educational video games developed by professors and students of the career based on their experiences in the course. this is intended to reduce the failure rate and prevent students from dropping out. 3. educational video games from the use of interactive whiteboards, educational videos, virtual platforms, mobile applications and much more, the use of ict is increasing. one of the media with the greatest future is the use of video games and virtual environments. the most important use of video games in classrooms consists in those that are designed and developed, from the beginning, to have an educational component. in these cases, the game is designed to teach a specific educational content and it is introduced to encourage student motivation. educational video games allow complementing, and sometimes replacing, more traditional resources. gros (2009) mentions that these video games “aim to use the advantages they provide, but their fundamental objective is not entertainment but learning.” likewise, durall (2009) adds that “they have the objective of creating bridges between the recreational and the real world and for this reason they www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 17 published by scholink inc. have been used as a means for education, learning new concepts, awareness, social or political denunciation and even propaganda, marketing and advertising.” the use of educational video games is an attractive and motivating element for the school population, since learning is implicit through hidden concepts in challenges and activities, as well as the application of collaborative learning techniques that allow students to develop their social skills while learning (padilla et al., 2012). for this reason, learning based on icts, through fun and group tasks, should be considered within the educational classrooms, acquiring curricular skills, developing a research thinking, socializing the experiences, that is, experiencing different models, methodologies and educational experiences according to the possibilities they offer (cabero & aguaded, 2014). in addition, they are highly interactive compared to traditional activities and can be a powerful source of data for all forms of evaluation (serrano-laguna et al., 2014). as strong means of a technological-digital nature, the use of videogames can produce two types of benefits: the socio-affective dimension of the dynamization of group relationships and collective work based on reflection on content that materializes in applicable behaviors and values to everyday behaviors and, their contribution to the development of skills and abilities such as eye-manual coordination, the development of spatiality, psychomotor control, problem solving, imagination development, thinking, memory and treatment of information, (aguilar & farray, 2003). working with interactive tools can mean a better understanding of students of concepts of difficult traditional explanation. video games increase the motivation for learning various subjects, so their use in schools responds to a need for use, since most students perform this activity on a regular basis (morales, 2009). 4. participative process normally, a video game production with high quality standards, however small, is a complex, expensive, difficult process that involves a lot of work time. it is common that video game creators to be unable to produce their creations due to economic constraints and lack of technical or human equipment. sometimes, after an arduous effort the creator faces the difficulty of getting his work to the public, or that their work is not accepted by the audience despite all the work, money and time spent. given this situation, in recent years new production models have emerged that radically change the traditional way of approaching the creation of video games, applications and new media. if the creator normally cared about the platform he would use for his work (console, cell phone, computer, etc.) and his target market, now the creator focuses on the community for which the work is intended. the current production paradigms propose to implement the participation of the community in the production processes existing in its environment (rolnik, 2009). this measure seeks to guarantee the viability, legitimacy and applicability of proposals that do not depend exclusively on the technical sector, but assume the population as the main recipient and executor of the actions related to production. however, the task of carrying out participatory processes is complex and sometimes unfeasible, since the community and technicians have naturalized a unidirectional production model, characterized by social www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 18 published by scholink inc. and urban fragmentation, which in most cases do not take into account the needs of the majority of the population (boldrini, 2015). in this sense, harvey (2007) states that production, in any field, requires an imaginative exercise, the mobilization of desires and actions to respond to needs. however, he affirms that this process is denied to most of society in industrial capitalism, establishing and naturalizing a deeply alienating situation, so many times community participation is not total. the first element to highlight is that a “process” is not an exclusive moment but a succession of moments or actions. the second element is the adjective “participatory”, which assumes that different people take part, debate and propose. that is, when talking about a “participatory process” it refers to a sum of participatory moments and actions (workshops, group dynamics, meetings, interactive exhibitions, virtual forums or work groups, creative shows, etc.) related to the participation of different representative people to provide different perspectives or visions in relation to an issue on which a decision is to be made (eudel, 2008). the reality is that participation is not a fixed state, it is a process through which people can gain more or less degrees of development intervention. what really determines people’s participation is the degree of decision they have in the process. success will depend, among other things, on the organization of the people themselves, the flexibility of the institution, and the availability of all actors (geilfus, 2002). it is evident to underline the decisive role of the public in the reconfiguration of all aspects of cultural consumption (roig, 2011). however, it is also true that every process generates uncertainty, has unpredictable moments, does not progress linearly, nor does it always have the same actors and actresses. therefore, in order to manage the processes, it cannot be pretended that there are regulations or norms that are capable of collecting all the casuistry and giving a standardized response for situations that have not been foreseen. it is for this reason that, in order to promote and manage processes, methodologies are needed more than standards, understanding the methodology as the set of strategies capable of developing and implementing the unforeseeable situations. the strategies do not give sure answers, but they point out ways to follow and allow the participatory process to be redesigned flexibly according to how it is progressing (eudel, 2008). 5. video game development as in all audiovisual production, the production staff made a proposal of steps to create the video game and present a good story. therefore, a diagram was established with the stages to follow for the realization of the video game. the only thing clear is that algebraic issues should be addressed for new students. the key to achieving a good video game is to find a balance between script and gameplay. normally the gameplay is the essence of the medium, since no matter how good a game is, it is very difficult for a person to finish it if the mechanics of the game itself is bad. the suggested elements to create the script were:  choose genre  create a character www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 19 published by scholink inc.  create the story  merge story with gameplay having these steps to follow was important, since the script had to mix classic elements of the narrative, such as the characters, the narrator or the dialogues; with elements of the contests, such as the challenge, the competition, or the puzzles to solve. at a structural level, as video games are not usually linear like a movie, they usually work with trees that fork as the players make their own decisions. so, each branch should be developed, thinking about the characters, what they should do, in what location and what the gameplay will be. finally, it was proposed to have meetings with students to determine the viability of the video game. 5.1 session i: script the first group work session was held with senior students, as they have more knowledge and provide better opinions on screenwriting. in the session they were explained what the project consisted of and after answering a brief questionnaire with questions such as: do you like the idea of the video game?, do you think it helps the students of the propedeutic?, and would you use entertainment to learn mathematics?, the viability of production was determined. the next thing was to try to establish the script and therefore the gameplay. for this, the points of the initial proposal were discussed:  choose genre: being the first point to be treated, students showed apathy and accepted all the proposals of the teachers. but as time went by, students changed their position and gave several recommendations about the video game. first, it must be in the third person so that the player identifies with the character and endorses the story. then, a genre of platforms where the player must overcome obstacles, defeat enemies and collect objects: teacher: we agree that it must be fully educational (video game), since the purpose is for students to learn mathematics. student 1: i think genre should be rethought. as such, mathematics is tedious. if you only put numbers, it will be boring for everyone. student 2: it should be a platform game, with challenges and prizes. student 3: sure, a good story with challenges, whoever solves it faster earns more points. student 1: the challenges could be mathematical applications, which are not simple operations, but as they apply in daily life.  create a character: the main proposal was to illustrate a character with notable contributions in mathematics. the character on the cover of algebra’s book whose author is a. baldor came to mind. in the end it was decided to open a call for participants to make their designs with that character or any other that met the conditions. the next session was given to define the character.  create the story: everyone agreed that the story of the game should be divided into levels or missions that the player had to solve until its end. the challenge now was to develop a good story, since the more the player identifies with the story and the need to solve the challenge, the more addictive the game will be. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 20 published by scholink inc.  merge history with gameplay: it was not possible to determine it because the game mechanics cannot be traced without a story. it was generally defined that the game would be in the third person and that the character would have freedom of movement. in addition, it was considered to set a time limit, set a score, have several opportunities to solve a problem, and establish help clues. the above without forgetting the purpose of the video game, so it was proposed to work with expert teachers in mathematics to create a product that is a learning tool. it was also agreed to create social networks to place the progress of the project and anyone could give their opinion. 5.2 session ii: character the social networks implemented were a success, they managed to make a large part of the university community belonging to iaev aware of the project. this was reflected in a considerable number of messages on the blog of the website, the attendance of students of all grades to the sessions, as well as in a large participation to choose the character of the video game. 46 proposals were received, of which most were related to al-juarismi from the book algebra. others were starring carl friedrich gauss, who is considered the prince of mathematics. a third prominent option was hypatia of alexandria, who is the first known mathematician woman. there were more proposals such as: pythagoras of samos, isaac newton, alan turing or leonhard euler, but they did not transcend. after reviewing the designs and reading the biography of each of the mathematicians, the pros and cons were stated. the relevant thing arose when talking about hypatia, since the women present considered her the best option: professor: now we will talk about hypatia. student 1: she would be fine, animation (iaev) is an engineering with many women studying it, a game with a female character would attract more attention. student 2: women play less. with her they would feel identified. student 1: although she didn’t contribute much like gauss or others, being the first mathematician in history says a lot about her. student 3: in this era of gender equity a woman as the main character is suitable. student 4: it is part of learning. those who play will know who hypatia is, the other characters are already known or will be recognized for their theorems. student 5: there’s even a movie about her: agora. the arguments given by the students changed the public’s perspective, accepting that hypatia has many favorable aspects. at the end, the vote was taken to choose the character, the vast majority voted for hypatia of alexandria and specifically for a sketch that portrayed her perfectly according to the existing photos. for the production of the character, activities such as modeling, uv mapping, texturing, rigging, animation and state machine are contemplated, using specialized software such as maya, zbrush, photoshop and blender. figure 1 illustrates the sketch and production of the character that took three weeks to complete. the next thing was to define the story of the video game. teams were formed to write proposals and in the next session they would choose the best one, in addition to looking for math teachers to analyze topics and algebraic exercises. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 21 published by scholink inc. figure 1. main character 5.3 session iii: mathematic content the session was destined to the work in the game’s story, but it was possible to contact and take expert teachers in mathematics, so that was the central theme. in addition, first grade students were cited to share their experiences and mention the issues that were most difficult for them when they took the propedeutic course. although the course syllabus is broad, most of the students agreed on the fundamental topics: student 1: algebra is the basis of everything. until i learned to isolate, i could solve more difficult problems. student 2: not only isolating, also operations with polynomials. student 3: and factoring... i don’t remember the formulas (theorems). it would be good to put them in the game in the form of messages. student 1: knowing how to isolate and operations (polynomials) is enough. the other themes are based on them. student 4: yes. the syllabus includes linear equations of one or more unknowns and quadratic equations. but the above is the basis. student 3: but the game must include them. it should go from the easiest to the most difficult. teacher: the basics are (algebraic) expressions. after the operations. student 3: then the linear equations with unknowns and finally the quadratic equations. according to the curriculum of the propedeutic course and the comments of the students, the teachers divided the content into six areas: algebraic expressions, algebraic operations, notable products and factoring, first degree equations, systems of equations, and second-degree equations. 5.4 session iv: story much of the story was determined in social networks in advance, as the various teams reached an agreement on the course that the game should take. participants agreed to create six stages and each of them would cover an algebraic theme. in particular, the stages would be cities worldwide where important www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 22 published by scholink inc. contributions to mathematics have occurred. the character had to travel to each city to solve the challenges and level up. in addition, pieces had to be collected so that in the end the mathematical symbol of infinity could be constructed. during the session, the first thing was to establish the cities. it was determined that mexico city should be one of them, although it does not have many contributions to the field. the list of cities and their relationship with the mathematical content is:  level 1: algebraic expressions cairo, egypt.  level 2: algebraic operations paris, france.  level 3: notable products and factoring moscow, russia.  level 4: first degree equations tokyo, japan.  level 5: systems of equations new york, united states of america.  level 6: second degree equations mexico city, mexico. a student proposed an evil character to be added to the story, as every video game has, in order to make it more attractive. this generated controversy since other students argued that the purpose of the videogame is didactic, so it is not necessary to have an antagonistic character: student 1: don’t you think an evil character is necessary? teacher: it’s an educational game. with getting a reward at the end i think that is enough. student 2: an evil character can divert attention from the game. student 1: and is not part of the purpose? play and learn at the same time perhaps without realizing it? student 3: in every game there is an antagonistic. student 1: it could be added, but not like to fight him. but to distract the character. the one who laughs when we’re wrong. student 3: it would make it more attractive. and along with time there would be two obstacles to overcome. in the end it was decided to add antagonistic characters, one for each level. their purpose is merely to distract the user and press it to end on time, at the end of the level, the character disappears. with this, the story was established as follows: in mexico city there is a sculpture of the infinite mathematical symbol, which is destroyed by antagonistic characters, who take the pieces to different places, the main character must go to these places to recover the pieces, which is achieved by solving algebraic problems in a timely manner. all this is presented in an animated intro. the next thing to do was to specify the gameplay, for this, teams were defined again with the intention of generating proposals. 5.5 session v: gameplay again, students agreed on some points in advance through the website and social networks. they also visited math teachers to establish possible exercises and adapt them to each level. among the agreements reached, it is worth highlighting that the exercises will be dispersed throughout the stage and the user will have to find them to solve them. in addition, clues of how to solve the exercise will be included, as www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 23 published by scholink inc. well as trophies to those who finish them faster and make fewer mistakes in order to improve their final score. obviously, there will be a time limit to solve each exercise and finish each level, but this will depend on its complexity. in each level there will be between 5 and 10 exercises to be solved according to the established time, and they will be obtained randomly from a combo of at least 30 exercises, so they will hardly be the same if a person plays several times. the session focused on trying to adapt the mathematical content, history and gameplay with the levels of the video game. the first thing was to create scenes based on the proposed cities, which would not follow the original layout of the place, but would include its main monuments and characteristics, so that the user could quickly identify each location. afterwards, the different teams went on to expose their game form, in total there were 4 proposals for each level. one by one the best one was chosen according to the opinions of the students and teachers. a brief description of each level is:  level 1: the stage represents the valley of the kings, where the tomb of tutankhamen and the pyramid complex of giza are located. the objective is to collect ancient objects that have letters or numbers to form the algebraic terms that are requested in temples and pyramids.  level 2: the tour begins at the eiffel tower and ends at the arc de triomphe, including the champs elysees and the louvre museum. it is necessary to solve the operations of polynomials written on the lamps. this is done by spheres of light that fall slowly, each one with algebraic terms.  level 3: it is located in the red square, with various buildings such as the st. basil’s cathedral and the kremlin. the player must find the treasure chests that are scattered. these chests contain an equation and open only if the notable products or factoring is successful.  level 4: it is an environment of the shibuya neighborhood, a modern shopping and entertainment district. the mission is to walk through the food stalls and stores to buy requested accessories. the price payable is obtained by solving a first-degree equation.  level 5: the framework is located in the streets of new york city, with the statue of liberty and central park. the purpose is to visit different places and solve problems of systems of equations about the number of animals in the zoo, souvenirs in the store, taxis in the street, etc.  level 6: it is located in the zocalo of mexico city with the palace of fine arts, the angel of independence and a part of teotihuacán. the task is to climb the pyramids and palaces to find hieroglyphs of second-degree equations and solve them using the general quadratic formula. all this was reflected in various storyboards that students made in days after the session. 5.6 session vi: production of virtual stages the storyboards were reviewed jointly between teachers and students on several occasions so that they were ready in this session, in which teams were formed to make all the 3d models and virtual stages of the 6 levels of the video game. each team was formed by approximately 20 students of all grades. due to the high participation, particular activities were defined for each of them with the purpose of shortening production times, since it is a very slow and detailed process. the complicated thing came at the end of the session, since it was very difficult for all students to work at the same pace. this is because at the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 24 published by scholink inc. same time they had to fulfill their academic, sports and even work activities. having as consequence that some students did not begin with the task assigned because they depended on the work of other people. likewise, as there was a diversity of degrees and knowledge in the students, some had difficulties to perform their tasks, so other students had to provide help, which was reflected in a slow progress in the production of the stages and pessimism in great part of the participants: student 1: hey teacher, the fifth-grade students are very late with the models. professor: how many have they made? student 1: for russia they are about 40 and they have barely completed 10. i think we should get more people. we are already helping them. professor: they tell me that they have had a lot of homework in their subjects. student 1: it will take us a long time; without the models we cannot move forward. student 2: modeling may be a slow process; i think we should all help them or we will not finish. student 1: several students are already realizing how difficult it will be. let’s hope they don’t quit. professor: let me talk to them. there were many people who wanted to participate. derived from the above, 5 more students were added to each team to try to finish according to what was established. the stipulated time to complete this part was 8 weeks, however, it took 12 weeks to have all the stages. once all the digital models have been created, they are exported to the virtual environment developed in the unity software, where all the development of the city is carried out according to the storyboard. also, the programming of the character and some objects is made so that they have the ability to move. in addition, background music and sounds are introduced for certain elements such as jumps, steps, strokes, etc. figure 2 contains images of the 6 levels. despite the long time it took to finish this activity, the results were positive, since high quality was achieved in the virtual models and stages. figure 2. virtual stages www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 25 published by scholink inc. 5.7 session vii: testing after a hard work in the development of the videogame, the last session was reached, which consisted of several students performing tests to verify its operation. it is clear that several errors were found, among which some stand out: the character went through objects, the texts could not be read, textures were poorly placed, the successes in the exercises were not listed, among others. fortunately, they were solved satisfactorily in the following days. once this was done, the beta version of the videogame was made, which means that it is practically finished, so it can be used on a desktop or laptop computer. for students, designing and developing a video game was a challenge, but when they tried the video game they had created, they were impressed. leaving aside the problems in the operation of the game, the comments were favorable no matter to what grade they belonged to: student 1: i didn’t think we were able to do it. it looks great. student 2: the graphics look real. it’s not a grand theft auto, but i would buy it. student 3: the gameplay is excellent; it entertains you at all times. student 4: the character moves well, almost like a person. student 5: it was a good job of all areas. we should make a living of this. 6. video game’s application as in any project, the measurement and evaluation processes seek to identify the effects, impacts and efficiency of the product. if it is not measured and evaluated, there is no feedback and the results are not known nor weaknesses and strengths identified. to demonstrate the efficiency of the video game, it was considered as part of the evaluation of the second part of the september december 2020 propedeutic course. in total there were 4 groups, but it was decided to start the application with only two. most of the students mentioned that they had never played an educational videogame, only mobile applications that described step by step how to develop a specific process. the teacher of the course considered it important for students to apply a brief written test before and after using the video game, in order to measure how good the feedback is. the exam consisted of 5 exercises similar to those presented in the video game. the results were not favorable. from a total of 58 students divided into 2 groups (a and b): 4 had 5 correct answers, 9 had 4 correct answers, 20 had 3 correct answers, 15 had 2 correct answers, 7 had 1 correct answer, and 3 had no correct answers at all. the goal was for students to improve their scores after using the video game. like every first time, the beginning of the game was slow and doubtful for the students. but after a while, they improved and got used to the gameplay. students used the video game for approximately 1 hour, as seen in figure 3. it should be noted that almost 95% of the students (55 of 58) were able to complete a level of the game on time. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 26 published by scholink inc. figure 3. application’s use the students left the classroom talking about the video game and commenting on how they solved a certain operation, which means that the game generated interest. some of the comments at the end of the game were: student 1: it was a fun video game and it helps to reinforce the knowledge i already have. student 2: the game was difficult but good. student 3: i didn’t remember how to solve the exercises, but i saw the clues and i could complete the level. student 4: with this way of learning i would go to classes daily. student 5: i really liked the scenery and the gameplay. minutes later, students returned to the classroom to solve another version of the exam. they felt more confident than they did before and that was reflected in the favorable results, since: 9 had 5 correct answers, 18 had 4 correct answers, 21 had 3 correct answers, 8 had 2 correct answers, 2 had 1 correct answer, and 0 had no correct answers. looking at the results, it is remarkable that the video game helped students review the topics seen in class and increase their knowledge. days later, the same process was applied to the two remaining groups of the propedeutic (c and d), obtaining similar results. table 1 contains the complete information of the tests performed on the 4 propedeutic groups. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 27 published by scholink inc. table 1. test results before and after the video game group first test total 0 ca 1 ca 2 ca 3 ca 4 ca 5 ca a 0 4 5 11 5 3 28 b 3 3 10 9 4 1 30 c 1 2 7 13 7 2 32 d 0 3 6 10 7 2 28 total 4 12 28 43 23 8 118 % 3.38 10.16 23.72 36.44 19.49 6.77 100 group second test total 0 ca 1 ca 2 ca 3 ca 4 ca 5 ca a 0 1 2 10 9 6 28 b 0 1 6 11 9 3 30 c 0 0 3 14 11 4 32 d 0 1 2 10 10 5 28 total 0 3 13 45 39 18 118 % 0 2.54 11.01 38.13 33.05 15.25 100 ca: correct answer the video game was still used for the rest of the course and complemented the evaluation of the global exam. in the end the improvement was evident, since close to 90% of the students passed the propedeutic. the teachers in turn highlighted that the video game changed the students’ perspective about mathematics, given the fact that before the game, they considered mathematics complicated and boring, but after playing the game, they found them enjoyable and entertaining, which translated into a better understanding and greater learning. in addition, by belonging to iaev they appreciated the work of their peers and were motivated to continue with their studies. the methodological strategy implemented during the development of the videogame complies with attracting students to obtain feedback on their knowledge and skills, in addition to increasing their interest and developing thinking processes, breaking the stereotype that mathematics cannot be taught in a fun way. due to the good results, the way of using the videogame was projected as an additional educational resource in the propedeutic course. the plan is that teachers use it at the end of each topic and be part of their evaluation. table ii shows the percentages of success and failure in various academic periods. it should be noted that, in the subjects of the area of mathematics belonging to the curriculum of the career, the failure rate decreased to 15% in the groups that previously used the video game, which was a significant advance. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 28 published by scholink inc. table 2. comparison between among different academic periods academic period new students to iaev % approved students % failed students sep-dec 2017 88 73.86 26.13 may-aug 2018 44 72.73 27.27 sep-dec 2018 90 68.88 31.12 may-aug 2019 63 74.60 25.40 sep-dec 2019 102 79.41 20.59 may-aug 2020 71 77.46 22.53 sep-dec 2020* 118 88.98 11.02 may-aug 2021* 79 91.13 8.87 sep-dec 2021* 137 89.78 10.22 may-aug 2022* 95 93.68 6.32 * using the video game the use of video games in the classroom has been a topic of discussion in recent years. supporters mention that students should be taught with things that appeal to them, since with the advance of technology traditional methods have lost strength and interest, so it is necessary to use video games to bring students closer to didactic subjects. detractors mention that video games have problems of violence, addiction, isolation and sexism, so they divert attention from priority educational problems and generate aggressive or pathological behaviors. the reality is that the opinions expressed by players about video games are extremely varied, from curiosity to indifference to fascination, although the general opinion is of acceptance of them (de aguilera, 2013) people cannot ignore the changes that occur in society and the impact they generate on education, with teachers using ict as a didactic strategy. this new condition can be an alternative to break the monotony and boredom that characterizes certain school spaces that have little congruence with what happens outside them. green and mcneese (2007) suggest that teachers’ reluctance to incorporate digital games in the classroom is inconsistent with the influx of college students who grew up with them. digital games remain an option to improve educational curricula in order to increase retained knowledge (wiggins, 2016). 7. conclusions nowadays, it is vitally important for the community to be involved in the production processes that concern them, as this increases the sense of belonging and identification of people to their community. for this reason, the design, development and implementation of an educational video game on algebra was carried out for students of the math course of animation and visual effects engineering, having as www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 29 published by scholink inc. main feature the participation of a large part of the students’ community in each of the stages, from the script to testing. the goal is for students to do a daily activity they enjoy, such as playing video games, and at the same time reinforce their knowledge about algebra. obviously, it was a complex job, since each student has a different vision that is determined to implement. however, as time goes by, and through the opinions of the entire community on various technological platforms, a consensus was reached on the work. the project was carried out in approximately 10 months and about 400 students participated. by testing the video game in various groups, the students managed to succeed at various levels and improved their score on the written exams that were applied to them, which resulted in a lower failure rate compared to previous generations. in addition, the comments were positive, as it served as feedback of the things they could do in the career. therefore, a math video game is a teaching learning method with a promising future. references aguilar, m. v., & farray, j. i. (2003). los videojuegos. comunicación y pedagogía, 191, 33-36. annetta, l. a. (2008). video games in education: why they should be used and how they are being used. theory into practice, 47(3), 229-239. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840802153940 boldrini, p. (2015). producción participativa del hábitat popular. aportes metodológicos a partir del estudio del gran san miguel de tucumán 2000-2010. estudios de hábitat, 13(1), 61-75. cabero, j., & aguaded, j. i. (2014). tecnologías y medios para la educación en la e-sociedad. madrid: alianza editorial. colom, a., salinas, j., & sureda, j. (1988). tecnología y medios educativos. barcelona: cincel-kapelusz. de aguilera, m., & mendiz, a. (2003). video games and education: (education in the face of a “parallel school”). computers in entertainment (cie), 1(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1145/950566.950583 durall, e. (2009). mas allá del entretenimiento: juegos serios. comunicación y pedagogía: nuevas tecnologías y recursos didácticos, 239, 19-23. eudel. (2008). guía práctica ¿cómo realizar un proceso participativo de calidad?. bilbao: asociación de municipios vascos. geilfus, f. (1997). 80 herramientas para el desarrollo participativo: diagnóstico, planificación, monitoreo y evaluación. san salvador: instituto interamericano de cooperación para la agricultura (iica)-gtz. green, m., & mcneese, m. n. (2007). using edutainment software to enhance online learning. international journal on e-learning, 6(1), 5-16. gros, b. (2009). el uso de los videojuegos para la formación universitaria y corporativa. comunicación y pedagogía: nuevas tecnologías y recursos didácticos, 239, 14-18. harvey, d. (2007). espacios del capital. hacia una geografía crítica. madrid: akal. ivanova, o. (2016). translation and ict competence in the globalized world. procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 231, 129-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.09.081 https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840802153940 https://doi.org/10.1145/950566.950583 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.09.081 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 30 published by scholink inc. morales, e. (2009). el uso de los videojuegos como recurso de aprendizaje en educación primaria y teoría de la comunicación. diálogos de la comunicación, 78, 1-12. oliver, r. (2003). the role of ict in higher education for the 21st century: ict as a change agent for education. paper presented at the higher education for the 21st century conference, curtin university. padilla, n., collazos, c., gutiérrez, f., & medina, n. (2012). videojuegos educativos: teorías y propuestas para el aprendizaje en grupo. ciencia e ingeniería neogranadina, 22(1), 139. https://doi.org/10.18359/rcin.254 rodríguez gallegos, r., & quiroz rivera, s. (2016). el papel de la tecnología en el proceso de modelación matemática para la enseñanza de las ecuaciones diferenciales. revista latinoamericana de investigación en matemática educativa, 19(1), 99-124. https://doi.org/10.12802/relime.13.1914 rolnik, r. (2009). la democracia en el filo de la navaja: límites y posibilidades para la implementación de una agenda de reforma urbana en brasil. eure (santiago), 35(104), 5-28. https://doi.org/10.4067/s0250-71612009000100001 sánchez, g., & ursini, s. (2010). actitudes hacia las matemáticas y matemáticas con tecnología: estudios de género con estudiantes de secundaria. revista latinoamericana de investigación en matemática educativa, 13(4), 303-318. serrano-laguna, á., torrente, j., moreno-ger, p., & fernández-manjón, b. (2014). application of learning analytics in educational videogames. entertainment computing, 5(4), 313-322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2014.02.003 roig, a. (2011). trabajo colaborativo en la producción cultural y el entretenimiento. barcelona: universitat oberta de catalunya. torrente, j., moreno-ger, p., fernández-manjón b., & sierra j. (2008). instructor-oriented authoring tools for educational videogames. ieee international conference on advanced learning technologies, 516-518. https://doi.org/10.1109/icalt.2008.177 wiggins, b. e. (2016). an overview and study on the use of games, simulations, and gamification in higher education. international journal of game-based learning (ijgbl), 6(1), 18-29. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijgbl.2016010102 https://doi.org/10.18359/rcin.254 https://doi.org/10.12802/relime.13.1914 https://doi.org/10.4067/s0250-71612009000100001 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2014.02.003 https://doi.org/10.1109/icalt.2008.177 https://doi.org/10.4018/ijgbl.2016010102 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper exploring food cultures through art: meeting people where they are at kim beasy1* & leah page1 1 university of tasmania, launceston, australia * kim beasy, university of tasmania, launceston, australia received: june 21, 2021 accepted: july 8, 2021 online published: july 14, 2021 doi:10.22158/elsr.v2n3p47 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v2n3p47 abstract engaging people in critical conversations about food practices is often challenging. in this paper, we explore how an exhibition was used as an educative site to explore food insecurity and food cultures and to promote food ethics and healthy eating. surveys and interviews from the opening night of an exhibition were collected and bourdieu’s habitus was used to theoretically inform analysis. the diversity of artworks displayed were found to provoke critical reflection about food cultures among participants. findings revealed the exhibition was a non-intrusive space for meeting people ‘where they were at’ in understandings of food and food practice. artworks were found to evoke reflections on food as a cultural phenomenon and as a deeply personal component of everyday worlds. the tensions in making food choices and food as agentic in participants lives were highlighted. findings suggest that exhibitions may support critical engagement with food practice when audiences are given opportunities to discuss their thoughts and ideas. keywords food practices, habitus, art, bourdieu, agency 1. introduction for many people, the consumption of food is deeply personal—by default, changing our habits and practices in the consumption of food becomes deeply personal. research has shown that individuals are more likely to change their food practices when they make decisions to change on their own accord (mackenzie & watts, 2019). while this seems a sensible conclusion, it is a profound finding considering the continued efforts by dietitians, nutritionists and those invested in food transitions for sustainability, to convince people that their food practice needs to change. engaging people in personalised ways that recognise the social and cultural meanings they associate with food was a 47 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 recommendation made by chen (2016), who revealed the complexities for low income mothers in adopting healthy food practices. to progress food change agendas, ways of educating people that are non-threatening, but encourage reflection on individual practices and at the same time present alternatives, need to be found. the arts can promote reflection and ‘awareness of what it is to be in this world’ among those viewing it (greene, 1995, p. 35) and have become increasingly recognised as a communicative platform to raise awareness of food insecurity and sustainable food practices (smith, 2016; zenith community arts foundation, 2011). crossick, kaszynska and gilmore’s (2015) report understanding the value of arts and culture suggests that the arts can contribute to better outcomes across a number of social issues, including food justice, health and environment through provocation and education. they note, ‘the arts can provide spaces within which alternative ways of thinking, imagining and acting may take shape’ (2015, p. 63). the authors focus on how the arts can foster the reflective individual and the engaged citizen, but have been criticised for the sparse evidence used to support these claims (farrell, 2016). resonating with these claims, watson (2007, p. 1) suggests museums too have the ‘power to shape collective values and social understandings’. in this paper, we contribute to the limited research that explores how art can be used as an educative tool to engage with food practices (crossick, kaszynska, & gilmore, 2015). we explore how an exhibition in tasmania, australia, curated to promote healthy food cultures, was interpreted by attendees. based on the 2014-15 national health survey, tasmania had the highest rate of persons aged 18 years and over who were overweight or obese (67.5%). research investigating these statistics suggest that the low socioeconomic (ses) status of tasmania, as well as the state’s aging demographic (denny, 2018), increase issues relating to food security, which in effect results in adverse health (le et al., 2013). while we acknowledge that accessibility of local, nutritious food needs to be a priority, equally, the constitution of food as a cultural practice that is socially located, must be considered. like maguire (2016), we share a similar ‘attentiveness to the situatedness and complexity of food practices and preferences’ among individuals which has informed this research. we draw on habitus as a way of understanding bodies as dynamic and adaptive, embodying past experiences while adapting to the necessities of the conditions in the present moment. this recognises individuals as individuals, not defined by demographic indicators, but rather, connected through complex and dialectical interactions with the social world (beasy, 2018, 2019, 2021). reay (2004) describes habitus as the body being present in the social world as well as the social world being present in the body. expanding this idea, reay (2004) implies that social worlds are always located within the individual, through practical reason and performances in fields—in this paper, we reflect on food practice logics embodied in habitus. habitus resonates as a conceptual tool for acknowledging and working with the situatedness of knowing and being, which we use to explore the dialectical relations between participants positioning and their perceptions of the exhibition (bourdieu, 1984a). 48 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 this frame is applied in recognition of the consumption of food as a complex socially and culturally located practice (bourdieu, 1984a) and in recognition that art, too, occurs within a social, political, artistic, and cultural context (kuttner, 2015). bourdieu incorporates analysis of social context in understanding social phenomenon, through questions that consider simultaneously how the social environment and the resources an agent can access, influence individual agency. to consider how visual arts may contribute to moving communities towards reflecting on their food practices, we ask how do people interpret arts about food that have an educative focus? to explore this question, we focus on the experiences and interpretations of participants at an art exhibition, the ‘imagining food exhibition’. 1.1 the exhibition imagining food: art, aesthetics and design was an exhibition focused on food ‘as more than a means of sustaining life, but as a motif that colours the patterns of life’ (university of tasmania, 2017). works of various forms including painting, sculpture, photography, furniture, craft, installation and mixed media were exhibited for public display in a university’s visual arts gallery. whilst the brief of the exhibition was not to educate or inform audiences about food related issues, this was a strong driver in making decisions about presenting the works for the exhibition curators (bywaters, personal communication, 2017). the imagining food exhibition visually presented aspects of the food industry (including the culling of calves in the dairy industry) that are often hidden from view in society. the artists’ intent to act as provocateur, reflects a pedagogical approach of discomfort which seeks to challenge viewers to think deeply about what is represented in the artwork (leibowitz et al., 2010; zembylas & boler, 2003). when people feel uncomfortable, they may be encouraged to reflect on their own perspectives and beliefs (zembylas & boler, 2003). faraji (2016) in his doctoral studies found that when people experience something unexpected, it is more likely to be remembered. zembylas and boler (2003) suggest pedagogies that engage people emotionally, particularly in surprising and unexpected ways, can de-centre previously held beliefs (crossick, kaszynska, & gilmore, 2015) and result in more effective learning (although this is most often temporary) (walmsley, 2013). ‘the controversial nature of the subject matter’ encouraged participants to think about the artist’s interpretation and consider their own positioning in relation to it. for some participants, ‘…the more confronting pieces [were] the best’. others noted that they ‘[like] any art that can provoke and jar me. i like it, but i don’t like it. but, i like that it can bring me into a space where i am unsettled. that for me is a marker of quality in terms of how i can interact with it’. it was in these moments of discomfort that participants often made a personal connection to an art piece. 49 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 2. method participants were recruited on the opening night of the exhibition and asked to participate in a written questionnaire and/or an interview. questions were developed in reference to the key aims of the research project and to the literature (crosskick & kaszynska, 2016; kuttner, 2015). the questionnaire was offered to people as they entered the exhibition, and a secure collection box was used for participants to deposit completed questionnaires on their way out. in the development of an interview schedule, we drew upon phenomenological techniques in framing questions (maggs-rapport, 2000; thompson & coskuner-balli, 2007). for example, in the interview, to stimulate recall of feelings or experience, the following question was asked: has there been anything that you have seen tonight that has made you think about your relationship with food? questions from the survey included: • was there one artwork that stood out the most for you? yes / no can you describe which one (or draw it!)? why did this stand out for you? • do you think the exhibition was delivering a message? yes / no if so, can you briefly explain it? • has the exhibition made you think about your food consumption practices? yes / no can you explain in what way? interviews were recorded and information about the research project was read to participants and informed consent was captured verbally—in alignment with ethics protocols (university of tasmania approved: h0016405)—utilizing a script adapted from a university of oxford (2016) template. interviews were conducted during the exhibition in a quiet location and lasted between 10-30 minutes. forty people submitted a questionnaire and seven people participated in the interviews. participants were predominantly tertiary educated or current university students, were english-speaking, and caucasian. based on survey data, over 40% of participants lived in low socio-economic suburbs, 30% were from high socio-economic suburbs, and those remaining chose not to say (australian bureau of statistics, 2011). 2.1 writing as method in working with the questionnaire and interview transcripts, we employed writing to analyse and interpret the data. writing as method is well known in qualitative research and is used across a number of discipline areas (i.e., education, sustainability scholarship) (colyar, 2009; green, 2015). scholars contend that writing is an ongoing process throughout a research project and integral in forming interpretations of data (moules et al., 2015). colyar positions writing as a ‘learning tool’ in processes of research and as a generative act. she claims that ‘writing is product and process’ (2009, p. 422) (emphasis added). she goes on to say that ‘i will not come to understand my own argument until i have completed the initial draft. only then will i know what i want to say…i cannot draw the roadmap until i know what the road looks like’ (2009, p. 422). 50 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 green similarly advocates that qualitative research ‘…is emergent, exploratory, recursive, an “act of discovery”, of invention’ (2015, p. 6). he posits writing as an indiscriminate component of doing research. he terms this conceptualisation of writing, as ‘research-as-writing’ (2015, p. 5). shown in the extract from the author’s shared research journaling below, we used writing as a process for eliciting meaning. through being open to our own processes of influence, we realised that in many cases, the stories in the data had only been brought to the surface for participants because of the engagement in the research project. why is it that participants needed a moment to think before answering these questions? why don’t we talk more about the relationships we have with food, when food is so central to who we are? maybe it is because of this centrality that relations with food are often overlooked? how does food shape lives and how are lives shaped by it? the exhibition sought to capture our complex and multifaceted relationships with food. participants seemed to recognise these relationships and express mixed feelings about their engagements with food. how does food become an act of identity? we found that writing as method enabled an exploratory approach with opportunities for curiosity and intimacy in interacting with participants’ voice. 3. findings art perception is recognised as a subjective and often individualised activity (crossick, kaszynska, & gilmore, 2015), reflected in the diversity of comments from different participants about one piece of artwork shown below: ‘the piece stood out due to its sculptural element. the fact that you can view it in 360 is quite impactful’, ‘i have never experienced an animal as a piece of art before—quite confronting!’ ‘i am a vegan—it made me feel good about my choices’. how participants interpreted bobby’s silent witness was influenced by how their personal food practices were supported, or by how much they knew of the dairy industry. ‘any art perception involves a conscious or unconscious deciphering operation’ (bourdieu, 1984b, p. 1), which includes drawing on previous experiences and ways of knowing the world in combination with the present context. it is this coming together of perceptions and experiences in processes of meaning-making that occur for every individual, that means the interpretation one viewer makes of an art piece, is in many ways, unique to that individual. 51 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 figure 1. amelia rowe, bobby’s silent witness, 2017. photo by: damien walker this was revealed in the ways that participants engaged in discussion about the art pieces that reflected the intended themes (as detailed by the artists on the artwork descriptor). however, many participants used these interpretations as a point of entry to create their own understandings—assembling their ideas around the artist’s intended representation, complexified with personal questioning and connection (crowther, 1993). for example, one participant reflected on her own food practice around meat consumption after having viewed the bobby calf. the interviews appeared useful in helping participants work through and discuss their ideas about the artworks, with some interviewees expressing appreciation for the opportunity to process their thoughts about the artworks via the interview. there were similarities in the ways that participants interpreted the artworks, reflecting abstract concepts such as universality. another theme throughout the data was the ways that the artworks encouraged participants to reflect on personal ideas and practices of food consumption. the findings suggest that the artwork prompted participants to reflect on food as a constant mediator and connector in their personal social and cultural worlds. 3.1 participant’s understanding of food as cultural artworks in the exhibition prompted participants to think about society and culture more broadly. while food was the theme of the exhibition, one participant in an interview spoke about issues of consumption after viewing an artwork of a skeleton with a knife and fork crossed over the front (figure 2): it made me think about how we strive to be individuals and we strive to be unique through our body image, our skin colour and our race. but when you strip away all the things that make us individual, we are all the same bound by the food of our culture. and so it made me question our whole notion of 52 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 consumption and what we consume to make us who we are as an individual. (sophie, early 20s, university student) figure 2. renee austin, a lifestyle, not a disease, 2017. photo by: damien walker similar to the comment above, another participant in an interview interpreted a different artwork according to the theme of consumption. this artwork was a chicken burger, but rather than a fillet of chicken in the bun, the artwork was a burger bun filled with hundreds of small chickens. [i liked] a piece in the gallery based around the idea of food porn as its very relevant to today because you can’t scroll through social media without finding a…cheeseburger. so the idea of showing that through art, and the whole idea of consumption around food and the idea of kind of the publicizing of food as a product i think is quite interesting. (casey, early 20s, university student) the interpretations of the participants shown here reflect the intended interpretations of the artists. sophie and casey were current university students who reflected a habitus firmly located in education and as noted by bourdieu (1984b, p. 3), ‘educated people are at home with scholarly culture’. their interpretations were sophisticated in the sense that they made connections from the artwork to larger social phenomenon, such as consumption practices and social media. while a similar theme was extracted by sophie and casey in the art pieces, they engaged in different artworks and drew on their personal interests and experiences (i.e., social media) to make sense of the ideas. this suggests that the way social issues are interpreted is influenced by social positioning and by the social worlds that people inhabit, which extends beyond simplified ideas of educational experience in determining ideas/value/interpretations (bourdieu, 1984a; bourdieu, 1990). 53 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 3.2 participant’s understanding of food as personal while participants engaged with a diverse array of artworks, when asked which art piece they liked and why, a similarity in responses was revealed. participants suggested that artworks were most notable when they could relate to them in some way, or make personal connections with them. one participant connected with an artwork of an empty and dishevelled fridge (figure 3) because she identified as a ‘poor uni student’. she saw herself and her experience reflected and captured in the artwork: [i connected with] the fridge with the discarded rubbish which looks a little bit like my fridge as a poor uni student! i think society in general right now is really quite based on food and publicizing food with the rise of fast food and i thought it was a good way to show the effects of that. (sally, early 20s, university student) figure 3. sandra murray, stuart auckland, dr katherine kent, dr simone lee, food desert, 2017. photo by: darren grattidge trent, a mid-20s university student, was drawn only to one art piece because of his work affiliation stating, ‘i work at a restaurant. i am a waiter. this was the only one i connected with’. the image of the chef represented a familiar social field for trent and when prompted to discuss this in more detail, we reflected on the responsibility’s chefs have in producing and making quality food for people. the ways that people are constructed in discourses including imagery influences how it is that ‘people’ relate to them. conrad (2012, p. 1) terms this ‘the resonance ability of the frames presented’. literature suggests that if people cannot identify or connect with a discourse or artefact, then there is less likelihood of engagement with it (conrad, 2012). therefore, reflecting the identities of the intended audience may be 54 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 useful in engaging people in artwork, however, the comments from both sally and trent did not demonstrate any abstracting of the concepts under exploration. instead, these representations acted to affirm identities rather than to promote critical engagement with the underlying themes of the art pieces or in food practice. 3.3 agency and choice in food practices some artworks portrayed concepts of agency in food practice and elicited responses from participants about what and why they eat certain foods. for example, patricia, who was in her mid-40s, said ‘i am a vegan—it made me feel good about my choices/and hoped that this may influence others too’. similar to participants who were validated in their vegan food practices, some participants felt empowered by their choices or their perceived freedom of choice, as prompted through interpretations of the artwork. comments to this effect included abbey, a mid-30s graduate who said, ‘being more mindful of what i consume and implications of what i consume’. abbey enjoyed the confrontation of the exhibit and was particularly struck by one image of a recipe for lemongrass dog. other participants were inspired to re-think their food choices, for example, kathy (age unspecified), suggested that ‘[the exhibition] was interesting and made me think about reconsidering some of my food options’. kathy was struck by it’s a lifestyle not a disease artwork, which had prompted her to think about whether she makes the right food choices. yet, this was contrasted with others who described a sense of powerlessness, or lack of agency in making food choices. for example, halle, an early-20s high school graduate, interpreted the artworks in ways intended by the artist (i.e., exploring consumption and choice), however, came to quite different conclusions regarding what this might mean for her: ‘the foods of our culture define who we are’ and ‘…food and how it can control us’. in these comments, halle positions herself as subservient in her food practice relations. at the same time, she devolves her responsibility and instead concludes that she has little agency over food consumption. literature suggests that relations with food are complex and any sustainable change in food practices must work within socio-cultural conditions—beyond accounting for economic resources or time, but engage with personal histories, tastes and cultural capital to support transitions to new food practices (bourdieu, 1984a; mckenzie & watts, 2019). the comments from some participants about their food practices suggested they were free from cultural and economic capital restraints, such as those that found comfort in their choice to eat a vegan diet. overwhelmingly, veganism is a diet that exists in middle class cultures that greenebaum (2016) argues reflects a privileged position of a food consumer. in contrast, halle and other younger participants felt restricted in navigating their food practices due to their cultural (i.e., ‘foods of our culture define who we are’) and economic (‘poor uni student’) conditions. these findings reveal how participants engaged with artworks for varied reasons and drew conclusions about what the artworks were communicating might mean for them, in ways that were reflective of, and at the same time, symptomatic of, their habitus. 55 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 3.4 food as agentic many participants reflected on the ways that food was a powerful agent in their lives. participants wrestled with this idea in interviews and in qualitative survey comments, and often described the ‘power’ of food in binary terms as well as abstract generalizations. this stumbling for language was interpreted as a struggle for participants, in making sense of how insentient objects (food consumables) could hold power over them (harvey, mckeekin, & warde, 2004). some artworks specifically represented health implications of certain food practices and the power of food to shape states of being. bianca, a mid-30s university graduate, suggested that ‘food is powerful building health, ruining health?’ participants ascribed a form of agency to food in articulations of their relationship with it. food, which is material, tangible, touchable and object, was noted as something that was out of participants’ realm of control. sam, a mid-30s university graduate noted, ‘food is everything to us as humans, it shapes our world, our reality and our life and death’. participants were prompted through their engagement with the artworks to think about their own food practices and relationships with food. it is well established that tastes and food preferences are socially located (bourdieu, 1984a; maguire, 2016). a person’s choice of food is influenced by what is practically available to choose from (given socio-economic conditions) and available in their imaginaries (given socio-cultural and historical conditions) of what ‘healthy’ (or whatever aspiration is guiding food choice) can be. in this way, food operates as an interconnected but complex and interdependent means of grounding into a social and cultural context (swartz, 2012; taylor, 2010). while participants saw food as a necessity for living, at the same time, they recognised the significant social and cultural contributions food makes to their relations with others in the world and their place within it (harvey, mckeekin, & warde, 2004). mellor, blake and crane (2010) through their analysis of dinner parties of middle class couples, demonstrate how food practices, such as the dinner party and what is served, are important to maintaining class privilege. in this sense, changing food habits and practices, not only require a rewiring of ingrained social and cultural practice, it also impacts on social connections and the everyday structuring of worlds. participants’ responses suggested they were also aware of the way their food choices reflected who they were in the world and food was recognised as a way to communicate identity and comments such as ‘you are what you eat’ were shared by many of the participants during interviews. the art exhibition provided an entry point into these conversations with participants and encouraged an open and non-threatening space to engage with these ideas. at the same time, food was seen as agentic in creating and/or destroying health, both to the human body and to environments more broadly. this was expressed by tom when he said: food is powerful in that way and i don’t think we think about that. you just pick up something when you are hungry…but it’s very powerful. it can wreck you or build you up. people should think of that stuff. (tom, early 20s, university student) in this comment, tom calls for more people to be thinking ‘about that stuff’; the role of food in making (un)healthy bodies. the exhibition gave the space for themes such as health to be explored in ways that 56 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 were individualised—where people could apply the themes to their own social contexts, yet importantly, the artworks spoke across many of the social worlds of the audience attending the opening night, which enabled audiences to find artworks that engaged them to think about their ideas and understandings of food practices (kester, 2004). schaefer, biltekoff, thomas and rashedi (2016) observe that people’s decisions about what to eat are a product of the intersection of their experiences and priorities and what they understand to be true about health and food. the exhibition provided a diversity of art pieces that engaged attendees in highly personal ways that encouraged thinking about food and their relations with it. 4. discussion as we explored the responses to survey questions left by visitors to the art exhibition, we were seeking to understand participants’ perceptions of food. we were searching for stories about how food was perceived and to create a picture of how food was represented in everyday lives. how does food shape their lives and how are they shaped by it? we recognised that participants arrived at the exhibit with perceptions and that their experience of the exhibition, and in turn their experience of undertaking a survey or interview with us offered potential to create and effect their perceptions. while we were interested in how participants experienced the exhibition and the thoughts that were prompted by these experiences, we wonder about the potentiality of these thoughts in lieu of the research. would these same thoughts have surfaced for participants if not afforded the opportunity to participate in an interview or complete a survey? would people have ‘reflected’ and ‘dwelled’ on the artworks in the same way if we had not prompted them to do so? the socially constructed and co-constituted mechanics of qualitative research unavoidably result in an altering of realities of participants (denzin & lincoln, 2005). participants who attended the exhibition to ‘look at’ the artwork were encouraged to step outside of themselves for a moment and ‘look inward’ to reflect on how the artwork had impacted them. for instance, questions such as ‘how did this make you feel…’ required participants to move through an act of feeling and communicate these feelings, both for themselves, that is having a self-made understanding, but also for someone external (the researcher). comments such as ‘gee, let me think about that for a second’ were common before responding to the provocations and comments throughout the interviews included ‘…it really made me think.’ we defer back to colyar’s (2009) ideas, who suggests that it is only when she has finished her first draft that she will understand her own argument and know what to say. in this study, participants were undertaking a similar process, working out for themselves and for someone else, what thoughts and feelings had been provoked through attending the exhibition. this finding has implications for how art-based education can facilitate understanding and how food advocates select and apply education about food that has the objective of changing food practices. creating opportunities for audiences to reflect and interpret what the works meant to them, was a means of constructing and consolidating thoughts and feelings. in this sense, we agree with gell (1998, 57 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 p. 6) when he notes that art objects are ‘a part of language’ and by virtue, require relationality for meaning-making to occur. we argue that the very act of researching in this study provided a platform for people to reflect more deeply and to find their thoughts, then give voice to them. the opportunity to engage in a dialogue about what they were viewing was fundamental to promoting reflective awareness and to enabling more complex ideas to surface (olson, 1992). using language to engage people in provocations for educative purposes, such as food and its role in society, extends upon the ‘viewing’ experience. 5. conclusion the exhibition provided rich, creative, aesthetically pleasing and challenging artwork, which audiences used to reflect on their connections with food and food practice. we revealed how food was interweaved through the everyday worlds of people and how food practices were influenced by social location—by habitus. most participants were able to identify a single artwork that held meaning for them, which acted as an entry point to reflecting on their relationship with food and understandings of it. we suggest that the diversity of the exhibition enhanced the potentiality of the artwork to represent, intersect and provoke thinking about food culture by providing multiple entry points for participants to connect with the representations and themes that resonated with them. we began this journey with an exploration of how art could be used as a means of educating communities in conversations about food cultures. we acknowledge that a limitation of this study relates to the limited number of participants, and that those who attended the opening night of imagining food: art, aesthetics and design were already in some way interested in the exhibition and perhaps, were expecting to be thoughtfully provoked. yet, in this modest study, we revealed how habitus influenced the interpretations of the artworks made by participants—even within a group of seemingly ‘similar’ individuals. however, we do wonder if the interpretations participants made of the artwork would have been as reflective, if not for the opportunity to engage in a process of self-reflection through the research? participating in a research project, where reflective questions were asked, was a successful means of engaging some people to think deeply and critically about what they were viewing and turn a critical eye onto themselves. overall, we found that asking inquisitive questions encouraged people to reflect on their understandings. with this in mind, we surmise that exhibitions can be used to create spaces for self-reflection about societal and personal food practices. we found that deliberative communication and provocation deepens engagement and opens new pathways for meaning-making, and one which food activists and educators and exhibition/gallery curators aiming to cultivate critical thinking about the self and world may find generative. in sum, we suggest that there are generative possibilities for food activists and educators to work alongside artists in innovative ways to create artworks that provoke and stimulate reflection on food 58 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 2, no. 3, 2021 practices—the challenge however, is ensuring exhibitions or displays are located in public spaces that are accessible across socio-cultural groups. finally, curators cannot assume that audiences will contemplate artworks, rather, opportunities to engage in conversation as a way to process and think about what the artwork means, should be built into exhibition design. references australian bureau of statistics [abs]. 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https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/cafb-news-release-november-2010-food-glorious-food-art-show-benefits-cafb.pdf original paper exploring food cultures through art: meeting people where they are at kim beasy1* & leah page1 1 university of tasmania, launceston, australia abstract engaging people in critical conversations about food practices is often challenging. in this paper, we explore how an exhibition was used as an educative site to explore food insecurity and food cultures and to promote food ethics and healthy eating. ... keywords references education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 104 original paper a survey on the application of game teaching method in english teaching of primary school: a case study of a primary school in our local city wang ruisi1 1 school of education, jilin international studies university, changchun city, jilin province, china received: june 25, 2023 accepted: july 18, 2023 online published: july 27, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n3p104 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n3p104 abstract the game based teaching method is specifically aimed at assisting english teaching, communicating in english, and widely used in english classrooms or extracurricular activities. compared with chinese, primary school students lack a certain language environment for english learning and do not have a true understanding of english learning. therefore, english teachers should use games to mobilize students’ enthusiasm for learning, and follow the basic principle of “happy teaching” to adapt to students’ development. however, there are still many problems with game teaching methods in english teaching. this thesis wants to explore the current situation of the application of games in english teaching and research its countermeasures, so that more front-line teachers can benefit from it. this study is based on piaget’s cognitive development theory and happiness education theory. by using the methods of questionnaire survey and interview, this paper delves into the current application status, existing problems, and cause analysis of game teaching methods in primary school english classrooms. and the study summarized the shortcomings of current primary school english teachers in the application of classroom game teaching methods. it is found that the main problems are: in ordinary classes, the use of game-based teaching methods is still relatively limited; students’ game goals are unclear and cannot be applied to practice; the class is chaotic; and all students cannot participate in the game. the study suggests that the teacher enrich the theoretical knowledge of game teaching methods and strengthen their application. schools can provide training for teachers at appropriate times, or regularly order publications or books related to games. teachers can also learn more from successful game application cases to improve the application ability of game teaching methods. for the student group, research suggests that students clarify the purpose of games and enable them to understand the true www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 105 published by scholink inc. intention of the teacher in using games in the classroom. secondly, it is necessary to strengthen students’ classroom discipline. through in-depth exploration of the practice of game teaching methods in primary school english classrooms, it has reference value for primary school english teachers to correctly and effectively implement game teaching methods, and has profound significance for better implementing game teaching methods in primary school english classrooms. keywords primary school, the game teaching method, english teaching 1. introduction as globalization continues to deepen, english has become the universal language of the world, and the development of various aspects and levels of a country cannot be separated from english. as the country attaches importance to english, more and more parents recognize the importance of english and attach great importance to it. in the early stages of english learning, children can always maintain a high degree of interest and enjoy learning. however, in the transition period from low to high english, the content of learning increases and the difficulty increases. how to keep students enthusiastic about learning and achieve better learning outcomes has become the focus of discussion. the way teachers teach has an impact on students’ interest in learning. how to enable students to understand rich english knowledge and improve their development level in a relatively relaxed environment is currently an important topic facing researchers and teachers. in order to match the requirements of the new situation, combine with the characteristics of primary school teaching, and meet the overall development of students, a lively teaching method game teaching method has emerged. however, in teaching practice, there are problems and challenges such as monotonous games, excessive games, and inability to meet the needs of all students. based on teaching practice and theoretical research, this article analyzes the application strategies of game teaching methods in primary school english teaching from the perspective of the current situation, existing problems, and causes of the application of game teaching methods, with a view to benefiting front-line teachers. this study starts with the definition of core concepts and defines games and game based teaching methods through literature review. based on piaget’s cognitive development theory and pleasure education theory, questionnaire survey and interview methods are used to analyze and summarize the current application status, existing problems, and reasons of game teaching method in primary school english teaching, and provide suggestions for this. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 106 published by scholink inc. 2. overview of game and game teaching method this section describes the definition of games, and analyzes the definition, characteristics, and necessity of game teaching methods. 2.1 definition of game peng liu (2011) proposed that games are a social behavior based on material needs satisfaction, following certain rules within a specific time and space range, and pursuing spiritual needs satisfaction. dutchman john huizinga (1996) proposed that games are voluntary activities carried out in a certain time and space, fully following consciousness, accompanied by tension, pleasure, and a consciousness that is different from ordinary life, and has its own activity goals. although this concept is derived from the perspective of cultural history, it has received the widest recognition. according to the above concept of game, it is concluded that the game is an entertainment activity with game rules and preset and fixed structure. playing interesting and stimulating activities can promote english learning and stimulate students’ enthusiasm for learning. the author believes that game based teaching methods can not only adapt to the psychological characteristics of children’s learning, but also adapt to the characteristics of primary school english teaching. zhang jie (2014) proposed that the game based teaching method for primary school english has the characteristics of purposefulness, education, standardization, challenge, and safety. in combination with the research objectives of this article, games can be defined as a voluntary activity that proceeds from the fun of the activity itself, and can fully exert people’s subjective initiative. for the primary school students studied in this paper, play is an important psychological need for children’s development. 2.2 game teaching method as the name suggests, game teaching is a teaching method that follows the teaching objectives specified in the curriculum standards, combines interesting games, operates games according to certain game rules, and successfully completes teaching tasks. the game teaching discussed in this article is mainly about teaching in primary school english classrooms. 2.2.1 the definition of the game teaching method the game teaching method is a method of using the manifestation of games to carry out teaching activities. through games, teachers can achieve their own teaching goals, thereby achieving their own teaching goals. xiang li and guiping (2011) believe that the so-called game teaching focuses on teaching, integrating appropriate and reasonable game teaching into actual classroom teaching activities, which is consistent with the physical and mental development characteristics of primary school students. meanwhile, considering that the fun of games can fully stimulate students’ learning enthusiasm, activate the classroom atmosphere, and achieve ideal teaching effects, the purpose of game teaching is to make it easier for students to understand and master knowledge. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 107 published by scholink inc. it allows children to naturally master the knowledge in textbooks and acquire extracurricular knowledge they need to understand in a relaxed atmosphere, in a pleasant game activity, in a fierce competition, and in a stimulating and addictive state. according to this article, “game teaching method” is defined as a combination of “game activities” and “classroom teaching”. teachers impart knowledge to students through games, and students gain knowledge and experience through games. ling meiye (2005) delved into the theory of game education and explored the ideas and types of game education teaching. the game teaching method completely changed the traditional classroom teaching mode, with students becoming the masters of the classroom and increasing communication and interaction with teachers. 2.2.2 the characteristics of game teaching method the game teaching method has the following distinct characteristics: 1). interesting the games in the textbooks are rich in content, lively in form, and highly interesting, which can meet the psychological needs of pupils who are curious, active, and seeking novelty, difference, and change. 2). episodic the games selected in the textbook have certain storylines, and students can play certain roles in the game activities. by reconstructing the scene, students can have a more authentic learning experience. this teaching method can create a virtual environment for students, making them feel as if they are in the real world, thus obtaining a deeper learning experience and laying a more solid foundation for their ability to cope with similar situations in the future. 3). competitive games are generally conducted in the form of confrontation, in which there will be victory or defeat. games are usually played in the form of confrontations, where there will be victories and losses. the winner will fully showcase themselves, while the loser will summarize their experience and catch up. so, game teaching content can effectively cultivate students’ spirit of being brave and good at competition. 4). simplicity most of the games in the textbook are relatively simple, and students must find ways and means of success from simplicity, which is conducive to inspiring students to actively think, independently analyze, and decisively make decisions. 2.2.3 a review of research on game teaching method based on a review of domestic and international research, the current research status of game based teaching methods is as follows: 1). most of it is practical research, lacking theoretical research through summarizing the literature, it was found that most of the articles were focused on game teaching methods and strategies in primary school english, but there is little research on the definition and related theoretical foundations of game teaching. in fact, people not only need to understand the meaning of game based teaching methods, but educators should also research and summarize the current popular theoretical schools, use theory to guide practice, and make research a science. in foreign countries, people www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 108 published by scholink inc. have conducted some research on the role and application of traditional games and electronic games in primary education. the research on traditional games still remains at the theoretical level, and there are many experimental studies related to the teaching mode of electronic games. however, there are few systematic and in-depth studies on the teaching mode of “games”, which also points out a direction for future scholars. 2). there are many studies on the misconceptions of game based teaching methods, and there is a lack of analysis of the reasons for them through the statistics of keywords, it was found that there are many articles related to primary school english game teaching, but there is not much exploration of its causes. teachers and scholars not only need to provide suggestions for the problems that arise in the classroom of primary school english game based teaching methods, but also to analyze the reasons and take corresponding countermeasures. for example, in the process of implementing game based teaching methods, when faced with the problem of poor student participation, most scholars have proposed in their research how to change the organizational form of games and stimulate learners’ enthusiasm, however, it is not possible to conduct in-depth analysis of the reasons for the problems. 3). most of the suggestions are provided, but there is a lack of sharing of lesson examples and actionable games in relevant articles, many people have summarized some skills and precautions related to elementary school english games, but these are only superficial analyses and cannot provide more actionable details. if teachers can design classroom games based on specific teaching examples, it will be helpful for teachers to practice rationally in teaching. 2.2.4 the necessity of game teaching method in primary school at present, because of the influence of the remaining test-oriented education, many schools and parents pay more attention to the students’ academic achievement, and neglect their own interest and innovation ability. this is unfavorable to social development and students’ overall and healthy development. but with the implementation of compulsory education english curriculum standards, english classes are increasingly concerned about students’ learning interests. in primary school english teaching, game teaching is an effective method. through game teaching, students can learn by playing, promote the learning of new knowledge and skills, keep up with the times, and achieve comprehensive development. interest is the best teacher, while games are the most effective way to stimulate students’ interest in english learning, and also consolidate and improve the ability of primary school students to use english knowledge. 3. theoretical foundation as mentioned above, the theories involved in this section should include piaget’s cognitive development theory and pleasure education theory used below. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 109 published by scholink inc. 3.1 piaget’s theory of cognitive development jean piaget (1950) proposed piaget’s cognitive development theory in the 1920s.he divided the cognitive development process of students into four stages: the perceptual stage (0-2 years old), the pre operational stage (2-7 years old), the specific operational stage (7-12 years old), and the formal operational stage (12-15 years old). the cognitive development of primary school students is in the concrete operation stage, and the children at this stage of development have the concrete operation ability, resulting in the concept of “conservation” and “reversibility”. operation is the core concept of piaget’s theory of intellectual development. piaget’s cognitive development theory provides us with a series of teaching ideas. during this period of education, children are still inseparable from specific objects and images. first of all, the teaching content should match the cognitive development level of students, which requires us to match the cognitive development level of primary school students in the setting of games and the selection of difficulty; second, as the main body of learning, cognition has been further developed through its interaction with the outside world, which shows that students’ cognitive development is an active process, and teachers should have continuous external influence on it. through the stimulation of classroom games, students’ cognitive ability can be continuously stimulated, thus promoting their cognitive development. piaget’s cognitive development theory provides many useful methods for education. in order to align the course content with students’ cognitive development level, piaget divided the cognition of young children into four periods and pointed out that each period has its own cognitive characteristics, and the latter’s cognition is based on early cognition. this requires teachers to choose teaching content and arrange courses reasonably based on students’ cognitive development level when teaching this course. 3.2 theory of happy education the theory of happy education originated from the “live education” educational thought of mr. chen heqin (1940), a famous educator in modern china, and was put forward by mr. ni guyin (2009), a senior teacher, in the early 1980s. this educational idea opposed the exam-oriented education in which students studied hard and lost their happy childhood. at present, although quality education is strongly advocated, most teachers still pay attention to the knowledge in textbooks and blindly instill knowledge into students. happy education has changed the simple mode of imparting knowledge. as a language learning, it is more necessary to start with emotional education and combine knowledge with emotion. the author believes that game teaching and happy education are inextricably linked. change the traditional classroom teaching method, provide children with a variety of games suitable for the teaching content in the classroom, so that students can improve their learning concepts, and students will actively and actively learn english happily, turn learning weariness into learning pleasure, and finally turn learning hard. in teaching, students pay more attention to stimulating and cultivating students’ interest in learning. no matter how important the content of the course is, it is an external factor. students should be willing to accept it subjectively and be interested in what they have learned, so as to achieve the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 110 published by scholink inc. teaching objectives. therefore, in order to make primary school students put into a good learning state happily in english learning, the teacher must adopt the game teaching method. a good classroom atmosphere helps students focus their attention, improve their interest in learning, and cultivate their ability to learn independently. in order to play the role of games in students’ early education, teachers can create a game teaching situation in the classroom to create a good game atmosphere, allowing students to quickly understand what they have learned and better master the skills they have learned in a happy game. 4. research methodology the research methodology is elaborated from four aspects: research questions, research instruments, research participants, and data collection and analysis. 4.1 research questions there are still many problems with the game teaching method in teaching. the author wants to investigate and analyze the current situation of the application of games in english teaching, so as to benefit more frontline teachers. 1). what is the status quo of the application of game teaching method in primary school english class 2). what are the problems in the application of game teaching method in primary school english class 3). what are the causes of the problems in the application of game teaching methods in primary school english classes? 4.2 research participants in order to comprehensively understand the implementation of game based teaching methods in primary school english classrooms, this study distributed a questionnaire survey to students. a total of 12 questions were distributed to students in grades three to five of primary school, and questionnaires were collected immediately after students completed their studies. the school has a total of 8 english teachers, and the author selected 4 english teachers with different teaching experiences as the interview subjects to ensure the representativeness of the interviewed teachers. 4.3 research instruments there are two main research methods used in this study, namely questionnaire survey method and interview method. 4.3.1 questionnaire this study distributed a survey questionnaire to students, consisting of 12 multiple-choice questions. considering the cognitive abilities of primary school students, the survey questionnaire used simple and popular language. these 12 multiple-choice questions are all multiple-choice questions and are answered anonymously. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 111 published by scholink inc. 4.3.2 interview this study also designed an interview outline for teachers. this article conducts interviews from five levels. firstly, there is a certain understanding of the basic situation of the teacher. secondly, there is an understanding of the teacher’s attitude and views on game teaching methods. thirdly, there is an understanding of the resource allocation of game teaching. fourthly, there is a survey of the teacher’s use of games in the classroom. finally, there are issues with game teaching methods. there are a total of five aspects and five questions. 4.4 data collection and analysis after obtaining the consent of the teacher, the author distributed the questionnaire five minutes before class, with a time limit of ten minutes. after ten minutes, the group leader of each group collected the questionnaire and submitted it uniformly. a total of 100 questionnaires were distributed, and 96 valid questionnaires were ultimately collected. after that, the author entered the paper questionnaire into excel, and further discovered the problems of game teaching method in primary school english class during the data analysis process. the interview was conducted in the english office of the school in the form of chat and conversation, creating a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere to understand the true views of english teachers on game teaching methods. during the interview, corresponding modifications will be made to the answers of the interviewed teachers, but the overall direction of the interview will not change. each interview and communication with the teachers will take about ten minutes. 5. results and discussion the main content of this section is to collect and organize questionnaire data from students, use the collected data to understand their cognitive level of game teaching, and discover the problems of game teaching method in primary school english teaching. the analysis of the questionnaire is as follows: 5.1 the status quo of the application of game teaching method in primary school english teaching according to the results of the questionnaire, in the question “do you like english classes?”, 55% of the students like english classes, 35% of the students have an average attitude towards english classes, and only 10% of the students do not like english classes. figure 1. do you like english classes? 55% 35% 10% like common not very fond of it www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 112 published by scholink inc. it can be seen that the majority of students in z school enjoy english classes, but there is also a large number of students who are not very enthusiastic about learning english. in the question “how do you think of the current english class?”, 73% of the students thought that the english class was lively and interesting, 17% of the students thought that the english class was slightly dull, and 10% of the students thought that the english class was boring. figure 2. how do you think of the current english class? according to the survey results, most of the english classes were lively and interesting, which helped students learn in english class. figure 3. teacher classroom usage frequency from this question, “will the teacher play games related to english with you in english class?” after sorting out the data, it can be concluded that only 6% of the students selected chose not to play games. it can be inferred that the application of game teaching method in school z is good in class. in class, 70% of teachers often play games. therefore, the author believes that school z should continue to encourage and promote the application of game teaching method in english class. 73% 17% 10% interesting slightly dull boring 70% 24% 6% often occasionally never www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 113 published by scholink inc. figure 4. students’ understanding of game rules understanding the rules is the premise for students to successfully play the game. however, the students who can always understand the rules of the game account for 18% of all the samples, while the students who choose “can’t understand but can understand through demonstration” account for more than half of all the samples, accounting for 72%. so some teachers will combine demonstration with explanation, which will greatly improve students’ understanding of the rules, but nearly 10% of the students still can’t understand at all. figure 5. does the teacher often play a few fixed games or do they often switch to new ones? from the chart, it can be seen that in the classroom, 40% of teachers often play fixed games, and 36% often play new games. although teachers are able to use game based teaching methods in most classrooms, there are more situations where teachers engage in fixed games than when they frequently engage in new games. figure 6. the impact of games on class order 18% 72% 10% always understand can't understand but can understand through demonstration can't understand 40% 36% 24% fixed games regularly innovate unclear 67% 29% 4% very influential common occasionally www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 114 published by scholink inc. as shown in the survey results, in the process of playing games, 67% of the students felt that the implementation of games in the classroom had a great impact on the class order, and that the situation that the game had an impact on the class order accounted for more than half of the total number of students surveyed. it can be seen that the improper implementation of the game teaching method would have a negative effect on the classroom. figure 7. students’ preference for game difficulty from the survey result of the question “how difficult do you like games in english class?”, 53% of students like games with general difficulty, 32% like games with great difficulty, and only 15% like games without difficulty and easy to do. it can be seen that when designing classroom games, certain difficulties will attract students more. figure 8. student preferences for game types the result of the survey shows that 46% of the students prefer the reaction games, and 21% prefer the speed games;33% of students like to test memory games. knowing that students’ preference for classroom games is helpful for teachers to choose games. choosing games that students are interested in will motivate students more. 53% 32% 15% general difficulty great difficulty without difficulty 46% 21% 33% reaction games speed games memory games www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 115 published by scholink inc. figure 9. frequency of teacher evaluation of game results as shown, 48 of the 96 questionnaires said that teachers would praise and evaluate after each game, accounting for the majority of the survey. in addition to verbal praise, game rewards play a great role in stimulating students’ learning motivation. figure 10. students’ preference for winning games most of the primary school students in grade three want to get bonus points and rewards, and most of the students in grade four and five want to get write-free rewards. the author believes that this survey result is also related to the amount of english homework in different grades. in short, proper rewards and effect evaluation will help the development of game teaching. figure 11. the impact of games on students’ learning of classroom knowledge 50% 40% 10% praise and evaluate after each game sometimes praise almost no praise 16 14 5 5 10 20 2 8 16 0 5 10 15 20 25 加分 奖品 免写 五年级 四年级 三年级 54% 36% 10% be able to remember the words and sentences in the process of the game after class did not have a solid grasp of the content learned in the game without learning knowledge www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 116 published by scholink inc. according to the survey, 52 of the 96 students were able to remember the words and sentences in the process of the game after class, 34 students did not have a solid grasp of the content learned in the game, and only 10 students separated the game from learning in the classroom without learning knowledge. and the vast majority of students believe that game teaching is helpful to their learning and can improve their interest in learning, but there are still 7 remaining students who believe that there is no help or even a negative impact on learning. based on comprehensive interviews with several teachers, it can be found that their attitudes towards game teaching methods are recognized and approved. in primary school english teaching classes, both teachers and students are very fond of game teaching methods, but english teachers have not received special training, and their application abilities of game teaching methods still need to be improved. 5.2 the problems in the application of game teaching method the author mainly analyzes the problems existing in the application of game teaching methods from the perspectives of teachers and students. the paper concludes the shortcomings of the current primary school english teachers’ application of game teaching method in the classroom. for example, in the regular classroom, the use of game teaching method is still less; the students’ game objectives are unclear and fail to achieve their practical application; classroom is in disorder; it is not guaranteed that all students will participate in the game; can’t provide enough game resources, etc. 5.2.1 the problems in teacher design in game teaching the problem lies in the traditional form of classroom organization in which teachers design game teaching, and the lack of diversity of game material innovation. according to the interview, the seats of middle school students in the class are mostly fixed. the students listen below, the teachers stand on the platform, and some teachers also require students to listen behind their hands. this method allows students to maintain discipline in the class, but to some extent it will restrict their thinking and practice, which leads to the limitations of game teaching, and the teaching methods of teachers are too monotonous, let teachers and students feel extremely tired. from figure 1 of the survey questionnaire, it can be seen that the majority of students in z school enjoy english classes, but there is also a large proportion of students who are not very enthusiastic about learning english. some teachers only invited a few students to perform on the stage when they played games, which made the students in the seats mistakenly think that they had nothing to do with the class and the game activities organized by the teachers, resulting in chaos in the classroom discipline and greatly reduced teaching effect. at this time, if the teacher organizes classroom discipline, it will affect the precious time of students in class and fail to reach the teaching objectives. in addition, according to the survey results, the author also found that the game materials collected by teachers are not enough. some young teachers can actively find the source of the game, but most of the game materials used by teachers are not rich, and the content is lack of novelty. in primary schools, games such as finding adjacent letters, guessing words and losing letters are often used. the game is easy to use, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 117 published by scholink inc. and both teachers and students are familiar with it, but it lacks creativity and flexibility. the students’ fixed seats will also greatly reduce their interest and expectations. 5.2.2 the problems in students attitude to the game teaching method during the interview, the author learned from the teacher’s classroom feedback that a large number of students failed to understand the learning objectives of the game designed by the teacher, and their attitudes towards the game were incorrect. they believe that english classroom games are purely casual games that only focus on the form of the game, rather than the essence of the game. according to the results of figure 11 of the survey questionnaire, 34 out of 96 students did not have a solid grasp of content learning games, and 10 students stated that they did not learn knowledge while playing games in the classroom, which is not optimistic. it also indirectly reflects that some students have a poor attitude towards playing games in the classroom and do not have a correct gaming perspective. however, the deviation of the teaching objectives caused by games will affect the classroom rhythm and disrupt the classroom plan. the learners just want to enjoy the fun of playing, and do not understand the purpose of the teacher’s guiding us to do game activities. the main problem caused by this mentality is that the game activities carefully prepared by the teacher only become a way for students to relax themselves, and cannot achieve the purpose of truly using the game activities. through the results of questionnaires and interviews, it can be concluded that the chaos of classroom order is also one of the important factors leading to the ineffective implementation of game teaching methods. primary school students have poor self management skills. once the classroom atmosphere becomes active, it is difficult for teachers to effectively and orderly manage the classroom. poor classroom discipline can lead to various situations such as ignoring the rules of the game or breaking the rules of the game. 5.3 the cause analysis of the problems in the application of game teaching method the author also analyzes the reasons for the problems in the application of game teaching methods from two aspects: teachers and students. 5.3.1 influence of traditional teaching methods the author found through investigation that the traditional teaching methods in actual english classrooms are still deeply rooted, the dominant position of learners is not fully recognized, and students’ learning enthusiasm and initiative are not fully stimulated. in terms of teaching, it still centers around teachers, especially older teachers who pay less attention to games. during the interview process, many teachers still expressed that traditional teaching methods are the most effective way to achieve teaching objectives, while neglecting students’ absorption of knowledge. english class is a minor subject in primary school, so teachers are not willing to devote a lot of energy to designing classes to develop students’ abilities in all aspects, and only pay attention to the teaching of knowledge and the reflection of achievements. from figure 5 of the questionnaire survey, it can be concluded that teachers are more likely to engage in fixed games than those who frequently participate in new games. however, as an application-oriented major, its teaching focus should be on students’ ability to use and dare to use, especially in the context of quality www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 118 published by scholink inc. education, there should be no such phenomenon as “dumb english”. through interviews with fourth and fifth grade english teachers, they stated that the atmosphere in the classroom will be more solemn than in third grade. teachers rarely play games in class. most of the time in class is for students to do exercises and discuss exercises. so students’ interest in learning is not high, and the classroom will also be very dull. therefore, the deep-rooted traditional teaching mode will make teachers overlook the application of game teaching. 5.3.2 teacher’s lack of knowledge of game teaching method in addition, teachers need to have certain theoretical knowledge of games to support before carrying out the game teaching method, so as to carry out game design and selection on this basis. however, most teachers have very little theoretical knowledge about game teaching. through interviews with teachers, some of them mentioned that they have not systematically studied game based teaching methods. in ordinary classroom teaching, the games used are basically designed or selected by teachers based on their own teaching experience. some teachers directly copy the games created by other teachers. although the school will organize english teachers to prepare lessons collectively and other teaching and research activities every week, the training on game theory has not been carried out, and teachers will not be organized to give lectures and seminars specifically on game related theoretical knowledge. teachers also have some deficiencies in the self-learning work of game theory. they can not enrich their game knowledge at ordinary times. for example, some students are depressed, introverted, sensitive and selfconfident. such students will also feel nervous when playing games. they can not express themselves in english calmly, and are afraid of making mistakes in the process of playing games. through interviews with teachers on the issues that may arise in the game based teaching method, some teachers mentioned that a small number of students may choose not to participate in the game during the process. therefore, students with excellent performance and extroverted students will participate in the game to a large extent, even more than once in class, but students with learning difficulties and introverted students still prefer to give their own opportunities to others, only participate in what they are interested in, and even do not actively participate. teachers cannot flexibly adjust the game teaching method when facing different types of students. some english teachers or senior teachers with more than ten years of teaching experience have very rich practical experience in the classroom, and also have good experimental ability. however, because the senior teachers do not know the specific game knowledge, they can not design games based on the game knowledge completely, and then design more scientific games, which also leads to the teachers’ relatively simple use of games and lack of diversity. 5.3.3 students’ psychological age characteristic based on piaget’s theory of cognitive development, from the psychological age characteristics of students at the present stage, primary school students are in a period of strong curiosity, liveliness, and competitiveness. the entertaining and interesting nature of the game can easily make the primary school students feel high and become extremely excited. according to figure 6 of the questionnaire survey, 67% of students believe that the implementation of games in the classroom has a significant impact on www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 119 published by scholink inc. classroom order during the process of playing games. because game teaching has its own characteristics of play and their mental age characteristics, it is easy to lead to classroom discipline disorder and noisy scenes. their self-control ability is very weak. once their emotions are high, it is difficult to maintain calm and orderly play and teaching. in the teacher interview, the teacher mentioned that one of the main issues in guiding students to use games is that students’ self-control ability in games is relatively weak. because they can’t control their words and actions in the game, they are easy to ignore class discipline, violate class discipline and destroy the rules of the game set by teachers. in summary, the reasons for the problems in the application of game teaching methods are complex. in terms of teachers, the author mainly analyzes from the deep-rooted traditional teaching mode of teachers and the lack of relevant theoretical learning and skills training; in terms of students, the author mainly analyzes the unclear purpose of students’ games and their current psychological age characteristics. 6. findings and suggestions the educational reform is still ongoing, but the idea of exam oriented education is deeply rooted. most teachers, students, and parents regard exam results as the purpose of learning, but neglect the correct guidance of learning methods, resulting in a relatively single teaching method for teachers. through research and analysis of questionnaires and interviews, it can be concluded that although games are very important in primary education and many people are learning game teaching strategies, some excellent teachers continue to try, but there are still many problems. 6.1 findings in recent years, with the increasing research on games by english teaching and education professionals, game based teaching methods have gradually become a hot topic. in primary school, using games to teach and learn english has become a common phenomenon. based on the exploration of games, the application of games in english teaching can enhance students’ interest in language. through this study, it has been concluded that game teaching is a practical and feasible teaching method with great promotion and development value. it can be said that this is a practical and feasible english teaching method. teachers should organize appropriate activities at appropriate times to create an interesting and enjoyable learning environment. researchers firmly believe that game based teaching methods are superior to traditional teaching methods, especially in terms of student participation. english teachers should adopt appropriate teaching methods based on students’ physical and mental development characteristics, so that they can learn english with interest, improve their imitation ability and curiosity, and deepen their memory. however, there are also certain shortcomings, such as insufficient understanding ability, lack of concentration, unwillingness to play repetitive games, and unwillingness to engage in mechanical training. however, through games, children can gain many benefits, such as learning knowledge easily and happily, increasing confidence in speaking english, and developing teamwork spirit. so in english teaching, teachers need to make full use of various forms of games to make students feel a relaxed atmosphere during the learning process. teachers should constantly update games based on www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 120 published by scholink inc. teaching content to stimulate students’ enthusiasm, in order to enable students to achieve good grades in english classes. in order to improve the quality of teaching, teachers should enhance their skills in game teaching, and any independent teaching method has different requirements. china has made significant progress in game teaching, but research on it is still in its early stages. this article mainly focuses on game education in primary school english. the author attempts to propose an effective game education strategy, hoping to be helpful to frontline teachers. although many teachers have applied games to english teaching and achieved great benefits, there are also many issues that need to be taken seriously by teachers and classmates. research has found that in regular classrooms, the use of game based teaching methods is still relatively limited, and teachers’ choices of games are also relatively unreasonable. the implementation effect of game based teaching methods by teachers is poor, students have incorrect attitudes towards game based teaching methods, game goals are unclear, and practical applications cannot be achieved. the classroom environment is chaotic, resulting in poor learning outcomes. for the teacher community, the reason for the problems with the application of game based teaching methods is that the traditional teaching methods in actual english classrooms are still deeply rooted. secondly, most teachers have little knowledge of the theoretical knowledge of game based teaching. faced with different types of students, teachers are unable to flexibly adjust game teaching methods. the use of games by teachers is relatively simple and lacks diversity. for the student community, due to the unique characteristics of game teaching and psychological age, it is easy to lead to chaotic classroom discipline and noisy scenes. in response to these issues, the author provides suggestions for teachers and students, as well as how teachers can improve and adopt strategies in the face of students’ negative situations. of course, due to limited conditions and my limited academic and theoretical level, there are still some shortcomings in this article that will be gradually improved in the future. 6.2 suggestions in english classrooms, in order for students to achieve better learning outcomes through games, it is necessary for teachers to continuously guide and create corresponding situations to guide students to continuously improve their own level in english teaching. therefore, in order to achieve better application of game based teaching methods in frontline teaching, this study proposes suggestions for the following two aspects: 6.2.1 suggestions for teachers first of all, teachers should enrich their theoretical knowledge of game teaching method. the happy education proposed by mr. ni guyin has changed the simple mode of imparting knowledge. as a language learning, it is more necessary to start with emotional education and combine knowledge and emotion. at present, most primary school teachers’ educational level is still lower than that of other school teachers, and their grasp and understanding of education and teaching knowledge is not deep enough. schools can provide teachers with game application training at appropriate time, or regularly www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 121 published by scholink inc. order some publications or books about games to help teachers understand the game and guide the practical application of the game. teachers should learn more from successful game application cases, learn from each other, further improve the level of game theory, and make the game teaching method become a normal teaching method in primary school english classroom. secondly, teachers should strengthen the use of game teaching methods. in order to make every english teaching activity have a good effect, it is necessary to strengthen the organization and execution ability of teachers. teachers should support students to play games in class, and become the key to students’ deep participation and cohesion in class. they must fully mobilize students’ enthusiasm, guide students to talk and do more in class, guide students to think, give students full opportunities to discover their potential in the process of playing, overcome obstacles encountered, do not control and interfere with students, and give students a certain degree of autonomy. the explanation of the rules of the game should also be brief and concise. the demonstration should be carried out in advance to help students understand and give students more time for the game. 6.2.2 suggestions for students although the games used in the classroom have their own characteristics, their essence is still to serve the classroom. as a learner, first of all, one should adjust their gaming mindset and clarify what they want to learn and improve while playing this game. don’t play games just for the sake of playing them, but rather understand the teacher’s true intention of using games in class, and make games a teaching aid. before playing games, teachers should first educate students that the purpose of the game is to help them better use english and cultivate their english expression skills, rather than just playing. if there are such students in the game, they need to take some reward and punishment measures. for example, students who can set an example for others will receive corresponding rewards. if students perform poorly, students will be punished or suspended. let students deeply understand that the significance of games in the classroom lies in better learning knowledge, rather than indulging in it. during the game, there will be exchanges between teachers and students, and between students and students. at the same time, the game is also an activity that students are interested in. when playing, students make a lot of actions that violate the classroom discipline because they are too excited or because they can’t participate in it or feel irrelevant, which will make the teaching effect of the game unsatisfactory and affect the achievement of the game goal. in order to ensure the completion of the game effect, it is necessary to improve students’ game discipline. english teachers can take the following measures to deal with this problem. first of all, before the game, the teacher should announce the disciplinary requirements. before the game, the teacher should preset some violations of classroom discipline or game rules that may occur during students’ participation in the game. standardize the game discipline, and publish the rules of the game, including the discipline requirements of students who participate in the game, and the discipline requirements of students who do not participate in the game. include the discipline provisions in the game rules, and discipline the students in turn. in order to carry out classroom game teaching smoothly, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 122 published by scholink inc. specific classroom behavior norms must be formulated in advance. the time of a class is limited, so when preparing for class, one should consider how long each teaching session will take. to ensure effectiveness within the specified time frame, teachers must inform students of specific rules during the teaching process. secondly, in the game, the teacher should always control the disciplinary behavior. in the process of implementing the game activities, the teacher should strictly strengthen the classroom discipline and game rules of each student. when finding that the students who participate in the game activities do not strictly abide by the rules and regulations of the game activities, the teacher should give criticism and correction as soon as possible, and reduce their scores. at the same time, the teacher must pay attention to all the students who do not participate in the game, don’t let such students have the idea that “the class has nothing to do with me”. they must also strictly abide by the discipline. the teacher can arrange these students to carefully observe the game activities of other students, or serve as supervisors to supervise the actions of students participating in the game, or let students make judgments, so that each student can add people in the game, have a deep feeling of the game teaching method, and strengthen the students’ memory of classroom knowledge. finally, after the game, the teacher should calm the students’ emotions in time. after the game, because the students are too excited, if they can’t keep calm, it will seriously affect the later learning. when solving this situation, the teacher can stipulate a principle, that is, after the game is completed, the student’s performance and the performance in the game will be linked as a whole, and the score will be added or subtracted on the basis of the game performance according to the student’s discipline, so as to decide which group will be the first. in addition, the teacher also spot-checks the students who have not joined the game to observe the learning situation below. the students will judge the performance of a student in the game. if they observe well and put forward their own opinions or opinions, they will also be praised and rewarded. in this way, the autonomy of each student can be stimulated to the maximum extent, making each student become the main body of the activity and the main role of the whole class. 7. conclusion primary school students are an age group with high energy and low concentration. the traditional english teaching method is too monotonous, which affects students’ learning enthusiasm and makes some students who are not interested in english lose their interest in learning. however, when games are added to the english class, the class becomes more lively and interesting. many students actively raise their hands to participate in the game. they are looking forward to the english class very much. improving the fun of primary school students in learning english is the main goal of english teaching and research in primary school. more and more primary school english teachers use a variety of game teaching methods in the class, but there are some shortcomings in the actual operation. on the basis of sorting out a large number of domestic and foreign literature on english game teaching methods in primary schools, this paper takes piaget’s “cognitive development theory” and ni guyin’s www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 123 published by scholink inc. “happy education theory” as the theoretical basis, surveys some teachers and students in the sample schools through questionnaires and teacher interview and analyzes and summarizes the collected sample data. it is mainly concluded from the two levels of teachers and students, and the reasons for these problems are analyzed. therefore, how to effectively use game teaching in primary and secondary school english classes is an urgent problem for the majority of primary and secondary school english teachers to solve. the results of this study were based on a questionnaire survey and interviews with students and teachers from sample schools, and identified the problems that frontline teachers face in applying game based teaching methods in actual offline classrooms. this led to more frontline english teachers paying attention to the teaching of game based teaching methods. this paper aims to provide some useful reference for the majority of front-line english teachers, and apply it to the primary school english teaching. due to the limitation of its own research level and the lack of practical experience, the research still has the following shortcomings: first, this study takes the primary school of z school in h city as the research object, and the research results of this paper infer that other regions with different teaching resources have corresponding limitations, and the observed situation is not very sufficient. second, the countermeasures and suggestions put forward in this paper need to be tested in practice, and also need to be constantly improved in practice. it is expected that the majority of primary school english educators will actively explore the game teaching mode suitable for the development of students, so as to promote the quality education of primary school students in china. references alaba, s. o. (2014). innovative method of teaching english language in primary schools using adaptive interactive animated cartoons. journal of educational and social research, 4(6), 75. https://doi.org/10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n6p75 ding, j. (2021). research on the current situation of game teaching in primary school english class. minnan normal university. heyizinha. (1996). the people of games. hangzhou: academy of fine arts press. jarrett, k., & light, r. (2019). the experience of teaching using a game based approach: teachers as learners, collaborators and catalysts. european physical education review, 25(2), 565-580. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336x17753023 jo arthur. (1996). code switching and collusion: classroom interaction in botswana primary schools. linguistics and education, 8(1), 17-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0898-5898(96)90004-2 jodie, r. (2019). marrying play pedagogies with standardised curriculum. educating young children: learning and teaching in the early childhood years, 25(3), 37-39. li, y. p. (2013). design and practice of primary school english classroom teaching based on game teaching method. ningxia university. https://doi.org/10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n6p75 https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336x17753023 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0898-5898(96)90004-2 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 124 published by scholink inc. liang, s. (2021). the application of game teaching method in primary school english teaching. adult and higher education, 3(4), 59-64. ling, m. y. (2005). on the application of game teaching in primary school english teaching. journal of hechi university (comprehensive edition), 2005(s1), 105-107. liu, w. q., & meng, b. (2022). application strategies of game teaching method in primary school english teaching. overseas english, 4, 164-166. ni, g. y. (2009). evergreen’s thought. modern teaching, 2009(12), 24-25. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9647.2008.00478.x pan, h. (2012). on the application of games in primary school english teaching. vocational education forum, 2012(17), 58-59. park et al. (2013). a study on enhancing elementary school students’ english listening and speaking abilities through the application of a model of ucc production and utilization. korean journal of applied linguistics, 29(2), 131-164. https://doi.org/10.17154/kjal.2013.06.29.2.131 peng, l. (2022). research on the application of game teaching method in primary school english class. harbin normal university. philip, n., & helen, h. (2022). a pedagogical meeting place or a problem space? extending play-based pedagogy in year one. education, 50(2), 184-196. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2020.1840608 piaget. (1950). child psychology. translated by wu fuyuan. beijing: commercial press. shi, t. t. (2018). a study of the tpr method in the teaching of english to primary school students. theory and practice in language studies, 8(8), 1087-1093. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0808.25 song, j., & zhu, f. r. (2019). on the application of game in primary school english teaching. journal of education and culture studies, 3(2), 202-202. https://doi.org/10.22158/jecs.v3n2p202 wang, w. j. (2021). problems and countermeasures in the application of game teaching method in primary school english. qufu normal university. xiang, l., & gui, p. (2011). exploration of game teaching method for primary school english. teaching and management, 2011(17), 49-51. yao, y. l., & ling, q. (2015). research on the application of game teaching method in primary school english teaching. journal of weifang engineering vocational college, 28(4), 102-105. youb, k. h., & sukhee, n. (2010). elementary english teaching through game activities. korea journal of english language and linguistics, 10(3), 473-497. https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.10.3.201009.473 zhang, j. (2014). research on the application of game teaching method in primary school english. central china normal university. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9647.2008.00478.x https://doi.org/10.17154/kjal.2013.06.29.2.131 https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2020.1840608 https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0808.25 https://doi.org/10.22158/jecs.v3n2p202 https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.10.3.201009.473 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 125 published by scholink inc. appendix i questionnaire survey on the current situation of english game teaching methods for primary school students dear classmates: hello everyone! this is a survey questionnaire on the application of game based teaching methods in english classrooms. the questionnaire is in an anonymous form. please read and fill out the questions carefully based on the actual situation. thank you for your cooperation! 1. do you enjoy english classes? () a. like b. generally c. not very fond of it 2. what do you think of the current english class? () a. vivid and interesting b. slightly dull c. dull and uninteresting 3. will the teacher play english related games with you in english class? () a. frequently do b. occasionally do c never do it 4. do english teachers always play a few fixed games in class or do they often switch to new games? () a. fixed game b. frequently playing new games c. not clear 5. can you understand the rules of the game explained by the teacher in english before playing the game? () a. always able to understand b. some may not understand, but they can be understood through demonstration c. unable to understand or understand the rules of the game 6. will it affect class order during the game organization process? () a. special impact b. general c. occasionally 7. how difficult do you like games in english classes? () a. difficult games make me more challenging b. games with average difficulty make me more motivated c. games without difficulty, simple and easy to do 8. what kind of games do you like teachers to play in class? () a. specific reaction b. race speed c. test memory 9. after the game, will the english teacher praise the students and groups who perform well? () a. the teacher always gives praise and suggestions at the end of each session b. sometimes praise c. almost no praise 10. what reward would you prefer for winning the game? () a. bonus b. prize c. write free 11. can you grasp the knowledge content taught by the teacher after the game is over? () a. deep memory www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 3, 2023 126 published by scholink inc. b. i will master the basic knowledge during the game, but i will forget the knowledge content of this lesson later on c. my attention is focused on the game, i don't know what the teacher is going to say 12. do you think game teaching in english classrooms is helpful for your learning? () a. yes, it will enhance my interest in learning english b. not much time difference in peace, not much help c. it's not helpful, but it's even more challenging thank you again! appendix ii teacher interview outline (interview questions for primary school english teachers) 1. could you please explain your educational background, teaching experience, and current grade. 2. how do you view the importance of game teaching? 3. do you have a good grasp of game teaching theory? has the school arranged any training or lectures on game teaching? 4. when using games, can all students in the classroom be taken into account? how would you treat students who are unwilling to participate in games? 5. what do you think are the main problems faced by using game based teaching methods in class? education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 63 original paper optimization design and practice path of shared management of large-scale instruments and equipment in universities driven by “internet plus” kaitian luo1, lili he1 & xingbing yang1 1 sichuan minzu college, kangding, sichuan, china received: november 12, 2025 accepted: november 30, 2025 online published: december 9, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n4p63 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n4p63 abstract the ownership of large-scale instruments and equipment in universities, as core strategic resources, has been continuously increasing. however, problems such as resource fragmentation, low efficiency, and redundant purchases caused by traditional management models have become increasingly prominent. from the perspective of “internet plus” technology empowerment and combined with practical cases of universities in sichuan province, this paper systematically analyzes the existing pain points in the shared management of university instruments and equipment in five dimensions: mechanism construction, technical support, resource allocation, operation and maintenance guarantee, and user services. guided by problems, it constructs a five-in-one optimization system of “mechanism coordination, technical empowerment, resource optimization, operation and maintenance upgrading, and service quality improvement”, and proposes specific practice paths. the purpose is to provide a reference path for the digital transformation of the shared management of university instruments and equipment, and help improve the efficiency of scientific research and innovation in universities. keywords internet plus, large-scale instruments and equipment in universities, shared management, digital transformation, resource optimization 1. introduction driven by both the connotative development of higher education and the improvement of scientific research and innovation capabilities, the ownership of large-scale instruments and equipment—core strategic resources for universities to carry out cutting-edge research and cultivate high-quality talents— has been continuously increasing. however, most universities still adopt traditional instrument www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 64 published by scholink inc. management models, with prominent problems such as fragmented resources, isolated information, low utilization efficiency, redundant purchases, and fragmented operations. a large number of high-end instruments remain idle for a long time, forming a sharp contradiction with the practical demand for the optimal allocation of scientific research resources. with the in-depth penetration of the “internet plus” strategy in the fields of education and scientific research, technologies such as the internet of things, big data, and cloud computing have provided a new path to solve the problem of instrument sharing in universities. as a major province in higher education, sichuan province has actively responded to national policy guidelines in recent years. in june 2025, four departments—the sichuan provincial department of science and technology, the sichuan provincial development and reform commission, the sichuan provincial department of finance, and the sichuan provincial department of education—jointly issued the “measures for the administration of open sharing of major scientific research infrastructures and large-scale scientific research instruments in sichuan province”. this document promotes universities in the province to connect to the sichuan provincial large-scale scientific research instruments and equipment sharing platform, laying a policy foundation for inter-university and cross-regional resource coordination. pain points under the traditional management model, such as barriers to inter-departmental collaboration, time and space constraints, and information asymmetry, urgently need to be addressed through digital transformation. realizing the “internet plus shared management” of large-scale instruments and equipment can not only break the time and space boundaries of resource circulation, improve instrument utilization rates, and reduce scientific research costs, but also promote interdisciplinary, cross-campus, and even cross-regional scientific research collaborative innovation. this is in line with the development requirements of the state and sichuan province regarding the open sharing of scientific research infrastructures. against this background, constructing an “internet plus” shared management system adapted to the needs of universities has become a key measure to promote the intensive use of university resources and strengthen scientific research service capabilities. focusing on the practical pain points and urgent needs of the shared management of large-scale instruments and equipment in universities in the “internet plus” era, this paper conducts research on the optimization design and practice paths of the shared management system combined with practical cases of universities in sichuan, aiming to provide theoretical references and practical plans for the digital upgrading of instrument sharing management in universities. 2. analysis of existing problems in the shared management of large-scale instruments and equipment in universities 2.1 lack of shared management systems and insufficient collaborative linkage efficiency the shared management of large-scale instruments and equipment in universities generally lacks systematic institutional support, with core cruxes focusing on ambiguous division of powers and responsibilities and barriers to cross-subject collaboration. most universities adopt a “college/department independent management” model. taking the author’s university as an example, five laboratories or www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 65 published by scholink inc. projects with investment exceeding 10 million yuan each have been built in recent years, but the ownership and management rights of large-scale equipment are highly concentrated in each secondary college. cross-college and interdisciplinary sharing still remains fragmented, and few departments are willing to share their equipment. meanwhile, from the actual sharing situation of various universities, common phenomena include extensive shared use management, inconsistent charging standards, lack of reward and punishment mechanisms, vague intellectual property protection systems, and unclear definition of the ownership of scientific research achievements generated by cross-team use of instruments. for some provincial universities in sichuan province, even though they have accessed the provincial sharing platform in accordance with the requirements of the “measures for the administration of open sharing of major scientific research infrastructures and large-scale scientific research instruments in sichuan province”, problems such as slow response to cross-campus scheduling, insufficient resource coordination, and unbalanced resource allocation still exist. 2.2 weak technical support and lagging informatization construction there is a common misunderstanding of “valuing construction over functions” in the informatization construction of instrument sharing in universities, which makes it difficult to meet the needs of fullprocess management. existing sharing platforms have single functions, mostly only providing basic equipment information display and reservation functions, and lacking core modules such as real-time monitoring of equipment status, intelligent scheduling, and data analysis. researchers cannot accurately grasp instrument dynamics, and often face unavailable equipment due to malfunctions after reservation, delaying scientific research progress. investigations show that equipment operation data and usage records rely on manual entry, which is inefficient and prone to data errors, failing to provide accurate support for optimal resource allocation. although some universities in sichuan province have accessed the provincial large-scale scientific research instruments and equipment sharing platform, data standards of their original school-level management systems are inconsistent, leading to data barriers in docking with the provincial platform and forming “information silos”. this makes it difficult for the university to achieve centralized management and coordinated analysis, and also prevents full utilization of the interuniversity collaboration functions of the provincial platform. 2.3 unbalanced resource allocation, coexistence of idleness and redundant purchases there are significant structural contradictions in the allocation of instrument and equipment resources in universities, presenting a “two-tiered” situation: on the one hand, science and engineering colleges concentrate a large number of high-end equipment, while liberal arts and art colleges are short of resources; on the other hand, different colleges within the same university repeatedly purchase equipment with similar functions due to disciplinary barriers. some instruments have an annual usage time of less than 500 hours, with an idleness rate as high as over 40%. when purchasing equipment, some universities do not strictly conduct duplicate checking and demonstration through the provincial sharing platform in accordance with the requirements of the provincial management measures, but blindly apply for purchases at the college/department level, resulting in redundant configuration of large-scale instruments www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 66 published by scholink inc. with similar functions on the same campus. for example, some universities have purchased imported soil analysis instruments with low annual utilization rates, while other colleges within the university still need to reserve similar equipment through off-campus channels, causing a contradiction between resource idleness and demand gaps. 2.4 extensive operation and maintenance support, urgent need to improve service capabilities the imperfect operation and maintenance support system has become a key bottleneck restricting the quality of shared services. in terms of staffing, the construction of professional operation and maintenance teams lags behind. most universities do not have full-time operators and maintenance personnel, who are mostly part-time teachers or graduate students. their insufficient professional skills make it difficult to meet the needs of complex fault handling and daily maintenance, leading to delayed equipment repairs. meanwhile, maintenance management adopts a passive “repair-after-failure” model, without establishing full-life-cycle maintenance files for equipment, ignoring daily maintenance and regular inspections. this results in increased equipment failure rates and shortened service lives. the charging and settlement mechanisms are irregular, and the method of sharing operation and maintenance costs is vague. due to the lack of special funds, some universities pass on costs to users, and excessively high charges inhibit usage demand. for example, individual universities, without setting up special operation and maintenance funds, include all maintenance costs of large-scale instruments in shared charges, leading to higher unit prices for off-campus users than the market average. this not only violates the “cost compensation and non-profit principles” of the provincial management measures, but also significantly reduces the user activity of the platform. 2.5 homogeneous user experience and low willingness to participate in sharing pain points in user experience directly affect researchers’ enthusiasm for sharing. in terms of reservation processes, some platforms have complex operation interfaces and cumbersome steps. cross-college and cross-campus reservations require approval from multiple departments, with a cycle of up to several days, failing to meet urgent scientific research needs. there is a lack of coordination mechanisms for reservation conflicts, and the absence of fair scheduling rules when multiple users reserve the same equipment is prone to disputes. although the sharing platforms of some universities have accessed the provincial system, they have not updated detailed equipment information synchronously, only marking the equipment name and affiliated college. this makes it impossible for inter-university users to judge whether the equipment is suitable for their research needs, resulting in low actual utilization rates even though the provincial platform provides inter-university reservation channels. after-sales service response is lagging; technical support cannot be obtained in a timely manner when problems arise during use, complaint and feedback channels are not smooth, and reasonable demands are difficult to be addressed. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 67 published by scholink inc. 3. optimization paths of university instrument and equipment sharing management driven by “internet plus” 3.1 construct a coordinated management mechanism system break the collaboration barriers through institutional construction by establishing a unified coordination body at the university level. clarify its core responsibilities in resource scheduling, rule-making, and interest coordination to break the fragmented pattern of independent college/department management. the practice of sichuan university is worthy of reference. the university has formulated a series of systems such as the “measures for the use and management of shared funds for experimental instruments and equipment” and the “implementation measures for the management of open sharing charges”, and signed the “annual responsibility letter for equipment management and open sharing”. these measures clarify charging standards, reward and punishment rules, and intellectual property ownership, forming a systematic institutional guarantee system. formulate standardized sharing rules, including unified cross-departmental charging standards and reward/punishment mechanisms based on usage efficiency. provide financial inclination to colleges/departments that actively share equipment, and force idle equipment to be included in the sharing platform. strictly follow the requirements of the “measures for the administration of open sharing of major scientific research infrastructures and large-scale scientific research instruments in sichuan province”, improve the intellectual property protection system, and clarify the ownership and distribution plan of scientific research achievements generated by cross-team and inter-university use of instruments. establish a cross-campus collaboration mechanism to realize the interconnection of equipment information and coordinated scheduling across different campuses. build a unified universitywide sharing management hub through the “internet plus” platform, promote the standardization and transparency of management processes, and ensure data synchronization and functional collaboration with the provincial sharing platform. 3.2 build an intelligent informatization platform with technology integration upgrade the functions of the sharing platform relying on “internet plus” technology, integrate the internet of things, big data, cloud computing and other technologies, and construct a full-process intelligent management system. in terms of core functional modules, add a real-time equipment status monitoring module to collect operating data through sensors and realize automatic fault early warning; develop an intelligent reservation and scheduling system to support multi-dimensional retrieval, time-sharing reservation and automatic conflict coordination; build a data analysis and decision-making module to conduct visual analysis of data such as usage efficiency and idleness rate, providing accurate support for resource allocation. university of electronic science and technology of china has promoted the data standardization transformation of the university-wide equipment management system by holding promotional meetings on the open sharing of large-scale instruments and equipment, laying a technical foundation for classified configuration and public platform construction. its experience can provide reference for universities in the province. strengthen platform security construction, adopt multiple www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 68 published by scholink inc. identity authentication, data encryption and other technologies to ensure the security of user information and transaction data. 3.3 construct a precise and efficient resource allocation model realize optimal resource allocation with the help of big data analysis. collect demand data of scientific research equipment across the university through the sharing platform, establish a demand forecasting model, provide scientific basis for equipment purchase decisions, and avoid redundant purchases. strictly implement the provisions of the “measures for the administration of open sharing of major scientific research infrastructures and large-scale scientific research instruments in sichuan province”. when purchasing large-scale instruments of 2 million yuan or more, conduct duplicate checking and demonstration through the provincial sharing platform, and take the duplicate checking results as an important basis for purchase approval. in response to the differences in equipment needs of different disciplines, coordinate interdisciplinary equipment sharing packages through the platform to improve the balance of resource utilization. establish a post-purchase evaluation mechanism for equipment, link usage efficiency data with subsequent purchase budgets, and force the precision of resource allocation. 3.4 improve a professional and standardized operation and maintenance support system build a professional operation and maintenance team management mechanism relying on the platform, clarify the post responsibilities of full-time operators and maintenance personnel, and realize the fullprocess management of personnel qualification review, skill training and work assessment through the platform. establish full-life-cycle maintenance files for equipment, set up maintenance plan reminders on the platform, and realize full-process tracking from daily maintenance to fault repair. standardize the operation and maintenance cost sharing mechanism, strictly follow the “cost compensation and nonprofit principles”, set up special operation and maintenance funds, and realize transparent cost settlement through the platform to avoid excessive cost transfer to users. build an operation and maintenance technical exchange platform to promote experience sharing among operators, improve overall service capabilities, and ensure stable operation of equipment. referring to the practice of sichuan university, take the income from shared services as a source of performance-based salary funds, and give distribution inclination to experimental technical personnel to stimulate the work enthusiasm of the operation and maintenance team. 3.5 optimize convenient and high-quality user service experience optimize the platform service process oriented to user needs, simplify the reservation and approval links, realize “one-click application and online approval” for cross-college and cross-campus reservations, and shorten the handling cycle. enrich the platform information display content, detail equipment performance parameters, scope of application, operation guidelines and past cases to help users quickly match their needs. ensure the synchronous update of information with the provincial sharing platform to improve the convenience of use for inter-university users. at the same time, establish a multi-channel service response mechanism, set up entrances for online consultation, fault reporting and complaint feedback on the platform, and assign special personnel to handle user demands in a timely manner. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 69 published by scholink inc. regularly conduct user satisfaction surveys through the platform, collect feedback and continuously optimize platform functions and service processes. constructing a “demand-oriented + active communication” model can effectively improve users’ participation enthusiasm. 4. conclusion “internet plus” provides key technical support for solving the problems of shared management of largescale instruments and equipment in universities, and is a core starting point for promoting the optimal allocation of scientific research resources and improving the efficiency of scientific research and innovation in universities. by issuing provincial management measures and building a unified sharing platform, sichuan province has laid a good foundation for the reform of shared management in universities in the province. combining with the practical cases of universities in sichuan, this paper addresses the prominent problems in the current university instrument sharing in terms of management mechanism, technical support, resource allocation, operation and maintenance support and user experience, and constructs a five-in-one optimization path of “mechanism coordination, technical empowerment, resource optimization, operation and maintenance upgrading, and service quality improvement”, forming a full-process and multi-dimensional closed-loop of shared management. the implementation of this path can effectively break the barriers to resource circulation, improve instrument usage efficiency, reduce scientific research costs, and promote interdisciplinary collaborative innovation. in the future, it is necessary to continuously optimize the plan in combination with the schoolrunning characteristics and disciplinary needs of different universities, deepen the integrated application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, give full play to the coordinating role of the large-scale scientific research instruments and equipment sharing platform, promote the upgrading of shared management from “available” to “easy to use”, and provide solid support for the connotative development of higher education and the improvement of scientific research and innovation capabilities. author profiles 1. luo kaitian (1977—), male, han nationality, born in yibin, sichuan. associate professor of computer science and technology at sichuan minzu college, master of software engineering, director of the network information center. his main research interests include complex networks and computer applications. 2. he lili (1990—), female, qiang nationality, born in maoxian, sichuan. master of business administration, deputy section chief of the asset management section, department of asset management, sichuan minzu college. her main research interests include asset management and computer informatization applications. 3. yang xingbing (1980—), female, han nationality, born in dazhou, sichuan. deputy director of the asset management center, sichuan provincial center for state-owned assets and educational www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 4, 2025 70 published by scholink inc. equipment in schools. her main research interests include state-owned asset management and computer informatization applications. fund project academic research project of sichuan provincial accounting association for education (no. chuan jiao hui〔2025〕08). affiliation: sichuan minzu college. project title: “research on the shared management model of large-scale instruments and equipment in universities”. project number: xhy202541. references chen, m., & wang, m. (2025). architectural design and practice of a digital multi-dimensional management system for sharing large-scale instruments. digital communication world, 2025(7). he, y. q., liu, h. y., xie, w. n., wang, s., duan, c. l., & wang, h. f. (2019). exploring new approaches to improve the innovation ability of science and engineering college students through the open sharing of large-scale instruments. research and exploration in laboratory, 38(8), 261-265. liu, h., & li, b. x. (2022). construction of shared platform for large-scale instruments and equipment in universities under the background of “internet plus”—taking shenyang agricultural university as an example. china modern educational equipment, 2022(15), 43-46. shi, m., tang, j., shi, m. s., jin, y. m., & cui, y. c. (2024). suggestions for optimizing the open management system of large-scale instruments in universities—taking the analysis and testing center of xinjiang university as an example. instruments and equipment, 12(2), 198-203. https://doi.org/10.12677/iae.2024.122028 sun, y. x. (2023). practices and reflections on the operation mechanism of sharing large-scale instruments in key laboratories. management of agricultural science and technology, 42(4), 6164. zhao, m., chu, x. x., zhu, y. w., song, x. q., wang, a. d., & yang, j. f. (2019). exploration and practice of constructing shared platforms for large-scale instruments in local universities. research and exploration in laboratory, 38(1), 256-259. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 41 original paper we should not hire only native english-speaking teachers khalid al-seghayer1 1 department of english language and literature, college of languages and translation, al imam mohammad ibn saud islamic university, riyadh, saudi arabia * khalid al-seghayer, e-amil: alseghayer@yahoo.com received: march 1, 2025 accepted: march 20, 2025 online published: april 9, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n2p41 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n2p41 abstract the preference for hiring native english-speaking teachers (nests) over their non-native-speaking counterparts remains deeply rooted in language education. this paper challenges the assumption that being a native speaker necessarily guarantees effective teaching ability. it explores the unique advantages that well-trained (nnests) bring to the classroom, including firsthand language-learning experience, greater empathy, cultural sensitivity, and more extensive structural knowledge of the english language. drawing on real-life examples and research efl/esl contexts, this paper argues that a balanced approach, wherein both nests and nnests collaborate and complement each other’s strengths, would engender to more optimal language learning outcomes. the analysis calls for a shift in hiring practices, with teaching qualifications and training valued over linguistic background alone. keywords native english-speaking teachers (nests), non-native english-speaking teachers (nnests), english as a second language (esl), language acquisition, teaching qualifications, cultural sensitivity, empathy, structural knowledge, hiring bias, educational policy 1. introduction the hiring practices of english-language institutions and schools often reflect a strong bias toward native english-speaking teachers (nests), driven by the assumption that native fluency inherently makes an individual a better teacher. many schools and language centers actively seek nests, often overlooking the qualifications and teaching experience of non-native english-speaking teachers (nnests). this orientation, however, is flawed. speaking a language fluently does not guarantee effective teaching, with pedagogical training, cultural awareness, and empathy toward students’ struggles being equally critical for language classroom success. mailto:alseghayer@yahoo.com www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 42 published by scholink inc. this assertion is supported by the fact that nnests have learned english as a second language themselves, conferring them a more comprehensive understanding of the learning process and the challenges that students face. i argue that nnests’ firsthand language learning experience, greater patience, and deeper grammatical knowledge make them equally, if not more, effective teachers than nests. the real-life examples, logical analysis, and empirical evidence presented in this paper call for the adoption of more balanced hiring practices that value teaching qualifications over native fluency. the real-life examples, logical analysis, and empirical evidence presented in this paper call for the adoption of more balanced hiring practices that value teaching qualifications over native fluency. these findings have important implications for both research and policy. from a research perspective, further investigation into the effectiveness of nnests in diverse classroom settings could strengthen the case for more inclusive hiring practices. on a policy level, language institutions and education policymakers should reconsider recruitment criteria to focus more on teaching ability and pedagogical expertise rather than native speaker status. 2. the bias toward native english-speaking teachers i keep a close watch on the advertising campaigns launched by private schools, english language institutions, and several public schools in the months preceding each new academic year, and these advertisements clearly express a desire to attract and employ only nests. this trend is corroborated by ruecker and ives (2015), who reported that many institutions prioritize native speaker status over formal teaching qualifications, even when nnests have more relevant training and experience. similarly, kiczkowiak and lowe (2021) contended that effective teaching depends more strongly on pedagogical skills and experience than on native fluency, challenging the preference for native english speakers in language teaching. this important issue is addressed in the following discussion, which demonstrates that the exclusive orientation toward native speakers remains firmly entrenched in practice and has gained momentum in language teaching. i begin by stating several facts and sharing some accounts of real-life incidents. 3. real-life examples of hiring failures two incidents that i have observed illustrate the consequences of hiring nests solely on the basis of their native speaker status. the first involves a government school that hired a number of native english speakers without examining their qualifications. the school assumed that native fluency would guarantee successful instruction. however, when students complained about their unsatisfactory performance, an investigation revealed that the teachers had no instructional experience or training. some had previously worked as dog trainers in chicago, a detail that underscored their lack of preparation for the classroom. the second occurrence revolves around a group of students at a private english language institution in a major city. the students reported that their instructors, who were primarily american and british nationals, had little to no teaching experience. many of these individuals were in the country on www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 43 published by scholink inc. scholarships to study arabic at local universities and took on part-time english teaching roles to supplement their incomes. while they were native speakers, their lack of qualifications and commitment to the profession resulted in poorly structured lessons and a lack of engagement in the classroom. as declared by one student, “we could tell they weren’t real teachers. they didn’t know how to explain grammar or help us improve.” these examples highlight the risks of prioritizing native speaker status over teaching qualifications. unfortunately, such hiring practices are common in many efl/esl contexts, particularly in regions with high demand for english education (ruecker & ives, 2015). there are also documented cases of negative outcomes for both students and institutions stemming from the employment of unqualified nests over qualified nnests (ruecker & ives, 2015; fithriani, 2018; kiczkowiak & lowe, 2021; yawan & marhamah, 2024). by focusing on linguistic background rather than pedagogical expertise, schools are in danger of compromising the quality of education and failing to meet students’ needs. 4. the unique strengths of non-native english-speaking teachers it is important to look at some of the attributes of nnests that demonstrate the disadvantages of excluding them from teaching english as a foreign language. a key issue must first be considered: nnests possess significant characteristics that are unique to them. more specifically, trained nnests are, as shown in figure 1, likely to exhibit six advantages over untrained nests: (1) firsthand experience with language learning, (2) patience and understanding, (3) multicultural understanding, (4) the status of a living model, (5) ease of identification given similarities in experiences with their students, and (6) enriched insight into the structure and use of the language. figure 1. six advantages of trained nonnative english-speaking teachers over untrained native speakers www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 44 published by scholink inc. 4.1 firsthand experience one of the most critical benefits of hiring nnests is their firsthand experience of the challenges confronting english language learners. this experiential comprehension allows these educators to better relate to their students’ needs, struggles, and motivations and to grasp how to keep them on track. consequently, nnests are often more adept at identifying and addressing these difficulties, as well as guiding students toward the use of effective learning strategies. their personal experiences as language learners enable them to anticipate common obstacles and provide practical solutions tailored to the particular circumstances of each student. notably, nnests are trained to leverage their successful learning experiences to enhance their teaching efficacy, including the ability to help students maintain their motivation. as highlighted by kiczkowiak and lowe (2021), the personal experiences of nnests as language learners equip them with the capacity to anticipate and address common linguistic difficulties, such as grammar and pronunciation issues. this directly acquired knowledge often translates into more optimal and empathetic instructional approaches, enhancing the overall learning experience. furthermore, well-trained nnests serve not only as effective instructors but also as relatable role models for their students. their hands-on experiences of learning english allow them to appreciate the hardships encountered by students and foster a supportive learning environment (kurniawati & rizki, 2018). this capacity to relate to students’ experiences enhances the teacher–student connection, ultimately contributing to more effective language acquisition. 4.2 patience and understanding a notable characteristic of nnests is their heightened patience with language learners. drawing from their own experiences, these educators are predisposed to demonstrate greater tolerance of the mistakes that english learners make, recognizing and valuing the gradual process through which students acquire proficiency in the english language. this understanding stems from the fact that nnests have likely encountered similar challenges when learning english themselves (selvi & yazan, 2021). this empathy contributes to the creation of a supportive learning environment, which is essential to laying the groundwork for student success. in contrast, some nests may struggle to comprehend why certain linguistic structures or vocabulary bewilder their students, as these elements may appear straightforward and intuitive to them. nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that this is not universal among nests, with many being highly empathetic and adept at addressing the diverse needs of their students. 4.3 multicultural understanding another considerable advantage carried by nnests is the broader cultural perspective that they bring to esl/efl classrooms compared with mainstream american or british teachers. nnests often possess a more profound appreciation for the diverse cultures represented in their classrooms, which enables them to cultivate richer cross-cultural knowledge among students. a survey conducted by ruecker and ives (2015) revealed that nnests are frequently more adept at integrating multicultural perspectives into their teaching, thereby enhancing students’ cultural awareness and equipping them with the skills www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 45 published by scholink inc. necessary for effective global communication and cultural competence (kurniawati & rizki, 2018). this ability is particularly valuable in classrooms where students come from a range of cultural backgrounds. furthermore, nnests’ familiarity with both the culture to which the target language belongs and their students’ local cultures allows them to bridge cultural gaps effectively, facilitating deeper intercultural understanding (bayyurt, 2006). 4.4 the status as a living model the next characteristic is best understood through a discussion of claims related to the exclusive recruitment of nests. first, since nnests frequently make grammatical and pronunciation mistakes, they are unable to model the language in the best ways possible. by contrast, nests rarely commit errors and are therefore the most reliable exemplars of english language ability, justifying the belief that they should be the only ones allowed to teach it. these arguments fall apart upon closer inspection. language educators and practitioners do not expect nnests to be at the same level as nests in all aspects of language. indeed, an english teacher who makes an occasional grammatical, structural, or pronunciation error offers an advantage because learners see an imperfect living role model whose english ability is within their grasp. learners realize that they can evolve into individuals resembling their teachers if they work hard to acquire english. adara (2020) found that students often perceive nnests as more relatable and achievable role models, as their language proficiency represents a realistic goal for learners. this relatability can boost students’ motivation and confidence in their own language-learning journey. such a situation does not hold for nests, who may also have distinct accents that are difficult to emulate or may make and teach grammatical errors without realizing that their manner of speaking is, in fact, a nonstandard variety of english. 4.5 ease of identification the ease with which learners can identify with nnests paves the way for the cultivation of a natural rapport between them and their students. learners often perceive such educators as relatable figures, which enhances their motivation to learn english. when students encounter difficulties or feel that mastering english is an insurmountable challenge, the presence of nnests serves as a tangible reminder that success is achievable, as their teachers have navigated similar linguistic challenges. nnests frequently share linguistic and cultural backgrounds with their students, which engenders a sense of solidarity and trust in the classroom (chakma, 2020). this connection can significantly enhance students’ engagement and willingness to participate. pariyanto (2021) similarly argued that nnests’ shared experiences with their students foster a deeper sense of trust and engagement, ultimately creating a more inclusive and motivational learning environment. the ability of nnests to establish strong identification and rapport with students represents a distinct advantage in efl instruction. 4.6 enriched insight into language structure yet another remarkable strength of nnests is the rich insight that they have into the structure and usage of the english language compared with nests. a strong grasp of these linguistic elements is essential for effective language instruction, and nnests’ understanding of them enhances the quality of their www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 46 published by scholink inc. teaching. research has indicated that nnests, having studied the language formally, often possess a more thorough knowledge of grammar, usage, and punctuation than nests, who typically acquire these skills naturally. through their formal studies, nnests have gained expertise in complex aspects of english, such as tenses, articles, and auxiliary verbs—areas that native speakers may use intuitively but rarely analyze or articulate with precision. this explanation was further broken down by önalan (2018), who elaborated that nnests frequently cultivate a more explicit understanding of english grammar, thus enabling them to explain complex structures more clearly. in the same vein, zhang and solarz (2022) asserted that nnests’ meaningful grasp of the structure and use of english empower them to clarify complicated language patterns in a more precise and compelling manner for students. this analytical approach confers nnests a distinct advantage in helping learners navigate the intricacies of english. 5. conclusion the assumption that native speakers make more effective teachers is both flawed and restrictive. nnests bring unique and valuable skills to the classroom, including a deep understanding of the language learning process, patience, and cultural sensitivity. empirical evidence and real-life examples demonstrate that well-trained nnests are often better equipped to meet students’ educational needs than unqualified nests. to create a more inclusive and successful english education system, schools and institutions should shift their focus from linguistic background to teaching ability through concrete reforms. this can be achieved through blind hiring processes, the prioritization of teaching credentials, the establishment of collaborative endeavors between nests and nnests, and the delivery of professional development opportunities. stakeholders can ensure that teaching credentials are prioritized by implementing clear, standardized hiring criteria that emphasize professional qualifications over linguistic background. establishing blind hiring processes—where applicants’ linguistic backgrounds are concealed during the initial screening phase—can help reduce unconscious bias and ensure that hiring decisions are based on teaching ability and formal training. additionally, providing hiring committees with training on equitable recruitment practices will reinforce the importance of credentials and demonstrate teaching effectiveness. such training would help decision-makers focus on candidates' professional competence rather than their native speaker status, leading to more consistent and equitable hiring outcomes. creating a system explicitly dedicated to prioritizing credentials would further support equitable hiring. this system could take the form of a centralized certification database or an accreditation body that evaluates teaching qualifications and teaching performance based on objective criteria. schools and institutions could use this resource to identify and verify well-qualified candidates while promoting consistency in hiring standards. moreover, the system could serve as a platform for professional development, offering training programs and resources that reflect best practices in language teaching. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 47 published by scholink inc. by establishing a structured and transparent system, institutions would be better positioned to attract and retain highly qualified teachers, regardless of their linguistic background. collaborative efforts between nests and nnests can also enhance the quality of language instruction by combining their respective strengths. co-teaching models, where nnests provide grammatical and structural insights and nests offer conversational fluency and cultural context, would create a more balanced and effective learning environment. peer observation and feedback sessions would allow teachers to learn from each other’s techniques and adjust their methods, accordingly, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. similarly, curriculum development workshops where nests and nnests collaborate to design balanced and culturally sensitive lesson plans would promote inclusivity and improve student engagement. establishing mentoring programs, where experienced nnests and nests exchange strategies and support each other’s professional growth, would further strengthen this collaborative environment and create a more unified teaching community. ensuring equitable hiring also requires targeted professional development initiatives. teacher training programs that address both linguistic and pedagogical skills would ensure equal access to professional growth for nests and nnests alike. implicit bias training for hiring managers and administrators would help reduce prejudice based on linguistic background, promoting a more objective evaluation process. workshops on effective teaching strategies, highlighting the strengths of both nests and nnests, would foster mutual respect and collaboration in the classroom. additionally, conferences and networking events encouraging cross-cultural understanding and professional exchange among language teachers would further strengthen the professional community and promote a more balanced teaching environment. although challenges such as institutional resistance or logistical barriers may arise, raising awareness among stakeholders and promoting equity in hiring practices can help overcome these obstacles. by focusing on teaching ability rather than linguistic background and fostering collaboration between nests and nnests, institutions can more effectively serve students and advance professionalism in english language teaching. shifting the focus from nativeness to qualifications will not only improve educational outcomes—such as higher student proficiency, engagement, and success rates—but also create a more inclusive and equitable environment for teachers and learners alike. by valuing competence over nativeness, the field of english language teaching can move toward true equity, ensuring that every student has access to the highest quality instruction, regardless of their teacher’s linguistic background. about the author khalid al-seghayer is an accomplished applied linguistics scholar with over 20 years of experience in teaching, research, academic leadership, and translation. he holds a ph.d. in applied linguistics from the university of pittsburgh and has made significant contributions to the fields of computer-assisted language learning (call) and second language reading. his expertise spans technology-enhanced www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 48 published by scholink inc. language learning, efl/esl teaching methodologies, curriculum development, and cross-cultural communication. references adara, r. a. (2020). the differences in indonesian esl students’ motivation and perceptions of nest and nnest. journal of english teaching, 6(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.36456/jet.v5.n01.2020.2139 bayyurt, y. (2006). non-native english language teachers’ perspective on culture in english as a foreign language classrooms. teacher development, 10(2), 233-247. https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530600773366 chaika, o. (2018). key advantages of multiculturalism for foreign language teaching and learning. humanitarian studies: pedagogics, psychology, philosophy, 14(1), 119-128. https://doi.org/10.31548/hspedagog14(1).2023.119-128 chakma, u. (2020). fitting in and fighting out: non-native teachers of english engaging in an australian esl environment. exchanges: the interdisciplinary research journal, 8(1), 19-39. https://doi.org/10.31273/eirj.v8i1.602 fithriani, r. (2018). discrimination behind nest and nnest dichotomy in elt professionalism. kne social sciences, 741-755. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v3i4.1982 kiczkowiak, m., & lowe, r. j. (2021). teaching english as a lingua franca: the journey from efl to elf. delta publishing. kurniawati, k., & rizki, d. (2018). native vs. non-native efl teachers: who are better? studies in english language and education, 5(1), 137-147. https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v5i1.9432 önalan, o. (2018). non-native english teachers’ beliefs on grammar instruction. english language teaching, 11(5), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v11n5p1 pariyanto. (2021). native english-speaking teachers (nests) and indonesian english teachers (iets): efl students’ perception and preferences. journal of language, literary, and cultural studies, 3(2), 112-125. https://doi.org/10.30996/anaphora.v3i2.4620 ruecker, t., & ives, l. (2015). white native english speakers needed: the rhetorical construction of privilege in online teacher recruitment spaces. tesol quarterly, 49(4), 733-756. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.195 selvi, a. f., & yazan, b. (2021). teaching english as an international language: implementing, reviewing, and re-envisioning world englishes in language education. routledge. yawan, h., & marhamah. (2024). challenging native speakerism: tefl in indonesia beyond native speaker fallacy. journal of literate of english education study program, 5(1), 62-71. https://doi.org/10.47435/jle.v5i1.2692 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 2, 2025 49 published by scholink inc. zhang, q., & solarz, d. (2022). advantages and disadvantages of native and nonnative english-speaking teachers. journal of student-scientists’ research, 11(2), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v11i2.2624 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 87 original paper the iraqi efl university learners’ recognition of the politeness principle mohammed jasim betti1* & fatima emad yousif2 1 department of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar, nasiriya, iraq 2 ministry of education, general directorate of education, thi-qar, iraq * mohammed jasim betti, department of english, college of education for humanities, thi-qar university, nasiriya, iraq received: july 15, 2022 accepted: august 10, 2022 online published: september 2, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n3p87 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n3p87 abstract this study deals with the investigation of the iraqi efl university learners’ recognition of leech’s politeness principle. the study aims at: determining whether the iraqi efl learners observe or flout the maxims of politeness principle, assessing the mastery of the maxims of politeness principle by the iraqi efl learners, and identifying which maxim(s) of politeness principle is/are usually observed and/or flouted. it is hypothesized that the modesty maxim is the most observed maxim and the generosity maxim is the most flouted one of the iraqi efl learners’ recognition of politeness principle, and the iraqi efl learners’ flouting of the maxims of politeness principle is more than their observance of such maxims at the recognition question. the sample of the current study is one hundred iraqi efl learners at the fourth year at university of thi-qar, college of education for humanities, department of english. a test is the data elicitation tool that is designed to test the learners’ ability to recognize which maxims of politeness principle which are observed depending on the context of conversation in which they are indulged. it arrives at some conclusions: the most observed maxim of the iraqi efl learners’ recognition of politeness principle is the feeling-reticence maxim and the most flouted one is the modesty maxim. the iraqi efl university learners’ flouting of those maxims in the recognition question is more than their observance. keywords politeness principle, politeness maxims, flouting, observing, iraqi efl university learners www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 88 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction language is defined by mcmohan (haryanto, weda, & nashruddin, 2018, p. 99) as a system of symbolic sounds that are arbitrary and used by people of a society in order to interact, communicate and identify as well as express themselves. according to a large number of pragmatists, the use of the language by people in their communication and interaction is affected to a large extent by “pragmatic maxims” or pragmatic principles such as leech’s politeness principle which includes six maxims and are considered as a complement to cooperative principle (spencer-oatey & jiang, 2003, p. 1634). this is referred to by crystal (1997, p. 301) when he defined pragmatics as “the study of language from the point of view of users, especially of the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social interaction and the effect their use of language has on the participants in the act of communication”. in order to enable learners to use a language successfully, various factors must be taken into respect, some of which are internal and associated with the development of “linguistic competence” and others are external factors that are related to the development of “communicative competence”. this means that, in addition to the linguistic knowledge, learners should have the ability to use this knowledge appropriately taking into consideration the context (de aquino, 2011, pp. 140-141; betti & yaseen, 2020, p. 52). by iraqi efl learners, it is meant those learners of english in non-english-speaking countries (dingfang, 1994; as cited in peng, 2019, p. 2). similarly, betti and al-jubouri (2015, p. 16) define foreign language as “one which has no internal function in the learner’s country”. thus, the efl learners learn the fl “in order to communicate with native speakers or interlanguage users of the foreign language” (betti & aljubouri, ibid). more specifically, iraqi efl learners are those nonnative learners of english whose mother tongue is iraqi arabic. “the language is learnt like other subjects in the school curriculum for operational purposes” (betti & al-jubouri, ibid). hence, the abbreviation efl is a shortened form of “english as a foreign language”, for example, an iraqi learner of english in iraq (betti & hasan, 2020, p. 43). this study deals with an important pragmatic principle that is leech’s politeness one. politeness is considered as a social phenomenon, and it can be observed in all cultures (leech & tatiana, 2014, p. 10). during conversation and interaction, people try to preserve comity and maintain a good social relationship and a pleasant conversation, so that they adopt different politeness strategies, rules or maxims. the iraqi efl university learners are aware of the concept of politeness as it is taught at the fourth year, colleges of education for humanities in iraq, as a part of students’ course in linguistics. moreover, learners at the fourth year are trained and more advanced in the subjects of speaking courses, oral and aural ones and the study of literature, but it is assumed that they have difficulty in applying the various strategies of politeness. their pragmatic competence is not fully learned. so, in the hope of closing the research gap, the following questions are addressed in this study: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 89 published by scholink inc. 1) do iraqi efl university learners have the necessary pragmatic competence to use the maxims of leech’s politeness principle? 2) do those learners master those maxims of politeness principle? 3) which politeness maxim(s) is/are observed or flouted by the iraqi efl university learners? the present study aims at: 1) determining whether the iraqi efl university learners observe or flout the maxims of politeness principle. 2) assessing the mastery of the maxims of politeness principle by the iraqi efl university learners. 3) identifying which maxim(s) of politeness principle is/are usually observed and/or flouted. depending on the aims of the study, it is hypothesized that: 1) the modesty maxim is the most observed maxim of the iraqi efl university learners’ recognition of politeness principle. 2) the generosity maxim is the most flouted maxim of the iraqi efl university learners’ recognition of politeness principle. 3) the iraqi efl university learners’ flouting of the maxims of politeness principle is more than their observance of such maxims. the study is limited to one hundred iraqi efl learners at the fourth-year, dept. of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar for the academic year (2021-2022) who are selected randomly to be the sample of the study. leech’s politeness principle (1983) and (2014) is adopted for this study to test the students’ performance at the recognition level. the following procedure is adopted in this study: 1) providing a theoretical background knowledge about politeness theory and leech’s politeness principle. 2) for the purpose of data elicitation, a written test is constructed, taking into consideration the validity and reliability of the test. 3) choosing randomly a sample of one hundred iraqi efl learners at the fourth-year, dept. of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar, at the academic year (2021-2022). 4) the test is implemented on the selected participants. 5) the data is analyzed mathematically to provide the results and conclusions of the study. it is hoped that this study will be beneficial for researchers and teachers, at the colleges of education for humanities, to pay close attention to efl learners in order to recognize their weaknesses and assign remedial work, and to all departments in which english as a foreign language is taught, colleges of education for humanities, colleges of arts, colleges of basic education in iraq. this study can also aid textbooks and curriculum planners in emphasizing the importance of offering exercises that promote the use of politeness strategies, which play an important role in daily communication. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 90 published by scholink inc. 2. literature review 2.1 pragmatics, pragmatic competence and politeness speaking about language from a functional perspective, i.e., as a means of communication, means that we are talking about language with respect to pragmatics. according to huang (2017, p. 155), pragmatics is “the study of language use in context”. so, pragmatics refers to the study of the communicative use of the language, giving much attention to the relationship between “sentences and the context and situations of sentences use” (supri & rahmatiany, 2021, p. 402). i have got a headache. this utterance, according to o’keeffe et al. (2011, pp. 1-2), has a number of meanings depending on when it is uttered, who uses it, who the speaker is conversing with, and so on. -if it is said during medical examination by a patient it to a doctor, it means; “i need a prescription”. it could mean; “turn down the music”, if it is said by a mother to her teenage son. -it could mean; “i was partying last night” (ibid), if two friends are talking. so, this utterance is interpreted differently with respect to the context in which it is said. it may be considered as an order, a complaint (or a refusal). this refers to the fact that in all languages, the form (or what is said) is different from the content (or what is meant). frankel and wood (2011, p. 90) define misunderstanding as the listener’s inaccurate interpretation of the utterance accompanied by a lack of knowledge of the interpretation, of the speaker’s intended utterance (betti & mahdi, 2020, p. 74). politeness comes to be considered as one of the most important and deep concepts in pragmatics that provides an explanation of the factors that cause the variation in what we are saying throughout communication and how our speech is interpreted by the h (hearer) (see appendix 1), influencing by different contextual factors. throughout communication, people strive to achieve their personal goals and desires on the one hand, and try to keep and preserve comity and good relationships on the other hand. as a result, different speech acts are used with various illocutionary goals (littlejohn & foss, 2009, p. 754; maharani, 2017, p. 1). the study of speech acts and how learners of second/foreign language learn to perform various illocutionary functions or acts constitute important components of communicative competence (bardoviharlig, 2005, p. 68). according to koike (1989, p. 279), pragmatic competence is “the speaker’s knowledge and use of rules of appropriateness and politeness, which govern the way the speaker will understand and formulate speech acts”. without pragmatic competence, interlocutors may be unable to comprehend each other, resulting in communication failure. politeness refers to a reciprocal respect and regard for the feelings or face wants of others and it is one significant reason for mitigating the “blatant imposition” of one’s desires on others (holmes & stubbe, 2015, p. 5). crystal (2008, p. 373) provides a definition for politeness as “a term which characterizes linguistic features mediating norms of social behavior, in relation to such notions as courtesy, rapport, deference and distance”. according to this definition, politeness is considered as linguistic resources that www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 91 published by scholink inc. are employed for various social purposes. according to brown and levinson (1987), lackoff (1973), and leech (1983), linguistically, politeness comprises a number of different rules or strategies that are used to preserve comity and avoid interpersonal conflict. those linguists depend on speech act theory and the cooperative principle and its maxims (vine, 2018, p. 66). so politeness is a social judgment and context dependent to a large extant. consequently, the knowledge of the language user is not only represented by the grammatical rules, but also it includes the knowledge of the appropriate use of the language in terms of what is said, how, to whom and other external factors, social, as well as psychological variables (mey, 2009, pp. 92-93; and betti & al-jubouri, 2015, p. 28). 2.2 lakoff’s theory in 1973, lakoff began the modern study of politeness from a pragmatic perspective, adapting grice’s cooperative principle (baker & ellece, 2011, p. 24): “make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged”. that regulates conversations and how people behave and interact with each other. watts states that lakoff was the first who suggests that maxims of grice’s cp are insufficient and should be reformulated in the form of pragmatic rules that determine or classify utterances as “wellformed” or “non-well formed” (lakoff, 1973, p. 296; dynel, 2009, p. 26). lakoff limits gracie’s conversational maxims (quantity, quality, manner, relation) that she recalls “rules of conversation” into two rules of pragmatic competence which are: be clear and be polite. the first rule “be clear” is formulated with respect to grice’s cp and the second one “be polite” being formulated with respect to politeness principle (culpeper & haugh, 2014, p. 203). while the grice’s maxims represent the clarity requirement, rules of politeness that are suggested and formulated by lakoff are viewed as the “rules of rappart” which are (huang, 2017, p. 385): 1). do not impose. 2). give options. 3). feel good, be friendly these rules of politeness guide interaction. the observance of these rules of politeness represents the reason that underlies the choice of certain expression rather than another (ibid). 2.3 brown and levinson’s strategies brown and levinson’s theory shows a clear connection between cp and the notion of “face” that is adopted by goffman (1969) as the starting point to the study of politeness (d’haudt, ostman, & verschaeren, 2009, p. 160). according to brown and levinson, “it is the mutual awareness of ‘face’ sensitivity, and the kind of means-ends reasoning, that together with the cp allow the inference of implicatures of politeness”. “face” is defined as “the public self-image that every member wants to claim for himself.” (brown & levinson, 1987, p. 61; geyer, 2008, p. 16). spencer-oatey (2008, pp. 12-13) states that according to brown and levinson (1987), there are two dimensions for “face”; negative face and positive face. according to brown and levinson, a large amount of speech acts can be considered as, inveterately, face-threatening to the speakers’ face such as; hearer’s thanks, hearer’s excuse, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 92 published by scholink inc. acceptance of compliment, apologies. or on the other hand, acts that threat the hearers’ face such as; suggestion, advice, promises, expression of compliment (gotti, 2018, p. 32). brown and levinson’s theory is associated with two important notions: face threatening acts (ftas) which are considered the kinds of speech acts that receive the most attention within politeness theory and politeness strategies (jucker & taavitsainen, 2008, p. 7). moreover, they adopt what they have called “model person” that has two important characteristics; rationality and face. they define ‘rationality’ as “the application of a specific mode of reasoning…which guarantees inferences from ends or goals to means that will satisfy those ends” (brown & levinson, 1983, p. 58; slman & betti, 2020, p. 222). in such a case “politeness strategies” are required in order to mitigate and lesson the threat by using the appropriate language. these strategies are: 1) bald on-record strategy which is very direct as the speaker will focus on the propositional content of the interpersonal aspect of what is said for examples imperatives: wash your hands. (brown & levinson, 1987, p. 100) when speakers are obliged to do the act “on-record”, there will be two options. they may perform it with or without redressive action that seeks to stress the negative or positive face (rasaler, 2016, p. 45). one of the most important factors that determines the use of bald on-record is the social distance and how well the speaker knows the hearer. as a result, it is usually used in family situation. 2). positive politeness: the speaker tries to create a kind of solidarity and mitigates or lessens the threat to the hearer’s positive face, making him/her feel comfortable about her/himself or their properties. such strategies are used in situations where the participants know each other or in group of friends in order to demonstrate friendliness such as hedging, statement of friendship, and compliments (brown & levinson, 1978, p. 103). how about shutting the door for us! (holtgraves & yang, 1990, p. 720) 3). negative politeness: locastro (2012, p. 139) states that “negative politeness” does not mean that the speaker is impolite, but s/he adopts it in order to indicate that there is a social distance between speaker and hearer. according to brown and levinson (1987), these strategies are performed to avoid imposing on the hearer. this means the risk of face threat on the hearer is reduced: you don’t have any envelopes, do you? (locastro, 2012, p. 14) 4) off record: according to brown and levinson (1978, p. 216), by performing off record strategy, “the actor leaves it up to the addressee to decide how to interpret the act”. this means the speaker is relying upon the hearer’s ability to understand and interpret his/her intended meaning although it is indirectly suggested. in this case, the hearer’s face is not threatened (verschueren, 1999, p. 25). awell, how do i look? byour shoes are nice…… 5) don’t do the fta: the speaker sometimes avoids performing fta as it is very serious (culpepre & haugh, 2014, p. 211). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 93 published by scholink inc. 2.4 leech’s theory according to leech (1983), politeness is considered very important in order to understand “why people are often so indirect in conveying what they mean” (leech, 1983, p. 80; and dynel, 2009, p. 28). it can be represented by various strategies that are used to avoid conflict and it can be measured in terms of how much effort is made into avoiding a conflict situation and establishing and maintaining comity (locher & jucker, 2017, p. 427). leech differentiates between “absolute politeness” which is a number of scales that have negative and positive poles, for example, order which is impolite and offer which is polite. according to this scale, utterances are ordered out of context. for example, an expression “can you help me?” is judged as more polite than “help me” because the request that takes the question form offers more options to the hearer (leech, 2007, p. 7; clupeper, 2011, p. 124). on the other hand, “relative politeness” scale is related or associated with contexts or situations. it is possible for the expression that is judged as polite according to the absolute politeness will be judged as less polite according to this scale, such as; “could i possibly interrupt?” may be considered as too polite, but if it is said to members of a family that monopolizing the conversation, it will be judged as less polite or possibly ironic. relative politeness is sensitive to context (leech, 2007, p. 7). 2.5 politeness principle 2.5.1 definition and functions of illocutionary actions leech (1983) produces politeness principle as an independent pragmatic principle, “coordinate construct to the cooperative principle” (leech, 1983, p. 79; and kiesling & bratt paulston, 2005, p. 60). according to leech, politeness principle is important to provide an account of why people sometimes do not observe the maxims of the cooperative principle which explain the way that people create implicature in conversation by non-observing one or more than one of those maxims to achieve different purposes (leech, 1983, p. 81; bousfield, 2008, p. 47). according to leech, speakers frequently communicate more than what they say. for instance: “many of the delegates opposed the motion.” by saying such a sentence, the speaker means that not all the delegates voted against the motion and at the same time not all of them with it (leech, 1983, p. 9; and wang, 2009, p. 296). leech (2008, pp. 9192) argues that, in order for the participants to be polite in communication or their interaction they are required to take over strategies of increasing “polite beliefs” and decreasing “impolite beliefs”. politeness principle is represented in the negative imperative “do not offend others” in addition to the positive imperative “be nice to others” (leech, 2008, p. 91; and felemban, 2012). so, according to leech (1983, p. 81), the general function of the politeness principle is to “minimize the expression of impolite beliefs” which is the negative version, and the positive version which is to “maximize the expression of polite beliefs”. according to leech, depending on the relationship between the illocutionary functions or the speaker’s goals and the social goals of establishing and preserving civility, the functions of illocutionary actions may be classified into four types (leech, 1983, p. 104; supri & rahmatiany, 2021, p. 403): www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 94 published by scholink inc. acompetitive: the illocutionary goal and the social goal are in competition; “the illocutionary goal competes with the social goal” for instance ordering, demanding, asking. bconvivial: “the illocutionary goal is related to or coincides with the social goal”, for instance, inviting, offering, thanking and greeting. ccollaborative: “the illocutionary goal is irrelevant or indifferent to the social goal” like; reporting, asserting, announcing and instructing. dconflictive: there is a conflict between the social goal and the illocutionary goal; “the illocutionary goal conflicts with the social goal” such as; threatening, cursing, accusing. according to the model of politeness that is developed by leech (1983, p. 132), politeness is a scalar phenomenon, it can be measured employing certain types of scales which are: 1) cost-benefit scale: illocutions are estimated depending on the cost or benefit of them to speaker or to hearer. 2) optionality scale: illocutions are ranked on this scale depending on how much options a speaker allows to hearer. 3) indirectness scale: illocutions are sorted or arranged depending on the length of the path (meansends analysis) linking the illocutionary act to its illocutionary goal. according to this scale, the more indirect the act is, the more polite it is (felemban, 2012, p. 72). 4) authority scale: sometimes, authority scale is referred to as the power-solidarity scale that demonstrates the degree of distance between the speaker and hearer with respect to power over each other (felemban, 2012, p. 72). 5) social scale: social scale gives information about the amount of solidarity between speakers and hearers (marques, 2000, p. 9). 2.5.2 maxims of politeness principle leech (2008, p. 92) argues that polite conversation involves asymmetries that can be represented as follows: “whatever is polite belief for the speaker is an impolite belief for the hearer”. these asymmetries can be elaborated through the maxims of politeness principle that deal with polite behavior suggesting that politeness is associated with the relationship between self and other: two terms that are used to refer to participants in conversation. self is usually associated or refers to speaker while other refers to hearer taking into consideration that speakers “show politeness to third parties, who may or may not be presented in the speech situation” (leech, 1983, p. 132). leech (2014, p. 90) proposes a superconstraint that comprehends all other maxims: “general strategy of politeness: in order to be polite, s expresses or implies meanings that associate a favorable value with o or what pertains to o or associates an unfavorable value with s or with what pertains to s” (s = self, speaker and o = other, hearer) (orsini-jones & lee, 2018, p. 29). general strategy of politeness is important in conversation as it helps s to avoid offense because both participants are “leaning over back words” to evade the disagreement that would emerge if each participant wants to achieve his/her goal regardless or without respect to others (leech, 2014, p. 90). it www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 95 published by scholink inc. is also possible for the participant to “lean forward” in an opposite direction to conciliate o via pospoliteness taking into consideration that leech talks about communication of meaning because pragmatics is concerned with communicative behavior and according to leech politeness, pragmatically speaking, is “a matter of conveying meanings in accord with the gsp” (ibid). according to leech (2014), the maxims of politeness principle: tact, generosity, approbation, modesty, agreement, sympathy, consideration, s’s obligation to o, o’s obligation to s, feeling-reticence, opinion-reticence, can be considered as different manifestations of the gsp which is a super-strategy or supermaxim. 1) tact maxim the tact maxim is represented as follows: “minimize the expression of beliefs which imply cost to other; maximize the expression of beliefs which imply benefit to other” (leech, 1983, p. 132; thomas, 1995, p. 160). “it is raining very hard and the driver(d), stops to offer a walker(w) a lift.” (situation) d: do you want a lift? w: well, if you’re going near the campsite, yes please. (thomas, 1995, p. 132) in this example, the walker reduces the degree of imposition or cost on the hearer by using an indirect way, which implies that he will accept a lift to the campsite if the driver goes to that place. in 2014, leech reformulates this maxim to be called a constraint that “gives a low value to s’s wants”. it can be represented by the requests that are usually formulated in indirect, tentative way, giving a chance to reject, in addition to lessen s’s force on h (leech, 2014, p. 93): a: i don’t want write the topic, will you write? b: well, i like, but i can’t in this example, the speaker uses the tact maxim in order to give the h a chance to accept or refuse to write by using an indirect request. 2) generosity maxim the generosity maxim is stated as follows: “minimize the expression of benefit to self: maximize the expression of cost to self”. according to leech, in practice, it is easy to distinguish ‘other-centered’ maxim of tact from the ‘self-centered’ maxim of generosity (leech, 1983, p. 133; thomas, 1995, p. 162), for instance; you must come and have dinner with us. this example is polite, because it involves benefit to the hearer on the one hand and cost to speaker on the other (less important). this maxim is reformulated by leech (2014) as a constraint which “gives a high value to os’ wants”. it can be represented by, for instance, offering, inviting and promising someone to do something in a direct way or even impositioning way (leech, 2014, p. 92). sit down, i will clean the room. in this example, the speaker offers himself to clean the room. the speaker performs the generosity maxim as he maximizes cost to self and minimizes benefit to self (give high value to o’s wants). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 96 published by scholink inc. 3) approbation maxim this maxim is stated as follows: “minimize dispraise of other; maximize praise of other.” the negative aspect of this maxim is more important, as it says “avoid saying unpleasant things about others, and more particularly about the h”. sometimes, we violate one of the maxims of cp in order to preserve a maxim of pp for example, we do not want to say something bad about a third party as it is the case (leech, 1983, p. 135); a: her performance was awesome, wasn’t it? b: was it? here, b violates the maxim of quantity in order not to say something that may be rude about the third party, creating an implicature. this is an uncertain opinion. the impolite implicature is derived from the question which can be considered as if s/he is not sure about such a judgment. this maxim is reformulated by leech in (2014) to be a constraint that “gives a high value to os’ qualities”, for instance mutually paying complements, if it looks suitable to do so. your dress looks so lovely. on the contrary, when o is criticized, this criticism must be hedged and reduced (leech, 2014, p. 94). you could have done better. it was not terribly good. 4) modesty maxim the modesty maxim is worded as follows: “minimize praise to self; maximize dispraise of self”. according to this maxim, it is predictable that participants will be humble by decreasing the compliment of them (leech, 1983, p. 136), for instance; ‘well done! what a wonderful performance! i wish i could sing as well as that’ in this example, by saying, “i wish i could sing as well as that”, the speaker dispraises himself and increases commendation of other. the speaker underestimates his ability of performance for the purpose of highlighting the hearer’s ability (noviani, 2014, p. 23). leech (2014) reformulates this maxim as a maxim or the constraint that “gives a low value to ss’ qualities”. usually, “selfdeprecation” is considered to be polite (leech, 2014, p. 94). a: i am so stupid, i forget your pen. b: oh, no you aren’t stupid. (leech, 1983, p. 136) in such case, the lowliness or humility in the s’s utterances evolves refusal from h that is associated with approbation. this type of “selfdeprecation” is usually referred to as “fishing for compliments” (leech, 2014, p. 94). 5) agreement maxim agreement maxim can be represented by following the strategy of reducing the expression of disagreement between self and other, rising or maximizing the expression of agreement. a: it was an interesting exhibition, wasn’t it? b: no, it was very uninteresting. (leech, 1987, p. 138) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 97 published by scholink inc. such an answer is considered impolite as the student violates the maxim of agreement and directly disagrees, or rejects a’s opinion. a: tom and mike are quite naughty. b: yes, mike is. (polite) in this example, speaker b observes the maxim of agreement by attempting to express his/her agreement partially, so that s/he reduces the disagreement with the other party (wang, 2009, p. 291). in 2014, this maxim is reformulated to be a constraint that: “gives a high value to o’s opinions”. 6) sympathy maxim this maxim explains why, despite the fact that condolences indicate unpleasant feelings towards the hearer, congratulations and condolences are respectful speech acts (leech, 1983, p. 138). sympathy maxim is represented by reducing or decreasing antipathy between self and other, and increasing sympathy between self and other. this means that what is achieved by other must be admired, evaluated and respected. on the contrary side, the disaster or the adversity to other must be given sympathy and commiseration (maharani, 2017, p. 4). i am so happy that you pass the exam. i feel sorry about losing the match. in the first example, the speaker performs the sympathy maxim by congratulating and appreciating that the other passes the exam. in the second, the use of the word ‘sorry’ expresses the speaker’s observance of the sympathy maxim and shows his commiseration (ibid). this maxim is reformulated in 2014 as a constraint that “gives a high value on o’s feelings”. it is needed in order to explain our concerning of other people’s feelings in speech acts such as congratulations and consolation. sharing people their feelings reveals that you are polite. speech acts such as, good wishes, consolation and congratulations are all “courteous speech acts” that need no attenuation, for example; well done, enjoy your holiday, have a good day! (leech, 2014, p. 97). on the contrary side, expressions that express sadness, such as; “i was so sorry to hear about your sister” (leech, 2014, p. 98). such an example shows the s’s sympathy and regard or solicitude. how’s your father? i wish he is feeling good… 7) consideration maxim this maxim is presented by leech as a separate principle. it is put as follow: “minimize the hearer’s discomfort/displeasure: maximize the hearer’s comfort/pleasure” (leech, 1983, p. 147). within consideration maxim, different devices can be used to express negative politeness. for instance, references to painful, saddening, or embarrassing events, facts or things that are shocking. moreover, this sub-maxim can be manifested through euphemism, where indirectness is used in order to avoid offence (cruse, 2000, p. 366). i was sorry to hear about your husband. *i was sorry to hear about your husband’s death. according to leech (1983, p. 147), the other aspect of this principle can be represented by the tendency www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 98 published by scholink inc. to minimize the degree to which things look bad. for example, the use of the “minimizing adverbials of degree” such as a little bit, a bit and a little. the paint was a bit dirty. *the paint was a bit clean. 8) obligation of speaker to other this maxim is stated as follows: “give a high value to s’s obligation to o” and it is called obligation of s to o maxim. when the speaker apologizes to the h for a certain iniquity, for instance, he/she performs speech acts that give high prominence to s’s fault and obligation to o. for instance: “i am terribly sorry”, “please excuse me.” or “i am afraid i’ll have to leave early” (ibid). 9) obligation of other to speaker this maxim is stated as follows: “give a low value to o’s obligation to o” and it is called obligation of o to s maxim. on the contrary to the obligation of s to o maxim, the fault is usually minimized by providing responses to apologies. for example: “it is ok, don’t worry.” the same thing with the debt that can be minimized by providing responses to thanks; like “that is all right.” and “no problem.” (leech, 2014, p. 96). 10) opinion-reticence maxim opinion-reticence maxim is stated as follows: “give a low value to s’s opinion”. people usually use propositional hedges like; i think, i guess or it might……, to indicate that they don’t provide a clear cut decision and to soft their opinion (leech, 2014, p. 97). a: it is a beautiful day! b: well, i think it is a bit hot. (brown & levinson, 1987, p. 123) 11) feeling-reticence maxim feeling-reticence maxim is stated as follows: “give a low value to s’s feelings”. speaker’s feelings are given a low value or consideration according to negative politeness constraint. for instance, brown and levinson (1978) say that in english, it seems that one shouldn’t acknowledge obviously that he is feeling bad(ibid). a: hi, how are you? b: oh, fine, actually though……. 3. research methodology this section presents some of the study methodological aspects which are related to the investigation of the iraqi efl university learners’ recognition of politeness principle. 3.1 the participants one hundred iraqi efl students at the fourth-year for the academic year (2021-2022/morning studies) are selected randomly from the dept. of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar. the researcher takes into consideration the fact that the participants are homogeneous in their www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 99 published by scholink inc. first language, arabic and in the foreign language they are studying, efl. in addition, there is no other foreign language they are exposed to. 3.2 description of data elicitation tool the tool that is used for the data elicitation in this study is a test. it is designed with respect to the nature and aims of the study. the test takes the form of multiple choice to test the students’ recognition level. the informants are asked to choose the correct answer. it comprises eleven situations, each situation is supplied with four alternatives. one of the alternatives is the true response whereby one or more than one maxim of leech’s politeness principle is/are observed. the other three ones are flouting one or more of leech’s eleven maxims of politeness principle; tact, consideration, approbation, agreement, generosity, sympathy, obligation of s to o, modesty, feeling-reticence, obligation of o to s, approbation, and opinion-reticence maxims. the fact that leech’s approach of politeness is a goal-oriented approach is taken into consideration. this means that s has a purpose in using certain utterances which is to give an impression of courtesy toward o (leech, 2014, p. 87). according to leech (2014, p. 89), the maxims of politeness principle represent the goals people strive for in order to maintain communication harmony. it is presumed that we have goals in mind which we try to achieve, some of them are illocutionary goals such as asking permission, requesting something, giving advice etc. as well as social goal which is sustaining good interpersonal communication. according to leech, the context or the situation, in which speaking activities take place, is very important as it determines the kinds and degrees of politeness (leech, 2014, p. 5). to clarify this recognition test, all the items are explained separately (see appendix 2): item (1) tests the iraqi efl university learners’ ability in recognizing the tact maxim. for this situation, (a) is the most appropriate answer because it observes the tact maxim and at the same time it does not violate any of the maxims of politeness principle. in addition to the use of the expression “please”, the speaker formulates his request indirectly “would you give me your pen, please?”, as a result s/he increases the degree of politeness. s/he observes the tact maxim and gives the other party more optionality, minimizing cost to h and maximizing benefit to h. on the other hand, the other alternatives are not considered polite as they are formulated directly and the hearer is given little if no chance to refuse the request as a result, if the testee selects one of them s/he will violate the tact maxim. item (2) tests the informants’ ability to recognize the consideration maxim. in this second situation, c. “the painting is a bit bad” is considered the most appropriate response as it observes or consideration maxim and does not violate any of the maxims of politeness principle. according to this maxim, in order for the participants to be polite in a conversation, they should try to avoid unpleasant topics and look on the bright side of life rather than the gloomy side, as a result they have the tendency to lessen the degree to which things look bad. so, “a bit bad” is more polite than “bad”, “not good’, and “horrible” which are impolite as they violate consideration maxim. at the same time they violate approbation maxim and opinion-reticence maxim that constraint the participants in a conversation to understate any criticism. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 100 published by scholink inc. item (3) tests the informants’ recognition of the agreement maxim. in this situation, d. “well, i think it would be a better idea if i were free.” is the most polite and appropriate response because the agreement maxim will be observed and the testee does not violate any of the maxims of politeness principle. s/he does not express his/her disagreement directly so that s/he increases the degree of politeness by providing an indirect disagreement which is preceded by the temporizing expression “well”. the other alternatives are not polite because they violate the agreement maxim through the direct disagreement which is the dispreferred response. item (4) tests the iraqi efl university learners’ ability to recognize the generosity maxim. for this situation, a. “relax and let me clean the whiteboard and write the subject.” is the most appropriate response because in the case of offering, the more direct form is the more polite one. it appears that there is no sacrifice is made by the offerer so that accepting the offer will be less impolite for the h. if the testee chooses this alternative, s/he will observe the generosity because the speaker minimizes benefit to self and maximizes cost to self. at the same time, s/he minimizes cost to other and maximizes benefit to other. the other alternatives are less appropriate as they flout the generosity maxim, and show that the speaker makes some sort of sacrifice so that it will be impolite for the hearer to accept the offer. item (5) tests the informants’ use of the sympathy maxim. in this situation, d. “i am so terribly sorry to hear about your father. i hope he will get better” is the appropriate response because it observes the sympathy maxim which constraints the participants in a conversation to give a high value to others’ feelings and at the same time it does not violate any of the other maxims of politeness principle. the use of the word “sorry” which is intensified by the use of the adverb “terribly” shows the speaker’s commiseration and increases the degree of sympathy between self and other. on the other hand, the other alternatives are considered less polite and less appropriate as they violate the sympathy maxim and show that the speaker does not care about the other’s adversity. item (6) tests the iraqi efl university learners’ recognition of s’s obligation to o maxim. the most appropriate response for this situation is b. “i hope this is not going to bother you, i have some work that i have to do.” if the testee chooses this alternative, s/he will observe the obligation of s to o constraint or maxim that gives high value to the speaker’s fault and his/her obligation to the hearer and at the same time it does not violate the other maxims of politeness principle. the speaker apologizes for the other party politely using indirect speech act in order to mitigate the offensive effect of the direct refusal. the other alternatives are impolite because they refuse the invitation directly. thus, they violate the obligation of the s to o maxim. item (7) tests the iraqi efl university learners’ recognition of the modesty maxim. for this situation a. “oh, it’s just something i picked up in a sale.” is the polite and appropriate response because it observes the modesty maxim and does not violate any of the maxims of politeness principle. according to this maxim, participants in a conversation minimize praise of self and maximize dispraise of self. that means self-deprecation is considered polite. the speaker uses a remark that lessen the attribution of value to him/herself and attributes it to luck. on the contrary, the other alternatives are considered less polite www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 101 published by scholink inc. because they violate the modesty maxim and indicate that the speaker is proud of what s/he wears and did not care about the principle of humility. item (8) tests the informants’ recognition of the feeling-reticence maxim. the most polite and appropriate response for the this situation is d. “good, everything is okay.” by saying such statement the speaker gives low value to his/her feeling and suppresses everything bad, as a result s/he observes the feelingreticence constraint or maxim. according to this maxim, people should hide their sadness and problems when they talk to others, they should only show positive feelings. on the other hand, the other alternatives are considered less polite and inappropriate as they express the speaker’s feelings and sufferings directly and violate the feelingreticence constraint. item (9) tests the iraqi efl learners’ recognition of the o’s obligation to o maxim. in this situation c. “don’t worry, it was nothing” is the polite and appropriate answer. if the testee chooses this alternatives, s/he will observe the obligation of o to s constraint or maxim. s/he accepts the obligation and minimizes the fault. if the testee chooses (a) or (b), s/he will violate the obligation of o to s and agreement maxims because s/he express about his/her annoyance directly which is inappropriate and impolite behavior. the testee will seem to be polite if s/he chooses (d) but actually s/he is not polite. in fact, by saying such expression “that is all what i wanted" ironically, the speaker violates the quality maxim and says the opposite of the truth. s/he does not express about his/her dissatisfaction directly, instead s/he creates an implicature that makes him/her looks to be polite. item (10) tests the iraqi efl learners’ recognition of the approbation maxim. in this situation, d. “your performance was not terribly good.” is the polite and appropriate response because it observes the approbation, at the same time it does not violate any of the maxims of politeness principle. this maxim constraints the speaker to minimize dispraise of other, maximize praise of other and avoid saying something bad about the hearer. as a result s/he softens and hedges his/her criticism “was not terribly good”. on the other hand, the other alternatives are inappropriate and impolite as the speaker violates the consideration, approbation and modesty maxims. s/he speaks directly, saying something unpleasant as if s/he is more experienced, or has a dominant role. s/he minimizes praise of other and maximizes dispraise of other by saying bad expressions about the other’s performance. item (11) tests the informants’ recognition of the opinion-reticence maxim. in this situation, b. “i think it might be better if you wear a white dress.” is the most appropriate response as it observes opinionreticence maxim. the speaker tries to avoid saying something bad about the speaker, minimize dispraise of other and softens his/her opinion by using propositional hedge “i think it would be better….” and speaking indirectly in order to be more polite. on the contrary side, the other alternatives are impolite because they express the speaker’s opinion about the hearer directly, something which is offensive and rude. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 102 published by scholink inc. 3.3 test objectives, validity and reliability the test is constructed in order to achieve the following objectives: 1). testing the mastery of the iraqi efl learners of the maxims of the politeness principle at the recognition production level. 2). examining the iraqi efl learner’s ability to observe or flout the maxims of politeness principle. 3). stating the maxim that is mostly flouted and the one that is least flouted in the recognition level. validity is one of the important qualities for a test in order to be described as a well-made test. the test is judged by a jury (see appendix 3) comprised of a number of specialists in efl teaching and linguistics in order to guarantee its validity. regarding the reliability, the test is reliable because it is a multiplechoose question which is objective and highly reliable (tavakoli, 2012, p. 417). the test is reliable because each item involves only one correct answer. consequently, it does not affect by the testee’s personal impression or by the tester’s prejudices. this means it is an objective, highly reliable test (fulcher, 2010, p. 57 and tavakoli, 2012, p. 417). 3.4 test implementation the test is tried out in order to give a general view about the necessary modifications and the required time for responding to the test. four days before the test date, the pilot study is carried out on 2022/5/25 fourth-year students who are selected randomly from the university of thi-qar, college of education for humanities, department of english. following the pilot study, a number of points were settled down: 1). the time that is required to perform the test is an hour. 2). the students face some difficulties that were addressed, such as the difficulty in knowing the meaning of some words which necessitated some explanation to help them understand the meaning. 3). the original administration of the test does not need for modification. the participants are requested to perform the test on wednesday 25 of may 2022. the total number of the students who participate in the test is one hundred at the fourth year, dept. of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar for the academic year (2021-2022). the participants ought to fill out the test sheet with their answers without mentioning their names for privacy. 4. data analysis and discussion this section presents the practical side of this study. it concentrates on data analysis and discussion. the results are displayed by using tables and percentages. 4.1 analysis and discussion of observing the maxims of politeness principle in the test observing the maxims refers to the correct responses that are provided by the participants who observe one (or more than one) maxim of politeness principle. the test is designed in order to discover the iraqi efl learners’ ability to recognize which maxims should be respected in certain situations in order to achieve a certain personal goal and at the same time to maintain comity and good relationship with others. there are four alternatives for each item, one of them is the correct response because it observes one or www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 103 published by scholink inc. more than one maxim of the politeness principle. the other three ones are incorrect and represent flouting the maxims of the politeness principle. the learners, throughout their interaction, should take into consideration the fact that there are a number of constraints that must be respected such as giving high value to others’ wants, giving high value to others’ qualities and giving low value to the obligation of o to s, etc. table 1 contains the numbers and the letters of the correct responses (observing the maxims) for each item and shows the results of observing the maxims of politeness principle for the eleven items of the recognition question. table 1. the frequency and percentages of the participants’ observing the maxims of politeness principle % observing the maxims item no. 5 55 1.a 2.64 29 2.c 2.45 27 3.d 1.64 18 4.a 3.27 36 5.d 5.09 56 6.b 0.45 5 7.a 6 66 8.d 5.09 56 9.c 1.27 14 10.d 3.36 37 11.b 36.27 399/1100 total www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 104 published by scholink inc. the above table shows that the total number of the correct responses that observe the maxims of the politeness principle is (399) out of (1100) responses, making 36.27%. the highest frequency of the correct responses is represented by item (8.d), 66 occurrences. it is formulated as follows: 8-what would you say if your colleague says to you “how are you?” ai feel uncomfortable. bi am annoyed. actually there are some problems that might be bypassed. cnot fine. dgood, everything is okay. the feeling-reticence maxim is the observed maxim in this situation. it is considered the highest among the other correct responses of the items because such a situation is easy for the learners to deal with as the learners see it is as unnecessary to inform others about their feeling especially when it is a sad feeling and suffering which is something inappropriate. as a result, d is considered the most appropriate and polite response because it observes the feeling-reticence maxim. the speaker gives low value to his feeling, admitting that s/he feels good though s/he may have some problems. so, this result refutes hypothesis (1) thus, “the feeling-reticence maxim is the most observed maxims of the iraqi efl learners’ recognition of politeness principle”. most participants do not prefer to express about their suffering and sad feelings directly, or make others aware of their problems. as a result, they suppress these sad feelings or bad news. coming less than (8.d) is 9.c, (56) occurrences in which, the o’s obligation to s maxim is observed because in such a situation, the learners find it is necessary and more appropriate to show that they are tolerant by mitigating the fault of others when they apologize in order for the communication to go on and be successful: 9-what would you say if someone apologizes for stepping on your foot, saying: “i am terribly sorry, i hope that you do not hurt”. aoh, you really hurt me. bthat is so hard. cdon’t worry, it was nothing. dthat is what i wanted. this maxim constrains the participants in a conversation to give low value to the obligation of the hearer, and minimize the fault by providing responses such as: it is ok, it was nothing, etc. the same case is with thanks which must be answered with expressions that minimize the debt such as: it was a pleasure, you’re welcome etc. accordingly, c is considered the most appropriate response as it observes the obligation of o to s maxim, the speaker minimizes the fault of the speaker by giving it low value saying “don’t worry, it was nothing”. similarly, in item 6.b, there are (56) occurrences in which the s’ obligation to o maxim is observed: 6-when your colleague invites you to come to his/her birthday party, but you can’t go because you have some work that you have to do. what would you say? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 105 published by scholink inc. ai can’t come to your birthday party. bi hope this is not going to bother you, i have some work that i have to do. ci think i do not have time to come. di have some work to be done it is a common habit that the learners apologize where it is necessary. the obligation of s to o maxim gives high value to the speaker’s obligation to the hearer. accordingly, b is the most appropriate and polite response for item (6) because it observes the apology of s to o maxim. the speaker apologizes directly that s/he has some work as a result s/he cannot go to the birthday party. 4.2 analysis and discussion of flouting the maxims of politeness principle in the test flouting is the term that can be used in analyzing the incorrect responses that are selected by the participants who do not observe one or more than one maxim of the politeness principle. for example, flouting the tact maxim means that it is not observed by the informants and so on and so forth. flouting the tact maxim is done by formulating their requests directly, flouting the agreement maxim by expressing disagreement directly, or flouting the sympathy maxim by neglecting the feeling of others, etc. the term flouting is appropriate to be used because the participants do not have intentions in the non-observance of the maxims of politeness principle. the following table shows the frequency and percentages of flouting the maxims in the recognition question: table 2. the frequency and percentages of the participants’ flouting the maxims of politeness principle item no. flouting the maxim % 1. 45 4.09 2. 71 6.45 3. 73 6.64 4. 82 7.45 5. 64 5.82 6. 44 4 7. 95 8.64 8. 34 3.09 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 106 published by scholink inc. 9. 44 4 10. 86 7.82 11. 63 5.73 total 701/1100 63.73 from table 2 above, the total number of the incorrect responses that flout the maxims of politeness principle is (701) out of (1100) responses, making 63.73%. item 7 of the test is the highest frequency of the incorrect responses, 95 occurrences, in which most learners flout the modesty maxim, as they do not prefer to dispraise themselves: 7-what would you say if your friend said to you “i really like your outfit”. aoh, it’s just something i picked up in a sale. boh, thank you. cyes, it is beautiful. doh, yes. this indicates the participants’ lack of the sufficient pragmatic knowledge to observe such a maxim and how humility is important in certain situations to enable them to achieve different goals. as a result, they accept such a compliment without any attempt to deflect it, for example, by making a remark which mitigates the attribution of value to themselves or associate the value to lack. thus hypothesis (2) is rejected: the modesty maxim is the most flouted maxim of iraqi efl learners’ recognition of politeness principle. for this item (7), (a) is the most appropriate response as it observes the modesty maxim, only 5 occurrences. the speaker deflects the compliment and attribute the value and the beauty of his/her outlook to luck. on the contrary side, b c and d are less polite and inappropriate as they flout the modesty maxim, 95 occurrences. the speaker accepts the commendation without any attempt to deflect the compliment and lessen its power. according to this maxim, self-deprecation is always considered to be polite in contrast to the commendation of oneself which is inappropriate. depending on what is prevalent in their society, the learners do not prefer, under the title of humility, to underestimate the value of themselves, or the value of someone or something that belongs to them. additionally they do not have the sufficient pragmatic knowledge about the importance of such maxim that makes others see the speaker as a polite and humble person who deserves respect. as a result they do not give attention to it throughout their conversational interaction. coming less than (7) is item (10), 86 occurrences, in which the approbation maxim is flouted because the participants do not hedge their criticism, they maximize dispraise of other by criticizing him/her directly which is something impolite and inappropriate: www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 107 published by scholink inc. 10-what would you say if your friend is not so good at english pronunciation, s/he must improve her/his performance. ayour performance was terrible. byour performance was not good. c-your performance was not really up to standard. dyour performance was not terribly good. for this item, (d) is the appropriate and polite response as it observes the approbation maxim, 14 occurrences. the speaker mitigates the degree to which the other’s performance is bad by saying “was not terribly good”. on the other hand, a, b and c are less polite and inappropriate because the speaker criticizes the other directly as a result they flout the approbation maxim. then comes item (4), 82 occurrences, making 7.45%, in which the generosity maxim is flouted because the participants formulate their offers as if they made sacrifice then it will be less polite for the other to accept such an offer. 4-if you want to help your teacher to clean the whiteboard and write the subject, what would you say? arelax and let me clean the whiteboard and write the subject. bi will clean the whiteboard and write the subject, if you can’t . clet me clean the whiteboard and write the subject, if you like. eif you want, i will clean the whiteboard and write the subject. for this item, (a) is the most appropriate and polite response because it is formulated directly without any obvious sacrifice by the speaker. in contrast to the other alternatives b, c and d that make the speaker look as if s/he made some sort of sacrifice. as a result, they flout the generosity maxim. item 8 is the lowest item in its frequency, i.e. 34 occurrences in which some of the participants flout the feeling-reticence maxim by giving their feeling high value and expressing their suffering directly which is something inappropriate. accordingly, in the recognition question, the percentage of the incorrect responses is higher than the average, which indicates the participants’ insufficiency to adhere to or comply with the constraints or maxims of politeness principle for a number of reasons: firstly, the participants do not practise efl sufficiently. secondly, they lack the pragmatic competence which is necessary to the appropriate use of the language. thirdly, they neglect most of the contextual factors that are important to use the language appropriately to understand the intended meaning of the language and then to respond correctly and appropriately. 4.3 a comparison of the participants’ observing and flouting of the maxims of politeness principle in the test after the analysis and discussion of observing and flouting the maxims of politeness principle by the participants in recognition, it is essential to make a comparison between the percentages of observing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 108 published by scholink inc. and flouting these maxims in this question. the following table shows the results and percentages of observing and flouting the eleven maxims at the recognition question: table 3. the participants’ observing and flouting the maxims of politeness principle % flouting the maxims % observing the maxims item no. 4.09 45 5 55 1. tact 6.45 71 2.64 29 2. consideration 6.64 73 2.45 27 3. agreement 7.45 82 1.64 18 4. generosity 5.82 64 3.27 36 5. sympathy 4 44 5.09 56 6. s’s obligation to o 8.64 95 0.45 5 7. modesty 3.09 34 6 66 8. feelingreticence 4 44 5.09 56 9. o’s obligation to s 7.82 86 1.27 14 10. approbation 5.73 63 3.36 37 11. opinionreticence 63.73 1100/701 36.27 399/1100 total the above table shows that the total number of the incorrect responses that flout the maxims of politeness principle is (701), constituting (63.73%) and, that of the correct responses that observe the maxims of politeness principle is (399), making (36.27%). this means that the participants’ performance in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 109 published by scholink inc. respecting the maxims of politeness principle is much less than the average and this is because of the lack of efl practice in pragmatic competence and neglecting the contextual factors. this result confirms hypothesis (3) since the iraqi efl learners’ flouting of the maxims of politeness principle in the recognition question is more than their observance of such maxims. according to the table above, the occurrences of observing the tact maxim is 55 occurrences, and that of flouting the same maxim 45 ones. this means that, though iraqi efl university learners have some difficulty in recognizing which speech act is suitable to formulate their requests politely, a good deal of them are aware of how to be tactful by using indirect language that lessens the imposition on the hearer. they prefer to formulate their requests indirectly in order to not to obliged the hearer to do what s/he wants, giving him/her more optionality. ordering someone to do something directly may be something offensive not only to the hearer but also to the speaker him/herself when it is refused by the other. according to the tact maxim, speakers in a conversation, should minimize cost to other, maximize benefit to other and give low value to their wants. as a result, they should formulate their requests indirectly by using indirect illocutions such as a hypothetical question to make a request or using expressions such as please or excuse me. twenty nine participants observe the consideration maxim and seventy one flout it. this result refers to the insufficient knowledge of the iraqi efl university learners about the consideration maxim that constraints the participants in a conversation to avoid talking about unpleasant topics, looking to the bright side of life and minimizing the degree to which things look bad. as a result, they must use euphemism to talk about unpleasant topics and use adverbials that minimize the negative effect of the expression to which they are attached. in most situations, iraqi efl university learners have difficulty to comply with the consideration maxim, they do not try to avoid unpleasant topics or minimize their criticism or the effect of their bad opinion about others or something related to others. additionally, they usually tend to be pessimistic when they are speaking about how they will do in their exams and express directly about their criticism which is something inappropriate. regarding the agreement maxim, the number of occurrences of observing it is 27, and that of flouting it is 73 occurrences. in order for the participants to be polite in a conversation, according to this maxim, they should minimize disagreement with the hearer, maximize agreement with him/her, and give high value to the hearers’ opinion. iraqi efl university learners do not have the necessary awareness about the agreement maxim, they do not always show their agreement with the other party as it is part of their social nature, many of them are, to some extent, strict with their opinion and decisions. as a result, they usually do not adhere to this maxim and it is normal for them to express their disagreement directly. regarding the generosity maxim, only 18 participants who observe it and 82 flout it. according to this maxim, the participants in a conversation should give high value to the others’ wants, minimize benefit to self and maximize cost to self. this maxim can be represented by offers and invitations which involve benefit to the hearer. thus, the majority of iraqi efl university learners do not always adhere to the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 110 published by scholink inc. generosity maxim. they do not prefer to maximize benefit of others at the expense of themselves as a result they usually formulate offers in a way that makes it less polite for the hearer to accept. the majority of participants flout the sympathy maxim (64: 36 occurrences). this means that the majority of iraqi efl university learners are not aware of and do not comply with the sympathy maxim that constrains the participants in a conversation to minimize antipathy between self and other, maximize sympathy between self and other and give high value to others’ feelings. this maxim explains why congratulations and condolences are polite speech acts. this means sharing others’ feelings is important, feeling happy for their happiness and feeling sad when they are so. the majority of participants observe the s’s obligation to o maxim, i.e. 56 occurrences, compared to those who flout it are 44 occurrences. this result indicates that the majority of iraqi efl university learners’ have high awareness of the importance of apologizing to the other especially in formal situations, for example, when they are speaking with the teacher; a situation that requires the learners’ awareness of the difference of the power and the social distance with teacher. the majority of iraqi efl university learners have a good knowledge about such a maxim that gives high value to the speaker’s obligation to the hearer since it is a common habit to them to apologize directly to the other when it is necessary. regarding the modesty maxim, it is the least observed one. only 5 participants observe the modesty maxim and 95 occurrences flout it. this indicates the lack of awareness and the insufficient knowledge of the iraqi efl university learners about the importance of such a maxim that constraints the participants in a conversation to give high value to the hearers’ qualities and minimize praise of self because selfdeprecation is always considered to be polite in contrast to the commendation of oneself which is impolite. it is a common habit in their society that they refuse to belittle themselves or the value of their qualities. the percentage of observing the feeling-reticence maxim is 6%, 66 occurrences indicates the high observance of the feeling-reticence maxim. as a result, it is considered the most observed maxim. this is because most iraqi efl university learners do not express their feelings directly. they prefer to keep their privacy and suppress their problems or what they feel. they are aware of this maxim that constrains the participants in a conversation to suppress their troubles, sad feeling, and bad news and express only their happy feelings. fifty six participants observe the o’s obligation to o maxim, constituting 5.09%, and 44 of them flout it. this result refers to the iraqi university efl learners’ awareness of such constraint, most of them adhere to it and see it is inappropriate to insist on others’ fault or mistakes especially when other people express their obligation. this maxim constrains the participants in a conversation to give low value to the obligation of the hearer, and minimize the fault by providing responses such as: it is ok, it was nothing etc. the same case with thanks which must be answered with expressions that minimize the debt such as: it was a pleasure, you’re welcome etc. the majority of participants, 86, flout the approbation maxim. this is because most of iraqi efl university learners speak and express themselves directly even when they criticize others because of their insufficient knowledge about the importance of respecting such a maxim throughout the conversational www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 111 published by scholink inc. interaction in order to create an appropriate atmosphere, good relationship with the other and to get successful communication. the number of participants who observe the opinion-reticence maxim is 37, constituting 3.36% and that of flouting it is 63, constituting 5.73%. this result indicates that part of the iraqi efl university learners do not give attention to others’ feelings and express their opinion directly as if they are more experienced or have more power than the other which is something inappropriate. the opinion-reticence maxim constraints speakers to avoid saying something bad about the other. their opinion should be softened by using, for example, propositional hedge and speaking indirectly, the thing that is not respected by some of the participants in answering both questions. they do not recognize how to express about their opinion politely depending on the context of conversation. 5. conclusions depending on the results of the data analysis and discussion, this study arrives at a number of conclusions: 1) the feeling-reticence maxim is the most observed maxims of the iraqi efl university learners’ recognition of politeness principle. 2) regarding the feeling-reticence maxim, most participants do not prefer to express about their suffering and sad feelings directly, or make others aware of their problems. as a result, they suppress these sad feelings or bad news. 3) the most flouted maxim of iraqi efl university learners’ recognition of politeness principle is the modesty maxim as they don’t prefer to minimize praise of self and maximize praise of others. 4) the efl learners’ flouting of the maxims of politeness principle in the recognition question is more than their observance of such maxims. this is because of a number of reasons including the lack of efl practice, the lack of pragmatic competence and neglecting the contextual factors. 5) regarding the flouting of the consideration maxim, the iraqi efl learners’ flouting of this maxim is more than their observance. they do not hedge their criticism, they maximize dispraise of other by criticizing him/her directly which is something impolite and inappropriate. 6) the iraqi efl learners’ observance of o’s obligation to s maxim is more than its flouting. because of their awareness of such constraint, most of them see it is inappropriate to insist on others’ fault or mistakes especially when other people express their obligation. 7) the iraqi efl learners’ observance of the feeling-reticence maxim is more than its flouting. most of them do not express their feelings directly. they prefer to keep their privacy and suppress their problems or what they feel. 8) the iraqi efl learners’ observance of the modesty maxim is lower than its flouting. this refers to the insufficient knowledge of the iraqi efl learners about the importance of such maxim that constraints the participants in a conversation to give high value to the hearers’ qualities and minimize praise of self because self-deprecation is always considered to be polite in contrast to the commendation of oneself www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 112 published by scholink inc. which is impolite. it is a common habit in their society that they refuse to belittle themselves or the value of their qualities. 9) the iraqi efl university learners’ observance of the s’s obligation to o maxim is higher than its flouting. iraqi efl learners have a good knowledge about such maxim that gives high value to the speaker’s obligation to the hearer since it is a common habit to them to apologize directly to the other when it is necessary. 10) the iraqi efl university learners’ observing of the sympathy maxim is higher than its flouting. this means that iraqi efl learners are aware of the sympathy maxim that constrains the participants in a conversation to minimize antipathy between self and other, maximize sympathy between self and other and give high value to others’ feelings. 11) regarding to the generosity maxim, the iraqi efl university learners’ observance of this maxim is lower than its flouting. they do not always prefer to maximize benefit of others at the expense of themselves as a result they usually formulate offers in a way that makes it less polite for the hearer to accept. 12) the iraqi efl learners’ observance of the agreement maxim is lower than its flouting. iraqi efl learners do not always show their agreement with the other party as it is part of their social nature, many of them are, to some extent, strict with their opinion and decisions. as a result, it is normal for them to express their disagreement directly. 13) the iraqi efl learners’ observance of the consideration maxim is lower than its flouting. in most situations, iraqi efl learners do not try to avoid unpleasant topics or minimize their criticism or the effect of their bad opinion about others or something related to others. additionally, they usually tend to be pessimistic when they are speaking about how they will do in their exams and express directly about their criticism which is something inappropriate. 14) the iraqi efl learners’ observance of the tact maxim is higher than its flouting. iraqi efl learners have some difficulty in recognizing which speech act is suitable to formulate their requests politely, they are aware of how to be tactful by using indirect language that lessen the imposition on the hearer. they prefer to formulate their requests indirectly in order to not to obliged the hearer to do what s/he wants, giving him/her more optionality. 15) there is a difficulty that the participants experience through the reception and interpretation of different speech acts throughout communication and there is an insufficient ability to provide appropriate answers. 16) iraqi efl learners lack to some extent the pragmatic competence that is very important to use the foreign language appropriately. students have to learn how to recognize these expressions appropriately with respect to the context of interaction (the social use of the language). 17) while iraqi efl learners are working to achieve their personal goals, iraqi efl learners do not give much attention, to some extent, to contextual factors and the social constraints such as the relationship between the speaker and the hearer, the degree of distance, and the amount of solidarity that have a great www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 113 published by scholink inc. effect on the language of the interlocutors that must be respected in order for successful communication to be carried out. 18) the participants’ performance in recognizing the maxims of politeness principle is much less than the average and this is because of a number of reasons including the lack of efl practice, the lack of pragmatic competence and neglecting the contextual factors. 19) the observing of the maxims of pp is very important as it creates a kind of smooth relationship between the learners on the one hand and between the learners and the teacher on the other. 20) efl learners do not give much attention to most of the maxims of politeness principle when they are indulged in a conversation with their friends. 21) the iraqi efl learners’ pragmatic performance is limited because the material that are used in colleges of education for humanities lack the authentic language that is used in every day conversation. acknowledgements we acknowledge our indebtedness to the jury members who contributed to examine the validity and reliability of the test in this study. in addition, we are indebted to the subjects of our study, fourth year students at the department of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar, for responding to our test. references 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(2009). raising and lowering speaker’s or hearer’s position in the politeness principle in interculural communication. intercultural communication studies, 18(1), 286-297. appendixes appendix 1. a list of abreviation description symbol cooperative principle cp face-threatening act fta general strategy of politeness gsp hearer h other (third person) o politeness principle pp speaker s appendix 2. the test q1/ please, read these situations carefully, and then select one appropriate choice only. 1) if you need a pen from your friend, what would you say? awould you give me your pen, please? byour pen. cgive me your pen. dyou won’t mind if i borrow your pen. 2) if you want to express your opinion about your colleague’s painting which looks so bad, what do you say? athe painting is so bad. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315690001 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 117 published by scholink inc. bthe painting is not good. cthe painting is a bit bad. dthe painting is horrible. 3) what would you say if your colleague offers you to go for shopping and you want to express your disagreement. a -that is a bad idea. bi don’t think that is such a good idea. cno, i will not go. dwell, i think it would be a better idea if i were free. 4) if you want to help your teacher to clean the whiteboard and write the subject, what would you say? arelax and let me clean the whiteboard and write the subject. bi will clean the whiteboard and write the subject, if you can’t . clet me clean the whiteboard and write the subject, if you like. eif you want, i will clean the whiteboard and write the subject. 5) when you want to express your feeling about ahmad’s father accident, what would you say? adon’t worry, he will be better. bit is not important, he will be better. cit is ok, never mind. di am terribly sorry to hear about your father. i hope he will get better. 6) when your colleague invites you to come to his/her birthday party, but you can’t go because you have some work that you have to do. what would you say? ai can’t come to your birthday party. bi hope this is not going to bother you, i have some work that i have to do. ci think i do not have time to come. di have some work to be done. 7) what would you say if your friend said to you “i really like your outfit”. aoh, it’s just something i picked up in a sale. boh, thank you. cyes, it is beautiful. doh, yes. 8) what would you say if your colleague says to you “how are you?” ai feel uncomfortable. bi am annoyed. actually there are some problems that might be bypassed. cnot fine. dgood, everything is okay. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 118 published by scholink inc. 9) what would you say if someone apologizes for stepping on your foot, saying: “i am terribly sorry, i hope that you do not hurt”. aoh, you really hurt me. b-that is so hard. cdon’t worry, it was nothing. dthat is what i wanted. 10) what would you say if your friend is not so good at english pronunciation, s/he must improve her/his performance. ayour performance was terrible. byour performance was not good. c-your performance was not really up to standard. dyour performance was not terribly good. 11) your friend wears a brown dress, what would you say if you don’t like the color. in your opinion this color makes him/her look older. ai hate this color. bi think it might be better if you wear a white dress. cthis color does not suit you. dwell, it is not my favorite. appendix 3. the jury members 1) prof. abbas hasan jasim (ph.d.). college of education, university of kufa. 2) prof. ala hussein oda (ph.d.). dept. of english, college of education, university of al-basra. 3) prof. bushra sadoon m. al-noori (ph.d.). al-mansour university. 4) prof. sabeeha dehham dept. of english, college of basic education, university of babylon. 5) asst. prof. bushra al-naamh (ph.d.). college of education ibn-rushed, university of baghdad. 6) asst. prof. chassib f. abbas al-jubori (ph.d.). open educational college, al-diwaniyah. 7) asst. prof. lihadh abdul ameer m. (ph.d.). college of education for humanities. university of babylon. 8) asst. prof. odeh kadhum abed al-khafaji (ph.d.). dept. of english, college of education for humanities, university of al-muthanna. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr original paper realization of gender equality in the workplace feminist perspectives of a wlb yoriko ishida1 1 general education division, national institute of technology, oshima college, japan received: september 1, 2020 accepted: september 9, 2020 online published: september 15, 2020 doi:10.22158/elsr.v1n2p23 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v1n2p23 abstract it has been a long time since people focused on the term “work-life balance” (wlb). it is an exaggeration to say that a wlb is in vogue like gender equality. also, in academic fields in japan, europe, and the united states, wlb studies have been vigorously discussed, and a number of papers have been published since the 21st century. a wlb policy has been misconstrued as applying only to women because the ideology of the sexual division of work has not been totally dispelled; many women work away from home compared to the old days. this gives a false impression that if working women can easily take maternity leave or childcare leave, many women will have an opportunity to work, which appears to result in gender equality in society. in this interpretation, it has been considered important that company quality should be improved to make maternity leave or childcare leave available to female employees. this paper traces the historical context and previous studies about appearance of the term “wlb,” analyzing what a wlb policy should be to realize real gender equality. keywords work-life balance, sexual division of work, gender equality, feminist thought, paid and unpaid works 1. introduction it has been a long time since people focused on the term “work-life balance” (wlb). it is an exaggeration to say that a wlb is in vogue like gender equality. also, in academic fields in japan, europe, and the united states, wlb studies have been vigorously discussed, and a number of papers have been published since the 21st century. however, the term can be confusing because what was originally meant by a wlb, the real goal of wlb, and what a wlb should be has not been correctly understood; it has been misconceived. this paper starts by clarifying what “balance,” as used in a wlb, really means and examines an interpretation of a wlb from the perspective of feminist thought. 23 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 a wlb policy in japan overwhelmingly correlated with “measures to counteract the falling birthrate, and ‘gender equality.’” therefore, a wlb policy has been often mistaken as a means for receiving maternal leave and childcare leave, for women only. however, a wlb policy should be originally interpreted as being essential for men as well as women. the council for gender equality, held on may 24, 2007, by the japanese government, states that a wlb policy carries a propensity for trivialization of combining working and raising children just for women (note 1). nevertheless, a wlb policy has been misconstrued as applying only to women because the ideology of the sexual division of work has not been totally dispelled; many women work away from home compared to the old days. in other words, because the ideology that women should perform domestic duties has been strongly rooted, it is naturally easy for working women to be caught in a dilemma between work and households. this gives a false impression that if working women can easily take maternity leave or childcare leave, many women will have an opportunity to work, which appears to result in gender equality in society. in this interpretation, it has been considered important that company quality should be improved to make maternity leave or childcare leave available to female employees. this paper clarifies that there is a mistake in this interpretation of a wlb. a wlb policy change should make it possible for individuals to work and live with respect. therefore, the sexual division of work must be dispelled in order for both sexes to participate in both work and life as they wish. that is to say, a wlb policy should encourage real gender equality; that is, the policy should dispel the notion of sexual division of work. in a society where gender equality has not been promoted in workplaces and households, it makes no sense to accelerate a wlb policy. a wlb policy has an urgent need to promote gender equality, not the matter of time allotment. this paper traces the historical context and previous studies about appearance of the term “wlb,” analyzing what a wlb policy should be to realize real gender equality. 2. historical context and previous studies about a wlb 2.1 in europe and the united states in 1963 the equal pay act was enacted in the united states and equal opportunity for employment was legalized through article 7 of the civil rights act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination by race, gender, nationality, or workplace harassment. in the 1950s, academic researchers launched a study of role conflict between work and family (note 2). the term wlb appeared frequently in 21st-century government documents and mass media in the us and the issue of role conflict between work and family gained increasing recognition because of the lack of balance between work and home life had had an unwanted effect on family and private lives as well as a significant negative effect on individuals’ mental health and enhancement of labor productivities, behind which is the fact that family socialization, and interaction process, published by arlie r. hochschild in 2001, played an essential role in influencing (hochschild, 2001) (note 3). hochschild’s research showed that although most people in the us supposedly tended to express that “family is more important than work,” they 24 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 could not help devoting much time to their work in real life, which significantly restricted their private and family lives, resulting in enormous stress in their lives (yamaguchi, 2009). the most important point in a wlb in the us is that many family-friendly companies appeared. because there was no full-time homemaker, from the standpoint that prolonged work caused significant inconvenience to working women, there was a growing awareness that companies should have good policies on the work-family balance front. while expanded employment for women and wage growths on average, which led to a heightening of productivity, could make the whole american society richer, a lot of companies need considerations for female employees because of facilitating the use of human resources, because many working women hoped to be short-time employees, or to have flexible work to accommodate balancing a career and a family. this happened in 1980s, when we can glimpse a possibility that the sexual division of work remained strongly fixed in public also in the united states. family-friendly policies in companies were to be gradually developed into an ideology of a wlb, including male employees and single persons, which emphasized on a preferred society where working people’s diversity was valued, and they were able to have more choices in both work and family life than ever before. wlb studies in the us are characterized by concentrated discussions on issues of family life, employment, and cultivation of human resources in companies, not on countermeasures to the falling birthrate, which means that the us did not face a fertility crisis in an economically advanced country. however, a wlb in europe, with fewer children continuing to develop like japan, was strikingly different from that in the us. in europe, when the issue of a declining birthrate and a wlb entered scholars’ consciousness, a wlb in the public was considered in relation to the issue of measures to counteract the falling birthrate. moreover, what made a wlb in the us different from that in europe was that while the american government has always entrusted an initiative of a wlb to the private sector attaching great weight on a market environment, european countries, especially member states of the european union, had an active involvement in taking an initiative for a wlb that focused on employment situations and balancing a career and a family. for example, formulation of working hours based on a wlb policy was legally defined in europe. eu countries have enacted the part-time work directive in 1997 to push programs of equal treatment between full-time employees and other types of employees. furthermore, eu countries have also enacted the temporary agency work directive in june of 2008, aiming to secure fair treatment in temporary labors. as for measures to counteract the falling birthrate in a wlb policy, eu countries were to follow a different path from japan. it is worthy of attention in the history of a wlb that although the eu consists of various countries, whose histories and traditions vary, they constitute a common framework that transcends all differences, as far as a wlb policy is concerned, for which that in eu countries was to be differentiated from that in the us. as mentioned above, though eu countries succeeded in developing a policy that supported balancing a career and a family by reconfiguring working hours, they are aware that it is not enough for resolving an issue of the falling birthrate. it is noteworthy that eu countries took a step toward realization of 25 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 gender equality, considering the correlation between work and family at that moment, which means that eu countries were critically different from japan, which has been obsessive about linking an ideology of a wlb and measures to counteract the falling birthrate. therefore, in europe and the united states, the ideology of a wlb has not been polarized between work and family but has been vigorously discussed from a multilateral perspective, being aware that work and family should have a deep relationship with each other. this is a logical result for europe and the united states, especially eu countries, developing a consciousness of real gender equality, unlike japan, which has recognized a wlb policy as a simple tool for seemingly pulsion of gender equality and measures to counteract the falling birthrate. 2.2 in japan hagiwara states that a term, “a wlb” has become prevalent in an academic field in japan since 2001, and it has become popular at the governmental level since 2003, when the second koizumi cabinet started (hagiwara, 2009). the japanese government enacted next-generation upbringing support measures in 2003 to promote a policy on the work-family balance front in companies. although this policy aimed at counteracting the falling birthrate, the government enacted the wlb charter in december of 2007 to establish a society where people could achieve healthy and productive lives, and work in very diverse ways, freeing itself from the traditional mindset of supporting balancing for measures to counteract the falling birthrate (note 4). moreover, the state of formation of a gender-equal society was featured in the white paper of gender equality 2007 by the gender equality bureau cabinet office in japan, continuing to focus on realization of a wlb for resolving the issues of gender equality and the falling birthrate in the white paper of gender equality 2008 and 2009 (note 5), and the declining birthrate white paper 2008 and 2009. it is written that “everyone can work while fulfilling their sense of fulfillment and fulfillment of their duties, and at the same time, have a healthy and prosperous life where they can spend time for childcare/nursing care, and personal time for home, community, self-development, etc. now, we must pursue the realization of harmony between work and life in society as a whole (note 6), which would build a vibrant society and economy (kuwashima, 2018). there is little room for criticism of agenda in the charter, but it should be pointed out that a wlb policy in japan has some problems. especially, from a viewpoint of feminist thought, an attitude toward a wlb in japan could even head in the opposite direction, gender equality. as previously stated, a wlb policy in japan is mindful of the notion of “measures to counteract the falling birthrate,” giving an initiative to companies with respect for companies’ independence in enabling female employees to balance their work and family. this seems to emphasize “gender equality” on the surface in the sense that it realizes ideal working conditions for female employees, but it works differently, because it gives the impression that women are regarded as machines to give birth. the reason why a wlb policy has an essential lack of real recognition of gender equality is that it has been developed with linking with “measures to counteract the falling birthrate.” 26 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 as mentioned in the previous section, the european government also equated measures to counteract the falling birthrate with the issue of wlb, but they became aware they cannot always negotiate an issue on the basis of a common understanding. in that sense, the japanese government lags way behind european countries because of linking measures to counteract the falling birthrate with the issue of wlb. for increasing the number of children, women have to give birth and raise them. to do this, working women, as well as full-time homemakers, need to participate in bringing a baby into the world. that is, such a banal idea that creates an environment that enables working women to take easily maternity and childcare leave would halt the declining birthrate make a wlb policy head in the opposite direction, not in its proper one. while it is natural that only women give birth, what is the most important is an ideology of childcare. behind a wlb policy in japan is the fact that a conventional ideology of childcare still remains deeply rooted in the japanese society, which is to say, women should dedicate themselves to the task of child rearing. in other words, the very child rearing must be the greatest joy in women’s lives, working outside the home being only secondarily concerned. a wlb policy in japan shows that an ideology that child rearing must take priority over entering the world of work, so women should stay home to try particularly hard to do “the greatest joy,” in which there is no attitude to realize a real gender equality. although it is seemingly understood that a wlb in japan has to be a policy for promoting gender equality in the workplace, europe and the united states regard gender equality from a higher perspective through a wlb, because there is no original “full-time homemaker.” behind a wlb policy in europe and the united states, where it is taken for granted that people enjoy gender equality in civil life regardless of a wlb policy, there is an attitude that it must be prepared for both men and women, rather than women’s taking childcare leave with little difficulty. it could be pointed out that while a wlb in japan has been facilitated in order for women to maintain their jobs, europe and the united states have been promoted because of ideologies that it is natural for men and women to carry on working and lead a more fulfilling lifestyle in both employment and family. 3. misleading impression of a wlb what does a wlb mean, and how do we interpret the term “balance”? to tell the truth, interpreting balance seems to be complex and creates a misunderstanding. the latest studies of a wlb do not suggest a common definition or concept（lewis & campbell, 2007). also, although a wlb has gained widespread use in europe and the united states, they have not yet drawn boundaries between work and private lives (aybras, 2007). however, wlb studies in europe and the united states have analyzed the term from various directions as compared with japan. this section discusses how we should interpret the term balance by analyzing what the term has been intended to mean in wlb studies in europe and the united states, and what researchers have interpreted as a boundary between work and private. gender equality bureau cabinet office in japan defines a wlb in this way: “all individuals, irrespective of age or gender, will be able to participate in a variety of activities, such as work, 27 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 child-rearing, nursing, self-development, and community activities, to the degree of their own choice.” (note 7). translating a wlb into japanese, the cabinet office mentioned it as “shigoto (work) to seikatsu (private life) no chowa (evenness).” simply understanding, balance means “chowa (evenness)” in japanese, and “unbalance” means “fukinko” in japanese. however, an antonym of a wlb should not be “a work-life unbalance.” that is, interpreting the term balance in a wlb could not be quite so simple. what kind of situation is it where “work and life are not in harmony”? an answer would be: roughly speaking, when a person has “work to do,” he or she cannot do a “private thing,” or when he or she does a “private thing,” he or she cannot do “work to do.” in other words, “work” and “private” are “conflicting” states, which means that an antonym of a wlb should be “a work-life conflict,” not “a work-life unbalance.” in that sense, it can be said that the term a wlb is a very misleading term. when considered in antonyms, “unbalance” gives an impression of a problem of time allocation, resulting in creating a misleading impression that a good time allocation can solve a problem. to give an extreme example, some people think that a wlb can be achieved by “8 hours work, 8 hours private, 8 hours sleep.” but a work life balance isn’t a simple matter of allocating time in actuality. a wlb does not choose between work and private and does not seek a time ratio. that is why the antonym of a work-life balance is now understood as “work-life conflict.” “conflict” is a quality issue, not a quantity issue such as time allocation. it is not necessarily incorrect that work and private life are separate areas that are experienced by the same person. when focusing on an area and time, “work” and “privacy life” cannot exist on the same line, but attaching importance to a human beings living there, the two areas cannot always be separate. because originally both are the areas experienced by the same person, it is possible that the concept is irrational—sacrificing or choosing one for the other. in other words, when the balance of a wlb is described as “evenness,” it means that work and private life are in the opposite areas, and cause a problem about how people balance between them. but keeping in mind that work and private life are experienced by the same person, they are not in a conflicting relationship, but rather in a synergistic relationship that influences each other. it can be interpreted that work would be a success by a fullness of private life, and it would be enhanced by working well. indeed, the wlb aims to create a virtuous cycle that is achieved by properly meshing the gears of both, not focusing on either work or private life, and making the ratio even. even in europe and america, initially, the negative aspects between the roles at work and at home were studied using the concept of conflict, which clarified conflicts between roles occur, mainly among time, stress, and behavior and values (parson & bales, 1955). as stated above, wlb studies in europe and the united states since 2000 rid themselves completely of the awareness of the negative side of a wlb. research interest gradually began to focus on the positive side, resulting in increasing of research on harmony and synergies between multiple roles in work and private life. the shift from a negative perspective to a positive perspective came from the realization that, unlike finite time, the source of 28 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 mental energy and ability is not always finite, and work and life have the potential to complement each other. up to that point, it was thought that life takes time to be engaged in a work away. however, many research results show that having multiple roles reduces the psychological negative effect of a specific role, and enthusiasm for the role in a private life gives energy to an individual, which brings a significant benefit to work. looking at the theoretical background of wlb studies in europe and the united states in the 1970s, research has emerged that views home and work as two open systems. showing a typical example, the spillover theory can be raised, in which a situation, consciousness, and emotions of an individual overflow to the other in the internal or interpersonal relationship of the individual. this is because, for example, if there is something unpleasant at work, he or she feels unpleasant feelings when returning to the home, or conversely, if the degree of satisfaction of work is high, the degree of satisfaction of family life is also high, which refers to the correlation between the two domains of home and work (stains, 1980). on the other hand, the compensation theory, which discusses the complementary positions of home and work, presents examples in which something that cannot be obtained in home life can be realized in the workplace and vice versa (staines, 1980). both discuss home and work as two static areas and discuss how they depend on each other. however, there is also a criticism that these two theories have a narrow perspective and emphasize only emotional connections. on the other hand, the work/family border theory, which discusses how two areas are related in the experience of an individual from the viewpoint of the relationship among space and environment and human beings, captures a more dynamic aspect, where it focuses on what kind of negotiations, conflicts, and balances occur between people in various positions around the boundaries of two domains (clark, 2000). based on these theories, expressions such as a work-life integration and a work-life effectiveness tend to be preferred rather than the term, a wlb in europe and the united states (note 8). a work-life integration is a concept that integrates work and life and aims to become a synergistic existence of both work and family life and to enhance each other both publicly and privately. this is a further advancement of a wlb consciousness so far, in which balance is adjusted so that there is no bias between work and family life, and there is a difference from alternative understanding. by enhancing both work and private life, it aims to improve productivity and quality of life. therefore, it is possible to create a synergistic effect for work and private life (note 9). a work-life integration and a wlb differ greatly in grasping work and home. originally, behind a background of appearance of the term a wlb, there should be an aim for correction that if an individual attaches importance to work, he or she has to put off family life by all means, and on the contrary, if wanting to give priority to home, he or she gives up career advancement. in other words, the idea of life-work balance was aimed at achieving a balance between the two, but as mentioned earlier, there was a risk that work and private life would be regarded as conflicting. on the other hand, a work-life integration does not make a home opposed to work. at first glance, it may seem that work is eroding a private life, but eliminating the line between both areas creates a synergistic effect that “if work is good, the private life will be good.” instead of 29 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 simply balancing work and private life, if an individual shifts the two to the idea of integration, he or she no longer needs to limit one, and the worth of work and the worth of private life are linked. as a result, it becomes possible for both areas to obtain a sense of fulfillment at the same time. in this way, compared to a wlb that was expected to be only one-side fulfillment, in work-life integration, it can be seen that both have value (lewis, rapoport, & gambles, 2003). in addition, a study by poelmans, stepanova, and masuda (2008) analyzes the positive relationship between work and private life, pointing out a new direction of a work-life research by arranging prior studies about the balance of two life areas. while lewis et al. emphasize the term “integration,” the term “enrichment” is the keyword in poelmans’ paper. the terms introduce two types of enrichment. one is called “instrumental enrichment,” in which the abilities and skills acquired in one role area are brought into another role area and used effectively. this is the case, for example, when the problem-solving skills acquired in the workplace are used in home life to solve problems at home more effectively. the other is called “affective enrichment,” in which positive emotions, such as joy and happiness, are transmitted from one role domain to another, being similar to the positive spillover mentioned above (poelmans, stepanova, & masuda, 2008). the paper by poelmans et al. provides clues for new ideas about work and private life, because it is important to consider how to mitigate conflicts and promote enrichment in both work to private life and private life to work” directions in the overall harmony of work and private life. in addition, allis and o’driscoll examine the relationship with the work role, comparing the family role with other private activities. according to them, whether it is a family role or private role, the longer the input time, the less conflicted the roles, while it was found that those who are more passionate about their private roles tend to be more enriched with their work roles. it has been suggested that dedication to the private role does not deprive the work of resources and enthusiasm, but rather enriches the work (allis & o’driscoll, 2008). it is well known that the importance of wlb is being rapidly recognized in japan, but as mentioned at the beginning of this section, a wlb theory in japan is confused by the term balance, for which many of the research dealing with the interface between work and private life, and the interpretation of a wlb in companies focus on the negative relationship between work and private life; that is, the conflict between work and family roles. the trend has continued even now. the fundamental cause for a neglect of problems to be achieved by the realization of a wlb lies in the misunderstanding of the term, balance. a wlb is certainly a matter of working style, but working style should be a matter of individual ideology of working rather than a simple matter of working hours. when understanding that an original meaning of a wlb is synergy between work and private life, it can be understood that it is necessary to enhance both of them, and it is important to both men and women, not only for women. that is why a wlb is a policy that can significantly influence achieving gender equality. the idea of shortening working hours to facilitate women’s work and domestic work to encourage them to work comes from the erroneous interpretation that a wlb is an allocation of time. this section has described an original interpretation of a wlb as a 30 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 theory, and the next section considers concrete a wlb practice. it analyzes how a wlb should be implemented so that it can contribute to the promotion of gender equality. 4. a wlb to realize gender equality 4.1 a paradox caused by a current wlb today, the number of female employees is increasing, and women are advancing in the workplace and improving their social status. however, while men mainly put their careers first, women often leave employment due to marriage, childbirth, or childcare even if in their career progression. on the other hand, some women even give up marriage and childbirth because they want to continue their career. this means that it is difficult for many women to balance work and private life, forcing women to choose between them. moreover, as is well known, the declining birthrate is progressing in japan, and the government is considering one of the causes as “difficulty in balancing work and childcare,” having supported childcare for female workers since the 1990s as one measure to counteract the falling birthrate, and developing a wlb policy for female employees (shimizu, 2008). the first step is the law concerning childcare leave (law for childcare leave), which was enacted in 1991. additionally, the act for measures to support the development of the next generation was enacted in 2003 to support families raising children throughout the society (note 10). in this way, the policy that began with the support for women to balance work and family as part of measures to reduce the birthrate has expanded its content to support a wlb for men and women workers. however, looking at the background of implementation of a wlb policy in japan, as mentioned earlier, there is a strong impression that its target is women, and there is a purpose to eliminate measures to counteract the falling birthrate. after all, even if the system to support a wlb of employees in companies is expanded, it will be used exclusively by women, resulting in a greater emphasis on women’s burden of family responsibility. therefore, the working style that fixes the sexual division of work cannot be resolved forever. as always, women’s working and performing domestic duties conflict with each other, because men’s participation in domestic work has not been realized yet, not only creating a double tradeoff for women, but also being a barrier for men to achieve a wlb. certainly, it cannot be denied that promoting a wlb also creates a situation in which women are more likely to develop their careers. however, when it causes too much stress on women, creating an impression that women can easily balance work and family, a paradox is established that promotes the sexual division of labor, which is an original barrier to gender equality. if the division of labor persists, as in the previous era, the phenomenon of women working outside the home will not occur in the first place. compared with former days, thanks to the fact that the number of full-time homemakers has decreased and the number of women working outside the home has increased, it can be stated that a concept of sexual division of labor has been destroyed incompletely. as a result, when women tried to work outside, it became easy to fall into the dilemma state between work and the domesticities. consequently, 31 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 the most problematic issue in the workplace is that only the words wlb and gender equality have wings in a situation where the concept of sexual division of labor is not completely dismantled. to achieve a wlb and gender equality, sexual division of labor is nothing but a barrier, not only for women but also for men. it is important to realize that a wlb is not just for women and that gender equality is still stagnant, not because of a wlb insufficiency, but an ideology of sexual division of labor’s firm establishment. a wlb, which dismantles the sexual division of labor, should be promoted (note 11). 4.2 importance of dismantling the sexual division of labor the first study about the idea of a women’s sphere is “the bonds of womanhood: ‘woman’s sphere’ in new england, 1780-1835” by nancy cott. since her study, women’s history in the united states has been developed in line with the women’s sphere (aruga, pp. 32-33) (note 12). “sphere” has been used from the nineteenth century, meaning that men and women play their gender roles in their social lives. it is the “women’s sphere” that organizes a private life in a household and a “men’s sphere” that performs an official life in a working place (aruga, pp. 32). the ideology of spheres has doomed gender roles for men and women (ishida, 2019). in colonial america, a household functioned as a productive unit for living, and members of a family would work together both in the fields and inside houses to produce provisions and the common necessities of life. although these productive labors would be wholly dominated by husbands, the heads of families, wives could be considered to be important members of the workforce. however, such qualities of family lives began to undergo change around the beginning of the nineteenth century because of the industrial revolution; the concept that a family should be a productive unit for living began to vanish. in other words, productive collaboration between men and women in colonial america collapsed in the nineteenth century, with the division of productive activities into two domains. men, who performed productive activities both in the fields and inside houses along with their wives before the industrial revolution, had followed a labor system of going to workplaces outside the home to earn their pay. meanwhile, the understanding that women should be confined in households began gradually to deteriorate (ishida, 2019). it wasn’t until the industrial revolution that work and employment came to be understood as synonyms; the workplace and home were different places, being held at different times, having different relationships and different norms. that is why there are two completely different cultures at work and at home today (morf, 1989; googins, 1991; coontz, 1992). the mechanism by which sexual division of labor was fixed in japan is very similar to the situation in the 19th century in europe and the united states, although there is a gap of about 100 years. in japan, the “female territory” appeared in the mid-1970s. until the 1970s, many women were engaged in the family business, which might involve self-employment or agriculture. many men began to engage in employment labor in urban areas during the period of high growth, and many of the women who married the men became full-time housewives (tsutsui, 2014). in japan, during the period of high economic growth, companies came to be based on a fixed division of roles by gender (sexual division of labor), and the employment system in the 32 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 workplace was developed accordingly. in such a situation, a male regular employee who “has a dependent family and works long hours to contribute to the company in order to earn the wages that deserves to support the family” was considered as the standard worker image. while such work styles contribute to the development of the japanese economy and have secured long-term employment security for workers and stable working conditions at a certain level (shimizu, 2008). when the ideology of sexual division of labor is considered a problem, the issues of paid work and unpaid work’ are discussed in pairs. in other words, sexual division of labor, which means that men work outside and women work at home, does not simply indicate the division of labor to work in, but also indicates that there is a problem of female disdain behind the fact that the former is paid work and the latter is unpaid work. jeanne boydston analyzes gender roles and industrialization in home and work, pointing out that domestic work has been undervalued by industrialization. she describes this phenomenon as the “pastoralization of domestic duties,” noting that women’s unpaid work has no economic value in an industrial society (boydston, pp. 142-163). because of this concept of labor, a family was no longer a ground of production and had become a private space, being the very opposite of official space, which now was industrial workplaces for men. the division of labor according to gender has been justified and endorsed by this concept. a family became a healing space for men who worked hard outside, which demanded femininity in the victorian era and the placement of virtue in obedience, chastity, piety, and self-sacrifice to women, who must serve their family and home (aruga, pp. 34-37). not only in boydston’s suggestions, but also in the field of feminism studies, the concept of work that is specialized in paid labor has been reexamined, which has delineated a direction that gender equality should be achieved in both work, by placing importance on domestic duties including nursing care and child rearing, which have been understood as private areas, as work (note 13). when considering a gender bias behind paid work and unpaid work as well as fixing of sexual division of labor, it can be apparent that a wlb is not just a problem of allocating working hours. the work assumed by a wlb policy refers to paid work; however, in reality, life includes domestic duties, childcare, and nursing, which are “free,” and mostly carried out by women. many working women are still engaged in unpaid work after returning from their work. in the wlb charter, work is actually earned labor, and nonearned labor such as child-raising and nursing care is “private life.” given this nontheoretical situation, norio hisamoto asserts that a wlb is actually an issue of a work-wlb, which should be seriously regarded as “a balance of work-work is serious” (hisamoto, 2015). a wlb policy includes the concept of gender asymmetric work, which is the work of men and the work of women on the premise of sexual division of labor. simply understanding a wlb as a policy that enables women to balance home and work is not only to promote sexual division of labor, but also place responsibility for domestic work, a perpetual work, just on women, which means that women no longer have the opportunity to enjoy the private life. that is, this situation should be considered as the opposite direction from gender equality. an imbalance in the sharing of domestic duties and child-rearing care for couples has also been pointed 33 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 out in wlb studies in europe and the united states (pleck, 1985; nock & kingston, 1988; brines, 1994). for instance, hochschild describes the actual situation as a term, “second shift,” in which many women must perform domestic duties and childcare almost all alone when returning home after working (hochschild, 1989). 4.3 a blind spot of sexual division of labor a correlation exists between sexual division of labor and paid and unpaid work in the previous section. in this section, going further, i examine the “responsibility for livelihood maintenance” caused by an ideology of sexual division of labor. in “forget about ‘the ideal worker’: a theoretical contribution to the debate on flexible workplace designs, work/life conflict, and opportunities for gender equality,” peter and blomme argue how gender influences the boundary between work and private life from the perspective of self-determination theory and boundary theory, in which they analyze that in the relationship between work and life, the gender identity of both sexes has a greater effect than corporate attitudes. in other words, the role of women centers on their family, and the role of men centers on their work (note 14). also, in japan today, despite of the fact that more women are engaged in paid work, there is no phenomenon in which more men are engaged in unpaid work in the home. considering peter and blomme’s suggestions, it can be pointed out that paid work of women is an “auxiliary role” to make up for the lack of income for men, rather than so-called career development. in short, even if the number of working women has increased compared with the previous era, it does not mean that women can play active roles in a labor market regardless of gender and that working women become regarded as breadwinners. that is to say, as long as the family’s earning head remains male, and the unpaid work of women is a subsidiary, responsibilities of unpaid work at home are still the role of women. for example, when problems such as childcare and nursing care emerge, it is common for a working woman to give up her job or change the way of working so that her husband’s employment is not affected. this means that labors of husbands always take precedence over labors of wives, and that labors of the wives must be the subject of husbands’ acceptance and obedience. it is unlikely that a husband’s labors would be affected to maintain his wife’s because an ideology has been established that husbands are responsible for maintaining livelihoods. it has been reported not only in japan but also in europe that the major responsibilities for livelihoods are imposed only on men. according to catherin hakim, who has researched in the united kingdom and spain, it has become apparent that many coworkers think that a family’s breadwinner should be the husband. even wives who advocate equal division of domestic duties against sexual division of labor do not insist on sharing livelihood responsibility (hakim, 2003). what can be read from hakim’s research is that it is proved to be incorrect that because women are engaged in domestic duties and deprived of opportunities to be active outside the home unlike men, an issue of “responsibility for livelihood maintenance” that always accompanies an ideology of sexual division of labor has a great effect just on women. sexual division of labor and responsibility for livelihood maintenance negatively affect not only women but also men, since if a wife quits her job for any reason, her husband will have more responsibility to maintain her 34 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 livelihood, and he has no option to quit his job (karkoulian, srour, & sinan, 2016). a fulfillment of responsibility for livelihood maintenance means a determination to continue working for a long period of time for a husband, and he will be overwhelmed by responsibility and the stress of supporting his family financially. ogasawara points out that a significance of paid work for women has a considerable effect on a division of household chores (ogasawara, 2005), which means that increasing in an employment rate of women hardly contributes to dismantling the system of sexual division of labor, “while a husband should have responsibility for livelihood maintenance, a wife must be mainly in charge of household chores.” from the point of view of feminist perspectives, it has already been noted that a persistent ideology of sexual division of labor has been an obstacle for the realization of gender equality in workplace. further, although it has been pointed out that the sharing of domestic duties by married couples is important, family budget sharing has not been mentioned in this argument. a dismantling of sexual division of labor is not just a matter of eliminating a fixation of gender roles for domestic duties and works, but also an issue of who will maintain a living. disassembling an ideology that a husband should work, and a wife must accept responsibility for domestic duties is not enough, and it is important for couples to eliminate the idea that husbands should be a breadwinners. namely, significance of work for women, why women work, has an important meaning in the dismantling of sexual division of labor. whether or not gender equality is realized should be measured by a meaning of employment, not by increasing in the employment rate of women. if women’s labor and men’s labor have the same meaning, there must be a tendency that men’s income does not influence women’s employment choices. that is, douglas-arisawa’s rule, in which the higher the male’s income, the lower the employment rate of his wife, ironically proves that the meaning of female labor is completely different from that of male labor. 5. conclusion it is fundamentally important to keep in mind that a wlb must be available equally to both sexes. it is not until this realization is achieved that a wlb contributes to gender equality. as mentioned in section three, a wlb is not a matter of work and private time allocation, but a matter of individual conception of both, as suggested by spillover theory. there is no room for a sexual difference. in a system in which only women are responsible for domestic duties, women, unlike men, find it difficult to find a significance in their work, and eventually women’s work becomes subsidiary. a realization of wlb must be a policy to eliminate the distorted division of labor created by gender, for which a false idea that a wlb should enable women to balance domestic duties and work must be dispelled. creating an environment in which women can easily take childcare leave through a wlb policy promotes the concept of sexual division of labor, resulting in moving gender equality backward. to achieve gender equality in the workplace, it is essential that the concept of sexual division of labor should be dismantled and that women take responsibility for maintaining their livelihoods. it is also necessary for 35 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 women themselves to have the significance of working instead of simply providing support for their husbands. and to achieve these, a wlb policy must encourage men to take childcare leave. gender equality should not be realized only in the workplace. it is not enough for women to participate in the workplace on an equal basis with men. as in the case of the front and back of a coin, if it is not realized that men also participate in domestic duties on a parity with women, actual gender equality cannot be realized. references aybras, a. i. 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(2019). forget about ‘the ideal worker’: a theoretical contribution to the debate on flexible workplace designs, work/life conflict, and opportunities for gender equality. business horizons, 62(5), 603-613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.04.003 pleck, j. h. (1985). working wives/working husband. california: sage. poelmans, s., stepanova, o., & masuda, a. (2008). positive spillover between personal and professional life: definitions, antecedents, consequences, and strategies. in handbook of work-family integration: research, theory, and best practices. san diego, ca: academic press. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-012372574-5.50011-9 shimizu, m. (2008). for the realization of a work-life balance. ritsumeikan journal of law and politics, 6, 166-200. smith-rosenberg, c. (1975). the female world of love and ritual: relations between women in nineteenth-century america. signs, 1(1), 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1086/493203 staines, g. l. 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(2007). revolutionary backlash: women and politics in the early american republic. philadelphia: university of philadelphia press. notes note 1. http://www.gender.go.jp/kaigi/senmon/wlb/siryo/pdf/wlb07-1.pdf note 2. parsons, t. and bales, r. f. family socialization, and interaction process. glence il: the free press, 1955. note 3. it is interpreted that the time bind: when work becomes home and home becomes work by arlie r. hochschild, in 2001, has an enourmoue effect on a background about “a wlb” in the us (yamaguchi, 2004). note 4. http://wwwa.cao.go.jp/wlb/government/pdf/charter.pdf#search=%27 ワークライフバランス 憲章%27 38 published by scholink inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.04.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-012372574-5.50011-9 https://doi.org/10.1086/493203 https://doi.org/10.1177/001872678003300203 https://doi.org/10.2307/2711179 https://doi.org/10.5149/9780807898833_pasley.8 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 https://www.mhlw.go.jp/bunya/kodomo/jisedai-suisinhou-gaiyou.html note 5. the gender equality bureau was established in 2001 as a division of the japanese cabinet office tasked with planning and coordinating the policies of the japanese government pertaining to gender equality. the gender equality bureau conducts research on topics concerning issues of gender—compiling findings into an annual report called the “white paper.” in 1994, the headquarters for the promotion of gender equality was created within the cabinet of japan. with the 1999 implementation of the basic law for a gender-equal society, both the office for gender equality and the council for gender equality were established by the japanese cabinet. during the governmental reforms effected january 6, 2001, the gender equality bureau was established under the newly formulated cabinet office. coupled with the gender equality council, the bureau is tasked with devising and coordinating plans regarding issues of gender equality in addition to executing plans that fall outside of the jurisdiction of any other ministry. when first founded, the gender equality bureau was composed of 50 people with an equal balance of male and female members. the white paper is an annual report published by the gender equality bureau that contains both research and policy suggestions for issues of gender inequality. the main object of study for each white paper remains largely consistent with the measures for gender equality established by the 1999 basic laws for a gender-equal society, although each new report attempts to address obstacles to the accomplishment of these measures. the 2010 white paper—the latest year available online—focused on the education of japanese women, calling for their increased education of the variety of career opportunities available to them in an attempt to avoid the closing of the next generation of japanese women’s minds due to stereotyped perception of gender roles in society. the 2010 white paper also pushes for combating the popular perception of gender equality being concerned with women only, stating that a gender-equal society would benefit both “the male worker and the housewife.” note 6. http://wwwa.cao.go.jp/wlb/government/20barrier_html/20html/charter.html note 7. http://www.gender.go.jp/english_contents/mge/wlb/society.html note 8. a work-life integration is adopted by intel (us) or astrazeneca (uk), and a work-life effectiveness is by ibm (us). note 9. also in japan, machiko osawa focuses on a term, “a work-life synergy” and argues about a misunderstanding of a word, “balance” in wlb. she points out that “both enrichment” and “both enrichment” bring about “interaction/synergistic effect,” and argue that synergy is the merit of improving the “quality” of work and life (osawa, 2008). note 10. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/11909000/000355354.pdf note 11. in japan, the equal employment opportunity act was enacted in 1986 to establish equal employment opportunities for both sexes, and the basic act for gender-equal society was enacted in 1999. it is noted in article 4 that “fixed sexual division of labor” impedes gender equality, but it does not mean that legally compliant content is required for its dismantling. it is not legally binding because it is stipulated as “to be considered” in practice and is not a matter that actually punishes the violation. 39 published by scholink inc. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 1, no. 2, 2020 note 12. much has been written about sphere ideology as follows: carroll smith-rosenberg, “the female world of love and ritual: relations between women in nineteenth-century america” in signs 1-1 (autumn 1975), 1-29; linda kerber, women of the republic: intellect and ideology in revolutionary america (new york: w.w. norton & co., 1986); linda k. kerber, “separate spheres, female worlds, women’s place: the rhetoric of women’s history” in the journal of american history, 75-1 (jan. 1988), 9-39; linda k. kerber, nancy f. cott, robert gross, lynn hunt, carroll smith-rosenberg and christine m. stansell, “beyond roles, beyond spheres: thinking about gender in the early republic” in the william and mary quarterly 46-3 (1989), 565-585; mary beth norton, founding mothers & fathers: gendered power and the forming of american society (new york: alfred a. knopf, 1996); zagarri, “women and party conflict in the early republic” in beyond the founders: new approaches to the political history of the early american republic (chapel hill: university of north carolina, 2004), 107-128; mary kelley, learning to stand & speak: women, education, and public life in america’s republic (chapel hill: university of north carolina press, 2006). note 13. the following are typical examples of studies on a correlation between women and labor. like boydston’s studies, all of them state that sexual division of labor locks women in their homes and forces them to play secondary roles, for which, a concept of “femininity” was an essential element: berbara welter, “the cult of womanhood, 1820-1860” in american quarterly 18-2 (summer 1966), 151-174: gerda lerner, “placing women in history: definitions and challenges” in feminist studies 3-1 (autumn 1975), 5-14; christine stansell, city of women: sex and class in new york, 1789-1860 (new york: alfred a. knopf, 1986); ava baron, work engendered: toward a new history of american labor (ithaca: cornell university press, 1991); wendy gamber, “a gendered enterprise: placing nineteenth-century businesswomen in history” in business history review 72-2 (july 1998), 188-217; rosemarie zagarri, revolutionary backlash: women and politics in the early american republic (philadelphia: university of philadelphia press, 2007); wilma a. dunaway, women, work and family in the antebellum mountain south (new york: cambridge university press, 2008). note 14. unlike in japan, a full-time homemaker is rare in europe and the united states, but it cannot be denied that an ideology of sexual division of labor has taken root, and that sexual identity has a great influence on labor. 40 published by scholink inc. original paper yoriko ishida1 1 general education division, national institute of technology, oshima college, japan abstract keywords references education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 84 original paper the study of pun translation in zhu shenghao’s chinese version of king lear from the perspective of relevance theory bingbing li1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: november 8, 2023 accepted: november 25, 2023 online published: december 14, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n5p84 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n5p84 abstract as one of the most commonly used rhetorical devices by shakespeare, pun plays a significant role in shakespeare’s works. in the translation of pun, it is quite important to handle it well so that the target text readers can understand shakespeare’s works better. there are plenty of puns in king lear, which brings great challenges to translators. by analyzing the pun translation in zhu shenghao’s version of king lear from the perspective of relevance theory, this paper attempts to prove the explanatory power and guiding role of relevance theory in pun translation. by analyzing the translation of puns, it can figure out whether the translators have provided the best contextual effects and realized the optimal relevance in their translations. keywords relevance theory, pun translation, king lear 1. introduction william shakespeare (1564-1616) is widely regarded as one of the greatest playwrights and poets the world has ever known. throughout his life, shakespeare not only wrote many long poems and sonnets, but also left the world thirty-seven splendid plays, which cover a wide range of subjects and themes. among those plays, king lear occupies an incomparable status due to its flexible use of language, successful shaping of characters and the skillful application of rhetorical devices. with an increasing cultural exchanges between countries, shakespeare’s works have been translated into various languages. it is necessary and meaningful to conduct studies on king lear and its translations. among those chinese versions of king lear, the version of zhu shenghao enjoys a great reputation. therefore, this paper chooses zhu shenghao’s version of king lear as the study text, analyzing the pun translation from the perspective of relevance theory. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 85 published by scholink inc. according to the dictionary of merriam-webster, pun refers to the usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound (1842). pun utilizes the structural features of language so as to perform certain communicative functions. due to a different language structures, it is not easy to retain the phonological and semantic features of puns when translating into another language. thus, it poses a question to translators and scholars that whether puns are translatable or not. by analyzing the translation of puns, it can figure out whether the translators have provided the best contextual effects and realized the optimal relevance in their translations. 2. literature review research on pun translation mostly focuses on the translatability of puns and the translation strategies of puns. ke ping (1998) claimed that puns were untranslatable because the dual senses of puns involved the phonetic and semantic features within the language which were conveyed as the information content in puns. some scholars believed that the translatability was a question of degree. for instance, li guonan (1988) mentioned that translation had its limits but not all the puns were unable to translate. for translatable puns, it is suggested that puns should be preserved in the translation as much as possible; for untranslatable puns, the translator can choose the translation methods flexibly such as using other rhetorical techniques in chinese to attempt to preserve the artistic effect of puns in the original text. in theory of functional equivalence in pun translation, jian lihua and xu hualing (2006) believed that in order to translate puns, translators must get rid of the shackles of language form, devote themselves to language effect, find the best balance between being loyal to the original author and to the translator and readers, and pursue the maximum functional equivalence. in terms of pun translation techniques research, lv jun (1983) made a generalization about pun translation methods which included translating puns by puns, preserving the denotation of puns, preserving the connotation of puns, and adding comments or explanations. xu zhongbing (1988b) made a preliminary discussion on the categories and chinese translation of english puns. he claimed that it was the most ideal translation method to retain the meaning of pun after translating into chinese, besides which he also proposed methods of compensation, adding explanations, etc. researches on the translation of puns in shakespeare’s works focus more on case studies which analyse the text from different perspectives to study the translation strategies of translators or give suggestions on the translation of puns. malcolm offord (1897) analyzed the translation strategies adopted by different translators in dealing with shakespeare’s puns. xu zhongbing (1988a) took examples from zhu shenghao’s translation of shakespeare and generalized four translation strategies for translating puns by analyzing concrete cases. li jingjing (2013) conducted a cognitive study on the translation of puns in shakespeare’s plays based on meaning conceptual principles of conceptual blending theory by analyzing puns from hamlet, romeo and juliet, love’s labour’s lost, measure for measure, henry ⅳ, and much ado about nothing. in relevant literature, we can find that most scholars selected hamlet as the study text to research on the translation of shakespeare’s puns, followed by romeo and juliet, much www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 86 published by scholink inc. ado about nothing, love’s labour’s lost, etc. for example, miao linna (2010) compared and analyzed the pun translation of two chinese versions of hamlet by zhu shenghao and liangshiqiu on the basis of delabastita’s pun translation theory. most of studies on king lear focus on the connotation interpretation, linguistic meanings or rhetorical devices of the original text. for example, ma guangli (2007) studied the power discourse in king lear from the aspect of new historicism. ma fenying (2012) investigated the mad images in king lear and the cultural implication conveyed by these mad images. for the translations of king lear, most scholars tended to adopt different approaches to conduct comparative studies. for instance, li hong (2006) analyzed the three translations of king lear in different periods on the basis of dynamics adaptability, and pointed out that the translation standards should be constantly reinterpreted so as to adapt to different times, contexts, and communicative purposes. there are few literature that study and discuss the pun translation of king lear, especially from the perspective of relevance theory. therefore, research on the pun translations of zhu shenghao from the perspective of relevance theory is of great necessity and importance. 3. introduction to relevance theory put forward by the french linguist dan sperber and the british linguist deirdre in their book relevance: communication and cognition, relevance theory is the principle that the communication process involves not only encoding, transfer, and decoding of messages, but also numerous other elements, including inference and context. it is also called the principle of relevance. sperber and wilson have expanded and deepened discussions of relevance theory in numerous books and articles. they defined relevance as an assumption which “is relevant in a context if and only if it has some contextual effect in that context” (sperber & wilson, 2001). in communication, when the content of the information from the communicator is worthy of people’s efforts to understand, the information is relevant and will achieve contextual effects. information has relevance only if it has contextual effect in that context. the concept of relevance is a comparative concept. it is decided by two factors—processing effort and contextual effect. the more effort the reasoning process needs, the weaker the contextual effect will be and the weaker their relevance will be. relevance theory is a communicative theory, in which communication is an ostensive-inferential process, a cognitive activity going on with the help of inference. ostension and inference are two aspects of communication. for the speaker, communication is the process of ostension, which means to clearly express the communicative intentions when communicating. if the listener can understand the speaker’s intention, then the act of ostension is successful. for the listener, communication is a process of reasoning. by decoding the intention of the speaker’s ostension, and combining the previous information and the cognitive context, the listener can infer and get the right understanding of the information expressed by the speaker. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 87 published by scholink inc. relevance theory is based on the cognitive principle and the communicative principle. the first one means that human cognition tends to seek the maximization of relevance and the second one means that every act of ostensive communication communicates a presumption of its own optimal relevance (li, 2007). furthermore, in discussion of relevance degree, sperber and wilson found that from a cognitive point of view, people usually use the least cognitive effort to achieve the greatest cognitive effect in the process of understanding content. later, ernst august gutt developed relevance theory of translation, which was published in 1991 as a book translation and relevance: cognitive and context. it was gutt who, after reviewing many previous studies, first introduced relevance theory to translation. the relevance translation theory offers us a new inspiring perspective in translation and is both applicable and practicable. in relevance theory, relevance is capable of accounting for all the phenomena in translation studies. in relevance theory of translation, translation is a communication process of cognitive inferences. gutt claimed that translation is an act of communication in nature and the speaker’s intentions and the listener’s expectations are two decisive factors for a successful communication (1991). since translation is finished in line with the author’s intentions and the reader’s expectations, the translator’s top priority is to make the writer’s intentions and the targeted reader’s expectations meet. therefore, translation, in essence, is an act of communication. in verbal communication, what the two communication parties express must be relevant to the content expressed by the overall topic. only in this way can the listener understand the speaker’s intention. so, what relevance theory in translation pursues is the optimal relevance decided by optimal contextual effect. translation, in line with the principles of communication, is a special communication between two languages. translators hold dual responsibilities of inference. in the first place, translators have to infer what it means in the source texts. in the second place, translators should have full knowledge of the target reader’s cognitive context—the receptor’s culture. in other words, translators need to be well acquainted with whether the contextual assumption the source writer intends to express exists in the context of the target reader or not. if it does exist, how much effort does the reader need to make to understand？ therefore, relevance theory plays an important role in restraining what the translation intends to convey and how to convey the intention to the target reader. 4. cases study in pun translation as mentioned in the previous text, relevance theory plays an interpreting role in translation process and a guiding role in translation practice. in the first round of communication, the translator must have the cognitive environment of the st readers so as to recognize the original author’s informative intention. in the second round of communication, the translator has to correctly evaluate the cognitive environment of the tt readers, and convey the informative intention of the original author so as to meet the expectations of the tt readers of relevance. in order to ensure the success of communication, the translator needs to choose appropriate translation strategies. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 88 published by scholink inc. considering factors such as the translator’s competence, translation purpose and the tt readers’ cognitive expectations. therefore, the translator should flexibly choose the translation method according to the specific situation. here are some examples of pun translation in zhu shenghao’s version. example 1: gloucester: i have so often blushed to acknowledge him that now i am brazed to’ t. kent: i cannot conceive you. gloucester: sir, this young fellow’s mother could; whereupon she grew round-womb and had indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. (shakespeare, 2014, p. 10) zhu’s version: 格洛斯特：老哥，他的养育是我的责任。我常羞于认他，但次数一多，现在已经老脸皮了。 肯特：我搞不懂您的意思 格洛斯特：老哥，这小伙子的母亲可懂得搞；因此她的肚皮搞得远光，然后，老哥，枕边 还没个丈夫，摇篮里就先有个儿子。您看出这犯了忌吧？(朱生豪, 2019, p. 3) the word “conceive” in the original text is a homonymic pun, which means “to understand” or “to be regnant”. what kent wants to express is that he cannot understand what lear has just said. but gloucester uses the other sense of “conceive” in his answer, indicating that this young fellow’s mother knows how to become pregnant, which brings about a punning effect. for the source text readers, they can easily deduce the original author’s informative intention as long as they understand the dual meanings of the word. according to relevance theory, the translator should not only obtain the original author’s communicative intention through inference, but also needs to consider how to manifest the informative intention to the target text readers. in zhu’s translation, the word “conceive” is translated into “搞不懂”. in chinese the word “搞” can be followed by a complement, such as “搞不懂”, which means “cannot understand”. at the same time it can also be used as a verb which means to have sex with someone. therefore in this translation the original pun is perfectly reproduced with a chines pun. the target text readers not only understand what the characters want to convey in a coherent way, but also obtain sufficient contextual effects with little effort. from the perspective of relevance theory, this translation realizes the communicative intentions of the original text. what’s more, with minimal processing efforts the readers of zhu’s translation can inferred from the context the dual meanings which the original author aims to deliver. example 2: kent: repose you there while i to this hard house—more harder than the stones whereof ‘tis raised, which even but now, demanding after you, denied me to come in—return and force their scanted courtesy. (shakespeare, 2014, p. 78) zhu’s version: 肯特：这儿附近有一间茅屋可以替您挡挡风雨。我刚才曾经到那所冷酷的屋子里——那比 它墙上的石块更冷酷无情的屋子——探问您的行踪，可是他们关上了门不让我进去；现在 您且暂时躲一躲雨，我还要回去，非要他们讲一点人情不可。(朱生豪, 1994, p. 488) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 89 published by scholink inc. the homonymic pun “hard” is used to describe the house and the stones, meaning “pitiless” and “solid” respectively. kent plays with this word so as to satirize the callousness of those in gloucester’s house. when the st readers see the first “hard”, they will get the first information that people in the house are merciless by inferences. when they see the second “hard”, they can naturally deduce the connection between the two word of “hard” according to the context and realize the punning effect the original author intends to express. from the perspective of relevance theory, the st readers can easily recognize the informative intention of the original author, so as to achieve the success of communication. zhu shenghao replaces the pun in the source text with a pun in the target text, in an attempt to restore the context in the original text and help the tt readers to strengthen the contextual effect. the chinese pun he employs is “冷酷”, which means “heartless” when it refers to the people in the house, and “cold” when refers to “屋子”. since zhu’s translation provides the same explicit stimulus as the original text, the processing efforts and contextual effects of the tt readers are similar to those of the st readers. in other words, the tt readers can get the optimal relevance through zhu’s translation. from the perspective of relevance theory, although the pun used by zhu is not exactly the same with that of the original text, it can still enable the tt readers to obtain sufficient contextual effects with minimal efforts, so that it can achieve the optimal relevance. the examples above show that the translator can find a suitable pun in the target text to translate the pun in source text. however, when the translator cannot find a suitable pun in the target text to replace the source text pun, he may adopt a compensatory translation strategy, which means rendering the st pun into a rhetorical device so as to reproduce the effect of the st pun. here are the examples. example 3: lear: what dost thou profess? what wouldst thou with us? kent: i do profess to be no less than i seem. (shakespeare, 2014, p. 31) zhu’s version: 李尔：你干什么的？你来见我有什么事？ 肯特：您瞧我像是干什么的，我就是干什么的。(朱生豪, 1994, p. 446) the word “profess” in the original text is a play on words. kent changes the sense of “profess” from “profession” to claim and to declare, with which he subtly answer lear’s question in the sense of humour and tease. since the main purpose of the original author is to use the pun to highlight the humor of kent’s language, its semantics is less important than its function. due to the difference between source language and target language, it’s hard to find an equivalent chinese pun as the translation. therefore, the translator choose apply related rhetorical device of repetition to compensate for the missing pun effect. zhu repeats the phrase “干什么” to replace “to be no less than”. by repeating the phrase “干什么” three times, the readers will recognize the use of repetition more easily so that they will be aware that kent is deliberately playing word games with lear. in fact, from the perspective of relevance theory, whether the meaning of the second “profess” is translated or not does not have much impact on the contextual effects. the tt www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 90 published by scholink inc. readers can understand the original author’s communicative intention with similar processing efforts and contextual effects. example 4: lear: how old art thou? kent: not so young, sir, to love a woman for sing, nor so old to dote on her for anything: i have years on my back forty-eight. (shakespeare, 2014, p. 32) zhu’s version: 李尔：你年纪多大了？ 肯特：大爷，说我年轻，我也不算年轻，我不会为了一个女人会唱几句歌而害相思；说我 年老，我也不算年老，我不会糊里糊涂地溺爱一个女人；我已经活过四十八个年头了。(朱 生豪, 1994, p. 447) the word “anything” in the original text is a sexual pun, with “thing” playing on the sense of “vagina”. it is an indirect way to play on words, expressing the underlying meaning about sex. kent’s implication here is that he is not odd enough to spoil a woman for sex. considering the implied meaning of the pun in the original text, zhu choose to implicitly convey the sexual meaning in kent’s words. the translator’s translation methods have greatly minimized the tt readers’ processing efforts in understanding what the original author intends to convey, which is helpful to achieve the optimal relevance. from the perspective of relevance theory, the translation strategy of rendering sexual puns into indirect expression combined with translation techniques can help the target readers get sufficient contextual effect. therefore, when dealing with sexual puns, the translator can consider euphemisms if he cannot find an alternative pun in the target culture. all the examples above are good ones. they prove that zhu’s translation are so successful that it can achieve optimal relevance according to the relevance theory. nevertheless, there is also some translation that is not so suitable. here is an example. example 5: fool: but, for all this, thou shalt have as many dolours for thy daughters as thou canst tell in a year. (shakespeare, 2014, p. 62) 弄人：虽然这样说，你的女儿们还要孝敬你数不清的烦恼哩。(朱生豪, 1994, p. 474) in this example, kent uses two puns in his words, conveying two different meanings through the collocation. the word “dolour” is a pun which has the same pronunciation as the word “dollar”. therefore, it has double meanings of “grief” and “a silver coin” here. the word “tell” is the second pun which kent uses in this sentence, which means “to count”. kent’s intention is to manifest to the readers that lear’s daughters will bring him endless grief which is as much as the amount of money he can count in a year. since the st readers are proficient in english, they can quickly associate the word “dolour” with the word “dollar” and grasp the implied meaning of the two puns. but the zhu’s translation in this example expresses only the meaning of grief that lear’s daughters will bring. it losses the second meaning about the “dollar” which can be inferred by the st readers. to be exactly, the translation of the pun of “dolour” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 91 published by scholink inc. is not successful. according to the relevance theory, it cannot achieve maximum relevance, nor can it fully realize the communicative intention from the author. actually, zhu can deliver the dual meanings of the pun by adding footnote which explains the use of puns in the original text as well as the implied meaning that shakespeare intends to convey through puns. 5. conclusion according to the principle of relevance, the translator needs to accurately assess the communicative intention of the original author and the cognitive environment of the target readers, and then convey the informative intention of the original author to the target readers through various translation strategies, so as to meet the relevance expectations of the target readers. the thesis analyses some examples of pun translation in zhu shenghao’s version of king lear from the perspective of relevance theory, proving that the relevance theory has strong explanatory power guiding role. a good grasp of the framework of relevance theory can not only deepen the translator’s understanding of the problems encountered, but also help the translator examine if his translation deliver the communicative intentions of the original text or if the translation have reach the tt readers’ expectation. although shakespeare’s puns are difficult to translate, they are not untranslatable. the translator can reasonably choose different translation methods based on the relevance principle, so as to match the tt readers with the original author’s intention. there is no denying that zhu’s translation are successful and wonderful, but there are still some translations that can be improved. references gutt, e. a. (1991). translation and relevance: cognition and context. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. offord, m. (1997). mapping shakespeare’s puns in french translations. in d. delabastita (ed.), traductio: essays on punning and translation. manchester: st. jerome. shakespeare. (2014). the tragedy of king lear. beijing: foreign language teaching and research press. sperber, d., & wilson, d. (2001). relevance: communication and cognitive. beijing: foreign language teaching and research press. webster’s third new inter-national dictionary of the english language. (1981:1842). springfield, massachusetts: merriam-webster incorporation. jian, l. h., & xu, h. l. (2006). functional equivalence in punning translation. journal of huaihua college, 2006(7), 044. ke, p. (1998). english-chinese and chinese-english translation course. peking university press. li, g. n. (1998). a preliminary study of pun translation. modern foreign languages, 1998(1), 60-65. li, h. (2005). dynamic conformity and the translation of king lear (master’s thesis). xiangtan university. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 4, no. 5, 2023 92 published by scholink inc. li, j. j. (2013). cognitive translation of shakespeare’s dramatic puns from the perspective of conceptual synthesis theory (master’s thesis). guangxi normal university. li, z. x. (2007). association and conformity: a study of the translation process. science press. lv, j. (1983). the problem of translating puns from chinese into english. chinese translation, 1983(7), 32-34. ma, f. y. (2012). madness and civilization: a study of madness imagery in king lear. journal of chongqing normal university (philosophy and social science edition), 2012(1), 118-123. ma, g. l. (2007). subversion and suppression: power discourse in king lear. journal of soochow university (philosophy and social science edition), 2007(5), 88-91. miao, l. n. (2010). a comparison of chinese translations of hamlet’s puns. journal of tianjin municipal college, 2010(6), 79-80. xu, z. b. (1988a). study the translation of english puns from zhu shenghao’s translation of puns in the complete works of william shakespeare. chinese translators journal, 1988a(06), 9-12. xu, z. b. (1988b). types and translation of english puns. journal of foreign languages (shanghai foreign languages college), 1988b(6), 31-34. zhu, s. b. et al. (1994). translation. the complete works of shakespeare (v). people’s literature publishing house. zhu, s. b. et al. (2019). king lear in english and chinese. anhui literature and art publishing house. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 66 original paper investigating the effect of the language of cartoon films on children’s acquisition of their mother tongue: a case study of three children prof. dr. mohammed jasim betti1* & prof. dr. zainab kadim igaab2 1 department of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar, nasiriya, iraq 2 university of thi-qar, department of english, college of education for humanities, iraq * mohammed jasim betti, prof. & ph.d., department of english, college of education for humanities, university of thi-qar, nasiriya, iraq received: july 17, 2022 accepted: august 9, 2022 online published: september 2, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n3p66 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n3p66 abstract this study investigates the effect of the language of cartoon films on children’s acquisition of their mother tongue. the language used in the cartoon films under study is modern standard arabic (msa) while that of the parents and of the environment is urban nasiriya iraqi arabic (unia). the informants of the study consist of three children who are native speakers of arabic and whose ages are aged 5,6 and 7 at the beginning of collecting the data of this study. the data collection continues for three years in that it includes the preschool and some school stages. the data collection tool, which is done by the parents from the children, is by means of recordings and daily observation. the children are exposed to the cartoon films for about four to five hours in their daily watching. the methodological procedure consists of describing the language uttered by the informants to prove or refute the hypotheses of the study including that the exposure to the cartoon films has an effect on the informants’ use of msa, the cartoon films have more effect on the type of dialect used by children compared to parents’ and environment’s dialect, which is unia and the theories of informal learning of marsick and watkins (1990) and marsick, watkins, callahan, and volpe (2006) are applicable to acquisition. the study accepts all the hypotheses including that words and sentences used by the informants prove that the dialect used by the informants is msa, and that the dialect used is affected by the cartoons’ dialect, msa, to which the children are exposed rather than their parents’ dialect, unia. keywords cartoon films, acquisition, mother tongue, msa, unia. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 67 published by scholink inc. 1. introduction language acquisition is the manner of learning a language by immersion. language acquisition is a product of subconscious process which is informal or natural way of gaining the knowledge of the language. here, language is not taught to children. a child just picks up his native or first language or mother tongue just being around his parents, siblings and other people in his environment. the child acquires the language without any conscious thought, effort or study. the child acquires his mother tongue through imitation and interaction with his parents and the environment that surrounds him. his need to communicate paves the way for language acquisition to take place (igiri, et al., 2020, p. 28). the speech of the children, who represent the informants of this study and who are native speakers of arabic, is characteristic of some phonetic processes like assimilation, elision, gemination, nasalization and tafxiim, and the main ones are sound shift and metathesis (see: betti & igaab, 2019, p. 229). in this study, the informants watch spacetoon and majid channels which include some cartoon films during frequent periods of time during the day. watching cartoons may help develop our kids’ cognitive skills, logic and reasoning ability, visual and auditory processing, and sustained and selective attention of a kid. they may help children acquire the arabic dialect used in the cartoon films, msa at the expense of the dialect used by the parents and other kids of the children’s environment, unia. in this regard, nasiriya different varieties used in nasiriya iraqi arabic are msa, the standardized baghdadi arabic; unia, and rural nasiriya iraqi arabic. these varieties are borrowed and used in nasiriya as a sort of dialect or variety mixture cases (betti, 2003, p. 32). 1.1 research questions 1). does children’s exposure to cartoon films affect their acquiring of msa? 2). does that exposure to cartoon films, all of which are spoken with msa, have more effect compared to their environment in which unia is spoken? 3). can what is said by marsick and watkins (1990) and marsick, watkins, callahan, and volpe (2006) be applicable to this study which is concerned with language acquisition? 1.2 research aims the study aims at studying whether the exposure to msa available in the cartoon films being watched by the informants of the study has an effect on the informants’ use of msa, rather than the unia used by their parents and by the kids in their environment; and investigating that what is said by marsick and watkins (1990) and marsick, watkins, callahan, and volpe (2006) is applicable to this study. 1.3 research hypotheses it is hypothesized that: 1). the exposure to the cartoon films has an effect on the informants’ use of msa. 2). the cartoon films have more effect on the type of dialect used by children compared to parents’ and environment’s dialect, which is unia. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 68 published by scholink inc. 3). the theories of informal learning of marsick and watkins (1990) and marsick, watkins, callahan, and volpe (2006) are applicable to acquisition. 2. literature review 2.1 incidental learning and acquisition incidental or informal learning sounds like a natural and straightforward process when children or adults could learn something from unintentional actions (marsick & watkins, 1990) in contrary to formal learning which is a traditional institutionally-sponsored, classroom-based, and structured process and which do not emphasize informal and incidental learning. informal learning can occur at anytime and anywhere, yet it is not typically classroom-based. incidental learning could be a byproduct of unrelated activity, including personal interaction, communication activities, or task accomplishment (marsick & watkins, 1990). informal learning could be used by the teacher, parents, or organizations as a deliberate method of incidental learning, even if it could sound like mutually exclusive actions (marsick, watkins, callahan, & volpe, 2006). however, according to this theory, incidental learning could be pre-planned. incidental learning, however, could happen when learners are not conscious of it (rosales, 2019; cited in singer, 2019). do not emphasize informal and incidental learning. as informal learning is unplanned, strategies for improving informal learning are urgently always needed (marsick & watkins, 1990, p. 1; and marsick, watkins, scully-russ, & nicolaides, 2017, p. 32). children could learn better in their environment: every child’s environment is individual and different, relying on individual behavior and psychological force, including drives, tensions, thoughts, and specific contexts. this is closely connected to incidental learning, as it allows understanding how a child would learn by the incident and how this process could be re-constructed (lewin, 1951; singer, 2022, p. 233). 2.2 cartoons: features and as an incidental learning tool 2.2.1 features of cartoons animation bridges the gap from reality to the realm of imagination. with fantastic adventures, fairy tales being brought to life, humor, engaging imagery (ellwood-hughes, 2022). for some, animated kids films offer a nostalgic moment, reminiscent of childhood memories, for others it provides a restful family moment or a fun way for messages to be portrayed (ellwood-hughes, 2022). challenging imagination, telling engaging and even enriching tales and offering exposure to different cultures, family dynamics and countries, they are a wonderful form of entertainment. although designed to entertain kids, they are enjoyed by adults throughout the world as well (ellwood-hughes, 2022). 2.2.2 cartoons as incidental learning tools exposure to the media of children could generate positive learning effects if this practice is used in an effective manner and concerning the children’s developmental milestones, the time of exposure, and their attention span. this is because cartoons are considered as a means of motivating and encouraging thinking processes, discussion and the development of communication skills (fleischer, 2010; cited in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 69 published by scholink inc. singer, 2022, p. 231). most animated films have a message. they are not just created to provide viewing pleasure, they have messages, lessons and can aid in children’s development. cartoons come in varied languages and subjects. the dynamic programs in cartoons allow a child’s natural interests to be important in that children can choose the program they want to follow and when they want to follow it. thus, children learn language by themselves (muiruri, 2022, p. 1). the multimedia properties of sounds and images help to develop children’s cognitive efficacy in listening and observation. cartoons give children simple ways to enrich their languages, their favourite characters in the cartoons make a child easily imitate them making language a natural sequence of life. they offer a cultural extension to children especially those growing far away from contacts with their native language speakers. they incorporate characters that impress the mind of a child which is advantageous since knowledge comes to us through impressions made to us by natural objects. this is because learning should be based on children learning interest and curiosity. in addition, parental guidance is paramount on the quality of contents of children’s daily cartoon watch bucket list (piaget, 1952; muiruri, 2022, p. 1). likewise, cartoons offer the best iconic representations to 1-6 years children. images, diagrams or illustrations accompany verbal information which are crucial in the process of a child’s discovery learning. thus, a child exposed to cartoons can learn any language. this is because according to chomsky’s theory human beings are born with a set of rules about language called universal grammar and is the basis which all languages build upon. with minimum exposure to eternal outputs, a child can learn their native languages as well as foreign languages regardless of their location. listening to cartons can be a weapon for understanding fast speech and developing a natural speaking style. children are good at picking characters, identify with them and mimicking their pronunciations. this way, they unconsciously learn vocabularies and grammar structures. as children recount the events in the cartoons, they perfect their speaking skills and become familiar with words and expressions. their tongue gets used to articulating the words and ears get used to the intonations and sound of the language. before you know it, children are fluent and eloquent in a language despite the absence of the native speakers. from the above discussions, it is clear that the relationship between language and cartoons is an emerging center of interest and worthy of further studies. this is because cartoons play a very critical role in cognitive development. they affect cognitive through informational transmission to children and defining their intellectual adaptation. this can be summed up by lev vygotsky (1986) elementary mental functions of attention, sensation, perception and memory. that is, cartoons attract children’s attention, build their sensation and improve their memories (muiruri, 2022, p. 3). in addition, there is evidence showing that when you are emotionally invested, you are more inclined to retain information and remember the lesson for longer. this is what makes teaching through cartoon films so different to previous textbook forms of learning. animation can be used, and is used, to aid teaching. cartoons could be used for students’ learning of new words in the classroom or outside of it (chen, 2021). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 70 published by scholink inc. 2.3 modern standard arabic there are two main types of varieties of arabic in each arab country which are standard arabic (later on and with the passage of time developed into msa) and non-standard arabic (represented by the regional dialects and varieties used to the degree that inside any arabic city in any country, there are tens of dialects). in iraq, nearly for every city in iraq, there is a number of varieties. for example, in basrah, there are basrah urban dialect, and baghdadi iraqi arabic (alsiraih, 2021, p. 1). the status of msa is the official language of the arab countries and is, therefore, superior (prestigious) over non-standard arabic. as far as the context of learning is concerned, msa may be learned in a formal classroom situation (mahmoud, 2000, pp. 129-130) or in an informal situation. msa has two manifestations which are a written manifestation and a spoken manifestation. msa or modern written arabic is defined as the variety of standardized, literary arabic which was developed in the arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. msa also indicates spoken arabic which is close to the written standard. it is the language that is used in literature, academia, print and mass media, law and legislation (cowan, 2006). many linguists make a difference between msa and classical arabic but generally native speakers of arabic do not differentiate between them as separate languages; they are referred to both as “the eloquent arabic”. many linguists consider msa to be distinct from classical arabic—the written language prior to the mid-19th century—“there is no chronological point at which classical arabic turned into msa, still less any agreed set of linguistic criteria that could differentiate the two”. msa is merely a handy label used in western scholarship to denote the written language from about the middle of the nineteenth century, when concerted efforts began to modernize it lexically and phraseologically. most western scholars refer to the formal written language before that date, and par excellence before the eclipse of arab political power in the fifteenth century, as “classical arabic” (holes & allen, 2004, p. 5). native speakers of arabic generally do not distinguish between “modern standard arabic” and “classical arabic” as separate languages; they refer to both as al-’arabīyah al-fuṣḥā meaning “the eloquent arabic”. they consider the two forms to be two registers of one language. when the distinction is made, they are referred to as (fuṣḥā al-ʻaṣr) (msa) and ‘fuṣḥā at-turāth’ (classical arabic) (elgibali & badawi, 1996, p. 105). there are also no agreed set of linguistic criteria which distinguish ca from msa, however msa differs most markedly in that it either synthesizes words from arabic roots such as sayyaara (car) or baakhira (steamship) or adapts words from foreign languages (warsha )workshop) or interniet (internet)) to describe industrial and post-industrial life (holes & allen, 2004, p. 5). 2.4 nasiriya iraqi arabic nasiriya is a governorate in south of iraq. it is situated 350 kms south of baghdad and 110 kms from samawa. it contains a number of cities, towns and rural. it geographically contains some deserts, marshes and euphrates passes within the city. no mountains exist in this governorate. nasiriya is a town in this governorate places (betti, 1998, p. 78). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 71 published by scholink inc. in iraq, arabic is one language, amongst the other four languages in iraq (turkumani, assyrian, kurdish and armenian). the situation in iraq is diglossic. it has a high dialect (classical arabic or msa) which is the highly codified superposed variety. it is used for formal spoken and writing purposes (see: ferguson, 1959), and is learnt at school. the low variety is the one used as a mother tongue (abdulla, 1969, pp. 49-50), and it is the one, which includes so many regional colloquials in all the parts of the arab homeland. the ia dialectal difference in the middle and south of iraq belongs to this continuum. these regional varieties have some common similarities and differences. it is the high dialect, which stands as a nationalistic bond among arabs, and the low one shares many features with the high one. the different varieties used in nasiriya iraqi arabic are: msa, standardized baghdadi arabic, the urban nasiriya iraqi arabic, and rural nasiriya iraqi arabic (betti, 2003, p. 32). 2.5 children-directed speech in many societies, adults and older children use a non-standard form of speech when talking to toddlers and infants. this form of speech is called child-directed speech (cds). it is also referred to as infantdirected speech or motherese. it can be defined as a clear and simplified way of communicating to younger children used by adults and older children. in cds, many of the same words used in adult conversation are used. however, such a speech is thought to appeal more to babies and that they pay more attention when they are spoken to in this manner. it helps the baby to grasp the emotional intentions of speech. many researchers believe that cds is a species-specific behaviour that evolved to enhance communication between human babies and their caregivers because of its features such as melody and wide use (anonymous, 2016). when communicating with very young children, adults often systematically alter how they talk, using specialized cds that draws children’s attention and highlights the sounds in words, supporting vocabulary and other language outcomes. cds is characterized by unusual auditory features such as high pitch, slow pace, exaggerated prosody, and distinct timbre; as well as sparse word volume and frequent repetition of words, focus on concrete ideas, and simple syntactic structure. adults’ cds changes begin to talk and respond on their own using one-, two-, or three-word phrases (i.e., telegraphic speech) undergirded by basic syntax and grammar. however, despite all we know about cds, most research targets parents and families, with far less work examining interactions between teachers and young children, especially toddlers (hindman, et al., 2021). 2.6 previous studies ulfa, salim, and permana (2017) aims to know whether or not cartoon movie is effective in teaching vocabulary at the fifth grade students of sdn bunklotok batujai lombok tengah. it shows that cartoon movie is effective toward students’ vocabulary mastery at the fifth grade of sdn bunklotok batujai lombok tengah in academic year 2016/2017. a study by rawan, dar, and siraj (2018) experimented on pakistani children by using japanese hindidubbed cartoons as the tool for hindi language acquisition. the results determined the connection between the frequency of the use of hindi words in cartoons and the expanded frequency of vocabulary www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 72 published by scholink inc. acquisition by participants (rawan et al., 2018). rawan et al. (2018) confirmed the efficacy of cartoons as the means of learning new words among children who have just started learning the language. this research was conducted among young children who learn their native language (singer, 2019). a study concerned with efl was conducted by mousavia and gholami (2014) which compared the children’s performance in english vocabulary acquisition when they watched the stories with the task they had only to read the subtitles. according to the findings, children were more prone to retain new words when watching the flash stories with subtitles (mousavia & gholami, 2014). children may be prone to learn through cartoons or other visual media, as they use two means of perceiving information (visual and auditory). the results of a study by munir (2016) show a significant increase of retained words by el in the classroom when the cartoon is used as a tool in learning new vocabulary among el when the teacher particularly is using it as a primary method to stimulate vocabulary acquisition among students. not only could young children learn through cartoons, but all age groups could also retain vocabulary. of course, the choice of the cartoons or animated series has to be connected to children’s interests and comply with their developmental milestones (torralba & mazra, 2015; cited in singer, 2022, pp. 330333). 3. methodology of research 3.1 research method type this study is qualitative which takes the data from three children relying on a number of cartoon films. the children are exposed to the cartoon films, which speak msa. the data of the study are collected from some recordings and daily observation of the children’s words, phrases and sentences which are uttered by the informants of the study as a result of being exposed to cartoon films for about four to five hours in their daily watching at the preschool stage and one and a half to two hours at the school stage. 3.2 data collection procedure the paper depends on some cartoon films presented by two tv channels which are spacetoon and majid in order to investigate their effect in so far as their language, which is msa. the children were so affected by the colors, music and stories of those films. even they kept the songs of the introduction and the end of the cartoon films. those songs were characterized of being enthusiastic, so the children were dancing and singing with them all the time. in choosing the type of cartoon film to be seen by the informants, there is a correspondence between the age of the child and the nature of the film. there is something attractive for those children to watch those films, which is the story of the good and the evil. in a number of the films, the good heroes achieve the victory and defeat the evil and the bad people. for example, ‘fire sword’, ‘nobel fighter’, land eagles’, ‘captain khalfan’, ‘adnan and lina adventures’, ‘hazim al-ra’ad’. other cartoon films show the sacrifice of the son or the daughter towards his or her parents. this pushes the children to be sympathetic with them. how a little son or daughter behaves patiently facing many troubles only to find his father or www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 73 published by scholink inc. his mother, for example, ‘hunter’, ‘the miserable’. other cartoon films are sport. football or handball is shown in those films. such films will attract those children because they are sons. for example, ‘flaming throw’, ‘captain majid’. all the above mentioned cartoon films are japanese and translated into arabic. so, their language is modern standard arabic. the informants of the study are iraqi, so they are enthusiastic and try to be against the evil. our children followed all the instructions and devices presented by the characters particularly the heroes of the cartoon films without any hesitation. thus, they imitated their movements, voices and words verbatim. their acquisition of the language vocabulary is based on unconsciousness and no prior teaching. 3.3 description of informants the children, who represent the informants of this study, are aged 5, 6 and 7 at the beginning of collecting the data of this study and the data collection continued for three years so that it includes the preschool and some school stages. at the beginning of this study, they were all preschool children. the language the children of the environment use is nasiriya iraqi arabic since they are iraqis living in thi-qar province (nasiriya) and their parents use unia since they are of educated parents. 4. data description, analysis and discussion the data taken from the three children consist of some recordings and daily observation of a number of words, phrases and sentences and uttering such language components depends on children’s ages: when they were preschool, they uttered words and phrases, but when they became school children, they began using sentences. the words and phrases used by the three children at the preschool stage are characteristic of either being single words, or part of sentences or as ellipted sentences: a. single words: for example, hayya (come on) (appendix a &b); ?ayșan (too); 9ulba (a tin). b. part of sentences: for example, wallah tayyib (i swear it is delicious); muxtalif 9an (different from); ladayya fikra (i have an idea.) c. ellipted sentences: for example, ?ahaqqan (really); ?a9tadir. (i apologize); saddiqny (believe me.) d. phrases: marra ɵaniya (once again); ra?ihataha zakiya (it smells good); bisur9atin fa?iqatin (super fast). hide and seek game lu9bat ?alǧumayșa really? ?ahaqqan once again marra ɵaniya welcome 9ala ? alrahb walsi9a i swear it is delicious. wallah tayab dub du9billa believe me. saddiqny www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 74 published by scholink inc. they will be surprised. sayatafaja?uun. sayatafaja?uun. different from muxtalif 9an i have an idea. ladayya fikra come on. hayya because it is beautiful. li?annaha jamiila too ?ayșan so hakada a tin 9ulba forgive me. samihny i apologize. ?a9tadir. it smells good. ra?ihataha zakiya super fast bisur9a fa?iqa an important thing šay?an muhiman stop tawaqqafu. later on lahiqan stop tawaqqaf after being 7 years old, they began using sentences. these sentences and the like are grammatical. they are taken from the msa used in the cartoon films. those sentences follow the grammar rules of arabic language without studying them. for example, how crazy you are! ya leka min majnoon. why did you finish? lima intehayt. come on, be ready. hayya ista9id. rinsing is a wonderful thing. ?almașmașa šay?un ra?i9un. you mean toothbrush? taqsidiina firšat ?al?asnan. be away from me. ?ibte9idy 9eny. you will not find any human being here. len tajida bašaran huna. i’ll do. sawfa ?af9al. it beams tasdur šu9a9an this is the truth. hadihi ?alhaqiqa. say the truth. qul ?alhaqiqa. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 75 published by scholink inc. this fruit is a healthy food. hadihi ?alfakiha ?aklun sihiyun. i am your son. bal ?ana waladak i am the strongest. ?ana ?al?aqwa. i have a bigger power. 9indy quwwa kubra. there is candy. tujad halwa. we have a delicious dessert. ladayna halwa ladida. this is a wise boy. hada waladun hakiim. they all don’t do their mother’s saying. kuluhum la yunafiduun kalam ?umahatahum. this is fun. hada šay?un mumti9. and what happened here? wama ?alady yahduɵ huna. what happened? wamada jara is this impossible? hal hada mustahiil my eye is well. 9ayny bixayr i was looking for 9aboudy in all the house. kunta ?abhaɵ 9an 9aboudy fi kuly ?amanzil. he jumped on him from the pool of water. qafaza 9alayhi min burkat ?lma?. i’m just kidding you. ?inny umazuhika faqat. i actually forgot about it. ?ana fi ?alwaqi9 nasaytahu. you are exposed to us. uktišifa ?amrak. abbas is a good man. 9abas rajulun tayab. your words are run out. laqad nafadtu kalimatak. i want another book. uridu kitaban ?axar. what do you think of this nestle? ma ra?yuka bihadihi ?alnastala. it is my turn. laqad haana dawry. i can’t stand it. la ?astatii9 ?an ? ahtamil. give it to me at once. ?a9tiny fi ?al haal. hit him with a knife. ?ișrubhu bilsikin. these little ones are called insects. hadihi ?alsiǧar tud9a hašarat. i want to achieve my goal. ?uridu ?an ?uhaqiq hadafy. try this. jarrub hada. i can’t carry it. ma ?agdar ?ahmilha. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 76 published by scholink inc. go from here. ruuh min huna as the hero said. kama qala ?albatal. this is a strange book. hada kitabun ǧaribun. he has a lot of cute colors. 9indahu ?alkaɵiir min ?alalwan ?alhilwa. it is a wonderful tiger. ?innahu fahdun ra?i9un calm down. hadi? min raw9ak. don’t give in to despair. la tastaslim lilya?s. i have an idea. ladaya fikra i want some delicious fruit. ?uridu ba9șan min ?alfakiha ?aladida. i want some chocolate. ?uridu ba9șan min?lšukalata. i want some vegetables. ?uridu ba9șan min ?alxușar. i want a nice book. ?uridu kitaban jamiilan. i want a nice bed. ?uridu firašan jamilan. did the cat swallow your tongue? (why did you stop talking?) hal ?alqut ?ibtala9a lisaanak something stuck in my teeth. šay?un 9aliqun bi?asnany i have a history with him. li sabiqa ma9ahu the talk is directed at me, not at you. ?inalkalama muwajjahun lii walaysa laka all the above words and sentences follow the arabic rules of grammar. for example, “arab grammarians pay attention to the role of concord in the sentence and deal with it in different grammatical topics” (igaab, & altai, 2018, p. 288). in the following sentence, how crazy you are! ya leka min majnoon. there is concord between the “kaaf” used for the masculine and the noun coming after the preposition which is also masculine. likewise, “concerning the occurrence of pronouns, they are divided into explicit (al-dhahira) and implicit (al-mustatira). the explicit pronouns consist of three types which are attached (al-mutasila), detached (al-munfasila) and reflexive (al-?ishariyat)” (igaab & tarrad, 2019, pp. 57-80). be away from me. ?ibte9idy 9enny. an attached pronoun. say the truth. qul ?alhaqiqa. an implicit pronoun. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 77 published by scholink inc. this fruit is a healthy food. hadihi ?alfakiha ?aklun sihiyyun. a detached pronoun. in addition, case is important and it is related to the use of diacritics (harakat): “the idiomatic definition of case is the change that occurs at the end of the word as a result to the change of the element”: this is fun. hada šay?un mumti9. al-dhamma. you will not find any human being here. len tajida bašaran huna. al-fatha. put the book on the table. șa9 ?al kitaba 9ala ?aminșadati. al-kasra. if the diacritics that refer to the types of case of nouns are presented in the sentence, the case is called verbal and if they are not presented in the sentence, the case is called mahallii (in the same place) (igaab & al-manhalawey, 2010, p. 16). likewise, the vocabulary belongs to msa. all the above results prove hypothesis 1 which states: “the exposure to the cartoon films has an effect on the informants’ use of msa”. in some sentences, there is a mixture between msa and their nasiriya dialect: i can’t carry it. ma ?agdar ?ahmilha. go from here. ruuh min huna there are some sentences which are similar in their structure: i want some delicious fruit. ?uridu ba9șan min ?alfakiha ?aladida. i want some chocolate. ?uridu ba9șan min?lšukalata. i want some vegetables. ?uridu ba9șan min ?alxușar. i want a nice book. ?uridu kitaban jamilan. i want a nice bed. ?uridu firašan jamilan. some sentences and phrases indicate the children’s following the doctors’ instructions as they are shown in the cartoon films. rinsing is a wonderful thing. ?almașmașa šay?un ra?i9un. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 78 published by scholink inc. you mean toothbrush? taqsidiina firšat ?l?asnan. this fruit is a healthy food. hadihi ?alfakiha ?aklun sihiyun. the children also use some idiomatic expressions which are not easy to utter by such children in that age and they do not exist in the vocabulary of the unia. the children’s parents tend to use very simple and easy words and expressions with their children because they are directed to the children. so, the effect of cartoon films on them is rather than that of their parents. this proves hypothesis 2 which states: “the cartoon films have more effect on the type of dialect used by children compared to parents’ and environment’s dialect, which is unia”. he came back empty handed. raja9a xaaly ?alwifaș i’m fed up. laqad șiqtu dar9an did the cat swallow your tongue? (why did you stop talking?) hal ?alqut ?ibtala9a lisanak all the examples drawn above and are available in the data are words in msa. pragmatically, what was said by the children was used in appropriate situations, for example, ?inalkalama muwajjahun lii walaysa laka. (the talk is directed at me, not at you.). “this sentence was used when the child was in a discussion with his brothers.” another example is: len tajida bašaran huna. (you will not find any human being here.): “someone knocked at the door and one of the three children said that sentence.” semantically, the children have knowledge of the meaning of every word uttered since they use this word not another one in the situation. grammatically, their sentences are either nominal or verbal as in arabic language. for instance, ?innahu fahdun ra?i9un. (it is a wonderful tiger.); la tastaslim lilya?s. (don’t give in to despair.). verbal sentences are of different types. they are: a. compound: for example, ?ijlib lii 9asiir ?al tuffah walaysa 9asiir ?al burtuqal. (bring me apple juice, not orange juice.) b. imperative: for example, ?itlaq sarahahu. (release him.); ?irkil ?alkura ?ila ?alamam. (kick the ball forward.); șa9 ?al kitaba 9alal minșadati. (put the book on the table.). thus, informal learning can be applied to language acquisition. the process of language acquisition is not planned and unintentional and it occurs because of unprogrammed exposure to language. thus, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 79 published by scholink inc. informal learning refers to learning any science and any foreign or native language in school or outside while informal acquisition is by nature unintended, unprogrammed and can be applied to any native language. thus, informal acquisition is restricted to language acquisition for native languages and language learning if it is not native. thus, hypothesis 3 is accepted: the theories of informal learning of “marsick and watkins (1990) and marsick, watkins, callahan, and volpe (2006) are applicable to the acquisition”. this is done unintentionally and with directing it to children. 5. conclusions as a result of the theoretical and practical aspects of the study, the following conclusions are arrived at: 1). there are several types of sentences used by the children like simple, compound, nominal and verbal sentences, and the verbs are in the past, present, future and in the command. all of the previous types belong to msa. 2). all the sentences in the data are grammatical in that they follow the rules of msa. 3). the types of vocabulary used exist in msa and do not exist in unia. 4). the words and sentences used by the informants are phonetically, phonologically, morphologically, syntactically, semantically and pragmatically are well-formed and meaningfully acceptable. 5). all the words and sentences used by the informants prove that the dialect used by the children as a result of their exposure to the language of cartoon films is msa. thus, it is proved that there is a connection between the use of cartoon films spoken in msa in cartoons and the expanded frequency of language acquisition by participants. 6). the theories of informal learning of marsick and watkins (1990) and marsick, watkins, callahan, and volpe (2006) are applicable to the language acquisition in this study. this is done for two reasons: one, because, by definition, language acquisition is done without formality and without programming. second, throughout this paper and as clear from points 1-5 above, the children used msa rather than unia. 7). before being 7 years old, the informants of the study used words and phrases as single words or as ellipted sentences of msa, or as part of sentences the other part of which is in unia, but after being 7 years old, they used full msa sentences when they became school ones. 8). at the beginning of this study, i.e., at their preschool stage, metathesis and sound shift were characteristic of their speech at stage, but starting from their school stage, these sound symptoms disappeared gradually. (see betti & igaab, 2019, p. 219). 9). the children are so much affected by what they see and hear in the cartoon films. 10). cartoon films can be considered as a source for educating children from a variety of sciences. 11). although the informants are children living with their parents, with their neighbors and relatives kids who speak unia in the same house and in the same environment all the time, the dialect used is affected by the cartoons’ dialect, msa, to which the children are exposed to for four to five hours in their daily watching rather than by their parents’ dialect which is unia. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 80 published by scholink inc. acknowledgements we are very grateful to the informants of this study, our children. references abdulla, j. j. (1969). diglossic bilingualism in iraq. unpublished m phil. university of york. alsiraih, w. (2021). speech variation in the dialect of basra. journal of the college of arts. university of basrah, 2(96), 1-35. anonymous. (2016). child-directed speech and its role in language acquisition. munich, grin verlag. retrieved from https://www.grin.com/document/419408 betti, m. j. (1998). the employment of english lexicons by adolescent speakers of nasiriya iraqi arabic as determined by sex differences. retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344600508_the_employment_of_english_lexicons_by_ adolescent_speakers_of_nasiriya_iraqi_arabic_as_determined_by_sex_differences_mohamm ed_j_b_al-seady betti, m. j. (2003). a quantitative sociolinguistic study of educated speakers’ attitudes towards and domains of free variation in nasiriya iraq arabic as determined by sex and place of residence differentiation. journal of basrah studies, 1(1), 32-45. betti, m. j. (2007). jokes in iraq: a study of coherence and cohesion. journal of the college of education, university of wasit, 1(1), 399-411. https://doi.org/10.31185/eduj.vol1.iss1.694 betti, m. j., & igaab, z. k. (2019). sound shift and metathesis in three pre-school nasiriya iraqi arabic children: a case study. international journal of english linguistics, 9(1), 229-240. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v9n1p229 cowan, w. (2006). notes toward a definition of modern standard arabic. language learning, 18(1-2), 29-34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1987.tb00387.x cseh, m. k., watkins, e., & marsick, v. j. (1998). informal and incidental learning in the workplace, proceedings of the annual conference of the academy of human resource development. elgibali, a., & el-said, m. b. (1996). understanding arabic: essays in contemporary arabic linguistics in honor of el-said m. badawi. ellwood-hughes, p. (2022). animated kids films and why they are so popular: who doesn’t love an animated film? credit: disney and pixar. ferguson, c. a. (1959). diglossia. word, 15, 325-340. https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.1959.11659702 greenlee, m., & ohala, j. j. (1980). phonetically motivated parallels between child phonology and historical sound change. language sciences, 2(2), 283-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/s03880001(80)80019-2 hindman, a. h., farrow, j. m., anderson, k., wasik, b. a., & snyder, p. a. (2021). understanding child-directed speech around book reading in toddler classrooms: evidence from early head start programs. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.719783 https://doi.org/10.31185/eduj.vol1.iss1.694 https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v9n1p229 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1987.tb00387.x https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.1959.11659702 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.719783 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 81 published by scholink inc. holes, c., & allen, r. (2004). modern arabic: structures, functions, and varieties. georgetown classics in arabic language and linguistics. georgetown university press. igiri, thankgod ogba, et. al. (2020). language learning and language acquisition: a study of formal and informal communication situations in the english language. iosr journal of humanities and social science (iosr-jhss), 25(7), 27-33. igaab, z. k., & al-manhalawey, m. s. o. 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(2006). reviewing theory and research on informal and incidental learning. distributed by eric clearinghouse. marsick, v. j., watkins, karen, e., scully-russ, e., & nicolaides, a. (2017). rethinking informal and incidental learning in terms of complexity and the social context. journal of adult learning, knowledge and innovation, 1(1), 27-34. https://doi.org/10.1556/2059.01.2016.003 mwaura, m. m. (2022). the role of cartoons in language acquisition. retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348778316_the_role_of_cartoons_in_lang uage_acquisition_by_moses_muiruri_mwaura. singer, n. (2022). cartoons as the incidental vocabulary acquisition tool for english language learners. arab world english journal (awej), 13(1), 330-341. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol13no1.21 ulfa, f., salim, a., & permana, d. (2017). teaching vocabulary using cartoon movie at sdn bunklotok batujai lombok tengah. journal of languages and language teaching, 5(1), 23-27. https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v5i1.330 appendix a list of iraqi arabic phonemic inventory 1). the consonants symbol description example /f/ voiceless labio-dental fricative fiil (elephant) https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v8n2p288 https://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v9n1p53 https://doi.org/10.1080/07908310008666594 https://doi.org/10.1556/2059.01.2016.003 https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol13no1.21 https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v5i1.330 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 82 published by scholink inc. /ɵ/ voiceless interdental fricative ɵa9lab (fox) /d/ voiced interdental fricative dabha (he threw it) /s/ voiceless dental emphatic fricative sabur (patience) /ş/ voiced interdental emphatic fricative şabut (an officer) /t/ voiceless dental emphatic stop tamata (tomato) /ţ/ voiced dental emphatic stop ţaal (staying) /s/ voiceless dental fricative suug (market) /z/ voiced dental fricative zrar (button) /š/ voiceless palatal fricative šmalak (what is wrong with you?) /č/ voiceless palatal affricate čaly (bank of the river) /x/ voiceless velar fricative xubuz (bread) /ǵ/ voiceless velar fricative ǵrab (crow) /h/ voiceless glottal fricative hna (here) /h/ voiceless pharyngeal fricative hariim (women) /b/ voiced bilabial stop bab (door) /t/ voiceless dental stop timman (rice) /k/ voiceless velar stop ka9ak (cake) /g/ voiced velar stop ga9ad (he sat down) /q/ voiceless uvular stop qadiim (old) /?/ glottal stop ?amis (yesterday) /j/ voiced palatal affricate jamal (beauty) /p/ voiceless bilabial stop parda (curtain) /d/ voiced dental stop tdanna (be nearby) /9/ voiced pharyngeal fricative 9aly (high) /m/ voiced bilabial nasal minhu (who is it?) /n/ voiced dental nasal nibah (barked) /l/ voiced alveolar lateral limna (gather us) /r/ voiced alveolar flap ramul (sand) /w/ high back rounded semi-vowel wayyana (with us) /y/ high front unrounded semi-vowel yamta (when) 2). the vowels vowels description example i short half-close front with lip spreadin mi9da (stomach) ii long close front with lip spreading biina (in us) a short half –open central neutral saliim (healthy) aa long opencentral neutral saalim (safe) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 83 published by scholink inc. u short half –close back rounded ummii (my mother) uu long close back rounded 9uud (stick) oo long half-close to halfopen back rounded tilifoon (telephone) note. they are taken from betti (2007, pp. 409-10) and greenlee (1980, pp. 3-4). appendix b the data collected from the children examples in arabic translated into english transliterated .how you are crazy! ya leka min majnoon يا لك من مجنون .why did you finish? lima intehayt لَم إنتهيت .come on, be ready. hayya ista9id هيا إستعد rinsing is a wonderful المضمضه شيء رائع thing. ?almașmașa šay?un ra?i9un. .you mean toothbrush? taqsidiina firšat ?al?asnan تقصدين فرشاة االسنان .be away from me. ?ibte9idy 9enny إبتعدي عني you will not find any لن تجد بشرا هنا human being here. len tajida bašaran huna. hide and seek game lu9bat ?alǧumayșa لعبة الغميضة really? ?ahaqqan أحقا too ?ayșan ايضا it is so. hakada هكذا do not mention it. maku da9y lilšukur ماكو داعي للشكر .i’ll do. sawfa ?af9al سوف أفعل .stop. tawaqqafu توقفوا beam tasdur šu9a9an تصدر شعاعا .this is the truth. hadihi ?alhaqiqa هذه الحقيقة .say the truth. qul ?alhaqiqa قل الحقيقة this fruit is a healthy food. hadihi ?alfakiha ?aklun هذه الفاكهة اكل صحي sihiyyun. i am your son. bal ?ana waladak بل انا ولدك .i am the strongest. ?ana ?al?aqwa انا االقوى .i have bigger power. 9indy quwwa kubra عندي فوة كبرى .there is candy. tujad halwa توجد حلوى we have a delicious لدينا حلوى لذيذة dessert. ladayna halwa ladida. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 84 published by scholink inc. .this is a wise boy. hada waladun hakiim هذا ولد حكيم they don’t do what their كلهم ال ينفذون كالم امهاتهم mother says. kuluhum la yunafiduun kalam ?umahatahum. .this is fun. hada šay?un mumti9 هذا شيء ممتع .and what happened here? wama ?alady yahduɵ huna وما الذي يحدث هنا what was going on? wamada jara وماذا جرى is this impossible? hal hada mustahiil هل هذا مستحيل ؟ my eye is well. 9ayny bixayr عيني بخير ابحث عن عبودي في كل المنزلكنت i was looking for uboudy in every place of the house. kunta ?abhaɵ 9an 9aboudy fi kul ?lamanzil. it is an amazing thing. ?innahu šay?un mudhilun انه شيء مذهل a tin 9ulba ُعلبه dub du9bila ُدعبُله he jumped on him from من بركة الماء قفز عليه the pool of water. min burkat ?lma? qafaza 9alayhi. believe me. saddiqny صدقني once again marra ɵaniya مرة ثانية .i’m just kidding you. ?inny umazuhika faqat اني امازحك فقط forgive me. samihiiny سامحيني .i actually forgot about it. ?ana fi ?alwaqi9 nasaytahu انا في الواقع نسيته .i apologize. ?a9tadir اعتذر .you are exposed to us. uktišifa ?amrak اكتشف امرك .abbas is a good man. 9abas rajulun tayyib عباس رجل طيب .your words are finished. laqad naffadtu kalimatak لقد نفذت كلماتك .i want another book. uridu kitaban ?axar اريد كتابا اخر what do you think of this ما رأيك بهذه النستله؟ nestle? ma ra?yuka bihadihi ?alnastala. .it is my turn. laqad hana dawry لقد حان دوري .i can’t stand it. la ?astatii9 ?an ? ahtamil ال استطيع ان احتمل .give it to me at once. ?a9tiny fi ?al haal اعطيني في الحال super-fast bisur9a fa?iqa بسرعه فائقة .they will be surprised. sayatafa-ja?uun سيتفاجئون it is different from… muxtalif 9an مختلف عن .hit him with a knife. ?ișrubhu bilsikin اضربه بالسكين these little ones are called هذه الصغار تُدعى حشرات insects. hadihi ?alsiǧar tud9a hašarat. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 85 published by scholink inc. an important thing šay?an muhimman شيئا مهما .i want to achieve my goal. ?uridu ?an ?uhaqqiq hadafy اريد ان احقق هدفي later on lahiqan الحقا because it is beautiful. li?annaha jamila النها جميلة .try this. jarrub hada جٌرب هذا .i can’t carry it. ma ?agdar ?ahmilha ما اكدر احملها go from here. ruuh min huna روح من هنا come on hayya هيا it smells good. ra?ihataha zakiya رائحتها زكية .as the hero said. kama qala ?albatal كما قال البطل .this is a strange book. hada kitabun ǧaribun هذا كتاب غريب he has a lot of cute عنده الكثير من االلوان الحلوة colours. 9indahu ?alkaɵiir min ?alalwan ?alhilwa. .it is a wonderful tiger. ?inahu fahdun ra?i9un انه فهد رائع .calm down. hadi? min raw9ak هديء من روعك .don’t give in to despair. la tastaslim lilya?s ال تستسلم لليأس i have an idea. ladayya fikra لدي فكرة i swear it is delicious. wallah tayib وهللا طيب welcome 9ala ? alrahb walsi9a على الرحب والسعة i want some delicious fruit. ?uridu ba9șan اريد بعضا من الفاكهة اللذيذة min ?alfakiha ?aladida. the room is a mess. ?alǧurfa fi fawșa الغرفه في فوضى .i want some chocolate. ?uridu ba9șan min?lšukalata اريد بعضا من الشكوالتة .i want some vegetables. ?uridu ba9șan min ?alxușar اريد بعضا من الخضار .i want a nice book. ?uridu kitaban jamilan اريد كتابا جميال .i want a nice bed. ?uridu firašan jamilan اريد فراشا جميال did the cat swallow your هل القط ابتلع لسانك tongue? hal ?alqut ?ibtala9a lisanak something stuck in my شيء عالق بأسناني teeth. šay?un 9aliqun bi?asnany i have a history with him. li sabiqa ma9ahu لي سابقه معه ,the talk is directed at me ان الكالم موجه لي وليس لك not at you. ?inal-kalama muwajjahun lii walaysa laka .come back empty handed رجع خالي الوفاض raja9a xaaly ?alwifaș i’m fed up. laqad șiqtu dar9an لقد ضقت ذرعا www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 3, 2022 86 published by scholink inc. انا ال اتحدث اليك بل اتحدث الى الذي وراءك i’m not talking to you, i’m talking to those behind you. ?ana la ?atahadaɵ ?ilayk bal ?atahadaɵ ?ila ?allady wara?ika. .release him, ?itlaq sarahahu اطلق سراحه .kick the ball forward ?irkil ?alkura ?ila ?alamam اركل الكرة الى االمام put the book on the table. șa9 ?al kitaba 9ala ضع الكتاب على المنضدة ?aminșadati. اجلب لي عصير التفاح وليس عصير البرتقال bring me apple juice, not orange juice. ?ijlib lii 9asiir ?al tuffah walaysa 9asiir ?al burtuqal write the lesson now, not اكتب الدرس االن وليس غدا tomorrow. ?uktub ?aldarsa ?al?an walaysa ǧadan. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 200 original paper cultural identity reconstruction in the “in-between space”: an analysis of lee’s character in east of eden runsen liu1* & ming sun2 1 english language and literature, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china * runsen liu, english language and literature, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: february 23, 2025 accepted: march 6, 2025 online published: march 24, 2025 doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p200 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p200 abstract this paper revisits the identity reconstruction of lee, a chinese-american character in john steinbeck’s east of eden, through the lens of homi bhabha’s “in-between space” theory and within a postcolonial framework. the study focuses on how lee navigates racial and cultural marginalization, utilizing cultural performance and discursive practices to transition from an “other” to the spiritual cornerstone of the family community. this process of identity reconstruction demonstrates that lee reshapes power dynamics by transcending racial and cultural boundaries. however, this transformation does not dismantle binary oppositions; rather, it replaces existing cultural hierarchies with a new power center. by integrating close textual analysis with postcolonial theory, this paper highlights how identity reconstruction in literature reiterates the fluidity of power relations and cultural identity, offering fresh perspectives on identity politics and postcolonial discourse. keywords east of eden, identity reconstruction, in-between space, chinese american, power transformation, postcolonialsim 1. introduction 1.1 john steinbeck and his literary creation john steinbeck (1902-1968), one of the most significant american writers of the 20th century, is renowned for his profound exploration of human nature, social realities, and ethical dilemmas. he won the pulitzer prize for the grapes of wrath (1939), a powerful depiction of migrant workers during the great depression. other major works include of mice and men (1937), cannery row (1945) and east of eden (1952), which explore themes of human struggle, social justice, and moral complexity. his works www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 201 published by scholink inc. consistently reflect his concern with the struggles of marginalized individuals and communities, offering incisive critiques of society while probing the moral conflicts inherent in the human experience. among his literary achievements, east of eden (1952) stands out as a magnum opus that embodies steinbeck’s philosophical vision and narrative ambition. steinbeck himself described the novel as “the only book i have ever written” (journal of a novel), underscoring its centrality in his oeuvre and its thematic scope. 1.2 east of eden set in california’s salinas valley, east of eden reimagines the biblical story of cain and abel as a multigenerational narrative focusing on the trask and hamilton families. the novel grapples with questions of good and evil, freedom of choice, and the possibilities of redemption, all symbolized by the hebrew word timshel—“thou mayest.” by foregrounding timshel as the philosophical cornerstone of the text, steinbeck challenges determinism and asserts humanity’s capacity for moral agency. within this intricate narrative, the character of lee—a chinese servant who becomes an intellectual and moral guide— emerges as one of the novel’s most compelling and complex figures. 1.3 “in-between space” homi bhabha’s theory of the “in-between space” shares a core ideological affinity with shirley simon’s concept of the “contact zone,” as both emphasize an organic space characterized by rupture, negotiation, and multiplicity. in postcolonial discourse, the “in-between space” is regarded as an “interstitial space” or “interstitial temporality,” a space that resists reverting to “essentialist self-consciousness” and refuses to fall into an endless fragmented subjectivity caught in the “process” of identity construction (bhabha, p. 5, p. 233, p. 310). bhabha points out that the “in-between space” reflects both the universality of language and the specific generation of meaning within particular contexts. in this space, cultural identity is not static within a single culture but is generated through cross-cultural interaction and negotiation, existing in a dynamic state of “neither this nor that, yet both this and that.” this theory inherits the deconstructivist critique of binary oppositions and extends the critique of colonial discourse through the strategy of hybridity. as an innovative theory that breaks away from the postcolonial critique of “binary opposition,” bhabha’s “in-between space” reveals the state of mutual infiltration between colonizing and colonized cultures. in this “in-between space,” cultural boundaries are constantly being reconstructed, disrupted by the bizarre forces of race, gender, violence, culture, and even climate differences, which disturb the authoritative order of expressions, ultimately presenting a complex form where hybridity and classification coexist. bhabha’s theory of the “in-between space” aims to dismantle the binary opposition between the self and the other and provides a theoretical foundation for demonstrating the heterogeneity of culture, making this space an essential field for carrying profound cultural significance. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 202 published by scholink inc. 2. lee’s marginalized identity as “the other” 2.1 marginalization in text in east of eden, lee embodies the archetype of a marginalized “other” within the western familial and societal structure. as a chinese servant, lee’s identity is not only shaped by racial and cultural stereotypes but also further diminished by his role as a household servant. early in the novel, lee is described as “a good and respectful servant” (steinbeck, p. 159), a portrayal reinforcing western literary stereotypes of chinese men as passive and subservient. lee’s use of pidgin english when interacting with outsiders underscores his keen awareness of societal expectations. this deliberate performance shields his intellectual depth and ensures his survival within a society that marginalizes him (steinbeck, p. 161). lee’s strategic use of pidgin english simultaneously reflects his self-preservation instincts and his subtle resistance to being fully defined by such stereotypes. however, steinbeck’s portrayal of lee transcends the surface-level depiction of an “other.” lee is not merely a servant but also a philosopher, an educator, and a moral compass for the trask family. for instance, when adam trask becomes paralyzed by grief following family tragedy, it is lee’s philosophical insights that help adam rediscover meaning in life (steinbeck, p. 265). this transformation highlights lee’s active participation in the family’s emotional and moral landscape, defying the limitations of his marginalized identity. this aligns with bhabha’s concept of “mimicry,” where marginalized individuals adopt and adapt dominant cultural norms to subvert power structures while maintaining their own identity (bhabha, pp. 122-123). lee reflects the dual identity of the “other” in cultural oppression: simultaneously conforming to and resisting hegemonic norms. significantly, lee’s behavior differs markedly in private family settings compared to public interactions. within the trask household, lee demonstrates profound emotional investment and intellectual contributions. for example, he not only excels in practical matters like cooking but also provides spiritual guidance through his interpretation of biblical stories, such as the story of cain and abel (steinbeck, p. 299). this complexity positions lee as both a passive victim of marginalization and an active constructor of a culturally symbolic identity. 2.2 generation of the “in-between space” homi bhabha’s concept of the “in-between space” provides a nuanced framework for analyzing lee’s transformative role within the trask household in east of eden. through cultural adaptation and active participation, lee constructs an interstitial space that both challenges established power dynamics and redefines his identity. one prominent illustration is lee’s pivotal discussion with adam and samuel hamilton regarding the interpretation of the word “timshel.” lee contends that the term signifies “thou mayest” rather than “thou shalt” or “thou must,” emphasizing the individual’s freedom to choose between good and evil (steinbeck, p. 301). by reinterpreting biblical texts, lee disrupts the exclusivity of western religious and philosophical traditions, situating the voice of the “other” as central to cultural dialogue. importantly, lee’s “in-between space” is not merely a theoretical construct but is actively realized in the dynamics of everyday family life. for example, in his role as an educator, lee integrates traditional www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 203 published by scholink inc. chinese values with western familial principles, fostering a synthesis of cultural practices. he teaches the children respect for elders while simultaneously encouraging independent thought (steinbeck, p. 372). this blending of traditions transforms the trask household into a locus of cultural convergence, where eastern philosophy and western practices intersect to generate new meanings. such interactions underscore lee’s capacity to create a dynamic and inclusive cultural space within the family. moreover, lee’s “in-between space” subtly inverts traditional power dynamics within the household. when adam struggles with the farm’s management, it is lee who provides practical advice and guidance, steering adam toward solutions through his wisdom and insight (steinbeck, p. 367). this not only affirms lee’s agency within the family’s power structure but also secures his indispensable role as a figure of authority and influence. through his cultural practices, lee not only redefines his own identity but also reconstructs the trask family as a multicultural community. in this sense, lee exemplifies bhabha’s assertion that the “in-between space” functions as a site of negotiation and transformation. it is within this space that marginalized individuals can challenge and reshape dominant narratives, as lee does by reimagining the trask family as a site of cultural hybridity and mutual exchange. 3. identity reconstruction in “in-between space” 3.1 the unfolding of cross-cultural dialogue in east of eden, lee establishes his central role in the trask family by engaging in cross-cultural dialogues that not only deepen the family members’ understanding of morality and culture but also solidify his position as a vital contributor to their ethical foundation. this process is most vividly demonstrated in his interpretation of the biblical concept of “timshel”. after extensive study, lee explains that the term signifies the freedom of choice and human agency, rather than rigid commands like “thou shalt” or “thou must” (steinbeck, p. 301). through this reinterpretation, lee not only offers adam moral and spiritual guidance but also helps the trask family reevaluate their ethical framework. lee’s explanation transcends the limitations of western religious traditions and integrates eastern philosophical perspectives on free will. this cross-cultural dialogue is further illustrated in lee’s everyday conversations with adam. for instance, in one discussion, lee remarks, “that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice (p. 301).” this statement not only echoes the biblical exploration of human choices but also incorporates eastern philosophical ideas about self-cultivation and harmony. lee’s role in crosscultural dialogue allows him to transmit moral philosophies while redefining his cultural significance through interactions with the family. moreover, lee’s cultural dialogue manifests in his educational practices within the family. by blending eastern values of collective responsibility with western ideals of individual freedom, lee encourages the children to express themselves while understanding the importance of family values. for example, when he talks with mr.hamilton about dividing household chores, lee refrains from direct intervention and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 204 published by scholink inc. instead uses a chinese folktale to inspire the family to find the meaning of cooperation, “since i’ve come here i find myself thinking of chinese fairy tales my father told me. we chinese have a well-developed demonology.…you know, mr. hamilton, a servant develops an ability to taste the wind and judge the climate of the house he works in. and there’s a strangeness here. maybe that’s what makes me remember my father’s demons (steinbeck, p. 372).” this approach not only establishes lee as a cultural mediator but also demonstrates the potential for coexistence between different cultural traditions. 3.2 the dynamics of “in-between space” lee’s identity reconstruction is not a static achievement but a dynamic and ongoing process of cultural identity reconstruction. through his cross-cultural practices, lee continuously integrates eastern and western intellectual resources. he ultimately transcending his marginalized status as an “other” to become the spiritual guide of the trask family. furthermore, lee’s involvement in major family decisions illustrates the dynamism of cultural identity reconstruction. for example, when cal wrestles with selfdoubt, lee helps him understand the complexity of human nature and the freedom of choice. this episode underscores lee’s central role in the family while demonstrating that cultural identity reconstruction is a process of continuous regeneration and transformation, as he says in the fiction: “he couldn’t help it, cal. that’s his nature. it was the only way he knew. he didn’t have any choice. but you have. don’t you hear me? you have a choice (steinbeck, p. 542).” lee’s cultural role extends beyond servitude, becoming the driving force behind the family’s dynamic cultural integration. 4. lee’s identity centrality in the family community 4.1 manifestations of identity transformation lee’s transformation from a marginalized servant to a central figure in the trask family is characterized not only by his practical wisdom and cultural integration but also by his ability to challenge and redefine the family’s power dynamics and ethical core. while earlier chapters explored his role in initiating crosscultural dialogues, this section emphasizes the structural and symbolic shifts in lee’s identity within the family, moving beyond his individual moral influence to examine his impact on the family’s collective ethos. one key manifestation of lee’s identity transformation lies in his ability to redefine his role within the family’s hierarchical structure. initially seen as a servant, lee gains agency by actively participating in decisions that shape the trask family’s trajectory. for instance, when adam becomes incapacitated by grief following cathy’s departure, lee takes on responsibilities that extend far beyond his prescribed role, including managing household affairs and offering adam emotional and philosophical counsel. steinbeck illustrates this pivotal moment when lee confronts adam’s paralysis with the candid statement: “i told you once when you asked me that it was all in yourself. i told you you could control it—if you wanted (steinbeck, p. 541).” this moment exemplifies lee’s subtle assertion of agency, as he guides adam without undermining his autonomy, reflecting confucian ideals of balanced responsibility (li, p. 75). furthermore, lee’s identity transformation is symbolized through his decision to remain with the trask family despite having the financial means to pursue independence. his choice to prioritize the family’s www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 205 published by scholink inc. well-being over personal freedom challenges traditional notions of servitude and highlights the ethical reciprocity he fosters within the household. lee’s symbolic assertion of agency is further reinforced by his candid acknowledgment of his dual cultural identity--i stay because this is where i am needed, not because i am bound (steinbeck, p. 329, p. 416). this self-awareness situates lee as a bridge between eastern and western culture, as he balances confucian values of collective responsibility with the american emphasis on individual choice (heavilin, p. 18). finally, lee’s identity transformation is further reflected in his redefinition of power and authority within this family. by integrating eastern pragmatism with western ideals of self-determination, lee reshapes the family’s approach to challenges and decision-making. for instance, when adam is paralyzed by the farm’s failure as mentioned in the fiction: “adam read the telegram from the commission house and he settled back in his chair and a strange enduring smile came on his face and did not go away. lee kept away from him to let him get a grip on himself (steinbeck, p. 435)”, which hints that lee offers not only space for adam to stay silently but also philosophical insights, encouraging adam to view adversity as an opportunity for growth rather than defeat. steinbeck encapsulates this shift through lee’s words-failure is not the end but a step—a chance to find a different path. this moment illustrates lee’s dual role as both a pragmatic advisor and a philosophical mentor, enabling the family to confront their struggles with renewed resilience. as barbara heavilin notes, lee’s culturally grounded interventions provide a moral framework that allows the trask family to transcend individual limitations and cohere as a unified, adaptive household (heavilin, p. 20). 4.2 redefinition of the family community lee’s influence extends beyond his personal identity, as he actively redefines the trask family into a cross-cultural community. through his actions and teachings, he creates a framework that integrates eastern and western values, moving the family toward a collective ethos. one of the most profound illustrations of this transformation occurs during lee’s engagement with cal and aron’s moral development. lee’s emphasis on the balance between individuality and collective harmony reshapes the family’s ethical vision. for example, his advice to cal bridges confucian ideas of responsibility with the american emphasis on personal freedom. this guidance helps cal confront his moral struggles, showing how lee’s cross-cultural pedagogy empowers the next generation. furthermore, lee’s role as a mediator between eastern and western traditions turns the trask household into a microcosm of cultural identity reconstruction. his ability to integrate philosophical traditions manifests when he narrates chinese parables to resolve disputes, fostering mutual understanding and respect among the family members (li, p. 74). as homi bhabha notes: “it is in the emergence of the interstices--the overlap and displacement of domains of difference--that the intersubjective and collective experiences of nationness, community interest, or cultural value are negotiated....the borderline engagements of cultural difference may as often be consensual as conflictual; they may confound our definitions of tradition and modernity; realign the customary boundaries between the private and the public, high and low; and challenge normative expectations of development and progress (bhabh, pp. 2www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 206 published by scholink inc. 3).” lee’s creation of a “in-between space” within the family allows for a redefinition of belonging and identity, positioning the trask household as a unique cultural community. 5. conclusion 5.1 lee’s identity reconstruction and cultural adaption lee’s early identity as a servant is shaped by his deliberate adoption of racial stereotypes, such as exaggerated accents and submissive behaviors. by claiming, “i’m a servant. i’m old. i’m chinese. these three you know. i’m tired and i’m cowardly (steinbeck, p. 494)”, lee performs a role that masks his intellectual and moral depth, leveraging these stereotypes to navigate the racial prejudices of his environment. this calculated performance not only protects his survival but also grants him a unique perspective to observe and subtly influence the dynamics of the trask family. from a postcolonial perspective, lee’s behavior exemplifies “mimicry,” a strategy of the marginalized “other” to simultaneously conform to and subvert dominant cultural expectations. his pidgin english, for example, it is contrasted sharply with his eloquent philosophical dialogues, which highlights his dual identity. this cultural identity reconstruction is rooted in both performance and resistance and enables lee to operate within a system of oppression while carving out a space for agency and influence. through this duality, lee transcends his initial role as a servant, laying the groundwork for his later transformation into a cultural and moral mediator within the family. lee’s intellectual depth and philosophical insights redefine his role within the trask family, transforming him from a servant to a cultural mediator and moral guide. his interpretation of “timshel” serves as a cornerstone of this transformation. by framing “thou mayest” as a symbol of free will and moral agency, lee integrates christian ethical frameworks with eastern philosophical ideas of balance and choice. this reinterpretation not only shapes adam’s understanding of self-determination but also symbolizes the identity lee embodies—one that bridges and transcends cultural boundaries. lee’s role as a philosopher and educator aligns with steinbeck’s broader commentary on the universality of human choice. his ability to blend theological, moral, and cultural discourses exemplifies the power of reconstruction to disrupt monolithic identities and foster dialogue. 5.2 facilitating cultural transition in the context of family collectives lee’s reinterpretation of “timshel”—“thou mayest”—is not merely a philosophical discourse; it serves as the linchpin for the trask family’s cultural and moral transformation. by introducing the concept of moral choice and freedom, lee liberates the family from the oppressive weight of guilt and fatalism. in a family haunted by generational echoes of cain and abel’s narrative, lee’s “timshel” redefines the story not as an inescapable curse but as an opportunity for redemption and self-determination. this transformation is epitomized in adam’s final moments, where he invokes lee’s teachings to pass on the legacy of timshel to cal. “timshel.” adam whispers, empowering cal to reject the shadow of inherited sin and choose his own path (steinbeck, p. 601). in this scene, the culmination of lee’s moral and cultural guidance manifests as the family’s acceptance of agency and the rejection of determinism, which represents not www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 207 published by scholink inc. only an individual ethos but also a collective vision, enabling the trask family to transition from fragmentation to cohesion, from despair to hope. as the cultural “other,” lee transforms into the moral and spiritual linchpin of the trask family, embodying a “in-between space” where eastern and western values converge. his unique ability to navigate these cultural intersections fosters reconciliation and unity within the family. by integrating eastern values of harmony and collective responsibility with western ideals of individual autonomy, lee redefines familial relationships, moving them from isolation to interdependence. one of the most profound examples of this transformation is lee’s role in mediating adam’s reconciliation with his children. he encourages a reevaluation of paternal authority not as dominance but as a bridge of empathy and understanding. this moment underscores lee’s role as both an emotional guide and a cultural mediator, whose wisdom transcends traditional boundaries. furthermore, lee’s presence transforms the trask family into a microcosm of cultural hybridity, where opposing values coexist and enrich one another. lee’s influence restructures the family into a crosscultural community, illustrating how different races can become a unifying force rather than a source of division. by doing so, he not only solidifies his own role but also offers a broader vision of inclusivity and coexistence. acknowledgement the future is as bright as the ocean of stars, and there is no need to hesitate about the past half an acre square pond. references bhabha, h. k. (2004). the location of culture. london: routledge classics. crockett, h. k. (1962). the bible and the grapes of wrath. college english, 193-199. jstor. https://doi.org/10.2307/373284 fry, b. (2010). the courage of a teacher: samuel hamilton in ‘east of eden.’ the steinbeck review, 7681. jstor. https://doi.org/10.2307/41583628 heavilin, b. a. (2016). john steinbeck’s beacon in darkness: east of eden as a morals paradigm for sons. the steinbeck review, 16-35. jstor. https://doi.org/10.5325/steinbeckreview.13.1.0016 li, l. c. (2009). steinbeck’s ethical dimensions. the steinbeck review, 63-79. jstor. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-6087.2009.01031.x sanchez, j. c. (2012). postulating a stereotype: a rhetorical view of chinese immigration in east of eden. the steinbeck review, 39-52. jstor. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-6087.2012.01186.x shillinglaw, s. (2019). john steinbeck’s participatory politics, 1936-1968. the steinbeck review, 145155. jstor. https://doi.org/10.5325/steinbeckreview.16.2.0145 steinbeck, j. (1979). east of eden. new york: penguin books. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 6, no. 1, 2025 208 published by scholink inc. zirakzadeh, c. e., & simon, s. (eds.). (2013). a political companion to john steinbeck. lexington: university press of kentucky. education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 58 original paper unravelling the distorted foucauldian panopticism epitomized in the suicidal tortures of esther greenhood in the bell jar luo jun1* & li gui jun2 1 school of foreign languages, zhaotong university, zhaotong, china 2 school of foreign languages, west yunnan university, lincang, china * luo jun, email: 531678237@qq.com received: november 15, 2022 accepted: december 10, 2022 online published: december 27, 2022 doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n4p58 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n4p58 abstract notwithstanding close critical attention has been paid to the essential victimization of the intellectual women and non-intellectual women who have been tossed and tortured in their unbearable lives and experiences in the increasing interpretation of the female characterization of this novel the bell jar (1963), inadequate critical concern has been shown to reveal the distorted power mechanism and power institutionalism implied in the contextualization of the gloomy social and cultural disciplines effective in the despotic disturbance and interference of the actions and thoughts of most intellectual women and non-intellectual women in 1950s in american society and american culture as indicated in the very ingenuous and insightful production of this novel extremely valuable for the adequate clarification of the executive essence of those hegemonic and demonic disciplines. for the sake of the ideological and epistemological essence of this disciplinary confinement and enslavement engendered in the vicious and malicious disciplines implemented in the entire society where sylvia plath has lived, this paper aims to uncover the quite malicious distortion of foucauldian panopticism implemented in the formation and reformation of the power mechanism and power institutionalism implemented to persecute intellectual women and non-intellectual women as what has been insinuated into the ideological and epistemological veins of this novel according to the surveillance, inspection, and, supervision of this foucauldian panopticism to have a good access to the true reasons of the suicidal tragedies and tragic traumas of esther greenhood who has been caught in the fatal threat of this power mechanism and power institutionalism witnessed in the ideological and epistemological stupefaction and sterilization of those intellectual women and non-intellectual women whose efforts have turned out to be futile when their entire lives and lots have been captured by the demonic dominator or governor of american society and american culture at that time. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 59 published by scholink inc. keywords foucauldian panopticism, esther greenhood, the bell jar 1. the contextual indispensability to reveal the distorted foucauldian panopticism in the bell jar contextualized in the gradual awareness of the great importance to seek for the genuine happiness of family and that of the successful and sufficient acquisition and acceleration of the true ideological and epistemological literation from the unbearable cruelty engendered in the successive occurrence of the second world wars in the history of man by reason of the sustainable and sufficient development of the internal and external structures and systems of capitalism that have been disposing of the empirical and practical opportunity for most women to take to highlight their intellectual identity, intellectual liberty, intellectual superiority, and, intellectual priority in their participation in the appropriate stimulation and promotion of the indispensable, irreplaceable, and, incredible contribution they are likely to make to the further development and improvement of the society where they have to live on a daily basis to the unbearable darkness of the social reality and cultural reality that have been tossing and torturing them all the more, a good many american women like sylvia plath who has been ignored when she is alive but admired upon her suicide (boileau, 2012, p. 1) and who has “regarded her life as if it were a text that she that she could invent and rewrite (van dyne, 1993, p. 1)” in an imaginative fashion and in an impressive fashion, tend to be willing to stay at home and to serve as good house wives to take care of their husbands and children in an appropriate manner and in an adequate manner as what has been driven by their internal “suburban ideals (francesca, 2020, p. 4)” on account of the unforgettable and unforgivable terrors they have been suffering from the cruel reality and the real cruelty with which the historical moments between those two world wars have been laden in an explicit fashion. in this sense, it can be felt in an evident manner that it has become a popular fashion to revisit traditional social mores and cultural mores that have been forgotten in the rapid development and improvement of the modern capitalism and capital modernism that have been governing the increasingly rich living experiences, learning experiences, and, working experiences in the process of the modernization of human civilization quickened time and time again by the frequent development and improvement of modern technologies that have given rise to the replacement and updates of modern machines and modern technologies indispensable in the social production and social reproduction in modern times. although it seems to be absurd and abnormal for women to prefer to this choice, it tends to be understandable for women to take a good rest at home rather than to expose themselves to the bitter sadness and sad bitterness they have witnessed on the battlefield or heard from those who have been fighting over there, for it is apparent that they have been tired of or even afraid of the pains brought about by two world wars in a popular sense. at least, their choice is inclined to make their minds peaceful and comfortable in a temporary sense to the effect that they have been interested in the satiation with what they have possessed at present rather than the expectation or exploration of what seems to be uncertain for them as a result of the popularization of consumerism after www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 60 published by scholink inc. those two wars. in an essential sense, their attention has been shifted from the reflection and rumination of the feminism entailed in the structural traces and systematic traits of the conceptual entanglement and enlightenment exemplified in the experiential and experimental articulation of the feminist awareness of those women to the experimentation of the extensive or even excessive consumerism they have valued and preferred to acquire the satiation with their shopping desire owing to the prosperity of commercialism in american society and american culture rather than to seek for their social values and cultural values that have been connected with the valuable and veritable stimulation and promotion of the significant contributions they are supposed to make to the progressive development and improvement of american society and american culture in the form of paving way to the great changes of social reality and cultural reality in america in a virtuous fashion and in a vigorous fashion after the second world war in an aimless fashion as long as this consumerism can help them to make way to the pacification of their minds in a satiable way and in a mindful way. so to speak, the harmful and dreadful impact those wars have had on the minds of women has made them reluctant to be faced with the inevitability of the very cruel social reality and cultural reality and the unbearableness of the social cruelty and cultural cruelty with which they have been surrounded in an invisible way. in an opposite fashion, what this particularly insightful writer has surprised most women who have been lost in this consumptive pacificism in an unintelligible way is that she has been suffocated with a very strong sense that she has to be forced to be faced with a wide variety of social suppressions, social oppressions, and, social repressions existing in various forms like domestic violence or an unavoidable predicament that she has also to be involved in the increasing victimization of the popular consumerism popularized after the second world war regardless of her being a blue stocking in american society even if she can refigure her social identity in the impressive and instructive production of her poems and her novels in an aesthetic way and in an artistic way to highlight the literary authenticity of her literary works and the literary authority of women writers owing to her strong belief that it is important for women to write their works in a narrative way to claim their voices and to resist “against patriarchal socialization (kratz, 2019, p. 90)” in american society and american culture right on the way to the very successful and sufficient achievement of her proliferation in literary production that tends to have a pathological impact on the virtuous treatment of the internal illnesses brought about in her inconsistence with what has been favored in the social reality and cultural reality upon which she has been imposed in a despotic fashion and in a demonic fashion. to this extent, the historicization and contextualization of the social violence and social illness existing in the social reality and cultural reality that she has to be faced with either in a pessimistic fashion or in an optimistic fashion on ground of a variety of miserable experiences instilled into her lives, are inclined to throw her into the danger of strengthening her suicidal motivation and manipulation, and, quickening the perceptive and cognitive pace for her to keep in with to elaborate her suicidal pace with the deteriorate pace of the society in which she has to live in an unescapable way just as what has been metaphorized in the gloomy violence concealed in the power structure and power system embroidered in the bell jar popularized and peculiarized in the power mechanism and power www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 61 published by scholink inc. institutionalism of the entire society with which her own life and her lot have been connected in an unchangeable fashion and in an unfortunate fashion on account of the increasing penetration of the ideological and epistemological persecutions of the very remarkable bluestockings like her into the essential design of the powerful panopticons and panoptic power of the entire society to force a variety of women writers and thinkers to be accustomed to the experiential and experimental stupefaction of them in an incontestable fashion. in other words, their perceptive and cognitive superiority in their respective fields tends to be unfavorable for the dominator or manipulator of the society with which they are not content, while their perceptive and cognitive inferiority is inclined to be favored and valued in most cases as the latter is very conducive for that dominator or manipulator to maximize the perceptive and cognitive stupidity and sterility of most women, and, to minimize the high risk of the perceptive and cognitive subversion of those women in a successful fashion and in a sufficient fashion. therefore, it has proved to be quite fair in the miserable experiences of a variety of intellectual women and intelligent women in this historical period that those who are willing to adapt themselves to the perceptive and cognitive prison prepared for women are likelier to lead a much happier life; otherwise, what has been prepared for them is to make them tortured to death either in a manifest manner or in a latent manner. of course, sylvia plath is in a position to be construed as the latter who are reluctant to give up the intellectual conscience rooted in the perceptive and cognitive sensibility and sensitivity they are likeliest to make best use of to remind most women of the perceptive and cognitive superiority they ought to rest a lot on to enable them to make way to the successive and sustainable stimulation and promotion of their strong female awareness to develop their respective independence from their men rather than throw them into the unstoppable and uncontrollable addiction to the heavy dependence on their men and the total abandonment of the sufficient application of their perceptive and cognitive brilliance into the promotion of the great ideological and epistemological progress all women are supposed to make to give a strong perceptive and cognitive impetus to the formal and final achievement of their genuine ideological and epistemological liberation and salvation to acquire their female identity, female liberty, female dignity, and, female individuality right after their having achieved the political equality, social equality, economic equality, and, cultural equality with their men whom they have to live with, to stay with, to work with, and, to communicate with in an indispensable way and in an inevitable with. what has turned out to be pitiful in this regard is that what those women have been dreaming of and seeking for is not what most women need and value most in an urgent way in that social context and historical context shortly after the sound bitterness engendered in two world wars. in response to what has happened in the figuration, configuration, and, refiguration of the impressive and instructive harm that has been done to her in the case of the perceptive and cognitive barriers that have been existing in the external world where she has to spend her most precious hours in a hopeless way and in a helpless way at cost of the aesthetic and artistic honors or glories she ought to be entitled to achieve in a peaceful fashion and in an admirable fashion just as what has been shown in a clear vein in either the extensive or even excessive popularization of the perceptive and cognitive confinement and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 62 published by scholink inc. enslavement of women in a social sense and the great impact it has had on the insensible insinuation of this intellectual persecution and intelligent persecution into the gradual formation, transformation, and, reformation of her internal world by reason of her reflective and ruminative combination of the external world and the internal world by virtue of seeking for the affective and emotional resonation at the sight of everything that has been cropping up in her lives and lots, and, at the thought of everything that ought to be marked as the dangerous signals that needs to be epitomized in the literary macrocosm and the literary microcosm personalized and particularized in the insightful and ingenuous interweavement of her ideological and epistemological wonderland turning up in her literary production, this very distinctive american confessional poet by the name of sylvia plath, has been trying to “reveal the inhuman darkness within us and around us…when she confesses her own life, her own sickness, and, her own vengeful imagination (lowe, 2003, p. 206).” as a matter of fact, what has been implanted into her growing literary imagination and her literary inspiration in the process of her literary proliferation in this harmonious combination of the documentation of her personal experiences with the essential and authentic revelation of the social and cultural vices in an organic manner, in a logical manner, and, in a systematic manner, is, the insightful plans she has made to remind most literate women and illiterate women of the great importance for them to be awakened in a conscientious sense and in a conducive sense to put into a good order the persecutive thread of the power structure and power system of the world where they have lived, and, the insightful and ingenuous values for them to see through the dominative and manipulative plots that have been diversified and beautified in the structural and systematic veins of the power mechanism and power institutionalism that have been mystified to stupefy most women and to turn literate women into illiterate women to lay a sound perceptive and cognitive foundation for the thorough dominance and governance of their ideological and epistemological growth in a malicious fashion and in a treacherous fashion. by reason of the profound clarification of her ideological and epistemological sensitivity and sensibility epitomized in the substantial and subtle production of her literary works that can be made to reveal the malicious and vicious motivation and intention carried in this power structure and power system, it has been struck to her in an impressive way that her extensive incorporation of her life and experience into her literary production has made her readers impressed that even if she has been endowed with very unmatchable and incomparable wisdom in seeing through those unintelligible structural and systematic conspiracies, and, seeking for the popularization and particularization of the ideological and epistemological breakthroughs of most miserable women in a systematic fashion, in a symbolic fashion, and, in a strategic fashion, what has turned out to be very pitiful in those valuable and veritable creative practices and creative processes is that “she is treated as an object or a commodity under male domination during her time (ghalib et al., 2021, p. 2592).” as a matter of fact, it is due to the strong desire for the authentic and objective revelation of the social vices prevailing in every chain of those power structures and power systems embedded in the circular construction, deconstruction, and, deconstruction of the rather vicious power mechanism and power institutionalism in a confidential fashion that she produces the bell jar (1963) “under the pseudonym victoria lucas in the united kingdom (sharma, 2019, p. 1)” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 63 published by scholink inc. in an imaginative fashion and in an impressive fashion to help most women to have a good understanding of the great ideological and epistemological importance to be attached to the great efforts to be made in a substantial way and in a sustainable way to uncover the cruelty and brutality of the social reality and cultural reality she has to be faced with at that historical moment with respect to the thorough subversion of this malicious power mechanism and power institutionalism that have been made full use of to prevent the ideological and epistemological progress and transcendence of those women, and, to make sure of the apparent experiential and experimental effects of the power despotism instilled into the structural and systematic chain of this power mechanism and power institutionalism in an unnoticeable vein and in an untraceable vein. to be concrete, what tends to be quite impressive and instructive in her distinctive production of this novel under the title of the bell jar (1963) as what has been championed in the address adlai stevenson has delivered at the commencement of smith college when sylvia plath graduated to the effect that he has held that the humble role women cannot but play in american society is to take part in the greater issues of devoting themselves to their homes, their husbands, and, their children due to the continuous popularization of the post-war american ideology and epistemology (dunkle, 2012, p. 67), is, that it has carried in the narrative facts and narrative events of this novel her true helplessness and hopelessness to set her free from the power mechanism and power institutionalism in america at that time in addition to most miserable women living over there in that “…in the 1950s, women who wished to pursue intellectual or artistic pursuits were at a disadvantage (ibid, 2012, p. 67).” in this sense, it stands to reason in an essential fashion in more than one case that it is of great empirical and practical value for this study to take into account the profound and perspicacious analysis to be made of the conscientious concealment of the very insightful and instructive intention and motivation of this american women who has insinuated in her aesthetic and artistic production of this novel to showcase the structural and systematic frames of the power mechanism and power institutionalism that have been playing an indispensable and inevitable role in the actual distribution and operation of power in american society and american culture grounded on the perceptive and cognitive needs to be met in the domination and manipulation of the ideological and epistemological inclination and disinclination of intellectual women who have been believed to be able to stir a great sensation in the simulation and promotion of the ideological and epistemological progress to be made to awaken the stupefied non-intellectual women in a predictable way, in a popular way, in a particular way, and, in a perspicacious way even if it is not favorable for the essential and effective prevention of those women from having a profound access to the intrinsic and extrinsic essence of the power structure and power system hidden behind the intentional beautification of the dominative and manipulative phenomenon carried in the overall implementation of the power mechanism and power institutionalism that have been working very well in the stupefaction of the actions and thoughts of intellectual women and non-intellectual women on a daily basis to have a good control over their lives and lots because it has been found in the actual observation of dunkle that the intelligent and independent image of women in the 1920s has been substituted by that of vacuous, obedient housewife who lives in a satiable way within the four walls of their homes (p. 68) in accordance www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 64 published by scholink inc. with the strong will developed to maximize the interests and profits of the governor or dominator of the power of american society and american culture, for it has been indicated in the symbolic and strategic imagination and illumination particularized in the appropriate and adequate enrichment of the ideological and epistemological ingredients of this novel in an obvious fashion and in an objective fashion that it is of very great experiential and experimental necessity for this researcher of this academic essay to focus most on the essential and evident revelation of the ideological and epistemological subtlety of the power structure and power system of the power mechanism and power institutionalism implemented in a popular way in american society and american society through the lens of foucauldian panopticism in accordance with what has been exemplified in the narrative facts and narrative events as have been based on the living experiences, learning experiences, and, working experiences of this american woman writer in her particular production of this novel in reference to what has been echoed in the mind of the character by the name of esther greenhood depicted in this novel the bell jar (1963) in a vivid fashion and in a visual fashion even when it has occurred to her in an apparent manner that it is quite impossible for her to righten the accepted and admitted misconception of most intellectual women or non-intellectual women who have been used to the popularization of the stupefaction among those women and the stupefaction of the increasing population among other women groups in a persuasive fashion, and, to argue against them over the permeated preconception they have been acquired in the dominative and manipulative stupefaction of the governor or dominator of american society and american culture in an evident fashion when they are thrown into the danger of being enabled to adapt themselves to the ideological and epistemological imprisonment and enslavement of this power mechanism and power institutionalism that tend to give rise to their simplification of the treacheries that have been made use of to keep them from the belief crisis and trust crisis in which american society and american culture have been gloomed in an entire sense to prevent them from trying every means to decipher and dismantle the vicious ideological and epistemological manacles those power structures and power systems of american society and american culture have imposed upon the confused and stupefied minds of most intellectual women and non-intellectual women whose ideological and epistemological inclinations have been fragmented and disordered in a violent way the moment the governor or dominator of american society and american culture intends to build their hegemonic governance and dominance upon the sacrifices the vast majority of those miserable women have to suffer in a submissive way by reason of their strong willingness to seek for the transient peaceful quietness of their minds at cost of the unbearable sacrifices they have to bear in a passive vein rather than to rack their brains to break the strong ideological and epistemological bonds imposed upon their lives and lots in the form of the aggressive and ambitious refiguration of their own ideological and epistemological superiority and supremacy in the coherent and cohesive consolidation of the leadership of the ideological and epistemological inclination of american society and american culture on the basis of the great efforts they are likeliest to make either to resist against or even to subvert the perceptive and cognitive imprisonment that has been tossing and torturing www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 65 published by scholink inc. them all the time as what has been implied in the ideological and epistemological persecution esther greenhood has suffered from in this novel the bell jar (1963). 2. the critical inevitability to clarify the distorted foucauldian panopticism in the bell jar before the logical, systematic, and, objective justification of the authentic and essential existence of the panoptic traits and essences of the power mechanism and power institutionalism implemented in american society and american culture at that historical moment, much has to be done to give a deep investigation of what literary critics have caught sight of and what they have thought of grounded on their profound analyses of what has been particularized in the novel sylvia plath has produced during her stay in london over the last months in 1961 when she begins to draft the bell jar (1963) and thinks of the organic connection of her ingenuous literary production with the honest exposure of her living experiences, learning experiences, and, working experiences as personified and personalized in the very miserable lives and lots of the character by the name of esther greenhood in an impressive fashion and in an instructive fashion in reference to what has been exemplified in the organic stratification and systematization of the specific critical responses major literary critics have given to the ideological and epistemological nutrients carried in this novel to make a summary of what has come to their minds in a respective fashion upon their profound reflection and rumination of the ideological and epistemological barriers of the governor or dominator of american society and american culture that have been laden with a variety of ideological and epistemological vices hidden behind the over implementation of the power mechanism and power institutionalism in relation to the crucial critical examples and critical samples to be given below one after another. as has been shown in the analytical indicators summarized from the comprehensive analysis made of the critical practices and critical processes of a good many literary critics who have been interested in giving an interpretation of this novel under the title of the bell jar (1963) in reference to the analytical thoughts and analytical insights of previous and present studies in a reflective fashion and in a ruminative fashion, a great deal has been zoomed in on the very distinctive and diverse interpretation of this novel the bell jar (1963) from the perspectives of feminism in the case of “the relationship between sex and success (bffano, 2017, p. 28)” in view of what has happened to women and men in a respective fashion when sexuality is made use of to have a very tight control over the another gender in marriage and career; the establishment of the female identity of women through the evocation of the spaces of conflicts and difference on the foundation of the ideological and epistemological reconceptualization of the female consciousness of a good many women (bonasera, 2019, p. 1) in reference to the unfavorable ideological and epistemological inadequateness existing in previous conceptualization of it in the spatial analysis made of in literary criticism; the rational rumination of the characterization as epitomized in esther greenwood to give an investigation of how middle-class white women struggle in 1950s in america for the formation, transformation and reformation of their distorted female identities (smith, 2008, p. 33) in an indomitable fashion drawing on the imaginative and impressive illumination and inspiration of hyperwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 66 published by scholink inc. realism under the cloud of the mythology concealed in the continuous exploration made of the internal life that has very much to do with the mental illness and suicide of this versatile american women writer sylva plath in more than one respect in cold war america; the situationalization of women lives and lots in the establishment and development of particular literary form to reflect the inherent femininity of women experiences and women topics in an intentional fashion, and transform the reflective presentation of “the traditional archetypes and images of women into a dynamic literary form to highlight the genuine femaleness of women (miller, 2011, p. 202)” with the help of the application of this feminist discourse into the experiential and experimental production of this novel the bell jar (1963) in a strategic manner; the imaginative construction of the rigid panoptic disciplines in the experiences of esther greenhood in the formation of her “female gender identity and consumer identity in the case of her psychological health, femininity, and, sexuality (bærevar, 2007, p. 2)” with which american society and american culture have been characterized in an apparent fashion and in an evident fashion in 1950s in relation to the perceptive and cognitive enlightenment primarily drawn on from the foucauldian theory of disciplinary power; the description given of “the female sufferance and female experience of esther greenwood on the basis of her journey from madness to womanhood to make an analysis of the female problems reflected in her life and to make an exploration of those female problems (bendris, 2019, p. 2)” caused by the unbearable social and cultural injustice rooted in american patriarchal society in a popular fashion; the very strong oppression, suppression, and, humiliation women have suffered a great deal from the ideological and epistemological conflicts and contradictions symbolized in the psychological ambivalence of the main character of this novel the bell jar (1963) on account of the empirical and practical failure to prevent the patriarchal hypocrisy from being transmitted and rooted in the minds of men under the very heavy repression of “male dominance, double sexual standards, and, social injustice (hanna & hassina, 2017, p. 2)”; the marital exploitation of women in american society in 1950s due to their voluntary submission to the perceptive and cognitive imprisonment of the marriage that has given rise to the high impossibility from them to set themselves from the being bound to “the four walls of their house” (imtiaz, 2019, p. 51); and, the compromise to be made between extremes that have been gone in the minds of those who prefer to be houses wives, and, those who are unwilling to do so because it has been held in the minds of those who are not so radical as the women mentioned above in a negotiable fashion that “being a wife and a mother are not at odds with being a writer (azra et al., 1906, p. 70)” just as what has been demonstrated in the maltreatment the protagonist of the bell jar (1963) has been suffering in her life under the banner of the marriage that has brought her nothing but miserable and painful disillusion. as can be seen in the summary made of this novel the bell jar (1963) in various folds in the discussions made about the lives and lots of the main character esther greenwood in an instructive manner and in an imaginative manner, what has occurred to its readers in an impressive fashion after their having had an intensive reading of this novel in a reflective way and in a ruminative way is that the theoretical thoughts and insights of feminism have been applied into the critical practices and critical processes of literary criticism with regards to the very profound concern and sympathy that have been shown for the bitter www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 67 published by scholink inc. sadness and sad bitterness of women in combination with what has been impressed in the devaluation, devastation, and, distortion of the social values and cultural values of most intellectual women and nonintellectual women just as what has been exemplified and resonated in the female sufferance and female experience of the intellectual protagonist of this novel by the name of esther greenhood in most cases notwithstanding their failure to question the great harm the power structure and power system of american mechanism and american institutionalism has done to the mental health and physical health of those women in an essential vein and in an apparent vein regardless of what has been implied in the authentic assumption that “the position of the man in the family was superficial and incidental while that of the woman was fundamental and supreme...(sumner, 1906, p. 387)” as what has been shown in the very painful experience of the protagonist of this novel named esther greenhood in an impressive fashion in more than one case. apart from the very impressive and instructive elaboration of the female identities, female crises, and. female tragedies the vast majority of intellectual women or non-intellectual women have witnessed in view of the experiential and experimental evidences acquired from the lives and lots of the poor woman character depicted in the production of this novel under the title of the bell jar (1963) in a symbolic way and in a strategic way, it has been shown in the investigation given of the valuable findings of the critical essays with respect to the interpretation given of the ambivalent minds of the protagonist of this novel in an apparent fashion that a good many literary critics have also paid their analytical attentions to the mental breakdowns, mental anxieties, mental illusions, and, mental crises of this protagonist of this novel by the name of esther greenwood in an appropriate manner and in an admirable manner when it is inclined to quieten the internal voices of women in american society and american culture after the cold war as shown in the critical comments to be made in the following summarization. in the minds of baig, the sense of female enclosure in a psychological bell jar that invites a revelation of the social injustice giving rise to the psychological space crucial for women to reveal their devaluation, degradation, or even distortion engendered in “the male dominance and double sexual standards in 1950s in american society where female predicament caused by social entrapment has developed into a triggering force for women to revolt for the successful and sufficient attainment of the freedom (p. 21)” they have been dreaming about on the basis of the successive and sustainable development and improvement of their strong willpower to get free from the physical and spiritual confinements as what has been indicated in the strong resistance of esther greenwood the protagonist depicted in the production of this novel the bell jar (1963) against the stereotypical chains that are supposed to be smattered in american society in spite of this extensive popularization of this conservative confinement in america. in the critical exploration to be made of the correlation between the mind and body as epitomized in the developmental inclination of the psychological development and improvement of esther greenhood, chandran (2016) has given an interpretation of the personal tragedy of the protagonist of this novel the bell jar (1963) in combination with the denotation and connotation of the freudian concepts including major depressive disorder and neurosis (p. 413) in accordance with a series of details that have been running through the experiences www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 68 published by scholink inc. of this protagonist to make it understandable in an evident manner that it is those psychological disorders that has turned out to the be the real causes as have been given rise to the tragic suicide of her in a pitiful way and the failure of her to forge her female identity in american society at that historical period in an acceptable way and in an admirable way just as what has resonated in a profound fashion and in a particular in everything sylvia plath has encountered in her lives and lots in an experiential sense and in an experimental sense to avoid the mental breakdowns and even the mental crises in the experiences she has to join in her live and career she has suffered on account of the rather inappropriate and inadequate development and improvement of her mind even though she has acquired a harmonious, stable, and, safe development and growth of her body that tends to trap her mind in an interactive vein to the effect that it has turned out to be of great importance for all of us to strike a balance between our minds and our bodies on ground of enabling ourselves to get free from the seemingly unavoidable imprisonment of the physical disorder and mental disorder that are bound to throw us into the danger of tragedy in spite of the dreadful social reality and cultural reality we have to be faced with in our lives in a given society similar to that of america during and even after cold war at the risk of being devalued, dwarfed, or, even distorted in a psychological sense. in the increasing critical practices and critical processes devoted to the complexity of the minds of esther green owing to the critical attention has been paid to the fact that she has failed to have a good taste of her life as shown in her experiences recounted in the ingenuous and insightful interweavement of the narrative facts and narrative events the major plot of this novel the bell jar (1963) has turned out to be composed of in an unexpectable manner and in an unintelligible manner, a further exploration has been made of the true correlation “between the mind and body of this protagonist esther greenhood to give an overall interpretation of the specific causes and effects of her distaste for her life in combination with the application of freudian unconsciousness and defense mechanism (lubaba, 2017, p. 9)” in a specific fashion, in a systematic fashion, and, in a logical fashion in reference to the poor experiences she has undergone in her life as exemplified in the distasteful attitudes she has held toward “her ex-boyfriend, her mother, her friends, and … the social perspectives (ibid, 2017, p. 9).” in connection with the rational psychological reflection and rumination of the causes and effects of the suicides of the protagonist of this novel the bell jar (1963) in a profound sense and in an objective sense, what has turned out to be quite meaningful in literary criticism it is struck to tsanks (2010) in a conspicuous sense that it is in a position to be suggested in a rational sense that fewer critical attentions need to be paid to the relation of the suicidal death of esther greenhood to the social conformism and social conservatism in american society (p. 166), let alone regard this relation as the direct cause of the mental suffocation that has led to the suicidal tragedy or tragic suicide of this protagonist in a subjective manner and in an irrational manner. that is because in the mind of tsanks, what has turned out to be of direct relevance to the mental crisis and mental collapse of the heroine of this novel has much to do with her psychological illness engendered in the continuous increases of her psychological depression at everything that is bound to show up in her life whether she prefers it or not, and, her perception of the world in which she has to live in an indomitable fashion and in an ambitious fashion even though she has www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 69 published by scholink inc. to be faced with a variety of obstacles as mirrored in the stressful environment she has created for herself and the high standards she has set for her by reason of the harmful perfectionism she has rooted in her mind (p. 169) without knowing in a dialectical way that it is valuable for her to set an acceptable and achievable goal for her in a rational way and in reasonable way, while, vicious for her to immerse herself in the unattainable goal she has set for herself in a blind vein and in an irrational vein. inspired by the reaffirmation of crawford and baker (2009) that the study of literature is inclined to encourage medical workers to have a good understanding of the human mind in their clinical experiences and clinical experiments and to provide them with numerous alternative and qualitative enlightenments and insights quite valuable for the exact diagnosis of the mental illness of their patients when the diseases they have been suffering from are increasingly likely to be overlooked by the prevailing biomedical paradigm of a variety of psychiatrists (p. 237), it has been noted in the studies of hunt and carter (2011) in a very insightful manner that an analytical approach based on the acquisition of the theoretical insights of corpus stylistics can be applied into the overall and essential interpretation that is inclined to be given of the linguistic features of this novel the bell jar (1963) in an impressive sense and in an instructive sense to give a clear picture of the mental illness of esther greenhood in terms of the psychological disorder and psychological breakdown (p. 28) she has suffered in her traumatic life and lot because of the psychological traumas and tribulations with which her experiences have been laden when she is short of the psychological care of american society in accordance with what has been manifested in an evident way in the elaboration and exploration of the essential and authentic correlation between the particularization of the linguistic patterns, linguistic features, and, linguistic paradigms with which this novel has been characterized in a diverse fashion and in a distinctive fashion, and, the valuable and veritable description its language has been given of the very serious symptom of the psychological crises this protagonist has been faced with in her upcoming personal tragedy, and, to foreground the crucial and conducive role the unexamined features of this language neglected in the critical experimentation of previous literary criticism has been playing in the gradual revelation of the strong mental illness of this protagonist in an indirect way in the entire process of the generation the profound meanings and values potentiated in the aesthetic and artistic production of this novel in an untraceable manner and in an unnoticeable manner in addition to the unintentional elucidation of the suicidal depression and depressive suicidality that have been running through the living experiences and learning experiences of her in an implicit way. for the part of the explication of the causes and effects relation between the problematized personality of esther greenhood and the failed achievement of her identity in american society, it has been examined in the studies of nurlianingsih in a clear vein that the main character of this novel esther greenhood has failed to handle in psychological development in the particular stage of identity and role confusion as dealt in the theoretical elaboration of erik erikson in the field of psychological development and this failure has had a great impact on the formation of her personality in a healthy way and in a happy way so that she has been turned into a very depressive, impulsive, and, lonely person who is unable to adapt american society in a flexible way to stand the test of the psychological crisis (p. 51) she has to be www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 70 published by scholink inc. faced with and get through in an appropriate vein and in a rational vein to enable her to get free from the imprisonment of social reality and to make her exempt from the victimization of this psychological problem that has given rise to her tragic death in a pitiful fashion, for according to erikson’s theory on psychological development, it is inevitable for all of us to get through each phase in the midst of our psychological development to acquire an opportunity to forge our individual personality in an acceptable fashion. to cut a long story short in the light of the rich perceptive and cognitive imagination, inspiration, and, illumination acquired from the profound rumination and reflection of the complexity of the mindsets of esther greenhood in a psychological way, it has become apparent that a wide variety of literary critics as exampled above in those analyses and syntheses has taken a very particular care of the mental health of the heroine in the insightful comments they have made on the actual characterization of this novel notwithstanding their perceptive and cognitive inadequateness for the analytical emphasis they are supposed to place on the extrinsic causes that have resulted in the tragic and traumatic death of this protagonist in reference to the social vices and social ills existing in the implementation of the power mechanism and power institutionalism into american society and american culture in an authentic way and in an objective way. on ground of the diverse and distinctive exploration of the profound ideological and epistemological values carried in the confidential transmission of the particular thoughts articulated in the production of this novel in the symbolic and strategic characterization of the protagonist of novel the bell jar (1963) in an unintelligible fashion and in an unimaginable fashion, it has turned out to be truly impressive and progressive that a good many literary critics have been aware in a sensitive manner and in a sensible manner that it is of much more valuable importance for them to immerse themselves into the insightful and ingenuous exploration to be made of the essential and crucial traits that have been embedded in the confidential insinuation of the social reality of america at that historical moment into the arrangement to be made for the organic and systematic interweavement of the narrative facts and narrative events crucial for the development and improvement of the plot carried in this novel to have an authentic access to the ideological and epistemological essence personified in the subtle connection between the narrative facts and narrative events of this novel, and, the historical facts and historical events echoed in the major ideological and epistemological enlightenment and encouragement concretized in the very meaningful connection between the authentic characterization of this novel and the confidential insinuation of the reality existing in america in that historical period. to begin with, this can be seen in a clear fashion and in an evident fashion in the sociological analyses that have been made of the social thoughts and social insights potentiated in the production of this novel in an appropriate fashion and in an adequate fashion in combination with what has been portrayed into the narrative facts and narrative events of this novel and what has been potentiated over there in a systematic manner, in a symbolic manner, and, in a strategic manner, but, it has to be made clear in an honest sense and in an objective sense that what has been done in this regard at present as indicated in the development of literary criticism in this respect, has turned out to be not adequate enough, for they have centered a great deal on the rather reasonable and rational www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 71 published by scholink inc. acceptance of the communicative discourses and critical discourse potentiated in the impressive and instructive production of this novel as “a resistance to the hegemonic limitation of the changing social system of us of the 1950s, following a more radical way of resistance: suicide (sabanci, 2013, p. 60)” in relevance to the strong ideological and epistemological conflicts and contradiction between what has been experimented in literary production and what has been expected in conceptualization of social thoughts and social insights in the essential and evident stimulation and promotion of the successive and sustainable development and improvement of american society and the experiential and experimental concretization of them into the social practices over there in an effective fashion and in an evident fashion. in a simultaneous way, what has to be reflected and ruminated in a profound fashion and in an essential fashion is that those analyses have also focused on the social politicization or political socialization of the interaction between literary production and social progression in american literature and american society like “the politics of the time” that has acted as “a means of control over the population, especially women (fernández, 2016, p. 163)” to show the hegemonic or even demonic domination and manipulation of the conformism and consumerism popularized in a good many fields in american society in 1950s. furthermore, it has also become apparent in more than one case in the continuous development and improvement of literary criticism that an increasing number of literary critics with respect to the overall and essential interpretation to be given of the social insights carried in this novel have also shown in an apparent fashion that they have shown their profound and particular critical concern for “the dissolution of the boundaries between the public and the private spheres during the cold war” (correia, 2018, p. 70) in connection with the victimization of the characters depicted in this novel who have been torn between international politicization and individual traumatization at that historical moment in an inescapable fashion. in the overall comparison that has been made between the depressive similarity between the characterization manifested in the production of the bell jar and prozac nation, it has been impressed in a manifest fashion in the stratification, systematization, and, summarization of the possible barriers showing up in the gradual formation of the female identities of the protagonists of those two novels that the depression narratives with which those two novels have been laden in an apparent manner, have made obvious perceptive and cognitive effects on the linearization of the stable stimulation and promotion of the academic production and literary production of those intellectual characters depicted in the actual production of those two novels as a result of the correlation between the deterioration of the depression of them that tends to lead to their mental breakdowns, mental crises, and, mental diseases in spite of the possibility for the appropriate treatment of those mental illnesses, and, the qualitative and quantitative extension and expansion of the abundant production of the commodities it has been taking a lot to give a strong impetus to the successive, sustainable, and, sufficient accumulation and acceleration of what has been needed most to lay a sound empirical and practical foundation for the continuous development and improvement of american capitalism and american capitalist ideology and epistemology, for it has been noted in the sharp contrast that has been made between them that the slim expectation of those two female protagonists to enable them to get free from the ideological and epistemological imprisonment of this www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 72 published by scholink inc. american capitalism, has made it quite evident and clear that it has turned out to be an unfulfillable dream for them to make their way to the experiential and experimental solidification of their emotional foundation for the genuine commodification of american society in an adequate way and the objective and authentic justification of the possible success to be achieved in the supports the reduction of those emotional depression of those female protagonists is inclined to provide for the continuous prosperity of american society and american ideology in most respects because the unsurpassable emotional stasis of their deteriorated depression has been turned into an insurmountable barrier (wall, 2019, p. 11) on the way to the successful and sufficient protection and promotion of the social production and social reproduction of america on ground of the stimulus and impetus acquirable from the academic production and literary production of intellectual women as the protagonists cropping up in the very valuable and veritable characterization of those two novels. in a connective sense, discussions have also been made about the dissolution of the spatial boundaries between the public spheres and private spheres at the historical moment during the cold war in american society when american has been gloomed in the very strong inclination of resisting against the “new communist containment ideology and epistemology (correia, 2018, p. 70)” in american society and american culture in connection with the exploration sylvia plath has made of the possible solution to be worked out to subvert the national conformism in america in that historical period, and, the explication of the very similar trajectories between international politics and individual traumas imprinted on the textual textures of this novel the bell jar (1963) in relation to the elaboration of the repressive or even suppressive room that has been made in the production of this novel to expose this dissolution and the examination of the miserable experiences if the protagonist depicted in this novel in an intentional fashion in spite of the inadequate aesthetic and artistic awareness that ought to have been developed to deal with the irrational penetration of the social politicization or political socialization into the insightful and ingenuous creation of the imaginative and instructive values in the experiential and experimental production of literary works as what has been particularized in those very malicious ideological and epistemological preconception and misconception that have been instilled into the narrative facts and narrative events of this novel in an untraceable manner and in an unnoticeable manner. to be brief, it can be seen in a clear manner that with regards to the developmental inclination of the ideological and epistemological traces of american capitalism in 1950s after the cold war when most american women prefer to take a very good rest in that they have been tired of or even afraid of the terrible fact that they have to be accepted to take a variety of tasks during two world wars when their men have been sent to the battlefield, what has to be noted in a sensitive fashion and in a sensible fashion in having a good understanding of the political atmosphere permeated into the social development right after the exemption of most women from the strong pressure from those traumatic and even tragic wars as what has been shown in the perceptive and cognitive alleviation of women characters whom this novel the bell jar (1963) has given a description of in an authentic fashion and in an objective fashion is that the valuable peace as has been made in their lives has made them turn a deaf ear to the social vices and social ills of american society and american culture, so they have failed www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 73 published by scholink inc. to pay adequate attention to the insightful and ingenuous penetration into the ideological and epistemological essence they are supposed to get a profound and perspicacious access to even though they are likely to feel the urge to give an account of the ideological and epistemological inadequateness existing in the power structure and power system of the power mechanism and power institutionalism in america in 1950s in a conscientious way to reveal the miserable bitterness and sadness of those women who have been confined to the exhaustible chores of their families. grounded on what has been manifested in the deep analyses of the critical practices and processes cropping up in those valuable studies as what has been expounded above in a respective fashion from the perspective of feminism, psychoanalytical criticism, and, sociological criticism apart from those analyses made of from the rest of theoretical perspectives that have low relevance to the research content of this study even if they have been devoted to the interpretation that has been given of the characterization of the protagonist of this novel in reference to what has been manifested in the imaginative and instructive production of this novel the bell jar (1963) in an impressive fashion, it can be seen in an obvious manner that although most literary critics have made their great efforts to have a good access to the essential values carried in the production of this novel from distinctive and diverse perspectives in an appropriate way and in an acceptable way in line with what has been mirrored in this novel, what has to be admitted in an objective sense and in a sensible sense is that adequate critical attention has failed to be paid to the profound and perspicacious rumination of the power mechanism and power institutionalism as hidden behind the dreadful traumas and tragedies of the protagonist of this novel in combination with the ideological and epistemological confinement derivative from the distortion of foucauldian panopticism due to the experiential and experimental imprisonment of their critical awareness developed to paralyze intellectual women and non-intellectual women in american society and american culture, and, the perceptive and cognitive emphases they have placed on their critical exploration and critical explication of the ideological and epistemological supremacy and sufficiency of this true perceptive and cognitive imprisonment shown in their actual analytical practices and analytical processes connected with the comment made on the characterization of this novel. on ground that their critical efforts made in this respect have turned out to be not adequate enough for the essential and quintessential revelation of the ideological and epistemological essence and quintessence of the power structures and power systems potentiated in the power mechanism and power institutionalism implemented in a hegemonic fashion and in a demonic fashion in american society and american culture on the basis of the malicious and treacherous distortion of the ideological and epistemological quintessence of the surveillance, inspection, and, supervision in the structural and systematic configuration of foucauldian panopticism, it has turned out to be of great inevitable importance to make a profound exploration of those issues in this study to make it possible for the critical progress to be made in this regard in an objective manner and in an evident manner to lay a good critical foundation for the revelation of the vicious and violent distortion of foucauldian panopticicism in the construction and consolidation of the power structures and power systems concealed in the power mechanism and power institutionalism particularized in the imaginative www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 74 published by scholink inc. and impressive characterization of this novel the bell jar (1963) in an undetectable fashion and in an unnoticeable fashion in reference to the insightful ideological and epistemological concretization and crystallization in this process. 3. the conceptual feasibility to elaborate the distorted foucauldian panopticism in the bell jar to have a good understanding of the essential reasons why the characters depicted in the bell jar (1963) are unable to be free from the victimization of the distorted disciplinary power potentiated in the power structure and power system of the power mechanism and power institutionalism as implemented in american society and american culture in 1950s after two world wars and cold war in a popular fashion in combination with what has been highlighted in the theoretical elaboration and exploration of michel foucault in terms of the panopticism viewed as “the measures to be taken to deal with the plague showing up at the end seventeenth century (foucault trans by alan sheridan, 1975, p. 195)” and as “an architectural setting designed by jeremy bentham in the mid nineteenth century (sharma, 2015, p. 274)” to regulate the actions and thoughts of prisoners, refugees, students, patients, and, workers as what has been shown in the production of his philosophical work under the title of discipline and punish: the birth of the prison, it is much better for the vast majority of the readers of this novel to have a good understanding of the power mechanism and power institutionalism implied in the specific perceptive and cognitive inclination of the protagonist depicted in the rather meaningful production of this novel that resembles a lot to the disciplinary mechanism and the disciplinary institutionalism of the panoptic interweavement of the true structural and systematic construction of the disciplinary system that has been playing an important role in the popular distribution and operation of the dominative and manipulative power of a disciplinary society like american society where this panoptic insight have been borrowed from michel foucault and applied into the needs to be met in the mind of the dominator or governor of american society who intends to have a very strong control over the actions and minds of american citizens especially american women citizens at that particular historical moment in terms of the omnipresent, omniscient, and, omnipotent surveillance, inspection, as much as, supervision of central power over the peripherical existence as to be indicated below in a respective fashion in the feasible and flexible conceptualization of the central justifiable evidences of the theoretical insights to be applied into the logical and systematic justification of the panoptic existence of the power mechanism and power institutionalism in the social reality and cultural reality exemplified in the artful insinuation of the social vices and social ills of american society and american culture into the intrinsic veins and extrinsic virtues of the narrative facts and narrative events this novel is composed of in a logical manner and in an organic manner. 3.1 the surveillance in foucauldian panopticism in an essential sense, either the insightful thought or thoughtful insight of the rigid surveillance in the panoptic discipline has presented in the production of this philosophical work has as much as to do with the overall and practical implementation of the spatial enclosure of the territorial boundary of a given www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 75 published by scholink inc. area that has to be blocked in an intentional fashion to reach a series of particular aims valuable for the needs to be met for the fulfillment of the experiential and experimental domination and manipulation of those who have lived and stayed inside and are not expected to have a very good understanding of what has happened outside by having a tight control over their whereabouts in an effective fashion and in an essential fashion and preventing them from taking an opportunity to make a possible communication with those who have been separated from those insiders who have to be faced with the manipulative and dominative management of this manager who are required to keep watch on what they have been doing all the more just as a syndic has been asked to do to perform his duties in accordance with the strong requirement the inmates of a prison, an asylum, a school, a hospital, or, even a factory has been forced to follow in an unconditional fashion as elaborated in the following quote in the case of the clarification of the disciplines and punishments carried in this panoptic power arrangement in a given institution as mentioned above in an exemplary fashion notwithstanding it has failed to reveal the popularity of the panoptic existence of the disciplinary power in the vast areas of a given society that is destined to be laden with a very strong atmosphere of fear, gloom, anxiety, depression, and, desperation inerasable and unforgettable in the exhaustible minds of all the miserable insiders of this society in an unforgivable fashion. …each street is placed under the authority of a syndic, who keeps it under surveillance; if he leaves the street, he will be condemned to death. on the appointed day, everyone is ordered to stay indoors: it is forbidden to leave on pain of death…. each individual is fixed in his place. and, if he moves, he does so at the risk of his life, contagion or punishment. (foucault trans by alan sheridan, 1975, p. 195) as what has been marked in an explicit manner in the panoptic surveillance of the manager of the specific areas like prison, asylum, school, hospital, or, even hospital that can be closed to separate the insiders of those areas from the outsiders of them to reach the aim of the ideological and epistemological dominance or governance at cost of the ideological and epistemological stupefaction to maximize the profits the dominators or governors of those areas have been dreaming of to make in a successful way and in a sufficient way indebted to the strong belief that in the comparison with the very great harm the ideological and epistemological profundity, particularity, prosperity, and, perspicacity of those insiders are bound to do to the harmonious fulfilment of either the hegemonic or even demonic domination and manipulation of those dominators or governors who have been expecting themselves to impose upon their insiders what they have been expecting them of in a coherent fashion and in a cohesive fashion, it is much better for them to prefer to make those insiders lost in the dominative and manipulative security that has grounded on the ideological and epistemological inferiority, stupidity, and, sterility to make sure of the ideological and epistemological stability of their experiential and experimental dominance and governance in the name of the symbolic and strategic stimulation and promotion of their ideological and epistemological leadership in those areas, what has to be noted in a conscientious fashion and in an honest fashion is that it is of high perceptive and cognitive possibility in the unspeakable denotation carried in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 76 published by scholink inc. the rigid surveillance of this panoptic distribution of the power structure and power system of those dominators or governors that most insiders in those areas have been threatened by the dreadful or even demonic disciplines implemented in those terrible areas on account of the absolute blockage of the spatial boundaries of those areas and the capital punishments concealed in the irresistible and undefeatable power of those disciplines that have been adopted in a particular fashion and applied into the repetitive and regular observation of all the possible actions those insiders are inclined to or even likely to take to struggle against or fight against their dominators or governors for the appropriate or adequate acquisition of the liberty they are entitled to get close to in an indomitable manner, the identity they are supposed to forge in a reasonable fashion, the equality they ought to be shared with their dominators or governors in most cases, and, the dignity they are doomed to be endowed with in an inalienable fashion without knowing in an insightful fashion that the moment their minds are equipped with the panoptic surveillance of those dominators or governors, they will be destined to lose all that have been kept in their minds in a thorough way as a result of the gradual expansion of the dominative and manipulative motivation and intention of those dominators or governors what are preoccupied with the barbarian exploitation of the liberty, identity, equality, and, dignity of those insiders who are unable to do anything in an individual way except for their acceptance of the fact that their minds have been suffocated with a very strong sense of helplessness, hopelessness, as much as, powerlessness. what is worse for those insiders in a more dreadful fashion, is, that the increasing surveillance of them in a successive way and in a sustainable way tends to develop their ideological and epistemological adaptation to the ideological and epistemological exploitation they have been suffering from their dominators or governors in such an impressive fashion that if one of their peers comes up with rebellious ideas for this continuous surveillance in an individual way, they will try their best to argue against him or even fight against him in a collective way apart from the rigid ideological and epistemological persecution of their dominators or governors who will never be aware of the good that individual insider can do to them unless they are challenged, intruded, or, even defeated by those who come from other areas in an unexpected fashion. therefore, what all readers of this foucauldian philosophical work titled discipline and punish: the birth of the prison, is, that the blind, irrational, or, vicious implementation of the surveillance proposed in the elaboration of the strong power of disciplines is bound to do damage to not only those docile insiders but also their dominators or governors. 3.2 the inspection in foucauldian panopticism to put everything in good order in a cautious fashion and in a meticulous fashion in combination with what is going on in those caged areas on a daily basis, it has been proposed in this work in details that very great perceptive and cognitive importance is in a position to be attached to the indispensable and irreplaceable role the strict inspection has been playing in the empirical and practical confinement of the thoughts and actions of the insiders to play a rather solid perceptive and cognitive foundation for those dominators or governors of those areas who are inclined to throw those insiders into the danger of being watched face by face by means of gaze in a controllable fashion to have a very good understanding of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 77 published by scholink inc. what has happened to those insiders every day, being caught on the spot the minute they are going to do harm to the barbarian dominance or governance of those areas in an intentional fashion, being punished right away after being found dangerous for the successive and sustainable continuation of the repressive or suppressive security and stability of the domination and manipulation implemented in those areas, and, being forced to stand the test of the unbearable pain of death as long as they dare to conceal the truth that must be told about everything happens in those areas. to a greater extent, this popular inspection is bound to impose upon the minds of those insiders a strong pressure rooted in their internal fear of being punished or even being killed in the case of the strong psychological power of the disciplines implemented in those blocked or closed areas as what to be concretized in the quote to be given below in an instructive vein and in an impressive vein to showcase the extensive or even excessive terrors the minds of those insiders are inclined to be gloomed in an unavoidable fashion when an extreme thought might come to their minds in an unstoppable fashion or in an irresistible fashion on account of their perceptive and cognitive failure to enable themselves to be exempt from the ideological and epistemological disturbance or interference of the unintelligible seeds of the liberty, identity, equality, and, dignity they are entitled to be endowed with or to be armed with as a consequence of the strong temptation of the psychological balance entailed in the uncontrollable development and improvement of the deprived social justice they think that ought to be protected and promoted in an effective fashion and in an essential fashion on the foundation of the distinctive and diverse brilliance they believed they have already possessed for a long time to support their impulsive actions to be taken to subvert the unfair ideological and epistemological dominance and governance epitomized in the form of the popularization of the severe inspection here and there that has been implemented in a sustainable fashion and in a sufficient fashion in those isolated areas in an explicit manner or in an implicit manner. inspection functions ceaselessly. the gaze is alert everywhere: “a considerable body of militia, commanded by good officers and men of substance”, guards at the gates, at the town hall and in every quarter to ensure the prompt obedience of the people and the most absolute authority of the magistrates, “as also to observe all disorder, theft and extortion”. …the inhabitants will be compelled to speak the truth under pain of death; if someone does not appear at the window, the syndic must ask why: ‘in this way he will find out easily enough whether dead or sick are being concealed.’ (foucault trans by alan sheridan, 1975, p. 195) in the light of what has been implied in this quote in a direct sense or in an indirect sense has thrown on the ideological and epistemological vices and ills carried in the panoptic inspection euphemized in the observable gaze that is inclined to give rise to the internal fear of the stupefied insiders of those blocked areas in a symbolic fashion and in a strategic fashion to the effect that the dominators or governors of those areas seemed to make it clear that it pays a great deal for the innocent and ignorant insiders who have inhabited in their caged areas in an independent fashion owing to their gradual adaption to or their addiction to the ideological and epistemological dependence on the dominative and manipulative input www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 78 published by scholink inc. of those hegemonic dominators or governors who have turned out to be best at making best use of the ferocious fear they have been imposing upon the vast majority of the insiders of their closed areas in a malicious fashion and in a treacherous fashion to make sure that the strong impact they have had on the minds of those insiders is doomed to be unshakable, it has to be noticed in an insightful fashion that from the point of view of the ideological and epistemological essence of the ideological and epistemological management of those insiders, the panoptic inspection as indicated in a clear fashion in what has been manifested in the quote given above, has turned out to be the intentional and ingenuous instillation of the dominative and manipulative terrors into the timid minds of most insiders or the confidential insinuation of their dominative and manipulative intentions and ambitions into the quite aggressive minds of few of those insiders who have failed to be stupefied and sterilized in a thorough fashion, and, to be paralyzed and disabled in a spiritual sense even when they have been faced with the strong pressures those panoptic terrors have been imposing upon them in a barbarian fashion owing to the unsurmountable power potentiated in the disciplines carried in this panoptic inspection that has been running through the lives and experiences of the insiders who have to live and stay in those blocked areas in a helpless fashion, in a hopeless fashion, and, in a powerless fashion. with the standpoint of those timid insiders, the successive and sustainable ideological and epistemological imprisonment they have been suffering from the spiritual paralyses and tortures of their dominators or governors who have been working hard for the ideological and epistemological pollution of those insiders in the name of grace or elegance, is bound to weed out the perceptive and cognitive shoots of their wisdom, and, to root out the perceptive and cognitive seeds of their ideological and epistemological brilliance. to be brief, what has been implied in this panoptic invention has proved to be the experiential and experimental prevention of those insiders from having a genuine access to the adequate acquisition of the profound ideological and epistemological essence of the nutritious thoughts and insights that can help them to get close to their ideological and epistemological quintessence indispensable for them to make their efforts to drop or even to subvert this nightmarish panoptic inspection. 3.3 the supervision in foucauldian panopticism in accordance with the combinative difference between the distance superiority of the central position and the distance inferiority of the peripherical position of this disciplinary structures and disciplinary systems that has been relevant to the distribution and operation of the practical power in connection with the hierarchy of the superintendents who have taken responsibility for the management and confinement of the thoughts and actions of those insiders who have to live and stay in those blocked areas for their respective purposes in line with the specific or special targets they are required to reach in an individual fashion, what has impressed readers a lot in their having a good reading of the foucauldian philosophical work as mentioned above on the subject of the rigid disciplines and punishments of those insiders if their thoughts and actions are not in consistent with what they are required to do in this disciplinary mechanism that has placed them under the authority of the syndics and intendents whose existence has woven a net of the panoptic supervision in those areas on account of the duties or missions they have been told to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 79 published by scholink inc. achieve in keeping watch at whatever has occurred to those insiders and whatever has happened to them from time to time by reason of the omnipresent penetration of the power of disciplines into each corner of the respective spaces of those blocked areas that have been characterized with a gloomy and depressive air of threat and the fear hidden behind this dreadful threats owing to its high relevance to the severe punishments that tend to dismay all insiders in an inevitable fashion just as what has been euphemized in an impressive fashion in terms of the imprisonment of the behaviors and thoughts of those insiders in the quote to be given below because whatever they have been doing and what they are going to do have been observed by those who have been observing them in the central area of this panoptic mechanism in an overall fashion and in an essential fashion. this enclosed, segmented space, observed at every point, in which the individuals are inserted in a fixed place, in which the slightest movements are supervised, in which all events are recorded, in which an unintermpted work of writing links the centre and periphery, in which power is exercised without division, according to a continuous hierarchical figure, in which each individual is constantly located, examined and distributed among the living beings, the sick and the deadall this constitutes a compact model of the disciplinary mechanism. (foucault trans by alan sheridan, 1975, p. 197) under the cloud of the admirable and acceptable tolerance of the dominators or governors of those segmented areas before they have come to the actual breaking point of their respective patience for those insiders, it is of great symbolic and strategic importance for those insiders to be aware of the perceptive and cognitive turning point or tipping point of their respective disciplinary dominators or governors who have been shifting their dominative and manipulative attention from the unbearable tortures of the bodies and minds of their insiders to the repressive or suppressive supervision of them in most cases as long as they are able to exercise their power of the hierarchical disciplines that have been adopted and applied into the lives and experiences of those insiders in an omnipresent fashion to regulate and manage the possible actions those imprisoned and segregated insiders are inclined to take in an ambitious fashion, in an aggressive fashion, and, in an audacious fashion to resist against, to fight against, or, to subvert the ideological and epistemological stupefaction and sterilization on which those dominators or governors have been depending to have a hegemonic or demonic control over the behaviors and thoughts of their insiders in an absolute sense with the help of the important role that the hierarchical supervision of this discipline has been playing. in an essential sense, what has to be noted in a profound sense with respect to this rigid supervision is that those fiendish dominators or governors aim much more to seek for the autonomous or automatic submission or subjugation to their ideological and epistemological supervision in an intuitive fashion rather than to achieve this goal through unacceptable and unbearable repression or even suppression even when they are absent from this practical supervision on account of the continuous development and improvement of the submissive or obedient habit their stupefied and sterilized insiders have been expected to get into in an unstoppable fashion and in an uncontrollable fashion grounded on the acceleration of the ideological and epistemological paralyses upon which they have been imposed in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 80 published by scholink inc. a confidential fashion to reach an unspeakable or untellable aim in the way that their parasitic insiders are inclined to accept in an undoubtable fashion as a result of their having had a firm belief in the high possibility that it is quite feasible for them to help their tamed insiders to follow their panoramic and panoptic supervision in a habitual fashion, in a satiable fashion, and, in a voluntary fashion. grounded on the overall elaboration of the groundbreaking instruction, inspiration, and, illumination that has been particularized in the stratification of the power structure and power system of the disciplines running through the panoptic architectures designed by jeremy bentham to prevent the plague from extensive or excessive spread and to put an end to the infection of viruses carried in that plague in an efficient fashion and in an essential fashion, it has to be admitted in an honest fashion that this disciplinary mechanism and disciplinary institutionalism as clarified in the construction of the fundamental structures and frameworks of this architecture have played an indispensable and irreplaceable role in the prevention of the popularization of the dreadful plagues. however, what has turned out to be terrible for most readers in an impressive fashion and in an instructive fashion, is, that this disciplinary panopticism has been applied into the experiential and experimental construction of the vicious power mechanism and power institutionalism in american society and american culture in 1950s to make it work well for the essential and evident achievement of either the ideological and epistemological imprisonment or even enslavement of most intellectual women and non-intellectual women in america as what has been symbolized in a particular fashion in the lives and lots of the protagonist of this novel the bell jar (1963) whose mind has been dwarfed and distorted in a malicious fashion and in a miserable fashion on account of the unbearable tortures she has been suffering all the more physically and psychologically regardless of the great harm those mental distortions can do the mental health of her in the form of mental breakdowns, mental crises, and, mental collapses that are bound to give rise to the suicidal death of her in an eventual sense just as what can be seen in the essential and evident justification of the confidential or euphemistic application of this disciplinary panopticism into the construction of the configuration and reconfiguration of the crucial power structure and power system of the power mechanism and power institutionalism implemented in american society and american culture to impose upon those intellectual women or nonintellectual women the pressures or threats of ideological and epistemological persecution as shown in what has been mirrored in a veritable fashion in the traumatic and tragic experiences of this protagonist esther greenhood depicted in the production of this novel. 4. the critical cruciality to uncover the distorted foucauldian panopticism in the bell jar 4.1 the cruciality to uncover the distorted surveillance of the dominant power in the bell jar in resonance with what has been manifested in the systematic, symbolic, and, strategic surveillance of the disciplinary power existing in the power structure and power system of the disciplinary panopticism that has been adopted and applied into the prevention of the extensive or excessive spread of the viruses of the plague in an efficient fashion and in an essential fashion as what has been presented in foucauldian perception and cognition of the good the panoptic architecture jeremy bentham has designed has done www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 81 published by scholink inc. to the prevention of the massive increases of the infected patients when plague strikes a given area in an unexpected fashion although it has done a lot of harm to a good many patients who have been confined to a given cell of this panoptic architecture to regulate their behaviors and thoughts in order to reduce to the least the number of the infected patients in a rational fashion and in a reasonable fashion when an increasing number of patients are found to have been suffering from the uncontrollable infection of the viruses of this plague that also tends to give rise to the further spread of those viruses and the unbearable spiritual and emotional bitterness of those patients and the unforgettable mental sadness of their relatives as a result of the unexpected emotional tortures and traumas that are bound to be penetrated into their dreadful minds engendered in the high possibility of bereavement either in an explicit manner or in an implicit manner at thought of the tragic situation in which their relatives have been caught in a helpless fashion and in a hopeless fashion, or, at sight of the miserable image of them in an uncontrollable way and in an unstoppable way engendered in the extent to which they are unable to make them exempt from the emotional attachment to those relatives through the fulfillment of the emotional detachment from it in a decisive manner, it has to be admitted in an authentic fashion and in an objective fashion that this disciplinary panopticism has indeed made rather great contributions to the experiential and experimental prevention of the diseases, the appropriate and adequate treatment of the patients, and, the rational and reliable purification of their living conditions in a valuable manner and in a valid manner to make it possible to meet the various medical needs of those miserable patients in a conscientious way and in a cautious way on account of the strong worries about the unpreventable control over the unpredictable spread of the viruses of that plague that tends to strike an increasing number of unblocked areas, and, the unimaginable increases of the patients who have to be faced with the high risks they are inclined to take to infect others in an unintentional fashion or in an accidental fashion. much more miserable as this disciplinary panopticism is for those patients and those who haven’t been infected at that time, it has turned out to be understandable, tolerable, and, forgivable in the medical context that this disciplinary panopticism is supposed to be considered as an expedient measure that has to be taken to make sure of their health at cost of either the bearable or unbearable loss of their mental health in an unavoidable manner. in this sense, this overall and apparent surveillance of the regular actions and thoughts has played an indispensable and irreplaceable role in the regularization of the specific and special behaviors and thoughts that have to be required to meet the objective and practical need of putting a full stop to the spread and infection of the viruses of this plague in a valuable vein to provide with them a stable, sanitary, and, secure environment crucial for the insightful and ingenuous stimulation and promotion of the further and future development and improvement of the medical and social progress of that area in a successful fashion and in a sufficient fashion. nonetheless, what has made most intellectual women and non-intellectual women amazed, annoyed, disappointed or even depressed at in a popular sense with the standpoint of the great efforts to be made for the essential ideological and epistemological encouragement and improvement of the experiential and experimental protection and promotion of the female liberty, female equality, female identity, female www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 82 published by scholink inc. dignity, and, the female personality of the vast majority of those intellectual women and non-intellectual women who have to be faced with the inevitable disciplinary repression and disciplinary suppression of the dominator or governor of american society and american culture in a submissive fashion rather than in a subversive fashion by reason of the ideological and epistemological blockage they have been forced to accept in an unconditional sense in the form of laws, rules, dogmas, routines, and, morals of which the power structure and power system of this dominator or governor has been composed in an organic vein, is, that the panoptic mechanism of the disciplines presented in the works of michel foucault has been introduced to the intrinsic and extrinsic construction and consolidation of the power structure and power system of the power mechanism and power institutionalism as have been made best use of in an essential sense to have a panoramic control over the true ideological and epistemological particularization and personalization of most intellectual women and non-intellectual women to imprison their ideological and epistemological growth regardless of the great harm this is inclined to do to the perceptive and cognitive inspiration and illumination they are in a position to acquire in time to make their way to the specific and special prioritization of the ideological and epistemological inclination quite valuable for them to achieve the ideological and epistemological liberty and equality they are entitled to enable them to be armed with indebted to their rational reflection and rumination of the experiential and experimental necessity and feasibility for them to pick up the ideological and epistemological courage and confidence from the true cruelty existing in ideological and epistemological despotism and dogmatism potentiated in the power mechanism and power institutionalism that have been carried out in american society and american culture in 1950s with an aim of preventing them from the essential and eventual acquisition of the genuine ideological and epistemological transcendence on the basis of which they have been believed to be likely to start the ideological and epistemological subversion to the very confidential and cruel ideological and epistemological stupefaction and sterilization of all women living and staying over there at that historical moment as shown what has been implanted in the minds of girls in this quote “these girls looked awfully bored to me. i saw them on the sunroof, yawning and painting their nails.... i talked with one of them, and she was bored with yachts and bored with flying... girls like that make me sick. (plath, 1963, p. 4)” by means of the increasing ideological and epistemological pollution to lay a sound perceptive and cognitive foundation for the ideological and epistemological persecution they intend to impose upon intellectual women. the reason for the preference to the ideological and epistemological persecution of intellectual women is that in a comparative sense, it has turned out to be much better for the dominator or governor of american society and american culture to paralyze and to sterilize the ambitious spiritual world of non-intellectual women who are not as insightful and sensitive as intellectual women who have been able to develop a strong intuitive awareness to prevent the stupefaction and pollution of their spiritual world in a decisive fashion and in an indomitable fashion. to be honest, it has to be noted in a sensible way that the vast majority of the attentions of the dominator or governor of american society and american culture have been paid to the rather malicious and treacherous devaluation and distortion of the ideological and epistemological supremacy or leadership of those women who are able to implant www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 83 published by scholink inc. their valuable and vital thoughts and insights into the minds of most non-intellectual women as a consequence of their patient instruction, inspiration and illumination they have acquired from their living experiences and learning experiences. from the point of view of the dominator or governor of american society and american culture in that historical period who are in charge of the ideological and epistemological management and confinement of all women, what those intellectual women are able to do to help non-intellectual women in an euphemistic fashion or in an apparent fashion, is, destined to be taken as an extremely strong threat to the successful, successive and sustainable maintenance of the genuine ideological and epistemological hegemony of either the dominator or governor of american society and american culture whose mind has been preoccupied with a kind of ideological and epistemological terrorism at that time. therefore, the panoptic surveillance of the power mechanism epitomized in the foucauldian disciplinary power and powerful disciplines has been mislocated or dislocated in american society and american culture in 1950s just as what has been simplified and exemplified in the authentic characterization of the protagonist of this novel under the title of the bell jar (1963) in a confidential fashion with the flexible application of the insightful ideological and epistemological insinuation into the perceptive and cognitive construction and consolidation of the ideological and epistemological foundation that has to be laid for profound and perspicacious refinement and reinforcement of the rich ideological and epistemological nutrients in the production of this novel in accordance with the strong perceptive and cognitive stimulus and impetus sylvia plath has obtained from her sensitive and sensible observation and examination of the apparent social and cultural phenomenon turning up in american society and american culture in a regular way as to be explicated in details in the specific and special analyses to be made of below in a respective fashion. in consonance with what has been suggested in the vicious and treacherous application of the panoptic surveillance of disciplines indicated in the presentation of foucauldian power of disciplines into the ideological and epistemological decrement and demolishment of the dangerous actions and thoughts of all insightful intellectual women who are inclined to set a good example for non-intellectual women in terms of the good perceptive and cognitive preparation that has to be made for them to have a good access to the good opportunity to be taken to forge their female identity, female dignity, and, female personality in a brave manner and in a brilliant manner epitomized in the essential achievement of the ideological and epistemological liberation and salvation of the protagonist esther greenwood in the perceptive and cognitive interweavement of the bell jar (1962) as seen in the perceptive and cognitive development of the insightful and ingenuous awareness of esther greenwood articulated in this quote “girls like that make me sick. i’m so jealous i can’t speak. nineteen years, and i hadn’t been out of new england except for this trip to new york. it was my first big chance, but here i was, sitting back and letting it run through my fingers like so much water. (plath, 1963, p. 4)” that is because she has seen through the intentional or unintentional misjudgment of the dominator or governor of american society and american culture when they take into account the true ideological and epistemological values of what has been insinuated into the perceptive and cognitive ingredients of an increasing number of intellectual women in an www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 84 published by scholink inc. intelligent fashion on the basis of the true aim that ought to be reached in their ideological and epistemological disturbance or interference of the great appropriate and adequate perceptive and cognitive progress those intellectual women have been trying every means to make to enable them to get free from the ideological and epistemological mismanagement of that dominator or governor who has destroyed and distorted the earlier intention that has been input into the structural and systematic construction and consolidation of the major ideological and epistemological frameworks of the architectural panopticism in a conscientious fashion rather than in a contentious fashion on the part of jeremy bentham and in the opinion of the michel foucault in the production of his philosophical work. in comparison with the crucial threads that have been running through the rather miserable lives and experiences of the esther greenwood who has been forced to commit suicide in an unstoppable fashion and in an uncontrollable fashion by reason of her perceptive and cognitive maladjustment to the genuine ideological and epistemological violence the ideological and epistemological imprisonment of that dominator or governor has been trying to impose upon her mind in a hegemonic fashion or in a demonic fashion, it has to be noticed in a clear sense that the successful and sufficient employment of the panoptic surveillance of disciplines into the extensive or excessive limitation of the ideological and epistemological liberty of those intellectual women like this protagonist has given rise to the mental crisis and the mental tragedy of those intellectual women in a rather lamentable manner who are unwilling to come to terms with the ideological and epistemological vices rooted in the experiential and experimental persecution of the impressive and instructive ideology and epistemology of all intellectual women american society and american culture that have turned out to be quite strange to her in most cases just as what has been struck to esther greenhood the unforgettable narrative events in relevance to what has happened to her as to be analyzed below in an impressive fashion and in an instructive fashion. under the weight of the surveillance of the dominative and manipulative power of the disciplines loaned from the panoptic mechanism presented in the foucauldian work in a profound fashion as has been explicated above in the formation, transformation, and, reformation of the componential distribution and operation of the power in view of what has been impressed in the production of this novel titled the bell jar (1963), it has to be known in an apparent fashion that the very flexible perceptive and cognitive interweavement of the critical narrative facts and narrative events of this novel is not dissociated from nor detached from the euphemistic equipment of the disciplinary machines and disciplinary institutions embedded in the american society and american culture that have been loaded with a kind of ideological and epistemological barbarism as has tended to throw a variety of intellectual women into the explicit or implicit imprisonment by having an overall control over their actions and thoughts through the remote observation and examination of the central subject of american society and american culture to the peripherical objects over there based on the panoptic distribution and operation of power potentiated in the traumatic and tragic lives and lots of the vast majority of intellectual women whose perceptive and cognitive inclinations are at odds with the mainstream ideological and epistemological repression and suppression that have been running through the entire american society and american culture in a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 85 published by scholink inc. popular fashion and in a peculiar fashion. as a matter of fact, this social and cultural phenomenon has been situated in the authentic and objective characterization of this novel with respect to the trials and tribulations with which esther greenhood has to be faced in an irresistible fashion on account of the unavoidable distance of the distorted power of disciplines as popularized in america at that historical moment, this gives rise to the helpless compromise of esther greenhood who has to make to give up her individual liberty and identity in an irrational fashion due to the eventual failure to resist against the disciplinary requirement that has been imposed upon her to force her to be a mother in a reluctant way. for the sake of this failure, she cannot but choose to “cut[s] the plastic starfish off the sunglasses case for the baby to play with (plath 1988:3).” in an essential sense, what she has to be aware of in a peaceful manner and in a rational fashion with standpoint of the great impact this failure has had on the refinement and reinforcement of the ideological and epistemological profundity and perspicacity of the opinions of esther greenhood in the light of the reasonable distribution and operation of the strong power of the disciplines enforced in american society and american culture in a popular sense in 1950s with an aim of seeking for the virtuous reformation of the inflexible and unfeasible power mechanism and power institutionalism dominated and governed by the hegemonic and ferocious dominator or governor of the entire society and culture in america, is, that this eventual failure in her very ambitious and ambivalent rebellion to the ideological and epistemological stupefaction and sterilization of the successive and sustainable dominance and governance of that dominator or governor who has been zooming in a lot on the experiential and experimental maximization of the profits to be made from the cruel exploitation of the ideological and epistemological liberty of those intellectual women exemplified in the miserable lives and lots of esther greenhood in an unimaginable fashion, has a great deal to do with the increasing popularization of the overwhelming power of the social discipline concealed in the power mechanism and power institutionalism popularized in american society and american culture in a malicious vein to force this intellectual woman to submit herself to the reluctant internalization of the disciplinary power of the american society where she lives in an indispensable fashion and in an irreplaceable fashion to make a living. to a greater extent, on the foundation of the ideological and epistemological illumination and inspiration carried in the experiential and experimental helplessness and hopelessness of this social and cultural reality mirrored in the valuable characterization of this novel, what has been impressed in an instructive fashion in the particularization and personalization of the strong sense of powerlessness for the part of sylvia plath in her insightful and ingenuous production of this novel is no more than the unbearable fact that “she has nothing to do but to produce this novel to deal with women’s mental breakdown (debata, 2013, p. 4).” that is because the reliable and rich imagination she has developed in her composition of this novel has turned out to be quite valuable for her to make her way to the essential revelation of the hegemonic and despotic essence of the surveillance that dominator or governor has borrowed from foucauldian panopticism to seek for his nightmarish dehumanization in a gradual fashion and in a graceful fashion regardless of the sound bitterness and bitter sadness american intellectual www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 86 published by scholink inc. women have to suffer from his destruction and distortion of the positive power of the panoptic disciplines all the more in 1950s. 4.2 the cruciality to dismantle the distorted inspection of the dominant power in the bell jar in association with what has been dealt with in the elaboration of the conceptual denotation of the strong power of inspection entailed in the omnipresent implementation of the panoptic disciplines in a given area like america whose social atmosphere and cultural atmosphere have been made a kind of blocked space where the vast majority of american intellectual women and non-intellectual women have been watched in an unconscious fashion when they do whatever they would like to and say whatever they prefer to in a rational fashion or in an irrational fashion without knowing in a clear manner that they have been seen in a confidential fashion by the inspector who has a strong intention to have a very good understanding of everything that has come to their minds, and, to rack his brain to capture what they have been preoccupied with, what they have caught sight of, and, what they have caught hold of in an evident fashion even if it has been known to him in an apparent fashion that they don’t like to be watched at all because this will be bound to bring them a large number of the emotional and psychological problems that tend to give rise to the unbearable emotional and mental blow in a violent way the moment they know the truth in an overall fashion and in an authentic fashion that they have been watched by the inspector who has been acting as the dominator or governor of american society and american culture just as what has happened to sylvia plath in an intolerable fashion in the successive and sustainable development and improvement of her ideological and epistemological ingredients that might be made best use of in the characterization of her novel the bell jar (1963) in which whatever has occurred to her has been insinuated into the experiences of esther greenhood, it has to be acknowledged in a sincere way that the strong power of inspection borrowed from the inspective power dealt with in foucauldian presentation to the panoptic inspection has had a great impact on the minds of american intellectual women who have to be faced with the strong unconscious emotional and psychological violence that has been engendered in the confidential observation of their behaviors and thoughts to see if whatever they have been doing or thinking all the time is in consistence with whatever they have been expecting of in accordance with the mechanical and institutional dogmatism and despotism that have been kept in the mind of the dominator or governor who have been disposing of their lives and lots in an invisible way in spite of the traumas and tragedies this inspective observation are inclined to be penetrated into the rather fearful minds of those intellectual women who have been forced to be responsible for the consequence that if their opinions are against the mechanical or institutional disciplines formulated by this dominator or governor, they will be doomed to take the high risks of being punished in a violent fashion in the name of grace that makes them feel so dishonored and disgraceful that they are inclined to be caught in suicidal inclination as what has happened to the conversation of esther greenhood like this “i thought drowning must be the kindest way to die, and burning the worst...that morning i had tried to hang myself...(plath, 1963, p. 83)” and the expectation and experimentation of her suicidal intention as shown in this quote“ the only thing to do was to drown myself then and there... (plath, 1963, p. 85)”. as a matter of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 87 published by scholink inc. fact, this inspection imposed upon them is supposed to be considered as the cruel ideological and epistemological persecution that has derived from the strong worries of this dominator or governor who has been caught in the continuous anxieties with which his mind has been loaded with in a repetitive fashion and the inadequate confidence and courage he ought to have rested a great deal on to cope with the essential ideological and epistemological risks of those intellectual women who have been working very hard to refresh, to refine, and, to reinforce the genuine ideological and epistemological profundity, particularity, prosperity, and, perspicacity of their valuable and veritable ideological and epistemological exploration and elaboration with the help of the appropriate and adequate accumulation of the versatile wisdom they have acquired from their immersion into the unforgettable absorption of the crucial and conducive knowledge from which they are able to have a good access to the genuine wisdom they are inclined to make use of in their lives and careers to give a strong perceptive and cognitive stimulus and impetus to the essential and quintessential stimulation and promotion of the quicker and safer development and improvement of american society and american culture in an admirable manner and in an amiable manner at that critical historical moment. however, what has made them despaired in a gloomy fashion is that the rather great efforts they have been made to reach this target have been turned into the severe punishments they have to undertake due to their ideological and epistemological inconsistence with the ideological and epistemological stupefaction and sterilization of their dominator or governor who aims to reduce to the least the potential ideological and epistemological risks of their insightful thoughts or thoughtful insights by stripping them of their ideological and epistemological privacy and liberty that have been doubted by their despotic or dogmatic dominator or governor who has failed to be aware of the objective and authentic fact in an insightful fashion that his severe inspection of their ideological and epistemological privacy has turned out to be an exploitation of the ideological and epistemological liberty of those intellectual women who are unable to come up with valuable insights or to bring american society and american culture insightful values indispensable and irreplaceable for the protection and promotion of the sustainable profits america has to make for the achievement of the healthy happiness and happy health of americans in all respects rather than the harmful trials and tribulations brought for them just as what has been exemplified in the unintelligible traumas and tragedies that have been brought for the character by the name of esther greenhood depicted in this novel under the title of the bell jar (1963). in comparison with the inspection of the dominant power embedded in the disciplinary mechanism in the insightful and ingenuous foucauldian presentation to panopticism and the persecutive examination of the dominative and manipulative power of the disciplines carried in the power mechanism and power institutionalism that have been running through american society and american culture in 1950s in a popular fashion in reference to what has been euphemized in the narrative facts and narrative events showing up in the systematic and structural construction of the narrative plot of this novel titled the bell jar (1963), it has occurred to the majority of the readers of this novel in an impressive fashion and in a depressive fashion that the hegemonic publicization of the private room as ought to be made for those www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 88 published by scholink inc. intellectual women living in american society and american culture in a cautious fashion and writing over there in a miraculous fashion and in a meticulous fashion to share with their readers whatever they have captured from their quite profound and perspicacious consideration about the feasible solutions to a variety of the social problems and cultural problems that has been having a great impact on the further and future development and improvement of america in more than one respect, has made them fall victims to the persecutive inspection and observation of the power mechanism and power institutionalism implemented here and there in american society and american culture as what has been epitomized in the despaired attitude esther greenhood has held to death in her description of the season that “summer calm laid its soothing hand over everything, like death (plath 1963, p. 59)” on the basis of the fragmented and distorted imitation of the inspection of the discipline cropping up in foucauldian presentation for the aim of having a panoramic control over the individual ideological and epistemological inclination of those intellectual women regardless of the great harm this persecutive inspection has been doing to the emotional and psychological growth of those intellectual women whose ideological and epistemological privacy and liberty has been exploited in a barbarian fashion in american society and american culture in 1950s. what is worse, this ideological and epistemological exploitation has deprived them of the actual passion they ought to have developed and improved to send their respective academic and intellectual contribution to the prosperous and perspicacious enrichment and improvement of american ideology and epistemology indebted to the appropriate and adequate development and improvement of the ideological virtuosity and versatility it takes them to fulfill their academic and intellectual dreams in an insightful fashion and in a strategic fashion. in effects, this is much the same with the miserable victimization the protagonist of this novel esther greenhood has been suffering from in her resistance against the strong persecutive inspection of the dominator or governor of american society and american culture at that time in that although she wants to “be a professor and write books of poems and be an editor of some sort (plath, 1988, p. 30)” in a passionate way to provide her valuable thoughts and insights for the continuous prosperity of american society and american culture in her academic and intellectual production so as to highlight the ideological and epistemological profundity, popularity, perspicacity, and, particularity of american ideology and epistemology insinuated into her creative practices and creative processes in an impressive fashion and in an instructive fashion, she has to give up that the grand plan she has made to reach her academic and intellectual target and to make her ideological and epistemological contribution to the successive and sustainable development and improvement of american society and american culture, for she has to take into account the harm this ideological and epistemological persecution in the name of inspection will do to her and to strike a perceptive and cognitive balance between what she is in a position to do for america and what she is bound to suffer from the dominative and manipulative inspection of american ideological and epistemological persecution carried in a violent fashion. based on the rational consideration about the pros and cons of her insistence on what she has been working for, she has to choose to get free from the disciplinary inspection of the hegemonic and demonic power of the distorted and fragmented disciplines that have www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 89 published by scholink inc. been adopted and applied into the ideological and epistemological mismanagement of american society and american culture in accordance with the actual power structure and power system architected in the power mechanism and power institutionalism in service of the ideological and epistemological stupefaction and sterilization the dominator or governor of american society and american culture has been imposing upon the minds of intellectual women and non-intellectual women who have lived in america. for the sake of the high risks that she might take in her academic and intellectual insistence on what she has been dreaming of all the time in an ambitious fashion and in an aggressive fashion, she has to be forced her to be willing to accept what she is expected of in a passive fashion and in a reluctant fashion. in an essential sense, although the similar shadow of the inspection as presented in foucauldian panoptic disciplines has been retroflected in the construction and consolidation of the power mechanism and power institutionalism in american society and american culture in relation to what has been reflected or resonated in what has happed to esther greenhood and what has been illuminated in her suicidal crisis and suicidal tragedy that have too much to do with the emotional and psychological innuendoes with which her mind has been suffocated in a gloomy sense, it has to be realized in a clear fashion that this inspection has been imitated in a malicious fashion and in a treacherous fashion to impose upon intellectual women the ideological and epistemological repression and suppression of the dominator or governor of american society and american culture in a persecutive manner. in recognition of the ideological and epistemological violence implied in an elegant fashion and in a graceful fashion in the ideological and epistemological persecution that the dominator or governor of american society and american culture has been imposing upon the extremely anxious, ambiguous, and, ambivalent minds of those painful intellectual women like esther greenhood in the name of the glorious inspection in connection with the unbearable emotional and psychological pressures and desperations she has been suffering from the abnormalization and dehumanization of the unimaginable ideological and epistemological dominance or governance she has been counting a great deal on to dispose of the lives and lots of this protagonist depicted in the conscientious production of this novel under the title of the bell jar (1963) to reach the aim of the malicious and treacherous perceptive and cognitive essence of the ideological and epistemological persecution she has been suffering from the vicious ideological and epistemological paralyses of all intellectual women like esther greenhood and the architype she has been personified in the image of sylvia plath who has tried to seek for the very essential and authentic revelation of the ideological and epistemological hegemony of this demonic dominator or governor of american society and american culture, it is of great theoretical and practical for all readers of this novel to enable them to be aware in a sensitive fashion and in a rational fashion that the malicious imitation of the inspection of the panoptic disciplines michel foucault has presented in his philosophical work as has been elaborated above has been playing a malicious role in the reasonable and rational protection and promotion of the ideological and epistemological privacy and liberty of intellectual women like this protagonist who has to try her best to make a compromise for the increasing anxiety and fear of the severe punishment she has to be faced with when she is forced to take responsibility of what she has mistaken www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 90 published by scholink inc. in her academic and intellectual production in the context of the successive and sustainable inspection of her ideological and epistemological inclination that has turned out to be connected with the decision she has made to take suicide in a direct fashion. to this extent, the rigid inspection of her ideological and epistemological intention and motivation has proved to be the genuine cause of her suicide in that this has made her to get a rather dreadful access to the unbearable desperation at the absurd and abnormal ideological and epistemological inspection she has transformed from that of foucauldian disciplinary inspection in a morbid fashion to keep good watch at whatever intellectual women have been doing due to his familiarity with the strong emotional discomfort and the severe psychological anxiety, fear, and, depression she has perceived from her having been exposed to the confidential inspective observation of this dominator or governor notwithstanding she has no intention of revealing the individual privacies of those intellectual women in a vicious fashion or robbing them of the personal liberties they are supposed to be entitled to be endowed with or equipped with in a honest fashion and in a respectable fashion as opposed to what this protagonist esther greenwood has been suffering from in her living experiences and learning experiences. as a matter of fact, this fragmented and distorted transformation of the genuine disciplinary inspection of foucauldian panopticism in a malicious fashion has neither given a quite strong perceptive and cognitive stimulus and impetus to the effective and essential protection and promotion of the ideological and epistemological privacy and literacy of those intellectual women in an acceptable way nor given an admirable impression on the minds of them by showing his sincere respect for them in lieu of showing his disrespect for their ideological and epistemological exploration and expectation in an offensive fashion regardless of the fatal impact his vicious transformation has had on the lives and lots of those intellectual women who have been forced to commit suicide as what sylvia plath has insinuated in the characterization of her novel the bell jar (1963) and what she has suffered from in her resistance against the ideological and epistemological pollution and persecution with which she has to be faced with in an inescapable fashion and in an unforgivable fashion because she has turned out to be willing to devote her lives and lots to the indomitable and insightful persistence in the academic and intellectual dream that has been kept in her mind for a very long time for the aim of shedding light on the perceptive and cognitive growth of the rest of intellectual women or non-intellectual women who have been afraid of the demonic punishment of this dominator or governor in american society and american culture right at that historical moment. in this sense, what is in a position to be perceived from this ambitious and admirable perseverance of this intellectual woman writer as epitomized in the brave and brilliant image of the protagonist of this novel esther greenhood when she is threatened by the capital punishment she has to be faced with in a heroic fashion, is, that this morbid transformation has made intellectual women turned into women intellectual fighters who would rather to take their suicide in a graceful way and in a glorious way rather than make themselves submitted to the ideological and epistemological persecution of this malicious and treacherous dominator or governor of american society and american culture in 1950s who has been wasting his valuable time and life to the dehumanized stupefaction and sterilization of the ideological and epistemological brilliance and intelligence of all intellectual women and nonwww.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 91 published by scholink inc. intellectual women for the excessive maximization of the profits he has made up his mind to make from the extensive or even excessive victimization of those women in a shameful manner regardless of their intrinsic and intuitive resistance against it. 4.3 the cruciality to dismantle the distorted supervision of the dominant power in the bell jar in the light of the supervision of the central power captured in the hands of the disciplinary dominator or governor of a given blocked area indicated in the presentation of michel foucault related to the power distribution and operation of the panoptic disciplines when there is a steady must to dispose of the lives and lots of the majority of those who have been forced to live and stay in the suppressive or repressive supervision of those who have been armed with the peripherical power of the disciplines of that closed area where all insiders are forced to be faced with the dreadful or even fatal threats of power as it has been taken from this dominator or governor in a firm fashion that the disrespect those insiders are inclined to show for the power of disciplines will be destined to make them show their offensive disrespect for the severe punishment hidden behind those punishments in an audacious fashion, in an irrational fashion, or at least in a careless fashion if they have been accustomed to the marginalization, segregation, and, isolation this disciplinary power has been imposing upon them. in this sense, quite effective and essential measures are supposed to be taken to help them to have a profound understanding of the power of fear with which the power of disciplines has to be equipped with in a panoramic manner to make sure of the omnipresent existence of this strong fear owing to the omnipotence and omniscience of this dominator or governor of that area who has developed a strong will to enable his followers to have a panoramic control over those insiders in a rigid fashion to prevent them from the exemption from the strong threat of the anxious and depressive psychological fear of the severe or even capital punishment of this panoptic power carried in those disciplines in an invisible fashion. in the context of the prevention of the extensive or excessive infection of the dreadful viruses of the plague popularized in that blocked area, it has to be admitted in a conscientious fashion that the rigid supervision of those insiders either in a panoramic vein or in a panoptic vein has done a lot of good to the successful and sufficient protection and promotion of their health even though they have undertaken appropriate and acceptable harm it has done to their mental health. in some measures, what has to be aware of in a sensible fashion and in a sufficient fashion from the appropriate and adequate popularization of this panoptic supervision instilled in the strong power of the disciplines implemented hither and thither in that blocked area in an unavoidable fashion, has turned out to be the most effective measures taken to make way to the entire subversion to the high risks carried in those infective viruses carried in this plague that has stricken that blocked area in a popular way, for what this panoptic supervision has brought them after this plague is the precious security of which the unblocked stricken areas are short of in a pitiful fashion as a consequence of the carelessness that has lied in the inappropriate and inadequate attitudes they have been developing and holding toward the great harm this infection are bound to do to the insiders of those unblocked areas and the extensive or excessive shortage or blockage of the responsible awareness that the dominators or governors of those unblocked areas are supposed to enable them and their followers to develop in their daily lives and experiences in a www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 92 published by scholink inc. sensitive fashion and in a sensible fashion to lay a sound perceptive and cognitive foundation for the overall prevention of the extensive or excessive spread of those viruses and the increasing popularization of the infective patients or the infected ones who are doomed to be the source of the genuine threat that is inclined to throw the rest of insiders into the fearful danger of being infected in an unexpected way and in an unpredicted way due to their partial or complete ignorance of the infective probability, infective speeds, inflective ways, and, infective symptoms of those viruses without the very apparent and honest elaboration of the harm this inflection are bound to do to them and the panic fear or fearful panic that has to be instilled into their careless minds in advance in an appropriate manner and in an adequate manner indebted to the intrinsic sympathy those dominator or governors of those unblocked areas are inclined to encourage their followers to show for all insiders in an impressive fashion and in an instructive fashion. to be brief, what has been impressed in the minds of foucauldian readers in a clear fashion is that this supervision has given a strong perceptive and cognitive inspiration, instruction, and, illumination to those insiders in an insightful fashion and in an ingenuous fashion even when it has failed to be realized in a sensitive fashion and in a sensible fashion that this supervision is inclined to be imitated in the actual construction of the power structure and power system in the hegemonic and demonic power mechanism and power institutionalism in american society and american culture to maximize the ideological and epistemological repression and suppression of all intellectual women over there for fear of the possible ideological and epistemological reaction or subversion to their popular ideological and epistemological stupefaction and sterilization they have been imposing upon american women including intellectual women and non-intellectual women as what to be demonstrated in the appropriate interpretation to be given of the characterization of this novel the bell jar (1963) to reach their aim of making it a reality in an evident fashion that the submission and subjugation of intellectual women and non-intellectual women to the vicious transformation of the power of supervision of the panoptic disciplines presented in the works of machel foucault into the ideological and epistemological persecution of intellectual women in accordance with the disciplinary dogmatism and despotism as have drawn on the intentional distortion of the dominator or governor of american society and american culture in 1950s who has turned a blind eyes to the genuine perceptive and cognitive conscience instilled into the design of jeremy bentham and the presentation of machel foucault with respect to their perceptive and cognitive consistence in making use of the power of the supervision of the panoptic disciplines to send their perceptive and cognitive contribution to the effective prevention of the extensive or excessive spread of the very dreadful viruses concealed in a plague. in response to what has been misused in the introduction of the power of the disciplinary supervision implied in foucauldian panopticism in the panoramic observation of the ideological and epistemological inclination of intellectual women who have been dreaming of realizing their academic and intellectual dreams in american society and american culture in their academic and intellectual production as what has been vivified in the depiction that is in a position to be given of the strong psychological fear, anxiety, depression, and, desperation of the protagonist of this novel under the title of the bell jar (1963) in an www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 93 published by scholink inc. authentic fashion and in an objective fashion as a result of the distorted and destroyed transformation of this supervisory power of the disciplines emphasized in the presentation machel foucault has given in the production of his philosophical work discipline and punish: the birth of the prison in terms of the translation of the fearful power of supervision into that of panoptic disciplines to regulate the actions of the insiders of a blocked area in an expedient fashion, it has turned out to be pitiful in a gloomy fashion that the intentional misapplication of this supervision into the exaggerative maximization of the essential profits as can be made from the severe ideological and epistemological repression and suppression of intellectual women and non-intellectual women has been popularized in american society and american culture in an unbearable fashion to the effect that america has been turned into a terrible prison at that historical moment where numerous intellectual women are forced to accept the malicious ideological and epistemological pollution of this dominator or governor in reference to what has been echoed in the terrors sylvia plath has voiced in the empathetic stratification and linearization of the rather miserable experiences and emotions that have been implanted into the essential and quintessential revelation of the sound bitterness and bitter sadness she has been suffering from all the more in the euphemistic revelation of the cruel ideological and epistemological persecution a large number of intellectual women have been imposed upon in an unintelligible manner, and, the confidential confession to the vast majority of the readers the genuine causes of her suicidal tragedy and that of her protagonist esther greenwood in the production of this novel under the title of the bell jar (1963). in this case, it has to be understood in a definite fashion in the minds of those readers that the malicious and treacherous concentration on the extensive and excessive distortion of the central power derivative from the conscientious supervision of the disciplinary power of foucauldian panopticism has been metamorphosized in the vicious devaluation and stigmatization of the female identity, female liberty, female equality, female fraternity, female dignity, female privacy, and, female personality of a growing number of intellectual women and non-intellectual women in american society and american culture in 1950s as what has been epitomized in an implicit fashion in the tragic and empathetic traumatization and problematization of the trials and tribulations that have happened to esther greenhood in the authentic and objective characterization of her indomitable and insightful female persistence in and insistence on the very evident clarification of the ideological and epistemological values of her academic and intellectual thoughts and insights in the aesthetic and artistic achievement of the ideological and epistemological transcendence of sylvia plath in the specific and special enrichment and improvement of the rather crucial and conducive ideological and epistemological ingredients the bell jar (1963) has been expected to be composed of in an admirable fashion. from the point of view of the very great impact the hegemonic and demonic metamorphosis of this foucauldian supervision in the vicious ideological and epistemological dominance or governance of this dominator or governor in american society and american culture has had on the mind of sylvia plath as mirrored in this novel, it has impressed those readers a great deal in an instructive fashion that the malicious disciplinary observation, examination, and, supervision of the private actions those intellectual women like esther greenhood are doomed to take in their lives despite her dissociation from the experience of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 94 published by scholink inc. ethel rosenberg as shown in her confession that “it had nothing to do with me (plath, 1988, p. 1)”, have brought them a strong psychological and emotional threat that tends to force them to submit themselves to the reluctant externalization the personal needs they hope to meet and the mental anxieties and crises of their exposures to that wicked dominator or governor of american society and american culture in that historical context where they are bound to be thrown into the danger of their being faced with or being shocked at the severe punishment covered in the graceful coat of this misapplied supervision in an inevitable fashion. in an essential sense, this can be seen in the fearful response esther greenhood has given to the execution of rosenberg as shown in this quote “the idea of being electrocuted makes me sick (plath, 1988, p. 30)” due to the uncanny fear she has acquired from the misapplication of the distorted panoptic supervision of the watchtowers shown in foucauldian dominance and governance of what has been done in the peripherical areas of a disciplinary society in the judgment to be made of julius rosenberg and ethel rosenberg who have been “executed at sundown in the electric chair in sing sing prison in ossining, new york, on june 19, 1953 (dunkle, 2012, p. 66).” therefore, it can be seen in an evident way in the inerasable pains and unbearable pathos of not only sylvia plath but also esther greenhood that the foucauldian supervision as mentioned above has been transformed into a vicious and dangerous device to be misused for the accusative and suspicious implementation of the hegemonic and demonic ideological and epistemological execution of the rather valuable and veritable academic and intellectual insights of a great many intellectual women in a barbarian fashion and in a cruel fashion even though it has turned out to be true that they have been playing an indispensable role in the continuous stimulation and promotion of the development and improvement of american society and american culture. with consideration taken into the intrinsic, essential, and, inevitable correlation between the malicious and treacherous misapplication of the destructive disciplinary power of the power mechanism and power institutionalism of american society and american culture distorted from the rigid panoptic surveillance, inspection, and, supervision of the foucauldian disciplines made best use of to prevent the very dreadful viruses carried in plague into the strong ideological and epistemological repression and suppression of the ideological and epistemological inclination of the vast majority of intellectual women to maximize the possibility and opportunity for the dominator or governor of american society and american culture to have a panoramic control over the thoughts and actions of those intellectual women in an omnipresent fashion, in an omnipotent fashion, and, in an omniscient fashion, and, the psychological and emotional devaluation and distortion of the ideological and epistemological nutrients of the abundant academic and intellectual thoughts and insights of an increasing number of intellectual women who have been forced to be faced with the dehumanized and traumatized ideological and epistemological persecution of them in a tortuous fashion in connection with what sylvia plath has insinuated into the authentic and essential revelation of the crucial social vices and cultural ills of america in 1950s in the characterization of the protagonist of this novel who has put a full stop of her life in a suicidal fashion owing to her unbeatability and desperation to resist against and to subvert the unbearable ideological and epistemological despotism www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 95 published by scholink inc. and dogmatism rooted in the hegemonic and demonic mind of the dominator or governor of american society and american culture at that historical moment, it has been indicated in an evident manner that from the point of view of causes and effects, what this protagonist esther greenhood has suffered from the intentional distortion of panoptic power existing in the panoptic surveillance, inspection, as well as, supervision presented in the philosophical work of machel foucault in a conscientious fashion for the sake of the prevention of the extensive or excessive spread of the infective viruses carried in a plague, has too much to do with of the successive and sustainable continuation of the systematic, strategic, and, symbolic disturbance, interference, and, violence potentiated in the uneven distribution and operation of the power in the implementation of the power structure and power system embedded in the power mechanism and power institutionalism that have been capturing the ideological and epistemological vein of american society and american culture at that historical moment when this novel is produced, for it has struck to a great many readers in an impressive fashion and in an instructive fashion in the trials and tribulations of esther greenhood that the despotic and demonic fixation of the power distributed and operated either in an even fashion or in an uneven fashion in the implementation of the power mechanism and power institutionalism in american society and american culture in accordance with the unshakable will of that dominator or governor has made it impossible for those intellectual women to unravel the violent and vicious essence and truth of either the ideological and epistemological persecution or murder implied the malicious distortion of the disciplinary power potentiated in the surveillance, inspection, and, supervision presented in the foucauldian presentation to panopticism in an insightful fashion and in an ingenuous fashion. to put it in a concessional fashion, although it is feasible for them to uncover this essence and truth in an euphemistic fashion or in a confidential fashion, it is impossible for them to get over the strong psychological and emotional fear as what sylvia plath has done in the insinuation of the unforgettable and unforgivable sins of that dominator or governor into the objective, authentic, and, essential characterization in her literary production regardless of the threat of capital punishment to the effect that an admirable respect is in a position to be shown for the heroism of this writer. to be brief, what is supposed to be noticed in a dialectical fashion and in a diverse fashion is that in the short run, those intellectual women have turned out to be the victims of this shameful distortion while in the long, the miserable experiences of them will lay an appropriate and adequate ideological and epistemological foundation for an growing number of intellectual women and non-intellectual women to try every means to enable themselves to make their way to the particular, profound, and, perspicacious enrichment and improvement of the ideological and epistemological insights and ingredients instilled into their academic and intellectual thoughts to give them a strong perceptive and cognitive impetus to work much harder to accumulate, accelerate, and, acquire ideological and epistemological power to smash the distorted power structure and power system existing in the power mechanism and power institutionalism in the future when they are aware that it has turned out to be irrational for them to resist against it in the form of radical suicides in an innocent fashion and in an ignorant fashion, and, realize that the extensive or excessive fear of the capital punishment engendered by the dreadful ideological and epistemological persecution www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 96 published by scholink inc. or assassination in the distorted coat of the panopticized disciplinary power mechanism and power institutionalism is destined to serve as the psychological and emotional weakness that dominator or governor has made full use of to impose upon those intellectual women his quite despotic ideological and epistemological repressions, suppressions, persecutions in a successful manner and in a sufficient manner at cost of the eventual losses of even their precious lives that ought to have been devoted to the insightful and ingenuous stimulation and promotion of the genuine prosperity of american society and american culture. 5. conclusion in accordance with what has obtained from the overall analysis that has been made of the dominative and manipulative devaluation of intellectual women and non-intellectual women through the distorted misapplication of the power of foucauldian panoptic disciplines into the malicious transformation of it into the construction and consolidation of the power structure and power system potentiated in the extensive or excessive implementation of the distorted power mechanism and power institutionalism to regulate and repress the ideological and epistemological insights of intellectual women in american society and american culture in 1950 in combination with what has been insinuated into the authentic, essential, and, objective characterization seen in the production of this novel titled the bell jar (1963) in an euphemistic fashion or in a confidential fashion in terms of the traumatic and tragic existence and experience of the protagonist of this novel by the name of esther greenhood who has been despaired at the rather miserable and unbearable ideological and epistemological persecution, assassination, and, even execution in the name of american laws that have been dominated and manipulated by the despotic dominator or governor of american society and american culture to toss the uncertain lives and lots of those intellectual women and to torture them in a mental sense for the aim of throwing them into the danger of suicidal tragedy or traumatic suicide right after the successful and sufficient achievement of the ideological and epistemological stupefaction and sterilization of those intellectual women and nonintellectual women for the sake of the thorough dominance and governance of their true ideological and epistemological inclination, it can be summed in a concise fashion that at an age of the popularization of extensive or excessive conformism and consumerism as have been viewed as a very good way to distract intellectual women or non-intellectual women from the essential concretization and crystallization of their academic and intellectual thoughts and insights in an implicit fashion to remind most women of the very great perceptive and cognitive importance for them to develop and to enrich their indispensable, incontestable, and, irreplaceable academic and intellectual awareness apart from the development and improvement of their female identity, female liberty, female dignity, and, female personality when most women have been made or forced to adapt themselves to the transient happiness of their families and set themselves from the participation in their occupational lives, it takes intellectual women a lot and nonintellectual women much more to embark on their academic and intellectual exploration in an insightful fashion and in an ingenuous fashion, to do well in the crucial jobs on which they have been resting a lot www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 97 published by scholink inc. on to make a living, to make a life, and, to make a fortune if possible in an ambitious fashion, and at the same time to take care of their families in a conservative fashion in reference to what sylvia plath has imprinted on the characterization of esther greenhood in the production of this novel the bell jar (1963) in an apparent fashion and in an evident fashion due to the extremely hegemonic and demonic distortion of foucauldian panopticism in terms of the malicious transformation of the original role the surveillance, inspection, and, supervision of the disciplines have been playing in the prevention of the massive spread of infective viruses in a plague to build the power mechanism and power institutionalism of the radical disciplines in american society and american culture to torture intellectual women and non-intellectual women in an unbearable fashion, for this will make intellectual women and even non-intellectual women misunderstood by an increasing number of illiterate, ignorant, and, innocent women and men who have been apt to be instigated to misinterpret their academic and intellectual ambitions on account of the high perceptive and cognitive impossibility for them to strike an appropriate perceptive and cognitive balance between the ideological and epistemological sensitivity and sensibility of those intellectual women and men, and, the stupidity and sterility of those ignorant women and men in the process of the stable increases of the ideological and epistemological stigmatization of the former and the ideological and epistemological pollution of the latter by reason of the overall implementation of the power mechanism and power institutionalism distorted from the foucauldian disciplinary panopticism to make sure of the experiential and experimental success of the dominator or governor of american society and american culture in disposing of the lives and lots of intellectual women and non-intellectual women and depraving them of the academic and intellectual versatility and virtuosity to help them to unravel the genuine ideological and epistemological intention and motivation he has concealed in the fixation of the profits he has to maximize in the popularizing and peculiarizing the extensive or excessive implementation of the distorted power mechanism and power institutionalism in that society regardless of the potential harm this is inclined to do to the physical health and mental health of those intellectual women and nonintellectual women. in this sense, what has been implicated in this study is connected with the impressive and instructive enlightenment that the success of this dominator or governor does not mean that it is much better for intellectual women give up for good what they are supposed to do owing to the eventual failure seen in the persistence of esther greenhood who has been turned into an ideological and epistemological architype of the woman ideological and epistemological warrior sylvia plath who seems to make use of the traumas and tragedies of esther greenhood to remind all women of the genuine empirical and practical indispensability and inevitability for them to inspire them to expose themselves to the indomitable resistance against or struggle against the malicious ideological and epistemological violence implied in the ideological and epistemological disturbance and interference of that dominator or governor who has been lost in the successive and sustainable dominance and governance of the true ideological and epistemological exploration of intellectual women and non-intellectual women. on the contrary, what they have to be aware of in a sensitive fashion and in a sufficient fashion is that they are supposed to uncover the true ideological and epistemological vices of the dominative and manipulative thoughts www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 98 published by scholink inc. of this dominator or governor in a cautious fashion, in a critical fashion, and, in a confidential fashion while seeing through the fatal disciplinary ills existing in the vicious distortion of the disciplinary power of foucauldian panopticism to shape the dehumanized and problematized power mechanism and power institutionalism in american society and american culture in the continuous introduction of insinuation in academic and intellectual exploration as exemplified and epitomized in a particular fashion in the production of this novel to pave way for the unravel it in the future. of course, it has to be admitted in an honest fashion that due to the inadequate perceptive and cognitive sensitivity and sensibility of the ideological and epistemological security of intellectual women euphemized in the resistance against or the subversion of the popularization of this distorted power mechanism and power institutionalism as implemented in american society and american culture in view of what has been insinuated into the characterization of this novel in an unnoticeable fashion and in an untraceable fashion, generous tolerance will be expected of the unknown and unintentional disrespect that might be shown for previous studies in a purposeless way and the unintentional ignorance or innocence of this researcher in making a further exploration of this issue in future study in a more valuable way with the help of the great progress to be made in the future to provide the readers of this novel with a variety of admirable and amiable thoughts and insights to broaden the critical horizon related to the interpretation of the decadent disciplinary power misapplied in the malicious conceptualization and concretization of the power mechanism and power institutionalism implemented in the stupefaction and sterilization of the minds of intellectual women and non-intellectual women in america. references agnese, b. (2017). sex and success: a feminist analysis of sylvia plath’s the bell jar (bachelor thesis, p. 28). gothenburg university. arab, h., & belhaddad, h. (2017). american women’s oppression. in sylvia plath’s novel the bell jar (p. 2). university of mohamed boudiaf. azra ghandeharion et al. (2015). sylvia plath’s the bell jar: a mirror of american fifties. study of language and literature, 17(2), 70. https://doi.org/10.9744/kata.17.2.64-70 budick, e. m. (2012). the feminist discourse of sylvia plath’s the bell jar. in critical insights: the bell jar (sylvia plath, & janet mccann, eds., p. 202). pasadena & hackensack: salem press. carmen, b. (2019). of mirrors and bell jars: heterotopia and liminal spaces as reconfigurations of female identity in sylvia plath. humanities, 8(20), 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/h8010020 courtney, k. (2019). mad woman in the bell jar: esther’s struggle for literary authenticity within the patriarchal narrative. furman humanities review, 30(19), 90. daniel, h., & ronald, c. (2011). seeing through the bell jar: investigating linguistic patterns of psychological disorder. journal of medical humanities, 33(1), 28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912011-9163-3 https://doi.org/10.9744/kata.17.2.64-70 https://doi.org/10.3390/h8010020 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-011-9163-3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-011-9163-3 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 99 published by scholink inc. elise, b. (2007). esther greenwood’s panopticon female identity through self-policing in the bell jar by sylvia plath (ma diss., p. 2). the university of oslo. eva, s. (2019). the bell jar: an inextricable hysteria of a woman consequent of a distorted identity. history research journal, 5(5), 27. https://doi.org/10.26643/hrj.v5i5.8088 fernández laura de la parra. (2016). we are all mad here: sylvia plath’s the bell jar as a political novel. revista de filología románica, 33 (especial issue), 163. https://doi.org/10.5209/rfrm.55845 gamze, s. (2013). resistance as the discourse of docile bodies in plath’s the bell jar. çankaya university journal of humanities and social sciences, 10(1), 60. ghalib atef et al. (2021). sylvia plath revisited in the lens of depersonalization. turkish journal of computer and mathematics education, 12(11), 2592. jamahl, d. i. (2012). sylvia plath’s the bell jar: understanding cultural and historical context in an iconic text. in critical insights: the bell jar (sylvia plath, & janet mccann, eds., pp. 66-67). pasadena & hackensack: salem press. kumar, d. p. (2013). sylvia plath in the context of times and cultures: a critical analysis. the criterion: an international journal in english, 4(3), 4. kumar, s. s. (2015). the power of foucauldian panopticism: an overview. the criterion: an international journal in english, 6(5), 274. lina, b. (2019). the journey from madness to womanhood in sylvia plath’s the bell jar (ma diss., p. 2). université de 8 mai. lowe carmen, e. (2003). the inhuman imagination in twentieth century poetry: from robinson jeffers and d. h. lawrence to ted hughes and sylvia plath (phd diss., p. 206). tufts university. mahrukh, b. (2014). sylvia plath’s bell jar as a psychological space. journal of research in humanities and social science, 2(2), 21. maryam, i. et al. (2019). marriage and the exploitation of women: a case-study of the bell jar by sylvia plath. international journal of language and literature, 7(2), 51. https://doi.org/10.15640/ijll.v7n2a10 michel, f. (1975). discipline and punish: the birth of the prison (trans.by alan sheridan, pp. 195-197). new york: vintage books, a division of random house, inc. natalie, w. (2019). barriers to the self: productivity and the depressed woman in the bell jar and prozac nation. forum: university of edinburgh postgraduate journal of culture & the arts, 28, 11. navya, c. (2016). a psychological study of sylvia plath’s the bell jar. international journal of english language, literature and translation studies, 3(2), 413. nurlianingsih, t. (2014). esther’s problems of personality as an impact of her failure in accomplishing self-identity: a psychosocial analysis to sylvia plath’s the bell jar (ma diss., p. 51). yogyaharta state university. https://doi.org/10.26643/hrj.v5i5.8088 https://doi.org/10.5209/rfrm.55845 https://doi.org/10.15640/ijll.v7n2a10 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 3, no. 4, 2022 100 published by scholink inc. paul, c., & baker, c. (2009). literature and madness: fiction for students and professionals. journal of medical humanities, 30, 237. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-009-9089-1 pierre, b. n. (2012). sylvia plath through the looking-glass: too beautiful to be dead. authorship, 1(2), 1. https://doi.org/10.21825/aj.v1i2.771 rosi, s. (2008). seeing through the bell jar: distorted female identity in cold war america. aspeers, 1, 33. https://doi.org/10.54465/aspeers.01-05 silvia, l. (2017). esther greenhood’s distaste of life as seen in sylvia plath’s the bell jar. nobel: journal of literature and language teaching, 8(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.15642/nobel.2017.8.1.9-21 stephanie, t. (2010). the bell jar: a psychological case study. plath profiles, 3, 166-169. sumner, w. g. (1906). folkways. a study of the sociological importance of usages, manners, customs, mores, and morals (p. 387). boston: grinn. https://doi.org/10.2307/1412602 susana, c. (2018). a guerra fria e a dissolução dos conceitos público-privado em the bell jar e poesia selecionada de sylvia plath. via panoramica: revista de estudos anglo-americanos, 7(2), 70. sylvia, p. (1988). the bell jar (pp. 1-30). london: faber and faber. ---. 1963. the bell jar (pp. 4-83). london: william heinemann limited. van dyne susan, r. (1993). revising life: sylvia plath’s ariel poems (p. 1). chapel hill & london: the university of north carolina press. vavotici, f. (2020). “being an instance of the norm”: women, surveillance and guilt in richard yates’s revolutionary road. european journal of american studies, 15(2), 4. https://doi.org/10.4000/ejas.15847 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-009-9089-1 https://doi.org/10.21825/aj.v1i2.771 https://doi.org/10.54465/aspeers.01-05 https://doi.org/10.15642/nobel.2017.8.1.9-21 https://doi.org/10.2307/1412602 https://doi.org/10.4000/ejas.15847 education, language and sociology research issn 2690-3644 (print) issn 2690-3652 (online) vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 155 original paper analysis of alison moore’s the lighthouse from the perspective of ethical literary criticism lijun ren1 1 school of english studies, xi’an international studies university, xi’an, china received: march 2, 2024 accepted: march 20, 2024 online published: march 31, 2024 doi:10.22158/elsr.v5n1p155 url: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v5n1p155 abstract the lighthouse is an excellent contemporary novel that tells the family tragedies of two generations which involve numerous individuals and families. after being shortlisted for the 2012 man booker prize, it has been noticed by many researchers and scholars from home and abroad. starting from the perspective of ethical literary criticism, this paper intends to have a detailed analysis of the ethical issues existing in the lighthouse through the method of close reading. this paper also attempts to have an insight into the moral and ethical problems in modern families, or the problems between contemporary people, trying to analyze the main characters’ self-developments of morality and the author’s ethical values from the discussion of the main characters’ ethical choices, the construction of ethical identities and the human and human relationship in this novel. keywords the lighthouse, personal and family morality, ethical literary criticism, modern ethics 1. introduction the man booker prize had brought a series of excellent literary works into the light of public, among which include the british writer alison moore’s first novel—the lighthouse. alison moore, a new talent in british literature stage, has created several short stories previously, making herself noticed by the public and literary critics. her first novel, the lighthouse, was shortlisted for the 2012 man booker prize, and she was also awarded “the british national book award” in the same year. the lighthouse has gained much attention since it came out. the plot of the lighthouse seems quite plain yet quite intriguing: the novel begins on a north sea ferry, on whose blustery deck stands middle-aged futh, heading to germany for a restorative walking holiday following his recent separation from wife, angela. of a lonely and, at times, socially awkward disposition, futh seemingly lacks any kind of support network and throughout the novel remains adrift, waiting to www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 156 published by scholink inc. see where the tide takes him. ill-prepared for the holiday, futh’s failed relationships is mirrored by his general inadequacy as we see him getting lost and suffering from both sunburn and blisters. futh’s chapters are interwoven with those of ester’s; the landlady of hellhaus -lighthouse in germanthe guesthouse in which futh spends the first and last day of his walking tour. ester, too, is a heavily flawed character, stuck in a loveless marriage to husband bernard that is littered with infidelities and loneliness. the imagery within the novel is a key and integral feature, and creates an evocative sense of place as well as lending itself well to memories which both futh and ester reminisce. and while the prose is sparse, it too, works in harmony with the melancholy nature of the novel. the whole story gives readers a sense of melancholy and loneliness, setting them reflecting on the true meaning of family and life. 2. literature review as a comparatively new novel, the lighthouse has not been thoroughly studied by the learners and scholars from home and abroad, so the thesis and documents that can be used for reference are very limited. by the time of 2022, the studies on the book the lighthouse can be divided into two main types: the general analysis about the writing style and techniques employed in the whole novel; and the interpretation of the book from the perspective of psychoanalytical theory. 2.1 studies at home the studies by chinese scholars, especially by wang xiaojun, have made an exhaustive analysis on this novel about its writing style and techniques employed by alison moore. wang points out that in the novel moore artistically uses montage to unfold the two storylines—the life of futh and the life of ester. the previous life and emotional experiences of the two main characters gradually come to the light as if jigsaws being turned over to complete the whole story ultimately. wang also noted that this novel has a distinguished characteristic of the style of modern writing for the abundant use of images, symbols and the stream of consciousness technique. the lighthouse is the most outstanding image appeared in the book. it has extremely important symbolic connotation and runs through the whole story as a thread. what’s more, the author employs free association and internal monologue to depict characters, which gives the book a more modern style. 2.2 studies abroad while chinese scholars focus more on the writing style and techniques of this book, the focus of foreign scholars and learners on this novel is quite different. according to the study of professor kubilay, this novel can be interpreted from the perspective of psychoanalytic criticism. throughout the book, memory has always played an important role in futh’s and ester’s life. the two main characters are trapped in their own memories, suffering from the pain and loss caused by the past and refusing to get rid of them, just like the moth flying into the fire. by using psychoanalytic criticism, kubilay points out that the modern human beings, represented by the main characters futh and ester, are just prisoners of the past who can’t get rid of the negative influence of it and will eventually come to the tragic end just as futh and ester. through the tragic story of two generations and numerous families, the novel uncovers the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 157 published by scholink inc. fact that family can not satisfy modern people’s emotional and sexual need and is doomed to dismantle and lose its ethical function. from the previous studies on the novel, it can be found that both chinese and foreign scholars have made great progress in the study on the book the lighthouse, and they all pointed out there are ethic issues existing in the novel to some extent. nevertheless, none of them has drilled down into the deeper levels of the ethical aspects. the tragic end of the two main characters, futh and ester, is essentially caused by their failure to construct their ethical identity and their making of wrong ethical choices. therefore, there is plenty developmental space to study the lighthouse from the perspective of ethical literary criticism, to delve into the deeper cause of the characters’ unavoidable tragic life. 3. theoretical framework 3.1 the definition of ethical literary criticism ethical literary criticism is put forward as a methodology by chinese scholar nie zhenzhao in 2004 for the first time at the meeting “study on british and american literature in china: reflection and looking forward”. according to professor nie, “in terms of methodology, ethical literary criticism is an approach to literary criticism developing on the basis of introduction of ethical methods and the assimilation of these ethical methods into the texture of literary critical methods.” in 2010, he refined its definition as “ethical literary criticism is a method of literary criticism, which is mainly used for explaining, analyzing and elucidating literary works and researching the writers, writings and issues which are related to literature from the viewpoint of ethics.” (nie, 2010, p. 14) since the proposal of ethical literary criticism, the situation that western literary criticisms get the upper hand in the chinese literary criticism field has been changed. ethical literary criticism originates from literature and serves for the moral aspects of literature. as a critical approach, ethical literary criticism is often adopted to make an objective investigation into the ethical and moral factors in literary works. it is the combination of western criticisms and the theory of ethics, a completely new literary criticism that targets at the literary works. as a successful example in chinese literary field, ethical literary criticism has made the voice of china heard by others on the world literary stage and has made great breakthroughs in literary research. the nature of ethical literary criticism, mainly based on the perspective of ethic, is to make an interpretation of the ethical characteristic and ethical quality in literary works, studying the ethical values of the author and the ethical characteristic and social values behind those literary works. the ethical environment is what ethical literary criticism emphasizes greatly. thus, when it comes to the research of literary works, it is necessary to “come back to the ethical scene of history, stand on the ethical stance at that time to find out the objective ethical reason for literature and explaining why, analyze the ethical factors that brought about social events and influenced individual destiny, and finally, make moral evaluation from historical perspective.” (nie, 2010, p. 12) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 158 published by scholink inc. ethical literary criticism holds that literature is essentially the art of ethic. it is those ethical characteristics that endow literary works with infinite charms and show the moral and ethical value of literature. thus, employing ethical literary criticism to analyze literary works has great necessity and feasibility. 3.2 the definition of ethical choices and its analytical values the literary works record and narrate various choices made by individuals throughout their life, which decides that the focus of literary research should be shifted to the analysis and criticism of the specific activities of ethical choices. as the core and fundamental theory of ethical literary criticism, “ethical choices are the second choice after human beings’ first biological choice.” in the theories of ethical literary criticism, the ethical choices are the manifestation of the character’s psychology and disposition, which are made under the influence of the ethical environment, the restricted choices. the nature of ethical choices is to choose to become human or brute. it is exactly this kind of choice that has transformed human beings into higher animals, behaving differently from animals in a real sense. people would make different ethical choices under the influence of different ethical environments, and those ethical choices are the crucial factors that could determine one’s fate. the analytical value of ethical choices lies in that it is the powerful theoretical foundation for the study of human nature, “there are no other theories that can perfectly explain the process of how human beings have finished the transformation from form to essence just as the ethical literary criticism”. everyone has to make his or her own ethical choices which accompany them from the cradle to grave. as for the value in contemporary society, ethical choices are the choices of responsibility. people are facing different kinds of ethical choices, which means how one would react when he or she has to take responsibility or fulfil his or her personal values. every ethical choice made in different life stages has crucial impact on one’s destiny. thus, it can be found that the influence of ethical choices on literary works cannot be overlooked. 3.3 developments of ethical literary criticism in addition to professor nie zhenzhao, there is another scholar in china who has a profound insight into this criticism, that is professor li dingqing. in 2006, professor li declares that ethical literary criticism plays a significant role in the construction of humanistic spirit and manifests its function in the following four relationships, “in terms of man-society relationship, it is showed in pursuit of truth; as for mannature relationship, it is reflected in the pursuit of beauty by advocating the idea of harmony; concerning man-others relationship, it is exhibited in the pursuit of good by faithfully representing the complexity and ethical significance of interpersonal relationship; with regard to man-himself relationship, it inherently converts the moral desire for the sublimation of a mental being”. he also indicates that literature is a subject of human beings, and human beings are the sum total of all social relationships. the relationship between human and society is not merely the theme of literature creation, but also becomes the first criterion for critics and scholars’ studies on the value of the literature works” (li, 2006, p. 44) apart from this, li also notes that the importance of the relationship between human and human www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 159 published by scholink inc. is the main reflection of the literature spirit. therefore, it is essential that relationships between human and human are described in literature creation. professor li’s innovative thoughts on ethical literary criticism give the researchers new perspectives to employ it in literature analysis, that is to study the human-nature relationship, the human-society relationship, the human-human relationship and the human-self relationship in a literary work through closely reading the text. 4. the chaos of ethical choice and ethical identity in essence, the ethical choices are the choices about how to conduct oneself in a particular environment or context, which are also the construction and confirmation of one’s identity. the activity of one’s ethical choices are usually decided by his or her identity or social status. that is to say, different choices will be made by different people and those different choices will construct new personal identities. the analysis and evaluation of one’s personality, psychology, emotion and mentality are actually the analysis and evaluation of the ethical choices of this person who has certain ethical identity. no matter the psychology or mentality, emotion, or the morality, they all exist in specific activities of ethical choices and connect with certain ethical identity. thus, the shift of psychology and mentality usually happens during the process of making choices. therefore, understanding the characters’ psychology, emotion, morality, mental status and learn edification through analyzing their ethical choices and identity becomes a necessity. 4.1 ethical choice of ester and her ethical identity in the novel the lighthouse, the heroin ester has to make her own ethical choices. the first one is the choice of betraying conrad, bernard’s brother, and choosing to get together with bernard, which makes her lose a sincere relationship; the second ethical choice she makes is the immoral quirk of cheating when she and bernard’s marriage meets trouble. when ester was young, she had a relationship with bernard’s brother conrad. they got along quite well and ester also developed a good relationship with conrad and bernard’s mother ida. during their engagement ester heard from ida that conrad’s elder brother bernard had a bad relationship with them, and he rarely came back home even though he lived nearby. on the day of her engagement party with conrad, bernard came back home and they two developed a forbidden and immoral sexual relationship. ester was a woman who was mature enough to discern the right and wrong. as an engaged woman, she should have resisted the temptation from outside and guarded the coming marriage with her fiancé conrad, but she still chose to mess up with another man, who was none other than bernard, conrad’s brother. this kind of behavior of ester has seriously violated the moral principle. what’s more, after she had married bernard, ida told her that bernard did not love her at all, the reason for his action is just a revenge over conrad because conrad used to take his girlfriend and then rejected her. things afterwards also had proved that bernard was just a man who was strongly possessive and merely took ester as his personal possession. the second ethical choice ester made is her reaction when her and bernard’s www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 160 published by scholink inc. marriage became problematic. after their marriage life came to a plain and flat stage, ester could no longer find any love from bernard. what she did was quite extreme: she constantly seduced the male customers in the hotel and had sex with them in order to get bernard’s attention. in fact, her behavior could not resolve their marriage problem radically, instead, the situation get worse. bernard was angry about ester’s cheating on him indeed, but what he really mads at was the truth that ester was no longer his personal property and only controlled by him anymore. ester had made the wrong choice to save her dying marriage and the outcome was doomed to be a failed one. in ester and bernard’s marriage, ester has failed to construct her own ethical identity as a faithful wife and determined woman due to her low moral and ethical principle. 4.2 ethical choice of futh and his ethical identity futh also made his own ethical choice which influenced himself greatly. at an early age, futh’s parents had always quarreled with each other and their family atmosphere was quite tense. his mother loathed his father deeply. they got divorced quickly after coming back from travelling and she went off immediately and never came back to see futh. however, the biggest victim in this failed marriage was futh. as a young child, the leaving of his mother has left inconsolable scar on his heart. his thirsty for the maternal love has been cut off since his mother’s leaving. thus, futh has put his longing for the maternal love on the only item that his mother has left—the lighthouse, a perfume bottle that has been used up. in futh’s memory, his mother always wore this perfume which smelled as violet. he started to carry this lighthouse-shaped perfume bottle with him wherever he went, taking it as an embodiment of his mother which could console and comfort him. under the influence of his incomplete family, futh has become a man who doesn’t understand the true love and the meaning of marriage. his marriage also turns out to be a failed one. still longing for his mother’s love in his innermost heart, futh fell in love with a woman who has lots of similarities with his mother and anticipated to regain the love he lost from his mother. “he recalls asking angela, after they were married, if she could make an apple crumble. finding her in the kitchen the next day cooking apples, he stood at her shoulder while she worked and he told her about this memory of his mother, how the smell of the apples took him back.” (moore, 2012, p. 52) futh unconsciously treated his wife as a substitute for his long-lost mother. after getting married with angela, however, futh still did not take his responsibility as a qualified husband: “he was a bad listener, apparently, bewilderingly incapable sometimes of following simple instructions. he was always late leaving the house, late arriving anywhere, even when he had to meet angela. and he never apologized, even when he was clearly in the wrong.” (moore, 2012, p. 31) futh behaved very aloof and indifferent toward his wife in their marriage. essentially, his such kind of behaviour is due to his failure to construct his ethical identity. as a child who had been brought up in an incomplete family, his father didn’t set him a good example as the qualified husband and father, which caused futh couldn’t understand what should a man do and what kind of responsibilities a man should undertake in marriage. futh didn’t manage to construct his own ethical identity as a husband, which eventually made him face with troubled marriage in his forties. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 161 published by scholink inc. ethical literary criticism holds that the sphinx factor is a very important element which has influence on people when they are making decisions. after gaining the rationality, there still exits the animal factor on people and they still have the possibility to become the evildoer. from the perspective of ethics, ester and futh were overwhelmed by their free will, which made ester betray her former lover and formed a quirk of cheating, futh married a woman like his mother and didn’t take responsibility in his marriage. this is the embodiment of their immature rationality and the violation of the moral and ethical principle. in the viewpoint of ethical choices and identity, ester and futh didn’t manage to take their ethical responsibility, and they were controlled by the free will instead of the rational will. both made their own ethical choices, which were wrong and against the moral principle, only bringing them suffering and loveless marriage. and ester and futh’s failure to make right ethical choice is radically decided by their failure to construct their own ethical identity. this is the most important factor that caused ester and futh’s tragic life. through the depiction of the two character’s life experiences, alison moore tries to demonstrate the huge impact exerted by the wrong ethical choices and the unsound ethical identity, further indicating the importance of the personal ethical choices and identity. 5. the estranged relationship between human and human the spiritual value of literature and the function of moral instruction of literature are mainly reflected by the relationships between human and human. literature is the very manifestation of every aspect of human being’s life and human activities also play extremely vital role in literature. as professor li dingqing has pointed out: “goals of an individual can be achieved only through the cooperation with others.” hence, the relationship between people and others is an important dimension in ethical literary criticism. interpersonal relationships are formed in the context of social, cultural and other situations. the context can vary from family relations, friendship, marriage, relations with associates and neighborhoods. this part is an analysis of the relationships between the main character futh, and his surrounding people. 5.1 alienated relationship between futh and his father in the lighthouse, the readers can easily find the discordant relationship between futh and his father. according to futh’s memory, his father and mother had a bad relationship during their marriage: they often quarreled with each other, and futh’s mother behaved totally indifferent to the words and actions of futh’s father. not long after their family travelling, his mother divorced with his father and left their family, leaving futh as a single-parented child. young as he is, he had understood he still wanted the love from his mother. therefore, futh hated his father in the cockles of the heart for making his mother leave. moreover, after divorcing with futh’s mother, his father had several chaotic relationships with different women, which caused futh’s deeper hatred on him. thus, even though futh had grown up, got married and lived near his father’s house, he rarely visited his father and communicated with him. the father and son who should keep the most intimate relationship now become almost strangers to each other. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 162 published by scholink inc. 5.2 estranged relationship between futh and angela in futh’s memory, he unavoidably recalled his failed marriage with angela, his ex-wife. futh now is divorced, going to germany alone for a restorative walking. however, his explanation of the reason for his divorce with angela is quite different form the truth. futh recalled that long before their divorce, angela had developed a sexual relationship with kenny, a friend of futh. he had put all the blame for their failed marriage on angela’s infidelity. however, through the story he has told, readers can find that angela’s cheating on him is not the biggest reason. throughout their marriage, futh kept an indifferent attitude toward angela and made little devotion to his family. he was even reluctant to make apology for his own wrongdoings to angela. even when angela had an abortion, futh didn’t give her much care and attention, which finally made angela get hopeless about him and their marriage. as a husband, futh didn’t take the responsibility to provide emotional support to his wife and his family. this is the true reason for their unsuccessful marriage. according to ethical literary criticism, the relationship between human and human is an important element in the ethical relations and contains rich ethical connotations. “the basic connotation of the ethic in the ethical literary criticism mainly refers to ethical relations and ethical order that exist between human and human”. (nie, 2010, p. 17) what’s more, one’s ethical identity is always reflected by one’s relationship with others. by presenting the disharmonious relationship between human and human in contemporary society and tragic stories of family in the lighthouse, alison moore uncovers the leprosy of modern people’s ethics and morality and the disintegration of modern family and individuals. 6. conclusion the lighthouse of alison moore tells the tragic stories of many families and individuals, making the readers feel the melancholy and loneliness as the characters in the novel. this book has profound ethical connotations, and the ethical theme of it determines its profound ethical value. this thesis tries to study it from the perspective of ethical literary criticism, mainly through the analyzing of the ethical choices of two main characters, their failure to construct their own ethical identities and the ethical relationships between futh and his surrounding people, which hopefully could provide a new perspective to the research of this novel. by the analysis of the main characters’ ethical choices, their construction of ethical identities and their personal relationships between their surrounding people, this thesis intends to uncover the underlying theme hidden from the text—that is the trend of disintegration of the moralizing function of modern family, which can be confirmed by the relationship between futh and his family members; the other deeper theme is the decline of the modern male and female’s morality, they cannot get satisfied emotionally and sexually, which will ultimately cause devastating damage to everyone. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr education, language and sociology research vol. 5, no. 1, 2024 163 published by scholink inc. references geçi̇kli̇, k. (2019) memory in the lighthouse by alison moore. humanitas, 13. https://doi.org/10.20304/humanitas.464019 li, d.q. (2006). the ethical literary criticism and the construction of humanism spirit. foreign literature studies, 44-52. moore, a. (in press). the lighthouse. london: salt. nie, z. z. (2005). on the ethical literary criticism. foreign literature studies, 8-11+171 nie, z. z. (2010). the ethical literary criticism: the basic theories and terms. foreign literature studies, 32(1), 12-22. nie, z. z. (2011). ethical literary criticism: the ethical choice and the sphinx factor. foreign literature studies, 33(6), 1-13. wang, x. j. (2013). lost in the traveling——a review on alison moore’s the lighthouse. new perspectives on world literature, 55-56. https://doi.org/10.20304/humanitas.464019