Linguistic Incompetence Research Articles

Lexical Challenges of Translating Arabic Legal Texts into English among University Graduates

This paper sheds light on the lexical challenges university graduate translators face when rendering Arabic legal texts into English. It seeks particularly to examine the impact of lexical peculiarities of legal language in attaining the desired legal effect in the TT since the lack of these lexical ones leads to create significant legal translation obstacles. The paper analyses qualitatively and quantitively the translations of five Arabic legal texts into English by (20) graduate students from Jadara University, Jordan grounded on Šarčević’s model of functional equivalence and lexical features of legal language. The study has revealed that the eminent lexical challenges noticed in this particular area are signalled by the pervasiveness of partial legal equivalence followed by the near legal equivalence. Furthermore, the absence of formality, synonyms, highly specialized terms and inappropriate equivalence are found to create a major lexical barrier to rendering Arabic legal documents into English. In contrast, the absence of proper modality, couplings, and archaic terms are proven to play a minor role in complicating this task. The said lexical challenges are proven to contribute enormously to the distortion of the desired legal effect in the TT, notably associated with the obliviousness to the lexical conventions and technicality peculiar to legal language, high dependency on machine, literal translation in conjunction with a noticeable semantic and linguistic incompetence in the language involved. Additionally, Šarčević’s functional equivalence is noticed to be of a reasonably potential utility for choosing the fitting legal equivalence in this arena.

The Trauma of Language Learning and Self-Translation in Elena Ferrante and Jhumpa Lahiri

ABSTRACT Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet (2011–2014) and Jhumpa Lahiri’s first work in Italian, In altre parole (In Other Words, 2015) can both be read as ‘language memoirs’, for they both posit language, language acquisition, and self-translation as central narrative events as well as sites for identity construction and reinvention of the self. In this essay I juxtapose Ferrante’s and Lahiri’s works to argue that both authors explore the traumatic encounter between a repressed or unlearned native/mother tongue and an adoptive language which is also the very language of their texts and the very proof of their linguistic mastery. The essay draws on trauma studies and translation theory to examine the lexical, structural, and thematic dimensions of what I define as ‘dialect trauma’ in Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels and to analyse the recurring rhetoric of linguistic incompetence or what I term ‘language imperfection trauma’ in Lahiri’s In altre parole. I contend that ‘dialect trauma’ in Ferrante’s Quartet manifests as Elena Greco’s recurring metalinguistic glosses which compulsively re-enact Elena’s traumatic memory on the level of her literary language. I then propose that Lahiri’s ‘language imperfection trauma’ can be located in her repeated attempts to pose and pass as Italian, all the while documenting her own language learning practice. My analysis puts in conversation depictions of language acquisition and the exiled or migrant self, representations of trauma, and translingual writing.

Investigating EFL learners' writing anxiety in English class

Writing is a productive-skill that several students struggle with writing in EFL. A proper piece of writing needs appropriate writing skills. Writing skills are crucial for developing the students' academic writing. Thus, good writing is regarded as a measuring tool the performance of students' academic. Anxiety impedes students' performance in writing due to several reasons. Therefore, the prime goal of the current study is to explore the levels, the dominant type of WA and the sources of anxiety in writing English as foreign language. For this purpose, 365 university students participated. The data were collected through implementing two questionnaires. Firstly, Cheng's (2004) SLWAI was adapted to investigate the levels as well as the types of WA. Then, the CSLWAI questionnaire was adapted which were promoted by (Rezaei and Jafari, 2014) to find the causes of WA at Soran university. The findings showed that the individuals had moderate to severe degrees of WA. The findings also showed that the most provoking form of WA was avoidance behavior anxiety. In addition, the results of the CSLWAI demonstrated that low self-confidence, time limitations, linguistic incompetence, fear of tests, stress of doing a perfect work, insufficient and in effective feedback were main causes of writing apprehension.

Cultural Dimensions and Pragmatic Failure: The Case of Moroccan EFL University Students

This study examines the impact of cultural values on the production of three speech acts (complaints, apologies, and refusals) by Moroccan Learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The study involves three groups of participants: Moroccan EFL learners (MLE), American speakers (AE), and Moroccan Arabic speakers (MA). The objective of this cross-cultural pragmatic study is to explore and identify the extent to which pragmatic failure can be attributed to the cultural value and dimensions of the learners rather than their linguistic incompetence. Participants were given Discourse Completion Task questionnaires to elicit their reactions to various situations. The results, based on Hofstede's cultural dimension framework (2010) and Hall's cultural specifications (1976), showed that culture has a significant effect on the performance of the speech acts under investigation. Findings suggested that cultural specificities do affect the pragmatic choices made by the interlocutors across the three groups of informants.

Using Shadowing Technique to Measure B1 Level Learners’ Attitudes towards their Speaking Skills

Speaking has been stated as being one of the most challenging skills by EFL learners in Turkey. A combination of psychological factors such as anxiety or fear of being criticized and linguistic incompetence has led to this problem. Although initially emerged as a tool to assist learners in listening skills, shadowing technique has also proven to be useful in improving learners’ speaking skills as well. The aim of the present study was to see if shadowing technique was efficient enough to help B1 level EFL learners develop positive attitudes towards their speaking skills. Furthermore, the study set out to see if learners get rid of their speaking anxiety and could take active part in communicative activities in the future classes. For this ultimate purpose, a Likert scale consisting of seven questions and interview questions were used. After taking the required permission from the ethics committee, the study was conducted for four weeks, in which participants listened to and repeated the tracks from the podcasts chosen in accordance with their language levels. 31 participants took part in the study. The participants were asked to carefully watch the recordings by paying attention to the pronunciation, stress and intonation. The results from the study were analysed through content analysis and a descriptive research design was used. According to the results, it was observed that the majority of the participants developed positive attitudes towards speaking skills and felt more willing to express themselves in communicative activities. Further studies with more participants are recommended to see if shadowing technique is also applicable in different contexts and groups.

On the Translation of Linguistic Landscape: strategies and quality assessment

This article studies linguistic landscape (LL) from a translational perspective. It aims to examine the translation strategies adopted in translating texts on non-official public signs and assess the quality of their translations. For accomplishing this, the author analysed a corpus of one hundred photos of public signage representing bilingual (translational) content based on two criteria. Namely, the translation strategies employed in translating public signs and the appropriateness of public signage translations for their target readers. The study concludes that several translation strategies are used to convey the informative content of public signs, such as transference, word-for-word translation, generalisation, and omission. Furthermore, the study reveals cases of inaccurate translations that can be attributed to the translator’s linguistic incompetence, improper use of translation strategies, and linguistic incompatibilities between English and Arabic. Such mistranslations distort the informative content of the original text and give rise to different interpretations. The study’s implication is to draw attention to the importance of translational content of public signs as it serves as a medium of communication and reflects the image of linguistic cityscape.

Creating a Book Culture In a Special Needs School With Specific Reference to Visually Impaired Learners

This paper outlines the role played by the library at a special needs school in Durban, South Africa, to create within the school a dynamic and vibrant book culture. The task is a challenging one, because with limited resources, the library staff are endeavoring to create opportunities and circumstances which will facilitate learners who have physical disabilities (including visual impairment), linguistic incompetence and cultural impoverishment, to access the richness of reading, writing, and storytelling and listening. The process began with recognizing the inadequacy of the library. Subsequently, enlarging the library, acquiring 2000 new books, including visually impaired learners and introducing a writing club facilitated a process which is ongoing.

Тенденції тa зaкoнoмiрнoстi мoвнoї пoлiтики в Укрaїнi в 1950–1960-х рр.

The authors study the language traditions and patterns of the Ukrainian language development in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the period of 1950–1960. As part of this study the paper considers the peculiarities of the social and cultural linguistic situation in Ukraine in that time. A special attention is paid to the fact that there was a Ukrainian-Russian way of communication that was a result of the active and purposeful implementing of the Russian language into all spheres of social life of soviet Ukrainians. The authors prove that the purposeful russification, damaging and discreditation of the Ukrainian language slowed down the development of Ukrainian national culture. It has become a threat for consolidation and development of Ukrainian nation. In the result, nowadays we deal with the linguistic incompetence and the low level of realizing the national self-identity of Ukrainians who started to depend on historical realia. The study of the development of the Ukrainian language at various stages of its formation is very important. It helps to understand the causes and find ways to solve many modern language problems. Thus, an article is an actual and important scientific research. Authors study such important issues as the linguistic incompetence of Ukrainians, the existence of bilingualism, the priority of the Russian language and the influence of Russian culture, the low level of national self-awareness, national self-identity, and others. the authors made a thorough analysis of the peculiarities of the linguistic situation in Ukraine in the 1950s and 1960s, studied the content, factors and implications of the linguistic policy of Soviet power in Ukraine, outlined the prospects for future research in this field.

Functions of Code-switching in Young Moroccans’ Facebook Comments

<em>This study investigates, through a qualitative approach, code-switching practices of young Moroccans in their Facebook interactions. The purpose behind this research is to analyse the functions of code-switching in Facebook comments, that were extracted from 30 Facebook accounts, and find out whether the choice of switching between languages is a conscious act that serves certain communicative functions, or it is a random choice made by young Moroccan Facebook users to compensate for a linguistic incompetence. Functions were coded and analysed using a grounded theory. Results achieved through the analysis of code-switching functions that occurred in the participants’ Facebook comments revealed that code-switching appeared, mainly, to serve notions of quotation, addressee specification, availability, principle of economy, indicating emotions, clarification, emphasis, habitual expressions, creativity and euphemism. Therefore, code-switching in young Moroccans’ Facebook comments is considered as a communication strategy that aims at enhancing their interactions in Facebook and making them more fluid and vibrant.</em>

Teachers and Students Code-Switching: The Inevitable Evil in EFL Classrooms

Code-switching has been primarily investigated in a variety of sociocultural contexts, especially in foreign and second language settings. The majority of code-switching instances, whether in teacher-initiated activities or teacher-student interaction, seem to suggest that these interactions reflect a sophisticated language use and serve a variety of pedagogical purposes. This study aims to find out the main functions and roles of code-switching among EFL high school teachers and students in Jordan. For this purpose, classroom observation and a questionnaire were used as instruments. Two EFL teachers were regularly observed, and notes of their code-switching behaviour over four weeks were taken, examined, classified, and finally analysed. A questionnaire was used for 330 students from two secondary schools in Jordan. The students were asked to fill in a Likert-type questionnaire. From the classroom observation, the results showed that teachers code-switch for several reasons including affective function, giving instructions and directions, and linguistic incompetence. The questionnaire administered to students showed that students code-switch for non-linguistuc purposes such as maintaining rapport and interpersonal relationships as well as keeping the line of communication without interruption to avoid any sort of conflict or misunderstanding. This study concludes by recommending that teachers should improve students’ English language skills in non-linguistic domains such as the affective and interpersonal ones. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.5

A Satirical Reading of Wole Soyinka’s <i>A Play of Giants</i>

Satire is the literary art of diminishing a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking towards its attitudes manner in which the follies and foibles or vices are unmasked by the satirist. The great modern age of satire was the neo-classic period when the satiric spirit was everywhere present and a return was made to formal verse satire. This paper examines how Soyinka has responded to the socio-political and economic situation in Africa by creating A Play of Giants. It also examines how Soyinka, a sensitive playwright, in A Play of Giants mirrors events in the African society in such a daring and imaginative manner by satirizing them. The findings reveal that Soyinka presents his characters as hollow men to show their worthlessness and emptiness despite being at the helms of power. Soyinka reveals the hollowness of the characters exposing their linguistic incompetence. This study identifies some devices technically deployed by Soyinka to include irony, humour, wit, sarcasm and symbolism. Through the use of satire, Soyinka targets African political leaders who have become monsters because of the powers they wield. Wole Soyinka uses satire to raise the consciousness of the people and prick the conscience of the ruling political elite in Africa.

SOME PROBLEMS OF GRAMMATICAL AGREEMENT IN WRITTEN PRODUCTIONS OF SCIENCE STUDENTS OF ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES

Concord, also termed Agreement in English grammar, is an indispensable sentential element in daily language use. So its knowledge is instrumental to meaningful learned communication. A major type is subject-verb concord which has attracted detailed description in grammar and adequate focus in empirical studies on the usage problems of learners of English as a second language particularly at the tertiary school level in Nigeria. But other concord types have not had sufficient focus in such research works. The purpose of the study is to describe the other concord types using structural grammar approach and investigate the difficulties with their usage in the written productions of some science undergraduate students. The study subjects are two hundred and eighty-six students randomly drawn from among first-year students of an academic session in University of Agriculture, Makurdi. A research instrument, which has both essay- writing task and objective test, was administered to the students at the close of the session when they had had a use of English course, called Communication in English . Frequency and percentage statistical tools, in addition to extracts from the students’ works, are used to analyze the data. The findings show that the students construct sentences devoid of the following concord relationships: subject-complement, object-complement, distributive-number, pronoun-antecedent and concord of person. The identified linguistic incompetence adversely affects their communication in English. It is therefore recommended that the concord types studied here should be adequately taught and accompanied with sufficient practice exercises at the level of the English course for first-year university students so that they can gain mastery in the use of the items in communication. Article visualizations:

Política, desentendimento e representação fonográfica entre os Tikuna

A partir de una breve etnografía del proceso fonográfico realizado entre aldeas, grupos y músicos tikuna, se presentan reflexiones sobre los alcances y límites de metodologías participativas, tanto desde el punto de vista de las incompetencias lingüísticas generadas por el encuentro de tecnologías de comunicación distintas, y de los desentendimientos estratégicos accionados en la generación y ampliación de musicalidades en disputa.

Code-switching as a marker of linguistic competence in bilingual children

Code-switching is a common phenomenon that bilinguals engage in, including bilingual children. While many researchers have analyzed code-switching behaviors to better understand more about the language processes in bilingual children, few have examined how code-switching behavior affects a child's linguistic competence. This study thus sought to examine the relationship between code-switching and linguistic competency in bilingual children. Fifty-five English–Mandarin bilingual children aged 5 to 6 years were observed during classroom activities over five days (three hours each day). A number of different word roots and mean length of utterance for both languages, and a number of code-switched utterances for each child, were computed. English receptive vocabulary scores were also obtained. Additionally, teachers rated children's English and Mandarin language competencies approximately six months later. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses support the argument that code-switching does not indicate linguistic incompetence. Instead, bilingual children's code-switching strongly suggests that it is a marker of linguistic competence.

Multilingual Students Strategies for Participation in Language Contexts<br>—Students Tell about Language, Language Development and Language Competence in a School Practice

In order to increase knowledge and understanding of school as language practice, a life story approach is used to study multilingual pupils’ narratives about their nine years in compulsory school. Texts with the heading My School Years are interpreted. Experiences of being outside and initially lacking access to the linguistic contexts in school as well as approaches to linguistic competence or incompetence emerge from the analysis. The pupils’ overall language potential is invisible. Other findings are efforts toward what can be described as linguistic uniformity, school and education and development of the pupils’ social and cultural capital and linguistic competence.

Lost in Non-Translation?

This article identifies a widespread ‘deaf spot’ in English-language criticism of the foreign-language film, namely the lack of attention given to the foreign-language voice. It points to the key driver behind this omission: an anxiety about the ability of the critic to capture sound through writing that is exacerbated when that sound carries language beyond the critic’s comprehension. The article proposes a style of criticism that acknowledges the limitations caused by linguistic incompetence, but that also finds a ‘way in’ to the vocal soundtrack through attention to certain non-semantic qualities of voice. This interpretative practice is tested through an analysis of the vocal soundtrack of Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai, 1997), which is followed by a critical reflection on the relevance of this reading strategy to wider debates about foreign spectatorship, world cinema, and the role of subjectivity within film criticism.

Communication with Health Care Services-Experiences of Kurdish Refugees in Scandinavian Countries

Background: According to recent statistics, the number of people who had fled their own home by 2015 was 59.5 million. In this context, the number of people who need a third person as a language link in communication with health care services has increased dramatically. This issue has led to a major challenge to healthcare providers to fulfill immigrants’ needs in communication with health care services in resettlement countries. Aim: To study Kurdish refugees’ experiences concerning communication with health care services in resettlement countries. Methods: Focus group interviews carried out with five groups of Kurdish refugees (N=21). The group interviews were transcribed, interpreted, analyzed and the text was categorized according to the content analysis method. Results: A number of difficulties regarding communication with health care services with the use of an interpreter, as well as with immigrants’ independent communication, were highlighted by the present study. Participants’ dissatisfaction with interpreters, and their competence in communication through an interpreter were reasons why some of them avoided using an interpreter although their language knowledge was limited. The other group finally had to use interpreters following their exaggeration of their language ability, meanwhile the third group waited until their language skills were good enough for independent communication. Conclusion: A number of difficulties concerning the Kurdish refugees’ communication with health care services in Scandinavian countries were revealed by the present study. Interpreters’ linguistic incompetence, their relatives’ impartially and lack of language knowledge in communication through interpreters were problems mentioned by participants. Dissatisfaction with professional interpreters’ competence, exaggeration of their own language ability by some of the participants and sufficient language knowledge were motives for Kurdish refugees’ tendency to make independent communication with health care services.

Towards a well-being focussed language pedagogy: enabling arts-based, multilingual learning spaces for young people with refugee backgrounds

The following article explores the conceptual background and pedagogical realities of establishing a well-being focussed language pedagogy in the context of an informal educational event called ‘Language Fest’. The event was organised as part of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded large grant project ‘Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law and the State’ – for the UK’s ‘Being Human Festival’ 2014. The event aimed to celebrate the multiple languages present in the city of Glasgow in Scotland. Participants consisted of 40 teenage ESOL learners with asylum and refugee backgrounds. Based on auto-ethnographic reflections and short interview excerpts, the article focuses on one particular situation of ‘shared singing’ which took place as part of one of the event’s music and drama-based workshops. The author reflects on her act of learning how to sing the Chinese children’s song ‘Two Tigers’, from Chung, a Mandarin speaker and ESOL college student in Glasgow. The article explores the valence of the author’s linguistic incompetence in this learning situation and argues that arts-based language learning is a situated practice that prioritises ethical, relationship-based objectives over static notions of language competence.

Hearing as Touch in a Multilingual Film Interview: The Interviewer’s Linguistic Incompetence as Aesthetic Key Moment

ABSTRACTThis article explores the author’s embodied experience of linguistic incompetence in the context of an interview-based, short, promotional film production about people’s personal connections to their spoken languages in Glasgow, Scotland/UK. The article highlights that people’s right to their spoken languages during film interviews and the embodied, translingual dimensions manifested through their languages pose important methodological questions for research contexts where more than one language is present. In order to understand the relationship between the interviewer’s discomfort when not being able to linguistically connect and people’s rights to speak their languages, the article draws on existing concepts in language studies such as “linguistic incompetence” (Phipps, 2013) and “translingual practice” (Canagarajah, 2013). Mieke Bal’s (2007a, 2007b) “migratory aesthetics,” and Sara Ahmed’s (2000) notion of “hearing as touch” are used to frame the embodied and aesthetic dimensions of the overall film production. It is argued that the interviewer’s bodily discomfort during multilingual film interviews and the ethical and methodological considerations it triggered reveals the film production as a space for imaginative acts. These can rupture monolingual expectations and dignify people’s language practices in the process.

Exploring Theory of Mind Use in Blind Adults During Natural Communication.

The aim of this article is to explore whether people who are blind are as successful in recognising other people’s mental states in communicative situations as people who are sighted. In the current investigation, a group of blind and sighted individuals were tested on their first and higher-order ToM abilities to recognise the intentions, feelings and beliefs of people engaged in natural conversations. The results revealed significant differences between the groups in the recognition of mental states, but no differences were found in their first-order and higher-order ToM use. The study shows that people who are blind may understand other people’s intentions, feelings and beliefs differently than people who are sighted. This is not because of their ToM deficits or linguistic incompetence, but because during communication blind individuals have limited access to the information about others’ mental states.