Pragmatic Tasks Research Articles

Grammatical Skills Development of Bangladeshi Students through Task-Based Language Teaching

The research aims at exploring whether the implementation of Task-Based Language Teaching can improve students’ grammatical skills and will furthermore investigate its feasibility as a teaching approach. A first year class of English Department at Bangladesh Army University of Science and Technology (BAUST) was used and an action research was carried out. Hence, the study targets to use Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) in the communicative grammar learning environment using various meaningful reading tasks. The research problem in this research is the poor scores of students’ grammatical mastery observed in the pre-test. The research paper is based on the use of simple present tense. The focus of this study is the use of TBLT which is believed to guide students to experience communicative grammar learning with various meaningful and pragmatic tasks in the grammar class. The research findings revealed improvement of grammar skill for the students that have at least an initial level of grammatical competence, but no difference was detected for the students of no grammar competence, indicating the need for further investigation. Therefore, this research expects to improve not only students’ grammatical mastery but also the need for better classroom condition and overall skill development.

An Examination of TTK Level 3, 4, and 5 Textbooks Used in Turkish Education of Turkish Heritage Language Speakers Living Abroad from the Perspective of Pragmatic Competence

The aim of this study is to examine the 3rd, 4th, and 5th level textbooks of the Turkish and Turkish culture course, prepared by the Ministry of National Education for Turks living in Europe and published in 2019, in terms of pragmatic competence and speech acts. The pragmatic information in the textbooks was collected directly through the document review method. The descriptive analysis method was adopted in the analysis of the data. A framework based on Vu's (2017) pragmatic tasks was created using Vellenga's (2004) classification to evaluate the pragmatic information in the textbooks. On this basis, it was determined that all three textbooks were informal and insufficient in terms of pragmatic competence and speech acts. No informative content for heritage language speakers in terms of pragmatic competence was encountered. Speech acts were conveyed to the heritage language speaker through implicit learning. In addition, it was observed that meta-pragmatic information related to speech acts, for example; when, where, and to whom it will be used, was not presented appropriately. Another finding is the lack of pragmatic activities, and it was determined that cultural activities, although few, were included in the textbook. In light of these findings, the need for a needs analysis for TTK textbooks has been expressed.

VISUAL LANGUAGE OF MULTIMODAL TEXT: PRAGMATICS OF COLOR (The Russian-Ukrainian War in the Covers of World Publications)

The given article raises issues closely related to interrelationships, interdependence and pragmatics of colors in multimodal texts. Magazine covers were selected for analysis due to the lack of a comprehensive study of the cover as a multimodal text in both domestic and global multimodality. The purpose of the article is to clarify and describe the pragmatic potential of color as a key component of the visual-graphic text for expressing the information encoded in it. To achieve the goal, it was necessary to find out the essence, specificity and functions of the cover as a multimodal text consisting of heterogeneous components; to identify the potential of color for symbolization of information and the process of decoding meanings presented on the cover with the usage of color; to analyze the peculiarity of the embodiment of the main realities within Russian-Ukrainian war on the cover by means of color and their connection with pragmatic tasks. The current study was conducted on the material of the world publications covers, including “Time”, “The Economist”, “Society”, “Elle”, “Vanity Fair”, “Womankind”, “The Guardian Weekly”, “The New Yorker”, “The Washington Examiner”, “Tygodnik Powszechny”, etc., which illustrate the urgent problems of modern society and realities of the Russian-Ukrainian war as well. The study confirmed that the main function of the сover is the reader’s attraction and increasing numbers of possible and potential sales. In addition to attracting the attention of the potential reader, the cover represents key information depicted on it by means of heterogeneous elements, that is, various semiotic codes. A magazine cover can be interpreted as a multimodal text, particularly complex of verbal and visual components, which have a strong pragmatic potential. The main visual characteristics of the cover include color, layout, prominence, framing, and photographs. Constitutive elements interact with each other and form a single semantic and informational coherence and cohesion. Color plays an important role in coding and presenting information on a magazine cover. Based on the dominance of a certain color range, the surveyed covers were ranked into several groups: 1) сovers that are done in colors of the Ukrainian flag; 2) сovers made in a crimson-grey color paradigm; 3) сovers made in a red color paradigm; 4) сovers with a black background. It was found that each of the distinguished groups contains coded information on events that illustrate the course of the war on the territory of Ukraine and the reaction of the world community to it. By decoding the visually and verbally presented meanings, the key ones were revealed, including grief, death, sadness, blood, despair, confusion. Instead, light colors and yellow-blue splashes symbolize hope for peace. By means of different semiotic codes, on the one hand, the support of the Ukrainian people is represented, and on the other hand, the condemnation of Russian aggression, the inhumane behavior of the Russian occupiers on the temporarily occupied territories and the total conviction of the current Russia leader are depicted. According to the results of the conducted research, despite the peculiarity of the text space and the form of verbal part presented in covers, it is the context and its integrity that is the text’s key aspect. This is quite explainable by the fact that the meaning of the fragment is clear and acceptable to the reader only in the case of inseparable perception of both verbal and non-verbal means in a multimodal text, in particular in covers. Color as an essential element of the visual component on covers makes it possible to perceive and interpret the key idea embedded in the analyzed multimodal samples. Verbal framing can be considered additional and such that it enhances the overall pragmatic effect.

MELODY OF AN ORAL RELIGIOUS SERMON

The article is devoted to the study of the melodic organization of the texts of Anglican and Lutheran sermons, which are an integral part of services in the respective churches. Examining the compositional features of the texts of the researched sermons made it possible to identify four compositional parts that are necessarily present in both types of sermons (topic manifestation, citation, interpretation, conclusion), each of which is characterized by relative semantic and structural independence and pursues a specific pragmatic task. The research material, consisting of oral English and German sermons, was subjected to perceptual, auditory and instrumental analysis. A complex auditory and instrumental analysis of the melodic characteristics of preachers’ speech allows us to conclude that there is unity not only in the pragmatic tasks of preachers in the two most common Protestant trends, but also in the prosodic features of the texts of oral sermons. Integral melodic parameters include the use of emphatic phrasal stress on informative and/or emotionally significant parts of phrases in supraphrasal units, the distribution of maximums of the fundamental frequency over the compositional parts of the text, the width of the frequency range of phrases, which is achieved not only at the expense of high indicators of maxima fundamental frequency in sermon phrases, but also due to lowering the lower limit of fundamental frequency values. Distinctive features include the use of different pitch levels in peculiar parts of the text: in the initial part of the Anglican sermon, there is a predominance of low pitch level, while in the Lutheran sermon, the low voice level is the most used in the final part of the sermon. On the basis of the identified integral prosodic means involved in the organisation of the analysed texts, it is possible to state that Anglican and Lutheran sermons belong to the same type of preaching discourse.

THE CURRENT STATE OF COMMUNICATIVE-FUNCTIONAL RESEARCH INTO THE TRANSLATION THEORY IN CHINA

The article attempts to describe and evaluate the current state of Chinese communicative-functional theory of translation research. The research aims to assess the present state of research communicative-functional approach in the theory of translation in China. Research methods include scientometric and content analysis, clustering. The research materials are represented by monographs, scientific papers and publications in periodicals on the topic of the communicative-functional translation theory by Chinese authors. The study sample consisted of 6209 scientific papers extracted from the CNKI database. They were divided into three clusters, viz. review, theoretical and applied research. In each cluster, the author identified the key words of the direction and carried out a quantitative assessment of the structure of publication activity with an assessment (a % share of the total sample size). As a result, the predominance of applied research into the communicative-functional theory in the works of Chinese researchers over theoretical ones was found, which proves the author’s hypothesis about the emphasis Chinese scientists put on the pragmatic tasks of the development of translation studies. It is concluded that studies of the communicative-functional approach in Chinese translatology are generally characterized by the breadth and coverage of various areas of translation, but from the perspective of theoretical depth there is still room for their further development. In this study, the author made an attempt to review the current state of the study of translation from the standpoint of the communicative-functional approach, but found that this approach still needs further theoretical understanding, further adaptation and integration with traditional ideas of Chinese translation studies. It was also revealed that it is promising to deepen the theoretical basis of the communicative-functional approach for applied research of the Russian-Chinese and Chinese-Russian approach and to develop didactic issues of teaching translators based on this approach in order to achieve better results in the translation of texts and improve Sino-Russian communication.

The neurobiological map of theory of mind and pragmatic communication in autism

ABSTRACT Children with autism often have difficulty with Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to infer mental states, and pragmatic skills, the contextual use of language. Neuroimaging research suggests ToM and pragmatic skills overlap, as the ability to understand another’s mental state is a prerequisite to interpersonal communication. To our knowledge, no study in the last decade has examined this overlap further. To assess the emerging consensus across neuroimaging studies of ToM and pragmatic skills in autism, we used coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation (ALE) analysis of 35 functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies (13 pragmatic skills, 22 ToM), resulting in a meta-analysis of 1,295 participants (647 autistic, 648 non-autistic) aged 7 to 49 years. Group difference analysis revealed decreased left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) activation in autistic participants during pragmatic skills tasks. For ToM tasks, we found reduced anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and temporoparietal junction (TPJ) activation in autistic participants. Collectively, both ToM and pragmatic tasks showed activation in IFG and superior temporal gyrus (STG) and a reduction in left hemispheric activation in autistic participants. Overall, the findings underscore the cognitive and neural processing similarities between ToM and pragmatic skills, and their underlying neurobiological differences in autism.

Perceptions of L1 and L2 Speakers on Task Difficulty of Pragmatic Tasks

In L2 pragmatics, only a few studies have examined task complexity. Furthermore, the existing studies have predominantly focused on the cognitive dimension and have lacked consistent findings. González-Lloret and Ortega (2018) and Pallotti (2019) have thereby contended that socio-interactional features be incorporated into task design. Along this line, this study investigated perceptions of L1 and L2 speakers of English regarding the difficulty of four role-play tasks with differentiated degrees of (dis)preference and imposition. Participants included 33 L1 speakers and 63 Korean L2 speakers at intermediate-level (n = 32) and high-level (n = 31). Results showed that participants’ perceived difficulty matched the design intentions exclusively affected by request size, responsibility for the problem, and persuasion across complex versions of the tasks. Moreover, the linguistic consequences of such factors entailed challenges among L2 speakers. There were also various factors that emerged for task difficulty other than the manipulated task design features, underscoring the importance of participants’ explanatory comments in L2 pragmatics.

Color and Color Nominations in Polycode Text

The question of the relationship and interdependence of the colors used and color nominations in the polycode text and the pragmatic tasks that this text is aimed at is considered. The study was conducted on the material of memes and demotivators dedicated to the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as extremist memes and demotivators. In the course of the analysis, the regularities observed in the analyzed material and associated with the use of color and color nominations to enhance the influencing effect of the polycode text were determined. These patterns include: the isolation of color within a certain form, the classifying function of color and the associative function inherent in color. The conclusion is made about the use of blue (blue-green) and red (dark red) as the characteristic color dominants of polycode texts (memes and demotivators) dedicated to the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is noted that polycode texts of an extremist orientation are also characterized by red color, a combination of red and black, the presence of white (including as a verbal component).

HEDGING IN DEONTIC STATEMENTS (on the material of German and Russian languages)

Тhe article examines ways and means of reducing the categoricalness of the deontic statement. The analysis is carried out based on the corpora of national languages, Russian and German. The nuclear equivalent of a deontic utterance in German and Russian is a deontic construction consisting of the obligatory components such as a deontic marker/predicate; an infinitive of a semantic verb denoting an action aimed at changing the situation; the deontic subject, or potential performer, of a required action as well as various optional components. The study focuses on figuring out the components of the deontic construction involved in reducing the categoricalness of the deontic utterance. The study shows that the interconnection of deontics and epistemics in the deep structure allows explicating the putative mode of deontic utterances for speaker’s pragmatic tasks. Based on the corpus data, it systematizes the means of marking the epistemic modus of a deontic statement. It reveals optional components marking fuzziness and indicating the uncertainty of necessity, which include temporal markers and quantifiers as well as various evaluative indicators contributing to communicative cooperation and creating a positive image of the speaker. It describes the semantic types of the deontic subject involved in the creation of the indefiniteness of the statement. The study addresses the role of the deontic source explication in reducing categoricalness. It reveals the role of the deontic performative in hedging the introductory message, which due to the performative formula is marked as informationally significant.

Интернет-мемы в современной коммуникации: адаптация и прагматический потенциал

The article focuses on the adaptation of memes. Internet memes are regarded as new units of communication, characterized by specific properties. Their main feature is the ability to transform based on the precedent nature of the meme and its instant distribution. The adaptive potential of internet memes leads to the emergence of new formations, expanding the range of pragmatic tasks solved through meme usage. The purpose of the article is to analyze the main directions of meme adaptation and the most productive options for transformations based on popular memes from recent years. The methodology employed includes the identification of intertextuality, analysis of speech genres, and semiotic methods involving the study of codes and their interaction within a communicative unit. Typical ways of transforming memes on the internet have been identified, such as changes in visual and/or verbal components, transformation of form and content while retaining visual or verbal markers, contamination of memes, and arbitrary transformation while maintaining thematic markers. Additionally, the stages of meme adaptation in the internet space, from the original meme to a metameme that retains minimal connections to the original unit, have been outlined. A natural outcome of adaptation is the ability of memes to transcend their primary sphere of existence and extend into the realms of media, education, art, and more.

INTERNET MEME AS A PHENOMENON OF MODERN MEDIA DISCOURSE: STYLISTIC-PRAGMATIC ASPECT

The article deals with the German creolized memes of recent years, dedicated to prominent political figures and events, selected by continuous sampling on various Internet platforms and social networks (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook). Modern linguistics focuses on the study of language as a communication tool and the study of verbal structures in accordance with the conditions in which they function. Language means are considered in their purpose to solve specific pragmatic tasks and achieve specific communicative goals, which predetermines the study of not only the structure of language units but also their participation in real communication. The media environment as a complex and multifaceted phenomenon is now not just an area for the creation and consumption of an information product, but also a space, where the information needs of a modern linguistic personality are met, certain life guidelines and values are created. In the digital plane of the media sphere guidelines, trends, and methods of genre organization are formed during the textual transmission of information in a virtual coordinate system, where the new means of transmitting ideas about reality, norms, and problems are approved. The relevance of the article is due to the need to study the linguistic picture of the world of a modern German person and the present German authorities, captured in the digital plane in the format of a meme – a standardized and integral unit of Internet communication in the German-speaking infosphere. The purpose of the study is to highlight the structural features and stylistically pragmatic potential of Internet memes through the prism of their contextual transformation and conversion into elements of ideological influence in modern German-language media discourse. The use of Internet memes in the political sphere stimulates citizens to be more active and interested in various political events, suggests the support of certain political forces. Purposeful creation of such memes is characterized by a clearly expressed ideological goal: influence on the consciousness of members of society and their involvement in a communicative discussion in the vast virtual information space.

Who Is My Neighbour?

Abstract Xenophobic attitudes towards migrants and refugees reflect a sentiment which rejects strangers as the Other. In response to Pope Francis’ appeal to educate conscience and using the normative and pragmatic tasks of Osmer’s framework of Practical Theology as a basis, this paper aims to outline the construct of human dignity as found in three dominant moral views in Africa, viz., Christianity, Islam and Ubuntu. Furthermore it investigates the use of the metacognitive strategy of critical reflection to effect a recognition of a shared core humanity and explores the translation of conscious awareness to praxis as envisaged by Paulo Freire in conscientisation.

GLOBALIZATION OF CULTURE IN THE MODERN WORLD AND FEATURES OF TRANSLATING NATIONAL AND CULTURAL LANGUAGE COMPONENTS

The article examines culture as an environment for the preservation of national specificity, language as the main component of culture, artistic text as a cultural phenomenon, defines the elements of national-cultural components, complies their classification, Linguistic design of each fragment of the translation should be determined by the described situation and the speaker’s communicative intention. This task is complicated by the fact that the description of the same subject/situation in different languages, even if there are complete equivalents in these languages, cannot be mutually unambiguous. Each local culture, therefore, each language has its own specific perception of reality. This specificity is expressed in the national cultural component of the text, which directly reflects the national culture served by the language. The analysis of modern literature has revealed the fact that ignoring the national cultural component of the artistic text in the translation activity leads not only to the distortion of the semantics, the content of the statements and the violation of the perception of the text both at the level of visual means and at the level of expressiveness, but in some cases — to the distortion of the content of the translated text. The results of the study have proved that when transferring national and cultural components from English to Ukrainian, various methods are used to achieve the adequacy of the translation and to solve specific pragmatic tasks, to prevent the text from being overloaded with unfamiliar or completely unfamiliar information for the reader. The conclusions obtained can be applied in translation practice when working with artistic texts, as well as in further research.

Frequency of language and swallowing problems in children with cerebral palsy at a tertiary care hospital Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

To investigate the occurrence of language and swallowing problem in individuals with cerebral palsy. The cross-sectional survey was conducted at the Riphah International University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from September 2018 to January 2019 while data was collected from the Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Rawalpindi, a tertiary care hospital. The sample comprised individuals with cerebral palsy of either gender aged 5-18 years. Language Sample Checklist was used for language problems and the North western Dysphagia Patient Checklist was used for swallowing problems. Data was analysed using SPSS- Version 21. Of the 55 subjects,62% were males, 38% were females, 76% were from urban areas and 24% were from rural areas. In terms of concepts, processing, and comprehension, 18(33%) persons were able to attempt the tasks, 45(81%) were unable to attempt morphological tasks, 41(74%) were unable to attempt sentence structure tasks, 40(72%) were unable to attempt literacy and narrative skills tasks, 41(74%)could not fulfil pragmatic tasks and 49(89%) had unintelligible speech. The patient checklist showed that 47(85%) children had normal medical history, 41(75%) had normal behavioural variable, 29(52%) had normal gross motor ability,40(73%) completed oral motor test, and 39(71%) had normal swallow trials. Language problems were more prevalent in children with cerebral palsy compared to swallowing difficulties.

Global Conflict of the Past in Contemporary Media Space: Historical Memory in a Discursive Perspective

The article is devoted to an overview of studies on the discursive embodiment of historical memory, particularly, in the media. The research is aimed at the overview and systematization of, predominantly, international and Russian concepts of historical memory in academic literature. The scientific significance of research results is determined by the possibility of clarifying the definitions of historical memory in the process of systematizing the existing overseas and domestic studies. With that, the “starting point” of historical memory in this research are global political conflicts, particularly, World War I and World War II. The focus of research interest is the memory of the world wars which is discursively expressed in modern media space with various pragmatic tasks. Analysis of media materials allows for revealing the mechanisms of using historical memory as a tool for creating assessment and images while covering World War I and World War II. The research makes it possible to obtain a general discursive picture of the mass consciousness and, what is especially, important, to get specific data on the linguistic “content” of historical memory reflected in online media. The article is addressed to researchers in various fields of the Humanities, journalists and a wide circle of readers who are interested in the problem.

Cognitive Processes of ESL Learners in Pragmatic Role-Play Tasks in Academic Settings.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the cognitive processes of English as second language (L2) learners that are involved in their task-based pragmatic performances in academic settings. This study, therefore, examined the cognitive processes of 30 English L2 learners when engaging in various role-play-based pragmatic performances, such as requesting a recommendation letter from a professor and negotiating an agreeable meeting time with classmates. The qualitative analyses of the retrospective verbal reports (RVRs) data of the participants indicated that the learners employed a series of cognitive, metacognitive, and pragmatic strategies when accomplishing various speech acts (e.g., requests and refusals). This study hoped to make two new contributions to the field. First, the study provided empirical evidence to validate the theoretical taxonomy of the strategy use of learners in L2 pragmatics. Additionally, the theoretical foundations of current research on cognitive processes are primarily informed by pragmatic theories. Thus, the study aims to explicate a more comprehensive view of the cognitive processes of L2 learners in pragmatic performances by employing the theories from both pragmatic and learner strategy perspectives.

The Impact of Pragmatic Tasks on EFL Prospective Teachers' Critical Thinking Skills

The Impact of Pragmatic Tasks on EFL Prospective Teachers' Critical Thinking Skills

Интерактивное выравнивание и инферирование в устном переводе

The article aims to determine the work of such cognitive mechanisms as interactive alignment and inferencing in consecutive interpreting. The study is novel in that it is the first to consider an interpreter’s activity through the lens of cognitive mechanisms of interactive alignment and inferencing. As a result of an analysis, it was proved that cognitive mechanisms of interactive alignment and inferencing can influence such cognitive mechanisms as probabilistic forecasting and compression. It is emphasised that interactive alignment and inferencing make it possible to solve a number of pragmatic tasks faced by an interpreter.

Sequence-stratigraphic model of the West Siberia Lower Cretaceous

Apparently, conceptual base of the sequence stratigraphy is one of the most acknowledged methodologies in the geological world at the present time for the sedimentary strata structure prediction. It is based on the complex analysis of the seismic, stratigraphic and sedimentary data on the depositional bodies where the structure and facies filling is regulated by the relative sea level changes. The Lower Cretaceous section of the Western Siberia in this regard is the unique object, as it is represented by the full range of the clastic depositional environments – from relatively deep-water to the continental, which are very sensitive to the conditions changes. Sequence-stratigraphic analysis results can be used to complete the pragmatic tasks in the petroleum geology as the analysis is based on the reconstruction of the sedimentogenesis processes in the past, and the understanding of that processes is the key to the generalized depositional model development. This model can be used to create the models, which can be applied to the unique local objects that occur in the Lower Cretaceous section.

Об одной редкой директивной формуле в тексте «Устава воинскаго» 1716 года

The article examines the features of the functioning of the structure of duty “povinen + infinitive” on examples of its use in the “Military Regulations” of 1716. In the function of expressing obligation and directiveness, the construction "povinen + infinitive”, according to a number of studies, was borrowed from the Polish language, through the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages, at the beginning of the 18th century. Despite the rare use due to high competition with the primordially Russian formulas of the same semantic field, it is consistently used in the texts of the directive orientation of the 18th century, performing certain pragmatic tasks, one of which is the expression of the personal responsibility of the subject of “povinnost” in the military hierarchy having a lower status a modal action object. It is assumed that the extremely rare use of the formula “povinen + infinitive” can be explained by the significant influence of the original semantics of the ‘personal responsibility’ lexeme “povinen”, which depends on the deep content of the wordroot -vin- in Russian, which does not quite coincide with the strictly deontic meaning of ‘obliged, compelled’ contained in the borrowed formula. As a result, by the beginning of the 19th century in business texts the formula “povinen + infinitive” was displaced from use by other modal structures of this functional-semantic field.