Authors:Kirsten Hempkin, Melita Kukovec, Katja Težak Pages: 7 - 9 Abstract: Introduction to the special issue of ELOPE: Addressing Learners’ and Teachers’ Needs: Keeping up with a Changing EFL World. PubDate: 2017-06-12 Issue No:Vol. 14, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Melita Kukovec Pages: 13 - 24 Abstract: Today’s world is marked by numerous violations of human rights. As teachers, we would like to believe that future violations can be prevented through human rights education which empowers individuals to build and promote a universal human rights culture. Young people should be given the chance to practise what it means to live together in an open and free society while at school; they, therefore, need to be equipped with a knowledge of human rights and the skills to put these rights into practice.The paper addresses issues relating to including lessons on human rights into Slovene primary and secondary education as part of the foreign language learning syllabus, as well as the need to empower future teachers to react appropriately if their students reject other people’s perspectives out of hand, or even express radical ideas in class that run contrary to democratic values. It also presents various strategies for enabling future teachers to develop the skills necessary to implement human rights education. PubDate: 2017-06-12 DOI: 10.4312/elope.14.1.13-24 Issue No:Vol. 14, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Lilijana Burcar Pages: 25 - 38 Abstract: The article foregrounds the importance of honing critical literacy through socially engaged literature. Dealing with literature in an engaged and critical way can help students to develop critical thinking skills and a systemic understanding of burning social issues that inform their own living realities. Critical literary pedagogy and socially engaged literature play a key role in developing students’ understanding of why and how institutional racism and institutional patriarchy constitute key operating mechanisms of capitalist social relations, which is why constructs of race and gender should never be looked upon as mere add-ons, let alone as a matter of mere culture and hence individual prejudice. In this sense, the article directly challenges the prevailing postmodernist approach in mainstream studies and teachings of literature. It calls instead for the restoration of socially engaged literature to school curricula and for a return to the contextually analytical and systemic (materialist) approach towards literature. PubDate: 2017-06-12 DOI: 10.4312/elope.14.1.25-38 Issue No:Vol. 14, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Mirjana Želježič Pages: 39 - 54 Abstract: Relying primarily on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and The National EFL Syllabus, this paper focuses on the highest ranking goals within formal foreign language (L2) education: the development of communicative competence (which the communicative paradigm regards as the most important goal of contemporary language teaching), and of critical thinking (CT) ability, which is widely recognised as the main general education goal. It also points to some of the discrepancies generated by tensions between the fact that language is a social and cultural phenomenon that exists and evolves only through interaction with others, and individual-student-centred pedagogical practices of teaching (and assessment) – which jeopardise the validity of these practices. Next, it links the official educational goals to the cultivation of oral interaction (rather than oral production) in argumentative discursive practices in general and in structured debate formats in particular, which are proposed as an effective pedagogical method for developing CT skills and oral interactional competence in argumentative discursive events, especially on B2+ levels. PubDate: 2017-06-12 DOI: 10.4312/elope.14.1.39-54 Issue No:Vol. 14, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Mirjana Semren Pages: 55 - 74 Abstract: This paper investigates the order of the acquisition of grammatical morphemes in the interlanguage of Croatian pupils of English as a foreign language (EFL). The order of acquisition was determined for nine grammatical morphemes. Additionally, the selected morphemes were combined to form the four verb tenses so as to determine the order of their emergence in the pupils’ verb-morphology repertoire. The study was conducted on a corpus of 36 transcribed recordings of parts of classroom interaction. The pupils’ speech production was elicited by various task-based activities. The suppliance of nine grammatical morphemes was investigated by means of obligatory occasion analysis (Brown 1973) which examined their obligatory and correct use. The obtained results revealed progress only in the acquisition of the present tense copula be. The emergence of verb tenses was partly identified due to the insufficient suppliance of grammatical morphemes in the pupils’ speech production. PubDate: 2017-06-12 DOI: 10.4312/elope.14.1.55-74 Issue No:Vol. 14, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Danijela Šegedin Borovina Pages: 75 - 93 Abstract: This paper explores the development of pragmatic competence in the interlanguage of Croatian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) at three proficiency levels (beginner, intermediate and advanced). It investigates the way Croatian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) use internal and external supportive moves to modify their requests. Data were collected using an oral Discourse Completion Test consisting of ten school-related situations. The research participants were 60 EFL learners aged between 11 and 18. The coding categories developed in the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP, Blum-Kulka et al. 1989) and adapted by Schauer (2009) were used to analyse the data. Overall results indicated that the request production of EFL learners showed little variation regarding the type of modification and frequency of their use. Results also indicated weak evidence of pragmalinguistic development across levels, particularly in the use of grounders. The infrequent use of request modification suggests that pragmatic instruction should be included in FL classrooms to facilitate the development of L2 pragmatic ability. PubDate: 2017-06-12 DOI: 10.4312/elope.14.1.75-93 Issue No:Vol. 14, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Nataša Gajšt Pages: 95 - 112 Abstract: Over the past decades, the monolingual (English-only) approach to English language teaching and learning has prevailed. In recent years, however, the trend of using students’ first language (L1) in teaching and learning English as a foreign language has re-emerged. However, the research on the use of L1 in teaching English for specific purposes is far from extensive. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of Slovene as the students’ L1 in teaching and learning Business English at tertiary level. The specific objectives were to determine the students’ attitudes towards the teachers’ and the students’ use of Slovene during Business English lessons and the students’ use of Slovene in learning Business English. The present study was quantitative, with data gathered via a questionnaire. The results show that, on the one hand, there is some inclination towards the use of L1 both in class and during their study of Business English. On the other hand, the preference towards the use of predominantly (or exclusively) English in class is also present and is positively correlated with the level of students’ knowledge of English. The results are of value to English language teachers as they suggest the contexts in which students’ L1 could be used in the process of teaching and learning English for specific purposes. PubDate: 2017-06-12 DOI: 10.4312/elope.14.1.95-112 Issue No:Vol. 14, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Janez Skela Pages: 115 - 119 Abstract: Prof. Janez Skela reviews the scientific monograph Međukulturna kompetencija u nastavi stranih jezika: Od teorijskih koncepata do primjene by Ana Petravić. PubDate: 2017-06-12 DOI: 10.4312/elope.14.1.115-119 Issue No:Vol. 14, No. 1 (2017)
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