IJES 2015, v. 15, n. 1
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- PublicationOpen AccessComplementary alternation discourse constructions in English: A preliminary study(Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, Editum, 2015) Iza Erviti, AneiderThis paper examines the essential features of a group of constructions that belong to the family of complementary alternation discourse constructions in English. In this group of constructions, X and Y are two situations such that Y is less likely (or more likely) to happen than X. Each member of this group (X Let Alone Y, X Much Less Y, X Never Mind Y, X Not To Mention Y, Not X Nor Y, X Still Less Y, Not X Not Even Y, and X To Say Nothing of Y) introduces subtle changes in focal structure, resulting in changes on the overall coherence of the text. Based on these theoretical explanations, the paper specifies the conditions for the use of one connector with preference over the others. Finally, the paper argues that in these constructions we find two types of cognitive operations at work: simple cognitive operations (negative addition and/or re-association) and operation amalgams, which combine different cognitive operations.
- PublicationOpen AccessAdvanced students’ L1 (Swedish) and L2 (English) mastery of suffixation(Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, Editum, 2015) Karlsson, MónicaDeveloping the skill to form derivatives is a slow incremental process even for native speakers of English, starting in elementary school and continuing through high school. In fact, it appears to be a universally challenging area of the lexicon. Nevertheless, studies have shown that it is one of the most important skills to possess for a learner aiming to enlarge his/her L2 vocabulary and that it therefore may be worth the while for learners spending time on gaining mastery of derivative forms. In the present investigation, 15 Swedish firstterm university students were asked to take two gap-filling context-based tests on suffixation, one in their L1 (Swedish) and one in their L2 (English), both of which were frequency-based (both stem and suffix considered). The students were also asked to evaluate their L1 and L2 knowledge of suffixation. The present study thus addresses the following research questions: Considering 1) the combined frequency of the stem and suffix, 2) the complexity of the suffix (in terms of frequency, predictability, productivity and regularity) and 3) what word classes the suffixes are able to form, what 1) quantitative and 2) qualitative knowledge of suffixation do Swedish university students have in English as their L2 as compared to their L1?
- PublicationOpen AccessReferencias bibliográficas: A Rich Field Full of Pleasant Surprises. Essays on Contemporary Literature in Honour of Professor Socorro Suárez Lafuente / José Francisco Fernández and Alejandra Moreno Álvarez (Eds.)(Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, Editum, 2015) Fresno Calleja, Paloma
- PublicationOpen AccessInvestigating negotiation of meaning in EFL children with very low levels of proficiency(Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, Editum, 2015) Lázaro Ibarrola, María Amparo; Azpilicueta-Martínez, RaúlNumerous studies hold that interaction has beneficial effects on second language acquisition among adults and children in second language contexts. However, data from children learning English as a foreign language are still unavailable. In order to fill this research niche, this study examines the conversational interactions of 8 pairs of young (ages 7-8) learners of English as a foreign language while playing a game in the classroom. The objective is to document which conversational strategies these learners use and to compare them to those previously reported for other populations. The analysis of our data shows that these children negotiate significantly less than other populations but use a variety of strategies to negotiate for meaning. Also, they resort to the L1 on some occasions and use explicit correction quite often. In light of these results we will argue in favour of using these types of interactive activities in the classroom.
- PublicationOpen AccessTarget frames in British hotel websites(Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, Editum, 2015) Fuster Márquez, Miguel; Pennock-Speck, BarryThis article centres on four-word phrase frames in British hospitality websites. Our aim is to identify those frames that are specific to this website genre, which we call target frames. Each phrase frame represents an identical sequence of words except for one variable word, that is A*BC or AB*D. The words that fill the slot, marked with an asterisk, are called fillers. We used a corpus-driven approach using KfNgram software to identify the phrase frames in our corpus (COMETVAL). We regard phrase frames as genre-specific when they are significantly more frequent than those found in the written section of the BNC, which represents General British English. We further filtered our selection of phrase frames by eliminating those which were not semantically homogenous with regard to the variable words they contained. Only in this way could the 76 phrase frames we identified be classified according to their primary discourse function. We contend that our study is a valuable addition to the literature on phraseology and can be of use in pedagogical and professional settings.
- PublicationOpen AccessThe DIVIDED SELF metaphor: A cognitive-linguistic study of two poems by Nabokov1(Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, Editum, 2015) Barreras Gómez, María AsunciónThis paper will approach two of Nabokov’s poems from the perspective of embodied realism in Cognitive Linguistics. We will shed light on the reasons why we believe that Nabokov makes use of the DIVIDED SELF metaphor in his poetry. In the analysis of the poems we will explain how the Subject is understood in the author’s life in exile whereas the Self is understood in the author’s feelings of anguish and longing for his Russian past. Finally, we will also explain how Nabokov’s use of the DIVIDED SELF metaphor thematically structures both poems.