International Journal of Language and Literary Studies
In the field of language learning, language acquisition is an issue that is interesting to invest... more In the field of language learning, language acquisition is an issue that is interesting to investigate since there are a number of theories that explain how language is acquired at an early age. Among early bilinguals, it is important to study the factors that affect their vocabulary. This study explores the word list among Filipino- English bilingual children outside the school setting. The goal was to determine which language, whether Filipino or English, was used predominantly. A second goal was to identify the category the predominant word list belonged to. Two groups of participants were selected randomly and were asked to identify familiar words. The findings revealed that the early bilingual children belonging to the lower-income strata prefer nouns over other English word categories. The findings support the theories of noun bias, stereotyping, and Social Interaction. The results of the study may further improve procedures being done in support of data-driven language lear...
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies , 2025
In the general area of linguistics, although there is general stylistics that analyzes non-litera... more In the general area of linguistics, although there is general stylistics that analyzes non-literary texts from diverse areas such as advertising, politics, religion, and daily conversations, the term stylistics stands to more commonly refer to the analysis of the literary language. Stylistics is a vital discipline that bridges the gap between language and literature. In its essence, stylistics is the study of linguistic features-such as syntax, phonology, morphology, and semantics-and how they contribute to the aesthetic and interpretive qualities of literary texts. The study of stylistics allows the readers to delve deeper into the artistry of language. Additionally, the field of stylistics reveals the subtle nuances and underlying structures that shape meaning and evoke emotional responses, two elements that make meaning. Stylistics provides linguists with invaluable tools for analyzing a wide range of literary texts, ranging from classical literature to modern media. The linguistic tools examine the stylistic devices employed by authors, to gain insights into their unique voices, intentions, and the cultural contexts in which their works were produced. This analytical approach not only enhances the readers' appreciation of literary works but also equips them with the skills to critically interact with the linguistic choices of the authors.
This study aims to investigate the Noun Phrase (NP) attachment preference of English L2 learners ... more This study aims to investigate the Noun Phrase (NP) attachment preference of English L2 learners in the Philippines when they process ambiguous relative clauses. To this end, 29 bilinguals at a private university in Manila were recruited, and a language background survey was conducted. Based on the survey results, they were divided into Filipino-dominant and Chinese-dominant groups. Then, they were asked to undergo a grammaticality judgment test to determine their English proficiency. Finally, a questionnaire was administered composed of 40 relative clauses containing of or with conditions. Results revealed that contrary to predictions, both the Filipino-dominant and the Chinese-dominant bilinguals favor NP1 over NP2 in both conditions. It is argued that even advanced learners tend to transfer parsing heuristics from their first language or use processing mechanisms similar to the language they are immersed in.
Critical discourse analysis of selected online intercultural news stories in the Philippines: Linguistic and discursive strategies in constructing writers\u27 social identities
The study combines two areas in Applied Linguistics Intercultural Communication and Critical Disc... more The study combines two areas in Applied Linguistics Intercultural Communication and Critical Discourse Analysis to problematize the writers and the readers construction of identity /ies as well as to uncover the duality of online intercultural periodicals. Two frameworks were used in the study. The first assumes the notions Benwell and Stokoe (2007) set for representation, relation, and expression. From these notions, a model was devised to show the interconnectedness of these three elements. The second leans on Faircloughs Systemic Functional Grammar, which is heavily inspired by Halliday. The study identified and analyzed four linguistic units namely modal verbal operators, voice, personal pronouns, and mood element in the seventy-two online business articles taken from three online intercultural periodicals. Next, predominant discursive strategies were inspected. Findings revealed that predominance of certain linguistic units point to the writers and the readers identities. Chine...
The study was conducted to examine the factors of teaching effectiveness for possible application... more The study was conducted to examine the factors of teaching effectiveness for possible application to research writing teacher effectiveness. Three existing studies on teacher assessments served as basis for the construction of a 100-item questionnaire administered to 324 students of seven research writing classes at a university in Manila. Using exploratory factor analysis of eleven teacher assessment domains, the study was able to reduce the factors into four structures -social interaction, clear feedback, mastery of content, and authority. Means, standard deviations as well as Pearson correlation among the four factor structures were also obtained. With a mean of 59.6, social interaction was the first in the four categories. This was followed by mastery at 54.6, clear feedback at 47.8 and authority at 32.3. The findings have pedagogical and administrative implications.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies, 0
In the field of language learning, language acquisition covers a lot of topics that are interesti... more In the field of language learning, language acquisition covers a lot of topics that are interesting to investigate as there are a number of theories (Aljoundi, 2014) that explain how language is acquired at an early age. Among early bilinguals, it is important to study the factors that affect their vocabulary. In this regard, this study seeks to contribute to the body of existing literature regarding vocabulary; particularly, the word list among Filipino- English bilingual children outside the school setting. The goal was to determine which language, be it Filipino or English, was dominantly used among the target population. A second goal was to identify which category the dominant target item(s), i.e. word list belonged to. Two groups of participants, belonging to children whose ages range between three and five, were selected randomly. Sixteen females and fourteen males, all of whom belong to the lower-income families, were asked to identify words that they are familiar with in Filipino and English. The findings revealed that the early bilingual children belonging to the lower-income strata prefer nouns over other English word categories. The findings support the theories of noun bias (Gentner, 1982; Nelson, 1974; Markman, 1987,1989; Lucas & Bernardo, 2008), stereotyping (Halim and Rubleare (2010), and Social Interaction ( Vygotsky, 1978). The results of the study may further improve procedures being done in support of data-driven language learning.
Analysis of the Speech Acts in the Conversation Models of Selected EFL Textbooks for Iranian Learners
Language learning in EFL settings, which aims to promote mastery in target language skills and im... more Language learning in EFL settings, which aims to promote mastery in target language skills and impart natural communicative competence close to those of native speakers using the books, has always called for authentic EFL textbooks written by native English authors. In view of this, it is important that EFL books be examined to see if these textbooks meet the needs of the target learners not only on the surface but also on their deep structures. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the distribution of five speech acts Searle (1976) in the EFL textbooks used by Iranian Learners in Iran. These speech acts are Directive, Assertive, Expressive, Commissive, and Declarative. Thirty randomly selected conversation models totaling to 305 sentences were extracted from three Top-Notch series EFL textbooks. Analysis proceeded by identifying the speech acts incorporated into the conversations using Searle's (1979) Categorization Model. After classifying all the sentences into categories,...
International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2021
The study explores the properties of Cebuano pronominals in written discourse. Using Cebuano text... more The study explores the properties of Cebuano pronominals in written discourse. Using Cebuano texts that are accessed online as its corpus, close textual analysis was done that aimed at determining the position of the pronouns in the clauses of written discourse. Findings reveal the dynamic nature of Cebuano pronominals in relation to the other morphological elements preceded or are followed by them. First, if the pronoun is attached to the verb, the position of the personal pronouns changes depending on the affix attached to the verb as the affix functions to denote the time the action was taken by the agent. Second, in terms of syntactic structure, Cebuano and English pronouns are similar. Third, the syntax of the personal pronouns is relative to the morphological unit these are attached to. In the case of a negative clause, deletion of the verb the initial pronoun follows is observed. Fourth, Cebuano pronominals are context-dependent rather than gender-determined. In sum, the findings open interesting avenues for students in Applied Linguistics to further investigate. For one, these observations may be explored individually using qualitative mechanisms of analyzing Cebuano pronominals and how they spell power relationships. Additionally, a contrastive analysis may be done between Cebuano pronominals and other Asian or Indo-European languages.
The study examines the types of discourse markers adult second language (L2) learners in a resear... more The study examines the types of discourse markers adult second language (L2) learners in a research writing class most predominantly use given the types of research paper they are required to write. Two Englres (Basic Research) classes at De La Salle University Manila, each composed of between forty and forty-three students who were assigned to worked in pairs, were selected. Classes were taken from two colleges. From the two research paper classes, thirty papers were collected. The papers were examined on the basis of what discourse markers types are predominantly used in the Body section of the students’ research papers. This study used Hyland and Tse’s Taxonomy of Textual and Interpersonal Metadiscourse (2004) and Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) concept of cohesion. Results reveal that the students from the College of Engineering who are required to write a descriptive research paper use the logical connectives of addition and contrast more than they use the other types of discourse ...
The study examines the effect of teaching strategies to improved writing of students in the terti... more The study examines the effect of teaching strategies to improved writing of students in the tertiary level. Specifically, three teaching approaches-the use of modelling, grammar-based, and information element-focused-were tested on their effect on the writing of annotated bibliography in three research classes at a university in Manila. Initially, 125 participants from the three classes were administered a pre-test to check their writing proficiency. Each class was then exposed to a particular teaching approach. All participants were instructed to write an annotated bibliography right after. All annotated bibliographies were rated using one assessment scale. Descriptive statistics as well as Pearson correlations were obtained. Using One-Way ANOVA, the study revealed that the modelling approach has the most marked effect on the success of annotated bibliography writing. The findings in the study may be used by teachers to guide them in their research writing course. The study has impact on the way educators should present their learning materials for the students' more improved writing of annotated bibliography.
Teacher Effectiveness in Academic Research Writing: An Exploratory Factor Analysis
The study was conducted to examine the factors of teaching effectiveness for possible application... more The study was conducted to examine the factors of teaching effectiveness for possible application to research writing teacher effectiveness. Three existing studies on teacher assessments served as basis for the construction of a 100-item questionnaire administered to 324 students of seven research writing classes at a university in Manila. Using exploratory factor analysis of eleven teacher assessment domains, the study was able to reduce the factors into four structures – social interaction, clear feedback, mastery of content, and authority. Means, standard deviations as well as Pearson correlation among the four factor structures were also obtained. With a mean of 59.6, social interaction was the first in the four categories. This was followed by mastery at 54.6, clear feedback at 47.8 and authority at 32.3. The findings have pedagogical and administrative implications.
The study examined the differences in the writing patterns of the Inner and the Outer Circle writ... more The study examined the differences in the writing patterns of the Inner and the Outer Circle writings that were suggested by Kaplan’s (1966) Contrastive Rhetoric. Using Thatcher’s (2004) shared context framework, as well as an adaptation of John’s (1997) Writer and Reader Sharing Knowledge of a Text Model, two inspirational non-fiction literatures were investigated for their use of the term blessing. Investigation proceeded using a three-step device of identifying the major and the minor points of both texts, citing the supporting details used in the Introduction, Elaboration and the Conclusion sections and, discussing how the Inner and the Outer Circle cultures impinge on their selection of supporting details in these three sections. Data showed the American writer examined exhibited three writing patterns different from their Indian-English counterpart. The study has considerable implications in the way educators teach and respond to the writing of their non-native learners.
Effects of Teaching Strategies on the Writing of Annotated Bibliography
The study examines the effect of teaching strategies to improved writing of students in the terti... more The study examines the effect of teaching strategies to improved writing of students in the tertiary level. Specifically, three teaching approaches – the use of modelling, grammar-based, and information element-focused – were tested on their effect on the writing of annotated bibliography in three research classes at a university in Manila. Initially, 125 participants from the three classes were administered a pre-test to check their writing proficiency. Each class was then exposed to a particular teaching approach. All participants were instructed to write an annotated bibliography right after. All annotated bibliographies were rated using one assessment scale. Descriptive statistics as well as Pearson correlations were obtained. Using One-Way ANOVA, the study revealed that the modelling approach has the most marked effect on the success of annotated bibliography writing. The findings in the study may be used by teachers to guide them in their research writing course. The study has...
The study was done to determine whether the three post–reading techniques–summarizing, schema act... more The study was done to determine whether the three post–reading techniques–summarizing, schema activation, and critical evaluation–are predictors of writing proficiency. A sample of 104 students taking English at De La Salle University were administered a ...
A Comparative Analysis of the Discourse Marker Types in the Body Section of the Research Papers of Engineering and LiberalArts Students
The study examines the types of discourse markers adult second language (L2) learners in a resear... more The study examines the types of discourse markers adult second language (L2) learners in a research writing class most predominantly use given the types of research paper they are required to write. Two Englres (Basic Research) classes at De La Salle University - Manila, each composed of between forty and forty-three students who were assigned to worked in pairs, were selected. Classes were taken from two colleges. From the two research paper classes, thirty papers were collected. The papers were examined on the basis of what discourse markers types are predominantly used in the Body section of the students’ research papers. This study used Hyland and Tse’s Taxonomy of Textual and Interpersonal Metadiscourse (2004) and Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) concept of cohesion. Results reveal that the students from the College of Engineering who are required to write a descriptive research paper use the logical connectives of addition and contrast more than they use the other types of discours...
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