Polysemy in Najdi Arabic: a corpus-based descriptive study on the terms of body parts

Content Analysis of Culture in ELT Reading Textbooks: Appropriacy and Inclusivity

Functions of Teacher's Codeswitching in Saudi EFL classrooms: A Case Study

The aim of the research is to investigate the polysemy of twelve body parts in Najdi Arabic from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. The researcher extracted 12000 concordance lines from an online corpus that contains internet novellas written in the dialects of the Arab Gulf region. She also interviewed five native Najdi Arabic speakers to discuss the meanings of the words in the study. She analysed the literal and peripheral meanings of the words in the study by using the cognitive devices: conceptual metaphors, conceptual metonymies, image and orientation schemata as the research is based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). The results of the study showed some disparity in the productivity of the words in the study. yadd ‘hand’ has the highest number of polysemes followed by ra:s ‘head’ and galb ‘heart’. fam ‘mouth’ , kabd ‘liver’ and idhin ‘ear’ have the least extended meanings in the study.
The extended meanings of the body parts found in the study varied as they referred to different domains of knowledge such as character traits, cultural values, emotions, feelings, mental faculties, extremities, and spatial relations. The conceptual metonymies detected in the study are: WHOLE FOR PART, PART FOR WHOLE, PART FOR PART, and ORGAN FOR FUNCTION. The image schemata found in the analysis are the CONTAINER schema, SURFACE schema, the OBJECT schema, and the SOURCE-PATH-GOAL schema.
The researcher investigated the role of the prototypical properties of the twelve words in the study in light of the Prototype theory (Rosch, 1975) to investigate the feasibility of the Prototype Selection Procedure (Iberretxe-Antunano, 1999a). In addition, collocates were analysed in light of cognitive semantics and grammar to investigate the feasibility of compositional polysemy (Iberretxe-Antunano, 1999a). the analysis highlighted the collaboration between the body part and its collocate in meaning extension.
As the study aimed to investigate the universality of polysemes in Najdi Arabic, the researcher compared the extended meanings of the words in Najdi Arabic with other languages and dialects. The results of the study showed that the meanings of words in Najdi Arabic agreed to a large extent with the extended meanings of the words in other languages. According to the embodiment thesis (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), the convergence of meanings is a result of the similarity of bodily experiences. The conceptual metaphors found in the study proved to be universal as they were found in other languages. However, few instances were specific to Najdi Arabic due to cultural differences.

This study aimed at examining the presentation of the cultures of Centre and Periphery countries in regional ELT textbooks. Four ELT regional reading textbooks named, Interactions/Mosaic reading series, were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed through content analysis research technique in order to investigate the assumption that Centre countries are favoured over Periphery countries. The recording units used in the study were: 'paragraph' and 'picture'. Byram's cultural checklist (1993) was used to collect and categorize the cultural content of Center and Periphery countries. However, pictures were simply classified under one of the following categories: Center countries, Periphery countries, and shared. The study data consisted of 670 paragraphs and 327 pictures. The study concluded that Interactions/Mosaic series contained cultural presentations of different countries from the world. The cultural content constitutes two thirds of the series. Centre countries occupied 29.11% of the series content, whereas Periphery countries occupied 32.69%. The administration of T-test showed that there was no statistically significant difference at the p<0.05 level between Periphery and Centre countries in the four ELT reading textbooks. Under picture analysis, the percentage of the presentation of Center countries is 37.31%; and the presentation of Periphery countries is 33.33%. The presentation of Centre and Periphery countries in pictures and paragraphs is quantitatively balanced. Paragraphs and pictures coded under Periphery Countries presented cultures from the Middle East, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, India, Puerto Rico, etc. The qualitative analysis showed that this series has followed Gray's (2002) description of new ELT global textbooks. The topics achieved neutrality, diversity and appropriacy. No stereotypical presentations or ideological content were detected in the series.

This paper investigates the functionality and typology of teacher's codeswitching in Saudi EFL classrooms in light of Poplack's (1980) classification and with reference to the previously reviewed functions of codeswitching in other linguistic contexts. The research method used is descriptive case study. Data collection was done through class observation and teacher interview. The analysis results showed that the three types of Poplack’s (1980) classification were present in the EFL class, i.e. intersentential, intrasentential, and tags. The data analysis shows that all the eight functions found in this study are similar to the ones reviewed previously (Polio & Duff, 1994; Nzwanga, 2000; Seidlitz, 2003; Sert, 2005; Al Masaeed, 2013). Yet, some functions were not traced in this case such as reported speech, teacher’s L1 practice, aesthetic functions, etc. The function of translation constitutes approximately half of the code switches in the study corpus as previously found in Nzwanga’s study (2000). It is followed by the function of comprehension check. Vocabulary explanation and solidarity are used equally reflecting the findings of Lin (1987) that an EFL teacher can play a para-pedagogical role as a learning facilitator or sympathetic friend by resorting to codeswitching. Grammar instruction constitutes almost one tenth of the codeswitches in this lecture. The least three functions used in the observed class are: qualification, administrative vocabulary, and classroom management. As seen in some functions, codeswitching was used as a pedagogical tool to enhance language learning. In light of the functions of teacher codeswitching found in this case study, it is recommended that these functions be highlighted in lesson plans. Teachers should not hesitate in codeswitching in language classes as long as it is used wisely to serve a pedagogical or para-pedagogical function.