An Overview Of The Relevance Theory English Language Essay

An Overview Of The Relevance Theory English Language Essay In Relevance: Communication and cognition, Sperber and Wilson (1986, 1995) present a new approach to the study of human communication. Relevance Theory is based on the view that human cognition is geared towards the maximization of relevance, and that communicated information comes with a guarantee of relevance. This is what Sperber and Wilson name the Principle of Relevance. The theory has sparked a great deal of research since it was presented, either supporting or criticizing the entire theory or some of its main arguments. The following presents an overview of Relevance Theory (henceforth RT) and outlines the main tenets of the theory. The overview outlines definitions of the main concepts and tenets which were originally presented by Sperber and Wilson (1986; 1995) and mainly comprised the originality of the theory, such as mutual manifestness, optimal relevance, and ostensive inferential communication. That is followed by a discussion of RT as a post-Gricean theory and how far it adopts or deviates from the views of Grice (1975). Sperber and Wilson present RT as a post-Gricean theory (Grice 1975). It takes as a starting point the inferential model of communication developed by Grice as opposed to the code model of communication. Sperber and Wilson (1995) argue that communication cannot be achieved by the code model alone, i.e. encoding and decoding messages, nor by the inferential model alone. They maintain that verbal communication exploits both kinds of process, as the outcome of the decoding process serves as the input to the inferential process by which the speaker’s intentions are recognized. According to the code model of communication, human languages are codes and verbal communication is achieved by encoding and decoding messages. The speaker encodes his/her message into a signal which is decoded by the hearer. Grice (1975) developed a different model of communication which is the inferential model. According to that model, the speaker pro vides evidence of his/her intention to convey a specific meaning and the hearer infers that meaning according to the evidence provided. Following the inferential model, communication is successful when the hearer interprets the evidence provided by the speaker as she intended it to mean. In cases where a single utterance provides evidence for different interpretations, this could lead to communication failure if the speaker does not inferentially derive the meaning intended by the hearer. Grice suggested that a speaker would observe what he called the Co-operative Principle and maxims of conversation to make his/her communicative intention clear for the hearer who would choose the interpretation that conforms to these maxims. The maxims are Quality, Quantity, Relevance and Manner. Coded communication, as one of the processes involved in verbal communication is viewed by Sperber and Wilson not as autonomous but subservient to the inferential process. Nevertheless, the inferential pro cess is autonomous as it functions in essentially the same way whether or not combined with coded communication. Sperber and Wilson (1995) argue that the code model is not sufficient to account for human communication because comprehension of utterances involves more than merely decoding linguistic signals. There is a gap between the semantic representation of sentences and the thoughts which are actually communicated by the speaker’s utterances. They claim that this gap is filled by inference. Nevertheless, they argue that the inferential model is not enough on its own to explain human communication. As they reject the code model as insufficient to account for communicational understanding, Sperber and Wilson (1995) propose a modified view of inferential communication in which â€Å"communication is achieved by the communicator providing evidence of her intentions and the audience inferring her intentions from the evidence† (Sperber and Wilson 1995: 24). Hence, verbal communication involves both coding and inferential processes.

Difficulties of vocabulary learning and the use of songs to promote Essay

Difficulties of vocabulary learning and the use of songs to promote vocabulary learning - Essay Example The main focus of the study is to determine the best teaching-and-learning method used in FL class and how to help the students to gain new vocabulary words even without the help of the teacher. Based on the research findings, it is concluded that the integration of English songs in the students’ learning activity inside the classroom enables the student to have a better score in terms of their ability to retain new vocabulary words. Nowadays, English plays a great role in education. It is the language of communication, informatics, networking and technique. Thus, it binds different nations of the world into united linguistic community. Almost all academic institutions put high on the agenda teaching English language. In order Arabian students to effectively gain knowledge of the English language, determining factors related to teaching, translation, mass media and diplomacy is required. English is an instrument of learning at various stages in the educational system of Saudi Arabia. This function justifies the choice of the research paper theme: "Literacy: Vocabulary and Difficulties of learning new words (vocabulary) in FL classes and the use of songs to promote vocabulary learning". English is the only foreign language taught in educational, industrial and governmental institutions. Basically, employees are required to learn the English language because advertisements for job openings in private sector emphasize the employers preferences for potential employees are those who can speak English. The mass media development is another medium that widely uses English in Saudi Arabia. One of the two national Saudi TV stations include: (1) channel 2 which is the English Channel (Braine); and (2) the European language radio station which is broadcasting news report in English and/or French. Likewise, we also have other forms of media such as the English daily newspapers, the Arab News, the Daily Riyadh, and the

Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Globalization - Essay Example Armed Forces. He took part in the hostilities in Vietnam. In the 70-ies Al Gore worked as a manager of the company Tangle-wood Note Builders Co. in the state of Tennessee, and was a columnist for The Tennessean. In 1977 he was elected to the House of Representatives of the 95th Congress convocation, and was re-elected in 1979, 1981 and 1983. In 1985 he was elected to the U.S. Senate from the state of Tennessee, and reelected in 1991. In 1991 he announced his candidacy for a U.S. presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. At the Democratic National Convention he became a candidate for vice president. In November 1992 he was elected vice president of the United States and re-elected to that position in 1996. Al Gore is married and has one son and three daughters. He lives in Washington, DC. The book â€Å"Earth on the Balance† (1992) was written at a time when Al Gore was the chairman of the Senate committee on ecology and environmental protection. In it in an accessible an d vivid form the problems of maintaining global ecological balance in the current situation are considered. According to many critics, it is one of the most professional researches on environmental problems, ever issued from the pen of political activist. This certainly gives the book a special flavor and keen reader's interest, especially in the third part, where the author offers a number of specific practical measures to improve environmental law and keeping the natural balance in third world countries. The book consists of three parts. In the first part called â€Å"Balance at Risk† the specific examples of ecological imbalance in the different regions of the planet are viewed. In the second part â€Å"The Search for Balance† which, from my point of view, is the most conceptually rich, the author analyses the social, economic and ideological reasons that have made a destructive attitude to the environment possible, which was until recently characteristic of the ind ustrialized world and which even today distinguishes the policy of most developing countries. The third part â€Å"Striking the Balance† is devoted to assessing the ways out of this situation. The book combines a deep analysis of economic and social causes of the current ecological crisis and the great factual material with, in my view, idealistic notions about the possibility of consolidating the efforts of developed countries in the fight against the impending danger. In particular, considerable attention is given to the propaganda of â€Å"a new Marshall Plan† as the author names it, i.e. the reallocation of national product of developed countries (amounting to 100 billion dollars per year) in favor of environment-oriented programs in third world countries. I can’t help noting that even much more modest financial measures approved by the World Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, have not been implemented up to now as well as the fact that the volume of U.S. aid to developing countries in this area was significantly reduced during Bill Clinton and George Bush’s presidency. Meanwhile, a book by A. Gore remains highly relevant as an example of a deep analysis of the origins of the ecological crisis and reflection of the concerns of political circles in the West. â€Å"Earth on the balance† over its four hundred pages undoubtedly gives us a lot of hard-to-dispute empirical facts about the Earth on which we live, about the environment.