Journal of English as A Foreign Language Teaching and Research

English Lexical Borrowing in Filipino: Morphophonological Adaptation of English Lexemes and Loanwords

2023-10-11T22:05:25+07:00

English has profoundly influenced the Philippine language through the assimilation of source language words into the recipient language. This linguistic exchange, influenced by historical and cultural contacts, has resulted in a notable transformation of linguistic aspects in the Philippines. Over time, English has seamlessly been incorporated into the Filipino language, highlighting a notable process of linguistic exchange. This study specifically delved into the morphological and phonological adaptations of English loanwords in Filipino, examining nuances and shifts in linguistic structure and meaning during the borrowing process through purposive sampling. Qualitative research methods and content analysis were employed, focusing on loanwords extracted from Bob Ong’s novels as a linguistic corpus, delving into the process of incorporating English loanwords into the Filipino language, exploring how this integration instigates a transformation to align with the grammatical and linguistic structure of the target language, and revealing notable morphophonological adaptations and semantic shifts that occur during the borrowing process. Inflections of English lexemes, complemented with Filipino morphemes, were observed, along with modifications to phonological rules, phonotactic constraints, morphemes, and shifts in semantic meaning. The analysis revealed an overall change in the morphophonological structure of phrases and sentences within the corpus. This research underscores the impact of cultural and contextual factors on the adaptation of English loanwords into Filipino, emphasizing specific patterns or structures in the vocabulary borrowing process tailored to the target language. This study contributes valuable insights for linguistic researchers, educators, and language enthusiasts interested in tracing language development and evolution through borrowing and adaptation.

Lipstick as a Female Student’s Visual Communication Strategy

2023-10-20T17:59:13+07:00

Symbolism through coloring is commonly used in various social communications because color is significant for representing ideas, feelings, emotions, beliefs, and spirituality. Color gives character to objects and aboutness, including the color of lipstick on someone’s lips. This descriptive-qualitative study using in-depth interviews explored how female students at the Al-Azhar University of Indonesia (UAI) represented certain meanings through their choice of lipstick colors. This study was conducted objectively and avoided gender bias. The research found that even though they semiotically did not know the associative or connotative meaning of certain colors, the informants admitted to using lipstick for various reasons, namely, for the face to look bright and fresh, being more confident and prettier, showing their natural beauty, and displaying a cheerful impression. However, the analysis proved that after taking a closer look at the 10 lipstick color choices that have been reviewed, the subconscious message they want to convey is quite complex, ranging from optimism, cheerfulness, joy, modesty, warmth, wanting to be the center of attention, femininity, passion and love, and sensuality.

Online Games and English as a Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning Among Eighth-Grade Students

2024-02-16T11:22:10+07:00

The limited vocabulary knowledge of eighth-grade students from a public institution in Loja inhibits the proper development of English skills. The present research aimed to increase vocabulary knowledge through the implementation of online games among eighth-grade students between 12 and 13 years old at a public institution in Loja, Ecuador. The investigation employed a mixed method following a practical action research model through five stages; initial reflection, planning, action, observation, and reflection, with the participation of 25 Ecuadorian eighth graders chosen by purposeful sampling. Pre- and post-tests, questionnaires, reflective journals, and peer observations collected both quantitative and qualitative data. The pretest and posttest measured students’ knowledge about their vocabulary, whereas the other instruments attempted to describe students’ perceptions regarding the use of online games to learn vocabulary. Quantitative information was analyzed through descriptive statistics and qualitative information through a thematic analysis. The results showed a difference of 3.07 points between the pretest and posttest, which denoted a significant increase in the knowledge of various aspects of vocabulary such as form, meaning, and use. Moreover, eighth graders perceived the online games; Educandy, Genially, Vocabulary Spelling City, Wordwall, and especially Blooket, as innovative and fun educational resources that increased their motivation and active participation while acquiring new vocabulary. Hence, it was concluded that online games were effective in improving vocabulary because they created a dynamic educational environment. This study contributes to the educational field by highlighting new digital tools to improve English language proficiency.

Rhetorical Features of National Newspaper Headlines

2023-09-12T14:19:47+07:00

Headlines wield immense influence in newspapers, being the primary conveyors of key messages while concurrently piquing reader interest and visually conveying innovative concepts. Therefore, our study analyzes the stylistic intricacies within National Newspaper Headlines, with specific emphasis on Rhetorical Features. To realize this objective, we adopted a Stylistic Analysis research framework, employing a lottery method and an observational checklist as our data collection tools. Employing a simple random sampling method, we carefully selected headlines from diverse national media company websites. To ensure validity, we determined the necessary sample size using the reliable Slovin formula. Upon analysis of our gathered data, a distinct pattern emerged. The use of metonymy emerged as the predominant stylistic element within national newspaper headlines. Remarkably, journalists from these media entities used this feature to deliver clarity and enhance overall readability, effectively underscoring its role in facilitating communication. In conclusion, our study delves into the detailed patterns of style found in national newspaper headlines. Our research highlights how journalists skillfully use these style elements not only to share information but also to grab readers’ attention and affect how people interpret news headlines.

Corpus Study of the Adverb of Degree ‘Feichang’ in Chinese and English Parallel Corpus

2024-01-02T15:22:39+07:00

The use of a parallel corpus for Chinese and English adverbs is still rarely explored, especially when comparing the Chinese adverb feichang with its English equivalents. ‘Feichang’ literally means "very", but English has various other words to convey the same words. The aim of this study is to compare the grammatical structure and semantic meaning of the Chinese adverb ‘feichang’ with its English equivalents using Chinese-English parallel corpus. To obtain the data, we used 50 sentences that contain the word ‘feichang’ in Chinese and English from the PKU parallel corpus. All sentences are related to the computer field. These sentences were then analyzed using AntConc, a concordance tool, to examine the grammatical structure and semantic aspects of the phrases. The findings showed that in Chinese, the adverb ‘feichang’ occurs in adjective and verb phrases. Meanwhile, in the English corpus, these phrases are rendered differently in five types of phrases: adjective, noun, verb, prepositional, and adverbial. Moreover, the word ‘feichang’ itself is rendered in a different lexicon, even though the meaning is the same. The results implied that one language can offer more varieties in expressing similar ideas, and parallel corpus can be a good source for analyzing these differences.

Comparative Analysis of Gender Representation in English Textbooks for Indonesian Junior High School Students

2023-09-27T14:36:48+07:00

This study compares gender representations in three different English textbooks from three publishers used by Indonesian Junior High School students (the Indonesian government, an Indonesian private publisher, and an International publisher). Under Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), the study specifically investigated males’ and females’ representations and the typical activities associated with both genders. Overall, the results showed that males dominated all the textbooks, visually and textually. Besides that, the analysis revealed that females still have lower representations, less variation in occupations, and feminine specialization in doing the household chores in two textbooks. However, positive representations and stereotypes also appear in the textbooks, such as neutral generic constructions and typical activities by both genders.