Books by Staff
ABSTRACT
AN INTRODUCTION TO HINDI Intermediate level builds on the foundations established in the first book (An Introduction to Hindi - elementary level). It equips the learner with a wider range of skills and exposes them to new literary devices. It is an essential accompaniment for anyone who seeks to continue learning Hindi to attain native proficiency.
ABSTRACT
An Introduction to Hindi (Elementary Level) is an all-in-one book that has been designed to serve as a go-to companion for those wanting to learn Hindi. With a simplified step-by-step learning process, this book serves as an accessible starting point for beginners. It will allow beginners to learn and understand Hindi grammar and vocabulary seamlessly, which will equip them with the confidence to converse in Hindi. Readers will also discover the Indian culture and the nuance of words in Hindi.
Abstract:
This book explores the factors that lead to productive social engagements. Showing empathy to the cultural semiotics of the other speaker results in a successful social interaction. An impressive speaker is a culturally empathic social actor, who pays attention to the speech styles of the other interlocutors. To yield maximal learning outcome, a language teacher may tap the digital proclivity of young learners by incorporating blogging as the e-learning component in foreign language pedagogy. Realignment of delivery to be in sync with the learners’ commonplace digital practice represents a culturally intelligent social mimicry in foreign language education.
Abstract:
It is a common observation that effective learners are more flexible and systematic in their strategy use and that they reflect regularly on their learning – signs of a well-regulated metacognition. To explain this, the author constructs a comprehensive model of metacognition in foreign language learning. He further argues that the learner's metacognitive development is a pre-requisite for learner autonomy. Contextual factors impact on the beliefs and attitudes of teachers and learners. The author reports on an empirical study investigating the effects of the latter on the implementation of a new German language curriculum in Singapore that promotes learner autonomy and suggests that improving the metacognition of the teachers and learners may provide the answer to such negative factors. Abstract of Book in German entitled "Metakognition und der DaF-Unterricht für asiatische Lerner. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen" (392pp.) (English translation: "Metacognition and German as a Foreign Language for Asian Learners. Possibilities and Limitations") Not only effective language learners are capable of employiong strategies while learning. However, teachers have often observed that effective learners are usually more flexible and systematic in their use of strategies and that they reflect more regularly on their own learning. These are signs of a well-developed metacognition. To explain this link, the author presents a comprehensive thepretical model of metacognition and foreign language learning. The book will also attempt to explain why the metacognitive development of the learner can be considered to be a necessary foundation for greater learner autonomy. The context of learning can have an immense impact on the curriculum of school education as well as the attitudes and beliefs of both teachers and learners. Using the German as a Foreign Language lessons for secondary pupils in the Asian state of Singapore as an example, the author attempts to show how contextual factors can in fact seriously hamper the implementation of a foreign language syllabus that aims at encouraging greater processorientation and learner autonomy. To overcome such obstacles, he proposes that greater efforts be put into the learners' metacognitive development and puts forward some practical ideas to achieve this. Abstract of Book entitled "German Language Syllabus (with Teaching Guidelines) for Secondary 1-4" (83 pp.) German Language was first introduced as a secondary school subject in Singapore in 1980. The first formal syllabus, written seven years later in 1987 and based on the communicative approach to language teaching, was considered then to be 'modern' and 'progressive'. However, in view of rapid developments in research into the areas of learner autonomy and learner strategies as well as the Singapore's new educational goals for the 21st Century, there was, by 1996, an urgent need to redevelop the syllabus. In this new syllabus, greater emphasis is placed on autonomous learning and procedural competence. The new syllabus does not merely contain sample lists of the proficiencies, topic areas and grammar items included in the German syllabus for the secondary level. It actually provides teachers and curriculum developers with an introduction to the theoretical foundations of the new syllabus and a justification of its principles and recommendations. To do so, it draws upon the latest relevant findings from related research disciplines.
Abstract:
It is a common observation that effective learners are more flexible and systematic in their strategy use and that they reflect regularly on their learning – signs of a well-regulated metacognition. To explain this, the author constructs a comprehensive model of metacognition in foreign language learning. He further argues that the learner's metacognitive development is a pre-requisite for learner autonomy. Contextual factors impact on the beliefs and attitudes of teachers and learners. The author reports on an empirical study investigating the effects of the latter on the implementation of a new German language curriculum in Singapore that promotes learner autonomy and suggests that improving the metacognition of the teachers and learners may provide the answer to such negative factors.
Abstract of Book in German entitled "Metakognition und der DaF-Unterricht für asiatische Lerner. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen" (392pp.) (English translation: "Metacognition and German as a Foreign Language for Asian Learners. Possibilities and Limitations")
Not only effective language learners are capable of employiong strategies while learning. However, teachers have often observed that effective learners are usually more flexible and systematic in their use of strategies and that they reflect more regularly on their own learning. These are signs of a well-developed metacognition. To explain this link, the author presents a comprehensive thepretical model of metacognition and foreign language learning. The book will also attempt to explain why the metacognitive development of the learner can be considered to be a necessary foundation for greater learner autonomy. The context of learning can have an immense impact on the curriculum of school education as well as the attitudes and beliefs of both teachers and learners. Using the German as a Foreign Language lessons for secondary pupils in the Asian state of Singapore as an example, the author attempts to show how contextual factors can in fact seriously hamper the implementation of a foreign language syllabus that aims at encouraging greater processorientation and learner autonomy. To overcome such obstacles, he proposes that greater efforts be put into the learners' metacognitive development and puts forward some practical ideas to achieve this. Abstract of Book entitled "German Language Syllabus (with Teaching Guidelines) for Secondary 1-4" (83 pp.) German Language was first introduced as a secondary school subject in Singapore in 1980. The first formal syllabus, written seven years later in 1987 and based on the communicative approach to language teaching, was considered then to be 'modern' and 'progressive'. However, in view of rapid developments in research into the areas of learner autonomy and learner strategies as well as the Singapore's new educational goals for the 21 st Century, there was, by 1996, an urgent need to redevelop the syllabus. In this new syllabus, greater emphasis is placed on autonomous learning and procedural competence. The new syllabus does not merely contain sample lists of the proficiencies, topic areas and grammar items included in the German syllabus for the secondary level. It actually provides teachers and curriculum developers with an introduction to the theoretical foundations of the new syllabus and a justification of its principles and recommendations. To do so, it draws upon the latest relevant findings from related research disciplines.
Abstract:
Mes Expositions universelles (1889-1900) brings together the chronicles written by Jean Lorrain on the last two World Fair Exhibitions of the Nineteenth Century. Jean Lorrain, a poet, a novelist, a dramatist, and also a well-known journalist, proposes in these chronicles not another official perspective, but a more personal approach which makes these Exhibitions seem more alive and bring them closer to a XXIst Century reader. Jean Lorrain did not worry about the political correctness, he wrote as he felt, showing his enthusiasm or expressing his dissatisfaction. Buffalo Bill, the great Japanese stage actress Sada Yacco, the Eiffel Tower , the Javanese dancers, Edward Burne-Jones, The Palace of Cochinchine are among the subjects he wrote on. Jean Lorrain Mes Expositions universelles (1889-1900) is for all kinds of public: Jean Lorrain specialists, World Fair Exhibition specialists, as well as a larger audience who will find in hundreds of notes the necessary information to appreciate this journey through time and through what could be considered the most beautiful World Fair Exhibitions of all time.
Jean Lorrain Mes Expositions universelles (1889-1900) is written in French.
Jean Lorrain Mes Expositions universelles (1889-1900). Paris: Honoré Champion, 2002, pp.436.
Abstract:
The Vietnamese Language Textbook for Foreigner 1 and 2 (VSL 1&2) are the first and second of a series of six Vietnamese Language Textbooks written by the teachers of Department of Vietnamese Studies and Vietnamese Language for Foreigners, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of HochiminhCity. These two books aim to provide a general knowledge in learning Vietnamese for foreigners who chose Vietnamese as their second tongue. The two main sections of these two books as follow:
PRONUNCIATION: It is usually the case that Vietnamese pronunciation is always an obstruction for foreigners when they start to learn Vietnamese. This is especially true for learners who their native tongue is not a tonal language. Therefore a methodically pronunciation practice is considered as a crucial step in overcome this difficulty. The pronunciation section in VSL1 provide a systematically pronunciation lessons which are arranged in a suitable order, e.g. from a simple and easy one to the more difficult. This arrangement helps learners to gain a best result in practicing the pronunciation of Vietnamese without causing boredom. After learning this section for 15 to 20 hours with the help from a teacher, learners will have a firm grasp of Vietnamese pronunciation and in particular tones and intonation.
LESSONS: This section includes 12 lessons in each VSL 1 and VSL 2 in which a number of model sentences, a number written Vietnamese Grammar points and a about 500 essential lexemes are introduced. The subject matter relates to common everyday topics that are critical to a beginning learner in learning Vietnamese as foreign language. With lively dialogues that are related to real life, pictures that illustrate the contents of each lesson, an abundance of exercise of various forms, precise and succinct notes, all prepared in the spirit of modern language teaching techniques, VSL1 and VSL2 are laid out in a suitable style and easy to understand. Through realistic dialogues attached to the everyday life, and through various exercise type accompanied by concise, simple and suitable grammar notes, the authors hope that these two textbooks will be helpful to the learners.
Abstract:
The Vietnamese Language Textbook for Foreigner 1 and 2 (VSL 1&2) are the first and second of a series of six Vietnamese Language Textbooks written by the teachers of Department of Vietnamese Studies and Vietnamese Language for Foreigners, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of HochiminhCity. These two books aim to provide a general knowledge in learning Vietnamese for foreigners who chose Vietnamese as their second tongue. The two main sections of these two books as follow:
PRONUNCIATION: It is usually the case that Vietnamese pronunciation is always an obstruction for foreigners when they start to learn Vietnamese. This is especially true for learners who their native tongue is not a tonal language. Therefore a methodically pronunciation practice is considered as a crucial step in overcome this difficulty. The pronunciation section in VSL1 provide a systematically pronunciation lessons which are arranged in a suitable order, e.g. from a simple and easy one to the more difficult. This arrangement helps learners to gain a best result in practicing the pronunciation of Vietnamese without causing boredom. After learning this section for 15 to 20 hours with the help from a teacher, learners will have a firm grasp of Vietnamese pronunciation and in particular tones and intonation.
LESSONS: This section includes 12 lessons in each VSL 1 and VSL 2 in which a number of model sentences, a number written Vietnamese Grammar points and a about 500 essential lexemes are introduced. The subject matter relates to common everyday topics that are critical to a beginning learner in learning Vietnamese as foreign language. With lively dialogues that are related to real life, pictures that illustrate the contents of each lesson, an abundance of exercise of various forms, precise and succinct notes, all prepared in the spirit of modern language teaching techniques, VSL1 and VSL2 are laid out in a suitable style and easy to understand. Through realistic dialogues attached to the everyday life, and through various exercise type accompanied by concise, simple and suitable grammar notes, the authors hope that these two textbooks will be helpful to the learners.
Abstract:
This is a text for speakers of English to learn to speak and understand the Vietnamese language. It is designed for classroom use at the secondary or tertiary education level for beginners without language background and also for self study. A website based on the textbook has been developed by NIU.
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/vietnamese/VNMainpage/vietsite/vietsite.htm
Abstract:
The test contains 15 chapters. Each chapter has dialogs, an elaboration on structures and exercises, and a reading component. Every fifth chapter is a review lesson.
The two-fold aim of the text is to build on an ability in general conversation and to develop skills to talk and read about particular topics. The text also seeks to further an understanding of Vietnamese society and values and aspects of cross-cultural communication through conversations and through Vietnamese writings.
Abstract:
Accompanies Contemporary Vietnamese: An Intermediate Text.
The third in the series of texts for learning Vietnamese from NIU. Intended for intermediate students, this text includes readings on the Vietnamese land and its people; Vietnamese society and culture; current affairs; the environment; health and safety; demography and family planning; politics; economics and finance; Vietnamese literature; and Vietnamese women.
"One of the first textbooks teaching Vietnamese at an advanced level. . . . This book will undoubtedly fulfill the needs and expectations of teachers and students of Vietnamese in many countries throughout the world." - Dr. Tran thi Vinh, National University of Hanoi
Abstract:
This paper deals with the counterpolitics and interventions taking place around women's bodies, their relationships and their everyday lives. It is these interventions which form the basis around which the modernising tendencies in contemporary Vietnam are framed. We focus on the meanings of women's bodies from the sexual to the reproductive, from the instrument of labour and discipline to the focus on pleasure and from the fully lived to the dispersed and disarticulated. The new configurations of family, friendship and romance in Vietnam are being driven by young single women. The paper argues that young women's bodies and relationships are the most significant site of social change and fragmentation.
The paper explores the different forms of negotiation being undertaken by young women: negotiation between memory and forgetting, between public space and private space, between tradition and revolution, reproduction and sex, love and romance, and the associations and intermeshings of family, community and the collective with the individual. In spite of consistent images of feminine sacrifice in film, magazines and fiction, the forms of gendered nostalgia for family and contiguou s s ocial relations produce an idealised image of womanhood from which young Vietnamese women are increasingly withdrawing. We argue that these young women are no longer wanting to construct themselves in these either/or categories, either in relation to a nativist longing for a nationalist past represented by images of ideal rural femininity, or in a global capitalist culture of modernity as embodied in the urban cosmopolitan woman. Rather than being s queezed uncomfortably between these two poles, young women are experimenting with forms of friendship and expressive embodied display creating a new space for speaking the unapproved, the disallowed and the excluded.
Abstract:
Thai Writing Workbook is specially prepared for elementary Thai language classes where the language is initially taught with the use of phonetic symbols. A step-by-step guide to writing Thai, it is based on a thorough linguistic analysis and on tested methodological principles. After completing the book, students should have a firm foundation of the Thai writing system.
Abstract:
This book is written as a supplementary guide for students who are at the initial stage of learning Japanese and wish to reinforce their learning by an effective mastery of basic words. While learning, students encounter similar words which they use interchangeably without realizing the subtle differences in meaning encoded in them.
This problem is not solved easily by looking in dictionaries or reading grammar books, or even by reviewing a vocabulary list supplemented by textbooks. This guide divides similar words into seven linguistically distinct, yet interrelated, areas which give rise to the similarity. In each chapter, a pair of words is presented under a single entry followed by concise explanations and clear examples. The book highlights what is most important for essential vocabulary learning.
Reading the book will help students grasp the overall structure of Japanese vocabulary. There are 135 entries covering more than 300 words in the main text. The book can be used by intermediate students who wish to refresh their knowledge of Japanese as well as by teachers of Japanese, particularly those whose mother tongue is not Japanese.
TOSHIKO YAMAGUCHI is a Japanese-language lecturer. This book grew out of the author's experience teaching Japanese language and linguistics in Malaysia and Singapore and from her recent research in Japanese linguistics and pedagogy. The author has a PhD in linguistics.
Abstract:
This book, comprising two parts, is concerned with both the science and the art of foreign language teaching, with a particular, but not exclusive, focus on Asia.
Under the theme of “Theoretical foundation and research”, Part 1 of this book informs the readers about recent efforts in theoretical and empirical research which have had a telling impact on foreign language teaching or promise to yield results that will potentially shape its future. These studies, not just from the domain of foreign language teaching but also its primary feeder disciplines of linguistics and second language acquisition, thus deliver the necessary theoretical and conceptual foundation for both current and future research and practice.
As its theme “Classroom practice and evaluation studies” suggests, Part 2 focuses on new and innovative developments in curricular and classroom practice, all built upon insights from research in the above-mentioned disciplines and possibly poised to become standard practices in the not too distant future. A good number of these projects included qualitative and quantitative evaluation studies which have yielded insightful data for the refinement and continued development of the projects and their underlying theoretical concepts.
Abstract:
This study focuses on nouns and verbs in Malay reduplication. Conceptual boundary is used as the necessary condition for reduplication to operate on the grammatical categories of noun and verb. Syntactic and semantic tests on the data derived from Malay newspapers, radio programme and popular magazine show that noun reduplication is more common than verb reduplication in Malay discourse. In the analysis of noun reduplication, the study differentiates the plural reference of Malay noun reduplication from that of bare noun.
This book provides an answer to what is the difference between orang (man) and orang-orang (men) in Malay. The pragmatics of noun reduplication is further identified with the concepts of definiteness and specificity in reference. The analyses show that definiteness of a noun reference varies across expression types. Answers to why reduplicated nouns cannot appear in some expressions are also provided. Malay verb reduplication, on the other hand, is examined in terms of aspect. This is the first analysis of Malay verb reduplication within internal temporal framework that projects a hypothesis on aspectuality. Perfective aspect in bounded verbs becomes the operating factor in verb reduplication. By invoking profile determinant in Cognitive Grammar, affixes are recognised as devices underpinning the reduplication of imperfective Malay verbs.
This book offer insights on the interplay of cognitive boundary as the underlying operator in Malay reduplication. The findings further the existing understanding on the syntax and semantics of reduplicated nouns and verbs in Malay discourse
Abstract:
There can be no products without processes. This statement may seem to be no more than an overused generalisation but it does encapsulate the undoubted importance of processes and process-oriented approaches in language teaching and learning. In foreign language education, there has been much evidence in recent decades that researchers and practitioners alike are increasingly focusing their attention on:
- the learner as the active subject of learning as well as the internal processes that constitute his/her learning and lead to the development of communicative competence;
- teaching approaches, curricula and materials that reflect this view of language learning; and
- other factors that may influence these internal processes, such as the sociocultural context, social interactions and discourse, and individual learner characteristics and differences. The theme of this book reflects this paradigm shift, and the papers included here from the disciplines of foreign language education and second language acquisition provide vital insights into processes in curriculum planning, instructional design, teaching methodology, teacher education and professional development, language acquisition, language discourse, classroom instruction and interactions, the development of language skills and learning strategies, and language learning motivation.
Abstract:
This study examines the semiotics of interactivity in various language settings. Learning discourse, Malay dramatic-theatrical expression, Malay romantic exchange, and Malay proverbs are scrutinized beyond grammar in verbal communication. While language is in use each time one strikes a conversation, the indices behind speaker-listener-audience dynamics are influenced by the motion, verbal styling and speaker-hearer-audiences' (non) participative responses. Social identity emerges from varying communicative indices of discourse performing.
Performing verbal interaction in a particular style generates a reading reflexive of gender/identity/social group. By manipulating discourse performing speakers, listeners and by-gazers are able to switch social identities on the fly. Each time a semiotic index is altered the course of interaction changes. And the significance of socio-semiotics in interactivity hence becomes pressing when communication sours into conflict. The exploration of social grammar in a nexus of human-language-topic-audience opens a wider window of human interaction.
Malay Interactivity, Malay Pedagogy, Malay Social Grammar, Performing Identities in Malay, Pantun and Proverbs, Interactive Semiotics
Abstract:
This book contains reflections on learning and socializing with digital media. Performing asynchronous communication and verbal interaction by combining new and old media is fast becoming the norms of everyday practice. This is especially true for those who enjoy interacting on the fly in more than one directed attention, for mobile, digital notebook and handset games may be used interchangeably to this end. In alignment with the knowledge economy, managing digital resource as a skill is profiled as a prerequisite for certain jobs. Views derived from Dow Jones Factiva, for example, may be part of rounded consideration hence becoming a relevant digital tool in decision making. A non-exhaustive list of experts on digital media and education from the Malay world of Southeast Asia is identified. Interestingly, the stable gender relations assumed by many unawares have become glaringly problematic in the virtual world. The narrative acknowledges that online participants may be at risk of cyber bullying. Cases leading to the victimization of digital media users are highlighted as precaution. SPAM is definitely an unwelcomed experience and managing SPAM is found to be a common digital irritation, either dismissive or costly. Digital media will continue to have an impact on daily interactivity.
Abstract:
While educationists and educational psychologists had in the 1990s intensely debated the direct influence of media on learning, there can really be little doubt that media have always been and will remain an integral constituent of any educational context. In particular, computer based and Internet media, with their immense processing power and multimedia capabilities, can have significant bearing on learning processes and outcomes in today’s learning environment. Such media, which are increasingly designed to allow for a high level of interactivity and adaptivity, can enable reflective, productive and communicative activities, and thus possess much potential for the promotion of foreign language learning.
This book contains 16 papers which look at a host of different media and different forms of media, and explore how these affect or can be applied to good effect in foreign language education. There are three parts to this book, with the first focusing on important theoretical and pedagogical issues to be considered when selecting and using media. In the second part, insightful findings from empirical research are presented on the role and contributions of different forms of media in language teaching and learning, including their effect on learners’ learning motivation. Then, the third and concluding part of the book provides in-depth accounts of how media can be harnessed to drive innovative curricular practice as well as students’ evaluations of these curricular projects
Abstract:
To master a foreign language means to be able to use the target language as a means of communication in a real-life context. Thus, communicative competence is one of the significant goals in the teaching and learning process. One of the competences is grammatical competence. It portrays the learners’ knowledge of lexical items and of rules of morphology, syntax, sentence-grammar semantics, and phonology (Canale & Swain, 1980).Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach suggested a student centered class whereby grammar should be taught inductively by giving students the opportunity to generate grammar rules from the experience of using the target language (Brumfit, 1979; Richards et el, 1985; Long, 2000; Long & Robinson, 1998; Ellis, 2001).
Comprehensive examples in context in the form of dialogue or narration are included at the beginning of every chapter. The purpose of using this strategy is to encourage students to use their critical thinking and analyze the grammar rules found in the examples. The students are expected to formulate the grammar rules from the examples given. Different varieties of exercises are also given for students to practice the grammar rules. At the end of every lesson, there is a note to explain the usage of the grammar point related to that particular unit.
This textbook is designed to present a simple and practical manner of Indonesian grammar for students and teachers. It is intended to be used in the introductory level of learning Indonesian as a foreign language. This provides a compact, concise and practical learning material and offers variety of practices which is in accordance with the current pedagogical approach for foreign language teaching and learning.