EFL Teachers' Perception of Using Stylistic Imitation in EFL Classes: Benefits and the Challenges

Journal of Language and Translation

دوره 13، شماره 3، مهر 2023، صفحه 55-64   

نوع مقاله: Research Articles

شناسه دیجیتال (DOI): 10.30495/ttlt.2023.705431

نویسندگان

Arash Dehghanian¹؛ Seyyed Hassan Seyyed Rezaei^{* 2}؛ Omid Mazandarani²؛ Ghasem Barani²

¹Ph.D. Candidate, Department of English Language Teaching, Aliabad Katoul Branch,Islamic Azad University, Aliabad Katoul, Iran

²Assistant Professor, Department of English Language Teaching, Aliabad Katoul Branch, Islamic Azad University, Aliabad Katoul, Iran

چکیده

Writing always plays an essential part in learning languages, mostly due to close connections it bears to speaking and reading development. Nevertheless, next to speaking and reading, writing is comparatively less attended to. This paper is an attempt to look into the potential stylistic imitation holds in learning how to write as well as how this technic is perceived by the EFL teachers. Action research offers an invaluable chance to delve into the real-life issues teachers deal with on a daily basis. In-service teachers attending a writing course took part in this study to experience first-hand how it feels to use imitation in class to teach writing. They were first presented with a model paragraph and asked to imitate it, first closely sticking to the style of the writer, then freely making changes to the wording and structure as they see fit. Lastly, they were asked to reflect upon the experience. It was revealed that most teachers believed stylistic imitation can benefit learners and they intend to practice it in their classes. They seem to believe stylistic imitation can be of extraordinary help to novice learners in their classes in that it can alleviate the burden they feel trying to master writing. However, a few argued against it stating concerns for voices getting lost and styles getting killed.

کلیدواژه‌ها

imitation؛ stylistic imitation؛ social cognitive theory؛ modeling

مراجع

Bandura, A. (1989). Social cognitive theory. In R. Vasta (Ed.), Annals of child development. Vol. 6. Six theories of child development (pp. 1-60). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

Bartholomae, D. (1986). INVENTING THE UNIVERSITY. Journal of Basic Writing, 5(1), 4–23. http:// www .jstor .org /stable /43443456

Brinkman, B. (2010). Imitations, Manipulations and Interpretations: Creative Writing in the Critical Classroom. Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies Vol. 12, Issue 1

Corbett, E. P. J. (1971). The theory and practice of imitation in classical rhetoric. College Composition and Communication, 22(3), 243-250. Retrieved from https:// www. jstor.org/stable/356450.

Cotter, M. and Schinckel, P. (2014). Language acquisition is just a matter of imitation, demythologizing this popular belief.

Edmiston, P., Perlman, M., & Lupyan, G. (2018). Words from imitations. available at https://doi.org/10.1101/149708.

Geist. U. (2004). Stylistic imitation as a tool in writing pedagogy. In Rijlaarsdam, G. (Series Ed.) & Rijlaarsdam, G., Van den Bergh, H., & Couzijn, M. (Vol.Eds.). Studies in writing. Vol. 14, 2nd Edition, Part 1, pp.169 – 179

Hamad, Metwally, & Alfaruque (2019). The Impact of Using YouTubes and Audio Tracks Imitation YATI on Improving Speaking Skills of EFL Learners. EnglishLanguage Teaching vol. 12, no. 6, pp.191-198

Jones, A.A. & Freeman, T.,E. (2003). Imitation, Copying, and the Use of Models: Report Writing in an Introductory Physics Course. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONALCOMMUNICATION, VOL. 46, NO. 3

Joyce, M., & Lundberg, A. (2013). Copying to learn: Mimesis, plagiarism and 21^st century Englishlanguage education. Retrieved from  http:/ /citeseerx. ist. psu. Edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.669.3283&rep=rep

Liang, Min Yi. (2019). Stylistic imitation as an English-teaching technique : pre-service teachers’ responses to training and practice. EWU Masters Thesis Collection. 572. https://dc.ewu.edu/ theses/57

Lin, W. (2017). On the optimization of sentence imitation in primary school Englishteaching from the perspective of strong memes [PDF file]. Retrieved from  http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/view/67431.

Loux, A. (1987). Using Imitations in Literature Classes. College Composition and Communication, Vol. 38, No. 4 , pp. 466-472.

Mitchell , A. & McGee , G. (2011). Writing in Style: Pattern Languages and Writing Short Fiction. Journal of Narrative Studies , Vol. 3 pp. 139-160

Nguyen, N., & Delvaux, V. (2015). Role of imitation in the emergence of phonological systems. Journal of Phonetics, 53, 46-54.

Pugh, C. (2008), Instinctual Ballast: Imitation and Creative Writing, in originality, imitation, and plagiarism, teaching writing in the digital age. ed. caroline Eisner & Martha Vicinus, pp.114-122

Salisu, A. & Ransom, E. (2014). The role of modeling towards impacting quality education. International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences , Vol. 32, pp 54-61

Schunk, D. (1991). Self efficacy and academic motivation. Educational psychologist, Vol. 26, issues 3-4, pp. 207-231

Shields, J., S. (2007). The Art of Imitation. The EnglishJournal , Vol. 96, No. 6 , pp. 56-60.

Snow, N., J. (1997). Imitation pedagogy: The ongoing debate. Retrieved fromhttps:// scholarworks.lib.csusb. Edu /etd -project/ 1368

Stodola, D. (2013). Using stylistic imitation in freshman writing classes: The rhetorical and meta-rhetorical potential of transitions in Geoffrey of Vinsauf’s medieval treatises. Retrieved from https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/books/centrality/chapter3.pdf

Tager-Flusberg, H. & Calkins, S. (1990). Does imitation facilitate the acquisition of grammar? Journal of Child Language, Vol. 17, pp. 591-606.

Twomey, T. (2003). Imitation and Adaptability in the First-Year Composition Classroom: A Pedagogical. Thesis submitted to faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS

Rijlaarsdam, G., Couzijn, M. (2000). Writing and Learning to Write: A Double Challenge. In: Simons, RJ., van der Linden, J., Duffy, T. (eds) New Learning. Springer, Dordrecht. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ 0-306-47614-2_9

Zhou, J. &Guo, W. (2016). Imitation In Undergraduate Teaching and Learning. The Journal of Effective Teaching, Vol. 16, No.3, pp. 5-27