Souryana YASSINE | Mouloud Mammeri University Algeria (original) (raw)

Papers by Souryana YASSINE

This paper examines the body language of Algerian EFL teachers using the Social Semiotic Multimod... more This paper examines the body language of Algerian EFL teachers using the Social Semiotic Multimodal Approach and a kinesic framework. Teachers' kinesic behavior, including gestures, facial expressions, gaze, head motion, and body posture, was analyzed from fifteen videos to understand its impact on Algerian EFL learners. Findings show instructive use of body language, aiding comprehension, fostering motivation, promoting interaction, aiding memory retention, building positive relationships, organizing speech and ideas, etc. Therefore, Algerian EFL teachers' body language serves cognitive, organizational, and affective functions.

Internet memes are a new genre of digital communication. Previously, they used to reflect the flo... more Internet memes are a new genre of digital communication. Previously, they used to reflect the floating ideas between minds. With the advent of the internet, they extended to reflect the replication of ideas from minds to social network applications such as Facebook and Instagram. This paper is a corpus-based study that explores gender representation in internet memes circulating in Algerian social network. It aims at raising awareness amongst social networkers to avoid such misogyny molded as a funny meme. Therefore, the following research question is raised: How is gender represented in internet memes posted in Algerian social networks? A corpus of ten memes is selected from Algerian social networks; the analysis draws on Kress and Van Leeuwen's (2006) theory of visual design and Goffman's (1979) theory of gender representation. Results showed that internet memes disseminated in Algerian social networks are genderbiased; they portray women stereotypically. In some cases, these internet memes incite misogyny. Therefore, the study aims at raising awareness amongst social networkers to avoid such misogyny molded as a funny meme.

Evaluating Intercultural Awareness of “At the Crossroads” (2005) Reading Texts through Critical Discourse Analysis, 2024

The textbook is crucial for teaching and learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in Algeria.... more The textbook is crucial for teaching and learning English as a foreign
language (EFL) in Algeria. This paper aims to explore the level of cultural
awareness present in the first-year EFL textbook “At the Crossroads” (2005) through critical discourse analysis, using the frameworks of Fairclough (2003) and Baker (2011). The results indicate that the textbook does not effectively cultivate intercultural awareness among EFL learners. Consequently, there is a need to reconsider and reassess the linguistic content of the textbook to provide a more balanced cultural input for EFL learners.

Multimodal analysis of gender representation in efl textbooks (at the crossroads and let’s meet up), 2024

Article info This paper is a corpus-based study that compares gender representations within two E... more Article info This paper is a corpus-based study that compares gender representations within two EFL textbooks, used in two different contexts; that are Algeria and France. The Algerian EFL textbook is entitled 'At the Crossroads' and the French one is entitled 'Let's Meet Up'. The study highlights gender representation in the visuals of both EFL textbooks and which dimensions they communicate to demonstrate if the EFL textbooks are biased in representing gender visually or not. Therefore, the study relies on two theoretical frameworks. First, a multimodal analysis of the textbooks' images relies on Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) framework grammar of the visual design. Then, Sunderland's gender theory to identify the existing dimensions of gender representation in both textbooks' images. It adopts the mixed method research, to analyze the selected corpus of twenty (20) images.

ideas. These are used to c nnote ideas and concepts.” (Machin, 2007: 25) Therefore, asking what a... more ideas. These are used to c nnote ideas and concepts.” (Machin, 2007: 25) Therefore, asking what an image connotes is asking: what ideas and values are communicated through what is represented and through the way it is represented? When analysing an image at the level of its connota tion one can look for the elements that transport meanings from other domains and how t ey connote particular ideas and values. As Machin puts it; “we can ask what the cultural associations of eleme nts in the image are. It is these associations that connote particular disco urses, models of the world, scripts of likely sequences of activity, kinds of people and kinds of pr blems and solutions.” (Machin, 2007: 25) Barthes (1973), in Mythologies calls the connotative meanings ‘myths’. He considers myth as the concept used to express the dense assoc iations of what is represented in an image or a sign (eg. flags, national anthems). However, a s M chin explains, in social semiotics the term ‘discourse’ is much more preferred to that of myth as the latt er “ ends to suggest that some ways of thinking are free of cultural and poli tical arbitrariness” (Machin, 2007: 26). He adds that while considering denotation and connotat ion there are three general rules that need to be taken in consideration: 1The more abstract is the image, the more overt and forgrounded its connotative purpose. (Barthes said that there was no innocent i mage free of connotation) 2Whether the communicative purpose of an image is pr imarily denotative or connotative depends to some extent on the context i n wh ch the image is used. 3What an image connotes may, in some contexts, be a matter of free associations. But where image – makers need to get specific ideas across, they will rely on established connotators, carriers of c nnotations, which they feel

The journal of El-Ryssala for studies and research in humanities, 2023

This research investigates secondary school teachers" gender perceptions and attempts to uncover ... more This research investigates secondary school teachers" gender perceptions and attempts to uncover gender stereotypes. Adopting Grounded Theory methodology and using interviews, twenty-two secondary school Algerian teachers are questioned about their gender perceptions. The results show that gender is perceived as a set of societal norms and structures that determine how individuals are as women or men. The research highlighted two dichotomous gender stereotypes that oppose maths versus languages as fields of competence and outdoor versus indoor spaces as space divided on gender basis. It is significant to unveil gender stereotypes as it raises awareness about their existence and mainly about their altering effect on the attainment of gender equality in education that consists of a non equal binary division in society on gender basis.

Classroom Diversity in Higher Education Institutions and EFL learners' Intercultural Sensitivity, 2022

This study was carried out to underseek the contribution of classroom diversity in English langua... more This study was carried out to underseek the contribution of classroom diversity in English language classes in developing EFL students’ IS with regard to their intercultural engagement, respect for cultural differences, interaction confidence, interaction enjoyment, and interaction attentiveness. The participants for this study were two groups of fourteen and fifteen first year students enrolling at IGEE (Institut de genie électronique et d’électronique/ Boumerdes/ Algeria) with the English language being taught as a core module in the institution. Focus has been put on the EL module during their first semester of study. The study sought to answer the following research question: How effective are diverse classes in developing learners’ IS which is a key factor in developing their ICC as it is the ultimate goal of FL education? To test the validity of the hypothesis for this study which sought to determine the impact of group diversity on EFL learners’ IS, both an ISS adapted from Guo-Ming and William Starosta’s Model to check learners’ cultural attitudes, knowledge, awareness and, particularly, readiness to accept and get accepted by the Other, and a Questionnaire to know about their cultural knowledge and background information have been used during the Listening/ Speaking Course on October 2017. The study revealed that group diversity inside EFL classes has a positive impact on their IS and particularly on developing positive attitudes towards others. Thus, EFL learners’ distribution in language classes on territorial and linguistic basis building culturally diverse classes is beneficial for the sought objectives.

Anglisticum Journal, Sep 24, 2017

In recent years media of wider communication and dissemination are becoming increasingly visual. ... more In recent years media of wider communication and dissemination are becoming increasingly visual. It seems that there are many more images than before and that all types of texts are becoming multimodal. The roles of these images are no longer limited to embellish the linguistic text or reinforce its message but extend to include additional meanings. As means of cultural diffusion, EFL textbooks are no exception to this increasing multimodality. Many studies show that these textbooks which teach English, a subject that supposedly concerns itself with the modes of writing and speech, include an increasing myriad of visual images becoming thus multimodal texts. Therefore the objective of this paper is to consider the “visual turn” in three Algerian EFL textbooks and to see to which extent they adhere to the growing visual culture.

English as a foreign language is taught in Algeria as compulsory subject of mainstream education ... more English as a foreign language is taught in Algeria as compulsory subject of mainstream education both at the Middle and at Secondary schools. The materials used are locally designed and reflect the country’s adopted educational paradigm. The EFL textbooks, which are the main used materials, are actually subject to the Ministry of National Education approval. Every time, educational authorities introduce a reform of teaching approach or paradigm new textbooks are designed to reflect the change. The current paper accounts for a thorough evaluation of three EFL textbooks designed along three successive educational reforms in Algeria during the 1990’s and 2000’s. It looked at the teaching and cultural contents of Think it Over (1989), Comet (2001) and New Prospects (2007) with a special focus on the place of literary texts as tools for teaching the language and means of developing the learners’ cultural competence. It adopted a mixed methods research design combining between quantitativ...

The study highlights the development in attitudes towards cultural contextualization in three loc... more The study highlights the development in attitudes towards cultural contextualization in three locally designed Algerian EFL textbooks; Think it Over (1989), Comet (2001), and New Prospects’ (2007) used in High School to teach pre-university students. While the first two textbooks broadly aim at developing the learners’ communicative competence, the last one shifts objectives and aims at developing the learners’ intercultural competence as stated by its designers in the foreword. Thus, this study tries to explain, through the analysis of the reading texts used in the materials, how the included cultural content which was mostly targeting the foreign cultures (Other) changes to include some aspects of the learners’ local culture (Self) in an attempt to include intercultural aspects. It further investigates how the contact of cultures, previously seen as negative because leading to the cultural alienation of the learners, is reinforced in the recent textbook ( New Prospects ) as a mean...

December 2014  e-ISSN: 1857-8187  p-ISSN: 1857-8179 Research paper Anglisticum Journal (IJLLIS)... more December 2014  e-ISSN: 1857-8187  p-ISSN: 1857-8179 Research paper Anglisticum Journal (IJLLIS), Volume: 3 | issue: 12 | Page | 84 3) The third principle is that language learning is a social, dialogic process of meaning making. Whereas traditional views of language learning see it as an “incremental accumulation of atomistic structures that moves the learner from word to sentence, from sentence to paragraph, and from paragraph to text, a social semiotic approach considers language as holistic network of various signs in the environment, including gestures, silences, body postures, graphic and other visual and acoustic symbols which shape a context of meaning and invites us to respond to it” (Kramsch, 2002) This approach calls for a pedagogy of “multiliteracies” that allows the learners to go beyond the traditional language-based literacy. It takes into account other semiotic resources available within the sociocultural contexts, be they images, or other resources. It openly focus...

The textbook is the central learningaid in the Algerian EFL classes; hence, the present paper exa... more The textbook is the central learningaid in the Algerian EFL classes; hence, the present paper examines the first year EFL textbook "At the Crossroads" (2005) in terms of the intercultural dimension represented in itsvisual discourse. Results of the multimodal analysis (adapting Kress and Leeuwen's (2006) framework) reveal that the visual discourse of the textbook does not succeed to promote intercultural learning due to the gap in the representation of the Self and the Other. This calls for reconsidering the visual design of the EFL textbook in such a way to contribute more to the development of EFL learners' intercultural awareness.

Souryana Yassine University of Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria Abstract: The teaching of foreign languages al... more Souryana Yassine University of Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria Abstract: The teaching of foreign languages always poses the problem of culture, especially when this teaching takes place in a plurilingual context. The designers of school programs and textbooks are often torn between a desire for enculturation because they are concerned with preserving the national identity of learners and a desire to open up to the other culture and therefore to advocate interculturality. This dilemma characterizes and is found in the various textbooks designed for the teaching of the English language in Algeria.

Kabyle oral poetry is the spirit of Kabyle literature. Si Mohand’s poetry was and still is the su... more Kabyle oral poetry is the spirit of Kabyle literature. Si Mohand’s poetry was and still is the subject of many studies. The current research is Cognitive and analytical and aims to explain the English translated version of poem 16 taken from L’Amitié Bafouée, using schema theory, following Semino’s (2014) proposed approach to poetry analysis. Terminologies advanced by Schank and Abelson (1977), Schank’s Dynamic Memory (1982), and Cook’s Schema Refreshment (1994), will be used in the analysis. The study’s significance is firstly shown through its corpus, i.e. previous works dealing with Si Mohand’s poetry mostly made use of either the French or Kabyle versions. And secondly, through the use of a combination of terminologies advanced by the previously mentioned scholars. The study aims to answer the following main question: what is the main scene projected by the poem? And the following sub-question: what is the impact of culturally translated metaphors on readers? Results show that n...

A Cognitive Analysis of Si Mohand’s Translated Poetry L’Amitié Bafouée, Feb 1, 2021

Kabyle oral poetry is the spirit of Kabyle literature. Si Mohand's poetry was and still is the su... more Kabyle oral poetry is the spirit of Kabyle literature. Si Mohand's poetry was and still is the subject of many studies. The current research is Cognitive and analytical and aims to explain the English translated version of poem 16 taken from L'Amitié Bafouée, using schema theory, following Semino's (2014) proposed approach to poetry analysis. Terminologies advanced by Schank and Abelson (1977), Schank's Dynamic Memory (1982), and Cook's Schema Refreshment (1994), will be used in the analysis. The study's significance is firstly shown through its corpus, i.e. previous works dealing with Si Mohand's poetry mostly made use of either the French or Kabyle versions. And secondly, through the use of a combination of terminologies advanced by the previously mentioned scholars. The study aims to answer the following main question: what is the main scene projected by the poem? And the following sub-question: what is the impact of culturally translated metaphors on readers? Results show that nine scripts need to be activated to form the betrayal Scene. Moreover, the use of literal translation in cultural metaphors specifically, led to difficulties in activating appropriate scripts in order to allow understanding to take place. In fact, understanding is determined by the reader's background knowledge. The current analysis can also be used in translation assessment, detecting cultural misunderstandings, comparative studies of poetry, and can even be introduced to teaching.

Algerian Review of Human Security المجلة الجزائرية للأمن الإنساني , 2020

Mobile-assisted Language Learning (MALL) is regarded as a new stage in the development of compute... more Mobile-assisted Language Learning (MALL) is regarded as a new stage in the development of computer and distance learning. Recently, this new wave of technology has gained its popularity among students due to the widespread of various mobile technologies to enhance learning. Within the framework of multimodal approach, this research study seeks to gauge the effectiveness of a multimodal mobile-based course integrated into a Listening and Speaking Skills module at the University of Algiers 2. The research methodology used in this study is the descriptive. Thus, data was collected by means of a summative evaluation course checklist. The evaluation form was to thirty eight (38) EFL students from Algiers 2 University. The findings revealed that the engagement in different multimodal mobile-based practices received students' approval. The findings also supported the claim that mobile devices are regarded as multimodal and multimedia resources that support technology-mediated instruction through multimodal representation. Accordingly, the results of this study will serve as a foundation for coming researchers to investigate mobile learning in depth.

Evaluating Intercultural Awareness of “At the Crossroads” (2005) Reading Texts through Critical Discourse Analysis, 2024

Multimodal analysis of gender representation in efl textbooks (at the crossroads and let’s meet up), 2024

The journal of El-Ryssala for studies and research in humanities, 2023

Classroom Diversity in Higher Education Institutions and EFL learners' Intercultural Sensitivity, 2022

Anglisticum Journal, Sep 24, 2017

A Cognitive Analysis of Si Mohand’s Translated Poetry L’Amitié Bafouée, Feb 1, 2021

Algerian Review of Human Security المجلة الجزائرية للأمن الإنساني , 2020

Not always easy to diagnose,because based on subtle processes of social positioning, symbolicviol... more Not always easy to diagnose,because based on subtle processes of social positioning, symbolicviolence remains nonetheless very harmful with psychological effectson women. At times, it is not even possible for these women to name such violence knowing that dominant (legitimate) discourses do not leave space for verbal representations of harmful and discriminating
practices. Therefore this study attempts to shed light on the ways women at Higher education do perceive symbolic violence and their main conceptions of the phenomenon.

Chapter Three ...................................................................................... more Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 59
Intercultural Competence in EFL Textbooks
Souryana Yassine
The Chapter "concentrates on an important theme in the field of intercultural and language education: The role of culture and the presence of ‘self’ and ‘other’ in language textbooks. The Algerian context serves as an illustration."