The fundamental reason for this research study is to point out the challenges encountered by the teachers, students, schools, and parents in facing and handling the oral speech communication subjects during the pandemic. Given that, most of the medium of instruction used is distance learning. It poses issues and concerns on how our respondents dealt with the situation. A descriptive- survey research design was used to obtain themes and phenomena to the questions provided. The questionnaire includes questions that seek (...) to gather information on their basic profile, current experiences, and behavior towards the problem. It was found out that the different problems encountered by the teachers, students, school, and parents include the validity of the issue, the lack of motivation which was a very complicated problem because it deals with emotional readiness and stability, and the difficulty in comprehending the topics of the module because lessons are not explained personally by the teachers. Therefore, oral speech communication requires an in-depth shift of lesson delivery to cater to the needs for improvement. (shrink)

En este artículo se presenta un estudio sobre las concepciones que sobre el tratamiento a los errores durante el proceso de retroalimentación en las clases de expresión oral tienen los profesores de Inglés del municipio Florida, para la pesquisa se realizaron entrevistas y se observaron clases que permitieron identificar las principales tendencias en la práctica pedagógica y sus efectos en el aprendizaje de los estudiantes. Se presenta de igual forma un análisis de los procedimientos y técnicas aplicadas por profesionales de (...) otros países y se formulan recomendaciones que pueden contribuir al mejoramiento de la práctica educativa en el contexto cubano. This paper presents the results of a study conducted among teachers of English of Florida with regard to their conceptions about error correction during the process of feedback in the oral aspects of the lessons in foreign language teaching. Based on the information gathered through interviews and lesson observations, it was possible to identify the main tendencies prevailing in the teaching practice and its effects on students' learning. An analysis of procedures and techniques followed by professionals of other countries is also presented, and recommendations that may contribute to improve teaching practice are made as well. (shrink)

The operative nucleus of peer review processes has largely remained a ‘black box’ to analytical empirical research. There is a lack of direct insights into the communicative machinery of peer review, i.e., into ‘gatekeeping in action’. This article attempts to fill a small part of this huge research gap. It is based on an ethnographic case study about peer review communication in a sociological journal. It looks at the final phase of the peer review process: the decisions taken in (...) the oral communication of editors’ meetings. The article describes this meeting as an instrumented talk, supported by written tools and constrained by necessary procedural outcomes. It analyzes examples of interactive negotiations of manuscripts and, in the end, it discusses the procedural rationality of peer review as a public sphere for professional judgment. (shrink)

South Africa has a long history of orality deeply embedded in the archival memory of the ‘Other’ or the history of the poor and oppressed. Their untold stories, undocumented histories with displacing identities are how the historical ‘Other’ has been perceived by colonialism and the apartheid regime. The ‘Other’ or primary oral communities in the context of this article can be seen by a name, a face and a particular identity, namely, indigenous people. This article will engage the work of (...) Finnegan on what is ‘Orality – if anything’. The term ‘orality’, as a conceptual tool, can help us to widen our horizons and attention to forms of human creativity and imagination which was neglected or unnoticed by scholars. Orality has forced scholars to ask new questions on what is the meaning of ‘text’ and encouraged and challenge scholars in orality and literacy research with a new analysis of what we thought we already knew. The article engages oral and written research and how it can assist in understanding the discourse of the ‘Other’ and the power relation in reconstructing and re-ordering of their social universe through collective memory, songs, rituals, satire, drama and political protest which at large was perceived by the apartheid era and Western colonisers as savage, uncivilised and barbaric. The oral discourse of the ‘Other’ has become part of the power struggles politically and educationally in South Africa. Orality has further reshaped the Christian discourse in South Africa and Africa as the poor and oppressed find new power in a discourse of metaphysics of presence of the Gospel through preaching and bearing witness of their new encounter spiritually. (shrink)

This paper is concerned with the use of interviews with scientists by members of two disciplinary communities: oral historians and historians of science. It examines the disparity between the way in which historians of science approach autobiographies and biographies of scientists on the one hand, and the way in which they approach interviews with scientists on the other. It also examines the tension in the work of oral historians between a long-standing ambition to record forms of past experience and more (...) recent concerns with narrative and personal ‘composure’. Drawing on extended life story interviews with scientists, recorded by National Life Stories at the British Library between 2011 and 2016, it points to two ways in which the communities might learn from each other. First, engagement with certain theoretical innovations in the discipline of oral history from the 1980s might encourage historians of science to extend their already well-developed critical analysis of written autobiography and biography to interviews with scientists. Second, the keen interest of historians of science in using interviews to reconstruct details of past events and experience might encourage oral historians to continue to value this use of oral history even after their theoretical turn. (shrink)

Research on interaction in speaking assessment suggests that both verbal and nonverbal interaction are integral parts of the construct of interactional competence (Galaczi & Taylor, 2018; Plough et al., 2018; Young, 2011). However, little has been done to investigate which features significantly contribute to interactional competence scores. This study, therefore, examined which interaction features that raters noticed in individual scripted interview and paired discussion tasks to gain an insight into the interactional competence construct, providing validity evidence for an inclusion of (...) interactional competence in speaking assessment. Sixty-eight student performances were rated based on interaction rating scales. Exploratory factor analysis revealed four factors: nonverbal communication, topic management, interactional management, and interactive listening. Logistic regressions showed that while raters attended to more topic management features in the individual scripted interview task, they noticed more interactional management features in the paired discussion task. Simple regressions showed that nonverbal communication and topic management features predicted interactional competence scores in the individual scripted interview task, whereas nonverbal communication, topic management, interactional management, and interactive listening features were predictors of scores in the paired discussion task. The findings suggest that both nonverbal and verbal interaction features are important in the interactional competence construct with the paired task providing test-takers with more opportunities to demonstrate their interactional ability. (shrink)

In the current research, using methods of oral history of philosophy, oral communication (in particular, interviews) is considered only as a technical phase in preparing the final text. The author claims that the primary audio or video recordings of such an interview, an "oral draft," should be considered independent material. After all, the written text does not reflect the interlocutors' intonations; comparing the source material and the final text may become important for future researchers. After the transcribed and agreed (...) text of the interview took its final shape, it should be analyzed by the interlocutors and supplemented with a commentary. This commentary aims to (1) clarify vague points of the text and (2) record the further opinions of the interviewer and interviewee. Therefore, the purpose of an interview that uses an oral history of philosophy should be an audio/video recording, a final text, and a commentary. (shrink)

Anuta is a small Polynesian community in the eastern Solomon Islands that has had minimal contact with outside cultural forces. Even at the end of the twentieth century, it remains one of the most traditional and isolated islands in the insular Pacific. In Oral Traditions of Anuta, Richard Feinberg offers a telling collection of Anutan historical narratives, including indigenous texts and English translations. This rich, thorough assemblage is the result of a collaborative project between Feinberg and a large cross-section of (...) the Anutan community that developed over a period of twenty-five years.The volume's emphasis is ethnographic, consisting of a number of texts as related by the island's most respected experts in matters of traditional history. Feinberg's annotations, which arm the reader with essential ethnographic and historical contexts, clarify important linguistic and cultural issues that arise from the stories. The texts themselves have important implications for the relationship of oral tradition to history and symbolic structures, and afford new evidence pertinent to Polynesian language sub-grouping. Further, they provide insight into a number of Anutan customs and preoccupations, while also suggesting certain widespread Polynesian practices dating back to the pre-contact and early contact periods. (shrink)

Orality, generally defined as the preference for the spoken over the written word, is an academic discipline that has only recently received attention from the missiological community. The reality of widespread oral preference, also known as “secondary orality,” is no less true in Europe. In this article, the author focuses on the Romanian context. Using qualitative research gleaned from interviews with nine university-educated Romanians, patterns are developed that display how “secondary oral learners” choose to learn and retain new information. Specific (...) attention is given to theologically-related material. Six implications for theological education are advanced in the areas of (1) hermeneutics, (2) preaching, (3) evangelism, (4) discipleship, (5) church planting, and (6) leadership development. Paths forward for ministry in oral preference cultures like Romania are developed. The author concludes that the implementation of such suggestions could lead to more holistic ministry and is potentially transferrable to similar contexts. (shrink)

In the year 1471 a member of the Sorbonne, Guillaume Fichet, looking back on the history of what today we should call communication technology, divided it into three periods: antiquity , a subsequent period which we should identify as the Middle Ages , and a period just beginning . Just over five hundred years later an American scholar, Walter J. Ong, looking back on a longer historical span, divided it into orality, writing, printing, and electronic communications. No matter how (...) much these two figures may differ over details, they occupy a similar position: each stands at the start of a communications shift which has alerted him to changes in the past, and Ong claims explicitly that contrasts “between electronic media and print have sensitized us to the earlier contrast between writing and orality.” We do not have to go as far as Eric A. Havelock, who suggests that our new awareness can be precisely dated by a number of publications appearing in the annus mirabilis 1963 , in order to accept the general point that recent work has been stimulated by recent technology. (shrink)

Oral testimony, oral tradition and documents, as represented by written accounts of the facts and the material instruments of the acts and the records, are all ways of indirectly accessing the past. In both cases of oral and written records, what is considered ‘true’ is entirely dependent on the trustworthiness of its source. African societies have been communicating and storing valuable information through memory, murals and rock art paintings since time immemorial. The dominant Western canons have previously classified this memory (...) as prelegal and nonlegal. This study, using a literature review, mainly through previous work of this author, explores oral memory as a trusted record in troubled times. It is concluded that, like digital records, oral memory requires proactive efforts to be preserved, as in both instances the content migrates from one carrier to another. Therefore, oral memory is trustworthy when transmitted in its context. Oral memory, it is argued, perfectly fits the description of a record and thus cannot be classified as either prelegal or nonlegal. The transmitter of information through oral history is no different from other media of records.Contribution: The study contributes to the ongoing academic discourse of decolonising and Africanising archives. The study is linked to the scope of the journal for advocating the inclusion of silenced voices into the national archival system. (shrink)

La méfiance à l'égard de l'écriture traverse l'histoire de la philosophie grecque. Comment éviter que l'usage de l'écrit ne mette à mal le partage des savoirs essentiel à toute pratique philosophique? À travers une étude des pratiques orales et écrites d'élaboration et de transmission des savoirs philosophiques dans l'Antiquité, cet ouvrage révèle une philosophie qui, pour être mieux partagée, préfère prendre naissance et se développer dans le corps même de ceux qui la pratiquent, dans la matérialité des livres et des (...) lettres qu'ils lisent, écrivent et s'échangent avec générosité, dans des pratiques savantes amicales et des activités conviviales"--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

From oral culture, through the advent of literacy, to the introduction of printing, to the development of electronic media, communication structures have radically altered culture in profound ways. As the first book to take a critical realist approach to culture, Theatre, Communication, Critical Realism examines theatre and its history through the interaction of society’s structures, agents, and discourses. Tobin Nellhaus shows that communication structure—a culture’s use and development of speech, handwriting, printing, and electronics—explains much about why, when, (...) and how theatre has transformed. (shrink)

La présente contribution propose une étude de la périphérie gauche au sein d’un corpus oral multigenres, représentant douze activités de communication orale, annoté syntaxiquement et prosodiquement. La segmentation discursive du corpus en unités de base du discours (BDU) résulte d’une coïncidence entre unités syntaxiques et prosodiques, correspondant à des encodages linguistiques distincts mais complémentaires. Partant du postulat selon lequel ces unités discursives remplissent une fonction cognitive dans la planification et l’interprétation du discours, nous nous intéressons à l’étude de (...) leur périphérie gauche. Ce lieu, qui constitue le point d’ancrage du message, joue en effet un rôle important dans la négociation de la structure discursive. Dans l’objectif d’étudier les stratégies discursives à l’œuvre dans les différents genres du corpus, nous faisons l’inventaire des types formels observés et étudions finalement les fonctions discursives que ces éléments périphériques peuvent revêtir. (shrink)

The paper is about H. Odera Oruka's Sage Philosophy project. Oruka interviewed rural sages of Kenya, saying that like Socrates, these wise elders had been philosophizing without writing anything down. Paulin Hountondji (at the time) criticized efforts of oral philosophizing, saying that Africa needed a written tradition of philosophizing. Some philosophers were representatives of an "individualist" position which says that philosophical ideas must be attributed to specific named individuals. Kwame Gyekye instead argued that anonymous community wisdom of Africans had indeed (...) been created by individuals, but individual names were not important to Africans at the time they created the wisdom. The paper then argues that hearing a certain bit of wise philosophy coming from a particular person in an interpersonal oral communication at a certain time and in a certain context can impress an idea upon this listener, commanding their attention in a way that a written text does not, due to the importance of presence in interpersonal communication. Respect for the speaker, and the way in which the speaker uses voice inflection and facial and bodily expressions while communicating all play a role in the message's reception. The paper does not argue that written philosophy or oral philosophy are superior to each other in all ways; rather, each has a strength that the other does not have. (shrink)

Spoken language was long thought to be mankind's earliest means of communication, with visual and gestural languages appearing only later. “ And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field;…” (Genesis II, 20). Today, with the most diverse hypotheses in circulation, the only point on which all scholars agree—in this case, a negative one— is that the question of the origins of language remains to be answered; this (...) has little importance for the present study, and we will not dwell on the problem of origins. (shrink)

O artigo emerge de resultado da pesquisa sobre a inserção socioeconômica do Centro de Apoio ao Pequeno Agricultor (Capa) em territórios de remanescentes de quilombos no extremo sul do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul - Brasil. O Capa se caracteriza como uma entidade mediadora, que nasce de motivações eclesiais da Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana no Brasil (IECLB) ao final dos anos de 1970. Seu objetivo é disseminar sistemas agroecológicos entre populações de pequenos agricultores a fim de criar possibilidades (...) alternativas de sobrevivência sustentável no meio rural. A partir do núcleo estabelecido na cidade de Pelotas-RS, o Capa passa a desenvolver atividades entre os grupos de remanescentes de quilombos neste início de século. No encontro com os sujeitos da ação, emergem territorialidades específicas e constroem-se novas identidades. Para além da agroecologia emerge a força da fala. A oralidade constitui-se num instrumental estratégico utilizado pela entidade que possibilita visibilidade social aos grupos com os quais interage. Na dialética decorrente da ação mediadora do Capa recuperam-se saberes autóctones e constroem-se novos saberes considerados essenciais para articular as comunidades diante dos desafios contemporâneos. Palavras-chave: Identidade. Território. Mediação. Agro ecologiaThis article emerges from results of the research on the socioeconomic integration of the Support Center for Small Farmers (CAPA) in the remaining territories of quilombos in the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil. CAPA is characterized as a mediating entity that has arisen from motivations of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB) in the late 1970s and its goal is to disseminate agro ecosystems among populations of small farmers in order to create alternative opportunities for sustainable livelihoods in rural areas. Starting from the center established in the city of Pelotas, CAPA has started developing activities among groups of former quilombos at the beginning of this century. From the encounter of the subjects of the action, specific territorialities emerge and new identities are built. Beyond agroecology emerges the power of speech. Orality has become a strategic instrument used by the entity in providing social visibility to the groups it interacts with. In the dialectic due to the mediating action of CAPA, indigenous knowledge is recovered, and new knowledge is built, which is considered to be essential for articulating communities facing the contemporary challenges. Key words : Identity. Territory. Mediation. Agroecology. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Bardic Performance and Oral Tradition in HomerRuth ScodelAs homeric epic represents epic performance, song is distinct from the narrative performances of characters who are not bards. Song, despite its traditional content, does not depend on oral tradition for its transmission, and singers, although members of the audience may request or object to a particular song, do not adapt their narratives for individual audiences. Much recent Homeric scholarship, however, minimizes (...) differences between bardic and other narratives, treating Odysseus as epic poet and Demodocus or Phemius as narrators like Odysseus. This scholarship is not misguided or wrong. The epic poet identifies with his hero, and when the narrator’s point of view is close to that of Achilles or Odysseus, the distinction between character and poet may blur.1 Narratologically, there are many useful similarities between bardic and other narratives, and naturally scholars try to exploit these.2 Still, in emphasizing these aspects of Homeric poetics, we can too easily forget others. This danger is particularly strong where scholars have deliberately ignored or deconstructed the distinctions Homer maintains in order to make visible those elements in the Homeric, literary context that represent possible historical relationships among performers, their traditions, and their audiences.3 These distinctions, precisely because [End Page 171] they are fragile, define the special authority Homeric epic claims for itself, and when we too rapidly demystify them, we fail to see how the epic sees itself.To be sure, both bardic performances and other narratives, when fully successful, enchant their audiences, who listen in silence. The idealized bards of the epic are preeminently skilled at such enchantment, so that Eumaeus compares Odysseus to a bard because his tales are so enthralling (17.518–21). Odysseus is compared to a bard three times, twice by characters—Eumaeus, and Alcinous at 11.362–76—and once by the poet, at 21.406–9, when Odysseus bends the bow with the ease of a bard who strings a lyre. Thematically, the simile develops the contrast between Odysseus and bard, since the feast is about to conclude with death instead of entertainment.4 Similarly, the authority of Alcinous’ praise of Odysseus as bardlike, because not “tricky” (, 11.364), is perhaps undercut by Athena’s later praise of him as precisely the contrary, and by his many elaborate lies (13.291–92).5 In any case, although Odysseus is indeed bardlike in his narrative skill, the comparisons themselves indicate that such similarity between bards and other storytellers cannot be taken for granted.There are two important differences between bardic and other narratives. First, in the world depicted in the epic, “ordinary” narrative derives its authority either from personal experience or from human report, whereas epic performers are informed by the Muse, and do not depend on ordinary sources. This divine source for bardic knowledge results in only one significant practical difference between bardic narratives and those of less authoritative characters: the bard’s freedom to report the doings of the gods. Nonetheless, the Homeric narrator insists on it. Second, narrative outside the frame of epic performance normally either answers a request for information or serves an explicit paradigmatic function. It is occasional and specifically motivated, serving a specific communicative need within the social relationship of speaker and hearer(s). Bardic narrative, by contrast, ordinarily does not seek to manipulate its audience; it is essentially disinterested. Although the bard’s song may have special significance for the audience, or some members of the audience, on a particular occasion, the singer does not intend these effects. Audiences without a personal connection to the bard’s [End Page 172] subject simply enjoy the song, although hearers who feel personally touched may be deeply moved; in contrast, since nonbardic narrative takes place within an affective relationship, even a hearer with no connection to the events may express pity.These two distinctions are closely related. Narrative as the epic represents it may be seen as a continuum. At one extreme lie bardic performances, based on information provided by the Muses, potentially meaningful far beyond their immediate contexts, but with the details of content not specific to particular occasions, even if the subject of the song has been... (shrink)

In this paper, we seek to explain the power of perspective taking in narrative discourse by turning to research on the oral foundations of storytelling in human communication and language. We argue that narratives function through a central process of alignment between the viewpoints of narrator, hearer/reader, and character and develop an analytical framework that is capable of generating general claims about the processes and outcomes of narrative discourse while flexibly accounting for the great linguistic variability both across and (...) within stories. The central propositions of this viewpoint alignment framework are that the distance between the viewpoints of participants in the narrative construal – narrator, character, reader – is dynamic and regulated by linguistic choices as well as contextual factors. Fundamentally, viewpoint alignment is grounded in oral narrative interaction and, from this conversation, transferred to the written narrative situation, varying between demonstration and invasion of the narrative subjects and guiding readers’ route of processing the narrative (experientialversusreflective). Our claim is that variations in viewpoint alignment are functional to the communicative context and intended outcomes of narratives. This is illustrated with the analysis of a corporate journalistic narrative that comprises both interactional and non-interactional aspects of storytelling. The concept of viewpoint alignment further explains the oral fundaments of narrative discourse in conversational storytelling and poses new questions on the relation between the dynamic processing of stories on the one hand and their static outcomes on the other. (shrink)

The article discusses mechanisms of manipulative influence on a theoretical basis of suggestion and on the actual material of Bulgarian press. The author supposes that adequate research requires integrated approach with symbiosis of techniques of cognitive science, linguistic pragmatics, psycholinguistics and the theory of speech activity. Manipulative action takes place not only through language (explicit and implicit), but also non-verbal instruments that have different range, different pragmatic potential, etc. The necessity of a comprehensive analysis of the hidden manipulative influence on (...) psyche which is implemented through a flexible system of complex-integrated manipulative pragmatic acts is stated. This system is projected to complete, hierarchically organized and fast changing communication technology which has the following form: cognitive and psychological basis of audience → intention of the adresser → communication strategy → verbal tactics → instruments → perlocutionary effect. Herewith the form of speech is one of the pragmatic factors having great value for actualizing manipulative potential. Communication in form of direct dialog, typical only for oral speech, has a significant resources to counter planned suggestion. Furthermore the author compares the usage of the same suggestive influence patterns in oral and written speech. So the monologue tactic is supposed to be optimal for planning and control of communicative intention, which may include the use of instruments and mechanisms with manipulative potential. Addresser has sufficient time for careful selection of communication strategies and tactics of speech, as well as for creative combination and skillful concealing of manipulativeness manifestations. The author concludes that the regularity, according to which one monologue makes manipulativeness ''tolerant'' and dialogue ''discredit'' it, reflects differently in different monologue and dialogue tactics that are relevant to different types of communicative interaction. (shrink)

African traditional societies are oral societies. Orality, in these societies, is the effect as much as the cause of the particular mode of social being of the African man. An African man is socially configured by orality. It is therefore a cultural formatting whose main issue is preservation and transmission, from age to age, of traditions, social norms and practices that determine the relationship of man of orality with the world. Moreover, according to Diagne, the process by which this cultural (...) formatting, specific to traditional African societies is carried out, is the “dramatization”. Dramatization is the ruse of oral reason. The aim of this paper is to grasp, through the process of dramatization, cultural particularities of argumentation in traditional African societies. In order to do so, the analysis focuses on the discursive practices through which dramatization is revealed. More precisely, the study of proverbs in eʋe society allows pointing out the specificities of dramatized argumentation in an oral society. The epistemological issue animating this paper is to present a different way of grasping argumentative functions of image and metaphor. (shrink)

This paper highlights the need to apply an equity lens when assessing the impact of preemption and related legal doctrines on community health. Community autonomy to set and pursue public health priorities is an essential part of achieving health equity. Unfortunately, the priorities of organized industry interest groups often conflict with health equity goals. These groups have a history of successfully using law to limit community autonomy to pursue public health measures, most notably through preemption and related legal doctrines. We (...) examine this phenomenon using two examples. First, we look at dental association efforts to block the spread of dental therapists in Indian Country. Native dental therapists have been improving the oral health of native people in Alaska for over a decade; yet the national and state dental associations have sought with mixed success to leverage state and federal laws to hinder other tribal governments from utilizing these providers. We compare these efforts with a restaurant association-led movement to limit what municipal governments can do to address food-based health inequities, focusing on a “model” ALEC bill that started in Ohio. Finally, we discuss how municipalities and Tribes are fighting back and continuing to pursue health equity for their communities. (shrink)

Combining the communicative language competence model and the perspective of multimodal research, this research proposes a research framework for oral communicative competence under the multimodal perspective. This not only truly reflects the language communicative competence but also fully embodies the various contents required for assessment in the basic attributes of spoken language. Aiming at the feature sparseness of the user evaluation matrix, this paper proposes a feature weight assignment algorithm based on the English spoken category keyword dictionary and user search (...) records. The algorithm is mainly based on the self-built English oral category classification dictionary and converts the user’s query vector into a user-English-speaking type vector. Through the calculation rules proposed in this paper, the target user’s preference score for a specific type of spoken English is obtained, and this score is assigned to the unrated item of the original user’s feature matrix as the initial starting score. At the same time, in order to solve the problem of insufficient user similarity calculation accuracy, a user similarity calculation algorithm based on “Synonyms Cilin Extended Edition” and search records is proposed. The algorithm introduces “Synonyms Cilin” to calculate the correlation between the semantic items, vocabulary, and query vector in the user query record to obtain the similarity between users and finally gives a user similarity calculation that integrates user ratings and query vectors method. For the task of Chinese grammar error correction, this article uses two methods of predicting the relationship between words in the corpus, Word2Vec and GloVe, to train the word vectors of different dimensions and use the word vectors to represent the text features of the experimental samples, avoiding sentences brought by word segmentation. On the basis of word vectors, the advantages and disadvantages of CNN, LSTM, and SVM models in this shared task are analyzed through experimental data. The comparative experiment shows that the method in this paper has achieved relatively good results. (shrink)

Before 1972 Somalia had no official writing system for its language. In spite of this, those who bred animals (camels, cattle, sheep, and goats) and who, owing to a lack of water in the country were forced to become nomads, had an authentic oral tradition that found its voice in a rich oral literature. This was well and truly oral in that it was composed, memorized, and passed on without having to resort to any type of writing or other means (...) of communication or recording. Many of these genres are typical of any oral tradition: various dance or work songs, fairy stories and other tales, riddles, sayings, proverbs, and so on. (shrink)

Paul usually ends his letters with salutations to believers who meet in someone else’s house. Far from being individualistic, these greetings also include people from different house churches. Considered from a functional angle, these greetings cement relationships between house churches. Within an ubuntu worldview, the oral praxis of sereto (Sepedi) or isiduko (IsiXhosa) (praise-poetry) establishes and confirms relationships between members of the same community (family, clan or tribe). The question is how such praxes affect women who belong to such communities. (...) Contribution: This article is a comparative analysis of how some of the salutations used at the end of some of Paul’s epistles touch on gender relations in the same way as the ubuntu oral praxis of sereto or isiduko touches on gender relations among members of a community (family, clan or tribe). (shrink)

In South Africa, the way oral history archives of rural villagers are managed calls for attention as it can limit the inclusivity, visibility, accessibility and socio-economic development of rural communities, especially the younger generation. This article reports on a study that aimed to unpack some of the opportunities and challenges regarding the preservation and publishing of oral history archives faced by a village community in the KwaZulu-Natal province. In addition, the study aimed to determine what the community knew about the (...) South African legislative requirements regarding the management of oral history archives. The study adopted a qualitative research approach, grounded theory design and a constructivist paradigm. The postmodernist theory helped in gaining insight into how the principle of provenance is central when trying to understand the importance of inclusivity in the management of archives in this digital era. The 21st century is haunted by many socio-economic challenges such as the coronavirus disease 2019, poverty, unemployment, inequality and social exclusion and giving space to the long-neglected oral history archives and counter archives or identity archives cannot be over-emphasised. In this context, such an initiative is viewed as critical in curbing the scourges of inequality, social exclusion and unemployment, particularly among the younger generation.Contribution: This article calls for the reimagining of the way oral history archives of a village are managed, preserved and published. In doing so, the use of a postmodernist approach and the provenance principle are viewed as critical in helping promote inclusivity and visibility of the long-neglected archives. The article argues that this approach may also help improve some of the socio-economic challenges faced by a village community when managing their oral history archives. (shrink)

This essay takes a close look at specially selected features of the Göttingen mathematical culture during the period 1895–1920. Drawing heavily on personal accounts and archival resources, it describes the changing roles played by Felix Klein and David Hilbert, as Göttingen's two senior mathematicians, within a fast-growing community that attracted an impressive number of young talents. Within the course of these twenty-five years Göttingen exerted a profound impact on mathematics and physics throughout the world. Many factors contributed to the creation (...) of a special atmosphere that served as a model for several other important centers for mathematical research. Göttingen exemplified a dynamic new way of doing mathematics within a highly competitive community in which the spoken word often carried more weight than did information conveyed in written texts. This oral dimension of the Göttingen culture played an important, till now overlooked role in the early development of Einstein's general theory of relativity. (shrink)

Language can be cast through words and images where truth claims are thought to lie. They may be either embodied within language or indicate what transcends it. Yet expression is formed through the spoken, written words or images. But what about the imagistic: words doing the work of an image without employing the visual? To grasp how the latter has emerged, the shift in authority from the spoken to the written word will be undertaken. The importance of the shift from (...) the written word to the image can be illustrated in the case of the Renaissance, for example, where the image in the book legitimated, the word. Today the word merely amplifies or justifies the image, located on a screen! From that development the imagistic has evolved raising the problem of its authority and thereby the issue of a concern for truth. (shrink)

This study examined academic and instructional effects of history fair participation on English Language Learners (ELLs). The exhibition preparation process included inquiry-based pedagogy to increase bilingual students’ social studies knowledge. The Bilingual History Fair required recent immigrant, 4th–12th grade students to explore community and immigration through oral history research projects. The mixed-methods data collection process involved a survey of 37 teacher participants, two teacher focus group interviews, and pre- and post-data collected from 149 student participants. Student involvement in the history (...) project expanded student learning and understanding of historical concepts. Through this initiative, teachers validated the students’ languages, cultures, and life experiences of their families. The student-to-teacher interactions and the employed targeted instructional strategies were “key methods to moving ELLs toward a stage of historical thinking that will have a measurable impact on student progress in the social studies” ( Salinas, Franquiz, & Guberman 2006, p. 207 ). The findings demonstrate that “teaching social studies that matters to ELLs is an achievable goal” ( Cruz & Thornton, 2009, p. 274 ). The process enhanced the self-concept and efficacy of the students and their sense of place in their schools and communities. (shrink)

Much modern scholarship on Delphic oracles has revolved around the question of authenticity, where authenticity implies it is a fact that there was a consultation of the Delphic oracle, that a response was given and that the account of these events reports the occasion of the consultation and the response verbatim. This article challenges the usefulness and validity of this definition on two grounds. First, there is ample evidence that most Delphic oracles circulated orally for at least a generation before (...) being recorded in writing. Therefore, Delphic oracles should be examined through what we know about orality from Homeric studies. Second, all six hundred or so oracles attributed to Delphi are fulfilled. This observation suggests that Delphic tales are religious testimonia and should be read for what they tell us about the beliefs, though not necessarily the facts and details, of the communities who circulated them. This article, then, both provides an alternate definition of authenticity that takes into account the oral transmission of these tales by communities of believers and comments on the nature of the historical evidence these tales provide. (shrink)

This study aims to examine the philosophical life values of the Manggarai people in Western Flores, which are reflected in the proverbs of the Manggarai language (Go'et). Go'et is an oral literature that contains the values that govern the life of the Manggarai people. This study uses a qualitative descriptive approach design involving semantics theory to interpret the meaning of Go'et. The data in this study were obtained by conducting in-depth interviews with one of the Manggarai community leaders with the (...) initials AW (52) and secondary data available on the Manggarai Nuca Lale website. The data obtained were then validated using the Indonesian-Mangarai dictionary to find samples that fit this study. Nine data are relevant to the scope of this study based on the results of data collection that have been done. From the data found, the researcher concluded that there are three central values in go'et which contain advice and instructions for living a life under the norms that apply to the Manggarai community, such as unity, Manners and Wisdom, and passion and hard work. These findings are consistent with the fact that the Manggarai people uphold the values of unity, cooperation, and harmony among community members. (shrink)

This research aimed to explain the defense of oral interactions in the presence of information and communication technologies such as WhatsApp (WA) as well as to explore some of the positive contributions of WA used in building the Real Life Communication, especially in the learning environment. By applying the Exploratory design, this research involved 4 participants from various educational backgrounds as a purposively selected data source indicated as WA users at once. Data were collected through Focus Group Discussion, (...) Interview, and Observation and analyzed by several stages i.e. data reduction, displaying data, categorizing, and verifying and concluding. The results showed that oral interactions can decrease both in the language community and learning environment as the dominant use of WA that is not wise. Nevertheless, the use of WA applications also had some positive contributions in building a real relationship. Finally, the assumption that the negative impact of using the WA application should be able to change the mindset and positive attitude of the scholars in initiating and defending an oral interaction in the learning environment. (shrink)

This paper aims to apply drama tasks (Gerard Finger, 2000) in the English class- room, which will add dynamism to the classroom, for the development of students’ oral competences. The aim is to work with drama in the Primary Education class- room through a series of tasks to improve oral communication, teamwork skills and to foster students’ self-esteem and confidence when producing oral language. This project addresses pupils in the sixth level of Primary Education. Theatre is a very versatile (...) tool that provides many resources and learning, helping to improve aspects such as corporal and oral expression and cooperative work. (shrink)

Plato's dialogues stand at a transition from orality to literacy. They are living contradictions-partly oral and partly literary. This relationship between orality and writing is one of the most vexed issues in the history of Platonic interpretation and has particular relevance for the progressive erosion of literacy in favour of digitalisation today. This book argues that the relationship between the oral and the written in Plato's dialogues is not a straightforward opposition, but is instead grounded in ontological analysis and exemplified (...) by the ontology of the image, which appears throughout the Platonic canon. (shrink)

The beginning of the new realm in philosophical research, which is the oral history of phiosophy, is followed by the consequential set of serious ethical issues. The purpose of this article is to identify moral orientations a historian of philosophy can rely on in oral communication with respondents. The starting point of the analysis is the ethical standards of interviews developed by the Oral History Society. An example to test these standards based on the principle of maximum tolerance is (...) the case of Martin Heidegger. Considering the ambiguity of some outstanding philosophical figures, the main task of the article is to find the line between propagation of the dangerous views of the philosopher and objective philosophical analysis. As a guide to the ethics of interviewing philosophers, I propose the approach suggested by Alain Badieu and Barbara Cassin regarding Heidegger. They claim that a great philosopher can simultaneously be a Nazi and an anti-Semite. I outlined the general feature of interaction with ambiguous personalities in a philosophical interview: (1) the interviewer should not make extreme judgments in advance; (2) We have no right to remove some ambiguous philosophers from discourse, and communication with them is a personal matter of the interviewer. But philosophical community should produce the criteria for exact distinction between the sphere of ethically unacceptable and realm of uncertain. (shrink)

Preparing the Next Generation of Oral Historians is an invaluable resource to educators seeking to bring history alive for students at all levels. Filled with insightful reflections on teaching oral history, it offers practical suggestions for educators seeking to create curricula, engage students, gather community support, and meet educational standards. By the close of the book, readers will be able to successfully incorporate oral history projects in their own classrooms.