Journal of Critical Studies in Language and Literature

Exploring Digital Landscapes: An Analytical Book Review of Computer-Assisted Language Learning: Learners, Teachers, and Tools

2025-03-21T09:47:57+00:00

Jeong-Bae Son's edited volume, Computer-Assisted Language Learning: Learners, Teachers, and Tools (2014), offers an extensive examination of the landscape of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), illuminating the intricate dynamics among learners, educators, and digital tools. This review delves into the book’s diverse contributions, which range from empirical studies to theoretical discussions, shedding light on the evolving role of technology in language education. The book is structured into eight chapters, each addressing distinct aspects of CALL. Notably, Kao and Windeatt’s exploration of multimedia environments for low-achieving learners challenges the presumption that technology alone can overcome educational barriers, emphasising the need for supportive learning strategies. Similarly, Gobel and Kano’s analysis of mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) in Japanese contexts highlights the potential of mobile devices but underscores gaps related to the digital divide. Park’s task-based needs analysis for MALL offers insights into enhancing language proficiency but lacks a critical view of the limitations of mobile contexts. Dashtestani’s examination of Wikipedia use among English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students underscores the double-edged nature of open-access resources, stressing the need for digital literacy. The book also addresses professional development, with chapters focusing on Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and the transition from CALL coursework to practice. Despite its comprehensive coverage, the book would benefit from a more integrated approach to synthesising its diverse perspectives and addressing broader theoretical issues. Son’s volume remains a useful resource for understanding the complexities of integrating technology in language learning and offers practical insights for educators and researchers exploring this dynamic field.

The Art of Imprisonment: A Study of Oscar Wilde’s Carceral Works and the Theme of Confinement in De Profundis (1905) and The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)

2025-03-21T10:12:35+00:00

This paper explores the theme of imprisonment in Oscar Wilde’s carceral works, focusing on De Profundis (1905) and The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898). Written during and after his incarceration, these works reveal Wilde’s profound reflections on suffering, confinement, and human nature. In De Profundis, Wilde grapples with personal loss, redemption, and the transformative power of suffering, presenting imprisonment as both a physical and spiritual ordeal. The Ballad of Reading Gaol shifts focus to the collective experience of prisoners, highlighting the dehumanizing effects of the penal system and critiquing societal injustices. This research examines how Wilde’s incarceration shaped his writing, highlighting the complex interplay between art, morality, and confinement. By exploring themes of isolation, justice, and redemption, this study offers deeper insight into Wilde’s carceral literature and its lasting significance in discussions of the human condition and penal reform.

Reduplication and Phonological Copying in Lukisa Dialect

2025-04-06T08:09:06+00:00

Reduplication is a grammatical process that occurs in human languages in which a whole linguistic constituent or part of it is repeated to form a new constituent. Reduplication can be both a morphological and phonological process of forming a new compound word by repeating all or part of a word. The reduplication involves a double selection and insertion of morphological constituents that agree in their semantic and syntactic specification such as root or stem. Phonological duplication is where the copying picks the closest phonological input restricted to cases of phonological necessity such as a vowel or consonantal sound and copies it without calling for semantic change of the reduplicant. Lukisa, a Luhya dialect is expected to exhibit a wide range of patterns in reduplication which varies from one element being copied to an entire phrase. Although linguistic forms of reduplication have been explored at lexical and functional levels, there is need to validate phonological copying as a limitless linguistic resource and an integrated facility in language. Therefore, the objective of this study was to describe the manifestation of phonological copying in reduplication in Lukisa dialect through phonological processes such as: vowel lengthening, vowel change and change in syllable weight. Inkellas and Zoll (2005) Morphological Doubling Theory, MDT was adopted for this study where the aspect of phonological copying whose scope is limited to narrow sets of contexts restricted to cases motivated by phonological necessity as what is copied is either a single vowel, consonant or syllable with a possible phonological modification of either or both the constituents. This phonological copying occurs as a side effect of sematic identity which postulates that reduplication results when morphology calls twice for a constituent of a given sematic description with a possible phonological modification of either or both constituents.

Beyond the Tragic Mulatta: The Case of a New Negro Woman

2025-04-09T10:12:52+00:00

Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God presents a radical departure from the tragic mulatta trope in African American literature by centering a black feminist protagonist, Janie Crawford, who is neither defined by racial ambiguity nor constrained by the moral expectations imposed on middle-class black women of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Unlike her literary predecessors, Janie speaks in black vernacular, embraces her sexuality, and ultimately finds agency outside of marriage, despite the novel’s exploration of love and relationships. This paper argues that Hurston’s portrayal of Janie’s three marriages illustrates a pessimistic view of black women’s status within love and marriage, revealing that even true love cannot fully liberate them from patriarchal constraints. Through an analysis of Janie’s relationships, this paper demonstrates how Their Eyes Were Watching God challenges intra-community sexism and critiques the internalization of white patriarchal values by black men. Additionally, it explores Hurston’s literary innovations, particularly her use of black dialect and folklore, as an intervention against white literary standards and a foundation for later black feminist narratives. Hurston’s use of black dialect and folklore functions not merely as a literary gesture, but as a deliberate political and aesthetic intervention. The black vernacular, often seen as non-literary or even “primitive” in dominant white and even black literary standards, becomes in Hurston’s hands a medium of authenticity, resistance, and empowerment. By embedding Janie’s voice within this dialect—particularly through her dialogues with other women and her defiance of male authority—Hurston decentralizes white linguistic norms and reclaims black southern oral traditions as legitimate literary forms.By foregrounding the singularity of Janie’s experience, Hurston’s novel marks a turning point in the representation of black women in literature, paving the way for subsequent authors like Alice Walker and Toni Morrison to further explore Black female autonomy and agency.

Aspects of Cartographic Demonization in Shakespeare’s Othello

2025-04-23T11:11:20+00:00

This research paper examines the concept of cartographic demonization in Shakespeare’s Othello, focusing on how geography and spatial metaphors are employed to geographically demonize and marginalize Othello as an outsider, based on his geographical background. Cartographic demonization, defined as the process of using maps, geographical representations, or spatial imagery to produce negative views of certain individuals or locations, is essential to comprehending Othello’s depiction as the “tainted Other.” The study explores how spatial and racial constructs contribute to Othello’s alienation in Venetian society, regardless of his military rank or personal qualities. By studying essential scenes and dialogues, the paper reveals how Othello’s African origins and Moorish identity are portrayed through a prism of otherness, tying him to barbarism, savagery, and moral perversion. References to “cannibals” and “anthropophagi,” together with metaphors such as the “barbary horse,” characterize Othello as both exotic and menacing. The geographical and racial prejudices are further intensified in the transition from Venice to Cyprus when Othello’s identity increasingly merges with what was depicted as the “barbaric East.” Theoretical perspectives from Edward Said’s Orientalism and Robert T. Tally Jr.’s Spatiality elucidate how literary mapping influences Othello’s narrative, transforming him into a character that represents the ideological and racial demarcations between the familiar and the unfamiliar. The results indicate that geographic demonization not only alienates Othello but also exposes him to exploitation, ultimately resulting in his terrible demise. This analysis highlights the persistent importance of spatial critique in comprehending how literature mirrors society’s perspectives on race, identity, and difference.

Gauri’s Lesbianist and Separatist Identity in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland

2025-04-24T11:36:30+00:00

This paper explores the sexual identity of Gauri, a radical character in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland. Gauri’s copulation with a woman named Lorna clarifies her lesbian self and her parting from her parents, in-law’s house, husband, and even her own daughter, and finally, avoidance of traditional responsibilities of motherhood specifies her separatist status. Evidence of her sexual orientation implies her denial of patriarchal authoritativeness, avoidance of master’s access, and finally, her rejection of patriarchal access to her own domain. She dissociates herself for the sake of liberty and self-dignity and not to announce herself as a parasite. She silently revolts against cultural confinement. This radical character is interpreted in the light of queer study, which elucidates Gauri’s actions and detects her sexual identity. Previous researches illustrate The Lowland’s diasporic, political, ecocritical, and ethical aspects, some of which question stereotypical responsibilities of women and therefore uphold new dimensions of looking at women, while this paper identifies Gauri’s lesbianist and feminist separatist identity and interprets the reasons behind this type of representation applying Tyson’s elaboration of lesbianism and Frye’s concept of separatism.

Mythopoesis: From Simplicity to Sublimity, Uplifting Aspects in Coleridge, Keats, and Shelly’s Poetry

2025-05-08T12:20:56+00:00

This dissertation pursues the exploration of the innermost sublime nature of romantic poetry composed by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Such aspects of literature are brought forth by the inclusion of a rather vivid method, the method of myth creation otherwise known after Hellenistic Greek as mythopoesis. Instead of devising a literary work with just reality or rigid mythic elements the process of mythopoesis allows the poet to create a blend of fact and fiction with the freedom of imagination. In turn, mythopoesis inserts a form of wisdom that works well to epitomize the nature of the poem from being a simple construct to becoming a part of the realm of sublimity. Scholars curious about the mythological facet utilize myth as a medium to analyze religion and to bridge between the past and the present. Mythopoesis simultaneously works to satisfy both mythological and realistic criteria within a literary piece. The thesis begins with an analysis of mythopoesis or mythopoeia present in three romantic era poets. It then extends into a dissection of reality and mythic elements that build up a new form of creative imagination. Afterward, the focus shifts to the effects of mythopoeia in said poet's works. It strives to establish that the sublime nature of romantic poetry is largely attributed to the presence of mythopoesis.

Surrealist Aesthetics and the Subversion of Reality in Orhan Pamuk’s The White Castle

2025-05-10T12:48:42+00:00

This article undertakes a critical examination of Orhan Pamuk’s The White Castle (1990) through the aesthetic and philosophical framework of Surrealism. Engaging primarily with André Breton’s Manifestoes of Surrealism (1924) alongside other foundational texts, the study interrogates how the novel subverts conventional constructs of reality, identity, and historical continuity. Pamuk’s use of some Surrealist themes -such as dream logic, the unconscious, and the irrational by using some motifs like doppelgängers, mirrors, and automata gives this novel a new height. These motifs used by Pamuk function as destabilizing narrative mechanisms, challenging and collapsing fixed binaries such as self/other, East/West, and fiction/historical truth. The non-linear structure and symbolic density of the novel enact a Surrealist challenge to chronological time, displacing conventional historiography with fragmented, dream-inflected representations of memory. From this perspective, The White Castle emerges not merely as a postmodern allegory but as a Surrealist-inflected critique of Enlightenment rationalism, mechanized subjectivity, and dominant epistemological structures. Through a hallucinatory interplay of the rational and the irrational, the real and the spectral, Pamuk subverts the illusion of a unified self, offering instead a vision of identity as dispersed, mirrored, and ceaselessly evolving.