Journal of Basra researches for Human Sciences

This study explores how point of view and modality systems are presented in fiction. It applies the Simpson's Model (1993) of Point of View to analyzing three different short stories. The short stories chosen for analysis are Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher", Ernest Hemingway's "The Last Good Country", and Gustave Flaubert's "A Simple Heart". The study displays how modality systems are very important and helpful to show the position of the narrator to the fictional world and to the minds of the characters in it. The researcher addresses the following issues: the narrative mode of the story, the dominant type of modal shading, the position of the narrator, whether inside or outside the story.

Incorporating technology into learning, teaching and assessment is not a choice anymore; it is a necessity, especially if it is meticulously aligned to classroom objectives and pedagogical visions. Technology does not only mean using computers, interactive smart boards, and other sophisticated hardware. Technology also means using the right tools that allow students to create, connect, research, collaborate, contextualize and build skills. Most studies on assessment have mainly focused on in-class written and oral tests, and only few have seriously considered combining technology and academic online formative assessment at university level. This paper aims at utilizing Google Forms as a powerful online technology tool in teaching phonology and assessing students' competence. Moreover, this paper aims at testing students' desirability to participate in online tests/quizzes and providing facilitating feedback. Results show that Google Forms-based tests are not only tests of learning but also tests for learning that contribute to continuous improvement and enhanced achievement. The results further reveal that students were highly motivated and willing to participate in more similar tests.

Everyday language is used to communicate both in conversation and in writing. The communicators have to understand the interpersonal meaning and the representational meaning about the content or event within its structure at the same time. In fact, hedging devices are really useful in making us realize the interpersonal and attitudinal meaning in our communication. Hedging devices play a very important role in communicative success. Pragmatically, hedging devices in language have a function to express the addressers’ intentions in boosting or mitigating the illocutionary force of the speech acts. The present study intends to explore more about pragmatic hedging devices in the light of Willamová’s Model of Hedging Devices. This model includes seven types of hedging devices. They are used for the analysis and justification of using hedging devices in the most famous work of D. H. Lawrence which is “The Blind Man”.
The present paper includes several sections concerning hedging devices and the model adopted which are regarded as a background to the analysis made in the practical part. As far as the practical part is concerned, the researcher presents many tables and figures which are relevant to the pragmatic analysis of Lawrence’s “The Blind Man” in terms of Willamová’s Model of Hedging Devices. Actually, hedging devices are very important in comprehending and interpreting the literary work. Moreover, they are influential in analyzing and interpreting Lawrence’s “The Blind Man” in many perspectives such as reflecting the personality of the writer and the character within the literary work in terms of their tendencies, goals, desires, inner thinking and philosophy.