Volume-3 Issue-1

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Abstract: In the era of ‘post-truth’ and accelerated information flows with increasingly populist sources of various content, like social networks, critical literacy skills are coming more into focus in education, as every individual needs to be able to discern relevant from irrelevant information and to develop an informed and independent viewpoint on a given topic. The paper deals with the development and assessment of critical literacy skills of teacher education students in Croatia based on the discussion and written analysis of online opinion-based texts. The pre-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design was used to assess student critical literacy skills. Results indicate significant improvement in the tested skills when comparing the pre-test and the post-test results. The findings are seen as an incentive for further research and development of education materials related to critical literacy.

Keywords: Critical Literacy, Critical Thinking, Teacher Education, Foreign Language Teaching

References:

1. Albeckay, E.M. 2014. Developing Reading Skills through Critical Reading Program amongst Undergraduate EFL Students in Libya. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 123(2014): 175-181.
2. Ambigapathy P. 2007. Literacy skills in higher education: A comparative study between public and private university students. In Globalisation and internationalisation of Higher Education in Malaysia, eds. Sarjit Kaur, Morshidi Sirat and Norzaini Azman, , Penang: University of Science Malaysia Press.
3. Brooke, R. 1987. Underlife and writing instruction. College Composition and Communication, 38.2 (May): 141 – 153.
4. Dewey, J. 1916 (1966). Democracy and education. New York: Free Press.
5. Dass, R.2014. Literature and the 21st century learner. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 123 (2014): 289-298.
6. European Commission. 2006. Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on key competences for lifelong learning (2006/962/EC). http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32006H0962&from=SK Accessed 10 December 2017.
7. Fong, L.L./Kaur Sidhu, G./Fook, C.Y. 2014. Exploring 21st century skills among postgraduates in Malaysia. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 123 (2014): 130-138.
8. Fox, T. 1993. Standards and access. Journal of Basic Writing, 12.1 (Fall): 37-45.
9. Hounsell, D. (1995) Marking and Commenting on Essays. In Tutoring and Demonstrating: A Handbook, eds. H. Forster and T. Forster, 51-64. Edinburgh and Sheffield: University of Edinburgh.
10. ILTLP, Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice. Commonwealth of Australia. 2007. A Critical Literacy Approach to Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning. Research Centre for Languages and Cultures Education.
11. Jackson, L. (2010). Images of Islam in US Media and their Educational Implications. Educational Studies, 46, 3-24.
12. Kaur, S./Kaur Sidhu, G. 2014. Evaluating the Critical Literacy Practices of Tertiary Students. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 123 (2014): 44-52.
13. Koo, Y.L./Wong, F.F./Kemboja I. (2012). Students’ Critical Consciousness Through Critical Literacy Awareness. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 12 (1), 727-143.
14. Lesley, M. 2004. Looking for critical literacy with postbaccalaureate content area literacy students. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 48 (4), 320-334.
15. Luke, A./Freebody, P. 1997. Shaping the social practices of reading. In S. Muspratt, A. Luke and P. Freebody (Eds.) Constructing critical literacies. Teaching and learning textual practice, 185-225. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
16. MZOS, Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports. 2004. Strategija i akcijski plan obrazovanja odraslih (Strategy and Action Plan of Adult Learning). http://www.asoo.hr/UserDocsImages/com2006_0614en01.pdf Accessed 10 December 2017.
17. Oxford Dictionaries Online. www.oxforddictionaries.com
18. Rietz, Ch. 2016. Wir sind mehr als Deko. Zeit Online. http://www.zeit.de/2016/24/frauen-katholische-kirche-priesteramt. Accessed 10 December 2017.
19. Roncevic, I. 2016. Critical (Media) Literacy of Teacher Education Students. Knowledge International Journal, Vol. 14.1, 93-98.
20. Sandretto, S. with Klenner S. 2011 Planting Seeds. Embedding critical literacy into your classroom program. NZCER Press.
21. Schmidt, M. 2016. Die Kunst braucht eine Quote. Zeit Online. http://www.zeit.de/kultur/2016- 02/oscars-pro-quote-film-literatur. Accessed 10 December 2017.
22. Shor, I. 1999. What is Critical Literacy? Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism and Practice. Vol. 1 (4).
23. Wray, D. 2013. Developing Critical Literacy: A Priority for the 21st Century. http://thegoodproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/critical.pdf. Accessed 12 December 2017.

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Abstract: The foreign policy is the intermediate between the internal and international policies. On the other hand, this policy possesses a direction from towards outside which is applied by the minister of foreign affairs regarding various countries. Nevertheless, the question is that does the character of a political leader of a country influence on its foreign policy or not? To answer the question the analysis level is individual on which the effects of the Iranian leader character have been investigated on the foreign policy of Islamic Republic of Iran since the characters of the founder Islamic Republic of Iran and the then Iranian leader have been formed in the religious family and educational location. When Imam Khomeini started his criticisms against the royal Pahlavi government and ended with a great revolution, the main factor of his campaigns has been assisting Islam religion. For instance, after the victory of Islamic revolution, all foreign and i9nternal policies of the country were set according to the Islamic bases. The new Iranian leader performed those Islamic principles. He has determined all internal and foreign policies based on the Islamic bases. Whenever he has posed the issue of confronting enemies, he has asked for Muslims’ unity and has introduced the Islamic Iran as the supporter of the Islamic nation; that is, the Iranian foreign policy is nothing but the tendency towards nation under the Islam shadow. Is the Iranian leaders or Communists won the revolution, we couldn’t surely observe such policies. Consequently, it is obvious that the characters of the Iranian leaders are influential on the foreign policy; particularly, the fact that the members of the elite parliament who elect the Iranian leader possess characters which are similar to the Iranian leaders’ one. Thus, the issue of the character features focus on the permanent ones and assume that when we figure out that person’s characteristic, we are able to predict the leaders’ actions and reactions ; that is, the foreign policy of the Islamic republic of Iran must be considered as a character originated from Islam like its leaders that is stable.

Keywords: Islamism, Foreign Policy, Leadership Character.

References: 

1. Shafer, “Issue in Assessing Psychological Characteristics at a Distance,” 517; see also Greenstein, Personality and Politics
2. Allison, “Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis.”
3. Contending Theories of International Relations by James E. Dougherty; Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1971.
4. Michael J. Shapiro and Matthaw G. Bonham; “Cognitive Process and Foreign Policy Decision-Making”, International studies Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 2 (June, 1973) pp. 147-174
5. Josefh de Rivera; the Pschological Dimensions of Foreign Policy, (Columbia:OH:C.E. Merrill Publishing Company, 1968) p.54.
6. Hudson and Vore; OP. Cit., p. 218.
7. Maregaret G. Hermann and Charles F. Hermann; “Who Makes Foreign Policy Decision and How: An Emperical Inquiry”, International Studies Quarterly, Vol.33, No. 4 (Dec., 1989) pp. 367-368.
8. Douglas C. Foyle; “Public Opinion and Foreign Policy: Elite Beliefs as a Mediating Variable”, International studies Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Mare., 1997) pp. 141-169.
9. Hudson and Vore; OP. Cit, p. 219.
10. Ibid
11. Ibid
12. Naomi B.Wish; “Foreign Policy Makers and Their National Role Conceptions”, International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Dec. 1980) p.540.

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3.

Authors:

Paper Title:

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to elaborate further, the genre in the writings of Tolkien i.e. 'real high fantasy' where although the author writes about a fictional world with magical creatures and fabricated histories, he does so in a manner with such precise details and explications that it appears to bring a lot of reality into his fantastical works. Literature-based qualitative research of methodology is adopted for this research. Various secondary sources of data collection viz. textbooks, journals, articles, magazines, etc. are also used for the progress of this work. This research will highlight a world that will build experience among the readers. They will meet new people; learn about their past, languages, cultures, ancestors and their battles. It will elevate their being and open their minds to wider aspects of literature. Our country has its roots in heroic battles, myths and traditions. This research has a mythical and heroic basis to it as well. Hence, this research will build upon its columns and make a strong structure. It will explore a realm of diversities, intricacies and portray advancing knowledge to those who will take it.

Keywords: Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Fantasy, Reality, Trilogy, the Hobbit, Tales, Rhetoric, Medieval Literature, World War Literature.

References:

1. R.R. Tolkien (1937). 'The Hobbit'
2. R.R. Tolkien (1954-1955). 'The Lord of the rings'
3. Paul H. Kocher (1972).  'Master of Middle-Earth'
4. Neil David Isaacs (1968). 'Tolkien and the critics'

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