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Studies on East-West Cultures (동서 문화 연구), 2, 137-146.
(Published by the Research Institute on East-West Cultures, Hong Ik University, Seoul). 1994.

Introduction

Language teachers and researchers have probably always felt, intuitively at least, that motivation plays an important part in second language learning. Gardner and Lambert (1959, cited in Gardner, 1988) finally demonstrated through multivariate analysis that both language aptitude and social motivation were related to achievement in second language acquisition (SLA). Many studies have since replicated or built on that finding, and now it is generally recognized that motivation is an important factor in SLA, independent of aptitude.
Although they disagree to some extent about the exact role, several of the major theories of SLA include motivation as either a direct or indirect factor in language learning. This paper begins by discussing the role assigned to motivation in three prominent models of SLA--Krashen's (1978, 1981) Monitor Model, Schumann's (1978, 1986) Acculturation Model, and Gardner's (1979) Socio-Educational Model. The remainder of the paper addresses the question of whether computer-assisted language learning (CALL) can contribute to increasing motivation among second language learners, and speculates as to how CALL activities might be integrated into language programs in order to provide motivation to learners.



The Role of Motivation in SLA

The Monitor Model
The Acculturation Model
The Socio-Educational Model

Does CALL Increase Motivation?


Discussion

It seems that computers, used judiciously in classrooms, can be fun, exciting, stimulating--and therefore motivating--to language learners. Computer games and activities, for example, can perhaps lower affective filters and, therefore, as Krashen and others would suggest, allow more language acquisition (or learning) to take place. Computer communications and pair or group activities centered around computer tasks can sometimes increase the amount of interaction that takes place among learners as well as between individual learners and the language material. On the other hand, these are some of the same arguments that have been made in the past for such new innovations as listening labs, video, and many other approaches, methods, and techniques of all kinds. All of these can help make learning more interesting or even fun, and they certainly have their places in language programs, but obviously none of them, including computers, is an ultimate solution.
Instead, language teachers and administrators have to consider carefully how computers are going to fit into their overall programs, without assuming that computers in themselves are automatically motivating to students. The CALL activities must be well-designed and appropriate for the goals of the course, the students' levels, and even personalities and interests if they are expected to provide motivation. In addition, research needs to be aimed at finding out specifically what it is about computers and CALL that students find motivating so that this can be worked into language programs.
At the same time, there are some features of computers that are motivating for other than purely affective considerations. Word processing, for example, makes it easier for students to manipulate text and revise what they have written, which has already been shown to improve students' attitude toward writing and encourage them to write more and spend more time revising. Well-written CALL materials can also save time by individualizing lessons to a student's personal ability, needs, and interests. They also can present material through several media and at a rate that can be controlled by the student himself or herself. Computers can provide immediate feedback on correctness and can give immediate and individualized help when a student has problems or questions. All of these things are potentially motivating to serious students interested in developing proficiency in a language as quickly as possible, and provide easy ways for learners to put themselves into a number of language learning situations.
All three models of second language acquisition discussed earlier predict that learners who actively seek out opportunities to interact with the target language and/or speakers of the target language will ultimately be more successful. Computers and CALL activities definitely have the potential to make it easier for highly-motivated students to increase interactions--both with the language and with other learners or target language speakers through computer communications. In addition, easy accessibility to computer training that produces noticeable positive results may act to increase the motivation of less-motivated students, as well as provide a practical means for students to maintain their level of proficiency in a foreign language once their formal training ends. Finally, computers may contribute to lowering students' affective filters, and the Monitor Model and the Acculturation Model predict that this in itself should positively influence the actual amount of language acquisition that takes place. Obviously, then, the use of computers in language learning and teaching has much to offer in terms of motivation.

These are general directions for beginning to translate one of Shakespeare's plays into modern language and/or a modern setting. This includes choosing a play, deciding how to translate it, and how to start work on the project. The rewriting bit is up to you.

edit Steps

1.
1
Decide which play you want to translate. This could be more difficult than it sounds. You need to like this play a *lot*, because you're going to be rewriting it and that means you're going to be *reading* it over and over and over again - word by word, line by line.
2.
2
Read the whole play through at least twice so you understand the setting and the characters. If you don't understand who they are and why they're doing the things they're doing, you're not going to be able to translate with any degree of success and your finished product won't be recognizable as an 'updated' version of the original.
3.
3
Familiarize yourself with Elizabethan vernacular and slang. You don't have to be exhaustive about this. There are books, and if you ask at the library they'll show you where to find them. Or you can look on the Web by running a search for Shakespeare + slang or Elizabethan + slang. For starters, you can go to the websites listed below and try to get a feel for how the English language was used in Shakespeare's time.
4.
4
Decide what your new setting is going to be. You may or may not have thought about this yet. If you're moving the story up into a more modern era, you're going to have to decide where in that era it would have happened, and to who and how and why. And in order to do that, you're going to have to figure out what the modern equivalent to the play's situation is. Romeo and Juliet is a very easy and obvious one, so it gets redone a lot this way - and for that reason unless you have a really original idea it isn't recommended that you use Romeo and Juliet.
5.
5
Familiarize yourself with the vernacular and slang of the setting you picked. Or in other words, if you're resetting The Merchant of Venice in Spanish Harlem in the 1970's, you need to go figure out how people in Spanish Harlem talked in the 1970's and what their pop-cultural references would have been. This is where accuracy *is* important; your audience has to be able to recognize some things or the revised play won't make sense to them.
6.
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Start with one scene. You don't necessarily have to start with the first one. Pick a scene that, for you, sets the tone for the rest of the play, then sit down and start playing with it. The easiest way to do this is to picture in your head how the scene would look if you were seeing it performed as per your translation, and then start changing things in the play itself to match your vision. Once you have this first scene converted to your liking, then you can move on to the next one. You don't have to work on them in order.
7.
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Keep your revisions organized. You can of course do this any way you're comfortable with, including by sitting down with a notebook and pencil and a copy of the play, but at first it might be easiest to copy and paste the scene you're starting with into a word processing program, change the font color to anything but black, and then double or triple-space between all the lines. Type in your revised lines, scene directions and etcetera in black in the space under the originals.

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edit Tips

* If all you want to do is convert the language but not the play's setting, follow the above instructions but without changing anything but the dialog. You will still have to pick a setting, in your own mind at least, in order to keep your conversion of the language consistent.
* Since Word documents over a certain size can become almost impossible to navigate around in, you might consider making each scene a separate document. It will be easy enough to cut and paste them all back together into one document once you're finished.
* Things to keep in mind about Shakespeare: We think of Shakespeare as being highbrow, a writer for educated people and intellectuals; he was actually writing the equivalent, for his time, of lowbrow sitcoms and pop-culture movies of the week. He was crude and politically incorrect. He was writing for the great unwashed masses, trying to make them pick his theater over the bear-baiting going on down the street. He was also very, very talented and a great storyteller, and that's why his stuff has stayed popular as long as it has. The language may go out of style, but the stories never will.
* Remember, this isn't rocket science! This is Art, and Art is subjective - there is no one 'correct' way your finished product has to look, and you don't have to get it perfect the first time through. Write. Convert. Have fun!

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edit Warnings

* Be prepared for the fact that some of your translations - unless you're deliberately cleaning this thing up for "G" audiences - could turn out to be equivalent to words you only hear in Quentin Tarantino movies.

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Shakespearean English seems to many arcane and hard to understand. At the core, however, it is still English. Not only that, but it sounds remarkably intelligent. It thus makes sense that you learn how to speak it. Luckily, this is surprisingly easy.

edit Steps

1.
1
Read a Shakespearean play in the original if you can. Hamlet, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet are good candidates. This will give you an idea of how the language is used and also increase your vocabulary with older forms and uses of words.
2.
2
Replace questions of the form "Can I?" with phrases such as "I do beseech you" or "I prithee". This archaic form sounds particularly Elizabethan, and has the benefit of being more polite.
3.
3
Work on greetings. In modern times, we are satisfied with "Hello" or "How are you". To make this sound more Shakespearean, a simple form may be "Good greetings, my lord/lady" or, if you truly wish to know how the other is doing, try "How now, [Name]?". Feel free to add clauses along the form of "and may you be well". You can respond with "Likewise to you", remembering to refer to "my lord" or "my lady" A more polite and flowery response could be "All of God's greetings upon you".
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Work on your farewells. Farewells can be much improved from modern "Bye!". A very simple, no-thinking-required approach might be "Fare thee well", but this can be improved further by considering how your conversation ended. Did you say goodbye to someone for a long time? "Fare thee well in your travels, and may by fate we meet again." Similarly modify your goodbyes to fit the situation.
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Add in more-or-less superfluous adverbs such as "humbly" - they make your speech more flowery, which is the main effect.
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Shorten "it" to just "'t". For example, "it was" becomes "'twas", "do it" becomes "do't"
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Master forms of "thou" - use "thy" for possessive ("thine" before vowels or the letter H), and "thee" for an object.
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Clearly mark off opinions with "methinks" and "forsooth".
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Refine your cursing. Replace "F*ck" with "Fie, fie on't" and "damned" with "accursed". Other adjectives can be replaced with "traitorous", "lecherous", or "thieving". You can also refer to those of humble origin or anyone acting servant-like as "knavish"
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Freely use the following words: "Anon", "As you will", "By your leave", "Carouse", "Chide", "Cutpurse", "E"en", "E"er", "Fie", "Grammercy", "Maid or Maiden", "Marry!", "Mayhap", "Morrow", "N"er", "Nonpariel", "Oft", "In Faith", "Perchance", "Poppet", "Pray pardon me", "Pray tell", "Privy", "Stay", "S"wounds!", "Tosspot", "Verily", "Wench", "Wherefore", "Yonder"
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Fix your verbs: Add "-st" to singular second-person verbs and "-th"/"-eth" to singular third-person verbs. For example, "How dost thee" and "How doth he"
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Use "shall". It can be used to express obligation, and also in the first person. Remember that when used with "thee" or "thou", "will" becomes "wilt" and "shall" "shalt"
13.
13
If you need to break up with someone, take a few hints from Hamlet (Act 3, scene 1, 114–121).

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edit Tips

* You can improve further by speaking in iambic pentameter, but this is extremely hard to do off the cuff without practice.
* Rhyme is unnecessary and often makes it hard to speak properly. Furthermore, it is often silly and nullifies the effect of sounding smart. Only rhyme if you are sure it is tasteful.

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edit Warnings

* Speaking like Shakespeare will require frequent references to God. You don't have to believe in the Christian God, or in any, to use such figures of speech. However, if this offends you in any way, feel free to leave such references out.

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Having trouble reading Romeo and Juliet? Can't understand it? Here are steps on how to read it.

edit Steps

1.
1
Go to your local bookstore and purchase a book that tells the story in simpler words. Normally these books are called "Shakespeare Made Easy", and cost around $6.99.
2.
2
Look at the two sides of the book. You'll notice that one side is written in Shakespearean language and the other side is English translated. Read the Shakespearean and when you come along a difficult spot, look to the other side for help.
3.
3
Go to "Cliffs Notes" online if you don't want to purchase the book. They have excellent pages on each act, descriptions of the characters, analyses and quizzes.
4.
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Read with a partner. Sometimes if you read alone you might miss a deeper meaning. If you read in a group or with a friend you have more thought and insights than your own.
5.
5
Go and see the play or movie. This way you can see what is going on, and get the main idea.
6.
6
Get a little information on Shakespeare before you read the book. This way you will understand his time. (Look up Shakespeare, the Globe Theater, etc.)
7.
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Be able to recognize poetry forms. William Shakespeare was a genius in the art of writing. With almost every sentence he used some form of structure. If you know what a sonnet is or a couplet, then the book will seem a lot more meaningful. Here is an example of a sonnet, that he used in the beginning to start of this story:

"Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend."

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edit Tips

* A Sonnet is a 14 lined poem that rhymes in this format: AB AB CD CD EF EF GG.
* If you watch the movie or play it might be changed around a bit, so on an exam you might get an answer wrong. It's always best to read the book.
* If you read the book with Shakespeare Made Easy, do not only read the right side. If you receive a test, you might get a few questions wrong. For example, if they give you a quote from the left side you will have no clue what it says!
* If you work in a group, pick members who won't goof off, that way you will actually spend your time deciphering this story.
* Get a detailed plot outline for the story. If you know what's going to happen, you will have a better time following along.

edit Warnings

* Don't cheat and rely on the cliff notes. This is taking out the fun and appreciation of learning about Shakespeare.

Steps

1.
1
Find some time. Set aside a time each day, maybe just a half an hour or a full hour, just for reading. Maybe spend some time reading before you go to bed or on a weekend. Even if it's just that fifteen minute lunch break at work, set aside that little bit.
2.
2
Find a quiet and secluded place to read. This will help you focus on the book and also ensure that you will not be disturbed as you read. Try your local library, they often have corners where one could pull up a chair to enjoy a decent novel.
3.
3
Read your first chapter. Don't just skim through it, read it. Keep a notebook handy and write down the characters introduced and some words that you don't understand if it helps you remember what happened. Or, at the end of each chapter, write a chapter summary so that you can look back and remember what happened last!
4.
4
Take it one chapter at a time, or if that overwhelms you, just take it four or five pages at a time. Split your reading up into sections, three or four pages, a chapter or two, etc. etc. If you get overwhelmed, you're likely to give up all together.
5.
5
Reread, if needed. Don't be ashamed to have to reread the chapter if you forget something that you want to remember! When you reread, be sure to focus on the idea of the chapter or paragraph or page or whatever.

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edit Tips

* Take your time, if you read through a novel in two days, you need to reread it. It takes time to grasp the concept of a book. Not to mention that you won't enjoy it as much if you skim through it!

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Steps

1.
1
Get into the right mindset. Feel the mood of the play. Never assume that this is too difficult for you anyway. Going through the text step by step will enable you to understand it.
2.
2
Read the play, or at least a summary. It helps to know what's going on. Look at other performances of Shakespeare; they're plays, they were written to be performed, and you can get ideas on how to say that one line you can't figure out.
3.
3
Get used to the old-fashioned language. Whenever you hear the word "thou" or "thee", that means "you". When you hear "art", that means "are". When you hear anything that ends in "-st", don't freak out. Shakespeare adds "-st" to just about any word, thus "mayst not" = "may not". Shakespeare also likes to take out syllables to make the line flow smoother--example: "o' th' " would translate to "on the".
4.
4
EXAMPLES: "For in my sight, she uses thee kindly, but thou liest in thy throat." translates to: "From what I see, she is kind to you, but you lie." and "No, faith, I'll not stay a jot longer!" translates to "No, I will not stay here a second longer! or "What light through yonder window breaks, it is the east and Juliet is the sun." translates to "Juliet is as radiant with beauty as the sun is radiant with light". Remember, people were people 500 years ago, and even though they talked fancier, they still had emotions like we do.
5.
5
Familiarize yourself with stylistic means used in poetry, like similes, oxymorons, metaphors etc. These are usually discussed in literature classes at school, and knowing what they mean will make the whole process of reading Shakespeare's work less intimidating. Look them up on the internet and try to find examples of them in your text.
6.
6
If you're Performing Shakespeare, be sure to enunciate (speak out entire words rather than a slur of words). The way Shakespeare puts sentences together are very unorthodox, so it will be very easy for the audience to lose track of what you're actually saying. By enunciating clearly and fully, the audience can piece together the words much more easily.
7.
7
When performing, remember that your character is an actual person with actual feelings, not a fancy-talking english person. Your character has feelings just like you.

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edit Tips

* Shakespeare is not at all different from modern entertainment. It may be in a unfamiliar dialect but it has sex, violence, drugs, and even low-brow humor. It is not a "higher" form of literature, remember that it was written to entertain mostly uneducated and illiterate peoples.
* Consider watching the movie "Renaissance Man" with Danny DeVito. His character has to teach a bunch of soldiers how to understand Shakespeare. The pieces used in the movie are "Hamlet" and "Henry V". The strategy he uses to do it is quite good and the movie is entertaining, too.
* Learn to enjoy watching Shakespeare plays or movies. One of the easiest ways to understand Shakespeare is to fill your ears with the language and get used to it.
* Watch or read the work with a person who understands the material and have them "translate" for you.
* Spend time deciphering little bits that you like, such as Hamlet's or Macbeth's very famous speeches. It may be difficult at first but it gets easier.
* You will begin to know the background of many of Shakespeare's expressions that have turned into modern cliches, like "Brave New World", "Seachange" (both from "The Tempest").
* Find a good quote and use it. "Neither a borrower nor a lender be", from Polonious' speech in "Hamlet" goes down very well at the bank or stock market.
* Ask a librarian, teacher, professor, or a smart adult to help you decipher the text of Shakespeare.

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edit Warnings

* Shakespeare may be a little grown-up for some people.
* Don't get frustrated or confused.
* Never get mad while learning.

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Poetry

There are two types of Old English poetry: the heroic, the sources of which are pre-Christian Germanic myth, history, and custom; and the Christian. Although nearly all Old English poetry is preserved in only four manuscripts—indicating that what has survived is not necessarily the best or most representative—much of it is of high literary quality. Moreover, Old English heroic poetry is the earliest extant in all of Germanic literature. It is thus the nearest we can come to the oral pagan literature of Germanic culture, and is also of inestimable value as a source of knowledge about many aspects of Germanic society. The 7th-century work known as Widsith is one of the earliest Old English poems, and thus is of particular historic and linguistic interest.

Beowulf , a complete epic, is the oldest surviving Germanic epic as well as the longest and most important poem in Old English. It originated as a pagan saga transmitted orally from one generation to the next; court poets known as scops were the bearers of tribal history and tradition. The version of Beowulf that is extant was composed by a Christian poet, probably early in the 8th cent. However, intermittent Christian themes found in the epic, although affecting in themselves, are not integrated into the essentially pagan tale. The epic celebrates the hero's fearless and bloody struggles against monsters and extols courage, honor, and loyalty as the chief virtues in a world of brutal force.

The elegiac theme, a strong undercurrent in Beowulf, is central to Deor, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, and other poems. In these works, a happy past is contrasted with a precarious and desolate present. The Finnsburgh fragment, The Battle of Maldon, and The Battle of Brunanburh (see Maldon and Brunanburh ), which are all based on historical episodes, mainly celebrate great heroism in the face of overwhelming odds. In this heroic poetry, all of which is anonymous, greatness is measured less by victory than by perfect loyalty and courage in extremity.

Much of the Old English Christian poetry is marked by the simple belief of a relatively unsophisticated Christianity; the names of two authors are known. Cædmon —whose story is charmingly told by the Venerable Bede , who also records a few lines of his poetry—is the earliest known English poet. Although the body of his work has been lost, the school of Cædmon is responsible for poetic narrative versions of biblical stories, the most dramatic of which is probably Genesis B.

Cynewulf , a later poet, signed the poems Elene, Juliana, and The Fates of the Apostles ; no more is known of him. The finest poem of the school of Cynewulf is The Dream of the Rood, the first known example of the dream vision, a genre later popular in Middle English literature . Other Old English poems include various riddles, charms (magic cures, pagan in origin), saints' lives, gnomic poetry, and other Christian and heroic verse.

The verse form for Old English poetry is an alliterative line of four stressed syllables and an unfixed number of unstressed syllables broken by a caesura and arranged in one of several patterns. Lines are conventionally end-stopped and unrhymed. The form lends itself to narrative; there is no lyric poetry in Old English. A stylistic feature in this heroic poetry is the kenning, a figurative phrase, often a metaphorical compound, used as a synonym for a simple noun, e.g., the repeated use of the phrases whale-road for sea and twilight-spoiler for dragon (see Old Norse literature ).

Prose

Old English literary prose dates from the latter part of the Anglo-Saxon period. Prose was written in Latin before the reign of King Alfred (reigned 871-99), who worked to revitalize English culture after the devastating Danish invasions ended. As hardly anyone could read Latin, Alfred translated or had translated the most important Latin texts. He also encouraged writing in the vernacular. Didactic, devotional, and informative prose was written, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, probably begun in Alfred's time as an historical record, continued for over three centuries. Two preeminent Old English prose writers were Ælfric , Abbot of Eynsham, and his contemporary Wulfstan , Archbishop of York. Their sermons (written in the late 10th or early 11th cent.) set a standard for homiletics.

A great deal of Latin prose and poetry was written during the Anglo-Saxon period. Of historic as well as literary interest, it provides an excellent record of the founding and early development of the church in England and reflects the introduction and early influence there of Latin-European culture.