This research is an attempt to examine the developmental relationship between democracy and the socioeconomic conditions in Bulgaria. The assumption is that one of the factors contributing to the negative attitude towards democracy in Bulgaria is the high level of social inequality. After discussing the relevance of studying democracy and socioeconomic conditions from a developmental perspective, the paper traces the socioeconomic development of Bulgaria from 1989 to date and examines public perceptions of social inequality in the country. The research has not revealed any overall negative public attitude towards democracy in Bulgaria. However, the findings have demonstrated a clear tendency for the public support for democracy to decline reflecting the growth of social inequality.

This paper revisits the issue of the importance of context and critical thinking in translation and translation training by examining the linguistic controversy over the translation of the word mokusatsu in the statement of Japan’s Prime Minister Suzuki in response to the Potsdam Declaration. There is a widespread belief that the bombing of Hiroshima in August of 1945 was caused by a translation mistake. The author sides with the opposing view, i.e. that such an approach takes one word of the statement out of context in order to shift the focus of the problem from politics to linguistics. The message of the statement is unambiguous when analyzed in its entirety. As a result, it is obvious there was no translation mistake and the bomb was dropped for reasons other than translation quality. Sadly enough, the myth lives on as a textbook example of ‘the worst translation mistake in history” whereas it should be taught as an example of probably ‘the worst translation myth in history’.

This paper aims to investigate differences in the acquisition of English word order between Bosnian and Turkish students resulting from word order in these two languages (Bosnian and Turkish). In second language acquisition, the knowledge of the native language (L1) in acquisition of a foreign language (L2) can indeed have a facilitating or inhibiting effect on the learner’s progress in mastering a new language. Thirty children from the first grade at the International School of Sarajevo were tested. Some of them attended the kindergarten where English was a language of communication and the rest of them had six months of exposure of English in school settings. We wanted to find possible differences in acquiring word order in English in these groups of children as well. This study offers new results for acquiring correct word order in English.

Abstract In this review of System's scholarship on the learning and teaching of languages other than English (LOTEs), we focus on 12 articles on language pedagogy and language learners, selected from a total of 208 relevant articles published in the journal (until 2020). The review affirms the journal's commitment to the dissemination of scholarship for language teachers to address ‘all languages’. It identifies the evolving research trajectory targeting language learners and their language development through increasingly sophisticated methodologies. These have helped to generate deeper insights into the role of language learner characteristics in language learning. Articles on language pedagogy, which are closely associated with studies on language learners and their language development, have addressed a variety of topics, such as reading, pronunciation, task motivation and engagement, story retelling, group cohesion, and classroom management. We conclude the review with our thoughts on which research areas could be more fully represented within the journal in order to fulfil its mission statement.

This article comprises two sections. The first analyses John Milton’s Paradise Lost in terms of the frontier dividing Providence and Chaos. Chaos is represented in violent images of the colonial world, the English Civil War, and Scientific Revolution cosmology. Providence intends to justify the ways of God in history. Milton’s retelling of the traditional Biblical Fall allegorises the 17th century Scientific Revolution, English society overwhelmed by market forces, and early modern nation-building wars. The second section analyses the English Civil War, focusing on Providence and Natural Rights. The Natural Rights defence of pluralism was the work of political refugees, attempting to curtail atrocities done in the name of Providence. Providence, meanwhile, was a political weapon, amidst new forces of capitalism, dynastic rivalry, and nationalism. This article examines Milton’s poetic visions, and the institutions and actions that characterized his political life in the English Revolution, and their interconnection.

Morocco, a multilingual country with historical and geo-political legacies, has opened a hot debate on languages recently. Within this debate, this article investigates spontaneous comments in social media on languages in Morocco, especially adopting English as a first foreign language. It aims to bring this topic to the surface and thus discuss it in the light of research on language attitudes and language awareness. To do so, it analyses the reactions to texts about the declarations by the Minister of Higher Education shared in social networks and sites. The data consisting of 2,018 comments is classified according to 12 frequent patterns whose frequencies are calculated. The findings show that most of Moroccans have positive attitudes towards English while some show opposing reactions towards French. These participants hold ambivalent opinions about the rest of languages used in Morocco; however, they tend to insist on Morocco having a clear language policy which, seemingly, prioritises the mother tongues, Arabic and Amazigh. The discussions show that some investigated reactions are mitigated as they may be illusionary.

This article analyses Enlightenment ideas and nation-making practices in the American Civil War and pre-War civil societies. It analyses African American mobilization and the abolitionist movement, and Lincoln’s role in war, reconciliation and development. The international context is investigated in a case for relational nation making. The role of non-violent mobilization is assessed. It examines the war’s social revolutionary implications. The war’s unprecedented violence anticipated 20th century total war, fundamentally deciding the republic’s future. State/civil society interactions, and changes in public moral perception, reshape longstanding institutional arrangements, and decide core ethical issues including the meaning of humanity.

One of the questions perpetually plaguing the critics of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw is whether the ghosts are real or the governess had lost her mind. This paper offers an interpretation of James’ novella from the viewpoint of the Gothic novel, and the author draws parallels between the actions and behavior of the young and impressionable governess and those of a heroine from the Gothic genre, taking into account the governess’ narrative style, her repressed self, the evil she faces and finally, the overall position of governesses in Victorian society. The result is an aligning of James’ protagonist with the generally accepted image of a Gothic heroine, thus working towards the conclusion that, seen from the perspective of the Gothic novel, the ghosts are real and the governess is caught in a battle between good and evil, fighting for the children’s souls.

This article is an attempt to shed some more light on certain factors, related to individual differences in the process of second/foreign language acquisition/learning, proven by previous research in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). These are factors which may affect the final attainment of adult learners’ implicit and explicit knowledge of English as a second/foreign language and their proficiency. A study based on empirical data collected from a sample of 103 participants, through a battery of tests, aimed at tapping into the attainment of implicit or explicit knowledge of ESL/EFL, was conducted to explore certain factors such as: starting age of learning; length of exposure to English as a second/foreign language in a target language country; length of learning and type of input received, which have a statistically significant impact on attainment and on ESL/EFL proficiency. The results were analysed using SPSS software.

This paper reports on a study of how a group of tertiary level EFL teachers perceived and used mobile devices in their teaching and personal learning. One hundred and fifty teachers (66 female, 84 male) from public universities in Saudi Arabia completed an online questionnaire. Results showed that the majority of participants used mobile devices and applications in their teaching and learning. Survey data showed that the vast majority of teachers had positively perceived and frequently used mobile technologies in their teaching and personal learning. In addition, there was a correlation between teachers’ use of mobile technologies in their teaching and their use in learning. There was also a correlation between how teachers perceived the value of mobile technologies in learning, and how they use them in their teaching.