The present paper attempts to provide a critical evaluation of the most prominent pedagogical models that have dealt with the language of the second language (L2) learner starting from the second half of the 20th century. The three most influential approaches in the domain are investigated in this study: contrastive analysis (CA), error analysis (EA), and interlanguage (IL). Each of these models is tackled in terms of its beginning, psychological background, essential tenets, mechanism, and its pedagogical value. Prominently, this work is aimed at teasing apart the confusion that surrounds the fields of acquiring second/foreign language. It also endeavors to clear out the overlapping of both terminology and concept that cloud these areas. Focus is placed on IL owing to the dominant share of attention it has received from researchers and applied linguists who have found many of their questions answered and many information-gaps filled in with this theory. This review paper is an extract of an in-progress PhD dissertation on interlanguage pragmatics of Kurdish university EFL learners, which is an applied study addressing both the pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic knowledge of the students.

This paper is an extract from a PhD dissertation on the impacts of learning English on the self-identity of Kurdish EFL learners. Language is a distinctive feature of human being. Similarly, identity is considered as a sign humans are recognized by. So, scrutinizing the relationship between these two related components of human life is revealing. Most of the research papers in this area focus on how language is used as a tool to express someone's identity. However, this research focuses on how the process of learning English makes possible changes, if any, in the learners' self-identity. A Likert-questionnaire of 30 questions is given to 150 EFL learners from three main universities to understand the differences that might happen in the learners' self-identity as a result of learning English. Finally, some conclusions are drawn based on the collected data and the references are documented.

This paper is an attempt to analyze a sample of 2020 American presidential election posters from the viewpoint of Cognitive Semantics (CS). The analysis covers the visual and verbal elements of these posters in terms of metaphorical and blending conceptualizations. The study also attempts to find out how these cognitive mechanisms are employed to persuade the audience and highlight the political power of the election candidates. To achieve the aims of the study, a sample of Trump and Biden’s political posters used in the 2020 American campaign is selected to be analyzed at visual and verbal levels. The visual elements are analyzed based on Forceville's (1996-2014) model of non-verbal metaphor including monomodal and multimodal pictorial metaphor. On the other hand, Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor model is adopted for the analysis of linguistic elements. In terms of conceptual blending, Fauconnier and Turner’s model is used for the analysis of both linguistic and visual elements. The results of analysis show that metaphorical and blending conceptualizations are essential tools in constructing and decoding the meaning of political election campaign posters.

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