The philosophical and, in a lesser degree, linguistic debate about the notion of names has been raging for a long time. The processes behind naming are presented and explained in various ways. This paper will try to give a new insight into the motivation behind the creation of new names as seen from the linguistics viewpoint. Metaphor, as one of the major sources of motivation from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, is the basic form of human conceptualization. The first part of the paper presents the current theories about names. The second part describes the basic principles of cognitive linguistics as related to metaphors. The third part deals with providing the evidence regarding metaphor involvement in original creation of people's names, while the last part of the paper presents examples from the Serbian language
Task difficulty is an important but complex phenomenon in Applied Linguistics, for which there is relatively little empirical research. This article discusses approaches to defining task difficulty and focuses on objective task difficulty derived from ratings of performances and on difficulty derived from an error count in the performances, thus taking errors as indicators of writing task difficulty. Errors are described in terms of the Scope-Substance error taxonomy in writing performances from the Slovene General Matura examination in English. The most frequent errors are located at word and phrase level. Generally, error frequency decreases as writing proficiency increases, but some error types do not conform to this trend. This is the case for punctuation errors, which gain prominence at higher levels of mastery. The results of this study are relevant for assessment, particularly for rating scale development or revision, and for rater training. They are equally relevant for teaching, since knowing sources of difficulty in tasks is a prerequisite for effective pedagogical action. More generally, if applied to performances based on a wider range of tasks, viewing errors as indicators of difficulty can lead to a better understanding of difficulty-generating task features.
Looking at the issue of validity and test validation, the historical and the theoretical progression has been well described both when it comes to educational assessment in general and language assessment in particular. A clear progression can be seen starting in the 1920s and culminating in the late 1980s/early 1990s (with minor notable developments since), and it is an advancement motivated and driven almost solely by new theoretical and practical considerations. Securing validity and validation with regard to writing assessment in particular, however, took a more winding route and was primarily shaped by a power struggle between externally administered standardized testing (and the supporting administrative bodies) on one side, and the practicing teachers of writing at higher education institutions on the other. The paper at hand outlines this evolution and gives a timeline of the events and major developments that have fueled it and explores the cutting edge of today.
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