On the Significance of Saussure's Course in General Linguistics

Saussure, the greatest linguist in the 20^(th) century, is the founder of modern linguistics, semiology as well as structuralism linguistics. Moreover, his ideas have have influenced a great number of linguists in the last ninety years. This paper aims to present and comment on some of his ideas in one of this masterworks—Course in General Linguistics. In the end, the author proposes some suggestions for further study.

The Effect of Using L1 （Arabic Language） in the L2 （English Language） Classroom on the Achievement in General English of Foundation Year Students in King Abdulaziz University

This study aims at investigating the effect of using L 1 （Arabic Language） while teaching a target language （English Language） on the achievement in General English of foundation year students in King Abdulaziz University. To achieve the purpose of the study, the researcher used an experimental design： an experimental group and a control group. The independent variable is using L1 while teaching English in very limited and specified areas. The dependent variable is students＇ achievement in general English. The statistics used is the t-test. The population of the study was all students enrolled in the foundation year 1431/1432 in the ELI （English Language Institute） at King Abdulaziz University. The sample of the study consisted of 50 students taking North Star in the sections A and B as a university requirement in the foundation year 1431/1432 in King Abdulaziz University. The results of the study were in favor of banning Arabic in the English language classroom as shown in the mean scores of the control and experimental groups in the tables. It is recommended that teachers and instructors should be trained to use teaching strategies that help them use English only in the English language classroom.

Suzhi Education and General Education in China

Purpose:Since the 1980s,suzhi has become a core word in contemporary China.Suzhi education as an education philosophy full of Chinese characteristics has been well known in China for generations.Particularly since 1995,culture-oriented quality education as an anchor and starting point of suzhi education implementation in universities,which integrates with general education and liberal education fromWestern concepts,triggered great changes in Chinese universities.This article aims to review the concepts of suzhi education,general education,and their practice in China.Design/Approach/Methods:This study is based on historical developments of suzhi education and general education,research literature,and some typical practice cases.Findings:The analysis finds that suzhi education and general education have consistent goals.Their connotations in China can be understood in three aspects:philosophy,education content,and cultivation mode.They caused three great practices in universities,including general education courses,extracurricular suzhi education activities,and reforms on talent cultivation modes.Originality/Value:This article clarifies the localized understanding of suzhi education and general education in three aspects and outlines the overall reforms around suzhi education and general education in Chinese higher education.

Linguistic Creativity

Course in General Linguistics (1916) is an indispensable “Great Book” in the contemporary canon of ideas.This foundational text laid out an innovative research program in contemporary semiotics and it led to the development of structuralist methods in the humanities.Recent developments in Saussurean scholarship offer multiple venues for developing a critical perspective on this programmatic text.Specifically,the materials from the linguist’s Nachlass (works unpublished or unexhibited at Saussure’s death,some of them recently discovered) challenge the official doctrine associated with the Course (a posthumous redaction published in 1916 and attributed to Saussure who died in 1913) and with structural linguistics (a “return to Saussure” in the 1950s and 60s France).The official doctrine maps language onto a set of hierarchical oppositions between la langue and la parole,and synchrony and diachrony.According to Saussure’s own writings,language intersects structure with speech,and stability with temporal change (Saussure,2006;Stawarska,2020,2015).Instead of a vertical dualism elevating the synchronous structure (the presumed proper object of study in scientific linguistics) above the evolving patterns of use,we find that language has a “double essence” (Saussure,2006,p.144) and it exists equally in the present and in the past;furthermore,duality is a “first and last” principle in general linguistics (p.3).This inescapable duality is rendered more concrete in this essay by studying linguistic creativity,specifically,innovation by analogy.