Bridging the gap between stylistic and cognitive approaches to authorship analysis using systemic functional linguistics and multidimensional analysis

In the present state of the art of authorship attribution there seems to be an opposition between two approaches: cognitive and stylistic methodologies. It is proposed in this article that these two approaches are complementary and that the apparent gap between them can be bridged using Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and in particular some of its theoretical constructions, such as codal variation. This article deals with the theoretical explanation of why such a theory would solve the debate between the two approaches and shows how these two views of authorship attribution are indeed complementary. Although the article is fundamentally theoretical, two example experimental trials are reported to show how this theory can be developed into a workable methodology of doing authorship attribution. In Trial 1, a SFL analysis was carried out on a small dataset consisting of three 300-word texts collected from three different authors whose socio-demographic background matched across a number of parameters. This trial led to some conclusions about developing a methodology based on SFL and suggested the development of another trial, which might hint at a more accurate and useful methodology. In Trial 2, Biber's (1988) multidimensional framework is employed, and a final methodology of authorship analysis based on this kind of analysis is proposed for future research. © 2013, EQUINOX PUBLISHING.

Disciplinary talk:a systemic functional exploration of university seminar discussions

Despite the growth of spoken academic corpora in recent years, relatively little is known about the language of seminar discussions in higher education. This thesis compares seminar discussions across three disciplinary areas. The aim of this thesis is to uncover the functions and patterns of talk used in different disciplinary discussions and to highlight language on a macro and micro level that would be useful for materials design and teaching purposes. A framework for identifying and analysing genres in spoken language based on Hallidayan Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is used. Stretches of talk sharing a similar purpose and predictable functional staging, termed Discussion Macro Genres (DMGs) are identified. Language is compared across DMGs and across disciplines through use of corpus techniques in conjunction with SFL genre theory. Data for the study comprises just over 180,000 tokens and is drawn from the British Academic Spoken English corpus (BASE), recorded at two universities in the UK. The discipline areas investigated are Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Physical Sciences. Findings from this study make theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions to the field of spoken EAP. The empirical findings are firstly, that the majority of the seminar discussion can be assigned to one of the three main DMG in the corpus: Responding, Debating and Problem Solving. Secondly, it characterises each discipline area according to two DMGs. Thirdly, the majority of the discussion is non-oppositional in nature, suggesting that ‘debate’ is not the only form of discussion that students need to be prepared for. Finally, while some characteristics of the discussion are tied to the DMG and common across disciplines, others are discipline specific. On a theoretical level, this study shows that an SFL genre model for investigating spoken discourse can be successfully extended to investigate longer stretches of discourse than have previously been identified. The methodological contribution is to demonstrate how corpus techniques can be combined with SFL genre theory to investigate extended stretches of spoken discussion. The thesis will be of value to those working in the field of teaching spoken EAP/ ESAP as well as to materials developers.

Noticing, exploring and practicing: functional grammar in the ESL classroom

This book introduces six general procedures for teaching grammar to learners of English as a second language. The procedures are designed to encourage learners to notice, explore and practice grammar in context. Each description and discussion of a procedure is followed by two sample lesson plans together with sample texts and worksheets. Teachers can either use these 'as is' or adapt them for their own students. The lessons are suitable for a wide range of students from beginning learners to advanced learners. A final chapter provides examples of lessons in which several procedures are combined. In addition, before each sample lesson plan, the grammar focus of the lesson is briefly explained for the teacher. These procedures all illustrate how grammar can be taught through texts, and they are based on an understanding of the latest research on pedagogical grammar and the role of language awareness and discovery in second language learning and provide teachers with principles they can apply in developing their own teaching materials and activities. The grammar explanations preceding each teaching plan provide a fresh look at English grammar drawing on work in systemic functional linguistics.

Representações de professores de língua inglesa de Natal-RN: um estudo sistêmico-funcional

Teaching and learning representations have been more and more investigated in the Brazilian applied linguistics field, as it allows the understanding of the teachers representations and how they conceive the learning process. This practice facilitates the planning of actions to improve the educational system. This study aims at identifying, interpreting and discussing some representations related to the identity and professional view of English as a foreign language teachers in different school contexts of Natal-RN. The theoretical and methodological foundation for this research is Halliday s Systemic- Functional Linguistics (1994; HALLIDAY; MATHIESSEN, 2004; EGGINS, 1994, among others). Our goal was to reveal the teachers representations embedded in their language, mainly through the ideational metafunction, as language is the tool we use to express ourselves about the external world (events, qualities, things, etc) and the internal world (thoughts, beliefs, feelings, etc). The research corpus is made of 21 teacher narratives, generated from a questionnaire sent to the teachers, who were divided in two groups: Group 1 (public schools teachers) and Group 2 (private schools and English course teachers). Most of the participants seemed to be satisfied with their professional choice. Many of them see the job as a challenge and an opportunity to transmit knowledge. All of them affirmed that the English teacher is a professional, for different reasons; however, the low professional appreciation was a recurrent aspect among the studied narratives. When asked about where they work, the private school teachers seemed to be more satisfied with the teaching-learning process than the ones from the public schools. We believe that the data analyzed in this study is important to show how some English teachers from Natal-RN see their profession. The results might be used in continuing education courses as food-for-thought in group discussions, as it is extremely important to emphasize and stimulate this practice

Representações discentes sobre a afetividade nas aulas de inglês de uma escola técnica

This work has risen from the researcher s pedagogical practice at a technical school in Natal, and it aims to observ how affectiveness is noticed by the students in their English classes, since we can have an idea of technicist teaching, which foccus on the acquisition of technical abilities. As cognition and affectiveness are considered indivisible elements in this research, we tried to identify the linguistic signs that express the students representations about affectiveness in their English classes. We used the Systemic Functional Linguistics approach to study the Ideational metafunction of Halliday (1994), by means of the transitivity system, to show how the clauses are used to illustrate these representations, and the interpersonal metafunction, that deals with the relationship between the teacher and the students. We tried to identify the most common processes (HALLIDAY, 1994) mentioned by the 68 students who participated in this work. We used learning narratives (BARCELOS, 2006) submitted to Wordsmith Tools computing program (SCOTT, 2009), whose results indicate the most frequent lexical items found in their narratives. The lexical choices seem to indicate that affectiveness is noticed as a composing element of the English classes in that school. There are representations of interacting classes, where the students needs are considered. These representations are built in the relationship of the students and the teacher, and they are grammatically realized by means of the polarity adjunct no , the intensity adjunct very , and the nominal group the teacher . The relational and mental processes (be) and (like) are the most used in their narratives, and we also observe that affectiveness and disponibility to help the students are considered the most important attitudes in their representations. The Appraisal system is used to analise the choices related to the attitudes and judgement of the students, that show appreciation for interacting classes, but there is still authorithary berhavior from the teacher in the English classes

English for tourism : contribution to language use through mobile learning

Tourism is growing and is becoming more competitive. Destinations need to find elements which demonstrate their uniqueness, the singularity which allows them to differentiate themselves from others. This struggle for uniqueness makes economies become more competitive and competition is a central element in the dynamics of Tourism. Technology is also an added value for tourism competitiveness, as it allows destinations to become internationalised and known worldwide. In this scenario, research has increased as a means to study Tourism trends in fields such as sociology and marketing. Nevertheless, there are areas in which there is not much research done and which are fundamental: these are the areas concerned with identities, communication and interpersonal relations. In this regard, Linguistics has a major role for different reasons: firstly, it studies language itself and through it, communication, secondly, language conveys culture and, thirdly, it is by enriching language users that innovation in Tourism and in knowledge, as a whole, is made possible. This innovation, on the other hand, has repercussions in areas such as management, internationalisation and marketing as well. It is, therefore, the objective of this thesis to report on how learning experiences take place in Tourism undergraduate English language classes as well as to give an account of enhanced results in classes where mobile learning was adopted. In this way, an alliance between practice and research was established. This is beneficial for the teaching and learning process because by establishing links between research based insight and practice, the outcome is grounded knowledge which helps make solid educational decisions. This research, therefore, allows to better understand if learners accept working with mobile technologies in their learning process. Before introducing any teaching and learning approach, it was necessary to be informed, as well, of how English for tourism programmes are organised. This thesis also illustrates through the premises of Systemic Functional Linguistics that language use can be enhanced by using mobile technology in Tourism undergraduate language classes.

O uso de corpora na análise da representação do discurso em tradução

Este artigo apresenta uma pesquisa sobre a representação do discurso ficcional embasado na gramática sistêmico - funcional proposta por Halliday e na Lingüística de Corpus, utilizando-se o software WordSmith Tools. A análise focaliza a metafunção ideacional, realizada pelo sistema de transitividade, focalizando os processos mentais e a relação lógico - semântica da projeção. O objetivo da pesquisa foi observar como os pensamentos das personagens de um corpus ficcional são representados através dos verbos de elocução THINK e PENSAR, buscando descrever padrões textuais nos três romances que compõem o corpus.

A Kilkenny Post-primary School Survey: A Survey of Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviour Relevant to Noncommunicable Disease

The Kilkenny post-primary school survey was carried out in the spring of 1987 on a stratified random sample of 445 post-primary school children in county Kilkenny. The study was designed as the basis for evaluation of the Kilkenny Health Project's school health education programme. The study examined knowledge, attitudes and behaviour relevant to non-communicable disease. The results showed that levels of adolescent alcohol and tobacco use were similar to those found in neighbouring countries. Smoking and drinking increased during adolescence and were more prevalent in males. Physical activity decreased throughout adolescence and a high intake of 'snack' foods was found. Health related knowledge levels were high but were not related to behaviour; however attitudes were found to be consistent with behaviour. These and other results are discussed. Literature relevant to school health education and the aetiology of non-communicable disease is described, with particular reference to Ireland. The evidence supporting health promotion intervention programmes against non-communicable disease is examined and WHO and Irish policies on health promotion outlined. The importance of health and disease prevention programmes commencing in youth is emphasised and the suitability and efficacy of school health education programmes are noted. A number of school health education programmes world-wide are described. The role of the community physician in relation to such programmes is discussed. Finally recommendations are made and areas for further research are made.This resource was contributed by The National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

Uusien uhkakuvien luominen: tapaus 'kiinalaiset kybersoturit' : lingvistinen uhka-analyysi kyberdiskurssista

Since his inauguration, President Barack Obama has emphasized the need for a new cybersecurity policy, pledging to make it a "national security priority". This is a significant change in security discourse after an eight-year war on terror – a term Obama announced to be no longer in use. After several white papers, reports and the release of the so-called 60-day Cybersecurity Review, Obama announced the creation of a "cyber czar" position and a new military cyber command to coordinate American cyber defence and warfare. China, as an alleged cyber rival, has played an important role in the discourse that introduced the need for the new office and the proposals for changes in legislation. Research conducted before this study suggest the dominance of state-centric enemy descriptions paused briefly after 9/11, but returned soon into threat discourse. The focus on China's cyber activities fits this trend. The aim of this study is to analyze the type of modern threat scenarios through a linguistic case study on the reporting on Chinese hackers. The methodology of this threat analysis is based on the systemic functional language theory, and realizes as an analysis of action and being descriptions (verbs) used by the American authorities. The main sources of data include the Cybersecurity Act 2009, Securing Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency, and 2008 Report to Congress of the U.S. - China Economic and Security Review Commission. Contrary to the prevailing and popularized terrorism discourse, the results show the comeback of Cold War rhetoric as well as the establishment of a state-centric threat perception in cyber discourse. Cyber adversaries are referred to with descriptions of capacity, technological superiority and untrustworthiness, whereas the ‘self’ is described as vulnerable and weak. The threat of cyber attacks is compared to physical attacks on critical military and civilian infrastructure. The authorities and the media form a cycle, in which both sides quote each other and foster each other’s distrust and rhetoric. The white papers present China's cyber army as an existential threat. This leads to cyber discourse turning into a school-book example of a securitization process. The need for security demands action descriptions, which makes new rules and regulations acceptable. Cyber discourse has motives and agendas that are separate from real security discourse: the arms race of the 21st century is about unmanned war.

Changes in education and student-centred learning as related to senior secondary school English

The main purpose of this thesis is to t r ace broadly the educational changes in the past two decades showing a shift of emphasis from a teacher-directed, content-centred philosophy of teaching to a self-directed, student-centred mode of learning. The major justification for an Independent or an Individualized Learning programme with emphasis on "the response to literature approach" is 2 to produce the independent learner. Comprehensive r eading and t he use of t he ERIC system reveal widespread educational thought and practice related t o Individualization and Independent Study as a really democratic way of learning with freedom, independence and responsibility.

A conceptual analysis of research literature on teachers' ideology and literacy practices: extending the dialogue through a secondary analysis of high school English as an additional language contexts /

This thesis provides a conceptual analysis of research literature on teachers' ideology and literacy practices as well as a secondary analysis of three empirical studies and the ways in which the ideologies of the English as an Additional Language (EAL) (Street, 2005) teachers in these contexts impact the teaching of literacy in empowering/disabling ways. Several major theoretical components of Cummins (1996, 2000), Gee (1996, 2004) and Street (1995, 2001) are examined and integrated into a conceptual triad consisting of three main areas: power and ideology, validation of students ' cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and teaching that empowers. This triad provides the framework for the secondary analysis of three empirical studies on the ideologies of secondary EAL teachers. Implications of the findings from the conceptual and secondary analyses are examined in light of the research community and secondary school teachers of EAL.