More than Words? An Analysis on the Language and Structure of General Election Manifestos of the British Labour Party 1983-2005

The topic of this study is the language of the educational policies of the British Labour party in the General Election manifestos between the years 1983-2005. The twenty-year period studied has been a period of significant changes in world politics, and in British politics, especially for the Labour party. The emergence educational policy as a vote-winner of the manifestos of the nineties has been noteworthy. The aim of the thesis is two-fold: to look at the structure of the political manifesto as an example of genre writing and to analyze the content utilizing the approach of critical discourse analysis. Furthermore, the aim of this study is not to pinpoint policy positions but to look at what is the image that the Labour Party creates of itself through these manifestos. The analysis of the content is done by a method of close-reading. Based on the findings, the methodology for the analysis of the content was created. This study utilized methodological triangulation which means that the material is analyzed from several methodological aspects. The aspects used in this study are ones of lexical features (collocation, coordination, euphemisms, metaphors and naming), grammatical features (thematic roles, tense, aspect, voice and modal auxiliaries) and rhetoric (Burke, Toulmin and Perelman). From the analysis of the content a generic description is built. By looking at the lexical, grammatical and rhetorical features a clear change in language of the Labour Party can be detected. This change is foreshadowed already in the 1992 manifesto but culminates in the 1997 manifesto which would lead Labour to a landslide victory in the General Election. During this twenty-year period Labour has moved away from the old commitments and into the new sphere of “something for everybody”. The pervasiveness of promotional language and market inspired vocabulary into the sphere of manifesto writing is clear. The use of the metaphors seemed to be the tool for the creation of the image of the party represented through the manifestos. A limited generic description can be constructed from the findings based on the content and structure of the manifestos: especially more generic findings such as the use of the exclusive we, the lack of certain anatomical parts of argument structure, the use of the future tense and the present progressive aspect can shed light to the description of the genre of manifesto writing. While this study is only the beginning, it proves that the combination of looking at the lexical, grammatical and rhetorical features in the study of manifestos is a promising one.

Language Flexibility: The Effects of Finnish-Swedish Bilingualism on EFL Acquisition

Tutkielmassa käsitellään vieraan kielen, ts. englannin, oppimista peruskoulussa. Hypoteesina oletetaan, että oppilaat, jotka jo hallitsevat kaksi kieltä, menestyvät paremmin vieraan kielen oppimisessa kuin yksikieliset oppilaat. Tutkielmassa vertaillaan kaksikielisten ja yksikielisten oppilaiden englannin kielen taitoja alakoulun kuudennen luokan päättyessä. Kaksikielisyys voidaan ymmärtää monella tavalla, ja tutkimustulokset kaksikielisyyden vaikutuksista ovat usein olleet ristiriitaisia. Siksi tutkielmassa ensin määritellään kaksikielisyys, sen lajit sekä siihen liittyvää terminologiaa. Lisäksi kuvaillaan Suomen sekä erityisesti Turun kaupungin kaksikielisen väestön tilaa ja oikeuksia sekä keskustellaan aikaisempien tutkimusten perusteella mahdollisista ongelmista ja hyödyistä, joita kaksikielisyyteen liittyy. Kaksikielisyyteen on perinteisesti liittynyt myös paljon ennakkoluuloja, kuten pelko puolikielisyydestä, jotka tieteellisten tutkimusten avulla pyritään kumoamaan. Mahdollisia muita ongelmia, kuten pienempi sanavarasto molemmissa kielissä verrattuna saman ikäisiin yksikielisiin sekä reaktioaikojen piteneminen, kuitenkin esiintyy. Kaksikielisyyden hyötyjä sen sijaan voivat olla mm. luovuus, kyky kielen analyyttiseen tarkasteluun, metalingvististen taitojen kehittyminen ja avoimuus muita kieliä ja kulttuureita kohtaan. Kaikki mainitut edut ja haitat myös vaikuttavat vieraan kielen opinnoissa menestymiseen. Myös mahdollinen positiivinen transferenssi otetaan huomioon. Tutkimuksen empiiristä osaa varten vierailtiin kahdessa turkulaisessa alakoulussa, joiden kuudennen luokan oppilaat suorittivat kaksi englannin kielen tehtävää. Toinen kouluista oli suomenkielinen, jonka oppilaat edustivat yksikielistä vertailuryhmää (n=31). Ruotsinkielinen koulu valittiin edustamaan kaksikielistä ryhmää (n=34), sillä yleensä Suomessa ja kaupungeissa kuten Turussa vähemmistökielen puhujat hallitsevat käytännössä usein myös suomen kielen. Ruotsinkielisen koulun oppilaiden kaksikielisyys varmistettiin kielitaustakyselyllä. Kaksikielisten oppilaiden tulokset molemmissa tehtävissä olivat hieman paremmat kuin yksikielisten. Yksikielisessä ryhmässä myös tulosten keskihajonta oli suurempi. Kaksikieliset näyttivät hallitsevan kielen analyyttisen tarkastelun paremmin sekä tekivät vähemmän kieliopillisia virheitä. Positiivisen transferenssin vaikutus oli myös nähtävissä. Toisaalta heillä oli enemmän oikeinkirjoitusvirheitä vastauksissaan.Merkittäviä eroja ei kuitenkaan englannin kielen oppimisessa voitu todentaa.

CLARIN: common language resources and technology infrastructure

Presentamos el proyecto CLARIN, un proyecto cuyo objetivo es potenciar el uso de instrumentos tecnológicos en la investigación en las Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales

Les critères STOPP/START.v2 : adaptation en langue française. [STOPP/START.v2 criteria: Adaptation into French language]

Objectif STOPP/START est un outil de détection de la prescription médicamenteuse potentiellement inappropriée chez la personne de 65 ans ou plus. La version initiale de 2008 vient d'être mise à jour et améliorée par ses auteurs. Nous en présentons l'adaptation et la validation en langue française. Méthodes L'adaptation en français de l'outil STOPP/START.v2 a été réalisée par deux experts, confirmée par la méthode de traduction-inverse, et finalisée d'après les commentaires de neufs évaluateurs francophones, gériatres, pharmaciens cliniciens, et médecin généraliste de quatre pays (France, Belgique, Suisse, Canada). La validation a été complétée par une analyse de concordance inter-juge (CCI) des critères STOPP/START.v2 appliqués à dix vignettes cliniques standardisées. Résultats Les 115 critères de STOPP/START.v2 en français sont, par rapport à la version originale anglaise, identiques par leur classification mais adaptés en termes de présentation (critères START.v2 commençant par la condition clinique, et accompagnés par une justification du caractère inapproprié de l'omission) voire de formulation de certains critères. Cette adaptation en français est validée par (i) la traduction-inverse montrant le respect du sens clinique de la version originale, (ii) l'identification semblable des critères lorsque appliqués à dix vignettes cliniques par les neuf évaluateurs, et (iii) le haut niveau de concordance de ces neuf évaluations tant pour STOPP.v2 (CCI 0,849) que pour START.v2 (CCI 0,921). Conclusion L'adaptation en langue française des critères STOPP/START.v2 fournit aux cliniciens un outil de détection de la prescription médicamenteuse potentiellement inappropriée chez les personnes de 65 ans et plus qui est logique, fiable et facile à utiliser. Objective STOPP/START is a screening tool to detect potentially inappropriate prescribing in persons aged 65 or older. Its Irish authors recently updated and improved the initially published version of 2008. We present the adaptation and validation into French language of this updated tool. Methods STOPP/START.v2 was adapted into French by two experts, then confirmed by a translation-back translation method and finalised according to the comments of nine French-speaking assessors - geriatricians, pharmacologists and a general physician - from four countries (France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada). The validation was completed by an inter-rater reliability (IRR) analysis of the STOPP/START.v2 criteria applied to 10 standardized clinical vignettes. Results In comparison to the original English version, the 115 STOPP/START.v2 criteria in French language classify in identical manner, but the presentation has been adjusted (START.v2 first specifies the clinical condition followed by an explanation of the inappropriateness of the prescription or omission). This adaptation into French language was validated by means of (i) the translation/back-translation, which showed that the French version complied with the clinical meaning of the original criteria; (ii) the similar screening results when applied by the nine specialists to the 10 cases; and (iii) the high level of inter-rater reliability of these 9 evaluations, for both STOPP (IRR 0.849) and START.v2 (IRR 0.921). Conclusion The adaptation into French of the STOPP/START.v2 criteria provides clinicians with a screening tool to detect potentially inappropriate prescribing in patients aged 65 and older that is more logical, more reliable and easier to use.

Language extinction and linguistic fronts

Language diversity has become greatly endangered in the past centuries owing to processes of language shift from indigenous languages to other languages that are seen as socially and economically more advantageous, resulting in the death or doom of minority languages. In this paper, we define a new language competition model that can describe the historical decline of minority languages in competition with more advantageous languages. We then implement this non-spatial model as an interaction term in a reactiondiffusion system to model the evolution of the two competing languages. We use the results to estimate the speed at which the more advantageous language spreads geographically, resulting in the shrinkage of the area of dominance of the minority language. We compare the results from our model with the observed retreat in the area of influence of the Welsh language in the UK, obtaining a good agreement between the model and the observed data

Language Learning in Task Management and Task Accomplishment

In this paper we study student interaction in English and Swedish courses at a Finnish university. We focus on language choices made in task-related activities in small group interaction. Our research interests arose from the change in the teaching curriculum, in which content and language courses were integrated at Tampere University of Technology in 2013. Using conversation analysis, we analysed groups of 4-5 students who worked collaboratively on a task via a video conference programme. The results show how language alternation has different functions in 1) situations where students orient to managing the task, e.g., in transitions into task, or where they orient to technical problems, and 2) situations where students accomplish the task. With the results, we aim to show how language alternation can provide interactional opportunities for language learning. The findings will be useful in designing tasks in the future.

Content and Language Integration as a part of a degree reform at Tampere University of Technology

Tampere University of Technology is undergoing a degree reform that started in 2013. One of the major changes in the reform was the integration of compulsory Finnish, Swedish and English language courses to substance courses at the bachelor level. The integration of content and language courses aims at higher quality language learning, more fluency in studies, and increased motivation toward language studies. In addition, integration is an opportunity to optimize the use of resources and to offer courses that are more tailored to the students' field of study and to the skills needed in working life. The reform also aims to increase and develop co-operation between different departments at the university and to develop scientific follow up. This paper gives an overview of the integration process conducted at TUT and gives examples of adjunct CLIL implementations in three different languages.

The application of communicative language teaching : a particular case in a polish primary school

L’objectiu d’aquest estudi és examinar si l’Ensenyament Comunicatiu de la Llengua és usat per les mestres quan duen a terme classes d’anglès com a llengua estrangera en una escola de primària polonesa, amb un context educatiu especial. Aquesta recerca qualitativa analitza cinc conjunts principals d’informació relacionats amb l’ensenyament de la llengua estrangera que caracteritzen l’enfocament de l’Ensenyament Comunicatiu de la Llengua i que estan centrats en: el coneixement i les creences dels mestres sobre l’enfocament de l’Ensenyament Comunicatiu de la Llengua; l’ús de la llengua; els aspectes de la llengua anglesa que s’ensenyen; les característiques de les activitats: i el procés d’ensenyament. Per aquest objectiu, s’ha proporcionat un qüestionari a cada mestra d’anglès i s’han portat a terme algunes observacions d’aula per tal de recollir dades, analitzar-les i extreure’n unes conclusions. Els resultats de la investigació mostren que les mestres d’anglès donen bastant suport a l’enfocament de l’Ensenyament Comunicatiu de la Llengua, així com apliquen força sovint els seus trets característics quan porten a terme les classes.