Interactional dynamics in on-line and face-to-face peer-tutoring sessions for second language writers

This paper reports the results of a study comparing the interactional dynamics of face-to-face and on-line peer-tutoring in writing by university students in Hong Kong. Transcripts of face-to-face tutoring sessions, as well as logs of on-line sessions conducted by the same peer-tutors, were coded for speech functions using a system based on Halliday's functional-semantic view of dialogue. Results show considerable differences between the interactional dynamics in on-line and face-to-face tutoring sessions. In particular, face-to-face interactions involved more hierarchal encounters in which tutors took control of the discourse, whereas on-line interactions were more egalitarian, with clients controlling the discourse more. Differences were also found in the topics participants chose to focus on in the two modes, with issues of grammar, vocabulary, and style taking precedence in face-to-face sessions and more “global” writing concerns like content and process being discussed more in on-line sessions.

”Potato seeking rice”: language, culture, and identity in gay personal ads in Hong Kong

This paper examines the relationship between language, culture, and identity in a corpus of gay personal ads collected from two publications in Hong Kong in the three years before the 1997 transition of sovereignty. Gay personal ads are seen äs an "island of discourse," whose marginal nature is reflected in the use of language and in turn reflects issues of marginalization in the larger social context. Using Fairclough's (1992, 1993) three- dimensional model for critical discourse analysis, an attempt is made to uncover the relationship between text structure and issues ofpower/ideology in the society that produces the texts. On the level of text, it was found that structural components, particularly the degree of grammatical elaboration, differ according to the stated race or cultural background of the authors and their targets. On the level of discourse practice, authors were found to appropriate a variety of "voices"from the larger culture arena, the use of which amplifies or limits the participation of particular classes of individuals. Finally, on the level of social practice, the ads were found to reflect and re-create both the racial stereotypes and heterosexist ideology found in the dominant culture.

Syntactic complexity in the comprehension of wh-questions and relative clauses in typical language development and autism

This study investigates effects of syntactic complexity operationalised in terms of movement, intervention and (NP) feature similarity in the development of A’ dependencies in 4-, 6-, and 8-year old typically developing (TD) French children and children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Children completed an off-line comprehension task testing eight syntactic structures classified in four levels of complexity: Level 0: No Movement; Level 1: Movement without (configurational) Intervention; Level 2: Movement with Intervention from an element which is maximally different or featurally ‘disjoint’ (mismatched in both lexical NP restriction and number); Level 3: Movement with Intervention from an element similar in one feature or featurally ‘intersecting’ (matched in lexical NP restriction, mismatched in number). The results show that syntactic complexity affects TD children across the three age groups, but also indicate developmental differences between these groups. Movement affected all three groups in a similar way, but intervention effects in intersection cases were stronger in younger than older children, with NP feature similarity affecting only 4-year olds. Complexity effects created by the similarity in lexical restriction of an intervener thus appear to be overcome early in development, arguably thanks to other differences of this intervener (which was mismatched in number). Children with ASD performed less well than the TD children although they were matched on non-verbal reasoning. Overall, syntactic complexity affected their performance in a similar way as in their TD controls, but their performance correlated with non-verbal abilities rather than age, suggesting that their grammatical development does not follow the smooth relation to age that is found in TD children.

Evidence from neurolinguistic methodologies: can it actually inform linguistic/ language acquisition theories and translate to evidence-based applications?

This special issue is a testament to the recent burgeoning interest by theoretical linguists, language acquisitionists and teaching practitioners in the neuroscience of language. It offers a highly valuable, state-of-the-art overview of the neurophysiological methods that are currently being applied to questions in the field of second language (L2) acquisition, teaching and processing. Research in the area of neurolinguistics has developed dramatically in the past twenty years, providing a wealth of exciting findings, many of which are discussed in the papers in this volume. The goal of this commentary is twofold. The first is to critically assess the current state of neurolinguistic data from the point of view of language acquisition and processing—informed by the papers that comprise this special issue and the literature as a whole—pondering how the neuroscience of language/processing might inform us with respect to linguistic and language acquisition theories. The second goal is to offer some links from implications of exploring the first goal towards informing language teachers and the creation of linguistically and neurolinguistically-informed evidence-based pedagogies for non-native language teaching.

Experimental philosophy of language

Experimental philosophy of language uses experimental methods developed in the cognitive sciences to investigate topics of interest to philosophers of language. This article describes the methodological background for the development of experimental approaches to topics in philosophy of language, distinguishes negative and positive projects in experimental philosophy of language, and evaluates experimental work on the reference of proper names and natural kind terms. The reliability of expert judgments vs. the judgments of ordinary speakers, the role that ambiguity plays in influencing responses to experiments, and the reliability of meta-linguistic judgments are also assessed.

Formal linguistic approaches to heritage language acquisition: bridges for pedagogically oriented research

The goal of this chapter is to lay out the central themes of heritage language acquisition research adopting a formal/theoretical linguistic perspective.  Specifically, we aim to provide a detailed discussion of the nature of heritage language grammars. In doing so, we will address the debates on how to explain heritage speaker competence differences from monolingual baselines and more. This chapter will not be limited to discussions of Spanish as a heritage language, but rather will highlight the important role that Spanish has played and will continue to play in the development of heritage language acquisition studies. Finally, we will offer some comments/insights on how the information covered regarding the formal linguistic properties of heritage speaker knowledge should be considered for and implemented in heritage language pedagogies and thus dealing with heritage speakers in the classroom setting.

Language networks, literary translation and the friars in late medieval ireland

Dublin, Trinity College MS 667 (olim F 5 3) is something of a meeting point of languages and traditions, representing one of the most significant witnesses to Latin exemplars for vernacular translations to survive from medieval Ireland. What is more, the translated texts appear to travel in groups, with several Irish-language manuscripts bearing close comparison to Trinity 667 in the texts and versions of texts they contain. Examining these texts and the contexts in which they circulated in Irish can give us a sense of the sorts of historical and cultural currents to which such translation work appears to have been responding.

Nurturing bilingual learners: challenges and concerns in Singapore

Singapore’s bilingual policy legitimises English not only as the language of governmental administration and interethnic communication, but also as the medium of instruction in all schools on all levels and across all subjects except mother tongues (MTs). As a result of these politics of language recognition, a visible shift has occurred in all ethnic groups away from MTs towards English. To rectify the language shift situation, the government has emphasised that developing bilingualism and raising bilingual children should begin in preschools. In this paper, we examine two top-down official documents: Review of Mother Tongue Languages Report, issued in 2011, and Nurturing Early Learners Framework for Mother Tongue Languages, developed in 2013. Attempting to identify some of the complex factors that influence language shift, we present an intertextual analysis of the Report and the curriculum Framework. In doing so, we compare the consistencies and locate the implicit inconsistencies in the policy position on bilingual education in preschools. We conclude the article by outlining the implications for changing the current bilingual educational models and providing teacher training programmes that maximise the learning opportunities of young bilingual learners.

Tvoice :um sistema de manipulação de linguagens para auxiliar portadores de necessidades especiais através da web

This work presents the tVoice, software that manipulates tags languages, extracting information and, being integral part of the VoiceProxy system, it aids bearers of special needs in the access to the Web. This system is responsible for the search and treatment of the documents in the Web, extracting the textual information contained in those documents and preceding the capability of generating eventually through translation techniques, an audio script, used by the of interface subsystem of VoiceProxy, the iVoice, in the process of voice synthesis. In this stage the tVoice, besides the treatment of the tag language HTML, processes other two formats of documents, PDF and XHTML. Additionally to allow that, besides the iVoice, other interface subsystems can make use of the tVoice through remote access, we propose distribution systems techniques based in the model Client-Server providers operations of the fashion of a proxy server treatment of documents

Java applets for a WWW-HTML-based course in power electronics

This paper introduces Java applet programs for a WWW (world wide web)-HTML (hypertext markup language)-based multimedia course in Power Electronics. The applet programs were developed with the purpose of providing an interactive visual simulation and analysis of idealized uncontrolled single-phase, and three-phase rectifiers. In addition, this paper discusses the development and utilization of JAVA applet programs to solve some design-oriented equations for rectifier applications. The major goal of these proposed JAVA applets was to provide more facilities for the students increase their pace in Power Electronics course, emphasizing waveforms analysis, and providing conditions for an on-line comparative analysis among different hands-on laboratory experiences, via a normal Internet TCP/IP connection. Therefore, using the proposed JAVA applets, which were embedded in a WWW-HTML-based course in Power Electronics, was observed an important improvement of the apprenticeship for the content of this course. Therefore, the course structure becomes fluid, allowing a true on-line course over the WWW, motivating students to learn its content, and apply it in some applications-oriented projects, and their home-works.

Análise discursiva de blogs de professores: a produção da identidade na internet

This paper proposes a discursive analysis of teachers‘s blogs , particularly those accessible from the MEC site : http://portaldoprofessor.mec.gov.br/links.html . The aim is to analyze , dialogically, based on Bakhtinian discourse studies the speech of Portuguese language teachers on the internet , and to investigate aspects of the discourse genre blog , this specialized sphere of circulation :whether it is a means of exposing themselves, whether they are professional media extent , reflect about how to produce the identity of the Portuguese language teachers in such discourse . The axes of reflection on identity , in this case , are four: the subject‘sthe discourse about themselvesand their peers , how the subject shows itself tothe analyst - researcher in dialogue with others in history ( teachers , students , interested in issues of language , official documents ), how it can be seen by the analyst - researcher considering using resources ( videos , photos , literary genres, etc. ), how it is seen by those who comment your say

DeCS terminology and the new rules on orthography of Portuguese language: guidelines for an update

PURPOSE: To indicate orthographic changes to be used as a basic reference for professionals, researchers, doctors, teachers, students and users, which are directly linked and performing activities in health services in general, aimed at implementing the correct orthography in recovery and production of their scientific studies. METHODS: For data collection, were shown some examples of terminology DeCS (Descriptors in Health Science) analyzed according to the current spelling and compared with the Orthographic Vocabulary of Portuguese Language (VOLP). RESULTS: It was select and listed examples of key words and/or terms related to Health Sciences, which was compared to the respective rules of the Orthographic Agreement of Portuguese Language, and divided into three items: graphical accentuation, the non use of dieresis and exceptions and, the use of hyphen. CONCLUSION: This study show some guidelines for the orthographic alterations of the terms used by scientific community, according the new orthographic rules, contributing for the efficiency in the description of the documents and consequently in their recovery.

Pattern-based segmentation of digital documents: model and implementation

This thesis proposes a new document model, according to which any document can be segmented in some independent components and transformed in a pattern-based projection, that only uses a very small set of objects and composition rules. The point is that such a normalized document expresses the same fundamental information of the original one, in a simple, clear and unambiguous way. The central part of my work consists of discussing that model, investigating how a digital document can be segmented, and how a segmented version can be used to implement advanced tools of conversion. I present seven patterns which are versatile enough to capture the most relevant documents’ structures, and whose minimality and rigour make that implementation possible. The abstract model is then instantiated into an actual markup language, called IML. IML is a general and extensible language, which basically adopts an XHTML syntax, able to capture a posteriori the only content of a digital document. It is compared with other languages and proposals, in order to clarify its role and objectives. Finally, I present some systems built upon these ideas. These applications are evaluated in terms of users’ advantages, workflow improvements and impact over the overall quality of the output. In particular, they cover heterogeneous content management processes: from web editing to collaboration (IsaWiki and WikiFactory), from e-learning (IsaLearning) to professional printing (IsaPress).