scholarly journals Discipline, Level, Genre: Integrating Situational Perspectives in a New MD Analysis of University Student Writing

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 646-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheena Gardner ◽  
Hilary Nesi ◽  
Douglas Biber
Keyword(s):  
Academic Discourse ◽  
University Student ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Student Writing ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Situational Variables ◽  
Procedural Information ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Academic Genres

Abstract While there have been many investigations of academic genres, and of the linguistic features of academic discourse, few studies have explored how these interact across a range of university student writing situations. To counter misconceptions that have arisen regarding student writing, this article aims to provide comprehensive linguistic descriptions of a wide range of university assignment genres in relation to multiple situational variables. Our new multidimensional (MD) analysis of the British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus identifies clusters of linguistic features along four dimensions, onto which academic disciplines, disciplinary groups, levels of study, and genre families are mapped. The dimensions are interpreted through text extracts as: (i) Compressed Procedural Information versus Stance towards the Work of Others; (ii) Personal Stance; (iii) Possible Events versus Completed Events; and (iv) Informational Density. Clusters of linguistic features from the comprehensive set of situational perspectives found across this framework can be selected to inform the teaching of a ‘common academic core’, and to inform the design of programmes tailored to the needs of specific disciplines.

scholarly journals Towards an analysis of academic weblogs

2006 ◽  
pp. 387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Stuart
Keyword(s):  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Initial Analysis ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Initial Hypothesis ◽  
Academic Genres

This paper analyses both the communicative purposes and formal linguistic features of academic weblogs. An initial analysis of 496 weblogs in use within tertiary level institutions was reduced to an in-depth analysis of 39 academic weblogs (a corpus of 16 million words). The objective was to see how much variation there might be between traditional academic genres and academic weblogs. The initial hypothesis is that academic weblogs are far less formal and would favour greater use of lexico-grammatical realisations belonging to the interpersonal function of language. In order to quantify this possible variation between traditional academic genres and academic weblogs, some well-known linguistic features which have been considered to be typical of academic discourse such as the agentless passive and nominalisations were investigated.

scholarly journals A cross-disciplinary investigation of multi-word expressions in the moves of research article abstracts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taha Omidian ◽  
H Shahriari ◽  
Anna Siyanova
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Academic Genres ◽  
Recurrent Word ◽  
Science Disciplines

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Conformity to the epistemological orientations of academic disciplines is often reflected in the ways in which knowledge is constructed and communicated through certain linguistic features in academic genres. This paper explores instances of such conformity in hard and soft science disciplines, as it is reflected in the use of recurrent word combinations in different rhetorical moves of research article abstracts. A corpus-driven approach was adopted to identify the most frequently occurring word combinations of different length in a corpus of 5910 abstracts from six disciplines. Following this, the identified sequences were classified according to their communicative functions in different moves of the abstract. A mixed-methods approach was then adopted through which the patterns of variation reflected in the use of the identified sequences were examined both quantitatively and qualitatively. It was found that members of different academic domains have different priorities for representing their research in academic abstracts.

scholarly journals A cross-disciplinary investigation of multi-word expressions in the moves of research article abstracts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taha Omidian ◽  
H Shahriari ◽  
Anna Siyanova
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Academic Genres ◽  
Recurrent Word ◽  
Science Disciplines

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Conformity to the epistemological orientations of academic disciplines is often reflected in the ways in which knowledge is constructed and communicated through certain linguistic features in academic genres. This paper explores instances of such conformity in hard and soft science disciplines, as it is reflected in the use of recurrent word combinations in different rhetorical moves of research article abstracts. A corpus-driven approach was adopted to identify the most frequently occurring word combinations of different length in a corpus of 5910 abstracts from six disciplines. Following this, the identified sequences were classified according to their communicative functions in different moves of the abstract. A mixed-methods approach was then adopted through which the patterns of variation reflected in the use of the identified sequences were examined both quantitatively and qualitatively. It was found that members of different academic domains have different priorities for representing their research in academic abstracts.

Issues in the development of the British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus

Corpora ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sian Alsop ◽  
Hilary Nesi
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Student Writing ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Master's Students ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Writing Tutors ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Given

The British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus is a collection of texts produced by undergraduate and Master's students in a wide range of disciplines, for assessment as part of taught degree programmes undertaken in the UK. The majority of the contributors to the corpus are mother tongue speakers of English, but, in order to be included in the corpus, each assignment had to be judged proficient by assessors in the contributor's discipline, regardless of the writer's mother tongue. The corpus contains, therefore, only texts that have met departmental requirements for the given level of study. University writing programmes are typically aimed at undergraduate and Master's students, and it would be useful for writing tutors to know more about student assignment genres and the linguistic features of successful writing at undergraduate and Master's level. However, most large-scale descriptive studies of academic writing focus on published or publicly accessible texts, or learner essays on general academic topics, probably because there are practical difficulties associated with collecting large amounts of well-documented student output. This paper charts the experience of collecting data for the BAWE corpus, highlighting the problems we encountered and the solutions we chose, with a view to facilitating the task of future developers of academic student writing corpora.

The Logical and Compositional Organization of the Lecture (Based on a Lecture from M. Mamardashvili’s Course “Lectures on Proust”)

2020 ◽  
pp. 72-81
Author(s):  
Aleksandra A. Talanina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Basic Function ◽  
Literary Language ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Specific Nature ◽  
Teaching Process ◽  
Discourse Studies ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Spatiotemporal Coordination ◽  
Different Levels

Functional and stylistic studies give us an idea of linguistic features of speech products, thus enabling style identification. These specific features become most recognizable when comparing styles. Discourse studies, on the contrary, are mainly focused on understanding and describing basic factors of creating a form of a literary language (style) and factors that determine the characteristics of speech products in individual situations within a socially significant sphere. This article presents an analysis of the logical and compositional organization of the lecture as a genre of academic discourse, taking a university lecture from M. Mamardashvili’s course on M. Proust as an example. The specific nature of the lecture genre in academic discourse is determined by its basic function in the teaching process implemented in direct dialogue with the audience. The research is based on the thesis that a lecture is an event that can be analysed using the concept of chronotope. The use of this concept beyond the analysis of fiction is relevant since spatiotemporal coordination is mandatory for any speech product, regardless of the sphere it is created in or the functions it performs. The main feature of the lecture chronotope is multi-level organization, since a lecture has its own internal spatiotemporal coordinates. The lecture chronotope is explicated at different levels of the text (compositional, lexical and grammatical), which are interconnected. Considering this, two interconnected frameworks of the lecture – structural and semantic – are singled out; they provide the logical and compositional organization of the material, which is important to ensure students’ understanding.

Cultural Accommodation of Internet-Based Interventions for Substance Use and Related Disorders: A Proposed Comprehensive Framework (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keren Gueta ◽  
Yossi Harel-Fisch ◽  
Sophie D. Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Service Engagement ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Cultural Accommodation ◽  
Abuse Treatment ◽  
Comprehensive Framework

BACKGROUND Despite the low utilization rates of substance use and related disorders services, and the ability of internet-based interventions for substance use and related disorders (IBIS) to address challenges related to service engagement, limited attention has been placed on the processes for the accommodation of these interventions to diverse cultural settings. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to develop a conceptual framework for the cultural accommodation of IBIS across populations, settings, and countries. METHODS A pilot study of cultural accommodation of an existing internet intervention for alcohol use (Down Your Drink (DYD)), focus groups and daily online surveys of prospective consumers (N=24) and interviews with experts (N=7) in the substance abuse treatment field were conducted. RESULTS Thematic analysis revealed a wide range of themes identified as needing to be addressed in the process of DYD accommodation. It also emphasized that accommodation needs to incorporate both technical and contents themes, shaped by both the general Israeli cultural as well as by the specific Israeli drinking subculture. A combined mixed emic–etic theoretical approach incorporating the pilot findings together with a scoping literature review was employed to develop a framework for cultural accommodation of IBIS. A comprehensive framework for cultural accommodation of IBIS is introduced consisting of five chronological stages of IBIS accommodation and four dimensions of accommodation. CONCLUSIONS The proposed framework can serve as a guide for the cultural accommodation of existing IBIS across a diverse range of cultural and geographical settings thus augmenting the ecological validity of IBIS and reducing health disparities worldwide.

Career Development Theory: An Integrated Analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Yates
Keyword(s):  
Career Choice ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
Integrated Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Comprehensive Picture ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Career Practice

Career theories are developed to help make sense of the complexity of career choice and development. The intricacy of the subject matter is such that career theories most often focus on one or two aspects of the phenomenon. As such, the challenges of integrating the theories with each other, and integrating them within career practice, are not insignificant. In this chapter, an overview of the theoretical landscape is offered that illustrates how the theories align with each other to build up a comprehensive picture of career choice and development. The chapter introduces a wide range of theoretical frameworks, spanning seven decades and numerous academic disciplines, and discusses the most well-known theorists alongside less familiar names. The chapter is structured around four concepts: identity, environment, career learning, and psychological career resources. Suggestions are offered for the incorporation of theories in career practice.

Markers of identification in Indigenous academic writing: A case study of genre innovation

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shurli Makmillen ◽  
Michelle Riedlinger
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Rhetorical Genre ◽  
Academic Genres

AbstractThis study contributes to research into genre innovation and scholarship exploring how Indigenous epistemes are disrupting dominant discourses of the academy. Using a case study approach, we investigated 31 research articles produced by Mäori scholars and published in the journal AlterNative between 2006 and 2018. We looked for linguistic features associated with self-positioning and self-identification. We found heightened ambiguous uses of “we”; a prevalence of verbs associated with personal (as opposed to discursive) uses of “I/we”; personal storytelling; and a privileging of Elders’ contributions to the existing state of knowledge. We argue these features reflect and reinforce Indigenous scholars’ social relations with particular communities of practice within and outside of the academy. They are also in keeping with Indigenous knowledge-making practices, protocols, and languages, and signal sites of negotiation and innovation in the research article. We present the implications for rhetorical genre studies and for teaching academic genres.

scholarly journals A multi-dimensional contrastive study of English abstracts by native and non-native writers

Corpora ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Cao ◽  
Richard Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
English Abstract ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Communicative Functions

This article takes the multi-dimensional (MD) analysis approach to explore the textual variations between native and non-native English abstracts on the basis of a balanced corpus containing English abstracts written by native English and native Chinese writers from twelve academic disciplines. A total of 47 out of 163 linguistic features are retained after factor analysis, which underlies a seven-dimension framework representing seven communicative functions. The results show that the two types of abstracts demonstrate significant differences in five out of the seven dimensions. To be more specific, native English writers display a more active involvement and commitment in presenting their ideas than Chinese writers. They also use intensifying devices more frequently. In contrast, Chinese writers show stronger preferences for conceptual elaboration, passives and abstract noun phrases no matter whether the two types of data are examined as a whole or whether variations across disciplines are taken into account. The results are discussed in relation to the possible reasons and suggestions for English abstract writing in China. Methodologically, this study innovatively expands on Biber's (1988) MD analytical framework by integrating colligation in addition to grammatical and semantic features.

George Washington: a revolutionary approach to leadership

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 995-1009
Author(s):  
Todd C. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Competencies ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Leadership Traits ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
George Washington ◽  
Leadership Theories ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Tools And Techniques

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine George Washington’s approach to leadership through the lens of contemporary leadership theory and practice; and second, to help modern managers further reflect upon and develop their own leadership capabilities through a historiographic examination of Washington’s leadership traits and skills.Design/methodology/approachCombining three different academic disciplines, management, psychology and history, the author utilized a historiographic and interdisciplinary research methodology, conducting a detailed exploration of the life of George Washington through an examination of a wide range of original archival materials, books, journal articles and other sources.FindingsThe present analysis reveals that Washington demonstrated a variety of well-validated leadership competencies (e.g. emotional intelligence, resilience, integrity, etc.) that are largely consistent with leader-centered theoretical conceptions of leadership.Originality/valueThis is the first historiographic study of George Washington’s approach to leadership within the management literature. Additionally, through the development of a competency model, the study demonstrates how Washington employed tools and techniques from a host of modern leadership theories to achieve critically important results.

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