Let’s Play News!: An SFL Approach to Aesthetic Interactivity of Gamified News

2020 ◽  
pp. 155541202092004
Author(s):  
Rania Magdi Fawzy
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Al Jazeera ◽  
News Values ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
News Value ◽  
Power Of Choice ◽  
Reading Activity

Gamification redefines news reading activity by turning it into a playful experience. The shift from a reading mode to a playing mode marks a shift in news semogenesis strategies that need to be investigated to provide a better understanding of the emerging genres of news gamification and to build some reflections on the ongoing changes in journalistic practices and news values. This article takes a case study of the Al Jazeera gamified news, #Hacked-Syria’s Electronic Armies. The article aims to account for the semogenic resources employed by #Hacked and the resulting aesthetic and immersive experience of interactivity. It is found that #Hacked makes sense through the medium of aesthetics of interactivity. Studied through the lens of systemic functional linguistics, aesthetics in the context of the current study is not reduced to a mere attention to style; rather it describes a different and unique digital process of meaning making based on the participant’s immersive interactivity and choices. It is the semogenic power of choice and the immersive aesthetics of interactivity that mainly create #Hacked news value. The analysis yields that #Hacked reconfigures traditional notions of readers, news, and news values.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Study of EFL Students Using the Systemic Functional Linguistics Method

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akiko Nagao
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
First Year ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Genre Awareness ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Study Participants

This study examined the progress of English as a foreign language (EFL) writers using the instructional framework of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and the communities of practice (CoPs) model. The study participants comprised 11 first-year undergraduate students in Japan with intermediate-level English proficiency who were exposed to SFL in a single EFL classroom (CoP). The participants’ genre understanding and meaning-making decisions when writing discussion essays were studied over two semester-long courses. To do so, their developmental changes were analyzed using pre- and post-instructional writing tasks. In particular, their ability to convey interpersonal meaning, such as through the use of modal verbs, was examined and compared between the pre- and post-tasks. To triangulate the findings, participants’ genre awareness in relation to discussion essays was also examined using in-depth qualitative analysis of their self-reflective texts and peer assessments, based on a grounded theory approach. In the pre-writing task, it was apparent that the learners lacked understanding of the components of discussion essay writing. However, analysis of their post-instructional tasks revealed that most had begun to apply the language components required to convey interpersonal meaning in their discussion genre texts. These results suggest that the changes in learner’s genre awareness and knowledge affected the lexicogrammatical features they used when writing discussion essays. Thus, this study concludes that applying the SFL framework to writing instruction enhanced EFL learners’ awareness of textual meaning and their understanding of the function of discussion essay texts.

scholarly journals 50 years on: Galtung and Ruge's news value factors revisited in online audience building for independent films

First Monday ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Meissner
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Constructivist Approach ◽  
Independent Film ◽  
Independent Films ◽  
News Values ◽  
Internet Age ◽  
News Value

In 1965, Galtung and Ruge published an influential list of news values. Fifty years later, my article takes this list to demonstrate how mass media principles still apply when building audiences for an independent film in the Internet age. The article builds on the constructivist approach that news values can be actively formulated and stressed. It uses the case study of independent film project 15Malaysia, illustrating how this project, though unknowingly, actively created news value to convince opinion leaders of its worth and, ultimately, build an audience of over two million viewers.

scholarly journals Printed t-shirts in the linguistic landscape

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Unique Mode ◽  
Landscape Research ◽  
A Site

Abstract While the printed t-shirt remains a prominent form of communication in our contemporary linguistic landscape, little research to date has examined the semiotics of this unique mode of communication. In response to the interdisciplinary ‘invitation’ from Shohamy and Ben-Rafael (2015), this paper draws on principles and methods from social semiotics (van Leeuwen, 2005) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday, 1989) to explore the meaning-making potential of English words on printed t-shirts. The paper begins by applying Halliday’s concept of mode to the printed t-shirt and then presents a linguistically motivated taxonomy of words on printed t-shirts. In addition to foregrounding the printed t-shirt as a site for future exploration, this paper aims to present a close textual discourse analysis – an examination of the ‘perceived space’ (Malinowski, 2015) – to complement, inform and engage with current trends and methods in linguistic landscape research and pedagogy.

scholarly journals Using systemic functional linguistics to explore digital technologies in educational contexts

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (4-5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Coffin
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
Semiotic Resources ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
Educational Argumentation

AbstractOver the last decade, technological innovation has led to new pedagogic sites, such as online discussion forums and virtual 3D worlds. In these sites students and teachers use language and other meaning-making resources to engage in educational argumentation. However, there have been few studies which have systematically explored the role of lexicogrammatical and other semiotic resources in the making of meaning in these contexts. This is because the main body of research underpinning claims around the affordances and limits of online argumentation is located within sociocognitive paradigms. By drawing on the tools of systemic functional linguistics and, where relevant, systemic functional-multimodal analysis, this article therefore offers a fresh perspective. I show how such tools can illuminate both the overarching textual shape and structure of online discussion forums and the ways in which meanings are made through language and other semiotic resources.

scholarly journals Discourse Intonation and Systemic Functional Phonology

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Miriam P. Germani ◽  
Lucia Rivas
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Language System ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Discourse Intonation ◽  
University Level ◽  
Natural Result ◽  
The Way

This paper is a reflection on praxis which addresses the phonological stratum as an integral part of the language system. As EFL teachertrainers, we often find that students isolate the different meaning-creating components of language as a natural result of the way courses areorganized at university level. It is in the spirit of helping students integrate the various aspects of language and context that we have set outto compare David Brazil, Malcolm Coulthard and Catherine Johns’s Discourse Intonation model –which we have been working with for morethan ten years– with the intonation approach in Systemic Functional Linguistics, by M.A.K. Halliday and William Greaves. We observe thetheoretical similarities between the two approaches in order to see how they may supplement one another. Then, we analyse a conversationtaken from a film following both theoretical approaches, and draw conclusions in the light of the comparison. Our preliminary results show thatthe two approaches explain the meanings conveyed with reference to different meaning-making resources. Brazil et al. explain the meaningsat risk in the interaction according to the phonological systems they describe (prominence, tone, key and termination). Halliday and Greavesdo so by referring to the phonological and lexico-grammatical strata in combination.

scholarly journals Systemic functional linguistics and audiovisual translation studies: a conceptual basis for the study of the language of subtitles

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (spe) ◽  
pp. 495-513
Author(s):  
Elaine Espindola
Keyword(s):  
Text Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Audiovisual Translation ◽  
Made In

The present article contemplates two complementary dimensions, namely: (i) Audiovisual Translation Studies; and (ii) Linguistic studies giving direct attention to the language of subtitling to put forward a theoretical basis for studies focusing on The Language of Subtitles. Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) provides theoretical tools to allow for a language-based understanding of the meaning making resources of subtitling on the basis of text analysis. It is argued that this complementarity allows for fruitful comparison and contrast of texts in a translational relationship in that it provides categories for describing similarities and differences emerging from investigations of the choices made in spoken texts translated into written language in subtitles. Investigations carried out along these lines may lead to insights in terms of the construals existent in source and target texts in order to understand the choices made in the realization of the texts.

Systemic functional linguistics, corpus linguistics, and the ideology of science

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (4-5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Hunston
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
Science Text ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Science Book ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Popular Science Book

AbstractThis paper considers the relationship between research using systemic functional linguistics and research of the kind referred to as corpus linguistics, specifically in a study of ideology in a popular science text. The paper argues that ideas in SFL and corpus linguistics may be regarded as parallel (register), divergent (grammar and phraseology), and complementary (lexis and taxonomy). Following a review of research in these areas, the paper presents a case study of evaluation of status in a popular science book (

scholarly journals A Transitivity Analysis of the Arab Revolutions Representation in Western Newspapers: the Washington Post, the Guardian and le Figaro as Case Study.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-169
Author(s):  
Aymane Edouihri ◽  
Yahya yachouti
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Washington Post ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Guardian

The earthshaking event of the Arab revolutions profoundly impacted international relations and sparked heated discussions and analysis of East and West encounters´ legacy. Such sizable opportunity is creates an interesting momentum in revisiting western representation of the orient. Such representation traditionally feeds on colonial discourse´s binarisms, polarization and othering. Thus, this paper aims at examining western press discourse on the Arab Spring through transitivity analysis. The analysis examines the Washington Post, the Guradian and le Figaro´s articles written about the Arab revolutions. Enlightened by Systemic Functional Linguistics, transitivity analysis unveils the embedded constructs in the process types, goals and actors deployed by the newspapers´ articles writers.  

scholarly journals A study of cohesion in international postgraduate Business students’ multimodal written texts: an SF-MDA of a key topic in finance

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 56-78
Author(s):  
Hesham Suleiman Alyousef ◽  
Suliman Mohammed Alnasser
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Capital Budgeting ◽  
Multimodal Communication ◽  
Accounting Students ◽  
Lexical Cohesion ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Cohesive Devices ◽  
Analysis Scheme

Empirical research studies of finance students’ language use have investigated students’ performance in finance courses and the effect of class attendance on students’ performance.Similarly, research on accounting students’ texts has been directed at readability of accounting narratives and lexical choices. Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) based research in multimodal communication and representation has been confined to school and workplace contexts. Whereas multimodal communication investigations in tertiary contexts has been conducted across the fields of mathematics, science and computing, and nursing, business courses have not been explored. The purpose of this paper is to report on a case study designed to investigate the key multimodal academic literacy and numeracy practices of ten international Master of Commerce Accounting students enrolled at an Australian university. Specifically, it aims to provide an account of the salient textual and the logical patterns through the analysis of cohesive devices in a key topic in the Principles of Finance course, namely capital budgeting techniques and management reports. This study is pertinent as most international ESL/EFL students’ enrolments in Australia and elsewhere is in business programs. This study is underpinned by Halliday’s (1985) Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) approach to language and Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) cohesion analysis scheme. The study employs a Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis (SF-MDA) for the analysis of cohesive devices in the participants’ multimodal texts. Lexical cohesion formed the largest percentage of use, and in particular repetition of the same lexical items, followed by reference.The findings contribute to the description of the meaning-making processes in these multimodal artefacts. They provide a potential research tool for similar investigations across a broad range of educational settings. Implications of the findings for finance students and educators are finally presented.

scholarly journals Writing Instructions at a University and Identity Issues: A Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (06) ◽  
pp. 275
Author(s):  
Nagina Kanwal ◽  
Samina Amin Qadir ◽  
Kamran Shaukat
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Institutional Goals ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Writing Instructions ◽  
The University

In this paper, we explore the discoursal identity in the academic writing of a postgraduate student from the University of Pakistan where English is the medium of instruction as well as taught as a foreign language. The study aims to find out the extent and the specific ways dominant conventions and practices enable and constrain meaning-making. It also helps to identify the role of social and institutional goals in shaping the discoursal identity of students. To achieve our objectives, we have conducted a linguistic analysis of the student’s academic texts by using Systemic Functional Linguistics. The findings from the linguistic analysis of academic texts are quite significant because the lexico-grammatical and discoursal choices in the academic texts reflect their writer’s desired disposition and their orientation within academia and their socio-cultural setting. Thus they reveal the writer’s discoursal identity and his positioning and affiliation with the academic community. The findings of the study provide significant implications for the reconceptualization of writing instructions at universities, also they point to the need to employ emerging technologies in the writing instructions program while not ignoring the students’ identity issues.

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