Register analysis based on corpus evidence: the case of Reports in IELTS

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria N. Melissourgou ◽  
Katerina T. Frantzi
Keyword(s):  
Functional Role ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Register Analysis ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
High Stakes Exams ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The IELTS exams attract numerous candidates globally and are considered high-stakes exams due to the impact the results can have on the candidates. The need therefore for goal-oriented guidance is crucial. Unfortunately, this preparation is based on teachers’ intuition on what is common and appropriate. This paper describes the typical lexicogrammatical features of Reports based on objective quantitative evidence. The WriMA (Writing Model Answers) corpus consists of model writings from preparation material. The DataReports sub-corpus used in this study consists of 100 texts, 16.828 tokens and is POS (Parts of Speech) tagged. The extraction of keywords and recurring patterns is combined with an interpretation of their functional role in the specific context. This analysis arms teachers with knowledge of specific words, word classes and combinations used by experienced writers in order to achieve genrespecific trends usually described in vague terms such as impersonal stance or factual language.

The Effects of High Stakes Educational Testing on Enrollments in an Era of Hyper-Expansion: Cross-National Evidence, 1960–2010

Social Forces ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jared Furuta ◽  
Evan Schofer ◽  
Shawn Wick
Keyword(s):  
Regression Models ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Education For All ◽  
Educational Expansion ◽  
Panel Regression ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Nation States ◽  
High Stakes Exams ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cross National

Abstract How do national high-stakes exams affect educational expansion across the world? High-stakes exams are conventionally viewed as systems of exclusion that constrain enrollments. In this paper, we situate exams within a broader historical and institutional context and argue that the constraining effect of exams on educational enrollments is a recent phenomenon. Exam systems diffused globally at a time when schooling was a limited enterprise, linked to just a few occupational roles. The later emergence of more inclusive visions of education, culminating in the Education for All (EFA) movement, propelled rapid global educational expansion. In this context, national high-stakes exam systems institutionalize earlier logics of selective education and consequently blunt the impact of more recent expansionary norms. Using panel regression models and a newly constructed dataset of 142 countries from 1960 to 2010, we show that high-stakes exams are associated with lower enrollments. However, this association is strongest in recent years, and exams interact negatively with measures of international pro-educational norms and pressures on nation-states. These findings are consistent with our historical/institutional argument: Exams constrain enrollments in recent years, in part by rendering nations less responsive to global expansionary pressures.

scholarly journals The Impact of Language Testing Washback in Promoting Teaching and Learning Processes: A Theoretical Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Faten Alqahtani
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Different Types ◽  
History Of ◽  
Language Context ◽  
High Stakes Exams ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Learning Language

Existing literature indicates that assessment is a critical aspect of teaching and learning language; the outcomes of testing are vital. The history of assessment can be traced back to when exams primarily served two significant purposes in China: choosing candidates for admission into government offices and preventing corruption. Washback as a concept can be traced back to the 1990s. It was advanced by Alderson and Wall in 1993 as a force that obliges test-takers and tutors to engage in particular tasks or activities due to exams. In this regard, washback is an impact that a test has on the teaching and learning process. High-stakes exams like the LOBELA demonstrate the significance of washback in the Saudi English-as-a-foreign-language context. This paper explores the mechanisms through which washback occurs in teaching and learning processes, ways to determine its validity, and different types of washback. It further highlights the impact of washback in promoting teaching and learning processes, as well as the role it plays in policy development in the educational system.   

Forecasting US movies box office performances in Turkey using machine learning algorithms

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 6579-6590
Author(s):  
Sandy Çağlıyor ◽  
Başar Öztayşi ◽  
Selime Sezgin
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Learning Algorithms ◽  
Forecast Model ◽  
Machine Learning Algorithms ◽  
Gradient Boosting ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Box Office ◽  
Industry Forecast ◽  
The Impact

The motion picture industry is one of the largest industries worldwide and has significant importance in the global economy. Considering the high stakes and high risks in the industry, forecast models and decision support systems are gaining importance. Several attempts have been made to estimate the theatrical performance of a movie before or at the early stages of its release. Nevertheless, these models are mostly used for predicting domestic performances and the industry still struggles to predict box office performances in overseas markets. In this study, the aim is to design a forecast model using different machine learning algorithms to estimate the theatrical success of US movies in Turkey. From various sources, a dataset of 1559 movies is constructed. Firstly, independent variables are grouped as pre-release, distributor type, and international distribution based on their characteristic. The number of attendances is discretized into three classes. Four popular machine learning algorithms, artificial neural networks, decision tree regression and gradient boosting tree and random forest are employed, and the impact of each group is observed by compared by the performance models. Then the number of target classes is increased into five and eight and results are compared with the previously developed models in the literature.

scholarly journals Introducing Computer-Based Testing in High-Stakes Exams in Higher Education: Results of a Field Experiment

PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. e0143616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja J. Boevé ◽  
Rob R. Meijer ◽  
Casper J. Albers ◽  
Yta Beetsma ◽  
Roel J. Bosker
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Computer Based Testing ◽  
High Stakes Exams

scholarly journals Does eating local food reduce the environmental impact of food production and enhance consumer health?

2010 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 582-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Edwards-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Non Local ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

The concept of local food has gained traction in the media, engaged consumers and offered farmers a new marketing tool. Positive claims about the benefits of local food are probably not harmful when made by small-scale producers at the local level; however, greater concern would arise should such claims be echoed in policy circles. This review examines the evidence base supporting claims about the environmental and health benefits of local food. The results do not offer any support for claims that local food is universally superior to non-local food in terms of its impact on the climate or the health of consumers. Indeed several examples are presented that demonstrate that local food can on occasions be inferior to non-local food. The analysis also considers the impact on greenhouse gas emissions of moving the UK towards self-sufficiency. Quantitative evidence is absent on the changes in overall emissions that would occur if the UK switched to self-sufficiency. A qualitative assessment suggests the emissions per item of food would probably be greater under a scenario of self-sufficiency than under the current food system. The review does not identify any generalisable or systematic benefits to the environment or human health that arise from the consumption of local food in preference to non-local food.

scholarly journals Achievements of the academic grammar school

2021 ◽  
pp. 3-29
Author(s):  
Kateryna Horodensʹka ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Word Formation ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Syntactic Theory ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Functional Syntax ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
Ukrainian Society ◽  
Formation System

This study aims at investigating the development of grammatical theory at the Institute of the Ukrainian Language for the last 30 years. The paper summarizes achievements in grammar theory from applying the functional, i.e., semantic and grammatical, approach developed by I.R. Vykhovanetsʹ to differentiating units into word and nonword classes and distinguishing morphological categories of major word classes. This facilitated the establishment of the theoretical basis of functional and categorical morphology. The author analyses studies in formal grammatical, semantic, functional, categorical, deri vational, and anthropocentric syntax that attest to the multidimensional growth of a syntactic theory and main aspects of the Ukrainian word formation on the basis of semantic and categorical syntax and a formant- and stem-based derivatology. Some of the latest multi-pronged processes in word formation reflect dynamics of word formation rules, the replenishment of word formation resources, and the development of the word-formation system of Standard Ukrainian. The solving of a complex set of theoretical issues in the modern Ukrainian word-formation introduced the methodological foundations for the recent normative description of the word formation system of Standard Ukrainian. The article addresses issues in studies on applied grammar determined by the process of glo balization and democratization of the Ukrainian society and the needs of Modern Ukrainian language practice to be met. Particular importance is attached to the grammatical prescriptive norms in the professional use, the actualization of case forms appearing in the passive vocabulary, and the dynamics of morphological and syntactic norms in various functional and stylistic dimensions of Standard Ukrainian. Keywords: functional grammar, functional morphology, functional syntax, categorical grammar, categorical syntax, categorical word formation, classification of parts of speech, morphological categories.

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