A Review on Semantic Waves and Its Application in Discourse Analysis

Since the past 10 years, the theory of semantic waves has further progressed. This theory is deeply rooted in the theory of knowledge structures, legitimation code theory, and systemic functional linguistics. In addition, the theory can also be applied in discourse analysis, language learning, language teaching, and many other fields.

Conceptualizing a Radical Visible Pedagogy

This paper contributes to the theorization of radical visible pedagogy by building upon Basil Bernstein’s initial conceptualization and previous efforts to develop it. Alongside Bernstein’s “classification” and “framing” we suggest that incorporating the concepts of “semantic gravity” and “semantic density” from Legitimation Code Theory (LCT)—concepts that were not available to those engaged in earlier efforts to theorize radical visible pedagogy—adds an important dimension to this theorization. Outlining the principles of radical visible pedagogy has the potential to inform equitable classroom practice in a manner that eschews the tendency toward dichotomous conceptions of pedagogy as either “traditional” or “progressive.”

The Janus Face of Professional Knowledge: What Organizational Principles Are behind the Students’ Perceptions of Professional Knowledge in New Norwegian Teacher Education?

Integration of theory and practice is the key element in the research on teachers’ professional knowledge. Traditionally, this topic has created a polarization between practical and theoretical knowledge. The reform in the new Norwegian teacher education has introduced a new and watered-down concept of knowledge and research-based knowledge in education. With the reform, conflicting perceptions have arisen of what we can understand with professional knowledge in teacher education. Based on Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory, and with examples from a study of students’ R&D papers, this paper sheds light on the conflicting concept of professional knowledge in new Norwegian teacher education. The paper refutes a generic concept of knowledge and argues that teachers’ professional knowledge is based on practices that are informed by specialized forms of knowledge in the subject area.

Narratives of Dreams and Waking Thoughts: Emotional Processing in Relation to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic posed a significant challenge to the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of each individual. It also brought the importance of daily emotional management for survival to the forefront of every human being. Our study aims to explore whether emotional processes perform different functions during waking thoughts and night dreams during the first lockdown in Italy. Utilizing Multiple Code Theory (MCT), our goal is to verify whether waking thoughts facilitate a functional disconnection in order to manage the trauma caused by COVID-19. Two online forms were distributed to random participants in the general population, presenting a total of 49 reports of night dreams (23 males; mean age 33.45 ds. 10.12; word mean 238.54 ds. 146.8) and 48 reports of waking thoughts (25 males; mean age 34.54 ds. 12.8; word mean M. 91 words ds. 23). The Referential Process linguistic measures and Affect Salience Index were utilized. It was found that Affect Salience is present in both dreams and in waking thoughts; however, Referential Activity was higher in dreams and Reflection and Affect words were higher in waking thoughts. Two different processes of emotional elaboration emerged. The results highlight the use of greater symbolization processes during dreams and a higher emotional distance in waking thoughts. These results confirm that during the nocturnal processes, there is greater contact with the processing of trauma, while during the diurnal processes, defensive strategies were activated to cope with and manage life via a moment of the defensive disruption of daily activities.

Martin on discourse semantics, genre, educational linguistics

J. R. Martin is a leading scholar who has greatly developed the theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) over the past four decades. Some of these contributions, such as the systems of discourse semantics, the appraisal framework and genre relations have been widely applied in various areas of linguistic studies and language education. The educational linguistic model he and his colleagues have cultivated and developed has attracted the attention of more and more educators from different disciplines around the globe. In this interview, he firstly elaborates on the significance of the concepts of discourse semantics, grammatical metaphor and genre. Then he continues with applications of genre theory in secondary school education, language maintenance, the relation and collaboration between Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and SFL, and how the two paradigms complement each other. Finally, he introduces some of his recent collaborations with grammarians of different languages.

The Security of Cryptosystems Based on Error-Correcting Codes

Quantum computers are distinguished by their enormous storage capacity and relatively high computing speed. Among the cryptosystems of the future, the best known and most studied which will resist when using this kind of computer are cryptosystems based on error-correcting codes. The use of problems inspired by the theory of error-correcting codes in the design of cryptographic systems adds an alternative to cryptosystems based on number theory, as well as solutions to their vulnerabilities. Their security is based on the problem of decoding a random code that is NP-complete. In this chapter, we will discuss the cryptographic properties of error-correcting codes, as well as the security of cryptosystems based on code theory.

Coping in complex, changing classroom contexts: An investigation of the bases of pre-service teachers' pedagogic reasoning

Despite its central role in enabling professional judgements and decision-making in teaching, pedagogic reasoning is a slippery concept and difficult to pin down. Although pedagogic reasoning is understood to inform all aspects of teaching practice, we still do not know what pedagogic reasoning looks like. In this article, I present a conceptual tool, using concepts from Legitimation Code Theory (Maton, 2014), to explore analytically the differences between the abstraction and context-embeddedness of ideas expressed in the pedagogic reasoning of a sample of pre-service teachers. I argue that pre-service teachers who are able to draw on specialised concepts associated with context-independent principles, may be in a better position to distinguish the "formal elements" from the "material elements" of teaching (Morrow, 2005, p. 98). Being able to make this distinction is likely, I argue, to set pre-service teachers up to cope in complex changing classroom contexts.

Revealing shifts from mastery of knowledge to problem solving in assessments of a tertiary physics programme

There is an increasing pressure on lecturers to work with two goals. First, they need to ensure that their undergraduate students have a good grasp of the knowledge and skills of the intellectual field. In addition, they need to prepare graduates and postgraduates for careers both within and outside of academia. The problem we address in this paper is the way in which assessments may reveal a shift of focus from a mastery of knowledge to a work-focused orientation. We examine this shift through a case study of physics and the sub-discipline of theoretical physics as intellectual fields. The evidence is comprised of assessment tasks given to students at different points of their studies from first year to doctoral level. By examining and analysing the assessment tasks using concepts from Legitimation Code Theory (LCT), we demonstrate how the shifts in the assessments lead students incrementally from a pure disciplinary focus to one that enables them to pursue employment potentially both within and outside of academia. In doing so, we also highlight the usefulness of LCT as a framework for evaluating the preparation of science students for diverse workplaces.

What is an ecosystem?

In Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) contexts, students are expected to express disciplinary knowledge in a second/foreign language. One construct that has proven useful for the identification and realization of language functions in disciplinary knowledge is Dalton-Puffer’s (2013) model of cognitive discourse functions (CDFs). Additionally, Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) has already been proven useful for distinguishing lexico-grammatical features that characterise different CDFs in CLIL students’ productions (e.g., Nashaat-Sobhy & Llinares, 2020; Evnitskaya & Dalton-Puffer, 2020). In this article, we use SFL to analyse the oral and written realisations of the CDF Define by 6th grade students participating in a CLIL program in Madrid, Spain. A total of 83 students responded to the same prompt (on science) in writing (in the form of a blog) as well as orally (in the form of an interview). In the oral interviews the co-construction of definitions by the students with the interviewer (researcher) and another peer are explored using the notion of Legitimation Code Theory and the concept of semantic waves (Maton, 2013). The analysis of students’ definitions is also related to primary CLIL teachers’ evaluations using comparative judgement.