Functional Approach to Professional Discourse Exploration in Linguistics, edited by Elena N. Malyuga.

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The Role of Continuous Professional Development Workshops in the Technological-Pedagogical Skills Development of Teacher Trainers

University instructors' technological-pedagogical knowledge receives much attention in the current professional discourse. This chapter introduces a case study based on a workshop series organised by the members of the language pedagogy department of a Hungarian university for the technological-pedagogical development of the instructors owing to COVID-19-triggered emergency remote teaching. Ten participants took part in the workshops and the study, including the two researcher-participants. Through semi-structured interviews, triangulated with field notes and personal communication, it was found that the members of the department welcomed the workshop series, especially because it was tailored to their needs. The first remote teaching period posed many challenges, but because of the workshops, the instructors felt more secure to experiment with online teaching possibilities and were able to teach higher quality lessons. Participants also reported that the workshop series resulted in feeling a sense of community and that its affordances broadened their technological-pedagogical repertoire.

“No” and “net” as response tokens in English and Russian business discourse: In search of a functional equivalence

The literature on English suggests that turn-initial no fulfils a variety of discourse-pragmatic functions beyond its use as a negative response to polar questions. We cannot assume that the same range or distribution of functions is realised by its nearest Russian equivalent, net . Hence, investigating the contrasts and similarities in the nomenclature and distribution of functions of no and net should pose an important research problem for various discourses, and especially for business discourse with its focus on goal-orientation and productive interpersonal relations requiring adequate interlingual interaction. The study examines how no and net occur in two corpora of spoken business/professional discourse in order to establish their functional comparability and reveal the differences in their use. The article draws on data from the Cambridge and Nottingham Spoken Business English Corpus and the Russian National Corpus analysed using a combination of corpus linguistics, conversation analysis and discourse analytical approaches. Study results show some overlap between the functions of the response particles in English and Russian, and some differences. The findings suggest that no / net display a number of functions connected with conversational continuity, topic management, turn-taking and hedging. The distribution and functions of no/net in the English and Russian data are similar, with the Russian data showing a preference for floor-grabbing no -initiated turns. Translation equivalence is not always fully applicable between no and net . A mixed methodology generates results which suggest that fruitful insights can be gained from English and Russian corpus data. The issues of the use of no and нет in English and Russian business discourses can be further investigated using the suggested data and conclusions.

THE DISCOURSE-AND-NARRATIVE POLYPHONY OF THE QUOTIDIAN AND THE PUBLIC-RELATED IN IAN MCEWAN’S SATURDAY (2005)

In the English-written literature, the «one day novel» genre modification is represented by an appreciable number of novels. V.Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and J. Joyce’s Ulysses are the famous paragons of the subgenre. Ian McEwans’ Saturday also joins this category. The novel’s protagonist’s inner speech intensification as well as retrospective inclusions and digressions help the narrator to go beyond the conventional boundaries of the «one day novel» genre variety. The research undertaken in the given paper pursues exploration of of the possibility of combining the discourse and narrative elements of the literary text into one narrative entity. In the Ian McEwan’s circadian novel Saturday, the professional discourse of the neurosurgery as well as other discourses are skillfully and masterfully interwoven into the story-action-and-event governed textual terrain, that is into its narration. In the paper, the polysemantic structure of the terms «quotidian», «discourse», «narrative» has been analyzed. Also, such aspectual narratives of the novel as the quotidian narrative, medical, psychological, literary, mass media, topographical, musical, sports ones have been identified and some of them explored. Also, the plot-building function of the Neo-Victorian code of the novel has been specified and the Leitmotiff recurrence of some quotations, allusions and reminiscences has been dwelt on. In the paper, the principle of narrativization of a discourse is hypothesized; in keeping with it, the discourse-containedinformation is delivered through the action-and-event-based narrative. The discourse-governed knowledge is not distanced from the narrative, both are fused into one narrative whole. This principle accounts for a polyphonic interplay of discourses and narratives in the novel treated here.

Using an Experimental Online Digital Collection with Interactive Features to Investigate Attitudes Towards Archives 2.0

<p>Research Problem: The concept of Archives 2.0 is currently generating much interest within academic and professional discourse in the cultural heritage sector. As yet, however, little research has been done in New Zealand on what potential users and implementers of Archives 2.0 perceive as being the advantages or disadvantages with this idea. Methodology: This study used a two stage approach. In the first stage an experimental prototype of an Archives 2.0 website was constructed using local cultural heritage resources. This was intended to served as a reference point for discussions about the practical possibility and value of sites of this kind. In the second stage nine qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with practitioners and others having a professional interest in cultural heritage collections. They were asked about their perceptions of the practices associated with Archives 2.0 and the current situation in New Zealand Results: This study found considerable interest in the possibilities represented by Archives 2.0. However, there was also concern about the extra burden on staff resources it was seen to entail. Given this it was generally felt that major projects of this kind would not be feasible within the current economic climate. Implications: This study suggests that the Archives 2.0 concept does have potential for development within the New Zealand cultural heritage sector. However ways will have to be found around concerns over resource constraints before further progress is made.</p>

Using an Experimental Online Digital Collection with Interactive Features to Investigate Attitudes Towards Archives 2.0

<p>Research Problem: The concept of Archives 2.0 is currently generating much interest within academic and professional discourse in the cultural heritage sector. As yet, however, little research has been done in New Zealand on what potential users and implementers of Archives 2.0 perceive as being the advantages or disadvantages with this idea. Methodology: This study used a two stage approach. In the first stage an experimental prototype of an Archives 2.0 website was constructed using local cultural heritage resources. This was intended to served as a reference point for discussions about the practical possibility and value of sites of this kind. In the second stage nine qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with practitioners and others having a professional interest in cultural heritage collections. They were asked about their perceptions of the practices associated with Archives 2.0 and the current situation in New Zealand Results: This study found considerable interest in the possibilities represented by Archives 2.0. However, there was also concern about the extra burden on staff resources it was seen to entail. Given this it was generally felt that major projects of this kind would not be feasible within the current economic climate. Implications: This study suggests that the Archives 2.0 concept does have potential for development within the New Zealand cultural heritage sector. However ways will have to be found around concerns over resource constraints before further progress is made.</p>

Writing as a critical moment in professional discourse

Written texts mediate action and serve as accounts of action in most contemporary professional domains. Echoing Candlin’s call for applied and social linguists to explore ‘critical moments’ in discourse, I argue that ‘writing’ constitutes just such a critical moment, because of its contested position in professional domains and the dominant ideology underpinning writing evident both in ‘intellectual’ (academic) and ‘expert’ (professional) orientations. A key challenge is to find ways of understanding writing which are not constrained by existing ‘intellectual’ and ‘expert’ orientations and which can contribute to useable knowledge for professional practice. I draw on specific examples from ethnographically oriented research projects with professionals in two domains (academia and social work) to illustrate how a dominant ideology of writing is enacted. This enactment is explored further by focusing on ICT-mediated ‘expert systems’ in social work, illustrating how an increasingly used, specific technology of writing is impacting professional practice. I conclude by considering the difficulties and possibilities of collaboratively building usable knowledge about writing for professional practice.