本篇論文的主旨在研究「也」「又」「還」三個連接詞在漢語敘述文中的 篇章功能。過去對於這三個連接詞的研究，多半偏向句法和語意關係的探 討，而事實上，我們還可以從另一個角度來分析這三個連接詞，那就是探 討它們的篇章功能。研究這三個連接詞的篇章功能之前，我們首先根據 Matthiessen 和 Thompson 的模式分析了漢語句群間的凝聚關係(text relations among combined clauses)。 此一分析不僅進一步證明「也」 「又」「還」確實可以作為連接詞使用，同時更清楚地呈現出「也」「又 」「還」所連接的子句之間的關係，以及這些子句本身與其前後子句所形 成的凝聚關係。「也」「又」「還」作連接詞用時，是用來連接一組語意 相關的子句。它們都可以用來表示聯合關係；不過，「也」和「又」還可 以用來表示對照關係。表示聯合關係時，「也」連接二個或二個以上平列 的子句；「又」也是連接平列的子句，然而「又」進一步加強這些子句所 呈現的聯合關係；「還」連接帶有輕重之別的子句。至於如何知道「又」 所加強的是什麼，以及如何決定那個子句比較重，這都得依上下文而定。 表示對照關係時，「也」和「又」都是用來連接二個看似相反，而實質上 卻相輔相成的子句，差別是「又」所連接的二個子句呈現出說話者矛盾的 心理狀態。上文所提出的假設，經由我們分析書寫的語料而獲得驗證。除 此之外，我們還做了一項問卷調查，目的在測試中國人如何使用這三個連 接詞，這項問卷的結果顯示我們的假設大致正確。最後，我們依據語料的 分析及問卷結果的討論，將上文所提的假設做了小幅度的修正，使其更能 明確地說明這三個連接詞的篇章功能。

Urban environments are typically host to a high level of biodiversity which is important for the provision of ecosystem services, and for facilitating contact between humans and nature. However, accelerating urbanisation precipitates considerable declines in the number of species which inhabit these environments as a greater number of homes and roads are constructed to accommodate a growing global human population. Domestic gardens afford an important opportunity to combat these declines, owing to their capacity to support a high level of biodiversity and the substantial land area which they cover. However, the fine spatial scale of individual isolated domestic gardens constrains their ability to increase biodiversity at larger spatial scales. Consequently, managing domestic gardens collectively, by conjoining multiple neighbouring domestic gardens and managing them as a single larger habitat, has been proposed as a promising approach to increase biodiversity at these scales. Importantly however, the practical implementation of this approach necessitates neighbouring householders to collaboratively undertake biodiversity favourable garden management and to conjoin their domestic gardens. Crucially, this management is performed by householders discretionarily and can be influenced by demographic, perceptual, environmental, and socio-economic factors. Furthermore, householder attitudes towards conjoining domestic gardens may also influence the practicality of this approach. Therefore, this research explores what impact the extent to which householders undertake biodiversity favourable garden management has on the practicality of the collective management approach and how this is influenced by the aforementioned factors. In addition, it explores how this practicality is influenced by householder attitudes to conjoining domestic gardens. Lastly, it investigates how the collaborative undertaking of biodiversity favourable garden management by neighbouring householders could be encouraged, taking into consideration the constraints associated with current projects which promote such management. A survey was used to explore the prevalence of biodiversity favourable garden management, the influences on this management, and attitudes towards conjoining domestic gardens. This was conducted with an online semi-structured questionnaire which was distributed to householders using the social-networking site, Facebook. In addition, a bio-indicator approach was used to analyse the impact of general domestic garden management on biodiversity and birds were selected as a bio-indicator. Accordingly, respondents to the survey were also required to identify which bird species visit their domestic gardens. Seventeen elite interviews were also conducted with representatives from a range of organisations operating domestic garden projects, participants in such projects, and academics with expertise in domestic garden management, in order to explore the constraints associated with current domestic garden projects. The survey yielded 276 responses and provided support to the practicality of the collective management approach. In particular, it indicated that householders commonly undertake biodiversity favourable garden management, by predominantly providing food for birds and planting vegetation, and 60% of householders are willing to conjoin domestic gardens. However, the survey also highlighted that biodiversity favourable garden management is impeded by a number of factors. These included small domestic gardens, which particularly limit vegetation planting, and can be commonplace in urban environments. In addition, householders commonly nullify the benefits afforded by undertaking this management by covering domestic gardens with hard surface and lawns, which eliminate space for vegetation. Moreover, strong desires to retain ownership and privacy of domestic gardens precipitate the unwillingness of a significant proportion of householders to conjoin domestic gardens. This therefore challenges the practicality of the collective management approach. The results from the elite interviews indicated that householders lack commitment to current domestic garden projects, which are constrained by difficulties acquiring sufficient funding. These issues could also be pertinent to approaches which are developed to encourage the collaborative undertaking of biodiversity favourable garden management, further rendering the collective management approach impractical. The practicality of the collective management approach could be enhanced by modifying the design of new housing in a manner which is favourable to biodiversity and which ensures a minimal domestic garden size. In addition, including domestic gardens in green infrastructure strategies could further enhance this practicality. Furthermore, amending planning policy to regulate the covering of domestic gardens with hard surface and lawns more stringently could reduce the prevalence of these features. Householder commitment to approaches which encourage the collaborative undertaking of biodiversity favourable garden management could be promoted by providing feedback regarding the contribution this makes to increasing biodiversity at large spatial scales. Moreover, greater funding for these approaches could be acquired by also focusing on promoting the provision of ecosystem services. Finally, householder collaboration could be encouraged by accommodating desires for ownership and privatisation of domestic gardens. This could be respectively achieved by permitting flexibility regarding the biodiversity favourable garden management undertaken and separating conjoined domestic gardens with hedgerows.

The study investigated errors made by Grade 9 learners when simplifying algebraic expressions. Eighty-two (82) Grade 9 learners from a rural secondary school in Limpopo Province, South Africa participated in the study. The sequential explanatory design method which uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches was used to analyse errors in basic algebra. In the quantitative phase, a 20-item test was administered to the 82 participants. Learners’ common errors were identified and grouped according to error type. The qualitative phase involved interviews with selected participants. The interviews focused on each identified common error in order to establish the reasons why learners made the identified errors. The study identified six (6) common errors in relation to simplifying algebraic expressions. The causes of these errors were attributed to poor arithmetic background; interference from new learning; failure to deal with direction and operation signs; problems with algebraic notation and misapplication of rules. / Mathematics Education / M. Ed. (Mathematics Education)