University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English

Electronic Patient Records (EPRs) are becoming standard tools in healthcare, lauded for improving patient access and outcomes. However, the healthcare professionals who work with, around, and despite these technologies in their daily practices often regard EPRs as troublesome. In order to investigate how EPRs can prompt such opposing opinions, this project examines the EPR as a collection of communication genres set in complex contexts. In this project, I investigate an EPR as it was used on the Nephrology ward at a large, Canadian, urban, paediatric teaching hospital. In this setting, this study investigates EPR-use in relation to the following aspects of context: (a) the visual rhetoric of the EPR's user-interface design; (b) the varied social contexts in which the EPR was used, including a diversity of professional collaborators who had varying levels of professional experience; (c) the span of social actions involved in EPR use; and (d) the other genres used in coordination with the EPR. <br /><br /> This qualitative study was conducted in two simultaneous stages, over the course of 8 months. Stage one consisted of a visual rhetorical analysis of a set of genres (including the EPR) employed by participants during a specific work activity. Stage two involved an elaborated, qualitative case study consisting of non-participant observations and semi-structured interviews. Stage two used a constructivist grounded theory methodology. A combination of theoretical perspectives -- Visual Rhetoric, Rhetorical Genre Studies, Activity Theory, and Actor-Network Theory -- supported the analysis of study data. This research reveals that participants routinely transformed EPR-based information into paper documents when the EPR's visual designs did not support the professional goals and activities of the participants. <br /><br /> Results indicate that healthcare professionals work around EPR-based patient information when that genre's visual organization is incompatible with professional activities. This study suggests that visual rhetorical analysis, complemented with observation and interview data, can provide useful insights into a genre's social actions. This research also examines the effects of such EPR-to-paper genre transformations. Although at one level of analysis, the EPR-to-paper-genre transformation may be considered inefficient for participants and so should be automated, at another level of analysis, the same transformation activity can be seen as beneficially supporting the detailed reviewing of patient information by healthcare professionals. <br /><br /> To account for this function in the transformation dysfunction, my research suggests that many contextual factors need to be considered during data analysis in order to construct a sufficiently nuanced understanding of a genre's social actions. To accomplish such an analysis, I develop a five-step approach to data analysis called 'context mapping. ' Context mapping examines genres in relation to the varied social contexts in which they are used, the span of social actions in which they are involved, and a range of genres with which they are coordinated. To conduct this analysis, context mapping relies heavily on theories of "genre ecologies" (Spinuzzi, 2003a, 2003b; Spinuzzi, Hart-Davidson & Zachry, 2004; Spinuzzi & Zachry, 2000) and "Knotworking" (Engestrom, Engestrom & Vahaaho, 1999). Context mapping's first three steps compile study data into results that accommodate a wide range of contextual analysis considerations. These three steps involve the use of a composite scenario of observation data, genre ecologies and the description of a starting point for analysis. The final two steps of this approach analyse results using the theory of Knotworking and investigate some of the implications of the patterns of genre use on the ward. <br /><br /> Through context mapping analysis, this study demonstrates that EPR-based innovations created by a study participant could result in the generation of other improvisations, in a range of genres, by the original participant and/or by other collaborators. These genre modifications had ramifications across multiple social contexts and involved a wide range of genres and associated social actions. Context mapping analysis demonstrates how the effects of participant-made EPR-based variations can be considered as having both beneficial and detrimental effects in the research site depending on the social perspective adopted. Contributions from this work are directed towards the fields of Rhetorical Genre Studies, Activity Theory research, and Health Informatics research, as well as to the research site itself. This study demonstrates that context mapping can support text-in-context style research in complex settings as a means for evaluating the effects of genre uses.

Muitas pesquisas reconhecem a importância das colocações para o aprendizado da língua inglesa. Contudo, poucos estudos investigaram o tema na escrita de aprendizes brasileiros de inglês. Esta pesquisa examina o papel das colocações verbais em um subcorpus do EF-Cambridge Open Language Database (EFCAMDAT) composto por redações de aprendizes brasileiros de inglês de nível avançado. A abordagem metodológica adotada neste estudo é baseada em técnicas da Linguística de Corpus. Para essa investigação, foi elaborada uma classificação semiautomática de todos os verbos com o auxílio de um programa de anotação de corpora. Em geral, os resultados mostram que praticamente uma em cada cinco combinações entre um verbo e um substantivo é uma colocação. No entanto, os aprendizes não empregam colocações verbais com sucesso mesmo sendo de nível avançado de aprendizado. As colocações verbais apresentaram desvios em 25% dos casos. O principal tipo de inadequação é o uso de um verbo inapropriado causado pela influência do português. Um pequeno número de estruturas sintáticas também pode ser responsável por desvios colocacionais. Mais pesquisas sobre esse tópico precisam ser conduzidas para a total compreensão dos fatores que determinam a taxa de sucesso. Os achados devem contribuir para a área de aprendizagem de inglês por brasileiros. / There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of collocations in English language learning. However, few studies have investigated the use of collocations in the writing of Brazilian learners of English. This research examines the role of verbal collocations in a subcorpus of the EF-Cambridge Open Language Database (EFCAMDAT). The subcorpus comprises writings by advanced learners of English from Brazil. The methodological approach taken in this study is based on Corpus Linguistics. For this investigation, a semi-automatic classification of all verbs was applied with the aid of a computer program for annotation of text. Overall, the results indicate that nearly one out of every five combinations between a verb and a noun is a collocation and that learners are not completely successful in the use of verbal collocations despite their advanced level of learning. The use of verbal collocations was found to be deviant in 25% of the cases. The main type of inadequacy was the use of an inappropriate verb caused by the influence of Portuguese. A small number of syntactic patterns may also have been responsible for collocational deviations. More research on this topic needs to be undertaken before full comprehension of the factors that determine success rate. The findings should make a contribution to the field of English learning by Brazilians.

No description available.

While there is a consensus among researchers that assessment should and can serve learning, there is less understanding of how it supports learning at a fine-grained level. This thesis uses design-based research to investigate the role of comment-only, holistic peer assessment in writing development. The theory of action synthesises Sadler's accounts of learning through assessment (1989, 2010) with Winne and Hadwin's (1998, 2008) model of self-regulated learning. It is theorised that participating in peer assessment helps students to develop evaluative expertise, which in turn enriches task perceptions, metacognitive standards and ultimately large-scale adaptation: the changes students employ in subsequent essays. Drawing on the theory of action, I designed a series of workshops for first-year English Literature students learning to write examination essays. The thesis reports on the first of two iterations. 21 participants assessed and discussed example essays; criteria were not pre-determined but emerged from discussion of four examples. Students then wrote a timed essay, assessed three peer pieces and received three reviews. A range of data was generated during the workshops, including written comments, reflections and questionnaires. Ten case study writers also took part in pre- and post-workshops writing tasks, think-aloud protocols and interviews. To trace the development of students' evaluative expertise, I coded inductively students' talk and comment about writing. Visualising the connections between emergent codes reveals writing quality as a complex web of criteria, with the essay question at the centre. There was a strong overlap between the official Faculty assessment criteria and the codes emerging from student data. However, students also frequently commented on procedural aspects of writing such as introductions and conclusions, which are left tacit or latent in Faculty criteria. Post-workshops, students' own metacognitive standards became increasingly reader-oriented and question-focussed, and these procedural aspects of writing drove the adaptations they made to their approach. I use rich, in-depth case study data to trace how, why, and when students made such adaptations. I also examine the role of peer feedback, which rather than offering new information, often verified or complemented the judgements students formed of their own writing during the workshops. The thesis thus illuminates processes involved in learning through assessment. It also shows that peer assessment is a practicable way of developing within the discipline both evaluative expertise and writing, which are key to lifelong learning.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English

No description available.

J'ai voulu étudier un phénomène qui sous-tend l'écriture de la littérature spéculative (science-fiction et fantasy) aujourd'hui : la création d'un « monde secondaire », selon l'expression de J.R.R. Tolkien. Deux problèmes se posaient de prime abord. Premièrement, l'ensemble culturel et éditorial que recouvre l'expression « littérature spéculative » est relativement flou, du fait des problèmes de délimitation des genres et de la problématique culturelle plus générale (la littérature spéculative est-elle définie par des motifs littéraires, ou par l'appareil culturel qui l'entoure ?). Deuxièmement, un « monde secondaire » est-il uniquement un univers inventé entièrement différent ou détaché du monde réel, ou peut-il recouper le monde réel, etc. ? La littérature spéculative étant un genre foisonnant et en pleine évolution, j'ai pris le parti de ne pas donner de réponses définitives. Plutôt que de tenter de tracer des frontières, j'ai cherché à mettre en évidence les différents éléments dont se constituent les mondes secondaires : les traditions du genre sur lesquels les auteurs s'appuient pour transmettre la vision d'un univers original à leurs lecteurs, entre mise en avant de l'originalité et utilisation d'éléments connus comme soubassement, ainsi que la vision particulière de l'histoire, de la géographie et de la place de l'humanité dans le monde que les auteurs développent. Cette réflexion se veut située à la fois en amont et en aval de l'acte d'écriture. Elle se conclut sur les questions qui se posent aux auteurs contemporains : questions de renouvellement du genre, ou d'ouverture sur les autres médias, en particulier ceux que pratiquent les amateurs. / I endeavoured to study a phenomenon underlying contemporary speculative fiction (science fiction and fantasy): the creation of a ‘secondary world', to use J.R.R. Tolkien's phrasing. I had to solve two preliminary problems. First, the cultural and economic phenomenon that speculative fiction represents has a blurry outline, questions regarding genre delimitation and wider cultural problems (is speculative fiction defined only by a number of literary patterns, or by the whole cultural apparatus that goes with it?) being difficult to answer. Secondly, does the notion secondary worlds only apply to invented worlds that are entirely different or detached from the real world, or can it be applied to texts that take place at least partly in the real world, etc.? Speculative fiction being a diverse genre that has been steadily evolving for years, I have chosen to avoid giving definitive answers to those questions. Instead of looking for boundaries, I have tried to emphasise the various building blocks of secondary worlds in speculative fiction: the traditions of the genre authors rely on to convey their view of an original universe to their readers, in a dialogue between known elements used as a foundation and the idiosyncratic view of history, geography and the place of mankind in the particular secondary world developed by the author. In an attempt to open this study to the contemporary practice of world-building, I have concluded with the questions that speculative fiction authors face today: how to renew the tropes of the genre, how speculative fiction pervades other media, in particular the practices of fans.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English