published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Thesis (M.S.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2009. / Thesis advisor: Matthew Ciscel. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-48). Also available via the World Wide Web.

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Discourse connectives are metatextual comments that signal discourse coherence relations. They can be realized by sentence adverbials that have their roots in verb phrase adverbials and have followed a path of development that is well attested both for English and cross-linguistically. This study investigates how and why it occurs. It claims that the development belongs to a wider phenomenon of unidirectional internal semantic change, that this change involves context-induced reinterpretation, and that both the immediate discourse context and the wider rhetorical context can be instrumental in bringing it about. Using diachronic and synchronic data in a corpus-linguistic approach, the frequency and distribution of the adverbials after all, in fact, at least and of course are investigated. These are found to follow similar paths of development at different rates and to varying extents. Each undergoes some increase in frequency, subjectification and abstraction, shift of discourse plane and categorial reanalysis. Each acquires at least one connective function to express rhetorical relations such as concession, contrast, justification or elaboration. These relations are defined using the framework of Rhetorical Structure Theory. The analysis identifies, in the history of the expressions, contexts of co-occurrence with particular relations that are argued to generate connective implicatures which later crystallize. During long periods the expressions may have stable but defeasible implicatures in the relevant contexts. These contexts include rhetorical structures spanning two or more clause complexes and often consisting of quasi-conventional sequences of rhetorical relations typical of argumentation. They may be described as incipient discourse constructions or rhetorical idioms. The emergence of new discourse connectives is seen to share many of the features attested in the grammaticalization of lexical material. It is argued that these phenomena are best accounted for in a single, usage-based theory of internal semantic change.

Tse Po Ting. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-180). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Metadiscourse as Interactions in Academic Writing --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- Interactions between writer and reader --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- "Relations between metadiscourse, interactions and social contexts" --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Overview of the Present Study --- p.4 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Research questions --- p.4 / Chapter 1.2.2. --- General research approaches --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Significance of the Study --- p.6 / Chapter 1.4 --- Organization of the Thesis --- p.7 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Metadiscourse as Social Interactions --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- Conceptions of Metadiscourse --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2 --- Approaches to Metadiscourse --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Identification of metadiscourse --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Classifications of metadiscourse --- p.15 / Chapter 2.3 --- Recent Development of Metadiscourse Theory --- p.21 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- The distinction between propositional content and metadiscourse --- p.22 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- The interpersonal nature of metadiscourse --- p.23 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- The distinction between internal and external relations --- p.24 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- Summary --- p.27 / Chapter 2.4 --- A Revised Model of Metadiscourse --- p.27 / Chapter 2.5 --- Major Investigations on Metadiscourse --- p.29 / Chapter 2.6 --- Chapter Summary --- p.33 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- The Genre of Academic Book Reviews --- p.35 / Chapter 3.1 --- Book Reviewing in Academia --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2 --- Book Review as a Site for Disciplinary Engagement --- p.38 / Chapter 3.3 --- Studies on Academic Book Reviews --- p.40 / Chapter 3.4 --- Chapter Summary --- p.45 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Gender in Social Interactions --- p.46 / Chapter 4.1 --- The Distinction between Sex and Gender --- p.46 / Chapter 4.2 --- Language and the Social Construction of Gender --- p.48 / Chapter 4.3 --- Gender in Verbal Interactions --- p.50 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- General findings of gender-preferential differences --- p.50 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Interpretation of gender-preferential differences --- p.51 / Chapter 4.4 --- Gender in the Academic Context --- p.53 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Major investigations on gender in academic writing --- p.54 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Implications of the findings --- p.56 / Chapter 4.5 --- Chapter Summary --- p.57 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Formulation of Research Questions --- p.58 / Chapter 5.1 --- Summary and Implications of Previous Studies --- p.58 / Chapter 5.2 --- Research Questions --- p.60 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Theoretical & Methodological Considerations --- p.62 / Chapter 6.1 --- A Corpus-based Approach --- p.62 / Chapter 6.2 --- Data Collection & Organization --- p.64 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- Selection of Disciplines --- p.65 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- Collection of Textual Data for Corpus Compilation --- p.66 / Chapter 6.2.2.1 --- Selection of book reviews --- p.66 / Chapter 6.2.2.2 --- Collection and organization of texts --- p.68 / Chapter 6.2.3 --- Collection of Interview Data --- p.70 / Chapter 6.3 --- Textual Analysis --- p.72 / Chapter 6.3.1 --- Framework of Metadiscourse --- p.72 / Chapter 6.3.2 --- Procedures of Investigations --- p.77 / Chapter 6.3.2.1 --- Concordancing --- p.77 / Chapter 6.3.2.2 --- Test for inter-coder reliability --- p.78 / Chapter 6.4 --- Organization and Interpretation of Data --- p.79 / Chapter 6.5 --- Pilot Study & Preliminary Critiques of Approach --- p.80 / Chapter 6.5.1 --- Materials for Pilot Study --- p.80 / Chapter 6.5.2 --- Evaluation and Revisions Made --- p.81 / Chapter 6.5.3 --- Other Decisions Made --- p.85 / Chapter 6.6 --- Chapter Summary --- p.86 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Findings & Discussions --- p.87 / Chapter 7.1 --- An Overview of Metadiscourse in Academic Book Reviews --- p.87 / Chapter 7.2 --- The Use of Metadiscourse across Disciplines --- p.92 / Chapter 7.2.1 --- Proportion of Interactional and Interactive Forms --- p.93 / Chapter 7.2.2 --- Distribution of Sub-categories of Metadiscourse across Disciplines --- p.96 / Chapter 7.2.2.1 --- Interactive metadiscourse --- p.96 / Chapter 7.2.2.2 --- Interactional metadiscourse --- p.101 / Chapter 7.3 --- Gender in the Use of Academic Metadiscourse --- p.112 / Chapter 7.3.1 --- An Overview of Gender in the Use of Academic Metadiscourse --- p.112 / Chapter 7.3.2 --- Gender in the Use of Metadiscourse in Individual Disciplines --- p.117 / Chapter 7.3.2.1 --- Philosophy --- p.120 / Chapter 7.3.2.2 --- Sociology --- p.124 / Chapter 7.3.2.3 --- Biology --- p.128 / Chapter 7.4 --- Chapter Summary --- p.132 / Chapter Chapter 8 --- Conclusions --- p.134 / Chapter 8.1 --- A Brief Review of the Study --- p.134 / Chapter 8.2 --- Possible Answers to the Research Questions --- p.137 / Chapter 8.3 --- Implications of the Present Findings --- p.147 / Chapter 8.4 --- Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research --- p.149 / Chapter 8.5 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.153 / Appendices --- p.154 / References --- p.171

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-125).

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published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Curriculum and Educational Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The National Research Foundation has directed research to obtain information about learners who are entering the FET phase of education and have completed nine years of Outcomes Based Education. This study aims to ascertain whether learners (in the micro-context of English Home Language - Grade 10) are performing according to the Assessment Standards stipulated in the NCS 2003 and whether they are demonstrating control of the recognition and realisation rules as discussed by Bernstein that apply to poetic analysis. The learners' personal dispositions toward teaching and learning at a city school in Pietermaritzburg have been analysed to find out if there is any correlation between their personal dispositions and their control of the recognition and realisation rules. The project is a case study and the approach is interpretive. Bernstein's theory forms the framework from which the model was structured and analysed. Instruments were developed to measure the degree of control of recognition and realisation demonstrated by ten, Grade 10 English Home Language learners. These learners also completed questionnaires and in-depth interviews were conducted to explore the dispositions of the learners. Results from the recognition and realisation tasks (mainly qualitative with some quantitative support) were analysed and correlated with the interpretation of the findings from the interviews and questionnaires. It is hoped that the conclusions from this research will provide insight into how these specific learners, who have only experienced Outcomes Based Education, will perform in the FET phase of education. It is further hoped that the findings may shed some light into the process of social transformation in South Africa and how, if given the opportunity to do so, learners develop mastery of the elaborated code that enables them to function successfully in society. In the words of Zonke (a learner in the study), how a learner must 'get that light that shows them the way'. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, [2007].