This research is a practical attempt to develop academic writing pedagogy at secondary level in New Zealand because from interviews with teachers, personal experience and literature in the professional journal for teachers of English in New Zealand, English in Aotearoa, it appears that this would be a useful enterprise. Literature relating to this, and extending to the related contexts of the UK and Australia has been reviewed. The approach taken is an investigation of top-rated senior secondary writing in subject English, using elements of Hallidayan Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG). The concepts of SFG chiefly drawn upon, namely, Theme and linguistic metafunctions, and their application to the data are presented and explained. This grammatical model was chosen because it allows the interface of grammatical structure and linguistic function to be explored, which in turn permits insight into how the qualities of top-rated writing may be formulated grammatically. This insight may then become part of teaching resources in academic writing by way of both pre- and in-service training material for teachers. Over 100 top-rated English literature essays (graded by teachers) were collected from students, via their schools, so that the data obtained were authentic. Two samples were collected: timed and untimed writing. Each sentence of each essay was typed into one of nine Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, representing locations within the essay. The nine locations were: three introduction locations: initial sentence, medial sentences, terminal sentence; three paragraph locations (all paragraphs in the body of the essays, not introductions or conclusions): initial sentence, medial sentences, terminal sentence; and, three conclusion locations: initial sentence, medial sentences and terminal sentence. The initial grammatical elements and their metafunction(s) for each sentence were categorised. Percentages in each category for each location were calculated so that individual locations could be compared for grammatical and metafunctional characteristics. Grouped locations were also considered where this seemed felicitous; for instance, introductions were compared to conclusions or medial sentences compared to boundary sentences (initial and terminal). Comparisons were also made between the timed and untimed samples. The results showed that some grammatical structures could be associated with particular grouped locations and metafunctional characteristics were not independent of location. The research was also able to suggest grammatical means to achieve metafunctional effects that align with descriptors for writing given by examination boards. For example, clear, logical organisation of writing is highly valued by examination boards. This is achieved by means of elements that perform the textual linguistic metafunction. A variety of grammatical elements to perform this function and their most prominent locations were identified. It is intended that the findings may be a highly directed way to help teachers address some of the writing challenges faced by their students at secondary level.

The central issue in this thesis is configurationality, which has broadly been defined in terms of a division of the world's languages based on their core syntactic structure. Specifically, languages are traditionally divided into so-called configurational and non-configurational languages. Configurational languages are assumed to be languages with many restrictions on word order, and non-configurational languages are assumed to be languages with very few or no word order restrictions. Many linguists posit a strict division between the two different types of languages. In this thesis I propose a non-derivational approach to configurationality, and I discuss in detail three posited characteristics of non-configurational languages (in comparison to configurational languages): free word order, discontinuous expressions and subject-object asymmetries in binding. I propose a four-way classification of languages instead of a two-way one, based on constraints on annotations on phrase structure nodes, both for argument functions and for information structural roles (such as topic and focus). I propose that this four-way distinction is what underlies configurationality. I show that discontinuous expressions and potentially subject-object symmetries follow from the nature of languages that have traditionally been classified as non-configurational. For my analysis I employ Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), a non-derivational framework which is particularly well-suited to account for languages in which grammatical functions are not tied to specific phrase structural positions, due to its parallel architecture. This characteristic of LFG enables me to provide a straightforward classification of languages, by the ability to separate the influence of grammatical functions and information structural roles on word order and phrase structural configuration.

This study assesses the usefulness of Marsien-Wilson’s (1989, 1987; Marsien Wilson & Welsh, 1978) cohort model of spoken (first language) word recognition as a method of explaining the high-speed, on-line processes involved in recognizing spoken words while listening to a second language. Two important assumptions of the model are: 1) syntactic and semantic properties of mental lexical entries can function to-facilitate spoken word recognition and 2) spoken word recognition is a function of the frequency of exposure to words in the general language environment. These assumptions were tested in three functionally defined levels of language proficiency: Native Speakers of English, Fluent Users of ESL, and Advanced learners of ESL. Their performance was compared on a reading cloze test and a spoken-word recognition task in which there were five different levels of contextual richness prior to a target word, and two levels of word frequency. The cloze results indicated that the three groups differed in their general English proficiency. Congruent with the cohort model, there was a significant overall effect of sentence context and word frequency on recognition latency. Despite the difference in cloze scores and immersion experience between the two ESL groups, there were no reliable differences in their recognition latencies or latency profiles across sentence contexts or across word frequency. There was an interaction of ESL group, word frequency, and sentence context. This may be due to a reorganization of rules used during processing or a restructuring of lexical knowledge. There was also an interesting non-linear relationship between recognition latency and language immersion time. Spoken word recognition speed decreased in the early immersion experience, and then increased with further exposure. There was a significant difference in overall mean recognition latency between the Native and the ESL speakers, with the ESL subjects responding on average 98 msec slower than the Native Speakers. However, there were no significant differences in the way Native Speakers and the ESL subjects used sentence context. In contrast with the comparison across the sentential contexts, there was a significant difference in the recognition profiles of the Native English speakers and the ESL subjects across word frequency. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

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Gegenstand der Arbeit ist zunächst eine Analyse der didaktischen Anforderungen an Sprachlernsysteme, die sich zum Teil aus dem Fremdsprachenunterricht ergeben. Daraus ergibt sich ein Übungstyp, der vom Lerner eine frei gestaltete Eingabe erfordert und damit insbesondere die kommunikative Kompetenz fördert, der aber auch mit Hilfe computerlinguistischer Methoden realisiert werden kann. Anschließend wird zur Auswahl einer geeigneten Grammatiktheorie insbesondere die Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) näher betrachtet. Die Theorie muss sich aus computerlinguistischer Sicht für eine Implementierung im Rahmen eines Sprachlernprogramms eignen und es ist von zusätzlichem Vorteil, wenn die verwendeten Konzepte denen in Lernergrammatiken ähneln, um so die Generierung von Rückmeldungen zu vereinfachen. Im darauf folgenden Abschnitt wird kurz das eigentliche Programm PromisD (Projekt mediengestütztes interaktives Sprachenlernen - Deutsch) vorgestellt, wie es sich auch dem Nutzer präsentiert. Schließlich wird ein so genanntes antizipationsfreies Verfahren entwickelt, bei dem weder in der Grammatik noch im Lexikon Informationen zur Fehleridentifizierung enthalten sind. Die Fehlererkennung wird dabei auf die Bereiche eingeschränkt, in denen sich in einem Lernerkorpus häufig Fehler zeigen, um einerseits wesentliche Fehlertypen abzudecken und andererseits eine größere Effizienz bei der Analyse von realen Eingaben zu erreichen. Die Vorstellung des Verfahrens unterteilt sich entsprechend den grundlegenden Struktureinheiten der LFG in zwei Bereiche: die Konstituentenstruktur mit einer modifizierten Form des Earley-Algorithmus zur Integration von Fehlerhypothesen in die Chart und die Feature-Struktur mit einer veränderten Unifikationstrategie zur Behandlung und Speicherung von sich widersprechenden Werten in F-Strukturen. Zum Abschluss erfolgt die Evaluation und es werden die Möglichkeiten zur Gestaltung einer Rückmeldung an den Lerner diskutiert. / The dissertation starts with an analysis of the requirements for Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning systems (ICALL), which partially depend on didactic aspects of foreign language teaching. Based on this a type of exercise can be identified, that on the one hand allows the learner to enter free formed input supporting the so called communicative competence as a major didactic goal and on the other hand may be realised with advanced computational linguistics'' methods. In the following chapter a look at grammar theories and especially Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) is taken. The grammar theory needs to be tractable in an implementation and it is of a further advantage if the concepts of the theory are similar to the concepts in learner grammars in order to simplify the generation of feedback. Subsequently the user interface of the actual program is presented with a focus on error messages. The implementation is named PromisD, which stands for "Projekt mediengestütztes interaktives Sprachenlernen - Deutsch". Finally an anticipation-free parsing method is developed using neither information from the lexicon nor the grammar in order to identify grammar errors. The recognition is restricted to those areas where errors occur frequently in a learner corpus in order to allow for a greater efficiency parsing authentic data. Along the two structural levels in LFG the presentation of the algorithm follows: the constituent-structure with a modified Early-algorithm integrating error hypotheses into the chart and the feature-structure with a new unification-strategie storing information about clashing values in the f-structure. The dissertation closes with an evaluation and an outlook on the generation of error messages.

I denna studie undersöks om styrdokument och läromedel korrelerar i sättet att se på grammatik i kursen Svenska 2 på gymnasiet, med utgångspunkt i begreppen funktionell respektive formell grammatikundervisning. Svenskämnets syfte, kunskapskrav och kommentarsmaterial tillsammans med grammatikavsnitten i läromedlen Svenska rum 2 och Svenska impulser 2 undersöks genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten är en begreppsdefinition av funktionell och formell grammatik som innefattar sex olika kriterier för varje begrepp. I resultatet framkommer att styrdokumenten ger uttryck för ett mer funktionellt perspektiv på grammatik, medan läromedlet Svenska rum 2 ger uttryck för ett formellt perspektiv på grammatik. Läromedlet Svenska impulser 2 har både ett funktionellt och formellt perspektiv på grammatik. Det finns en formell grund men läromedlet innehåller flera funktionella ansatser, därför har läromedlets grammatikavsnitt tolkats som mer funktionell än formell. Slutsatsen som kan dras är således att Svenska impulser 2 kan anses korrelera med styrdokumenten, trots att de funktionella aspekterna skulle kunna utvecklas ytterligare. Styrdokumenten kan dock inte anses korrelera med grammatikavsnittet i Svenska rum 2 efter begreppet funktionell grammatik. / This essay aims to examine whether or not the syllabi and teaching materials correlate in their views on grammar in the upper secondary school course Swedish 2, in regards to functional and formal grammar teaching. The aim of the subject, knowledge requirements and commentary materials, as well as the grammar sections of the teaching materials Svenska rum 2 and Svenska impulser 2, are examined through a qualitative text analysis. The theoretical assumption for the study is based on a definition of the concepts of functional and formal grammar, where each concept is defined by six different criteria. The results show that the syllabus favor a more functional perspective on grammar, whereas the teaching material Svenska rum 2 favors a more formal perspective on grammar. The teaching material Svenska impulser 2 expresses both a functional and a formal perspective on grammar. Its basis is a formal perspective on grammar, but the material includes several functional approaches to grammar and has therefore been interpreted as more functional than formal. This study concludes that Svenska impulser 2 can be considered to correlate with the syllabus, even though the functional aspects could be developed further. However, the syllabus cannot be considered to correlate with the grammar sections in Svenska rum 2 in regards to the concept of functional grammar.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:23:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese.pdf: 897004 bytes, checksum: 01569f30a7a9bd0feb6b20e5db201c73 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-05-05 / This research, part of the DIRECT Project (LAEL/PUC-SP), aims at analyzing the characteristics of city tour and museum guides in two different sociocultural contexts: Brazil and Spain. In this way, it investigates the cultural context and the situational context of the corpora of this study. The theory focuses on Systemic Functional Grammar (Halliday, 1994). Although this grammar offers various elements that could also reveal characteristics in the discourse of these professionals, Theme was chosen because it makes possible the study of the organization of the message, the point of departure the speaker selects for grounding what he is going to say (Halliday (1994: 34). Besides, it is possible to compare how two different languages and cultures organize their message. This research has three goals: (1) to identify similarities and differences in the discourse of city tour and museum guides; (2) to identify similarities and differences in the discourse of Brazilian and Spanish city tour and museum guides; (3) to establish if there is one or two genres according to the general structure of the discourses and to Thematic options. Thus, this study is composed of 04 corpora: one of visits to two Brazilian museums; one of visits to two Spanish museums; one of two city tours in Brazil; one of two city tours in Spain. The visits were recorded in cassette tapes and transcribed. The theory about genre follows the ideas of Hasan (1989), Swales (1990), Bathia (1993), Fries (1995), Eggins & Martin (1997) and Ramm (2000). The Theme was studied through the ideas of Halliday (1994), Eggins (1994), Berry (1995), Thompson (1996), Barbara & Gouveia (2001) and Gouveia & Barbara (2001). Results show that city tour and museum guides organize their discourse in a very similar way and that there are some idiosyncratic differences, what is expected as the study deals with two sociocultural contexts / Esta pesquisa, parte do Projeto DIRECT (LAEL/PUC-SP), tem o objetivo de analisar as características do discurso de guias de turismo e monitores de museus em dois contextos sócio-culturais diferentes: Brasil e Espanha. Investiga-se, portanto, o contexto de cultura e o contexto de situação que envolvem os corpora aqui tratados. A base teórica do trabalho está na Gramática Sistêmico-Funcional (Halliday, 1994). Embora esta gramática ofereça vários elementos que também poderiam ressaltar características no discurso dos guias e monitores, escolheu-se o Tema por permitir que se estude a organização da mensagem, o ponto de partida que o produtor do texto, aqui o guia e o monitor, seleciona para embasar o que vai dizer. Além disso, é possível fazer uma comparação na forma como essa organização do discurso é feita em duas línguas e culturas diversas. A análise tem três objetivos: (1) identificar as semelhanças e diferenças do discurso de guias de turismo e monitores de museus; (2) identificar as semelhanças e diferenças do discurso de guias e monitores brasileiros e espanhóis; (3) estabelecer, através da análise da estrutura geral dos discursos e das escolhas Temáticas, se há um ou dois gêneros. Para tanto, a pesquisa está composta por 04 corpora: um de visitas realizadas a dois museus brasileiros; um de visitas realizadas a dois museus espanhóis; um de dois city tours realizados no Brasil; um de dois city tours realizados na Espanha. A coleta dos dados foi feita através de gravação das visitas em fita cassete e sua posterior transcrição. A teoria sobre gênero segue as idéias de Hasan (1989), Swales (1990), Bathia (1993), Fries (1995), Eggins & Martin (1997) e Ramm (2000), e a de Tema, Halliday (1994), Eggins (1994), Berry (1995), Thompson (1996), Barbara e Gouveia (2001) e Gouveia e Barbara (2001). Os resultados da pesquisa mostram que os guias e monitores organizam seu discurso de forma muito semelhante e que as diferenças entre o Brasil e a Espanha são poucas e idiossincráticas, já que são contextos sócio-culturais e línguas diferentes

Este trabalho insere-se nos recentes estudos sobre a história do português brasileiro e tem por objetivo demonstrar os estágios de mudança das orações de gerúndio. Foram recolhidas ocorrências dos séculos XVIII, XIX e XX em tipologia textual diferenciada, organizada por critérios associados à teoria das Tradições Discursivas, e analisadas qualitativa e quantitativamente. Defende-se aqui a adoção do modelo sociocognitivista de Análise Multissistêmica da Língua (Castilho 2006), que prevê que os itens da língua atuam de maneira multilinear e dinâmica, sendo suas propriedades ativadas, reativadas e desativadas nos quatro subsistemas concomitantemente. Neste trabalho concentro-me nos processos de sintaticização, discursivização e semanticização do gerúndio no português brasileiro. Defende-se que é possível descrever os processos de mudança das orações de gerúndio no português brasileiro a partir da análise isolada dos subsistemas da Gramática, do Discurso e da Semântica. Nos capítulos de análise, faz-se uma descrição qualitativa das ocorrências que leva em conta também a quantificação dos dados. / The present work pertains to the recent studies on the History of Brazilian Portuguese and aims at presenting the change stages of gerund clauses. Based on qualitative and quantitative analysis, the data were selected from diverse textual typology, which was organized following the criteria associated with the Discourse Traditions Theory (Diskurstraditionen). I adopt the Multissystemic approach to language (Castilho 2006), which envisages that the linguistic items occur in a multilinear and dynamic way, so that its features are activated, reactivated and deactivated simultaneously. I focus on the grammaticalization, semantization and discoursivization processes of the gerund clauses in Brazilian Portuguese. I assume that it is quite feasible to describe the change processes of gerund independently of the Grammar, Semantics and Discourse subsystems of language. In the analysis chapters, I describe the data in a qualitative way, but I also take into account the quantitative results.

Neste trabalho, buscamos analisar, de um ponto vista sincrônico e quantitativo, as funções que os locativos aqui, aí, ali e lá exercem na oração e no texto. Para isso, trabalhamos com a variedade do português popular falado no Brasil, mais especificamente o dialeto utilizado pelos informantes do projeto Filologia Bandeirante (MEGALE, 1998) e pelos falantes que forneceram material para organização do Banco de Dados do Português Popular Falado na Cidade de São Paulo (RODRIGUES, 1987). A principal questão analisada foi a da função sintática dos advérbios locativos, ou seja, se seriam sempre adjuntos, como algumas Gramáticas Tradicionais (GT) acreditam ou se poderiam exercer a função de argumentos de predicado, como alguns estudos já apontam. Adotando os pressupostos teórico-metodológicos da Gramática Funcional de DIK (1989) e da Sociolingüística Variacionista, nosso objetivo é descrever, analisar e explicar o comportamento dos locativos, buscando identificar os possíveis contextos que favoreçam o aparecimento destes termos ora como argumento, ora como satélites de EsCo. / In this research we analyze, of a point sight synchronic and quantitative, the functions that the locative case aqui, aí, ali and lá are used in the sentence and in the text. For that, we work with the range of the Portuguese popular spoken in Brazil, more specifically the dialect utilized by the informers of the Filologia Bandeirante project (MEGALE, 1998) and by the talkative that supplied stuff for organization of the Banco de Dados do Português Popular Falado na Cidade de São Paulo (RODRIGUES, 1987). The main question analyzed was the syntactic function of the adverbs locative case, for instance if would be always adjunct, as some Traditional Grammar (GT) believe or it would be able to exercise the predicate arguments function, like some studies already aim. Adopting the theoretical-methodological budgets of the Functional Grammar of DIK (1989) and of the Sociolinguistics Variationist, our objective is going to describe, analyze and explain the behavior of the locative case, seeking identify the possible contexts that favor the appearance of these we will have as argument, or on the other hand like satellites of EsCo.

A presente pesquisa investiga as escolhas temáticas de textos jornalísticos, especificamente de reportagens, que partem do mesmo evento, mas que são produzidos e publicados em linhas editoriais distintas. Nosso objetivo geral, com este estudo, é proporcionar subsídios para que sejam superados paradigmas ainda baseados na dicotomia texto e gramática na Escola Básica, como também colaborar para a promoção de um ensino mais crítico e reflexivo, a fim de que os estudantes possam atuar em sociedade com autonomia. Para isso, elegemos como corpus duas reportagens de veículos ideologicamente antagônicos: o jornal A Nova Democracia e a revista Veja. Considerando que o contexto de cultura e o contexto de situação são determinantes para as escolhas linguísticas dos textos, examinamos a organização temática dos períodos que compõem as reportagens. Como referencial teórico, elegemos a Gramática Sistêmico-Funcional (GSF) de Halliday (1978; 1994; 2004), centrando-se especificamente na função Tema, pertencente à Estrutura Temática na Metafunção Textual, um dos níveis de análise da GSF, que organiza a oração como mensagem e sistematiza os significados ideacionais. O objetivo específico deste trabalho é, portanto, analisar até que ponto as diferenças ideológicas afetam as escolhas temáticas dos textos. Com essa finalidade, dedicamo-nos à análise dos Temas Ideacionais e seus significados, pois são eles os responsáveis por indicar de que maneira os autores priorizaram as informações nos períodos que compõem e organizam as mensagens contidas nos textos. Como método de pesquisa, anotamos e classificamos manualmente cada um dos dados quantitativos e, em seguida, passamos a uma análise qualitativa dos Temas assinalados. Os resultados apontam que ambos os textos apresentam uma alta frequência de Temas Ideacionais Participantes, mas semanticamente distintos. Quanto aos Temas Ideacionais Processos e Circunstâncias, eles evidenciam discrepâncias sintáticas e semânticas significativas, que revelam representações diferentes dos narradores frente ao mesmo evento. / This research investigates the thematic choices of journalistic texts, specifically news, talking about the same event, but which are produced and published in different editorial lines. Our main goal with this study is to provide information so that paradigms still based on the dichotomy text and grammar at the basic school can be overcome, as well as to contribute to the promotion of a more critical and reflective teaching, so that students can socially act with autonomy. That is the reason why we have chosen as corpus two articles of ideologically antagonistic vehicles: the newspaper A Nova Democracia and Veja magazine. Considering that the context of culture and the context of situation are crucial to the language choices of the texts, we examine the thematic organization of the periods that make up the stories. The theoretical framework we have chosen is the systemic-functional grammar (SFG) of Halliday (1978; 1994; 2004), specifically focusing on the Theme function, which belongs to the Thematic Structure in Textual Metafunction, one of the levels of analysis of the SFG, which organizes the sentence as message and systematizes the ideational meanings. The specific objective of this study is therefore to analyze the extent to which ideological differences affect the thematic choices of texts. Having this goal in mind, we have dedicated ourselves to the analysis of Ideational Themes and their meanings because they are responsible for indicating the way how the authors prioritized information in the periods that make up and organize the messages contained in the texts. As a research method, we have noted and manually classified quantitative data. The results show that both texts have a high frequency of participant but semantically distinct Ideational Themes. As for processes and circumstances Ideational Themes, they show significant syntactic and semantic discrepancies, which reveal different representations of narrators facing the same event.