This thesis proposes elements for a cognitive anthropology of visual art. Most works of art are human-made objects that cannot be approached in purely functional terms, and as such they frustrate important cognitive expectations that people have about artefacts. For this reason, it is hypothesised that art triggers speculation about the artist’s intention, and that it is intuitively approached as a form of communication. By application of Bloom’s (1996) theory of artefact categorisation, and Sperber and Wilson’s (1986/1995) relevance theory of communication, a series of predictions are generated for art categorisation (or definition), art appreciation, and art cultural distribution. Two empirical studies involving more than 1,000 participants tested the most important of these predictions. In study 1, a relationship was found between how much a series of works of art were liked and how easy they were to understand. Study 2 comprised four experiments. In experiment 1, a series of hyperrealistic paintings were preferred when they were labelled as paintings than when they were labelled as photographs. In experiments 2a and 2b, a series of paintings were considered easier to understand and, under some conditions, were preferred, when they were accompanied by titles that made it easier to understand the artist’s intention. In experiment 3, a series of artefacts were more likely to be considered “art” when they were thought to have been created intentionally than when they were thought to have been created accidentally. The results of studies 1 and 2 confirmed the predictions tested, and are interpreted in the framework of relevance theory. The art experience involves speculation about the artist’s intention, and it is partly assessed as a form of communication that is constrained by relevance dynamics. Implications for anthropology of art, psychology of art, and the art world are discussed.

This dissertation presents, describes and discusses an interdisciplinary study which investigated the design and development of a language learning instructional solution to address the problem of inadequate aural skills acquisition for college ESP (English for Special Purposes) students. Specifically, it focused on the use of mobile technology to expand learning beyond the classroom. The eighteen-month process of data collection and analysis resulted in a conceptual model and design principles for a Mobile-Enabled Language Learning (MELL) solution. Mobile-Enabled Language Learning Eco-System was thus designed, developed and trialled in the real-life learning context. Through the iterative process of the design, development and evaluation of the MELL system and its components, design principles were also generated. These design recommendations were refined and reformulated in a cyclical fashion with the help of more than 100 students and ten experts. The resulting MELLES design framework encompasses guidelines addressing the essential characteristics of the desired MELL intervention as well as procedures recommended to operationalize those features. The study also resulted in a better understanding of the broader context of ESP learning using mobile devices and the role of elements of environment, ultimately contributing to real-life praxis of the Ecological Constructivist framework and the complementary approach of Design-Based Research (DBR) methodology. / 2012-06

The present study aimed to explore the culture specificity of student self-regulation and its supporting motivational attitudes. Specifically, it enquired about similarities and differences between Chilean and English 8 to 9 year-old students in terms of their expression of self-regulatory behaviours, the psychological factors underlying these behaviours, and the functionality of these behaviours for task performance. It also compared student adoption of achievement motivational attitudes as well as the functionality of these attitudes for investment of effort and self-regulatory activity between cultures. Finally, the role of classroom cultures for self-regulation was studied. In particular, it examined the effects of classrooms and the quality of teacher talk (teacher-to-student communicative interactions/demands), such as teacher ‘regulatory talk’ and ‘socio-motivational talk’, on student self-regulation. A quantitative approach to the analysis of qualitative data (i.e. videos of student behaviour engaged in 11 to 13 experimental tasks, semi-structured interviews, videoed literacy lessons) was adopted. Eight classrooms situated in different schools from Chile and England were part of the study. In total, 8 teachers and 49 students – one teacher and six to seven students per classroom – took active part in the study. Qualitative data was primarily analysed using observational scales (for student behaviour), thematic analysis (for interview data), as well as socio-cultural discourse analysis (for videoed lessons). Statistical techniques, such as Mann Whitney U test, Factor Analysis, Multinomial logistic regressions, and Multilevel regressions were then applied on numerical transformations of the data. Overall, results suggest that self-regulation and achievement motivational attitudes vary to important extents according to culture. Most interestingly, these varied between cultures not so much in terms of the degree to which children used or adopted them, but rather in terms of their functionality. Some key findings supporting this conclusion were: i) Strong similarities between English and Chilean children’s levels of self-regulatory behaviours; ii) substantial differences across country samples in relation to the psychological factors underlying the expression of specific self-regulatory behaviours; iii) the finding of evaluative actions being self-regulatory in England but not in Chile; iv) a higher variety of self-regulatory behaviours being predictive of task performance in England than in Chile; v) the fact that learned self-regulatory behaviours accounted for effects of effective metacognitive control on task performance in England but not Chile; vi) some important differences in the achievement motivational attitudes expressed by Chilean and English students; and vii) culture-specific functionalities of various achievement motivational attitudes with respect to student effort and self-regulatory behaviours. Moreover, results suggest that some aspects of children’s self-regulation and motivational attitudes develop as tools to adapt to classroom cultures, specifically to the learning interactions/demands socially afforded by teacher talk. Among key findings supporting this conclusion were: i) effects of classrooms on children’s cognitive, social, and motivational self-regulation behavioural strategies, and ii) clear effects of teacher ‘regulatory talk’ (e.g., teacher ‘self-regulatory talk’ predicting more planning and asking for clarifications in students) and ‘socio-motivational talk’ (e.g., teacher ‘talk against self-efficacy’ predicting higher dependency-oriented help-seeking in students) on those behaviours with respect to which classrooms were found to matter. Thus a theory about the culturally adaptive functionality (CAF) of self-regulation and motivational attitudes supporting self-regulation is developed throughout the thesis.

本研究以日常生活為研究範疇，探討使用者的手機新聞接收實踐如何鑲嵌於日常節奏中，並重新釐清該如何理解如此經驗下的新聞。故以液態現代性為基本認識架構，重新詮釋新聞如何液化；接著，再從液態的時間經驗轉向節奏，並從列斐伏爾物的節奏分析中發現「人－技術－日常節奏」的交互關係；最後以關聯性機緣了解節奏的生成，開展本文的分析架構：日常生活脈絡、主動揭露的技術、以及與整體媒介世界的關聯，進一步理解使用者殊異的手機新聞接收實踐。 因此，為了更深入瞭解使用者的個人經驗，以及如何詮釋意義，本研究採取深度訪談法。從中發現，當手機新聞進入使用者的日常生活，為了與原有日常節奏協調，使用者會形成一套調配時間與空間的邏輯，或建立特定接收規則，進而形構如「拿起來看一下」的接收節奏、和「都看討論比較熱烈」的篩選機制；這過程中，手機和接收平台的技術節奏、既有的功能條件、以及技術的社會意涵皆會影響使用者的手機新聞接收實踐；最後我們亦發現，如此接收實踐背後更隱含與整體媒介世界的關聯，且媒介世界的基礎結構亦會作為背景、認識架構滿實使用者自身的新聞接收經驗。 是以，我們不能只討論新聞本身，而需擴大到使新聞顯現的背景脈絡與整體環節，進而提出「新聞體驗」的想法，認為如此體驗是相應關聯下、具明確指向性的個人體驗，且是於世之中，由不斷連續的、當下的直接知覺形構而成，期盼能以新聞體驗的概念重新釐清新聞之於個別使用者的核心價值，這才是新聞不被淘汰的關鍵。 / This study aims at exploring how users’ daily reception of mobile news embedded in their everyday life. In order to clarify the essence of news, the study applies the concept of Liquid Modernity as the research framework, adopting Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis to reframe the interrelationships of “human- technics- daily rhythm”. In response to this question, this study develops three analysis units: contexts of everyday life, self-revealed technics, and the interrelation to the whole media world. In-depth interview is conducted to deeply understand user experience. It is found that, when mobile news enters users’ life, users adjust their thinking patterns of zoning time and space, and restructure the rules of reception for integrating original daily pace. The technical rhythms of the mobiles and the reception platforms, the technical properties, and social affordances of the technics, all are the factors to affect users’ mobile news reception. This study also found that the practices implying the interrelation with the whole media world, and the whole media world would be the background to fulfill user experience of news reception. In conclusion, this study suggests that, ‘News’ is an activity of experience. This personal experience is instituted by continuing direct-perception at a given time. Individual users have been changed from passive acceptance to active experience and restructure the value of news. The concept of ‘news experience’ helps us think the meaning of news for each user; clarify how to ‘experience’ news rather than “reading” news.