The study explores the intricate relationship between Acoli song performance, gender identity construction and gender power relations. The investigation is guided by the understanding that gender identity construction does not only influence gender power relations but it is also part and parcel of the contextual performance of power relations. The study involves a contextual socio-cultural discussion of the gender situation in Acoli society, and with it the role of the performing arts in the gender identity construction and power relations. Gender performativity theory is revisited in light of the genre-based performance of one’s gender, as manifested in the Acoli song performances. The analysis is guided by the argument that to understand gender one needs to pay attention to the genres through which it is expressed. Despite over a century of gender theorisation, gender theorists are still not agreed on what constitutes power, neither has any offered an irreproachable and convincing conception of power. Given current debates in gender theorisation, the study attempts to make fresh empirical investigation to make valid and concrete entry into gender debates by deriving a situated gender concept of “power” based on field research evidence. By analysing Acoli song performances, the major sites of power in the society are elucidated and the positions of the two genders vis-àvis these sites of power are examined to determine the nature of the gender power relations matrix. Song performance does not only act as a catalyst in gender performativity but it is an integral part of it, as the study reveals; and through song performance the Acoli females have particularly invested in the differential gender notions to make themselves visible and achieve their aspirations as ‘women’.

No description available.

The thesis tests the hypothesis that certain aspects of linguistic variation in Attic prose are related to the type of oral performance, private or public, which the author envisaged for his text. This hypothesis rests on the assumption that authors more or less consciously optimized their texts for their intended communicative situation. A crucial feature of texts optimized for public delivery was clarity, which figures as an essential component of the 'virtue of speech' in the Greek rhetorical thought. In private situations the audience itself could alter the pace of reading or recitation. Clarifications could be sought, and pauses and repetitions would be possible. The case was different with public situations, where the text itself coincided with its performance and it was entirely up to the speaker to determine the way in which the audience would access it. Especially in political and judicial contexts, where important decisions were to be made, public speakers could not afford being unclear. In order to test whether public texts were clearer than private texts, 'clarity' must be defined in a linguistically thorough way. Modern psycholinguistics studies human language comprehension, and experimental research has revealed language-independent mechanisms which can be confidently applied to dead languages. In the thesis, clarity is measured by the number of syntactic, semantic, and referential reanalyses which linguistics structures induce in a given amount of text. This methodology is tested on a corpus of Attic speeches, which includes both texts that were devised exclusively for written circulation and private delivery, and texts that were at least conceived for public delivery, although we do not know to what extent they correspond to the versions which were actually delivered. The difference between the average score of 'public texts' and that of 'private texts' is statistically significant and supports the hypothesis that 'public texts' were generally clearer than 'private texts' for audiences of native speakers.

本研究的主要目的在探討合作學習對商職學生英語口語表達能力的成效及商職學生對合作學習應用在英語會話課的看法。研究對象為商職二年級兩班學生共八十名，其中一班為實驗組41人，授以學生小組成就區分法(STAD), 小組遊戲競賽法(TGT), 及共同學習法(LT)三種合作學習法；另一班為控制組39人，授以傳統授課法。兩組所使用的教材相同，由研究者安排教學活動並親自授課。教學實驗為期一個學期。資料蒐集方式包括兩次學期成就測驗為前、後測，問卷調查表、及訪談。資料分析方式為量化的描述性統計及質化的內容分析法。歸納研究結果摘述如下： 一．實驗組學生在後測表現上明顯優於控制組學生，且達到統計的顯著差異。 二．從個別子項目來看，實驗組學生在文法項目與控制組學生相較下，並未有顯著差異外，其餘項目表現明顯高於控制組學生。 三．由問卷及訪談來看，合作學習對學生學習動機、學習態度、人際關係、及減輕學習焦慮均有助益。 四．針對合作學習應用在本研究中所發現的一些缺點和困難，提出討論以求因應策略。 根據上述研究結果，提出教學上涵義的探討，及對未來研究提出建議。 / The purpose of this study is to investigate how commercial vocational high school students perceive cooperative learning in terms of English oral performance, learning attitudes, social development and lowering of anxiety in speaking English. There were totally 80 students involved in this study. The experimental group was taught in cooperative learning for one semester with the methods of Student Teams Achievement Division (STAD), Teams-Games-Tournaments (TGT), Learning Together (LT). The control group was taught in the traditional instruction. This study collected data from oral tasks, scores of pretest and posttest, questionnaire, and student interview to achieve methodological triangulation. The reliability and validity of the collected data were ensured by combining both qualitative and quantitative methods. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyze the data. The major findings of this study suggested that cooperative learning helped significantly to enhance the commercial vocational high school students' English oral performance , learning attitudes, social development and lowering of anxiety in speaking English. Besides, the problems of cooperative learning that emerged in students' responses and the researcher's observation was stated in the conclusion. The study suggested that cooperative learning be integrated into the vocational high school English instruction in Taiwan. Pedagogical implications for the application of cooperative learning in EFL teaching were proposed. Finally, suggestions for future studies were recommended.

No description available.

L'enquête relatée dans cette thèse a été menée en Bretagne et en région lyonnaise auprès de conteurs contemporains. La plupart des pratiques observées se sont constituées dans le sillage dudit "renouveau du conte" qui a pris place en France au début des années 1970. La présente recherche propose une analyse de la performance orale, dans le but de mieux comprendre la portée de cette pratique – les liens, accointances, rencontres qu'elle occasionne – et les causes de son efficience sociale. Pour ce faire, le terrain de recherche a été envisagé sous trois focales ethnographiques : la scène (quand l'énonciation est examinée de très près), les coulisses (une observation des processus d'élaboration) et le contexte (ethnographie qui vise à appréhender l'environnement social et culturel du contage). La méthodologie s'est voulue expérimentale – recherche par tâtonnements – réflexive et dialogique. De nombreux dispositifs d'enquête ont été élaborés, la majorité impliquant un recours aux technologies audiovisuelles. Le parcours proposé commence par une plongée dans l'univers de deux conteurs bretons : où l'on découvre pourquoi les conteurs peuvent être vus comme des porteurs de mémoire. Par la suite s'opère un "zoom" sur la performance orale des conteurs ; ce sont les modalités d'entrée en scène, la chorégraphie et la réception par l'auditoire qui font l'objet d'un long examen. Il en résulte que les artistes de la parole provoquent une situation dans laquelle les imaginaires se croisent. Le dernier itinéraire de recherche retracé renvoie aux situations dans lesquelles le conte est mobilisé comme un instrument de médiation sociale. Les conteurs et leurs apprentis s’attellent alors à "mettre en bouche" des histoires dans lesquelles s'expriment en filigrane des sentiments d'appartenance, des expériences vécues et au travers desquelles se créent des passerelles culturelles et sociales. / The investigation related in this thesis was conducted in Bretagne (France) and in urban areas of Lyon, in close collaboration with some contemporary storytellers. Most of their practice were formed in the wake of the so-called "revival of storytelling" that took place in France in the early 1970s. The present research provides an analysis of the oral performance, in order to better understand the scope of this practice – the social ties, acquaintances, encounters it creates -- and the causes of its social efficiency. In that aim, the fieldwork was considered under three ethnographic scales: the stage (when the enounciation is evaluated very closely), the wings (an observation of the creative process) and the context (ethnography that aims to understand social and cultural environment of storytelling). The methodology pretended to be experimental – searching by trial and error approach – reflexive and dialogic. Many devices were developed, most of them requiring the use of audiovisual technology.The itinerary proposed here starts with an immersion in the world of two Bretons storytellers, which shows why storytellers can be considered as "memory holders". Then, we make a "zoom" on the oral performance of storytellers; the ways they enter in stage, their choreography and the reception by audience are the subjects of a long examination. It follows that the storytellers inciting a situation in which the imaginaries cross. The last itinerary of research refers to the situations in which the storytelling is used as an instrument of social mediation. At that time, storytellers and their apprentices work to "put in their mouths" stories in which are expressed, beneath the surface, feelings of belonging, life experiences and through which social and cultural bridges are created.

The purpose of the study was to identify the gender-related themes from a cultural discourse in order to determine how gender is constructed in African society. The study specifically examines the Maragoli Folktale. The Maragoli people mainly inhabit the western part of Kenya and are a sub-tribe of the larger Luhyia community. The Luhyia community is the second largest community in Kenya. The study attempts to uncover how gender is constructed through the examination of dominant themes, characterization, images, symbols, formulaic patterns and formalities of composition and performance in the Maragoli folktales at the time of performance. Based on an eclectic conceptual framework, the study takes into consideration gender theories, feminist literary perspectives, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis paradigms to critically examine the tales as a semiotic system of signification grounded within an African social cultural milieu. The folktales are analysed as a symbolic and ideological discourse of signs encoded by the performer and decoded by the audience at the time of performance. The study therefore situates the tale firmly at the time of performance, taking into consideration the interaction between the performer and the audience in the dissemination and internalization of gender ideology. While establishing that patriarchal structures and values are transmitted through the tales, the study also reveals the methods and interventions that the mainly female performers advance as active agents in their struggle for space within the culture. Women are, therefore, perceived as active agents of change and the folktale as a site from which gender ideology is discussed, contested and subverted. The study is based on a corpus of twenty (20) folktales collected from the Maragoli country in Western Province of Kenya (See maps, Appendix B.) The English versions of the tales appear in appendix A. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

The subject of this M.A. thesis is magtaal (or mongolian praise song) in the context of mongolian traditional oral folklore a the main focus of the thesis lies in its linguistic specifics and its role in mongolian rural environment. The thesis is is solved in two main parts. First one provides a general characteristics of this genre with emphasis on its ethnolinguistic, sociolinguistic and performance aspects. Further division to subgenres is also provided. The second part deals with each particular subgenre based on an analysis built around translation of parts of praise songs and referential commentaries. The main contribution of this thesis lies in a more detailed view on this genre from a different perspective rather than a general folkloristic view. In this way praise song is displayed as genre that is transcending above a simple form of a song but becomes a mean of communication and a specific manner of construction and perception of mongolian image of the world.

The purpose of the study was to identify the gender-related themes from a cultural discourse in order to determine how gender is constructed in African society. The study specifically examines the Maragoli Folktale. The Maragoli people mainly inhabit the western part of Kenya and are a sub-tribe of the larger Luhyia community. The Luhyia community is the second largest community in Kenya. The study attempts to uncover how gender is constructed through the examination of dominant themes, characterization, images, symbols, formulaic patterns and formalities of composition and performance in the Maragoli folktales at the time of performance. Based on an eclectic conceptual framework, the study takes into consideration gender theories, feminist literary perspectives, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis paradigms to critically examine the tales as a semiotic system of signification grounded within an African social cultural milieu. The folktales are analysed as a symbolic and ideological discourse of signs encoded by the performer and decoded by the audience at the time of performance. The study therefore situates the tale firmly at the time of performance, taking into consideration the interaction between the performer and the audience in the dissemination and internalization of gender ideology. While establishing that patriarchal structures and values are transmitted through the tales, the study also reveals the methods and interventions that the mainly female performers advance as active agents in their struggle for space within the culture. Women are, therefore, perceived as active agents of change and the folktale as a site from which gender ideology is discussed, contested and subverted. The study is based on a corpus of twenty (20) folktales collected from the Maragoli country in Western Province of Kenya (See maps, Appendix B.) The English versions of the tales appear in appendix A. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

A substantial body of research points to the benefits of fitting hearing instruments that provides extended high frequency amplification. Most published research were done on adults or in controlled laboratory settings. It is therefore necessary for peadiatric audiologists to critically assess the effects that this extended high frequency amplification has on the individual child fitted with hearing instruments. A quantitative research method was selected to explore the possible correlations between extended high frequency amplification and the influence this extended high frequency amplification has on speech recognition and functional performance in children with mild to severe sensory neural hearing loss. A quasiexperimental design was selected. This design accommodated a one-group (single-system) pre-test versus post-test design. Baseline assessments were done and all participants were subjected to pre- and post-intervention assessments. Six participants were fitted with hearing instruments which provided extended high frequency amplification. A baseline assessment was done with current hearing instruments after which participants were assessed with the hearing instruments with extended high frequency amplification. Aided audiological assessments were done without the extended high frequencies after which participants were evaluated with the added high frequencies. Speech recognition testing and functional performance questionnaires were used to compare the outcomes obtained with and without the extended high frequency amplification. A t-test was used for hypothesis testing to determine if extended range amplification increased speech recognition abilities and functional performance, and if these increases were statistically significant. Results were varied where some participants performed better and some performed worse with the added extended range amplification during speech recognition testing and functional performances observed at home. These varied results were statistically insignificant. However, statistically significant evidence was obtained to indicate that extended high frequency amplification increased the functional performance observed at school. The study concluded that the paediatric audiologist should know the effect fitting hearing instruments capable of extended high frequency amplification have on speech recognition abilities and functional performances. Fitting hearing instruments with extended high frequency amplification should however be done with caution because not all children benefited from extended bandwidth amplification. This underlines the importance of following a strict evidence-based approach that incorporates objective and subjective assessment approaches. This will provide the paediatric audiologist with real world evidence of the success of the amplification strategy that is followed. / Dissertation (MCommunication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / Unrestricted