There is a critical gap in translating scientific discoveries to public health benefit. For example, despite a multitude of efficacious physical activity interventions, only one in four adults in the United States meets the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. To bridge the research-practice gap, Dissemination and Implementation (DandI) Science has emerged as the study of how evidence-based interventions, programs, and policies are integrated in typical settings. Recent research illustrates barriers to conducting DandI Science and the need for methods that open the black box of implementation. Therefore, the overarching goal of this dissertation was to explore novel approaches for advancing DandI Science. This exploration is presented in three manuscripts and one report. The first manuscript presents a pragmatic, observational study applying the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) Framework to evaluate a perinatal health fair. Results include that the health fair reached 42 attendees and that 23 educators and seven organizations hosted booths and educational sessions. Mom Expo required 292 implementation hours with 71% of those hours devoted to building relationships. We generated 30 actionable strategies for implementing a health fair. The health fair developed into a non-profit organization, and the participatory approach used can be replicated in other communities to establish connections between local women, educators, and researchers. The second manuscript reports a one-year autoethnography (i.e., first-person narrative) of a perinatal health integrated research practice partnership (IRPP). Findings include three themes: (1) permeable work boundaries, (2) blind spots toward philosophical underpinnings of paradigms, and (3) maladaptive behaviors seemingly reinforced by the research culture. We concluded that autoethnography is an effective novel method to leverage researcher situatedness and capture implementation contexts, processes, and outcomes. The third manuscript presents the longitudinal pilot test of FUEL (focus, unplug, exercise, love), a one-on-one coaching program to promote human flourishing among DandI researchers. Results include that the coach spent 12.96+2.82 hours per participant (N= 16) implementing individually-tailored sessions, and that participants reported multiple, sustained benefits related to productivity, happiness, and health. We concluded that the program is a feasible, well-received approach with preliminary positive effects. Future work is needed to investigate physiological or performance outcomes and, ultimately, impact on DandI. The final report is a literature review and critical analysis of phenomenology within behavioral and community health research. Conclusions include that (1) physical activity is rooted in a scientific paradigm that prioritizes quantifiable mechanism over personal meaning, and (2) phenomenology, as a complement to basic science, is a compelling method, paradigm, and practice to improve research translation. Based on this research, I conclude that three pathways for advancing DandI Science are methods that capture first-person meaning, paradigms that incorporate phenomenological human experience as an essential dimension of health research, and practices that fuel researchers' capacity for generating transformative work. In all three pathways, the heart of elevating DandI Science is to embrace process, person, and presence. / Doctor of Philosophy / Scientific evidence does not automatically translate to real-world behavior change. For example, despite considerable research about the health benefits of physical activity, only one in four American adults meets the national physical activity recommendations. To bridge the research-practice gap, Dissemination and Implementation (DandI) Science has emerged as the study of how scientific findings are integrated in typical settings such as schools and communities. Recent research illustrates multiple barriers to DandI Science and a need for methods that capture hard-to-measure, chaotic implementation processes and outcomes. Therefore, the overarching goal of this dissertation was to explore novel approaches to DandI Science and bridging the research-practice gap. This exploration is presented in three manuscripts and one report. The first manuscript describes a perinatal health fair intended to connect local parents to community resources. The second manuscript is a 12-month autoethnography (i.e., first-person narrative) about the culture of DandI Science, including the role, impact, and practices of researchers themselves. The third manuscript presents the development and preliminary testing of FUEL (focus, unplug, exercise, love), a one-on-one coaching program for DandI researchers. The final report includes the history of randomized controlled trials as the gold standard for physical activity research, as well as critical analysis of using phenomenology to reduce the research-practice gap. Findings from the first manuscript suggest that (1) authentic relationship building was the key to launching a perinatal health fair that developed into a non-profit organization and (2) the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) Framework is a user-friendly DandI tool for implementing and evaluating a health fair. Findings from the second manuscript include descriptions of (1) blind spots within the DandI Science culture, (2) potential of autoethnography as a novel DandI method, and (3) strategies to optimize DandI researchers' capacity to thrive amid challenges. Findings from the third manuscript suggest that the FUEL coaching program is a promising and feasible approach to support researchers in leading "a more productive, healthier, and happier life," as one participant wrote. Future research on the program is needed to evaluate causation and whether organizations would adopt it. Conclusions in the final report include that (1) the applicability of physical activity research to daily life may be limited by deeply held scientific ideologies and (2) phenomenology, as the study of human meaning, may facilitate the translation of research to real-world behavior change. Based on the research presented in this dissertation, three pathways for advancing DandI Science are methods for how we conduct research studies, paradigms for how we collectively approach health science, and practices for how we manage our energy and awareness. In all three pathways, the heart of elevating DandI Science is to embrace process, person, and presence.

本研究主要探討台灣學生英語的拒絕語言行為(refusal speech act)與美國學生之異同，並探討社會地位高低及啟始行為(initiating acts)兩個變數對語言行為之影響。此外在拒絕時,所使用的句法修飾(syntactic mitigation)及詞彙修飾(lexical mitigation)之類型與頻率,其所用的句型是否與美國學生不同, 以進一步探究學習者母語對其中介語(interlanguage)是否有負面移轉作用。 本研究採用質性及量化研究方法，研究對象為40位以中文為母語的大學學生, 40位英語為母語的美國大學學生,及40位學習英語為外語的大學學生, 各組男女各半。研究工具為言談填充測驗(Discourse Completion Test), 包含12個不同情境(4個請求, 4個建議, 4個邀請),藉此問卷收集受試者語言行為之表現。 本研究的主要發現如下：間接拒絕策略是最常被三組學生使用的拒絕行為。其次,社會地位高低及啟始行為(initiating acts)兩個變數下對三組學生語言行為有不同影響, 而以後者影響尤鉅。除此之外, 台灣學生的英語中介語的語用能力,不僅反映在句法修飾及詞彙修飾兩方面, 同時在直接拒絕行為也與美國大學學生有顯著差異。本文進一步發現學習者母語對拒絕行為之影響, 拒絕之語序及直接與間接拒絕策略的負面移轉作用。本論文並提出教學上之應用建議，讓學生英語學習更有成效。 / Refusals can be regarded as a pragmatic universal, but refusal performance varies with cultures and is constrained by factors like status and initiating acts. However, the relative weight of these factors placed on each type of refusal strategy varies from culture to culture, or even within the same speech community due to intra-lingual variations (Blum-Kulka, 1987). In order to find out the complexity of cross-cultural differences in the realization of this face-threatening act, we investigated refusal speech acts performed by native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, EFL learners and native speakers of American English with the variation of social status and initiating acts. In addition, we compared EFL learners and Americans on linguistic structures including common directive forms, syntactic and lexical refusal mitigation as well as types of errors in the interlanguage of refusals. We also observed evidence of negative pragmatic transfer in EFL learners’ performance in three main categories of refusal strategies and refusal sequences, and tried to explain the causes of the transfer. Three groups of subjects participated in this study: 40 native speakers of American English (NE), 40 native speakers of Mandarin Chinese (NC), 40 Chinese EFL low-intermediate proficiency learners. They were asked to react by writing in the format of discourse completion task (DCT), which consisted of scripted dialogues with the manipulation of the interlocutors’ social status and initiating acts. The results were coded based on the taxonomy developed by Beebe, Takahashi and Uliss-Weltz (1990), and were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Results showed that indirect refusals were the most frequently used main strategy type in the three groups examined. The effect of social status and initiating acts affected the three groups’ performance to a different degree; initiating acts seemed to be a more decisive force in influencing groups’ refusal behaviors. In terms of refusal mitigation, we have found that significantly more syntactic mitigation like interrogatives, conditionals, conditional clause, etc. were employed by Americans to soften the force of refusals. However, similar to the findings in Chen (2006), EFL learners mainly limited their use of modality in their refusals on types of deontic and epistemic modalities whereas Americans were more flexible in using different kinds with the variation of context. Generally, EFL learners’ refusal performance exhibited deviations from native speakers’ norms. Therefore pedagogical implications were suggested which included that teachers should build up EFL learners’ linguistic knowledge, teacher-fronted talk can be supplemented by additional activities that broaden the range of speech acts and provide a broader opportunities for learners. Also, instructors should provide contextual information regarding the similarities and/or differences between L1 and the target language under the influence of social status. Types of initiating act should be included in EFL teaching so that students’ awareness of these social constraints could be activated and they can integrate such information to facilitate their interlanguage system.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates differences in L1 and L2 Grade 12 learners' interpretation of an English literary text. In particular, the research focuses on pragmatic features of the text, or features which require knowledge of the cultural and situational context in order to be understood. It is hypothesised from the outset that L1 learners will be more adept at interpreting the pragmatic features of the text since L2 learners may lack the necessary linguistic and cultural knowledge needed to derive meaning from an English literary text. The research takes the form of a qualitative study in which data was derived from ten participants in the form of a standardised test and semi-structured interviews. The test was based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and aimed to determine learners' textual and pragmatic competence through a series of questions. Semi-structured interviews then followed in order to investigate the students' own reasons for shortcomings in the test. In addition, the research draws on theories put forth by Brown and Levinson (1978) and Sperber and Wilson (2005) regarding “pragmatic competence”, Hymes‟ (1972) notion of "communicative competence‟, as well as research into how narratives are embedded into cultural mores, customs and norms. These concepts and ideas were incorporated into the research so far as they could assist in articulating the reasons for shortcomings in the literacy test. The two methods of data collection and subsequent analysis generated significant information which was then correlated. First, the L1 learners outperformed their L2 peers in the literary test, both in terms of understanding the literary elements and in terms of understanding the cultural and contextual elements of the text. Second, the semi-structured interviews revealed two contrasting methods of language socialisation pertaining to the learners: while the L1 learners acquired English through direct methods and were found to engage more with English literary texts in the home, the L2 learners generally revealed that English was not practised outside of the classroom and engagement with English or English texts was not explicitly encouraged in the home. The study reveals that inadequate exposure to a language not only affects text-comprehension on a grammatical level, but prevents the learner from engaging with and understanding critical pragmatic elements of the literary text such as idioms, metaphors and other cultural references.

No description available.

The assessment of pragmatic skills in a foreign or second language (L2) is usually investigated with regard to language learners, but rarely with regard to non-native language instructors, who are simultaneously teachers and (advanced) learners of the L2. With regard to English as the target language, this is a true research gap, as nonnative English-speaking teachers (non-NESTs) constitute the majority of English teachers world-wide (Kamhi-Stein 2016). Addressing this research gap, this paper presents a modified replication of Bardovi-Harlig and Dörnyei’s (1998) renowned study on grammatical vs. pragmatic awareness, carried out with non-NEST candidates. While the original study asked the participants for a global indication of (in)appropriateness/ (in)correctness and to rate its severity, the participants in the present study were asked to identify the nature of the violation and to suggest a repair. Inspired by Pfingsthorn and Flöck (2017), the data was analyzed by means of Signal Detection Theory with regard to Hits, Misses, False Alarms and Correct Rejections to gain more detailed insights into the participants’ metalinguistic perceptions. In addition, the study investigated the rate of successful repairs, showing that correct problem identification cannot necessarily be equated with adequate repair abilities. Implications for research, language teaching and language teacher education are derived.

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching should not only aim at providing learners with the linguistic resources to communicate in English, but also develop learners’ pragmatic competence in order for them to be able to use language efficiently and appropriately for different purposes. The present study examines what pragmatic input learners receive from two Swedish EFL textbook series regarding the speech act of request. The analysis was conducted by identifying all instances of requests and all metapragmatic information about the specific speech act. In addition, the present study also focused on finding exercises that provide learners with the opportunity to practice making requests. The findings show that the two examined EFL textbook series differ in terms of which directness levels are most frequently used, and both series lack explicit information about requests that may increase students' understanding of this speech act. Moreover, request exercises are few and practicing requests is rarely the main learning objective. Consequently, teachers will need to use supplemental material and exercises in order for learners to develop their pragmatic competence in the case of requests. / Engelskundervisning bör inte bara syfta till att ge elever de språkliga resurser som krävs för att kommunicera på engelska, utan även utveckla elevernas pragmatiska kompetens så att de lär sig att använda språket effektivt och lämpligt för olika ändamål. Det som undersöks i den här studien är i vilken utsträckning språkhandlingen uppmaning förekommer och lärs ut i två olika läromedel i engelska för högstadiet. Analysen utfördes genom att identifiera alla exempel av uppmaningar och all metapragmatisk information om den specifika språkhandlingen. Utöver detta fokuserade den här studien även på att hitta övningsuppgifter som ger eleverna möjlighet att öva på språkhandlingen uppmaning. Resultaten visar att de två läromedlen skiljer sig åt vad gäller fördelningen av direkta och indirekta uppmaningar. Dessutom saknar båda läromedlen explicit information som kan öka elevers förståelse för denna språkhandling. Övningsuppgifterna är få och fokuserar inte på att utveckla elevers förmåga att formulera uppmaningar i första hand. Följaktligen behöver lärare använda kompletterande material och övningsuppgifter för att elever ska kunna utveckla sin pragmatiska kompetens vid uppmaningar.

This study analyses the translation of pragmatic markers from English into Swedish. The source text that was translated and used as a basis for the study is an article called “Black Books”, which was published in the British music magazine Prog in January 2013. The study is limited to question tags, general extenders and single-word pragmatic markers. It aims to investigate how these types of pragmatic markers can be translated in a dynamic and natural way, as well as how a careful analysis can facilitate the search for appropriate translation equivalents. Previous research and theories were used to determine the functions of the pragmatic markers in the source text, and the translation choices made on the basis of these findings were supported by corpus searches in the English-Swedish Parallel Corpus and Korp. The study revealed that because of the different ways in which pragmatic functions are expressed in English and Swedish, almost none of the pragmatic markers in the source text could be translated directly into Swedish. Formally equivalent solutions such as tja as a translation of well were generally considered too unnatural. While the study is too small to provide any general guidelines, it shows how a careful analysis may help the translator find more dynamically equivalent and natural solutions in the form of, for instance, other Swedish pragmatic markers, modal particles, adverbs and conjunctions.

No description available.

South African indigenous language teaching and learning materials do not provide sufficient information to help additional language learners learn the target languages effectively. While there are institutions that are tasked with developing and sharpening the skills of students in speaking South African indigenous languages, such students hardly, if at all master the art of speaking them eloquently. Students who study these languages in order to converse proficiently with their mother-tongue speakers experience insurmountable difficulties, in spite of various efforts made by the teachers who train them to read books on their own. Passing their examinations does not mean that the students’ ability to communicate with mother-tongue speakers will improve to the extent of eliminating the prevailing misunderstanding between the two groups. The persistence of this problem reveals a discrepancy between the studies of indigenous languages in South Africa and the way of speaking them, whereby important linguistic elements that make communication more authentic are excluded in language materials. This study analyses the use and significance of CIFWs in daily interactions by investigating the two Xhosa CIFWs words wethu and bethu. The overall aim of this study is to explore the use of a corpus in the examination of CIFWs in general, and wethu and bethu in particular. Both a quantitative approach based on the Gothenburg-Unisa spoken corpus and a qualitative approach based on Allwoods’ ACA theoretical framework were used in the analysis and description of the functions and significances of wethu and bethu as communicative and interactive function words. / Linguistics / MA ((Applied Linguistics)

Den här studien inriktar sig på hur förskollärare jobbar med ämnet kemi. Inom ämnet kemi kommer fokus att ligga på utbildning inom hållbar utveckling och hur förskollärarna skapar en intressant och meningsfull utbildning för barnen. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur pedagoger arbetar med de spontana stunderna med barnen, till exempel när de ska slänga mat, att berätta för barnen vart maten tar vägen sen. Vad händer med maten och hur det de gör påverkar miljön på ett meningsfullt sätt. Kvalitativ intervju har använts som metod i studien där fokus kommer att ligga på förskollärarens tankar och erfarenheter. Dessa intervjuer kommer att tolkas utifrån ett pragmatiskt perspektiv. Resultatet av min studie visar på att arbetet med hållbar utveckling inte sker i den utsträckningen som förskollärarna skulle vilja. Det framkommer även att det arbete som sker inom hållbar utveckling handlar om diskussioner och samspel mellan pedagoger och barn. / This study focuses on how the teachers in preschool work with the subject chemistry. Within chemistry I have chosen to focus on education for sustainable development and how the teachers create an interesting and meaningful education for the children. The purpose with the study was to see how the preschool teachers use the spontaneous moments, for example when the children throw away food, to tell them where it goes and what will happen with it there and how this affects the environment in a meaningful way. I have been using interviews as a method, to get deeper understanding of the preschool teacher’s thoughts of sustainable development. These interviews were looked at from a chosen perspective, which in this study is the pragmatic perspective. The result of my study is showing that the work with sustainable development is not happening in the scale that the preschool teachers wants to. Another showing pattern is that the work with sustainable development lays in the discussions and interactions between the teachers and the children.