Esta tese trata do problema da escrita de artigos científicos em inglês como língua estrangeira. Do ponto de vista teórico, foram investigados métodos e técnicas de duas áreas da Inteligência Artificial - Lingüística Computacional e Raciocínio Baseado em Casos -, em busca de soluções para a construção de ferramentas de software que diminuíssem os problemas de interferência da língua materna e de falta de coesão e coerência nos textos escritos por estudantes da área de física experimental, principalmente. Do ponto de vista prático, foram desenvolvidas duas ferramentas de auxilio a escrita. Uma primeira, chamada Ferramenta de Referência, foi implementada utilizando-se o método de análise de corpus para a geração de uma Base de Expressões que contém as colocações do tipo expressões padrão, comumente encontradas em textos científicos de artigos e livros de subáreas de física e informática. O acesso às colocações pode ser feito de três maneiras: através de componentes e sub-componentes da estrutura esquemática de artigos da área de pesquisa experimental, através de palavras-chave pertencentes a este gênero, e pelos padrões retóricos mais comuns que este gênero utiliza. Uma ferramenta de aquisição de conhecimento esta acoplada a Ferramenta de Referência, permitindo extensibilidade, fácil personalização, e transporte (portability) para novos domínios. Testes com alunos de pós-graduação em um curso de Escrita Cientifica no IFQSC-USP comprovaram a eficácia da ferramenta, urna vez que seu uso auxiliou na superação do bloqueio inicial em se produzir um primeiro rascunho de texto, e forneceu input adequado para a escrita de textos coesos. Como se observou também, que esta ferramenta é adequada para usuários com boa recepção da língua inglesa e alguma experiência em escrita cientifica, uma nova ferramenta foi implementada para urna classe de usuários que possuem problemas mais severos quanto à coesão e interferência da língua materna. Ela foi denominada Ferramenta de Suporte, e para sua implementação utilizou-se, alem do método de analise de corpus, a abordagem baseada em casos para modelar as fases da escrita. A análise de corpus nesta segunda ferramenta foi mais detalhada, ficando assim restrita a Seção Introdutória de Artigos Experimentais. Esta análise identificou trinta estratégias retóricas encontradas em artigos científicos, geralmente realizadas por três ou quatro mensagens (denominação para os tipos diferentes de informações) tomadas de um conjunto de quarenta e cinco tipos. A base de casos da implementação atual da ferramenta conta com cinqüenta e quatro instancias de introduções autenticas das revistas Physical Review Letters e Thin Solid Films, um número ainda pequeno que deve ser aumentado para que uma avaliação quantitativa do método de busca seja realizada. Uma ferramenta para auxiliar o engenheiro de conhecimento na aquisição de novos casos e vários filtros para automatizar o processo de edição dos casos foi implementada, tornando o processo de geração de novos casos semi-automático. Os trabalhos futuros com relação a esta segunda ferramenta devem tratar principalmente do acréscimo de casos na base, da avaliação da precisão e revogação da busca, e de testes com usuários, que, com certeza, contribuirão para o aperfeiçoamento de ferramentas construídas nestas bases / This thesis considers the problem of writing scientific papers in English as a foreign language. From the theoretical point of view, techniques from two areas of Artificial Intelligence, namely Computational Linguistics and Case-based Reasoning, were investigated in the search for possible solutions to minimize mother tongue interference and lack of cohesion and coherence in student\" texts, especially in experimental physics. Two writing tools were then developed. The first one, named Reference Version, employed corpus analysis for creating a sentences base containing collocations frequently used in scientific writing. Such collocations could be accessed in one of three ways: according to the components and subcomponents of the schematic structure of a scientific paper, by searching keywords and communicative goals. An acquisition mode was also implemented so that the tool can be customized easily thus allowing portability to other domains and possible extensions within a given domain. Experiments in a technical writing course at IFQSC-USP for graduate student\" have demonstrated the efficacy of the tool. It was particularly useful in helping students to overcome the initial block in the preparation of a first draft and also in providing contextualized linguistic input for producing a cohesive text. It was also observed that this first tool was only helpful for students possessing reasonable reception of the English language and some experience in scientific writing. A new, more sophisticated tool was then proposed and implemented. It is named Support Version and utilizes corpus analysis and the case-based approach as a framework for modeling the different stages of the writing process. Because a more detailed analysis had to be performed, the tool was restricted to the Introductory Section of papers on experimental physics. In this analysis 30 rhetorical strategies were identified which were generally realized linguistically using 3 or 4 rhetorical messages from a set of 45 types of message. The implemented cases base has 54 introductions from the Physical Review Letters and Thin Solid Films journals, which has been shown to be a far too small number for reasonable recall and precision figures to be obtained. A scheme has been incorporated into the tool for adaptations to be made in the cases recovered, by making use of revision rules. In future the tool may be extended in a straightforward way to other parts of a scientific paper or to other areas of research with a semi-automatic edition process of new cases that has been built into the Support tool. This certainly opens the way for customization, which will greatly facilitate the assessment of the tool according to usability criteria

Orientador: Matilde Virginia Ricardi Scaramucci / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-15T11:37:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Kobayashi_Eliana_M.pdf: 1480956 bytes, checksum: f96f1ea75eae84b83087412de6a3e5f0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: No mercado de trabalho brasileiro, a língua inglesa aparece como requisito essencial na obtenção de empregos. Embora tal exigência pareça ser senso comum, pouco se sabe como o processo de avaliação ocorre dentro das empresas. Este estudo tem o objetivo de investigar como a avaliação em língua inglesa é conduzida em uma empresa localizada na Grande São Paulo, e analisar se o processo avaliativo utilizado atende às suas necessidades. Os dados foram coletados por meio de uma entrevista com o diretor responsável pela avaliação em língua inglesa dos candidatos a empregos da empresa; questionários para os funcionários e análise dos testes de inglês utilizados. Os resultados mostram que o processo avaliativo ocorre em dois momentos principais, ou seja, durante a seleção de profissionais - por meio de um teste escrito e uma entrevista oral -, e no acompanhamento do desempenho dos funcionários que participam de um curso de inglês subsidiado pela empresa. Entretanto, a maneira pela qual a avaliação é conduzida revela descompassos entre a concepção de linguagem inferida pela entrevista com o diretor e aquela operacionalizada nos testes utilizados. Embora a empresa busque profissionais capazes de usar a língua em suas atividades conforme as expectativas de seus cargos, o teste escrito mede o conhecimento dos candidatos sobre a estrutura da língua. O segundo descompasso ocorre entre a escola, que ministra o curso de inglês, e a empresa. A primeira focaliza seu ensino e avaliação no material didático adotado, voltado para o inglês geral, desconsiderando as necessidades de uso da língua no contexto empresarial. A empresa, por sua vez, não estabelece nem exige que suas necessidades de uso e o desempenho de seus funcionários sejam considerados nesse processo. Neste estudo, a avaliação de desempenho seria a forma mais adequada de analisar a capacidade de uso da língua pelos profissionais. Na avaliação de desempenho, o participante é avaliado pelo seu desempenho em atividades que simulam ou representam uma amostra do critério, que seria o desempenho alvo subseqüente ao teste (Scaramucci, 2004; Clark, 1996; Hamayan, 1995; McNamara, 1996, 1997; 2000). Além disso, pelas características do contexto estudado, acreditamos que avaliação de desempenho deveria ser em inglês para propósitos específicos (Douglas 2000; Sullivan, 2006), mais especificamente inglês para negócios / Abstract: In the job market, English language is considered an essential requirement to find a position. Although it seems to be common knowledge, little do we know about how the language assessment process occurs in companies. This research aims at investigating how the English language assessment occurs in a company located in the São Paulo metropolitan area and if this assessment process meets its needs. The data were collected through interviews with the director in charge of the language assessment of the job applicants, questionnaires applied to the employees and analysis of the tests currently used by the company. The results show that the assessment process occurs in two main situations. The first moment is in the applicant's screening process when written and oral tests are administered and the second one is in the monitoring of the students' performance in the English course subsidized by the company. However, the way the tests are administered shows mismatches between language conception and its operation. Although the company seeks professionals able to use the language in their work activities according to their job expectations, the written test assesses the applicants' knowledge of language form. Secondly, there is no synergy between the English school, responsible for the employees' English course, and the company. The former focuses teaching and assessment on course material disregarding the language use in the business context. The latter neither sets nor demands that its English language needs and employees' performance be considered in this process. In this research, we believe that performance assessment is the adequate way to analyze the professional's ability to use the language. In performance assessment, applicants are assessed by their performance in tasks that are similar or represent the criterion, the target performance subsequent to the test. (Scaramucci, 2004; Clark, 1996; Hamayan, 1995; McNamara, 1996, 1997, 2000). In addition to it, due to the characteristics of the context under investigation, we believe that performance assessment should be in English for Specific Purposes (Douglas 2000; Sullivan, 2006), more specifically Business English / Mestrado / Lingua Estrangeira / Mestre em Linguística Aplicada

Para o ensino em cursos relacionados à mecânica são fundamentais aulas teóricas e práticas de programação em máquinas CNC. Um grande incentivo para o aluno é ver sua programação transformada em uma peça que possa ser manuseada. Porém, dado o seu alto investimento, muitas escolas técnicas, de tecnologia e engenharia não disponibilizam máquinas CNC para os alunos. Desta forma, é apresentado neste trabalho o desenvolvimento de uma fresadora CNC de baixo custo. Com o emprego do método de combinação de variantes e o método de análise morfológica, os elementos mecânicos para o projeto da fresadora foram selecionados. Assim, foi possível desenvolver o conceito desse equipamento e fazer a estimativa de seu custo. Com a aplicação de análise de valor, utilizando as técnicas FAST, de Mudge e COMPARE, foi possível avaliar pontos críticos que acarretam em custos desnecessários. Com isso, pode-se avaliar como trabalhar com a transferência de recursos. / Courses related to mechanical sciences must offer to their students theoretical and practical lectures on CNC machine programming. The possibility of viewing the transformation of a programme in to a manageable part constitutes an incentive to the students. A CNC machine is an essential piece of equipment for such practical classes. A number of schools cannot have a CNC machine because of its high cost. Thus, in the present work, the development of a low-cost CNC milling machine as an alternative for academic purposes is presented. For the selection of the mechanical elements of the CNC machine, a combination of variants method and morphological analysis was used. Then, the design concept was carried out and its cost estimated. Using the value analysis through the FAST, Mudge and COMPARE techniques, the critical points that could increase unnecessary machine cost were examined. It was possible to assess how to work with the resources transference.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Findings also indicate other drawbacks such as some teachers' transmission of errors due to their low proficiency in the English language, their lack of common and well-designed EAP curricula, their lack of cooperation with non-language teachers, their delayed starting of classes and allowing a kind of laissez-faire and laissez-aller approach in classrooms, their lack of promotion of students' learning autonomy and problem-solving skills, their lack of language support to students, to cite but a few. Findings also indicate that teachers over-used pre-established materials that they had been recommended to use, using a teaching methodology known as PPP (Present Practise Produce) according to which teachers present an item or a skill and students are required to practise it before they become conversant with it. Furthermore, findings indicate a severe shortage of teaching and learning facilities. Findings concerning the language of instruction (English) indicate that it challenged students with an educational background in French. However, the students' French background and the widespread use of Kinyarwanda were also seen as an impediment to the implementation of EAP courses, but findings show that the shift from English to Kinyarwanda would help students understand the difficult concepts used in their academic subjects and safeguard Rwandan culture. Findings with regard to students' needs and expectations indicate that no opportunities were created for classroom interaction to enable students to think critically and comprehend the world and the word. Furthermore, teachers would fail to adjust the teaching and learning materials to suit students' needs. These materials were neither discipline-nor culture-related. To address the above-mentioned shortcomings, findings indicate that teaching and learning materials which incorporate discipline-related terminologies, Rwandan cultural artifacts, and world Englishes bear meaningful input and can raise students' motivation. They also indicate that students communicate better in Kinyarwanda and that the use of code switching helps students acquire both Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language proficiency (CALP). Concerning the above findings, therefore, recommendations are made to help the CBE and other institutions of higher learning in Rwanda and tertiary education settings in non-native English-speaking countries around the world to use EAP courses as a solution to students' language- related problems. Such recommendations are, to cite a few, teachers' shift from a banking to a problem-solving model of education, their switch to modes of communication other than the language of instruction to facilitate the teaching and learning process, teacher and student autonomy, accommodating students' voice in the teaching and learning process, the revision of criteria relied on to select language teachers, and in-service training for novice teachers. Other recommendations are CBE's partnership with other institutions of higher learning nationwide and worldwide, provision of learning and teaching materials, the government's mass consultation before the promulgation and implementation of any language policy, and the consideration of student errors as part of the learning process.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The study aims to investigate academic writing at the University of Namibia and intends to explore whether a critical, meaningful and experiential pedagogy in EAP that enhances voice and agency in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) can be engendered in the Namibian EAP classroom. Moreover, it aims to investigate the experiences and perceptions of first year EAP students regarding the current EAP pedagogy at the University of Namibia. The study aspires to generate an understanding of the components students find difficult when they engage in academic essay writing. It provides a holistic and profound understanding of what critical, meaningful and experiential pedagogy is and wish to propose the process-genre writing approach as tool to a critical, meaningful and experiential pedagogy to teaching academic writing. The study draws it theoretical underpinning from critical pedagogy as postulated by Freire (1973) and Canagarajah (1999). This research supports the premise that the English language classroom is a cultural space where various agendas are negotiated and contested and explores the complexity of language pedagogy in the English classroom (Canagarajah, 1999). Moreover, this study is based on the premise that pedagogies are not received in their own terms but are rather appropriated on different levels in terms of the needs, interests and values of the local communities (Canagarajah, 1999, p.121-2). As research design, the study adopts an exploratory design using both qualitative and quantitative data. Besides, the study uses SPSS analysis and written error analysis methodologies. While the former provides an understanding of EAP students' perceptions and experiences regarding the current EAP pedagogy at the University of Namibia, the latter examines the components that EAP students find difficult when they engage in academic essay writing. As instruments, the study uses a semi-structured questionnaire and academic essay administered to 200 EAP first year student- participants. The findings indicate that the current EAP pedagogy at the University of Namibia does not promote experiential, meaningful and critical learning nor does it enhance voice and agency in the EAP classroom, thus a critical, meaningful and experiential EAP pedagogy that enhances voice and agency can be engendered in the Namibian EAP classroom. The findings also indicate that EAP students find the use of APA referencing skills and the use of discourse markers the most difficult when they engage in academic essay writing. Furthermore, the literature that I reviewed for this study critically exposed how practices in EAP and institutional policies stifle voice and agency in the EAP classroom. The entire process of this study has generated some insights that can advance our understanding of a critical, meaningful and experiential pedagogy in EAP and academic writing. These insights are: (1) A need to enhance EAP educator’s critical awareness, (2) We must minimize students' text-appropriation, (3)A need to re-conceptualize and decriminalize the concept of plagiarism in EAP, (4) A new approach to teaching APA referencing in EAP academic writing, (5) A need to renegotiate voice and agency in academic writing, (6) Writing is a process not an event, (7) We need to move towards an appropriate critical, meaningful and experiential pedagogy in EAP. The study proposes the process-genre academic writing approach as pedagogy towards a critical, meaningful and experiential EAP pedagogy in teaching academic writing. All in all, the study upholds the premise that a critical, meaningful and experiential EAP pedagogy that enhances voice and agency can be engendered in the Namibian EAP classroom.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Academic writing skills are vitally important for South African learners in both high school and tertiary contexts. The importance of such writing skills is even more pronounced for English Second Language (ESL) speakers, as such learners often attend low-performing schools (that inculcate poor levels of academic literacy), and also face the challenge of writing in a non-native language. This study is an attempt to understand how a specially designed English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course can improve the academic writing of bilingual, economically disadvantaged high-school South African learners. The study analysed the effects of the EAP course on Grade 11 learners from two 'nofees' high schools located in Khayeltisha and Delft. Over a seven-week period Grade 11 learners from these schools attended the EAP course twice a week (after school hours on their school premises) and submitted a total of fourteen written assignments (seven rough drafts, and seven final drafts). These assignments required the learners to formulate essay-like responses to literary and philosophical texts. The learners shaped their responses by making reference to structured classroom discussions (led by the EAP course instructor), as well as standardised notes and assignment instructions. The conceptual frameworks that guided this study were mapped using a variety of sources and materials. Whilst Hyland's (2005, 2006) influential writings on EAP helped the researcher situate the study's academic writing skill's course within an EAP paradigm, recent theoretical and empirical advancements in cognitive science (in particular by Tooby & Cosmides 1992; Gallistel 2000; Wagner &Wagner 2003) helped to justify the specifically 'modular' approach to academic writing skills that the course favoured. Finally, testimonies about the function of creative fiction (see Pessoa 2010; Kafka 2013; Barnes 2012; Pinker 2011) played an important part in shaping the EAP course's approach to text-orientated academic writing skills. Importantly, this study also aimed to describe and analyse various factors that threatened the implementation of the academic writing skills course. In relation to attrition – a phenomenon which clearly presented the single greatest threat to the intervention – Bandura's theoretical writings on the structure of agency (2006, 2005, 2004, 2001, 1998, 1997, 1994) provided a rich source of justification for many of the conclusions that the study derived about the underlying factors that drove the high dropout rate. Another key aim of this study was to transmit writing skills that would boost levels of learner preparedness for matric and first-year university. To establish a link between the course and the writing requirements of certain matric and university subjects, the researcher compared the contents of the writing skills course to the contents of these subjects. This comparative analysis relied heavily on matric and first-year university source material (i.e. exam papers, memorandums, marking rubrics, departmental handouts, etc.). In terms of its findings, the study discovered many striking parallels between the Grade 11 learners at Khayelitsha and Delft. Firstly, in both experimental groups, a preintervention writing task revealed that – prior to the EAP course's inception – the overwhelming majority of the learners were not in firm possession of virtually any of the writings skills the EAP course aimed to transmit. Secondly, in both groups, it was found that the EAP course significantly improved the learners' academic writing skills. Although this improvement was not especially visible in the learners' grade-based results for the EAP course (due, mainly, to absenteeism and resulting missed assignments), a thorough qualitative analysis of the learners' preintervention, early and late EAP assignments demonstrated that – by the end of the course – most of the learners had gained fairly high degrees of proficiency in a range of critically important academic writing skills. Thirdly, qualitative data – derived from observations and interviews – established that the high rates of attrition and absenteeism that plagued both experimental groups was chiefly due to a single cause: weak levels of agency. On the basis of this study's findings, a number of recommendations can be put forward. Firstly, the many parallels between the two experimental groups suggest that the EAP course designed by this study could achieve comparable results in other South African township schools. Secondly, due to the difficulties that this study encountered in relation to high absenteeism and attrition rates, it is recommended that future implementations of the EAP course adopt a number of measures to improve learners' perceptions of their self-efficacy. Finally, it is recommended that future versions of the EAP course could include a 'matric study skills module'. / Sasakawa Foundation

本研究利用中央研究院人文社會科學研究中心華人家庭研究第十五年計畫 (RR2014)的資料，實證模型採用Ordered Probit Model，檢驗全體樣本中個人特性變數、房屋類型變數、房屋特性變數對快樂程度的影響。 全體樣本實證結果顯示，在個人特性變數中，所受教育年數愈長、有伴侶、自認健康狀況良好、對目前生活感到滿意，對快樂程度有顯著正向的影響，而男性、有從事道教活動者對快樂程度有顯著負向的影響。而在房屋類型變數中，居住別墅、透天或居住大樓者相對於居住公寓者在快樂程度上有顯著正向的影響。在房屋特性變數中，花在家具和耐久財設備的金額越多、每人平均坪數越大、住宅有做工廠的用途，對快樂程度有顯著正向的影響，而住宅有做商店用途者對快樂程度有顯著負向的影響。 / This paper empirically investigates the effect of housing on happiness. Using the data of Panel Study of Family Dynamics (PFSD) based on RR2014, our estimation results obtained from Ordered Probit Model show that personal characteristics, housing type, and housing characteristics are significantly associated with happiness. Among these variables, Education, marriage, health status, life satisfaction, residing in villa, residing in townhouse, residing in building, consumption of durables, the average square footage per person, and the house with factory use have positive impact on happiness. On the other hand, gender, religious, and the house with store use have negative impact on happiness.

<div>Since the 1990s, grammatical complexity is a topic that has received considerable attention in various fields of applied linguistics, such as English for academic purposes, second language acquisition, language testing, and second language writing (Bulté & Housen, 2012). Many scholars in applied linguistics have recently argued that grammatical complexity has primarily been represented by clausal features (e.g., subordinate clauses), and it is important to study grammatical complexity as a multidimensional construct based on both clausal features and phrasal features (Biber, Gray & Poonpon, 2011; Norris & Ortega, 2009). Thus, this dissertation is a corpus-based investigation on how the use of noun phrases is influenced by two situational characteristics of a university context: academic level and first- and second-English language background.</div><div><br></div><div>I built my corpus by extracting 200 essays from British Academic Written English Corpus, which represents academic writing of (1) undergraduate and graduate students and (2) L1 and L2 students. Noun phrase complexity was then operationalized to the 11 noun modifiers proposed in the hypothesized developmental index of writing complexity features in Biber, Gray and Poonpon (2011). The 11 noun modifiers were extracted from the corpus and counted for statistical analysis via a set of Python programs. With a Chi-square test followed by a residual analysis, I found that both academic level and first- and second-English language background influenced noun phrase complexity but in distinct ways. The influence of academic level is primarily associated with three phrasal modifiers (i.e., attributive adjectives, premodifying nouns, and appositive NPs) and two clausal modifiers (i.e., relative clauses and noun complement clauses). The undergraduate corpus includes more of the two clausal modifiers, whereas the graduate corpus has more of the three phrasal modifiers. This suggests that, in these 200 essays, graduate students tend to build more compressed NPs than undergraduate students. However, the influence of first- and second-English language background derives from a much broader range of noun modifiers, including eight noun modifiers (e.g., attributive adjectives, relative clauses, infinitive clauses). More diverse NP patterns with different noun modifiers are in the L1 corpus than in the L2 corpus. Surprisingly, the L2 corpus has more phrasal noun modifiers (i.e., attributive adjectives, premodifying nouns), which has been argued to indicate advanced levels of academic writing. A qualitative analysis on selected essays reveals that some cases of attributive adjectives and premodifying nouns are repeatedly used by L2 students to help content development in their writing. Overall, this dissertation adds an additional piece of evidence on the importance of noun phrase complexity in writing research.</div><div><br></div>

The Academic Vocabulary List (AVL) was produced by a rationale for word inclusion improved from the methodology used to generate Coxhead's AWL (Gardner & Davies, 2014). It offers a comprehensive view of high frequency academic vocabulary that could greatly benefit ELLs if implemented into ELL curricula (Gardner & Davies, 2014). However, because of the newness of the list, there are few learning resources currently utilizing the AVL. The major objective of this thesis project was to create digital flashcards for the first 500 words of the AVL to increase the list's accessibility to ELLs and teachers worldwide. These flashcards were made available through Quizlet's online interface. This paper describes the two types of flashcards developed: AVL words paired with simplified English (learner) definitions, and AVL words paired with L1 translations into seven languages. It further describes an evaluation of these flashcards by ESOL teachers working at a U.S. intensive English program, and concludes with suggestions for the future development of AVL learning resources.

This thesis is focused on design of a robotic cell for load testing purposes. At the beginning the aim of work is determined by objective testing. Next part is description of a test object, current work station and the present state of work. Further is determined one variant of solutions and are selected elements of the robotic cell. The design of layout follows especially with regards to safety and is processed simplified risk analysis. The second half of the work consists of developing a driverless robot design of the measuring device. The end of thesis is price calculation.