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Narratives are the product of a basic human tendency to make sense of real or imagined experiences. The research question posed in the dissertation is: how is narrativity encoded in East African English? Can the narrativity model in the dissertation distinguish between registers that prototypically focus on narration versus registers that do not primarily focus on narration? The narrativity model consists of four main groups of features, namely Agency, Causation, Contextualisation and Evaluation. These groups are representative of the fundamental structure of narratives: things happen to people at a specific time and place. Agency concerns the people who either instigate or are affected by the events. The things that happen can be denoted by Causation when they are the result of cause and effect in the world. Contextualisation refers to the grounding of events in time and space. Lastly, Evaluation concerns the reactions and attitudes people have towards the events. Eighteen linguistic features such as third person pronouns (part of the Agency group) and past tense verbs (part of the Contextualisation group) were analysed as micro-level indicators of narrativity. The corpus-based investigation analysed the linguistic features used to encode narrativity across 22 spoken and written registers of the East African component of the International Corpus of English (ICE-EA) using WordSmith Tools 4.0. The raw scores for each feature were standardised across all registers to enable comparisons between features, as well as between registers. The results indicate that narrativity is a gradient phenomenon that occurs across a variety of East African English spoken and written registers. After the initial analyses were done, the narrativity model was revised to include only 11 core narrativity features. These features are past tense verbs, third person pronouns, proper nouns for persons, activity verbs, time and place adverbials, perfect aspect, emotional stance verb feel, first person pronouns, evaluative adjectives and non-finite causative clauses. ICE-EA registers that focus on narration as a MEANS to make sense of experiences (the objective or END) are Fiction, Social letters, Oral narratives, Face-to-face conversation and Legal cross-examination. In other words, the core narrativity features are the MEANS and the END is to make sense of experiences and facilitate understanding using narration. Twelve registers have an intermediate focus on narrativity. Narration is a secondary or simultaneous objective in these registers alongside primary objectives such as scientific exposition, persuasiveness, information presentation or interpersonal interaction. There are five registers with low scores for the core narrativity features: Student writing, Business letters, Popular writing, Academic writing and Instructional writing. These registers do not primarily focus on narration and have other primary and even secondary objectives such as scientific exposition and persuasiveness. The narrativity model sheds light on the way narrativity is encoded using linguistic features and gives insight into East African English register variation / Thesis (M.A. (English))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2011

Narratives are the product of a basic human tendency to make sense of real or imagined experiences. The research question posed in the dissertation is: how is narrativity encoded in East African English? Can the narrativity model in the dissertation distinguish between registers that prototypically focus on narration versus registers that do not primarily focus on narration? The narrativity model consists of four main groups of features, namely Agency, Causation, Contextualisation and Evaluation. These groups are representative of the fundamental structure of narratives: things happen to people at a specific time and place. Agency concerns the people who either instigate or are affected by the events. The things that happen can be denoted by Causation when they are the result of cause and effect in the world. Contextualisation refers to the grounding of events in time and space. Lastly, Evaluation concerns the reactions and attitudes people have towards the events. Eighteen linguistic features such as third person pronouns (part of the Agency group) and past tense verbs (part of the Contextualisation group) were analysed as micro-level indicators of narrativity. The corpus-based investigation analysed the linguistic features used to encode narrativity across 22 spoken and written registers of the East African component of the International Corpus of English (ICE-EA) using WordSmith Tools 4.0. The raw scores for each feature were standardised across all registers to enable comparisons between features, as well as between registers. The results indicate that narrativity is a gradient phenomenon that occurs across a variety of East African English spoken and written registers. After the initial analyses were done, the narrativity model was revised to include only 11 core narrativity features. These features are past tense verbs, third person pronouns, proper nouns for persons, activity verbs, time and place adverbials, perfect aspect, emotional stance verb feel, first person pronouns, evaluative adjectives and non-finite causative clauses. ICE-EA registers that focus on narration as a MEANS to make sense of experiences (the objective or END) are Fiction, Social letters, Oral narratives, Face-to-face conversation and Legal cross-examination. In other words, the core narrativity features are the MEANS and the END is to make sense of experiences and facilitate understanding using narration. Twelve registers have an intermediate focus on narrativity. Narration is a secondary or simultaneous objective in these registers alongside primary objectives such as scientific exposition, persuasiveness, information presentation or interpersonal interaction. There are five registers with low scores for the core narrativity features: Student writing, Business letters, Popular writing, Academic writing and Instructional writing. These registers do not primarily focus on narration and have other primary and even secondary objectives such as scientific exposition and persuasiveness. The narrativity model sheds light on the way narrativity is encoded using linguistic features and gives insight into East African English register variation / Thesis (M.A. (English))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2011

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / O presente trabalho intitulado CompreensÃo de Textos Narrativos e Argumentativos DialÃgicos por Leitores do Ensino Fundamental examina a compreensÃo desses tipos textuais a partir da anÃlise de material produzido pela reescritura de tais textos por vinte sujeitos que participaram como voluntÃrios na pesquisa Estudantes de ensino fundamental na faixa etÃria de 13 a 15 anos leram dois tipos de textos argumentativos (narrativo â TNA e argumentativo dialÃgico-TAD) e foram solicitados a produzir reescrituras de cada um desses textos As reescrituras obtidas foram analisadas de acordo com vÃrios aspectos (explicitude das macrorregras de sumarizaÃÃo qualidade das estratÃgias coerÃncia macro e superestrutural) de modo a verificar diferenÃas de compreensÃo relacionadas à recuperaÃÃo da macro e superestrutura textual e à organizaÃÃo global de cada texto reescrito Trabalhamos com a hipÃtese bÃsica de que leitores proficientes ao realizarem uma tarefa de reescritura apresentariam melhor desempenho quanto à recuperaÃÃo da macroestrutura textual e quanto ao reconhecimento da organizaÃÃo global do texto TNA do que do TAD tendo em vista a maior explicitude da organizaÃÃo interna deste primeiro tipo de texto As hipÃteses secundÃrias procuraram testar primeiramente se o conhecimento mÃnimo do esquema canÃnico dos textos (TNA/TAD) seria fator determinante para uma melhor compreensÃo das formas de estruturaÃÃo dessas tipologias se existe um esquema textual para cada tipologia que deveria ser atingido para que leitores independentes pudessem empregar as estratÃgias de leitura e (re) construir a macroestrutura e por Ãltimo se a diferenÃa entre o desempenho leitor do aluno e o tipo de texto (TNA/TAD) deveria ser demonstrada claramente a partir de estratÃgias cognitivas utilizadas no processamento Nas vÃrias anÃlises procedidas foram encontradas evidÃncias quanto ao melhor desempenho para o TNA em relaÃÃo ao TAD Quanto ao conhecimento do esquema canÃnico os leitores recuperaram respectivamente 40% total 20% parcial e 40% (ausÃncia) para o TNA a 30% 10% e 60% para o TAD A anÃlise das estratÃgias de reescritura evidenciou que os leitores utilizaram estratÃgias mais sofisticadas (produÃÃo de inferÃncias integraÃÃo de informaÃÃes) para o TNA em relaÃÃo ao TAD A anÃlise de (re) construÃÃo macroestrutural demonstrou que os leitores das reescrituras TNAs revelaram menos problemas de continuidade sequencial e progressÃo semÃntica em relaÃÃo aos textos TADs / The present work entitled Comprehension of Narrative and Argumentative Texts by middle school Readers examines the comprehension of these two text types from the analysis of summaries produced by 20 volunteers who participated in the research Students from middle school aged 13 to 15 years read two types of argumentative texts (a narrative text â TNA and an argumentative dialogical text â TAD) and were asked to produce summaries of each one of these texts types The summaries were analyzed according to several aspects (explicitness of the summarization macro-rules strategies quality and macro and super-structural coherence) in order to verify differences in comprehension related to the recuperation of the texts macro and super-structures and the overall organization of each summarized text Our basic hypothesis is that due to the higher degree of explicitude and internal organization of TNA proficient readers would show better performance on macro-structure recovery of this type of text in comparison to TAD A secondary hypothesis sought to verify first if the minimum knowledge of the scheme of canonical texts (TNA / TAD) would be a determining factor for a better understanding of ways to structure these text types second if a textual schema for each type should be reached for independent readers to apply reading strategies and (re)construct the macrostructure and third if the difference between the performance of the student reader and the type of text (TNA / TAD) should be clearly demonstrated from strategies used in cognitive processing The analyses revealed evidence of better performance to TNA compared to TAD As regards the canonical scheme readers recovered respectively 40% total 20% partial and 40% (absence) for the TNA as compared to 30% 10% and 60% for the TAD The analysis of summarization strategies showed that readers used more sophisticated strategies (production of inferences integration of information) for the TNA than for TAD As for the (re)construction of TNAs summaries the macroestructural aspects of this type of text revealed fewer problems of continuity sequence and semantic progression than the TADs

The purpose of this study is to investigate how four teachers in grades 4-6 work with genre pedagogy in the Swedish subject. In this study the focus will be on these two issues: How do the teachers work with text types in the Swedish subject? How do the teachers describe genre pedagogy? I have used the two different methods which are interviews and observations in order to conduct the survey. I have also used two different theories that are related to the genre pedagogy in this study, these theories are the socio-cultural perspective and the circle model. These theories have been used to analyze the empirical material in this study. The result of this study shows that all four teachers work with the four different types of texts which are fact text, story, fabel and instruction in teaching in the Swedish subject. Furthermore all the teachers work in the same way with these different text types in the teaching, this by working with the text types based on the four different phases that are in the circle model in the teaching. These different steps consist of knowledge acquisition of a subject, the study of the text type with focus on the purpose, structure and linguistic features of the text type, the class writing its own text within the chosen text type,  which is followed by the students being allowed to write their own text within the chosen text type. This was reflected in the interviews and two of the observations. All teachers shared the same view that genre pedagogy is about a number of different genres. The texts that are written within a genre should consist of a specific structure, and language, depending on the purpose, situation and recipients of the texts, according to the teachers. This was evident in the interviews in this study.

The purpose of this degree project is to investigate in what types of situations and to what extent some upper secondary students write in English in their spare time, what reasons they have for doing so and what text types and genres are represented in their writing. Qualitative interviews were carried out with a group of six students in year two in an upper secondary school in the southern part of Sweden, three with MVG as a final grade and three with VG as a final grade in English A.The results show that all of the students write in English each day in instant text messages on MSN messenger. However, they mostly use English in the form of abbreviations, single words, phrases and sentences. Longer pieces of text, like poems and other literary pieces, written in English were created only by the three students with MVG.

<p>Syftet med den här processorienterade studien var att undersöka hur texttypen påverkar översättningsprocessen, och närmare bestämt om olika texttyper aktualiserar olika fokus i de kognitiva processerna. Fyra deltagare fick därför översätta två olika källtexter, en operativ och en informativ. Materialet samlades in med hjälp av Think-Aloud (TA). Studien visar att de båda texterna huvudsakligen gav upphov till liknande fokus. Texttypen verkar således inte ha haft någon märkbar påverkan på översättningsprocessen i det aktuella fallet. Vad gäller deltagarnas individuella processer fokuserade flera av dem på liknande faktorer oberoende av källtexten, vilket antyder att processerna i viss utsträckning kan antas vara individuellt betingade.</p> / <p>The aim of the present study was to investigate whether different text types bring different focuses to the fore in the cognitive processes during translation. Four translator students were thus asked to translate one operative and one informative text while verbalizing their thoughts. The verbalizations were recorded and later transcribed into so called think-aloud protocols (TAPs). The analysis of the TAPs showed that the participants focused on similar aspects regardless of the source text, which indicates that the text type did not have any significant effect on the translation process in the study at hand.</p>

The purpose of this study is to analyze four teaching materials in the Swedish subject for students in grade 4 to see the variety of different types of texts and strategies for reading comprehension that are found in the teaching materials.   • What reading comprehension strategies are represented in the study's chosen teaching materials? • What are the similarities and differences between the chosen teaching tools regarding reading comprehension strategies? • What types of texts are present and how much is the variation in the chosen study material of the study?   The result showed that two of the teaching materials contained all the reading comprehension strategies that the study examined. Furthermore, the result showed that one of the teaching materials had a large variety of different types of texts, while another teaching material had little variation. The analysis showed that a teaching material with few reading comprehension strategies also had a small variety of texts. The analysis then showed that the teaching materials that contained many reading comprehension strategies also had a greater variety of different types of texts.

Although studies on L2 learning strategies are a major strand of second language research, recent research has shifted its focus onto language learners’ metacognitive awareness and use of strategies. Previous studies shed important light on the amelioration in L2 educational practices, but research on learners’ metacognition in the reading process in EFL contexts remains insufficient, especially at the university level in terms of the emic view of the participants studied in Taiwan. Based on an interpretive stance, this exploratory case study aimed at probing 12 Taiwanese first year university EFL learners’ metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies during their strategic reading process, and the relationship with proficiency levels and texts of both the narrative and the expository type. This study relies on the think aloud and immediately retrospective protocols of 6 high proficient and 6 low proficient readers as the principal sources of data. The think aloud protocols and the immediately retrospective interviews were transcribed and subjected to content analysis by means of coding them. Taiwanese first year university EFL readers’ metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies were then analysed and interpreted from a broad metacognitive perspective within the information processing model in terms of strategy application for reading comprehension problem-solving. The findings revealed that the participants demonstrated an awareness and control of their cognitive activities while reading. The strategies they employed were grouped into the categories of supporting reading strategies (SRSs), cognitive reading strategies (CRSs), and metacognitive reading strategies (MRSs). The study found that these learners’ metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies in learning to read were closely related to L2 proficiency. The low proficient readers’ unfamiliarity with L2 is a hindrance to their reading comprehension which, in turn, disabled them from using the strategies appropriately and effectively. Furthermore, the high proficient readers outperformed their low proficient counterparts in terms of both the quality and quantity of strategies used. Both groups did not use the same strategy types. The findings also revealed that certain types of reading strategy were used differently due to the texts of the narrative and the expository type across the different ability levels. The existing literature on metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies in learning to read is discussed and pedagogical implications for teachers of L2 reading are offered. These implications include suggestions made for providing learners with explicit reading and strategy instruction and texts with different structure in relation to strategy use. Finally, the limitations of the current research study and recommendations for further research were stated.

Il presente lavoro si inserisce nel filone degli studi terminologici francesi con l’analisi della terminologia della moda, di cui è indagato, quale campo di ricerca privilegiato, il settore del vêtement d’extérieur. Viene adottato un modello descrittivo ampio, fondato sulla riconciliazione teorica e metodologica tra diacronia e sincronia e su un approccio interdisciplinare alla disciplina terminologica. Lo studio è articolato in due parti: la prima sezione è dedicata alla ricostruzione della terminologia del vêtement d’extérieur in diacronia. Dopo una premessa metodologica circa la redazione delle schede terminologiche, è tracciato il percorso che conduce, dal ristretto nucleo di unità terminologiche in antico francese, alla complessa rete lessicale nel francese contemporaneo. Nella seconda sezione, sono approfondite le dimensioni applicate, che vanno dall’elaborazione informatica di ontoterminologie allo studio della variazione terminologica in contesti professionali eterogenei, fino alla rassegna di prodotti lessicografici e terminografici della moda, in contesti di comunicazione monolingue e plurilingue. Infine, dopo aver enucleato l’approccio alla terminologia, si ripercorrono i risultati salienti della ricerca e si delineano ulteriori prospettive di indagine. / This work analyses the French terminology of fashion, particularly the field of the outerwear, within the framework of French terminological research. A broad descriptive model is adopted, based on the theoretical and methodological reconciliation between diachrony and synchrony, as well as on an interdisciplinary approach to terminology. The study is divided into two parts: the former is devoted to the historical reconstruction of the outerwear terminology. After a methodological introduction about term records, we trace the path leading from the small group of terminological units in Old French to the complex lexical network in contemporary French. In the latter section, the applied dimensions are explored, including the construction of “ontoterminologies”, the study of terminology variation in heterogeneous professional contexts, and the list of lexicographical and terminographic resources for fashion, both in monolingual and multilingual communication. Finally, the description of the approach to terminology is followed by the main results of the research and by further perspectives of study.