This study reports data from a three-month discourse analysis of a fifth-grade teacher`s language used to negotiate meaning of text with linguistically and culturally diverse students. Specifically, I use Gee`s (2005) discourse analysis methodology to examine the teacher`s language-in-use for seven building tasks of language--significance, activities, identities, relationships, politics (the distribution of social goods), connections, and sign systems and knowledge--in a micro level analysis for eight teaching episodes covering reading and/or social studies instruction. In doing so, I conceptualize categories and subcategories of language use for each of the language building tasks. I find that the teacher used instructional language overwhelmingly to build significance (almost two-thirds of the coded data) and that in building significance the teacher used reproduction of meaning (including repetition, paraphrase, and citation), prosodic devices, questions, overt attention, life connection, and adjective labeling. In a macro level of analysis, I examine the content of the meanings the teacher negotiated, and find that situated meanings in her discourse often allude to issues of power that implicate a discourse model of a critical outlook on social studies and social issues that appear in social studies, reading and other texts. I end with a discussion of how these findings might be of practical use for educators and suggestions for future research.

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Today the mobile phone plays a vital role in social life across the globe. For many teenagers and young adults in particular, this device forms an integral part of their daily communication, with text messaging being one of their preferred modes of social interaction. Researchers across the globe have studied various facets of this phenomenon but he main focus has been on this mode of communication in peer relationships. From a family systems perspective, the current qualitative study intended to explore how parents experience their teenagers’ text messaging in terms of communication and relationships with their teenagers, and how parents regulate this pervasive practice. To this end, data were collected by means of one-on-one interviews among eleven parents (eight mothers and three fathers) in Cape Town, South Africa, using a semi-structured interview schedule. With the participants’ permission, the sessions were tape-recorded; data were transcribed, content analysed, and patterns and themes identified according to Creswell’s (2009) steps. Participants expressed a range of experiences, from positive to negative, not only of text messaging, but of their teenagers’ use of mobile phones in general. Among the positives, it was the sense of security the devices gave parents, and the possibility of communicating easily, quickly and at affordable cost and at the same time monitoring their children at a distance. The negatives were mainly related to the misuse/and overuse of the mobile phones. The study suggests that parents were aware of some of the dangers associated with mobile phones, such as bullying, sexting, texting while driving, overuse at the expense of family, studying and sleeping times, and home chores. It also reveals that girls were more at risk, especially when it came to mobile bullying and sexting. Some parents came up with suggestions on dealing with mobile phones and text messaging-related problems. Furthermore, the study is indicative of a predominantly authoritative parenting style whereby parents successfully limited these dangers by regulating the use of their teenagers’ mobile phones. However, for some, finding the balance, especially between parental control and teenagers’ privacy, proved to be a challenge. Moreover, while expressing the need for mobile internet, especially for teenagers’ school work, the majority of participants showed concern about having it under control. The study concludes that text messaging can be used to enhance communication and relationships between parents and their teenagers. It recommends educating the latter about the dangers of mobile phones and the former to monitor their use, while at the same time negotiating teenagers’ freedom.

This thesis studies the effectiveness of existing translation models in the context of everyday translation and proposes a new translation model. The thesis reviews a number of approaches to the process of translation from the Roman times to the present before focusing on contemporary translation theory and the representation of the translation process by means o f translation models. The thesis introduces - and comments on - a number of existing translation models and then proceeds to develop a new model of the process, which aims to present a more holistic view of the process than the models discussed. The second part of the thesis concentrates on the testing of the model. Two very practical tests are applied to the model in order to assess the accuracy of the representation and the usability of the model in the context o f everyday translation. The first test applied to the model has, however, another function. It aims to provide a contemporary readership with a readable English translation of a Renaissance Latin text, the first book of the Instructiones historico-theologicae de doctrina Christiana et vario rerum statua temporibus Apostolici, ad tempora usque seculi decimi septime prior a (1645) by John Forbes o f Corse. This enables a wide audience with very little or no knowledge o f Latin to gain access to the complex theological argument contained in the specimen text. The commentary on the English translation, and on extracts of the German and French translations of this work serves to test the applicability of the model in the context of translation into more than one language. The second test concentrates on the translation from English into German and German into English. For this test, two groups of students from the Universities of Trier and Rostock in Germany were asked to carry out the same translation exercise. The study o f the work received from these students allows me to assess the usability o f the model as a guideline for translators. The thesis concludes by saying that the model has proved successful on both occasions, and by offering suggestions for further study.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-02-23Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:03:12Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 berti_ml_dr_assis.pdf: 530715 bytes, checksum: 3898e59d8cc563b376b6a8d3af2c6d1d (MD5) / O trabalho procura investigar os mecanismos de referenciação usados em produções de alunos de Ensino Médio para deixar pistas para que seu leitor faça inferências durante a leitura para produzir sentidos ao que lê. A reconstrução por inferenciação permite estabelecer o elo entre as informações explícitas e as implícitas no co-texto, em um determinado contexto. A inferência é uma estratégia muito importante para que se tome um texto como coeso e coerente, em termos de progressão referencial, colaborando de maneira decisiva para a produção de sentidos.A partir dos pressupostos da Lingüística textual e das teorias sobre leitura, apresenta a relação autor-texto-leitor no processo de produção e recepção do texto. Analisaram-se quantitativa e qualitativamente produções de textos de alunos de Ensino Médio nas quais se verificou o uso de seqüências pronominais, de repetições lexicais, das expressões nominais definidas, anáforas indiretas no texto ou referentes ao contexto, as quais permitem ao leitor fazer inferências e aturar como co-autor na produção dos sentidos. / The work investigates the mechanisms of reference used in High School student s productions in order to leave hints so that the reader com make inferences during the reading to produce meanings of what is being read. The reconstructions through inference permits to stablish the link among the explicit and implicit pieces of information in the co-text, in a determined context. The inference is a very important strategy to make a text cohesive and coherent, in terms of reference progression, contributing in a essencial way in the meaning production. From the textual linguistic and the theories about reading. The work presents the relationship author-text-reader in the process of text production and reception. It was analysed High School student s productions in quality and amount in which it was verified the use of pronominal sequences, of lexical repetitions, of defined nominal expressions, indirect anaphora in the text or referred to the context, wich allow the reader to make inferences and act as co-author in the production of meanings.

Through different learning portals, computer-assisted assessment (CAA) tools have improved considerably over the past few decades. In a CAA community, these tools are categorised into types of questions, types of testing, and types of assessment. Most of these provide the assessment of multiple-choice questions, true and false questions, or matching questions. Other CAA tools evaluate short and long essay questions, each of which different grading methods and techniques in terms of style and content have. However, due to the complexity involved in analysing free text writing, the development and evaluation of accurate, easy to use, and effective tools is questionable. This research proposes a new contextual framework as a novel approach to the investigation of a new CAA tool which auto-generates feedback on project proposals. This research follows a Design Science Research paradigm to achieve and evaluate the accuracy, ease of use, and effectiveness of the new tool in the computer science domain in higher education institutes. This is achieved in three interrelated cycles:(1) based on the existent literature on this topic and an exploratory study on the currently available approaches to the provision of feedback on final year project proposals, a proposed framework to auto-generate feedback on any electronically submitted coursework is constructed in order to gain a clear understanding on how such a CAA tool might work; (2) a contextual framework based on the proposed framework for final year project proposals is constructed by considering both the style and content of the free text and using different text mining techniques; and (3) the accuracy, easy to use, and effectiveness of the implemented web-based CAA application named Feedback Automated Tool (FEAT)is evaluated based on the contextual framework. This research applies CAA and text mining techniques to identify and model the key elements of the framework and its components in order to enable the development and evaluation of a novel CAA contextual framework which can be utilised for auto-generating accurate, easy to use, and effective feedback on final year project proposals.

A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo investigar as características das solicitações de produção de texto no Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (Enem), analisando em que medida os comandos para elaboração desses textos proporcionam o surgimento de um gênero da esfera escolar específico para esse fim e como algumas práticas docentes podem contribuir para um ensino de produção textual que atenda à demanda desse vestibular, desde o Ensino Fundamental. Sem perder de vista o objetivo principal do Programa Mestrado em Letras em Rede Nacional (PROFLETRAS), capacitar professores de Língua Portuguesa para o exercício da docência no Ensino Fundamental, pretendemos contribuir com práticas pertinentes ao ensino de diferentes gêneros orais e escritos, com foco nas produções de texto solicitadas no vestibular Enem, contribuindo para a democratização de acesso às diferentes possibilidades oferecidas a partir desse exame e para a melhoria da qualidade do ensino no país. Seguindo os preceitos dos PCNs e do Currículo do Estado de São Paulo, adotou-se a língua como objeto de estudo da disciplina de Língua Portuguesa, assim como as concepções de gênero apoiadas em Bakhtin (2003), Marchuschi (2005,2008). Em relação à organização do trabalho pedagógico, apoiados nas orientações de Schneuwly e Dolz (2004) e Bronckart (1999), planejamos uma sequência didática para a produção de texto nos moldes do Enem em uma turma de 8º ano do Ensino Fundamental, cuja validação ocorreu pela análise das competências avaliadas pelo INEP e pelo cotejamento de resultados do mesmo trabalho em uma turma às vésperas do vestibular Enem de 2016, revelando a viabilização da atividade com alunos das séries finais do Ensino Fundamental. Para melhor entendermos as características que possivelmente trariam singularidade ao modelo sugerido pelo Inep, recorremos ao Guia do Participante, ao postulado por Marchuschi sobre o gênero redação de vestibular, de Brakling (2000), de Koche, Boff e Marinello (2014), Costa (2009), Baltar (2007) e Abaurre (2007). Para a discussão de cada uma das competências avaliadas pelo Enem, buscamos o entendimento em Neves (2011), Castilho (2012), Bagno (2011,2014), Aquino (2005) e Koch (2016). Os resultados da pesquisa demonstram que há uma relação direta entre a sequência didática apresentada para o Ensino Fundamental e os textos pretendidos pelo Inep, confirmando a hipótese de que o Enem apresenta características próprias para suas produções textuais que devem ser levadas em consideração nas práticas docentes desde o Ensino Fundamental, em consonância ao ensino de outros gêneros orais e escritos importados pela escola em sua prática cotidiana do ensino da compreensão e produção dos gêneros. Houve ganhos no entendimento de que os alunos escrevem melhor quando apresentados às situações simuladoras da realidade de produção das propostas do Enem, que apontam para uma necessidade de incorporação dessa prática aos materiais didáticos para as séries finais do Ensino Fundamental. / This research has the aim of investigating the characteristics of text output in ENEM. (National Secondary Education Exam) , analyzing to what extent the commands for the elaboration of these texts provide he emergence of a gender in the school sphere for this purpose and how some teaching practices can contribute to a textual production of teaching that meets the demand of this entrance exam, since the elementary school (Ensino Fundamental). Without leaving apart the main objective of the Master Degree in Languages in National Network PROFLETRAS making teachers of Portuguese Language capable of teaching at elementary school, we intend to contribute with suitable practices to the teaching of different oral and written genders, focusing on the text productions requested in ENEM exam, contributing to the democratization of access to different possibilities offered from this exam and to the improvement of the teaching quality in the country. Following the precepts of the PCNs and the curriculum of the state of São Paulo, the language was adopted as an object of study in the Portuguese Language discipline,as well as the conceptions of gender supported by Bakhtin (2003), Marchuschi (2005,2008). Regarding the organization of the pedagogical essay, based on Schneuwly guidelines and Dolz (2004) and Bronckart (1999), We planned a didactic sequence for the text production using the ENEM templates for a group of students from the eighth grade of elementary school, whose validation occurred by the analysis of skills evaluated by INEP and by the read-back with the same work results with a group of students ready to take the ENEM entrance exam in 2016,showing the viability of the activity with the students of the final grades of elementary school (E.F.).For a better understanding of the characteristics that might possibly bring uniqueness to the model suggested by INEP, we recurred to the Participant Guide (Guia do Participante), to the postulated guide by Marchuschi about gender writing exam, to Brakling (2000), Koche, Boff and Marinello (2014), Costa (2009),Baltar (2007) and Abaurre (2007). For the discussion of each of the skills evaluated by ENEM, we searched for the understanding in Neves (2011), Castilho (2012), Bagno (2011,2014), Aquino (2005) and Koch (2016). The results of the research show that there is a direct relationship between the didactic sequence shown for the elementary school and the intended texts by INEP, confirming the hypothesis that ENEM presents its own characteristics for the textual productions that must be taken into account in teaching practices from the elementary school(E.F.) in accordance to the teaching of other oral and written genres imported by the school in its daily teaching practice comprehension and production of genres. There were expressive results on the understanding that students write better when they are faced to situations that simulate the reality of the productions of the ENEM proposals, which point to a need of incorporation of such practice in the teaching materials for the final grades of elementary school.

The automatic recognition of hand-written text has been a goal for over thirty five years. The highly ambiguous nature of cursive writing (with high variability between not only different writers, but even between different samples from the same writer), means that systems based only on visual information are prone to errors. It is suggested that the application of linguistic knowledge to the recognition task may improve recognition accuracy. If a low-level (pattern recognition based) recogniser produces a candidate lattice (i.e. a directed graph giving a number of alternatives at each word position in a sentence), then linguistic knowledge can be used to find the 'best' path through the lattice. There are many forms of linguistic knowledge that may be used to this end. This thesis looks specifically at the use of collocation as a source of linguistic knowledge. Collocation describes the statistical tendency of certain words to co-occur in a language, within a defined range. It is suggested that this tendency may be exploited to aid automatic text recognition. The construction and use of a post-processing system incorporating collocational knowledge is described, as are a number of experiments designed to test the effectiveness of collocation as an aid to text recognition. The results of these experiments suggest that collocational statistics may be a useful form of knowledge for this application and that further research may produce a system of real practical use.

Clustering text documents is a fundamental task in modern data analysis, requiring approaches which perform well both in terms of solution quality and computational efficiency. Spherical k-means clustering is one approach to address both issues, employing cosine dissimilarities to perform prototype-based partitioning of term weight representations of the documents. This paper presents the theory underlying the standard spherical k-means problem and suitable extensions, and introduces the R extension package skmeans which provides a computational environment for spherical k-means clustering featuring several solvers: a fixed-point and genetic algorithm, and interfaces to two external solvers (CLUTO and Gmeans). Performance of these solvers is investigated by means of a large scale benchmark experiment. (authors' abstract)

The subject of this thesis covers a considerably varied multidisciplinary area which needs to be addressed to be able to achieve a text-to-speech synthesis system of high quality, in any language. This is the first time that such a system has been built for Maltese, and therefore, there was the additional problem of no computerised sources or corpora. However many problems and much of the system designs are common to all languages. This thesis focuses on two general problems. The first is that of automatic labelling of phonemic data, since this is crucial for the setting up of Maltese speech corpora, which in turn can be used to improve the system. A novel way of achieving such automatic segmentation was investigated. This uses a mixed parameter model with maximum likelihood training of the first derivative of the features across a set of phonetic class boundaries. It was found that this gives good results even for continuous speech provided that a phonemic labelling of the text is available. A second general problem is that of segment concatenation, since the end and beginning of subsequent diphones can have mismatches in amplitude, frequency, phase and spectral envelope. The use of-intermediate frames, build up from the last and first frames of two concatenated diphones, to achieve a smoother continuity was analysed. The analysis was done both in time and in frequency. The use of wavelet theory for the separation of the spectral envelope from the excitation was also investigated. The linguistic system modules have been built for this thesis. In particular a rule based grapheme to phoneme conversion system that is serial and not hierarchical was developed. The morphological analysis required the design of a system which allowed two dissimilar lexical structures, (semitic and romance) to be integrated into one overall morphological analyser. Appendices at the back are included with detailed rules of the linguistic modules developed. The present system, while giving satisfactory intelligibility, with capability of modifying duration, does not include as yet a prosodic module.

Following the loss of heavy, manufacturing industry in many industrial areas in the 1970s and 1980s, tourism has featured extensively in urban and wateriront regeneration policy because of its ability to generate substantial economic benefits to destination communities. There is now an extensive literature covering urban tourism and dockland regeneration, but visitors' perceptions of urban waterfront destinations and their on-site behaviour and d experience remain largely unexplored. Additionally, whilst there is now a substantial body of literature relating to tourism's economic impact at the macro level, less is known about tourism expenditure at destination and sub-destination levels.