Orientador: Maria Laura T. Mayrink-Sabinson / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-25T07:12:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vidon_LucianoNovaes_M.pdf: 3875315 bytes, checksum: 08abd6f38f6685b7fcb5fe228abb1d0b (MD5) Previous issue date: 1999 / Resumo: O presente trabalho teve como principal objetivo discutir a questão da individualidade na aquisição da escrita e do papel do outro na constituição dessa individualidade. Para isto, tomaram-se como dados, constituindo-se um corpus longitudinal, textos escritos por um sujeito nos momentos iniciais de aprendizado de uma representação escrita para a linguagem verbal. Os textos escolhidos para serem analisados foram aqueles em que poderiam ser encontradas, de alguma forma, tentativas de argumentação. A razão principal desta escolha se deve ao fato de estes textos, nos momentos iniciais de escrita de alunos do ensino fundamental, não serem muito trabalhados pela escola, pelo menos comparando-os ao trabalho realizado com os textos do tipo narrativo-literário, lidos e produzidos, freqüentem ente, neste momento. O exame do corpus foi de cunho qualitativo, interessando, especialmente, a análise do dado singular, capaz de iluminar aspectos muito particulares de certos processos, como os de aquisição da escrita e constituição do estilo. Fundamentado numa concepção sócio-histórica de linguagem, concebendo o estilo como marca de trabalho do sujeito, refletindo um processo de escolhas, e entendendo a enunciação como um processo, essencialmente, interlocutivo, em que há produção de linguagem e constituição de sujeitos, tentou-se, basicamente, refletir sobre o papel da escolarização formal na constituição da individualidade ou de uma autonomia na hora de o sujeito escrever um texto / Abstract: The main objective of this dissertation is to discuss the question of individuality in language acquisition and the other's constitutive role in it. Data were taken from a longitudinal corpus of texts written by one subject, at different moments during elementary school, learning a written representation of the spoken language (Portuguese). The texts analized were those in which there was some kind of attempt to construct an argument, a form of discourse not specifically taught in elementary school. Analysis was qualitative rather than quantitative, centered on singular data which would clarify certain very particular processes such as the acquisition of written language and the constitution of written style. Conceiving style as subject's work with/on language that reflects a process of choices visible through indicia present in texts, along with understanding enunciation as an essentially interlocutive process, in which there is production of language and the constitution of language subjects, we discuss the role of formal education/schooling in the constitution of individuality and authonomy in text production within a social-historical conception of language / Mestrado / Ensino-Aprendizagem de Lingua Materna / Mestre em Linguística Aplicada

Abstract The topic of my study is the text type of alcohol education and the changes in it between the years 1755 and 2001. I had two research goals. The primary aim was to find out what kind of a text type alcohol education is. The secondary aim was to outline the changes in alcohol education during the study period. The data consisted of 55 texts, which were divided into five stages based on the changes in the Finnish alcohol policies. One underlying assumption of the study was that written alcohol education is a text type that specifically aims to influence the readers. I therefore utilized Chaïm Perelman's theory of argumentation along with the text type theory. I especially aimed to describe the different techniques of argumentation. In addition to this, I discussed the contents and cognitive key metaphors of the texts, the relationship between the writer and the reader and the use of hedging. I present a synthesis of the text type of alcohol education, aiming to describe as comprehensively as possible the alcohol education texts published at different times. The following textual features are characteristic of this text type: 1) Alcohol education texts refer explicitly to the reader, whereas explicit references to the writer are rare. 2) Readers' actions are guided implicitly by providing information about the effects of alcohol that is likely to negatively influence their attitudes towards alcohol. Readers are guided explicitly by using imperative verb forms and necessive constructions. 3) Alcohol education is targeted communication, and the most important criteria for defining the audience are age and gender. 4) Argumentation is mainly based on the demonstration of causes and consequences. The most typical indicators of the course of argumentation are connectors indicating causal and argumentative relationships. 5) The content of alcohol education typically pivots on the themes of health and family. 6) Alcohol education is based the personifying key metaphor ALCOHOL IS KING. 7) Alcohol education texts contain a lot of hedging, to show that the claims do not necessarily hold in all cases, but that they are valid in most individual cases. Alcohol education changed in many ways during the study period. Few of these changes were linear. The changes in alcohol educations texts could probably best be described as fluctuation. Some features also seemed to change cyclically. The changes in alcohol education were usually closely associated with extratextual reality. One of the most important changes was the institutionalisation of alcohol education and the increasing mildness of its style. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimukseni käsittelee alkoholivalistuksen tekstilajia ja sen muuttumista vuosien 1755 ja 2001 välisenä aikana. Sen tavoitteet ovat pääosin kahtalaiset: ensimmäisenä päätavoitteena on selvittää, millainen tekstilaji alkoholivalistus on. Toisena päätavoitteena on hahmottaa, miten alkoholivalistus muuttuu tarkastelujakson aikana. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu 55 tekstistä, jotka on jaoteltu viiteen vaiheeseen suomalaisessa alkoholipolitiikassa tapahtuneiden muutosten perusteella. Tutkimuksen yhtenä lähtökohtana on oletus alkoholivalistuksesta tekstilajina, jossa lukijaan vaikuttaminen on erityisen keskeistä. Siksi tutkimuksessa hyödynnetään tekstilajiteorian lisäksi Chaïm Perelmanin argumentaatioteoriaa. Tutkimuksen keskiössä on erilaisten argumentaatiotekniikoiden kuvaaminen. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan tekstien sisältöä ja kognitiivisia perusmetaforia, kirjoittajan ja lukijan suhdetta sekä varausten käyttöä. Tutkimuksessa luodaan alkoholivalistuksen tekstilajista synteesi, joka kuvaa mahdollisimman kattavasti eri aikoina julkaistuja alkoholivalistustekstejä. Tekstilajin keskeisimpiä ominaispiirteitä ovat seuraavat: 1) Alkoholivalistustekstissä viitataan eksplisiittisesti lukijaan, kun taas suora viittaaminen kirjoittajaan on harvinaista. 2) Lukijan toimintaa ohjaillaan implisiittisesti tarjoamalla lukijalle alkoholin vaikutuksista sellaista tietoa, joka oletettavasti vaikuttaa hänen alkoholiasenteisiinsa kielteisesti. Eksplisiittisesti lukijan toimintaa ohjaillaan käyttämällä imperatiivimuotoisia käskyjä ja nesessiivirakenteita. 3) Alkoholivalistus on kohdistettua viestintää, ja tärkeimpiä yleisön rajaamisen kriteerejä ovat ikä ja sukupuoli. 4) Argumentointi perustuu pitkälti syy- ja seurausargumenttien käyttöön. Tyypillisimmät argumentoinnin kulun indikaattorit ovat kausaalisia ja perustelevia suhteita osoittavia konnektoreita. 5) Alkoholivalistuksen sisällössä korostuvat terveys- ja perheteema. 6) Alkoholivalistuksen alkoholiajattelu pohjautuu alkoholia elollistavaan perusmetaforaan ALKOHOLI ON HALLITSIJA. 7) Alkoholivalistusteksteissä käytetään paljon varauksia osoittamaan, että esitetyt väitteet eivät pidä välttämättä paikkaansa kaikissa tapauksissa mutta että ne pätevät kuitenkin useimpiin yksilöihin. Alkoholivalistus myös muuttuu monin tavoin tarkastelujakson aikana. Muutokset ovat suhteellisen harvoin lineaarisia. Tavallisimmin alkoholivalistustekstien muutosta voisi kuvata aaltoilevaksi. Muutamia piirteitä tarkasteltaessa muutos näyttää myös sykliseltä. Tavallisesti alkoholivalistuksen muuttuminen on tiiviissä yhteydessä tekstinulkoiseen todellisuuteen. Keskeisimpiä muutoksia on alkoholivalistuksen institutionaalistuminen sekä sen sävyn lieveneminen.

The main purposes of this thesis are to investigate the difference between the written English of deaf children and the written English of hearing children and to make recommendations on how to improve the writing of deaf children. In order to achieve this goal, both quantitative and qualitative research was done. The comparison of the writing of deaf and hearing children relies on quantitative research while the recommendations are based on qualitative analysis. The dissertation is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter discusses the problem, the significance of the research, the purpose of the study, the background to the problem and the theoretical framework. This chapter indicates the prevalence of deafness worldwide and in South Africa and its negative impact on the writing abilities of children. The second chapter provides a literature review on the theory behind reading and writing, with specific emphasis on emergent literacy and its relevance to the language acquisition and print language learning of deaf children. Another aspect of this chapter is the effect of different aspects of deafness on language acquisition and learning. The chapter also highlights the challenges for deaf children in South Africa and debates regarding the language of instruction that should be used to teach deaf children writing/reading, as well as arguments concerning bottom-up, top-down, and interactive approaches to writing. The third chapter provides the overall philosophical framework for the quantitative and qualitative research as well as the methodology used for the qualitative research. This is followed by the results of the quantitative research and a discussion of these results in Chapter 4. The fifth chapter is in the form of a second literature review that contains recommendations for improving the writing of deaf children. Following this, in Chapter 6, is a discussion of some of the theory behind interview interaction, as well as an analysis of how to develop a valid study. The researcher also sets out the interview structure. The seventh chapter contains a discussion of the findings of the interview to see if they confirm the findings in Chapter 5, as well as overall conclusions about assisting deaf children with their writing, a reflection on the study as a whole and suggestions for future research. This study argues that in order for deaf children in South Africa to develop their writing, immediate government assistance is necessary in order to implement countrywide newborn hearing screening, followed by medical and/or language-based ii intervention to minimise the impact of deafness on the language and writing abilities of deaf children. This is an essential foundation from which parents and teachers can build and play a key role in helping their children reach age-appropriate levels of written English.

Abstract Effective feedback, as an integral part of formative assessment, has been identified as a powerful tool that enhances learning. However, “Effectiveness” has been perceived differently by students due to at least four factors: 1. Quantity, 2. Quality, 3. Timing, and 4. Language used in feedback provided. Much research has been conducted on the first three factors, but language needs to be thoroughly investigated. This research in the sector of Education attempts to rectify certain important omissions in the literature of formative assessment in the area of language by using “register theory” in Systemic Functional Linguistics. With ‘register’ simply defined as field, tenor, and mode of discourse (e.g. Halliday, McIntosh, & Strevens, 1964), the not adequately captured relationship between language structure and language function, is to be re-visited (Halliday, 1985) in connection with educative feedback. In this study, field expressed through ideational meanings, tenor expressed through interpersonal meanings, and mode expressed through textual meanings are investigated in connection to how linguistic style affects the perceived effectiveness of written feedback provided to students. A small sample of graduate students from a Faculty of Education is examined. The systemic coder (O’Donnell, 2002) is employed on collected assignments from participants. Results show that the linguistic style of a professor is found to affect the perceived effectiveness of written feedback provided to students on their assignments. The use of the ideational meanings of material process, non-human participants, passive voice, and nominalization; the interpersonal meanings of declarative statements, interrogative statements, and modality; in addition to the textual meanings of lexical density, cohesion, textual adjuncts, and emphasis are all found to help students perceive feedback as effective. Therefore; professors are requested to increase the use of these language aspects when providing feedback because of the hidden positive meanings these aspects can add to the feedback provided. However, the use of the ideational meanings of behavioral process, relational process, and active voice; the interpersonal meanings of imperative statements, personal pronouns, and evaluative words; and the textual meanings of grammatical intricacy are found to result in students perceiving feedback as ineffective. As a result, professors are requested to decrease the use of these language aspects when providing feedback because of the hidden negative and unwanted meanings these aspects can add to the feedback provided. Results also illustrate that students perceive feedback as effective when this feedback leads to at least one of the following scenarios: improving student grades, protecting student self-esteem, having a good relation with feedback provider, and/or enhancing student learning. Ineffective feedback is found to have negative consequences on students. Decision-makers are requested to reduce the number of students as well as the tasks required in each class. They are also advised to professionally develop professors with training workshops on how to provide feedback.

Dynamic written corrective feedback is a strategy that raises student awareness of the patterned errors they make in their writing. Teacher feedback provides the location and type of error made in the form of error codes. Multiple studies have shown it to significantly improve the grammatical accuracy of student writing. This research examines the effects of the frequency of teacher feedback, on student written accuracy, fluency, and complexity whether daily or every-other-day. The total number of minutes students write for is also questioned since it is directly related to the amount of feedback students receive. This is done to make the process more manageable for teachers, as well as determine the optimum volume and feedback frequency that can be processed and benefit students. Findings suggest that 20 minutes of writing a week has the potential to significantly improve accuracy no matter how the time is divided. Fluency also has the potential to improve significantly if students are writing for 5 minutes and receiving feedback daily. As previous research on daily 10-minute writing has suggested that only accuracy will improve, this study is instrumental in highlighting specific modifications that can be made to the DWCF process that increase the potential for development of both accuracy and fluency.

A recent shift in the composition studies has resulted in the renewal of interest in rhetorical invention. There is no uniformity among researchers and professionals about the optimal conditions preceding the composing process, especially among college students. This study was intended to explore the effectiveness of structured (Larson's Heuristic) and non-structured (freewriting) strategies of rhetorical invention produced by community college students. The objectives of this study were to determine the following: 1) whether there is an overall improvement of students' written argumentation after instruction in the strategies of rhetorical invention; 2) whether college student writers are more likely to use structured than non-structured strategies of rhetorical invention after instruction in both strategies; 3) whether there is a relationship between the nature of invention strategy used by the students spontaneously on the pre-test and the type of rhetorical invention used by them in the post-test; and 4) whether there is a relationship between the type of rhetorical invention and the quality of final drafts of argumentative essays. The study was designed as a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Matched-samples t-test, chi-square goodness-of-fit tests, and ANOVA procedures were employed to address specific research questions of this research. Focus groups, conducted during the final stage of the research, provided emic data about students' experience in and attitude toward the strategies of rhetorical invention. Findings indicate that though students' performance on the post-test was higher than on the pre-test, there was no statistically significant improvement in the quality of written argumentation after the completion of instruction in the strategies of rhetorical invention. Secondly, after completion of the instruction, students used structured (Larson's Heuristic) and non-structured (freewriting) strategies of rhetorical invention with comparable frequently. Thirdly, there was a moderate relationship between the type of rhetorical invention used by student writers in the pre-test and the type of rhetorical invention used by them in the post-test and that in the pre-test. Finally, there was a statistically significant relationship between the type of rhetorical invention and the quality of the final drafts of written argumentation in the pre-test. Further, the length of evidence of rhetorical invention was related strongly to the quality of the final drafts in the pre-test. No statistically significant relationship was detected between the type of rhetorical invention and the quality of written argumentation in the post-test. The results of this study enabled the researcher to articulate questions and provide suggestions for future investigation of written composing and rhetorical invention among college students. / Ph. D.

Formativ bedömning eller bedömning för lärande introducerades i en kommun i södra Sverige 2013. Målsättningen har sedan dess varit att få med alla yrkesverksamma pedagoger i kommunen till att arbeta formativt i sina klassrum. Bedömning för lärande består av sex nyckelstrategier där feedback, som för lärandet framåt, är en av dessa. Feedback kan ges på olika sätt men de mest vanliga är skriftlig feedback och muntlig feedback. Få studier har gjorts där man har varit intresserad av elevers upplevelser av det formativa arbetssättet. Syftet med denna studie har varit att komma åt elevernas upplevelser av feedback. Vilken sorts feedback föredrar eleverna? När upplever eleverna feedback som betydelsefull? Och finns det faktorer som påverkar mottagandet av feedback? För att svara på dessa frågor har sex elever i årskurs nio intervjuats. Dessa elever har alla gått i en kommunal skola och under många år fått feedback, både muntligt och i skrift. Det insamlade materialet från intervjuerna har sedan kategoriserats och analyserats med hjälp av den sociokulturella teorin och det formativa förhållningssättet. Både dessa utgår ifrån att, samarbetsinriktade aktiviteter mellan lärare och elever, är viktiga förutsättningar för elevens lärande. Resultatet visar att det, enligt eleverna, finns för- och nackdelar med både muntlig och skriftlig feedback. Det eleverna värdesätter mest är feedbackens utformning, även om relationen med läraren också kan vara av betydelse. Eleverna anser att feedback bör bekräfta prestationen för att därefter föreslå förändringar som behöver göras. Detta för att eleverna ska känna sig motiverade till att fortsätta arbeta med uppgiften och ämnet. / Formative assessment was introduced in a municipality in the south of Sweden year 2013.Since then the aim of the initiative has been to inspire all teachers to apply a formativeassessment in the classrooms. Formative assessment includes five key strategies wherefeedback is one of them. Feedback could be presented in various ways but the mostcommon one is written and spoken feedback received on a task. Not many studies aremade on the students’ experiences of formative assessment. Therefore, the purpose ofthis study is to widen the understanding of the students’ experiences, what kind offeedback they prefer, when they appreciate the feedback as an important scaffolding andif there are contributing factors to their overall experience of feedback. To answer thesequestions, interviews were made with six students in the Swedish secondary school.They have all attended a public school in a municipality during many years and receivedfeedback both written and spoken. The information from the interviews has beencategorized and analyzed through a sociocultural theory. This theory argues thatcooperation between student and teacher is necessary for the development of thestudent. According to the students, there are pros and cons to both written and spokenfeedback. Students mostly value the shape of the feedback, but the relationship betweenstudent and teacher can also matter when feedback is given. The students believe thatfeedback should acknowledge the effort as well as suggest further development for thestudents to feel motivated to continue the work, both with the assignment and thesubject in general.

This study explores how native and nonnative English speakers understand and perceive directness types in written teacher feedback (WTF). Currently research suggests that indirect speech in WTF will encourage students to think and maintain politeness between teacher and student (Benkendorf, 2001; Riley, 2003; Thonus, 1999; Vassileva, 2000). However, research also indicates that indirect speech may be more difficult to interpret than direct speech (Champagne, 2001; Holtgraves, 1999), which suggests that indirect speech used in WTF may be difficult for students to interpret and use to improve their compositions (Ferris, 2007; Hyland & Hyland, 2001). This difficulty may be even more acute for second language (NNS) learners (Ferris, 2002; Mackiewicz & Riley, 2002, 2003). This thesis will test and propose refinements to this study. In this study, native (NS) and nonnative (NNS) English speaking university students, were given two essays directness of the WTF. These participants had three main tasks: 1. to identify whether or not WTF requests a correction, 2. to make the correction if requested, 3. to identify perceptions of the teacher and paper based on the WTF. For the first two tasks, accuracy and response times were calculated. Results showed that directness type affects the speed and accuracy of both NS and NNS learners. Direct speech in WTF was more quickly identified than indirect speech (indirect speech acts and hedging). Indirect speech was the slowest and least accurate for both NS and NNS learners in relation to positive WTF. Surprisingly, both NS and NNS were slowest for making corrections on direct WTF. In addition, directness type also affected the perception on the teacher and paper. For example, NS were likely to perceive indirect speech as being from a female teacher. NNS were more likely to give papers with hedged WTF an A and those with indirect WTF a C grade. This study suggests that the directness type of WTF affects how quickly and how well it is understood by both NS and NNS learners. It also suggests that the pragmatic theory may explain why direct speech is processed more quickly than indirect speech (indirect speech acts and hedging).

Formative feedback is an active tool for a productive classroom. However, it may affect students’ written language positively or negatively. We all need confirmation from trusted peers or teachers to learn and develop knowledge and understanding. This project investigates what types of feedback teachers provide to students’ written texts and the reasons behind their choices. To collect the data required, four experienced teachers were interviewed. The study shows that it is valuable to give feedback orally to communicate. In spoken situations, teachers can make sure that the students have understood. The problem with written feedback is that it is often not understood or used by the learners. Regardless of whether the feedback appears in speaking or writing, it needs to communicate an understandable and specific message to the learners. The study shows that all teachers prefer providing oral feedback. However, because of time constraints, they use more written feedback. Furthermore, all teachers prefer not to correct all errors in the text. Instead, they focus on one issue at a time. Otherwise, students lose their interest in writing. Moreover, this study highlights the importance of focusing the feedback on an essay’s content, structure, and coherence rather than on grammar. The rationale given by the teachers concerns the students’ willingness to develop as a writer. Too much focus on grammar and incorrect uses of language may have a negative impact on this willingness. The conclusion of this study is that the four teachers prefer to give feedback several times. Firstly, they give informal and oral formative feedback before the task. Secondly, they provide written formative feedback on the students’ drafts. Thus, before submitting their completed texts for final assessment, they have the opportunity to revise their texts with the support of the teacher’s responses.

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