37 research outputs found

    Word Embedding Driven Concept Detection in Philosophical Corpora

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    During the course of research, scholars often explore large textual databases for segments of text relevant to their conceptual analyses. This study proposes, develops and evaluates two algorithms for automated concept detection in theoretical corpora: ACS and WMD retrieval. Both novel algorithms are compared to key word retrieval, using a test set from the Digital Ricoeur corpus tagged by scholarly experts. WMD retrieval outperforms key word search on the concept detection task. Thus, WMD retrieval is a promising tool for concept detection and information retrieval systems focused on theoretical corpora

    Procesos pedagógicos y uso de tecnología en el aula

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    Computer supports have diversified the possibilities for interactivity in classroom teaching. Collaborative games, response feedback systems and simulated participation are indicative of the wide range of activities for which these technologies have found application in classroom education processes. In this article, evidence is offered for the contributions made to classroom pedagogical processes by computer mediation. The bibliographic analysis conducted permitted the identification of 2 pedagogic processes generated, an inductive and a deductive one, were identified. The computer-mediated teaching activities associated with each process in this literature were then classified and analyzed. Finally, inferences were drawn regarding the advantages of computer mediation in this scenario, being the main contributions, structuring and gradual deepening of subject content, the strengthening of collaboration processes, the diversification of learning environments and increased student participation.Los soportes computacionales han diversificado las posibilidades de interactividad de la enseñanza en sala de clase. Los usos del computador en actividades educativas tales como juegos colaborativos, sistemas de retroalimentación de respuesta o participación simulada, entre otros, ponen en evidencia las diversas alternativas que tiene el uso de esta tecnología al interior del proceso educativo desarrollado en el aula. En este contexto, el propósito del artículo es evidenciar el aporte que genera la mediación computacional para los procesos pedagógicos implementados en la sala de clase de la educación escolar formal. Para ello se realizó un análisis bibliográfico que permitió identificar dos configuraciones de los procesos pedagógicos generados, la Inductiva y la Deductiva. Se analizaron y sistematizaron las actividades de enseñanza mediadas por el computador asociadas a ambos procesos. Entre los resultados se delimitan las ventajas del uso de la tecnología en este escenario, destacándose como principales aportes la estructuración y profundización gradual de los contenidos, el fortalecimiento de los procesos de colaboración, la diversificación de los entornos de aprendizaje, y el incremento de la participación estudiantil

    Teaching processes and technology use in the classroom

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    Computer supports have diversified the possibilities for interactivity in classroom teaching. Collaborative games, response feedback systems and simulated participation are indicative of the wide range of activities for which these technologies have found application in classroom education processes. In this article, evidence is offered for the contributions made to classroom pedagogical processes by computer mediation. The bibliographic analysis conducted permitted the identification of 2 pedagogic processes generated, an inductive and a deductive one, were identified. The computer-mediated teaching activities associated with each process in this literature were then classified and analyzed. Finally, inferences were drawn regarding the advantages of computer mediation in this scenario, being the main contributions, structuring and gradual deepening of subject content, the strengthening of collaboration processes, the diversification of learning environments and increased student participation.</p

    The contribution of hip hop to the construction of personal indentities of South African female late adolescents

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    Identity construction is an integral task during late adolescence. In this study, I argue that hip hop music contributes to the process of identity construction among female late adolescents. The contexts that the female late adolescent is exposed to affect her process of identity construction. These contexts include family, friends, peers, religion, and popular culture, among other things. Hip hop music forms part of present-day popular culture. Adolescents have access to this genre of music via the mass media and social networks. The aim of this study is to explore the nature of hip hop‘s contribution to the identity construction of female late adolescents in South Africa. To this end, I engaged seven female late adolescents in several research activities, which enabled them to make sense of their perceived identities in the context of hip hop music. I then interpreted the participants‘ stories, in order to understand the process by which hip hop had contributed to their sense of personal identity. The participants in this study were first-year students in the Faculty of Education, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, who were all in the developmental phase of late adolescence. Narrative inquiry and participatory research (PR) approaches were the preferred strategies of data generation. The data-generation techniques included the use of drawings and lyric inquiry. These techniques served to stimulate the generation of narrative data. They also provided frameworks within which the participants could engage with their sense of identity in the context of hip hop music. The research revealed that hip hop music does indeed contribute to the process of personal identity construction of the female late adolescents who participated in the study. It does so by compelling the adolescent to think about herself in relation to her continual self, which draws from her past, present, and future, her interactional self, both at the personal and social levels, and her situational self. The appeal of hip hop to her cognitive capabilities is enhanced through the strong link that hip hop has with her emotions. The significance of this study can be summarised in three points. Firstly, this study provides empirical evidence of hip hop as a meaningful resource for the female adolescent as she constructs her identity. As such, the findings of this study negate the public notion of hip hop as being a bad influence on young people, and provides proof of its significant role in the lives of South African female adolescents. Secondly, this study is important for education in South Africa. The significance of hip hop music in education settings lies in its fundamental communicative capabilities, which can be effectively utilised in the classroom situation. Thirdly, this study strengthens educational research in South Africa, especially research aimed at the liberation and emancipation of female adolescents in South Africa. In this regard, this study provides alternative methodologies of inquiry to conventional research strategies, such as questionnaires and surveys

    Speech-language therapists’ negotiation of communication during clinical engagement.

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    Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Globally, speech-language therapists share similar practice issues with other healthcare professionals with regard to responding to the changing healthcare landscape and the changing nature of practice. In the profession, the speech-language therapist uses his or her communication to facilitate the improvement of his or her client’s impaired communication. The therapist further seeks to enhance communication in the delivery of care. Therefore, communication is the core skill that is central to the work of a speech-language therapist. The temporary lens of the study focussed on facilitating an understanding of competences, a discussion on communication as a core and soft skill in the profession, communicative competence in academe and the world of work, as well as theories on communication and competency development. My study explored the participants’ experiences of negotiating their communication during clinical engagement. An interpretivist paradigm informed the choice of a case study research methodology. Semi-structured interviews and observations of the participants in practice were conducted. As the speech-language therapists recollected encounters of using communication in their interventions with their clients and their families, their stories were tinged with relived emotions and with reflections on particular events or people. Thus, narrative analysis was conducted to represent and analyse the data. The production of the narratives constituted the first level of analysis. The participants were invited to go through the narratives, and to provide suggestions to reflect their stories better. Although there were unique characteristics to each participant’s story, similar nuances resonated through the data set. The data was analysed through a grounded and inductive approach. In the second level of analysis, using cross-case comparison, six factors influencing communication were identified in the eight narratives. Through thematic analysis, the following themes were identified: productive remembering of educational experience, problematising clinical engagement, undervaluing of speech-language therapy, searching for certainty, and moving to comfort. Further to this, antithetical cases (as the atypical cases) were used to validate the initial findings. The thesis of this study was named: The diamond framework: Curriculum of resilience to deal with matters of the ‘cut’, the ‘carat’, the ‘colour’ and the ‘clarity’ to explore the notion of negotiating communication in clinical practice. Referring to the evaluation of a diamond, these four constructs were considered a metaphor to develop the thesis framework: The ‘cut’ is representative of the ‘professional-self’: the outward portrayal and usually the first aspect noticeable to others. The ‘carat’ refers to the ‘context of practice’: the pragmatic space within which the practitioner operates in a social setting. The ‘colour’ refers to the ‘affective factors’ of the professional self, which refer to unique characteristics of the individual in his or her personal practice. The ‘clarity’ refers to the elements of the personal self, which refers to inner qualities, such as the ability to refract and displace light and engage agentic resources to shine. This study found that the professional, the contextual, the personal and the affective selves co-influence the negotiation of communication strategies. While looking to the reconceptualisation of the curriculum to inculcate the personal and affective selves of future students in the professional education for specific contextual spaces, there has to be cognisance of the strong hegemonic forces of the profession that are still dominant. Therefore, the ethos of the professional education of speech-language therapists needs to revisit these ideals and practices of both the profession and the higher education institutions engaged in developing and regulating future professionals. Key words: communication, speech-language therapy, graduate competence, narrative analysis, professional educatio

    Anglicisation in the letters of Marie Stewart, Countess of Mar and her family: a sociolinguistic perspective

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    This study aims to further our understanding of the development of the Scots language by focusing on the family letters of the elite noblewoman, political influencer, patron of the arts and mother of 12, Marie Stewart, Countess of Mar (1576–1644). The multilingual circumstances of Stewart’s life as a French-born Jacobean courtier turned Scottish Covenanter establish her as a fascinating research subject. Stewart’s extant letters preserved in the National Library of Scotland archival collections, along with those sent by her husband John Erskine, 2nd Earl of Mar and their children, date from the first half of the seventeenth century and were written during the period of anglicisation in Scotland initiated by the Reformation and reinforced by the Union of the Crowns in 1603. Almost entirely overlooked by scholars until now, these remarkable manuscripts present a rare opportunity to explore how different members of the same family responded to the linguistic change. A historical sociolinguistic, pragmatic approach will uncover the conditioning factors that influenced the senders’ language, such as sex, recipient, and sender location. Corpus linguistic techniques track 23 iconic features of Early Modern Scots in a purpose-built corpus compiled from new diplomatic transcriptions of 47 manuscripts. Then a methodology that combines quantitative and qualitative variation analyses compares the senders’ use of linguistic forms. The dissertation concludes that micro-level studies of small numbers of language users can produce the nuanced picture that many scholars now consider necessary to pinpoint the complexity of what happens during linguistic change. The findings reveal a range of levels of anglicisation within a single family’s correspondence, their behaviour serving to augment our understanding of Scotland’s compelling linguistic history
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