Analysing the speech act of refusing in the TV show Grey’s Anatomy

XXI Jornades de Foment de la Investigació de la Facultat de Ciències Humanes i Socials (Any 2016)Appropriate refusal interactions may be a difficult task for learners of English in a foreign context since they tend to apply the pragmatic rules of their native language to the target language. As a consequence, they may be seen as rude and impolite. An increasing number of scholars are focusing their efforts on the importance of pragmatics in the Foreign Language (FL) classroom. Recent studies have shown that video materials such as TV shows, news broadcasts or films provide students with authentic pragmatic input, by portraying plenty of instances of refusing situations in real settings. However, some researchers have questioned the validity of these situations considering that the language used in video materials is not real but ‘fictitious’, as it has been written in advance. Bearing in mind the results obtained by Fernández-Guerra in her 2008 and 2013 studies empirically proving the benefits of using TV series to teach the speech act of refusing, the present paper analyses the occurrences of all refusal situations appearing in three episodes from the first season of the TV show Grey’s Anatomy, to determine its usefulness in the FL classroom

Story and Illustration Reconstituted: Children's Literature in Canadian Reading Programs

This study addresses the differences between literature in children's trade books and the literature in commercial elementary language arts reading programs used in Canada. Although the nature of the literature included in language arts programs has received considerable scrutiny in the United States, there is no parallel body of research in the Canadian context. Using a textual content analysis, all the literature selections contained in the three most extensively used reading programs in Canada were where possible compared with the corresponding trade books. Numerous differences between trade book literature and the corresponding selections in the reading programs suggest that the two are not equivalent in the reading experiences they provide for children. The changes included alterations to format such as omissions, additions, substitutions, and reordering of text and illustrations. Many of the original selections reconstituted in the reading programs were impoverished by the changes. Further research is needed on how these changes alter children's reading experiences.Cette élude se penche sur les différences entre la littérature pour enfants dans les publications commerciales et celle que l'on retrouve dans les cours de langues et littérature pour les élèves de l'élémentaire au Canada. Alors qu'aux États-Unis, la nature de la littérature étudiée dans les cours de langue et littérature a fait l'objet d'examens détaillés, au Canada, aucune recherche comparable n'a été entreprise. En s'appuyant sur une analyse de contenu approfondie, nous avons, dans la mesure du possible, comparé toute la littérature étudiée au sein des trois programmes de lecture les plus populaires au Canada, aux textes correspondants dans les publications commerciales. Les nombreuses différences repérées entre les publications commerciales et les sélections correspondantes employées dans les programmes de lecture permettent de conclure que les deux ne fournissent pas élèves des expériences de lecture équivalentes. Parmi les écarts notons des changements de format tels des omissions, des ajouts, des substitutions et une réorganisation du texte et illustrations. Plusieurs des sélections originales qui avaient été reconstituées dans les programmes de lecture avaient été appauvries par les changements. Davantage d'études devraient porter sur la façon dont ces changements modifient l'expérience de lecture des enfants

Overlapping of ESP/EAP and content courses revisited

This paper deals with some key issues in a controversial topic, that of the existing overlapping between ESP/EAP courses and simultaneously-run content courses. Some examples are provided and analyzed to be aware of the need of ESP/EAP practitioners to have a fairly deep knowledge of those technical matters they have to deal with in order to be as genuinely communicative as possible. later on, a list of principles for designing successful ESP/EAP courses is presented and justified. After putting into practice a communicative approach founded on those principles for a period of five years, the opinion of those students who have taken two ESP/EAP courses was gathered –an ad hoc questionnaire was developed for the purpose–. data are analyzed to hypothesize the long-run correlation between applying the above mentioned principles and the positive opinion of students on their teachers when those principles are applied at university level

Methods and Effects of Shadowing Using Online Authentic Videos on L2 Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese Tones

Mandarin Chinese tones are notoriously difficult for second language (L2) learners. Previous research focuses on tone training methods that can help learners produce monosyllabic lexical tones, and studies about the production of multisyllabic lexical tones at the sentence level in spontaneous speech are limited. This study applies shadowing—a method where the learners repeat what they heard with as little delay as possible—to tone training and compares the effects of using authentic videos and textbook audios as shadowing materials for beginner L2 Mandarin learners’ tone improvement at the sentence level. Fourteen students in elementary Chinese classes at an American university participated in the tone training activity for four weeks. The participants in the “authentic video” group received authentic videos as their training materials, while the “textbook audio” group was trained with textbook audios. The participants shadowed the materials twice a week, six times per session, at home in their free time. Tone accuracy was rated by Mandarin native speakers according to the pre-test and the post-test consisting of a read-aloud task and a one-on-one conversation. Qualitative and quantitative surveys were conducted to analyze learners’ attitudes toward the shadowing activity and the materials. The results indicate that learners in both groups showed significant improvements in their accuracy in spontaneous speech with no significant differences between the two groups. As for learners’ attitudes, although the participants reported overall positive feedback on the shadowing activity regardless of the materials, authentic materials generated great interest from the participants and were more appealing to the learners. A strong correlation between learners’ confidence in speaking and flexibility of the activity was also found. Based on the finding, pedagogical implications are discussed, including how to select suitable materials and shadowing instructions. For example, educators could introduce textbook audios first and gradually add authentic materials. The findings provide Mandarin Chinese instructors an effective and engaging way to improve learners’ tone production in spontaneous speaking. Incorporating shadowing activities into class has great potential to encourage learners’ autonomy without occupying precious class time. The findings not only contribute to research on teaching Chinese as a second language and the related pedagogy but also shed light on the use of authentic materials in second language teaching and learning

Teaching English using video materials: design and delivery of a practical course

In this paper, a practical course for listening, speaking, reading and writing was designed using authentic video material. The aim of this paper is to offer tools to the TEFL teacher in order to design new course materials using video material. The development procedure is explained in detail, and the underpinning main theories are also mentioned, in order to facilitate the future development of new materials to the TEFL teachers

The Cowl - v.82 - n.19 - Mar 15, 2018

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 82, Number 19 - March 15, 2018. 24 pages

Embodying Kinaesthetic Stimulants in a Technological World, A Kinaesthetic Exploration of Western Technology's Affect on the Body

This thesis addresses the potential kinaesthetic influences technology has on the body and how these influences can be used to extract original choreography. Based on Gretchen Schiller’s assertions that the body’s interactions with technology “contribute to the range of one’s movement repertoire and kinaesthetic condition” (Schiller 109), this research purports that the body’s interactions with transportation technology (specifically trains, subways, and automobiles), hand-held technology (cell phones, video games, and electronic children’s toys), online networking, and the television, affect its kinaesthetic condition. This is achieved through the body’s experience of new shapes, tensions, and weight-holding patterns. The individual experiences of urban Western bodies are specifically researched, particularly those in Toronto, Canada. Through site-specific movement explorations, this thesis argues that a heightened kinaesthetic awareness allows a choreographer to extract technological qualities and create original choreography. This process will, in turn, widen the choreographer’s awareness to other kinaesthetic movement inspirations

The Effect of Digital Stories on Primary School Students' Listening Comprehension Skills

The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of digital stories on the listening comprehension skills of primary school 4th grade students. For this purpose, the research has carried out with a quasi-experimental design with pre-test post-test control group. The sample of the research consisted of 52 students studying in two different 4th grade branches of a public primary school in the second semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. The stories transferred to digital in the research have selected from the texts in 3 different Turkish textbooks at the 4th grade level of primary school published by the Ministry of National Education and taught to students in previous years. 8 narrative texts from the themes of "My Beautiful Country Turkey" and "Production, Consumption and Efficiency" in the textbooks have converted into digital through digital design programs. During the implementation process, the animations of 8 stories transferred to digital have watched by the students in the experimental group, and the students in the control group have read and listened to the same story texts by the teacher. The Listening Comprehension Test has used to determine the listening comprehension achievement scores of the students in the experimental and control groups at the beginning and end of the application process. As a result of the research, it has determined that there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test achievement scores of the students in the experimental group, where the stories have played digitally. © 2022, Ozgen Korkmaz. All rights reserved

Designing virtual spaces: redefining radio art through digital control

Radio Art is a composition practice that is constantly evolving. Artists share a commonality to redefine, reinvent, and repurpose analogue radio. It is an art that often bends to the will of antiqued technology, celebrating a wide pallet of found sounds. This research extends the boundaries of the art form by exploring Radio Art through sonic-centric lens and establishing a consistent and reproducible compositional framework. By shifting radio from a found object to an instrument, I have deconstructed its sonic aesthetics into two parallel materials for composition, gestural noise and broadcast signal. When tuning an analogue radio to a signal, relationships between these materials unfold. Contrast is a term found throughout my research. Contrast is embodied throughout radio and its history; radio is used as both a scientific communication device and for artistic expression. it is a symbol of democracy and oppression. Radio produces broadcast noise and signal, creating poetic reception, such as control and chaos, anxiety and ecstasy, distance and closeness. This research explores the characteristics of these forces and materials as a symbiotic relationship of unfolding radiophonic behaviours. A major focus of this research is the control of analogue radio through deconstruction and composition. I embarked on a twenty-four-month development period to build a Digital Audio Workstation called Radiophonic Environmental Designer, (RED). RED enables composers to create virtual radiophonic environments that are navigated by rotating the dial. Material is positioned along a horizon, and tuning behaviours sculpted. There is also a physical interface embedded into an analogue radio shell to control the virtual tuning, namely, Broadcast Link-up Environment, (BLUE). BLUE is an ad-on program offering an online digital platform for the diffusion of Radio Art. Using an internet connection and gyroscope technology that is built into most smart phones, a radiophonic environment is interacted through a purpose-built website. In my creative practice, analogue radio has been redesigned by adopting digital technological practices to control, edit and model it’s unique sound. In doing so, I reflect upon relationships between analogue and digital design principles through an extensive study on virtual analogue software and interfaces