Refining the use of the web (and web search) as a language teaching and learning resource

The web is a potentially useful corpus for language study because it provides examples of language that are contextualized and authentic, and is large and easily searchable. However, web contents are heterogeneous in the extreme, uncontrolled and hence 'dirty,' and exhibit features different from the written and spoken texts in other linguistic corpora. This article explores the use of the web and web search as a resource for language teaching and learning. We describe how a particular derived corpus containing a trillion word tokens in the form of n-grams has been filtered by word lists and syntactic constraints and used to create three digital library collections, linked with other corpora and the live web, that exploit the affordances of web text and mitigate some of its constraints

What Advertisers Want: A Hedonic Analysis of Advertising Rates in South African Consumer Magazines

This article explores the role of circulation, readership and reader demographics in the determination of advertising rates in South African consumer magazines. The study uses panel data collected between 2000 and 2003 to quantify the relationships by assigning implicit prices to various magazine characteristics. Furthermore, a synopsis of the structure of the magazine industry in South Africa is developed using cluster-analytic techniques. The analysis lends some statistical credence to some widely held beliefs in the publishing industry; namely that advertisers value the young, the educated and the affluent as audiences. The role of race and gender in the determination of magazine advertising rates is also explored.

Se Doefel Daner

When the Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded England during the fifth century, they wiped out the native Celts both physically and linguistically. Except for place-names, only a half-dozen or so Celtic words entered Old English. By the ninth century, with the Celts all but exterminated, the Anglo-Saxons settled down to enjoy the good English life

Performing Fabulous Monsters: Re-inventing the Gothic Personae in Bizarre Magic

Bizarre magick is a form of performance magic that favours theatrical character, storytelling, overt allegory, symbolism and metaphor, and themes of the supernatural, fantastic, amazing and weird. While the form has its roots in Victorian stage magic, it realised itself as a movement in the 1970s through a counter-cultural reaction against the big boxes and card flourishes of a disenchanted, contemporary, mainstream stage magic. Bizarre magicians sought to re-enchant performance magic with the mysterious and the spiritual, (re)discovering meaning through storytelling and theatrical character. This chapter examines the adoption of popular Gothic representations in the stage persona of a number of key figures in bizarre magick. In performance, bizarre magick presents a complex series of meta-narratives within the form, often supplanting the literary in favour of popular Gothic (re)imaginings. These, often twice-removed, transformations/translations of classic and contemporary Gothic form and fiction are considered in the context of the bizarre performer's engagement, through both performance and theoretical writing, with the fabulously monstrous

Graduate Assistant Corpus Literacy

This study investigated awareness of, use of, and experiences with linguistic corpora by current and former master’s in Teaching English as a Second Language students at a university in the Midwest. Using an online survey, participants were asked to report their knowledge of terms used in the field of corpus linguistics. An interview was also conducted to further investigate experiences with corpora resources. Results showed that most of the participants had a general, but superficial, awareness of corpus linguistics. Participants did not report use of many of the corpus resources listed in this study. Few participants reported use of corpora over time as well. This study did not gather enough data to draw conclusions from the interview. Implications for further research and for MA programs are discussed

Population dynamics of the ribbon fish, Lepturacanthus savala (Cuvier 1829) from the north-eastern part of the Bay of Bengal

Population parameters of Lepturacanthus savala from the trawl catches in the north-eastern part of the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh were investigated based on length frequency data, using complete ELEFAN computer program. The asymptotic length (Lα) and growth constant (K) were estimated to be 106.50 cm (total length) and 0.80/year respectively. Based on these growth parameters, the total mortality (Z) was estimated to be 1.89. The estimated values for natural mortality (M) and fishing mortality (F) were 1.08 and 0.81 respectively. The estimated value for the exploitation rate (E) using the length converted catch curve was 0.43. The recruitment pattern showed two peaks per year. The estimated sizes of L. savala at 25, 50 and 75% probabilities of capture were 57.49, 60.39 and 63.28 cm respectively. The estimated length weight relationship for combined sex was W=0.00093 TL(super)2.9

Participation-focussed evaluation: Impact on practice

Evaluation is a keystone in the process of rehabilitation that is used to plan and monitor holistic, client-centred, goal-directed programs. However, many common assessment tools do not fit well with the specific expertise of occupational therapists (OTs). Dynamic assessment uses interactions with clients as a context to both observe current performance and test possibilities for intervention. In this way, OTs may substantiate their clinical reasoning. Methods. This study aimed to examine OTs’ implementation of a dynamic assessment of participation called COMPLEAT©. Participants were 14 OTs with varied experience, and 29 of their younger adult (<65 years) clients with diverse aetiologies and sequelae of brain injury. Data were collected from multiple sources in a process from introducing the OTs to COMPLEAT© and providing basic training, to interpreting their observations. Two phases of analyses examined the sociocultural influences on the implementation of COMPLEAT©, and the strategies used with clients of varying levels of participation restriction. Results. From a sociocultural perspective, the OTs (i) facilitated their clients’ participation through both direct responses and enabling environmental supports, (ii) brought to the process experiences and views on working with clients and using standardised assessments, and (iii) utilised COMPLEAT© according to their roles and experience. Overall, they facilitated participation using complex combinations of responses according to clients’ levels of participation restriction. Conclusions. Dynamic assessment, and COMPLEAT© in particular, has application to substantiating OTs’ clinical reasoning and expertise in participation. With this evidence, OTs might promote a focus on participation within their rehabilitation teams, consolidate their teams’ perceptions of their roles, and further develop assessments that support the planning and implementation of interventions consistent with the theoretical foundations of OT

Loyalist Lieutenant Jeremiah French and His Uniform

There are many unique and remarkable uniforms in the collections of the Canadian War Museum, some of which go back quite far into our history. One of these, probably the oldest presently known uniform that can be assigned to a unit raised in Canada, is that of Lieutenant Jeremiah French of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York