Lingvistiskā variācija elektroniskajā akadēmiskajā diskursā

Promocijas darbā ir atspoguļota jauna īpaša angļu valodas diskursa veida, kas notiek akadēmiskajās aprindās ar datora starpniecību, leksisko un gramatisko formu sastopamības variācijas teorētiskā un empīriskā izpēte. Ir izstrādāta oriģināla elektroniskā akadēmiskā diskursa (EAD) definīcija. EAD piemīt specifiskas lingvistiskās īpašības, kas to atšķir no citiem angļu valodas diskursa veidiem. Ir piedāvāta oriģināla tipoloģiska EAD klasifikācija. Ir norādīti seši tipiskākie EAD veidi: akadēmiskie e-pasti, sinhronās konferences, tiešsaistes diskusijas, emuāri, hiperteksti un elektroniskie semināri. Katra EAD veida raksturošanai tika izveidoti seši specializēti tekstu sakopojumi. Lingvistisko leksisko un gramatisko formu sastopamības daudzdimensiju analīze (Biber 1988) tika izmantota kā galvenais kvantitatīvais izpētes paņēmiens. Būtiskas izmaiņas ir atklātas piecdesmit piecu leksisko un gramatisko formu. Pretēji tradicionālajam uzskatam, ka elektroniskais akadēmiskais diskurss būtiski nemainās, pētījumā iegūtie rezultāti pierāda būtisku multidimensiju variāciju dažādu EAD veidu lingvistisko līdzekļu sastopamības biežumā. Šajā pētījumā iegūtie rezultāti var būt noderīgi pētījumu veicējiem, kas pēta elektroniskās valodas atšķirības, valodas pasniedzējiem un citiem speciālistiem lietišķajā valodniecībā.The dissertation presents the undertaken theoretical and empirical research investigating a new specific type of English discourse that takes place in academic settings and is mediated by computer. An original definition of computer-mediated academic discourse (CMAD) has been elaborated. The author has demonstrated that CMAD has specific linguistic characteristics distinguishing it from other types of English discourse. An original typological classification of CMAD has been proposed. The following six most typical types of CMAD have been distinguished: academic e-mails, synchronous conferencing, online discussions, weblogs, hypertexts and computer-mediated seminars. Six specialised corpora were complied to represent each type of CMAD. Multidimentional analysis of variance of linguistic features (Biber 1988) was applied as the main quantitative research method. Considerable changes have been revealed in the use of fifty-five types of linguistic features in the corpus. Contrary to the traditional view, which regards academic discourse mediated by computer not significantly varying, the research results provide the evidence of significant multidimensional variation in the frequency of appearance of linguistic features in different types of CMAD. The findings obtained in the present research may be of interest to the researchers investigating varieties of computer-mediated language, language educators and other specialists in applied linguists

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

The pedagogical praxis of creativity: an investigation into the incipience of creative writing in USJP

"A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy"Creative Writing as a teachable artistic practice, and reinforcing its identity with an appropriate pedagogical approach, has been a vibrant research area for some years now. Yet, despite a strong increase in writing courses all over the globe, there has been little research into how creative practitioners can actually contribute to facilitate the process of skill development in higher education learners, especially in the public sector universities across Sindh, Pakistan. In an effort to introduce Creative Writing as an academic discipline to government universities in Sindh, the present research sought to observe the impact of a training programme on English fiction on a sample of native learners. A total of thirteen students volunteered for this project. The research sample was selected from a population of second year undergraduates, enrolled in literature courses at the Institute of English Language and Literature (IELL) in the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan (USJP); wherein Creative Writing had hitherto been a non-existent area of studies. Students were offered a twenty-nine session modular-workshop, aimed at exploring and expediting their artistic abilities in the short time span of a single semester. To ensure the trustworthiness of findings, the entire procedure was documented under the guidance of the researcher’s supervisory team. A post-workshop evaluation survey was also used for attaining student feedback. The setup of assessment items and analysis constructs of students’ narrative portfolios were adapted from validated sources and aligned with the context of this study.However, neither the feedback nor the assessment of students’ work was counted as the findings of this research. Unlike non-artistic inquiries, the post-training creative output gathered from project participants was interpreted as the final research outcome. Methodologically, this process was conducted following a matrix of three practice-oriented research paradigms; whereas “performative research” was selected as the principle data creation and presentation strategy. The resulting research insight has exhibited an in-depth understanding of approaches that could facilitate fiction composition abilities of learners from different language backgrounds, while writing in English. It also allows practitioners to consider non-typical methods of research to contribute holistically to the existing body of knowledge in the field