Applying digital sensor technology: A problem-solving approach

There is currently an explosion in the number and range of new devices coming onto the technology market that use digital sensor technology to track aspects of human behaviour. In this article, we present and exemplify a three-stage model for the application of digital sensor technology in applied linguistics that we have developed, namely, Technology–Problem–Iterative Development and Research. We present three projects that have used this model. In the first and second, a language learning environment was facilitated and tracked by digital sensor technology, while in the second and third projects, the technology enabled multimodal data collection and analysis. All projects investigated how a digital learning environment might be designed, implemented, and evaluated. The research focus has been on how to record and analyse the process of language learning through spoken interaction using digital sensor technology. This model is amenable to a variety of methodological approaches, as we see conversation analysis used in the first two projects and multimodal corpus linguistics in the third

Introduction to Social-Technical Issues in Organizational Information Technologies Minitrack

N/

The impact of pre-entry work experience on university students’ perceived employability

Much research on the employability development of university students and the employability experience of graduates treats learners as experientially homogenous and ignores the potential impact of pre-entry work experience on either students’ confidence or their employability-related behaviours. This study explored the confidence of commencing students aged 17 to 21. The objective was to understand whether and how study and career confidence differs among commencing students according to whether they have never worked, are working whilst studying, or have worked previously and have stopped work. The impact of work experience including that gained prior to university entry is often overlooked when discussing students’ perceived employability. This largely quantitative study explores the perceived employability of commencing university students who began their studies soon after finishing high school and compares these self-perceptions relative to work experience. The study employed a self-measure of study and career confidence (Bennett, 2021) grounded in social cognitive career theory with 2,374 full-time students. Differences across the categories were explored using t-tests and multivariate analysis. The analysis concluded that 1,272 students (53.6%) were working at the time of the study, 1,025 students (46.4%) had previously worked but were not working at the time of the study and 77 students (3.2%) had never worked. The findings, illustrated by students’ text-based descriptions of their employability development activities, suggest a hierarchical relationship between pre-entry work-experience and more confident self-perceptions of employability. Implications for higher education employability development are discussed

A multi-modal corpus approach to the analysis of backchanneling behaviour

Current methodologies in corpus linguistics have revolutionised the way we look at language. They allow us to make objective observations about written and spoken language in use. However, most corpora are limited in scope because they are unable to capture language and communication beyond the word. This is problematic given that interaction is in fact multi-modal, as meaning is constructed through the interplay of text, gesture and prosody; a combination of verbal and non-verbal characteristics. This thesis outlines, then utilises, a multi-modal approach to corpus linguistics, and examines how such can be used to facilitate our explorations of backchanneling phenomena in conversation, such as gestural and verbal signals of active listenership. Backchannels have been seen as being highly conventionalised, they differ considerably in form, function, interlocutor and location (in context and co-text). Therefore their relevance at any given time in a given conversation is highly conditional. The thesis provides an in-depth investigation of the use of, and the relationship between, spoken and non-verbal forms of this behaviour, focusing on a particular sub-set of gestural forms: head nods. This investigation is undertaken by analysing the patterned use of specific forms and functions of backchannels within and across sentence boundaries, as evidenced in a five-hour sub-corpus of dyadic multi-modal conversational episodes, taken from the Nottingham Multi-Modal Corpus (NMMC). The results from this investigation reveal 22 key findings regarding the collaborative and cooperative nature of backchannels, which function to both support and extend what is already known about such behaviours. Using these findings, the thesis presents an adapted pragmatic-functional linguistic coding matrix for the classification and examination of backchanneling phenomena. This fuses the different, dynamic properties of spoken and non-verbal forms of this behaviour into a single, integrated conceptual model, in order to provide the foundations, a theoretical point-of-entry, for future research of this nature

e-Language: communication in the digital age

This chapter examines how we can start to build better descriptions of e-based discourse through the analysis of real-life examples of mixed source e-language, as evidence by corpora. Discourse is defined here as language-in-use in digital contexts, observed from both a micro (i.e. word-by-word, sentence and text-by-text level) and macro (i.e. ‘beyond the text’, considering the more socio-ideological factors influencing language choice and use) perspective. This chapter focuses specifically on exploring the incidence and frequency of modal verb usage in CANELC, and compares this to written and spoken samples of language taken from the BNC3 (British National Corpus). Based on these analyses, questions as to whether e-language appears more or less (in)direct and/or (im)polite than spoken and written discourse are explored

Using Classroom Observation to Investigate Productive Student Participation in Higher- and Lower-Performing Qatari Schools

In 2002, Qatar established key elements of educational reform in schools including national curriculum standards; emphasis on critical thinking through student-centered teaching; establishment of charter (independent) schools; standards-based assessment; English as the language of instruction in math and science, and extensive teacher professional development. While classrooms characterized by these reform elements should emerge as more successful on Qatari standards-based assessments, little research has been done to examine the relationship between these characteristics and standards attainment or even to determine whether these classroom teaching and learning elements exist (Knight et al., 2011). Three phases of research were conducted in a research project funded by the Qatar National research Foundation over a period of three years. The first phase provided descriptions of teaching and learning in reform-focused schools (see Akhlef & Knight, 2011). The current study extends the profiles developed in Phase I through further investigation of observed differences in student-centered instruction and productive participation of elementary math and science students in higher and lower performing Qatari schools implementing the reform. Data were collected in the Fall of 2008 in 17 schools randomly selected from 46 schools that had implemented the Qatar standards for at least 3 years. Findings from this study emphasize the 2011 AERA theme involving the use of educational research that contributes to public policy and public good. This research provides information about teaching and learning in student-centered classrooms at two levels – the professional knowledge base and the Qatar educational context and can inform Qatari policy makers who are involved in the reform movement.The Qatar National Research Foundation, National Priorities Research Program Grant # 13-6-7-1

A multi-modal corpus approach to the analysis of backchanneling behaviour

Current methodologies in corpus linguistics have revolutionised the way we look at language. They allow us to make objective observations about written and spoken language in use. However, most corpora are limited in scope because they are unable to capture language and communication beyond the word. This is problematic given that interaction is in fact multi-modal, as meaning is constructed through the interplay of text, gesture and prosody; a combination of verbal and non-verbal characteristics. This thesis outlines, then utilises, a multi-modal approach to corpus linguistics, and examines how such can be used to facilitate our explorations of backchanneling phenomena in conversation, such as gestural and verbal signals of active listenership. Backchannels have been seen as being highly conventionalised, they differ considerably in form, function, interlocutor and location (in context and co-text). Therefore their relevance at any given time in a given conversation is highly conditional. The thesis provides an in-depth investigation of the use of, and the relationship between, spoken and non-verbal forms of this behaviour, focusing on a particular sub-set of gestural forms: head nods. This investigation is undertaken by analysing the patterned use of specific forms and functions of backchannels within and across sentence boundaries, as evidenced in a five-hour sub-corpus of dyadic multi-modal conversational episodes, taken from the Nottingham Multi-Modal Corpus (NMMC). The results from this investigation reveal 22 key findings regarding the collaborative and cooperative nature of backchannels, which function to both support and extend what is already known about such behaviours. Using these findings, the thesis presents an adapted pragmatic-functional linguistic coding matrix for the classification and examination of backchanneling phenomena. This fuses the different, dynamic properties of spoken and non-verbal forms of this behaviour into a single, integrated conceptual model, in order to provide the foundations, a theoretical point-of-entry, for future research of this nature

Rationalities that underpin employability provision in higher education across eight countries

This article explores the rationalities advanced by 18 higher education institutions, located across eight countries, for developing and delivering employability provision. The article uses Sultana’s Habermasian-derived framework to categorise rationalities as either technocratic, humanistic or emancipatory. Based on a series of semi-structured dialogic interviews, the article explores how key strategic and operational personnel within higher education institutions articulate their rationality for engaging with employability. It finds that the rationalities advanced to support employability within different institutions vary through a conversation between institutional culture and priorities and the demands of different stakeholders who the institution seeks to engage. The technocratic and humanistic rationalities dominate, with the emancipatory rationality weakly represented in the data. However, in many cases, the different rationalities are woven together, often for tactical reasons, to create bespoke institutional rationalities

Investigating the Relationship Between Professional Development and Student-Centered Learning Environments in Qatari Math and Science Elementary Classrooms

While considerable study of the organizational structures and outcomes of Qatari educational reform in Education for a New Era initiatives has been planned and implemented (see Rand, 2007), little attention has been placed on the study of what is occurring in the site where learning actually takes place – the classroom. Little research in Qatari or other Arab classrooms has been conducted to examine the relationship between the learning environment and either attainment of the student-centered standards or professional development related to standards or even to determine whether the classroom teaching and learning elements associated with student-centered learning environments exist (see e.g., Knight et al., 2011). Since the reform focuses on creating learning environments that foster attainment of the student-centered curriculum standards, research on classroom learning environments in schools targeted for reform provides valuable information. In particular, the role of professional development in creating appropriate learning environments needs to be investigated.Qatar National Research Foundation, National Priorities Research Program, Grant # 13-6-7-