Non-Canonical Grammar!?

The papers collected in this special issue originated from a workshop held at the Annual Meeting of German University Teachers of English (Anglistentag) in Hamburg in September 2016. Contributors and participants at the workshop were invited to probe into the usefulness – and the limitations – of the notion noncanonical grammar for their respective fields of interest, and the present volume is a lively testimony to an engaging discussion

Interleukin 4 Gene–defective Mice Reconstituted with Wild-type Bone Marrow Fail to Produce Normal Immunoglobulin E Levels

The ability to reconstitute interleukin (IL)-4−/− mice with bone marrow of IL-4+/+ mice was investigated. The absence of the IL-4−/− gene in donor or recipient cells did not impair the reconstitution. All immunoglobulin (Ig) subsets occurred at normal serum levels except for IgE and to some extent IgG1. IgE production did not recover in the reconstituted mice over prolonged time. However, these mice were competent for IgE production, because a single intrasplenic injection of IL-4 restored IgE levels, which then remained constant. Wild-type mice reconstituted with wild-type bone marrow constantly had IgE serum levels comparable to untreated animals. In wild-type mice reconstituted with IL-4−/− bone marrow, IgE levels dropped gradually and disappeared by week 12. We make three unrelated but nonetheless important conclusions: (a) (immunoregulation) the tightly regulated IL-4 gene should be expressed constantly in low amounts (and with apparent absence of antigen stimulation) to keep the normal threshold of IgE; (b) (ontogeny of the immune system) an early unidentified source of IL-4 must be postulated which is lost in adult mice; and (c) (bone marrow transfer/gene therapy) under certain circumstances, the genotype of the recipient influences the reconstitution

Critical perspectives on digital spaces in educational research

From text: Globally, the digital is encroaching, reformulating, and recreating spaces in contemporary society (Kalantzis-Cope & Gherab-Martin, 2010). This is so in South Africa with the various applications of the digital having their roots in different places and spaces. Historically, we can look back to the development of portable video technology in the late 1960s in Canada. Organised through the National Film Board of Canada, a group of filmmakers initiated a new approach to documentary film production, engaging communities themselves in the process of filmmaking (Rusted, 2010)

Seeing how it works: A visual essay about critical and transformative research in education

As visual researchers in the field of education we have initiated and completed numerous participatory projects using qualitative visual methods such as drawing, collage, photovoice, and participatory video, along with organising screenings and creating exhibitions, action briefs, and policy posters. Locating this work within a critical paradigm, we have used these methods with participants to explore issues relating to HIV and AIDS and to gender-based violence in rural contexts. With technology, social media, and digital communication network connections becoming more accessible, the possibilities of using visual participatory methods in educational research have been extended. However, the value of visual participatory research in contributing to social change is often unrecognised. While the power of numbers and words in persuasive and informative change is well accepted within the community of educational researchers, the power of the visual itself is often overlooked. In this visual essay, we use the visual as a way to shift thinking about what it means to do educational research that is transformative in and of itself. As an example we draw on our visual participatory work with 15 first-year women university students in the Girls Leading Change1 project to explore and address sexual violence at a South African university. We aim to illustrate, literally, the possibilities of using the visual, not only as a mode of inquiry, but also of representation and communication in education and social science scholarship

Digital Game Based Learning - conception of an e-learning platform for young persons where they can learn more about policy and can enhance their knowledge.

Gegenstand der hier vorliegenden Bachelorarbeit ist die Erstellung eines Konzepts für eine webbasierte Lernplattform für Jugendliche zur Vermittlung von politischem Wissen und zur Steigerung des politischen Interesses von Jugendlichen. Die konzipierte Lernplattform hat die Vermittlung des Lernstoffes der jeweiligen Klassenstufe der Jugendlichen im Rahmen eines geschichtenbasierten Simulationsspiels zur Aufgabe. Durch die aktive Mitarbeit in der Lernplattform ermöglicht sie den Jugendlichen einen viel leichteren Einstieg in die Thematik. Marktbeobachtungen zeigen auf, dass es an solchen spielbasierten Wissensanwendungen im Bereich der Politik mangelt. Mittels einer Umfrage wurde die Zielgruppe sondiert. Im Fokus liegen hierbei Jugendliche im Alter von 15 bis 18 Jahren. Auf der Basis von Grundlagen im Bereich der Lernpsychologie und dem Game Based Learning wurde eine Geschichte entworfen, in der die Jugendlichen als Hauptfigur die Lernplattform durchlaufen und Wissen aufnehmen. Im Folgenden wurden Überlegungen zur Interfacegestaltung und zur Umsetzung der Geschichte in der Lernplattform erarbeitet.The subject of this bachelor thesis is the conception of an e-learning platform for young persons where they can learn more about policy and can enhance their knowledge. The learning platform has the major task to communicate the learning matters of the respective class level in school of the young people with a story based simulation. By working with this tool, the young people get an easy overview of policy. Market observations show, that a learning platform like this is missing in the market. A survey isolates the target group. Young people between the age of 15 and 18 are in the focus of the learning platform. With the knowledge of learning psychology and game based learning a story was developed. The young people live through this story in the game and learn with it. Based on interface design, the story has been realised in a prototype of the learning platform

Gute Sprachen, schlechte Sprachen: Sprachpolitik und Sprachkonflikte im modernen Indien

Nach dem Ende der britischen Kolonialherrschaft in Asien standen viele der sich neu konstituierenden Staaten vor der Frage, welcher Status der einstigen Kolonialsprache Englisch noch zugebilligt werden sollte. Die Verfassung Indiens nach der Unabhängigkeit 1947 verlieh Englisch neben Hindi den Status einer „zweiten offiziellen Sprache“ und sah vor, Englisch nach einer Übergangszeit von 15 Jahren ganz durch Hindi als Nationalsprache zu ersetzen. Kurz vor Ablauf dieser Frist kam es in den südlichen Bundesstaaten Indiens zu gewalttätigen Anti-Hindi-Protesten. Dieser Beitrag zeigt am Beispiel Indiens, wie einerseits soziale und politische Ungleichheiten als Sprachkonflikte artikuliert werden, und wie andererseits Ungleichheiten zwischen Sprachen erst im Zuge von sozialen Konflikten als solche konstruiert werden.Following the end of colonial rule in Asia, many of the newly emerging multilingual states had to consider the future status of English, the language of the former colonial powers. The Indian constitution granted English the status of “second official language”‚ alongside Hindi, which was to become the sole official language after a transitional period of fifteen years. Shortly before the end of that period, violent protests against the imposition of Hindi were raised in the southern Indian states. This paper takes the example of India to show how, on the one hand, social and political inequalities find expression in language conflicts, but on the other hand, linguistic inequalities are often also created in the course of social conflicts

The Typology of Focus Marking in South Asian Englishes

The emergence of grammatical norms in postcolonial varieties of English has been argued to manifest itself in quantitative preferences rather than in categorical distinctions (cf. Schneider 2007: 46). Several studies on Indian English, however, have shown that this South Asian variety has developed innovative uses, i.e. marked qualitative differences, for the additive focus marker also and the restrictive focus markers only and itself as presentational focus markers (Bhatt 2000, Lange 2007, Balasubramanian 2009), e.g. Since 7 am itself, schoolchildren started to reach the venue smartly dressed and armed with their queries and waited patiently for more than two hours for the programme to begin. (IN_TI_38032) Number-related mismatches in agreement between the antecedent in plural and the focus marker in singular have also been attested. This structural phenomenon may be indicative of a grammaticalization process of the focus marker itself to an invariant focus particle as illustrated in the following example. He said the temporary peace achieved by leaders of the country was a victory for the Sri Lankan Security Forces itself as it was gained by the Security Forces at the expense of their lives. (LK_DN_2004-07-02) The present study is concerned with variation and convergence in the use of focus marking with itself in South Asian Englishes, i.e. Bangladeshi English, Indian English, Maldivian English, Nepali English, Pakistani English and Sri Lankan English. On the basis of the South Asian varieties of English (SAVE) corpus, an 18-million word web-based newspaper corpus featuring acrolectal language use of the varieties under scrutiny (cf. Bernaisch et al. 2011), we report on the pervasiveness of (presentational) focus marking with itself. Although the novel usage of itself as illustrated above certainly represents a feature of South Asian English, there is a clear pattern characterised by unity and diversity with regard to the individual varieties of English in South Asia.Despite the pan-South Asian presence of presentational itself, quantity, grammaticalization processes and structural combinability provide grounds to argue that presentational itself is more firmly rooted in some South Asian varieties of English (e.g. Indian English and Sri Lankan English) than in others (Bangladeshi English or Maldivian English)