Going meta: dialogic talk in the writing classroom

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from EBSCO via the URL in this record.The rich body of research on dialogic, exploratory talk points to its significance in developing and securing student learning (Alexander 2018; O’Connor and Michaels 2007; Reznitskaya et al 2009; Gillies 2016). More recently, this body of research has begun to consider dialogic talk specifically in the context of literacy education (for example, Juzwik et al 2013; Boyd and Markarian 2015; Wilkinson et al 2015; Edwards-Groves and Davidson 2017). However, there remains a dearth of research which considers the role of dialogic talk in the teaching and learning of writing, and particularly its role in supporting developing writers’ metalinguistic understanding of how linguistic choices shape meaning in written texts. This article will report on qualitative data draw from a national study, involving a randomized controlled trial and an accompanying process evaluation. The study involved an intervention which was informed by a Hallidayan theoretical framing of metalinguistic understanding which sees grammar as a meaning-making resource, and which promoted explicit teaching which made purposeful connections between grammatical choices and their meaning-making effects in writing, and which promoted the role of dialogic talk. Specifically, this article will consider how teachers manage this metalinguistic dialogic talk about language choices in the writing classroom

The morphology, evolution and seismic visibility of partial melt at the core-mantle boundary: Implications for ULVZs

SUMMARY Seismic observations indicate that the lowermost mantle above the core–mantle boundary (CMB) is strongly heterogeneous. Body waves reveal a variety of ultra-low velocity zones (ULVZs), which extend not more than 100 km above the CMB and have shear velocity reductions of up to 30 per cent. While the nature and origin of these ULVZs remain uncertain, some have suggested they are evidence of partial melting at the base of mantle plumes. Here we use coupled geodynamic/thermodynamic modelling to explore the hypothesis that present-day deep mantle melting creates ULVZs and introduces compositional heterogeneity in the mantle. Our models explore the generation and migration of melt in a deforming and compacting host rock at the base of a plume in the lowermost mantle. We test whether the balance of gravitational and viscous forces can generate partially molten zones that are consistent with the seismic observations. We find that for a wide range of plausible melt densities, permeabilities and viscosities, lower mantle melt is too dense to be stirred into convective flow and instead sinks down to form a completely molten layer, which is inconsistent with observations of ULVZs. Only if melt is less dense or at most ca. 1 per cent more dense than the solid, or if melt pockets are trapped within the solid, can melt remain suspended in the partial melt zone. In these cases, seismic velocities would be reduced in a cone at the base of the plume. Generally, we find partial melt alone does not explain the observed ULVZ morphologies and solid-state compositional variation is required to explain the anomalies. Our findings provide a framework for testing whether seismically observed ULVZ shapes are consistent with a partial melt origin, which is an important step towards constraining the nature of the heterogeneities in the lowermost mantle and their influence on the thermal, compositional and dynamic evolution of the Earth.ER

Writing talk: developing metalinguistic understanding through dialogic teaching

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Routledge via the DOI in this recordResearch in the teaching of writing has long highlighted the importance of metacognition in writing because writing as a process needs to be self-monitored (Kellogg 1984), it requires high-level metacognitive rhetorical planning (Hayes and Flower 1980) and because it can make covert process visible (Bereiter and Scardamalia 1982). But metalinguistic understanding, a subset of metacognition, referring specifically to thinking about language and language use, has been given scarce attention in terms of how teachers develop students’ metalinguistic understanding for writing. At the same time, recent research is demonstrating the learning power of dialogic talk and dialogic teaching across the curriculum. This chapter will offer a theoretical discussion of how dialogic teaching can open up a ‘dialogic space’ (Wegerif 2013; Myhill and Newman 2016) for the exploration of language choices in writing which develops writers’ capacity to think metalinguistically about writing.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

A multi-club analysis of the locomotor training characteristics of elite female soccer players

Objective: Quantifying differences in locomotor characteristics of training between two competition levels and between training days within elite female soccer players. Methods: Foot-mounted inertial measurement unit (Playermaker) data were collected from 293 players from three Women’s Super League (WSL; n = 76) and eight Women’s Championship (WC; n = 217) teams over a 28-week period. Data were analysed using partial least squares correlation analysis to identify relative variable importance and linear mixed effects models to identify magnitude of effects. Results: WSL players performed more high-speed running distance (HSR; &gt;5.29 m∙s −1), sprint distance (SpD; &gt;6.26 m∙s −1), acceleration (ACC; &gt;3 m∙s −2) and deceleration (DEC; &lt;-3 m∙s −2) distance than WC players. The largest difference between WSL and WC in HSR and HSR per minute occurred on MD-4, (354.7 vs. 190.29 m and 2.8 vs. 1.7 m∙min −1). On MD-2, WSL players also covered greater SpD (44.66 vs. 12.42 m), SpD per minute (0.38 vs. 0.11 m∙min −1) and HSR per minute (1.67 vs. 0.93 m∙min −1). Between training days both WSL and WC teams reduced HSR and SpD but not ACC and DEC distance from MD-4 to MD-2, with MD-4 the highest training day of the week. Conclusion: MD-4 is a key training day discriminating between competitive level. HSR and SpD volume and intensity is tapered in WSL and WC players, however there is less clear taper of ACC or DEC. As such, WC teams could increase the volume and intensity of HSR on MD-4 to mimic locomotor activities of those at a higher standard.</p

The finite tiling problem is undecidable in the hyperbolic plane

In this paper, we consider the finite tiling problem which was proved undecidable in the Euclidean plane by Jarkko Kari in 1994. Here, we prove that the same problem for the hyperbolic plane is also undecidable

Thinking differently about grammar and metalinguistic understanding in writing

This is the final version. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.In the light of ongoing international debate about the purpose of explicit teaching of grammar, this paper considers the relationship between metalinguistic understanding and development as a writer. Drawing on a cumulative series of studies over a period of ten years, adopting a functionally-oriented approach to grammar, the paper argues that purposeful grammar teaching occurs within the teaching of writing, not divorced from it; and that this teaching develops students’ metalinguistic understanding of how written texts are crafted and shaped. In this way, grammar is positioned as a resource for learning about writing and one which can support students in becoming increasingly autonomous and agentic decision-makers in writing. We show through practical examples how the pedagogy works in practice, and through classroom interaction data we highlight how metalinguistic talk (metatalk), which enables and encourages the verbalisation of choice. The data also shows, however, that teachers’ skill in managing metatalk about metalinguistic choices in writing is critical in framing students’ capacity to think metalinguistically about their writing and to be autonomous writerly decision-makers

Metalanguage in L1 English-speaking 12-year-olds: which aspects of writing do they talk about?

Traditional psycholinguistic approaches to metalinguistic awareness in L1 learners elicit responses containing metalanguage that demonstrates metalinguistic awareness of pre-determined aspects of language knowledge. This paper, which takes a more ethnographic approach, demonstrates how pupils are able to engage their own focus of metalanguage when reflecting on their everyday learning activities involving written language. What is equally significant is what their metalanguage choices reveal about their understanding and application of written language concepts