Social representation of gender in award-winner short films in Spain

The decrease in costs of digital technology and the spread of the Internet has increased the number of filmmakers who can produce a short film, thus changing hegemonies in audiovisual discourse production. In this study we have examined 50 short films to analyze the social representation of gender and identify the main discoursive lines of filmmakers about men and women roles. To this end, we followed the methodological framework proposed by Van Leeuwen (2008) about the representation of social actors. We have identified the latent ideological characteristics in discourse construction that reflect the major gender representations of the current directors of short films.Acevedo Caradeux, DL.; Gil Salom, ML. (2013). Social representation of gender in award-winner short films in Spain. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences. 95:126-135. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.631S1261359

Combinaciones Léxicas en el Inglés de la Tecnología.

A part of corpus-based research has centered on the exploration of lexical phrases (Sinclair 1991; Gledhill 2000a, 2000b; Stubbs 2002) and has presented language as a series of choices determined by the context in which it is employed. Native speakers use recurrent lexico-grammatical patterns when communicating in particular registers. This is especially relevant in scientific academic discourse, where the conventions of genres are interwoven with their linguistic realisations. Following Sinclair (1991: 170), a collocation is defined as “the occurrence of two or more words within a spot of space of each other in a text”. The restrictive character of collocations is basically determined by their repetitive use, which makes word combinations more arbitrary than predictable. This is particularly evident when we try to translate these combinations into other languages. Benson et al. (1986) suggest that collocations are halfway between fixed expressions and free combinations of words. They are co-occurrent groups of words that present a certain degree of stability, although they are not completely lexicalised. Collocations can be situated along a scale or continuum limited by free combinations of words at one end and fixed expressions at the other. The study of collocational patterns has direct pedagogical applications. Learners are not usually taught collocations explicitly. However, we believe that the acquisition of phraseological competence is necessary for effective and precise communication. In the area of English language teaching, the works of Howarth (1993, 1996), Oakey (2002) and Tribble (1990, 2002) point out the importance of collocations in academic writing. Other studies propose the teaching of grammar prioritising the behaviour of individual lexical units (or pattern grammar), i.e. taking account of the lexical patterns of a given register (cf. Hunston 1995, 2002). The aim of this paper is to explore the collocational patterns of three semitechnical and specialised words used in a corpus of 54 engineering research articles in the fields of computing, robotics and nanotechnology: robot, performance and lattice. The analysis shows that, although these words can be found in general English, their collocates contribute to restrict and precise their meaning in a specialised corpus. Making learners aware of these patterns should arouse their consciousness of the use of language in specialized contexts and help them to improve their academic writing as regards accuracy and fluency

Programa Genérico de Evaluación

Se presenta un programa multimedia flexible para la gestión de una base de datos de conocimiento orientada a la (auto)evaluación. Se puede utilizar tanto en entorno de red como doméstico. Los contenidos multimedia son desarrollados mediante herramientas externas. Estos contenidos son referenciados desde la BD de conocimiento, pero no incluidos en ella. Soporta contextos sobre los que pueden realizarse preguntas y respuestas en diferentes medios, grados de dificultad y tipos (test, huecos, asociación,...). También jerarquiza los temas teóricos, asocia preguntas a contenidos teóricos multimedia y facilita la gestión del conocimiento por parte del profesor. Está abierto a cualquier tipo de docencia y nivel

Writer's positioning in literature reviews in English and Spanish computing doctoral theses

Making appropriate reference to other texts is an essential feature of successful academic writing (Hyland, 2000; Myers, 1990). Writers are expected to integrate others' ideas into their arguments to indicate what is already known about the area of study of the discipline, or to point out weaknesses, aligning themselves with a particular disciplinary framework (Thompson & Tribble, 2001). Literature reviews (LRs) of PhD theses provide support for the writer's position and show the novelty of her/his work. This study analysed the resources of evaluation at both rhetorical and linguistic levels used by the writers of 20 PhD LRs in computing in English and Spanish. The data reveal that the Spanish and the English PhD LRs have a similar rhetorical structure. However, the English writers use more strategies for the development of each move than the Spanish writers. Attitude markers are the most usual devices doctoral writers use to express opinion in both sets. Epistemic modality and a variety of discourse-based markers are typically found in the English LRs while the Spanish LRs seem to rely mainly on adversatives and certainty markers. Differences respond partly to individual writing styles, but also reflect rhetorical variation in the relationship with the audience. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reservedGil Salom, ML.; Soler Monreal, C. (2014). Writer's positioning in literature reviews in English and Spanish computing doctoral theses. Journal of English for Academic Purposes. 16:23-39. doi:10.1016/j.jeap.2014.08.002S23391

A contrastive study of the rhetorical organisation of English and Spanish PhD thesis introductions

This paper presents an analysis of the introductory sections of a corpus of 20 doctoral theses on computing written in Spanish and in English. Our aim was to ascertain whether the theses, produced within the same scientific-technological area but by authors from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, employed the same rhetorical strategies to introduce the work presented. The analysis follows the Swalesian approach and is based on a move/step/sub-step model proposed for PhD introductions in Spanish (Carbonell-Olivares, Gil-Salom, & Soler-Monreal, 2009). The Spanish academic conventions appear to be that move 1 (M1- Establishing the Territory) and move 3 (M3- Occupying the Niche) are obligatory moves in PhD thesis introductions in Spanish, while move 2 (M2- Establishing the Niche) is optional. The structure of English thesis introductions reveals that they conform more closely to the M1-M2-M3 arrangement. Moreover, combinations of moves and patterns, cyclicity and embedding make their organisation more complex. The step analysis suggests that introductions in both languages rely mainly on the presentation of background information and the work carried out. However, the English introductions tend to stress the writer's own work, its originality and its contribution to the field of study. They also present more embedding and overlapping of steps and sub-steps than the Spanish texts. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.Soler Monreal, C.; Carbonell Olivares, MS.; Gil Salom, ML. (2011). A contrastive study of the rhetorical organisation of English and Spanish PhD thesis introductions. English for Specific Purposes. 30(1):4-17. doi:10.1016/j.esp.2010.04.005S41730

Discourse Analysis and Terminology in Languages for Specific Purposes

Aquest importantíssim recull conté estudis i reflexions sobre temes rellevants en la recerca sobre LSP: anglès mèdic, el llenguatge de la publicitat i periodístic, telecomunicacions i terminologia informàtica, llenguatge comercial i jurídic... Malgrat que gran part dels treballs aplegats es refereixen a l'anglès, també hi ha que tracten l'alemany, francès i altres llengües. Conté textos en anglès, francés, portuguès i castellà

El discurso de la ciencia y la tecnología: el artículo científico de investigación vs. el artículo de divulgación científica

El articulo analiza el discurso de la ciencia y la tecnología a través del estudio de los modelos de organización discursiva de dos géneros o tipos de textos distintos: el articulo científico de investigación y el articulo de divulgación científica. En nuestro análisis del discurso de la ciencia y la tecnología partimos, por un lado, del enfoque sociológico de la ciencia y, por otro, de aspectos discursivos como son las convenciones científicas y el uso del metadiscurso en la prosa científica. El articulo presenta asimismo una revisión exhaustiva de los orígenes y desarrollo de los dos géneros citados

El discurso de la ciencia y la tecnología: el artículo científico de investigación vs. el artículo de divulgación científica

El articulo analiza el discurso de la ciencia y la tecnología a través del estudio de los modelos de organización discursiva de dos géneros o tipos de textos distintos: el articulo científico de investigación y el articulo de divulgación científica. En nuestro análisis del discurso de la ciencia y la tecnología partimos, por un lado, del enfoque sociológico de la ciencia y, por otro, de aspectos discursivos como son las convenciones científicas y el uso del metadiscurso en la prosa científica. El articulo presenta asimismo una revisión exhaustiva de los orígenes y desarrollo de los dos géneros citados

Review of "Interpersonality in Legal Genres"

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