Cognitive Discourse Research Articles

Consciousness in historical-philosophical and cognitive discourse

Consciousness in historical-philosophical and cognitive discourse

The effects of instruction on students’ argumentative scientific writing in a Basque medium of instruction setting

Abstract The present quasi-experimental study explores the effects of instruction on secondary students’ scientific argumentative writing in a Basque medium of instruction program. Secondary students (N = 105) completed written tasks before and after a unit on energy in their science class as part of this investigation. The experimental group (n = 61) additionally took part in three, one-hour sessions focused on scientific argumentation via instruction in cognitive discourse functions (Dalton-Puffer, 2013), while the control group (n = 44) completed the unit on energy without the additional instruction on argumentation. The final corpus of 210 texts was analysed using Toulmin’s Argumentation Pattern (1958). ANOVAs showed that the experimental group’s use of argumentation strategies increased significantly, while the control group’s use of such strategies did not increase. Thus, the results show that instruction on argumentation helps students to write better argumentative compositions. These findings suggest that instruction in the use of Cognitive Discourse Functions allows for academic language learning in bilingual education contexts. The pedagogical implications and future research directions of this study’s findings are discussed.

A Socio-cognitive Discourse Analysis of Expats’ Construction of COVID-19 Pandemic

This study employed socio-cognitive discourse analysis to examine interviews with expatriates in China and explore how their cognitive discourse regarding collectivism amid the COVID-19 pandemic was formed. It revealed that the discursive strategies that the expats adopted to address disparities in values included reframing and de-ideologization. Additionally, the context model was introduced to investigate the process of how the interviewees’ social memories evolved into discourse, further unveiling the significance of intercultural communication elements in context, such as the politeness principle and intercultural ethics.

Precedent texts as linguistic mechanisms for creating an attractive newspaper headline in the Internet media discourse

The article examines newspaper headlines produced using precedent phenomena, and thereby they act as effective linguistic mechanisms for creating media text attractiveness. The research material is comprised of newspaper headlines obtained from the online versions of "Rossiiskaya Gazeta" texts for 2023 and 2024. We used cognitive discourse analysis in conjunction with a comprehensive methodology for examining active processes in language. We assume that headlines convey certain information about the text content and can perform text-forming and evaluative functions. The study analysed the sources of headlines based on precedent phenomena, types of precedent text transformation, functions of using precedent texts to create newspaper headlines in the modern Internet media language. The research shows that precedent text sources in the headings are well-known works of literature and art, phraseological units and proverbs, the so-called catchphrases, other set expressions and clich  es. Structural-semantic, semantic proper, and pragma-semantic models for transforming original precedent texts were identified. The paper also characterises such functions of using precedent text in headlines as the informative, text-forming, persuasive, expressive, evaluative, and attraction functions. We conclude that the considerable persuasive, attractive, and evaluative potential of precedent phenomena in headlines is most often realised in transformed precedent texts. This is associated with the foregrounding of cultural information known to readers due to its link to a specific precedent phenomenon. New information relevant to a particular author in a particular text is superimposed on the familiar cultural information in a figurative, playful form.

ОПЫТНОСТЬ КАК ОДИН ИЗ БАЗОВЫХ ПРИЗНАКОВ КОНЦЕПТОСФЕРЫ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ АНГЛОЯЗЫЧНОГО НАУЧНО-ПОПУЛЯРНОГО ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКОГО ДИСКУРСА)

The article is devoted to the cognitive discourse analysis of the conceptual sphere of the English popular science pedagogical communication. The purpose of the analysis is to study and describe the linguistic representation of expertise as one of the key features of the conceptual sphere. On the material of English popular science pedagogical magazines, it is revealed that in the conceptual sphere of the English popular science pedagogical discourse, the feature of expertise is responsible for providing the audience with empirically defined pedagogical principles and teaching methods. In addition, the feature of expertise shows the expert knowledge and experience as well as serves as a tool for forming a trusting relationship between the professional pedagogical community and its audience. The results of the study show that in the English popular science pedagogical discourse, the feature of expertise is verbalised with the help of such speech mechanisms as so-called formula statements which represent indisputable facts about the way students should be taught; names of official documents testifying to the knowledge of teachers about educational laws; lexemes showing empiricality of information; lexemes indicating the quality and frequency of an action; stylistic enumeration. Key words: discourse, pedagogical communication, conceptual sphere, popular science discourse, popular science pedagogical discourse, the features of a conceptual sphere

Insinuation in a talk show a cognitive discourse analysis

This study examines, from the standpoint of cognitive discourse, the insinuation in a particular American talk show. It attempts to demonstrate how ignorance can impact interpersonal communication. An eclectic model of Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor (1980) and Sharfian's Cultural Cognition (2011) is used to facilitate this. The information is gathered from the You Tube videos of the American talk show called Good Morning America. The process of indirect communication known as insinuation is considered to be carried out in accordance with certain techniques for a variety of goals, one of which is to prevent social embarrassment.

A Critical Cognitive Discourse Analysis of CSIS’s China-related Technological Discourse Based on Proximization Theory

A Critical Cognitive Discourse Analysis of CSIS’s China-related Technological Discourse Based on Proximization Theory

الظواهر الفانتازية في النص المسرحي - قراءة موضوعاتية في نص "من النافذة" لـ "ملحة عبد الله"

This reading undertakes the observation and analysis of fantasy manifestations in the play "From the Window" by Mulha Abdullah, representing a rich and renewed artistic experience in this field. It serves as fertile material for study and research, opening up historical dimensions, human legacies, and diverse cognitive discourses. The style reflects a conscious awareness that portrays reality and unreality as a vibrant material, embodying the external visualization of imaginary worlds, inner embedded feelings, desires, and dreams. The engagement of the audience, breaking expectations, and the use of unreality to expose thought and human phenomena are evident. The reading aims to examine this theatrical product, exploring language, description, character features, temporal and spatial formation, scenery, music, and costumes. It scrutinizes how these elements adhere to the creation of fantasy, regulating the fusion of the expected and unexpected through the dialectics of simplification, exaggeration, and blending reality with dream and symbol. This mechanism can converge with ancient narratives in creating an individual crisis and personal salvation, revealing influential ideologies on the writer and subsequently on the text. The study unveils the level of manifestation of implications and reservations, leading to perspectives on reception and the aesthetics of symbolic dimension in the text. The study demonstrates the effectiveness of thematic reading in the applied context on the written play. This research idea can contribute to applied studies on Saudi theatre.

A Cognitive Discourse Study of the US’s Cognition of China in Sino-American Strategic Competition

A Cognitive Discourse Study of the US’s Cognition of China in Sino-American Strategic Competition

Narratives of geopolitical representation in the discourse of the Russia–Ukraine war

This paper explores the discourse of the Russia–Ukraine war to outline the dominant narrative schemas anchored in the spatial geopolitical representations of globalness and localness. It uses tools from the domains of critical cognitive discourse studies and narrative research (alternative futures, discourse scenarios, deictic space, proximization) to distinguish between two most salient schemas: the Global Conflict Reality (GCR) narrative and the Local Conflict Reality (LCR) narrative. The GCR narrative conceptualizes the Russia–Ukraine war as a growing international conflict, producing serious political, economic and material consequences for the global community. GCR uses coercive rhetoric to call for immediate measures to support Ukraine so the war can be stopped before spreading beyond its current borders. The principal narrator of GCR is Ukraine, though the narrative is re-contextualized in other countries located in geographical proximity to the conflict. The LCR narrative, performed mostly by the Kremlin, construes the war as a local conflict providing no reasons for foreign intervention. LCR is distinctive for its large number of sub-narratives appropriated for different geopolitical audiences, which include the Russian and Ukrainian people, and different audience groups in the West and the Global South. The latter groups re-contextualize the LCR narrative, focusing primarily on economic issues.

Visual art, discourse, and Cognitive Linguistics

Abstract A live-show painting is a unique art experience and more unique is the live-show painting that takes place amid an interaction between the artist and his audience. The discourse taking place consists in an artist who is receiving propositions from his audience while painting. The present study is a cognitive discourse analysis of the interaction artist/audience in line with a semiotic analysis of the content of the resulting painting. Since the resulting painting blends the mental representations of the artist with those of the audience, this live-show painting is framed within a complex conceptual integration network that is a triple-scope rather than a double-scope network. The framework is Gill Fauconnier & Mark Turner’s (2002) Conceptual Blending Theory that fits into the understanding of the interaction artist/audience during the live-show painting. Thus the present study investigates a perceived interface between visual art, discourse, and Cognitive Linguistics.

Building Scientific Knowledge in English: Integrating Content, Cognition and Communication in Secondary School CLIL Biology

Background: The focus of this paper is on Dalton-Puffer’s construct of the Cognitive Discourse Function (cdf) (2013), which offers clil teachers a practical framework through which they can more easily understand the complex idea of integrating the content, cognition, and language required for their subject. These functions have mainly been addressed from classroom observations or task prompts, and little is known about their teachability and effectiveness on students’ content knowledge.
 Purpose: This paper explores whether the cdf of ‘comparing’ (a subcategory of ‘classify’) can be taught to Spanish seventh-grade clil biology students (N = 37) and examines the effect of teaching it explicitly on their written performance.
 Method: An operational framework was developed to define this cdf and an exploratory study was performed in which students were asked to hand in written comparisons. Quantitative and qualitative pre-and post-tests were applied.
 Results: Significant results were obtained for the experimental groups, which improved in both content and language learning, scoring higher on inclusion of content points, justification of their scientific claims, concept formation and use of lexico-grammatical forms.
 Conclusion: These findings add to our understanding of the importance of integrating cognition and language in teaching and learning natural sciences, within which CDFs can be a useful starting point.

CLIL Students’ Academic Language Performance on a Non-curricular Topic: a Comparison Between High-Exposure and Low-Exposure Groups

In Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) contexts, when students are prompted to express content in a second language, they are expected to draw on their knowledge of the topic at hand and use linguistic resources they have learnt implicitly or explicitly in the content and/or language class. In some CLIL programs, while some students study academic subjects like history in the L2, other students study fewer and more practical subjects such as art. This is the case with high-exposure (HE) and low-exposure (LE) groups, respectively, in the Madrid bilingual secondary school programs. Thus, HE students are expected to perform better in the expression of academic content in the L2, but it is not clear if this is also the case when prompted to write about a topic that is not part of their curriculum. In this study, we compare the texts written by groups of CLIL students with different degrees of exposure to English (HE and LE) in response to a prompt on the Women’s Movement (Feminism) eliciting Cognitive Discourse Functions, such as defining or evaluating, among others. The aim of the study was to compare how HE and LE students make specialist-knowledge claims and use their voices in this topic, which they have not been instructed in, across different CDFs. Results show differences both across groups (HE and LE) and across CDFs, showing an advantage for knowledge transfer in the HE group.

Intellectual, spiritual and material structural summit in the poetry of "My Heart" by Sami Awdal

The structure of the text proves its globalization in today’s literature, as its templates and linguistic cords fall into place. The present research revolves around sets of structures—a kind of structuralism—intellectual, spiritual and material structuralism that expands and deepens the scope of research. The intellectual structure at the moment of scrutiny falls into a circle of thought and closed discourse in which the philosophy revolves around each of the neutral ideas that reach the mind of the reader. And the horizons of the idea expand so that it is possible to reach the top of the structure from the prefix and the leading sentence to the last morpheme, from which the resonance of all the discourse units is created. The units struggle for the ability to coexist and the survival of the significance of ideas in that structure. The spiritual structuralism of a cognitive circle turns into a structure with hieroglyphs and imagery, in which the genius of the text writer appears in his choice of words and luminous ideas. Then the intellectual and spiritual cognitive discourse mix so that within a kind of carrier of the ideas of the heavenly text, we create a symbol from which is read national intellectual cognitive knowledge.

Cognitive discourse during a group quiz activity in a blended learning organic chemistry course

Abstract Student-centered approaches are critical to improving outcomes in STEM courses. Collaborative learning, in particular, allows students to co-construct understanding of concepts and refine their skills in analyzing and applying information. For collaborative learning to be effective, groups must engage in productive dialogue. The work reported here characterizes the quality of dialogue during group quizzes in a first-semester organic chemistry course. The group quiz sessions were video and audio recorded. The recordings were transcribed and coded using the Interactive, Constructive, Active, Passive (ICAP) framework. The quiz prompts were analyzed using Marzano’s taxonomy. In this study, students within the group demonstrated varying degrees of interactional quality as defined by the ICAP framework. Our data also indicate that the level of constructive and interactive dialogue is highest and most consistent when prompts are at Marzano Level 3 or higher. Marzano Level 3 prompts required students to compare and contrast concepts or extend their understanding of concepts by developing an analogy. Any benefit derived from collaborative learning depends on the quality of dialogue during the group discussion. Implications of these results for research and teaching are offered.

Can space be conceptualized in a different way in political discourse? An extended application of Discourse Space Theory

Political discourse can be considered as consisting of conflictual discourse and cooperative discourse in view of the relationship between power entities. From the perspective of spatial conceptualization in cognitive discourse analysis, cooperative discourse is supposed to be different from conflictual one in terms of the spatial representation, with Chilton’s Discourse Space Theory, which mainly conceptualizes space as an inside/outside dichotomy, only accounting for the latter instead of the former. This paper attempts to further apply Chilton’s three-dimensional model to involve the alternative way of spatial conceptualization with different kind of construals and to compare the differences of the two types of political discourse in the construction of discourse space. Taking the speeches by two state leaders for the purposes of cooperation and accusation respectively as the cases in point, this paper concludes that cooperative discourse displays an outward-extensive discourse space representation as opposed to the inward-contractive discourse space representation of conflictual discourse. This study contributes to expand the scope of discourse space analysis, which is primarily for antagonistic relations only, to incorporate cooperative relations with an extended application of DST based on alternative ways of spatial conceptualization and an elaboration on the dynamics of its three dimensions, and hence to shed some lights on political discourse studies.

Cross-cultural Communication of Ancient Chinese Astronomical and Calendar from the Perspective of Multimodal Cognitive Discourse Analysis

Cultural soft power plays an increasingly crucial role in the international competition. Therefore, how to effectively spread 24 Solar Terms culture has become one of the main focuses for cultural scholars. The paper is based on the multimodal cognitive analysis, and it interprets the clip video Saying China Festival which enjoys a great popularity in overseas cultural communication. Various modalities including image, colour and sound reflect three levels of 24 Solar Terms culture: material, behavior and spirit levels, shaping the image of ancient Chinese culture through metaphor and metonymy. Relying on the results of the investigations, several practical suggestions of the cross-cultural communication are put forward: First, we ought to make use of the overlapped schemata to reduce the influence caused by the cultural differences, nonverbal modalities could be used frequently. Then, the stimulus of the overseas audience’s recognition of traditional Chinese cultural through emotional mechanisms is also a reasonable choice.

National Speeches on Notable Political Figures

This study highlighted the value and appropriateness of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in the examination of national speeches of political leaders for policy pronouncements. The purpose of this study was to investigate the interplay among power, ideology, and language and the mechanisms deployed in the national discourses of some notable political leaders to capture reality, manipulate, persuade and shape the audience (citizenry) to action. This study underscored the capability of Critical discourse analysis (CDA) to investigate the manner by which social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in the social and political contexts. The study revealed attempts at ideology legitimization and power dominance through the use of cognitive discourses. We are taken through the empowerment ability of discourse in diverse socio-political contexts and how power relies on discourse for multidisciplinary actions that convince the citizenry to acknowledge, sustain and advocate their leaders’ ideologies. The study adopted a conceptual framework and relied on secondary and tertiary sources. The study also made recommendations to scholars on how to adopt discourse-related methodologies to enhance knowledge creation in political addresses. Lastly, the study acknowledged the limitations of the CDA approach.

Qualitative insights and a first evaluation tool for teaching with cognitive discourse function: “comparing” in the CLIL science classroom

In CLIL research, Dalton-Puffer’s recent construct of the Cognitive Discourse Function (CDF) (2013) - a taxonomy of seven cognitively and linguistically defined academic operations (such as “explain” or “define”) - is now gaining increased attention as a useful tool to make the question of integration of language and content more tangible and operational.
 However, little is known about these functions’ specific nature, their teachability, their possible impact on students’ L2 content learning and their assessment. This paper aims to address these questions by focusing on one CDF in the CLIL science context, the CDF of “comparing”, a subtype of “classifying”.
 The objective of this article is twofold. First, it provides a developed account of the CDF of “comparing” based on previous research, illustrated by qualitative insights from a study in which secondary students learned science through an explicitly CDF-based teaching approach, using representative pre- and post-test examples. Second, building on this enhanced understanding of the CDF, it presents an evaluation tool for assessing students’ CDF-based content performance.
 The discussion compares this analysis with previous research and outlines the advantages of an explicit CDF-teaching approach to help students significantly display their subject contents in a more complete, precise, and explicit way.

CLIL students’ production of cognitive discourse functions: comparing Finnish and Spanish contexts

This article presents findings from an empirical study in which we investigated Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) students’ linguistic resources in the L2 (English) to convey different Cognitive Discourse Functions (Dalton-Puffer 2013; 2016)—Describe, Compare (Categorize), Report, Evaluate and Explore—in two different contexts. The participants were primary school students (grade 6) participating in CLIL programs in Finland and Spain. To allow comparison, two sets of data were obtained by asking the students to write in response to a similar prompt in the area of social science (History in the Spanish context and Geography in the Finnish context). We compared the frequency of the Cognitive Discourse Functions (CDFs) produced, and the fluency and complexity of students’ realizations of CDFs, using tools of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The results reveal similarities across contexts in the frequency and extension of some of the CDFs produced, and differences in terms of CDF complexity, measured in students’ use of clause complexes, Appraisal resources and complex nominal groups to express different CDFs.