Common Ground For Communication Research Articles

CULTURAL CONTENT ANALYSIS ON GOVERNMENT-ISSUED ENGLISH LEARNING TEXTBOOKS

In today’s world, the English language is seen as the international language for its world-wide use in all aspects of life. The language thus becomes the medium in bridging communication gaps between countries by providing a common ground for communication. To cater to the need of human resources with intercultural communicative competence (ICC), the government in Indonesia has issued textbooks for English learning for middle school students. In Indonesian national curriculum, English language is first formally learned in middle school, where the students are at the age of shaping their own ideology and values, which could also come from learning. This study examines the English textbooks issued by the government by analyzing their cultural content. The cultural elements are examined and divided into three components using the framework from Yuen’s cultural elements, a modified version of Cortazzi and Jin’s cultural aspects by Tazeddin & Teimournezhad, and Gomez Rodriguez’s surface culture and deep culture. The results show that the cultural content is disproportionate, and it might lead to the failure of creating ICC learners as it dismisses other aspects and elements of culture that are important in nurturing ICC.

Today’s Internet as Research Object: Towards Setting a Common Ground for Internet Studies

This paper focuses on the current status of the Internet as the research object of Internet Studies, and addresses the multiplicity and variety of terminology, scientific assumptions, perspectives and approaches that currently characterize this scientific field. This multiplicity and variety is undoubtedly a valuable asset, but it can also be an obstacle to collaboration and scientific debate. Therefore, we argue that a clarification of the research object and the terminology used to describe it is needed in order to set a common ground for researchers to develop their work upon, thus consolidating this scientific field and promoting communication, collaboration and synergy. Firstly, we consider a literature review of the research within Internet Studies as departure point to identify different (and often contradictory) perspectives on the evolution of the Internet and its current status. Next, we take other theoretical models regarding scientific positioning, assumptions and terminology within the social sciences as grounding for an interpretative reflection and theoretical development, from which results our proposal of a theoretical model that organizes the different perspectives on the contemporary internet in four categories. We hope to contribute to the theoretical development and consolidation of Internet Studies by emphasizing similarities and differences between theoretical positions, assumptions and concepts in our model, thus maintaining the richness and diversity of the field while setting a common ground for communication, debate and collaborative research.

Liver trauma classification

The present paper analyses the issue of liver trauma classification. Liver trauma classification is useful for many reasons and in particular because it establishes a common ground of communication with other specializations. The most significant attempts to classify liver trauma are presented, i.e. a) liver trauma classification according to the trauma mechanism. b) liver trauma classification based on anatomical segmentation according to Couinaud [1] and the surgery required [2] proposed in 1990. c) liver trauma classification based on vascular damage [3] proposed in 1994, and d) imaging classification of liver trauma proposed by Mirvis et al in 1989 [4]. The paper focuses in particular on the detailed presentation of the classification proposed by Moore et al in 1989 [5], as revised in 1994 by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST). This classification is based on anatomical criteria that define the precise damage to the hepatic parenchyma and includes six grades of injury that are presented in detail. The paper concludes that the classification proposed by Moore et al, as revised in 1994 by the AAST, meets most of the criteria for a correct classification system making it today the most accepted and most common point of reference for all surgeons.

Using the MACS to facilitate communication about manual abilities of children with cerebral palsy

The heterogenity of disorders covered by the term cerebral palsy (CP) may severely hinder communication between families on the one hand and health professionals, such as physiotherapists, paediatricians, and occupational therapists on the other. Common ground for communication about the child with CP is crucial for aspects such as diagnosis, treatment, care, management, and research. In his later work, Ludwig Wittgenstein introduced the concept of ‘language games’ ( Sprachspiele ) to underline that our use of language is permanently governed by rules, but not always by the same rules. On a daily basis we are involved in a large number of ‘language games’, where confusion and misunderstanding usually arise when a statement in one ‘language game’ is interpreted according to the rules of another. Speaking the same language, i.e. being engaged in the same ‘language game’ was one of the primary goals in the development of the Gross Motor Function Classification System, the recent redefinition of CP, as well as the recent development of the Manual Ability Classification System (MACS; also see Morris et al. p 950). This commentary focusses on the communication aspect of the MACS.

Women, Water and Cleaning Agents

Advertising tends to conform to buyers’ sets of values in order to establish a common ground for communication and persuasion, thus fostering the replication of cultural habits. A number of such habits are of special interest to translators, since they are so well-rooted in our consciousness and taken as universal that their culture-specific nature might be overlooked. In particular, a superficial translation of advertising texts centred upon such ‘hidden’ stereotypes might result in marketing disaster. Translators should therefore make sure that they activate their cultural mediation resources as well as their linguistic skills when working on advertising texts. A useful practice in this regard is to undertake an in-depth and critical review of a recent corpus of advertisements in the target language/culture. A comparative analysis of several corpora from different cultural areas might provide an even better understanding of stereotypes and reveal their relative, culture-specific nature. This paper offers a pilot analysis of British, Italian and Russian advertisements for cleaning products and investigates the cultural stereotype of cleanliness emerging from them, highlighting culture-specific traits and commenting on their possible origin.

The Standards Department and Its Relationships to the IEEE Standards Process

THE PROCESS of developing voluntary electrical standards is one of the outstanding activities of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. The resulting IEEE standards give long-lasting and widespread benefits to Society members, and this is perhaps most evident in the Society's ``Color Book'' series. The Society standards activity also provides a significant service to other members of the IEEE. For instance, ten percent of all income from IEEE standards document sales in recent years has come from IAS standards [1]. This income production is ahead of the collective standards produced by any other IEEE society. (IEEE standards document sales in 1984 alone totalled $1.8 million.) As described in the IEEE Standards Manual [2], an IEEE standard represents a consensus of all interests concerned with the scope of the standard, provides a common ground for communication among those using the standard, and gives an authoritative reference to the state of technology. Each existing IEEE standard must be kept up to date by means of mandatory review at least every five years. The IEEE is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and IEEE standards are routinely submitted to ANSI for adoption as American National Standards.