Discourse-based Approach Research Articles

Community and identity in environmental activism on Twitter: A discourse-based approach

Online communities play an integral role in understanding environmental activist identities. Using #climatestrikeonline tweets as a case study we discuss the benefits of applying the framework of digital pragmatics (under the umbrella of discourse analysis) to study the repositories of online media texts that share the attributes of both interpersonal and mass communication (Koteyko, Nerlich, and Hellsten 2015). Our analysis draws on two arguments central to discourse-based approaches: (1) that social meanings must be analysed across different modes (e.g., by including visuals) and (2) that analysis of digital artefacts needs to consider both their content features and the contexts in which they emerge. We demonstrate how using digital pragmatics to study networked communication about climate change can help us understand how engagement and collaboration are achieved in online communities of practice.

Teaching and Learning English in the Degree in Infant Education: A Proposal for a Content-Enhanced Syllabus Model

This paper presents a proposal for a content-enhanced syllabus model aimed at teaching and learning English in the Degree in Infant Education. The proposal addresses the challenge of providing meaningful learning opportunities to develop the linguistic and communicative competence of the learners. It acknowledges the limitations of the general needs approach commonly used in coursebook-driven English Language Teaching (ELT) within this specific context. Instead, the proposal considers the future professional needs of the learners. Thus, the main goals of the proposal are to develop the learners' learning-to-learn competence, focusing on learning strategies and self-directed learning resources, while fostering their language awareness, particularly in terms of pronunciation and form-meaning mappings. Additionally, the proposal incorporates a lexical, discourse-based approach that emphasizes the importance of multi-word units in language structure, second language learning, and language use. It prioritizes practices like noticing and cognitive engagement, supported by thinking routines, as well as exposure to relevant and rich input. In this way, the proposed content-enhanced syllabus translates into an instructional design based on validated principles of Second Language Acquisition. It revolves around meaning-focused language tasks, functional activities, and the utilization of authentic multimodal materials. This type of syllabus requires active participation from the learners, encouraging them to take an active role in their own learning process. By implementing this proposal, it is hoped that learners will enhance their linguistic and communicative competence, as well as their ability to learn effectively.

Taking back control: The role of image schemas in the Brexit discourse

Can image schemas sustain the discourse on Brexit while building up emotional and evaluative dimensions in the process? This paper analyzes the embodied meaning used in the Brexit discourse as seen through the lens of the pro-leave newspaper (The Telegraph). By way of a discourse-based approach, the main goal of this study is to show the persuasive role that two recurrent image schemas (CONTAINMENT AND FORCE) play in the characterization of the Brexit discourse, which were used to evoke strong feelings of fear and anger to mobilize readers into taking a defensive position against the EU at the time of the referendum. Regarding the material to be analyzed, a corpus of 43,576 words was compiled, distributed in 34 opinion articles and 13 leading articles, from May 22 to June 22, 2016. The data were analyzed from the perspective of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, where the embodiment of the mind plays a key role. The analysis reveals that the use of the metaphor scenario ‘take back control’, bringing together the use of image schemas and conceptual metaphor, galvanizes the readership’s support against the EU through the use of this realistic formula in a less cognitively demanding manner. The study of image schemas seems to provide an important avenue for understanding the representation of complex political issues such as that of Brexit, underpinned by the use of highly compressed and simple information with a deliberate emotional load.

A discourse-based approach to concessive <em>although</em>-stripping in English

This study investigates concessive stripping in English, a phenomenon where the so-called Stripping or Bare Argument Ellipsis (BAE) occurs in although-clauses. This elliptical construction has at least two sub-patterns: although-stripping and negative although-stripping. Merchant (2003) and Wurmbrand (2017) argue that although-stripping undergoes clausal ellipsis to contribute to the propositional meaning of a remnant, supported by syntactic connectivity effects. However, the corpus data we have identified indicate that connectivity effects can often be overridden. Based on this observation, we suggest a discourse-based approach in which the ellipsis construction is directly generated with no derivational processes and interpreted with reference to the contextual information in question

A corpus-based study on the cognitive construction of security in discourse.

A discourse-based approach to understanding security has been explored in the study of International Relations, yet how other agents rather than the political agents speak to conceptualize the emotive appeal in unconventional security issues is less discussed. This corpus-based cognitive critical discourse study examines security by combining the International Relations' theory of securitization with the proximization approach in Critical Discourse Studies. As a case study, texts concerning Confucius Institutes on the National Association of Scholars' official website from 2014 to 2020 were collected to discuss how the threat is constructed discursively and cognitively for an endeavor to influence the public and the political decision-making process. The corpus was further divided into two sub-corpora in order to expose the difference in their cognitive construction of Confucius Institutes. The findings show that the American academia delivers a bottom-up securitizing move by constructing education security discourse on Confucius Institutes in the initial process, yet later the whole-of-society security narratives interacting with a top-down securitizing move from the political agents have been adopted. As indicated by the corpus statistics, the concerned discourses are discursively constructed by following the "Self-Other" dichotomy security narratives, in which Confucius Institutes are cognitively transformed from an academic issue to a national security issue and legitimized through proximization in the spatial, temporal, and axiological dimensions.

Machismo through the Lens of Film: Changing Perceptions on Gender and Sexuality among Mexican Migrants Living in Sydney

ABSTRACT Machismo is a concept often associated with systemic and social patriarchy in Latin America; nonetheless, it is more pervasive than that. In a broad sense, it entails the exertion of male dominance over others, namely women and other men based on a hypermasculine and heteronormative construction of men as more or less macho/“manly,” and women as either la virgen (virtuous and conservative) or la puta (whore). These binary constructs often impede complexities to surface and thus, discourses used to describe Latin America as machista and Australia as “progressive” need to be considered in the context of the Mexican migratory experience. Through the use of filmic stimuli and a discourse-based approach to identity, the narratives shared by five Mexican migrants living in Sydney elucidate assertions of one social milieu being more liberal than the other and how these are related to perceptions on machismo.

Audio Description from a discourse perspective: a socially relevant framework for research and training

The topic of this paper is Audio Description (AD) for blind and partially sighted people. I will outline a discourse-based approach to AD focussing on the role of mental modelling, local and global coherence, and different types of inferences (explicatures and implicatures). Applying these concepts to AD, I will discuss initial insights and outline questions for empirical research. My main aim is to show that a discourse-based approach to AD can provide an informed framework for research, training and practice.

The discourse-based approach towards the translation of metaphors: ‘Journey’, ‘movement’, and ‘body metaphors’ in translation of the Sesotho novel “Chaka”

In a departure from other studies on metaphor translation, this paper employs the discourse-based approach to examine the procedures employed in translation of metaphors used in the Sesotho novel, Chaka, into English. The findings show that there is an alignment with Newmark’s (1988) framework even though the framework is prescriptive and is based on the traditional view of metaphor as purely linguistic. The substitution of a metaphor with a metaphor is the most frequent procedure. There is also the translation of metaphor into simile, the translation of metaphor into sense and the deletion of metaphor. The factors that determine the procedures are: the existence of metaphors with very close similar semantic and pragmatic functions; the existence of TL metaphors that are based on the same cognitive mappings as the SL metaphors, and closely resemble them; the existence of culture-specific metaphors that can be only be decoded if converted to simile; existence of culture-specific metaphors that may not be decoded even if simile is used and the employment of a metaphor for a rhetorical style that is foreign to TT readers. The use of the procedures creates a text that is idiomatic and generally resembles the ST in message, style and language.

Uncovering conceptual metaphors in Donald Trump’s Twitter before and after the COVID-19 outbreak

Global leaders have addressed the COVID-19 pandemic in various ways and registers well beyond the scientific-technical genre, some of which have been unexpectedly undermined by a war-like undertone broadcast by both the media and social networks (cf. conceptual metaphor as discussed, for example, by Lakoff, & Johnson 1980, and Koller 2011). According to Hartmann-Mahmud (2002), metaphors are often exploited to manipulate emotion and to justify courses of action related, in this case, to a pandemic scenario, thereby potentially fostering the labelling of the virus with lexemes such as an enemy, invisible or hidden, or even as a prompter for war, hatred, prejudice and racism. Particularly interesting for this research paper is the study in progress of the occurrence of metaphors, associated with the pandemic, retrieved from the Twitter of Donald Trump (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump), especially given his reported high engagement with interlocutors in social media (Walther 1992, Crystal 2006, Greengard 2009, Murthy 2013, Baym 2015, Burgess, & Baym 2020). The corpora comprise all original tweets disseminated by Trump in two periods: the first from September 2019 to January 2020; and the latter from February to June 2020. Drawing on corpus linguistics and a discourse-based approach (Baker 2006), it is possible to account for metaphors associated with the lemma COVID in Trump’s Twitter. Research findings indicate 123 occurrences of the lemma virus closely associated with the following lexical items: corona, Covid, China, Chinese, hidden enemy, invisible enemy and war. This study analyses conceptual metaphors in Trump’s communicative strategies throughout the early and mid-stages of the pandemic. Hence, it reflects upon the impact of figurative language in the social construction of meaning, particularly that of leaders’ interactions with citizens and internet followers in real world interactions via social media, which borrows increasingly from online exchanges (Sousa, & Ivanova 2012) more than any other media (for instance international press).

Complementing the Uppsala model? A commentary on Treviño and Doh’s paper “Internationalization of the firm: A discourse-based view”

Since the Uppsala process model was launched 1977, we have seen an extensive amount of research on the internationalization of firms, with the model as a point of departure. Here, we analyze an interesting article published in JIBS by Trevino and Doh, who apply a discourse-based view on the internationalization of the firm. We place their work in the context of the research conducted after the Uppsala model was developed with special reference to the generalizing and singularizing purposes of some typical contributions. We raise issues concerning to what extent the Trevino–Doh article is actually modeling firms’ internationalization process, how a discourse-based approach differs from other studies on a firm’s strategic behavior, and if the cases used by the authors actually contribute to our understanding of the discourse-based methodology.

Reframing (inner) terror: A digital discourse-based approach to evidential repositioning of reader reactions towards visual reframing

The present article claims that the British public opinion’s repositioning towards inner terror after the 2017 Westminster attacks was (i) affected by the visual reframing of an original viral press photograph of the attacks targeting a Muslim passerby as an inner terrorist and (ii) linguistically expressed through the use of ‘look’ object-oriented visual markers of evidentiality in written digital discourse. To support this claim, British readers’ commentaries on a selection of online opinion articles reframing inner terror into terror through the use of reframed press photographs will be taken as the corpus of analysis. The ultimate aim of the article is to unveil the British readers’ reactions to the reframed photographs of the attacks as linguistically expressed through their use of ‘look’ object-oriented repositioning strategies of visual evidentiality in order to analyse the repositioning process.

The Polysemy of Security Community-Building: Toward a “People-Centered” Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)?

AbstractThis article contributes to ongoing debates on security community-building in international relations (IR) by focusing on the productive role of discursive contestation in this process. It builds on recent work associated with the “practice” turn, discourse theory, and the study of security communities in the Global South to propose a new understanding of how the diversification of security governance impacts security community-building. The article develops an original discourse-based approach that conceptualizes security community-building as a polysemic, omnidirectional, and contested process in which social agents debate the meaning of security and the boundaries of community. It applies this approach to the case of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to show how contestation over the organization's identity as a security community “in the making” takes place along two dimensions. First, different (and potentially incompatible) versions of the community compete for dominance. Second, contestation also unfolds “internally,” among social agents who agree on which version ought to prevail. I illustrate this part of the argument through an examination of the debate over ASEAN's identity as a “people-centered” community. The demonstration is supported by the analysis of “texts” enacted in the discursive field where the security community is talked into existence, as well as interviews with practitioners.

Teaching the Infinitive in English: A Discourse Based Approach (ОБУЧЕНИЕ АНГЛИЙСКОМУ ИНФИНИТИВУ: ДИСКУРСИВНЫЙ ПОДХОД)

English Abstract: A range of tense and aspect forms of the infinitive are discourse marked, which means they occur in certain discourse types and add style and register features to the text. The discourse type underlies the choice of a specific infinitive pattern, which should be a subject of language instruction. Certain infinitive patterns combined with other elements constitute discourse features of a given text. A naturally produced coherent text can be regarded as a gestalt, an efficient mode of storing information and knowledge organization, which necessitates a discourse-based approach to teaching the infinitive in English. The present study describes various types of infinitive patterns, specifies related discourse types and points out communicative functions of each infinitive structure, which can pave the way for a discourse-based textbook design aiming enhancement of discourse competence of language learners. Russian Abstract: Ряд видо-временных форм инфинитива и конструкций с ним являются дискурсивно маркированными, то есть употребляются в определенных типах дискурса, привносят стилевые и регистровые особенности в речевое произведение. Тип дискурса может определять выбор той или иной структуры с инфинитивом, что необходимо учитывать при обучении инфинитиву в вузе. Данные структуры, наряду с другими элементами, составляют дискурсивные характеристики соответствующих типов текстов. Естественный целостный текст может быть рассмотрен как гештальт - эффективный способ хранения информации и способ структурирования знаний. Тем самым обусловливается необходимость использования дискурсивного подхода при обучении английскому инфинитиву. В статье приводятся различные типы инфинитивных структур и характерные для них типы дискурсов, анализируются коммуникативные функции каждой структуры, что может лечь в основу дискурсивно-ориентированного пособия по грамматике, призванного развить дискурсивную компетенцию обучающихся.

ПРАГМАТИЧЕСКИЙ ПОТЕНЦИАЛ ДИСКУРСИВНЫХ МАРКЕРОВ

The present article aims to outline the pragmatic functions of discourse markers viewed as language items structuring discourse. This issue requires thorough research not only from the language theory viewpoint but from linguоdidactic, particularly pragmalinguоdidactic, viewpoint as well. We focus on the pragmatic potential of grammatical discourse markers. These are pragmatic idioms, infinitive constructions and tag questions. The results of the material analysis from the 4English corpora (BNC, COCA, NOW, iWeb) enabled to demonstrate the complex of functions that these grammar patterns perform in the discourse: etiquette, motivation for action, reproach, regret etc., they are also characterized by polifunctionality. In addition to grammatical discourse markers, the issue of functional patterns of lexical discourse markers is addressed. As far as they determine the syntactic pattern of a sentence, they can perform grammatical pragmatic function as well. Their meaning is to express the degree of certainty of the speaker about the information given in the utterance. Intentional training of L2 learners in the use of discourse markers patterns enables to maintain the principles of authentic discourse-based approach to teaching a foreign language.

De positie van het Standaardnederlands en tussentaal in Vlaanderen

Abstract The position of Standard Dutch and tussentaal in Flanders: the opinions of adolescents from Tielt In this paper, the results of a perceptions and attitudes study in the West-Flemish town Tielt are reported. Twenty teenagers were subjected to an interview, to gain insight in the way they evaluate intralingual language variation in Flanders and how they judge on the situational appropriateness of this variation. These interviews were analysed by means of a qualitative discourse-based approach. The results show that Standard Dutch is still the superior variety to these teenagers (even though they are not that competent in it), and it is pre-eminently appropriate for more formal situations, which points to the existence of a standard language ideology. At the same time, Standard Dutch is considered an ideal which is hardly ever achieved, and a variety which is unsuitable for everyday informal situations. Tussentaal (lit. ‘in-between language’), on the other hand, is the adolescents’ default language, and is appropriate for everyday situations.

Stagnant Rivers: Transboundary Water Security in South and Southeast Asia

Transboundary rivers are increasingly difficult to govern and often involve issues of national security, territoriality, and competition. In developing countries, the management and governance of these rivers is dominated by a particular decision making group, often comprised of politicians, bureaucrats, and engineers. These groups perpetrate a technocratic paradigm towards the management of transboundary water, with limited genuine international cooperation. The transboundary water situation in South and Southeast Asia is becoming increasingly fraught as the geopolitical context is changing due to China’s increased involvement in regional issues and climate change. With over 780 million people dependent on these rivers, their governance is vital to regional and international stability. Yet, the technocratic management of transboundary rivers persists and is likely to become increasingly unsustainable and inequitable. A discourse-based approach is applied to consider transboundary water governance in the shifting South and Southeast Asian context. The result is an alternative perspective of why governance approaches on transboundary rivers have resisted meaningful reform.

Coherence-Based Automatic Essay Assessment

In this paper, a discourse-based method that merges semantic and syntactic models for automated essay assessment is proposed. The approach combines shallow linguistic features and discourse patterns in order to predict an essay's score by using decision trees regression techniques. Unlike current approaches, our method directly measures an essay coherence by using corpus-based semantics and text centering techniques so as to determine discourse patterns underlying high-quality essays when compared with human assessed essays. Experiments using standard datasets showed that the proposed discourse-based approach outperformed traditional shallow features-based methods.

Understanding the faculty perspectives influencing their innovative practices in MOOCs/SPOCs: a case study

Learning in environments such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and its variations have become a turning point in the design and range of university courses offered, although there is some difficulty in transforming their pedagogical discourse. Additionally, flexible and skillful faculty are required to respond to the diversity and continuous social changes to ensure quality teaching. Understanding the transformations that emerge from the innovative experiences supported by these new learning environments requires an understanding of the faculty who perform them as well as their previous experiences, because it is they who interpret, filter and redefine the proposed changes. Using a pedagogical discourse-based approach, this paper analyzes the backgrounds of the faculty who participate in MOOCs, Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs) or other projects, and interprets the factors that influence their understanding of the practices in these environments. We have found that despite the ignorance of the pedagogical issues of the MOOC phenomenon, faculty with traditional beliefs are compelled to transform their practices using this kind of course design. However, their interests are more focused on the social value of learning by promoting their research areas in an entertaining way, than on the pedagogical value of online education through innovating their practices.

A Comparison of Two Treatment Approaches for Agrammatic Broca's Aphasia: Script Therapy vs. Verb Network Strengthening Treatment

A Comparison of Two Treatment Approaches for Agrammatic Broca's Aphasia: Script Therapy vs. Verb Network Strengthening Treatment

신경망 기반 텍스트 모델링에 있어 순차적 결합 방법의 한계점과 이를 극복하기 위한 담화 기반의 결합 방법

신경망 기반 텍스트 모델링에 있어 순차적 결합 방법의 한계점과 이를 극복하기 위한 담화 기반의 결합 방법