Socio-cognitive Approach Research Articles

On rhetorical appeals: Emotionalization and politicization of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine ‘Sputnik V’ in the American and Russian news discourse

The relations between language and politics in Covid-19 coverage have become significant issues following the rise of Chinese Covid-19 cases in 2022. The study aims to investigate specific rhetorical appeals and language means that were used by journalists to manipulate public opinion and propagate certain ideology in the American and Russian online news discourse. The study employed a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research techniques. It used computer-assisted content analysis, rhetorical analysis, and van Dijk’s sociocognitive approach to CDA to identify and describe biased representations of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine ‘Sputnik V’ in 307 Internet news text. The content analysis revealed frequent mentions of politicians and political institutions in the American and Russian coverage of ‘Sputnik V’. The rhetorical and discourse analyses expose similarities in the use of rhetorical appeals and language means. The study concludes that the coverage of ‘Sputnik V’ was highly emotionalized and politicized both in American and Russian media. The journalists utilized the ideologically loaded language and rhetorical appeals to disguise their biased opinions and create a distorted image of ‘Sputnik V’ in the online news coverage. The study also provides implications for the development of ESL and EFL courses to enhance students’ reading comprehension skills.

Formalising social representation to explain psychiatric symptoms.

Recent work in social cognition has moved beyond a focus on how people process social rewards to examine how healthy people represent other agents and how this is altered in psychiatric disorders. However, formal modelling of social representation has not kept pace with these changes, impeding our understanding of how core aspects of social cognition function, and fail, in psychopathology. Here, we suggest that belief-based computational models provide a basis for an integrated sociocognitive approach to psychiatry, with the potential to address important but unexamined pathologies of social representation, such as maladaptive schemas and illusory social agents.

Developing a research instrument to record pre-school teachers’ beliefs about teaching practices in natural sciences

In the last 30 years, 4 distinct theoretical approaches have been described for early childhood science education. The approaches are, empiricist, Piagetian, socio-cognitive and socio-cultural. Drawing on the differences among these approaches regarding the theoretical framework adopted in teaching, the role that is assigned to the teacher during the activity and the actions that are expected from the children, we aimed to serve 2 purposes with this research. Firstly, to elicit the in-service pre-school teachers’ beliefs about teaching practices for natural sciences and to record the approaches that these beliefs match. To fulfil this purpose, a new instrument was developed. Secondly, to examine the instrument’s validity and reliability. The participants in the study were 94 pre-school teachers who served in public schools in 2 prefectures in Greece. Research findings suggest that pre-school teachers tend to state that they mainly adopt practices that fit the empiricist approach while practices that fit the socio-cognitive approach are not used so often. Finally, they seem to rarely follow practices that fit the socio-cultural and Piagetian approaches.

Identifying Racism and Racial Stereotypes in Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park

The study aims to identify racism and racial stereotype in text structure, social cognition, and social context of Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park. The study uses qualitative descriptive design and conducts Teun A. van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach to analyze words, phrases and sentences which contain racism and racial stereotype in Eleanor & Park. The result shows that racism in Eleanor and Park novel are in the form of implicit, explicit, internalized racism, and fetishism of Asian. The racial stereotypes in the novel are the stereotypes of Asian physical features, namely the description of a short body, slanted eyes, weak and helpless appearances, and also the use of the word "doll" to describe Asian women. The cause of racism and racial stereotypes in the novel are triggered by the inequality of access and power, lack of awareness about racial issues faced by Asian communities in western countries, and the development of the term "Model Minority" which makes an illusion that Asian community are privileged.

Psychedelic discourses: A qualitative study of discussions in a Danish online forum

This study focuses on user-perspectives related to norms, beliefs and practices concerning psychedelic substances as they are articulated in a Danish online forum. The study combines an interest in online drug research with a focus on discourse analysis to account for the dialectical relationship between individual and shared knowledge regarding the use and meaning of psychedelics. A total of 1,865 posts from 154 threads of online discussion were coded and analyzed thematically, inspired by a socio-cognitive approach to the study of discourse. All topics were arranged into 54 categories which were further analyzed to map recurring patterns in the construction of meaning resulting in a limited number of dominant discourses. Five dominant discourses were identified: the recreational, the therapeutic, the spiritual, the scientific and the performance discourse. We suggest that these discourses can be seen as the available frameworks which forum users draw upon and reproduce when they describe, discuss, and negotiate their understandings and uses of psychedelics. This study demonstrates the importance of having a nuanced approach to user perceptions. Future drug policy and practice development should take these nuances into account and expect significant variation in the motives and modalities of the use of psychedelics.

Discourse Analysis Approach and Its Use In The Investigation Of Social Injustice in Text Representation

Discourse analysis is one of the methods of conducting research in social sciences, especially communication science. This paper describes approaches to conducting discourse analysis. The author collects data by conducting a literature review of publications or works of scholars in the field of discourse studies, especially Dijk, Halliday, and Fairclough. The author describes six approaches: The disposition Analysis Approach, Sociocognitive Approach, Discourse-History Approach, Dialectic-Relational Approach, Language Corpus Approach, and Social Actor Approach. Uses of Critical Discourse Analysis. The discourse analysis approach dismantles the practice of power in communication activities through the media. We illustrates that there are challenges for researchers and scholars related to the presence of new technologies, whether the presence of these new media provides an opportunity to create a counter-discourse or a small narrative or not. The new communication media provides breadth for the audience to produce many channels in producing and distributing discourse so that certain groups do not dominate the discourse. Traditional media has so far created a dominant discourse because of the accessibility of the media to the media structure so that the discourse supports the interests of the media. The presence of digital communication platforms enables small narratives, facilitating a culture of participation in media content

Alcoholic herbal sex drinks and the construction of masculinities in Nigeria

Extant works on masculinities have focused on their differential patterns in Nigeria. However, none of these studies has examined how masculinities are constructed through the metaphorical representation of alcoholic herbal sex drinks and their functions. Drawing insights from Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor theory, Forceville’s visual metaphor and van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach to ideology to analyze the names together with verbo-visual conceptualization of alcoholic herbal sex drinks, this paper discusses some of the subcultural ideologies that delineate masculinities among the manufacturers, sellers, and consumers of these drinks in southwestern Nigeria. Analysis of the data reveals the construction of masculinities by this group in terms of the territorial and subordinating sexual status of the male. Also, the male sex organ and muscular male body are conceptualized by this group as sexual weapons, controllers of the female sexual satisfaction, and the cleaning agents for vagina. The paper concludes that these drinks and the associated sexual beliefs reflect some of the trending subcultural ideologies that discursively shape the construction of masculinities in Nigeria.

Do underprivileged youth find hope, sense of community, and perceived social support in computational participation? A socio-cognitive approach to computational learning

Do underprivileged youth find hope, sense of community, and perceived social support in computational participation? A socio-cognitive approach to computational learning

Critical Discourse Analysis of Trauma Bonding in Female Victims of Intimate Partner Abuse: A Phenomenological Constructivist Approach

Purpose: Intimate partner abuse is a socially prevalent issue across cultures. Despite establishing survivor institutes and anti-domestic violence NGOs, the voices of battered women have not yet reached the legal governmental policies. Recent research on IPA indicates that women remain chained to the dangerously controlled and maintained relationship despite its social and psychological repercussions. Exitance of Intimate Partner Abuse has been seen through the lens of criminal activity. Therefore, the perpetuation of IPA is linked to the psychotic and criminal intentions of the perpetrator (Gibbs et al., 2018). Empirical evidence suggests that there is a dearth of data to highlight the female voice on the domestic violence issue.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: The research design focuses of critically deconstructing the labels, reinforces identities and professed believes mentioned in the article to identify the meaning and motive behind them. This study is built on the socio-cognitive approach to understand the cognitive link between the societal ideals and the way they shape the thought process of the victim in choosing their reaction towards abuse.
 Findings: The findings suggest that the co-existence of these contributing factors create trauma bonding in victims that forces them to stay in abusive relationships.
 Implications/Originality/Value: This study explores recently published newspaper articles on Domestic Violence portraying Intimate partner abuse to analyses discursive elements used to discuss the issue in the light of varying psychological, emotional and socioeconomical backgrounds.

Generation Z’s Perceptions of The Malay Language in The Industrial Revolution 4.0 Era: A Sociocognitive Analysis

Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) which emphasizes on Science and Technology and the need to master these fields in English is seen to have an impact on the perceptions of Generation Z (Gen Z) towards Malay language. Therefore, this study aims to identify and analyse the levels of perception towards Malay language among Generation Z, who are born and grew up in this era. Data was obtained from 660 respondents through a survey conducted through Google Form. The respondents consisted of the Generation Z throughout Malaysia who received invitations based on the set criteria, including urban, suburban and rural groups. The research instrument developed specifically for this study has a high level of validity and reliability, which is ? = .75 to ? = .91. Data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 25.0. This study utilizes Sociocognitive Theory and the sociocognitive approach to describe the relationship between social background and the levels of perception of the Malay language among Gen Z. In general, this study found that only 14.0% of Gen Z have a positive perception and 13.0% have a highly positive perception of the Malay language. While 56.0% of Gen Z in this study had a negative perception and 17.0% had a highly negative perception of the Malay language.

DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES OF IDEOLOGICAL REPRESENTATIONS IN POLITICAL SPEECHES: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF SELECTED SPEECHES OF KWAME NKRUMAH

To win political power, political actors sometimes adopt linguistic and rhetorical strategies that enable them to communicate effectively with their audience. This makes the study of the language of politics an interesting academic exercise. This study, therefore, attempted a critical discourse analysis of selected speeches of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to investigate the role of language in creating ideology and sustaining power as well as ideological discursive structures in political speeches. The study specifically investigated linguistic expressions which carry these ideological colourations in the speeches under review. The study employed the qualitative research approach and textual analysis as the design. The purposive sampling method was used to select five speeches of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, and the analysis was done thematically. The study employed the theoretical frameworks of Fairclough’s CDA and Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach to analyse the speeches. The study revealed that the ideologies were carried out through these discursive structures: evidentiality, pronouns, agency, metaphor, intertextuality, rhetorical question, and strong modal of obligation. The study further revealed that the discursive structures produce and sustain power and unequal power relations between Nkrumah and his audience. The study afforded much evidence to conclude that politics is a game that can be successfully played through a skillful deployment of language. The study, therefore, concludes that the speeches that were analysed were used as a means of establishing, maintaining, and sustaining power and asymmetrical power relations.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0261/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

The philosophical concept of G.G. Shpet in the paradigm of the socio-cognitive approach

The philosophical concept of G.G. Shpet in the paradigm of the socio-cognitive approach

Endangered Languages: A Sociocognitive Approach to Language Death, Identity Loss, and Preservation in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Summary Sociolinguists suggest language death entails significant cultural, personal, and ecological loss. Socio-cultural and socio-political factors exacerbate language erosion and encourage supplantation by another more dominant language. Hence, we ask: what are the sociocognitive principles which make language death hurtful and symbolic? Within this article, we attempt to outline a sociocognitive account of language death, situating the Hallidayan perspective of language as a “social-semiotic” system alongside a Cognitive Linguistic approach. We further contextualise language as inseparable from culture, drawing insight from the sociological thought of Bourdieu. We contend that language death entails psychological trauma, representing the destruction of cultural genealogy and the loss of knowledge intrinsic to personal self-imagery and identity. To this end, we present a case study of the Māori languaculture in Aotearoa (New Zealand), tracing the impact of colonialism and marginalisation to current efforts and ambitions to ensure the languacultural survival of Māori and reclaim space in Aotearoa as a respected knowledge system and means of expression, particularly in the socio-technical age of artificial intelligence (AI) and the Web. We argue that our analysis bodes practical implications for language maintenance and revitalisation, concluding that sociolinguistic practitioners should consider a socio-cognitivist as well as socio-technical paradigm for language intervention. In closing, we discuss leveraging AI technologies towards language heritage, archival, and preservation to limit the destructive impact of the death of a language.

Social value, normative features and gender differences associated with speeding and compliance with speed limits

Introduction: Among risky driving behaviors, speeding is a main causal and aggravating factor of road crashes and is more frequent among males than females. Research suggests that this gender gap could be explained by gender social norms that lead males to assign more social value to speeding than females. However, few studies have proposed directly investigating gendered prescriptive norms associated with speeding. We propose to address this gap through two studies based on the socio-cognitive approach to social norms of judgment. Methods: Study 1 (N = 128, within-subject design) investigated the extent to which speeding is subject to social valuation among males, compared to females, through a self-presentation task. Study 2 (N = 885, between-subject design) aimed to identify the dimension of social value (i.e., social desirability, social utility) that both genders associate with speeding, based on a judgment task. Results and conclusion: Although results of study 1 indicate that both genders devaluate speeding and valuate speed limits compliance, we found that males do so to a lesser extent than females. Results of study 2 further suggest that males less valuate speed limit compliance than females on the social desirability dimension, while no gender difference were found in valuation of speeding on both dimensions of social value. Regardless of gender, results also indicate that speeding is valued more on the social utility than on the social desirability dimension, while speed limit compliance is valued similarly on both dimensions. Practical applications: Road safety campaigns toward males could benefit to focus more on enhancing the representations of speed compliant drivers, in terms of social desirability, than devaluing the representation of speeding drivers.

Critical Discourse Analysis in EFL Teaching: A Sociocognitive Perspective

EFL learners are often taught English in college mainly for academic purposes. They focus their efforts on improving their language skills with limited, if any, attention to the critical aspects of language use. This study attempted to examine EFL learners’ capacity to critically evaluate news and information about world events. A focus group discussion was conducted to explore EFL learners’ perceptions of fake news, revealing that their reading skills lacked a critical lens. A training program on critical discourse analysis skills was designed. The training utilized a worksheet based on van Dijk’s sociocognitive approach to critical discourse analysis and included three workshops. Every workshop introduced two fake news stories from social media to be evaluated using the worksheet, starting with the native language before working on English texts. The participants showed a considerable level of improvement in using critical discourse analysis skills to approach news on social media. They developed awareness of their roles as members of society in effecting a positive change. They also realized the power of language to critically evaluate and judge world events.

Psychological & linguistic approaches to language acquisition

Language acquisition research experienced a boom following the Chomskyian revolution. The focus of attention centred primarily on the English child's acquisition of syntax. In the seventies, the range of problem areas in language acquisition began to diversify and alternative perspectives (non-nativist) on how the child acquires language beganto emerge. It is argued that socio-cognitive approaches to language acquisition, though providing an important prerequisite for the acquisition of linguistic structure, cannot themselves account for the acquisition of the complex mapping relation between grammar and meaning that is required for full-blooded linguistic communication. Recenttrends in language acquisition research including Learnability theory, Individual differences and Cross-linguistic approaches are reviewed. The article concludes with speculation about the future role of non-nativist approaches in language acquisition research. Although much current detailed work would seem to point to the existence of a Language Acquisition Device that is specifically tuned to the processing of linguistic information, it is premature to conclude that amore general cognitive learning mechanism that is able to account for both universal and particular properties of linguistic development, cannot provide a more parsimonious explanation of acquisition.

The global north and the global south negotiations of power: a literary discourse study of Angola’s Agualusa and Ondjaki

ABSTRACT Over the centuries, the contact zones of transculturation moved from colonised land to Portuguese soil and again to that of the former colonised. Power structures are diffuse as Angola again becomes a site of ‘co-presence, interaction understandings and practices within hierarchised systems of dominance’, although Portugal no longer is a colonial power. Mapping transformed relationships by using a literary analysis and the sociocognitive approach within critical discourse analysis, this paper explores four literary works by Angolan authors José Eduardo Agualusa and Ondjaki as well as six related academic articles Through text analysis, this paper explores global south/north negotiations of power and hierarchy in the literary works of Agualusa and Ondjaki and in the academic scholarship, six articles, focusing on their work. It explores how both fictional and academic texts metaphorically, or quite literally, encourage the colonisers to leave their former colonies – the settlers ought to set sail – in effect turning these texts into acts of subversion aimed at a normative global north academic context and readership.

Translation-Adaptation and Transcreation in Netflix English Epi-titles and their Arabic Equivalents (2016-2021): A Pragmatic, Socio-cultural and Socio-cognitive Approach

Translation-Adaptation and Transcreation in Netflix English Epi-titles and their Arabic Equivalents (2016-2021): A Pragmatic, Socio-cultural and Socio-cognitive Approach

Women's Rape in Iraq between Legislation and Social Norms: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Recently, women's rape has been a pervasive problem in the Iraqi society. Thus, it has become necessary to consider the role of language and its influence on the common beliefs and opinions about rape in the Iraqi society. Thus, taking into consideration the critical role of language and its impact on the perception of human reality and the social development based on people's beliefs and principles of life has become highly indispensable. Therefore. The aim of this article is to address this problem critically from legislation and social norms in NGOs' reports (2015; 2019) with reference to some provisions from the Iraqi Panel Code (1969; 2010). Therefore, the researchers examine the discursive strategies and ideological viewpoints in the selected data through the employment of critical discourse analysis. Specifically, the researchers have adopted van Dijk's (2011) socio-cognitive approach and van Dijk's (2000) ideological model to show how language produces and reproduces domination and abuse of power, engendering as a result injustice and inequality. The study has concluded that the NGOs' reports are written in a language that reflects the attitudes and opinions which might be shared among group members. These reports rely heavily on the linguistic device that is of evidentiality to assure the credibility of giving evidence about the domination of social norms in relation to women's rape. More importantly, the dichotomy of positive and negative representation is highly adopted as an ideological strategy, showing the conflict between the legislation and social norms. Therefore, the study has recommended that the government in its legal institutions should provide provisions to protect the raped women from society and from their families.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of a Selected Non-Governmental Organizations’ Report on Violence against Women in Iraq

Violence against women stands as one of the most dominant human rights violations. There are no social, economic, or national boundaries when it comes to violence against women. It is estimated that one in three women in the world will experience physical or sexual abuse at some point in their lives. Several non-governmental organizations’ reports have addressed the problem of violence against women in Iraq. Thus; the current study provides a critical analysis of the discursive techniques that are employed in the non-governmental organizations’ reports to show how Iraqi women are abused and subject to violence. Consequently; this study focuses on the linguistic and ideological underpinnings of a selected text on violence against women in Iraq. It attempts to show how language produces and maintains domination and abuse of power, engendering injustice, inequality, and ideological viewpoints. To answer this, the researchers draw upon van Dijk’s (2011) socio-cognitive approach and (2000) ideological analysis. The findings of the study have revealed that the non-governmental organizations’ report attempts to reflect the ideological position of the non-governmental organizations towards the Iraqi government, which declared its rejection of violence against women through its constitution and Panel Code. Despite this, the researchers have found that there is no actual adoption of these provisions in reality in its social context. Accordingly; the report has depended heavily on authority and evidentiality to show power relations and through the construction of reality based on societal perspectives. Using the linguistic and discoursal strategies employed in the analysis; the researchers have found that the report has materialized a negative attitude towards the government and society by referring to the power dominance which is exercised by social groups.