Subject Discourse Research Articles

Strategie discorsive in spagnolo L1 ed L2 a confronto: un’indagine su corpora dialogici

According to previous studies on L1 Italian and Spanish, speakers prefer different pragmatic strategies and adopt specific pragmatic patterns to express their attention to the interlocutor. This study deals with communicative strategies used in dialogic speech in L1 and L2 Spanish considering both textual structure and interaction between the two interlocutors. More in detail, the aim of this research is to analyse how speakers introduce and manage Discourse Topics in order to compare the behaviour of native and non-native Spanish speakers. The study examines two corpora of task-oriented dialogues, the corpus DiESPA, of Peninsular Spanish L1 ?collected in different geographic areas? and the corpus DiELE-(I), of Spanish L2 –collected in the University of Salerno with Italian learners of a CEFR level B2-C1. The analysis of Discourse Topics introduction and management allows defining crucial textual characteristics and defining speakers’ attitudes towards interlocutors. From a qualitative and a quantitative analysis, which examines the percentage of occurrences of pragmatic moves used by native and non-native speakers, it emerges that differences in native speakers and L2 learners’ strategic choices used to complete the task are due to their limited linguistic competence, especially grammatical and lexical, rather than to pragmatic and cultural factors.

DISCUSSIONS ON WATER GOVERNANCE: PATTERNS AND COMMON PATHS

Abstract Water governance is a prominent theme in the discourse of international agencies and organizations, and in the research field. Given the continuous importance of this theme in discourse, politics and science, this article presents the results of a comprehensive literature review aiming to provide an overview of discussions on water governance. With the ample body of material reviewed, the main contributions were collated and summarized in terms of their motivations and core ideas. The discussions presented herein may be a starting point for those intending to study or improve water governance systems at different levels and scales. We have mainly concluded that there is no ideal “model” of governance - water governance is totally dependent on a particular social, cultural, environmental, economic, political and institutional context.

The effects of discourse topic on global and local markers in Croatian ditransitives

This study investigates the impact that discourse topic has on (i) word order (global marking) and (ii) referring expression (local marking), in ditransitive structures in Croatian preschoolers and adult controls. According to general pragmatic principles, the discourse topic argument is expected to be placed before the rest of the sentence, thus complying with the (discourse)topic-comment order (Gundel 1988). The discourse topic argument is also more likely to be expressed with a clitic or omitted altogether (Gundel, Hedberg, and Zacharski 1993). We tested 58 monolingual Croatian children (mean age = 4;4) and 36 adult controls (mean age = 21) in three conditions with different discourse topics (subject, direct object and indirect object). The study consisted of an elicitation task aided by storybooks, with the targeted structures being ditransitives: either direct object-indirect object (DO-IO) or the indirect object-direct object order (IO-DO). The results reveal that, for adult speakers, discourse topic has an impact both on the choice of referring expressions and on word order (discourse topic-comment order), while for child speakers, the effect of discourse topic is limited to referring expressions, as the children use the IO–DO order 75% of the time regardless of discourse topic condition. This is in line with previous studies that find that children mark givenness/newness first on local and then on global markings (Hickmann, Hendriks, Roland, and Liang 1996; Mykhaylyk, Rodina, and Anderssen 2013; Anderssen, Rodina, Mykhaylyk, and Fikkert 2014). We also find that children are over-specific, as their use of NPs is higher than the adults’ use throughout the task (p.value = 0.0006347).

For Whom is the Teacher and for What is the Teaching? An Educational Reframe of the Parent Ego State

The author revisits one of his previous articles, which presented an inverted conceptualization of the ego state model, and considers that model with a new, specific focus on implications for teachers and educational practice. In doing so, he addresses related themes, including the concepts of grown-up-ness and eldership. The author suggests that although emancipation has been a recurring theme in educational discourse, an alternative perspective, and experience of freedom, is possible in the context of a reframed Parent ego state position. The paper presents case material to illustrate what is primarily an existential account of educational purpose.

Fever suppression in patients with infection

Fever management interventions are commonly administered to patients with infection and sepsis by ICU clinicians. The risks and benefits of fever suppression in this subpopulation of critically ill patients are topics of recent clinical discourse. Recent evidence related to the impact of fever suppression interventions warrants review by critical care nurses.

Discourse analysis of health providers' experiences using service design.

BackgroundMunicipal healthcare organizations are facing increasing challenges to developing more cost‐effective organizations and services, particularly in nursing homes. The background for this article is an attempt in this concern; implementing service design in a nursing home.AimThe aim of the study is to explore nurses and nurse assistants' experiences using service design in a nursing home.DesignA qualitative design was applied.MethodData were collected through focus group interviews with 17 nurses and nurse assistants in 2015. Thematic discourse analysis was conducted to analyse their discussed experiences.ResultsThe employees had positive attitudes towards incorporating a service design approach that focused on the patients' needs, which thus encouraged creative solutions and promoted employee involvement. The study shows that involving service designers and employees in the entire process, from planning to implementation of new and innovative solutions, requires closer collaboration between the service designers, managers, and employees to achieve the final goal. We consider that the results of this study will be of relevance to the future development of health care and nursing in nursing homes.

(In)actions Speak Louder than Words: Foucault, Governmentality, and the Social Construction of Rape in the Policing Landscape

ABSTRACTThe author examines qualitative data with British police to explore police interactions with male rape victims, and the effects and outcomes of such interactions. Drawing on British police data collected from interviews and questionnaires, the author theorizes the data using sociological and Foucauldian perspectives to increase the understanding of the social construction of male rape in the policing context. From this theoretical framework, it is argued that police encounters with male victims of rape are on the whole negative based on their discursive ideas and knowledges about male rape. From the qualitative data presented and analyzed, themes of power, discourse, culture, values, norms, and beliefs emerge. It is also argued that male rape is culturally constructed as deviant and placed alongside other forms of discourse personified as deviant, such as queerness and mental health, among the police. As a consequence, male rape is symbolizing abnormality for it disrupts some officers’ constructions and discourses on what sexual violence actually entails.

Patient involvement in qualitative data analysis in a trial of a patient-centred intervention: Reconciling lay knowledge and scientific method.

BackgroundWe conducted a pilot study of an intervention to facilitate patients’ agenda setting in clinical consultations. The primary aim of the study was to test the feasibility of running the randomized controlled trial. A secondary objective was to assess the extent to which patient and public involvement (PPI) could contribute to the process of qualitative data analysis (QDA).AimsTo describe a novel approach to including patient partners in QDA; to illustrate the kinds of contribution that patient partners made to QDA in this context; and to propose a characterization of a process by which patient involvement can contribute to knowledge production.MethodsSix patient and public representatives were supported to contribute to data analysis via a range of modalities. During a series of QDA workshops, experienced research staff role‐played consultations and interviews, and provided vignettes. Workshop data and PPI diaries were analysed using thematic discourse analysis.ResultsWe characterized a process of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. This PPI group contributed to the rigour and validity of the study findings by challenging their own and the researchers’ assumptions, and by testing the emerging hypotheses. By training PPI representatives to undertake qualitative data analysis, we transformed our understanding of doctor–patient consultations.ConclusionsThis research required changes to our usual research practices but was in keeping with the objective of establishing meaningful patient involvement for a future definitive trial. This work was informed by concepts of critical humility, and a process of knowledge production enabled via the construction of a knowledge space.

Legitimacy and Discourse in Impact Investing: Searching for the Holy Grail

Impact investing denominates an investment logic that combines social and environmental goals, financial returns as well as personal values. In this paper, we consider the concept of legitimacy to be an appropriate way for actors in the impact investing market to overcome the inherent liability of newness based on their hybrid institutional logics. Based on two theoretically defined sets of codes, a thematic discourse analysis is conducted by analysing meaningful units derived from documents produced by case-selected actors in the impact investing industry, which we then categorise into rhetorical strategies for legitimacy-building. We find that actors use diverse legitimation strategies based on their positioning in the impact investing market. These strategies determine the actors’ main discursive foci and, in turn, are affected by the overall organisational activities and mission. Following these interconnected discursive engagements, a communication gap can be demonstrated between investors, intermediaries and social entrepreneurs. Such discursive engagement gaps can explain the almost non-functional market and, as practical implications, show the need for convergence and harmonisation. We further contribute to theory by providing insights into the discursive creation of legitimacy in the field of impact investing.

Patterns of difference in understandings of equity and social justice in adult education policies: Comparing national reports in international contexts by a lexicometric analysis

According to globalisation theories, the importance of international organisations such as UNESCO and EU regarding processes of policy-making is increasing and it is no longer the nation state alone that is regulating policy. Focusing on equity and social justice as central topics of the global discourse, the article raises the question of how these concepts are negotiated within the context of adult education. It presents empirical findings from a comparison of national reports by UNESCO member states and allows conclusions concerning connections between the international and the national level. As regards the methodological approach, the lexicometric analysis is introduced as an addition to the scope of methods currently applied in adult education policy research. The results of the study show that there are different patterns of understandings referring to equity and social justice when contrasting states that are solely UNESCO members with states that have a double-membership in UNESCO and EU: when having an additional EU membership, states refer to typical topics of the EU agenda such as employability, even if they are addressed as UNESCO members. Thereby, equity and social justice function as examples to show how agenda-setting by international organisations, especially by the EU, influences the national discourse.

ABOUT NECESSITY AND CONDITIONS FOR IMPROVING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY OF STRATEGIC PLANNING IN UKRAINE'S HIGHER EDUCATION STAFF

The identification of conditions for improving the functioning of domestichigher education institutions by substantiating changes in the structure, relations and mentality ofdifferent categories of personnel using the well-known technologies of strategic planning oforganizational development is carried out.It is determined that the creation of an additional virtual structure within the institution ofhigher education in the form of a platform for the formation and achievement of collectiveconsensus will be aimed at creating an environment in which the improvement of the quality ofhigher education will become the central theme of social discourse, where the formation of anew professional ethos will become a unifying basis for the participants. , and new mediaplatforms will provide the necessary publicity and transparency. That is, as outlined in thestrategy for reforming higher education, the platform for achieving collective consensus will playa role of the "media platform" of higher education institution.It is proved that the large-scale introduction of strategic planning technologies requiresradical changes in the methods and styles of management of higher education institutionmanagement, the leaders of its main process and resource departments, leading executives -professors and academic staff. At the same time, the necessary, oriented to ensure the subjectsubjectiverelationships of change must be initiated and implemented in the practice of subjectsubjectiverelationship with subordinates, it is the leaders of all levels of the university hierarchy,which requires additional research on the problem of necessary changes in models leadership indomestic institutions of higher education, the main focus of which is the renunciation oftraditional leadership in favor of intellectual with the indisputable requirement of the ability ofany leader to combine collegial and managerial approaches in the management of highereducation institutions.

„Być nie tylko malarzem”. O dyskursie artystycznym wokół dziewiętnastowiecznego realizmu w malarstwie francuskim

Realism that began in the 1840s developed in the period of the radical changes of the society and civilization. The exponents of the realistic movement not only aimed to depict the contemporaneity but also intended to express their critical approach, which was the consequence of the observation of reality they undertook as well as the effect of the influence of progressive social thoughts. In the article we attempt to present the main topics of the 19th century artistic discourse which emerged in the context of the aesthetics of realism. For this purpose we trace the main inquiries expressed by French art criticism of the second half of the 19th century. Our intention is to include both enthusiastic and critical opinions since the questions they raised seem to be of major significance to the artistic movements of the 20th century as the echo of realism that was proposed by Courbet can be traced in the art of that period. Some of the inquiries remained important and are considered by the art today.

The appeal to political sentiment: An analysis of Donald Trump’s and Hillary Clinton’s speech themes and discourse strategies in the 2016 US presidential election

This study investigated Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s speeches during the 2016 presidential election to identify their sentiments and discourse themes and strategies by using machine-based methods, including computerized sentence-level sentiment analysis, structural topic modeling for themes, and word2vec exploration for thematic associations. The machine-based automatic analyses were also complemented by a qualitative examination of the speech data motivated by the top thematic terms identified by the automatic analyses. The results of the study revealed that Trump’s speeches were significantly more negative than Clinton’s. The results also provided evidence supporting many previous findings regarding Clinton’s and Trump’s discourse/rhetoric styles and major campaign themes produced by studies using different research methods. The results of this study might also help explain Trump’s victory despite the significant more negative sentiment in his discourse.

Appraising the Barriers to Public-Private Partnership as a Tool for Sustainable Development of Infrastructures in a Developing Economy

The quest for sustainable development has been a subject discourse across the globe. Sustainable development has been deemed to be the pathway to all that is good and desirable in the society. Undoubtedly, social and economic infrastructure desirability in any economy is second-to-none and its sustainability needs to be prioritised. The worsened state of infrastructures and wide gap in its supply in developing economy have warranted this study. The study identified the sustainable tool (PPP) through which infrastructural supply can be enhanced and sustained and it revealed through literature review the major barriers to the tool performance in delivering infrastructures in developing country. Among the major challenges identified from literatures include inadequate consultation of stakeholders for greater acceptance of PPP, conflict of interest among PPP stakeholders, negative behaviour of the people towards PPP, lack of confidence and mistrust in PPP by stakeholders, poor enabling environment for PPP, weak or poor regulatory frameworks, law and regulation changes and weak and poor enabling policies. The barriers identified are due to more to the public than the private and the people. Therefore, the study recommends that beyond the need for stronger collaboration between the public and private sector, government should integrate the people in planning phase of the sustainable tool adoption for public infrastructures delivery. Also, government should build confidence and trust in the parties to PPP by creating enabling environment that can guarantee investors security.

English vs. German from a textual perspective: Looking inside chain intersection

This paper presents a cross-lingual corpus-based study on the intersection of chains of coreference and lexical cohesion. The two types of cohesion are often combined and thus play an important role for the development of discourse topics. We analyse chain intersection as cases where chain elements of lexical cohesion occur inside of coreference chains. We use a corpus of English and German original texts from four written and spoken registers which is annotated for both types of cohesion. Our analyses point to contrasts between the two languages and across the four registers under analysis in the types and the number of intersections in coreference chains. This variation has an effect on the way important topics develop in a text.

The Veterans Health Administration's Traumatic Brain Injury Screen and Evaluation: Service Delivery Insights.

In recognition of the incidence of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has, since 2007, examined returning U.S. service members for symptoms of TBI, a pre-condition for VA treatment of TBI. This study characterizes "Traumatic Brain Injury screen" service delivery, according to the barrier and facilitator viewpoints of those experiencing the delivery. The purposeful sample comprised both Veteran patient and VA staff participants in the TBI screen program (n = 64), including patients (n = 14), health care providers (n = 38), and key informants (n = 12). Telephone interviews were conducted per standardized, semi-structured interview scripts; respondent narratives recorded and transcribed verbatim; natural emergence of key themes of discourse fostered through conventional content analysis; themes coded by meaning and meaning units organized by nature of influence on service delivery. A wide variety of structural, administrative, and communications barriers impede TBI screen service delivery, and certain case management and other functions promote delivery. The value of VA TBI screen service delivery is appreciated by its participants, but delivery is perceived as vulnerable to failure; the extent of such failure and short- and long-term effects on patient health and well-being outcomes is incompletely understood and merits investigation. Evaluating VA TBI screen service delivery under alternate modes of delivery, e.g., one-stop visits, expanded hours of delivery, shared appointment sessions, telehealth, and intensified case management is suggested.

‘Hitler had a valid argument against some Jews’: Repertoires for the denial of antisemitism in Facebook discussion of a survey of attitudes to Jews and Israel

Existing research suggests that, in contemporary liberal democracies, complaints of racism are routinely rejected and prejudice may be both expressed and disavowed in the same breath. Surveys and historical research have established that – both in democratic states and in those of the Soviet Bloc (while it existed) – antisemitism has long been related to or expressed in the form of statements about Israel or ‘Zionist’, permitting anti-Jewish attitudes to circulate under cover of political critique. This article looks at how the findings of a survey of anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli attitudes were rejected by users of three Facebook pages associated with the British Left. Through thematic discourse analysis, three recurrent repertoires are identified: firstly, what David Hirsh calls the ‘Livingstone Formulation’ (i.e. the argument that complaints of antisemitism are made in bad faith to protect Israel and/or attack the Left), secondly, accusations of flawed methodology similar to those with which UK Labour Party supporters routinely dismiss the findings of unfavourable opinion polls, and thirdly, the argument that, because certain classically antisemitic beliefs pertain to a supposed Jewish or ‘Zionist’ elite and not to Jews in general, they are not antisemitic. In one case, the latter repertoire facilitates virtually unopposed apologism for Adolf Hitler. Contextual evidence suggests that the dominance of such repertoires within one very large UK Labour Party-aligned group may be the result of action on the part of certain ‘admins’ or moderators. It is argued that awareness of the repertoires used to express and defend antisemitic attitudes should inform the design of quantitative research into the latter, and be taken account of in the formulation of policy measures aiming to restrict or counter hate speech (in social media and elsewhere).

Public debates of the Englishization of education in Germany

Germany has embraced the “craze for English” relatively readily (Wachter and Maiworm 2014), increasing the use of English in education in all forms: as a foreign language, as medium of instruction, and in content and language integrated learning: a phenomenon described as Englishization. However, much controversy remains over the pace, manner and degree with which English is taught in Germany. This article investigates how the topic of Englishization in education – in the broadest sense – and in all sectors (from primary to tertiary sector) is discussed in printed German media. Using the database Nexis, a dataset comprised of 156 German language news articles on the controversies around English in the German education system was established. The dataset includes news outlets with national as well as regional coverage, and spans the period from 1 February 2000 to 23 March 2017. Corpus linguistics methods (frequencies, concordances) and thematic discourse analysis were used to analyse the body of the texts. The results were compared across educational sectors covered, and the level of geographical coverage of the newspaper/ source (regional, federal). The discussion considers how debates around Englishization in education vary depending on the education sector. Results are interpreted within the context of a) contested jurisdictions pertaining to language education in Germany (especially sovereignty of the 16 Bundeslander to determine their education policy, i.e. Kulturhoheit) b) tensions between institutional (school, university), individual (staff, students), national and international agendas (e.g. Bologna, the European aim of mother tongue+2 language skills) c) tensions between attitudes of protectionism (bordering on reminiscence) towards the German language on the one hand, and pragmatism and internationalism on the other.

Cuidado de enfermagem na perspectiva do sujeito do inconsciente e sua contribuição ao Projeto Terapêutico Singular

Objetivo: construir uma proposta de cuidado de enfermagem a partir da leitura do sujeito do inconsciente, por meio do método da Construção de Caso Clínico em Saúde Mental, apontando sua contribuição para o Projeto Terapêutico Singular. Método: realizou-se a construção de caso clínico de um paciente frequentador de um Centro de Atenção Psicossocial da rede municipal de saúde de Campinas. Resultados: foram ordenados, por cotejamento, os principais significantes do discurso do sujeito, da família e da instituição. Conclusão: o cuidado de enfermagem ao paciente psicótico, fundamentado na singularidade, possibilita construir novos efeitos terapêuticos, pode favorecer que o paciente retome sua posição de sujeito e traz a contribuição do enfermeiro ao Projeto Terapêutico Singular.

Heroic journeys through sobriety: How temporary alcohol abstinence campaigns portray participant experiences

BackgroundIn Australia, recent years have seen a rise in the popularity of temporary abstinence campaigns, in which people pledge to abstain from alcohol for a month while raising funds for charity. In addition to their fundraising aims, such initiatives have been viewed as tools for broader behavioural and cultural change around alcohol, encouraging participants to reflect on their drinking and make longer-term changes to their behaviour. The extent to which these initiatives promote enduring change may depend on how they portray the experience of temporarily abstaining from alcohol, and how they position participants. MethodWe conducted a thematic discourse analysis of e-mails and website content from the 2016 editions of Dry July™ and Ocsober™, two Australian temporary abstinence campaigns. ResultsBoth campaigns featured an overarching portrayal of participation as a hero’s journey through sobriety, with participants embarking on a quest to fundraise for their cause, and returning from their experience transformed. However, the campaigns differed in the way they positioned participants. Dry July™ consistently positioned participants as heroes, promoting both fundraising and reflection on longer-term behaviour changes. In contrast, Ocsober™ offered varied and inconsistent positions which were less likely to engage participants or prompt enduring changes in behaviour, for example positioning participants as alcohol abusers or on a detox. ConclusionOur findings emphasise the need to attend to how campaigns materials position participants in order to strengthen the effectiveness of such campaigns as health promotion tools.