With the development of globalization cultural issues associated with TEFL are inevitably being transformed. In the modern world peoples were grouped within nations and communicated in speech communities largely within their own... more
With the development of globalization cultural issues associated with TEFL are inevitably being transformed. In the modern world peoples were grouped within nations and communicated in speech communities largely within their own countries; communication outside the boundaries of the national speech communicty was not the norm for the majority of people. In the post-modern world the position of these vertical boundaries is changing to horizontal and an upper stratum of society (wherever it is located) is able, with computer technology, to communicate relatively freely across national borders. The lingua franca of this communication is English. It is not the English of any particular country and it is developing new cultural norms, especially in the electronic media. In one stratum professional functions dominate and electronic usage closely reflects familiar print genres. In other strata more interpersonal functions occur and at the same time the language is moving away from old stan...
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The categories of the functional-notional syllabus are inadequate because, like the speech act theory on which they are based, they recognize only the social function of language and not its discourse function. A further difficulty is... more
The categories of the functional-notional syllabus are inadequate because, like the speech act theory on which they are based, they recognize only the social function of language and not its discourse function. A further difficulty is that illocutionary acts do not map onto single utterances as this approach to syllabus design appears to assume. Communicative acts in interactional discourse function both as illocutionary acts (they have an intentional effect on another participant) and as interactional acts (they have a role in structuring the discourse of the interaction). This paper discusses attempts by various discourse analysts to model this fact in three different ways: (1) to conflate both types of function into a single analysis (John Dore), (2) to code all utterances for both types of function keeping the two sets of analysis separate (Willis Edmonson) and (3) to code the two types of function in a manner which relates them to each other in a systematic manner (Gordon Wells...
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This article discusses a project that was undertaken to introduce first year undergraduate mathematics students to written and spoken forms of mathematical discourse. Initial research focuses on language use in mathematics teaching and... more
This article discusses a project that was undertaken to introduce first year undergraduate mathematics students to written and spoken forms of mathematical discourse. Initial research focuses on language use in mathematics teaching and learning materials, lectures, tutorials and journals which publish different types of mathematics content. This research led on to the development of a coursebook, in which different articles for students to study were collected. In it students are introduced to macro- and micro-genres often used by mathematical writers and to particular grammatical patterns commonly encountered. Thus, the coursebook seeks to introduce students to the discursive practices of mathematics and to raise critical awareness of how mathematics may become part of, or may contest, hegemonic social practice.13 page(s
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ABSTRACT. In this paper, we report on an international study of undergraduate mathematics students _ conceptions of mathematics. Almost 1,200 students in five countries completed a short survey including three open-ended questions asking... more
ABSTRACT. In this paper, we report on an international study of undergraduate mathematics students _ conceptions of mathematics. Almost 1,200 students in five countries completed a short survey including three open-ended questions asking about their views of mathematics and its role in their future studies and planned professions. Responses were analysed starting from a previously-developed phenomenographic framework (Reid et al., 2003) which required only minor modification. Students_ conceptions of mathematics ranged from the narrowest view as a focus on calculations structures, to the broadest view of mathematics as an approach to life and a way of thinking. Broader conceptions of mathematics were more likely to be found in later-year students (pG0.001) and there were significant differences between universities (pG0.001). The information obtained from the study not only confirms previous research, but also provides a basis for future development of a monitoring questionnaire.
The number of ranks required for an adequate discourse analysis may vary between genres and can be explained with reference to the social purpose of that genre. Stages of generic structure were attributed to eight language testing... more
The number of ranks required for an adequate discourse analysis may vary between genres and can be explained with reference to the social purpose of that genre. Stages of generic structure were attributed to eight language testing interviews on the basis of apparent interviewer purpose, and this attribution was subsequently justified by the distribution of speech function types and mood choices between them. A problem in analysing the major section of the interview was whether to model it as a group of recurring elements at the level of stage, at the level of exchange, or at an intermediate level. The intermediate level of transaction was adopted, allowing for an model which recognises the common purpose and speech function patterns of the stage but also allows an account of how conversational exchanges group to construct both dialogic and monologic texts with or without the characteristics of other recognisable genres. Such an analysis is especially useful in assessing learners’ ability to engage in extended conversational discourse.
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... The system network of mood and modality construes interpersonal meanings, realising the rhetorical ... first, the paradigmatic representation of the form as a resource for making ... The system of transitivity realising the... more
... The system network of mood and modality construes interpersonal meanings, realising the rhetorical ... first, the paradigmatic representation of the form as a resource for making ... The system of transitivity realising the experiential metafunction " has" syntagmatic structures that are ...
Research Interests: Genre, Applied Linguistics, Functionalism, Modulation, Negation, and 13 moreInterpersonal, Modal auxiliaries, Experiential, Painter, Leech, Stern, H, M, C, R, L, G, and J
Abstract: We report on an international study of students' ideas about mathematics and how they view its relevance to their further studies and their careers. About 1200 students enrolled in... more
Abstract: We report on an international study of students' ideas about mathematics and how they view its relevance to their further studies and their careers. About 1200 students enrolled in mathematics subjects at five universities in different countries responded to three open-ended ...
We report on an international study about mathematics students’ ideas of how they will use mathematics in their future study and careers. This builds on our previous research into students’ conceptions of mathematics. In this paper, we... more
We report on an international study about mathematics students’ ideas of how they will use mathematics in their future study and careers. This builds on our previous research into students’ conceptions of mathematics. In this paper, we use data from two groups of students studying mathematics: those who participated in an in-depth interview and those who completed an open-ended questionnaire. We found that their responses could be grouped into four categories: don’t know; procedural skills; conceptual skills; and professional skills. Although some students held clear ideas about the role of mathematics, many were not able to articulate how it would be used in their future. This has implications for their approach to learning and our approach to teaching.
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In this paper, we report on an international study of undergraduate mathematics students’ conceptions of mathematics. Almost 1,200 students in five countries completed a short survey including three open-ended questions asking about their... more
In this paper, we report on an international study of undergraduate mathematics students’ conceptions of mathematics. Almost 1,200 students in five countries completed a short survey including three open-ended questions asking about their views of mathematics and its role in their future studies and planned professions. Responses were analysed starting from a previously-developed phenomenographic framework (Reid et al., 2003) which required only minor modification. Students’ conceptions of mathematics ranged from the narrowest view as a focus on calculations with numbers, through a notion of mathematics as a focus on models or abstract structures, to the broadest view of mathematics as an approach to life and a way of thinking. Broader conceptions of mathematics were more likely to be found in later-year students (p<0.001) and there were significant differences between universities (p<0.001). The information obtained from the study not only confirms previous research, but also provides a basis for future development of a monitoring questionnaire.
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Research Interests:
Every human learns a first language, many also learn a second. The old monolingual perception that knowing only one language is the norm is challenged both by the fact that in many parts of the world a minority of people are monolingual... more
Every human learns a first language, many also learn a second. The old monolingual perception that knowing only one language is the norm is challenged both by the fact that in many parts of the world a minority of people are monolingual and by the experience of ...
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Notes Workbook giving a practical introduction to mathematical discourse, aiming to develop unversity students&amp;#39; awareness of how texts differ in intended audiences and aims, including formal academic writing and less formal... more
Notes Workbook giving a practical introduction to mathematical discourse, aiming to develop unversity students&amp;#39; awareness of how texts differ in intended audiences and aims, including formal academic writing and less formal forms.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
... The system network of mood and modality construes interpersonal meanings, realising the rhetorical ... first, the paradigmatic representation of the form as a resource for making ... The system of transitivity realising the... more
... The system network of mood and modality construes interpersonal meanings, realising the rhetorical ... first, the paradigmatic representation of the form as a resource for making ... The system of transitivity realising the experiential metafunction &quot; has&quot; syntagmatic structures that are ...