DEVELOPING ACADEMIC WRITING IN A BUSINESS-ORIENTED UNIVERSITY

This is the conclusion of DEVELOPING ACADEMIC WRITING IN A BUSINESS-ORIENTED UNIVERSITY by J.A. Foley : The purpose of this study was to see what effect the implementation of a genre–based approach to writing might have on the development of “academic” writing of university undergraduates. The focus was on the nominal group in Topical and Marked Topical themes position. The rationale behind this is that in each text there are different patterns of what comes first in the clause: this is how the genre, the overall social purpose of the writer and the mode, the interaction or planning of the language is constructed. In writing, where the text is generally planned and edited, and normally, some thought goes into the organizing of the text and making clear its overall direction. Writers, therefore, have to be careful to make the necessary connections in the first part of the clause to summarize and link what follows.

Shifting focus when writing is very important and careful planning may need signposts to indicate what direction the text is taking. When linguists say that something is “unmarked,” they mean it is the most common or expected. Conversely, when they say that something is “marked,” they mean
it is unusual and should be noticed because of the way it stands out; in other words, the text is taking a particular direction. Because choices are meaningful, when we find Marked Themes we look for the purpose behind the writer’s patterning; the purpose may be to draw the reader’s attention to a particular group or phrase, but more often than not it is to build a coherent text that is easy to follow.

A program, such as one based on the theory of “genre,” which scaffolds the students’ writing, can be useful, especially in an EFL context, to develop the language resources in different subject areas. Content knowledge and skills cannot be separated from the linguistic means, through which that knowledge and skill is manifest. Approaches to content-based language instruction (Chamot & O’Malley, 1987; Snow, Met & Genesee, 1989) can be enriched through an understanding of “content,” especially at university level. Consequently, as the difficulty of the concepts increases, we want the students’ learning of the language that construes those concepts to also become more
complex. For example, the movement from the presentation of a new idea in the rheme of one clause to the re-presentation of the same information in the theme of a succeeding sentence is a feature of academic writing that typically involves nominalization. Such forms of nominalization are often a dominant feature of many academic and scientific texts.

Consequently, writing programs need to be developed that explicitly teach the strategies that are expected of the students in their writing. Such programs have to develop the linguistic capacities (such as complex nominal groups and nominalization) that display the students’ knowledge. If students are unable to draw on the meaning-making resources of academic discourse, then they will be unable to fully demonstrate what they are capable of.

For further details, visit http://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/IJAL/article/view/163/113


Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 2 No. 2, January 2013, pp. 168-186

A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF A MILD "GO AHEAD‟ ADVERTISEMENT

This is the conclusion of A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF A MILD „GO AHEAD‟ ADVERTISEMENT by Iis Isra Martiana : The aim of the research is to investigate how the spirit of youth (being active, being vigor, being enthusiastic, and being hopeful) in A Mild television advertisement with the theme Go Ahead “Bubble” and “Untuk Diri” versions is presented and which spirit of youth is represented more salient than others in the advertisement. The research has investigated how the spirit of youth is represented in A Mild television advertisement Go Ahead “Bubble” and “Untuk Diri” versions. The research concludes that the spirit of youth in A Mild television advertisement Go Ahead “Bubble” version is represented by the way of presenting young people as models; using low camera angle that signifies the power difference of youth (the powerful) and other people (the powerless) in taking pleasure in life; projecting the illustration of young people who can control their problem; using warm (grey) color saturation that signifies young people as being hopeful; and using cool colors (green and light blue) in a crowded place and a private room to signify youth. This means that A Mild television advertisement Go Ahead “Bubble” version have the core message which is stimulating the spirit of young people to take pleasure in life and confident in facing any condition of life.

Then, in A Mild television advertisement Go Ahead “Untuk Diri” version, the research concludes that the spirit of youth is represented by the way of the advertisement presenting young people as models; using high camera angle that signifies the powerful spirit of youth; using warm (grey) color saturation that signifies young people as being hopeful; and using cool colors (green and light blue) in an outdoor settings to signify youth. This means that A Mild television advertisement Go Ahead “Untuk Diri” version seems to create an image that the product advertised stimulates the spirit of young people in facing any challenges.

For further details visit http://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/ELTI/article/view/30/8

NARRATIVE STRUCTURES ACROSS TELLINGS OF THE SAME “GOOD” TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Here is the conclusion of NARRATIVE STRUCTURES ACROSS TELLINGS OF THE SAME “GOOD” TEACHING EXPERIENCE by Joseph Ernest Mambu. In spite of being emphasized on narrating good experiences, this small-scale study, on the whole, attests Labov’s (1972) legacy of outlining narrative structures. Besides, although Bono’s repeated tellings of the same experience seem to be more complex (or more randomly organized) than Labov’s basic narrative structure, my reconstruction of his narrative results in the same basic and coherent structure consisting of Abstract, Orientation, Complication, Evaluation, Result/ Resolution, and Coda. The contents of each of these six components were structured in similarly coherent ways (e.g., Complicating Actions1, 2, … and Result/Resolution1, 2,…x), although the wording and/or elaboration might be different from one telling to another. The restricted clauses in Result/Resolutionx follow Labov and Waletzky’s (1997) model, though in a modified and simplified way. Besides, Bono’s third telling seems to be the most detailed, thus most personally engaged or involved (to use Koven’s [2011] or Tannen’s [2007] concept of involvement) in some regards (e.g., the Orientation, Results/Resolutions, and Evaluation components) compared to previous
tellings, although his mentor teacher’s role in making him upset (see the Complications in his first and second tellings) and Indonesian expressions in the first two tellings were toned down and removed altogether respectively in this last telling.

For further details of this, visit http://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/IJAL/article/view/165/115

Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 2 No. 2, January 2013, pp. 199-215

Keywords : Academic Business English, Thailand, lexico-grammatical choices, nominal groups, genres. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), social practice, literature, power, identity English, teaching, learning, mandated curriculum, and implemented curriculum. English-only policy, TEFL, Taiwan, college English teaching Formative assessment ICT (Information and Communications Technology), blended learning, online labs, F2F (face-to-face), integration. Mentor coaching, pre-service teachers, lesson plan, action research TBLT in China case study of formative assessment follow-up response, speech act, refusal implementation methods and achievements motivation, foreign language activities, communicative attitudes, home room teachers multiple interrogatives, multiple focus features, acceptability judgment tasks orientation, complicating action, evaluation, result/resolution, coda, discourse analysis student teachers, novice teachers, supervising teachers, teaching practicum, teaching difficulties the Chinese context the predicament