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Corpus linguistics and contrastive linguistics
No full textIn this article, I trace the historical and conceptual development of contrastive linguistics and examine how the field has been transformed through the rise of corpus linguistics. I first outline the evolution of contrastive analysis, showing how core theories such as the tertium comparationis and equivalence were progressively refined. I then demonstrate how advances in corpus linguistics provided the methodological foundations for contemporary corpus based contrastive linguistics. Building on this theoretical discussion, I review the alignment of representativeness, sampling, and multilingual corpus design with contrastive linguistic theory, and highlight the affordances of parallel and comparable corpora for contrastive linguistics research. I then present a reflective case study that illustrates how corpus-based contrastive linguistics can be applied across discourse studies, translation studies, and language pedagogy. I then conclude by arguing that while corpus based contrastive linguistics is now firmly established, further work is needed to deepen its theoretical coherence, broaden its multilingual scope, and expand its applied relevance
Resisting solutionism and apathy: productive tensions in Nordic global citizenship education
Get PDFNordic exceptionalism conveys a perception of innocence whereby Nordic states are exemplary in regard to justice, as exemplary states, including a strong dedication in education to action competence around sustainable development. Yet, Nordic countries are embedded in, not outside, longstanding global power inequalities. This necessitates a critically reflective approach to global citizenship education (GCE). This paper explores corresponding tensions between action and reflexivity given researchers’ concerns about solutionism. The authors consider how neoliberalism shapes the demand for action-oriented GCE. They identify opportunities to rethink the concepts of action and individual solutionism, underscoring the need for collective approaches in a world where injustice and multiple crises can render young people passive and disengaged. They argue critical reflexivity is particularly needed given how right-wing populist parties currently influence politics, challenging the premise the Nordic countries are losing their role as global ‘good states’
Investigating the Professional Trajectories of Teach First Ambassadors, and their Impact on Children Report for Teach First
Get PDFThis independent study, commissioned by Teach First, explores the long-term impact of its ambassadors on children’s lives, particularly children experiencing disadvantage. It investigates how ambassadors enact change, what motivates them, and how their professional journeys unfold post-training. The methodology utilised mixed methods, with a national survey (n=645) and in-depth qualitative interviews (n=50) with a diverse sample of ambassadors. The qualitative element involved in-depth interviews and a creative elicitation exercise to develop rich narrative data, whereby participants brought objects symbolising their impact on children (O’Brien & Charura, 2024). The theoretical framework is based on Pantic’s (2015, 2021) model of Teacher Agency for Social Justice, which guided the analysis, focusing on purpose, competence, autonomy, and reflexivity.
The key findings suggest that Teach First ambassadors are changemakers within education and children’s lives. Teach First training is seen as a catalyst for rapid professional development and leadership, and ambassadors are deeply committed to social justice and educational equity, and most remain in education, with 62% still teaching and many others in roles that directly or indirectly impact children. Ambassadors also follow diverse professional trajectories continuing to impact children’s lives through direct teaching in disadvantaged schools, leadership roles in schools and trusts, policy and advocacy at national levels, and charity, social enterprise, and innovation work. Many initiate or lead projects that address systemic inequalities, from inclusive curricula to national media accessibility. Even those outside of education often maintain strong alignment with Teach First’s mission. However, the extent to which, and the level at which, ambassadors enact change are not only personal and related to Teach First, but the professional context, and the social and political context also have an impact. For example, Several Teach First ambassadors utilised new education policies to enact large-scale changes at pace.
Ambassador motivations stem from personal experiences, and the characteristics they exhibit in their work are, amongst other characteristics, resilience, passion, moral purpose, reflective practice, and autonomy-seeking. They also value the Teach First community and network, often engaging collaboratively with other ambassador for support and/or development. Many ambassadors express a desire to contribute more actively to the network and Teach First’s ongoing mission. Based on the data, we have developed a typology to categorise ambassador roles and trajectories, and to articulate how ambassadors impact and enact changes in children’s lives and in education:
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The Pathmakers – Strategic, policy-level influencers.
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The Luminaries – Issue-based innovators and advocates.
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The Cultivators – School-level leaders shaping culture and practice.
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The Sustainers – Consistent, relational classroom practitioners
Beyond barriers: a qualitative evidence synthesis protocol of South Asian involvement in mental health research in high-income countries
Get PDFIntroduction There is a recognised need to provide equity in healthcare through inclusion of ethnic minorities in research. South Asians, the largest ethnic minority group in the UK, experience high levels of mental illness, often against the backdrop of socioeconomic deprivation and discrimination. The research community recognises that South Asian communities are often excluded from health research. Efforts have been made to understand the barriers and facilitators to their participation. However, the participation of individuals at the intersection of mental ill health and South Asian ethnicity remains understudied. This is a protocol for the synthesis of qualitative evidence from mental health research studies about participation, motivation and barriers to recruitment of South Asians in high-income countries.
Methods and analysis We will search 10 databases for qualitative evidence on participation of South Asian individuals in mental health research studies in high-income countries: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Health Management Information Consortium, Social Policy and Practice, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Social Sciences Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Citation Index. Search terms for the following five concepts will be used: (1) South Asia, (2) ethnic minority, (3) mental health conditions, (4) barriers and facilitators to participation and (5) high-income countries. No date restriction will be applied to the search. Searches will be limited to studies in the English language. Study selection and data extraction will be performed by two researchers independently, using Covidence. Demographic data, thematic outputs and salient discussion points will be extracted from final full-text inclusions and entered into NVivo for coding. Meta-ethnographic approaches using first and second-order constructs from included studies will be used to form third-order constructs. This synthesis will generate new knowledge regarding the intersectionality of mental health and South Asian ethnicity.
Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is not required as this study is a synthesis of published data. This review will provide new knowledge regarding the requirements for researchers and practitioners to advance the involvement of South Asian populations in mental health research. This will undoubtedly enhance equity in the long term, reduce the burden of mental disorders and enable the provision of more effective mental health care for South Asian communities.
PROSPERO registration number CRD42025626382
Pre-Arrival Confidence and Perceived Importance in First-Year UK Sport Students: A Multi-Institutional Examination of Gender, Institution and Programme Differences
Get PDFThis multi-institutional study examined pre-arrival confidence and perceived importance among first-year sport students across three post-92 universities and one public research university exploring programme of study, gender, and institutional differences, while also evaluating the psychometric properties of the pre-arrival survey. Of 1033 eligible students, 604 (58%) completed the survey across 25 sport-related programmes grouped into six categories: physiotherapy and rehabilitation, sport and exercise science, sports exercise and nutrition, sports coaching, sports management, and sport foundation year. Psychometric validation of the pre-arrival survey demonstrates its reliability and validity, providing the sector with a robust, standardised tool for assessing incoming students’ preparedness. Significant programme differences include physiotherapy and rehabilitation students reporting higher learning confidence, learning importance, and community confidence compared to other programmes. Female students demonstrated significantly higher learning importance and health and well-being importance than male students, though no gender differences in confidence were observed. Institutional variation was minimal, with one institution showing higher learning importance. Socioeconomic indicators did not significantly influence pre-arrival responses. The findings highlight the need for differentiated pre-arrival support targeting programme-specific confidence gaps and gender-related differences in perceived importance. The validated PAS provides a reliable tool for early identification of students requiring enhanced transitional support, potentially addressing persistent retention and progression challenges in UK sport programmes
Leading through uncertainty: entrepreneurial leadership and co-creation of new opportunities
Get PDFPurpose
While previous research has highlighted the role of entrepreneurs in leading individual employees' behaviour in small businesses, our understanding of how they influence opportunity development in uncertain times remains limited. This study investigates how entrepreneurs in small businesses navigate uncertainty and create new opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach
An interpretive qualitative method was employed to understand how entrepreneurs enable their teams to overcome multiple uncertainties in the relatively unexplored business environment of Iran. The data were driven from 35 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs/small business owner-managers.
Findings
The results of this study indicate that entrepreneurial leadership enables small businesses to overcome uncertainties and crises and create new opportunities by facilitating collective problem-solving and opportunity development. Entrepreneurial leadership fosters effectual co-creation through communicating a compelling vision, empowering employees, stimulating collective cognition, and collective action.
Practical implications
Entrepreneurs and managers of small businesses can use the findings of this study to rethink their approaches to environmental uncertainty by adopting entrepreneurial leadership practices that enable collective cognition and action. By fostering a compelling vision, empowering team-level decision-making, and creating a supportive environment, entrepreneurial leadership enables small firms to co-create opportunities and remain resilient during crises.
Originality/value
This study extends the theory of entrepreneurial leadership by illustrating how it facilitates opportunity co-creation through collective cognition and action in uncertain environments. It offers a contextualised understanding of entrepreneurial leadership as an empowering approach to enhancing small business resilience
Longing for Digital-Free Trips: The Case of a Yoga Retreat
Get PDFPeople today are feeling exhausted by the continual distraction of mobile devices. Some are motivated to take a break from digital devices while travelling away from home. A popular combination is therefore to undergo a digital detox as part of a stay at a yoga retreat. This study examines how perceptions of novelty, effectiveness of co-creation of the digital-free hospitality experience, and the feeling of refreshment affect memorable digital-free hospitality experiences, as well as the relationship between these experiences and participants' subjective well-being, intention to revisit, and psychological resilience. Data were collected using WeChat from 522 Chinese guests who had stayed at a digital-free yoga retreat in China between October 2024 and April 2025. The results suggest that novelty, co-creation, and refreshment positively influence memorable digital-free hospitality experiences. Moreover, stays that are more memorable lead to higher subjective well-being, including psychological resilience, and a greater intention to revisit
Development of a computational recommendation system for parenteral nutrition prescription: An algorithm study
No full textThere is a drive in some countries to increase the use of mul/-chamber bags as an
alterna/ve to compounded parenteral support for pa/ents with chronic intes/nal failure in
order to preserve asep/c pharmacy capacity. If a required regimen is that of an mul/-
chamber bag plus one intravenous intravenous fluid product, then the poten/al
combina/ons of available products can exceed 3000.
Method
A computer-based selec/on algorithm known as ‘PNMatch’ was developed, which u/lises a
‘kNearest Neighbour’ strategy for matching. Following comple/on of the computa/onal
design for the algorithm, a staged tes/ng and development process was undertaken,
evalua/ng the algorithm against clinician prescribing. A matching assessment was then
undertaken against exis/ng prescrip/ons.
Results
Algorithm func/onality was assessed through 20 parenteral nutri/on formula/on requests,
all of which were successfully processed. Prescrip/on selec/on demonstrated a 90% exact
match rate, with one unmatched case and one non-improved match. The mean /me for
prescrip/on selec/on using PNMatch was 116 seconds. Mul/-chamber mul/-chamber bags
s requests were then evaluated. Most prescrip/ons matched closely with the exis/ng
formula/ons, achieving a Cohen’s kappa value of 0.8. Further analysis of 44 formula/on
requests showed successful product selec/on for 43 requests. The mean difference in
volume was -75.3 ml, and for potassium, it was -4.9 mmol.
Conclusion
This is the first demonstra/on of the successful development and tes/ng of a computerbased selec/on algorithm for the prescrip/on of mul/-chamber bags-based regime for
pa/ents with chronic intes/nal failure. This has the poten/al to improve efficiency and
reduced variability in parenteral support prescribing
It Starts with a Kiss: Reading and Interpretation as an Impetus for Adaptive Reuse
No full textCan qualitative ideas of place be adequately encompassed by the quantitative methods of digital and parametric design? This wide-ranging and multi-faceted book explores how designers and architects capture the deeper qualities of place though their practice. It provides a rigorous exploration of the nature of place and its role in design in parallel with a detailed analysis of the nature of parametricism.
Parametric design aims to encompass all design criteria and values relating to how a building might be experienced by using algorithmic processes and computational technology. By inputting particular parameters, all elements could be reflected in the resulting design. Drawing on ideas and approaches from diverse, disciplinary perspectives, essays in this book argue for greater attentiveness to place in contemporary design practice, and consider the potential of parametric techniques to enhance the engagement with place in design contexts. Considering place beyond the designer's touch, chapters explore other creative disciplines such as literature, art and music, seeking commonalities across the realm of imaginative endeavour in the creation of a tangible sense of place, environment and experience. Authors also discuss notions of atmosphere and interiority, and consider the potential to extend beyond the bounded internality of architectural spaces and examine interiority through ecological systems, identity and urbanism.
The book also explores ideas of home-making through various narrative, spatial, material and digital forms and the possibilities of parametric methods. By decentring existing anthropocentric understandings of place that privilege human perspectives, authors also consider other living perspectives and how design can support more-than-human places of the future
Empowered by Play: How Female Players and Developers Shape Female Character Representation in Chinese Video Games
No full textDigital games are not new to controversies regarding the depiction of female characters and the treatment of women in the industry. Nearly half of the players worldwide are women, but what about game developers, and how has that changed the depiction of female characters? Unlike in the West, in China women constitute about half of both players and the gaming industry workforce. Indeed, digital games aimed specifically at a female audience and developed by female teams are extremely popular. Bringing examples from digital games developed in China such as Mr Love and Sword and Fairy 7, and comparing them to Western and Japanese productions, this chapter investigates how female characters are represented in Chinese games. It compares two aspects of games that are arguably intertwined: (1) the composition of the workforce producing digital games and (2) their players, exploring how these factors influence the portrayal of female characters in digital games