1,720,974 research outputs found
Introduction [Academic discourse, genre and small corpora]
No full textThe volume collects papers which focus on a number of features of academic discourse using tools offered by Corpus Linguistics. Academic discourse can be studied to see the ways in which the experts of a discipline construct their own activity in terms of a "conversation" within and around the scientific community. The tools of corpus analysis, especially with reference to small, specialized corpora, have greatly contributed to the study of language variation across genres and across disciplines both from a descriptive as well as from a didactic point of view
Language across Disciplines: Towards a Critical Reading of Contemporary Academic Discourse
No full textThe work explores how writers from academic disciplines present themselves and their knowledge claims to their readership through an analysis of the research article, the genre which perhaps most accurately portrays 'state-of-the-art' academic production in the world today. Furthermore, it seeks to gauge how scholars construct disciplinary identity through parameters such as the ways they have of displaying their ideas or assumptions, the forms of argumentation they employ to persuade their readers, and how they represent themselves and others in their texts
Arguing the Case. Language and Play in Argumentation
No full textThe work discusses ways in which various disciplines deploy rhetorical devices to "argue their case", as well as to consolidate their identities and maintain them intact. Employing analytical methods deriving from linguistics, logic, psychoanalysis and cultural and literary criticism, it reveals the common premises and illusions behind the claims being made about the "human sciences" today
L'Etica della psicoanalisi: il percorso della perversione da Freud a Lacan
No full textIl testo si propone di interrogare la coerenza della costruzione etica del campo psicoanalitico così come la possiamo rintracciare negli scritti di Freud e di Lacan. A tal fine, si è tentato di identificare lacune delle difficoltà che sorgono quando la definizione etica del campo viene giustapposta alla categoria psicoanalitica della perversione
Tradurre senza testo originale: Verso una teoria psicoanalitica della traduzione
No full textIl testo intende offrire unadescrizione introduttiva del modo in cui la psicoanalisi, o almeno una certa lettura della psicoanalisi, affronta la questione della traduzione e, così facendo, intende porre alcune domande teoriche per i translation studies
The Argumentational Consequences of Disciplinary Constraint: The case of 'naturally' in American academic discourse
No full textGli studi sul discourso accademico costituiscono un interesse fondamentale nella ricerca linguistica e nella didattica delle lingue straniere. Di particolare importanza sembra essere il ruolo svolto dal tipo di interazione tra autore e pubblico nei diversi tipi e generi della comunicazione accademica. Un recente apporto allo studio delle forme linguistiche attraverso cui si svolge questo dialogo è costituito dalla corpus linguistics, una metodologia che si avvale di strumenti computerizzati per lo studio di raccolte di testi in formato elettronico. Partendo da corpora di testi elettronici, gli autori mettono in luce gli aspetti lessico-strutturali, testuali e discorsivi che caratterizzano i diversi registri e generi esaminati, nell'ottica sia di contribuire ad allargare il quadro della ricerca, sia di offirire suggerimenti per la didattica del discorso accademico
Introduction [Standardized Language Testing in Teaching and Research]
No full textIn 2001 the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) was first published, raising awareness of the crucial role standardization plays in making assessment transparent, meaningful and fair; this is especially important with the growing phenomenon of internationalisation in higher education. In Italy, as in other European countries, the independence of the teacher and institution in assessment has traditionally been regarded as sacrosanct; consequently, what Alderson (2011) appropriately labels the transition from “innocence to professionalism”, may have to be an evolutionary rather than revolutionary process. Nevertheless, the transition is undoubtedly beginning to take place.
Standard setting (Alderson, Banerjee 2001:218) is variously seen as the process of ensuring shared ‘codes of practice’ at different stages in the assessment procedure, as the identification of ‘norms’ for specific levels of difficulty in standardized tests, which are typically norm-referenced tests, or as the identification, delimitation and description of specific ‘levels of proficiency’. The ideal of standardization in testing is, however, widely acknowledged to be fraught with constraints, and the gap between sound testing principles and good enough testing practice can at times seem almost unbridgeable. The critical path of defining a test construct and developing and validating a test which yields reliable results and accurately predicts future achievement is time-consuming, labour-intensive, and costly. Constructs need to be linked to the reference framework to be valid. Tests need to be field-tested, results analysed and cutpoints set in a principled way. Ongoing familiarisation is essential if standards are to be meaningful and reliable. All this means that some tension is almost inevitable when balancing validity and reliability with practical and financial imperatives. Stakeholders may have differing priorities, and the great challenge is to produce a rigorous and cost-effective test that meets expectations of test developers, test-takers, funding institutions, and certification boards, among others. In particular, the constraints of the Italian university context – the tradition of the one-to-one oral exam, the unquestioned authority of the teacher, the right of the student to re-sit exams ad infinitum, all create a testing environment at odds with the ideal of standardized and cost-effective assessment.
All of the chapters in this collection have addressed one or more of these considerations. This paper is intended as an introduction to the volume. It gives a picture of the multitudinous concerns facing professionals involved in this most complex of enterprises, also referring to recent trends and projects taking place in Italian institutions
Voice and Stance across Disciplines in Academic Discourse
No full textThis chapter addresses the question of disciplinary variation by focusing on a few of the ways voice operates in academic discourse. In it I take the position that while all academic discourse actively endeavors to convey knowledge persuasively, such conveyance often differs considerably across disciplines. Attempting to ascertain what these differences may be and how they work to create what disciplinary communities ‘know’ is anything but a merely formal question of stylistics. It tells us something about how knowledge is created and disseminated in and around academia and how beliefs are justified within these socially and culturally defined contexts
Textual Voices: A Cross Disciplinary Study of Attribution in Academic Discourse
No full textThe article focuses on disciplinary differences in the use of textual voices by comparing article openings in two 'soft disciplines': history and economics. The study starts from a description of the corpus compiled and of the analysis carried out on typs and functions of attribution. the discussion then concentrates on the status o fthe article openings in terms of the main function of the research article, i.e. that of establishing knowledge claims in the different disciplines
- …
