9. Predicting Parameters of Variation in the Use of Academic Multiword Expressions in University Student Writing

2022 ◽  
pp. 137-162
Author(s):  
Taha Omidian ◽  
Anna Siyanova-Chanturia ◽  
Phil Durrant
2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 646-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheena Gardner ◽  
Hilary Nesi ◽  
Douglas Biber

Abstract While there have been many investigations of academic genres, and of the linguistic features of academic discourse, few studies have explored how these interact across a range of university student writing situations. To counter misconceptions that have arisen regarding student writing, this article aims to provide comprehensive linguistic descriptions of a wide range of university assignment genres in relation to multiple situational variables. Our new multidimensional (MD) analysis of the British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus identifies clusters of linguistic features along four dimensions, onto which academic disciplines, disciplinary groups, levels of study, and genre families are mapped. The dimensions are interpreted through text extracts as: (i) Compressed Procedural Information versus Stance towards the Work of Others; (ii) Personal Stance; (iii) Possible Events versus Completed Events; and (iv) Informational Density. Clusters of linguistic features from the comprehensive set of situational perspectives found across this framework can be selected to inform the teaching of a ‘common academic core’, and to inform the design of programmes tailored to the needs of specific disciplines.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Therova

Despite extensive research into academic vocabulary in university student writing, little is known about academic vocabulary in international foundation-level students’ assessed academic writing. Considering that academic vocabulary is regarded as a key element of academic writing style and written assignments are one of the main forms of assessment in university contexts, this is an important omission. This study addresses this gap by employing a corpus-based approach to investigate the development of academic vocabulary in assessed academic writing produced by international students (N=193) in a foundation(gateway) programme over an academic year in the context of a British university based in England and its overseas campuses in the United Arab Emirates and Mauritius. The findings show an increase in the usage of academic vocabulary over the course of the foundation programme and highlight the impact of the assignment topic and brief.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Priya Mathew

The study of phraseology with respect to continuous and discontinuous frames in academic writing has gathered increasing research attention over the past decade. Their prevalence in expert writing and the influence of discipline and genre on their frequency and type have led to studies that attempted to identify the most productive discontinuous frames in specific disciplines. The aim of this study is to investigate the pattern of the N of (the) N, a prolific pattern in expert academic writing, in two Omani corpora of undergraduate Civil Engineering genres, Case Studies (CS) and Methodology Recounts (MR). The two strands of inquiry involve 1) a comparison between the semantic noun categories of the first (N1) and second noun (N2) used in this pattern and; 2) the N1-N2 sequences in the pattern which realize specific discourse functions in these two genres. Strings belonging to this pattern were retrieved from the two corpora through the corpus interface, Sketch Engine. Findings indicate the prevalence of this frame in the two genres and genre influence on the choice of semantic noun categories. It was also found that the N1-N2 sequences in the pattern are used to realise distinct discourse functions in the two genres. This is one of the first corpus-based studies on university student writing in the Middle East and considering that English is the language of instruction and assessment in many of these countries, these findings have significant pedagogical implications. EFL students in such lingua franca contexts can be supported by a more discipline-specific approach. 


2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheena Gardner ◽  
Hilary Nesi

Crisis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Egnoto ◽  
Darrin J. Griffin

Abstract. Background: Identifying precursors that will aid in the discovery of individuals who may harm themselves or others has long been a focus of scholarly research. Aim: This work set out to determine if it is possible to use the legacy tokens of active shooters and notes left from individuals who completed suicide to uncover signals that foreshadow their behavior. Method: A total of 25 suicide notes and 21 legacy tokens were compared with a sample of over 20,000 student writings for a preliminary computer-assisted text analysis to determine what differences can be coded with existing computer software to better identify students who may commit self-harm or harm to others. Results: The results support that text analysis techniques with the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) tool are effective for identifying suicidal or homicidal writings as distinct from each other and from a variety of student writings in an automated fashion. Conclusion: Findings indicate support for automated identification of writings that were associated with harm to self, harm to others, and various other student writing products. This work begins to uncover the viability or larger scale, low cost methods of automatic detection for individuals suffering from harmful ideation.


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