School of Languages and Linguistics - Theses
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ItemThe emergence of patterns in second language writing : a sociocognitive exploration of lexical trails(University of Melbourne, 2009)One of the enduring frustrations of the second language learner who has a sound knowledge of grammatical rules is the elusiveness of �naturalness�. Just what constitutes �naturalness� and how central it is to linguistic theory has also been a point of contention amongst linguists. Drawing upon a convergence of sociocultural theory and linguistic emergentism, this is a long-term investigation of the development of four ESL users� written lexicogrammatical patterning. A qualitative methodology (Lexical Trail Analysis) was developed in order to capture a dynamic and historical view of the ways in which the participants combined words. Recurring patterns, i.e. collocations and colligations, were traced in the learners� essays as they prepared for the IELTS exam and later in their university assignments once they entered their university courses. The participants received direct and indirect feedback on their writing and they were interviewed after revising their essays about what motivated their revisions and the history of lexicogrammatical patterns they had used. Selected lexicogrammatical patterns were later tested using the principles of dynamic testing. By tracing selected lexemes chronologically throughout the participants� written production and incorporating insights from the participants, it was possible to observe 1) the ways in which the participants� words are habitually combined, 2) how these combinations are transformed over time 3) why the participants combined words in certain ways and 4) how word combinations are affected by sources such as teacher feedback and reference texts. The analysis reveals that the participants were aware of their L2 patterns and used the feedback process as a forum for experimentation with new combinations. Feedback provided one source of assistance, but the participants noticed and sought to imitate native-like patterning through the use of a range of other resources such as dictionaries, other L2 users and L2 texts. In the gradual process of developing increasingly native-like means of participation, the participants were agents of change, seeking assistance and adapting patterns to suit their changing goals. These findings suggest that resourcefulness in tool use, the ability to imitate and adapt linguistic resources and sociocognitive resources such as memory and attention are paramount in the massive task of internalizing the lexicogrammatical patterning of a second language. This process of language patterning is theorized via a model which encompasses adaptations in the linguistic properties of language patterns as well as adaptations in sociocognitive status.
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ItemAmbiguous subjects : dissolution and metamorphosis in the postmodern sublime, or dear circus aerialist(University of Melbourne, 2008)
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ItemLanguages of the body : Kathy Acker's corporeal sublime(University of Melbourne, 2007)
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ItemThe passion of the soul : sadomasochism and the cultural construction of pain(University of Melbourne, 2006)
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ItemThe passion of the soul : sadomasochism and the cultural construction of pain(University of Melbourne, 2006)
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ItemIn states and up town and down country : poetic landscapes of Richard Hugo(University of Melbourne, 2006)
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ItemClassroom-based assessment and the issue of continuity between primary and secondary school languages programs(University of Melbourne, 2008)This dissertation has used an ethnographic study of classroom-based assessment practices to investigate the issue of continuity between primary and secondary schools languages programs. The study used ethnographic methods, including participant observation and case study, to investigate Indonesian language classrooms at two successive levels of schooling; Year 6 (the final year of primary school) and Year 7 (the first year of secondary school). Data collection for the main study took place in Term 4, 2005 (Year 6) and Terms I and 2 (Year 7) with a total ten weeks in each classroom; and was longitudinal in that the Year 7 participants included a group of students who had also participated as Year 6 students. Data included classroom observation, field notes and audio recording, teacher and student interviews, political and local documents and student work samples. The study found the primary and secondary school Indonesian classrooms represented two distinct assessment cultures. Further it was concluded that methodological differences in classroom-based assessment practices impacted as much on how 'competence' was constructed in the respective settings as differences in the valued enterprises and qualities. These included differences in transparency in relation to assessment processes, who was assessed (i.e., the group or individuals), how assessment-related information was used, the focus of assessment and notions of quality and standard. Issues emerging from the data analysis included the effect of classroom-based assessment practices on learners' goal orientation (and, thereby they defined �success'), and whether competence was constructed as a 'distributed' or individual trait. It was argued that these findings will contribute to a better understanding of the issue of continuity of languages education between the two phases of schooling. It was concluded that the findings have significance for languages education policy, planning and practice.
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ItemThe effect of including non-native accents in English listening tests for young learners: psychometric and learner perspectives( 2015)As English has been used widely as a lingua franca for communication, language testers have started to evaluate the proposal for introducing non-native accents into the listening input of English tests. This study aims to further this debate from both the psychometric and learner perspectives by not only investigating how accents influence test takers’ performance, but also eliciting their subjective perception of accents. 80 young L1-Mandarin test takers were recruited and divided into four groups, with each group listening to one accented version of the same test. The four accents used in this study were Australian, Spanish, Vietnamese and Mandarin English accents. Test takers subsequently completed a Likert-scale questionnaire, which measured their accent perception on three sub-scales, Familiarity, Comprehension and Attitude. Results indicate that the Mandarin accent group performed significantly better than the other three groups in the test and also perceived the Mandarin accent significantly more comprehensible, lending support for the shared-L1 effect. No significant difference is observed among the three non-Mandarin groups whether in the test scores or the Comprehension sub-scale. There is no significant difference in test takers’ perception of the four accents in terms of Familiarity or Attitude. The central implication from this study is that there is potential for the inclusion of non-native accents into listening tests provided the shared-L1 effect can be properly addressed.
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ItemFrom Afropea to the Afro-Atlantic: A study of four novels by Léonora Miano and Fatou Diome( 2019)Recent research in the field of Francophone African literature has suggested that contemporary Sub-Saharan authors living and writing in Europe present in their works a fundamentally devalorising image of their continent of origin. This is said to be reflective of their inherently negative rapport with their Africanicity, a degraded collective identitarian perception that finds its roots in the French colonial project South of the Sahara. Other scholars have argued that Africa no longer features, as it did in the works of previous generations of Sub-Saharan authors, as an important reference point for contemporary African authors who have turned their literary attention towards their own individual lives and to those of other African migrants in Europe. These writers are, according to some, relatively disinterested in their continent of origin and in the people who live there. This thesis considers the textual representation of the African continent and Africanicity in the novels of two contemporary Sub-Saharan authors writing in French on Africa from Europe – Leonora Miano from Cameroon and Fatou Diome from Senegal. Although these two authors are readily making names for themselves in the French and African literary scenes, they remain less studied in academia than many Francophone African male writers and other Francophone African women writers who have been writing for longer. The study seeks to determine whether Diome and Miano present in their texts a devalorising image of Sub-Saharan Africa and Africanicity more broadly or, conversely, whether there is evidence in their fiction of a commitment to a project of collective Afro-identitarian revalorisation. This study demonstrates a marked evolution across four novels by Miano and Diome through the theoretical concept of Afro-diasporic consciousness informed and developed upon by theory drawn from postcolonial, diaspora and feminist literary studies. It comparatively analyses Diome’s Le Ventre de l’Atlantique (2003) and Miano’s L’interieur de la nuit (2005) followed by Diome’s Celles qui attendent (2010) and Miano’s Les aubes ecarlates: Sankofa cry (2009) to reveal the authors’ increasingly ardent commitment to rehabilitating and revalorising contemporary Africanicity through fiction. This revalorisation is shown to be dependent on movement beyond the bounds of binary and colonially-referential Afropea and towards transnational engagement with Africa’s Black Atlantic diaspora. The study ultimately suggests that Africa remains very much present in the literary and affective sensibilities of Miano and Diome.
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ItemThe relevance of IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 to successful university writing( 2019)Amidst accelerating globalisation, international students currently occupy a sizeable percentage of university enrolments in English-speaking countries. Of these countries, Australia has the highest ratio of international student tertiary enrolments at 21.5% (OECD, 2019). Due to this ongoing trend, the validity of high-stakes language tests has become more vital than ever before. For language tests to be valid for university entrance, they should elicit language that is relevant and applicable to successful university participation. This relates to the extrapolation of language elicited by tests to university contexts (Chapelle, Enright, & Jamieson, 2008). The purpose of this study is to investigate the relevance of language elicited by IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 (WT2) to successful graduate-level university writing produced for the Master of Applied Linguistics at the University of Melbourne. To date, studies investigating IELTS extrapolation have yielded limited evidence with little relevance to stakeholders. The present study addresses this issue by interviewing stakeholders about language needs and using the interview results to inform functional move-step analyses (Swales, 1990, 2004) of test and assignment writing for comparison. The results suggest that IELTS Academic WT2 is only somewhat relevant to successful university writing and highlight the need for students to develop skills in defining disciplinary concepts and interpreting study results. The results also suggest that IELTS scores should be interpreted with caution, given that claims pertaining to score use currently rest on weak extrapolation evidence. The methodological approach of the study demonstrates the potential to provide stronger extrapolation evidence if applied to broader contexts.