School of Languages and Linguistics - Theses
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ItemWritten feedback in intermediate Japanese L2 classes: Teachers’ and students’ attitudes and practices( 2022)This thesis investigates the attitudes and practices of students and teachers surrounding written feedback in the context of an intermediate Japanese as a Second Language program. Despite the abundance of research investigating written feedback and the factors that influence its implementation and uptake in programs that teach English as an Additional Language, the field of research into second language acquisition has yet to explore written feedback outside of this context in any depth. Hence, the current study aims to begin to address this apparent gap in the existing literature by applying methodologies and theories from previous study to the novel environment of Japanese as a Second Language education. In particular, this was done in order to determine the validity of existing findings outside of the usual context and consider the reasons for any differences in results that might arise. Nine students and two teachers of an intermediate university JSL program provided both qualitative and quantitative data to the study via interviews, surveys, and collection of feedback provided on assignments. Analysis of this data then demonstrated that despite the difference in target language of the educational environment, teachers and students displayed similar attitudes and practices to those that had been observed in previously studied English as an Additional Language learning environments. Thus, the study demonstrates the validity of drawing upon previous literature from English as an Additional Language programs to inform pedagogy in other language learning environments, and facilitates further research on written feedback in environments that teach languages other than English.
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ItemThe Expression of Location in Wumpurrarni English: Continua and Coherence in an Australian Contact Language( 2020)This thesis investigates the expression of static and dynamic location in Wumpurrarni English, a contact language spoken in central Australia which is derived from English, Warumungu, and other nearby contact languages. First, it offers a description of the morphosyntax and semantics of ‘locative phrases’ in the language – phrases which express location and contain a noun phrase plus optional locative markers – and discusses this in comparison to the source languages. Then it analyses the co-occurrence of morphemes in a locative phrase relative to the language they derive from, finding some degree of ‘lectal coherence’ but also a wide range of variation; the usage-based framework of schemas and constructions is applied to understand these findings. The results support the existence of a continuum in Wumpurrarni English but suggest it should be understood as multidimensional rather than linear.
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ItemA contrastive analysis of Chinese and English writing of Singaporean students( 2008)This thesis compared the essays of 13 Singaporean students, written in English and Chinese, within the theoretical framework of contrastive rhetoric. The study responded to criticisms made of contrastive rhetoric, by including new methodologies, particularly the experiences of participants as a significant part of the qualitative analysis. The analysis of essay data focused on how arguments were framed and their content. The questionnaire and interview data investigated student's experiences and attitudes towards learning and using the two languages.. It was found that (a) there were similarities in terms of overall structure of the essays and transfer of certain Chinese stylistic devices, (b) there were differences in the use of other Chinese stylistic devices, and the arguments in Chinese essays clustered around personal-informal-emotional arguments whereas those in the English essays clustered around impersonal-formal-rational arguments. These themes were reflected in the questionnaire and interview data as well.
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ItemSpeaking from the heart: the heart in language and culture( 2010)This study takes an in-depth look at the meanings of heart in English, the idiomatic phrases and constructions involving heart, and the ways in which culturally-specific beliefs about the heart influence the meanings of heart in different languages. A multidimensional approach is employed, in which a corpus of spoken and written texts is analysed to determine the ways heart is used in naturally occurring language. An informant study was also conducted in order to investigate the conscious associations and folk models of the heart held by English speakers. Finally, a survey of Indigenous language dictionaries and literature on Indigenous ethno-medical beliefs demonstrates how the meanings of heart in different languages can reveal interesting differences in conceptualizations of the body.