Volume Six, Number Two
ABSTRACTS
Shift in footing in a multi-party interpreting situation: The choice of pronouns by an interpreter and its effects
Masato Takimoto,
Kenta Koshiba
By analysing a naturalistic interpreting situation that was audio recorded, this study examines how an interpreter’s use of pronouns affects the footing of the discourse. The data on which the study is based is a segment of an actual business meeting where there were eight participants, including the interpreter. As a theoretical framework, the notion of footing will be employed. In a multi-party situation, the conventional rule for the interpreter to interpret in the first person does not always apply. For participants to interact smoothly, the interpreter must render not only the content of an utterance but also the footing or in other words, the speaker-hearer alignment. The study shows that the choice of pronoun is an important factor in determining this footing.
Key words: footing, business interpreting, multi-party, pronoun
An evaluation of three different approaches to the analysis of research article abstracts
Phuong Dzung Pho
The research article as a genre has been widely studied for the last two decades. There have been various approaches to the study of the rhetorical structure of this genre, among which are Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST), Framework for the Analysis of the Relational Structure of texts (FARS) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP). This paper aims at giving an overview of these approaches, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, and commenting on the context in which each method might be useful. The three approaches are demonstrated through the analysis of a research article abstract.
Key words: Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST), Framework for the Analysis of the Relational Structure of texts (FARS), English for Specific Purposes (ESP), move analysis, research article abstracts.
Applications of discourse analysis in medical
education: A case of the oral case presentation
Kara Gilbert
The oral case presentation (OCP) plays a fundamental role in the communication between health care professionals in hospital-based clinical practice, being an important means of transfer of medical informtion. Consequently, it offers a strategy for teaching communication skills to students on clinical placements in undergraduate medical programs. The case of an international undergraduate medical student referred for language and communication skills support is discussed. Applying principles of discourse analysis, investigation of the linguistic and rhetorical strategies employed by the student in his oral case presentations identified his communicative strengths and weaknesses, which informed the focus of explicit, contextualised feedback. Distinct features of the case presentation that emerged as important indicators of the students’ communicative performance included: (a) generic structure, (b) positioning and elaboration of information, (c) use of technical or specialised medical vocabulary, (d) markers of cohesive and logical development, and (e) structures of reasoning. The analysis, feedback and subsequent improvement in the student’s OCP performance are discussed. The application of discourse analysis in a communication skills support strategy for medical education contexts is considered.
Key words: clinical communication skills, oral case presentation, international medical students, English for Medical Purposes, clinical reasoning.
Eto leto svet: Estonia’s 2008 Eurovision song as
a source of folk-linguistic controversy
Anna Verschik
Jim Hlavac
A song Eto leto svet (‘That’s summer light’) was chosen to represent Estonia in the Eurovision song contest in 2008 held in Belgrade. The song is noteworthy because: (1) it imitates Serbian; (2) Estonian-speakers are not familiar with Serbian and do not have ‘ready made’ linguistic devices for stereotyping/imitation of Serbian; (3) the song has generated strong opinions amongst some people in Estonia. These opinions are gauged through questions posed to informants in Estonia, Serbia and Croatia and canvassing of print and electronic media. The song is salient to its Estonian audience because it indexes listeners’ assumed proficiency in Russian in order for its Serbian text to be comprehended. As many Estonians have at least passive command of Russian, we introduce the notion of ‘collapsing’ – a strategy of approximation, perceived congruency and assumed comprehension employed by speakers when confronted with text that bears similarity to their L1, L2 or subsequent languages.
Key words: Folk linguistics, language attitudes, collapsing, Eurovision Song Contest, Estonian, Serbian.
Language assistance in Japanese-English Language Exchange Partnerships (LEPs)
Hiromi Nishioka
This paper aims to explore the interaction between Japanese language learners and Japanese native speakers during Language Exchange Partnerships (LEPs) in an Australian university. LEPs are a setting where language learners regularly meet a native speaker of their target language who mutually supports language and cultural learning. Drawing data from semi-structured interviews, recorded interactions during LEPs and stimulated recall sessions, this study investigates the relation of language assistance, and participants’ perceptions of LEPs. Furthermore, by employing the hierarchy of error gravity proposed by Olsson (1972), this paper also examines to what extent error gravity and corrective feedback correlate. A detailed examination of interaction in LEPs revealed that native speakers’ perceptions of their role in LEPs, significantly impact on the amount and variation of language assistance. It was also found that language assistance was more likely to be provided to the learner, who explicitly requests assistance than to a learner who believes that the LEP session is an opportunity to practice conversation. The findings of this study also confirm that errors interfering with the comprehension level of native speakers are more likely to be corrected than other types of errors.
Key words: Second language acquisition, Language exchange partnerships, Japanese, English
Passive in Vietnamese: A prototype point of view
Nguyen Tat Thang
This paper is an attempt to formulate and systematize so-called passive sentences in Vietnamese according to categories based on the theory of cognitive categorization. The paper makes the claim that Vietnamese does have a passive voice, and provides a foundation for a proposal of a Vietnamese passive prototype.
Key words: Vietnamese, passive, prototype, formula