Sessions
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UPCOMING SESSION
(Please email us at wwwdisco@metu.edu.tr to get the link for our upcoming session.)
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Kieran File)
Date: 29.02.2024
Place/Time: Online via Zoom at 19:00 UTC+3 (Local time, Ankara/Turkey)
Speaker: Dr. Kieran File, University of Warwick
Talk Title: Regulating the emotions of Formula 1 drivers: a discourse analysis of engineer talk during live racing events
Abstract:
In this talk, I present a fine-grained, functional account of talk by Formula 1 racing engineers as they communicate with drivers through radio intercom channels during racing events. In particular, I explore the functions of time-gap messages (informational messages about the amount of time between a driver and the competitor in front or behind them) that were ritually provided to drivers by their chief engineers throughout an unfolding race. I argue that this mundane communicative practice efficiently performs important emotion regulation functions (particularly of an attentional deployment kind) in what is a cognitively demanding communicative context, by quickly and clearly contextualising the race in ways that help to encourage and motivate the driver, alert them to impending threats, and push them to accept strategic decisions by the team. Broader implications about the role of discourse analysis for unpacking complex emotion regulation processes (in sport and beyond) will be discussed.
PAST SESSIONS
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Michael O'Donnell)
Date: 15.12.2022
Place/Time: Online via Zoom at 19:00 UTC+3 (Local time, Ankara/Turkey)
Speaker: Dr. Michael O'Donnell, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Talk Title: Exploring meaningful differences in political discourse: analysing speeches of heads-of-state with UAM CorpusTool
Abstract
This talk will present how UAM Corpustool can be used to discover meaningful differences between the language used by politicians in their speeches. A corpus consisting of 5 speeches each from 8 heads-of-state was constructed. Where possible, speeches were matched in regards to the situation (e.g., UN address, Trade conference, election victory speech, etc.). To allow comparison on the same features, where speeches were delivered in a language other than English, an official English transcription of the speech was used, although it needs to be kept in mind this may have an effect on results.
The talk focuses on automatic analysis, showing how certain lexico-syntactic features can be used to indicate deeper patterns in the text, e.g., Academicness (measured through average word length, lexical density, academic word use), Involvement (use of first and second person pronouns), Subjectivity (degree of use of positive or negative words), Keywords (identification of central themes of the speaker's message), Modality (identifying to what degree and in what direction speakers distance from realis in terms of certainty, obligation or inclination), Temporal Placement (exploration of tense-aspect combinations to identify if the speaker focuses on the past, present, or future, and whether on states or events), Transitivity (mainly to identify whether the speaker speaks more of the material world, the relational world, or of emotions/cognition, or verbalisations).
Suggested readings:
O'Donnell, M. 2008. "The UAM CorpusTool: Software for corpus annotation and exploration". In Bretones Callejas, Carmen M. et al. (eds) Applied Linguistics Now: Understanding Language and Mind / La Lingüística Aplicada Hoy: Comprendiendo el Lenguaje y la Mente. Almería: Universidad de Almería. Pp. 1433-1447. www.wagsoft.com/Papers/AESLA08.pdf
Mick O'Donnell (2013) "Exploring Identity through Appraisal Theory: a Corpus Annotation Methodology". Linguistics and the Human Sciences. Vol 9, No 1 (2013) http://www.wagsoft.com/Papers/ODONNELL-APPRAISAL-IDENTITY-v4-distrib.pdf
SINCLAIR, J. (2005). Corpus and Text: Basic Principles. Chapter 1 in M. Wynne (ed.) Developing Linguistic Corpora: a Guide to Good Practice. Oxford: Oxbow https://users.ox.ac.uk/~martinw/dlc/chapter1.htm
BIO: Dr Mick O'Donnell is a lecturer in the English Department of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. His current research interests involve Corpus Linguistics in general, and also the use of learner corpora and language testing to explore foreign language acquisition. He has implemented various software tools for corpus annotation and exploration, including UAM Corpustool, Systemic Coder and RSTTool.
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Charlotte TAYLOR)
Date: 26.05.2022
Place/Time: Online via Zoom at 19:00 UTC+3 (Local time, Ankara/Turkey)
Speaker: Dr. Charlotte TAYLOR, University of Sussex
Talk Title: Disinformation and UK migration discourses
Abstract
In this talk, I discuss the role of disinformation within migration discourses. I will draw on my own case-studies alongside previous research to show the ways in which disinformation is central to current migration discourses and indeed necessary to maintain the consistently negative view of (far)right views on mobility. I will illustrate how disinformation appears in public discourses in three sections: naming choices, narratives and nostalgia, and non-news.
Suggested readings:
Taylor, C. (2021). Metaphors of migration over time. Discourse & Society, 32(4), 463-481.
Taylor, C. (2020). Representing the Windrush generation: metaphor in discourses then and now. Critical Discourse Studies, 17(1), 1-21.
Taylor, C. (2019). Conflict and categorisation: A corpus & discourse study of naming participants in forced migration. In L. Jeffries & J. Driscoll. The Routledge Handbook of Language & Conflict. Routledge pp 128-144
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Hayriye KAYI-AYDAR)
Date: 31.03.2022
Place/Time: Online via Zoom at 19:00 UTC+3 (Local time, Ankara/Turkey)
Speaker: Dr. Hayriye KAYI-AYDAR, Associate Professor, University of Arizona
Talk Title: Analyzing Intersectional Identities of Teachers in Various Forms of Discourse
Abstract
In this talk, I provide an overview of my research on teacher identity in discourse. Focusing on classroom talk as well as narratives as a form of discourse, I analyze how professional identities are reflected in teacher narratives and/or classroom discourse. As I engage in this analysis, I demonstrate how I combine an intersectionality framework with positioning theory and narrative inquiry. After sharing the findings from various studies that I have conducted, I conclude with a discussion of relevant methodological issues as well as directions for future research on intersectional teacher identities.
Suggested readings:
1. Kayi-Aydar, H. (2021). A framework for positioning analysis: From identifying to analyzing (pre) positions in narrated story lines. System, 102, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102600.
2. Kayi-Aydar, H. & Steadman, A. (2022). Positioning theory for English-medium instruction (EMI) praxis: Insights and implications for teaching and research. Ibérica, 42, 15-32. https://doi.org/10.17398/2340-2784.42.15.
3. Kayi‐Aydar, H., & Green‐Eneix, C. (2019). Shared identities through translanguaging practices in the multilingual mariachi classroom. TESOL Journal, 10(4), https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.502.
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Gavin BROOKES)
Date: 27.01.2022
Place/Time: Online via Zoom at 19:00 UTC+3 (Local time, Ankara/Turkey)
Speaker: Dr. Gavin BROOKES, Lancaster University
Talk Title: Exploring health in the news: Corpus perspectives on illness representation
Abstract:
In this talk, I explore the power of linguistic choices to shape the ways we think about health and respond to illness. I will present a series of case studies based on research on media representations of health topics such as obesity and dementia in order to explicate how corpus linguistics methods can help us to identify and interpret linguistic patterns in the ways we discuss various health topics. The analyses presented will also set out to scratch beneath the surface of the texts in order to consider text producers’ motivations, as well as to consider the wider social and public health implications of the illness representations that characterise this pervasive and widely accessed discourse site.
Suggested readings:
• Brookes (2021). Lose Weight, Save the NHS: Discourses of Obesity in Press Coverage of COVID-19: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17405904.2021.1933116
• Brookes and Hunt (2021). Discourse and Health Communication: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-68184-5_1
• Brookes et al. (2018). “Our biggest killer”: multimodal discourse representations of dementia in the British press: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Feprints....
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Robbie LOVE)
Date: 16.12.2021
Place/Time: Online via Zoom at 19:00 UTC+3 (Local time, Ankara/Turkey)
Speaker: Dr. Robbie LOVE, Aston University
Talk Title: Challenges in deriving a new COLT from the Spoken BNC2014
Abstract:
The Bergen Corpus of London Teenage Language (COLT) is a half-million-word spoken corpus derived from recordings of teenage speakers gathered in the early 1990s, and it is part of the Spoken BNC1994. In this talk, I describe recent efforts by myself and Anna-Brita Stenström (University of Bergen) to derive a new sub-corpus of south-east England teenage language from the Spoken BNC2014 on a post hoc basis, for comparison with the original COLT. This task presents several challenges, which raise interesting questions about representativeness, validity and transcription practices. I will finish by presenting a brief case study into teenage swearing, which demonstrates the utility of the new sub-corpus.
Suggested Readings:
Love, R., Dembry, C., Hardie, A., Brezina, V., & McEnery, T. (2017). The Spoken BNC2014: Designing and building a spoken corpus of everyday conversations. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 22(3), Special Issue: 'Compiling and analysing the Spoken British National Corpus 2014', 319-344. DOI: 10.1075/ijcl.22.3.02lov
Love, R. (2020). Overcoming Challenges in Corpus Construction: The Spoken British National Corpus 2014. Routledge Advances in Corpus Linguistics. New York: Routledge.
Love, R. (2021). Swearing in informal spoken English: 1990s – 2010s. Text and Talk, 41, Special Issue: 'Corpus Linguistics across the Generations: In Memory of Geoffrey Leech'. DOI: 10.1515/text-2020-0051
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Utku TANRIVERE)
Date: 28.10.2021
Place/Time: Online via Zoom at 19:00 UTC+3 (Local time, Ankara/Turkey)
Speaker: Dr. Utku TANRIVERE, Independent Researcher
Talk Title: "Forensic Linguistics: the Language of Suicide Notes in Turkish"
Abstract:
Forensic linguistics, as the application of linguistics to forensic purposes and contexts, has gained considerable attention worldwide for the last 20 years owing to its potential to help reveal the truth for justice and understand the language use in legal processes. In these terms, suicide notes are of significance to researchers from various disciplines and could shed light on not only the deed of killing oneself but also legal investigations. In this talk consisting of two parts, a master's thesis, which is shown as one of the two first forensic linguistic studies in Turkey, will be featured.
Suggested Readings:
Fata, I. A., Yusuf, Y. Q., Kamal, R., and Namaziandost, E. (2021). The characteristics of linguistic features enfolded in suicide notes. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(2), 720-735.
McMenamin, G. R. (2002). Forensic Linguistics. In G. R. McMenamin (Ed.), Forensic Linguistics: Advances in Forensic Stylistics (pp. 65-105). CRC Press.
Osgood, C. E., & Walker, E. G. (1959). Motivation and language behavior: a content analysis of suicide notes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 59(1), 58-67.
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Olcay SERT)
Date: 20.05.2021
Place/Time: Online via Zoom at 19:00 UTC+3 (Local time in Ankara, Turkey)
Speaker: Dr. Olcay Sert, Mälardalen University
Talk Title: Discussion tasks and active listenership: In search of interactional development
Abstract:
In this talk, I will first reflect on my earlier study (Sert 2019) into L2 discussion tasks from the perspective of active listenership. I will then present further evidence on the facilitative role of discussion tasks, by using data from English language classrooms in Sweden (Sert and Amri 2021). It will be argued that discussion tasks carried out by groups of learners promote unique affordances for interactional development. Implications for teaching and assessment of interactional competence and “interactive listening” (Lam 2021) will be discussed.
Suggested Readings:
Lam, D. M. (2021). Don’t Turn a Deaf Ear: A Case for Assessing Interactive Listening. Applied Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amaa064
Sert, O. (2019). The Interplay between Collaborative Turn Sequences and Active Listenership: Implications for the Development of L2 Interactional Competence. In M. R. Salaberry & S. Kunitz (Eds.), Teaching and testing L2 interactional competence: bridging theory and practice (pp.142-166). New York: Routledge.
Sert, O. & Amri, M. (2021). Learning Potentials Afforded by a Film in Task-Based Language Classroom Interactions. The Modern Language Journal. 105, 126-141.
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Stephanie SCHNURR)
Date: 18.03.2021
Place/Time: Online via Zoom at 19:00 UTC+3 (Local time in Ankara, Turkey)
Speaker: Dr. Stephanie Schnurr, University of Warwick
Talk Title: “You have to be honest about how hard it is”: Exploring the sociolinguistics of family and work in leadership stories around the world
Abstract:
This talk explores the sociolinguistics of family and work in leadership stories told by professionals in different socio-cultural contexts, including the Middle East, the US, Nigeria, Kuweit and Dubai. Focusing on this largely overlooked aspect of leadership and taking a narrative as social practice approach (Clifton et al. 2020), this study analyses and critically discusses several stories told by those in leadership positions which make family and work an issue for leadership. By challenging traditional views of leaders as “tall, handsome, white, alpha males (of) privilege” (Grint 2010: 69) these stories problematise and resist global hegemonic masculine Discourses of leadership, which often contribute to a marginalisation and exclusion of women (e.g. Acker, 1990; Crawford & Mills, 2011; Baxter & Al A’ali, 2016). This marginalisation of women is, for example, evidenced by the persisting global issues of women’s underrepresentation in managerial and senior positions and the gender pay gap (OECD, 2017; Adams, 2016; Appelbaum et al., 2003; Vial, Napier, & Brescoll, 2016; Fitzsimmons & Callan, 2016).
Drawing on leadership stories that occurred during research interviews as well as mediatised interviews and TED talks, this study explores how the storytellers through recounting their own experiences in geographically and culturally different contexts not only navigate gender stereotypes but at the same time challenge and resist globally valid hegemonic (and typically masculine) notions of leadership. Although the stories come to different conclusions and provide different (if any) solutions on how to successfully juggle family and work, by explicitly acknowledging and thereby normalising these issues they have transformative power (Clifton et al., 2020). By telling and re-telling such stories in different contexts and to different audiences, alternative notions of leadership are constructed and literally talked into being which over time may replace traditional, hegemonic and widely circulating stories about heroic and by default male leaders from which women tend to be excluded. However, the study argues that in their stories the tellers often do not go far enough and often do not explicitly criticize and challenge the underlying gender ideologies which discriminate against women.
Suggested Readings:
Clifton, J., S. Schnurr, and D. Van De Mieroop 2019. The Language of Leadership Narratives: A Social Practice Perspective. Abingdon: Routledge. Chapters 1 and 7
Grint, K. 2010. Leadership: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 5
Schnurr, S. and B. Mak 2011. “Leadership in Hong Kong. Is gender really not an issue?” Gender and Language. Special Issue on Gender and Language in the Workplace 5(2): 337–364.
DISCORE Speaker Series (Ayşenur SAĞDIÇ)
Date: 18.02.2021
Place/Time: Online via Zoom at 19:00 UTC+3 (Local time in Ankara, Turkey)
Speaker: Ayşenur Sağdıç, Georgetown University
Talk Title: A Corpus-based Discourse Approach to Internet Pragmatics Research
Abstract:
Using corpus-based discourse analysis allows researchers to combine qualitative and quantitative research methods to uncover and examine underlying patterns of language use. In this presentation, I will illustrate how such a method can be utilized to research internet pragmatics by presenting the findings of my recent study that analyzed the cross-cultural differences and similarities of Facebook compliment exchange patterns in American English and Turkish. Although there is a rich body of literature on face-to-face compliment exchanges (e.g., Ruhi, 2006), few empirical studies exist on how compliments are realized in technology-mediated environments with non-verbal elements (e.g., emojis, likes). Situated at the intersection of corpus linguistics, interactional sociolinguistics, and internet pragmatics, this study examined a corpus of naturally occurring compliments directed to Facebook users and their compliment responses. Semi-structured interviews were also included to collect metapragmatic information on online complimenting practices and to triangulate the corpus and discourse analysis findings. Through my analysis, I will demonstrate that while both Turkish and American English speech communities employ various positive politeness strategies, their strategies differ markedly based on the pragmatic expectations with respect to how politeness is achieved in the act of complimenting on social networking sites. I will conclude the talk by discussing the theoretical and methodological implications of the findings for technology-mediated discourse research as well as pedagogical affordances of corpus-based discourse analysis for teaching pragmatics in second language classrooms.
Suggested Readings:
Eslami, Zohreh R., & Xinyuan Yang. (2018). Chinese-English bilinguals’ online compliment response patterns in American (Facebook) and Chinese (Renren) social networking sites. Discourse, Context & Media, 26, 13-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2018.04.006
Maíz-Arévalo, Carmen. (2013). “Just click ‘Like”’: Computer-mediated responses to Spanish compliments. Journal of Pragmatics 51, 47–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.03.003
Ruhi, Şükriye. (2006). Politeness in compliment responses: A perspective from naturally occurring exchanges in Turkish. Pragmatics, 16(1), 43-101. https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.16.1.03ruh
Tannen, Deborah. (2013). Medium is the metamessage: Conversational style in new media interaction. In Deborah Tannen & Anna Marie Trester (Eds.), Discourse 2.0: Language and new media (pp. 99-117). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Philip Durrant)
(Please email us at wwwdisco@metu.edu.tr to get a link for the session.)
Date: 21.01.2021
Place/Time: Online via Zoom at 19:00 UTC+3 (Local time in Ankara, Turkey)
Speaker: Dr. Philip Durrant, University of Exeter
Talk Title: Corpus Research for Writing Development
Abstract:
Corpus linguistic research methods have much to offer to the study of writing development. They can enable reliable analysis of large samples of authentic learner writing and highlight subtle developmental patterns that are difficult or impossible to detect by other methods. The increasing availability of learner corpora, and of software capable of easily processing such corpora, are opening up exciting new opportunities for research in this area.
While these developments should be welcomed, it is important to reflect on the methodological nature of such research and to consider what corpus studies can and cannot tell us about writing development. This presentation draws on a large-scale systematic review of the literature and my own corpus research into the writing of school children in England to reflect on key methodological issues. It will evaluate some of the advantages of a corpus approach, and highlight limitations and aspects of good practice of which researchers need to be aware. I hope that this will be a chance to think through some fundamental issues in learner corpus research and to help build a strong foundation for future studies.
Suggested Readings:
Biber, D., Gray, B., Staples, S. & Egbert, J. (2020). Investigating grammatical complexity in L2 English writing research: Linguistic description versus predictive measurement. Journal of English for Academic Purposes. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2020.100869
Crossley, S. (2020). Linguistic features in writing quality and development: An overview. Journal of Writing Research.
Durrant, P. & Brenchley, M. (2019). Development of vocabulary sophistication across genres in English children’s writing. Reading and Writing. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-018-9932-8
Durrant, P., Brenchley, M. & Clarkson, R. (2020). Syntactic Development across Genres in Children's Writing: The Case of Adverbial Clauses. Journal of Writing Research. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2020.12.02.04
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Hasret SAYGI)
Date: 08.10.2020
Place/Time: Online via Zoom at 15:30pm. (Please email us at wwwdisco@metu.edu.tr to get a link for the session.)
Speaker: Dr. Hasret Saygı, İstanbul 29 Mayıs University
Talk Title: Linguistic ethnographic exploration of stance taking practices between the refugee and local neighbours
Abstract:
This linguistic ethnographic research investigates the dynamics of everyday interaction between refugee and local women residing in a mid-size Turkish city. Focusing on social gatherings of local and Iraqi Turkmen refugee women in domestic spaces for one year, the linguistic ethnographic study undertaken in this project explores the dialogical processes through which these women construct and negotiate their stances and identity positions. Regular field observations were supplemented by a total of 70-hour of audio-recordings of spontaneous interactions in Turkish in informal social gatherings, interviews, and home visits. Findings reveal how these interactions were observed to be normative and stance-saturated, and the hegemonic nationalist, religious and patriarchal discourses were all-pervasive. They also show that while the Iraqi Turkmen women's efforts to capitalise on the shared identities resulted in the emergence of "brief moments of tight but temporary and ephemeral groupness" (Blommaert, 2017, p. 35), in the long run, their refugee identity overshadowed other identities which they claimed for themselves.
The reading list, suggested by Dr. Hasret Saygı, is as follows:
Suggested Readings:
1. Block, D. (2013). The structure and agency dilemma in identity and intercultural communication research, Language and Intercultural Communication, DOI:10.1080/14708477.2013.770863.
2. Du Bois, J. (2007). The stance triangle. In R. Englebretson (Ed.), Stancetaking in Discourse: Subjectivity, Evaluation, Interaction (pp. 139-182). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
3. Jaffe, A. (2009). Introduction: The Sociolinguistics of Stance. In A. Jaffe (Ed.), Stance: Sociolinguistic perspectives (pp. 3-28). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4. Rampton, B., Tusting, K., Maybin, J., Barwell, R., Creese, A., & Lytra, V. (2004). UK Linguistic Ethnography: A Discussion Paper, Unpublished. Retrieved from https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fss/organisations/lingethn/documents/discuss...
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Betül BAL GEZEGİN)
Date: 05.03.2020
Speaker: Dr. Betül Bal Gezegin, Ondokuz Mayıs University
Lecture Title: Exploring Academic Genres with Corpora
Abstract:
Corpus provides “multiple perspectives on differences and similarities in language use that cannot be provided by other approaches” (Conrad, 96). Inspired by these words, in this talk, I will share experiences on compilation and analysis procedures of two specialized corpora: a) corpus of published research articles written by Turkish scholars and b) corpus of academic book reviews written in Turkish and English. I will show how texts from different academic genres are investigated with corpus tools for various focuses such as lexical bundle use, evaluative language, appraisal resources, and metadiscourse markers. By showing evidences on variation across text types, genres, and languages, pedagogical implications of the findings will be discussed particularly for L2 writing and academic writing.
Compulsory Readings:
Moreno, A. I. & Suárez, L. (2008). A study of critical attitude across English and Spanish academic book reviews. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 7(1), 15-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2008.02.009
Itakura, H. & Tsui, A. B. M (2011). Evaluation in academic discourse: Managing criticism in Japanese and English book reviews. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(5), 1366-1379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.023
Extra Readings:
Bal-Gezegin, B. (2019). Lexical bundles in published research articles: A corpus-based study. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 15(2), 520-534. https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.586188
Junqueira, L. & Cortes, V. (2014). Metadiscourse in book reviews in English and Brazilian Portuguese: A corpus-based analysis. RPCG: Rhetoric, Professional Communication and Globalization, Volume 6, 88-109. http://www.rpcg.org/index.php?journal=rpcg&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=92
Tse, P. & Hyland, K. (2007). ‘So what is the problem this book addresses?’: Interactions in academic book reviews. Text & Talk: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language, Discourse & Communication Studies, 26(6), 767-790. https://doi.org/10.1515/TEXT.2006.031
Reading & Discussion Session
Date: 20.02.2020
Theme: Internet Pragmatics
Reading List:
Reading 1: Xie, C. & Yus, F. (2018). Introducing internet pragmatics. Internet Pragmatics, 1(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00001.xie
Reading 2: Yus, F. (2018). Identity-related issues in meme communication. Internet Pragmatics, 1(1), 113-133. https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00006.yus
Reading 3: Bou-Franch, P. & Blitvich, P.G.C (2018). Relational work in multimodal networked interactions on Facebook. Internet Pragmatics, 1(1), 134-160. https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00007.bou
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Duygu ÇANDARLI)
Date: 26.12.2019
Speaker: Dr. Duygu Çandarlı, University of Dundee
Lecture Title: Using corpus linguistics methodology to research second language writing
Abstract:
In this talk, I will show how corpora and corpus methods can be used to research second language (L2) writing and then focus on the role of statistics in interpreting corpus findings. I will also exemplify how qualitative data analysis methods, e.g., interviews can be combined with corpus analysis (e.g. Candarli, 2018) in order to explain reasons behind learners' use or avoidance of linguistic features in their writing. Corpora are now one of the most commonly used source of data for L2 writing research. There are three main analytical approaches for corpus analysis: (1) Corpus-based approaches in which researchers investigate pre- determined linguistic features (e.g., Candarli, Bayyurt, & Marti, 2015); (2) corpus-driven approaches in which linguistic features that would be examined emerge inductively from the analysis of the corpus studied (e.g., Candarli & Jones, 2019; Staples et al., 2013); (3) a combination of both corpus-based and corpus-driven approaches in which researchers select pre-defined linguistic structures (e.g., verb argument constructions and adjective + noun combinations) from a tagged corpus and derive lexical realisations of the linguistic structures from the corpus examined (e.g., Paquot, 2019; Römer, 2019). Corpus-based and corpus-driven approaches to L2 writing research will be illustrated by using my previous research, and the affordances and limitations of the two approaches will be outlined. Finally, I will discuss pedagogical implications that corpus research in L2 writing suggests for the context of English as a foreign language and/or English as a lingua franca in higher education.
Readings
Candarli, D. (2018). Changes in L2 writers' self-reported metalinguistic knowledge of lexical phrases over one academic year. The Language Learning Journal, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2018.1520914
Candarli, D., Bayyurt, Y., & Martı, L. (2015). Authorial presence in L1 and L2 novice academic writing: Cross-linguistic and cross-cultural perspectives. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 20, 192–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2015.10.00
Candarli, D., & Jones, S. (2019). Paradigmatic influences on lexical bundles in research articles in the discipline of education. Corpora, 14(2), 237–263. https://doi.org/10.3366/cor.2019.0170
Paquot, M. (2019). The phraseological dimension in interlanguage complexity research. Second Language Research, 35(1), 121–145. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658317694221
Römer, U. (2019). A corpus perspective on the development of verb constructions in second language learners. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 24(3), 268–290. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.00013.roe
Staples, S., Egbert, J., Biber, D., & McClair, A. (2013). Formulaic sequences and EAP writing development: Lexical bundles in the TOEFL iBT writing section. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 12(3), 214–225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2013.05.002
Data Analysis Session
Date: 12.12.2019
Corpus data brought to the session by the following DISCORE members were discussed:
(a) Hülya Mısır and Hale Işık Güler: A corpus-driven CDA analysis of the discourse of online MOOC platforms' promotional materials
(b) Xiaoli Yu: A comparative corpus analysis of the English language portion of the University Entrance exams & Highschool MEB produced/certified English Language Textbooks
Reading & Discussion Session
Date: 28.11.2019
Theme: Combining Corpus Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis in Discourse Research
Readings to be discussed:
Reading 1: (Compulsory): Baker, P., Gabrielatos, C., McEnery, T. (2013) Sketching Muslims: A corpus driven analysis of representations around the word 'Muslim' in the British press 1998–2009. https://academic.oup.com/applij/article/34/3/255/202289
Reading 2: (Compulsory): Mautner, G. (2005) Time to get wired: Using web-based corpora in critical discourse analysis. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0957926505056661
Reading 3: (Compulsory): Wright & Brookes (2019). 'This is England, speak English!': a corpus-assisted critical study of language ideologies in the right-leaning British press. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2018.1511439
Reading 4: (Additional Reading): Mautner, G. (2009). Checks and balances: How corpus linguistics can contribute to CDA. In Wodak & Meyer (eds.) Methods of critical discourse analysis (second edition), (pp.154-179). London: Sage
DISCORE Speaker Series (Dr. Emel KÖKPINAR)
Date: 14.11.2019
Speaker: Dr. Emel KÖKPINAR, Hacettepe University, English Linguistics
Lecture Title: Discursive Representation of Addiction in Newsprint Media
Abstract
The present study concentrates on the news about addiction in the newsprint media of Turkey and the language use in these news. More specifically, the study aims to explore the discursive representation of 'addiction' (in the meaning of being psychologically and physiologically dependent) in terms of youth and thus how youth is represented in relation to addiction. Within this context, by highlighting the idea that addiction and the concepts about addiction are constructed by discursive representations in a way that they influence social cognition, it targets to offer a criticism to the media representation of addiction.
The theoretical framework of the study depends on the theoretical framework of van Dijk (1988a; 1988b; 1988c) on news components and structure, and Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) developed by Wodak et al. (2009). In the study, by grounding on the methodological framework of DHA, the topics, discourse strategies and their linguistic realisations, which create these topics and strategies, emerging in news texts have been explored. The study which adopts the interpretivist and constructivist paradigm obtains its data containing news texts about addiction from the online versions of six newspapers (BirGün, Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet, Sabah, Yeni Akit and Yeni Çağ) which have been chosen in terms of their representing different ideological standpoints. As a result of the study, following a qualitative and critical perspective, it has been found that addiction is represented as it is in a topical relationship with alcoholism, drugs, smoking and technology, and as having negative connotations. It has also underlined that addiction is named in various ways and presented as a problem and threat. In adidtion, an indirect finding of the study is that young people are referred as the core object of addiction. The media practices of the newsprint media in Turkey present addiction by identifying it with youth and may cause the positioning of this identification in the schematic structure of social understanding. At this point, the negative attributions of addiction can be discussed as affecting the perception of society about youth in a negative way.
Suggested Readings:
Wodak, R. (2001). The Discourse-Historical Approach. R. Wodak & M. Meyer (Eds.) In Methods of critical discourse analysis (pp.63–94). London: Sage.
Wodak, R. & Meyer, M. (2001). Methods in Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Sage.
Wodak, R., de Cillia, R., Reisigl, M., & Liebhart, K. (1999/2009).The discursive construction of national identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.