In defence of children

The Convention on the rights of the child has not made much of a difference to the existing conditions of children in India. Moral energy and a socio‐political vision is required by not only the government, but all concerned to improve the status of the child in India. There is a need to focus on child rights issues related to creating public awareness, attitudinal change, political commitment, mass sensitisation and reaching the unreached. An appropriate action strategy is suggested for the restoration of the rights of children in India.     

In defence of speech codes

It has been strongly maintained that speech codes at universities interfere with academic freedom, and also, to the contrary, that such speech codes must be developed to restrain appeals to academic freedom that function to restrain the freedom of marginalized groups to participate fully in the university. This essay argues that forms of speech can in fact constrain the freedom, including legitimate academic freedom, of many persons, not only, but importantly including, marginalized groups; that speech codes have always existed; and that reasonable ones can be developed which do not interfere with freedom of teaching, learning, and research in the university; and in particular that definitions of academic freedom such as that developed by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) are compatible with such speech codes.     

In defence of multimodal re‐signification: a response to Håvard Skaar's ‘In defence of writing’

Responding to ‘In defence of writing’ by Håvard Skaar, published in issue 43.1 of this journal (April 2009), the present article argues that (1) compared with text production ‘from scratch’, producing texts through copy‐and‐paste requires a different type of – rather than less – semiotic work, and that (2) digitally produced writing may involve the same amount of semiotic work as texts produced through digitally retrieved images. Supporting the argument with data drawn from the writer's teaching experience in three first‐year graduate courses of Scientific English for the Health Professions, the article discusses the changes in the abilities that are foregrounded/backgrounded (more/less required and developed) in the use of copy‐and‐paste for text production. The results indicate that rather than privileging one mode over another, the learners' semiotic work can be better assessed through a multilayered process of re‐signification and re‐elaboration of texts and contents into multiple modes. The conclusions suggest new priorities for teaching, learning and assessment in the light of the changes in our contemporary semiotic landscape.     

In defence of a pedagogy of the heart: theory and practice in the use of imaginal knowledge

This article outlines one of the theoretical approaches to pedagogy of the heart, drawing specifically on the work of Hillman and his concept of imaginal knowledge. Imaginal knowledge, as opposed to evidence-based and critical pedagogy, illuminates the imagination and moves the heart towards humanistic action. In this paper, we argue that this is an area neglected in the education of professionals. The paper provides a number of methodological strategies for integrating education of the heart with critical and evidence-based knowledge. These strategies deal with how to evoke the imagination and move the heart and then progress to issues of classroom communication and the management of emotions. The context is the teaching of supporting sciences to health professionals in the university sector.     

Children's Participation: An Arendtian criticism

Hannah Arendt's critique of education in 1950s USA provides an important way of understanding the development of citizenship education. Her theory on the nature of childhood and her concepts of natality and authority give insight into both the directions of current policies and practices, and the possible future states into which these elements may crystallise. It is argued that education for citizenship is an expression of the hope that children will ‘save’ us from ourselves and that there are two distinct directions that this hope is taking, one representing an orientation to the past and the other to the future. Arendt's critique focuses on what she argues is the proper relationship to both past and future that the educator must maintain. The argument is contextualised through the Scottish approach to citizenship education.     

从批评对象的角度看辽宁文学批评的发展空间

文学批评是批评主体按照一定的批评标准、方法,围绕着批评对象而展开的分析、阐释、鉴别、判断的理性活动,它意在表达批评主体的价值取向和观点立场。批评对象是批评主体表达自己意愿和取向的媒介,更是文学批评活动的中心要素。     

谈对位联防的综合防守效应

随着篮球进攻技术的提高、战术的完善、规则的不断修改 ,对防守技、战术的要求越来越高 ,本文就对位联防战术的针对性、综合性、攻击性特点 ,探讨在篮球比赛实战中的应用。     

In defence of writing: a social semiotic perspective on digital media,literacy and learning

From a learning perspective, social semiotics researchers tend to focus on the liberation latent in the multimedia options available through the new media. It is true that digital media democratise the possibilities open to the general public of a more varied and comprehensive text production than ever before, both in and outside school. Participating in this text production naturally implies a richer potential for learning. But digital technology also allows us to opt out of, and thus avoid, semiotic work. With this as the starting point, the present article sets out to highlight the pedagogical benefits associated with the written mode, precisely in an age when the digital media are making multimodal forms of expression increasingly available to us all.     

From the discipline of literary criticism

The new English elective programs which are mushrooming in high schools all over the country are replete with offerings in oral communication and drama. On the other hand, separate speech and drama courses outside the aegis of English remain relegated almost exclusively to a “catch at catch can” spot in the curriculum.

A natural merger and a workable one is a combination of speech and English into a communication department. The basic goal of this department is to encompass oracy—speaking and listening, and literacy—reading and writing. This provides not only a fresh approach to traditionally bound English offerings and isolated speech offerings, but it appeals to today's student because it is a realistic one.