Bundled or unbundled? A multi-text corpus-assisted discourse analysis of the relationship between teaching and research in UK universities

Creating and disseminating knowledge through research and teaching has long been regarded as the hallmark of the modern university. However, new university business models have called into question the ‘bundling’ of teaching and research, and sustained research on the relationship between teaching and research has found little evidence of an insoluble connection between the two activities. In this article, we explore the relationship between teaching and research from the perspective of universities’ institutional discourse. We use corpus-assisted discourse analysis to examine the relationship between research and teaching as presented in two sets of institutional texts currently influential in UK Higher Education: Research Excellence Framework environment statements and Teaching Excellence Framework provider submissions (a total of 2143 documents and 12,492,071 words). Our findings show that, while universities emphasise the value of research to their teaching, they do not always emphasise (or sometimes even decry) the influence of teaching on their research. We empirically evidence that, according to what universities themselves write in institutional texts, teaching and research are not always in a mutually beneficial entanglement, but often rather a one-way relationship in which research expertise and institutional prestige are used to bolster claims of teaching excellence. This has implications for the communication of both the vision and the purpose of a university in regulatory exercises and wider policy, but also speaks to the broader idea and practice of being a university in the twenty-first century.     

Syllable-based reading improvement: Effects on word reading and reading comprehension in Grade 2

This study examined the effects of a syllable-based reading intervention for German second graders who demonstrated difficulties in the recognition of written words. The intervention focused on fostering word reading via syllable segmentation. The materials consisted of the 500 most frequent syllables typically read by 6- to 8-year-old children. The aims were to practice phonological recoding, consolidate orthographic representations of syllables, and routinize the access to these representations. Compared to children randomly assigned to a wait-list group, poor readers in the treatment condition showed significant improvements in standardized measures of phonological recoding, direct word recognition, and text-based reading comprehension after the 24-session intervention. Poor readers in the treatment condition also showed greater improvements in development of word recognition compared to children with efficient word recognition skills. The results provide evidence that a syllable-based reading intervention is a promising approach to increase struggling readers’ word recognition skills, which in turn will improve their reading comprehension.     

Olfaction and emotion: The quest for olfactory restoration in two speech communities

ABSTRACT

Olfaction has been described as one of the least studied of the senses. This has certainly proven true in Communication. This project applies Ethnography of Communication and Cultural Discourse Analysis to examine the role that olfaction plays in the cultural meaning systems of two speech communities: residents surrounding the Gowanus Canal and bereaved parents. The cultural hub used to explore the cultural significance of olfaction in both speech communities is feeling. The analyses illustrate how emotions are tied to associated sensations and further become activated through radiants of dwelling, relating and acting. The analysis also shows how olfaction may serve to unify and separate members of a community. The significance of this research encourages stretching the boundaries of communication studies by examining the less studied physical senses and the boundaries of Cultural Discourse Analysis by providing distinctions that others can incorporate when examining feelings.     

Tall Stories: The Metaphorical Nature of Everyday Talk

This article questions some popular cultural assumptions about the nature of everyday discourse. It claims that such discourse is in fact richly metaphorical and that, through the operation of metaphor, we fictionalise ourselves as we talk. Because literary writing has dominated our culture and curriculum, English teachers have not been encouraged to explore an aspect of language that is at the core of how we think and behave.     

“with+复合结构”的语篇意义探析

文章通过对“with+复合结构”外延逻辑关系的分析,认为该结构的语篇意义在于能调动读者的成像、感应、直觉等心理机能,让读者深深体味到英语语言的魅力之所在。     

网络传播媒介对当代美术批评方法论的拓展

从建构传统美术批评体系中的批评家与批评话语权之间的关系入手,就当下社会生活中的网络传播媒介对传统美术批评体系的解构现象进行了初步探讨,并从网络美术批评语言的重构、批评话语权的平民化方式、批评的学理完整性和依据以及批评的思维方式等方面对当代美术批评方法论的拓展进行了思考性阐述。     

浅谈英语考试中的阅读理解

阅读理解是英语考试中的重中之重。本文分析了不同类型阅读理解的具体特征，并给出了解题之法。     

万县案与《怒吼吧,中国!》意义溯源

<怒吼吧,中国!>一剧是20世纪20年代中期英苏之间的矛盾尖锐化的产物,反映的是苏联对以英国为核心的帝国主义联盟的担忧.由于该剧的情节和此后发生的万县案相似,剧作被国内批评家认定为是万县案的写照,并逐步强化了两者间的联系.在这一过程中,史实被人们忽略,反帝话语的影响力则显露无遗,一个秉承苏联官方政治意图的剧作最终被改造为中华民族觉醒的预言.     

英语阅读方法对理解能力的影响

良好的速读方法是快速、准确理解短文的重要因素之一。在规定的时间内完成篇幅不等的短文，除相应的词汇量和语法知识外，阅读方法的效率就显得尤其重要。     

篇章与认知的发生学联系及篇章研究的方法原理

篇章与认知的联系的特殊性在于篇章心理的发生和发展具有多种可能途径。这也说明篇章理解和篇章产生过程的行为主体控制因素多种多样。相应的研究需要经过一个意识发生过程 ,即由单维到多维整合、由感知层级到高级心理抽象层级综合的认识发展过程。篇章与认知的此种联系要求篇章研究遵守一些特定的方法原则。