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A historical review of mathematics textbooks suggests a canonical method to solving equations that teachers often see as "the" way to solve equations. In this paper, we examine data from a nationally-distributed sample of 524 secondary mathematics teachers who responded to scenario-based survey items that represent the instructional situation of solving equations. The items featured scenarios in which students presented non-canonical solution methods and asked participants to share how they would respond. Using a framework that draws on systemic functional linguistics, we describe the linguistic resources teachers used. While closed moves are frequently used to avoid discussion of non-canonical solutions, our results suggest that teachers find ways to make regular use of: (1) closed moves for accommodating non-canonical solutions; and (2) open moves when steering the conversation back to the canonical method. [For the complete proceedings, see ED630060.]

This study builds upon previous work aimed at developing a student model of reading comprehension ability within the intelligent tutoring system, iSTART. Currently, the system evaluates students' self-explanation performance using a local, sentence-level algorithm and does not adapt content based on reading ability. The current study leverages natural language processing tools to build models of students' comprehension ability from the linguistic properties of their self-explanations. Students (n=126) interacted with iSTART across eight training sessions where they self-explained target sentences from complex science texts. Coh-Metrix was then used to calculate the linguistic properties of their aggregated self-explanations. The results of this study indicated that the linguistic indices were predictive of students' reading comprehension ability, over and above the current system algorithms. These results suggest that natural language processing techniques can inform stealth assessments and ultimately improve student models within intelligent tutoring systems. [This paper was published in "LAK '15," ISBN 978-1-4503-3417-4, March 16-20, 2015.]

We applied techniques from systemic functional linguistics to examine how a student and a tutor construed meaning related to linear functions during a 1-1 tutoring session. The student and tutor varied in how they discussed rates of change. This difference highlights that there are multiple correct ways to use this term in algebra, although small differences in speakers' use may create the potential for confusion. Additionally, the different ways that the student and tutor spoke about rates of change illuminate how any scenario may be represented by multiple different linear functions. This study has implications for providing teachers in a variety of settings information about how students construct meaning through their discussions. [For the complete proceedings, see ED583608.]

It has previously been shown that the effective use of dialogic instruction has a positive impact on student achievement. In this study, we investigate whether linguistic features used to classify properties of classroom discourse generalize across different subpopulations. Results showed that the machine learned models perform equally well when trained and validated on different subpopulations. Correlation-Based Feature Subset evaluation revealed an inclusion relationship between different subsets in terms of their most predictive features. [For complete proceedings, see ED560503.]

This conference presentation is offered as a prolegomenon, or introduction, to a paper and research project. The issues of whether prolegomena are modernist explanatory devices and whether postmodern prolegomena are possible are discussed. The paper proposes a research inquiry into "postmodern teaching" initiated through the metaphor of conversations. The idea of conversations epitomizes postmodernity, as they are based in language; relational to persons, locations, and times; interpretive; and open-ended. Groups of persons engaged in conversations about teaching and teaching reform are recorded as they talk about their work. What teaching looks like depends on the conception of teaching from which any teacher begins. Themes and concepts from these recordings frame the analysis (modernism) and disrupt it, pushing and interrupting boundaries (postmodernism). Various analyses of teaching have explored structural, linguistic or semantic, epistemological, and ethical dimensions. These modernist analyses utilize attention to language and to particular forms of logical inquiry to explain the meaning of teaching. Three other concepts characterizing modernist analysis include lucidity, progress, and emancipation. Postmodern teaching is characterized by the contingencies of situation, position, and relation; dissonance; fallibility; irony; and humility. (Contains 25 references.) (JDD)

The primary goal of translation is to enable an audience in a Target Language to understand a text/discourse which was ultimately not intended for them. The primary goal of text-analysis is to further the understanding of phenomena inside one language. There are several similarities between translation and text-analysis: both translation and text-analysis involve the re-creation of text; the translator re-creates in the text language, the analyst, in some meta-language; and both the analyst and the translator need to be aware of all the possible relationships which hold in the text. An analysis of German conversation and its translation into American English demonstrate the unique position translation has, not only as an inter-language and inter-cultural means of study, but also as a tool of text-analysis. The survey provided by this paper illustrates that translation can support the analysis of texts/discourse in some instances, and, in the discussion of queries, even furthers that understanding. The field of contrastive linguistics lends support to the use of translation as inter-language comparison, and the combination of translation and text-analysis with contrastive linguistics can provide deeper insights into a pragmatic language description. Furthermore, by means of translation, certain pragmatic features appear which otherwise might not be accessible through mere intra-language comparison. Thus translation functions not only to distribute knowledge across language boundaries, but also to expand knowledge about the Source Language. (Thirty-three references are included.) (PRA)

We outline a framework for investigating how a mathematics textbook positions the mathematics learner. We use tools and concepts from discourse analysis, a field of linguistic scholarship, to illustrate the ways in which a textbook can position people in relation to mathematics and how the text can position the mathematics learner in relation to classmates and to the world outside of the classroom. We conclude with a general consideration of alternative language forms, which, we suggest, ought to include linguistic recognition of the moves associated with mathematisation. [For complete proceedings, see ED496848.]

Computer mediated communication (CMC) is a widely used communicative tool within various professional and social groups. The focus of the present article is on the Linguist List (LL), which can be described as an edited person-to-group international academic mailing list, and with a particular speech act: a request for information (RFI). Because RFIs are found on most CMC mailing lists, they can be argued to be the reason for such lists. The purpose of this study is two-fold: to find out whether LL inquiries can be labeled a genre, and to detect some of the established or emergent requesting conventions of this new and relatively unexplored medium in terms of the discourse strategies manifested in it. (Contains 39 references.) (KFT)

A taxonomy of metadiscourse--defined as discourse that people use not to expand referential material but to help their readers connect, organize, interpret, evaluate, and develop attitudes toward that material--was proposed in "College Composition and Communication" (Vande Kopple, 1985). More surveying and classifying has been done since then, and the taxonomy has been revised. It should not be forgotten that while it is fairly easy to list linguistic forms, the primary concern must remain with the metadiscoursal functions and not with the specific forms that can fulfill those functions. Sometimes one form can fulfill more than one metadiscoursal function in one place; at other times one form can fulfill a metadiscoursal function in one place and a referential function in another. The revised taxonomy classifies kinds of metadiscourse, with the following subclasses: text connectives, code glosses, illocution markers, epistemology markers, modality markers, evidentials, attitude markers, and commentary. That many researchers have come to recognize the importance of metadiscourse is attested to by an impressive array of studies completed in the last several years. There are six basic areas of research: shields in scientific writing, effects of shields on readers, metadiscourse and problematization strategies, metadiscourse and ethics, metadiscourse in similar kinds of texts in different languages, and metadiscourse and instruction in ESL classrooms. Future research might examine how the various academic disciplines relate to one another in their uses of different kinds of metadiscourse, and what the implications of studies of metadiscourse are for translation theories and practice. (Contains 46 references.) (NKA)

This paper advocates the view of readability as an interaction between text structure and the cognitive processes and structures possessed by a reader. A simulation model of prose comprehension that yields predictions of both propositional recall and text readability based on the frequencies of different processing events is discussed. The paper notes that the model is being extended to include the knowledge based aspects of comprehension, including the representation of text-relevant world knowledge and top-down processes that observe the constraints established in a text as a result of the interaction between a text and a reader's knowledge. Experiments that examine the kinds of expectations which are made during reading and the factors that determine the content and specificity of these expectations are reported. The early stages of a simulation model that integrates knowledge structures with top-down and bottom-up processes are also described. (Author/FL)

A study of the discourse of book reviews in several academic disciplines examines how interaction of text and context varies across disciplines. Sixty academic book reviews in linguistics, chemistry, and economics were analyzed for rhetorical structure and for the communicative goal of the genre, that of evaluating knowledge production. The book reviews were expected to present certain general, invariable features of rhetorical organization in content and form that allow readers and writers to recognize them as belonging to the same genre. In addition, some variation was expected in features most closely associated with the traditions and conventions of the discourse community. Results indicate that textual features respond to the characteristic culture of each field and to institutional discourses, and that, as a result, any suggestions for teaching and research of academic written genres should take into account the specific evaluative practices in the target disciplines. It is suggested that the results can also contribute to the debate about the definition of generic textual boundaries and the ethnographic nature of genre studies. Contains 38 references. The 60 book reviews are also listed. (Author/MSE)

This study analyzed the English discourse organization of sixty academic book reviews in three disciplines (linguistics, chemistry, economics) published in 1990, to help define book reviews as an academic written genre. Analysis revealed that although book reviews show regularities in information form, function, and content, some variation occurs in terms of how reviewers realize evaluation and description moves across disciplinary boundaries. Results suggest that this variation is produced by the reviewers' tendency to respond to differences in epistemological organization of the three fields (e.g., object of study, methodologies commonly adopted, and the literary tradition) indicating connections between text and context. The study indicates that discursive practices in the disciplines have to be considered in the teaching of English for academic purposes (EAP) to help learners develop more critical and effective reading and writing competencies. Contains 25 references. (Author/MSE)

Drawing upon the philosophical and technical frameworks of discourse analysis, this paper suggests the rules governing linguistic choices in constructing negotiation. First, it clarifies the philosophical assumptions underlying different approaches to analysis, specifying a conceptual focus, particularly with regard to the situation and the inference of actor intent in the study of the structure of interaction. Then, using that focus, the paper draws upon previous negotiation research to propose a conceptual definition of negotiation as a type of "situation set" and a related definition of negotiation competence. It explores the areas of discourse work required for negotiating competently, deriving a set of constitutive rules for speech events at either end of a competitive continuum. Finally, it discusses the usefulness of such a rules set and probes its implications for future research. (Author/FL)

An adequate description of the total reading process would have to deal with reading in at least three dimensions comprising three different sets of relationships. A model of the process might well take the form of three concentric spheres: an outer, sociolinguistic shell in which text and reader respectively could be related to a particular universe of texts and a particular society of readers; an intermediate, linguistic sphere in which the texts could be related to the functions and forms of a given human language, and the reader to his functional knowledge of that language; and an inner, psycholinguistic core where text and reader come together in the mind of a single human being. Thus the focus narrows, as the spheres become smaller and increasingly specific, from a culture, to a language, to the reader himself. Approaching second-language reading in this way means a willingness to draw on work from many fields. At the broadest level the two disciplines are sociolinguistics and ethnomethodology; at the linguistic level, structural linguistics and certain kinds of discourse analysis; and at the basic level, information theory and the study of the psycholinguistic behavior of individual second language readers. This paper is a first attempt to provide at least a framework for such a theory. Better theories of language are an absolute necessity for the teacher of second language reading. (Author/CFM)

Defining schemas as specific representations of world knowledge, this paper contends that schema theory offers a promising approach toward the development of a comprehensive theory of communication. The paper traces the development of schema theory, reviews current literature on the subject, and points out its potential for use in future communication research. The paper concludes with a description of a schema theory-based message reception model. (FL)

Consisting of two separate papers, "Representational Issues in Systemic Functional Grammar," by Christian Matthiessen and "Systemic Grammar and Functional Unification Grammar," by Robert Kasper, this document deals with systemic aspects of natural language processing and linguistic theory and with computational applications of M. A. K. Halliday's systemic functional grammar. The first paper is concerned with representation as it is defined by linguistics--how to represent language metalinguistically, or how to talk about talk. Topics covered in the paper include: (1) the lag between theory and representation; (2) dimensions of structure (including a sample grammar and discussion of the structuring, insert, expand, conflate, and preselect operators); (3) modes of meaning and modes of structure, a characterization of representational problems of constituency, prosody, pulse, and interdependency; (4) modes of meaning and modes of choice; and (5) possible solutions. The paper also contains an appendix on representational conventions and a bibliography. The second paper looks closely into how systemic functional grammar can be represented using the framework of functional unification grammar (FUG). Included are descriptions of: the ingredients of FUG (unification, paths, patterns, disjunctions, and their representations); technical details of the representation of systemic grammar in FUG; differences between FUG and systemic grammer; extensions to FUG motivated by systemic functional grammar; solutions to problems in systemic notation (such as discontinuous constituents and feature propagation); and features of a grammatical analysis computer program. References are included. (SKC)

Paragraphs, as well as sentences, can be spoken of as having a deep and a surface structure. The amount of deep structure of the paragraph that is mapped onto the surface paragraph is related to the mode of discourse in which the paragraph is found: the deep structure in scientific paragraphs is relatively uncomplicated with few assumptions made; the deep structure in informative and persuasive paragraphs is much more complex. Helping students understand the deep structure of their paragraphs allows them to be more sensitive to the underlying assumptions of what they write and to generate texture and greater complexity in their writing. (TJ)

Social studies instruction will improve if educators understand and integrate information gained from pragmatics into social studies curriculum and methods. Pragmatics is an area of linguistic study based on the philosophy of pragmatism which emphasizes social consequences of events and actions. Pragmatics deals particularly with the relationships between words or expressions and the way in which people use them. Review of social studies content and methods reveals a strong reliance on the medium of language. For example, the anthropology curriculum stresses cultural concepts which are closely related to language concepts. Also, career education involves study of the functional uses of language in job interviews and in employee relationships. Social studies classroom teachers will increase student involvement in active learning if they encourage discourse conversation in the classroom. Other activities which encourage understanding of meaning through language include role playing, categorizing and describing imaginary situations, interviewing community members to find about family and local history, and class discussion. (MR)

Papers (entirely in French) presented at the conference on linguistics include these topics: language used in the legislature of New Brunswick; cohesion in the text of Arabic-speaking language learners; automatic adverb recognition; logic of machine translation in teaching revision; expansion in physics texts; discourse analysis and the syntax of terminology; speech pathology and the right brain hemisphere; translating Spanish pronunciation to French; operators and child language competence; prosodic difficulties and the right hemisphere; nasalization in Inor; language planning in Guinea; intrinsic vowel frequency in discourse; pharmacy terminology; intonation patterns in back-channel communication; aphorisms and proverbs in daily conversation; borrowing and variations in adolescent speech in New Brunswick; second language reading; relative propositions in Acadian children's oral language; the language chronicles of Etienne Blanchard; microprosody and discourse type; syllabic adaptation of French borrowing in Kinyarwanda; adjectival quantifiers in Quebec French; modern English advertising grammar; comparison of sung vowels and spoken vowels; influence of the francophone Voyageurs' vocabulary on North American English; past participle agreement in one rule; problems of polysemy; syntactic analysis; homosemy and polysemy; plural of combined words; French head-driven phrase structure grammar; semantics of metaphors; negative quantifiers and double negation; definition of phrasemes; communicative structure of French causative utterances; and a plenary session summary. (MSE)

Text analysis is the study and description of units of verbal behavior larger than the sentence and is concerned with elements of sentences and with the internal relations of larger passages as well as with how a text relates to the communicative situation in which it occurs. It is of current interest because literary critics have moved toward linguistics and linguists have moved toward texts and the two groups have met on common ground. Also, interest in text analysis is related to the rise of knowledge about hermeneutics--the rules, methods, and theory governing exegesis. There are several approaches to text analysis including cotext, pretext, intention, and context, each of which is related to the types of knowledge one needs to read a text. Text analysis can help composition teachers because it affords the possibility of giving conscious control of the text to students by providing them with descriptions of texts that are more complete and more accurate than those presently available. It also can help heighten students' awareness of the differences between a spoken text and a written one. The greatest contribution of text analysis may be political--it may unite people from different disciplines around an interest in texts and what text-building is in different disciplines. (TJ)

A "generative stylistics" approach to writing presents usable, conscious standards for the production, arrangement, and rearrangement of written discourse thereby teaching students how to make appropriate decisions about language usage. Based on research studies that indicate the dependence of the writing process on the decision making process in areas such as coherence, order, and intended audience, this approach could affect student motivation positively because it implies an explicit statement of the tasks to be accomplished and presents standards for determining success. While areas of linguistics (tagmemics and transformational grammar) and composition theory contribute to the understanding of the writing process, they do not offer workable criteria for making decisions and cannot be used in establishing a comprehensive generative stylistics. After research has defined how forms and patterns of language affect the reader and how the reader responds to elements of varying relevance, a fixed set of standards can be established that offers fixed patterns of expected and unexpected arrangement in written discourse which will elicit predictable audience responses. These standards would also provide focusing techniques for measuring writing and guiding revision. (MAI)