Title: Sentence Subjects and Angle on Field: Mapping ideational meaning across subject areas and years of study in a corpus of assessed student writing
1Sentence Subjects and Angle on Field Mapping
ideational meaning across subject areas and years
of study in a corpus of assessed student writing
- Sheena Gardner, s.f.gardner_at_warwick.ac.uk
- WDHE 2006
2Paper Outline
- 1. The Larger Research Project BAWE
- 2. Disciplinary Differences Theme
- 3. Two Classifications of Grammatical Subjects
Gosden and MacDonald - Issues and Applications to BAWE
- 5. A tentative framework for ISS analysis
3Larger Research Project
- An investigation of genres of assessed student
writing in higher education. - Corpus of British Academic Written English (BAWE)
- Characteristics of proficient student writing
- Comparisons across disciplines
- Comparisons across years
4BAWE Corpus Grid
1 2 3 4
Arts Humanities
Social Sciences
Life Sciences
Physical Sciences
5Planned Corpus Size
8 assignments x 4 modules (32) from 4 years (32 x 4 128) from 24 main disciplines (3072), 64 from 4 () disciplines (256) 172 other assignments total 3500 assignments
6The current 24 ( 4) disciplines
O-Brookes Reading Warwick
AH English Studies History of Art Archaeology Classics Applied Linguistics History (Philosophy)
LS Health Social Care Plant Biosciences Food Sciences Agriculture Biological Science/ Biochemistry Medicinal Science (Psychology)
PS Computing Architecture Cybernetics Engineering Physics, Chemistry (Mathematics)
SS Anthropology Hospitality, Leisure Tourism Publishing Studies Law Sociology Business (Economics)
72. Disciplinary Differences
- Becher Trowler (2001) sociological
- Sciences established paradigm
- Social sciences different methodologies and
frameworks - Humanities interpretations based on personal
insight
8Disciplinary differences cont.
- Parry (1998)s analysis of thesis structure
- Sciences report explanation
- Social sciences explanation argument
- Humanities argument with recount narrative
9Disciplinary Differences Linguistic Analyses of
Field (Ideational Meaning)
- A. Theme (numerous SFL)
- B. Sentence subjects (MacDonald, Gosden)
- C. Initial Sentence Subjects (proposed here)
10Theme
- Numerous detailed studies of Theme show its
ability to characterise disciplines - E.g. North (2005), Hewings (2004), Whittacker
(1995), McCabe (2004), Lewin, Fine Young
(2001), Halliday Martin (1993), Martin Veel
(1998), Ravelli Ellis (2004), Moore (2002).
11Significance of Theme
- E.g. Coffin Hewings (2004157)
- Theme is used to signal what a message is about
and - the writers angle on that message, and
- to signpost the development of the text
12Macro-Theme Martin (1992 437)
- Macro-theme sentence or group of sentences
which predicts a set of hyper-themes - Hyper-theme introductory sentence or group of
sentences which is established to predict a
particular pattern of interaction among strings,
chains and Theme selection - macro-Theme text
- hyper-Theme paragraph
- Theme clause
13Unmarked Topical Theme
- Subject in declarative sentences
- Marked themes are less frequent (e.g. McCabe,
Gosden) From its formation in 1903, (H154) - From a discourse perspective, marked Theme and
unmarked Theme generally do different work
marked Themes scaffolding phases/ stages of
discourse (genre oriented), and unmarked Themes
sustaining the angle on the field (field
oriented) two complementary aspects of Fries
method of development. (Martin sysfling list
8/18/03)
14Angle on Field
- Unmarked topical theme Subject
- topical, unmarked Theme provides the texts
angle on its field - (Martin 1993244)
- Cf Schizophrenia and the pursuit of an
acceptable definition of schizophrenia (PS55)
15Why Grammatical Subject?
- Conflates with unmarked topical theme in academic
writing so gives angle on field - Appears less technical than Theme for non SFL
linguists (and RAs) - Empirical findings in terms of disciplinary
differences - AND levels of study
16(No Transcript)
17MacDonalds analysis of Sentence Subjects
Class Psychology History Literature
Phenomenal
1 Particulars 0.1 6.0 30.0
2 Groups 27.0 44.0 10.0
3 Attributes 11.0 26.0 44.0
Epistemic
4 Reasons 49.0 15.0 7.0
5 Research 12.0 6.0 5.0
6 Isms 0.1 0.0 0.2
7 Audience 1.0 3.0 4.0
18Levels of Study
- 1st year undergraduates in Geography use more
unmarked topical Themes (Subjects) identifying
people, places, things or abstract qualities, and
thus their writing sounds more descriptive,
whereas 3rd year students adopt a more critical
stance and make more references to the
literature. Hewings (2004140-2)
19Empirical applications to BAWE
- 1. Does student writing in English, History and
Psychology exhibit features similar to those
described by SPM for professional writers? - 2. Does student writing in Sciences exhibit
features similar to those described by Gosden for
professional writers?
20BAWE data
- Student assignments
- 5 English (EN) essays,
- 5 History (HI) essay,
- 5 Intro to Psychology essays,
- 5 Psychology Practicals essays,
- 5 Biology (BS) essays.
- All chosen by module, by highest marks and where
possible by same student
21English and History
- SPM found 75-85 Subjects in English and History
from Phenomenal classes - Student writing similar (e.g. Prince Arthur)
- SPM found History favoured Groups
- Student writing not similar reflects SPMs data
on New England colonial migration and inheritance
patterns.
22Psychology
- SPM found over 60 Subjects from epistemic
classes - Student writing similar e.g. the pursuit of an
acceptable definition of schizophrenia - C.f. other studies of student writing Witte
Cherry (1986), Hewings (2004)
23Sciences
- Gosden found a predominance of real world
subjects (77) and within this real world
entities (56) - BAWE data shows similar findings
24 Participant Domain Discourse Domain Hypothesized and Objectified Domain Phenomenal Domain
Interactive Participant Barbara Lupini EN2 Anais Nin EN3 Max Weber HI3 John Robert Seeley HI3 Dion, Berscheid and Walster (1972) PS1 Participant Viewpoint Discourse Participant I EN1 (We EN1) Interactive Discourse Entity Recent literature reviews and meta-analyses PS1 The work of Jean Piaget (1896-1980) PS1 Research into PS1 Micro Discourse EntityTwo parts to this question PS3 Macro Discourse Entity This essay EN3 Discourse Process the conclusion Hypothesized Entity The soit-disant Age of Absolutism HI2 Time PH1 Qualia PH1 Memory PS1 The history of psy. Research PS1 Psychology PS1 The psychology .. PS2 The Right Shift theory of Annett (e.g. 1999) PS2 Russells theory of .. PH3 The liar paradox PH3 The development of the vertebrate limb BS3 Approaches to the study of eminence PS3 Objectivized Viewpoint Numerous factors PS3 Hypothesized Viewpoint The accepted view amongst historians .. HI2 The priority HI1 A large part of the aim of Kants .. PH2 A central Fregan introduction into PH3 Its status as a special case of .. PH3 The pursuit of an acceptable definition PS1 Entity Prince Arthur EN1 Edmund Spenser EN1 Tennyson EN2 William Blake EN2 Edward Grey HI2 Mohandas Gandhi HI3 The Canterbury Tales EN1 Blakes Songs .. EN2 Maud EN2 The epithet of Order and Progress HI1 This papal bull HI2 Ordinary people EN1 The British HI3 The Bolshevik Party HI1 Psychologists PS1 The Dutch Republic HI2 The o. m. s. group of cyanobacteria BS2 Viruses BS2 E.. coli O157H7 BS2 The C.. e organism BS3 H. Adenovirus . and Herpes. Virus . BS3 Music PS1 Hand preference PS2 Stimulus-response compatibility PS2 The Necker cube PS2 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PS3 A requirement for packing of . DNA BS2 Event The Cold War HI1 The .. Revolution HI1 The SA war HI3 Material Process Examination of ..distribution ..BS2 The prevalence of eye-witness testimony PS1 Mental Process Plaths analysis of madness EN3 The construction of an expectancy-based model of melodic complexity PS3
25Different years of study
- English possible progression from Entities in
the Real World Domain (individuals and semiotic
entities) to Interactive Participants (e.g. Nin,
Lupini) - History possible progression from Real World
Domain (individuals, semiotic entities and
groups) to Hypothesised Entities in HI2 (?) to
Interactive Participants HI3 (Weber, Seeley). - Philosophy from Abstract Concepts time, qualia,
memory in PH1 to specific viewpoints Kants
Freges in PH2 to Theories theory, paradox in
PH3
26Analysis of Sentence Subjects in BAWE shows
- Differences in how knowledge is construed, not
the ontological status of genes or e-coli,
across disciplines years - Differences in linguistic choices writers make,
not their level of thinking per se - Cf The thesis I wish to argue is that Prince
Arthur .
27Issues in SPM HG Analyses
- Disciplinary specificity of the classifications
- When does a real world author become an
interactive participant Gosden - Level of contextual understanding needed for
sciences in particular was high - Differences in analysis e.g. our data would be
Participant Viewpoint (Gosden) and Reasons (SPM) - VERY labour intensive for 3500 texts
285. ISS Proposal
- Analysis of Initial Sentence Subjects only
- Aim to describe large numbers of texts and
disciplines across 4 years - Aim to provide a snapshot of differences in angle
on field across the years and across the
disciplines
29ISS Classification
- Draws on Australian work on academic language,
particularly on published scientific writing, and
academic language across the disciplines - Esp. Wignell (1998) and
- Martin Veel (1998), Halliday Martin
(1993), Ravelli Ellis (2004)
30ANGLES on field academic domain (fabricated
examples)
lt--------------------------Abstraction -----------------------------gt lt--------------------------Abstraction -----------------------------gt lt--------------------------Abstraction -----------------------------gt lt--------------------------Abstraction -----------------------------gt lt--------------------------Abstraction -----------------------------gt
Phenomena Perspectives / Viewpoints / Phenomena Scholarly / Meta- Phenomena Perspectives on Scholarly / Meta-Phenomena Discourse Phenomena
T E C H N I C A L I T Y Everyday language The Great Wall of China the importance of the Great Wall of China The history of the Great Wall of China Competing histories of the GWC this essay
T E C H N I C A L I T Y Post traumatic stress disorder
T E C H N I C A L I T Y Schizoprenia Possible schitzophrenia Greys theory of schizophrenia Approaches to the study of schizophrenia Figure 3
T E C H N I C A L I T Y Technical language escherichia coli O157
31Phenomena Perspectives/ Viewpoints on Phenomena Scholarly / Meta-Phenomena Perspectives on Scholarly / Meta-Phenomena Discourse Phenomena
Groups of Conscious Individuals Ordinary people EN1 The British HI3 Psychologists PS1 We EN1
Political Entities The Bolshevik Party HI1 The Dutch Republic HI2
Conscious Individuals Prince Arthur EN1 Edmund Spenser EN1 Tennyson EN2 William Blake EN2 Edward Grey HI2 Mohandas Gandhi HI3 Barbara Lupini EN2 Anais Nin EN3 Max Weber HI3 John Robert Seeley HI3 I EN1
Semiotic Entities The Canterbury Tales EN1 Blakes Songs .. EN2 Maud EN2 This papal bull HI2 The prevalence of eye-witness testimony PS1 A large part of the aim of Kants .. PH2 A central Fregan introduction into the philosophy of thought and language PH3 The epithet of Order and Progress HI1 The Right Shift theory of Annett (e.g. 1999) PS2 The work of Jean Piaget (1896-1980) PS1 Russells Theory of Descriptions. PH3 The liar paradox PH3 The history of psychological research PS1 Recent literature reviews and meta-analyses PS1 Two parts to this question PS3 This essay EN3
32Cognitive Entities Memory PS1 Plaths analysis of madness EN3 The accepted view amongst historians .. HI2 The priority HI1 Its status as a special case of logical consequence.. PH3 Research into PS1 The construction of an expectancy-based model of melodic complexity PS3 Examination of the subcellular distribution of molecules..BS2 The pursuit of an acceptable definition of schizophrenia PS1 Approaches to the study of eminence PS3
Material entities The development of the vertebrate limb BS3
Entities with duration The Cold War HI1 The .. Revolution HI1 The SA war HI3 The soit-disant Age of Absolutism HI2
33 Abstract entities Time PH1 Qualia PH1 Music PS1
Psychological Entities Hand preference PS2 Stimulus-response compatibility PS2 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PS3 Psychology PS1
Scientific entities Escherichia coli O157H7 BS2 The C.. e organism BS3 H. Adenovirus . and Herpes. Virus . BS3 A requirement for packing of genomic DNA BS2
Groups of Scientific Entities The o. m. s. group of cyanobacteria BS2 Viruses BS2
34Characterising Disciplinary Differences
- English, History and Philosophy can be
characterised as progressing from year 1-3 in
Abstractness (from left to right) - Psychology can be characterised as progressing in
Abstractness (from right to left) or at least
spreading across all levels of abstraction - Biological sciences construes phenomena in
technical terms
35Mapping Business and Economics
Conscious Individuals Sam IB1 We EC1 I EC2 We EC1 I EC2 We EC1 I EC2
Groups of Cons.Inds The traditional accountants IB2
Semiotic Entities An important problem faced by financial economists IB4 The Law of One Price IB4 An event studyIB4 Agency theoryIB4 An analysis table as shown above IB1
Political/ Economic/ Social Entities A transnational company EC1 The yield curve EC2 CRT Technologies IB1 House prices EC2 South Koreas economy over the past half century EC3 World mergers and acquisitions IB 2 Collusion EC2 Weak form efficiency IB4
36Final Comments
- Demonstrated the potential of Initial Sentence
Subject Analysis to capture disciplinary
differences and differences across years of study
in a corpus of student writing - More work needed to establish categories through
reactances in the grammar (e.g. participant
roles grammatical metaphor)