Post on 22-Apr-2015
description
Unique signs for plural utterances: alleviating doubt in the language learner
Lawrie HunterKochi University of Technology, Japan
http://lawriehunter.comlawrie@ace.ocn.ne.jp
Unique signs for plural utterances: alleviating doubt in the language learner
Lawrie HunterKochi University of Technology, Japan
http://lawriehunter.comlawrie@ace.ocn.ne.jp
IDEAL semiotic system creation
Ethnographic observation
Semiotic analysis of need
Signification system design
Implementation
Evaluation
WHY do Japanese learners of English prefer ISmaps?
Ethnographic observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Search for analytical tools to explain success
Systemic Functional Linguistics/Visual Design Grammar;
Conceptual Integration Theory/Dual Coding Theory
Metaphor comprehension studies
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Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communication
Pragmatics of signification
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communication
Pragmatics of signification
WHY do Japanese learners of English prefer ISmaps?
Ethnographic observation
Some Japanese university level learners of English, dubbed 'false beginners,' have acquired English vocabulary and grammar knowledge in six years of high school study but, resuming their study of English in university, they appear unable to make sense of, or sense with, strings of English lexical units.
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communication
mind maps
relation maps
structure maps
Pragmatics of signification
WHY do Japanese learners of English prefer ISmaps?
Heuristic invasion
Viewing the second language scenario as a mapping scenario, the author introduced three low-text mapping systems (Mind Maps, Cmaps, and the author's ISmaps) as 'interlanguage' for instructor-learner negotiation of meaning and to explore the effectiveness of low-text mapping as a language task sign system.
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communication
Pragmatics of signification
WHY do Japanese learners of English prefer ISmaps?
Serendipity
The learners quite uniformly reported that Mind Maps were uninteresting; Cmaps were rejected by many subjects at the outset.
After using ISmaps for a brief period of time, these false beginners rather consistently demonstrated willingness to interpret received English utterance, and to engage in the risky business of producing English utterance to convey meaning.
<big
Description Classification
Degreecomparison
Attributecomparison
Sequence Cause-effect
Contrast
!
Hunter’s infostructure maps (ISmaps)
My friend
CanadianEnglishteacher
57
DESCRIPTION
Hunter’s infostructure maps
CLASSIFICATION
Cars
sedansstationwagonscoupes
Hunter’s infostructure maps
<big
old
COMPARISON (relative)
TokyoCalcutta
Hunter’s infostructure maps
COMPARISON (by attribute)
red
M’s car K’s car
white
3 years old
new
Hunter’s infostructure maps
SEQUENCE
find a
bank machine
put in your
bank card
follow the
directions
Hunter’s infostructure maps
SEQUENCE structure signals
ThenFirst and
findbank
machine
put in
bank card
follow
directions
Hunter’s infostructure maps
SEQUENCE
slice a tomato
toast two slices of bread
ThenFirst and
tear some
lettuce
Hunter’s infostructure maps
CAUSE-EFFECT
heavyrain
I...late for school
buscancelled
Hunter’s infostructure maps
ISmaps have been in happy usein KUT's English departmentsince 1998.
Information structures based curriculum
Critical ThinkingAsahi Press 2001
A writing and presentation workbook,
6 units (6 genres) in 30 lessons
Say What You MeanKUT Press 2006A writing and mapping workbook,5 units (5 genres) in 30 lessons
Thinking in EnglishCengage, 2008A writing and presentationmapping text/workbook,5 units (5 genres) in 30 lessons
The domain of ISmaps
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communication
Pragmatics of signification
WHY do Japanese learners of English prefer ISmaps?
"We should conceive of two different pragmatic approaches: a pragmatics of signification (how to represent in a semantic system pragmatic phenomena) and a pragmatics of communication (how to analyze pragmatic phenomena that take place in the course of a communicative process).
Such phenomena as textual co-reference, topic, text coherence, reference to a set of knowledge idiolectally posited by a text as referring to a fictional world, conversational implicature, and many other phenomena concern an actual process of communication and cannot be foreseen by any system of signification. Other phenomena, such as presupposition, prediction of ordinary contexts, rules for felicity conditions, and so on, can, as we shall see, be considered by the study of a coded system of signification, to describe which both the semantical and the pragmatical approaches are strictly and inextricably interrelated."
Eco, E. (1990) The limits of interpretation. U. of Indiana Press. p. 212
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communication
Cultural factors
Linguistic factors
Psychological factorsPragmatics of signification
WHY do Japanese learners of English prefer ISmaps?
Search for analytical tools to explain success:pragmatics of communication
Taking up Eco's notions of a pragmatics of communication to explore the workings of the ISmap success. Communication related tools which proved useful within this framework are
Cultural difference knowledgeLinguistic difference knowledgePsychological (language development) knowledgeEthnographic observation
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communication
Cultural factors
Linguistic factors
Psychological factorsPragmatics of signification
WHY do Japanese learners of English prefer ISmaps?
Cultural difference knowledge
-reticence (cultural)-perfectionism (meme)-lack of need [sic]-defeatist ethos re English learning
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communication
Cultural factors
Linguistic factors
Psychological factorsPragmatics of signification
WHY do Japanese learners of English prefer ISmaps?
Linguistic difference knowledge
In Japanese, written signs carry meaning, but in many cases do not speak, or do not speak unambiguously.
As well, Japanese is a left-branching language, and thus clause semantic completeness is not the primary processing unit in initial segmentation (whereas it is the primary unit in English).
This results in a mindset where written utterance need not speak, is not expected to speak, yet where rich meaning does arise.
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communication
Cultural factors
Linguistic factors
Psychological factorsPragmatics of signification
WHY do Japanese learners of English prefer ISmaps?
Linguistic difference knowledge
Japanese is not a S-V-O syntax.
Japanese characters are logographs.
Japanese has delayed reveal of significand.
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communication
Cultural factors
Linguistic factors
Psychological factorsPragmatics of signification
WHY do Japanese learners of English prefer ISmaps?
Linguistic difference knowledge
When one's second language is syntactically and orthographically distantfrom one's first language, the interpretation of second language L2 utterance, particularly complex and structured utterance, is impeded by the'foreignness' of grammar and syntax.
e.g.English: A skyscraper is several times higher than an ordinary apartment building. Japanese: Skyscraper no hou ga ordinary no apartment yori high desu.
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communication
Cultural factors
Linguistic factors
Psychological factorsPragmatics of signification
WHY do Japanese learners of English prefer ISmaps?
Psychological (language development) knowledge
Japanese is a left-branching language, and thusclause semantic completeness is not the primary processing unit in initial segmentation (whereas it is the primary unit in English).
This results in a mindset where written utterance need not speak, is not expected to speak, yet where rich meaning does arise.
Mazuka, R. (1998) The development of language strategies: a cross-linguistic study between Japanese and English. Erlbaum.
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communicationVisual design grammar
Conceptual blending
Metaphor comprehension
Pragmatics of signification
WHY do Japanese learners of English prefer ISmaps?
Search for analytical tools to explain success:pragmatics of signification
Taking up Eco's notions of a pragmatics of signification to explore the workings of the ISmap success. Theoretical tools which proved useful within this framework are
Conceptual Integration Theory / Dual Coding TheoryVisual Design Grammar / Systemic Functional Linguistics; Metaphor comprehension studies
Visual Design Grammar says layout in mixed media in English signifies relationships in two ways: left to right images/texts are GIVEN, Mediator and NEW, whiletop to bottom images/texts are IDEAL, Mediator and REAL.
Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (1996) Reading images: The grammar of visual design. Routledge.
Japanese media/graphic arts don't do things that way.
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communicationVisual design grammar
Conceptual blending
Metaphor comprehension
Pragmatics of signification
Systemic Functional Linguistics says that rhetoric hinges on GIVEN, what the listener/reader already knows, and NEW, what the speaker/writer is going to 'break.'
Halliday, M.A.K. (1985) An introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
Japanese rhetoric doesn't do things that way.
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communicationVisual design grammar
Conceptual blending
Metaphor comprehension
Pragmatics of signification
Conceptual Integration Theory says that metaphor is the combining of disparate FRAMES,
i.e., Conceptual Blending, through which we realize great economy/synergy of thought.
Conceptual Blending is culture-dependent, however, so all great minds do not think alike.
Fauconnier, G. and Turner, M. (2002) The way we think: Conceptual blending and the mind’s hidden complexities. Basic Books.
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communicationVisual design grammar
Conceptual blending
Metaphor comprehension
Pragmatics of signification
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communicationVisual design grammar
Conceptual blending
Metaphor comprehension
Pragmatics of signification
Metaphor comprehension
Japanese is a between-the-lines language: priming effects are derived from syntactic factors.
Processing of metaphor when primed with base (inverted form of metaphor) is faster than when primed with target. Kurosawa, M., & Kawahara,T. (1999). Alignment or Abstraction? Metaphor comprehension in Japanese. Proceedings, Second International Conference on Cognitive Science. http://www.jcss.gr.jp/iccs99OLP/p3-19/p3-19.htm
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communicationVisual design grammar
Conceptual blending
Metaphor comprehension
Pragmatics of signification
Metaphor comprehension
Japanese is a between-the-lines language: priming effects are derived from syntactic factors.
Processing of metaphor when primed with base (inverted form of metaphor) is faster than when primed with target. Kurosawa, M., & Kawahara,T. (1999). Alignment or Abstraction? Metaphor comprehension in Japanese. Proceedings, Second International Conference on Cognitive Science. http://www.jcss.gr.jp/iccs99OLP/p3-19/p3-19.htm
Ethnographic Observation
Heuristic invasion
Serendipity
Pragmatics of communicationVisual design grammar
Conceptual blending
Metaphor comprehension
Pragmatics of signification
<= contradicts Gentner and Wolff's findings about the primacy of abstraction factors in metaphor comprehension in English, a specificity-oriented language.
Gentner,D., & Wolff,P. (1997). Alignment in the processing of metaphor. Journal of Memory and Language, 37, 331--355.
Thank you for your kind attention,
and thank you in advance for your feedback and suggestions.
Lawrie Hunterlawrie@ace.ocn.ne.jp
downloads fromhttp://lawriehunter.com