Unambiguous Graphics: making entry-level ESP materials Lawrie Hunter Kochi University of Technology ...

Unambiguous Graphics:making

entry-level ESP materials

Lawrie HunterKochi University of Technology

http://www.core.Koch-tech.ac.jp/hunter/[email protected]

March 19, 2005

PRINCIPLE: Learners need to have a clear situating of what they are doing.

• This calls for a simple, structured characterization

of language and communication.

•a simple, structured characterization of language and communication:

Separate

information

from

persuasive/poetic rhetoric

Some people say that gasoline is better than diesel. Let’s take a look at some statistics.

rhetoric

Some people say that gasoline is better than diesel.

Let’s take a look at some statistics.

Some people say that gasoline is better than diesel. Let’s take a look at some statistics.

information

Reducing Shannon-Weaver “noise”

‘noise’ = “factors which decrease the quality of the reception of a message”

www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/introductory/fidelity.htm

Task design (interface design):

LEARNERinfo

LEARNER

language

language info

Task design question 1:

info

info

How to quantifyinformation?

KUT’s genres

Critical ThinkingAsahi Press 20012nd year textbook6 units (6 genres)

in 2 quarters

At KUT, we have built our curriculumaround these genres (a.k.a. text types):

DescriptionClassificationComparisonSequenceCause-effect + inferencePro-con -a composite genre

hunter’stools

GENRES REGISTERS MOVES

KUT’s genres


in 2 quarters

The learning process used in this book

Each of the 6 units in this book follows the same teaching/learning pattern:

INPUT: the learners are exposed to the target vocabulary and phrases required for expression of the ideas which are basic to the genre in the unit. For input, the learners listen to explanations of the genre by the teacher, practice speaking and listening to sentences from the genre, and read various explanations of the genres language and language structure

USAGE PRACTICE: in each unit there are a succession of activities and tasks which allow the learner to practice using the language required for the genre. It is important to emphasize to the learners that the activities and exercises are necessary to prepare the students for the final large task at the end of each unit. The activities and tasks may be performed in several different modes: for example, as in-class activities (individual or group) or as written homework. This flexibility is important for the teacher, allowing for a variety of timings and paces.

AUTHENTIC TASK: the tasks at the end of the units are designed to be non-linguistic tasks, based in the real world. In some chapters the learners are asked to arrange information in certain structures; in other chapters the learners are asked to solve real-world type problems. These tasks may be done individually or in groups of 2, 3 or 4 learners.

EXPRESSION: the language aspect of the authentic tasks lies in the expression of the product of the task. In this book the tasks are written tasks, but they may also be done as pair or group presentations. The presentation approach is explained in detail in the teacher's guide.

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KUT’s genres


in 2 quarters

The learning process used in this bookEach of the 6 units in this book follows the same teaching/learning pattern:

hunter’stools


INPUT

USAGE PRACTICE

AUTHENTIC TASK

EXPRESSION

Task design question 2:

info

info

How to representinformation?

KUT’s genres


in 2 quarters

hunter’stools


Thinking in EnglishKUT Press 2004

A mapping workbook,companion to CT6 units (6 genres)

Extends CT to 4 quarters

Hunter’s infomaps stem fromMohan's (1986) knowledge structures

Classification Principle Evaluation

Description Process Choice

Hunter’s infomaps stem fromMohan's (1986) knowledge structures



<good

Hunter’s infomap links


Description


Description Classification


<big


Degreecomparison


<big


Degreecomparison

Attributecomparison


<big


Degreecomparison

Attributecomparison

Sequence


<big


Degreecomparison

Attributecomparison

Sequence Cause-effect


My friend

Canadian

Englishteacher

57

DESCRIPTION


CLASSIFICATION

Cars

sedansstationwagonscoupes


<big

old

COMPARISON (relative)

TokyoCalcutta


COMPARISON (by attribute)

red

M’s car K’s car

white

3 years old

new


SEQUENCE

find an ATM

insert

bank card

follow the

directions


SEQUENCE structure signals

ThenFirst and

find an ATM

insert

bank card

follow the

directions


SEQUENCE

slice a tomato

toast two slices of bread

ThenFirst and

tear some

lettuce


CAUSE-EFFECT

rain be late for school

bus was cancelled

pleasestudyhere

as is

Uses of Iconic Graphics

e.g. in.ppt

as is


e.g. in.ppt

Of course iconic graphics can -reduce ‘noise’-enhance info accessibility-reduce cognitive load

as is


e.g. in.ppt

no bigdeal

But PLAIN ENGLISH can do that.www.plainenglish.co.uk/

There is more potentialto the notion of iconic graphics.

http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/

as is


e.g. in.ppt

no bigdeal

as markers of position in informationstructure

Reading text while referring toan info structure signis empowering in a synergistic way.

Learner taskswith info mapping

mappingtext

summarizingwritingfrommaps


mappingtext

writingfrommaps

summarizing


mappingtext

writingfrommaps

summarizing

in mapping tasks,limit the number

of nodes

forces learnersto identify

main structures

Ocean thermal energy could be the wave of the futureNoriyuki Yoshida The Daily Yomiuri 01 01 23

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The experiment uses technology developed by Prof. Haruo Uehara and researchers at the science and engineering department of Saga University. It is hoped that the test will produce 1,000 kilowatts of electricity, and it is expected that the technology will provide cost-efficient, environmentally friendly energy in the 21st century.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Thermal and nuclear power plants boil water into steam, which rotates turbines to generate electricity. The basic mechanism of the OTEC is the same, but instead of water, the OTEC process uses ammonia, which is more energy efficient because it evaporates at a much lower temperature than water.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ First, liquid ammonia is heated with water of 20 C to 30 C drawn from near the surface of the Indian Ocean and converted into steam. Then the ammonia steam rotates turbines and generates electricity. Finally the steam is cooled with 6 C deep-sea water and converted back to liquid.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In thermal power generators, the temperature difference between water and steam is about 500 C, which means the steam is packed with energy. But the temperature difference in the OTEC system is only about 20 C, so the energy from the ammonia steam is relatively low. To overcome this, OTEC utilizes a process developed by Uehara to improve the heating and cooling of the ammonia and use water as a solvent.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The OTEC system's heat efficiency rate (the percentage of generated power compared to the total energy poured into the system) has reached a high of 5.2 percent under the Uehara Cycle. This is much lower than 40-percent level in thermal power generation and the 50 to 60 percent efficiency of power generation using a combination of thermal systems and gas.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Uehara said, "Because the source of heat is seawater, the energy cost is zero. The overall costs of the power generation processes are not much higher than those of thermal generation and other forms," he said.

e.g.Take a tech article,

remove topic and conclusion sentences from each paragraph,

have learners map the article with 15 nodes or fewer.

Use the infomap links to map the text.

<big


Degreecomparison

Attributecomparison

Sequence Cause-effect

Contrast

!

Power generating systems

Generalprocess:

Makesteam

Rotateturbines

Generateelectricity

Boil aliquid

hunter systems


Generalprocess:

boilNH3

Makesteam

Rotateturbines

Generateelectricity

Boil aliquid

older typeplants

OTECplants

boilH2O

seawaterheat

fossil orN-heat

steam20C

steam500C

lowpower

highpower

zeroenergy cost

highenergy cost

hunter systems

Compareordinaryprocessand OTECprocess:


Generalprocess:

boilNH3

Makesteam

Rotateturbines

Generateelectricity

Boil aliquid

older typeplants

OTECplants

boilH2O

seawaterheat

fossil orN-heat

steam20C

steam500C

lowpower

highpower

zeroenergy cost

highenergy cost

hunter systems

!

!

!

Compareordinaryprocessand OTECprocess:

!


http://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter/[email protected]

Thank you for your retention.

And ‘thanks in advance’ for trying this concept.

You can download this .ppt fromhttp://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter/espgraphics/

hunter’stools


[a classification map]

Genresallow us to talk about

the type of information conveyed in any given utterance.

This is the starting point for the L2 learner.

hunter’stools


Systemic Functional LinguisticsSFL talks about these genres:

• Narrative: construct a pattern of events• Procedure: tell how to do something• Information report: present information• Explanation: tell how and why things occur• Exposition: argue a case• Discussion: look at sides of an issue

hunter’stools


KUT’s genres

... reflect information types (Mohan's (1986) knowledge structures)

rather than speech act types such as SFL's text types. This allows us to use Hunter's information mapping

as the graphic embodiment ofwhat we are hearing/saying/reading/writing.



hunter’stools


allow a separation of language domains according to intention and situation

• Do this once genres are established

• Do this once genres are mastered

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Hunter’s REGISTERS


• Here are the ad hoc (but definable) registers I talk about with my students:

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The registers of the non-technical world• Casual• Informal• Formal

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The registers of the technical world.• Casual technical

– used in discussion of technical matters with engineer peers

• Informal academic (used in presentations)

• Formal academic (used in research papers and theses)

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The registers of the non-technical world• Casual• Informal• Formal

MOVES

MOVES are characterizations of the purpose of a given utterance.

The study of moves is called pragmatics.

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In Hunter's graduate technical writing course, MOVES include:– Attributing (a statement to a source, including other researcher, common knowledge...).– Identifying an example/archetype.– Generalizing– Summarizing– Reporting– Inferring– Claiming – Demonstrating– Establishing– Proving– Deducing– Predicting– Concluding

hunter’stools


Claim:

Information maps,

with textured linksthat represent information relationships,

are a ‘good enough’ mappingof information structures in languageand as such can enhance L2 performanceand reduce cognitive load even in L1.

This presentation’s focus: integrating information symbolsfor iconic representation

To support the second language reader,our information representation should be:

-unambiguous-specific (granular enough)-non-fuzzy- iconic if possible

Claim: Hunter’s infomap links

are iconic.

i.e.They are granular enough,

and their mapping coverage is sufficient

to constitute a pattern language.

hunter’s tools:iconic?

granular enough?

sufficientcoverage?

A pattern language?

...our lives consist mainly of patterns of events, and that architecture which supports these patterns helps us feel more “alive” and “whole.”

Christopher Alexander

…The language, and the processes which stem from it, merely release the fundamental order which is native to us. They do not teach us, they only remind us of what we know already, and of what we shall discover time and time again, when we give up our ideas and opinions, and do exactly what emerges from ourselves.

-Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building

A pattern language?

Butaren’t there already mapping systems whose links have iconic status?

How about1. Mind mapping?2. Reason.able’s argument mapping?3. Rhetorical structure theory maps

other systems:iconic?

granular enough?

sufficientcoverage?

Not iconic: -the links are all associations-i.e. zero granularity

Tony Buzan’s mind mapping? Buzan:iconic?

granular enough?

sufficientcoverage?

Reason!able argument mapping?Reason!able makes software for mapping arguments. This design surpasses Horn’s Argument Mapping in granularity:the links are labeled to indicate the rhetorical device represented by the link.

But a text label cannot achieve iconic status.

www.goreason.com

Reason!able:iconic?

granular enough?

sufficientcoverage?

RST (rhetorical structure theory) mapping

Bill Mann’s Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) uses various sorts of "building blocks" to describe texts.

The principal block type deals with "nuclearity" and "relations" (often called coherence relations in the linguistic literature.)

www.sil.org/~mannb/rst/

RST:iconic?

granular enough?

sufficientcoverage?

RST (rhetorical structure theory) mapping

Bill Mann’s Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) uses various sorts of "building blocks" to describe texts.

The principal block type deals with "nuclearity" and "relations" (often called coherence relations in the linguistic literature.)

But that is at the level of moves,and here we are talking about genres.

www.sil.org/~mannb/rst/

RST:iconic?

granular enough?

sufficientcoverage?

Hunter’s infomaps:Based on experience:

When confined to the technical registers,

1) this system is granular enoughand

2) has good enough coverage (80%+)of the information structures in technical document content

to be a graphical pattern language.


granular enough?

sufficientcoverage?

This system has good enough coverage (80%+)of the information structuresin technical document contentto be a graphical pattern language.


granular enough?

sufficientcoverage?


http://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter/[email protected]

Thank you for your retention.

And ‘thanks in advance’ for trying this concept.

You can download this .ppt fromhttp://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter/espgraphics/

Unambiguous Graphics: making entry-level ESP materials Lawrie Hunter Kochi University of Technology ...

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