Graphical Anchoring of Second Language Writing Task Lawrie Hunter Kochi University of Technology

Graphical Anchoring of Second Language Writing Task

Lawrie HunterKochi University of Technologyhttp://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter/

Dimensions of Media Object Compehensibility

Lawrie HunterKochi University of Technologyhttp://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter/

KUT

Island of Shikoku

Kochi

Nagoya

Osaka

1. INTRO to Mohan’s knowledge structures

2. INTRO to Hunter’s knowledge structure curriculum

3. SURVEY of graphical anchor types

4. INTRO to Hunter’s knowledge structure maps

5. INTRO to pattern languages

6. SEARCH for useful parameters of anchor types

OUTLINE for today

Arguably important direction

"Tomorrow's literacies... need to be process and systems literacies.”

-John Thackara,

In the Bubble: Designing in a complex world.MIT Press 2005.

The Japanese undergraduate engineering student

-emerging non-native writer* of technical English

-attempting a multi-level orchestration of

-rhetorical moves-information elements-cohesion/readability devices.

*(NNW)

Constraint: L2 technical English

Non-native writing carries a considerable cognitive load.

It requires the writer to hold in conscious mind several types of linguistic representation:

-rhetorical structure-information structure-information-grammar/lexical unit knowledge

Cognitive load

Non-native writing carries a considerable cognitive load.

It requires the writer to hold in conscious mind several types of linguistic representation:

-rhetorical structure-information structure-information-grammar/lexical unit knowledge

If* some of these representation types can be encoded graphically, cognitive load** will be reduced.

*observation suggests**or the load placed on Baddeley's working memory

Cognitive load reduction

Survey: graphical anchors

Today: several load-reducing graphical representations currently in use in the curriculum and materials designed by the author.

These representations provide writing task 'anchors' for

(a) information structures*(b) prescribed sentence patterns (c) rhetorical structures**(d) cohesion devices***

Today: several load-reducing graphical representations currently in use in the curriculum and materials designed by the author.

These representations provide writing task 'anchors' for

(a) information structures*(b) prescribed sentence patterns (c) rhetorical structures**(d) cohesion devices***

Even if the learner's main writing strategy is the lexical and structural mimicry of model texts, the above forms of graphical scaffolding can provide an external 'hands on the controls' work space.

*a variation on Mohan's (1986) knowledge structures**as seen in Mann's rhetorical structure theory (http://www.sfu.ca/rst/)***(Gopen and Swan, 1990).

Survey: graphical anchors

Rhetoricalstructures

Knowledgestructures

Cohesiondevices

Grammar(sentence surface structure)

Background

Extension

DiversionsTrain of argument

This is thedomain oftexturedown here.

This is thedomain ofstructuresup here. Functional

structures

Systems view of writing

Word orderrules

Evocativerhetoric

Rhetoricalstructures

Knowledgestructures

Cohesiondevices

Grammar(sentence surface structure)

Background

Extension

DiversionsTrain of argument

Falsehierarchy:the trainstops here.

This is thedomain oftexturedown here.

This is thedomain ofstructuresup here.

Rhetorical structure theory,systemic functional linguistics and knowledge structure mapping form a hierarchy of structures, whereas grammar and sentence diagrams reflect rules for texture management.

Functionalstructures



Grammar

stagingInformation orchestration

Rhetoric, flow

Sentence levelPrescriptive order charts (linear);

sentence diagrams

Knowledge structure maps

Topic/stress and subject-verb distance

gizmos

Paragraph level Readability chartsKnowledge structure maps

Old/new and topic/stress

gizmos

Document levelReadability outlines

Knowledge structure maps

Old/new and topic/stress

gizmos

Anchor: Sentence diagramming

Moutoux, E.R. Sentence Diagrams:One Way of Learning English Grammar. http://www.geocities.com/gene_moutoux/diagrams.htm

Anchor: Sentence diagramming

Moutoux, E.R. Sentence Diagrams:One Way of Learning English Grammar. http://www.geocities.com/gene_moutoux/diagrams.htm

Every year on the afternoon of December 24, you, a Christmas procrastinator, loaded down with sacks and boxes, walk from store to store, but you concentrateon Mom.

Mohan's (1986) knowledge structures

Classification Principle Evaluation

Description Process Choice

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

rather than speech act types such as SFL's text types.

hunter’stools

GENRES REGISTERS MOVES



At KUT, we have built our curriculumaround these genres:

DescriptionClassificationComparisonSequenceCause-effect

+ inferencePro-con

-a composite genre

Hunter’s ‘knowledge structures’

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

in 2 quarters

At KUT, we have built our curriculumaround these genres:

DescriptionClassificationComparisonSequenceCause-effect

+ inferencePro-con

-a composite genre



in 2 quarters

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

INPUT

USAGE PRACTICE

AUTHENTIC TASK

EXPRESSION


hunter’stools

GENRES REGISTERS MOVES


in 2 quarters

The learning process used in this bookEach 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 .

Readthis on

Hunter's website.



in 2 quarters

Thinking in EnglishKUT Press 2004

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

Extends CT to 4 quarters


INPUT

USAGE PRACTICE

AUTHENTIC TASK

EXPRESSION

Hunter's knowledge structures curriculum:

DescriptionClassificationComparisonSequenceCause-effect InferencePro-con

Example: sequence

•Unit 2: Sequence

• Input: listening and speaking: Giving directions and telling a story

• Input: instructions and narration: Giving directions and telling a story

•Usage practice: sequencing: The steps for making an omelette

• Usage practice: giving instructions: Telling how to _______

• Input: narration: Mr. Nakamura’s Day: Dictation

• Usage practice: writing: Mr. Nakamura's Sunday

• Authentic task: narration: Putting a story in order

• Usage practice: sequence words: Making a story better

• Input: comparing instructions and narration: finding verbs and signal words

• Authentic task: Get the gold!

• Expression: Unit 2 final report: how Kenji and Junichi Got the Gold

Example: sequence Hunter's knowledge structures curriculum

InputUsage practiceAuthentic task

Expression

InputSequence structure signals

FirstTo begin

ThenNextAfter that

Finally At lastIn the end

While + clause A, clause BAfter + clause A, clause BAs + clause A, clause BWhen + clause A, clause BIf + clause A, clause B



Expression

InputSequence structure signalsProcessing input containing signals

1. First I got up and then I went to the bathroom

and had a shower.After that I got dressed

and went to the kitchen.

2. First I took the milkout of the fridge.

Then I went to the cupboardand got a glass.

Finally I poured myself a glass of milkand drank it.



Expression

Sequence structure signalsHunter's knowledge structures curriculum


Expression

Usage practiceGraphics from sentences



Expression

Usage practiceSentencesfrom graphics



Expression

Sentences from graphics

Hunter's knowledge structures curriculum


Expression

Usage practiceOrderinginformation



Expression

Usage practiceCombiningsentences



Expression

Input:registerFindingstructure signalsand otherlexicalitems



Expression

Authentic taskReal-world problem


Sentence level anchoring

Putting things in places

Anchoring types



Anchoring types



Anchoring types



Anchoring types

Sentence level pattern anchoring


Anchoring types

Sentence level pattern anchoring


Anchoring types

Textual anchoring


Anchoring types

Perceptual anchoring


Anchoring types



Anchoring types

Lexical anchoring


Anchoring types

Lexical anchoring


Anchoring types



Anchoring types

Discourse level anchoring


Anchoring types



Anchoring types



Anchoring types

Page gestalt anchoring


Anchoring types



Anchoring types



Anchoring types

Moves anchoring


Anchoring types

Register anchoring


Anchoring types

Pragmatic anchoring (next slide)Putting things in places

Anchoring types

weightlessness

the need to develop a better method of ensuring oral hygiene for those who spend long periods

in space

placed a mouse in an airplane and checked the rate of growth of

streptococcus mutans….. in the mouse's mouth… at different levels

of gravity.

in zero gravity bacteria grew 40 to 50 times faster than

on Earth

increase in the growth rate of the bacteria that cause cavities

the flow of saliva changes in a state of

weightlessness

less saliva is secreted in

space…

other bacteria in the mouth may afflict some

space travelers with infectious diseases

develop a toothbrush that will ooze toothpaste from the tips of the bristles and reabsorb it while the user is

brushing his or her teeth

use of water is

restricted in space,

astronauts swallow toothpaste after

brushing their teeth

increased chance of bacteria remaining

on teeth

Communication moves

PROPOSAL

PROCEDURE

CLAIMWhat?The proposal is a distractor from the topic, a CLAIM.

hunter systems

Pragm

atics anchoring

EXERCISE:Please identify the communication move for each minimap and write it in the corresponding box.Then write names of the relations between minimaps in the spaces between boxes.

LIST of some moves:circumstance/backgroundcondition/extensionelaboration/supportsequence/procedure/listobservation/resultspeculation/projectioncomparison/contrastneed/objectiveapplication/enablementcause/resultsummary

http://www.sfu.ca/rst/01intro/intro.html

EXTENSION

Research supporting claim

CLAIM (fact: ‘according to”)

LINK? (No rhet signal)

Anchoring types

Do humans have aGRAPHIC THOUGHT FACILITY?

The knowledge structure map is a matrix (confluence) for the situated learner* and the situated mentor to confirm context and the nature of "stolen property."**

*Jean Lave**Duguid and Brown

<$$$

!

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



<good

Hunter’s infomaps

<big

Description Classification

Degreecomparison

Attributecomparison

Sequence

Contrast

!hunter systems

Hunter Graphical Anchoring of

Second Language Writing TaskHunter’s infomaps

Hunter’s infomap links

My friend

CanadianEnglishteacher

57

DESCRIPTION


CLASSIFICATION

Cars

sedans stationwagonscoupe

s


<big

old

COMPARISON (relative)

TokyoCalcutta


COMPARISON (by attribute)

red

M’s car K’s car

white

3 years old

new


SEQUENCE

find ATM

insert

bank card

follow

directions


SEQUENCE structure signals

ThenFirst and

find ATM

insert

bank card

follow

directions


SEQUENCE

slice a tomato

toast two slices of bread

ThenFirst andtear

some lettuce


CAUSE-EFFECT

rainbe late

for school

bus cancelled

Learner taskswith info mapping

mappingtext

writingfrommaps

summarizing controllingnavigation

hunter systems

HunterThinking in English:

task support with graphics and varied processingHunter’s infomaps

Infomaps for content controlHunter

the style dossier approachSTRUCTURE

Writing from Hunter's information maps

Hunterthe style dossier approach

STRUCTURE


Infomaps for content control


STRUCTURE




STRUCTURE



Infomaps and perception

Massive diversity in learner perception of knowledge structures.Below: maps of the same content:

Massive diversity in learner perception of knowledge structures.

Infomaps and perception

2006~ new layer: READABILITY

The missing link in technical academic writing:

Gopen’s readability-subject-verb distance-topic position / stress position-old/new information placement

Readability work

In the design of traditional high-text language learning materials, readability is a prominent concern.Reading difficulty has for some time been seen as depending on

-word length-sentence length-text length-number of sentences per paragraph-vocabulary ‘difficulty’

More recent work has extended this list to include -subject-verb distance -adherence to old/new position conventions-topic position/stress position conventions

Treated extensively inHunter L. (1998) Text Nouveau: Visible Structure in Text Presentation. Computer Assisted Language Learning 11(4) pp. 363-379.

2006~ new layer: READABILITY

Hunter’s newTAW syllabus:assume grammar

Page

1 Readability and cohesion

Topic / stress positions Old / new information Subject-verb separation Logic gaps Ambiguity

2 Usage Dictionaries, guides, corpus and concordance

3 Registers Formal academic Informal academic Casual

4 Abstracts and introductions

The structure of a paper Outlining Summarizing

5 Organization of information

Situation-problem-solution-evaluation General-Specif ic

6

Information structures, information mapping

Description Classif ication Comparison, including pie and bar graphs Sequence, including line and bar graphs Cause-Effect Inference (deduction/induction) Pro and Con

7 Rhetoric vs. information

Background information / new content

8 English models

The Style Dossier: model language selection / evaluation Mimicry skills Plagiarism avoidance

9 Data commentaries

10 Appendix: language features

TAW -related grammar points Usage points

2006~ new layer: READABILITY Page

1 Readability and cohesion

Topic / stress positions Old / new information Subject-verb separation Logic gaps Ambiguity

2 Usage Dictionaries, guides, corpus and concordance

3 Registers Formal academic Informal academic Casual

4 Abstracts and introductions

The structure of a paper Outlining Summarizing

5 Organization of information

Situation-problem-solution-evaluation General-Specif ic

6

Information structures, information mapping

Description Classif ication Comparison, including pie and bar graphs Sequence, including line and bar graphs Cause-Effect Inference (deduction/induction) Pro and Con

7 Rhetoric vs. information

Background information / new content

8 English models

The Style Dossier: model language selection / evaluation Mimicry skills Plagiarism avoidance

9 Data commentaries

10 Appendix: language features

TAW -related grammar points Usage points

Textural Structural

Grammar Lexical patterns

Register Knowledge structures

Cohesion Coherence/readability

Functional grammar Information organization

Rhetorical device Rhetorical structure

Readability anchoring


Creating a PATTERN LANGUAGE

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 is really nothing more than a precise way of describing someone’s experience of a building.”

Christopher Alexander


“A pattern language is really nothing more than a precise way of describing someone’s experience of communicating.”

Lawrie Hunter


Exploratory framework

Symbolic-metaphoric

Metaphoric

Zoom-out map (scaled image)

Image (superimposable)

Language complexity

Graphic type

Atomic [word level]

Molecular [lexical unit

level]

Compound [sentence

level]

Complex [text Level]

Mini-world [genrelevel]

Exploratory framework [2]

Major genres

Sentence clusters[niche genres, e.g. report]

Sentences

Word clusters[lists, groups]

Sentence ordering support

Writing support type

Language scale

Lexicalunit support

Function array

support

Genre array

support

Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., & Silverstein, M. (1997) A pattern language: towns, buildings, construction. New York: Oxford University Press.Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working memory. New York: Oxford University Press. Baddeley, A. D. & Hitch, G. (2001). Working memory in perspective: Foreword. In J. Andrade (Ed.), Working memory in perspective (pp. xv-xix). Hove: Psychology Press.Chandler, P. and J. Sweller (1992) The split-attention effect as a factor in the design of instruction. British Journal of Educational Psychology 62: 233-246.Goldman, S. R., & Rakestraw, Jr., J. A. Structural aspects of constructing meaning from text. In M. L. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 3, pp. xx-xx). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Gopen, G.D. and Swan, J.A. (1990) The Science of Scientific Writing. American Scientist (Nov-Dec 1990), Volume 78, 550-558. Downloadable as a pdf from http://www.amstat.org/publications/jcgs/sci.pdfHorn, R. E. (1998) Visual Language: Global Communication for the 21st Century. Bainbridge Island, WA: MacroVU Press. http://www.macrovu.comHunter, L. (1998) Text nouveau, visible structure in text presentation. Computer Assisted Language Learning 11 (4) October 1998.Hunter, L. (2002) Information structure diagrams as link icons. Learning Technology 4(3) July 2002. ISSN 1438-0625. 2002. http://lttf.ieee.org/learn_tech/issues/july2002/index.html#1Mann, William C. and Sandra A. Thompson (1988). Rhetorical structure theory: Toward a functional theory of text organization." Text 8 (3): 243-281.Mohan, B.A. (1986) Language and content. Addison-Wesley.Moutoux, E.R. Sentence Diagrams: One Way of Learning English Grammar. http://www.geocities.com/gene_moutoux/diagrams.htmOlive, Thierry (2004) Working memory in writing: Empirical evidence from the dual-task technique. European psychologist 9(1), pp. 32-42. Working paper downloaded from http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15431008Schriver, K.A. (1997). Dynamics in Document Design. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Tufte, E.R. (1990) Envisioning information. Cheshire, CONN: Graphics Press.Shannon, C.E., & Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Explained at http://www.tcw.utwente.nl/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Communication%20and%20Information%20Technology/Information_Theory.doc/

and http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/introductory/sw.html

Swales, C. and Feak, C. (2004) Academic Writing for Graduate Students. 2nd edition. University of Michigan Press.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Don’t hesitate to write to me.

Lawrie HunterKochi University of Technology

http://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter

Documents

Graphical Anchoring of Second Language Writing Task Lawrie Hunter Kochi University of Technology