title: Sentence initial bundles in L2 thesis writing: A comparative study of Chinese L2 and New Zealand L1 postgraduates’ writing

authors: Li, Liang

subjects: lexical bundles

abstract: Multiword combinations perform a crucial role in signifying fluency, accuracy and idiomaticity in academic writing. Lexical bundles are recurrent, but not salient, multi-word combinations, for example, on the other hand, the fact that the, and it should be noted. They are important as they act as discourse frames to relate to new information or as interactional devices to mark the involvement of the writer and the reader. These functions can also be regarded as metadiscoursal functions, represented by metadiscoursal models.
The use of lexical bundles in L2 academic writing has been the focus of a number of recent studies, but few studies distinguish bundles in different sentence positions, investigate bundles from the perspective of metadiscoursal functions, and explore the reasons underlying the bundle choices of L2 writers.
The present study sought to fill these gaps by comparing the use of sentence initial bundles (i.e. bundles at the beginning of sentences) in Chinese L2 and New Zealand L1 thesis writing in the discipline of general and applied linguistics. Four collections were built: a Chinese masters thesis corpus, a New Zealand masters thesis corpus, a Chinese PhD thesis corpus and a New Zealand PhD thesis corpus. In comparing these four corpora, this study provided a detailed picture of the use of sentence initial bundles in Chinese postgraduate writing and an overall picture of variation in bundle use across different postgraduate levels of students in terms of frequency, structure and function. Semi-structured interviews with six Chinese postgraduates were conducted after the text analysis to understand the reasons for Chinese students’ bundle choices. The interviews were based on the expressions in participants’ original drafts, which were completely or partially overlapped with the sentence initial bundles generated from the corpus data.
Chinese masters and PhD students were found to rely more heavily on sentence initial bundles, particularly interactive bundles. They preferred to start sentences with PP-based bundles, VP-based bundles, and conjunction + clause fragment bundles; but were less aware of the importance of NP-based bundles and anticipatory-it bundles. With regard to function, both the Chinese PhD and masters corpora were characterised by a heavy use of condition bundles and booster bundles; and a relatively low use of endophoric bundles, attitude bundles, hedge bundles, self-mention bundles and directive bundles of cognitive acts.
In regard to bundle development, both groups of masters students were found to use more bundles than their PhD counterparts. However, the two PhD groups shared more bundles. More research-related NP-based bundles occurred in masters corpora, and more PP-based bundles and anticipatory-it bundles appeared in PhD students’ writing. A functional analysis showed that both groups of PhD students used more transition bundles, condition bundles, section-level frame bundles and self-mention bundles, but fewer attitude bundles.
Interviews with six Chinese postgraduates revealed possible reasons for Chinese students’ bundle selection and use, which included but were not limited to interlingual transfer, classroom learning, noticing in reading, a lack of rhetorical confidence, and misunderstanding of rhetorical conventions. The findings suggest the need to go beyond the teaching of lexical bundles as a list of fixed multiword expressions. Teachers and learners are advised to address the pedagogical implications of bundle studies, and to use corpus-based tools (e.g. FLAX) to approach bundles as lexico-grammatical frames in which slots can be filled with a variety of words.

text: Sentence initial bundles in L2 thesis writing: A comparative study of Chinese L2 and New Zealand L1 postgraduates’ writing Multiword combinations perform a crucial role in signifying fluency, accuracy and idiomaticity in academic writing. Lexical bundles are recurrent, but not salient, multi-word combinations, for example, on the other hand, the fact that the, and it should be noted. They are important as they act as discourse frames to relate to new information or as interactional devices to mark the involvement of the writer and the reader. These functions can also be regarded as metadiscoursal functions, represented by metadiscoursal models.
The use of lexical bundles in L2 academic writing has been the focus of a number of recent studies, but few studies distinguish bundles in different sentence positions, investigate bundles from the perspective of metadiscoursal functions, and explore the reasons underlying the bundle choices of L2 writers.
The present study sought to fill these gaps by comparing the use of sentence initial bundles (i.e. bundles at the beginning of sentences) in Chinese L2 and New Zealand L1 thesis writing in the discipline of general and applied linguistics. Four collections were built: a Chinese masters thesis corpus, a New Zealand masters thesis corpus, a Chinese PhD thesis corpus and a New Zealand PhD thesis corpus. In comparing these four corpora, this study provided a detailed picture of the use of sentence initial bundles in Chinese postgraduate writing and an overall picture of variation in bundle use across different postgraduate levels of students in terms of frequency, structure and function. Semi-structured interviews with six Chinese postgraduates were conducted after the text analysis to understand the reasons for Chinese students’ bundle choices. The interviews were based on the expressions in participants’ original drafts, which were completely or partially overlapped with the sentence initial bundles generated from the corpus data.
Chinese masters and PhD students were found to rely more heavily on sentence initial bundles, particularly interactive bundles. They preferred to start sentences with PP-based bundles, VP-based bundles, and conjunction + clause fragment bundles; but were less aware of the importance of NP-based bundles and anticipatory-it bundles. With regard to function, both the Chinese PhD and masters corpora were characterised by a heavy use of condition bundles and booster bundles; and a relatively low use of endophoric bundles, attitude bundles, hedge bundles, self-mention bundles and directive bundles of cognitive acts.
In regard to bundle development, both groups of masters students were found to use more bundles than their PhD counterparts. However, the two PhD groups shared more bundles. More research-related NP-based bundles occurred in masters corpora, and more PP-based bundles and anticipatory-it bundles appeared in PhD students’ writing. A functional analysis showed that both groups of PhD students used more transition bundles, condition bundles, section-level frame bundles and self-mention bundles, but fewer attitude bundles.
Interviews with six Chinese postgraduates revealed possible reasons for Chinese students’ bundle selection and use, which included but were not limited to interlingual transfer, classroom learning, noticing in reading, a lack of rhetorical confidence, and misunderstanding of rhetorical conventions. The findings suggest the need to go beyond the teaching of lexical bundles as a list of fixed multiword expressions. Teachers and learners are advised to address the pedagogical implications of bundle studies, and to use corpus-based tools (e.g. FLAX) to approach bundles as lexico-grammatical frames in which slots can be filled with a variety of words.

year: 2016

title: Phase transitions in single neurons and neural populations: Critical slowing, anesthesia, and sleep cycles

authors: Steyn-Ross, D. Alistair

subjects: subthreshold oscillation

abstract: The firing of an action potential by a biological neuron represents a dramatic transition from small-scale linear stochastics (subthreshold voltage fluctuations) to gross-scale nonlinear dynamics (birth of a 1-ms voltage spike). In populations of neurons we see similar, but slower, switch-like there-and-back transitions between low-firing background states and high-firing activated states. These state transitions are controlled by varying levels of input current (single neuron), varying amounts of GABAergic drug (anesthesia), or varying concentrations of neuromodulators and neurotransmitters (natural sleep), and all occur within a milieu of unrelenting biological noise. By tracking the altering responsiveness of the excitable membrane to noisy stimulus, we can infer how close the neuronal system (single unit or entire population) is to switching threshold. We can quantify this “nearness to switching” in terms of the altering eigenvalue structure: the dominant eigenvalue approaches zero, leading to a growth in correlated, low-frequency power, with exaggerated responsiveness to small perturbations, the responses becoming larger and slower as the neural population approaches its critical point–-this is critical slowing. In this chapter we discuss phase-transition predictions for both single-neuron and neural-population models, comparing theory with laboratory and clinical measurement.

text: Phase transitions in single neurons and neural populations: Critical slowing, anesthesia, and sleep cycles The firing of an action potential by a biological neuron represents a dramatic transition from small-scale linear stochastics (subthreshold voltage fluctuations) to gross-scale nonlinear dynamics (birth of a 1-ms voltage spike). In populations of neurons we see similar, but slower, switch-like there-and-back transitions between low-firing background states and high-firing activated states. These state transitions are controlled by varying levels of input current (single neuron), varying amounts of GABAergic drug (anesthesia), or varying concentrations of neuromodulators and neurotransmitters (natural sleep), and all occur within a milieu of unrelenting biological noise. By tracking the altering responsiveness of the excitable membrane to noisy stimulus, we can infer how close the neuronal system (single unit or entire population) is to switching threshold. We can quantify this “nearness to switching” in terms of the altering eigenvalue structure: the dominant eigenvalue approaches zero, leading to a growth in correlated, low-frequency power, with exaggerated responsiveness to small perturbations, the responses becoming larger and slower as the neural population approaches its critical point–-this is critical slowing. In this chapter we discuss phase-transition predictions for both single-neuron and neural-population models, comparing theory with laboratory and clinical measurement.

year: 2010

title: Prototype theory and the concept of taonga: Implications for Treaty-related issues such as the display and conservation of taonga Māori

authors: Hedley, Rangiiria

subjects: Taonga Māori

abstract: This paper examines, in the context of prototype theory, issues and problems associated with the concept of taonga, the specific aim being to provide an approach that could assist those who are concerned with the interpretation of Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi and Treaty-related issues such as the appropriate display and conservation of taonga Māori.

text: Prototype theory and the concept of taonga: Implications for Treaty-related issues such as the display and conservation of taonga Māori This paper examines, in the context of prototype theory, issues and problems associated with the concept of taonga, the specific aim being to provide an approach that could assist those who are concerned with the interpretation of Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi and Treaty-related issues such as the appropriate display and conservation of taonga Māori.

year: 2004-02