title: Experiences of care at the nexus of intellectual disability and leisure travel

authors: Gillovic, Brielle

abstract: This thesis explores lived experiences of care at the nexus of intellectual disability and leisure travel, notably among a sample of carers and people with intellectual disabilities, whose voices are otherwise absent in much previous tourism scholarship. The originality of this research therefore lies in its approach, which favours the cognisance of situated, contextual and value-laden care experiences between self and other, privileging subjective and inter-subjective ways of knowing, and humanising the intricacies of the participants’ individual, relational and emotional lives.

In this way, this thesis seeks to honour the participants’ authentic voices, positionalities and subjectivities as they narrate their lived experiences. It offers, thus, a person-centred, strengths- and abilities-based approach to inclusive tourism research. As such, this research adopts a Heideggerian interpretive phenomenological approach, exploratory in its nature and qualitative in its design. The data has been collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviewing with fifteen carers and nine people with intellectual disabilities. The data was then thematically analysed, inductively eliciting a depth and richness of meaning embedded in the participants’ experiential knowledge, iteratively and recursively negotiated with the theoretical knowledge.

Findings of this thesis define the leisure travel phenomenon both as a meaningful experience in and of itself, and as the situated context in which carers and people with intellectual disabilities make sense of, and ascribe meaning to, their lived experiences of care. The analysis reveals three key emergent themes: giving, attunement, and (in)visibility. Experiences of care at the nexus of intellectual disability and leisure travel, indeed, are a labour of love. They reflect a complex and dynamic (re)negotiation of the paradoxical tensions involved in being in between two worlds, and span practical, emotional and socio-political caring spheres. This thesis concludes with implications for (re)imagining the transformative potential of tourism through an ethic of care as an ethos to guide our social relations, wherein we meet one another morally.

text: Experiences of care at the nexus of intellectual disability and leisure travel This thesis explores lived experiences of care at the nexus of intellectual disability and leisure travel, notably among a sample of carers and people with intellectual disabilities, whose voices are otherwise absent in much previous tourism scholarship. The originality of this research therefore lies in its approach, which favours the cognisance of situated, contextual and value-laden care experiences between self and other, privileging subjective and inter-subjective ways of knowing, and humanising the intricacies of the participants’ individual, relational and emotional lives.

In this way, this thesis seeks to honour the participants’ authentic voices, positionalities and subjectivities as they narrate their lived experiences. It offers, thus, a person-centred, strengths- and abilities-based approach to inclusive tourism research. As such, this research adopts a Heideggerian interpretive phenomenological approach, exploratory in its nature and qualitative in its design. The data has been collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviewing with fifteen carers and nine people with intellectual disabilities. The data was then thematically analysed, inductively eliciting a depth and richness of meaning embedded in the participants’ experiential knowledge, iteratively and recursively negotiated with the theoretical knowledge.

Findings of this thesis define the leisure travel phenomenon both as a meaningful experience in and of itself, and as the situated context in which carers and people with intellectual disabilities make sense of, and ascribe meaning to, their lived experiences of care. The analysis reveals three key emergent themes: giving, attunement, and (in)visibility. Experiences of care at the nexus of intellectual disability and leisure travel, indeed, are a labour of love. They reflect a complex and dynamic (re)negotiation of the paradoxical tensions involved in being in between two worlds, and span practical, emotional and socio-political caring spheres. This thesis concludes with implications for (re)imagining the transformative potential of tourism through an ethic of care as an ethos to guide our social relations, wherein we meet one another morally.

year: 2019

title: Acts of reference and the miscommunication of referents by first and second language speakers of English

authors: Ryan, Jonathon

subjects: reference

abstract: Central to communication are acts of reference, in which speakers clarify to hearers the identity of specific individuals (referents) through the use of referring expressions. Consequently, pragmatic competence in referring is likely to be an important skill for second language learners (SLLs). One of the complexities that speakers face is that the most appropriate referring expression (RE) on one occasion may be entirely inappropriate for that same individual on a different occasion. To explore pragmatic appropriateness in the use of REs, two approaches appear particularly apt. Firstly, Accessibility Theory (Ariel, 1990) holds that speakers select an RE type based on their best estimate of how recoverable the referent is in the addressee’s memory. Secondly, acts of reference may be most helpfully viewed as occurring across discoursal units above the level of the noun phrase. However, it appears that neither of these frameworks has been adopted in previous studies of SLL reference. In addition, it appears that little has been reported in relation to the factors that trigger referential miscommunication.

This study examined references by relatively advanced SLLs and by L1 participants. The focus was on pragmatic appropriateness in marking accessibility, and factors implicated in referential miscommunication. A film retelling task was used to elicit data from participants in twenty SLL-L1 and ten L1-L1 dyads; following each retelling, a two-part stimulated recall interview was conducted with the addressee to identify miscommunications. Individual acts of reference were analyzed according to an accessibility coding system. Miscommunications were analyzed and likely triggers identified in terms of, for example, accessibility marking and NP errors. Findings are reported in relation to SLL referential competence, triggers of referential miscommunication, and some more general issues relating to the nature of reference.

When introducing hearer-known referents into discourse, the SLL participants tended to be under-explicit for entities with low-accessibility but over-explicit for central characters. The least accessible entities were frequently either avoided or were under-explicit and, for this reason, were often miscommunicated, suggesting that these learners had difficulties constructing references across larger discourse units. In subsequent references (referent tracking), the SLLs tended to be over-explicit, particularly in certain contexts. It appears that this resulted partly from a communicative strategy and partly from cognitive load. The most frequent trigger of miscommunication in referent tracking was pronoun errors. More generally, I argue that the present approach to miscommunication analysis complements error analysis.

The theoretical framework for the study involves a core definition of reference (adopted from Bach, 2008), which is then relaxed in two stages, thereby distinguishing three levels of reference. I argue that this framework enables principled definitions of reference and referential miscommunication, which partially bridge contrasting views found in philosophy and linguistics. The findings challenge three widespread assumptions about reference: (a) that all references require resolution, (b) that interactants attempt to clarify all references, and (c) that only highly accessible referents are felicitously referred to with pronouns. I propose a theory of referentiality in which speakers are held to signal the extent to which references require resolution.

text: Acts of reference and the miscommunication of referents by first and second language speakers of English Central to communication are acts of reference, in which speakers clarify to hearers the identity of specific individuals (referents) through the use of referring expressions. Consequently, pragmatic competence in referring is likely to be an important skill for second language learners (SLLs). One of the complexities that speakers face is that the most appropriate referring expression (RE) on one occasion may be entirely inappropriate for that same individual on a different occasion. To explore pragmatic appropriateness in the use of REs, two approaches appear particularly apt. Firstly, Accessibility Theory (Ariel, 1990) holds that speakers select an RE type based on their best estimate of how recoverable the referent is in the addressee’s memory. Secondly, acts of reference may be most helpfully viewed as occurring across discoursal units above the level of the noun phrase. However, it appears that neither of these frameworks has been adopted in previous studies of SLL reference. In addition, it appears that little has been reported in relation to the factors that trigger referential miscommunication.

This study examined references by relatively advanced SLLs and by L1 participants. The focus was on pragmatic appropriateness in marking accessibility, and factors implicated in referential miscommunication. A film retelling task was used to elicit data from participants in twenty SLL-L1 and ten L1-L1 dyads; following each retelling, a two-part stimulated recall interview was conducted with the addressee to identify miscommunications. Individual acts of reference were analyzed according to an accessibility coding system. Miscommunications were analyzed and likely triggers identified in terms of, for example, accessibility marking and NP errors. Findings are reported in relation to SLL referential competence, triggers of referential miscommunication, and some more general issues relating to the nature of reference.

When introducing hearer-known referents into discourse, the SLL participants tended to be under-explicit for entities with low-accessibility but over-explicit for central characters. The least accessible entities were frequently either avoided or were under-explicit and, for this reason, were often miscommunicated, suggesting that these learners had difficulties constructing references across larger discourse units. In subsequent references (referent tracking), the SLLs tended to be over-explicit, particularly in certain contexts. It appears that this resulted partly from a communicative strategy and partly from cognitive load. The most frequent trigger of miscommunication in referent tracking was pronoun errors. More generally, I argue that the present approach to miscommunication analysis complements error analysis.

The theoretical framework for the study involves a core definition of reference (adopted from Bach, 2008), which is then relaxed in two stages, thereby distinguishing three levels of reference. I argue that this framework enables principled definitions of reference and referential miscommunication, which partially bridge contrasting views found in philosophy and linguistics. The findings challenge three widespread assumptions about reference: (a) that all references require resolution, (b) that interactants attempt to clarify all references, and (c) that only highly accessible referents are felicitously referred to with pronouns. I propose a theory of referentiality in which speakers are held to signal the extent to which references require resolution.

year: 2012

title: Te aho tapu: Mātauranga a Māui ancient knowledge and preserving culture through practice

authors: Keelan-Peebles, Jacqueline Roberta

abstract: I am Māui I am not Māori. Reclamation of identity as uri o Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga is the ngako of  this creative thesis, in response to the question, ‘who were we before and what is Māuitanga’? 
Due to its paucity my intention is to revive its frequency in restoration to its rightful status in this way; the tools to navigate authentication is through the lens of mātauranga Māui, embedded in kōrero tawhito, traditional cultural practice, lived experience and whakapapa. Validation is  founded in our iwi repositories, pūrākau, ngā waiata, mōteatea, karakia, whaikōrero, rituals of encounter and the arts.
Raranga as the creative vehicle affords the means to analogize kaupapa Māui. The creation of a Kākahu/Korowai is the appropriate representation as its significance aligns itself with the mantle of honour due to rangatira living and those who have passed. 
Exploration of kaupapa Māui infrastructure is fundamental to unravelling multi-faceted cultural narratives. These are the mechanisms to the reclamation of who we were before and to answer the question of Māuitanga. Ultimately to claim and to restore my heritage, to reinstate the common use of an ancient iwi, te iwi ‛Māui’.

text: Te aho tapu: Mātauranga a Māui ancient knowledge and preserving culture through practice I am Māui I am not Māori. Reclamation of identity as uri o Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga is the ngako of  this creative thesis, in response to the question, ‘who were we before and what is Māuitanga’? 
Due to its paucity my intention is to revive its frequency in restoration to its rightful status in this way; the tools to navigate authentication is through the lens of mātauranga Māui, embedded in kōrero tawhito, traditional cultural practice, lived experience and whakapapa. Validation is  founded in our iwi repositories, pūrākau, ngā waiata, mōteatea, karakia, whaikōrero, rituals of encounter and the arts.
Raranga as the creative vehicle affords the means to analogize kaupapa Māui. The creation of a Kākahu/Korowai is the appropriate representation as its significance aligns itself with the mantle of honour due to rangatira living and those who have passed. 
Exploration of kaupapa Māui infrastructure is fundamental to unravelling multi-faceted cultural narratives. These are the mechanisms to the reclamation of who we were before and to answer the question of Māuitanga. Ultimately to claim and to restore my heritage, to reinstate the common use of an ancient iwi, te iwi ‛Māui’.

year: 2022