title: Bundle-driven metadiscourse analysis: Sentence initial bundles in Chinese and New Zealand postgraduates' thesis writing

authors: Li, Liang

subjects: computer science

abstract: Metadiscourse and lexical bundles are two closely related concepts and both operate as overlapping functional units in texts. Metadiscourse analysis always takes a top-down approach, in which discourse analysts begin from pre-determined metadiscourse items down to the analysed texts. Lexical bundle analysis usually uses a bottom-up approach, in which the analysis begins with bundles, extracted automatically from texts, up to generate metadiscourse items to reach an understanding of the discourse. The bundle-driven bottom-up approach is likely to lead to the discovery of longer metadiscourse units and create new categories, while at the same time allowing for the verification of existing researchergenerated metadiscourse lists. While many researchers have focused on examining metadiscourse in academic writing, few studies have used a bottom up approach beginning with lexical bundles in this way to explore the use of metadiscourse. Moreover, research on sentence initial bundles is rare. The present study explores the metadiscourse functions of generated four-word sentence initial bundles from the corpora of Chinese L2 and New Zealand L1 masters and PhD theses, and compares bundle distributions between L1 and L2 thesis writing. Except for a few propositional bundles, all the other bundles were identified as metadiscourse bundles and two new categories (introduction bundles and condition bundles) were created in to supplement those in Hyland's (2005a, 2005c) metadiscourse model. In contrast to New Zealand thesis writing, both the Chinese masters and PhD corpora were characterised by the heavy use of code gloss bundles (e.g. In other words, the), condition bundles (e.g. In the case of) and booster bundles (e.g. It is obvious that), and a relatively low use of endophoric bundles (e.g. The use of the), introduction bundles (e.g. There are a number), attitude bundles (e.g. It is interesting to), hedge bundles (e.g. It is possible that) and self-mention bundles (e.g. In this chapter, I). These findings indicate how productive bundle-driven metadiscourse analysis is in expanding the scope of current metadiscourse studies. It also suggests that L2 students could benefit from having attention drawn to lexical bundles as metadiscourse devices to support their academic writing.

text: Bundle-driven metadiscourse analysis: Sentence initial bundles in Chinese and New Zealand postgraduates' thesis writing Metadiscourse and lexical bundles are two closely related concepts and both operate as overlapping functional units in texts. Metadiscourse analysis always takes a top-down approach, in which discourse analysts begin from pre-determined metadiscourse items down to the analysed texts. Lexical bundle analysis usually uses a bottom-up approach, in which the analysis begins with bundles, extracted automatically from texts, up to generate metadiscourse items to reach an understanding of the discourse. The bundle-driven bottom-up approach is likely to lead to the discovery of longer metadiscourse units and create new categories, while at the same time allowing for the verification of existing researchergenerated metadiscourse lists. While many researchers have focused on examining metadiscourse in academic writing, few studies have used a bottom up approach beginning with lexical bundles in this way to explore the use of metadiscourse. Moreover, research on sentence initial bundles is rare. The present study explores the metadiscourse functions of generated four-word sentence initial bundles from the corpora of Chinese L2 and New Zealand L1 masters and PhD theses, and compares bundle distributions between L1 and L2 thesis writing. Except for a few propositional bundles, all the other bundles were identified as metadiscourse bundles and two new categories (introduction bundles and condition bundles) were created in to supplement those in Hyland's (2005a, 2005c) metadiscourse model. In contrast to New Zealand thesis writing, both the Chinese masters and PhD corpora were characterised by the heavy use of code gloss bundles (e.g. In other words, the), condition bundles (e.g. In the case of) and booster bundles (e.g. It is obvious that), and a relatively low use of endophoric bundles (e.g. The use of the), introduction bundles (e.g. There are a number), attitude bundles (e.g. It is interesting to), hedge bundles (e.g. It is possible that) and self-mention bundles (e.g. In this chapter, I). These findings indicate how productive bundle-driven metadiscourse analysis is in expanding the scope of current metadiscourse studies. It also suggests that L2 students could benefit from having attention drawn to lexical bundles as metadiscourse devices to support their academic writing.

year: 2017

title: Audiovisual installation as ecological performativity: A creative research practice.

authors: Connors, Teresa Marie

subjects: Audiovisual installation as ecological performativity

abstract: Audiovisual Installation as Ecological Performativity lies in the fields of sonic arts and audiovisual practice, which experiment with developing non-linear installations from a temporally dynamic aesthetic. The project was initiated by my recent shift in artistic practice away from fixed-media audiovisual formats to non-linear procedures and by recent ecological discourses of human and nonhuman agency. The research aims to locate an ecology of practice that, rather than being autonomous and reductive, is directly affected by the specificity and proximity of connections made in practice and process on a relational level.
The submitted non-linear installations resulted from three field recording projects carried out between June 2014 and December 2015, spanning the west coast of North America from the Salton Sea in Southern California, to the northern regions of western Canada. From initial processes with practitioners from the fields of moving image, my iterative creative practice developed and applied computational methods to tease out co-creative apparatuses from the audiovisual material gathered. These techniques came to include convolution, data sonification, computer vision and improvisation as a means to explore nonlinear processes. Barry Truax, Damian Keller, R. Luke Dubois, Andrea Polli and Jean-Marc Pelletier provided useful insights to contemplate these computational processes as co-creative devices.
The work Undercurrent incorporates material gathered from the Y alakom River in British Columbia, Canada, using visual material by media artist Shannon Harris. The remaining works-Flight Variant, Cathedral and Piano at the End of a Poisoned Stream-emerged from two audiovisual collection journeys through the south-western regions of the United States with filmmaker Andrew Denton.
My research was guided by the belief that non-linear creative processes exploring co-creative devices from the agency of material can elicit different sensibilities and lines of communication, providing an alternative way in which to be in creative practice and experience the world-one that is emergent, contingent and performative. Thus my project was drawn to concepts of material agency and performativity in the writings of Karen Barad, Jane Bennett, Judith Butler, Donna Haraway, Andrew Pickering, and Timothy Morton. In addition, the philosophical provocations of Timothy Ingold, Erin Manning, Brian Massumi, Isabelle Stengers, and Thon Van Dooren were enlisted to locate my ecology of practice in a relational mode of experience that emphasized an ecological awareness.
From the position of creative research, attention to these theoretical discourses provided an opportunity to reconceptualise and ask new questions from the core of artistic practice. The result evolved into what I have come to call Ecological Performativity. This is a mode of practice that considers-in act and thought-the context and formative creative process, and the resulting artefacts, as a responsive embodiment of larger structures of phenomena. The outcome is a reorientation of my creative thinking-making procedures. The notion of creativity shifts from an anthropocentric understanding to a relational and performative ontology where the interactions between people, places and things constitute a dynamic mode of artistic practice.
Ultimately, my practice-based research is a multimodal endeavour deeply entangled in the mesh of the world: matter, materials, and modes of thinking. In line with the discussions on agency and performativity, this research considers the complex, emergent and dynamic encounters available through situated experience and experimentation. By considering the world as a network of phenomena that are fundamentally interconnected and interdependent, the result is a performative engagement and attunement with the world that functions as an aid to the imagination. Human activity is placed into a larger environmental context as it intersects with forces greater than those of human design, providing a multilayered point of creative enquiry. This, I believe, works towards an artistic philosophy that purposes the way we imagine the world and how we act in it reciprocally inform one another. As such, the concept of Ecological Performativity developed alongside the iterative creative practice.
The creative and written components of this dissertation are two expressions of the practice, process and outcome and should be considered holistically. Documentation films and the creative code accompany all resulting artefacts, and are located on the external flash drive as indicated in the Appendix.
Aspects of my research have been published internationally during the course of my research.

text: Audiovisual installation as ecological performativity: A creative research practice. Audiovisual Installation as Ecological Performativity lies in the fields of sonic arts and audiovisual practice, which experiment with developing non-linear installations from a temporally dynamic aesthetic. The project was initiated by my recent shift in artistic practice away from fixed-media audiovisual formats to non-linear procedures and by recent ecological discourses of human and nonhuman agency. The research aims to locate an ecology of practice that, rather than being autonomous and reductive, is directly affected by the specificity and proximity of connections made in practice and process on a relational level.
The submitted non-linear installations resulted from three field recording projects carried out between June 2014 and December 2015, spanning the west coast of North America from the Salton Sea in Southern California, to the northern regions of western Canada. From initial processes with practitioners from the fields of moving image, my iterative creative practice developed and applied computational methods to tease out co-creative apparatuses from the audiovisual material gathered. These techniques came to include convolution, data sonification, computer vision and improvisation as a means to explore nonlinear processes. Barry Truax, Damian Keller, R. Luke Dubois, Andrea Polli and Jean-Marc Pelletier provided useful insights to contemplate these computational processes as co-creative devices.
The work Undercurrent incorporates material gathered from the Y alakom River in British Columbia, Canada, using visual material by media artist Shannon Harris. The remaining works-Flight Variant, Cathedral and Piano at the End of a Poisoned Stream-emerged from two audiovisual collection journeys through the south-western regions of the United States with filmmaker Andrew Denton.
My research was guided by the belief that non-linear creative processes exploring co-creative devices from the agency of material can elicit different sensibilities and lines of communication, providing an alternative way in which to be in creative practice and experience the world-one that is emergent, contingent and performative. Thus my project was drawn to concepts of material agency and performativity in the writings of Karen Barad, Jane Bennett, Judith Butler, Donna Haraway, Andrew Pickering, and Timothy Morton. In addition, the philosophical provocations of Timothy Ingold, Erin Manning, Brian Massumi, Isabelle Stengers, and Thon Van Dooren were enlisted to locate my ecology of practice in a relational mode of experience that emphasized an ecological awareness.
From the position of creative research, attention to these theoretical discourses provided an opportunity to reconceptualise and ask new questions from the core of artistic practice. The result evolved into what I have come to call Ecological Performativity. This is a mode of practice that considers-in act and thought-the context and formative creative process, and the resulting artefacts, as a responsive embodiment of larger structures of phenomena. The outcome is a reorientation of my creative thinking-making procedures. The notion of creativity shifts from an anthropocentric understanding to a relational and performative ontology where the interactions between people, places and things constitute a dynamic mode of artistic practice.
Ultimately, my practice-based research is a multimodal endeavour deeply entangled in the mesh of the world: matter, materials, and modes of thinking. In line with the discussions on agency and performativity, this research considers the complex, emergent and dynamic encounters available through situated experience and experimentation. By considering the world as a network of phenomena that are fundamentally interconnected and interdependent, the result is a performative engagement and attunement with the world that functions as an aid to the imagination. Human activity is placed into a larger environmental context as it intersects with forces greater than those of human design, providing a multilayered point of creative enquiry. This, I believe, works towards an artistic philosophy that purposes the way we imagine the world and how we act in it reciprocally inform one another. As such, the concept of Ecological Performativity developed alongside the iterative creative practice.
The creative and written components of this dissertation are two expressions of the practice, process and outcome and should be considered holistically. Documentation films and the creative code accompany all resulting artefacts, and are located on the external flash drive as indicated in the Appendix.
Aspects of my research have been published internationally during the course of my research.

year: 2017

title: Investigating the understanding and implementation of Ka Hikitia, in a New Zealand primary school

authors: Evans, Mary

subjects: Ka Hikitia

abstract: In New Zealand, the education system has underserved Māori learners for many years, with various factors contributing to this underperformance.  Many of these factors stem from racism and bias, conscious or unconscious, inherent in our system (Ministry of Education, 2019b).  Ka Hikitia Accelerating Success 2013 - 2017 (Ministry of Education, 2013a) set about to make transformative change in schools.  This research presents an investigation into the understanding and implementation of Ka Hikitia, in a New Zealand primary school.  
The research was guided by culturally responsive methodologies, bringing together both kaupapa Māori and critical theories (Berryman, 2013b).  Participants’ understandings and how these understandings transferred into their practice was determined through a case study.  The rich information generated within the case was analysed using grounded theory.  The main source of information came from interviewing the management team and teaching staff members.  As an insider/outsider researcher and also a participant, some of my information came from my own observations and knowledge of the school. Some attendance and achievement data held by the school also informed the case.  
The Office of the Auditor-General (2016b) contended that Ka Hikitia was a well-worded policy but, due to a lack of understanding of the policy in many schools, it was poorly implemented nationwide.  In this school, despite the good leadership and hard-working teachers, staff had difficulty fully understanding and therefore implementing the Ka Hikitia strategy as it was intended.  Strong relationships between teachers and students were evident throughout the study, however, stronger relationships were needed between the school and the wider Māori community.  The research shows that, despite the good intentions of the teachers, to fully implement the intent of Ka Hikitia, educators need to be committed to te ao Māori.  
The Ministry of Education plans to relaunch a further iteration of Ka Hikitia this year, supported by another initiative, Te Hurihanganui.  For this iteration to be successful, more effective implementation systems are required that will enable Māori students to enjoy and achieve educational success as Māori.

text: Investigating the understanding and implementation of Ka Hikitia, in a New Zealand primary school In New Zealand, the education system has underserved Māori learners for many years, with various factors contributing to this underperformance.  Many of these factors stem from racism and bias, conscious or unconscious, inherent in our system (Ministry of Education, 2019b).  Ka Hikitia Accelerating Success 2013 - 2017 (Ministry of Education, 2013a) set about to make transformative change in schools.  This research presents an investigation into the understanding and implementation of Ka Hikitia, in a New Zealand primary school.  
The research was guided by culturally responsive methodologies, bringing together both kaupapa Māori and critical theories (Berryman, 2013b).  Participants’ understandings and how these understandings transferred into their practice was determined through a case study.  The rich information generated within the case was analysed using grounded theory.  The main source of information came from interviewing the management team and teaching staff members.  As an insider/outsider researcher and also a participant, some of my information came from my own observations and knowledge of the school. Some attendance and achievement data held by the school also informed the case.  
The Office of the Auditor-General (2016b) contended that Ka Hikitia was a well-worded policy but, due to a lack of understanding of the policy in many schools, it was poorly implemented nationwide.  In this school, despite the good leadership and hard-working teachers, staff had difficulty fully understanding and therefore implementing the Ka Hikitia strategy as it was intended.  Strong relationships between teachers and students were evident throughout the study, however, stronger relationships were needed between the school and the wider Māori community.  The research shows that, despite the good intentions of the teachers, to fully implement the intent of Ka Hikitia, educators need to be committed to te ao Māori.  
The Ministry of Education plans to relaunch a further iteration of Ka Hikitia this year, supported by another initiative, Te Hurihanganui.  For this iteration to be successful, more effective implementation systems are required that will enable Māori students to enjoy and achieve educational success as Māori.

year: 2020