The present study attempted to describe the giving advice strategies utilized by Malaysian postgraduate students in confronting different situations. In addition, it examined the effects of the situational factors of social distance, power, and imposition on the students' choice of giving advice strategies. Another objective was to categorize the…

Ball argues that "policy authors do make concerted efforts to assert control [of readings] by the means at their disposal … [and that] we need to understand those efforts" (Ball, 1994, p. 16). Efforts by policy authors to control readings are influenced by their own assumptions about the nature of language, texts and communication. This…

Having been the scene of language planning for more than a century in relation to the two competing written standards of Norwegian, Norwegian language planners are now facing a new challenge: how to deal with what has been termed "domain loss" where Norwegian is perceived as losing out to English in important sectors of society,…

Describes a mental game in which (1) the identification of some vividly recalled literary excerpt is postponed and, instead, the source is described as much as possible and (2) the source is identified and checked to see if the description accurately represents it. Uses this game to discuss the relation between speech and literary discourse. (JD)

Asserts that passive constructions are not the mark of flawed writing as many textbooks claim them to be but are instead frequent and effective stylistic variants. (RAE)

Studies the role of four rhetorical elements in generating shared meaning in two different samples of public relations writing. Finds that narratives were particularly important because they provided a comprehensive, compelling framework for belief and thus contributed greatly to the shared meaning created by writers and readers. (SR)

Examines the syntactic and stylistic features of an emergent phenomenon called Interactive Written Discourse (IWD), the written language occurring in simultaneous terminal-to-terminal typed dialogues. Finds that IWD is a naturally occurring register and a hybrid language variety, displaying characteristics of both oral and written language. Notes…

Investigates the way in which 13 Hong Kong research students metatext to orient and guide their readers through their Ph.D. theses. Using a corpus of over 3000 pages and 0.6 million words, this article proposes that the level of metatextual references can be determined by their scope and by the distance over which they operate. (Author/VWL)

Tests seven stylistic features of formal, persuasive public speeches and published writings of major figures from the last fifty years in an effort to determine if oral language style differs significantly from written language style. (MH)

Part of a research project is presented that aims at identifying the difficulties tertiary level students encounter in reading scientific texts in a foreign language and the strategies they apply to overcome them. Strategy markers are identified and listed, and are then analyzed to interpret the linguistic difficulty and the strategy used.…

Proposes a method for examining how disciplinary differences in knowledge making are created or reflected at the sentence level. Focuses on grammatical subjects of all sentences as key indicators of disciplinary knowledge making in sample journal articles in the subfields of psychology, history, and literature. (PRA)

This paper considers the application of the techniques and results of genre analysis to courses for learners aiming to use English in professional settings. An argument is made for an educational, or process, approach to the teaching of genres. (Contains 16 references.) (JL)

This workbook for students provides an accessible introduction to a range of ways of analyzing language in context. The workbook can be used in a number of ways, for example, as a student reference text to briefly review a particular kind of language analysis or as a course textbook to introduce students to a variety of approaches to language data…

Law students were asked to simulate, in writing, the thinking of a lawyer advising a client. Scripts produced by students and teachers revealed a pattern of repeated syllogisms, or an algorithm, contained within the macrostructure of situation-problem-solution. Variation depended upon the issues discussed or type of law studied. (28 references)…

Addresses the discourse domains of academic writing in English and Polish using the example of school writing. The English argumentative-expository essay is related to its potential counterpart in Polish.(Author/VWL)