The puzzling quality of modern art, in both its complexity and its simplicity, symbolizes a barrier between the student and the elite's privilege of power. Too frequently, students have been taught that art is a secret, a code to which only teachers have the key, and that there is only one correct interpretation of a work, which must be imparted…

This collection of papers on semantics and cohesion is organized into two sections: Meaning and Semantics, and Textual Cohesion. Titles and authors are as follows: "Functional Text Semantics, Idioms, and Variability" (Jan-Ola Ostman); "On the Degree of Motivation in Signs Used in Metaphors Involving Plant Symbolism" (Ralf…

A bibliography of 430 books, journal articles, papers, and other references on Acadian French written in English or French is divided into two principal sections: an annotated bibliography of works focusing on the Acadian French dialect spoken in the Canadian Maritime Provinces, and an unannotated bibliography pertaining to Louisiana Acadian…

Signs or signifiers, composing what Lacan in 1968 called the "symbolic order," provide a means for making sense of the world and form a network enabling the human mind to form concepts. The signifier "literacy," for example, is often taken to refer to a fixed, isolatable concept, but this term would not be intelligible were it…

A discussion of the field of contrastive linguistics (CL) begins by defining the relationship between theoretical and applied CL in terms of the concept of finalization, which originated in the philosophy of science. Then, the historical development of CL in the United States and Europe is sketched. This development is seen as characterized by a…

The essays in this book focus on the role of the reader in textual interpretation. Specifically, they examine "open" and "closed" texts. The three essays in Part I deal with both verbal and nonverbal texts. The first considers musical compositions that leave considerable autonomy to the individual performer and also discusses…

The interpretation semiotic system that governs interpretation performance pertains to a distinct code of stylized conventions and includes all of the visual and auditory aspects that are generally salient to the characteristics of a performance. The selection of a particular convention for the interpretation of a specific text involves an act of…

Questions as to the nature of sign and symbol processes and the functions and behavioral consequences of human significant phenomena are of central concern in semiotics and communication. These matters continue to be of critical importance and are still largely unresolved. Scholars in both areas of inquiry have sought unification of scientific…

A general model of the uses of symbolic systems is defined in terms of the use of two techniques of symbolization: transactional and presentational. These techniques in turn are shown to relate to underlying modes of experience, which Susanne Langer has discussed as objective and subjective feeling, respectively. The second half of the paper…

Argues that literacy, liberal education, higher learning, and similar terms should not be conceived as single or fixed ideas and should not be dissociated from the conversation of both scholars and ordinary people. (SRT)

In the context of Knowledge Society, the convergence of knowledge and learning management is a critical milestone. "Intelligent Learning Infrastructure for Knowledge Intensive Organizations: A Semantic Web Perspective" provides state-of-the art knowledge through a balanced theoretical and technological discussion. The semantic web perspective…

The paper reports on a case study from a teaching experiment on the construction of meaning of integral at secondary school level, starting from the cognitive root of area. In the considered activity, students are faced with some graphs of functions and are asked to work in group to trace the corresponding integral functions. The analysis…

There is ample evidence that the success or failure of school reform lies not only in the soundness and appropriateness of the reform model chosen, but primarily in its perception, acceptance, and endorsement by teachers. This essay expresses the concept of power as it applies to school reform that focuses on teacher empowerment and…

This paper is the work of an international student studying within the School of Art Education at the University of New South Wales, Sydney (Australia), who has undertaken doctoral research on the teaching and learning experiences of international Asian graphic design students within the setting of an overseas university. It identifies the nature…

Graffiti analysis is an important means of understanding social and cultural realities at a given moment of a community's existence, realities that the media often treat only in generalizations. Comparisons of graffiti between places, periods, languages, and subjects may be revealing. (MSE)