Amanda Ann Baker

The Pragmatic Function of Intonation: Cueing Agreement and Disagreement in Spoken English Discourse and Implications for ELT

Although prosody is central to the interpretation of spoken language and understanding of speaker intent, it has traditionally been neglected in cross-cultural studies of pragmatics and overlooked in ESL/EFL materials. This study investigates prosodic (mis)matching to indicate (dis)agreement by native speakers of American English (AES) and Chinese learners of English (CLsE) in order to contribute to our understanding of cross-cultural manifestations of speech acts and the study of second language intonation acquisition and teaching. Twelve AESs and 12 CLsE completed an interactive preference task in pairs. Each pair viewed ten pictures of concept cars and was asked to browse through the pictures and agree together on one of the ten cars as their top choice. Their conversations were audiotaped using headset microphones and analyzed using a Kay Elemetrics Computerized Speech Laboratory. (Dis)agreement sequences were coded for pitch (mis)matching using Brazil’s (The communicative value of intonation in English. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997) model of discourse intonation. The results showed that both AESs and CLsE manifested pitch concord in the majority of agreement sequences. However, while AESs consistently used pitch mismatching as a cue to signal disagreement with their interlocutor, this was not the case in the CLsE discourse, suggesting that pedagogical intervention may be appropriate.

Chinese EFL Teachers’ Cognition about the Effectiveness of Genre Pedagogy: A Case Study:

Developing students’ communicative competence became the primary goal of the current College English Curriculum Requirements in 2004 in China. There has been increasing concern, however, that this goal has yet to be realized, particularly in relation to the teaching of writing. This study investigated the potential of a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL-) informed genre approach to enhance Chinese students’ communicative competence in writing. As teachers’ beliefs have a strong impact on the effectiveness of their teaching practice (Borg, 2003), the study examined six Chinese College English teachers’ shifts in their beliefs and practices after attending a training workshop in the genre-based approach to writing development. Using pre- and post- workshop interviews and classroom observations and drawing on the analytical frameworks of teacher cognition (Borg, 2003), teacher knowledge (Shulman, 1986) and interactional scaffolding (Hammond and Gibbon, 2005), the study found that professional training in SFL genre pedagogy had a positive impact on teachers’ cognition about writing instruction, albeit with one notable constraint; the teachers paid only partial attention to the social purpose of the targeted genre, thus limiting the successful implementation of the pedagogy to a certain extent.

Medication Management for People Living with Dementia: Development and Evaluation of a Multilingual Information Resource for Family Caregivers of People Living with Dementia

The aim of this chapter is to describe the development and evaluation of an online multilingual information resource focused on medication management, targeting people living with dementia and their family caregivers. Maintaining effective medication management is important to allow ongoing quality of life within the community setting and avoiding medication-related preventable hospitalisations for the person living with dementia. Family caregivers are likely to assume the role of medication management on behalf of the person in their care as dementia progresses. Little training or information is available to family caregivers to assist them with this role. A pilot online information resource was developed and evaluated. Responding to the evaluation, this resource was improved, and a more extensive evaluation process was undertaken. The development and evaluation process are outlined with a view to guiding the development of similar resources, especially those targeting linguistically diverse family caregivers and those with dementia. This is especially important given that many older adults will migrate during their lifetime, often to a country where they are not familiar with the language or health services. Extra support is needed to assist older immigrants who are themselves at risk or are caring for someone with dementia. Disciplines Medicine and Health Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences Publication Details Gillespie, R., Burns, P., Harrison, L., Baker, A., Win, K., Traynor, V. & Mullan, J. (2016). Medication management for people living with dementia: development and evaluation of a multilingual information resource for family caregivers of people living with dementia. In D. V. Moretti (Ed.), Update on Dementia (pp. 493-514). Rijeka, Croatia: InTech. Authors Robyn Gillespie, Pippa Burns, Lindsey Harrison, Amanda Ann Baker, Khin Than Win, Victoria Traynor, and Judy Mullan This book chapter is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/4598 2,900+ OPEN ACCESS BOOKS 99,000+ INTERNATIONAL AUTHORS AND EDITORS 92+ MILLION DOWNLOADS BOOKS DELIVERED TO 151 COUNTRIES AUTHORS AMONG TOP 1% MOST CITED SCIENTIST 12.2% AUTHORS AND EDITORS FROM TOP 500 UNIVERSITIES Selection of our books indexed in the Book Citation Index in Web of ScienceTM Core Collection (BKCI) Chapter from the book Update on Dementia Downloaded from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/update-on-dementia PUBLISHED BY Worlds largest Science, Technology & Medicine Open Access book publisher Interested in publishing with InTechOpen? Contact us at book.department@intechopen.com