The book brings together a rich variety of perspectives on abstracts as an academic genre. Drawing on genre analysis and corpus linguistics, the studies collected here combine attention to generic structure with emphasis on language variation and change, thus offering a multi-perspective view on a genre that is becoming one of the most important in present-day research communication. The chapters are organized into three sections, each one offering distinct but sometimes combined perspectives on the exploration of this academic genre. The first section looks at variation across cultures through studies comparing English with Spanish, Italian and German, while also including considerations on variation across genders or the native/non-native divide. The second section centres on variation across disciplines and includes a wide range of studies exploring disciplinary identities and communities, as well as different degrees of centrality in the disciplinary community. The third and final section explores language and genre change by looking at how authorial voice and metadiscourse have changed over the past few decades under the influence of different media and different stakeholders.

Within community-based digital literacies work, a fundamental question remains unanswered: Where are the stories and reflections of the researchers, scholars, and community workers themselves? We have learned much about contexts, discourses, and the multimodal nature of meaning making in literacy and digital media experiences. However, we have learned very little about those who initiate, facilitate, and direct these community-based multiliteracies and digital media projects. In Community-Based Multiliteracies & Digital Media Projects: Questioning Assumptions and Exploring Realities, contributors discuss exemplary work in the field of community-based digital literacies, while providing an insightful and critical perspective on how we begin to write ourselves into the stories of our work. In doing so, the book makes a powerful contribution to digital literacies praxis and pedagogy - within and outside of community-based contexts.

With drug information rapidly migrating to the Web, the chronically poor standards of drug information available to consumers in the developed and the developing world are being further compromised. This book offers insight into the uncharted waters of prescription drug information and promotion on the internet and suggests how it might be transformed into an unprecedented agent for good. It traces the social and political history of prescription drug information and marketing to Western consumers, offers a social and communicative profile of prescription drug Web sites, and evaluates the most widely used sources of prescription drug information, from government organizations and information companies and TV-related sites, to health service provider sites, manufacturers' brand sites, and social media, including YouTube and Wikipedia. The focus throughout is on practical outcomes: How can information for consumer decision making be optimized and how can consumers use it responsibly?

This edited collection comprises foundational texts and new contributions that revisit the theory of the "audience commodity" as first articulated by Dallas Smythe. Contributors focus on the historical and theoretical importance of this theory to critical studies of media/communication, culture, society, economics, and technology - a theory that has underpinned critical media studies for more than three decades, but has yet to be compiled in a single edited collection. The primary objective is to appraise its relevance in relation to changes in media and communication since the time of Smythe's writing, principally addressing the rise of digital, online, and mobile media. In addition to updating this perspective, contributors confront the topic critically in order to test its limits. Contextualizing theories of the audience commodity within an intellectual history, they consider their enduring relationship to the field of media/communication studies as well as the important legacy of Dallas Smythe.

There is hardly any aspect of verbal communication that has not been investigated using the analytical tools developed by corpus linguists. This is especially true in the case of English, which commands a vast international research community, and corpora are becoming increasingly specialised, as they account for areas of language use shaped by specific sociolectal (register, genre, variety) and speaker (gender, profession, status) variables. Corpus analysis is driven by a common interest in 'linguistic evidence', viewed as a source of insights into language phenomena or of lexical, semantic and contrastive data for subsequent applications. Among the latter, pedagogical settings are highly prominent, as corpora can be used to monitor classroom output, raise learner awareness and inform teaching materials. The eighteen chapters in this volume focus on contexts where English is employed by specialists in the professions or academia and debate some of the challenges arising from the complex relationship between linguistic theory, data-mining tools and statistical methods.

What did eighth century Japanese sound like? How does one decode its complex script? This book provides the definitive answers to these questions using an unprecedented range of data from the past and the present, including Chinese, Vietnamese, Sanskrit and Tibetan sources, and enables the reader to approximate the original pronunciation of Old Japanese literature.

"The Master Reader "combines solid skill instruction with a wealth of guided practice to develop the quintessential abilities students need to become master readers and critical thinkers. The author integrates reading skills with the reading process (SQ3R) to produce more effective readers and lead students to discover the power and pleasure of reading. Providing step-by-step reading instruction, a wide range of practice and test materials (including a separate lab manual), and a rich selection of readings from textbooks and other sources, the author makes students responsible for their reading by guiding them to improve mastery of the major reading skills while teaching students to develop a system for reading.

Neil Postman's most popular work, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985), provided an insightful critique of the effects of television on public discourse in America, arguing that television's bias towards entertaining content trivializes serious issues and undermines the basis of democratic culture. Lance Strate, who earned his doctorate under Neil Postman and is one of the leading media ecology scholars of our time, re-examines Postman's arguments, updating his analysis and critique for the twenty-first-century media environment that includes the expansion of television programming via cable and satellite as well as the Internet, the web, social media, and mobile technologies. Integrating Postman's arguments about television with his critique of technology in general, Strate considers the current state of journalism, politics, religion, and education in American culture. Strate also contextualizes Amusing Ourselves to Death through an examination of Postman's life and career and the field of media ecology that Postman introduced. This is a book about our prospects for the future, which can only be based on the ways in which we think and talk about the present.

This edited collection comprises foundational texts and new contributions that revisit the theory of the "audience commodity" as first articulated by Dallas Smythe. Contributors focus on the historical and theoretical importance of this theory to critical studies of media/communication, culture, society, economics, and technology - a theory that has underpinned critical media studies for more than three decades, but has yet to be compiled in a single edited collection. The primary objective is to appraise its relevance in relation to changes in media and communication since the time of Smythe's writing, principally addressing the rise of digital, online, and mobile media. In addition to updating this perspective, contributors confront the topic critically in order to test its limits. Contextualizing theories of the audience commodity within an intellectual history, they consider their enduring relationship to the field of media/communication studies as well as the important legacy of Dallas Smythe.

This edited volume explores the educational significance of intercultural experience. It offers a broader conception of interculturality than commonly found in the area of foreign language teaching. Contributors represent a diverse range of academic and professional interests. The aim of the book is to encourage dialogue and interchange across this range, and beyond, to stimulate thinking about the educational value of intercultural experience.

Video games have evolved to become a pervasive format which is beyond entertainment, enjoyed by a broad group of people rather than as a niche activity by hardcore gamers. However, to date, academic studies focusing on game localization and accessibility are few and far between, despite the fact that further research in localization and accessibility would be beneficial to all. The different contributions in this pioneering volume address the emerging fields of Game Accessibility and Game Localization from different angles, providing insightful information about these relatively unexplored academic areas with such close tights to the industry. The volume is divided in two sections: the first section includes four contributions on Game Accessibility, dealing with issues such as universally accessible games and guidelines for promoting accessibility. The second section of the book includes nine contributions focussing on different issues affecting game translation and localization, such as case studies, culturalization, fan translation, and terminology management for the game localization industry.

Over the last few years there has been a burgeoning interest in both space and place as linguistic phenomena. Some of this interest stemmed from studies on the situatedness of language and speech in time and space and how deixis anchors speech to a context. Both our frame of reference with respect to surrounding space and how we conceive and describe it are closely linked to the language we speak. This is why different cultures perceive spatial relations differently, with speakers of one language, for instance, encoding spatial relations with respect to absolute directions while speakers of a different language use egocentric terms. This book focuses on space, place and the discursive construction of identity in the present, globalized era, where technological developments are causing a change in the perception of spatial boundaries and geographical locations, and identities are experienced in hitherto unknown ways.

Are you part of the 73% of the population that experiences anxiety from public speaking? Face your fears with this valuable guide that combines real-world case studies and practice activities to help build your confidence. You may not be afraid of heights or spiders but making a speech in front of a large crowd-whether it's a wedding party, an awards ceremony, or even doing a presentation in the office-is sure to get your heart pounding and your palms sweaty. But with Your Guide to Public Speaking in hand, there's no need to fear public speaking a second longer. This practical and indispensable guide teaches you to understand and work with your audience, take control of your own emotions, and create the perfect materials to supplement your speech and help drive your message home. With practice activities, real-world case studies, tips you never thought you needed-and more!-you'll find everything you need to become a speech master in no time at all. From preparing for a video conference, rallying for support for a cause that's important to you, or facing down multiple interviews, you can banish those fears and feel empowered no matter what the situation with Your Guide to Public Speaking.

Originally published in 1961, Let's Read is a simple and systematic way to teach basic reading. Developed by noted linguist Leonard Bloomfield, the book is based on the alphabetic spelling patterns of English. Bloomfield offered an antidote to the idea that English is a difficult language to learn to read by teaching the learner to decode the phonemic sound-letter correlations of the language in a sequential, logical progression of lessons based on its spelling patterns. The learner is first introduced to the most consistent (alphabetic) vocabulary and then to increasingly less alphabetic and less frequent spelling patterns within a vocabulary of about 5,000 words. The second edition of Let's Read brings Bloomfield's innovative program into the twenty-first century without changing the sequence of exercises but with revised text and an attractive new design and layout. Authors Cynthia A. Barnhart and Robert K. Barnhart, who have long been involved with Let's Read, have refined the original edition with new vocabulary and content based on feedback from longtime users. The new edition lightens the first learning load by presenting lengthy patterns in two lessons rather than one, adding more connected reading and new vocabulary, and introducing some sight words earlier in the sequence. The authors have also added a list of multisyllable words at the end of part 1 that fall within the patterns of the first lessons, and they have added some longer stories later in the program. The notes introducing each part of Let's Read have also been revised to be more informative, and new illustrations have been added. Let's Read not only teaches users to read English based on spelling patterns but simultaneously reduces the emphasis on pronunciation to teach letter sounds, making it useful for bilingual and nonnative English speakers as well. Parents, reading teachers, tutors, as well as ESL teachers and adult literacy instructors will be interested in the second edition of Let's Read.

Pros and Cons: A Debaters Handbook offers a unique and invaluable guide to the arguments both for and against over 140 current controversies and global issues. Since it was first published in 1896 the handbook has been regularly updated and this nineteenth edition includes new entries on topics such as the right to possess nuclear weapons, the bailing out of failing industries, the protection of indigenous languages and the torture of suspected terrorists. Equal coverage is given to both sides of each debate in a dual column format which allows for easy comparison. Each entry also includes a list of related topics and suggestions for possible motions. The introductory essay describes debating technique, covering the rules, structure and type of debate, and offering tips on how to become a successful speaker. The book is then divided into eight thematic sections, where specific subjects are covered individually.

This book has won the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title award 2014. Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has evolved from a niche service to a mass phenomenon; it has become instrumental for everyday communication as well as for political debates, crisis communication, marketing, and cultural participation. But the basic idea behind it has stayed the same: users may post short messages (tweets) of up to 140 characters and follow the updates posted by other users. Drawing on the experience of leading international Twitter researchers from a variety of disciplines and contexts, this is the first book to document the various notions and concepts of Twitter communication, providing a detailed and comprehensive overview of current research into the uses of Twitter. It also presents methods for analyzing Twitter data and outlines their practical application in different research contexts.

The emergence of what are called `new media' and `social media' is one of the most discussed topics in contemporary societies. Because media and public communication are mostly analyzed within particular theoretical frameworks and within specific disciplinary fields, polarized views have been created with cyberoptimists and celebrants on one side and cyberpessimists and skeptics on the other. Thus we lack an understanding of the interdependencies and convergence between disciplines and practices. The second edition of this book expertly synthesizes competing theories and disciplinary viewpoints and examines the latest data, including international research from fast-growing markets such as China, to provide a comprehensive, holistic view of the twenty-first century media (r)evolution. Dr. Macnamara argues that the key changes are located in practices rather than technologies and that public communication practices are emergent in highly significant ways. Engaging and accessible, this book is essential reading for scholars and professionals in media and communication and an invaluable text for courses in media studies, journalism, advertising, public relations and organisational and political communication.

New technologies and new media have significantly influenced the process of political communication. They have created new opportunities such as the great interactivity of communication, the personalization of a message or an uncountable number of possibilities for campaigning. This publication is a collection of socio-political studies which analyze the phenomenon of political communication in the 21st century. The main focus is on new media, especially on the Internet as well as on social media or social networks. However, there are also papers which examine traditional channels of political communication in the era of new technologies. Moreover, to the advantage of this book, the chapters explore the phenomenon of political communication not only in the USA and Western Europe, but also in Central Europe, Latin America and Africa.

How do individuals perceive the increasingly open-ended nature of mediated surveillance? In what ways are mediated surveillance practices interwoven with identity processes, political struggles, expression of dissent and the production of social space? One of the most significant issues in contemporary society is the complex forms and conflicting meanings surveillance takes. Media, Surveillance and Identity addresses the need for contextualized social perspectives within the study of mediated surveillance. The volume takes account of dominant power structures (such as state surveillance and commercial surveillance) and social reproduction as well as political economic considerations, counter-privacy discourses, and class and gender hegemonies. Some chapters analyse particular media types, formats or platforms (such as loyalty cards or location based services), while others account for the composite dynamics of media ensembles within particular spaces of surveillance or identity creation (such as consumerism or the domestic sphere). Through empirically grounded research, the volume seeks to advance a complex framework of research for future scrutiny as well as rethinking the very concept of surveillance. In doing so, it offers a unique contribution to contemporary debates on the social implications of mediated practices and surveillance cultures.

A must-have, must-read resource for every teacher in all subject areas! In today's competitive environment of standards-based education, improving reading proficiency and increasing content knowledge have never been more important. Yet, developing exceptional reading skills in middle and high school students presents many obstacles. In this practical and user-friendly book, literacy specialist Rebecca Rozmiarek shares more than 100 classroom-tested reading activities that will benefit all students all secondary school students, including gifted and special education students, and students with English as an additional language. Incorporating years of success in helping struggling secondary students become expert readers, she provides both a jargon-free overview of critical research and activities that every teacher can use to improve reading comprehension and content retention. Student examples and sample modifications show teachers how reading activities can be used in content areas ranging from math and science to social studies and English, and more. Each chapter contains: o A skills overview o Detailed descriptions of relevant subskills o Skill-building activities o An assessment rubric o Examples of student work o Blank reproducibles of every activity Learn how to use double-entry journals, text coding, bookmarking, and questioning strategies to help students become more proficient readers. These activities foster independence, self-reflection, and motivation in all students.

Using experience-driven advice and compelling articles from scores of newspaper, magazine and online writers, Feature Writing shows how award-winning journalists achieve excellence and national recognition. The Seventh Edition helps the reader cultivate vital journalistic skills through detailed coverage on creating and refining article ideas, conducting research and interviews, writing, and navigating legal and ethical questions. World-class writing examples from Pulitzer Prize feature writers, extensive updates, and timely tips from some of America's best feature writers have made this the premier book in its field for more than three decades.

The modern age has further expanded on the multifaceted character of English, which is used not only in many places in the world, but also by a variety of users in numerous contexts. Technical innovations have led to the rise of new registers and offered scholars new tools to study language variation. Set in the context of the electronic medium of social networking, and additionally enriched with findings from the field of language attitude studies, this study explores features of English used in the Inner, Outer, and Expanding Circles, here represented by the UK, India, and Poland. The analysis of the English used by Facebook members demonstrates cultural differences as well as gender and age similarities in the area of e.g. politeness, emotionality, informality or code-switching.

Today's world is in turmoil. Economic crises are bringing countries to the brink of ruin, and old models are being questioned. The same sense of crisis also exists in contemporary education, and there is a need to explore new educational models. Digital Learning Lives: Trajectories, Literacies, and Schooling is a contribution in this direction. This book explores the importance of the adoption of digital technologies by contemporary education systems. Partly a synthesis of findings from projects carried out in Norway by the author over the past 15 years, the data have been extended to raise key questions about the effectiveness of current education strategies for the Facebook and YouTube generation. Along the way, a promising approach for future developments in education is introduced that embraces the engagement of digital media - what Ola Erstad terms 'learning lives'. Use of digital media in schools and in everyday culture becomes the catalyst for exploring learning as life-deep (studying identity processes), life-wide (studying learners across contexts), and life-long (studying learning as trajectories and timescales). The book is targeted toward courses on digital learning, educational change, school development, and formal-informal learning.

Grounded in the Lexical Constructional Model (LCM), a usage-based meaning construction model of language of recent design, this research argues that illocutionary meaning either results from filling in constructional variables such as X in the Can You XVP? construction or from affording access to abstract situational cognitive models through the metonymic activation of relevant elements of their structure. One such model is the Cost-Benefit Cognitive Model, which is incorporated into the description of pragmatic meaning and presented as lying at the core of the conventionalization process of illocutionary constructions. The inferential path based on the instantiation of the Cost-Benefit Cognitive Model determines the activation of speech act values that may become conventionalized within a linguistic community. The study determines the applicability of the analytical tools developed by the LCM for illocutionary description. The illocutionary acts selected are those proposed by the Cost-Benefit Cognitive Model as exploiting cultural principles of interaction.

Developing Writing Skills in Chinese has been devised for post-intermediate students who need to write Chinese in the course of their life, work or study.

Each unit covers a specific style of writing and is reinforced with a rich selection of model texts. All texts are followed by supporting notes examining the formats, styles, grammar structures or special phrases featured. A wide variety of exercises are featured throughout, and each unit concludes with a helpful glossary given in Chinese characters, pinyin and English translations. An answer key is also included in the back of the book.

The following writing styles and genres are covered:

• Personal correspondence greetings and condolences, explanations and apologising, making arrangements and keeping in touch
• Formal writing announcements and adverts, letters of enquiry and application, business correspondence, developing an argument, facts and data
• Narration story narratives, reporting speech, exemplifying and summarising
• Description and comparison outlining people s characters, physical attributes and appearance, places and weather

This new edition has been comprehensively revised and updated throughout. It includes a brand-new chapter on narratives and there is new coverage of digital communication methods such as text messages and emails. An additional English-Chinese glossary is also available for free download at http: //www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415678896/

Developing Writing Skills in Chinese will help students to write coherently, clearly and appropriately in a variety of contexts. It is suitable for both classroom and self-study use.