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.

The book proposes a multi-perspective analytical model for the understanding of corporate identity meanings embedded in historical discourse for the web. The suggested theoretical framework conflates methodological perspectives derived from Discourse Analysis, Multimodality and Cognitive Linguistics. The contribution of Cognitive Linguistics to the proposed analysis is based on two main assumptions. First, the lack of principled distinction between semantics and pragmatics, whereby meaning is a function of the activation of conceptual knowledge structures in context. Second - and this is crucial for hypertext analysis - language, as the outcome of general properties of cognition, is closely related to visual perception. The originality of this approach to web discourse analysis resides in the deployment of tools considering the cross-modal integration of different resource systems. It also offers interpretive keys for the understanding of mechanisms underlying the formatting of the message as a multimodal construct. The empirical analyses presented in the book illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodological approach.

What is the breaking news in the world today? How did you find out this news? How do you know it is true? Was it reported ethically? What checks and balances are being put on the news media? The answers to these questions reflect the themes of this book. The chapters are by experienced journalists, academics and practitioners in the field. They unravel and clearly present the recent and on-going developments in journalism and the press around the globe, including the US, Europe, Asia and Africa. Chapters deal with the phone hacking and data thefts in the UK that provoked a major inquiry into press ethics and standards. Twitter is examined and found to be a valuable tool for reporters in the Arab world and research shows how, in Australia, readers use Twitter to pass along news topics. Chapters also explore the use of the mobile phone to access news in sub-Saharan Nigeria, the role of media magnates in presenting political views in Europe, and Wikipedia's representation of conflict. This collection of fourteen chapters by leading authors examines journalism as practised today and what we might expect from it in the future.

This book is a collection of articles covering the theme of interaction. Interaction combines two crucial elements: the intrapersonal and the interpersonal. Accordingly, the authors approach this issue from two complementary perspectives: from the internal and external or cognitive and social perspective. The papers that take the former perspective focus on cognitive bases of interaction, on the representation of motion, on metaphor and metonymy, or gestures, perception and cognition. The topic that dominates the papers that take the social stance towards the topic of interaction is identity. By applying a variety of new analytical tools and concepts, the authors show how we build images of ourselves through language, how society and institutions mould us into different categories, and how we negotiate our membership of these categories.

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.

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.

bell hooks' writings have been touchstones for major debates in the "culture wars", fostering insight into many central questions in communication studies. Her work is vital to students and scholars who explore the ways in which media shape our sense of our selves, our roles, and those with whom we interact. This book provides readers with a measured, contextualized introduction to how hooks' writings on media and culture enhance our understanding of key concepts in communication. hooks' insistence on focusing our attention on the workings of power and the impact of history and her willingness to explore connections between individual and group experiences have produced provocative, fruitful conjectures about media and culture.

bell hooks' writings have been touchstones for major debates in the "culture wars", fostering insight into many central questions in communication studies. Her work is vital to students and scholars who explore the ways in which media shape our sense of our selves, our roles, and those with whom we interact. This book provides readers with a measured, contextualized introduction to how hooks' writings on media and culture enhance our understanding of key concepts in communication. hooks' insistence on focusing our attention on the workings of power and the impact of history and her willingness to explore connections between individual and group experiences have produced provocative, fruitful conjectures about media and culture.

In light of the crisis surrounding traditional media and the radical changes resulting from the advent of the Internet and the social media, various media outlets have argued, or more subtly, hinted at the demise of the printed news, or the end of traditional media. This backdrop forms the genesis for this thought-provoking and provocative volume for imagining life without media. While there is some skepticism toward the radical hypothesis of the death of the media, there is mounting concern, at the same time, regarding the changing media space(s) and the relevance of the media's roles and places in different and diverse social spheres. Unanimously, contributors report that while these roles and places have changed, the difficulty lies in where and how to delineate them. The chapters provide some answers to the hypothesis of life without media, and in many instances raise new questions and doubts.

In light of the crisis surrounding traditional media and the radical changes resulting from the advent of the Internet and the social media, various media outlets have argued, or more subtly, hinted at the demise of the printed news, or the end of traditional media. This backdrop forms the genesis for this thought-provoking and provocative volume for imagining life without media. While there is some skepticism toward the radical hypothesis of the death of the media, there is mounting concern, at the same time, regarding the changing media space(s) and the relevance of the media's roles and places in different and diverse social spheres. Unanimously, contributors report that while these roles and places have changed, the difficulty lies in where and how to delineate them. The chapters provide some answers to the hypothesis of life without media, and in many instances raise new questions and doubts.

Seventy-five years after the infamous broadcast, does War of the Worlds still matter? This book answers with a resounding yes! Contributors revisit the broadcast event in order to reconsider its place as a milestone in media history, and to explore its role as a formative event for understanding citizens' media use in times of crisis. Uniquely focused on the continuities between radio's "new" media moment and our contemporary era of social media, the collection takes War of the Worlds as a starting point for investigating key issues in twenty-first-century communication, including: the problem of misrepresentation in mediated communication; the importance of social context for interpreting communication; and the dynamic role of listeners, viewers and users in talking back to media producers and institutions. By examining the "crisis" moment of the original broadcast in its international, academic, technological, industrial, and historical context, as well as the role of contemporary new media in ongoing "crisis" events, this volume demonstrates the broad, historical link between new media and crisis over the course of a century.

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.

Old New Media examines how the introduction of a new medium threatens those accustomed to the old media environment. Taking a media ecology perspective to examine the historical transitions from oral to literate, print, electronic and virtual media environments, the book includes theoretical chapters and case studies in five areas: media ecology; critical media theory; freedom of expression; Eastern thought; and the body and the media environment. The book argues against the "newness" of each new medium, which is often associated with unprecedented technological change, stating that the patterns of change identified with the most recent smartphone or computer are related to the patterns of change in human perception and social affairs that accompany the electronic media environment. It cautions against condemning the new medium with technological horror as the cause of all of our problems or celebrating it as the technological sublime that will cure all our social ills. If we are aware that media are extensions of the human, we can overcome the alienation and shock they cause, and be sensitive to the fluid boundaries between the human and the technological. The book ends by discussing how new media environments disrupt the balance in our lives and suggests strategies to help restore that balance.

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.

Lost in Media examines collectively the ethical issues that have arisen in media-driven everyday life and will that arise as paradigm shifts occur on a global scale. Films, television and the new media often serve the globalization aims of a capitalist society as they function to socially reproduce the hegemonic norms, values, and styles of the larger society. Chapters in the book use the tradition of critical theory to look at issues of free market fundamentalism, journalism's erosion of communication of truth, public relations ethics of perception management; yielding self-censorship in the media, entertainment media pedagogically cultivating consumerism and docility, music and morality, misrepresentation of resistance movements, ethics of spectatorship, and the transformation of everyday ethics.

Computer games have fascinated millions of users for more than 30 years. Today, they constitute the strongest sector in the media-entertainment industry and are part of the experience of digital daily life. Computer Game Studies require a deep understanding of functional and communicational mechanisms of games that support the player's immersion in virtual worlds. Unfortunately, the discussion and the academic research about usage and effects of computer games mostly takes place isolated within different scientific contexts with various theoretical and methodological approaches. Therefore, this anthology combines the perspectives of Media Studies, Game Studies, and Communication Studies, and presents their findings in an interdisciplinary approach.

The articles collected in this volume encompass the outcomes of the conference "Media Convergence - Konwergencja Mediow - Medienkonvergenz", held at the Jesuit University "Ignatianum" in Cracow in March 2011. The Conference was organized by the Chair of Media and Social Communication of the Institute of Cultural Studies, founded in 2005. The aim of this interdisciplinary meeting of scholars from European academic centers was an attempt to answer the question what the phenomenon of convergence really is with regard to media, and how the permeation of media phenomena influences contemporary culture. The two-day debate included thematic blocks on literature and art, film, education, theater communication, and media communication. The interdisciplinary character of research is also the "guiding idea" of cultural studies at the Jesuit University "Ignatianum" in Cracow.

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.

Lost in Media examines collectively the ethical issues that have arisen in media-driven everyday life and will that arise as paradigm shifts occur on a global scale. Films, television and the new media often serve the globalization aims of a capitalist society as they function to socially reproduce the hegemonic norms, values, and styles of the larger society. Chapters in the book use the tradition of critical theory to look at issues of free market fundamentalism, journalism's erosion of communication of truth, public relations ethics of perception management; yielding self-censorship in the media, entertainment media pedagogically cultivating consumerism and docility, music and morality, misrepresentation of resistance movements, ethics of spectatorship, and the transformation of everyday ethics.

By combining the analysis of the new forms and environments of the digital world with critical scholarship of the role of the users, this book argues that cultural field is facing a challenge of the digital turn. The digital turn hereby implies that changes in the use and application of digital technology bring on changes in practice and in the relationships between cultural institutions and audiences. We approach the changes in society from the structural (institutional) as well as from the agential (audiences, users, individuals) perspective. The authors represented in this book share the view that there is no need to fear the new media pushing aside traditional cultural forms, acknowledging at the same time that the scope of this cultural change is far from understood.

This is the first book to examine in-depth the crucial role of the speed of information processing in the brain in determining reading fluency in both normal and dyslexic readers. Part I explains fluency in reading from both traditional and modern perspectives. Fluency has historically been viewed as the outcome of other reading-related factors and has often been seen as a convenient measure of reading skills. This book, however, argues that fluency has a strong impact on other aspects of reading and plays a central role in the entire reading process. Part II deals with the determinants of reading fluency. Chief among these is the speed of information processing in the brain. Using both behavioral and electrophysiological evidence, the book systematically examines the features of processing speed in the various brain systems involved in reading: visual-orthographic, auditory-phonological, and semantic and shows how speed of processing affects fluency in reading. Part III deals with the complex issues of cross-modal integration and specifically with the need for effective synchronization of the brain processes involved in reading. It puts forward the Synchronization Hypothesis and discusses the role of the Asynchrony Phenomenon as a major factor in dyslexia. Finally, it summarizes research on manipulating reading rate by means of the Acceleration method, providing evidence for a possible intervention aimed at reducing Asynchrony. Key features of this outstanding new book include: *Expanded View of Fluency. Reading fluency is seen as both a dependent and an independent Variable. Currently available books focus on reading rate solely as the outcome of other factors whereas this volume stresses that it is both an outcome and a cause. *Information Processing Focus. Fluency itself is determined to a large extent by a more general factor, namely, speed of processing in the brain. The book presents wide-ranging evidence for individual differences in speed of processing across many subpopulations. *Brain Synchronization Focus. The book posits a new theory arguing that effective reading requires synchronization of the different brain systems: visual orthographic, auditory-phonological, and semantic. *Research-Based Interventions. Interventions to enhance fluency and, thereby, reading skills in general are presented in detail. *Author Expertise. Zvia Breznitz is Head of the Department of Learning Disabilities and Director of the Laboratory for Neurocognitive Research at Haifa University in Israel, where she has been researching this topic for over a decade. This book is appropriate for researchers and advanced students in reading, dyslexia, learning disabilities, cognitive psychology, and neuropsychology.

This collection of essays, the first book-length treatment of its kind, explicates the concept of "media interventions", which are herein defined as activities and projects that secure, exercise, challenge or acquire media power for tactical and strategic action. Drawing on insights from media, communication and cultural studies, contributors offer penetrating analyses of media interventions in a variety of social, political, and cultural settings from culture jamming and DIY media to public relations campaigns and reality television shows. In doing so, the volume develops an analytical framework for examining the complex and contradictory operation of media power in contemporary society. Providing a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the uneven, fluid, and heterogeneous operation of media power, this volume breaks new ground on the theory and practice of media interventions and also contributes to and stimulates the development of a productive line of inquiry into the study of media interventions.