Constrained-link concept mapping as an inroad to abstract writing Lawrie Hunter

1. Constrained-link concept mapping as an inroad to abstract writing Lawrie Hunter Kochi University of Technology http://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter

2. No need to take notes :^o You can download this powerpoint (and many more) from http://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter/ or http://www.slideshare.net/rolenzo

3. Dimensions of Media Object Compehensibility Island of Shikoku Lawrie Hunter Kochi University of Technology http://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter/ KUT

4. KUT TAW scenario • Since 2002: • - Japanese government scholarships • - for foreign students • - in technical doctoral programmes. • ! Graduation requirements: • - 2+ refereed papers in top journals • - dissertation in English Further L2 acquisition to the point of near-independence during the study period is NOT a realistic strategy.

5. SCENARIO ESP EAP EY EZ EX TAW EAP HUMANITIES English for specific purposes English for academic purposes Technical academic writing

7. TAW best practice Writing work focusing on argument and info-structures Niche language acquisition to near-independence in TAW Training in use of language models: Style Dossier Preparation for work with an editor Preparation for work with a mentor

8. Obstacles to technical EAP learning and skills development Academic English writing typically presents serious difficulties for East Asian students in PhD engineering programs. 1. Weak skills in writing everyday English make a fragile foundation for the learning of formal academic English (FAE). 2. The development of foundation grammar and syntax knowledge does not lead naturally or smoothly to FAE writing knowledge and skill. 3.  For students from most East Asian cultures, articulate argument is new cultural territory.

9. Previous study: using Cmap constraint to constrain text analysis Using a text-based charting approach, the subjects successfully separated persuasive from information-bearing text. Of course the mapping approach is not essential to the acquisition of that skill.

10. Possible view of TAW: 1. Process research design experiment results clarify argument write argument in document format obey usage conventions obey other conventions 10

11. Possible TAW teaching approaches: 1. Parallel process research design/results argument supporting claim document format usage/convention grammar/surface features

12. Possible teaching approaches 2. layer view grammar/surface features usage/convention document format argument supporting claim research design/results 12

13. Possible TAW teaching approaches 2. layer view most TAWprograms work here grammar/surface features usage/convention most TAW writers start writing here (simulacrum of argument) document format argument supporting claim RP language generation should start here research design/results 13

14. Task type: infer research design from casual register report In an exercise aimed at developing awareness of argument and research design issues, students were required to infer the details of the research design of a study from a popular-science report of that study.

15. Problem 1: Writing task focus: isolation of argument How to get the learner to isolate argument?

16. Trial pre-task: Text-based task Using a text-based, genre conversion approach, few of the control group students could produce complete, logically structured abstact summaries.

17. Question: • Writing task focus: isolation of argument • How to constrain text analysis • -to get the learner to isolate argument?

18. Answer: Limit verb choice in writing to some distinguishing lexical units of the meta-discourse of the scientific method (or engineering research design)

19. Task 1: Subjects were asked to write summaries of the imagined abstract of a casual register article, using only the verbs below.

20. Task 1 results: Most students' summary abstracts -were structurally flawed, -had sequencing problems and -had missing links in rhetorical chains.

21. Problem 2: What other-medium intervention will bring about improved structure and chain completeness in learner writing? Trial: use graphical media -e.g. Novakian mapping

22. Background: depending on the link type, there are 3 main kinds of maps: • Associational (mind maps) • Directed link (Inspiration maps) • Textured directed link • Text labels on links (Novakian) • Non-verbal links (e.g. ISmaps

23. Joseph Novak: Concept mapping ANIMALS M O R E S P E C I F I C can be INVERTEBRATE VERTEBRATE mostly can be are COLDBLOODED WARMBLOODED ARTHROPODS can be insulated with TERRESTRIAL MARINE FUR FEATHERS e.g. crabs, lobsters e.g. sheep,cats e.g. robins, penguins e.g. beetles,flies This slide courtesy of Ian Kinchin

24. When is a map Novakian? “The basic Novakian concept map... usually starts with a general concept at the top of the map, and then works its way down ... to more specific concepts. Abrams, R. An Overview of Concept Mapping. In Meaningful Learning: A Collaborative Literature Review of Concept Mapping. Retrieved March 18, 2008 at http://www2.ucsc.edu/mlrg/clr-conceptmapping.html

25. When is a map Novakian? “The basic Novakian concept map... usually starts with a general concept at the top of the map, and then works its way down ... to more specific concepts. Concepts are placed in [boxes]... Abrams, R. An Overview of Concept Mapping. In Meaningful Learning: A Collaborative Literature Review of Concept Mapping. Retrieved March 18, 2008 at http://www2.ucsc.edu/mlrg/clr-conceptmapping.html

26. When is a map Novakian? “The basic Novakian concept map... usually starts with a general concept at the top of the map, and then works its way down ... to more specific concepts. Concepts are placed in [boxes]... Lines are drawn from a concept to a linking word to a concept. Abrams, R. An Overview of Concept Mapping. In Meaningful Learning: A Collaborative Literature Review of Concept Mapping. Retrieved March 18, 2008 at http://www2.ucsc.edu/mlrg/clr-conceptmapping.html

27. When is a map Novakian? “The basic Novakian concept map... usually starts with a general concept at the top of the map, and then works its way down ... to more specific concepts. Concepts are placed in [boxes]... Lines are drawn from a concept to a linking word to a concept. Sequences of concepts and linking words do not always form grammatically correct sentences.” Abrams, R. An Overview of Concept Mapping. In Meaningful Learning: A Collaborative Literature Review of Concept Mapping. Retrieved March 18, 2008 at http://www2.ucsc.edu/mlrg/clr-conceptmapping.html

28. Making Novakian maps http://cmap.ihmc.us/

30. Argument mapping Information structure mapping Syntactic mapping Grammatical mapping (pseudo) Association mapping Novakian maps (Novak & Cañas, 2006) can be used at any level of abstraction.

31. Novakian links: -verbs (concept maps) -logical connectors (ISmaps) -communication moves (rhetoric maps) -argument communication moves (argument maps)

32. So then, problem 2: What other-medium intervention will bring about improved structure and chain completeness in learner writing? Trial: use graphical media -e.g. Novakian mapping -somehow constrain map structure. -somehow constrain map content.

33. Task 2: Experimental task: Pre-writing step As a pre-writing step, constrained-link Novakian concept maps were used to express the content of the source article. Subjects were asked to create Novakian maps summarizing the imagined abstract of a casual register article, using only the listed lexical units as link relations.

34. Task 2: Mapping task (with constraints) 1. Map link relations were restricted to those in the provided verb list. 2. Number of nodes was constrained (max 10). 3. Top-down visual metaphor was imposed.

35. Task 2: Mapping task with constraints 1. Map link relations were restricted to those in the provided verb list. 2. Number of nodes was constrained (max 10). 3. Top-down visual metaphor was imposed. Task 2: Experimental task: writing step Subjects were asked to write summaries of the content of the source article, working from their constrained-link Novakian concept maps.

36. Task 2 observations: Most experimental group students were successful in generating; (a) an accurate detailed graphical characterization of the study; and (b) a FAE written expression of that characterization.

37. Mapping abstract vs text abstract 1 Mapping Subjects 13 Dyads 6.9/subject Dyads with non-list labels 0.8/subject Misuses of linking phrases 2.85/subject 2 Text Subjects 9 Sentences 3.55/subject Sentences with non-list relations 0.44/subject Misuses of linking phrases 0.77/subject

38. Task 2 observations Most experimental group students were successful in generating (a) an accurate detailed graphical characterization of the study; and (b) a FAE written expression of that characterization. Here concept maps appear to constitute an instance of what Tifi (2010) calls a plane of greater generality.

39. Conclusions The value of the mapping approach in argument analysis: visual accessibility of the representation of text structure forced articulation of relations between argument elements faster performance (lower cognitive load?) than in text approach

40. Conclusions Informal observation of learner behavior in constrained-link scenarios suggests that Constraining link content can lead TAW learners to accurate, minimal summarization of the arguments in TAW text WITHOUT INSTRUCTION.

41. Parallel case: Tifi (2010) A problem in a frame, and the need to move to a different frame where the problem could be solved with the students' inner resources – it is necessary to transit through a 'plane of higher generality' to get from the impeding frame to the enabling one. Problem X not solvable in frame A

42. Parallel case: Tifi (2010) A problem in a frame, and the need to move to a different frame where the problem could be solved with the students' inner resources – it is necessary to transit through a 'plane of higher generality' to get from the impeding frame to the enabling one. Problem X not solvable in frame A Problem X solvable in frame B

43. Parallel case: Tifi (2010) A problem in a frame, and the need to move to a different frame where the problem could be solved with the students' inner resources – it is necessary to transit through a 'plane of higher generality' to get from the impeding frame to the enabling one. Problem X not solvable in frame A Problem X solvable in frame B no access <-----> 43

44. Parallel case: Tifi (2010) A problem in a frame, and the need to move to a different frame where the problem could be solved with the students' inner resources – it is necessary to transit through a 'plane of higher generality' to get from the impeding frame to the enabling one. Plane of higher generality Problem X not solvable in frame A Problem X solvable in frame B 44

45. Speculation re Tifi (2010): Then in Hunter's 'infer the argument of a poorly reported study' exercise: 1 the challenge: to pinpoint the specs of the study 2 the output: to write those specs in FAE 3 the catch: only when the specs are couched in FAE can the students pinpoint them, since they lack grounding in research design/scientific method

46. Speculation re Tifi (2010): Then in Hunter's 'infer the argument of a poorly reported study' exercise: 4 the plane of greater generality: the concept map of the research design and results. If lean enough, this map will embody the specs - and the students can in fact arrive at a consensus as to how the map must look. Is it true then that the visual (more abstract/non-syntactic) representation is somehow supporting thought that text work does not readily support? 46

47. Speculation: RE: the success of mapping as an inroad to analysis of argument. Does constrained mapping constitute what Tifi (2010) calls “a plane of higher generality” -linking the structure of the argument to the structure of the abstract? Constrained Cmap ARGUMENT in study A, implied in narrative M ARGUMENT in study A, explicit in summary S

48. Task 2 interpretation Some sources that may provide an interpretive scaffolding that can in turn to some extent account for the success of this use of constrained Novakian maps.

49. Why?: does using Cmap constraint enable argument analysis? Argument mapping Information structure mapping Syntactic mapping Grammatical mapping (pseudo) Association mapping Leading the learner to create an abstract argument analysis. 49

50. Vancouver study play video clips subjects quickly decide measure reaction time, correctness random noise with stroke tennis strokes to right or left tennis strokes to right or left Findings of Vancouver study < reaction to video of tennis strokes reaction to video of tennis strokes random noise at time of stroke reaction timedecision errors Background Target behavior? complaints about grunting in pro tennis study of response time in tennis ISmaps with rhetorical frames: argument in Sinnett (2010) hunter systems